Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!
When I look back…
I sometimes wonder if I could've saved him.
If I had tried, and had I noticed all the signs that pointed to the path that he was willing and led to take... I wonder if I could've stopped him.
That's just hopeful thinking, right? Can you truly stop someone from walking a path that was set for them? I don't really know if he was just born to walk this path in life or maybe, at the end of it all, it was just his destiny. Destiny can be reshaped, can't it? After all, your fate lies in your own hands. Your future forever changes depending on the decisions you make. And these decisions, these decisions seemed so reckless, and yet I understood.
I empathized.
But could I have stopped him? Could I had stop that overwhelming cloud of darkness from engulfing him? For the most part, I think not. I think you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved. As harsh as it sounds, I think those kind of people have to save themselves. But as their friend, as someone who cares for them, you want to try and cling onto a hope that you can help them.
I wanted to be the hand that reached in the darkness; a hand that he could hold and he could use to pull himself up from drowning into the evil that he was becoming. But that wasn't something I was fated to do. No matter how much I cared for him, and how I seen him as such as close friend friend, I don't think I was ever meant to save him.
Maybe I was never meant to even meet him in the first place.
After all, the same hand that was desperately trying to save him had saved me too.
I was too busy worried about the darkness that surrounded someone else that I did not see my own. I was drowning, subconsciously, and I was trying to break the surface of blackness that was trying to drag me down. I wasn't worried about me. And then that hand, it was like a beacon of light and it had purified all the darkness that surrounded me.
I don't know if my eyes were closed or I was just too blind to see how far I was being dragged down, but he saved me.
oOo
Amidst the training ground stood a young kunoichi, her eyes had been staring at the sword in her hand with much musing. She stood at 5'0, her hair a light and wheat-colored blonde that ended at her mid-upper thighs. Two ponytails at the sides of her head that resembled cat ears. Her skin was an olive tone color, her eyes a deep shade of magenta.
Her attire consisted of a scarlet bodysuit with long sleeves and was protected by partial armor on her arms and hips that were black with tinges of red at the tips of the armor. Around her right thigh was a simple red ribbon, which held sentimental value to her.
On her feet, she wore red socks that matched the bodysuit and armor that covered most of her calves. Her feet were adorned simple shinobi-standard sandals, except for hers were the kunoichi addition with the small heel.
Her body had not moved from place, still standing in the middle of the forest of Kusagakure. Her eyes never left the sword until her name was called, "Taiga."
"Hm?" Slowly, she had looked over her shoulder. Her eyes observing the boy who had called her name.
The boy who called her name was Sasuke Uchiha. He was fair-skinned with onyx eyes and black hair that was chin-length. The back of his hair was spiky in an unusual hairstyle. He had bangs that hung on both sides of his face, framing his cheeks.
His sword, Kusanagi, was at his hip and his hand over the handle. "Fight me."
Every time he wanted to strengthen his Kenjutsu, he always looked for her. Being from Kumogakure had made her strong in it, but that didn't mean she wanted him to test out his skills on her every time. "Didn't we just battle a day ago?" She sighed, rubbing her shoulder. "Don't you get tired?"
"Who grows tired from getting stronger?" He queried, "I'll never be tired."
His words made her even more exhausted, but she decided to indulge him. "And what do I get out of it? I already mastered my sword-styles."
"Why do you have to get something out of it?" A pout slowly formed on her face, "Just fight me or I'll attack without warning."
"Was that supposed to scare me?" Taiga had asked, truly curious of his answer.
The right corner of his lip had rose in a smirk, "If you don't fear me by now then I'm not strong enough."
"I guess so..." Her ears had picked up on the sound of his sword slightly raised out of its sheath. Her hand had went onto the handle of her sword and she had quickly turned around. "How about if I win, you buy me dumplings."
He had scoffed at her proposal, "Everything we do always comes back to food, doesn't it?"
With a grin, she had placed her arms behind her head. "We get a shitty meal here every day. How am I supposed to survive on just rice? Hell, the least they can do is throw a rice ball or two but we don't even get that. Just a plain bowl of boring white rice."
"It has made you stronger, hasn't it?" Sasuke had closed his eyes briefly, which alerted her that he was starting to get annoyed with the conversation of food. "You eat senselessly."
"Only a woman should worry about her own weight." Taiga's arms were folded under her bust, a smirk forming as she could see the slight twitch of his right eyebrow. "Besides, you can say that while you're sporting all those abs over there." She had pointed at his abdomen, his eyes opening but not paying heed to what she was pointing to.
He had shaken his head to move the fringes from his face from the sudden wind, "I didn't know you were interested in looking at my body."
