.

THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED

stfuSPARKS

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 'Swing Life Away' by Rise Against ;)

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Swing Life Away

"Let's compare scars,

I'll tell you whose is worse.

Let's unwrite these pages

And replace them with our own words."

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Sakura threw her head back and let out a broken laugh.

He thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

"Sasuke, do you like me?"

His onyx orbs slightly widened in surprise at the honesty of her words. "Who knows." He said, with a small smirk on his face. "I'll leave that up for you to decide." One of his hands fell onto her hair to play with the delicate pink locks.

"Nothing good comes out of liking me, you know." She told him softly. "Would you still like me if I told you that I've involuntarily destroyed every single man who's fallen in love with me?" She looked away from him in shame. "It's like a curse- you'll only hurt yourself in the end. You should just walk away while you still can."

His eyes narrowed. "Do you think I'm a coward, Sakura?" His tone of voice hardened. "Do you think I'll run away because I'm scared of getting hurt?" His grip on her arm tightened. "Is that what you think of me?"

"It's not a matter of thinking you're scared or not. You're never going to be happy with me." She told him solemnly. Her green eyes looked paler than usual under the moonlight. "Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

"Happiness isn't predefined. People weave their own happiness- I'll find a way to do the same with you."

"There's going to be trouble." She told him, but she couldn't stop the small smile that played on her lips. "Lots of it. Your superiors aren't going to be happy, and the people around me aren't going to be too trusting at first." She paused. "Are you ready for all of that? It's going to be a lot harder than it sounds."

"Aa." He said with a nod.

"I make an annoying partner." She said with a giggle. "I don't know if you'd be able to stand me for more than a couple of days." Her smile slightly dropped. "Every single person I've fallen in love with has slipped away from me. It's like a double edged blade- people get hurt when they fall in love with me and I just always end up broken hearted."

"I don't care."

In the darkness, their hands found each other and their fingers weaved together.

Gaara had slipped out of her grip. Idate had faded away as well.

But this time, she would make sure that Uchiha Sasuke would never let go of her.

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Sasuke wasn't surprised when Naruto's loud voice greeted him as soon as he returned.

"Do you know what time it is?" Naruto exclaimed, immediately jumping to his feet. "Where the hell have you been teme?" He added, pointing an accusing finger at the Uchiha. His voice was loud enough to wake Shikamaru up, who had been napping on the other end of the couch.

"It's none of your business dobe." Sasuke muttered, shrugging his coat off.

"Jesus christ Sasuke, I don't mind if you want to take a late night stroll but try not to wake the whole house up." Kiba miserably said, poking his head out the door to his room.

"Blame it on him." Sasuke said, jabbing a finger towards Naruto's direction. "This idiot yelled at me the moment I walked through the door."

Naruto shot a guilty look towards the extremely irritated and sleepy Kiba. The latter angrily growled, telling the blond to shut up before proceeding to slam the door quite loudly. Shikamaru tiredly sat up, also shooting an irritated glare towards the Naruto.

"Gaara came back." The genius dully informed the raven haired man. "We're going to have an early meeting tomorrow morning to go over our plans. Kabuto thinks that we should pull our first move soon- Orochimaru is starting to get impatient because we haven't had any progress so far."

Naruto tensed up at Shikamaru's words- Sasuke knew exactly what the blond was thinking.

I don't know if I want to do this anymore.

"I need to call a meeting right now." Sasuke flatly stated.

"At this time?" Shikamaru glanced at his wristwatch. "It's one in the morning, Sasuke. I doubt that Kiba and Neji are going to be too happy about being woken up right now." He nervously looked towards the closed doors in the hallway. "And Gaara didn't seem to be in a good mood either. I know he doesn't sleep but it's not a good idea to disturb him at a time like this."

"I assure you, it's important."

Shikamaru sighed. When Uchiha Sasuke said something was important, it probably was. "Well whatever." He said in a defeated tone. "But you can go wake the others up. I'm not going anywhere near those bedrooms."

It took Sasuke less than five minutes to gather everyone into the living room. Despite the fact that Neji did not look too happy and Kiba was downright furious, it had been fairly easy. Sasuke had never requested for an emergency meeting before- so when he did, they automatically assumed that it was something extremely important.

"I hope you have a good reason for waking us up at this time." Neji said, his white eyes glaring at him. "And I also hope that you are aware of the fact that we have an early meeting tomorrow morning."

