A/N This story is a sequel to KRenee's The Arriving. It is a collaboration between her and I, but I've done most of the writing thus far. A link will be posted on my main page. Enjoy! Characters and concepts belong to their respected owners. This plot and OCs belong to KRenee and I.

It was dark everywhere. There were small flashes of orange around her, like fiery explosions, and yet there was no sound. Juritsu looked down and saw blood on her hands. She already knew it was Sakura's.

A noise caught her attention, and her head snapped up to see what it was. Sasuke's back was to her, and he was walking away.

Are you going to get in my way too?

"Get in the way of what," she growled angrily, beginning after him. Her fists were clenched tightly, "Why did you do it! Tell me!"

He continued walking, as if he didn't hear her. Or he's ignoring me, she thought as she picked up the pace. Now she was running. And yet, it was as if he was growing farther away.

"Tell me why!" she shouted.

Are you going to get in my way too?

"Don't screw with me! Quit dodging the question, you bastard!"

Still nothing. Moving as fast as she could, Juritsu was desperate to catch him.

"SASUKE!"

Finally, he stopped, turning around slowly. His Sharingan held an eerie glow to them, almost stopping her in her tracks.

"You really want to know?" he asked scornfully.

"Tell me, now," she demanded, her eyes flashing with rage.

"It was to test my capacity."

The words sunk in too slowly for her liking. Juritsu couldn't believe it.

"You're lying," she automatically responded, "Quit screwing with me, Sasuke. Tell me the truth!"

"I just did, Juritsu. Get over it."

She approached him once again. "You mean to tell me that you slaughtered our friends and family because you wanted to test your capacity? You're full of it, Sasuke!"

Sasuke chuckled darkly. "Friends? Family? I have none. You didn't know? Not even you mean anything to me."

Her heart was in a vice-grip. Of course I didn't, you bastard! I never did! She leapt at him, driving her fist forward with all the intention to bash in his skull.

But her fist, as well as the rest of her, passed through his body. He was but a ghost.

"You'll never learn the truth," Sasuke had a broad grin on his face as he looked down on her.

"TELL ME!"

Only his laughter reached her ears as he turned and walked away again. This time, however, she couldn't find the will to get up and follow. Instead, she hunched over, slamming her fists against the ground.

"Why, why, why, why, WHY? TELL ME!"

"Juritsu! Calm down!"

A pair of hands firmly grasped her shoulders, shaking her slightly. With a strangled gasp, Juritsu returned to the present. She jumped up into a seated position, glancing around wildly. Itachi was there, staring at her in concern. Her fists were clenched tightly around the sweat soaked sheets. And that was when she felt him. There was no mistaking it. And what was even more disbelieving was that he was moving towards them.

"Are you okay?" he asked, just as her head snapped in the direction of the window. Her eyes were wide with an incredulous fury, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"We're leaving," she half-growled as she pulled herself out of bed, grabbing her things hastily. It could have been sheer luck. It could have been a mere coincidence. No, she thought as she strapped her kunai pouch to her belt, his approach is no coincidence.

"Where are we going?" Itachi was slipping his cloak on.

"To finish things."

...

"You found me faster than I thought."

Juritsu narrowed her eyes as she stared down the boy who had haunted her dreams since the night Konoha was destroyed. He looked slightly more tired than the last time she saw him, and there was a strange glint in his eyes – it was resigned, yet determined. He had something up his sleeve.

"I want answers," she cut to the chase immediately, "And you know exactly what it is I want to know."

"I can't tell you that."

"Why did you do it?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Immediately, her dream came to mind, and she lost her temper. "What is it that I wouldn't understand then?" she snapped in reply, "Maybe you should tell me, since those words will be your last anyway!"

Sasuke shook his head, "Even if I did explain it to you, you still wouldn't understand. There's a lot you wouldn't understand."

Juritsu clenched her teeth. "Tell me."

"I won't."

"TELL ME!"

Sasuke didn't reply. Juritsu's glare turned menacing, and she withdrew her elbow blades, loosely twirling them in her hands before assuming her stance. "Very well then. If you wish to take the secret to your grave, I'll happily arrange things so you will," she growled lowly.

The Uchiha stared at her evenly. It was clear that she had made her decision. With this, he would be able to repent without regrets. Except one.

This was exactly what he wanted, but he didn't expect for her hateful gaze to be so painful. Once upon a time, she loved him and willingly would sacrifice herself for him. And that was before you betrayed her in the worst way possible. Outwardly, he knew he looked cold and calculating; just like a monster. Deep down, however, he wanted nothing more than to explain everything, beg for forgiveness, and even go back in time to prevent the mess from ever occurring in the first place. His longing for her was stronger than ever and now there was no going back. He would never touch her skin, or steal kisses from her lips again.

