The Gift

3 months later
"Orochimaru has been killed by Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade informed the remnants of Team Seven.

"Apparently, Sasuke would've killed him sooner, but he needed cover from the Akatsuki before he found appropriate members of a new team he has now assembled," she continued, fully aware of the glowering of Naruto and disappointment of Sakura. And of course, the apathy of Sai.

"So what do you want us to do?" Kakashi asked.

"We are here to discuss whether it's worth setting up another mission to retrieve Sasuke," Tsunade answered matter-of-factly, "Keep in mind that we should recall the last mission…"

Sakura's cheeks burned in the memory of the last "mission." While it may have not been totally disastrous…Okay, it was safe to admit that nobody was pleased about the mission except for her and she decided to keep that to herself.

"Sakura…what is your view on this situation?" Tsunade pointedly asked.

The sudden attention made her want to kill Tsunade.

"I…this…this mission would be ineffective, unless we have a strongly built team, and…concrete information on Sasuke-kun's…whereabouts," Sakura stammered.

Kakashi nodded his head amicably, "Nicely said."

"Well, we do know his whereabouts actually, he was last seen freeing imprisoned men from one of Orochimaru's hideouts," Tsunade said matter-of-factly.
"He seems to have no particular direction, only traveling from town to town dodging the Akatsuki," Tsunade continued.

"I will assemble a team, and we'll end this," Kakashi concluded.

"Yeah! We'll get Sasuke-teme back this time!" Naruto said with a note of confidence in his voice.

Sakura sucked in her breath and left without a word. She was biting her lip the whole time.
Would he let her join? Or was her last blunder too much to forgive?

-----

The day of Sasuke's Retrieval Mission Part II, Sakura woke up before her alarm clock rang, even though she had only slept three hours, having tossed and turned for hours the night before. She had even taken a stroll outside at midnight, though the calm, cool air did nothing for the nervous buzz in her stomach. When she woke up, it was 4 a.m., and she felt like she would hurl, but she held in her stomach as she packed.

The team did have solid coordinates of Sasuke's whereabouts, but that said nothing for whether they had the strength, or rather persuasion to bring him back. She couldn't believe the conditions in which they were forced to build a "strong team." Nobody was available; Sai didn't feel like joining and Kakashi didn't make him. So basically, they had to take her, even though there was no reason to.

Sakura ate a banana for breakfast. She had been advised to stock up on energy, but decided to call it quits after the banana mush almost made it back up her esophagus. After fidgeting around at her small, plain table, she decided to head towards the gate and wait there, even though she was an hour ahead. Surprisingly, being so close to the way out of the village, or rather, the beginning, her body relaxed and she began to doze off.

-----

"Sakura-chan! Hey Sakura-chan?" a muffled voice rang somewhere. Sakura's eyes blinked and she caught the bright cerulean eyes of Naruto. They were lighter, and warmer than the cold cobalt blue that began to ease the darkness of the night.

"Excited for the mission, eh?" Naruto smiled slyly.

Sakura only shot him a glare that shut him up immediately. As usual, Kakashi was late, but they still managed to set out at around their designated leaving time.

Around halfway to the hidden village in the mist, they stopped for a short break. Sakura turned to Kakashi and asked the question that had been nagging at her all morning.
"Kakashi-sensei…how exactly are we gonna bring him back?"
Why did you choose to include me?

"Ah, I'm surprised you didn't ask earlier."

"I know, I've just been distracted."

"Well ok. We know that he has created a team of three extra members, and we plan to catch Sasuke on his own, which won't be likely so we'll hopefully knock out the other members using minimal chakra."
"Naruto and I are the ones that'll confront Sasuke, and I'll seal his cursed seal, which will hopefully help us in combat. Also, Tenten and Neji are nearby, and we've been hooked up so we can contact them if things get bad. And Sakura-chan, you will help us with…the other team members."

"So basically I'm back up," Sakura directed at the two males with hurt written all over her face. She was the useless one, the weak one, but this time it was entirely her fault.

