A rain of embers poured orange sparks all around them. Violent winds of ash blinded the survivors.
It was over. The war was finally over.
But there was horrible blaze and smoke around them. They choked for the living air they had breathed almost their entire lives. In the midst of chaos were two very good friends. One who cared strongly for the other and one who had just discovered in herself, she really cared for him in return.
"We need a medic!" wailed the boy.
"Naruto, It's too late...I won't make it," the girl barely made out.
"Sakura-chan...you'll make it, we always have...right?". Naruto tried to give his usual smile, the cheesy one that always implied he was eating ramen, going to eat ramen, or something like that. But he couldn't help but cry, and as ashy wind scorched their beaten faces, he cried even more. "Sakura-chan, don't leave me okay? Remember my promise..."
The labyrinth of fire encircled them even closer together.
"I can't open my eyes, I just can't," thought Sakura.
Ashes of the dead absorbed all sweet moonlight, making the breeze dense and murky. Naruto clutched his friend even closer, the soil all around them ensanguined with Sakura's blood. Sakura whimpered in his arms. There was the stench of dead shinobi burning in the fires. "This would be a horrible place to die...no, Sakura-chan won't die," thought Naruto.
A sudden horrible-sound shallow breathing from Sakura stopped Naruto's thoughts.
"Sakura...Sakura...SAKURA-CHAN!?"
There was a cold figure standing in icy flames, watching from a distance. He felt pity..no, pain. Though black fire and hatred encrusted and crowned his heart, his memories couldn't lie to him. Sakura and Naruto were ex-friends after all.
In a flash, he caught Sakura in his genjutsu.
Sakura woke up in a void of light. There was no sky or ground. She was engulfed in light. "Am I in afterlife?," she thought. Blazing white lights, like stars, but somehow much more beautiful and majestic, fell like tiny tear drops of rain. She was standing in showers of this beautiful glitter. Sakura began to walk somewhere, she didn't know where, but something unexplainable made her journey in a directionless direction. It felt like something was tugging her heart.
Sakura looked up. Suddenly a flood of blue branched above her. There were clouds and obnoxious birds of Naruto SD Kohona.
"Kohona?What?". And as she lowered her eyes, she saw three familiar figures.
"Alarm set at 12 p.m., today's topic is to get one of these bells from me". The masked man holding the bells jingled them. "Whoever can't will have no lunch," stated Kaskashi.
An immature Naruto screamed, "WHAT!"
And standing there, Sakura watched her life again. But this time she actually laughed at Kakashi's challenge, which she wondered why she couldn't find out how to get the bells from Kakashi sooner. She grimanced at her young self fainting after seing the bloody Sasuke. And she grimanced even more at Naruto's immaturity.
Her whole life ran before her eyes, the slower she walked, the slower the memory played. If she walked faster, the memory would zoom past. And then came that part in her life...Sasuke on his life goal of revenge. Sakura chose to run past all those years. She kept running until she reached a very sad Naruto holding and a very broken her in a forest of fire-the present time. Naruto was sitting and cradling her and crying her name.
The vision then faded, and Sakura was left standing in the void of light. This time the glittery stars were not raining. She felt like she was becoming more and more fragile. She looked at her hands-they were fading. Her hands couldn't even touch each other anymore.
Then that sudden jerk moved her heart. That feeling that moved her throughout the path of memories...the feeling she felt when that one person was near.
A lone figure with an ardor of despair was moving farther and farther away.
Sakura, in her nothingness ran as fast as she could. It was like fighting a strong current, she was becoming just air.
"Sasuke!"
She grabbed him with her weak strength. "Why did you put me in your genjutsu! Why are you doing this to me!?," Sakura shouted at him angrily. He cooly looked at her, then she started to cry.
"Why did you have to go?", she looked in his merciless eyes. "Why did you leave me?...I always loved you, and so did Naruto...*intense sob*...as a brother! You didn't have to return anything to Team 7...*intense wailing*...*uncomprehendable words due to intense wailing*...all we asked was for you to take the path best for yourself!"
Sasuke's eyes just looked at hers with their usual boredom. "I'm not going to give my life-goal dream speech again," he thought.
Suddenly, Sakura's fist was flying for his throat. Sasuke blocked. Sakura's other fist almost landed a bloody eye, but Sasuke stopped her in time. There stood Sakura and Sasuke, Sasuke holding both of Sakura's fists.
"You know, you're still annoying."
Sakura looked at him shocked. Sasuke loosened his grip, still holding her fists.
"You were unprepared for that, and you're obviously in a vulnerable position because you're still holding my hands. Sad to see that you've abandoned all defenses in your genjutsu. And that means there's a reason that you're not using your sharingan as you normally do," Sakura said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Smart Sakura," replied Sasuke with a straight face and mono-tone.
"Why am I in your genjutsu?"
"You should try to kill people that try to help you..."
"Take your own words of advice!", she sneered.
"...Sakura-chan, do you want spend your last moments trying to kill me?"
Sakura stopped. Both just tried to read each other's eyes for a long time. "Why?",Sakura asked.
"What's wrong with doing a favor for someone?"
"What favor?"
"Saying goodbye to a friend."
"..."
Sakura's face drooped. She cried. "I'm really going...right?"
"..."
Sasuke studied Sakura's face a bit, he also felt as gloomy as she was in his heart. He knew what she was going to ask next.
"Sasuke-kun, I have a question for you."
"More of a will ,right?", Sasuke read Sakura's mind. Sasuke knew she was disappearing quicker than she realized.
"Even if you don't return to Kohona...please don't-...I mean...actually, whatever happens, please reconcile...with Naruto."
Sasuke looked away. Sakura saw fury in his eyes.
"That means no, right?"
"...I'll fulfill it in some way," Sasuke's voice was dead, but there was a glimmer of truth in his voice.
Sasuke was still looking far beyond. Sakura sensed that something was troubling him, something dangerous was near. Sasuke seemed to space-out for a while. But she couldn't see what he was seeing.
"Naruto...," she thought out loud.
"Shut up, you're annoying," Sasuke smiled at her.
"Sasuke...domo arigato," Sakura grinned.
The shower of glittering stars began to fall again. There were two friends, one still enslaving the other's fists in midair in the void of nothingness.
Sakura slowly faded into the white.
Sakura woke up to Naruto's face.
"Sakura-chan!", said a crying, smiling Naruto. "I still haven't fufilled my promise to you, I'll bring Sasuke back...*sob**laugh*.
In a hoarse, quiet voice Sakura snapped, "Pull yourself together Naruto! Remember the village needs you!". Then her voice softened and she smiled, "Sasuke will be back, you and Sasuke will bring Sasuke back."
"Thanks, Sakura I really needed that,"Naruto then wiped a tear.
"Arigato, Naruto."
"Arigato, Sakura."
Sakura smiled.
He was still holding Sakura's fists. Before her happy face disappeared she mouthed to him 'I love you'. "Usual Sakura," he thought. Sasuke still stood there until every shadow of Sakura left forever.