Instinct and Emotion: Chp 1

She ran and ran, until she was miles away. She fell onto her knees, crouching over the root of a tree. Her stomach was churning, and her heart felt as if it would jump right out of her chest.

Sakura had done it. She ran away from the village.

It had finally been decided. It was decided Sasuke Uchiha was going to be a start of a great ninja war, and so, in protection of the treaties the villages worked so hard to get, every village sent their best Black-Ops on a mission to find and assassinate the Uchiha. She knew it was coming, and she tried her hardest to prepare for it. She thought she was over him. She saw how far he had fallen, and she knew he wasn't the same. He tried to kill her multiple times. She knew she shouldn't have cared, or had even been happy about it.

Yet, why? Why did she still run away?

Naruto, who was by far more of a friend, hell, actually Sasuke's best friend, took the news better than Sakura. Sure, he was angry and disappointed, but even he knew there was nothing more to be done. It had been five years after all. If Naruto could accept the consequence, why couldn't she? She couldn't possibly still love him. She had absolutely no reason to. She loved him when she knew him, when they were both twelve-year old genins. Now they were seventeen. She was a jounin, and he was a rouge ninja. She knew that he was not the same from years past. She saw that in his eyes. Revenge consumed him.

There's no way she, of all people, could bring him back.

She couldn't hold it in anymore. She coughed violently then began to vomit, despite having an empty stomach. The vile tasting acid burned her mouth. When she finally stopped, she tried to spit out as much of the clear, disgusting tasting liquid as she could. She stood up slowly and leaned her back against the tree, panting heavily. She looked up at the eerie, grey rolling clouds. Small rubles began to turn into loud ones. She could see flashes of light slowly come closer. Everything around her seemed to fit her mood- miserable. She was angry, confused, and frustrated, almost to the point where she could cry.

Sakura took in slow, deep breaths. She began to walk forward, despite the fact she didn't know where she was going. At this point, she didn't even care. She knew she couldn't go back right now. It'd kill her if she did. She just needed to be somewhere, alone. Somewhere peaceful, somewhere to just clean her mind. Where she could cry her eyes out and scream, or destroy a tree or two, and not be questioned about it. She just needed a release.

Thirty minutes and about three miles later, she stopped once again. She stood silently and still for a few moments, then built up her chakra to her hand and punched the ground. The earth shattered beneath her, spreading out for what seemed like a mile. She concentrated her chakra to her feet this time, kicking down the trees that surrounded her. She continued until she collapsed onto her knees, barely managing to take in breaths. She was so consumed by her emotions, she hadn't even realized she was crying.

Her mind began to flood with past memories. A timeline of memories: the day she was assigned to Team 7; the first time Sasuke protected her; the countless times he rejected dates with her. The first time she told him he loved him; the last day she saw him; the last time he thanked her.

Then, they worked their way towards the present. The first time she saw him after Naruto returned; the first time her tried to kill her. The next time she ran into him; the time he tried to kill her again.

He had changed considerably. He once used to do everything to try to protect her, and now he tried the exact opposite.

It was obvious he had given up on them. So why couldn't she do the same?

A loud rumble canceled out her thoughts. The sky had finally opened and was releasing buckets of water upon the ground. She continued forward, until something off in the distance caught her eyes. There was something, or someone, lying on the ground. The closer she got, the more she realized it was indeed someone. She ran over to them, only to see they were already deceased. There was a blood stain by his stomach, along with deep cuts along the man's arms and legs. Suddenly, she recognized the outfit, which was confirmed by the mask by his hand. He was an ANBU ninja from Konoha. An ANBU ninja that was actually killed. Her mind became frantic. She studied his wound for a moment, concluding he was dealt a final blow with a sword. One person automatically came to mind, but she pushed the thought away.

She cautiously stepped in her original direction, only to see four more ANBU dead where they lied. All of them with the same type of deadly wounds-pierced with a sword. Again, she thought he must've been the one to do this, but she once again, pushed the thought away.

Only problem was, her thought was proved correct when she found him a few feet away, collapsed on the ground. He had taken what would normally be a fatal amount of damage, especially with the amount of blood loss, but he was still alive. He was simply unconscious. She stared wide-eyed, frozen in her tracks, wondering what the hell to do. Because this was one of the few times, no, most likely one of the only times...

...That Sasuke Uchiha would be vulnerable.