I'm sorry it took so long! But I kinda got stuck, and was afraid to continue. But I forced myself to continue this now. I hope I didn't offend anyone. Especially the one who asked me to update quick But you peeps wouldn't want me to ruin chapters just because I got to hurry, right? Anyway, on with the fic.

The kunai, chapter six: Fighting and memories.

By Gasha Aisu.

Disclaimer (just to be safe): I do not own Naruto.

Last time in the kunai:

Sakura stood still, gazing at Ashi with intense eyes. Most people were unnerved by them, but Ashi didn't seem to mind. He looked right back.

A breeze picked up.

Sakura and Ashi stared at each other, until they both jumped back, as if by some unheard signal. Ashi started doing hand seals, and Sakura reached for her faithful weapons. Ashi's hand went fast, familiar by the jutsu he was preparing, Sakura threw some kunai at him, which he dodged. Sakura's face was neutral the whole time, the only thing changing where her eyes, that didn't leave her target.

Suddenly, Ashi slammed his hand on the ground, and a giant wall rose between her and her team mates. The wall was like a giant circle, surrounding them both, but leaving enough room for a though battle. Sakura froze, standing in front of Ashi. Her bright green eyes, took in her surrounding. You could see through the wall, she saw Sasuke and Naruto close and inspecting the wall looking for entrance if necessary, but you knew it was there. To test it, she grabbed a stick, and threw it at the wall. Ashi did nothing. But the wall turned white where the stick hit it, and the stick bounced back, broken. Sakura knew enough.

Her eyes went back to Ashi, who just stood there, his hand still slammed on the ground, him bending through his knees. He was looking at her, and his eyes went cold, a ruthless smirk made its way to his face. Sakura hardly blinked, just standing there, looking at him.

Suddenly Ashi made a movement, and a worm like creature sprung out the wall. Naruto yelled in surprise, since the worm sprang out from where he had been investigating the wall. Sasuke's eyebrow shot up. But Sakura, again, hardly blinked.

Her face stayed neutral, revealing nothing, as she jumped back, the worm closely following. It was barely out of arm length, way to close for comfort. Sakura grunted, as she noticed her approaching the other side of the wall. Somehow she knew she shouldn't touch it. Her pink hair went forward, blocking her view on the sides, so that she could only see the worm, and not Ashi. She didn't care, she knew where he was anyway. Her eyes where dead, while she kept approaching the wall, jumping back, barely being missed by the worm's angry attacks. At the last second, she jumped to the side, just before the wall. The worm went on, going in it, and came out of another part. Sakura's eyes narrowed. Sasuke and Naruto watched on, helplessly. Naruto knew she would be fine, but worried anyway. Sasuke's eyes where narrowed in thought, his sharingan activated to keep a close watch on the battle. Sakura didn't spare them a glance, her eyes focussed, nothing could distract her from her mission.

"Nice try, but the wall destroys everything, except that nice little pet I have" Ashi snarled.

Sakura eyes flashed, and stored that little piece of information.

She stood still, and then on the last moment, she dropped to the ground. The worm barely missed her. Her eyes where locked on the monster, as it made a wide turn and charged back at her. She frowned, and slowly got up. Again she waited. Her eyes dead.

At the last moment, she turned her body, barely missing the worm. Again the monster made a wide turn before coming back at her again. Sakura's eyes flashed with understanding before turning cold again.

"She doesn't say anything"

Naruto blinked and looked at his team mate. It was still strange to him, to think that they where a team again.

"So?" he asked, confused.

Sasuke's red sharingan eyes looked at him, before focusing its attention to the battle scene again.

"She never could shut up. And now, she doesn't even make a sound" he stated.

Naruto looked at the ground, his clenched fist, before speaking.

"She never speaks unless she has to, and she doesn't care if she'll live or not. She says it's useless talking, and shouting or making sounds. It doesn't change anything. Acting does" Naruto explained, and he looked at Sakura again. She stood still, calmly waiting for the giant monster to attack her once again.

