Title: Repetition
Rating: T
Summary: She just wanted this bitter war to end. History repeats itself, and the thought of it scared her more than anything. SauSaku Angst/Romance
Disclaimer: I don't own... though I have the cards.. :D

Midnight black locks blew faintly in the late summers wind. His pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight, making him seem almost ghostly. But to her, he already was, just a ghost from her past... a distant memory that had now suddenly submerged. He stood atop a hill, just a few feet before her. He cast her a glance, urging her to step forward.. yet warning her to run. Her coral pink tresses blew in front of her face, masking her vision, hiding the tears that threatened to fall from her jade eyes. The grass was green and moist beneath their sandaled feet, yet the smell carried up to their noses and intoxicated their senses.

She took a step forward. His eyes widened slightly at her movement, then quickly went back to their normal dullness. He couldn't hear her quiet pleas for this to be just a dream. He couldn't see the tears nearly spilling from her eyes. He couldn't feel the rapid beat of her heart. He had no idea the hell he was putting her through, just by standing there.

She stepped forward once more, her bravery returning. She would not let the memories haunt her any longer. She would prove to him she had gotten stronger. She stepped forward and brushed the hair from her face, her eyes were set on the man before her, they demanded his gaze. She held her chin up high and continued walking towards him, slowly pulling out her kunai.

It amazed him how in just a few moments she had transformed from the timid girl of his past, to the beautiful kunochi that stood before him. She looked proud and determined. For a moment his thoughts lingered on what he had missed out on.
Her body finally stood before his, she was breathing heavily, raising her kunai. He grabbed the object from her hand and gave her a questionable look. He leant in and breathed in the scent of her neck.

"You don't want to do that Sakura." He whispered, registering the chills he sent down Sakura's spine as he said his words.

She pulled back, bringing her hand with her. "Don't touch me Uchiha... don't ever touch me again."

He smirked. "what are you doing here?"

She glared at him, her eyes set on killing him. "I came to kill you."

"No more, rescue Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke asked, his voice slightly playful and slightly cold.

She ground her teeth. "I stopped believing in that fantasy long ago." She hissed.

"I can see it in your eyes, Haruno, you don't want to kill me at all." Sasuke smirked, stepping closer to the woman.

Her eyes continued in their relentless glare. "You're a traitor to your village, and an S-ranked criminal. It's my duty as a ninja to killyou, and bring your head back with me."

He smirked. "You've certainly learned to control your feelings for me."

She growled. "The only thing I hate more than you Sasuke, is Itachi. I'd gladly kill both of your if given the chance."

Sasuke laughed, stepping towards the girl with interest. She took a step back and hit against the wall of the home that stood in ruins beside her.

"Now why would you hate my older brother, he wants to kill me as much as you do. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sasuke whispered cruelly.

Sakura stared up at him, her eyes refusing to waiver from their cruel gaze. "Because he made you into who you are right now." She spat, pushing him away from her.

He growled and pressed her against the wall. He glared at her, murder lingering in his cold black eyes. She continued to glare at him. breathing heavily. "Never say that again, my brother in no way made me into who I am! I am who I am by my own accord, understand that Haruno."

She smirked. "A bit defensive, are we Uchiha?"

He raised his hand to slap her but she grabbed it before he could move. Her eyes stared coldly into his. "Never raise a hand to me again Uchiha." She squeezed his wrist until she heard a snapping noise.

"BITCH!" He shouted, wrenching his broken wrist from her deathly grasp. She smiled in pride.

"I will not let you treat me like I am under you, Uchiha!" She growled, "She dug her kunai out of her bag. He grabbed her hand with his unbroken arm and pressed it above her head, while his body pressed her against the wall.

"I'll treat you however I wish to treat you, Haruno." He hissed, pressing his body closer to hers. He liked the feel of her soft curves against his firm body. He licked his lips hungrily. She glared at him in disgust.

"Get off me, and maybe I'll let you live." She whispered, her voice filled with the intent to either kill or castrate the man before her.

"I don't think so Haruno." He pressed her even harder against the wall, his face close to hers. "Not till I get what I want."
She glared at him, trying to hide her shock. "You'll et no such thing from me, Uchiha."

He smirked. "What is it that you think I want from you, Haruno?"

She glared at him. "I'd like to know myself, but then again I'd rather not."

He lifted his broken wrist into her vision, "Heal it."

She took only a second to regain her composure. "Fine." She hissed through gritted teeth. She grabbed his unbroken wrist and pulled him with her into the ruins of the house. The place smelt like rotting wood and mold, but Sakura didn't pay it any mind, she had stayed in much more gross places, with a shoeless Naruto to boot. She sat down and piled some dry wood in the centre of the room. She looked expectantly at Sasuke.

