As always, I claim no ownership of Naruto or Hikari. Just this story :)

Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated. Flames will be noted, but ignored!

So without first ado. Here's the new update. Please enjoy and please review! :D

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference."
~ Robert Frost

~NARUTO P.O.V~

I could hear my heart thudding loudly in my ears, as I watched Hikari falling further and further away from me before being swallowed up by the roaring current below.

This did not just happen…

It's not possible …

She didn't deserve that …

How dare he— HOW DARE HE!

I roared and moved to dive in after her. Sasuke may be important, but so was Hikari and when Sasuke finally snaps out of this, he'll never forgive himself. I jumped off the statue but was unceremoniously intercepted by Sasuke.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sasuke taunted me, "thought you were trying to persuade me to come back to Konoha?" I shoved him off and begrudgingly realised that he had a point. If I dived in after Hikari, it would give the bastard the chance to escape and then we'd never catch up to him.

Then it hit me!

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" I conjured up a clone which stood at attention waiting for orders.

"Save Hikari!" I urged before turning my attention to Sasuke, more than ready to tear him a new arsehole.

"On it!" saluted the clone and it pike dived off the statue into the lake. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, as I used my brains for once and tried to come up with a plan to knock out Sasuke and drag him back to Konoha like we had planned.

Sasuke sneered.

"You can't defeat me, Naruto. I'm not coming back to Konoha," he stood in the Seal of Confrontation and I mimicked his action. "You better get used to that fact." He suggested.

I grit my teeth furiously.

"You have no honour." I hissed before sinking into a defensive crouch preparing myself for his first attack. "And I'm gonna make you wish you were never born!" I vowed. The bastard snorted.

"I believe that when I see it."

Then something really freaky started happening to him. He didn't sink into a defensive position like I thought he would, instead he started convulsing and shuddering like something was moving underneath his skin, and then suddenly those black smudges formed all over his body. When he looked up, Sasuke was displaying those creepy sharingan eyes of his.

"Ladies first."

Oh he is so DEAD! I snarled and launched myself at him, moving in for the kill, like Kakashi-sensei had told us to do many times before during our training sessions. We blocked, parried and attacked for several minutes before the sound of somebody gasping for breath caught our attention and we turned to see that my clone had finally resurfaced with an unconscious Hikari held in death grip against itself. Sasuke took advantage of my distraction to kick at my head and I managed to block the attack, and grab his leg.

I threw him aside and quickly jumped down the statue to a safer vantage point, and to see if Hikari was still alive.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" That was the only warning I had before I had to dodge a massive fireball rapidly coming at me from Sasuke who had recovered and was now staring at me with a steely resolve.

My turn.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

I created more clones and we surrounded Sasuke who paused and looked like 'piggy-in-the-middle' with all of my clones. I smirked, and moved to perform the Naruto Uzumaki Barrage – the same attack I had used against Kiba during the exams. That overly confident douche never saw it coming. Only apparently Sasuke did see it coming as he smirked and dodged and started picking off my clones one after the other. I managed to punch him hard in the face, but at the same time Sasuke punched me and we ended up rebounding away from each other and impacting hard against the stone walls.

"Boss!" I recovered and looked over at my clone who was helping Hikari and saw that she was vomiting up water. "She's okay!" I was relieved but I knew that I needed to focus on the fight.

Time to step it up!

"Get her to safety!" I yelled. My clone nodded but before it could pick up her lifeless body, a rogue kunai destroyed it in two seconds.

"She's fine where she is." Sasuke stated, the pinwheels in his eyes spinning rapidly. That's when it hit me. Sasuke hated the fact that me and Hikari were as close as we were, and he was jealous. I smirked at this epiphany.

"You're jealous that me and Hikari are like this," I crossed my fingers. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Please. She's just a distraction, and you know it." Yeah, right. I could spot a liar when I saw it. I might not be as smart as he is, but I could tell that Sasuke wishes he was closer to Hikari. Hell, being approachable would be a definitely plus right now.

