Prologue

All the young girl could hear as her feet pounded against the earth was the sound of her own heart beating against her chest, begging for her to calm down, but she couldn't. How was she supposed to? She didn't know what had possessed her to make this journey, to endanger her life, to see him; all she knew was that if she didn't do this she might not ever be able to look at herself in the mirror again.

Her bare feet moved quicker as she hurried through the forest, the trees a blur in the background. Somehow, after all that had happened, she was able to not stumble over any of the branches and roots beneath her. She chalked it up to the adrenaline rush. When you were running for your life, somehow your body just knew what to do, and her body knew to move faster. If she didn't move faster, she would probably end up dead.

How could she have been so stupid? Her pleas had failed her in the past, what made her think they would work now? He was worse than ever. He was nowhere near his goal and had no patience for her. She was useless. She couldn't save him the last two times she had tried and she couldn't save him now. All her life she had stood at the side and watched the world progress around her. She had tried to move with that world- become stronger, smarter, braver, but all her attempts at the last one had failed her. She was nothing but a simple girl too caught up in her own problems to notice the bigger picture- she was losing her friends. She was becoming less and les-

She stumbled. Her hands and chest hit the tree beside her hard as she tried to catch herself. She winced in pain but hurried and pushed herself back up. She stole a quick glance behind her. He wasn't there. She was still safe. She turned and began to run again. She had to find help. She needed to find someone who could protect her.

Protection. She had wanted to be someone's protection, not need it from someone else, but she just couldn't quite get it right. She had the brains, she had the skills, but she lacked something important. Courage. She had always thought that meant never being afraid until her eccentric friend (in one of his more serious moods) told her that it was not so, that courage was having the strength to face the fears you have. Somehow, she just couldn't do it. Somehow her fears always got the best of her, like now.

As she ran the tears poured freely down her face. She was afraid now more than ever. The look in his eyes at the sight of her, she had thought it was joy, and it was, just not the joy she had hoped it was. He was happy because he finally had his test. If he could kill her, he could kill anyone. He had tricked her, seduced her. She thought she had a chance, but this moment in time proved otherwise. Her clothes were torn, her chakra emptied, her body beaten. All of this made it painfully clear; he had no intention of returning home with her. She tried- she failed; now he was going to catch her, no doubt enjoying the chase, and he was going to kill her. Cut her down with his kunai, lick the blood off in front of her, cut her again, make her lick it off this time, and more. He had gone over her torture in great detail for her. He enjoyed the look of fear she gave him.

There it was, fear again. It was always there, always stopping her from doing what she wanted, what she needed. And now, because of fear, she was running for her life. If she did not make it, it was clear what would happen to her. She was pathetic, she told herself. She should stop running, she should fight back. She had the strength. She could just force him to come home, like her eccentric friend had tried. But that was just it. Her friend was stronger and all he could do was try and fail. How was she supposed to succeed where he had failed? How was she-

She stumbled again, only this time she fell- hard. Her tears had blurred her vision; she hadn't noticed the root from the tree. Her hands, chest, and face connected with the ground abruptly and painfully. She got up and checked behind her again, brushing herself off. No sign of him. Now all she had to do was-

Her body connected with something again. She stepped back to look at what she had hit. Her eyes widened before her. There he was, standing in front of her, twirling a kunai on his finger. He wore the same smirk he had when he finally revealed to her that he had no intention of going home. How she wanted to rip that false grin from his face, but fear stopped her again.

She barely had time to react before his fist shot up and hit her hard in the face, sending her body sprawling across the ground. She turned and looked up into his face; he was still smirking down at her. He leaned down close to her face, as if to gently kiss her, but she knew otherwise.

"Are you ready, Sakura-chan?" His soft voice whispered in her ear, mocking her infatuation with him in her name, sending a chill down spine. Then, her world went dark.

Author's Note: My first fanfic published ever, or written down for that matter. I'm really just testing out my writing abilities with this fanfic. See if I can stay true to the characters that Kishimoto has created. Still trying to figure out when I want this to be. I think I'm making this story sort of like after Sasuke defeats Orochimaru, but a few years in the future. The characters are about 15 in the manga now, and I'm imagining them more 19 in the story, so probably four years down the line.

Anyways, if you've read this I hope you'll review, say if you want me to continue. I'm really nervous and any comments you have are greatly welcomed and appreciated! Hope you enjoyed!

Sky

Quick Edit: Today's the fifth…. I've got two more days before I'm allowed to upload this. Crap. I was really anxious to get it up now. Well, at least you'll have the prologue and probably chapter 1. xD

Edit: I can upload today! Yays! Thanks for reading!