Chains of Fate (Sequel to Silver Bells)
by Kaline Reine
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters/settings. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a fanfiction story.
Note: This story is the sequel to 'Silver Bells' however it differs a lot from that story and some things will be changed. This story is not canon, nor is it intended to be. It takes place in a similar alternate universe as one of my really old fanfics, Chains and Bells, as well as the same AU as Silver Bells. So it DOES NOT follow canon and it is NOT meant to. Also please note that this Sakura is Sakura Uchiha, is my friend's OC (not mine) and is not the same Sakura from the show, nor is she based on her. They have the same first name only. Thank you. c:
This story is written for RukarioHadou and Sakura Uchiha belongs to her. c;
***WARNINGS: This story contains (or may contain) graphic adult content, including violence, torture, abuse of various kinds, incest, and explicit sex scenes. If you can't handle my sick and twisted mind then you, my friend, are reading the wrong story. It also may contain slight spoilers if you aren't completely caught up.
Chapter 1:
Everything was restricting her movement. She felt tangled, trapped under something soft. it seemed to mold to the shape of her body. Her throat felt even tighter when she realized that she couldn't breathe. A heavy feeling made it's presence known in her chest, sitting there like a hard stone. Everything was darker than it should be...
She gasped for air, sitting straight up. Her amber eyes shot open, glowing in the dark, darting around the pitch black room. Shadows were everywhere, slowly closing in all around her. She could practically feel the purring of the cat demon, deep within her. It was as if it were trying to calm her down.
A large lump moved beside her. Finally, Sakura realized she was at home, safe in her bed. Her fiancé was beside her in an instant, moving to console her.
"Sakura?" He asked, taking her hand and holding it in his. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." She replied, though not even fully convinced of it herself. She was still half dazed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah... Just a bad dream, that's all."
Kabuto smiled at her sweetly, carefully scooting closer to her on the bed they shared. "You seem to be having a lot of those lately. Want to talk about it?"
She remained silent, her silver-tipped ears drooping down flat against her head.
"What? Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do," she replied. "I just... It was a nightmare about my past... My distant past. Some things are still hard for me to talk to anyone about."
"I understand," truthfully he did, "I want to get to know you better anyway. You know a lot about my past and I still know very little about yours. So I'd love to know about it, if you feel like telling me. It might help to talk about it."
"Thank you for being so patient with me, Kabuto." Sakura smiled at him this time. She felt so lucky to have him in her life. She could barely believe she was engaged to be wed to such a perfect man.
"I'm all ears. It's what I'm here for, my love."
She wanted to tell him, she really did... The lump in her throat grew larger. Just thinking about it caused her entire body to shiver. She was trembling before she ever began talking. It was difficult to even think of where to begin. She'd never told anyone about her past before, not all of it in it's entirety anyway.
Kabuto noticed what she was going through. "You're trembling... Come here."
He casually pulled her into his lap, so that she sat facing him. Her kimono draped over both of them. Gazing into those gorgeous dark eyes of his was taking it's toll on her already. It made her nervous... But Sakura knew there was nothing to fear. Beautiful though he may be, he was deeply in love with her, and she with him. There was nothing they couldn't share with each other.
His presence alone was enough to soothe her worries, at least a little. He ran his hands through her fine silver hair, which matched his own, waiting until she was ready to explain. Feeling more comfortable, Sakura leaned against him and snuggled into his chest. He held her against him, protecting her from the demons which haunted her so...
"Alright," she took a deep breath, "I'll tell you everything."
"I'm all ears." His smile widened. She was so precious to him.
"I think all this started when I was little," Sakura began her story. "My parents were extremely abusive to me. The things they did to me were horrible, and that's one of the reasons I haven't brought it up before."
"Is that what the nightmare was about?" He calmly asked, doing everything he could to reassure her. It upset him to hear about it, but he knew he had to stay calm for her sake.
"Yes... They didn't seem to care about my pain and suffering at all! It made me so angry... The abuse got worse and worse. They would take me into the basement, where they had various torture instruments along the walls and laid out across a table. They would keep me out of school saying I was sick a lot. The things they did... were completely unforgivable. I was beaten, stabbed, burned, tortured, abused in almost every way. All of this on a daily basis."
