HI AGAIN! Okay, this is a bit longer than earilier ones cuz I love you guys ;) It's filled with Fluffy goodness! Please let me know what you think!
For whatever reason, Sasuke laid awake in the middle of the night thinking of the blonde jinchuriki. He was actually impressed by her. She was a brave girl, she hadn't flinched at his words, and had also seen his intentional miss with a weapon. She was smart. But she hadn't shown any superior skills, so why couldn't he stop thinking about her?
He thought about her reaction when he had pulled out his sword. She was angry, and sad. Sasuke wanted to see her smile again, even if it was just once. He wasn't sure why, but something, deep down wanted to see her again. He wouldn't admit it to himself though.
When the sun began to rise, so did Sasuke. He creaked open the cabin door and smelt the wave of fresh air that hit him. With one look around, he darted forward, determined to find the origin of the girl he couldn't forget.
Naruto laid in the middle of the wood, fast asleep. She was dreaming of a time when things had been perfect. When her two best friends and her were happy. Or so she thought.
Sasuke ran rapidly. He would find her. It was all he wanted. And then he did, there in the middle of the wood, silent and asleep. He stopped on the tree branch to stare down at her calm form.
He jumped softly and landed on the ground. Suddenly, she was alert. Her hand grasped a weapon and she aimed it at him and then stopped. She was breathing jagged, her eyes were wide.
He stared at her, waiting for her to throw the weapon but instead she lowered it.
"What do you want?" she spat with venom.
"Good Morning to you too," he said quickly. His eyes flashed to hers, hoping to see a smile at his comment so his mind could be at rest, but she just glared. It made matters worse.
"Why are you here? If you're looking for a fight, sneaking up on me isn't a very fair fight," she said setting her jaw. "You'll have to wait till I've eaten my breakfast."
"No I was—" he stopped and gave a funny smirk. "Fight me? You wouldn't stand a chance."
"I am a Jinchiriki," she said rolling her eyes. "Look, why don't you leave before I get angry and you get hurt this time," she suggested, climbing out of her sleeping bag and rolling it up.
"If you're so sure you could match me then come on," he said. He wanted to see what she could do.
She stood and he drew his sword but she waved him down. "Why?"
"Why what?" Sasuke said.
"Why do you want to fight?"
Sasuke stared at her. Why did he want to fight? "Because Blondie. I'm going to kill you."
She just remained silent, looking back at him. They just stood there, staring each other down for a long time before Naruto finally spoke. "Kill me? How do you intend to do that?"
"Enough with your questions," Sasuke shook his head. He narrowed his eyes at her and planned his attack. He shifted his feet and angled his sword. He would make it quick, and painless.
Painless. That made him stop. Why did he want it to be painless? Shouldn't all he want, be to bring her pain? If killing her made his heart completely cold, then the next person he would kill would be Naruto.
"I will kill you, girl with no name. I will end your life. I'm sorry that it is how it must be," Sasuke told her slowly.
"An apology?" she asked slowly. "Funny Sasuke Uchiha. To think that you could be so cold and yet still feel bad about slicing down a young girl."
"I will cut off all emotion from the world, it must be done. I must kill you," Sasuke told her, trying to make her see, to understand why he must do it.
She stared back at his onyx eyes with something like sympathy.
He just glared back at her. "To destroy my emotions, I must kill you."
"Why me?" she asked and the question made him hesitate.
"Because," Sasuke finally answered. "Long ago, when I was still a Leaf Ninja, you would be the kind of person I would want to be friends with."
This statement made Naruto do a double take. How could he say that so calmly? How could he be so ready to kill someone whom he had just admitted liking? Was the Sasuke she knew still in there? Or was he gone, like a light in a storm, lost at sea.
"Then you truly do care Sasuke," she told him. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Because you only seem to want to kill the people that mean something to you."
Sasuke ran at her. Fire burned in his eyes as he extended his sword.
Naruto dodged the first attack, then the second. And the attacks kept coming. She ducked, swerved, jumped and it infuriated Sasuke. He came faster, sheathing his sword and going hand to hand combat.
Sasuke began to get angry. She kept dodging, never attacking. He kept coming at her, fist, kick sometimes with his sword, but she was fast. It went on and on for the longest time, and yet she didn't seem to wear down.
"Enough games!" Sasuke roared. "I will end this! CHIDORI! And he ran at her, full speed. It was like slow motion. He watched her stop moving. She didn't even attempt to stop the attack. She just stood there, letting him kill her.
He stopped, just a few millimeters from her throat where he's attack was to strike. They were so close. He could feel her scared breath on his face as he stared into her eyes.
They were blue eyes, like the sky, like the ocean.
"You can't kill me Sasuke, huh?" she asked.
Sasuke had no answer for her, it was obvious. He watched her pull strands of long, blonde hair out of her face and wipe away stray tears.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Who are you of no nation? Who are you with skill to evade my sword? Who are you to stand to me, brave? Who are you?"
"You know me Sasuke!" she cried out with anger.
"How could I possibly know you?"
