Hello everyone.

Ah... I haven't been in a writing mood, lately... I've been too buried in schoolwork and Lavi... Yes, Lavi. It's true. I'm not kidding.

So. I just finished watching Fruits Basket. A very good series, I have decided. I cried a few times, especially in the last couple of episodes. It is so good that I cannot choose my favorite character at all... I love a lot of them. Especially Shigure, Kyo, Hatsuharu, Yuki... see? It's impossible to choose... I think I'll have to read the manga as well, for only about eight of the Jyunishi are mentioned in the anime. Not only this, but I have also discovered the talent that is Mika Nakashima - a very beautiful person as well as an inspiring singer. I especially like her songs Aishiteru, Glamorous Sky and the song LIFE that she sung for Life, one of my favorite J-Dramas.

Without any further delay, I shall go on to the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own Sai-kun. This makes me very sad. Not only this, but I don't own Lavi either? D: My life has no meaning.

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We Were Made To Be

Chapter 17

What Not To Fight

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"First rule!" Tsunade bellowed, "Take no prisoners! And change those clothes!" She pointed to Sakura's skinny jeans.

"Sir, yes sir!" Sakura yelled back, ripping the jeans from her mid thigh downwards. Wearing steel-toed boots today was probably one of her better ideas. She jumped lightly in to Tsunade's hands, and she pulled backwards. Sakura crouched.

"Make me proud-" Tsunade managed to whisper before she swung her hands forward and vaulted her student through the air.

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The harsh air, flying debris and the kicked-up dust storm cut against Sakura's face and newly bared legs. She shot through the air so fast that she couldn't make out any of the people fighting at all. In fact, she couldn't stop herself whatsoever. She had practiced being thrown by her master before, but nothing like this. Whilst usually she could usually swerve about in midair to control the way she fell, she could barely blink at this speed. Why has she been thrown with so much force?

It was good that there weren't so many people fighting, or she would have hit someone. She had counted about 10 people from her schools sparsely scattered amongst the 30 or so opponents wearing purple sashes.

Whoosh. Sakura nearly missed a young man's head. Whether or not this would have been a good thing was unknown to Sakura, though steel-toed boots to the head usually doesn't end in pleasure.

Then Sakura saw it. The large, white van that was buzzing up to her. That's why Tsunade has thrown her so hard. With a slight grumble, Sakura tried bit by bit to raise her legs for the impact. With neither knee locked in place, at least her legs wouldn't be broken... right?

Crunch.

She shot through the metalwork like a pebble through water. The torn iron bent and groaned under the pressure. Sakura wrenched her foot out of the hole that was there, and peered through. There were a few confused and scared looking people in white coats, but no sign of any hostages. No Naruto. No Gaara. Sakura nodded to herself before bending the metal back over the hole.

She sighed and leant back against the van. Fighting sure was hard work.

She cracked her knuckles tetchily before squinting. A few shots of colours made themselves known. She recognized Neji's wispy green aura and Tsunade's much more fiery one instantaneously. Hinata's smoky blue aura was quite surprising thought. It was diluted, and nowhere near as vibrant as her cousin's. Her eyes pinned to a dark yellow shape that seemed to be trying to knock the breath out of a small girl who Sakura knew to be Tenten.

Sakura pushed her hair back. How would Tenten fare against a Regi?

Tenten was used to fights. She picked one whenever she could, but nothing like this.

After she had taken her time by play-baiting with a slim man with a body encased in bandages (with Lee delivering the ambush-blow to the back of his head afterwards) and snatching Hinata away from a particularly violent man who seemed intent on driving a metal pipe through her skull, she had been confronted so violently without a moment's warning. She was about an inch away from having a severe concussion.

Why did this person seem to have an edge over her? She seemed to know how to combat her, forcing her to use other methods, and for some reason it was difficult to hit her. And if she did manage to land a hit, she'd never be able to do it the same way afterwards.

The woman had dark, pink hair - something that reminded her annoyingly of her best friend. Not only that, but she had seen her face somewhere. She knew it. She knew this face, but she couldn't figure out who it was. She bit her lip and tightened the ties around her buns, coughing slightly. She could taste the subtle metallic hints of blood in her mouth. The woman sneered at her.

"Fuckin' weakling." She spat at Tenten's feet. "It's because of all that dirty, impure shit in your veins. Want me to-" She took out some sort of baton and caressed it fondly, "Spill it for you?"

Tenten smirked. "Go ahead and try."

She frowned and swiped at Tenten's head. A raised fist blocked this easily, and Tenten delivered her knee in to the woman's stomach. She was about to spring backwards, but instead, she felt herself being pushed backwards. She blinked as the woman fell on to her. As her slumped figure lay crumpled on the ground, Tenten looked up. Sakura stood before her, her clenched fist still raised. Tenten glanced down to where the unconscious woman's hair clashed with red.

"Hi-i-ii," Sakura sung, lending Tenten her hand. "Come on! There's about 20 more butts out there and they're not gonna kick themselves."

Tenten, still bewildered, took Sakura's hand and pushed the fallen woman off of her knees. The two of them looked down at her. Sakura smiled.

"Yes!" She squealed thrusting out her clenched fists, "My first victim! Ohhh, it feels so good!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Tenten shouted loudly. Sakura said nothing. "AND HOW CAN YOU DO THAT?"

"I got taught." She said simply.

Tenten tried to glare her down, but instead she nodded quietly, kicking away the man behind her and foiling his attempted ambush. "Well," She said, finally, smiling faintly. "I've got to go. As you said, there's a lot more butt to kick... and I want to get my share."

Sakura nodded, and the two split off in opposite directions.

But before she could get 5 feet from her spot, she felt a strong hand clasp her head and swing her about by her pink locks. Flinching in pain, she blinked to see a blonde flash. Her master was frowning at her. Sakura wavered.

"What's with you and pulling my hair??" Sakura moaned, scrambling at the clenched hands.

Tsunade deliberately chose to ignore this.

"I saw you just now. Don't get cocky." She waggled her finger in Sakura's face. "I might have said that concealing your secret was not a priority, but that doesn't take away from the importance."

Sakura nodded.

"There aren't a lot of us here. You're a lot more in the open. If you make things difficult for yourself now, you'll going to find things will continue to be difficult in the future."

