A.N.
Bless all of those who have reviewed, faved, and followed my story. I really, truly appreciate it!
If you have not kept up with the manga from here on out there may be spoilers.
Disclaimer: Naruto does NOT belong to me.
Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga and/or anime are completely original.
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"I am not in love with Sasuke Uchiha."Sayuri glared at the man. "What I'm saying is that he should not be group in along with the Akatsuki. If anything Sasuke should be handled by Naruto Uzumaki."
"That kid is a host!" Koji interrupted. "He can't go into battle!"
"That's enough!" Mifune stood from his seat. "Lady Sayuri I understand that you care for your team mate but there are four very strong arguments against you. You must not let your emotions cloud your judgment. That will only lead you to harm and loosing the last Marihasha representative would not do well with your village."
Sayuri looked down at the smooth table. But they…Naruto and Sakura they'll…they'll never see him again.
"Lady Sayuri, I plead you …clear your mind and detach yourself from these foolish emotions that will do nothing but get you killed." Mifune's tone was stern as he spoke. "Take what the four clan heads have said and make your own decision, without letting your emotions get the better of you.
Sayuri closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
Sasuke slowly raised his hand offering it to her. The young girl smiled raising her hand to reach out to his. Their finger tips met for mere seconds before she dropped her hand and turned her back to him, ignoring Naruto's and Sakura's calls after her.
Sayuri opened her eyes but kept them downcast. "I…agree to the proposition."
Torment
"Good." Mifune cast the brunette one last look before he stood. "I'll inform the Kages." They watched as the samurai left the room in silence.
The four men turned their attention to the still standing girl. They glanced at each other uneasily before shifting their gaze away.
Arashi stood and slowly placed a hand on the girls shoulder. "Lady Sayuri—" he stopped as the girl pushed his hand away. They all watched as the girl turned away from them all and headed toward the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Koji asked as he turned to the heiress. The only answer he received was the sound of the slamming door.
Brown eyes darted from one side of the hall to the other. She took note of the pillars that held the place up and the white marble floors. She leaned against the door as he shoulders began to shake. Placing a hand on her mouth, she tried to stifle her steadily rising sobs.
I'm sorry…She hung her head as he body continued to tremble. Naruto, Sakura…I'm sorry. She felt her chest tighten and soon she couldn't breathe. Allowing a choked cry to escape her lips she pulled at the kimono in an attempt to loosen it mostly out of frustration.
The sound of quiet footsteps made her freeze. Gaze still on the white floor before her she tried to choke back another cry. Taking a deep breath she quickly wiped her tears and turned to the person standing a few feet away from her.
"It's you…" she breathed out, recognizing the samurai that had protected her in the Kages meeting room.
The man bowed quickly and straightened up deciding not to mention her emotional breakdown in the middle of the hallway. "Lady Sayuri, is there something I can do for you?"
The girl in question blinked in surprise. "You want to help me?" she asked slowly and watched the man dip his head in affirmative. "Why would you help me?"
"Not just anyone can sneak up on and disarm a samurai." Said the man in a low even tone. "I misjudged you. You're a lot stronger than you look and I am very impressed by your capabilities as you have earned my respect."
"Thank you...?" Sayuri replied not sure what to say.
"How may I be of use?" He asked again.
Brown eyes scanned the man for a moment. "Tell me, is your black attire attached to the metal guards?"
The samurai looked down at himself before shaking his head. "No, it is not."
"Can I borrow one?
XXX
When Moriyo had first set eyes on Sayuri she had been but a blabbering baby that was just learning how to walk. Sure the little girl spoke simple words such as 'mama' and 'papa' but that was about as far as her vocabulary extended at the age of one and a half.
She remembered watching the child pull herself up using the railing of the deck in the back yard or the stairs inside the house. It was quite hilarious to watch as the little girl made faces with the effort she made to stand up, what was funnier was watching the girl fall flat on her bottom and pout as if she wanted to cry.
Kaminari, at the time, was all over the kid. Everywhere the little brat crawled to, she was sure to follow. So in turn Moriyo tagged along for the lack of having anything better to do. Regardless she found that watching the child's wobbly legs as Sayuri attempted to take her firsts steps, made her feel warm and…fuzzy inside. It was then, at the age of sixteen, that Moriyo found that children were endearing and that, one day she wouldn't mind having a child of her own.
