Falls Apart

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Disclaimer: I don't own it, nor will I ever.

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Chapter 6: She'll Raise Her Voice

Buried Myself Alive
The Used
(The Used)

You almost always pick the best times
To drop the worst lines
You almost made me cry again this time
Another false alarm
Red flashing lights
Well this time I'm not going to watch myself die
I think I made it a game to play your game
And let myself cry
I buried myself alive on the inside
So I could shut you out
And let you go away for a long time

I guess it's ok I puked the day away
I guess it's better you trapped yourself in your own way
And if you want me back
You're gonna have to ask
Nicer than that

I think the chain broke away
And I felt it the day that I had my own time
I took advantage of myself and felt fine
But it was worth the night
I caught an early flight and I made it home

With my foot on your neck
I finally have you
Right where I want you

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Sakura just blanked out, staring horrified into deep eyes that mocked her very existence. She forgot about everything that surrounded her, everything that she had been thinking.

He could do that, he had conditioned her to do that. All she had now was a deep seated terror and shame.

Shame that she was never good enough, shame that she was never powerful enough, shame that she had let her own husband down to the point where he resorted to this.

It was all her fault, it had always been her fault, she deserved every bruise on her battered body, she deserved every scathing comment he sent flying in her direction.

A sob escaped her throat as she fell to her knees, her eyes never leaving Sasuke's. Tears blurred his face a bit, but she never blinked never broke contact.

She shuddered at the horrible grin that crossed his face.

"I guess the mouse really does play while the cat is out, ne Sakura? You could have at least tried to bring someone worthy to fight for you, like maybe Kakashi or Tsunade…but no, you bring the skinny Nara boy. You really are a dumb bitch, you know that?"

Shikamaru was stunned at how easy it was for Sasuke to subdue Sakura. Just one glance made her fall to her knees and to pieces. He glared up at Sasuke, pissed at the treatment he was giving Sakura. Fists clenched at his sides, nails cutting bloody crescents into his palm, Shikamaru audibly growled at the Uchiha heir.

"Leave her alone you bastard. Why do you feel the need to oppress her in such a way? She's your wife for crying out loud!"

Sasuke merely gave a short bark of laughter, turning his sadistic grin towards the Konoha genius.

"She's my property, mine to do whatever I wish with. So you shouldn't give a shit about what I do to her, in fact, for the reason you two seem to be so close is reason enough for me to beat her. She's being unfaithful to me. She needs to realize that she gave all of who she was to me when she married me. She belongs to no one else, not you, not the Hokage, not Konoha, but mine. She seems to have forgotten this."

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed.

"That does not mean that she stops being who she is when she marries you! A wife is to be cherished and taken care of! She's not some animal, some rag doll you can abuse and toss about! You abuse your privilege, so I'm going to make it my right to annul your marriage! Sakura deserves better than a monster, she'd even do better with Gaara than with you!"

Sasuke laughed again, not fazed at all by Shikamaru's taunts.

"You? Stop me? How ridiculous! You couldn't hurt a fly if you tried. The master of shadows and mind games is no threat to me. Shadows can't touch me and there's no mind left to mess with. You are SOL Nara. Now go fuck off before I kill you."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth but walked up next to Sakura, still staring dead ahead on her knees. He knelt down behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

"Please Sakura. Don't shut down. Remember what he did, remember that you don't want any more of it. Fight back, please Sakura. Stand up for yourself."

The Uchiha heir looked down, his face betraying his amusement at the Nara's attempts. Snorting he closed his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest.

"You can't fix what is broken. Her spirit is gone, broken. It can't be repaired or replaced, she's all mine Nara. Give up and leave while your life is still intact."

Shikamaru shook his head in resolve, his embrace tightening around Sakura. He could feel her stirring out of her stupor. Burying his face into the Haruno's pale white-pink hair, he took a long deep breathe and enjoyed both the scent of the woman in his arms, and the look of jealousy that erupted on Sasuke's face.

