'Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.'
The ground shook violently, sending a loud rumble through the trees around the ruined clearing. Landing abruptly on the rocky ground was the small, bloody figure of a young girl, her arms instinctively covering her head as she skidded across the rugged terrain. The fall left the skin as well as parts of her clothing torn up, blood was seeping from the wounds as she lie there motionless for a moment, her whole form shaking violently.
Finally, with teeth bared, she rolled over onto her back, bringing a quivering hand over to the deepest of the wounds as a green sort of mist surrounded her hand. Her chakra, with precise control, healed the wound enough to stop the worst of the bleeding, finally letting her arm drop to her side with a guttural wine, blood spurting from her mouth as she did so, dripping down from her lips to her jaw line and ears.
"You haven't proved to be a very interesting fight so far…" Called the bored voice of a man, his hands tucked into the black cloak, the red clouds placed across the fabric contrasting brightly. His voice, uninterested and cold, was hidden beneath a deep orange mask, swirled around to the point of his right eye, the only one visible to reveal the kekkei genkai known as the sharingan.
"Fuck you…!" She growled, more blood dripping down the corners of her mouth. She tried to push herself up with her arms, her elbows quickly buckling, sending her back to the ground with an impatient cry from deep within her throat.
He gave a short laugh, walking across the short way between them and placing his foot on her stomach.
"I'm not sure you're in the position to be speaking like that, Sakura." He said with a soft coo to his voice, quickly kicking in with the back of his heel, causing her to revolt with a loud yelp, and turn over to her side as far as she could to prevent herself from choking on the blood that now poured out onto the stone beneath her.
He watched as she struggled to bring her hand to her stomach, the green chakra emitting once more. She felt herself nearly tear up in irritation as the chakra wavered, her strength slipping from her the more she tried to heal the internal bleeding.
She winced, her hand pushed down to the ground, the man's own gripped tightly around her wrist, and his masked face now close to her own.
"This is the end for you," he murmured as if speaking sweetly to a small child, his free hand clasping a kunai, pressed to her throat in the blink of an eye.
"Madara…" A soft, bored voice called out, causing Sakura to jerk, her mind racing with fear and anger with the position she was left in. She noticed the Kunai to her throat now pulling away, a small gleam of anger flashing across the visible eye behind Madara's mask as he pulled back to turn his head; his motions let another figure come into the pinkette's view, the tug in her stomach as she recognized his face causing her to cough up more blood. The deep red spluttered out across her face, her green eyes closing tight against the burn it left behind.
"Hello, Sasuke. I thought you were on your way to Konoha?" Madara murmured, a kind tone that she could tell immediately was fake.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, his gaze avoiding Sakura's form completely, though no concern was heard in his voice.
Madara sighed as the young man avoided his question, but obliged as he always did to the Uchiha's rude ways. "I was just having a bit of fun. She attacked me," he laughed, shaking his head as if it were the most idiotic thing he had heard in his long life.
Another loud cough broke out between the silence of their words as Sakura rolled over onto her side, the puddle of blood growing more and more. She spat the last of it out before falling to her back once more, her green eyes finally opening to linger on the form at her feet.
"Sasuke-Kun…" She choked, a small drop of blood sliding down the corner of her mouth and into her hair.
Madara gazed at her for a moment before looking up to Sasuke with interest, waiting to see what he would do; but he and Sakura both waited in vain as he once again avoided looking at her.
"Oh, I don't think he likes you anymore." Madara said in a mockingly soft tone. He jerked his head a bit at the strange sight he was met with as he gazed back over at the pinkette, who was now on her stomach, struggling to pull herself across the jagged rock toward the Uchiha. Her arms shook violently, a warningly large trail of blood following behind her as she put each arm forward one at a time to pull herself across, her breaths coming in sharp.
She finally let her right arm stretch out, the shivers running through it causing her to hesitate, a lone tear streaming down her cheek. With a hard gulp against her dry throat, she stretched her arm out, gripping the folds of Sasuke's pants weakly, letting her green eyes glance up at him once before rolling over onto her back, her grip staying where it was on the soft cloth, seeming to give her a sense of security.
"I think she wants you to save her—again." Madara said with a sigh, adding the last word with a cold spit.
Sasuke said nothing. Tears began to stream one after the other down the sides of her face, mixing with the stains of blood and spreading across her hair and ears, her eye lids squeezing shut as she took in a sharp breath, her muffled sobs seeming so loud to her.
"I don't expect him to do anything for me," she said bitterly through sharp breaths, her hand gripping his leg lightly for one moment before a loud snap abruptly broke the silence that followed, causing Sasuke to scream out in pain. Madara looked over at Sasuke without much of a reaction as he fell to his knees, part of his shin bone now tearing through the cloth wrapped tightly around his leg.