"I know last time didn't exactly…go the way it was planned," Sakura said, her voice shaking. At this, the two males looked down awkwardly.
"Look, I feel like we need to talk about this. I wasn't ready before, but now I am," Sakura said clearly, even though her heart was pounding.

"We don't have to," Naruto mumbled, looking towards a tree in the distance.

"I screwed up last time, really screwed up. And I hope you can forgive me for my unprofessional actions. You put me in a place that I couldn't handle, but this time I can. I guarantee it. We just have to use a different method," Sakura continued, trying to be strong but failing miserably.

"Sakura-chan, you'd be perfect, and fully utilized in any mission but this one. And you know why…You're just not mentally fit for-"
Sakura stepped forward, eyes wild.

"That's bullshit! I know what I can do, Kakashi-sensei! I've put those…hindrances behind me, I can do this, honestly, I really don't-" she begged.

"Sakura! You love Sasuke-kun, and you always will. Don't you know that I can sense it? Don't you know that it's obvious to everyone that you just want to see him again?" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Now, Naruto...," Kakashi started, but saw Sakura's mouth open as if she was going to retort.

A silence settled and when Kakashi recognized the defeat in Sakura's stance he said, "We've stopped for too long…its time to get a move on."

Without a word, they individually sprang up and began to move through the trees silently.

-----

They finally reached the Hidden Village in the Mist at noon on the third day and they were all ready to rest and prepare finally for the penultimate phase in retrieving Sasuke.

"Sakura, you and Naruto should scope out the village first. My look is too recognizable and we can't be noticed by these people…relations with Konoha haven't been that great lately. If you sense, or notice anyone, report back immediately."

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other for a split second before turning away indignantly.

"Take Pakkun with you, he's already been given Sasuke's scent," Kakashi said as he summoned his small dog.

Sakura and Naruto set out while Kakashi settled down with his orange book. They walked around town, following the dog automatically, with Sakura occasionally peeking at Naruto who seemed to have put in all his effort to ignore her.

"It's strange, his scent it erratic, yet constant at the same time. I keep losing him, yet finding a faint particle of him at odd times. He must have worked carefully in diffusing his scent."

"Of course," Naruto cursed quietly, "Let's go back, there's no use in continuing this blind hunt."

"Yes, you're right," Sakura said complacently.

They headed back to the hotel, wondering how it was possible that they would ever catch the raven-headed boy off-guard again.

-----

Kakashi was out when the two returned to the hotel room. Sakura shot a questioning look at Naruto, who went on to raid the refrigerator without any reaction. She sighed and decided to pet a very put out Pakkun until he said with t a gruff voice, "Please, with all due respect Sakura-san, don't pet me."

"Oh! Sorry," Sakura blushed. She sat aimlessly on the bed, not knowing what to expect. A suddenly rustle and Naruto's footsteps pulled her out of her reverie. Naruto was walking towards the couch with the TV in front of it, with an armful of junk food.

"What are you trying to do? Fatten up before the action?" Sakura said, her voice unintentionally sarcastic. Nothing was replied except for a spiteful crinkling of an opening package and a loud crunch as a follow-up.

"Naruto, stop ignoring me."

Crunch, crunch, crunch, snap, crunch, crunch…

"NARUTO!!!"

Crunch…crunch…crunch…

Sakura walked to sit next to him and reached out her arm to snatch the bag of chips out of his hands. Naruto, obviously not paying attention to the monotonous talk show, swung his arm out of the way. Still, Sakura wouldn't give up and continued to strike at random times.

"Naruto-" her fingers narrowly missed the sharp edge of the bag, "Seriously, will you stop," his hand slapped hers away, "ignoring me?"

"Fine, stop."

Sakura grabbed one of his wrists and reached over him for his other hand.

"Stop."

