Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto. It was created by and belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

"…are you all right?" Sasuke repeated, ignoring Elva's question. His concern sounded more forced now, as if Elva merely saying something was answer enough. She wasn't dead, obviously.

"I'm fine," Elva forced out, relieved she could be honest. The pain was starting to recede, to her great relief. She sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, resting her head on her knees. "…I have a headache, I guess," she admitted after a moment.

She heard him scoff from beside her, and when she had finally looked over to him, he was gone, now pacing back and forth in the little clearing that had been their meeting place. Elva felt panic rush through her as she realized what must have happened.

"It's fine," she said quietly, squeezing his hand lightly. Almost as suddenly as she had done so, though, she thought she saw someone – or something – in the shadows to her right, stepping toward her.

She was a day late for meeting Sasuke because she had been with Konohamaru, and she had forgotten because of Konohamaru. And now when Sasuke had fulfilled his threat and come looking for Elva, he had seen her and Konohamaru together, about to… Elva could hardly finish the thought. Sasuke had been following her the whole day, most likely. She looked at him again now, regret flooding into her system.

The transformation between the concerned Sasuke from moments before and the Sasuke now was amazing. Sasuke was clutching the katana hanging at his waist. Each time he began to lift it, he seemed to hesitate, then stopped, then would start taking it off his belt again. Only once did he glance at Elva, and when he did, shivers ran down her spine. His eyes were bright, the Sharingan burning. ""I'm going to kill him," he hissed to himself. "I'm going to find him and slaughter him. That disgusting bastard, I can't believe he tried to—"

It made Elva angrier and angrier listening to him, and soon she was on her feet as well, facing him. "You don't know what you're talking about!" Elva suddenly shouted, glaring at Sasuke. Her voice made him stop, jerking him out of his thoughts. "You had no right to drag me out here. Who fucking cares if I forgot to meet you yesterday? It doesn't give you any right to kill him. He didn't do anything wrong!"

Something in Elva's face must have made him calm down and try a different approach. "Elva, you need to be careful. I understand your…position…I was sixteen once, too," he was saying. Elva was shocked he remembered her birthday, but was too upset to say anything. "But you can't just…sleep with the first person you get obsessed with. It's not worth—"

"It's funny," Elva cut in, choking out the words, "how you think you can say all of this to me like you're my family when you know you're not." She knew there were better ways to stop him, but she could hardly think right now, without having to weigh different options.

Sasuke was silent for a long time now. When he spoke again, it was obvious his previous anger had returned, but controlled now. "If I…ever…see you with him again," he growled, his eyes blazing at her. "I will kill him," he finished, the force of his words leaving little doubt with Elva that he was lying. With that, he spun on his heel, stalking off into the forest, leaving Elva alone in the rain.

For the first time, Elva realized the tears streaming freely down her cheeks. She made no move to wipe them away, still too in shock to do anything. She just stood there, staring at the empty space where Sasuke had just stood. After what seemed like forever, she could just barely sense someone behind her, but couldn't bring herself to face him.

"Who was that?" Konohamaru was obviously attempting to hide his anger, but the point was made clear enough. He didn't trust her.

Elva forced her feet to work with her brain, turning her to slowly face him. "Who was that?" she repeated quietly, staring up at him in disbelief. "You think…I was cheating on you, don't you? Who do you think I am, Konohamaru?" she asked, her voice breaking in too many places.

"I don't know," he replied curtly, eyes narrowed at hers. It hurt Elva, more than she could imagine, to see him like that. After a long silence, he added, "Not anymore." At least there was sincerity in that sentence, even if it wasn't for the right reason.

Elva took a deep, shaking breath, trying to calm herself. "How can you say that?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper. "I haven't changed, Konohamaru. I-I'm…" She trailed off, but wasn't sure how to finish the sentence in a logical way.

Konohamaru seemed to be resisting the urge to do or say something when he took a step away from her, shadows falling over his face. "Exactly," he said, his voice now stronger, shaking with anger, "So how am I supposed to know who you are if you don't?" Before Elva could say anything else, he was gone, vanished in the shadows.

She had the urge to call after him, but her tears were coming so quickly now she didn't trust her own voice. A flash of lightning came out of nowhere, and it would have shocked her normally, but not now. She wished he were still close, just far away enough that she couldn't see him. She wanted to say something, she wanted to tell him everything.

There was one thing above all others she wished she could say, but she was too afraid to. I love you, she thought miserably. She wanted him to hear it, but she couldn't find her voice. Then, as if on cue, a flash of red shot across her vision, the most painful of all, sending shots of pain and agony all through her body. It took all of her strength just to stay on her feet, even as she cried out in pain.

Not only was this the most amount of pain Elva had ever felt in her life, it was also the longest lasting. For minutes she stood there, her legs shaking, about to give out. She wanted to shout for help, to find someone, to beg them to kill her. Anything was better than this. But just as she thought that, the pain began to recede, and her legs gave out, knees buckling beneath her.

Everything hurt when she hit the ground. Everything was still sore, as if she had just received a relentless beating. She ached all over. Even breathing hurt, her lungs screaming in protest. It was as if she had just experienced every time in the past few days the same thing had happened, she had seen red, and then been engulfed by pain, but times a hundred. She wondered what she had done wrong, wondering why this was happening to her.

Then her breath caught in her throat, heart nearly stopping. No, she thought to herself. Please, no.

