A/N: Even though this story doesn't have as much reviews as The Dating Game, I'm still pleased with the amount of reviews I get.
Disclaimer:Naruto is owned by Kishimoto.
Bring Me To Life
Summary: After Sasuke left, Sakura didn't know what her purpose in life was anymore. Her presence has becoming nothing. When three years pass, Sasuke comes back to Konoha. At his return, Sakura is at a mix of emotions. "Save Me From The Nothing I've Become."
Chapter 5 – The Mission Part II
Her body tossed and turned, still engulfed in her sleeping state. She felt groggy, and had no desire of waking up any time soon.
"Sakura," spoke Sasuke, his hand against her shoulder as he gave her a light shove. His upper body hovered over the kunoichi's as he tried to awaken the female. "Sakura," he called out to her again upon seeing her make no movement to his previous call. His eyebrows furrowed when she made no action still. "Wake up," he murmured to her, his voice stern.
Slowly, emerald green eyes flickered open, her body twisting in bleariness. All the blood rushed to her head thus causing her vision to blur, patiently waiting a few moments for her viridian pupils to clear.
"Mm… Sasuke-kun?" she absent-mindedly called out. A faint blush dusted her cheeks, feeling the ends of the Uchiha's raven bangs tickling the side of her face, only to come to realize that he must have been in close proximity near her.
Then, upon hearing her hoarse voice, her eyes snapped open instantaneously. Her body sat upright in the blink of an eye, her arm outstretched from her instinct of attacking a supposed predator. Luckily for the corvine-haired male's fast reflexes, he dodged a deadly blow to the face.
"Oh no, what time is it? Is it too late for the mission? Did I—" Her questions were rapid and fevering, only to be intervened by Sasuke's response.
"Calm down, it's only six in the morning. Get up, we're leaving."
With that, he pushed himself away from her, ambling towards the exit of her tent to leave her be to get dressed.
In less than thirty minutes, Sakura had finished bathing in the nearby ravine, heading over to retrieve her already assembled belongings as she hauled it over her shoulder. Once organizing the weight upon her so it wouldn't slow her down, she strolled evenly towards the raven-haired male, viewing him already waiting against a nearby tree with this eyelids closed.
"Let's go," she called out softly, signaling she was prepared.
"Hn," he grunted back to her before crouching low somewhat, leaping skyward into the trees.
Sakura followed, doing her best to keep up with his incredible speed, which was a pretty fair result. She mentally cursed herself after they moved a few miles nonstop at full speed, already feeling her body grow with fatigue. She knew that it wasn't because she couldn't handle herself at such speeds, but merely because before the two had departed Sakura didn't stretch her limbs for the journey ahead. However, despite her growing weariness, the kunoichi refused to let her exhaustion physically show upon her, not wanting to make herself seem weak to the Uchiha.
"…Sasuke?" the blossom-haired girl called out vaguely hesitantly, large sea green eyes focused on his back. Upon the sound of his name, Sasuke halted his legs against a thin branch, Sakura doing the same.
"Aa," he answered her simply, onyx orbs shifting around the surroundings to get an estimate of where the two were.
She, too, followed his shifting eyes. "If you were to find your brother," she began softly, "you would take off despite our sole mission, wouldn't you?"
"Don't concern yourself with what I do."
His answer was abrupt and curt, and she noticed his eyes had stopped jerking around and focused on the space ahead of him. She could tell by his pensive face that he was probably calculating the distance along with the time of how long it would take to get there.
However, upon his answer, she felt her heart wrench. But I care for you…!her thoughts screamed.
He's still selfish… Inner Sakura mumbled, Leaving everything in his life to deal with on his own. When is going to learn to get some help?
Sakura let out an astringent laugh at his poignant answer. "I guess you're right," she responded quietly, her voice icy and bitter. She turned her head to the left, bubblegum pink hair framing her porcelain face.
"Who am I to care for you, anyway?"
Dark onyx orbs flashed at her cold question, but he shrugged it off. His stare was focused solely on their destination.
Yet, in spite of having pushed her resentful inquiry aside, no matter how hard he continually tried to put it off, her words rang in his head. And it was aggravating him to no end.
"Who am I to care for you, anyway?"
"We're close," was all he murmured in reply.
Sakura looked a their surroundings, noticing the ruins of where a village must have once been.
"Where's Akatsuki?" the young medic nin murmured quietly to herself.
Sasuke, having not said anything in response upon hearing her question, thought a similar question as well.
Suddenly, he sensed something, a unknown yet unbelievably strong chakra behind him. He whipped around, Sharingan activated instantaneously as jet-black tomoes swirled ominously.
Not even a second later, kunai were thrown at the Uchiha prodigy and the kunoichi. In instinct, Sasuke immediately wrapped an arm around Sakura's waist, dodging the sharp metal knives as he leapt towards another branch with his blinding pace.
What was that? thought Sakura rapidly once she felt the Uchiha's grip on her loosen. Her pink hair whipped across her face as she rapidly turned her head left to right, trying to find the source of the physically powerful chakra she had begun to sense as well.