"Haruno." A familiar voice from behind said calmly. Sakura had only looked away once before her teacher was no longer there. Her attention was now on Sasuke, who had both his opponent's arms locked behind him in one hand, whilst the other was clenched about his neck. The man spluttered disgustingly. Sasuke couldn't care less. His clothes were still as perfect as she remembered them to be. She looked down at her makeshift shorts. "You're an idiot, you know."

Sakura beamed at him and turned about again. "Good luck, Sasuke!" She heard Sasuke's target fall to the soft earth below. A roar of girls sounded loudly.

"Sasuke-ku-n!" Ino cried, leaning only on the top of the wall, waving a quickly assembled flag. She and as many other girls as one could possibly fit on a wall had climbed up to get a better look, despite their teacher's wishes. "Do your best!!"

Sasuke, to the whole crowd's shock, nodded, which only earned him another round of screams.

"You seem to have quite the fan club, Uchiha-kun."

Sasuke's neck shot straight again, his scowl returning swiftly to his face, but as soon as it had returned, it had been wiped again. Sasuke's voice cracked. The man before him was tall, dark haired and sallow with either age or a lack of sunlight. Sasuke stepped backwards. The figure before him grinned and licked its white lips. Sasuke could no longer hear anything.

"You..."

"You!!" The tall, muscled man touched the top of his bald skull carefully; wincing when he saw his fingertips had turned a putrid crimson. He growled and snarled at his attacker - in the form a delicate-looking girl in knee-high boots. "You little-"

"Are you going to continue to be so swimmingly articulate, or are you going to punch me?" She asked so cheerfully that the man felt even more anger rise in the pits of his stomach. He punched her arm with as much force as he could muster. She looked shocked. He smirked.

"Not so cocky now, are ya?" He snickered.

"Wow!" Sakura poked the spot where he hit her, flinching slightly every time. "You made a bruise and everything!"

The man chewed down his words, scanning the girl hurriedly. Not quickly enough it seemed, because the last thing he would recall after he woke up with this little rose-coloured girl pulling back her arm and punching him in the square in the gut. He fell to his knees, gagging on his own shallow breath, before toppling to the ground. A little cloud of dust arose, swarming around his large body. Her act of 'bravery' received a screaming retort from the students. Sakura waved feebly at them, following the crowd down with her eyes.

A string of smiling faces. Ume's bouncy red hair was fluttering prettily around an equally red face. Ecstatic. Ino, whose face was full of fear? Petrified.

What?

Sakura watched in horror as she tracked her gaze to Sasuke, being confronted by a tall man. Ino was screaming. Everyone around had stopped fighting to look to the youngest Uchiha.

She felt her blood freeze.

The man was pale. So pale that Sakura could not bring herself to believe that this person was fully alive. Long, dead-straight black hair mingled with what was evidently blood fell down his tall back. Sakura shivered at the sight of him, barely managing to squint. Nothing changed.

This man was not a Regi.

She glanced back to Sasuke, who was not moving. A single stream of blood was marked down his mouth - something that had most definitely not been there before. His eyes were stained with fear; such a fear that she had hoped never to see on such a beautiful face. It was now marked and scarred.

Sakura's first instinct was to punch the ground. Create an opening. Get Sasuke away from there. She couldn't bear to see that look of horror on his face. But she couldn't. She couldn't reveal her secret. There were people watching and she wasn't skilled enough. Tsunade had kicked up a lot of dust before throwing her, and she had neither the sense nor the thought to at such a crucial moment.

All she could do was hold back her tears. Sasuke's fear was so evident, so horribly unnatural, that Sakura could even smell it.

"You're frightened?" Sakura's ears picked up the trails of a high, sinister voice. "For yourself? For the ones around you? You always were far too soft, Sasuke-kun... Should I help you? Should I kill those girls screaming for you? ...Or..." A gun clenched in hand found it's way to Sakura's forehead. "Should I shoot this one behind me...?"

Bam.

Sakura doubled over as she was clutched from behind and pulled sharply backwards. Her stomach swooped. The ground obscured amongst smoke.

"Don't stand so close." Said an unfamiliar male voice in to her ear. She shivered under his warm breath. An undefined smell reached her nostrils - one that was immediately stilled by the hand that clasped over her face. "The enemies are fitted with pads. When they fall unconscious, the pads leech out sleeping gas. Orochimaru's doing... It's no longer a fair battle. Don't get over your head, now."

The mysterious figure before Sasuke disappeared behind the cloud as well. Was this person that Sasuke seemed to fear with his heart and soul... was it Orochimaru? The name that struck fear in to any ear it reached? Sakura felt unrealistically relaxed. She could taste the sweetness of anesthetics in the vapor about them. She covered the hand that was spread across her face with her sleeve.

"Who are you?" She demanded, scanning the smoke for signs of life.

A pause.

"A friend." Said the chillingly cool voice. "Do you trust me?"

Sakura didn't answer.

The two of them passed through the cloud in to the open air. Sakura felt her throat harden, for no longer could she see battling figures strewn across the plain. They were surrounded by a sea of black uniforms, all holding them at gunpoint. The glaze of the metal from the weapons and the crests engraved on each man's chest reflected in to Sakura's eyes. She couldn't bring herself to blink.

"This is the police!" Said one of the men, holding a bullhorn. A scar engraved finger was pointing angrily at them. Somehow, this alone seemed to intimidate Sakura more than the guns. "You there! Take off the cloak and put the girl down!"

The figure holding Sakura in his arms didn't move; he only observed them carefully.

"And if I refuse?" He asked after a moment of silence. He cradled her fondly, daring the police to move. "So, the police are finally getting involved in the Orochimaru crisis? Took you long enough. Have you finally grown some balls, chief?"

The ability to move eventually found it's way back to her, as she swiped her head about to the mysterious man behind her. He wasn't that much taller than her - she guesses that she reached his mouth at least. His face was concealed under the depth of a deep red cloak. It was wrapped around his mouth and head so that only his left eye was visible. A hood and cape covered this even more so, in such away that the colour of his eye was indistinguishable, yet it seemed to be happy. Sakura was confused to find that she couldn't read the emotion from it well at all.

