Disclaimer: As we all know, I don't own Naruto. Neither do I own Madonna's song "Die Another Day" (which you might recognize from the James Bond movie with the same name).

Current Date in Fic: October 27th (Friday)

WARNING: Major swearing coming up in some parts of the fic, too.

People always go on about how unpredictable life is.

(like, breaking bonds with someone you always thought was going to be there)

I guess that unpredictability scares us. The unknown, the unsafe—that's why we become superstitious, cautious, in order to avoid certain scenarios and be able to predict others.

("…Sasuke-kun—"
"Don't call me that.")

But sometimes, in life, it's strange how you know exactly what will happen—and even if it's bad, you walk straight-forward towards it. You know it's going to hurt. You know that this might not be the best decision.

("..And? What do you want me to say? I forgive you? 'It's okay'?"
And you know what's coming next, but you don't want to hear it, yet you stand still, unmoving, and your brain screams RUN RUN RUN—)

All you can do is hope for the best and prepare yourself for the pain that's coming next. You go into defense mode, putting up your hands to protect yourself from the blows, suck your breath in so that it won't be punched out of you.

(—because your heart is going to be broken, and perhaps it'll never repair. Yet, you listen to those words that are going to bring you nothing but blinding pain.)

But is it just me who's wondering,

("Never show your face in front of me again. Never speak to me again.")

how exactly do you prepare yourself to feel like your entire world is going to be torn apart, and nothing will ever be the same again?

("Never again.")

o12.

It was funny—or not really funny at all—Sasuke thought, how when faced with a situation with several choices, you could possibly feel like you had none at all.

"Well, this is quite the dilemma, Sasuke-kun," chuckled the hissy, morbidly delightful voice that the aforementioned loathed so much; the fifty-or-so years old man slowly stroked a silky, ebony strand out of his snake-like, amber eyes, as Sasuke contemplated how it'd feel to just tear all of his hair out from his skull.

He made no response. He ignored Kabuto's soft, mocking laughter he had heard so many times before, focusing on unclenching and clenching his fist rather than planting it in the silver-haired doctor's face; things were bad enough as they were without more complications.

"On one hand, we've got that little blonde beauty queen—," and at this, he nodded in the direction of Ino outside on the arena, pepping her fellow cheerleaders to win the competition, "—down there, who we all know you're dating."

"And then, there's her—," and his lips twisted into a maliciously cheery smirk as his eyes trailed to the pinkette sitting on the stands, waiting patiently for him to return to his empty seat, "—your precious little friend, Sakura-chan. Never thought you two would ever make up again after what happened, but I guess it's true what they say—soulmates just can't be kept apart, no matter how much you try."

He paused. Still no reply.

Not because Sasuke didn't want to, or feared to do so. There were so many things swirling in his head at once that he wished to voice—like how he thought this man before him was the worst, most disgusting, absolutely most abominable being to have ever walked the Earth, or just a plain 'fuck off to hell'—but because he didn't know what to say.

"We've two antidotes, Sasuke-kun."

Because all of that—all of those insults and other angered remarks in his mind—would do nothing about this situation, but perhaps worsen it.

"You could either abandon Konoha's Golden Leaf and join Hebi as the official representative for Sound—only for the night, nothing else—and get one antidote. You can give it to the one most important to you—whoever that is, we don't know—but whether or not she's the one severely poisoned, that's up for you to tell."

"But by the time the symptoms are starting to show, it's too late, so don't even think about it," was Kabuto's helpful input as he smiled nastily at the glaring Uchiha.

"Or," the other one smiled as he weaved his sickly pale fingers together, "you could join us entirely and declare that you're officially making your return to Oto as of tonight… and receive both antidotes."

"Or perhaps your loyalty to your precious little Konoha means more to you than those two lady friends of yours do? Come to think of it, if you wish to save both, your efforts of getting back in the Uchiha clan would be just a waste, wouldn't it… I've heard they don't like traitors too much, and betraying Konoha once was risky enough," Kabuto said, and both he and the other man laughed coolly, a sound that made Sasuke's fingers dig deeper into the skin of his palms.

"Now, we're not going to press you all too much. That'd be entirely too unfair of us to ask you to come to us just like that, wouldn't it?" Sasuke knew what that look of greed and the flicking tongue over his lips meant to Orochimaru—it was signal that that he had won.

And as much as the Uchiha hated to admit it, it sure felt like it.

"Therefore, we're going to be kind to you. We give you one more hour, Sasuke-kun."

3 Hours Earlier

Ino couldn't breathe.

She hadn't always been like that around him. It would've been utterly problematic, really, if she had always been unable to breathe in Sasuke's presence—considering all the time they had spent together since they were kids, she'd have died out of lack of oxygen a long time ago if that had been the case.

He's like a drug, she thought. When you're not in its vicinity, it seems so harmless, so weak—once it hits you right-on, you can't even understand how you even let it go in the first place.

A drug would be a good metaphor, she further pondered—he was just as unhealthy too. Temporary, never really there; your fate as a junkie was sealed the moment you even sniffed a whiff of it.

And with him, she was always on a high.

But like with drugs, he came at a heavy cost—the repercussions were so much worse than what you anticipated, because words can't describe feelings, can't convey them perfectly until you've had your own share of the emotion, be it good or bad.

(like that of heartache threatening to tear you apart, or the bitter taste of betrayal, of not knowing who to blame—you for stupidly trusting them, or them for cruelly betraying you)

But right now, she could say, without a moment's hesitation, that it was bad.

Very, very bad.

She knew she shouldn't feel that way. She didn't have the slightest reason in the world to even feel bothered. Ino could, without as much as blinking, come to the conclusion that about two thirds of the male part of the crowd watching her as she stood there in the center of the school gym

(looking like she had come straight out of a Vogue shoot, if Vogue models had worn tight, short cheerleading uniforms)

would've undoubtedly thrown themselves at her feet with a simple wave of her hand.

Whereas she was dressed in impeccably boring clothes that'd have blended her among countless others had it not been for her perfectly straight, chest-length roseate hair—not more than approximately three guys watching her.

(and two of them being Lee and Naruto, which could only be associated with a less than appealing description of, 'ew', at least in Ino's eyes)

So she had no reason to feel as though somebody had just punctured her lungs with a needle, making the air slowly, but painfully clearly, seethe out of the wound—and all her pride with it.

No reason at all, except that the third person watching her—albeit silently and barely noticeably, but nonetheless, his onyx eyes almost never leaving her as they spoke (did he do that with her as well, or did it only apply to her?)—was none other than Uchiha Sasuke, the Prince Charming himself.

It wasn't like she hadn't been expecting it. The past two weeks she had been completely furious, and made use of this energy to make herself as impossibly pretty as possible—to make him regret, regret that he even considered this pinkette to replace her in his heart.

(if she had ever been there to begin with)

She had equipped herself with the pride, the mental strength and every single exterior factor needed for the battle to win against the Evil Witch to get Prince Charming back to his senses, but the moment she had seen them, it was as though all of her effort had just flown right out of the window.

Because, as she watched the couple—because they did indeed look like one—she had never seen Sakura prettier. Ino had forgotten how vibrant and happy and alive Sakura's smile was in his proximity, because it had been gone so long.