"If you would just," Sakura said through clenched jaws, "stop eating and talk to me," she smiled victoriously when she finally snatched the bag of chips out of his hand and was waving it above her head.
"STOP," Naruto said angrily as he pushed Sakura down and held himself up with the arms that were pushing Sakura's struggling wrists down.

"Naruto, get off of me. What are you doing?" Sakura frowned and struggled furiously.

"Don't bother me until you're ready to admit that you'll never get over him."

Sakura looked at him incredulously.
"Why the hell would you want me to do that?"

Sakura looked up expectantly at Naruto, whose face was an odd shade of red, his eyelids drooping, as if he was half asleep. Slowly, unbelievably, he leaned down jerkily and pressed his lips on to hers. Sakura's eyes widened painfully, getting a blurry close up of the sooty eyelashes of the boy who was on top of her. His lips were salty, and she waited as he rubbed them awkwardly against hers. Finally, when her heart was about to jump out of her chest and her lungs were about to combust due to lack of oxygen, she pressed her own lips together and turned her head away. Naruto hung his head so that tufts of his blonde hair was brushing Sakura's face while catching his breath before quietly lifting himself off the couch an releasing Sakura.

Her entire being was buzzing out of embarrassment as well as guilt. This wasn't something she could joke about, honestly she couldn't even process what had just happened.
"Naruto...," Sakura began, but the words died in her throat. He stalked off, his muscular, lean frame disappearing through the door to the bathroom.

The front door burst open and Kakashi strode towards them quickly.

"I was able to 'borrow' some files from the Mist's archives, and I found some ancient relations Sasuke had with some of the citizens of Mist," Kakashi said calmly as he laid out the files on the small, round table.
Naruto speed-walked out of the bathroom and joined the other two at the table. The strands of hair covering his forehead were slightly damp and dripping with water.

"What do we do now?" Sakura asked quietly.

"We will go after these people, and hopefully question them, if not bump into Sasuke and his team on the way," Kakashi said cautiously.

"I…think it would be better if I stayed," Sakura said plainly. She looked up, and to her surprise Naruto's eyes met hers for the first time in two days. She held back the need to gasp for air as she turned away and headed for the couch.

"Sakura…"

She noticed the pause in his voice, but didn't pry.

"We'll stay in touch with these earpieces, that way you can come help us anytime we need it."

"Sure," she said airily, ignoring the fact that she contributed nothing whatsoever to this mission so far, ignoring the taunts of useless, useless, useless…in her head. She looked over at Naruto, who again was looking at her. He looked a bit mournful, but Sakura smiled stiffly at him, not knowing what to say.

"Good luck…"

With a quick goodbye hand gesture, they were off.

-----

Sakura sat on the couch pathetically, watching the third old-timers movie in a row. She never felt so useless in her life. Since when was a ninja allowed to watch movies and eat popcorn on a mission? She should've never gone on this godforsaken mission, where she wasn't even needed.
However, she tried to keep in connection by keeping the earpiece planted safely in her ear.
When the clock struck twelve Sakura dozed off on the bed, on top of the covers.

-----

Someone was tapping her on the shoulder. After realizing that someone was trying to wake her up, perhaps Kakashi or Naruto, she tried to pull herself from the dreamlike state quickly.

"Kakashi? Naruto?" she mumbled in a frazzled state.

"Wrong," a steely voice answered. It was the voice that Sakura could hear and recognize no matter what. She opened her eyes fully; it was Sasuke Uchiha sitting next to her. Her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't speak.

"How did you…what…how…?" Sakura gaped. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she noticed the dryness of her throat.

Sasuke eyes directed her to the cleanly shattered window from where he entered.

"Those files that Kakashi took…they're not that easy to just take. So as soon as it reached me that you three were in town, I decided to drop by."

His smirk, smile, whatever. It drove her crazy, and she didn't know whether to jump out the window and start running, or to knock him out. She didn't have the courage to do either so she just started to back away. Immediately, she thought of her earpiece and began to reach for it, but if she contacted them in front of him, he would disappear so fast that the other side wouldn't even be connected before he was gone. She decided to keep her eyes on the clock, within one hour, she would contact the others. Meanwhile, she would keep him distracted, and unsuspecting.

