She was worried. Naruto had told her he'd capture Sasuke and bring him home, that it would be easy, and soon before she knew it they would be a team once again. She believed him when he said it, with her whole heart she nodded her permission and watched as he left. It was sunset now with no further sign, no other person outside the village than herself: Sakura waited at the edge of the gates for what felt like years, hands clutched to the thing beating in her chest, blood turning cold.
(She already regretted sending him off, it's been way too long. Sakura prayed she didn't have to regret it more.)
There was a barking of dogs. Sakura heard it, ignored it, until the sound got closer, her ears rung in the cacophony and her nose twitched at the slight smell of dog sweat. She blinked as she realized.
Kakashi!
A blur of white, one of the dogs, ignored her and went straight for the gates behind her back. She followed the small thing, confounded to find her sensei here.
Tall and dressed in ninja gear, he was too far away to observe his eyes.
"You need to come with," Pakkun spoke. His voice was tired and his dog frame was avoiding hers, he was avoiding her.
Now Sakura wasn't one for paranoia and the more she watched them the more she believed she hadn't imagined it, they were actively avoiding her. Heads bowed and voices muted, Kakashi used hand signs to communicate to his ninken, rather than allowing her to overhear. She stepped closer to eavesdrop on their conversation but somehow she couldn't, they weren't letting her. They deeply wanted to discuss in private, something must be wrong.
Before the fire inside could incite her... darkening her eyes and tightening her small fists, Sakura wanted to make herself known. Loudly. Kakashi simply raised his gaze. He looked hard at her and she didn't know what she should be looking for back, only limp silver hair and his complete mask, lacking of any smile. Both the single dark pupil and his Sharingan were empty of light, and tired, but his silence was the one thing that scared her most.
She outburst loud to make up for the smothering quiet. "Kakashi-sensei!" she yelled.
Sakura believed he was faking his smile. The kunoichi wasn't Naruto nor blind, she wasn't falling for it. "Ah. Sakura."
"What's the news?" rather than hearing the words he had to say she tried to find clues in his stance. He was relaxed at the shoulders but remained so silent, silent more than usual, they'd at least be some form of life in him somehow. He was their cool teacher but ignoring her wasn't part of his style, motioning to his dogs and turning his face away wasn't what she wanted to see.
Pakkun left in a screen of smoke and Sakura felt the cold instantly creep through her veins. Weren't they supposed to be finding Sasuke? Why did he go?
What were they still doing here?
"Sakura. What I'm about to tell you is going to be very upsetting to hear. I know that-"
He was treating her... like a civilian. Like a non-combatant who didn't understand war, this was a textbook response to grief victims. The way his voice slowed in false comfort, clear calm wording like babying a child made her face burn.
How dare he-
"Tell me already! I'm a part of Team 7 too, I deserve to know, sensei! Don't screen the words, don't say it, don't say it-"
she began to cry.
Sakura hated being like this. Angry. Sobbing. She didn't even learn the reason yet. But unfortunately... gods, unfortunately, she could guess. The tears ran down her cheeks and she couldn't stop the flow or the way her voice wobbled, Sakura wanted to be the adult kunoichi but already she was failing, letting her emotions take control and make a fool of herself. Kakashi-sensei must be so so tired, exhausted from receiving the worst of backload missions since the infiltration of the Chuunin Exams, only to find two of his students gone and her bawling her eyes out. He was proven right not to tell it straight to her face.
As she sobbed he was struck silent, standing awkwardly a few distances away without the chance to comfort her. Watching her at her worst. Sakura could only think and cry that it was her who made him so, she was too late to prove herself a real ninja, that she could handle this, that she-
Didn't want to wait anymore. It was time she got out of this torturous limbo, waiting with her hands clasped was driving her crazy, crying and doing nothing was worse than knowing the real truth.
She… she wanted to be where Naruto is.
"Don't tell me," Sakura breathed shakily and the lump in her throat constricted. Determination settled somewhere in her heart, hard in her green eyes. "Show me."
Sakura used both of her hands to scrub roughly at her face.
Kakashi simply walked past her. He didn't signal or anything, he didn't veer. Her stomach sunk with the nerves and she blinked away the last of her tears before running after him.
…
She thought it must've been chidori. Oh God.
The rains began to fall until her clothes soaked through and the yellow strands of hair clumped and curled against hard ground. The blood dribbled away through the cracks of rock, dark red and streaming with the natural runoff into the valley below. She watched the path it took, thin meandering branches that traveled slowly at first, gaining speed when the clouds poured harder, dribbling until all of it disappeared. The blood disappeared from sight before finally - finally - it stopped flowing. She watched the eerie stillness. There was just no more.
"It would've been quick."
"A hole through his chest?" Sakura cupped a hand to her mouth and her stomach churned. Her voice was high, cracking at the seams. "A hole through his chest?"
Her sensei stood silent.
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, he-"
"Sasuke did this, yes."
She muffled the strangled noise before it could escape, two hands clasped until she couldn't breathe and the rain water frozen over her skin. She tightened the grip and the air was tight and short and coming up sharply when her hands were shaking. Her sight blurred making the brown stone turn gray, Naruto in his orange tracksuit, all disappearing from view.
"I'm assured a search party will be arranged in the morning. Myself including."
"Sasuke will be labeled missing nin, with the immediate designation of kill-on-sight. His defection will be moved to a matter of high importance, effective immediately. Any of his whereabouts and associates included." Kakashi talked, over the sound of the waterfall and the way Naruto's clothing soaked through, translucent and sticking to his body.
"Leaf ninja or not, he has a high chance of being executed."
When the clouds clashed it was a signal for stronger pours, Kakashi let her be and straightened. There was a meet of two hands and the air warmed slightly, chakra pinged when he released his jutsu. Sakura watched him with dulled green eyes. She didn't know how he could even be moving, how he could be so professional, she wanted to learn how he wasn't breaking.
"Sakura. I'm sorry."
Pakkun reappeared and Kakashi walked off with the ninken, leaving her alone with... Naruto.
All she wanted was a team. All she wanted was for them to stop fighting and to finally be friends like she knew they wanted to, for the whole team together, happy. She remembered the times Naruto would do something silly and Sasuke would turn up his chin, and she would smile warmly because it was so obvious it was pretend snobbish behavior, purely in good humor. That was her team then, their dynamic, that was how they worked. They may fight at times but it was never anything personal, scathing or intended to hurt. It was to make each other grow. Sasuke baited Naruto and Naruto chased at his heels because they were boys, they were friends looking out for each other's weaknesses, they were a family.
There was a hole through his chest and now Sakura realized. Naruto was dead.
They could never ever be a team again.
"Sakura. You need to get out of the rain. You'll be sick."
"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun?" did this?
"Sakura."
Did this happen before? Was this accounted for in the rulebooks? She never got to read something like this, one teammate turned traitor to apprentice for a man who performed experiments on live humans… the other teammate dead where she knelt, a punch through the chest before he could even turn thirteen.
Sakura told him to do it. She begged him to go. She wanted to have Sasuke back with her in the village where it's safe, where somebody could treat him for his curse mark and where she was. Sakura thought that that would make him happy, while Naruto wanted to make her happy. Naruto died and he failed in his promise when she was the one who asked him to go in the first place.
The faint charge of electricity in the air… she couldn't believe how things could turn for the worst so fast.
Kakashi called for her name in the background, a ringing tinny in her ears, weak to the sound of her blood rushing. His voice was quiet in comparison to the slack in Naruto's whiskered cheeks, dark blond lashes and closed eyes, and the damn, stupid, peaceful smile he died having on his face, he died-
"I'm going to kill him."
"Sakura."
Her fists clenched and she spoke words she never spoke truer before. "I'm going to kill him! I'm going to, just watch me, I can't-"
She buried her face over his body. The water mixed quietly, soaking the clothing that was already drenched and cold, streams coming from her face wasn't going to make much of a difference. She was quieter this time around, little hitches bleating from her throat, she was tired and the feet in her sandals hurt and all she wanted was to go home and bathe and sleep. Small things, normal things. But she couldn't do that anymore, could she, it wouldn't be so easy. Nothing could ever be the same again.
Kakashi lifted her off of Naruto, peeling her away from the only teammate she had left. He spoke words that couldn't register in her brain, thick, far away sounds and hands on her shoulders, and later the weight of a vest against the rain. Pink strands stuck to her face but her eyes remained on Naruto, even when the sealing process was complete and his body transferred into a tiny scroll of paper. Kakashi pocketed the thing, slipping what was Naruto's body so easily. He returned back to Pakkun but her sight was getting fuzzy, he motioned to the ninken before it shunshinned.
'Kyuubi...', she thought she heard.
Kakashi had his hands in his pockets the whole time, quiet as he led her back home.
