Title: Love Between Land and Sea

Rating: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)

Pairings: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke

Summary: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.

Chapter V: Her Decision

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"Obaasan, do two-leggers live forever, or do they die as we do here in the sea?" Sakura asked the next day out of nowhere.

Tsunade looked up in her granddaughter's green eyes with suspicion. "My little Cherry Blossom, why would you want to know such a thing?"

Sakura searched for an answer behind her large forehead. "After saving that two-legger two nights ago, I've become curious," she responded evenly.

Tsunade accepted the answer. "I see. Those 'two-leggers' you refer to are called Humans," the blonde replied. "Nonetheless, Humans do not retain immortality. They die as we do, only at a faster rate. As we live to be about three-hundred years old, Humans often die before they reach their ninetieth circle," Tsunade told Sakura almost sounding sad.

"They're lives are so short…" Sakura murmured.

"Indeed. But we have one thing to envy them for."

Her grandmother's statement caught her attention. "Their legs?" Sakura inquired curiously.

Tsunade laughed. "'Their legs?' Of course not! It's their immortal souls that we should desire. When a mermaid or merman dies, their body becomes foam upon the crests of the waves on the surface. When a Human dies, their soul sheds its physical shell and continues to live on; never dying," Tsunade responded almost sounding bitter. "But we are cursed; we are to never live after our deaths."

It was silent as it normally was when Sakura talked with her grandmother.

"Ah, but let us not pity ourselves. We may not live on like the humans, but we live much happier lives than they could in their immortal ones.

Sakura sighed and looked at her emerald scaled tail in disgust. 'Why couldn't I have been born with two legs instead of a tail? Why was I brought into this world as a mermaid…Why not a Human?'

"Sakura, don't be sad or angry. You're still young and you have centuries to go before you must face your fate. Be happy, Cherry Blossom."

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Sakura sat in her garden for hours, fighting a battle within her. Part of her longed to be with Sasuke on the surface, but the other part felt she could not leave her family and the ocean.

'What am I to do?' Inside, her heart clenched as her memories began running through her head.

---Flash---

"Don't tell any of your sisters this, Sakura, but I think you're the prettiest of all of them!"

"Really, kaa-chan?" a young Sakura asked excitingly. "Even with my huge forehead?"

Her mother laughed as she pushed Sakura's short locks away from her face and kissed the child's forehead. "Hai, even with you gigantic forehead, Sakura."

Sakura hugged her mother tighter and giggled.

---End Flash---

"Okaa-san…" Sakura whimpered as she hugged herself. 'Why did you leave?' she closed her eyes.

---Flash---

"Tou-chan! Is kaa-chan okay?" Sakura asked when her father came out from her parents' shared room.

Her father looked away from his youngest daughter and waited for his voice to even out. "Sakura, kaa-chan is dying…and I fear she only has a few hours left. She told me that she wants to see you," Asuma said before swimming down the hall and out of sight.

Sakura opened the door to the room and swam over to her mother's bedside.

"Sakura…my, don't you look beautiful today…" her mother muttered as loud as she could, but it still came out just above a whisper.

Sakura watched as crimson liquid floated from her mother and mixed with the water as it left her body.

Sakura remembered just a day ago her mother was brought home after a trip to the surface with a harpoon sticking out of her side. Apparently, she was on the surface, escorted by Jiraiya and Kujira. When they began descending into the debts of the ocean, one of the Humans on the ship nearby threw a harpoon in an attempt to kill and capture Kujira. The first one hit Kujira right on his back, but Sakura's mother managed to pull it out, but not before getting hit with one by accident.

Jiraiya was the one whom had brought her mother back home. Her father was distraught at the sight of his wife's limp body. "Kurenai! Kurenai!" Sakura had remembered her father yelling as he and Jiraiya took her into the bedroom.

"Kaa-chan…I love you!" Sakura yelled as she slumped against the bed and put her head over her mother's chest.

She could not see her mother smile but she did. "I love you, too, my Cherry Blossom."

"Kaa-chan? What's a 'cherry blossom'?" Sakura whispered, still not lifting her head.

"I'll tell you when I feel better, okay?" Kurenai said as she summoned her strength to caress her daughter's hair.

Sakura just nodded her head and fell asleep against her mother, listening to her mother sing the lullabies she used to when Sakura was still very young.

---End Flash---

'And when I awoke… she was gone…' "Okaa-san… what do you think I should do?" Sakura asked the water around her, hoping for an answer.

"Do about what, Sakura-chan?" she heard Naruto ask from behind her.

"Naruto-kun! I hadn't realized you were there!" Sakura yelped, turning.

Naruto crossed his arms and looked her up and down. "Are you alright? You don't look so good," he asked as he circled around her.

"Naruto-kun… would you do anything to be with the one you love?" Sakura asked, looking away from his crystal eyes.

Naruto stopped circling her. "If it was for the one I love, I would do anything."

Sakura smiled and hugged him.

"Hey—! What are you—?" he asked surprised as she encircled her arms around his neck and gave him a light peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun; you've just made me realize my decision," Sakura said as she let go of him.

"You're welcome?" he said, unsure if he did a good thing or a bad thing.

' "Be happy, Cherry Blossom" she said. Sasuke-kun is the only one who can make me happy. And the only way he can make me happy is to be with him,' she concluded as she began swimming into the direction of Orochimaru's bastion.

"Sakura-chan! Where are you goin'?" Naruto yelled from her garden as she got further away.

She stopped for a moment and turned. "I'm going to see Orochimaru-sama!" and then continued swimming.

"WHAT!" she heard Naruto yell. She could tell he would follow her now.

'Orochimaru-sama…you're the only one who can help me now…'

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Author's Notes: Shorter than the last, but I wanted to get this up 'cause tomorrow I have to study for some finals and then Monday I have more studying to do. There, some light shined upon Sakura's motherlessness…is that a word?

Thanks for the reviews everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far.