Sasuke surfaced slowly from the thick blackness in which he had been suspended for the past few hours. He opened his' eyes and waited for his' surroundings to come into focus. He was lying on a soft bed in a dark room. A single candle illuminated a small part of the room. He could here soft breathing, and knew that someone else was in the room with him. It was too dark to see. "Who's there?" He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Hello Sasuke." Replied a familiar voice.

"Naruto…is that you?" He croaked. Why did his' voice sound so strange?

Naruto moved into the dim light. "Yes, it's me."

"What happened?"

"You showed up half dead at my' apartment." Naruto told him. "You blacked out and as the Fifth Hokage was out of town, we brought you to Sakura."

Sasuke was confused. "Why Sakura?"

"You would have died if you hadn't gotten immediate medical care. Sakura was the only person, besides the Fifth Hokage, with enough medical knowledge to save you." He responded.

Sasuke looked around. "Where are we?"

"Sakura's home," was Naruto's reply.

"But this isn't the Hurano home." Sasuke countered.

Naruto shook his' head. "No, Sakura has been living with the Fifth Hokage for the last two and a half years."

"Why…did something happen to her' family?"

"No, the Hokage offered to take Sakura on as an apprentice and continue her' training."

Sasuke was surprised. Of all people why would the Hokage want to train Sakura? He wondered. She isn't anything special…She's always been pretty weak.

Naruto stood and walked over to the door. "You should try to get some more sleep," He said. "I'm right outside if you need and Sakura's in her' room."

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto closed the door behind him. Sasuke clay back and closed his' eyes, but he did not fall asleep right away. Soooo…it was Sakura who healed me, and kept me from dying. That must mean she's not terribly mad at me for leaving her. What am I thinking! Sakura is never mad at me. She'll probably be in here any minute gushing and sobbing hysterically. Sasuke rolled his' eyes. But why hasn't she been in here already? The answer came to him. Naruto probably didn't let her in; for fear that she would go crazy and jump on me, or something. He mused. Then, he slipped back to sleep.

~ * ~

Sasuke stayed in bed for about a week. During that time, he never caught so much as a single glimpse of Sakura. It was Naruto who brought him his' food, it was Naruto who attempted to entertain him, and it was Naruto who gave him his' medicine.

Sasuke wondered about Sakura but chose not to ask Naruto. He also wondered about Ino and his' other fan girls. Surely the minute they heard he was back they would all come rushing over to see him. It was true that actions like this had always annoyed Sasuke, but he had grown somewhat used to it, and he found it strange that he had not seen even one girl since his' return to Konoha.

On the first day he was allowed out of the apartment, Sasuke and Naruto visited the training grounds.

As they approached, the sounds of two people sparing met their' ears. Rounding the bend they saw two figures: one Sasuke recognized as Tenten, Rock Lee's teammate, and a pupil of Kakashi's supposed rival, Guy Sensei. The other was also a girl, but she wore a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled low over her' face, and Sasuke was unable to identify her.

Naruto left Sasuke sitting comfortably beneath the shade of a large oak tree, while he went to greet his' friends.

The two opponents, neither of which had taken notice of the boy's arrival, continued their' spar.

Tenten threw several Kunai at the hooded girl, but the moment they left her' hand she was forced to duck as several shuriken flew over her'.

The hooded girl deflected all of Tenten's kunai, and charged at the brunet. But instead of delivering a hit' as Sasuke expected her' to do, the hooded girl created nine clones, the ten of them forming a moving circle around Tenten. They picked up their' speed, until they were a black blur.

Tenten threw a Kunai and hit one of the clones. Poof! It disappeared into thin air. Tenten hit another and then another, continuing in this pattern until there was only one left. Tenten drew back her' arm and hurled the Kunai at the Hooded girl. Poof! The girl disappeared.

Tenten drew back in surprise. "Another clone?!" she gasped. "But then where-"

Tenten was unable to complete her' question, for at that moment the hooded Kunoichi appeared out of nowhere right in front of her. Before Tenten had a chance even to think, the hooded girl's hands fluttered into a sign that Sasuke didn't recognize.

Suddenly something weird began to happen. A strange black fog (or at least that was the best way that Sasuke could describe it) seeped out from the folded hands of the hooded girl and surrounded Tenten. It grew thicker and thicker until it completely enshrouded Tenten. (All this takes some time to explain but in reality, the whole process took less time than it takes to blink an eye.)

Sasuke could hear sounds of struggling coming from the strange black mass. Suddenly the black fog began to lift and seep back into the folded hands of the hooded girl. When it cleared, Sasuke saw that Tenten lay motionless on the ground.

The hooded girl leaned down and placed her' fingers to Tenten's temples. She whispered something and her' hands began to glow a soft green color.

A moment later Tenten opened her' eyes and sat up. "Whew!" she exclaimed. "You're essentially impossible to defeat when you use that jutsu." She told the girl.

The kunoichi helped Tenten to her' feet and then pulled back her' hood.

Sasuke was shocked. The girl had hair the color of bubblegum! Sakura?!!!!