Sasuke didn't flinch. "I know." He said flatly. "But I probably won't be here by tomorrow morning."

Everyone gaped at him.

"Can you repeat that one more time?" Kiba asked dumbly. "It just sounded like you said that you were leaving."

"I am." The Uchiha declared. "I have decided to abandon this mission. Of course I will not expect any payment at all for my work up until now- just consider it charity work." He wasn't surprised to see that Naruto seemed to be struggling with himself at the back of he room.

"You can't just quit." Kiba spoke up again, looking dumbfounded. "It's not allowed. Orochimaru said there would be consequences if we failed to accomplish this mission."

"Exactly. If we fail the mission." Sasuke pointed out. "I will simply be dropping out. The task of completing the mission or not is up to you- I am merely going to step out. If Orochimaru has a problem with that, I'll deal with it on my own."

"What are your thoughts on this, Captain?" Shikamaru bemusedly asked, glancing at the stoic Hyuuga.

"This isn't funny Sasuke." Neji told him seriously. "Who do you think you're dealing with? If Orochimaru was an everyday petty criminal who was easy to deal with, I would have been smart enough to refuse the mission to begin with. You know he won't be happy, and this isn't something you can deal with alone."

"I won't be alone."

Neji's eyes narrowed. "You know I can't help you if this gets out of hand."

"I won't ask for your help." Sasuke answered him. "I don't expect you to go easy on me if I get in the way. I just expect you to be aware that I'll do the same if it's the other way around."

"It's his decision." Neji finally said with a sigh, turning back towards Shikamaru. "If this is what he really wants to do, I have no choice but to let him leave. There's nothing in the contract that binds me to stop him from leaving. If Orochimaru is unhappy with this decision, he will have to take up with Sasuke himself."

"Good. I'll pack my things and be out of here within the hour." Sasuke said with a nod.

He was about to turn around and return to his room when Naruto stepped forwards, looking much more determined than he had before.

"I could really use the money from this mission..." He started to say. "But I've decided to quit this mission too. I don't think I'm really cut out for this job after all. I'll earn my money getting an honest job." He continued, with a bright smile on his face.

Sasuke incredulously stared at his best friend. "Naruto you..."

"Shut up teme! Don't you even dare think that you're the only one who can play hero right now!" Naruto interrupted him angrily. "Do you really think I can take Sakura-chan's life after getting to know her like a friend? I won't take her life only because I need the money!"

"Don't be an idiot Naruto!" Kiba shouted, his anger spiking. "I wasn't going to say anything because I know Sasuke will be able to take care of himself, but don't even think that you're as strong as he is! Trust me when I say that you're not going to be able to protect yourself from Orochimaru!"

"I'm not as weak as you guys make me out to be. I'll be perfectly fine." Naruto growled.

Shikamaru put his hand on the blond's shoulder. "Naruto, as much as I hate to admit it, Kiba's right. Sasuke has previously worked with Orochimaru before, so he'll probably know how to protect himself. But there's no chance of you being able to survive this by yourself. Your best bet is to just stick with us. I'm not saying that you'll have to kill her- all I'm saying is that you should just stay on our side until this is all over."

Naruto's blue eyes narrowed. "So you're telling me to just sit aside and watch while you guys kill her?" He spat out. "Who do you think I am? I'm not dropping this mission to go hide. I'm going to stick by Sakura-chan's side, even if it means that I'm going to have to fight you!"

"You're choosing a girl over your friends?" Kiba asked in disbelief, a look of hurt flashing through his eyes.

"No Kiba." Naruto shook his head. "It goes beyond that. I'm not choosing her over you- I'm just choosing to do what I feel is right."

"I won't allow it." Neji interjected. "Like Shikamaru said, you're not Sasuke. Even Sasuke's going to have a hard time getting out of this mess. I just know you're going to get yourself killed."

"I'll stay by his side."

Sasuke didn't even know that he had spoken until the words had already flown out of his mouth. Maybe it was because deep inside, he appreciated that Naruto was giving everything up to stick with her as well. Naruto was a warm-hearted person to the core- the polar opposite of himself. If Naruto thought that he was doing the right thing, he probably was. The Uchiha would never admit it, but having Naruto by his side would reassure him a little bit more.

Neji stayed quiet for a full minute, simply staring at the two boys in front of him.

