The Third Choice
A/N: since I helped Son Kenshin write the ending of Chapter 18 on Bending the Jutsu, after reading the final version of it, I began having ideas and thoughts on what would happen if Sasuke made a third choice, rather than the one he did in Son Kenshin's story. So I basically wrote this on a whim, and Son Kenshin liked it, so I figured I'd post it anyway.
Naturally, one should read Bending the Jutsu to understand the story up until now, and just so we're all clear, this story is written and posted with Son Kenshin's approval. And thanks Son Kenshin for betaing this.
Chapter 1: My Choice Is…
Earth Kingdom
Sasuke leapt through the trees, trying to make his way to Fire Nation territory to rejoin the Sound Village. He had sensed Sakura behind him but he paid her no mind, since he thought she was still the girl he left on the bench in Konoha during his first defection. Inside his mind, the Hawk and the Snake still argued, and he was still trying to justify his reason for leaving again.
'I will get the power to kill Itachi…' Sasuke thought, his dark side continuing to cloud his thoughts. '…Orochimaru will teach me everything. Absolutely everything he knows and I won't refuse to kill anymore…'
He landed in a clearing next to a wide, calm river. The Uchiha could tell that the water was deep, since there was a large 'black' section under the blue water, where the light couldn't penetrate the depths. He looked briefly into the water, and he saw himself with the Cursed Seal active.
He looked up. "Sakura, leave me alone."
Sakura stood up on Taho as they got into view. "No…Sasuke…" she started, hopping off her giant slug. "I am going to drag you back to the camp myself."
"You? Don't be foolish, you have no chance against me," Sasuke told her condescendingly.
Sakura growled, squeezing her hand into a tight fist. "You aren't the only one who has gotten stronger over the past three years."
"Naruto has, that Hyuga girl has, but you? You always held up our team, playing on the sidelines. Are you seriously telling me that you've gotten better?"
"Lets find out, Sasuke. I'm no longer that crying little girl," Sakura told him dangerously, taking Toph's earthbending stance while standing on the beach.
"Very well," Sasuke said as he bit his thumb, and scrawled the blood onto the seal on his wrist. He flew through the hand seals and slammed his palm to the ground. With a puff of smoke, a massive 12.5 meter long purple snake, it hissed dangerously at Taho.
"Sakura-hime, stand back, I shall handle this," Taho said as she slithered into the foreground.
The massive snake slithered away from Sasuke, and it rose to it's full height. The snakes gaping jaws opened, showing it's curved razor sharp teeth, and it's red tongue. Taho's stock eyes focused onto the massive snake, and they seemed to narrow. Both summoned animals slowly began circling each other, looking for an opening.
Taho then noticed something, and suddenly jerked back just as the snake's tail slammed up through the ground like a spike at her. She then slithered around as the snake snapped out at her with it's massive jaws. She dodged, moving as fast as she could until she could get the angle.
"Suppai Bomu (Acid Bomb)!" Taho called out, shooting out a large blast of acid.
The giant snake dove underneath the ground to avoid the acid, but it's back got singed. It hissed in pain as it's outer skin was burned, and it burrowed through the sand to get at Taho. The slug scrunched up its body like a spring and launched itself up into the air just in time to avoid the snakes gaping jaws.
The snake hissed, opened up its mouth and fired thousands of senbon needles tipped with venom at the slug. Taho hurriedly zipped around the snake's line of fire, and it tackled the beast. The snake hissed, rising its head up and shooting it's needles into the sky. Taho looked up to see the needles start falling all over the area, and she spat acid into the sky to deflect the needles that were coming at her. Sasuke and Sakura leapt out of the way, using their sword and kunai respectively to block the needles.
Taho and the snake were panting now. Even though she hadn't been hit, avoiding all these attacks, as well as the previous chase, had taken a lot out of the summoned slug. And the snake was suffering a nasty burn wound on its back where the acid bomb had hit. The last attack would decide it all, and both animals waited for their moment to strike.
"Suppai Bomu (Acid Bomb)!" Taho yelled, slithering forward and launching a bolt of acid at the snake.
The snake retorted by spraying it's needles in a wide arc. The acid slammed through the needles, melting through them with ease. The ball of acid slammed into the snakes head, making it hiss in agony. At the same time the senbons got at Taho, and she screamed in pain. Both summons panted as they looked at each other. Then, in a puff of smoke, they disappeared back into the summoned realm. The senbons disappeared in the smoke, leaving the battlefield riddled with pin sized holes.
