Don't own Naruto .o.o.
"talking"
'thinking'
"Other"
The loud pop that comes after a bullet leaving the chamber of a gun... Sakura has been getting use to this sound quite often in the last few months. The shot nearly took Sasuke away from her, the next killed her maid and a woman she considered a close friend, the following Sasuke took a life... and then this one. She never liked guns, even when she was younger and her schoolmates would play with toy ones in the court yard, she hated them. They never brought anyone happiness, just sadness and death... and yet people would still use them, why?
Sakura kept asking herself that question along with replaying the last half an hour in her head as she sat in Sasuke's car; he was focused on the road ahead, the stoic look he wore normally when around others was on his face. Sakura tried to act like him, tried to pretend nothing happened or just ignore it like it didn't bother her at all. But she just couldn't, she was never good with hiding her feelings, and after what she just went through, she wished she could.
Half hour before in the Sound mansion...
"Karin-chan!"
Despite the gun at her head and the fear that she felt threating to consume her, Sakura opened her eyes and looked to Sasuke, surprised by his call. 'K-Karin-chan?' She felt sick to her stomach, and dare she say jealous, when she heard him call out her suffix to this other woman.
But then she quickly felt ashamed of herself for thinking this way. They could have been together at one time, a few years ago, though Sakura couldn't see how that was possible; Sasuke didn't seem like the type of person to like crazy women.
Karin too was just as shocked to hear him call her name so desperately, but she wasn't about to lose the chance to hear him speak to her, she was that eager to be with him. "Yes Sa-." The crack of the gun went off the moment she turned to him, and then it was silent, the woman fell to the floor a second later.
Sakura was too scared to even scream when she saw the lifeless eyes of the girl staring back at her. She looked as if she would blink any minute, but the bullet hole in the middle of her head told her differently.
"It's such a shame really, she was such a good toy in bed," Orochimaru casually sighed, shifting a little in his chair.
Sakura couldn't believe what just happened, Sasuke shot her, and this man didn't even care; he was only concerned with who his next bed partner would be... he truly was sick.
"Hn... Sakura-san get up please," Sasuke didn't take his eyes or guns off Orochimaru now that the immediate threat to the princess's life was taken out. He knew Orochimaru didn't have any weapons on him, so taking Sakura would be a lot easier now; one thing still bothered him however, the snake didn't seem scared or nervous about being targeted now. "Sakura get up now!" he knew yelling at her wasn't going to help, but he just wanted to get her out of there.
Sakura snapped out of her shock and slowly stood with some difficulty, her hands were still tied behind her back and she was afraid Orochimaru would stop her. And truth be told she was a little afraid to approach Sasuke after what he just did, he didn't even seem to care he took her life. Once she was close enough, Sasuke snatched her arm and pulled her behind him.
"Where will you go now Sasuke-kun? You won't be able to protect her forever, and then she'll be mine again."
"You won't touch her as long as I live or you'll die like all the others that cross me."
"That's a very bold statement, but you can't kill me."
"I don't need to... because you're going to leave the city and never come back; Tsunade-sama will know you were behind this and she'll inform Uzumaki-san upon his return... you won't live long with his men after you."
"I'm not scared, I've fought them many times."
'Cocky bastard... I need to end this now.' Sasuke fired off two shots in his ex boss's direction, causing Sakura to scream out and begin to cry in fear. After the sound stopped bouncing off the walls Sasuke was shocked to see Orochimaru... was laughing at him. "What's so funny?"
"Hahaha... you're such a fool Sasuke, haven't you realized it yet? I can't die, I'm immortal; why do you think I'm the most powerful drug dealer in the city, because I killed off the competition and I can't be killed myself," to prove his point, Orochimaru stood revealing that Sasuke's shots had hit their marks and yet he was still alive and no blood split to the floor.
'What the hell is he?' Sasuke took a step back, pushing Sakura closer to the wall that the steps to the basement were located; he's never faught someone that couldn't die from being shot, but he wasn't going to push it this time with Sakura still there. "Sakura, I want you to go to my car parked out front, take the keys in my pocket; when you get there don't stop... just go home. Sakura... Sakura are you listening to me!?"
