The Hidden Will

Chapter 5: The Genjutsu

Chapter 5: The Genjutsu

Usually, when you haven't seen someone you love for a while because they've been gone for too long, you get happy. Warmth and giddiness takes over your body and all you want to do is laugh and jump around because this person you haven't seen in so long returned. But Sakura didn't feel that way.

She wasn't sure how she felt if she was all that honest with herself. Something like fear, shock, maybe even a little frustration, but nothing like joy. Happiness was a feeling far from what she felt at that moment.

Sakura stared at Sasuke like a deer in headlights. Her mouth was slightly opened, words wanting to come out but nothing did. Her hand quivered slightly and was still gripped as if the kunai was still in her hand. She was paralyzed. ( /mqVKqMdqbgU )

A weird feeling in her stomach was growing that made her want to spit up the food she had eaten earlier. Fear, anger, and nervousness were swimming around in her stomach. All these emotions swirling around in her blood stream, in her body, with anguish to top it off. Her heart ached, her stomach turned, and all because this one boy—who she hadn't seen in so long—had showed up out of midair in front of her. All she could think about was this sickening feeling in her stomach and heart and nothing else.

"You were always weak when I was around. It was so annoying," he said, his voice filled with disgust.

She pulled out of her daze and tried to pull words out of her throat and through her mouth. "S-Sasuke…" her voice was low, barely above a whisper. She couldn't tell whether she had really said it or if it was just in her mind. She tried again this time a little louder, "S-Sasuke, it's you."

Sasuke stepped closer, finally fully revealing himself out of the mist. "Sakura, move."

She stared at him longer, trying to put the puzzle piece together on why he was there and what he wanted. "Why?"

He placed a hand on his sheath, as if to threaten her. She saw his discrete movement and quickly pulled out another kunai and held it up in defense. "I asked why." She was brought a back from the sudden assertiveness in her tone.

I will kill him this time, she thought. I won't back down, not this time.

~ Flashback ~

Her hand quivered behind the black haired renegade. The kunai shook violently in her hand and she tried her hardest to fight back the tears. She had to do this, now.

Sasuke turned quickly at the sense of her presence. A mad look in his eye, the look of a predator that wouldn't hold back for anyone. Not even an old teammate. All Sakura could do was stand there startled by his eyes. Her breath was glued to her throat, her legs were frozen, she was just there.

Something grabbed her by the throat, strong cold hands that gripped her neck with the intent to break. The air couldn't escape. Her arms were like noodles, all she could do was hold on to the kunai. She was supposed to kill him not the other way around. She was supposed to put a stop to him. Someone was screaming her name, who was screaming her name? "Sakura!" they shouted. She couldn't think clearly anymore. All she could think about was how it was getting harder to breathe.

She could feel herself being raised up. Her legs being pulled up away from the water. The kunai was pulled out of her hand. Her eyes were still shut. The empty feeling in her hand made her feel foreign. She had been gripping it too hard. She tried to open her eyes a bit: Sasuke raised the kunai over his head

"Stop, Sasuke!" that was Kakashi, she could hear his frantic footsteps running on the water.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, he wouldn't make it on time, she thought. She looked at Sasuke, she couldn't recognize his eyes anymore. They were dark, lost. He wasn't Sasuke anymore. He was a killing machine who was about to take away her life without a second thought. All the missions they went on together, the Chūnin exams, trying to see what was under Kakashi's mask, trying to take the bells away from Kakashi. Everything they did together with Naruto as Squad 7 flashed through her mind.