Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters!

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long. When I was going to post these chapters in another website, I accidentally deleted them. I had to rewrite the whole thing (sweat drop)! I didn't get to edit because I wanted to post it as soon as possible and I have been quite busy. So, please feel free to point out mistakes! I'll try to update as soon as I can!

Destiny

Part 2: Returning Conscious & Figure in the Dark

The first thing Sasuke noticed as his conscience was returning slowly was the horrible pain in his head and back. It left like his head was splitting open and someone had repeatedly stabbed and crushed his back, which had literally happened. Trying not to scream at the pain, he bit down on his lower lip and drew blood. Apparently, when his mouth was slowly being filled with blood from the deep cut, someone had noticed his return to awareness. With a pinprick of a needle that he didn't even register on his arm, he again fell back into the darkness of oblivion.

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"… Idiot, lucky she didn't get killed. Next time think before barging in," someone said on his right.

"Eh heh heh heh. How was I supposed to know that she was there? I just got a little carried away," a slightly deeper voice answered the first with a light, nervous, guilty chuckle.

"You always get troublesome when it even remotely involves him," a third lazy voice joined in the conversation.

"Hey…" the second protested slightly then finished with a trace of embarrassment and guilt, "uh… yeah, sorry about that."

"With all the time and effort you put in chasing after Sasuke, you should just marry him, dude. I mean you run after him like he is your long lost love or runaway fiancé or something."

Sasuke focused more on hearing his name.

"Yeah, I should do that," it was the voice of the second sounding slightly amused, "then I can keep him knocked up all the time and he won't have much of a chance to run away. Maybe he'll even give up chasing after Itachi."

"Highly doubtful. He hasn't stopped in six troublesome years."

"He will, if he is knocked up with cute little Uzumaki babies," the voice said the last four words with apparent mirth and hidden jest, before continuing in a contemplating tone, "Pregnant people can't fight much but then again Sakura chan proved me wrong there."

"Idiot, how do you get a guy pregnant, huh?"

"I am sure I'll find a way or ask Tsunade and Sakura to find one for me," he continued in a fake mocking and slightly jealous voice, "Ya know how everyone keeps bragging about how Sakura's new medical jutsus are pieces of miracles and how Tsunade is the best hokage there is because she can make the impossible possible." He paused to fake a serious face and tone before finishing his argument, "So, I have no doubt together they can solve the mystery of how to get him pregnant and bless him with the miracle of conceiving Uzumaki babies."

There was slight silence then the first voice said in a horrified and shrilled voice, "Gah, baka, get your head checked and keep your freaky fantasies to yourself!"

The shrill voice hurt his already throbbing head due to the slowly diminishing painkiller.

"Dog boy get a sense of humor."

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, his sight was blurry.

"Hey, shut up you both. How troublesome to be stuck with you guys," the third voice murmured the last part, "look, I think she's coming around."

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again; his sight was more focused but still slightly blurry around the edges. He blinked couple of times and gazed at the overhanging chandelier.

"Heh, how are you feeling, miss?" that first voice asked him again.

Sasuke slowly turned his head and looked at Kiba, older than last time he saw him, in a jounin vest and beside him Shikamaru also in a jounin vest. After five seconds, he saw an outline of a third figure hanging at the back in the shadows.

His gaze returned to Kiba and Shikamaru again but he didn't answer. He just stared.

Seeing that the girl was not talking, Kiba and Shikamaru looked worried. Kiba poked him.

"Hey, are you listening? Can you talk? What's your name?" Kiba kept poking him.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Shikamaru that spoke up at Kiba's rude attitude, it was…

"Kiba, stop poking her, she isn't a doll and it's rude."

Naruto. He turned away to leave as he said this.

At the voice of the third person, Sasuke looked at him again. He couldn't see the face of the person but somehow he sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. He didn't know anybody in Konoha who had a voice like that… It was slightly deep and really soft, melodic and there was something in it, something he couldn't place, it was so… so… he didn't know what.

As the person left, he felt really tired and despite the voices that were talking to him, he closed his eyes to go to sleep.

He was sleeping again in less than a minute.

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Part 3: Shattered Figurine & Striking Marionette

It was the early hours of dawn, sun having just risen sometime ago light was slowly creeping into the room through the window.

Naruto yawned, the last watch was his. He was glad that their room was on the opposite side of the rising sun. He didn't want the girl to wake up from harsh sunlight since she was still obviously tired and drained.

As he watched the girl, he got that nagging familiar feeling in the back of his mind, try as he might he couldn't place where he had seen the girl before or met her. There was just something really, really familiar about her and there was something else about her too, he felt… he felt calm as if he had nothing to worry about because… because he could stay here and watch over her for as long as he wanted. Her presence… it elevated that restlessness in him like he had forgotten something he was suppose to do… something he should have been doing… something more important then whatever he was doing. It… her presence made his mind peaceful… just watching her… he could fall asleep and sleep peacefully for the first time in a very, very long time.

