Forced Fate

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"Sakura…" He whispered against her ear. His hot breath

lightly ghosting against the sensitive skin of her neck

giving her goose bumps of pleasure.



'God.' She shivered; her name dripped from his mouth like

liquid sex. She twined her fingers in his luxurious ebony

hair. She'd always wanted to touch his hair.



He grazed the shell of her ear with his nose, traced the

line of her pulse with his breath. "Sakura…" He breathed

heavily against the soft skin of her collarbone. "I want

you."



She whimpered in want. He was teasing her with the barest of

touches. She fisted handfuls of his hair in vain effort to

pull his mouth to hers. She wanted him, needed him, needed

to touch him, to feel him, needed him to touch her.

"Please." She cried.



He resisted and smirked at her struggle, bringing his mouth

within a centimeter of hers.



She gasped at his smirk; he looked so damned sexy. "Sasuke

please." She begged, touching her lips to his in a fevered

kiss.



He pressed her against him possessively, needing his fingers

into her back, answering her kiss, open-mouthed, hungrily…





"Mmm." She moaned. His warm breath teased the inside of her

mouth.



He sucked her bottom lip as he pulled away. "I thought you

were mine Sakura… I thought you'd always be mine." He traced

her lips seductively with his tongue.



'What? What a silly question.' She thought, inwardly shocked

at the thought that she belonged to anyone but him. "I'm

yours Sasuke… always." He looked deeply into her eyes. Those

onyx orbs seemed to cut right through her. They were

intense, and she thought them the most erotic part of him.





He kissed her fiercely and passionately, his tongue delving

deep into her mouth. "Nghh. God Sakura. You taste so good."

He groaned into her mouth.



Sakura clawed down his chest, fisting the hem of his shirt

in her hands. He pushed her against the wall pressing the

full length of his body against her. She lifted her legs,

and he gripped her thighs as she wrapped them around him

possessively. He ground his hips forward. "Oh God Sasuke."

He felt so fucking good. Their kiss became frenzied and

feverish, tongues delving deep…



She wanted him so badly. She'd always wanted him. She loved

him. "I want you Sasuke… now." She hissed, yanking on his

shirt, trying to rip it off him. She didn't care; she wanted

to see the body she'd dreamt about for so many nights.





Thump. Thump. Thump.



Sakura jumped at the loud booming. 'What the hell was that?'

She sat up on her bed, dazed, confused… "Sasuke?" She looked

around, and suddenly tears came to her eyes. It had been a

dream.



Sasuke wasn't there. He never was. She wrapped her arms

around herself, feeling the tears come faster, and collapsed

back on the bed, sobbing.



Thump. Thump. Thump.



"Unnn." Sakura groaned, wiping her eyes. Someone, at least

the tenth person that day, pounded on the door to her

apartment. 'So that's what woke me.'



She didn't move to answer the door, but sat debating whether

or not she'd reply to the knock. People had been knocking on

her door near constant since her dramatic return to the

village, and she'd avoided them all, even Ino.



It was all over Konoha that the Uchiha Sasuke had

saved her, the Hokage's student, and actually dropped her

off on the doorstep of the very village he'd abandoned. It

was juicy news to her peers and townspeople. Sakura had

become the village celebrity because of it. The fact that

one of the most powerful and most wanted criminals was

killed only fanned everyone's flames of curiosity.


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She couldn't walk anywhere without at least five people

accosting her with questions. 'Was he as handsome as ever?

Did he really rescue you? Was it really Sasuke? Are you

secret lovers? Did he really kill Kisame? Were you really

carried to the village gates by him?' Ridiculous and

incredibly personal questions were thrown at her every time

she stepped outside her door.



Thump. Thump. Thump.



Pissed off at the presumptuousness of people, she opted to

ignore the knock. She had to deal with all their bantering

when she left the house she certainly wasn't going to let

them start bothering her at home. She'd ignored every knock

before this, and she'd continue ignoring them. In her mind

it was small revenge for their gossip mongering.



When she'd seen Naruto earlier, and told him of Sasuke's

rescue of her, he became real quiet. He didn't really seem

to want to talk about it, and if she didn't know any better

she'd have thought he wasn't happy to hear news of Sasuke.

His attitude seemed so… weird. She couldn't quite describe

it.



Any happiness Naruto had shown over hearing Sasuke was alive

and well seemed… feigned. He didn't seem like the same

Naruto she knew, and she couldn't help but wonder if

Itachi's torture of him had something to do with it. Perhaps

he just hadn't felt well, or maybe she was just imagining

things. What did it matter anyway? Sasuke was gone… again.





She didn't know why people couldn't just leave her alone. Oh

she understood why the whole of Konoha was in an uproar over

the Kisame/Itachi incident, but she was tired of dealing

with it. Well, she hadn't really dealt with it,

because she really hadn't spoken to anyone about it. She

didn't want to talk to anyone about it either. The only one

she wanted to talk to was Naruto, and apparently he was the

only one that didn't want to hear it.




Normally she'd be screaming in her happiest voice that

Sasuke had rescued her, carried her, risked his life for

her… well, she didn't know for sure if he'd risked his life,

but being as he fought Kisame she assumed it had been life

threatening, but she didn't want to give birth to false

hopes. Besides, it wouldn't have been fair to Naruto.





She and Naruto had been dating for the past year. How would

he feel about her gushing over Sasuke's rescue of her? Of

course before Sasuke's departure two years ago she'd have

gushed in front of Naruto to her heart's content, regardless

of Naruto's crush on her, but back then it was different.

Back then she wasn't Naruto's girlfriend, nor would she have

been.



