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The Book of Love	By : TheChieftain Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 3193 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the series of Naruto (which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto), nor any of the canon characters and I definitely don't make money with this either. I'm just someone that wants to fill in the blanks properly.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
"Sakura," Sasuke uttered her name, which caused the pink haired woman to look at him. After catching a glance of her, he shook his head and walked past her. "Nevermind."

His head hummed constantly. It was filled with musings, conclusions, and nightmares which swirled together like water within whirlpools. While he never enjoyed a moment with peace of mind, he sometimes achieved a rare instance in which brief clarity reigned over his thoughts. A feeling in which he could focus his attentions to a single subject without concerning himself with the other thousand things that fought for his attention.
Sakura was on his mind.
She had cried, and he held her as she did, yet now she seemed closed in. Her glances were shorter, and she occasionally squeezed her hands into a fist, along with other small ticks. He could tell she was upset- However, it wasn't the embrace. It couldn't have been so. No, something else was bothering her.
Sasuke had initially assumed that Sakura was simply too emotional. However, if their past was any indication, she was a little too tough to crack so easily, and it was becoming even clearer as time passed that there was a loose thread somewhere with this.
He tried his best to put the thought in the back burner— right then, he needed to be focused.
The door slammed open. Sasuke would stride in with the sharingan already activated, carrying in the cart assigned to him by the pink haired medic nin. Behind him, the woman followed in, with clipboard in hand, scribbling done a few notes. She was clearly a little irritated with the entrance. "You're going to break the wall," she warned, with a slight frown. However, before she was able to say anything else she bumped into the man in front of her. "Huh?" She leaned over his shoulder, only to see that a little girl sat on the bed. She turned around to face the two ninja and tilted her head.
"Who are you two?" she questioned, clutching at the bedsheets with mild uncertainty. Quickly, she covered her mouth with the sheets and coughed weakly into them before lying back against the pillows. Pale complexion, sunken in eyes— it was clear she was not in the best condition. However, it was clear to anyone just by sight, who this girl was.
Sakura'd blink, miffed. "That's the Daimyo's daughter," she stated, pointing at the child. "This isn't the right room!"
Sasuke, turned to face Sakura and pointed at the room number on the clipboard. "This is room 8000. This is certainly the right room. Moreover, you said yourself, this particular part of the hospital is only used to house very important guests."
"You forget how many high ranking ninja were caught up in the ambush. Like most floors in the hospital, this place is packed to the brim."
"This is still the right room."
Sakura sighed and shook her head. "So someone's messed up? Where could Ren Sanada be if not here?"
"The better question is why the hell is he in the VIP section of the hospital?"
The little girl chimed in at that moment. "You guys are looking for Renny?
At this, the two shinobi looked at each other, before Sakura stepped up to the bed. She leaned forward and spoke softly. "Renny? Do you know Ren Sanada?"
The little girl smiled and nodded wildly, almost as though she suddenly had energy. "Uhuh! He's right here!" And with that, the girl hopped out of bed, using the hanger with her iv drip to balance herself. Once having hobbled over to the massive curtains that divided the room, she pulled them back to reveal a man lying on a bed.
He was scrapped with about a dozen different leather straps that kept him on the bed. His hands were cuffed together, and his body was covered in different paper seals meant to keep him from channeling his chakra. Physically, he was incredibly robust— very muscular and seemingly as tall as Sasuke— maybe even more. His bright auburn hair was thicker on his beard than his short, yet messy hair. His face seemed slightly worn, but seemed no older than Kakashi. Most strangely however, were the three diamonds that decorated his forehead. They were not unlike Sakura's— though all three much smaller. A foul chakra emanated from them— enough to make Sakura take a step back. It was a familiar, uneasy feeling.
Sasuke did not falter, and instead glowered at the man. "That's the chakra of a curse mark...it's not difficult to discern the difference between regular chakra, and that." Sasuke's sharingan began to change from that of his three tomoe to the mangekyou sharingan eye. "We'll find out what you know..."
The man's head slowly turned to face the ninja, and he would scoff at them before giving a wry smile. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not a part of the people that got you."
Sakura stepped forward. "We know you hail from the same village as them...a well known medic ninja with incredible knowledge of poisons and explosions, supposedly."
"Well, you wouldn't be wrong about any of that stuff."
"So what's the difference between that and you being guilty?"