"You call me a moron? Dude, Hikari loves you. We're just best friends, what's with the insecurity?" Then Sasuke's face got really dark and I knew that I probably shouldn't have called him insecure…

I'm in trouble.

~KAKASHI P.O.V~

I set off for the Hokage Tower, to see if I could find out anything, anything about the mission. The fact that I might've failed one student is one thing, plus it didn't sit right with me the amount of danger they could be in. They aren't exactly ready to be out there on their own just yet. Naruto and Hikari still needed to work on their observational skills, and Naruto has to learn not to run head long into situations without thinking things through. I just hope that they'll treat this mission as practise. If Naruto and Hikari didn't return with Sasuke, then I will definitely feel like I've let them down somehow as their teacher.

But as I stood at the base of the tower looking up at the Hokage's office – I questioned whether or not I would like the answer I was seeking. Would this mission that her ladyship sent Naruto on, be the foundation of a potentially difficult journey that could end in Naruto resenting this way of life, or kami forbid result in not only one preventable death, but multiple deaths? And what part of Sasuke's defection from Konoha involved Hikari?

"Kakashi! Get in here now!"

Oops. Her ladyship sounds just as stressed and irate as I felt. I leapt up to the window and let myself in, noting the massive pile of unsigned documents that Tsunade had yet to officiate and approve. I do not envy her this job – I'd go prematurely grey within a month.

"You rang?" I announced myself, marking my place in my book and replacing it into my weapons' pack. Tsunade jumped like she'd been shot and spun around to glare at me. She looked unimpressed with my style of greeting and I chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of my head. I really need to think through how I enter rooms.

Thankfully, she decided to ignore it and moved on.

"I'm guessing you're here to find out the progress on the mission?" She questioned. I nodded, leaning against a chair in front of her desk.

"Is there any to go by?" I asked. Tsunade shook her head and I felt a surge of dread filling me. However, she offered me a reassuring smile.

"I've always gone by the saying: 'no news is good news'." Tsunade pointed out, looking at me from over her interlinked, nail-polished fingers. Suddenly Shizune burst in the office looking frantic. "Shizune? What's the meaning of this?" Tsunade demanded sounding annoyed that once again one of us had barged in without seeking permission.

Shizune ignored the reprimand.

"My lady, we've got casualties coming back from the retrieval mission!"

I immediately set off for the village before her ladyship could stop me. She was flanked by several ANBU following close by, ready to restrain Sasuke at a moment's notice should the need arise. I feared the worse when I saw no sign of either Naruto, Hikari or Sasuke at the gates. The injured bodies of Choji Akimichi – who had severe chakra loss; Kiba Inuzuka – who was battered, bruised and bloody, and Neji Hyuga – who looked like he'd gone to hell and back again if the state of both him and his clothes had anything to do with it, were carried or assisted through.

The only member of this recovery team who appeared completely unharmed was Shikamaru Nara, who looked even more stressed than usual. He appeared to look deeply concerned about something, and I was determined to discover if it involved my students in any way, since they were not accounted for. It didn't take a genius to work out that this was not good. Tsunade immediately strode forward and inspected the worse of the injuries, her face turning grimmer with every discovery she found. I didn't blame her, what the hell had gone on during this mission?

"Sakura!" she bellowed. "I need some assistance, hurry the fuck up!"

"Yes, shishou!" shouted Sakura as she darted forward, assisting Kiba who looked like he was about to keel over.

The moment Sakura had watched Naruto and his team set off on this mission, she made a beeline for the Hokage Tower requesting the opportunity to become Tsunade's latest medical apprentice. I only found this out, when Tsunade requested my presence in the tower to confirm Sakura's apprenticeship. I was pleased for Sakura – her chakra control was excellent and it made her the perfect candidate for the position of medical-nin for her future.

"Kakashi, let's go. We've got to talk to Nara about what happened."

