Chapter 1: Fateful Encounter

Before my brother died, he gave me some advice.

"If you ever have a taste of happiness, you must savor it and never let it go, because you never know when that happiness will be taken away from you."

At that time, I didn't understand what my brother was trying to tell me. The world we lived in was ruthless and cold-blooded. Happiness was a foreign emotion that I didn't even dare to dream about...Until I met her.

2 years ago

"You bastard!"

Sasuke grimaced as he dodged the man's blade. He wanted to avoid fighting at all costs, but because the idiots screwed up, he had no choice. Sasuke's irritation as he recollected what had happened distracted him from blocking the man's advance. Pain clouded Sasuke's thoughts as he grabbed the blade that was impaled in his left shoulder. With a grunt, Sasuke quickly withdrew the blade and drove it into the man's gut.

"Gahhhh!"

Twisting the blade further, Sasuke watched as the man's eyes began to dull from the pain. His cocky expression no longer occupied his face.

"You...will...pay..."

Sasuke waited until the man collapsed on the ground before withdrawing the tanto.

"FUDO!"

"Shit."

Sasuke quickly rose to his feet, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his shoulder. He needed to hide before Fudo's men found the body. Sheathing the tanto, Sasuke retreated into the shadows. Clutching his arm, Sasuke remained hidden as he waited for the other men to discover the body.

"DAMMIT! HE'S DEAD!"

Sasuke watched as a trio of men huddled around Fudo's body.

"Who did this?"

" Do you even need to ask?"

All three of them grimaced. They already knew who was responsible.

"I didn't expect him to strike back this soon!"

"You are a fool. Did you expect him to issue out an invitation as to when he would attack?"

"No..."

"Besides, what did you expect. After that massacre that had occurred over in the Naka district, we knew that they would retaliate. Who could blame them?"

Sasuke felt his fist clench as he recalled that day. Furido's group had decided to take over the Naka district which was under the Karasu's group control. Sasuke had originally decided to use the area for housing the families of the Karasu members. He didn't expect any of the other Yakuza groups to take over the district because there was no profit that could be made in that area. He was wrong. Furido's group pillaged the district, killing all of the women and children. When Sasuke had found out what had happened, he immediately forbade his men from heading out to face Furido's group. He knew that a majority of his members resented him for doing so, but it was the best option. Besides, they would have their revenge shortly.

"Seito, go back to the main house and send out all available members. Have them scope the area to see if our guest is still here. Tell them to be careful. He might not be alone."

With a nod, the one named Seito disappeared into the night while the other two remained behind.

"Let's search this area before we head back."

"Alright."

That was Sasuke's cue to leave. He was lucky that Furido's group had decided to move their headquarters into the Naka District. Sasuke knew the entire district by heart. Quietly, he made his way to one of the alleyways that would lead him back to Karasu's main house.

"...Hey! You there!"

Sasuke froze as he heard someone yelling. With a quick glance, Sasuke knew the man was addressing him. Muttering a curse under his breath, Sasuke broke out into a run. How the hell did they know about the alleyway? Not even the Karasu members knew of it.

"Stop!"

Sasuke groaned as he heard the man's footsteps pursuing him. Remembering there was an apartment complex with a fire escape on the next corner, Sasuke quickened his pace. He was relieved to see that his memory was correct. Latching onto the ladder that led to the fire escape, Sasuke raced up the stairs, disregarding the unrelenting pain in his shoulder.

"You aren't getting away!"

Sasuke paused briefly to see the man trying to climb up the ladder. His large build seemed to hinder his attempts at pulling himself up the fire escape. Hiding a smile, Sasuke turned his attention to the task at hand. With a quick scan of the apartment complex, Sasuke found his way out. Getting off on one of the floors, Sasuke entered the opened window. Barely taking in his surrounding, Sasuke hastily made his way to the front door. Just as he was about to turn the door knob, the sound of fabric rustling caught Sasuke's attention.

"Who's there?"

A distinctly feminine voice rang clear in the air. Sasuke remained silent as he went through several different scenarios in his head.

"I know you are there."

Intrigued Sasuke waited as he heard fumbling before the distinct sound of a click could be heard. Light illuminated the room and Sasuke was momentarily stunned by what he saw.

There sitting up on the bed was a woman that was around the same age as he. She had a heart shaped face that was surrounded with long pink hair that tumbled across her bare shoulders. Her complexion was pale but the soft hue from the lamp gave it a rosy glow. However, it were her eyes that mesmerized Sasuke. Emerald green eyes were staring at him beneath thick lashes. In short the woman was gorgeous.

"No response?"

With her hand outstretched before her, the woman rose from her bed. She was wearing a red nightdress that drew Sasuke's attention to her lithe body. Unable to tear his eyes away, Sasuke watched as the girl slowly made her way towards him. Just as she was about to reach him, the girl tripped on the rug, causing her to fall to the ground. Sasuke heard the muttered curse and quickly made his way over to help her.

