Hello, everybody!!! Look who's back, back again, Meena's back, back again. Anyway, I am back! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a long time, school and such. I explained the details in my other story. But anyway, here is chapter 6! PS- I really like this chapter!

            Sasuke found himself in a large, circular room, black cracked pillars lining the rim. The sole source of light came from dim blue crystals hanging from the high ceiling, illuminating the floor, and casting a reflection. Sasuke took a step forward and was surprised to hear a splashing sound. He looked down and saw that roughly ten centimeters of water covered the gray, marble floor. Suddenly, a laugh echoed throughout the room; his own. He was no longer surprised; he knew exactly where he was. A figure stepped out of the shadows behind the pillars and into the light. A mirror image of himself stared back at him, but it was slightly distorted. Instead of his pale skin, this version of Sasuke's skin was tanned to a coppery brown. His hair was a dark blue and fanned out past his shoulders. The whites of his eyes were black and his irises were red with three black, swirling marks around the pupil: the sharingan. Right in the middle of his face a large, black four-pointed star was visible. Lastly, out of his back sprouted two giant wings that could be mistaken for hands. The other Sasuke grinned, showing off his fangs.

            "Seems you can't push me out forever, eh, Sasuke?" he said in Sasuke's own voice.

            Sasuke's mouth settled in a hard line as he faced his inner for the first time in years.

            "Unfortunately not," he grumbled.

            His inner grinned a feral grin at him, "Tut, tut, tut, Sasuke. Feelings aren't something you can avoid forever you know? Sooner or later they'll come surging up and you'll explode. Better to experience them slowly than be overwhelmed by them, no?"

            "I'd have to disagree with you on that. I'd rather not feel for as long as possible. I've succeeded so far, haven't I?"

            His inner sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, turning so that he was only looking at Sasuke from the corner of his eye.

            "Even with our mate?"

            Sasuke started and snapped, "My mate is dead!"

            "Our mate, bud. Then how do you explain our feelings for her when we saw her, hm?" he asked, smirking, as he was suddenly right in front of him. The water fanned out in a ripple formation around them from his sudden movement. Sasuke clenched his fists and resisted the urge to punch his inner, knowing it would hurt him too. He knew, he'd done it before.

            "I was delirious from blood loss," he gritted out. "There's no other reason."

            "Denial, denial˜" his inner sang as he spun on his heel and walked away from him.

            Sasuke felt the need to defend himself for some reason and yelled vehemently, "SHE'S DEAD! THEY FOUND HER BLOOD! STOP TRYING TO GRIP FOR STRAWS! DON'T YOU GET IT! WE'RE GOING TO BE ALONE FOREVER!"

            His inner stopped in his tracks and his head snapped to Sasuke, all traces of amusement gone.

            "They never found her body though, did they?"

            And with that his inner walked towards the shadows as Sasuke stood ramrod still.

            "Until next time, Sasuke. Maybe you'll be a little more willing to listen to what I have to say then."

            His inner then waved his hand as he melted back into the shadows, and the room started to dissolve around him, as if someone had taken an eraser and started rubbing it to show empty darkness, and Sasuke quickly found himself drowning in it.

            Sasuke didn't know how much time had passed since his encounter with his inner, but it certainly hadn't been enough rest for him. His body felt heavy and Sasuke knew he was slowly drifting into consciousness. He wanted to sleep forever. Facing life could be delayed for a bit longer. Of course, his body didn't agree with him, and he was obliged to open his eyes. He was looking up at the slowly darkening sky. It had to be late evening by now. He suddenly heard voices and snapped his eyes shut to appear to be sleeping.

            "Naruto, are you sure you slept enough?" a melodious voice said, and Sasuke immediately identified it as Sakura. His heart jumped once in his chest as he listened.

            "Yup. Plus, someone's gotta watch over Teme," Naruto's voice came.

            Sasuke inwardly scowled. As if he needed to be babysat.

            "Sorry for leaving, but I have to go check up on Shizune, or she'll get suspicious."

            "Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. You have things to do, it's fine."

            Just then a loud noise sounded and there was silence for a moment before Sakura said, "Naruto, was that your stomach just now?"

            "Maybe..." Naruto said, sounding sheepish.

            Sakura laughed and all Sasuke wanted was for her to continue laughing just to hear that sound. It wasn't a girly or soft laugh, but it was loud and expressive. It ended all too soon though.

            "Sorry, when I come back I promise to bring lots of food back with me," she apologized.

           "Ahaha, no worries, Sakura-chan. You've done more than enough for now, although I won't lie, food sounds amazing right now."

            "I'll be back as soon as possible tomorrow, I promise."

            "Bye, Sakura-chan!"

            "Bye, Naruto."

            Sasuke heard the sound of soft footfalls until they came to a stop right next to him, and a warm hand was placed on his forehead. Sakura's sweet scent filled his nose, and Sasuke had to bite down on his tongue to keep his breath from hitching. Her skin was so soft, and where it touched his, his skin felt electrified.

            "Get better," she whispered before the warmth on his forehead left and the sound of footfalls faded away completely. He groaned internally. What was this girl doing to him? He hated how she made him feel with even the slightest touch. Who did she think she was to touch him so casually anyway?

            "How long are you gonna pretend to be asleep, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto's voice came suddenly from above him. Sasuke's eyes snapped open to see Naruto's blond head bent over him, his cerulean blue eyes glittering with mischief. Sasuke's head jerked up and slammed hard against Naruto's.

            "OW!!" Naruto yelled. "That hurt, Teme!"

            "That was the point," Sasuke said, wincing a bit. Damn was Naruto's skull hard.

           "I would beat you up right now if you weren't injured, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, still holding his forehead.

