Naruto 1. Prologue: Through The Ashes

**Prologue: Through The Ashes**

_It's been a long day living with this, _

_It's been a long time since I've felt so sick._

_I took a long walk straight back home,_

_I could have walked back to San Fransisco._

_I used to long for time alone, _

_I used to long for a place of my own._

_And I'm losing faith in everything,_

_I'm lost so lost, I'm lost at sea you see..._

_-Alkaline Trio - Mercy Me_

Rain pelted against the glass with such intensity she feared it may break through the tiny motel window. She leaned her head against the dirty glass and sighed, her mind drifting to a place where she would go to get comfort from the stresses of everyday life as a rogue ninja. Her mind and her body may have always been where she was, but her heart would lie in the smoldering ruins of Konohagakure forever she knew. She missed the place she once called home, even if she knew she could never go back. There was really nothing to go back to, and she didn't think she could bring herself to look upon the destroyed village streets and be able to pretend as if nothing bothered her. After all, it was unlikely she would be welcomed back anyhow, as she had left the village without telling anyone, and if the rumors that were buzzing around were true-that one of the elder's sons had become the Hokage after Tsunade's death-then she knew that she was safer running around the world, away from execution.

She had made quite a notorious reputation over the last year or so that she had been on the run and had even made it into the bingo books. She sighed and flipped open the page of the book she had just lifted off of an old man recently and purused through the tattered pages until she had found her name.

Haruno Sakura

Age: 21 - DOB: March 28th

Blood Type: AB

Origin: Konohagakure

Status: Jonin Ranked S-Class Missing Nin

_Defected from home village during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, considered to be dangerous. Skilled in the medical arts and uses them to her advantage. Exercise caution._

Sakura snorted in indignation, 'Exercise caution'? Yeah she was strong but she most definitely wasn't dangerous, well not unless she had to be. She was barely anything to anyone so she couldn't figure why anyone would hunt her down. She was barely a jonin anyway, having made the ranks nearly two weeks before the battle between Ame and Konoha broke out. Sakura winced, remembering that day, the same day Naruto died.

_"Sakura! Get out of here! Go!"_

_"But Naruto I can-" She stammered out dodging blow for blow by a Ame nin. Naruto was wrapped up in fighting the Akatsuki leader and Kage, Pein. Sakura knew he couldn't win, and maybe that's why she wanted to fight by his side. But maybe he knew that he couldn't win and that was why he had told her to run, because once Pein was done he would get to her next. _

_"No!!! Run Sa-" He never finished his sentence as a kitana was forced through his heart, killing him instantly. Sakura stood there in shock as her best friend dropped to his knees, and finally breaking through to her senses. She ran._

The war had raged between all of the great Shinobi nations, save for Grass who had been destroyed by Amegakure many months before, for nearly a year. Just when everyone thought it was over, Kakashi had been killed. That night she ran for good, never looking back.

And now she was here, in a dingy motel room one year later, eating nasty food and running towards something she didn't even know was there. Somehow she knew that if she kept running she would find something worth it, something waiting for her.

Something worth all the pain.

****

_And when I think of all the places I just don't belong,_

_I've come to grips with life and realize this is going too far._

_I don't belong here, _

_We've gotta move on here._

_Escape from this afterlife,_

_'Cause this time I'm right. _

_Too move on and on, far away from here..._

_-Avenged Sevenfold - Afterlife_

He wasn't sure how he managed to pull himself from the wreckage that was once the base, but he did. He wasn't sure how he manged to pull himself away from the cold, still bleeding corpse of his partner, but he did. He wasn't sure how was alive, but he was.

This was what bothered him the most.

Why should he be allowed to live out the rest of his miserable existence while his partner was left laying under a rock, crushed with his eyes slit out. He didn't understand why the rest of the group were dead, and he was left alive. It confused and irritated him to no end, and most of all it angered him.

Damn it he was so fucking pissed off! That fucking liar, who the hell did he think he was? Leader lied about _everything, _and the worse part was that he believed it! He believed every forsaken word that came out of his lying mouth, and he wanted the false truths to come true so badly that he had lost sight of what was important. They had been blinded, he, Itachi, Deidara, hell even Konan had been shocked when she discovered Pein's secrets. That goddamned moron Tobi had been revealed as Uchiha Madara, the _true _leader of Akatsuki. Not Pein, who had merely been a puppet to Madara, but Madara.

Needless to say Hoshigaki Kisame was pissed off about it.

Not to mention, what Pein had wanted for the world had not at all been in Madara's plans, who simply wanted to conquer all of the world on his own. And Pein had stood up to him-being smite down in the process by the eldest Uchiha-protesting that this was not at all been what he had wanted and that Madara was out of his mind.

Once Pein was dead, the rest didn't stand a chance. The battle against the Uchiha lasted nearly two days non-stop, with Itachi, Deidara, and Konan dead. Come to find out, Uchiha Sasuke had managed to defeat Madara and where he was now was a mystery to everyone who had survived the war. This really didn't matter much to Kisame as long as that nutjob Uchiha was gone, and all he could do now was concentrate on making something for himself.

Something worth all the pain.

****


	2. Chapter One: Odd Encounters

**Chapter One: Encounters**

_**Timeline: Four years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, in a large industrial city far away from Konohagakure**_

--

_I'm so fed up with everyone around me,_

_And nobody seems to care._

_I'm just so far gone and nothing's gonna change,_

_I'll never be the same._

_It's always 'do this, do that,' everything they want to,_

_I don't want to live that way._

_Every chance they get they're always, _

_Pushing me away._

_It's never enough, no it's never enough,_

_No matter what they say._

_It's never enough, no it's never enough,_

_I'll never be what you want me to be..._

_-Five Finger Death Punch - Never Enough_

Sakura tucked a strand of pink behind her ear and smiled big at her reflection, teeth shining brightly in the crappy fluorescent lighting that hung over the dingy bathroom. She placed her hands on the sink and let out a sigh that could only belong to one who had nothing left. She looked over her too tight waitress uniform and brushed off a stray peice of lint that was residing on her shoulder. Another late night of serving ungrateful civilians coffee and tea, busting her ass to get their food to them on time lest she risk being yelled at by her boss. She hated this job, but it was all she could do, what with the shinobi population being nearly dead. She knew absolutely no one in this big city, and unless it was someone important from her past she preferred to keep it that way.

No one here could ever understand what she was feeling. No one would ever care enough to listen.

She put on her game face and walked out of the bathroom, determined to make it through this night without getting groped or nearly molested. She was strong, she was the old apprentice of the late Godaime Hokage, she could do this crappy job, right?

She could plaster on this fake smile and serve coffee in a too-tight dress with no dignity left, couldn't she?

No, she couldn't, but she had no choice anymore. If she wanted to survive then this was what she had to do.

She must have been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the large, black clad, hooded figure that nearly collided right into her. Luckily she was able to brush by him, his upper arm rubbing her shoulder as she squeezed past with a 'Sorry,'

"S'kay," Came the deep voice of the man, who was now heading into the men's restroom, his back to her.

Something caught Sakura off guard as he dissappeared into the room, something that was shaky and yet still controlled. Something familiar, like she knew what it may have been once but couldn't for the life of her figure what it was now.

She decided to brush it off, supposing that if it was important she would have remembered it.

-

There was something familiar about that girl, but he just couldn't place it. He knew for a fact that he had met her somewhere, her soft pink hair being the most familiar of it all. Kisame quickly left the bathroom and headed for a lone booth in the back, he sat down near the window and glanced out into rain stricken streets in front of him. He really didn't know how he managed to make it to this place, but he had been living in this large industrial city for nearly a year and he still wasn't used to it. He missed the quaintness of the small villages back home, the simplistic and predicatibility of shinobi life. Hell even being a missing nin was more predictable than this. This living day to day not knowing what job he was taking on, not knowing if he would even make enough money to eat that day, it didn't suit him at all.

Not to mention he had to hide his appearance alot more often here.

Somehow though, he managed to make enough money to afford the small loft apartment he had been living in for quite some time. And somehow he managed to keep the bills paid and eat most days. It wasn't much, but it sure was better than some of the ex-shinobi he had seen lofting about. Begging on the streets and eating out of a garbage can just wasn't his idea of a good time. He peered silently out into the open streets, his mind elsewhere for some reason.

He couldn't seem to push that waitress from his mind, he _knew_ he knew her from _somewhere._

"Excuse me, sir? Are you ready to order?" Came a soft voice and he peered out from under his hood to get a better glance at the waitress.

_Well speak of the devil._

It was that same waitress that he had bumped into awhile ago, he studied her face trying to place it with a name. She had large green eyes that seemed a bit dark and something in his mind told him that they hadn't always been that way. He peered down at the name tag on her white coffee stained dress.

Sakura.

Kisame almost scoffed. Who was so original to name their pink haired daughter Sakura?

That's when it clicked, pink hair, green eyes, Sakura. This girl was an ex-shinobi, the same girl who had been on the same team as the kyuubi kid. What were the odds? He wasn't sure how she would react if she noticed him, and he was sure that she would remember him if she got a good look. He wasn't exactly a face to forget afterall.

"Sir?"

Kisame pulled himself out of his daze and turned his attention to the countertop, deciding that he really didn't want her to recognize him, lest she decide to cause a scene.

"Yeah, uhh, a coffee is fine. Thanks." He stammered, trying to keep as low a profile as possible, concentrating on the stained formica table.

He caught sight of a forced smile as she wrote something down on her pad and said, "Sure thing. I'll be right out. Are you sure that'll be all?"

"Yeah."

She turned on her heel, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't recognized him, so far so good. He wondered why she would be working here of all places, she was-if he remembered correctly-one of the best medics in nearly all the world, surely she could have gotten a job at a hospital or something of the sort.