"What?" He asked, still holding out his broken wrist.

"Start a fire." She ordered.

"Why?" He asked, his voice dripping with something akin to rage.

"If you want me to heal the break I'll need a few hours, I'm surely not going to stand in the grass with night falling on me. Start the fire,before I break something else." Sakura growled.

Sasuke gave her a questioning look. He wondered when she had grown so brave and immune to his looks. He started the fire with ease. The flames crackled endlessly as they devoured the wood in the centre of the room. He eyed Sakura from across the flames, the light flickering, sending shadows across her delicate features. For a moment he swore he saw affection in her eyes. He supposed that was only a ghostly glimpse of the past he left behind. She stood up an walked over to him. Each step she took was delicate and light, just confusing him more. A woman of her stature and her weight, inflicting such a break, it baffled him. She knelt beside him, gingerly grabbing his wrist and laying it on her palm.

He ran her calloused fingers across his broken wrist, green light erupting from the tips of her fingers. He looked at her intently, trying to ran what went on in the head of the woman he once knew. She kept her eyes on his wrist, hiding her face from him. Slowly she lifted her head to look at him in the eye. Her jade eyes glistened with something along the lines of pain.

"We're too young to die, Sakura." He stated, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Then why do you insist we keep fighting this pointless war. Sooner or later, one of us three will have to die." She stated, her eyes still locked with his. unconsciously her fingers still ran along the break in his wrist, slowly healing it.

"It won't be me," He stated, his pride getting the better of him, "I won't let you or the dobe kill me."

"Then who should die? If you insist in carrying on this battle, some one will have to die, if not you who?" She asked, trying her hardest to keep her emotions back.

He kept his gaze locked with hers, but didn't utter a word.

"Naruto?" she asked, leaning in a little closer, "Or me?"

He narrowed his eyes at the coral haired woman. "No."

She raised her eyebrows in question. "If you want to keep fighting, if you want to win, you can kill me right now. Naruto would stop searching for you and you could go on with your pointless quest of killing your older brother."

He suppressed the rage growing inside him. She pressed harder on his wrist, making him wince slightly. "Why do you think one of has to die?"

She sighed. "Dying doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop breathing or thinking Sasuke. There is more than one way to die."
He winced once more. "What do you mean by that?"

"I suppose you can already count Naruto and I as casualties of war. He and I have been injured beyond your imagination. In one night the two of us were betrayed, and we died just a little bit inside, each time the betrayer entered our minds. Right now I can feel my soul slipping away, it's only a matter of time before I become an empty shell."

Her words stung him. He knew what he was doing to them the moment he did it. Until that moment he had just refused to believe it.

"It's only a matter of time before history repeats itself." Sakura whispered, she could feel the tears coming on.

"what do you mean?" Sasuke asked, intrigued by her statement.

She laughed bitterly. "We're the three Sanin of our time, Sasuke."

He eyed her curiously. Her green eyes beginning to shine with tears. She let go of his mended wrist. They sat in silence, Sasuke searching for the answer in her eyes.

"You ran off, left Naruto and I, with Orochimaru. Naruto left me, to study under Jiriya. Tsunade took me under her wing. We all know the pain that Tsunade and Jiriya went through went Orochimaru left. We all know exactly how it feels." She felt the hot tears slide down her cheek. "History repeats itself Sasuke, and it scares me! We never learn from the mistakes of those before us! NEVER! Naruto is a god damned pervert and you'd probably rather have a little boy to touch right now rather than me!"
Sasuke felt it leave his mouth before he could stop it. A small laugh. She glared at him. "It isn't funny Sake!"

He fought the urge to laugh again. "Did you just call me Sake?"

She stood up, brushing the tears from her eyes. "I'm turning into the old woman! I'm an alcoholic! I can't even call you by your proper name! YOU STUPID UCHIHA TEME!"

He could see the furious hysteria in her confused green eyes. H stood slowly and looked her in the eye. What had happened to the stung woman he had witness only moments before.

"I don't want history to repeat itself!" She shouted, "Because as much as I want to hate you, the idea of you never coming back and living a fortress looking for little boys to touch... It scares me to death."

He looked confused for a moment. Why did she think he was a pedophile? "I'm not a pedophile!"

"So says you!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke.

He sighed. "You're becoming annoying Sakura!"

"Then why don't you just knock me out like the last time I got a little too annoying." She whispered hardly. "Maybe then you can run away from all your problems... like a coward."

He felt the urge to hit her return, but refrained from such actions, knowing that she'd break more than his wrist this time. "I might just do that!"

She glared at him. "Wouldn't put it past you!"

He gritted his teeth. "Then maybe I will!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

She raised her hand and slapped him across the face. "Never raise your voice to me again Uchiha!"

