Author's Note: Hi, guys. Thank you so much for the reviews and for continuing to support this story despite my 2-year absence from fanfiction. I was so touched you people were still into Leashed that I ordered myself to deliver the next chapter as quickly as possible, just as promised.

So, yeah. Without further ado, here's Chapter 10 for you!

Read and review!

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Here's a shout out to all my wonderful readers: WolfPrinceKouga, maxridelover, Of Broken Love, AJLovesKakashi, Kittens Hellfire, hyuugahinata247, Toreh, Black-footed, Mei fa-chan, Davenme81, StarKiss666, InanelyBlissful, Greatness Alone, KinkyK and JazzyJ, SkittyPuffPuff, Allen-holic, AshenMarsha, rlance03, pluhsauce, Meril13, MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan, .love58, Crimsontear, happycupcake096, Anoni Mos666, Guest, Saiyagurl87, Mentally Disturbed and JeanyDeiXzz.

Also, a very special shout out to my very wonderful BETA Reader, Victoblerone – thank you ever so much for putting up with my irritating emails and for correcting me where needed. Couldn't have done it without you! :)

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"Sasuke-kun! STOP! Whatever you're planning – it's not worth it."

Sasuke's Sharingan blazed as his one hand tightened around his ex-teammate's neck, and the other reeled back in preparation of his infamous Chidori.

Th-thump. Th-thump.

"Sasuke-kun, please," Sakura begged, her eyesight wearing thin, her fists trembling at her side from lack of chakra. "Come home. It'll just be you, Naruto and I again, just like it used to be, don't—don't do this. I promise… I promise we can be happy… Please…"

The blue light from Sasuke's Chidori intensified, and the heat that wafted from it scorched Sakura's already blood-marred flesh.

"You have a long way to go before you can catch up to either of us." Sasuke said, his voice hard and threatening, causing her breath to hitch. "Sakura… you are still so annoying."

Sakura froze.

Had she trusted her senses more and paid better attention to the tone of his voice, rather than the words he spoke, she would have recognized the edge of desperation that laced Sasuke's whisper. But Sakura didn't trust her ears – nor did she see any reason to. Not when the air around her was thinning, and the ball of electric energy which grew in Sasuke's hand served only to inch ever closer to her.

Th-thump. Th-thump.

Haruno Sakura closed her eyes.

"CHIDORI!"

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Chapter X: And Seeking

(Sakura)

Th-tump. Th-thump.

"Sakura."

Th-thump. Th-thump.

"Sasuke," I replied stiffly, biting down on the usual '-kun' suffix that threatened to slip out of my mouth. My heart was pounding, loud and hard, against my chest. I felt myself swallow what felt like dry, grainy sand as I disciplined myself to face him straight in the eye and keep my knees from trembling.

Uchiha Sasuke.

It had been 5 years since I last met him. Even now as his porcelain features looked weary and haggard from his time spent out in the wilderness, he still possessed the uncanny ability to render me – 21 and a full-fledged Jounin – helpless and meek before his very presence. Standing tall and regal despite the ungodly hour of our meeting, and the obviously overgrown bangs sweeping messily across his dark, merciless eyes, I found my fingers clenching and unclenching nervously around one of the kunai I had strapped around my upper left thigh.

"Let me guess – have you come to join us again?"

The shrill voice that was unmistakably female shook me from the stare-down I was having with my ex-comrade. I spun my eyes over to where the one Uzumaki Karin stood sneering at me, arms crossed. Having met Karin up close only once before (and during such terrible circumstances, might I add; Sasuke had ordered me to kill her right before his eyes to prove my devotion and loyalty to him when I alleged wanting to go rogue), my only knowledge of her prowess as a kunoichi was whatever scrap of information I was able to gather during several of my perusals through the bingo books.

'Sensory-type nin,' Inner-Sakura hissed as flashes of information I had previously come across danced around as a reminder in my head. 'Also, she heals people… by allowing them to bite off of her.'

Ew. Now that's an especially kinky ability if I've ever heard of any.

'Wonder how many times she's allowed Sasuke-kun's lips to graze across her skin, huh, that little wretch…'

I gripped the handle of my kunai harder, willing my inner self's inappropriate thoughts out of my head.

'Focus!' I reprimanded myself, shoving my inner persona's indignant cries to a more silent corner of my mind in an attempt to recognize the utter seriousness of the situation I had gotten myself into. 'This is not the time to think of Karin and… Sasuke-kun like that…'

'Jealous, are you?' Inner Sakura hummed, an action to which I tried my utmost hardest to ignore. After all, I did, really, have much bigger problems on my plate think about. Specifically—

Number one, I had just run away from the rest of my team; an act which translated to my simultaneously disobeying my role as a kunoichi of Konohagakure and my duty as mentee to my immediate supervisor, Tsunade, Hokage of said Konohagakure.

