What is this place? Where am I? Koyuki looked at her surroundings, there was a thick pale black fog swirling all around her with an occasional flash of red lightning. She held out her hand in front of her and saw it was as small as a child's hand. Looking down at herself she realized she was dressed in the same blue long sleeve dress she had worn the day of her mother's death. A door stood a few feet away, smudged by something that looked very similar to blood. Something inside Koyuki told her she needed to open the door but she was afraid of what she would find; in the end she slowly walked towards it and grabbed the door knob, it was strangely warm and the dim light emminating from the cracks was unusually bright. She turned the knob, pushed the door open and screamed in horror.

"Sakura, I think Koyuki's shaking again." Sakura turned to them and saw Koyuki shaking hard and murmuring. Sakura crawled over and touched her forehead.

"She has a fever again." Sakura wet a small towel with her canteen and placed it on her forehead with a sigh. "I wonder what she dreaming in order to make her murmur."

"It's defidently not about sugar canes and rainbows that's for sure." said Naruto.

"Well, well, look at what we have here."

The gennin looked outside and saw the sound gennin from the first portion of the chunnin exams. They instantly got their kunais out and stood on their guard. Sakura prayed they would fall for the trap she had set up, she was disappointed when the sound nin stopped a few inches from the trap and one of them squated down and picked up the grass mat on the floor.

"I would tell you to try and place a trap where vegetation actually grows next time...but there won't be a next time." A shiver ran through Sakura and Naruto clenched his fists in anger.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"We came for your scroll...and to kill those two back there." the girl said, jerking her head towards Sasuke and Koyuki. Naruto growled and send a horde of shuriken at the sound team. When the shuriken were within catching distance they were suddenly reflected back and Naruto and Sakura had to block them because if they moved it would hit their unconcious teammates. It was hard to keep them at bay but they tried to fight back, Naruto was able to fight back but for some unknown reason he was having a hard time manipulating his chakra.

"Ha! What an idiotic pipsquiek you can't even manipulate your own chakra." the one with brown spiky hair as he send a sound wave at Naruto and sent the blond into tree while Sakura was being held by the hair by the black hair kunoichi.

"You have really soft hair." she mocked as she pulled harder on Sakura's hair making her yelp in pain. "You probably spent more time brushing and conditioning that pink hair instead of honing your skills."

Tears rolled down Sakura's eyes as she realized it was true. She had spent so much time crushing on Sasuke and taking care of her appearance that she never bothered to raise her skills.

It's the reason Sasuke never looks at me and called me annoying, I have done nothing to deserve his respect...he even acknowledges Koyuki even though she annoys him...because she's a good shinobi.

"That cheap trick won't work on me." Sakura had taken out a kunai and the kunoichi had thought Sakura would threaten her with it. Sakura smirked regretfuly as she raised the kunai.

"This isn't meant for you." the kunoichi who's name they later learned to be Kin narrowed her eyes in surprise as Sakura cut her own hair. Naruto's eyes also widened as Sakura's hair fell to the ground.

No more running, Naruto, Sasuke, Koyuki...it's for me to watch your backs from now on.

Koyuki was staring at the scene before her in utter horror and pain. Koyuki's mother was on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, next to her were two people who were also in a puddle of their own blood. The woman had beautiful raven dark blue hair while the man laying on top of her had dark brown hair.

"How could you Itachi! HOW COULD YOU!" Koyuki turned around and saw her younger self. Hurt and rage shined in her brown eyes at the sight in front of her. "How could you kill your own parents and my mother!" That's when the older Koyuki remembered, the people on the floor were Sasuke's parents. Looking back at Itachi she saw how his eyes were filled with sadnes and regret which clearly surprised her. How can a killer like him have remorse on his eyes?

"Koyuki...take care of Sasuke." before she could even say anything Itachi cut her across the chest and the younger Koyuki fell on the floor. The moment she hit the floor the older Koyuki heard a voice...Sasuke's.

"Mother Father!"