And not only was it back, it made her so goddamn frickin' gorgeous, that it made the Princess feel as ugly as the hunchbacked Evil Witch with her straw-like grey hair and wart on her cucumber-shaped nose.

It made the Princess want to be in the Evil Witch's shoes, because she had taken away everything that she had left—her beauty, her best friend, and her Prince.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair.

The bun-haired girl next to her heaved a deep sigh. "Why don't you just talk to her?"

She snorted in incredulity. "What's there left to say?"

It was true. Ino couldn't think of anything more to say that didn't sound utterly ridiculous—things like, "please don't take him away from me" and "how could you do this to me?" had already been torn in half, ripped to shreds and thrown away from the routes stretching to her conscious mind before she even considered it; those were lines fitted for the secondary character in a badly written soap opera, not lines fitted for a prideful, glamorous and highly admirable main character in a beautiful love story.

Not lines fitted for Ino.

(because even an Evil Witch did not say pathetic things like that)

Tenten opened her mouth to argue with a furrowed brow, but thought better of it as she closed it again. Shaking her head, she answered, "I don't know. Just sort it out, somehow. This—," She gestured meaningfully at Ino and then in the direction of that person, because Ino point-blank refused to refer to her as anything else than such, "—all of it, is so… weird. We don't get what's going on unless you tell us, and to be entirely honest, I don't think she gets it, either."

She paused, waiting for the full effect of her statement to sink in, but when the stony disgust etched into the blonde's face failed to evaporate, Tenten sighed again—this time in exacerbation. "Can you at least consider joining us after the competition and concert at Ichiraku? Even if you don't want to see Sakura—" She ignored the cringe and glare at the mention of the One-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, "—there's still us. And him." Another pause. "I'm sure he misses you too, you know."

Ino almost wanted to laugh out loud at the idea, but didn't.

"Look, I'm just going to go back to them now—" It was with a twinge of regret, Ino noticed, how the common pronoun of them made her so uncomfortable; almost like they were a separate entity in another world out of her reach, "—but if you change your mind, just call me."

Perhaps it is a good idea to join them afterwards, she thought. The mental image of her strutting about, looking absolutely picture perfect, outshining her by far in both looks and popularity as she'd be showered in praise for winning the trophy for Konoha whilst settled in Sasuke's arms was appealing…

But then again, imagining them together—being able to being held by and holding Sasuke again, but unable to keep him there, unable to feel him

(almost as if his very soul and spirit and mind and the very essence of him is with her, even when she's hugging him close and never letting go)

and then, having to see that look—that unfamiliar look of almost-warmth she had never been able to experience herself from him—as his eyes grazed her face

(even thinking about him watching other parts of her just made her want to hurl)

was a torture she didn't want to experience again—

"Hey."

She was once again snapped out of a trance for the second time in less than ten minutes as she felt her heartbeat speed up; that masculine, baritone voice… perhapsmaybehopefully it belonged to—

"Oh, it's you."

"Good to see you too," Shikamaru retorted dryly, and she couldn't help but feel her lips quirk slightly upwards.

"Sorry," she apologized without quite meaning it. "I just…"

"Expected me to be someone else?"

"Something like that, yeah," she answered absent-mindedly, her eyes leaving his; she was seldom read easily, but she didn't like taking the risk. "Akimichi-kun! Good to see you too."

She smiled as pleasantly as she could manage, and his cheeks turned a flashy shade of crimson. "Uh-um… hi. Y-you can just call me Chouji…"

"Will do." She turned back to the pineapple-head, who was wearing a faint expression of amusement. "So, what're you guys doing here?"

"What does it look like? Talking to you, of course," the latter replied, sighing. "Troublesome woman."

"Who is, you lazy goddamn—"

"Actually, we've some business with you," he cut across her. "Or well, not as much we—"

"Don't just interrupt me, you idiot!"

"—as Chouji. Chouji?"

Chouji, who had been staring at her in quite the daze, promptly snapped back to reality as Shikamaru gently elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! Uh, um… w-we—" Another elbowing. "—uh, I was wondering if… if you'd like to join us for dinner?"

Ino blinked at the two in surprise, as her lips parted in an attempt to reply, but was interrupted by a fourth voice—a voice ranked right up with Sakura on Ino's Bitch List. "Ditching us for the geeks, Yamanaka?"

"Ami," she muttered through gritted teeth as she spun around to face the maliciously grinning (fake) blonde.

"Ino," the aforementioned replied sweetly, chucking a bottle of Coke into Ino's hands; the latter raised an eyebrow at this. "Some refreshments before the competition, even if it's not sugar-free. Although I could understand your fear of over-consumption of sugar…," she trailed off, glancing meaningfully at Chouji, whose face turned a shade of beetroot-red.

"Thanks. By the way, Ami, haven't you gone up a size? You've to be careful with those sugar drinks; you wouldn't want to be kicked out of the squad because your fat ass doesn't fit into our uniform anymore," she seethed, eyes narrowing considerably.

The glare she was rewarded with could've pierced through brick, and the raged blush on Ami's cheeks could've rivaled Hinata's. "Screw you, Yamanaka," she hissed angrily. "At least I'm not an anorexic good-for-nothing Barbie like you with no one to like me."

"Right back at you, hon."

She put the bottle of Coke into her bag as she watched the other girl stomp away, when Shikamaru spoke up beside her. "How troublesome."

"You don't say," she retorted with a roll of her baby-blue eyes. "Ami's a real bitch. And she has been worse ever since…"

Ever since the rumors of me and Sasuke breaking up started to circulate.

The fact that Ino had barely been seen with the rest of Konoha's Golden Leaf and their entourage the past two weeks hadn't gone by unnoticed by the rest of the school. Some cheerleaders had even started to show their disloyalty by no longer showering Ino with the amount of admiration and respect she had used to been given, and people had started to talk. Not that they hadn't before, but now that it was confirmed that not everything was perfect in paradise was a big thing, and there wasn't a single person who hadn't heard about it.

(no thanks to Ami, whose glee at all of this had been more and more emphasized every day)

"So," Shikamaru cut through her inner turmoil again. "About that dinner…"

She contemplated her options. She could either go partying with the other cheerleaders, including Ami, and most likely strangle the latter and dump her corpse on the next flight to Siberia—or she could go with Tenten and the others for ramen, and most likely kill herself before the end of the evening.

Or she could join two perfectly alright, albeit not very popular, guys for a delicious dinner and actually be able to enjoy it—with no bloodshed done.

"Aa," she answered, and grinned back at him. "It's a date."

2 Hours and 50 Minutes Earlier

"Well?"

Ami wasn't the type to be scared.

Or, well, more precisely—she wasn't the type to show any fear. The days when Yamanaka Ino could chuck a handful of flowers in her mouth and tell her that she'd become an old hag in a matter of minutes, making her shriek in hysterics, were long gone.

The rule was simple: show no fear to the enemy, and you will win.

And winning was all Ami cared about.

She flicked her purple horsetail nonchalantly, and gave the redhead a long, hard stare. "She wouldn't take it. What was I supposed to do?"

"Perhaps we weren't clear enough, but your mission was to make her take it, at all costs," one of the others—the silver-haired guitarist, or, well, one of them—said silkily, as though speaking to a mindless 3-year-old. Ami gritted her teeth.

"But that would've looked weird, wouldn't it? Like, what—I was supposed to force the Coke down her throat? They would've kicked me off the squad!"

