Well, here's chapter two! Enjoy!

I do not own the Naruto characters, Kishimoto does.


Sasuke spent his night thinking as always, mulling over what it was that he had to do the next day.

"Don't get attached." He said to himself aloud, starring out at the night through his window. The nighttime usually made him feel more at ease, being alone and content in the silence. Tonight however, it was torture. The silence only caused him to dwell on his worries about the next day with Sakura even more, making it impossible to forget that he had stupidly said yes to her. He exhaled quietly, trying to clear his mind of the plaguing thoughts. He walked slowly over to stand by his window, looking out at the stars; the clouds that had been blanketing the sky that day had disappeared by now. Opening it slightly, he took a deep gulp of the night air, its cool freshness did not bring the relief he had been hoping for.

"There's nothing to worry about… I mean, she's just a….girl." He spoke again to himself. Worry and irritation was once again filling his head like an impending flood as he imagined how awkward tomorrow would be. "Get a grip Sasuke." He scolded himself, "Since when have I ever let some girl get me all psyched out?" He asked into the silence, secretly hoping that maybe someone would speak up and tell him that 'Sasuke Uchiha would never let something as absurd as that happen'—tell him that he wasn't going insane with nervousness, but no one ever did.

He had never been one to show his emotions, he had always been quite good at hiding them from the world—from himself, so the thought of giving into these feelings was unacceptable. He didn't even know what it was that he was feeling in the first place, it was annoying not understanding the signs his own body was giving him. In the times that he was alone with Sakura he barely could speak to her without tripping over his words, his mouth not willing to produce vocabulary for him to say, it was much easier for him to just stick to the little or no replies he gave. His heartbeat would unintentionally speed up, and the feeling it gave him was both exciting and terrifying. It never use to be like this, he had originally been able to ignore her and his other classmates quite easily, but in time it became harder to avoid her presence. When she became his teammate, it became impossible. Overall, it was irritating. Because no matter how much he tried to not get attached, he had in the end done just that.

'Is this what it's like to have a crush on someone?' He mentally asked himself in disgust, because in truth he didn't honestly know what that would feel like.

'No, no way, Sasuke.' He tried again to convince himself that it wasn't possible for him to possess those types of feelings.

In his childhood he had always been obsessed with being like his older brother, constantly following after him at any chance he got, leaving little time for the girls that were persistently after him. Plus, he was only a little kid then, and little boys weren't really all that interested in girls when it was much more fun to play with big brother. So Sasuke had never really known what it was like to like a girl in that way, it was something he never bothered with. However, it was now becoming apparent that was no longer the case.

'No, I can't be…I can't like her… Can I?' With that thought, Sasuke ran his hand over his face and sighed, his mind filled with questions he truly didn't want to hear the answers to, somehow he knew he wouldn't like the truth.

Sasuke glanced out his window once more, his navy orbs shinning in the moonlight, before reaching out and closing it and pulling the drapes closed. He walked over to his large bed and climbed under the dark covers, the soft fabric coming as some relief to his troubled mind. His blue eyes scanned a crossed the ceiling of his apartment, as if the solution to his situation would be written there, seeing no such writing he rolled over and buried his face in the plush surface of his pillow. Sasuke inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled, in an effort to expel the confusion from his sleepy mind. Why did this have to be so annoyingly difficult?

"What's wrong with me?" He breathed into his pillow, and with that final question he drifted off into the blackness of sleep.


The next morning arrived and brought with it the day Sasuke had been dreading all night. His alarm clock woke him at nine thirty, the sound of its beeping making him grunt in annoyance. He slowly opened his dark navy eyes, but quickly closed them once again as a beam of bright daylight streamed in from a gap in his curtains. The young ninja squinted in the light and cursed softly at the sunlight, as he stood from his position on the bed. He let his blue eyed gaze drift to the clock on his bedside table.

'Only an hour or so and Sakura'll be here…God, why me? Oh, that's right, because I just had to say yes like an idiot' He moaned in frustration as mentally slapped himself.

He decided to make the most of his morning before she got there. He ate a quick breakfast and then made his way down the hall to the bathroom for a shower. He tried not to think of her anymore, deciding to push those thoughts aside so he could shower in peace. He walked into his small bathroom, it wasn't much, but it had all he needed. Sasuke took off his old clothes, tossing them into the laundry bin in the corner before turning and stepping into the shower. He turned the handle and let the warm water wash over his tired muscles, the feeling of the water was more than welcoming. The young shinobi took his time standing under the steady flow of warmth, letting it ease his mind and thoroughly soak his raven locks.

"Maybe I should cut my hair," He mused quietly to himself as he ran his hands through the long strands the fell in front of his face. "Nah, it's not worth the trouble." He concluded.

Sasuke picked up the bottle of shampoo, pouring a small amount into the palm of his hand, lathering it into a foamy state and then working it through his dark hair. He rinsed the soapy substance from the soft black strands, watching as the soap filled water trailed down his body and eventually swirled down the drain. The young ninja stood there for a while, entranced by the swirling hot water that made its way down into the abyss of the shower drain. While listening to the sound the water made as it trickled down, he soon found his mind wondering.

'Why does she have to make leaving so difficult? Is she just trying to make me stay?' He sighed. 'She doesn't even know that I'm leaving, if she did, it would only be ten times harder. She would probably try to come up with stupid reasons for me to stay here or worse yet, she would probably want to go with me.' He grunted in frustration.

"Why me huh?" he growled to himself.

