DISCLAIMER: I do not own the 'Naruto' or 'Naruto: Shippuden' series or characters.

NOT QUITE PARADISE

Naruto and I pulled away instantly and turned to see Sasuke standing there with a revolted expression on his face. I scowled angrily at my cousin.

"Sasuke!" I stepped away from Naruto, who was glaring at Sasuke too, and went over to confront Sasuke. However, before I could actually do this Sasuke cleared the space between him and Naruto and slammed his fist into his face, catching Naruto off guard as he hit the deck hard and spat out a curse.

"Hey!" I shouted and came over to Sasuke shoving him away from Naruto angrily.

"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped at my cousin who was looking at me incredulously.

"He didn't do anything wrong, you loon."

Sasuke looked down at Naruto with the overprotective cousin glare and looked like he was about to attack him again, but I reached out my hand to Naruto and helped him sit up. I crouched beside him and watched as Naruto wiped blood away from his mouth and glared corrosively at Sasuke, who reached out and pulled me over to him with an accusing look in his ebony eyes. I broke the hold he had on my wrist.

"I can't believe you were kissing that idiot!" He snapped at me, equally as angry as I was. I scoffed.

"So? As I recall you did too!" I retorted, smirking sardonically at him.

"Or have you forgotten this?" I watched in amusement as both Naruto and Sasuke flushed purple as they were forced to relive that day when they accidentally kissed each other. Naruto struggled to his feet and turned to me with a martyred expression on his face.

"Aw... Akima, did you have to bring that up?" He complained, but I simply ignored him as I continued tearing Sasuke a new asshole.

"What gives you the right to meddle in what I do anyway? As of two years ago, you lost that right, the day you left Konoha!" Sasuke's face jerked in shock.

"I have every right to protect my cousin from harm!" Naruto reacted at that, thinking that comment was directed towards him.

"What sort of crack is that!" he snarled, but Sasuke and I continued to ignore him. I knew that Sasuke wasn't talking about Naruto harming me. He was referring to Orochimaru's attack on me. I sighed and I stopped frowning at Sasuke in annoyance. I smiled slightly at him.

"You don't need to protect me anymore, Sasuke. I'm stronger than I was back then. Or have you forgotten that?"

Sasuke sighed in exasperation, shaking his head as he massaged his temple.

"I've neither forgotten, nor care whether or not you do or do not require protection. You scared both my parents and I half to death that day when you weren't in your bed. We thought Orochimaru had taken you!" Suddenly, the memory around us shifted and refocused on an area blanketed in mist. I frowned uncertainly.

"Sasuke, where have you taken us?"

Children's laughter grabs our attention and Naruto, Sasuke and I run towards the laughter and found ourselves standing in the Uchiha courtyard.

"Catch me if you can!" a little boy's voice rings out from behind the mist. A little girl answers his confident, but cocky call.

"You know that I can!"

We could suddenly hear the children running. Quickly, we follow the voices.

"Almost got me! Nice try." calls out the little boy and we hear the girl snarl with frustration.

"No fair! You're faster than I am!" then somebody falls heavily to the ground with an "ooof!"

The little boy sounded alarmed as he rushed over to the little girl's side.

"Akima!"

Naruto jerks his head to look over at his girlfriend in confusion.

"Akima?"

The fog dissipates and instantly the three of us see Young Sasuke helping Young Akima to her feet. It must have been several months since Young Akima's encounter and beginning of friendship with Young Naruto, because Young Akima was not dressed in pyjamas and slippers. She was attired in an outfit similar to what her thirteen year old self would be wearing as a Genin ninja. This hinted that Young Akima was stronger and healthier than she had been. Young Sasuke looked at his cousin worriedly.

"Are you okay?" Young Akima smirked cheekily and poked her tongue out at Young Sasuke.

"Yeah. I was faking it!" She tags an astonished Young Sasuke on the arm and darts off faster than a rabbit. Young Sasuke immediately reacts to this.

