CHAPTER FOUR

Sakura gritted her teeth as she held Sasuke's sword back with her own from slicing her head open. By now, their training was extremely intense and she had a feeling that Sasuke wasn't going that easy on her anymore; it had been half an hour since they started today and she was almost already completely worn out. Closing her eyes, she summoned the immense strength that Sasuke had praised her for, and pushed his sword away with a grunt. Before he could swing his sword back, she placed her foot next to him and slide sideways so his next strike hit nothing but air. Turning around to face his back, Sakura used all her strength to strike his unprotected back, hoping that today would be the day she would be able to beat him. She needn't hold back for she knew that if she did, Sasuke would just keep beating her over and over again. Every single spar since they started, she had never been able to land one strike of the sword on him. Most of her moves were purely defensive.

A second before her sword could make contact with his back, Sasuke completely disappeared from in front of her. Gasping, she nearly fell face flat into the ground from the force she had put in to her swing, but managed to catch herself by stepping forward and stopping her fall. What the hell? Where had he gone?

Half a second later, a cold metal was pressed against her throat.

"Good job," he whispered next to her ear, making her shiver slightly. He removed the small knife from her throat and stepped away from her back. "You've improved greatly. If I hadn't dodged your last attack, I probably would be severely wounded."

"B-but…" Sakura couldn't believe it. He had dodged her attack so fast? She didn't even see him move out of the way; it was as if he had teleported behind her. It was then did she realize that Sasuke had been going easy on her this entire time, not matter how hard the training seemed to her.

Just what on earth was he?

The soft clomp, clomp of many horses sounded through the woods. Huge horses with gleaming coats as black as the midnight sky, dashing through the tall trees and overgrown bushes. And their riders, dark blue-cloaked men. In the front was a man with an intricately decorated cloak, followed by a trail of fifteen others with plain cloaks.

They came to an immediate halt when the man stopped his horse. Swinging himself off, he crouched as his feet made contact with the ground to soften his landing, and slowly rose up again. Making his way through the foliage, he slowed to a stop when he entered a small clearing among the trees. Kneeling down, he grasped a handful of dry soil in his black-gloved right hand and held it up to his nose.

"General, sir, what is it?" asked a soldier as he rode over to the clearing.

"They left…a trail..." he responded, so softly that the soldier could barely hear him. "Remains of a fire…are mixed in…"

The general loosened his grip on the handful of soil, letting the wind carry it away from his hand.

Trying her best not to make any noise, Sakura gently placed her foot down on the creaky stairs. It was dark, for it was about three hours past midnight, so she had to carefully feel around for the wooden rail.

When she had woken up just a few minutes ago, Sasuke had disappeared from the bedroom. Wondering where he had gone, she had slipped out of her room to find him.

Holding her breath, she stepped down and winced at the soft creak that resulted from her weight. She continued this process on the creaking steps until she reached the bottom, praying that she didn't wake up anyone. Her eyes by now had adjusted to the dark, and she could make out the different shapes in the room. To her right were two small couches and a table in between them and to her left were a carpet and the front door. Moving cautiously, she slowly tip-toed past the two couches and down the hallway until she spotted the door to a room she had not been in before. She could see the glowing of light under the door and hear muffled voices coming from the room.

Being as quiet as possible, she placed extremely slow steps closer and closer to the door until she finally reached it. Moving to the left of the door, crouching, she positioned her ear next to the crack.

"…and leave the village. I was putting her in danger."

She recognized it as Sasuke's voice. Was he talking about her?

"I see. You were lucky you were found, Sasuke… Or you might have died…"

The other voice she recognized as Naruto's.

"I agree. She nursed me back to my full health after the ambush… But my staying with her that long caused the dispatched soldiers to find me."

"Teme, you're always getting yourself into trouble. I don't know what I would do if I just suddenly lost you, old buddy."

Sasuke chuckled. "Sorry about that. Don't worry, though. I promise I'll try to stay alive—and Uchiha's never break a promise."

Uchiha? That name sounded familiar… Was that Sasuke's last name?

Naruto laughed. "You always say that. Anyway, what are you going to do now? I know they're still after you. The King probably isn't taking this well."

The King? The King of Aiglatsia? What on earth had happened between Sasuke and the King?

