A/N: The Next Chapter is here!

I was pleasantly surprised at how many people liked this story. Thank you all so much for reviews/favs/alerts! The third chapter will be out sometime in March. Please look forward to it!

Warning: Blood, Gore, and more Blood. Character Death too.

XxX The Only XxX

XxX Halfkyuubikat XxX

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Chapter 2

Placing the money in the woman's greedy palms, I turned and quickly walked out of the store. I was not in a good mood now, especially after being robbed by that old hag. Tsunade had specifically told me to buy the Jasmine Leaves from that witch's shop, but not only had the woman charged three times the price that usual people did, when I had tried to leave the shop and get normal priced herbs, the hag had even gone about threatening to revel some of Tsunade's worse times. She had pictures and everything.

Stupid black-mailing old hag!

It's not like I even wanted to be running around errands for Tsunade in the first place. I was way above this. Yet somehow I was still supposed to just frolic around any village picking up a large list of herbs and whatnot for Tsunade's personal studies.

But despite not being that willing to go on a search for groceries, this was much better than what I was doing for the last few months. Day in and day out, I worked at the hospital for insanely long hours that by no means could a normal human live through, before I dragged my body to bed and repeated the process the next day. I hadn't had a mission in over three months and I haven't left the village in two. This little expedition was probably good for my heath, but it still sucked.

With a heavy sigh on my lips, I treaded my way through the crowded street ready to pick up the next item on my list.

How many herbs did I have left?

Lifting my right hand I happily counted down my list.

Jasmine Leaves—That's one. Plus I managed to get those mushrooms and tea leaves—Three. And I visited that one shop with all the berries—Which means that I only had to get the rest at that one shop Tsunade recom—

"Sakura?"

On instinct I stopped at the sound of my name. Confusion spread through me though as I didn't recognize the voice of the person who called me. However considering all the shops I had visited and how well known Tsunade's apprentice was here, I wasn't too surprised.

In only slight hesitation I turned around and searched for the person who had called my name. At first I didn't see anyone, there were the shop benders and their customers; a variety of people that seemed to be indulged with any particular thing they were doing. And for a short moment I thought I had mistaken the direction someone had called me, but finally my eyes landed on a similar still form staring directly at me.

Like I had expected I had not met the woman before. She stood at a rather average height, only a little taller than myself. Her hair was a bright red color that matched her glasses-framed eyes. She dressed slightly too sluty for my liking, but that of course was a matter of choice in preferences. Her hairstyle was a little strange too, it was like having too hairstyles in one, but overall in my split second survey, I found nothing that screamed danger. She seemed like an average citizen. No kunai pouch, no scrolls, no weapons, and no headband in sight.

More than likely she was just a woman that wanted my help with something. It happened frequently enough.

Deciding it was safe, I responded to the woman's summoning.

"Yes?"

For a split second, I thought I imagined the way her eyes took an almost crazed gleam, but in the nearly the same moment she was in the air charging at me with a speed that no civilian woman could possess. I barely had enough time to drop my groceries and deflect her body from hitting mine.

She skidded across the ground for a moment, before with the grace of a kunoichi she used her arms to propel herself in the air before she landed steadily on her feet.

"You bitch!" she seethed, "You fucking bitch!"

She sprinted forward once again launching herself toward me; with a quick movement I grabbed one of her wrists and threw her to the side. She smashed into a vegetable stand. If any civilian hadn't noticed the fight that had just broken out, they did now. Screams filled the road as woman and men alike cleared the area. They were more aware that fights between Ninja were much more damaging than fights between two ruffians.

Ninja battles were deadly.

Even when one party had no idea why on earth they were fighting in the first place.

In all senses of the word I was confused beyond belief. The only logical reason I could think of this woman attacking me was because of my position in the Bingo book. Although I was still had nowhere near as high of a bounty on my head as Naruto, I was still had a large reward for whoever took me down. After all taking out the head doctor and medic would place Konoha at a great disadvantage. But normal bounty hunters didn't go about attacking in the middle of the day, in the middle of a bustling town market.