"Hey! Bad form!" and tears off after her as she giggles with glee, desperately trying to evade him because of his impressive speed.

"Nobody said life was fair, Sasuke!" Young Akima yelled out, innocently.

All three of us winced at my words. But how were we supposed to know all the bad things were going to happen to us in the future? It's wasn't like I had doomed us all by saying the comment. We watched Young Sasuke and Young Akima play up until Aunt Mikoto poked her head out of a nearby door and surveyed us with a fond smile before announcing that it was now dinner time.

Young Sasuke and Young Akima giggled and tore inside the house, causing my Aunt to dodge us exasperatedly.

This memory was an example how innocent and happy Sasuke and I were before Itachi stole our childhood from us by killing his parents. And before Orochimaru poisoned not only me, but poisoned and corrupted Sasuke as well. I turned back to Sasuke, but refused to look him in the eyes. Sasuke came over and stood close to me, but didn't touch me.

"Akima, you're my best friend. You think I was overjoyed to think Orochimaru had done what he did to me to you? I was pissed! You gotta know that no matter what happens to me in the future, you're always gonna be the main thing I think about. I love you, kid!"

That did it. I looked up into Sasuke's face which was still stern from years of suffering and grief. But he had tears in his eyes and a small smile on his face. I felt ashamed of my actions and I felt my tears fall down my face.

"...I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Sasuke..." I hugged myself and started to drop to my knees. All my anger towards Sasuke for his possible future vanished without a trace. Naruto started to come over to me but was stopped by Sakura who chose that moment to appear.

"Let Sasuke comfort her, Naruto. It's their moment." explained Sakura, in a small voice as she saw how broken Sasuke and I were.

"Oh, Akima..." soothed Sasuke, who folded me up in his arms and held me as I heaved and shook, crying into his loose fitting white shirt.

The moment would've been a tender one, if it hadn't been for inhuman laughter that suddenly echoed everywhere. I frowned through the tears and looked at Sasuke who was also frowning. Both of us looked up at Naruto and Sakura who were looking around frantically.

"Oh shit! Orochimaru!" Sasuke suddenly said and stood up, pulling me with him. But instantly caught me again as excruciating pain burned with a vengeance on the back of my neck. I screamed in anguish and clutched my neck.

"NO!" bellows Sasuke and dropped to my side as I curled up into the foetal position, trying to cling to consciousness and digging my fingernails into the earth. Sakura dropped to my other side and tried to soothe me by smoothing back my fringe and whispering comforting thoughts.

"You're okay, Akima! You'll be okay!" Sakura promised me. Naruto stood protectively in front of us, baring his teeth and staring uselessly around for Orochimaru.

"Stop it! Stop it now, Orochimaru!" roared Naruto. To everybody's astonishment Orochimaru complied and Naruto was so taken aback by how fast Orochimaru heeded his order that he forgot to be furious.

"Okay. That worked... somehow?" Naruto muttered, dubiously.

I moaned from the pain and struggled to sit up, causing Naruto to spin around and immediately drop to his knees in front of me, cupping both my cheeks with his hands.

"Akima! Easy, careful!" Naruto urged, as I allowed Sakura to help me to my feet. Getting my bearings, my eyes suddenly shut and I started shaking violently.

"Akima! What's wrong?" asked a hysterical Sakura, who still had her arm slung supportively around my waist and was still holding onto my elbow. Sasuke came forward recognising the symptoms.

"She's getting another premonition." He said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Honey, what do you see?"

I stopped shaking and focused on something over Sasuke's left shoulder. Sasuke gasped as he saw my sharingans appear in my eyes. This only happened when I was in a murderous mood.

"No! I won't let you take them away from me! They're everything to me! You can't have them!" I bellowed, confusing my team mates. Feeling impossible strength flowing through my veins I harshly shook off Sakura's helping hands and charged off through the woods.

"Akima! Wait!" I heard Naruto shouting behind me. The three shinobi look at my retreating figure as they rose to their feet and rushed after me. They followed me past memory after memory until they found themselves standing where we first started our journey down memory lane: the four stumps.

