A/N: Keep the reviews coming guys
Chapter Three: Soul Scarred
"You can't escape me Sasuke-kun", Orochimaru's serpentine voice hissed through the darkened halls of the Sound's training area, echoing from all directions to where Sasuke found himself backed against a wall.
The usually stoic boy was panting heavily, kunai held in a white knuckled death grip.
He felt a strange sense of déjà vu and his head throbbed in time with the cursed heaven seal on his neck as he tried to figure out how he had ended up here.
"Why do you run?"
Sasuke fell to his knees as a rage so powerful he thought it would boil his brain in his skull tore through his mind.
"You can't get away Sasuke-kun", the snake master taunted, his voice sounding closer, "You are mine. You have nothing else to live for now".
A vision of Itachi's corpse performed a macabre parade through his consciousness.
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke dragged himself to his feet, taking lead laden steps through the shadows, eyes scanning for his tormentor.
"Sasuke-kun?", a light, almost musical voice called out to him and he spun, ready to defend himself.
"What…", his guard dropped seeing who had called to him. Sakura stood, her arms clasped coyly behind her back.
He felt sure for a second there should have been a small table behind her but the memory danced away every time he tried to grasp it.
She smiled shyly at him, a small blush making her face even prettier than usual.
Sasuke shook his head violently. Now was not the time for such nonsense.
"Sakura", his voice was perfectly even as he began looking around again, his eyes and ears alert for any trace of Orochimaru or Kabuto's presence, "Leave now".
She held a hand up to her lip, the other arm clutching her waist, "You don't want me here?".
She sounded so small that he couldn't answer for a moment.
"Am I really that much of a burden to you Sasuke-kun?", she began to walk forward.
There was a whisper of movement from somewhere nearby.
"Sakura! Leave here now", he commanded, feeling his frustration mount when she just shook her head softly, setting pink locks swaying gently.
"It's ok Sasuke-kun. Please, don't leave me again".
Sasuke stared, unable to get his body to move as she opened her arms as if to embrace him.
"Neither of us has to be alone anymore".
He stiffened as she wrapped her small arms around his larger frame.
He wanted to push her away.
What did this stupid girl know about loneliness? About solitude?
…No…No, she knew. No one could have faked the emotions she had poured into the re-telling of her life after he had left to fulfil his dream, and to end his nightmare.
Would it be so bad, letting go of the bitterness and the hate that had warmed him each empty night since he was a child.
To embrace a different sort of warmth.
"Sakura…", this girl had given him a reason to keep going after he had been ready to die.
Surely he owed her as much in return.
"Sakura…I-", a fiery pain in his chest stole both his breath and the kind words that had teetered on the precipice of being voiced.
Blood seeped around the kunai that was embedded in his chest, piercing his heart.
"So you do have a heart", Sakura said, smirking at him cruelly, "After all this time I had my doubts".
He struggling in vain to draw breath, trying to pull her weapon free but her strength was monstrous, and she held his efforts at bay as if he were nothing more than a child.
She let go as his knees gave out, stepping back and eying him distastefully as he clutched at the blood soaked blade she had run him through with.
She reached behind her back, pulling out one of the animal masks used by the members of ANBU to hide their true identities and placing it reverently over her face.
"Sasuke", from behind the clay mask, her voice was almost unrecognisable, "Heir to the Uchiha, bearer of the bloodline limit known as Sharingan…Weak".
Sasuke coughed, blood splattering the cracked tiles.
"Once he was strong, strongest of the Sound Five…Where did that power go…Did you loose you hate already", Sasuke felt fear worming in his gut, eyes unable to tear away from Sakura's masked face as she reached up, pulling the clay cover aside, "little brother?".
Itachi's impassive face stared coolly back at Sasuke as the younger of the two mouthed wordless denials.
"I'm disappointed", Itachi said his voice betraying nothing despite his words, as if he were a machine rather than a man, "Everything I did to make you into the perfect weapon, and already you've become blunt, and look what it has cost you".
"You have been betrayed again little brother, because you lack the strength to hate, to hate a girl who you knew was an enemy, who stalked your every waking step, and who almost succeeded in taking your path from you once before", Itachi crouched down to his eye level, gripping Sasuke by the throat.
"That lack of determination will cost you your life".
Sasuke's face contorted in a rictus of pain as he felt his windpipe being slowly constricted.
