To Live is to Die
Ch.1- Preparation

The young Uchiha lay unconsious on the ground, a dark looming shadow standing above him. A small trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, dripping steadily on the already blood stained grass beneath him.

"Is that it? Is that all you can do?" came the soft, yet emotionless, voice from above him. A small, disbelieving chuckle came from the shadowy figure. "Pathetic."

It turned and began to walk away, leaving the raven haired boy unconsious on the ground.

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"Do you think we'll find him?" Sakura asked, tucking her pink hair nervously behind her ear.

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno. He's been gone for two weeks, you know."

Sakura winced slightly, horrendously detailed images of what condition Sasuke could currently be in flowing painfully through her mind.

Kakashi had split away from the group a little while ago, saying it would be easier to find him if they could cover more ground. Sakura didn't want to be alone, so Naruto went with her. She wasn't necessarily comforted by his company, but he would be able to protect her when the time came.

Just as an image of Sasuke's bloody corpse passed through her mind, she seen a dark heap in the middle of the field directly in front of them. "N-Naruto...look!" she said, pointing towards said heap.

Naruto squinted, shading his eyes from the sun. "What is it...?"

Sakura shrugged slightly, heart beating wildly. She prayed and prayed that it wasn't Sasuke and, if it was indeed him, that he was alive. They ran towards the heap and, as they got closer and closer, they realised that that heap was, in fact, the missing Uchiha they were looking for. Sakura gasped, her hands covering her mouth as tears began to fill up in her eyes.

"Hey, wake up!" Naruto said, nudging Sasuke in the shoulder with his foot.

Obsidian eyes flickered slightly open, followed immidiately by a splitting headache. The eyes closed shut again and a hand flew to his head, placing two pale, slender fingers to his temple.

"Sasuke-kun, are you all right!" Came the worried, anxious voice of the pink haired girl above him.

A grunt was the only response she got. Sasuke sat up, fingers still pressed lightly against his temple.

"Kakashi-sensei, we found him!" Yelled the blonde in front of him. Sasuke winced, the sound echoing over and over in his aching head.

Kakashi wandered over, nose still planted to the bindings of his beloved book 'Icha Icha Paradise'. He stopped beside Sasuke, one hand stuck into his pocket. He peered over his book and looked at the boy in front of him.

Sasuke's clothes were caked in blood, whether it was his or not no one knew, and they were torn in many places. He, also, had dried blood in his hair and on his face as well as up his arms and legs, giving the impression that the fight, whoever it was with, was fierce.

"Hm. Glad to see you're alive. We should get you back to the village to clean up." He stated in a rather impassive tone.

Sakura's eyes widened. "How can you say that so...so..." she seemed to be at a loss of words.

"What day is it...?" Sasuke asked, voice hoarse and cracking slightly.

"You've been gone for nearly two weeks, meaning it's a Friday." Kakashi repied nonchalantly.

Sasuke stood up, with difficulty, and looked at Kakashi. "Did...I miss any missions...?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Dunno. We've been out looking for you."

Sasuke wobbled slightly, legs threatening to give out. "We should go back to Konoha." Kakashi repeated before turning and walking back towards the village.

Sasuke nodded, paying no attention to the worried glances Sakura kept giving him and not really noticing how quiet Naruto was, walked after Kakashi. (limped rather... )

Naruto walked behind everyone with his head bowed, bangs covering his eyes. He was quiet the entire way, not even saying anything when Sakura kept asking Sasuke if he was all right.

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They entered the village only to be greeted by virtually every single village member, cheering and screaming "Welcome back, Sasuke!"

The Uchiha boy, being used to the attention, merely ignored them as he continued to follow his teacher to the Hokage, followed by Sakura and Naruto.

Sakura seemed to be full of glee, finding Sasuke in one piece and all, though the same couldn't be said about Naruto. Sure, he was happy to find Sasuke alive and in one piece, but it was clear something was bothering him.

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Tsunade stood as soon as Kakashi walked through the door. "Did you find him!" she asked urgently. Kakashi moved out of the way revealing an injured, yet alive, Sasuke.

The Hokage sighed in relief and hurried over to him, checking the wounds. "This should heal up in no time..." she said, removing a small scroll from her robes. After Sasuke was healed, she looked at the other two, to be sure they didn't get hurt on the search.

Sakura was beaming, clearly happy enough to burst, now that Sasuke was back, but Naruto looked as though he was about to start crying or something.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Tsunade asked. Sakura, Kakashi and Sasuke looked towards Naruto who, indeed, looked quite troubled.

Naruto forced a smile. "Yeah! Never been better!" The rest of team seven looked at him questioningly.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, facial expression changing into that of an embarassed fox. Sasuke remained emotionless, whereas Sakura and Tsunade laughed. Even Kakashi chuckled slightly.

Sasuke looked at the blonde, obsidian eyes locking with cerulean ones. They quickly looked away, a slight pinkish tinge gracing their features.

"Maybe you three should go and wait for Sasuke at the Ramen bar. He needs to clean up..." Tsunade suggested, allowing Sasuke to leave to get washed up.

Kakashi nodded, though was very surprised when Naruto didn't go into a 'ramen fit'. Naruto just nodded and began to walk towards the ramen stand. Sakura nearly died, seeing Naruto not really care about ramen.

