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

| Kudozaki Lucine |

"Sasuke." I whispered, my voice laced with shock. I felt something foreign clench in my heart while seeing him like that, and I was surprised to discover that it actually pained me to see him in this condition.

I made a move to walk up to him, but Naruto was gripping my wrist, pulling me back to him. I looked at him with an arched eyebrow, but he only shook his head warily.

"Lucine." Sasuke hissed out my name again, a crazed grin marring his face as he eyed me with a sick look. "Those three Sound ninja that hurt you, I killed them," he said proudly, his grin only widening. Seeing the three corpses, I already had the slightest suspicion that he'd do something like that, but I didn't believe him capable to be so... brutal about killing them. I felt Naruto's grip on my wrist tighten, which let me know that he was thinking the same thing. "I did it for you, Lucine. Are you proud of me?" The way he spoke, it was if he was wishing for me to praise him for what he's done.

"No, Sasuke." I started, almost a bit hesitantly, but keeping my voice firm. "It's the mark that's influencing you and feeding you with-" I stopped for split second, as I wasn't quite sure what the mark on his neck did, "-with something dark. You need to resist it."

Sasuke's smirk disappeared as he looked down at his hands in fascination, almost a dazed look in his eyes. When he looked up again there was a gleeful smirk spreading on his lips again. "Resist? How can I resist power? I am invincible."

I heard Naruto let out a low gasp behind me, obviously taken off guard by Sasuke's temporary loss of sanity.

In frustration, I sighed. Sasuke isn't listening to me, he's too blinded by this supposed "power," as he calls it.

| Uchiha Sasuke |

The sight of her body was enough to make my entire body heat up with lust. Large part of her clothes had been severed, which made her shirt fall down her shoulders and letting me see the major part of her chest bindings, and almost the entirety of both her legs were exposed. The desire was simply too much. So much of her skin was exposed, begging to be touched. But still not enough. My gaze lingered on her breasts. What greatly irritated me was that I couldn't see all of her, the damned bandages were in the way.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sasuke!" Naruto cried out from next to her, but it felt like mere background noise to me.

My attention was solely focused on Lucine. Only her. "Lucine, come here." I demanded, reaching out my hand to her expectantly.

Naruto moved the grip he had on her wrist upwards, till he was now holding her arm by the elbow. The sight made me the anger start simmering within me as I glared darkly at him. "Let go of her. Now." I ordered with a frigid voice, my eyes now focused on him. If he tries to stop me, I will not hesitate to separate his head from his shoulders.

"Lucine, we need to get out of here." he whispered in to her ear, but I heard it clearly. Not letting a single second pass, I ran up to him with blinding speed, gripping his throat tightly, taking them both by surprise and forcing him to let go of Lucine.

I watched as his body writhed within my tight grasp as he desperately gasped for air. I grinned widely in satisfaction, he was only getting what was coming for him after all. I was enjoying watching him struggle and choke, trying so urgently to cling to his pathetic life. I was about to tighten my grip, to twist his neck till it snapped and till he was nothing but a limp, lifeless corpse in my hand, but someone placed a small, delicate hand on my arm. I quickly snapped my eyes at the person who dared interrupt me. Only to see no one but my love. She stood there by my side with perhaps the saddest expression I've seen on her face throughout all the years I've known her.

Her gaze was twisted with sorrow, almost begging... my Lucine who has always looked so strong, for a second now she resembled a wounded kitten. I felt my breath catch in my throat as my grasp on Naruto loosened. Why was she looking at me like that? The frantic beat of my heart was audible to my own ears, and for a moment I was lost on what to do. How can she look at me like that?

Completely forgetting Naruto I let go of him, which him fall to the ground with a thump. My attention was too enraptured by the creature beside me that I didn't even hear his frantic gasping for air.

"Lucine..." I spoke lowly, barely above a whisper as I turned towards her. I gulped hesitantly as I felt pinned to the spot by the dejected look on her face, "I-I'm sorry- I..." I apologized, not knowing what for but just wanting her to stop giving me that look just cut through every bone in my body, more than any blade could. "Please, I'm sorry!"

She shook her head with a saddened sigh, "Stop it." she said blankly, but her voice cracked slightly at the end. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around her to hold her to me, burying my nose in her neck to breathe her in.

"I'm sorry." I repeated again frantically as I felt her warmth. I felt the fog that was clogging my mind dissipate for every second I was wrapped around her, all my senses filled with her. As the fog cleared up, the black marks that was spread around my body retreated back to the mark on my neck. My eyes were closed but I knew that the Sharingan was deactivated, and soon enough, I was back to normal again. No longer did I feel the power coursing through my veins. I sighed, suddenly overcome with exhaustion and a slight sense of disorientation, but Lucine wrapped her arms around me and held me in place.

I felt confused about what had just transpired, not knowing that I was capable of killing like that, but at the moment I was far too occupied by the feel of Lucine holding me to her so tightly for the first time in so long. I held her even tighter, and she did not pull away for a long moment, just letting me hold her as long as I wished.