Prologue;

I looked into your eyes and saw a world that does not exist.

I looked into your eyes and saw a world I wish I was in.

*Touched, Vast

"You should not have come here, kunoichi," the man pointed out kindly. His smile was sardonic; amused.

Sakura rubbed her fingertips against the edge of her sleeve, keeping her eyes pinned on a spot somewhere high above his head, out of the range of his burning gold eyes. She couldn't bear to see them now—not when they looked like that.

He raised a long, arched eyebrow in questioning of her silence. "Nothing to say? Not even about my appearance?"

Sakura chanced a look at him and winced. Sasuke's face, twisted and cruel, stared back.

"You can't save him, kunoichi. He's gone now." He leaned back in his throne-like chair, studying his nails in a bored fashion. His body, however, didn't quite fit that air of ease. It was coiled, waiting for her inevitable attack. He would stop her within seconds if she gave of any sign of threatening movement, but that wasn't why she was here.

Sakura knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would die here, though it hardly mattered to her. She'd been dying inside for a long, long time. Death was the blissful sleep at the end of a long, difficult road. She was ready for it to end.

But before she died, she wanted to see him one more time, to make sure he really was gone. She knew he was, of course, but there was some part of her that held out—that hoped, maybe, just maybe, there'd been a mistake. That he was somehow still the person she'd known and loved. But it was a futile longing.

"Honestly, you Konohagakure ninjas will die for anything," he laughed. His laugh was a dangerous purr; like the edge of a blade running slowly over her skin, not cutting down through flesh, but biting. She hated his voice; despised it. There was nothing in this voice that she knew. Nothing that was familiar to her.

Sakura shut her eyes, closing herself away; hiding from the monster and the agony of the truth. His voice continued on as he delighted in her weakness. She didn't want to listen, but she couldn't shut off her ears as easily as she could her eyes. But in her momentary blindness, she could hear it—the husky note in his voice nearly lost in the silk.

It was the sound of the boy she'd known, something as recognizable to her as her own face. She could hear him, lost in the man; lost in the insanity. Sakura clenched her eyes tighter, trying to repress the tears that were burning just behind her eyelids, threatening to spill over. She had longed to hear this voice again, had needed to hear it just one last time.

"Well, I suppose it's time to say goodbye now kunoichi." He rose silently, his feet whispering across the cold concrete floors as he moved.

Sakura didn't open her eyes. The boy murmured softly in her ear, trying to reassure her. "It's okay, Sakura. I won't leave you." Behind her eyelids she could see him smile; his warm aurulent eyes were comforting in the darkness. "I love you."

His voice returned her from the dream. "Goodbye, foolish kunoichi."

She forced her eyes open, fighting the hysterical sob wrenching its way up her throat. She could feel the tears that were spilling over, but knew stopping them was a battle she'd already lost. Her words came out choked and pathetic, and she couldn't look into his face, not wanting to see that alien being again.

Instead she focused on her hallucination; the boy smiled back, offering the love she sought.

"I love you," she told him fiercely, feeling like the pieces of her heart were shattering as though it were made of glass. The shards were jagged and twisted. The man stared at her, no longer impassive, but confused. "Goodbye, Orochimaru."

The boy disappeared and the world went dark.