Bring her back

Chapter 10

Naruto placed 3 glasses filled with beer on their table and then sat down next to Sasuke.

"Sakura won't come...medic books again" Naruto said in a bored tone.

'Just as I expected' Kakashi thought.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about her" Kakashi started. "I assume you noticed it too...she's not really herself lately."

"She looks somehow broken" Naruto said with a serious face.

"What makes you think that?" Kakashi asked him curiously. He wanted to hear those things he noticed from someone else as well, to make sure that he in fact doesn't just overreacted the situation.

"I noticed, that she's so much kinder than she used to be and she never hits me when I say something that annoys her like she used to. While we were on the mission all I could see is her smiling and laughing, it was visible that she was joyful. As soon as we stepped into the village, she became silent and her face serious. Not to mention that she lost a horribly huge amount of weight."

"And the light of her eyes is gone" Sasuke added. Both Naruto and Kakashi looked surprisedly at Sasuke, because of his statement. "She always had these eyes full of life and determination. But now they are empty and hopeless."

Stunned silence sat between them because of the Uchiha. It wasn't likely for him to say such things. Although the fact that he noticed it wasn't so surprising after all. Kakashi always knew that he cared for her deeply in his own way, but his thirst for revenge blinded him completely.

"She's shattered." Kakashi broke the silence. "Because of Ren."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I took her home the night she told us about him. She told me that he's really kind and loving although sometimes he tries to be 'bossy and dominant'. That means that he already tried to take control of her. They were only dating for a few weeks at the time, and his behaviour already showed such things. I didn't take it seriously back then, but I should have. By now he completely destroyed her to the ground mentally. It's clear if you look at her."

"But Sakura would never let someone overpower her. With the power she has...she can protect herself... " Naruto said.

"Not when it comes to emotions if you think about it. She's really vulnerable especially if it comes to love." Kakashi answered. Sasuke dropped his eyes as he remembered how badly he treated her. Naruto thought about how easily Sakura used to cry over Sasuke and he realised that Kakashi was right about her vulnerability.

"I don't know what he tells her, that she feels that desperate, but we have to help her." Kakashi continued.

Naruto stood up suddenly with an angry expression on his face. "Let's find him right now and beat some sense into him! He can't treat her like that! We can't let this go on anymore! Sakura-chan looks like a ghost, because of him, not even Sasuke made her look like that ever!"

"You can't do that. We don't have any evidence. Sakura never said anything bad about him either. You can't just beat someone because of your assumptions." Sasuke said calmly.

"Then what are we gonna do?! Just sit here drinking and chatting, while we know that she's in pain at that very moment too?!" Naruto asked sharply.

"The only way to help her is to be kind and patient with her. So she'll trust us eventually to speak up about the abuse. Then we can help her." Kakashi told him.

"But how are we gonna talk to her if she can't come to meet us?!" Naruto asked.

"Training. I guess she can come to those." The silver-haired said.