"You were screaming in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?"

"She tricked me. That little bitch."

"What? Sasuke, who are you talking about? What happened?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on, it's just one time."

"What the f*ck is wrong with you??" Sasuke shouted, his teeth gritted.

"What? You don't want me? I'll teach you the meaning of wanting." Karin said, rubbing herself at him.

"You're pathetic." Sasuke deliberately said.

His voice echoed through the walls of the cave. Kumogakure was another bothersome task Tobi had given them charge of; they would capture another tailed beast, and they would do it discreetly.

By the word discreet, it appeared Karin had something in planned. She was so predictable. Karin did the most ghast thing of dragging him into a cave knowing the rest of Taka was asleep. Sasuke did not fear any woman taking advantage of him, but this one took him by surprise.

How clever.

Karin Uzumaki, the girl who risked her life more than twice.

If she thought he would be the same boy who saved her ass from the fangs of a wild boar, she was clearly mistaken. Sasuke was clearly a different man now---he was strong, and his past taught him everything he knew from now on.

He was hell-bound. Nowadays many people had looked down to him as a demon---something Sasuke didn't really take offensively. He saw his face sketched on wanted posters and smirked upon the words: WANTED: SASUKE UCHIHA, DEVIL OF THE FIRE COUNTRY. DEAD OR ALIVE.

Dead or alive, huh? He thought to himself, crossing the borders wearing a usual plain robe. But that was okay. He'd teach these people especially the Nations the true definition of death once war was upon them---they wouldn't even see it coming.

Everything was going accordingly to what was planned.

Sasuke would capture the jinchūriki of the eight-tails. The man who called himself Killer B. According to legends, he was not as attentive as the Raikage and acts like a fool. Sasuke cocked his head. Fools died easily. That was his code. Nevertheless, the mission must be done as soon as possible.

"Who's more pathetic??" Karin chuckled derisively. "The one who's standing in front of you that only wants to help you, or the person who killed his brother for no reason?"

Sasuke's claws quickly caught Karin's neck. He pinned her against the wall, his nails digging deeply into her skin.

Karin groaned.

"Don't make me regret I didn't finish you."

"I w-won't."

"Say you're sorry." Sasuke pressed harder. "Say it!"

Sasuke's eyes blazed as he saw how Karin cherished her life. Days passed, he saw how humans were nearly as pathetic and poorly as the villagers that walked inside their houses as if nothing was happening. When you're ordinary, there was no place for you here. Only death.

Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe next time.

"I-I'm s-sorry!"

Karin dropped into the ground. She coughed terribly, her hands clasping around her neck. 

What did just happen?

Sasuke brought his liquor into his lips again. One of these days, Itachi's name was like a strange figure. It was as if he had been erased from history the same way Madara did. A mist that had gone out from time.

He had buried Itachi in the Sound village, somewhere no wanderer could ever cross by. One autumn day, Sasuke dug in using Itachi's kunai and laid him there. Closing his eyes was the hardest part. Tobi and the rest of Taka were there, Kisame joining them before he was off for some mission that he was never seen nor heard from again.

Speak of the Angel, Sasuke really didn't understand what made him alike with Itachi. Itachi was a an honorable Shinobi, someone whose loyalty rests on the village rather than a family of offenders. What bounded them was a face of similarity and a name Uchiha. Itachi inherited the goodness in their mother--Sasuke succumbed into the Curse of Hatred among the Uchiha.

Sasuke was about to leave when Karin spoke.

"Why, Sasuke?"

Sasuke took a mid-step.

"When will you ever look at me, huh?? What, you have a taste for class-three hookers that steal your money? That's how low you've sunk, Sasuke??"

The Missing-nin kept walking and walking...slowly. Driblets of waters from the cave's old pillars echoed as nightfall grew darker than ever. The light of the moon became soon became queerer. 

"When will you ever see through me??"

The next thing Sasuke knew was that she was in front of him. She was wearing her casual provocative clothes, one button unknotted. Sasuke could see into her bare stomach and saw how many bite marks were.

"You're not gonna walk away from me this time. Even if it kills me." Karin said, crossing her arms.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Oh I'm damn well sure, Uchiha. It's you who should reconsider this opportunity."

Karin saw Sasuke drink. Karin knew that look. It's a face he usually gave when he was wasted.

She grabbed his wrist, slowly pulling him into the darkness of the cave. "Come on. Just one time."

"Why should I?" Sasuke spatted bitterly.

"Because you owe me one for killing me!"

"Get the f*ck off."

That's it. He didn't want any part of her.

He just wanted someone else.

Karin rolled her eyes. "What??" It was her time to push him. "The hell is wrong with you?? I mean are you forever gonna be like this?"

"Yes." Sasuke smirked, getting into his feet.

"Don't leave me hanging, Uchiha!!"

But he already was. Sasuke drank the last driblet of his beer and threw it into the ground. Night time was different around the Hidden Cloud village. The skies were shaded in dark heliotrope and clouds never drifted away. Now he was one foot away from the den, as if it had been inhabited by a family of lions.

Sasuke just wanted to find his purpose in life. Wandering in the lonely space was cold as he'd dreaded. His heart was bleeding. At some point he was like Gaara, indeed. He was never hurt physically, but in the inside he would hear himself crying. There was a voice in the back of his head that something had gone fundamentally wrong. All those cries and the tormenting screams, were him alone.

Sasuke could not drown his demons. They knew how to swim.

Sasuke felt his heart aching. He clasped his chest, wondering if there was still a part of him that was human. A part that needed longing, not lust. Maybe something that craved for an abundance of joy and happiness.

He wondered---after getting his vengeance and all, what happens next?

What awaits his future?

What happens when all of them are dead?

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes. He turned around, only to see himself gawking. "What?"

Karin had taken her clothes off. A thousand words escaped his mind, and it didn't shout disgust. Karin's skin wasn't flawless, but atleast she knew how to accept herself.

Sasuke laughed. "So this is your game, huh?"

"Just one time, Uchiha." Karin smiled, wrapping her arms around him. "No one has to know."

"You don't know what you're doing."

Karin's smile was a horror story. "I've been waiting a century for this."

Sasuke sighed aggravatingly. Karin was wrapping her arms around him like a crazed monkey. Apparently a lot of women had obsessed over him. It was one of his trademarks he shared with Itachi.

...

Red roses and thorns scraped her, hauling her down deep into the rabbit's hole. She saw how deep her scars ran into her skin, how the thick thorns pierced her alive. She was bare and nothing surrounded her soul except for her bright pink hair. Sakura felt herself screaming.

It's only a dream. Wake up. You're drowning.

You're drowning and you can't save yourself.

Save me.

"Sakura! Sakura!"

Sakura arose from her bed, sweat dropping from her skin.

The first thing she looked at was her skin. There were no marks nor scars. Strange, she thought. She stared at her clock and realized it was halfway until dawn. She raked her hair and breathed, spooked.

"You okay?" Naruto asked, who was seated next to her. "Man, you were screaming the whole time."

"Was I? Geez, sorry I got you up."

"It's fine. I was training, anyway." Naruto answered, which explained he wasn't in his pajamas. It was quiet for a moment. "You should really take a lot of rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

"What's up with tomorrow?"

"Sakura," said Naruto, taking her hand, "it's Sasuke's birthday. He'll be fifteen by now."

~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
SasuSaku or NaruSaku, it's a secret:D
How was it so far?