Sakura loved Naruto. He'd always been there for her, would

do anything for her regardless of the cost to himself. He

was a good friend, and he'd grown easier on the eyes this

past couple of years. She'd been tired of wanting Sasuke,

not because she didn't want him anymore, but because

she wanted him too much.



Uchiha Sasuke had consumed her thoughts and dreams, and the

wanting had grown unbearable. Naruto seemed like he could

make the wanting go away, so she began dating him. After

all, he was loaded with good qualities, what girl wouldn't

want him right? Ignoring the pang in her chest as she

thought this, Sakura smiled, thinking of a future with

Naruto.



Her logical mind rejoiced at her love proclamation of

Naruto, but her heart cried. Her heart longed for Sasuke. It

always had, and probably always would, it didn't understand

things like logic or common sense; those things weren't

romantic. What it did understand were intense black eyes,

ruffled raven hair, the Uchiha's deep sultry voice…


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"Sasuke." She whispered breathily, wishing he were

here with her. She hugged her pillow tight to her chest,

imagining it was him she was embracing.



Four weeks ago she'd seen her childhood infatuation for the

first time in two years, and since then her mind had been

obsessing over him. Thoughts of Uchiha Sasuke, the boy

become man, plagued her nearly every waking and sleeping

moment.



Her mind kept recalling his matured face when she first woke

from the Kisame ordeal, his lithe muscular form as he walked

away after leaving her at the Konoha gates, his dark eyes as

they met hers for the first time in two years. She felt her

pulse begin to race. If the years had been kind to Naruto in

looks, they'd absolutely blessed Sasuke.



His hair was a bit longer but not much unchanged, it was

less spiky in the back, but it was still a dark unruly

masterpiece that fell enticingly into his eyes.



As her mind pondered the older Sasuke, she couldn't help but

wonder what life under Orochimaru had been like for him.

What things had he done under Orochimaru's command, how was

he treated, was he happy…



She remembered watching him stalk away from the Konoha

gates. He was a sinewy figure clad in all black, a dato with

a red and black hilt strapped to his back. His movements

were smooth and graceful. Were he not a man Sakura would

have thought him a panther. His steps were effortlessly

light and utterly silent, graceful yet menacing. At the time

he gave her the impression of death in motion, a perfect

killing creature… dangerous.



At that moment, she knew Kisame's fate. She knew Sasuke had

done more than defeat him; he'd killed him. She didn't look,

didn't ask, she just knew. She shivered with not a little

amount of fear. 'This is a different Sasuke than the one I

knew.'



In the old days when team seven was whole, she couldn't

imagine any of them killing an opponent, disabling, knocking

out, tying up, crippling maybe, but never killing. Suddenly

she got a clear idea of what life under Orochimaru must be

like.



Sasuke had probably killed many men and women in the last

two years, and his field experience must far outweigh hers

and Naruto's. He had killed Kisame, and she couldn't even

lay a finger on the ugly shark.



Thump. Thump. Thump.



"Leave me alone!" She screamed.



'Dammit!' Inner Sakura yelled, angry and annoyed.



Whoever it was sure was persistent. Well she could be more

stubborn too. Let them see just how immovable Haruno Sakura

could be.



She briefly entertained the idea of pounding the one

knocking on her door. She certainly was thinking she could

bring herself to commit murder if she heard one more knock.





She remembered wanting to pound Kisame too. Wondering now if

she could have actually killed him had she been able to

defeat him. Sakura couldn't believe her nerve even pondering

such a thing. She didn't even scratch the shark Akatsuki and

she was pondering murdering him. 'That turned out well.'





As far as real battle experience, Sakura had next to none.

She'd spent the last two years training with Tsunade. She'd

worked harder in those two years then in her whole academy

term.



She was very powerful, and her physical strength matched

that of her mentor, but it did her no good against the

seasoned Akatsuki. She was a novice fighter with potent

skills… Kisame had defeated her ruthlessly fast.



Practice was so different from the real thing. The

shark man had somehow depleted her chakra time and time

again; she wasn't able to use any of her jutsus. He dodged

every attempt she made to pound him with her superior

strength, and always managed to counter with that damned

club thingy.



Naruto hadn't faired much better against Itachi. The damage

he'd done to the older Uchiha could all be attributed to the

Kyuubi. If it hadn't been for the fox demon, Naruto would be

in Akatsuki's hands right now.



They'd both been defeated easily. Granted, they were up

against extremely powerful opponents, and normally she'd

feel they were just lucky to be alive, but… Sasuke had

beaten one of them.



She'd worked so hard to become stronger, to gain enormous

strength to get Sasuke back. She and Naruto had both worked

so hard, and they had both gained so much in the way of

chakra control, new jutsus, and strength, but the fight with

the two Akatsuki grossly highlighted their shortcoming…

battle experience.



Them… save Sasuke? What a joke! As far as she could tell

now, he was more capable of breaking himself free, than she

or Naruto were to save him.



'What a wake-up call. I feel so foolish now, thinking that

training under Tsunade-sama would make me such a dangerous

opponent.' Sure, it helped in its own small way, but she'd

bet a much weaker ninja with a lot more battle experience

could take her and her fancy techniques down.



She still hadn't even killed anyone, and as far as she knew

neither had Naruto. Not that that was a bad thing, or

something to look forward to, but she wondered if either one

of them would be able to bring themselves to actually commit

the deed should the need arise. Nearly eighteen years old,

and she was still green as far as ninjas went.



THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.



'Bastards. I won't answer.' She opened her bedroom window,

sneaking out into the street. She needed to get away, needed

to see Naruto, needed him to erase the painful need she was

feeling for Sasuke. She needed him to make her forget.