So...long time no see guys! I'm so sorry, it's been forever since I posted, but I've always been thinking about the story! I finally managed to finish the next chapter (I was writing literally a sentence a week for the past bit), and here tis'. Please forgive any spelling mistakes, as I just wanted to get it up (because otherwise I'll keep picking at it until I die and then no one will read it). Let me know what you think, and as always, I invite constructive criticism in reviews. :-) Love you guys!

Chapter 20 : Worry

To be clear, Sakura was not pacing.

"Fine," Kakashi quipped, "then we'll say you're wearing a hole in the floor because it's done something evil, and deserves it."

"Sure," Sakura turned again, only half-listening as she walked the length of her room once more.

Fifteen steps North, and turn.

Fifteen steps South, turn again.

Repeat until exhaustion or medical staff threatens sedation.

"What in the ever-loving Hell?!" A voice said from the doorway.

And there we go…Sakura rolled her eyes.

"She's just stretching her legs, nurse," Kakashi explained. He sure didn't miss a beat.

Sakura knew who the medic at the door was. The chakra signature on approach alone just screamed Hyuga. The colorful use of expletives merely confirmed her suspicions that it was the youngest, and now sole Hyuga heiress.

Sole…just one…Sakura rubbed at the ache slowly blossoming in her chest and closed her eyes, hoping it would pass.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Hinabi hissed. Clearly she'd noted the remains of the restraints still attached to Sakura's wrists. One end of the cuffs propped open by what appeared to be a toothpick from a sandwich. Sakura was pretty sure this would be the last time they let her order whatever she wanted for lunch.

"Bed, Haruno, now." She spat, grinding out Sakura's name from behind perfectly white, clenched, teeth.

So, she really does hate me…Sakura frowned, ignoring Hinabi's command as she walked down the length of the room once more only to turn again.

"Why did you let her get up! This is what you were here to prevent!" Hinabi snapped towards the grey haired Ninja. The man was casually relaxing against the side of Sakura's hospitable bed with one of those infamous orange books in his hand, pausing long enough to dog-ear a page and slip back it into his vest with a great deal more aplomb than should have been possible at that moment. It felt like the equivalent to a girl taking off her earrings before a fight.

"Hinabi-chan," Kakashi's voice took on that humorless tone he'd often used with Sakura when she was being difficult. He used it now whenever he thought she was being very "un-kunoichi-y", whatever the hell that meant.

"Haruno-san has been cleared for light exercise by the Hokage herself," Kakashi stated, very matter-of-fact.

Hinabi's expression grew stiff and cold, and Sakura could feel a sudden tension manifesting in the room around her. She thought, perhaps, that it was better she stayed facing the wall, away from the tension at the moment, just in case something happened that she would be forced to deny witnessing later. Besides, she had a long, internal to-do list to check, and Ichi and Ni were…unavailable for comment. One head left to do the plotting of three. She'd have to triple-check everything.

Ino's thesis had only confirmed Sakura's initial suspicions about the dark, mountain blooms and their role in the black-blossum powder currently causing a good deal of Sakura's personal health issues. Sakura knew there was more to it than the flowers. More, at least, than could be blamed on a simple, biological mutation. There was something she was missing. Something big that was staring her in the face, but that she just couldn't seem to put her finger on quite yet.

Could really use that genius of yours just now, Nara…Sakura closed her eyes, wishing he could hear her. She'd give anything to hear his voice right now, or even to have a single word of news or information as to where he was, and how he was doing. There'd been no ransom demands, and nothing dismembered left at the gate–so Sakura was still allowing herself a small glimmer of unrealistic hope that all of this was just a another nightmare. One she would either wake up from. Either that, or one she would hunt down and quarter (alive) using barbed-wire.

"—it's unprofessional!" Hinabi's yell drew Sakura's thoughts back to the moment. Sakura turned, eyeing both her former teacher and Hinabi as they stood toe to toe beside her hospital bed glaring each other down.

Sakura scoffed. Who was supposed to be taking care of whom here? Time to end this tug-of-war.

"Look," She spat, "if you're gonna kiss, just do it already, cuz' this beat around the bush shit is getting really old."

That seemed to do the trick. Ibiki had taught her many tactics for diffusing emotional situations, and even a few for redirecting said energy towards more productive outlets (and even some not-so-productive ones). Personally, Sakura preferred the seamless versatility of more general anti-social behaviors like avoidance, but point-blank-rudeness would work in a pinch. There would be no avoidance here. Not with twenty-four hour Anbu guard, and no explanation as to why she was being held.