"A wise guy, eh?" The chief spat. "I'll bet my pride as a man that you're a Regi! Stand down!"

The cloaked figure scoffed. Sakura had already concerned herself in squinting in her savior's direction. As had happened with the man confronting Sasuke, no colours revealed themselves.

This man, again, was not a Regi.

"Stand down!" The man commanded again, but there was no movement other than the feeling of tension that strangled the oxygen out of the air. "You're a Regi, aren't you? Reveal yourself! Or we'll shoot!"

Sakura's masked savior seemed to find extreme glee in the entire police force. His chest shook with condensed laughter. "Don't you think..." He started smugly, "That instead of interrogating me as to whether or not I'm a Regi, which is impossible to know, you should be going through that cloud of smoke to Orochimaru? And besides." He pressed a cloaked mouth to Sakura's reddened forehead. "I've got a hostage."

Sakura coughed.

"Chief..." Said one of the policemen to the right of the Chief Officer. He lowered his gun slightly. "I know where I recognize her! She's the daughter of Haruno, you know, the businessman! His wife has pink hair just like that?"

"We can't shoot a Haruno!" Said the man to the left of the speaker.

"Don't lower your guard!" Barked the Chief Officer so loudly that he whole crowd of men jumped. Sakura felt the man's hand move higher up her back. Again, he laughed to himself. The Chief Officer glared at him for a moment.

"As much as I'd love to play mind games with you, chief," He snickered to himself, saluting mockingly at them. "I've got a precious cargo to transport. So...-"

Without another sound he bounded backwards again in to the smoke. She hadn't realized what was happening before she could stop the drugged fog from seeping in to her chest.

Sakura clutched herself to him on hearing the Chief from behind the smokescreen yell at the top of his lungs, "FIRE AT WILL." Her heart stopped as the first bullet shot past her feet. Tens, maybe hundreds, followed swiftly after. Sakura felt tears squeeze past her clenched eyes. A series of thudding came from before them. She could not open her eyes.

They seemed to be flying back for hours. Her body felt numb - so numb in fact, that if she had been hit, she probably wouldn't have felt it. The moment she managed to crack her eyes open, a sudden blaze of white light flashed up to her. She had no time to hide her face before it exploded and a barrage of white-hot debris shot towards her.

"AARGH-"

A sudden surge of pain ripped open her cheek. Another to her shin. Sakura tried to lift her hands to where she had been hit, but nothing would move. What was like a second lasted hours, as she heard the bone crunch from under her. The feeling of pure, cold metal compressing through her leg was nothing short of agony. She fought against herself to keep her eyes open, even for a moment. They just kept drifting through the air. Sakura's breath was still held inside her.

"I'm going to take you somewhere safe." She suddenly heard his voice tell her in hush. A lip brushed against her ear. The sensation of steamy breath down her neck made her hair stand on end. Her leg and face were burning.

"B-But..." She managed to whisper back. "What about... Sasuke-kun?"

"Ah..." A pair of stiff arms clutched about her stomach. She was pulled in to a cold embrace. "Sasuke's predicament will be handled effectively... Right now you should just... sleep?" She felt a hand tug through her hair. And again.

"I can't sleep, I'm in the middle of a fight...!" Sakura mumbled, the drug gushing in to her lungs.

Sakura heard a chuckle, before her watery eyes glinted behind their delicate lids. The last thing she saw was a sudden strand of red. Red.

Red.

Heat.

She snatched her hand away, shooting upwards suddenly. She looked dismissively at the perpetrator, in the form of a black radiator, panting slightly. She turned her hand over and over again. Both her fists were so tightly bound in bandages that she couldn't see where her thumb ended and fingers started. They were just two club-like things on sticks. She tried to clench her fist. It hurt.

The room she was in was dark and unfamiliar. The person who had decorated it had odd taste. It might've looked like a hospital ward if the walls weren't painted burgundy and ridden with black velvets. An odd smell wafted through the air - a mix of disinfectant and sugar. Sakura scrunched up her face. She didn't like it. There were no windows, and the pillow on which she was rested was rough and itchy. The whole bed was too firm, in fact. She could feel aches in her heaviest parts.

She let out a grunt and tried to sit up, only to find that this didn't happen. She strained and strained, but she wouldn't move, and the more she strained, the more her body throbbed.

She didn't know how long she had been sleeping. The only thing she could do was watch the tall, dark grandfather clock at the end of her bed. 40 to 3, it read, but Sakura couldn't tell if it was the middle of the night or not. All she could do was hope that the dim light that seemed to be shining from an unknown source didn't cut out. Hopefully someone would check in on her.

And during the 158 minutes that Sakura counted one by one on the clock's face, she realized that she was a person that got bored very easily and very, very quickly. Such characteristics reminded her of Naruto and Kiba. Her heartstrings twanged with nausea.

It was shocking how much she didn't know about herself. Only recently had she discovered her life's biggest secret. Only now had she uncovered a new piece of her personality. Was this a normal thing, to not understand yourself?

Sakura didn't dwell on it from fear of over obsession. She had decided that she had a very compulsive personality around the 105th minute she had counted-

"Ahh!"

A snap sounded through the room and a light switched on above her. A large bulk of weight suddenly dropped on to her feet, and two grinning marine eyes were staring down at her from the end of her bed.

"Sakura-kun! Did you know that you're incredibly allergic to certain kinds of anesthetics?" Sung that cheery voice that was designed to irk. Though, she was somehow incredibly thankful to hear it again. "It was pretty frightening, actually, un."

Deidara flicked his hair out of his eyes happily. In his shadow stood a shorter man who Sakura almost mistook to be Gaara, though the deep, rich brown of this man's eyes were unlike that of Temari's brother. This man had an older face, though he only looked to be about 18. He was gingerly rubbing an eye with his sleeve, yawning.

"Deidara, you wake up too early..." He groaned.

Sakura snapped awake again. That voi-

"You!" She raised a bandaged arm, squirming in her seat. The red-haired male watched her with drooped, sleep-deprived eyes. "You're him! You saved me-"

"Mmn, yeah." He said plainly with that collected voice that was so very recognizable. Sakura was almost frustrated in response to this short, almost meaningless reply. After all, she felt in debt.