"Yes, ma'am."

It turned out that Shikamaru hadn't completely gotten off scot free during this mission. Apparently, he had sustained was a broken index finger when he had dislocated it to escape a paralysing genjutsu technique. It was an unorthodox escape tactic, but clearly an effective one nevertheless. Asuma would be extremely proud of his student. Tsunade finished setting his finger back in place and strapping it before levelling Shikamaru with a no-nonsense look.

"Alright Nara, status report and make it snappy!" Tsunade demanded.

Shikamaru sighed tiredly.

"Troublesome." The kid muttered. By the way he was acting it was assumed that what he was about to reveal to us wasn't exactly going to be taken well. "We came upon four rogue ninjas from Sound-."

"What did they look like?" I asked, urgently.

Shikamaru looked surprised that I had interrupted, as I had a reputation of being by the book and getting all the facts before insisting on knowing the identity of targets etc. Even Tsunade was looking at me suspiciously, but I had a hunch that filled me with dread, and I prayed to everything that was holy that I was incorrect. Shikamaru hesitated. Being a genius strategist and judging by the expression on his face, he knew exactly where I was going with this.

"Uh, there was an overweight male with thinning ginger hair, a creepy violet haired male whom Neji reported could split into a second person for added strength, another male who resembled Iruka-sensei with purple hair minus the scar across the bridge of his nose, and a female with long pink-orange hair wearing a bandana and used a flute as a weapon. She caused me to dislocate my finger to escape a dicey genjutsu situation."

Tsunade sighed wearily.

"And I suppose all four of them were wearing the same grey tunics and thick purple ropes around their waists that known missing-nin, Orochimaru wears?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened, unfortunately confirming our worst suspicions.

"The Sound Four. Orochimaru's bodyguards." I confirmed to Tsunade, praying that nothing horrific had happened to Naruto, since nothing had been mentioned regarding him yet. Shikamaru nodded looking grave.

"They said their names were Jirobo, Kidomaru, Sakon and his brother Ukon, and Tayuya."

"That's all I need right now…" moaned Tsunade.

"Which means that Sasuke was deliberately meeting up with them to go to Orochimaru." I added, reluctantly.

Tsunade looked like she could burn steel with her eyes she was so pissed. I'm glad I am not Sasuke at the moment, but all I can say is that he better not seriously maim or kill Naruto. I get the feeling he already has our Hokage wrapped around his pinky finger.

"There's more," said Shikamaru. "Halfway through the fight, Sabaku no Gaara, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kunkurou arrived as back up against another missing-nin called Kimimaro."

Tsunade nodded. "Go on."

"They gave Naruto the chance to liberate Sasuke Uchiha who had been locked up in a coffin, and Hikari Yukimura who appeared to be unconscious at this point." My eyes widened. "However, Kimimaro made an attempt to intercept him, but was blocked by Rock Lee who arrived about a few minutes after the Sabakus did."

Tsunade reacted rather violently at this.

"What?! He knows he's still recovering from having his legs broken during his match against Gaara, of all people. What was he thinking?!" She raged.

Shikamaru almost smiled. "With all due respect, Lee gave Naruto the chance he needed to take off after Uchiha who at some point after Kimimaro's arrival broke free from the coffin, apprehended Hikari and took off."

Tsunade sighed. "Thank you, Nara. You're dismissed for now, I'll be in touch for your next mission soon."

Shikamaru bowed, still looking troubled and worried for his friends' safety, before leaving the hospital room to sign himself out or visit his injured teammates.

"This just keeps getting better and better." Tsunade muttered, sarcastically. "Kakashi," I turned towards her, not letting on how much I was freaking out about this entire ordeal. "I've got a mission for you. You are to head out and back up Naruto Uzumaki. Help him bring back and apprehend Sasuke Uchiha and rescue Hikari Yukimura."

