Hey everybody! Guess who's back with a new one-shot? This is a request I got from ViLaVi. The idea for this one-shot came to me while I was working at Six Flags. Weird how it works out that way, huh? Well, I hope you guys have a fun time reading this fanfic, because I know I had the funnest time with typing it out. Especially considering this is my first time using Yami Bakura in a story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did, I probably would fail at making their characters sound evil enough... ^^;

He could literally feel his heart pounding hard against his chest as he ran through the alleyways. Hell, he could feel each individual bead of sweat that formed on his body. He had watched murder happen in front of his eyes, felt the tense conditions that came with facing off against S-class criminals, faced demons—both figuratively and literally—and had even been put on the narrow edge between life and death a couple of times. But none of that seemed to match the fear he was feeling as he ran from the shadows that were chasing and lashing out at him. Through all of his running, one thought dominated in Sasuke Uchiha's mind.

'This is just crazy!' His mind practically screamed as he rounded another corner, narrowly escaping a slippery tendril of darkness. 'I know that shadows can be manipulated –the Nara family has already proved that—but this is unnatural! How can they move of their own free will? Not only that, but it seems like they're giving off these ferocious vibes.'

He knew he was thinking crazy things, but there was no other way to explain it. He'd have to reason it out later. The young shinobi jumped over the stray obstacles in his way and knocked some garbage cans aside, hoping to slow down the shadows, but knowing it would do little to help. With a scowl, Sasuke thought, 'I knew this trip was a bad idea!'

As the sound of his own rushed footsteps filled his ears, he thought back to earlier that day…

"Man, you guys are such a bore. We're here on vacation, and you guys are spending it at a library?"

"Shut up, Naruto! If you think it's so boring, why don't you just leave me and Sasuke alone?"

"It's always about Sasuke with you, isn't it, Sakura? Besides, what makes you think I want to explore this place by myself?"

"Why not? Kakashi-sensei has no problems with it."

"Well, that's because that's just the way he is. He doesn't mind being alone."

Sasuke was trying desperately to ignore his two teammates by pretending to be interested in the book that he held in his hands. Squad Seven was currently on vacation, by order of the new Hokage—One of the three legendary Sannin—Tsunade. After debating over where to go, Kakashi made the suggestion to go to a far off country into a town known as Domino City. Apparently, the older man explained his decision by telling his students how this town was very peaceful with no wars tainting it and technologies that they couldn't possibly imagine. When the team arrived in the town, in fact, even Sasuke had shown surprise at some of the strange things there, such as cars and payphones.

When they arrived, all four of them were dressed in what the people of this town considered "normal clothes". Kakashi had put on simple black pants with a black jacket covering a white shirt. To the dismay of his students, he still wore that strange mask of his, and the man also kept a simple medical eye-patch over his left eye. Sakura was wearing light blue capris and a pink T-shirt with a cherry placed in the center of it. Naruto had blue cargo pants and a bright orange jacket over a white T-shirt. He was the only one that still wore his ninja headband, feeling absolutely naked without it. Sasuke just wore black pants and a short sleeved, navy blue hoodie made of a sweater-like material: the hood being black. Soon after they had arrived, Kakashi had left the three younger shinobi to explore the town on their first day of vacation, wanting to do some private exploring of his own.

After the older man had left, the three young children—Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha—had debated on where to go first. For the first several minutes, they walked aimlessly through the streets, observing the many different stores that lined the sides of the streets. For the most part, things were boring, except one incident where Naruto was foolish enough to cross the street without looking up and nearly got run over by the drivers. After the slight scare (and Sakura scolding their blond teammate for his foolish actions), the three of them decided they needed to wait somewhere for a while. Recognizing one of the buildings as a library, Sasuke suggested that building, wanting to know the history of this place. After all, he was slightly baffled at the concept of a country untouched by the ways of the shinobi. So, after claiming their own table in the library and picking up a few history books, he sat down and read through the books, Sakura shortly joining him. Naruto, however, found the library atmosphere to be utterly dull and complained openly to his teammates. It was quite annoying to Sasuke, actually; he wished that Naruto could actually be quiet for once in his life.