A grating laugh filled the air, as Orochimaru seemed to bleed from the shadows around the two brothers, clapping his hands in insane delight.
"What have we here? A broken weapon, tsk tsk. Never mind, weapons can be re-forged, and this time, we'll inject a stronger metal into the mix", the snake summoner lashed his bloated tongue like the tail of a cat, practically shivering with excitement as he caught the look over fear in Sasuke's midnight eyes.
The world began to grey as the raven-haired boy's lifeblood streamed out of him and his air supply dwindled.
In the darkness at the edges of his vision, a gapping nothingness stretched out, eager to enfold him in it's numbing embrace.
Sasuke awoke with a scream, arms and legs thrashing against unseen restraints that held him fast.
His eyes darted frantically around the room in which he found himself, expecting to see Orochimaru standing over him with that sickening smile as he advanced on his helpless form.
When he didn't find any trace of the Master of the hidden village of Sound in the dimly lit room, he calmed enough to take stock of what was there while running through a few mental exercises to control his shallow, gasping breath.
What he could see of the room from where he seemed to be lying near the wall farthest from its single door, was lit solely by flickering candle light, much like the inner sanctum of Orochimaru, and for a moment his fear that he might be back there, tied down while the insane Sannin prepared for his body transfer technique, returned.
However, as best he recalled having visited that room as little as possible. Orochimaru's chamber was not separated from the entrance by a large and sturdy set of steel bars.
A cell?
Sasuke's teeth clenched so hard he risked cracking one of them. Of course this was a cell. Most likely a cell in some forgotten basement in Konoha, where the Hokage and her advisors were keeping him until they felt enough time had passed to carry out his sentence.
He doubted there would be much debate.
His fists convulsed.
Sakura had set him up. It had all been an act to throw him off balance until her ANBU support arrived. Undoubtedly that had been what she had really been doing when she claimed to do out hunting or collecting water from the stream.
She had probably been reporting to a messenger each time.
He cursed under his breath.
How had he let himself be taken in by such an act? Had he really been that blinded by the sudden success of his life long goal, that he had forgotten everything Itachi had shown him about the true side of human nature.
Humans betrayed.
He cast of all thoughts of the pink haired kunoichi, turning his attention instead to the bindings that held him.
His wrists and legs were free.
Sasuke blinked unsure what to make of it. Another examination showed that all of his limbs were free, and yet when he tried to move he felt as though her were bound to the ground by strong shackles.
His keen eyes caught something set on the floor just out of reach of his right arm. A small rectangular scrape of parchment covered symbols the deep red of dry blood.
Another was set somewhere off to his left, down by his feet and presumably up by his head.
A grand seal, he guessed, tracing the circular markings etched into the floor of the cell linking the individual sealing scrolls.
Very clever, they had obviously decided physical restraints were to risky for someone of his power, and instead opted for a seal that as well as holding him in place, would undoubtedly counteract his cursed heaven seal should he try to draw power from it to break free.
Did this mean they didn't know about his damaged Chakra system, assuming Sakura hadn't been lying about that also, or where they just being cautious?
It didn't really matter, either way he was trapped because he had let his guard down.
Sasuke smacked his head against the stone floor, grimacing through the pain.
He had been foolish to trust another human being again.
Sakura sat quietly as Tsunade and her advisors read her report.
The silence was only broken by the occasionally murmur from the trio, usually one of the elderly councillors asking for clarification of a medical-nin specific term she had included to describe her actions and reasoning during the period of Sasuke's treatment.
To the young woman sitting across from them, not even these occasional sounds could permeate the low buzzing that seemed to fill her ears.
It was like the noise a radio makes when it hasn't been tuned to a specific station and it plays back the so-called white noise that echoes through our world undetected by human senses in the form of random emissions in the electromagnetic spectrum.
To Sakura it sounded like the world was crying because she would not.
For the pink haired girl everything was fading ever since she had returned with the ANBU squad that had captured Sasuke.
They had taken him from her trembling arms, checking him to make sure the high-powered sedative had done its work, confirming that he hadn't harmed her in anyway.
She had just stared at them blankly when they had asked her if she was alright while one of their number slung the unconscious Uchiha across his broad shoulder more roughly than necessary. Unshed tears in her mint green eyes as her mind tried to shut down and escape the death of her cosy little world.
