Disclaimer: Unfortunately, wishful thinking, prayers and even threats does not make Naruto mine. Denied of meaning in life, she drops dead.

And is now resurrected to bring you this… well, whatever this is. O_o

"Yeah, Just Now…"

I felt every ounce of me, scream and shout, but the sound was trapped deep in me…

"Why don't you come back with us already?!"

The face of the raven haired boy remained stoic. It was emotionless. Cold. Inhuman.

(What more do you expect to the one who sold his soul to the devil?)

Naruto growled at him, then immediately looked back at the sobbing girl behind him. She fought against the tears in her eyes. She battled with the scream in her voice. She struggled against the tremble in her body.

It was no use.

(The effort was fruitless. A complete waste.)

"Don't you care about us anymore?" she wailed, pleading for the answer she knew he would not give her. 'Don't you care about me anymore?'

(He cared about her back then. Or so she assumed. Or so she tells herself.)

Uchiha Sasuke eyed her from head to toe then looked at her directly in the eye. Glassy emerald met cold onyx. His gaze sent chills down her spine. She would rather have hanged herself than squirm painfully in his condescending eyes.

"Tch, you're annoying. Drop dead."

(Dead? Is she even alive anymore?)

It was unbearable. She fell to her knees and hugged herself to keep her from falling to pieces. It was happening again. Her heart was breaking. Her already broken heart was breaking again.

(No matter how strong she became, she was still weak before him. Pathetic.)

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, looking warily at… a withering flower. His eyes shone red under the setting sun. His nostrils flared with so much anger.

(She didn't deserve this. She deserved someone better than him.)

He positioned his stance and readied for an attack. He never got to attack though. Someone –

(Someone whose repressed anger shook a cool façade.)

– beat him to it.

With a kunai in his hand, he advanced at the traitor. His eyes were murderous, his mind only ran with the thoughts of destroying the enemy in front of him.

(He wasn't a friend, or a student. He was an enemy.)

Sasuke unsheathed his katana and readied himself for battle. Both ninjas matched each other's speed; neither of their movements could be discerned. All that could be sensed was the clinking sound of their weapons and the faint blur of their shadows.

A pain trickled in the traitor's neck. He reflexively reached for it – Orochimaru was calling him.

(Big mistake.)

Distracted by the curse seal, he did not see the incoming attack. Chakra filled chidori sent him flying a mile away. He hit several trees before the stone wall stopped his flight.

A bespectacled ninja caught him as he fell. Kabuto slung the unconscious body over his shoulder and disappeared to who knows where.

(Gone, again.)

Meanwhile, Naruto remained dumbstruck. He didn't even notice his unconscious female team mate. His blue eyes stared unbelieving at the man before him.

No longer calm. No longer cool. He lost it.

Gasping for air, still seething with anger, there stood...

(She deserved someone else.)

''Kakashi.''

+ +wicked+ +

"I think she's waking up. Sensei, sensei, she's– Ow!"

"Baka, don't startle her," Kakashi ordered. Naruto caressed the big bump the copy ninja made in his head.

The pink haired kunoichi stirred. She blinked a few times accustoming herself to the light. She looked around, white walls. 'Hospital?'

(Hospitals heal. Theoretically.)

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?" She looked for the source of the familiar voice. Beside her bed, there were two blurry figures. As her sight cleared, "Naruto? Kakashi-sensei?"

Her two comrades smiled at her. Sakura slowly propped herself up. "Careful now," he said, giving her a hand. Sakura was startled by this. The loudmouthed blonde would be expected to do this but…

(He never left her side.)

"Kaka-sensei?"

"Hm?"

Sakura blushed. "Er, thank you."

The jounin smiled behind his mask.

Naruto looked at Kakashi then Sakura and back to Kakashi again.

(Do the math.)

There was a knock on the door. It opened and showed the Hokage and her assistant, Shizune. The former carried a bouquet of flowers, the latter, a basket of fruits.

"Oh, Tsunade-baachan– Ow!"

