𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

Quarell on Either Side ( Chapter 28 )

That terrible day came...when those close to Sasuke had to come and go into his house to empty it out. Gaara had to come with Ura, her hands were trembling as she, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi headed to the Uchiha's shrine. The Kazekage was a little befuddled to why Ura was so close, but Naruto said they just were. Soon, the shrine was right in front of them, Sakura and Ura hesitated before they could walk in, as if afraid they would see Sasuke, in person, again. Ura took Gaara's arm so he could lead her inside, but once she stepped into the home that was very familiar to her, she clung to Gaara for dear life, "I can't do it.... I just can't, Gaara."

"Sakura, you take the living room, Kakashi gets the kitchen, I will have the offices and library, Ura takes the bedroom," Naruto handed them huge garbage bags.

Ura was even more fearful now, she took the bag Naruto had handed to her, and led the way for Gaara, who was trailing behind her. She approached the mahogany door that was the entrance way to the memorable room where she and Sasuke had made love. Ura stared at the doorknob, she wanted to go in so badly, but...the memory of Sasuke would haunt her again.

"Are you going in or not?"

Gaara's voice made her jump a little, Ura reached out slowly, twisting the doorknob and slightly pushing the door open. Ura didn't noticed how spacious the room was before, the bed looked so big now that no one was occupying it. The kunoichi took a step inside, the waft of the familiar cologne the Uchiha wore entered her nostrils. She covered her moth with her left hand, holding back the tears of memories she was recieving. Gaara was not hesitant as he began to put pictures in the bag, "If you want to just stand there and gawk, by all means go ahead."

"This is harder for me than it is for you, Gaara," Ura snapped at him, "You didn't know him like I did!"

"Then how did you know him?!" Gaara's annoyance with her feelings unleashed itself.

"That has nothing to do with how you're acting towards this situation! How would you like it if I were dead and Baki made a comment about gawking and actually having emotions!" Ura's own rage was being seen, "I'm sorry if I can actually feel!"

"Fine," Gaara ruthlessly dropped the garbage bag, "I'm done with this nonsense."

Ura watched as her lover stormed out of the Uchiha's home, she didn't know where he was going, but he wouldn't leave her in this village without telling her. She took a few deep breaths, then began to sort through Sasuke's personal belongings, carefully placing them in the bag before continuing for more. As she opened his nightstand, she saw a deep purple book with the word "Log" on the top in cursive hand writing. The kunoichi sat down on the side of Sasuke's bed and gently opened it like the book would crumble if she handled it too hard. It didn't take her long to realize that this was like a journal to Sasuke, writings about his days were all in this one book.

Sasuke seemed so manly to have one of these, but then again, Ura only knew that side of Sasuke, she never had the chance to fully get to know him. Ura placed the log in her travel bag, that was one memoir she had to keep. She emptied his entire room, nothing left but the sheets on his bed, that was when Ura had paused to comemorate that room, "Goodbye, Sasuke Uchiha."

The sad Sand Kunoichi turned around for the last time in his room, but then saw a familiar bandage wrap wadded behind the dresser. She bent down and pick it up, it took her a second to realize that it was her own... Tears swelled her eyes for the last time as she clutched her bandage wrap, why did Sasuke have to die? He was so strong...why did he give up on life? Why did he give up on everyone? One step at a time, she left his room, then his shrine, not turning back for one last glance. That would be the last time she would think about the Uchiha, he had abandoned his friendship with her and everyone else.

When she reached the entrance of the village, Gaara stood with his arms crossed, as if he knew she was ready to leave all along. Before they left, a Jonin called out Ura's name, she turned to see Shikamaru walking fast to her, "Hey, you're Temari's friend right?"

"Yeah," Ura had a grave look on her face, "I am..."

"Uhm...can you give this to her?" Shikamaru handed her a piece of folded paper with her name on it.

"What is it?" Ura's curiousity took over, "Are you seeing her?"

Shikamaru had a worried glance towards Gaara, "Well... Kinda... I have to go now, just please give that to her."

As fast as their conversation started, it had ended, Ura and Gaara had one of Gaara's emporial cart of running bulls waiting for them. Ura got in first with the bag of Sasuke's belongings and the note for Temari, then Gaara entered, sitting on the opposite end of Ura. He eyed the bag intently, his notion was to throw it out when the cart began to move, but...Ura would have surely be even more angry with him. In a way, Gaara felt a bit guilty for leaving Ura to go through that emotional stress alone, but she had insulted him by her final comment.

Ura stood slightly and moved over to Gaara's side of the seat, and layed her head on his shoulder, her hand on top of his thigh. Gaara allowed her to do so, her action told him she apologized for her unrational comment. He placed his hand on top of her own while moving his free arm around her, pulling Ura closer to him. All of their tension and stress was finally released, she was back in her lover's arms again, hoping that she would not be without him again.

