Nerine

"Sasuke," I called his name, knowing that he wouldn't bother hurting me.

He turned around, seeming to know who it was already. "That was quick."

"You think that I'm here for you?" I growled. "I am here to prove a point."

"You need no proof to show that you are weak without mine or the Akatsuki's help," Sasuke smirked.

My eyes trailed down to a lifeless body that collapsed near the wreckage. That red hair was familiar. His former teammate? What was he planning on doing with her?

My eyes crawled back to Sasuke's and I said, "I'm not going back."

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke's smirk disappeared, looking more and more peeved as the seconds ticked by.

I clenched by fist. Why was I here again? To prove to my brother that I didn't need to be taken care of? To prove to him that Sasuke didn't mean a thing to me?

If Sasuke didn't mean anything, then why was I standing right by him?

I mumbled, "Because everyone in the village thinks I'm weak."

He scoffed. "It's not so much of a thought as it is a fact."

I hissed through my teeth, "They believe that they should protect me from you. They think that I cannot handle myself around you."

Sasuke was solemn. "You can't."

"Yes, damn it, I can!"

"Is that why the last time I saw you, you were almost naked with your legs wrapped around me?" Sasuke tilted his head knowingly.

My eyes widened, and my anger boiled even more. "You took advantage of me."

"You know what it was," Sasuke replied. "Nerine, you may question your abilities and the people around you constantly…"

I listened to see where he was heading with this. I lifted my head to get a better vision of him.

"But you already know the answer."

His hands sparked, signalling that his chidori was well on its way to attack. I took a cautious step back, and touched the pocket that held my kunai. Sasuke gave me a serious glance before facing his former teammate on the ground. Just as his hand was charged up, a familiar voice screamed.

"Sasuke!"

My eyes followed the sound of a girl's desperate cry, as did Sasuke's.

"So it's Sakura…" His voice sounded menacing, tougher than with me.

"Nerine…" I heard her murmur, looking taken aback.

"S-Sasuke! Let me join you! I will abandon the village like you!" Sakura pled, regaining her composure after seeing me. "Please! I've always regretted not going with you ever since you left! I'll do anything…"

My eyes squinted as I observed the girl's behaviour. This wasn't said during the discussion in Konoha… What was she playing at?

"Hn," Sasuke demanded, as he took a glimpse at his weak teammate on the ground. "Kill her, and then I'll believe you."

My eyebrows furrowed. Was Sakura capable of doing something like that? To simply kill? She looked troubled. Sakura brought herself to our side of the bridge and stared at the vulnerable redhead. She sent me a livid stare, as if she was asking me, 'why are you here?'

"What will you do, Sakura…?" I mumbled under my breath.

"The question is; what will you do, Nerine?" She glared, grabbing a kunai hastily.

I stepped back as my defences went on, and I'm not sure where Sakura was about to land her hit, but something distracted me to know.

"Sa—!" I gasped as I saw electricity spark through his hands; he made a straight segue towards Sakura's body. He intended to kill her…

Before his chidori made contact, a silver blur jumped his arm and his attack had missed. Sasuke escaped the clutch of my brother's sharp strings with his substitution technique. His real form jumped down from the large tree that loomed above us and I felt a firm arm grab my waist before my stomach dropped from the high jump that Sasuke took to distance ourselves from Kakashi.

"Sasuke!" I yelped as I struggled out of his arms.

"Nerine," Kakashi glared, "I specifically forbade you from leaving the village, no matter what you heard."

My anger resurfaced and I growled, "Why? Why, brother? Forbidding me to leave the village is your way to protect me? Furthermore, 'protect'? I never needed protection, Kakashi. I don't need to have the entire village speak about me behind my back… Do you know how humiliated I felt?"

"I was only doing that to stop you from getting hurt," Kakashi replied, clearly grieving over the situation he found himself in. "The Uchiha's bring you nothing but trouble, Nerine."

I was in disbelief. I seethed, "And I suppose the Uchiha's bring you all kind of gifts?" He knew well enough that I was referring to his Sharingan. I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.

Kakashi looked surprised – I don't think he would've thought that I'd pull on such a sensitive topic.

"That's enough. Come back, now," Kakashi demanded; his aura radiated anger and solemnity.

I took a step back. "I don't know if I should."

"You are being too influenced by Sasuke, Nerine. You have to realise that whatever I do for you, I only do to keep you happy!" He yelled.

My chest sunk. "Then why aren't I?"

Kakashi was stunned and Sasuke scoffed in the background. "Nerine isn't happy because she is without me… Kakashi."

"Sasuke…" Kakashi seethed. "I'm not going to let you cause the Leaf more trouble than you already have. I'm putting an end to this."

"You act like you can fight me," Sasuke smirked. "I've been itching to kill you, Kakashi."