Her face had flushed a shade of red, her hands rose in defense as she had shaken her head furiously. "How can I not see when you have your shirt wide open?!"
"I'm not going to ask again." His arm had rested on the hilt of his sword. "Fight me."
They both had stood at a comfortable distance, both of them eyeing each other to see what the other was prepared to do. Taiga had mastered two sword-styles, Tennen Rishin-ryū and Iaidō, while Sasuke had developed his own sword-style by using a mixture of different kenjutsu.
The kunoichi's katana, Honjo Masamune, had whispered through the air as she had rose it into an attack stance, leaving it completely out of its scabbard. Only a few seconds of silence and thick atmosphere did she launch herself forward towards Sasuke. With all her weight behind the blade, she struck at Sasuke's neck but he had effortlessly flicked Kusanagi up to catch hers. But due to the force, he was forced behind her blade in which he hadn't expected, and was thrown back. "Heh..." He still was surprised by how she could easily overpower him with her blade, leaving him stunned that he would constantly underestimate how much strength she would add in each attack. It varied, it was never constant.
Never leaving an opening to go to waste, she had pushed forward, her blade hissing back and forth through the air like a dance or more like a possession as if it had a mind of it's own. Sasuke still wore the calm and serene expression while hers took on a more manic excitement. Her blade had slammed again and again into his, the strength increasing over the course of strikes.
It came to a point where all he could do was anticipate and back her strikes, leaving her less to zero time to try and land a offensive blow of her own. Sasuke had threw his full strength behind his sword, and lunged at her but she had easily anticipated it, and twisted to the side so that the blade swept past her. Her hand had snapped out and Sasuke's sword fell, landing straight on the grass covered ground.
Both of them were breathing quite heavily, traces of sweat on their brows. "You'll never beat me in kenjutsu." She had said arrogantly, "Kumogakure is filled with the best. This is my life." Placing Honjo Masamune back in its scabbard, she had picked up Kusanagi and inspected it to see if it had taken any damage. "But you're quite the swordsman, Sasuke."
His expression was the usual calm one, he was always composed even though she knew he was annoyed that he had lost... again. "How is that you know which move I'm going to make?" asked the Uchiha, his hand taking his sword out of her hand. "You always know what to counter."
"You have the element of surprise, I'll give you that." Her hands were now on her hips, her eyes continuing to observe him, "But you lack conviction. You're too calculating, sometimes you need to rely on luck. If you go against another calculating person then you'll always be countered. You have to take risks."
He soaked in her words as he had placed Kusanagi back in it's sheath, "That's the most idiotic advice I have ever heard." He then walked ahead, Taiga's mouth open agape in shock that he had called her advice idiotic.
"Don't be angry with me that you lost!" Sucking her teeth, she had watched as he continued in slow strides towards the hideout.
Following behind him, she had wondered what was going on in his mind. For the past couple of days, he was training relentlessly with Orochimaru, which was usual but it seemed more rushed now. He had mastered just about everything Orochimaru had taught, quickly, in which was no surprise to her. Yet, despite that, it had felt like he had something up his sleeves. Taiga wasn't sure if she was just paranoid or there was something that Sasuke was planning to do.
"Have you seen Suigetsu, lately?" She had asked him, "Or maybe Karin?"
"No." He answered truthfully, "You can visit them. Why don't you if you're curious about them?"
It was true, she easily could, but the Southern Hideout was really far and the Eastern one where Suigetsu was, was all the way in Otogakure. "Mm..." She had hummed in thought as she continued forward.
"What are your plans for Orochimaru?" His question had caught her off guard, her eyes looking at him with much confusion and skepticism. "Will you stay loyal or will you go your own path?"
"What's with that question?" Raising a brow, she had stopped walking when she noticed his steps ceased. "Are you...planning something?" Her brows had knitted together, her eyes slightly squinting as she had stared at his back.
Sasuke was silent for a few seconds, even letting a breeze pass by which made the trees and bushes rustle. "Where do you stand, Taiga?"
The kunoichi was silent for a brief moment, her eyes traveling down towards her feet before closing. A second breeze had whistled through, brushing through her hair and gliding over her skin. "I stand on my own side." She finally replied, her eyes opening halfway. "I'm only using Orochimaru to grow stronger because of my circumstance."
She had raised her head and looked towards Sasuke, his chin resting on his right shoulder as his eyes had peered over at her feet. A 'hmph' escaping him, "Our goals are the same." His feet carried him away, leaving her to stare at his back as the distance between them had grown.
"Mm..." She slowly nodded, "We both want revenge."
Author's Note: So, what do you guys think so far?