Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters.

Author's note: Hello again! Sorry it took so long for the update, I really appreciate all of your patience!

Chapter Six

Recap

With strength she didn't know she possessed, Sakura kicked Sasuke off of her, sending him flying through the air, rage and hate burning through her entire body, fueling her. Love? Ha. She didn't know the meaning of the word love.

Standing, taking a fighting stance, Sakura prepared herself for round two. This time, she wouldn't hold back.

Sasuke was going down.

LINE (sorry, the ruler isin't working)

Malice.

Anger.

Rage.

Each emotion swelled through Sakura. Overpowering her. Ruling her. Driving her.

To destroy Sasuke Uchiha.

Fists clenched, Sakura slowly walked toward Sasuke, who was recuperating from her kick, still lying on the ground, dazed.

"Look at me," She growled, advancing on him, fueled by her hatred. " And look at me closely. You see my eyes? My hair? My body?"

Slowly Sasuke stood, facing his attacker with wonder.

" Notice anything…. Different?"

Before he could reply, Sakura kicked Sasuke brutally in the jaw with one chakra-powered leg and sent him flying.

Sakura only grinned. A twisted, sick smile that one only ever gets while enjoying another's pain.

This is what he had done to her.

" This is what you have done to me, Sasuke," she whispered, running at him, prepared to attack. " Now die!"

" Fire Blast jutsu!" she screamed, aiming the attack directly at Sasuke. This was it. This was it.

At last.

They were evenly matched. Punch for punch. Kick for kick. Attack for attack. Anybody who had ever doubted her, ever hurt her, ever abandoned her was going to pay. And Sakura would see to it. She put everything she had, all of the pain and frustration into this fight. Into killing Sasuke.

But why wasn't he fighting back?

Even Sakura noticed, though somewhat blinded by her hatred, that Sasuke only attacked when strictly necessary.

Dammit.

This was not how it was supposed to be.

In the many times Sakura had gone over this moment in her mind, she had seen it differently. Sasuke begging for mercy. Sasuke dead, defeated. But never, had she ever imagined that he… Well that he… Wouldn't fight back.

" I HATE you!" she screamed, running at him. Swiftly she leaped, her hair glistening in the moonlight, and pinned him down. " I could KILL you right now! Don't you understand that! I could KILL you!"

Sasuke didn't even struggle as her arms pinned his down. He only looked at her, silent. Sakura attempted to read his face, but couldn't identify all of the emotions written on it. Here he was, the same, handsome, gorgeous man she had fallen in love with, and whom she'd been sure had loved her back. Beams of moonlight caught his ebony hair, making Sakura fell a familiar, painful twinge deep in her stomach.

" Dammit, Sasuke! I loved you!" Silent sobs rocked her body, as she fought to keep control, not even noticing that she was crying until her tears hit Sasuke's face and rolled silently down his cheeks. " And you ABANDONED me! I waited two frickin' years for you! Just to have you leave me for some stupid Sano bitch! I h-hate you!" Tears ran uncontrollably down her face now, and it wasn't until Sakura's nails dug deeper into "Sasuke's" flesh that she realized her mistake, a moment too late. Sasuke had already burst into a small pile of water before Sakura realized what.

That was only a substitution.

Then where the hell was -?

Standing up, Sakura frantically searched for the real Sasuke.

Too late.

It all happened in a blur. Before she realized what was happening, Sakura was pinned down, the same way she had pinned the substitution, into the ground. By the real Sasuke.

Dammit!

How could she not have noticed it was only a substitution! Now Sasuke had heard everything!

" How could I have lost control of myself like that!" Sakura wondered furious to herself, eyes stinging at the want to release fresh tears of frustration. Ashamed of herself, Sakura turned her head from Sasuke, unable to look at him.

After all this.

All these years.

Everything she'd been through. All the people she'd killed. After all the places she'd been.

She couldn't even look at him.

How… pathetic.

" No Sakura, you look at me."

Sasuke's voice.

Deeper, sweeter, but still Sasuke's voice.

Oh, God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Could she really do this?

" I love you."

How long she had waited to hear those words.

How frickin' long.

But now that she had heard them, something in Sakura just snapped.

" You love me? You have the nerve to say that you love me!"

