Chapter Thirty-Four: Moonlit Encounters: Feel the Beat of the Drums Drawing Near
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Sakura shifted into a nearby tree, her hand holding the hilt of the katana on her back lightly. Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru fell in beside her, each primed to attack, each ready to defend.
"Scatter." Sakura whispered, the wind brushing her lips and shattering the clarity of her voice.
Shikamaru scanned the area quickly, using the long shadows the full-moon cast to his advantage.
Motioning that the coast was clear, they moved--Shino flipping himself up into the ceiling rafters while Sakura and Neji took the roof with Shikamaru covering the ground.
"Uchiha is mine." She reminded them, lauching herself in the opposite direction.
They simply nodded.
Sasuke woke up in a cold sweat, holding his head between his hands.
He still couldn't believe what he had done to her: Shared a night of passion and then left her to rot...again. Groaning, he stood, wrapped a shirt around his muscular chest and vaulted himself threw his open window.
Sakura heard a small clatter behind her...the sound of flesh meeting the hilt of a katana as they withdrew it from an enameled sheath. It took her a moment to realize it was her own hand...trembling violently.
Her face twisting his disguise, she slammed her other hand down on top of the offending limb, her nails digging into her skin hard enough to draw blood.
Sasuke made his way up to the plateau overlooking Kabuto's operations: Centered in the middle of a dead valley surrounded by miles of marshland, it was the perfect place to conduct a war.
Sighing, he realized just how muchhe hated to do it...but perhaps he could aid Konoha from the inside out.
And then he caught a familiar scent...a familar chakra scattering across his skin...but a hatred he didn't know...
Turning, he saw a figure jump from a nearby tree onto the edge of the cliff...if it hadn't been for the moonlight filtering through her green eyes and illuminating her pink hair, he wouldn't have known it was Sakura.
"So, Sasuke...it appears we've come to an end..." She trailed off, sliding the katana from its sheath on her back.
"Sa...Sakura..." He trailed off.
Sakura charged him so quickly he didn't have time to activate his sharigan. She slid past him, severing the nerves in his eyes with her scalpel and landing behind him, rebounding and arcing her blade at his back.
He ducked, rolling away from the blade and jumping up.
Sakura launched a kunai, spinning it expertly to sever the hamstring in his leg.
He barely side-stepped the projectile, circling around her. He just needed to knock her out.
Sakura flipped over him, slamming her fist into the ground before rolling into a handstand to avoid the wreckage.
Sasuke leapt into the air, dodging most of the earthy debris.
But he was too slow...she was behind him, slamming her fists into his chest and finishing him with a round-house that even Neji couldn't top.
He slammed into the ground, the earth cratering around him as she landed in a crouch several feet of, her hands gripping the hilt of her katana firmly.
But she didn't approach...because behind her, down in the valley, were the tens of thousands of genetically altered subjects...now marching towards war with Konoha.
Sakura stood...torn between her duty and her revenge...her love and her hate.
She turned to him, raising the blade slightly and stepping forward. And then hesitating as her lips trembled..
"DAMMIT!" She screamed, "DAMMIT! WHY CAN'T I KILL YOU!?"
Her screaming faded to a sob, her katana's edge dropping.
She turned away, twisting her head to look at him sadly.
"I love you, Uchiha Sasuke." She said with a troubled expression.
"And for that, I hate myself." She sighed, leaping into the canyon below with the intention of beating them to Konoha.
TBC