"Feel what you need to feel and then let it go. Do not let it consume you."

- Dhiman

<>

AYO YOUR GIRL MISSES SASUSAKU SO HERE *throws a bunch of fluff in your faces* ENJOY THE CHAPTER MY DEARS

-Silverwolf735

Sasuke and Sakura had embarked on their own adventure practically from the moment they woke up. Kakashi and Sakura had spent a couple hours talking about it before he'd sent her to bed last night, and Sakura told Sasuke their plan before he slept as well.

"Naruto is going to handle the physical part of the fight with Kisame and whoever he brings with him. I trust that he can handle it. Besides, I gave him a wild card to work with." Kakashi informed Sakura, bringing his feet up to the couch and snuggling into the comfy blanket Sakura had been under a couple seconds before Kakashi stole it from her. "You and Sasuke have a different job."

Sakura's brows twitched upward in thinly veiled suspicion, as she vied for her blanket back. "A different job? You're splitting us up?"

"I'm going to be busy keeping Minato and Kushina from immediately coming home to check on their kid, so you two are the only ones left to take the job." Kakashi shrugged, before wincing. "That's going to be a painful endeavor. Kushina won't let anyone stop her from getting to Naruto."

"What is the point of all of this?" Sakura asked. "Why can't Sasuke and I be with Naruto?"

"There are multiple things going down right now." Kakashi told her, holding up one of his hands and lifting a finger. "One- it's estimated that some time tomorrow morning, two Akatsuki members are going to arrive at our doorstep. Probably literally at Naruto's doorstep." Kakashi held up a finger. "Two- Kushina and Minato are going to leave sometime tomorrow, because the only way that Kisame and his partner are going to drop by is if they're certain the Hokage is gone. Naruto will be home alone. Minato and Kushina are going to be at the Hokage Tower safe and sound, and Minato has a kunai all prepped and ready in case of emergency." Sakura nodded along to this. "Three- tomorrow morning, I'm going to wake up my wild card and convince him to help Naruto. Sasuke will have to be out of the house by this time."

Sakura blinked. "You're using Itachi?"

"Yes, but Sasuke can't know." Kakashi stressed, glaring at his student. "I mean it, Sakura. If Sasuke finds out that his brother is going to be fighting Kisame and his new partner, he'll flip out. I love the kid, but he's overprotective of Itachi. He seems to always forget that Itachi is canonically the second most powerful Uchiha clan member as far as the village knows, second only to Shisui. Kisame was reluctant to go up against him in their first life, and Itachi's even more powerful in this one because he has proper training, and isn't ill like he was last time."

Sakura's lips pursed. "Kakashi, I don't like the idea of keeping this from him. That sounds like an accident waiting to happen."

"An accident?" Kakashi scoffed. "This is hell waiting to break loose, and I know it. But we don't have a choice. We need Sasuke with his head screwed on tightly when we send you and him to follow Kisame and his new partner as far as you can possibly get."

"So that's our mission?" Sakura's eyes narrowed. "You want us to follow them back to their nest."

Kakashi sighed, having been found out. He pulled another blanket off the back of the couch, wrapping himself in it. "Jiraiya is the best intel finder the village has, and the man has close to nothing on this new Akatsuki. They were quiet in our first life, but they're silent now." Kakashi pointed out. "We've been here for years, and the only confirmed Akatsuki members we know about for sure is Kisame."

"But we know that Itachi, Obito and Deidara aren't members this time," Sakura pointed out. "That's something."

"That means we're dealing with the unexpected, Sakura." Kakashi reminded her. "And I would almost rather know what we're going into instead of knowing nothing."

"So you'd prefer if Itachi, Obito and Deidara were involved because at least then we'd know?" Sakura shook her head incredulously. "I don't accept that, Kakashi, we worked hard to keep them out of trouble."

Kakashi nodded quietly, lost in thought. "I know you're right, but it still feels like that."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Alright. How do you want to play this?"

-

The girl stepped off one of the fingers, staring at the crumpled figure that used to be the Jinchuriki Fū of the Hidden Waterfall. Her companions, other members of the Akatsuki, took this as a cue to step off their own fingers and disperse. Mumblings of conversation between partners could be overheard, if the girl had cared to listen. They disappeared out of the rock opening, leaving only two people inside.

