This is just another chapter, none of these go along with the others, besides the common characters lol and pairing. :D

This is rated K+

Happy reading all :)

I don't own Naruto, or Sasuke, or Sakura

Beating Hearts

Seven year old Uchiha Sasuke sat on the edge of the dock. His small feet dangled from the wooden end of the structure. The water was low today, meaning that his legs wouldn't let his feet into the cool water. Only a short time ago, the boy was here with his father, being taught how to use the fire ball jutsu. But now... he was alone, in every sense of the word.

The young boy pulled his knees up to his thin child's chest, wrapping his arms around his now bent legs. 'Why Itatchi... why did you have to take mother and father away...' His black onyx eyes squeezed shut, his heart racing in his frail chest. The event played and replayed in his mind's eye, seeing his mother's and father's blood, seeing their eyes glistening, wide open, staring into blank space, because they were dead.

The young boy could not get this out of his head. He could not stop thinking of it. He had no where to go that would take this pain away. It was over bearing and it laid heavily on his small, innocent heart. His black eyes flooded as memories bombarded him, tears pushed their way past his dam like eyelids, tearing water streaks down his pale young face.

His hand tightened into tiny fists as he thought through all of the pain. "I hate you brother," he hissed, "I hate you..."

"Sasuke," a feminine voice called from behind him.

Unintentionally, hope blossomed in his chest, it lifted him up like the wings of a bird, or angel. His pain was temporarily dispersed, if his mother survived, she could take care of him. She loved him, and she would hold him as he spoke of this terrible nightmare. "M-mom!" The boy stuttered out, jumping up and turning around, expecting to see his black haired, pale skinned mother running towards him with her thin arms out stretched, to bring him into her protective security.

But when he turned, that was not the sight that he saw. His heart plummeted even further than where it had been before the disillusion of hope. It hit the bottom of his being, shattering the red beating thing into a million, sharp, stabbing, throbbing pieces.

A small pink haired girl came up to the boy. She had on a yellow kimono with a bright green obi that matched her sparkling jade eyes perfectly. She ran the length of the dock to get to him faster, her small face slightly flushed from the exertion. "Sasuke," She said after catching some of her breath.

"Hn." the boy said sitting back down, pulling his knees to his chest. He tried to regain his delicate composure, fitting a mask on his face perfectly. His dark eyes stared out into the water, looking at the small currents the wind rippled across the relatively still water. "What d'you want Sakura?" Sasuke said, trying to sound like it didn't matter. Trying to hide his pain from the girl standing behind him.

Sakura knelt down beside the raven haired young boy. "I thought it would be fun to go to the festival tonight..." She said it quietly, "I thought it might make you feel a little bit better." She scooched a little closer to the boy, trying to see how he felt.

"There is nothing wrong Sak." he stated it easily, as if it were the complete truth. He saw the pink haired girl shake her head as he said this.

"Nuh-uh," She spoke quietly to him, "The third Hokage always says that a boy only hugs his knees when he feels truly alone." She pointed a green tipped finer at how Sasuke was sitting. "You must feel very alone," She said matter of factly "If the Hokage said it, it's true ya know."

A small scowl passed along Sasuke's young face, "The Lord Hokage is an idiot." he said. "He doesn't know what he is talking about." The boy jumped some when he felt Sakura put her small hand on his head. She let her fingers slide carefully through his soft raven hair.

"I'm here for you Sasuke," the young girl said, looking at him. "Don't block me out okay?" The boy looked back at her. Something inside of him told him it would be safe, that he could trust her.

"I-i... Sak, I feel alone..." he pulled his knees closer. "I-i don't have anything left." Tears streamed from his onyx eyes now, down his cheeks and onto his clothes. "I don't want this. I-i want my mother." he cried, and cried. Sakura wasn't sure what to do. So she got closer to him and laced her thin arms around his shoulders.

