"What the hell were you thinking?!"
Sakura flinched. She would have shrunk back from his furious eyes if she could have, but she was already confined to the bed of her quarters. Her face was still dirty from where Kabuto had inscribed various seals and symbols, part of the process she had requested. The marks ran down her entire body, something that she was not at all happy about but was willing to endure for her promise. She wanted only Sasuke to be the one to look at in that state. She would make it up to him, she had told herself. It was worth it.
But under his fiery gaze she began to doubt that assessment. Sasuke was not angered easily, which was one of the many things Sakura had always been drawn to. That cool attitude, always in control if emotions. She had learned, after they had been assigned to the same team and even more-so since their departure from Konoha that it was in many ways the exact opposite. He was ruled by his emotions, in many ways. He simply masked it well. Which, of course, was a testament to his skill in it's own way. Even in that way he was amazing to her.
But he was not hiding it now. His eyes were blood red, three spiral tomoe staring her down. She could not stare into those eyes, she had found that long ago. But she was unable to turn away, caught like one of the Nara's deer in a searchlight. She had to look away, but she could not bring herself to do it. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she whimpered, causing his face to turn up in disgust.
What had she done wrong? She thought he would be happy. She had risked her life for him, to gain a power enough to truly be worthy of standing at his side. To help him, like she'd promised. Do anything, absolutely anything. But instead he was here, eyes burning with fury.
"I- I- just w-wanted to be u-u-useful, Sasuke-k-kun." she managed to struggle out, voice barely a whisper. She finally tore her gaze away, focusing instead on the blankets draped over her.
"Useful?" he said softly, before exploding. "Useful?! You stupid annoying girl!"
He turned away from her then, eyes boring a hole into the floor. She could not stop the tears forming in her eyes.
"Sasuke-kun, I'm s-sorry! I just..." she began, single arm shakily reaching for him. "I'm weak, and useless, and annoying. I just thought that maybe if I did this I could be really useful."
"So you risked your life for that?!" he snapped back, causing her arm to jerk back reflexively.
"I would give my life for you, Sasuke-kun! I love you!" she nearly shouted, and the sneer he returned nearly broke her heart.
"But you wouldn't have given your life for me, Sakura! You would have lost it for nothing at all!"
She was very confused after that. She wasn't entirely sure, but she was fairly certain that Sasuke-kun, her Sasuke-Kun, was hugging her. No, not simply hugging, but holding on for dear life. He head found his shoulder, tears soaking into the white of his robes. Wasn't he angry with her? Why was he holding her? She had made a mistake, she deserved his anger, but this not it at all. She had not earned this, he'd just said so himself, hadn't he?
"You can't just go tossing your life around like it's useless." he whispered, steely tone faltering. "You can't go get yourself killed. I need you."
"But... you have no use for someone who can't fight. I just wanted to be a better tool fo-"
She had no chance to finish that statement. He pulled back, locking his eyes with hers. But it was different then before. His gaze was still hard and mesmerizing, but at the same time the anger seemed washed from it, replaced with... something she was unfamiliar with from him. Concern.
"You are not a tool, Sakura." he said without any elaboration, pulling her back into a hug. She just sat there in shock, arms hanging at her sides. Her tears had not dried, and she rather quickly buried herself into his shoulder again, arms moving to wrap around him without hesitation. He did not shrug her off, and indeed pulled her closer. She began repeating "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." over and over, muffled by his strong shoulder.
She could not tell that there were tears in his eyes too.
Orochimaru watched the little embrace remotely. A shame, really, that she had survived, though perhaps for the best. Sasuke would have been insufferable otherwise. He knew he'd control himself now, at least until he felt he had been taught enough. But this little display was worth it anyway, how sickly sweet it was. He wondered if he couldn't have been like that once, and then scoffed at the thought. He was suddenly very happy he had not.
How insufferable he would have been.
Sasuke had to admit that, despite his reservations, the power had proven to be far more useful then he could have ever imagined, though he still had not thought it had been worth it. To kill for him, that he had come to expect from her. To die for him, that he had known she would do from the start. But she had been willing to throw away her life for nothing, just in the off chance it might have helped him. He had been so angry about that, so infuriated that she could be such a fool.
