A/N: Well, at least some were able to guess right. I'm glad some still read my author notes, it's the others lost anyway if I suddenly announce something important. Anyway, here's chapter 7!

Cold

Bam!

He crashed onto the wall and glared at his attacker, sweat evident on his face and he was breathing heavily. Thinking quickly, he dodged an attack and took out two automatic guns and started shooting at his opponent, the bullets hitting the vital parts as it slowly crashed down, electricity enveloping it until it finally shut down permanently.

"Geez Sasuke, it took me weeks to build that robot!" Shikamaru said from the control room. Sasuke look behind him to see the genius behind bullet-proof glass seated on a swivel chair and monitoring the training area, which was where he was standing in. Loading his guns with new clips, he placed them back in his holster and sighed. "Come on, you can fix it in a day."

"Whatever, sequence four now commencing." He announced and pressed a button as a door opened and three androids came, ready with their weapons and looking at him. Sasuke smirked and pulled out his katana that was strapped on his back. "Bring it." And the androids charged as he jumped on their backs, evading some of their attacks. He stabbed one right through its metallic stomach, hearing the static it gave out then pulled back his katana to make a scratch on one that was about to land a punch on him.

"He's getting better."

Shikamaru turned around to see Neji eyeing the Uchiha fight. His pupil-less eyes turned to the lazy genius. "One of your toys?" he asked. Shika nodded and grinned. "Impressive huh..? They work and fight like real humans!" he said proudly. Neji turned back to Sasuke and smirked. "Yeah, like those who became Uchiha's victims?" Shikamaru raised a brow at him then turned to Sasuke and yelled.

"Uchiha Sasuke! You will pay for those!"

Chapter 7: Overprotective

"And I had to look hard for these parts, and then there's the amount of time I've spent and the electricity I used and-" Shikamaru rambled on and on as the three made their way to Kakashi's office. It appears that Sasuke had turned the androids to bits and junk and the genius of SS just started to lose his cool. Neji continued snickering while Sasuke kept rolling his eyes at the genius. "Gah! I can't believe you ruined my-"

"Alright already, you're being overdramatic about it." Sasuke muttered, walking faster than the two. Shikamaru and Neji stopped and looked at him, glancing at each other and exchanging questioning looks. "What's up with him?" the Hyuuga asked. "Well," came a voice from behind them as the owner suddenly squeezed himself in between them and head locked the two despite his short height. "Our Sasuke's getting a wee bit stressed or panicky around his cherry blossom."

"Wha-? Naruto, speak in Japanese." Shikamaru said, eyeing the blonde who grinned. "For a genius like you, you sure don't catch up quick, right Neji?" the Hyuuga blinked and shook his head. "Honestly Naruto, what do you mean by that?"

"You two are hopeless," he said, sighing. "Sakura's been sick for more than a week after they both made up from their little spat. Sasuke's being a bit edgy about it." The two nodded in understanding. "Did she go to a doctor yet?" asked the lazy bum. Naruto shook his head. "You all know how our Sasuke is, he had the doctor, his family doctor, come to her. Heck, he wouldn't even leave unless Hinata was there to stay with Sakura."

"If you ask me, that's like treating someone who is about to die." Neji said.

"Nah, my bet is she's pregnant." Naruto grinned. "Care to do a gamble?"

The two blinked and looked at each other, shrugging before emptying their pockets. "I bet she's just sick." Shikamaru said while Neji shook his head. "Bet 'ya my next pay that she's just tired and fatigue!" and lastly, Naruto's grin broaden. "I bet you my savings and my next pay that she's pregnant!" They stuck out their hands in the middle and joined them together. "Deal!" and they broke apart, walking over to Kakashi's office.

Hinata took a chair and sat down by Sakura's bedside, smiling as she watched her friend give a slight snore. "At least it isn't as worse as before." She thought, giggling as softly as possible. Her eyes traveled down to Sakura's stomach where a small lump was visible, almost unseen by the naked eye. "Huh? So that's what he meant…" She smiled, recalling what Sasuke had told her.