She waited as he cried in her arms, "Sasuke," she started to speak after his sobs and tears started to lessen, "You aren't alone." she said the words softly, taking his hand, she put it over her heart. "Do you feel the rhythm of my heart?" After a moment, the black haired boy nodded, feeling the young girl's strong heart beat. "May I feel yours?" the boy nodded again. And the small girl laid her hand over her friend's heart. She smiled widely.

~Th-thump...

"Sasuke," the young girl smiled at her best friend brightly, "Our hearts are linked, since our hearts beat in rhythm together!" she exclaimed. The boy's facial expression of wonder and confusion did not change. "It means that our fates are entwined." She continued to smile at him.

"Did the Hokage tell you that too?" the boy asked doubtfully. A skeptical look passed over the boy's face.

Sakura scowled at him. "Hey now," she said, "it means I'll be with you when ever and where ever you need me Sasuke, like the best of friends." Her pretty young smile returned. She reached her small arms out again and hugged the boy close.

They boy felt his small heart jump in his chest, and he wondered if Sakura's had jumped as well. "Thank you Sakura," he said into her pink hair, holding her thin body in his weak arms. Something else in him told him not to let her go.

Time Skip.

Sasuke walked along the deserted Konoha streets. Darkness lay all around him like a blanket, covering his progress towards Konoha's main gate. A full pack hung from his back, and he was unsure if he would ever come back.

He doubted he would ever get the chance to, and he didn't know if he did get the chance, he wasn't sure if he would ever want to. Everything that had happened in Konoha, being born and raised, and orphaned, he didn't know if he could ever call the village his home. What he was about to do would change everything.

He heard steps behind him, and he felt her presence for a while, he had just chosen to ignore it. The curse mark had heightened his senses ever since Orochimaru gave it to him.

"Sasuke..." The voice that spoke his name was familiar, yet it was a watered down, thin, frightened version of the normal chipper voice of a very precious girl. Sakura stood a couple of yards ahead of him. Her pink hair hung limply down into her face.

The Uchiha didn't reply, but he kept walking until he was past her. "What are you doing out at this time? You should be asleep." Sasuke stated this fact quietly into the night, the wind carried his beautiful voice to her, and she shook her head.

"You should be doing the same thing Sasuke, why are you here?" She asked but she already anticipated his answer to her question.

"I need to get stronger Sak, you know that." The boy took a few more steps forward. "I have something I have to achieve. And this is the only way I can do that Sakura."

"You can get stronger here! Don't go to Orochimaru, he's only using you." Sakura said as tears started to burn in her jade eyes. Her heart was racing in her chest, pumping blood erratically, making her feel on edge and somewhat jumpy. "Sasuke... You have so much here..."

"No Sakura, I have nothing left here. There is nothing more here for me Sakura. You know that too." He stopped and turned to look at her. "I need to do this." He said it as if it were a fact, his voice low and it was silky.

"Sasuke please, please don't." Tears started their way down her pale ivory cheeks. "I-i'll stay with you... I'll make you happy, Sasuke. Please! Please just stay with me..." she took steps closer to him, her shoulders were shaking with sobs. The boy turned, and began walking again... away from her, away from the village. To Orochimaru.

"Take me with you Sasuke... m-maybe I could help you on your journey, I could help you get stronger... Sasuke take me with you!" The boy ignored her words again, his feet carrying him farther and farther away.

"Stop!" Sakura yelled after him. "I-if you don't... I-i'll scream!" The black haired boy called her bluff, taking steps farther and farther away from her. Sakura's pretty jade eyes dilated in the already black darkness. She was afraid to lose him, she was afraid this would be the last time she would ever see him again. She started to hyperventilate. "Sasuke!" she yelled, "I-i... I love you... I promise, I'll make you happy, I'll take your pain away..."

"If you go, I'll be as lonely as you... I won't have anyone to talk to or be with... I won't have any reason to smile Sasuke... just please," her eyes squeezed shut, her salt water tears ran over her cheeks, over her lips, and fell from her soft skin. "Please don't leave... I love you."

There was a small swish of wind that went by her left side, and her jade eyes opened widely, but Sasuke was not in front of her. "Sasu-"

"Thank you, Sakura," the girl felt his presence behind her then, his quiet voice cut her off. "for everything."