"Maa, this one was rough." The one who stayed behind rolled his shoulders, working out a kink in them. "Too bad Kisame and Jūzo weren't here to help- with that Fish-man's monster chakra, we could've made quick work of this one."

"Mmhmm." The girl replied distractedly, not looking away from the dead body.

"What are you looking at?" The orange haired man beside her asked, tipping his head to the vessel. "The jinchuriki is dead."

The empty jinchuriki was a pretty girl, with perfect, tanned skin and exotic blue hair. Her eyes, when they had been open while she screamed, were a pretty color of orange, like the sunset. She had personality, a sense of self. When Kakuzu caught her, she had been a pain in the Akatsuki's behind, because she had refused to give up any information about her fellow jinchuriki. No amount of torture had broken the spirited girl.

And yet she had just watched the jinchuriki have her Tailed Beast pulled out. She had just seen Fū of the Waterfall die- the light leave her brilliant orange eyes, her body falling brokenly to the floor.

The girl couldn't help but frown, even though she knew that what her companion said was true. "Should we bury her?" She asked quietly, disliking the idea of throwing the girl's body out to the woods to be devoured by the animals and rot alone.

"Control your bleeding heart, Kamereon." The man reminded her, before he walked off. "You know the master doesn't appreciate empathy for the targets."

Her companion referred to Fū of the Waterfall simply as 'the Jinchuriki'. Him using her name was out of the question, and hinting at her gender was also not something he did. He considered her a necessary casualty, one he didn't want to humanize lest his own bleeding heart act up.

The sun glinted off the man's orange hair as he walked away, hands shoved deeply in his cloak's pockets to join his partner.

"That's not what you used to say," the girl murmured, for a moment allowing her bleeding heart to take control. "I can't help but think that She would be so disappointed in how you turned out... Yahiko."

She knew that the orange haired man heard her words, judging by the flinch.

"She would be disappointed in you, too." Yahiko replied, before he slipped his arm under his teammate's arms and jumped away.

Kamareon blinked her memories away, nodding her head. Yahiko was right. She would be disappointed in all of them. But She was gone, so what did it matter? Kamareon looked back at the crumpled Jinchuriki, wondering if someone would take Fū of the Waterfall away, or if the former Jinchuriki would still be there when they returned with another.

Kamareon bit her lip. Fū lay still, unmoving, her hair shining in a way that reminded Kamareon of Her. It was a similar color, but that was where the similarities ended.

Kamareon bowed her head at the deceased Jinchuriki, before she jumped away, leaving the body where it was.

-

When Jūzo and Kisame wanted to run, boy could they run. Even with an injured Kisame, it was hard to keep up with them. Sakura and Sasuke kept safely behind, masking their chakra so they wouldn't realize that they were being followed.

After a couple of hours of running in silence, Sakura broke it. "I wonder what happened to Sasori," she commented, jumping from one branch to another.

"I haven't heard anything about him. Neither has Kakashi." Sasuke commented. "All I know is that he isn't in the Sand right now. Lord Jiraiya might've heard something about him in his travels. We should ask him about Sasori when we get back."

Sakura sighed. "I wish we knew more about them, we really are going into this completely blind. Was it a good idea for Kakashi to send us to follow them?"

"You don't think we can handle the Akatsuki?" Sasuke smirked, looking at his teammate with a gloating expression.

"Of course I do." Sakura returned with a scowl. "I'm just saying, what if we get caught? We would have to fight our way out, and honestly, I'm not looking forward to having to reveal our cards early."

"We could make it out without using all of our power." Sasuke said confidently. "Even if we don't know who the Akatsuki consists of right now, we know enough about at least one member."

Sakura nodded. "That's fair. But what I'm worried about is, who is the leader of the Akatsuki?" She asked. "Because Obito has been with us this whole time- he came back after Rin died, and Kakashi has been keeping an eye on him for years. He's clean."

"Yeah, I'm worried about that too." Sasuke's fists clenched nervously. "Because if we don't know who's in charge, we don't know what their goal is. Madara's was to come back to life, and to change reality, but what does this person want?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. What reason could they possibly have to kidnap the Jinchuriki if they aren't an Uchiha?"

"Wait," Sasuke froze, stopping on the branch that he was on. "What did you just say?"