Sasuke glanced back at his charge when she didn't answer. She looked as if she was going to be sick, the pale white complexion didn't suit her. He knew he was going to have to guide her out of the building and get her home, but first... he had to get away from Orochimaru. Seeing as how shooting him wasn't going to work, Sasuke would have to find another way. That's when Sasuke noticed the ceiling above them was coming apart rather fast, something heavy must seated above and Sasuke knew that was the perfect distraction.
He put the gun he was holding in his right hand back to his waist, and pulled Sakura to his chest to shield her from what was to happen. He then fired off the last few bullets he had in the other gun into the ceiling above the snake's head. He knew it was risky, with how badly damage it was the entire ceiling could have collasped on them as well, but he had to chance it.
Luck was on their side because as it caved in it only trapped Orochimaru in the debris. Seeing no movement from the pile, Sasuke hoped that was enough to kill the other man; but in the back of his mind he knew that wasn't so.
"Come on Sakura... I'm taking you home."
And now they were pulling up into the driveway of the Uzumaki mansion. With what he witnessed inside earlier that afternoon Sasuke wasn't sure if he should allow her to go in. Just as he parked the car Naruto flew out of the house in a panic.
"Sakura! Sakura!... Are you alright? God we were so worried about you," the blond threw open the passenger door and pulled his sister into his arms. Sakura was numb to everything, she didn't even respond when Naruto asked his question. Since she wasn't talking, the man looked to Sasuke for answer, "What the hell happened Uchiha? Where was she... what happened to her?"
"She's safe... that's all you need to know," Sasuke got out of the car and approached them.
"I want more of an answer than that Uchiha! Our mother will demand you tell us what happened!"
"Or what... you'll shoot and kill him too!?" Sakura screamed, breaking out of her trance and fighting against his hold, when Naruto released her she took off for the house.
"Sasuke... what the hell happened to my baby sister?"
Sasuke could see how worried the blond was. He knew, with how she was acting now, he wouldn't be able to keep this from the rest of the family, "She knows... everything."
Both boys entered the house, and Sasuke was shocked that it was completely spotless, not a trace of blood or the bodies anywhere. The screaming upstairs followed by a door slamming pulled his attention away from the carpet to the stairs where an extremely pissed off Tsunade was currently storming down and coming right at him.
"What happened to my baby Uchiha? And you better tell me the truth!"
"Mom... she knows."
"She knows... what do you mean she knows? How could she know, who told her? Was it you Uchiha!?"
Tired of being snapped at and hiding the secret Sasuke decided to tell the two remainding Uzumaki everything that was going on. "Orochimaru was the one that told her because he's the one that kidnapped her."
"WHAT!?"
"I knew he was behind this the whole time, your father never wanted to believe me!"
"He believed you Tsunade-sama he just wanted to keep Orochimaru close to watch him."
"Oh... wait, how would you know that?"
"Because Uzumaki-san told me the night before the banquet when we talked."
"How did you know Orochimaru was the one that took my sister Uchiha, I caught a glimps of the letter the guy had, and it never mentioned who wrote it," Naruto knew there was something else going on here, and of course he would be the one to point it out.
"Uchiha!"
Sasuke sighed and prepared himself for the beating he was about to receive or quite possibly death both blondes would inflect upon him once he was finished. "I knew it was Orochimaru because... I was working form him the whole time."
"You son of a bitch! You're the bastard that has been killing the daughters of the council members... this whole time we've been trying to protect Sakura and you... you've been trying to kill her."
"I've never tried to kill her, I didn't have the right to."
"Didn't have the right to! Didn't have, you didn't have the right to kill any of them, what makes her any different!?"
"That's just it... she was different from the rest, Sakura was the only pure one out of any of them; she knew nothing of this world and didn't spend a dime of the blood money. She helps the victims of the mobs attacks and makes no profit from it, that's why I didn't kill her, because she's different."
"You're lying, you've been lying since you set foot in our house! But it ends now I won't let you hurt my sister!"
"Naruto calm down right now, I won't have you spilling blood on my carpets after they were just cleaned."
