By My Hands

By Ashamed-Spider

She had done something wrong. Seriously wrong. And it was only Sasuke who could fix it.

Alternate Universe, Tragedy. One shot.

The darkness was stifling, threatening to swallow anyone who was outside into obscurity. There were no lights on; the vast city of Konoha was sleeping. Few people walked the streets, those with bad intentions and the few that had last minute errands to run.

A lone figure stood atop a tall building, the darkness throwing cover over him but giving him limited vision as well. He paced backwards and forwards slowly, occasionally glancing at the sky and swinging his arms. His mind was racing; throwing doubt to the mission that Naruto, the Hokage, had ordered.

The words had weighted heavily on his shoulders, but he knew that it shouldn't be his burden to bear.
Naruto had approached him in silence, summoning him into his office before the two of them had taken a walk nearly three miles from the village.

"I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't important," Naruto said hoarsely, his face showing the lines of stress that usually accompanied the Hokage.
"What do you need?" He replied, feeling as if he knew what was going to happen.
"I need you to assassinate someone for me, Sasuke," He whispered, and if Sasuke hadn't been next to him, he never would have heard it.

Sasuke had asked who it was he had to dispose of, thinking of the council of Elders who were becoming out of control and exploiting Naruto's rule. He thought of various clan members who were outspoken, forcing their beliefs on political members of other clans.

But no…

"I need you to assassinate Sakura Haruno."

She appeared in the window of the building opposite, radiant and tainted in her pink glow. Sasuke felt a hint of malice as he looked at her, her pink hair haloed around her head from the fluorescent bulb above her. She was a bitch. The vile feelings he felt threatened to spill from his mouth; to spew words of truth and anger that would ruin everything he had ever created.

Of course, the Uchiha clan knew of Sasuke's affair with Sakura. It was well known internally. A lot of the clan didn't like Naruto's ideals; he was fair with everyone while a few left wing Uchiha still believed that an Uchiha should be Hokage. Itachi had turned down the role before it was even offered to him; Naruto knew of the sacrifices he had made to keep Konoha whole, to the point where Itachi had murdered his own father and grandfather, as well as a few Uchiha elders. He deemed himself unworthy of controlling Konoha, and made Naruto the ruler instead.

The fact that Sasuke and Sakura had been through a lot was an understatement. Their trials and tribulations together was a documented affair in the Uchiha archives, mainly because he was to be the new head of the clan, and the Haruno was so damn talented and good looking.

But Naruto, Sakura's husband, had no idea that his best friend was enjoying relentless nights of debauchery with his wife. It pained him to have to kill his plaything, but he knew why Naruto wanted her dead.

It was technically an act of kindness. Sakura's small clan, not native to Konoha, were planning on waging war for getting involved with the owner of the 'nine-tailed fox'. a relic that ensured the owner would become the leader of the village, no questions asked. If she were retrieved from Konoha, they would perform a mercy killing on her to purge her, and the clan, of the humiliation of mating with and marrying the Uzumaki. It was kinder to kill her with a single shot to the head rather than allow the remnants of the Haruno clan to kidnap her, slit her throat and drink her hot blood while the clan's elder defiled her dead body.

Sasuke shuddered and got to his knees, fiddling with the dials on the sniper rifle situated on the overhang of the building.

Sakura was undressing before his eyes, her body slightly distorted by the scope of the rifle. He momentarily flicked on the laser sight to accurately pinpoint her and switched it off again, to remain undetected.

He remained still and watched her change into something floaty and translucent. He felt himself grow hot, thinking of the various ways he had made her moan underneath him, the feel of her skin against his as they rode each other into bliss…

She wasn't alone.

Granted, Sasuke always knew that neither he nor Naruto could fully own her, but he didn't think she was playing the pair of them.
Sasuke watched as she pulled the man, so breathtakingly similar to him that it made his heart explode and his head ache, into a rib-breaking hug.
He parted and reached down to pat at her stomach, the tiniest hint of a bump forming. Bile rose in Sasuke's throat. It was either his child, or Naruto's.

Or Sai's.