She truly was an annoying girl.
But the power seemed to fit her like a glove. She was never a strength fighter, and Sasuke couldn't ever have imagined her as such. It just wouldn't have fit, using some sort of brute force smash. Elegance was more her style, and she had taken to Kabuto's fast and more precise style of fighting quite well. But even that was paling in comparison to the application of this 'gift' she had been given. From what he heard, it's artificial nature meant it was unlikely to match the original in power, which made Sasuke wonder just what the original could do given all the things that Sakura was managing.
"It's different."
Sasuke looked down from his perch. He had been watching her train from a nearby tree. Their current hideout was located on an area in which the borders of the Lands of Grass, Waterfall, and Fire all met, making the land a diplomatic nightmare and, at first glance an odd place to put a hideout. But given their relatively small and hidden nature, it actually became a quick perfect place; it was not only the last place most people would look, but it also meant that anyone actually finding the hideout would be dealing with miles of bureaucratic red tape to get anywhere near the area without setting off an international incident. Sasuke just liked it because of the trees.
He had grown up in a forest, it was hard not to like trees. Forests in general provided significant training opportunities, both for stealth and combat, and he could not deny the beauty in them either. There was also something fundamentally soothing about being in a tree, he had found, and he would often come here when he needed time to think without distractions or, far less often, was trying to take a break from his training regiment. Recently, another thing had come up to make it more and more common to find him there; Sasuke had taken to watching Sakura train.
And it seemed that this day, Kabuto had decided to join him.
Sasuke grunted his trademark non-verbal response of 'hn' and turned back to the girl's training. It had been only a few scant weeks for her to get the basics of her new abilities down. Sasuke did not fail to notice that ever since he had taken a far keener interest in her progress that her skill had increased at an exponential rate. It would plateau soon, he was sure, but it was interesting never-the-less.
"From the original, I mean. There are some subtle differences. Which is to be expected." Kabuto continued, taking Sasuke's near silence for freedom to continue. "The color, for one. And how it's manifesting. The original was more geometric, rather then the more stylized way your little pet is handling."
Sasuke snapped his head to stare at the medical-nin, sharingan manifesting in his eyes. He did not take keenly to Kabuto's description of Sakura. The medical-nin adjusted his glasses and chuckled.
"Calm down, Sasuke-kun. I meant no offense." he said, hiding the worry in his voice. Sasuke was getting a temper almost as volatile as Orochimaru's, abet with greater focus. "But you should be proud. Usually things like this are a pale comparison to the original, but she's doing quite well."
"To be expected." was all Sasuke replied with, eyes reverting to their natural color as he slowly turned back again. Kabuto said nothing for a long time, and eventually Sasuke heard him turn to leave.
"Orochimaru has already sent for the original to come here, actually." Kabuto said as he began to walk off, adjusting his glasses once more. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"And why is that?"
"To see how they really compare, of course." Kabuto said, voice growing fainter as he walked off. "Oh, and to train her, should she need it."
Sasuke had been watching the whole time. Trained, hmm? She would do good with direction, he knew, and perhaps impress him even more. He would have to do something to be sure of it. He found it odd that she had gained this power and yet he felt no ire that he could not copy it with his sharingan. Rather, he found he was glad to have that power at his side, and loyally so. He scowled. Damn that Orochimaru. He had no time to spend feeling even a bit thankful to the old snake. And certainly not about this.
But he could not deny the results.
Elsewhere, in Konoha...
"You are the cornerstone of the team." Tsunade said, voice raised and hands on her hips. "The backbone, the key. If you go down, your team goes down. If you take a hit, there is no one there to heal you."
Tsunade had been training the young Hinata Hyuuga for a months now, ever since Naruto had gone off on his own training journey with Jiraiya. The hokage and sannin was happy to find that Hinata had stopped shrinking back from her when she raised her voice. After Naruto's departure there was a short period where she had seemed to turn into a very shy and closed person, which Tsunade had been informed was her actually 'normal' state, and that she had been otherwise, especially around Naruto, was something of a shock to most of her friends and colleagues. But, leave it to Naruto to bring out the other side of anyone. With a bit of prodding Hinata had returned a bit more to the way she was around Naruto If nothing more, she'd help give the girl a bit more spine in this training.
