Disclosure: Again, I don't own Naruto (can't help but feel stupid saying that).

Warning: Violence and language (to be safe, though I don't remember too many curse words in this one)

Criticism: Yes please! I really would appreciate reviews, preferably honest reviews, the franker the better. But anything goes!

A/N: The story takes place before the Chunin exams. And branches into an AU; the events that happen in this story will change the events of the Chunin exam. Also, Sakura is kind of in a depressive state here, so she probably won't think or talk very highly of herself, so keep that in mind.

Synopsis: Sakura gets attacked while outside feeling sorry for herself that Sasuke does not love her, will Sasuke be able to rescue her? Or will she die unloved at the hands of her attacker?


Self Pity

Sakura let out a deep breath; just how long was she planning on staying out here? She glanced at her wrist watch; the face read nearly one in the morning. Her mom was probably going to ground her the moment she stepped foot in the door. But somehow she just couldn't bring herself to go home. It felt good to stand out here in the cool night air.

"Sometimes I wish I could just hate him already." Sakura said inwardly, her mind on the same topic it had been since training had ended at quarter passed seven.

"I mean, he could at least attempt to be nice to me." Sakura thought again. "And what's worst, he said I'm a worst fighter then Naruto."

Sakura rested her head upon the tree she had been pacing around. "Then again," This time the words found their way to her lips. "It's not like I really can argue." Images of their last mission seem to float back into her mind: Naruto rushing forward to protect the old village woman from the first thug's attacks; Sasuke taking three thugs who were approaching from behind; and Sakura, all the while, was just standing in the background.

Sakura let out a smirk, "Who am I kidding anyway; I couldn't even handle a few street thugs, who were so tough they needed to pick on a decrypted woman over the age of seventy-five."

"I suppose even in simple missions like those I merely stand out of the way." Sakura took her head off of the tree and started off in a different direction, apparently her subconscious self was tired of pacing the tree.

Sakura had been wandering for a good twenty minutes, all the while still muttering to herself; she was completely lost in her own thoughts, she didn't realize that she had long entered a poorer, more deserted part of the village.

"This doesn't make any sense; I mean I'm the one who got one of the highest scores in the academy." Sakura pushed a lose strand of her pink hair out of her face.

"I was the one who mastered chakra control long before those two did anyway." A loose stone on the road caused her to stumble. That did it.

"What is with this?" Sakura all but yelled, "Am I that helpless that I can't even walk across a path without falling!"

"Apparently so." Spoke a voice coming from behind her. Immediately she spun around, eyes alarmed, she hadn't noticed anyone outside at all, much less anyone behind her.

The road was dark. Sakura inwardly sighed, without realizing it she managed to walk in the opposite direction of her house and ended up in a part of the village where few lived. The environment seemed to reflect the lack of people; the nearest street light was out, probably due to lack of repair. Yet, fortunately a full moon was out which allowed her to get a good look at the stranger up ahead.

About ten paces ahead of her stood a tall fellow wearing a long, gray overcoat that hung down a little past his heals. He had a lean face which at first seemed to give him a famished look. His hair, which looked gray in the moonlight, was short and spiky revealing ears that looked a little too high up on his head, yet his eyes seemed to glow in the dark, a brilliant shade of light green. To Sakura he seemed to resemble a starving coyote hanging around the outskirts of town prowling for a meal.

"Excuse me?" Sakura called out to the stranger; "I don't recall asking you to join in my conversation." She still was feeling pretty pissed off right now. And besides from the fact that the man was tall, he really didn't seem like a threat; if anything he seemed like he would fall over at even the lightest touch, let alone facing a ninja. And she was a ninja, she reminded herself, her inner pride beginning to show its stubborn head, she was a beautiful, female ninja; she could kick ass (Cha! She seemed to scream inside).

Sakura smirked; "This could be a good opportunity to blown off some steam."