That, however, was then…this is now. Moriyo frowned as she looked up at the bright sun. To her, Sayuri had become her daughter. From the time she set out to train the young girl, Moriyo, found she spoiled the kid senseless. She bought her clothes, cooked for her, made her grow out her hair, and played with it once it was grown. She watched over Sayuri as she slept from time to time and would often find herself stroking her growing brown locks in a soothing, motherly manner.
Yes, Moriyo cared for the girl, but in no way did she want to have a child now…or ever for that matter. She came to that realization a year after taking Sayuri under her wing. Whenever Sayuri was sent on a mission, she found herself worrying whether or not she'd come back alive, when Sayuri went missing it almost gave her a heart attack, when she had returned Moriyo almost killed her for leaving without notice, when Sayuri had closed herself off in her own little world she began to fear for her.
Children were too much of an emotional rollercoaster. You'd be happy one moment, completely content with your life and how theirs was turning out, only to have the little monster turn around and make you wish that you had never had them in the first place or, in Moriyo's case, seen them.
The jounin sighed as she risked a glance at the fumbling academy students that somehow Iruka had convinced her to 'teach' them while their instructor was being taken care of in the hospital…and by teach he really meant babysit. So here she was, book in hand standing in the middle of a meadow while under the careful scrutiny of a group of eight year olds.
"All right!" she crossed her arms and looked at the small class of ten in the eye. "I'll be your instructor for the next few weeks, my name is Moriyo. You will call me Moriyo-sensei, is that clear?"
The children blinked owlishly up at her. Why had this been easier with Sayuri? Oh, that's' right, because she had been eleven and not eight when she first presented herself at her instructor. The jounin cleared her throat.
"Right, let's begin…" As she began to, mechanically, recount the tale of the first Hokage her mind couldn't help but wonder off to Sayuri. Had she eaten? Had the meeting gone well? When would she come back? Her questions went unanswered as she looked over the ten children, only to find them half asleep.
Eyebrow twitching she cleared her throat. The children sat up straight startled. "You know what, never mind." She closed the book in her hand and tossed it aside. "Recess…Go wild." With giant smiles in their eyes they got up and began to run around the meadow.
XXX
Sayuri inspected her new attire in the mirror with a small sigh of relief at finally being able to move without restraint. She looked down to her right to the layers of kimono sprawled all around the floor of the changing room. Picking them up she wondered what to do with them until she spotted a trash can and stuffed them inside.
The samurai straightened as the door to the room opened and out came Sayuri dressed in the black long sleeved, turtleneck shirt and black pants that belonged to the samurai. Thankfully he had convinced one of the women to lend him her clothes, of course not without receiving strange look from the woman just before he left.
"Here are the gloves." He passed them to her and she took them before slipping them on.
Sayuri pursed her lips and looked at her hands and took them off, stuffing them in the pockets of her pants. "Thank you for your help." She bowed.
The man returned the gesture. "Will you be going after him?"
His question caught Sayuri by surprise. "Sasuke?" the man nodded. "Yes."
"You don't know where he is."
"True." She smiled. "But I know where Danzo is heading, and if I'm lucky I'll kill two birds with one stone."
The samurai looked surprised. "You plan to fight Danzo?"
"Yes." The two began to walk down the hall. "I'm not going to let him get away after all he's done. I'm also willing to bet that Sasuke or Madara might show up, if they haven't already."
"You think they'll go after him?"
Sayuri glanced up at the samurai. "I know they'll go after him." They reached the exit to the building. "Again thank you for your help." With that Sayuri turned and began to leap up onto the roof tops heading into the forest.
I know Danzo's heading toward the Samurai Bridge…that's where I came in from, and that's the nearest exit from this village. Sayuri thought as leapt from one tree branch to another. Just as the snow began to disappear the brunette made her way to the ground. Breathing heavily she leaned against one of the trees and held her side. The wound she had received in the forest of death, from Orochimaru three years ago, was becoming unbearable. She slid down the trunk and hissed in pain as it began to burn. It had never gotten this bad. Then again, her chakra had never been as diminished as it was now. Her chakra was what had kept the pain at bay, the wound would take chakra from her constantly, but when she was running low the wound would sting and burn.
Sayuri slid the black shirt up and glanced down at her abdomen. The thin scar was reddening.
"Great." She muttered as she took out a small bag from her pocket, producing a small round, brown soldier pill. Making a face she brought it up to her mouth. Hesitantly she took it and began to chew before swallowing it with much effort. "Gah!" she stuck her tongue out in disgust. The thing tasted horrible, but it was taking effect. Immediately her chakra spiked and the wound stopped burning.