Number two, I was running away from my fiancé. While, yes, to a certain extent my guilt in doing so was lessened considerably due to the said fiancé's outburst a couple of hours earlier, that did not mean I could render myself guilt-free entirely. No matter which way I tried spinning the story around to my favour, the fact remained clear as daylight – I ran away from my fiancé to get to a man whom everyone knows I most obviously had a 'past' with. This said, no matter how many excuses I had to back up my own terrible denial, my options didn't look good.

Number three, the guy whom I had chosen to run off for happens to not only be your regular, run-of-the-mill missing nin and traitor to Konoha-type, he also happens to own a record dedicated solely to his wrong-doings. In addition, said record was explicitly and exponentially also marked S-Class, meaning, super-duper dangerous. I should know – I did, after all, go through great and death-defying lengths to knock out my mentor, lie to a bunch of stone-faced ANBU and break into the store room marked, "TOP SECRET, DO NOT ENTER" just to get it.

This said, what exactly was I doing in front of an S-classed missing Nin whose records in Konoha's bingo books spoke volumes of his treachery?

I was holding a kunai.

…Yep, I am all about the genius, aren't I?

"Well?" Karin's voice sounded again, shaking me out of my reverie. "Are you going to just stand there gaping like an ugly blowfish or are you going to tell us what the hell business you have intruding into our territory, ugly?"

I bristled, only now realizing that on the one hand, Karin was absolutely correct in pointing out the fact that I had been staring much too long at Sasuke, and on the other hand that I had just been called ugly.

'Told you she's a wretch,' my inner self was happy to chime in, having gained temporary escape from the deeper recesses of my mind.

"I've come to take you down," I replied to Sasuke straight on, pleased to note from the peripherals of my vision that Karin's face now wore a scowl promising my slow and painful death as I made no attempt to give her the light of day. "You're the rogue Nin terrorising the outskirts of Konoha – my order was to terminate you."

As obnoxious as Karin's laughter had been following my pitiful declaration, it was, in the end, Sasuke's smirk which did me in, and stung me the most.

"Hn. With all the ninja Konoha has lying around, you're the best they can afford to send?" he mused sarcastically, arrogance radiating out of his very being. "It really is a more pathetic village than I thought. Your people clearly made the wrong choice by throwing me out; especially when I was so kind as to offer them salvation."

I winced, recalling the last time Team 7 had properly reunited; back in the heat of war.

Having at one point fought side by side with one another, it had been the opinion of both Naruto and myself that perhaps Sasuke was back with us for good.

Oh, were we mistaken.

Turns out, Sasuke was more messed up than we thought. In his anger and hatred, Sasuke spun new truths for himself which he believed would bring real justice to the world. Instead of returning home to the village after killing off his brother as was his initial intention, Sasuke carved a new path of revenge for himself – the destruction of Konohagakure.

'Salvation' he called it. 'A new world order.'

He would destroy everything, he told us. All that Konoha stood for – its leaders, its politics, its people, its ninja way. He promised salvation to the world by then declaring his latest goal: to wipe out the current heads of Konoha and take his place as the new, more righteous Hokage.

It was too twisted for any of us to comprehend, even the remainder of Team 7.

So, after much persuasion from our parts, what happened next was a battle of epic proportions.

Sasuke versus Naruto, while I, as usual, found myself being sidelined to medic duty.

Thankfully, however, my being left to a corner was then not so much due to my complete inability to be of any form of assistance, but because (or atleast that was what I was made to believe) I had my hands already full with healing the dying and/or wounded of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

In the end, Naruto, of course, came out on top. And after a long, elaborate speech about his own ninja way and friendship (the usual Naruto agenda), Sasuke, not wanting to admit defeat or return back to the one place which had clearly 'done him injustice' escaped to fight another day; not, however, before shooting us with one last promise of regret.

Myself?

Just like when I was 12 before and Sasuke had just begun to take his first few steps out of Konoha as a newly established missing nin, I had gotten my few minutes alone with Sasuke before he defected.

This time, however, my few minutes were made up of less talk and more fist. I didn't get far, however, before Naruto stepped in to 'save me' and pull me out of one of Sasuke's more advanced forms of Chidori, but the last words Sasuke spoke to me before he and Nauto flew into a long, emotional exchange (followed later by the epic battle I mentioned earlier) resonated through me until this very day,

"You have a long way to go before you can catch up to either of us. Sakura… you are still annoying."

Upon him saying that, my heart had stilled.

It was from that point on, after the war and all throughout, I had promised myself that I would not rest until I grew strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with both Naruto and Sasuke – nothing was to distract me from reaching that aim.

Nothing, of course, until Kiba came along.

"Sakura-san, you must understand," I recalled Kiba's sister, Inuzuka Hana telling me in a brisk, confidential tone as she stood me in a corner and chastised me like a Genin. "If my brother doesn't get his way with you – if you continue not allowing him to mate you – you both are going to suffer the consequences."