Instead, he slowly drew his chokutou and assumed his own stance. This would surely be a fight to the death, and he already knew what to do for both scenarios.

Briefly, his eyes drifted over to his older brother. He still didn't know how Itachi was brought back from the dead. Currently, the elder Uchiha looked troubled, confused even. I'm sorry, Itachi, Sasuke thought as their eyes met, this was probably the last thing you wished for. But I'm not you, unfortunately. I'm still your foolish little brother in the end, after all.

Itachi looked concerned. Most likely, he had already figured out what Sasuke was going to do. Sasuke couldn't tell if he was worried because of what he was going to do, or what he had seen when they locked gazes. It would be okay, though. This was the redemption he was searching for; to be killed by the one whom he held most dear.

He turned to glance at Juritsu, and he couldn't have done it any sooner. Juritsu's eyes no longer had the anger and accusations. Instead, they were empty and calculating as she launched into a full sprint, weapons at the ready. Sasuke activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and took off towards her, enhancing his sword with lightning. He wouldn't easily go down without a fight; it would give him away, and besides that, he knew Juritsu wouldn't just kill him. She was too much of a pacifist, ironically, and would much rather fight fairly to the end.

Itachi could only stare in shock as the two clashed. The power between them was immense. At the same time, however, he was feeling torn. Just as he had met eyes with his younger brother, a nearly overwhelming urge to stop him from his suicide mission overcame him. Contradictory as it seemed to him, he felt that he had to prevent the two younger shinobi from killing each other, or else something bad was going to happen. The only problem was, how? Siding with either of them would ensure making an enemy out of the other. And would they even believe him if he were to voice his concerns out loud? Surely the phrase "I think if you die, the world will end," was as believable as "the Shodaime Hokage is still alive."

It was clear that the two of them weren't going to stop until one of them had fallen. The only way to stop them was to step in and explain to the other why he had protected the first. But who would be more reasonable? Juritsu would argue that she needed this revenge of sorts, that she needed to "make things right." Sasuke would argue that she was the loose end he needed to tie off, the final bond that he needed to break, the last person of Konoha that needed to die (of course he would hide the real reason behind his maddening decision to approach the one person who would chase him to the ends of the earth to kill him). But as the battle progressed, Itachi began to grow frantic; if he didn't make a decision soon, then it would be too late.

Juritsu stumbled to the side after blocking a slash from Sasuke's sword; she used the momentum to flip into the air and right herself just as she was landing on the ground. And not a moment too soon, for Sasuke was moving through the hand seals of his more powerful jutsu.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" An immense ball of fire, shaped like the head of a dragon, erupted from Sasuke's lips and careened towards Juritsu, who was speeding through seals of her own.

"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!" The jet of water shot from her lips, slamming into the fireball. Juritsu's eyes narrowed and her water quickly turned to steam. My Suikodan isn't strong enough, she thought, terminating the jutsu early and quickly flying out of the way before the fire could reach her, jumping into the air to buy a little time to think of a quick counterattack. It didn't give her as much time as she expected. As she moved through the air, Sasuke fired several more Gouryuuka. She twisted around and dodged the fire balls as she worked her way over to the other side of the area, and landed. But Sasuke was there to meet her, and cursing, she brought up her blades to block the powerful upward swing from her opponent; the force of his attack sent her weapons flying. Acting more on instinct, Juritsu flipped backwards into a handspring, kicking the sword out of Sasuke's hands. The darkening sky was barely noticed as she continued to dodge his attacks.

The gathering clouds, however, didn't go unnoticed by Itachi, whose eyes widened in horror as he quickly recognized the trap that Sasuke was luring Juritsu into. He was going to use that technique.

Danger! His mind's voice screamed, Go! Stop this fight right now!

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Juritsu had broken apart from their grappling, and were now steadily staring each other down. There was a glint of what looked like some sort of sly triumph in Sasuke's eyes. Juritsu didn't like it one bit.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was thankful that his plan had worked. The conditions were right for him to use his Kirin. However, he was worried. He knew Juritsu was a powerful kunoichi, but at the same time, he knew how powerful the technique was. He also knew that if he wanted her to actually kill him, he had to back her into a corner, and the only way to do that was to overpower her as much as he could. What if he accidentally killed her?

"I didn't think you could get any stronger, Juritsu," he said as he carefully watched her.

Juritsu raised an eyebrow, "You've improved too much since the last time I saw you," she replied coolly, "I don't care how you did it. You were preparing for this moment, weren't you?"

