Disclaimer: Naruto, and its affiliated characters, are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump. I gain nothing monetary from this writing, and there is no copyright infringement intended.

Also, please note that certain plural words (ie. ninja, jutsu, kage) herein will not be shown with the 's' that generally signifies plurality in the english language.

I would like to thank the gorgeous Lady Callista, for beta'ing for me ;D

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

What We Want

By the one Aizen

Chapter 1: Through the Dust

Her vision was clouded, obstructed. Long moments went by before her vision cleared. Head lolling before her, and a grogginess over her, Sakura lifted her head.

She found herself in a plain room, lit dimly by a roaring fire to her left. An unadorned pallet rested against the far wall, and next to it stood a single, small stand. The room was bare of furnishings otherwise. The walls themselves were naked, merely plain, rough-hewn sandstone.

Sakura lifted her head, settling it against the pole behind her. This place had a familiar, eerie feeling to it.

Gathering herself, she tried to stand up, and she noticed that her body would not respond to her command. She tried again, with the same level of failure. And again she tried, to no avail.

It was faint, but Sakura could feel the lightest of touches on the back of her neck, but other than that, she realized that she could not feel any other part of her body, let alone move it.

She gathered her memories, trying to piece it all together, wondering how she could have ended up here. And this vulnerable. All her training with Tsunade-sama, everything she had endured the last three and a half years, just to feel like this. Helpless.

Just as panic was about to overrun her senses, a figure stepped out of the shadows, and before the flames...

Twelve hours earlier...

No matter the strength of the Shinobi Alliance, the numbers of White Zetsu continued to swell. Supplemented by the enemy strength raised by edo tensei, the Alliance forces were spread thin, and they were taking heavy losses.

A new force had arrived on the field just moments ago, causing unprecedented panic through the army. Thought to be the mastermind behind the Eye of the Moon plan, Uchiha Madara suddenly appeared on the battlefield. The legendary ninja's emergence to the field brought with it confusion, due to the fact that he was a corpse as well, and eventually, a release of meteors.

Sudden heroics by the grouchy Tsuchikage led to an understanding between the kage, and they launched an all-out joint attack on the corpse of Madara.

The change in landscape by the overwhelming jutsu being thrown around changed little else in the atmosphere. The remaining White Zetsus pressed on with their assault against the Alliance camps. Many of the creatures fell just to take down one shinobi, but wherever one fell, two more sprung up in its place. Fear spiked the air.

The tent exploded, sending medical supplies and the White Zetsu corpse everywhere. Luckily, Sakura was able to evade most of it, rolling clear with only a few small scratches. The chuunin from Amegakure, assigned to assist her within, was nowhere in sight. She clamped her teeth, and knew he was not as lucky as she.

Looking ahead she saw a dozen Alliance ninja drawing back to cover, defending pathetically against the onslaught of the White Zetsus.

Smiling to herself, Sakura remembered the last few years. "What would Tsunade-sama do?"

In a heartbeat, Sakura lifted herself up and bolted towards the enemy, gathering her chakra as she darted between the oncoming Alliance ninja. Rock underneath splintered and exploded as she jumped into the air.

Entire slabs of earth and rock fractured violently, and without hesitation, she sent her fist into the ground. Several hundred White Zetsu lost footing instantly, shocked by the sudden quake. Within moments they were lost amid the debris.

Sakura straightened and winced. She felt something, sensed something. She sensed someone.

All of a sudden, the noise of battle surrounding her droned into nothing, and she found herself lost in the massive cloud of dirt that covered the landscape.

The kunoichi within her battled with the girl. The ninja knew she needed to stay focused on her current situation, it was the difference between life and death. On the contrary, the teenage girl in her knew that no matter the current situation, it was no more important than this.

Although she thought she had trained herself better than this, this latter side won out. She turned and looked behind her.

Through the haze of dirt, up on a cliff, was a shape, blurred by the debris. A sense of familiarity ran through her body, and without thinking she darted off, the battlefield behind her, and bounded up the shelves of the cliff.

Massive trees lined the cliff edge, becoming more abundant the further she moved away from the sharp boundary between forest and valley.

Not bothering to stop, she ran through the forest. Sakura did not even bother thinking, and she knew she did not have to. An urge pulled her to the left one moment, to the right the next. Sounds of battle eventually became nonexistent. She was in her own little world, within these trees.

Suddenly the trees melted away, and she found herself in a wide clearing. Sunlight lit the glade. A gentle breeze rustled the grasses and flowers all around.

Upon seeing the figure, the world fell away for Sakura. She thought she would stop breathing from disbelief any moment now. She was not in a clearing. There were no trees. Light came from an indistinguishable source. Nothing existed. Nothing, except her and the man in the clearing.

His back was to her, but she knew who it was. Even without seeing his face, her heart could see him.

Black hair left to itself spiked from the back of his skull. He wore a black, collared, long-sleeved shirt, with the mark of the Uchiha clan embroidered below the neckline. Pants and hip-wrap had remained the same since their last meeting, blues, cinched with his purple rope. His sword, the chokuto given to him from Orochimaru, pressed against his back sheathed.

The man's head began to turn. The movement appeared calculated and unpredictable at the same time. It felt like an eternity to Sakura. Minutes, days, and then years seemed to have passed as he turned to look at her face. She could feel moisture in the corners of her eyes, and then lightly on her cheeks.

