With A Broken Soul

"It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not." ― André Gide

Previous Chapter

I watched the fights, evaluating to see if there are any discrepancies, which I did not catch any. It may be a tedious thing, but it's not at all boring. It wasn't very long until my battle came, which had been leaving a knot it my stomach which was not very pleasant. Jumping down to the arena I take my position, waiting for the proctor to signal for us to start. I look up, my eyes meeting my rivals' icy blue eyes. My eyes flash a look of remorse before icing over, covering any and all emotions as possible. I watch as if it's in slow motion, the proctors arm go down, signaling for us to start.

My body stiffens, my mind empties, my eyes ice over. Do not feel. You need to be a monster to be a hero Sakura. You need to save them. You are doing this to save her.

She rushes at me, I can evaluate every move as if it is in slow motion, her dash is not fast for my eyes. As she attempts to punch me in the face, I move out of the way ever so slightly, allowing me to be close enough to grab her. Faster than many can comprehend, I grab her arm, pulling her towards me to allow me to knee her in the stomach. I do not put chakra in this, and I know my shishou can tell that I am holding back, but I allow it. It doesn't matter if she looks down at me for it, I will not break her; shatter her as I have been.

Pushing her back, she kneels down, coughing hard but no blood flowing. This makes me relieved as it was not my intention, nor ambition, to hurt her severely, or at all. She looks up at me, her eyes confused but determined. She shakily stands up, taking out a kunai. She does not throw it as she is also holding back, sadly. She charges at me yet again, but this time her arm much closer to her body. Making sure as to end this quickly, I dash out of the way, getting far enough but not too far. I allow myself to get my feet in a steady position before I dash forward at the now shielded Ino. My body weight wasn't much, but I used my chakra to weigh me down, make me heavier so that when I hit her she went flying. Her body slammed against the wall, creating a large crater in the wall.

I look up at her body, quickly checking for her injuries but it was thankfully only small cuts and bruises. Her back hadn't damaged much; since it was again concrete there would be no splintering as if on wood. I sigh in relief before looking towards the now stunned sick proctor. He shakes his head to force himself out of his daze before he announces that I had won the match. As soon as he did so, I rushed to Ino's side, helping her up. This earned a weary glare from her, but I just shook it off as I helped her up the stairs to our teams. Once reach the top, towards her very distressed and angered teammates, I rest her down against the wall. I ignore the loud comments towards me trying to make me feel bad as I attempt to get her situated, and thank god for me, they stop yelling as soon as they notice the green glow of chakra come through my hand.

I allow my chakra to carelessly heal everything on her body. I do not care very much about chakra usage at the moment, much less depletion. Orochimaru is subdued for now, Tsunade-shishou is here, and my teammates are safe. After I finish healing her small but plentiful injuries, my eyes begin to droop. Drowsiness is engulfing me, trying to make me succumb to its threatening hold. Though, my attempts to shake it off were useless as I fell to the ground, chakra deficiency and exhaustion inducing me to pass out. Everything faded to black and the last thing I saw was cold yet worried charcoal black eyes.

I want to believe that I thought too much of her as I saw her collapse. I really did. My mind was screaming at me to not care, but I do. And what that man said, 'who are you?' why does it feel that I want to ask the same thing? This girl, I do not know her. Just days ago she had been clinging to me, asking me to do ridiculous things with her such as go out to eat or on a date. I do not have time for such a petty thing when I have so many other better and more important things to do. But now, my mind is wandering away from my single purpose, my ambition. Why is she so strong? What is she? Why does she affect me in such a disturbing way? Though those thoughts are pushed out of my head as I rush to this foreign beings side, her cherry blossom pink hair clinging to her sweaty face, her eyes closed and my body growled. She better not leave me. Though her super lime green eyes were now covered by almost black bags underneath her eye. I allow a breath I didn't know I was holding in escape once I heard some older blonde woman say, 'she just needs sleep, she'll be okay in the morning.'

My eyes slowly flutter open, the dry eye gunk preventing it from being an easy task. I quickly check my surroundings but it seems to be that I am in my own room. My eyes close again as I take in a deep breath before I recollect what had happened before I lost conciseness. Quickly I came to the realization that either my teammates or Tsunade-shishou had brought me here. I started to panic as I thought about how I would have to explain the disappearance of my parents to my team, so my gut was hoping, begging, that Tsunade had done the task.

I groggily got out of bed, not bothering to get changed I walked downstairs. I looked around checking for any unwanted guests but my house was empty. My body was crumpling beneath me with the amount of stress I had placed on my body the day before. My mind was spinning, dizziness cursing my body. I need to eat.

I scramble to the cabinets, grabbing a granola bar for a quick energy. As I ate it, I had been searching through the almost empty refrigerator, and I ended up grabbing the small bit of orange juice left and took the last swig of it. I stumbled to the counter, supporting myself so I wouldn't fall down. All I needed to do was sit down for a bit.

