Yay! Thanks for all the responses
More Naruto Moments--Most definately, he of course comes into play and obviously will eventually save the day. I will try and think of more ideas for the two sprouting love birds but ideas for all four couples and not having them overlap each other is unbelievely hard but i'll try, I promise.
The story is still going strong. I thought we could use some actions and some previous knowledge of Sasuke's time with Orochimaru so I put that in there. Itachi's part is coming up within two more chapters plus a very special LEMON (gasps) I knw you saw it coming, so no secret there. Still any thoughts on who's going to die in my story?? Otherwise, this novels got about 10 to 15 more chapters left so don't think we're done yet!
Thanks guys, enjoy it!
Chapter 29-- Stop me
I told you not to make me mad please, When I get mad you wouldn't like me, I turn into some kind of monster, Go out to the bar and I do bad things.
You're the only who can stop me (Help, Help)
---
Sakura woke to a blood-cuterling scream and her heart pounded heavy in her chest, eyes darting this way and that. The light from the window told her it was late morning but she had to quickly remember where she was exactly. Their location was a hidden village within Lightning County. A small secluded resort with a population of only two hundred or so people, with such limited supplies they lacked certain necessities like electricity. But it was a humble, urban place where everyone knew everyone else. Like an extended family who welcomed strangers in with smiles and interest.
As she rose from bed to look through the curtain however, a transformation of the peaceful habitation had taken place with such a destructive force it nearly broke her heart. Buildings crumbled, people ran screaming, many bloody and injured. Fires blazed yet no one was willing to stop in their escape to quell the burning storm.
Still sadly, she noticed that otherwise, it would have been a beautiful day.
With panic setting in and her instinctive drive taking over, Sakura pulled on her shoes, snatched her already packed bag and ran out the door, thankful she had kept on her clothes. Her fear of Sasuke leaving her had made her ready for a second's notice to leave this cozy world.
She pushed opened Sasuke's door and wasn't surprised it was empty and the back wall had been taken out. A momentarily thought fled 'How had I slept through it'. She didn't bother checking for the three others. They'd be with him.
Sakura jumped through the open hole, throwing herself down two stories and landed softly on her feet. She snapped her head around, trying to spot the source of the problem. She couldn't imagine who Sasuke was fighting or why he chose to fight here. Anger burned her deeply. This town did not have to be so damaged during such a fight. It was almost as if it had been purposefully.
Strangers were running by caring a body in their arms and unable to ignore it, Sakura called for them and quickly began working with whatever help she could give. Her gaze kept straying though. Something told her she needed to go, needed to find Sasuke and find what was truly going on. Something didn't feel good about this.
--(Sasuke Past)
He was six months in. And he didn't think he could make it. Sasuke laid upon his bloody back, not knowing how else to lay considering all of his body was torn to shards. He breathed his mouth with painful gasps. His black eyes stared unseeing at the roof of the cave he called home. It was a four walled niche underground but for the moment this was his sanctuary. It was the only place he let himself be weak in. A fire raged in a hole in the wall but it was already insufferably hot, the flames caused more harm then good.
Orochimaru had been unbearable in this training session. Perhaps Sasuke had gotten to cocky for his own good or maybe his master had been upset with some outside force. Akatuski always managed to flame the snake demon's temper.
There was no other thoughts in him except that single one. The one that doubted his ability to survive Orochimaru's teachings. The pain however was even destroying that one thought.
There was on doubt that tomorrow he'd go back out there and continue on living in this world but for right now and at this moment, he imagined he was a child again laying comfortably in his mother's safe and always caring arms.
A knock on the door ripped him from that dream. He sat up and put his feet upon the floor, straightening himself to appear strong despite his current state. "Enter."
Kabuto stuck his head through. "I heard that you were badly injured. I've been told to heal you." Without any debate he kneeled before Sasuke and held up his hands to heal him. But it was only a second that failed him when Sasuke realized a knife was hard against his throat and his back was pressed against the mattress. Kabuto leaned over him with a small smirk. "Baka little Uchiha. You should have gone back to your village. You are unneeded. Unwanted here. I understand your pathetic attempt at revenge. However if you knew anything perhaps you would have joined Itachi."
