Chapter 11 : First Wave

Deidara punched at the training block in frustration, once, twice, three times. Kisame watched him with little interest and glanced down at Samehada. He was getting bored, they had all been sitting around on their asses for the past week without the slightest bit of action. It didn't help Itachi kept disappearing who knows where and their favourite flower girl had become surprisingly impossible to contact.

There was a loud crack and Deidara swore loudly as splinters of wood sank deep into his knuckles.

"You should probably go take anger management," Kisame commented offhandedly and Deidara shot him a scathing look.

He barked, "Shut up. I don't need it, yeah."

Deidara set to pulling each of the splinters out slowly and painfully, wincing as he did so. Silence fell between the two of them and Kisame watched him through unreadable obsidian eyes.

"You should just give up," Kisame said.

Deidara jerked in surprise and a blinding pain shot up his arm. He pulled out the blood covered splinter quickly and threw it on the floor. He growled, "What?"

"Haruno. She's in love with Itachi-san and she doesn't have time for you anymore," he answered mildly.

The mouths on Deidara's hands began to gnash their teeth anxiously and he clenched his fists. His body became tense and he could feel the anger simmering in the depths of his chest, ready to boil over and explode.

"I'm not stupid. I can tell you love the girl, hell, anyone could tell you're in love with her," Kisame continued.

Deidara immediately rounded on him, his sapphire eyes blazing in rage. He opened his mouth and spat, "You don't know what you're talking about, yeah. Sakura's not in love with Itachi, she's not stupid."

The black gaze Kisame fixed Deidara with made him uncomfortable. Doubt began to pool within Deidara's mind and he began to think things over. Unwanted memories cropped up.

- no! he wasn't and she had been so angry, outraged that somebody had criticized Itachi and jealousy raced through him -

- need to go home and she had been so willing to obey Itachi's orders, loyal like a servant, loyal like a wife, and he had grudgingly carried her home but she never actually saw him because her head had been too full of Itachi -

- heal them if they stay and fight! and Deidara knew she wasn't talking about Kisame, she was only talking about Itachi and everybody knew it -

"Even if she does love him, she's only going to get hurt," Deidara growled bitterly.

Kisame stated, "I know you don't want that to happen. Hurry up, or Itachi's going to get her."

He left Deidara and the room. Deidara stared after him in stunned silence.

Hinata had told me that Naruto wanted to see me and the slight flicker of suspicion in her eyes wasn't lost on me. I thanked her awkwardly before setting off to go see him.

- don't come back! he screamed after me and it needed to stop, it needed to stop stop stop -

I didn't think I could handle another confrontation with Sasuke. It would probably destroy me and I'd end up running back to the little river in the Uchiha District, my newfound place of sanctuary.

My footsteps were loud against the floor as I walked through the deserted tunnels underground. I drew towards Naruto's apartment and released the genjutsu, walking through it and knocking on his apartment door. There was a loud grating of a rusty doorknob and the wooden door swung open, revealing the grinning blonde.

"Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed happily and he yanked me inside, shutting the door behind me.

I immediately made a beeline for the messy couch and lay down on it, crossing my arms over my chest. I rested my head against a pillow that had been haphazardly thrown there. He lifted my legs and sat down on one end, propping them up on his lap. I grinned back at him, his smiles always were contagious.

"How're you?" I asked him.

"Could be better," he answered, pulling a face.

"What, are you saying you don't want me here?" I demanded in mock seriousness.

He steeled his expression and stated, "Yes."

"Alright, fine. I knew this was a waste of my time."

As I made to swing my legs off of his, he grabbed at them and kept them in place, laughing. I began to laugh as well and threw the pillow at him, which he caught and threw back at me twice as hard. I let out a muffled 'oof' as it smacked me in the face.

"You are an ass."

He stuck his tongue out and retorted, "You don't have one."

