Disclaimer: Naruto's not actually mine. Fooled you!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He glared at her from across the open field. There was no way. No way in hell he was going to let her get away with what she did. No way would she beat him either.

Sasuke stood with his arms firmly folded. He'd never really bothered to look at his teammate before now. She had a purple diamond on her forehead…Interesting. Tsunade must have placed it there. The way she stood with a kunai in her hand and the wind whipping her pink locks around her determined face…Sakura almost came across intimidating. Sasuke did a small flip of his head to push his own hair out of his eyes, a sort of bored look now on his features.

"Kakashi, are you sure this is a good idea…?" Naruto and the silver-haired Jounin were sitting a ways off, watching the stare down.

"It's Sakura's decision,"

The blonde sighed, his fists clenched. "I don't want that bastard to hurt her though,"

Kakashi didn't really reply. He was just as curious about this and maybe even anxious too. Icha Icha Paradise wasn't even in the copy-ninja's hand.

Yet another minute passed without movement. Sakura was desperately gathering her courage and strength.

'My goal is to make Sasuke open his eyes. If I can force him to use the sharingan then my mission is accomplished,' Sakura slightly nodded her head, as if giving herself the go-ahead.

"Hah!" With one rapid motion the girl threw her kunai at Sasuke. He smirked and disappeared, now directly behind her. Sakura had anticipated this and lunched off from the ground into a back flip.

His grin widened. Baka.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Several small balls of flame burst from his mouth. Now that she was in the air there was no where to go. He vaguely wondered if she had a fear of fire after that burn.

One of the flame balls hit her body, causing it to poof and reveal a log.

'Damn, Kawarimi. Why didn't I see it?'

'Only one?' Thought Kakashi in the tree. Was Sasuke just playing with her?

Suddenly Sasuke whipped around in place, grabbing hold of a shuriken that had been flying towards his back.

'She's hidden her presence,' He thought. Again it was a standstill. Sasuke tossed the shuriken towards some bushes. There was a shudder, and then several birds scattered.

'There!' She had jumped out from the trees and quickly formed some seals in a pattern that Sasuke did not recognize. Her hands thrust forward, several cherry blossoms spreading throughout the area. For a split second he stood hypnotized.

'Genjutsu!' his mind yelled at him. Sasuke quickly bit his lip, the pain drawing the raven-haired boy back to reality where dozens of tiny spinning blades were rushing towards him. With a few quick motions he caught some and then used those to counter the others. Sakura was rushing towards him behind the attack, more kunai in her hands.

'Where does she keep all of these?' He wondered. His body was positioned to take her attack head on, when she flung the knives and made another set of seals.

'Nani?' His eyes became wide when Sakura opened her mouth and blew a purple-ish colored smoke towards his face. Sasuke clamped his mouth shut and jumped back to avoid inhaling the deadly poison (not to mention the knives) and in doing so he lost track of her movements.

'Behind!'

"Too late!" She yelled, her hand coming towards him flat, with the palm facing down and a strange electric current around it. He started turn, but felt the side of her hand connect with his neck and he was thrown back a few meters, unable to stop himself.

Sakura stood, her hands in a defensive position incase the technique hadn't worked. Chuusuusei Biribiri; Tsunade had finally taught it to her, but she'd never used it on an opponent before. The kunoichi was ready for anything that might have come her way.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," His voice was quiet before he inhaled deeply and blew the chakra through his hands creating a stream of fire. But it was strange; his hands were slow at performing the familiar seals and positioning. It was as if his brain signals were slower. In fact, Sasuke was finding it hard to stand. Suddenly his breath quit on him and he collapsed to his knees. Sasuke's body was no longer responding.

Sakura was frozen. He was…behind me? She felt the heat racing towards her, and barely dodged. She felt the back of her leg in fire, once again, and it caused her to stumble. Franticly she preformed Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape his inevitable attack, but none came. Carefully the pink-haired girl stood and saw Sasuke on the ground. He seemed to be testing his limbs.

"What did you do to me?" He demanded. His eyes glared at her. She noticed he was regaining movement rapidly. Either her jutsu was weak or he was incredibly in tune with his body movements.

"I converted my chakra into an electric current and hit your spinal cord, messing up the electric messages in your body. You shouldn't be able to move for -"

She bit her tongue as she felt a foot connect with the middle of her back, sending her flying across the empty field.