"Never." He bit through clenched teeth.
"Meaningless. You remain ignorant and therefore kept. Itachi's death will have no affect on my plans so I care not if he lives. But Orochimaru matters. I matter. So you will obey him. Or I will slit your throat."
"Why threaten me? I am no contest to you now as I am."
"Remain ignorant, Uchiha. You'll live longer." Kabuto withdrew himself and rested a tablet upon the tiny wooden table. "Take it. You're not worth wasting chakra." He went to the door and turned around, smiling, adjusting his glasses. "Of course this remains just between us. I have a feeling we'll get along well now."
---
Sasuke laid upon his bed, the covers rested on his legs, up until his hip, leaving the rest of him naked to the cold air. In the caves it was always so hot so sleeping without a shirt had become a habit. But as the months had gone by it became a quick defense while he slept. The air around him shift and would alert if anyone was close. So many deaths were on his hands because of this but there was no guilt. They were all assassins.
That was how he knew someone was behind him. The chakra however was too mutilated to pin who it was. And that implied only one person.
Sasuke used his incredible speed and was upon his feet with his sword tight in his hand. He caught the eyes and that impeccable smirk. "Kabuto."
"What a coincidence we would stop in the same village."
Sasuke's black brows narrowed but it was not confusion that caused such an action. It was more of a realization. "You were waiting."
"I wouldn't say that. Just happened upon this village not to long ago and heard your name. Thought I'd give it a chance."
"What do you want?"
Kabuto took his black large glasses from his face and proceeded to clean the lenses with a small hand towel. "I think it's time you return to Oto, Sasuke."
"I will never go back there."
"Sasuke!" Karin burst into the room, stumbling and backing up, clutching the door finding Kabuto's black eyes landing on her. "Kabuto."
"Karin. It's lovely to see you again."
Her eyes darkened considerably. "What did you do?"
His brows rose in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"I feel ten different chakras in you. So much more than before." Suigetsu and Jugo ran up behind her, stumbling as she did upon noticing Kabuto standing so patiently and steady while being surrounded by four people that wish to see his death. He had never been so confident and with Orochimaru gone, he should know he was over powered. Yet he seemed untroubled.
Kabuto turned back to Sasuke, his smirk more wide than ever before. "I have some information you might like to hear, Sasuke. Of a certain Uchiha."
The tip of Sasuke's sword expanded, shorting the distance between them. "Tell me."
A chuckle wiggled in his throat. "He stopped in here not too long ago." Sasuke's eyes widened. "And they treated him with the same sort of welcome they bid you yesterday."
Logically, he would never blame a village for harboring Itachi. They did so out of fear and fear alone. Many a village he visited to find out Itachi had been there sometime that year. It never upset him that they would help him. Just the fact that he missed him would be enough to set him off. He would leave immediately to cause no damage to the village or the innocent people that surrounded him.
Somehow. Finding this information out from Kabuto and the fact that they had 'welcomed' him the way they had himself, he felt a sense of betrayal to a village he didn't belong to.
Kabuto spoke again with amusement in his tone. "I believe this is the very room he stayed in as well."
His curse flared, rolling over his skin, waving its vibrant dark color in joyous arrival.
--
Sasuke turned seventeen today. If someone would have told him when he was seven years old that ten years from now he would be standing in front of the most notorious villain the world had ever known, standing in front of him as a soldier in his war, Sasuke would have killed them for their stupidity. Yet here he stood. A place his wildest nightmares couldn't have brought him.
Sasuke didn't bow as everyone else bowed. He never once was brought to his knees and never would he fall. Orochimaru prided this body too much to hurt it badly. And everything else he could live through. Sasuke cared for nothing, not the pain, not the hate, and not the loneliness. Itachi was his. There was power within now. Almost two years of the worst and fiercest training had given him power he could have never possessed if he still lived within Konoha's peaceful walls. It took being surrounded by death to become a killer. And a killer is what he was going to be.