"Make sure she doesn't tire herself out."

It's been weeks since she last went to SS's HQ and since Orochimaru's second challenge. It was almost a lost but Sasuke's determination managed to get him to win the battle. She could remember how Naruto tried so hard to not interfere, how Sakura wanted to so much help him, but once again, Orochimaru had played dirty. Never the less, in the end, Sasuke was victorious. He didn't even let Orochimaru's taunt on him affect him, even if the bastard used a kid as a hostage, Sasuke managed to win.

She sighed, nearly fainting at the time when she thought the kid would get killed. It was a tough challenge for SS's top assassin, but Sasuke proved to them all why he was the best of the best in Shadow Serpents. He was not named Shadow Assassin for nothing, for he moves within the shadows and kills by giving a surprise attack to unsuspecting victims. The second challenge was for him to rescue the kid without Orochimaru knowing he was nearing.

"Ugh!" Sasuke's back had met the cement wall for the fourth time that day as Orochimaru continued to snicker. "Sasuke, Sasuke," the bastard said in his slithery voice, giving the kid he was holding the creeps. "When will you ever learn..? This is just a simple challenge, in fact, you have the upper hand! You are branded as Shadow Assassin after all." Sasuke clenched his fists and got up, giving his three companions the look that said not to go near him.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and opened his eyes, activating his sharingan. He never really used it unless he lost control or if he wants to rush things. Right now, he's doing this because of the latter; he wanted to end this now. "I'll send you home crying because of failure!" he yelled and took a step back, blending in with the shadows as Orochimaru smirked, trying to sense where the assassin would attack.

"Behind…" Oro hissed and dodged a kick that Sasuke gave. The young adult cursed and once again vanished from sight. "My right," and Orochimaru ducked a punch. "Left…" the snake evaded. "Above…'' and he took a step back. "Not working Sasuke, I can hear you panting." His yellow eyes turned to his left and he readied to dodge, but a fist met his pale face when he attempted to evade. Sasuke had attack from the front. He faked an approach to Oro's left then quickly turned back to the front and landed a fist on the snake's face. "Game Over, Oro."

Hinata snapped back from her thoughts when Sakura groaned and sat up, rubbing an eye. She yawned and looked at the Hyuuga. "What time is it?" she asked and Hinata gave her a small smile. "It's 3:57PM." Sakura's eyes widened as she looked at Hinata. "Why didn't Sasuke wake me up for the gathering? And why are you still here? Shouldn't you be in SS HQ?"

"He didn't wake you up because you weren't feeling so good, remember?"

She blinked. "All I remember is getting up then falling back asleep again." She groaned. "Still, that doesn't mean he can leave me behind, geez." She got out of bed, much to Hinata's dismay, and started to get changed. However, when she was halfway of taking of her shirt, she felt sick and ran to the bathroom, puking. Hinata blinked. "Sakura, what did the doctor say?" she asked.

"Well, he told me to just rest and he'll be back after a few weeks." She answered and started to throw up again. Groaning, she got up and washed her face on the sink after flushing the toilet. "Come on, let's head to HQ." Hinata shook her head. "Sasuke told me you shouldn't go." Her eyes narrowed as a vein popped at the side of her head. "That's it…" she said in a dangerous tone and grabbed her mobile phone, searched for Sasuke's name and number and pressed the call button. "He's dead…" she murmured, dark aura erupting from her whole body. Hinata only squeaked in fear like a little mouse, backing away from the very angry Sakura.

"And so, this is what Shino and Kiba-"

Ring. Ring.

Kakashi was cut off by his sentence as they all looked at Sasuke who took out his phone from his pocket. Looking at the name, he sighed and answered it. By instinct, he distanced his ear from the phone by an arm's length, earning question marks to appear above his co-assassins head.

"Uchiha Sasuke! What's the big idea about not letting me go there? What! You think a little sickness will stop me? No way! I'm going to strangle you!"

