So here it is. i finished the chapter and this is the last chapter, because that is the way i decided to do it.

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Disclaimer: DNON

Happy Holidays as well to everyone

Enjoy the chapter

warning small lime near the end. right after the bold words near the end

Chapter 17

She didn't pause for Sasuke as she raced out of her apartment, adjusting her medic pack to her lower back. Though she knew that she would have to head to the hospital at some point, she knew that her first orders were to assist those injured out on the battle front. Though a part of her was scared to face the man that had captured, imprisoned, and tortured her, she would have to put those emotions and feelings behind her, if only for a moment.

Sasuke cursed as he watched the pink haired medic rush out of the apartment, leaving him behind while he was grabbing his own weapons. He knew she didn't understand how important it was too him that he be near her, especially right now. He had to make sure that Madara didn't close enough to her, to threaten her, and ultimately him. As much as he hated to admit it, but she almost controlled him, or at least what might happen in the future to him, and possibly Konoha.

Finally he too ran out of the apartment and sensing Sakura's chakra he followed her signature. By te time he found her healing a nin. He half sighed in relief and groaned. He knew she was a medic, but one wrong move of her not sensing something or Madara playing a genjutsu on her and it was done. He hated feeling almost body guard-ish, but he knew for both of their sakes he had to do it.

It was hard for him to practically just stand around and watch other shinobi fight around him. Sure he had his own small battles, but not being at the front of the fray or in the middle of it, it was hard for him to just sit and watch and protect. His eyes, though his body was only alert, were moving everywhere, searching, looking for Madara, but as of yet, he hadn't seen his predecessor. And he didn't like it.

Madara could be anywhere and Sasuke knew it. It's what made just standing and protecting Sakura so unnerving. He couldn't go and confront Madara, where he had the advantage of finding him first. Now he had to just sit and wait for Madara to come and to Sakura. If Sasuke could just go by himself, he could keep Sakura safe, because she wouldn't be near them, but knowing that Madara was probably watching their movements and probably knew where they both were, made everything even more unnerving.

He followed Sakura wherever she went to heal the injured shinobi, which some of them upon seeing him, sent him dirty looks, but Sasuke disregarded them, but he could tell that Sakura was getting fed up with him following her, but they hadn't had a moment to talk. The last moment that could have led to talking, had ended up leading to the bed.

He was alerted back to the present situation when he found Sakura's small hand attached to his upper arm and was dragging him towards an alleyway. Pushing him inside, he was startled. She was manhandling him. That definitely wasn't supposed to be how things worked.

"Why are you following me?" she half growled at him, which didn't really surprise him, with the looks she had been giving him.

"Madara's here." he started.
"I know that." she barked. "but that doesn't give you any right to just follow me around. I have a job to do, and so do you. So actually go get rid of the man."

"It isn't that simple." he stated a little too calmly for her.

"Of course it is. You just go and find him and kill him." he raised an eyebrow at her words. It wasn't as easy as she seemed to think it was.

If he didn't protect her, her life would be in even greater danger than it already was. Sasuke had practically guessed what Madara's last intentions had been with Sakura before he had rescued her from that hell. He had seen that same look on Madara's face before and he always knew what it meant later on that night. Sasuke could only guess what Madara might to do her now. For one she had escaped, with his help, before he could extract his inflictions upon her. For another, Madara needed him to help take over Konoha, and for Madara to gain control back over him, he would need Sakura, because Madara had guessed right, Sakura was a weakness to him.

"No, it isn't." Sasuke ground out, pinning Sakura against the wall. Feeling the stone wall behind her, he could see her eyes go ablaze. "unless you want a death wish, I will stay right here." his voice was hard and unnerving to Sakura.

"He doesn't need me anymore." she spat back, only to get pushed a little deeper into the wall. She was getting upset. There was a battle going on and they were practically having a lover's quarrel in an alleyway.

"He will use you to get to me." Sasuke spoke again.

"You don't have weaknesses. You cut off all ties. Remember?" she was goading him on and he wasn't appreciating it. He was trying to protect her and she was messing with him.

"You can be grateful I saved you." he whispered harshly to her, "or else something worse might have happened besides getting branded." he knew it was a low blow to her but with her attitude he really didn't care. She hissed at him.

"you selfish bastard. You self righteous jackass, I can't believe you." she tried throwing a punch, but was blocked by Sasuke. "did you only save me because it would make your pride feel good." she was seething by now. "you should have just let me rot there. But no, you had to watch out for yourself and just use me to make yourself feel better."

"You don't know a damn thing." Sasuke said tight lipped. He could take her jibes to a point, but he didn't save her because of his pride. It was much more than that.

"I didn't save you because of some pride." he spat at her. "you should know first hand what kind of control I was under as well, and if you want to go back to that then go and get yourself caught by him, and then you'll be the selfish one, putting me at risk as well, because of your selfish pride." he used her words against her, and it got her attention.

"You've never cared before." she said icily. "Why do you care now and how much do you care?" the last words came out almost choked and Sasuke almost regretted bringing this subject. Madara had guessed that Sasuke was beginning to feel something back when he had first plotted to capture Sasuke. He cursed himself for becoming a little too transparent for his liking.

