A/N: If this is your first time reading this fic, welcome :) If not, glad you came back. I'm making lots of changes. Not so much in these first two chapters, but three and on are basically completely different from what I originally wrote.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any quotes used at the beginning of chapters. The title is a song by U2, which I also do not own.

AU

If you do not know what AU is, it stands for Alternate Universe. People use it differently. In this story's case, it takes place in a similar world to Naruto (we have the villages and groups like the Akatsuki), but they don't use ninjutsu or anything of that nature, and there is no modern technology.

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

Chapter One

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"Secrets are made to be found out with time."
Charles Sanford

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Sitting around the few roaring fires scattered about the camp, the men told their stories of the battle that took place not long ago. Some exclaimed how heroically they had acted to save their fellow soldiers, or took down more men than they could count with one fatal swing of their blade. They inhaled the bland porridge - only because it had been days since they had had more than a little sliver of stale bread, and it might have been one of the last few hot meals they would have before going into battle once again - and drank down enough liquor to keep themselves warm and well spirited.

Instead of picking fights, or doing anything that could sour the good mood, the men sang joyously without a single care in the world. One of the younger men, Naruto, paused in the middle of the tune when he noticed the small light flickering in a tent off on its own. It looked out of place in the open area. He slowly rose from his seat by the warm fire to go inspect, curious to see who it was.

The cold hit him hard as he strayed away, but he ignored the chill and carefully crept up to the tent. Just like all the others in the camp, it was a light beige canvas, and held up only by a few poles. It served its purpose, so there was no room for complaint.

Not wanting to frighten the one inside, he quietly called out, "I don't understand why you'd want to be all by yourself. You should join the others by the fire." Small puffs of air circled his head as he spoke, creating a wispy halo.

Naruto brushed his blonde hair of his forehead and leaned in closer to one of the sides of the tent. It sounded like they were scrambling about and fussing with their things, making Naruto even more interested.

"What is it that you're doing in there? Hm?" Naruto began to pull apart the folds of the canvas to take a glance inside. "Hiding something?" It was at that moment he had a pillow thrown into his face. A pillow that felt more like a rock, that is.

He yelped as he stumbled back, but remained upright on his feet. After inspecting his nose, he said, "I'm sorry, Saburo. Didn't mean you any harm." Naruto made sure he kept his distance from the tent, not wanting anything else thrown at him and possibly causing any more damage than a slightly bruised nose.

It was after a few seconds that a meek, "It's alright," could be heard from inside the tent. Naruto visibly relaxed, relieved he had not upset one of the few members of his unit too badly.

Naruto kicked a stone by his foot and slid his hands into his pockets to keep his fingers from freezing. "You going to come out and join the others? Neji and Kiba have been asking about you, ya know. Even Sasuke, and you know how he is."

It was quiet, except for the chatter in the background and the rustling of the trees. Naruto began to flip a coin lazily in his pocket.

"Saburo?"

"I'm going to try and get some rest," he replied sharply. "I'm not feeling well."

Naruto took a hesitant step forward. "Look," he began, starting to feel a bit crossed since he was kind enough to see if Saburo was feeling well only to have him snap at him. "What happened earlier wasn't your fault – it wasn't anyone's fault. It's impossible to avoid death in a war. You shouldn't let it eat at you like this."

After some reassuring to Naruto that that wasn't what had been bothering him, and that he truly was at his rope's end, Naruto reluctantly left Saburo alone in his tent and joined the others around the fire. Saburo let out a sigh he had been holding when he heard the footsteps fade away and fell back onto his blankets.

"I don't know if I can hide this much longer," Sakura mumbled in her own voice, almost sounding as if she were on the verge of tears. It was time to turn off Saburo mode and turn on Sakura, or it's-OK-to-get-emotional-about-everything, mode. With everything that was going on, it was understandable that she was beginning to feel a little worked up; hiding the fact that she was a woman and not some smelly man to an entire army; trying not to get killed when she had five-hundred ton men, plus their horse, chasing after her; and that it was her fault a man was killed while he tried helping her out.

Men were always dying in battle - that's just how it was- but in that case it didn't have to happen. If only she had been a little quicker. She could have saved him.