"For those reasons, you must train yourself to never get hit. You cannot afford it, and your teammates certainly can't afford it." the hokage continued, never taking her eyes off Hinata as he did.
It was a speech Hinata had heard often, but she did not mind. She knew Tsunade was simply repeating herself so it would be always fresh in the Hyuuga's mind. It was funny. Despite how hard she was pushed and yelled at by her new sensei, it was never like it had been with her father, so many years ago. Things had changed, and he had shown at least some open approval that she had become the apprentice to the hokage herself, though true to his stoic nature her did let on any more then he had carefully allowed.
Hinata was still proud for at least that much. It was a start, and far better then she had ever received before.
"So, if you must never be hit, what does that leave?" Tsunade asked, and then swiftly answered her own question as she slammed a fist into the ground that, up until a scant few moments ago, Hinata had occupied.
"You dodge!" Tsunade finished, a smile on her face. She was learning well, and she was fast. Hinata's clan already used a style which relied heavily on avoiding enemy strikes in place of blocking them. It was a strange side effect of pitting fighters of the Gentle Fist against each other: even if you blocked, you're still going to suffer. Tsunade had heard stories of Hinata's first chuunin exam, a fight against her cousin which nearly killed her. As she launched herself at the girl again, delivering a blow that split a tree that had been behind the girl in half, she wondered how she'd fair now.
Hinata was fast and agile, capable of rather impressive acrobatics as well. She spun in a full backflip as she launched herself away from another blow. It was an unnecessary flourish, really, but another side effect of her Gentle Fist training. Most people didn't realize what an elegant fighting style that was, flowing from strike to strike and highly mobile at that. Which was intentional, really. Most Gentle Fist fighters had no need to draw on the acrobatics they could perform, which led to a wide-spread vision of the style as a very immobile style. Tsunade had learned the hard way that it simply wasn't true during one of their 'sparring matches.'
She was proud of her student. She had excellent chakra control, fantastic mobility, and had picked up the principles of both the medical jutsu she had been instructed on and the near inhuman chakra-enhanced strength that was Tsunade's trademark. Not only that, she'd made it her own, incorporating it into her Gentle Fist style fairly well. It was rarely as earth-shattering as the sannin's, but it was also more precise.
Tsunade had seen her with Naruto, and knew quite well what it was that drove her on to train this hard and push herself. She wanted the boy to be proud of her when she came back; she wanted his approval. It was, to Tsunade, as good a reason as any, she supposed. The brat had that effect on people. He forged a bond between himself and anyone he met and drove them to be better at whatever it was they did. For better, as it was with Hinata, or for worse, was it was with his old teammates.
She knew that Hinata had made a promise, be it verbal or in her heart, to Naruto. And, once they set their mind to it, he knew that both of them would not stop until they achieved whatever they were striving for. So, she would help Hinata get stronger, because it was part and parcel to another young genin's dream; Naruto would be hokage one day, and Hinata would do whatever it took to help him. It was a good system, too. After all, behind every great man was a woman.
As far as that went, Naruto couldn't have faired better.
Hinata was exhausted. It was not something she was unfamiliar with, really. But, between her training with her father, which had begun again recently, and her apprenticeship to the hokage, she was being worked quite hard. But she was happy, unlike before. She was succeeding this time, she was advancing. Her stoic father showed pride in her, and Tsunade was very adamant about how well she was doing. Hinata found that she was happy, which was such a strange thing to her. But she liked it. There was only one thing that could have made it even better, she thought.
She fell back against her bed, fresh from the baths. She was dressed simply, with no energy left to even consider changing from the simple black shirt and pants. She looked to the left, eyes focusing on a simple frame that hung on her wall. It was nothing special, really. No one would find it the least bit amazing. Pretty, perhaps, but generic. But to Hinata, it was the most precious thing in her room. She smiled as she saw it; she had pressed the flowers that Naruto had given her the day he left and hung them there, a constant reminder of who it was she was pushing herself for.
