Forced Fate

Itachi's face flashed in his mind. Thoughts of his sibling

combined with the sight of Sakura brought immeasurable

blinding rage to life inside him. He smiled wickedly,

thinking only of blood… spilling blood, killing, maiming…

"I'll be damned if I'm going to run from Itachi's bitch."





Kisame narrowed his eyes at the dark haired boy's cheeky

comment, 'a bold statement for such a novice fighter'. It

was clear to the shark looking man that a lesson was in

order. This boy called Sasuke needed to learn some humility,

and Kisame was going to be the one to teach him.



Sasuke saw the shark narrow his eyes in what looked like

irritation and disbelief. It wasn't the actual words that

bothered the Akatsuki, but with the way they were said and

who said them. Such brash words were probably never spoken

so venomously and arrogantly to someone of Kisame's stature,

if at all. That thought made Sasuke smirk. 'So the comment

bothered him a bit did it?'



Kisame saw the arrogant smirk painted across his opponent's

face; he couldn't stand the cocky confidence the boy's

expression exuded. He'd seen that look on many a man's face,

and expertly wiped that look off each and every one. The boy

would be no different.



The boy's light attitude of Kisame's abilities as a fighter

was annoying, and though he hated to admit it, it angered

him. The shark's nostrils flared at the indignity of the

young Uchiha's brash attitude. He would just have to

unsettle the boy a bit; shake his confidence some. Show him

just exactly what he was up against.



Kisame threw his giant sword, Samehada, over his shoulder.

It was a lazy motion, one arm hung limp to at his side, the

other languidly resting on the grip of his sword. He rested

most of his weight on one leg mimicking a completely

comfortable relaxed position. Any onlooker, including

Sasuke, would think him unworried and rather bored.


/>

Sasuke bristled a bit at this. That ugly shark looking thing

was taking him lightly, underestimating him. Sasuke didn't

like it. He tsked in irritation and charged the

enemy, just like he'd done with Gaara during the Chuunin

exam, showing amazing speed and dexterity.



Kisame moved to bring his sword around to swallow Sasuke's

chakra.



Sasuke saw the sword coming for him; 'oh no you don't', the

Uchiha would have none of that. He turned on his super speed

to swing behind Kisame, avoid his sword and kick him.





Momentarily caught off guard, Kisame stopped his initial

sword swing to jump high in the air avoiding Sasuke's

roundhouse kick… barely. The boy was fast… very fast. But

not fast enough.



Smiling, the shark brought his Samehada down on top of

Sasuke's head…



Poof! Sasuke was… a piece of wood? 'Damn,' the boy was

better than he thought. He only had a moment for his eyes to

widen before Sasuke's fist connected with his face. Kisame

turned into water.



Perhaps he'd underestimated the boy. The replacement

technique was not an advanced one by any means, but it was

the timing of it that had made the boy's use of it

especially good. To form a replacement so fast, the

young Uchiha must have performed the technique nearly the

same time he punched. Not an amazing feat, but difficult

nonetheless. Still… the boy wasn't good enough, at least not

of Kisame's caliber.



Sasuke saw that the real Kisame had been replaced with a

water clone mid punch, but didn't have time to pull back.

Water exploded everywhere. Sasuke was soaked. He went to

wipe the water from his eyes, silently cursing, but stopped

when a sharp pain gripped his left upper arm… blood

spattered.



Kisame smiled, showing every inch of his dagger-like teeth.

'Got him!' He'd shaved the skin of the boy's upper arm with

his Samehada, hurting and bleeding him. "I thought Itachi's

brother would be better than this." He barked out

obnoxiously. He so loved to taunt the boy.



Sasuke forgot the pain in his arm as soon as he heard the

shark's words. 'Son of a bitch,' Sasuke's rage increased

immensely; he silently promised retribution for the

taunting. He'd make that fish fool eat those words, choke on

them…



He couldn't believe that damn shark managed to hit him. It

really pissed him off. Of course, after hearing Kisame's

well-aimed verbal remarks, it was hard to say whether it was

being hit that pissed him off, or the mentioning of Itachi.

Could have been both… no matter, so the Akatsuki possessed

some speed of his own; it wasn't unfeasible considering who

he was, Sasuke would just have to be faster.