"Sasuke don't come in!" yelled Itachi, Koyuki was looking at the scene with confusion. Itachi began to turn away to escape, he only managed to walk by his parents before the door opened and Sasuke appeared.

"What-big brother...what..." Sasuke's face was so pale he could have been a corpse.

"Sasus...ke...run...run..." Sasuke snapped his head in the direction of the younger Koyuki's voice and his eyes widened.

"KOYUKI!" Sasuke knelt down by Koyuki and sat her up against his shoulder, not caring that Koyuki's blood was soaking his shirt. "Koyuki, no."

"R-run gahk!" she coughed blood and tears rolled down Sasuke's eyes "He'll...kill..."

"Koyuki stay with me, don't die please!" he looked to Itachi and sobbed. "Nii-san help me! She could-"

A kunai flew through the air and hit the wall behind Sasuke, a split second later his shirt split by the shoulder and blood spilled from his it. Sasuke gasped in pain and the older Koyuki felt rage build up in her.

"Sasuke...please...run..." the younger Koyuki whispered one last time before going limb in Sasuke's arm.

"Koyuki, KOYUKI!"

Koyuki's vision went black and she stood in darkness once again. Then she felt a great presence all around her as the temperature began to drop, her breath came out in foggy puffs and goosebumb covered her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself but it did little to warm her up, then a heavy wind blew and dark purple chakra began to suround her.

What's going on? Koyuki thought as voices yelled around her.

"Sakura-chan!"

"The roaches just keep showing up."

"Then come down here and fight."

"I won't have to."

"Sasuke-kun?"

At the mention of Sasuke everything went pitch black and Koyuki began to wake up.

The first thing she felt was pain on her left leg and then she felt sticky with sweat from the fever. She turned her head and saw Sasuke standing outside the tree where Sakura and Naruto had left them. There was something different about Sasuke though, dark purple chakra swirled around him like a hurricane and glowing red marks that had spread through half of his body. It came without warning then, her vision spiked and turned red, deep anger and hatred rose within her...and it was directed towards the sound shinobi in front of Sasuke. The nin called Zaku with brown spiky hair laughed and spread his hand in front of Sasuke who was standing in front of a beat up Sakura and a knocked out Naruto who in turn were slumped at the entrance of the tree roots.

"Let's see how you like this! Ultrasonic Blast!" Sound waves blew towards them and the tree exploded. "Ha! Blew that pipsqueak to bits!"

"What pipsqueak would that be?" Zaku turned his head to see Koyuki behind him. She raises his hand and back hands him as if he was an annoying fly. As Zaku rolled on the ground she looks towards Sasuke who had saved Sakura and Naruto from getting hit with the blast. Sakura's eyes were narrowed in surprised and fear. Koyuki wondered why she looked like that until she realized Sakura was looking at her. Koyuki cocked her head to the side curiously.

"Why are you looking at me like that Sakura?" Sakura flinched and shook her head. Sakura had never heard Koyuki speak in such a low and cold voice, her eyes were even filled with so much scorn and hatred it raised the hairs on the back of her neck. What scared her the most was the chakra swirling around her like flames. They were a dark bloody red tinted with black and her eyes were a chilling royal blue. Sasuke on the other hand looked at her with the same cold murderous look he had since he had woken up, smirk quirked up his lips and spoke.

"You seem to have been gifted with power just like I have Koyuki." his voice was cold and deadly but not as menacing as Koyuki. Koyuki raised her hand and saw the the red black chakra and a smirk grew on her face as well.

"Orochimaru did this to us?"

"He gave us powers beyhond our imagination, enough to get our revenge against my brother." Koyuki visably flinched as blood splashed her vision. Then she was hit by a blast that sent her tumbling to the ground. She growled as she glared with murder at the sound nin she had back handed.

"You stupid bitch that hurt!"

"It won't be compared to what I'm about to do to you." the sound nin suddenly yelped as Sasuke pulled his arms behind him and made him bend over with his foot. He pulled until Zaku hissed in pain as his arms were pulled little by little. "You seem very...attached to these arms." Sasuke smiled cruely as horror and understanding passed his eyes.

