Sakura clutched Sasuke's hand as he screamed with agony as the Curse Mark took shape on his neck. "Sasuke! Are you alright? Hold still!" Sakura gasped, trying to think of something, anything, that might lessen his pain. But no idea popped into her head.
"Naruto! I need your help! PLEASE! Sasuke's hurt!" Sakura screamed, but she realized with a mounting terror that Naruto was still unconscious from fighting the strange man, Orochimaru.
Hiccupping, Sakura murmured the only question that came to mind: "What do I do now?"
/\/\/\/\
Sakura struggled against Kin's grip on her hair as Zaku walked closer and closer toward her half-dead teammates. "NO! Don't hurt them! PLEASE, NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, wrenching a kunai out of her bag.
With a swift jerk, she sliced off the hair Kin had been holding, much to everyone's surprise. "I will never-ever- let you hurt my teammates!" Sakura snarled as she ran forward toward Zaku, kunai in hand.
/\/\/\/\
"Sasuke?" Sakura said as her teammate stood before her, black marks spread like a rash over his body. He was shaking, as if it actually hurt him to not be killing the Sound ninja in front of him.
Sasuke leapt forward, grabbing Zaku's arms, wrenching them behind his back. "Heh, you seem very proud of these arms of yours; quite attached to them, really!" he snarled, a purely sadistic grin forming on his face.
SNAP, CRACK!
Zaku screamed in pure agony as his arms snapped like twigs. Sakura gaped in horror as Sasuke slowly turned to Dosu, the last of the Sound ninja standing. "I guess that makes you the only one left!" he hissed, beginning to walk toward Dosu slowly, like a snake moving forward to strike fear into it's prey.
'Snake?' thought Sakura. And then she saw it; a shadow seemed to loom around Sasuke. A shadow that looked an awful lot like Orochimaru. 'That's….. there's no way that that is Sasuke! It's…..it's…..' Sakura couldn't finish the thought.
Sasuke grinned like a mad man, his eyes filled with the insanity only known to the ones who sought dark power. 'That's….. OROCHIMARU!' thought Sakura. And that's when she snapped inside.
"NO! STOP IT SASUKE!" Sakura screamed, running forward and grabbing Sasuke from behind, much to the surprise of the small audience that had been watching.
"Please….. just stop hurting people….. please, Sasuke!" Sakura whispered to him. Sasuke glared at her for a moment, but slowly, the Curse Mark began to fade from his body.
/\/\/\/\
Months later, Sakura sat peeling and cutting apples for Sasuke to eat. "Here, Sasuke, have some apples!" she said, holding out the plate.
He glared at her before slapping the plate away. "Gah!" Sakura gasped as the plate fell from her hand and shattered on the floor. S-Sasuke?" she said as he directed his gaze to the window.
Just then, Naruto came into the room. Sasuke spun around in surprise when he saw Naruto, before sending a glare full of Killing Intent at him.
"W-whoa, what are you staring at me like that for?" asked Naruto in shock at his teammates actions. "Naruto… Fight me!" ordered Sasuke to the surprise of his two teammates.
"W-what are you talking about, Sasuke? You're still recovering-" "Shut up, Sakura! Naruto, just fight me!" Sasuke snapped at them both.
/\/\/\/\
"RASENGAN!"
"CHIDORI!"
Two shouts of different jutsus ripped the air as both her teammates came flying at each other with two different deadly jutsus in their hands. "STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU! STOP!" Sakura screamed in terror, running forward and in-between her two boys.
They both couldn't stop, but suddenly Kakashi-sensei came out of nowhere and flung both of them out of the way.
/\/\/\/\
"It's the dead of night; what are you doing out here?" asked Sasuke. Sakura shrugged and said, "The road's the only way out of the village, so I've been keeping watch." Sakura was desperately trying to think of something to say to stop him from leaving, but nothing came to mind at the moment.
"Just go home, Sakura. I don't need you hanging around me anymore." Sasuke said, pushing past her and walking onward toward the village gates. Sakura gaped in shock, tears coming and spilling from her eyes as she watched Sasuke take several steps away.
"Why don't you ever open up to me? Why must you be so silent? Why can't you just… let me in?" Sakura asked, her voice cracking. "Like I said, it's none of your damn business! Just go home!" snapped Sasuke without turning back.
