She was running out of breath, out of strength, out of time. She cursed as another boulder came hurling toward her over her shoulder. If only she had focused more instead of thought of different things, she wouldn't be in this situation.

"Naruto!" she screamed, looking frantically around for the blonde-haired kyuubi vessel. When the people attacked from all angles, they had been separated. It was one thing she feared more than anything else.

Isolation.

It was one thing for Sakura to be isolated from the group, another to be isolated from Naruto. They had been each other's support when no one else was there. And now it was gone. Sakura was afraid it may be gone forever if they didn't find each other again soon.

It had been the average S-ranked mission for the group of elite ANBU. Go find the Missing-nin just within the fire border and hold off his armies. Tsunde promised back-up for them after they shot off a report.

They wouldn't last the week. No report had been sent back to Tsunade, no back-up would be coming to help them survive the ambush. And that's what it was. They had been tricked into an attack by the Akatsuki and Orochimaru near Sound.

"Naruto!" she screamed again, running as some of the cliff started to cascade down right where she was standing. She'd have to be careful before she was killed.

Ironic. Just the week before she had been saying how the Akatsuki were getting sparse in attacks, and gentler when they did attack. There was nothing gentle about this attack. Nothing that would make her feel safe.

"Sakura!" she heard off in the distance, behind her. Sai! She forgot all about him and the others. Making a decision, she back-tracked to where the sound of his voice was coming from. "Sakura, help! Please!" That was it. She knew they were in trouble by the way her cousin said please.

Yes, her cousin. As the years went by, and the brainwashing lessened its hold, he started to remember more, and more about her. They had lived together after his parents died, and one day he just disappeared. Sakura had forgotten until then--the hours she and her brother had spent looking for Sai.

"Sai!" she screamed as an Akatsuki came right at her.

Bracing herself, she brought her fist back and punched the man so hard she heard more than saw his skull shatter and his head explode into a garish heap. She didn't care. She wouldn't care about anything until she was sure everyone was safe.

Sakura, report!" Neji yelled, huffing, to her side, making her whiz to see him and Hinata fighting off three Akatsuki and two Sound-nin. "Where is everyone?"

"How's Naruto?" Hinata asked politely as she snapped a Sound-nins neck. It was odd to see such a docile girl fight harder than the male, without even a hint of strain, remorse, or tiredness in her voice or mannerisms. "You went to find him, right?"

It was like they weren't having a conversation during a fight. "I'm going to find Sai. Tell me if you hear anything else," Sakura replied, taking their conversation as a distraction to break the breastbone of an Sound-nin that thought he could sneak up on her.

Neji, Hinata, Sai, Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, TenTen, Lee and she. They had been great ANBU together at an earlier age than most, and Tsunade made a team of them. Now they were divided to fight an enemy when they were out-numbered greatly. Sakura wondered if the others were even still alive.

Sasuke watched on in mild awe with Orochimaru as the ANBU fought. At the age of nineteen, Sasuke had learned that he had to work with Itachi as Orochimaru's apprentice, but could watch as they took over Konoha. Then, he could have anything or anyone he wanted to possess.

And there was a little cherry blossom he wouldn't mind possessing, as well as a blonde little kyuubi he'd love to boss around. The grey-haired sensei may be a bit more of a hassle to enslave, but he'd try to anyways.

"These ANBU are a joke," he told Suigetsu, making him snort. "You don't think so? I think Tsunade must be an idiot for sending them."

"One of them just literally punched in one of your brother's men's heads. I think it may be more of a challenge than we think."

Orochimaru smirked. "They're awfully young ANBU. Perhaps even people dear Sasuke-kun would know. Let's see, Sasuke-kun. Do you know any of them?" he asked, maliciously.

He shrugged. He couldn't ignore the fact he knew there were two Hyuuga there, though whether he knew them may be false. Still, Sai and Naruto. The girl sounded familiar, but there were many Sakuras. It was one of the most popular names in Japan, for men and women.

Besides, his Sakura was a medic-nin, mediocre at that. She would not be with the ANBU sent to defend Konoha. She wasn't strong enough, or skilled enough, or even powerful enough to do so. She's do more damage than good. She was always like that.

