Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Let Me Love You ❯ Training ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

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“You have changed, Sakura.”

Sakura scoffed. “Do you think that I would stay the same girl who followed you blindly and cried at every little thing? I grew up because I had to grow up,” She said, lying down.

“Now if you don't mind I need to get to sleep,” She said and turned her back to him, her hand curled around a kunai.

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- IV -

Training

 

Sasuke's black eyes studied the clear water he stood on, scanning its debts for any movement. He saw a fish swim swiftly by his foot and in a flash of an eye that same fish was on the end of his kunai. He threw the fish to the bank and it joined its three other wiggling brothers. He sighed and slipped his kunai back into a hidden pouch under his white robe and stepped out of the cold water. Early that morning he had gotten up from his meditation and left the cave to hunt for food. He didn't know why he didn't just leave, it was clear that Sakura could take care of herself but something in him just wouldn't let him walk away from her again. He still planned on leaving tomorrow, by then he figured she would be good enough to travel. Even though he had killed Orochimaru long ago, he still searched for more power and for his brother. He had roamed the country side searching but to no avail. It seemed as if his brother had disappeared from the face of the earth. So for the past several years he had both avoided Konoha hunter nin and searched in the shadows for his brother so he could finally avenge his clan. He knew that once he killed his brother he had to achieve his next goal which was to revive his clan. He had been worrying about that part a lot lately. He knew that he was seen as an S-class criminal in Konoha and he didn't know if he could ever go back, let alone revive his clan. Sasuke kneeled down on the bank and began gutting and cleaning the fish. He had to admit in all the years he had traveled alone and even before when he was under Orochimaru's tutelage, he had never really thought about his old team members; He had always been so power hungry when he was with Orochimaru and even after he had hungered for more power, so much so that he only thought about it and how to get it. It was only two years ago when he had started to change. On his travels he had met an old man who used to be an ex shinobi himself. He had gotten through Sasuke's power hungry mind and shown him a sense of peace that Sasuke had embraced. He had learned much from the old man and he knew that if he hadn't run into him two years ago he probably would have been dead by now.

`Yanai…'

He had to admit he missed the old geezer. For two years he studied under him and learned to control his curse seal from taking over, he had also learned to control his chakra so much so that he had gained much more power in the short time he was with Yanai then in all the years he had searched for power himself.

Now-a-days he would meditate regularly to keep his mind and his curse seal under control. He cursed his younger mind who had unknowingly subjected him to endure the pain of the seal for the rest of his life. Even though the vile man was long dead, he still mocked him from the grave because the seal never disappeared from his neck. He stood and washed his hand in the cool clear water and then dropped the clean fish into a bag and made his way back to the cave.

His thoughts drifted back to the woman that occupied the cave and his brows furrowed.

Just as he had changed over the years so had Sakura. She had lost that innocence and radiating happiness that he had always admired in her. Now she was all cold hard steel and nothing more. He wondered what had happened in her life that made her change into such a cold person. He remembered the conversation they had last night. He still couldn't grasp his mind around the fact that she had been raped and tortured numerous times and she dismissed it so casually.

He didn't know why but he had an urge to break through that cold mask of hers and bring out the person beneath, the Sakura he had known in his childhood. He never wanted her of all people to become so cold and it saddened him that she had changed so much in his absence.

He shook his head a little reminding himself that he only had one more day with her before he went back to roaming the country side alone and she went back to her life in Konoha.

-0o0-

Sakura slowly slid her emerald eyes open, her hand tightening around the kunai still clutched tightly in her fist. She slowly sat up and looked around, seeing that she was alone in the cave. Some part of her was a little disappointed but she roughly pushed that part away.

“It's not like you didn't know that was what was going to happen Sakura,” She said aloud and got up from her makeshift bed. She stretched her body out, waking her muscles up for the usual morning practice. She knew that her chakra had not fully recovered but she was good enough to do some light training. She slipped her kunai into the pouch wrapped around her leg and slipped on her black gloves. She went to her pack and pulled out a healing salve and new wraps. She slowly unwound the wraps that Sasuke had put on last night and cleaned out her many wounds. She decided against using her healing because she didn't want to deplete her chakra anymore then she had when she healed her rips and shoulder last night. She put on the healing salve and rewrapped her wounds with fresh binds. When she was finished she stood and stretched out her legs, she would do her usual running but she would not do her Ninjutsu exercise today, instead she decided to only work with Taijutsu today. She ran out of the cave and through the maze of trees making sure to stay in hearing range of the raging waterfall to her left. She continued running until her shirt was damp with sweat and the small hairs that had slipped out of its binding stuck to her sweaty forehead. She slipped the annoying hairs behind her ear and changed directions to head for the river. Her mind kept on moving to think about Sasuke's sudden appearance. She knew that she had to report this to Naruto but in a way she was reluctant. Even though she hated the man, she didn't want to turn him in. She figured that he still hadn't found his brother and she wondered if she should tell him the truth about his older sibling. Her lips pressed firmly together in a scowl. She didn't know why she had this urge to help him all of the sudden but she didn't like it one bit. She had spent years hating the man and when she finally gets her chance to hurt him she can't bring herself to do it. As much as she didn't like to admit it, she still harbored feelings for him and she just couldn't hurt him. Then a sudden idea formed in her mind and she switched directions to run back to the cave. When she reached the cave she found Sasuke sitting at a fire and cooking four large fish. She had to admit she was kind of surprised to see him sitting there, she thought he had left. She shrugged her shoulders and approached him.

