- Attention: if you haven't seen episode 115 – 116 and 125, you won't be able to follow the story

Chapter 6: he never shares her

"It's you... I knew you'd come. You being here must mean that you killed Orochimaru"

"That's right, but nevermind that for now. Let's get you out of there."

"Haaa, free at last. Thank you Sasuke."

"Suigetsu, you're the first, now come with me."

"What do you mean the first? Who are the other?"

"There are three others. Jugo of the Northern hideout and I'm also getting Karin of the Southern Hideout."

"And what about the third one?"

"Get dressed."

The room was dark and the shadow was sitting at the very corner of the room, crawled together and face hidden between the knees. He had thought she would have left the room but it didn't seem so, and when he walked in the shadow looked up, her icy blue eyes shining like the moon itself.

"You came," she gasped as he came closer and caressed her cheek, and she held his hand and smelled it because the scent of cinnamon and apples had flown a while ago from his blankets she had wrapped herself in when he had been gone.

"Of course I did." Dark eyes met bright ones, she had missed him, more than anything, and she had been worried about him, seeing him now, at last, even if it hadn't been for such a long time, was relieving, but her eyes switched to the figure behind him entering the room as well and carrying an immense sword on his back.

"So, she's the reason we had to make a detour? Never expected you to go through so much trouble for a girl Sasuke."

"She's not just some girl."

"Okay I get it I get it, she's special to you."

Suigetsu watched them awkwardly, feeling unwanted and well, he just likes some attention, but when he cleared his throat in the hope of receiving the slightest glimpse from his new teammates, they just continued staring at each other and god knows what strange things they were sharing, probably things Suigetsu couldn't understand. But when the girl, still a shadow as she was hidden in the dark dark corner of the Sasuke-smelling room, caught some light on her face, his mouth slightly opened when he noticed the beauty the girl was possessing, a very simplified casual look, bright blue eyes, long brown hair and a pale skin, nice small face, a lovely figure and really, really petite. Very common, yet extraordinary beautiful. Suigetsu liked her.

"Well hello sweety what's your –"

Unfortunately for him Sasuke liked her too, and when he wanted to introduce himself properly like a real man, secretly longing for more than just a welcoming-kiss like any other real man, he was finding himself smashed against the wall, being the cause of an immense crack in it and damn, his back hurt.

"You don't talk to her."

"Okay okay, I get you man, you could've said that before –" and he stopped talking when Sasuke glared at him with his sharingan. A beautiful girl she was indeed, but not worth fighting the man who had killed Lord Orochimaru.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke groaned when she talked again, he might've returned for her to come and get her, she still had a repulsive voice he liked to hear most of all NOT. Kumiko had no idea why Sasuke was dragging her down the hallways of this used-to-be Orochimaru's hideout, and she certainly had no idea why a strange guy with funny hair and sharp teeth was following as well, because Kumiko was strong enough on her own to protect Sasuke and therefore didn't need anyone's help. Wherever they were going, Sasuke wasn't planning on telling her, and when sun hit her face for the first time in days, she had to narrow her eyes because it burned, and her pale pale skin was very sensitive to sunlight. Her white dress caught most of the sunlight and reflected it, making her even more beautiful than she already was, but there was no time for Sasuke nor Suigetsu to get distracted by her breathtaking appearance, they had to keep moving because if Sasuke wanted to defeat his brother Itachi and take her along, he needed more than one man to guard her. Partly because he knew Kumiko wouldn't let him face Itachi on his own, partly because he was well aware of the high bounty on Kumiko Nakamura's face, so he needed more than one man to suppress and protect her. He could've made things easier by leaving the girl on her own, after all she was a pain in the neck even though she possessed great powers like the koorigan and chakra of three-double amount, but from the tiniest piece of his heart left in Sasuke's chest, he couldn't leave her.

