So...I had another idea? At this point I'm just going with my ideas and creating a plethora of new fics.
Hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading!
- Gh0st Girl
Sakura remembers the first time she sees death. She is eight and It is slim and wraith-like. It is carrying a sword at Its waist that glints in the moonlight. It is leading fourteen children and an entire clan of dark-haired, dark-eyed people. She remembers the first time It looked her in the eyes. It had a film of gray over one black eye and a dark blue eye that she can see stars in. It is calm. Something that Sakura is not.
She remembers Death swishing up to her, It's feet barely touching the ground and extending a curved claw towards her face. She remembers seeing the hopeful faces of the clan behind It's spidery wings and she remembers crying for them. Death's claws touch her face and Sakura resists the urge to flinch.
'Is It going to take me too?' She wonders. Somehow, she knows that Death does not kill, it only steals life. It can only steal the life from wounds and illness and old age. Sakura keeps this thought in her head and Death cocks It's pale face curiously, like It is wondering why she can see It.
'You can See?' Death asks, and Sakura knows that It (she cannot call it a person—Death is the lack of person, she knows this) is confused and definitely interested.
'I can see you…and the people behind you.' She thinks. Sakura doesn't understand why It is so curious about her. Maybe she is the one that is not normal.
Its face tilts up towards the night sky and It looks like It's searching for something. Then Death focuses those strange eyes back on her. It smiles and Sakura is rattled. Its smile is not warm or kind or fragile. It is like a sharp kunai blade, the swift sensation of oblivion.
Sakura does not like Death's smile.
'Pick one.' It says. The people behind It look up at her, even more hopeful. There's one boy, tall with curly hair and dark gray eyes that has a huge smile on his face. Sakura looks at him the most. He is different from the rest, she can tell. She can feel the age-old rage in the older people, their hatred and their sorrows. She steps forward, towards the boy, taking him in curiously.
Then she remembers that this is not normal and steps back again. She looks up and stares at It again.
'Why?' She thinks, confused. 'What do you mean by Pick?'
Death looks amused and Sakura feels that she has overstepped when his claw brushes over her cheek once more.
'You are Life's child—her Chosen. You may Pick who to bring Back.' When It says the words, the people burst into a flurry of excitement. There are some who claw at her and some who plead; others cry and beg for their children. Sakura steps back and chokes out a sob.
She doesn't want to Pick only one. She doesn't think it's fair. Sakura also doesn't know why she is so calm about this—she has only just gone out for a walk because her caretakers are away and she couldn't sleep. This was not normal – but Sakura doesn't know why it seems so familiar to her.
'You can only Pick one. Choose wisely.' It chuckles and Sakura looks up at It with scared, wet eyes.
'Please! Let me Take them back. All of them!' She begs and Death's eyes focus on her once again. She only looks at the night-sky blue one (she somehow knows that looking into the veiled one will bring something bad) and gets on her knees.
She doesn't want the power over whom to Bring back. She couldn't make those decisions. She was not a Kami.
'You are a kind, gentle and unselfish child. Life has Chosen well this time.' It muses, before flicking Its claw back to her forehead. The claw digs down, carving a deep line just above her brow. The line is paired with another that juts back down towards her right eyebrow. Like an unfinished arrow pointing to her hairline. 'With this You are Life's chosen and My maiden.'
'What does it do?' Sakura thinks, ignoring the pinpricks of blood that slip down her face, dripping off her eyelashes.
Death smiles and Sakura shuffles her feet. 'You may Pick two.'
Sakura knows she should not ask for more.
The people – Sakura wonders if she should call them ghosts—are looking at her hungrily. Even the smiling boy looks on in interest. It is as if they can feel the life thrumming inside her and the chances she brings.
Sakura steps forward and closes her eyes. She does not know how she is doing this, only that what she is doing feels right. She waits for something (for what, she doesn't know). Then she feels it.
The sensation of a line pulling at her navel, dragging her towards something—someone.
The smiling boy is in front of her when she opens her eyes. Sakura realizes he has freckles on his face and a small dimple at the side of his mouth. She thinks that he is very happy.
He reaches out towards her and Sakura does nothing to stop it, only gives him a shy smile in return.