"Well," Madara murmured, looking oddly at her before shaking his head. He seemed at a loss for words, for once being surprised by the action of another—one he thought he had figured out so easily.
The last bit of Sakura's chakra had gone into the action, her energy quickly slipping away as her vision faded in and out, the blurred image of Sasuke now at her side as he finally looked at her; finally acknowledged her. His dark eyes were cold, and held anger directed at her for the first time. He wasn't looking at her as if she didn't matter, or in a crazed daze as he went about without a care, he was looking directly at her in anger because she had showed weakness in him; weakness that would always exist no matter how many bonds he severed.
She looked at him for a long moment, her whole form now quivering as it struggled to accompany her stronger will and stay alive. Her green eyes softened for a moment, and she let a warm smile cross her features. No matter what he did to her, she would always love him. With the last and final smile she would ever give him, the smile she saved only for him—the first real smile she had shown in years. There were no hidden emotions behind it, only purity; and with that, her eyes lost their light. The vibrant green dulled, her entire body going rigid for a moment before relaxing, her hand that had so recently hurt him fell motionless to the side of her face, her expression now held a vacant smile.
Sasuke stared at her for a long time, his breaths quick and rigid as he fought the pain in his leg, his eyes searching hers frantically.
"Sakura…?" He finally spoke, waiting for a reaction. But none came. She had finally had it, after everything she'd been through, her last bit of hope that he would one day come back for her disappeared as soon as she was forced to realize that when facing her death, he wouldn't care; she had finally let go of him, and of everything she fought for.
He shook his head so slightly that even Madara hadn't noticed, even the pain in his leg wasn't enough to pull his gaze from her face. He had once wanted to make her this way, and now that she was—his hatred only grew stronger. He was still struggling to cut his bonds with her as well as his other teammates, and now the one he still held with her had been taken from him.
With another long moment, he finally pulled his gaze away, taking in a steady breath.
"Madara, my leg needs tending to." He said firmly, sitting back to reveal the damage she had done, his bone completely snapped in half, the splintering obvious to the naked eye.
Without a word, Madara disappeared, no doubt to either find a medic or his own means of helping him. Sasuke opened his mouth to protest to the man's leave, but was too late. He was left alone with her lifeless form.
He sighed, looking over at her mangled figure with a dark gaze. His eyes glistened as tears threatened to fill the brim, but the sight only lasted for a short moment, his hand quickly going to her face, shifting over her eyes to close them. He felt the wet trail of the tears she had shed, watery blood left tracing across the palm of his hand.
With a sharp breath, he stood, ignoring the pain in his leg as he prepared to leave despite Madara's means to return. He glanced back at her for one more moment before sighing, and in an instant, they were both gone.
It was a beautiful spring day in Konoha, the villagers all filing out early in the morning to go to the fields for the cherry blossom festivals, the atmosphere full of joy and carefree feelings as they all went about their days.
For one, however, the day held a dark feel to it. Naruto stood against one of the trees, having gone there under Konohamaru's request, his attention quickly lost as he continued to fall under trances of deep thought. The younger boy eventually gave into irritation, leaving the blonde to his worries.
A cherry blossom petal floated gracefully in the soft breeze, landing softly on his shoulder, catching his attention as he glanced over at it, his deep blue eyes gazing at the soft pink glow of the flower for a long moment before he instinctively set off.
He wasn't sure where he was going, his hand now gripping the petal softly as he followed one of the many stone paths. The number of people shortened to zero the further he got into the shade of the tall trees, the only people not at home or at the festivals being shinobi off on missions. His mind had wandered to curiosity on how Sakura's lone mission was going only to be pulled away abruptly with the worrying sight.
Further up the road, one of the benches seemed to hold a familiar form. He could see her pink hair falling across and hanging down, as well as her legs folded across each other, seeming to be covered in thick coats of dried blood.
"Sakura-Chan!" He called out in a broken tone, running over to her and kneeling down at the bench, his hands gripping her face as he pulled her to face him. His eyes searched her for any reaction, the cold of her body making his own go limp, the only thing keeping him from falling being the knowledge that if he did, her head would hit the stone bench. He felt tears immediately stream down his face, his head shaking several times as he pulled her to him, hugging her lifeless form.
He sobbed into her shoulder loudly, unable to stop as he continued into the night, finally coming to sit on the stone path with her body now in his lap, his arms around her waist to hold her up as he continued to scream, the tears never seeming to cease. His cries of despair were unheard by the others, the commotion of their joy easily covering it up.