"We don't give a damn if you get kicked off the squad, missy," the more dark-skinned Latino-looking one—she thought his name was Kidoumaru, but she wasn't sure—threw back with a raised eyebrow. "We had a deal."

That's it. The once purple-haired girl marched forward briskly, jabbing a finger into the latter's chest accusingly. "Look," she snapped, "we have a deal. You guys give me the pills that'll make Yamanaka faint and nauseous all over the place so that she'll be kicked off the team and so that I can take Sasuke-kun away from her, and I give them to her. We're on equal ground here, so don't try to make it seem as though I'm the inferior one. I'm doing my best, you kn—"

She didn't even get to finish her sentence. In the next couple of seconds, Ami found herself pinned against the wall, the hair tie of her ponytail pressing into the back of her skull as fingers made of what seemed like iron clenched around her neck from behind, making her vision sway and her mind scream, DANGER! DANGER!

Well, not that she needed to be told so. The ferocious, wild brown eyes of the redhead from before were boring holes into her head; if there ever was a female Hannibal Lecter, Ami was fairly sure she'd look like Tayuya.

"Listen, you fucker," she hissed as her face blurred from the pain, "I ain't got any time for little whiny bitches like you. You think you're special? We can just get any other jealous loser like you from the team to get to do this job for us. I'm sure people won't even fucking notice that you're gone before it's far too late to save you—who you think you're playing with, brat? You think your little rich daddy's gonna save you from us? You never heard of what Orochimaru-sama is capable of?"

She had. There wasn't a single person in Konoha, not even the beggars on the streets, that hadn't.

Not that that information was going to save her now. All she could do was to whimper and incline the slightest nod, despite the fact that it felt like the bones in her neck would fall off their hinges just by doing so.

"Good." Ami gasped for air as she was thrown off her feet, gently clutching at her the base of her red neck as a bottle of Diet Coke and another package of pills landed before her. "Now get this fucking job done before the concert begins—two pills in the Coke, not more."

She lay on the ground, a pounding ache on the bruise she suspected was forming already; as the steps finally disappeared from her hearing proximity, she snorted incredulously—but quietly, because you never knew who listened. Then, releasing her hair tie to let the fake-blonde hair fall down to shield the bruise from view, she picked up the items from the ground.

"Fuck you," she muttered as she uncorked the bottle. How many pills had Tayuya said now again? Two? Three? Four? Better to just put the whole stuff in, she figured as she dropped a total of four pills, watching as they made a sizzling, hissing noise as they mixed with the liquid before disappearing, as though it had never been put there.

A lot of people claimed Watanabe Ami had no conscience, but she didn't care; whatever made her the winner of this battle was well worth the things she did (people deserved the things she did against them, anyway).

There was only one Princess to be unofficially crowned as the Queen and the winner tonight, and if there was one thing Ami had learned from her good-for-nothing rich parents, it was this: losing was never permitted.

2 Hours and 30 Minutes Earlier

Sakura had never been one to mind stares.

(Or well, she once had been—but that was a long time ago, long time as in past-lifetime-when-she-was-still-with-him-long-time-ago)

It was inevitable, as a matter of fact, that she'd be stared at. She had always earned male stares for being known as Ino's sidekick, or just walking next to her in town—female stares when she walked with Sasuke and even with Naruto, who, she had to admit, was growing fonder on the eyes of other females ever since he hit adolescence—and ever since Konoha's Golden Leaf and Ino's and Sasuke's relationship had drawn media attention, she had been one of the people to stand in the midst of the spotlight.

Still, there was something remarkably uncomfortable with sitting alone next to an empty seat in the middle of a crowd in a pathetic attempt to blend in and become the receptor for the stares of every single pair of eyes in a 20-meter-radius, as well as hearing the whispers.

The Whispers, she mentally corrected herself dryly, with a capital W.

"Why is she here?"

"—stole her best friend's boyfriend—"

"… but isn't she dating Naru—"

"Konoha's top medical apprentice? I'd say top slut apprentice…"

"Are they here together?"

"The nerve of her to play with Sa—"

Heaving an impatient sigh, she prodded her new pink Sony earphones deeper into her ears in an attempt to drown out the 'Whispers'. It wasn't like it had been unexpected—she had always been hated to begin with for reasons beyond her understanding—but like with the stares, it still didn't stop her from feeling uncomfortable.

"I guess I'll die another day," Madonna chanted into her speakers as she drummed her fingers along to the beat against her kneecaps. "It's not my time to go."

Speaking of going, she thought as she avoided the wide-eyed stares of the couple next to her and mainly focused on the cheerleaders getting ready down below, where is Sasuke?

He had gone to buy refreshments for them both while waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive. The others were on their way—or so it had seemed judging by their most recent text message to her—but Sasuke was still gone, and it didn't take 25 minutes going down a staircase to buy two Cokes.

Unless…

Her digits tightened around the cold metal of the pink iPod.

Unless he went to look for Ino to talk things out.

It made sense, of course. This was her day after all—her cheerleading competition. And his concert, rolled into one—just like the way things should be. Their day.

She didn't even notice that she had pulled out her cell phone and had already begun typing before she caught herself in the midst of everything, staring at the white screen before her, a single word typed across it (along with the beginning of another)—

Sasuke, wh

What was she doing? Why was she getting in the way? Why—

I trust him with you, Ino's voice echoed in her mind, almost torturously innocent, after all, it's not like you're going to fall in love with him or something.

Her fingers trembled as she pressed backspace, the screen now showing a single word.

Sasuke.

Sasuke.

I'll promise to keep my distance, her own voice repeated like a mantra.

She had promised.

Even without the promise, she was completely crossing the line. What had she wanted to do? Ask him to turn back? Ask him not to talk things out with his girlfriend? To just stay in this mess

(so that you can never leave, so that we can pretend like everything's alright and like everything's like before)

with her?

What had she expected to happen? What was she thinking?

Or was she even thinking at all?

(oh, but she was, or else she wouldn't have heard all those "you've no right to feel like this", "you're such a selfish person", and all those other things repeating themselves in her mind with his voice)

It all made sense. He had always been a sensible person—surely he had more sense than to sit here with her, the cause of this entire mess, on such an important day when his girlfriend is upset and in the greatest need of his support, especially with all these rumors flying about.

(because that's all it was, wasn't it? Rumors? Because he'd never prefer her)

And wasn't this what she had aimed for in the beginning? To repair their relationship, to make them happier? To make her happier?

But what about me?

She wanted to slap herself the moment the line flew across her mind. How could she even think that? She was the one who was guilty in the first place. The one who had put them in this kind of situation. She had had the power to make things different—and she hadn't taken it. It was too late now.

But…

What if Sasuke actually wanted her? What if he was there now to break up with Ino, to come to her, to—

Sakura felt sorely tempted to strangle herself with her own headphones.

She was angry with Ino, of course. But this wasn't the first time. They had been best friends for almost ten years, for crying out loud. A fight now and then was inevitable, especially with their explosive tempers.

But she was crossing the line by thinking thoughts like these. She had thought of all kinds of punishments for Ino as a child whenever they got into fights—dyeing her hair blue, destroy her Barbie Dream Castle, push her into a rain puddle—but she had never done them.

But what was this now? Was she seriously thinking about doing this? Or was it just out of anger?