Almost immediately she returned and placed a chipped mug filled with steaming black liquid in front of him, and a slip of paper which he presumed was his bill. She smiled another forced, although slightly less, smile at him and turned away towards her other customers. He sipped the black concoction and picked up the paper, realizing that it wasn't a bill at all.

It was a note.

-

She recognized him almost immediately, no matter how he tried to keep his face hidden it wasn't difficult to tell by just the tiny bit of skin poking through his jacket. No other person in the world that she knew had skin the color of washed out blue.

At first she tensed slightly, not at his appearance but because of what he had been apart of once. What he had stood for had been the same organization that she had destroyed her home village and nearly the shinobi world at large. She quickly remembered what she had heard through other sources about the war. That the Akatsuki had merely been puppets tricked into fighting for a world that was only a lie. That Pein wasn't the true leader, but was merely a pawn being played by Uchiha Madara. That the rest of the members had no idea of this.

She couldn't really blame him for that, he wasn't the one who started the war, and she was sure that he had lost just as much as she had. She found herself wondering at how he had managed to make it out alive, the reports confirming that most of the Akatsuki were killed. As she grabbed a cup from above the shelf to pour coffee into, she found herself feeling a bit relieved that he was alive, for what reason she wasn't sure. Maybe it was because she knew that if he made it out, there was a possibility that someone else she knew made it from the clutches of war. Maybe it was because even if they never spoke to eachother, or even acknowledged eachother's existence, having someone who knew what it was like to be who she was in the same area may have been comforting. Maybe those were the reasons she decided to pick up his small bill and was currently scribbling on that little slip of paper.

Maybe...she just wanted someone to talk to. Someone to understand, even if that someone was an S-Class Criminal.

-

Kisame sat for a moment, contemplating all the things that could be written on that little slip of paper that lay so innocently in front of him. Slowly he picked it up and unfolded it, reading silently.

_It's ironic that we find ourselves here isn't it, Kisame? I have no use for trying to attack you, as I am sure you have just a hard time as I have adjusting to the way this new life works. There is no point in holding old useless grudges anymore, not when everything we have ever known is gone. I don't know what you are doing now but I am sure it doesn't compare to the life you once lived before. I have no use for turning you in as no one knows I was a shinobi either, so if you keep my secret safe I'll keep yours. _

_Sakura._

Kisame found himself smiling just a bit before standing up and walking out of the diner door.

*****

_I don't know anything at all,_

_And I'm somebody else._

_It could take years to find you,_

_It could take years to find myself._

_And I don't need to hear your answers,_

_I just need you to see._

_That I think it's time to break down,_

_These walls that we throw up._

_Am I still breathing?_

_Have I lost that feeling?_

_Am I made of glass cause,_

_You see right through me._

_I don't who I am,_

_And you're the only one who sees that._

_I can't ask these questions,_

_That cannot be answered today..._

_-Trapt - Made Of Glass_

He came back to that same coffee shop where she worked the night after, only to find that she wasn't working that night. For some odd reason he found himself a bit dissappointed, for what he had no clue. It wasn't as if she was an old friend of his, or even an acquaintance. She was once his enemy by association, but that really held no base now that the war had claimed everything shinobi and threw it out.

Maybe it was because she was the only one he knew at all who knew the pain he felt.

He took his black coffee and when he finished began his walk back to the empty apartment he called home. He passed by the vagrants and vagabonds, the scraggly half starved animals and the dark alleyways until he reached the small park that he tended to spend alot of his time at. As he walked closer, he heard the distinct noise of a swing creaking and looked to the small desolate playground for the source.

The source just happened to be a pink haired woman, sitting on said swing. Her head was facing the dirt beneath her and he could have sworn he saw something glisten on her face. He walked closer and then stopped about three feet away from her, when he heard a sniffle and saw her body shake slightly.

She was crying, even though she was trying desperately to hide it, and he could only guess why she was crying. He had a pretty good guess though. She was all alone, just like he was, only she wasn't used to it like he had always been.

He walked closer to her and now stood about a foot from her trembling form.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly, making sure not to startle her. She slowly looked up at him and continued to stare into his half shrouded face in silence. Kisame sat down carefully on the swing beside her and for a while the two just sat in a comfortable silence, taking solace in a familiar presence. Finally she broke the silence, voice wavering slightly, "Cigarrette?" She asked holding out a small box to him. Kisame was a bit shocked that the health concious kunoichi would do something as dirty as smoking, but he quickly realized that she probably used it as a means of coping with her issues and from the looks of it she didn't do it very often. Not like he could judge, he indulged every now and then too.

He reached out and took the pack from her, shaking one of the white cylinders out and handing it back to her. She swapped him the box with a pack of matches and then she took one out for herself, as he lit his and then hers.

"Thanks," He said, inhaling in a breath of smoke. She smiled softly at him and sighed, "No problem. You looked like you could have used one too."

"Yeah, well, anyone in my shoes would. Are you going to be okay?"

"I-I think so. I just have a tough time every now and then." She must have not wanted to talk about it, because she quickly switched topics. "So...what do you do, now?" She puffed on her cigarette a bit, finally blowing it out in a perfect ring.

"A bit of this, a bit of that. Anything to keep a roof over my head. Thanks for not causing a scene when you saw me at the diner."

She laughed softly and Kisame realized that he liked her laugh, it was deep and throaty but still feminine. It suited her.

"Not a big deal. I figure if I was going to waste my time on petty grudges like I did when I was a kid I wouldn't have made it very far in this city anyway. It kinda felt nice to see a familiar face anyway, even if you were my enemy back then. C-can I ask you a question?" She looked back down at the ground and her hair began to glitter in a perfect halo around her head, illuminated by the moonlight.

"Sure."

"What...happened?"

Kisame drew in a deep breath and replied, "You want the whole story? It's pretty long you know..." She simply nodded and he began to tell her the entire story of how Tobi had been revealed as Uchiha Madara, and of how he, Itachi, Deidara, and Konan fought him after he killed Pein. He told her of how Itachi and the others had been crushed under the base, as he had too, and he told her of how he had managed to pull himself out from under the wreckage, and how he had been the only one. She noticed that when he spoke of Itachi his eyes seemed resentful and almost sad. It was almost laughable that an Akatsuki could be sad about anything, if the circumstances were different. It seemed she had been wrong about him and about them. All they had wanted was a world without fighting, without war or discrimination and it seemed that they would have done nearly anything to make that happen.

"And so...how did you get here?" She asked quietly, peering back at him, noticing things she never noticed before they had met again. The first time she had seen him had been nearly eight or so years ago and all she saw when she looked at him was a bloodthirsty monster bent on destroying her best friend. She put so much status in appearance back then that it was so hard for her to see under the surface and focus on what really mattered. But now, with the moonlight illuminating his features and hers it was tough to tell how much different he was from her. Here in this odd light, he looked so human, he looked like a man, not like the shark demon that was sealed inside of him. He was human, it just took the circumstances that had happened in the past for her to realize it. Now she felt a small blush of shame creep over her features as she studied him further, he was so vulnerable she noted, so sad that it nearly broke her heart. She imagined the kind of teasing and cruel torment he had to undergo in his life, all because of his appearance. She fondly remembered another young man she had known once who underwent that life also. The only difference was, Naruto had fought to show everyone that he was more than the demon inside him. Maybe Kisame did too, she wasn't sure, but she was sure that she wanted to see him again one day.

"I just sort of wandered out this way, mostly trying to get away from hunter-nin. I guess that's what you were doing too."

Sakura seemed a bit shocked, afterall how could he possibly know that she defected Konoha. He chuckled slightly at her expression and continued, "It made sense that you want to leave, after...everything." She nodded her head slightly and the two sat in silence for a while longer. Finally she flicked her cigarrette out into the grass, stepping on it and finally speaking.

"I should be heading home soon." She said and looked at him, he almost seemed disappointed and it was most likely the same reason she was. After so many years of being alone, neither wanted to lose the only familiar face they had found recently. Even though she was sure he wouldn't admit it.

"Oh...well...I mean..I could walk you..if you want. It's pretty rough, and I am not saying that you can't handle yourself or anything but I just figured that-"

"Kisame,"

"you could use another hand or something in case that happens, I don't know. If not it doesn't matter, just asking, ya know.-"

"Kisame!!!"

"Huh?" He stopped his rant and looked at the woman standng in front of him. Her hands were on her hips and she looked a tad bit frustrated. Kisame found it cute-wait cute? When the hell did he start thinking she was cute? He pushed it out of his mind and concentrated on her.

"I would really like it if you walked me home. Thank you."

They walked the quarter mile or so to Sakura's apartment in companionable silence, each analyzing the other in their mind.

Sakura found him to completely unlike what she expected of him. He was kind, a good listener, and very chivalrous, not at all like the bloodthirsty killing machine she had pegged him for. He was just a man, broken and upset with losing everything he had. He was just like her.

Kisame had completely misjudged her it seemed, when he had recognized her at the diner he was sure she would freak and throw a kunai or punch him out with her terrible strength. She did none of that. And when he came to the park and found her, she merely offered him a smoke and they sat and talked like old friends. It was odd.

She was odd, but he decided that it couldn't have suited her any better.