The duo were found the next morning by two villagers passing by, startled by the now muffled sobs as well as the sight of the broken and bloody form in Naruto's arms. Kakashi was called down as no one was able to get Naruto to his feet, or Sakura from his grasp. The man stood strong, managing to calm the blonde down enough to pull his student from him, cradling her in his arms. He paused for a moment, hugging the small figure to him, her head nearly falling backwards, stopped to rest on his shoulder. He took in a shaky breath before turning to walk back toward the village, followed closely by Naruto whose gaze never left Sakura's hand that fell limply, bouncing with Kakashi's step.
As the rest of the distraught shinobi and villagers dispersed, unable to tell how she got there or what happened, a tall figure emerged from the forest, staring down the familiar path. His dark eyes fell to the ground as memories of her cries filled his mind.
"Do you really want to go back to being alone? You told me how painful it was to be alone; right now…I know your pain!" She screamed to his back, her crying obvious through her voice. He felt a sense of anger, not believing she could even begin to imagine it.
"I may have friends and family," she continued, her voice beginning to go quiet, almost difficult for him to hear, "but…if you were to leave…to me…to me…I would be just as alone as you…" Her voice began to break with her sobs, causing a sort of pain to hit his stomach, the want to turn to her beginning to grow as he remembered his time with her and Naruto, the way she did anything to impress him and make him happy; the way he was almost always too busy to notice as he tried to outdo Naruto, and the way he looked up to Kakashi who seemed so much like him. But none of them were the same as him—no matter how much they wanted to be.
"From here on out…" he murmured, "we all begin new paths…" He had a firm tone to his voice, hoping to put an end to her cries, hoping to make her understand his intentions.
"I…" She started, her voice going loud once more though breaking even more evidently, "I…love you with all my heart!" She screamed, "if you were to stay with me…there would be no regrets! Because every day we'd do something fun, we'd be happy…I swear! I would do anything for you! So please, please stay with me…!" She cried, her voice pitching with her words as she seemed to struggle to keep it strong through her tears.
Her voice faded to a quieter tone now, "I'll even help you with your revenge…I don't know what I could do…but I'll try my best to do something…so please…stay with me…or take me with you if you can't stay here…" She finally seemed unable to continue, soft sobs filling the silence. He stared at the path in front of him, his eyes closed as he forced himself to keep his composure before he finally turned to face her; nearly wavering at the sight of how broken he had made her.
"You really are…annoying." He said to her, a soft smile on his features, knowing this would be the last time he would smile at her. Her eyes widened, pulling her head up to look at him as he turned; he couldn't stand to face her any longer, knowing he was ruining the girl he knew, and changing her to one made up of broken pieces.
"Don't you leave!" He heard her scream determinedly as he began to walk away, "If you do, I'll scream and—" And with that, he was behind her, staring at her back with soft, desperate eyes. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, so many things he needed to tell her, but as he began, he wasn't sure how long he could continue without turning to walk back into Konoha with her at his side.
"Sakura…thank you." He said softly, watching as she tensed up before hitting her quickly, her form going rigid for a moment before falling forward, his arms reaching out and wrapping around her to keep her from hitting the stone path. Of all that he needed to say, the most was how much gratitude he felt for everything she had done, and everything she was willing to do. He lifted her up to cradle her in his arms, remembering the first time he'd held her this way. She had stood against Gaara to save him, and as her unconscious form fell through the trees, all he cared about was making sure she was safe.
Laying her on the bench, he stared at her for a long moment before turning to leave.
The memory made his entire form tense up as he stared at the bench, the blood stains left behind and forgotten causing him to grit his teeth. When he placed her on that bench three years ago, he knew she would wake up the next morning. She would tell the others of his departure, she would continue to hope for him to return to her; and despite how much he refused to believe it before, now that she was gone, he could only remember how much he wanted to come back to her and how tempting her promises of happiness had been to him.
"I'm so sorry I didn't stay with you…" he whispered in a hushed tone, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm so sorry…" he said again, placing a hand on his forehead as he sat down on the bench; and finally, after five years of ignoring her, years of telling her to leave him alone, of growing closer to caring for her…Sasuke cried for her the way she had cried for him. His sobs echoed back against the trees, his leg in a make shift wrap, letting his feet fall to the very ground he had said goodbye to his teammate, the very place she stood at the moment that she lost all that made her as happy as she always was, and turned her into a broken statue, begging for a way out and for a way for her and her team to be happy again. Not only was he crying because he lost her, but the realization that he had already killed her long ago hit him the moment he saw that last smile trace her features before her life slipped away, leaving the team completely severed, the last piece that was, and always had been, holding them together was lost forever.