Sasuke and Sakura leapt back onto the battle field, looking at each other. "Sakura, just turn back. I'm heading back to Sound."
"No, you're not Sasuke, I'm going to stop you," Sakura told him, taking Toph's earthbending stance to start the fight.
"So be it," Sasuke said darkly, taking a firebending stance.
Sakura made the first move, she slid her right leg out quickly, and shot out her left hand in a diagonal chop. The ground responded to her commands, and a pillar of rock shot out at Sasuke. The Uchiha sidestepped the attack, and shot out a blue fireball from his fingertips. Sakura countered by throwing her hands up into the air, and a slab of stone shot up from the ground in front of her. The blast of fire slammed harmlessly into the stone, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not going to roll over and let you win Sasuke!" Sakura snapped out.
Sasuke wasn't impressed. He unsheathed his sword and dashed towards the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura could barely feel where he was coming, and suddenly the slab of rock was cut in half. She leaned back to avoid the crackling sparks of the Uchiha's Chidori powered blade. Seizing the initiative, she shot up her foot, powering the chakra into it, and slammed it into Sasuke's jaw. The Uchiha wasn't alarmed; he figured the kick wouldn't hurt him…until it made contact.
Sasuke gave a strangled yell as he was launched into the sky. He managed to catch himself in the air, flip and landed on his feet. He wiped the blood from his cheek, and looked as Sakura charged him, fist cocked for a punch. Sasuke raised his arm quickly to block, and he saw what she was doing, but it was too late. The pure strength that the pink haired kunoichi put into the blow broke through his defense and her fist slammed into his face.
He skidded back, recoiling from the blow as Sakura kept up her momentum. 'I need to just keep hitting him! I can't have him have any time to counter!'
Sasuke growled, using his Sharingan to predict her path of attack and dodge. Just as her heel slammed into the ground he jumped up into the air momentarily and slammed his own fist into Sakura's face, making her jerk back in pain, and the Uchiha finished his counter off with a roundhouse kick to her side which made her cry in pain as a crack was heard and roll in the sky. She crashed into the ground, clutching her side weakly.
"You have gotten stronger…" Sasuke muttered, surprise evident in his voice. He wiped the blood off his cheek. "But this is over."
"Not…yet…" Sakura told him, with a little blood dripping out of her mouth. Her hand began to glow green, and…the pain in her side began to subside and the rib that was broken by Sasuke slowly mended up. She rose to her feet again, taking a fighting stance again. "This fight isn't over yet, Sasuke."
"So you've trained to become a medical ninja…whoever your master was did a very good job…but it still won't be enough, you're not strong enough to beat me."
Sakura didn't answer, she just returned into her earthbending stance after taking something out of her back pouch. Sasuke decided to end the battle now, and he charged at her with all his speed. The pink hair kunoichi blinked, and braced herself, she knew that look. As quickly as she could, she wrapped the wire around her hand and then tied it quickly onto the loop of the kunai she had brought out earlier.
"Chidori Nagashi!" Sasuke yelled as his entire body was enveloped by lighting, and Sakura tossed the kunai into the ground just as it hit.
She cried in pain as thousands of volts of electricity circulated through her body. Sasuke looked at her plainly, waiting for her to drop to her knees, unable to move due to the paralysis. However, she wasn't going to go down that easily, and began channeling the lightning chakra through her body with her fine chakra control. Sakura gritted her teeth as her plan went into motion…and a look of shock appeared on Sasuke's face when he realized what she was doing. The wire that was wrapped around her hand began to spark…and transfer the lightning chakra through it towards the kunai, right into the ground.
He quickly shut down his jutsu, and Sakura panted. That drained her, but she still had more than enough strength to keep launching punches. Cocking her fist, she launched it out, catching the still shocked Sasuke in the face. The Uchiha went skidding back, and he stopped, still standing.
"…that was….impressive and unexpected…" Sasuke said, standing up and wiping the blood off his lip. "You used your fine chakra control to guide my current through your body, all the way to the metal wire on your left hand. That wire then guided my current down it and into the kunai, finally into the earth so you completely nullified its paralyzing effects…"
"I…wouldn't let you beat me like that, Sasuke," Sakura said after taking a deep breath. "I will…bring you back."
