'thinking'

Flash back or dream

"Talking"

Demon or inner

I opened two fortune cookies today , courtesy of my mom not cooking. Here is what they say: "Everything is not without a downside. Compensation , must be made" and "Be wary of connection with the opposite gender. Today is not your lucky day for love". What the heck is that supposed to mean?

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Naruto stared at me. I stared back. The panic on his face was only getting more emphasized as he spluttered out, "you didn't see anything!". "What, you mean that girl jumping a humanely impossible height". His gaze hardened now, with a trace of protectiveness. "No one will believe you". "I wasn't planning on saying". He finally looked relaxed. "Well, ok then. Remember, you didn't see anything. She's…uh…an acrobat. Well, see you at school on Monday!" he yelled, walking passed me. I shook my head. Acrobat my foot.

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"And then before I knew it, she was on the roof. A three story roof" I recalled the story to Sasuke as we paid for a pair of sandals. "Hn. Whitish eyes you say? Must be a Hyuuga" he said as he took the shopping bag from the clerk. "Excuse me, a what?". "A Hyuuga" he said as they walked out of the store. "The Hyuuga was a famous clan of assassins, or shinobi as they are sometimes called. Anyway, there was a war sometime, centuries ago, between the Hyuuga, the fire country and the lightning country. They were eventually betrayed by one of their own, a Hyuuga kunoichi, or rather a female ninja. She aroused some of the other Hyuugas and there was a family clash. So far , all the Hyuugas are dead with the exception of three, who, due to the bloodshed, turned into demi demons".

Ok, I wasn't expecting that. "So why was there a Hyuuga girl with Naruto?". He looked at me with an amused expression, "he was probably her angel". My eyes widened, "there are guy angels?!". "Yep. Gender doesn't quite matter when it comes to angels and demons". Alright, another new thing.

My gaze went up and down the sunny avenue we were on before I squealed and practically dragged Sasuke to the dress store. "Ok, alright, Sakura my arm, Sakura my arm!" I didn't hear him, I just grabbed a white summer dress from the rack. It looked almost exactly identical to the one the Hyuuga girl was wearing. "Sasuke!" I said in a girlish pitch that made him wince, "I'm trying this on!".

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By the time we sat down for lunch, he had a total of four shopping bag between us. Sasuke had commented that he thought I didn't think his budget could take it. It's not that I was being cheap, it's just that every single thing in that bag was absolutely perfect. Of course, with him being a guy, it's not like he would understand that. "Quality, not Quantity, Sasuke" I preached as we sat at a table outside a soothing Star Bucks café. He took a sip of his espresso while I just had the simple iced caramel, accompanied by a cherry lollipop. "Well, if that's how you see it, fine. Anyway, you have another two hours to try to empty one of my several wallets" he smirked. The guy was filthy rich. Damn.

"Well, in that case, let's head for an accessory store!" I shouted, pumping my fist in the air. He shook his head at my antics, and paid the bill. "Let's go," he said grabbing the bags. Ah ,yes, I was finally getting to him. There's no way he can tell me he wasn't bored to death after we're through. He walked, following behind me, a passive look on his face, as he looked at all the accessory stores around us, probably trying to guess which one I'm most likely to squeal and drag him into. Being a girl, it was a passion in choosing the right accessories. An all black outfit and a colorful accessory do wonders when used right. I was about to walk into an accessory store called, "Razzle Dazzle" (weird name) when I felt a chill. It was like someone was aiming icicles at the back of my neck. It was so cold. I turned around, but when I looked I saw nothing. Creepy. I glanced at Sasuke who was on red alert. Either he noticed my change of mood or his own uncanny devil senses picked up danger on it's radar.