I kicked him and he made an effort to pull his legs close together in protection. Another wrestling match ensued and it ended with Naruto letting me win. Silences with Naruto were always awkward, I found, but he was the one to break it.

"You look like you're finally happy," he noted and I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

I smiled and sunk deeper into the sofa. I nodded and he smiled too, but it was a sad one. He confessed, "I mean, I'm glad you're happy and all, but it sucks I wasn't around to see it happen step by step."

"What, am I your lab experiment or something?" I asked with a slight frown.

He shook his head quickly and explained, "No, no…I meant that I thought I was a good enough friend to help you out but then it looks like you were just fine without me."

The melancholy look on his face was making me sad. I had completely forgotten how much I had missed Naruto, with all the Akatsuki members that were suddenly taking up most of my life and I swallowed painfully. Naruto had the biggest heart and he didn't deserve to be trapped underground like a prisoner. On impulse, I reached forwards and hugged him tightly. He returned the embrace and we sat like that for a long time, trying to make up for the time we had lost together.

"You helped me a lot, Naruto, I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for you," I told him quietly and his arms tightened around me. He coughed, his throat thick with emotion, and we both broke apart. I lay back down on the sofa and after a few minutes, a grin stretched across his face.

"So…who's the guy?" he asked with cheeky glimmer in his eye.

I shot him a blank look. "What guy?"

"You know...the guy," he stressed just as vaguely as before, only with some suggestive eyebrow movement.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Eventually he sighed loudly.

"I know somebody else must have made you this happy. Who is it?" he demanded.

I paused and tried to think of an answer to his question. Who had it been? It couldn't have been Itachi, I had been happier before he waltzed back into my life and if anything his presence had made things worse. I couldn't bring myself to regret it though, I was strangely grateful he was still alive. That still didn't answer the question though, who had helped me with my depression?

- I broke the wall? You were the one who punched me with your manly strength, yeah he snapped and for the first time in a long time, I felt something, I felt angry and the emotion seeped through me and I felt alive -

I knew instantly who the person was, though I wasn't sure how well Naruto would take it.

"Uh…I don't think you'll be too happy," I told him reluctantly and his eyebrows knit together in bemusement.

"Course I'd be happy, he helped you didn't he?" he said, waving a hand dismissively.

I took a deep breath in. "You know that guy who killed Gaara? The blonde guy from Akatsuki?"

"Yeah, he was such a bastar- wait a minute…"

I smiled nervously at him as his eyes narrowed to slits. I could see the inner struggle within him and I wouldn't blame him if he burst into a huge fit, especially since Deidara had actually killed one of his best friends. But I would greatly appreciate it if he didn't go and mutilate Deidara into tiny little pieces, since I did quite like the guy.

Finally Naruto sighed, the sound a mix of both frustration and defeat. He shut his eyes and in a mantra he began, "He made you happy. It's okay. Gaara's not dead."

Then he ventured, "So, what's he like?"

"Ara?" I said in surprise and he nodded stiffly.

I frowned. "Well, he's a bit of an asshole. Okay, he's a big asshole, but not as bad as Sasuke. He's got anger management problems and he likes blowing things up (don't ask) and he calls himself an artist. He's a bit loony as well and he says yeah at the end of every other sentence. He's really cynical and sarcastic and he calls me ugly – can you believe it? – and the first time we met he made me pay for a wall he broke. He's not a gentleman at all and he really pisses me off."

Then I smiled, a soft, absentminded smile. "He acts really tough all the time but sometimes, you can see that there's more to him than that. He jokes and laughs and cares for other people- he's not a heartless person at all. In fact, I think he's the most emotional Akatsuki member I've met."

Naruto had still said nothing up till this point, and I glanced at him. The look on his face was contemplative and I waited for him to say something. What he said next was unexpected.

"Sakura…do you love him?"

My mind went absolutely blank. All I could do was stare at him. When I had regained the ability to think and speak, I scoffed a bit too quickly.