"Get your filthy, herdsman hands off of my wife Nara! She's not yours to touch, not yours to give a damn about!" Sasuke took a few threatening steps forward, his teeth bared in barely restrained rage.

"You say such things as if you care about what happens to Sakura. You obviously don't care, judging by the bloodstains and broken furniture that make up the décor of your home, and her hell. You don't care judging by the cracked smile she wears everyday in order to hide the fact that she hates the life she lives. You sonofabitch, she's not broken though, just cracked. And even with how battered she is, she's stronger than anyone here in Konoha. To put up with the shit you deal her almost every night and still come out, even with a cracked smile. She deserves anyone but you!"

Sasuke didn't want to listen to Shikamaru anymore. With little preamble, he swung out with his fist and caught the Nara with a brutal uppercut, sending Shikamaru flying across the room. Shikamaru had release Sakura so that she did not go flying with him.

"You shut up, you little deer fag! You need to go and mind your own business; this is between me and Sakura, not you, me, and Sakura."

Rubbing his chin, the jounin sat up to glare at the dark-haired, red-eyed Uchiha. He also spotted Sakura who had also come to her senses and was glaring at Sasuke's back in pure hatred.

Shikamaru returned his attention to Shikamaru and gave a patented, smug Nara smirk. "I made it my business, Sasuke-teme. I made it my business after I first knew you were beating her years ago. I hope you get what's coming to you, you sick fuck."

With little preamble, an impressive chakra burst to life behind Sasuke, who whirled around in surprise. Standing there on her two feet, head bowed, arms hanging limply at her sides, and surrounded by a white-hot pink swell of chakra, was Sakura.

"Sasuke…dear…for years I've dealt with all the crap you've thrown my way. I've suffered your beatings, your degrading words and actions, but no more. I don't love you anymore, so I don't have to deal with your crap anymore. And don't you dare hurt Shikamaru! He's been more a gentleman in two days than you have been in six years put together!"

Sakura looked up at Sasuke, her eyes now turning a more lucid, clear green from their aqua-green color. She pulled herself up to her full height and glared at her husband.

"No more. I'm done playing your game. I'm done with you Sasuke."

The kunoichi immediately dropped into a defensive posture, ready to take on anything that her husband might throw in her direction.

Sasuke just smirked. He was pleased that he could now get a fight out of her, happy for a new, bigger, better, and certainly more appealing way to break her. He turned to face Sakura, forgetting completely about Shikamaru.

"So she finally grows a backbone. Damn Sakura, I never thought I'd see this day."

His smile widened and he began to stalk over to the defensive kunoichi. The sharingan in his eyes swirled and his eyes glittered with cruelty and lust. As he drew within arms reach of Sakura, she tensed some more, her eyes smoldering in righteous anger and hatred.

"Fuck you, you insecure bastard. Lay a hand on me and I'll make sure it's ripped off."

Sasuke continued his stalk around her form unfazed by her threats.

"Like I'm supposed to be scared of the weak Haruno Sakura. The only member of Team 7 who could not keep up. The burden, the straggler. How am I supposed to be afraid of that?"

He finally walked up to her and brushed his hand down her arm in an almost loving manner with the backs of his fingers. Then like the flip of a switch he had a hand buried in her hair and had dragged her to her knees on the floor.

"You could never hit me. You love me too much, you obsessed over me too much. You spent years pining away for me and I know you aren't stupid enough to throw away something you worked so hard for…"

He pressed his grinning face right into Sakura's, expecting tears. What he didn't expect however, was her spitting in his face followed immediately by a head butt. He released Sakura's hair and fell back on to the floor in surprise, one hand covering a bleeding nose.

Sakura rose to her feet and leered down at her husband. Her fists clenched tightly at her sides and her face burning in deep seated rage, she stormed over and punched Sasuke in the face, giving him no time to recover.