****


	3. Chapter Two: It Lurks Around Your Door

_I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house,_

_That don't bother me._

_I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out._

_I'm not afraid to cry every once in awhile._

_Even though going on with you gone, still upsets me._

_There are days every now and again, I pretend I'm okay._

_But that's not what gets me._

_What hurts the most, was being so close,_

_And having so much to say, and watching you walk away._

_And never knowing, what could have been._

_And not seeing that loving you, is what I was trying to do._

_-Cascada(Originally done by Rascal Flatts) - What Hurts The Most_

--

Day after day, she plastered on that fake smile that made her sick to her stomach. She did what she was told, she made the coffee, she baked the pies, the walked around in that tiny waitress dress, she withstood that nasty, hungry glares that came from the male customers, and the disgusted, dissaproving looks of the females. She picked up her shitty tips and handed out bills, whilst getting groped by old men-resisting the urge to knock their remaining teeth out-she sweeped and mopped, she took out the trash and took the yelling that came from her boss when she accidentally dropped something or was five minutes late for work.

Sakura did all that, with that sickeningly fake smile plastered on her face.

And then, when her terribly long night shift was over, she made the lonely journey back to her one bedroom apartment, in the bad neighborhood, all alone.

She placed the key in door, hearing the click that notified her that it was unlocked, and turned the doorknob. She walked over the dirty clothes from the night before, telling herself that she would get around to picking it up eventually. She dropped her keys and her bag on the little couchside table and kicked off her little white flats. Sakura walked to the kitchen and swung open the refrigerator door, noting excitedly that she had bought a new jug of her favorite juice, cherry pomegranate, and poured herself a glass. Just as she was replacing the bottle in the fridge she noticed another bottle that she had recently bought.

A brand new bottle of sake.

Sakura smiled a little a pulled out the bottle, cracking open the top, "This one's for you shishou," And poured a shot into her pomegranate juice.

Sakura sat down on the couch, pulling out an old ninja scroll she had had since she was a genin and read through it once again, like she had everynight after she met him. She remembered writing this scroll only she couldn't remember why exactly she had written it in the first place. She did it right after they had gotten back from fighting Zabuza and Haku on their Land Of Waves mission, and she remembered looking up all of the information that she could on the Seven Swordsmen Of The Mist and writing all of her findings in the scroll, she ran past the records until she gotten to his name. The same information was in her bingo book but she like her scroll better.

Name: Hoshigaki Kisame

Origin: Kirigakure - Village Hidden In The Mist - Water Country

Age: 23 (when recorded)

Weapon(s): Wields a large blade named 'Samehada' or Sharkskin, able to shred through and eat flesh and chakra in a single slash.

Rank: S-Class Criminal, Jounin

_Hoshigaki is a serious criminal wanted in nearly all large Shinobi nations, and mostly in Kirigakure for espionage, numerous counts of murder, and the assassination of the Mizukage. He is incredibly dangerous and is now identified as a member of the notorious crime organization, 'Akatsuki'._

Sakura couldn't surpress the giggle that escaped her, that wasn't the Kisame she knew at all! Of course, she didn't really know him, considering they had only talked that one time. She sighed and leaned back, placing the scroll on the table. She couldn't believe it had really been a decade ago that she had been a genin, and a young shinobi partnered with two of the greatest future shinobi of all time; Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.

Both were dead now, or at least she knew for a fact that Naruto was, she couldn't say too much about Sasuke since the last time she had seen him was when they had met him on the mission with Sai when she was fourteen. The records had confirmed that he was dead however, but Sakura had this sinking feeling that he wasn't. Sasuke wasn't one to be put down so easily.

She sipped her cocktail as her thoughts drifted back to the man she had recently met only a few days ago. He had been so different than the-dare she say it-monster she had known him as as a kid. Or maybe her perception had been off, she didn't know. She did know however, that who he was now, wasn't anything like he was then. Or maybe he was never a bloodthirsty killer anyway, maybe he just acted that way for the infamy and the fear factor. Nonetheless, the more Sakura thought about him, the more she was sure she would like to see him again, if just for someone to talk to.

Sakura lifted her arms over her head, and with a blush immediately dropped them back down.

She stunk, really bad.

With a resigned sigh she tiredly got to her feet and stuffed the scroll back under her couch. She really needed a shower, and then possibly some sleep, seeing as it was three in the morning. She downed the rest of her drink and trudged herself into the bathroom, intent on taking a long shower. Just as she was turning on the faucet however, a hurried bang on her door stopped her in her tracks. Sakura stopped, looking up, shock and surprise written all over her face. Who the hell would be at her door at this hour? Slowly she grabbed the kunai that she kept hidden in her bathroom cabinet-she had them hidden all over her apartment, her old shinobi instincts never wearing down-and proceeded slowly to the front door. She hesistantly reached a hand to the knob and slowly pulled it open, her kunai placed behind her back.

All she could manage was a gasp, before a huge black figure crumpled on top of her.

--

_If you feel, so empty,_

_So used up._

_So let down._

_If you feel so angry,_

_So ripped off._

_So stepped on._

_You're not the only one,_

_Refusing to back down._

_You're not the only one._

_So get up..._

_Let's start a riot, a riot._

_Let's start a riot, a riot._

_Let's start a riot, a riot._

_Let's start a riot, a riot._

_-Three Days Grace - Riot_

He walked along the dark and seemingly empty street, a slight spring in his step whenever the pink haired woman entered his thoughts. Normally he wasn't one to skip-or like, ever really-but talking to her a few nights ago had put him in a much better mood as of late. He wasn't nearly as melancholy as he had been lately, maybe it was because he knew someone in this huge city, now. Maybe it was because she was someone who could understand her, maybe it was because she knew what he had to deal with everyday when he would jerk awake from those red-tinted nightmares, and maybe it was because he could at least talk to her every now and then.

If he felt the need to that was.

He passed up a seemingly empty alleyway, only stopping when he heard a couple of snickers behind him. He stopped, throwing an irritated glance behind him. A gruff looking guy came out of the shadows, swinging some kind of pipe around, a creepy smile on his face as he walked around Kisame.

"Well looky what we have here boys," His greasy voice grating on Kisame's ears, he knew that this wasn't going to end well.

"He certainly is an ugly one, boss. What are we gon' do with him?" Another one said, followed by at least six other guys.

"Hey, freak! What are you doing in my alley anyway?" Kisame ignored him and started walking away, "Did you hear me, freak? I'm talkin' to ya!" That was when Kisame felt something collide with the back of his head, it was the pipe he presumed. Kisame growled and muttered, "You boys, really don't want to mess with me." Damn his head really hurt, what the hell was that pipe made out of anyway? It feel like lead.

"Oh yeah? And why is that? You gonna eat us?" The whole group of thugs burst out in a chorus of drunken laughter, as Kisame fought down the rage bubbling up inside him. He really, really, _really, _didn't want to fight right now, and he was going to avoid it at all possible, but these thugs were wearing on his already worn down patience.

"No. I might slit your throats open though." He said, a death glare looming in his eyes. The 'boss' of the group seemed to get angry and swung his pipe at Kisame again, only to have it caught. Kisame ripped the pipe out of the man's hands, and bent it in half with one hand, throwing it aside as the man watched with wide eyes. Kisame smiled, showing a row of sharp malevolent teeth, "Still wanna go, boys?"

"You-You're gonna pay for that, asshole!" He ran at Kisame, his hand clenched in what Kisame thought was a pretty pathetic fist. Kisame caught his hand with seeming ease and squeezed it in his han, smiling with gruesome pleasure as he heard the bones snap and break, mingled with the anguished screams of the man. Another thug ran at him, some kind of switchblade in his hand and Kisame didn't seem to noticed the toxic dripping off of the blade, as it was buried into his stomach.

"Shit!" Kisame hissed as he felt his head spin. He had to end this fast, who the hell knew what was on that blade. He snapped the neck of the guy who stabbed him, throwing his body aside. Another one flew at him trying to punch him in the face, and Kisame knocked him into the cement wall, hard. Smirking as he heard his back crack on the wall. The 'boss' of the group tried to hit with a trashcan lid but Kisame just blocked it and swung at him in a kick, knocking him at least forty feet back, until he hit the ground, unconcious. Almost done, he reminded himself, as he felt the poison begin to work through his system, slowing down his breathing and turning his muscles to sludge. The last three ran at him in unison and Kisame flung three kunai at them, effectively catching each one in a different vital organ.

Once they were all down, Kisame began limping away. His head was spinning incredibly fast, and his body felt like it was going to give out, both from the blood loss and from whatever the hell it was on that blade. He stumbled along the wall, trying to make it home, even though he knew he would die if he didn't get help from somewhere. But who? Who would help him?

He felt himself turn away from his house, and further along the road to an apartment building he had only been to once, she had to be home, he reassured himself. She was a medic, wasn't she? He couldn't remember. Would she help him? He knew she would.

He found the apartment building that he unfamiliar with but he knew it was hers, he trudged along to her front door and slammed his arm against it, praying that she would open the door. He didn't hear anything except for the pounding of his own head and heartbeat, and he hissed as sweat dripped into the gash in his gut. Fuck, he was so screwed if she didn't open that door.

Just before his conciousness gave away, he saw a dim light pour out and the pink hair he had prayed would be there. He smiled goofy, before his body collapsed and he fell right on top of her.