The fellow stared at her for a moment; perhaps he was taken aback by her sudden change of posture and surge of confidence. Hmpt, Sakura smirked, serves him right.

Then, perhaps reality dawned on the man, because he shook his head slightly and chuckled.

"So, having a little trouble keeping up with the boys are we?"

"I said mind your own business, you nosy, loiter!" Sakura liked this; this dopey, skinny guy was going to take all of the bunt of her anger, and she was going to enjoy this. Just for once she wanted to rip someone down the way Sasuke had done to her.

"My, aren't you a rude, little girl." Said the man, "I was only going to give you the always next year speech, but clearly you do seem to think a little bit more highly of yourself than you probably should."

"Oh really," Sakura said, "Well, I for one sure don't want the advise of a low-life street rat, who looks like he can't even get a decent meal, much less pull off a successful ninja mission."

"And in case you haven't notice," Sakura continued, "I am a ninja; I've gone on tons of successful missions; like to see you even get through the academy, much less graduate top of the class."

All the anger that kept building up seemed to be justified as Sakura continued to lash out at the stranger; yet, in the back of her mind, she was beginning to feel worse than before.

"Tough girl, then." Said the man, the smirk gone off of his face, "Then tell me, why is it that you are wandering around my part of the village, feeling sorry for yourself if you are this great ninja?"

"Hmpt," If she spat, she would have spit in his face, "First off, I wasn't feeling sorry for myself, I was merely thinking."

"And second; I told you to buzz off," More anger relieved; "If I wanted to include the opinion of garbage like you, I would have had this conversation in a sewer." The back of her mind was beginning to ache; she was reminding herself of Ino, talking this way to someone. Even Naruto wasn't this mean, and she was always getting on his case for his lack of manners. Was Sasuke driving her this far?

"You know," said the man, for the first time coming closer to her, "If you wanted someone to teach you some manners, then all you needed to do was ask." There was no smile on his face, and his eyes seemed to gleam in the moonlight.

"Otherwise little girl, you need to learn your place." The closer he got to her, the more she started to wonder if her judgments about him were correct. He seemed taller than what she first thought, and a bit sturdier.

"Come on, Sakura, if you can't take on 'string bean' here, how are you supposed to keep up with Sasuke or even Naruto?" The man stopped about a meter from her; Sakura resumed fighting stance. "How is Sasuke ever going to respect me, if I can't even take care of myself?"

"You know," said the man, pulling out a long knife (which was nearly the size of his arm) from inside his overcoat. "As a ninja, I would have thought that you would have been a better judge of character."

This close he definitely didn't seem wimpy or starving-skinny; just what was she thinking? But she couldn't back down now, could she? Would this stranger even let her now anyway? "Even if I was a bit off about this guy," Sakura thought, taking out two kunai from their holders on her thigh; "I am still a ninja while he is just a regular guy off of the street; I can handle him."

"For a ninja at the top of her class you clearly didn't pay attention." He began to approach her, Sakura taking small steps backward; the result was them making a circle, with the stranger leading the dance.

"First off," he said, mimicking her earlier list offs, "A ninja should always be aware of his environment." Then he pulled out another, slightly smaller blade from the long sleeve of the right arm of his overcoat. "I mean, I thought this was basic knowledge that they taught to even the youngest of students at the academy."

Sakura hoped she hid the terror that was beginning to spread inside her gut, urging her to flee. The last knife he pulled though smaller, seemed to drive home one clear fact: she really was out in deep water here. First, wandering off into the middle of nowhere, nothing looked familiar (and now that she thought of it, things had stopped looking recognizable more than ten minutes back). Not to mention what was she thinking provoking someone like that with little knowledge of his history or skills, not even Naruto did something this stupid. Sasuke, however mean he had been, was more than right saying those things to her if this was the situation she landed herself in.