He couldn't kill the woman with her other fuck buddy in the room. He either had to kill the both of them, using the collateral option and informing Naruto that his new wife was cheating on him with a team mate, or complete the hit when Sai left. A part of him fumed at the thought of Sai touching Sakura, His Sakura. Even though he and Naruto silently shared 'custody', with one not knowing about the other, a fourth person would ruin everything.
At least now Naruto could tell Konoha that the reason Sakura was killed was because she was fornicating with a member of Root; a member who was a part of a bigger group, one designed to take over when Naruto was to fail. She would be executed as a spy.
As long as Naruto never found out that Sakura regularly went to Sasuke for… fun times, the secret would die with Sakura. Sasuke wouldn't say anything to ruin his friendship with Naruto, even though he had by sleeping with the Haruno.
Sasuke looked through the scope again to see the two of them - Sakura and Sai - pressed up against a wall. Sakura's legs were wrapped around Sai's thighs, his trousers lowered to allow access to Sakura's most private parts.

With a silenced cry, Sasuke turned his head away, ignoring the hot feeling that spread across his neck from moving it too quickly. He had learnt from his mother the rule about pregnancy sex when he had overheard a conversation between her and her younger, female friends.

Not during the first or second trimester. That could kill the baby. And the Uchiha felt a pain rise up in his chest that the thought that Sakura was potentially damaging her child. She had confided in him that she wasn't sure whose child it was, that it must have been either his or Naruto's. But to see the evidence in front of him… Sasuke wondered if she had slept with anyone else. She had once gotten extremely close to the Uchiha clan, especially Itachi and Shisui when Sasuke had gone on a three year long spying mission in the Hidden Cloud City. Had she slept with one of them? Both of them behind each other's backs? Had she slept with any of her other male friends, like Rock Lee or Shino or Kiba? The former was a long shot, since he was holed up in Sunagakure with Gaara no Subaku, and Shino appeared to not have any sexual feelings. But Kiba would be willing, as would a number of slightly younger men or even slightly older.

The thought made Sasuke want to vomit, and he fought to restrain his ever increasing temper. When he had killed the pair of them, he would make sure to speak to Itachi and Shisui alone, to determine if anything had happened. His cousin was a pervert with a kind nature who would have tried to keep Sakura happy if she needed comforting, while Itachi's proud nature meant that he would not speak out unless necessary, even if it did involve fornicating with his younger brother's girl.
Although, Sasuke thought to himself, Itachi was quite busy with an unknown girl in the city. He would not surely get tempted by Haruno Sakura? Itachi was good at controlling himself, better than the Uchiha clan, whose reputation for control was legendary.

Even so, he felt sorry for those around Naruto. The Uzumaki had spent so long fighting to get into power, to prove that he was as good as, if not better than, his father. He would be heartbroken to learn that Sakura had been cheating on him within three years of marriage, and that she had probably never been faithful since the beginning. The only way they could get out of this situation unscarred was to destroy Sakura before her family could get their hands on her, thus stopping her from dying in a horrible fashion and bringing shame on Naruto. He would play the role of the grieving husband for a year, maybe two years, then move on. Hinata had waited close to ten years to date Naruto, only to be pushed aside when Sakura wanted to be with Naruto. It was all for the power, the hungry bitch.

Even still, the Hyuuga heiress was pining for the blond Hokage. She had, as her nature told her to do, sat back and allowed her best friend to leech onto Naruto then marry him, with Sakura going as far as to making Hinata the maid of honour, knowing full well that it killed the heiress inside.

It was a tough spectacle to observe. She had remained silent for the most part; only speaking pleasantries to the guests as they span in circles to talk to her, to inform her that everything would be alright. She'd move on, she would probably find that special person that all girls waited for. But Hinata knew that the special person, The One, was cavorting around with his new wife, who, apparently, cheated on Naruto on their wedding day. With a mystery person. Sasuke knew the Uchiha clan thought it was him, but for God's sake, he was not an idiot. Even he would not betray his friend on the happiest day of his life.

He glanced again, briefly. They had moved to the bed situated below the window, and showed signs of slowing down. Even as he watched, Sai cried out and collapsed on top of Sakura, both of them panting heavily and cradling each other close. Before long, they would retire together and sleep, and that was when Sasuke would make his move.
He was beginning to feel the cold; the shivering that had begun to set in told him so. He could feel the cold whispering into his skin, permeating the deep, dark recesses of the muscle, sinew and bones of his body. He knelt closer to the sniper rifle still on its stand, the butt of it resting hard against Sasuke's shoulder. He was careful to not move the weapon, lest it change its trajectory and fire inaccurately.