"Mother?" Sasuke was just as shocked as Naruto when the woman called off his attack, this was the second time she saved his life. "Mom he-."
"Silence Naruto... I've known from the beginning of your true intentions Sasuke, and because of that I've been watching you like a hawk; but not once did you take out your orders on my daughter. And before this mess happened today I dare say that the two of you were closer than just body guard and charge correct?"
"I have never dishonored your daughter Tsunade-sama."
"I know... and after what I witnessed at the banquet I knew you wouldn't harm her. You no longer are listening to that snake's orders correct?"
"Aa."
"Good, then I'll let you live and forgive your past misdoings."
"Mom... you can't be serious!"
"I am very serious my son, and you won't bring this up again is that understood? Now come with me, we must contact your father to tell him what happened; it might have already gotten to him and we have to tell him your sister is alright," Tsunade moved toward the sitting room, which was the fastest route to Jiraiya's office. "Uchiha, I want you to go upstairs and talk to Sakura."
"Mom... we can't trust him alone with Sakura-chan!"
"Naruto, he is the only one that can set things right with her; she won't even speak to me."
"I don't know how much good I can do Tsunade-sama, she witnessed me kill two people and she knows I was sent to kill her too."
"Hmph! I wouldn't blame her if she attacks you Uchiha, I sure as hell wish I could right now."
"Then you should watch your back as well Naruto, she knows your dealings in the under ground also."
"Are you threatening me Uchiha?"
"Enough Naruto! Uchiha go upstairs an talk to my daughter right now!" Tsunade snatched her son by his shirt and dragged him away.
"Sakura... san? May I come in?" Sasuke lightly tapped on the door that lead to the princess's room. He really didn't know why he was knocking, after all the trauma he put her through today, he wouldn't be surprised if she never let him in. But he again knocked, ignoring the little voice of reason in his head that was telling him to give up and that she would never forgive him. "Sakur-.""
"Go away!"
Sasuke pushed the tight feeling in his chest away as he heard her choked sob from inside. "Sakura... you know I can't do that; your mother sent me up here to talk to you."
"Since w-when have you listened to h-her!?"
"Sakura open the door, I'm tired of talking to it."
"No! I don't want to talk to you!"
"You're acting like a child that hasn't gotten her way! Now open the door and talk to me like an adult," Sasuke was furious now with her behavior, she was acting like a spoiled rotten child and it was pissing him off. Just as he was about to knock on the door again, it opened just a crack. He couldn't see her in the dark room, with the lights being off, but he ignored that fact and pushed on through.
Once fully inside the room he was able to see that she was sitting on her bed, in her light pink tank top and hello kitty pajama bottoms; she was still crying and currently keeping herself busy playing with the pillow in her lap.
"Sakura...," the man who rarely said anything, couldn't think of the right words to say to help ease her mind; he didn't like seeing her upset, but he knew a few pretty words wouldn't make up for what happened today.
"Did you care for her Sasuke?" Sakura was the first to speak after a long silence, although Sasuke hated her question, he knew they had to get past this to move forward.
"No, I didn't."
"She seemed to care for you, why else would she risk her life to get you back? She really wanted you to notice her."
"She was a whore, any man with power in the room, she would have tried to gain their favor."
"Even if she was, you shouldn't have killed her!" Sakura screamed throwing down the pillow to confront him head on.
"So you just wanted her to kill you!? Because that's what would have happened if I didn't stop her, it's my job to keep you safe or did you forget that!?" Sasuke finally lost it, he could see this was all going down hill fast and he desperately wanted her to see that Karin's death was needed; to a proud man like himself, this was as close to begging and pleading he would do... she however didn't see it that way.
"I thought your job was to kill me?" Sakura suddenly got a bout of courage as her tears suddenly stopped and she looked him straight in the eye.
Sasuke grew quiet again at this question, but not denying it," Of the time we've been together, have I ever shown any sign of hurting you? You saw how easy it was for me to take a life today; if I had wanted you dead you would be. I could have let Karin's shot take your life the night of the banquet, but I didn't. I don't want your life and I won't allow another to take it either."
