Hello! XD

IMPORTANT: I changed things about. The end of this chapter, technically, was meant to occur mid ROT2 but considering how things were going, it made more sense here. The original backbone I had for the stories is broken, at least til I can reorganise it, and so therefore, the next chapter may be the last one for ROT1.

I'll be posting the final chapter when I've finished the first chapter of ROT2, so I can post them close together.

Hopefully you can enjoy still?

—CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—
Between Roads

Heat.

She turned, moaning.

Flames… burning.

She panted, whining into her wheat-scented pillow, clutching it tightly. Sweat coated her bare shoulders, her clothes sticking to her like a second skin.

The nightmare consumed her…

She struggled beneath her barrier, green eyes frantically looking about in her prison to find a way out but there was none. His brown eyes peered down at her like the Reaper, glowing, somehow, amongst the eating, burning fire that smothered her.

She opened her mouth and screamed – and screamed, and screamed before she burst into more tears.

She couldn't take the heat, the pain of being pushed down on. It was suffocating her.

It got so intense that she couldn't do anything else but thrash about, screaming for someone to help her – anyone. She cried for Meikyou but she got no answer, no matter how much she hollered.

"Someone?" she croaked, her voice raspy from the smoke. Cracks started to split the shield protecting her and she cried again, tossing and turning, her long hair breaking from its braid and shrivelling under the intense heat.

"No one's coming," his voice taunted, and his brown eyes flashed in her mind.

"No!" she shrilled. "Stay away!"

He chuckled, at first soft before louder until it echoed.

And then her shield broke and the fire consumed her, burning her, melting her, and all she could do was scream.

Sakura jolted awake, hands pawing at her body, green eyes frantically looking to see if there were any burn marks on her. She gripped her sheets, panting quickly, softly, as she took in her surroundings.

A vacant room. Sand-coloured walls. IV drip. Hospital. The window. It was dark outside.

Her heart continued to hammer loudly in her chest as she told herself over and over that it was a nightmare. She told herself to stay strong, but it was hard.

She pulled herself into the foetal position, hugging her knees tightly as she stared at the vague outline of her toes beneath the sheets. Her body shivered, her mind bringing back the emotions she had felt in that nightmare – the pain, the fear.

And the daunting notion that that man – monster – in her nightmare was still alive.

She cried.

She didn't know how long she cried but eventually she laid back in her bed, sniffling to herself and only then realising that her body actually did ache. She prodded carefully and felt several bandages, plus a thicker one wrapped around her entire right foot. Just knowing it was there made the sting of the burn even stronger, and she knew she'd have trouble getting back to sleep that night.

Her mind wandered.

What happened after she fainted from the exhaustion? She remembered Naruto had arrived, and the voice that shouted her name before she saw black sounded like Neji… so what happened? Was Tenten okay? She had been bleeding after all.

What about the others hidden underneath the rubble… maybe they had found safety somehow and survived…

Argh, I can't take this! she shouted at herself, releasing a tired groan.

She must have been more tired than she thought. She fell asleep again minutes later.

The blinding sun shining in her eyes woke her up at the crack of dawn hours later, and she groaned in annoyance as she blinked furiously and propped her head up, trying to sleepily take a better look of her room. There was a large pot plant by the door, and another smaller one on her bedside table. She also quickly noticed another bed end by the door, against the wall, but a curtain blocked her view of who was there – she knew there was someone; she could see their feet.

"Good morning, Sakura," a cheerful voice greeted her, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she stated, gaping as she sat up properly.

He chuckled, and she watched his shadow as he reached over and pulled the curtain across, revealing his masked face and lop-sided hair. He was smiling, and for some reason it made her feel better as she relaxed back into bed.

"Hello," he said again.

She smiled somewhat awkwardly as she nodded in greeting.

"Had a bad dream?" he asked.

Sakura froze.

"I could hear you begging," he answered calmly. His dark eyes watched her closely.

The rosette decided it was best just to nod.

"Had them for long?"

"No," she replied. "Just then." She inspected her fingers, suddenly nervous. "It shouldn't continue."

"Oh, I dunno. It sounded pretty serious."