Brown eyes glance down at it once more and watched in amazement as the scar quickly began to turn a pale pink in color. With a sigh of relief she pulled her shirt down and jumped to her feet. She glanced up at the canopy before setting off again.
XXX
"Sasuke!" The teen froze and turned to the pink haired konoichi behind him. She looked worn, how had she found him?
"What do you want?" he demanded irritated that he had to stop in order to talk to the girl. In the academy he had always felt annoyed by her, she was persistent and unyielding. She doted on him so much so that her training suffered because of it.
"I want to go with you!" She stated, determination in her eyes. "I'll leave Konoha!"
He watched as she jumped down to where he was. "Why would you join me? What are you trying to pull?"
"Nothing! Ever since you left the village, I've regretted not going with you." Sasuke only stared at her as she continued. "I'll do whatever you want. I don't want to have any more regrets."
Karin stared at the scene feeling as if something was amiss.
"Do you know what I want to do?" Sasuke asked the rosette.
"I don't care! I'll follow any order you give me—"
"To crush the leaf! That is my goal…" Sasuke interrupted her. "Are you willing to betray the leaf for me?"
Pushing aside any shock and fear she had, Sakura looked on determined. "Yes, if that's what you want me to do."
Sasuke stepped aside. "Then prove it." He pointed at the bleeding girl on the ground. "Kill her, and I'll accept your offer."
This time she couldn't keep the shock from registering on her face. Sasuke eyed her carefully as she took out a kunai. "Who is she?"
"A member of 'Hawk' and as you can see, she's useless to me now." Sasuke watched as Sakura slowly made her way over. "Actually, you're a medical ninja, aren't you Sakura? This works out perfectly…you can take her place."
The rosette gulped. He's completely heartless…He really isn't the old Sasuke anymore. He's completely changed. Sakura thought as she stepped toward Karin.
"Well?" the Uchiha asked. "Can you handle this, Sakura?"
She doesn't matter…Sakura looked down at the bleeding redhead. If..if…She clutched the kunai tighter. If I can stab him with this, it'll all come to an end. She trembled and closed her eyes until a weak voice caught her attention.
"Sasuke..don't do it…" Sakura's eyes opened wide as she finally noticed the killing intent coming from the man behind her. Turning she froze in horror as she watched the Uchiha with his Chidori heading right for her.
However the attack stopped right before her eyes as a dusty dome surrounded Sakura, obscuring her vision. The Uchiha pulled away, his Chidori disappearing as he recognized the Wind Barrier Jutsu. Black eyes darted left to right in search of its source.
"Behind you, Uchiha." Sasuke turned immediately, his coal black eyes meeting her light and dark brown.
"Sayuri…" he whispered her name. Sakura was forgotten by the Uchiha as his full attention was on the brunette before him.
"Sakura…" Sayuri spoke slowly catching the ninja's attention. "Take Karin and heal her." She watched as the rosette stiffened and looked between the redhead on the ground and Sayuri. How did she know her? "Now, Sakura." Sayuri ordered.
"What about you?" she asked. "Aren't you worr—"
"I'll be fine." She spoke not once breaking eye contact with the avenger. "Now go." With a hesitant nod she picked up Karin and moved quickly taking her behind one of the pillars.
"Why did you protect her?" Sasuke asked as Sakura left the area.
"What happened to your eye?" She countered hoping to draw his attention elsewhere.
"This?" he touched his cheek. "I killed Danzo, that's what happened."
Sayuri felt her jaw drop as she stared at Sasuke in surprise. "You killed him?" The Uchiha nodded and took a step forward.
"That's one down…and now that you're here, we can take our revenge on Konoha."
Sayuri clenched her fists. She had wished that when she saw him she wouldn't feel anything, that at least for this one moment her heart would cooperate with her mind do as it was told, but she found it impossible. She still cared for him.
"We? Our?" Sayuri shook her head sadly. "Sasuke, I don't want this. It's wrong."
In a blink of an eye she found herself being pulled towards him. He gripped her arms tightly as he stared down at her.
"What do you mean 'you don't want this'!?" he demanded. "How is it wrong to want to destroy those who destroyed you!?"
"Sasuke—"
"They took your clan away! They took mine!" he shook her once roughly and she took hold of his forearms to keep herself from loosing balance. "They all deserve to die!"
