Day Four

"Die, Uchiha."

Thanks to his quick reflexes Sasuke dodged just in time. He turned back to see a kunai go through a tree and then go right through a boulder. (0.o) Everyone gulped, well except Sakura of course. Sakura stepped into the broad sunlight, where everyone gasped.

She wasn't the Sakura they knew. (-.-') Everyone felt the strong chakra radiating from her. She was transformed into many demons all at once. The first one to regain from shock was Ino, "Sakura! Don't you remember me? Your best friend?"

Sakura responded by moving her gigantic sand arm (from Shukaku) and slammed Ino into a tree. From Shukaku's force, Ino slumped down from the tree, unconscious. A figure came out of the shadows with a malicious smile on his face. He petted Sakura on the head, and she stood in front of him like a royal pet.

"I see you met Akatsuki's new weapon." Pein said, nonchalantly.

"What did you do to, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, his voice shaking with anger or fear maybe both.

"Just transform Sakura into the most powerful person on the planet." Pein said, still having that malicious grin stuck on his face.

"GIVE US SAKRA-CHAN BACK!!" Lee yelled, while running with full force at Pein. Pein though just smirked and stepped aside. Lee missed and ran into a tree.

"Lee, don't act without backup! This is the Akatsuki after all! Do you think we can just run up to them and kill them?" TenTen shouted after her fallen comrade.

"Why don't you all run away now while you have the chance? If you don't, that was your last chance of staying alive." Sakura snarled, the demon side taking over.

"Come Sakura, we have villages to destroy. Konoha first." Pein said, beckoning her toward the dark cave again. Sakura reluctantly followed and the cave closed behind them. Not leaving any trace that they had been there. Lee had tried to destroy the cave entrance but to no prevail. Ino woke up sometime later, and she immediately started trying.

"How can we come back to the village? Forehead-chan is still out there with those freaks. Those freaks turned her into one of them."

"No. They sealed all the demons into her body. The human part of her couldn't control her own body so all the demons took over. This has been their plan all along hasn't it?" Neji said, his voice serious.

Everyone went silent all over again.

"What are we gonna do, Uchiha?" The Hyuuga finally asked.

Sasuke remained silent. Which made everyone else get angry. "WHAT? THE UCHIHA DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HIS COMRADE WHO SAVED HIS LIFE? YOU THINK YOU'RE SO GREAT UCHIHA?" TenTen shouted. Sakura was one of her best friends. When she heard the news, it felt like someone had poked her heart with a katana.

Sasuke still remained silent, his mind in thought. Why do I care so much that Sakura is gone? Am I starting to like her? Now that I think about it, I want to see that pink hair so much with that wide smile on her face. I guess I really am falling for her. FALLING HARD. Great, now I realize it, but not when she's being kidnapped. I'm turning into dobe. I promise from now on to protect her with my life. I really should've realized this when Sakura was being kidnapped.

Sasuke stood up, showing how tall he was. "I'm going to save Sakura even if it's the last thing I do."

TenTen fell silent then her mood instantly changed. "AWW!!! EMO-SASUKE CARES FOR SAKURA-CHAN!!!" Everybody else except Neji joined in the teasing. Ino had wakened and was now healing her wounds.

"I hate to be the pessimist in the group, but we will need a plan to save Sakura-san." Neji said, breaking the laughing group's spirits for a while.

"Kiba, did you get Sakura's new scent?" Ino asked.

"Yup. But aren't we supposed to be more concerned about how they're gonna destroy Konoha? I think we have to go back to Naruto first and tell him so the villagers can be evacuated." Kiba said.

I'm not going to abandon her again. Sasuke thought.

"You guys should go take the shortcut. I'll try to stop the Akatsuki by the road and delay them." Sasuke said.

Ino gasped. "But, there are other members of the Akatsuki following them. Plus Sakura is even stronger than before with all those demons inside her. How are you going to survive? That's like committing suicide."

"I know you guys will bring backup just in time. And I promised I wasn't going to abandon Sakura again," Sasuke replied. "I would be a hypocrite to break my promise just after I made it. The fate of Konoha is now up to us."

Everyone said their quick good byes and departed.

---***---

Sasuke arrived just in time as the Akatsuki came, their heads tilted so you couldn't see any part of their face. Sakura though walked proudly with her head up, the demonic ignorance apparent on her face. Sasuke blocked the path with kage bunshin he made.

Pein raised his head an eyebrow arched. "Weren't you the brat we saw earlier? Anyway, get out of the way unless you don't want to live anymore."

"I'll gladly get out of the way if you hand Sakura over and retreat." Sasuke snarled.

"We're not going to have our plan fail when we came this close to tasting victory." Pein declared, though a little dramatically. Sakura was growling under her breath.

"Sakura, don't you recognize me? Uchiha Sasuke? You're teammate and comrade along with the useless idiot we call Naruto. Snap out of it!!" Sasuke said.

