Choice:

A Terrible Splendor

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Author's Note: Wow, this chapter was extremely fun to write. Go Sakura, kick his ass! Um... ahem. Anyway. Since I have the plot for this story down on paper, I'm wondering what kind of fic I should do next. NaruSaku? I haven't done one of those. KankSaku won't get many fans, but hey, it'd be fun to write, right? One thing, though: I will NOT write a story all about SasuSaku or ItaSaku. I dunno why. I can read 'em, but I really like doing the more challenging, unique pairings more. So in your reviews, give me some ideas for pairings, and I'll try to please you. (Oooh, I'm leaning towards NejiSaku...) This is the second-to-last chapter.

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Act VII: Bloody Lover

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Sakura's eyes were everywhere: flickering over Kabuto's smirking face with supreme hatred, scanning the trees ahead for any sign of Orochimaru's lair, looking in relief at her own hand, the hand clenched around a kunai. Her protection. She needed any sense of protection she could get right now.

The trail they had been following seemed endless, and the waiting was torture for her. Every second not getting the cure was a second wasted, a second off Shikamaru's life, a second off the possibility of having a life with him at all.

Kabuto seemed to actually enjoy her torment immensely. "Relax, Sakura-chan, we're almost there," he said with a smile that made her want to smack it off. "Patience is a shinobi's virtue."

Sakura had to use all of her will power not to tackle him then and there. "Like you would know anything about virtue, traitor."

"Hey, now, be nice," Kabuto remarked, smirking. "It wouldn't do to make me angry and just happen to... forget the location of Orochimaru's hiding place, now, would it?"

Sakura was glad her mask disguised her face twisting in hatred, but she wasn't sure the way it emanated from her very being could possibly be overlooked. "Just take me there."

"Please, Sakura-chan. We're already there." He stopped very suddenly, feet skidding on a tree limb, and gestured to a rocky cliff in front of them.

Sakura leapt from the trees and walked out onto the ledge as Kabuto leapt down and out of sight. Molding chakra into her feet, she hung upside-down. Kabuto was looking at her with a smirk on his face, a boulder rolled out of the way, revealing a large tunnel. Scowling at his smug face, Sakura lowered herself carefully into the cave, gripping the kunai tightly. Kabuto rolled the large stone back in place at the opening of the cave, sealing the cave and cutting off the only source of light.

A spark caught her eyes, and Sakura looked to her right. A quick fire jutsu from Kabuto had illuminated a series of wooden torches that lined the tunnel. "This way," he announced, beginning down the tunnel.

Sakura followed warily, green eyes swiveling to the left and right, above, below. She stepped as quietly as possible, a trait of habit now, but her shoes still clicked eerily on the strangely smooth floor. After a while, they entered a large chamber, where Kabuto told her to wait. "Orochimaru will be with you soon," he said, leaving the room.

The pink-haired ANBU frowned, switching the kunai to her left hand. She was in Orochimaru's lair, so close to the cure, and sitting in a fucking waiting room like she was at the dentist's office! Why was she trusting Kabuto, anyway? He was the enemy. The door could open in five seconds, and a barrage of kunai could be fired at her, killing her instantly.

"Sakura-chan. Lovely of you to join us, my cherry blossom."

She'd recognize that voice anywhere. Slick, serpentine, oily and disgusting with more than a touch of malice.

"Orochimaru. I'd say I was happy to see you, but..."

The Sannin smirked slightly, moving closer, almost sliding like the snake he summoned. "Dear, dear, it seems I've made an enemy of you, Sakura-san."

"You made an enemy of me five years ago," Sakura spat. "Don't try to sneak into my good graces now. Just hurry up and give me the cure, and I'll leave you alone."

Orochimaru smiled, going a little closer, and stopped. "Now, don't be hasty, Sakura-san. Perhaps we can work out an agreement."

"What kind of agreement?" Sakura gave the word a nasty edge. "ANBU don't negotiate, Orochimaru. You should know that. Either you give me the cure or I force it out of you." Since when was she brave enough to confront a Sannin like this? Sakura struggled to maintain a calm composure, but inside she was quaking. This was crazy. She was actually readying herself to fight a Sannin. Orochimaru seemed likewise puzzled, and extremely amused.

"My, my. Such a temper. You want to fight me, cherry blossom?"

Sakura was silent, but the hand that clutched the kunai was quivering with rage.

Orochimaru smiled. It made her want to be sick. "I'll propose my deal, then. I'll give you the cure... this I promise, kunoichi, and I don't go back on my word... and you come with me."

"G-go with you?"