"You think I was joking when I said I've had enough? You ignorant, arrogant, self-righteous, chauvinistic bastard! How dare you not take me seriously? I've accomplished a lot more than you realize, I've more power than you dreamed of in my pointer finger. You, who needs tremendous chakra stores to fuel wasteful, destructive jutsus, don't realize that I could kill you by using less that one percent of my own chakra store, and that it would cause less collateral damage. One touch is all I need. I could brain damage you irreparably for life, cut open major arteries, sever your spinal cord, stop you heart, or activate every pain receptor in your body. All with a simple touch, one finger. I don't even need seals. So don't start with me."

Sasuke let loose a snarl. He lunged at Sakura only to find air. He looked and saw that she had moved just a foot out of his reach, a smirk almost matching his plastered across her heart shaped face. It made him a bit uncomfortable to be subject to his own predatorial glare. It must have shown on his face, for the smirk only increased.

"You look surprised Hubby. You didn't think I'd lie down and take you hurting others do you? Hitting me is fine, I can deal with it, but it's against my nature as a medic and a ninja to allow you to harm others needlessly. And if you think you can hurt me now, you truly have gone mad. I can kick Kakashi's ass using just taijutsu with his sharingan employed. You couldn't land a breeze on him using the chidori that he taught you. I am also the select student of Fire Country's famous Kage, Tsunade."

Sasuke's face darkened in rage. How dare the bitch talk down at him? He who single handedly brought the Akatsuki to extinction, who had thrown off a cursed seal and destroyed a man who had killed the previous Kage. How dare she? After the years of her worshiping the very ground he walked on, how dare she?

"Fuck you. Just fuck you. You have no right to talk to me like that. Me, Uchiha Sasuke, last heir to the most powerful clan in Konoha, the savior of all ninja villages, the victor over the Akatsuki! You are barely a candle to my sun! So shut up bitch!"

Sakura snarled right back, and in the blink of an eye, Sasuke found himself on the floor, his cheek stinging something furious. Shock rippled through him as he brought his hand up to his cheek to feel the hand-shaped welt rising there. Red sharingan eyes turned to look up at a pissed off, teary eyed kunoichi. Her breathing was hitched, her pants making her chest rise and fall rapidly. Her own eyes pinned him down with a wrath unmatched, and her finger shook with rage as she pointed it at him.

"No. No Sasuke. You don't get to talk down to me. I've dealt with your shit for long enough. I would have dealt with it longer, but you're starting to hurt others. I won't tolerate it. I won't hide inside myself anymore, I won't let you have your way anymore. You're just an emo, angry, spoiled child! Grow up you prick! You are not the shit, you're just a shit. I want you to leave! Leave this village, and disappear. I don't want to hear even a whisper of your existence."

Sasuke quickly grew angry again. His bitch had struck him, and then had the gall to talk back to him. This was unacceptable. She needed to relearn her place. He quickly stood up and rushed with all his speed, fueled by anger. He managed to grab Sakura around her ivory throat and slam her hard enough into a plastered wall to make a body shaped indent.

The entire time this happened, Sakura did not flinch. Her hands flew up to grasp the appendage that held her aloft against the wall. With no hesitation she spit in his face and sneered.

"That all you got? Pathetic."

She struck a foot out and caught Sasuke in the abdomen hard. He relinquished his hold on her neck to step away, trying to regain the air that Sakura had kicked out. Sakura didn't give him the leisure of getting it back, immediately striking out with a roundhouse kick to his side.

She heard a satisfying crack as her foot connected.

Sasuke, seeing that she was serious in kicking his ass, released the full fury of his own chakra. It surrounded his body in a noxious, greasy grey, crackling as it came up against Sakura's own white-pink chakra.

Shikamaru, realizing that he had been forgotten about for now, crept silently away from the fight. Fireworks were going to light up the night of Konoha, and he had no desire to be the closest to the excitement. Just the combined power of their chakra was enough to choke him. He didn't want to be around when the real showdown started. Close proximity could kill, he knew this. Especially with a chakra show this impressive.