"What are we doing here?" queried Sakura in a breathless voice. Sasuke was busy scanning the area around him looking for me, but he still managed to answer Sakura's question with a hint of desperate annoyance laced in his words.

"Why are you asking me? I didn't bring us here!" he snapped. Naruto was bouncing around like a rubber bouncy ball. But even he was getting fed up with the obvious questions.

"Hey guys! Stop fighting amongst yourselves and look for Akima!" But they didn't have to look around for very long as the sounds of approaching ninjas helped them find me perched on a nearby stump and waiting impatiently for something. Naruto called out to me.

"Akima, what are you doing?" he yelled.

But then the sounds of a tree trunk cracking and falling was heard and four heads snapped towards a tree that was falling directly into the path of Young Sakura and Young Naruto who were bickering over Young Naruto's poor ability to sense and find Kakashi who had obviously set them a task.

By the looks of it, it was the bell test. A large shadow appeared above the two of them, rapidly growing bigger – causing the young ninjas to stop arguing and look up. When they saw the danger they were in they started screaming.

"LOOK OUT!" bellowed Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke who watched in horror. The tree landed with a crashing boom, causing people to fear the worst.

"Akima! Where are you!" yelled Naruto.

"There she is!" shouted Sakura, pointing at a space not too far from where the tree had fallen. I had appeared out of nowhere and plucked a completely petrified Young Sakura and Young Naruto out of harms way. Young Sakura was crying on my shoulder and Young Naruto had my hand caught in an iron grip, shaking like a leaf.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" squeals Young Sakura in my ear. I flinched and comforted her by patting her on the back soothingly.

"Shh! You're okay. You're okay..." I collapsed onto my back, sending Young Sakura into hysterics and freaking out Young Naruto, who looked at me in horror.

"Miss! Miss! Oh My God! Are you alright?" exclaimed Young Sakura. I groaned in reply. Naruto rushed forward and crouched beside me, pulling me up into a seated position and allowing me to lean against his chest for support.

"Akima? Akima?" Naruto gently shook me to help me focus. Young Naruto frowned at his older counterpart and places his hand on older Naruto's shoulder.

"Akima? But she's over there with Sasuke..." Naruto raises his tear-streaked eyes and follows where Young Naruto was pointing and sees Young Sasuke and Young Akima watching them with bemused horror. Naruto doesn't even flinch when a sharp kunai appears at his throat. I opened my eyes and saw Kakashi standing there glaring at Naruto.

"Who are you? What are you doing with my students?" Kakashi demanded.

It was extremely rare to see Kakashi this mad. But not at all rare to see Kakashi look freaked out. Which was what happened when Naruto raised his head and stared pleadingly with his former Sensai. Kakashi gasped and almost drops his kunai. Suddenly, an all too familiar katana sword levelled itself with Kakashi's throat. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Sasuke threatening Kakashi, which both stunned and impressed Young Sasuke.

"Lower your weapon, Kakashi. He means no harm-" But Sasuke couldn't finish his threat because the vision was wearing off.
I had finally blacked out in Naruto's arms.

I regained consciousness back in the destroyed corridor, where I had dust and small bits of debris blowing directly into my face. I groaned, and sat up unsteadily. Sai and Yamato came over at that moment.

"Akima! You're back. Are you okay?" I could sense Sasuke before he even spoke and I looked up at where he was standing, the cold leer back on his face like before he went into the vision with us.

"She's fine. Sharighan visions drain you for a few moments after waking up."

"Sasuke. I knew it was too good to be true." I struggled to my feet, using Yamato as support. But when I found my bearings and shrugged off his helping hands. I collapsed to the floor again.

"Save your strength, Akima. You're going to need it." said Sasuke, coldly. As I sat awkwardly on the ground, breathing heavily and glaring up at Sasuke.
Naruto and Sakura started to awaken.

"Oh! What happened?" Sakura rubbed her head.