Yet, this man had not so much as introduced himself. All he did was rub his face and answer in low grunts when the obviously coffee-powered Deidara shot him questions. All she could do is nod and try to pick up details. All she managed to find out was that Deidara thought very highly of the guy and occasionally referred to him with terms like "Bro" and "Bastard."

"And now it's 6 in the morning, so we were just going to sneak in to Itachi's room and draw on his-"

"Itachi's here?" Sakura interrupted curiously.

Deidara span back to her. "Uh, yeah. Everyone's here. You've been out cold for two days." He didn't think to pause at her shocked face. "Me and Sasori here kept on checking on you, but you didn't wake up-"

Sakura coughed and pointed her clubbed arm at the sleepy redhead again. "Sasori?"

He opened a brown eye expectantly. The same look of confusion was mirrored in Sakura's green eyes. A moment passed.

"You're Sasori." She repeated, more slowly this time. She seemed to place her word so carefully that she feared that they might shatter at any harshness. Deidara watched, clueless. The room was so still, so quiet, that the pitter-patter of a spider across the floor could be heard.

"...Yes." 2wdcj

…

She sniggered. Deidara deflated angrily.

"I-" Another giggle. "I see." The words that she had taken so much care to set out so gingerly were now shattering on the floor.

"Shut up!" Deidara raged at her badly concealed fit, his ears flushing bright red. "You said you'd forgotten it! You promised that you'd forgotten it! Liar!" He waved several accusing digits at her face. Sakura's stomach was about to split.

Sasori, however was now tapping on the side of his head with an expression that clearly stated 'my friend is an idiot.' "This is your fault. I blame you for everything."

"What?? How is this my fault??"

"Everything is your fault. All the hardships in the world are due to your error and no-one else's."

"The hell?? Get back here, bastard!!"

"Ah, Deidara!"

"It's DEIDEI to you." He snapped back at her as the shadow of his companion disappeared through the doorway. Strands of his blonde hair feathered across his face. "What do you want, you trouble causer?"

Sakura recoiled a bit, timidly judging whether or not she should keep him when he was in such a bad mood, but she felt as if she owed it to herself. She didn't know how long it would be until someone else came.

"I just... wanted to ask some questions." She huffed, grumpily, evidently flaunting the fat tear that was forming in the crook of her eye.

Deidara twitched.

"Please... Deidei?"

"Don't do that!" He spat. The angry pointing finger had returned. "You've been hanging around with Itachi-bastard too much! His manipulative-ness has rubbed off on you. Tch. How typical, un."

Sakura shrugged. This might as well be true, although she had a feeling that Kiba and Naruto both had an effect on her new outlook of life as well. Tenten probably had too, and she was sure that the 'I really can't be assed' feeling she got from time to time had been contributed by Neji.

"Where are we?"

"Uchiha estate. We're using this place as a Regi hideout." Deidara buffed his nails against his scarf. "Itachi already ordered his parents to be escorted out of the area. They're staying in Tokyo right now, but everyone else is here... The school was evacuated about an hour after you fainted. Everything turned out pretty okay."

"Pretty okay?"

Deidara tilted his head from side to side, choosing his words carefully. "...Pretty okay... There were some... skirmishes... but we're working on them!" He said hurriedly after Sakura's growing expression of shock turned in to an expression of melancholy. "I mean... Orochimaru got away and took Naruto and Gaara with him-"

Sakura could hear no more. A piercing wave of emotion channeled through her.

"-The old lady Tsunade ended up having to reveal herself as a Regi to repel Orochimaru and protect the students and is now on the run as a named criminal for the unintended death of one of the police force-"

Her stomach whirred. There was no heat left in the world.

"-Sasuke's both traumatized and infuriated with Itachi and isn't doing well- what? Don't cry!"

But Sakura raised her head from her knees to deliver a swift heel to Deidara's thigh. He tripped backwards slightly and caught her eyes. A moment filled with glares passed.

He pursed his lips.

"What the hell was that for?"

"I'm not crying, idiot!" She shouted so loudly that the room shook. A pair of tiny spiders scuttled for cover. They glared some more before Sakura broke the silence again. "Crying won't help at a time like this. I refuse to be a burden."

Deidara's expression blackened. He folded his arms and grunted, "I hate stubborn brats like you, un."

"That's rich, considering you are one."

They stared eachother down again.

"..." Sakura softened up and hugged her knees again. "What about the others? Tenten and Neji and Lee?"

Deidara rubbed the back of his neck unsurely. "Uh..." He looked at the ceiling to avoid her eyes. "Well, Tenten got out of it okay... But by the end of it all, it became really obvious what Orochimaru was trying to do."

Sakura said nothing.

"After you went unconscious and after Sasuke had been removed from the scene - because getting to Sasuke was one of the main priorities, we think - Orochimaru started to bring out the big guns." Deidara lowered his voice. "He thinks Regi are a lot more superior than they are. He wants to force them out of hiding, so he brought on Regi of his own."

"..."

"And it was- well... it wasn't pretty. Because it was obvious that these new people were Regi, and everyone was screaming because what they were doing - unleashing their powers like that. And helicopters started flying around and catching it all on tape. Itachi had trouble getting those to leave."

"But what about Neji and Lee?" Sakura shot out suddenly.

Deidara glowered at her again, but found it pointless and continued again, now reciting it rhythmically and deeply. "Orochimaru can't tell who are Regi and who aren't, so he assumed that the majority of students fighting where. So he tried to force them out, un. Neji got attacked by some weird Regi... Sakura-kun." Deidara risked to look at her. "You know... You don't have to be born a Regi to become one."

Sakura shivered and shuffled the sheets up her a bit more. "W-What happened?"

"It was obvious that it wasn't going to be much longer until any Regi were going to be forced to reveal themselves - especially that Hinata chick. She wasn't looking good."

Sakura froze. Hinata was out there? She had forgotten.

"So, Tsunade did what she had to do, in the end." Deidara managed a tiny smile. "The old hag started pounding the ground. And the ground that they were all standing on started shifting down... until they were all hidden under the shadows. The fight went on under there, but her Tsunade was out the bag. Before she went, though, she did as much damage to everything as she could." He chuckled a little. "I've never seen one person dodge so many bullets before."

Sakura felt sick. "H-How is everyone doing?"

