Slowly, slowly, slowly getting faster.

Those words were played in a sing-song tone in my head as I ran through the forest still in search of Sasuke. Things have changed so much in the past 3 years, and evidently I wasn't sure if I still felt the same way about him; what he did had slightly hardened my heart and turned me cold. I wasn't cold towards Naruto and Hinata of course, but everyone we've encountered would cower slightly in fear. In our search, we've stopped in many villages to train and make sure we were stronger. Naruto ran into Jiraiya on many occasions and there were plenty of Hyuugas willing to help Hinata.

Me? I learned from everyone and anyone.

A sigh escaped my lips as I used chakra in my feet to jump farther on the tree branches. The wind blew around me and tussled my long, braided black hair that was in a high ponytail. I glanced to my right and saw Hinata coming up beside me analyzing the area with her Byakugan. I would help her out, but I lost my Karengan a long time ago.

Naruto came up on my left and jumped pass me. Sometimes I wondered if he was more dedicated to finding Sasuke than I was, but I had a feeling it was true; unlike him I would beat Sasuke to almost death in order to bring him back. He better not underestimate me.

"We should probably rest guys," I said with my monotone voice. "We need to save our strength. I want to get him too, but we can't kick his ass if we're running low on chakra."

Naruto nodded while Hinata said, "There looks like a safe spot coming up. It's a clearing but hidden around and above by trees." I nodded to her and jumped from where I was. Doing a flip in the air, I landed gracefully on my feet while my friends did the same.

My hand twitched slightly at the thought that we were so close. I then began to feel my whole body shake slightly and the wind speed pick up around me. Shit, I hate it when this happens.

I really need to learn to control my emotions.

NARUTO'S POV

I felt the change in the air shift as I turned to look at Kura. Her hand looked like it was previously shaking but suddenly stopped. I got up to make sure she was okay but before I could she snapped her head in my direction.

"Don't worry Naruto. She's fine," said "Kura". I sighed and nodded, sitting back down. I was really gonna kill that bastard for doing this to her.

Ever since Sasuke left, Kura has changed a lot. At first she cried non-stop which is surprising considering she's never sad about anything. Then she was so angry we had to keep leaving the places we stopped in because she would destroy some part of it. Her emotions went haywire so much that she…developed a split personality; I didn't like this side of her. This side was called Akuna and only came out when Kura couldn't handle her emotions at the time. I think it also affects her chakra, but I never noticed too much of a change. Akuna was calm, emotionless, and fearless. It was like she had no real life to her.

Sasuke better hope he meets Kura and not Akuna.

KURAYAMI/AKUNA'S POV

We started running through the trees again and I could feel Kurayami trying to gain control of me.

I'm fine now Akuna, I can come out again.

Are you sure? What if we run into him?

Then it's my problem. If I really can't control myself I'll tell you. Don't take over me like that again.

As you wish.

I shook my head as I felt myself gain control. I really had to take care of that split personality issue but I knew that wouldn't happen until this shit was taken care of.

Sighing, my head quickly snapped up when I felt many chakra signatures up ahead. I smirked and looked to Hinata for confirmation. "Is that what I think it is?"

She nodded with her Byakugan, "Yes, there are many sound ninjas up ahead. I'm not sure if Sasuke is with them though."

I nodded and took out my twin black shadow fans. I knew Sasuke was actually further up from the sound ninjas but I wouldn't tell Naruto and Hinata yet. They would soon find out.

SASUKE'S POV

"Again!"

I growled at Orochimaru as I ran at him again with snakes coming out my arms to attack. When they got close enough to him his own snakes appeared and devoured them. I sliced the remaining with my sword being frustrated with all this.

"You've been slacking in your snake jutsus Sasuke," he said practically hissing at me. I glared, "Maybe it's because I don't care about this anymore. You need to teach me something new."

"Such impatience and arrogance. Maybe this is why Kabuto hates you so much."

"Like I care about your bitch." Orochimaru frowned as I said this but I rolled my eyes. He couldn't think I wouldn't go there.

Training with this pedophile has been hell, but I know I've gotten much stronger. He definitely sped up my skills in a way the leaf village couldn't but I didn't enjoy this at all. He'd take forever to start a new technique with me and would only comply when I start slacking on the skills I've mastered; just now was a prime example. Kabuto was, of course, annoying as hell because he was Orochimaru's bitch; I'm saying this in all seriousness too. I think the only part of being in the Leaf Village I miss is-

What is that?

My thoughts were cut off abruptly when I sensed foreign chakra signatures heading this way. They felt a little familiar, but I couldn't exactly place who they belonged to. "Come on Sasuke. We should change hideouts if someone has found us." I glanced at the weakened snake master and shook my head, "I'm gonna check it out."