The bound man sighed. "Damn you kids are morons," he muttered under his breath. "I saved the kid's life." He shrugged over to the Daimyo's daughter before glancing back at Sakura. "She's some hoity toity important person, right? That should be proof enough. You probably noticed how the shrapnel of the bombs that were set off had poison inside them. That's why nearly all the ninja here are close to dead, if not pushing up daisies already. It's very advanced...from particularly potent flowers found up north. Luckily, I knew what poison that they'd use in the bombs and had a few batches of antidote ready to go."
Sakura folded her arms together and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "How convenient. You knew the poison they'd use and how to counter it. Were you also just happening to walk by once the explosion went off?"
The prisoner couldn't help but laugh at this. It was boisterously loud— to the point that Sasuke found it obnoxious. "No. I knew what they were planning ahead of time. I don't like it when kids get hurt, so I decided to betray my village in order to save her life. Not to mention, that our leader is a bit of a dumbass. He thinks that he could have beaten you lot and expected war to break out over this. A war where you'd be stuck fighting the rest of the world. It would have made you all look bad, but he's out of his damn mind if it'd be enough to make the other Kages turn on you. Not all of them at least. And that's just the best case scenario. At least this way, we won't all be plunging back into the dark eras because some guy didn't get his balls tickled enough."
There was a moment of silence, in which Sakura tried her best to not seemed appalled at his language. "We have no reason to believe you," she then pointed out.
He shrugged as best as he could in binds. "Well go ask the damn kid herself."
It was at this point that the daimyo's daughter started nodding again quickly before inching over to the older man. "It's true...Renny saved my life! He took the purple goop out of my leg and arm cuts and then gave me this tea...it was gross but I felt better. Plus, he tells the best jokes!"
"It's true. I tell a pretty damn good joke. Like this: What do you call something a ninja doesn't like to do? A Nindon't."
Sasuke turned directly to Sakura at that moment. "He needs to be isolated."
At that point, the child started to cough harshly, something which made Sakura rush over and return her back to bed. The moment she was there, she increased the dosage of painkillers in her iv drip.
Sasuke folded his arms. "If that's the case, why is she still sick?"
"I don't know...I'm not exactly in a position where I can check her, if you can't already tell."
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances at that moment, before the woman put up her arms in a shrug. "We really have no other choice. You're an enemy ninja, and until we can investigate and find out the whole truth, you'll need to be placed in a solitary—"
"No! You can't take away Renny!" The girl had bounced off the bed yet again, and pouted.
Sasuke turned to the child at that moment, who was looking directly at him. "That man is a dangerous criminal. You have no say in this."
"You can't take him away! I demand that you don't or else!"
"Sakura..."
The woman stepped up again, bending down to eye level while maintaining a polite tone. "Your ladyship, it's important that we take him elsewhere— at least until our stories are straight."
"He told you the truth already!"
It was particularly difficult to keep patient. Looking back at Sasuke, he didn't seem fazed, but instead expected Sakura to do something about the child. She laughed nervously and returned her gaze to the daimyo's daughter. "Yes, but there are strict measures we need to take...we need to confirm the stories, get eye witness accounts, do more interviews—"
At this point, the child too had run out of patience, and her own tone turned sour and authoritative. "Look you ninja, it's clear that you two don't understand just who I am..."
"But we do understand who you are! That's the reason we're trying to—"
"Save me the speech." The girl coughed quite harshly to the point that her knees buckled. However, when Sakura attempted to take a hold of her, she swatted away the hand and went back to the prisoner, putting a hand on his chest. "I'm saying that Renny isn't leaving, and if you so much as wheel him out of the room without me, I'll have this entire hospital shut down! You'll all have to go to the capital for treatment...just like everyone else. You got that?!"
Sakura couldn't do anything but stare in disbelief. Looking at Sasuke wouldn't even help in a remote way, as he stood silently, awaiting the call of the doctor. And of course he would— this wasn't a decision he could make. It was her hospital, and whether or not the child should have leniency was entirely up to her. She touched her lips with the tips of her fingers, not in contemplation, but instead, frustration. How the hell was she going to deal with this? "I guess I'll have to go to Kakashi-sensei about this." She took a brief pause at that moment and puffed out her chest slightly. "Your ladyship, please come with me so that you can explain your case to the Hokage."
The girl nodded then and would follow Sakura out of the room. Right before Sakura passed the door however, she looked back at Sasuke, whose gaze had not yet left her. "Please watch him for me. If he tries anything, you have the authority to restrain him by whatever means you need to. Try not to kill him though."
"Got it."