"Wha?" Her body tumbled into the ground, skidding to a stop. She lifted her head to see him standing over her. "How-"

"You underestimate what I have learned. You are still weak,"

'No!...I'm not weak…!' Sakura pounded her hand into the ground, releasing chakra in an instant and breaking up the earth. Sasuke saw this coming, even without the sharingan, and jumped back. Dust blocked his vision, but he could feel her coming at him again. Sakura burst through the smoke, aiming a punch for his head. He ducked, doing a spin kick at her feet. She jumped, and then drew up her foot to pound him into the ground. Sasuke saw the attack but was unable to dodge it. Instead, he stuck out his palm to intercept the blow, but soon realized it was a mistake. When she hit his hand chakra was released, pushing him back, breaking a finger while jamming others. Sasuke managed to stay on his feet as he slid backwards. Sakura used this instant to whip out two more kunai and toss them, before performing another set of hand seals. Sasuke used his undamaged hand to catch the kunai, ready to use them in a defensive way. His cold eyes met her own in an attempt to read what was coming, but found himself staring into blackness instead of bright green.

'What…' The darkness swallowed him, and he was no longer able to move.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu," he heard her whisper.

'Damn it…Genjutsu. I can't move,' He was searching for some way to break out of this powerful trap. The only option that came to mind was his sharingan. He scratched that idea. 'I don't need my sharingan to beat her. She may have gotten stronger, but she's still weak compared to me.' He tried concentrating on the minor pain his hand was in, but could no longer feel it.

Sakura took some deep breaths. That last move had nearly drained her of the remaining chakra, and she was now out of weapons. All the girl could do was hope that Sasuke used his sharingan to escape or she'd never be able to pull off another big move.

He heard her walking towards him, and he braced his body for attack. As anticipated it came, but it wasn't as strong as the first. He felt himself hit the ground and scrape over a few rocks. Sakura watched the expression on his face, a look of pure determination.

"Do it Sasuke. I want you to open your eyes," Her voice was surprisingly hard, but her breath was short. He could get it over with right now…

Another blow connected with his stomach. He coughed, but no blood yet. The wind was knocked out of him. Sakura reached up to wipe her own mouth and spit out the blood that had collected from when she bit her tongue. Her back was killing her; luckily her spine had not snapped.

"Do it!" She aimed for his face this time, all thought of love gone. Sasuke felt the power in her fist.

His eyes snapped open.

Sasuke's hand beat her own, crunching the bones of her caught fist. Sakura's face contorted in pain and he smirked.

"You asked for it," With one hand he tossed her backwards, where she landed on her side and rolled a few feet.

"Saku-" Naruto, who had been watching in horror, now jumped up to go stop the raven-haired boy. Kakashi quickly grabbed his collar and pulled him back, his own eye fixated on the scene.

"Don't interrupt. Isn't that what you told Sakura once?"

Of course Kakashi was right. Naruto now stood on the tree branch ready to spring into action if that bastard hurt her more than necessary.

Sakura struggled to stand again. She wanted, no, had to see those red spinning wheels. Knees shaking and threatening to buckle, she got to her feet, emerald eyes wide and staring at him. He stared back with blood colored eyes. She saw that there were now three spindles surrounding his pupil.

And then she smiled.

'Why is she smiling!' Sasuke was in a rage now. Did this amuse her? He dashed at her, carelessly throwing his fist toward her face. With a strange swiftness she side stepped, and even though he had anticipated this long ago Sasuke still missed. With his sharingan he could see the moves she would make five seconds in advance at the least. Now, as he glared at her grinning face, she wasn't showing signs of moving.

"I win, Sasuke," Sakura whispered. He growled then rushed her again, but she did not get out of the way this time. Her body flew back into the forest, smacking into a tree after his hit landed. Now her limp figure slid down the trunk into a heap on the ground. Sasuke walked over to Sakura, lifting her head by pulling her pink hair. She stared up into his eyes, still with that insane grin on her face. His hand fell, but her head stayed tilted, and he preformed a series of seals, never breaking eye contact.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu," He said. She felt her body freezing up, but still the victorious grin held. Sasuke reached down and pulled her up by the shoulders, pinning her against the tree.

"Why are you so happy?" He asked, voice flat. She was silent for a second.

"Because I beat you, Sasuke. I made you use your sharingan." He glared now, and pushed her against the tree with more force. He hated this. She had been toying with him, using binding and Genjutsu that she knew he could only break with his bloodline limit. So that had been her game after all.

Sasuke was pissed, to say the least. He hated being tricked, being treated like a child, having his pride broken. He had beaten her into this state and she had a grin frozen on her face. Damn girl.

His curse seal prickled.

'What?' It sent a wave across him this time. Why was it reacting?