"How can you not Sasuke? How can you not know me? After everything? How can you not know!"
Sasuke ran through his memories but came up short. He could remember no beautiful blonde girl that was like her. And yet….she was so familiar it was unbearable.
Very slowly, she stepped back. She began to collect her things, rolling up her sleeping bag she set it on in her bag. With tired hands she slung it upon her back and began to walk away from him.
"We haven't finished out fight!" Sasuke shouted at her, running towards her.
But she stopped, turning to him, making him halt.
"You want to fight me Sasuke. You want to kill your enemies. You don't even know who your enemies are anymore! You want to fight me, the Leaf, your best friends! You can't even figure out who you are!" Naruto's voice echoed into his head.
"I—" but he had no reply for her. He just stood there, dumbfounded.
"You told me that you were wrong, Itachi wasn't the enemy, and the Leaf was. You keep trying to blame people for the things that have happened. You don't try to make it so no one else has to go through such pain, instead you create more pain. Why do you want to hurt me? Why do you still keep running from who you really are?"
"Stop talking to me like you know me!" Sasuke yelled. "You don't know anything!"
"I do know you!" Naruto yelled back. She walked up to him, and slapped him across the face.
The sound echoed through the woods. A red hand print appeared on Sasuke's cheek. He lifted his hand to strike back but stopped as he saw the fury on her face.
"I know you better than anyone! I could always see past your charades! I always knew what to say to calm you down! I always had your back just like I knew you had mine. You know me too! I have always felt alone, never been able to fit in and yet when I was with you…things fit together. Things made sense. I stopped being "the tailed beast host" and I became just…me."
Naruto wasn't crying, she was screaming bloody mary. Her voice rang in Sasuke's ears until they became but a whisper.
"I love you."
She didn't know it until the words came out but she was truly in love with Sasuke Uchiha. And she stood there, waiting for the rejection that was sure to come. She was breathing hard, her chest rapidly rising and falling.
And through her attempts to keep breathing, Sasuke stopped breathing, his heart momentarily stopped beating, the world stopped spinning and for one moment, everything seemed okay.
There were two things he knew. 1) Somehow, he knew her. She knew him. Somehow, he knew that but he couldn't place her. 2) He knew, that he loved her too.
Hesitantly, he pulled her by the shoulders into his chest and they stood there, like two puzzle pieces fitting together.
Naruto felt her head crash against his chest until she could hear his heartbeat. She was just under the crook of his neck and she felt like she belonged there.
"I don't know what to do," Sasuke confided.
"About what?" she whispered from the confines of his arms.
"About you. About me."
"What is it that you want?"
Sasuke looked down at her. Her eyes watched him as if he were the best thing she had ever seen. Naruto stared up at her beloved who looked down at her as if she were the best thing he had ever seen. And they stayed like that for a long time, hours, until Sasuke broke the silence.
"I thought I knew what I wanted," he explained. The broke apart standing there nervously, awkwardly.
"Well it sounds like you need some time to think," she said.
Sasuke thought she was leaving so he grabbed her hand and held onto it desperately.
But she just smirked, pulling him down to the ground amongst the trees to stare at the sky.
"I still don't know who you are."
"Yes you do. But I'll tell you in a bit," she said as her eyes began to shut. Naruto's eyelids became too heavy for her as she began to drift. "I'm so tired…." And she was asleep.
Sasuke stopped watching the sky, and instead, he watched her. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. And it wasn't the fact that she had the perfect figure, nor her perfect skin. It wasn't her long eyelashes that made her prettier nor her perfect teeth. She was beautiful because when she spoke, he could see the shine in her eyes as the passion inside of her came through. She was beautiful because she was herself.
But did he love her? Yes. Then why hadn't he said it back? Because he was afraid.
Sasuke sat up, leaving her there on the ground and he began to pace. What did he want? What could he possibly want?
He looked up to see the darkening sky and was surprised that they had talked away the day. She would sleep through the night. Then she would give him her name, and things would make sense.
He knew that somehow, he knew this girl. She was familiar to him. And she seemed to be able to read him like a book, no hesitations or anything. She was brave and unpredictable. She was perfect. He wanted to know who she was but, he couldn't think. Thought were incoherent in his mind.
Right now, all he felt was confusion. His mind strayed back to the Leaf. He let all the barriers down and stopped himself from saying he was angry and wanted revenge and he let his real emotions rein free. And then, Sasuke Uchiha…thought of his friends.
He thought of Sakura who begged him to stay. He thought of Kakashi, who taught him everything and now watched his pupil destroy all he held dear. He thought of Naruto, his best friend, whom he had to fight. He thought about the town, each person he'd ever passed on the street. He missed them all; he missed missions, and ramen and laughing. Oh how he missed laughter. Maybe that's what had drawn him to the girl in the first place. She laughed like Naruto who was always laughing. Out of everyone, he missed Naruto the most.
And then Sasuke shut his eyes, falling asleep under the stars. Not even knowing he was next to Naruto.
I know. We all want him to just know already! Next Chapter! I promise...but I'm not updating until I get some more REVIEWS so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what ya think!