Hunting the Shadows 1: SasuSaku Fanfic

Chapter 19

I had fallen asleep against the door, so when Ino banged against the wood I felt it with my whole body.

"Sakura," she called. "SAKURA! Open this door!"

Stumbling a bit, I managed to turn around and unlock it. Before I could twist the knob, Ino burst in and tackled me into a hug. She was a crying mess, clutching onto me as tightly as she could.

Her face was buried into my neck, making it impossible to distinguish anything she was saying. It was all just loud, sobbing mumbles.

But, I understood anyway.

I started crying along with her, wrapping my arms around her as I said over and over again, "I missed you."

Even with Ino though, I was unable to tell her everything about my adventure. I kept to the facts, and I did not speak about the confusion swirling around in my head where Sasuke was concerned.

"So," Ino said, "he just let you go? Seriously, just like that?"

I nodded.

She tilted her head from side to side, her eyes still puffy from all her crying. "It must mean something, but I can't think of what."

Tell me about it.

I snuck a glance under my bed at the crumpled up note Sasuke left me with. A new wave of anger came over me, but I ignored it and brought my eyes back to Ino.

Tsunade came down the hall and stood in the doorframe. She took one look at us on the floor, which made her pause for a moment, caught off guard by our location.

"Sakura, we have to go to the Hokage's office. Ino, you come, too. It's a team meeting."

I stood up, holding out a hand to help Ino get to her feet as well.

"I have to tell my story again, don't I?" I asked.

"Seems that way," Tsunade said, walking out of sight.

Ino and I followed her out the house and then down the familiar paths through the village. It felt like years had passed since last I was here, but it had only been about two months.

When we got to Kakashi's office, Naruto and Sai were waiting for us, along with Gaara, that blonde woman I saw in Sasuke's mountain base, and then another ominous looking guy with painted markings on his face. Must be some kind of mage thing.

Naruto zipped over to me and gave me a hug. Much like Ino, he too was a blubbering mess.

I gave him a warm hug in return. "I missed you, too."

Tsunade pulled him off me, and placed him on the other side of her. "Okay," she said. "Now we know that Sakura is back, she was returned to us by the vampire known as Sasuke Uchiha."

Nobody in the room looked surprised by this.

Kakashi folded his hands before him, leaning forward in his chair while giving me a steadying look. "Explain everything. Carefully."

And I did. Just not in the way that he wanted me to be careful.

He wanted me to give over everything I knew, everything that I'd gone through. Give them the secrets of their enemies, the whereabouts, the plans.

Still, I could not find it in me to give up all that I knew.

"Throughout my stay, Sasuke was nothing short of kind to me. He trained me into becoming a better fighter," I finished.

It was Gaara who made the first move as he strode forward, coming face to face with me with barely a couple feet in between us.

"Stay?" he asked. "You make it sound like a choice."