Dark ebony eyes widened faintly. He felt another chakra, a signature he knew all too well. He could feel the aura of death even from where he stood. There was only one sole person he knew that could match the deadly persona.
"…Itachi," he ground out, his voice low and laced with sinister intent.
Nothing could stop the worry flashing across large jade eyes. "Wh-What?"
"Don't put your guard down," he whispered harshly to her, forming a few hand seals the naked eye couldn't see.
"Sasuke—" she tried to call out, but she knew it was too late when she saw him vanish before her. He was already long gone.
"Looks like the Uchiha abandoned you," a shadow said, walking out into the sunlight.
The beams revealed Kisame, grinning maliciously as he stood, his long heavy blade along side him, strapped precariously down his back.
"What do you want?" hissed Sakura in return, narrowing her eyes with furiously knitted eyebrows. She began tugging on her black fighting gloves, bending her fingers as the knuckles cracked.
"Itachi's orders," the fish creature answered simply with a shrug. His eyes averted back to her, an evil smirk growing on his blue, gilled face. "Wouldn't want to get him upset, you know. After all, I wouldn't want to feel the power that killed the pathetic Uchiha clan."
Sakura glared at him, "Don't speak of the clan like that."
"Che, cry me a river, little girl," he spat at her.
Without warning, Kisame picked up his Samehada, using full speed as he headed towards the pink-haired girl. Sakura ducked his attack, the blade of the sword barely a few centimeters from the top of her head as she saw a few pink strands fall before her emerald eyes.
Crouched low on her thighs, she swung her leg swiftly. Seeing him jump in avoiding her counterattack, she then lifted her body with her hands, followed by aiming a chakra-filled fist squared directly in his face.
"Itachi…" growled out Sasuke menacingly, eyes widening as Sharingan's tomoes spun from his gradually growing anger and hatred.
Itachi appeared in a flash, a few yards away from Sasuke, dressed in the Akatsuki cloak that hovered over his mouth, only revealing Mangenkyou-clad eyes and the bridge of his nose.
He stood there, a serene look on his face. He could feel his blood boil from his expression, obviously interpreting that the elder Uchiha felt unthreatened. However, unlike letting his emotions cloud his judgment and movements like that last time, he forced himself to remain calm. He successfully did so, building an equally serene façade as Itachi held.
"You've been training," noted Itachi in a hum, his eyes half-lidded, sensing the stronger chakra erupting from his younger brother.
"You're dead," muttered Sasuke darkly, concentrating the Chidori throughout his body. He pulled out his sword of Kusanagi, focusing some of the power of the lightning jutsu into the sharp blade.
Upon the crackling of the electricity, Itachi remained unfazed, let alone intimidated by the least. His crimson Sharingan eyes spun, the Mangenkyou Sharingan activated but not in effect.
As Sasuke had expected, the elder Uchiha had not let a single emotion cross his face. Onyx orbs blinked, focusing the Chidori evenly through his body.
Then, he charged speedily at the man, thrusting his chidori-filled blade straight at Itachi's dark heart. Said person gripped the sword, eyeing it as blood started to seep through his hands as the blade cut into the palms of his hands.
At this, ruby Sharingan squinted, pushing the sharp edge deeper. The tip of the sword touched Itachi's cloak.
Remaining with his calm façade, he had jerked the weapon and twisted it upwards, all in the speed of a blink of an eye. The sword of Kusanagi fell idly to the ground from Sasuke's grip, laying forgotten on the verdant forest floor. Subsequently, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's wrist, Mangenkyou pupils noting how his hand burned immensely. He had soon realized that Sasuke had activated and spread the Chidori throughout his body well by this time.
"You've grown stronger," calmly commented Itachi, removing his burnt hand.
Paying no heed to the statement, carefully assessing each move, Sasuke moved, his body in a handstand as he aimed a kick to Itachi's face.
"But," continued the said man, "you still need to learn out to control those bothersome emotions of yours." He moved swiftly, throwing a few kunai towards Sasuke's direction who dodged the weapons with minor cuts. "You have enough anger. Turn it into hatred, and from there, convert it into power. But your capacity isn't enough. You are still too weak to understand it."
He grabbed Sasuke's wrist, twisting it upwards as a sickening cracking sound was heard. His molars ground together as Sasuke retreated his broken wrist from Itachi's firm grip. He then used his other hand, blocking a punch Itachi threw.
"And the Mangenkyou, I fail to see you have it. It's a shame…" the low rich tone of Itachi's seeped through the air hauntingly. His own crimson eyes flashed, Mangenkyou's tomoes swirling. "The Mangenkyou would have been a valuable asset in this pathetic excuse of a battle."
Instantaneously, Sasuke shut his eyes. Absent-mindedly he had remembered Kakashi informing him upon fighting a battle with someone of the Sharingan, that if you did not look directly into one's eyes, one could not be cast into the genjutsu.
Instead, the younger Uchiha focused on his other senses, listening to the sounds of Itachi's footsteps on the floor to determine his location.