"Understood." I agreed, partly feeling extreme reluctance about hunting down one of my students. I turned to leave to prepare for the mission.

"Kakashi?" I paused, not looking back. I was afraid of what expression her ladyship would have on her face.

"You know what to do if things appeared to be falling out of our control." I winced, but it was my duty as a ninja to uphold my orders, to refuse would be treason. But somehow, life just seems to continue to suck as once again Shizune dashed into the room, looking extremely confused and fearful – as Tsunade looked like she could breathe fire better than the most skilled Uchiha at this point.

"Lady Tsunade?"

"What is Shizune? And it better not be more documentation to sign. I've got enough on my plate relating to this retrieval mission-" Tsunade warned, but Shizune continued with her explanation ignoring her ladyship's bitching about the important documentations.

"This has everything to do with the retrieval mission, ma'am."

Without saying a word, Tsunade went straight for her office and considering this had something to do with the mission, I followed.

"What is going on?" Tsunade demanded to Shizune who trotted beside her, trying to keep up with our striding, unpredictable at times Hokage.

"Just a visitor."

"A visitor!?" Tsunade banged open her office door, ready to give this 'visitor' a piece of her mind for wasting her time with something presumably trivial. Although the words died on her lips the moment she clapped eyes on an unfamiliar shinobi standing patiently at the large window overlooking Konoha itself.

He was tall, dressed in the standard black ANBU slacks, standard black shinobi open toed boots, and wore a midnight blue yukata shirt secured with a navy blue obi. His black hair was long – ending approximately where his shoulder blades were and tied back into a loose ponytail. Tucked into his obi was a well-used katana sword with a familiar family crest stencilled on the helm and strapped to his thigh was a worn weapons' pack.

"Who are you?" Tsunade demanded.

He turned and stared stoically at our leader, not at all intimidated by her presence as others would've been. That struck me as suspicious.

"I'm looking for my sister. She used to be a respected Jounin here in Konoha many years ago."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed.

"You didn't answer my question."

"How is that relevant?"

"Because until I've acquired some identification from you, I have no intention to revealing this person that you seek."

The unknown shinobi was silent for a moment before turning and folding his arms across his chest defensively.

"My name is Mamoru Kruibayashi, my sister is—"

"Mitsuko Yukimura. I see."

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose as she walked over to her desk and sat down. It was clear that Kruibayashi-san's arrival just threw more fuel to the fire, and she was ready to call it a day.

"Yukimura? She still went ahead and got married?" He sounded stunned.

"You were not aware of this, sir?" asked Tsunade.

Kruibayashi shook his head. "My father and I had a falling out, I'm afraid. I disapproved of the fact that they had arranged for Mitzuko to be married into the Yukimura clan of the Snow."

That explained so much. Before becoming a Jounin, I used to see Mitsuko looking both depressed and utterly defeated. Looking as though fate had dealt her an unfair hand. But at the time, I chose not to confront the situation with her. I admit that I wasn't exactly a very sociable person in those days, as I was still reeling from Obito's death. But clearly the marriage between her and Yukimura had worked out, otherwise Hikari wouldn't be around now. It was just a question of whether or not Kruibayashi knew that he had an existing niece.

"Well, I'm afraid, I have some rather unpleasant news to tell you." Tsunade began rather reluctantly.

She gestured for him to take a seat, but he declined preferring to remain standing. I leant up against the wall, not envying her position at this moment. Telling somebody that their only link to a family that he had feuded with was dead was not something to admit lightly. Although, I was shocked to say the least that Hikari's uncle of all people had suddenly shown up now and not sooner. He was not what I expected at all, although I did see some resemblance to Hikari in him.

"Mitsuko Yukimura was murdered not three months ago."

"Excuse me? How is this possible?" Kruibayashi demanded.

Tsunade drew in a deep breath. "The investigation into that particular case is still being reviewed, however we do believe we have a suspect responsible for her murder."

That was when Kruibayashi finally noticed me.