He was the one who could make it even better. If he was here, seeing her strive for him, that would make it better. But the knowledge that he was thinking of her would do for now. He knew he was, the flowers had been that promise. And he always kept his word. It was his ninja way. She she drifted off to an exhausted sleep, she thought of his face.
She slept very well.
Meanwhile, far from Konoha...
Jiraiya blew out a long stream of smoke, letting it drift away from him lazily. He rather enjoyed a good smoke, and it was a fantastic way to pass the time. And he had quite a bit of time to pass given the nature of his apprentice. Naruto, or rather Narutos, were working on a new exercise he'd given them, a simple one that had come to mind as Naruto pestered the sannin to teach him a new move. He was rather insistent, and Jiraiya had felt it only fair. For the last few months they had been focusing on some taijutsu training and the more academic side of things. History, tactics, etiquette. Naruto hadn't taken well to any of them, and although the grudgingly accepted his master's explanation that if Naruto intended to be hokage some day he would need to know these things.
He also dropped once that people like, say, Hinata, might be impressed by such knowledge. That little drop had made him almost eager. Almost. It was still grumbling whenever he announced the days lesson, and eventually the brat had worn him down and convinced his sensei to teach him something more flashy. Jiraiya relented, and told him to get some leaves.
He had been planning to wait, but the kid got persuasive, talking about how he needed to get stronger to save his friends. It was all very mushy and all very compelling, and all very very annoying. So, he put aside the booksmarts and decided to teach the something 'practical' and 'useful.' And also something that would keep him busy for awhile and leave Jiraiya to smoke, write, and 'research.'
He puffed out another burst of smoke as he looked at the hundreds of Naruto's in front of him and grinned. Tsunade would have a heart attack with that many Naruto around. Good thing his prankster days were behind him. What kind of mayhem could he have pulled with that? Naruto was a creative kid, and brilliant in his own way. He lacked the academic ability to study or really gain from studying or lectures. Which is why Jiraiya had learned to teach by doing. Etiquette? He took him to a local lord's place, told him to be exactly like his sensei. It had not gone over well the first few times but after awhile the kid picked it up.
So, when he told the kid he would teach him elemental manipulation, he knew that trying to teach him by explaining the theoretical principles and whatnot was pointless. He told him to make a bunch of clones, get some leaves, and get to work. It was fantastic. At this rate, he'd get done his new book in record time. And the kid?
Kid was one step closer to the wide-brimmed hat of the hokage.
In a northern mountain facility...
"Chidori!"
Sasuke drove his fist through the chest of another of the monstrous things. It was vaguely human, a slavering vestige of what it once was. Orochimaru's experiments were legion, and often they were not so much successes, and yet still not total failures. They were these wretched things; these squeamish glibbering monstrosities whose inhuman strength could not make up for their utter lack of intelligence, or sanity. These were Orochimaru's cast offs, his menagerie of horror. And Sasuke was stuck in the middle of it.
"Sakura!" he shouted, turning back sharingan eye piercing the cloud of dust and debris kicked up by the beast's attack. The blow was impressive; it had sent her flying back and into one of the walls of this narrow place. The hideout was a winding, castle-like structure, with thick rock walls carved out of the mountain itself. Sakura had been sent crashing into on one of them, and Sasuke felt as though someone had stabbed him in the heart as he searched. No, no, no, she was supposed to stay behind him. This wasn't supposed to have happened.
"I'm- I'm alright, Sasuke-kun." a faint voice said, causing his heart to soar momentarily before he regained his composure. His eyes saw what she'd done before the dust settled. Her arm one was encased in a red crystalline substance, surface slightly shattered from the blow. Her other arm had formed a spike of red crystal as well, and had hit the wall behind her.
She had used the spike to shatter the wall behind her before she hit it, allowing it to crumble more easily. It was a smart move, and Sasuke was struck by just how much better she had gotten. She was using that calculating mind in combat, and had the power to make it work. It was... beautiful.
"Sakura." he said, launching himself to her side. He helped her up, and she took his hand with a smile.