Sakura, out of the corner of her eye, saw Shikamaru sneaking away, and was grateful. That was one less person for her to worry about during the fight with Sasuke. She shuddered to know just how much damage she was about cause to Konoha. She hadn't even begun to unleash her power. Instead she was tightly reining it in, for her power was affected by her emotions and she was pissed right now. The fact that she was usually numb emotionally while she fought with Kakashi and Lee would prove that she had much more hidden away than Sasuke would see coming. The bastard was going down whether he liked it or not. He was no longer alpha male amongst the countries. She was about to stake out that position right next to Naruto. She was going to take her place as one of the legendary Team 7, and she was going to take it forcibly and make a huge show of it. The more humiliating the defeat, the more likely that Sasuke would disappear and not try anything.

Sasuke had tunnel vision, and it was clamped tightly around the female before him. No one stood up against him. Not even the Hokage had spoken against him upon his return from being missing nin. He was feared, he was revered. He was the last of an extinct, powerful bloodline. He had a blood limit for god sakes! What did this female have? Sure, the apprenticeship of the greatest medic nin known to the entire world, but that was all! That was given to her! She didn't earn it, didn't bleed for it! So she should learn her place, she needed to quit being so spoiled and whiny. All she ever did was whine.

Sasuke's fist clenched and he sprung forward, swinging it heavily at her face to find it easily parried. He swung a few more times, his arms pistoning in rapid succession, fully expecting all his punches to land on their target.

Sakura placed her perfected emotionless mask over her face, following one of the first shinobi rules: Show no emotion. She saw as she dodged, his fist whistling past her ear, that he was failing miserably at that simple task. His teeth were bared in some sort of grotesque grimace intended to show his anger. The snarl on his face proved that he had changed from the Sasuke she had known as a child. Sasuke always had control over his expressions and emotions. This Sasuke however, was raving mad.

Growing more upset with each parried punch, Sasuke didn't hesitate to activate the sharingan in his eyes, the tomoe whirling to a blur, making a thick black circle surrounding his pupils. He caught Sakura's own eyes with his and projected every nightmare possible to her, projected all his anger and hatred and darkness in order to make her cave.

Sakura just stared passively back, her green eyes betraying no fear. The images, the genjutsu that Sasuke was using was indeed terrifying, but Kakashi had taught his pupils well. And he didn't spare Sakura the terrors of the sharingan. It was a phase of her self-forced training. It was also an attempt to feel where she had gone numb. So she knew every nuance of the sharingan.

'He won't react fast enough to block my moves even though he sees them coming anyways…thank you Lee.'

Not waiting for Sasuke to make a first move and not bothering to cancel out the genjutsu over her, Sakura swung out to catch Sasuke in the Adam's apple, but he dodge just in time. Her fist briefly skimmed over the skin of his neck before Sasuke retaliated with a punch to her abdomen.

The impact sent her back a few feet. She rebounded as soon as her feet hit the floor and punched some chakra into both her hands and feet. Pushing off, she cocked back her arm for a lethal cross to the Uchiha's face, but he once again ducked in the nick of time. He grabbed her outstretched arm and used her momentum to swing her around once, then up over him and face first into the wooden flooring of their house.

He stood over her downed form and delivered successive punches to her prone form, a smile lighting his face.

Sakura 'oof'ed with each hit, but was gathering her chakra to push up off the floor. Once she had measured out and exact portion, she did a hard push-up, slamming her head back so that it connected with Sasuke's chin.

He staggered back, hand grasping a now split and bleeding chin. He snarled and his fingers flew through a series of seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

The room lit up with intense heat as Sasuke released a fireball with his steady breath. Sakura, cursing Tsunade for the ridiculous outfit currently clinging skimpily to her form, simply stood and took the heat and flames as they engulfed her. Her chakra kept the flames from actually touching her, but the heat made her skin ignite red.