"Who is he? What does he have to do with this?"

Tsunade seemed to have just realised that I was still there. Shizune rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Kakashi Hakate is the Jounin teacher of your niece, Hikari Yukimura. He is required here—"

"I have a niece?"

Well, that answers that question.

"Your sister never told you?" asked Tsunade, surprised.

"I wasn't permitted to speak with Mitsuko after father and I fought over her choice of a husband. I only found out five months ago from Mitsuko that our parents had died, and I decided to return to Konoha as a result."

Tsunade crushed the delicate china cup she had in her hand, indicating that she was trying (and failing) to control her already fiery temper.

"Do you have a picture of her?" He asked.

Tsunade turned and looked at Shizune who disappeared from the office briefly to search for a recent photo of Hikari.

"While Shizune is retrieving that photograph of your niece, I need to continue to explain the current situation to you, Kruibayashi-san," said Tsunade, delicately.

"Why do I need to know?" He asked.

"Because the information I am about to tell you is relevant to a mission Kakashi here is about to embark on shortly." Tsunade explained, when Kruibayashi still looked unconvinced, Tsunade reluctantly added the information she had been unwilling to reveal. "Unfortunately, it involves Hikari."

Kruibayashi's face went from stunned to stormy in two seconds flat. "What about Hikari?"

"Last night, Hikari was on a 24 hour night watch to keep a close eye on her teammate, Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade explained.

"Uchiha? I would've thought that arrogant clan had've been wiped out a long time ago—"

I aimed a freshly sharpened kunai at the son-of-a-bitch, which Kruibayashi narrowly avoided. It imbedded itself into the wall right where his forehead would've been had he not ducked. Tsunade almost smirked.

"It would be wise to hold your tongue and show your respect where the Uchiha clan is concerned."

Kruibayashi glared at me. "A bit of a sore subject, huh?"

"It's certainly not a topic worth joking about." Tsunade agreed, her face promising severe punishment should Kruibayashi make light of it again. "A lot has changed during your absence. The Uchiha clan had been brutally slaughtered by the leader's eldest son, Itachi, when Sasuke his youngest, was only eight years old. He had only just arrived home from the Academy after it happened."

Kruibayashi looked away, obviously ashamed.

"Since that tragic day, he swore revenge against his brother and sought out new ways of gaining the power to do so. Even going as far as abandoning Konoha and joining with Orochimaru." Kruibayashi looked back at us, horrified. "But I digress. From what we have gleaned, Hikari had spotted Uchiha leaving his family's compound in the dead of night and confronted him. We have no idea why, but he apparently kidnapped her and is, as we speak, on his way to meet up with Orochimaru."

"So what have you done to stop this?!" demanded Kruibayashi.

Tsunade slammed her fist on her desk, almost splitting it down the middle in her anger. She frowned at him, not liking the tone of his voice.

"Do not assume that I've been sitting on my arse doing fuck all! The only reason why I am sharing this confidential information with you is because your niece has been caught up in all of this. And you will do well to address me with respect! Am I clear?" Kruibayashi stared back defiantly, but nodded.

Shizune chose that moment to re-enter the office holding a photograph of Team Kakashi in her hand. Sensing the tension in the room, she hesitantly handed the photo to Hikari's uncle.

"She looks just like her mother." Kruibayashi commented breathlessly.

Tsunade's eyes softened slightly. "To answer your question, I dispatched a squad group of five to locate and bring back both Uchiha and your niece by at all means necessary. So far only four of the five have returned, each sustained moderate to severe injuries in the process. The fifth is still on the field. He is Naruto Uzumaki, the blonde boy wearing the orange and blue tracksuit in the photo you're holding."

Kruibayashi nodded, taking in Naruto's image intently.

"Before your arrival, I had just selected Hatake to go and back up Uzumaki." Tsunade turned her attention towards me. "You may go and make your preparations now, Kakashi."