--

Sakura grunted, trying to get out from under him. Finally she pulled herself out and pushed him over, gasping at the deep wound in his gut and the pale pasty blue color of his skin. The blood in the gash wasn't blood red, it was red with a purple tinge, which lead her to believe he had been poisoned. Sakura knew she had to help him or-judging by the looks of it, she would say soon to-he was going to die. She ran to the kitchen and got a bowl of warm water and a few towels, she grabbed the cushions off of her couch and propped his head up on them. She had to keep his head elevated higher than his heart so that the progress of the poison would slow in reaching his brain. She slowly pulled his black sleeveless shirt over his head, her eyes lingering on his very well sculpted chest for a second before snapping back. She gathered chakra in her hands and scooped up some of the water and pushed it through his wound, wincing as he grunted in pain from the poison extraction method. When she pulled the water out she saw the purple tinges in it, noting happily that she had managed to get some of the toxin out. She contninued this process until finally the water came out clear, leaving his body free of poison. She took one of the towel and wiped off her forehead and then his, brushing a few strands of the deep, navy blue away from his eyes. She smiled as she felt his skin, noting that it wasn't sharklike in the least bit, but quite soft, yet worn from years of shinobi work and civilian work alike. The wrinkles in his forehead smoothed as she saw the pain in his feature melt away a bit. She let her hand linger a little longer than was proper and soon caught herself and pulled away to heal the gash in his stomach. She gathered more chakra together, feeling awfully tired since she was out of shape from not using her healing in such a long time, and began brushing her hand gingerly over the wound, watching the skin knit and form back together. After all of that was done, she probed his body for anymore injuries. Satisfied when none came up, she wrapped a bandage around his stomach and stood up.

Her brow furrowed when she realized that he was still asleep on her floor. She had to get him into the bed or at least on the couch. She looked over at her too short couch and sighed. There was no way he could lay on that thing while being comfortable and possibly not falling off of it at the same time. She resignatedly sighed and gathered some chakra into her body, lifting his very large-and heavy frame-off of the floor and carrying him to her bed. She laid him down and pulled the headband off of his head, removing the few senbon from behind his ear-so he wouldn't stab himself in the middle of the night-and watched amazed as his hair fell and drooped over his face. It was actually pretty long, reaching all the way down to his jaw line, and Sakura found herself liking it this way. She rubbed the dark blue locks in between her fingers, noting with surprise that it was actually pretty soft, despite what it looked like-coarse and rough. She sighed and released his hair, hanging her head in her hands. Just because he was the first familiar face she had seen in a long time didn't mean that she had to attach herself to him like this. He was just an acquaintance, she reminded herself, and he had even been an enemy at one point. Yet here she was, watching the rise and fall of his chest in reverie, wondering why things had turned out this way. She had healed him, something that she would have been exiled for in Konoha, an act of treason to heal an enemy. Thus was the code of the shinobi.

But, she wasn't a shinobi anymore, and she wasn't in Konoha. She was here, in this huge civilian city, in her apartment sitting next to an unconcious S-Class criminal, whom she had just healed. The same rules didn't apply this time, and they could be friends without anybody caring in the least bit. No one could tell her what to do, she made her life for herself and so did he.

She pulled off his boots and pulled the blanket over his legs, up to right before his wound. She grabbed an extra blanket and pillow off of the bed, and a pair of shorts and a tank top and switched off the light before shutting the door, leaving a small crack in it.

What had done that to him? Her reasoning deducted that he had been jumped, probably on his way to his apartment, and probably for the same reason he was so despised anywhere else. Sakura dropped the blanket and the pillow onto the couch and placed her clothes next to it, before walking into the bathroom to finish what she had started earlier. She was tired, but she really needed to get showered, plus she had plenty of time to sleep tomorrow, as she was off of work. She thanked the heavens above for this and switched on the faucet. She fiddled with the hot and cold taps until the water was to her liking-just a bit above scalding-and stepped in. She nearly let out a pleasure moan when the hot water hit her aching calves and back. Who knew being a waitress would be as taxing as it was? She was a shinobi once, you would think that she would be able to bust a few tables for Kami's sake. She stood under the hot spray, her thoughts once again returning to the man currently lying in her bed. This thought made her blush just a bit, but she didn't know why. Even IF anything was going on between them, which it **was not** and** would never** happen, it wasn't like she was a virgin or anything. A platonic friend sleeping alone in her bed, shouldn't make her blush. She let out a chuckle, it wasn't like she was sleeping with him. It wasn't like he was naked. She felt her cheeks warm again, and she groaned aloud. Kami! How embarrassing, she really shouldn't think of him being naked, especially when she too was naked.

_Yeah, but did you see those pecs? Did you see those abs!? Dear lord, he would've thunk it..._

'Oh no, not you again.'

_Yes me! Yay Inner Sakura is a good girl! _(A/N- Hahah! Yay, I just had to put a little bit of a Tobi moment in here, cuz I'm whacko like that, back to the story)

'Where have I heard that before?'

_I dunno, but anyway. Like I was saying, you can't tell me that he isn't...nice to look at. Even if he is a fish..._

'He-He's not a fish! He just has a demon....That's all. It's not his fault.' Sakura blushed ashamedly, 'Would you just go away and let me finish my shower? I really don't need you around right now.'

_Pssh. Fine, but at least take in consideration what I said, okay? BUHBYE SAKURA-CHAN!_

Sakura sighed and grabbed her jasmine shampoo, squirting a little in her hand before lathering up her long hair, the suds dripping down her stomach. She rinsed her hair and began to lather up her body, running her hands along her stomach. She began to think about Kisame's rough hands and how they would feel against her skin, how they would feel stroking and touching and-

No! No! No! She was not thinking about that! No! Just because she was lonely, and hadn't had sex in like _forever,_ and he was the only man that she had met that she had actually had something of a connection with, did not mean that she should even entertain those thoughts. Sakura decided that she should probably wrap this whole shower thing up and head to bed-err couch-so that this wouldn't happen again. She quickly finished washing and rinsing, all the while humming something that sounded like 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' and then stepped out turning off the tap and wrapping a towel around herself. She stepped out of the bathroom and switched off the light. As she was walking to the living room, she couldn't help but peek into her room to see how he was. Really, that's all it was. Really.

She felt a small smile creep onto her face as took in what she saw. He had rolled over on to his side and had his leg propped up over the blanket, with his face buried into the pillow. Sakura giggled a little as he mumbled something in his sleep that sounded vaguely like, 'Imma kill you...ya..muffin...man...yeah.' Sakura straightened up and closed the door back, walking back into the living room and pulling on her shorts and top, climbing onto the couch, hoping that she would wake up before he did the next morning. But what if he did wake up first? Would he leave? Would he stay?

Sakura found that as she fell sleep, she hoped he would stay.

A/N - Yes I have updated this fic. AMAZING RIGHT! I was bored last night..oh and btw I am almost done with BTN and Poison Ivy's next chapters sooo...Expect those soon. Well thanks for all the support and love! Love you guys. Hasta la bye bye.

-Ny-


	4. Chapter Three: Breakfast With A Shark

A/N- Okay, so I have gotten a good many reviews for this story thus far, and every single review is important to me. However, there is one special individual that I want to give my thanks to, a certain girl who has read all three of the stories I am currently working on, kitten652. She has given me support and many a many review on all of my stories. But as to everyone else, I truly appreciate each and every moment that you take out of your lives to read my stories, especially for Because The Night, which happens to be my most appraised bit of writing thus far. But enough of that: let's get on with chapter four shall we?

--

_I can't escape this hell,_

_So many times I've tried._

_But I'm still caged inside._

_Somebody get me through this nightmare._

_I can't control myself._

_So what if you can see,_

_The dark inside of me._

_No one will ever change this animal I have become._

_Help me believe, _

_It's not the real me._

_Somebody help me tame this animal._

_I can't escape myself,_

_So many times I've lied._

_But there's still rage inside._

_Somebody get me through this nightmare._

_I can't control myself..._

_-Three Days Grace - Animal I Have Become-_

--

_It was dark, and hollow here, silent sounds like water dripping from a tap was all he could hear in this place. He looked around, only to find more darkness. He started walking ahead of him, not knowing where he was going or even what he was doing. He didn't know, and that was what pushed him to keep walking, afraid that if he stopped something terrible would happen. He trudged on, only stopping when he heard something._

_It sounded like a voice, calling to someone. He ran in the direction and the sound became more and more clear to his ears. _

_"Kisame?" Someone was calling him, and the familiarity of the voice was very striking, as if he had heard it somewhere and had heard it alot but he hadn't heard it in a long time. He ran faster, trying to catch up to whoever was calling out to him. _

_"Hello? Is someone there?" He called out, his voice echoing out very far into the darkness. He kept running until he saw a tiny light, stopping to look closer at it. He noticed that it was coming closer to him, and he reached out to touch it, but was stopped as he felt something on his arm. He stopped and turned around, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping upon seeing a pair of blood red eyes._

_"I-Itachi?" His voice trembled, and he felt the thing on his shoulder fall. Suddenly the darkness dissapated as the red eyes dissapeared with it. Kisame began to scream, "No! Itachi come back! Come back! Itachi!!!!" _

_He was no longer in a dark tunnel, but in a blood red field, the sky matching the ground. Red. He looked around, noting the ominous feel around him. A voice snapped him from his reverie._

_"I am aware of that, but as you know, we can't have that...thing...in this village. It is a danger to anyone it is around. You know this, Kenshi-sama." The first voice was greasy and held a tone of disgust._

_"I am aware of it. But he may be useful, the demon is indeed a strong one, if trained right the boy could prove be a very powerful outlet. Shall we talk to his whore-mother?" The second voice was deep and seemed soothing had his words not been so cruel. He knew this man...it was...his genin Sensei, Arimoto-san._

_A heavy bout of laughter followed and the first voice responded, "You are serious? Why is it up to her? It's not. It's for the good of this village and doesn't require her in the slightest."_

_"What if she tries to fight?"_

_"Simple, we kill her. She is useless to us, the spawn is what we require. Not it's whore of a mother."_

_Silence was all Kisame heard, until the ground began to shake and he felt as if he was being sucked in. He looked around, and the sky was dark, almost pitch black but the area around him was like, a normal outside area. Grass littered around a danky, poorly built house. And no one was around, at least until he heard a scream._