Apparently no one ever told this red-head that.

"He's mine..." Her voice shook with rage as she struggled to stand. Her clothes were stained with various colors of vegetables and I would have found it comical if I hadn't seen the murderous look she shot at me. "He's mine!"

Woo-kay. That was absolutely random. Why the hell would a bounty hunter go on a tangent about someone being 'theirs?' Obviously I was wrong with my original theory.

"What?"

"He's mine you slut!" She slammed her fist against a nearby wall.

"Excuse me?" I snapped, "What did you call me?"

"You whore!"

A small vein popped up on my forehead. The anger that crashed through me was not unknown; because this had not been the first time that name had been used to address me. In fact the amount of times a woman or man had called me that had steadily increased since the time I was sixteen. Actually when I had just had my seventeenth birthday someone had to go out of their way to make sure I knew I was a "gold-digging home-wrecking cunt." So yes, I was not by any means short on being called that name.

But just because I was frequently called it didn't mean that I actually was one.

Apparently I was a hot commodity among middle aged men in Konoha. So much so in fact that men frequently found the need to tell their wives they had fallen in love with me and were leaving them because I was a much more youthful lover who was bright and cheerful and loved them just as much. So for a while rumors flew around about my 'tendencies' with men of certain ages, until Naruto went about feverishly beating the man that started the rumors until he confessed to everyone that he had lied. Despite the experience nearly traumatizing me, Ino had thought it was a gut-busting riot. Apparently it was highly amusing that the girl who was as innocent as a 'newborn kitten—after all the funk covering it has been removed' was named the village whore for two weeks.

Alright sure I was probably way too under-experienced with a 'love' life for a normal girl my age. Sure I hadn't had sex before. Or a kiss. Or a boyfriend. But that by no means made me innocent as a kitten! Sure I was innocent when it came down to my romantic life, but I was not pure when it came to the rest of the world. I had learned that a long time ago after Sas—anyways I was certainly not pure. That was clear when I felt the sudden need to murder this red-headed bitch in front of me.

Clenching my hand into a fist, I quickly pointed my hand toward her.

"Wanna say that again?"

"I won't let you just walk in and steal him from me!"

She slipped into the road and immediately started to walk toward me. As if she seriously stood a chance against me. I was seriously gonna kick her ass, if she kept this up. Honestly I was sorry if some guy went about saying things about me that were not true, but that was her fault for picking the wrong guy. She should have enough sense to hate the guy that did this to her, not the 'other' woman.

"I think you're seriously wrong here. I have no idea who you are talking about and I'm pretty sure I haven't done something to deserve this...So would you care to enlighten me?"

"Everything would be perfect if you didn't exist!" She hissed at the same moment she grabbed onto the nearest wood pole of a vender's stand. The small building collapsed on its side. With a horrible shock I realized that any damages to the village would be charged to Tsunade who would make me pay for them. Oh shit...

"Stop breaking stuff!" I shrieked, immediately aware of how breakable this entire village was. She didn't listen though and instead threw the six foot pole at me as if she was using a javelin.

With a hitch of my breath, I slammed my fist into the poll and watched as the thundering power caused the wood to burst and form splinters after splinters of useless damage. The woman's red eyes widened like most did when they witnessed for the first time my strength. I wanted to smirk with pride, but I also had noticed that the impact had caused my knuckles to bleed.

With great care I pulled out my pair of black gloves from the pouch strapped at my side. I understood now this was going to be a real fight whether I wanted it to be or not.

The woman pulled out a handful of hidden shuriken and kunai from her pocket. I was not by any means the most graceful of dodgers and I immediately pulled out my own weapons. I threw my own just in time to cancel out her attack.

The clang of metal filled the dead silent clearing. Then it too faded.