"Everyone thought that Lee guy was going to be dead at the end of it, since was injured before he went in to battle, you know? Some fight with someone ages ago nearly cost him his life as a martial artist, I dunno. Anyway. He got out of it okay. Broken leg, nothing too serious. Neji's pretty good now too, I guess. He was nearly dead, though, before he got pulled out of there. That weird Regi skewered him. But Hyuuga got him!" Deidara beamed, looking proud as if he himself had done the deed. "It was great! You should have seen that guy's corpse... un. That mutant didn't stand a chance against Hyuuga."

Sakura did not dwell on her upper classman's gory sense of humor. Nor did she think of what on earth Neji had done to that Regi to get Deidara so fired up.

"Mutant?" She asked.

Deidara paused. "Did I say mutant? No, no, no, no, I didn't mean that."

"You said mutant."

"I know what I said, idiot! I just didn't-"

"What other ways can people become Regi?"

Deidara's face, which had already turned a variety of colours during their discussion, was now a deep crimson. Sakura caught emotions of anger and regret in his eyes, before he finally looked away with a grunt.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"Make me."

"Fine. I'll ask Sasori."

He scoffed. "Hah. He won't tell you, un."

"How sure are you about that?"

A pause. "Very." He looked her up and down. "You can't walk, anyway. You got shot in the leg."

Sakura remembered the searing pain in her leg before. She peered under the sheets to see her entire lower half encased in white bandages. She frowned. Had she really got hurt that badly?

"Deidara-sempai, am I a liability?"

Deidara had now drawn a water bottle out of nowhere and was drinking it, looking down at her boredly. "What's with you and questions? Just shut up already."

Deidara's gradual but definite chattering and wit swamped Sakura for the next couple of hours, as he got more and more bored. From everything from recent battle plans to the people currently taking refuge in the house, which turned out to be quite a hefty amount. Sakura had missed a lot, because plans to take back the hostages from Orochimaru were already falling in to place. Sakura knew she had to be a part of it. Naruto could barely stand being enclosed in a classroom. The thought of him in chains, starving and beaten were enough to make her vomit.

She rubbed her arms. "Dei... what do you think they're doing to them?" Her glassy green eyes met his awkwardly. "You don't think... they're..."

"They're not dead. He wouldn't kill them..." Deidara mumbled from the side of his mouth with his lips pressed against his bottle. His own eyes were focused on an exact, unmoving spot. "That's not in Orochimaru's nature. He knows that there are fates worse than death." She shivered. "If you really want to know what I think..." He looked back at her for any reaction. There was none. "...I honestly think he'll be experimenting on them."

"Human experimentation??" Sakura attempted to slam her hands down in rage, but this just ended in a lot of pain. "T-That's sickening..." She watched her bandaged hands carefully, not gasping when she saw the shades of red drench her left slowly. She turned it around immediately so Deidara wouldn't see. "What kind of things would he be doing to them?"

Deidara hesitated for a second, and then shook his head.

"N- ...No clue."

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The room was bare and naked. All it's furnishings and items of luxury had been rammed up against the door, even the large bed. The wardrobe's door creaked open and closed. Every now and then it clashed and crashed with the chest of drawers that was messily forced next to it. In the middle of the wooden floor was a boy lit by the touch of one lamp in the corner. Up. Down. Up. Down. He pushed his arm up for the umpteenth time, but no sign of sweat. His face was furrowed in to a scowl that appeared to have been there for a long time now.

Uchiha Sasuke was in bad shape.

His face and skin had returned to the pale colour that they had been before. The dark circles under his eyes had returned also. He forced down any yawn that tried to spring up.

He was truly afraid. One look from that man and he was scared stiff. He didn't know that the rose-coloured girl behind him had also caught his yellowed eyes. They were both petrified.

The world was shrinking. All the oceans and continents were annihilated until the whole earth was reduced to the plot of land that they were both standing on. He was circling him, deciding which angle to strike. He was like fish in a barrel.

The growing wait to death or worse was a terrible thing.

He closed his eyes as the man began to speak a twisted dialogue. Incomprehendable. He tried to force his ears to a close, but in vain.

"You're going to come with me now." The high-pitched sneering voice told him. "You evaded me the last time... but not again..." The man knelt down next to him and hissed in to his ear, "I'm going to make you in to my servant. That should put that superiority complex of yours in to a little box, don't you think?"

He couldn't answer. He was frozen.

"I've already had you checked, Sasuke-kun." He told him, cruelly. "No one in your family was born a Regi... a shame, don't you think? Remember the secret I told you a few years ago..? When I stained your skin with the blood of your teacher... do you remember what I told you about him? Do you remember what I told you to do to overcome it?"

Sasuke tried to tell him to stop it. He didn't want to hear.

"You want to overcome your brother, don't you? It's your... ambition-"

His head twitched. His eyes glued to the spot where a tiny metal device was vibrating around, with flashes of light following. An irritating ring that he knew he had not set came from it. Sasuke tried to ignore it, but found that he couldn't. With a roar of rage, he threw down the weight above his head and stalked off to the phone. He checked it's number in hope that it might be the people who he missed, but all it read was "Withheld number." Snapping it open, in a voice that sounded as if it had not met water in a few days growled. "Go away."

Before he could shut it again, he stopped.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, you're so polite." Said a familiar voice.

His dark, diluted eyes narrowed. "You again?"

She giggled.

"Look," Sasuke pressed his hand against his hip to prevent himself from crunching the phone in to little pieces. "I don't know what you're pulling, but if you could get a life-"

That same melodious laughter. She breathed. "That's cute coming from someone who's locked himself in his room and refuses to come out." Sasuke said nothing, only clenched his fist. "That's a bit childish, don't you think, Sasuke-kun? I always thought you were pretty mature... I wonder what you're doing in there. How are you?"

"Don't you dare try and make light conversation with me!" He snapped, stamping on the floorboards. He didn't care whether or not the whole house could hear him. "Tell me who you are right now."

"Aww..." Said that sweet voice at the end of line. "But that's no fun at all! I just want to play...-"

"I'm not interested in your games!" He bellowed. The room shook and the wardrobe door slammed in to an ultimate close. Two minute passed and neither side had said anything. Sasuke's arms were still shaking. Looking to his left, his eyes caught the light of another sunrise. Dawn again? He took a few deep breaths before switching the phone in his hands and sliding his back down the wall. "Why are you calling me? Why me?"

