Kei-Kei Yuki: Key Note reminder: I genderbend three people in this story. Asura, Hashirama, and Naruto. I know in canon it's about 'brotherly love', but flipped that and you get a love story for the centuries, I'm telling you~! Just look at Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, and etch, lol!

Light and Darkness

Lying there on the ground, all Karin could focus her eyes on was Sasuke. Suddenly, as she could feel her fleeting life slipping, Karin began reminiscing about when she first met Sasuke. During the Chunin Exams, Karin couldn't help but compliment how beautiful she found the last Uchiha heir. The racing of her heart, a flush of pink painting her cheeks. It was love at first sight!

Such feelings only grew more intense the moment Sasuke scouted her to be a member of his team. Karin couldn't count on her hands how many times she tried to seduce Sasuke, only to fail. But she refused to give up, desperately wanting that boy from the chunin exam who smiled beautifully at her. But the longer she traveled with Sasuke, the more that boy from the past got further and further away.

Karin could still recount the moment the darkness within Sasuke began swallowing him. It was after his fight with Itachi. Karin didn't know the specifics of what happened. The Mangekyō Sharingan spun in Sasuke's eyes as he renamed their team and gave them a new purpose. Yet Karin didn't care about that. This wasn't what made Karin shudder.

'The light in his eyes... is completely gone.'

The man standing before her was no longer that little boy from her past. Karin began losing hope of ever seeing that boy again. A boy with a smile so beautiful it could outshine the stars in the night sky.

After Sasuke's fight with Killer B, they were resting in an inn, and Karin had just returned with supplies. Entering the room where Sasuke lay resting on the bed, Karin had just sat the supplies down when she heard Sasuke utter a name in his sleep.

"Na... Naru... Naruko..." A soft pitiful whisper escaped those pale lips. Karin wanted to reach out, but stopped when she saw tears run down from his closed eyes.

"Naruko... "

Instead of a man, Karin saw a child. A child desperately calling out for someone to comfort his pain. It was rare to see Sasuke let down his guard, revealing this raw moment of vulnerability. Karin's heart clenched at the sight, but she couldn't help but ask herself, 'Who is Naruko?'

An answer Karin wouldn't receive until after being betrayed by Sasuke, watching the confrontation between Sasuke and the blonde kunoichi. Karin noticed how Sasuke display a part of himself that he never did with her and their team. After the confrontation between the two ex-team members, Karin was loaded on Kakashi's back, awaiting the interrogation, she would receive once she steps foot in Konoha.

"So, you're a member of Sasuke's new team." The blonde crouched down before the redhead. Unlike Sasuke, Naruko's chakra was so warm and blinding that Karin could mistake it for the sun. "Thank you for taking care of him." Karin found herself lost in the depth of those kind blue eyes, coming to a realization that made her want to cry.

"I never stood a chance."

Sasuke felt himself sink into an ocean of black muddy water, finding his life goal nothing but one cruel joke. A mountain of guilt crushed down on him, but with that guilt came hatred.

The very village, he was born and raised in, thought to be his home, was the one responsible for taking away everything that he loved. After finding out the truth, Sasuke wanted to burn Konoha to the ground and relish in their screams. All attachment Sasuke had for that place ripped to shreds and became nothing but ash.

"No matter how far the darkness takes you, I'll always be by your side." A vision of Naruko appeared in Sasuke's head, and he chased after that image like a man dying of thirst.

"That's right... I still have Naruko. She still hasn't left me," Sasuke muttered to himself in the silence of his room.

Back in the present, after Naruko had saved Sakura, Kakashi joined her, berating Sasuke for his actions towards his ex-teammate, but Sasuke paid the jonin no attention, solely looking at Naruko.

"Naruko, join me," Sasuke said, earning wide eyes from Sakura, Kakashi, and Karin, but not Naruko.

"Say if I were to join you, what plans do you have next?" Naruko asked Sasuke.