If Gaara was to ever die on her, Ura didn't know what she would do, all her life she had spent it around Gaara. He was her center, her life, her sun...if Gaara was to just disappear, it would take a very long time for Ura to fully recover from the tumble of her structured life style.

When the Kazekage and his lover had finally returned to their home after such a long few days in Konoha, Gaara went to his office to check on the paperwork that was awaiting him. Ura, however, decided to take a walk through the village. So much had changed throughout the years of Gaara's reign on the village, a lot of it was shaped up to a glory so noticed in the people's smiles. Children played, adults gossiped, everything seemed so peaceful...

**In the Forest in the Land of Waves**

A path of fresh blood could be seen as a near dead man stumbled on the forest floor, trying to get near a river. His raven black hair was coaxed in blood, his faced was smeared with mud and more blood, his entire body was bloodified and disfigured. The man was known as the beloved Sasuke Uchiha. He was questioning himself to how he survived the attack from Gaara's men and the encounter with the mystery man...

((flashback to the encounter))

Sasuke had leaped out of the Sand Jonin's way before he could get stabbed and immediately bolted off into the forest. Running for his life, Sasuke desperately tried to think of a way to escape, until he stopped running and landed on the forest floor. He looked up to see the Jonin men continue running in the same path, with a sigh of relief, Sasuke was back on his feet. The Uchiha began to walk in a different direction, until he heard the cries of agonizing death from the area the Jonin had ran in. Though they were not his allies anymore, Sasuke ran in that direction, he could show-boat it in their face when he saved their lives. When he had finally caught up, his eyes widened, body parts were everywhere...

"What...what?" Sasuke looked around in horror, who could've done this?

Who had the ability to cause such a massacre in so little time? The Uchiha looked upwards to see a man standing in the tree with a vile smirk on his face, "You did this...you're the mystery man."

"Ai..for I am this 'mystery man'. But I have a name, I am Kagutome, and you're reaper," the man chuckled a little.

Sasuke readied two kunai, "I don't care who you are, you're as good as dead..."

Kagutome's long brown hair, tied up in a low pony tail, swayed in the night air, his blood red eyes glinted in the full moonlight. His eerie pale skin nearly made Sasuke sick as Kagutome laughed at Sasuke's comment, "So, you do not desire to know what my plan is, Uchiha?"

"How do you know my name!?" Sasuke growled as he leaped away when Kagutome stepped onto the ground.

"Simple... I know everyone, for I am the reaper of all," Kagutome's evil smile glinted slight fangs, "Once I have a pure soul and an angered, tainted soul, everyone will meet their grim reaper."

Sasuke eyed the maniacal man before him, what the hell was he talking about? You can't contract the soul out of someone without giving up your own soul in the process! This man had to be crazy, Sasuke ran at Kagutome at full speed, nearly stabbing him. Kagutome had moved just a step away for only a second, before snatching Sasuke's throat, "Dear boy, you should know better than to get too close, you might just end up getting hurt."

The Uchiha quickly stabbed Kagutome's left wrist with his kunais, but then Kagutome made the hand-sign of blood...the same hand-sign Ura had done in their Chunin fight... Kagutome smirked helped the glint in his blood red eyes, "Good night, Uchiha."

Instantly, holes formed in Sasuke's skin, spewing out blood like Sasuke was an open water bottle. Sasuke screamed in pure agony as Kagutome laughed hysterically, the Uchiha had finally fainted, his heart beat had dangerously slowed. Kagutome had dropped him to the ground, knowing he would die in only a matter of minutes. Once Kagutome had walked away, Sasuke waited until he had finally been out of chakra-sensing reach. As soon as Kagutome was no where near Sasuke, he made a hand-sign to release the jutsu upon him, then he began the stumbling and crawling to find a river to replenish his blood...

((end of flashback))

Sasuke finally found a river and threw himself in it, drinking so much his stomach began to hurt. The cool water never felt so good before, it almost felt like heaven feeling the water rush through him. When Sasuke found the energy to sit up, he began to clean himself off, and began to heal his wounds by wrapping bandages on them. Who knew he would actually last until noon the next day...Sasuke was in disbelief that he had seen all of those body parts... That could've been his body parts if Kagutome didn't go so weak on him..

"Damn..I have to run back..." Sasuke was not looking forward to running back to Konoha.

But...he had to travel through the desert, Sasuke could go warn Gaara and Ura about Kagutome and then travel back to Konoha. Sasuke was still shooken up, the last time he actually encountered a man so powerful and evil was...Orochimaru. The Uchiha's breath faltered for a second, that could mean...innocent people would be sacrificed again... There was no other choice, he had to put up with Gaara's jealousy and anger again to warn them all.