Sakura stopped as well, suddenly realizing the meaning of what she just said. "I said," she repeated incredulously, "why would they kidnap the Jinchuriki if they weren't an Uchiha?"

"Because the Uchiha are the only ones who have the Naka shrine tablet," Sasuke pointed out. "The only person who could possibly know what it says is the Uchiha. The only person who can control a Bijuu is an Uchiha."

"So you're saying," Sakura began, "that the person who is currently the leader of the Akatsuki could potentially be an Uchiha?" Sakura asked, eyes wide with panic. "But it isn't Madara, and we know it isn't Obito, so who the hell is it?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said, taking a step off the branch and beginning to run after the fleeing Akatsuki members again. "And that's a problem, because as far as I know, no Uchiha is missing, or anything."

"What if they faked their death?" Sakura asked, considering.

"So that narrows it down to every single dead Uchiha." Sasuke deadpanned. "That's helpful."

"Don't get snarky with me, I'm just throwing ideas around." Sakura glared at her teammate. "Do your best not to be surly, I'm trying to work with you, here."

Sasuke sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. "I'm just saying, it's unlikely. I'm not saying it's impossible. That's definitely something we should look into when we get home."

"For sure," Sakura nodded. "Maybe it's an Uchiha that's still alive?"

"A traitor among the clan?" Sasuke asked, frowning. He didn't like that- he didn't like that idea at all. His mother and Itachi lived near the clan- Shisui lived right beside one of the elders. He might not get along with his clan, but he hoped that there was no one selling them out. More for their sake, than his. "If there is, I'll kill them." Sasuke said, jumping off a particularly high branch.

Sakura groaned. "You always say that. You're so impulsive. Just wait until we get information out of them before you do the violence."

Sasuke bit his lip to keep from saying something mean. "I'm not the impulsive one," he defended. "That's Naruto."

"Shut up, you're both impulsive and you know it." Sakura faced forward, concentrating on not tripping over some cluttered branches. "Speaking of Naruto, I'm worried about Lord Minato." Sakura frowned, brows furrowing in concern. "He was just stabbed, and he's already back to work after barely a week of rest?"

"He's a very stubborn person." Sasuke hummed, a small, smirk appearing on his face. "And here I thought Kushina was who Naruto got that from."

Sakura nodded her head, running in silence for a moment. "Do you think Minato-sama is going to retire?"

"I think he should, but I don't think he will," Sasuke replied. "Minato-sama is a lot more stressed than he lets on, but he's really strong. He'll last for a couple more years at least."

Sakura frowned. "But if it's bad for his health, surely Lady Kushina would make him retire?"

"Lady Kushina wouldn't do that to him." Sasuke replied. "Besides, we don't know that it's bad for his health."

"It can't be good for it," Sakura pointed out. "He literally just got out of a coma."

"Sucks that no one can boss the Hokage around, doesn't it?" Sasuke said knowingly.

"Shut up." Sakura jumped off a particularly high branch, catching up to Sasuke right away after that. "Look out, they're stopping."

-

"Follow my finger with your eyes."

Itachi obeyed the older woman's command. To no one's surprise, Tsunade hadn't been at the hospital when they had finally found her- she'd been in a bar. So Itachi was currently sitting on top of a sticky bar with a long, blonde haired alcoholic staring him down. Her finger glowed green, and Itachi's eyes trained on it, following as Tsunade moved it back and forth in the air.

Tsunade clicked her tongue, sitting back and crossing her arms. "How is your eyesight?" She asked knowingly, picking up the shot she'd ordered that was beside Itachi and downing it all in one go.

"Poor." Itachi answered honestly. He had noticed that his eyes were getting more and more blurry after the first time he used Tsukuyomi on a person, and since then he'd been reluctant to use his Mangekyo on anyone, but he hadn't really had a choice.

Kakashi and Naruto who were standing behind the blonde exchanged matching worried glances, which made Itachi raise an eyebrow. What did those two know?

"Hmm." Tsunade said, setting her empty shot glass down and frowning at Itachi.

"Hey, he shouldn't be in here!" The bartender pointed to the young, blonde, very innocent looking Naruto.