All had their ears covered and eyes widened, staring at the phone as Sakura continued to yell and… complain. "Dude, you two are like… old married couples…" Kiba said, eyeing the phone. Sasuke gave him a look that said "shut-up-or-I'll-kill-you" and brought back his phone near his ear when Sakura had stopped. "Doctor's orders Sakura, you know as well as I do that you're not feeling so good." He said and again, removed the phone from his ear.

"But that does not give you the reason or right to tell me what to do and-"

"Alright Sakura, I still have a meeting, so go and get some rest." He said, his patience growing thin as a vein popped on his head as well, his shut eyes twitching in annoyance. The rest only stared at him as Sakura continued to yell. Sasuke sighed. "Yes dear, I miss you too…" he said sarcastically and hung up after saying "bye" to her, shut his phone off and shoved it in his coat's pocket. He looked up to see all, including Kakashi, Kurenai and his brother, staring at him.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed. "Can we get on with the meeting..?"

SS's leader cleared his throat and once again gained the attention of everyone. "As I was saying, Shino's specialized bugs were able to get enough info about Orochimaru's plans and Kiba's dog managed to track down where the snake is hiding." Kakashi turned to Naruto. "You will be in charge of what you're good at, distraction. Shikamaru will be a bit farther from the base of Oro and will be disabling all alarms, warning everyone if he will be about to face a number of Oro's guards. Neji will be with Shikamaru, looking out for anyone who will try and attack them. As for you two," he said, eyeing Itachi and Sasuke. "I'll leave the snake who made your lives miserable to you both, understood?"

They all nodded. "Now Kurenai, it's you turn." The female assassin nodded and stepped forward. "Blood Lust will be backing all of you up. Seeing as Sakura and Hinata can't go, Ten-Ten and Ino will be here." She said, turning to the two who raised a hand. "Right, Ten-Ten will be assisting Neji in watching Shikamaru's back, Ino will be distraction number two. And if ever Sakura feels better, she and Hinata will go with the brothers." She then turned to Kakashi. "He and I will be providing back-up when needed. Shino and Kiba will have to stand by and get ready in case things go wrong."

Everyone thought about it before agreeing to their jobs as Kakashi once again took over. "And before I forget, I'd just like to say that SS and BL are now united." He grinned. "Our rivalry is now set aside since Orochimaru is a bigger problem to all of us."

"Hey Hinata," Sasuke greeted, entering Sakura's room as the Hyuuga looked up at him and nodded her head. "Thanks for taking care of her, Naruto's offering you a ride home outside by the way." She blushed and smiled then got up. "O-okay, she's calmed down a bit but I can't guarantee that she'll let you go easily." He nodded and turned back to her. "Naruto will be explaining to you the details of the mission, thanks again."

"Sure, it was no problem at all." And she left the room.

Sasuke walked closer to Sakura and brushed away her strands of pink hair from her face, seeing her closed eyes shut some more before slowly turning on her belly, a slight smile on her face. He smirked and sat down beside, her, stroking her long pink hair in a soothing gesture as he began to think of a few things. "Tsunade still hasn't told me what's wrong with her." He closed his eyes and recalled what had happened this morning.

"Sakura, are you okay?" he asked, seeing as she didn't look too fine at all. Waving a dismissive hand and giving a reassuring smile, she told him she was okay and was just a bit tired. He sighed and gave her a light kiss on the forehead. "Maybe you should stay here and rest, I'll go tell Kakashi and Kurenai about it." She was about to argue when she suddenly felt like puking. Getting up from bed, she rushed to the toilet and threw up, Sasuke looking worriedly at her. He knew she wasn't feeling good, after knowing her for a month now, he should know there's something wrong.

