Hate Me
A Naruto Fan Fiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Interlude of the Senses: Piece 2In the back of her diary was a single rose, pressed between the pages. The red was fading into a dark black, and there was no stem, just the bud, and the green leaves that once curled around it from the bottom. "Sasuke's rose." She called it. Often times, she would open her diary and pick it out, examine it, holding it delicately in her palm or between her skinny fingers.
The rose came from her last mission with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. It was after they had all passed the chunin exams; they had all been so happy then, and Sasuke and Naruto didn't even fight as much. She could still remember how Naruto and Sasuke had wrestled on the side of the hill like two little boys, shouting, Naruto laughing. No matter how old they got, it was still so much fun to beat each other up and see who squealed "stop!" first. That day, Sasuke had won with a punch to Naruto's jaw, making it come out of place, so Kakashi had to snap it back in. "No fair!" he had screamed. "Yea it is." Sasuke had replied gruffly, "Rule number three: who ever snaps, dislocates, breaks or sprains any bones wins." "Hump."
Kakashi received the scroll, read it for a moment, and then passed it to Sasuke, who frowned deeply and passed it to Naruto. Once it got to Sakura, she was extremely nervous. What could be bad about it? Her eyes had scanned the scroll, and then widened dramatically. They had to kill an assassin, and his followers? The group had no official name; it was just sort of like the subcontractor to the Akatsuki. Not under their leader, but a sort of accomplice, and was influenced by the Akatsuki. Sasuke sighed and leaned back. "Ready to go?" The reply was nods and a few yeahs, and then the four stood, bags slung over their shoulders, and started to walk.
After three days, they found him, Mioshi Kyio and his bandits. They were camping in a forest at night, all sitting around a fire, laughing, two swigging sake, and Mioshi standing by himself up against a tree, smoking a cigarette with his eyes closed. Mioshi looked like a normal man, with the exception of the long, thick scar that ran over the bridge of his nose and across his right cheek, like someone had taken a jagged knife and dug it through his perfect tan skin. Sasuke was the first to strike; he threw two shuriken, one to each bandit's vital areas. Mioshi's eyes had widened, the bandits began to panic and take up defensive positions. Next was Naruto's turn; with a flash, he snapped the neck of the bandit closest to Mioshi, and, for some reason, took the other with him, alive and yelling. Of course, the yelling quickly stopped. Yet, even though his men were being picked off, Mioshi seemed relaxed, as if he knew what was going on. Sasuke took out the rest of them quickly and swiftly, and we all stayed hidden; but we all knew that something was up, and that Mioshi knew where we were. Suddenly, Mioshi disappeared, and reappeared next to Sakura. She screamed and thrashed at him with the kunai in her hand. His arms began to bleed heavily from blocking, and he growled and grabbed Sakura's arm despite its gashes. She kicked him and flipped backwards out of the tree, bringing the battle into the open area, while the males stayed hidden and watched carefully. The battle was too fast to be seen with the naked eye, so only Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi could see all that went on.
Turns out, Mioshi was tougher than he looked. After ten minutes, he had Sakura pinned to the ground, bleeding. Sasuke was about to jump when he heard and saw what Mioshi said and did next. "I guess girlies should stay home, hm?" he mused with a smirk, and bent his head over Sakura's face, as if to try to-
"ARGH!"
Sasuke and Naruto appeared at the same time, stabbing a log where Mioshi had once been. "Did you really think I'd rape a girl while you were near by?" Mioshi's voice echoed through the trees. Sasuke grit his teeth, and Naruto squeezed the shuriken in his hand. "How dare you…." Naruto hissed.
"How dare you?" Mioshi was suddenly in front of him, his eyes wide with insanity. Naruto immediately took the opportunity to stab him, only to barely rip his shirt.
Sakura was up by now in battle stance, ready to make sure he wouldn't pin her again.
"Hey girlie." Sakura's eyes widened as she heard the whisper in her ear, especially when a gasp and a shudder followed it. The limp body fell on her, and when she pushed it off his blood splattered across her arm. Mioshi lay dead on the ground, with a huge stab wound deep in his back, and behind where Mioshi used to stand, stood Sasuke. His face told of no emotion as usual, except a bit of annoyance, yet he was splattered in blood, and held a large, bloodied shuriken. "He really pissed the hell out of me."
It was the first time she had seen her Sasuke covered in blood, and not even any kind of rush, or surprise came to either one...
Just annoyance, like he didn't care that he had slaughtered a life.
Suddenly, she felt like she no longer knew Sasuke.
He had saved her…but she didn't know he was so fast.
Or so ready to slaughter another man.
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"I'm leaving." Sasuke's words had hit her hard. Leaving! "Why? Where?" "ANBU. I don't know. Since I don't know how long I'll be gone, or when I'm coming back, I want you to keep something safe for me." "What's that?" Sasuke handed her a worn, flat old rose, without a stem. "…Sasuke, why do you want me to keep this?" "My mom used to keep roses in a vase at home. Fresh ones, right from Yamanako's flower shop. When I came home, and they were dead, this was the only living, beautiful thing in the room."
"I'm so sorry Sasuke." "Don't be. Just keep my rose safe."
She still had his rose, and he had never asked for it back.