“The fish are done if you're hungry,” He said never looking up at her.

She frowned and sat next to him taking a stick with a fish at the end. She slowly ate the crispy fish, savoring the tender meat. When she was finished she threw her stick in the fire and stood up.

“Come on lets go fight,” she said turning to leave.

“Why?”

“I need to train and I would rather fight another person then beat a log to death, and since you don't look busy…” she trailed off knowing he got the hint.

He stood and followed her to a small clearing she had passed earlier. She easily walked out onto the clear water and turned to face Sasuke who had followed her onto the waters surface.

“We will fight with no chakra use, only Taijutsu but we have to stay on the water, got it?”

Sasuke's pale face gave away none of his inner thoughts but inside he was amused at her demanding voice. He figured she had gotten used to the captain position. It intrigued him that she wanted to only fight using only Taijutsu against him. When they were younger she had sucked horribly at Taijutsu and he had been an expert. Now he was older and still an expert but faster, while he guessed she still was less then adequate. She had always been good at chakra control and Ninjutsu and Genjustu but he never saw her as ever being able to master the art of Taijutsu. He crouched low getting into his fighting stance and took off lunging towards her at an amazing speed. He was surprised when she smirked and just stood there looking as though she would take his hit. He pulled back at the last second and was rewarded with a scowl and a hard punch to his jaw. His neck snapped back at the force of the impact and he quickly jumped away rubbing his sore jaw.

Sakura chuckled and let her fist drop back to her side.

“Don't hold back Sasuke or you'll realize that you won't like my temper,” she warned and disappeared from his site. He quickly spun around and blocked her punch with his forearm. He was more then surprised at her speed and the power behind her punches. He knew that all of this was her alone because he could not sense any chakra use coming from her. His lips curled in a small smile, which surprised Sakura and unnerved her a bit.

“Well then I guess I should get serious,” He said and activated his Sharingan.

Sakura lunged toward him and threw a flurry of punches and kicks which were all blocked. He threw a couple of punches of his own and was surprised when she dodged all of them and attacked him again. She dropped to her haunches and kicked her foot up solidly connecting with the bottom of his chin. He was thrown to his back from the force of the hit but he quickly got to his feet and attacked again. He tried kicking her again but she caught his leg and twisted it painfully. He jumped up and twisted his leg from her grasp and landed a punch to her stomach. She slid back from the force but lunged back to Sasuke and grabbed a hold of his white shirt lifting him a couple of inches in the air. She punched her other fist into his stomach repeatedly and then threw him to the bank. Her smirk disappeared when he disappeared and reappeared behind her his arm slipping around her neck in a tight hold. She twisted and kicked at him trying to get away from his punishing hold but to no avail. He tightened his arm and punched her in the side until she gasped, blood spraying onto his arm. She felt his arm loosen slightly and she took the opportunity to twist in his grasp to face him. Her face was a hairsbreadth from his and she brought her hands up and roughly pressed many pressure points in his neck and down his chest causing him to spit out his own blood. She smiled and continued pressing points she knew would paralyze him for a short amount of time. When he fell limply onto her she threw his body to the bank again and stretched her arms above her.

“Ah that was a good work out… Sasuke, you underestimated me and that was your undoing. Did you not learn anything in all of this time? I guess you have just been wasting your time because if you can't beat me then how would you beat your brother?” She said mocking him. He just stared at her, his black gaze unwavering and giving no hint of what he was feeling.

She shrugged and went over to him lifting him over her shoulder. She used a small amount of her chakra so that she could lift his heavy weight easily. She walked his limp body back to the cave and gently laid him down on her mat.

“I guess I got too carried away.”

She opened his white shirt and slid her hands over the many points she had bruised. She winced inwardly knowing she had let her emotions take over again. She smoothed her hands over his soft, warm skin, surprised that it was not cool to the touch as she had always imagined. Shaking those thoughts away, she closed her eyes and channeled chakra to her hands. Through her minds eye she followed her chakra into his body as it wrapped its way through muscle and tissue restoring movement to his body. When her chakra approached his neck it hit a dark barrier and she scrunched her nose in confusion. She poured more chakra into him trying to maneuver her way through the barrier and was rewarded when she found a crack and slipped through and into utter darkness. She saw the dark liquid like substance that tainted and ate away at Sasuke's blue chakra. It pounded away at the barrier walls like a caged animal and as it turned to her pink chakra she suddenly felt an overwhelming fear consume her. She quickly slipped through the barrier adding her own chakra as reinforcement and returned to her own senses. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes to angry onyx eyes.

