Disclaimer: I only own Mia, Jane and Tina. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Turning back

Mia leaned against the tree trunk waiting. Though she didn't want to change how the story went, her friends had begged for her at least to try and stop Sasuke from leaving Konoha. She finally gave in and had left from Konoha before Sasuke had ran away from the hospital. Because she wasn't ninja or training to be one, she had to leave earlier so she could talk to Sasuke before he got to Orochimaru.

"Why don't you go by yourself?" Mia had asked from Jane and Tina as they had asked for her to go.

"You're faster than me, you can reach him in no time. And you know I don't give a damn what does with his life. If he wants to go to Orochimaru, he can go. He is not yours or my responsibility."

"Yes, but he listens to you because of that, Mia. He knows you don't really care what happens to him or to Naruto or to anyone else. I know you will be able to get him back" Jane said. Mia sighed.

"Fine, but I'm only doing this because you asked. You owe me one" she said. Tina pulled her taller friend in a hug.

"Thank you, Mia" Tina said softly.

Mia raised her head to notice that Sasuke was coming her way. He seemed to be in deep thought but still sensed her as he stopped and raised his head too.

"Hello, Sasuke" Mia said not moving from the tree trunk. She rather stayed dry at least for few more minutes.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked angrily from her.

"There's no need to be angry with me since I haven't done anything to you. I'm only here because I was asked to come" Mia said to him crossing her hands across her chest walking closer to him. In matter of minutes she was soaking wet like Sasuke was.

"If you want to stop me, you can't. You're too weak" Sasuke said bitterly.

'He could at least try to hide his detest towards weakness bit better' Mia thought as she shrugged.

"I know. I'm not going to force you back. I want you to listen what I have to say, that's all. You can decide do you continue on your way or go back with me" she said.

"I know that you know I don't really give a damn what you do. It's your life but as it seems to be so horrible lost to the village if you go to Orochimaru, I'm here to talk sense to you. Trying at least" she explained frowning slightly.

"When Itachi murdered your clan, he told you to hate him, to gain strength in order to kill him. And still you say don't listen what he says, that you do not do things like he did or wants you to do. That's true, you didn't kill Naruto. But you do hate him, or so you claim. You are trying and gaining strength to kill him. Aren't you doing exactly what he wants?" Mia asked. Sasuke glared at her, so Mia knew she had made a point Sasuke hadn't noticed before.

"Orochimaru can give strength and power in easy way. The curse mark is the easy way. But once you have killed Itachi, what do you have? If Orochimaru is still alive, you could stay with him, you could wander around in different countries and probably gain more power. Those are your options, you don't have anything else. You can't go back to Konoha, you head will be wanted by then. Even though what you are trying accomplish is good thing, it turns against you. Yes, many want Itachi dead but problem arises in the way you reach your goal. You go search for help from Orochimaru, who is a criminal" Mia said. She could almost swear there was slight hesitation in Sasuke's eyes. She could only hope so.

"But if you stay in Konoha, train with others, you can probably be even more powerful. I know that you want to accomplish your goal on your own. It's not just always possible. Sometimes, you need someone to comfort you, someone that will listen."

Mia could see suspicion in Sasuke's towards her words. She put her hands behind her back.

"I know how that sounds to you, because you don't let people see the real you. As younger you showed what you felt. After the massacre, you closed yourself up and put on a mask. Naruto started to break it. You got bit more open, showed little your feelings. Then chuunin exams started, Naruto seemed to get more powerful and in the end he beat up Gaara. After that Itachi came back. He wasn't even looking for you and you still couldn't kill him. You hid yourself once again, wondering why Naruto was strong, how an idiot could win someone like Gaara with nearly no talent at all. What you think as a weakness, is Naruto's strength."

"Caring makes you only weak! That's why Naruto lost. He's just a loser" Sasuke yelled at her angry. Mia raised her eyebrow to him.

"Yes, I like it to think that way too. But because I care about Jane and Tina, I'm here. They wanted me to come because they knew you would listen to me. You listen to me even better than you to Kakashi, I have noticed that. Of course, since I'm weak physically, my only power over you is that you listen to me."

Sasuke once again glared at her but Mia could see that his facade was falling.

"So here I am giving you two options. One: go to Orochimaru, let him train you, kill Itachi and have not-very-happy future after that. Two: you come back with me, train with others, still kill Itachi and have place to go back. Since it seems you only want power, you still can get high place in society. You are a genius when it comes in ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. But if start talking about socializing, you have no talent at all. Even I have better skill in that than you have. You can't empathize and it's quite important to be able to empathize, unfortunately." Mia said.

"I will start going back to Konoha soon, but remember couple things. I don't care what do you do, it's your choice. You don't get the power by snapping your fingers. Not even Orochimaru can do that, you have to train any way. If you come back, people will be distrustful first and it's your own fault and you deserve it. They still would be happy though for some odd reasons which I will never understand", Mia said and paused for couple seconds.

"Half of the things I've said to you... I'm not the one who should be telling you this, I'm not the right person", she said and started walking past him. Couple feet after passing him, she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Oh, and Naruto will miss you and try to bring you back. I have to admit, it will be weird at first if you leave. But hey, that's life" she said and continued walking slowly. Small smile was playing on her lips.

Sasuke pondered what Mia had said. He detested her for that, she could always make him think twice what he was doing. She always saw something you hadn't noticed yourself. He detested that she knew always what decision he was going to make. Even at the moment she was waiting, knowing he wouldn't continue his way to Orochimaru. He detested the affect she had on him. For the time she had been there, she had been able to make him laugh, even if it was just a small, quiet laugh. She had seen him in the edge of breaking down. It had been after a nightmare. He had gone out and Mia had found him. He hadn't even realized he was crying until Mia mentioned about it. He was little afraid that she would tell about it to her friends and to other teams but she kept her mouth shut. When he had tried ask about it, not being able to make the question, she had simply answered "it's not my place to tell" to his unasked question.

She didn't treat like he was made of glass. She had yelled at him, she didn't apologize every little thing that wasn't as he liked, expect if she was being sarcastic. She had made him do something else than train by forcing him to play cards with her and her friends. He had lost nearly every time. Still she didn't do anything weird to get his attention, like his fan girls did. She wasn't watching after him for every hour of the day. Mia even had laughed at him once when he was trying to get rid of Sakura and Ino, not even trying to help him get rid of them.

"Could we stop pretending that you're not coming back, since I'm freezing and soaking wet here" Mia stated. Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes but turned around and started to walk back to Konoha with Mia.

"If I get a cold, I blame you" Mia said to him but Sasuke just smirked at her.

"It's your own fault, you know" he stated to it.

"Oh, now you are just enjoying this" Mia said to him fake pouting. Sasuke still just smirked and continued walking listening Mia rant next to him.