Chapter 4: Fire and Eyes

From under covers, a blonde head popped out and groaned. Naruto got out of his bed on the floor and made his way to the washroom. Along the way he flicked the living room light on and peaked into Sakura's room to see if Sasuke had woken up yet.

Once again, Sasuke ceased to impress him with his kindness that seemed to be hidden all the time. Sasuke and Sakura were lying down together with a serene smile on each of their faces. Naruto didn't want to disturb them so he turned and left for the washroom.

When he got out, he decided to sleep a little while longer. He spotted Hinata with her covers on the floor. She shivered a little bit showing that the autumn chills were affecting her. Naruto walked over to her sleeping form and grabbed the covers from the cold floor. He placed it on her and instantly, Hinata's face lit up. Naruto just smiled and got back to his bed. 'Hinata,'

That day at school, Sasuke could barely walk nor could he concentrate on his work. He kept thinking of how he could find Orochimaru and Kabuto so he could end all of this. He didn't like seeing Sakura cry and he wanted to prevent that from happening again.

After class, the end of the day had come as the sun began to set early. Before he left, Kakashi had asked to have a talk with him for a few minutes. Sakura never left Sasuke's side the whole day but for this, Sasuke asked her to wait outside. She agreed but only for ten minutes.

"So, I take it you encountered a few bad things this week?" Kakashi asked, obseving all of Sasuke's injuries. Kakashi was sitting on his desk at the moment while Sasuke was standing before him.

"Well, I guess you could say it that way," Sasuke answered. "It was a just a few cuts from that idiot Kabuto and--" Sasuke was interrupted by Kakashi. "Kabuto? He cut you?" This wasn't good at all.

"Yeah, so what if he did? It's not that bad, the injuries are almost fully healed." Kakashi still had a look of worry in his eyes. Sasuke was like his son, and this new piece of information worried him.

"Are you sure you don't feel any different? Did you feel anything at all before this time, besides the pain?" Kakashi asked this question quite fast which startled Sasuke. "No," was all Sasuke had the chance to say. Kakashi was acting very on the edge that day.

"Good, just tell me when things start to get weird or if you feel anything out of the ordinary." Kakashi looked at Sasuke one last time before Sakura entered the room.

"Uh sorry but Sasuke needs to change his bandages." She looked at them both, wondering why they weren't saying anything.

"A-a…yes okay. Sasuke," Kakashi uncomfortable said. "It's time for you to go I see. I will see you guys next week then. Have a good weekend."

After the two teens left, Kakashi walked over to the window, watching them talk and laugh, having the time of their lifes. 'Sasuke, be careful. Kabuto has a record for killing anyone he gets his hands on.'

Back over with the villains, Kabuto was in front of Orochimaru. "So, what have you got to inform me about?" Orochimaru's dark voice came from the darkness.

"I would just like to tell you things didn't go as planned because as you may have noticed already, I don't have the girl but," Kabuto's voice was low and shallow trying to get through without getting his master mad but to no avail.

"But," Orochimarusaid rather heatedly.

Kabuto swallowed hard. 'I hope this is enough to satisfy him,' "I got to Uchiha and right now he's very injured. That leaves the girl unprotected," Kabuto began.

"Of course that leaves her unprotected, I'm not as stupid as you may think I am." The slithery voice boomed.

"But Sir, if it makes you any happier, I had added something else to the daggers that I sliced Uchiha with. It should affect him in a matter of hours." That was all that Kabuto could say. He was too nervous to add anything else.

There was silence for a moment then a chuckled could be heard. "Ah, well, at least you said something good."

Relieved, Kabuto bowed down to his master. "I'm glad you liked it Sir." Kabuto got up and began to walk away slowly when a kunai struck him in the arm. A small yell was supressed from the man with the glasses as he pulled it out slowly.

"Ah, slow reflexes I see. Something is bothering you," Kabuto turned around; Orochimaru grabbed his throat and began to squeeze harder and harder. "Just make sure whatever's bothering you is dealt with. I don't want any failures Kabuto." He let go and left Kabuto struggling for air.

Sakura had finally gotten Sasuke to stay at her house for the night after trying to do so for almost half an hour. Sasuke was sitting on Sakura's bed at the moment waiting for the bathroom. He stared at the side table and saw a photo of Sakura and another guy. He was giving her a piggyback ride as she wrapped her hands around his neck. She seemed to be the same age as she was now but it was in the summer. Sasuke grabbed the picture and held it before him to take a closer look. The guy had bright red hair and a huge smile on his face. They seemed so happy.