She ran a hand through her fringe. "Taking things seriously now, Kakashi-sensei?" she joked.

He looked playfully affronted. "When had I not?"

"When you gave us those lame excuses for why you were late," she explained, fighting a smirk and failing. It spawned quickly as those memories flooded back.

Strange. All those months she had been wondering and worrying how she'd act when she'd meet her old life again, and so far it was better than she had expected. It felt good to smile and joke with her old teacher, but at the same time, she wondered if it was the right thing. What if he had changed in those three years? What if he did show up on time? What if he wasn't his old sarcastic self anymore?

It scared her. Even if she wasn't there for so many years, she didn't want those parts to disappear.

Her smile disappeared when he didn't respond. Instead he looked very tired and… upset.

"Kakashi-sensei…" she frowned, "…what's wrong?"

"A number of things…" he answered.

Sakura waited for him to answer but it didn't seem like he was going to. He did the same thing when they first had to introduce themselves at the beginning.

"Gaara is dead."

She flinched, staring at the older man on the opposite bed. "W-What?"

He looked away, and didn't answer her question, because at that moment, the door opened, and Naruto stepped in slowly. His cerulean eyes were looking towards the floor, but he glanced up when he closed the door and instantly met Sakura's face.

"Sakura? You're awake!" he shouted, bounding across the room and pulling the rosette into a tight hug. She felt her crack back and she squeaked an 'ow'. He pulled back and she was met with a face full of his bright smile. "You rock, Sakura!"

For that moment, Gaara's death had left her mind.

"I do?"

He nodded furiously. "I saw you fighting against that Sasori guy before he and the blond guy escaped." There was bitterness in his voice for a split second before it vanished. "And boy. Your determination was scary!"

She giggled nervously.

"I totally freaked when you collapsed, but Neji was there right away. I didn't even know he knew how to heal, because he checked you first before he saw Tenten and healed her head. She had a concussion but she's doing better."

Sakura sighed in relief.

"We found Chouji, Shino and—" His wide mouth closed and his blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he remembered who else was there. Sakura frowned, panicking shoot up within her at his sudden stop.

"Who?" she asked desperately.

Naruto shook his head. "N-No one you know," he answered.

"Was it Gaara?" she whispered.

His tanned face twisted viciously into anger before dropping to sadness. She felt a surge of power overwhelm at the same time, and for that moment her breath was taken.

"Sakura," he said seriously, staring at her dead-on. She found it harder to meet his gaze. "Would Gaara be in your place? Soul Society?"

Kakashi directed his attention to them now.

"I don't know," she answered honestly.

Naruto gripped her shoulders, and she winced in pain – his thumb was digging into where Sasori's needles had been buried.

"Please tell me. I need to know," he said.

"I don't know, Naruto! He'd have to have a shinigami send him there, so ask the others that were at the scene."

"I did, Sakura, but they didn't tell me!" Naruto cried. "I even asked that Uchiha-look-alike but he just gave me a freaky glare and walked off, and I didn't even want to go near that pint-sized midget – I'd punch his daylights out if I was any closer to him," he muttered, the last part to himself.

"Then Neji?" she suggested. "Why does it matter?"

"Why does it matter?" he repeated louder, frowning. "Then it means that Gaara can return to his village and rule still, even if he is one of you guys!"

"It's not as easy as that," Sakura mumbled.

"Well, why not?"

"Because shinigami don't belong here," she explained.

A pause, and Naruto's frown melted away as he looked at her with a hurt expression. Tugging on a short strand of her fringe and tucking the longer parts of it behind her ear, he sighed.

"You're a shinigami, Sakura," he whispered.

The rosette jolted, eyes wide as she stared at him directly. It hadn't clicked. What the 'it' was, she didn't know, but clearly she didn't think about what she was saying before she said it.

She swallowed. "I-I don't know why I said that," she said.

"Consciously, at least," Kakashi cut in. "But sub-consciously, that's what you believe."

Sakura started to shake her head. "No. That can't be true."

Naruto dropped a hand on her head and ruffled her pink locks before he pulled out her broken braid. He played with it for a moment, commenting on the fact that she grew it long again, but his attempt at getting rid of the awkward atmosphere failed entirely, and the room was left with an uncomfortable silence.

