JUST US

“Hey Sasuke-kun! Wait a second!”

Sasuke turned around at the sound of his name, then turned back around and continued walking when he saw it was Sakura who called him. He decided to ignore her.

“Sasuke-kun!!”

Ugh. Couldn’t she take a hint? Might as well see what she wanted. “What is it?”

Sakura smiled. “He’s talking to me! Well, I was wondering if you’d go out to din-“

“Hey Sasuke!” Sakura turned to glare at the blonde ninja who’d just run up behind them. “Idiot! Can’t you see we’re talking?!” she yelled as she smacked him into a nearby building.

Sasuke brushed past Sakura and walked over to help Naruto up. “What is it?”

Naruto grinned and held up two pieces of paper that looked like coupons. “I got two tickets for ramen! Wanna eat with me?”

Sakura eyes widened with horror as Sasuke smiled and answered, “Sure.”

Naruto grinned even wider, than turned to face Sakura. “Sorry, Sakura, but I’ve only got two-“

“It’s fine.”

“Huh?” Naruto looked closely at Sakura. She was smiling gently at her teammates. “I understand. Have a good time!”

“We will!” Naruto started walking off with Sasuke. “I’ll take you out next time!” he called to her.

“Sounds good!” Sakura laughed, but inside she was screaming with rage. “How dare that brat interfere with me asking out Sasuke-kun! I swear, he’s gonna pay for this!” But how?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days later, Sakura was walking down the road, when she saw Sasuke and Naruto heading toward her. She would have called out, but her eyes were met with a very strange sight. Sasuke was listening to what Naruto was saying, and smiling. Moreover, he was laughing. Sakura had never seen her precious Sasuke laugh, and decided to silently follow them. Staying about twenty feet back, she could see what they were doing, but was unable to hear what they were saying. When they arrived at Naruto’s place, Sasuke leaned in (causing Sakura to flush) and whispered into Naruto’s ear. Naruto smiled and whispered back. He then disappeared inside his door, leaving Sasuke outside. Sasuke began to walk toward his own home. Sakura followed him silently for a while, then ran up to him. “Oh, Sasuke-kun!”

Sasuke turned around to face the girl, a frown plastered to his face. “What now?”

Sakura blushed. She hadn’t expected this kind of reaction; not after what she saw earlier. “Well, um, I saw you and Naruto talking-”

“You were spying on us?” Sasuke’s eyes flashed angrily.

“NO! I mean, I didn’t listen in on what you were saying, I just followed you…” Oh, that made it sound so much better. Sasuke glared at her, her eyes now glued to the ground. “What’s you’re point?”

“Um, well, I just…” dear god, she sounded like Hinata around Naruto. “I just wanted you to know, that anything you tell Naruto, you can tell me.” She looked up at Sasuke hopefully.

Sasuke was already walking off. “No, I don’t think I can. Naruto’s different. Just accept that.”

Sakura stood there until Sasuke was out of sight, then turned to run home, tears of hate pouring down her face. “Dammit Naruto, what the hell makes you so special?”…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a rainy day as Sakura walked along. Most people had already gone inside, but she had to deliver a check to Ino’s house for flowers her mother had bought on credit. She looked around at the empty village streets. It was actually rather nice out; it wasn’t sprinkling, but the rain wasn’t pouring down in sheets, either. As she looked ahead, she saw Naruto. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. He was bloodied and limping. “NARUTO!! What happened!?” she called out, dashing to his side, her jealousy temporarily forgotten.

He smiled at her through a black eye. “Some punks dragged me into an alley, but I got them good.” He laughed, then clutched his side in pain.

“Don’t laugh! You need to go to a hospital!” Sakura was still worried about the blonde.

Naruto just shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I just need to go home and rest.”

“Are you sure??”

“Yeah.” He gave Sakura another grin, then walked past her. “I have to be! We’ve got a mission in two days!”

“Ok, then.” Sakura watched him for a minute, then continued on her way. About five minutes later, she saw Sasuke heading for her. “Hey, Sakura?” he said, eyes focused on something to his left.

Sakura nearly fainted from happiness. “He said my name!! What is it, Sasuke-kun?”

“Have you seen Naruto?”

Her smile disappeared in an instant. “Yeah, I did. He was heading home, and looked pretty bad.”

“Hmm?” Sasuke looked right at her. “How so?”

“Well, he was really beaten up, and-“

“WHAT?! Why the hell didn’t you say that sooner?!”

Sakura was shocked at Sasuke’s sudden outburst. “I just-“

“Grr, it doesn’t matter!!” Sasuke pushed her aside and ran off in the direction Sakura had just come from.

“Wait up!” Sakura called out and chased after him, but was no match for his speed. She soon fell far behind, and could only run along the streets that she knew led to Naruto’s house. As she rounded a corner, she finally saw Sasuke. He had caught up to Naruto.

Watching from around the building, she stared at the two boys. Sasuke appeared to be yelling, and Naruto was shaking his head and yelling back. She saw Naruto turn around, preparing to run off, but was stopped by Sasuke, who grabbed his arm. The two stayed still for a split second. Then, Sasuke jerked Naruto toward him…and kissed him on the lips.