"Hey! Piss off!" Tsunade threw her shot glass at him. It shattered frighteningly close to his face, making the poor man literally shake in his boots and run back behind the bar. Tsunade turned back to Itachi again, before she sat back down. "I have an idea of what's wrong with him."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "What is it?"

"I diagnose him with dumbass."

Naruto snorted, before he covered his mouth with his hand.

Itachi shot the little brat a glare, before turning to the Slug Sannin. "You're drunk, aren't you?"

"Not drunk, just tipsy." Tsunade replied. "And I'd call you stupid even completely sober, believe me."

Kakashi let out a deep sigh. "Damn. Who's gonna break the news to Mikoto? Terminal illness, Dumbass is."

"I'm calling it." Tsunade answered. "Time?"

"6:23 PM." Naruto announced helpfully.

Itachi had thought he was annoyed before, but now really gave him a run for his money. "I hate all three of you." He pointed to Tsunade. "And you need to give me a straight answer- what's wrong with me?"

Tsunade took a long sip of the shot that had miraculously appeared- maybe a peace offering from the miserable bartender. "Your eyes are on a timer, kid."

Itachi frowned. "What? What does that mean?"

"You have the Mangekyo, great. That's a huge power boost for you. But my grandfather used to say that that kind of power always requires a sacrifice. For the Uchiha, it's their sight." Tsunade put down the glass and looked at Itachi seriously. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the more you use your eyes, the more your sight will be affected until one day you won't be able to see anymore."

Itachi blinked, and Kakashi voiced what was running through his head.

"Well, fuck."

Itachi stood up from the bar, and pulled out a stool. "I mean, I knew that about the Mangekyo, but it's very different knowing that it's actually happening to me."

"Yeah, well." Tsunade shrugged, crossing one leg over the other. "That's the curse of being in the second strongest clan."

"Literally." Naruto piped up, looking kind of smug, for someone who has just been told the same bad news Itachi had.

"You're a brat." Itachi informed the child, before calling the bartender over and ordering some sake for himself and Kakashi. Once the bartender had meekly slipped away, eyeing Tsunade warily, Itachi turned back to the medic nin. "If I'm getting the side effects of this, why isn't Shisui?"

Tsunade shrugged. "How should I know?" She asked, before she went silent for a moment, clearly thinking. "Isn't your mom one of the last known descendants of Madara's line?"

Itachi tilted his head to the side, trying to recall what his mother had told him. "Madara's uncle was our mother's great grandfather. No one in Madara's immediate family had any children. Why?"

"Maybe it comes down to genetics." Tsunade answered. "We know from notebooks and from my grandfather that Madara and his little brother used their eyes a lot, and were both losing their vision by the time they were in their early twenties. How old are you?

"Eighteen." Itachi replied, eyebrows furrowing. He didn't like what Tsunade was implying.

"That timeline makes sense." Tsunade hummed. "Let's assume that in your great great grandfather's side of the family, there is special gene-"

"Could it be called a curse?" Naruto asked warily, looking at Kakashi as if they were having a silent conversation. "In, like, historical documents?"

"I dunno, I guess so." Tsunade shrugged, and Itachi eyed Kakashi and Naruto warily. "Anyways, what was I saying?"

"A gene..." Itachi prompted, resisting the urge to roll his eyes lest Tsunade notice and roll his head.

"Ah! Yes! Let's assume that there is a special gene (or curse, whatever) specifically in Itachi's side of the family that causes them to be more susceptible to the side effects of the Mangekyo?"

"Like a curse put on a specific ancestor of theirs as a punishment and passed down along successors." Kakashi was staring intently at Naruto.

Naruto muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Indra..." before Tsunade continued, and Itachi was unable to think about what that meant.

"Right. Since you two are so focused on the curse idea, we'll keep that." Tsunade scoffed. "Anyway, if hypothetically, Itachi and Sasuke were cursed by their bloodline, that would make them both incredibly powerful, probably more powerful than anyone else with the Mangekyo, with training, but it also puts them in incredible danger. That would make them... I dunno, the next Madara and Izuna?"

Itachi stiffened with shock. Madara and Izuna. Every Uchiha knew the story of the brothers. It was a warning passed from mother to son. A message that screamed, 'do not be greedy with your gift, learn to channel your power through love instead, or you'll end up like Madara and Izuna.' The Uchiha clan's greatest power and curse had been the ferocity of their love- the power of their love was equal to their physical prowess. The Uchiha of today has lost sight of that teaching, choosing instead to put their hunt for power before loving their family, to Itachi's dismay.