As he turned the page absent-mindedly to a section explaining the many advancements in technology made by the country of Japan, he heard Naruto complain, "And why did you guys have to pick history books of all things? They're so boring! Couldn't you have picked something more exciting?"

Smirking, Sasuke suddenly said, "If you want excitement, why don't you jump into traffic again?"

Getting red in the face from either anger or embarrassment, the hyperactive boy shouted, "Oh, shut up, Sasuke! Nobody asked for your opinion!"

"Hey! Could you please keep it down over there?" A girl with short brown hair and blues eyes said with a frown. She was sitting with two other boys: one brunette and one blond. They all wore what looked like some sort of uniform: probably for whatever school they attended. Sasuke had heard of uniforms being a requirement for some establishments. Aside from the uniforms, he also noticed that instead of three piles of papers and books, there were four, suggesting that another person was with this group of strange people. The girl snapped him out of his observation, saying, "My friends and I are trying to study over here, and we really need to concentrate."

Sasuke highly doubted they had the ability to concentrate; the two boys looked like they were ready to fall asleep right in their chairs. As the girl turned to her friends and smacked them awake, Sakura said, "Oh, sorry. We'll do our best to quiet down."

While the pink-haired kunouchi pulled Naruto's ear over to her to scold him for his childish behavior, Sasuke felt an arm bump against his back. He turned to face who bumped him as the person said with some accent he had never heard before, "Oh, I'm so sorry."

When Sasuke faced the person, he saw that it was a boy who looked to be just about his age. He had long, white hair that hung down slightly past the boy's shoulders, and he had hazel-brown eyes that looked innocent to the young Uchiha. The boy was carrying a book and wore a uniform similar to the two boys that were sitting near them. Not showing any emotion in his stare, Sasuke said, "It's fine."

After a silent curt bow from the other boy, the child looked up to the people sitting next to the group of shinobi and happily waved at them, calling out, "Hey, guys! Fancy seeing you here!"

He walked over to the group near Sasuke and his friends, and the other teens perked up at the snowy-haired boy's appearance. The girl happily said, "It's great to see you, Bakura!"

"Yeah, it's great to see you all, too."

Sasuke decided to shut out their discussion now, knowing that it would be rude to eavesdrop on people he didn't even know. After a few more minutes, Sakura grabbed his attention by saying, "Hey, Sasuke, Naruto, check this out."

Wondering what Sakura had found, Sasuke had gotten up from his seat and moved over to Sakura's side while Naruto did the same. Looking over the girl's shoulder, the young Uchiha saw that she was reading a history of a different country: some place called Egypt. As their blond teammate looked at the pictures on one page in curiosity, awed by the strange symbols and pyramids, Sasuke asked, "What is it?"

"It's a book about a place called Egypt. The country has quite an interesting history. Apparently, they had ancient kings that were considered gods, and they were buried in these pyramids," Sakura stated, clearly fascinated by this country.

Sasuke didn't really care much for this knowledge. Naruto, on the other hand, stated, "Whoa! That's so cool! Why'd they bury them under slabs of rock?"

"I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with their beliefs of the afterlife," Sakura stated. "But anyways, that's not what I wanted to show you. I wanted to show you this one story I managed to come across. I thought you guys would like it."

The young girl quickly turned the pages and landed on a darker section of the book, talking about the many killings that had taken place during the ancient times. Naruto automatically reacted to the pictures of slain men by shouting, "WHOA!"

Automatically, he was shushed by the girl sitting near them while her companions stared at him curiously. After quieting down, Sakura said, "Yeah, I was surprised by it, too. One story in this section really reached out to me, though."

She turned the page, and Sasuke and Naruto automatically glanced through the words while Sakura explained, "Under the rule of one of their kings, there was a town that had faced a major massacre. All of the people had been killed: apparently by the soldiers of the king themselves. And all to forge some ancient artifacts. According to the story, one villager survived and, years later, nearly caused the destruction of the country and the whole world. I only wish this story wasn't so vague. Not much is explained, and this is the only record of this story that I've found in this library's books."