"I care enough." he spoke lowly and with a tone that said that was the end of the discussion. "Now we have other things to do." he spoke lowly, but he wasn't sure Sakura got what he had just said.

Her mind seemed to be stuck in the 'enough' part of his statement. Had he really just admitted in some small way that he actually cared about someone other than himself. Throughout their entire genin days, though he had been more than helpful in all of their missions, he had never really cared. He had cared at some points but usually he would be an emotionless, stoic person.

She was brought out of her reverie on Sasuke's feelings when she was pushed to the side and barely caught herself in time to not land directly on her face, her arms had shot out to protect herself. Her mind was a little foggy from what had happened, but upon hearing a familiar, yet sadistic laugh, she knew who had pushed her to the ground and why she had been pushed. Letting her arms prop herself up a bit her head swung around to face the intruder upon hers and Sasuke's conversation.

The man that had imprisoned her was standing before both of them, dressed in traditional shinobi garb, and with no mask on his face. He looked at them almost mockingly, and Sakura knew that Madara wouldn't let them off easily. He was after both of them for purposes that were interconnected. Sakura scurried to her feet and held a defensive stance behind that of Sasuke's own alert stance. Both were ready to take on the other living Uchiha.

Madara again kept the mock look on his face. He was actually surprised to find the kunoichi standing defensively along side of Sasuke. It seemed that the two had perhaps reconciled on some sort. He had just overheard their argument about who was more selfish and such. Madara found it highly amusing as well. It wasn't everyday that he had the two that he was after right in one spot, but he half expected it, knowing how Sasuke would try anything to make sure that Sasuke wasn't put back under Madara's control.

Madara wasn't going to say anything he was just going to wait until the first move was made, whether he made it or they made it. He knew that in most circumstances the enemy that stood by himself against two opponents had the least chances for surviving the encounter. But this was a different case. It was an Uchiha against an Uchiha and a medic. And though Sasuke had the medic on his side, Madara knew that he still had the advantage. One wrong move by Sasuke or the medic and it would be all over. All he had to do was get to the kunoichi and it would be over.

Tired of just having a motionless face off, Madara made the first move. Darting forward he drew a kunai and attacked the waiting Uchiha he was against. Sasuke saw the glint of the pulled kunai and reacted instantly drawing his own weapon. A flash of sparks erupted as the two metals connected, making light in the dark that was encasing the village and the land.

Sasuke sidestepped and twirling his wrist that held his own blade he made an attack against Madara, just catching a small piece of the other Uchiha's attire. Madara seemed to emanate anger from the move that had caused him to have been 'wounded' first. Madara took the intiative of Sasuke retreating slightly to his advantage and attacked in full force. The two weapons again meeting with a clash of spark and light.

Sakura just watched as the two Uchiha dealt it out. She wondered if she should leave and let the two shinobi deal with it themselves or stay at her present position and keep a watch on the battle. Noting that the two had moved to a more open area than an alleyway, she followed from a distance. Sasuke might need some assistance when he was done with the battle. Losing sight of them momentarily, she jumped upwards to the roofs where she was sure the two had gone to continue their battle. And she was right. The two were locked in a fierce battle. The sparks that were made from the two metals colliding were frequent and almost rushed. The two were just battling for the upper hand at the moment and she was surprised that neither had really used their sharingan more than just seeing the opponents next move.

She almost watched in awe as the two fought. It was graceful yet very deadly. The two were precise in the their strikes and defenses. It was amazing to see the two fight against each other. It made the reason why the Uchiha were great fighters make sense. The Uchiha seemed to know everything that was going on within a battle and they made it look easy, and a part of her was jealous at the ease of a battle the two portrayed.

Sasuke grunted slightly feeling the kunai of his family member cut into his upper arm. Feeling a little blood well up at the open skin, he pushed the small wound aside and focused even more so on his opponent. Having enough of just metal against metal he quickly let chidori crackle out when the two metals met again. It caused a jolt of electricity to pulse up Madara's arm and Madara groaned at the feeling of being electrocuted.

Knowing that Sasuke wasn't playing around anymore, made him feel a little bit more excited, now it was time to see who was better at the higher level jutsus. Throwing at an Uchiha jutsu at the other Uchiha, Madara watched as Sasuke avoided the fire and began to attack back.

Sakura watched as the battle went from just a parrying of weapons to a battle of elements. She was sure that Madara had a repertoire of jutsu. He had been around a lot longer than he really should have been. Seeing a look come over Sasuke, she knew that he wanted to end the battle. It had been raging long enough for him and he wanted to kill his family member that was the root of the Uchiha downfall in the beginning. She watched as an almost rage come over Sasuke and he started attacking with even more ferocity than she had ever seen.

Sasuke had had enough of this game with Madara, and he wanted to end it. The goading from the older Uchiha weren't helping either. With his anger already heated towards the older Uchiha, Sasuke started to make smarter, faster moves. Finding ways to strike Madara where it would count rather than just strokes that would hopefully finds its way to an unknown destination.

