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THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED
stfuSPARKS
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 'Pretty Girl' by Sugarcult.
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XIV.
Pretty Girl
"That's what you get for falling again,
You can never get him out of your head.
It's the way that he makes you feel,
It's the way that he kisses you,
It's the way that he makes you fall in love.
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"I hope you don't mind if I crash the party."
Through her helplessness, Sakura caught a full glimpse of Orochimaru for the first time.
He was even more horrid than she had imagined him to be. His skin was a sickly shade of white, almost pale enough to be purple. She was positive that his amber eyes were just like slits- they were staring at her with a newfound intensity. His black hair was long and silky, almost smooth enough to be a girl's. His body was long and slender, just like a snake- she shuddered at the mere sight of him.
So this was the man who had been threatening so many lives around her.
This was the man who wanted her dead.
Sasuke visibly struggled as well, as he tried to hoist himself off by grabbing onto the steel bars. "He found our weakness." He hissed furiously, beads of perspiration rapidly sliding down his face. It seems like our powers don't react well to zirconium."
"What the hell is that?" Kiba asked, with a bewildered look on his face. "Zerco-what?"
"Zirconium." Sasuke repeated, his voice sounding strained. "It's some type of rare earth metal- it's probably affecting Sakura more than any of us because her powers are the most active."
"It's like how Superman was weak against kryptonite." Naruto said with a weak smile. "Pretty clichè, isn't it?"
Orochimaru gave them a sly smirk, holding up a ring in his hand. "I had some of Sakura-chan's blood taken from the school grounds on the day she was shot." He explained, looking extremely self-satisfied. "We tested out different kinds of substances on her blood cells, and noticed that it reacted most violently with zirconium. I am having zirconium fused bullets made as we speak right now- I wonder if she'll still heal after I shoot her with those?" He looked at her small figure being supported by Deidara. "Probably not, judging by her reaction right now. I'm not even touching her with this ring and yet she's already so weakened!" He looked delightful.
Sasuke grit his teeth. The zirconium didn't affect him as much as it did to Sakura, but it still weakened him. It was as if his dormant powers could still feel the power of the metal. "Sakura..." He rasped out, before collapsing onto his knees.
"Get her to safety!" Naruto roared, straining against his own struggles. "You have to get her out of here, you're still in time to protect her!"
Deidara nodded at his words and scooped the girl up in his arms.
"We'll take care of things here." Itachi said, stepping up with Kisame and Sasori by his side. "You and Tobi try to get Sakura out of here. There has to be some way out of here- try to contact Shino to see if he can find one for you."
Orochimaru yawned, looking quite bored. "I'm afraid I don't have time to play with you." He said, nonchalantly waving Itachi away. "Sakura-chan is my main focus- but I assure you that I have someone who will probably entertain you for awhile." He snapped his fingers, and a man they recognized as Kabuto walked in, followed by at least twenty other Sound lackeys.
Sasori narrowed his eyes. "Long time no see, Kabuto. I was looking forward to fighting you again."
"The same goes for me." Kabuto said with a pleasant bow. "You were a formidable opponent back then Sasori. This time we shall see who the strongest one truly is." He glanced over towards Itachi and Kisame. "It's a shame I won't be able to fully concentrate on you. I'm afraid I'll have to take care of all three of you at once."
"Get out of here!" Kisame roared as soon as he realized that Orochimaru wasn't going to fall for their trick.
"No!" Sakura weakly protested as Deidara lifted her up. "I... I can't leave Naruto... and Sasuke!"
The color of her eyes kept on flickering back and forth between green and red as she struggled to regain control of her power. She grit her teeth in frustration.
"I'll kill Naruto first." Orochimaru bemusedly thought out loud. "And then Sasuke-kun. I'll save you for last Sakura-chan; I'm sure you'll show us an amazing finale." His amber eyes stared at her in expectation. "This will be fun."
She felt fear course through her blood at his words. Naruto would die. Sasuke would die. She would die. And after the three of them were dead, everyone else she ever cared about would probably all be dead too. All of this because some stupid ring stopped her from using her powers.
Was this really all she could do? Was she this useless without her powers? She had never stopped to consider how life would be without her strange perks. For the past three years, her powers had always saved her in difficult situations- no matter what happened, she had depended on them without even thinking twice. Yet- now that she was really rendered powerless, she had to stop and wonder if she as a person- if Haruno Sakura was really this weak. She had always felt somewhat cocky and superior to other people when fighting with her powers. She thought that no one would ever be able to fight against her- but here she was, finally facing someone who could overpower her strength.
