A/N: I GIVE UP! //throws down tablet pen// Take it, just take it already! I've had it up to here with this stupid picture!
.com/art/NaruSasu-Suffocation-113258420
I got a bit frustrated with photoshop. Anyway… This chapter gets a bit gruesome just to warn you and there's a lot of scene changes in this one because lots of scenes occur simultaneously. Oh and randomly- listen to Leann Rimes "And it feels like" for no other reason than the fact it's a great song that really applies to Sasu and Naru.
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"Any news?"
Sakura was standing in the Hokage's office, coming to give in a mission report for Kakashi sensei. Tsunade sama simply shook her head at the question and Sakura sighed in defeat. Naruto had not spoken a word to her about what had transgressed between him and the raven, except telling her he had defected yet again, and after alerting Tsunade he seemed to have simply disappeared. He did not assault Tsunade's eardrums regularly with demands to know how the anbu were getting on, nor did he insist upon a search party of his own. Instead he mostly stayed locked in his apartment and had a quiet word to Sakura every now and again to inquire after the investigation, to which the pinkette always replied in the negative. Sasuke had fallen off the map. It was like trying to get blood out of a stone.
"But why? Why would he run away? Why now? And why hasn't he returned? Whatever happened between those 2, Naruto's got the message by now, he's in pieces for crying out loud! If this was just to prove a point, why is Sasuke dragging it out?" Her conscience answered immediately.
"Because he's not out there to prove a point."Sakura shivered despite the warmth of the afternoon sun. This is what herself and the Hokage had feared since day 1, that Sasuke would betray them all over again and try and destroy the village. She hated that feeling. The feeling of being excluded, of not knowing. The feeling of being a third wheel. She had been stuck in that position since the day they had become team 7. Sasuke and Naruto always bickering and doing the serious fighting, always engaged in some form of communication with each other, whilst she was left on the outside watching their backs behind a wall of silence. She was clever, and she was strong, but she was always in the shadows in comparison to them. And she hated it. She absolutely loathed being left in the dark by her team mates. And now it was happening all over again, Sasuke and Naruto, locked in their seemingly everlasting battle with each other, without a need for her.
"It was bad enough when Sasuke wouldn't talk to me… But now Naruto's ignoring me too… Why wont they trust me? I have a really bad feeling about this and I need him to work with me…"
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Some hours later
Wind whipped the shinobi's red strands round her face, as the moonlight cast threatening shadows on the ground, the treetops groaning eerily in the darkness. In one hand she held the sedative, in the other the deadly poison, and in her pocket was a picture Sasuke had given her of his 2 team mates, their addresses scribbled on the back. There was no need for questions anymore. Now was the time for action and Karin's mind was made up. A fair few miles behind she could sense Sasuke's weak chakra signature, and sped up, trying to loose him. She needed as much time as possible to execute her plans before he caught up.
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Suppressing her own signature, she crossed the boundary around Konoha…
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Tears glistened on Naruto's podgy cheeks, but he was in no hurry to wipe them away, totally oblivious to everything except his dreams. His chest steadily rose and fell, and small whimpers escaped his mouth.
"Sas-u-ke. Don't… Please… Come back…" Unbeknownst to him a silent figure was perched outside his open window, a feminine silhouette outlined by the weak rays of moonlight. The glowing embers of her eyes surveyed the scene with her lip curled. Soon enough those strange feelings that boy held for her Sasuke kun would be nothing more than a distant memory. Stealthily landing on Naruto's bedroom floor, she made her way over to where the blond was sleeping, and taking advantage of his open mouth, administered a few drops of sedative, just enough to keep him out of the way, but short enough to ensure her plan worked to its full potential. She watched, fascinated, as the boys words turned into incoherent mumbles and then stopped all together as the potion worked its magic, and his head flopped lifelessly to one side.
"Dream on sleeping beauty."
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Steam fogged up the glass mirrors in the bathroom, and Sakura giggled using one finger to draw a smiley face as water dripped down onto her soft skin. She shook her dripping pink hair free of the annoying droplets that fell down onto her back giving her tingles and wrapped a towel gown round herself, wiping her feet on the bathroom mat and stretching leisurely. She loved having a warm shower late of a night to relax her after a hard day training. Depositing her dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner she strode out of the room, realising too late there was a second, unknown chakra present with her. In her apartment. Before she could do anything there was a kunai pressed against her throat, and two strong arms holding her down. If only she had fought the instinct to scream…She might have saved herself. As soon as she opened her mouth, the attacker smashed a vial of liquid against her teeth, the voice chuckling in her ear as the pinkette gagged and spat shards of blood from her lacerated mouth. A chuckle which only increased in volume as the girl began to wretch instead, blood from her lips mixing with the bile from her stomach, her trapped arms struggling to clutch her sides in pain. The other complied and released her, to let the girl fall limply onto the floor and moan in agonised screams of pain, curled in the foetal position.
"There's no point in screaming. There's a gengutsu around your apartment, so no one can hear you." Tear filled jade eyes turned to gaze at her assassin for the first time, and she let out a gasp of surprise. A girl of her own age stood before her, flame coloured hair and eyes to match, gazing at her cruelly with a smirk of victory plastered across her face and even as Sakura's vision began to die and her breathing became more laboured she could still see those terrible fiery eyes burning into her soul, with a coldness that rivalled ice. In her last moments as the terrible poison took its effect, Sakura could muster only one, tiny word.
"Why?" Karin's eyes seemed to soften for a moment as a flicker of warmth stirred within the flames. Perhaps it was compassion for poor girl whose life was in jeopardy beneath her, or perhaps it was simply the reminder of her life's purpose. The redhead bent down over her preys face and gently caressed the sweaty, feverish skin, jade eyes powerless to do anything other than glare.