Sasuke managed to stand up and run at his normal speed, the country in the Land of the Waves was actually a beautiful place to be. As he ran through, he caught glimpses of families picking their crops for the Fall and Winter seasons. If he were in his shrine, he would be bringing down his Fall clothes from the cellar and start to change the sheets on his bed to something warm. Konoha would've started to get some snow flurries and cloudy days, then little kids would be getting sick outside when they wanted to play in the snow... That was a chance Sasuke had once, then it all went away...

The Uchiha focused his thoughts back on his destination, Sand... The one place he didn't want to go, not to face just Gaara's fury, but seeing her again. When Sasuke had seen Ura in Gaara's arms, his blood ran cold at the sight... But it hurt even more when she had told him that Gaara had her love, Sasuke swore that pain hurt more than any battle wound. Though he knew he could never have her fully, Sasuke remembered that night they were alone in his room, the way she moaned his name when he made love to her... That was enough to bring him some hope, but that thought was shut out when Sasuke knew Gaara probably had screwed her twenty more times when the Uchiha was sent to his 'accidental' death.

He quickened his pace from the anger that was dwelling inside of him, Sasuke was massively infuriated to the point where he felt his face redden. There was so much he could do to make Ura feel the way he felt when she had told him it wasn't going to happen...but then that would make him the bad guy. All Sasuke wanted to do now was to inform and leave, he didn't want to see her again. The most that Sasuke wanted to do now was just go home and rest...

When he had entered the desert, Sasuke's heart thumped quickly against his chest. Probably caused by the fast running...but also caused by the nervousness that enraged him, why was he so nervous about seeing her again? Was he really in love with her the entire time? Sasuke shook that thought off of him as he entered the center of the country...the Sunagakure.

"Well look he came back...the Uchiha kid."

Sasuke turned to see the puppet-nin, "Where is Ura?"

"In the village while Gaara is catching up with some paperwork, he sent me to finish you off," Kankurou smirked, "Hope you don't mind me saying, but everyone in Konoha, even Ura, believes you as dead."

This confused Sasuke, "Now who would go around saying that?"

"Let's just say it's best you stay dead," Kankurou unraveled Karasu, "You should accept that everyone is better off leaving you like that."

"Too bad I won't," Sasuke prepared a fire attack, "As soon as I defeat you, i'll make sure Ura knows of your funeral."

"IF you defeat me, you'll have to face Gaara himself," Kankurou looked back at the mansion, then paused, "You know... Ura has acted differently since she found out that the fake you was dead, and she took that pretty badly... Get out of here, just tell me the news and i'll make sure both Gaara and Ura hear it."

"I thought you wanted to fight," Sasuke commented, "Too afraid?"

"Naw, I would rather you fight you, but i'm just thinking about how Ura would react once she finds out you were once alive and that I killed you," Kankurou ravelled Karasu back up, "Just tell me what happened and leave."

"What about Gaara?" Sasuke eyed Kankurou, "Are you entirely-"

"C'mon, I don't have all day," Kankurou snapped.

"Fine... The man's name is Kagutome, I don't know his specialty, and he's much worse than Orochimaru," Sasuke explained, "He's looking for an innocent person and an angry person to do his bidding."

"Then he has his first pure person," Kankurou sighed, "A kidnapping happened a few days ago to a little slave girl named Leila, poor girl was just picking flowers when a man, transformed into a snake, snuck up and stole her up. Me, Temari, and a few other ANBU all tried to go after him, but he used a wall of thick blood to stop us from his track."

Sasuke had a solemn face on...already, a child was taken to do Kagutome's plan to do something. That was the thing though, what was Kagutome really planning that required an angry person and a person pure at heart? If Kagutome took just a child, what use would the girl be if she didn't know anything? Then, a thought hit Sasuke, Kagutome was going to train her, hard, to learn as much as he knew. After that, all Kagutome had to find was the angry person, then...who knows what the mad man was planning.

"Get going, Uchiha, Gaara's getting impatient and wants me to kill you now. If I don't, he surely will without hesitation, go back to Konoha where you belong," Kankurou growled at Sasuke, "Now!"

Sasuke paused, but when Kankurou ran at him, Sasuke sped off. The reason he had paused was because he had picked up Ura's chakra, the flicker of elegance in her chakra had sent a wave of security through him. But...Sasuke continued making his way to Konoha, his home...

Kankurou grunted as he watched the Uchiha run off into the distance, until he was no longer in visual sight. Ura appraoched Kankurou from behind, envoloping his arm in hers, "Who was that? Was it some merchant trying to get in again?"

"Yeah...it was just a rouge merchant," Kankurou still looked into the distance, "He won't be coming back, I can tell you that much."