"You're wrong!" Sayuri exclaimed as she looked up at him. "The village didn't do it, it was the elders." His grip on her arms tightened making her wince but she ignored the pain. "The villagers are innocent, they don't know what happened."
"Innocent?" he stared down at her as if she had lost her mind. "They're living off of the sacrifices we made. They don't deserve to live!" He pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers. "You're the only one who understands. You're the only one who knows what it feels to lose everything."
His black eyes searched her brown ones. He concentrated as the image of the brunette blurred for a second before clearing up again. From the day he met her ten years ago, he thought she was special. She didn't group his brother and him together. Sayuri saw him as Sasuke. Not Sasuke, Itachi's little brother. Just Sasuke.
He grew to like her and somewhere along that time he wanted her to smile at him and only him. When she lost her clan he felt helpless. He didn't know what to do to help her and the two began to drift apart. Just when he thought he would never see her again, they were placed in the same team. He didn't know how to approach her back then and she acted as if she didn't know him.
It wasn't until recently that he discovered that Itachi had sealed her mind, something that his brother had done for him. She was made for him. He needed her by his side if to keep him sane. When he had thought her dead, he wanted nothing more than crush Konoha for leaving completely alone. But now that she was here, right before him, he didn't want to let her go.
But she doesn't want to destroy the village. He remembered as he looked at her eyes. She was standing before him, not to follow him but to stop him.
The heiress did nothing as he leaned closer to the point where their lips were mere centimeters apart. "Sayuri…" His lips brushed hers in a soft kiss. "Come with me." He was not about to let her go. He will not let Konoha take the last thing he had.
XXX
"He…he loves her…" Sakura turned to the red head she was healing. "He…hasn't killed her." Sakura withdrew her hands, having healed Karin's injuries.
Slowly she peeked around the pillar to find Sasuke and Sayuri just a few centimeters from each other. She sucked in her breath at the heartache that she felt as she took in the scene.
Sasuke loves Sayuri… Sakura drew a hand to her heart as the realization sank in. Of course she had known. She had always known, but she had decided to ignore it.
Sakura remembered the long looks the Uchiha gave Sayuri and how he always tried to be with her one way or another. How he had shut everyone out when she was unconscious and in the hospital, and how he seemed to be in a better mood when he was with her. She knew, and it hurt to finally see it completely out in the open.
XXX
Sayuri's hear beat a mile a minute, but she wouldn't let that break her resolve. She knew right from wrong…and this, what he was offering, was wrong.
"You're losing your light." She tried to reason with him once more. "Sasuke, you can still stop this. I'll talk to the clans. I'll help you take out the elders. But I won't let you destroy Konoha."
He looked almost pained as he suddenly pulled away. He looked at her like he had been betrayed and suddenly it was all gone. Any glimpse of emotion that she had seen on him was replaced by a stony look.
"If you won't come with me than you're standing in my way."
Sayuri narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not going to change my mind, I agreed to the proposition; I will go to war with you if you decide to follow Madara."
"You agreed…" he looked at her at a loss. This was it. He clenched his fists and glared. "All right then. I guess we're going to war."
In a blink of an eye he was behind her, ready to strike with his Kusanagi. Sayuri ducked just in time and kicked the sword out of his hand. Biting her thumb she ran it across one of her seals summoning senbon in her hand. She threw them at him; all met the ground as he back flipped away from them.
Quickly he formed a series of hand signs. "Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" She rolled out of the way and grabbed his Kusanagi in the process. Rushing at him she swiped at his form only to have it disappear before her eyes.
Suddenly she felt as her arm was twisted back and she was roughly shoved to the ground. His knee went to her back, as he continued to twist hand. Sayuri cried out in pain and dropped the sword hearing as it clattered on the ground. A series of kunai made him leap away from the girl as he stood back and stared at his old sensei.
"Are you ok, Sayuri?" Kakashi leapt towards the girl as she rubbed her injured arm. She gave him a nod and the silver haired Jonin turned to Sasuke.
"You've fallen too low, Sasuke."
The Uchiha glared at his former teacher before his gaze shifted to Sayuri as she stood. His breath cached as she looked up at him. Her gaze was pleading him to stop, but it was too late. He would do this with or without her. He'd do it for the both of them.
A.N.
Sasuke's battle with Danzo happened while they were still discussing what would happen with the war. And his actions are due to him actually losing his mentality. Remember that at this point he's not thinking straight.
Please review and tell me what you think :)
(Oh and Noel Ardnek I'm still working on the drawing I'll make sure to announce when it's up.)