Naruto gaped for a minute before saying, "Wow, I wonder how one guy could cause so much destruction, and why he would do it."

The story automatically got Sasuke's curiosity; somehow, he felt like he knew why this person would cause such chaos. He was actually disgusted that these two seemed to be so baffled by the guy's motifs. With a slight scowl, he muttered, "Isn't it obvious, Naruto? This villager was obviously a witness to the murders of his fellow villagers. He wanted revenge against the people who committed the deed and got carried away."

The two shinobi looked over to him in silence, taking in Sasuke's words. Then, after a while, Sakura said, "But Sasuke, aren't you just guessing? How do you know for sure that it was revenge that caused this person to cause such a catastrophe?"

"Sakura, I think Sasuke knows what he's talking about," Naruto mumbled silently. Although they both knew that Sasuke was an avenger, the blond boy seemed to know more about how serious his rival's/friend's drive was; he could understand how Sasuke could come to such a conclusion. Still, looking back on the story told, the blond couldn't help but be awed by the tale. Not really talking to anyone, he muttered, "Still, if that's the case, he must've wanted to kill those guys real bad to nearly destroy the world in the process…"

"He was a true avenger," Sasuke stated simply. Quietly, he trailed off in his thoughts and said aloud, "He was willing to surrender himself to the darkness and do anything to get his revenge: even if it meant damning himself to a cursed life for all eternity…"

A heavy silence lingered amongst the three shinobi for a moment. After a while, Sakura was growing sick of it and asked, "Hey, guys, it's getting a little late. Maybe we should head back to the hotel."

Naruto immediately brightened up and said, "I'm with you there, Sakura! I've about had enough of this lame library: nothing but books here to read. Let's go do something fun!"

"Like watch you run into traffic again?" Sakura said with a slight giggle.

Naruto got red in the face again and replied, "Oh, will you guys just let it go already?"

While Sakura reminded Naruto to keep quiet, Sasuke silently chuckled at their antics. If he wanted to, he could keep his normal life formed with his team, but he made a promise to avenge his fallen family. He was going to kill his brother, even if it meant falling into the depths of darkness, just like the Egyptian from the story.

He was suddenly brought out of his musings as Naruto exclaimed, "Well, if you guys are gonna make fun of me like that, perhaps I should explore this place by myself after all!"

And with an angry huff, the blond boy marched out of the library. Sakura groaned at his attitude and got up to follow Naruto. Before leaving, she called out, "Come on, Sasuke. Let's catch up before he goes and does something stupid."

"I doubt we'll reach him in time to prevent that," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he got up to leave. Little did he know that as he left, a pair of eyes locked onto his retreating form, a smirk playing on the figure's lips.

Sasuke now regretted his earlier actions after leaving the library. The sun had been setting when they had left, and unfortunately for them, Naruto had gotten so far that they couldn't catch up. He and Sakura both agreed that they should split up to find him. Shortly after it got dark outside, the Uchiha heir had felt the presence of an evil being following him. At first, he had shrugged it off, assuming that it was just some person walking home, but after a while, the presence had not left, causing Sasuke to become suspicious and—although he didn't want to admit it—a little freaked out. He had quickened his pace to get away from the being, and immediately, he felt the being's presence heighten, startling the young boy. That was when the shadows suddenly seemed to leap out at him, which led to his current predicament.

'Why the hell are these… these… things chasing me?!' Sasuke thought as he once again narrowly escaped the shadowy tendrils. After more running, he came to a conclusion and thought, 'For these shadows to move, there must be somebody controlling them. If I could find that person and knock him out, perhaps I could make these shadows disappear.'

Suddenly, he came to a dead end, and the dark tendrils crept up on him. Looking back on the darkness, Sasuke smirked and thought, 'Oh well. It seems there won't be an easy way out of this.'

