Sasuke returned to his safe house to discover a distraught, sobbing Sakura. The pink-haired girl was clearly a mess… truly a wreck.

It wasn't something Sasuke had planned on, in fact, it wasn't something he particularly wanted to deal with at the moment. He wanted to pack, he wanted to do some last minute internet searches, and then he wanted to leave. Playing the comforting shoulder to cry on for a complete stranger was no part of Sasuke's life goals, but seeing as how the girl was standing between him and his doorway… what choice did he have?

"Sakura?" he asked tentatively, "What's wrong?"

"It's my mom…" the girl sobbed, "He killed her. She's… dead."

This news actually stunned Sasuke. In fact he did a double-take, involuntarily stepping backwards as the news slapped him with its severity.

The Game had many casualties, but it was a very, VERY rare occurrence that a civilian died. Most players didn't like adding random murders to their name. It was one thing to kill in order to stay alive, but most players tried to appear normal. It was a very rare sociopath who killed for the pleasure of it, and very few players in the game fit that description.

"When did you find her?" he asked, not trying to be callous, but Sasuke truly didn't know what to say.

"A few hours ago," Sakura muttered, "The bastard left a note… he wrote it in her blood! Sasu… I… I don't know what to do." The girl looked as if she were going to be sick.

Frowning, Sasuke went to the door and unlocked it, motioning for her to come inside, "I'll make some tea."

"Thank you," the pink-haired girl whispered. She ducked into his hotel room, hiding her face and the tears that were freely streaming down her cheeks, ruining her make-up.

Sasuke made tea in silence, offering Sakura a towel to wipe her face. The Hotel would be able to clean it, so what did he care if her running mascara stained the towel? Still, this was an odd turn of events. The raven had never planned on seeing this girl again, and now… here she was. Sasuke pondered at the likeliness of that happening; perhaps the universe was trying to tell him something? Get a girlfriend perhaps? Don't go chasing your brother's murderer…?

Sighing, Sasuke poured two cups of tea and walked over, handing one cup to Sakura.

"Thank you, Sasu…" she said softly, blowing on the hot beverage.

"Karasu," Sasuke said, trying to give her one of his more intelligently thought-up aliases. "My real name is Karasu."

"Oh…" the girl murmured, thinking about the name, "I thought Sasu was a little silly."

"Yeah," Sasuke smirked, "I was a little distracted that day. My brother died…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sakura said, and Sasuke could tell that her apology was genuine.

"Thank you. I guess that puts us in the same boat," he took a sip of his tea, "This has been a bad week for us."

In truth, Sasuke really hadn't cared for Itachi in the same way that Sakura obviously cared for her mother… but it was considered courtesy to try and be sympathetic to someone who was obviously in pain, and if this conversation stopped Sakura from crying, then Sasuke wouldn't complain.

"Tell me about it," Sakura groaned, her voice cracking. She'd been crying so much that she would probably go hoarse within the hour. Again, Sasuke probably wouldn't complain.

"What are you going to do now?" Sasuke asked, not really interested but if the girl kept talking; then she wasn't crying… well, wasn't crying as much.

"I'm going to find that bastard," Sakura's eyes blazed with rage, "And I'm going to kill him. Screw my current target!"

"Many players use that strategy," the raven nodded, "Why hunt someone down when someone is coming to you. The problem is that you end up becoming paranoid."

"I never said that I was going to change my game plan," Sakura snapped, "I'm just making a special exception for this asshole."

"I can understand," Sasuke smirked, "I plan to do the same thing to whomever murder my brother."

"Heh," Sakura chuckled, "Guess we're more alike than we thought."

"I guess so," the raven nodded.

There was a long silence as they drank their tea. Sakura wasn't crying, so Sasuke decided to enjoy one of his simple pleasures: not talking. He loved silence, thrived in it… in fact he would sometimes make noise just to remind himself how much he hated noise… and then he could enjoy another several hours of silence.

"I just had an idea," Sakura spoke up.

So much for silence, Sasuke thought, looking up at the pink-haired girl. "What's that?"

"What if we teamed up?"

"Excuse me," Sasuke frowned. Players in the game didn't team up. There was no way you could get that close to someone. If they drew your name, it was way too easy for them to stab you in the back.

"Hear me out," Sakura held up a finger, "We are both looking for the people who killed our loved family. We are both living the same lifestyle… why not team up? If we draw each other's name, then we pretty much have an advantage over the other players, because there are two of us. We can hunt them all down, kill them… and when there is only us: we win!"

"You don't win The Game," Sasuke looked at her like she was stupid, "The best you can hope for is to die of old age, which no one has managed yet."

"But no one has ever teamed up!" Sakura protested, "Think of it. Two of us hunting our targets, if someone came after you, they wouldn't be expecting me to put a bullet in them, or… you know? Vice-versa."

The girl made an interesting point. It hadn't been done before, not successfully at least. There was always that mistrust… that fear that your partner would shoot you in your sleep if they drew your name, but if you found someone whom you could know for certain wouldn't betray you… then you would have a definite advantage.

Sasuke would never choose Sakura as that person. No, this girl was much too annoying for him to be able to put up with her for that long, but if he could seduce her… make her fall for him? She would be a valuable tool until he got tired of her. And if Sasuke were to draw her name, after making Sakura think he loved her… she would be the easiest kill he ever made. He could keep her around though until he found a suitable candidate for her idea, the perfect partner. In fact, the raven already had a plan that might work well with this new idea that was forming.

"You have a point," Sasuke grinned, enjoying the scheme he had just concocted much better than Sakura's little proposal.

"So you'll consider it?" Sakura grinned, glad to have someone to possibly back her up.

"I'll give it a trial run," the raven said, acting as if he weren't completely sold on the idea yet, "You'll have to convince me."

A/N -

Alrighty! Progress! And, because I love my readers so much... this is double update Saturday! (it may become a thing, or it might not... depends on my mood swings at this point)

I liked this chapter because it finally gives a decent look into Sasuke's personality and thought processes. Yes, we've had plenty of chapters with him, but none of them efficiently showed off his cunning as much as feel that this chapter does. I think this chapter also does a great job of showing Sasuke's character, and just how true it is to his original character in the series: Sasuke is not the good guy. He's not necessarily a "bad-guy", but he is far cry from being a saint. That's why he is such a good foil for Naruto.

Hopefully you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to follow the "three R's" - Read/Review/Recommend this story! I'll see you all tomorrow with the next update. Things start picking up quickly from there.