And what if she had already crossed the line, leaving it so far behind it was only just a dot in the horizon to her—long, long ago when she first fell in love with Sasuke and her lies first began?

"Sakura?"

The pinkette jumped in her seat, dropping her iPod onto the ground as she flushed a bright pink. The last person she had wanted to see in the midst of her most horrible inner turmoil was him, and yet…

(and yet she couldn't help but feel this relief—perhaps he hadn't gone to see Ino at all, perhaps…)

"Sasuke, I—"

"I'm not Sasuke."

Her head quirked upwards swiftly as she picked up her iPod, and stared in utter astonishment at the person before her, as her face turned slightly ashen—to be replaced by an offensive frown.

"You."

"And I've missed you too, babe," the pale-headed boy sighed as he perched down onto the seat next to her, flinging an arm around her shoulders as he flashed her a sharp-toothed grin.

"Don't babe me, Suigetsu," she scoffed as she grasped hold of his hand and promptly dropped it onto his own lap.

"Aw, Sakura, you were more fun when you weren't dating the moron," he pouted childishly. "That's why you're dumping me like a hot potato now, isn't it? Fine, have it your way. You're the one missing out on a good time."

Rolling her jade eyes, she instead asked, "What're you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? This is an open venue, isn't it? Anybody is welcome to come. Besides—" There was a glimmer of something in his eyes that made her feel eerie, something that felt like a bad omen, "—why wouldn't I be here when your boyfriend is performing?"

It was definitely a bad omen. "What do you want with Sasuke?" she demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Sasuke? I thought your boyfriend was—" Falling in silence, his expression of surprise was quickly replaced by his default smirk of mischief. "Oh, so it is true, then..."

"It's not. I just figured he was the one you were looking for," she quickly retorted, cheeks growing hotter. Smooth, Sakura. Smooth.

"Yeah, whatever you say. Well, now that you mention it—I am looking for Sasuke. Where is the guy, anyway?"

"Tell me what you want with him first."

"You're still stubborn as a mule—but sorry, I don't like spoiling surprises." Rising up from the seat next to her once more, he arched an eyebrow in amusement. "So I guess you'll just have to wait and see. See you around, babe."

"Wait, Sui—!"

But he had already begun to walk away, and Sakura was disconcerted to see that their little dialogue had been overheard by quite a few, causing new rumors to fly about in the air. Rising from her chair and following his cue, her feet carried her speedily to her next destination—the Konoha cheerleaders' locker room, where Ino must be.

(and where he must be, with her, as he should be)

It was simply because this was an urgent matter she needed to tell him, she thought, as she quickly descended down the stairs of the audience stands towards the locker rooms. Nothing else.

Or at least, that's what she desperately had to believe.

2 Hours and 25 Minutes Earlier

It had been five minutes since he had left the stands.

Funny how time passes fast even when you're not having fun, Sasuke pondered dryly as he impatiently drummed his frozen fingers against the sides of the icy soda cans. "Well?"

"Take it easy, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto chuckled as he shoved his non-frozen fingers into the pockets of his incredibly large, brown hoodie (bastard, Sasuke inwardly grumbled), "don't be so hostile. It's been a while since I last saw you. Haven't you missed me at all?"

"As much as Orochimaru would miss being straight," he hissed with a glare, "which I'm sure both of us would know is pretty much zero."

"You really hurt my feelings. And here I thought we could have a strong and wonderful friendship in the springtime of our youth—embracing each other in green jumpsuits in the sunset whilst crying out the most inner thoughts of our soul to be echoed by the mountains…" Kabuto slapped the palm of his hand against his chest in a dramatic gesture. "Oh, and then let the entire world hear our heartfelt words by putting the video on YouTube! Wouldn't that be simply wonderful?"

Sasuke looked as enthusiastic to follow his lead as he was to perform Caramelldansen in a banana costume as he gazed at the silver-haired Oto boy in clear disgust, before furrowing his brow in hesitation as he scrutinized the latter's face.

"Lee?" he tried doubtfully, tilting his head slightly to the side as he peeked underneath the silver bangs in search of the slightest sign of a bowl cut.

"What?" retorted Kabuto blankly.

"Nothing. I just thought I saw the last of my resolve not to kill myself fly right out of the window," he muttered with a slight shudder, before he continued; "I'm not even going to ask what drugs you're on. Just cut the crap and tell me why you're here already."

"Really, Sasuke-kun, you disappoint me. Here I thought you'd embrace my idea with open arms. Now, if you think about it, that video would have been one of the most viewed videos of the century—"

Sasuke glanced sideways at his wristwatch. Six minutes. "Cut the crap, Kabuto," he snarled. "Now."

"Grumpy as always, I see. Well, I guess you leave me no options." Heaving a sigh, he pulled out a double-folded piece of paper, extending it to the suspicious Sasuke with his left hand.

"This is…?"

"The schedule for Hebi, and the songs that they'll play tonight. I thought you might need it."

Obsidian eyes narrowed in response. "I've no need for something like that."

"Oh, you just might," Kabuto drawled as his lips curled into a sadistic smile, "if the most important person to you accidentally gets poisoned, and we just happen to have the antidote."

"You son of a bitch," he hissed as his fingers clenched the cans spasmodically.

"Language, Sasuke-kun," said Kabuto with a mockingly scolding voice as he arched an eyebrow. "After all, we're the only ones who can cure your little girlfriend. Of course, you could ask Tsunade-sama—after all, it's not for nothing she's known as the miracle doctor in Japan—but as you know, she's currently in the presence of the Five Kages and the President in an attempt to show them what Konoha and The Academy is capable of, and surely wrecking havoc on such an important day for your fellow citizens—among them your own clan—is not one of the things she, or you, wants to show the most powerful people in Japan."

If physical violence had helped the slightest in this situation, Sasuke would've already done such gory things to him, even Saw would seem like a children's play in comparison, but he was forced to let measly words suffice. "Fuck you."

"And you probably don't want to be so rude to your potential savior, either," he added with a tiny chuckle. "Thankfully, we only have a small favor to ask of you—to not join Konoha's Golden Leaf tonight, but to join Hebi. Surely this is an easy decision to make, when Yamanaka Ino's life is at stake?"

Astonishment flickered in his gaze just for a millisecond, before it settled again. "In other words, you want me to show every single person worth mentioning here tonight—including the President, the Five Kages and my own clan—that I, Uchiha Sasuke, one of the most famous representatives of Fire County and Konoha, is loyal to Oto tonight."

"Exactly. Piece of cake, really, if you think about it," Kabuto exclaimed gleefully. "Just sing a couple of songs in front of an audience. It's not like you don't do that all the time. And oh, save a life—your girlfriend's life—too as a bonus. Quite the deal, if you ask me."

Quite the deal if you want a war. His gaze dashed to the wristwatch. There was still time, and he was wasting it standing here debating with Kabuto—and himself.

"The time limit is, of course, until the concert—but let me remind you that her condition will grow continually more unstable. And oh, you might want her to watch out for headaches."

If Sasuke had ever felt he hated Kabuto before—which he had, almost with the same fervent passion as Naruto when his ramen was delayed—it was nothing compared to now.

"You know where to find us when you've made the right decision."