He rubbed his face. "What happened to you Sakura? Five years ago and you would've fallen into a heap in my arms, and cried for me to come home."

"I woke up." she stated painfully, she felt the tears coming again. "I realized it was a stupid fantasy, to think that you would ever return to the village, to the team, to me. It was just a foolish dream, of a foolish girl."

He felt something stab at his heart. She had a broken look in her eyes. He had done that to her. He had hurt her, and he had hurt Naruto. Though five years ago he would've pushed her out of the line of danger, anything to keep her safe. He supposed back then eh knew what was really important. His friends and his bonds. Even then though, he only made friends so he could use them. Still his friendship with her had always perplexed him. He only needed one friend, and yet he had become close to her. He had feared for her life on more than one occasion. He had stood before the enemy facing death, only to protect her.

"I'll never understand that." He whispered, his eyes locked with he green ones. His voice as soft and lost.

She brushed a tear from her emerald eyes. "what?"

He snapped back to reality. "Sakura, dreams are what they are. They will always be dreams."

She nodded. "I've grown to realize that, Sasuke."

He stepped forward, closing the space between them, "Don't let dreams lead you Sakura."

She nodded, feeling as if he were talking down to her, for being so foolish. "All these years, I worked hard, trained, improved, because of a dream." Her green eyes met his. "Though the dream I have will never be realized, I followed it, and I became who I am now, never tell me to cast my dreams completely aside. Sometimes those of use who dream, are the ones who change the world the most."

"I should go." He whispered, moving away from her.

"You can't," She whispered, not looking at him. "Not yet."

He turned back around to face her, "Why is that Haruno?"

Her jade eyes didn't dare met his, "I can't let you walk away. There are only two choices left, either one of us dies, or one of us leaves with the other. I won't be going with you anytime soon, and I suppose that you won't be willing to come with me. That leaves only one choice left. Either I die, or you die."

He looked outside the broken walls of the home and saw the pouring rain surround them. It stormed on outside, and within the hearts of the star-crossed lovers. He wondered at times, if the storm in his heart would ever stop raging. It seemed to calm the slightest whence was around, but even then.. it was only just a little.

"Does it really matter?" He asked, looking at her, "Whether we live or die. In the end no one will care. The world will keep turning if I died."

She looked at her feet. "Not mine. That is why I so badly wish for you to come home, or for you to kill me. That way I don't have to know what it feels like, how it feels when the world stops turning."

Her statement sent shocks through his body. Her green eyes peaked up through the coral tresses, they were so weak and vulnerable. She wore an expression of innocence and truth, she was bearing him her soul. She had placed her heart in his hand, for him to with it what he wanted. He had already broken time and time again,. it was a miracle that she let him hold it once more.

He stepped towards her once again, placing a rough hand on her soft cheek, brining her eyes to meet his. "Sakura, forget me."
A hot tear slipped from her eye and landed on his cool hand. "I can't ever do that Sasuke, because in all truth, you're the only one I ever think about."

He felt something tugging at his long frozen heart, urging it too thaw, just a little, for the girl that stood at his mercy. Another tear slid down her cheek. "I feel stupid. "She stated, looking down, "I tried my hardest, I really did, to pretend that I never felt anything. Hear I am crying, sounding like that girl from five years ago, the girl I tried so desperately to rid myself of. Then one moment back with you and I start to cry again. I'm weak..."

He gently lifted her head once more to meet his gaze. "Sakura, you aren't weak." He whispered. He moved in closer, letting his chin rest on her shoulder. "You're stronger than I'll ever be." He breathed into her ear.

"Sas-uke." She whispered, trying to keep the blush one her face under control. He pulled back slightly and looked at her flushed face.

"I can never go back there, you know that, Sakura." He stated.

She nodded. "I have to go back, I have a duty." She whispered. Their hot breath mixing as their lips came dangerously close.

"I know." He whispered gently.

She gently pressed her lips against his. It was a slow sweet kiss, expressing her feeling of undying affection towards him. He responded quickly, kissing her back with the same sweet sorrow. She pulled back from him. Her heavy breaths mixing with his as the slowly came down from the euphoria they had just experienced. She let her breathing slow slightly before pressing another firm kiss upon his lips.

"Thank you, Sakura." He whispered.

Her green eyes widened for a moment, before meeting the familiar darkness once more. He stood before her unconscious form wondering what would be the right thing to do. She lay out on the floor, her coral tresses strewn about wildly and her jade eyes hidden by soft skin. She looked almost angelic. And he remembered the situation that they had been in five years prior.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, "You were right though," He stated, crouching to her level. He moved a piece of pink hair from her soft face and leant into her ear. "History tends to repeats itself."