Imperfection

Chapter 2

Memories

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One year later.

So in the end, Sasuke just left… She didn't think that was how it was supposed to go.

It was pouring rain… And she followed him – begging him not to go. In such a short amount of time, the members of team seven had gone from a pair of lonely kids and the one they hated, to a trio of pre-teens that relied on each other immensely.

He had only said two words to her… his apology sounding foreign to her ears. He never apologized – no, not once in his life. Not even when he made her cry for the first time of their rookie year, when Haku almost killed him. No, not even when he and Naruto had fought, and the only thing that pulled them apart was her screaming – sobbing, more like it – and Kakashi's hands. Not on semblance of an apology had ever graced the cold Uchiha's lips… Until the day he left. A quick embrace and she was unconscious.

As she lay on that bench, her dreams were merely memories…

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"Team Seven will be Hajime Aiyuri, Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Yatta!" In unison, the two cried out, grinning and exchange a look of barely contained glee.

"… and Uchiha Sasuke."

"NANDA?!" The same pair that had been so happy before were now outraged. A quartet of eyes, two blue, two green, glared down at the indifferent prodigy.

"Kuso!" Naruto swore under his breath.

"Iruka-sensei?! Was there a mistake?!"

"No, Aiyuri. You'll just have to live with it."

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Sasuke, impaled by so many senbon. He seemed to be dead.

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Naruto, bending over him, his body swirling with orage-red chakra, the whiskers on his cheeks becoming bolder, angrier – his eyes, blood red.

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She had merely guarded the target. She had no choice.

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The peaceful funeral that both Haku and Zabuza had been given.

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The snowflakes falling around them. The abbreviated prick of cold her tongue had felt when she stuck it out to swallow one.

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On the way home. "You still have weird hair." Sasuke's voice had almost been amused as he smoothly made a comeback.

"At least it doesn't look like a chicken's nest, Uchiha." Mutter – mutter. She never could beat him at that game. Sarcasm was the natural lilt his voice took, no matter what he said. It was his first language, the protective barrier that she and Naruto had finally broken through.

"Stop picking on Ai-chan!"

"Che."

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The Forest Of Death – where Sasuke's protective feelings towards her showed – and almost killed someone.

Where she learned the cost of failure could mean her life.

When the pieces of her world started to crumble, but she ignored it.

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Where she realized that her talents could not rival those of her 'brothers' – Naruto and Sasuke.

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But they did make it so that she could kick some ass, at least.

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Her perfect world crumbled – and she couldn't stop it.

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She woke up screaming.

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Tokiori za nikui shina ken za todashii shina are ze onaji.

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(Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.)

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That's when she started to move on. A little piece of her began to distrust the world, and with that little piece, there came a whole lot of pain.

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Owari

...tbc...

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A/N: I shouldn't be updating.. One person has reviewed - or maybe two, I don't know. Thank you flynnfriend for being cool. I will need 20 reviews (I don't care of what nature. flames, good - it's all the same to me.) before I update again.