"I missed you," Naruto said.

"I missed you, too," Sakura responded.

But as she was pulled into another hug, she wondered if that was the truth. Hadn't she, just months ago, even years ago, told herself that Soul Society gave her life meaning? Made her feel like she was worth something? Hadn't just months ago she remembered she was supposed to return to Konoha to stay?

When had life gotten so complicated?

The mood in the room had picked up when someone, they couldn't remember who, had brought up the old days of when they were Team 7. Despite their past conversation, they still managed to laugh through their memories, and even traded stories from their respective homes. However, several hours later, Captain Kuchiki entered the room.

Naruto shuddered at his presence and glared at him, but the man ignored him – though did glance at Kakashi in the corner – before approaching Sakura's bed.

"Awake, I see," he stated.

Sakura sighed, a giggle mixing in. "Yes, Captain."

"Yeah, and I was taking good care of her!" Naruto cried, pumping his chest.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two of them before staring pointedly at his student. "You don't look very well."

Naruto growled and was about to say something more before Sakura burst out with, "was that a joke?"

The noble shinigami stared for a few more seconds before saying, "No."

"You said a joke!" she insisted.

He crossed his arms, frowning.

"You totally did! I heard you! You joked!" Sakura excitedly grabbed the black collar of Naruto's undershirt and pulled him in close, her face lit like the sun. "Do you know what this means? My Captain joked! Hell is freezing over!"

"We can only hope…" Kuchiki muttered.

Sakura's jaw dropped, and so did Naruto's who finally seemed to understand why she was so shocked, despite not knowing the man. However, since he seemed kind of… softer than when he had last met him, the blond shook his head and eyed the man firmly.

"Is Gaara—"

"Yes," Captain Kuchiki cut in, closing his eyes. Clearly the boy wasn't going to stop bothering the shinigami until he got the answer he wanted. "Lady Chiyo and the Kazekage have been sent to Soul Society."

Naruto's face morphed from serious to overjoyed in a matter of seconds, and abruptly he hugged the stoic man around the waist, shouting thanks – Sakura almost died – repeatedly before peeling back and dancing about the room, Kakashi trying to calm him down without getting up. Sakura and Byakuya looked at each other, the latter a little miffed – confused? – about what had just happened.

He let someone hug him? Someone he didn't know? That didn't sound like him at all. Mind you, Naruto had detached himself too fast for Byakuya to throw him off himself.

Through Naruto's din, the noble ran his dark eyes over Sakura's white face as she watched her old teammate. He noted the faint scar on her forehead and the bandages wrapped around her left arm. He knew that the extent of her injuries weren't as bad as they looked but seeing her awake was still good to see.

He… had been a little worried.

He hadn't visited her since the mission had been completed, partly because of this exact reason; he was worried. And he showed it. Ino had witnessed it.

He never showed worry. Feeling it was different, but expressing it was something complete new. And he wondered why, and how.

Naruto stopped all of a sudden and turned to Byakuya, the happiness on his face now completely gone and taken by fear. "Ice-man… will Sakura return here soon? Is her training almost done? When will she come back to Konoha?"

Said rosette visibly shrunk in her bed, shadows somehow accumulating around her to mirror her sunken mood at those words. Kakashi looked away, appearing as though he wished Naruto hadn't asked that question so bluntly. It was a sharp question, and no matter the skin, it would always be tender. Who knows what sort of answer Naruto would get from it?

Byakuya's eyes flickered to her former sensei sitting in his cot, adjusting his navy mask casually, before looking back to her former desperate teammate.

"Why do you want her back?" he asked pointedly.

Naruto's forehead wrinkled into a frown of confusion. "What do you mean? Because I miss her! And she was promised back! All of them were!"

"In due time," he answered cryptically.

Naruto wasn't satisfied. "That's not an answer. How hard can it be to train as a shinigami? Don't you just have to learn how to handle your katana?"

"Don't ninja just have to aim and throw, and learn a sequence of handsigns?" Byakuya countered.

"No, there's more to it than just that!"

"Exactly. There are layers to the shinigami art, just as there is to ninja."