Was this really how it was all going to end? She briefly thought back to her mysterious encounter with Lee and Idate in that endless white place- she couldn't be sure if it had actually happened, or if it was all in her head. She would never know in the end- but she knew that they spoke the truth. Was this how she would let Lee and Idate's sacrifice go to waste? It all just seemed so unfair.
No, this time she wouldn't give up.
She would fight him.
She would fight anyone who would try to harm her friends.
That's when she felt it- she felt the true potential of her power rush through her entire body. Deidara immediately let go of her as he felt something akin to electricity shock his body. He didn't have to worry about dropping her however- she immediately landed gracefully on her feet, a slightly pink aura surrounding her entire body. Her eyes were shut in concentration as she slowly straightened up.
When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer Haruno Sakura.
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Kakashi panted, landing with a wince on the other side of the clearing. His knee felt funny- he was pretty sure that his kneecap was dislocated. It was worth it though- Zetsu and Kakuzu were currently lying unconscious a couple of meters away from him. He would have killed them off, but Hidan kept on intercepting all of his tries.
"I may not fucking love the guys," Hidan said with a pant, wiping away the blood dripping down his brow. "But I won't let them die against some asshole like you." He grimaced as he picked up his scythe again.
It was like this guy was invincible, Kakashi noted silently. Hidan had sustained an equal amount of damage as the other two men, but he was still standing and able to attack. The grey haired man wasn't usually impressed easily- but he had to admit that Hidan was a formidable opponent.
"It's no use defeating me now." Kakashi said lightheartedly, betraying none of the panic that he felt inside. "Orochimaru will destroy your friends, and you will be next. You should just save yourself the pain and accept the painless death I'll grant you right now."
Hidan threw his head back and laughed, as several silver strands came loose from him slicked back hairdo to messily hang over his forehead. "Are you kidding me?" He asked in disbelief, giving the other man a sadistic grin. "I live for the fucking pain."
Kakashi couldn't help the slight shiver that went down his back. His current opponent was definitely no ordinary man- there was something extremely eerie about him.
"Jashin-sama will be pleased." Hidan spoke up again, licking the blood off his lips. "You have been a powerful opponent. I will make your death as painful as possible to make you a special sacrifice for my god! You should be honored!"
Kakashi jumped away just in time as Hidan's scythe implanted itself in the ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he aimed a kick towards the sadistic man with his good leg, feeling satisfied as his foot collided with Hidan's neck. Hidan flew back a couple of meters, losing his grasp on the still implanted scythe.
"Fuck." He cursed, getting back on his feet. "That felt good."
"All the people around you will die." Kakashi said quietly, ignoring the other man's crude words. "Is that fine with you?"
Hidan's grin slowly disappeared. "They can take care of themselves." He said with a snort, looking unamused. "Especially with Pinky on their side."
"What would you think if I told you that Orochimaru found a way to weaken her?"
Hidan shot him a strange look. "And what would you fucking think if I told you that you have to see Pinky in her fucking 'crazy mode' in order to see how crazy she really is?" He retorted back, rolling his violet eyes. "Don't play shitty mind games with me, they don't work."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "'Crazy mode'?" He echoed, tilting his head to the side.
Hidan let out a laugh. "Are you fucking kidding me? You're trying to kill her but you don't even know about her crazy modes?" He brought a hand up to rub his smooth chin. "Well I guess it makes sense though. It's not like anyone ever survived that shit. Holy shit Pinky's going to massacre Orochimaru. I wish I was there to fucking see it."
Kakashi was starting to feel extremely confused. "I'm afraid I'm still not following you."
"You don't need to. Pinky will be swimming in your guts before you even realize it."
At the time, Kakashi had no way of knowing that Hidan's words were no lie.
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Deidara had always known that Sakura was out of the ordinary.
Ever since he had laid eyes on her from the bus from that rainy day, he had always known that she was special. Of course, he would find out just how special a short time later.
He had never questioned her powers. He had always accepted her for who she was. He had loved every single part of her as his own flesh and blood- but he still couldn't stop that rush of fear that had overcome his body when Sakura had displayed her 'crazy mode' for the first time in his company.
He would never forget that day- and he had a slight suspicion that Sasori would never forget either. It happened for the first time approximately two months after she had joined. They had been assigned a simple mission- they were to go check out the assets of a certain company who wanted to do business with the Akatsuki. All they really had to do was confirm that the company was really earning as much money as they said they were. It wasn't their first mission of the sort- Leader had been giving them all sorts of easy missions since Sakura had joined. She had never tortured or killed before, so it was only natural that they would wait for her to grow up a little more before actually sending her off on such missions.