He stood and faced the moving shadows, ready for what attack would come at him. Then, without warning, three of the tendrils of dark energy shot straight for him. Sasuke swiftly dodged two of them with no problems, but the third struck his shoulder, making a slight rip in his shirt. The boy hissed as he felt a burning sting where he had been struck. He gripped the area where he was hit—which was dangerously close to where his acquired curse mark was placed—and glared at the shadows, hoping that they weren't like predators wanting to pounce upon their prey without warning.

Suddenly, without warning, a bout of deep, maniacal laughter sounded through the alley while the shadows danced before the shinobi. Sasuke looked frantically around him, wanting to find the source of the noise. When the source failed to appear, Sasuke scowled and called out, "Who's out there? Show yourself!"

A low chuckle sounded in front of the boy, and Sasuke turned his head towards the sound. He still could not see what was causing the chuckling, though, the figure being shrouded by the darkness of the alley. In a sinister voice, the figure said, "Aren't you quite a spry little child? Normally, I can't have this much fun with my prey."

The word "prey" seemed to put Sasuke on edge, having not-so-fond memories of his battle with Gaara associating them with the word. With anger building in his features, the young boy shouted angrily, "And just who do you think you are?"

He heard the figure snicker for a moment. Then, the figure stepped into Sasuke's line of sight, letting him see the figure clearly. What Sasuke saw surprised him; it was the white-haired boy from earlier on in the day! Only he didn't look the same. For starters, his eyes were far less kind than they were earlier. It didn't really help that the smirk on his lips seemed so malevolent and contradicting to his earlier behavior. Lastly, there was a strange pendant hanging around his neck, a strange eye on its centerpiece: a golden pyramid. The pendant's eye seemed to be glowing, and it set the shinobi on edge.

As he slowly slipped out of his surprise, Sasuke glared at the boy and stated, "You're that boy from the library." He searched through his mind for a minute, trying to recall the name he had heard. Then, after remembering the kid's name, he asked, "Bakura, right?"

The figure before him thought for minute before smirking and replying, "Well, yes and no. I suppose you could call me by my host's name and be correct."

"Wait, host?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the person before him like he was some sort of freak. Then, not once taking his eyes off of "Bakura", the young shinobi half-asked half-stated, "So are you supposed to be some sort of demonic spirit or something?"

Instead of directly answering the question, Bakura just simply stated, "You don't seem that surprised."

At this, Sasuke smirked and said, "Well, let's just say I've had my fair share of brushes with demons. Now, if you're not Bakura, then who the hell are you?"

"Oh, I'm hurt now," Bakura said in an over-the-top upset tone, proving that he wasn't being serious at all. "I would think that you would know who I am. You seemed to act like you knew so much about me earlier today."

"What are you going on about?" Sasuke asked with a confused scowl now on his lips. "I barely even said words to the person who you're controlling right now; that doesn't give you any reason t-"

"Oh, I'm not referring to when my host bumped into you," Bakura interrupted, causing Sasuke to bring his attention to the spirit. As Bakura toyed around with the pendant around his neck, causing the shadows to sway from side to side, the man continued, "That incident had absolutely nothing to do with me."

"Don't get off subject!" Sasuke shouted a little too loudly for his own liking. He was completely uncomfortable with the forms of darkness sitting before him, giving off vibes like that of a jungle cat hunting in its home. Trying to gain back his calm attitude from before, the young Uchiha said, "Now, I'll ask you again to tell me who you are before you get me in a bad mood."

"But I've already told you, Sasuke; you should already know about me," Bakura repeated once more, causing Sasuke to twitch in frustration. "You displayed such knowledge about the village of Kul Elna, after all. And you weren't even a witness to those events."

"Look, I've never seen you before in my life until now, so what makes you think I would…" Sasuke stopped mid-sentence as he realized something. Suspiciously, he asked, "Hang on. How do you know that village was called Kul Elna? The book didn't give names: not of the village or the people involved."

"Come now, you're an intelligent child. Think about it."