“What did you do? You awakened it again!” He almost yelled his hand clenching at his shoulder.

She pushed his hand away and removed the clothing, her eyes widening as she saw the familiar three tiered curse seal that Orochimaru had placed on him years earlier during their first Chuunin exams.

“I thought Orochimaru was dead.”

Sasuke pushed her hands away and shrugged his shirt back on, covering her view of the seal that had started to pulse red.

“Yea well the fucker decided to curse me even in death.” Sasuke said showing an uncharacteristic amount of anger.

Sakura leaned back on the balls of her feet and studied Sasuke's tense body.

“Sasuke… I can break the curse seal,” She said meeting his eyes.

“…How? I have never been able to find anyone that could remove this accursed thing and all its doing is eating away at my chakra.”

Sakura could hear the clear anger and disgust in his voice. “Do you regret going to Orochimaru?”

“More then you know; back then my mind was so consumed with attaining power that I didn't think about the consequences. I didn't realize just how much I had screwed up until two years ago when I met a man that taught me to look within myself for power not to others.”

Sakura's gaze traveled back to his neck and she couldn't help but to let her mind think back to that night… the night he had first walked away from her.

`Back then I had poured my heart out to him and he still didn't care, he had told me I was annoying and then had the balls to knock me out…'

“When you left after the war I hated you and I used that hate to become stronger… I learned everything there was to know about seals and the body. I have become skilled in all three ninja arts and I have surpassed Tsunade in my abilities as a medic Nin. Using all of my skills and knowledge I studied the curse seal left on Anko and after years I was able to break it and free her from her hell. Your curse seal is very similar to hers but it is much more developed. If I was at my full power I would probably be able to erase the seal.”

Sasuke stared at Sakura silently, totally stunned. She had surpassed Tsunade the Hokage… She had indeed grown a lot. He could feel an almost giddy feeling overcome him at the realization that she might be able to rid him of his curse.

She sighed and pushed herself to her feet.

“So how about you tell me what you have been doing all of this time?” Sakura said trying to make some kind of conversation with the stoic man.

“Why don't you tell me what you have been doing?” he countered smirking.

“So I guess you're an ass as always… well lets see as you've figured out I have become an ANBU captain. Uh our village is still healing from the war and a month ago Tsunade-sensei died…” she trailed off feeling a knot form in her stomach.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the news. He had not known the woman long but from what he had seen she had been a kind person.

“Who has become the new Hokage?”

Sakura's lips curled into a small smile, her eyes finally coming alive with happiness.

“Naruto is the 6th Hokage of Konoha… he has finally been recognized by the village. He is so happy, and I'm so proud of him. He is married to Hinata now and she is pregnant… It has been so long since I saw his eyes sparkle again and when he became Hokage the look on his face almost reminded me of how he was as a child.”

Sasuke listened intently to Sakura. He didn't miss the warm look that came over her as she continued to talk about Naruto. He realized just how close his two ex-team mates had gotten. He felt a pang of longing, he knew that he had willingly walked away from all of them but he still ached for that closeness with another human.

“We lost many people during the war… Sasuke, do you remember when we first got assigned as a team? When I was talking about Naruto being an orphan? Do you remember what you said to me?”

Sasuke knew immediately what she was talking about. “Loneliness… that is more painful then being scolded by parents.” He murmured quietly.

“Yea, back then I didn't understand your comment but now… loneliness has become my life. My parents where killed during the war, Ino was killed on a mission two years ago, I never talk to Kakashi anymore, and now that Naruto is Hokage the little time we used to hang out has all but disappeared. Tsunade was the only person I had left to go to when I felt too lonely but now she is gone too…” Sakura ran her fingers through her hair haggardly and turned away from Sasuke trying to gain some semblance of control.

“Never mind…it's not like you care anyways… uh well I'm going to go wash up I'll be back in a little bit,” She said and hurried out of the cave, not looking back at Sasuke.

Sasuke watched her go, not moving from the mat. Before he could even think about what she had just said she rushed back into the cave.

“Why? Tell me why you left!” Sakura groaned out her eyes glittering with barely restrained anger.

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Authors note:

I had a harder time writing this chapter; it took me a while to get through it. Well I hope you liked what I came up with. In this chapter I tried to show the inner struggle in both of them to keep each other at arms length but they both still want to get close. Well hope you liked this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think.

Next chapter:

Sasuke finally tells Sakura just why he decided to leave the village all those years ago and she lets her emotions get too much control over her and she does something she regrets…