Wondering what these could mean, he watched as the peacefully sleeping face scrunched up and the girl started to move. Slowly as she started to thrash around wildly, he was brought out of his trance. He frowned, she was obviously having a nightmare, so he should wake her up but then again she still looked like she needed to sleep.

He got up from the chair he was sitting in and moved to kneel over the futon. As he reached over to caress her hair and comfort her, the girl's hand shot up and wound around his throat with speed that even his trained shinobi eyes couldn't detect.

Momentarily surprised, Naruto could do nothing but stare at her, his hand frozen above her forehead. As her hand tightened around his throat cutting off oxygen, her other hand came up in a fist and collided with his jaw. It hurt like hell but it brought him out of his surprise nonetheless. Naruto cursed internally, 'damn girl'.

Irritated, he pried off the hand around his neck with ease that was nevertheless forceful enough to leave a bruise and gripped her other hand in his tightly. The pain woke her up.

Naruto was yet again surprised but not caught off guard – the girl was giving off killing intent tens time worse than twenty shinobies in battlefield and her speed… that speed…

Was it even humanly possible? Even though he had deduced that she was really fast, he thought with a sinking feeling that he hadn't really seen it in its entirety, if her current speed was any indication even in her injured state.

Even before she had sat up, she had ripped her hands off his clutches violently and performed the fastest taijutsu he had ever seen, including Lee's. And that was saying something, since Lee's taijutsu speed was almost impossible to match amongst the shinobies of all the hidden villages. Each punches and kicks were sure to break bones had any of them landed. As it was Naruto was just barely able to dodge them all and retaliate with a punch or kick here and there. Unmistakably he was slowly being cornered.

Even in all these he didn't fail to notice or admire the sheer grace of the figure. As his back hit the wall and a blow landed just inches away from his head, splinters flew off of the wooden wall, leaving behind a hole in the wall where the fist had connected.

Droplets of blood fell on the blonde's flak jacket; the girl didn't even flinch or slow down due to her obviously bloodied knuckles. She seemed to not feel them at all… To him she seemed like she was in a trance or something, which was obviously ridiculous seeing the vicious way she was fighting, to fight like that you needed concentration, awareness of your enemies and surroundings. No one can fight like that on pure reflex unless…

unless the person had been trained to fight like that or – or had to accustomed to such fighting reflexes for survival reason or both. As he silently wondered what could have resulted such skills, he suddenly saw an opening and not waiting he grabbed the fist that was about to collide with his face. He looked at the bottomless depth of the indigo eyes and instantly felt like he was trapped in a genjutsu, he couldn't look away from those voids, all his thoughts stopped in their tracks and he just stared. It was like drowning in heavy, thick icy liquid darkness and it sent shivers up his spine.

Somewhere in the back of brain he registered that he couldn't possibly be trapped in a genjutsu because even trapped in a genjutsu his brain shouldn't be having this much trouble to produce and process his thoughts coherently. He also vaguely recalled that the girl had suddenly stopped fighting and was frozen on the spot the moment he had looked into her eyes and she looked back at his.

Time seemed to crawl slowly forward, as they seemed to be held captive by each other's gaze.

Naruto didn't even register Kiba and Shikamaru bursting through the door nor did he break off his gaze with her as they pulled them apart. In fact he came to his senses only when Kiba threw the girl off onto the bed and their gaze was finally broken.

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"Damn man, what the hell's wrong with her? She's like a freakin' statue or somethin'."

"Yeah, it's troublesome that she won't talk. May be she can't talk."

Naruto busy in his own thoughts didn't participate in his comrades' conversation nor did he pay slightest bit of attention to what they were saying.

He had been right, there was something – 'wrong?' with the girl beside not even uttering a single word, she didn't make a slightest sound during the fight when all her previous wounds had reopened nor did she want anyone to touch her, even to heal her wounds. She had bandaged everything herself but that was not what bothered him. What bothered him was the fact that…

that when she had fought, tended to those wounds, she seemed like a… a… an animated doll. Each movement was just that precise and beyond the epitome of perfection, admirably graceful because it seemed to be filled with unexpressed spite and beautiful with deadly intension… but bloodcurdlingly chilling because there was no emotion and certainly no expression. She didn't flinch once or give any indication that she was feeling any pain. Not even when pulling out a three inch long wooden splinter embedded in the wrist and palm of her hand. Even he, who has the most amazing healing ability and suffered death blows, would have at least flinched once with those wounds. Yet, she didn't. It was like before when he had thought that she wasn't entirely there as if…

as if she was the shell of a person…

no feeling, no sensitivity like…

like she was living simply because her heart was beating, her brain was functioning, her lungs working and for nothing else or more. He had a feeling like she wasn't living, at least not living in the same world as him.