"Hai." He smiled. "It's been such a very long time since I've had a female on my little team here. Kabuto could use an experienced, Hokage-taught medic such as yourself to help with his work. And, of course, your talents are beyond valuable. You might even be the catch Sasuke was... in fact, maybe more. Sasuke had horrible medical capacity, you see, and with these arms... since Tsunade didn't grant my request and turned against me, you're the best thing." His smile was close-lipped. "Think about it, cherry blossom: your lover goes free of this disease, you cure the rest of the world, and you gain invaluable experience here in Sound for so little a price?"

Sakura was silent. Good God. He was asking her to join him. But to save the lives of so many others... to save the life of Shikamaru!

Kami-sama, he's asking the impossible, she thought to herself in a panic, loosening the grip on the kunai.

No, she thought suddenly, be logical. Be rational. He wants you to freak out and choose what seems like the easiest answer. What can I do?

I have no chance of fighting a Sannin.

I can't join him.

I can't kill Shikamaru.

I can't kill the rest of the world.

I have no chance of winning a fight with a Sannin.

And yet...

She'd beaten Tsunade before, but that had been different. She knew her teacher's strengths and weaknesses. It had been a sort of training, a practice fight. A real life-or-death battle with Orochimaru was so different it was beyond laughable.

I have no chance.

But her fingers tightened on the kunai handle.

No.

I'll join him.

For Shikamaru.

"All right," she blurted, words tumbling out in a mess of fear and anger.

"Nani?" he asked smoothly.

"All right," she repeated. "I'll join you."

He smiled again, that close-mouthed smile. "I knew you would, my dear. I knew you wouldn't fail me."

That smile.

She hated that smile.

I hate that smile.

She threw the kunai.

It happened in slow motion for her: her grip shifted, her arm pulled back. She took a breath, and her other arm went in front of her for balance. Her feet moved positions, and her body leaned back. She shifted her body weight to her front foot and pressed on it, the arm with the kunai extending, the other one sweeping back. At its full length, the kunai handle left her fingertips. And then, like a shot, it was gone, flying towards Orochimaru.

The Sannin leapt out of the way just in time, the kunai embedding into the cave wall with a sharp twang. His face contorted slightly. "We're dishonest, are we? You're so like myself, Sakura-chan. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

"I'm nothing like you!" Sakura shouted, her voice echoing throughout the chamber. In a haze of rage, she ran towards him, charging and forming handsigns.

Orochimaru smirked, licking his lips with an extremely long tongue, and waited as five clones ran with her. They surrounded him on all sides and started punching and kicking, pulling out kunai and shuriken. Orochimaru blocked them all, twisting and coiling, snapping this one's arm, punching that one away, stabbing another with its own kunai. "Futon: Daitoppa!" he snarled. A huge gust of wind spread from his body. Sakura's clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Orochimaru staring at nothing. Where did she go...? he wondered lazily, looking around.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" A muffled cry. Orochimaru looked down in alarm just in time to be pulled underground as Sakura burst from beneath him. She quickly flipped backwards in alarm as his tongue shot from his revealed head. She pulled out her katana and blocked its advances rapidly, weaving in and out of the thrusts and twists like fighting a snake. Orochimaru chuckled at a pause in the swordfight. "You're quite a threat, Sakura-chan. Really, you've improved."

Sakura scowled. "I don't need a compliment from you."

"But I'm giving it anyway." His tongue shot out unexpectedly and knocked off her mask, sending it flying, broken in half. "Now we can see that pretty face."

Sakura gnashed her teeth and ran towards him as quickly as she could. The tongue shot out, but she swept her katana though. She cleaved it cleanly, blood spurting from the wounded muscle. Orochimaru's face contorted again, and he looked angry as he shot his tongue at her again. She kicked it away, but he grabbed her ankle and slammed her to the ground. Sakura felt a rib crack and the ground rumble. She looked at Orochimaru and cried out; snakes flew from the ground and towards her, she who was pinned by his tongue. Grasping her katana like a lifesource, she swiped through the tongue again and stood to face the fray of snakes. She lunged towards them, carving her way through; blood spilled over her like a fountain. She swung frantically, holding her breath at the stink of snake. She nearly threw up from the feeling of a thousand snakes coling around her.

Clang.

She opened her eyes to see a snake with a sword protruding from its mouth. The snake, in turn, was coming from Orochimaru's throat. He smiled and licked the blade. "You admire my sword?"

Sakura panted, eyes wide in alarm.

"Now, now, Sakura-chan. You asked for a fight, and I'm afraid you're going to get it. His wounded tongue slivered onto her own katana, licking it in... anticipation?

She pulled her sword away in disgust, frowning nervously. The sword shot out at an insane speed, and it was all she could do to put her own up in time not to get sliced in half. Her own breath echoed in her ears with the clangs of steel on heavenly steel as she danced around the cave, her feet stirring up dust where they touched. A forceful lunge knocked her off balance, and she teetered dangerously. His sword shot out, cutting her at the side. White-hot pain seared through her as a spurt of blood came from the wound. Clutching it and wincing, her other hand clenched the hilt of the katana with renewed anger as the tongue-handled sword flew at her. The dirty snake wouldn't give her time to heal herself. Suddenly, with the fastest move she'd ever seen, the sword was knocked out of her hand. It clattered to the floor uselessly, five feet away from her.