The tension in the room quickly drained, bleeding out into an awkward sort of embarrassment evident only by the sudden paleness of both guilty parties. Hanabi in particular, seemed a bit flustered.

Might've hit a nerve there…Sakura hummed thoughtfully, but still couldn't keep from smiling.

"That's it," Hanabi threw her hands up in the air in disgust, "I'm putting a stop to this, now."

Sakura turned, looking at Kakashi for some sort of backup. The old man merely shrugged, leaning back against the hospital bed like he was settling in for a long, lazy, afternoon. Sakura sent him a glare that was just as sharp as the senbon Ino had snuck in and hidden under her mattress the night before. In fact, Sakura might even throw it at him when his back was turned later. Would serve the traitor right. Even if he did refuse to spar with her for weeks afterwards. He was prone to pouting, but could only stay mad for so long. Sakura always wore him down eventually.

"Sit," Hanabi pointed to a chair by the window, giving Sakura a pointed look that pretty much promised some sort of pharmaceutical intervention if she didn't comply. Right. Now.

Sakura's frown turned into a deep seated scowl as she sat, crossing her arms and legs in a clear sign that she was not happy about this. Hanabi had all of the no-nonsense bearing of an interrogation officer, and damn if Sakura didn't think she might've been better suited for that than Healthcare. Not that there was much difference in tactics. One just had a little more access to drugs than the other.

Hanabi took the chair opposite, opening up a folder she had fastened to the back of a clipboard Sakura hadn't noticed before. Sakura raised an eyebrow. She didn't like the look of that.

Hanabi took a sheet of paper from the folder and held it up for Sakura to see. Whoever's idea it was it to train the littlest Hyuga in psychotherapy–of all things, she was going to find them. She was going to hunt them down, and show them all the delightful ways she could cause physical injury with a single piece of plain, white, printer paper. It might make them stop and think twice about who they sent to give Sakura a psych eval.

"You're kidding, right?" Sakura scowled. Hanabi's stony expression made it very clear that she most certainly wasn't kidding.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura sighed and answered the unspoken question presented by the large blot of ink taking up most of the page.

"A bunny," She answered.

"No," Hanabi replied tersely.

"A reindeer," Sakura shot back.

"No," Hanabi's patience was wearing thin already, which was surprising. Only thirty-seconds in, and Sakura hadn't even begun to mess with her yet.

"A butterfly–"

"Seriously?" Hanabi dropped the ink blot back into her lap and looked at Sakura with a mixture of incredulity and absolute fury.

Sakura, shrugged, glancing over her shoulder at Kakashi, who made a motion that suggested she elaborate on her answer, perhaps.

Sakura turned back to Hanabi.

"A dark, angsty, butterfly?" Sakura tried. Hanabi rolled her eyes.

"Now you're just messing with me," she scoffed. Sakura smirked.

"Oh, no, I was messing with you way before this."

"God, what I wouldn't give to sedate you right now," Hanabi groaned, running a frustrated hand down and over her eyes.

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to bring roarshark into this," Sakura quipped. Hanabi looked up, glaring at Sakura with a more potent agitation that Sakura was used to seeing on the formerly calm little Hygua face.

"Is that really how you see things? If someone chooses to interact with you, that's an open invitation to mess with them?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered without looking away from his book. Hanabi looked from Kakashi to Sakura, an unsettling expression of understanding on her face.

"That's demented." Hanabi spat. Sakura merely shrugged.

"Put it in the file, doc."

Sakura had thought she'd seen all three of the expression the Hygua clan could sport, but this one that Hanabi was wearing was entirely new. Apparently, there were four somewhat emotional expressions possible in that clan. This one was an odd mix of humanizing disappointment and bitter regret, as though Hanabi were watching someone she hated living out a life she'd wanted for herself. Sakura knew the sentiment. She'd been on the receiving end of that look for years, but it never really seemed to touch her until Hanabi did it.

"You gave up on me," Hanabi said, suddenly. Sakura raised an eyebrow. This was, officially, no longer about her own mental health (or any effort to prove a lack there-of). This was about Hanabi. Sure, it was also about Sakura, but it was more about how Hanabi felt about Sakura.

Kakashi tried blending himself in with the environment, though anyone with half-a-brain knew he was pretending to be a curtain in the corner. The print was upside down, so clearly, he wasn't going for complete realism.

"What?" Sakura exclaimed, surprised this was coming up now. Why today? Sakura had been in the hospital for two weeks now, and Hanabi had been given plenty of opportunity to blow-up at her in that time frame when it was just the two of them. Sakura guessed that Hanabi, much like anyone, had just hit her boiling point. The kettle was whistling now.

