Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Itachi would not be acting like the psycho that Kishimoto is portraying him as.
It was a suicide mission. Tsunade had stood gravely at the window of her office when she had called for the team. Sakura could remember the quiet undertone her master had spoken to them with as she informed them of the mission.
It was a last desperate attempt at retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke by luring out the Akatsuki with a forbidden maneuver; Uzumaki Naruto would be bait. This would surely bring out the man of Sasuke's target, Uchiha Itachi. The war had ravaged them all, tearing away all traces of innocence any of them had ever possessed; even the children were becoming scarred. Uchiha Sasuke would be vital to whichever side he chose to ally himself with, if he chose to participate at all.
Sakura had crouched by the flickering flames with Naruto, offering him words of soothing at his uncertainty, though the sense of foreboding that had settled itself over the group had not neglected her either.
("Sakura-chan?")
("Hm?")
("Tsunade-sama said there was a high possibility that at least one of us would die here…do you think it'll happen?")
Naruto never referred to the Hokage that way. He had always been brashly informal, not caring about manners. She had given him a half smile, half smirk, and ruffled his hair in affection to help his worries.
("Of course not idiot! We're part of the Konoha 11, the Rookie Nine, and Team 7! We're not going to be taken down.")
It had been strange, as Naruto had always been the optimistic one, not her. She had just followed along to make him happy, keep his determination intact –something she had lost long ago-. He had given her a strained smile, grateful at her reassurance, and she had finally convinced him to rest. But when his breathing became even, without a doubt asleep, Sakura too had looked around the fire at the sleeping faces and wondered who would die. Shikamaru? Ino? Hinata? Naruto?
Her?
She had forced herself to forget those thoughts and clamber into the darkness of sleep as Hinata took over the watch.
Her mind had been plagued by images of the past that night, of his onyx irises that had looked upon her amusedly at times, and at times seemed so weighted by the burden on his shoulders. She remembered his quiet exasperated sighs when she was careless, his sudden coldness at times…
She had made sure her mind was blank of such thoughts when she had woken up in the morning. They would not do well for the oncoming battle.
It turned out that whether or not she was thinking these things would make no difference. The Akatsuki had been sensed -the S-rank criminals knew it was a trap- and the trap had to be triggered…from the inside. Whoever did it would surely die from their proximity to the unstable element. Naruto had immediately volunteered to do it but the idea was harshly rejected by all –especially Hinata–. There had been no time to decide who would surrender their life for it was at that moment that the Akatsuki had attacked.
Naruto had summoned several hundred shadow clones to assist the other two pairs –one for each Akatsuki member- and bounced into both battles whenever he was needed. Then, everything went still for a split second. Sasuke had finally arrived.
It was a strange sensation for Sakura to look from one doujutsu's eyes to an identical copy when it was such a familiar sight, but she could not spare even a second to absorb it. Itachi had begun to neglect her and pay attention to his brother even when she lunged at him with her chakra-loaded fists. Sasuke had flashed in front of his brother –very close to her- and pulled out his sword, his eyes brimming with a lust for vengeance.
She had been pushed aside –there was nothing she could do, again-, and the amount of chakra she had spent in fighting the elder Uchiha had taken its toll on her, barely enabling her to move, but the man had not killed her. Her weary eyes had trailed over to the precariously laid trap…it was so close…and just the right time.
Amidst the battle cries and spurting of blood, Sakura had slowly crawled over to the vantage point, the edge of the seal –how she escaped the chaos unscathed was a mystery-. She'd looked over the design passively, her mind surprisingly calm. In a single second she had jumped to the center. Naruto had seen her and screamed out.
("Sakura-chan! NO!")
His cry had drawn more attention, the rest of her fellow shinobi and friends screaming at her no to do it.
This is without a doubt a suicide mission you five. I'd send more shinobi along, but we are extremely short on forces at the moment. At least one will person here will most likely die.
Tsunade's words rang clear in her head –she knew-, she had to do it. Sakura would not be the weak kunoichi anymore. She wouldn't just stand by the sidelines, helpless to do anything.
Ino had cried out one last time to her best friend, a desperate plea.
("Sakura, don't do it!")
A single hand seal. That was all it would take.
Sakura stared up at the raging battle once more. Surprisingly, she had been met with the same onyx orbs that she had adored for years. She gave him a small smile, but a real one at that –not one of the fakes that her friends had become accustomed to- and whispered two words. She did not know if he saw her mouth moving. His eyes had been intent on hers.
("Forgive me.")
She sent a tiny amount of chakra to fingertips and closed her eyes. An explosion sounded, and the battle was stopped. They were too weak to carry on, and doing so would result in nothing but negative consequences.
One might have seen it to be ironic if they'd seen what had gone on between the two before her act, that the last sight Haruno Sakura saw was the gaze of the one she loved so long ago, the black spinning upon the crimson orbs.
("Sayonara.")
-grins- I liked this. That last scene has actually been running through my head for a while, but I never knew what to do with it until now. Let's just say I've been reading too much angst. Anyone want to guess who Sakura looked at at the very end? I'm not saying anything! You'll probably agree with me when I say I'm getting a bit too nutty about angst…I don't know, I think I just specialize in it.
As for the editing…well I'm still on mass editing. I've got chapter one down, that's sure, now I just need to stop being a stinking perfectionist and get moving on the rest. I also need to develop an immunity to writer's block.
Hoped you enjoyed!
-Quiet Moon