People were leaving but he knew his place better than to join them. Orochimaru would want to talk to him. To speak of his latest adventure to the living world. Sasuke sat and pulled a leg up to his chest, staring at the three of them. Karin, Kabuto, and Orochimaru. Karin was a new recruit and though she had at first been so happy the first day living in their underworld she now knew better. Orochimaru had used her for an experiment and the cursed seal was only visible when she lifted her arm. She had survived. He would have acknowledged that as something worth noting if he had any need of her. But she was useless as was everyone else in the caves.
She came to him now. Her misery replaced by a warm smile. She bit her lip. Sasuke turned his gaze away. The only female within this compound that still had life within her. She could still smile, still laugh, and still had a light in her red eyes. Perhaps it was jealousy or nostalgia, either way her present bothered him. Especially for her annoying ways, so similar to a female he used to know back in his early days.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun." Inwardly he sneered at that name. Her cheeriness, her feminie wails were too much. He did not acknowledge her but she sat beside him anyway. Close enough to where her thigh touched his.
He had stayed away from her on purpose, as all males did in the caves. He ignored her for the same reasons. He wasn't stupid nor was he a eunuch. He just simply knew his goals, and it had nothing to do with her. Sasuke again inwardly sneered. He was thinking about it once again. Perhaps it would be in his best interest to go to the stalls in the north wing. There were plenty females awaiting a male's arriving and caring less for time afterward. He cringed openly, sickened by that thought.
"Whatcha thinking about, Sasuke-kun?" She looked curious leaning her head day to try and catch his gaze.
He ignored her obviously.
"Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru called for him and he gladly got up but the bitch followed closely. The snake demon smiled, as he always did with his sick intentions glowing in the back of his eyes. "I have a birthday present for you, Sasuke-kun."
"I have no time for such trivial matters."
"Oh? But it's about your brother." His attention was brought forward quickly. "No trivial matter, na?" Orochimaru laughed but humor was no longer an essential need and therefore was locked away. He turned his evil gaze to the darkness. "Bring it in."
Kabuto reached into the shadows and brought forth a child, four or five years old, blond hair and bright green eyes. She sucked on her thumb nervously and sniffed as tears repetitively fell down her chubby fat cheeks. Her little white dress was ripped and dirtied, her knees scarped and blood clogged her new cuts.
Sasuke looked down at the baby with a bit of disgust. Orochimaru usually didn't share his new recruits with him. Sasuke had never wanted a single part in whatever experiments went on within the caves walls for this very reason. Proof that his heart was still a strong organ in his body despite his strong desire to be rid of it.
He knew this to be a test. To show his carelessness and the monster that was slowly developing within him. It was the only test he hadn't past yet.
Orochimaru watched closely, but Sasuke guarded his features with expert ease. The snake demon was not impressed. "Kill her and I'll tell you."
The word kill echoed into the child's ears and she flinched, her beautiful eyes wide with sudden fear. She looked between them, to Orochimaru who paid no attention and to Sasuke who's gaze she caught with pleading tears.
Frustration and rage swarmed into his heart and he clenched his fists strongly, his sharingan activated and bright in the flame's light. He wanted to voice his anger, scream that the child had nothing to do with anything, that her death would solve nothing in his goal to get to Itachi. He wanted to pound it into Orochimaru's head that killing children and experimenting on strangers was not what would fix the damage done to him. It would not feed his lust for revenged and it wouldn't hurt Itachi in the slightest. Because Itachi cared for no one and nothing! So what was the point in killing her? She was just a child!
Yet, despite the sickness the situation brought, and despite how much he hated his options, killing her might give him access to information he hadn't once possessed. No news from Itachi since he drowned himself in the darkness. No news meant no progress! He needed to test his strength, he was sure he could damage Itachi now if he could find the bastard.
Sasuke reached behind him for his sword. He felt himself tremble, he felt the nausea rise in his stomach, and he felt his heart beat him internally, fighting him with all the strength it possessed.
"I know where he is, Sasuke-kun. Kill this kid, and you will know where he is."
Oh, a sweet promise. That information held the key to end his agony in this damned underworld. He could join his family soon and no longer be alone. And no longer have to seek venegence upon a brother he didn't want to kill. Because, Kami damnit he still loved Itachi! Itachi was his brother and would always be. How was he suppose to kill his brother?