For every sin, I have to pay

2 Hours and 10 Minutes Earlier

Sakura had once tried martial arts in middle school at the tender age of eleven (at the request of a certain bun-haired Chinese). She knew basic self-defense—put up your hands and arms in front of your face, or the area that you want to protect. Brace yourself for the pain that's coming next, and the possibility of being hit despite trying to protect yourself.

It was a pity that the same thing didn't work for one's heart.

"Aren't you heading in?"

Her head snapped up at the source of the voice—the guard who had been guarding the backdoor to the locker room (the front was crowded with paparazzi, and Sakura had just narrowly dodged them on her way to the backdoor)—in alarm, blinking at him in surprise.

"Uh… yeah," she said uncertainly. "Sure."

She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat, but it was getting increasingly difficult with her mounting thirst. Now or never, Sakura.

She was going to disturb them. She was going to intercept their sweet moment of privacy in this little secluded locker room, safe from the paparazzi, and ruin everything—their attempt to solve their problems, their relationship, their happiness.

Her happiness.

(the happiness of the one who had been more of a family to her than her own family these past years)

Again.

But I've a reason for it, she mentally argued against the Ino-like voice in her head. This is urgent. This isn't about personal matters anymore; there's something going on here besides that. Something that has to do with Oto, and judging from my experience of them, it isn't anything good.

You can use your cell phone, the Ino-like voice replied icily. Text messaging, calling. Even leaving a voicemail. You don't have to show up in person in front of them, especially when you're the last person she wants to see before the competition.

She didn't even bother coming up with a half-hearted excuse as she inhaled deeply, and opened the door to what would surely be her doom.

Surprise

(and relief and guilt and happiness and anger and self-loathing and…)

hit her like a ton of bricks as she scanned the empty locker room, closing the door shut behind her. Naturally, dozens of Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Dior, Miu Miu and other brands flashed their lavish logos at her from bags, clothes and makeup strewn about everywhere, as though a whirlwind had just swept up every luxurious item from the shopping centers in town and dropped them as a bomb in one single place—so the locker room wasn't entirely empty.

But not a single person was there.

Ino hadn't left either, she noticed, as her favorite Gucci bag was just some distance away. Walking towards it, Sakura suddenly felt a longing to the times when Ino first had bought it—back in the days before she started to date Sasuke, when Sakura first believed that he was officially out of her life forever.

And yet, this past month had felt like a dream—a wonderful paradise and a hellish nightmare at the same time. Ups and downs blending in with each other like a stream of praise and curses thrown at her as a nonsensical pattern of words and emotions. Where was she going with all of this? Where were they headed—all of them?

Guilt seemed to eat her from within when the thought of the other blonde she had wronged appeared in her mind. She had constantly been with him—and Sasuke—these past two weeks, yet she had been so distant, so wrapped up in her thoughts and her feelings that she had barely paid him any attention at all.

What was he thinking of her right now? Did she even want to know?

She was brought back to reality by the taste of soda on her tongue. Surprised, she stared at her own hands, which had automatically uncorked one of the two soda bottles in Ino's bag. What was she doing? First she was contemplating stealing her best friend's boyfriend, and now she was actually stealing her soda?

Not that Ino would ever notice with so many cheerleaders around, she thought hopefully. She won't even get to know that I was here. If I just quietly slip out—

"Girls," she heard the slightly nasal voice of her favorite person in the world—namely one certain Watanabe Ami—say with its usual nasty tone, "that last backflip was a total disaster."

It could've been seconds. Minutes. All Sakura knew was that her mind was spinning at top speed, and yet, her brain seemed to have collapsed into a state of utter stillness.

No. No.

How would she even explain herself? Hey, Ino, I just came by to see if you were with Sasuke so that I could ruin your moment by telling you that Oto seems to be after your boyfriend's ass, but since you're not, I'm standing here drinking your soda?

Jade eyes darted about frantically in search of a hiding place. There were two; the shower room, with its transparent glass door—or the toilet she was well aware of having a broken lock, on account of having been here before during Ino's cheerleading contests in the past.

The sound of the steps was getting uncomfortably closer.

"Good afternoon," she heard the guard say with his usual politeness, and Ami's indignant snort—the slightly screechy doorhandle being pulled down, and then—

"God, this place looks like a complete mess," she heard Ami's voice complain loudly as Sakura leaned against the once-pink walls of the toilet. She allowed herself to exhale as soundlessly as possible, thanking God that nobody had noticed her slip into the petite space just as they entered the room.

"Well, it's a locker room, Ami—locker rooms tend to be messy," Ino's voice remarked dryly, and Sakura could tell she wasn't in the best of moods.

That means she and Sasuke haven't talked yet, she realized, and wanted to bang her head against the wall for the mixed glee and guilt that rose to the surface within her, but wisely refrained from doing so.

"So, um… do you guys think we can pull this off?" Yuzuki nervously tried to not-so-subtly change the subject. "The cheering contest, I mean."

"Are you an idiot?" Ami scoffed along with Ino's simultaneous outburst of, "Of course we can!"

An awkward silence followed, during which Sakura could almost sense Ami's and Ino's death glares directed at each other, when the latter blonde suddenly said something that caused Sakura to stiffen. "Sumiko, can you pass me the soda in my bag, please?"

"Sure. The Diet or the non-Diet one?"

Which one was the one that I drank from? Sakura thought in a panic; both of them had been unopened when she first saw them.

"The non-Diet one," she replied defiantly. "Unlike some, I'm not worried about getting fat."

At Ami's scoff at the statement, the pinkette could tell Ino had said it that way to oppose her; hiding a smile, she reminisced about the days when the two of them would go up against the purple-headed girl together. They had had countless feuds even as children, and as far as Sakura could remember, Ami had always hated them—or at least, her—and vice versa.

However, her little train of thoughts was cut short by a thrill of panic at a cheerleader's voice far too close for her liking. "Who's using the toilet? Hurry up, I need to fix my makeup. Everybody who's somebody is watching today, you know."

Dammit. She had nowhere left to run.

"Hello? Is anybody in there?"

"Wait, I think the lock is broken. It's stuck on being locked, even though nobody is in there," another voice piped up next to the previous one, and the doorhandle was repetitively pulled on.

Please don't get in here, Sakura mentally chanted and prayed to all gods she could remember from her Social Science class, please, please, please—

"Here, let me try fixing it," Ino's voice joined the first two. "If I use one of my hairpins—"

It felt as though a hammer was continually pounding against the inside of Sakura's chest at the speed of light—the same feeling she'd get when she dreamed of being chased by whatever gory villain from the horror movies Naruto forced her to watch. The adrenaline rush from the anxiety, the panic of getting caught, and the fear for what would happen after she got caught—everything was just as clear as in one of her nightmares.

Except that this time around, she wasn't the victim.

"It worked!" Ino exclaimed in glee, the familiar sound of her voice no longer slightly muted by the door between them. "Now you can use the—Sakura?!"

She was the villain herself.

A time to work, a time to play

2 Hours and 3 Minutes Earlier

At more than just one occurrence in our lives, we'll find that there never seems to be enough time to speak your mind. It happens when our mothers come in to yell at us for being on the phone for too long, or when the café we've been sitting in with the Perfect Date is asking us to leave because they're closing. Either way, time catches up with us, sooner or later, even when you want to freeze it by grabbing hold of that be-damned minute hand of the clock and just scream, "STOP!"