Immediately, Sakura wanted to cry (her fist reaction whenever she got herself in a pickle). But this was a situation where crying would do very little for her; in fact, if anything she would be next to dead if she did. Yes, she had screwed up; but the only thing that was saving her right now was her cool and her apparent confidence, the moment she lost that she practically gave him the right to end her life right there.

"So you wanna fight then, loiter?" Sakura said, putting on her cockiest grin, "Well seeing how I'm a ninja and you're not; it's your neck."

It was then that Sakura realized something that she hadn't thought of before: this was the first time that she was in a life-threatening situation where she was all by herself. And now that she thought of it, both of her other teammates had already fought in situations like this long before they joined Team 7. Naruto had told her several times how he had graduated (by attacking a corrupt teacher with his Shadow Clones and beating the guy to a pulp); even Sasuke had handled himself solo, though he never bragged about it (of course he never talked to her, so that wasn't saying much).

But Sakura always had someone beside her: before as a student she had her teacher and her classmates at the academy and this was the case even now in Team 7. She always felt safe, to be all honest, next to Sasuke and even Naruto. Wow, she had never given Naruto any credit, what with him being last in class and all, but he really had protected her a lot on the missions as well.

Just then the long knife swiped at her upper arm. This had taken her completely off guard; she had expected him to go for a killing zone, like her midsection, or chest or even her neck, but not there. Throwing all of her strength into it, she tried to dodge the attack.

Sakura drew in a quick breath to prevent the scream that almost escaped as the tip of his blade opened a long, but not so deep, gash from her shoulder to her upper arm on her left side.

"You see," said the man, "You really aren't prepared for anything are you?"

Sakura could feel the warmth of her blood drenching her clothes. Her mind was really starting to panic. "No, Sakura calm down." She desperately tried to tell herself. "The moment I panic is the moment I die."

"Real life battle isn't like playing games in your little dojo; you can't just remember theory and expect me to play by your rules."

Just then he swung the second blade; immediately Sakura thought it looked like he would go for her other arm to even the score, so she went to block the attack. But instead, at the last minute he sliced the smaller blade downward and caught her upper thigh with a quick swipe.

This time Sakura couldn't help crying out. At this, the man grinned.

Instinctively, she went to caress her right leg, accidentally dropping the kunai in her left hand as she did. She had never been cut before, not like this. Not even while training.

During training, it had always been Naruto or Sasuke that had taken blows from Kakashi-sensei, for she had never charged at her teacher. Now that she thought of it, why hadn't she ever tried to fight her teacher like the others had? How was she supposed to fight off some attacker on a mission who wanted her dead, if she never had the guts to practice an attack against her teacher, who clearly wouldn't kill her if she made a mistake.

The reason for her passivity had always been simple: she was too engaged watching Sasuke, admiring his strategic attacks which were in her mind always planed and perfect. Yet, Sasuke wasn't here now. When are you gonna get that Sasuke could care less if you live or die? This voice came from deep down. It was not the one that had always cheered for her love of Sasuke, but the other one; the one who was so strong when she was little, the one that told her to runaway and hide when the other kids had picked on her for having a large forehead. The one that still told her that her forehead was huge and that she had mediocre to none skills as a ninja.

It was really worth it, wasn't it? Continued the voice. Spent all that time worshiping Sasuke; but where is he now, now that you need him more than ever?

Then the man's voice broke her thoughts.

"Where is all of your big talk now, little girl?"

As Sakura was leaning forward concealing the wound on her leg, the man made another attack, this time going for her throat. With all she had in her, Sakura threw herself out of the way. This time she was successful. The fatal shot that meant to slit her throat only managed to nick the side of her neck, close to her shoulder. She landed on the ground and somehow managed to roll, so as not to land on her knife. At least she got something out of her training.

For the first time that night, the stranger laughed. His mocking laughter seemed to make her steps all the more slower as she regained her footing.

"So, tell me again, little ninja," said the man, slicing his first blade at her midsection, "Just how many successful missions have you gone on?" Sakura threw her kunai against his incoming blade to jam his attack, however, this attack was only a diversion, and his second, smaller blade went and sliced her other upper arm (this was her right arm, the only one with a weapon).