She looked Uchiha Sasuke, the once-boy, now man, in the face. The traitor of Konohagakure. The betrayer of the five great nations. The one who abandoned them. And through it all, the only thing Sakura felt for him was love.

Sakura was brought back to reality by his words. "Hello, Sakura," he said to her.

Regrouping herself, wiping the wetness from her face, she tried to stand brave before the ninja who had stolen her heart before he fled the village. "Hello, Sasuke-kun."

The corner of his mouth curled into a small smile. "Ever with the formalities, I see."

The remark stung her, as she knew it would do to no other ninja. Sakura straightened herself and stared across the glade at Sasuke. This was no time for frivolous memories of the past. "When will you come home, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke fully turned to face her now, an air of disdain quickly enveloping him. "When will you stop asking such ridiculous questions, Sakura?"

She reached her hand into the air, in a futile attempt to grab him at such a distance. "Sasuke..."

The ninja before her suddenly vanished, and the next moment, Sakura found herself slammed backwards into the bole of a massive tree. Sasuke was before her, his left forearm pinned against her collar bone. His other hand rested on the grip of his sword, which was half released from its sheath.

He leaned in close to her, his lips brushing her ear. "How many times do I have to tell Naruto? How many times do I have to tell you, before it will sink in? I am not going back again. Konoha is not my home. I have no home. I live within my hate, and there is nothing else. Not Naruto, not you, not Kakashi... not Konoha."

As these words found her and registered, Sakura could not help but cry, pinned though she was. She never thought the words would hurt any more than they always did. Yet she always found she was wrong.

"Sasuke-kun. You may live in your hate, but you are not alone. Deep down you must know that. You must. No matter what you feel, what you believe, Konoha is your home. Your friends, your family.."

The bark of the tree splintered as he thrust her harder against the tree. The force bit into her back. Sakura grabbed onto his forearm, trying to free herself unsuccessfully.

Sasuke whispered into her ear. "My family... is dead, Sakura. I have nothing else. What could you understand? Naruto tried that same game on me three years ago. He thought he knew what it was like. The pain." The words now came out only with effort, changing from calm and cool to unsteady and wavering within moments. "The feeling of being trapped in the constant nightmare known as pity. Him, of all people. Him, who never even knew his parents. Him, who didn't have to wake up every day to see his parent's faces, his brother's love, just to have it all so cruelly stolen away..."

Only for a second, Sakura thought she could see some emotion flicker within the depths of Sasuke's eyes. Something that betrayed the cool, calm exterior he generally wore about himself like a second skin.

"Don't look at me like that."

Something about those words snapped Sakura out of her tears. It banished the anxiety and grief from her mind. It replaced those feelings with rage. Rage at the world. Rage at the fate of the Uchiha clan. Rage at Danzou for his puppeteering of the gifted clan. Rage at Konoha for letting such a thing happen in the first place. Rage at Orochimaru for feeding Sasuke's anger and leading him astray. But most of all, she raged at herself... for being too weak the day Sasuke decided to leave for good. She had hated herself for so long afterwards. Even when others, especially Naruto would console her, she hated it. Everything that Sasuke had done, everything he had become... it was all her fault. Her weakness.

Sakura smiled weakly as she leaned towards him. "I love you."

The tree exploded behind Sakura as she sent both of her elbows simultaneously into its trunk. She used the sudden space to off-balance herself and sent her knee up towards his chin.

Extreme training helped Sasuke push off Sakura's knee and backflip into the middle of the clearing. Dust from the destroyed tree accumulated in the area he was just at. Small splinters of wood rained down upon the clearing.

Kunai shot out of the cloud and dust towards him. Barely able to draw the chokuto in time, Sasuke deflected all three of them. But he wasn't expecting what came next.

Sakura burst out of the cloud towards him, arm pulled back into a fist, teeth clenched in anger. She also ran at him from his left, as well as from behind him. All three kunoichi attacked at the same moment.

The explosion shook the landscape. Fissures ran through the rock. The rock itself collapsed and thrust outward at the same time. Pressure from the attack uprooted the outlying trees and threw them further back into the forest. Dust enveloped the glade and surrounding forest.

Not too long after, the worst of the cloud dissipated, leaving Sakura's vision poor, but not lacking. She had pulled herself away from the center of the clearing right after the attack. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. She had used up most of her chakra in the last minute with that attack, but she also knew that she could not go easy with Sasuke, even with her prior training with the current Hokage.

She stood at the outside of the cracked crater, which just moments before was a beautiful, sunny glade. It recessed into the ground well over thirty feet. The center of the hole was still dusty, dark.

Sakura felt the words before she heard them. "You've gotten stronger, Sakura. A lot stronger."

The dust fell away completely. Right in the middle of the impact was the black cage of Susanoo. The dark ribs of the ability peeled back and faded, leaving Sasuke without a scratch.

Sakura knew this was wrong. He was much stronger than their last meeting. Of course, she had known that would happen. It was Sasuke-kun she was dealing with. But she had no idea he would be this strong! She had no idea...

"Now it's my turn, Sakura..." Sasuke began a series of hand seals.

Sakura's eyes went wide as she realized what he was up to. She was weak from her last attack, still hurt from what he had said to her.

Snake, tiger, monkey, boar, horse, tiger. Sakura could see the seals performed with a grace and speed that was uncanny. And then it was too late.

"Katon! Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

to be continued...