"N-no, of course not, Ara's cool and all but I don't think I'd ever…" I took a deep breath in and continued, "Ever love him…"

I had to convince myself there was truth in those words, but it felt as though I was lying.

The incredibly loud explosion made the buildings of Konoha tremble and leaves fall from the trees in the Forest of Death. The green tea in a clay brown cup rippled and Itachi watched it through crimson orbs as it stilled again. He didn't even flinch when the cup suddenly cracked and tea began seeping through it onto the table. Kisame's eyes following the tea as it slid over to the edge of the table and dripped onto the floor.

The drips were painfully loud as they smacked against the cheap plastic tiling. Neither man made a move to clean the mess however, both simply watched as the liquid dripped…dripped…

"Backup needed! Calling medics and squads to the East Wall, we've been attacked by Sound!" a hurried, terrified voice rushed on their earpiece.

"God, these headsets are annoying. You want to go help them out?" Kisame asked Itachi.

"Hm."

Kisame grinned and said, "I thought so. Haruno's probably busting a gut up there though, fighting them all off-"

"And why are you telling me this?" Itachi asked coldly.

His partner shrugged and explained, "Just saying. I quite like her actually, she's not like all those simpering little kunoichi you see around nowadays. And she's not half bad on the eyes, though her hair is an annoying colour…"

An hour passed, in which neither of them said nothing.

Then an increasingly familiar voice, "Calling for backup, they've attacked the hospital-"

Sakura's words were cut off suddenly and the line went dead. Kisame frowned and readjusted his headpiece in case there was something wrong with it, but the thick silence that followed held a hint of foreshadowing. It was no surprise when they both heard the slam of a door and Deidara rushed past the doorway to the main hall. In fact, Kisame had actually expected it.

He let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. Now he'd have to go and baby sit Deidara. "I'm taking Deidara. You coming?"

Itachi shook his head once and Kisame left. He stared at the cooling tea on the table and shut his tired eyes.

When Kisame exited into the Forest of Death, he couldn't see Deidara anywhere. He swore loudly as he realized that the artist must have flown off to the hospital and set off quickly after him.

Deidara performed a spectacular backflip off of his bird as it nosedived below to the approaching Sound nin. He had judged the distance the explosion would reach and as it burst into crimson and red flames behind him, he was only slightly buffeted forwards by the force of it. The windows of the hospital rattled before stilling again. The nin below him weren't as lucky and as he landed, he glanced backwards to admire his handiwork.

The men lying on the floor were all, luckily, Sound ninjas. He didn't think Sakura would forgive him if a stupid Leaf ninja was caught in the explosion and, remembering Sakura, he ran towards the hospital.

There were figures in grey Sound uniform engaged in battle with the Leaf ninjas in the windows of the hospital and he paused, trying to look for a flash of pink. He didn't want to comb every single floor for Sakura because he would waste too much time.

He spoke into his headset urgently, "Sakura, what floor are you on? I-"

A loud, piercing sound cut him off and instinctively, he threw his hands up to shield himself as the glass in all of the windows shattered into tiny pieces. They fell to the ground like crystal droplets in a noisy shower, a part of him revelled in the beauty of it. Adjusting the scope over his left eye, he pressed a button and everything blurred into black and fuzzy blues and greens.

His scope could pick out chakra signatures. He had memorized Sakura's chakra signature by now and began to search for it through his scope. In an instant, he found it on the top floor of the hospital and began to scale the walls. There were no windows there, he realized and he would have to start from the third floor.

He jumped through the first window he found and ignored the dead bodies of Konoha medic-nin clogging up the hallway, stepping over them. Four white birds flew from his palms and followed him as he followed Sakura's chakra. She was running out quickly and it would only be a matter of time before she was completely out.

"…give it up, you're as good as dead," A sound ninja sneered at Sakura.

She was protecting the entrance to the ward for the most severely injured ninjas and the other medic with her looked as though he could barely stand up. It was clearly an unfair fight, there were seven Sound ninjas attacking them.