He took a gentle hold of my arm and nudged me away from the store, "why don't we try a different shop. How about bags? Girls drool over bags. I've seen it". "Uh…ok" I answered choppily. We turned a corner and ended up in the avenue when a gust of wind blew at us. Out of instinct I pinned my skirt to my legs, holding my arm up to my face. For a split second I saw a girl with sandy hair, but it was as if she just disappeared with the wind. Ok…getting freaked. Sasuke's hold on my arm tightened slightly. "Pretty windy today…" he mumbled. "I hate windy days" I voice from behind us spoke, "it gets dirt in my puppet's joints". I turned around again, to get a look at the owner of the voice. It was a dude in a black hoody. I could make out a mass of messy brunette, hair, and a pair of sharp calculating eyes. He held up a hand in a friendly gesture. "Hi" he said. "Hell-" I never got to finish my greeting because Sasuke yanked me away the stranger. Before I knew it we were in flight, Sasuke dragging me along the pavement. I kept up to him, luckily, thanks to years of being on the track team. I heard the stranger curse, but if he was a threat, he sure didn't follow us. Still my mind went into panic mode, adrenalin pumping, fight or flight.

Sasuke POV

I grabbed her by the wrist, careful not to grip too hard lest I crack it. They were after her as I somewhat knew they would be. Still, I wasn't counting on them sending one of their ace cards, the Sand siblings. They are one of the prides of the DMRO, (Dark Matter Research Organization) or better known as the Devil Coven or Coven by us nomads.

The one just now was Kankuro. He's no demon, but he's definitely formidable. One of the strangers moved in an odd, jerky manner. It was quick but I was quicker, I jumped back, protecting Sakura as a scythe attached to a robot arm- or should I say puppet arm- nearly made the both of us chopped meat. I let go of Sakura for a moment, she was still stunned. Not good in this situation. I turned around only to see that every bystander, every single one in that street (which would be about eighteen), were puppets. I cracked my knuckles.

Kankuro was formidable indeed. Kankuro Subaku, son of the president of the DMRO. I've heard rumors. When he was young, his father conducted an experiment on him. The bone marrow in his arms and fingers were replaced by special synthetic metal. This allowed him to manipulate other metals like some sort of magnetic force. His weapon of choice: metal battle suits. That's how he gained the title, Puppet Master.

"Sasuke…" Sakura's worried whimper cut through my thoughts. Now was not the time to stall, it was the time to act. I delivered a quick kick to the puppets, jaw, knocking it clean off of it's head, followed by a kick to it's torso as it stumbled back. Kankuro smirked, and had one of his puppets through a knife at me, which I effortlessly parried. Not wanting to waste more time, a grabbed a pair of my trusty pistols. Two pulls of a trigger, and I shattered it's limb joints. Another puppet came at me, with a freakin chainsaw. I shot it's arm of, then kicked it, away just in time to duck as another razor blade flew over my head. I knocked the arm of and literally went into a shooting frenzy. Really, breaking their arms off is the only way to deal with them. As soon as they were nothing but scraps of metal crawling on the concrete, a made my way to the core.

Kankuro was ready for me. He already had a pair of falchion blades in hand. There was a clang of metal as my pistol knocked the blade away from his defense, I aimed the pistol at his head point blank. "Sasuke , no!" I heard Sakura scream. That was all that was needed, I hesitated, for a split second. At once I was blown black by a gust of wind. I sailed through the air then landed on my feet just in time to avoid another gust of wind, this time a razor wind. It left large slashes up against the brick wall. Another gust of wind flew at me, then another, heck I even had to avoid a frigging cyclone. Finally the winds subsided and I wasn't all that surprised to see Kankuro's older sister standing amidst the wreckage.

She had her sandy hair in the signature hair style. I'd recognize her anywhere after the last time we fought . In her gloved hands she held a lighted cigarette, and she donned a short purple dress. I was sure though that she wouldn't fight with hesitation. She could move all she wanted to without worrying about me getting a peak under her skirt (not that I would want to) since she had on thick black stockings. "Uchiha" she acknowledged, blowing out some of the smoke. "Where's your baby brother, Temari?". She reddened. "We don't need him for something as trivial as this".

Temari Subaku, oldest of the three. She, unlike Kankuro was an actual Demon, like me. How that happened, though I don't know. It says in her record that she was a demon since age four… four! Well, I'd like to know how that came about, but I'll have time for it later. One thing though, she could literally make the wind do her bidding. I'd have to be careful.

