Chapter 8: The Snake's Pupil!

He activated his Sharingan and at first it was just hand to hand combat, swift punches and kicks that sent henchman after henchman flying back. He was faster, harsher, his moves even more precise. Once they hit the ground, they didn't get back up.

I watched the fight but I was aware of the men gathering behind me and as they jumped out from the forest, I turned to face them. I pulled out a kunai and we went at it. They tried to knock me off my feet but I was one step ahead of them. One of them grabbed my arm and as the other tried to grab my other, I jump up, wrapping my legs around the extended arm and twisted, breaking the bone. He cried out, hitting the ground while the one holding me stood startled. I pulled my arm away and kicked him into the oncoming group of thugs. They all grunted as they hit the ground and I was turning to look back at Sasuke when I heard the enraged boss' cry.

I swung instead to face him and saw him barreling toward me, nothing but fury filling his face. I braced myself, planning on waiting until the very last second to dodge. I wanted to get his hopes up.

But, Sasuke was faster.

He was in front of me before I could move and just as the boss lifted his fist, Sasuke caught it and inhaled.

"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!"

His attack covered the boss who grunted. It looked like a direct hit but I knew better.

"Stand back." Sasuke ordered.

"This is as much my fight as it is yours." I countered, earning a glance.

That was when the boss jumped out of the smoke cloud, a sword drawn. I could see Sasuke getting ready to meet him but I shot forward instead. I refused to let him have all the fun and after all the fights I had had since leaving the village I felt now more than ever that I had something to prove.

We clashed and instantly resorted to Taijutsu moves. A few henchmen rose and dove for Sasuke but I focused solely on countering the boss while waiting for the perfect opening. He caught my wrist and pulled but I took the opportunity to jump up and balance my foot on his shoulder. I pushed off of him, digging the heel of my foot into the space between his collarbone and shoulder muscle and managed to break his hold. When I landed, I made hand signs and held my hand back just as a rock the size of my fist shot up from the ground.

"You little—" The boss growled, his eyes wide with rage. But, before he could say another word, I threw the hovering rock at him and watched as it sliced him across his cheek, turning his whole head from the sheer force.

He growled just as I made a few more hand signs.

"Water Style! Raging Waves!" The boss rose and matched my hand signs, producing the exact same attack at the last second. They collided and as the force died down, he jumped into the air, his hands in fists, one raised high above his head.

"I'm gonna finish you, girl!" He cried.

Sasuke jumped in front of me again and his Sharingan shined even brighter in his eyes. In an instant the boss dropped to the ground, his eyes wide in his skull, a choked sound struggling to escape from his mouth.

"I could've handled it." I growled, pushing Sasuke away.

"Never said that you couldn't." Sasuke growled, grabbing my wrist before pulling me back. I hadn't noticed before but all the henchmen were down, groaning in pain and the rest were conscious.

"Let go of me." I snapped, turning to glare at him.

"I told you to stand back." Sasuke growled as the boss stopped his crying between us.

"I didn't ask you to protect me!" I snapped just as the boss jumped to his feet, a crazed look in his eye as he pulled kunai from his pouch and swung them toward Sasuke and I. My eyes widened. I had sworn he had just passed out but he had awoken in a frenzy almost and his kunai was aimed right for my neck, at such an angle, it would cut more than flesh.

But, the kunai never made it toward my skin.

I heard a familiar hissing sound and looked over at Sasuke who had two large pythons coming from the sleeves of his shirt. They were wrapped tightly around the boss, their large heads swaying around his.

My lips trembled as I staggered back. I should have expected such a technique, should have countered with my own if I hadn't been fighting. But, I was stunned because there it was, proof that Sasuke was Orochimaru's student.

"You…little…punk…" The boss struggled, trying to make his voice heard even as the snakes hissed, slowly constricting him more and more.

"Sasuke…stop." I said.

"Did you hurt her?" Sasuke asked, nodding toward me curtly. His Sharingan was still in his eyes and it was even more ominous than usual, darker almost.

The boss groaned just as a rustling in the trees sounded.