His breath came out in a white cloud, and he wished to be at home, with Itachi's deep breathing comforting him in the room next to his, while Shisui's late night gaming sessions with friends would help him relax and elicit some laughter. He also wished to be comforted by his mother, a sensation that he hadn't felt for years.
His slightly red eyes focused on the dark forms of his hits, shrouded in darkness where the light had been switched off. They would not be asleep for at least ten minutes, by his estimates, for the hormones released during sex would only be starting to work now.

He allowed them another moment to curl up into each other's arms, then he focused on aiming the scope at Sakura's head.
He felt bad for bringing unborn children into the game, but if she wanted to fuck around behind the Hokage's back, then she was signing her own death certificate. As for Sai, he was added damage. It would be easy to clean up; as mentioned before, he was a member of Root.

Sasuke flicked on the laser sight with an annoyed sounding echo at the back of his throat. The stress of being the Hokage's personal hit man was starting to take its toll on him; physically and mentally. His eyelids threatened to close due to the lack of adrenalin, which had stopped working about half an hour ago. He kept the laser sight on, knowing that no one would be walking around at this time of night. He glanced at the glowing wristwatch. Five past three in the morning. Bit late for a booty call, Sakura? He joked, pulling his body into a crouch and hunching over the rifle. There was a silencer to quiet the sound, but there was still a small sound that would be made.

He put a hand by the trigger, pressing a gloved finger into the little gap. He felt the fabric touch the trigger and he paused, overcome with an emotion that made him wonder what he was experiencing.

Sakura had been such an influence on him in the past. She used to adore him, and she still did. She used to hang onto every word as if it were law, and she used to have only eyes for him.

But he hadn't realised his feelings for her until he was almost twenty. Well, it was a bit too late for that. By twenty two, Sakura was married to Naruto. By twenty-five, she was dead.

Sure, they had started sleeping together at the age of twenty-one, an age that Sakura used to refer to as Twennywon and then laugh about, but that was mainly after she had been drinking.

Still, he reflected quietly, as he squeezed the trigger firmly, adding more pressure to the weapon steadily, times changed.

He squeezed tighter against the trigger, feeling the weapon buck under his touch. The bullet leaving the machine smashed the window and caused Sakura to jerk violently, but the shot to the head had been enough to kill her instantly.

Sasuke had mere moments. He changed direction, focusing the laser on Sai, who was starting to wake. Being woken suddenly from the first stages of sleep left you disorientated for a moment before they got their bearings, but they were generally more aware of their surroundings than those woken suddenly from a deep sleep.
He reloaded the weapon smoothly, pulling the catch back and allowing the weapon to practically self reload. He had six bullets, unsure of whether or not he would need that many.

But he guessed it was handy in case of a situation like this.

He focused in on Sai, taking a deep breath as the man made to move. But the only movements he made was to slump onto the bed as the bullet tore through his brain and out into the wall on the other side of the room. He watched as the member of Root bounced almost comically on the bed, coming close to falling off. Sasuke watched, enthralled, almost willing the man to be dead. Sai's movements slowed, it was amazing how much a dead body could move, but he realised it was the after tremors of death; synapses were dying, firing off last minute nerve pulses as if they had no idea what had happened to their host. The muscles in Sai's neck twitched, almost as if the dark haired man had a physical tic; fingers clenching and unclenching as he shook with one last, half-hearted spasm and lay still on the bed.

Sasuke used the sight to inspect the damage. Clean kills, all right. He was now looking at two dead bodies. Sakura had hardly moved from her sleeping position, Sasuke didn't even notice if she had jerked in a similar way to Sai, while the Root member was lying the opposite way on the bed, staring at Sakura's feet.
Sasuke reached for the walkie-talkie in his back pocket, and pressed the button to speak, resting back on his hunches as he did so.

"This is Red Eye, requesting information from Hawk Eye, do you copy?"

He relinquished the hold on the button, and took out the bullets from the weapon, depositing the two empty shells in his pocket along with the four left over. There was static for a moment, then a feminine voice replied.

