I don't own Naruto, especially Sasuke and Sakura… because trust me, the clan would be revived already… ;)

Chapter 3: Sasuke and Sakura.

-X-

Sasuke crouched low in the brush, waiting for the best moment to attack the man. He was standing in the middle of the field, a few trees scattered behind him, but overall, he was an open target; he hadn't even been paying attention to what was going on around him. His eyes were locked in a book, and Sasuke waited until after Naruto, his teammate, had attacked before he went himself.

The goal of the exercise was to get a bell from Kakashi-sensei, and that was a feat easier said than done. There were only two bells and three teammates, and by the way things were going, neither of them were going to beat the time limit set by the teacher. Sasuke took his chance in the open field to attack their sensei. Kakashi hadn't even needed to look up from his book; he threw Sasuke onto the floor, Sasuke standing up quickly with a kunai in his hand ready to defend against an imminent attack… only there was nobody with him. He looked around, cautiously sensing every area around him for any sign of Kakashi, but by the time he found where the older man was, he was already caught in the jutsu. Kakashi grabbed Sasuke by the ankle, bringing him under the ground to where he originally was. Sasuke watched, his head above the ground, as Kakashi walked away from him, reading his book.

Sasuke cursed at himself, fighting underneath the ground to break free of the dirt's hold on him. How could he let himself get caught in such a bind! If this was the extent of his power and skills, then there was no way he could ever hope to defeat his brother. Sasuke grew still thinking about the very reason he hated his brother, and why his own flesh and blood would be killed by his hands. As he was thinking this, Sakura had passed by him and was shocked so much she fainted. Sasuke wriggled himself out of the ground and hovered over Sakura until she woke up.

Sakura awoke with a fervor, grabbing Sasuke after realizing he was okay. He shook her off gently, complaining that she was hurting him. Too much time had been lost, Sasuke realized, from getting himself caught up on waiting on Sakura; he was pretty sure time was just about to run out. Sasuke stepped away from the kunoichi, heading toward Kakashi. He stopped a few steps ahead after Sakura had spoken. She wanted to know why he was fighting so hard to get the bells, to complete the challenge. He looked back at her, the wind blowing about them ominously. Should he tell her? He did; he told her about his goal, about the certain person he needed to defeat. Sakura was dumbfounded. Sasuke had told her about something that she had no idea how to handle. How could she console Sasuke about his only brother killing his clan? She didn't know how, so she kept quiet as she watched the boy go back to Kakashi, testing his abilities to retrieve but a simple bell.

-O-

Sasuke ran after the man, cursing loudly as the black cloud of crows encircled his brother. By the time Sasuke had made it to the spot, Itachi was already gone. Sasuke was enraged, and even the giant hole he had made in the hotel wall wasn't enough to compensate for its full scale.

Sakura stood outside, watching with a sad look, Sasuke punch the wall. She stepped into the hallway, cautiously, calling out for her teammate. "Sasuke..." she spoke, a mere whisper in the silent hall. The boy turned to her, an angry look across his visage, but that did not deter her. She was going talk to Sasuke even if he didn't want to. She knew there was only one way for this boy to communicate to her, and she was ready to take all the pain that was associated with it. "Sasuke, its okay..."

Sakura knew that all of this couldn't have been avoided, but try she still did to keep Sasuke from meeting his brother. She had heard rumors about Itachi when she was working around Tsunade, but even when she actually got Sasuke to say yes to a trip to this small village for some items required by Tsunade, all still went awry. Sasuke overheard a fisherman talk about two men with black robes, and the one man had "red eyes". Both Sasuke and Sakura perked their ears up after hearing this, and Sakura tried to get Sasuke to leave, but he ran ahead. By the time she had reached him he was on the ground running to Itachi who disappeared right before his eyes. The look that Sasuke had on his face scared her, but she knew if he wasn't consoled, then he would let the weakness eat at him until the end of Itachi, and though she did not doubt the Uchiha's power, defeating Itachi in his current state, was unspoken.