Temari spat out her cigarette, "the President would like to see you". I smirked "tell him to wait". She twitched, "such impertinence". She looked over her shoulder, "c'mon ,bro. Let's haul this one in". Kankuro grinned menacingly and with a snap of his fingers, the metal puppets, rose up, back together again.

I slipped my hand in my pocket, and took out something round and metallic, "would you look at the time. My watch says it's time to go". I tossed the grenade. I had one last look at Kankuro and Temari's surprised faces, before it went off. With a loud explosion, we took our leave. I grabbed Sakura and we took off running.

Sakura's POV

Everything I saw, everything that just happened, it was like some James Bond movie, no prize for guessing who Mr. Bond was. I was still scared, but I was exhilarated. We ran through the streets, past shoppers, dog walkers and loads of vendors. I laughed with a sort of relief that, hey,-look-at-me,-I'm-still -alive, feeling. Sasuke then gave me a hey-did-you-hit-your-head look. I just smiled apologetically. We ran into a deserted, in our haste, then Sasuke suddenly stopped, I almost bumped into him. "Crap" he muttered.

A chill went up my spine. I was almost afraid to look over Sasuke's shoulder at what was there. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked. It was just a kid, younger even than those two from just now, probably my age which would be seventeen. The guy had blood red hair and turquoise eyes, rimmed with black circles. He was sitting on the floor, against a planked up door, in a plain black shirt. He had baggy olive green pants. Looking closer, I saw he had some sort of a belt bag which was hard and shaped like a gourd. As he stood up, grains of sand seemed to trail off of him. When he turned to face us I saw a strange tattoo on his forehead, it was some kind of kanji. I was Japanese, but hey, I lived in America. I had no idea what it was…though I could speak Japanese, I never learned how to write it.

Then he spoke. It was just a whisper, but it sounded more like old bones blowing in the wind. "Excuse me, but I'll be killing that girl now". That meant me. Sasuke dropped into a defensive position, pistol at the ready. The boy just looked bored, like he was being forced to do some weird chore like accompanying his grandmother's yappy poodle to a dog psychiatrist. That look however changed when his eyes landed on me. I swear I saw a cracked smile on his face. "So you're Sakura…" the gourd at his side exploded. Sand erupted from it, streaming out like some sort of serpent. Sasuke rushed forward, shooting at it. The bullets just went through the sand. The boy ignored Sasuke, and sent the sand for me, I jumped back barely avoiding a tendril of sand. "Hm? You don't freeze up like the others…" he muttered.

He was interrupted by a kick from Sasuke, though it never met it's mark. It was just intercepted by a wave of sand. Gaara was about to turn his attention back to me when some bullets made it's way through his shield of sand. It hit his neck but instead of blood spurting, it just cracked and fell off as sand, only to be covered up again by more sand. The boy, glanced at Sasuke, "so I have to get rid of this one before I get the girl…?". Sasuke smirked, "come on, dirt face". The boy closed his eyes, "how stupid… protecting others above yourself…". Tendrils of sand materialized , shooting at Sasuke, all missing. Sasuke danced through the death bringing missiles as if he had done this all his life and memorized it's routine, all the while shooting at the sand wielder.

What I did, (all I could do really) was watch. I watched the red head, and Sasuke fight it off. It looked like Sasuke was doing ok but…the dangerous guy wasn't even trying yet. In fact, it looked like he was stalling… "Sakura! Look Out!". What? Then I saw it. There was a tendril of sand that Sasuke hadn't noticed till now…and it was coming for me. That's it, I guess. Game Over.

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Blood splattered everywhere…and once again, it wasn't my blood…I felt hot tears run down my cheeks. It just wasn't fair…

"SASUKE!"

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Sasuke fell into my arms, blood splattering from where the tendril had pierced him.

My cloths were soaked with crimson…my hands as well.

"Sasuke!" I shouted again, though I knew that shouting wouldn't help him.

He grit his teeth, his face twisted in agony, as a trickle of blood dripped down his chin from his mouth.

I continued to cry.