He placed a hand on her forehead, feeling her temperature. "Sakura, what's wrong with you?" he asked the sleeping girl, a worried look on his facial features as the pink-haired assassin continued to wander in dreamland. A knock on the door echoed in his ears and he turned to it as Wei came in, holding a black wireless phone. "It's Tsunade-san young master." Sasuke stood up and took the phone from Wei, thanking him afterwards as the servant left and closed the door.

"Hello?"

"Sasuke, I've confirmed it, Sakura isn't sick at all."

"Then how do you explain all that puking and feeling so drained out?"

Tsunade laughed on the other line. "Tell me, she hasn't been getting her period now right? And please tell me you've done it with her a couple of times, or maybe more?" Sasuke's eyes widened and he abruptly turned to Sakura, walked over to her and removed the covers. He placed his free hand on her stomach, feeling a small lump on it. "N-no way…" he said and Tsuande only chuckled. "Congratulations Sasuke, you're now a dad." From the other line, she heard a thud and she blinked. "Sasuke..? Are you still there? Oi, Uchiha, answer me!" No answer so she just hung up, thinking that perhaps the boy had fainted.

Wei heard the sound of a falling body so he quickly rushed back to the room, seeing Sasuke on the floor with a dazed look on his face and the phone just inches away from his hand. He heard Tsunade calling him but soon hung up. The old man smiled slightly and took the phone, hanging up as well and tried to wake the boy up. "Uchiha Sasuke, that's not how an assassin acts! He should always be ready for surprises remember?"

"Wei…" he said, a weird look on his face as he looked at his servant/caretaker. "I'm a dad…" and again, he dropped to the floor. Wei sighed and laughed, looking up at the ceiling. "Master Fugaku, Mistress Mikoto, your youngest son is no longer a virgin." And he chuckled some more. "Alright Sasuke, up you go." He said, helping him up as Sasuke staggered, half-conscious and still in shock of the news. "I can't believe it…" he muttered. "Um… Wei, where are you taking me?"

They stopped just when they reached the doorway with a sweat drop. "I don't know young master, I really don't." he said, looking at him who just fell down, anime' style. "Anyway, it's okay, I'll be fine here, you go ahead." He told the older man and Wei nodded, leaving the room. Sasuke sighed and walked back to Sakura who muttered a few words, one hand searching for the blankets. Sasuke smiled softly at this and took her hand, guiding it to the white sheets as she smiled when she placed it over her body. Leaning down, he whispered an 'Aishteru' to her and gave a light kiss on her forehead. He sat down, continuously brushing her hair with his fingers.

"W-what?"

Kakashi's eyes had widened like dinner plates, Kurenai had a shocked look, Itachi had an amused smile, the Blood Lust assassins, minus Hinata and Sakura, were in a daze while the Shadow Serpents were blinking continuously until Naruto grinned and punched a fist into the air. "I win! Oh yeah! Time to pay up Neji, Shikamaru!" Naruto said, extending out his hand towards the two who grumbled in reply.

Hinata just smiled at them after telling the news or whatever happened. Wei had told her the results before she left the Uchiha manor and decided to break it to the team since they were worrying. "It's true, Wei-san said that Sasuke even fainted twice before letting the news sink into his head." She giggled, picturing the scene. "It's no wonder why Sakura was being more temperamental, seeming tired and lazy all the time and throwing up once in a while, not to mention the sudden craving for specific foods." She smiled, remembering how Blood-thirsty Blossom kept asking her to buy this and that or cook this and that. "I'm not sure how long though."

Kurenai sighed. "All the more she can't come to the mission." Kakashi gaped. "Unbelievable… my top assassin beat me… he-" Kurenai hit him on the head with her fist. "I know what you're thinking Kakashi, you're such a pervert!"

Naruto laughed, counting the wad of cash in his hands. "Just goes to show you Kaka, you're not the best after all!"

"Be quiet or I will personally make sure you will never eat ramen again!" Kakashi threatened in one breath as Naruto gulped and nodded his head. "So, as we've planned, Sakura won't come with us for the mission. We're going to need someone to at least stay with her, knowing Sasuke, he won't go unless someone is assigned to take care of her."

