A/N: Okay, some things will have to be clarified before moving on. I wrote this story in the course of a week while tossing around a larger idea concerning Sakura gaining an ability that allowed her to manipulate the energy of the world itself using chakra, with a side-effect being her sensing the "presence" of people around her and the currents of energy in the world. That larger idea never made that fateful trip out of my brain and through my pen…and given the distinct flagging of interest in Naruto I have felt recently, it's looking more and more likely that the idea will stay there, unfortunately.

However! Looking over this story again even a year and a half later, I still really like it! So I'll share and hope that you like it too. It's set an indeterminate time after the main storyline in the manga…and you may even want to refer to it as AU, because not only has Sasuke somehow turned into a decent guy, he's married to Sakura! With two kids! Yeah…I took some major liberties with this story…and it's obvious that there's lot more to what's going on than I wrote. So forgive me on that…

Standard Disclaimer: Naruto (and Sakura and Sasuke and everybody else…) belong to Kishimoto Masashi, not me. He would prob'ly never do such wild stuff with these characters…. nervous laugh…

Legacy of Darkness-A Naruto one-shot fanfiction by Malachite Circle. Originally written: March 20, 2005

Threads of light. Countless threads, looping and twisting around each other in a vast web. Some threads were thick, others thin; some threads crossed and merged with other threads while some wound in between them, keeping their distance, but all of them glowed with warmth and life.

All was as it should be.

Consciousness blinked.

Along one of the strings, a particularly thick and bright one, a spot of darkness appeared. Like a tiny strand pulled out of place, it reached lazily outward towards…she could not see where because another dark thread burst out, then another. The next moment, the entire string had unraveled and was now a tangle of dark fibers floating in the void.

No…

Her hands reached out-it wasn't too late, surely! Surely, she could still weave the threads back together. But even as she stretched up, she could feel herself falling backward.

No…I won't let this happen-I won't!

Black flame hissed around her as she fell, hissed like a thousand angry snakes…

Sakura's eyes shot open-and saw only darkness. Everywhere-darkness-cold and dead-suffocating shadows constricting her-

Nearly sobbing in terror, Sakura fought free of the blankets. She half-crawled, half-fell out of the bed and stumbled across the room to the light switch. Her eyes watered painfully at the brightness, but at least she could see. For several long moments she leaned against the wall, her forehead resting on the cool wood. Gradually, her breathing eased from its harsh gasping to something more controlled.

The hand brushed the cold sweat from her forehead still trembled. She took a deep breath, held it in, and released it slowly, concentrating on clearing the tension out of her body at least, if not her mind. She turned back to the bed and what little good her efforts to relax had done were swept utterly away.

Sasuke was gone.

Sakura stared at the bed in disbelief. How could she have only noticed just now? It seemed impossible that he could have left without her knowing. She remembered so clearly him next to her as she fell asleep, one arm draped across her shoulder, his breath warm on the back of her neck.

She put a hand on the rumpled blankets. They were still faintly warm-he hadn't been gone long. Sakura darted out of the bedroom. Down the hall to her left was the kitchen and dining area-both were empty and eerily quiet, as was the adjacent living room. Sakura paused in the hallway next to the kitchen, listening hard for any sound that was out of place and trying to keep her heart beat as calm as possible. The silence was absolute-no, not quite.

The bells hanging by the back door. Why could she hear them? This far inside the house, she normally couldn't, unless…the door had been left open. With a gasp, she hurried down the final length of the hall and turned to her left. The door was indeed halfway open, allowing a broad curtain of moonlight to drape itself across the wooden floor. Just outside the door, the bell hung from one of the rafters that supported the roof, tinkling gently. Sakura watched it for a moment, oddly mesmerized by the way the moonlight glinted of the metal and glowed through the paper tag hanging below.

She took a step forward, then another, uncertain. The currents of the world's energy flowed constantly around her; she was always subtly aware of their movement and change. She could also feel where they merged with the chakra of a living being. Because all energy was inherently connected, Sakura could often sense echoes of the thoughts and emotions of another individual, especially those to whom she was very close.