((SFX: Slash!))
A sharp pain shot throughout Sasuke's body. Despite the immense shed of blood he could feel pooling at his feet, his body was able to determine where he had been wounded – in the stomach, from the sharp, cold blade of a kunai.
Crimson Sharingan were forced open, only to meet the sight of Mangenkyou dreadfully. A blood-curdling scream escaped from Sasuke's mouth, hands flying to his scalp as his fingers grasped chunks of raven hair. His eyes expanded vastly, his body falling harshly against his knees as he kneeled against the verdant grass of the ground.
"Foolish little brother…" murmured Itachi, turning on his heel as he began to walk away. "Seventy-two hours of endless suffering should be enough punishment for your emotions."
His eyelids hooded over ruby eyes, ambling away from Sasuke's crumpled form, leaving the younger Uchiha to endure endless oblivion.
"AHH!"
At the sound of the high-pitched scream, Sharingan eyes snapped open. Blood rushed to his head as Ssauke slowly regained his senses, his entire body feeling sore as it throbbed from the pain.
His arm wound around his torso at the bloody wound of his stomach, wincing slightly as he applied pressure to the injury. Now onyx eyes shifted around madly, in frantic search for his elder brother as he looked through every little detail of his surroudnings.
His teeth clenched roughly before his mouth opened, hacking up blood that fell into the palm of his awaiting hand. He stared down at the crimson liquid, his eyes squinted.
He knew his brother had gotten away, and his vengeance had not been completed.
He hissed at this realization, coming to the conclusion he had yet to become stronger. Even going through the training of a sannin wasn't enough.
His mind engulfed with clouded thoughts, he wasn't brought to his senses until, just then, another high-pitched scream was sharply heard through the air.
It was ten times louder and blood curdling than the last scream he had heard, the shout almost sounding as though someone was being tortured. It was at that instant the Uchiha remembered he had not came to the area alone.
Sakura…! thought the raven-haired male, racing through the speed in his long legs to the location of where the screams were sounded.
He reached the area a few moment later, the sight that greeted him not a pretty one.
Sakura's body was plastered against a tree, her eyes drawn to a close with her body drenched in the foul-stanching burgundy blood. Onyx eyes averted from her form to the being next to her, Kisame.
His blue, gilled face held an evil smirk, looking delighted at the sight of pools of blood. His malicious grin only grew when he saw the fatal wounds he had casted upon her frail, small body.
"What the hell did you do?" his voice was low and threatening, glaring deadly at the shark creature.
"You're in no condition to be threatening me, Uchiha," Kisame remarked, sensing Sasuke's chakra low and seeing his somewhat worn-up state. He shook his head mockingly, "I could see why you are the weakest of the Uchiha."
His taunt hung in the chilly air as he laughed vigorously. Onyx rapidly formed into Sharingan as the scarlet eyes burned ominously at the insulting statement. However, before any other movement could be made, Kisame vanished.
His pale face remained fixed in a scowl before flashing his eyes over to the blossom-haired kunoichi. His pupils scanned over her corpse that had remained lying against the tree, unmoving.
She had deep gashes all over her body, clearly from a large sword. Her skin was pale as her eyes remained closed, her mouth parting slightly. Her arms dangled lifelessly at her sides, her legs spread out, marred with scratches. A few shreds of her clothing were nearby her body as the garments she wore were partially ripped, credit to Kisame's Samehada.
His eyes squinted at her mangled form. He had remembered the sight of Kisame when he came onto the sight. The Akatasuki member, too, sported one or two heavy wounds, and the Uchiha knew Sakura had been the one to inflict them. He clicked his tongue quietly. He had to give her credit for that.
Knowing he didn't have a minute to spare, he speedily went before her, pressing two fingers against the pulse of her neck. He could feel it throb against his fingers, but it was very faint, and extremely slow.
"Damn it," he murmured, moving over to scoop her up in his arms bridal style. "She's dying."
Her head rested against the crook of his neck whilst her legs dangled from the grasp of his other arm. Swiftly, Sasuke leapt from branch to branch, heading directly towards Konohagakure. Every time he felt her body slip somewhat, he would adjust his arms, hoisting her higher in his grip, preventing her fall.
Inwardly, he cursed at the situation he had been put in. Another person almost killed because of Itachi, thought the raven-haired male.
That was the reason why he was cold, distant. The reason he left to Orochimaru, betraying Konoha and becoming a missing nin. All to kill Itachi, to make sure he wouldn't harm anyone else. All to make sure no one else would have to suffer the same fate he had gone through.
He continued his great speed along the way, his onyx gaze wavering from the area ahead of him to the kunoichi's face. Why do you always concern yourself with what I do? he pondered silently to himself, his questioning intended towards Sakura. Why do you care for a person like me when you know I can't feel the same way? His head moved back, his stare pointed ahead of him. It's pointless… why would she—?
He interrupted his thoughts when he had remembered what she had said to him earlier.
"Who am I to care for you, anyway?"