"Ninjas from Konoha never give up," Sakura snarled angrily and there was a muffled thump as the other medic with her fell to the floor, dead.

"Cut the bullshit, you self righteous bitch," another man spat at her.

She was suddenly slammed against the door to the ward and had been unable to react quickly enough because she was so tired. In her daze, they threw her to the floor and pinned her down. Her headpiece activated itself. She was struggling violently enough that three of the men had to restrain her and the squad leader punched her across the face. Deidara could hear everything through his headset.

"How much time do we have?" one of the Sound ninjas asked.

The leader smirked sickeningly and Sakura felt her stomach clench as he answered, "Enough."

Suddenly, he was ripping at her clothes and she screamed, trying to lash out at him. He took a kunai and slashed it against her arm, a warning, but he cut deeper than he should have. She couldn't fight them off, she was fatigued from fighting for the past hour non stop. When she thrashed again, she was stabbed with a kunai, first in her shoulder and then in her upper arm.

The blood mingled with her sweat and made the wound sting. She continued struggling, bucking and trying to rip her hands free from the men who held her down. Her shirt tore messily with a loud rip and the leader punched her again. Her head cracked to the side as he dislocated her jaw and she coughed loudly as she choked on her own blood.

"Stop!" she screamed, "Let go of me, you bastard!"

Her pants were being yanked down by them and there were so many hands grabbing at her body. She shouted and thrashed against them but there were too many of them. She clamped her legs together and somebody held her head in a bruising grip, keeping her from moving it. Her legs were pried open and a kunai accidentally cut deep into her inner thigh as she struggled, the blood running down her legs. She felt a hand at her entrance and screamed.

The name slipped from her lips before she could help herself, "Deidara!"

The moment her scream reached Deidara's ears, he pushed himself to run faster, faster, faster. Her yells and screams were echoing in his ears and he heard a loud crack as bone broke. A group of men came into his line of sight and they were all crouched on the floor around Sakura. He saw red.

He threw his kunai as hard as he could and it pierced the leader's skull, slamming through it and out the other side. The men holding Sakura immediately released her and turned to face Deidara, but they weren't fast enough as he smashed the first ninja he got his hands on into the wall. Their spine broke and they crumpled to the floor lifeless, but Deidara wasn't in a forgiving mood and brought his foot down on their head. The disgusting crunch that followed splattered him with warm blood.

The new kunai in his hand was stabbed into a man's chest and was stabbed again, and again, and again and the blood spurted up in a jet of crimson. The man was screaming, shrieking in pain and Deidara threw him to the side carelessly. The man jerked and shuddered, Sakura could clearly see his mutilated lungs. Deidara moved onto the next victim.

When Deidara was finished, he stood with his back towards Sakura. He turned his head slightly so that his icy blue gaze met her emerald one. Her body was curled inwards on itself and she hugged her knees to her chest defensively. Her shirt was mangled and her pants were on the other side of the room, covered in the blood of one of the remains of a Sound ninja.

His voice was unexpectedly harsh and made her flinch when he spoke, "Did they do anything to you?"

He moved and knelt in front of her so that they were at eye level, his scope dangling from his hand. His front was covered in blood and his cheeks were smeared with the crimson substance, his body taut with his still not completely spent rage. Sakura couldn't speak, couldn't say anything- he had just mutilated the Sound ninjas before her eyes and he had been so ruthless, so…so terrifying. She didn't want to believe that he was capable of such a thing but he was and she would have been an idiot not to say it hadn't scared her.

His eyes were still so cold. It hurt her to look at him and she averted her eyes quickly.

She finally found her voice, but it was quiet and weak, "N-no."

Deidara's hand clenched instinctively, and he looked every bit an S Class murderer. Sakura couldn't stand it, this wasn't her Deidara, he was human,and she hated seeing him like this, she hated it, hated it, hated it-

Her trembling hands cupped the sides of his face.