Kabuto could feel tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He never knew she'd been through so much as a kid. "I'm so sorry..."
"Don't be. It's not your place. Anyway," Sakura continued. "My parents both knew that the two tailed cat demon was sealed away in me. The Uchiha clan was responsible for that in the first place. At first they were just trying to get her to come out, you know, so they could see her power. The Uchiha clan had a plan... It involved me. But only because of her. I now know it isn't her fault though."
Suddenly, he understood. "They were trying to awaken the cat's rage and then use it to destroy the village..."
"Right. It was awful. They never succeeded, but that didn't stop them from trying... I was really quiet and was never allowed to say how I really felt. I kind of just withdrew into myself to deal with all of it, and there were times when I'm sure I wasn't all there. I couldn't do anything about it. I had to keep my defenses up at all times. I felt like an animal inside a cage."
Kabuto held her tight, hugging her as close as he possibly could. She responded by relaxing into his arms a bit. He felt like he should just let her keep talking so she could explain properly. He listened intently.
"My older brother Itachi was the one who saved me," she continued. "He caught on to what they were doing and put a stop to it. He skipped an ANBU mission and stayed behind, that was when he found out... He walked in while they were torturing me. He already had his orders to destroy the Uchiha clan at that point, but it wasn't supposed to happen yet.
"When he saw what they were doing to me, there was nothing that could hold him back. He decided to go through with the massacre earlier than planned. It was an impulse he couldn't ignore. Sasuke was in school when it happened. But there's a secret we've been hiding from everyone. And after all this time, I think it's about time someone heard the real truth."
"And what is that?" He asked, gently pushing her to vent to him.
"The truth is..." His fiancé took a deep, shaky breath. "I killed our parents myself. It was his duty to eliminate the entire clan, but he started with our family, and he let me do it. It was the only way he felt I could ever have peace. And it felt so good... Their blood staining my hands, after all the wrongs they had done to me; after all the agony and years of torture they had put me through."
The medic nin seemed surprised at her confession. His black doe eyes were wide with an emotion Sakura could not identify.
"Wow." Was all he said on the subject. "I wasn't expecting that... Does the Hokage know?"
"After the massacre, Itachi had to leave. There's no possible way he could have stayed in the village after something that tragic. That's when he turned me over to the Third Hokage, who took me in as his daughter so I would be safe. He told the Hokage everything. Sasuke's safety was also assured, but he was traumatized to the point where we could not convince him to come with me."
Kabuto had never heard about this, but there was no doubt in his mind that it was true. "I'm so sorry, my love. That must be an awful burden to bear. But truthfully, they deserved it."
"He told me I have to be strong," Now that the gates were opened, she continued to spill everything out. She felt she needed to get it all out of her system. "And I was. Sarutobi placed me with the Inuzuka clan later. They'd volunteered to take in any survivors from the Uchiha slaughter and I was the only one left. The only one willing to stay with anyone, anyway. Sasuke refused, saying he was better off alone... He never knew the truth. Itachi lied about the massacre to protect me, and he used the Sharingan to cast an illusion for Sasuke. He's been stronger than I have to keep such a secret all this time, when it cost him everything that was dear to him."
After that, the cat girl burst into tears.
Kabuto allowed her to rest her chin on his shoulder, holding her close for comfort. "It's okay to cry, Sakura... I promise it will be okay. Just let it all out."
"Th-thank you. You're s-so sweet." She managed to flash him a sweet smile, in between her sobs. They were gradually dying down after several long minutes...
"What happened after that?"
"Oh, curious are we?" She teased.
Kabuto smirked. "A little... But I'm also concerned about what you went through. I like knowing the things you've never told anyone else. It makes me feel special being so close to you."
Hearing him say things like that just made Sakura's heart melt... She wanted to spill everything to him, but she wasn't sure it was okay to do it all at once like this. She hesitated.
"These things take time, love. No worries." He reassured her. "You can tell me all about it when you're ready. Just let me know, okay?"
She didn't know what to even say, so she just kept quiet. He let her trace her fingers along his palm for several minutes. The two were just enjoying each other's company for a while. For some reason, she just didn't feel like that was enough. She needed him to understand everything that happened. She had to finally tell someone the whole truth.