As the story goes, Madara and Izuna were close- practically inseparable. They had lost everyone in the war, and only had each other. Everyone around them expressed how they loved each other. But when the curse set in, and the light was going dark in their eyes, Madara stole his little brother's eyes for power. And in the end, Madara still lost, and Izuna had still died. It had all been for nothing.

That was the moral of the story.

And now, to be told that he and Sasuke were next in line? That wasn't exactly reassuring.

Itachi looked at Naruto and Kakashi, who were looking at each other, then met his eyes. Alright, I'm done taking the wishy-washy answers and vague explanations- those two, Sakura and Sasuke know way too much about things they shouldn't.

Itachi opened his mouth, and the words that escaped did so without his permission. "Sasuke can't get a Mangekyo." He told the two of them, dead serious.

Kakashi and Naruto's poker faces were incredible, but Naruto's eye twitched nervously when Itachi said that, and for some reason there was a pit growing in his stomach.

"He doesn't have a Mangekyo... right?"

-

After tailing Jūzo and Kisame for four hours, Sakura and Sasuke were a little relieved when they felt their chakra stop for the night. Sakura and Sasuke stayed quiet, their own chakra covered and impossible to find, but they settled into their normal camping routine.

Sakura set up their bed rolls, and Sasuke brought out their heating packs. The heating packs were incredibly useful because Sasuke could easily reheat them whenever he wanted. A fire was impossible, because they were so close to the people they were tailing, but they had other ways to stay warm. Hunting was easy, with Sasuke's flaming palm jutsu he could cook the food they caught without needing a fire.

They figured out a watch system- Sasuke would stay up first, then he'd wake up Sakura. The awake person would keep an eye out for Kisame and Jūzo, while also tracking their movements as much as possible to find out if they needed to moved.

Sakura slept fitfully below him. Sasuke found himself watching both their surroundings, and his teammate, his thoughts keeping him wide awake.

His sleeping habits had gotten slightly better, but not by much. He found it easier to sleep around one of the members of his team, or Itachi. They were the people that Sasuke's brain recognized as Safe. But other than that, he still struggled.

Sakura appeared to be having that same problem, except two of the people she had deemed 'safe' were gone, now.

Sasuke found it a little odd that Sakura had shown more emotion about him leaving in their past life than she had about her parents' death. Kakashi had been weirded out about it- Sakura was functional, productive and tearless. Which, according to Kakashi, was kind of the opposite of how she handled a tragedy in their past life.

That indicated a massive, and very drastic change in her grieving methods. The kind that was usually forced upon her by herself.

Sasuke had definitely noticed the difference in Sakura- it was impossible not to. Even Naruto had caught on, and he was the biggest moron in the world. Sakura kept a smile on every time she saw them, and Naruto and Sasuke did the same because they felt like normalcy was what she needed from them, but that didn't stop them from worrying.

Kakashi had been very tight-lipped about Sakura's situation, which was to be expected, but was frustrating all the same.

Sasuke hadn't even noticed his time passing. The only indication that anything had changed was Sakura's eyes opened, and she stood up.

"My turn," she said, and Sasuke nodded, rubbing his burning eyes. He dropped down to the ground, stretching his arms out.

Sakura gave him a small smile, before she scaled the tree easily, taking a seat in the branch he'd taken, and staring out into the woods.

Sasuke lay down, heating up a pack for himself and trying to get some sleep. After about an hour of trying, he gave up. He was too restless, and there was a nervousness that had attacked him now that Sakura was out of sight.

For shinobi, death was uncommonly hard. They always expected themselves to be better, to be able to protect those they love. Just when they think they're ready to defend what they care about, they get knocked down, and someone they love gets taken away, and they don't know what to do anymore. Often, Shinobi turn to suicidal tendencies (like Kakashi's father), or alcohol (like Tsunade) to drown their problems, just because they can.

Sasuke wasn't necessarily worried about Sakura overindulging in alcohol, or becoming suicidal, but he really didn't like her being alone with her thoughts.