A short stillness, before, "A number of reasons, Sasuke-kun."

"Tell me." He screwed up his face in frustration and scowled before growling, "Please."

She seemed to be delighted from what he could hear, because she let out a rather triumphant laugh. It rang in his ears.

But, he heard a door open on her end. A mumbled voice spoke. A ruffle. He guessed she had covered the speaker with her hand. He listened curiously before her voice swiped back. Sounding much more hurried. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I have to go. I'll be in touch."

"Wait-"

The line went dead.

He sat there in silence. In an upset, he hammered the phone on the wall and threw it with so much force at the windows that the glass shattered. He was going to ask her not to leave. Pathetic, he seethed.

"Pathetic." Said an unknown voice from behind the shadows. Orochimaru frowned and looked around. He could see something that he could not. Suddenly, the world that he was trapped in fell... he could see light again. But... it was obscured. He strained his unmoving head in anger as he recognized the tall, dark silhouette before him. Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.

His heart burned with icy intent. His limbs went limp once more and he caught himself on the ground. Kneeling before that man... He snarled.

Only a laugh answered him. "Idiot little brother."

His eyes flashed.

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Sakura's energy and ability to walk eventually caught up with her after a couple of days and a couple of thousand tears shed by the mourning Lee, who had to be dragged away by Tenten so that he didn't drown them all.

Nevertheless, things were getting better. Sakura still found it hard to smile, though, when two of her friends had been captured by the most terrible person she could think of and the only person who could talk sense in to her was barricaded in his room.

Sakura was lonely. Even though she was constantly overrun with visits from her friends, she was lonely. There were only three people she really wanted to see right now. Gaara, Naruto and-

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke was standing at the end of the hallway, halfway though the doorway in to the main foyer. He had opened the door so gingerly, with pinkies raised, that it was evident that he was trying to be as quiet as possible. His alarmed eyes glinted up to her, hidden beneath a halo of uncombed tresses. He wore jeans and a jacket with the hood already over his head. On his feet were sneakers and if it weren't for the wristwatch worn like a badge of pride on his arm, he would have passed as any normal person. No one would have been able to tell that he was not just some random dark-looking teenager. No one would have known he was Uchiha Sasuke, second-son to Uchiha Fugaku, one of the most influential men on the planet.

Though, Sakura would have.

And she was clad in a white night gown with one hand still bandaged tight. Her hair was also not brushed, but it didn't look nearly as naturally charming as Sasuke's did. She also looked pale and brittle as he did, though her eyes still had a characteristic spark.

Moth's darted like shooting stars across the rectangle of light that had appeared from Sasuke's door. Their gaze was locked and barred by Sasuke's dark bangs. It was moments until one of them said anything.

"Sasuke?" She repeated, edging forwards a little. He took a step backwards apprehensively. "What are you doing up so late at night?"

He pursed his lips. "I could ask you the same question."

She shuffled her feet passively. "I've been asleep all day, so now I'm not tired. Did you do the same?"

He didn't look at her. Glancing to the right, he closed the door quietly behind him and took down the corridor towards her in powerful strides. She watched, curiously as he was about to collide with her.

"Sasuke, what are you-"

He shoved her out of the way and continued to walk. She frowned for a second before bounding forwards and gripping his shirt tight in her fingers. He paused for a second before trying to pull it out of her grasp. She didn't budge.

"Sasuke, tell me where you're going."

Nothing.

"A-Are you going to go and find Naruto?" A flash of hope scattered over her face, thought it dispersed as Sasuke showed no sign of reaction. "Then... what are you really doing?

"I don't have to tell you anything." He said plainly, tearing the shirt out of her hands. "It's none of your business anyway. Go back to bed."

He began trying to open the door on the other side of the corridor, only to find that it was locked. He fiddled with it for a second, trying to ignore her seemingly-endless chattering. Her hands were clasped in front of them in praying stance.

"You're going out somewhere." She said, worriedly. "And you have a backpack... you're planning on leaving?"

He considered kicking the door down as it once again refused to move. He turned back around swiftly and briefly attempted to stare her down.

"Sasuke-kun, why-"

"It's none of your business."

Her fists shook by her sides and she gritted her teeth thoughtfully before raising her rose-coloured hair and glaring at him through rebellious pink locks. "Why don't you ever tell me anything? Why do you always have to go about things by yourself?"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Why are you leaving?? You have no where to go! Why would you possibly-" But she stopped in thought. Raising a stilling finger to her lips, she quivered, "You're going to Orochimaru, aren't you?"

He glared at the wall.

"Y-You are! You are... why are you doing that? You know how terrible he is! He tried to kidnap you!"

"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse." He grunted, stuffing his hands in to the dark chasms of his jeans. "Why should I tell you anything? It's not as if it's any of your business... you're just like all the other girls. Nosy." He snapped, expecting some form of remorse, although this was not the case.

Sakura shook. "If one of my best friends is making a mistake, it's every bit of my business. What kind of offer would you want to make with that horrible man?" She asked forcefully, arms still clamped to her sides in fury and turmoil. "He's despicable."

"I don't like him anymore than you do."

"Then why are you even considering it?"

"He's got something I need."

"What might that be?"

"He can help me." He said simply. "And I don't need to tell you any more than that."

He was about to swing the large backpack he had been carrying over his shoulder again, but Sakura took its strap in her hands and tugged it down. Her eyes were full with discontent.

A look of pure anger.

Sasuke's body was weak and frail. He lay sprawled across the floor next to the bleeding body of his teacher - the Third principal of Konoha. Around the room were his classmates, all flattened against the wall as tight as they could fit. All with faces as pale and cold as snow. Sasuke winced as a heavy foot brought itself down on to his arm, meshing itself with his blood. Over both of them stood a man both tall and sinister. Yellow eyes glinted evilly past a wall of greased black hair.

Sasuke shuddered as he leant down and took his chin in his bloodstained hands. The blood of his teacher smeared across his young neck. He could smell it. The stench of pain and the dead.

"Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun..." He chuckled in to his ear, tightening his grasp around his neck. "Maybe if you had given yourself up beforehand, this never would have happened..."