Sasuke nodded. It was true, she didn't care.

"You think I can do it?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Naruto blinked, his blue eyes settling on Sasuke. He didn't have to ask what "it" was.His eyesflashed with hope.

"Yes" he said. When Sasuke looked at him, confused, he grinned.

Sasuke smirked.

"I'll try" he promised. Making Naruto's grin widening, before he turned serious again.

"It won't be easy" he said, paying attention to Sakura again. Sasuke did the same.

No, it won't, Naruto, he thought, No, it won't.

Sakura didn't turn to face the worm this time. She stood still, gazing at Ashi, as if the worm didn't attack her from behind. She stared at him, thinking, while the worm charged at her with dazzling speed. When it was close (too close if you asked her team mates) she finally moved. Surprisingly, she charged directly at Ashi, testing her theory. Ashi didn't move, he couldn't, he was controlling the worm.

Sakura stood still directly in front of Ashi, kunai in hand. The worm doubled its speed. She slashed, and Ashi was forced to move, the worm kept charging. Only this time, both Ashi as Sakura dodged. Ashi chuckled.

"You're fearless, don't you care if you die or not? You allow my pet to come close, and you don't even flinch" he smirked, "And you figured its weakness, haven't you?"

She crossed her arms.

"Flattery will get you nowhere" she told him, earning another chuckle.

"I know you want to continue" Ashi said, still smirking, "But I'm curious. How did you found out?"

Both Sasuke as Naruto frowned, wondering if she thought the same as them. Sakura sighed, knowing this wasn't going to continue unless she told him.

"You're little 'pet' as you say it, is unable to make sharp turns, when it's supposed to. If I just take a few steps, the monster is unable to change its direction directly unless he's from a great distance. I figured you controlled it from the start, but apparently, is your pet not used to you yet. It either responds slowly, or it's not certain of your commands and if they're logical. Therefore it makes big turns, because it doesn't lower its speed, making sharp turns impossible" she explained in monotone. Ashi stood for a while, then he grinned.

"Very good!" he said, smirking. Sakura's eyes narrowed, she liked being taken seriously, and Ashi looked as if it was all a great game to him.

She grabbed a kunai, and prepared to attack again.

The worm shot out from the side, and Sakura was forced to doge. Her eyes where unmoved as the worm whizzed by her, inches away from her face.

Ashi smirked, and Sakura could see he was up to something. She narrowed her eyes, but the worm forced her to start moving again. She tried to keep an eye on Ashi, but the worm kept blocking her view, and forcing her to turn when she did see him. A glance at him told her he was doing hand seals. She turned, and the worm turned with her. Her eyes widened as she realised that it listened completely to its master, and had to trouble with keeping up on her.

She gritted her teeth as the worm came dangerously close. She narrowed her eyes.

Ah, so that was it. The first worm had been white, almost see through, and this one had a purplish tint hanging over it. So it was another that explained it.

"Helpless-death-no-jutsu" Ashi suddenly yelled, and Sakura turned only to face the worm.

It was like a rainbow. The worm changed in all kinds of cheerful colours, and Sakura felt herself drawn to it. It was...was...so... perfect. Not like the ugly worm it used to be. It could comfort her, it would make her forget her worries. God, it was so beautiful.

The creature charged at her, and Sakura opened her arms slightly, welcoming it.

Sakura!

Sasuke?

Sakura-chan!

Naruto?

Sakura, wake up damnit, you're not that weak!

Sasuke...

Yeah! Fight it Sakura-chan! We believe in you!

Naruto...

Her dazed and slightly closed eyes widened. What was she doing? She tried to get away, and cursed. Her legs weren't moving. And the worm didn't feel like stopping any time soon.

You're not that weak. Feh. What did he know? She wasn't weak at all! She got rid of that weak Sakura years ago. This was just...plain stupid. But what if...it seemed like...