She whispered his name, "Deidara."

Immediately, his blue eyes widened. The life flooded back into them and they became a warmer blue. His hand rose and held hers in place, as their gazes held each others. The rage dissipated into nothingness and she kissed him gently, his body relaxing.

From a far way away, Kisame watched them. It had been a long time since Deidara had been as angry as that, he mused, and it was no mean feat that Sakura had been able to calm him down so quickly. Even though Deidara had killed the ninjas so quickly, there had been no skill involved at all. It had just been mindless killing, and Kisame frowned. Deidara wouldn't stand a chance against Itachi if he fought like that.

When Sakura pulled away from Deidara, his fingers ran through her hair. She smiled at him and then he became aware of how much she was bleeding. Her blood pooled around her and seeped through the fabric of his pants. She collapsed.

All the medics in the hospital were out of chakra or dead and they wouldn't be able to do anything for her. It was ironic. Sakura was half naked and Deidara quickly draped his cloak around her before scooping her up in his arms. Kisame made his presence known by approaching them with quick strides.

"There are more medics at the East Wall, you have to hurry or else she'll die of blood loss," Kisame informed him quickly and Deidara nodded, unable to conjure words.

"They're attacking the compound," a voice so smooth you could run your hands over it and not come over any bumps, spoke into their earpiece.

In a split second, Deidara had jumped onto one of his birds and was off, flying towards the East Wall. Kisame returned to fight with Itachi and was momentarily stunned by the sheer amount of ninjas surrounding the chuunin examination hall.

There were at least fifty ninjas, he mused and he could clearly pick out Itachi fighting in an area far away from Hidan and Kakuzu. It was obvious he could not fight with them, he would only screw up their team dynamics and in a way he was being courteous for not going to them. Kisame took a step back before breaking into a fast sprint, and he used the hilt of Samehada to vault himself high into the air over the ninjas. The bandages around Samehada unravelled themselves and kunai clattered against it as he used it as a shield.

He landed a few feet away from Itachi who acknowledged his presence by meeting his gaze quickly. Kisame grinned in response and from the damp ground he conjured three more water bunshins who surrounded Itachi as he flashed through hand signals. They protected him and Itachi inhaled deeply.

"Katon! Housenka no jutsu!"

Flames burst from his mouth and caused the water bunshin in front of him to evaporate. The impressive hovering fireballs immediately went for their targets and burned them to death.

As Kisame slashed with Samehada, Itachi covered Kisame's blind points easily by throwing needles with terrifying accuracy that slammed into the necks of unsuspecting ninjas. An ice user slammed his hands against the ground and it turned to ice, causing them to skid slightly on the slippery surface. Itachi made hand signals for another fire jutsu and it turned the ice to water within seconds.

"Kisame."

"I know!"

The water rose from the ground and hardened into trembling needles of water that hovered expectantly around Kisame. He swirled Samehada over his head once and then slammed it into the ground. The needles shot off in random directions, smashing through eyes and piercing through skulls. Itachi was currently locked in hand to hand combat with three other ninjas and as he kicked one man in the chest hard. Blood spurted from it and a hidden blade in Itachi's shoe was revealed.

"Where is the girl?" Itachi demanded and Kisame nearly stopped fighting to gape at him in shock. He was worried about Sakura?

Kisame recovered quickly and blocked another onslaught of kunai. He replied, "She's not in a good way, Deidara took her to the medics."

"Hey, you fucktards! Get out of the way!" Hidan shouted to them, his hands in prayer position.

Instinctively, Kisame and Itachi left as fast as they could- and not a moment too late. A huge blue light consumed the battlefield and they both squinted as it became too bright. When it died down, all the ninjas in the field were but black char marks in the ground and Hidan was on one knee, gasping for breath. Kakuzu appeared beside him and when Kisame turned to address Itachi, he realized he wasn't there.