And it scared him.

She scared him.

Rattled him to his very core because of all the people he had ever met, she was truly and totally shattered. She was the epitome of his nightmare… a mindless, soulless killing machine… of what he would have been had Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke… not been there to pull him out, not acknowledged his existence, immersed in darkness and loneliness he would have been what that girl is…

A soulless figure…a figurine and a killing marionette.

He ignored the twinge of pain in his heart from remembering his former teammate.

He had thought that he had seen the worst in Gaara, Sasuke and himself, he was wrong over and again. It could have been worse.

"I'll stay with her. You two go out and see if you can find out anything else. I want to know why Kabuto was here, it's obvious they were looking for someone, I want to know who." Though I have a feeling I know who but if I told you, you'll just say I'm obsessed. "Otherwise, I don't see any reason for us to stay here anymore. Oh, and don't forget to tell that innkeeper we'll pay for the damage, so he doesn't need to make any ruckus," he added as he turned around towards the girl's room and walked away. Just before he closed the door he paused and without turning back said, "Kiba, Shikamaru be here by midnight and be cautious." The last two words were said in whisper, absent mindedly.

Neither of his comrades minded their leader's odd behavior, after all time changed and people changed, Naruto had changed. He was no longer the naïve teenage boy chasing after the title 'Hokage' for recognition with nothing but empty boast or as a matter of fact runaway teammates.

As least to everyone with exception of Shikamaru, Kiba and Neji it seemed that way.

'Human mind is a strange and fascinating mechanism,' Shikamaru contemplated as he watched Naruto's back disappeared in the darkness of the room before its door closed, 'in that even the slightest and most insignificant of feelings can evolve and spread even in the deepest and darkest corner of a person's psyche and grow without the even the knowledge of its owner and lie hidden. Especially jealousy. It is one of the most hazardous and self destructive ingredients in human psyche because it can evolve into obsession and obsession can lead to unadulterated want. Add in a touch of possessiveness, it can turn into a dangerous weapon. And between Naruto and Sasuke that jealously – rivalry – is what started it all but with crossed paths of destinies that lies hidden not in the palm of a hand nor forehead but in the eyes, theirs remain to be decided.'

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Naruto let out a sigh and leaned his head on the closed door as he heard faded footsteps of his friends walking away.

He turned slowly and his breath hitched.

They had changed the girl's room earlier due to the massive furniture damage to the previous room and this time the room was facing the sun. The white, thick curtains were blocking most of the sunlight but a stripe of it fell across the pale face of the girl as she laid on the bed. Her face didn't show any discomfort due to the light though and it was beautiful… enchanting…

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight.

Her dark violet hair framed her pale face. Smooth, soft and unblemished cheeks made him want to bit them to leave a hint of redness that would make her seem human and not just some ethereal, fallen angel. Long, dark eyelashes surrounded deep cerulean eyes that even in the morning light shone like darkest gems, bright, alluring and…

dead.

He hated those eyes, those eyes were the only thing that seemed to mock him by showing him how lucky he was to survive that same fate, a broken fate. But they also angered him. Those eyes shouldn't be like that, had no right to be like that. He bet those eyes could be much more than just alluring if they showed life.

As he tried to look away from those eyes, his gaze dropped on something else, much more enticing than her cheeks that he had momentarily wanted to bit. Unknowingly he licked his lips, watching the cracked and pale pink lips, his eyes followed the smooth and lean swan like pastel colored neck down to her chest. Small, round mound of flesh reminded him of the night before, when he had to take off her blouse to tend to her wounds.

He was surprised and embarrassed that she wasn't wearing anything beneath. Not that he was complaining but he had to clean her wounds extremely fast and keep his gaze somewhere else other then her small, round, perfect breast with pink nipples. He had constantly reminded himself that he was just tending to an injured person and regardless of his hormones he was not going to jump her despite how beautiful or perfect she was. In fact, that had become his chant the whole time he had tended to her and he was glad neither of his comrades was there to witness his predicament.

He now had to stop himself before his thoughts progressed any further. He reminded himself that he couldn't leave now to get a cold shower so he should stay far, far away from that lane of thoughts. After all, he had a feeling that if he didn't keep his eyes on her, she would take a flight and he didn't want that.

And keeping that eye on her, he reminded himself forcibly, had nothing to do with how he felt towards her, it was just because he had couple of questions for her regarding the circumstances she was involved in.

That's why he walked towards the desk and poured a glass of water from the jug resting on it. He drank it without stopping then drank three more glasses to calm his nerves and clear his thoughts. After all, he couldn't really question his prisoner if his brain constantly supplied him with… inappropriate thoughts to distract him.

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