"Sai, where's Sakura?" Naruto asked, helpless as he lay on the ground bleeding through his head. He had just beat down seven Sound-nin and four Akatsuki when an Akatsuki snuck up on him and cracked a sword into his head. "I have to help her."

Sai shook his head. "She's coming. She's almost here. Don't worry, you'll be fine," he answered, guilt washing over him. It was his fault Naruto was hit. If Sai had focused more on his surroundings, he would've noticed the ninja around him and Naruto wouldn't have needed to come save him.

"Sai!" they heard Sakura scream again, just as she came into view and more ninja attacked her.

He was worried--not for her, but the ninjas. They didn't know Sakura like he did. No one but he and her brother did--maybe she didn't either. She had been young when it happened, and she had been just as brainwashed as he had been.

Sakura was a powerhouse as a kid, a prodigy and a prophecy. She had a special chakra system that allowed endless chakra, as well as her already precise chakra control. Then there was her Inner, which she could harness and use to fight for her at will.

Then finally was her skill itself--precise, perfect, could use water and fire and air and lighting. She could use any element, actually, and she knew how to use all of the kekkei genkai for each element that their family created.

She was the strongest ninja to walk the earth in a century, and another century would pass before another as strong lived.

Orochimaru took advantage of that. He weakened her mentally until he could attack and be victorious over her as a young girl. He placed seals all over her body and turned her Inner evil, as to help make her his minion. The girl was only eight when her world was destroyed.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered, watching in awe as Sakura flipped back and used a man's head as a perch as she kicked two of his friends in the neck and sliced his throat with a kunai.

Sai threw several of his own kunai towards the men and killed the remaining seven ninja for her. It was hard for him to see his gentle cousin so brutal, but he knew she was once so brutal. She had the power to be brutal, but even as a child she made brutality beautiful. She was that good.

"Naruto! Sai!" She ran over and tended to Naruto, not caring or watching her back. It wasn't her job to watch out--her job was to save the man that became like her brother.

After almost ten years without her biological brother, she had come to have Naruto replace him--Sasu Haruno. Kakashi and his new wife Anko reminded her of her lost aunt and uncle--Sai's parents--and Tsunade and Jaraiya--the most unlikely people to fall in love and get married--had become her late parents.

She wouldn't trade her new family for anything.

Ino and TenTen rolled their eyes as they watched the battle. It was like everyone had forgotten about them. No one attacked them since they were ambushed, and in joint with Lee and Shikamaru they had made it up the mountain to where Orochimaru and several underlings were watching.

It was almost too easy to do.

Shikamaru, at seeing Ino's signal, gave the thumb's up to Lee to start a distraction for the girls. It was so ridiculous that the four of them had been overlooked the whole time. It certainly got the wheels turning in Shikamaru's head.

Two Hyuuga, a painter-nin from ROOT, a kyuubi and Sakura, he mused. He understood why they'd go after everyone but Sakura. Sure, she was the best medic-nin they had, and she was a great fighter, but Sakura was still...Sakura. There wasn't anything special about her.

"Hey! Uglies!" Lee yelled, running into the middle of everything. "Guess what? The Green Beast of Konoha s going to kick your butts!"

Sasuke only had time to drop his jaw and laugh. Then his face was blank and expressionless again, making him raise his eyebrows as he waited for the real challenge.

Lee, Sai, Naruto. Maybe it was Hinata and Neji down there. But that'd mean...no, it couldn't be Sakura fighting down there. She wasn't strong. She wouldn't last more than an hour at best. She couldn't be in this fight. Konoha was going to lose!

Then he heard it. A weapon--big and metallic--whizzing towards him. He merely stepped to the side and kicked the girl that flung herself towards his back. As she thudded to the ground, Sasuke suppressed a gasp. Ino...

If Ino was here, that was Sakura. Why? Why did she have to come? She'd die! She wasn't a fighter. It wouldn't end well for her, and then he'd be down a good slave. Damn, why her?

"TenTen, now!" Ino yelled, snapping Sasuke back to attention as weapons flung around him unmercifully. "Shikamaru, get your lazy ass up here."