Using incredible speed, Sasuke spun, dropping to the ground,

kicking Kisame into the air, and following behind him to

crush the Akatsuki's nose with a backhanded fist, then

violently kick him. Kisame continued to fall into the

ground… Water exploded…



'Damn,' Kisame silently swore. This time the boy's speed was

near incomprehensible. He'd felt the pain of the blows, but

never even saw them. His only thought was to create a clone,

needing to get out of the situation as fast as possible.





Sasuke had seen Kisame create another clone just before he

smacked the ground. He'd still hit the mist asshole hard…

twice. The Uchiha was slightly impressed… slightly, to break

out of the lion combo was no small feat.



Kisame had just enough time to create & switch with a water

clone after Sasuke's devastating punch connected with his

face and his kick to his ribs. Now Kisame was bloody-faced,

a couple of ribs were cracked or broken. The boy would pay.

He appeared behind Sasuke, knocking the Uchiha's legs out

from under him, sending him sprawling.



It was a bit undignified to be sat on his ass by the shark's

sword, probably retribution for Sasuke's sitting of him

earlier. Whatever the reason it was definitely humbling, and

more than a bit irritating, but he wouldn't let the shark

see his tarnished pride.



The shark must be really angry. Instead of going for a

crippling or more damaging move, the mist ninja used his

opportunity to send him sprawling indignantly. Sasuke stood

slowly, eyeing Kisame, he'd nodded his head once to the

Akatsuki in acknowledgement of the hit, then plastered the

toothiest, cockiest smile he could muster across his face.





Kisame was sore, and more than a little disturbed that the

boy had managed to strike him… twice, and hard at that. Oh

he wanted to wipe that arrogant smile off the boy's face.

"You look like your brother, but you fight like a drop out."

He spat venomously.



'That worked.'



'Oh yes, shark man was upset', but now so was Sasuke. He

couldn't help it. No matter how much he'd like to let that

comment roll off his back and just smile nonchalantly, he

just couldn't, not where his brother was concerned. He was

good at ignoring things, but not that good. That one subject

worked at getting his ire up every time.



Sasuke grit his teeth, wanting so badly to rub the

Akatsuki's face into the ground, and push and push until the

fish man was crushed, suffocated, bloodied… The vision was

so strong Sasuke could actually feel the texture of the

other man's hair in his hand, while he mentally gripped the

shark's ugly head and forced it into the hard ground.





Sasuke attacked with renewed fervor, allowing his anger a

bit more free reign, but not enough to make him lose focus

or control. He fed into the fantasy of continuously pounding

on the man, hurting and injuring him more and more. He lost

himself in attack after attack, enjoying the feel of

pummeling the homely shark as often as possible. The fight

went on and on.



'Why won't he just die?' Sasuke thought.



'This boy should not be my equal.' Kisame mentally sneered

in disgust.



Sasuke hurled fire, Kisame answered with water; swift kicks,

punches, combos were thrown with vicious force, each

opponent out to kill. Bone-cracking thwacks echoed

through the air as powerful hit met powerful hit.



After a while, it seemed the both of them were out of fancy

techniques, so they just fought hand to hand.



Sasuke pushed his Lee style taijutsu to its limits,

delivering blow after blow to his enemy, receiving some in

kind.



The fight went on for a while. Kicks met clones, punches met

replacements… both were hurt, bloodied, bruised...


/>

Sasuke was becoming worried that their intense fight would

draw ANBU or some other Konoha force… or hurt Sakura. He

glanced where she lay, worry seeping its way into his

thoughts, mixing with his battle lust. He needed to end this

fight quick.



Kisame near cackled in glee when he saw Sasuke glance

worriedly at the girl, concern written on his face. This was

it. The boy would die… now. Kisame moved his hands with

lightning speed hand gestures, taking advantage of Sasuke's

momentary lapse in concentration…



'Shit.' Sasuke mentally swore when he realized his mistake.

He tensed waiting to react to whatever the shark was going

to throw at him.



