A/N: Thanks to all of the lovely reviewers out there! You guys are amazing! Enjoy this intense and dramatic chapter, along with things between Sasuke and Hikari (but just a little :D)! If Sasuke is OOC, I apologize! Also, let me know if I should just continue writing this, even into Shippuden, or should I make a seperate story for Shippuden? Let me know! enjoy!

Idate won the race and the village had sent a boat to pick us up. I hated the boat ride back. Naruto was overly hyper, Sakura seemed mad at me for some reason, and Sasuke was all glum. I knew why. It was because he couldn't beat that Aoi creep and Naruto was able to.

Green really didn't suit Sasuke. It just wasn't his color.

I don't really know what the guy said to him, but I know it was enough to piss him off and put him in a bad mood. It wasn't my place to really ask, so I didn't.

But that didn't mean I wasn't worried. Because I was. And I still am.

I smiled slightly as I sat down a vase full of irises on the table next to Sasuke's bed. "You're really lucky, Sasuke. Your injuries weren't so bad, so you'll be out of the hospital in no time! Sakura and Naruto were glad to hear that." He didn't respond and I sighed. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of grey Capri sweat pants. He looked…gorgeous, something that I didn't used to think he was.

Don't ask me how it happened, because it happened when we were training for the chunin exams, sometime around then.

"Sasuke, are you all right?"

But to no avail, I didn't get a peep out of him.

The Battle Begins; Naruto VS Sasuke! Bitter Rivals and Broken Bonds!

I growled when he just ignored me, and feeling a bit brave I carefully got onto the bed and sat on top of him. "What the hell is your problem? Why aren't you saying anything?" I asked, holding the sides of his face in my hands.

He made a face, not a very appealing one, before falling back and crossing his hands behind his head. He glanced out the window before looking up at the ceiling.

"Karasu?"

"What, duck-butt?"

"Do you…do you think I'm weak?"

The question itself surprised me, along with the look in his eyes. It looked…kinda sad. It was terrible. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"I'm not quite sure, how I can put it without you taking it the wrong way, but…to put it simply, the way that I classify people as weak is if those people break the way of the shinobi, or they don't care about their home or friends. But you…Sasuke Uchiha, are nowhere near my standards of being weak. You're very brave, Sasuke. And I know that even if you didn't want to, that you would still help your friends when they need you the most….even if it cost you your life. I don't know what that Aoi guy told you back there in the Land of Tea, but…I want you to forget it and move on. I know that you're strong, Sasuke. Stronger than Naruto, if it makes you feel better. Unlike Naruto, you're not a Knucklehead. You're Sasuke Uchiha, my best friend."

He sat up, and I hadn't noticed that I had been gently tracing his curse mark. I felt my cheeks heat up and made the move to pull my hand away, only to have Sasuke grab it and hold it. "Don't…it feels nice."

So, I kept continuing my ministrations to the curse mark.

"Hikari?"

"Mm?"

He looked up and leaned in, and I felt my heart beat speed up, my face turning pink. But…he reached a hand up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear instead.

"That piece of hair in your face was bothering me."

Cue anime fall.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why the heck did I think he was gonna kiss me? There's no way Sasuke feels that way about me!'

I smiled nonetheless, looking out the window. "Sure is a nice day out, huh?"

"Hn…"

He laid back down and closed his eyes, and that's when I noticed something really important.

Sasuke never smiles…genuinely!

First thing on the to do list once Sasuke get's out of the hospital: MAKE HIM SMILE FOR REAL!

I hopped off of the bed and sat back down in my chair, allowing him to rest. Sakura had been here earlier but she'd gone to get something for Sasuke to eat about 30 minutes or so ago. I heard footsteps approaching, and Sasuke sat up, just as Sakura stopped outside the room, only…

"Yo, Sakura! I'm here!"

Naruto came, too. I glanced over at Sasuke to find an angry look on his face. If he was really mad at Naruto, and knowing Sasuke, he'd do something stupid. So, I did what I thought was smart and what I thought might work. I jumped up from my chair and opened the door, closing it and stepping over to my two friends, stopping in front of Naruto who smiled when he saw me.

"Kari, hey!"

I waved. "Hey, Naruto. Listen, um…I'm not so sure if you should go in there…"

"Huh?"

'Man, I sure hope I don't hurt his feelings even though I'm being as kind as possible…' "Well…Sasuke has a bit of a headache, and well…You're kind of loud…and bright…" 'Bright? What the hell do his clothes have to do with this?'