Perhaps it was due to adrenaline, or maybe the shallowness of the cut, but the last time she was cut in the upper arm, other than the pain she didn't feel any effect. This time however, her fingers around the blade seemed to knot up; the muscles beginning to spasm; it was only moments now before she dropped her weapon.

"Dammit," Sakura thought, "He hit a critical spot, and at this rate I won't be able to hold my weapon for much longer."

"Where are your little comments now, little ninja?"

Sakura was tiring; she honestly didn't know if she could go any longer. Somehow she had to get away. Perhaps she could distract him and then run away. No, not with the way he had slashed her leg; she would at least have to limp, and then he would have no problem catching up to her. But then again, he would have to have ninja speed to catch her, and now that she thought of it, she wasn't certain if he was a ninja or not.

"So, how is it that you know so much about ninjas, unless you are one yourself?"

"Really, are you just now finding this out?" the man said and slashed at her again, this time nicking at her hands, "For a ninja you sure took forever to come to that conclusion, you must be some liability to your teammates."

No sooner had he said that then Sakura's weapon dropped out of her hand and fell to the ground. That last cut had done her in, the ripped muscles in her fingers just could not hold on any longer; this was the last straw.

For a moment which seemed stretched, Sakura watched as her kunai slowly fell to the ground, only to be kicked away by his boot. Sakura stared up at the stranger who had just won the fight; there was no hiding it now, fear clearly was evident in her large, green eyes.

"Is this my end?" She could see no other way to fight this man; clearly he was superior to her in fighting techniques. What then? Should she try to escape? He had already told her that he was a ninja as well, so hoping to out run him using ninja speed was out of the question, especially with her injuries.

"How had it gone this far? Where did I go wrong?"

"Don't worry, little girl," he said, this time reaching for a strand of her long hair, "Death won't come for still sometime." Sakura tried to push him away, but he was quick (even somehow quicker than he had been while fighting her) and he grabbed her by her arm (which already hurt like hell from her earlier injury) and pulled her towards him until her cheek was against his mouth. She could feel his teeth and his tongue as he nibbled on her skin. The smell of onion mixed with tobacco from his breath made her nauseous for a moment.

"Get off me!" Sakura said, death or not, she couldn't take this; not Sakura, she refused to give in. With her non injured leg she thrust her knee into his groin. He groaned; he really had thought she was done in, enough for him to drop his guard. Groaning, now anger replaced his features, his bright green eyes narrowing and his lips etching into a sneer, making his already bony cheeks look even narrower.

Sakura used this time to back away from him, but nothing could prepare her for what he did next. Out of nowhere, he lunched at her, catching her uninjured knee with his knife.

Sakura let out a scream, and fell forward. The pain in her knee was almost unbearable. If dying of pain was something a human being could do, Sakura was surprised she wasn't dead.

"Stop it, please!" Sakura said, tears trailing down her cheeks, her body trembling under the pain.

"Look I didn't mean to offend you, okay." So much for her tough face, she couldn't stop herself now.

"I was just so angry at Sasuke; I didn't mean it, I swear, I'm sorry!"

His lean face smiled as he knelt down beside her. Gently he put his hand on her leg, just above her injured knee. Sakura was holding her leg, as if that alone would stop the blood gushing from her knee; she was shaking so badly her head was beginning to hurt from the motion.

Gently he patted her leg, "And what have we learned little girl?"

"N-not to ju-ju-judge b-by appear-ance." Sakura shivered. Inside, one side of her mind was screaming at her to get up, to stop crying, and to just try to appear strong; but the other side of her mind (the one that was winning) was telling her to appeal to her injurer and get his mercy.

"Now that's very good," He said, as if he was one of her teachers, "That will keep you out of trouble." Sakura nodded, still hugging her knee.

