AN: Oi, sorry for the long wait. I wasn't exactly in the mood to write this thing. I actually might discontinue it. I need a better reason than I don't feel like it, so I'll tell you. It's going nowhere. ::Smacks forehead:: Ah well, I guess I'll continue up until it really does get to nowhere… However I do have an idea of where it might go… This chapter will lead the way I guess. Maybe I'll get back on track and get this thing finished.

Chapter 16: Confusion.

Sakura blinked a couple of times to really register what was going on. 'Sasuke. Is. On. Top. Of. Me.' She had the sudden urge to feel his forehead to see if he was sick. 'Just what is he doing?!' He wasn't moving and she was starting to feel a little worried. "Sasuke-kun?" she said in a raspy voice. He was staring at her. 'Did he just move closer?'

Sasuke felt paralyzed. 'Move… move!' This felt like the Orochimaru incident, only worse and somehow the intent to kill seemed a lot better. 'Move now…' His head moved a little closer to hers. 'No not that way!' Inwardly, he really felt that he should, however it would be very inappropriate, considering the circumstances. 'Her mom just died…' He noticed streaks of dried tears were apparent on her face and sighed.

"Sasuke-kun…" She whispered again and slowly got up.

"Sakura-chan!!!" Naruto yelled as he opened the hospital door, ran to her bedside and pushed Sasuke out of the way. Sakura gaped in shock. "Gomen Sakura-chan! We ran into Kakashi sensei and then we found your mom and then-…" He blinked and looked at the two. Kakashi and Jiraya calmly walked into the room, but stopped dead in their tracks at what they saw.

Naruto pushed Sasuke into Sakura, which caused her to fall back on the bed, but with an odd twist, he landed on her chest. A loud shriek came from her. Both Sasuke and Naruto removed themselves and stepped a good three feet away from her. She folded her arms over her chest and scanned the room. Sasuke had a small tint of red on his face. Naruto looked irritated. Kakashi looked dull and Jiraya looked like he was in a serious mood.

"What are you guys…" she didn't finish her question. Kakashi approached her.

"Sakura, I saw what happened to your mother. I need to ask you something." He got to the subject immediatly. All heads turned toward him. "Perhaps you know what happened to your mother." She gave him a weird look.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Did you kill her?"

"What?!" everyone gaped at him. "Where did you get that theory from?!" Three pairs of angry eyes landed on him, excluding Jiraya's.

"What are you getting at Kakashi?" Jiraya questioned.

"When I studied the body I noticed the wounds were made from the inside out… however judging by the amount of blood, the body must've been slaughtered right after I-…"

Sakura thought about it for a while. "You mean by poison? But-but Sensei, I didn't do anything…" Sasuke nodded.

"She was with me…" A slight blush crept onto his cheeks. He looked away. They all turned surprisingly at him. He shrugged. "Well, it's the truth."

"But the poison could've been done at anytime before, at least three hours. I don't know for sure Sakura, until then you're a suspect despite what you claim. You're a smart person, you have the knowledge to create some kind of venom like that." Kakashi stated. Jiraya had an uncomfortable look on his face. Naruto had a hand under his chin, with narrow eyes. "Sakura, where were you before that?"

"I was in the forest. I'm always in the forest." She looked away. 'This can't be happening…' She thought about the situation and where this was going. "But no one's ever around when I'm there…" Kakashi shook his head.

"That's not good enough. I'm sorry." His tone sound strained. Sasuke's fists clenched tightly. 'This is not good.'

"Sakura-chan couldn't have done it! She's too nice." Naruto stepped up. Kakashi looked at him with a dull eye.

"Not with the attitude she's been giving us." Sakura gaped at him and so did everyone else. She ran both hands through her hair. 'Oh my god… This isn't right! I didn't kill her! I didn't!' Tears blurred up her vision. 'Everything points to me… why?'

"I swear I didn't! I wouldn't!" She screamed.

"Sakura, I've heard around town you've been having a hard time with your mother, you snap at her a lot, maybe you were upset and, don't get me wrong, no one would blame you…" Jiraya reasoned.

"How could you all say that?! I wouldn't!" Tears fell from her eyes. Naruto and Sasuke looked at her with concern.

"Sakura you-…" Kakashi began.

"That's enough!" Sasuke yelled. They looked at him with surprise again. For some reason, he knew Sakura was innocent. It was a gut feeling. Naruto nodded.

"You don't have solid proof, just conclusions. We can't determine anything until-…"

"We don't have a choice Naruto." Jiraya interrupted. "She's the only suspect we have, no one has any connection with Mrs. Haruno accept for Sakura. She doesn't have a believable alibi and she had a rocky relationship with her mother…" He sighed. "As much as I don't want to believe it… Sakura, you're the only one that could be responsible for your mother's murder." Kakashi nodded.

"What if Mrs. Haruno poisoned herself?" Naruto implied.

