This is my second fan fiction. And, its plot has been stuck in my head for a while now. So, now it's out. Enjoy!

WARNING: This chapter was not beta-read so it may contain an embarrassing number of mistakes

Disclaimer: I do own Naruto… NOT.

Linked: Chapter One

….

He arrived later than usual. The last Uchiha looked around the clearing, seeing Naruto, Kakashi and Sai already waiting for him.

She wasn't here again.

Ever since the previous month, Sakura started missing practice. He didn't pay it much attention at first. He had just assumed that she had been busy with the hospital work and that she'd be back. And, he'd get to train with her as he had done since his infamous return to the village two years ago. But, as days went buy and she stared missing as many as seven consecutive training sessions, he started to get worried. He told himself that it was a perfectly natural reaction to the unexplained absence of a teammate and a sparring partner. He simply cared about the performance of the team and Sakura's absenteeism was going to mess with the team's equilibrium. He didn't want a butchered mission on his record, especially not after last month's fiasco. He convinced himself that that was the only reason for the dark gnawing feeling that he'd been having.

The rest of the team had also noticed Sakura's absence. Naruto had even asked her about it. She had said that the hospital staff had caught the flu and that she had to work extra shifts to cover the loss. But, Sasuke, thanks to the rigorous training Orochimaru instilled in him, picked up of the subtle nuances of Sakura's body language –because, he told himself that was the only reason he continued to sneak glances at her form. And, he knew that her excuse was an outright lie.

Naruto, being dense, and Sai being a …whatever-he-was, didn't catch on to her lie. Kakashi, on the other hand, had shifted his weight from one foot to another, a sign that he suspected something, but, he had let the matter drop.

So, Sasuke figured that the responsibility of getting to the bottom of whatever was going on with Sakura rested on his shoulders. And, thus, he decided that after this training session, he'd have to go, find her and ask her. But, he knew enough about the hot-tempered girl to be sure that a head-on interrogation would lead to nothing but a whole lot of yelling on both parts. Therefore, if he wanted to find out anything, he needed to approach this in a non-threatening way. And, that meant coming up with an excuse to see her.

"Yo, Teme, I would like to train before I'm dead. So, let's go." Naruto hollered from the edge of the clearing already pulling out his kunai.

This was they're routine. No "good morning", no "how do you do". Just fight and then head for lunch –most often than not, it involved ramen. It was silent (well, as silent as you could be with Naruto) direct and efficient.

"That eager to get your ass handed to you dope?" the brooding man asked.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll even believe it someday. But, Don't worry I'll take it easy on you?" the bland said chakra levels shooting up and a Rasengan forming in his hand.

Two hours later, Sasuke stood on wobbly dabbling at the blood on his cheek with the sleeve of his shirt and noted with, no small amount of satisfaction, that his sparring partner was trying to stand on equally wobbly legs.

"Do you need to the visit the hospital, dope?" hoping that the stubborn idiot would say yes so they can run into Sakura.

"No, I'm good. It's nothing a hot bowl of ramen can't fix. But, since you did the damage Uchiha, it's only fair that you buy me that bowl of ramen. You know, as a compensation," Naruto declared all hopeful big blue eyes. You would think that, on an ANBU salary, the guy would at least be able to afford to feed himself. Apparently, not

"As much as I would like to make up for my sinful deed", the Raven-haired man replied in a dry tone," I'll have to pass. I have a thing to do."

"A thing? That's your excuse for missing ramen? What can possibly be more important than ramen?" Naruto exclaimed as his chances of free ramen evaporated. Then, a devilish twinkle entered the man's face. "This thing doesn't happen to involve a girl, does it?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered, already walking away and leaving Naruto to his antics, "it does involve a girl. We're going to run away together and get married. And, you won't be invited to the wedding." A sudden image of Sakura in a slender elegant white wedding dress popped into his head. He shook it off instantly.

"And, she even gave you a sense of humor," Naruto gasped dramatically, "I have to meet this chick. What other miracles can she do? Maybe, she can give me an awesome superpower. Not that my current powers aren't awesome, but, it's just that… "

As Sasuke headed into town, Naruto's voice faded and the traffic noise filled his ears. The logical place to start his search would be the hospital. And, so, he headed there. He figured he could pretend to want to help with the festival that she was helping to plan, which wouldn't be a bad idea. He had been back in the village for over two years and had yet to win back the trust of the locals. So, this could be an opportunity to get in touch with his philanthropist side and help his community. And, if he got to be in the presence of the rosette on a daily basis for over two months… let's just say that he wasn't one to complain.