Sasuke didn't notice that Sakura had finished with the washroom and few minutes ago and was now looking over his shoulder at the picture. "Yeah, that was my ex-boyfriend. This was taken this year before I moved here. He was seriously injured when I last saw him. He was in the hospital when he died. Or that's what they told me. I couldn't say goodbye. He was in a coma when I left for Tokyo." She sat beside him and looked at the picture more carefully.

"I'm sorry," was all Sasuke could say. "I just thought you looked very happy in here. I never get to see you laugh or smile like that very often here. It's kinda nice seeing you like that." He gave the picture to her and went for the bathroom.

Sakura stared at the picture a little bit longer, and then a tear drop fell onto the glass of the frame. "I miss you, Gaara."

In the bathroom, Sasuke had just finished brushing his teeth when he noticed something different as he looked at himself in the mirror.

After he turned off the water he was going to grab a towel to wipe his hands when he noticed that the towel was on fire! "W-whoa!" he dropped the towel and went for the faucet when he noticed his hands were on fire. "What the hell!" he opened the faucet and grabbed the towel that was on fire and put it into the sink. Now that his hands had gotten wet, they weren't on fire anymore but Sasuke still kept his hands away from anything flammable.

When he snapped his fingers, his hand was on fire. When he snapped again, the fire disappeared. "Now this has to be a dream. Did I slip or fall of something?" He pinched himself and noticed that it hurt. "Yeah, maybe this is a dream that causes me to get hurt."

Now he looked into the mirror and noticed something different about his eyes. "Red?" he put his face right up to the mirror. Indeed his pupils were red with one black comma on the right and two black commas on the left. "Okay I didn't buy new contacts in the past forty-eight hours." He snapped his fingers again.

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes; he could control fire at will. Fire covered his hand but yet, he couldn't feel the burn. He looked up at the mirror before him and stared at his eyes.

"What's going on? What's happening to me?" When he turned around, he knocked a vase over. He was amazed by what he saw. Step by step, in slow motion, he saw the vase fall. Before it fell he caught it but he still couldn't believe what he just did. That vase must've been falling at a great speed, considering how heavy it was.

He placed the vase carefully back down, hoping it wouldn't explode or do something weird. "Okay, I can manipulate fire and I can see things before they happen,"Sasuke stared again at himself through the mirror. "This is some stupid dream, I just know it."

Back in Sakura's room, Sakura could hear a few screams from Sasuke and thought he had just put too much hot water on but then he started to scream a bit more. She was getting worried so she put the picture she was holding back onto the side table and headed for the bathroom.

She knocked on the door. "Sasuke? Are you alright in there? You're scaring me."

Sasuke jumped. "Oh crap, I can't let her know about this," he whispered to himself.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you." 'Oh shit.' "Um, n-nothing Sakura, I just uh," he tried to find a way to stop his eyes from turning red on and off. "The faucet doesn't want to listen to me. Sometimes it goes hot sometimes it goes cold." He shut his eyes hard and then opened them again continuously while he checked in the mirror if they were still red or not.

"Is that so? Well maybe it's broken or a screw is loose or something. Wait let me see," she wiggled the doorknob. 'No no no no.' Sasuke immediately grabbed the doorknob to stop it from moving. "Hey? The door's locked. I thought the lock was broken?"

"Uh, n-no! I guess I fixed it." He was frantically trying to keep the door shut. "I'll come out soon don't worry. You can check on it later." "Okay then." He placed his ear onto the door and heard footsteps fade.

'Oh my god, that was too close.' He paced in the bathroom trying to figure out a way to control his new found 'abilities.'

Sakura walked back into her bedroom and got into bed. She got her book out and began to read. The only light in the room was her bedside lamp. Sasuke soon walked in with his head down and went to the other side of the bed. He didn't once look at Sakura, afraid that she'll see his eyes.

"Sasuke are you okay?" Sakura said tapping him on the shoulder, as he lay down facing away from her. "Uh yeah, don't worry I'm just really tired. Goodnight."

She placed her book on the bedside table, turned off the light and went up to Sasuke, not satisfied with his answer. "Hey, you're not okay I can tell." She was about to turn him over when he suddenly turned around and turned her around in the process, making them both face the window. Sakura gave a small yelp during the procedure.