"Miyuki!" Naruto's voice called out to me and then I heard his tracks stop suddenly.

"Answer me." Sasuke snapped, his voice even colder.

I shivered. What was going on? What was wrong with him?

"Hey it's that guy from earlier." Naruto said before he started looking around. "But what happened…who…who are these people?"

The boss growled, sweat dripping down the side of his head. He looked down at me and coughed.

"I should've…I should've…" He wheezed, the snakes moving even tighter.

"What's that? We can't hear you." Sasuke snapped.

"Sasuke!" I said, my voice a tad firmer.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, his hands in tight fists at his sides.

"Speak up…" Sasuke said. "We can't hear you."

The snakes tightened even more and the man coughed up blood, pain visible on every crevice of his face.

My insides tingled but not in a good way. This was wrong. What had gotten into him? Who was this version of Sasuke? What was he? What had he become?

"I should've…I should've…killed you…when I…had the…chance!" The boss finished, his eyes hateful as he looked at Naruto and I.

Sasuke's eyes turned a shade darker and a dark smirk filled his lips. "Wrong answer."

I could hear the snakes twisting even more and finally, there was the painful snap of bones.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"SASUKE!" I screamed, tears filling my eyes. "STOP IT!"

The boss screamed out in pain and his henchmen looked on in disbelief, their eyes wide as the life was squeezed out of their leader. The crunching sound of breaking bones, the boss' agonizing cries and screams filling the forest as the snakes squeezed and squeezed until they broke past even the bone, until they dug deep for the muscle, until they were squeezing nothing but each other.

His blood splattered everywhere and I felt it splash onto my face. An icy chill spread over my body and I gasped, unable to breathe as I remembered Sayuri's screams filling the still night air that night.

Blood had splattered on Sasuke's face as well, just the side and as the snakes retreated back up his sleeves, I was starting to forget how to breathe as I struggled to catch one small puff of air.

"Miyuki!" Naruto was at my side instantly and I glanced at him with wide eyes until I saw his hands, also covered in blood and the hot tears stinging my eyes spilled over.

It was too much. I could feel the memories consuming me all over again except this time it was much worse. The blood dripping down my face, the blood covering Naruto's hands, the blood sliding down Sasuke's cheek, the body parts littering the forest floor. I felt sick. My head was reeling.

I pulled away from him, crying out as I stumbled back.

"Miyuki…"

I could hear Naruto, hear the worry in his voice but it was hard to focus on him, hard to let him pull me to the surface when the screams ringing in my ears sounded just as horrible. They were pulling me in, their hold too strong.

"Leave me alone!" I cried, pressing my palms against my ears to try and block it all out. But all it did was make it worse.

I stumbled back again and stepped on something. I looked down and my eyes widened as I stared down at the boss' paper-white head. I couldn't help it then. Looking down at it, meeting the dead look in his skull, something inside of me snapped. When I opened my mouth, instead of letting out a straggled breath, I screamed.

Sasuke was in front of me a moment after, as my scream started to die down. He held my head in place with his hands, and turned me so that our eyes locked. I stared into his Sharingan, feeling a tightness in my chest and watched as the tomoe in his eyes began to spin.

The dizziness grew and I felt my legs going out from under me but Sasuke held me in place, until the tomoe's grew and grew, until all I could see was blackness.

"What happened? What was all that screaming?"

A sharp gasp.

"What happened?! What happened to her?!"

"She's fine."

At first the voices swamed around in my head and they all sounded distorted. I had the feeling that I was being carried, my body swaying slightly. Then suddenly I was being lowered, my head coming down on something soft just as the voices started to sound like actual people.

"What happened?!" It was Granny's voice and she was hysterical. I could feel her hands on my face, feel something damp coming down on my skin. I wanted to look at her, wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn't, not yet.

"The thugs from before came back." Naruto said, his voice low.

"So I did you all the honors of ending them." Sasuke's voice, cold and harsh.

Silence and I felt my body stiffen as my brow furrowed.

"She's coming to." Granny said. "What happened? Did she hit her head?"