Orochimaru stalked slowly towards her, tongue whipping out, dripping blood from its cut-off part as it wound around Sakura's wrists. She grunted furiously, trying in a panic to get out of the deathlike grip.

He tossed his head casually, sending her flying behind him and thumping with a huge boom into the floor. She stifled a cry as tongue flicked easily and horribly, sending her crashing into the wall. She fell limply to the floor. Her body felt like one big bruise. She had to move. He was coming closer.

Have to move...

Sakura, hand shaking, put a finger in the wound at her side and swallowed, forming handsigns. Orochimaru watched, frowning slightly, as she went through them. "Girl--" he started, but she interrupted him, eyes flashing with determination.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

A burst of smoke billowed throughout the large cave, obscuring everything from view. Sakura smiled weakly as the smoke cleared at the towering slug next to her. "Katsuyu."

"Sakura." The Summon inclined her head majestically and looked curiously at her. "You're hurt."

The pink-haired girl snorted. "No kidding. Would you mind distracting Orochimaru while I heal myself enough to fight more?"

"Gladly." The slug looked almost satisfied as she turned towards Orochimaru. Clones of the giant slug came from her body, sliding towards Orochimaru. The Sannin had a fearsome look on his face as he walked forward. Katsuyu looked at him and spoke softly, as was her way, but with a touch of hatred. "You cannot summon Manda, can you? He said he would kill you."

Orochimaru didn't look at the Summon, but continued. His tongue shot towards Sakura before Katsuyu could do anything. The mini-slugs around him covered his body, but he hacked them off with the sword as his tongue wrapped around Sakura's neck. "You," he spoke softly, dangerously, "are talented."

"Didn't I say earlier I don't want your compliments?" Sakura hissed, her voice rasping from the pressure on her windpipe. She grasped at the tongue with her hands, trying to pry it off. It was like a vise.

The Snake Sannin's face contorted, an expression on it that made Sakura, the part of Sakura that was still twelve and afraid, want to run away.

But that Sakura was gone now.

She twisted her hands around the tongue and squeezed hard, taking a deep a breath as possible. Black spots appeared in front of her eyes. I have to do this before he suffocates me. The muscles in her arms flexed as she lifted the tongue up. It was heavy. Her vision began to cloud. She grasped harder, eyes closed, teeth clenched, straining for her life, for Shikamaru's life, for Orochimaru's death. A burst of hatred spread through her for this man: this man who had taken Sasuke, who had caused her teacher so much strife, who had brought about all of Konoha's latest tragedies, who had killed her love, who had broken up her friends.

Sakura had never felt like this, with fury coiling in her blood, bursting over her bones and seeping into her very being. She had never looked at anyone this way, either, with green eyes that could kill. Orochimaru blinked his serpentine eyes and smirked grossly, his tongue tightening around her throat. "Angry that you're about to die, cherry blossom? What a terrible waste. I think I might take your body when I'm finished with you and examine it for any hidden powers... a summoning jutsu already, I'm impressed."

She couldn't breathe.

Katsuyu's slugs were being destroyed as soon as they touched Orochimaru's fiery chakra barrier. The giant slug herself was spitting acid at him, trying to free her mistress from the Sannin, but there was no effect. Sakura knew there wouldn't be. Nothing would affect him. She would suffocate.

It came as a jolt:

she would die.

Tears spilled over her eyes, clinging to her lashes as she fought for breath, fought frantically against his hold. Her hands clawed at the tongue until his hold tightened so she couldn't move them, and she just let them rest there, letting her tears fall onto the muscle as Orochimaru walked forward, amused. "Poor little girl. You thought you would win, didn't you?"

Sakura shook her head as best she could. She felt herself losing her life, felt it being sucked out of her slowly and painfully. Her throat ached like it had been slit all over from the inside.

"And you had been so promising."

Sakura's breath caught.

What was she doing, standing here crying? Would Naruto do that? Would Sasuke? Would Neji or Shikamaru or Tsunade or Sai or Kakashi or Yamato or anyone?

No.

And neither would she.