He opened his eyes and nearly had a heart attack when he realized that he couldn't see his teammate on the branch above him. He shot up, looking around desperately, before his eyes finally found her form.

Sakura was laying on the ground, using her arms to prop her head up. She was clearly awake, staring up at the sky at what stars one could see in the middle of a forest.

Sasuke climbed to his feet and walked over to her, being silent enough that people a few feet away wouldn't be able to hear, but making enough noise that Sakura would.

She didn't say anything when Sasuke arrived, and her jade eyes didn't move from the view of the stars.

Sasuke looked up at them, then down at Sakura, and finally lay down next to her, hands resting contentedly on his stomach. He tilted his chin to gain easier access to the visible constellations. He loved the stars too. He didn't know anything about them aside from what Itachi had taught him, but occasionally he looked up at them and they gave him hope.

Sakura seemed to be cut off from such hope. "Hey, Sasuke," she said. Sakura had dropped the honorific long ago, but Sasuke still winced, sometimes, because it sounded weird without it. Even after all these years.

He knew Sakura had tried to revert back to calling him that, but it left a poor taste on her tongue. The honorific was a relic of a time that Sakura would rather forget. So Sasuke never brought up the fact that she'd stopped, and more often than not, pretended there was no difference.

"Hey, Sakura." He replied, his voice not lifting above a whisper. It felt oddly like he was interrupting something significant. "What are you doing?"

Sakura was silent for a few moments, before she sat up and looked at her teammate. Sasuke wondered if he was sefish, but he loved having Sakura's undivided attention. He didn't used to care either way, in their past life, but now that he thought about it, Sakura and Naruto both had an easy openness to them that made Sasuke feel lucky to be such an important part of their life.

It was like they could easily love someone else just as much as they loved him, and he was lucky to hold their attention for as long as he does. He had never deserved it, and didn't now, but he enjoyed it all the same. And if he enjoyed Sakura's attention in a way that was the tiniest bit different than Naruto's attention, well... that was no one's business.

Her green eyes pierced Sasuke's soul, and held it in place like Shikamaru's Shadow Stitching Jutsu. "Saying goodbye," Sakura replied, biting her lower lip and tipping her head back so she could still see the stars.

Sasuke nodded even though she couldn't see him. "That's something that has to be done to begin the process of healing." He knew from experience.

He and Sakura sat silently for a few minutes, looking up at the sky.

"Is this karma, Sasuke?" Sakura broke the silence, looking at her teammate. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her strange question. "Do you remember that one time my stupid, stupid younger self said something about Naruto's family being gone, and how he acted being based on that?"

"Sakura, no one held that against you." Sasuke said. He remembered exactly what she said.

Back the first time they were genin, young Sakura had commented absently on how she thought Naruto was utterly out of control because he never had parents to teach him right from wrong. Sasuke felt that on a personal level, so he ditched Sakura immediately, offended.

Thinking about it now, and looking at THIS Sakura- the same age as the last one, older by a month or so- suffering, nearly being eaten alive by the guilt, he couldn't see the same person sitting beside him.

"I did. I do, actually." Sakura said, leaning back and facing the sky entirely. "That was insensitive, and a horrible thing to say. And I said it to you of all people."

"Sakura," Sasuke sat up fully, crossing his legs and looking down at the pink haired girl. "What happened is not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is." He told her. "Naruto and I have got our families back, but yours has been taken away. It's okay to be sad about it. You have every right to be mad at us for your rotten luck. I know I would be pissed."

Sakura laughed, and laughed. For a minute, Sasuke wondered if he saw a bit of Sakura's old self in this shell. "Sasuke, I could never be mad at you and Naruto for getting back what you've both always wanted. I love you both. I'm happy that you're finally healing. I could never, ever be upset with you for that." Sakura said, shaking her head. "I'm always the happiest when something good happens to you both and Kakashi, because heaven knows you deserve it."

Sasuke winced. Sakura was an infinitely better person than he was, and he'd always known that. But when she made these extremely selfless and entirely honest declarations, Sasuke didn't really know why he existed compared to her.

"Sakura," Sasuke tried again. "You're not allowing yourself to stop and feel. You're bottling it up." He told her. "I can tell. So can Naruto and Kakashi."