I nodded in confirmation before turning to leave the office.

"Wait—" I looked back to see Kruibayashi rising from his seat, "let me go with him as back up."

Tsunade looked as though she might object, but then realised that it was probably smarter in the long run, despite the fact that I could hold my own. I mentally groaned – this jackass was the last person I needed to tag along.

"Very well. You better leave now, it will be nightfall soon!" she stressed. "Yes, ma'am!" the both of us bowed before leaving the office. I turned and narrowed my eye at him.

"Meet me at the village gates in 10 minutes. After that just stay out of my way." I warned him. It actually took me a little longer than I thought before I finally got to the Village gates. I had misplaced some of my best weapons and it took some time to find them. I 'greeted' a rather irate looking Kruibayashi who was trying to burn holes through my head. It was not very intimidating. I've had fiercer adversaries try to do worse whenever I've annoyed them to this degree.

The closest I think was Zabuza when he tried to take my head off with that sword of his.

"It took you long enough."

I didn't bother even coming up with a witty excuse to explain my absence. My mind was completely focused on rescuing ALL of my students, if it was in my power to do so.

"If that childish outburst didn't work on me when my students did it, what makes you think it would with you?" I drawled, rolling my eye.

I bit into my thumb, drawing blood and summoned Pakkun. He appeared looking bored – but when he saw my face he immediately turned serious.

"What's up, Kakashi?"

"I need you to track down Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hikari Yukimura." I requested, urgently.

"Sure thing."

He immediately started sniffing around leading Kruibayashi and I down the same path Sasuke and Hikari supposedly took when Sasuke made his tracks out of Konoha. Suddenly he barked and took off down the path with the both us close behind him. "It's very faint, but I'm absolutely certain they went down this direction." Pakkun confirmed.

"Excellent!" I replied, still hopeful that we could make it there on time to help persuade my very deeply troubled student to return. My heart sank when I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. This was not good.

"We better speed this up, it'll rain soon."

~SASUKE P.O.V~

It took a while for me to shake that creepy, horrifying dark voice that kept telling me to kill, torture and maim; but by the time I had actually regained my senses, I was already halfway to Sound and Orochimaru, leaving behind Naruto and Hikari both wounded, wet and with a lot of unanswered questions that I will never answer. It occurred to me, that the voice had partly been my own angry, betrayed thoughts (which I thought I could let go of, but clearly I couldn't) and Orochimaru's cruel malicious voice egging me on. But what disturbed me most of all was everything that I had said to Sakura, Naruto and Hikari had been 100% the truth.

They can never understand, what I've been through and what I've suffered at the hands of Itachi!

Sakura is and always will be an extremely annoying, possessive fan-girl who I could only see as a useful acquaintance, and while she is admittedly bright and certainly knows more than that dead last does about the Shinobi lifestyle; she still has a lot to learn about independence, boundaries and thinking for herself.

I just don't think she ever will.

Naruto is also equally as annoying, doesn't use his brains and constantly pulls these stupid and immature pranks to be noticed (for the wrong reasons, dickhead!) But his idiosyncrasies are tolerable and I do actually see him as my best friend. But I also see him as a distraction, rival and somebody I wish I could be: a person who is able to let go of my dark past and see the positives in everything, even when everything goes to shit. Although, Naruto has every right to have the same personality as me, given how those ignorant, ungrateful and selfish elders, not to mention villagers had treated him since he had just been born and had the Kyuubi sealed into him.

And Hikari? Well, she's always been a confusing subject for me.

Since I started out at the Academy, I'd always associated girls as whiny, annoying, self-absorbed and clingy fangirls who believed that I am some sort of 'tortured soul' in need of comfort and love since my family had been wiped out. They don't know shit, as far as I'm concerned. But Hikari was different. She didn't react the way I thought she would, the day I met her when I was hiding in some bushes from fangirls. Instead, she did what I truly wanted: became my friend. She didn't try to impress me, she didn't try to be somebody she wasn't.

