They say that the only thing that girls care about is love. Maybe that's true. Maybe not. I wasn't really sure if that was true. To me, it wasn't. But to others, it was like to Sakura and Ino, who both wanted Sasuke's love so bad. Every girl in Konoha wanted his love. I mean, EVERY girl wanted him.

But what he wanted was Power. Sasuke Uchiha just wanted power. Power to avenge his clan, and kill his older brother. Why must hate be in our blood? I've asked myself so many times and still could not find the answers.

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"LISTEN TO ME SASUKE!!!" I screamed, dodging the kunai that Sasuke threw at me. It was just me and Sasuke now, fighting to the death.

"Heh. And why should I listen to you? I've finally had the power that I wanted. And I will avenge my Clan. Why should I stop my quest to listen to you?" Sasuke asked in a cold voice. "Kikoyo Uzumaki, the most idiotic person I've ever met."

"Sasuke, just listen to me, once, please!" I pleaded, dodging his kicks and punches. "Please..."

"Not a chance!" Sasuke said, kicking me in the stomach, just enough to make me black out.

"I don't need to listen to a girl like you."

Listen to me Sasuke...just because I'm a girl...you won't listen to me? I asked myself before being engulfed by darkness.

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I woke up again, and saw that I was in a hospital, and my brother was by my side. "Naruto?" I asked, trying to get up.

"Granny Tsunade said that you should have plenty of rest Kikoyo," Naruto said, pushing me down slightly.

"What happened to Sasuke?" I asked.

"Well...I managed to bring Sasuke back! He's outside the door right now," Naruto said. Sasuke's back now. There's nothing to fear, I thought. Except rejection.

"Do you want Sasuke to come in Kikoyo?" Naruto asked.

I nodded slightly.

I'm going to regret this, I thought, closing my eyes.

Naruto went out, and Sasuke came in. He sat where Naruto sat, and just stared at me as I stared out the window. I didn't want to look at him at the moment. I didn't want him to see the tears in my eyes.

"Kikoyo?" Sasuke asked, his voice filled with concern.

"What?" I asked, trying to be cold.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you...earlier..."

I turned to him. "Maybe if you thought about your choices before making them, you would know how much it hurts right now."

I was trying not to cry, but I couldn't. I had to let it out. I did. And I showed Sasuke my weakness.

"You don't know how much I had to beg Naruto just to go on the mission. You don't know how hurt I was when you left. Everyone was hurt. I don't know who hurt the most. Me, or your baka fan-club."

Sasuke looked at me with sympathy.

"Maybe...if I wasn't born at all...I wouldn't feel this much pain," I said, letting the tears come loose. "Maybe--just maybe--if I wasn't a girl I would be stronger."

I want to be stronger in your eyes Sasuke...

"Do you remember that day we first talked?" Sasuke asked me.

I nodded my head, turning away, reminiscing those old childhood memories.

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"Hey Naruto, who's that?" I asked my older brother once we entered the Academy Gates.

"That's that slug, Sasuke Uchiha. He's so stuck-up. Don't talk to him Kikoyo."

I nodded my head understandingly.

Lunch arrived, and I went to a nearby hill to just sit. Usually I didn't eat lunch. Naruto didn't know about it. He just thought I was at home eating rice balls.

Suddenly, I heard someone behind me. I turned my head and saw that boy that Naruto was talking about. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Hey," he said casually.

"Hey," I said back.

I know that Naruto doesn't want me talking to him, but he's so...

"You were with Naruto earlier. Are you his sister or something?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm Naruto's younger twin, Kikoyo Uzumaki. Naruto told me about you too. Aren't you Sasuke Uchiha?" I asked, trying to be cheerful.

He nodded his head, then he turned away.

"Wait. Where're you going?" I asked him.

"Back to the Academy. Lunch is about to end."

I followed him back, only to find a pissed-off Naruto.

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Ever since then we started talking even more. Things started to change. Everything changed. You told me about your quest to avenge your clan, and I told you about myself and my brother, how we both share half of the Nine-Tails within us. I thought that you were my friend. I guess I was wrong then, and I still am.

"Yeah, I remember," I replied.

"That day changed me," Sasuke said, sighing sadly. "I wish that I had realized how much it changed me."

I turned towards him, curious and interested. "How did it change you?"

Sasuke smirked that smirk that everyone seemed to love and fall for. "Maybe one day I'll tell you."

Slowly, I got up. I knew that I wasn't supposed to, but I just did. I didn't want to lie in bed all day. I had enough rest anyway.

"Tell me Sasuke, why do you want power?" I asked him, looking at my hands rather than him. "Do all boys want power, such as you do?"

"The reason I wanted power was so that I could avenge--"

"After you avenged your clan, what would you have Sasuke? You spent your whole life on your goal, and in the end, when you obtain it, what would you have gained? You wouldn't gain life, or gain any more power than you already had. So why try Sasuke?" I asked him, stopping him in mid-sentence.