Madara wasn't sure where the sudden burst of anger and energy had come from, from the younger Uchiha. But the burst of energy was putting him at a disadvantage in the fight. The blows were coming harder and stronger and he knew that if he didn't do something quickly it would probably be over for him. Eyes darting around, they settled on the medic. If he could get to the medic, then he would have a shot of winning this battle. Making a move against Sasuke, which through Sasuke off balance, Madara darted towards Sakura, wanting to secure his power. But before he could even get to her, he felt something practically impale him.

He didn't know how he couldn't have sensed anything, but something had gone wrong and he hadn't felt that a move was being made against him, but he did know that there was now blood flowing down his back. His movements basically halted and looking over his shoulder he could see Sasuke bent over slightly his hand still in a position of throwing something, and then peering down over his shoulder, he found the kunai that had imbedded itself in his back. But there was something else. It wasn't just a kunai. It was poisoned. It was what had halted his assault towards the medic. The poison, he could already feel it moving throughout his system.

His eyes went towards the medic. The only way that Sasuke could have possibly gotten a poisoned kunai was from the medic. But how had he gotten it? How had Sasuke out maneuvered him? It made no sense, yet as he felt his mortality slipping away, he knew that he had been bested and it wasn't sitting well with him, even in death. He hadn't expected his downfall to come from the younger Uchiha. He had envisioned himself taking over Konoha, getting Sasuke back on a leash of control and showing that pink haired medic a thing or two about escaping him.

Falling to his knees he watched as the medic bypassed his, in a roundabout way and walked towards the younger Uchiha behind him. Feeling the last of his strength fade from his body, he fell face forward onto the stone of the roof of the building he was on. He could hear voices in his mind, and he figured they were the voices of the two behind him, before everything went black in his world

Sakura approached a heavily breathing Sasuke, who too had fallen to his knees, head bowed down. She knelt in front of him and tilting his chin up, she wrapped her arms around him. Though she knew that he was proud of himself for destroying the main cause of Uchiha dissent, he had again killed a family member.

He didn't do anything at first when he felt the small arms turn his face upwards and then wrap him up in them. He didn't know what to really feel. He was happy that he killed Madara, but there was a part of him that hurt because of it. Now he really was the last Uchiha alive and for some reason, right now it bothered him immensely. He didn't want his clan to be known as haters and killers, but of loyal shinobi, and that ate at him and finally he returned the hug that was already being given to him.

Two Months Later

The bed sheets were rumpled as the limbs in them moved around. Breathy gasps and moans were heard throughout the room. A shrill cry came before the sound of hard panting started up. Small hands gripped the bare shoulders of the male above her, and she marked the pale skin, making the paleness come to a red color instead.

Her body felt wonderful and why wouldn't it? She had the last Uchiha making her feel this way, and after experiencing it for first time only a few days before, she could now say that Uchihas were remarkable at everything they did. Feeling a sense of satisfaction she let out a loud cry of Sasuke's name, as he grunted with her as well.

She felt him fall on top of her lightly, and she loved the feeling of them being this close. It had taken time for her to come to trust the Uchiha to the point of where he could do this. But also she wanted him to have some resolve in his life before he could make progress on his future.

Danzo had been executed privately after a closed trial. She had been with Sasuke that day as Sasuke watched the man that had readily ordered the extermination of his clan was sentenced. And then came Sasuke's own punishment. Though he was given leniency, he was still on probation for six months before he could actively resume any shinobi duties, and she had thought he had rather looked pleased at that. Maybe it would be good for him to concentrate on getting her instead of rising through the shinobi ranks again.

And they had gotten together, well at least moved in together. Sakura was in charge of his probation, courtesy of Tsunade and Sakura had suggested that Sasuke move in with her, though she had a spare bedroom, he had found a place in her bed, next to her.

Feeling him roll off of her, she let out a deep sigh. Letting her head fall to the side, she looked at her lover, elbow propping his upper body up slightly as he watched her. His eyes fell to a spot on her shoulder and shuffling closer to her, he turned her over a little to clearly see the brand that had been placed there. Her hand, however; after a moment blocked his view of it.

"Don't look at it." she spoke quietly.

"Why?"

"Because, I don't like it when you do."

"Well I want to look at it." he spoke and removed her hand only to place a kiss against the brand making her shudder. "Its what made me see what I was missing." he told her, before drawing her into a kiss, that soon led to other activities and Sakura was more than willing to oblige to.

Well there it is. the End!!! hopefully that was good for you. i am seriously finishing this up at like 12:30 in the morning and i have to be up in like 5 hours so i can get on the road to go home for christmas. but i said i would post the last chapter before i left so i did. love me please!!

so the next story is ONE NIGHT and i am posting the first chapter when i get home. but don't expect another chapter until sometime after new years. i am not done with the second chapter and i am not going to take it home with me. i am hoping that this little vacation will help me get some of my writing urge back. i have been lacking lately.

and please review. let me know how you liked the chapter and the story.!!!!!

yoyo