"NO! Please don't."

"Time to say good-bye to them."

CRAAAACK!

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sakura gasped as the sound nins arms were broken and dislocated followed by Sasuke throwing him aside. Koyuki looked at Sasuke with disgust and he smiply stared blankly at her.

"Stupid Uchiha I wasn't hurt."

"No one will hurt you ever again as long as I breathe."

Koyuki yelled in pain and clutched her left shoulder began to burn. Sasuke turned away from her and focused on the other sound nin with the bandaged face and glared.

"I hope you'll be a better opponent than your weak teammate." He appeared in front of the nin in the blink of an eye and kicked him in the chest, sending the unprepared nin into a thick tree. Sasuke lifted the man by his scarf and his sharingan shined with malice. "I swear you'll be sorry you ever decided to mess with me, sound shinobi." Sasuke threw the man across the ground, then calmly walked over to him.

This isn't the Sasuke I know. Sakura thought as the air around Sasuke was thick with murder. Stop! Sasuke-kun...

"STOOOOP!" Sasuke stumbled as Sakura wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head agains his shoulder. "Sasuke-kun please stop, don't kill them."

Sasuke looked behind him and met Sakura's eyes filled with unshed tears. It surprised him to see such strong emotions pouring out of her but he couldn't stop. "I have to Sakura, thay can't hurt anyone anymore if they're dead."

"Sasuke that's enough." Sasuke turned his head forward and saw Koyuki standing in front of him, clutching her left arm as the last remainder of red and black chakra disappear.

"You're weak if you let your power fade away Koyuki." Sasuke smirked.

"I don't need Orochimaru's power I have plenty of my own, now stop this. This isn't like you." She growled. Sasuke looked behind her and saw the sound nin struggling to get up. Koyuki noticed his eyes spark with murder again and she sighed.

"Sasuke don't do anything stupid or I'll have to stop you." Sasuke met her eyes and glared.

"And how will you stop-" Sasuke was stoped mid sentence as Koyuki placed her hands behind his neck and kissed him fully on the lips. Sakura gasped and let go of Sasuke as if he had burned her and stared in shock as Koyuki kissed him. Sasuke's eyes were narrowed and wide at Koyuki's sudden kiss, but then the marks around his body began to glow red again and began to recede. As they did Sasuke closed his eyes and gave in to the kiss, bringing his hands up to her cheeks. When the marks were finally gone Sasuke's knees gave out and he fell backwards, taking Koyuki with him. He landed sitting on the ground while Koyuki landed on her knees bettween Sasuke's legs. Sasuke raised his hands and noticed how hard they shook, eyes widened in fear and shock.

"What, what the hell am I?" A pair of hands grabbed his and grip them gently until the shaking stopped. Sasuke lifts his head and meets Koyuki's chocolate brown eyes.

"It's alright Sasuke, you'll be fine."

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Don't worry Sakura he's fine."

"Koyuki Hatake." Koyuki looks towards the sound nin with the bandaged face and sees him holding an earth croll. He places it on the ground and says.

"Thanks to you Sasuke Uchiha spared our lives, accept this as a token of our thanks."

"Why did you attack us, and what's up with these marks on us?"

"I don't know, we were just ordered to attack both of you."

"Then gather your teammates and go away before I change my mind and really kill you." Koyuki hissed. The sound nin nodded, picked up his fallen teammates and jumped into the trees. Ten-Ten and Neji who had arrived before Koyuki and Sasuke had woken up walked up to Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru who were supporting Lee who had come to Sakura and Naruto's rescue.

"I'll take Lee now, thanks." said Ten-Ten gently as Ino handed Lee over. Ten-Ten surprised everyone then by taking Lee by the shoulders and shook him violently. "LEE WAKE UP!"

Lee woke up on his knees and looked up at Ten-Ten with groggy eyes. "Ten-Ten?"