Before he could object I jumped off and headed towards the direction of the chakra. I came up to where the sound ninjas were surrounding the area in case of attack, and found that a quarter of them were dead. Hiding behind a tree and disguising my chakra, I watched as a black fan came spinning out of nowhere and cut right through three ninjas. I narrowed my eyes as the fan spun away and the surviving ninja went after it.

Those idiots.

Moving closer to the scene, I saw what I'm pretty sure was the blond idiot and Hinata fighting off some of the ninja. Naruto didn't change much (besides a slight growth spurt) and Hinata developed nicely in her body and skills. This doesn't matter much to me, but at least the Leaf Village now has one more skilled kunoichi.

Speaking of skilled kunoichi, a girl came out of nowhere and attacked one of the ninja while Hinata was distracted. This girl came from the trees, wrapped her legs around the neck of the ninja, and flipped back to send him flying into a tree. She smirked in satisfaction as more came surrounding her and she fought them off with grace. I noticed she dealt very powerful strikes as she kicked and punched her opponents with ease. She especially enjoyed herself when she spun on her hands to deliver a swift spin kick to those around her.

"Not bad at all," I whispered to myself.

"I like to think so." I quickly pulled out my sword and swiped behind me to hear the clash of my sword against a black fan. I looked at the person in front of me and saw that it was the girl I saw fighting the ninjas just a second ago.

She's fast.

"Hm, so the brat Uchiha got a little faster. This'll be an interesting fight," she said smirking at me. I glared at her mockery but couldn't help but admire her strength. She can hold back my force on my sword just with a fan.

"Don't act like you know me. Just fight me." She shook her head at me and flung her fan from my sword away. I saw it spin from the corner of my eye and it went through a ninja running towards us. "We'll fight but not now. Kill the snake bastard and I'll give you a good fight my dear. Try not to die when we do," she said as she attached her fans to the red belts around her waist and turned to leave. Before she could jump away I noticed she had an anbu tattoo on her arm. That could explain how strong she is, but she looks merely my age.

Shaking my head, I went off to kill Orochimaru. I wasn't just doing this because I was itching for a fight with that girl; I wanted him dead because he had nothing more to teach me. I'll learn the rest in the Leaf Village.

Then I'll leave to kill Itachi once and for all.

KURAYAMI'S POV

I felt Sasuke's chakra disappear and smirked to myself as Naruto finished off the last ninja with his clone. "Sasuke just left."

Hinata's eyes widened, "That's the chakra I felt? Did you see him?"

"Yeah, and I said he could fight me," I replied to her blankly. Naruto, however, didn't take this as a 'whatever' matter. "What if you can't control yourself Kura? He's changed, we both know that."

"I told Akuna if I can't handle it she'll take over."

He looked at me warily, "But she might kill him."

"Okay then," I said feeling Sasuke's chakra coming back. "You fight him first. I'll watch for a bit. You can tell me when to interfere." He grinned and nodded liking my plan while I jumped into a tree. "Have fun Naruto, cause here's your chance."

~20 minutes later~

A yawn escaped my lips as Naruto and Sasuke still continued to fight. It wasn't that their fight was boring; I just really wanted to fight right now. Knowing my blond friend, he'll give up soon because he gets irritated more than I do.

Sensing a huge build up of chakra, I saw Naruto and Sasuke run at each other with Rasengan and Chidori. Oh lord, they're gonna kill each other with those techniques. Sighing, I took out my twin dragon fans (yes, that means I have four fans in all. Don't judge, Temari has a big ass fan) and focused some chakra into them. Feeling the wind twirl around my weapons I jumped off the tree, flipped, and right when the boys were about to hit each other I brought my fans down between them. The wind released on each side and sent them both flying in opposite directions. When they landed on their backs, I got up and dusted off my black corset tank-top and gray short denim shorts. I heard my ninja boots scuff against the ground as I helped Naruto up and steady him.

"I trusted you with this fight Naruto," I said narrowing my eyes at him but making sure to focus on the jackass getting up across the field. He could probably hear us, but it's not like it's a private conversation. "Sorry Kura. I was too in the moment."

"No worries, my turn now."

I turned to face Uchiha and saw him look at me with widened eyes. He looked a little shocked…or is that a glimmer of sadness? I guess he didn't recognize me earlier, not that I blame him.

"Y-yami?" he said stuttering a little. I smirked and bowed dramatically at him, "At your service."

"I'm not going to fight you." This caused me to frown and before he knew what was happening, I appeared in front of him and punched him across the face. "Yes you will ass wipe. Now get up and don't waste my time."

He looked at me with shocked eyes as he wiped some blood from his lip, "I can't fight you Yami." This earned him a kick in the gut from me. "You WILL fight me Uchiha. You will NOT hold back. And guess what? I'm definitely not going to hold back on you."