The two followed Naruto to the stand, sitting beside said boy. He sighed and layed his head down on the counter/table. (Whatever ya wanna call it. XD)

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sakura asked softly. Naruto shrugged.

"Don't care." he replied. Sakura's eyes widened slightly.

"Don't care? What do you mean, you love ramen!" she said, unable to hold back her slight concern for the blonde.

She recieved yet another shrug, and sighed. "Fine."

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Sasuke stepped into the stream of water, watching it turn red as it washed away the blood. He proceeded in cleaning his body, hissing slightly in pain whenever soap got into the wounds Tsunade couldn't heal.

He pushed the wet hair out of his face and placed the bar of soap back on its holder. He faced the steaming stream of water and allowed it to wash away any excess soap on his body before reluctantly turning the taps off and getting out. He stepped out onto the mat and grabbed his towel, wrapping it tightly around his waist.

"I need to prepare... I need to get stronger before he comes back..." The young Uchiha mused as he got dressed.

"I can help you." came Tsunade's voice from behind him. He turned around quickly, taken off guard. Tsunade sat, back facing him, in a chair near the window.

"H-how...when...?" The raven haired boy stuttered.

"I was here the whole time... don't worry, I didn't look." She said, once noticing the red forming on his cheeks.

Sasuke sighed softly, but still felt a little akward, having been naked in the Hokage's presence. "How can you help me...?" He asked, trying to maintain an emotionless tone.

"I will train you, if you like, whenever you have time." She stated simply. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. Being trained by the Hokage is considered an honour; a great privelage indeed.

"You...would train me...?" he asked, momentarily unable to hold his nonchalant tone.

"I offered, didn't I?" She said with a shake of her head. He nodded, forcing his face to return to the grave, Sasuke-patented look he always had.

"Though, we will need to make preparations. We'll start tomorrow, I'll make sure you're able to." She said and stood curtly. "You should go meet your team now." she turned and left the room.

Sasuke sighed, though there was slight excitement in him. He, also, left the room and headed for the ramen bar.

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"Look! It's Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said enthusiastically, waving wildly at the approaching Uchiha. Naruto shook his head slightly and continued to eat his ramen, though he was eating it rather slowly, compared to how he usually ate it.

Sasuke sat down beside Naruto, seeing as it was the only seat left available. (Seating goes, Left to right, Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke)

Naruto continued to eat his ramen. "I got you some..." he said softly as the woman set it down in front of the raven haired boy. "I had them keep it hot."

Sasuke looked at the ramen bowl and grimaced slightly. He looked at Naruto, about to tell him that he hates ramen and he shouldn't have bothered, but was only met by a set of cerulean eyes, emotion unreadable. "You don't have to eat it if you don't want to." Naruto said, turning back to his own, steaming bowl of ramen.

The Uchiha blinked slightly, a questioning look appearing momentarily in his eyes, and looked back at the ramen. He sighed, deciding he was becoming too soft, and picked up the chop-sticks, beginning to eat. He was able to fight the grimace as he ate, though he wasn't able to hide the disgust that showed in his eyes every time he lifted more to his lips. Once finished the ramen, he looked over at the three who were, up until now, completely silent. Sakura was firing questions at him one after another, not giving him enough time to answer.

"Stop." He stated simply, nonchalant tone ever present in his voice. She immediately shut up, eyes slightly wide and on the verge of tears. "I have to train more... that's all."

He stood and sighed. "I'm going home..." he said as he began to walk off.

Naruto growled slightly. "What's with you! You have all the attention, whenever something happens to you, everything else goes into a stand-still and you STILL act like such a bastard!" he yelled standing up.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, but kept his back facing Naruto. He said nothing, though his hands clenched into fists.

"You have all the attention anyone would ever need, and yet you insist on being so... I HATE EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD EVEN THOUGH THE WORLD LOVES ME!" he said, small tears of frustration/anger filling his eyes. Sakura gawked at the yelling Naruto, mouth opening and closing, unable to form words. Kakashi remained reading his beloved book, as though nothing was going on.

"You don't get it..." Sasuke growled. He turned and faced Naruto, fisted still clenched in anger. "Sometimes having all the attention can be annoying. People always fighting for your attention, squealing whenever you enter a room. You want it! You can take it!" He looked up at Naruto, obsidian eyes, once again, meeting watering cerulean ones. Sakura still sat wide-eyed with her mouth opening and shutting, making her resemble a fish.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't want it...I don't want anything except---" He stopped talking, eyes shutting tightly. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand...you wouldn't understand at all." Naruto turned and walked the opposite direction, leaving Sasuke glaring at the ground. Sasuke also turned on his heal and walked in the direction of his house. Sakura remained resembling a fish for at least five minutes after both the blonde and Uchiha boy were out of sight.

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Naruto flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed in front of him. "Damn Uchiha Bastard..." he said softly.

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Sasuke walked into his house and layed on his bed, hands behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling and thought about what just happened. For some reason, he felt bad, even though he had merely said what he felt. He shook his head and forced the thoughts out of his head with ideas for the preparations that would take place in the morning.

A/N: So? What do you think? Good? Bad? Continue? R&R!