"Still the inexperienced little brother, the weakest Uchiha,

distracted in a life and death match by a girl…" Kisame

laughed. "Are you that confident or that stupid?" He placed

particular emphasis on 'stupid', laughing harder, knowing

the boy was berating himself right now for his lack of

concentration, and wanting to take advantage of that, to

pour salt into the boy's wound… unbalance him. Hoping that

this would end the fight.



Sasuke barely had time to register the insults let alone get

angered by them… or so he thought. A very large part of him

stayed battle focused, not allowing the jibes to affect him

at all. After all things like that were a child's game…

right? But the smallest most minute part of Sasuke's mind

took those comments Kisame had made and grabbed onto them,

stored them, studied them… Each time Kisame threw out his

scathing comments this part of him considered whether or not

the shark's words might be true, but so far Sasuke hadn't

paid any heed to these thoughts.



The ground shook, and a thundering roar filled the air as a

huge column of water rose before the Uchiha, molding into a

giant dragon. Sasuke watched in nervous awe as a towering

water dragon screamed in rage above him.



Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily in surprise, he hadn't

expected this.



The dragon dove for him. It would absolutely crush Sasuke if

it hit him. He bit his thumb, performed some quick seals,

and answered Kisame's dragon with a huge snake. The beasts

clashed sending powerful shock waves through the forest.





The two titans battled each other to their master's

commands, neither giving ground. Trees cracked and were

felled as the thrashing of the fighting creatures pounded

and crushed them.



'Damn.' Sasuke thought. 'Will this fight never end?' Such a

fight occurring so close to where Sakura lay… defenseless…

worried him. It was only by God's will and blind luck that

they hadn't killed her thus far.



An especially thick-trunked tree was hit by the snake's tail

with immense force, causing a resounding crack to resonate

in the air as it broke and crashed to the forest floor.

Snapping both opponents out of their battle lust long enough

to realize how carried away they'd gotten.



Neither one wanted to draw out Konoha forces; they both had

something to lose if that happened, so in silent agreement

they sent their titanic beasts away, resolving themselves to

battle more discreetly. But both knew the damage had been

done and they'd have to end this soon or give up; forces

would be sent soon, neither doubted that, and both were

wanted men.



Sasuke hadn't wanted to summon the snake. He was avoiding it

at all cost. It was a surefire way to draw attention… the

kind he was trying to avoid, but he'd had little choice in

the matter. Now he really did have to find a way to end this

so he could get the hell out of there… fast.



Sasuke released the cursed seal… stage one, and smiled an

evil smile. There was one technique he hadn't tried on the

Akatsuki. So far they'd been fighting equally, but now it

was time to show Kisame just how dangerous his sharingan had

become.



'Where the hell did that kid go?' Kisame wondered. One

moment the boy was there smiling like evil incarnate, the

next he disappeared. Curse that boy; he watched him form the

seals, but he didn't know the fool had any more tricks left.

He had seemed as resigned as Kisame to fight it out fists

and legs.



Suddenly, several snakes were rushing at him, hissing

viciously, flying at him from all directions, biting,

flailing, slithering around him… 'Of course… snakes,' Kisame

thought. This was Orochimaru's student, of course he'd use

snakes.



They were everywhere. Kisame dodged, punched, ducked… tried

whatever he could to get the snakes away from him, kill

them, but there were too many of them, and after awhile he

was overtaken. The snakes wrapped around him, binding his

arms and legs tightly to him, preventing him from moving.





Kisame struggled to free himself. It was a ridiculous sight;

he looked like he was performing some sort of new dance,

wriggling to and fro, bending here and there, and this

humiliation was all for naught because his bindings remained

tight as ever.



Suddenly the thought hit the shark that this was an

illusion. Damn, that kid must have a very well developed

sharingan to create an illusion strong enough to fool a

ninja of his stature for this long. Kisame bit through his

tongue… hard. He put all his willpower into concentrating on

that pain. It was unfortunate that he was used to bearing

pain; it made it that much harder to create enough pain to

break the illusion, but he'd succeeded.



Sasuke saw Kisame's eyes clear signally that he was coming

out of the illusion. "Too Late." He whispered as he plunged

the chidori through the shark's heart. The Akatsuki's eyes

widened as the lightening edge cut through him. The pain

lasted only for the few seconds it took his life to leave

him.