Sasuke caught some girls in tears from the corner of his eyes.

"This is your fault, you know..." He sneered cruelly, rubbing more blood over the boy's weak face. It was screwed and concentrating, holding back bitter tears. "You know, he's not even dead yet... If only you were more like... your brother."

Sasuke found the both to clench his fists. Orochimaru laughed and lowered his white chin on to the boy's shoulder. "Sasuke-kun..." He hissed so quietly that only the two of them could hear it. "You want to know what makes you and your brother so different? Do you know?"

Orochimaru lessened his grip so Sasuke could splutter for air. After a few seconds he answered, "Ni-san's a genius." He coughed. "The genius of the Uchiha family! I want to be like him some day!"

But the man let out a cackle of chorusing laugher. "Y-You want to be like him, do you?? Well, that can be arranged... Because, do you know-"

"No!!"

The body of the Third was stretched out, facing them. Sasuke shook with fear. His teacher face was so mangled that he could hardly recognize the kind old man that had put up with his pouting and arrogance. His legs were bent at awkward angles and his left arm had disappeared completely. He was reaching out to them with his only good limb, struggling to crawl forward. The room was silent.

"Don't tell him!" He shouted again, his words clouded by the onslaught of blood. "It's forbidden!"

But Orochimaru sneered at the old man and brought his foot down on to his hand. The man keeled over in pain and Sasuke clearly heard the loud 'snap' of his thumb breaking. "Oh, sensei," He seethed in mock-pity. "Look where your speeches of peace and freedom have gotten you. Writhing around in a puddle of blood as your beloved students watch you slowly choke on your own breath. Sasuke-kun, you want to know, don't you?"

Sasuke gulped and managed a tiny nod as his teacher screamed by his side.

"Your brother... he's a Regi!"

"No!" The Third's scream blocked everyone from hearing. But Sasuke's face had already turned white.

"A-A Regi??" He hissed back. "My brother's a... one of them?"

"He's a monster!" Orochimaru laughed in the boy's face. "But, goodness! Didn't you know? And he wasn't always like that, Sasuke-kun, no! Do you want to know more? Well, I'm the one who turned him like that!"

Sasuke shook. His arms wouldn't move to block his ears. He was wrong to ask onwards. He was wrong!

"Regi are superior!" He continued, mashing his fists in to rocks. "I turned him in to one, and I can turn you in to one too!" His snake-like face was pushed dangerously close to the boy's. "It's the only way you'll overcome your brother... after all... you said you wanted to be like him! Come with me, break all your bonds with your family and this pitiful village. Come and join me."

For the first time in five years, a tear rolled down Sasuke's face.

"Sasuke." Sakura snapped. Sasuke's cold glare centered on her again. Her gleaming eyes. "Listen to me."

"No." He said, curtly, beginning to turn on his heel.

WHAM.

Sakura let out a scream as two men threw themselves on to the boy. He writhed and struggled under their weight, but no use. The taller of the two grabbed his arm and forcefully pulled it behind his back. Sasuke roared in frustration and flailed with all his might. A third man came out of the shadows and knelt before him. Sakura recognized him at once.

"Of all the foolish things you have done..." Itachi's low, rhythmic drone started, "This has got to be the most stupid - the most immature."

"What do you know??" Sasuke yelled, trying to kick the boys off his back. "You're a Regi. You don't know me! You never did!

"Calm down, Sasuke-chan!" Deidara called back before the red-headed Sasori pinned down his legs effortlessly.

Sakura called over them, hugging herself. "Please! Deidara-sempai! Sasori! Don't hurt him!"

"A Regi?" Itachi flicked his sibling's forehead so that he twisted his body, trying to push the older men off his body. Itachi flicked back his bangs, with an interested 'Hm!' "How long have you known, then?"

"Since I was nine." Sasuke growled back. "It's unfair! No wonder I could never beat you!"

"So, is that why you were going to Orochimaru?" Hummed Sasori from the back. "To change yourself in to one of us so you'd have a chance at topping your brother once or twice?" He chuckled, digging his fingers in to the back of the young Uchiha's knee. "Pathetic."

"Don't call me that!" He squirmed under their grasp. "You're Regi too. Don't act as if you know me!"

But Itachi grinned and snapped his fingers. Both Deidara and Sasori got to their feet and wrenched Sasuke up by his shoulders. They both pulled his elbows behind him and pinned him up against the wall. Itachi drummed his fingers on his arm, reviewing the situation before saying, "Idiot little brother. You do realize that you're the only one in this room with pure human blood, don't you?"

The room went cold.

It was a second before Sasuke shot his head round to face Sakura, who had already fallen to her knees with her hands hiding her face.

"You!" He yelled, thrashing angrily. He freed his right arm for just a second, but Deidara latched himself back on to it in the next. "Haruno! You're one-"

But he couldn't finish his sentence before Itachi had grabbed his little brother's chin, glaring in to his eyes. Sakura peered through the cracks in between her fingers for just a second, only to be frozen again. From the center of Itachi's eyes was a red speck. It span and grew and grew until it clouded his whole eye with scarlet. Sasuke's head drooped and his knees gave way. Deidara and Sasori pulled him back up again. He was unconscious.

Sakura rubbed her eyes free of the traces of wetness, before squinting as hard as she could, expecting some kind of colour to shroud Itachi like it did with all other Regi she had met. It did not.

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Sakura hiccupped. She was sat between the three men, all watching the boy in the bed steadily rise and fall with his breathing. None of them had said a word in over an hour. The blonde man to Sakura's left was playing with his fingers impatiently. The darker one to her right had a blank expression that no one could decipher.

"Sakura-san." Said the third man, reaching out and laying a hand on her knee. "You've got to come to terms with it. He would have found out eventually anyway."

She sniffed and rubbed her cheek with the sleeve of her gown. "I know. I just... wasn't ready yet... and neither was Sasuke-kun." She looked saddened towards the dark boy. A purple bruise had shown itself up against his collarbone. A bandage was strung around his bare chest. "Why..." She started, turning to Itachi, eyes still cloaked with sadness. "Why don't you have an aura?"

"Because," He answered back, plainly. "I was not born one like you or Deidara here. I was forcefully made one."

"By who?"

