A/N: Wow, I read this other cool story (can't remember what it was… I always do that :-/), and it totally inspired me… I could not stop writing this. Hehe, hehe! Anyway, I realized after writing it that some people might see it a bit differently than I did. So just to warn you, this story is PURE SASUSAKU. Don't worry, I see love when it's only friendship, too, so I'm just making sure you understand that I had no intention of making this a SuiSaku, and will have no intention in the future either. 'Kay? 'Kay. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you enjoy!
Shattered Hearts
By SpacePirateGirl
Dedicated to xshadowolf
The Journey's Beginning
Sakura eyed the clouds in the sky. They were hanging low, which probably meant a storm was moving. A big one—towards Konohagakure. Luckily the two of them would miss it. Her hand rested on the hilt of the sword, actually scimitar, Suigetsu had gotten for her—or probably stolen. She didn't care though. He didn't plan on going back to Otogakure anyway, it seemed, since that was one of his conditions.
Which reminded her. "Are you sure you don't want me to know your second condition?" Sakura turned to the man standing right behind her. "If I don't know it, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to perform it."
"It's so quick and simple, Princess Sakura. You worry too much. There's seriously no reason you wouldn't be able to do it unless your head blows up or somethin'."
She sighed. "Whatever." Her eyes scouted the distance again. "How do you suppose we go about finding them?"
"All we have to do is try to cross over to the deep mountains in the West [??]. They'll find us."
"That's . . . comforting," she said sarcastically. "Did we take enough food for that trek?"
"Sure." He stepped up next to her. The mountains were miles and miles away, but he sounded confidant enough. "Besides, when Dageki spots us, they'll have food. They probably live better than your father and mother themselves."
Sakura frowned. Her parents were probably already frantically searching for any signs of her by now. They must have been so worried the night she left—they probably still were.
Suigetsu started laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"Your face. I bet you're going into shock, you look so stupid . . . I'm just joking!" he exclaimed after she threw him a dark look.
Sakura decided to ignore him. "Okay. So should we get moving? The sun's setting, so . . ."
"Hold on, before that," he said. "Do you honestly think that they won't recognize you? Who the hell has pink hair anyway? They'll guess on the spot who you are."
She had completely forgot! "Oh, um . . . I was thinking of just . . ." What had she been thinking? "Maybe I could make sure it's muddy enough everyday so no one could tell?"
He shook his head. "Won't work."
"Any suggestions then?" Sakura folded her arms.
"Well, your eyes are already enough of a problem. Huge and green and all . . . With the added distinction of your hair . . ." He paused, as if knowing what he was about to say would put him on her revenge list forever. "The only way for this to work is for you to cut it off."
Silence.
Then— "WHAT?" She shook her head, right to left, in a big sweeping motion. "You mean all of it? No! Just no! For Heaven's sake, I am not going there bald. Nice try."
"I'm serious." He coughed, as if covering up a laugh. "I even brought a knife just for it."
She glared but said nothing.
"So? No matter what happens, you'll still look like a girl. Trust me on that." His eyes examined her body thoroughly, making Sakura want to cover herself up. So she had asked the assistance of the most stupid, annoying, perverted man in the entire world. Maybe her first insights were right—maybe she should have gone with that really tall guy or maybe chosen a completely different team.
Then again, Suigetsu was smart; she could give him credit for that much. Maybe not the smartest apple in the bunch, but definitely clever enough to notice the things she missed. They would make a good team—hopefully.
Besides, his team wasn't exactly the worst team. They had actually been fighting for top team several years back. But their failure to capture Shizune had cost them their rank—ten years ago they had been famous for being the most humiliated team in Otogakure, and now they were practically nonexistent to King Orochimaru and everyone else.
She couldn't have gone with a better team—an unknown, good one.
"Well, Princess? You going to let me get most of it off or what?"
She sighed. "How short?"
"Really short. I won't cut it all off, but it has to be to an extreme length that no Princess would go to."
"Fine." She sat down on a rock, her back to him. He began to cut freely. "And don't call me Princess," she added as a final attempt to change his mind.
"Sure thing, Princess."
The first day of camp was the worst. He kept staring—and staring—and staring. Sakura met his gaze once, to show she knew what he was doing, but he didn't seem to care. His eyes were fixed. So she did the only mature thing she could think of; she ignored it, pretended she didn't notice.
But something about his stare was strangely uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was looking at her, it was that he was scrutinizing her. His shadowed gaze caused by the fire in the dark was unnatural as well. And her short hair wasn't helping her comfort either.
