The figure walked, staggering slightly, towards the gates of Konoha. Blood drenched his clawed hands, golden hair, tanned skin. It wasn't fair, he thought to himself, grimacing a little from the pain. Most of the crimson stain wasn't his, but enough of it was that he didn't want anything more. No more fighting, no more enemies, no more faceless men to kill. He'd had enough. But life was never fair for him, never gave him what he wanted. Never. And he'd done so much, tried so hard...But perhaps now they would see. They would all see, and acknowledge him. He'd make them acknowledge him, no matter what the cost.
As he stood before the gates of the city, two people appeared in a puff of smoke behind him. The figure tensed, all weariness forgotten. At last! They'd decided to show themselves! He'd waited years for this, training and fighting and clawing his way to the top, for this. To fight him. But her...he couldn't hurt her. No matter what she'd done, no matter how much she'd hurt him. He still loved her.
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Kunai clashed as Naruto blocked both Sakura and Sasuke's attack. Sakura's eyes widened. "Naruto?" she asked, voice trembling with not only shock and confusion, but with the rage the demon brought forth. She stepped back, in unison with Sasuke, and attacked again, from a different angle.
Itachi and Kakashi closed in on him, leaving the other two to fight Hinata without being hampered by his blocks. Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he released the Kyuubi.
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"Sakura." He called. "Please. Step aside. This is...no business of yours. I don't want to hurt you. Please."
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It was Sakura's blade that plunged through Hinata's chest, only just missing the heart. She'd live, but only if Naruto got to her quickly. He tossed aside Itachi easily, the man's broken body falling before Sasuke, and strode over to the one person who knew everything about him and would never leave him.
Despite the Kyuubi's urging for him to just kill the other two, he couldn't. Sakura was like him. She understood the one thing Hinata couldn't. He pressed his lips to the pale girl's forehead and checked her pulse. She was fine for the moment. The blonde looked up at Sakura pleadingly. "Sakura, come back with me."
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But when she did move, it wasn't to retreat. She joined hands with the other man, gazed into his eyes. Whatever she saw in them was enough, and she turned back to the bloody figure.
"I made my decision a long time ago, Naruto. I still stand by my choice."
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Sakura's eyes were cold. Without even looking away as she betrayed her teammate, she stepped closer to Sasuke. Only then did she close her eyes, bowing her head slightly. "No Naruto. I – I'll stay with Sasuke to the end, no matter what. I don't go back on my word," she whispered, hand entwined with the Uchiha's. The boy was still staring at his brother's body. At the contact, however, his gaze slowly lifted to meet first hers, then Naruto's. His expression was perfectly blank, as if he couldn't figure out which he should be feeling for the man he'd tried to kill so many times.
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It hurt, still, again, as much as it did on the first day, the first minute, like a punch in the gut and a knife in the heart.
"So be it then." Naruto cried, drawing his kunai, but paused as the other man stepped forward, hands out, palms up.
"Naruto. Wait."
"Like you ever waited for anything, you bastard!" Naruto hissed, but lowered his kunai.
"In the name of...what we once had, I beg you. Please, don't do this."
Naruto sighed. Why was it so hard to kill them? They weren't his team-mates anymore. They were enemies, they had done so many things against him and his village, he had orders to kill them immediately, but still...No. He had to. Orders were orders. He had to...
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"And where is that, Sasuke?" asked Hinata, her voice weak and raspy. "Where is it that you will lead her?"
The boy's eyes narrowed. With an almost inaudible gasp he clutched his shoulder, glaring at her as hard as he could through the pain. "Where I'll become strongest."
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"I'm sorry Sasuke. I can't. You know as well as I do what the mark we wear means. What it stands for, for the promise we made, even if you broke yours. Even if you turned your back on it, even though you hide it, you know what I mean. I have to do this."
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Sakura bit her lip, looking hopeful. "Are you really with Orochimaru now?"
