In My Past {Sasuke Uchiha One-Shot for MikaYukiko}

Sacrifice those you love and the life you lived to bring forth the life you want.

It is tiresome being a ninja. Of course, it's not as tiresome as my old life. Adoptive parents that hated me, a brother put up for adoption, a life where I was forced to keep high grades. I hated it.

"Mika, did you forget we were supposed to be training?"

I turn around to look at the dark eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. "Yeah," I admit. "I guess I got distracted."

"I understand if it's eating, but how did you get distracted if you're in a tree?"

I shrug. "It's a nice way to take my mind off of my past."

He obviously thinks I'm talking about the past given to me upon my arrival here. The one where everyone in my village was killed when I was five and I was taken to the leaf village and placed under the car of Kakashi, my squad's leader, until I graduated from the ninja academy and became a ninja.

I head back with Sasuke, and upon arrival I'm told to spar. Sasuke and I are sparring partners today. As we fight, I find my mind slipping away. I am seeing the anger of my parents as they slap me and lock me in my room for getting a B on a math quiz.

I snap back to reality when my kunai flies from my hand and I am pinned against a tree with a kunai at my neck. My chocolate brown eyes are wide.

"What happened?" Sasuke asks. "Your moves were sloppy. Usually it takes a while to disarm you."

"It's nothing," I say as I push him away. "I'm just tired."

"Then maybe you should rest," Kakashi says.

I shake my head. "It's nothing that rest will help."

"Is it about your past?"

I nod. I know it's not the past that they think. Even so, I am thinking of my past.

"It's not like you to get distracted," Sasuke says. "What part is bothering you?"

"It's nothing," I say, my voice raising. "I think I'll take your offer and rest, Kakashi-sensei." I quickly run off.

When I'm in my house, I curl onto the couch and hug my knees. In truth, I've been wondering what would have happened if I had refused the deal to come here. It's not like I even remember why I took the deal. I just took it. After a dream where I graduated from high school, got a scholarship to a good college, and raised a fantastic family with no contact with my adoptive parents at all, I've been thinking of it a lot. All I've done here is put my life in danger. Being a ninja is an honor, I know. But why did I take this deal?

I change out of my training clothes and put on a pair of shorts with a black cami. I then tie my brown hair up into a ponytail. I feel my right shoulder without realizing it. I cringe. It's still tender.

"Maybe that's why," I tell myself. I received this scar the day I was offered the deal. It was from getting the second highest test score in my science class. I think that's why I decided to take it. I was tired of abuse for failing. They spat words like "failure" and "pathetic excuse for a human being" at me. And I just took it.

Now I'm in tears. I don't even hear the door open. In walks Sasuke, though I don't even notice. I'm too absorbed in crying. Ninja aren't supposed to cry. I know that. So why can't I stop?

A warm arm wraps around me, and before I realize it I'm crying into Sasuke's chest. Normally I wouldn't do that.

"What happened to the laid-back, carefree, lazy, and sarcastic girl I knew so well?" he asks. "The girl with brains that rival my own. The girl that never lets others see her pain and flips out if someone else is in pain? The girl I fell in love with?"

I feel my cheeks go red. "She's still here," I say through tears, though it's quiet. "She just needs to let it out once in a while."

"She can tell me her pain," he says. "I'm sure I can help her out."

I look up at him. His eyes are actually sad. It hurts me to think I caused him sadness. I lean up and press my lips into him, but it's only for a moment. I quickly pull away, my cheeks now an even deeper shade of red. "I love you, Sasuke," I whisper.

He smirks. "I love you too."

"Yeah, you already told me that." I press my lips back into his. This moment replaces all the ones in my pasts, and I suddenly remember why I took the deal.

"I'll really get to meet Sasuke? And I'll get to be with him?"

So, I sacrificed it all for this one moment of happiness. I don't know about you, but I think I took a pretty good deal.

 

Hard Life {Naruto Uzumaki One-Shot for XxXZuruiKitsuneXxX}

Sacrifice those you love and the life you lived to bring forth the life you want.

I spit onto the ground, barely looking at the red that is now there because of me. I have a goal.

“Are you seriously all they sent after me? What a joke.”

I look at the man standing in front of me. He’s obviously unhappy that I fell for the trap he set. Of course, he set so many I’d have to fly to get past.

“What if I am?” I ask.

He chuckles. “What’s your name?”