"Where am I?" asked Naruto, who was shaking his head to focus properly. Sasuke answered his question for him, as I glanced wearily over my shoulder at the two of them.

"You're right where you were before Akima took us back to the past, Naruto." I watched Naruto's face twist in shock and then focused on my face.

"Akima!" I struggled to take in a breath as Sakura beats Naruto to me and allows me to lean against her. Naruto glares up at Sasuke who is trying and failing dismally to stop looking concerned for me so he could fool Orochimaru and Kabuto.

"What did you do to her, Sasuke!" But before Sasuke could actually reply to Naruto's unfair assumption, I stepped in to explain.

"Sasuke...hasn't...done...anything...Naruto." I said in between breaths. Then the pain increased, causing me to scream. Sakura panicked.

"Akima!"

Then she and Naruto get thrown aside like a couple of ragdolls by an unknown force. The same control overpowers me before I could escape and pulls me to my feet. Sasuke looks horrified by what is happening to me and for an instant he is acting like the long-lost cousin I had missed the day his parents were murdered. I looked up and found myself staring into the eyes of hell on earth: Orochimaru. I resisted the urge to projectile vomit as Orochimaru stares down at me and suddenly grins, licking his lips obscenely with his purple tongue.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Orochimaru asks nobody in particular. Naruto rushes forward to bravely shield me but is blocked by an invisible barrier. Yamato and Sai are in the same position as him.

"Don't touch her!" Naruto snarled dangerously. Orochimaru barely acknowledges Naruto except to growl at him.

"Silence, you silly boy!" I glared corrosively at Orochimaru, wishing I could move my arms.

"YOU!" I snarled like a lioness. Orochimaru smiled widely.

"Me. I'm glad you recognise me, my love. It's been awhile." I scoffed, bitterly.

"Recognise you? Your face will be permanently tattooed in my mind for the rest of my life as a reminder of the revenge I will inflict on you for the murder of my parents in cold blood!"

Orochimaru pouted and had the arrogance of looking like my words had stung him.

"Oh, come come now. That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" He tutted at me. I struggled uselessly against my invisible bonds.

"You ain't seen nothing yet. Snake boy!" I spat. Kabuto's eyes flashed at my words.

"How dare you speak to Lord Orochimaru like that!" But Orochimaru held up a hand at his minion who was surprised.

"It's alright, Kabuto. It's natural for most relationships to start out hostile." I stared at Orochimaru incredulously.

"What relationship! I told you, I don't want anything to do with you!" Orochimaru lazily waves a hand and I'm instantly silenced.

He slowly approaches me and for a split second I realised I could move my arm – which then I instantly went to strike Orochimaru across the face. But the criminal blocked the movement by grabbing my wrist in an iron grip as he chuckled deep within his throat. Then he slowly started to rotate my wrist, causing me to wince openly and causing Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke pain as they helplessly watched from the sidelines. Orochimaru's cold gaze flicked over my face and settled on my lips and instantly I knew what he planned on doing next. I struggled uselessly as Orochimaru suddenly said:

"Let's see if this will change your mind..." and his cold, slimy lips closed over mine causing me to gag horribly. Naruto snarled angrily and Sakura tried to rush forward to my aid but like Naruto was stopped in her tracks by the invisible barrier. She started pounding desperately on the barrier with her fists.

"STOP IT!" snarled Naruto, already starting to morph into his fox-demon form. Sakura looked pleadingly at Sasuke who was trying to decide if he should help me or save face in front of an already suspicious Kabuto.

"Akima! Sasuke, do something! She's your cousin, whom you claim to love!" Angry tears of frustration started falling down my face as Sasuke finally came up with a plan that would throw both Orochimaru and Kabuto off the scent. But I knew that this was going to be the only time that he would help his former teammates. And frankly, that was good enough for me.

Akima, bite his tongue. Quickly! I'll catch you!