Sasuke said nothing, he just looked to see that her wire was now frayed and broken, so she wouldn't realize what happened. He decided to trick her charging at her with a punch loaded. He sent out a blast of flame at her, and Sakura stomped her feet and constructed another wall of rock to shield her. The fire splashed harmlessly into the rock and she kicked it at him.
He leapt over the rock, and his hand sparked with the chidori in it. Sakura braced herself, she thought he was going to stick it into her. Instead, he slammed it into the ground in front of her, and the electricity traveled through the ground and hit her! She cried in pain as her body was slowly paralyzed, and when she tried channeling it into the wire…the metal wire just snapped! She dropped to her knees, and fell face first onto the ground. "You've lost," Sasuke told her quietly. "You can't even continue that pretense of stopping me now." He started to turn around to leave.
"So you're really going to be like Itachi now...good job on that Sasuke..." Sakura commented weakly, and Sasuke stopped in misstep as he looked back at her, his eyes widening in fury.
"I am nothing like that bastard. Say that again and I'll kill you," Sasuke told her, putting his chokuto right at the base of her neck. Sakura gulped very slightly, not that Sasuke noticed. But to Sakura, that sword was now VERY real to her… as just what Sasuke could do with it to her.
Instead of giving in to what her rational mind feared, Sakura merely gave Sasuke a wry grin despite her weakness. "Oh really? Tell me how you're different. You joined an Organization dedicated to war and the destruction of Konoha, just like Itachi. You are constantly trying to test your capability. You tried killing your best friends how many times? Need I go on? Face it Sasuke...you're Itachi's clone now."
She watched Sasuke's eyes widen, but he quickly shook it off. He pressed the sword closer on her neck, drawling blood. Scratch that her last thought: NOW it was very real and sharp. "Shut up...SHUT UP! What would you know!? You don't know what it is like to have everything taken from you and killed right before your eyes! You're even less than Naruto in that regard. What suffering have you ever had to try and understand me?! I don't give a damn whether Konoha survives or not, but any of you get in my way, I'll kill you. Nothing is getting in my path to revenge!"
"For the past two years, Sasuke, I have suffered. Because you were gone, because you abandoned everything, especially me. And Konoha doesn't matter?" Sakura asked him and he growled, trying not to hear her, while she was trying to forget that blade. "Your parents would be ashamed! Fugaku-sama and Mikoto-sama always lived for the village, don't you even remember that?"
"I abandoned you?" Sasuke repeated in disbelief. "You still haven't gotten over that? You really are pathetic!"
In his mind, he could hear the hawk and snake arguing, like white noise in the back. "Kill her. Kill her now!" The Snake told him as it slithered onto his shoulder, flicking its tongue at his cheek.
"Idiot," the Hawk said. "For once in your life, listen to someone other than your pride!"
Out of all the things he could have commented on, he chose to comment on that statement? She thought bewildered. Maybe she really was having a big impact on him. "Yes, you abandoned me, as well as everyone Sasuke. I loved you," She knew what her next words would be even if part of her couldn't believe it, or the truth of it. "…I…still do…" Sakura told him and his eyes widened in shock. She then looked down, taking a deep breath as she decided to take one final gamble. "If you really want to kill me, do it now."
"What?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. "You want to die?"
"No," she answered, managing to lift her head to look up at him, her eyes meeting his. "But if you're so determined to become a monster like Orochimaru… then I don't want to be around to see it. Not concerning the man I love… not when I had the opportunity to stop you."
You won't be able to do it. You had several openings in our fight where you could have landed a lethal blow. If you really wanted to kill me, you could have done it already! The fact is you didn't means that there's still hope! I'm betting my life on that small hope! Not that I have much of a choice seeing how I can't move.
"How can you possibly still love me?" Sasuke asked her. "I'm a missing-nin. A traitor. I've tried to kill Naruto several times, as well as you now. I went to Orochimaru and threw you aside and you still love me? You're a hopeless…"
"…fool?" She finished, giving a soft laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"You're absolutely right," Sakura told him, shaking her head as if they were sharing some common joke. "How could I still be in love with someone like you? The thing is Sasuke… love isn't something you can control. It makes the most rational people do the most stupid things. Look at me…I'm telling the man who's about to behead me that I love him. It's ridiculous! Completely and utterly ridiculous and stupid! You ever hear of the executionee telling her executioner that she loves him? I know I haven't, yet I just said it. Love isn't something you can control. It wouldn't be love if you could."
