Sasuke 18

Sooooo, first ever chapter with Sasuke's point of view!! Hehehe, I hope you love it!!

Hihihii, Hottie French boy was ogling me in my tankini earlier... ;) now we're even.

Enjoy!

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-Sasuke's POV-

I gently placed Sachi against the trunk of the tree that's branch we had landed on. I would have moved her lower down, since I knew she would freak out when she saw how high up we were, but I didn't have time for that right now. My fury at the Grass ninja standing across from me was too great.

I cursed him a new name, before quickly running nimbly down the branches to engage him in battle. He dodged everything I could throw at him, jutsu, weaponry, it was all rendered useless against him. He bit down on his thumb, rolling up his sleeve to run a line of blood down the strange tattoo on his arm. A large puff of smoke gave way to a snake the size of at least four of the huge trees we were standing on, and flew toward me with amazing speed. I leapt out of the way just as it's head slammed down where I had been standing seconds earlier, but soon came at me again.

"Sasuke-kun!" a vague call of my name told me that Sakura was nearby, but I couldn't move. My palms were sweating, my body shaking, and my mind was blank except for one thing. Fear. Pure, undiluted terror. I couldn't beat him. There wasn't a sliver of possibility. I should just give up now, I would be killed anyway.

A sudden orange flash zipped in front of me, stabbing a kunai into the snake's nose and holding it back from crushing me. Naruto glared at me with baleful red eyes, but he bore a smirk.

"What's the matter," he growled in a strained, animalistic voice, "Mr Scaredy-cat?"

I gasped as he used my words from the Land of Waves against me, then shook it off. I was about to tell him to run, that he couldn't win this fight, when he twisted his hips and slammed a kick into the snake, so hard that the reptile flew back and crashed straight through a tree, before falling down dead, a trickle of blood leaking from it's nose.

"The Sasuke I know wouldn't give up like this! Especially when Sachi-chan is unconscious!" Naruto growled at me, "She needs you!! She needs both of us to protect her when she is vulnerable!" he was roaring by the end, then leapt out to tackle Orochimaru (as Sachi had called him) head on. He was merely kicked aside like an empty can from the side of the pavement, but he got up again and managed to hold his own for a while. At least, until Orochimaru performed some sort of jutsu and slammed his fingers into Naruto's stomach.

"Naruto!" I yelled, as Orochimaru threw a kunai that pinned my baka teammate to a tree, unconscious. I cursed under my breath as our enemy started to wind around the tree trunk toward me, and I leaped backwards as he lashed at me with his fist, then flipped over him. He blocked the kick I aimed at his head and delivered one of his own. I pushed it aside, activating sharingan just in time to recieve a frontal kick. Luckily, I rose my arms to block just in time, so the impact only sent me skidding back a few feet.

"Your eyes are perhaps better than Itachi's... yes, you were a wonderful choice, Sasuke-kun!" I released a growl at the taboo name, my hands quickly arranging themselves in a series of hand signs.

If this guy knew Itachi, then there was no way I was going to go easy on him! "Katon: Goukkakyuu no jutsu!"

I sucked in air and merged it with chakra. It was heavy when I blew it out, the gust forming cascading flames that shot towards Orochimaru. He leapt away from them onto a new branch, and I launched kunai at him, no break in my assault. He dodged them easily.

"You'll have to do better, Sasuke-kun-" I smirked and pulled the wires taut around him, and the grass ninja's eyes widened, "What?!"

I formed hand signs for the next Katon jutsu, and bullets of fire shot from my mouth to the wires, running down them to burn alive the man that had harmed my friends.

I turned back to Sachi, breathing heavily. She was semi-normal, from her appearance, her big scarlet eyes watching me with that look that never failed to cause a stutter in my heartbeat. I had to tell her, I had tried twice now, and each time it had failed, which was more than a little disheartening. However, it is in an Uchiha's nature to be determined, and I was. I would succeed.

Her eyes suddenly widened, "Sasuke, look out!!"

A wave of turbulence threw me off of the branch, but I managed to land roughly on another, lower one. Sachi leaned down over hers, and must've been terrified, but she didn't even flinch.

"it's going to take a lot more than that, Sasuke-kun." The Grass ninja stated, his face horrific. The fire had burned away the skin, revealing another face beneath, one with a golden snake-like eye that gave me chills.

"I think that that's enough testing." Orochimaru murmured, forming a hand seal. His neck suddenly extended, swerving toward me at breakneck speed while I remained frozen, unable to move.

"Sasuke!!" the one voice that comforted me screamed, echoed by another, as fangs sank into my neck. I screamed in pure agony, as a burning sensation hotter than one thousand suns consumed my body. I clutched my neck, falling to my knees, as another person dropped to my branch, Orochimaru's voice in the background, speaking inaudible words whule I cursed him to the deepest pits of hell, writhing in pain.

"S-sasuke!" her voice shook, and I fought for control of my body- it was clearly hurting her to see me like this. Her hands pressed against my cheeks, doing little to cool the flames that were burning me alive, only serving to speed up my already erratic heartbeat. I forced my bleary eyes to open, seeing that I was still on my knees, and Sachi was kneeled in front of me, eyes filled with tears. Tears for me.

