A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

Sakura tenses. "No! Sasuke!"

Naruto eye's widen, completely taken aback.

I flex my arm and crack the knuckles in my hand, smearing Sasuke's blood over them. I smirk beside myself, staring at Sasuke's unconscious body lying against the wall.

'Well, that turned out to be easy,' I think with a shrug.

"Whoa. I know their both almost physically the same strength, but who would have thought Lloyd..." Shikamaru starts. Ino eyes him warily.

Hayate clears his throat and takes a couple steps closer towards Sasuke's body, eying him closely.

"Get up, Sasuke!" Sakura shouts.

I look up at her and out eyes meet; hers teary-eyed and mines set hard.

I glance at Hayate. "Just call it off. It's--" I stop mid-sentence, my breath catching in my throat.

"What the..." Hayate stammers.

Orochimaru licks his lips with a hungry expression. "Yes..." he hisses.

Gaara crosses his arms and grips his flesh with his fingers fiercely. Temari glances at him uneasily.

Kakashi's eye widens. "Sasuke..."

"Oh, no," Sakura gasps.

"What is going on?" Naruto says, confused. "What is that?"

Purple threads rise up from Sasuke's body in ripples. The air grows thick with power and it makes it a little hard to breath.

'Its the power of the mark,' I conclude. "So, this is what Rakuyo was talking about." I take a step back as Sauske begins to regain consciousness.

When he stands fully, the purple chakra dissipates from around him, but there were black markings covering the left side of his neck and under his jaw. They were hardly noticeable under the collar of his shirt, but I could make them out vaguely. One thing I noticed very clearly though was the new, profound chakra radiating from him. Raw and powerful.

Hayate jumps back, saying nonverbally that the match was to resume; though without taking his eyes off of Sasuke.

"What's going on, Sakura?" Naruto asks her. She doesn't answer him.

I put on a guarded expression and a confident smirk, but it looked pale in comparison to Sasuke's cruel gaze and malicious sneer.

He charges at me. Fast. Much faster than before. He swings at me with his fist, and I barely dodge his blow. But I wasn't so lucky for the next one. Immediately after I dodge to the left, he turns and kicks me right in the center of my chest.

I bite my lip from the initial pain, and slide back a few inches, but manage to stay on my feet.

This was going to be difficult. I smirk, and get into a ready stance. He narrows his eyes back at me, the coldness still in his features; an evil cockiness.

I charge him first this time. He doesn't move, just stays in his spot as I approach. I reach inside my weapon pouch and hurl shuriken at him. He dodges all three, and takes out a kunai knife. I grab one out also.

Metal clangs against metal. We both jump back and then run at each other again. I slash out at him and miss. In a blur too fast, he manages to knock the knife out of my hand and slices his kunai up my right arm, tearing flesh and drawing blood.

I leap away from him, gripping my wounded arm in surprise. What the hell just happened? How could I let him get to me like that? Blood drips onto the floor, making a small puddle near my feet.

I look up at Kimina behind me. She stares back at me, fear written all over her face. I turn back to my opponent and take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. My arm was killing me, but I couldn't think about it. I had to just...

He was on me then in lethal time, and I manage to block a punch and a kick. I try a kick-punch-punch combo, but I miss terribly, not even landing close. He swings his leg up and around, and I barely jump back out of the way.

While me airborne, he throws shuriken at me. I flip in mid-air, and as I do, a couple shuriken pass over the back of my jacket, ripping fabric but not skin. I ready to land on my feet, but Sasuke appears right before me just before I do. It happens so quickly, I didn't even have time to defend myself. He punches me square in the jaw and I fly back and land hard.

Poof...

My real self appears behind Sasuke, and I plan to kick him on the side of his head, but he grabs a hold of my ankle and flips me over him. When I land I make a few hand signs and blow a line of fire from my mouth. He dodges it swiftly and merely jumps to the side.

I take another deep breath, my right arm still burning with pain. I thought I could get an advantage on him with that clone I made when I flipped around avoiding his shuriken.

I sigh and make another hand sign. I inhale and blow out a large fireball at Sasuke. It comes in fast, but he springs to the side again. I inhale and exhale another one. He jumps into the air and flies down towards me. I inhale one more time and wait till he gets closer.

I exhale right before he's on me, and the fireball seems to engulf his body, but he disappears into thin air. He appears behind me, his arm pulled back.

A clone of myself materializes in between us and it catches Sasuke's punch in the palm of his hand. In a blur though, Sasuke takes out a kunai and strikes my clone in the stomach, making it poof out of sight.

I turn around and dodge him trying to pierce my chest. I move to his left, and accomplish kicking the knife out of his hand. Almost immediately, he swings his leg and his foot catches me right on my cheek. I soar into the air and land on my bloody arm.

I shakily sit up, and spit out blood onto the floor.

"Fog Concealment jutsu!" I proclaim.

End of Lloyd's P.O.V.

Kimina's P.O.V.

The fog builds up almost instantly, growing thicker and thicker. In moments, the whole floor was completely non-visible. And silent.

Everyone was holding their breath, waiting and straining to hear or see something. My hands clench around the railing in worry.

"Whoa, you can not see anything through this fog," Lee says, surprised.

"You can't possible hope to win against him, boy. Not when he has this power coursing through him," Orochimaru hisses. He sneers. "And now you lose."

Still utter silence.

Right until Lloyd's scream echoes throughout the room.