With speed she hadn't even known she possessed, she grasped the thick tongue that encased her neck and planted her feet firmly on the ground, ignoring the way her vision was dying. She pulled up with all her strength, trying once again to lift the tongue. This time, somehow, it went up easily. With a burst of strength, she tossed it and Orochimaru over her shoulder, loosening the hold on her arms. She grasped a kunai and cut it off of her neck as Orochimaru crashed into the wall inches where she had before, making an imprint further in than hers. She grasped her katana. Before he could get up, Sakura was running, charging, taking greedy gulps of air as she curled her hands into fists. "Shosen Jutsu!" she cried. Both fists flared up with blue chakra. She slammed her fist into Orochimaru's face, feeling with a vidictive satisfaction the bone crack. The other fist went into his stomach. "No more," she whispered roughly, "am I going to sit down and have life and death happen all around me." She fingered the hilt of her katana.

And pushed into Orochimaru's chest.

The Snake Sannin's eyes widened, their yellow going dull as he coughed out massive amounts of blood onto Sakura's blade. The pink-haired kunoichi kept the blade in for a moment and then pulled it out, looking and feeling oddly calm. "The cure."

Orochimaru looked at her with a small smirk. "You are a lovely kunoichi, my cherry blossom."

"The cure."

He chuckled weakly, spurting more blood. "I'm sure you've realized that pure chakra is the answer to a single case."

Sakura nodded, vaguely noticing that her pink hair had drops of red in it.

"For a mass cure, you must create a chakra... a chakra bomb of sorts."

"A bomb?"

Orochimaru nodded. "Chakra. Rather like Rasengan. When you throw a chakra-enhanced projectile and hit it straight in the middle, it will burst, sending the necessary chakra, which has built up strength, raining onto the ground. It will affect only the sick."

Sakura's face lit up slightly as she turned to Katsuyu, nodding. The slug disappeared, and Sakura turned to leave, healing herself on the way. That she even had chakra left was a mystery to her.

Suddenly, Kabuto materialized in front of her, his face thunderous until he glanced at Orochimaru's body. "Oro... Orochimaru!"

"Dead." Sakura looked at the silver-haired medic in front of her.

"You-" He started towards her, reaching for a weapon.

"Don't even try, Kabuto," she snarled, pointing her katana at him. "I'll let you live. But don't fight me. You will lose." Since when would Kabuto listen to her? But surprisingly, the medic bowed to her and stepped out of her way, an awe-stricken look on his face. "You have my eternal respect."

Sakura gathered chakra in her fist and punched the boulder, watching as it crumbled. The cave walls trembled from the force of the blow, and Sakura realized that she'd have to leave before it came down on top of them. She looked at Kabuto over her shoulder.

"I don't want it."

And she took a running start, leaping off the cliff as the rocks crashed to where she had been standing just seconds before.

For a period of glorious, timeless moments, she was airborne, the wind streaming through her red-dotted pink hair and roaring in her ears, making her bright eyes water with joy and exhilaration. Struck with happiness despite the pain in her throat and side, she laughed at the starry sky as she descended towards the trees.

It was Day Seven, and Haruno Sakura had won.

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"Neji!"

The brown-haired Hyuuga turned immediately at the familiar voice, the twitching body in his arms fidgeting violently. He set the tortured Shikamaru down and ran towards the sound as a blur of pink and red and green tackled him in a hug. "I got it! I found the cure, I defeated Orochimaru!"

Neji's lavender eyes widened. "Nani? You did what?"

She pulled away from him, and he notice that her whole body was bloodied and bruised. She looked like a wreck... but a happy wreck. Ecstatic, really. "I defeated him!" she said, exhilarated. "We have to... make Rasengan!"

"Calm down a little," Neji advised, though his own heart was pounding crazily. "Explain this."

"We have to make a ball of pure chakra and send it into the sky," she panted, her eyes glimmering with promise. "Then send a kunai with chakra in it into the very middle. It'll explode like a bomb and affect only the sick, curing all of them! Neji, we'll be able to cure everyone!"

The prodigy coulnd't believe what he was hearing. It was surreal. He placed his hand out, palm up. It seemed like a blur as Sakura moved her hands around as she had seen Naruto do countless times, pouring her chakra into it. Neji placed a hand over hers, feeding his own energy into the whirling ball.

It was a marvel. This was the cure, this energy ball, this was the way everyone could be cured. He tossed it into the air and watched as Sakura threw a kunai with deadly prescision after it.

When the kunai hit, there was no noise for a long time. Then, after a moment, a huge boom echoed throughout the area. Spurts of blue chakra poured like rain farther than they could see from the trees, pelting everywhere.

Sakura knelt by Shikamaru as the chakra sunk into his chest. He stopped twitching, and the curse seal retracted, going back into itself and then disappearing altogether. His skin turned from the gray it had been to a healthy color, and his eyes fluttered.

Sakura clutched at him, crying in happiness. "Shikamaru! You're alive!"

His eyes opened just in time to see her fall over him from pure exhaustion, muttering under her breath.

"I love you, I love you."

He looked up at the blue-and-star-spangled sky and took a breath, clutching his bloody lover to his chest.

For once, nothing seemed troublesome.