"I took..." Sakura squeaked, trying to resume her story. "I took Itachi's katana... And I murdered our parents in cold blood. He said it was okay. He'd tied them up for me, and he stood idly by watching me do it, even as they begged for their lives. He wanted them dead too. He could never forgive them for what they did. I passed out on the floor after I did it, and I woke up in the hospital. They said the injuries I had sustained over time had become too much, especially coupled with the trauma of what happened. I still think it was the shock, the sudden rush, from the strange feeling of killing them... Now I have to live with it every day. Even now, many years later, I still cringe at the memory of it. And-"
"You stood up for yourself when no one else could." He interrupted. "That takes a lot of courage. Keeping such a big secret takes even more. You weren't in the wrong, sweetheart. Not after everything they did."
"They didn't kill me..."
"No, but they could have."
She knew he was right. "That's true... I chased Itachi everywhere, after the massacre was over. I freaked out when I found out he'd left Konoha and as soon as I left the hospital, I chased after him. I ran off into the woods in the direction he was last seen. I just ran and ran... The two-tails made her presence very much known."
"I can imagine... Didn't anyone come after you?"
"Mhm," She nodded. "They had to send someone after me to calm me down. The only person who could do anything was Kakashi. He used his Sharingan to calm her spirit, but he was just barely able to. Then he dropped me off with the Inuzukas, where Kiba and Hana took turns keeping an eye on me until I felt better. I never saw Itachi again until many years after that. Later I learned he'd joined the Akatsuki... I was devastated, but in a way, part of me knew he would be safer there. I just hadn't been thinking rationally."
"You've had a rougher time than I'd ever thought... I'm so sorry." Kabuto squeezed her in a hug, refusing to let go.
"It gets worse... I was completely devastated when Sasuke ran away too. It was years later, but it still hurt a lot and made me worry even more. We never talked much after the massacre. When I learned he had the intent to kill Itachi, it caused an enormous rift to form between us. I couldn't tell him the truth at first... I promised I wouldn't ever tell anyone. But eventually, I did try to tell Sasuke that I was the one who had killed our parents. He never believed me. He claimed I was lying to try to save Itachi from his wrath. I wasn't, but... No one ever believed me. Anyway, that's pretty much what happened back then..." She sniffled.
Tears formed in her eyes, at the memory of it all. She allowed them to fall now, soaking her fiance's shirt. He didn't seem to mind. Kabuto only gave her a comforting kiss on the cheek and made an effort to dry her tears with his hand, smoothing them down her face.
"Your secret is safe with me. I promise."
"I'm... I'm a... I'm a murderer!" She sobbed once more. "After all the pain and suffering they caused me, Itachi was right. I just needed to do it. It felt wrong, it still feels wrong, but at the same time it felt so right... Killing someone... Felt so right to me in that moment. How can you forgive me? How can you still see me the same way knowing that?"
"Sakura..." Her fiancé lightly petted her beautiful silken hair. "We're Shinobi. We are all murderers, in one way or another. I know that feeling more than you think. And I still see you as the same beautiful, strong girl that I fell in love with. Nothing you could tell me could ever make me feel any differently about you."
"I'm glad to know that." All she could do was offer him a small, sad smile. But it was enough.
"I love you with all my heart..."
"I love you too," Her crying had stopped now. "Thanks for listening to my annoying rambling, it means so much to me."
"It's not annoying at all, sweetheart." Kabuto made an attempt to change the subject toward lighter things now. He knew she needed to get some sleep. "For now, I think we need to rest. You have a wedding to plan, after all. Or did you forget?"
"Yes, you're right." She casually got off of him, climbing back into her own side of the bed. "I can't thank you enough."
"I'm just glad talking it out helped a little."
He curled up beside her, with his arms around her. Kabuto never wanted to let her go... She meant the world to him. Truthfully, he didn't think of her any differently after hearing about her past. Everyone had a past, himself included. Hers was a lot more traumatic than his had been, but that didn't mean he was going to judge her for it.
Sakura slowly let herself drift away into a peaceful sleep, safely tucked away under the covers, with her fiancé's arms wrapped around her...