"I know. I don't know what I'm going to do… But first I have to figure out what to do with Sakura."

"Oh yeah, I saw you two sparring the other day. She's pretty good."

"She's better than some of the knights I've trained with. Crazy strength and a quick learner."

Sakura couldn't help but let a small smile form on her lips. So she had improved to be quite a good swordswoman, even in the eyes of Sasuke. Then she heard the sound of shifting around, and she held her breath, hoping they hadn't noticed her. A few seconds passed before someone spoke again.

"Aw man, the mead's all gone. Here, let me some more," said Naruto. She heard the dull clank of glass against wood and more shifting.

"There's no need. I think I'll return to bed. Sorry I disturbed you so late at night, I just figured it'd be a good time for me to talk and catch up since I couldn't sleep at all."

Taking this as her cue to leave, she rose from her position, the backs of her knees aching from being locked in a crouch for longer than usual. Using the noise they were making to her advantage, she quickly made her way back to the staircase and began her trip upstairs when she heard the door to their room open. Naruto and Sasuke were still talking, but keeping their voices low. Her pulse quickened, knowing she'd have some explaining to do if she was caught, and tried her best to move quickly up without causing a racket. Finally, she made it to their bedroom door and slipped inside, making sure to twist the doorknob to the right before shutting the door to prevent a loud ka-click from sounding.

Heart pounding, she threw herself onto the bed and buried herself under the covers, trying to make it look like she was in a deep slumber. Blood rushed through her head while she feigned sleep. Attempting to calm her nerves, she forced her mind to think about soothing things; however, instead, her mind kept on going back to the conversation between Sasuke and Naruto that she had overheard just a few minutes ago. Uchiha… Uchiha… Where had she heard that before? She replayed the entire conversation again in her head.

That's when it hit her.

"She's better than some of the knights I've trained with," Sasuke had said.

Uchiha. He was an Uchiha. This explained everything—or mostly everything—that Sakura had questions about. The Uchihas were the most prestigious line of knights in the entire kingdom, probably in the entire world. That explained why Sasuke had godly fighting skills and how she could never beat him in any of their spars. It also explained his apparel—the clothes of an Aiglatsian soldier. But if he was part of the most recent generation of the Uchiha knights, then what was he doing here in Konoha? Wasn't he supposed to be off in Aiglatsia helping the king and dealing with whatever important business he had to deal with? She recalled Naruto mention the King not taking some situation very well, probably meaning Sasuke. Which meant that Sasuke had run away from Aiglatsia, which meant that he had committed treason. Which explained why he—no, the both of them—were being followed by soldiers.

But why had Sasuke run away?

Her thoughts were cut short by a small click. The door opened, and Sasuke quietly entered, closing the door softly behind him. Face completely relaxed as she tried to feign sleep, she held her breath. Instead of going straight to his makeshift bed on the floor,—they traded off sleeping places every night—he slowly approached her bed. Trying not to move at all, her whole body tensed as she sensed him right next to her. A few moments later, she felt his fingers ghost against her forehead, and then brush away a few strands of her hair. His gentle touch sent electricity coursing through her veins and her pulse quickened once more, except not from fear this time, but from a feeling she couldn't describe.

A full minute passed before she heard him move again; he moved over to his own bed and slipped under the covers, letting out a long sigh. She cautiously opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to the left to get quick look at him: he had his hands under his head, his elbows faced outward, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, looking deep in his own thoughts. Turning away, her back to him, Sakura slowly let out the breath she was holding and closed her eyes.

Flames blazed high into the night sky, contrasting with the chill of the night. Screams of young children, women, and men resounded in the air as blue-cloaked men destroyed homes with lit torches and drawn swords. Slashed-open bodies left to die in puddles of their own blood littered the street, and the less fortunate suffered from being burnt to a crisp in the fire. Women carrying their children ran for their lives into the forest, but they didn't get very far. Men tried to protect themselves or the remaining members of their family, but they were killed and thrown out of the way.

"Tell me…" a soldier hissed, gripping a brown-haired woman by the neck, raising her above the ground. "I gave you more than a week to find her, and usually we're not that lenient. So now I'll ask you one last time. Where… is… she?"

Tears streamed down her cheek. "I… She disappeared," she choked, "before you came back, I promise, sir… Please…"

"Useless." He tossed her to the side like a rag-doll and she landed on the street, next to a bloody corpse. "You're all useless!"