"I can stay with her." Hinata said. "We're both the only ones who doesn't have a role for the mission, so I can take care of her while you guys are gone." She smiled slightly at them, assuring everyone that she's fine with it. Naruto crossed his arms and nodded. "Yeah, I think you're the only one teme trusts to stay with her, along with Wei of course."

"Well, that's done, now we need to speak of Orochimaru's final challenge to Sasuke." Itachi said, looking at all of them. "So first was talent and skill," he said. "Orochimaru wanted to see how Sasuke can handle a number of men with only his hands and feet as weapons, and only one help from each teammate." He tapped his chin with an index finger and closed his eyes. "Second was independence, swiftness, and intellect, to see how Sasuke can approach an enemy with a surprise attack, and with a hostage involved, all on his own. It all seems to be an assassin test to me."

"Yeah, but Orochimaru can be tricky; it could mean another assassin test and then by the end, it's not what we'll expect." Kakashi turned to Itachi. "Usually, the final tasks for assassins is to kill the person who they are close to or love more than themselves, but this is Oro-bastard we're talking about, he can alter this test."

"I'm guessing that it could involve Sakura." Kiba pointed, putting the pieces together. "She is close to Sasuke, and she could be the trigger to make Sasuke go to Orochimaru."

Neji nodded at this. "Yeah, either Orochimaru will force Sasuke to kill her or he will be the one to kill her for bait." The others thought about it and nodded, it could be the answer. Itachi thought otherwise and narrowed his eyes. "I doubt it." He said, earning the attention of everybody. "Like you said Kakashi, Orochimaru can trick us into thinking that there's a pattern or something, but in the end, he'll surprise us with something we least expect." He sighed. "In this case, we may think it's Sakura, and Orochimaru will let us keep thinking it's really her, but we'll never know, it could be Naruto, him being Sasuke's best friend, it could be you, being his foster father, or it could be Wei, who's also been like a dad to him, or maybe even-"

"You." Shikamaru finished, yawning. "You're his only living sibling, the only one who has an Uchiha blood, minus Sakura since, you know. But you get the idea, you're the only real blood-related family Sasuke has." Itachi nodded. "The point," he said, turning back to the rest. "I think it'll be better if we counter his plan."

"How?" Naruto asked, raising a brow. "I don't even get how he manages to twist this."

Itachi smirked at this. "Of course you don't, you aren't an Uchiha, and another reason, you don't know him the way Kakashi or we, Sasuke and me, do." He only got a glare form the blonde. "Moving on, I have an idea."

She stirred a bit and yawned before opening her eyes. She blinked, seeing Sasuke beside her, asleep as well, having a calm and serene look on his face. Smiling, she inched closer and kissed him on the tip of his nose, giggling when he furrowed his eyebrows and slowly opened his eyes halfway, meeting her viridian colored ones. "Hey, you feeling better?" he asked, his tone softer than normal. Sakura smiled and gave a nod. "What did Tsunade say?" she asked. Sasuke remained quiet at first and sat up, his back facing her. "Sakura," she sat up and listened. "I… need to know if…"

"If what?"

"If you really love me for who I am…"

Sakura blinked and smiled at this, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "Does this answer your question?" she asked, tightening her hug. "Of course I do, otherwise, I wouldn't be staying with you for this long, right?" Sasuke smiled slightly and placed a hand over her arms. "Sakura,"

"Hm?"

"You're…" he tried to breathe. "You're choking me."

"Oops!" she quickly let go and laughed nervously. "Okay, so maybe I'm a bit mad at you for leaving me here but, hey, I guess you're just worried." He nodded and faced her, a small smile on his face and she looked at him, slightly blushing. "Thing is, you're… a mom…"

Her eyes widened and he just counted for five seconds in his head until she yelled a "What?" and then everything turned quiet. Sakura placed a hand over her stomach, feeling a small lump. "Well, you don't need to wonder why or how, but if you're mad at me for that, then-" he never got to finish when she tackled him into a hug. "Sakura?" she looked up at him with tears in her eyes and a very happy expression. "Thank you Sasuke."