She gave him a small, sad smile. "You would know that if you had felt love before, Sasuke. And because you chose to throw all those things away, I pity you." A single tear fell out of the corner of her left eye. "I love you, yet you're about to kill me… ironic, isn't it?" With that, she laid her head back on the ground Sasuke's sword still resting on her neck as she closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and waited.
For several minutes, nothing happened. Except the pressure on Sakura's neck slightly increasing and decreasing. "What are you waiting for?" She asked softly, not daring to open her eyes and look at him. She would probably break out crying if she did. Who was she kidding? He was going to cut her head off… they both knew it. She truly was a fool. "I'm helpless. Can't move a muscle. No one can stop you. If you're going to go ahead and kill me, then please, just get it over with."
There he was, Sasuke, on the run again. In white shirt, blue pants, his rope belt and his crude style sandals, with his chokuto resting on her neck. And on the ground, her face in the dirt was Sakura. Paralyzed. Wearing that same pink shirt, shirt and black shorts she had worn back in the grass country. Though she went barefoot now instead of the standard kunoichi sandals, which showed off her nice legs quite avidly. Probably due to her earthbending, Sasuke thought. When she had started learning that bending art, he had no idea. Of course, there was one noticeable difference between them: Sakura was wearing a shinobi hitai-ite in her hair, while Sasuke wore none.
"…if you're going to do it…then get on with it…" he heard Sakura's voice.
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke rose his chokuto high above his head, and his arm began shaking. His two sides were now screaming at him, the snake telling him to do it, while the hawk telling him not to. Time itself seemed to freeze for him.
Kill her… or spare her…
WHICH SHOULD HE DO!?!?
"Yesss…" The white snake hissed to him. "That'sss right… do it. Kill her. It'll be ssso easssy."
"You'd really stoop so low as to kill her like this!?" The black hawk cried out in disbelief.
"Of courssse he would," The white snake said. "He sssaid that he would kill anyone who got in hisss way. It'll be perfect practice for Itachi… we can cut hisss head off just asss easssily asss hersss."
"You can't kill her like this!" The black hawk screamed desperately. "If you had killed Naruto, at least that would had been in a fair and honorable fight! This isn't even a fight! It's down right murder! No, it's a butcher! You're no better than Itachi if you kill Sakura like this! She can't even move to defend herself because of you!"
"Ssso what?" The white snake asked. "All'sss fair in love and war. SSShe wasss allowed to fight and made a missstake which gave you an opening. You took it and now ssshe'sss paralyzed. Perfectly fair. Now all that'sss left isss the finishing blow."
"What about the love part!?" The black hawk retorted. "Do you seriously think you'll get another girl to love you after all you've done!? You can't revive the clan on your own! You can't just kill her. She freakin loves you! Doesn't that mean anything to you!?"
"Of courssse it doesss," The white snake answered, it's tongue flicking again. "It'sss a perfect reassson to kill her."
"Where's the logic in that statement!?" The black hawk demanded.
"It'll gain usss the Mangekyo SSSharingan," the snake answered.
At the words, Sasuke mentally froze. WHAT?
"The hell!? How do you come up with that idea!?"
"Think about it…the requirement isss to kill your bessst friend. A girl that declaresss her love to you, you the one who isss about to kill her, sssurely fitsss the bill of bessst friend. Kill her and you'll gain the Mangekyo SSSharingan!"
Was it true? Sasuke wondered, looking down at the girl. If he killed her… would it gain him that power? The power he would need to finally average his clan?
A girl that said she loved him. Said she loved him even though he was about to decapitate her. Yes…it might just be enough.
He gripped his sword tighter. So be it…
"WAIT, DAMMIT!" The black hawk shouted, playing one last card. "Look at her!"
"We are dumbasss." The white snake said.
"No, you idiot, I mean really look at her! She's crying!"
Huh? Sasuke looked down. Sakura was making no visible movement. At least, that's what it looked like at first glare. Though allowing his Sharingan to get a closer look, he saw that Sakura was indeed shaking. Looking at the ground, he saw that it was wet. From her tears, he realized. But she just told him to kill her and get it over it…
"You think she wants to die!?" The black hawk said, knowing now that had found a foothold to use. "Look at her, she's terrified! She seriously thinks you're about to kill her, despite all her boasting and she's still trying to hide it! Even if she's deluding herself in her mind, her body knows otherwise! Any moment now, she's expecting your sword to cut through her flesh and bone!
