Dawn was breaking, when Sakura finally untight her hair, wiped away the beats of sweat from her forehead and left the emergency-room. Outside she found Kankuro slouched on the floor, his eyes closed.
"Hey", she lightly tipped his shoulder.
His eyes sprang open immediatly, and he scrambled back to his feet. Sakura wondered, if he had slept at all during the past days. He didn't look like he had.
"Is he alright?", he asked, all attempts to conceal his fear of losing his little brother as well failing.
"He'll be fine", Sakura nodded. "He's sleeping now", she continued, and afer a moment of consideration added: "And so should you."

When Kakashi had said "Assassination", Sakura initially had thought of an open attack. In truth, she learned, no attack had taken place. The poison must have been slipped into the Kazekage's meal.
"That's sort of... oldfashioned", Sakura thought to herself, but said nothing.
"We still don't know who did it", Kankuro explained, and adviced the guests to leave.
"It has to be someone from here, so we can't really make sure you're -"
"But we could help with the investigation", Sakura cut him off. As someone specialised in poisons, she might be able to come to a conclusion as to where and by whom the one used for the attempt on Gaara's life had been fabricated, if only she had time to conduct a more thorough analysis.
True, maybe she also wanted to stay away from Konohagakure for a little longer. If there was reason to worry about her, all the better. But, of course, she kept these reasons to herself.
"I'll send a request to the Hokage immediatly", she concluded, not giving neither her host nor her fellow team-member a chance to disagree.

Like Konohagakure, Sunagakure too had its own Monument to keep those fallen during the Fourth Great War remembered, though it looked not half as pompouse.
Bronze hands grew out of a wall, formed a circle, surrounding a bronze plate, with each and everyone's name engraved in it.
After having sent away her mission report as well as the request to prolonge hers and Kiba's stay, it was this Monument where Sakura's feet carried her.
Testingly she placed her own hand on top of one of the statue's, traced its smooth metal skin, still warm from the burning sun, traced its long, slimm index and middlefinger, locked tight in the Seal of Reconciliation with those of its neighbour.
It was a quiet day, except for the steady howling of the wind. Standing here, holding a metal-cast hand, looking up at the bronze-plate reading her friend's names, Sakura suddenly felt overwhelmed by the sensation of loneliness. Not the one she had endured the past twelve months, which had come with anger and bordered on despair, but a calm, sullen loneliness.
As if she was standing on the moon, looking down at the world, which was forever out of reach, but forever hers nontheless.
A sudden touch startled Sakura, she spun around quickly, expecting the mysterious Sunagakure-Assassin to menacingly grin at her. She felt a dull pain in her shoulder, held her breath, then realised that it wasn't some attacker's hand, but the same bronze one she had been holding just seconds ago pushing against her shoulderblade.
There was no assassin either. Just Kiba.
"Hey!", Sakura grinned and tried to lean against the statue behind her in what she hoped would look casual enough to convince her teammate.
"Hey", Kiba mumbled, but he no longer was looking at he, instead he looked past her, his eyes fixed on one single name engraved right above her head.
Sakura suddenly felt guilty. For the entire timespan of last year, she had not once considered to see how Kiba was. She had been too wrapped up in her own loss to acknowledge that, of all those left behind, he maybe had to suffer the most. After all, he had not only lost his one, best friend – he aslo had his worth as a shinobi cut in half. Everybody in Konohagakure knew this, and no one, least of all Kiba himself, did quite understand how and why their Hokage kept acting completely oblivious of it.
"You're bleeding", she stated after she had spent a considerable amount of time trying to come up with anything to say, that would excuse her previous lack of interest. Even on their journey she had so much as noticed that it was not at all like him, to not say a single word for three entire days. She had been too busy fretting about Kakashi's behaviour.
Kiba turned his eyes back Sakura, unclenched his jaw. His left canine teeth still stuck in his lower lip, did not let go of it, untill he helped with his fingers.

Later Sakura would not be able to explain what exactly happened next, if it had been her, who stepped foreward and ignroed the fact that it was midday, and they were standing in the middle of Sunagakure, already drawing attention to them by simple not looking like the usual sand-people. She wouldn't be able to tell, whether it was her who stepped foreward and wrapped her arms around Kiba, or if it was the other way.
She felt his nose nuzzled in her hair, his breath running down the back of her neck, felt his hands pulling her closer, while passers-by stopped and stared at the inadequat display of emotion and affection.
She wondered if, by any means, she would be able to share her newfound sense of serenity with her friend.
When they finally let go of each other, he smiled, not his wide, teeth-bearing Kiba-smile, but still, a true and real smile.
"You're not supposed to wander of", he said after another moment they spent just looking at each other (and in which Sakura wondered if she ever, ever in her life, had actually looked at him at all).
"For all we know, we could be the assasin's next target. So, we better stick together."