"H-Haku?" I stuttered, as my eyes grew wider. The young shinobi had saved Zabuza by blocking Kakashi's attack with his body. Kakashi was just as surprise as I was. Haku gasped for air and spit up blood then glared up at Kakashi, while grabbing his arm.

"Za-bu-za," he gasped as struggled to breathe. The dogs that had pinned Zabuza, slowly poofed away. The tense atmosphere broke when I heard the sounds of footsteps coming towards the scene.

"Well done Haku," Zabuza spoke as he gripped his sword and swung it towards Kakashi and Haku. Luckily Kakashi took action fast and dodge by jump out the way, holding Haku's corpses in his arms. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Once the blond headed ninja appeared, his eyes fell on Haku then on Zabuza. His shoulders started shaking as his anger rose. He growled and ran towards Zabuza, until Kakashi stopped him.

"Naruto! Stay out of this, this is my battle," Our Sensei gently placed Haku down and closed his lifeless eyes closed, then turned back and glared at the enemy.

"Zabuza's mine." My best friend and I stared at the shinobi in awe, until a very annoying female’s voice broke me out of my gaze.

"Naruto! Reika!" Sakura called waving at us making us look over.

"Sakura," I heard Naruto mumble, sadder then surprised.

"Hey! Where's Sasuke?" she asked curiously. Our body stiffened, and my heart dropped hearing the Uchiha's name. I hung my head while Naruto looked at his feet, with a sad expression that made a pain slash the inside of me. The pink haired girl's face dropped at our actions, and whispered,

"No." Soon, Kakashi and Zabuza started fighting while Sakura and Tazuna ran over to Sasuke. Why... I never meant for this to happen. I was supposed to accomplish both dreams. I was supposed to protect everyone I cared about. I glanced over to Naruto; he didn't seemed to be taking well either.

"Sasuke..." I heard Naruto mumble. You walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me with such a pained expression. I let out a small gasp as I saw a tear fall down his face. I wrapped my arms around Naruto's neck as a few more tears fell down our faces.

"I'm so sorry Naruto..." I kept repeating in his ear, I felt him grab the back of my sleeve and tighten. We began to hear Sakura's wail, causing us to cling tighter around each other. Naruto was like a brother to me. The pain he felt, I also felt. It was the same way around too. I never knew why but then again I never did care either. The sound of blades clashing together made me slowly let go of Naruto and look over at Kakashi and Zabuza.

Kakashi and Zabuza jumped away from each other. Zabuza fell to his knees with a kunai in his arm. He looked like he was thinking to himself as he was panting.

"Damn it!" He shouted running toward Kakashi again. When he got close enough, Kakashi punch Zabuza in the face with his knuckles. He flown backwards and looked at Kakashi only to get smashed in the face again. He spun around, his giant sword swerving into the stone.

He glared at Kakashi. "Damn it!" He growled. He raced forward and swung his sword. Kakashi moved back and the sword swung where he last was. He brought his sword upright and came crashing down. The spot was rubble but there was no Kakashi.

Kakashi was behind and had grabbed his neck.

"In the state you are now you cannot win..." Kakashi said, "What do you say?" he added. You stared at Kakashi then turned to Zabuza. His eyes were wide with what looked to be fear.

"You don't understand the true meaning of being strong." Kakashi finished. He grabbed to sharp Kunai and twirled them with his fingers. He twirled them and aimed them toward his neck.

"Farewell, Zabuza."

The two kunai plunged toward him though Zabuza had his sword coming toward Kakashi. Instead of his neck, he aimed it toward his other arm and jabbed it into him. He jumped away before getting hit with the sword, doing a back flip in the process. The sword fell to the side and skidded away.

I watched intently, and then turned to Naruto and his eyes were wide with shock. I turned back toward the fight and watched.

"Now you can't use your arms." Kakashi said, "You can't even make seals."

Zabuza glared at Kakashi while growling. I heard footsteps not to far off and turned your head. A man with a cane and a cast around on hand stood there. He had messy hair and wore sunglasses. He had a moustache on each side of his cheeks as he spoke.

"Looks like you got beaten up pretty bad Zabuza." He said. Smirking over at him, "I'm disappointed."

Behind him was a large group of men. Both big and small, they had spears swords and kunai as they stared at us all with smirks. I shivered as we stared at them all with the same glare.

