Chapter 2: Come With Me

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

Sasuke wandered the streets. Pink. Pink hair. He couldn't get it out of his head. Somehow, he thought it was important. Why? He wracked his brain to try to come up with an answer. Why was pink so important?

He looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. He should find a place to stay soon. He looked off to the west, where the sun was setting. He enjoyed sunsets. They painted the sky with hues of red and orange, which reminded him of the fireball spells his clan was so famous for. It brought him a sense of peace, of family.

Of course, he didn't have a family anymore now, did he?

In his frustration, Sasuke grabbed the nearest rock to his feet and flung it to the lake. "Aaaaargh!" he yelled in frustration.

"OW!"

He froze. Oops.

"HEY! You! What's your problem, throwing rocks like that!" An angry girl stalked up to him, one hand clutching the side of her head. "You – wait a second, I know you…"

Pink, he thought. Pink pink pink. He stayed silent, gazing off to the side uncomfortably. Don't recognize me, don't recognize me, don't recognize me…

Her green eyes lit up with realization. "You're that boy! That boy I bumped into!"

Shoot.

She gave a sheepish smile and looked down at her feet. "Sorry about that…"

He brought his eyes to her face. "No problem." He muttered. "I hit you on the head anyway, so we're even." He shifted his feet.

"Anyway! Let's start over!" She exclaimed, bringing out her hand exuberantly. "I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno." She beamed.

Sakura, he thought. Sa-ku-ra. That was a funny name, Sakura. Something clicked into place in his head. Pink. Sakura. Cherry blossom.

Find the cherry blossom.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you okay? You're staring at me weird."

Sasuke snapped back into reality, looking at the girl in a new light. He took her hand. "Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha." He said rather gruffly. "I-I need to go."

And he disappeared.

I found her. I found the cherry blossom.

Now, just how to convince her to come with him on a dangerous, probably suicidal quest to destroy this 'masked man' who he didn't even know the identity of?

He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. He needed to talk to her. He needed to.

He hissed as the curse mark on his shoulder flared, and he brought his left hand up to rub it, a habit he had begun to develop unconsciously.

He got up and leapt onto the rooftops of the village, and began to search for his cherry blossom.

Ahhhhh…relaxing.

Sakura leisurely walked to the apartment she owned. Humming a song she didn't know the title of anymore, she unlocked the doors to her room and entered her apartment. It was rather small and modest, just the way she liked it. She turned around and set her keys on the table, still humming a tune.

"Hey."

"AHHHHHHH!" She whirled around and grabbed the nearest thing in reach, which so happened to be the flower vase she'd gotten from Ino as a Christmas present. "STAY BACK! Stay back, or else…or else…"

"Calm down." The shadowy figure in her room stepped into the little light provided by the moon. "I just wanted to talk."

"You! You're Sasuke, aren't you?" Sakura exclaimed, lowering her vase, but not completely. "What are you doing here? How'd you get into my apartment? How did you find out where I live?" Questions came bursting out of her.

Sasuke raised a hand up. "I came here to talk to you. All I had to do was ask around for a pink-haired girl. Not many of you around. A blonde, long-haired girl told me where you lived, although she insisted I come over to her place instead." He frowned.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her best friend. "That would be Ino." She set down the vase on her desk. "Why are you here?"

"I need you to come with me."

She raised an eyebrow. Well, that was unexpected. "Um, I know you're not from around here, but I'm pretty sure even in your place people don't say 'yes' to that kind of request."

He continued staring at her with onyx eyes. "You don't understand. I need you to come with me, to find and destroy the masked man."

"…Why don't we start at the beginning?"

"So, you want me to run away with you to somewhere we don't know, to look for and destroy this 'masked man', who you have no idea is. And all because these spirits told you to find a 'cherry blossom', which you think is me just because my name is Sakura and my hair is pink?"

Sasuke went over the monologue in his head, and gave a small, curt nod. "That's pretty much it."

She gaped at him, her mouth wide open in disbelief. "Ha! Well, you got something going for you." She jabbed her pointer finger in his face with every word for emphasis. "I'm. Not. Going."

He grabbed her hand, his voice still emotionless. "Please. I need you to help me. I need to get rid of this curse."

"Listen." She looked at him. "I really hope you have good luck in this quest of yours. I really do. But…I just can't get involved. I'm a healer. Not a magician or a sorcerer, which is what you need. And I really doubt you need someone like me. Maybe you heard wrong."

"Please." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "I'll never be able to rid myself of the curse. They told me to find the cherry blossom. It's got to be you. Please."

"Sasuke…I'm sorry. But I can't." She looked up at him and turned away. "Please just go."

"…Sakura."

"What do you–!" as Sakura spun around to meet him, he caught her right hand and put it on his left shoulder. "What are you–!" She gasped as she felt the marks from the cursed seal on his shoulder. His eyes transformed and turned red as his pupils transformed into ellipses and his cursed Sharingan activated.

"Your–your eyes!" She whispered. She knew of the Sharingan, the eyes of the Uchiha. But his, his looked different.

"My eyes are cursed. Instead of the Sharingan, I have the Mangekyo Sharingan. And on my shoulder, the cursed seal." He took her hands. "Please. I…I need you."

Sakura stared at those eyes. Those eyes that stared at her relentlessly. And suddenly, she pitied him. Though most would see no emotions in those red eyes, she saw pain. Lots and lots of pain. And suddenly, she wondered what he did to deserve this curse. And what this curse did to him for him to want it to be removed so desperately.

"Come with me."

To go with him, a complete stranger, on an adventure, on a quest to who knows where. To go somewhere probably very dangerous, to defeat someone who they didn't even know. To go with him to a place that probably had many magicians and sorcerers and witches who would like to stop them. To go with him and blindly trust him to lead them both. Not to mention they had known each other for a span of around 10 minutes. The whole thing screamed 'STUPID' in all caps.

Yet somehow, those eyes, those pleading eyes…

Somehow, she found herself saying…

"Yes."

a/n: And the adventure begins! Please review everyone! I'd really appreciate it!