Shikamaru nodded and flipped up, slicing a ninjato through the Akatsuki leader and watching him flounder and die. Suddenly everything went still. "Oh," Shikamaru replied. "Was that bad?"

Sakura turned after she finished healing Naruto and slapped her head. "You idiot! Is that bad? You just killed the leader! What do you think?"

As she stood and walked away, she had only a second to drop to the ground and roll before another ninjato cut through the air with a hiss towards her, followed by an attached bomb that exploded right after it landed. Laying on her back, she looked at the late-comers and gasped, eyes wide.

As the dust started to clear, she got up quickly and went to a defense. However had tried so blatantly to kill her was going to pay. She was not going to die after so many years of living through pain and resisting temptation.

She had been right all along. She wasn't weak. She was strong--stronger than Sasuke even. And she was keep proving it. It seemed like she had already lived two lifetimes, and she wasn't about to break. He had only learned about torture when he broke.

She lived in torture. He didn't know endurance, he didn't know pain. He was a weak and pathetic man.

But out of the smoke, she felt her body freeze. There, standing in a line, were some men she knew all too well. And never wanted to know again.

Sasuke glared at his brother and his friends. How dare any of them have tried to destroy--not even kill, destroy--his Sakura? What made them think they had the right?

"Sasuke-san, calm down," Kabuto warned, watching the curse-seal. he was never too fond of those. They ruined people, ruined lives, families. He knew that first-hand. "Don't go in under control. You never win battles for someone else."

Sasuke looked at Kabuto, shocked. When did the dude become a philosopher? He never said anything like that before. And yet he was right. Why would Sasuke want to win for Orochimaru?

The man's eyes widened. "Sakura-chan?" he gasped. Then he whirled onto the man that had thrown the ninjato and punched him, breaking his nose and jaw. "Watch who you kill, you idiot! That's my sister!"

He heard the gasps, but ignored them as he turned back to Sakura. He smiled. It was amazing to see his baby sister again. And to know she was so strong! She certainly made him proud.

"Aniki," she greeted, stoic. "It's been awhile."

"It's been years!" he greeted. Something was wrong with her. Thanks to his clan's secrecy, no one knew their powers. He sensed her chakra was low, though, and that she still had curse-marks. "Sakura, stop."

"Why?" she asked, defiance crossing her face. Her expression betrayed her only emotion, and it shocked Sasuke.

Karin squeaked and looked at Kabuto. "The girl! Your cousin! You didn't--"

"So this was the trick all along, wasn't it?" Kabuto asked, glaring at Orochimaru. "I don't want this. You can't hurt her. I told you she was off-limits."

Kabuto and Sakura? Sasuke was shocked. Sakura had never said anything about being related to Kabuto. Actually, now that Sasuke thought about it, he didn't know Sakura had a brother either. He never really knew much about Sakura, or cared enough to know more. She was just...there.

"As a matter of fact, I'm just regaining what's rightfully mine. I own her," the snake replied, smirking. "The plan isn't to hurt her. Just return her to her master."

Sakura whipped out a giant sword from nowhere. Sasuke wondered, as he looked at her little body, where the hell she hid that thing. It was probably as big as Kisame's sword as he looked at the two across from each other.

"Aniki, Kisame-niichan, Itachi-niichan," Sakura started, looking each in the eye. "I warn you, I'm not the weak kid I used to be. You all abandoned me, and you haven't earned a second chance in my book. I will kill you if you get in my way. You aren't above my blade."

Sasu Haruno laughed. "Sakura, your chakra's down. At least wait until you have more chakra again."

She shifted her head slightly to the right, some could interpret as a form of no, but Sasuke didn't think so. "I remember the day it happened. None of you stopped him. You just watched me fight for myself."

Naruto looked in awe. Sakura. The girl who had been with him since the age of ten, had a secret life and a painful past. She was just the same as Sasuke and he. Why couldn't they have seen it before?

"Sakura-chan, I was possessed!" her brother protested. "I would've fought--"

"How do I know you're not possessed now?" she exploded, looking back at the group with tears in her eyes.

Shit, Itachi thought. She's crying. I didn't want to see her cry.

Itachi looked up at the mountain and saw his brother seething down at him. It couldn't be any worse than it was now. That was, until Orochimaru smiled and made the motion to kill.