Hikari even managed the impossible: got Naruto and I to become friends and act civilly towards each other. I love her, deeply and unconditionally. It took a very long time for me to admit that, and I kept it secret (well almost, I stupidly blurted it out to Hikari during our mission in Wave Country. Thankfully she was half asleep and forgot it) because I knew Naruto would tease me about it, until I deliberately killed him. But, I keep pushing her and even Naruto away because I need to avenge my family and I can't let them interfere, not even if this eventually kills me.

I stood there, looking at Naruto's unconscious body and the hole in his chest I had created with my chidori. The knot on my forehead protector loosened and it dropped to the ground. I eyed the scratch Naruto had managed to make across the Konoha leaf symbol with disgust before suddenly, a sharp pain ripped across my left shoulder where my curse seal was, and I fell to my knees gasping for breath just inches away from Naruto's face, clutching my shoulder. The heavens opened up and a solitary raindrop hit the dirt inches away from where Naruto was lying. It was then that I decided to spare Naruto's life – it seemed only right, he hadn't done anything against me, except demand why I had kidnapped Hikari in the first place, and tried to drag my arse back to Konoha.

But I'm not going back.

I smiled bittersweetly and kissed Naruto's forehead in a brotherly gesture. This would be the only act of mercy I would bestow upon him, the next time I saw him (if I saw him) I won't be so merciful. By the time I got up from the ground, we were both saturated. I turned and started off on my long trek towards Sound.

"Sasuke, stop!"

Oh right. I almost forgot about Hikari. I turned and stared emotionlessly at her as she struggled to her feet. It was clear she was still weakened from her near drowning in the lake.

"I haven't finished with you yet!" she yelled at me angrily, "just because you threw me off that statue, doesn't mean that the matter has finished."

I sighed tiredly. I was too wiped out to fight with her.

"There's nothing more to say here." I insisted firmly and turned away. Hikari grabbed a hold of my wrist and I winced from the pain.

"The hell there is. Why is revenge so important? What will it achieve?" she demanded.

This is one of those times, when Hikari can become a thorn in my side. I ripped my wrist out of her hold and spun around to face her, planning on telling her where to go. But the moment I saw her watery brown eyes, the words died on my lips. Kami she was stubborn. Then something occurred to me, that I hadn't considered.

'Come with me." I whispered. Her lovely eyes widened.

"What?" I smirked and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"Join me with Orochimaru." I suggested. I saw the pulse in her neck quicken and goosebumps rising from a combination of wet, cold and presumably how close I was standing near her. It was several minutes before she finally responded to my suggestion, and I was getting worried because we could be discovered by Konoha ninjas at any second. Then I would never get the opportunity to escape. Hikari folded herself into my arms, sobbing into my shoulder.

Her decision obviously a hard one to make.

"I can't Sasuke. I love you and I want to help you, but I can't disgrace my parents' or my clan's memory." She said, "I hope you can understand this."

Of course, I understood.

Hikari was probably the only person who had suffered the same tragedy as I did. Only, they never found the culprit who killed her mother in cold blood. I buried my face into her shoulder and breathed in her scent, holding her she cried fitfully.

"I love you too." I whispered, "And I'm sorry."

I knocked her out with a simple knife strike to her neck and she slumped forward into my arms, leaning heavily on my already aching shoulder. Ignoring the pain, I scooped her up into my arms bridal-style and carried her over to Naruto's unconscious body. I stooped and gently laid her as comfortably as possible on Naruto, making sure that she wasn't aggravating his injury. I picked up my forehead protector and placed it between them before I kissed Hikari gently.

I stood and finally walked away in the direction of Sound.

I never looked back.

A/N: Sayonara to Sasuke for a few chapters. I hope that his P.O.V at the end doesn't suck - I tried to imagine what Sasuke's thoughts would be like without making him sound too OOC. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one shouldn't be too far behind. :D xx