Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and Kudozaki Lucine. The rest belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Uzumaki Naruto

There was a distant voice calling out for me. But I was just so tired to care, I just wanted to rest for once. I kept my eyes shut and tried my best to ignore it. Though it became increasingly more challenging to ignore when I felt the annoyance grip my shoulders and try to shake me awake. "Wake up, Naruto!"

Giving in, I opened my eyes. The first thing my eyes laid sight upon were some big roots, seemingly belonging to a tree, and that was when I realized I definitely wasn't in my room.

In confusion, I scanned my foreign surroundings. I was underneath a huge tree, and surprisingly, next to me sat Sakura. "Sakura-chan?" Looking more closely, she had bruises all over her body, and her left eye was swollen. But what really stood out was her hair. It was cut short and was really messy. I let out a gasp, "Sakura-chan! Your hair!"

She widened her eyes in pure fear, and shook her head rapidly. "Shh! He'll hear you!"

Once again, I was confused, this time by her strange behavior. I decided to voice my wonders, "What happened?"

It was only now that I noticed that she was shaking, and she was gritting her teeth as if she was cold.. or more precisely, scared. Her eyes were wide with fright. She looked mortified. "I-I don't know..." her voice shook as she spoke, "But we need to g-get out of h-here now. I woke you up for that, you need to help me, I-I don't know what to do!" By now there were tears running down her cheeks.

That was when it all came back to me. All the previous events that happened before I fell unconscious. The snake. The snake that tried to kill us. Lucine. Sasuke. Which reminds me...

"Sakura-chan, where is Sasuke and Lucine?"

She hesitated, as if she wasn't sure of the answer herself, and then, without saying a word, she lifted a shaky finger and pointed towards the opening of the tree roots.

Frowning, I got up from my position and crawled out of the tree, only to immediately regret it.

The open field before me was splattered with blood and human parts. One would think a massacre had just transpired here, and a very malevolent one. The smell was nearly unbearable; it smelt like burnt flesh. The three corpses on the ground was the source of it all, and they were all so horribly deformed that if they had been my very own teammates there would be no way for me to know.

I gagged, quickly covering my mouth to keep the puke down.

One of the corpses didn't even have its head attached. While the body closest to the decapitated one, was dismembered and looked like it had been chopped into pieces. The worst one was the one who was closest to me. Not only was it turned from the inside out, with all its insides surrounding it like some sick art project, but it was burnt to a crisp.

"What-... what the hell..." I gasped shakily. However, the nightmare was not over.

Further way was another body that was badly damaged, but not to the point of being unrecognizable, in fact I immediately recognized her. My blood went cold as I could feel myself panicking.

Quickly I stumbled up to my feet and sprinted towards her. "Lucine!" I cried helplessly.

"Naruto, no!" I heard Sakura screech from behind me, but I didn't hesitate.

I collapsed down by her side, quickly wrapping my arms around her to pull her up to my chest. She looked downright horrible. Her body was damaged with several bleeding cuts, and her face that was normally so flawless and smooth was now bruised; her cheek and eye completely swollen.

Is... is she?

My breath hitched. The fact that she could be dead hit me harder than I thought it would. I didn't know Lucine that well. Before she became my teammate, I had only spoken to her a few times during the academy, and that was barely a few words. I've always thought that she was weird, the way her face always lacked emotion, and the way that Sasuke was almost always around her like some kind of parasite. But now after she became my teammate, I got to know her, and I learned that Lucine is actually... king. Perhaps not the typical kind, like Iruka-sensei. But that kind of subtle warmth that she so rarely shares, the kind that leaves you wanting more.

"Please, please wake up..." I begged, my voice cracking, as if I was about to cry. I buried my nose in the crook of her neck, "You said- you said you'd make me ramen."

"Na-Naruto." I heard a weak croak. I quickly pulled away and looked into her now opened honey colored eyes.

"Lucine?" I said in disbelief.

Her eyes fought to stay open, closing and reopening several times, till she finally managed to look up at me, with that same blank look despite the situation. I couldn't help but let out a startled, relieved laugh. "I almost died, but you still think about ramen. That's cold, Naruto."

I was relieved by her answer, knowing she was alive and back to her old self despite being physically damaged. In the spur of the moment I couldn't help but bury my nose back in her neck and hug her tightly. Peach... she smells exactly like peach.

Kudozaki Lucine

I tensed at the feel of his tight hug. Never have I liked physical contact, so I felt uncomfortable in his arms. Though, it felt weird to be in someone else's arms, touched by someone that isn't Sasuke. It was very different, since Naruto was so warm in comparison to Sasuke, who was always so cold. Matter of fact, where is he?

I pulled away, pushing Naruto by his shoulders, and looked into his azure eyes. "Naruto, where is Sasuke?"

His eyes suddenly widened, "I-... I don't know." he answered honestly, which made me sigh. Maybe he's still unconscious? But what about the shinobi from Otogakure?

We both stood up, me having a little more trouble as my whole body ached. Naruto offered to help me, but I just shook my head. I scanned my surroundings, trying to locate him. If Naruto's awake, then Sasuke must be too.

The first thing that I noticed was that the field was way, way bloodier now. In fact, my blood was already drowned out by others' blood. There laid three corpses on the ground that were in such bad shape that it even made my stomach turn, but somehow I could still make them out to be the Sound ninja that i fought.

Whoa.

Whoever they fought must have been powerful, sadistic and in a terrible mood. My expression didn't change as I looked their hideous appearance over. But where is Sasuke then?

"Lucine." I heard someone hiss my name from behind me.

Naruto and I both spun around in surprise. What I saw made me gasp openly. What... Naruto froze up next to me, letting out a gasp as well.

"Sasuke?" I questioned, not sure if I wanted to believe it was him. I took in his new appearance.

His Sharingan eyes were gazing into my honey colored ones. But what truly stood out was his skin. It was covered with black marks, all coming from the mark on his neck. His hands were soaked with blood, and there was blood splattered on his clothes and face. Overall, he looked diabolical.

I stared at his neck with genuine concern building up in my abdomen. It must be the mark that has transformed him. The mark he got from Orochimaru when he bit into him. What the hell did he do to Sasuke?