He began to push himself from me, "no worries. It's just a lil' puncture", before he fell on to his knees, coughing up blood.

I cupped my mouth with my hands, unsure of what to do, until that kid took a step closer. Sureness snapped in, I ran in front of Sasuke, arms spread wide, determination on my face.

"Sakura, don't" Sasuke said, "run, just run. I'll take care of this".

I shook my head defiantly. "Sakura…"he pleaded.

The kid took another step forward.

That's it. I grabbed Sasuke's pistol that was lying on the floor and pointed it at the red head. I felt me hands shaking, whether it was from fear or because I was holding it to tight I wasn't sure.

There was a twitch of the red head's mouth, like a smirk, but it never formed. "Don't you know? I can easily take you apart, limb by limb. I don't have to be merciful when killing you".

BLAM!

I pulled the trigger and shot him…right between the eyes too

Surprise was evident, on both their faces, didn't think a damsel in distress like me would put up a fight, huh?

Then he recovered, "very well. Die defiantly".

BLAM!

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I can only say one thing, "that wasn't me".

The red head grit his teeth in silent pain, there was a part on his shoulder that was smoking.

There was a short awed whistle, somewhere above. That's where I looked and I saw three figures. They were difficult to see against the sunlight. I heard a "nice aim, Itachi". At the sound of that name, I noticed a twitch of a smirk on Sasuke's face.

"That guy sure was lucky. It went past his layers of sand, past his skin but stopped at the bone, un. If that had been any closer though, I'm sure the C-14 bullet would have done some real damage, un".

All of a sudden, two of the figures leapt off of the roof and on to the floor. There was a "Tch" from the roof and a "cocky demons. Why can't they use the freaking stairs like normal people do, un?". I gasped in shock when I saw one of them…he looked almost exactly like Sasuke. He turned to look at us and nodded in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke's smirk fully took place, "hello, Itachi". "Hn, you look pretty beat up…little brother". Sasuke's smirk began to fade a bit. Wait, little brother?!

The other one landed beside me. He looked a bit younger than me. He had rose colored hair, and hooded ash colored eyes. "Excuse me miss. I shall be assisting you for now" he said in a very polite, yet bored manner. "Sasori, get Sasuke and the angel out of here", I heard a growl from red head as Itachi gave the order.

The door at the side of the building slammed open, revealing an exhausted, blonde male, "damn stairs, un". He dropped a back at his side, making a loud, clinking metal noise, "ammo's ready, un!". I didn't bother to look what was in there.

The one called Sasori nodded, then he picked up Sasuke, and placed him on his back, "take care of Deidara" he called, "I won't forgive you if you lose my anchor". Itachi nodded once, Deidara smirked, "go ahead, scram, un", and with that we were off.

I didn't know who these people were…but there was no doubt I could trust them.

Suddenly I was pushed to the side as a razor sailed over my head. I looked who had pushed me-it was Naruto. "N-Naruto!" I stammered. He grinned his foxy grin, "you can thank me later, for now, just go!!" and he was gone. In my side view I saw the fair girl with pale eyes from the other day. She was gracefully weaving through more of those metallic puppets. I saw her give me a smile as she delivered a shattering palm strike to one of the puppets.

I saw Sasori waiting for me, so I picked myself up and followed him. There were incredibly strong gusts of wind heading towards us. I could see Temari battling a woman with purple hair tied up in a wild ponytail. The purple haired woman kept throwing her daggers at Temari only to have them blown away. Meanwhile Temari was also being pressured by a Chinese looking girl with twin buns who expertly handled a chain and spike. A way ward gust of wind almost blew my off of my feet, only to feel myself caught by someone. I smelled a fragrance, lilac, it was a familiar fragrance.

"Don't worry ,Sakura".

I looked up to see a pair of baby blue eyes.

"I've got you" Ino said

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Yes I am aware it is very very late, Please don't kill me. But I had Mucho MCU's (Mastery Check Ups), our kind of exams and we even had the very first NAT(National Achievement Test) for second years, so I've had a lot to do. Anyway, this chapter is really long so I hope it made up for my tardiness

Please R&R!