Naruto faltered. "But those hollows – whatever they're called… I've seen you guys take them out with one swing. Well, hasn't Sakura and the others surpassed that point? Didn't they go to learn that?"

"And you expect their power to just… cut off?" he asked.

The blond heaved. "Why do you make it sound like they're never coming back?" he shouted. "If you're saying that there's more to just slaying hollows, then they'll never come back because they'll just keep learning the next stage – and the one after, and the one after that!"

He paused, face twisted into fury.

"You don't want to give them back, do you?"

"It's not my decision," Byakuya cut in sharply. He frowned, realising where this conversation was going, and on how thin an ice he was treading.

"Then whose is it?"

"It's theirs."

Sakura snapped her head up, eyes wide, and Kakashi slowly showed his interest to the conversation by turning his head back. Naruto huffed angrily, his hands clenched into fists.

"What do you mean?" he pushed.

"Captain—"

"They had the choice to leave at any point they felt they were strong enough."

Silence hit the room like a bulldozer, and Sakura cringed at those words. She shook her head, her breathing hastening as she looked away and lightly held her skull in shaking hands.

"What?" Naruto breathed. "You mean they could have come back at any time?"

"Yes."

He paused. "Don't lie to me!" he snapped, the whiskers on his cheeks thickening. "I bet you bastards never told them that they could!"

"That choice was entirely up to them," the noble answered. His face was like a mask, but if you looked closely – as closely as Kakashi was looking – you'd see it beginning to crack somewhere. "It was assumed that if they chose to leave Konoha of their own free will, they could also choose to come back at any point in time. No amount of years was given for them to return, was there?"

"Stop!" Sakura shrieked, slamming her hands down and ignoring – but wincing slightly – at the jolt of pain staggering up her arm. She glared at her Captain, who stared monotonously back, his jaw tensed and his Adam's apple bulging as he swallowed. She hissed. "You. Encouraged. Me. To stay. You all told us that we had to stay!"

"When was that said?" his voice was strained.

"With all the responsibilities you put on us!" she yelled at him. "You gave us missions, you gave us classes, you practically filled our every time with something to do, so that—" Her eyes widened; she stared. Seconds passed as her face drifted into extreme bitterness, her lips pursed. "Soul Society had no intention of letting us leave, did they?"

A glimmer of confusion graced Byakuya's face as he faced Sakura a little more. "That is not our intention, Sakura."

"Ours? Or yours?" she asked again, pointedly.

He looked at her intently, before admitting, "Mine."

"You are not Soul Society. It seems you're as much a pawn in whatever game Head-Captain Yamamoto is up to, as the rest of us!"

"Stop there, Sakura," the noble slammed in, brow furrowing so deeply that Sakura flashbacked to the last time she had seen him that mad. "There is no game. This is not a game; this is real."

"Then someone is playing us all for fools," she hissed.

"Must there be someone pulling the strings?" he queried tersely.

"Yes."

"You're bringing this back to Aizen, aren't you? Didn't I teach you better than that?"

"Your teachings were fine!" Sakura yelled, before pointing her better hand in the direction of Kakashi sitting quietly in the corner. "His teachings told me to follow my gut!"

Byakuya's slim eyes lifted instantly to glower at Kakashi, who seemed a little surprised by Sakura's sudden confession. Her abrupt loud and massive sigh caught their attention again.

"Seems like I still have some ninja blood in me," she muttered.

"Is that another way of saying you want to return to Konoha?" the noble asked.

"No," she gritted out. "I will go back when I'm ready."

"But, Sa—"

"Naruto," Kakashi cut him off, shaking his head minutely when the blond looked at him aghast.

"I don't feel complete, yet," the rosette admitted out loud. She then shuffled further into her bed and looked to the ceiling, putting the presence of both Naruto and Byakuya from her mind as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Her nightmare with Sasori didn't cross her mind at all, but rather she felt torn.

Very torn.

No wonder she felt incomplete.

It felt like now, no place would be home, would be safe enough for her to live in. She had come on this mission partly to set a foundation for her future, but now the puzzle had been messed up again when she thought she had nearly finished it.