"Do whatever you want to do." He finally spoke, and Naruto's face flooded with relief. "I have no other choice but to ask you to leave as soon as you can." He paused. "Take care of yourselves."

Sasuke smirked at him, while Naruto simultaneously gave him a large grin.

"We'll see you soon."

Without another word, the rest of the boys returned to their rooms, leaving the duo to pack their things.

"Well this was a bit unexpected." Naruto interrupted the silence with a sad smile on his face. "I didn't think you'd step up before I did. It certainly didn't look like you would when we had that talk over coffee- what changed your mind?"

Sasuke chose to ignore his friend as he proceeded to shove the rest of his clothing into his bag. He was secretly glad that he usually didn't pack a large variety of clothing- it made packing so much easier. Unfortunately, Naruto had brought too much and was currently trying to stuff more things into his bag which was about to burst.

"Is it because of her?"

Both boys whirled around to face the red haired insomniac. His question had been directed at neither in particular, but by the way his dark green eyes were intently staring at Sasuke, the answer was obvious.

"I don't see how it's any of your business." Sasuke started to say coldly. "But I'll just tell you so maybe you'll be able to sleep at night. I'm going to stay by her side no matter what happens."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think that you can?"

"She remembers, you know." Sasuke told him, and watched in satisfaction as Gaara's shoulders immediately tensed up. "It's no use hiding it from you, since you'll eventually find out anyways. She remembers what you did to her- she told me all about it in detail."

Naruto was looking extremely confused.

"Impossible." Gaara hissed. "How could her memory suddenly return?"

"It's thanks to you." Sasuke coolly replied with a smirk. "You thought that by killing Idate, she might be able to display some sort of weakness for us to discover. Instead, you just triggered her brain into remembering everything she forgot." He paused for a minute, as the smirk slowly disappeared. "But that was quite low Gaara, even for you. Perhaps there was more to it than simply the mission? Jealousy, perhaps?"

Gaara's fists clenched by his sides. "You don't know what you're talking about, Uchiha."

"I think I do." Sasuke continued. "She told me about how you betrayed her, all those years ago. She stuck by your side, thinking that maybe she could make you human again. But who are we kidding? You'll never be human. It was a mistake for her to open up to you from the start."

"She betrayed me first." Gaara's voice shook. "She and Lee betrayed me."

"You know what the sickest thing is? I think you actually cared about her at one point." Sasuke told him, his face carefully blank. "I vaguely remember you talking about someone all those years ago, when we first met."

Naruto gasped. "I remember too!" He whispered, looking straight into Gaara's eyes. "When we met for the first time, even before we got this mission from Orochimaru- when we were still dealing with small things... when you were different. You weren't always like this Gaara- you were never the most talkative one out of us all, but there was a time when we actually got along with each other. You mentioned a girl to us back then. You said she was your 'important someone'..." His eyes widened in realization. "Were you talking about Sakura-chan?"

"That was all in the past." Gaara said stiffly. "Forget about what I said back then. I was still a fool."

"But you actually sounded happy back then." Naruto said, looking at him sadly. "It's the only time I thought you were happy."

"Happiness?" Gaara's voice was icy. "There is no such thing as happiness in this world. There's only the illusion of happiness created by fools who desperately need a reason to live."

"You're illuding yourself." said Sasuke. "Sakura never betrayed you with Lee. It was all an illusion in your head."

"You're lying!" Gaara roared, sounding furious.

There was something disturbing about seeing the usually stoic man display so much emotion.

"I told you, Sakura told me everything. You were distancing yourself from her because you got distracted by your job- and maybe it's true that Lee fell in love with her romantically, but it was one sided. He just stayed by her side while she waited for you to return home." Sasuke shouted back., growing frustrated.

"A man who knows that his feelings are one-sided is not fool enough to stick by a woman for so long." Gaara spat, looking almost disgusted. "And in my own house! They should have known better- did they really think that I wouldn't have noticed his frequent visits to see her only because I wasn't there to witness it?"

"Gaara, you were the one who knew Lee the best." Naruto said softly. "If Lee was to fall in love with a woman, he would never give up on her- even if it was completely one-sided. It's not hard for me to imagine Lee standing by Sakura-chan's side, even if it was while she was waiting for you."

Sasuke however, had no intentions of letting the redhead off so easily. "Sakura was waiting for you to come back. But even if you cared for her, you didn't even hesitate when you saw that she was one of the targets for our mission, did you? You knew that Lee would try and save her- and at that point, you didn't even care if either Lee or Sakura died, as long as one of them did."