"Don't call me baachan!" Tsunade glared at him. Naruto rubbed yet another bump on his head. "Why does everyone keep hitting me?"

"Hmp. So Sakura, how are you feeling?" her features softened as she looked at her beloved apprentice.

(How are you coping?)

"I'm fine now Shishou. Thanks," Sakura smiled.

+ +wicked+ +

Tsunade and Shizune left a few minutes later. Meanwhile, Naruto complained of his growling stomach and excused himself to go buy some ramen. Before leaving she eyed the two and left.

Kakashi sat down beside Sakura, reading his favorite porn book, Icha Icha Paradise.

(A distraction.)

She, on the other hand, simply stared out the window, absorbed in her own world. They stayed like that for a while.

The pink haired kunoichi again began to grow aware of his teacher's presence and faced him. A vein popped as she saw what he was reading. "Kaka-sensei," she spat.

(An ineffective distraction.)

The copy ninja looked at her. His eyes widened at the murderous look in her eyes.

"I thought I told you to stop reading that,." She cracked her knuckles. After a split second, Kakashi was thrown out the window. Caught off guard, his ninja skills failed him for the first time. "Ow…"

(She was the distraction he tried to distract himself from… without much success.)

He looked up and saw her smiling. He stared at her, the lighting was perfect. The rays played with her pale skin, softened into that even brighter smile.

Both entered a hearty laugh.

"Thank you, Kaka-sensei."

(She was coping.)

+ +wicked+ +

Pant. Pant.

Naruto and Sakura were breathless. Fresh from a day's training with Kakashi, both breathed heavily, beads of sweat trickling from their grimy faces.

(Unconsciously reminiscing the days when three panted together.)

They leaned against a tree beat and exhausted.

Just then, Hinata passed by. She was walking quite fast, but that did not stop Naruto from catching a glimpse of her, or calling for her in that unmistakably loud voice.. "Oi, Hinata," he shouted running after the timid Hyuuga.

(And then there was one.)

Kakashi watched Naruto's retreating figure then averted his eyes to the kunoichi. She was asleep. He jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on and approached the sleeping figure. 'How cute.'

(Innocence radiating from every breath.)

Just then, her features contorted. "Sasuke-kun," she muttered in her sleep.

(Sorrow emitting from every word.)

The jounin frowned. He turned around as if to leave but halted.

(He did not leave her. He cannot leave her.)

He carried her, bridal-style, to her home.

He settled her on her bed and tucked her in. He covered her with the pale pink sheets of her bed, careful not to wake her up. Stealth had its advantages. While adjusting the sheets, he found his face dangerously close to hers.

(Too close for comfort. Too close to be right.)

Time seemed to stop.

The copy ninja slowly removed the mask that hid his face, closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her lips.

Millimeters away –

(That dangerously close.)

– he stopped. He put his mask back on and walked away.

(Right.)

+ +wicked+ +

"NOOOO!!!"

Kakashi stopped, one foot already out Haruno's lair. With tremendous speed, he rushed frantic back to Sakura's bedroom and saw her twisting in her sleep.

"Sakura, Sakura," he called, waking her.

(Gently, worriedly… lovingly.)

She opened her eyes and continued her wail. Kakashi took her in his arms. "Sshh, there, there, everything'll be fine," he soothed, gently stroking her back. She clung to him and poured her tears on his chest, dazed by his warmth.

The familiar and warm presence soothed her. She calmed down.

(He calmed down.)

+ +wicked+ +

"Kaka-sensei," she started, wiping the remains of her tears, "Thank you."

He smiled, "Your welcome kiddo."

(She was still a kid to him. He wasn't.)

"Just don't cry anymore, okay?"

(She had already cried so much.)

"I just–. I don't understand. I love Sasuke-kun.. so much, so why? Why does it hurt?"

(She was hurting...)

"…"

"Sensei, have you ever loved and got hurt by it?"

(As was he…)

+ +wicked+ +

"Yeah, just now."