"You idiot what were you thinking going off by yourself? You could have been killed!"

Lee sheepeshly brought his knees to his chest and said. "Your words are so sharp I'm afraid I'll get cut if I talk back."

Ten-Ten sighed.

He could of easily taken all of them if he hasn't been so concerened on protecting Sakura.

"Hey, let me help you up." Koyuki looks up and sees Neji's hand. She nods and takes his hand letting him help her to her feet, then gasped in pain as she took a look at her swollen ankle. She swore.

"Shit I forgot about my ankle." Neji kneels down takes a look at it for a while.

"Then I suggest you sit down again, we need to splint it." He helps her to the ground again before finding to pieces of wood and bandages before wrapping them around her ankle. "I suggest you don't lean your weight on it until you get to the tower."

"Thanks Neji-san," then she smirks. "I didn't know you were the caring type."

Neji just smirks as he ties the finall knot on the splint. "We're friends, it's the least I can do after all the favors you've done for me."

Koyuki gives him a knowing smile. Sasuke who had now stood up looked at them with a glaring look while Sakura shot daggers at Koyuki with her eyes as Ino evened out the ends of her cut hair; she too was shooting daggers at Koyuki with her eyes.

"That little bitch!"

"How dare she kiss Sasuke-kun."

Naruto mean while was being poked by Chouji and Shikamaru as the blond murmured unconsciously.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan I'll protect you."

"We should wake him up." Shikamaru murmured.

"Oh oh can I do it?"

THWACK!

"OW!" Naruto stood up and craddled his throbbing head as he glared daggers at the two gennin. "What the hell!"

"Finally awake."

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Too lazy to explain."

"Naruto?"

"Huh? Koyuki-chan you're alright!" he shouts happily and lifts her off her feet in a bear hug.

"Waah! Naruto take it easy my ankle's broken."

"Oh, sorry." he gently lowers her to the ground and looks around. "Why are bushy brows teammates here and Shika's team?"

"They saved our butts Naruto." Sakura said for her. Naruto looks at her and his eyes narrow when he sees her short hair.

"So you did cut your hair...I thought I had imagined it."

"She cut her hair?" Koyuki took a closer look, yup, but why was the question that ran through Koyuki and Sasuke's minds. "Why Sakura?"

"Well she- ow! Sakura-chan." Naruto whimpered while Sakura glared at him, than waved a hand dismisively.

"I just thought it was getting in the way, the forest was ruining my hair." Sasuke thought that was a very dumb excuse but it was expected coming from Sakura. Koyuki on the other hand thought there was a different reason since she hadn't let Naruto say it.

"Well we should get going." Said Neji. "We need to get moving for our last scroll.

"Good Luck then, and thank you for everything." said Koyuki to which Neji nodded and jumped into the trees followed by his other two teammates.

"We should get going as well." murmured Shikamaru. They turned to go until Sakura called after them.

"Wait...um..thank you, thank you for saving us." Ino smirked and shook her head.

"No problem Sakura, just remember you'll be owing us one." Sakura nodded and the trio left. Then she turned to her three teammates. "Now what?"

"We need to search for the next scroll." said Koyuki.

"We can't do that while we're weak and you with a broken ankle." Sasuke told her. "We're going to have to find a new place to rest until we regain our strength."

"And then we find our scroll?"

"And then we find the scroll." nodded Sasuke. Naruto helped Koyuki get on Sasuke's back as the four of them began to walke to their next hidding place to recover from their injuries. A few yeards away stood a shadow, staring after them with power hugnry eyes.

My curse marks seem to have done a great job...such sweet delicious power. The nin licked his lips in delight and let out a cold evil chuckle.

That's it for this chapter. ^_^ Hope you enjoyed it. I'd also like to inform you that the sequel for My Darkest Secret is now posted and well under way as well as the cover page for My Darkest Secret which can be found in my profile page. I'll also be working on the cover page for the sequel so be on the look out for that too the title for the sequel is A Passage of Flame and Ashes. See yah next chapter. ^_^