Song: 'A Love Before Time', from the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any aspect of 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. I don't even own the very attractive small teapot sitting beside me. Sniff.

A Love Before Time

He was here.

Sakura stood stock still, green eyes wide and staring at the black clad figure before her. She hadn't seen him for two years, yet he seemed the same.

Except…

There was something defeated, broken, pained in his demeanor. He was standing, one hand braced on a tree trunk, the other handing limply by his side. His slumped shoulders betrayed his exhaustion and he had not raised his head. But he spoke.

"Sakura."

That was all he said, yet it conveyed everything. His beautiful, deep voice reverberated in the air between them, telling of pain and unhappiness and death, death chasing after him, always.

"Sasuke," she replied softly. What else could she say? What else could tell of the endless hours of training, the gnawing grief, the new determination. She had grown from an infatuated girl to a talented young medic to where she was today; a highly skilled and respected jounin, a revered ANBU member, an eighteen-year-old who was already surpassing her master. But one who never forgot him…

For the first time he looked up, and she couldn't stop the gasp which left her at the sight of his handsome face with his two burning eyes.

His burning, red eyes.

"Sasuke…"

"I'm turning into Itachi." He cut across her, his level voice failing to conceal the raw panic he was experiencing. "I'm turning into him and by the time I'm ready to defeat him I'll have to kill myself as well."

There was a silence. And in that pause, in the calm, stealthy dark and quiet of the forest at night, her heart broke for him.

He was sinking onto the ground. Quiet strangled sounds tore themselves from his throat, and Sakura felt her gut twist painfully at the sight of Sasuke on all fours on the forest floor, shoulders shaking with dry sobs. The next minute she was crouched in front of him, lifting up his face with her hand. As his red eyes locked with hers, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down next to him.

She tensed, fearing an attack, but quickly realized she had misjudged his motives; he was not hurting her, but draped over her, his head buried in the pocket between her neck and collarbone while she lay on the ground, pine needles digging into her back.

"Why, Sakura? Why?" he muttered against her skin. "Why is it that the longer Itachi's alive, the more I become like him? In time I will be taken over by my seal, by my hatred. I don't want to, I-" he buried his head deeper into her neck. "How can I stop time, Sakura?"

They stayed in silence while Sakura's mind whirled. Sasuke was so somber, so… defeated. He had succumbed to despair, to the desperate hatred and lust for power, and it was killing him. Sakura was a celebrated medic-nin, yet she couldn't heal her Sasuke. He was right; time would kill him, turn him into a mass murderer even more heartless than his brother and Orochimaru combined. He had dug himself into a deep pit filled with snakes, blood, and the enraged screams of the long dead. Time would be the death of him. But what could stop time?

"…Love." Sakura suddenly said. It suddenly all made sense. Hatred condemned him; only love could save him.

"What?" Sasuke whispered, raising his head and staring at her.

"Love overcomes time," she told him, meeting his swirling red eyes without fear. "Love existed before time. Love is much more ancient and powerful than time itself. Hatred only exists within time. Love can save you, Sasuke." The last sentence was whispered, as his eyes continued to devour her. As their staring match continued, his eyes- slowly, oh so slowly, but time was weak, time would be beaten- lost their bloody tinge. As the last of his Sharingan disappeared, Sasuke collapsed back against Sakura.

"Sakura…" his voice was so childlike, so soft, that she couldn't believe it was him. "Sakura, help me. Please…" his voice lowered even more. "Don't let me become like my brother."

Sakura allowed herself to run a hand through his hair before getting up. Sasuke's shocked, heartbroken expression melted into one of confusion as she held out her hand. "What are you doing?"

She helped him up, refusing to relinquish his hold. "Saving you."

It was not a long walk to the nearest village. She paid for a room and climbed up to the small room with its single mattress in the middle of the wooden floor. For the first time since she had raised him from the forest floor, Sasuke let go of her hand. "Why only one room?" He asked, sounding suspicious.

Sakura gazed at him sadly. She imagined that Sasuke had come across some admirers much less principled that the girls of Konoha. The implications of renting one room, though, had never until then crossed Sakura's mind. There was one simple reason she hadn't requested two rooms: "I didn't want you to be alone."

His face relaxed then, relaxed into something much different than the patronizing looks he had endowed her with during their Team Seven days; something akin to frightened affection; caring- she didn't dare think of love- tempered by a fear of being left, a fear of feeling anything but the dark, destroying emotions which had been, again and again, pounded into him as the only emotions worth having. He was terrified of healing…

But he was there with her, holding her close as they settled down on the mattress. "Sakura…" he whispered as she propped her chin on top of his head.

"Yes, Sasuke?"

A pause. "To me, you are what triumphs over time."

In the darkness, Sakura smiled. She would be late returning from her mission, she reflected, but it didn't matter.

And as long as he was with her, she didn't care. For they lived- and loved- before time.