Sasuke looked at me and sighed. "Tell me, what do you work for?"

I lifted my head and looked at him. "I worked for someone who's special to me. That is my goal. To be able to serve him."

In a way, I was telling Sasuke what I felt deep inside. It helped me too. I finally got those words out of my chest. Finally, I felt like I was being freed. Yet, at the same time, I wasn't freed.

"When you serve him, what will you gain? What do you obtain then?" Sasuke asked me, rewriting the questions I had asked him.

"I would've gained so much by being with him: the feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of happiness because he is happy, etc. But what I would obtain for all my life are the memories of being with him."

Sasuke looked at me for a while, then said, "That would be the same feeling I would have obtained as well. The feeling of accomplishment, the feeling of being released, the feeling of being freed. All those feelings I need to feel, just so that I can be freed from my burden."

"However, Sasuke, you wouldn't feel one feeling. That feeling is love," I told him, looking him in the eye this time. Sasuke smirked. "Why would I want to feel such a feeling like love?" I gave him a sad look. "Naruto was right. You really are cold and heartless Sasuke. I never thought that you like that, but I was proven wrong.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry. I understand the meaning of feeling loved. Because I'm a girl--whom love means everything to--I want to feel it. Every girl wants to feel loved, and hold it to their hearts. They don't want it leave their hold, because every girl treasures love like a child.

"Because I'm a girl, whom love means everything to, I treasure it also like a child. I want to hold it in my hands, like how you want to hold power in yours. I'm sorry that you couldn't understand me. But then, I don't really understand you either."

I turned away and looked at the window.

There was a moment of silence, where I rethought about my own words. I didn't think, I just said them. It was as if they were there, ready to be spoken already. Maybe I've always wanted to speak those words, but just couldn't find them back then.

"I'm sorry."

I turned towards the voice, and saw that Sasuke was looking down at his hands.

"I never understood why girls like you wanted love so much. I never realized that the reason was right in front of me. I was blinded by the need for power, that I didn't even look beyond that," Sasuke said, his voice shaking slightly.

I could only look at Sasuke with a tearful eye. "Selfish needs blindfold us, that way we may never understand something so deep that it's right there. It's floating before us, but because we are blindfolded we can't see it. I can understand that much of what you're saying Sasuke."

I lay myself down on the bed and sighed.

"I never knew that you could be so deep Kikoyo," Sasuke said. "I guess I never reached that deep side of you."

I closed my eyes and smiled. "There's a world so deep inside of us Sasuke. We just need to find it. Maybe the reason why I've reached it now is because you're with me. Thanks Sasuke for everything."

Sasuke was confused, I could tell.

"Because I'm a girl, whom love means everything to, I will never give up on that dream. But perhaps--in another life--I will reach that dream," I said my voice now at a whisper.

Sasuke was still confused.

"Because you're a boy, who will never understand a girl, you won't know what I mean until morn," I said, taking deep breaths. "Until morn, you will never realize what was right in front of you the whole time."

By then, it'll be too late. We may never be able to tell each our feelings. Maybe it'd best that you don't tell me, and I don't tell you, I thought before going into my deep eternal slumber.

The only thing I heard before I fell into that sleep was the sound of Sasuke's leaving footsteps.

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The next morning Kikoyo was announced dead. It was said that she died because she had lost a lot of blood and energy for some odd reason. The most advanced ninjas could not determine why she lost that blood and energy, and it remains a mystery.

Her funeral was taken place and she was announced as an honorable Shinobi. Tsunade wanted to put her name on the KIA stone, but Naruto said that Kikoyo wouldn't want that.

"She doesn't want to be known as someone who was 'killed in action.' She just wants to be known as an honorable Shinobi," Naruto objected.

Everyone attended her funeral, since she was known by almost everyone. Everyone attended except for one boy. Sasuke Uchiha.

Finally, when the funeral was over, Sasuke Uchiha stepped in front of her gravestone, and stared at it with tears striking his eyes.

"So that's what you meant. I will never understand what you mean, until today. Finally, I understand what you meant Kikoyo. But one thing I will never understand, is why you never told me your feelings. Only you can tell me what your feelings are, yet, you refused to tell me and chose to die instead." Sasuke paused for a moment, looking for the right words. "I will tell you my feelings instead. Kikoyo Uzumaki...I have always felt this way towards you. I never felt this way towards anyone else. I'm sorry that I was so stupid that I never told you."

I'm sorry that I was never able to tell you until now. I just realized my feelings, and it's too late. Maybe, if I took off that blindfold at the right time, I would've been able to realize something so simple in front of me.

All I can hope for you now Kikoyo, is that in the next life you will live the way a girl wants to live.

Sasuke left her grave, leaving only a lone red rose on her grave. A red rose was her favorite flower, the flower of love.

Because love means everything to you Kikoyo I will give it to you in another life...

Because I'm a girl...whom love means everything to...I will do whatever I can to protect it even if it means killing myself and not being about to hold the feeling until my next life...