Our Love Continues (Sequel to Fell in Love with Gaara)

Sasuke Retrieval Mission I

-5 years ago-

Valley of the End

Areya knew she was at the right place as soon as she saw the damage. There were many places were attacks had destroyed the landscape and surrounding areas. She knew instantly who the culprits were.

Naruto and Sasuke.

It had been a shock to all, more so on Areya and Naruto, when they discovered that Sasuke had left the village. They all knew he hadn’t been acting right since the Chunnin Exams and the incident with his brother when Naruto and Jiraiya had gone to retrieve the Slug Princess Tsunade in hopes of her becoming Hokage. During the search, Uchiha  Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame entered Konohagakure and came in contact with four jounin; her sensei Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Maito Gai. Kakashi-sensei was injured and was confined to his apartment where Sasuke found him and, realizing who had attacked their sensei, set out to stop Naruto and Jiraiya, hoping he would get there in time.

The reunion was not a pleasant one. Sasuke’s pride was squashed at the hands of his older brother, who gave him a thorough beating, both mentally and physically. She remembered staying at his side at the hospital and Tsunade coming in and helping with his recovery from a coma.

She knew something was wrong with him and even tried to confront him, but her attempts had been futile. Her best friend had become a stranger.

Not many would think of her and Sasuke as friends, not even best friends, but she and Sasuke could understand being alone and their families stolen from them. She had come to terms with Kurimi, knowing it wasn’t her fault. She had tried to make Sasuke think about why his brother would do such a thing as to murder his clan.

That attempt had failed as well.

And Sasuke left.

She gazed around the landscape and tried to find the familiar orange jacket of her brother, when it caught her eye. He was lying unconscious on the floor with Sasuke hovering over him. She could see the pain in Sasuke’s eyes as he hovered over their teammate. She began running.

“SASUKE!!”

She could see as his eyes widened at her sudden appearance. He quickly stood up, standing on shaky legs, as he moved into a defensive stance. She stopped 10 feet away from both boys. She noticed his Konoha headband was missing.

“Sasuke. Please, just….stop.”

He flinched at her tone, her voice sounding pleading.

“Go away, Areya. I don’t want to hurt you.” He took a step back.

She opened her mouth but stopped as an idea came to her mind. She looked at Naruto’s sleeping form and spoke.

“Sasuke. Do you remember that movie we watched after a mission? The Avengers?  Naruto and I had been begging Kakashi-sensei to take us to the theater so that we could watch it.”

He nodded his head, but didn’t see the point of the story.

She smiled as he somewhat relaxed, but he kept his guard up. She could smell Kakashi-sensei near the trees, but he remained where he was.

“In the movie, the villain Sakkaku, had been holding a grudge against his brother, Raijin, after he had been cast out from their home village. He devised a plan to get a legendary source of power to overthrow his brother from the throne.

“In the village, Raijin knew of his brother’s plan to overthrow and possibly kill him. Raijin was a powerful warrior in their clan, who was a master of lightning. But he knew this power his brother held was superior to him. Do you remember what he did Sasuke?”