"Doubtful. She had no implications of suicide that anyone knew of, and the slaughtering of her body had to be done by someone else. You really can't expect a nearly dead woman to hack herself up now do you?!" Jiraya retorted. Kakashi sighed.

"I'm sorry Sakura. Just answer the question, did you kill your mother?"

"No." She stated dully. Everyone sighed. "What? Do you all think I'm in denial? I think I would know if I killed her or not." Kakashi shook his head at his former pupil.

"This needs to be discussed with Tsunade. Until then, stay put, and somewhere we could find you." She nodded and looked away. The two older men walked out of the room, leaving Naruto and Sasuke with her.

"Sakura-chan, you really didn't do it did you?" Naruto asked in a softer tone. She glared at him.

"I'm not a murderer, I'm not!" She banged her fists on the bed. They both glanced at her with concern.

"Ok, Ok! I get it. I believe you." Naruto said quickly.

"You sure don't seem like you do. Why would you question me?" She ran a hand through her hair.

"Gomen Sakura-chan. I just wanted to make sure." She snarled. Inwardly, Naruto still had his doubts. All the reasons just pointed to her. However she was a good friend, he would stay by her side.

"Sasuke-kun?" She turned her head toward him tear stained face and all. He desperately wanted to look away. "You believe me right?"

'Of course I do, I was there.' He meant he was with her when they were in the forest, for a little bit anyway, and he was there when she found her mother. Judging from her reaction when she saw the sight, he was quite sure. That and his instincts kept telling him so, or was it because he didn't want to believe she did it. He didn't know. He kept his mouth shut.

Sakura had a pained look on her face. 'Everything's all wrong! No one believes me…' She ran a hand through her hair and the tears began to fall from her eyes again. Sasuke watched painfully from the side as she sobbed, he couldn't take it, especially since he was so deep in thought about the situation. He gave a small apologetic glance at Sakura, which went unnoticed, and left the room.

The sound of the door clicking caused her to snap her head up. 'He left…' "Sakura-chan, it's late. I have to go, I'll walk you home if you-…" She glared at Naruto. "Oh yeah. Gomen. So you're staying the night here at the hospital?" She nodded. "Good night then Sakura-chan." She waved good-bye and laid down on the bed with her eyes closed. When Naruto left she opened her eyes again. 'Who could've done this? Why?!' She put herself in a fetal position. 'No one believes me…I'm all alone again.'

"She's still in that meeting with Kazekage." Kankurou addressed from in front of the door. "I don't think they're going to be done for a while." Kakashi and Jiraya nodded. The two of them turned around and went to a different area of the building.

"I guess we'll wait then." Jiraya said tiredly. "It's been almost six hours, how long could those two meet for? I get sick of her after two minutes." He said jokingly. Kakashi smiled. Jiraya changed the subject. "Do you really think she did it?" The jounin looked at him. "Sakura, do you think she did it?"

Kakashi sighed. "As much as I don't want to believe it, all the fingers seem to point to her. She's the only one that-…"

"Yeah, yeah, we've talked about this already. Do you think she did it or not?"

"No. I think she's innocent, however it doesn't matter what I suppose. I don't have a good enough reason, and I could be wrong in my belief." Jiraya nodded.

"So what do we do?" Kakashi shrugged.

"There isn't much we could do for now… Honestly, I have no idea." Kakashi closed his eyes and remembered Mrs. Haruno's body. 'The poison from the inside could've been consumed at anytime... however Sakura doesn't have heart to hack up her nother's body like that does she? Did she really do it?'

"If you think too much about it-..." Jiraya's voice interrupted, "You'll get nowhere. You'll just keep questioning yourself..." Kakashi gave a small nod and a smile.

"Don't worry about me, I'm wondering about Sasuke and Naruto." He changed the subject. "They both will remain on her side, or Naruto will anyway. Sasuke... it's funny. I've known him for all these years, but I've never been able to read what's going on in his mind when it comes to Sakura." Jiraya raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't know about the boy either. He seemed angry anough when we pushed the subject... maybe he's overprotective of the girl." He grinned cheekily. "Wouldn't that be interesting."

"The tables have turned huh? Sakura used to be posessive of him... I wonder if she still is. She hasn't been all that annoying around Sasuke anymore. Perhaps he misses that sort of attention." Kakashi laughed. "Then again, Sasuke will always be Sasuke... he won't understand, and he'll be too stubborn to admit it."

"Admit what?" Jiraya asked curiously.

"He has a soft spot for Sakura despite how much he shrugs it off. As difficult as the situation is, I wonder how the two of them will come out after this..." Jiraya nodded.

"And what if she's convicted for the murder?" Kakashi remained silent. "For a massacre like that the punishment is... death. Isn't it Kakashi?" The jounin looked away.

TBC…

AN: I'm sorry for the long wait on this one! It's been a while ne? Ah well, I got it out finally. I have no idea if I'll discontinue it. Do you think I should? The reason is stated above. It's going nowhere. Ahh, poo. ::sigh:: Hope you liked it, and yeah.... --