Sasuke was indeed on the porch, sitting just out of her line of sight. The "feel" of his energy was unmistakable, but tonight something was definitely different about it. A twisted knot, a sickening, seething dread…

She couldn't wait any longer-Sakura moved out onto the porch, her bare feet noiseless on the smooth wood. The scene before her was something out of a poet's dream. A bright full moon hung high in the velvety sky, still high though dawn was surely only a few hours off. It was reflected flawlessly in the small pond that was framed by reeds and mossy rocks. The water was black as polished marble, but here and there silver or gold or crimson gleamed as one of the koi passed just under the surface. The air was mild with a touch of warm humidity that hinted at the changing season. Here, too, silence reigned, broken only by the infrequent chirp of a frog in the cedar tree behind the pond or the sleepy hoot of an owl, far away, and these seemed only to pay homage to the silence rather than disturb it.

Surrounded by such tranquility, Sasuke seemed distinctly removed from it. He sat leaning against one of the wooden beams that supported the roof, one leg pulled up to his chest, the other dangled over the edge of the porch. His right arm rested on his knee cross-wise. It was an uncharacteristically tense posture, Sakura noticed with a sinking feeling. She took another step and flinched when the wood creaked loudly beneath her foot.

Sasuke did more than just flinch. He twisted around, his right arm blurring in an arc. Moonlight flashed on razored steel and Sakura felt several strands of her hair stir in the wind of its passing. The shuriken's deadly whistle was cut off by a short, resonant thunk when it struck the wooden doorframe behind her. That sound echoed in her ears for several moments. She stared at Sasuke in disbelief and he stared right back.

"Sa-sakura…it's you…" He sounded almost surprised, though it didn't show on his face.

Sakura blinked. "Yes, it's me," she responded automatically.

Sasuke gazed her for a moment longer, eyes wide, his arm still outstretched. His expression was one Sakura had to struggle to define-anger, confusion, and…disappointment?

"It's you…" he said again, and his hand dropped down suddenly. He seemed to deflate completely as the turned his back to her again.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked quietly. He didn't answer, continued staring out at the garden.

"Sasuke, what is wrong?" she said more firmly. This was her, "I'm talking to you, so listen up, dammit," voice, as Naruto had once christened it, and she only used it when she was truly worried about something.

Faintly, she heard his breath hiss out, not quite a sigh. His hand tightened around the edge of the wooden walkway.

"Sakura, I-" Sasuke spoke in barely in a whisper, and broke off suddenly as though even that was too much effort. He brought his right knee up to his chest again and rested his arm across it so that his right hand lay across his left shoulder. Sakura moved out onto the walkway, directly behind him now and knelt.

"When have you ever hesitated to tell me anything since we started living together under this roof?" she murmured, rubbing her hands gently over his back and shoulders. The muscles felt tense and knotted. Sasuke glanced back at her fleetingly. His mouth opened as if to speak, but it shut again quickly and he shook his head. He looked back out at the garden again.

"It's not that simple," he said finally, still very quietly. Fragments of her dream tumbled through Sakura's mind and fear clenched at her heart again. Surely, surely there was no connection between these events-she was worrying over nothing. It came with being a mother, after all-

As much to reassure herself as Sasuke, Sakura slid her hand up to cover his and had to suppress a gasp. So cold! The night air was mild, but his hand… She took it in both of hers, clasping it tightly-and then saw something that did make her gasp.

At the base of his neck, very faint-almost washed-out, but unmistakable, three black circles curling around each other…

"What…"

From where she was behind him, she could just barely see his lips twitch in a bitter smile.

"I told you it wasn't so simple," he whispered.

"How? I thought it had disappeared completely…" Sakura was barely aware that she had spoken aloud. She felt her whole world shaking around her, crumbling into fragments of shattered peace. Sasuke bowed his head.

"I didn't defeat it, Sakura, not truly," he said in a low voice. If no longer for revenge then to protect the ones I care about, I will always desire power. The seal…knows this, and so I can never truly be free of it, especially when I gave in to its power before."

"But-" Sakura had to pause and swallow because her throat was so dry-"you wouldn't do it again, right? You wouldn't."

"You're right-I wouldn't." Sasuke's head rose and his eyes were onyx dipped in silver. "But there may be someone who would."