I heard him sigh and start swiping his sword at me as I smirked. Quickly putting away my dragon fans, I took out my shadow fans and started blocking his attacks. His was good, I had to admit, but I don't think he was taking me seriously.

"You need to be better than this Uchiha. If you can't defeat a girl, you sure as hell can't kill Itachi." He glared daggers at me and I felt his chakra spark (literally) as he created lightning on his sword.

Shit, here we go.

He started swinging at me again and I swear you could practically hear thunder as our weapons clashed. I made sure to keep chakra in my fans so they wouldn't break because Uchiha sure was strong with his element.

We both put our weapons away at the same time and started doing hand-signs. Evidently, we both made a fireball jutsu that caused a really huge explosion. The forced pushed me back a bit (since I was focusing chakra to my feet to hold me down) and Sasuke was pushed into a tree. He shook his head to snap out of it and I flipped back to make room between us. As I did my last flip, I made hand signs and positioned my hands in a gun motion. I landed down on one knee, quickly yelled "Wind Style: Wind blast Justu!" and his eyes widened as a huge ball of wind shot from my fingertips straight at him. He grabbed his sword and put it right in front of him as a defense right as the blast was about to hit him. Lightning sparked from his weapon as the wind ball and sword clashed against each other in a chakra match and he was hoping to win. I took out my fans, made sure they were closed, and swiped them in front of me causing a wind blade to crash into my wind blast and knock Sasuke into a tree again. I narrowed my eyes as he stood up and sent a lightning ball at me through his sword.

What the hell?

I had to do flips and turns in order to avoid the freaking electric balls being tossed at me like it was nothing. He then stabbed his sword into the ground to send a current towards me. I jumped and spun in the air like crazy while doing quick hand signs again. Once I landed, I used both my hands and started firing fire balls at him like they were bullets from a gun. His eyes narrowed as he deflected them with his sword and I kept shooting at him while running. As we got closer, dust started to surround us and we made a final move.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

My heart was beating loudly in my chest and honestly I was afraid the jackass in front of me would be able to hear it. We were both panting and staring at each other as the dust cleared and revealed his sword at my neck and my fans at his neck and chest. We didn't dare move an inch or say a word.

His dark eyes didn't change much from the time he's been gone. They're still cold like I remember, but held confusion and shock in them. I think there was another emotion I saw…longing? Oh hell no.

"Yami," he whispered still looking at me in disbelief. His eyes trailed to something behind me, and then to my neck. They softened as he stared, "You kept what I gave you."

It took me awhile to realize what he was talking about, but I did now see he was referring to the ribbon and necklace he gave me. "Well I didn't keep your false love for me."

He looked really hurt by what I said but it didn't exactly matter. He lowered his sword from my neck but kept his eyes on me, "It was never false."

I glared daggers at him, "Could've fooled me jackass." He shook his head and put his sword away, not wanting to fight anymore. I kept my weapons where they were.

SASUKE'S POV

She's changed.

I kept my eyes on Yami as she kept staring at me. I knew she would get stronger of course; in fact, I'm pretty sure she was holding back on me even though she said she wouldn't. Her features have definitely matured in the perfect places and she was more beautiful than she ever was.

Beautiful and deadly.

She kept her arms steady as she held her new fans at my neck and chest. I was afraid if I breathed too heavily or talked out of line, I would be sliced and diced. As I looked into her eyes, however, I saw she was hurting more than anything. They were clouded with anger, resentment, and mostly abandonment. I knew I'd cause this for her, but actually seeing it was tearing me apart.

Something strange happened in her eyes, and I saw them wavering a bit. They then widened slightly, pupils dilating, and then they went dull and lifeless.

"You have no idea how lucky you are Uchiha. Kurayami normally isn't this lenient," she said to me in a harsh tone. She removed her fans from me, placed them in their proper spots, and started walking away. I was confused as to why she referred to herself in third person, but I decided to keep quiet on it and follow.

I saw her glance at Naruto and his eyes looked sad at the look, "He's coming with us."

"I'm guessing Kura beat some sense into him," Naruto said dully. Why is he using third person now? "Yeah she did. She couldn't handle their little personal staring contest though."

He nodded, "Seems understandable."

"You're not gonna hurt him on the way back, right Akuna?" Hinata asked. Akuna? Why did she call her Akuna? She glanced back at me and I flinched at the emotionless eyes, "Not unless Kurayami tells me to. I don't have an opinion on the matter."

They both nodded and waited for me to catch up before they continued walking. Things with Yami were definitely going to be different. "Oh, and Uchiha?" Yami said looking back at me. "Kurayami says you can't call her Yami anymore."

Fuck my life.