"Sasuke-kun…I…What can I do?" she asked, pleading look in her eyes.

"Think about it."

Sakura blanched but obeyed as he leaned in towards her. She couldn't help it. Just one kiss, one more sin, one more betrayal. They really corrupted her with that first idea. Once she had a taste of what it was like to be with the Uchiha, it was hard not to submit to his will, especially when the feeling was mutual.

Not that anyone could tell, but Sasuke was practically euphoric inside. After all he had Sakura, all to himself, after months of agonizing what it would be like having her again. Her slender shoulders under his grip, constantly shifting, and her knees that squirmed minutely around his thighs. Most of all, just having her in front of him, breathing deeply so he didn't have to worry about whether she was alive.

Then he felt her withdraw.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this, not tonight," Sakura said. She discreetly slipped the earpiece into her pocket as she pushed herself off the bed. Sasuke however, was not planning to let her do that. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back so she was lying face up on the bed. She turned to her side and tried to push herself up again, but he only pushed her down again and made her face him.

"Sasuke-kun-"

"I don't say this often, but I want this."

"Don't make me wait."

Sakura covered her blushing face and resisted the need to giggle at Sasuke's face. She wanted to give in, but something was nagging at her…right the mission, but more than that, Naruto. She firmly pushed herself up and looked at Sasuke.

"Today I think I found out something really…obvious, that I should've picked up on earlier," Sakura confessed guiltily.

"…What," Sasuke asked with no emotion. He didn't come here for a heart to heart.

"I think…Naruto likes me."

"…"
Sasuke was silent but raised his eyebrow.

"He…he kissed me," Sakura continued. Saying those words made her blush and cringe at the same time.

Sasuke's eyes flickered towards her lips then narrowed, and his brows became slightly furrowed. That was his only reaction.

"Well? Is this where you ask for my blessing?" Sasuke asked in an acidic voice.

"No! I don't know…I…"

Sakura noticed that Sasuke was staring at her with expectance. She knew what she had to do.

"Sasuke-kun, it's hard waiting for you, thinking about you all the time…
And this is not the first time that I've wondered…"

"Wondered what," Sasuke questioned sharply.

Sakura swallowed before taking the plunge.
"…Naruto and I…What it would" pause, "be like."

She kept her eyes down but she knew something was coming. She looked up, and oh. Sasuke's lips were taut with some teeth showing in a half scowl, and his eyes were shining very, very brightly. He was beautiful to look at, even though the look in his eyes told her that she was going experience and extreme form of violence. Fury knew no beauty like Sasuke Uchiha.

"What are you trying to say, Sakura?" he sneered as he crept closer to her reclining position.

"That you don't want me here?"

He reached on hand to grasp the back of her neck and pulled her towards his lips which grazed her collarbone. Although it took a great effort, note a great effort, Sakura pushed him away, feigning indifference.

"You left me Sasuke, twice you've left me now, and I'm not a stop and go sex joint," Sakura said factually, fearing for her own audacity, "If you really want me, you know what you have to do."

Dark laughter erupted deep from Sasuke's throat as he shook his head.

"Often I forget to see you as a kunoichi…I forget your motives."

"That's your mistake to make."

"You really think that's the way to do it? Didn't you learn something from the last time?"

Sasuke smiled sinisterly as he traced Sakura's jaw line with the tips of his fingers.

"If you ever try to bring me back to Konoha again, you better kill me first."

AN: Hey guys!!! I'm finally back!!! Ahh...I haven't uploaded for so long and it feels good to finally do it, even though I'm kinda supposed to be studying for exams...and I'm feeling guilt, lots of it. So as usual, COMMENTS are welcomed! I'd really like to know what you guys thought about this chapter, a good continuation? really crap? random? Your reaction MATTERS to me :) So yeah, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!