By killing this little girl, he could kill Itachi. By killing a strange meaningless child and he would be finally ready to kill a brother he's wanted dead for ten years. That's what it meant. That's why it was a test.
The metal tip touched her throat and she quivered and cried and looked up to him, sobbing, struggling none because she knew how fruitless it was. A child so young and already there was no hope in survival. It was sad in a way. He knew when he had been her age, he had fire in him to fight whatever came his way. And that, he had owed to Itachi for giving him.
He imagined himself slitting open her throat. Imagined the sound of her gurgling as she tried to catch her breath only to find herself drowning in her own blood. It was a sound he knew so well, it was a sound that haunted him in the dead of night. It would be so easy to just flick his sword and then information would be heard and he could go, find Itachi, and put an end to both their sufferings.
Sasuke grit his teeth, tightening his hold, shoving- He ripped it away, placing the weapon back in it's holster behind his back. He walked away, meeting no one's gaze and giving no answer. It was a stupid move considering. The child was going to die anyway, what did it matter if it was by him or someone else? He could hear footsteps echo in the caves: it was the sound of freedom walking away from him.
--
The second stage of the curse tingled on his skin, melted away self-doubt and care, leaving a monster in its place. If he could only live in second stage he would have been able to kill the little girl back then and could have beaten Itachi months ago. He could have been dead a year ago and not living still with the constant burn of revenge set into his veins.
Death was everywhere now. He could see it across the plain. Buildings burned and crumbled, chaos ensued. His teammates were surely making a muck of things. He basked in it. Let them suffer for what they did. He hated each and everyone of them. From hiding his known enemy from him, for treating his murdering brother the same as they treated him. If they think they're so much alike, then why not make it true.
Kabuto stood before him. Bleeding, gasping, faltering. Sasuke's sharingan gaze set upon him and he smirked softly. Kabuto had never witnessed his full power and had completely underestimated him. The humorous thing about this battle was Sasuke still hadn't triggered the final stage of his curse. Which Kabuto knew.
Sasuke reached behind him on the smoldering field, grasping the hilt of his sword. He hadn't even withdrawn it but now, as a finishing move, he extracted the full metal chokuto. It glistened in the sun, radiating with the power it possessed.
"You still don't get it." Kabuto panted heavily. He held his shoulder, to ease the flow of blood. He no longer held any chakra and many bones were broken. Like his arm that dangled useless at his side. "Ignorant Uchiha. You are playing Akatsuki's game. Orochimaru was their last defense."
"He was on the good side was he?"
"He was going to save the world."
"Hn." Sasuke had no response. He knew simple things. Akatsuki wanted to destroy the world, Orochimaru wanted to take it over and rule it as his kingdom. Perhaps the snake demon had been the lesser of two evils but it didn't matter. Akatsuki was going to be destroyed. If he didn't stop it, Naruto would.
Sasuke's feet shuffled against the dirt, passing by flame bushes and discarded tree trunks. Kabuto stood on dying legs trying not to render helpless but Sasuke knew it was only a matter of time. He wanted to make him suffer for as long as possible and yet he wanted to leave this broken village and never look back.
He held out his long sword and finally came to a stop a few feet away.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance."
"Why didn't you?"
Kabuto smirked, adjusting his broken glasses. "He needed a new body if he was going to rule the world. You, Akatuski's main ingredient would have been prefect." Sasuke's brows knit just slightly upon that statement. He never heard of their 'main ingredient' much less it being him. Kabuto noticed and chuckled weakly. "As I said. Ignorant Uchiha."
A flick of his hand and the tip of the weapon raised and pointed to Kabuto's chest leaving only a foot left between them. "What do you know?"
"I forgot." He stated with sarcasm rolling of his curled lip but despite his defiance, his legs gave out, dropping him to his knees before the Uchiha.
From the corner of his eye, Sasuke noticed movement. He flicked his gaze, confusion sweeping across his face as a little boy ran across the smoky field, stumbling, weeping, wobbling. Sasuke's eyes widened terribly.