"Huh?"

"For giving me a child, and a family to start with you."

He smiled at her. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" she giggled. "Well, yeah but, I want to say it too because…" she looked back at him and puller herself up. "It's true." And she locked her lips with his. As always, they were interrupted when Sakura's phone rang since Sasuke still had his turned off. She took it from the bedside table and pressed the answer button, answering the call.

"Hello?"

"Sakura, this is Itachi, can you hand the phone to my brother?"

"Okay." And she handed it to Sasuke who raised a brow and she mouthed his brother's name.

"Yeah?" he asked and heard Itachi sigh.

"Is Sakura feeling okay right now?"

"Aa, why?"

"Bring her to HQ, we've got a few things to discuss."

"Like what?"

"Orochimaru."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at this. "Alright, we'll be there soon." And he hung up, handing the phone back to Sakura. "Come on, we have to go to HQ. Can you stand up?" she nodded and got out of bed then headed towards her closet. "What's up?" she asked, removing her shirt as Sasuke turned around. "My brother may have a plan to counter Orochimaru's ideas. Remember that he's out to get me, and I still have one challenge left from him, if he beats me, I go to him, if I beat him, he'll leave us, all of us, alone."

"How are they going to counter the snake's plan if they still don't know what the third challenge is?" she asked, turning around to face him since she was done getting changed. Sasuke smirked and looked at her. "Trust me; Uchihas are good when it comes to loopholes, counters and comebacks."

She shook her head at this and smiled. "That I know very well," she said, grinning. "Come on, since it has something to do with Orochimaru, I'm sure it's really important." He nodded and they both headed out towards SS HQ.

Starting the car's engine, he backed-up from the garage and headed out of the compounds of his estate. Until Orochimaru is dead, his brother can't stay with him but in HQ, which can really be annoying since he's missing out on what has happened to Itachi. They reached a stoplight as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, gazing at the red light, waiting for it to turn green as a go signal. Beside him sat Sakura, wondering what was wrong with the boy and why he was so deep in thought.

"What're you thinking about?"

He glanced at her then back at the stoplight, stepping on the pedal as the car moved again. A shook of his head meant nothing but she thought otherwise, frowning at his lack of words. Sasuke sighed and leaned back a bit. "I just want to get this over with," he said, eyes concentrating on the road. "I'm… scared." She wondered what was there to fear and he continued to speak. "My brother is in danger, the whole org is in danger, and even you're in danger. Sometimes, I think that I made the wrong decision of not giving in to Orochimaru to keep you guys safe."

"Don't say that." She said, her tone of voice held a hint of anger and anxiety. "If you went with him, do you think he'll keep his promise of not hurting us?" she asked, her eyes avoiding him as he reflected on her question. "There's a possibility Sakura, that if I did join him, he would leave you guys alone." She glared at him. "Just like that..? You can't be serious! You're Uchiha Sasuke, you're Shadow Assassin; you're the guy who is stubborn and arrogant to even know what the word 'give up' means! You fight for what you believe is right and I've never seen you be beaten by anyone without a fight!"

Stopping as another light turned red, he then faced her. "I gave in to you, the minute I felt love inside of me, I knew that I was defeated by you." He said and she shut her mouth instantly. "I gave in to Kakashi when he told me to be an assassin; I unconsciously gave in to Orochimaru when he tricked my parents into killing me, forcing me to become what they don't want me to be." He turned back to the road before them, waiting for the cars to pass before driving towards HQ once more. "The point is, I'm near to giving in, again."

"No, you're not; you're just saying that because you have no idea that Orochimaru is entering your subconscious in a way no one can explain. He's making you think of joining him, making you go to him willingly. The way I see it, you're losing the challenge."

