Mania: Sasuke

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura grit her teeth, leaping across the unnatural gap in the bridge separating them. Her heart hammered in her chest, as she watched him slowly turn on his heel with the chidori crackling in his hand. She lifted her head higher when she stepped toward him, however, praying that the slight tremor in her shoulders would go unnoticed beneath her heavy cloak. Her eyes flickered across the scene only briefly, trying to access the situation in a matter of seconds, before settling back onto the dark haired Uchiha and the injured woman he was hovering over.

The ominous trail of blood on Sasuke's face nearly made her falter, as she wondered, What had that other woman done, exactly? Was Sasuke-kun really going to kill her…? Why was… he like this now…?

"Oh." The Uchiha barely acknowledged her, like always, but it was enough to remind her of the situation at hand. That she needed to stay focused. That she was… going to put an end to this once and for all, even if it tore her heart out in the process. "It's you, Sakura."

The well rehearsed speech she had prepared hung on the tip of her tongue, stilled by the callous way the boy dismissed her as little more than a nuisance once again. Swallowing around the nervous lump in her throat in the resulting silence, the medic-nin squared her shoulders in determination and took another step forward. Trying to gather every ounce of courage that she possibly could, Sakura slipped the poisoned kunai from her holster with practiced ease. Refusing to look away from him, she said, "Sasuke-kun, I'm coming with y—"

The one-sided conversation never truly began, though, as another cloaked figure leapt over the side of the broken bridge. Sakura stumbled over her sentence in an instant, watching them land several feet away from the quiet Uchiha and immediately gain his full attention.

"Tch." Sasuke frowned. His dark eyes narrowed in obvious displeasure, despite the harsh lines on his face relaxing at the sight of the other young woman when she pulled her hood away from her face. "What are you doing here? I told you not to come."

Who is that? Who were they… to Sasuke?

"Kagome."

The familiar way the name of some other girl left Sasuke's lips caused a terrible ache in Sakura's heart, and she hated herself all over again for it. He had been gone for so long, she quickly reminded herself. It did not matter if he had… someone else in his life now. He was a criminal, a traitor, and he needed to be… to be…

Her hand tightened around the kunai beneath her own heavy cloak in an attempt to stop it from shaking.

"Sasuke, please…" Her dark blue eyes swept across the scene for a brief moment, before settling onto the red haired woman slowly bleeding out at Sasuke's feet. Biting her lip, Kagome shook her head as the pieces fell together. "This isn't like you."

Sakura nearly flinched at the harsh laugh that left Sasuke's mouth.

"Not like me?" Sasuke taunted her, rolling his head on his shoulder with a wicked grin. He began to prowl in her direction, chuckling again when she lowered her gaze and refused to look at him. "I think you and I both know that that isn't true."

"Karin-chan's… half dead already." Stubbornly staring at his sandals, Kagome wrung her hands together and took a single step back to keep the distance between them. "And she knows better than to say anything about us, so you don't have to…" Clenching her eyes shut tightly, she released a heavy sigh through her nose and said, "So let's just go, okay?"

"Heh."

Her green eyes flickering between them, Sakura frowned at the strange tension that filled the air once Sasuke stepped into the other woman's space. It kept her silent and watchful, however, as she tried to ignore the thousand and one questions swirling in the back of her mind and focus on the situation at hand.

What's going on? Who is that woman?

"Don't give me that look, Kagome." His hand grabbed her by the chin in an instant, forcing her ocean eyes to look up at him finally. The corner of Sasuke's lip twitched upward into a mockery of some sentimental smile, as he breathed, "Think about what they did to us; to you."

"That's not…" Scowling back at him somewhat, Kagome tried to pull her chin away to no avail and wrinkled her nose at the failure. The shadow that fell across her face with the slight shift made her eyes so dark that they nearly looked black from a distance. Trying to shake her head again, Kagome breathed, "That's not important right now. I know you're upset about Itachi and everything that's happened, but you don't have to take it out on Karin-ch—"

"Will you hate me if I do it?" Sasuke leaned into her, pulling her face up further to meet him halfway. "If I kill them both?"

Kill them… both…?

Sakura nearly stopped breathing with the confession. Her mouth opened and closed silently around words that remained stuck in her throat, as the feeling of her heart breaking all over again made her knees weak. She took a step back, suddenly uncertain, as she quickly realized that Sasuke had easily seen through the ruse she had not even gotten the chance to attempt.

That he… planned to… to…

"No." Kagome's eyes welled with unfallen tears, as her gaze locked with his. "How could I ever hate you? You're my brother, Sasuke…"

Her… what…?

Sakura's eyes widened with the information. How was that possible? Sasuke had never—

"Your brother?" Sasuke's chuckle was dark and eerily, as he leaned closer to her. "Is that what I am now? When neither of us ever knew?"

…what?

"Sasuke… please," Kagome begged him, her lip trembling. "That's not… please."

"I've never been your brother." The dark haired Uchiha did not hesitate, yanking her chin up to devour her.

Sakura's heart stopped for a moment, as her knees gave out in shock beneath her.

…what… Sasuke… and his…?

…his…?