"Who caresss?" The white snake asked.
"WE DO!" The black hawk retorted. "Killing her will do exactly what she said: make us become Itachi's clone! That's the last thing we want! We went to Orochimaru so we wouldn't play into Itachi's schemes and plans, that we wouldn't become his puppet! You remember that little crucial detail, right!? But you've become so obsessed with revenge you're now willing to become your brother's puppet anyway! That's NOT want we want to do. Kill her now like this, and not only will you become Itachi's clone and follow his plans, but you'll be killing the one person that still has faith in you to make right choice. She's wagering her life on that faith, even though she's completely terrified that you'll kill her despite that faith!"
Sasuke shook his head at the bickering voices. Just shut up! He couldn't think! Oh, SCREW IT! He swung the sword down.
"KILL HER!!" The sword was five seconds away from striking.
"SPARE HER!!!" Four seconds.
"KILL HER!!" Three seconds
"SPARE HER!!!" Two seconds.
"KILL HER!!!" "SPARE HER!!!" One second.
He then slammed the sword down and struck home…
…embedded in the ground, though the blade had cut into Sakura's neck a slightly. That's how close it had been. If Sasuke had inched a little closer during his swing, with that power and speed, Sakura's head would had been removed from her neck. That's how close it came down to.
"I...can't kill you..." he told her, panting from his decision.
Sakura opened her eyes, noticing the blade so close to her and how it had actually cut her slightly. After giving a very grateful gulp, she mentally breathed a big sigh of relief. Tsunade-shishiou would be proud, she thought. "Why?" she pressed, trying to ignoring the serious thumbing her of heart, or the feel of her neck bleeding. "Is the truth finally seeking in? Do you see what you become?"
Sasuke didn't answer her, he just looked at her, his sword and her neck as if not believing what just happened. Not sure what else to say or do, she gestured with her head to a nearby river. "If you looked at your reflection...do you know what you would see?"
Sasuke stumbled over to the river, and looked in. To his horror...instead of seeing his own face...he saw...Itachi's. He continued to stare at the reflection, shook his head, and looked again…it was Itachi's face again.
"Tell me..." Sakura started softly. "What do you see?"
"...you...were right...I was taking Itachi's route...that's who I saw..." Sasuke told her in disbelief.
"It's not too late..." Sakura told him softly but firmly. "You haven't crossed the line, like Orochimaru has. You've come close, but you're not there yet. You can still do the right thing...reject Orochimaru, reject Itachi...reject your hatred and need for revenge Sasuke," Sakura finished.
Sasuke closed his eyes, where he could visibly see the hawk and snake arguing. For what seemed like an eternity, he watched them argue. In the background, he could hear all the people in his life - his father, his mother, Naruto, Sakura, Orochimaru, the Third - all of them, telling him what to do...
"Don't be like your brother," his father had told him. Acknowledgement.
"At night, all he can talk about is you, Sasuke," his mother had told him. Hope.
"I'll bring you back to the village, even if I have to break all the bones in your body!" Naruto had shouted at him at the Valley of the End. Loyalty.
"I love you with all my heart!" Sakura had told him before he left her on that bench unconscious. Love.
"You really are brothers. I sense power in your eyes that will surpass Itachi's." Orochimaru's words to him in the Forest of Death. Temptation.
"Protecting those closest to you… that's the true power of the Shinobi!" The Sandaime's words, known to all in the village, spoken to him personally the night after his clan had been slaughtered. Principle.
The snake and hawk continued to shout at him, and he couldn't take it any more! "SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled at both of them, throwing his arms back. "JUST…SHUT…UP!!!" He shoved his hands forward, and like a gust of wind, both hawk and snake were violently pushed away, further and further into the recessions of his mind until he could not only see them, but hear them as well.
And yet…doing so made him feel…strange…incomplete. Like he just lost most of his…self. He tried to frown, yet he found that he didn't care. He felt his face go impassive, neutral. Like it had been all that time with Orochimaru, yet more so now. He looked into the water again, yet this time, he saw a head, but no definite face on it. After several moments, he spoke out loud. "I've made my choice… I'm leaving…"
Sakura felt her heart break at the comment. After all that… she had failed. It was almost too much to bear. She thought when he didn't kill her, he was finally going to make that right choice…but…she looked back down at the ground. Had her execution just merely been delayed?