--
The sun bothered Sasuke's sharingan eyes, stinging the sensitive orbs to the point that it actually hurt but he kept his red gaze glaring, least he be caught in an unexpected battle. Despite that however, to step out into the heated light was a pleasure he had not experienced in a long time. Two years living underground, traveling at night, only to be living in a different cave. The caves were all the same. Dark, illuminated by candles, cold and draft, and devoid of life. It had been difficult to live in such a place after being raised in a village so full of vibrant colors and energetic creatures. But he had managed. There was no choice not to.
Today however, was a special day. Orochimaru was taking him to meet the troops of Sound. Not that he had any interest whatsoever in what the snake demon was planning but there was a promise of training afterwards and that he could not turn down. Orochimaru wanted Sasuke to demonstrate his power so they would follow him into war and back. And again, he had no interest in war. But if Orochimaru promised it would help him one day to defeat Itachi, then there was nothing he could do.
Sasuke's red eye drifted to the corner of his socket, catching sight of Kabuto, walking casually behind them. A hidden smirk, barely noticeable laid upon his lips. It was a trait he always wore. It was trait only Sasuke could see since Orochimaru was too blinded by Kabuto's unwavering faith to be suspicious of him. Sasuke knew better. It would be Kabuto's knife he would wait for.
Ninjas were gathering, making a path for them yet staring on with fascination and fear. There were whispers however. Sasuke's name being spoken among the crowds. The rumors were being proven truth. A Uchiha had come to Orochimaru's compound to be his apprentice. And this Uchiha was Itachi's little brother.
The fact that they knew he was Itachi's sibling set his blood ablaze. If they knew his kin, he would beat them for any information they held. But Sasuke stayed at Orochimaru's side. It was useless with the snake demon present. He would stop him before he even got started. Sasuke couldn't wait for the day he finally surpassed the tyrant. That would mean he was finally ready to set out after Itachi.
"Onee-san."
It was a voice so familiar. A child's voice, innocent and clueless to the terrors around him. A little boy too self-involved. An idiot kid filled with love and hope.
Sasuke stalled and turned, finding a disturbance within the merging army. Pushing it's way through, the child fell out of the crowd and a smile expanded on his tiny face. "Onee-san." Black hair was pushed back revealing his pale skinny face, his black eyes bright and wide.
It was a spitting image of himself as a child. A wave of self-loathing drowned him so violently, nausea punched him in the stomach. Sasuke could feel the sickness rise to his throat, to his brain, to his heart rendering him unconscious to the real world, exposing him only to Itachi and him together. The lies that Itachi had given him day after day, the affection and the love that hadn't existed, the mentor Itachi had never been.
The boy ran and jumped into Kabuto's awaiting arms. "Oi, gakI." The male laughed tossing the five year old in the air. His laughter ran out among the silent crowd.
"Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru's voice called sweetly.
Kabuto had a little brother. A murderer's accomplice. A killer. A liar. A brother.
"Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru spoke directly behind him. How he had gotten so close, Sasuke couldn't recall. His sharingan gaze never dropped away from the two playful siblings, laughing in front of him.
He hated them. Both of them. More so than Itachi alone. They were a past that he despised.
Sasuke felt the power of his curse swirling. It was feeding off his pain, his hate, and his rage. He willed it to overtake him so it could destroy the feelings that were so strong it was blinding. He wanted nothing more than to kill everything and everyone. He needed to destroy the past. He needed to destroy his brother before he could kill his mother, his father, and his clan. If he was strong enough, he could prevent it and no one would die. And he could grow up happy and unburdened by such terrible grief.
A hand landed on his curse. Orochimaru chuckled. The power was fading. The strength that could defend all of his agony was leaving him empty. "I think that will do for today, Sasuke-kun."
The present was coming back into itself. The little boy that had been so familiar now struck him the complete opposite. The boy's hair was grey just like his brother's and his eyes were a shade of dark blue. The laughter was deeper then what he had first thought. There were no similarities.
Sasuke blinked with knitted brows and finally turned his attention back to Orochimaru. The man stared down at him with a proud smirk on his dark lips.