As he got inside the hospital, he pretended not to notice the members of the staff pausing in their way to look at him and then quickly look away and whispering among themselves. Whether it was out of fear or curiosity, he didn't know and frankly didn't care. At the nurses' station, he found a young blond woman. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened. But, she quickly recovered and put on what Sasuke assumed to be her most flirtatious smile. Oh great, a fangirl. He resisted the urge to rub his temples.

"How can I help you?" she said in a husky voice, all but shoving her cleavage in his face.

"I'm looking Dr. Sakura Haruno."

"Oh, she's not here," the woman frowned a little. "She took a two week leave three days ago. She didn't tell you? That's not very considerate, letting her handsome teammate worried. I would never do that." She added leaning over the counter.

"Yes, I'm sure you won't," he agreed trying really hard not to lean back and cover his nose. She must have been wearing two gallons of perfume. "Do you happen to know where I can find her?"

"I heard she was doing some renovations in her house. I can come with you if you want."

"No," he said as he turned on his heels and left the hospital.

So, she had lied to them and to the hospital staff. Just what was she hiding?

Sasuke reached for the bell next to the brown door in front of him and rang it. He had only been to Sakura's place a few times. Mostly, when he needed a slight patching up and he didn't want to go to the hospital or on those rare occasions when Naruto nagged him into going to a party there. But, from what he recalled it wasn't very big, but, it was nice, cozy. He had been expecting to find Sakura at home sick or to not find her at home at all. What he did not expect however was for a shirtless man to open the door and two other strange man just hanging around Sakura's house.

Sakura, slumped on the couch, watched as Akira answered the door. She watched as he was thrown across the living room and into the wall where her family photos hung. And, she watched as a certain raging Uchiha stormed into the house.

Her two other bodyguards, twin brothers called Daichi and Daiki, tensed and pulled out their weapons. But, she just waved them off. She waited for the rest of her old team to barge in, and, when they didn't, she sighed in both relief and disappointment.

As if hearing her soft sigh, he turned in her direction and froze. She could see his –very broad, well-muscled- chest expand as he drew in a quick breath in what she knew must be horror or revulsion. She patted her messy hair self-consciously. She knew she looked like death warmed over. But, he could have at least not been so obvious about it.

He turned eyes that had gone Sharingan red on the twins.

"Who are you?" he asked his voice going soft, a sure sign that he was angry, extremely angry. When the twins didn't answer him, a tic developed just above his right eye.

"I said" he repeated in an even softer voice, "who are you?"

Alright, she sensed a fight coming and she really didn't want to clean blood from her carpet…again. So, she sat up straight on the couch and answered for them, "They're here to protect me."

His eyes narrowed on her. "Explain," he ordered. She wasn't appreciating his authoritarian tone.

"I can't," she replied, finding satisfaction in telling the truth and seeing his eyes narrow further. Could he even see with his eyes like that?

"Why?"

"Mission related," was all the explanation she offered.

She expected him to try to pry the truth out of her and make her admit what had happened. She needed him to force her to confide in him even though she knew that she couldn't. She needed to tell someone familiar, anyone that she knew, even an emotionally constipated one, about what was going on. But, he just turned around and left slamming the door on his way out.

She knew better than to hope that he'd stay. But, she thought that, at least, curiosity would get the better of him, that his stubborn nature would kick in and he'd not leave until he got her to spill all the sordid details. Sadly, though, he didn't seem to care enough even to do that.

She let her back hit the couch. Then, she turned her head to Akira to see him picking up the frames that fell on the floor and hanging them back on the wall.

"I'm sorry about that," she said with a grimace. Sasuke had hit him so hard that there was now a small fissure on the wall, "do you need me to heal you? It's the least I can do."

"No, it's alright. Us ANBUs are made of tougher stuff. Besides, you need to conserve your strength for the trip to come. You can't really afford to lose your chakra at this point." Or you'll die, what the part that he left out.

Thirty minutes later, just when she was about to get her first wink of sleep in three days, her front door was thrown open again and in walked Sasuke. If this kept happening, she was going to need a new door by the end of the week. Maybe she'd get a titanium-reinforced one. Her thoughts of replacing her door quickly vanished as she saw the file he carried under his armpit, the file that said she only had a few weeks to live

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Dum dum dum duuuuuum

Hope you enjoyed that. It was a bit rushed, sorry.

So… review? Oh, and, if you caught any mistakes tell me so I can edit, please.

Peace-out