"Why? If... if you are the man that murdered all those girls, why not me?" Sakura, unable to cry any longer, moved away from her bed to the window sill to sit and look out into the night.
"Those girls were nothing like you, they knew their fathers killed innocent people and did nothing but spend their blood money on frivolous things. I'll admit I had my own personal goal with all this though, the man that was head of the council before your father was my Uncle. He sent a hit out on my family and my parents were killed; I wanted him and the council to fall. But... when I met you, everything changed; your father isn't like the others, he wants to help this city. And you... I doubt there's a selfish bone in your body, you're like no other woman I've ever met."
Sakura blushed at his declaration, he may not have spoke much or often, but when he did he knew just the right words to get a girl to want to melt; but she squared her shoulders for her next heart breaking question. "Three months ago when... when Sai-kun died, did you know about it? Were... were you involved?"
Sasuke thought they were making progess, but one step forward pulled them three back. "I knew he was to die," Sasuke paused when he heard her gasp for breath before he continued, "His father was second chair and Orochimaru was impatient to move up in rank. But I took no part in the boy's death, Karin was assigned that mission. I was just as shocked as you when you told me he was dead... I didn't think she would move so quickly."
"Why didn't you stop her!? Did you not care? You knew I cared for him, he was my friend, how could you allow hi-."
"Because I wanted you for myself!" Sasuke's outburst silenced her again as he took a bold step in her direction. "No I didn't care for you then, at least I don't think I did, but I wasn't use to the women I was after to... to love other men. I will not lie when I say I didn't enjoy hearing he died... I guess I will admit this one time that I was jealous of your affection towards him."
"But that doesn't give you a free pass! You're just as responsible as that witch for his death! I'm sorry about your parents, but you shouldn't have handled it that way! That's what the police are for, they would have dealt with your Uncle."
"I didn't want him in jail, I wanted him dead!"
"Well you got that didn't you? You're just as bad as the people you want dead. The women you've killed probably have never touched a gun in their lives, yet you deemed them tainted by the mob, how is that? You've been looking for peoples' faults and sins, when you should have been looking for the good in them," Sakura was tired of the yelling, screaming, and fighting; she was tired of crying, and she wanted to stop hurting. "What's going to happen now Sasuke?"
"It's up to you... your family knows of my past and your mother has forgiven me, which shocked me some what."
"W... What about Naruto?"
"I'm sure your brother isn't going to trust me for a long time, but I don't care if he threatens me everynight, the only person that matters is you and what you want to happen," Sasuke moved closer to her, reaching out to touch her hand; he always felt calmer by her close presence. It didn't surprise him however when she moved away, not wishing to touch him. He thought they were going to get passed this, but now it seemed he was wrong. "Sakura?"
"I can't... I don't know. I love you, but I can't... you've killed people, you were sent to kill me; everything has been a lie, if you truly cared about me you would have told me before I was nearly killed!"
"Sakura... do you wish for me to leave?" Even though he asked this, and he would do so if she asked him, it would hurt him greatly to have to leave her side.
"I don't know... I ju-just need time to think... alone."
"Aa," he would respect her wish to be alone for now, he did all he could to convince her and now it was up to her to figure out what she wanted.
He went downstairs and headed for the den where the rest of the family was. Naruto was sitting on the large cream leather sectional couch watching the news; and he could hear Tsunade in the office talking to someone on the phone.
"Uchiha what happened at Orochimaru's place?" Naruto asked, never taking his eyes off the television. Sasuke was curious as to why he would question that now when it was all over and his mother told him to drop it, but before he could open his mouth Naruto turned the volume up on the tv to gain his attention.
"We now take you back to our top story. Two people were found dead in the basement of the only remaining mansion deep in the heart of the city's most well known drug circle. One male and one female body were found in the ruble of the caved in basement, both gun shot victims with no bullets or shell casings at the scene and a mass amount of ecstay in one of the vaults in an upper bedroom; the police have linked the drugs and the murders to the owner of the house, a man only known as Orochimaru who was not present at the time of the discoveries is wanted for questioning. More will be known of this developing story as the police continue their investigation, please stay tuned."