The flames lasted for a good twenty seconds, but Sakura was employing her healing jutsus continually to ensure that she would be able to retaliate after Sasuke had finished.

She observed the flames beginning to wane and took action. She leapt up the ceiling, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Painful Sky Leg!"

Her form had cleared the flames and somersaulted in the air. He leg stuck out to strike a shocked Sasuke on top of the head, the appendage having most of her chakra aura surrounding it, signifying the power hidden.

Sasuke released his jutsu and stepped out of the way before Sakura could strike him. He choked as some flames back lashed into his throat from the abrupt cancellation of his move.

The house, which was engulfed in flames, now shattered to burning splinters as Sakura's leg made contact with the ground. Tremors seized the village of Konoha and sky was lit with the flames from the fire.

A crater the size of a few blocks was all that was left of the Uchiha household.

Sasuke glanced about him in a new found fear. A hit from Sakura would end him permanently. No one could survive a blow that left a crater this size. He looked back at the pink-white haired kunoichi as she straightened herself from a modified crouch. As she looked him in the eyes, he knew she could read his every emotion with ease. Her smile confirmed it.

"Leave, and I won't hurt you."

Sasuke quickly composed himself and frowned. He turned to face Sakura fully.

"It still isn't enough to defeat me. I still have a few surprises that I have been hiding from everyone here in Konoha."

In response, he quickly bit down on his thumb and scribbled elaborate kanji upon the ground in front of him.

"Kuchiyose no Justsu! Summoning Technique!"

Sasuke laughed a bit to himself as light surrounded him and the blood kanji ran together and wriggled in a snakelike fashion. Then from the ground behind him, a large serpent burst forth, golden and hissing angrily. Its slit eyes pierced Sasuke with disdain and arrogance.

"You dare to call me forth, weakling human? Can't handle your own fight?"

Sasuke turned and pinned Manda with a glare all his own. He killed the snake's previous summoner, proving his superiority.

"Submit! I am your summoner now, and you will heed my every word. Orochimaru is no longer in the land of the living, and I signed the contract after his departure. So now you are my summon."

The coiled creature spat at Sasuke's words. Its baleful look caused Sasuke's stomach to drop a few inches, but he held his composure in the face of the snake. He was superior in everything. The world was his.

"Orochimaru may have summoned me, but I was never his slave. He was my slave, and now you have signed yourself over as my slave, albeit a little more powerful than your predecessor. If you want me to even think about agreeing to help you, I want a thousand human sacrifices."

Sasuke broke eye contact to glance out to the village of Konoha. He lifted his hand up and presented his view to the snake.

"Done. The village is yours after this girl is defeated."

Manda followed Sasuke's gaze and his forked tongue unconsciously flicked out to taste the hundreds of lives that lay before him.

"That is acceptable, even more so because you offer up comrades in order to appease me. Now this girl…"

His slit, golden eyes focused in on the momentarily forgotten and disgusted Sakura. His tongue forked out again, taking in her flavor to read her power. He immediately hissed in anger.

"You! You are apprentice to that slug woman! To that wretched excuse of an animal!"

Sakura, in a moment of brilliant immaturity, stuck out her tongue and gave the oversized anaconda the finger.

"You will not talk about Tsunade-hime-sensei in such a manner! Granted that her practical jokes are over the top at times, but she is to be respected! And you will not harm this village!"

Manda wouldn't hear a word of it and lunged fangs first at the girl. Sakura countered with one of her juiced up punches to the reptile's nose, making his attack glance to the side and his head slam into the raised walls of the crater behind her.

She glared at Sasuke and quickly bit into her own thumb while whipping out an impressive sized scroll. Her bloodied hand formed seals as she pulled the lengths of paper out of the roll.

"You know, I thought Tsunade was crazy when she made me sign, that I wasn't powerful enough for this, but I'm happy she did. Kuchiyose no Justsu! Summoning Jutsu Kuri-Kaesu no Tanjo! Repeat of Birth!"