And during other times, there almost seems to be too much time for you to speak. During such circumstances, the phenomenon that occurs is mostly referred to as an 'Awkward Silence'—yes, with the capital A and S, because there's indeed nothing worse than the heavy, tense atmosphere that seems to almost burden you physically and you're frantically (or not) searching for a topic to bring up.

Some of us try to break it. Others try to prolong it so that they don't need to speak—by text messaging, for example. Or play around with your fingers or any object in your hands. Straighten your tie or shirt, or just do anything to not have to pay attention to the non-existent conversation.

For Kiba, eating a hot dog was the best way to prolong it.

But as mentioned earlier, sooner or later, time catches up with you.

(Or a talkative loudmouth does.)

Unfortunately.

"So, uh…," said Naruto as he tried to balance the three different hot dogs in his hands (his own, Tenten's and Neji's; Hinata was a vegetarian), "I heard that Paranormal Activity is good."

The dog-boy made an effort to chew on his food as long as possible, almost like a ruminant cow. "… Okay," he replied at last.

"Um, yeah, I think," he said, throwing a meaningful glance at Kiba, "that Hinata wants to watch it."

At this, the latter had to react by stopping in his tracks and staring at him in blank surprise. "Hinata wants to watch it?"

"Yeah!" His sapphire orbs glittered with enthusiasm at the little perk of 'interest' the dog-boy apparently had shown. "And, you know, I've got two tickets for it next Wednesday. I won't be able to go, so maybe you can—"

He started walking again, the little plastic bag of soda cans he had bought for the group bumping slightly against his left knee. "Forget it."

"C'mon! Why not? Are you scared?" Naruto tried to provoke him in a challenging tone.

Pinching the bridge of his nose (and almost hitting his eye with the hot dog) to prevent an oncoming headache, Kiba decided to ignore the double meaning of the blonde's last question. "No, but Hinata is. She faints whenever she watches horror movies."

"… Oh. Um, so she's easily frightened?"

"… Yeah."

"But you can just do it like me! Like, when me and Sakura-chan are watching horror movies, if she starts screaming, I throw popcorn in her mouth! Or, if she covers her eyes, I get close to her ear and whisper in this creepy voice, 'I'm right next to you…' That way she won't be scared of the movie!"

"Sakura, the things you must've been going through…," Kiba muttered under his breath.

"Huh? What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Well, uh… there's always that… OH!" Naruto exclaimed, almost knocking a poor old man in the head with the hot dogs. "The amusement park! They've got this new rollercoaster, which is REALLY fast and cool, and it's just—"

"Hinata faints on rollercoasters too."

"Seriously?" He arched an eyebrow in puzzled incredulity at this new discovery. "She's that easily scared?"

"She faints easily."

"… Oh…"

The brunette eyed the hordes of fangirls passing them by as they slowly made their way back to the VIP sector of the crowd, seated right underneath the stand of the Five Kages. Just a couple hundred meters more to go, Kiba. Just a couple hundred meters….

"DUCKS!" the blonde suddenly screamed, flailing slightly with his arms as some of the nearby audience chose to look their way instead of the cheering competition in front of them.

"… What?" was all Kiba could inquire blankly.

"Um. Ducks. You're a duck," the blonde clarified in a slightly lower voice (which, needless to say, was still hopelessly loud).

He stared at him in utter speechlessness, before finally retorting, "Seriously, man. Lay off the ramen. I beg of you."

"No! I mean, that is… um… ducks mate for life."

"Please," Kiba said slowly, as though not wanting to startle him, "tell me you're not asking me to marry you."

"Wha-NO! NO!" Naruto shrieked loudly enough for anybody within a mile-radius to go deaf, "I'm in love with Sakura-chan! Not you! Never you! Are you crazy?"

"Isn't that supposed to be my line?"

"No! What I'm trying to say is… ducks. They mate for life. And you… you, my dear friend, is a duck! And so is Hinata!"

If there had been a Nobel Prize for being a complete idiot, Kiba pondered, it would've been going against nature not letting Naruto win it. "… Penguins mate for life, moron. Not ducks."

"Uh… they're both birds…?" Naruto smiled hopefully.

"Okay, let me put it this way," the other boy sighed. "You and Sasuke are both humans. Are you two alike?"

"Hell no! Me being like Sasuke would be like Sai getting off his rainbow ride to join Neji in the land of hair products to play guitar while eating tofu on a maple leaf in a pink tutu and an afro wig and singing, 'AMAAAAZIIIINGG GRAAAACEEE—'"

"I will pretend I did not hear that for the sake of my sanity."

"Man, what's with you these days? You're so stiff!" the blonde wailed. "You're becoming more and more like Sasuke and Neji!...Wait." Azure orbs widened in alarm. "You haven't been using Neji's shampoo, have you?"

"Wha—"

"HAVE YOU??"

Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus on your hot dog, Kiba. FOCUS. It's very tasty and… sausage-y. And ketchup-y. And…

"No," he uttered through gritted teeth, "I haven't."

"YOU'RE LYING!" Naruto exploded, pointing at him accusingly. "YOU HAVE! HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN OUR OATH??? NEVER USE NEJI'S SHAMPOO! THERE'S AN ESSENCE OF BASTARD-ITY IN IT! YOU WILL BECOME A COLD ONE, JUST LIKE THEM! SOON ENOUGH, YOU'LL GET PALE SKIN AND DARK HAIR AND GO AROUND LIKE A TOTAL EMO ARROGANT ASSHOLE AND NOT WATCH FLINTSTONES WITH ME BECAUSE IT'S NOT 'EDUCATIONAL ENOUGH'! OH MY GOD! ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE ME AS THE ONLY SANE ONE IN THE GROUP??? HOW COULD YOU! I DON'T CARE WHAT THE BASTARDS SAY, FRED FLINTSTONE'S CAR REALLY EXISTED, AND YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT! YOU LIAR!"

"Are you an idio—"

"LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!" the blonde interjected him angrily, waving his hot dog-bearing arm about like a windmill in the middle of a tornado and finally stopping the movement with pointing his hot dog at Kiba's knee. "INCENDIO!"

The resulting ketchup fountain squirting out of the hot dog would've put even the Trevi Fountain in Rome to shame; some people in the audience even pulled out their cameras in order to photograph the event. "What the fuck, dude?!"

"…I was trying to set your pants on fire?" Naruto smiled sheepishly.

…And the winner of the Complete Idiot Nobel Prize is… UZUMAKI NARUTO! "You really ARE an idiot," he emphasized as he stared at the blonde in disbelief.

"Hey, it worked in Harry Potter! Besides, your jeans look cool now. You look like you've been stabbed by—"

"A hot dog vendor?" he supplied sarcastically.

"I was going to say a yakuza, but that could work too. Um, by the way, can you ask Hinata out already? I'm running out of ideas to make you do that," Naruto admitted with an apologetic grin.

He exhaled sharply. Focus on the hot dog. FOCUS. "I won't ask Hinata out."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in obvious outrage. "Why? Don't you like her? I mean, she's pretty, smart, nice, fun—"

Kiba wasn't an idiot. He had heard of karma; of past-life wrongdoings that one had to amend in one's current life. And that's exactly why he was wondering whether or not he had murdered Naruto in a past life, and whether or not he'd have to endure this again if he redid the crime.