Sakura shifted a log in the fire since it seemed to be dying out. It didn't matter because she'd only allow the coals to keep them warm when they slept, but something about the flames felt safer. Maybe she saw further away with the added light, or maybe she didn't. Either way, Dageki would find them, and when they did, their survival depended entirely on chance.
What if Dageki didn't listen to them first? What if the group simply slit their throats before they even knew what happened? From what she had seen, Dageki wasn't very merciful, despite their caution.
She shivered involuntarily, the action not going unnoticed by Suigetsu, who still stared at her as if his life depended on it. With her thoughts left on nothing but fear, she felt his gaze on her even more than usual. It was annoying. It felt as though he was reading her every thought and feeling her every emotion. And she had to pretend not to notice—hell, that wasn't working.
"What?" Exasperated, she surrendered his game and set her own threatening gaze on him.
"What about what?" he retorted.
"What about you staring at me as though I'm some . . . some mermaid that just leaped out of the sea?"
"Oh, that," he said, but continued to stare, despite Sakura's warning.
She glared harder back at him. "You think this is funny? That it's a game?" She let out a laugh of frustration. "Dageki could kill us in no more than an hour, and you think it's amusing to annoy me like a two-year-old would?"
He straightened from his previous position—head resting in his hands and cocked to the side, back hunched over. "There's no reason not to enjoy our last hour, hmm?"
"Just . . . just . . ." Unprepared with a plausible come-back, she let out a groan. "Don't you have some friends back home to think about, or some stupid plan to come up with so we can join Dag—"
"Thought we already came up with one."
Her patience almost snapped. But somehow it survived. "I'm serious, Suigetsu," she warned, surprising both of them with her control over herself. "Stop staring."
Then he grinned widely because obviously the remark was what he wanted to hear. "What, am I making you uncomfortable?"
"Yes!" She didn't care about the obvious implications. Any girl would feel uncomfortable with any man staring at her. "Find something else to do unless you want to say something important."
"Very well, Princess Sakura. I will see to it that I do not bother you again, particularly when there is nothing urgent to discuss," he mocked.
She glared.
And finally—he looked away, into the fire. Satisfied, Sakura returned to leafing through her bag and checked their supplies for the fifth time because she seriously didn't think they would last all they way to the mountain. Unless Suigetsu had some trick up his sleeve.
"Well, actually . . ."
Sakura's attention flipped back to him, who glanced at her warily every few seconds. "Yes?"
"Well, actually I was wondering something about you." He paused to put a hand through his hair thoughtfully. "You say you know how to handle a sword, but . . . I've never actually seen you do it. And you really don't want the first time fighting someone seen by Dageki, do you?"
She raised her eyebrows curiously. "And?"
"I was wondering . . . you want to spar?"
The question took her completely by surprise. Fight him? Fight him? In the dark, by the fire, when Dageki could creep up their necks any second? A feeble "what?" escaped her mouth, and was lost in the wind.
"Well?" he asked. His hand already reached for the rather large sword by his side. Sakura watched his action in fear—not because she was afraid of him but because she was afraid of Dageki. What if they didn't accept her? What if their standards were higher than she thought they were? Suigetsu misinterpreted her fear. "I promise I'll go easy on you," he said.
Her mind returned to the present, and she shook the doubt away. "Uh, sure, I'll spar with you."
Eagerly Suigetsu reached for his sword.
"But not," she interrupted, "with actual weapons."
"Aw," he whined childishly. "You wanna do it the boring way? With stupid twigs?"
"Twigs? Sticks are a bit larger than twigs, I think."
He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Not in my point of view. A stick can't do anything against me. Especially with someone like you using it, Princess."
She smiled. "We'll see."
A few minutes later, they were eyeing each other carefully, waiting for the other to make a move. A whole minute passed, and neither had struck. Sakura spent the time watching his reactions to her movements, trying to discover his strategy. The circling continued. Sakura was simply waiting for him to make a move, and she was sure he was waiting for her. This was getting nowhere.
Suddenly Suigetsu let out a chuckle almost causing Sakura to jump. "What?" she said, still scrutinizing his movements.
"Well, you're not a complete novice, I'll give you that," he said. "You can always tell who is 'cause they just charge in right when it starts. At least, you're not stupid, and Dageki gives points for that."
Refraining from glaring at him, she continued to watch. His thighs shifted, and Sakura prepared herself for his attack. At the last moment, he feinted a blow, but she was ready—no one could fake a direction without giving some sign, and she had seen it clearly. Suigetsu was an easy person to read.
His moves flowed into one another. It was as if it was easy for him, landing blow after blow so fluently. He wasn't fighting her with his best—but neither was she. She'd have to pick it up a notch because she really wanted to know who was the better swordsman.