She took her thumb and smeared it across the numerous kanji scrawled on the ancient paper. The sky above Konoha lit up once again with flames and a keening, sad melody floated across the night air. From the flame burst forth a gargantuan phoenix, her plumage alight with violent reds, oranges, and yellows, but also smoldering with pale blues, purples, and whites.

The night became considerably warmer as the avian glided down next to Sakura, its reflective predator eyes drinking in the miniscule girl who had called her forth.

"You called upon me?"

Sakura gazed in awe at the being she had summoned. The phoenix stood as tall as Manda, but her wingspan covered the length and breadth of Konoha easily. Power exhuded from the avian's form along with the intense heat. She knew she was signing for an animal summon, but she hadn't quite paid attention, just wanting to get Tsunade away from her.

She nodded dumbly up at the bird. To be honest, she expecting something much smaller and just as harmless as she had perceived herself to be before. But this…this blew her away…where did this contract come from and why did no other jounin have it?

Hisses distracted her from her continued awe and she turned to observe a very upset Manda. He had coiled in on himself in an almost defensive position, glaring angrily over the topmost of his coils at the phoenix and Sakura.

"Boy, you did not mention that she was the summoner of an immortal. I cannot kill something that cannot be killed."

Sasuke balked at Manda's behavior. Now the snake was disobeying him over some blown up chicken. Irritated like never before, he brought chidori into his hand and slammed it hard into Manda's side.

The snake let out a wheezing sound of pain as the energy tore deep into his side. As he turned to strike at Uchiha, he was stopped mid-movement by none other than the Mangekyu Sharingan. The now fused tomoe whiled about hypnotically and Manda's coils slowly relaxed.

"You will do as I say. I am your summoner, thus you will do as I wish. Now quit cowering and take care of the girl and her glorified chicken."

Manda wordlessly nodded his triangular head and turned back to face the only two females present.

Sakura looked up at her summon, confused.

"What do I call you?"

The bird looked down at the kunoichi, pain etched deep into her eyes, but a soft warmth still emanating from them.

"You may call me Hai."

((Author's Note: I hate doing these, but I must inform you that in this case hai does not mean yes, it means Ash or Ashes. Now, continue your reading. I was going to stop it here, but I decided to be nice.))

"Hai. Hai-san, we must protect this village at all costs. I am unable to combat a summon by myself, so I summoned you."

The phoenix nodded then turned back to Manda, who was recoiling himself, but this time it was to attack. Sasuke stood next Manda, the reptile's cold blood coating his form as the wound he inflicted upon the summon leaked.

In the second it took for Manda to lash out, Hai had leapt into the air, releasing her soft melody for all to hear. Her soft voice then filled the air.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!"

Hai slammed her wings close about her, sending out a tremendous wave of air that careened into Manda. With the air compressed in such a way, the intense heat surrounding the bird ignited the oxygen, producing a bladed airborne fire attack.

Manda let loose a hiss of pain and spat out some brackish, puddy looking poison at Hai. The heat proved to be Hai's greatest asset, for the poison burned away before it could touch her feathers and the exact affect of the carcinogen could be determined.

Hai pivoted in the air, and a hawk-like scream left her mouth as she dove down at Manda, her talons fully extended, wings spread at full length to control her dive. Manda's speed saved his scaly skin as he dodged her attack, his teeth bared in fear and fury. He refused to die this day, who gave a crap about the eerie red-eyed boy.

The snake turned and slammed his tail hard into Sasuke and sent him flying. Before Sasuke could retaliate to the unexpected attack, Manda dove back into the ground, disappearing.

Hai landed softly next to Sakura, her heat not scalding her summoner, but rather casting a warmth over and through her. Sakura looked up at the phoenix, quietly answering the question in the bird's pained eyes. With a nod, Mai leapt up into the air and disappeared in a magnificent display of fire. In her absence, two feathers floated down, one touched the parchment of the contract, turning into a signature that blazed continually but didn't burn the paper. The other feather floated gently down to Sakura, who watched it quietly and didn't move to pluck it out of the air.