Sasuke panted. He was bruised, bloodied, tired, and

extremely elated. He smiled. He'd done it. He'd killed one

of the Akatsuki, one of the strongest ninja in existence.

His only regret was not being able to question Kisame on the

whereabouts of his brother. He threw that thought away

almost as soon as he'd had it. That freaky fish looking guy

was one of the most elite ninja in the world, he wouldn't

have given Sasuke any information.



It was incredibly ironic and almost blasphemous that

Orochimaru's teachings should combine with Kakashi's in such

a deadly technique. Combining the two seemed so sinfully

wrong, and Sasuke felt oddly traitorous though to which

sensei was the question… probably both. Sasuke smirked a tad

arrogantly. It was an incredible combination… incredible and

very deadly. He silently thanked both of his senseis, and

apologized, because as traitorous as it felt he would use it

again and again. It was too powerful not to.



He walked over to where Sakura lay. Her eyes were slightly

open, her body and face bruised and bloodied. He watched her

eyes study him for a moment… her eyebrows lowered in

confusion… then widened in recognition. "Sasuke-kun," he

heard her whisper, in an almost inaudible groggy voice.





He said nothing, just moved quickly to where his bag lay,

throwing out his senses, trying to feel if any other ninja

were about. He sensed none… yet. He began leafing through

the different contents of his travel bag, searching for

anything, everything that might help ease the pain he knew

Sakura must be feeling. He pulled out a sealed bag, a water

bottle, bandages… and walked back to Sakura.



Kneeling down beside her, he gently wiped stray hairs from

her face. She was unconscious again. Her face was dirt

covered and bruised.



Ever so gently, his hands and eyes searched her for

injuries. She had considerable bruising over her ribs; some

were probably broken or cracked. There was a large area on

her upper thigh where it looked like she took a nasty injury

from the Samehada. Other than that she had mostly cuts and

bruises.



He was by no means a medical nin, but he knew a few basics.

After watching Kabuto for two years, Sasuke could roughly

assess injuries, and clean and bandage them, nothing

spectacular. It was crude knowledge gained for simple injury

treatment, just like this.



In a way he was grateful that she'd lost consciousness

again. He wasn't ready to see her, to speak with her, to see

her wince in pain as he cleaned and bandaged her wounds. And

quite frankly he didn't know what to say to her, how to act.

Certainly there was the usually stoic if not cool attitude,

but that somehow felt wrong. He had the feeling that things

were different between them now, maybe not in her mind, but

in his own.



He'd wanted to fight. He'd wanted to test his strength, but

when he'd seen her hurt, when the possibility that she was

dead hit him, it had become more. The person responsible was

standing before him. He'd no longer cared about a battle of

might, or who was better than whom. Hell, the thought that

his opponent was Akatsuki, one of the strongest ninja in the

world, hadn't even mattered then. It could have been anyone,

and he'd have felt the same. He'd kill for her, anyone,

anywhere…



Sasuke didn't even want to contemplate what such thoughts

were implying, so he didn't. There would be time enough for

that later.



He began to clean and dress her wounds, his mind barely

registering how curvy her figure had become from the almost

board straight one he'd known a few years ago. It was hard

to miss how womanly her body had become with her high boots,

short form fitting shorts and tailored top… Except that

Sasuke hadn't noticed. He was too absorbed in tending her

wounds.



He exhibited extreme care in rolling or moving her to

accommodate the bandaging process. His actions were soft and

gentle. Any onlooker who didn't know Sasuke would describe

his handling of her as loving, even some that did know him

would say the same.



Sasuke winced when she began to stir. Immediately he averted

his eyes from her face, busying himself with organizing all

the medical supplies he'd gotten out. He wasn't ready to

face her, not only because of his roiling emotions, but

because of his last encounter with her.



"Sasuke?" She asked in disbelief, her voice laced with

fatigue.



Her soft voice caused him so much pain, like two hands

gripping and squeezing his heart. She sounded so hopeful

that he was there with her, but at the same time so resigned

that he wasn't. Absently, he grabbed at his chest, trying to

ease the stabbing pain he felt there.



"Sasuke-kun?" She reached out to his kneeling form, placing

her hand just above his knee, prodding with her fingers

trying to figure out if he was real or illusion.