Sakura gasped, her tears coming in waves now. Slowly, she hiccupped and said, "You always act like I bug you, but remember when we became genin? You told me, right here that I made you sick." She smiled slightly. "But even after that, you accepted me as a teammate, and we had so much fun on our missions, you know? You, me, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei…..
"Of course, you could never call it easy, but when you get down to it….. it was a lot of fun!" Sakura hiccupped as she spoke, but continued, "I know that the Uchiha was destroyed, and that you want revenge on your older brother for doing it, but I know….. Revenge will never make anyone happy; not you, not me, not anyone!"
Sasuke slowly turned back to her. "I knew it. I really am nothing like you people. I'm on a very different path than you. Yeah, we went on missions together, but that was only until I found my true path. Maybe we were a team once, but now, I choose revenge. It's all I really lived for."
He glared at her like she was an undesirable dog. "I'm nothing like you or Naruto!" He snarled, turning back around.
"So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path? Remember how you showed me what it means to be truly alone? Well, now I understand. It's all painfully clear to me!
"I've…. I have family, and plenty of friends…. But Sasuke, if I really lose you, I…. I'll be…. I will be truly alone!" Sakura sobbed.
Sasuke once again turned back to her. "We're each starting off on a new path. They're just different paths, is all," he explained to her slowly, as if she was too stupid to understand him otherwise. And once again he turned to the road.
Sakura cringed and cried, "I'M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT, SASUKE! Stay here with me, and I'll make sure you won't regret it! We'll have fun every day…. And you'll be happy; I'll make sure of it!"
"I'll do anything for you Sasuke! I'll even help you take revenge! I don't know how, but I'll do whatever it takes to help you! Please….. please, Sasuke! Even if you can't stay, please… just take me with you! I'm begging you… please….. Sasuke…"
Sakura sobbed, not even trying to hold back the tears now. Sasuke sighed.
"You're still annoying as hell."
Sakura gasped as he began walking away. "DON'T LEAVE ME! One more step and I'll scream-!" Sakura cried, trying to follow him. Suddenly, he disappeared and reappeared right behind her. Sakura froze in shock.
"Just leave me alone, Billboard Brow!" he said, putting extra emphasis on her least favorite insult.
WHAP!
'Sasuke….. no,' thought Sakura as she fell to the ground, unconscious.
/\/\/\/\
Sakura began shaking as she stood outside Naruto's hospital room. He'd just come back from trying to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru. "So Sasuke got away, huh?" asked Shikamaru from inside.
"Yeah, he did," said Naruto with a depressed sigh. Sakura gasped silently as she remembered hearing something from the woman at the front desk; "His wounds were so severe….. That Sasuke kid must've really hated him."
Sakura slowly turned away from the door and walked away through the hospital, not even focusing on where she was going. 'He's not coming back, he's not coming back, he's not coming back…..' she thought over and over again.
She reached the hospital roof as if she'd always been there and sank to her knees as the horror set in. 'I'll never see him smile at me on a good day…. I'll never hear him say, "Naruto, you idiot," again, I'll never hear him say my name again…. I'll never see him again. Ever,' she thought.
It made her want to retch, the thought of losing him forever. Sakura fell to the ground, her sobs racking her body so much it hurt. "Sasuke…. But I love you….. why did you do this? I get you want revenge, but you could've taken me with you! WHY?" Sakura screamed in agony as the misery gripped her heart tighter, squeezing her will to live like it was nothing.
'That's right…. If I never do see Sasuke again….. what is the point of living?' asked a small voice in Sakura's head. "You know…. You're absolutely right," said Sakura, shakily getting back to her feet.
Trembling with each step, Sakura inched toward the end of the roof, and climbed the fence on the edge. She stood there for who knows how long, thinking of all the times Sasuke had pushed her away like he hated her.
'There's no point….. even if he comes back, he'll never love me anyway,' she thought with a sad smile before leaning all of her weight forward.
/\/\/\/\
The End.
/\/\/\/\
A/N: The Dark Muse strikes again, this time reaching for my hatred of Sakura and making me write this angsty story! I'm sorry, all you SasuXSaku lovers, but I DESPISE that couple pairing, so I decided it's high time I made a depressing story about Sakura killing herself. Hope all you Sakura haters liked it!
-Temari