His eyes widened when she said that and he stopped the car instantly, earning a few honks and nasty yells as well as vulgar languages from the other drivers who nearly crashed their car into his. "Say that again…" he said, facing her. She blinked away a few tears, wondering what had caused him this odd behavior. "You're losing his challenge?" she repeated unsurely. Sasuke narrowed his eyes back on the road, his grip on the steering wheel tightening by each second. "This is his third and final challenge." He whispered, a smirk appearing on his lips as he shook with excitement. "Tricky bastard…"

"Sasuke..?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to loose." And he continued to head towards HQ, his eyes glancing at her for a brief second. "Besides, it'll be a disappointment to our child if I lose." He thought and smiled slightly. "That's right, I can't leave; it'll be like turning my back on Sakura and leaving my responsibility as a dad."

The car screeched to a halt when some guy just crossed the street without looking. If both didn't have their seatbelts on, they would've of have their heads hit the windows from the impact of the sudden shock. Recovering from their shock, they looked up to see the man looking at them, an evil smirk on his lips and their assassin instincts told them something was wrong.

Gaining back their senses, the two got out of the car and heard a few guns loaded and clicked. Craning their neck to the side, they saw Orochimaru's thugs holding onto guns and pointed at them both, the snake bastard himself approaching closer to them with a knife in hand. "I only need Sasuke, the two of you should die." He said, turning to Sakura and glancing at her stomach. Sasuke made an intention to move but the guns clicked again, making him stop and curse as Orochimaru inched closer to Sakura. "So, this is the end for you, then I can finally have the Shadow Assassin join me." And he readied to stab the knife on her belly.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Sasuke gesture her to go back inside the car with his onyx orbs and she turned back to Oro, just in time to evade the attack and jump inside the car, Sasuke following suit and stepped on the gas, running over the guy who stopped them earlier. Too bad that he managed to escape which resulted to Sasuke cursing about not driving faster but still shook it off and headed for HQ, telling Sakura to call Kakashi and warn them about it.

"Looks like your plan won't be of use after all, aniki."

Too bad too, it could've work if only they predicted Orochimaru's third challenge more accurately, then maybe they would've eliminated the snake earlier. "Damn it! And I was looking forward to luring the bastard into my web."

The plan: Give Orochimaru a call and meet up with him in private when in reality, the rest of the assassins are there, ready to take him on. Their guess for the third challenge was that Orochimaru was planning to make them think it wasn't the typical assassin test but would actually be the cliché challenge. Unfortunately, Orochimaru was actually toying and playing their minds.

"I guess I nearly lost to him…" he thought angrily. "Sasuke," he turned to Sakura who had a look of fear in her eyes as she lowered her mobile phone. He raised a brow and she gulped, sweat trickling down her brows. "The HQ has been invaded by Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand man, and what's worse is…" she trailed off, looking outside the window. "He… has your brother captive…"

To be continued…

Next on Cold: Chapter 8: Decisions, decisions

"You have a choice Sasuke," Orochimaru said, snickering at how the boy struggled from the ropes that bound his wrists. "Your brother's life," he said, turning to Itachi who had his hands tied behind his back and a gun pointed at his head. "Or Sakura's and your child's?" he faced the girl who was in the same position as Itachi but had a katana ready to stab her stomach. "Choose now, otherwise, they both die."

A/N: I just love giving him hard choices! Hehe! This is for leaving Konoha in the anime' Sasuke. Hehehe! Now suffer my wrath! Anyways, thanks to those who answered my request for fanarts! If you have a deviantArt account, post it there and let me know, if not, you can send it to me via email. Let me CLARIFY: In case some of you didn't get the whole Oro plan and part thing, the assassins guessed that the third challenge was with Oro letting them discover the pattern of he test then purposely making them think aof a way to counter it, not knowing that the snake had actually followed the assassin test. Okay, it's hard to explain it, so you'll have to re-read it again and figure out the pattern. If you do get it, I salute you, if not, I'll try to further explain it by PM or through the next chapter.