"Gatoh? I don't understand, what's going on?" Zabuza asked glaring at him.

Gatoh's smirk widened. "Well you see, there's been a slight change in plan. The new plan is that you die right here on this bridge." He said looking at him through his glasses.

Zabuza stared at Gatoh intently, waiting to see what he would do. "What?" He asked.

"You're too expensive." He said making it sound like he was a thing. "So I've decided to get rid of you."

My fists tightened. "This isn't going to turn out well at all." I said to Naruto. He nodded slowly as he studied her enemy.

Well Kakashi, looks like our quarrel has ended. I have no need in killing the bridge builder." Zabuza said. Kakashi nodded while starring at Gatoh. "Looks like it."

Gatoh walked forward. He walked straight toward Haku and glared. My eyes tightened as we watched him.

"You little punk, you grabbed me and nearly broke my arm. I've been wanting to return the favor." He said.

I gasped and watched as Gatoh slammed his cane on the side of Haku's cheek. He shoved his face to the left and then the right. "I only wish he was alive to feel it." He said.

Naruto and I exploded. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Naruto roared.

“YOU BASTARD!” I screamed. Naruto raced toward Gatoh but Kakashi grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, pulling him away from Gahto. I began to run forward but was stopped by Kakashi's grasp as well.

"Get away from him you scum! Don't touch him!" Naruto yelled squirming in Kakashi's grasp. "Cut it out Naruto! Use your head!" He yelled. I began to squirm in Kakashi's grasp.

"What are you doing Kakashi? Let me go! You saw what he did! He disserves to die!" I shouted.

"Are you gonna let him do that Zabuza? Are you going to let him treat Haku like some dog?" He shouted.

"Shut up fool, Haku is dead. There's nothing that can change that." He barked. "What are you talking about? You and Haku have been together for years!" He said.

"You need to learn the way of the Shinobi boy. I used him like Gatoh had used me." He said glaring over at the man. "It's over. His usefulness is at an end."

I growled and ripped away from Kakashi's grasp and pounded my feet straight toward Zabuza and stood next to Naruto.

"How can you say that? Haku cared so much about you! He lived and died for you!" I shouted at him. Naruto spoke up this time.

"You were the most important person in the world to him! He meant nothing to you? Nothing at all?" He screeched.

"He sacrificed everything for you! He was okay with that! You didn't even thank him! Not once!" I shouted. My fists were so tight they began to bleed and I didn't care about the sensation flowing through me at that moment.

"If I become as strong as you, will I become just as cold hearted?" Naruto asked, "All for you and your dream!" He shouted tears falling down his cheeks. Tears began to flow down mines as well. The thought of being tossed aside was hard enough to think, let alone it actually happen.

"You tossed him aside like he was nothing. A broken tool..." He said letting more tears fall down his face.

It was silent for a moment. No one spoke. I looked up toward Naruto but his gaze was planted on Zabuza's. Then I turned toward him and saw a few tiny droplets fall to the ground.

"Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade." He said looking up at the sky as tears fell down his face. "While he fought you, his heart was breaking. He was too kind and too soft. He felt pain and sorrow and now curse him I feel these things too!"

I just stared at Zabuza. The tears stopped as quickly as they came from him.

"I also feel content that this is how it ends." He said in his scratchy voice. I heard tares come from Zabuza and the bandages that covered his mouth fell down, revealing his entire face.

"Are you surprised to discover that I am human? Even Shinobi hate to admit that they are human. Most of them conceal it very well. I didn't by the looks of it." Zabuza said.

"Give me your kunai boy." Zabuza said. Naruto hesitated for a moment. He sighed and reached into his pocket. Before he could toss it I grabbed his hand and turned toward Zabuza.

"I would like to help you." I stated, turning my gaze over to Gahto. Zabuza was silent for a moment.

"I will not help you if you get of any kind of danger." He said. I smirked wiping the tears away from my face.

"Fine by me."

It was like it happened it slow motion. While running by Zabuza, I tossed Naruto's Kunai toward him and we both ran off into the crowed thugs. Pulling out a kunai, I began to tear them all apart. I had gotten a couple cuts from them but nothing to critical. I looked ahead and saw a thug getting ready to plunge a spear into Zabuza. I growled and ran as fast as I could and soon felt a splitting pain go through my back.