Like she was as helpless as a few years ago, she didn't change and she was still weak. She gritted her teeth.

"Dammit, I'm not the same helpless girl anymore" She snapped and reach back to grab her kunai. With a lot of trouble, she managed to do so.

"Move" she ordered herself, but her body refused, the worm kept charging.

"Move!" she yelled, but she got the same result.

Something clicked in her mind, and something resurfaced after being locked away. Inner Sakura took hold of her again.

"MOVE DAMMIT" she yelled, and buried her kunai in her own leg. She was snapped out of her trance by the searing pain, and immediately she jumped.

The worm hit the ground where she once stood, softly she landed again. When she smoke cleared, a huge crater was where had stood.

"NICE SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled happily. And Sakura fought the urge to stick her tongue out again, like she used to do. But then again, she used to be innocent, she used to be cheerful. Her eyes closed, and when they opened, she had locked her emotions again.

"Thanks Naruto" she said monotone, making Naruto's grin disappear.

Ashi didn't seem to be impressed, but his scowl betrayed him. Ashi was not happy. He had hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, for this justu was plain torture. But he had no choice.

"Nice, girl, I'm sorry you have to die, you're an interesting girl, you know that?" he said, preparing the necessary hand seals.

Sakura looked at him, her face blank. The way she stood, with her back straight and only her head turned towards him made her look confident, almost arrogant. Scowling Ashi doubled his speed with making hand seals.

Sakura grabbed her kunai, but the ground behind her cracked and Sakura quickly turned.

Not quick enough.

A massive worm took hold of her. So Sakura found herself in an iron hold, with barely enough room to breathe. Scowling, she tried to harm it with her kunai, but it wouldn't pierce the thick skin.

Ashi slammed his hand on the ground again. For a moment, it seemed as if nothing happened.

Then massive walls made of earth sprang around Sakura. The worm made it out, but just barely. The worm had slammed Sakura on the ground. And Sakura couldn't recover quickly enough. So she was trapped, in a room made of earth.

All she could hear was silence, and the darkness seemed unbearable. It took a moment for Sakura eyes to adjust from the bright daylight to the dark 'cell' she was in now. It didn't have any holes, and Sakura frowned, calculating how long it would take before she was out of air.

"If you're worried about air, don't be" Ashi's mocking voice drifted to her, "you won't be alive long enough to die that way"

Sakura frowned confused. The ground suddenly started shaking, and Sakura was sure the walls where closing in on her. But that was just her imagination, right?

When the walls kept approaching Sakura realised it was real, very real. Grabbing a few of her kunai she hurled it at the walls, but they just bounced off. She looked quickly, but there was no exit. She glared and run at a wall, throwing herself at it. Nothing happened, as she had expected. The wall pushed her back, going for another wall. And Sakura knew she would be crushed to death if nothing happened soon.

She ignored the urge to talk out loud, like she would have done a few years back. Maybe swear a little, and then talk to clear her head and think.

But her head was clear, she wasn't afraid, and she was thinking. She saw no use for it now. She didn't even know why such a stupid thought came to her. That old Sakura was dead, along with her inner Sakura. But lately she hadn't been so sure. Damn that Sasuke for coming back.

With her back against the wall, Sakura shut her old self of completely, like she had done many times before. Her cold eyes watched as the other wall kept coming closer. Looking up she realised that even the top was slowly coming down.

Dammit, she wasn't going to be weak again, she no, swore too herself...none of that now.

If she wanted to escape she had to break the walls somehow. Or have some great explosion inside which somehow wouldn't kill her...

Lately she worried that she would break her oath to herself, that she would be weak again. She still remembered. She still remembered how she had been weak, pathetic. Hell, she had begged him to stay. And did it matter? No, he had gone anyway, and left her broken hearted.

Please Sasuke-kun, I will make everyday more enjoyable, you will never be bored with me!

Dammit, had she really been that naive?'

