Disclaimer: The chances of Ino/Orochimaru happening are higher than the chances of us owning this.

Author's Notes: I haven't been watching or reading Naruto lately, so my deepest, most sincere apologies if anything is out of order here. And the quote in the summery is by Sir Philip Sidney.

Grey Flames

Her hands clenched into fists, trembling with a weary anxiety. If – no, when – she got back, she would absolutely murder Tsunade-sama for sending her on this mission. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to stare at her opponent.

I shouldn't be here.

It shouldn't be me here, facing him down at this time.

But nevertheless, fate had led them both here, and here they were. Her lips twisted into a bitterly sardonic smile.

"Sasuke-kun."

He regarded her coldly, not bothering to offer her any sort of reply.

Is that how it is? He thinks that lowly of me? Her temper flared, but cooled quickly as her mind continued to distract her with old memories punctuated with squeals of "Sasuke-kun!" Breathing deeply, she began to speak, praying for her voice to not crack.

"I'm here on a mission. To- To bring you back." She didn't feel like explaining the long, grueling process of actually finding him, which had led to her facing him down alone. "You don't belong… here. You belong at home, in Konoha; with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei and… and…" Oh god, she could not cry. Not here. Not now.

"Sakura." She made a discontented noise, and sniffed involuntarily. "Go back. It's useless. You can't do anything." The words cut here, and she could feel her courage, which had taken months to work up, shrivel inside of her. He had a way of doing that to people, she reflected ironically. Cutting them apart – whether it was physically or emotionally – and then burning them to ashes.

A fireball sped towards her, and she nimbly leaped out of the way, retaliating and beginning the battle.

----------------

She stared at him, panting, struggling for breath. Damn, she thought. It was nearly impossible for her to attack him, since her strength inherited from Tsunade and her medical techniques could only be used in close-range combat.

She was fighting a losing battle.

Despite this knowledge, she had given it all, refusing to hold back. As a result, she was chakra-depleted, covered in bruises, cuts and scrapes, and severely worse for the wear. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed as indifferent as before – the only indication that she had given him any real battle was the tired way he carried himself and the angry red welt on his face (she had been so damn proud of herself when she gave him that).

"I don't want to hurt you, Sakura." He actually seemed… genuine… when he said that. There was a sort of dull remorse; a kind of faraway regret for the ways things had turned out.

"Too late." The words left her mouth, filled with the emotional pain that had spent years bottled up inside of her. "You should have thought of that years ago."

The missing-nin shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't regret leaving Konoha." His red eyes (What had those eyes seen? Who had those eyes killed?) pierced her – though, she thought privately, his usual "onyx" ones suited him much more. "And," he added. "I don't regret what happened that night, between us."

She froze suddenly, and his words came back to her.

"After all this… you're still annoying."

With a suddenly fierce conviction, she attacked him. Catching him off-guard, he stumbled back, sensing a sharp pain in his arm. She shoved him to the ground, when a dizzy spell overtook her. In pain, Sakura slumped, and sort of tripped over Sasuke, leaving them in a rather awkward position.

Acutely, she felt him beneath her, and a strange heat rushed through her body, brought on by a strange combination of memories, wishful thinking and – ugh – hormones.

He stared at the girl (No, his mind taunted, young woman) on top of him. Rarely did he have such close contact with a person, especially someone like her. He found himself thinking, wishing. Disgusted with these thoughts, he made to push her off, when he felt a sudden wetness against his shirt.

"Baka!" she sobbed incoherently. "Do you know how selfish and stupid you are? Do you have any idea how much we all suffered after you left? It took them months to recover! Months! And they- they didn't really know you, o-or-"

"And you?" She barely heard him in the state she was in. "It seems that you still haven't recovered."

She closed her eyes painfully. "I did say I loved you," she said quietly, sarcastically, resentfully. "You don't forget something like that."

There was stillness, as silent tears rolled down Sakura's face. She knew it would come to this. She had known, all along, that under her cheerful façade, under the pink hair and emerald eyes, was a broken heart, stupidly waiting to be crushed again by her first love. She was such a fool. His words mimicked her thoughts.

"You're such a fool." His words were unreadable, laced with something that was certainly not fondness or love. "But then again, maybe I am too." Her eyes widened, and she looked up to see him gazing off somewhere, his eyes once again a deep, piercing onyx.

"No matter how much I scoffed at them, I guess I had dreams too. Everyone wants the perfect life; the only difference is that I knew I would never have it. Hopeless dreams are a child's folly, and my childhood died that day. From then on, I had only one dream."

"It's not hopeless!" Sakura sat up, leaning forward to empathize her words. "Don't do this, Sasuke-kun. There are still… There are still people who care about you! People who can make your dream come true." The faintest smile graced her face. "You told me that being alone is painful. If you are by my side, I'll make sure that you don't regret it. I will make every day more enjoyable, and you will be happy." As she spoke, he could hear two voices – one of the twelve-year-old girl who had been hopelessly in love with him, sobbing as she abandoned her pride; and one of the older, wiser kunoichi, who spoke with the clarity of her years and the sincerity of her love.

"Someday," he said, and his eyes drifted to meet her's. "Maybe someday." He pushed her away gently. "Go back to Konoha, Sakura. Go back, and tell everyone that you didn't fail your mission."

Her eyes brightened. "Sasuke-"

"Sakura… Thank you." She stiffened at the familiar words, but before she could comment, he was gone, leaving a smoldering fire behind.

Slowly, she sank to her knees. She had failed.

"Tell everyone that you didn't fail your mission."

The pink-haired kunoichi smirked faintly. Trust Sasuke to trip her up over the most blatantly said words.

"Someday. Maybe someday."

She supposed "Someday" was the best promise she could get out of him. And god knows she would hunt him down if he didn't live up to his words.

"I guess I had dreams too."

For now, she would content herself with a fire, made to burn the ashes of yesterday and fueled by the dreams of tomorrow.

Author's Notes::raises fist triumphantly:: And so, "the little black cat that was" begins her long, arduous journey in the unforgiving battle arena that is ff(dot)net.

Author's Notes 2: Never mind. There's a story that puts Ino and Orochimaru together. I stand corrected (Maybe now Kishimoto will put us in his will!).