"Women lie to make it seem like it's not their fault." Gaara grit out. "She lied to you, and you fell for it."

"And did it ever occur to you that you were manipulated into believing the wrong thing?" Sasuke told him. Gaara immediately froze at his words. "Let me guess- Orochimaru was the one who told you that Lee was going to your house to see Sakura almost everyday. Coincidentally, it was right before we received the mission to eliminate her. Did it ever even cross your mind that Orochimaru said that only to make you angry?"

Gaara stayed silent.

"I guess not." Sasuke growled. "I guess it was too easy for you to think that they both betrayed you. At least Orochimaru made the right choice- if he had tried to convince Lee that you were betraying him, Lee would never have believed it. He trusted you with his life- something that apparently wasn't the same for you."

Sasuke stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulder as he expectantly looked down at the blond. "Come on Naruto, it's time for us to leave." He said, and the said boy immediately gathered the last of his things to hastily stand by Sasuke's side. "It's too late to go back Gaara. Lee is never going to come back. I'm going to be the one to stand by her side this time- and I'll do it right."

Gaara crumpled to the floor, clutching his head. Naruto shot him a worried look, but Sasuke did not hesitate to walk out the door.

It was too late to feel remorse.

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"I almost thought you wouldn't come."

"Aa."

Sakura's warm smile was enough to release all of his stress as soon as he saw her. Sasuke stood still at her doorway and let the pink haired girl circle her arms around his waist, leaning her head onto his chest as she listened to his quiet heartbeat.

An awkward cough came from behind them. "I don't mean to ruin the moment guys, but I'm kinda stuck outside." Naruto's sheepish grin appeared behind Sasuke's shoulder. "Mind if I come in, Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto!" Sakura's viridian orbs widened at the sight of the blond haired boy. "What are you doing here?" She turned towards Sasuke for an explanation.

"I told him to stop being stupid, but obviously he never listens to me." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "He insisted he come along, and I kind of ended up agreeing to look after him."

"Hey, stop making me sound like I'm a pet!" Naruto protested with a frown.

"Naruto, you didn't have to..." She didn't know how to react. "I don't understand... why would you throw everything away for me?" She whispered, looking pained.

Naruto looked at her gently. "Sakura-chan, getting to know you made me realize that this isn't the job I want to do. Helping you out is the least I could do for you, after everything you've been through."

Sakura didn't particularily understand what he was saying- but she didn't need to. At least not in that moment. All she knew was that they were there for her, and that was all she needed to feel alive again.

"Thank you."

She moved aside, letting the two men enter her modest apartment. She had earned quite a bit of money during her two year stay with the Akatsuki- just enough for her to buy an apartment comfortable enough for one person. It would probably be cramped with the three of them, but it would have to do for now. Sasuke had insisted on staying at her house until this whole ordeal was over- he was positive that she would be attacked in her own home sooner or later.

She hadn't expected for Naruto to stay over too though.

"Hey, hey Sakura-chan, do you have any ramen at home?" Naruto asked, immediately heading towards the kitchen. "Even instant ramen is okay! As long as it's ramen."

Sakura looked through her cabinets. "Well I have tons of instant ramen. You can help yourself if you want, I don't usually eat ramen anyways." She told him. His eyes lightened up as if he had received an early Christmas present.

"Sakura. We have to organize sleeping arrangements."

Naruto and Sakura both froze at Sasuke's words. Sleeping arrangements were something they hadn't even thought about yet. Sakura's bed was barely big enough for two people- one of them would have to sleep on the couch. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on the living room floor for another person to lie down.

"I'll sleep in the bed with Sakura-chan!" Naruto quickly exclaimed. "Since I'm completely pure and have no bad intentions whatsoever- I think I'm the best candidate!"

Sasuke scowled at his best friend. "Don't be stupid, dobe. I was about to suggest that she sleep next to me. I don't even want to think about what you could do, even if your sleep."

"You know what? You guys can take the bed, I'll take the couch." Sakura said nervously, her cheeks slightly pink.

"The two of us could never fit on the bed." Sasuke pointed out. "There's no way two fully developed men could fit together."

Sakura glanced at her bed and begrudgingly had to admit that he was right.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Naruto called out, holding his fist out towards the Uchiha. "Like real men. You and me, right now. Winner gets to take the bed."