---
He screamed with a violent rage when the child stood strong in front of Kabuto, protecting a killer and a tyrant. Secretly he knew, back then if someone had tried to kill his own brother he would have done this same exact thing. And it only set the rage off even deeper than ever before.
Sasuke pulled back his blade and plummeted down toward the boy's heart so it would kill both of them in one single blow. He would destroy the child that had been too stupid to see through the deception. He would murder the child that had been too weak to fight back when he found his parents dead and soaked in their own blood. He would conquer the fear that still existed by killing the only part left him that still loved a monster.
"Sasuke!" Arms encircled him, stopping him, holding him, reaching him. "Don't. Onegai." The tip of the blade had stopped just an inch away from skin, piercing the child's shirt.
Sakura was pressed behind him, an arm wrapped around the waist, another wrapped around his neck. Her face buried against his curse. But it was enough to bring him back from the educed rage his curse always brought to him.
Sasuke looked down, catching the clenched shut eyes of the six year old in front of him. Tears ran down his pinched face. His body shaking terribly. Sasuke's sword aimed for his tiny heart.
Kabuto pulled the child away swiftly and with little strength he had ran as fast as he could. Sasuke made no attempt to go after them. He was still too lost.
He had almost killed a child.
Sakura's whimpering were turning his attention to the outside world, making him aware of what and where he was. They stood in the once marketplace surrounded by soulless bodies and broken buildings. Flashes of memories were returning quickly to him. Kabuto and his fight had been utterly careless to the people around them. They had cut down anyone that had been in their path.
His cursed rage had blinded him. It hadn't been the first time and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. But the guilt was just as strong.
Sakura tightened her arms, scared to look up and see just what had transpired in such little time. Sasuke stared at the ground staying for the moment in her hold. He used it as an anchor to keep the despair at bay. She had stopped him. She hadn't pinned his arms down. She hadn't stopped him from murder. She had forced a conscious choice back into his mind. And it was only for a moment, he had been thankful. If someone had ever done that in the past, there would be so much less regret on his shoulders to carry.
But the moment past quick enough and with just a slight, soft pull, he slide out of her arms, stepping away, never turning to her to find the expression on her face and so in turn she would never see his own.
He didn't know how long they stood their, without facing one another, in complete silence but his team was slowly coming to them, careful and afraid to approach too fast. Sasuke released what power was left in his curse easing their worries.
Sasuke didn't want their company however. To repent from sin he had to be alone. He took off before they could say anything.
---
Sakura's strength faltered and her knees pounded against the soiled dirt beneath her. Her will was shakened, her heart quivering.
Seeing Sasuke with so much killer intent bursting from his red demented eyes had scared her too much for her to actually admit. But she had known better. She had known not to be afraid.
--
His body writhed from the pain but Sakura held him tight, hugging him awkwardly. His head still rested on her thighs. The hurt though soon subsided and he relaxed, seemingly asleep. "Sak…Sakura." He whispered weakly again. His voice straining with agony and exhaustion. She leaned down to hear him, resting her forehead upon his. "Don't…Don't ever fear me…You never..need…to fear me…" Unconscious took over him.
--
It was only a flash of a memory, a vivid memory filled with blood and death. A memory she never forgot even the slightest.
She had run blindly and wrapped him up in her arms, hoping by some chance it would reach him as it had done years ago during their time together in the Chuunin exams. The day he first felt the cursed power within him.
A hand covered her month. What would have happened if that had not reached him? She hadn't pinned his arms down, she'd hadn't physically stopped him as she should have. It would have been her fault if Sasuke's sword had murdered that child. But to stop him with the use of force would have broken a promise she made to herself. She was by all means going to stop him from becoming a monster but there was a clause within that statement.
She would never stop something if it helped him reach his goal. And sadly she knew Sasuke enough to know that the child that he had seen, had been himself. To kill his 'inner' child would definitely help him kill Itachi. Perhaps at the same time, kill what was left of the Sasuke she loved.
Sakura felt a shuffled of feet and a sudden vigor of life returned to her. Her eyes narrowed and dried.
The team. They had to explain themselves. NOW.