_The door to the house fell open, and a tall, blonde haired man clutching a bundle to his chest stalked out. Followed by three more men and then, a very, very young dark haired girl-she couldn't have been older than 17 or 18-bounded out, screaming, tears streaming down her face. She was clinging to the blonde haired man, as if trying to pull the bundle out of his hands. He merely kicked her off, and Kisame flinched inside._

_"Get the hell off of me, wench!" The blonde man snarled down at her, but she didn't cease trying to grab onto him._

_"Please....Please don't, Kimiko-sama, please don't take him away from me!" She sobbed as she dropped to her knees. "You can't do this! He's my son!"_

_The blonde man stopped and found some humor in this and began laughing. The cold, feeling-less laugh, made Kisame shiver as he watched. It was odd, that he was here standing in the open yet no one could see him. He bent down to where the woman was kneeling, and he kicked her in the face, sending her flying at least ten feet. She screamed and tried to get to her feet. Kisame felt himself cheering for this little civilian woman, but he had no idea why. She was so damn headstrong. He felt like he should intervene, but he couldn't move, his feet were glued to the ground. _

_"Son? He's your son. This thing isn't even human! Look at him! He's disgusting! Filthy, and he will be used as a tool, like the monster he is. And you," He grabbed her up by her long, raven locks, and spat in her ear, "Will not intervene."_

_"Like hell I won't," She struggled free from his grip, yanking a kunai she kept hidden under her dress. She was no shinobi, but she had learned a few things. She slashed at the man's leg, "You people made him that way! And you call him a monster! You're the monster!!!" The man hissed and , ripped the kunai out of her hand. He put the bundle down, and Kisame gasped as a little blue hand reached out._

_"Ma....ma...." The little voice spoke, and before the woman could smile or blink, the blonde man ripped her up and slit her throat, the blood spurting everywhere staining the ground. She gurgled but he could hear her last words, "I love...you...Kisame..."_

_Kisame felt the tears pour down his face, and watched as the blonde man scooped the baby up, haphazardly and walked off, leaving Kisame's mother face down in the dirt, blood pooling around her. Her bright blue eyes seemed to be staring at him, her face contorted in a silent scream. _

_--_

"Mama!" Kisame sat straight up, his heart pumping a mile a minute, cold sweat dripping onto his sheets. He looked around frantically. He looked around the dusky room, and turned his head towards the digital alarm clock that sat on the nightable. It was seven thirty in the morning. He glanced down at his stomach, noting that it stung quite alot. He realized that this was not his room, hell this wasn't even his apartment. Where the hell was he?

The images began to play in his head.

Walking alone in the dark-thugs trying to kick his ass-getting stabbed with that knife-feeling woozy-beating the thugs asses-trudging to her apartment-light flooding his face-pink hair-and then nothing.

Right. Sakura must have healed him afterall, he felt a smile creep on his face. She helped him, her, a goody goody Konoha nin, helped him.

_Yeah, well that doesn't matter anymore, does it? The lines between friend and enemy have been blurred._

That was true, it really didn't matter anymore, now that they were ex-shinobi. Unless of course they were caught, which Kisame was sure they wouldn't be. Hardly anything was left of the shinobi populations anyway, and what was left was devoted to complete rebuilding of their fallen villages. They didn't have the time-or the money for that matter-to go out and send search teams or hire hunter-nin to chase after them. They could be free and do whatever they wanted; not like they really wanted to. He knew that Sakura missed her little village, but Kisame wasn't quite so sure, he wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. He knew he wanted to do something with himself that didn't involve murdering people or the like.

He chuckled softly as he stood up and stretched. He really must be going soft, probably the older he got, the softer he got.

He slowly-and silently- crept out of the room, but he stopped upon seeing her sleeping figure on the couch. Her pink tresses glinting silver in the slight dusk creeping into the living room. Her petal pink lips were slightly puckered, as if she was Sleeping Beauty, waiting for her prince to come along and wake her. Her long hair wasn't even messy, just splayed out on the pillow like a ethereal halo. Kisame found it hard to breathe for a second.

_Damn, she's so gorgeous._

Kisame shoved those thoughts violently into the back of his mind. Thinking like that wasn't going to get him anywhere good, no matter how much he wanted to press his lips to hers, just so he could see if they were as soft as they looked. He was going to leave, he really was, but seeing her there...on that little couch, in all of her ethereal beauty, it unlocked something inside of him that he had never felt before...ever. At least not in that particular sense of intensity, and it wasn't sexual urge either. He couldn't lie and say that the thought of claiming her wouldn't be enticing, because it was, but sex was sex, he had only done a few times and only with paid, drunken whores, but he knew that.

No, he felt the need to protect this little sakura blossom.

So as he walked to kitchen-deciding that he could at least make her breakfast-he also decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, if they bumped into eachother every now and then.

--

_I am unwritten._

_Can't read my mind, I'm undefined._

_I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand._

_Ending unplanned._

_Staring at the blank page before you,_

_Open up the dirty window._

_Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find._

_Reaching for something in the distance,_

_So close you can almost taste it._

_Release your inhibitions, feel the rain on your skin._

_Noone else can feel it for you,_

_Only you can let it in._

_Noone else, noone else, can speak the words on your lips._

_Drench yourself in words unspoken,_

_Live your life with arms wide open._

_Today is where your book begins,_

_The rest is still...unwritten._

-_Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten-_

--

The bright rays of sunlight seemed to fill the apartment with a happy glow. Sakura brought an arm over her face, trying to block out the offending rays-as pretty as they were, they were interrupting her sleep. No matter what position she got in, she was still uncomfortable, so she decided it was probably time to wake up.

That was when she smelled it.

It smelled damn good, the tantalizing scent drifting from whereever it was coming from right into her nose. It smelled alot like...

"Takoyaki?" She muttered, her voice raspy and hoarse from sleeping. Why the hell did her apartment smell like takoyaki?

"Good morning, sleepy face."

Sakura's eyes snapped open, only to be exposed to blue skin and a...shirtless chest. A very, defined, well toned, muscled shirtless chest.

"Kisame? You stayed?" She asked, sitting up as he handed her a glass of orange juice. How did she get orange juice? She hadn't bought any lately. He chuckled good-naturedly and walked into the kitchen, his voice seeming so far away, when only he was just a few feet from her. "Well, yeah. I mean, making you breakfast was the least I could do, after what you did for me."

Sakura jumped up from the couch and practically ran to the kitchen, her hands on her hips, a glare that could cut through steel in her eyes, "You! You're hurt! You shouldn't be up! You-is that takoyaki?" She looked past him to the pot on the stove. Sure enough, it was takoyaki. Sakura felt her mouth begin to water, takoyaki was by far one of the most delicious foods in her book. Then without warning her stomach gave a loud grumble, causing her to blush and him to laugh out loud while he was stirring the miso soup. Kisame pulled the pot off of the stove and set it down on the kitchen table, his sharp teeth exposed in a rather large smile, "Yes ma'am it is. I take it you're hungry?" She nodded excitedly, until she remembered why she was mad in the first place.

"Wait! I mean, no...I mean..Why are you up? You almost...died last night. Or well, you could have, had you not gotten here in time." Her voice seemed to travel off at the end. Almost like she was sad, or afraid that he would have died. Kisame placed the last of the food on the table and pulled a chair out for her. Sakura tilted her head, since when was he so considerate, so gentlemanly, so chivalrous? She had never expected him to be that way, what with his background and all. She mentally slapped herself, she was being judgemental again, something she had trained for years not to be. She sat down in the offered chair muttering a silent, 'Arigato, as he took a seat across from her at the tiny kitchen table. He filled a bowl with miso, and a plate with takoyaki and handed it to her.

"Where did you get all of this? I mean, you really didn't need to go through all this trouble just to thank me. I'm a healer...it's what I do." She began to dig in, and let out a little moan. God! This was so goooood! Man oh man could this man cook.

"I took a little trip to the market after I woke up...and...Yes, Sakura-san, I did. Just because you're a healer didn't mean you had to heal _me. _You could have left me out to die, it wouldn't have affected you either way. But you didn't, you helped me, and for that I am grateful." He chewed his food slowly, as if he was very thoughtful at the moment. A few moments of silence passed by before Sakura said quietly, "It would have affected me you know..."

Kisame's head snapped up at this, "What?"

"Well," She felt a little uneasy for some reason, and she looked down before continuing, "I mean, you are the only person I even know in this city, and it doesn't hurt that have been through some of the same things I have. Or that you are someone from my past. If you had...died...I wouldn't know anyone. So yeah...I mean..it would have affected me...a little." She seemed embarrassed for saying this, maybe in her mind it was attributed to treason, he thought. He didn't see it that way, probably because treason was the only thing he ever _had_ done in his life, and because they were no longer affiliated with anything. Maybe she did, but even if she did, she still thought him worth enough to go against her morals for. That made him smile.

"I guess..it's the same on both ends, huh?" He asked while popping another piece of food in his mouth. Sakura simply smiled and turned back to her food. A few more minutes had passed and both were done eating, Sakura sighing happily and sitting back in her seat, "That was so delicious. Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Kisame found himself grinning again. What was it about her that made him do that? She didn't judge him, or despise him even though he looked like a monster and was part of the same organization that had hunted and eventually killed one of her teammates and best friends. This girl really was something else. "Ahh...Well in Akatsuki, it was pretty much fend for yourself, so you kind of had to know things like cooking and all of that. I already knew how to do it though. I learned it from...my clan."

"Your clan?" She seemed puzzled, and Kisame felt something in him stir at the thought of his past.

"Yeah, my real mother was killed...when I was a baby. So I was..._adopted_..by my Aunt and Uncle, who led one of the most prestigious clans in Kirigakure. The Hoshigaki Clan was alot like the Uchiha Clan in Konoha, only less...talented. But...things weren't so great there, ya know? I didn't exactly have the best upbringing." He sighed and stood up, helping her clear the table.