Sasuke glared at him. "Agreed." He said, holding his fist out as well.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, the tension getting the best of her.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

She slowly opened her eyes to see who had won and who had lost. Naruto was doing an extremely disturbing victory dance in the middle of the living room, while Sasuke looked infuriated. She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed- she would never admit it out loud, but she had been looking forward to sleeping next to Sasuke's warm body.

Sasuke caught the disappointed look on her face and immediately got to his feet, dragging Naruto behind him. "We'll be right back." He told her, as they disappeared behind the front door. She distinctly heard them discussing outside- Sasuke was doing most of the talking, but she couldn't quite hear what they were saying. There was a moment of silence- and then a very pale looking Naruto burst back into the house.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, I think I'll take the couch." The blond shakily told her, heading towards the bathroom. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go take a very long bath."

Sasuke was smirking when he walked back in, locking the door behind him.

"What did you say to him?" Sakura suspiciously asked.

"Nothing in particular." Sasuke answered with a shrug. "We should get some sleep- it's late and we have to go to school in the morning."

She couldn't argue with that- she suddenly felt extremely tired. Now that she thought back on it, it had been an extremely eventful day. She left a couple of blankets for Naruto use on the couch, and decided that the blond would be fine to figure out the rest on his own as she retreated back to her bedroom. Sasuke was right behind her.

It was hard for her to stay calm as she climbed into bed. The thought of Sasuke lying right next to her made her heart beat wildly against her ribcage. She was positive that he would be able to hear the sound of her heart pounding. She stiffened as he lied down next to her- she had never shared a bed with anyone else before. Even during her stay at Gaara's house, she had usually slept on the couch.

"Relax." He whispered, looking at her. "I'm not going to do anything."

"I know." She nervously replied with a smile. "It's not that I don't trust you."

"Aa." He was quiet for a minute, making her even more nervous.

"I'm not eighteen years old"

She looked up at him in surprise at his sudden confession.

"Wha-?"

"Naruto and I are twenty years old. None of the other guys are eighteen either- we just lied about our age to pretend to be high school students." He paused. "I was born in this city. I'm the last living heir of my family. I own a mansion downtown but I rarely ever go back to live in it. I like tomatoes and hate sweet things."

Sakura realized what he was doing- he was telling her about his actual self. This wasn't the Uchiha Sasuke who was pretending to be a student for the sake of his job- this was the real Uchiha Sasuke, the one she had yet to fully discover. He was trying to take her mind off of the tension so that she could relax.

She closed her eyes, and somewhere in the middle of a discussion about fire and katanas, his voice slowly lulled her to sleep.

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It didn't take a genius for one to realize that the atmosphere in class 308 had visibly changed.

The usual dynamics of the classroom were completely messed up. Sasuke and Naruto, who had never been separated from their four other friends before, were sitting alongside Sakura, protectively glaring at whoever looked her way. Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru and Gaara were pretending to be completely oblivious to this change in seating, while for the first time in years, Sai and Sakura did not sit next to each other.

Sai was sharp and perceptive- it took him less than a second to figure things out.

When Sai stepped inside the classroom, Neji wasn't surprised to see that he didn't go take his usual seat next to Sakura- what did surprise him, however, was that the said boy headed directly towards the Hyuuga's direction, taking a seat next to him. His usual pleasant smile was gone, only to be replaced with a completely unsettling blank face.

"I see things haven't gone as expected." He sat flatly, setting his bag down. "It's obvious that I have been discovered by our target, so I might as well reveal myself to you as well."

Neji was extremely confused. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

Sai turned around to face him. "Sai is a name that has been given to me for the sake of this mission, but you may continue to call me that. I work under Orochimaru- I am the supervisor to this mission alongside Kabuto-san. I have been working undercover as our target's friends for the past three years. Contrary to what she used to believe, I did not know her before her accident. I was required to lie about it to get close to her."

"Supervisor?" Neji's eyes widened. Shikamaru and Kiba immediately looked at him in interest.

"Indeed. I have been observing your progress all this time." He glanced over towards the pink haired girl. "But I have been informed that she has regained all of her memories about the past. Unfortunately, she was aware of my identity before her memory loss so it is safe to say that she is aware of who I am now."

"You were pretending to be her friend this whole time?" Kiba interrupted.