"OH! Sorry, I'll do my best and try to keep my voice down a bit!" Naruto said, bringing his normally loud voice down several notches. "Now, let's go see Sasuke!"

As they entered, I tried to grab Naruto. "Oh, but Naruto…"

Well, so much for that…

I ran back in the room, taking a seat on Sasuke's bed since Sakura had taken the chair. She had brought apples, one of my favorites, but apples were the least of my concern now.

Since the window was open, it was blowing in a small breeze. A breeze that was ominous to me.

Sakura sat down the bag of apples after showing them to Sasuke, looking around. "That's weird…I wonder where I put that knife I had before."

Oh, that's right…I'd moved it away from Sasuke a bit so he wouldn't throw it at Naruto.

"It's right in front of you, Sakura!"

And so much for it staying hidden.

"Oh!"

Naruto laughed at her. "You're so lame, getting all scatterbrained just because you're around Sasuke!"

Sakura yelled at him, and I watched as Sasuke silently fumed while glaring at the blonde from the corner of his eye. I could tell he was really getting angrier and angrier with him by the second. I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed Naruto was now on the floor, courtesy of Sakura, who was now peeling Sasuke an apple.

"Done! All peeled and ready. I'll cut it so it's easier to eat." Sakura said, cutting a slice and poking it with a toothpick, picking it up and showing it to Sasuke while she smiled. "Here. Wanna try one?"

He glanced at her for maybe two seconds before he slapped the plate and slices of apple out of her hand, causing her to scream in surprise, and Naruto to scream in pain, due to the plate falling on his head and breaking. He shot up and looked around at the mess.

"Sasuke!"

"What the heck's going on?"

Sasuke glanced at him before fully turning to glare at him, a very…well, indescribable look of anger on his face as he glared at Naruto.

"Hey, what's with that look?" Naruto asked, "Y-you don't have to glare at me like that!"

I laughed nervously, moving over to grab Naruto in order to rid the room of him. "Haha, Naruto, I think this would be the best time to-"

"You. Naruto."

Too late.

"Yeah, I'm listening."

"I want you to fight me. Fight me now."

I knew he would do something stupid!

"What? We're in a hospital, you just got patched up by Grandma Tsunade. What're you talking about?"

"Shut-up and fight!" He activated his Sharingan, and I knew that he was being 100% serious. "Do you really think you've saved me? I don't care if she's the Fifth Hokage, you shouldn't have gotten her involved in this!" If I wasn't too busy worrying, I would've slapped him for his disrespectfulness towards Lady Hokage. He jumped up from the bed, throwing the sheet off. "You did say you wanted to fight. Well, now it looks like you've got your chance. That is, unless…you've chickened out."

"Wait, Sasuke! Don't do this! Naruto, say something! This is crazy! Hikari, do something!"

I mentally groaned, asking myself when I became the peacemaker. "I'm not quite sure…if there's anything I can do, Sakura."

"Actually, this is perfect! I was just thinking about how I wanted to kick your butt!"

"Hey, why don't you guys talk about this!" Sakura suggested, trying to be the peacemaker, "What do you say?"

"Sasuke…" I muttered, hoping to get his attention.

He jerked his head in the direction that led to the roof. "Follow me."

Not really wanting Naruto to die while they made their way to the roof, I followed after them, waling behind Sasuke while Naruto was behind me. If were to say that I wasn't the least bit worried about the outcome of this, than I would be lying. Because I was worried to death.

There were sheets hanging out to dry on clothes lines on the roof. It felt weird, having to watch two of my closest friends facing each other like they were right now, getting ready to fight. This fight…would be nothing like when Sasuke and I fought back in that canyon. I think that's why sensei made us do it, though…in order to prepare us incase we really had to put our whole beings into fighting each other. But Naruto…he hadn't gone up against Sasuke before like this. If the Knucklehead wasn't careful about his moves, I didn't doubt for a second that Sasuke would kill him.

Because the look in those red eyes told me that he would if he could.

This was the first time that I wouldn't be cheering for my friends, since I had two of them going up against each other.

"You…an idiot like you has no business acting high and mighty!"

"Hah! What happened to the calm, controlled Sasuke? Am I making you nervous? It looks like you picked a fight with me and now you're too scared to go through with it, is that it?"

"Let's just do this!"

"Put on your headband and we will. I'll wait."

"Not to worry. I don't need that thing."

"Just do it. Come on!"

"There's no reason to put it on, cause you won't be able to make a scratch on my forehead."