Soul Society now set her on edge. Something there was off, but it was the place she had called home for several years now. It was the place she had grown up in strength, and in mind. Konoha was her childhood. It held distant memories that she missed. But it, too, made her feel uncomfortable. After hearing so many bad whispers of the ninja council from the shinigami in Soul Society, she guessed it stuck like glue that they were bad news, but—

She supposed she had to see Konoha herself, live there for a month, maybe two, to get a better idea. After all, a lot can change in three years. She certainly had.

The next few days were a blur. Sakura was very upset with the disturbing idea that the place she had been calling home for the past three years appeared to have no intention of letting them go back. Or had no. She didn't tell anyone else about her thoughts, and she trusted the other three in the room to not spread the topic far either; after all, it may break the alliance completely.

Words weren't traded as often, Naruto seeing that Sakura was clearly troubled by it, but she appreciated his old efforts of getting her to smile – he had matured after all. Kakashi was back to full health, but there were a few other ninja who were not. Chouji was in critical condition still after saving Shino in the collapsing of the cave roof.

Ino had come in at one point, face tense, and in the middle of a dying conversation had blurted out how much she had missed Konoha the very moment Shikamaru hugged her as she held Chouji's hand. She cried then and there, face in Sakura's lap as the rosette stroked her long blonde hair. She had to bite her tongue to not voice her thoughts about Soul Society. It seemed she was not the only one feeling torn to shreds by two sides, but Ino just didn't know it.

Hinata and Shino had a quiet reunion; sort of. They had been talking like normal while he was bedridden, but the moment the Aburame had been able to walk, Hinata had thrown her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. No one had to see him without glasses to know that he was surprised as he returned the hug loosely.

Team Gai had the loudest reunion ever, all of it coming from the Green Beasts of Konoha. While they, too, sported a few scratches and wounds, it was like they were 100% with the way they doted about Tenten, who was a little dizzy because of her concussion. Lee was practically glued to her whenever she tried to walk somewhere, and since she was in a bit of a daze, she didn't throw him off – though Neji silently confided to Sakura and a gaping Naruto (Neji was talking to them?) that she actually missed the attention a little, even if it was similar to Division 11.

Somewhere in those days was Gaara's funeral, held in the centre of the village square before his body was carried to the Kage tombs on the outer edge of Suna. Even though Naruto knew that the red-head had been sent to Soul Society, he seemed to understand that spreading hope was not the wisest idea.

By the time all loose ends had been tied up in Suna (Team Gai was to remain until Chouji was fully healed), Sakura realised she'd be spending even more time with the confusion of where she suited best. She opened up a little more on the way back to Naruto, who glanced at her mentor once or twice to see if it was safe enough, but eventually he returned the conversation. It wasn't as intense or exciting as before, but at least it was something.

The moment they arrived at Konoha's gates, however, things was a complete mess.

Initially the shini-nin were given permission to enter the village after the Suna mission had been completed, but the moment they arrived, the four Captains had instantly told them to head towards the portal. Frowning in confusion, Tenten asked why, but she was given no answer as they were hurried away.

Kakashi, Naruto and Shino were glancing back at them with questionable looks, the blond even stepping towards them as they were ushered away, though he was stopped by Captain Ichimaru.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

And the moment they stepped into the portal was the moment they heard a gigantic explosion and they whipped around, just in time to see a chunk of the mountain crash into the village. The ground trembled angrily, and trees began to shiver and uproot themselves. The pile of dust and dirt was so high and huge that it swamped the vague sight of the red-painted gates of the village in the distance as it swallowed it.

"What?" Hinata whispered.

But the portal had closed on them, cutting them off from their old home. And to Sakura's annoyance, her Captain was one who stayed behind to deal with whatever had happened.

"Alright, kiddies. Let's get going," Ichimaru encouraged, pushing Neji into a walk.

None of the shini-nin, even with the stern looks from both Unohana and Hitsugaya (though the former looked sympathetic), felt like following. They couldn't. They just saw something explode within Konoha, but that wasn't the worst part. And it wasn't that Captain Kuchiki had stayed behind either.

It was the fact that they couldn't sense any hollows in the area at all.