"Orochimaru." Sasori filled in, staring at his hands longingly.

Sakura span about to look at them. "Why on earth did he do that to you?"

"Because." Itachi continued, crossing his legs soundly. "He was once part of the organization we were planning. He was one of the original members along with me. He always had this idea that Regi were superior, which he seems to still hold... A few years ago, though, he told us he wanted us to come in to a room to discuss something, so we did."

"But, he changed us." Sasori said, sullenly. "There was a flash of light from some strange machine that was behind the door in our blind spot, and then it was over."

"I was the four still standing..." Itachi said, quietly. "Myself, and three other members you're not acquainted with. Everyone else, including Sasori, had collapsed."

"And you were all changed?" Sakura gasped, "Just like that?"

They both nodded.

"This was before I had joined." Deidara informed, a lot more loudly than the other two. "I was already a pretty capable Regi, though. So I fit in okay."

Sakura turned to the red-haired boy, who was still examining his hands with a mournful expression still on his face. This was the boy - the man - who had undoubtedly saved her life a few days ago.

"Sasori..."

The pair of rich brown eyes met hers. She did not quiver.

"...What happened when you collapsed?"

He managed a tiny smile and got up from his seat. He turned to them all and started fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. Sakura wasn't sure whether to be shocked or not. She looked up to Deidara, whose smile had been wiped off and replaced by an expression that could almost have been sympathetic. She looked back to him, before taking in breath.

The blue cotton slid from his back to the floor and he allowed their eyes to run over him. His body was hard. Sakura knew he hadn't felt soft when he had carried her, but she had just written this off as boniness. No. At his elbows and wrists there were wooden joints. His fingers were the same. He flexed them, and she flinched as the sharp squeaks of clashing wood met her ears. On his chest, however, there was a canister that had been carefully sealed over where his heart should have been. She reached out to touch it. The feeling of cold metal engulfed her fingers before she felt it vibrate. She snatched her hand away. There was a pulse.

Was he even alive? His face was expressive. He seemed to be able to move it around somewhat, though with his ever-blank expression it was hard to tell. He was like a wooden doll. A puppet.

He took his shirt from the floor and slid it back on to his arms. "I wasn't the only one that took the radiation from the machine badly... though, mine was considerably harder to revert than some of the others." He buttoned it up and took his seat next to Deidara. "It was like a disease. It was destroying all the cells in my body one by one... I..." He smiled a little again. "I actually owe my life to Tsunade-hime."

"My master?"

"She hated me." He nodded. "She wasn't principal at the time. That was still the Third. She was in charge of one of the Medical Universities and she often had to come and screen the classes for possible candidates... but she hated me." He chuckled. "My grandmother always wanted me to be a doctor. That's why she sent me off to Konoha in the first place. But I was always more interested in the more gory aspects than actually saving people's lives. And, she hated me for it. But, if it weren't for her and her expert knowledge of the situation, I wouldn't be here."

"H-How?"

He rapped his knuckles on his arm. "I was always in to puppets. It was the only thing I felt I was really good at. But, she sealed my heart," He tapped the metal canister on his chest, "And my brain in to the doll. And, well, now look at me. I'm fucking Pinocchio."

Deidara let out a snigger.

Sakura managed a small smile before gripping his hand. The wood was cold, but somehow it was calming. "I think you're a great person, Sasori-sempai. It doesn't matter whether you're... you know."

"Thank you, Sakura."

Deidara snorted. "That was a very wooden response, Danna."

He was ignored. Sakura continued. "What about the other people who collapsed?"

"Yes, tell her about those other bastards, Danna. I'm sure you're just pining to."

Sasori brought his fist to the back of the blonde's head before continuing. "The reaction was like mine. It changed their bodies, but it didn't kill them. It's just... forbidding. They can't go out in public because of it."

"They're freaks, basically!" Deidara sung with a smile, before he felt the cold hard punch of his companion's hand a second time.

But no one answered him again, for all eyes were on Sasuke. He was glaring coldly at the four of them.

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Thank you all for your votes in the previous installment, all of you! I received a few comments, which made me really happy. Thank you for being so considerate.

I also saw that a few of you were choosing your votes carefully because you wanted to avoid the same-sex couple. And, since a lot of votes went to the story with the same-sex couple, even though you were trying to avoid it...

Nevertheless, I have decided on attempting the first story, which also happens to be the only SasukexSakura of the three! -waves a flag- Hurrah...! The couple for the second story was in fact, SasorixDeidara XD Ohoho. And the third story was a SaixSakura.

In regards to the hints:

First hint: At least ONE of the stories is focused primarily around a same sex couple. (That was story no. 2, featuring SasorixDeidara.)

Second hint: ONE story promises to be a 20+ chapter story. The other TWO are short in comparison. (That was story no. 1, the chosen story! Prepare yourselves!!)

Third hint: Only ONE of the stories contains all three TEAM SEVEN members in a team-like situation. (That was story no. 1.)

Fourth hint: I will not say that all the stories are Naruto related, thought they very well might be. (This was a bluff XD All the stories were Naruto. Although, I was thinking of making the first one a D.Gray-Man story... I actually still think I should have...)

Final hint: At least ONE of the stories contains Sakura in a couple that is NOT Sasuke/Sakura. (Story no. 3, The SaiSaku.)

But yes. The first story's profile is below! I'll say it now. The SasuSaku in the story will be kept to a low. If anything, I want to focus on the Team Seven aspects. The story will also have a bit of NaruHina and maybe some others? I have yet to decide.

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Thicker Than Water

In a world where women are considered inferior, a war is being waged. The Fire Country is in turmoil after being invaded by Oto's High Priest - Who is in fact a Godless man and a plotting dictator. He woos the men in to a false trance- one that outlaws all females once and for all! As Oto's troops ensnare Konoha, the Female shanties lose their breath for the last time. Someone is snatched from the wreck. They are presumed dead.

As the High Priest's 'Female Elimination Roster' is quickly being filled, two women are on the run. Hair is cut and bleached, sanctuary is found, but at what price? After all, there is no better hiding place than right under the enemy's nose...

With nothing in her but her best friend's last words and her newly found no-pity attitude, one Haruno Sakura sets out to protect her race, her future and her own life.

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Review, please!