"Lore!" someone cried from behind the soldier—another soldier, but this time on a black horse that he recognized as the army's horse. "Lore, they're not here anymore. They've already left this village. The general found evidence up north of their departure. He told me to check up on this area and inform you."

"Aelar? That you?" Lore squinted at the figure, his vision impaired by the smog from the fires.

"Yes."

"Shit! So they have escaped. What do we do now?"

Aelar looked around, pulling on the reigns of the horse as he tried to calm it down. It was unnerved by the intense heat from the fire and the suffocating smoke.

"Take everyone else that's alive prisoner."

It had been a week since Sakura and Sasuke's arrival in Naruto's village. Sakura loved this village mainly because of Naruto's and Hinata's generosity and cozy house. Even though some nights she had to sleep on the floor, she didn't mind at all. It was a lot better than sleeping outside on the hard ground in the cold, with only a fire and some thin blankets for warmth. And plus, Hinata's cooking was absolutely amazing. Sakura had gotten to know Hinata a lot better, realizing that under her shy exterior was actually a passionate and strong personality; this, Hinata had told her, was what she had grown to become with the help of Naruto. Naruto himself was generally easygoing, but extremely headstrong—which was a good thing, since he had good moral beliefs. Needless to say, both Naruto and Hinata quickly became Sakura's close friends. And, needless to say, Sakura was happy.

But the only thing that constantly nagged her was why Sasuke had run away from Aiglatsia. Ever since that night three nights ago, she'd been strangely quiet around him, always debating over whether to ask him or not. Every single time she had told herself that Sasuke probably wouldn't tell her, even if she had admitted that she had overheard him and Naruto talking about it. Even during their spars did she only answer with a mere "okay" or a single nod. She was simply too distracted. And she was also distracted by what else that happened that very same night of Sasuke and Naruto's conversation—how Sasuke had brushed away the bangs from her face. Now every single time she saw him, she would remember the way he touched her and the same electric feeling would make her body shiver.

On the seventh night during their stay, Sakura had gone up into the bedroom after excusing herself early from dinner. Sitting down in a wooden chair in front of a vanity mirror, she pulled out a brush and ran it through her shoulder-length pink hair, thinking about Sasuke's past. A moment later, the bedroom door opened and Sakura saw by the mirror's reflection that Sasuke had stepped into the room.

"Sakura?" He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Hm?" She responded, still brushing her hair.

"Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

Sakura set her brush down on the table and turned to face him. This was it—she had made up her mind; she would demand an explanation right now. It couldn't hurt to ask…could it?

"Sasuke, I've been wondering these past few days—"

She was abruptly interrupted when their bedroom door swung open. Naruto dashed in, followed by a worried-looking Hinata.

"Sakura! We've just received news that your village has been…burnt down and almost completely destroyed." The blonde gave her a pained expression, knowing the news would take a big toll on her.

"Completely destroyed?" Sakura echoed. "…Completely destroyed?"

They watched as she reached out and grabbed the headboard of the bed as support. Images of her mother's dead body burning in flames flashed in her mind. All because she didn't stay to help her. All because she chose to run away. And Caleb—oh God, no… Not Caleb… His carefree smile replaced by the image of his lifeless face.

"Sakura…" Sasuke looked hesitant in reaching out to comfort her, but couldn't stop from catching her when she completely blacked out. They all wore solemn expressions as he lifted her onto the bed.

"We need to leave," Sasuke said slowly but firmly, "before we put this entire village in danger as well."

"…You're right, teme… It seems like they'll stop at nothing to get you back. By the way… The village was destroyed about three days ago. So that means they're well on their way to—"

A loud scream sounded in the night.

"What was that?" Sasuke turned to look outside of the window.

"Probably nothing," Naruto said dismissively. "Anyway, we need to plan—"

Another scream arose, followed by more screams.

"That wasn't nothing, dobe." He rose from the bed and strode over to the window, pushing aside the thin curtains. "I can't see anything, dammit… It seems the screaming is up near the entrance."

"Like I said, teme, probably nothing."

"No, wait. I think I see…"

A second later, Sasuke closed the curtain in a flash and turned around.

"They're not well on their way here, Naruto. They already are here."