Sakura's breath froze in her chest; her heart thundered in her ears.

"Who…?"

He didn't answer right away, continued staring up at the distant moon.

"This evening, just before going to bed, Kazuo said his shoulder was bothering him." Sasuke's words had become softer, if that was possible; his fingers tightened around Sakura's. "I told him to ease up a bit in training-it's good to get stronger…but getting hurt is only dragging yourself backwards…"

His voice shook audibly on the last few words, startling Sakura out of the reverie brought on by his words. She moved her gaze hesitantly from the curse seal to his face, but she couldn't see it now. He had all but buried it in the crook of his elbow and his hair obscured his eyes. Sakura's world stopped shaking, held breathlessly still.

"What are you saying?" she heard herself ask from far away-it seemed a completely different person was speaking in her place.

"I woke up because our room was too warm, so I opened the window. I thought I'd check on Kazuo and Nozomi as well… Just as I opened Kazuo's window, he rolled over onto his stomach, and…the moonlight was just bright enough…and his shirt had shifted just enough that I saw-"

He stopped abruptly, took a ragged breath. "It was there."

Sakura felt Sasuke's whole body tremble for a moment-the breath he had dragged in hissed back out, and the skin of his neck grew unexpectedly warm under her hands.

"It can't be…"

Sakura leaped to her feet, twisting around towards the doorway. She had to see for herself! Not that she didn't trust Sasuke's word, but something like this-!

She was fast, but as usual, Sasuke was faster. She had barely taken two steps when he grabbed her shoulders from behind, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She felt his heart thudding against her back.

"No-let him sleep for now," he whispered close to her ear. "I don't think he even realizes what it is, and it's so faint right now…even fainter than mine…"

Sakura felt tears begin to burn in her eyes. "How can this be happening? Why now? And why Kazuo…?"

Sasuke's arm's tightened around her, like a drowning man clinging to a scrap of wood. "He's afraid. He's past the age when the Sharingan manifested in his sister, and he's worried that he won't be able to get into the academy this year. He wants more than anything else…to be stronger…"

A drop of something warm and wet slid down the back of Sakura's neck, then another. She bit her lip.

"It's not your fault," she said, privately cursing the tremor in her voice that undermined her attempt at sounding reassuring. "It's really not…"

"Who else can you blame it on, though?" Anger heated his words and he pulled away from her. "Certainly not…"

Sakura took a deep breath; her shoulders where he had embraced her felt cold. She turned to look at him.

"Orochimaru?" she finished. Sasuke flinched visibly when she said the name and bowed his head.

"I was young and stupid then," he said in a tightly-controlled tone. "I thought I had everything to gain because I had nothing to lose." His hand crept up to close over the curse seal. "At that time, I thought I needed nothing except strength. Kazuo…"

Sasuke looked up at her suddenly, his eyes chips of frozen obsidian.

"He will not fall into the same trap as I did." Sakura could hear the flames raging just below the surface of ice. "I won't let it get that far."

"What are you going to do?" she whispered.

A sharp, mirthless smile leaped onto Sasuke's face. He reached past her and pulled the shuriken out of the wood. He studied it for a moment, turning it so that the moonlight sharpened its edges with molten silver. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent it spinning across the garden. Sakura heard a faint snick and a newly formed bud at the top of a small bamboo shoot fell to the ground. Saying nothing more, he went inside.

The garden was utterly breathless now. Sakura shivered in air that was suddenly chilly. The sky was beginning to lighten, the stars fading into misty gray. The sun was coming up-soon the world would be bright and warm again and she could forget about this creeping dread that was as cold as the grave.

But even as the sun rose, the shadows lengthened.

Update-September 30, 2005-I know I said earlier that this story had started out as a one-shot and that it was probably going to stay that way...but my impression from people's responses is that, well, they like it! So I think it will be safe to say that once I finish with my other story, I'll be moving on to expand this one. Yaay! I can't promise how fast it will happen, because I'm a reeeaaalllyy slow writer even on the good days. But it's so very rare that I write something and can look back on it over a year later and STILL be totally pleased with it, so I feel this story really does deserve it's time in the sun.