"Wait…" I mumbled. "Wait, don't do this!"

The once calm river under the large bridge was jolted so much by Naruto and Sasuke's attacks; the force of their signature moves created a strength that was enough to push the former Team Seven in all directions. Kakashi saved Naruto from hitting the rocks and Zetsu sprung out of Sasuke's back and cushioned his hit against the cliff's wall.

I, on the other hand, had no sort to save me. It opened my eyes. Kakashi wouldn't hold my back, and Zetsu sure didn't see why he should protect my fall. My body flew smack bang, right into the cliff's jagged rocks. I yelped in pain as I felt a crack in my rib, only hoping nothing happened to my spine. I fell right back into the river's waves and struggled to use my chakra to stand upright.

I groaned, "Damn it…"

Suddenly, a strange vortex appeared in thin air, and Madara's body formed within seconds.

"Madara…" I winced and held my rib.

He glanced over at me and said, "Oh… So you've returned?"

Naruto talked and talked about his friendship with Sasuke, and Sasuke only returned with remarks that questioned his motives. Sasuke was in disbelief that Naruto would hold onto him so tightly, and Naruto only smiled.

"Naruto… I'll take care of this," Kakashi walked forward as he stared at me; his Sharingan still activated. I stared right back, and after a few seconds, I spoke.

"Kakashi," I began. He looked at me upset. Silence filled our atmosphere as everyone waited for my turn to speak. "…You don't need to protect me anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kakashi replied hurriedly. "You're really leaving me?"

I shook my head. "I'm always with you. But we have our own battles to fight."

"Nerine…!" Kakashi shouted my name almost desperately. He averted his gaze from me to Madara. His Sharingan changed form as he wanted to get rid of the Akatsuki member.

Madara lifted his hand to signal Kakashi. "Don't bother with that, Kakashi. It won't work on me." My brother was taken aback as Madara placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Let's go, Sasuke."

"Take her with us," Sasuke commanded.

Madara sighed as I looked over at him with caution. "Very well."

"I'll be speaking to you later, Madara," Sasuke growled as our visions distorted whilst we teleported through the black hole.

The last thing I saw from that river was again… my brother's face, heartbroken as it was before.

"Nerine," Sasuke called my name. I lay atop of the abnormally massive bones at the entrance of the Akatsuki hideout. These remains arched over the entry of the lair, and its height made me feel tall. So, here I was once more.

I stayed here for hours on end whilst Sasuke spoke with Tobi. Who knows what about though?

"Your rib," Sasuke stated more than questioned. "You haven't treated it."

"It's fine," I mumbled. "I put some bandages on it."

"An internal wound won't be fixed with external dressings," He looked up at me from the ground. "I'll get it fixed."

"By who?" I scoffed. "There's no one here who has any knowledge of healing. I shouldn't have acted so thoughtlessly. I could be getting healed by Sakura right now."

"You shouldn't regret your actions when you clearly wanted to do them anyway," Sasuke sighed. "Still as indecisive as ever."

"I'm not indecisive!" I protested, wanting to desperately change from my old ways. "I'm just… I don't want to hurt anybody."

"But you have," He replied, "And it's clearly too late to fix things."

I glared at the cocky boy; his eyes only gleaming with broodiness. "Kakashi… he wanted to keep me away from you."

"I know. You knew better than that though."

"Is that so?" I sat up from the uncomfortable hardness of the carcasses, ignoring the piercing pain of my own cracked torso. "What do I know?"

Sasuke lifted himself off the ground, and sat beside me with ease. "You want to be around me."

I rolled my eyes. "Right."

"You make reckless decisions when it comes to a person like me," He smirked. "And I think you enjoy it."

I punched his shoulder and furrowed my eyebrows. I didn't know what I could possibly say to comeback at his remark. I simply struggled my way down the skeleton and made my way into the hideout, hoping I could simply go to an abandoned room and sleep for the rest of my days. I didn't want to fight against my brother, nor did I want to agonise over the Uchiha's absence.

I found a spare room soon enough; it was damp and morbid, as the Akatsuki usually is. The bed's wrinkled and dusty sheets were untouched from my last visit. It felt unclean to have to touch the grimy covers again. I picked it up anyway and shook whilst I held my breath, allowing the dust particles to fly about in the room. I regretting the motion as soon as I realised there was no window to let the air out.

Nonetheless, the sheet was more or less suitable to be used, so I took off my heavy flak vest, shoes and set a candle on with a match. I let out a big sigh as I lay in bed.

"Just let me sleep forever…" I whined.

Sasuke watched Nerine limp into the darkness of the cave, hearing her mutter under her breath how irritated she was. She sure had changed from being the pushover she used to be. Sasuke smirked at the thought of her changing attitude towards everything. He found it amusing, at least.