“Sayuri Takahashi.”

“Well, Sayuri, I don’t think you realize that I’m a very dangerous man.”

“I can be just as dangerous,” I say.

Where are my squad? They can’t really be held up by those traps, can they? I disabled most of them.

The man takes a step closer, his shadow now touching my feet. His black hair is shaved really short, and I can see his deep brown eyes easily.

“You don’t realize how useless a girl like you is, do you?” he asks. “A girl like you is futile in the presence of strong man. You are a complete waste. Your poor squad must have already left, deciding I’d probably kill you. Maybe they’ll just say you killed yourself. After all, you are obviously useless.”

My dark brown-red eyes widen. Don’t you realize we bought you on a whim? Consider your lucky we haven’t gotten bored of you yet. Useless girl.

“Useless girl.”

I bite the inside of my mouth. All of my fury is suddenly released. I punch his stomach, making him double over. After varius jutsus and violent attacks, he is on the ground. I realize afterwards what I have done.

“You took him down alone?”

I look up to see my squad standing a few yards away from me. Our captain has his hands crossed across his chest. Next to them is another squad assigned to help us.

“Yeah,” I say. “I’m sorry, but I just lost it.”

“What happened?” he asks.

I bite my lip. “He just said something that plucked a nerve.” I look at Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato standing next to my captain. “We should get going.”

Once back in the leaf village, I go to the roof of the tallest building I can find. I look at my hand. “A hand that would have never killed before this,” I whisper to myself. I sit down and hug my knees, stilling holding my right hand out before me. “What a pathetic excuse for a ninja I am. I thought ninja are supposed to be able to hold in their fury.”

“Not really,” comes a voice from behind me.

I turn around, shocked to see Naruto standing there. “Naruto! How long have you been there?”

He came over and crouched down next to me. “You aren’t alone in getting angered easily. I get angry easily too.”

“I don’t get that angry usually,” I say with a sigh. “I just...he said something that brought back some bad memories.”

“Want to talk about it?” he asks.

I sigh and shake my head. “No. It wouldn’t make any sense to you.”

“Try me.”

So, I tell him about my life before coming to the leaf village. I point out that, while absolutely everyone believes my father is my father, I actually was adopted into a mean family at the age of six. I talk about how they verbally abused me, saying how I was “bought” on a whim and how I was useless. I feel tears creaping into my eyes as I tell him about my younger brother, Kyoya, being their actual son but being put up for adoption instead of me.

“Wow,” he says. “You’ve had a hard life, huh?”

I nod. “But you can’t tell anyone else about it. Okay?”

“Yeah, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you.”

He nods. I watch as a gust of wind blows his blonde hair back. His deep blue eyes seem to be somewhere else. Almost as if, while his body is here, his spirit itself is flying above everyone else.

“Sayuri,” he says suddenly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have someone you like?”

I bite my lip. “Yeah.”

“What’s he like?”

“He’s stubborn and loses his temper. He works hard and will fight until he dies. To him, friendship is very important. “ I don’t know how I know all these things. They’re just suddenly spewing from my mouth. “He’s had a hard life. He can be serious when the situation calls for it, otherwise he’s really funny. He’s really fantastic. He’s come a long way from when he was younger and in the Academy.”

“Sounds like someone you really like,” he says.

“Yeah,” I say. “But you know what? Even if he doesn’t know I like him, I will keep liking him until I can tell him I like him.”

“Can I ask his name?”

I bite the inside of my mouth. Should I say it? I decide I might as well. I watch him from the corner of my eye. There are tears in his eyes. “Naruto...Uzumaki.”

His eyes widen. “Wait! Me?”

I nod my head. “Yeah.”

A smile breaks on his face and he jumps into the air. The tears are gone. “Wahoo!”

I giggle. “What?”

He pulls me to my feet and wraps me into a hug. “I love you, Sayuri!”

My eyes widen. So...that’s why he was crying. He had thought I didn’t like him back...

“Yeah. I love you too.”

My eyes suddenly widen as I remember why I took the deal in the first place. I loved Naruto so much when I watched him on television. I had written about him most of the time since my “parents” never wanted to see me. Why had I ever forgotten? Of all the things to forget, I forgot the last thing I would have wanted to...

“Thank you for returning my feelings, Naruto,” I whisper.

Maybe I won’t get over the anger of my “parents.” Even so, Naruto will be there. I can stay happy.