Its red surface shimmered with dozens of other colors. The tiniest bit of light sent it into a blazing rainbow of colors, some warm, some cool. The feather alighted upon Sakura's forehead and disappeared, a dazzling fire ruby appearing in its place. Sakura brought a finger up and rubbed it over the stone. It was a chakra gem. It was also her way to summon Hai.

A snarl came from in front of her and Sakura shifted her attention to a battered but still kicking Sasuke. He leered with his Mangekyu sharingan eyes at Sakura, hoping to entrance her, lure her into a fake world much like his own brother had done and completely break her mind.

Sakura just looked on passively at him.

"You don't get it do you Sasuke? What part of 'Kakashi held nothing back' do you not get? The sharingan does not cast me into terror anymore."

Sasuke snapped and dashed headlong at her. He began throwing kicks and punches at blinding speed, not caring for where they hit, so long as they did hit. Sakura weaved around each punch with ease before slamming a powered up fist into his face, hearing his nose snap with satisfaction.

Not wanting to lose, Sasuke ignored the pain and blood that flowed freely from his shattered nose. He ducked below a follow through cross, sweeping his leg underneath Sakura and slamming her ankles together.

Sakura fell, a bit of surprise showing on her features as she tumbled to the ground. She caught herself on her palms and whipped her feet up, kicking Sasuke in faces, the blood flow from his nose growing worse. Deciding that this fight had gone on long enough and that Sasuke would keep going until her either passed out or died, Sakura started forming seals.

"Shosen Jutsu! Mystical Palm Technique!"

Sakura's right hand glowed ominously, her chakra concentrating around it. She sat and looked a recovering Sasuke over from head to toe, deciding her best course of action. She didn't want to inflict permanent harm, regardless of how much he deserved it. She just wanted to immobilize him until the Hokage could pass judgement.

Sasuke stilled in discomfort as Sakura eyed him top to bottom critically, like a slab of meat she was considering buying. His mind was rocking and rolling about in pain, most of it concentrated on the nose he knew would be forever crooked once it healed. He blinked for just a moment before he blacked out. He took note as his eyes closed once again that Sakura was not where she had been standing when he blinked.

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A/N: And end this chapter…sorry for taking so long but I've been mad busy. I also realize that the quality of this chapter may not be up to snuff, but that's because I've really wanted to write a chapter for my other story Breakaway, my Gaara/Sakura fic, but promised myself I'd finish a chapter for this first. I'm sorry for the crappy fight scenes too…I've never been very good with them, but I gave it my best. Oh, and due to how many reviews I have for the previous chapter, I will no longer acknowledge every reviewer, just those who offered constructive criticism or have the most strange review...a few of you are kinda out there… -laughs- But that's about it. Ja ne until the next chapter!

Dustbunny3- If my last chapter was that choppy, I don't even want to think about how bad this one must be… -sweat drop- I hope this one is at least mildly entertaining…

Ankhazu- Nothing against you, but I can almost never bring myself to read fics with an OC pairing…I don't know why… -scratches head- I'll give it a try though, there's always a first for everything. –smiles-

Yokaigurl- Next to The Squabbit, you have the most entertaining reviews ever. –snickers- Thank you for the compliment and that I made your day, floated your boat and sunk your ship. –smiles-

Miss Soupy- I think that with how lazy, composed, and grouchy Shikamaru is, there has to be a part of him that is hyperactive, happy, and has carebear DNA imbued to it. This would be Inner Shikamaru. –smiles- Just think of the chaos that would ensue if he was unleashed… -smiles evilly and starts scribbling idea down- And when I came up with the Go thing, I thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.

To the rest of you reviewers: You all are my heroes and the reason I strive to do well! Keep up the reviews, I do enjoy knowing that you enjoy my story!