Sasuke thought telepathically to me. Wasting no time, I instantly bit down on Orochimaru's tongue and he released me with a yell of pain. I fell and landed heavily in Sasuke's arms. Naruto and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, but were faced with another dilemma: was Sasuke saving their butts or his? Sasuke grabbed my arms with one of his hands and pulled them painfully behind my back, while grabbing a fistful of my hair with his other hand. Something wet and salty was in my mouth.

Sasuke. I have to spit. I've Orochimaru's blood in my mouth... Sasuke shuddered at the very thought.

God, that's sick! Step down on my foot and I'll release you for a split second so you can spit! I stepped down hard on Sasuke's foot and he yelled in pain, releasing my hair and I turned my head and spat out my mouthful of Orochimaru's blood.

"Yuck!" shouted Naruto, turning green.

"Oh My God!" yelled Sakura.

Sasuke now has me completely restrained against his body. However, he has my head angled towards his mouth so he could whisper in my ear without Orochimaru or Kabuto noticing.

Thanks! I said, telepathically.

Orochimaru wiped his mouth clean of his own blood as he glares at me for the assault. But then cracked an evil smile at me. I frowned, warily.

"Hmmm. It seems I have my answer, and it's not what I expected. Shame, we barely even got to know each other. It would have been wonderful to add you to my collection." He looked affectionately at Sasuke behind me and I felt Sasuke shudder as Orochimaru gave him his orders.

"Do what you wish, Sasuke." said Orochimaru, and returns to his place on the lip of the crater Sasuke had made. A few moments passed and suddenly I felt Sasuke taking one of my hands behind my back in his.

"Do your worst, Sasuke." I said, sourly and waited for the pain to come. But was surprised when instead, I heard Sasuke sobbing into my hair. My eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" I whispered. Sasuke squeezed my hand and I responded when I realised that the last thing Sasuke wanted to do was kill me.

"Shhh! Sasuke, it's alright. We'll think of something." I soothed. But Sasuke tugged painfully on my arm so that I winced.

"Akima, please listen to me. I need to have a longer talk with you, but not here. Not in front of Orochimaru. In a moment, I will have to deal with you. So this is what I'm going to do-"

"What is the freaking hold up?" snapped Kabuto, who was standing impatiently beside Orochimaru who had completely lost interest in what was happening. Sasuke glanced up at Kabuto and flashed his sharingan at him which delivered a painful genjutsu at Kabuto who started writhing in agony. Then he turned back to me.

"I'm listening. What did you have in mind?" I whispered, albeit somewhat hesitantly.

"I'm afraid it's going to hurt." Sasuke promised with some remorse he wouldn't have dared shown or said to anyone else. I shrugged with difficulty.

"As long as we can get out of this without Orochimaru getting suspicious, I don't really care. What is your plan?"

"I'm going to stab you in the stomach. Not too much to kill you. But just enough to wound you." I gulped at the painful prospect. But I knew that what he was going to do wasn't going to tickle no matter how he attempted it. And Sasuke wasn't the type to deal out easy deaths.

"Alright. Do what you have to do. But just realise that Naruto and Sakura will want your ass for doing this." I could picture Sasuke rolling his eyes right now.

"You can let them know that this is just a ruse. I really don't give a fuck what they think of me for doing this." he replied carelessly. I took a deep breath, knowing what strife I was going to be in for, for the next two or so days and turned my head to peck Sasuke on the cheek.

"I'll wait for you to contact me, when it's safe." I said, tears falling down my face. I heard Sasuke sobbing and heaving before answering me.

"Good-bye for now, Akima. And I'm sorry..." I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the critical blow.

I was correct. It was excruciatingly painful: both having to accept the fact that it was Sasuke delivering this blow, and actually feeling Sasuke's sword piercing the soft flesh of my abdomen. But there was something good that came out of this. Before Sasuke stabbed me, he returned the kiss I had given him.

I screamed in exquisite pain and felt my knees buckle as I gagged, dropped to my knees and pitched forward flat on my face like a puppet with its strings cut. I heard the metallic strapping of metal as Sasuke returned his sword to the scabbard.

