Let It Begin

7. Showdown

'What the-? Is this really happening?' thought Sakura. Sasuke broke the kiss for a moment and looked at Sakura. He let go of her hand and placed his own on her face. Sakura was too shocked to say anything. Her lips were slightly parted, her cheeks were turning red, and her heart was beating a million miles an hour.

"Sasuke....why did you do that?" she managed to say after a minute. Sasuke waited a moment to think before he answered. He couldn't figure out why he did it. He was confused by his own actions.

"For you to forget what Kabuto did," Sasuke finally said when he came up with an excuse. Sakura was skeptical of this answer but let it slide. It really had worked; she wasn't thinking about Kabuto's kiss anymore. Sasuke's kiss kept replaying in her mind over and over again.

Sasuke slowly let go of her waist and said, "I need to discuss something with you".

"What is it?" she asked.

"Not here. Let's go to our room" said Sasuke rather quickly. Sakura started walking back to their room as Sasuke stood and stared at her back. He was still wondering what the hell he was doing.

XXXXXX

Kabuto healed himself as he walked back to Orochimaru's room. Orochimaru had heard all of the noise and was waiting for Kabuto to come back.

"My my, someone lost her temper. What did you do, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked.

"I was just testing something" he answered.

"Tell me, Kabuto. Have you acquired feelings for your student? Don't lie to me." Orochimaru said as he stared at Kabuto.

"No, Orochimaru-sama" said Kabuto, a little shaken.

XXXXXX

When she arrived at their room, Sakura immediately went to the bathroom to put on some new clothes - and to get away from Sasuke for a bit. She washed her face and stood at the sink for a moment before she took a deep breath and walked back to the bedroom to talk to Sasuke.

"What did you want to talk about?" Sakura asked as she sat down on her bed.

"I have decided that I don't need Orochimaru's teachings anymore. I'm going to take him out as soon as possible." Sasuke explained.

Sakura didn't expect to hear that from Sasuke. It was quite a relief to know that he really wasn't going to give up his body to Orochimaru. All those things he said to Naruto weren't true. Maybe he really did care about her and everyone in the Leaf Village...

"Can I take care of Kabuto?" Sakura asked with determination in her eyes. She wanted to pay Kabuto back for what he did to her. She wanted to destroy him using the skills he had taught her.

"Hn. He's all yours. It will make it easier for me to get to Orochimaru." Sasuke replied.

XXXXXX

The next day

Sasuke and Sakura had just finished their self-training. Sakura was busy in her training room, accompanied by most of her sound ninjas, except she had sent a sound ninja to fetch Kabuto.

When Kabuto stepped into the room, Sakura immediately felt a shiver run up her spine. The terrible memory of that night flooded her mind, and her hatred for him intensified. The sound ninjas noticed the death aura Sakura was emitting and quickly left the room.

"What do you want, Sakura?" Kabuto asked, smiling eerily. "More lips?"

"How about....your head." Sakura's voice darkened and she charged toward him with a kunai.