Just then as was happening now, she could feel the void flexing, stretching, spreading its insidious vitriol throughout her system, numbing her from the inside out.
It numbed everything but the pain, the pain of knowing she had just watched as her love was taken away again, this time for good.
"Sasuke-kun", she mouthed, but no one seemed to hear but her as the Hokage and her guests continued to talk amongst themselves with a serious mien.
Her fist clutched at the red material of her dress as the numbness seeped out from her stomach, reaching her chest, making each breath as painful as drawing needles of glass into her delicate lungs.
"Sasuke-kun", still no one heeded her call.
The white noise in the room seemed to be building to a maddening pitch as the void resonated with the world around her, its screams echoing in her ears.
Sakura felt pain and something warm and wet trickling down her neck, matting in her hair as it leaked steadily from her ears.
She brushed her fingers over the sticky fluid, not surprised when they came back bloody.
Still the roaring grew louder, intensifying the pain.
She clamped her hands down over the delicate organs, trying to shut out the terrible wailing, but it was no use.
Escape…I have to…
Sakura began to separate her mind from her body, allowing her consciousness to drift free of her corporeal form.
Perhaps Sasuke would find her again, somewhere in the realm of mists…
"Sakura"
Yes…I'm here Sasuke-kun, all she had to do was cut the anchor.
"Sakura!", the shout jolted her. Loosing concentration her mental anchor reacted like a bungee cord, lassoing her back into her body.
The mint eyed girl looked around blearily for a moment, taking time to register that her hands were folded neatly in her lap, not clasped over her ears, and that said organs were perfectly fine, not a trace of blood.
She met the almost motherly gaze of the fifth, only peripherally aware of the fact that the two advisors were no longer presence, and wondering how much time had passed.
"Yes Tsunade-sama", she said, her voice flat and inflectionless, that standing out to the busty blond sitting behind the Hokage's desk less than the formal honorific her pink haired prodigy had used to address her.
"The debriefing is over Sakura-chan", the older woman said gently.
"Oh…".
Tsunade steeped her hands in front of her, frowning at her subordinate over meshed fingers.
"Is everything ok Sakura-chan? Did something happen before we found you?", the fifth darkly promised herself to make the Uchiha heir pay if he had done anything to one of her people.
"No", Sakura's monosyllabic reply drew a sigh from the Hokage, as she lifted the tri-corner hat from her head and placed it on the desk.
"I see, but it's obvious something has you troubled", the brown eyed Sannin observed, "If you are worried that I might be upset with you for not contacting me as soon as you found him you need not be. Your report made it clear he required medical attention as a top priority, and I would never fault a person for that. No matter who they were treating".
Sakura didn't answer, just stared down at her hands with disturbingly vacant eyes.
"Tsunade-sama", her voice was so quiet the older woman almost had to strain to hear her, "Why did you send those men to find me?".
Tsunade frowned at the strange question being asked her, but chose to answer carefully, sensing something being hidden by her young apprentice, "You vanished without word for over a week, and those I asked told me you had seemed tired and depressed shortly before that. I grew concerned and asked a few off duty members to try and find you".
Tsunade smiled, "Imagine my surprise when they returned with not only you, but a wanted traitor safely in custody. You have always done me and the leaf proud but even I was taken aback. You managed a feat even a squad of our best and brightest failed to accomplish".
Praise and compliments usually brought some reaction out of the girl in Tsunade's experience, but this time she didn't even look up.
Sakura glanced up startled, when she felt a hand drop down on her shoulder.
"I know what you must be feeling Sakura. Just have a little faith", Sakura smiled uncertainly at the comforting expression on the fifth's ageless face, "Now go get some rest, that's an order".
Tsunade watched until the pink haired girl shuffled out of her office, walking back to her desk and slumping down in her chair.
"I thought dealing with Naruto was draining, these kids will be the death of me", Tsunade's face hardened as she regarded the papers on her desk, "I just hope she can forgive me afterward for doing what needs to be done".
Sakura didn't remember how she found herself outside the gates to the Hokage's residence after leaving her office.
She just stood there for a moment, wondering why she was there even as numb feet began to shuffle aimlessly, taking her with them on a directionless route.
Sasuke-kun…
She had done what no other person had ever done before huh? She had been the one to bring Sasuke back to stand trial for his crimes.
As a shinobi that was something she should feel proud of right?
She had done her duty to the leaf.