"I know that," he hissed through gritted teeth, unaware that he was squirting more ketchup on his jeans by clamping the hot dog in his hand with a vice-like grip, forming a very interesting pattern on his knee in the shape of a red, dripping lamb.

"What's the problem, then? You like her! She… well, she's in love with you! What more are you waiting for? An opportunity to chase after her in the rain to someone singing, 'please don't leave me' to confess your feelings?" the blonde cried out.

Silence. Then, "…Have you been watching Korean dramas again?"

"Well, yeah. You're Beautiful is actually sort of—HEY! Don't just change the subject!"

"I won't ask Hinata out. So stop asking me to ask her out," he concluded as he threw the already long-since ruined hot dog into a nearby trashcan with disgust.

"Why are you being like this, Kiba? You go out on dates with girls all the time! Girls who aren't half as good as Hinata! They aren't even serious about you—she's in love with you, dammit!"

She's in love with you.

The words echoed in Kiba's mind like a scream in an empty room; torturously and repetitively. How long hadn't he wanted to hear those words? How long hadn't he dreamed of the day it'd come true?

And yet, somehow, fate had twisted everything around, and here he was standing like an idiot hearing it from the idiot the words actually applied to, and being yelled at for not responding to feelings he had dreamed of being returned the past few years, feelings that didn't exist.

Feelings that'd never exist, he mentally added as his eyes narrowed into slits surveying the aggravated blonde babbling away before him, because of this freaking idiot.

"—maybe she isn't like the girls you normally date, but she's good, she's better than them! If you just give her a chance and ask her out just this once, Kiba, it'll be good, I promise—"

Promise.

How could he promise that? How dared he stand here and say such a thing, that he'd promise everything was going to be perfectly okay and fine and even good on a date with Hinata, during which she'd spend her precious time daydreaming about her Naruto-kun, while he, being the fool he was, was going to stand there and actually make-believe the whole thing into a real date when it actually wasn't?

(and he'd try, try take that place he knew he'd never reach, try to gain that title he'd never be associated with)

Or, if he tried to make it into real date, threatened to destroy their friendship forever?

(because no matter how hard you try, you just can't replace someone in another's heart)

Something cracked within Kiba.

"Could you STOP saying that?" he snarled in the middle of Naruto's speech, stopping dead in his tracks to glare at the blonde. "Look, the one she is in love with me isn't me. It's—"

It was The End.

Kiba knew it. This was the part where he told the main character guy about the main character girl's feelings, and he'd be confused and then realize his feelings, and they'd run off into a sunset to a cheesy love song and live happily-ever-after. This was the part where Kiba would go to a far-off country to focus on his career, the part where the Secondary Character makes his exit and that'd be the end, or the end for him, at least.

But before he could finish his sentence, he was cut across by a voice that almost completely distracted him from his current task at hand—which was doing exactly what his character was meant to do; step out of his way for the Main Couple—a voice that, even if he won the lottery and become a millionaire, got the girl of his dreams and was driving in a Benz along the coastline on a bright summer's day, would send chills down his back.

"Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun," said voice purred as footsteps came to a halt before them, "what a pleasant surprise."

Naruto's usually vibrant azure eyes were colder than ice when he replied. "… Orochimaru."

I think I'll find another way

1 Hour and 56 Minutes Earlier

"Are you a fucking idiot?"

It was the understatement of the year to say that things weren't quite going according to the brilliant plan invented by the (self-proclaimed) renowned beauty queen and genius, Watanabe Ami.

The plan had, in her opinion, been brilliant. She'd meet up with Sound Four prior to the cheering contest, and put a couple of pills in a bottle of Coke she'd give to Ino. The blonde would feel nauseous and faint due to the venom, and would withdraw from the contest, making Ami the temporary captain for the team, leading them to a victory she would get the credit for. Sasuke would get the antidote from Sound Four, make her feel better, and be utterly annoyed by how troublesome she was—and that's where Ami would come into the picture as the better and more suited girlfriend.

To sum it up; she'd win, and Yamanaka Ino would lose.

It was a simple, and what she originally had thought, perfect, plan. She'd have a few of the most dangerous people in Oto, the main enemy of their city, eating from the palm of her hand since they'd be dependent on her to execute the mission—quite the accomplishment, and definitely something Sasuke would appreciate, she thought—and she'd become queen bee, win the cheering contest and Sasuke over in one single move.

Hiding in a dark corner of the yard behind the gym where she was clearly at a disadvantage as the inferior one, and the one put in the most danger, while being insulted by said dangerous people was definitely not part of the plan.

Barely just stifling a shudder, she averted her gaze away from the piercingly sharp hazel eyes of Tayuya and stared at the linoleum floor. "No," she replied in a barely audible mutter.

"Do you even realize how much these cost?" the red-head went on in a dangerous snarl as though she hadn't heard Ami's reply at all. "I could abduct you right now and sell you off as a fucking slave, and the money I'd get from it wouldn't even be enough to buy half a fucking pill."

The other girl shivered at the thought. She had heard dodgy rumors about Sound Four before—it wasn't for nothing that they were known as Orochimaru's top lackeys—and knew that they weren't people you messed with. She didn't doubt that if she followed her main instinct right now and talked back to Tayuya, they could sell her off as a slave—or even kill her.

The thought of letting Yamanaka Ino win simply because she was out of the picture made her grit her teeth and reluctantly cave into submission. "If it's about money, I can pay up. My dad is the president of the Watanabe Corp., you know."

This, however, only caused Tayuya to snort. "And how do you intend to get money from your daddy, fucker? Tell him you got your scrawny whoreass into some trouble with Oto elites?"

Ami's teeth gnawed lightly at her lower lip at this. It was true; she hadn't thought about that. She was used to her father getting her out of trouble no matter what it was—after all, she was the apple of his eye—but this would be a hard nut to crack. He could easily bail her out of being framed for driving around drunk, or being accused of bullying others, but associating and even having a deal with Sound Four wasn't exactly going to make him want to tap-dance in joy.

The largest one in the group, with slightly tanned skin and orange-tinted red hair cut into a Mohawk with two lines of hair on either side of it—who had been eerily quiet and fixating her with quite the creepy stare ever since they had first met—suddenly spoke. "She can always pay with her body."

It was obvious what he meant as his eyes traced the outline of her body in her cheerleading uniform. Her urge to hurl was just stifled by Ami's terror at actually having to do what he had just insinuated.

His 'teammate', Kidoumaru the Latino guy, seemed to find this extremely hilarious. "You're going to fuck a whore like her?" he laughed, causing the fake-blonde's hands to curl into tight fists to refrain her from the familiar urge of slapping him. "Don't go bitching about it to the rest of us later when you get syphilis and shit like that, man."

"Cut the fucking small talk, Orochimaru-sama is waiting for us," Tayuya growled at them, impatience edging into her constant frown as she turned to Ami again. "Did Yamanaka Ino drink the over-poisoned Diet Coke or not?"

"Actually, I saw that she drank from the other Coke. But both bottles were opened, so I think somebody else drank from the Diet Coke," she concluded with a shrug. Oh well. It was just another wannabe-Barbie anorexic off the team for the cheering contest and possibly the next training session, however long that venom's nauseating effects lasted; they had plenty of stand-ins, anyway.

