Chapter 7: To do what it has to be done

Why did I kill the whole Uchiha clan? I just did what it had to be done.

Why did I leave my foolish brother alive? Kisame, I don't like people that ask unnecessary questions. I don't mean anything by that. I just thought I'd let you know.

Uchiha Itachi

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Sasuke closed the book as soon as Sakura got out of the bathroom. She had been almost an hour in the shower.

He got closer to her, and carefully put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't shrink away from the touch, as he was expecting her to do.

"I am sorry, I am really sorry." He said softly.

She appeared be in a state of numbness. He sighed, and, after some seconds of doubt, he hugged her. She sobbed softly, and hugged him too.

"It's OK, it's OK." He said.

Sasuke waited a few minutes until she calmed down.

"Feeling better?" He asked, trying desperately to be nice, and wondering if he was succeeding.

She nodded weakly.

"I brought you another cup of milk" Sasuke commented. He was already tired of talking. He had probably talked more in the last hour than in the last month, maybe the last year, but... "I am sorry, it has probably gotten cold."

"Thanks."

She drank it. Sasuke watched her silently. He used to hate silence when his house was a home and people lived there. Then he got used to it, basically because there wasn't anybody to talk to. He had gotten so used to it that he got to hate when people talked too much, like Naruto.

Now the silence was bothering him for the first time in years because of Sakura. She had a special ability to disturb him. She was really annoying.

"We should go. It's time to go training."

"Training?"

"Of course. We are already late. Naruto will probably be there, and maybe even Kakashi. They will think it's weird if we don't show up." Sasuke reasoned, avoiding the reason why he wanted to go with Naruto.

The two of them left the house. Sakura was walking really slowly. Sasuke, after the third time he had to stop to wait for her, no matter how slow he walked, decided to hold her hand.

In another time and place, she would have been literally jumping of joy, walking holding hands with Sasuke. Right now, she was just falling more in love with Sasuke than ever before.

Sasuke was not only thinking about the person he was pulling along. He was thinking about the people that were watching them. He had seen two shadows. He hadn't been able to see who they were, but since he had actually seen them, he assumed it was somebody that didn't really care about being spotted. That meant it was probably ANBU. He was more worried about the people that he couldn't see, but he knew they were still there. The four Sound.

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A pair of binoculars was the only thing that allowed Kidoumaro to follow Sasuke and Sakura's departure from the Uchiha compound.

"Pssst. What a pair of shitheads. What the hell is that Sasuke doing?"

"You don't need to be so hard" Sakon considered "Sasuke is being really helpful to us. In case he refuses to come with us, we can use that girl as a hostage."

"Using a girl as a hostage? I don't like the sound of that." Jiroubou observed.

"Shut up, fat Ass!" Tayuya yelled. "We will skin the fucking bitch alive if it's needed to take that Sasuke to Orochimaru. Now shut the fuck up!"

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They were still holding hands when they reached the bridge where they usually met. Nobody was there.

Sasuke assumed his usual position and Sakura hers, very close to Sasuke. Still, an observer could have said that there were some things that were different. Sakura was barely watching Sasuke. This time it was Sasuke that was constantly watching Sakura.

For Sasuke, the most distressing change was that Sakura hadn't smiled since she left the bathroom. It was not that he considered the smiles to be important. Although he had been smiling more since the creation of Team 7, he still considered them mostly unnecessary. Sakura and especially Naruto smiled far too much, in his opinion. Still, watching Sakura's smile welcoming every single morning, wasn't really unwanted, especially after the nightmares.

"Sakura, could you..." he couldn't say it

"Hmm?"

"Never mind." He was really useless. He couldn't even make her smile.

Sakura raised her eyes, and for a few minutes the both of them stared at each other. Sakura's eyes seemed to be asking a question. Sasuke's eyes had a strong determination but no answers.

"Hi guys." said a strong, happy voice.

Sakura and Sasuke almost jumped, like children being caught doing something naughty.

"So what? Are you guys like that?" Naruto asked raising the pinkie.

This time, Sakura and Sasuke stared at Naruto.

"Naruto? What are you speaking about?" Sasuke almost yelled

"It's useless to lie to me, I saw you the other day."