"No," he whispered, fear clouding his face and scaring Sasuke. "No!" Itachi yelled.

Sakura's brother looked up and his own sword dropped. Then his grip hardened into a fist. Someone had killed the leader. Orochimaru was the leader now. They had to do as he said--and he said to kill everyone.

But first they'd steal the kyuubi; then maybe he could pass Sakura off as a slave for Orochimaru. He couldn't save his sister, but it was the best he could do.

"Sai! Get Naruto out of here!" Sakura commanded, siphoning the Akatsuki's first attack towards the boy with her sword before making it disappear into thin air and blitzing the Akatsuki that had paused during the exchange.

It was a free-for-all-brawl, and Sakura swore she'd win it for Konoha.

Sai picked Naruto up, but before he got more than a hundred yards he was attacked and knocked unconscious by his cousin. Sasu gave a grimace, and Naruto was then taken and brought up by Itachi to Orochimaru.

Sasuke was scared. Sakura was fighting better than he had ever seen, protecting Naruto more than ever. She was ANBU. It wasn't the same Sakura he remembered as a child. She was more like him now.

With every bone-crushing punch and every body-breaking kick, she looked more and more like an avenger. But she had no one to avenge. From what he understood she had great parents and was content with her lifestyle.

Was she dating Naruto now? He didn't think she would wait forever, but he wished--hoped--she had. That would make it all the sweeter when he enslaved her. But if she was with Naruto...

Damn.

"Of course. People forget the good ones," Shikamaru replied, kicking Suigetsu and Juugo unconscious before he too was pinned and held near the ledge where Sakura could see him. It's a ploy. They're after Sakura. But what will happen if they get her?Sakura looked up, and nearly got hit by someone from behind. Sai was unconscious on a ledge about to give way, and a depressed Itachi was holding Naruto up on the cliff. Then there was Deidara--a man her brother introduced her to a few times as a child--holding Shikamaru and Lee.

Screaming as she saw Ino and TenTen just being thrown off the cliff, she sacrificed her remaining chakra to save them. They couldn't die. Not when she was responsible.

"Sakura, new plan!" Neji yelled at her after she laid TenTen and Ino down and started treating them, every so often blocking another attack. She was losing energy fast, and Neji could tell. "Run."

"New plan again," she retorted, stabbing a Sound-nin's ninjato through another advancing Sound-nin. It was getting ridiculous! "I say give me three minutes."

"You'll be dead," Neji pointed out.

"Got a better plan? Because I'm not running."

"Kabuto? How much more chakra do you think your cousin can throw out before she turns in for more?" Orochimaru asked.

"You're a sick bastard. I've never seen her chakra-depletion, and for all you know she can get to her stores around the damn seals," Kabuto replied, making Sasuke's head whip.

Sakura had seals? Impossible! She never complained, he never saw one on her.

"Doesn't matter. She loses enough, her Inner's going to beg to take over. And how can she deny her Inner with all that power? The seals will call to her. No one can resist the seals."

"She's been resisting for ten years. I think she can keep resisting," Kabuto hissed, too low for Sasuke to hear.

It was true. The girl showed tremendous discipline to have ignored their calls all these years. But Orochimaru would have her under his control if it was the last thing he got.

"Sakura, stop!" her brother yelled as she went on the defensive again. She was maddening. The call to use the seals was deafening, even to him. She couldn't give in. She couldn't. "You have no chakra left. I'll take pity on you. Be a slave."

"I'd rather die," she spat, slicing at him.

They fought, each lethally for several minutes. They knew if they landed anything the other would easily die. And Sakura wanted it. She needed revenge. He stood there--albeit possessed--when she was forced through torture. And then he disappeared.

Sakura, you know you can't stop him. You need me, her Inner whispered. You put the pain first. Let me out. It hurts in here. We can be powerful enough to stop him. We'd be more powerful than anyone. You know that.

"Shut up!" she screamed, covering her ears. "That's it!"

"No!" Itachi and Sasu Haruno screamed, Itachi flinging Naruto to a random Akatsuki as he raced to the girl to stop her from letting the seals take over.