Sakura figured she had survival's guilt eating at her, but Naruto was right; she couldn't let it bother her. What's done is done and she can't change the past, so it's best to stop wallowing in self pity and get on with life.

It still bothered her, though.

Trying to put the rather unpleasant memory aside, Sakura finished wrapping the bandages around her chest, tucked in the end, and pulled on a clean shirt. Most of the clothes she had were a few sizes too big, but having something a little too clingy and showing off her "womanly figure" was risking too much. She was already teased by the others about her "girly face." The boots Sakura wore were lined with beaver fur, so it kept her toes from falling off in the chilly weather, and she always tried to keep her wool cap on. Not only did it protect her ears from the wind, but it kept her hair up and out of everything. Sakura had refused to cut it when she joined, since it was already short enough at shoulder length, so she opted with keeping it up and dying it. The latter was almost painful to do; she actually quite liked her pink hair. It was so unique, but it stood out too much, so she had it dyed a light brown. Not to mention, she had to make sure she kept on top with dying it. Pink roots were a little obvious.

The men outside seemed to have calmed themselves considerably, probably heading back to their own tents, and Sakura found it easier to settle herself down. Instead of using the rock-hard pillow she had thrown at Naruto earlier, she curled up against her sack of clothes, and lulled herself to sleep.

When morning arrived, she was not awakened by the sun shining through her tent, nor the stirring of other men, but someone shaking her roughly by the shoulders and yelling at her to get up. Sakura grunted when they dropped her back to the ground. Then her whole body jerked forward when they kicked her in the side.

She growled out, "What the hell!"

"Get up. Now!" Sasuke barked, throwing her bags out of her tent simultaneously.

Sakura scrambled out of the tent, passed Sasuke, and began to shoulder her bags.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying her best not to show Sasuke how irritated she was with him at the moment.

He stepped up to Sakura, having at least a foot on her, and looked down at her. His black eyes hardened. "Those damn bastards are on their way here. And they brought some friends with them." The latter was said with so much malice, Sakura felt herself cowering away.

"What are we going to do?" She was so quiet, Sasuke couldn't tell whether or not that question was directed at him. "We were barely able to keep up with them last time, and there are still so many recovering from their wounds."

Instead of an answer, Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the elbow, ignoring her protests, and dragged her to where her horse was kept.

+H+T+K+K+

It had been awhile since there had been a good snowfall (the soldiers were glad that that was the case), and the temperature wasn't as nippy as it was earlier, so the snow was just an icy mess at that point, making it very difficult to weave in and out of the trees. There were no previous paths, so the horses had to trudge through the slush. The sun was high in the sky by the time everyone began to make their way through the surrounding forest, blinding anyone who gazed too long at the cloudless sky.

Sakura sat perched on her horse, a chestnut mare, practically falling asleep in the saddle. The horse needed no directing to know that she needed to follow behind the rest of Sakura's unit; Sasuke, Neji, Kiba, and Naruto. Her head began to nod forward, and she woke with a start.

Kiba glanced behind when he heard her and laughed. "Come on, now. You can't be that tired."

"You got more sleep then the rest of us, Saburo," interjected Neji "You should be bounding ahead of us." Neji, a rather unpleasant guy most of the time, looked back at her briefly before returning his attention back ahead. She could have sworn she saw a slight narrowing of his eyes as his gaze met hers.

Sakura, A.K.A Saburo, sniffed. "Yeah, well..." She trailed off, not having a good enough excuse.

"How much longer till we hit the clearing, Sasuke?" Wanting nothing more with Neji, Sakura aimed her questioned at the leader of their squad.

He never turned around, or even made any kind of sign that he had heard her, until he answered with, "I don't know." And that was all he said.

Naruto, up until that point, had stayed out of all conversations. For once, he had not been in the mood to talk – no one was quite sure as to why - but when he heard Sasuke say that, he nudged his horse forward to ride along side him.

"Hey, wait a second," Naruto began, almost sounding a little frantic. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke sped up and placed himself right in front of Naruto's horse. "Exactly what I said. I don't know," Sasuke replied, enunciating the last phrase to the point of redundancy.

Despite always having to know everything there was about what they were doing, Sasuke was unusually calm, and it made the others feel uncertain about the situation.