"That's not the point! Come on, you know putting your headband on is a testament of fighting on equal terms as a leaf shinobi!"

In other words, fighting fairly.

"There you go, acting all high and mighty again. You don't honestly believe that we're equals!"

"Heck yeah, I do! All this time, I never thought I was inferior to you in any way!"

The wind picked up, blowing my hair around as I watched Sasuke. "You're a complete embarrassment!"

"Only because next to me you're embarrassed at how weak you are! Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

And suddenly, both of them snapped.

"NARUTO!"

"SASUKE!"

I watched as Sasuke did a roundhouse kick on Naruto, who came flying back down. Sasuke grabbed him again, only Naruto managed to get out of his grip and flip. Sasuke tired doing a series of punches, and amazingly, Naruto blocked every single one of them, all except for one, which sent him flying into a line of sheets. When Sasuke lifted of the sheet, Naruto was gone. He was on the water tower, and he came flying down, punching Sasuke, who flipped around and returned the punch. He went flying into more sheets, and Sasuke began to punch him repeatedly. Sakura covered her face and closed her eyes while I simply shut mine. I reopened them to find that Naruto had kicked Sasuke into the air.

"I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS!"

They fought in midair for awhile until Naruto landed back on the ground and made a hand sign. "Multi-Shadow clone jutsu!"

A bunch of Naruto's appeared, all of them circling in Sasuke. I knew Naruto was going to use his Uzumaki Barrage, and I also knew that it wouldn't work. Sasuke blocked it and used the Fireball jutsu, getting rid of all the clones, burning anything else in the way as well.

"No! Naruto!" Sakura shouted worriedly from her spot next to me. When the flames cleared, there were two Naruto's still standing, a glowing orb of what appeared to be spinning chakra in their hands. Sasuke made a jab of electricity in his hand.

"CHIDORI! 1000 BIRDS!"

'This is bad…both of those combined might just destroy the hospital!'

"Come on, stop it…" I muttered. When they didn't look like they were going to, I yelled. "Stop it, both of you!"

I ran forward, ready to do anything I could to stop them from destroying the hospital.

And I was terrified.

"STOP IT! DON'T DO IT! DOOOOONNNNNN'T!"

'Dammit!'

'Can't stop!'

And just before both of their attacks could hit and kill Hikari, someone grabbed both of their wrists and spun them away, sending them flying into the water towers. Hikari fell to her knees and sighed in relief as she realized Kakashi had shown up just in time. Sakura ran over to her, asking her if she was okay.

"What do you two think you're doing up here? That was a little intense for a sparring match, wasn't it? What's wrong with you two?"

Naruto pulled his hand away from the water tower he had hit with ease, while Sasuke's hand was stuck. Hikari jumped up and ran over to him, grabbing onto his stuck arm and helping him pull it free, a large jet of water streaming out. Sasuke stood up and smirked when he saw the tiny little stream of water Naruto's impact had made.

"What were you thinking? Were you really going to kill him, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, sitting up on top of the water tower Sasuke hit, causing them to look up at him. "You've really got to watch this sense of superiority you have. That Chidori…it was not a size you would aim at a comrade from the leaf village."

Sasuke growled.

"When are you finally going to grow up, Sasuke?"

"Hn…Let's go." He grabbed Hikari's wrist and jumped over the fence. Both of them looked up at the tower Naruto had hit, finding that his hit had a bigger impact in the back, a large gaping hole in the metal. Sasuke began to shake in anger, his grip on Hikari's wrist tightening. He punched the wall. "Dammit!"

Hikari winced, speaking up, her tone gentle. "Sasuke, your kind of hurting my wrist…"

He loosened his tight grip. "Sorry…"

"It's okay."

They took off to Sasuke's special brooding place, a big Oak tree not too far from Hikari's house. They sat down on one of the branches, Hikari frowning at the depressing look on Sasuke's face.

0o0o0o0o0o

I felt bad for Sasuke. So, I did the only thing I knew how to do.

I smiled. "Listen…don't beat yourself up, okay?"

"How can you smile when you almost died? If Kakashi hadn't of stopped us…"

I frowned, tugging on his pants leg so he would look at me. "But he stopped you, and I'm not dead…otherwise, it would be pretty weird if I were talking to you and you could see my dead spirit…Back to what I was saying, I'm fine. You didn't do anything to hurt me, so…"

"Stupid..."

"Huh?"

"What you did was really stupid! What if Kakashi hadn't of shown up? I would've killed you!"