But half-way to Sakura, they felt a hit each and watched as Karin forced them down and went for Sakura. Before Sakura could do anything, Karin grabbed her in a bear-hug and brought her back to Orochimaru.

Sasuke could see the hate on her face and could feel the power surging in her. He could feel his wrath as strong as his when Itachi killed the clan. She was an avenger, but who was she avenging?

"So, you've come to your senses," Orochimaru hissed. "A wise decision. You've been through so much pain."

"Sakura, don't do it," Kabuto whispered. "You're too good to go now. This is you. You've gone so long, don't let him control you now--"

He couldn't say anymore as Karin smashed him over the head. Sakura screamed as she watched her cousin start to bleed. her only hope was Neji and Hinata helping TenTen, Ino, and Sai. They could get away. They could still live. She wasn't so sure about the rest of them.

A shame. War divided so many families. Hinata and Naruto's, Shikamaru and Ino's, Lee and Gai's. The only lucky one was TenTen and Neji. They would make it, and they'd have kids to pass on their legacy.

Sakura never thought much about it.

Kids. They were meant for people in love, and ready to spend their lives together.

Naruto and Hinata had been dating so long Sakura already considered them married. Neji and TenTen, they were already married. Kids would've been the next natural step. Ino and Shikamaru were getting married after the mission.

She? She had nobody. There were plenty of offers, but her heart wasn't with any of them. It was with one of the men waiting for her to become evil, to destroy her country and not have a second thought about it. A weak man who treated her like dirt.

How could she have gotten this screwed up?

"It must have been hard," Orochimaru continued, "to have ignored those desires all these years. Knowing that power--infinite powers--was just out of your reach. I thought you'd succumb years ago, but I guess it's just how stupid you are."

"You're wrong," she replied, gritting her teeth. "It just shows how strong I really am, and how you'll never own me. HIREKI!" she screamed, engulfing the area in white light.

Taking the distraction, she kicked Orochimaru's hands and flipped away off the mountain to the ledge where Sai now stood waiting. Looking down, Neji and Hinata smiled as Ino waved and TenTen nodded with a smirk.

As the light died away, Sasuke gasped and almost hurled. Standing there was a person like Sakura, with red eyes, black hair, and several curse-marks all over her body. She looked at him in the same disgust he felt towards this image of her before turning and bowing to Orochimaru. "My master," she greeted.

Naruto gasped. "Sakura? Sakura! What are you doing? You coward! You're supposed to fight him!"

"She is!" Itachi yelled, surprising the Akatsuki as he kicked his face in--literally--with a round-house from behind.

Sasuke watched in awe as the Haruno--a boy who looked somewhat like him with black hair, black eyes and white skin--came up through the earth and kicked Deidara's face in, releasing Lee and Shikamaru.

"It's the only way," Sakura told Sai as he glared at her. She prepared several kunai and tested their sharpness. Sharp enough to pierce a semi-permeable body.

"That's not my concern. Sakura, I can see your marks. They look painful. You never let me help you with them--I thought they were nothing. They look so painful, I can't believe you never let me help," Sai replied.

"Fine? You want to help? Run, because if this fails I won't be here to save you," she replied, flipping back up to the plateau where her Inner was standing with everyone.

Sasuke looked at the two, as well as Naruto. Shikamaru had already figured it out and was now tending to Lee.

"The only way to destroy the curse marks, attack them head-on. Interesting," Orochimaru replied, looking at the girl. The marks had appeared on the girl in blood, and she was breathing deep. All the seals were painful, and drawing her chakra in. Soon she'd collapse. "And stupid. You'll kill yourself."

"Maybe. But at least I won't be under your control. Kabuto-niichan always said..." Sakura replied, panting as she landed between Itachi and Sasu.

"You never win battles for someone else," they finished in unison.

Suddenly they went separate ways--Itachi came flying at the Akatsuki and the Sound-nin, Sasu went to help Kabuto back to consciousness, and Sakura lured her Inner to the sky.

"You idiot. It takes too much chakra to fly," the Inner scolded.

"Won't be a problem in two minutes. There's always a way to gain all of it without tapping into those seals. And I'll do it."

"Why are you so weak? You can't even accept more power."

