Summary: Haruno Sakura was not only blind but lost her memories from 6 years ago. When Uchiha Sasuke returned from his trip; he had been very difficult towards her and she might made him hate her instead. But when he offered her a place to stay, it turned out that her past with him might not be what she expected to be.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Enjoy!

Leading The Blind

h i n a

03 Chapter Three

Today, she decided to wear her red dress with a pair of grey pants underneath to match her brown ankle boots. Although her outfit did not seem appropriate for the trip but as long as she was comfortable, she did not really mind at all. Plus, she took the extra mile to spray herself with insect repellents to avoid any mosquito bites as she was very much prone to them. She even had packed an extra pair of boots much to Ino's dismay. She was thankful that Ino was home and managed to help her pack. But they did go into a much unnecessary argument about that.

"Really, Sakura? Those boots?" Ino complained. She gave a long list of reasons as to not bring her boots but not forgetting to highlight how ugly they were at every reasons she put front. Sakura gave in at last but sneakily, she stashed her boots when Ino was not looking.

It did really surprise her that Kakashi had knocked onto their door right past noon. It was very unlikely for Kakashi to barge in into their house because that was supposed to be Naruto's job. He liked to do so as he pleased as if it was his trademark or something or Naruto was just making a statement of his presence.

When Kakashi came, she could not help but ask what he was doing there especially when he was supposed to be helping with Iruka-sensei at the Academy. He explained a tad bit but the sentence highlighted then was that the Hokage wanted to see her.

So when the Hokage wanted to see her, it could only mean two things: firstly, he wanted to invite her to dinner but that is unlikely since usually, Naruto would leave the message or simply drag her wherever she was. Secondly, it might be because the Hokage wanted to check in on her which still denies the overall question because again, either Kakashi-sensei or Naruto would report to the Hokage. This led to her final conclusion—she was in much big of a trouble. But thinking back, she never really did cause any problems or troubles unless you count the number of times she used to bump into stalls but that was a long time ago.

Anyways, it seemed she was not the only one who was summoned by the Hokage. Apparently, the whole team was called in which mean that person was also present.

"We have some great news for you, Sakura-san!" The Hokage announced. She could only rise up a brow in curiosity. She could feel that Naruto was already bouncing enthusiastically in his spot.

"News?" She quoted back.

"We got a message from Suna that Tsunade-sama had been staying there for a few days now. As you might have heard of, she might be able to help with your current condition, Sakura-san," The Hokage said, leaning over his wooden desk.

Kushina who had been standing beside him was smiling from ear to ear, "Sakura-chan, isn't it great?"

Sakura could only nod because she did not get the point why she still needed to be there aside from the great news.

"But otou-chan, why were we called?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head confusingly.

The Hokage nodded at Kakashi, "We will serve as escorts for Tsunade-sama."

And thus, she was now here in the middle of nowhere. She still could not understand why she was (forced) to come along because it would have been quicker if they did go without her. The journey to Suna was already making her feel unnecessarily uncomfortable to the point that she was keeping herself quiet since the beginning of the journey. Plus, she was already getting intense stares and glares behind her by that person who she knew would never get along with. But really, if he was still mad about the incident the other day, even after her numerous apologies; she just could not understand at all because no one was hurt during their promised duel and that was it.

"What are you thinking, Sakura? You've been quiet since we left Konoha," interrupted Kakashi. He was looking down at her and could see that she was biting and un-biting her lower lip.

"Uh, it's nothing," she answered, trying to put up with a small smile.

"Are you still bothered by the other day?" Kakashi asked, watching her carefully.

"Well, if that person had been able to let go of it, it wouldn't be bothersome at all. I mean, I did say sorry, didn't I?" Sakura explained. She sounded a bit mad but of course, who wouldn't?

"And he has been staring at me this entire time!"

Kakashi laughed amusingly, "You could tell?"

She decided not to answer to that.

"I don't think you should worry about that. He is just being Sasuke. He is always like that, Sakura. Don't let him bother you that much," Kakashi patted head and then ruffled her pink hair playfully. She was still quite mad and was about to retort when she tripped onto a root and fell face down, scrapping her right knee.

Immediately noticing Sakura's misfortune, Naruto helped her up, "Are you OK, Sakura-chan?"

She stood up with the help of Naruto and brushed the dusts from her dress. She could hear that person was scoffing at her embarrassing action.

"Let's call it a day. We covered quite a lot today," Kakashi decided while walking to a nearby clearing. Honestly if he were to say, it would have been better if they go another 20 kilometres or so travelling via tree-hopping but they surely could not do that because of Sakura. Her inability to tree-hopping was one thing and also the fact that she hated to rely on someone by carrying her to go to one place to another. But Naruto had insisted that they were not in any rush to go to Suna or getting back to Konoha after fetching Tsunade.

