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The Devil in Us All

Chapter One

"I swear to you, Sakura! I'll kill that thing!"

Those were the words of Sasuke as he kissed me good night on the cheek. I was hoping for a little more but that just wasn't his style as of late. He was so caught up in his training and now with this new problem, we hardly ever even spoke. But I was going to join him. His problem was my problem too. We were married and shared the responsibility for the whole of Konoha Village. The townspeople's safety was of the upmost importance.

The mission sounded pretty simple. We were all lined up with Kakashi and Tsunade at the front. We were all there - myself, Ino, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, TenTen, even Hinata was ready to fight this battle.

We had prepared for a long time and we knew what was at stake. We saluted as Kakashi gave the orders. I could feel my heart rate quicken. It had been a long time since I had experienced a real battle.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" asked Tsunade.

"I'm fine." I replied. "Why do you ask?"

Obviously she noticed the sweat on my brow and the slight quiver in my thighs. I suddenly felt a chill but I tried to suppress it. I couldn't let it show, not in front of everyone, no matter how scared I really was.

Kakashi continued his speech.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, we have a major problem. There is a huge demon that has been devouring huge acres of land across the plains and there is only matter of time before it strikes here."

"There isn't a demon alive that can defeat us." shouted Sasuke. His words were comforting to me. He was always there to protect me when I needed him and as I looked across there was not one ounce of fear in his eyes. He was stoney-faced, determined - hands-clenched and ready. He fist bumped Naruto and called for the death of the demon.

I was glad he was so confident. It was only one month before that we had defeated a lesser demon with the help of everyone, Sasuke delivering the final blow after days of battle. That was just a small shrimp in comparison though. Now, we had awoken the demon's mother and it was out for revenge.

We all tested our powers but something inside of me knew it wouldn't be as easy as last time. Sasuke turned to me and winked. I winked back and smiled. Ino slapped me on the shoulder and told me to stay focused.

"It's live or die on the battlefield. Lose concentration for just a second and it's all over. Do you want to live or do you want to die?"

I didn't know how to answer that. I assumed it was a trick question.

I didn't have time to hang around though and before long we were off.

I didn't even have chance to glance back knowing that I may never return to my town. Little did I know, that life would never ever be the same again.

At first, it was exactly as we had planned it. Swinging fast through the trees, splitting into teams. Sasuke came up and squeezed my arm before smiling and heading off in the opposite direction with Naruto and Shikamaru. He was never the most affectionate and it was sometimes hard to read him but I still loved him and know deep down he loved me too. I just hoped, seeing him look back one last time that I would see him again. Everyone had been so confident, thinking this was another training mission but my gut was telling me this was going to be one of the toughest fights we had ever experienced.

Ino slapped me out of my reverie once again and I regained focus and stormed off towards the demon along with Ino and Hinata. The strategy was simple - the group led by Rock Lee and TenTen would create a diversion and lead the demon towards the village and that's when Sasuke's team and mine would attack in a pincer movement and catch the demon unawares and freeing the land of its terror forever.

Rock Lee and TenTen did their part. They gave the shout and then it was over to us. The butterflies dissipated as I readied myself. We raced out of the forest together and then there we saw it - the demon.

The huge towering black behemoth. Its bright red eyes stood out and shone down covering us all in a thin crimson haze like we were all coated in blood. It must have been over 5 metres high and arms as big as houses. It was smashing the nearby mountains and coming towards us at some speed. That's when we all realised how much trouble we were in.

It was at least a kilometre away but it still looked huge. How on earth were we going to sneak up on this thing? Its eyes were as big as I was. How were we going to blind side something that had the peripheral vision to see half the continent? I looked over at Ino and Hinata and know they felt the same as me - that we had bitten off more than we could chew.

Hinata and Ino took a few steps back, perhaps having second thoughts. I wouldn't have blamed them if they had just high tailed it out of there but that wasn't their style either. They were brave to the point of being stupid. Besides we couldn't let Konoha down.

That was when Sasuke struck.

Sasuke stuck a dagger in the demon's neck and black blood spewed out as it thrashed and clawed. Sasuke just managed to dodge out of the way before its razor sharp nails ripped into his flesh. I knew it was time to leave too. It was much bigger than any of us anticipated and we needed more reinforcements.

Sasuke wanted another shot but Naruto managed to pull him away before the demon could take a swipe at him. I yelled out to him, to all of them. They heard me and told us to get back, that they could handle it. Rock Lee and TenTen joined us.

"Are they nuts?" said Rock.

"You know Sasuke," I said. "He can never leave a job half finished."

Sasuke put his hands together and signalled for his Fireball Jutsu. He gathered all the chakra energy he had inside of him and created a huge ball of flames using the power only he could wield and then he blew more and more flames making the fireball as large as the demon's head. Sasuke launched the fireball at the demon. I covered my eyes as the my vision was engulfed in a fiery orange haze. However the blackness remained. The demon remained unfazed and unharmed.

Sasuke couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.

I watched the three guys try to take on the demon but no matter how much they fought, it didn't seem to have any effect. The demon was just too strong, too powerful, too big. Sasuke couldn't get any good shots in and one wild swing of the demon's arm would be enough to murder a mortal man.

I cried out to Sasuke but Ino and Hinata pulled me back against my will. In the end Sasuke gave up and chose to retreat too. He was annoyed and frustrated. He wanted to kill that thing so bad and knew he would have to if they were all to survive.

But it seemed like Sasuke's little attack had worked. At least for the time being. The demon had retreated and was no longer headed for Konoha Village however who knew when it would return.

Back at the village, I hugged Sasuke and told him not to do anything as foolish as that again. He had a glazed over look in his eye. He seemed possessed as if the demon itself was now in control of his soul. I tried to reach the human Sasuke, my Sasuke but for that night at least, he shrugged me off. He wanted to fight that thing again and I knew I couldn't stop him.

"What is it, Sasuke?" I asked and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Talk to me."

He remained silent. I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen. Perhaps we both just needed some rest - it had been a long day. I thought he could do with a drink too, help him cool off. I poured the water, and went back into the living room. Sasuke was still just standing there, motionless, staring out of the window. I walked up behind him slowly and tapped him on the shoulder.

He spun round in a flash and knocked the glass right out of my hand. It smashed on the ground. I looked back at Sasuke and he looked crazy with a menacing gaze that was piercing straight through me. To be honest, he was scaring the hell out of me.

I was too shocked to speak and even more shocked when Sasuke scooped me up into his arms. I didn't expect him to be so romantic at the best of times, but it seemed especially strange now. Feeling his strength sent shivers down my spine. I felt so safe, so secure as he always made me feel. I wondered what he had planned. I swear it was the weirdest sensation, my thoughts, swimming, I could barely catch my breath before I was whisked away up the stairs. He carried me to the bedroom without saying a word. He kicked open the door and laid me down on the bed. He climbed down on top of me and started kissing me. But his kisses were different. They were icy cold, strong and forceful. He held me down with his muscular arms and didn't give me an inch to move. Like Sasuke, I didn't say a word but thoughts ran through my mind about what had happened to him. He made love to me that night but it was not the man I married.

"Oh Sasuke," I whimpered with a tear falling from my eye.

It hurt.

He didn't care.

To Be Continued...