"Indeed." It was almost odd how Sai's tone was so blank. "I tried to eliminate her after your attempt, Neji-san. The car crash should have killed her but it's apparent that her powers somehow aided her, even if they were dormant at the time. The accident caused her powers to activate, so we had no choice but to inject her with our newly developed poison that would affect the part of her brain that contains her memories. Her memories were supposed to be sealed forever, but it seems like her powers interefered once again."

"Wait, so let me get this straight." Kiba said, rubbing his temples. "You were the one who ran her over with a car? And her memory loss wasn't caused by the accident but by some weird kind of poison?"

"Exactly." Sai answered with a nod. "I told her that I was a friend from her past, and I was to stick beside her to observe her powers as much as I could."

Shikamaru was the only one who didn't seem to be surprised. "I suspected as much." The genius said with a shrug. "It wasn't hard to look for Sakura's records before the accident. I found no traces of a 'Sai' from her past. It's like you magically appeared right after she lost her memory- it was too much of a coincidence."

"And you didn't think that this was worth mentioning to us?" Kiba asked him incredulously.

"I was going to dig into it more before telling you guys, but I didn't get the chance." Shikamaru answered. "But now I see that we've been saved the trouble."

"Orochimaru-sama will not be pleased to hear that Sasuke and Naruto have abandoned the mission." Sai flatly said. "We will have to start planning soon. It may take a bit longer than we expected, since we are missing two members."

Kiba cast an uncertain look towards their former partners. "Will there be consequences for them?" He asked quietly.

"That will be up to Orochimaru-sama."

Kiba secretly hoped that they were going to be okay.

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Sakura rushed through the hallways towards the back of the building, hoping that her excuse had been good enough for Naruto and Sasuke to believe it. She probably wouldn't have much time before they would start to suspect.

This better be worth it.

Naruto and Sasuke would both throw a fit if they knew who she was really going to meet during their lunch break- she desperately hoped that they wouldn't find out.

"You better have a damn good reason to call me out at this time." She said coldly, finally reaching the deserted back of the school building. Just as she had expected, he was there waiting for her. She knew better than to trust him at a crucial time like this- but the look in his eyes told her that he wasn't there to hurt her. At least not right now.

"I'm impressed. Naruto was always an overemotional idiot, but I didn't expect Sasuke to cross over to your side too." Gaara said tonelessly.

"Well I'm sure it surprises you that there are people in this world that actually want me to live." She dryly replied, rolling her eyes.

He turned around to face her. "I'm not here to help you." He stated clearly. "But I thought that you should know that by dragging those two idiots onto your side, you're putting them in extreme danger."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, frowning. She was aware of the fact that by abandoning their mission, they weren't going to make many people happy- but apart from that, she couldn't imagine any other reason for them being in danger. "What kind of danger are you talking about?"

"The person who hired us to kill you was Orochimaru." He told her. It was apparent that she didn't recognize the name. "You would never have accepted their help if you knew what kind of person Orochimaru is. I bet you're thinking that they're just going to be scolded or something."

He seemed to read her mind.

"But by turning them against Orochimaru, you're putting them in actual physical danger." She felt her stomach drop at his words. "Orochimaru is not a man to be taken lightly. I would be surprised if Sasuke and Naruto didn't die as a result of their betrayal."

"But it's just a job!" She blurted out. "They were simply paid to do a job! It should be fine if they just don't accept the money right? It's not like they're hurting him or anything."

"You don't understand at all, do you Sakura?" Gaara said with a glare. "This isn't a matter of jobs or missions. It's a matter of disrespecting him- we got away with abandoning the mission once, but he's not going to overlook it a second time. Naruto and Sasuke must be insane if they think they can overpower him."

Why hadn't they told her that? They had briefly talked about the risks that they would face, but they hadn't mentioned anything of the sort. She thought that maybe they had been talking about having to go against their own team. She didn't remember them talking about Orochimaru- not even once.

"Are you saying they could die just because they helped me?" Sakura whispered, feeling horrified.

"I'm not saying that they could die. I'm telling you that they will." Gaara said, his facial expression never changing.

If you fall in love with me, I'll only end up destroying you.

Casting him one last fearful look, Sakura turned on her heel and quickly disappeared behind the corner.

There was a moment of silence as the red haired boy simply stood still, leaning against the wall. "You can come out now." He finally said, looking unimpressed. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice your presence?"