Sasuke paused, trying to think, keep a watch on the suspicious man before him, and keep track of the shadows' movements all at once. Slowly, he was able to put two and two together, and as he realized what Bakura was implying, his eyes became wide with shock. In disbelief, he said, "No way. So, you're saying…? You're actually…?"

A wide smirk formed on the white-haired man's face, and he said, "There. Now you're getting it."

Sasuke took a step back, feeling much more of a demon presence from the man than a human one. He assumed this was what it felt like to be in the presence of a truly hardcore avenger. With more disbelief in his voice with every syllable, he babbled, "But, if that's true, how are you here? What are you doing, controlling this boy? And what is it you want from me anyways?"

Bakura seemed to think for a while as the manipulated darkness danced around the two. Then, the white-haired man casually said, "Well, I'm afraid the answers to the first two questions will be a little tedious for me to explain: even to a person like yourself. And as for what I want from you… well, I was hoping to ask you something: just out of curiosity. What do you live for? What is it you strive to accomplish in your life?"

"Why should I tell you?" Sasuke asked with sudden bitterness in his voice, glaring at the man with intense hatred. "You're not my friend; hell, I'm not even an acquaintance of yours. Why don't you just keep to yourself?"

"I'm afraid I can't; not until this one question is verified for me," Bakura replied. The smirk remained on his face, but his glare became much sharper, as if annoyed by the boy in front of him. The man continued, "After all, for you to be able to guess correctly about my past life, your own life must be somewhat similar. What I want to hear from you is if you've been wronged in your life in such a way that would push you into wanting to take revenge against the fiend."

Sasuke froze at hearing this, surprised at how perceptive this guy was. Apparently, his eyes had portrayed his thoughts, for Bakura smirked in triumph and said, "By the look on your face, I'd say my guess is right on the mark. So, who is it you're trying to avenge?"

Sasuke, of course, wanted to refuse responding. However, seeing those menacing shadows slink around him and the murderous look in the spirit's eyes somehow drew the words out of his mouth before he could think about what he was doing. Shakily, the shinobi replied, "My… family. I watched them get butchered by my own brother. He… he didn't spare anyone: no one except me. I know it was for a reason. He left me alive so someone could avenge my clan. I have to kill him: no matter what."

For awhile, silence reigned between the two. Sasuke stood, completely freaked out beyond all belief. He had been chased down by some non-living predator, mocked by a total stranger, and now, he felt as if his privacy had been completely violated. Compared to this encounter with Bakura, almost every other ordeal he faced in his shinobi life hadn't even fazed him. Suddenly, the shadows froze, and the shinobi heard a low chuckle come from Bakura. Giving the young boy a maniacal gaze, the spirit said, "So, you are indeed an avenger, and a pretty poor one at that. I mean, a true avenger can only achieve his goals alone without relying on anyone else."

Sasuke suddenly shot him a suspicious glare, although inside, the boy was confused. In a non-caring voice, he stated, "I'm not relying on anyone else."

"Then I wonder why it is you hang around with those other two," the white-haired man stated casually, causing the shinobi to stare at him in shock, understanding what he meant. With a hint of maliciousness in his voice, he said, "Perhaps I should give you a little help. With your little friends hanging around you, you won't get much accomplished, and I could always feed two more souls to the shadows."

As if responding to the man's words, the golden pendant shone even brighter for the briefest of moments, and the shadows contorted and moved crazily, as if gleeful at the thought of chasing down more unsuspecting victims. Once again, Sasuke felt words spilling out of his mouth before he could think. With a mixture of anger and fear in his voice, the ebony-haired boy shouted, "Don't you dare do anything to them!"

For the first time that night, Bakura actually dropped his malicious features and stared at the boy with slight confusion. Not even bothering to let the man respond, Sasuke continued, "I've already gotten enough of that 'killing your best friend' speech from my bastard of a brother; I absolutely REFUSE to gain power the same way he did! I will not be controlled by you, and I won't let you lay a finger on them!"

