CHAPTER 21- Love
Disclaimer: Yes, I indeed own Naruto. HAHAHAHAHA Joke of the year.
OMG. 12 reviews to this story having 200 reviews! Oh pretty please, do hit that review button and write your comments about the story so far! I've got lots of stuff to juggle on my hands now, so updating isn't easy ^^ Sorry for the ultra long update ): I seriously love you guys, though I'm not a fantastic writer, you guys still motivated me by your reviews! Love you!
"What?" Sasuke tried to decipher what Itachi had just said.
"You heard me."
"What the hell were you implying?" Sasuke got to the point, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Exactly what I had said, Sasuke. You died." Itachi muttered, only loud enough for Sasuke to hear.
"Fact is, I didn't!" Sasuke growled.
"Your physical self did not, but your emotions, your soul, everything that made the younger brother I once had is now gone. All of it…Replaced with darkness, vengeance, and denial of love." Itachi stepped forward. Sasuke just kept quiet, expecting Itachi to continue.
"Your inner, true self died. Your warm, caring and loving heart died. Tell me, when was the last time you told someone that you loved them?" Itachi shot a question at the now dazed Sasuke.
"Since…" Sasuke started, muttering the last part, making Itachi look at him confused.
"What? Repeat it, please."
"Since the time…" Sasuke still muttered the last part softly.
"Loud and clear, please."
"SINCE THE TIME YOU WERE STILL WITH ME IN KONOHA. I TOLD YOU I LOVED YOU, OKAY?" Sasuke snapped, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits, sending his infamous glare to his older brother.
"Really now? What about Sakura-san? You haven't told her you loved her yet?" Itachi raised his brow, causing Sasuke to shut his eyes.
"What in the world gave you the impression that I loved her?"
"See, Sasuke? As I said, your heart once filled with love, has now been replaced with darkness and denial of love." Itachi chuckled.
"I do not love her."
"And the sky is made out of potatoes floating mid air." Itachi smirked.
"What? I do not."
"You do."
"Do not!"
"You do."
"Do not!"
"You do."
"DO NOT!"
"You do."
"YOU BASTARD, I SAID I DO NOT LOVE HER."
"Oh yeah?"
"Challenge me!"
"Mangekyo Sharingan!"
With Sakura
"What're they saying? I can't hear anything! Last thing I heard was Sasuke screaming that he told Itachi he loved him in Konoha, and him cursing Itachi, saying he didn't love her." Sakura scratched her head, trying her utmost best to hear their conversation, them suddenly lowering their volume, except reckless Sasuke of course.
"Then again… Who is the girl Sasuke's denying his love for?" Sakura closed her eyes, trying to recall him mentioning of any other girl. It couldn't be Karin, right? What she didn't realize was the emotion, jealousy running around her confused heart.
"Sakura… Sakura…" Suigetsu looked around.
"Damn! I forgot the directions!" He groaned. He looked around the ground, trying to find traces of anyone being in the area he was at, and looked up at the sky, he let his whole body fall flat onto the ground, admiring the sky above him.
"What now…Sakura's in danger, Sasuke's gone mad, their village is in chaos, and I can't find Sakura…" Suigetsu closed his eyes, and started observing the sky.
Weird…The sky was clear blue just now, and now it has a little greyish pigment in it… From what I remember, there's a certain smell when the rain's coming. Plus, the sky would slowly turn grey, not just have a grey string of colour running through the air… Suigetsu narrowed his eyes, trying to conclude something. He suddenly sat up.
"Grey sky equals to pollution, pollution equals to smoke, smoke equals to fire, fire equals to battle, battle equals to Sasuke, Sasuke equals to Sakura! DAMN I'M FREAKING SMART!" Suigetsu started running towards the direction of where the smoke was coming from, screaming in happiness.
"Just a long way to go!"
"Chidori!" "Rasengan!" Both Kakashi's clones charged towards Kisame. Kisame tried dodging them both, not taking notice that Kakashi had disappeared. He dodged them both and laughed in victory.
"Hah! SUCKER, I dodged both of your sissy attacks!" Kisame taunted. He then started looking around, startled when he saw that Kakashi was not there.
"Stop hiding, white hair! Come out wherever you are!" Kisame rolled his eyes, when suddenly, a grey dog came up to him.
"Aww, what's a cute little dog doing out here?" Kisame's eyes softened as he bent down to pat the dog. He had always been fond of animals, says the information book of the Akatsuki. Suddenly, the dog bit him, and Kisame felt something stinging on his back.
"It's called summoning a dog to help you out in battles, Kisame, and you fell for it." Kakashi's voice came from behind him.
"…Damn it."
"CHIDORI!"
"What's this?" Sasuke looked around frantically, confused at his whereabouts.