"You disappeared," Hanabi continued, "–just up and left like we were nothing. I didn't even see you at the funera-"

"I was there," Sakura interuptted. She searched for the words that Hinata had used, all those years ago, when Sakura was still dealing with the loss of her parents. She was drawing a blank at the moment.

She didn't know how to describe it, the pain that followed in Hinata and Kiba's deaths was the sort of thing you couldn't put to words. Returning to the Hygua compound, where Sakura had formerly spent so much of her time in adolescence, had seemed like salt in a still very open wound. She couldn't face Hiashi, not with his calculating stare and cold white eyes refusing to exclaim what he was thinking. She certainly couldn't face Hinabi, who looked like a small, miniature ghost of her dearly departed older sister. Sakura couldn't control her aversion to their white eyes and stoic calm, nor could she admit that most of her nightmares were filled with images of a beloved friend staring at her with empty-eye sockets and a bloody face.

"I just…couldn't," Sakura answered finally.

"Do you even know what it was like to be there, to go through that, without you?" Hanabi replied, "I lost two sisters that day."

Sakura hadn't expected to hear that. Proclamations of anger and hatred, yeah, but Hanabi admitting Sakura had been like a sister to her?

"I'm…" Sakura stammered, tripping over her words for the first time in a while, "I'm sorry. I'm…so…incredibly, sorry." She didn't know what else to say. She hadn't felt a need to apologize, or even explain herself in such a long time that it was like trying to relearn an old language she'd once spoken fluently, now forgotten.

Hanabi was quiet, her eyes damp with what might've been the start of tears before she deftly swiped them away with the cuff of her shirt. She looked out the window beside them.

"Father was never mad at you," Hanabi croaked, not looking at her, "–not like you think he was, anyways."

Hanabi looked down at her hands, now playing with the strands of her hair that had wrested themselves free of her waist-long, tightly-bound, conservative, braid.

Sakura swallowed, looking down at the floor as her mind tried to catch up. She was choking on a mass of unfinished mourning that was threatening to flood the entire room. She hadn't ever really finished mourning, she supposed, not like everyone else. No, instead she'd bottled it up and put it on a shelf, tried to forget about it as she threw herself into work and anything else that would give her some sort of purpose again.

"Look," Hanabi said lowly, "I'm not saying everything is water under the bridge or anything," She sniffed, "–all I'm saying is…missed you."

Sakura looked up at Hanabi, a small smile forming in the corner of her mouth.

"I missed you too, Hanabi."

—-

"They'd be proud of you, you know," Kakashi said quietly from his perch by the window. Sakura, now back in bed, turned her head to look at him, curiously.

"Naruto and Sasuke," Kakashi clarified, making Sakura go still. Kakashi smiled at her with a slight sort of melancholy.

"Naruto in particular, I think, would be very proud of you," He chuckled. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this.

"Sure," She scoffed, "because nothing says success like alienating friends and getting yourself on guarded lockdown in a hospital."

Kakashi smirked.

"I dunno," He said, "I think Naruto would've thought that to be pretty cool. Sasuke would've respected it on the simple principle of being powerful enough to earn that sort of lockdown."

Sakura nodded with a little smile.

"Maybe," She said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, "–we'll never know though, will we?"

Knock-knock. It was the door.

Kakashi didn't turn from the window, so Sakura could only assume the visitor was another Anbu. Kakashi didn't give his back to just anyone.

Sakura kept her eyes closed, the headache she'd had after Hanabi's earlier visit was starting to fade now and she was trying to give it that last little extra push to move itself along.

"Kakashi-Sensei," A soft, familiar monotone said quite clearly.

Sakura's eyes snapped open at the sound. She'd know that voice anywhere, though it'd been almost two or three years since she'd actually heard it. Turning towards the doorway Sakura was happy to see her suspicions were correct.

"Sai," She found herself smiling before she even knew what was happening.

"Hello, Sakura-chan." Sai smiled, but it wasn't his usual grinning mask of politeness. This smile was a bit sad, a bit happy, and also a bit nervous. Did he think she was going to kick him out?

Kakashi had disappeared before Sakura could even turn her head back to the window sill to see it empty. He was getting rather good at making himself scarce.

"So," Sakura croaked, staring at her long absent friend and team-mate.

Sai smirked. If Sakura hadn't known any better, she'd say he almost looked mischievous.

"I do not know how to 'sew'," He said blankly, "perhaps you could teach me sometime?"

It took Sakura a full minute to figure out what the Hell he was even talking about, and once she did, she was laughing too hard to ever manage a reply.

Please read and review!