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"Then there's no turning back, then is there?" Said Sasuke, sadly, seeming almost to slump in his black robe. Sakura, equally sadly, reached out and stroked his chin, before plunging her hands inside the folds of her own black robe and sending a hail of kunai launching towards Naruto.
He cursed, forcing his body aside almost too late, barely managing to dodge each attack. Just how much blood on him really was his? He didn't want to know. Time for a little more. He viciously sliced open his thumb with his extended canines, almost enjoying their razor sharpness, the tang of the blood that made his heart race. No time for that, now. He flipped through the hand signs as quickly as he could, and rammed his hand down on the ground, forcing out most of the remaining chakra he posessed. How much time did he have? How much energy? He was almost out, and they were barely started.
Dodging a ball of fire, Naruto grabbed on to the red shoulder of his summons, ridding it up and up as it spiraled out of nowhere.
"Hold on tight, kid!" It roared, rearing back, as eager for this fight as he was. "It's time for some action!"
"Get them!" Naruto roared back, balancing easily on its broad head from years of familiarity. But as the enormous creature prepared to leap forwards on to the two figures below, two huge serpents spiraled up from the ground, black and crimson, wrapping Naruto's creature tightly.
But as it thrashed and roared, furiously fending off the snake's poisoned fangs with its fore-arms, Naruto remained steady, leaving behind a doppelganger to stay on the head as he ran along its wide back and easily flung himself into the air, to land neatly on the midnight-dark snake's neck. That was one thing to say for summons: they certainly taught you to keep your balance.
Racing up the slick scales, he tackled Sasuke from behind, slicing his back open with a kunai. It wasn't a fatal cut, but the poison could do the rest. Dodging the counter-attack, he added another slice on the wrist, feeling his battle-lust rise again painting the whole world red behind a fog of blood, a gift from the demon fox.
"I have you now, you bastard!" He screamed, voice barely human, as the snake underneath began to dematerialize. Lunging once more with the knife he was dimly aware of the white hot needles in his left arm, the fireballs launching into his chest, the kunais, probably poisoned as well, being sunk, one after the other, by a frantic and dying Sasuke. The ecstasy of movement and blood and attack had wrapped him up, the demon's song screaming in his ears, and all that mattered was his enemy, struggling like a little mouse. At last, at last...
The black snake gave a final shudder underneath them and disappeared as its master lost the strength to maintain it, poison slowly invading his brain. The two men fell, tumbling through the air, and landed. Except that one of them landed wrong. There was a snap, and Sasuke lay crumpled on the ground before Naruto, spine fractured, paralyzed from the waist down. Naruto grinned, still riding high on battle-rush and walked over to his gasping enemy. "It's over, Sasuke." He growled, still grinning, placing his foot on the other man's temple, pressing down until he heard a creak and an agonized scream, ignoring the feebly clawing hands. "Time to pay back all the pain you gave to us."
"Naruto..." Sasuke gasped, "Please..." Those were his final words, as Naruto leaned all his weight on the man's scull, shattering his mask and obscuring the swirled ANBU tattoo on his shoulder with a wash of scarlet.
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Sasuke pulled out a kunai. "I don't want to kill you, Naruto."
Naruto laughed, a sharp barking noise. "Since when have you cared? I thought that killing me was your ultimate goal, Sasuke-kun." He poured more energy into Hinata, trying to make her strong enough for travel. He didn't have time to both heal her and fight them. He'd have to finish these two off another day. He stood. "Goodbye Sakura. Hope that you don't see me again."
Sakura scowled, but let him go. Hand still gripping Sasuke's, she turned and began walking. Sasuke let her lead, saying nothing when they ended up at Konoha's gates.
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He heard a faint wail as his summons crunched his fangs down on Sakura. He felt a little bad, still, but she'd made her choice. That was what happened to traitors. Feeling the creature walk up behind him he stroked the enormous muzzle, the broody fangs. Climbing up between its ears, he let out a final scream of victory, the tri-circled curse mark on his shoulder blazing inky swirls along his body.