"I'm doing fine." Sakura denied, her jaw clenching stubbornly.

Sasuke huffed. He scooted forward, taking her hand. Her shoulders tensed in surprise, and Sasuke pretended that he didn't notice that. He squeezed her hand tightly. "Can you feel that?" He asked, studying her facial expressions.

Sakura looked at him from where she was laying, and nodded mutely.

"That's normal. You should be able to do that with your emotions, Sakura. There is an action and a reaction for everything; bottling up the reaction only causes a more delayed blowup. There's a difference between being emotionally driven and emotionless. Never cross that line." He shuddered, remembering how he used to be. He looked down at Sakura and gently put her hand back onto the grass and scooted away again. "For your own good, Sakura, you should let it out."

Sakura smiled sadly at him and shook her head. "I can't."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked, eyebrows raising. Now we're finally getting to the root of the problem.

"Because if I let myself go, I might go back to the way I used to be. I can't be her anymore. I just can't." Sakura shook her head. "I can't be weak anymore, Sasuke. If I'm going to protect the family I have left- that's you guys- I need to keep myself under control."

Sasuke resisted the urge to scowl. Sakura's selflessness had reached an all new level of unhealthy. He sat up, and pulled her up by her hands, looking deeply into her eyes.

He turned his first level of Sharingan on so he could clearly see her. He could see - deep, deep down, the fear was absolutely real. She was scared, and sad, and she didn't know what to do about any of it. She was desperate, but her mask was so talentedly put into place, she couldn't move it anymore if she tried.

Sasuke's look softened, and he stopped holding her so severely. Sakura wasn't scared of him, she was scared of herself. She melted a bit in his arms when he stopped gripping her so tightly, and Sasuke knew she was absolutely exhausted of holding herself together for so long.

Sasuke also knew that she wasn't going to cry in his presence. No matter what he said or did. He hated it. Sakura simply didn't see him as someone she could cry on. He knew she sometimes sought out Naruto and occasionally Kakashi for comfort, but never Sasuke. She was always helping Sasuke through his own issues, but Sasuke didn't often get to return the favor.

He sighed, and his head fell to lay on her shoulder. "Sakura, I'm so sorry." He said in an exhale, so it came out all jumbled. Sakura had tensed. Sasuke had never been particularly affectionate, and he was now kneeling with his face hidden in her shoulder. He had completely released her, and she could back away now if she wanted to. But instead, Sakura wrapped her arms around him and drew him closer.

"It's not your fault," She whispered, looking up at the stars as she held him. "I'm not the way I am because of you."

Sasuke could actually feel the torment building inside of her, and she was now more guilty because of this display. Sasuke winced, but didn't move his face from her shoulder. This isn't going the way I wanted it to. But then, this is Sakura- when has anything to do with her ever gone the way I want it to?

The dark truth was that she was like this because of him. If it wasn't all his fault, damn near almost all of it was. Sasuke had been the one who called her weak, annoying. He'd underestimated her, undervalued her, and ignored her for the entirety of his past life, and now Sakura had built so many walls around him that she'd almost completely lost the ability to express herself comfortably around him.

She refused to cry over things that she deemed unimportant, she never whined or complained anymore, usually didn't express her emotions if it wasn't happiness or anger. What was sad, was that the way she used to be, while irritating, also used to draw Sasuke to her.

Sasuke hadn't ever been an emotional child, until the Massacre. He had been a whiny brat, but he wasn't really emotional. He hadn't been able to comprehend how Sakura expressed her emotions so freely without worrying about what others thought of her.

It was a quiet strength that he had admired when it wasn't annoying him to death. Sasuke, himself, had never been able to achieve that. He'd lost that ability when Itachi had looked upon his tears and called him weak. Even now, in this life, when he was at least a little better than he was then. He was still cold, at times, and emotionless for practically everything that didn't affect him or his family.

Now Sakura's emotional strength was gone. Not that there wasn't strength in holding everything in- there was, but it was ultimately wrong. Unhealthy, and it would eventually destroy Sakura if it was unchecked.

Sakura wasn't cold. She wasn't emotionless, and didn't act like it. But she'd completely shut down her sadness for herself, and tears for herself were locked away around him. She was completely, utterly selfless. She'd gotten tired of her previous ways, and had completely changed.