I let out a cry and looked ahead of me. Zabuza's eyes were wide with shock starring at my current condition. I smirked and turned around to stare at the thug who plunged the pole into me. He started to tremble and then run away. Before he could get far enough I threw my kunai at him and it plunged into his back. He fell to his knees and then on his face. I turned back around to see Zabuza starring at me. I took a step forward and winced. Blood dripped down from my stomach making me put my hand to it to stop the flow.

"Why did you do that? Even after I told you I wasn't going to help you?" He asked. I smirked and looked behind him to see Gatoh trembling in fear.

"I wanted you to kill the bastard." I said before the pain and the blood loss took over sending me into unconsciousness. Over the sudden hush I heard Sakura cry out, "Naruto! It's Sasuke! He's -"

'Gone forever', I thought as the darkness swept over me, blocking all senses.

'And it's all my fault...'

I woke up with a pounding headache, looking at a tan ceiling. I began to sit up but a sting of pain went through me. I ignored it and sat up. Looking around, I saw that I was back at Tsunami's house. I weren't wearing my bloody, torn dress anymore, I saw; instead I had on my long whit sleeved shirt that always stopped at my knees.

Then the memories flooded, making me fall to my knees. I tried to shut it away like before, but then I had adrenaline. Now I had emptiness. 'Funny', I thought bitterly.

'I always figured my life would be better if the Uchiha never existed, but now...' I touched my chest, remembering the strange tightness in it when Sakura had asked about Sasuke. 'Now, it just –'

The bedroom door opened with a bang. I barely turned around before Naruto tackled me from behind in a glomp hug. "All right! You're okay?" he yelled, squeezing me tight.

"Y-yea..." I gasped with the cubic centimeter of air I had left.

"Naruto, you're...squishing me..."

He let go quickly. "Sorry." He said. "You doing okay?" I knew what he meant by the sound of his voice.

"Yeah. He wanted to go out like that, I guess." I sighed as I ran a brush through my black hair.

"Protecting his teammates all cool-like, I guess."

Naruto frowned as he helped me to my feet. "Who are you talking about?"

You followed him out and down the hall. "Uchiha. Duh?" I blinked, refusing to tear up.

He opened the door. "Huh? But Sasuke's - "

"Ah good Reika, you're up," Kakashi said from the table. "We can head back soon then."

"Oh good, I want to go home," called Sakura from the sink. "My hair reeks of salt water."

"Hn."

That last sound made me freeze in my tracks. I could hardly believe it. I couldn't believe it. Slowly, hoping I wasn't going insane, I looked to where the 'Hn' came from.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as my eyes bulged. Other than having a square of gauze over his cheek, he didn't look that hurt, not to mention that he didn't look as though he had been shish-cabbed with over twenty chiropractic needles. Still the same dark, moody, but very much alive, Uchiha Sasuke. He glared at me.

"What's wrong with you? Are you hungry or something? There's food over-"

"SASUKE!" The next second his butt was flat on the ground with me hugging him like a teddy bear. "Oh god, you're alive!" I yelled in his ear.

"I can't believe you're alive! Thank the gods! I was so scared!" I shouted through the tears (of happiness) I was holding back.

This is crazy good! I don't believe it this entire time he was alive!

I twitched.

He was alive the entire time...

"I'm so happy! I thought you were gone for good!" I started to smash his head on the floor repeatedly. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi watched as I used Sasuke as my own personal punch bag.

"NEXT TIME DON'T SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME WHEN YOU DECIDE TO TAKE A NAP IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE, UCHIHA!" I yelled at him. "OR SO HELP ME I'LL TIE YOU UP WITH NEEDLES AND ROLL YOU OFF A CLIFF!"

I wounded one fist up and socked Sasuke square in the nose. He catapulted backwards, arced out the open doors and hit the water with a splash. Breaking the surface sputtering. I stormed back down the hall to my room, and the sharp slam of the door echoed behind me.

Naruto ran after Reika, sparing Sasuke one grin.

Sasuke crawled onto the porch soaking wet, which of course made Sakura go nuts about him getting a cold. He just stared down the hall, confusion in his dark eyes.

'What the hell did I do?'

"Do you have to go?" Tsunami asked two weeks later on the bridge. She held out a bundle for lunch, which Sasuke took. "It will be extremely quiet here."