"Why?"

"Ano, my father's family really didn't like me all that much, and only took me in because they were basically forced to, by the Mizukage and all." He noted the sad look on her soft features. She knew why he was resented so much. It was the same reason why everyone in Konoha had resented Naruto, and why people in Sunagakure had feared Gaara. The demons sealed within them.

"People are afraid of what they don't understand." Her eyes seemed angry, a deep green fire that burned within them. A fire, that when noted on this topic, that would never go out. He knew why. She had seen demon possessions first hand, and had watched the people she loved go through the trauma of everyday life because of being different. Because of something that wasn't their fault in the first place. Maybe that was why he felt like he could trust her, because she could understand.

"Luckily for me though, the maid loved me." He smiled, remembering the woman who had taken care of him for most of his childhood. Sakura found herself smiling back at him, "She taught you how to cook?" Kisame's deep chuckle resonated from his chest, making Sakura feel odd inside. She didn't know why, but when he laughed, it stirred something strange within her.

"That woman taught me how to do everything! She kept me out of trouble...I haven't seen her since I was run out of Kiri, but I wonder if she's still around. I doubt she is, not much in Kirigakure is. Not much anywhere is still around." His eyes seemed sad and Sakura reached across the table to pat his hand. As soon as he felt her soft fingers brush his, his eyes snapped up to meet hers. She pulled away, as if being burned and turned away, a soft blush on her pale cheeks. It was the same color as her hair. Kisame figured he better say something to change the subject, but she got to it before he did.

"How do you feel? Does it hurt?" She asked, pointing to his stomach. He had completely forgotten about the wound, having had much worse in the past, even as a child. He pulled away the bandage, revealing a slightly purplish-red scar. Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head, "Wow! You certainly heal fast!" She placed her hand over the wound tracing it with her finger, Kisame hissed.

"Oh!" She wrenched her hand back, "Did I hurt you?" Kisame's cheeks turned a little pink and he looked away, no she certainly didn't hurt him. It was just, when she did that, it made his skin tingle, and a shiver shoot down his spine. He just...wasn't used to people touching him, and certainly not there. It was an unexpected reaction, but certainly not a completely unpleasant one. "I...uhh...no..Just...I'm fine!" He laughed nervously and scratched his head, turning away from her confused features.

"Umm..Okay. So...In any case, I should at least change that bandage." Sakura turned and walked towards the bathroom, Kisame watching her every step of the way. He smiled, despite of the war and being alone, because he had met her. She was so unlike any woman he had ever known, she didn't cower away or shot him looks of disgust. She treated like what he really was; a human with an altered exterior. She truly was something else, that Sakura.

"Okay! Well, if you just sit down and relax I can redress the wound." She smiled widely, a roll of bandage hanging from her arm and a jar of some kind of healing salve in the other hand. He did as was told and sat down on the couch, noting that when he bent his body was the only time the wound was really bothersome. Other than that it was fine. "Sakura, it's fine really. I'm okay, It's just a little sore but-" Before he could finish speaking, she had bent over his lap, her chest directly in front of his face. Her cleavage was barely three inches from his nose. Kisame felt the stirrings of some primal urge begin to resurface after being locked away for a long, long time. He groaned quietly, hoping-no praying-that she would be done soon, because if he had to sit here, with her tantalizing cleavage so close to his face, he might do something that he would definitely regret. He managed to push down the feelings of arousal when she said, "Hmm. This isn't working right, I can't get the angle right. Hold on." She slipped one leg over both of his legs and set herself directly on his lap.

"Oh...my...god..." Kisame's husky whisper nearly escaped her but she caught it and stopped tending to the wound, and looked up at him. "Something wrong?" Her inquisiting tone was so innocent that Kisame knew it was impossible for her to realize what she was doing to him. Right? She didn't know...right? Kisame shook his head as she continued her careful evaluation of his injury. "Kisame?" He jumped slightly, startled and still on edge, giving her a slightly pleading look. "How did this happen exactly? I mean I have a clue, but..." Kisame sighed-in both relief and angst-as Sakura slowly climbed off of his lap and perched herself on her knees, wrappng his bandage back up.

"I was walking home last night and I got caught by a group of thugs who didn't seem too pleased by my...appearance." He said, as jade pools searched his face for distress, sadness written in their depths.

She found herself brewing slightly in anger, because she knew that no matter where he went he would always get judged based on trivial things like his appearance. She felt guilt begin to pool in her stomach as she gazed upon his face, she too had judged him like that once. That was before she knew him of course. She stared a little longer and when he shifted his gaze to her she didn't look away, she merely continued gazing at him. He had striking features, his sharp angled nose and jaw line very prominent, but he wasn't ugly. No he was quite the opposite, and Sakura actually found him quite attractive, despite his odd look. Even his particular blue skin color didn't phase her like it normally would have when she was younger. In fact she thought it fit him quite well, and in all actuality she thought that a normal skin tone would look incredibly odd on him. Sakura found herself smiling, and he took notice of this and smiled back, "What's so amusing?"

"Oh, nothing. Ano, do you mind if I-" She didn't want to say anything that could be misconstrued as rude to him so she merely reached her hand out about two inches away from his face. Kisame slowly shook his head. No he didn't mind. Sakura rested her hand on her cheek, feeling the odd markings on his face. Indeed they were the real thing. Actual gills! Sakura giggled as they ruffled slightly under her touch. She then brought her hand up to brush a few of misplaced strands away from his eyes, and she noticed that he leaned slightly into her touch. He stayed like that for a few moments before pulling away. This wasn't right, he shouldn't be feeling things like this for someone like her. He turned away from her, trying to ignore the confused look on her face.

"Kisame, I didn't mean to-" She started but he cut her off, standing to his feet. "No, Sakura. It's not you. I just..I have to head back okay?" Sakura seemed sad but she forced a smile anyway and sighed resignedly, "Alright." She stood up and retrieved his shirt and jacket, handing them to him as he slid his boots on at the door.

"Thank you." They both said at the same time, both being met with a smile. He walked out of the door and descended down the street, Sakura watching his back as he walked away.

She felt a sad smile drift onto her features, and she hoped that he would come back again.

--

A/N- Okay...crappy ending I know, but I suck with endings so leave me some reviews and you will have your chapter 5. Anywho I love you guys and thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter Four: Disputes and Disdain

_I try to make it through my life,_

_In my way, there's you._

_I try to make it through these lies,_

_That's. All. I. Do._

_Just don't deny it, just don't deny it._

_And deal with it, yeah deal with it._

_You try to break me, you wanna break me,_

_Bit by bit, but that's just part of it..._

_If you were dead or still alive; I don't care._

_I don't care._

_And all the things you left behind; I don't care._

_I don't care._

_I try to make you see my side, always trying to stay in line._

_But your eyes see right through, that's all thanks to you._

_I'm getting tired of this shit, got no room when it's like this._

_What you are to me, just deal with it..._

_-Apocalyptica ft. Adam Gontier - I Don't Care-_

--

Scrub. Scrub. Scrub.

Scour. Scour. Scour.

Scrub.

Scour.

"Argh! Stupid baked on food!" Sakura tossed the dish aside and threw her dish towel in the air, placing her elbows on the counter and hanging her head in her hands. The prickle and tingling sensation behind her eyes was bitter and not to be swayed, and she had been fighting it all day. Maybe she was going to start her period soon, she didn't know, but for some reason the whole of today had been terrible. It started when she woke up; she stubbed nearly all of her toes on her bed frame, when she was walking to the bathroom her feet got caught in a dirty towel and she tripped, she ripped a hole in her pantyhose, some jerk in a pickup had driven past her and splashed her with a puddle, and last but not least she was having absolute hell at work.

And all of this started after having a horrendous dream about none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura let out a tiny frustrated cry as a lone tear spilled over onto her cheek. Why did she have to think of him at the most inconvenient times-well, if she was being honest with herself, everytime was inconvenient when it came to him-and why did he see fit to pervade her dreams. It didn't happen frequently anymore-the first week she had gotten here, it been as frequent as every night-but when it did happen it was just as disconcerting as if it were briefly wondered what had happened to him...after the incident. Where did he go? What was he doing now? Was he even alive? Questions flew through her head like stray baseballs, flinging themselves at her before she had time to 'catch' them all. The one question that really mattered was the one that she had been aching to ask him

_Sasuke...why did you do it?_

She could have sworn that her heart broke more and more when thoughts of him pervaded her mind. She tried so, so, so hard to not think of it, to block it out, but she just couldn't. As she wiped another tear away, she wondered when her heart would eventually be so damaged that thoughts of him couldn't harm her anymore. She felt a shiver travel up her spine and she looked around the diner, noting that it was empty save for her and her boss, who was in the back masturbating or something. She released her grip from the sink and wandered into the dining area, taking a seat on one of the abandoned benches and wiping the table down halfheartedly. She peered out the large window, just as rain began to splatter the nighttime streets.

_Great...rain. Just what I need tonight, to be drenched and catch pneumonia while I walk home._

Okay, so maybe that was a bit of a hyperbole, as she had brought an umbrella in her purse and had a thick jacket, but still she was depressed. When she was depressed her mind always automatically assumed the worst of any situation she was in, a curse and a gift at the same time because she figured if you assume the worst you won't be let down. She peered along the empty streets and noticed the pet shop right across from the little diner. There was an aquarium in the window and a little blue fish was peering right at her. Sakura giggled as Kisame immediately came to mind-not that she really thought of him as a fish, but you know-and she wondered what he was doing right now. Ever since he had left her house that morning a few days ago she began unconciously counting the time to when they would meet again, wondering if she would see him again soon. She rested her forehead against the cool pane of glass and sighed, thankful that thoughts of the tall shark-man had replaced the ones of the long-not-seen avenger. He was so kind, so unlike what she had him pegged for all of those years before the war, and even afterwards. He was courteous, and chivalrous-so incredibly the opposite of his intimidating features, which she found to be more endearing than anything now that she knew him better-and he treated her with a respect she had hardly gotten from any of the men that she had gone after. Err..not that she was going after him or anything. No, they were just friends right? She didn't feel anything other than friendship from the ex-Mist nin...right?