"Shall we go, kid?" His summons asked, flexing his claws and whisking a few of its tails.
"Let's go, Kyuubi. Orochimaru'll be pleased."
The young man and the nine-tailed demon fox beneath him roared their triumph once again as they crashed through the gates of Konoha, soon to be the Second Village of the Sound.
Behind him, Sakura blinked wearily, pushing her hair out of her face as her wounds healed a thousand times faster than even Naruto's would. Licking her lips, she crawled over to Sasuke's remains, grimacing at the extent of the injury. If it weren't for the scent of his blood, she wouldn't even be able to tell that the corpse had at one point belonged to Sasuke. Closing her eyes in concentration, she slit her wrists. The blood from the poured down on Sasuke's body, hissing slightly as her chakra forced it into his veins, replacing what little blood he still held within him.
For several minutes, she sat watching her partner's body, hoping she was right. Nothing happened. Tears of frustration clouded her vision. Reluctantly, she climbed to her feet and turned away, searching for a warm body to regain her strength with. The first one came quickly, not surprisingly a sound-nin come to check Naruto's handiwork. She snapped his neck quickly without ordeal and sank her teeth into the soft flesh.
From behind her came a gurgling sucking noise, the sound of someone drowning in their own blood. Eyes widening, she dropped the body and spun around. Almost as quickly, she turned aside once more and threw up. Sasuke's body was breathing once more, but the head was still gone. She wavered. Sakura'd never wanted to be doing this. Her gaze hardened. Whether or not she'd wanted to do it, she was the only one left. This was her job. Four long strides brought her back to Sasuke's body. Fingers tingling with chakra, she reached into the mass, gathering it together.
Her eyes remained shut tight for most of the operation. She'd practiced restoring body parts from scattered remains numerous times, but never a head. She could only hope that the process was similar.
Once finished, she opened her eyes and released the chakra that'd been guiding her hands in their work. A black aura danced around her partner, sealing wounds and reforming his face. Once he was all in one piece, although hardly human in appearance, she lifted him and ran. Naturo would pass through again at some point. She didn't want to be there when it happened.
Epilouge
"Mommy?"
The pink-haired girl nodded, smiling brightly at her daughter. Across the room, Sasuke 'hmph'-ed good-naturedly at their child's name for Sakura. It didn't suit her, but it made her happy enough, so he let it pass. Their daughter, the first daughter of two demons, was important. For her, he'd let most anything pass.
"Mommy, there were a buncha people in the woods today. They were lookin real hard for something. There was a real scary looking guy with them. He had long black hair." The girl frowned, expression one of pure disgust. "He was kissing uncle Kyuubi."
Sakura glanced at her husband knowingly. Their daughter had the unique ability to see through illusions – most likely a byproduct of her father's blood – to the point where she didn't even register that the illusion was there in the first place. Sasuke returned the look, features also contorted in that look of revulsion that only such an image could elicit. Still. . . . He nodded, and stood.
Sakura rose as well, smiling at their daughter. "Ayame, honey. Stay here. We'll be back in a while."
Uchiha Ayame nodded. They'd come back. They always did.
Author's Note: In case you were wondering, the reason they knew about Orochimaru is that the man has a rather distinctive laugh. In the manga, that laugh bugs the crap out of me, but...
There. I've done it. I've scarred my brain and everything. In anycase, in case you couldn't tell (I did try to blend my writing style in,) the beginning is mostly Red Crow's (formerly Crow-sensei) Against Them. Long ago I asked if I could use the fic for something I wanted to write, and here it is. It's been fun writing this, and once I become a better writer I'll revamp it. For now though, that's all. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
If you ever see a book by Yvonne Lee called Eclipse, look for this story in it. You'll have to search, as it won't be in fanfiction form, but it's definitely going to appear somewhere in Book Three of Eclipse.