Before she could say anything, he spoke again. "But not to Sound."
That snapped her back to reality. "What?" Sakura asked him, not sure if she heard right.
Sasuke turned and faced her, his face neutral, his eyes emotionless, yet he stared at her with such ferocity that it made her shiver slightly. "I'm leaving, but not to rejoin the Sound."
"Then…come back with me…" Sakura told him. "I can vouch for you… Konoha, Naruto and the others…"
"No," Sasuke told her firmly. "That won't help. I don't know myself anymore now, thanks to you. I don't know what to do, what to achieve, how I would achieve it. Nothing. I need to find those answers."
"You can find those answers at Konoha," Sakura started.
"No, I can't. I need to go somewhere else. Somewhere I can look for those answers anew. Fresh. I can't do that from what I've knew up until now. Konoha. Sound. It's the same. I need to go somewhere else."
Sakura looked down a bit. "I see…"
"And you're coming with me."
It was like a sledgehammer slammed into her stomach. "W-what?"
"I said: you're coming with me." He repeated walking towards her.
"Sasuke," Sakura started, completely confused. "I can't just…"
"You don't seem to understand." Sasuke continued as he knelt down, placing a finger underneath her chin and bring her head up, their eyes meeting once again. "This isn't a request, you don't have a say in the matter. You're coming."
Despite the circumstances, a slight feeling of disgust in her now. He was talking to her like she was some sort of thing! That's not how he had acted even a few minutes ago! During that time, he had seen her as a nuisance, but also as his last conscience! What the hell happened to him in such a short amount of time! "Sasuke…" She said in a low voice. "I'm not going. Not like this. I'm not about to just drop everything and leave with you just because you say so!"
"Too bad." Sasuke told her. "You're the one that opened the door and made me this way, so you're going to see it through to the end. Whether you like it or not."
"Well, you can just forget it!" Sakura was surprised that she found the will to shout, but didn't question why. What the hell was he talking about?! She made him this way!? "After all this… you tell me to just leave to some unknown place with you like that! Regardless that I say no! You're Chidori Nagashi won't last forever and you can't just keep zapping me with it! I'm a shinobi, just like you! Sooner or later, you'll drop your guard and I'll be able to make my escape. Not even you can watch me all the time!"
Sasuke was silent as he withdrew his finger, resulting in her chin slamming into the ground as he walked back to the water. For a moment, he just stood there. Then he reached into his back pocket and withdrew a scroll. From what Sakura could see, he just summoned two items…a small jar and a canteen? "Sasuke…" She said slowly, feeling nervous now. "Just what are you doing?"
He didn't answer as he knelt by the water and filled the canteen. He then walked back to her. He knelt down, grabbed her shoulder and in one swift motion, rolled her on to her back. As she looked back at Sasuke's face, she saw that he was opening that small bottle. "What are you going to do?" She asked him again, not knowing what to expect, he tipped the bottle downward and a small pill fell onto his hands. Then he resealed the bottle and looked at her.
His hand reached down and pressed hard on her cheeks, making her mouth open. Desperately, she shook her head, trying to break free of his grip. "What are you…!!" She started, but was cut off as he tossed the pill down her throat. She quickly tried to spit it out, but the canteen of water was poured down her throat next. She resisted as much as she could, but eventually, she swallowed. Pill and all. Finally, Sasuke let her go and she felt, weaker. Strange. Lost. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!" She roared.
"You're poisoned," Sasuke told her matter-of-factly.
Sakura felt the color drain from her face. Did he really just say that?
"But not the way you're thinking." Sasuke said to her. "This is a little project that Kabuto has been working on. It's a special poison designed to specifically counteract your chakra system. While it's in your body, it'll taint your chakra. Meaning you won't be able to use your chakra at all. No ninjutsu. No genjutsu. No bending. Not even that insane strength of yours, which my Sharingan told me was the result of you gathering your chakra and releasing it all at once. You'll just be a normal, little girl."
Sakura was dumbstruck. Could just a thing actually exist? But if it was a type of poison, then eventually it would run its course and…
"I know what you're thinking. And it won't work," Sasuke said, interrupting her thoughts. "As long as there's chakra in your body, the poison will be able to feed off it and continue to work. And the poison will never completely drain you of your chakra, just enough so that you can't use it, but it'll still be there. And don't think that even Tsunade of the Sannin would be able to cure you. The only possible antidote is made with special ingredients known gathered from remote places in the world. Not even she would be able to make one herself without those."