"However," Said the stranger, his voice suddenly turning deadly cold, "Once you've gone that far you can't go back." Sakura didn't even have time to react before the man grabbed her injured knee and squeezed his palm. Uncontrollably, Sakura started screaming. With a slap to her face, the man had pushed her to the ground and was pressing her body against the ground with his body weight.

Sakura was uncontrollably crying before she began to scream out the only name that was in her mind "Sasuke!"

Yet no one came. No one would be coming. When was she going to get it that he cared little for her; so little in fact, that her death might actually be a relief seeing how annoying she was and how much she just got in the way.

Those thoughts kept circling around her head, and if Sakura was not in so much pain, she would have wondered why in God's name was she thinking of Sasuke not liking her at a time like this. The stranger was tearing her red over-shirt off with his short blade; haphazardly he was cutting through the fabrics.

"Sasuke, help me!" Sakura still kept yelling; despite her thoughts.


Earlier that night…

Sasuke tossed in his bed for the eighth time that night. As usual he couldn't sleep. After another fifteen minutes of staring at the ceiling, Sasuke decided to go tire himself out training. It would be a better use of his time anyway; anything was better than just staring at the ceiling alone with his thoughts.

It was almost one in the morning when Sasuke left his apartment. He decided he would go to the regular training area where his team usually trained, for no other reason then his lack of creativity. He arrived at the open area and spotted the center tree; however before he could approach it he noticed a sliver of pink hair peaking out from behind the tree. "Sakura," Sasuke thought, "What is she still doing here?"

Sasuke was about to turn around and go off to another open area, either that or just go home, when he noticed that Sakura was leaving. Sasuke quickly concealed himself up in a tree, waiting until she passed by; he didn't feel like talking to her.

However, she never came by. After about ten seconds or so (the time it should have taken her to pass by) Sasuke jumped down from the tree. Approaching the training area, he could just barely make her out, heading in the opposite direction. Though it was a little odd that she was going in the wrong direction from her house, Sasuke really didn't care that much to go after her and ask. Besides if he did that, then he would have to talk to her.

His mind soon forgot about Sakura because then he turned to the large tree in the center of the grounds, which contained several targets. With his goal in focus, Sasuke lunched forward, throwing three shuriken at the tree only to have all three throwing weapons hit the center circle of the target. Stopping only for an instant to see if the mark rang true, Sasuke flung another set of three, this time starting with his back facing the target. Spinning around, using the momentum from the turn, Sasuke launched the shuriken three at a time and watched as they hit the bullseye, two knocking the previous throw out of the way.

Sasuke had been training for the last hour and a half: it was two thirty in the morning. Sasuke was breathing hard, kneeling on one knee a short distance from the training tree. Finally, he was tired. Now he could go home and go to sleep; no spare time to think, just several hours of dreamless sleep. Pulling out all of his shuriken that were wedged into the tree, Sasuke headed for his house.

He was just passing Sakura's house, when he saw that the lights were still on. Seeing Sakura's house reminded him of when he had seen her earlier; now that he thought back Sakura had never returned to the training area (she had to since that was the only way to get to her house). To be honest, Sasuke had been pushing himself so hard that he had forgotten about Sakura. Perhaps she had seen him training and had decided to cross by quietly so as not to bother him. No, not the same Sakura he knew; no, she would have had to stop by for a little chat. The thought of it made Sasuke roll his eyes. Then again, if Sakura had gone by and hadn't bothered him perhaps she wasn't as annoying as he thought. Perhaps, just maybe there was a chance that Sakura would grow up and start paying more attention to her training instead of obsessing over him.

On that thought, Sasuke walked past her house, glancing only briefly out of the corner of his eye. He was almost out of earshot when he heard a worried, feminine voice cry out, "But she didn't come home and it's almost three in the morning; where can she be?"

Sasuke stopped. So Sakura hadn't come home. Which meant she hadn't come by the training area discretely so as not to bother him; it meant that she hadn't come back at all. Unless she really did pass by the training area and had just chosen not to go home.