Sasuke was now staring at the back of Sakura's head. 'Okay, if I keep her down maybe she woke turn around.' Like he did the night before, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her close. This way he couldn't turn around. 'Perfect.' "Go to sleep Sakura, like I said I'm fine."

Sakura soon gave up and fell asleep. Although this time, his hands seemed a bit more on the warmer side than before.

The next morning, Sasuke was the first one to wake up. Since she let him stay at her house again, he decided to make breakfast, even though he barely knew how to cook. He got out of bed slowly as to not wake up the girl and headed towards the bathroom.

When he remembered the night before, he anxiously looked at his eyes again through the mirror. He sighed when he saw that they were pure black again. "Okay, if that's gone maybe," Sasuke took a long glance at his hands. He snapped his fingers and, "Aw man!" they lit on fire just like the day before. "Well, let's look on the bright side, maybe it'll make cooking easier."

Since it was a Saturday, Sasuke couldn't get to Kakashi. He really didn't know where the guy went on the weekends but he was definitely not at headquarters. Sasuke decided to tell Naruto about it. It's really risky for him to go outside with Sakura; his eyes could go off at any moment.

Right now, Sasuke was on the busy streets off Tokyo heading for Naruto's. He had made breakfast for Sakura but left it on the table with a note saying that he had something important to do.

He knocked on Naruto's door. Naruto lived in a small house about four blocks away from school and he lived alone. Sasuke had called him that morning telling him he needed to go there fast and he panicked. Sasuke just laughed, Naruto was always there for him but hey, he was his best friend.

Naruto opened the door and screamed, "Mr. Uchiha! Man you're giving me a heart attack. Why did you need to see me so fast?" Sasuke then looked Naruto right in the eye. "Whoa...sweet! you got new contacts?" Sasuke's eyebrows twitched as he pushed Naruto into the house and shut the door.

"No idiot, since when did I need glasses?" Then Sasuke snapped his fingers. His hand lit on fire making Naruto scream. "What the hell!--" Before he could complain even more, he tripped and fell backwards.

Turning off the fire, Sasuke just stared at him with his red eyes. "See? That's why. I just need a place to stay until I find out where Kakashi is or when I get to talk to him. Do we have a deal?" Naruto thought for a moment and was about to disapprove when Sasuke snapped his fingers again and looked at Naruto. He just swallowed hard and nodded nervously.

Sakura was out with Hinata and was now sitting in the mall food court. They had gone shopping and window shopping and finally got to the topic 'boyfriend' and decided to take a break.

"So, you had a boyfriend before?" Hinata asked taking a sip of her vanilla milkshake. "What was he like?"

Sakura also had a milkshake too but it was strawberry. "His name was Gaara. I don't know he was a sweet guy. The kind of guy that makes you laugh or comforts you when you cry." Sakura said stirring her strawberry shake with her straw. She was staring at the drink, lost in the swirls and memories.

"Hmm, this looks good." Gaara grabbed Sakura's strawberry milkshake and took a sip. "Yeah I was right, good thing too cause I paid for it." He chuckled and took a glance at Sakura who was glaring at him with her hands on her hips. "Give it back Gaara!" she dove for it but he just stepped away. She laughed, "Oh so that's how it's going to be huh?" then she got up and began to chase him through the field.

They were in Sakura's huge backyard on a hot summer day. Sakura and Gaara had just gotten back from the mall with two milkshakes.

Gaara landed on his back with Sakura on top of him. "Ha! Caught you!" By now she had already forgotten about the milkshake. She looked down at Gaara with a loving smile. "Love you," Gaara gave her a quick peck on the lips and got them both up. "Good thing this thing had a lid or else I'd have to give up my chocolate milkshake." He said taking another sip of the strawberry shake.

"Hey!" she playfully slapped him and grabbed her shake back. "Ha! You're too slow bet you can't get it back." She smirked and ran for it. They both had the time of their lives.

"Sakura! Sakura?" Hinata was now yelling, trying to get Sakura out of her blank state. "Oh, hmm? Sorry." She took her strawberry milkshake and drank from it. 'Gaara…'

Both Naruto and Sasuke walked to headquarters and went up to head office. They had to check it Kakashi was there and fast. They didn't know what the downfalls were in having powers. As they stepped into a dark office, Kakashi's head shot up front the book he was reading.

"Oh hello Sasuke, Naruto." He nodded indicating that they could come in. "What brings you here? I'm not going to give any of you assignments today. It seems like the only major mission is the 'Sakura Haruno' one." Kakashi put his little book down and folding his hands on his desk.