Sakura stared at Sasuke for a moment, seemingly in thought for a moment before opening her mouth to speak again. When words did not come out however, she sighed and left, closing the door behind the girl. This left only two men in the room.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man held down, only for him to grin at the Uchiha. It was unsettling. "What the hell are you—."
"So how long have you been fucking her?"
Sasuke's eyes widened. That question came completely out of left field— in fact, so far left field that it hit him in the back of the head. "What?"
Though the prisoner could not move a lot, he put up his hands at the wrist, as if to shrug off the shock. "I saw the way she looked at you...and that look you give her while she was leaving." Sanada snickered, a mischievous smile growing more prevalent on his face. "She wants your Uchiha—"
"I'm not involved with Sakura."
That shut down the conversation quickly, but for the man, it certainly wasn't over. He'd grin even more, to the point that the subtle wrinkles on his face became more prominent. One could see just how much this man smiled just by seeing them. "Well, if you're not going for it, I will."
This only caught more of the Uchiha's attention. "What?"
"Look, you're a young man, and you only get so many chances with someone before that door's closed forever. If you decide that you'd rather continue with this 'I'm not getting involved' schtick you have going on, go ahead. You'll lose her sooner or later, and a guy like me'll have the perfect opportunity to swoop in. Hell, I encourage it because of that." He'd then chuckle slightly. "Besides, did you see that ass of hers? No, her whole body is just one tight masterpiece but damn if I didn't admit that ass was the best thing I've seen in my thirty six years." He slowly shook his head then, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at Sasuke. "Heh, if I wasn't trapped in here, she'd definitely be the one with her back on this bed." He then laughed heartily, continuing to speak. "She also wouldn't be able to get up from it, ya know what I mean?! HAHAHA!"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed subtly.
Meanwhile, Sakura leaned her back against the wall as she continued to speak on the red phone at the counter. "Yes, I understand, sens— I mean, Lord Sixth. Yes, I got it. Okay...okay. Okay, okay, bye. Yes I understand. Bye." She dropped the phone on it's hook and groaned, putting a hand on her face while looking up at the ceiling light. Things could never be easy, could they?
The child was standing infront of the kunoichi, arms folded. "Well? What did he say?"
Sakura turned towards the child and forced a smile. "Well, it looks like Ren gets to stay in the room with you, Lady Ai."
"Yes!" The girl would put her fist into the air, only to quickly put that hand over her mouth to cough. Pulling it away, the two were quick to notice the blood.
Sakura quickly hoisted Ai into her arm, while using the other hand to carry the iv drip. The two made their way back to the room.
Before Sakura could even knock, Sasuke opened the door to allow her to come in, resulting in a small smile from Sakura.
"Thank you Sasuke. I really appreciate it."
"Hn."
The terse response made Sakura knit her eyebrows together with a pinch of concern. Once the girl was back in bed, she faced Sasuke and tilted her head to the side slightly. "You alright Sasuke?"
"Yes," he replied.
Her arms cupped at both her elbows as she leaned all her weight to one of her legs. She breathed in deeply, as though she would speak, only to then let it all out and turn towards the curtain "Why is Ren's curtain back up?"
"It's best we don't upset the child," Sasuke stated flatly.
"And since when did you care about upsetting the child?" Her suspicions became aroused at this, and when she narrowed her gaze at the Uchiha, he turned to face the wall to his left.
"You said I could use any measures necessary," he said dismissively. "The prisoner was being belligerent."
"Did you—" Sakura felt her heart sinking quickly. Rushing in panic to the curtains, she pulled them back only slightly, only to see Sanada lying in bed, one eye deeply inflamed and as purple as it was shiny. Suddenly the feeling of dread was replaced with that of slight disappointment. "What...in the world happened? He doesn't even look like he even made an attempt to get out of his binds. What sort of belligerent was he?"
"He was talking too much."
Sakura turned around quickly at that response. As short of a temper as Sasuke had, would he really go as low as to hit a man that had no way of defending himself or threatening others? Going through the curtain, she walked up to the man in bed and put her hand over his eye, allowing it to begin glowing with a healing light. "Ren..."
"Don't call me Ren. Call me Sanada."
"I'm sorry about my friend, Sanada. He has a short temper."
"No harm, no foul. Well, at least not when there's a pretty lady here to heal me," he said with a wink.
The woman's cheeks brightened the slightest bit, but she tilted her head off to the side. "You flatter me, but I'm afraid that I'm already interested in someone else."