It was safe to say that the mission did not go as planned.
They had been tricked. Under the pretense of wanting to do business with the Akatsuki, several of their enemies had been waiting for them in the empty building, waiting to kill them off. Unexpectedly being thrust into danger, Sakura, Deidara and Sasori had no choice but to fight for their lives as countless people tried to kill them. There were gunshots coming from all directions, blades swinging in an attempt to strike them. It was absolute chaos-
And it was in that situation that Sakura was forced to make her first kill.
They had been dreading that moment. Females were usually more sensitive when it came to killing people in cold blood, and Sakura was still a teenager. They had no doubts that killing someone would absolutely horrify her and put her into shock, scarring her for life-
But it was the opposite.
The moment a man lunged onto her, Sakura grabbed the nearest thing she could- a knife laying abandoned on the ground. The previous owner of the knife had been taken care of by Sasori and was currently laying dead next to it. Squeezing her eyes shut, she had thrust the knife upwards, only to impale her attacker. Blood dripped down the handle of the knife, slowly staining her small, white hands. Deidara would never forget the way she simply sat there and watched the crimson liquid drop down onto her cloak.
That's when it happened.
Her eyes momentarily flashed a darker shade of red before she let out a long, sinster laugh. Within less than five minutes, she had slashed through every single one of their enemies with the same knife, creating a huge bloodbath. He would never forget the way in which she danced around the dead bodies with an extremely content smile on her face, basking in all of their blood. He had never seen her look so happy before.
But this wasn't Sakura.
This wasn't the sweet girl she knew.
A sick and twisted part of him couldn't help but think that she was beautiful. The way the blood stained her pale, milky skin was absolutely breathtaking, and even the way the color crimson matted down her lovely pink locks was captivating. The way she simply laughed and danced around was beautiful in its own dark way.
After that, she had collapsed and returned to the normal, sweet Sakura they all knew. She had no memories of killing anyone at all, and Deidara was secretly relieved.
It didn't stop there though- on several occasions after that, she had gone into what Deidara would refer to her 'crazy mode' whenever her power happened to overwhelm her body. No one would ne able to stop her- and time after time he would have to witness that beautiful yet twisted side of Sakura once again. Sometimes, he felt like he was watching someone else entirely.
He was grateful that it didn't happen often- but he knew that it was only a matter of time before that very darkness would consume all of her forever.
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Sakura stared around at the room in awe, as if she was seeing every single one of them for the first time.
She blinked once, twice.
Her eyes were no longer green. They weren't their usual shade of bright red either.
No. It was that same peculiar color that they had seen on her on that fateful day at the school grounds, that unique color of dark red mixed in with gold flecks- the eyes that could almost kill with a glance. Orochimaru stared at her new feature in awe, not daring to say anything to break the magical silence that had covered the room.
She slowly flexed her fingers, watching her hand in fascination as she felt the power rush freely through her. This was the moment she had been waiting for throughout her entire life- she was finally complete. Her powers were finally fully unleashed, and she no longer had to struggle to control them. She felt as if though her powers would listen to any command given- this feeling of satisfaction was almost like a drug.
Deidara, however had seen those eyes time and time again. It was the eyes that appeared when she went into her 'crazy mode'- but he had a feeling that this time it was much bigger than anything else he had previously experienced with her before. Kabuto and his twenty minions stood still, as if they were waiting for Orochimaru to change his orders.
One of the brave men behind the grey haired man stepped up and immediately shot at her. This time, her red barrier did not appear. However, it took one look from her strange eyes for the bullet to slow down in mid-air, only to be shot back towards where it had originated. The man was dead even before his body hit the floor- the bullet had gone straight through his skull, in between the eyes.
The pink aura around her flared as she snapped her head around to stare at Orochimaru.
"You're the one that wants to kill me." She slowly said, looking almost fascinated.
"So beautiful." Orochimaru whispered, his amber eyes never leaving her petite figure. "So this is your true form as a Damned. I thought I'd never see it in person. I never imagined it to be so... perfect."
Her eyes slowly narrowed. "I am not an object for you to observe whenever you want to. You have messed with the wrong person, Orochimaru." Her voice was cold, light. It was a voice Sasuke nor Naruto had ever heard her use before- and it was one that Deidara had desperately hoped to never hear again.
"Don't you understand?" Orochimaru exclaimed, raising his arms above him. "You could rule the world with your powers! Every single person in this world is at your mercy when you are in that state! You could have anything you ever wanted... you could join my side and we would be invincible!"