Sasuke-kun…
She stopped as something ran in front of her path, nearly knocking her down with a startled yapping.
"Akamaru!", Kiba shouted, running over and hefting the pup in his arms with some difficulty as Akamaru had almost doubled in size in the past three years and would only continue to get bigger as time went on even if the long lifespan of his bred meant it wouldn't be at the prodigious rate of most canine species, "Sorry bout that Sakura, he's still a little clumsy at times, but I'm working on it".
Kiba's partner barked indignantly, wriggling free from his master's grip and growling at him angrily.
"Ok, ok, it was an accident", Kiba said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture, "But you should still apologise to…Sakura?".
He looked around but the pink haired medic was nowhere to be found.
He sniffed the air, locating her scent some distance away and growing fainter and shrugged, turning back to Akamaru, "What's her problem?".
Kiba's companion looked in the direction Sakura had gone and whimpered forlornly.
As a generally upbeat, positive person, Sakura had never been someone to ponder the irony of the universe, but at that moment she was tempted.
For the first time in her life she just wanted to be left alone in wallow in her misery, and it was at them moment that all the people she seemed to know had decided to seek her out.
First it had been Kiba and Akamaru, and now…
"Sakura-san!", she didn't even bother to look as Lee sprinted toward her, a serious look set into his unique features.
He came to a stop in front of her hands clenched into fists beneath his chin, "I heard that Sasuke has returned to the village, and you were the one to bring him in. Is this true?"
When she didn't reply he seemed to take it as a sign of humble acknowledgement on her part.
"OOOOOOOOOHHHH", flames burned in the combat specialist's eyes, "The flame of youth burns bright in the maidens of Konoha! Tell me; tell me how you did it. This is a tale that must be remembered!".
She walked past him without so much as a backward glance.
"Eh? S-Sakura-san?", the martial artist rubbed the back of his head, wondering if he had said something to offend her, when it struck him.
"Noooooo!", he had forgotten to great her properly with the 'nice guy' pose! (Gai-sensei TM).
"Right! 500 laps on my hands around the village to make up for my failure! And should I fail at that, it will be 1000 squats!", transitioning gracefully from foot to hand Lee took off.
Sakura tensed when she saw Shikamaru and Chouji walking toward her. If one more person asked about Sasuke she felt as if she would just breakdown and scream herself hoarse right then and there.
She closed her eyes, praying they would just keep walking.
"Hey", she cursed, opening them and finding Shikamaru staring at her with one eyebrow raised questioningly.
She waited for the inevitable question, but it never came.
Chouji opened his mouth to say something but held off when Shikamaru shook his head at his oldest friend before looking back at her with shrewd eyes.
"We have things to do, so we won't trouble you", the shadow user said evenly, "See you around".
Sakura nodded wordlessly as the two friends retreated into the distance.
Why didn't they want to talk to me?, she wondered as they vanished around a corner, Do they…do they know there's no way I could have brought Sasuke-kun in by myself, even if I had wanted too.
It was possible. You didn't have to be a genius like Shikamaru to remember how she had admitted to feeling about Sasuke all those years ago.
Were they now wondering if his capture had been part of a plan to defect with the traitor that had backfired on him?
Sakura continued to wonder, lost in her own guilt as an untold amount of time slipped by unnoticed.
She didn't return to herself until she found her way somehow to the spot where she and the rest of team seven had taken their first test with Kakashi-sensei.
Sakura placed a hand on the centre of the three posts, playing back the memories of happier times it evoked, and punching the stump angrily when she realised that she could no longer feel any happiness from the previously pleasant reminiscence in her current state.
The pink haired girl felt her knees growing weaker with each hit, until she was forced to lean against the post for support.
With a stifled sob she let herself slide down, turning around so that she was resting against the stump that Naruto had been tied to back then while she and Sasuke offered to sneak him part of their lunches, despite the rules they were supposed to be under.
Where had that friendship gone?
Should she have taken Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry more seriously before the incident on the hospital roof?
"Is this a pity party for one, or can any girl sit in?"
"What?"
Ino put her hands on her hips and sighed, "If I didn't know better I'd say your ears were too small, but we both know it's just your forehead distorting things".
"What do you want Ino?", Sakura growled, suddenly not in the mood for dealing with anyone, let alone her friend come rival come…whatever the hell she and Ino were supposed to be these days.