"I have to get rid of you" she said suddenly. Her eyes flashed toward my face and narrowed. "I won't let you ruin everything."

"I haven't ruined anything." I replied trying to keep myself calm while trying to stop her madness.

"You ruined everything!" She shrieked and sprinted towards me, bringing out another ninja star in preparation to attack.

I formed a fist with my hand and aimed it directly toward the ground.

"Damn it" I cursed immediately realizing that if I hit the ground here, I would not only destroy the pavement but the buildings and vendors surrounding it as well. With the way this was going, if I kept trying to refrain from causing unnecessary damages this battle would last for hours and I would never get an accurate chance to restrain this girl and ask her what on earth she was going crazy about.

After using my leg to send the woman flying through the air and away from any of my vital organs, with a quick flash, I was on the rooftops heading toward the nearest tree-line.

"Where are you going?" I heard the frenzied footsteps as she raced after me at the same moment a shuriken whizzed by my ear. With a growl, I brought out more of my kunai.

I snapped her arm harder behind her back.

"I really don't understand what you are talking about!" I growled once again trying to get it through her head that I had no fucking idea what the hell she was going on about with this 'he' she kept addressing.

Her screams were livid; her body thrashing back and forth in an attempt to escape my grip. I let out a grunt when her elbow hit my ribcage. The force was enough to almost make me stumble into one of my homemade caverns in the ground.

"You were going to him! You were going to him!"

"Going to who?"

"Nnoooooo!" With a force that I had thought she didn't possess the red-head forced one of her arms out of my grasp and slapped her freed palm against my face, before she fully escaped from my hold on her. With a hiss, I touched the stinging on my cheek to see that she had used her nails to cut me. The small amount of blood on my fingertips was enough to make me livid.

I had enough with this chick.

With anger I glanced up at where the red-head had taken her stance facing me. I was completely ready for an onslaught of her insults and hatred, but instead I was shocked to see that in those red eyes of hers there was only pain.

"He-He loves...He lov—Why? I-I don't understand..." she wailed, "I don't understand!" She was hysterical. I could see that now. Perhaps she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. She was in a state too far gone from sanity at the moment. She needed to calm down first; she needed to stop lashing out at me first.

"Stop this," I hissed out, "If you don't, I can't be held responsible for what happens to you. I will protect myself. But we don't have to fight; I don't understand why we are fighting! I can help you. Just let me, please...Just calm down for a moment...Please."

For a moment she leaned back and her eyes shifted to a more far-off look. Her lip trembled ever so slightly and I was sure she had finally seen the reality in the situation, but in the same moment she pulled a kunai from her pocket and pointed it towards me.

"If I can't have him no one can!" she screamed.

Like a predator she lunged forward and at the same moment I threw my chakra-infused fist forward. The sound that echoed in the town was similar to a body hitting the ground after a long fall. The cracking of bones and splitting of flesh was the only thing I could really hear through the pounding of my head. Her body hit the ground with a dull Thump. I leaned over her with my fist embedded in her chest; the shattered rib and sternum bones pressed against the skin. A thick, warm sticky liquid flooded into my glove and with the scent of blood filling my nostrils I didn't need to guess what it was, even though with the spattered red covering my arm was more than enough evidence to what was now drenching my fingers. I could feel the weak thumping of her heart next to my index finger and with an almost sick fascination I understood that with a single twitch of my finger I could silence that one muscle forever. I didn't though. Instead my body stood frozen above hers.

For the first time in my life since I had become a doctor, I felt like the sight of blood was going to make me throw up.

Turning my head away from the carnage that I had created I lifted my head away from her torso and toward her face.

It was then I noticed the tears running down her face.

"Why?" The sheer agony that seeped through the girl's voice was enough to make me flinch.

"Why you?"