After he finished shouting, Sasuke just glared at Bakura, daring him to say anything else. Suddenly, to his surprise, the spirit let out a low chuckle which slowly turned into a loud bout of maniacal laughter. Sasuke was about ready to hit him just from that laughing, but before he could move, Bakura said, "The naivety of you pathetic mortals never ceases to amaze me. Just for humoring me, I shall abide by your wishes. I have another way to help you with your revenge anyways."

Suddenly, before Sasuke could even react, the eye of Bakura's pendant gave off a nearly blinding light, and a huge tendril of dark matter shot straight towards the shinobi. Sasuke's mind told him to move, but the tense atmosphere had him frozen in place. Suddenly, a sharp pain came from his chest; as the light died away, the young boy looked down and saw the shadow shoot right through his abdomen and disappeared as quickly as it hit. At first, the sharp pain was just a mere stinging sensation, but then, it suddenly felt as if his whole heart was on fire. It felt worse than when the curse mark was first placed on him by Orochimaru. As he held back his urge to scream in agony, Sasuke clutched his chest and fell down to his knees. He looked up at Bakura to see that the pendant was no longer giving off any light and that the shadows had disappeared, leaving the environment untouched. With anger in his voice, he managed to grunt out, "What… did you… do… to me?"

Bakura merely smirked and looked down at the child for a moment. Then, he said casually, "Oh, I just left you a little piece of me to help you out in the future. Now, if you ever feel lost in your path of revenge, that little reminder shall help you bear with the thought of destroying all those who get your way. Good luck with achieving your revenge by any means necessary."

Then, without another word, the spirit walked away from the boy, planning to leave him behind to cope with the pain. As soon as he left, the burning sensation within Sasuke seemed to travel to the rest of his body as well, rendering him unable to move. As he tried to bear through the pain, Sasuke thought, 'What… the hell?! How the hell is this supposed to help?! I feel like I'm going to… die… I can't die… not now… I won't!'

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he attempted to move, but to no avail. As the pain traveled into his head, he couldn't bear the pain anymore; the young avenger suddenly gave out a bloodcurdling scream that would make anyone's blood run cold. He continued to let out agonized screams until his voice failed him. He barely even heard the rushed footsteps running towards him. All he could hear was his own screaming and the pounding of his heart. As he shaked violently on the ground, tears beginning to form in his eyes from the pain, the young boy felt a strong pair of arms scooping him up into their grasp. It was then that he finally heard a voice.

"Sasuke? Sasuke! What happened?!"

The young boy was surprised; that was Kakashi's voice. Or was it? His pain was kind of overcoming all of his reason. Sasuke merely continued to let out small screams of pain, clinging tightly to the person's shirt. Soon, the waves of agony began to dull all of his other senses, preventing him from hearing the rushing feet heading towards them and the worried cries of his teammates. Within no time at all, Sasuke had completely blacked out, his last thoughts being not of the library visit, his attempted escape from the shadows, or even the encounter with the malevolent spirit, but of the dark tendril that had pierced to his heart and what it could possibly do to him.

Slowly, Sasuke began to gain back some feeling as he slowly came back into consciousness. He decided to leave his eyes closed for the moment, wanting to make sure for certain that he had gained back his senses and that he wasn't dead. Underneath him, he felt a soft mattress and a cushion under his head, and above him, what he assumed was a blanket. Surprisingly, he also felt two strange pressures: a light, wet one on his forehead, and a somewhat heavier one stretched out across him. Keeping his eyes closed, he thought, 'Where am I? What happened to me? ... Okay, let me think. We had gone to some city, Naruto went running off, we split up, and…'

Suddenly, Sasuke's ebony eyes shot opened as memories of his experience with Bakura flooded into his mind. Quickly, he sat up, and he later regretted it as his chest began to sting painfully. He put an arm across his chest, not enjoying the sudden pain. It was at this time that he noticed something that fell into his lap. It was a wet towel; after seeing it, he lifted a hand to his forehead and confirmed that it was a little wet. Then, he noticed the arm draped over him. Sasuke looked to the side to see Sakura slumped over the side of the bed in a restless slumber.

"You know, she's been looking after you all day."