She remembered her broken heart, she remembered her tears.

The wall's kept closing in on her, and gritting her teeth she dug her heels in the ground. It didn't work.

But most of all, she remembered her promise, her oath. The thing she could hold into when weakness showed. The thing that kept her grounded the oath that kept her cold, made her hurt her friends.

Flashback:

It was raining, the ground was soaked. And so was Sakura. But she didn't care, she didn't care for anything anymore. All she card for was training, and somehow getting rid of the pain. But she knew she never would. Her heart bared a scar and that wasn't going to get healed that fast.

Tears mixed with rain as she sobbed. She barely saw, but that didn't matter the tree wasn't going anywhere. His cold eyes kept coming back to haunt her. She kept having flashbacks about how annoying she had been. Sasuke was right, she was annoying. All she ever did was being loud. And even though her chacra control was perfect, she was completely useless. She had to be saved every time by her team mates. Kakashi had to keep her spirits up. She needed everyone.

And nobody needed her.

With an anguish cry, she threw herself at the tree. She was useless, USELESS. Now clearly yelling, sobbing and cursing she kept training. Her muscles screamed, her body shook from pure exhaustion. She had been training for the whole day now. It started to rain about three hours ago. Not that she was sure, she had been to much caught up in training. But it was night, dark and cold. But she didn't care.

Even now she was nothing but a bother. Her parents worried about her. She hardly ate, almost never slept, and kept blacking out because of it. She kept crying, and almost nothing could get her away from training, not anymore. She remembered how she worried about her looks, and forgot about training.

Well, not anymore.

The training caused her pain, and she wanted that pain. She wanted to be punished. She wanted to be punished for being that weak, she wanted to be punished for her lack of discipline. She already asked Kakashi to train her more, he seemed to hesitate, but he agreed that's what mattered.

Her parents, desperate and unable to understand turned to Tsunade, seeking help. Tsunade suggested that she would train and keep an eye on Sakura. Her parents where grateful, Sakura didn't care. As long as she would get stronger. Three weeks later, somebody broke into her house. Both her parents where slaughtered. It broke Sakura and after that the whole village started to worry about her, and got all weak and protective on her. But nobody could get close enough to her to heal her, not in her zombie like state. In one dark night full of crying, Sakura realised:

She didn't want to be weak anymore.

She didn't want to be helpless.

She didn't want to be a bother.

She wanted to protect and not be protected.

Yes, that was what she wanted the most, to protect. After realising that, Sakura hardly did anything else but training.

Suddenly she stopped completely and bowed her head. Looking at her trembling hands, Sakura felt disgusted with herself. Look at her, she was supposed to be a ninja. A bitter smile made its way to her face. Some ninja she was. She was supposed to protect the village, not be protected by it. She was supposed to be a weapon, she was…She was supposed to be a lot of things she wasn't. But most of all, she was supposed to be strong.

Slowly Sakura reached back and grabbed a kunai. With a trembling hand she held it in front of her.

"Here by I swear never to be a bother again. I'll never be weak, and I will protect this village. As I draw my blood, my old soul goes with it. After this, I won't be the same Sakura, but a weapon, like this kunai. I'll never be useless again!" she yelled and slid her kunai across her wrist. As her tears finally stopped flowing, it was her blood that mixed with the rain. But the pain didn't go with it, it stayed to be locked away and forgotten.

She never noticed a sad looking Tsunade looking at her through the window.

She knew she had to escape, to be able to continue to protect the village.

She scowled. She had hoped she wouldn't have to use that jutsu yet, it ate a lot of chacra. But she guessed it couldn't be helped. She wasn't feeling like going to hell today.

Her face was blank as she performed the jutsu showed to her a few years ago. With a burst of chacra, she did the move she learned from Tsunade.

The walls exploded, and for a while neither Ashi nor her team mates saw anything because of the smoke. As it cleared Ashi's eyes widened.

Before him stood a giant snail.

To be continued.