Sakura and Sasuke took a step back. Sakura covered her mouth with her hands. Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulders.

"Naruto" He ordered apparently with a calm voice, looking at Naruto straight to the eyes "Tell me exactly what you saw. Please explain it to me carefully."

Naruto was surprised, but he answered.

"I saw you doing something gross while we were drinking."

"Gross?" Sasuke repeated.

"What did we do?" Sakura yelled.

"You really don't remember?"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's jacket, and he got so close he appeared to have the intention of kissing him

"Naruto" Sasuke said, his voice was starting to falter "What the hell did we do?"

"You... you... kissed." He said, blushing.

There was a silence.

"We kissed?" asked Sasuke, feeling his heart beating again.

"Hai. Gross, isn't it?"

"What else?" Sakura asked holding her breath again.

"You kissed many times, and hugged and..."

"And?" This time from both Sasuke and Sakura

"That's all. I got a little drunk, and I don't remember much, but I don't remember you doing anything else" said Naruto, wondering what was wrong with his two precious teammates..

"Aa" Sasuke said, looking right into Naruto's eyes, searching for lies. There were none. One of the reasons he liked Naruto was that he was too stupid to be a real shinobi. He had the strength and the determination, but not the mental hardness. Also, he didn't know how to lie.

The both of them were close to each other. Sakura was tired, and she leaned on Sasuke, who was more than happy with that, not that he was going to admit it. Naruto and Kakashi were having a drinking contest. They were speaking about something that wasn't important. What was important to them were the glances they cautiously took at each other.

Eventually their conversation died down, and they got closer to each other, and...

Sasuke and Sakura stared surprised at each other. Apparently the flashback had hit them simultaneously.

"Aa" Sasuke repeated. "What did Kakashi do?"

Naruto smirked.

"He got into a drinking contest with me. I think he lost."

"Aa" Sasuke answered. He wasn't really listening. He was making and changing plans related to his future at top speed.

Sasuke closed his eyes, and he did the same thing that he had done when deciding about leaving the Leaf: Concentrating first on the objective. Afterwards the only thing left was to choose the best way, no matter the difficulties.

Still, there was one thing that he was sure about: He should have left the Leaf when he had the chance.

"Sakura, Naruto" said Sasuke "I have to ask you something important: Do you trust me?"

Sasuke looked at them, and, after a few seconds of surprise for the question, both of them smiled.

"Sasuke-kun, of course we trust you" Sakura said.

"Yeah, even if you are a selfish, egotistical, arrogant, big headed, I-know-I-am-too-cool-for-words…

"I got it already" Sasuke dryly commented

"… Self-centered bastard, you are still a person we can trust"

Those words actually hurt Sasuke, because he knew he couldn't say the same. He could put some trust on them, that was required since they were his team-mates, but not the total trust they had on him. He also suspected that, for his revenge, he would have to betray them in the future. That was his original plan, anyway.

"Very well. Follow me, and follow my instructions without asking questions."

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The ANBU that were following Sasuke, watched as he talked to the other two genins. They were able to read his lips, but they got very little information.

The orders were to follow him, and it was a big surprise to them when they went straight to the Hokage office. That was a place surrounded by other ANBU, and they couldn't really get inside without creating trouble with the other squads.

They silently decided to wait outside. A few minutes later, with too little time for them to have done anything of importance, the three of them left the Hokage office and went to a Ramen Shop that the genin Naruto usually went to.

The ANBU followed closely, and they were surprised when they started eating exactly at the same speed and exactly with the same lack of manners.

"Izumi-san" One of them commented to his superior "I think we have been tricked."

"Agreed."

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Two people had left the Hokage office in the mean time. They seemed to be really old, moved like old people, acted and even spoke like old people. It wasn't until they had walked half an hour when they started running.

"Sasuke-kun" said Sakura, changing back "Why are we..."

"Sakura, I said no questions" Sasuke warned, changing back "You better change your vocal cords, too. You still sound as an old geezer."

"Sorry" said Sakura smiling and with her normal voice. Her smile was contagious and Sasuke was almost forced to smile back

Very soon they reached the Uchiha household. They entered and were soon in the dining room.

"Wait for me here. I'll be back."

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned around.

"Will you be back?"