This time her voice sounded a little desperate, but still he

couldn't look at her. He could feel her eyes on his face.

They were practically burning a hole through him; he refused

to look at her. 'Don't make me Sakura… please.' Sasuke

silently pleaded, but past experiences told him she wouldn't

stop, wouldn't give up, wouldn't leave him alone… she never

did.



"Sasuke… Sasuke… Sasuke…" She sucked in a deep breath

between each pronouncement of his name, revving herself up

to say more, but never having enough breath to do so.

/>


'Oh God. She's crying.' He could hear the tears in her

voice, and this time she sounded desperate and near

hysterical. Her voice was still a tired whisper, but to

Sasuke she might as well have been screaming. Reflexively he

looked at her, meeting her eyes, studying her face. He

didn't want to cause her pain, didn't want to be cold to

her.



Her desperate pleas and tear-streaked face pulled his mind

two years into the past to a day that still haunted him.

/>


Back then Sakura had laid her heart as his feet, bared her

soul to him, screamed that she loved him… begged him to be

with her.



He'd given her all he could two years ago when she'd placed

her heart as his feet. He handed it back to her as

gracefully as he'd known how. He hadn't planned on giving

her anything back then, he was going to ignore her and

leave. Of course she wasn't going to allow that. She'd

baited him until he'd snapped back.



'Why do I have to tell you anything? It's none of your

business what I do. Stop concerning yourself with me.' Those

were his words to her, and he'd said them coolly. He'd

wanted her to hear the rebuke in his voice and leave him to

his fate, but again she didn't comply, and began playing

heartstrings he didn't even know he'd had.



'You've always hated me haven't you?' She'd actually asked

him that. He clearly remembered her saying those words. He'd

nearly sucked in his breath at the knife-twisting pain

they'd caused him then. At the time he'd wanted to fall to

his knees and weep at how stupid he'd been. He'd thought she

understood him, assured himself that she did, but her words

had proved he was wrong.



He had not known how to reply to her, or even if he should

reply. Why fight to make her understand when he was just

going to leave her anyway?



She saved him from having to reply anyway, asking him if he

remembered the day he'd gotten angry with her and called her

annoying. Typical Sasuke, he'd told her he didn't remember.





What else could he have said? 'Yes I remember Sakura, I'm

not as cold hearted as you think, but goodbye and have a

nice life.' Would that have been any better? He figured if

he told her he didn't remember it would cut this too long

and painful goodbye short, save them both some heartache.





He didn't want her to hate him, but he'd figured it would be

better than having her pine away for him for gods knew how

long. So he'd told her no he didn't remember; she was

supposed to get angry and leave, or sad and leave, whatever,

just so long as she left. But that wasn't her way; she

plugged on.



Sakura reminded him of all the times team seven had spent

together, spoke of the fun they'd had together, how the

distance between all of them had shrunk since the survival

training. She was stroking those feelings he'd tried so hard

to bury before he'd walked out of his room just minutes

before. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He'd said goodbye

to her, to all of them in the picture. It was hard enough

then. Why was she doing this to him? She was killing him.





He could feel his resolve weakening ever so slightly, as she

went on and on about Kakashi, her, Naruto… and then she

mentioned his clan, and revenge. It was like suddenly being

doused in ice-cold water. He snapped out of that warm place

full of memory and friends back to where he was now. His

cold exterior came back into form, and he remembered what he

was doing, where he was going… why...



His resolve to leave reaffirmed, he decided she deserved

some sort of explanation. He'd told her he tried to be like

her and Naruto; that he'd tried to walk the path of good

with them… together. In the end his heart couldn't forget;

he needed to choose revenge. That was the most he'd ever

opened up to her, or anyone since his family was killed. He

remembered wanting to make her understand, hoping she caught

the meaning in those words... 'I didn't want to leave, I

tried everything not to, but in the end nothing worked'.

/>


That was when she'd admitted to him that though she had

family and friends she'd feel alone without him. That damn

picture had flashed in his head then. 'Please understand

Sakura.' He'd pleaded in his head as he tried to ease her

pain slightly, telling her that from here on out new paths

would open for each of them. He wanted her to see that

though this seemed painful now she'd have a new road to

travel and explore, maybe even a better one. That was when

she really became desperate to keep him there. She'd began

rambling promises and endearments.