They'd have to walk all night if they wanted to make it on time, and after a few hours Kumiko got tired, quite normal, Orochimaru had never given her the freedom to manufacture physical strength; she wasn't allowed to go any further than some feet from the hideout, only if it were for training with Sasuke, she could never train much because Orochimaru didn't want her to train on her own, she had to go to sleep real soon and stayed in bed till midday and on top of that Kabuto had stuffed her with all kinds of drugs in rather enormous amounts than good for your health, so yes it was quite normal she was already exhausted after a few hours. Sasuke carried her on his back for the remain of the travel, after a lot of commotion though, pleading she was fine that she didn't want him to but eventually she had given in when Sasuke got mad. Suigetsu found it amusing, an old married couple as they seemed, and at the same time he was jealous, because Kumiko possessed a certain beauty that she only had to swift her hair making men follow her like chasing dogs, even though she never showed any kind of emotion. They arrived at an island eventually, and before the entrance he dropped Kumiko.

"Wait here till I come back."

"But –"

"Wait here."


"I'll go. Look Sasuke if you need me and if you want me to, I'll go ahead and follow you."

"What are you up to? That sure was a quick change of heart."

"Well after thinking on it I realize just how boring guarding this place is."

"Karin, don't get so close."

"Who is she." The girl with red hair was strange, and she was obviously looking down on Kumiko. Who wouldn't, the way how she was sitting at the entrance, crawled together, lost and abandoned, anyone would look down on her, but not Sasuke, no, and when she caught eye on a boy with ravenblack hair and dark dark eyes her eyes shone, relieved as always he was unharmed and that she could touch his face again. But the girl with red hair somehow shot an angry glare at her when Sasuke touched her face back.

"You never said anything about a girl, Sasuke."

"That girl, Karin," he interrupted, "is stronger than the three of us together."

"Come on Sasuke, there's no fun in travelling with someone we don't even know. At least tell us her name." Suigetsu was, just like Karin, also annoyed by her. For the first time the two rivals actually agreed on each other, Sasuke decided to tell her name, and although Karin found it strange the girl couldn't tell it herself, they took peace with it and continued to the next stop, Suigetsu more satisfied than Karin, because Karin was most jealous with the girl, not only because she was far more beautiful, but because she had Sasuke, and Sasuke was hers.

"Sasuke."

That revolting voice of her again. They had taken a break, Suigetsu claiming he was thirsty and needed some refreshment, giving Kumiko an almost too easy chance to talk with Sasuke, he should've known better. "Why do we have to travel with these people."

"You need protection."

"But I have to protect you."

"Yes," he stood up and put his sword back in the shed, "and they'll protect you."

"I don't need protection."

She was pretty when she narrowed her eyes, offended as she was by Sasuke's remark, because from all the people in the world Kumiko was one who didn't need any protection at all, she was Kumiko Nakamura, Survivor of the twins, conqueror of the Hidden Mist, and she didn't need any protection. He was underestimating her.

"I don't care," and he walked away to avoid any more lamentation, but to his surprise she stopped him.

"Stop treating me like a child, I've taken care of you for over three years and now you're telling me I need protection?!"

"You're angry."

"I –"

She looked at her hands, confirming this was her body, when he lifted her head and gazed at her beauty, because she was so so beautiful when she was angry it had made him wonder how she would look like was she was sad, scared, surprised, happy. She talked too much, but for once in three years it didn't bother him, and he wanted to see more of this Kumiko, a beautiful face able to form any facial expression only if she wanted to, only if you drove her far enough to make her feel it. But she had no idea what was going on, because she had no idea this feeling inside of her, what she was feeling right now was called anger. Again, Sasuke had been the only one to make her feel this kind of emotion, just like the pain, but why didn't he want her to be on her own and be his only protector, or did he actually think of her as weak? No, not Sasuke, he knew how strong she was and therefore respected her in the same way she respected him, this was Sasuke, apple-cinnamon-smelling Sasuke with the ravenblack hair and the dark dark eyes that stab right through you, his eyes clashing with her bright ones, while their pale skins matched like a ninja and its team.