Itachi was running towards the East Wall, he knew Sasuke would be there. He had to find him and his plans were finally falling into place, he couldn't allow any mistakes. The East Wall came into sight and he dashed through the frenzy, looking for a single head of spiky black hair.

"Kiba, behind you!" a voice that had changed so much shouted, and Itachi swivelled.

The dog ninja they had rescued some time ago was fighting tooth and nail beside his brother. They were both separated by a sudden explosion and Itachi knew it was his chance. He ran towards Sasuke, he had to find some way of getting his attention…

Immediately, he knew exactly what to do. His fingers flashed through hand signals and he inhaled deeply.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

A great torrent of flame burst from his lips and it was so powerful that everyone surrounding him stopped and stared. One of these people was Sasuke and the moment their eyes met, he knew that the first step of his plans had been achieved. Sasuke was running towards him, his face contorted in anger and Itachi simply watched him approach with a cool expression.

Kiba grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of his collar and pulled him back, hissing, "We've got a war to fight, you bastard, don't run off on us now to fight your brother. He's on our side."

"You knew?" Sasuke spat, outraged and Kiba nodded.

Sasuke pushed Kiba away from him roughly and looked up again to attack Itachi. Up ahead, he saw a gigantic white bird with a man dressed in Akatsuki robes and he felt something clench in his stomach. He ran towards it and, using chakra, jumped as high as he could. The distinctive clash of metal on metal was heard.

"What the hell are you doing, yeah? I'm on your side, asshole!" Deidara hissed at him and Sasuke landed back on the ground. It had been the wrong person and he swore loudly, combing the crowd for Itachi.

Deidara spotted Kiba and swooped down to him. He leaned over the side of the bird and yelled, "Hey, dog boy, where are the medics?"

Kiba squinted up at him and shouted back, "They're further back, near the Academy."

Deidara nodded and flew off, gripping Sakura tightly to himself. He had pressed his hands against the worst of her wounds in an attempt to staunch the blood flow and the mouths on his hands were gagging from the acrid taste. Adjusting his scope, he zoomed in and began to look for the Academy.

He brought his bird down to land and before he had even hit the ground, he jumped off with Sakura in his arms and began running. He stumbled at first and regained his footing. The bird set off again in the direction of the battlefield. The first person he spotted was Ino and he shouted out to her.

"Ino! Ino, you have to help her!"

The moment Ino's eyes had fallen upon Sakura's limp body and the blood gushing from underneath his hands, she had run towards him. He dropped to his knees and laid Sakura down as Ino began to heal her. Sakura began to regain consciousness and the first thing she saw was Deidara's face.

"Ara…?" she whispered his name in a hoarse voice.

His bloodstained hand was combing through her hair in a soothing manner, not to soothe her but calm himself. He could feel his heart hammering against his ribcage and he couldn't ever remember being so scared. It was worse now because he was so much closer to losing her and it felt like he would lose everything, it was unreasonable but it made sense in his frantic mind.

She sucked in a deep breath and coughed, blood flying from her mouth as she did so. Ino swore loudly and began pushing more chakra in, more and more, but Sakura was running out of blood-

Her hand groped for Deidara's and she gripped it tightly as her back arched off of the ground. Her breath was coming in gasps now and her face was a deathly pale. Ino was in tears and she was panicking.

Ino began screaming, "Get someone over here! I need help!"

Deidara's hand was stroking her cheek, he was holding her hand impossibly tight and his expression was contorted in frustration and anger. "Sakura, Sakura, shit, you can't just die on me. Come on…come on…"

- nobody deserves that and she wouldn't be able to keep Itachi company anymore and it hurt because she wanted to stay with him, wanted to help him -

- somebody else must have made you this happy it was Deidara, he was always making her smile and laugh and even when he was annoying her she was still happy -

And she knew what she had to do.

"Souzou Saisei: Genesis of Rebirth."

