Chapter 1

This may seem familiar to those of you that watch the show but I promise that I changed some of it. It was just such a good scene to start from. Don't think that I don't give all credit to the creators of Naruto…I, Aladybug19, give all credit for the first scene to the creators and producers of Naruto.

Sakura had just left Naruto at the ramen bar and was on her way home when she had a sudden bad feeling. It was Sasuke. She walked down the road that led out of the village. Sure enough, there was Sasuke. His head was down and his eyes looked like he was contemplating something. Finally, he noticed her and stopped about 200 feet away from where she was standing. "Sasuke-kun? Why do you want to leave?" she said quiet and calm. She felt detached from all of her feelings except for sorrow. Her eyes didn't have the usual, full of life gleam that they always had. Instead, they were dull and glazed over.

Sasuke turned toward her and sighed. "Why do you have to interfere? Just leave and go back home, you have no purpose here."

Sakura asked again, "Why do you want to leave?"

"It's nothing that concerns you."

At that moment, a single tear slid down her pale cheek. "Why Sasuke, why don't you want to stay here with me and Naruto and Kakashi-sensei? Don't we mean anything to you?!" Sakura burst out now crying intensely, heartbroken.

Sasuke showed a glimpse of compassion for only a second before covering it with an emotionless expression.

"Why won't you forget about your brother? He's just a bad memory from the past. Now you have people that care for you so much. Why can't you accept that and enjoy your life? Naruto, even though he acts like he hates you, he tells me that he thinks of you like a brother and that you have been his greatest purpose. He wants to live so that he can always be there to challenge you. And me, I…I…I LOVE YOU SASUKE-KUN!"

The moon was full and shone as bright as ever. the windows of nearby buildings were black. The slow-flowing stream that ran parallel to the two was calm and reflected the awful event that was taking place.

Sasuke smiled with a twisted smirk, but then he put his head back down and returned to the emotionless look that he had had only minutes ago. He began to walk past Sakura towards the gate to the village when Sakura turned around a shouted, "If you go any further, I'll scream."

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke was behind her with his hand on her shoulder. "…Sakura…arigato" (thank you). His voice was cold and dry but had a small hint of compassion for his comrade. His onyx eyes were on the verge of tears when he snapped them shut and knocked her out.

As he carried the girl across the village towards her house, he began to think about the memories that they had shared. About the first time that he had protected anyone besides himself, it had been Sakura. And the time that he was presumed dead on the bridge, she had been crying over him. All of these memories came rushing back to him. For a moment he doubted his decision to go to Orochimaru. Then, another memory came to him. It was of Orochimaru saying that he would never be able to grow stronger if he stayed in Konoha. He jumped into her bedroom through an open window and placed her gently on her bed. On her night table was a picture of the first time they had been Team 7. Sasuke closed his eyes and left. He walked slowly to give himself time to reconsider. By the time he had reached the outskirts of the village, he was still unsure.

Standing in front of him was the Sound Four. Sakon stood up and announced that Sasuke had been chosen to be their new leader. Still unsure of his decision, Sasuke walked past them and said, "I don't give a shit about you four, just take me to Orochimaru."