She felt him hit her shoulder, almost her neck, fear welled in her heart as blackness swam at the edges of her vision. "Sasuke...?" she felt herself falling forwards, but almost immediately she felt the boy's strong arms wrap around her.

She fought the darkness that threatened her, she had to stop him, she had to make him stay. She had to make him stay with her.

She felt his hands on her, turning her around in his arms, and she felt his dark eyes on her, but she couldn't see him, for some reason Sakura hadn't noticed that her eyes had closed.

"I'm sorry..." Sakura heard the boy whisper, pulling her body close to his, she felt his warmth, his body heat made her also realize that she was freezing in the cold night air. "I'm sorry Sakura..." it was the last thing she could remember him saying.

Then the blackness over took everything.

~Th-thump...

~Th-thump...

Sakura screamed when she woke up. Her heart was in her throat and she looked around. There was sun shedding it's light on her, making her skin almost glow in the early morning. The leaves looked soft in the trees, and she heard birds singing off in the distance.

'Maybe it was a dream... and I'll see him and tell him about this dream, and he'll look at me like I'm crazy and then we'll just laugh it off... and he'll tell me he could never actually leave the village...' New tears filled her eyes as she thought this.

She wouldn't be sitting on a bench if it had simply been a dream. She reached her hands up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"You're annoying..." Sakura said out loud to herself. "Stop crying... crying w-won't... f-fix this..." but she couldn't stop.

It was like something had just ripped her small heart out. She hadn't realized it was that delicate, she hadn't known that she would feel so alone when he would leave. Sakura had even prepared herself, knowing she wouldn't be able to stop him.

But it broke her all the same.

She felt a small weight on her chest, almost unnoticeable, but she felt it when it hit her bare arm. Sakura looked down, and saw a leaf headband laying over her chest. Folded so that it was resting over her heart.

"S-sasuke..." the girl's voice let out, quavering even more, picking up the metal and fabric in her shaking hands, she held it closer to herself, holding onto it tightly. She felt the metal digging into her skin, a small pain came with it, but she didn't care. It was Sasuke's... he left it for her.

~Th-thump...

~Th-thump...

Sasuke's black eyes widened in the darkness around him. There were stones leading into a makeshift tunnel before him. The silver haired medic stood before him.

"Welcome Sasuke..." Kabuto said, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. "Lord Orochimaru has been waiting for your arrival..."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, making his way past the medic. Then stopping one last time, he listened quietly, hearing the birds and a stream gurgling somewhere. He let his onyx eyes take in the yellow sun one last time. He knew it would be a long time before he got out of this tunnel.

"What are you waiting for?" Kabuto hissed, "Our Lord is waiting for you."

"Oh shut up." Sasuke said, glaring at the silver haired man he had once thought of as a companion during the chuunin exams. The boy started walking again, hearing his steps echo on the stone walls as he descended into the earth.

'Sakura...' Sasuke thought, his feet carrying himself to the feet of the devil. 'I'm sorry... I wish I could be what you needed.

I wish I could have been the one to stay with you in the village, and make you smile so beautifully like you do.' Sasuke let his black eyes fall onto the floor. 'Maybe if I come back someday... if I survive this... and if you still feel the same...

just maybe we'll still be connected like we have been all our lives...'

He felt his heart beating furiously in his chest, nervousness swam through his being. And he gritted his teeth, stopping the slight tremble in his hands.

'After I kill him... after I kill Itatchi... after I kill Orochimaru...

That will be the day that I can finally take you as my wife. And I can make you smile and then I will be the one to take your pain away... That stupid pink haired girl and that idiot Hokage was right... our hearts were linked... she owns mine. I fell in love with a stupid pink haired girl... who means everything to me.'

And then Darkness swallowed his form.

~Th-thump...

~Th-thump...

Okay, there is the 3rd chapter of this series of one shots, pretty pretty please wink wink. You all know what to do. Thanks for reading.

peace

.Love