Naruto looked at him dubiously. "So are we lost?"

"No."

"Then-"

"Naruto, can you just give it a rest?" Kiba interjected, fed up with Naruto and his game of twenty questions.

The group fell silent, and Naruto slowly fell behind till he was in front of Sakura, who was last in their file.

Just as Sakura was about to close her eyes again, she heard a loud Snap! off towards her side, and she instinctively reached for the dagger at her hip. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see something quickly cover itself behind one of the trees. At least, that's what she thought she saw. The others up ahead tensed, and Sasuke came to a halt; everyone followed suit.

Raising a hand to signal everyone to remain silent, Sasuke slid off his horse, unsheathed his sword, and walked towards the sound with caution. The ice cracked loudly under his weight. Sasuke side stepped into the hoof prints of the horses, which made a little less noise, and then became stock still. Sakura's grip tightened on the handle, not sure if he had seen something. The others up ahead were about to get off their own horses until Sasuke relaxed and made his way back over to his horse. The tip of his sword tapped twice against the ice before Sasuke sheathed it.

"Just some animal," he mumbled as he passed Sakura. Her hands slowly grasped the reins of her horse.

Before they continued on, Sasuke added as he pulled himself up onto his horse, "Saburo, I don't want you fighting unless it's absolutely necessary. You're the only one in our group with some medical experience. We can't risk you getting injured or killed." The other three men looked back at her with blank expressions. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from making any kind of smart remark.

"Of course," she said, trying to keep her voice even.

Sasuke nodded to himself. "Good. Now, let's go."

Nudging his horse forward, Sasuke led the group onward, but Sakura remained put. She could feel her horse beneath her wanting to move, but after a small jerk on the reins the mare stilled.

There was no way it was animal. She was sure of it. Judging from the way it moved, it was no animal she was familiar with. Her only guess was that it was human and not someone on their side. Attempting at being discreet, Sakura moved her eyes in their sockets to the tree she saw the creature hide behind and saw no movement. Not much of a surprise there. When she looked forward again she could still see her group moving at their slow pace, and she concluded that if something were to happen they would be able to ride back in time.

Sakura slid her feet out of the stirrups and grabbed onto the top of the saddle before gently sliding off, barely making a sound as she fell into one of the horse's prints. She gave her horse a small pat on her rump, and the mare obediently trotted forward to catch up with the group.

The dagger at her side began to feel as if it weighed tons, and her heart beat frantically in her ear. She kept her breathing to a minimum, despite feeling like she was suffocating, because she was so frightened at the idea of the one out here with her could hear just a small sigh. Stepping around the bare bushes and the trees that stretched high towards the sky, Sakura carefully stepped onto the icy surface of the snow, creating a low hum of echoes all around her. Sakura paused to allow the noise to die down, but then it started up again. She was not moving. Spinning around to the left, then to the right, trying to get a glimpse at whoever was approaching her, she saw no one. The dagger that normally never found itself outside of its scabbard was pointed straight out in front of Sakura.

The noise stopped.

Sakura swallowed hard. "W-who's there...?" Her voice shook, despite all efforts to keep it relaxed. Her body felt as if it had drastically dropped in temperature, and she began to shiver.

"Boo." Their breathe was hot against her neck. Her eyes widened at the initial shock of having them walk up behind her without her realizing, but Sakura quickly turned, dagger in hand, to try and get one good hit on them.

Knowing what she had in mind, they grabbed her wrist and squeezed it hard. Sakura gasped and dropped her weapon as she tried to free herself. At her attempt to kick them, they pushed her to the side, her wrist still in their grasp, and grabbed the other, pinning both arms painfully against her back. They shoved her to the ground, pushing her face into the snow.

"Do anything to get your friends running back here and I'll have no second thoughts on killing you." He pushed her face further into the snow. "Got it?"

He took her silence as a yes, and yanked Sakura to her feet. "Good. We'll get along fine then," he sneered.

The only thing running through Sakura's head at that moment was I'm so fucking screwed.

A/N: So there it is. Hope you all liked it :) And thank you, YouStoleMySocks, for looking this over for me.

I'm sure someone noticed there are no longer OCs. Hope that is alright.

Total Words: 2632

MaXdana