A/N: New one. The battle scenes in this chapter are also fairly lame. I'm terribly sorry about how lame I am. Review please! I love you guys!

A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. -Henri B. Stendhal

If the sight of his ex-student wasn't enough to cause Kakashi Hatake to feel a sting of sorrow deep in his heart, then seeing his ex-student with a blade to his current students neck was definitely enough.

It seems as if Naruto was in a very bad place. As Kakashi and Sakura entered the complete devastation to the earth that was obviously the result of Sasuke and Naruto's battle, Kakashi could feel the apprehension weighing him down like ankle weights.

He and Sakura landed close enough to the two to smell the blood and hear their ragged breath. Sasuke had Naruto by the neck, a strong grip with white fingers, and his remaining hand holding a short blade to the side of the blondes head.

Kakashi froze, squeezing his hands in fists. "Sasuke!" He barked, and his student angled himself to face his ex-teacher, apparently deciding that he was more threat than Naruto at the moment, as Naruto was unconscious in Sasuke's grip.

In a moment of clarity he could feel Sakura beside him, her hand enclosed around the tattered fabric at his waist as if she was scared for him. Focusing his Sharingan he could sense the heaviness of her breath, and the fact that her teeth were frequently clawing at the soft tissue of her lips. She was nervous, not scared.

"Kaka-sensei." Sasuke said, his tone even and blank, his eyes honing in on the other man.

Kakashi nodded. "Let him go Sasuke," slowly lifting his hand he grabbed Sakura's wrist, hoping she would know what he meant.

She did immediately as she slowly took a step back, across to Kakashi's opposite side and effectively closer to Naruto.

Sasuke let loose a little smirk before tossing Naruto aside like a rag doll. Naruto landed just off to the Uchiha's side, and Sakura was by his side without hesititation, never once looking at Sasuke, as if she didn't see him as important compared to her blonde friend.

This seemed to get Sasuke's attention, as he looked down at her curiously, gazing at the back of her head as she concentrated on a steady stream of chakra she was releasing.

As Naruto's wounds began to recede, Sakura slowly returned her attention back to the rest of the group, turning around and standing over him protectively. She was much closer to Sasuke than Kakashi was, which wasn't what he planned.

With red cheeks, Sakura looked directly at Sasuke, her chakra prickling up like an angry cat, "How could you!" She ground out, her eyebrows drawn down in a frown. "He'll be out of commission for at least a week!"

Kakashi watched the two glare at each other for another long minute before, without another word, the battle began. At this point, Kakashi felt helpless to inturupt.

In a blur, Sasuke and Sakura's move were detectable with his Sharingan, but just barely.

The way they fought, Kakashi shook his head, was almost like a ballad or a beautiful painting. Each hit they landed was as if rehearsed, each time she would leap forward and kick, he would dance around it. Every time he would swing the razor of his blade towards her, she would dodge so skillfully.

After a spell of time, they two landed in a square off, gazing at each other, panting.

"Sasuke," Sakura's voice broke Kakashi's heart. "Just stop! Come home!" She sounded desperate, but not the way she once would have sounded. This time she also sounded determined, instead of broken.

Sasuke raised his nose at her. "You're different." He pointed out blankly and baldly.

Sakura nodded. "So are you." She said quietly.

He smirked very discretely as she stood rigid, her arms at her side offhandedly, even in the middle of a battle. "But have you really changed?"

It wasn't long before he was in front of her, his face beside hers, and he whispered something that Kakashi didn't hear, and the older male visibly tensed as they stood so vlosely before him.

However he didn't have a chance to stand there long, before the scene changed and the Copy Ninja was gazing at a strange sight.

Sasuke looked at Sakura as he had her trapped in his genjutsu.

He gazed at her with wicked eyes. It was actually very exhilarating to see her again after so many years. He heard his blood pumping in his ears.

He'd have to make this fast; his battle with Naruto had drained most of his Chakra.

"Have you really changed?" He asked her again, his voice still bland, but his eyes were intense as he gazed at her beautiful face.

There was dirt covering that pale skin, and a bit of blood coloring her hands, but otherwise, she looked nearly unaffected by the battle with his team. He wondered if she really defeated the others with so little physical damage.

She gazed at him unabashed as he held her in place with his kekkei genkai. It wasn't a moment later her pink lips parted and she spoke, her voice holding him ransom. "You're pathetic."

For a moment, he was sure that somewhere deep within the pit of his stomach, something clenched painfully at her words. "What did you say?" He asked and she repeated her words more vehemently if possible.

"You are pathetic Uchiha Sasuke."

He resisted the urge to flinch at her words. "I am not pathetic." He told her forcefully.

At this she laughed sadly, "You hurt your friends, left in seek of power, betrayed your village, and you managed to taint what was left of your good name."

"I'm avenging my cl…" She cut him off as he spoke and he words wounded him deeper than any fierce kick he'd received from the pink haired beauty.

"…How is any of that any different than what he did?" She looked at him meaningfully. "You're more like him than you think." She told him quietly, her voice stinging and mean.

And as if he'd given her the permission to do so, she lifted her hands and formed a single sign. "Release." She spat, successfully releasing his jutsu.

Back in the present suddenly, Sasuke felt himself being pushed back with much more force than necessary as he squared off against her again.

"You broke my genjutstu!" He hissed and she nodded. There was no way in hell a simple release should have broken through his Sharingan. It was way too powerful than that.

"I've been training with Kakashi and his sharingan. I've learned how to break almost any genjustu you could think of!" She told him confidently.

He felt his heart thrumming wildly. She really had changed.