Sasuke felt sick at hearing his words.
Orochimaru had finally gone crazy. His thirst for power had completely overcome his body, and he was now under the twisted conviction that he could somehow rule the entire world. What had started out as a a mere need for a little bit of power had become something completely insane. Orochimaru had lost his sanity somewhere down the road to accomplishing his dreams.
Deidara tried to bend the steel bars, but to no avail. "You have to get out of here, right now." He said, wiping the sweat off his brow. "Trust me, you don't want to be here to witness this. You'll be of more help if youre out of the way."
"Stand back." Kisame said with a nod, and swung his giant sword at the cage. With one swift motion, the bars were sliced, making it possible for Sasuke and Naruto to escape. The two weakly made their way out of the steel bars with the help of the blond Akatsuki member. "Get out." Kisame told them. "And don't even think about looking back."
Sasuke stopped to straighten up. "What about Sakura?" He sharply asked, casting a look towards the pink haired girl.
Deidara shook his head. "That's not Sakura." He quietly said, his blue eyes never leaving her.
"What do you mean she's not Sakura?" Sasuke angrily asked, feeling his temper quickly rise.
"It's happened before. Some kind of weird force overcomes her and she changes." Sasori explained blankly.
"But this time, it's different. I don't think she'll ever be herself again." Deidara said, his expression hardening. "She's reached a point in which she can't turn back anymore."
"That's impossible." Sasuke heard himself say, as his entire body went numb. "She's still Sakura, no matter how you look at it. She can't just suddenly change."
"You should leave before you disappoint yourself even more, Uchiha Junior." Kisasme said and gave Sasuke a rough push. "Trust us when we say that it won't be easy on your heart."
"No way!" Naruto feebly interrupted. "I can't believe you'd just give up on her like that! We believe in Sakura-chan! We'll bring her back, I know we can."
Deidara felt a surge of fury overcome him. "You think we haven't tried?" He hissed in anger. "Do you really think that this is the first time this happens? Do you really think that we abandoned her every single time? Don't act like you're her new best friend kid, you don't know her like we do. You haven't been by her side for longer than a month- who are you trying to kid? More than anyone..." He broke off, looking pained. "More than anyone, we care for her. More than you could possibly imagine."
Naruto was at a loss for words for a moment. "But if you really love her that much..." He choked out. "Then why did you give up on her?" He shook his head in disbelief. "If it was me, I'd never give up on her, no matter how many times I failed."
"We gave up the moment we discovered that she isn't Sakura-chan." Deidara murmured, lowering his eyes.
"You keep saying she isn't Sakura, but how would you even know for sure?" Sasuke furiously asked him.
Deidara stared straight at him. "Because Sakura-chan would rather kill herself than harm her own friends."
Before Sasuke or Naruto could ask what his words meant, Deidara and Sasori finally showed them.
Naruto had to stifle a scream.
The secret of the two Akatsuki members was finally revealed.
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"I have to admit Gaara, I was pretty surprised when you showed up at my doorstep."
The redhead did not say a word as his older brother handed him a glass of water. Kankuro sat across from him, taking a sip of beer as he gave Gaara a wistful smile.
"It's been years and you haven't changed at all." He said with a sigh, pausing to light up a cigarette. "Temari and I almost thought you were dead, you know? You could have at least called to let us know you were safe. Temari almost cried, and you know how tough she is."
Gaara's eyes did not waver. "The two of you have always despised me. Why would you even care if I was dead or alive?"
Kankuro frowned. "We never despised you, Gaara." He slowly said. "I'll admit that we were always a bit scared of you, but that's a far cry from the definition of despise. You're still our little brother- how could we ever hate you?"
Silence fell upon the two siblings when Gaara chose not to answer him.
"What brings you here?" Kankuro finally asked, breaking the silence. "I know for a fact that you would never come find me unless you had no other choice, so would you care telling me why you're here?"
For a moment, Kankuro thought that Gaara was going to give him the silent treatment once again. He was about to give up, when his brother finally spoke up. "Six years ago, Sakura first came to stay at our house." He said with a blank face. Kankuro knew better than to interrupt him at this point. "I will never know why, but she stayed by my side. I know I'm not a good person, and I know I am not easy to get along with. Why would someone like her bother wasting her time on someone like me?"
"Maybe she saw something in you that no one else saw." Kankuro quietly said.
"I should have trusted her." Gaara flatly confessed, with a strange look on his face.
Kankuro looked up at him in surprise.