"No. I'm strong," Sakura yelled, getting all of her peers' attention. "Stronger than you, than the snake man, than Sasuke! Power isn't defined by how much you can kill, or lift. Power is defined by a person's will, their resistance to temptation, the power to stay away from what they know is wrong. It's a content with who they are and that their morals won't change."

Sasuke felt cold. Why was everyone becoming philosophers? He felt so weak right then. To see Sakura fight against several of the same curse marks he had. But while he had succumb to one in a year, she had more than ten and lasted years and years without complaint.

"I fought twenty-six marks for ten years. I never gave into one damn one of them. I am powerful--I refused the desire for false power for instant self-gratification, I didn't whine, didn't complain once. I endured being harassed and being tortured, and never once did I break down. That is power!" she yelled.

"Kabuto! Kabuto!" Sasu said, shaking him. Sasuke watched as the grey-haired man groaned and came back to consciousness. "Kabuto, quick. What's the only way to bypass the curse marks?"

"Open the gates--" he froze, shoving Sasu to the side and running to the edge where Sakura was standing. "No! Sakura don't!"

"I have to!" she yelled back, closing her eyes and starting to open the gates.

Sasuke had heard about them from Kakashi when they were training. They could kill a person if they were all opened. And Sakura was going to--

He choked up and his eyes widened. She was much more powerful than him. She would rather die than join Orochimaru. Sakura was going to die before he could even tell her he loved her--unconditionally, irrationally and completely.

As she opened the last gate, Itachi dropped to Orochimaru and fought him. Eventually, however, the forgotten Kisame creeped up from behind and cut off Orochimaru's head. They nodded to each other and Kisame poofed away, leaving Itachi to stand by Sasuke's side.

"She's doing it, isn't she?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's sacrificing herself. Just like she told us," Sasu replied, coming to Sasuke's other side. If someone didn't know, they would think the three were brothers. "Itachi, I was there. I could've stopped him. Hell, I could've saved out parents, and he'd've never--"

"We were possessed, Sasu. There's nothing more you could've done for your family. You weren't forced to kill them. You didn't watch your hands kill everyone," Itachi replied, looking at his hands.

"But I watched as he tortured Sakura. The worst thing you had to do was tell Sasuke that you killed everyone. I had to watch as he cut her up, fed her phobias, wrecked her to the point she didn't even seem like she'd ever be better.

"Hell, I feel like I was doing it to her. Letting the spiders lay eggs in the cuts inflicted on her, the rats feed on her, placed the snakes in her mouth to eat live. All while her Inner was sealed so deep she couldn't substitute it. Everything to make her feel pain, to make her scream, make her go insane."

Sasuke gagged. He couldn't help it. She had been tortured. Full-out, full-on tortured, and he called her weak. The fact she was even still alive after such torture made her strong.

Suddenly he heard a shriek. Sakura was attacking her Inner with such force, each hit only digging deep into a curse mark. And then the marks disappeared.

"Kabuto? What's going on?" Sasuke asked.

"She's destroying the marks. The only way to break them is to face them head-on. Sakura must've used her Inner when he placed the seals. It'd explain why no one ever saw them."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Aniki, help me," he said, showing his mark. "Make it go away."

As Sakura wielded on her last one, Itachi dug the kunai into the middle of Sasuke's mark. twin screams of pain could be heard before they both fell unconscious.

Silently, the two were scooped up and brought back to Konoha.

As Sasuke woke up, he saw blobs. A blob of pink, a blob of white. And then they started to focus. It was Sakura, looking out a hospital window. He groaned and she turned, smiling at him.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she whispered nodding at him and turning back to the window.

Was this some sick joke? She was ignoring him! This wasn't what he wanted. He may have acted like it, but he didn't!

"Sakura?" he asked, sitting up. She didn't respond. "Sakura? Can I talk to you?" Still she didn't respond. Sakura only looked out the window and watched the endless blue sky.

"They killed him. Orochimaru. They killed him and it's over. They were going to put you on trial, but they couldn't. Itachi, Kabuto and my brother get to come back scotch-free, and you can't run away again. Everything should be good again. You know?" she replied, still not looking at him.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked. "Everything's how it should be. I can go on without killing my brother, and I can revive my clan." He smirked at the thought. The rest of his life with her.