She felt someone approaching her. Bracing herself, the girl waited to see what the stranger would do next. She was surprised when she felt a hand clasp her elbow and lifted her up from the ground. As she got on her feet, the girl placed her hands on the stranger's chest to balance herself.

"You aren't a female, that's for sure."

She felt the man's chest shake with laughter. Looking up..or wherever she was looking, she waited for him to respond.

Sasuke tried to contain himself, but her comment made him laugh. He had never been mistaken for a female. Realizing that the girl remained silent, Sasuke looked down and immediately stopped laughing. Emerald green eyes were looking up at him but they weren't really looking at him. As he took a closer look, Sasuke could see her green eyes were slightly cloudy. She was blind.

"I'm sorry."

"A burglar usually doesn't apologize."

"I'm not a burglar."

"Criminal? Thief? Someone is chasing you?"

"Someone is chasing me."

Sasuke watched as a small smile played on the woman's lips.

"At least you are truthful. Now, why did you apologize?"

"It was rude of me to laugh. I didn't realize your condition and thought that statement..."

The girl raised a hand to stop Sasuke mid speech.

"You have no need to apologize. I don't expect every guy that sneaks into my room to know that I am blind."

Rolling her eyes, the girl carefully made her way to the window. Sasuke watched as she tried to close the window. After her second failed attempt, he walked over and closed it with ease.

"You couldn't have done that a little sooner?"

"I wanted to see you try at least. Besides, there are some people who get offended if one tries to assist them when they didn't ask for help. They don't want..."

"Their condition to burden them. I know."

"Yes, you do. In regards to that, why do you leave your window open? It's an invitation for strangers to come in. "

Sasuke watched as the girl turned her head in the direction of the window. She had a good sense of where everything was.

"I know the risk, but just the sounds of the outside are more than enough to help ease my curiosity. I may not be able to see, but I can still hear the noises and use that to paint an image in my head."

"I've never noticed."

"Ah, well when you lose something, you tend to realize how important that thing was...someone's coming."

"What?"

The girl quickly made her way over to Sasuke and started pushing him in the direction of her closet.

"Stay in there."

Not waiting for a response, Sakura shoved him in the closet and waited for the knock on her door.

"Who is it?"

"Sakura? It's me open up."

So her name is Sakura. He watched as the girl opened the door and immediately recognized the man named Seito from earlier.

"Seito? What's wrong?"

"We had an intruder enter Furido's main house and he escaped. I thought I saw him run towards the apartment complex and wanted to check to make sure you are okay."

Sasuke saw the smile appear on the girl's face and felt a wave of annoyance that someone else was able to receive the smile.

"No need to worry I'm fine. I hope you find the intruder."

"We will, just be careful. When is Kakashi coming over?"

"In the morning. Now go, I may be unable to see my reflection, but I do know that if I don't get a decent amount of sleep I will look horrible."

Seito laughed in response.

"That's not possible. You are gorgeous."

To demonstrate, he reached out to tug one of Sakura's loose curls.

Sasuke watched the exchange and was less than please. She was lenient in allowing others to touch her. It was as if she was asking to be taken advantage of.

"Don't make me tell your wife on you!"

"Alright I'll leave. Sleep well."

Sakura waited until she heard Seito's footsteps disappear. Breathing a sigh of relief, she closed the door and used her hand to walk alongside the wall until she reached the closet.

"It's safe."

Sasuke walked out of the closet and glanced at the girl. Remembering the little scene that had taken place, he let out a sigh.

"What is it?"

"You are so defenseless that anyone can take advantage of you."

"I'm not..."

To demonstrate, Sasuke cupped her face and kissed her gently on the lips. She tasted sweet and innocent. Wishing he could stay a little longer, Sasuke withdrew from her.

"See."

With a quick movement the girl slapped Sasuke. Surprised by her strength, Sasuke smiled in response.

"At least you can hit."

"Leave."

Running a hand through his hair Sasuke continued to smile at the girl.

"Fine, but I will see you again...Sakura."

With that, Sasuke left her room and quickly made his escape back to the Karasu's main house.

Sakura waited to make sure he was gone and checked the door to see if it was locked. Satisfied, she felt her way until she made it to the bed. Not even bothering to close her eyes, Sakura laid down and gently touched her lips, recalling the kiss. He didn't even give her his name. Anger coursed through Sakura and with a huff she tried to fall asleep.

Sasuke felt his cell phone vibrate in his pants pocket. Reaching for it, Sasuke checked the caller id before answering.

"Hello?"

"Sasuke-sama are you alright?"

"Yeah. Did the other teams make it back?"

"Yes, no one was injured."

"That's good to hear. You were successful?"

"Everything is in place."

"Alright, I will be returning shortly. Good job."

With that Sasuke hung up his phone and felt a smirk coming. Soon everything would be set. Furido's group will regret the day they had crossed the Karasu group.