"Because of my lack of trust, Lee died. Once again I lost everything in my life." He paused, as his dark green eyes stared at his brother. "I never thought I'd be seeing her again, but once again she's here. Is fate trying to play a joke on me?"
"I think," Kankuro murmured. "That fate is trying to tell you that it's not too late to fix your past mistakes." He slightly smiled when he saw Gaara's shoulders immediately tense up at his words. "I think that this is fate's way of telling you that you have messed in the past, but you can do it right this time."
"But Lee is already dead." Gaara's voice was hollow. "How will that ever go away? No matter what I do, he will never come back to life."
"Listen Gaara." Kankuro's voice was a little bit more stern this time. "I don't know what exactly is going on in your life, but I'm not dumb. I know that Sakura's life is in danger for some strange reason- you may not be able to bring your friend back to life, but you're still in time to save another one."
Gaara contemplated over his brother's words. "If you were me, would you go save her right now?"
"Without a doubt." Kankuro said with a nod.
Without hesitating, Gaara quickly stood up from his seat and started to walk away.
"Then I must go do one more thing, before it really is too late."
"Will you come back to see me again once it's all over?"
"..."I'll think about it."
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Sasuke usually prided himself in the fact that he was able to keep him composure in most situations.
However, there was no possible way that he could stop his jaw from dropping open when Deidara and Sasori finally revealed their secrets to the rest of them. Kisame had the decency to look away as soon as Deidara pulled back his bangs.
Sasuke had never really paid attention to the fact that Deidara usually covered his left eye with his long, blond bangs. He had shrugged it off as some kind of strange fashion statement- he had never bothered to read into it much more. However, he finally realized why the blond kept his eye covered at all times- it wasn't even there in the first place. Instead of a sky blue eye, a metal scope was planted into the socket in its place. It made strange whirring sounds as its focus constantly adjusted, continuously zooming in and out.
In the meantime, Sasori had raised one of his hands towards his face. Sasuke briefly remembered Sakura telling him about how it was impossible for Sasori to look so young when he was much older than the rest of the members. On the outside, his skin was almost porcelain-like and unmarred- but he pulled on the skin on his cheeks and Naruto almost screamed when he saw that the skin came off. A patch of horribly burnt and scarred skin lay underneath it, as Sasuke finally realized that the face they had grown accustomed to seeing on the redhead was fake. It was an extremely thin layered mask, molded perfectly to Sasori's features.
"Sakura-chan... she w-would never..." Naruto started to stammer, but he could not bring himself to finish his sentence.
"You're right." Sasori flatly told them. Sasuke tried to look away from the horribly scarred skin that was finally visible to them, but he found it difficult to do. "Sakura would never hurt her friends."
"Then... how?" Naruto whispered in horror.
"Can't you see?" Deidara seethed. "It's because that girl right now is not Sakura-chan!"
And Sasuke finally understood what he was saying. It didn't matter that he hadn't known Sakura for a long time, and it didn't matter that he wasn't her best friend like they were. He knew who she was, and he was certain that Sakura would never ever hurt her friends. She was a girl who had accepted her own death in order to protect the people around her- the mere thought of harming the people she knew would hurt her.
And so the notion of Sakura hurting Deidara and Sasori- two of the people she treasured with all her heart- was absolutely ridiculous. Deidara was right- the Sakura he knew would rather kill herself before laying hands on her friends.
The horrifying sight in front of them, this evidence that she had hurt them in the past- it wasn't just harm. It went much deeper than that- this was absolute torture.
Naruto still refused to believe it. "It must have been an accident, she would never-"
"Do you need me to tell you what she did to us?" Deidara hissed, grabbing Naruto by the shoulder. "All we did was ask her to return to normal. She laughed at us, before she tore my eye out. You know what she said to me? She said, 'The next time you ask her to return again, I'll rip your other eye out so you'll never see her again.' She ripped my eye right out of its socket, without even hesitating. Then she started to play with is as if it was a toy."
Naruto didn't want to hear anymore, but Deidara was already on a roll. "Oh and you should have seen what she did to Sasori," He continued, as his anger deepened. "Did you know that 89% of Sasori's body suffered from third-degree burns? His actual body is an absolute sight to see. What you see now isn't even a tenth of the actual horror- he hides it by covering his body with some kind of thin layered suit and mask- almost like a puppet, wouldn't you say?" He let out a hollow laugh. "She set him on fire. All he did was tell her that she wasn't the real Sakura- that she was ugly when she acted like that, and she asked him if he wanted to be ugly forever."
"Do you still think that she's the Sakura-chan you know?" Sasori quietly asked.
This time, Naruto was speechless.