"Try remembering this, Sasuke." Itachi's voice came out of nowhere as two figures came to sight. Sasuke looked closely, only to see that the two people were Shisui and himself.
"Sasuke! Today's your first day at the academy eh?" Shisui smiled as he ran towards Sasuke. "Shisui-san! Yup, but father wouldn't go for the opening ceremony…" Sasuke sighed.
"It's okay…I'm sure he was busy. Hey now, are there any cute girls in your class that you're interested in now?" Shisui grinned, causing Sasuke to blush. "N-no! All the girls there are so irritating… all they do is scream my name and tell me they love me when they don't... Shisui-san, why is that so?" Sasuke asked. "Hmm…must be because you've got an extremely cute face and a weird hairstyle that actually fits you!" Shisui answered, laughing. Sasuke pouted for awhile then started laughing too.
"Sasuke-kun!" A young Sakura shouted for Sasuke.
"Who's the pink haired cutie?" Shisui whispered to Sasuke. "She's just a classmate! And she's not cute…" Sasuke blushed.
"Hah, right. You've got me 'fooled' alright. Treat your girl right and capture her heart, before someone else does." Shisui winked at Sasuke.
"O-oi! I don't like her or anything! I mean she is a bit different from the other girls and she is pretty cute and sweet, an- wait…I just don't like her okay!" Sasuke's eyes broadened and he blushed many different shades of red when he realized he was trailing off and looked away.
"What a lousy liar, Sasuke… Ahah, go ahead and see what she wants!" Shisui laughed as he pushed Sasuke forth and listened in on their conversation.
"Sasuke-kun, Iruka-sensei asked for you! He's in the teacher's lounge." Sakura told Sasuke, who in turn just looked away and replied with an "Aa" before walking past her and into the school building.
Shisui closed his eyes and smiled as he muttered to himself, "He so likes her."
End of flashback
"What's this supposed to mean?" Sasuke growled.
"You don't get it? You liked her, it was just a childish crush back then."
"… I don't believe you."
"More? I'll show you all the genin ones at one shot."
"What genin-AHHH!" Sasuke was whirled into another place once again. Memories of team 7 came flushing back, from the time they first met to the time he left. Many familiar scenes started popping up in front of him, and Itachi explained them all.
The first introductions…"My name is Sakura Haruno! I like…hehehe! I want to be…hehehe…One thing I dislike is…Naruto!" You were blushing when she said that.
The day you became a team…"Loneliness…you'll never understand the pain of having no parents…" You told her something so important and personal.
During the bell test…"That was Sakura's voice! What happened to her?" You were concerned when she screamed.
In the land of waves… "Sasuke-kun!" She was startled when you suddenly appeared in front of her, protecting her.
While fighting Haku… "That was Sakura, what the hell is Kakashi doing out there?" You cared once again for her well being.
In the forest of death when Orochimaru bit you…"AHHH!" You screamed in pain and willingly collapsed into her hands, trusting her.
In the forest of death…"Sakura…Who did this to you…?" You asked her, when she was beaten up when you were unconscious.
While fighting Gaara… "Naruto…take Sakura…and run as far as you can…I don't want to see my precious ones being taken away from me all over again…" You treated her as one of your 'precious ones'.
After Gaara had been defeated… "Take care of Sakura…" You sadly said to Pakkun, silently thanking her for saving you.
"Naruto…he saved you, not me, Sakura." You seethed, jealous that you weren't the one who saved her.
Sasuke looked at all the scenes happening before him with great shock as Itachi started explaining them all, until a final scene came out.
When you left…"Sakura…Thank you for everything."
You thanked her, resisting the urge to tell her you loved her too.
With that, Sasuke blacked out.
With Sakura:
"Seriously…What the hell is going on?" Sakura seethed softly, annoyed that she couldn't hear a thing. Sasuke and Itachi just stood there, unmoving.
"Could it be that Sasuke's in a genjutsu?" She said to herself.
"Yes, I can feel some chakra up ahead! It must be them, Here I come, Sakura!" Suigetsu grinned as he increased his speed.
"What the…" Sasuke rubbed his eyes, as he awakened.
"Itachi…" He seethed, ,when Itachi appeared from the shadows.
"You're still in the genjutsu, Sasuke. Believe me now?" Itachi raised his eyebrows.
"All of those link up to me treating her as a comrade!" Sasuke gritted his teeth in stubbornness.
"You sure about that? Don't tell me you want me to show you more…" Itachi walked towards him.
"What do you mean more?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"You know? When you reunited with her. She wasn't how you expected her to be like, was she?" Itachi pressed on.
"What?"
"I'll show you, again." Itachi said, as the scenes started coming in again.
When they first reunited; Sasuke being shocked by the new Sakura.
When he asked her to join the team.