Without hesitation, Sasuke said, "I will burn Konoha to the ground." This caused Kakashi and Sakura to stare at him with horror in their eyes, but Naruko only sighed, expecting such an answer.

"Should've expected as much." Doleful blue eyes stared at the broken man standing a few feet away from her. "You once told me that I could never understand your pain because I was born an orphan. But you're wrong." Naruko shot a look at Sasuke as if she could peer inside his soul.

"The family that gave birth to me might no longer be standing on this earth, but the one that I created, surrounded by those who I love, is still here, and Sasuke, you are part of that family. But when you left, something inside of me broke. I don't blame you for having hatred in your heart, but I cannot condemn your actions. This path is destroying you. Can't you see it!?"

Naruko couldn't stand the sight of Sasuke slowly destroying himself, which was ironic coming from the girl who was willing to destroy herself to save him.

"One more time, join me, Naruko." For a fleeting second, Naruko swore she saw a flash of a young Sasuke begging her to save him. Naruko wanted to do nothing more than pull that young boy into her arms and reassure him with comforting words.

"Sorry,... but I can't do that, Sasuke." Despite how much she wanted to run over and hug the broken man, Naruko knew she couldn't do that. "I can't allow you to spill the blood of thousands for your vengeance. Some of those lives are innocent! Our friends and sensei-"

"Damn them all!" Sasuke harshly rebuked Naruko's words. Sasuke's shoulders trembled, and he buried his hands in his face. For a split second, Naruko panicked, but instead of crying, Sasuke burst out into a fit of mad laughter.

"So in the end, you choose them over me! Don't forget, those same people scorn your existence, yet you're fighting for them?! How does that type of bullshit make sense, Naruko!?" Crimson tears fell from Sasuke's eyes as he asked himself how could Naruko betray him like this?! How could Naruko choose that damn village over him?!

"After what they have done to my clan? Itachi? How could you side with them?!"

"Sasuke! I'm not choosing a side. I just know right from wrong. You can't place the sins of a very few upon all those that live in the village! It doesn't make sense! Itachi wouldn't want it either!"

"Don't you dare mention Itachi-"

"Itachi was my Anbu! I know what the village did! As I said, you have every right to feel anguish and hatred, but there's a limit on how much you can let it control you. Does killing an entire village justify your vengeance? Will it bring back all those lost?!"

"Shut up! SHUT UP! You know nothing!" Sparks of lightning crackled in Sasuke's hand. A rotation of chakra spun in Naruko's as the two rushed forward.

"Please, whatever you do, don't hurt –!" Naruko heard the voice of a woman screaming in her head. For Sasuke, he could hear a man's voice laced with agony as he shouted a name that Sasuke could not hear.

Both attacks clashed. The scene that appeared before them was of a man and woman dressed in ancient regal garments. Their eyes were drawn to one of the two people. For Naruko, the man in dark clothing with a head of long raven hair drew her attention; though she barely saw the man's face, something about him reminded Naruko of Sasuke. Naruko could only make out the man's eyes and how they held an unwavering love for the shorter woman standing next to him.

Sasuke did not know what was happening, hearing the soft sound of a woman giggling. Landing at the source, Sasuke was nearly blinded by the veil of shining blond hair that belonged to a petite woman dolled in bright robes. The woman's face was blurry, yet Sasuke watched as she gathered flowers in her arms, a loving smile stretched across her face as she presented them to the man standing next to her.

It was so sweet, yet why did it feel like a hammer just slammed into their guts? The scene was fleeting, over before it could even begin. Yet why did Sasuke's and Naruko's hearts drum with so much pain that it became unbearable? Almost as if they couldn't breathe!

When Naruko was deflected back, Kakashi caught her, but nothing could prepare him when he saw Naruko's eyes blown wide with terror and pain. A soul-screeching scream escaped from her and Sasuke's lips before falling unconscious.

"What... the hell?" said Kakashi and the man who many believed was Madara couldn't help but share the Copy-Cat ninja's sentiment.

End of Light and Darkness