Sasuke sighed, again. He didn't say anything more, instead wrapping his arms around his teammate. He'd taken control of the hug, so Sakura fell limp in his arms, no longer comforting her teammate. She was emotionally exhausted, Sasuke could feel it.

Sasuke wrapped his arm securely around her neck, before letting go and looking at her in the eyes. "Sakura, you need to listen to me. You aren't used to this, you haven't lost people close to you before, and you need to know how to handle it healthily. I have gone down the bottling bath, and let me tell you, there is nothing good there for you. Don't make us witness another me." She tried to look away, and Sasuke used his hand to encourage her to look at him.  "I'm not saying get better for us. I'm saying that you need to try to get better for you. If... I don't know. If you need space to mourn, and I'm stopping you somehow... I can leave."

"You don't need to go anywhere, Sasuke." Sakura said, lifting her chin, to watch him as he backed away to lean on a tree. "I'll be more upset if you're far away from me, to be honest," she confessed, a pretty red tint gracing her features.

When was the last time I've made her blush? Sasuke couldn't help but smile at the sight of it.

"I'm... well, I have some kind of fixation on protecting you, Naruto and Kakashi. It's like the power went out in my brain. I'm on the backup generators, and what I automatically fall back to is you three." Sakura hummed, before she nodded. "You guys are my family. You always have been. So were my parents, of course, but... I'm not totally alone."

Sasuke bit back laugh. That. That's the difference between Sakura and me. I forced myself into a self-imposed isolation, but Sakura's first instinct is to regroup with family.

Sasuke felt an rush of affection for his pink haired teammate, all of the sudden, and looked out into the trees, a small smile coming onto his face. The two of them sat in silence for a couple moments, staring out into the woods that were clearly visible because of the bright moon. It was obvious the grieving girl wasn't going to say anything more, so Sasuke looked down, biting his lip. "Ano... Sakura," He started, staring intently at his feet.

"Yeah?"

"I know I've apologized a million times, but I really can't express how sorry I am for how I treated you when we were Genin." Sasuke told her, unable to keep his eyes on her face.

"I forgave you a long time ago." Sakura answered, smiling gently at him.

Hearing those words was like being released from a huge burden. Sasuke nodded at her, because he couldn't find anything else to do. "Thanks."

"No problem." Sakura grinned mischievously. "Now that that's behind us, we can be friends again?"

Sasuke barked out a laugh, shaking his head. "What have we been this whole time?"

"Friendly acquaintances." Sakura replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Seriously?" Sasuke snorted. "And here I thought we'd been friends this whole time."

"No sir, you haven't even gotten past level 4 clearance. Not that I don't love you." Sakura winked at him, returning to her original stargazing position. "You're only considered my bestest friend when I lay all over you."

"Is that why you and Ino constantly cuddle?" Sasuke asked, eyebrows raising.

"No, we're dating." Sakura answered with a completely straight face.

Sasuke startled. "Huh?!"

"No, obviously we're not dating!" Sakura threw her head back and laughed, a real, genuine laugh for the first time in weeks. It rang through the forest like bells, and Sasuke would give anything to bottle the sound so he could listen to it on a rainy day.

When Sakura finally relaxed again, the two of them sat in silence. She freely tells me she loves me a lot. Sasuke thought to himself. I wonder if that still means what it used to?

Ask her, some deep voice asked him from a corner of his mind, but Sasuke didn't listen to it, twisting his head and looking up at Sakura.

The pink haired girl was smiling up at the stars. Her eyes had regained their sparkle, even if it was for a little while. She wasn't letting her grief kill her the way Sasuke had. Sakura was incredibly strong.

"One of us had better get some sleep." Sasuke cleared his throat. "And I can't sleep right now."

Sakura frowned at him, but ultimately nodded, realizing that it was futile to fight him. "Fine. But I'm taking a longer watch after you're done."

Sasuke wanted to argue, but it was also futile to fight her. We're quite a stubborn pair, he thought to himself, watching as the pink haired girl went back to her bed roll and snuggled into her blankets, closing her eyes. Her breaths evened almost immediately.

Sasuke climbed to his feet, and dropped beside her, before looking out into the forest.

I think I might love her too. He thought to himself, dread pooling in his stomach. But I might be too late.