Sakura gasps when his fingers press right on her forehead and her eyes roll back in her head. For a second, nothing happens and Sakura panics – she wants to help these people! She wants to take them Back—and then she is filled with something so warm and kind it leaves her breathless.
His name is Shisui. He was sixteen when he died. When Danzo killed him. Sakura watches as Shisui's memories play right before her eyes. Itachi is his favorite and he likes to go eat Dango with him. He loves the shunshin and how he can move as fast as lightning when he wants.
He loves his grandfather, Kagami and his mother, Kaede. He mourns their deaths greatly when they don't come back from a mission. The memorial stone is cold as he traces his hand against the names of his parents. He doesn't brush away the tears that are falling down his face.
Shisui loves to run. He loves the earth as it warms up. Shisui loves the sun.
He loves the Will of Fire and how his grandfather lived by it.
Shisui loves his family. He remembers Kaa-san's laugh and her bright eyes and Tou-san's big hands and loud sneezes. He remembers what it is like to be a family.
He sees the cliff and he feels his feet slipping as he falls off. Itachi's eyes—mangekyou eyes—are desperate in front of him, reaching at his hands, his arms. Itachi reaches him just as Shisui gives him a smile and slips off the cliff.
And then Sakura feels solid fingers touching her head and the boy blinks, obviously amazed it actually worked. Sakura herself is stunned.
Sakura feels another tug and before she can open her mouth to say something to the boy, she is pulled forward, towards another person.
The woman is beautiful. Long ebony hair hangs loosely around her waist and her warm eyes are curious and kind as Sakura gazes up at her. The fingers that drift up to touch her forehead are cool and barely-there, just like Shisui's before her.
Sakura closes her eyes and then lets loose a sharp breath when the memory-reel starts playing again.
Her name is Mikoto and she loves her children.
She loves Itachi's dark eyes and his inquisitiveness. She loves Sasuke's warmth and his soft, chubby cheeks. She loves how they talk to her and hug her and love her. She gives her children all her love and none for her husband.
Mikoto does not like Fugaku. Fugaku was her father's cousin's son and he thinks he is better. Better than Mikoto even though she is the one who was in ANBU before him and who the elders acknowledged first. She hates that she had to marry him. But she is thankful that he gave her the children.
Mikoto clenches her teeth as she is forced to do nothing but standby as her (stupid, obnoxious, arrogant) clan stage a coup. They call themselves better but Mikoto knows that is a lie. They are just different—and different did not mean better. Yet she stays still because she knows they will kill her children if she does not.
She is quick as she leaves a note on the Hokage's desk, signed with the code-name only she and the Hokage know about, encrypted in the ancient Warring Tribes language.
Mikoto loves her children.
Itachi slices a blade through her stomach and she reaches out as she catches a soft sob. Fugaku lays dead, eyes glazed, next to her. 'My son, my son, I will always love you.' She murmurs and she knows he's heard her when he allows for her to brush his tears away one last time. She knows that he loves her too and what he has had to do. Soft, childish footsteps are coming from the doorway and Itachi sucks in a breath when Sasuke appears.
Mikoto dies with horror in her stomach and her eyes catching onto her youngest son's terrified face.
Sakura is sobbing when she feels Mikoto's fingers solidify against her forehead. The woman blinks once, as if to remember that she is still alive and then smiles down at Sakura who is crying and shaking at her feet.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Sakura wails and she feels like the world is being tugged under her feet. She hates that they died this way. She hates that they had to die this way through prejudice, love and duty.
If this is what it's like to bring them Back, she will do it a hundred times over. She will take all their deaths and give them life; the life they deserve. She can make them happy; reunite them with their loved ones. She will give them their lives.
'You are a kind child, Chosen.' Death says and Sakura is too happy that she has had this chance, this something to change the lives of others.
'Thank you,' She gasps through her sobs and It stiffens Its wings. Sakura cringes when the howls of the people behind him finally reach her ears. They are screaming with betrayal, loss, agony. They are scared and hating.
Sakura knows now, why she has chosen Mikoto and Shisui.
It regards her like a cat before speaking 'You will not always be thanking me.'
Sakura is left sobbing on the street with Mikoto and Shisui as she watches It take the people away.
Tell me what you guys think :) I'm a bit nervous about this one...