There was another emotion buried deep inside him. Somehow it was making him feel…guilty? Look at what he had done to this girl. The only person who really cared about him, and he had nearly knocked her unconscious and broken her hand. All she wanted was him to notice her…

'What…is wrong…' Sasuke's teeth were grit, and he had closed one eye, his contact now breaking with her. His jutsu was wearing off; she was loosening in his grip. '…with…me?'

"Sa-Sasuke-kun?" her voice was no longer prideful, but worried. He felt his head leaning in towards Sakura, no longer under his conscious control.

"Sa! Wh! What are you doing!" Now it was worry for her self. Sasuke's head was positioned over the area between her neck and the end of her collarbone. Without realizing it, he bit down.

At first it felt…kind of nice to Sakura. But then his teeth were beginning to dig into her flesh. Then he broke the skin, and blood trickled down inside of her clothes.

"Itai! Sasuke! What the?" She wriggled against his hands, but his hold was much too strong for her beaten body to fight.

Suddenly there was a 'poof 'noise and she felt the pressure being pulled from her. Another pair of arms caught her before she did a face plant into the dirt. Kakashi was holding Sasuke by the back of the shirt now, and when he release his grip the boy fell to his knees clutching his head. Kakashi could see down the large neck of his clothes where the curse seal stood out, now retracting.

Sakura fought against Naruto, who was now holding her from running to the Uchiha. Tired as she was, there might be some chakra left for healing. She wanted to do whatever she could to help.

"Sakura, leave the bastard alone. He doesn't deserve to be healed." Sakura stopped and glared at Naruto, who was looking back with slightly sad eyes. "Look at what he did to you,"

"He did it because I asked him to," She responded angrily. Naruto didn't release her arms though, and eventually she ran out of strength to fight him.

"Eh. Sakura, Naruto's right. I think you two should stay away from each other for a while,"

Sakura glowered at Kakashi now. How could she stay away, when she had finally managed to prove herself?

'This is NOT FAIR!' Inner Sakura proclaimed. But the kunoichi could do nothing.

Sasuke stood, spitting out the blood from her shoulder and wiping it from his mouth. He tried to act as if it didn't matter, but his face proved otherwise. He had a scared and troubled look that, no matter how hard he tried, would not clear away.

"Sasuke, we need to go see Hokage-sama. Now." Kakashi was…angry? He almost never used a tone like that. Sasuke sent a cold look his way, but followed his former Sensei nonetheless. Now Sakura and Naruto were alone. He relinquished his grip on her and she stumbled forward.

"Sakura, why did you do that?" he was obviously angry. "You knew you couldn't fight him head to head,"

"You know I had to do it, Naruto." The pink-haired kunoichi turned her head towards him. He could see tears making trails down her dirty face. "I thought you'd be proud of me though…I won." And she smiled. Naruto was quiet. Then -

"All right! Let's go get some ramen then!"

Sakura laughed. It was strange combination; blood, tears, and laughter. Naruto was again reminded of why he liked this girl so much.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"He still can't control the curse,"

Tsunade gazed at Sasuke with her brows pushed together. Great, another thing she'd have to deal with…

The boy kept his eyes pointed towards the floor. His hand was still paining him a bit, but he'd had worse.

"What do you think is wrong, Kakashi? I thought after running from Orochimaru that he'd stop sending him power."

"…" The Copy-nin shot Sasuke a look. "I think it has to do with one of him teammates."

"What, Naruto?" Now Orochimaru was chasing the fox as well?

"…No."

"Sakura!" The words exploded from her mouth. After training the pink-haired girl, Tsunade had grown rather fond and protective of her. Sasuke looked up at her exclamation.

"Sasuke, why didn't you mention this to me before?" Now the Hokage was angry with him.

'Why? Because it would be a hassle, not to mention I wasn't sure myself…' He thought.

"I don't know," was all Sasuke said.

"Is only activating when you're around Sakura?"

"…Yes," the Uchiha didn't want to admit it.

"Do you know why?"

'Obviously not. What's with all the questioning?'

"No," Sasuke replied simply.

Kakashi sighed at how difficult his former student was being.

"The best option is to keep him away from Sakura until we can figure out what Orochimaru wants," Tsunade had taken a seat behind a large stack of papers on her desk. "If the seal only activates around her, then it shouldn't be a problem." Now she was holding a pen and writing furiously on a scroll. "Kakashi, tell Naruto to keep a close eye on Sakura. If Orochimaru can't use Sasuke to do…whatever he's planning to do, then he might send in someone to kidnap her,"

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke muttered. Both Kakashi and Tsunade sent him a strange look, but he didn't notice it.

"Don't do anything stupid Sasuke. You are dismissed."