"B-but... she's going to return to normal right? This... this is only temporary... right?" He finally found his voice as his blue eyes stared up at the two Akatsuki members with the slightest trace of hope.
Once again, Deidara turned his gaze over towards the pink haired girl.
"She always goes back to normal in the end." He quietly murmured. "But this time... I'm afraid this time... it's going to be different."
Sasuke's heart immediately dropped at his words. Naruto let out a muffled sob, turning away from the girl who was no longer Sakura.
"We always knew it was going to happen one day. We just didn't think it was going to be so soon." Sasori's tone was carefully blank.
"Her powers... they were always going to be the death of her." Deidara slightly choked on his words, before turning away as well. "They were bound to take over her one day."
"There has to be a way." Sasuke's throat felt dry as he spoke. "There has to be a way we can bring her back. This is Sakura we're talking about- I'm sure she's still in there somewhere."
Deidara shook his head. "Contrary to what many people think, we looked into her powers as a Damned when she first joined us. We couldn't let such a peculiar power just slip through our hands- so we researched about all the past vessels of these powers. Most of them were just killed even before their powers were awoken, or they were killed as soon as they started to display strange symptoms... but the few that did survive to awaken their powers..." He couldn't continue.
"They all went insane in the end." Sasori finished for him. "The Damned powers are immense- much more than we can even imagine. It is impossible for a human body to contain all of that power for long periods of time. At first, the powers remain dormant. Then, they slowly start to activate. By the time they have reached their full potential, the human vessel is no longer the same. The vast amount of power corrupts the brain, leading them into insanity."
"Is that what's happening to Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered. "Is she becoming crazy?"
Sasori did not even flinch at his question. "We have observed her for an entire year." He explained. "After she finally started to learn how to somewhat control her power, she started to go into what Deidara called her 'crazy modes'. It would happen whenever her powers would overload, causing the insanity to temporarily take entire control of her mind. There are many forms of insanity- in Sakura's case, she developed a double personality within her."
"She called her 'Inner Sakura.'" Deidara finally spoke up again. "During the first times, she wasn't even aware that this was happening, but after several times, she started to realize that there was slowly another being growing inside of her. I guess in a way, it delayed her insanity from being displayed on the outside. When Sakura finally told me about Inner Sakura, I realized what was happening."
"So... is she... Inner Sakura?" Naruto asked cautiously.
Sasori nodded. "It's the only name we have for her. We always knew that one day Inner Sakura would completely take over. It was obvious- every time Sakura entered her 'crazy mode', Inner Sakura took over for longer periods of time. She once warned us that one day, Sakura would disappear for good."
"So is there really nothing we can do?" Naruto choked out.
"The only thing we can do is get the two of you to safety. That's what Sakura-chan would have wanted." Deidara's face softened.
Naruto shakily took a step forwards, but Sasuke refused to budge. "Stop talking about her like she died." He flatly said, glaring at them. "She's not dead. She's not gone yet. We can still find a way to save her."
Kisame finally decided to interrupt their conversation. "Trust me kid, Deidara and Sasori tried all sorts of things in order to find a cure for her. If they haven't found one yet, I don't see how you can."
They didn't have time to continue their conversation- they were all distracted by a loud crash on the other end of the room. Sasuke turned around just in time to see Sakura let out a beautiful laugh as she crushed one of the guard's necks with the least amount of pressure in her hand. She tossed him aside, before moving on to the rest of the guards that Kabuto had brought with him.
"Trust me, you're not going to want to see this." Kisame said with a grimace. "Listen to my advice- get out of here, now."
Before either of them could move, the pink haired girl snapped her head around to look at the group of young men standing near the doorway. Deidara froze as she took a couple of steps towards them, staring at one boy in particular in awe.
"You're Sasuke." She whispered, as her hand ghosted over his cheek. "It feels so unreal to see you for the first time with my own eyes. So you're the man Sakura fell in love with..." She studied every inch of his features with interest. "She's fallen so hard for you, it's almost painful to watch."
The raven haired boy didn't even budge as she grew closer to him.
"I must say, Sakura tastes aren't all that bad." Inner Sakura said with a giggle, as her lips dangerously hovered over his own. "You're quite the handsome boy. Gaara and Idate were alright, but they were so damn boring!" She twirled a strand of pink hair around her fingers. "But I could get used to you, Uchiha Sasuke. Why don't you join me? I'm still physically your same Sakura." She winked at him.
"You're not Sakura."
Her dark red eyes dangerously narrowed at his words. "So fucking what?" She crudely retorted, stepping back again. "She's always been so weak anyways."