_Man, Sakura, this is going to be one long night._

It wasn't too long of a night apparently, she thought happily while walking the dark streets to her apartment. Hoisting the little umbrella over her shoulder, she turned onto her block and trudged tiredly up the stairs to her front door. She unlocked the door and began her normal nighttime wind-down routine. When she was showered and fed she trodded into her bedroom, pulled back the covers and fell onto the sheets. She was so exhausted that she barely had time to register any thoughts in her head before her eyes drifted down and she was asleep

--

_Follow your bliss,_

_It fits on my chest._

_I know I got it tattooed for a reason._

_Why can't I just hold it true?_

_'Cause I'm still crashing all the funerals,_

_Of the people that I never knew._

_I'm stuck in a coma,_

_Stuck in a neverending sleep._

_And..._

_Someday, I will wake up,_

_And realize I made up everything._

_I'm stuck in a coma,_

_Stuck in a neverending sleep._

_And..._

_Someday, I will wake up,_

_And realize I gave up everything..._

_-Senses Fail - Can't Be Saved-_

He tossed on his side, his hair flipping into his eyes, and he let out a defeated sigh. He couldn't sleep, and he was barely able to sleep for the last week or so. Not to say that he wasn't tired, he was very tired, but everytime he would fall into even the lightest of sleeps his mind would be assaulted by that ridiculous fucking nightmare. Every night it was the same, only just a bit more graphic and every night his reaction would get worse. One night he woke up and he was actually crying. Crying! Him, Hoshigaki Kisame, feared monster of the Mist; crying like a little baby. After that happened he swore off sleeping, maybe for good, or at least until he finally died of pure exhaustion.

Unfortunately for our male protagonist, this was only the first of his problems. The other problem came in the form of a pretty, petal pink haired waitress, and he was being constantly assaulted by unwanted thoughts of her. They hadn't seen eachother since he had left her apartment that morning, but everyday after that he felt like his heart would pound harder and faster with each thought of her. They were just friends right? Barely even that, so why was he feeling this way?

_Because she was there, she was the only semblance of his old life that he had left. Because she listened, because she understood, because just like him she had lost those that were closest to her. Because..she cared._

Kisame shook his head violently. No! He wasn't going to do this again, he wasn't going to risk it all over again for nothing. He couldn't get close to someone again, not if they were just going to be ripped out from underneath him, like he knew they would. It happened everytime he even thought about caring for someone else. It happened to his mother-even if he didn't know her-, it happened with Itachi, it happened with Deidara, but he was not going to let it happen with Sakura. She meant too much to him for his 'curse' to take her too.

That's what it felt like to him, it felt like he was cursed when it came to people. Everytime he got close to someone, they died. Every single time. He sighed and flipped over in his bed, wondering why he had such terrible luck when it came to..anything. Sure he had made it out of that pile of rubble that had once been the Akatsuki base, but for what? Why did he live when everyone else had died? Was there even a reason other than some deity he had angered had a grudge against him? It didn't matter anymore really, all that mattered was the fact that he was one of those that was doomed to be alone and unhappy for the rest of his life. Some were meant to be born, lead happy lives, meet someone, fall in love, and die with that person old and happy. He just wasn't one of those people, and he thought he had come to terms with that a long time ago, until he met Sakura and his mind began to betray him with thoughts of happiness with her. He couldn't be anything with her, not even her friend, because he would always want more from her, and he knew that even if-which he knew she wouldn't-she accepted his advances, he couldn't be anything more with her because something bad would happen and he would lose her. He just couldn't go through that again, and he just couldn't win. That and the fact that he was planning on leaving this shithole, getting back into the shinobi lifestyle might be enough to forget her. But...

He had to at least tell her something right? He had to march up to her apartment, thank her for her help the other night, turn on his heels and leave her alone for good. He could do that, he definitely could, he could turn away from her gorgeous green eyes, and the pink hair that seemed to taunt him with it's unearthly softness and the gentle petal hued lips he had been longing to press against his own since he had watched the tear that had escaped from her eyes that night they sat on the swingset and talked.. He really could, and he would do it. Right now.

...

Okay, maybe not right now, but within the next couple of days for sure. He sighed softly as his eyes began to get heavy, his hands flew up to rub the tiredness away but only seemed to make it worse. He closed his eyes for a second, and within the second he was awake before falling asleep he only saw endless pools of green.

--

Sakura spun around, waving her feather duster in the air, singing happily as she did her weekend cleaning routine. The radio was set to an alternitive station and was awfully loud, making Sakura glad that no one lived next to her. She pulled a mop from behind the refrigerator and dunked it into the bucket, ringing it out and mopping her kitchen floor. She smiled-the first real smile she had since she saw Kisame last-and continued to sway her hips as she walked over the wet areas of the floor, and into the living room. She smiled as she made a mental count of everything that had been done and what was needed to do next. Mopping, check. Vaccuuming, check. Dusting, check. All that was left to do was to gather up her laundry and bring it to the laundromat. Sakura scooped up her discarded clothes around the house and shoved them in a hamper, grabbing a bottle of detergent and dryer sheets as she exited her apartment. She absentmindedly walked down the steps, hands clutching her basket, and didn't notice the body that she bumped into. She was pushed back a few inches and her some of her dirty clothes were knocked out of their basket, but she was otherwise okay. If you don't count her being pissed off of course.

"Hey, buddy! Watch where the hell you are going okay? Someone could-" She looked up into the person's face, and her irritated scowl changed to that of a happy smile. "Kisame! What are you doing here?" She asked, as he handed her a dirty pair of blue jeans. He merely shrugged, his shoulders drooping.

"We need to talk, Sakura." His tone was somber, but either Sakura didn't notice it, or she purposely ignored it, which one he didn't know. She just flashed one of those addictive smiles towards him and began heading down the steps, motioning him to follow her, "Okay. Why don't you come with me to do my clothes? We can talk there, and you can help me fold!" She giggled, and Kisame almost felt jealous of her. She was so happy, so upbeat, and why couldn't he be like that?

And then he looked in her eyes, and noticed the trace of something that she had been trying to cover up.

She was depressed, just like he was. Only difference between them was that she hid it better than he did. Her green eyes were dull, not full of life like he was sure that they once were. There was something else though, something that hadn't been there when they had that first unexpected encounter at the diner a few weeks or so ago. If Kisame had to call it anything, he would call it hope. A spark of hope had embedded itself into her soul, and he could only wonder what had caused it. Could it have been...him?

But, no, that wasn't it. It couldn't have been him, at least that was what he would keep telling himself, anything to make what he was about to do easier. If she had been truly happy about meeting him, and he broke that...well he wasn't sure if he could forgive himself. She was so broken before, he never, ever wanted to hurt her further. Only, he knew he would, even if that was the little voice he kept ignoring, the one that told him that she actually enjoyed his company.

He really didn't want to go to the laundromat, he didn't much like going out into public during the day, but instead of protesting the idea, he merely found himself blindly following her down the street. Good thing it wasn't particularly sunny today, and all in all it was pretty cloudy, the rain clouds darkening as if with his mood. Suddenly she turned her head in his direction, bumping up against him, her shoulder brushing his upper arm, and he felt his body freeze at the contact. Damn, even something as innocent as a playful shoulder bump, caused his brain and emotions to get all out of whack. She smirked playfully, and he found himself taking the laundry basket from her arms.

"You know, I could have carried that. But..thank you. So..is something wrong? You seem, off." She asked, her body sort of veering closer to his. What exactly she was doing she didn't know, but she found she rather enjoyed the way he smelled and the way his body heat collided with hers. That mixture of heat, spicy sandalwood, and salty ocean spray was more intoxicating than any bottle of cologne she had ever smelled, but that was because it was personal.

It was _his._

She felt her skin, start to redden as she realized that she was starting to lean further into him, and she pulled back. God, what was happening to her? She shook her head slightly, so as to hide her face with wisps of hair.

"Nothing. I'm fine." His answer was short and clipped, so unlike him. Something was wrong with him, but if being teammates with a stoic Uchiha had taught her anything it was the pure and simple fact that when someone said they were fine, it was usually best to leave it at that, or else they clam up and don't say anything at all. Sakura merely nodded and continued to walk with him, the silence peaceful to her but almost smothering to him. He had to say something, anything to break this.

"I'm leaving." He blurted out, not quite sure why he had said it, but either way it was true. Sakura turned to look at him as she stopped,. her face scrunched up in confusion. Her eyes held something dark, worry and near fear.

"L-leaving? What do you mean?" For some reason, those two words made her feel suffocated, made her ache in her chest in a way that reminded her way too much of when Sasuke left. He turned away from her gaze as he leant against the laundromat building, his hood hiding the top of his face.

"I mean...I don't want to be here anymore and.." He trailed off, fidgeting and looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"And?" She pushed him, unknowing fear at the way he was acting. He was being so guarded, and so unlike his normally outgoing and mostly chipper self. Her heart clenched tighter.