Sakura turned she noticed Sasuke for the first time. She stiffened noticeably and her' eyes became cold and completely void of any and all emotion.

Her' reaction surprised Sasuke. "Hello Sakura." He greeted her.

Sakura nodded stiffly. "Sasuke." Was her' only reply.

The fact that she had left out her' usual "Kun" ending to his' name surprised Sasuke.

The other shinobi wisely vacated the training grounds to afford them some privacy.

"It's been a long time." Sasuke said. He was finding her' silence to be a little disturbing.

There was no reply from the pink haired kunoichi.

"How have you been?"

She shrugged. "Fine." She did not give any details, nor did she inquire as to his' own life.

Sasuke tried to think of something to say. This is a switch! He thought. It used to be that she couldn't get me to talk, not the other way around. Ironic…

"That was an impressive spar. You've gotten much stronger than the last time I saw you." That should do the trick. He recalled how in the past when he'd given Sakura even the slightest ghost of a compliment; she had not been able to stop smiling.

But to Sasuke's surprise, Sakura's face did not change in the least. She nodded and said, "Thank you." But her' voice was like ice.

"Ummm…soooo…What was that jutsu you used on Tenten?" This is ridiculous! He thought. How can it be so hard to get Sakura to talk to me? Before I left she would never shut up, and now…Wait! Why am I even trying to get her to talk to me? I am making absolutely no sense.

Sakura sighed. "It's called Darkness of the Frozen Death." She replied.

He shot her' a questioning look.

"It surrounds and penetrates the target, causing them to freeze to death almost instantly." She explained.

Sasuke nodded. "Interesting…I've never heard of that jutsu before."

Sakura nodded. "Well…bye." She began to walk away.

"Hey wait." Sasuke called.

She halted, still facing away. "Nani?" her' voice sounded slightly irritated.

Sasuke paused. He hated to have to ask anyone for help, but having to ask Sakura…well that was really embarrassing."

"Uuuhhh…well…" he took a deep breath. "Naruto's gone as you can see, and I can't get back to your' apartment on my' own so…would…would you help me?"

Sakura sighed. "That knucklehead! He's probably gone to the ramen shop and completely forgot that he's supposed to be taking care of you." She growled.

"Some things never change." Sasuke remarked.

"Maybe so, but I think it's better to always be able to know how someone is going to act, rather than never knowing what a person is going to do next, and never being able to trust him." She commented pointedly.

Sasuke knew she was talking about him. He looked at her. "Sakura, it's been three years. Are you still mad at me?"

Sakura looked away. "You're still mad at your' brother. How many years has that been?"

"That's different."

"It's much the same in many ways. You trusted your' brother as I trusted you. Your' brother betrayed you and left you all alone, just as you betrayed and left me." She looked back up at him, and he saw that her' eyes were ablaze with anger. "You hated your' brother and killed him for what he did. I think I've the right to at least be mad at you for what you did."

Now Sasuke was getting mad. "I left you, I didn't kill your' family."

She turned to glare at him. "Which is why I didn't kill you."

"You must still have some feelings for me." He pointed out. "After all, if you hated me completely, you wouldn't have saved me."

"I assure you that, had my' feelings for you been the only thing to affect my' decision, you would be dead now." Sakura replied icily. "I did it for Naruto, he practically begged me. I don't know about you, but I find him difficult to refuse when he gets like that. If you're going to thank anyone, thank him."

"I'll be sure to do that!" Sasuke retorted as she helped him to his' feet. This whole "fighting with someone while you're depending on that person to help you" thing was really driving him crazy. "I guess I should have expected it, everyone I think I can trust betrays me."

"Oh you're just pathetic!" Sakura exclaimed. "I betrayed you?! Who knocked whom out? And who left whom alone on a cold stone bench in the middle of the park at night? Who called whom weak and useless? Who left whom without a word for three years, and then shows up out of the blue expecting his' old teammates to help him? Who used whom Sasuke?! It certainly wasn't me."

Her' voice lowered to just above a whisper. "Which of us was always trying to help the other one, was always willing to give everything for the other one?" she turned to look at him, and he saw the pain in her' eyes. "Which of us really, truly cared about the other one?" she asked

He didn't reply, and she turned away saying. "It certainly wasn't you."

Neither of them said anything for a long time. Sakura because she had made her' point, and now had nothing left to say. And Sasuke because he knew she was right; he had used her for his own purposes, and then dropped her when he' decided that she was in his' way, without ever thinking about what it would do to her.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of heavy silence, Sakura said, "Come on, let's get back."

Sasuke hadn't planned on being out all afternoon, and the exertion had taken its' toll on him. He was forced (much to his mortification) to lean heavily on Sakura the entire way home. Sakura didn't complain, even when he stumbled and caused both of them to do a face plant in the street. She just stood up and helped him to his' feet with out a word.

They didn't say a single word to one another the entire way back.

Hey!

What did you guys think of this Chappie? I'll try to update soon!

Everyone who reveiws will get chocolate chip cookies! (Constructive criticism only please.)

-MidnightAnimeAngel