"Oh? What a shame. A woman such as yourself should have a man with proper experience that she has a lot in common with."
"Such as?"
The man turned his head to the side and blushed slightly. "Well, we're both trained by the same sannin..." His eye flicked towards the pink haired ninja as his bashful smile turned into a smirk. "We're both also powerful medic nins that use our fists to do the talking, isn't that right, Sakura Haruno?"
"Wait, how do you know my—"
"I may be some unknown whelp to you, but I know a hell of a lot about you and your whole squad. You, Naruto Uzumaki, and that man over there, Sasuke Uchiha. I know a hell of a lot about him, especially."
"Wait what? How?"
"Well I worked with Orochimaru as I said, not to mention, word travels fast in the ninja world. Even faster in the criminal ninja world. You three are the ire of thousands of people, I can tell you that much." There was a silence, brief but enough to put Sakura in an unease. Suddenly, Sanada began to speak softly. "I can tell you a lot of things that I know. You know, info about you guys, about my sources, my past...hell, I might even sell out my village by telling you what other things they were planning...of course, it'd cost you. Nothing much. Just a small request."
"And what would that be," Sakura asked as she cocked her eyebrow, arms now crossed over her chest nervously.
"One date."
And suddenly, just like that Sakura flicked off his iv drip. After making sure there was no more flow, she then begun to pull off the fluid tubes from his arms. "While you sit there and think about all the ways you just messed up right now, I'll be going to lunch. And don't bother calling a nurse in here. I'll turn off the button on my way out too."
"W-Wait—"
"When I come back, you can tell me all about how you're sorry and I might give you back your painkillers. But for now, you should likely remember all that info you were going to tell us on our date and give it to me when I return."
"I'll give it—"
"Finish that sentence, and I'll make sure you don't get any pain killers at all."
The redhead scoffed and pursed his lips together. "Damn woman...you're definitely cut from the same cloth as Lady Tsunade."
The comment made Sakura finally return a smirk at the other. "You should know. After all, we do have that in common." Leaving from behind the curtain, she grabbed Sasuke by the wrist and pulled him out of the room and down the hall. Shutting the door behind them, she then let go of him. "You were right...he does talk too much."
Sasuke said nothing.
She groaned once again and put a hand through her hair. "We should have something to eat now, don't you think?"
More silence.
"Sasuke?"
The man's thoughts were elsewhere. Entirely off into a different dimension than the one they were currently in. Even though he was looking at Sakura, it was more like he was looking a thousand miles through her, rather than right at her. In his mind, he could only keep repeating those words that the man had told him.
"...you only get so many chances with someone before that door's closed forever. If you decide that you'd rather continue with this 'I'm not getting involved' schtick you have going on, go ahead. You'll lose her sooner or later..."
There was a part of him that thought it was foolish of him to concern himself with something like this. That it was absolutely maddening that he would even pretend to think he was right in any way— and yet it was a doubt in his mind. Was he really concerning himself enough with Sakura? Yes, he was taking her away as he had promised, but he masked his intentions to the point where he would believe that there was nothing more within them. Was that what he ought to do? Would Sakura drift from him if he maintained too much distance? Physically, they were never closer, but like with many things, the true perspective was skewed. Then again, to push forward the emotional underpinnings would be entirely too selfish. Sakura had to make the decision herself on whether or not it was worth going with him, even if there was no reward in it. He couldn't promise her many things— it would only lead to disappointment. And yet, there was a part of him— small and faint now— that wanted to promise her the world. He was closer now, he could feel it.
"Sasuke."
The man's focus returned to the forefront as a hand, gentle and soft, touched his cheek. At that moment, his sharingan deactivated with a small whirr of a sound before he shut the eye that held his rinnegan. "I was thinking," he stated firmly.
"Oh, sorry." Sakura pulled her hand away from him and folded her arms together. "Do you want me to go—"
Sasuke put his hand up at this before shaking his head. "We should eat. You keep mentioning it, so you must be feeling it."
"O-Oh...well, if you aren't feeling hungry..."
"No," Sasuke began to walk, with Sakura following at his side. "We should eat. There's a lot of work that needs to be done now, and with all that's happening, we'll already be behind schedule."
Sakura blinked. "Wait, you're going to stay until we finish up here?"
"There's no choice. It would have been preferable to actually leave, but it's clear that won't be happening...at least not now. The scale of this incident makes things a little more difficult. The work of today is good practice for what may happen out there, although I must admit...this is much more difficult, and confusing."