"I'm so sorry." he repeated and then he returned to his master's side. I heard several things at once after Sasuke went back to Orochimaru's side. First, was the heartwrenching sounds of Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato screaming out my name in horror and outrage. Then, Kabuto saying:

"Finally! Geez, took you long enough, Sasuke."

It was clear he hadn't learned from the last time and I was cheering enthusiastically when he suddenly yelled out in pain and the sounds of somebody hitting the deck, hard. Sasuke had obviously punched Kabuto in his insensitive mouth.

Suddenly, I was in Sasuke's head looking down at the scene before me and hearing his thoughts. Below us was the crumpled body of myself lying face down in the dust. Naruto and his team were still frantically trying to fight the barrier get to me. Sasuke's mouth turned down into a scowl.

Oh, Akima... We felt someone's hand descending on our shoulder and we turned our head slightly to see Orochimaru with an evil grin on his pedo face.

Get your hands off me, you creepy freak!

"Excellent work, Sasuke. Didn't know you had it in you." We tensed up, but resisted the urge to lash out and deck the man beside us.

He's teaching me the skills I need to kill Itachi... We reminded ourselves. On our other side, Kabuto had just gotten to his feet and was nursing a bloody nose. We smirked at this and chuckled.

"Dlad, do find dis iz funny, Saswke." snarled Kabuto, pinching the bridge of his nose and proceeded to heal it with his medical ninjutsu. Naruto's outraged voice attracted us and we looked down to coldly address him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" promised Naruto, shaking violently.

We sneered at his pathetic promise.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Naruto." Orochimaru glanced at us and indicated that it was time to escape. We turned back to the five people down below and watched as they faded from view.

I returned to my body, after silently saying goodbye to Sasuke. I was vaguely aware that I was already cradled in somebody's arms.
Something wet was dripping on my face and something hot and painful was bubbling in my abdomen. My first thought to the wet something on my face was Naruto.

"Naruto..." I croaked. I started shaking in agony. A hand caresses my face.

"I'm here. I'm right here!" I opened my eyes and saw Naruto's anguished face looking down at me. The hot, painful sensation was Sakura, healing the worst of my abdomen with her medical ninjutsu. Yamato was simultaneously inspecting the wound as well.

"She needs immediate medical attention right away. Sakura, can she be moved?"
Sakura shook her head, distractedly answering Yamato's question.

"In a few minutes. I'm trying to stop the worst of the bleeding." Naruto shook his head in disbelief.

"That move was low, even for Sasuke's standards." Sakura nodded. But I intervened.

"It was a ruse. Sasuke only did it to throw Orochimaru off the scent." Everybody looked at me dubiously.

"You sure?" Sakura answered, sceptism thick in her voice. I scowled irritatedly at her.

"He was whispering to me the whole time. And why would he try to kill somebody from his own family who wasn't Itachi?" I winced as Sakura did something to finalise her healing. Sakura rose to her feet and stepped back a bit as she put her gloves back on.

"It's a good point, I guess." Sakura agreed, but there was still some doubt towards my theory. Yamato scooped my body into his arms and got to his feet.

"C'mon! Help me put her on my back. I'll carry her to Konoha." Naruto immediately stopped him.

"No! I'll carry her!" Yamato frowned slightly at Naruto's demanding tone but nevertheless complied with his request.

"Alright then."

Naruto turns around and Yamato carefully places me comfortably on Naruto's back. I hooked my legs instinctively around Naruto's waist and clung gratefully to his shoulders. Immediately, I yawned and pressed my face into Naruto's neck.

"That's right, honey. Go to sleep. We'll be home soon."

I tilted my head up and kissed the back of Naruto's neck in thanks then shut my eyes. But I didn't immediately fall asleep.

"Alright! Now how do we get out of here?" asked Sakura.

"This way. Follow me!" commanded Yamato and I heard the sounds of retreating feet. Suddenly, the wind was rushing past my head at an incredible rate. I groaned in discomfort.

"Don't worry, Akima. Everything will be alright." Naruto whispered.

We could live in hope, can't we?