"You shouldn't talk so much," he whispered. "It ruins your beauty."


There were certain memories Kumiko simply couldn't forget, some of them more beautiful than others, some of them more painful than others, like the day she walked into her home and found her family dead on the floor, but the memories about Sasuke, painful as they were sometimes, she didn't want to forget. They were precious to her, just like the feeling he was able to give her she wanted to treasure it, whether it was pain or grief or happiness. And based on these certain memories she knew that Sasukke, although he wouldn't admit, felt a longing and sorrow when team Taka was moving forward because it reminded him of team 7 back at the Leaf. She knew that and he knew she did.

She didn't trust Suigetsu, he seemed nice yet not worth trusting. She didn't like Karin because the only reason why she had joined this team was in the hope of winning Sasuke's heart, while Sasuke had given it away a long time ago, about three years ago. She liked Jogu, because he reminded her of herself, strong yet not able to control your own strength, and on top of that he had a better reason than Karin to join this team, also one that reminded her of herself. But she was glad that she was on her own now, because Sasuke had given orders to search for the Akatsuki since his brother was a member of it, and so Kumiko had gone off to the forest all by herself. That was until she sensed something was wrong with Sasuke, and after sensing it an enormous explosion found place not far away from where she was. Sasuke was in danger.

"Kumiko," Suigetsu spoke when he had seen the explosion as well, "are you okay?"

"Sasuke," she gasped, and while Suigetsu was jumping off the tree he had been standing on when he had found her, he only saw a trace of ice and gone she was, off to the place where the explosion had taken place.

"You, you used me! Insolence! You damn brat. How dare you do such a thing to me?! Those eyes, you hypnotized me with those damned eyes of yours! Me! You did this to me! How dare you?! –"

"Oh boy, well he's dead now. Hey, wasn't Manda supposed to be Orochimaru's favourite pet or something? You know you really are to treat animals better Sasuke. And not force genjutsu onto them either."

Karin envied the girl, why was she the only one to get close to Sasuke? She kneeled down next to her ward and placed her hands on his face, made sure he was alright like a mother would do when her child had fallen off the stairs, but apart from his serious injures it looked like he was going to be alright. And just when she was about to heal him he pushed away her hands and looked her dreadfully in the eyes, because the last thing Sasuke wanted was his protector taking care of him like a baby in front of his teammates, his teammates couldn't think of him as weak. His eyes were frightening, not as frightening as his sharingan, but since he didn't have any chakra left at all he was too exhausted to awaken it. And although he was shooting her a threatening look, Kumiko was relieved her ward was okay and couldn't stop herself from holding him, he groaned a little since it hurt, but at the same time while she was hurting him he was too much of a coward to push her off. Her embrace felt nice and besides, it only showed how much she cared about him and lately Sasuke had been willing to accept her love as well as his feelings towards her, because he could tell himself all he wanted if this girl would ever die, the remain of his heart which hadn't turned dark yet would die with her as well. She was that little light, sparkle of hope in the darkness, that remembered him how it felt like to live in the light.

They searched for a room in the village and since no one was willing to offer them a free one for one day they rented one with the few money they had. The hotelkeeper refused the small amount of money, pointed at the girl with icy blue eyes and smirked, but Suigetsu only hit him in the face and pulled out his sword, and after some threats the man decided to rent it for half the price. Kumiko started trusting Suigetsu more, it seemed so he cared for Sasuke one way or another, not as much as her of course, but enough to willingly take the place of Sasuke and overly protecting the Survivor, although she had no idea why. But she'd never like Karin because even now when Sasuke was hurt she still played a game with her, who's-the-hottest-and-is-going-to-get-Sasuke. Kumiko decided she didn't like the game, she had already won in fact, she simply didn't know.