"Because of him." she replied softly, kissing her fingers and touching Sakura's forehead, her last words to her victim short and detached, yet perhaps the most significant she had ever spoken in her life.
"Go swiftly child."
Because it proved she cared.
Sighing slightly Karin stood once more, standing over the corpse with a heavy heart, as glassy green eyes gazed at her accusingly.
"The things we do for love." she thought wearily turning to walk away when out of nowhere a hand grabbed her. Karin didn't even try to resist as she was shoved against the wall, her arm painfully twisted in an unnatural way, with the tip of a kunai pressed into the base of her spine, just breaking the skin.
"I'm gonna kill you." came the gruff threat, the normally silky, tenor voice now covered with a sheen of malice.
"Hello Sasuke kun." Karin whispered happily.
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Naruto was paralysed- in his own bed. Blue eyes were fully alert, as his mind struggled to command his limbs to work, succeeding in nothing but a shake of his leg. He longed to be able to turn over and roll out of the bed but even the most basic movement was beyond his reach and the only thing he could discern was the weak presence of a foreign chakra that had been in his room and around his sleeping area, strongly disguised. At least he had his senses, Naruto thought grimly. Deep within the recesses of his mind he could feel the Kyuubi at work, trying to discharge this strange "something" from his body. He could feel the fox's healing chakra flood his system, slowly enabling movement bit by bit. A finger, two fingers, a whole hand, then a wrist. As the demon got to work, Naruto could only ponder. It must've been a drug of some sort to incur such a rapid and lengthy change in his body chemistry, there was no other explanation, and he couldn't risk waiting for Kyuubi's chakra to fully heal him. "The only reason you sedate someone is to get them out the way." Naruto thought desperately, experimentally rocking his body back and forth to see if he could move himself. "I need a quicker remedy than this, if something's going on. I need to find Sakura and get her to use her medical ninjutsu to heal me." Finally after much straining Naruto inched himself out the bed, his arms and legs now (although stiff) were working. Staggering awkwardly out of his apartment, hitting the doorframes on his way he managed to haul himself into the streets and down to Sakura's place of residence. He was concentrating so hard on moving without falling over he didn't even feel the gengutsu seeping through the concrete walls as he opened the apartment door…
MEANWHILE
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"Go back to the base, I'll get my answers later. If you run I will track you down and I swear to god I will kill you." Karin smirked, closing her ruby eyes.
"Why not get your answers now?"
"because I don't feel like arguing with you in front of my best friends corpse." Sasuke hissed, releasing the teen suddenly as if his hands had been dirtied from the touch. The girl wordlessly turned away and complied, teleporting away from the terrible scene, leaving Sasuke alone with his longstanding fangirl, his team mate. His love rival.
"No that's not right." Sasuke thought, stepping precariously into the space by her side. "Ex." the raven felt a familiar pain spasm through his chest at the horrific implications the word contained. A feeling he had felt too many times before. Loss. Death. A precious thing that could never be replaced. Haruno Sakura. The most annoying kunoichi in Konoha, the most academically brilliant student in their Genin days, gone forever. Her spirit extinguished. Sasuke knelt close to her, marvelling at this new side of her that he had never seen. She laid in the moonlight, her hair falling around her head, her green eyes empty and calm. Sasuke envied her. In death her beauty surpassed even his own. Sakura's once flushed excited face that was full of life was pale and frozen, her lips in a neutral position betraying no fear or sadness and her body was rigid and heavy, nothing like the dainty flower she used to be in life. And above all… She looked so small and helpless. But he envied her. He envied that state so much, because Sasuke knew she had achieved something he doubted he ever could. She had found inner peace. She had died accepting her fate, realising there was no way out and just let go. She was able to let go of the regrets and hateful feelings inside her that might have held her back in this life. With two fingers he peeled her eyelids shut. Yes. She was beautiful. Sasuke acknowledged that. But she was not strong. A strong person would've kept fighting. A strong person would not have accepted death so easily. A strong person would've died trying, even if it meant dying in emotional turmoil. Sasuke closed his eyes in anger. She was not Naruto. This was never meant to happen. He should be the one in her place. He should be the one sprawled on the floor, beautiful and serene. This was all wrong.
"I have to go and find Karin." Sasuke thought, quickly forming the hand seals to leave.
"Don't you fucking dare." The ravens movements froze at the sinister growl. Robotically his head turned allowing an onyx eye to gaze at the doorway. In the shadows was the figure of a young man, illuminated by a red hue of light, his blond hair wild and untamed, claws sprouting from his fingertips.
"Na-ru-to" Sasuke ground out, all too aware of the compromising situation he was in. He watched the blue eyes bleed into crimson as the blond began to join all the wrong dots together, gazing at Sakura's lifeless body.
"And go back to how it was before? How can you ask that of me?"
"you'd have me live a lie for the rest of my life, because of you and your stupid pride?"
"Well. I refuse to play your game."
Naruto blamed him. He could see it in the eyes, the cold accusation boring into his onyx orbs. He knew that there was no way out, the evidence was too concrete for Sasuke to explain the complicated truth. Hell, he didn't even know what the truth was himself yet! But nevertheless the blonds words still put the nail in the coffin and made his world crash down.
"I'll fucking kill you."
A/N: So. It's incredibly long. How weird. Review? ;P
Oh and the good news (or bad news depending on your point of view) is- we're nearing the end! (cheers) And the bad news is this is your last update for this week. As of now- its homework and revision all the way! I'm sorry, I have important exams and mini tests I missed.
Until next time :D
Chaos signing off…