"Well, Kakashi," Naruto began. He didn't know how to say it or knew exactly what happened. He looked anxiously at Sasuke who just sighed and decided to just show him.

Sasuke snapped his fingers and his hand lit on fire. He didn't stop there though. During the long hours of thinking at Naruto's, Sasuke learned how to compress the fire and make a fire ball. He began to tossing it back and forth between his hands like a baseball.

Kakashi was amazed. But again, this wasn't normal. Having powers was against logic the last time he heard of it. "How," Kakashi immediately remembered Kabuto. "Is this the result of what happened a few days ago?" Both Sasuke and Naruto nodded simultaneously. Kakashi got side tracked still staring at the ball of fire in Sasuke's right hand. "Does it hurt?"

"Kakashi!" the two boys yelled. "Okay okay, sorry just wondering." Kakashi mumbled. "Well at least you can control it. Was there another symptom?" he inquired.

Then Sasuke looked at Kakshi in the eye and turned his eyes red. He also learned how to control his eyes a little bit yet sometimes they go on and off by themselves. Kakashi didn't seem to understand what it was so Naruto grabbed a kunai and threw it at Sasuke who was only about ten feet away from him.

Sasuke's finger was twirling the kunai around by the hole at the end of it. He was leisurely sitting there with one elbow propped up in the arm rest and his cheek resting on his fist.

"Well, now that I've seen uh your, abilities, what would you suggest we do?" he aimed the question at Sasuke. "I don't really know. That's why I came here."

"I guess the only thing we can do now is get a blood sample and see what caused this." Kakashi lead Sasuke to the lab along with Naruto.

'Ha, so he got the sharingan. That chemical solution that Kabuto put onto the knife has many different side effects and Sasuke got the same one that I got…' Kakashi said taking off the white bandana that covered his left eye. There was a scar and his pupil was red three black stripes instead of commas.

'He only has three commas in total. I have stripes. Ha guess he still doesn't have much control over them yet. He'll soon get full control soon. But he has them on both pupils; I only have it on one. He also has that additional fire power. I wonder how that happened.'

When Sakura got home, Sasuke was on the couch watching television, particularly sports. The place was nice and tidy.

"Hey stranger, might I ask where you were this morning?" she asked dropping her bags and hanging her jacket up in the closet. She walked up and leaned over the back of the couch next to Sasuke's head.

"Oh, nowhere really. I just had to go to the doctors see." He pointed to his left arm where the doctor poked the needed. "Just a blood test though."

"Okay then, oh and thanks for breakfast. I didn't know you knew how to cook." She headed into her room to change.

"I don't," he chuckled. "Beginners luck." He looked back as she emerged from her bedroom. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she was wearing sweats with a tank top. He got up and walked slowly towards her.

She turned around carrying a bag of chips and a drink. When she was headed to the couch, she slipped. Sasuke heard her scream and saw her falling. He activated his eyes and saw her fall slow motion. He dashed right to her but just barely made it. The drink spilled, the chips fell, but he caught her. Well, he was on his back with her on top of him. He laughed, "Caught you!" he smirked.

Then a flash back of Gaara came to her mind. "Ha, yeah. Sorry about that." She said sadly. She sat up along with him. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he looked at her with concern. They were still sitting on the floor. He switched his eyes back to black.

"No I'm not hurt it's just," she looked up at him with water eyes. "You remind me so much of Gaara." She couldn't take it. She hugged him tight and cried into his chest. "I miss him so much Sasuke." All Sasuke could do was hug her back, trying to comfort her. 'Gaara huh, boy what a lucky guy he was.'

Preview for Chapter 5:

"I told you that you couldn't ever touch her!" Sasuke's eyes flared red. He couldn't take it anymore. Sakura lay unconscious on the cold cement floor after being punched in the stomach by Kabuto.

Sasuke got there just in time. Sakura was walking in the park with Hinata after visiting Naruto. Sasuke just went to headquarters to get his blood test results and find out what his powers were going to do to him. He took the short cut through the boulevard and saw Kabuto attacking Hinata and Sakura.

"You better stay away from her! Or else," he ignited his hands and created two fireballs. "You'll turn into toast."

HA! That one took long! But I did it in the same say I wrote the third chapter wow! New record for me. All of my chapters are at least 7 pages long so far. And I'm planning to keep it at that rate.

REVIEW PLEASE. Thanks for all the feed back up till now too. )

- --writingzeaL