To this day he didn't know if she realized just how much

she'd cracked the hard exterior he'd worked so hard to keep.

That was when he decided he couldn't let her think he didn't

remember the day he'd gotten mad at her. He mimicked exactly

what he did to her that day, turned and called her annoying;

he even emphasized the word are, so she'd understand that he

remembered. 'You really are annoying,' he'd said to her. Her

face registered that she did indeed understand what he'd

done. She'd looked so surprised though. He could even hear

her suck in her breath. To think that such a small thing

from him would give her so much pleasure. He'd felt so low

leaving her.



He couldn't stand to see her tear streaked face; couldn't

stand that he was the cause of that, so he'd started walking

away. He couldn't take it anymore. Then she yelled for him

not to leave, but when he didn't stop she threatened to

scream. He'd rushed back to her then. He wanted her to

understand that he appreciated her and her sentiments, but

that he had to go. He'd said one word to her… "arigato"…

thank you. He appreciated all she'd said and done, and he

appreciated that she thought him important, but he had to

go. So, he'd knocked her unconscious and laid her on the

bench. Who knows what she would have done to keep him there

had he not put her out.



And here she was still crying because of him. Sasuke reached

out wiping a tear from her cheek. He said nothing, only

lifted her in his arms, and made for the treetops.


/>

She groaned in pain every time Sasuke would land

particularly hard on a branch. She tried so hard to be

silent, to bare the pain in silence, and Sasuke thought she

was amazing for not crying out more.



They still hadn't said anything to each other. She'd been

silent since he'd gathered her into his arms, only now and

then lightly grazing his cheek with her fingertips. And

though she didn't say anything, her eyes never left his

face. He knew because he could sense them on him, feel them.





He was insane, truly insane. Sasuke repeated this to himself

over and over. He was carrying her to Konoha, to the

village, the very village that may ask for his head on a

platter… not ask, take.



He wouldn't actually enter the village; he would get within

sight of the village gate and the guards patrolling them,

then leave Sakura in their care. He'd done what he could for

her; they could do the rest.



Sasuke near groaned at the thought of the journey home. He

could sense many chakras moving about through the forest,

most pretty far away, some close. They were probably

searching for him… and for Kisame; he'd be lucky to get out

without another fight. For a few seconds a couple of powers

screamed familiarity but was drowned out so fast Sasuke

never gave them another thought.



Sakura was silent for the entire journey, so was Sasuke. She

was content with just looking at him; perhaps she was too

tired to speak, or maybe she just didn't want to break the

spell of him holding her. Neither saw or encountered another

ninja, and now Sasuke was looking toward the gates of

Konoha.



The gate guards tensed when they saw Sasuke. He didn't know

if they recognized him or not. He wasn't exactly close to

them, but who knew. It didn't matter if they did anyway, he

would be gone in a minute. They wouldn't pursue him when

they needed to take care of her.



Gently, he laid Sakura down, lingering beside her in a

crouch for a moment, enjoying her nearness a little longer,

before standing to leave.



Sakura was tired, shocked, and in pain, but she recognized

that Sasuke was about to leave her. She grasped at his

ankles, legs, anything she could grab and hang onto, trying

to hold him there or be dragged with him, but she had no

strength left.



When she realized she couldn't grab him, hold him, or ever

touch him again she started to panic. "Sa… Sas… Sa…" She

tried screaming his name, but could barely breath through

the hysteria she was feeling. She only managed to whisper

incoherent sounds.



Sasuke felt her grabbing at him, heard her try to call for

him. 'God not again. Please not again.' He looked into

Sakura's face one last time. "Arigato. Sakura." He smiled at

her, a genuine smile, and gently placed her bag and the

Samehada beside her, a token of this encounter. He saw the

guards move forward, probably for attack, and raised his

hand. They paused, and he disappeared.



The guards approached Sakura, and immediately recognized her

as the Fifth's student. One of them lifted her and began

carrying her to the village.



Sakura gasped in the guard's arms, nearly screamed,

realizing she'd forgotten something extremely important.

Tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill. "Naruto…

Itachi…" She exclaimed in a loud whisper.