Sakura's head pulsed. Right now the demons were fighting against Inner Sakura. Sakura held her hands to her head, her migraine growing by the minute. Pein tsked. "You shouldn't have done that brat. If Haruno-san doesn't carry out her part of the plan, we'll make sure you die a slow death."

Sasuke sighed. If only someone was here who could seal the demon's power for just a bit so he could Sakura to Konoha's hospital. But to his misfortune there wasn't anyone but him. All the clones got into a defensive stance while the Akatsuki fought together to quickly carry out their plan for the destruction of Konoha. Thirty minutes passed yet the Sasuke clones were still standing panting heavily but standing.

The Akatsuki were still standing all thinking how much strength this Uchiha had. The real Sasuke however was hiding in the forest concealing his chakra. Why? So at the right moment he could knock Sakura out and carry her to Konoha's hospital once the reinforcements came.

Sakura was still sitting on the ground, panting heavily and holding her head as if the migraine would go away if she did that. Sasuke sighed. This was his chance. He moved with lightning speed and hit one of Sakura's pressure points. Then scooped her up bridal style and carried her back into the dark forest. None of the Akatsuki seemed to notice since they were still fighting Sasuke clones. Sasuke flinched. Maintaining this many clones was starting to tire him. He was lucky that these clones were still surviving. Dobe, you better get the reinforcements here right now. He thought.

Two hours passed and Sasuke was on the verge of passing out. So far the Akatsuki had defeated his clones and he had to create new ones five times already. If he continued to use this much chakra, well, he knew the consequences. Just then heard footsteps. He turned and saw his comrades. Shikamaru wasn't there because he was planning with Naruto.

"S-S-S-S-S-Sasuke-san. We'll take things over from here. Please take Sakura-chan back to the village." Hinata said, taking the Hyuuga fighting position. (Sorry, don't know what it's called.)

Sasuke nodded and picked Sakura up. He pumped some chakra to his heels and headed for Konoha. He looked down at Sakura on his way. Sakura, don't worry. I'll make sure you'll be ok. I'm not going to leave you again so you don't have to worry about getting kidnapped again.

Sakura stirred a little bit in her sleep. Sasuke tightened his grip on her a little more. Just to make himself sure she wouldn't leave his life again. When did I get so friggin' emotional?

---***--- Konoha

Sasuke dropped Sakura off at the hospital and gave the nurses specific instructions to tie her down because of all the demons in her and maybe to keep her unconscious most of the time. Then he headed to Naruto's office.

He opened the door, not bothering to knock on it since this was a time of peril and time couldn't be wasted. "Sakura's at the hospital if you want to see her." He told Naruto while Shikamaru had an emotionless face.

Naruto sighed. "Shikamaru, could you leave us alone for a few moments?" Shikamaru nodded and left.

Naruto turned to Sasuke with a serious expression on his face. Then it suddenly turned into the good guy sparkling smile (Lee and Gai do it all the time). "Soooo……" His face turned to the face that persuaded Sasuke to join in the quest of finding what was under Kakashi's mask.

"Did you tell her you luuuuuvvv her yet?" Naruto said mischievously even though there was a HUGE crisis going on.

Sasuke blushed. Naruto chuckled. Then Sasuke had a vein pop out of his head. "HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? ARE YOU SOME SORT OF STALKER OR SOMETHING? AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL HER I LOVE HER WHEN SHE'S POSSESSED BY FRIGGIN' DEMONS!!!"

Naruto pointed a accusing finger at Sasuke. "So you do admit that you love her!"

Sasuke hit his head on the wall…..hard. "It's a miracle the dobe became hokage." He muttered under his breath.

"Nani? Did you say something teme?" Naruto called, his voice sing-songy.

"Dobe, shouldn't you be more concerned about the crisis right now?" Sasuke suggested.

Naruto smiled. "I trust that everyone has destroyed the Akatsuki by now. But you go check on them. Just in case."

Sasuke sighed. Then quietly left.

---***--- Outside Of Konoha

He checked on his comrades to see that the fight was still going on. Though there was still one Akatsuki member he wanted to deal with. The Uchiha who was closing his eyes bored, while leaning against a tree, waiting for this pathetic little battle to be over.

"Itachi…." Sasuke growled.

"Hello, foolish little brother."

Sasuke readied his katana. He was going to end this once and for all.

---***--- Konoha Hospital

Sakura was deep in her inner mind. Inner Sakura was fighting against control over the many demons residing in her brain. Sakura flinched in her unconsciousness. A few thoughts hovered around his brain. What happened to me? How am I going to reverse this? Is Sasuke-kun alright? What about the others?

Sasuke's image appeared in her mind before she slipped off into a heavy sleep because of the potion the nurses gave her.

---***----

Another chapter done…….

Please rate!!! imagine chibi Sasuke's puppy face