Sasuke looked up and saw his sensei looking over towards him with an exhausted smile; even with the mask on, the boy could somehow tell it took a bit of effort for the man to smile. Curious, Sasuke asked, "Wait, so how long have I been out?"

Kakashi suddenly got a serious look on his face and replied, "You've been unconscious ever since last night. You kept twitching in your sleep, and you had seemed to pick up a fever when we found you. Sakura had spent all day taking care of you. She told me you had been whimpering, too."

Sasuke looked away, recalling the pain he had been put through before passing out; so now, he knew that this pain had continued even when he was unconscious. He felt pretty bad about putting his team through so much, yet he didn't show it on his face. The boy was brought out of his thoughts as Kakashi asked, "So, what happened? When we got back to our hotel, Naruto seemed to think that you had been attacked by some powerful being."

Sasuke looked at his teacher in surprised and asked, "Wait, Naruto did? What made him think that?"

"Naruto said that before he joined up with me, he saw a man coming from an entrance to the alleyways. A moment after, he heard your screams and expected the worst," Kakashi explained, understanding somewhat why his student would be confused about Naruto being concerned about him.

Sasuke suddenly looked around, looking for Naruto. Knowing who he was looking for, the gray-haired man said, "You won't find Naruto here. He's taking a walk through Domino right now: said he couldn't stand the tense atmosphere here." Then, he added casually, "You know, he was concerned about you."

Sasuke scowled and looked out the window towards the moonlit sky, saying, "And you assume I care?"

Kakashi didn't respond; the two of them seemed to know what Sasuke's response would be to his own question. Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, the young Uchiha was grateful to have his team care about his well-being: even Naruto. A bit of time seemed to pass before Kakashi asked, "So, what did happen, Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought for a minute, knowing that if he said "nothing" Kakashi wouldn't believe him for a second. He knew he had to tell the truth, yet he also didn't want to reveal the entire situation. So, reaching a compromise in his mind, Sasuke said, "Well, Naruto was right; I had been attacked by someone. He had a power in him that I'd never seen before, but I don't think it was the power of a shinobi, exactly. I don't think he did much to me, though. The only real damage he did was a little internal damage that I think just blew over."

"A little internal damage? Sasuke, you were screaming as if you were set on fire; that wouldn't be considered 'a little internal damage'."

Sasuke didn't say anything to this comment, however, and after a brief pause, Kakashi sighed and said, "Well, if you've managed to wake up from that attack after a day, perhaps the damage really wasn't too bad, but just to be on the safe side, make sure you have one of us with you when you go out. I'm sure you want to avoid a repeat of that incident."

The boy merely nodded, unable to find any other words to say. And with this exchange, Kakashi went towards the door and said, "Well, I'm off to go get Naruto. He'll probably want to hear the news."

Then, before another word could be said, the older man left the room, leaving Sasuke alone to his thoughts. Still a little exhausted, the boy fell back down onto the bed and turned towards the window. In his mind rang the last words spoken to him by Bakura.

"Now, if you ever feel lost in your path of revenge, that little reminder shall help you bear with the thought of destroying all those who get your way. Good luck with achieving your revenge by any means necessary."

Sasuke's eyes became focused in thought, and absentmindedly, his hand went towards where the dark tendril had struck him. Concerned about what that thing was that hit him, he thought, 'What was thing supposed to do? And what did he mean it would help me bear with the thought of destroying people that got in my way? … Well, I only hope that I don't lose my sanity as a result of this assault, although that spirit did remind me of one very important thing. To make sure I can kill Itachi, I have to be willing to do anything. Perhaps what he did will help me; I guess I won't know until we get back home.'

As he looked outside at the nightlife, he couldn't help but feel that he would fall into darkness worse than that of the previous night. Well, he may fall into darkness, he may lose all reason in his goals, and he may even be damning himself to a cursed life, but he would make sure that he could get his revenge, no matter what…

Congradulations! You reached the end of this fanfic! You win 100 points! An extra plate of cookies to whoever reviews! I do hope you all enjoyed reading!