I cowered back some. "I…I'm sorry, but…I didn't know what else to do! You two were going to bring the whole hospital down if you hadn't of stopped. I couldn't just sit and watch! I didn't…I didn't want you to get hurt…"

"Hn…."

I sighed, hugging him. "You are in a sour mood…Just…let it go and forget about it. Tell you what, first thing tomorrow, we'll go to the training grounds and spar! What do you say?"

"Hn."

"What does 'Hn' even mean?"

"Hn."

"Hn!"

"Hn."

"HN!"

"Hn…"

"Okay, I'll take that as an, 'Okay, Hikari! Sure, we'll go spar at the training grounds tomorrow!' Oh, and just to be extra nice, I'll make you some tomato soup for dinner. Just come by later and I'll make you some!"

"Whatever…"

I smiled anyway. "Well, see you later!" Not thinking, I pecked his cheek before letting myself disappear in a cloud of flower petals.

As soon as she was gone, Sasuke found himself tied up with wire. He looked up to see Kakashi standing over him. Sasuke struggled to free himself, growling slightly. "What's this all about?"

"Sorry, but I knew you wouldn't want to sit still for a lecture, so I figured I had to pin you down."

"Tch!"

"Let it go. You've gotta forget about revenge, like Hikari said."

"What? She wasn't even talking about that!"

"But her words implied it. Believe me, in this work, I've met a lot of guys that feel the way you do. Trust me, for those who follow the path of revenge, it never ends well. You'll only tear yourself apart, and even if you succeed and get your revenge, what will you have then? Nothing. Emptiness."

"Shut-up! What makes you think you know anything about it? It's easy for you to talk, you have NO idea!" Sasuke shouted.

"Easy, just try to calm down like you were 5 minutes ago."

"Maybe if I was to kill the most important people in your life, everyone who's ever meant anything, maybe then I'd listen to you because maybe then you'd have some idea how I feel."

"Hm…That's an interesting theory, but I'm afraid you're a little late to put it to the test. Everyone you're talking about has already been killed." Kakashi said with a smile, while Sasuke's face turned into one of shock. "I've been around longer than you have, kid. And I've seen my share of troubles. You're not the only one who knows what it's like to lose somebody. Take Hikari, for example; She's lost almost all of the important people to her, just like you. She only has Asuma and Konohamaru, now."

Sasuke looked down, frowning somewhat sadly. 'Hikari…'

"So, it looks like neither of us has led a charmed life exactly, have we? Still…We're not all that bad off. At least you and I have been luck enough to find new comrades to help fill the void."

Sasuke instantly thought of Naruto and Sakura, before his mind drifted to a smiling Hikari.

"Anyway, I do know how you feel." He released Sasuke, "With the Chidori, you've been granted a gift of awesome power. It's not a power to be used against your comrades or to seek vengeance. I think in your heart of hearts, you know what it's for. Okay, end of lecture. You decide whether what I'm saying hit's the mark or not. Also…You might want to make your move and tell Hikari how you feel." Sasuke stared up at him surprise. "Someone might just take her away from you before you get the chance to tell her anything. I know at least a handful of boys who would love to admit their feeling for her and whisk her away."

With that said, he was gone.

Sasuke sat there until the moon was up, a frown on his face as he thought about his comrades and Hikari and his brother. "What do I do? What do I do?"

At the Sarutobi residence, Hikari was busy cleaning up the kitchen and putting the tomato soup in the fridge. 'Maybe he wasn't hungry…oh well. His loss.'

After making sure Konohamaru was sound asleep, she sat down in the living room and turned on the TV, flipping through random channels until she found something she liked. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't boring to her, because it was. She glanced over at the coffee table during a commercial break, smiling slightly when she saw the picture of Team 7. Kakashi had both of his hands on Naruto and Sasuke's heads, while the two were glaring at each other, Sakura was standing next to Naruto, bent over slightly and smiling while Hikari was next Sasuke, smiling happily while doing the victory sign. A breeze blew into the room, since the window was wide open. Hikari stiffened, getting up from the couch and moving over to the window. She closed her eyes and listened to the wind.

'Someone is leaving…'

Instantly, she was out the door, the team picture laying on the couch, abandoned. She didn't need to take a second guess to realize who the wind was talking about.

'Sasuke…'

A/N: AH! NOOOOOO! I don't want Sasuke to go, but I wanna stick to the story plot, so he's gonna go anyway. Next chapter~Sasuke Leaves! Leave a review! LATER!