"I must applaud you on your ingenious plan." Sai said, stepping out into the open. "She's bound to give herself up now. I'm starting to think you're smarter than Shikamaru."

Gaara didn't even bother to turn his gaze towards the pale boy.

"I wasn't trying to get her to turn herself in." He stated flatly, turning his back towards Sai. "I no longer care if she lives or dies. However I have been working with Sasuke and Naruto for a couple of years now and I can't say that I'm too keen on seeing them get killed right before my eyes."

Sai looked at him questioningly, tilting his head to the side. "I have always been curious when it comes to 'bonds' you share with other people. It's impressive to see that even you have the ability to create certain bonds with the people around you." He straightened up again. "But why bother warning her? You know as well as I do that no matter how hard they try to hide, Orochimaru will always find them in the end."

Gaara whirled around to viciously glare at the black haired boy. "You may be my supervisor on this mission, but that does not mean that I will respect you. Please stay away from me from now on." He snarled, before marching back into the school.

Sai called out behind him.

"I hope that you will be smarter than Naruto and Sasuke were. It's too late for them, but not for you."

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"Sasuke-teme, don't you think she's taking a bit too long?" Naruto whined, leaning back on his seat. "Who did she say she was going to meet anyways? I thought Sakura-chan didn't have any other friends in school other than Sai."

"Some girl named Nanami." Sasuke said disinterestedly, flipping through the pages of his math book. "What time is it Naruto?"

"Eh?" The blond glanced at the clock hanging at the front of the classroom. "It's twelve forty. Lunch time is almost over." His face scrunched up into a concerned frown as he fidgeted in his seat.

"Hey, isn't that Haruno?" A random student said, staring out the window.

"Yeah duh. Who else do you know in our school who has pink hair?" Another classmate answered him dryly, rolling his eyes. "Looks like she's heading towards that group of transfer students. What d'you think she wants with them?"

Sasuke slammed his book shut, startling a couple of people around him. His head snapped towards the window.

"Beats me. But did you feel the atmosphere in the class this morning? Man it felt super tense, maybe they had a fight or something. She might be heading to apologize- holy shit is that a gun?"

Sasuke and Naruto both jumped to their feet, and ran out of the classroom before the other boy could even answer his friend.

They could only pray that they would make it in time.

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"Are you here to kill me before I do it first?" Neji calmly asked, setting aside the book in his hands to look up at her from his seated position on the grass. He did not seem at all fazed by the sight of the gun in her hands. He recognized it as Naruto's gun- only the blond could have been stupid enough to leave his weapons lying around in plain sight. Kiba, on the other hand had jumped to his feet, his hands immediately reaching for his own weapon. Shikamaru simply warily looked at them from the corner of his eyes.

"No." She breathed, trying not to sound nervous. "I have a question for you instead."

If Neji was surprised at her answer, he didn't show it at all. He encouraged her to continue with a nod.

"Is it true that by helping me out, Sasuke and Naruto have put their lives in danger?"

Neji sighed, getting up on his feet. "I'm not going to lie to you, Sakura-san. Sasuke and Naruto have indeed put their lives in danger with their actions- Orochimaru is definitely not a man to be messed with. He has many connections and will probably not give up until they are either severely hurt of maybe even dead." Her eyes widened in horror at his words. "However it was their own decision. They knew the risks that came with abandoning the mission."

"Are they stupid?" Sakura whispered. "Do they really think they can stand a chance against someone so powerful?"

"That's what I tried to tell them." Kiba said with a frustrated sigh. "But they wouldn't listen. They think they're invincible for some reason."

Sakura thought about how she had gone wrong with Gaara. How Lee had died to protect her. How Idate had died because of her. And now even Sasuke and Naruto...

I am cursed.

Everyone I love will always get hurt.

It took her less than a second to decide.

"Here." She firmly grabbed Neji's hand and made him hold the gun. She put her small hands over his own rough ones, aiming the muzzle of the gun at her chest. "This is my weakness, Hyuuga Neji. I am vulnerable at any time as long as it's someone I am close to."

Neji looked surprised at her statement. "You consider me to be close to you?"

She weakly smiled at him. "I guess telling you about my secret special breakfast that morning wasn't that good of an idea." She said, as her eyes started to tear up.

He stared at the gun in wonder, unable to answer her.

"Oi what the hell are you doing?" Kiba yelped, jumping forwards in surprise. "Have you gone insane?"

