The World Goddess Only Knows

A strange sense of urgency filled his veins, pushing him to run harder and faster; his mind screeched at him to keep running or he'd lose her. And for some strange reason he hadn't even begun to comprehend, he was terrified at the thought of losing her. He wondered who this 'her' was, the only female in his life who meant so much to him was his mother, best friend Haruno Sakura and sweet girlfriend Hyuuga Hinata.

All in all, life with the three of them and his senseis and friends were awesome. Or, so he fooled everyone into believing and how everyone fooled him into living this joke of a life. He knew something was wrong, knew that it had all started—this strange, gaping abyss in his chest that had kept stretching and would never patch itself up, and it wasn't because of physical injuries either—three years ago when he woke up in the hospital with the three most important person in his life hovering above him, tears in their eyes.

When he'd first woken up, he could only recall his name, his face, childhood and family and this pale girl who's features were so blurry but he knew he had to find her, hold her close or he'd be forever lost.

He lost her, and now, he was still lost in this aching and gaping loneliness. Hinata-chan always tried to be there, always reassured him and would tell him everything was okay; would hug and kiss him. Try being the keyword because he always moved out of range, his heart aching.

The Hyuuga was not the person he wanted to hold close to his heart. There was someone else, someone called Satsuki, he knew, just knew but he didn't dare ask. At least he knew her name, at least, what he thought was her name. He only knew her name because he'd screamed her name when he woke up from the coma he was put into three years ago; it was just a nightmare but it felt terribly real like a long, forgotten memory, and she was walking away .

What terrified him more, though, was the fact that the memory of the girl and her face were fading. No, the memories were never present in the first place, it was blurred but he thought he could remember when he was holding her close, fighting her and this one time when their lips met. The memory of their kiss was the most exhilarating memory and the one filled with emotions: passionate, fiery and aroused. Unlike how he'd thought it was wrong, disgusting and cheating when he kissed Hinata.

His family and friends always told him that this suspicious 'Satsuki' character was just a figment of his imagination and always told him to forget it. Ever since he first made the mistake of mentioning her, he'd been getting appointments from Inoichi Yamanaka, mind-expert. And every time, after the appointment, the memory of the pale girl got dimmer that it was barely in his grasp. So he lied and pretended that he'd forgotten as he'd predicted, the appointments stopped completely—what followed was his departure from Konoha (he had a feeling that the girl of his dreams had left the village as well, but in a more aggressive manner than this) to train with Ero-sennin. The appointments and the dulling of his memory of her, made him believe that everyone wanted him to forget the girl of his dreams.

Yeah, right; trying to make him forget her was like trying to make him forget his dream of being Hokage, his life goal. She's also your life goal, you have to find her, his subconscious said and he did not disagree.

His agreement with his mind was what made him disobey his mother (who was the Hokage as well), argue with his girlfriend (soon to be ex-girlfriend, hopefully), and force his way into this mission with Yamato-sensei and Sakura-chan, though his so-called best friend who had been lying to him all this while looked guilty and panicked.

Usually, he would've inquired about her with concern but right now, the girl of his dreams takes precedence.

He kicked another door down, panting and inhaling; the familiar scent of smoke and strawberry milk invaded his nose, one he faintly recalled having gotten a whiff of scent when he'd been very close to Satsuki who was not a figment of his imagination. And no Yamanaka in the world would make him forget her.

He grinned, following the scent and the familiar electrifying and fiery and dark chakra; he was close and the thought sent an exhilarating shiver down his spine.

"Haruto!" his pink-haired teammate—could she still be considered his best friend after the lie she'd told him, let him live a life for three whole fucking years and letting Satsuki down how long had she waited?—called from behind him. "Wait for us! You can't see her—!"

He found his arm wrenched back but he didn't stop struggling forward, towards where the underground cavern exit was and where sunlight filtered in and where she was perched, waiting—he was so, so damn sorry he took so fucking long.

Three years? he could imagine her voice, cold and disappointed though her face was as hard and dark as stone. What have you been doing?

Sorry, he could only think to respond. But at least, he was coming now.