The last thought though sounded forced; just as he knew Naruto, Sasuke knew Sakura. It was simply beyond hope to think that Sakura would have seen him training and not stopped by; that would be the same as Naruto coming to an entire day's training not opening his mouth at all. Once again, as much as Sasuke wished it, it was like icicles forming in Hell, never going to happen.

Sasuke rolled his eyes; he didn't have time to baby-sit those two; both Naruto and Sakura were, at most times, liabilities. How would he ever be able to get stronger if all he did was chase them around all day (and now all night too). Were they not capable of taking care of themselves?

"Go and find her," Sakura's mother said to her husband, "If you don't, I will."

Her voice was so filled with worry and distress, for a moment it took Sasuke's thoughts away from how annoying his teammates were. For a moment, Sasuke Uchiha was back in front of his own mother, hearing the worry in her voice as she scolded him for running too fast and falling down and scrapping his knee. At the time, he thought she was being too overprotective. But, now he would give anything to have her worry about him, even if it was over so trivial a thing.

Turning back towards the training area, Sasuke decided to go and look for Sakura. He just hoped he didn't have to stay out too long; it was kind of upsetting really, for the first time in a good week he was finally feeling tired enough to actually fall asleep for longer than two hours at a time, so much for that.


Thirty minutes earlier…

"There is no one here; not for at least a mile or so, and this Sasuke you keep calling for will find your body cold and torn up when he finally gets here."

"Please," Sakura said, "Please, I have a m-mother a-and father who w-will miss me; I have fr-iends, and I really, r-really want to s-see them again." Sakura was all but frantic; so much for the fearless, beautiful ninja. She kept petting at the stranger's clothes, as if trying to fix them. "Please, I d-don't want to die; p-please, I'm begging you."

"You truly are a little brat, aren't you?" Said the man; "Now that you don't get your way—" His face close enough that his ragged breath seemed to be her only oxygen.

"—You think that by crying it will all be over," A grin spread across his lips revealing tar-stained teeth, "Not this time, this time I am going to hurt you until you can't feel pain anymore."

His rough and cold hands were now against her pale skin, the last pieces of her shirt were finally cut off.

Sakura struggled as he brought the knife down to her pants and began to cut. She began to scream louder as his knife went to work, hacking away at her pants, every so often the sharp tip making contact with her skin. She kept screaming, squirming, only to be slapped when she got a good enough of a thrust to push him away.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out; she was hysterical now; this was it, she was going to get raped and cut up until she finally breathed her last. But even though she knew he was not coming, and that this was the end, she still continued to cry out his name.

"Sasuke!"

SLAP! The back of a calloused hand smacked upon her face.

"Stopped calling that name." Sakura was trapped beneath the tall man's weight. He had taken off his overcoat; Sakura felt the rough leather from his vest and pants digging into her bare skin, covered meagerly by her undergarments. She kept screaming until the man clamped his hand over her mouth. Sakura was still crying; then she felt the tip of the long blade against her throat.

"Listen, bitch," said the man, as he tightened his grip over her mouth, "The next time you scream you'll loose a finger—" His other hand yanking one of her fingers up.

"Then, for every scream, you'll loose another one."

"You got it," Hissed the man inches above her face, "I'm gonna remove my hand, and you are gonna be silent or your death will be far more painful than I was going to make it."

Somehow Sakura nodded; "Sasuke, help me." Then the man removed his hand. Sakura could feel him begin to suck on her neck, his hand going downward to cup her breast. Sakura went to let out a whimper, but then the blade at her neck stopped her.

Suddenly, there was a pause; her attacker looked up as if someone was there. But before Sakura had time to wonder, a bluish-white blur hurled past her, sending her attacker flying.

It took a moment for Sakura's mind to register what was happening; her body was burning from pains all over. She could tell that she had lost a considerable amount of blood; she knew it was only a matter of time before she lost consciousness.