"How long have you been inside her?" Sasuke quietly asked.
Sakura let out a light laugh. "Oh I've been inside of of her since the very beginning. I've always been hidden in the back of her head, watching but never taking over. It wasn't until she finally started to use her powers that I finally found an opening to take over- it was never for long periods of time, but I was always patient. I knew that my time would come sooner or later." A smile graced her lips. "And here I finally am."
"And now you have to leave. That body isn't for you to use." The Uchiha's voice was firm.
Sakura faked a hurt look as she inched closer to him. "It's still me Sasuke," She breathed into his ear. "Won't you stay with me?"
"Enough."
Deidara's voice interrupted her little attempt at seduction. "You're not Sakura." He spoke again, regarding her with cold, distant eyes. Inner Sakura's eyes immediately lightened up as she saw him.
"Dei-chan!" She squealed, jumping onto him. "It's been so long since I've last seen you! You haven't changed at all!" She beamed at him as she pulled back. "Is your eye doing okay?" She casually raised an arm to sweep his bangs away. He jerked away from her touch as if her fingertips were infected, turning his face away from her. "Didn't I apologize last time?" She asked him, looking hurt. "You can't stay mad forever, you know."
"I hate you." He grit out angrily. "I hate your guts."
"No you don't, silly." She said easily, raising an eyebrow at him. "Of course you don't hate me."
And deep down, he knew he didn't. He couldn't.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto weakly asked . "Is that you?"
She whirled around to face him. "You must be Naruto," She said in an awed tone. "I've always wanted to meet you- Sakura was right, you are like the sun. Such a bright disposition! How are you always so cheery?" She walked up to his and grabbed one of his cheeks. "You're cute too- do you want to join me as well?" She sweetly asked him.
"J-join you in what?" Naruto stammered, caught in her gaze.
She gave him a strange look. "In destroying all the past traces of Sakura's life, duh." She flipped her hair back. "So that I can take over this body and start an entire new life as myself." She shot him anoter sweet smile. "I'm not the same as her, you know. I've seen the way you look at me- I can ditch Sasuke and have you stay by my side instead. We could be together forever."
Naruto's cheeks burned as he refused to look at both her and Sasuke. "I can't." He mumbled. "I would never do that to my best friend."
Sakura's shoulders slumped as her smile immediately disappeared. "How bo-ring." She whined, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, no fun at all. Sakura has some handsome friends but they're all so dull." She finished her sentence with a sigh. "I guess it's only me and you, right Dei-chan?" She winked at the blond boy.
"How many times will I have to reject you until you understand that you'll never have me?" Deidara seethed.
"I don't understand any of you!" Sakura cried with a pout. "All of you want to stay by her side when she needs it. Why is it that no one ever wants to follow me when I want to do the same?"
"Because you'll never be her." Sasuke quietly told her.
Sakura's expression immediately darkened. "When will you idiots understand that she's never coming back?" She shot at him. "You might as well move on and stay with me now. I made sure that she'll never take control again." She gave him a coy smile. "I promise you that I'll make you happier than she ever did."
Her gaze shited towards Sasori. He hadn't said anything ever since she had approached them- he had only been staring at her intently with his honey brown eyes. "I have to say Sasori, you still look kinda handsome." She started to say, looking thoughtful. "But we all know that you aren't under that mask, right? Deidara forgave me, but I don't think you ever did. You never looked at Sakura in the same way after that incident. Do you hate her?"
His eyes only narrowed at her last question.
"Sasori could never hate her." Deidara answered her. "You don't know what you're talking about."
Sakura shrugged her shoulders, turning back to Sasuke. "So what's it going to be, pretty boy? Are you going to join my side?"
"You must be deluded if you think I'll be going anywhere with you."
She didn't look the least fazed. "It was worth a try." She said casually, before walking back towards Orochimaru. "You're sorely mistaken if you think you're going to kill this body. I'll make sure you're in pieces before you can even raise your weapons." Her voice was cold again, as the gold flecks in her irises flashed dangerously. "I've waited for too long to gain control of her. I won't let this chance slip by again."
Orochimaru smiled at her. "We could be great together, Sakura-chan. You and I could rule the world if we wanted to. Why not join forces with each other?"
Sakura sneered at him, and his smile immediately disappeared. "Yeah right, rule the world with you?" She let out another tinkling laugh. "I could do that crap alone if I wanted to. It's too much pressure, and I quite like the world how it is, so I think I'll leave it alone for now."
"That's a shame." Orochimaru muttered, looking extremely disappointed. "We could have done great things together. You leave me no other choice..."