The blond seemed surprised for a moment before huffing and dropping herself down next to the other girl unceremoniously.
"Go away Ino"
"Yes, remind me again who put you in charge of me", the blond tossed her ponytail with a flick of her head and made herself comfortable.
Sakura glared at her half-heartedly before wrapping her arms around her knees and turning away.
"Sakura", the other girl rested her chin on one hand, regarding her friend seriously, "Are you ok?".
"Just fine" Sakura forced a smile seeing Ino's dubious expression, "Really, why wouldn't I be?".
"Shikamaru told me Sasuke is back", Ino rested a hand on her former rival's shoulder when she lowered her gaze, attempting to hide her face behind pink bangs just like a certain self-conscious little girl had done many years ago, "I from what I heard he came back along with the ANBU squad that found you".
Sakura hugged herself tighter, and Ino edged closer to her friend, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Sakura tensed for a moment before relaxing against her one time rival.
Ino chuckled lightly to herself, "Looks like that lazy fool was right again. Shika-kun told me you weren't as happy about Sasuke's return as he would have expected, but I didn't really believe him".
Ino shook her head softly, "I was so happy when Shika-kun turned up at my house without me having to get Chouji to drag him there. So you can imagine that I was a little put out to find out he was only there because forehead-girl was out of sorts".
Ino frowned when her friend didn't react to that barb.
"Sakura-", the pink haired girl carefully unwrapped Ino's arm from around her and stood.
"I don't know why everyone is so worried", she said walking away, "I'll be fine Ino-chan, I'm used to loosing things".
"Sakura-chan…".
Ino sat there for a while after Sakura had gone, replaying her friend's words.
The blond couldn't help but remember the first time she had met Sakura. The pink haired girl had been sitting all alone, crying her eyes out because she thought no one wanted her.
Ino was struck by a similarity between now and then.
Their voices, they had been the same.
Sakura continued to wander after her talk with Ino, pausing every now and again when something triggered an old memory.
The ramen shop and the hospital in particular stood out, sending her back to the events that had transpired before Sasuke had left.
The battle on the roof she had thought to stop with her own body. That probably would have killed her had Kakashi-sensei not been in the area and recognised the telltale sound of the Chidori.
He had intervened there, saving her and putting an end to Sasuke and Naruto's first actual fight.
Later she had chosen to talk to Naruto while Kakashi went to find his other rogue pupil, telling him he could think of it as a date because she lacked the energy to put up any argument or snappish behaviour on his part.
Unfortunately she had also lacked the energy to actually talk to him about what was bothering her, about how scared she had been watching the look in the two boy's eyes.
It had been just like when Sasuke had been taken over by the seal during the Chuunin examine.
The intent not to win, but to kill.
Naruto had done his best to cheer her up but she hadn't been very responsive, she had been plagued by the feeling that Sasuke was making some sort of choice alone if he hadn't already, and that it would tear them apart.
She hadn't even reacted when the store owner mistook her for Naruto's girlfriend which had let the energetic blond know just how out of it she really was, and causing him to redouble his efforts to lift her spirits.
When the night had ended she had thanked him but declined his offer to walk her home, wanting some time to work out what was troubling her more and more as time passed.
Finally she had figured it out, and had run through the dark streets, hoping she was wrong. Ending up…
Here.
Sakura gazed out into the forest surrounding Konoha, and at the towering gate in the distance.
The only road out of town.
---"Thank you"---
He had said that here, and something similar the night the ANBU had caught up to them.
She still didn't know what he was thanking her for.
"So, he's back?", Sakura felt her knuckles crack, was nowhere safe?
She turned to scream, but her voice failed as she realised that question had not been addressed to her, but at the ruby eyes woman standing in front of the silver haired form of her former teacher, Kakashi.
The dark haired kunoichi nodded to her fellow jounin, "Yes, he's still being held while the council and the Hokage prepare for his trial".
"Then therewill be a trial?"
Kurenai glared at the masked man, placing her hands on her hips, "Of course there will be. How could you even ask that?".
Kakashi laughed, waving his hands in front of him, "Calm down, I didn't mean anything by it".
"I'm surprised you haven't been by there already", Kurenai said crossing her arms beneath her chest, "What's your excuse this time?".
"You see", he said adopting the pose all of his students were all to familiar with, "I have been meaning to check things out myself, but-"
"Liar!", Sakura's habitual shout had both jounin turning around to face her, Kakashi's face looking relieved enough for a second to prove his guilt had Kurenai seen it.