She expected to see her attacker climb back on top of her. Her body felt cold from more than just loss of blood, her naked skin tingled from the chilled air, which was mostly exposed considering she was only wearing her undergarments, of which parts of her training bar had already been shredded by her attacker's knife.

However, she didn't see her attacker; instead it was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura blinked her eyes, which were already crowded by tears. After several blinks that freed several trapped tears and let them spill down her cheeks, she went to opened her eyes again, expecting the comforting image of Sasuke to be replaced by her attacker. But when she opened her eyes Sasuke was still there.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said, her words barely making it out as a whisper. She could see the familiar fan symbol of the Uchiha clan on the back of his dark blue shirt; his familiar jet, black hair that spiked up in the back; the typical oversized collar that he usually wore; it really was Sasuke. He was standing in front of her in a defensive stance ready to fight for her.

Sasuke heard Sakura whisper his name; from the corner of his eye he quickly scanner her over. He had never seen her looking like this before: her clothes were all but gone save for her undergarments, revealing her bare, pale skin covered in deep slashes all over her body, and littered in the fragments of her ripped, red over-shirt. Her face was bruised, no doubt from beatings, but also smudged with dirt and tears.

What was he thinking? He should have came after her the moment he saw her heading out in the wrong direction in the middle of the night. Had he really jeopardized her safety just so he could avoid the few minutes that he would have had to stand talking to her?

A new anger began to pump through his veins; this bastard was going to pay.

Sakura's attacker took a moment to recover; apparently Sasuke had charged him with more chakra and strength then he first thought. Then the attacker did stand up, his two blades in hand, their edges stained with crimson colored blood; Sakura's blood. The attacker seemed to follow the path from Sasuke's eyes towards his blades; a small grin split his lean face.

"So, are you the famous Sasuke the little girl kept crying for?"

Sakura had cried out for him? Sasuke's felt the anger in him growing all the more.

"Well, you look about as weak as she is," the attacker said, "No challenge here—"

The moment the man started talking though, Sasuke pulled out three shuriken from his back pocket, and sent them flying at the smirking man before him.

The throwing weapons would have gone straight through the man's heart had he not brought up his long blade to intercept them, the three shuriken ricocheted off in every direction.

"Then again," said the attacker; a twisted grin spreading across his lean face, "This might be interesting."

Sasuke stared at the man before him, his dark eyes narrowing. His first thought then was to take this man's life. He also knew that Sakura needed medical attention and soon, else all of this would be for nothing. He had to make this fight quick.

No sooner had he thought of that, then Sakura's attacker lunched at him, slicing his long blade in an arch towards Sasuke's legs, while keeping the smaller blade defensively placed to guard against attacks to his chest.

"Hn," Sasuke thought, "So this guy does know his stuff; we'll see about that."

Flipping backward to get out of the way of his enemy's swipe, Sasuke simultaneously threw a shuriken as he jumped, aiming it straight at the man's heart. The weapon was so quick that the attacker couldn't avoid it; but in the last minute the man raised his leg to block its path and the weapon pierced a little below his knee.

The man let out a snicker, "So you're quicker than the little bitch," Then he pulled out the shuriken, holding it in the same hand as the smaller sword, "However, you've just given me another weapon."

But Sasuke was ready. The man lunged at Sasuke, his long blade swinging for his throat, the smaller blade simultaneously going for his midsection; Sasuke's own shuriken thrown back at him, sent directly for his groin. Instantly, almost even before his own mind could register it, the world pulsed and everything got slower. His dark eyes had shown a crimson red. All at once, the three strikes coming from his opponent seemed to come at him in slow motion. Sasuke, threw a shuriken to intercept with the shuriken heading for his groin, simultaneously, he ducked out of the way of the long blade coming for his throat, and with his fighting arm holding a kunai, he blocked the smaller knife that would have gone straight into his midsection.