When night time fell, the camps were already set up by Naruto while Sasuke was in charge of getting some firewood to cook water and warm them up. It was getting pretty cold around the Fire Country as the climate started to go a little down by a few degrees. Although it had never snowed in the Fire Country, the temperature here could very well drop to as low as 19 degrees Celsius. So setting up fire was compulsory for the cold night.

Sakura had her bagpack near her which she quickly pulled out a bag of apples she had with her. Ino had packed them prior to the leftovers from the other day and it would be a waste to leave them at home to rot because nobody was eating them except for Sakura that is. Apples were infact Sakura's favourite or so Ino had assumed when she forced Sakura to bring them along.

She then took her travel knife and continued to remove the skins of the apples professionally. After that, she gave Naruto and Kakashi each of the peeled apples. She then preceded to the last apple before handling it to that you-know-who-person.

"Here," she handed him the apple in which he took. Sakura put her knife away and then asked for Kakashi for some water. She could feel that he was still staring at her but she tried to ignore him.

Sakura sighed as she still sensed that he was not eating the apple she had peeled, "It took some time and practice to get to where I am now. Honestly, it still amazes me that I can do it without accidently cutting my flesh."

Sasuke inspected the apple before decidedly eating it. So she had been practicing with apples. But he still found it surreal with Sakura's attitude and actions. She seemed a bit off because he had been observing her since they started the trip. He watched her gulp down the water and stood up with her bagpack over her shoulder, ready to leave them.

"I'm heading to bed now," she announced.

Naruto, surprised, "But you haven't eaten anything yet!"

"I'm not hungry. I've eaten before we left," she said and excused herself for one of the camps.

Kakashi watched at Sakura's retreating back and eyed Sasuke, "Sasuke."

Sasuke bit into the apple.

"Don't push her too hard. She isn't the same as before," Kakashi added.

"I'll bring this to her. Don't stay up late. We'll be heading out early tomorrow," Kakashi then took a few breads with him before leaving the duo.

"OK," Naruto replied, nodding. He was now munching on his own bread and drinking down his tea he brought with him. Apparently, Hinata had packed it for him together with a bentou in which he had finished eating already not wanting to share with any of them (but that did not bother them at all).

"Naruto," called Sasuke. Naruto turned in response.

"What happened when I was gone?" Sasuke asked. What happened to Sakura? He asked inside his mind because Sasuke was not getting anything at all. Firstly and foremost, he did not remember at all about her being blind. Of course, he did not want to ask because he was not that insensitive of a jerk like most people would say (when he said people here, he only meant Ino).

Next, she acted a little too differently than he expected when he scolded her with harsh words during the duel the other day where she could almost gotten herself killed. He expected that she would start crying and ran away from the scene or pulled in some punches at him for shouting at her but instead, she acted rather calmly to the point where he witnessed her bleeding eye but she got better the day after apparently.

And lastly, why was she avoiding him? Of course, there was a better explanation for that if he were to add. But she had not even talked to him let alone held a conversation with him. Although, if you counted the apple, that was not really talking. It was more like she felt obliged to talk to him. Usually, she would give nasty comments at him or simply teased him about something but that does not mean that she should be avoiding him if she was upset about what had happened the other day.

So what happened? What exactly had happened to her?

Naruto stopped munching on his bread at Sasuke's sudden question. He was not saying anything until he looked up straight at the camp where there were silhouettes of Kakashi's and Sakura's. It looked as if Kakashi was having a hard time asking her to eat the bread he had brought with him. Was it alright for Naruto to say something about Sakura? He even took extra care to not mention her in any of his letters to Sasuke before when Sasuke was away, fear that Sakura did not like it. Although, Sakura did not tell him to do so—tell anyone or Sasuke about her handicap, he respected Sakura's privacy regarding that and decided not to let even Sasuke know about it. Infact, Sakura never knew that he had secretly send letters to Sasuke. So, should he really tell him about it?

"It isn't really my place to talk about her because it is Sakura we are talking about," he paused taking a deep breath as if to make sure of his decision.

Naruto continued, "But when Hinata-chan found her unconscious on the ground just outside the village gates, we rushed her to the hospital but she didn't wake up for nearly a month afterwards."

Naruto paused, a grim look on his face as he remembered the incident that took place six years ago, "Sakura woke up looking like a dead person with her weird looking expression. She said she couldn't see anything but what scared me the most was…"

"…she doesn't even remember any of us."

XOXO

Thank you for reading!

Note: Sorry that it took me sometime to update this chapter and I know the story so far progresses a bit slow. Worries me that I might bore everyone reading this but it is essential. . But regardless, thank you to everyone reading this :D Made me smile everytime I see reviews or the number of people following this story. Thank you again!