As the pair stepped outside the door they missed the kunoichi hiding behind it. Or, at least, they pretended not to notice.

'…keep him away from Sakura…' the words replayed in her head as she stepped inside the Hokage's office. What had she done to him? Her mind and heart were filled with worry.

"Oh…Sakura," Her mentor glanced up at her footsteps and took notice of her sad face.

Sakura had passed up Naruto's ramen offer, explaining that she needed to go clean herself up and take care of injuries. The truth was, she wanted to know what was wrong with Sasuke and if she could do anything but…

"I'm the problem," She whispered. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "I'm always the problem,"

Tsunade paused, watching her tears fall on to the ground. She had never cried this much when Sasuke was gone.

"No, Sakura, it is Orochimaru that is the problem. But, as I am sure you heard, that does not mean it is safe to be around Sasuke. I need you to promise you won't try to go to him."

Sakura wasn't sure if that would be a promise she could honestly keep. Her green eyes remained on the ground as she answered.

"I promise…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Sasuke, just how did you kill Itachi?"

Shocked, the boy paused in his steps. Kakashi stopped as well, looking back over his shoulder. While he had been watching the fight between Sakura and Sasuke the masked ninja noticed that the Uchiha did improve, but was not near enough to Itachi's level to kill him.

"…" Sasuke answered with silence. Not that Kakashi had been expecting a straight confession.

"I see." He pulled out Icha Icha Paradise, flipping through a few pages. A few minutes later, the pair reached the Uchiha home. Sasuke watched Kakashi expectantly, waiting for him to leave.

"Don't try to run away," Was all he said before disappearing in a poof. Sasuke glared at the dissipating smoke. Suddenly he felt a presence nearby. This made him even angrier. Now they had ANBU watching him? He stormed into his house, slamming the door loudly. He instinctively grabbed the first thing he saw, which happened to be a glass cup on the table, and threw it against the wall with all his strength. The cup exploded against the wood and scattered glass all around the floor. Feeling empowered that he had so much control over the life of that little cup he walked over to the cabinet and pulled out another then chucked it against the wall as well. Its remains joined the other. He stared at them for a while, one hand pressed against his forehead.

'What is wrong with me?' Sasuke had never been this emotional since Itachi killed the entire clan. Something pink reflected in the glass made him think of Sakura. He pushed this thought out of his head quickly, but it wouldn't leave him alone.

'Why do I care so much?' Yet another difficult question, but Sasuke knew the answer. She was the only person left in the village who hadn't deserted him. His fan girls left him alone now - not that he wasn't happy about that - Kakashi was surprisingly cold towards him, the townspeople were giving him angry looks and distance when they walked past him, and even Naruto, his once thought best friend, was avoiding him all together. He was alone again. Alone.

There was another reason Sasuke needed Sakura. That day, in the hospital, he had wanted to ask her to marry him despite his small curse problem. Not for love per say, but to fulfill his goals. Maybe, if he had a family, he'd feel…complete again. Back before Itachi changed, he had been so happy, just living out his days trying to be the best Ninja so his dad would be proud. Such a silly goal it seemed now. And happiness...the word was foreign to Sasuke.

But no, Orochimaru and Itachi had to take that away from him as well. Sasuke decided to clean up the glass later. Instead the boy walked up the stairs to his empty feeling room where he fell into a rather fitful sleep.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Itachi grabbed onto his wrist much like their first encounter. Sasuke now had enough sense to break away quickly and leap back.

"Why did you have to do it Itachi?" The boy found himself surprisingly close to angry tears. "Why did you have to kill everyone?"

"Foolish brother, I have already explained that to you already."

"Why did you have to be so selfish?" Sasuke's sharingan was activated and his hand was gathering power for another chidori.

"I did not do it for myself, Sasuke. I did it for you."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: hope you liked this! The fight scene is rather strange, I admit, but it came out as planned. Sakura's weird, huh?

Yeah, Sasuke threw a fit. Great, ne? And a little inner monologue. I have planned out his character for a while, and even placed my mind in his place…

Bleh, I almost wrote myself into a corner this chapter. Orochimaru will be appearing again next time - he needs to explain himself!

Neji/Saku next chapter. People keep saying it's a triangle, but it's not really...At least, I fail to see the triangle part. However, because I keep getting so many people reviewing who want it to be a NejiSaku, I have unconsciously developed a plot for a NejiSaku story, and might start writing it if there's enough interest. So just state in your review if you want it written.

Ja till next week!

(I was thinking of doing a reviewer response, but this chapter has already gone way over the normal 3,000 words I tried to limit myself to…heh )