Suddenly, her hands grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him as close as she could. She could feel her lungs deflating, but she didn't care. She needed air, but she wanted Konohamaru more. Just as her lungs started burning, and she was about to pull away, another bright flash of red clouded her vision.

She broke away immediately, gasping in air, cringing away in pain. Konohamaru loosened his grip on her waist, but still kept her close to him, worried. He didn't say anything, only watching her carefully, trying to figure out what was going on.

This time, the pain was much worse than the first time. Strangely, she was suddenly filled with a feeling of disgust toward Konohamaru, even though just moments before she could think of nothing but him.

Elva slowly drew in a deep, ragged breath.

"You didn't pull away from me because, even though I was obviously in pain, you still wanted to kiss me. That's probably not all you wanted to do with me, is it? Is that really all I am to you, Konohamaru?" Another sudden burst of anger again. "Just another girl you can have sex with?"

The weirdest sensation suddenly came over Elva. Sure, she was angry at Konohamaru, she felt that…but as the pain left, it almost left with her a certain clarity. She felt almost like she was repeating something someone who was right next to her was saying. What's wrong with me? she wondered to herself, scared.

Elva exhaled, another wave of pain hitting her as her lungs deflated. As she continued trying to breath carefully, she couldn't help but thinking one thing. I'm really going crazy, aren't I?

But she was right to think that, in a way. Why else would she be hallucinating, seeing red every time she kissed Konohamaru, wanted to be near him, thought of him? But also, strangely, the same thing had been happening whenever she had thought of her father. My father, she repeated to herself, and at that moment a brief burst of pain hit her, red in the corners of her vision.

This time neither the pain nor the red went away, staying with her, waiting. She grimaced, but refused to drop the thought. After several long seconds, she thought it again. My…dad. Another wave of pain, stronger this time, the red growing in intensity.

One more test. She could handle it. I love Konohamaru. That did it. If possible, more pain than she had felt the last time she had thought that invaded her system. All she could see was red, not letting up once. The tears that had unnoticeably stopped moments before suddenly started again, sobs escaping Elva's mouth. Now only one thought was crossing her mind, over and over. She couldn't stop it. Kill me, please! she shouted over and over, screaming in agony.

And just like that, the pain was gone. She was so suddenly at ease that Elva wondered for a second if she was dead. Finally her vision returned to her, and she blinked repeatedly, looking around. It took her a minute to realize she was still in the forest. But she was thinking something, something she couldn't get out of her mind.

"Why?" she suddenly asked, breaking the silence around her. Her breath came in ragged gasps now, hurting every time she inhaled. "Why don't you want me to be happy?" she half-shouted, as loud as she could. She was looking up at the sky, with as much hatred as she could muster. "Do you really find it so horrible that, for the first time, things are going right in my life? Am I right, Dad? Does it really hurt you that much?"

She could only imagine how crazy she sounded, all alone in the forest, yelling at her dead father. Still, she couldn't shake the notion that, somehow, she was right. "I am right, aren't I?" she then asked, quietly now. "It's you, isn't it? I'm not crazy." Then her tone grew angry. "But you know what? Sorry, but you're dead. I appreciate you trying to protect me, but you could've done it five years ago by not going on that fucking mission."

She couldn't stop herself now. "Did it ever cross your mind that maybe, just maybe, I was only ten years old? That I needed a father? Of course it didn't. You just left and…got yourself killed. And I found out on my birthday,no less. That's a great present, don't you think? To suddenly be a year older, and to find out that your father just died? Well, you know what? I don't know if you've realized, but today's my birthday, too. I'm sixteen, Dad. I'm not a little girl anymore. I can take care of myself. I don't need you."

Thunder crashed above her, stopping her from saying anything else. She was shaking now, but she couldn't tell if it was from how hard she was crying or from how angry she was. She stood there for an eternity, glaring up at the sky, waiting for another wave of pain to hit her. She was expecting it – she almost wanted it, she felt so horrible after saying what she had. It was true, though. At least she thought it was.

"…I hope you're happy," she muttered, mostly to herself this time, and turned away, heading back towards Konoha, wanting to be away from the clearing as fast as she could.

Author's Note:

Sasori-Chibi Lawl, you KNEW that would happen! Haha I remember now…haha I was planning that when you said it in a review, then I was all "THAT CLINCHES IT!" Um…yeah…Kisame's…clueless as of now.

AliKatNyah Yes, Elva and Konohamaru WERE acting VERY naughty…haha. One of my friends for some odd reason thought Elva was NINE when she read this, and was all "OMG, YOU SICK PERSON!" and then I was like "WHAT?!" and she reread it, and then was "Oh…but still!"

The Commander Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to disturb y'all TOO much. Well, actually, the point WAS to disturb you, at least a little. Glad it worked. But I sometimes see Konohamaru as young, too, just 'cause of the manga…still! Haha.

Okay, I'm sorry this chapter is short. There's no good excuse, I know. I'm just not in a good mood.

Not like an "I'm depressed" mood. I'm not depressed, don't worry. But like an "I'm terribly blue" mood. It's my own problem, so I decided to take off the whole reason why I'm feeling this way. Sorry for the insanely short Author's Note. You probably thought someone had taken over my computer when you saw how short this chapter was, haha. It's actually not that horribly short, it just looks like it because of the A / N.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Please review.

Love,

-Meri Umeko-