Sakura stepped up to Sasuke already in a sparring stance; she looked at the boy's confused face and spoke to him. "You don't have the power now..." she said. The moment she started to speak, Sasuke let loose... just like she knew he would.

"What do you know?" yelled Sasuke loudly, "If you had let me go earlier..." He clenched his hands, throwing a fist at her. The fight had begun, and if she truly wanted to get into the Uchiha's blackened heart, she would need to beat some sense into him, at least some sense. She dodged the heavy punch and jumped forward enough to throw her own mega-punch. It was filled with chakra and it was something that Tsunade had first taught her. Sasuke had only been fazed for a few seconds before he stopped her hand and grabbed her closer. She looked into his eyes, kicking him. He dropped her, and she jumped a few feet back before running forward with a kunai. Sasuke looked at her incredulously. She was not really going to attack him was she? He thought, as the kunoichi reached him. Her kunai was above her head, quickly descending to the target that was Sasuke's arm. He blocked Sakura easily, pushing her into the wall roughly. He eyed her once more, his Sharingan coming out due purely to the hatred and anger that he was feeling; fighting Sakura had only made it worse. "Sakura, what do you have to say for this?"

Sakura closed her eyes, ignoring the pain that was being inflicted to her neck, to her body. "Sasuke," she said with emotions held back, "you are not ready to take on Itachi." He pushed her into the wall again, causing her to cough out some blood; she wouldn't show any weakness. She smiled at Sasuke, looking at him with the softest and most loving eyes ever. "You just aren't ready at this time, but that does not mean you will never be ready."

"What do you know?" spat Sasuke releasing her causing her to drop to the ground. He turned away from her. "I know I am not strong enough yet, but I will defeat him." He started to walk away from her.

Sakura was on the floor. Watching as Sasuke moved away from her. She was weak; the hits that Sasuke inflicted upon her were starting to affect her. She stood up, ignoring her groaning muscles and ran over to Sasuke. He noticed her, turning to face her just before she got to him. She grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Sasuke, I want to help you."

It was sad. Sasuke was a sad child, because he was one who believed that he had no one around him. Sakura wanted to do something about that. "Get off of me now Sakura..." spoke Sasuke without hidden irritation.

Sakura held on even tighter. "I am not letting go!" She was trembling, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall, but she knew she could not cry. Sasuke would not take her seriously if she did. "I want to help you, Sasuke, I have always wanted to help you, but I did not know how to. I know I am not as strong as you would want in someone who claims to want to help, but I know that I am helping you by stopping you from fighting Itachi at this point. When you get stronger, you can go after him, but now, Sasuke, you can't... I will not let you."

Sasuke could only look in silence, at the woman hugging him; she was holding back her emotions so that her argument could be taken that much more seriously he could tell. He knew she cared about him, even more than he would care to admit. Sasuke's pride would get him killed, and Sakura tried to get him to understand that. Sasuke shook his head and Sakura felt his body loosen; it was not as tense as before.

Sasuke scoffed at her, not looking at her still. "And you will stop me how?"

By this point, Sakura was on the verge of crying, but the smirk in Sasuke's voice as he answered her got her to look at him skeptically. He was smirking, like she had known, but it was mischievously playful...

"What do you mean? I will beat you way faster than even you can see it coming!" She was smiling now, a smile so wide Sasuke couldn't help but to indulge her fire.

"Is that so?" She nodded. Without a word Sasuke attacked her, literally holding nothing back. That first punch to Sakura would have been deadly, but she produced a clone just in time for it to be taken out instead.

Sakura ran out of the building, toward the forest that stood behind, using the trees and the foliage as cover so that she could start her next move. Now Sasuke was smiling. He followed the girl to the forest, and the real fight began.

Sakura touched the Uchiha boy's heart. Just one touch was needed to change the mindset of a young boy bent on destruction. Now he knows as he goes unto this new path, that there are people there to help him through all things.

-X-

A/N: So sorry about this chapter. Sasuke was a little hard for me to get into character and Sakura as well... truly this was just a hard chapter to write. Let me know what I can do to improve this chapter, and I will do my best to work on it. Thanks for reading!