"Nah, Red Eye, this is Snake Beast, Hawk Eye is in the Northern Quadrant at the moment. What information do you need?"

Anko's voice seemed slightly strained, and Sasuke pitied her. She had become slightly good friends with Sakura, but had changed her mind when she learnt about her affairs with her old team mates. Sasuke hoped that Anko would not follow the same route as Sakura and cheat on Kakashi.

"Requesting assistance on Naruto's orders. I have finished with the targets, requesting your normal team to take over from here."

"Hai. I'll have Clean Up over in twenty minutes." There was a moment of pause as Sasuke dismantled his rifle.

"How are you, Sasuke?" Anko's voice was soft. She knew what had transpired between the two of them, and she pitied the way Sasuke had to put his feelings aside and assassinate the woman he loved.

Sasuke didn't even bother to mention that Anko had used his real name in a walkie-talkie. Naruto had introduced a policy of using nicknames to hide the real identities of anyone communicating if any civilian in the city or any outsider, good or bad, had been listening in; accidental or purposeful. Not only that, but Naruto wanted them to seem like real spies, and because he liked the idea of having a nickname.

"I'm fine." Came the gruff but short reply. "Tell Hawk Eye that I'm coming home. Tell him to meet me there."

"Okay, Red Eye. Over and out."

The static overtook the noise surrounding Sasuke, and he packed up his weapon, turned off his communicating device and headed down the stairs. No doubt that Naruto would have been informed by now, and a messenger would be sent to inform the Haruno clan in Konoha about the death of their member, while the clans outside of Konoha would be informed of her assassination as a means of stopping war. They understood that if she was dead, there was nothing they could do about it. There were no promises that killing Sakura would stop the exiled members of the Haruno clan from trying to get revenge on Konoha, but that was a task that Naruto would have to face if the time came. The Haruno clan were cowards; they would only attack if they had a good reason to which they didn't. Rape, murder, incest and cult worship were banned taboos in the society that they lived in. If they ever did proclaim war, which again was unlikely, they would not only have to face the fury of the Konoha army, but the Sunagakure army and the armies of Cloud City and any other cities that decided to affiliate itself with the fire country city.

Sasuke took the short way home, back to the compound. As Anko had promised, the man labelled as Hawk Eye was waiting for him at the entrance.

"Are you okay?" He said, cocking his head gently to the side as he began to walk in time with Sasuke.

"I'm not, Itachi. I just had to kill Sakura."

"And I trust that you did it?" The voice was not mocking, merely curious, but it angered Sasuke. Knowing to not shout out, he hissed, "Yes I did it! As much as it pained me to do so, dear brother," With so much malice in his words, "I killed the one person I cared about."

"There are a few things you should learn, Sasuke." Itachi said gently, not trying to push his younger brother further as he opened the door to their house. "One, is that you are never free while obeying your leader. Two, we are a city that focuses on the art of war and of fighting. There are going to be times when we lose the ones closest to us."

"Yes, but not through me fucking killing them!"

Sasuke's words were harsh, but loud as well. The pair of them stood in silence for a moment, assessing the situation. Neither of them wanted to wake their mother, but they had no intention of waking Shisui either. The man was childish and brash, but he was also a blabbermouth. He could keep a secret, but only if it involved Uchiha threats. Or if his aunt Mikoto told him to.

Itachi pondered what had transpired in the heart of Konoha, his face obscured by the dark shadows that were cast from the moon through the tall glass windows beside him.

He knew that Sasuke was torn; he'd just killed the one person he allowed close to him, but in the process had betrayed his best friend and the leader of the village, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Sleep on it, Sasuke. We shall discuss things in the morning."

"Just go to bed, Itachi. You look knackered." Sasuke chided, punching his brother gently on his upper arm. He turned to face the counter, staring out of the window into the darkness beyond. He knew that Itachi had been staying up late to ensure Naruto was ruling fairly and keeping the peace between the Konoha clans. It was a difficult job, as it involved not only keeping warring elders away from each other, but it involved being fair and equal with all soldiers under his command. That included sending his friends out on potentially lethal missions. Naruto's demeanour made it difficult to comprehend that the village's wellbeing depended on him.

Itachi placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "If you should ever need me…"

"…I'll find you." He replied plainly.