As I sat down, I allowed my chakra to flow and fluctuate freely. Any ninja around here wouldn't find this odd, as when at home; most ninja's allow their chakra to flow freely. Though, I knew this was going to attract one certain ninja, my shishou. She knows I never allow my chakra loose, unless I am signaling her.

It wasn't very long until I felt Tsunade rushing towards my house. My body was convulsing by the time she got to my house. I had put too much stress on it, and there was a large chance that I would need hospitalization with the amount of damage I had done to my body. I looked up at my teacher, who wore a look of distress. She was attempting to heal my body but she knew that even after everything is healed, these side effects will still linger.

"God damn it, Sakura." I heard her curse under her breath. I wouldn't blame her though; I didn't treat my body very well for the past few days. With that being said, my body started to shut down, wanting more rest. My eyes closed by themselves I stared at the green light emanating from my sensei's hands.

Train train train. That's all I did. I had to win, I had to get stronger. That is my life. The blonde haired idiot had interrupted my training session, and ended up convincing Kakashi to take us out for ramen. Idiot idiot idiot.

"Hey Teme! Eat something!" Tch. Why doesn't he understand? I didn't bother responding, all I wanted to do was get out of there. This was irrelevant in my life, unneeded, bothersome. I could never be so carefree, so oblivious.

"Hey Sasuke, I need to speak to you. Could you follow me outside?" I stare at the perverted old man for a moment, before nodding, hoping this was about learning something new for once. We walked out of the ramen shop, leaving Naruto in there to wait. We walked to the side of the shop, away from the crowded street filled with people. I looked at Kakashi, trying to anticipate what is about to come.

"You are an ungrateful little brat, you know that?" Well didn't that take me from surprise. What is he getting at? What does he want?

"Don't give me that look Sasuke…" He sighs after a short pause, "Sakura saved your life during the last part of the exam, and you never even thanked her." Shock. What did he just say? My mouth was slightly agape, my eyes widened slightly. What does he mean?

"You probably would've died back there if it wasn't for her." He said, some disbelief in his own voice as he said it. This was impossible. There was no way a weakling like her could protect someone like me. Yes, I experienced her new abilities, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was still superior to her. So, how?

"Just think it over; maybe you should go visit her." Visit her where? Her house? I stared at him as if he had 4 heads. "She's in the hospital." "WHAT!"

The blonde haired idiot came around the corner, staring at Kakashi, wanting an explanation. "You know it's not very nice to eavesdrop, Naruto." My mind had scattered. Why? How? When? I couldn't take this; I couldn't take these emotions, so I ran. I just dashed away. And subconsciously, my feet took me to the hospital. What happened?

Yelling. That's all I heard. Is it directed at me? What's going on? Where am I?

"I said get out of my way!" Shishou, is that you? What did I get myself into?

"Her body is not responding!" Are they talking about me? Why can't I open my eyes? Why can't I speak? What's going on?

"Did you not hear me you imbeciles! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Anger. Distress. Pain. My brain can't comprehend quickly enough. Instability. Gasps. What is happening?

"Sakura? Can you hear me? I undid the seal. Come on." You mean she's unleashed again? You mean she can take me over in my weak state? You mean you just endangered everyone?

Don't worry deary, I won't do any of that. I'll take care of you, since I need you to live. My life depends on it. The beast spoke to me.

I let out a groan, to signal that I can hear her, as this is the only think that I can't do at the moment. It wasn't long though before I could open my eyes. She hadn't lied. I can move. I look over towards my sensei, whose eyes were slightly teary. My fault. I looked down at my arm as I tried to move it, successfully. I'm gaining control again.

I'll talk to you later honey, I need to rest. Please don't do such a thing again. The beast states before her presence disappears. I can't make any promises.

"Rest up Sakura, you deserve it." I look up at Tsunade. Her face displayed a small smile, a smile of relief. "Of course shishou… And… Thank you." I play a smile as well, a smile of thanks. My eyes wander the room as she exits, landing on the one lonesome body in the corner. Am I hallucinating?

"What are you doing, you should be going to sleep." His voice practically sung. My eyes wandered over him, evaluating every piece of him trying to find out if he is real or not. His piercing black eyes met my bright green ones. "What are you doing here Sasuke?" My voice honest and questioning. I watched as he kept opening his mouth, about to talk, but then closed it voting in his head against it. My questioning stare obviously making him uncomfortable. "It's okay, forget it. Umm, nice to see you." I look up to him, his eyes closed. "Thank you" He blurted, turning his head quickly to hide his face. It shocked me, but the shock quickly left and was replaced with gratefulness. "For what Sasuke?" I ask, staring at him with a small smile lingering on my features.

"For saving my life."

Hellooo~ I'm sorry for the choppiness but that's how the story at the moment feels. Especially for Sasuke, as his thoughts are scattered, everything is choppy, confusing. ANYWAYS, see you later! Should have another up next weekend! C: