Hey everyone! So firstly, I got the idea for this "mini-series" of sorts from an author from the RWBY fandom, BlackenedHearts, so please go check them out of you're interested. Basically, this will be a three-chapter story focusing on Team Seven (Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto only. No Kakashi, unless I feel like I want to write for him.) this will be a MAJOR character death story, so consider yourself warned. I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you all soon. -Astridelta
Cherry Blossoms
The scent of spring was heavy in the air.
Clouds drifted across the bright cyan sky as pink cherry blossom petals danced in the wind, scattered from their trees. The sun, the bright white disc in the sky, shone brilliantly through the pink leaves and brown branches above the three remaining members of "Team 7". A faction that was meant to be inseparable, despite the odds. However, it seemed ironic that with new life, death accompanied like a shadow.
Naruto Uzumaki stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, leaning against the bark of a tree with one leg propped up behind him. His sandaled foot dug into the soft earth, dark blue leather and tan skin contrasting against the light brown of the path under him. His navy-blue shirt was pulled up around his stomach, revealing stark white bandaging that wrapped up around his torso, to his collarbone. His cyan blue eyes were glaring at a point fixated just in front of his big toe, his scarred cheeks pulled tight from the pressure with which he was clenching his jaw.
Sai, likewise, leaned against the trunk of a cherry blossom tree. His unnaturally pale skin was covered in scratches, extending from his arms to under his own blue shirt. His ink-black eyes were closed, and one could pass him off as asleep if they did not look close enough. But if they did, they were find that his eyelids were flickering ever so slightly, his eyebrows pulled too taut by a minuscule amount.
Sasuke Uchiha stood across from Naruto, his arms folded over his chest. White tape wound around his ankles, vanishing into the black pants that he wore, as well as going under the black shinobi sandals he had donned on his feet. The black shirt covering his chest and stomach looked as though he had slept in it the night before; wrinkled, unwashed, with half of it tucked into the waistband of his pants and half of it sticking out, draping down his leg. A white gauze pad was stuck to the right side of his neck with medical tape. His coal-black eyes, normally the only expressive part of his personality, were blank, devoid of any feeling.
A pink petal drifted in front of Naruto's face and landed delicately on the tip of his nose. Blue eyes coming into focus, his attention drawn to the small, thin object as his scowl faded to a soft stare. He pulled one of his hands out of his pocket and reached for the petal, grasping it in between his thumb and his index finger, pulling it away from his face. He stared down at the cherry blossom petal for a few moments as he studied the texture of its surface.
Then, a small, almost unnoticeable shiver ran through his body and down his arm, shaking the petal in his hand, the petal that was the same color as her...
Three months since the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Team Seven, whole once more, combated against the remnants of the Zetsu army.
Kunai and shruiken shrieked through the air, raining down on Naruto as he parried a blow to his side before backflipping away, leading his opponent to a small paper-bomb trap he had set earlier. A grin split his lips as he lightly pressed his palm against one of the small white tags before he sprinted away, hearing the explosion behind him and feeling the aftershock shudder the ground under him.
The crackle of lightning, followed by the tell-tale tingle that ran up Naruto's spine, alerted him of the chidori behind him. But instead of turning to parry the blow, he leapt aside while Sasuke pelted past him, towards a Zetsu that had erupted out of the earth in front of them. "Showoff," Naruto scoffed softly. However, his humor did not last long...
...As he saw the Zetsu reach out and grasp Sakura Haruno's neck.
Sai's teeth clenched as the sunlight beat lightly down on his skin as he focused on keeping his breathing steady and level. It would seem that his training in ROOT was slowly, agonizingly slowly, becoming undone. Like rewinding the clock, his emotions were coming back to him with painful reminders of what he had, and what could have potentially been. A soft growl sounded his left, reminding him of a wounded animal.
His eyes opened slowly, and the first thing his gaze landed on was Sasuke, standing slightly to his left, in front of him, staring at the figure next to him. His head turned, and he saw Naruto gripping a cherry blossom petal in his fingers, his eyes closed and his shoulders shaking. Dull shock broke through Sai's emotionless mask when a realization hit him like a sack of bricks.
Naruto hadn't cried yet.
He had yelled, he and broken objects and rooms, he had disappeared for days on end, but he had not wept. And Sai could tell that was weighing down on Naruto harder than he would have thought.
A small, surprised gasp passed through Sakura's lips as white fingers clasped around her neck.
Sai watched as a Zetsu head poked over her shoulder, yellow eyes narrowed in malicious glee as it stared at him. Behind the creature, Sasuke and Naruto stood, Sasuke warily observing the situation while Naruto shook with barely contained rage, all three watching for the Zetsu's next move. Green chakra hummed quietly on Sakura's fist, which was raised, meant to hit her assailant. A chalk-white hand gripped her wrist, keeping the energy mere inches from its face.
Sakura's emerald-green eyes darted to the side, briefly glancing at Sai before moving to Sasuke and Naruto. Then she looked back at the Zetsu. A pink tongue emerged from between the Zetsu's mouth and licked its lips.
"Tasty..."
The voice was like harsh sandpaper, grating on Sai's ears, and he grimaced. "Your chakra...is very delicious," the Zetsu continued, directing the comment to Sakura. A pained grunt sounded from her as the thing tightened its hand more.
Sasuke watched Naruto carefully, wary of the blonde's emotions becoming carried away and leading him to destroy the trees that surrounded the trio. Tears were dripping down the blonde's cheeks slowly as the blonde clenched his eyelids tight, the small cherry cherry blossom leaf in his fingers slowly wrinkling and crumpling under the pressure he was exerting onto it.
The Uchiha didn't say anything, however. He had no reason to. Naruto could handle himself, maybe. He, however, was a different matter. He didn't know if he could handle himself. He clenched his fists tighter onto the fabric that covered his arms and lowered his head as a muffled cry left Naruto's lips, barely carrying over to his side of the path as he noticed Sai step forward, towards the blonde.
Dead silence enveloped the trio as Sai paused in front of Naruto. Sasuke's eyes raised slowly, he himself barely noticing even the wind stop and the petals above them cease falling as Naruto's shoulders shook. The Uchiha didn't move, didn't even dare to breathe, as Sai opened his mouth to speak.
"...Cherry blossoms are one of the most short-lived trees to have existed," Sai began.
Sasuke's eyebrows lowered as he frowned, ever so slightly, as Naruto's eyes opened wide in shock. Then anger, as his own eyebrows turned to vicious glares as he looked up at Sai. Sasuke still refused to intervene as Naruto, too began to talk. "...What the fuck, Sai," Naruto hissed quietly. "I get you're a cold emotionless bastard, but seriously? What the hell?!" Naruto's voice was slowly raising into a yell as the wind around the three picked up once more, causing more cherry blossom petals to fall and dance in the space around them. Sasuke shook his head as a few landed in his hair.
"How dare you say something like that, about...about her-" Naruto cut off as Sai's fist connected with his right cheek, snapping the blonde's head to the left. The boy was breathing heavily as Sai calmly pulled his arm back to his side. Sasuke slowly began to push himself off of the tree as Naruto slowly brought his head back to face Sai. His expression was completely flat.
"...They're also the most beautiful trees in the world," Sai finished quietly.
Sasuke held in his breath, forcing back labored pants as he attempted to assess the situation in front of him. Naruto, two steps to his right. Sakura and the Zetsu, roughly twenty feet in front of him, slightly off to the left. Sai, seven feet diagonal to his right. The Uchiha's eyes roamed back to Sakura. The rosette was gripping the Zetsu's wrist tightly with her left hand, her right held in the creature's wrist.
Sasuke's left palm slowly clenched as if he were holding a ball in his hand as a sizzling sensation overtook his skin. Then, he waited. The Zetsu brought its face close to Sakura's, its yellow eyes examining her closely as it tightened its hand around her neck as well as her wrist. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as it licked her cheek, sniffing.
"Mmm...yes, I'll wait for you," the thing hissed. Sakura gasped as it released her, only to have white, clay-like structures erupt from the ground around her and grab hold of her legs, wrists, and neck. It began to turn as Sasuke launched himself at it, chidori crackling blue and white in his hand as he sprinted at the Zetsu. It's thin mouth spread into a grin as Sasuke leapt forward, hand extended to pierce its chest.
His sharnigan eyes widened however, as a white spike protruded from the ground, nearly piercing his neck. As it was, the Uchiha was able to duck to the side, hissing as the blunt object almost cut through his jugular, instead grazing over the side of his neck. Landing in a crouch, the raven pushed himself up and noticed Naruto coming in on the Zetsu's other side. "Idiot!" Sasuke hissed. But it was too late to stop anything. The Zetsu's head turned, and the Uchiha heard a faint cackle sound from the creature as he lunged at it, chidori almost shrieking in the air.
Then the Zetsu vanished.
Eyes widening, Naruto and Sasuke both dodged each other's attacks, the former rolling on the ground as Sasuke stood, eyes roaming the area. There was no way, no possibility the Zetsu had escaped without him noticing.
The sound of crunching bone and snapping muscle forced him to freeze, however.
Sasuke blinked as he saw Naruto's fists tighten at his sides. The raven looked around, noticing Sai had retreated back to where he stood next to Sasuke. Naruto's shoulders still shook heavily, but no tears trailed down his face now. "...Crying won't bring her back," he heard himself say. His eyes widened slightly before he forced his emotions to remain neutral as Naruto opened his eyes to stare at him. "It won't..." Sasuke repeated softly. Naruto nodded. "You think I don't know that?" Naruto asked quietly. Sasuke shook his head.
"I think you do know. That's why you haven't done it yet," Sasuke continued. "You don't want to think there's any chance of making everything okay. You don't want to acknowledge that she's gone. And she is Naruto...she's gone." Sasuke paused as Naruto and Sai looked at him, as he averted his eyes to the ground. "And it's our fault," he whispered.
Naruto looked up in a panic as he heard a gurgled groan in front of him. His eyes scanned over the landscape in front of him, his heart sinking as he hoped that what he had thought was happening, wasn't. But when his eyes landed on Sakura, he knew that was not the case.
Sakura's limbs were still bound by the white whips, but her neck was now in the grasp of the Zetsu's teeth. Her breath came in rasps as crimson blood trickled down her chin and her neck, pooling onto her red shirt and staining it almost black. A muffled laugh came from the Zetsu as it seemingly bit down harder, causing Sakura to writhe in her restraints. Naruto's mouth fell open in a wordless yowl as chakra pooled into his right hand.
But Sakura got to the Zetsu before he even had a chance to begin his attack.
The rosette's right arm was shaking against the white bind around her wrist, her muscles increasing the pressure as her chakra glowed green around her skin. The bonds snapped, shattered bits of white rock clattering to the ground as she propelled her fist forward, punching clean through the Zetsu's chest. The creature screamed as its teeth loosened on Sakura's neck, launching backwards as the clay-like vines crumbled around Sakura, leaving her to fall to the ground with a sickening thump.
And by the time Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai reached her body, her green eyes had already dimmed in the cold embrace of Death.
Naruto grit his teeth as he saw Sasuke look towards the ground. The Uchiha was trying to hide the lone tear that slid down his own cheek. But Naruto knew better.
"She wouldn't want us to grieve like this," he murmured. Sai looked up at him. "You were crying just a few minutes ago," he pointed out quietly. Naruto looked away, a leaden feeling in his chest. "What happened has happened. We cannot focus on what could have been or what should have been," Sai continued. Naruto scoffed. "What should have been?" he asked. "What should have been was her here with us, Team Seven together again, and now she's...she's..."
"She's dead," Sasuke nearly spat. Naruto glanced towards the Uchiha and saw him staring at the cherry blossom petals above their heads. His gaze didn't lower as Naruto stared at the raven. "...She's dead. And Sai is right. There is nothing we can do to change that," the Uchiha murmured in a softer tone, his right hand extending to catch a falling, pink petal in his palm. "Then what do we do now," Naruto demanded, then brought his fist up to rub the tears away from his eyes.
"We endure," Sasuke replied. "We live on...if not for ourselves, but for her. For Sakura."
The Uchiha stepped forward with the blossom petal in his hand, looking over his shoulder and nodding at Sai as he paused in front of Naruto. Then his coal black eyes returned to Naruto; the blonde noticed the tears swimming in Sasuke's and Sai's gazes, even though they tried to hide it. "...For Sakura," Sasuke repeated.
"...For Sakura."