"I know. It's just...it's over. I can't believe it. I never thought I'd see it over."

That's right. She was supposed to be dead. "Sakura-chan, are we dead?"

That got her to turn around and look. "No. Why?"

He smiled and leaned back in bed. "For a minute I thought this was heaven. I thought you died. You were so...powerful." The word made him feel guilty again. She was powerful. he wasn't. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I always called you weak."

"I always called you an ice-block and arrogant."

"No you didn't!"

"Not to your face," she replied, laughing until she saw his pained look. "What?"

"I'm being serious. I always called you weak, and I was the weak one. I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him on his bed. "I was weak, though. Every time I started to lag, it was the damn curse marks. I refused to tell anyone, so I suffered alone. That's weak. Not admitting your weaknesses."

"You had reason," he replied, looking her straight in the eye. He could see the pain and hurt, and he was scared. "You didn't want to be labeled by it."

"No. I didn't want to make anyone else responsible. My brother, you could tell felt responsible for me getting hurt." She looked away and back out the window. "I'm so glad it's over now. I felt so weak with Orochimaru around. He could come back any moment. I was so scared."

"Why?"

"He killed my aunt and uncle. When Sai was living with us he killed my parents and possessed my brother. He tortured me for days and made me think I was going to die. Every second, every moment, I thought if he didn't kill me what he was doing would. I even thought I'd kill myself."

She started to cry, soft and silent. It was something she learned long ago. People didn't find you when you cried silently.

Sasuke felt so bad for her. He sat up and hugged her. He was amazed how soft she was, and how toned she'd become over the years. Sakura was definitely special. She was the only girl he had ever comforted, ever felt comfortable to cry on him.

"Sakura, it's okay. I'm here now. I'll be here for the rest of your life. If you'll let me," he told her, patting her back and running his hand through her hair. "I promise, you'll never be hurt again."

"How do you know?" she asked, backing away and instantly missing the warmth. "You were on his side. You might be trying to carry-on his work."

"No!" he shouted, shocking himself. But he wasn't thinking. In that second he grabbed her arms and pulled her towards him, kissing her hard until neither could breath. "Does it feel like I want to finish what he started?" he asked. "Does that feel like I want to hurt you and become an evil man?"

"No."

"Then will you believe me when I ask you to marry me?" he asked, blinking twice and smiling softly at her.

Right then, he never looked more human to her. She smiled and was about to answer when the door was opened and her ANBU team, Itachi, Kakashi, Anko their newborn Rumiko, Jaraiya, Tsunade, their toddler Hitomi, Shizune and Iruka, Sasu, Kabuto, Yamato, and the other sensei and members of the original Rookie Nine stood jammed in her room.

And following after them was Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.

Sakura laughed and looked at Itachi and Sasu. They nodded, then started fighting over which one would be the better uncle. Sakura remembered Itachi from Sasu. They had been best friends since they were delivered together in the hospital.

Then she looked to Hinata and Naruto. He smiled and held up Hinata's hand, showing off the gorgeous engagement ring. Sakura smiled, then turned back to Sasuke, whose gaze was fixated on Hinata's hand.

"Sasuke?" she asked, concerned.

"Crap. I need to get you a ring. And take you somewhere fancy, and buy you nice things, and make you know how much I really want to marry you," he replied. "It's going to take awhile."

"Why? I already know you do. And I want to marry you too," she replied, smiling as the room started to cheer and Kakashi was handed bets, only to have to give his money to Tsunade as Jaraiya took half and gave half of his to Hitomi. Sakura laughed, bending down and kissing Sasuke.

He smiled. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Now that we're on the same page, and you're on me..." he started, shifting her until she sat on top of him, smiling and rolling her eyes. "Everyone get out."

As they started to protest, Sakura gave a look to Sasu as she started to blow a gentle wind, only firm enough for them to get the message. As Itachi and Sasu herded everyone out, they smiled at the two and gave them a thumbs-up before running out the door and slamming it.

Sakura smirked, turning on Sasuke. "So. Where were we?""About here, Future Mrs. Uchiha," he replied, kissing her again.