Ten:

Sealing the Curse/Sasuke's burden

"Yea, I'm ready," said Sasuke.

"Good," said Sakura, preparing to perform the sealing jutsu. Her hands moved in an incredible speed making the proper hand signs. Then she slammed her chakra filled hand onto Sasuke's curse mark on his shoulder. He screamed in pain, and Sakura saw a brave tear fall from his beautiful eyes. She felt like crying for putting Sasuke through this kind of pain, but she knew it was for the best.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was going through pain that was a hundred times worse than what he had gone through the first time he had had the curse mark sealed. This was pure torture…but it would be worth it. He knew that after this, he wouldn't have to worry about hurting Sakura or anyone else. But that also meant giving up all that power, and possibly killing his brother, Itachi. He balled his fists and tried not to think about that. He would kill Itachi one day.

"Sasuke…it's almost finished. How are you holding up?" Sakura asked Sasuke.

"I-I-I'm fine," he gasped through clenched teeth.

"Ok…DONE!" she said, kneeling down beside him. "How do you feel?"

"Um…my shoulder hurts, but not nearly as bad as it did. Is it not going to bother me again?" he asked her.

"Only if you physically don't want to use the power of the curse mark," she said.

"Unless Orochimaru dies, right?" he asked.

"Pretty much, yea," she answered. Oh great! Now I get to kill my brother, but also Orochimaru. Its not like I don't want to kill them…I just feel like it's such a burden. Sasuke thought. It was a burden to him. As much as he wanted those two people to die by his hands, he knew he couldn't now because of his loss of power. Now it was an even heavier burden to carry with him.

"Come on, Sasuke," Said Sakura, extending her hand for him to take it. Sasuke smiled at her.

"Let's go," he agreed, forcing a smile onto his face. He gratefully took her hand and followed her back to the lobby to find that Naruto had fallen asleep on the bench they all had previously been sitting (or in Sasuke's case, lying) on. Sakura flicked his forehead, causing him to jump awake looking surprised. Sakura giggled.

"Come on, stupid! Sasuke's okay now!" she said.

"You are too harsh!" he fake-accused her. He whispered to Sasuke, "Be careful!"

"Don't worry. I can handle myself," he said.

"I heard you, Naruto!" said Sakura, sounding slightly angry with him.

"Heh heh…"

The group paraded out of the hospital and down the streets again.

"Well…we've got a whole day to spend before we start missions again. What do we do now?" Sakura asked the group. Sasuke had a few ideas of his own, but he decided against sharing those with Naruto around.

"I vote for ramen!" shouted Naruto.

"Nobody would've guessed," Sasuke sarcastically said in Sakura's ear. She giggled again, causing Sasuke to laugh with her.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"Oh…" began Sakura. "Nothing…ramen, right?"

"Yay!" the blond haired ninja started jumping up and down as Sasuke and Sakura eyed him in a very irritated fashion.

"Alright, calm down…your embarrassing me!" said Sakura. And so the group walked over to Ichiraku Ramen. Sasuke was still thinking about his loss of power. Sakura squeezed his hand, and he remembered that she was their for him. He knew that she would never leave him.

As soon as they reached the Ichiraku ramen shop, Naruto ordered a huge bowl of the daily special. Sakura and Sasuke didn't order anything. Sasuke had his reasons, and Sakura was simply not hungry (especially for ramen).

Hay, Sakura! How 'bout we ditch Naruto? Was what Sasuke seemed to say to Sakura with his eyes.

"Oh, just get over it," she whispered to him. She smiled, and then turned back to Naruto.

"Naruto, do you mind if Sasuke and I leave in a few minutes?" she asked him.

"Why?" Naruto asked her.

"Well…just because! Don't be so nosey, Naruto, it's bad for you," Sakura said, blushing slightly. "Go hang out with Hinata or something!"

"Why Hinata?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Because she's standing right their, you idiot!" Sakura said pointing at a small, blue-haired girl dressed in purple that stood in the doorway.

"Hay, Hinata!" Said Naruto. Sakura slapped her forehead. Sasuke laughed at Naruto's stupidity. Hinata, meanwhile, blushed and nearly fell over at the sight of him.

"Um…h-hi, N-N-Naruto…Kun!" she stuttered.

"How's it going?" Naruto asked her.

"Um…good…Kiba-kun told me you got back from your mission to the sand village. Oh! Sasuke-kun!" she said.

"Still as shy as ever, huh," Sasuke said under his breath to Sakura.

"Only when Narutos around. Other than that, she's just quiet," said Sakura.

"Oh well, that's improvement," Said Sasuke. "Come on…let's go." Sasuke took Sakura's hand as they left the shop. As soon as they left, Hinata turned to Naruto.

"C-can I t-talk to you…alone?" she asked.

"Yea! Sure, what's up?" asked Naruto. They walked outside, and around the corner and sat down on a park bench.

"Well…you see…I've been wondering for quite a while…" she began.

"Yea?" asked Naruto.

"Um…uh…well…" she mumbled nervously.

"What? You're going to wanna speak up, Hinata!" said Naruto.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! I just…that is to say I…um…uh…!"

~ I feel so extremely horrible about how stupidly predictable this story is! Oh well…I suppose I'll try to work in some twists in plot soon. Oh! But your gonna love this next chapter! Or, well…part of it, hopefully! ~