The conversation continued at one of the tables in the hospital's cafe, once they found it.
Sakura had ordered for herself much more than what Sasuke got for himself.
"Why are you ordering only soup?"
"It's a rare chance that I get a warm meal. I may get more later, if I'm still hungry."
Sakura nodded. "So, why are you actually staying here? You were so adamant about leaving tonight. Are you sure it wont throw anything off?"
"No, we can manage as we are now. The work we're doing here is important. For Konoha to lose as many ninja as it did in a single swoop is far too dangerous for it's military strength. More than half of them are dead now. Not to mention that the Daimyo's daughter is also involved in this. Most places would consider that an act of war, and if it isn't resolved, many more lives could be lost across the board. It takes precedence."
"I must admit Sasuke, I'm surprised that you care so much now about this sort of thing," she told him, mixing the food on her plate before taking a spoonful of the rice. Once having swallowed, she continued. "Has your journey changed you that much?"
Sasuke put down the spoon of warm liquid the moment that she finished her sentence and sat upright. "People don't change," he began.
"Something, something, inner nature, I know, but even you have to admit that you weren't like this. I mean...not this much. Is it still all about the atonement, or do you actually want to help make the world better?"
"The two concepts are inseparable. I atone by making the world better. I am doing what I can for the world to atone for my sins. I have done unforgivable things, and to be honest, I should never return home as a result. However, it would be unfair to keep people waiting for me forever. At some point, I will return...but it won't be now. It'll be when I feel I'll I've earned it, or when I feel I'm needed more here, than anywhere else. Whichever comes first."
The two would eat silently for a while after that, before Sasuke suddenly begun speaking again. "About the surgery this afternoon..."
Sakura put down her spoon at that moment and looked at the plate. "You should probably just stop there. It's really just not...worth talking about."
"Sakura."
"Sasuke, it's fine," she told him, trying to put on a smile. Of course, it didn't take the sharingan to know that it was false, and she knew he could tell. After a momentary quiet, she sighed and looked up at him with her eyes, her face still somewhat towards the plate. "He was a friend of mine. Hachi. He was a bit of a goofball...nothing like Naruto mind you, but he always liked to make jokes about this or that. Sometimes he'd play a practical joke that'd go a bit far and end up spending the night in jail." She chuckled slightly at the memory, pushing the leftovers on her place one way and then the other. Tears started to brim in her eyes. "He...said he came to the leaf village after the war because he believed in Naruto's vision for the future, and he wanted to help whatever way he could. Always did his job...always proud...and he was kind...and he..." At that moment, Sakura covered her hands with her face, her shoulders beginning to shake as she let out a sob.
As Sasuke watched her cry, thunder rumbled outside, rain beginning to pour out. A dimly lit room became even darker at this, only leading to the woman crying even more. It was loud enough now that others where beginning to take notice. The Uchiha looked around him at them all before pushing out of his chair. Stepping over to Sakura's side, he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned down far enough that he was face to face with her.
She looked up to him with tears staining her face, eyes and nose red from crying. She whimpered slightly before sniffling slightly.
Sasuke's glance softened. "We can't change the past, Sakura. Your friend is dead now, like many people that we care about. However, what we can do is live on for them, and carry their ideals in our hearts." He furrowed his eyebrows as he paused, before putting his focus towards the rain. "One way, we'll die too, and the best we can hope for is that we are remembered for what we have done for the world. The fact that he made you feel this way at his passing means that he succeeded. Do your best for him by saving the people that are still left from this incident, and carry on his principles. Make sure that the world becomes a better place than it was before. That's what he would have wanted you to do."
Sakura slowly became quiet at this and turned to look at the window as well. His words resonated with her, and in turn, she managed a ghost of a smile as her heart swelled with emotion. "You're right. Thank you."
"There is a lot I don't know, but thanks to Naruto, I at least know that much. Your friend believed in his vision...and it's easy to see why."
"Yeah."
They looked at each other. In their silence, Sasuke felt it. Close.
They drew together.
Closer.
Closer still.
Suddenly at that moment, a mass of doctors would pass by the door to the cafeteria, yelling about someone on the eighth floor. It broke Sakura out of the moment as she stood up, followed by Sasuke as she rushed to the entrance. "What's going on?!" She yelled into the hallway.
"Lady Ai started seizing!" One of the doctors rushing a cart yelled back at the two of them.
Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other before both joining the group of doctors. Whatever the hell was going on, it wasn't going to end well. They could feel it.
- 9
- 10
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The Book of Love