He was pulled from his inner thoughts as the water ran cooler over his skin, realizing that he was taking much too long he quickly finished up washing his body. Sasuke shut the water off and stepped out of the shower and onto the cold floor, grabbing a towel; he wrapped his wet body in it and walked back to his room. His eyes quickly glanced at the clock to check how long he had been in the shower, he realized that he had been in there for a little over thirty minutes and he silently cursed at himself. He now only had just under an hour before Sakura would be there. He ran a hand over his damp face and swore to himself that he needed to stop thinking so much. Well, so much for the quickie shower he had planned on. He swiftly walked over to his dresser to locate some fresh clothing, his wet hair dripping onto his bare chest as he stood there digging in his upper drawer for a shirt to wear.

After all the necessary clothing items had been found he walked back over to his bed side, hurrying to get dressed seeing as the cold air was not so pleasant on his wet skin. He discarded his towel off to the side of his bed and quickly dressed himself in his clean clothes, shivering as he did so. Finally satisfied with his clothing situation, he set off to dry his hair.

"Why does it even matter what I look like?" He questioned himself as he towel dried his raven strands of silky hair. He shook his head to clear his thoughts again and picked up a comb, deciding to brush his bangs further over his eyes than usual, they often came in handy when he needed to avoid eye contact.

He would no longer need his Konoha headband after today, so with that in mind he chose not to wear it. He look at it sadly, his fingers now absently tracing the swirled leaf pattern that for so long had been a symbol he wore proudly. He sighed once more and look at the ceiling thinking back to the time when he had tried to convince himself that being on team 7 in Konoha with his comrades was all he needed, that his revenge wasn't worth it. In the end he found that he had been lying to himself all along, he couldn't live a normal life here, and his destiny was always to be an avenger—not to live happily like some people could. It was simply something he could never outrun. For a time he had thought that he could forget his revenge and go on as a Konoha shinobi like his friends would, but he was unavoidably always pulled back to his path as an avenger, reminding him that he must become stronger to fulfill his destined role in life. That's where Orochimaru came in. He had power and Sasuke needed it. Simple as that or was it? He knew that tangling with the Sanin was a bad idea, but it was the only surefire way that he was going to get the power he so desperately wanted. So, it had to be done, he had to leave.

Sasuke gently put the head band down on the small shelf under his window beside the picture of his teammates and himself. He looked over the photograph, remembering the day it had been taken. It had been the day after they were all put on a team together, at the time he had been so annoyed that he had to work with such losers let along take a picture with them. Now he could see that he really was thankful to have gotten to truly know them. They were the closest thing he had to family now and it had been admittedly quite fun to be on their team. All the missions, all the late training sessions, all of his teammate's smiles and laughter, those were memories he was grateful to have had. He would never forget, but he would move on to what was important now. He had to; it was all he lived for. With that thought in mind he laid the picture frame face down and sighed. His navy orbs lifted to look out the window at the blue sky above Konoha, at least the sky would always be the same wherever he went. Right?

"I have to do this." He said aloud to no one, he voice sounding as determined as he could muster.

He decided that since he would be leaving that night that he would set to packing his things up. Sasuke went to his hall closet and retrieved his dark grey backpack; he assumed all of his necessary things would fit in it just fine. He treaded back to his bed and laid the pack down on it, glancing around his room he sighed, he could not take many things with him on his journey. Walking over to his dresser, he began to pull out his clothes and fold them; he took them back over to the backpack and loaded them inside it. He continued this process until he had gotten all the clothes he deemed necessary, figuring that in his time with Orochimaru he would acquire more as the need arose. Sasuke then grabbed few other things such as weaponry and a couple scrolls on jutsu techniques; he also picked up his journal and placed it in his pack. Maybe he could read over it if he ever felt the need to relive the old days—days when things were much less complicated, still difficult, but not so emptying. He knew to cope with the training he would soon face, he would have to become empty, and if he didn't his emotions would no doubt be the end of him. So, he would have to let it all go, as hard as that may prove to be.

He pulled himself from his depressing thoughts, his dark orbs gazing toward his clock. It read 10:54, indicating to him that his impending doom was near.

"Going out today with Sakura will probably worse than training with Orochimaru, heh" He joked flatly to himself, his smooth voice full of irony.

'I'll just get through today and then by tonight, I am out of here.' He thought to himself hopefully, but knowing deep down that it was not going to be that easy. He groaned in frustration.

'Ugh, WHY DID I SAY YES?' He internally yelled. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, this was going to be a very long day.

Sasuke walked quickly down his hall and into the bathroom to do a once over in the mirror, he wanted to see if he looked just as stupid and pathetic as he now felt. The only thing the mirror displayed was usual reflection starring back at him, it was patronizing. Why couldn't he have just told her no? Was that really so hard?

'Yes, because you like her.' His inner thoughts replied to his internal questions. 'You couldn't have said no if you tried' It said again. He glared at his reflection tempted to just punch and shatter the glass, deciding he was not liking what his mind was telling him, he walked back out to his room and threw himself on the bed. He buried his face in his pillow and let out a moan of annoyance, slamming his fist into the mattress as he did so, hoping that doing this would help to ease his irritation but finding that it did not help at all.

He was about to full on vent his rage on his innocent bedding, but just as he was preparing to rip his pillow to shreds a noise came from the front door. He paused and listened, and then it sounded again. It was the sound of someone knocking on his door. He rolled his dark blue eyes.

"Looks like you're safe for now." He said to his pillow as he threw it back down on the bed.

"Sasuke-kun? Are you home?" Sakura's soft voice chimed from behind his front door.

"Yeah, hang on. I'll be right there." He called, sighing as he walked up to the door and placed his hand on the door knob.

'Well hell, here I come.' He thought to himself in distain as he turned the knob and opened his door.


Well, that's it for this chapter! Let me know what you think. Please review, I need some feedback! Lol Hope you all enjoyed it thus far!