"And that would be?"

"Death."

My palms bled from where my finger nails dug into them. I steadied my breath as I parted my legs in battle-stance.

No. If I'm going to die at all, I'd much rather die the noble death of a Shinobi risking her life for a mission than take the coward's way out by refusing to lie with a man I have yet to completely love.

"Sasuke," I started, ignoring his previous comment about wanting to bring salvation to our village by instead narrowing my eyes and fastening him with a steely gaze. "What are you doing here? You know better than to leave such sloppy evidence of your killings behind. This is clearly Leaf territory, and you are making your presence obvious. What the hell do you want?"

Sasuke's smirk only widened as he took in my changed persona. "Intuitive," he stated, though the way he drawled out the word sounded more like a mockery than a mere comment. "But it appears the Dobe's idiocy has rubbed off on you. Ever stop to think that this may have all been a trap?"

My heartbeat raced. A trap, yes, but what kind?

"From your reaction, I take it you came here thinking we'd be on equal ground – that you're busting me on a trap instead of falling for one," Sasuke's black eyes glinted maliciously behind those long, wispy bangs of his. "While it is not typically in my nature to bother filling in the details of my plans to my hostages, because you play such a pivotal role this time around, I will spare you a hint."

My ears pricked up in anticipation of Sasuke's next words. The fact that he had just called me a hostage was not lost to me, either.

"Sakura," said Sasuke, his tongue rolling on every syllable of my name, causing me to shiver in a reaction of mixed apprehension and (I was ashamed to admit) delight. "It was not by chance that you happen to stand before me in your mission today. This trap is meant specifically for you."

"M-me?" I breathed, feeling myself go slightly faint.

Now this was unexpected.

In all my knowledge and experience dealing with Uchiha Sasuke, not once did my existence play a role to his decisions. Always, it was Naruto or Kakashi who was the more significant piece to Sasuke's life choices, not me. I had always been nothing more than that stupid pink-headed girl destined to be outshined by her more prestigious teammates—

Sasuke was the sole survivor of the infamous Uchiha clan; the most powerful clan in ninja history.

Naruto had a freaking Kyuubi shoved down his throat and was the epitome of limitless power.

Kakashi was the dreaded Copy Nin and a genius in his own right, having been accepted into ANBU at the same age I barely figured out how to wield a kunai.

Heck, even Sai was from the feared Root division, and he didn't even have a surname to go with his title.

So now with Sasuke telling me that I had an important role, for once, in anything, and as his eyes remained drilled into me as if they were glued there, that shiver of mixed apprehension and (again it is my shame to admit) delight I was talking about earlier increased tenfold. My heart galloped against my chest even faster than it did before. My ears rang from the high of adrenaline.

"With your help, Sakura," said Sasuke, his tongue still doing that same rolling thing that made me tremble for action. "I will destroy Konohagakure."

Occupied by this new information and the guilt I harboured for having any positive reaction to what was now Sasuke threatening to destroy the very village I grew up in and have devoted my life to, I failed to notice a set of eyes darken from their position in the corner.

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Author's Note: Sooo... what do you think? As usual I can't help but to pummel myself with a truck-load of criticism. Like, for one, it took forever for me to link this fic (which started in 2010 and was kind of just left hanging from 2011 'til a couple of months back) to the current timeline in the manga. See, while I was well aware that I always had the option of just, I don't know, taking an alternate route from the way Kishimoto was going with the manga, it irked me personally to do so.

Hence the migraine and my inability to continue the story at a more preferable pace.

I seriously went through several nights of bad sleep just racking my brain for a believable way of linking this story to the original storyline.

Like, how was a 21 year old Sakura supposed to suddenly be emotional and stuff after going through a war? By right, the war should have wisened her up a little; toughened her up, in fact. But nooo. This story takes the old confused Chunin Sakura (who went around telling Naruto she loved him just to keep him from obsessing over Naruto – a choice which some may peg as stupid but I personally deem a believable bad choice on her part and an acceptable character flaw) and flings her together with an under-valued character (Kiba) whom none of us really know about aside from Naruto's brief introduction back during their Genin days.

It's really hard to work with, I tell you.

All this new character development that Kishi is throwing in our faces, though appreciated, is leaving me with the tough job of piecing together my slightly backdated version of Sakura to the new and improved super (Saiyan? Lol) Sakura.

Sigh.

Okay, excuse my babbling. Please let me know what you think via review. Was Sakura's choice of abandoning Naruto and Kiba to chase after Sasuke (though stupid) believable? Is the added inclusion of said chicken-butted Uchiha and his ever-persistent supporter Karin a good plot twist? Should there have been more fluff, less drama in this story?

Please tell me what you think and suggest to me what you believe should happen in this story. YOUR feedback is important and valuable for the continuation of this story.

Thank you! :)