He woke up after a few hours by Kumiko's hands, his bandages needed to get changed, and although his view was blurry like any other human in the morning, her eyes were still beautiful enough to invite him to wake up. He wondered where his other teammates were while she was removing the bandage and softly washing his wounds with freezing water, making him shiver while he knew this was the exact temperature she liked the most.

"Where are the others?" It was more painful to talk than he had expected and she shushed him because he was too weak to talk, besides she enjoyed the silence between them, comfortable as it was and reminding her of the time before he had killed Lord Orochimaru.

"Karin and Suigetsu went to buy some food, Jogu's outside." Her voice sounded just like always and although it was as hoarse as always, it was familiar enough to make him forget about it. A thought wandered inside of his head when she washed the deep scar on his arm. "Could you," he hesitated to ask, "heal that?" He was talking about that time when she had used her tongue to heal a scar on his arm, how it had simply vanished after one intense lick, the lick so intense it stimulated every part of his body. From all the things Sasuke could ask, as the condition he was in right now, he asked a silly thing like that, but the worst part, she couldn't fulfil his desire.

"The wound has to be fresh."

She thought he would groan, but he didn't. Not like he used to. He had changed in a good way.

"Could you," he hesitated again, "try?" It wasn't about trying, Sasuke knew that Kumiko meant what she had said, in fact it wasn't about the wound, he only longed for her. Sasuke had changed because of her, he had become soft towards her but only her, because the hatred he bears for his brother Itachi was still increasing with every single day. He cursed himself for that, but enchanting as she was he didn't mind it either, because Kumiko, his protector, was the one he wanted to protect as well, even though she didn't need any, even though he would only get in her way.

"Promise me you won't die."

He looked up at her, she had spoken words he would've never thought her to use in this order, she asked him something impossible, there were certain things in life you simply couldn't promise, just like how Naruto had promised Sakura he'd bring Sasuke back to the Leaf. Silly things like that, and here she was asking him to make a vow on the same silly thing, and even though he knew that he couldn't promise her anything, he did so and stared back in her lifeless eyes and at her dead lips, grabbed her shirt, pulled her closer and invited her lips with his. She tasted like cherries as she had before, and although Sasuke was familiar with the aroma of her lips he couldn't help but smile deep down inside. No matter what would happen to him, no matter what would happen to her, there will always be two facts which will remain true and everlasting: her taste and her smell.

The kiss, which almost felt like a goodbye kiss, didn't last long though, when Jugo walked in with a bird sitting on his shoulder. "We have to go, Karin senses the chakra of other shinobi."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and commanded Kumiko by simply saying her name, because she knew what was to do next, and so she sat down in lotus position, formed a complex handsign, closed her eyes and meditated. She meditated and meditated, until she fiercely opened her eyes, an icy-blue strong glow appearing and Jugo was already hurrying to Kumiko but Sasuke stopped him, because even though this jutsu was most frightening, it couldn't be interfered since it asked concentration and perfection. It was in the meantime that Kumiko's soul had left the body and had hurried towards the woods, scanning the entire environment faster than sound and who knows maybe even faster than light, and after a few seconds she came face to face with that blonde boy who had become a young man by now, from Sasuke's memory, but they walked right through her since she was only a phantom. She recognized the headband, Leaf shinobi, hurried back to where she had come from and once she occupied her own body again she gasped for air until her eyes drowned in dark ones. It was an exhausting jutsu which required a lot of chakra, Sasuke knew this, but just like her he wanted to know whether it were Leaf shinobi or not, and it took Sasuke only one glimpse of her eyes when he simply knew his suspicion had been right. Naruto.


"Mommy mommy, can we go to the park today? Is daddy coming too? Can I bring a friend? Mommy!"

"Why sure my little flower, daddy's coming too. Who are you bringing with you?"

"I'm taking Choko with me."