"It's alright, Sasuke-kun. I'm alright." she repeated, her heart pounding at the concern in his voice.
"I can see that."
He was grinning now, causing her to blush. She shook herself. This was not the time and place to start getting giddy like a schoolgirl. She tore her eyes off him and scanned the hallways, trying to remember how it is they'd gotten here.
"Seems that we're stuck in the middle of a prison riot." Sasuke said, eyes scanning the area as well. They were in a t-shaped hallway, and they already knew what was down one of the lengths. They had been sent here by Orochimaru, to pick up one of the prisoners stored here. He had not stated why, and Sasuke had not cared enough to ask. Sakura went along with him because she had no intention of staying alone with Orochimaru, or Kabuto, despite the fact that the latter was as close to a sensei as she had. Except Guren, of course, but Guren wasn't around either. She was back at her own hideout, watching her own group of monsters.
"Yes, but how much of the complex is affected, do you think?" she replied, falling into step behind him.
"Only one way to find out."
He picked up the pace, resting one hand on his sword. They were lucky, at first. The level they were on was not as heavily 'stocked' as some of the others. But that meant as they went lower they would likely be forced to deal with an increasingly large number of them, but at least they were the weaker of the bunch.
His sword was slick with blood of a veritable rainbow of colors, reds and greens the most commonplace color in these creatures, but blue and a rare orange or purple would show up sometimes as well once in a while. He'd lost count of how many he'd killed. He glanced back at his partner. Sakura was panting behind him; she was getting exhausted from all of this. He could not deny he was also feeling the strain. He was just better at hiding it.
They had gone down three levels in the structure. They could see the final exit. They could also see the last of the cursed mark beasts, blocking the exit with his bulk. From the looks of it, it was a near success; the beast showed signs of intellect. But it was a feral intellect, not the intelligence of sapience, behind those yellow eyes.
The creature was easily over eight feet tall, even hunched as it was. It's form was a strange combination of wolf and gorilla. It's snout was long, with oversized teeth that dripped with a strange ichor. Poison? Acid? Who knew, when it came to these things. It's arms were thick and muscled, with short and stout legs which told Sasuke it was likely not the most agile or fast of creatures, but it had a brute strength that could likely cause major damage. It was covered in a thick coat of black fur, soaked with blood and gore. But all that was almost normal compared to the creature's back: it was a shell-like carapace with a half-a-dozen writhing tentacles, coated in both fur and slime. The beast held another creature's chewed corpse in one hand, the creature's neck crushed.
And it simply sat there, staring at the two foolish morsels who had intruded into it's domain. It was not hungry, simply angry; it had eaten and had more then enough to get it's fill laying around, but these two had interrupted his gorging, and for that they would be killed. The beast snarled, tentacles continuing to twist and writhe behind it.
"I can't use genjutsu on it. It's mind is too warped, neither man nor beast." Sasuke said with a scowl. It was not something he was unfamiliar with; many other creatures had the same resilience to his genjutsu that this creature showed. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."
"Yes, Sasuke-kun."
He smiled at her one moment, and was in motion the next. His sword crackled with power, lashing out across the creature's chest. Behind him, Sakura began hastily making hand signs, calling on the last of her stamina. The creature was slow to react, reeling back from the slice that tore through it's skin with ease. It was not used to such pain, and that drove it into a savage frenzy.
Sasuke brought his sword back, slashing across the creature's snout. Sasuke grinned as he saw his sword wet with fresh blood. Orange, this time, and then scowled as he saw the tentacles lash out for him. But he made no motion to dodge, bringing the sword down and slicing into the creatures arm. It was just now beginning to react.
"ShÅton: Sakura Shuriken!"
The tentacles were reaching for him. A moment later they were halved in size, spraying orange blood wildly as they flailed. Razor sharp crystals, formed into the shape of cherry blossoms, impacted into the wall behind the beast and shattered. Sasuke had been right, there was no need to dodge. He smiled as his sword continued on it's journey across the creature, carving up the beasts arm, cutting through meet and bone as it did. Sasuke planted his feet into the chest of the beast and kicked off, channeling a burst of chakra into his soles as he did. The creature was sent flying back as Sasuke somersaulted and skidded back, ending up right next to Sakura.