"Ah Sakura-chan, perfect timing as always, could you help Kurenai for me, I have some things to do", before either woman could object he had blurred from view, leaving Sakura blinking in confusion and Kurenai shaking with suppressed rage.
"Slippery, promise breaking, good for nothing", the curses continued to roll off the older woman's tongue as she wondered, and not for the first time, why she hadn't been able to choose between Asuma and Kakashi yet when the latter was constantly doing things like this to her.
The wine eyed woman felt her shoulder's slump as she sighed, "Well, then Sakura-chan, shall we…"
The pink haired girl was gone.
"Kakashi", she ground out between clenched teeth, smiling as an idea struck her.
Wasn't Anko looking for a boyfriend?
"Come to see the dangerous traitor?", Sasuke said, grinning as he sensed someone lingering in the shadows of the his cell, "Kakashi-sensei".
The copy ninja stepped forward; one of his ever-present ecchi books in one hand as he waved curtly at his former pupil, "Yo".
Kakashi marked his page and returned the small book to his hip pouch, "You're looking well Sasuke-kun".
"Is that supposed to be a joke", Sasuke motioned with his head, the only part of his body he could still move, at the sealing scrolls binding him in place.
Kakashi shrugged and leant back against the bars.
"Did you do it then? What you set out to achieve".
He looked over his shoulder at the silent boy.
"I see… So how does it feel? Revenge I mean", he took note of the tightness around Sasuke's eyes, "I think I told you once that it ultimately leads shinobi to an unfortunate end".
"Did you come to brag?", Sasuke let his head fall back.
"No, I was just in the area", he raised an eyebrow when Sasuke let out a light snort of laughter.
"Liar".
Kakashi chuckled himself, "Yeah, I guess so…".
He turned back to his ex-student, "So?"
Sasuke remained quiet for a moment, "You were right, it leaves you hollow. It's almost like being dead without lying down".
Kakashi nodded wordlessly, "But your still here. That's unusual, it makes me wonder if there is something holding you here".
"Don't be stupid", Sasuke bit out with more venom than he had intended, "There's nothing, and pretty soon it won't matter anyway right?"
The silver haired jounin ran a hand through the thick shocks of his hair, "Whatever you want to say Sasuke-kun. I hope for her sake you can overcome Itachi's legacy. This world had no need for the waking dead".
The door to the cell swung aside, admitting Tsunade and the village elders into the room. The Hokage and the jounin exchanged a wordless nod as he left, closing the door behind him.
Tsunade closed her eyes, accepting the tri-cornered hat from the woman next to her and placing it on her head.
"Sasuke Uchiha, as Hokage it is my duty to bring you to justice for your crimes against your home, your people and the leaf…do you understand", Sasuke sneered, glaring at her coldly, "I'll take that as a yes".
Kakashi let out a heavy breath, rubbing his aching temple. Ever since begin attacked by Itachi, being around a true Sharigan wielder caused the copy ninja a certain amount of discomfort, although no one could tell him why.
"Not bad Sakura-chan", he addressed the ceiling just above him, hearing a startled intake of breath, "I almost walked right under you, but I guess it's ok for you to be here if the Hokage didn't say anything to you on her way in. She's handing down her Sasuke-kun's sentence right now, but you should be able to 'sneak' in after she's gone".
Feeling his headache getting a little lighter, he waved over his shoulder as he walked away, "Later".
Sakura dropped from her hiding place after he left, as always amazed by the seemingly effortless skills of Konoha's top jounin.
She placed a hand on the thick door separating her from Sasuke while he faced the wraith of Konoha, feeling a little better just being that near.
"Sasuke-kun…".
---Authors Notes---
Yeah, this is going the same way as my other stories, in other words a one shot idea is getting longer and longer each time I try to bring it to a close.
The next chapter should be the last, perhaps with a small epilogue to follow (I have a longer story in mind using this as a prequel, but we'll see how things go)
Coming soon: Chapter Four: Void; Sakura tries to reconcile with Sasuke, but how will she convince a man who has known only betrayal? And can she do it before the void claims them both, or will someone else interfere.
"Chidori! Heartbreak of Innocence!"
"Sasuke-kun!"
"You are nothing more than a weapon in the end"
Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell
