Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
She'd been the one to kill him.
Out there, on that barren, brutal battlefield, only days after the beginning of the war, it was over. He'd been naïve. He'd thought she was still a little, helpless, star-struck twelve-year-old girl who could no more strike him than Naruto could live without ramen. He'd thought she would drop everything and go with him, go live in an illusion of happiness in order to produce his children because she held in her heart an irrevocable love for him.
He'd been wrong. So, so wrong. So incredibly trusting. It was ironic.
She had been in the middle of the destruction, trying to save lives. Kakashi was nearly dead on the ground from his rampage, with just barely enough chakra left over to maintain function. Function, not even consciousness. She couldn't lose her sensei again. Not when the first time he'd died, because of Pein, she'd punched him so hard his jaw had broken (she had punched without chakra) and demanded he never do something so stupid in the name of anything ever again. Not when her shishou had been unconscious for two months with no sign of improvement before waking three years ago; not when she had spent hours every single one of those days, eyes glazed over, crying in front of the cenotaph. Not when she'd seen so much destruction in the past few years, the past few days. Sakura was strong now. She could save. She could protect. Kakashi would not die, her friends would not die, she would not die, but the enemy would. Kami forbid somebody try and stop her.
She'd been in middle of that warzone, in the midst of an odd lull in fighting. Her hands had been glowing green, her brow slick with sweat and furrowed in concentration, as she brought her (useless, stupid, inconsiderate, foolish) sensei back from the brink of death again. Distantly she could hear Naruto and Killer Bee screaming at Tsunade and the Raikage about being let in on the battle, and then he was there.
"Sakura."
She startled, looking up from her work without stopping the flow of chakra. Her eyes grew wide and the flow faltered.
"S-s-sasuke…kun," she managed.
"You are done here. Come with me. My goals and your dreams now coincide." His eyes were black, and cold. No love. No passion. Cold, calculating. But he extended a hand. She accepted.
"Oh, Sasuke-kun… I've waited for so long. I promised you I would… Is there no way…?" She trailed off, leaving the unspoken question to hang in the air. He dropped her hand.
"Hn." No. There would be no fucking way he'd go back to Konoha. Sakura's expression shifted slightly, looking almost sad.
"Then… Can I- can I kiss you?" She got no response, but he did not flinch as she drew closer and rested her hands first on his shoulders, then slowly wrapped around to fist her left in his never-changing hair and rest on her right on his exposed neck. She closed her eyes and leaned in, almost on tip-toe, as her lips met his.
He was smiling. He would revive his clan. She was too. He wouldn't.
As their lips met, the green chakra that had never completely left her right hand pulsed almost imperceptibly, razor-sharp and directed. No. Scalpel-sharp. His knees buckled and she caught him, hand now clearly glowing.
The smile on her lips was wickedly pleased and heart-crushingly bitter. A completely severed spinal cord, just below the first vertebrae. The only evidence was a faint pink scar embedded in his hair line. Dead before he hit the ground, only three drops of blood spilled – one for each of the tomoe spinning in his eyes that had caught her deception one half-second too late. Chakra scalpel.
Hands that heal…
Tsunade had told her once that the key to putting a person back together was knowing how a person came apart. Healing reverses being destroyed.
Ibiki had told her once that people are creatures of habit and that opinions are hard to change (watching Naruto and the people of Konohagakure had further ingrained this fact into her mind). Once a weakling, always a weakling.
Shizune had told her once, and only once, (it was so important that needing to be told more than once would have proved Sakura unworthy of being Tsunade's apprentice) to never give Tsunade money. Addicts always come back for more.
He would have finished putting his life back together with the restoration of his clan, and his eyes she would always be simple, adoring, willing (weak, useless, frightened) Sakura. She could never pose a threat to his well-being. He'd been drawn to her like an alcoholic to strong whiskey.
She threw his body over her shoulder and picked up Kakashi. She couldn't leave him on the battlefield in his condition.
Making her way to the tents, Sakura shrugged Sasuke off of her shoulder in front of Tsunade and Naruto, effectively ending their bickering. He landed roughly on the grounds and his head rolled at a strange angle. The shock written on Naruto's expression exhausted his ability to speak.
"Shisou, this war is over." Her eyes were cold and angry as she walked off to the make-shift hospital tents, Kakashi still passed out in her arms, to finish her interrupted healing.
She took two steps and Tobi – no – Madara materialized out of thin air sixty feet above her and fell with a sickening crunch at her feet.
Sakura screamed. Naruto jumped in front of her, crouched and growling with kunai drawn. She still held on to their sensei. Tsunade was at their side instantly.
"What is it Sakur- OH KAMI ABOVE!" She punched down hard, no hesitation, shattering any hopes the body on the ground had of being alive.
Madara did not move. He did not seem to breathe. He did not disappear in a swirl of leaves or a puff of smoke or time or whatever it was that his strange technique did.
"Naruto, hold Kakashi-sensei," Sakura ordered. She bent down, two fingers pressing against the man's neck.
No pulse.
Sakura stood, smiling an honest, genuine smile while Tsunade's hand glowed green, performing an inspection.
"Ne, Tsunade-shishou, I believe you just lost a bet."
"I don't have time for this right now, Sakura. Naruto, go take Kakashi to Shizune. NOW!" Garbling incomprehensible nonsense, Naruto ran off with his important delivery.
"Shishou, you owe me a raise at the hospital! Madara's immortality is clearly linked to having clan survivors. Sasuke died, he died. War over."
"NOT NOW SAKURA!" Tsunade growled. "Take Sasuke and Madara to Ibiki and Inoichi. You will give me the full story when you return. Haul ass. "
Roughly yanking the bodies up, Sakura sprinted off towards the united army's base.
The war was not over yet.
So, I feel like this is short, but what do you all think?
I'm excited to keep writing!
Ja ne~