Ch 1: Target Acquired

She stole a glance at him through her pale lashes. He had been staring out the moonlit window for exactly 6 hours and 29 minutes, blinking only 14 times. The rosette watched as a bead of sweat tore down her captain's ghostly pale forehead. The droplet continued its slow descent toward his arched brow, pooling at the inner crease of his eyes. Onyx eyes held fast on their target. He could not afford to blink. There wasn't going to be another chance.

"Sakura." His commanding voice was scarcely louder than a whisper. His gaze never once leaving his target.

She could pick out that voice from a crowd of a thousand people. She had only heard him speak twice before this, but there was nothing quite like it. Was it weird that one voice could hold so much...control over someone...so quickly?

"You're not focused." he bit out. Immediately, she tore her gaze away from his crouched form. She closed her eyes. Breathing in deeply, Sakura brought the scope up to eye level. Her left index finger hovered nervously near the trigger.

"Pay attention Sakura. Focus." she willed herself quietly. Her shallow breaths were escaping too quickly, and her steady heartbeat began its frantic gallop. She was sure he could hear it, even with the 6 meter distance between their window sills. Her eyes darted rapidly between both their targets.

The pair remained crouched and unmoving for exactly 6 hours and 31 minutes. She sucked in dry heaps of air in hopes of calming her nerves-while trying and failing miserably to moisten her cracked lips. The winter was unforgiving. Her joints ached with even the tiniest of movements. Her black trench coat provided much needed warmth, and the thermal liner kept her core heated. But, her stiff, black combat boots had already been biting into the tops of her toes effectively numbing them. It was also hard to maintain focus when the circulation to her legs had left her nearly an hour ago.

"Sakura. Now!" his fierce command rang in her ears. She felt her heart stop, and the world began to play in slow motion. It took her 0.4 seconds to bring the scope back up to her eye. 0.2 seconds to adjust the zoom, 0.3 seconds to place her finger on the trigger, and in the last fraction of a second, through the scope of her rifle, emerald met crimson.

All breath left her as she remained frozen in fear. It was as though time itself had stopped. In less than 1 second, they had failed.

She had failed.

"You're not focused." he bit out. Sasuke wished his subordinate would come to her senses. Now was not the time to be daydreaming. The bead of sweat made its way to the outer corner of his lip, before settling in the dip of his chin. He silently cursed, wanting nothing more than to wipe the salty droplet away. But, years of training taught him better. All it took was one distraction, one miscalculation, one misstep to ruin everything.

He could hear her frenzied heartbeat from his spot at the large glass window. The squeak of her leather combat boots giving way to her restlessness. Her legs must be numb from lack of circulation. The duo had been at it for over 6 hours, only speaking twice. He was impressed she managed to remain crouched in one position for so long.

Apparently, this was her first assignment ever, and he vaguely remembered being briefed on her qualifications. The two had merely 25 seconds to spare with introductions back at HQ, before being shoved off into the helicopter. Their Director had no choice but to add her to the roster after his usual partner, Naruto, failed to show the morning of The Assignment. Needless to say, something was up, but there just wasn't enough time to ask questions. Naruto always showed up. So although last minute,there was no time to argue for someone with more experience. The Director was never to be questioned. Ever. This was the single most important assignment to The Organization. He could only hope she would pull her weight. The lives of too many people depended on it. His life depended on it. Surely the pink headed girl could manage.

Just then, both their targets had aligned. This was it. In one moment, he could see it: the years he'd spent chasing every damned lead, night after night laying numbly in bed drowned in a tortured slumber, and the inferno of hatred that fanned his hunger for revenge against a certain someone.

"Sakura. Now!" With deadly accuracy, it took him 0.3 seconds to pull the trigger on his target. 0.5 seconds to identify Sakura's target, and 0.2 seconds to realize she had been 0.1 second too late.

Onyx met confused Emerald, and his world went black.

Authors Note:

Hello! This is my first story here on FF. I've been reading fics for nearly a decade now, and I've been so inspired by the great writing I've read. I've always wanted to write something myself. So...here it is. My favorite pairing EVER. :) Let me know what you think so far~