She didn't say anything after that. The slight thumping of heart had ceased. Her red eyes remained open, just staring at me, unmoving—as if the woman was accusing me even after death. I numbly pulled my hand from within her chest; the amount of blood that dripped off of my glove was enough to make me gag. In a rush I pulled the soaked glove off my hand and flung it somewhere in the woods. I didn't look where.

I had never killed a person in such a gore filled way before. In fact I had only killed three times before; all of them by poison. As a Medic I was mostly expected to save lives of my team. I had seen many damages, many gruesome killings while working in the hospital. I had just never been the cause of one; I had never been the one to have my hand dyed red after ending someone's life.

My stomach heaved and I turned my head to the side trying to keep myself from gagging. My attempt seemed to work. I didn't gag or throw up. Instead I coughed up the same red life-source that covered my right hand. A burning in my chest that I hadn't felt before suddenly came to life and when a quick Zip of pain flashed near my heart, I finally looked down at my own body.

There was a kunai knife embedded to the hilt directly through my left pulmonary artery. Blood ran down my shirt in a steady stream.

It took me a moment to understand that the bitch had killed me.

She had only just barely missed my heart, but the main artery that she had punctured would cause me to lose more than enough blood to die within a few minutes. She had delivered a fatal wound that could not be healed with just medical knowledge and chakra.

She killed me.

I forced myself to stand and just the slight movement caused blood to squirt out from the pierced skin. A feverish haze took over my senses as my breaths become labored and with other cough more of that iron taste hit my tongue. With vague realization I knew that the kunai had also punctured my left lung and that it was probably not only causing my breathing problems, but also filling with blood.

My knees hit the ground.

The kunai went just a little deeper into my chest.

A searing pain hit my chest and again I chocked on the blood filling my throat. Unable to stop myself, my eyes filled with tears as my body slowly crumbled onto the ground.

My vision started to blur, but I found that I was lying in a mixture of green and red. There was another flash of pain that caused my eyes to close in agony. They did not reopen.

A fog started to numb everything and I welcomed it's hidden comforts. I don't know how much time passed. It could have been a minute or it could have been only seconds, but a faded murmur caught my attention. It was almost a buzzing noise.

"Sakura..."

At first I thought I had merely fantasied the sound of my name, but then someone called it again.

"Sakura."

I managed to surpass the heaviness trying to swallow me whole in order to open my eyes. I blinked in confusion upon seeing the figure standing just a few feet in the distance.

I closed my eyes at the same time I let out a weak laugh that came out as a strangled gasp from the blood that escaped my mouth.

It was funny. Even while I lay dying on a blood soaked road, he had to be the last person on my mind. He had to be the person I would hallucinate about with my last breath. He could make my lifeless heart beat just once more at that fast pace it always used to when he was around. No matter how much I tried to pretend he no longer existed in my life he still came back to haunt me.

It was so sickly tragic that I had to create something in my mind to heal my broken heart. Because I would never see him again. Seeing as I was going to bleed out in a matter of minutes, I really never would see him or any of my friends ever again. Never.

It was hilarious the way my heart and brain worked together. Ready to heal my broken soul just before everything ended. I had wanted to do it differently. I had wanted to find a kind, civilian man to begin dating. I had wanted to slowly fall in love with him and then one day realize that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. And then perhaps if one day he returned I could smile without feeling like I was being split open on the inside. But now...none of that could happen.

I supposed Sasuke would forever be the only person in the world to completely control my heart; even as it stopped beating completely.

A/N: That last scene was quite bloody for me. Yeah, I tried to make it as gruesome as possible. Hehe, it was interesting writing and I think I learned a lot from it. Sorry if it traumatized you from the gore or horrible writing...I can't help, lol.

The next chapter is actually pretty short. So I might be able to get it out right at the beginning of March. Remember it's the stoic Sasuke who will have the last POV. Fun!

~Halfkyuubikat

(PS: It was so hard writing in 1st POV again. I kept going to 3rd person like I'm used to.)