The entire process had taken only a scant few seconds. The beast hadn't even time to react.
"Nice work." Sasuke said, snapping his blade to the side. He channeled a small bit of chakra through the blade, getting between it and the blood and causing the ichor to fly off with a dramatic splatter. And, just as quickly, he returned it to it's sheath.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." she replied with a slight blush, following him as he made his way towards the exit. The beast twitched as they passed by, causing her to scowl. She tossed another crystalline flower into it's snout, slicing through fur and bone. It stopped twitching. "For looking so strong, it wasn't very impressive, was it?"
"Disappointed, Sakura-chan?" Sasuke said with an approving grin. "Come on, lets just get out of here."
He hauled up a young man over his shoulder and led the way out. His hands and feet were bound in red crystal; Sakura's handiwork. He wasted no time in leaving, and Sakura was not far behind.
"Yes, Sasuke-kun." was all she said in reply. But inside, she was cheering. She had done a good job, he was happy with her. And that mad her happy.
So very happy.
She was beautiful.
He did not look at her often, and in truth he did not need to. The gifts of the sharingan were his, and that meant what he saw was his forever. He had seen her in battle, and that is when he found her the most beautiful. When her mind was racing, and she acted as soon as a brilliant idea sparked to life inside her brain. It was compelling, startling, and oh so very beautiful. It was a new Sakura, with purpose and power. She was learning to do without hesitation, to speak without fear.
And it was beautiful.
He adjusted the prisoner slung over his shoulder and pushed off another tree-branch. She kept pace with him, perfectly. It was not a hard push, nor was it his fastest, but it was still impressive that she was keeping up without any trouble. He had figured out that, in a way, he was her motivation and her vice at the same time. She could push herself for him, but when he held her back in a unique way. She couldn't keep up with him because she was always staring at him. Her goal was always to keep up with him but that goal was always moving, and it scattered in her mind.
But as she trained, and as she got stronger, she stopped following and started traveling in the same direction. Instead of focusing on him, she focused on where he was going. Where they were going. She was thinking of us instead of just him. He knew this because he could see it, and thought he let it show only rarely, he was watching her constantly. He was sizing her up, evaluating her, and watching her grow. She was as dedicated to him as always, perhaps even more now. But where once was infatuation was now loyalty. Where once was a crush was now respect. She loved him. Truly loved him.
Love was a vague term, he thought. It could be used for so many things, for so many degrees, and even when you could honestly say that someone loved another person it was totally unclear as to what sort of love that was. Conditional, unconditional, romantic, platonic. All the labels and even with all of them in any thousands of combinations you could not describe all the loves that people could have. But if you focused on just one love, maybe you could crystallize at least part of it. Sasuke had only one love to focus on, and he was beginning to see what sort of love it was.
He did not love her. Sasuke was honest with himself there, and it was both a conscious and unconscious thing. He had chosen not allow himself to love, and in turn he had not the capability to choose otherwise. Not on the path he had chosen. He found her beautiful, he cared for her greatly, and he enjoyed her company more then he could even admit. But that was not love. It had not the ethereal quality that could make it love. And he wasn't sure he ever would have it.
He wasn't sure he could love anymore. It was not a cliche thing, not some storybook tale where he had forgotten how. No, deep down he knew how to love, because he had loved before. In a fashion, he still loved. He loved his brother, because he was his brother. A descriptor of love and hate was too vague to be applied to the bond he shared with Itachi. But that shining beacon drowned out the others. Maybe, when his blade was wet with Itachi's blood, and that bright shining bond that blinded his emotions was gone, maybe then he'd see the path to love.
Or maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he was being too poetic for his own sanity. Maybe he wasn't, but he did know that Sakura would never leave his side, and he would not leave hers. It wasn't love, nor lust, nor loyalty. It just was.
He would kiss her when they got back to base, and thank her for all she'd done, and he would tell her that she could be with him forever. And she would be happy, and that would make him happy. And maybe, just maybe. Someday, he would love her.