"Fuck, Sakura..this isn't what I was made to do. Living like this..as a civilian..it's starting to get to me. I _have_ to go back." He slammed the back of his hand against the wall in frustration, and Sakura flinched. She knew exactly how he felt, she really did, but there really wasn't anything to go back to. Akatsuki had been destroyed, and most of the shinobi villages were lying in ruin. Her's was being run by a jackass and was most likely still mostly dead.

"There's nothing to go back to, Kisame. Everything is gone. What are you supposed to do? Wander around as a missing nin forever?!" She nearly yelled, but there were people passing by so she just made a harsh whisper.

"If I have to...yes." Sakura's mouth dropped open a little. Was he insane? What the hell was he thinking??

"So that's it then, that's what you had to talk to me about?" She asked, her voice coming out softly, a lump in her throat beginning to form. He was the only person she knew, and now he was leaving, going back to whatever it was that he could find as some semblance of his own life.

He was leaving her, just like Sasuke had.

"...Yes..." He sighed, peering at her from behind his hood, his mouth set in a fine line. Part of Sakura wanted to punch him in his face, for being such a selfish jerk. Another part of her completely understood the way he felt and even wanted to go with him. There was one more part of her, a part that she desperately tried to ignore, a part of her that had been there since she had met him. That part wanted to leap up and take him in her arms and beg him not to leave her. She did nothing.

"When are you leaving?" The lump was getting dangerously large now, and she could feel the tears welling in her eyes, if she spoke anymore she was sure it her voice would crack. She didn't want him to see her weakness again. He had already seen it once, twice was too much.

"Soon. I'm not sure when..just soon." His voice was mechanical, automated,.like he had already rehearsed this. That or he simply didn't care about her. She hoped it was the former.

She _prayed_ it was the former.

"So..." She began, unsure of her stability at that moment, taking a second to calm herself lest she grab him and do something she would regret, "This is goodbye then?" He didn't say anything, just letting out an exasperated sigh. Sakura could feel her patience wearing thin, and she could feel her body begin to shake, "Well??"

"Yes...Sakura. This is goodbye." God, what was he doing? Why was he pushing her away? His chest was tight and his hands were sweaty. She was only person, the only fucking person, that had shown any real care for him in who know's how long, and here he was, running away from it.

He was running away from a good friend, possibly even a best friend, who knows?

Sakura let out a little laugh, only it didn't really sound like a laugh to him, it sounded more like a choked sob, but she was smiling, sort of. "That's great, you know? Because..you know..if you think that this is the best for you, it must be." She sighed, and Kisame was taken aback. His eyes widened, and he could just see the fat tears that were pooling in her eyes. They didn't fall though, Sakura was too strong for that. Or was she?

"Well, bye then. See you around!" That weird smile was still on her face, but he could see one slight tear slip out of her eye and fall down her face. Sakura turned around quickly, hoping that he wouldn't see it. She began to walk away quickly, back in the direction of her apartment. Just as she was right out of his eyesight, he realized he didn't want it to be this way and began after her.

"Sakura, wait!" He pushed off the wall and started bolting after her, but she was just out of his reach, even while clutching the basket to her chest. He ran after her all the way to her apartment, and up the flight of stairs to her door. Just as he could get to her, the door was slammed in his face. He pressed his forehead to the wood, and murmured, "Sakura...please. Just let me in."

"No." A muffled, pouting voice came from behind the door, and he almost laughed at the childish way she said it. He would have laughed, if he could have. Why was she so upset? Why did she even care that he was leaving? Why did she even care about _him?_ He should have meant nothing to her, he shouldn't have even been a bleep on her radar, so why?

Once they started, they wouldn't stop for anything. That was why she hated crying, because it was never a single tear that slipped. Once one came out the rest would pour down like rain for at least an hour. She clutched her knees to her chest as a fresh wave came on. She didn't even know why she was so upset about this anyway. They barely knew eachother, so why did she even care that he was leaving? She knew he was on the other side of the door, she could feel his chakra and hear his breathing.

"Sakura? I have to tell you something. Please let me in." She let out a little noise of annoyance in her hands. What for? Just so he could hurt her some more? No way, Jose.

What irritated her more than him was the fact that she didn't even know why she was so broken up. Was it because he was the only person she knew here? No, she didn't think so. With a sigh she stood up and unlocked the door, looking at him angrily.

"What now?" She sighed, wiping her eyes frustratedly.

"Can I come in?" His voice was soft, as if approaching a wounded child. And she swung herself to the side and allowed him to pass, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the couch, but she just stood against the wall, willing herself to stop blubbering like a baby and be more adult about this.

"Well, what do you want?"

He sighed and brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He leaned down, placing his elbows on his knees. She noted that his face looked exhausted and the shadows that were his eyelids were much darker than usual. Apparently he hadn't been sleeping very well, and was making himself sick. She wondered what he was doing that for.

"Why..why did you save me that night? It wasn't because you felt the need to was it?" His automated guard was down, and his voice was pleading almost. Her heart gave a little squeeze, and she walked over to him, kneeling in front of him.

"I helped you, Kisame, because something told me that one day you would be important to me. I don't know how, but you _are_ important to me." He looked up and into her beautiful green eyes, his eyes slightly wide with shock. He was..important to her? That seemed, unlikely, but here she was telling him this. His eyes widened even further when her hand reached up and she placed it on his cheek. She was so warm, and he leaned into it, wanting to feel a touch that wasn't purely professional or done in anger for once. He felt his eyes fall slightly, becoming half lidded, his body slipping into her. His heart was beating uncontrollably against his ribs, and he had to stop breathing to keep from letting her know how affected she really made him.

"I-I don't...I don't want to lose you, Kisame. You are the only person that I have left...I don't want to lose that again." Without warning she threw herself into him, clutching his jacket in her hands, her head colliding into his shoulder. Her body began to shake from the sobs that were coming, and he wrapped his arms around her. He allowed himself this one moment of weakness, burying his face into her hair, breathing in that sweet jasmine scent that he knew would be embedded into his mind forever, whether he left or not. He reveled in the warmth of her body against him, the way she fit so perfectly into his chest, her scent so overpowering to him breaking down every single reservation he had against this.

Nothing was more wrong, and at the same time nothing was ever more right.

It was in this moment, as her breath became steady and her slight tremors subsided and he realized that she had fallen asleep, it was in this one tiny moment, that he realized that even if she never felt the way he did, that now that he had met her, he could never leave her.

--

Sakura swiveled around to meet his gaze at the table on the other side of the room, fixing her hair when she was sure he had looked away, trying to not look as disheveled as she felt before gathering up her tips and her paycheck and walking over to where he sat.

"Mmkay. You ready?" She smiled down at him, feeling her cheeks flare like they always did when he looked up at her and flashed her that pointy teeth smirk. It had been about a month since they had that arguement and true to his unspoken word, he hadn't left, merely sticking with her in this hellhole excuse for a city. She had wound up falling asleep in his arms that night, and hadn't woken up til early morning the next day. Apparently he had fallen asleep too and they somehow managed to end up sprawled out awkwardly on the little couch, her tucked safely in his arms. When she had woken she immediately felt an embarassment from her little slip up, and both had decided to not mention it again, to avoid the imminent embarrassment. He chugged the very last of his coffee and nodded, before standing up and opening the door for her.

This had been their ritual since that night. He would come to the diner and order a cup of coffee about five minutes before her shift would end and then he would accompany her home at night. Then once she would safely make it behind that door, he would stand there and inwardly kick himself for not telling her how he felt, for not doing anything but murmuring a simple 'Night' before that door closed on his face and he couldn't see those gorgeous green eyes of hers anymore.

As they walked down the street, he told himself that tonight would not be like every other night that he had done this. He would get up the courage and tell her exactly how he felt, and he would swoop her into his arms and kiss her and she would reciprocate the kiss and every other thing he felt for her.

"S-Sakura?" He asked, trying to keep his uncertainty from bubbling up in his throat, and blocking off his words. He had to do this, even if she didn't feel the same, he had to get this off his chest. She merely let out a soft, contented little hum and he took a deep breath and looked for the words to tell her what was on his mind.

"Well..umm..there is something that I...need to tell you," He started, quite unsure of how to go about this next part, feeling anxiousness and embarrassment bubble up in his chest, trying to block his words off, but he managed to get them out as they kept walking, nearing closer to her apartment.

"Yes?" She said, her voice soft and tired, and he tried to keep his eyes on anything but her, knowing that if he did look at her he would lock up and his words would be lost on him forever.

"I..uhh...well we have been..doing this for a while and I..I..well I..things have been changing and-" He looked down at her, and with confusion he noted that something was wrong with her. She had stopped walking for one, and her body was rigid, the expression on her face partially shocked and frightened, "Sakura?" He looked ahead, and saw exactly what she was looking at, and his breath got caught in his chest. There was a figure, long and lean slanted against her door, a long rod of what looked like a kitana strapped to it's back. In the darkness he could see the same eyes that had haunted his nightmares for months now.

Only these eyes, in all their resemblance, were not the same. Sakura's soft and bated breathed voice was all he heard as he felt his world crash down beneath him.

"Sasuke-kun."

--

A/N Omg...I know..it's been a long time coming and I knoooow that you guys have been waiting for a new installment of Because The Night but I have been having some serious problems with it's production, and it almost makes me want to just rip it all up and rewrite the whole thing...so frustrating it is. Anywho, so yeah! CLIFFHANGER! And yes Sasuke is back, even though I might have said he was like..dead...I SAID HE MIGHT BE DEAD...and I thought that this was a good way to shake things up a bit don't you? I know i know..we all hate Sasuke..but I needed a bad guy and he seems palpable..I know it's been awhile and this chapter might not have been what you were expecting and I know I need to get on with BTN but I neeed some pointers and some help..

Any takers?

-Ny-


End file.