Narrowing his eyes, he easily shot back, "I knew you would come for me someday. I'm not about to be some pushover for the likes of you."

Her killer intent was heavy, bearing down on him like a lead weight. He didn't let it deter him. "But that's also why I knew that if I wanted to finish this, I had to bring out my most powerful attack quickly."

"And it didn't work," she shot back hotly, "Dodging those massive fire balls was child's play."

"It did," Sasuke held out a hand, encasing it in lightning just as the thunder began to roll, "I'm glad I learned to mold my chakra with the lightning element. It's too bad I couldn't teach you before too. Maybe if I did, you could've stood a chance against this.

"The advantage to controlling this element, Juritsu, is that it also gives you the power to control the heavens."

Juritsu looked bewildered for only an instant; the next second, her eyes widened in realization and horror

"This attack isn't simply 'child's play' you can dodge," he continued, lifting his hand above his head to point toward the heavens, "But in a second, that won't matter. This battle is over."

He just barely heard her curses, and as she was taking off towards him, he summoned his technique. He could feel Itachi moving towards them as well; perhaps to prevent the inevitable from happening. But it was too late now.

"Kirin."

A huge bolt of lightning slammed into the ground, directly hitting Juritsu. The noise was deafening – Sasuke barely heard Itachi shouting "No!"

The one voice he could clearly hear, and he was sure he would never forget even long after death, was a long scream. Juritsu was surely in excruciating pain. And the very thought of it was making his heart wrench.

When the light faded and the smoke cleared, he found Juritsu, lying on the ground, barely moving. He could see her trembling – her muscles spasming from the immense amount of electricity that coursed through her body. Behind him, Itachi could only stare on in horror.

Smirking slightly to cover up the gut-wrenching misery he was experiencing, Sasuke slowly approached Juritsu, picking up his chokutou along the way. Soon, he was standing over her, looking down on her as she weakly glared up at him, half-conscious and fading fast.

"Sorry, Juritsu," Sasuke allowed the sadness to seep through his cold expression, "I'll always love you."

With that, he raised his sword.

"Sasuke, wait!" he heard Itachi's desperate voice, frantic to stop him in any way possible. Too late, Itachi, Sasuke silently replied as he brought his blade down with the full intent to stab her heart.

It didn't take him more than a split second to see the shadow behind him, a silhouette of someone leaping into the air; someone whose chakra signature he couldn't sense, and someone who hadn't been there before.

As he was turning around to deflect an incoming blow, the newcomer's hands fell on his shoulders, bringing him down to the ground as he switched his grip to Sasuke's throat, squeezing hard.

"She said to only get a feel for what the situation was," His lips curled into a positively sinister grin, "But if you're all this weak, I suppose I might as well just kill you myself!"

Sasuke grabbed the hands that were wrapping tighter and tighter around his throat, his lips parting slightly as his body tried to inhale. Not a moment too soon, Itachi appeared, his leg connecting with the newcomer's ribs and sending him flying away from Sasuke. The younger Uchiha spluttered and gasped for air as he sat up, wheezing from the pain in his chest. Itachi stood beside him, Sharingan spinning rapidly in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Sasuke pulled himself up.

"Why did you help me? You should be looking out for Juritsu," he croaked, rubbing his throat for a moment.

"Now's not the time," Itachi replied coolly as the stranger picked himself up slowly. His eyes met Itachi's for a brief second, before scoffing and quickly averting his eyes.

"Uchiha Itachi," He snarled, not even bothering to hide the pain he was in from his likely broken ribs, "For them to have chosen you as the Guardian… Chaos must be pretty desperate for atonement."

There wasn't a pause between his words and the dark, shadowy wings that formed behind him. He turned away from them, glancing over his shoulder briefly and cackling madly, "I'll be seeing you soon, Fated!"

Itachi watched as the stranger disappeared from view before turning and hurrying over to Juritsu's motionless form on the ground, kneeling next to her and checking her vitals.

He heard Sasuke's steps behind him. Not bothering to glance over his shoulder, he said "She's going to be fine."

"What makes you think I care?"

"I don't think; I know," Itachi cut in, promptly silencing Sasuke, "You're not going to kill her. I won't allow it."

An exasperated sigh was the reply. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"You're not going to kill her and she's not going to kill you. For now, I think we should all stick together," Itachi replied as he scooped Juritsu into his arms and stood up, glancing over at his brother impassively, "I don't know why, but I have the sense that if something were to happen to either of you, there would be dire consequences."

Sasuke scowled. "And what if I refuse?"

"Is there really anything else for you out here?"

Sasuke didn't answer.