            "Same here, usuratonkachi," Sasuke smirked.

            "Tch, at least the insults mean you're not hurt too badly," Naruto grumbled, returning to lying down beside him.

            "Hn," Sasuke replied, looking up at the sky.

            He suddenly had an idea and struggled to a sitting position. He winced as his wound burned and looked down at himself. His shirt was ripped completely open and his abdomen was now bandaged and the bleeding had stopped.

            "That's Sakura-chan's handiwork," Naruto stated proudly.

            "How do you know her?" Sasuke asked, neatly avoiding Naruto's spiel about how he should thank her later.

            "Um, well years back I left the village to go hunting when I was a kid cause I didn't have any money, and I accidentally got lost and stumbled upon Sakura-chan here. She was crying when I found her, but I cheered her up and we became best friends!" Naruto said with a wide grin on his face, but it dropped soon after. "I had to go back to the village though a couple months later, and when I did they didn't let me leave, and then there was the war. Even though I promised to come back to see her again..."

            Naruto's face held a guilty expression, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. Sasuke turned away and said, "No use feeling guilty about something that's already happened. Plus, you came back to see her even though it wasn't on purpose, so who cares."

            Sasuke turned slightly to see Naruto beaming at him. He quickly turned away. He always felt uncomfortable comforting someone, especially Naruto since he was the one who comforted him the most. He just wasn't suited to it. He cleared his throat and stood up with some difficulty, wobbling a bit.

           "Where are you going?" Naruto asked, grimacing as he sat up.

            "Gonna follow her," Sasuke responded, knowing that there was no use in not telling him.

            "What? Why? Naruto asked, furrowing his brow.

            "Because you might trust her, but I don't quite yet. Plus, I don't know anything about her."

            "But she saved your life, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed as he shot up in indignation. He yelped and sat back down, holding his gut. A spike of worry flared up in Sasuke and he pushed Naruto down.

            "Don't exert yourself, plus it's not like I'm gonna kill her or anything. I would've done it earlier if I was," he said, but apparently that only served to further worry Naruto as he stared at Sasuke hard.

            "Don't worry, dobe. I'm not gonna hurt her, I'm just gonna follow her."

            At Naruto's narrowed eyes he added with an eyeroll, "I swear on the name of Uchiha.

            Naruto looked surprised but quickly covered it up with a smirk in his direction, knowing that Sasuke was serious. He valued his family above anything else, and for him to swear on the name was a big deal. Sasuke made a "tch" sound and started to walk away, albeit awkwardly as he tried not to jostle his wound too much.

            "Oi, is there something you're not telling me?" Naruto suddenly called after him.

            Sasuke froze momentarily. He turned to look at him, his gaze steady. "What makes you think that?" he asked, his voice smooth, not betraying a hint of uneasiness. The thing about Sasuke was that over the years he head learned to mask his emotions due to not wanting to show his hurt after he found out his mate was dead. He didn't want people pitying him, and even less wanted people to come comfort him. The only people who could read him well were Itachi, Mina, Naruto, and Hinata, but sometimes even they couldn't tell what he was feeling if he tried hard enough.

           Naruto squinted at him and after a few moments of silence he finally sighed and laid his head back against the makeshift pillow Sakura had made from a rag. Sasuke took it as the signal that Naruto had either believed him or decided not to press the issue, to which he was grateful for.

            He jumped up into the tree and sniffed the air. He almost immediately picked up Sakura's scent; it was as if his nose was already on the lookout for it. He soared through the trees, following the direction of her scent. She couldn't be too far. He was right, as soon as he neared the outskirts of the forest; he spotted her head of pink hair just at the last tree, looking both ways before she exited the forest. That was peculiar. He jumped down once she was a little ways away and stepped out of the protection of the forest. It was like someone had knocked the wind out of him. His body suddenly felt much heavier and he collapsed to his knees in surprise. His wound that had only been throbbing dully now sent spikes of pain every time he moved. His breathing came out in gasps.

           Sasuke had heard that the forest empowered supernaturals and was a main source of strength, but he had never believed that leaving it would have an effect like this. He struggled to stand, leaning heavily against a tree. He tried to regulate his breathing, counting to five as he inhaled and then again as he exhaled. A couple more times and he had recollected himself enough to be able to continue. Soon enough, small wooden houses came into sight. Sasuke gathered all his energy and soared up to the roof of the nearest house. He looked around and spotted Sakura's pink head in the middle of the road in front of him. He followed, sticking to the shadows of the houses. Thankfully it was dark enough out that he was not easily spotted. As he progressed slowly, following Sakura on her various stops throughout the village at certain shops, he realized that whispers followed her everywhere and people made way for her whenever she entered a crowd. She didn't seem to notice though, or if she did, she didn't let it show.

            Sasuke tuned into the whispers thanks to his vampire hearing and was able to hear what they were saying.

            "Where has she been all day again?" one said

            "You think she went to the forest again?" another said.

            "Well, she does have to pick medicinal herbs..." one spoke up hesitantly.

            "But everyday?"

            "Well none of us know anything about medicine..."

            "She knows it's forbidden to go longer than a couple hours."

            "Probably thinks she can do whatever she wants as long as she does her job."

            "Ever since that healer woman adopted her, she's been doing whatever she wants."

            "Sh, you know her situation!"

            "Poor girl."

            "Yeah, no one deserves that."

           "Wait, what?"

          "Don't you know, that healer, her mom, is dying."

            Sasuke froze, not listening to anything else they said. Sakura's mother was dying?

I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING IT!! Thoughts? Anway, vote, comment, and share. I'm at school so that's why this is short. But see ya! Ja ne!