Sasuke thought about it

"I promise you that if I ever leave the Leaf, I'll tell you first."

"Leave the Leaf?" Sakura wondered. Sasuke had already disappeared.

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Sasuke left his house. He walked with determination but a heavy hearth to a place he hadn't entered in four years: The Uchiha cemetery.

He entered it, walking to a grave. He was afraid of looking up. He was again a little boy, trying desperately to please his parents.

"Hi dad, mum. It's me. It has been a while, hasn't it? Four years ago I told you that I wouldn't be back until I had avenged you. But you see, your worthless son is breaking another of his useless promises."

He stopped in front of two shrines. He had been crying the last time he had been there, a lifetime ago, back when he was too weak to fight back.

"You see, I screwed up big time the other day. I ended up doing something terrible to somebody I care about, and I can only think on a way for solving this. I just thought I should let you know about it. Her name is Sakura. She is in our dining room right now. She is a nice girl; I bet you would like her. My brother would hate her, though. She is weak because she keeps trusting me over and over. Do you remember our dining room? Or maybe you are not listening to me anymore? Or maybe when you die there is nothing left? Doesn't matter, because next time I fight my brother, he will probably kill me, and I'll find out" Sasuke commented picking something from the shrines.

Sasuke put his hand on top of one of the shrines

"I'm not stupid, dad. You were not a good father. You concentrated only on the strongest of us, the brilliant successor of the clan. Only when he became too unpredictable you did start to pay to me. You wanted me to be as strong as him, just more manageable. Still, I loved you with all my heart. I'm going to avenge you. That's my promise."

He looked then to the shrine next to it.

"Mum, you were always a good mother. You took great care of us and you always showed us how much you loved us. I am sorry you had two sons who turned out to be such failures. I'll avenge you too. This I promise."

He watched the memorial that had been erected for all the Uchiha clan members killed in the wars. It had gotten too small because all the names of the members of the clan that had been killed by Itachi had been put there.

Sasuke put his hand on the memorial and started reading names. He started counting the names of all the people that he still remembered, and later the names of the people that he remembered not only the names, but important facts about them.

He sadly admitted that the numbers of both list were decreasing.

"Hi grandpa, hi grandma. How are you doing? You know, I don't remember much about you. What mark of tobacco did you like? How old were you? Did you complain about how my parents took care of me? I barely remember anything about you, and yet I am going to kill my brother, who I remember better than anybody else." He sighed. "I just wish he had killed me when he had the chance, back when I was truly happy. It's kind of tiring having to walk the path of revenge."

Sasuke walked to the end of the cemetery, and turned around.

"I am going repeat the promise I said so long ago. I am going to kill the one that killed all of you. One day, sooner or later, he will pay, and I don't mind losing my soul in the process. Not Sakura, not Naruto, not the Leaf, not even the Gods will stop me." He sighed "Due to the unforeseen circumstances you know about, I'll have to postpone my revenge for a while, maybe just a short while. Don't make a mistake, though, I'm not giving up. I'll never give up until one of us is dead. That's a lifetime promise."

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Sakura was still waiting in the dining room when he arrived. He had thought to himself that he wouldn't be too dissatisfied if she had left. However, he had to admit that he was sort of happy that she was still there.

"Sakura..." started Sasuke, but he couldn't continue.

"Hai?"

Sasuke watched her, the only person that could make him stutter. He wished again that Itachi had killed him when he had the chance.

"Follow me" he finally asked

Sakura followed. Both of them left the Uchiha household and went on top of a building.

"Sakura, do you remember?" said Sasuke, turning back to her.

She smiled.

"On top of this building, we told Kakashi and the rest of the team our dreams" continued Sasuke "We swore we would give our all to make them reality."

"I know" Sakura remembered "Sasuke-kun, why are we here?"

"It's the best place I could think of" Sasuke commented holding her hand

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. She was sure that what she had been fearing since the chuunin exam was going to become reality: Sasuke was going to leave the Leaf in the search for power to destroy his brother.

"Sakura," Sasuke said still holding her hand and kneeling down "Do you want to marry me?"

Sakura stared at him mouth open. Suddenly her legs gave way, and she fell down.

Far away, Sakon, one of Orochimaru's strongest henchmen put down the binoculars and started to laugh.