Naruto's face blanched as Hinata's solemn expression was replaced with a look of great fear.

"Okay. Listen to me. The plan is to go pack everything you need right now, we can't waste time," Sasuke ordered as he began to rush around the room, throwing all of Sakura's belongings into her small pack, "We'll meet at the back door in five minutes. Go!"

The three of them separated quickly, knowing not to spare each minute. Sasuke worriedly glanced at Sakura's face before he began packing his own things. About to pack his blue cloak, a plan formed in his mind and he hesitated. Throwing on the cloak and putting up his hood, he pulled on his black boots and clasped his and Sakura's sword onto his belt. Then he quickly brought out Sakura's own thin cloak and hurriedly dressed her.

Knowing it would hurt when she woke up, he tried his best to be gentle when he threw her over his shoulder like a sack, along with his and her packs.

It was about four minutes when they all met at the back door.

"I'll be fine, Naruto. You and Hinata should go separate directions from us. I know you can protect yourselves."

Naruto gave him a wide smile despite the situation they were in and squeezed Hinata's hand gently. "Of course. I promise I'll be fine. And Uzumaki's never break a promise."

Sasuke smirked as he opened the door. The screaming and cries got louder and louder as the soldiers made their way down the street. "I'll be fine, too, dobe. You go first, they won't suspect me with my cloak on."

With one last nod, Naruto dashed away into the darkness of the alleyways, followed by Hinata, who looked back at them worriedly over her shoulder. Sasuke smiled and nodded, indicating that he would be fine and watched them until they had completely disappeared. Readjusting the unconscious girl on his shoulder, he ran through the buildings, avoiding all the slain bodies on the street. Sakura's silky pink hair whipped against his arm as they flew past buildings, her soft chest pressing into his back... He shook his head: they were in a dire situation and he was still being distracted by her? He could only hope that they wouldn't be spotted.

But luck wasn't on his side today as a soldier who was about to throw a lit torch into an already wrecked house caught sight of him.

"Hey you!" he yelled over the screaming. Sasuke heard him but he didn't stop running. "You, stop right there! You have the girl!"

The girl? So they had indentified Sakura ever since they had left her village and had associated her with him. The other soldiers were too busy killing and burning to notice him when he got to the gates—the forced open gates that were now a crumpled heap of metal where they used to be.

"You there, soldier—I told you to stop! Stop him, he has the girl!"

Other soldiers caught sight of him as he passed by the ruined gates. Turning left, he planned to go into the woods and lose track of them, but he felt a searing pain through his left arm that made him flinch and almost lose balance from the weight he was carrying on his right shoulder. An arrow had embedded itself a few inches above his elbow. He quickly regained his composure, ignoring the pain spreading through his arm, but he couldn't recover to his original speed. The soldiers caught up to him in less than a minute.

"Who are you?" The soldier who had initially spotted him stepped forward, his bloodied sword drawn and about ready to strike at any moment. Just as Sasuke was about to pull out his own sword, the cold November wind blew off his hood.

He didn't even have time to unsheathe his sword before he was suddenly attacked by quick strikes from nearly all of the soldiers. Trying to move his left arm, he winced and nearly got hit by a blade to his left. Dodging their attacks was proving futile as the swords slashed deeper and deeper, splashing his own blood onto his face. He was surrounded, heavily wounded, and weaponless, for his left arm was now completely useless and his right hand had to make sure Sakura was kept tight over his shoulder.

Sasuke had no choice.

"Shit, he's using it! He's using it!" screamed one of them, who had immediately stopped attacking right when Sasuke's black irises became clouded with a glowing blood red. Swiftly, he threw Sakura over his other shoulder, gritting his teeth as he locked his pained left arm over her waist. In the next second, the last thing the soldiers saw was a billowing blue cloak flashing past them as their necks were snapped in two.

Without sparing the fallen bodies another glance, Sasuke sprinted into the cover of the woods. Once he was out of sight, his eyes flashed back to their original obsidian black. But before he could move on, darkness surrounded his vision slowly until it completely took over his mind.

He toppled over, falling on his side, and let Sakura fall to the ground beside him as his body went completely slack.

Author's Note: Ahh, I hope you enjoyed that chapter!

Again, wrote this in a day…

xoxotia