Not long after she had trudged into the hideout, Sasuke followed her. As he went down the hallway, he could hear the door click shut not too far away.

Inside, her muffled voice droned, "Just let me sleep forever."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he heard this. He stood outside her door for a few minutes, and then quietly opened it. There she was, without her vest and her shoes, quietly breathing as she slept. Clearly, she wasn't alert enough to know when someone was in the same room as her; certainly not as sharp as Sasuke was.

He walked over to the side of her bed, kneeling to be almost eye level with her. He stared at her diminutive features, her lips were apart as she inhaled and exhaled small amounts of air. Her eyebrows furrowed constantly as if she were having a nightmare, and her nostrils flared every now and then, to which Sasuke scoffed at. Nerine's expression was pained while she had trouble breathing. He grimaced.

Why was he so concerned over this young girl?

Why was Sasuke always holding onto such a reluctant person?

Did he still have feelings for her?

Well, of course, there was no other explanation for it.

What held him back, was his own brother. Sasuke closed his eyes as he thought to himself. Had he not left the village, they would be together. If he didn't, he wouldn't have found out the truth, and he would have been stuck in the very home that killed his entire clan… unaware. Yet, his decision was to leave everything behind. The events that hit him had taken him aback; Nerine's intimacy with Itachi, her decision to be with the Akatsuki… her choice to choose him over the Leaf Village. Sasuke did in fact, feel a pinch of guilt when he saw the influence he had over Nerine, but at the same time, he was subtly glad that she lay in front of him today.

Nerine wasn't the only want stuck in a rut.

Sasuke's eyes trailed down from her face to her torso. He reminisced the moments he had with that certain area and felt smug that she was quite willing in those situations. Her helpless expression always drove Sasuke on but it could be considered concerning that he felt even more ravenous towards her every time she hesitatingly gave in.

Slowly, Sasuke reached for the loose navy shirt that hung over her tiny frame, and tugged it upwards. He uncovered the messily made up bandages around her ribcage and frowned when he saw her exhaling a large amount of air and only inhaling a little. She must've been in a lot of pain.

"Nerine," He finally spoke in the silence.

Nerine groaned quietly and opened her eyes. She squinted in the dim room, looking as irritated as she was before. "What?" She weakly questioned. She glanced at her exposed stomach and glared at him.

"Sit up."

"Leave me alone…" She grumbled as she buried her face in the mouldy pillow.

Sasuke didn't listen to her remark and grabbed her arm. "Sit up now."

Nerine peeked at him and saw his usual brooding demeanour. She seethed as she steadily sat up on the bed, every move stabbing her lung. Sasuke then pulled the sleeves of her shirt off her arms.

"What are you doing?" Nerine asked, still half asleep, her hair sticking up.

Sasuke replied, "You won't heal quickly if you bandage your ribs like this. You need someone else to do them properly."

Grudgingly, Nerine allowed Sasuke to pull the shirt over her head. Sasuke continuously glanced at her nude bra while he threw the shirt onto the bed. He unrolled the bandages slowly, being careful to not cause any pain. Nerine's concentration grew the longer Sasuke touched her, feeling sparks as his knuckles grazed on her skin every now and then.

By the time the bandages fell off her, she was fully awake. Sasuke re-did her bandages tightly, occasionally stealing a look or two as his hands essentially wrapped around her body. Nerine could not help but blush as Sasuke knelt near her chest.

"It's done," Sasuke said. He looked up at her and immediately she averted her gaze. "Next time you ask me to do this. If you kept it like this, it would've taken you months to heal. You've got enough chakra to recover… maybe a week."

Nerine sulked, "…Thanks."

She stayed in that position for a while. Sasuke smirked.

"You're not going to put on your shirt?"

Nerine's eyes widened and she quickly seized her top. Sasuke tilted his head. "Were you expecting something to happen?"

"No," Nerine snapped. "I'm just—"

Sasuke leaned over Nerine, causing her to almost fall back onto the bed. Her arms kept her up. "I wouldn't do anything while you're injured like this."

"Uh…" Nerine's eyes had enlarged even more with this confrontation.

Sasuke stared her eyes down, until he closed his own, facing down. His eyebrows wrinkled and he heaved a sigh. "Nerine…" He opened his mouth to continue his sentence, but he didn't know how to say it.

Her eyes followed his movements as he openly showed his frustration. Sasuke stood up from being so close to her figure.

"Tomorrow I'll be with Madara. Don't look around for me," Sasuke ordered, leaving the room hastily. It was completely the opposite of what he wanted to say. His tongue had twisted refused to speak such words.

He was troubled over such simple words.

Such simple words; that he was serious about her.

I know I've been away for a while, but it would mean a lot if you lovely readers would take the time to review! It means a whole lot and only takes a few seconds. I know you're out there ;) Thanks for reading!