"Whoever drank that Diet Coke is one unlucky bitch," the silver-haired guy she was sure was called Sakon smirked. "Unless she gets that antidote, she's going to freaking die. And even if they get it, the survival rate is only 10 percent—good thing that wasn't Yamanaka Ino, or else Sasuke would've refused to join us if we killed off his little girlfriend."

Die?

The mere meaning of that one word seemed to knock the air out of her lungs as Ami's eyes widened in shock.

Sure, as much as Ami hated her fellow cheerleaders—especially Ino—with a fervent passion, and had often at times wished they were dead, she hadn't actually meant it. The words had seemed fitting in the context; of course it was natural for somebody who hated someone else to want them to die. But…

But I don't want this, the frantic words registered in her mind. I didn't want this. They weren't supposed to… I wasn't going to…

The tables had turned drastically. Ami, perched on top of her throne and worshipped as the new queen bee with Sasuke by her side, had suddenly become the worst thing imaginable.

A murderer.

I'm going to be a murderer.

This wasn't a part of the plan. This was definitely not a part of the plan.

She was brought back to the now frightening reality once again by Tayuya's voice. "Whatever. Let's just fucking get on with this whole thing already," she said as the entire group started to move away from where Ami still was frozen, her entire body rigid with an unfamiliar emotion she briefly realized was panic.

What am I going to do? What am I supposed to do?

To her utmost despair, no fitting answer magically surfaced out of nowhere, all the while Sound Four kept moving farther and farther away.

"Tayuya, you shouldn't swear so much," she could hear the large Mohawk guy say in the midst of her numb state of panic. "It's unfitting for a girl—"

"Shut up, you fucking fatass. Don't think you can talk back at me just so you can fuck your little Konoha whore."

"You two, stop fighting and let's go," Kidoumaru interjected the both, causing Ami's panic to hit the roof.

They were really going to leave. With the antidote, the antidote that'd only save Yamanaka Ino's life—not the other girl, whoever it was, who had drunk the poison Ami had put in.

She tasted something bitter in her mouth as her stomach seemed to do back-flips in an attempt to make her vomit the little lunch she had devoured prior to the contest (to make her look slim in her cheerleading outfit, naturally)—feeling light-headed, she was fairly sure she was going to faint soon, or at least go into a fit of hysterics.

I've to stop them first, she thought frenetically. It didn't matter how much money they wanted—she had to get the antidote.

As though watching the entire scene unfold from inside of her head while somebody else possessed her, Ami heard herself scream, "WAIT!" as her own legs carried her in a wild run towards the four. She only just registered her own fingers clamping onto Tayuya's wrist as they turned around, everybody besides Tayuya looking mockingly curious at what was going to happen next.

"We need to find out who that poisoned girl was!" she said in one breath, her words clumsily tumbling out of her mouth. "I mean, what if she dies—"

"So what if she dies?"

She visibly blanched at the Sound Four's indifference, before her frustration and frenzy took overhand. Didn't they understand? Somebody was going to die—

"It'd be your fault anyway, wouldn't it?" Sakon's voice cut through her mental turmoil like a knife, the mere tilt of his lips turning into a mocking smirk enough to make it feel as though somebody just stabbed her. "Wasn't this what you wanted? To have your competition out of the way? Whoever it was, she definitely was after your beloved Sasuke-kun."

"But I—no, I didn't mean to—," she sputtered in response. I didn't want anyone to die!

"Let my hand go, whore," Tayuya spat in disgust as her cold gaze traveled back to Ami's fingers, trembling as they clung onto the other girl's wrist as though there'd be no tomorrow.

They couldn't leave. That much was for sure. Ami had no idea what that poison was, and even less the antidote. And if she asked other people to help her…

They'd think of me as a murderer.

It was a dead end. Ami's reign had come to an end before it had even begun, as she fell off the throne she never even was able to reach. Everything was falling apart to pieces—her popularity, her reputation, her chance of getting Sasuke, her conscience—

A lot of people claimed Watanabe Ami had no conscience, but she had up until now firmly believed they were wrong. She was only giving people what they deserved—it was their own fault for being ugly, for being stupid, for believing they'd become something they couldn't be—

That they'd never get the chance of trying to be, if she killed them.

Nobody deserves to die.

"If you want it so badly, you can join your precious soon-to-be-dead bimbo friend in hell," Tayuya hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits as Ami still remained unmoving besides the continuous tremble of her body and with her lips slightly agape in an attempt to think of something

(anything)

to say to for the first time save someone besides herself.

"Tayuya!" Jirobou chided her in a slightly alarmed voice. "We haven't been assigned to—"

Kidoumaru, who obviously sensed another fight on its approach as Tayuya opened her mouth once again to come up with an answer, quickly nipped the bud before it was too late. "Let's just go. We're wasting time here."

Looking at her as though she was the lowliest vermin on earth, Tayuya promptly snapped her wrist out of Ami's now limp hold, as the four Oto lackeys made their way back into the gym, their footsteps disappearing out of Ami's hearing vicinity.

"No…," was all she could softly cry out, though it was more an inaudible, horrified murmur than anything else.

Looking down at her extended hands, slowly flipping them upwards

(the hands that possibly had killed someone)

the first teardrop to have been shed by her eye since her childhood eyes escaped from one of her mud-brown orbs.

"… what… what have I done…?"

I guess I'll die, another day—
It's not my time to go…

Guys, I'm so, SO sorry for the terribly slow update, but I've been drowning in a pile of homework, and my life has been utter chaos, be it friendship or love--you know, I'm supposed to be the one WRITING clichés (or trying to avoid to), not LIVING them--so I haven't really had the chance to update. To be entirely honest, I almost forgot about The Boyfriend Test for a while, so I've to thank shai-duck for PMing me about wanting an update, or else I'd have completely forgotten to write at all.

Just remember, every time you guys post a review--or mail, I know a lot of authors hate it when people ask for updates, but as long as you're not being rude, I don't mind--leaving feedback to the story, I remember I've actually got people waiting for a new chapter and try to at least write a sentence or two in the coming chapter.

So... about this chapter: this may seem completely random with the action-style writing coming out of nowhere, but if you've really paid attention, the whole Konoha vs. Oto thing in the fic has been building up for a while, and it wasn't for nothing. I've actually got a message that I'm trying to convey with this whole thing too, but it'll be revealed later on. For now, I'll let you guess (if you bother guessing).

As for your feedback for what I wrote in my A/N last chapter: THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!! I think you misunderstood me, though. I wasn't talking about slow UPDATES, I was talking about the slow progress of the story. But thanks anyhow, I really appreciated what you wrote.

Now, to my Question for the Chapter thing I've apparently made into a habit...

How many of you like NaruHina (in this story) as opposed to KibaHina (still, in this fic, not in general)? I'm sort of curious, since I've been recieving a lot of comments on both couples.

As for the "I-might-or-might-not-kill-off-a-main-character" thing I've got going on... don't rest too assured about whatever you assume now. You know, Oto is rather untrustable (interpret it however you wish--that can be both good or bad)... and so am I as an author.

I want to thank for all the reviews, and I want mooooooreee n.n I love reading your reviews!!

P.S. For all those who say that there's barely any SasuSaku in this fic and how it seems one-sided... I've had plenty of moments that you just need to delve deeper in. Anyhow, major SasuSaku coming up next chapter if you can wait :)