"Sharingan." Sasuke thought. "This might be over quicker than I first thought."

Shock was clearly evident in the eyes of Sakura's attacker; he wasn't expecting this. However, it was only momentarily, before he brought his long knife in an arching swipe towards the side of Sasuke's neck. Instantly, Sasuke brought out a slightly longer knife than a kunai from his side pocket, and before the attacker's blade could touch his neck, Sasuke blocked it with the weapon.

The two stood at a stand still; both of their blades interlocked. The attacker grinned.

"I see now why she kept calling for you," he said, "Who knew she had an Uchiha in her back pocket."

Sasuke just bared his teeth at the man; in his mind however, Sasuke was quickly thinking of his next strategy; he knew that if he stayed tangled with the tall man too long, he might loose his footing.

"Hmm," said the attacker, "I thought them all to be killed off; no matter though, your line ends tonight."

Sasuke focused on the man before him; he began to search him with his Sharingan. In his mind, Sasuke could almost see this man's last fight with Sakura; the man liked to play with his victims, immobilizing them before he went in for the kill (as he had tried to do to Sasuke as well). Sasuke felt a pang of guilt; Sakura would have been easy prey for this opponent's fighting style; it was too erratic and it went against most fighting techniques. Most fighters would go for killing spots so as to finish off their opponent quicker; this was probably what Sakura had been expecting. She probably had lasted only a few minutes against this man.

Sasuke on the other hand, had fought against people using this technique before; he had even tried to use this technique himself once or twice, when the occasion called for it. He had first been exposed to this style of fighting when he had sparred with Itachi long ago. His brother had told him that this style could at times be the most enjoyable of all fighting styles. Though, after trying it out a few times, Sasuke found it to be too sadistic for his taste. This time however, perhaps he would enjoy it considering what that bastard had done to Sakura.

The man's words then captured Sasuke's attention.

"Not that, I'm not enjoying this, you do seem quick, you even surprise me (and that's not easy to do)," he said, "However I am anxious to get back to our little friend over there; we were just getting to the fun part, before your little interruption."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Sakura. She had managed to sit up and had brought her knees up to her chest, her bare arms were still bleeding, especially the right one. She had her ripped shirt draped over her knee, and was trying to use it to stop the bleeding, but Sasuke could see a thick trail of blood still seeping from underneath the cloth; her body must have been too tired to apply the necessary pressure to clot the wound. It was only for a moment, but he caught her eyes.

Sasuke had no intention of letting this guy beat him, and looking at her only confirmed this thought in his mind; he only hoped that Sakura could hang on for just a bit longer.

He turned his attention back to his opponent (placing Sakura's condition at the back of his mind, for the moment). In reality, he hadn't ever taken his attention completely off of his attacker (that would have opened a weakness in his defense).

He needed to turn the tables of this battle; attack on the offensive, not just defend. That was another part of this man's fighting strategy: to always keep his opponents on the defensive, while he slowly broke down their strength by targeting the required muscles needed which allowed for attack, dodge, and weapon grip. But, Sasuke had something none of his attacker's other opponents had had before: the Sharingan, and with it, Sasuke would be able to predict all of this man's movements.

Sasuke glared at the man, still maintaining his grip on both his knife and his kunai. Then Sakura's attacker sprung backwards untangling himself from Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't surprised, after searching his opponent intently, he found the man to have a false sense of patience; that though he enjoyed toying with his prey, it was only at his leisure and not theirs.

Next, Sasuke knew that this man would make his attacks frequent in order to confuse him. However, the one thing that Sasuke wasn't aware of was that this man had had previous experience with the Sharingan.


A/N: So who wants Sasuke to save her and who wants Sakura to end up getting killed by the attacker? Just wondering what you guys think (I'm not anti-Sakura here, it's just an innocent question, hehe!) But in all seriousness, what do you guys prefer?

Anyways, thanks for reading! And keep reviewing, pretty please :P