Both Naruto and Sakura’s eyes opened wide in shock. Naruto broke the kiss and tried to pull away, but Sasuke grabbed his other arm and pulled him into another kiss. This time, Naruto shut his eyes and returned it.

As the two boys stood there together in the rain, Sakura’s fury reached new levels. She was going to get rid of that brat, once and for all…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Alright, are we clear on what to do?”

“Yes,” came the response from all the team 7 members. Sasuke and Naruto were leaning towards each other, talking about something or another, while the gears in Sakura’s head furiously whirled, trying to figure out a plan to make Sasuke and Naruto break up. She could try asking out Naruto, and maybe his crush on her would make him dump Sasuke. Or she could poison some of that ramen he was so fond of…

“Sakura, are you listening?”

“Hmm?” she looked into her teacher’s face. “Oh, sorry Kakashi-sensei!” Her face turned bright red.

“It’s alright. I just said we needed to go.”

“Come on, Sakura!” Naruto waved at his “friend”, not realizing the danger he was in.

“I’m coming!” she called, her rage about to boil over. She’d get him if it was the last thing she’d ever do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Pant…pant…where is everyone?” Naruto sat down and pulled the kunai knives out of his legs. Their mission had been interrupted by several enemy ninja, and the group had been split up in the ensuing fight. Naruto had beaten the man who came after him, but not before taking several hits in his left arm and both legs. He’d lost a lot of blood, and he needed to find his team fast.

His thoughts were interrupted by a rustle coming from his right. He stiffened, then relaxed as he saw Sakura walking out of some nearby bushes. She had a few scratches, but other than that looked fine.

“Hey, Sakura! Are you ok?”

The girl in question jumped, then saw it was only Naruto. “Yeah, I’m fine. The guy took it easy on me, because I’m a girl. Big mistake on his part.”

Naruto grinned. “Yeah, I know that fact from personal experience.” He looked down at his legs. “Hey, can you help me? I got cut up pretty bad by that guy who followed me, and…Sakura?”

Sakura had pulled a knife out of her bag and was slowly walking toward Naruto. Shadows obscured her face, which was probably a good thing, since she had a creepy grin that stretched from ear to ear on it. “Really. That’s too bad, Naruto. And you had such a promising future. I swear I’ll cry when I tell them, if it makes you fell better.”

“Huh?” Naruto was now both frightened and confused. “Tell who what?”

Naruto could finally see the grin as Sakura moved forward and shivered. “Tell Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun how you were murdered by the enemy, and I arrived in time to kill him, but too late to save you. Sasuke will be so distraught, he’ll cry on the first shoulder he’s offered,” her grin stretched even wider. “And I’ll be sure it’s mine.”

Naruto began to shake. Was Sakura really going to kill him? “Sakura, you can’t-“

“Sure I can. You’re so cut up, they’ll never be able to tell that the final wound came later on. All I have to do is put this knife in the enemy’s hand when I’m done. I’ll be off the hook, you’ll be dead, and Sasuke will be mine. Everyone wins.” She giggled. “Well, except you, I guess.”

Naruto was more afraid than he’d ever been in his life. His teammate, his friend, was about to kill him. “But…why?”

Sakura stood directly above him. Naruto looked into her eyes and saw pure insanity. “Because I hate you.” She raised the knife above her head. “NOW DIE!” Naruto shut his eyes and prepared himself for the worst.

STAB

A thin line of blood appeared at the corner of Sakura’s mouth. She looked down and saw the tip of a knife poking through the center of her chest. Then her world went black.

Naruto opened his eyes at the sound of a soft thump. He looked in front of him and saw Sakura on the ground, her blood spilling out. He then glanced up and saw Sasuke holding a bloody knife.

Sasuke kneeled down to look at Naruto. “Are you ok?”

Naruto nodded. “I’m alright.” He looked away. “Sasuke, why did you kill her?”

Sasuke raised a brow. “What?”

Naruto looked at him, tears in his eyes. “Why’d you kill her?! She was our teammate, our fri-“

“Don’t call that bitch a friend, Naruto. Friends don’t try to kill each other when one of them is on the ground, too weak to even defend themselves.” Naruto stared at him, and Sasuke’s gaze softened. “She was jealous of you, Naruto. She wanted to be mine, and she allowed her jealousy to develop into full-blown hate. And because of that, she’s gone. Now, there’s just us.”

“Just us…” Naruto smiled, then pulled Sasuke down and kissed him. They kissed for a few minutes before finally breaking apart. “Hey, Sasuke?”

“Yeah?”

“What do we do now? I’m mean, she was gonna kill me, yeah, but you still stabbed her-“

“No I didn’t.”

“HUH?” Naruto looked at Sasuke to see him smiling. “I said I didn’t. You killed the guy who actually went after Sakura, and then went looking for her. You got here just in time to see her stabbed, and you were so enraged that you ran after the bastard and killed him. Then I found you trying to pull the knives out of your legs and helped you back…understand?”

Now it was Naruto’s turn to grin. “Uh-huh.” Together, they walked off to find Kakashi-sensei, leaving behind Sakura’s body.