"And we certainly owe you much," added Tazuna. "You helped us all."

After two long weeks of recovery, Kakashi had decided abruptly to head home. No one complained really, but you and Inari had gotten some quality time in along with Naruto. I taught the little boy how to fight without his toy crossbow, since he would need to know if 'he had to take Reika and Naruto's place as protectors of Wave Country' were his words.

So I went to see Haku. He and Zabuza had been buried in a little glade together, just as they had wanted. Naruto had filled me in on the battle after I had fainted. Zabuza took my friend's kunai and sped right in after me, slicing Gatoh's head off before dying himself. Then the villagers arrived and the thugs got super-scared when Kakashi pulled a huge Kage Bunshin. They tried to take me with them, but Naruto rushed in and kicked ass to get me out, which didn't surprise me. What did shock me was that when I still didn't wake up after three days, Sasuke was the one to first comment on it.

Even after two long weeks I still wasn't ready to walk. The muscles in my stomach were torn when the spear went through so that meant I couldn't walk a long distance yet. That pissed me off very much because I was being carried by Sasuke the entire walk home.

A voice jerked me back to the present farewells. "No prob, Tazuna man!" Naruto grinned. "We'll come back sometime and hang out. Right Reika?"

"Yeah." I said looking over Sasuke's shoulders. "See yeah, Inari. I had fun."

Inari's eyes were overflowing with tears. "Hey Naruto - " he was looking right at Naruto, "You can cry now too ya know!"

"No way!" he replied, "You can though!"

"I ain't gonna cry!" Inari shouted back. Inari turned to you. "You can cry too if you want to Reika,"

I chuckled shaking my head, no.

"No thanks, I'm good. I already cried 3 times during the trip, and I ain’t aiming for a fourth."

Naruto turned around. "Forget it!" Inari's hand reached out toward him.

"Screw you guys!" I said jumping out of Sasuke's grasp. I heard him calling after me telling I shouldn't be running but I ignored him. I ran to Inari and dropped down to my knees. I gave him a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you buddy." I whispered. He nodded his head as tears fell down his face too. I stood up and, looked back down at Inari and smiled.

"I'll come back! I promise!" I said. Inari nodded and watched as you walked back over to our team. I looked over at Sasuke and glared.

"I don't need your help." I said folding my arms and looking the other way pouting.

Haya muttered. I mentally glared at him.

'It's because the stupid full moon. It's coming up soon.'

I heard a sigh and soon was lifted off the ground. I gasped when a hand wrapped around my side to fling me up on their back.

I glared at Sasuke as he handed his and my bags to Naruto. I sighed and turned to Naruto. I reached out toward him and punched his arm lightly.

"When we get home, you know Iruka-sensei will wanna hear of our adventures."

That perked him up. "Yeah! And Konohamaru too!" And he started describing Konohamaru, since I were absent when he ran into the little guy.

Tsunami leaned over to her father, watching us leave.

"You know, we still need to name the bridge."

Tazuna chuckled. "Yeah. And I have the perfect name for it."

"What?"

As we walked away, I saw Sakura inch over to Sasuke with a blush on her cheeks.

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"Will you go out with me when we get back to Konoha?"

Sasuke looked away. "Uh, no. Thanks."

"WHAT?"

I jumped at the chance. I squirmed around on Sasuke's back pointing a finger at Sakura.

"HA HA! SAKURA CAN'T GET A DATE WITH UCHIHA!"

"Since it's a beacon of hope for all..." Tazuna grinned. "How about 'The Great Naruto Bridge'?"

People winced when Sakura's voice pierced the fog that had long enveloped us:

"SHUT UP REIKA! LIKE YOU CAN EITHER!"

I gagged at the thought.

"LIKE I WANNA! THERE'S A REASON WHY HIS NAME IS SAS-!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" I heard Sasuke yell.

"Ha-ha! Nice one Reika!"

"Shut up Naruto!"

"DON'T YELL AT HIM, SAS-, OR I'LL SHOVE YOU IN A TOILET A LEAVE YOU FOR A SUMO WRESTLER!"

"Well your unusually hyper." Kakashi stated with a raised eyebrow. I looked at him and shrugged.

Tsunami chuckled. "You sure about that, Dad?"

Inari smiled. "It sounds like a perfect name to me."