Sasuke stood up. "And one more thing you should consider: this poison has never been tested, so who knows what kind of side effects you'll start eventually feeling. It may even prove lethal to you." He patted his back pouch. "And I do have the antidote on me. If you'll want it, you'll have to come with me and you'll have to come now because once I leave, you won't find me again. You'll never be a shinobi again."
Sakura was silent through all of this, her eyes low. "You're dead serious about this…" She said. "You're going to make me go with you, even go as far as to drug me… you realize that this will be kidnapping, right?"
"I'm already a missing nin." Sasuke reminded her. "One more offense on top of that won't hurt me. You're coming and we can do it one of two ways." He held up a single finger. "One, we can continue this way: with you paralyzed, unable to move, completely at my mercy." He held up a second finger. "Or two: you come with me of your own free will on your own two feet… and you swear to me on your own life that you won't run, you won't try to steal the antidote, you won't try to fight back and that you'll follow me wherever I go. Even if it's back to Orochimaru. Now…which will it be? Either way, you're coming with me. It's just merely a question of how."
Sakura could hardly believe what Sasuke was saying. This couldn't be happening, but she could see now that he was completely serious. She looked down. "What…what will happen to me?" She asked softly.
"I don't know." Sasuke answered. "I don't know what will happen. Perhaps I'll make the decision to go back to Konoha and ask for redemption. Maybe I'll go back to Sound. Maybe I really will kill you next time. Maybe I'll just let you go. Who knows. But you're coming."
Sakura felt tears starting to form in her eyes. She gulped and said. "…all…alright…I'll… do it." At least if I go this way, it'll be by my own choice, not his. Maybe that will give me the chance to get through that head of his, and make the right decision.
Sasuke bent down and grabbed her by the shoulders, and picked her up. He then stood her upright on her own two bare feet, making her face him as if she was standing of her own accord and not with his support. He looked at her, then snapped. "Swear it."
Sakura looked down, praying that the gods, Konoha and the others would forgive her for this. "I…I swear…I swear on my life that I… I won't run…I won't try to steal the antidote, I won't try to fight back and … and… and I'll follow you to the ends of the earth…" She gulped. "Even to…to…Sound…" This had to be a bad dream! "I swear all this… on my own life…" She felt sick, incredibly sick. She looked at him. "There…happy now? Now can you undo…"
"No," Sasuke answered. "It's simply a matter of timing. And it will end in about twenty-five minutes. Until then, you'll just have to make do." He looked at her, and then, while still holding her with one hand, took off her headband. "Hey!" Sakura protested immediately, her hair falling out of place now. "That actually means something to some of us!"
"Maybe," Sasuke conceded. "But not to you anymore." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her close to him, their faces just inches apart. His next words seemed to burn the very core of her being. "You're mine now. Body and soul."
Why did he have to put it like that!? Sakura wondered miserably. It felt so…so wrong! She watched helplessly as Sasuke tossed her headband into the river, her own heart sinking in her chest as she watched it disappear in the water and go away. A few tears, streaked down her cheeks. "Can…can I at least…say… goodbye?" She pleaded with him.
His response was picking her up and flinging her over his right shoulder, where her head fell down by his chest. She couldn't help but blush she felt his powerful and strong chest against her face.
"No." Sasuke told her. And with that, he ran off into the darkness. Where he was going, neither one of them knew.
A/N: Well, as you can see the battle itself I left unaltered. I saw no point in changing it and that wasn't the part I wanted to go and mess with anyway: it was the 'psychological battle' and it's aftermath that I wanted to go and change. Especially when reading the line "Yes, you abandoned me, as well as everyone Sasuke. I loved you…I…still do…", most notably the last three words. That just shouted numerous possibilities that I can do when I read it.
I have to admit that if this story turns out even half of how I imagined it to go, it's going to take a darker tone than anything else I've written. Because of that, plus the fact I already have two stories I'm working on and that I wrote all this on a whim, this story is going to be last on the priority list to update. Because of that darker tone, I'm rating this story 'M' just to be safe.
I do not own Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Nickelodeon Studios respectively. Also Bending the Jutsu belongs to Son Kenshin