"What about Hinata-chan?! She'd be so heartbroken!" Haruto glanced back at Sakura, stopping his struggle for a moment; his eyes were hard and determined but his gaze was still warm and kind, just a detached sort, found on a man who was only concentrated with one goal in mind.

He offered her an empty smile. "I'll deal with Hinata-chan once I find Satsuki, okay? She's more important." And with not-so-surprising strength, ripped himself out of her grip and lunged forward.

"You'll just be disappointed!" Sakura screamed at his back as she ran after him, leaving behind two men who were both equally baffled and confused, Yamato and Sai though the latter didn't seem to care much at all.

What sort of history does Team Seven have? was undoubtedly going through Yamato's mind as he rushed after his wayward subordinates. The temporary team captain of Team Seven was momentarily blinded, he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, squinting to see what had Haruto's attention, what had made the usually goofy, cheerful, and serene Senju so aggressive, what made him snap back at Sakura and place Hinata second. He thought those two were precious to him and he would never ever raise his voice at them!

A pale raven-haired teenage girl stood on one of the many boulders surrounding them, her onyx hair gaining a blue undertone under the sunlight. Her eyes were as dark as obsidian, cold and hard and sharp; beautiful aristocratic features only found on Uchihas were splashed by sunlight giving her an ethereal air around her. The white kimono she wore which ended at her back was extremely low-cut, revealing only her rather generous cleavage which was bandaged and she wore some sort of blue skirt with black tights and sandals. To cut a long story short, she was beautiful, definitely someone who would attract any man's attention.

But the attention Haruto was paying her was different. It was one of recognition, longing and confused love. This wasn't the gaze of a lustful or crushing man, but someone who was seriously in love.

"Uchiha… Satsuki."

Sakura watched with mounting dread and guilt as Haruto murmured the Uchiha's name, knowing that he was lost along with the other girl in their own little world which would accept no one else. Damn it, all their work—and how would Haruto react once he found out what they did?

But the thought of Haruto being furious at them was driven away when a blinding grin blossomed on his face. "Satsuki!" he yelled with joy. "I finally found you!"

"Haruto!" hissed Sakura, panicked, sweat beaded down her forehead as she caught Haruto's arm and tried to pull him back with her super-strength. But the Senju refused to budge, channeling chakra to his feet and standing still.

Touching Haruto, Sakura realized, was the wrong thing to do in front of Satsuki who was now glaring at her. A chill of fear shot down her back as the fully developed Sharingan spun to life and glared at her; the only who she didn't glare at was Haruto but she shot him a brief curious look before she concentrated her killing intent on them all.

"Impressive display of power, Uchiha," remarked Sai, his empty smile carved perfectly on his face. "My name is Sai and I am meant to be your replacement in this former team of yours." Satsuki's gaze hardened and honed in on him but if the male shinobi noticed, he did not back down or show any signs he'd caught her attention. "Why don't you give Haruto-kun a hug like, reunited lovers do in the books I read?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Do you perhaps not love him anymore? He loves you still, you know, though that Hyuuga has been latching on to him ever since he'd returned to the village. But I think Haruto-kun is more than ready to ditch that Hyuuga for you, right—"

Sakura felt like punching her new teammate for speaking out of line; great, judging from how Satsuki's Sharingan was spinning agitatedly, she did not appreciate the info of Hinata at all.

But unexpectedly, she ignored him and focused on Haruto, and she smiled: the smile was almost like Sai's empty one, but this was cold and a twisted sense of longing. Then in the next blink of an eye, the Uchiha was gone. Sakura gasped sharply, turning around to see that the Uchiha had an arm slung around the Senju's shoulders.

The raven pressed the redhead's head to the crook of her neck. "I've missed you, you know?" she drawled, chuckling but her laughter terrified Sakura; it was dark and filled with malicious intent. "But you didn't come after me. What kept you so long?" Her other hand went to her chokuto. "I thought you'd find me here and take me back like you promised me too."

"I'm sorry, I—"

"—don't want to hear excuses, idiot," snarled Satsuki, pulling back from the perverse act of a hug and drawing her weapon, infused with her chakra. "I'm done playing, Senju, let's do it like old times!"

When the battle started, Sakura was left wondering how the situation came to this. It must've started three years ago, when she first made Genin and was assigned to her team…