She blocked his moves, all just by eyeing his muscles and seeing which way they went.
Suddenly Suigetsu stopped, and lowered his stick. "You're just going to block all day?" His tone was annoyed.
"I'm analyzing your moves," she shot back.
"That's great, Princess, but Dageki doesn't give you points for that."
Her emerald eyes glared. "Fine. I'll attack you if you really want."
"Okay. Let's start again." A smirk spread across his face.
They had to stop early. One, it was far too dark to even see a foot ahead without the light of the fire. Two, Sakura wasn't paying attention—she was too nervous about Dageki springing up their necks. And three, Suigetsu wasn't very happy about her blocking more than striking.
She didn't know what the big deal was anyway. After she got his style down, he'd be the one defending.
"Are you cold?" Sasuke asked.
She was actually, but she could handle it. Sasuke couldn't really do anything about it anyway because he shivered just as much as she did. So Tenten shook her head. "I'm fine." With their hands still held tightly, she glanced up at the sky through the steel bars. "The stars look nice tonight."
He didn't glance upward. "Yeah, they do."
"So does the moon. It's pretty."
"Yeah." He didn't even remotely look at it.
Tenten smiled slightly. She was used to him saying things just for her benefit, even though the words were all lies. It bothered her sometimes that he didn't really listen to her and just made sure she was all right—but if she lost this protective and loving urge he had for her, then she'd hate that more.
Taking things for granted was selfish and painful in the end.
She shivered slightly, unable to stop her teeth from chattering.
"You are cold," he said and moved closer to her.
Tenten didn't object when he rubbed her arms and hands to revitalize the blood flow. She only looked down. "You're cold, too," she whispered, but he shook his head.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep?"
She didn't answer the question. "What did their leader want you for? Who was he? What did he tell you?"
Sasuke stopped warming her, and sat back against the hard cold dirt that shaped their prison. Unless she was mistaken, the grimace and frown showed he was ashamed. "Nothing," he said.
"Who was he?"
"His name is Madara. That's all I know—"
"But he wanted you for something. I heard. Someone said, 'he wanted to see you.'" She curled up into a ball.
"Yeah, and he saw me. That's all that happened."
She frowned. You're not telling me the truth. The words weren't spoken aloud, but Sasuke guessed them.
"He just told me something stupid," Sasuke admitted. "It's not important."
"It is to me."
His mouth opened, and then closed defiantly. The conversation was over—either he was too ashamed or too stressed at their situation to tell her. She could wait. Her patience with him could stretch on forever, and it had to because with someone like him, answers never came fast.
She listened to the owls hoot and the wind blow across the tall grass. Even though it was hard to hear due to the noise coming from Dageki's members, she could still define the sounds. So peaceful, and she wondered how long the noise of normal things would be able to calm her.
"Sasuke," she began quietly. "Do you think someone's coming to save us?"
His onyx eyes studied her for a moment. "I told you already, I'm going to—"
"Let's not try to lie to each other anymore, okay?" The truth was what she wanted. "Do you think anyone cares what happens to us?"
Sasuke drew back and closed his eyes. A crease formed on his brow as he thought carefully. She watched him scan through every name and every person they'd ever known or heard of. Then finally his eyes opened, and he shook his head. "I don't remember anyone who would come."
It was the complete truth. Not surprised in the least, Tenten nodded. "This was Sai's fault, wasn't it?"
Sasuke's hand clenched down on the dirt beneath him. "Yeah." He let the dust fall through his fingers. "Tenten, listen I—"
Suddenly men launched the steel-barred door up and open, and reached. Tenten let out a gasp of surprise when it was her arms they reached for, and they heaved her out. Legs kicking freely, she tried to get away, but their grasp was just too tight.
"Tenten!" Sasuke shouted, trying to leap out from the hole, but another shoved the bars back over the entrance. "Tenten!"
Tears sprang to her eyes. The fingers wrapped around her arms would definitely leave bruises. "I'm okay, Sasuke, I'm—" Another hand clasped around her mouth, forcing her attention on simply breathing through her nose.
"Don't do anything stupid, Tenten! Just do what they say!" Sasuke's agonized voice called. "I promise we'll get out of here!"
He continued to cry out reassuring, empty words, but they had already taken her away.
A/N: Yay! Finished. ^^ Anyway, um, I can update again in a week, but as I said in my profile, the place I'm moving to for about four months might not have a connection to the internet. So if it does, then I'll update next weekend. If it doesn't, too bad, so sad… :-/ Won't be able to update for at least three months, lol. Sorry…. I'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading. Bye!
