Author's Note: I know it's been well over a year since I last updated this story. The main reason is that I lost my comedic muse for this story. Due to this reason, this is going to be the final chapter. Hopefully the bittersweetness of it will make up for everything. Thank you to all my readers for enjoying the story, and will continue to read them, even when my muses decide to take a break.

Story Seventeen: Goodbyes and Hellos

"Sakura, how many times have we said not to run around the compound!" Kabuto yelled, reaching to hold up a stack of books that the rosette almost knocked over in her run.

"Sorry Kabu-chan! But I can't let Sui-chan catch me!" she yelled as she left the room, leaving Kabuto glaring at her retreating figure and Suigetsu casually walking into the room, sipping on a cup of water.

"I'm assuming she got the idea to play tag."

"Yeah, but I'm not playing. She'll get bored and tire herself out eventually."

Taking another sip from his cup, Suigetsu sat down on a nearby couch with a random book as Kabuto went back to his notes. A peaceful silence enveloped the room until they heard a loud crash against a wall. "What the hell?" Kabuto growled, closing his notes yet again.

The two silver-haired males went towards the sound of the crash and found Sakura sprawled out on the floor, unconscious from what was obviously a hard hit to the head. "Well, can't say you didn't warn her," Suigetsu muttered.

"Yeah...all right, help me get her to her room. Without Orochimaru-sama seeing us."

When Sakura came to a few hours later, she saw dark walls totally unfamiliar to her, and was definitely on a bed compared to hard forest floor.

"Awake now, Sakura? That's why you don't go running around the compound."

She knew that voice. Her eyes widened and she sprang up from the bed quickly, "Kabuto Yakushi! Where the hell am I? Where did you take me?"

Kabuto stared at her bewildered, "Huh? What are you on? You're in Sound, and you hit your head on the wall playing one-person tag with Suigetsu."

"Who's that?" she growled, her hand reaching for a kunai but finding the hem of a dress, "What the-! Where's my clothes! Why am I wearing a dress? You perverts! Just because you likely haven't slept with a chick doesn't mean-"

Quickly covering her mouth before she could yell louder and grab Orochimaru's attention, Kabuto stared her down and noticed the playfulness that everyone had grown accustomed to in the past months was replaced by anger and fire. It became instantly obvious: the older, fiery Sakura Haruno was back, and that only meant trouble.

He released her mouth, listening to a few profanities escape her lips before quickly moving to knock her out before she could try escaping and cause everyone trouble. The rosette fell almost lifeless into his arms, and he struggled to get her back onto the bed without tripping over her limp legs.

"Okay, so...now what do we do?" he said with a sigh, brushing a hand through his hair as he pondered what to do about the now not-so-pleasant guest.

"So now that she hit her head, she's gone back to her destructive, ninja self?"

"Pretty much."

Kabuto and Sasuke groaned in unison – they both knew of Sakura's monster strength and anger issues, both of which were not a good combination. Suigetsu and Karin were silent, never having met this side of the girl before, but were equally curious and unwilling to actually meet her face to face now.

"So...what do we do now?" Karin asked, "It's not like she can stay here. It was different when she was an amnesiac kid, but this is playing with fire."

"I'd like to do any action that doesn't involve killing her, but if she starts becoming more conscious and learning of where we're at-"

Suddenly the group was interrupted by a loud, excited yell, "Sui-chan, found you!"

They all turned towards Sakura, now wide awake and hyper, one finger poking Suigetsu's shoulder in victory. Her green eyes were confused at the shocked expressions, and she tilted her head as she tapped on her chin, "Why are you guys looking like that? Are you having a meeting? Is that why you didn't chase me, Sui-chan? Can I join in, pretty please?"

Leaning over, Sasuke whispered to Kabuto, "I thought you said she was unconscious and back to her normal self?"

"I'm assuming when I knocked her out, it brought back out the child Sakura."

The rosette noticed the two whispering, "Hey, what's the big secret? Come on, I wanna know!"

"This...is going to be much more challenging that we thought."

The next few days went by uneventful, although almost everyone was on edge over the child-like woman returning to her adult self, and went as far as to make sure someone was near her at all times in order to keep her from hitting her head.

"We can't keep doing this," Sasuke commented after yanking Sakura away from the training grounds, almost getting hit with a flying tree limb, "It's not going to be much longer before she returns, then we're stuck dealing with her rage until we can repeat the cycle over again."