More silence but this time, my eyes fluttered open. At first, all I could see were the stars twinkling above. Then, there was something just on the outside of my vision, something red, the sound of cackling and then I felt it, the warmth of a fire. Granny's face came into view shortly after and I could see the heavy concern knitting her brows together.

"She's so cold." Granny said, her hand on my cheek. "She looks like she's seen a ghost."

Again, silence.

"Miyuki? Miyuki? Are you alright?" Granny asked, as she leaned forward.

I couldn't answer her. My throat felt too dry and my head couldn't formulate any words even if I wanted too. But, pieces of memory surfaced. The fight in the woods, the look in Sasuke's eyes, the snakes, the squeezing, the sounds filling my ears and then there was the head, lying in the grass, it's mouth still twitching.

My stomach dived and I sat up quickly, turning to the side only to throw up beside the fire. Granny smoothed her hand on my back and my body trembled as the memory played over and over again in my head. Except this time, I was in control, somewhat. I had overreacted before, had probably gotten caught up in the moment as I usually was nowadays.

"That's it." Granny's soothing voice said. "Let it all out."

I struggled to swallow and ended up gasping. Someone handed me a cup of water and I took it before throwing it back. Water dribbled down the side of my mouth but I didn't care. It felt good, cool as it filled my mouth and I found when the cup was empty that I felt a little bit better, though I was still trembling.

"Better?" Naruto asked, his voice low and soft, as if he was talking to an unstable child. I looked at him but caught Sasuke standing just beyond him and instead looked up at him.

"I told you to stop." I said.

He stared down at me, unblinking.

"Why did you do that?" I snapped. "Why would you do something like that?"

His eyes narrowed. "I saved you. You should be grateful."

"I don't care that you saved me! There was a different way. There could have been a different way!" I spat. "You didn't have to…you didn't have to do that…"

He gave me no reaction. He didn't even give me a response.

"After everything!" I said. "After what I told you about my family…how could…how could you do something like that?"

Granny looked at Naruto who was busy staring between the two of us.

Still, he gave me no reaction and I reached for the scroll in Naruto's backpack. I pulled it out and threw it at him, watching as it bounced off of his chest before hitting the ground.

"You want the scroll? Take it! Take it and leave us alone!" I shouted, pushing myself to my feet shakily.

"Miyuki." Naruto said, stepping forward before pointing at the scroll. "We need to deliver the scroll."

"He can deliver it after he's done." I said. "Using it to find whatever stupid sword Orochimaru sent him to find."

Naruto stiffened and looked back at Sasuke.

"What?" He asked, his voice low.

"He was only with us for the scroll anyway. Who knew when he was just going to reach over and take it? Or turn his back on us!" I shook my head. "I hate you."

He blinked at me, no reaction and all it did was push me further.

"I hate you and I never want to see you again!" I said. "Now go! Get out of here! Get out of my sight!"

Sasuke reached down and picked up the scroll, rolling it open before tearing the piece with the badly written poem right out of the center. He let the scroll fall then but folded the poem into a square before shoving it into his pocket.

"I don't need your scroll."

"Just get out of here!" I shouted before stepping toward him and shoving him back. "Get out!"

He caught my wrists and held me in place while I struggled against him, struggled to get away from his hold, struggled to push him back even further. He leaned down close, his lips just on the outer shell of my ear and I gasped, still struggling against him.

"I meant what I said." He mumbled into my ear. "I always will."

"Get away from me!" I screamed just as Naruto stepped forward. But in that same moment, Sasuke released me and as I dropped to my knees, he was gone.

I was on all fours, my arm resting on my forearm as more and more tears fell from my eyes. I felt a hand on my back a few minutes into my sobbing and let them pull me up. I eased back and glanced to the side only to find Naruto kneeling beside me. He was holding me up, supporting me with a soft smile on his lips.

It felt like my heart was breaking in that moment and the pain, the pain was so bad. My tears fell faster, my body trembled harder and suddenly, I was throwing myself against Naruto's chest, burying my face in his shirt as I sobbed into him.