With strength she didn't know she possessed, Sakura flipped positions, pinning Sasuke into the grass. Painfully. " If you loved me," she whispered furiously, all tears gone, " you wouldn't have left in the first place! If you loved me, you wouldn't have come back with Sano! You would have waited for me like I did for you!"

Now that Sakura had begun, she couldn't stop herself. Things she had never said, that she had kept pent up in herself for all these years started to spill out.

And they just wouldn't stop.

" If you loved me, you wouldn't have let me go! You would have followed me! IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE HURT ME LIKE YOU DID, YOU JACKASS!" glaring furiously at him, Sakura stood to her feet. " You would have married me, or… or… something! Now get up Sasuke, and fight me!" she cried, unsheathing her sword.

Sasuke stood, staring at Sakura. Suddenly she realized what the look she'd seen written on his face earlier was.

Desperation.

" And what was I supposed to do, Sakura? Let you stay, knowing in the end I would just end up getting you hurt? Or killed? If I had let any of my enemies know about you, they would have hurt you. I couldn't let you stay. I just couldn't." A look of pain crossed over his features. Those gorgeous onyx eyes. That dark hair. " I meant what I said earlier Sakura. I do love you. And I won't fight you."

"Damn you, Sasuke!" Sakura cried, muttering a quick substitution jutsu on a branch and turning it into another samurai sword, identical to hers. Tossing it to him, she stared her former lover squarely in the eye, and odd emotion swelling in her chest. Tossing him the sword, she added, " If you really did love me, you'd fight me." Once again tears threatened to escape her emerald eyes. " And don't expect me to forgive, or go easy on you. You have no idea how long I've waited for this," she whispered.

Swords clashed. Sakura attacked. Thrashing, swinging, Attacking. And all Sasuke did was block.

He still wouldn't fight back.

Sakura dove the sword towards Sasuke. It was a simple move. One he could have easily dodged or deflected.

Only he didn't.

He stood, his eyes locked with Sakura's.

And the sword plunged.

Right into his stomach.

Time froze. Sakura stood, frozen, as she watched Sasuke fall, as if in slow motion.

Falling to her knees, Sakura held his head in her lap.

And the tears fell.

The dam broke.

She wasn't supposed to feel like this.

" Why?" she whispered, her breath frozen in the cool morning air. Tears she didn't even care to hide anymore falling down her cheeks. " Why didn't you stop me?"

Sasuke looked at her. Light already dimming from his eyes. The sword still in his stomach. The blood beginning to flow. " How else was I supposed to prove it? That you mean… so much to me." Gasping lightly now, Sasuke held her emerald eyes in his deep, onyx ones. " About Sano…" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

" I never did marry her. I only brought her with me to make sure that you would care about me anymore. That you would leave. That you would be safe a live a better life, one without me. About… what I said earlier. I love you, Sakura. Say… that you… believe me."

" I do." Sakura cried, cradling Sasuke in her arms. " I do! Oh, god! I'm so sorry, Sasuke!" Sobbing, she held him.

A few beams of sunlight illuminated the beautiful forest around them. Though it was morning already, neither noticed.

" No, Sakura. It is I…. Who should… be… sorry."

And that is how the great Sasuke Uchiha died.

In the arms of the only one he had ever loved.

And the only one who had ever truly loved him.

Bending down, Sakura kissed Sasuke's cold lips. The sun rising behind her.

Though she wouldn't be around much longer to enjoy its picturesque beauty.

Propping Sasuke's body up, and sitting behind him, Sakura plunged the sword deep. Into both his, and her own body.

Sasuke had been everything. And he still was. He was her life. Without him, Sakura was meaningless.

She couldn't live without him.

And wouldn't.

" I love you too," she whispered, her voice lost in the wind. Finally saying what she hadn't ever been able to.

And that was how they found them. Two lovers, facing the beautiful sunrise together. Intertwined as the Trees wept their beautiful blossoms into the wind. Dead, but with faint smiles tugging at each of their mouths.

As if each had finally found fulfillment.

LINE

Author's note: Hmmm…. I hope you all liked the story! (And didn't think the ending was too corny!) Thank-you all SO much for reviewing and answering all of my many questions about Naruto! Thanks to all you reviewers, writing my first story was a blast! I can't wait to get started on another one:D