Next Chapter Preview : Forever
(Warning- this is a pretty intense chapter)

"She never forgave herself."

"You've cut your lifespan by another ten years, Sakura, you won't live to be thirty."

"My team is going to Sound without me?"

"Sakura, you didn't know?"

"Are you happy, Itachi? Are you happy now?"

Presenting…Selandora!

What took you so long to update?!
I was sort of away in Europe. :S I wrote lots of stuff but the problem is I need to redo quite a bit of it since some things are really stupid. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

Is Kisame worried about Sakura?
Yeah. He's become attached to her (even though I haven't really put many bonding scenes with those two in) and believes Deidara treats her better. Personally, I agree with Kisame.

What's with the cup cracking before Deidara runs off to save Sakura?
I think this is a Japanese thing, but if a cup cracks then it's a bad omen. I picked that up from Rurouni Kenshin (man, I love that series) a I'm trying to find a way to squeeze the sneeze saying in. "If you sneeze, then somebody's talking about you."

Shouldn't Naruto be angrier about Sakura being best friends with Deidara?
Naruto has been with Sakura from the beginning of her depression so he knows how bad and difficult it was for her. If somebody helped her out of it, regardless of who they were, he would have been grateful.

Wait, why did Sakura kiss Deidara?
…because she loves him, duh. Nah, I'll give you a better answer. She was so scared of seeing him in that monstrous way that she was so relieved to see him back to normal. Henceforth, the kiss.

How come Deidara wouldn't be able to defeat Itachi the way he was when he completely lost control? He was so powerful!
Deidara is full of raw power which stems from his anger, much like Naruto. He's meant to be a long-range fighter so that naturally means his short-range isn't as good. His anger took over which means that even though he was moving really fast and powerfully, he had loads of openings for someone to land a hit. If he was against Itachi, he'd be kind of screwed.

Whoa, wait, how does Sasuke fit into Itachi's plans?
Sasuke is Itachi's back up in case things go wrong. I won't say anymore than that.

Is Sasuke going to end up being an ass in this story?
Well, since I hate him, he probably will. I haven't really gotten to the end yet. :S

Why's Sasuke so hellbent on making Sakura the bad guy?
This is partly explained in the next chapter. The other part of it is that Sasuke is incredibly possessive, he never thought she'd love anybody but him. Then she fell for Itachi and he's become kind of jealous.

Does Itachi like seeing other people's pain?
NO! Itachi does not like seeing other people's pain.

Why does Itachi seem to unconsciously follow Sakura around?
You'd never get him to admit it but he does like her presence. He's quite a lonely guy, that one.

Is the random question game really important in this story?
Nope. At least I don't think so. (hm…)

Itachi avoided the one question that was personal in the random question game. Is that because he won't or he can't?
It's a bit of both really. There's going to be this huge massive truth revealed about Itachi's character a couple of chapters from now so it'll make more sense then. If I was to give you a straight answer, it would be because he can't give her an answer or else it'll put his plan in jeopardy.

Did that Claymore thing really happen?
It did actually. There are too many Claymore freaks in our year, I'm the only one who's so obsessed with Naruto (hence the fanfiction).

Have you finally decided who the final pairing is going to be?
Yes. I've known all summer long so do not worry anymore guys. : )

P.S. Special thanks to Pandastacia, mintxrain, Hiei's Cute Girl, Evil's Worst Nightmare, Hikari Adams and Crazy Neko Girl for the questions. Extra thanks to Namimakura who gave me the longest review ever and Juniper11 who reviewed Defining Evil, Is There a Ninja in Your Pants? and Defining Duty eight times in one day.

Here's another anime moment.

"You know, I don't know what's sadder. The fact that I'm studying Naruto ninjutsu instead of English literature, or the fact that I considered studying for English."
"Let me ask Lil."

"She said the second one."
- me and JJ

Selandora (thanks everybody who's put up with her so far.)