Sasuke had been sleeping lightly, after Sakura convinced him to let her take first watch. He was rather tired after staying up the whole night before.

His sleep gradually deepened, and it felt like sinking into a watery, misty haze. He didn't need to be on guard anyway. Sakura could handle it, and she would wake him if something were to happen. Right?

Sasuke tugged back from the deeper sleep as he tried to focus on concern for Sakura. She was much better, there was no denying, but if an enemy were to slip past her detection, he should be able to react. It was a very hard instinct to deny, saving Sakura. It had been self-drilled into him as a genin on Team 7.

Even when he went to kill her in the Land of Iron, there was a part of him that strongly opposed it. Perhaps that was the reason he didn't "notice" Kakashi until his former sensei had already snatched Sakura out of the danger zone. And then again when Naruto arrived on the scene.

But try as he might, the exhaustion pulled at him all the harder. As the last of his consciousness was defeated, he shrugged the nagging worry off himself. Sakura was capable; he would trust her with that much. It was as good a place to start as any.

The first thing Sasuke became aware of was tickling sunlight on his nose. Opening his eyes, his first thought was, 'Did Sakura take the whole watch?'

He felt a twinge of guilt, figuring she must have wanted to give him a whole night's sleep after taking the entire watch himself last night. He looked around for her but didn't see her.

He guessed she was out looking for supplies. He stretched and planned on joining her when the faint whistle of kunai flying in the air met his ear.

He reached for his katanna but felt a streak of something like panic when he discovered it missing. Dodging the weapon last minute, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and searched for his opponent. Secretly, he was worried. Had the person killed her already? And what happened to his weapons; they were all gone.

Clutching his head as a wave of vertigo washed over him, Sasuke was (almost, not that he would ever admit it) frightened to discover he was unable to use his bloodline limit. His whole body felt off kilter; had he been poisoned?

Cruel laughter floated through the air, soft and feminine under a layer of steel. "Sa-su-ke," his attacker addressed him, drawing each syllable out mockingly sweet.

He refused to believe his eyes at first (as soon as he felt able to open them again). But as he had to dodge her attacks (almost helplessly), Sasuke came to accept that it was Sakura trying to kill him.

It made sense; at least, she was good with poisons and had worked with Kakashi (hence a sharingan). He hated admitting it, but he had trusted her enough to let his guard down around her.

Foolish!

Shouldn't he have learned by now not to trust anyone?!

Shouldn't he know by now that trusting people and making bonds led to nothing good?!

Sakura had trained under Tsunade, and her taijutsu had improved immensely, as he could now see her new skills up close. But he still managed to find an opening in her attack, hitting her as hard as he could, channeling all his feelings of betrayal and hurt into that one blow as he could.

He would make her pay, if it was the last thing he did.

She smiled, leaning against the wall, Sasuke asleep beside her. She could feel the lazy tug of sleepiness tempting her to close her tired eyes. Funny, she hadn't felt this tired a few minutes earlier.

As a few lazy minutes passed, Sakura's mind began to feel a little fuzzy. She had to questions things she was sure of previously.

Was it Sasuke's watch or hers? She yawned, her eyes starting to burn. It was probably Sasuke's watch. As her eyes drifted closed, she tried force herself to keep them open. She should check with Sasuke to be sure it was his watch before she fell asleep; it was the responsible thing to do.

Just as she was about to speak, another wave of tiredness washed over her, killing the words on her tongue. She yawned again, allowing her heavy eyes to close gradually once more. Why fight it after all? All was calm, no one was coming, and it was a great time to sleep: nothing would happen.

She let herself be wrapped in sleep's cocoon, warm and safe.

Sakura woke up smiling, lazily staring up at the glowing green leaves that the sunlight illuminated. She sat up slowly, looking for Sasuke.

Suddenly, a cold metal blade was pressed to the back of her neck.

Dark laughter filled the chilling air, and a passing cloud hid the warm sunshine from her.

She looked one more time for Sasuke, but something in her already knew he was the one behind her. "I thought he would never get here," Sasuke said sneeringly.

Sakura was about to ask what he meant when she looked down and saw Naruto's body, sliced to bits by Sasuke's blade. The same blade that was now dripping Naruto's blood onto the back of her neck.

"How…how could you," Sakura choked out, trembling slightly, her body in shock.

"Quite easily," Sasuke answered smugly, "That was the whole reason I tolerated your presence. I knew he would come for you. I just didn't think it would take that moron so long to get here."

The tears finally came, and Sakura felt like her heart had been shredded in a fashion similar to Naruto's still body.

The unbearable pain at seeing Naruto lying there like that was suddenly eased by anger. The more she focused on the anger and need for revenge (for herself as much as her fallen teammate), the slower the tears came and the easier it was to breathe.

As her pain faded, Sakura's vision swam with red. Sasuke was gloating, in his own way, by letting her live and look at Naruto. Gritting her teeth, she knew what she had to do.

With one hand, she hit the ground between Sasuke's feet and shattered it, not worrying about the bite of his blade as she pressed her neck further against it. The cut was shallow.

With the other hand, she pulled out a poisoned senbon and jammed it in the first artery of Sasuke's that she could get her hands on. Most poisons did not work on Sasuke because of Orochimaru, as Sakura had learned the hard way. But if Kabuto cooked up something that worked on Anko back at the start of the war, Sakura had known back then that she could do better. Which she did the first chance she got these last three months.

It might not stop Sasuke's sharingan, but it would make it hard for him access his chakra and control it. That meant no Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, or Susanoo.

She didn't waste time and went all out, throwing everything she had learned from her master at Sasuke. He couldn't get one opening, or it was all over for her.

But maybe she did deserve to die, for getting Naruto killed, betraying her village and the Alliance, and trusting Sasuke so blindly when she should have learned her lesson already.

Even so, Sasuke had to be stopped. Naruto's death had to be avenged. The Sasuke she had known and loved had to be avenged too. There would not be a second chance to do both.

Despite giving it her all, Sakura made one wrong step, and Sasuke delivered a blow that shattered a couple of ribs just minutes into their fight.

Down on the ground, Sakura gasped for air and did her best to roll from Sasuke's strikes. Why didn't he just finish her the way he had finished Naruto? The katana was still right in his hand.

Something was not right; Sakura knew it in her heart. Her head was fuzzy again and starting to hurt. Things weren't adding up.

If she could find a way to live for a few more minutes, maybe she could figure it out.