Itachi's hand left his shoulder and Sasuke listened to the footsteps fade away, his eyes staring at the flowers beyond the window.

On impulse, he reached into a cupboard behind him and brought out a small basket containing a mother's first aid kit; bandages, a box of plasters and three bottles of pills. There were a few other half used boxes from when Sasuke's father used to have to take a certain medicine to help with his kidney transplant, since his body had always tried to reject it, no matter what the medics did to him.

With shaking hands, he emptied the three bottles into a small glass and added the out of date medicine, and added alcohol to the top of the glass.

He remembered when he was younger, and he used to watch his father take his medicine. Three pills in the morning, two blue and one yellow, then three at night, all blue. It made him curious to know what could possibly help his father internally by a few tiny tablets. But, in retrospect, they didn't do him much good if he died anyway.
Sasuke looked at the glass filled with pills that were leaving multicoloured spirals in a random pattern. The pills mixed with the alcohol would be a deadly cocktail. But Sasuke knew that after tonight, he wouldn't be able to live.

He couldn't face the village. He couldn't face Naruto. Hell, he couldn't even look at himself in the mirror, let alone anyone else. He had murdered the only woman he had cared about. And it grieved him so.
His brother would understand if he killed himself. He had done the city a favour by destroying his life; he had saved Naruto from the humiliation of knowing his best friend was sleeping with his wife, he would take Itachi's secret to the grave. No one knew that Itachi had destroyed the Uchiha elders, or indeed his own father. They assumed that they had made a suicide pact when Konoha wouldn't allow an Uchiha leader, and no one had dared question the Uchiha's affairs.

He drank the vile cocktail in one go; grimacing as pill after pill worked its way down his gullet and into his stomach. He stripped off his t-shirt and jacket in one go, throwing them onto the kitchen table. He left his shoes and socks in the hallway, and marched upstairs to his room quietly. Itachi's door was shut, and Sasuke entered his slowly and quietly. He was starting to feel sick. He shut the door and crashed into his bed, feeling the tiredness brought on by the long day.

He closed his eyes briefly, looking at the random shapes that formed behind his eyelids. He fought the sickness that was beginning to strangle him, and sat up, eyes still closed.

There's no point in them finding me half-naked. He thought to no one in particular. I just hope they don't truss me up like a fucking turkey when I've passed.

He had a sad moment, then opened his eyes and got off the bed, making sure to make enough noise so Itachi assumed everything was all right. He pulled off his trousers and pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms, shrugging into a top afterwards. He didn't care if they matched or not, the only thing he cared about was getting into his bed and leaving the physical world before shit hit the fan and he was found out trying to kill himself. He turned on the spot, feeling the dizziness almost bowl him over. His vision faded and he grasped around for the bed, hoping to whatever god was watching that he would not make a sound. He couldn't face his brother finding him dying.

The younger Uchiha grasped onto the bed sheets and slowly collapsed onto the floor. He felt his heart begin to slow, and knew he was in the final stages of death. Usually, he noted sadly, it took longer for ingested medicines to come into effect. But he was an Uchiha, and as such, he had probably inherited the heart conditions that had plagued the older Uchiha. Itachi and Shisui were safe from it; it was prone to jumping generations. But Fugaku, Sasuke's god-forsaken father, hadn't had the heart condition either. His grandfather had; and this made Sasuke wonder if this was how the apparent curse jumped. Deaths inside the Uchiha clan's walls were numerous and sad, but short-lived due to the birth of another to take their place. There would be more Uchiha in the clan than members of any other bloody family.

He inhaled softly, smelling the scent of his room, the undertones that signified his mother had been in here at some point, probably to pray for him to have the strength to kill Sakura.

Suddenly, all memory of her seemed far away, foggy. He daren't move for fear of vomiting or making a noise. He curled himself into a ball, wrapping the bedspread around him to keep him warm. He was shivering.

He closed his eyes, blocking the red irises from seeing the world, and from stopping the world from seeing his soul.

He would never wake up.

Yay for my first fanfic on this site! I know it's sad, but I had this idea and it wouldn't go away. Just for the record, I don't think Sakura's pretty at all. I hate her with a passion, hence why I killed her. And I don't like Sasuke either.

Don't worry; I don't plan to kill them in everything I write.

Soo, umm… Read and Review? :)