"Sachi..." I croaked, and she blinked her eyes rapidly, shaking her head, clearly not knowing what to say. I grit my teeth to seal away any noises of disomfort, and forced my hands to obey me, securing them on her cheeks. If she didn't get it from this, I didn't know what to do.

"Sasu-" I didn't let her finish, stopping the word by pressing my lips to hers for a split second, before doubling over and crying out in agony once again.

The soft pull of Sachi leaning me against her was the last thing- besides the burning- that I felt before losing consciousness, her heartbeat my melody.

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KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!

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-Sachi's POV-

"Sasuke look out!" I shouted desperately, my white knuckled hands refusing to let go of the branch, even as a blast of shifting air knocked Sasuke down onto a lower branch. My inner turmoil was great, torn between my paralysing fear of heights and doing something, anything, to help my teammate. But my body tensed, unwilling to move closer to the edge in case I toppled right over.

"I think that's enough testing..." Orochimaru murmured, before forming a hand sign. His neck suddenly started to stretch, his lips parting to reveal glistening fangs. My eyes widened as he shot towards Sasuke, my body immediately flinging itself to hang over the branch, my tight grip again stopping me from falling.

"Sasuke!!" I screamed, just as the object of my hatred sank his teeth into my comrade's neck. Sasuke let out a scream of pain, and Orochimaru said a few things to Sakura that I didn't pay attention to. Ignoring all of my instincts, I dropped down the few feet to the branch Sasuke was on, yelling his pain as he clutched the mark on his neck. I landed with a thud, impact shock running up my legs, and I stumbled down in front of him. His cries tore through me, his screams those of a man who was burning alive.

"Sasuke?!" my throat was thickening and my eyes filling witb tears no matter how much I tried to force them down. I placed a hand on each of his arms in an attempt to offer some comfort, but it seemed to do little.

"Sachi..." his voice was low and strained, weak because of the heaving breaths he took. He forced his eyes to look at me, and moved his shaking hands to rest on my cheeks. They were hot like burning coals, and seemed to match the heat of my cheeks. My heart kicked into gear as he leaned closer.

"Sasu-" I didn't manage to finish, because his lips were on mine, warm and soft. I remained frozen, even as the contact was broken by him doubling over in pain.

I pushed away thoughts of what just happened with an agonised frown, pulling him to me as he screamed. I could hear Sakura yelling something in the background, alerting me once again to her presence. I moved one hand to Sasuke's hair, supporting his unconscious body, remembering from somewhere that it's important to support a person's head if they faint.

"Sakura!" I shouted, urgent, as I summoned all of my strength and picked Sasuke up. The pinkette looked to me, agonised, desperation clear on her face. "Get Naruto down and follow me!"

I screwed my eyes up tight and jumped down from the branch, the air rushing past me until I landed with a thud. I heard Sakura follow, and started to run, until I found a small clearing with a good spot for a shelter. Sasuke was burning up, he needed shade.

I placed him down and made quick work of tying some saplings together with their spindly branches, and snapping a few thicker branches off of some trees, forming a shelter just big enough for the two boys. Sakura had laid Naruto down inside and was securing the branches with some long coarse grass from the eastern side of the clearing, as I had instructed. Once Sakura had used her knowledge in first aid to tend to the two boys, she then insisted on addressing mine.

I frowned as she inspected the small head wound I had recieved from the impact of the wind that had seperated us.

"I'm fine Sakura. Worry about Sasuke and Naruto." I told her, wincing as she cleaned the shallow slash that was bleeding profusely.

"If you lose too much blood it will be one more person in danger." she said, wrapping a bandage from her kunai pouch around my head. "There, all done."

I went to stand up, then cried out and froze, pain radiating through my body. I screwed my face up, stock still, waiting for the fresh wave of pain. I dared move again, but immediately regretted it.

"Sachi?!" Sakura exclaimed, "Where does it hurt?!"

"My... my back... Fuck!" I gasped, sweating. Great, I knew I felt something in my spine earlier! Smacking into that tree probably screwed it up again, and then the impact from dropping the few feet with the extra weight of Sasuke... shit...

"Oh god. That's not good." she murmured, hovering uselessly in front of me.

"Oh really?" I wheezed, sarcastic, cursing a mile a minute as Sakura forced me to lay down.

"With a back injury you should lay flat on your back in a comfortable place, so this will have to do. Stay like that and don't move." Sakura ordered me, and I rolled my eyes, my breathing still coming in laboured pants. It hurt to breathe.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm totally gonna go walkabouts." I hissed, irritable.

"Just try and sleep. Your body will heal quicker with rest!" she snapped, sitting cross legged in front of the shelter, having set up a couple of traps. I scowled, but did as she said.

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AHHHHHH THEY KISSED THEY KISSED THEY KISSED!! FINALLY!

I wanted them to get together around this part of the storyline, so that there's time for fluffy couple-type cuteness x3 cuz book two is probably gonna be all angsty, though with a good deal of humour and a lot of... eh-hem, 'relationship problems' (as Suigetsu would put it) between Sachi and Sasuke xD oopsie, spoiler alert! Hehe. Also, there may well be three books in this series, because I have ideas for another two books. We'll see!

Fan, vote, comment! And ENJOY!!