Her mother looked up in all disbelieve, for any mother would've thought her daughter would bring a real friend with her, not some old disintegrating ragdoll she had gotten for her birthday several years ago from her fake fake daddy. However it would lessen Aimeko's responsibilities as a mother, for watching over two children was always an even bigger challenge than one. She wondered how it would've been like if her other daughter wouldn't have been taken away from her, how it would feel like going to the park with the entire family while she was keeping herself busy with the firstborn and real daddy with the secondborn, Kumiko, pushing her on the swing and making all sorts of fuzzy airplane sounds. In any case, Kumiko wanted to bring along her puppet, and probably also her bow and arrows because if there was one thing Kumiko liked doing, it was practising archery in the public gardens with Nibori. Her lovely daughter, one that was to grow out to be a strong and magnificent woman one day, was now seven years old, and that meant there was only one year left of her precious, up till now uncomplicated life. Aimeko remembered it like yesterday, it was the first week after her birthday, when a shinobi from the Mist knocked on her father's door, her father turning sour by the news and despite she had never heard what the Jounin had told her father it was obviously bad bad news. Soon afterwards she was being taken away to an area where she met someone. Remembering her face wasn't really hard. But Aimeko was soon about to find out what those words were the Jounin had spoken to her father, she would find it out within the next year and it will probably be one of the most impacting words in Kumiko's life. Kumiko, named after her dead aunt, named after Aimeko's dead twinsister.

Her daughter ran into her arms in an attempt to protect herself from Nibori who was playing crocodile-hunter with her, she smiled lovely as usual as if she couldn't get any more beautiful, and her warm still so short arms enveloped her mother's hips, making her smile. After she practised archery and her favourite master called it for today, she ran to her school friends who just happened to be there too and decided to play with them, of course not without bringing Choko along. Nibori and Aimeko were now able to spend a little time together, and before she knew it he had already stolen a kiss from her lips, making her blush and turn red.

"Nibori," and she smiled uneasily, not really sure whether she should enjoy this or not, "you know you shouldn't do this in public."

"I've had it with hiding my love for you," and yet he was about to steal another kiss from her, but to all his surprises she turned away her head and stopped towards the direction of her beloved daughter playing lovely with the other children, thinking about how unfair life was and asking herself why she, from all the people, needed to give birth to a twin. And although it was hard to admit, although these weren't words you would expect from a mother to think, she thought about a life without Kumiko's twin sister, without her husband, just the two of them and Nibori. It might've seemed a harsh thought back then, but when you picture yourself in Aimeko's position, not seeing your husband for eight years who you had to marry against your own will in the first place, and never having met her own daughter Kaoru, you start understanding her dark thoughts. After all, Aimeko was a Survivor herself.

"It's not fair, is it."

She looked up at him with questioned eyes, wondering if he had used some sort of jutsu to read her mind or if it were simply judgement of human nature. She loved Nibori like she hadn't loved any other man, if it were for her she'd run away with him and her daughter to another village in the hope of building up a normal life there, but being mother of a twin, Aimeko had certain duties towards the village which she was bound to. He himself loved Kumiko as his own, for he had lost his wife and daughter a long time ago. "All I want for Kumiko is to be happy," and he held her hand to catch her attention in which he had succeeded, "I want to fill the gap of loneliness her father left behind, and I want to fill the gap of loneliness you husband left behind."

He had a good way with words, he always had had, it made her smile and almost cry when she watched her daughter laughing and rolling in the grass. "Kumiko," she whispered and clinched onto Nibori's hand like they were pleading an oath towards each other, "no matter what happens, always protect the ones you love the most."

"I will mother, I'll protect him with my life."


I think this is the first chapter within 5 chapters without any lemons, hope you guys can live with that! But I promise you, next chapter is promising! So, someone asked me to make a drawing of Kumiko and my my, what a coincidence, I've made one not a long time ago, BUT, in order to show you guys so, I need to make this deviantart account or something, and honestly I'm reeeaaally not in the mood for that neither do I use that site. Hope you can forgive me, your beloved writer, ShadowOfSelfdestruction

Ps: don't forget to review, add as favourite or follow!