When she had tried to escape and Sasuke had prevented her from doing so.
When the two of them were in the hotel room and Sasuke started a conversation.
When he had ran into the female hot springs to get Sakura, knowing that she had collapsed in there.
When he got worried, knowing that Sakura had been captured by Kabuto.
When he got distracted, finally finding Sakura, and falling for a simple trap set up by Kabuto.
When he got jealous, when he saw Sakura fall on top of Suigetsu.
When his inner almost made him kiss Sakura.
When he reflected on how he had treated her, when she insisted on staying though Naruto had met them.
When he had been worried about her leaving the team, since Naruto was already there.
When jealousy arose, seeing Sakura's lips brushing against Deidara's.
When he was angered, Sasori daring to actually kiss Sakura.
When they had met Idate again, and him getting jealous everytime Idate mentioned Sakura and flirting with her.
When he battled with Idate, using very lame methods of competition.
When he helped Sakura dye her hair back, and fought back the urge to chop Idate's head off when Idate threatened on doing it himself.
When he had put a tracking device on Sakura, being concerned about her.
When he went all frantic, knowing Sakura was in a battle without him.
When he actually cried slightly, thinking Sakura had died in the battle with 'Kisame'.
When he unknowingly snapped Dark Sakura out of Sakura by telling her all her good points.
Sasuke, wide-eyed, fell to the ground, panting at the experience he just had.
"Little brother, I've taken so much time and effort just to show you all these. Love shouldn't be explained, you know. Do you believe me now?" Itachi looked down at him, dispelling the mangekyo sharingan. Sasuke just kept silent, shocked by the latest news flash.
"I…love her?" Sasuke mouthed out.
"You lost the emotion of love all this time, because you were so focused on getting revenge. Revenge had clouded your heart, thus you were not able to know what you were feeling. Now you do." Itachi continued.
"I love her…" Sasuke started registering that fact into his mind.
"Yeah, without knowing. Just try remembering the times when you got jealous when a guy got near to her, or when you were over protective." Itachi walked closer to him.
Suddenly, Sasuke's shocked face turned into one of anger.
"Shut up, Itachi."
"What?"
"Shut the freaking hole on your mouth up!"
"Oh, so you're angry now?"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Sasuke yelled, face having anger written all over it.
"Let's get this straight. You're angry at Sakura-san?"
"NO!"
"Oh. So what, don't tell me you're angry at me."
"Yes, but that's not the main point!"
"Ah…I get it. You're angry at yourself for actually loving her."
"…"
"And, for not figuring that out sooner. You're dense, you airhead." Itachi commented. Sasuke's face turned annoyed in a flash.
"You're distracting me, aren't you!" He stood up, glaring at Itachi.
"Excuse me?"
"You're distracting me from the battle!" Sasuke seethed, and began doing handsigns.
"It's all ready now, all the chakra I've stored, and that fire jutsu has finally gotten the clouds to gather." Sasuke continued, smirking.
"I'll give you one last chance…" Sasuke trailed off.
"Why did you kill the clan?"
"…"
"Your chance is over." Sasuke bawled. Curse seal still all over him, he started chanting and doing hand signs in a very fast pace. Itachi just tried to figure out what technique Sasuke was doing, but couldn't make out anything. Itachi looked up at the sky, and saw that there were dark clouds, being there as though they had been more than fifteen minutes ago.
"Why do you think I used that tiring great fire technique and directed it to the sky?" Sasuke challenged Itachi, who just stood there awaiting his answer.
"I don't do things without a reason in battles, Itachi. That technique is supposed to draw out thunder clouds. Now that it's ready…" Sasuke panted from the huge amount of chakra that was used up.
"The entire Uchiha stronghold has already been destroyed, what other damage do you want to cause?" Itachi questioned.
"Damage on you. Using the curse seal would only make this technique more powerful…" Sasuke trailed off, taking a few steps back.
From where Sakura was, she could only gape. What is Sasuke doing? I've never seen this technique before…
"Itachi." Sasuke smirked in triumph. Itachi narrowed his eyes.
"Pack your bags, you're going to hell." Sasuke grinned maliciously as he yelled,
"KIRIN!"
Me: DENGDENGDENG, Oh my...
Gaara: Hn.
Me: Oh hey sandy, how's it going?
Gaara: Sandy...?
Me: Yup. Yknow? Sand village? Sandy? Ahahaha- fine fine.
Gaara: Read, review and give ideas.
Me: Wait ideas aren't really needed cos I got most of it planned out already.
Gaara: But that's the line everyone else says.
Me: Then change it.
Gaara: ...Read and review and stay tuned. How's that?
Me: You used 'and' twice in a sentence, genius.
Gaara: Don't make me make you a sand coffin.
Me: Sheesh, fine.