She stared back at him in defiance. "Get away from me!" She screamed, her tears finally starting to stream down her face. "As long as I die, Sasuke and Naruto will be fine right? If I die, no one will get hurt anymore. Lee... Idate... It was all my fault!"

Even Shikamaru was starting look concerned, which highly alarmed Kiba. "Wait-" He called out, reaching out towards her.

"For god's sake, don't stop me!" She shouted furiously. "Isn't this your mission? Haven't you been doing all of this to find my weaknesses? Well here you are, I'll just take care of it for you!"

Her grip tightened on Neji's hands.

"Do it." She whispered, looking up into his white orbs. "Do me a favor. Do it for Naruto and Sasuke."

He closed his eyes.

Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

He pulled the trigger.

Goodbye Sasuke.

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Deidara's eyes widened as the coffee mug slipped through his hands and crashed to the floor, breaking into many little pieces. He cursed under his breath as the steaming hot coffee burned the skin on his hand.

"You alright?" Kisame asked, poking his head into the blond's room. "You seem to be pretty spaced out."

"Huh?" Deidara distractedly answered, looking up from the floor. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I guess I dazed out for a moment." He looked out the window into the winter morning. "I just felt like something bad happened for a moment there. I might have been daydreaming."

"Probably." Kisame slowly said, following the blond's gaze. "But you're right. There's something a bit off about today."

'Hn."

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I only wanted to be normal.

That's all I ever wished for.

For me, normality equaled happiness. I knew that I would never be happy for as long my body would hold these powers.

If I had been normal, then maybe I could have saved Gaara. I could have prevented Lee from dying. I could have stayed with Idate. I could have befriended Naruto as a normal high school girl. I could have fallen in love with Sasuke. Everything could have- no, would have been different.

I know that the most poetic thing to say right now would be that I didn't die with any regrets- but I would be lying.

There were so many things that I regretted- from something petty such as stealing my classmate's videogame once to things such as not being able to prevent Lee and Idate's deaths. I regretted not talking to Deidara sooner- we could have solved things so much earlier; I wonder how many amazing memories we could have made? I regretted not meeting Sasuke before- maybe if we had gotten to know each other just a little bit sooner, I could have learned about love.

But my biggest regret- my absolutely biggest regret-

Was being born.

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By the time Sasuke and Naruto got to the school grounds, it was far too late.

Their surroundings immediately turned into chaos at the sound of the gunshot. Students started to scream and flee into or out of the building in a frenzy, trying to figure out the source of the sound. Somewhere within the building, someone was frantically dialing the police.

Neji blankly stared at the weapon in his hands.

"Congratulations." Sai calmly said, walking towards him. The pale skinned boy came to a stop, slowly bringing his hands together to applaud the Hyuuga. "You have finally completed your mission. Orochimaru will be most pleased- maybe you will be in time to lessen Sasuke and Naruto's punishments."

Neji's crystal white eyes widened, as if he had finally realized the calamity of it all. All he could do was helplessly stand there, frozen in place as Sasuke rushed over to the pink haired girl's fallen figure. Blood was staining her shirt, quickly spreading around her body.

"Sakura-" The Uchiha choked out in a tone Neji had never heard him use before. "Stay with me, Sakura." Sasuke continued, frantically grabbing her hand. Naruto joined his side, wordlessly holding her other limp hand.

"Sa...suke..." She was stilll alive. Her weak voice was barely audible above all the screaming. "Na...ruto..." A pained expression overcame her face as she coughed out blood. "So... cold..."

"It's okay, Sakura-chan." Naruto tearfully reassured her, grasping her hand even tighter. "You'll be fine. We just have to fix you up and you'll be as good as new. Just concentrate on us, okay?"

"...Co...cold." Sakura whispered, as her emerald eyes slowly fluttered shut.

Sasuke leaned his forehead onto her own. "Just a little more, Sakura." He quietly said, closing his eyes as well. "Just wait a little more, and the pain will be over."

He stayed in that same position until her shallow breaths turned into pained pants, and her pained pants turned into nothing at all as her breathing finally came to a stop. Her wound kept bleeding, despite the fact that she had released her last breath long ago.

The two boys slowly stood up, releasing her limp hands in the process.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Both onyx and cerulean eyes turned a brilliant shade of crimson.

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"We chase these days down

With talks of the places that we will go.

We live on front porches

And swing life away."

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