Kabuto sighed, knowing he was absolutely right, watching as Sakura cheerfully drew pictures on the floor.

"If we can get her out of here, and far away from here so she can't remember where this place is at, then I believe we can take care this without killing her."

Sasuke sighed; he knew of only one way to do that. "Well, you best tell Suigetsu and Karin to say their goodbyes. Sakura's leaving tonight."

Sakura noticed that everyone was starting to act a little weird. Someone was always following her, holding her hand or arm to keep her from running into things, and mumbling to each other about things she couldn't hear.

Today, however, seemed to be the strangest of days. While she was in the kitchen cooking lunch, Suigetsu confronted her, rubbing her hair and telling her that she'll make someone a good wife someday. The statement confused her, but Sakura smiled all the same.

Later on that day, she showed Karin a drawing she made, intending on giving it to her, the redhead hugged her tightly, telling her that she'll cherish it. Sakura was confused again, but she was beyond happy when she saw Karin pin the drawing up next to her bed.

As the evening started to settle in, Kabuto had Sakura sit with him as he read to her one of her favorite books. She didn't know why he did it – after all, she knew Kabuto hated her childish books – but loved the calming sound of his voice and almost fell asleep.

"Sakura."

"...Hm...? Oh, Sasuke-chan," she said sleepily, lifting her head off of Kabuto's shoulder, "What is it?"

"Do you think you can come with me for a bit?" he asked, his eyes darting towards Kabuto – the plan was going into motion.

She looked at Kabuto, who nodded with a calm smile, and Sakura stood from the couch, following Sasuke out of the room.

"Goodbye, Sakura. Hopefully we won't have to meet again," Kabuto whispered, closing the book and placing it to the side.

"Sasuke-chan, where are we going?" Sakura asked again.

She was beyond confused – it was starting to get darker, the moonlight illuminating through the trees, but Sasuke didn't say a single word to her about why he was bringing her into the forest that surrounded Sound.

Suddenly, the raven-haired man stopped and turned towards her. Sakura tilted her head as she looked at her friend, "Huh? Are we here, Sasuke-chan?"

He smirked at her, rubbing her hair as he kissed her forehead. "Thank you for everything, Sakura," he told her.

Her emerald eyes widened as he pulled back, and her head started to hurt at the echoing of those words in her ears. A quick flash of a memory she didn't know – of a cold stone bench and a moonlit night – went through her mind as tears formed in her eyes. Her lips parted to form nonsensical words, but only one thing seemed to escape.

"Sasu...ke...kun...?"

The next thing Sakura saw was black.

"...-chan! Sakura-chan!"

Sakura groaned as her body began to wake up. Her eyes took in harsh sunlight, but she was definitely in a bright hospital room, not a forest of some sort. She could feel the softness of the bed surrounding her compared the hardness of the ground, a welcoming feeling she had to admit.

"Sakura-chan's awake!" she heard Naruto cry out.

She turned her head, seeing the rambunctious blonde sitting beside her with his hand gripping onto her own, Kakashi and Sai nearby with relieved smiles on their faces.

"...Huh...I'm in Konoha...?"

"Are you all right, Sakura-chan? I mean, you were there with those-"

"Naruto, calm down," Kakashi said, "Let Tsunade talk to her about that."

Sakura blinked, "About what? Where was I? Who was I with?"

Naruto began to yell and rant over some sort of situation of being in Sound with Kabuto and Sasuke, and how she was picked, whatever that meant. Sai began to explain the "picked" reference, picking up on Sakura's expression, but was stopped by Naruto, too embarrassed to go through the situation yet again.

The rosette groaned again, covering her ears as Naruto's yelling became too much. "Oi...shut up, Freak-chan!" she yelled, her voice a childish lisp, surprising everyone – even herself.

"Freak-chan! Oh no! Sakura-chan, what did they do to you!"

Before he could even start again, Sai dragged Naruto out of the room and Kakashi sighed as the door shut behind them. He turned towards the stunned woman with a questioning brow, "While I enjoyed the new choice in insults, I'd like to know where that came from."

Sakura pondered her answer, a finger tapping at her lips. Her lips formed a smile as she looked up at her former teacher.

"To be honest, I don't know," she said, her voice back to normal, "However, I think I had a lot of fun with whatever happened."

I know the ending is a bit...lacking. But again, I lost my muse! Forgive me! However, I do hope it was a nice end to a series that I hope brightened up your day as the reader. Thank you for reading!