When the station cut to a chimerical for Ichiraku's most famous ramen, the blond turned the volume back down. "Care to explain that Uchiha?"
'Only two were found? Damn that means Orochimaru is still out there, Sakura's still not safe.'
"Naruto!" Tsunade pushed open the office door and walked into the room where the boys were.
"Mom what's wrong?"
"Do you... you still have that note from your father that man was after?"
Naruto stood from the couch and pulled the folded up piece of paper from his pant's pocket to show her. "Yeah it's right here. What's going on mom?" Sasuke didn't miss the way Tsunade flinched at his question, and with his sharp eyes he also spotted the glistening crystal tears forming in her tear ducts.
"Naruto that is the list of new council members your father chose. You need to go and round them up for the first meeting in a few days."
"Me? Why me, ain't that dad's job?" Naruto was thinking out loud more than to the others in the room as he gently unfolded the paper to skim it over. "S. Nara; N. Hyuga; K. Inuzuka... mom all these men are."
"I know Naruto."
"Why would dad pick them?"
Sasuke was confused as to what they were talking about, although one of the names on the list he was sure he knew, it didn't explain why Naruto was freaking out.
"Naruto... your father... he's not coming home."
"W-What!? What do you mean?"
"He was... he was killed Naruto. He was out of the country and there was some kind of accident, the special forces are still looking into it," Tsunade sat down on the end of the couch to try and compose herself, her mind was racing trying to think of how to handle this; she needed time to mourn her husband's death, and she was also worried about her children.
"I'll start making the calls first thing in the morning," Naruto looked to his distraught mother and realized it was his time to look after his family.
"Was Orochimaru mentioned as a suspect Tsunade-sama?" Sasuke spoke for the first time since he came downstairs.
"No but I wish he was, the officers searched everywhere for a sigh of him, but nothing. Hyuga-san thinks it was the Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki! But I thought the council got rid of them years ago."
"They vanished, they were not disbanded Naruto. They must have gotten word that the council was dying out and now they are coming back to the city. If they are back a lot must be done to make sure they don't take hold of the city, you boys must get the council back up."
"What do you mean 'us' mother?" Naruto shot a glare in Sasuke's direction.
"Read the last name on the list Naruto."
Naruto did as his mother said, and was shocked to read his father's writing. Ten men were choosen to replace the fallen chair members, Naruto would inherit his father's position as leader, and the last chair was occupied by Orochimaru. However according to Jiraiya's letter the snake was disbanded from the table and... "Uchiha Sasuke, the son of former second in command Uchiha Fugaku, will take the second chair again and be Naruto's council to combat this new enemy that approaches the city." Naruto read the last part out loud, not believing it himself and he wasn't the only one.
'I'm... second chair of the council?'
~End~
Note: And there you have it! 'She's different' is complete! But don't worry a lot was left unanswered, like what's going to happen between Sasuke and Sakura, and what happened to Orochimaru, but you'll just have to wait for the sequel! Not sure when it will come out though, I want to start up on my other stories again, so don't know when the first chapter will be up, but stay tuned!
I hope everyone isn't sad that Sasuke killed Karin, a lot of people thought he was going to kiss her... ew, I would never torture him like that, and Sakura had been through enough, she didn't need to see that. And the whole Akatsuki part was mentioned way back in the middle of the story, I didn't feel like going back over it, so if you forget just go look; but they will be coming into the next story so you'll see them more, not all of them of course, cause Itachi isn't in this at all! And said ten people will be taking up the council empty chairs, you know five of the twelve, I would like to see what everyone thinks of the other people. And I know there are spelling errors in the story, so some time over these next few weeks I will be going over the story and fixing them; so in case you want to reread the story feel free! Also wanted to point out this is the longest chapter I've ever written, very proud of myself on that one, been working on it for like a little under a week; see how much I love you people!
Final time thanks to:
renzie17
BellaPerea
sakura12908
Fantom Phreeke
moonlight ookami
sakurasapprentice7
Moonwaterpetal
lovexwatermelonx
TenderRose
For reviewing, and for everyone else that reviewed through out the story luv 'em all and see you next time for the sequel!