"What are you going to do? Kill me?" She scoffed. "I'm not the same as Sakura, old man. I am much powerful than her- my powers have no limits. If you think that your stupid zirconium ring is going to affect me like it did to her, you're highly mistaken. That stupid piece of metal does nothing to me." As if to prove her point, she raised her right hand towards him as a green glow emitted from her fingertips. The ring immediately flew off of Orochimaru's finger and into the air, floating around right before her eyes. Her eyes narrowed before her hand closed into a fist, and the ring slowly disintegrated into dust right before their eyes.
Sasuke and Naruto immediately felt the pressure lift from their shoulders as the ring was destroyed within less than a second.
Orochimaru was speechless as his only weapon against her disappeared. He immediately snapped out of his friendly mode. "I've had enough of this!" He snapped, whirling around towards Kabuto and his remaining lackeys. "I want you to kill her, right now! It doesn't matter what methods you use, as long as she's dead!"
The men shuffled around, looking insecure. No more was particularly keen on attacking her after her small display of powers- they all looked like they wanted nothing more than to go home right now. "What are you waiting for?" Orochimaru snarled again. "I don't pay you guys to stand around all day!"
One of them finally gathered up his courage and charged at her. The rest of them followed his example.
That's when the bloodbath finally began.
Sakura's pointer finger glowed green, and her bloodthirsty red eyes glinted as she made a slicing motion with her hand when one of the men jumped onto her with an axe in his hand. The others could only watch in horror as her glowing finger acted like a sharp blade- an ugly, deep gash appeared in her attacker's chest. He screamed in agony, before collapsing on the floor, slowly dying out in a pool of his own blood.
Several gunshots were heard as the men with firearms tried to shoot her again. Once again, her barrier didn't appear- instead, it only took one look of her eyes for the bullets to stop in midair and make a 180 degree turn, implanting themselves into her opponents' chests.
She made the next move this time- she jumped into the group of remaining thirteen men and started to slash around. Her grin grew wider and wider as more blood stained her hands, spurting from her victims' wounds.
Deidara saw it once again- he recognized her dance, the one where she gracefully maneuvered her petite body to avoid all the incoming blows. Her body moved swiftly as her hand went up and down, almost with a rhythm as the green glow enabled her to cut through flesh and limbs. Her beautiful white skin again was once again marred with blood, as she let out a maniac laugh. She danced through the bodies, weaving in and out of them as she relished hearing their screams.
She danced and danced until at last, they were all dead. Until she was the only one left standing in the sea of blood that surrounded her.
Kabuto took a few steps back in horror.
"O-Orochimaru-sama, we can't possibly defeat her right now. I suggest we retreat now and attack her later when we'll be more prepared." The grey haired man stammered fearfully.
Orochimaru looked absolutely livid. "Why are all of you absolutely useless?" He hissed, as his amber eyes narrowed down. "I refuse to let this chance escape!" He whipped out his gun and aimed directly at Sakura's head. "Everything's going to end right now."
"You think a gun can hurt me?" Sakura exclaimed delightfully with a laugh. "You must be out of your mind."
Kisame quietly gave Sasuke and Naruto a push. "Go now." He muttered quietly. "This is your last chance to run away from this all."
Before Naruto or Sasuke could even answer him, Sakura's head snapped towards them as a blue barrier surrounded the whole room. "No one's leaving me." She whispered, as her red eyes stared at them in hunger. "I won't let anyone leave."
Orochimaru took that opportunity to shoot at her. Sakura rolled her eyes, looking highly unaffected- until the bullet pierced right through her shoulder.
She grabbed her injured shoulder as her eyes widened in shock. "What the-?" She cried, as blood weeped out of her wound. "How is this even possible?"
The snake-like man was starting to look smug now. "The fact that you have grown stronger does not mean that you are completely immune to the metal." He twirled the gun around in his hands. "You may have grown strong enough not to bend under the influence of it, yet if I shoot you with a bullet made out of zirconium it will be strong enough to go through that invisible force of yours."
His sinister smirk widened at the look of horror on her face.
"Yes, Sakura-chan. It means that I can kill you."
Sakura grimaced, stepping back as he pointed his gun at her once again. Fear briefly flashed through her face- but it wasn't only that. It was there only for a second, but Sasuke had seen it- her eyes had flashed green.
The Sakura he knew was still in there somewhere.
She wasn't gone yet.
They were still in time to save her.
.
.
.
.
She's beautiful as usual,
With bruises on her ego and
Her killer instinct tells her to
Be aware of evil men.
.
.
.