Author's Note: I do not own Naruto

Within the Fire: Preface

Her pounding heart rang in her ears and the sound of her heavy breathing seemed to shatter the silence of the night. The forest around her was strangely quiet, its dark shadows stretching out over everything around her as the clouds hid the moon in a blanket of darkness. Tonight was the night. He had seen it coming nearly too late for either of them to do anything. But he had caught it with enough time so that they could change the future. Perhaps not their own, because that was quite limited at the moment, but they could change the future of her daughter and perhaps of the world that she would grow to know.

She clutched her young daughter in her arms, the five year old girl not even stirring despite the jarring pace at which she was being carried. The process had taken a toll on her daughter's young body and left her unconscious. It meant there would be no time for a goodbye but perhaps it was for the best. Time was against them and if her plan was going to work she would need to hurry back. If not for the fact that she knew the forest so well she might have stumbled in the black shadows or from the tears that pooled in her eyes. The salty liquid brimmed and finally spilled over her eyelids, the tears running down her cheeks and flying off behind her as she ran.

Finally the sound of the river reached her ears, the steady rush of water interrupting the harsh sound of her own breathing in the silent night. She skidded to a stop by its bank, the soft earth giving way ever so slightly under her weight. She peered into the darkness, her eyes wide as the squinted along the black water in search of something. She finally spotted the dark shape floating on the water. She made her way along the bank towards the make-shift raft that floated on the surface of the river. It had been tied to a nearby tree, and rope that held it in place taunt as the river threatened to whisk away the unsteady raft.

She set her daughter down on the bank then, resting her back against the trunk of the tree to which the raft was tied. She grabbed the rope and pulled the raft towards her, fighting the current which wanted to sweep the raft downriver. Once the raft was close enough she tugged it onto the bank, half in the water and half out noting then the protective seal that had been painted onto the top of the raft. Another wave of tears ran down her cheeks as she lifted her daughter from the ground and lay her down on the raft. She leaned over her sleeping daughter, the tears from her eyes falling down and landing on the cheeks of her daughter. She leaned down and kissed her daughter's forehead and brushed her own tears from her cheeks with a gentle thumb.

"We love you…" she whispered before untying the rope from the raft and giving it a strong shove into the river. A heart-wrenching sob escaped her parted lips as the shadows swallowed up the image of the young girl on the raft. It was the last image she would hold of her daughter, the one she would carry with her for what little time she had left. "Watch over my daughter Amaya," she said to the air, her voice breaking from the tears. She turned from the river then and sprinted back towards the camp, back to a fate that she knew awaited her. It was a fate she could have chosen to run from but there would never be any truly escape.

Her heart hammered in her ears as the first scream shattered the silence of the night into thousands of tiny pieces. More shouts and yells followed though she paid little attention to any of them. She was focused on one thing and that was finding him. Before the end she needed to find him. She had wanted him to take their daughter and run but he had refused to leave her. So instead they decided to save their daughter. He had prepared and put the raft in place while she had done her best to ensure that the world not be powerless against a certain evil that still after all these years threatened to rise back up. There was nothing left to do now but find him before it was all over.

She made it to the camp, cries of agony and malicious laughter drowning her as she peered into the darkness. The wind whipped through the camp carrying with it the smells of dying fires and death. The clouds that covered the moon fell away and for a moment the land in front of her was illuminated in an eerie glow. The horrible scene in front of her was cast in the silvery light of the moon making it into a nightmare that she could only wish was a dream. She found him then as he did her. Across the camp their eyes met and held as if everything else around them had faded away. They moved towards each other at the same instant.

She saw the blade run through him though him and felt as if it had been run through herself as well, like she was completely connected to him in that moment. Rather than freeze in place or cry out she simply was propelled towards him even faster, her body reacting before her mind had decided what to do. She was at his side when his knees hit the ground. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head into her lap as his body slumped to the group. In the midst of the chaos around them she saw nothing but his face and heard nothing but his labored breathing. The look in his eyes betrayed the question he was about to ask long before his weak voice could formulate the words.

"She's safe," she whispered softly, leaning down and brushing her lips against his own. The corner of his mouth curled upwards in a smile that she loved more than her own life.

"Naomi," he said coughing and then wincing at the pain. "I love you," he said, his voice strained as his eyes held hers one last time.

"And I love you," she whispered to him as he continued to fade in her arms.

"And there you are," a female voice nearly snarled at her from behind. Naomi knew then that it was the end for her but in that moment she felt oddly at peace. A small smile curved the corners of her mouth upwards. Was there any better way to go than this? She was here with the one she loved, together in life and together in death. His eyes slipped closed and she brushed the back of her hand across his cheek.

"I'm right behind you my love," she whispered out loud. She heard the blade as it sliced through the air and welcomed the eternal night.

Author's Note: Okay so I know this part had nothing to do with Sasuke or Sakura but this will be important for later. Just to give you an idea this is a future fic that is going to be centered around a SasukeXSakura relationship. The fic itself will not just be about them however, it will include a bit of everyone though they are the main focus. There will also be more pairings so if you have one that you really want to see let me know and I will try to squeeze it in there. If I don't get any opinions then I will probably just stick with pairings I was leaning towards. There will be quite a few original characters thrown into this story as well, which will hopefully develop accordingly. Also if anyone is interested I have quite a few ideas for this story that I would love to bounce off someone. I have an outline but looking at it I wonder if perhaps I might have too much going on in one story. So if anyone is interested in providing an opinion let me know. I don't expect you to do any reading... just letting me know if the ideas are good or if they should be tossed. And now I am rambling. So thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed! And since the preface was rather short here is a preview for the next chapter.

Chapter 1 Preview

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Not much later, Sasuke was standing in front of Tsunade giving her a brief report while Naruto stood at his side grinning like some sort of fool. While she hadn't aged a day as far as looks, Tsunade was in fact getting up there. He was slightly surprise that they had yet to find a new Hokage. As it was though, no one was quite willing to take the job. Well Naruto was, but up until the past year or so his temper had tended to severely blind his judgment and it was decided he wasn't quite ready for the title. Lately though he had been quite impressive, even to Sasuke, with how he handled himself. Of course he still acted like a complete idiot at times but if he didn't he simply wouldn't be Naruto. But perhaps Naruto's goal of becoming Hokage wasn't too far off. At the moment though, Sasuke was far more concerned with the reason for his stupid grinning. Something was up and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

"Is that it then," Tsunade asked.

"More or less," Sasuke said with a shrug. That wasn't quite it but he would tell her the rest after Naruto left.

"Well I have a new assignment for you," she said laying a paper on her desk in front of him. Internally Sasuke sighed. He knew that he owed the village more than he could possibly make up for but the constant missions had left him rather weary. It seemed that he spent what little time in Kohona that he had, in the hospital for some injury or another. Before he had a chance to look at the paper Tsunade went on.

"This isn't like any of your past assignments. You have been doing a great deal of work for Kohona and Naruto suggested, and I do actually agree with him, that it is time for you to be doing something a bit different. So I have assigned you a team of genin."

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