Blame my muse. She came up with this. I was just following orders.
Onegai: please
Demo: but
Onegai shimasu: (literally) I beg you please; polite form of saying please
Okaasan: mother
Otousan: Father
Nisan: Brother
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
One Wish:
It was hard seeing the one you love with someone else. It was even harder when no one could see you.
Leaning against the pale cream wall she felt the tears well as she saw the entwining hands. Heard the torrid moans. She didn't fight them. The tears. It didn't matter anymore. It hadn't for a while.
Hot and moist they silently slid down her cheeks. She tore her gaze away. She couldn't take it anymore. It was stupid to torture herself like this. Especially when she knew nothing would change.
The grunts and groans died, the sweat soaked bodies stilling beneath the sheets. She knew what would happen now as it always did. Manicured hands reached for him, seeking him and he roughly pushed her away. There was the pleading again, the begging whine as she threw herself on him, undeterred. He shrugged away from her grip, reaching for the pack of cigarettes sitting by his bedside and lighting up a fag.
"Go away Karin." His voice was lifeless.
"Demo Sasuke-kun," she whined and his eyes blazed red.
"Get the fuck away from me Karin." He took a deep puff, staring listlessly at the wall.
A snarl twisted on those red painted lips. "Sasuke-kun, when are you going to forget about that little bitch? I bet it isn't even yours and you know she's just gonna─"
In a flash he was on her, sharingan swirling dangerously as his hands bruised her throat. "Don't. You. Dare. Speak. Of. Her!" He bit out harshly.
The trembling was fine, barely hidden but she could see the red-haired women nod stiffly and he released her. "Go!" he snarled, "Get the fuck out of my house!" And she did, scrambling to pick up her clothes as she rushed out hurriedly.
It was only when he heard the front door slam shut that his body relaxed. A strange strangled sound came from his throat and his eyes watered. Despite himself the tears fell. Her heart broke.
Seeing him so broken, so grieved, showing such unfathomable weakness, she longed to go to him. Longed to take that trembling frame in her arms and whisper that everything was alright. That she wouldn't ever leave him. But she couldn't. That would be a lie.
And so she watched, her heart tearing at the seams as he took shaky drags of the cigarette before crushing it in his hand. He looked so vulnerable. So broken with those tears staining his face. A face she knew well. Soft lips in a perpetual smirk… Strong cheeks… Pale skin that glistened sweetly… She remembered them. Now that skin was blotchy and red, those eyes she loved rimmed with dark circles from lack of sleep.
"Why?" She heard him croak with his head in his hands. "Why?" He asked again, his voice rising and in a fit he tore the sheets from the bed, disgusted. Salty tears flowed as she sobbed soundlessly. She never wanted this. Never thought she would be the one to make the great Uchiha cry. Why indeed?
Nude he kneeled in the now wreaked room, his fury spent and she reached for him. I'm here she wanted to say. Her fingers skimmed his cheek, ghosting through. Her arms tried to wrap around him. "Don't cry Sasuke-kun" she whispered but her voice went unheard.
Longingly she tried to cup his cheek, to wipe away those crystalline tears. Her hand passed through him and she wondered again why she tortured herself so. It's your fault. A voice whispered. And so it was. This pain she felt. She deserved it.
Shaking his head he crossed the room, removing a large white jug from an elaborate wooden chest. Sake. She knew it on sight. Popping the cap he relished the burn. Relished the growing sense of numbness with each hearty swallow. "I'm sorry," he choked and her eyes burned.
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," she swallowed thickly. As always, the words went unheard.
.
Watching the others was just as painful. Ino cried long and loud, seeking solace in Shikamaru's arms. Naruto. Kami, Naruto with his bright blue eyes and his happy-go-lucky attitude was subdued. Though he ate, it was never with zeal; though he trained it was never with passion. He lived like a man punishing himself. Blaming himself for not being there. For not being strong enough.
Kakashi. Her heart faltered. Poor Kakashi-sensei. He was always the most pitiful to watch. How many times had he snuck to her bedside pleading in soft tones? Pleading for her to wake. Pleading for forgiveness. How many times had he called himself trash?
She had seen what was under the mask, seen what he had endeavored to hide in her phantasmal form. A beautiful man with a broken smile who blamed himself for a crushing sorrow. A man who blamed himself for her.
She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, that there was nothing he could do. She wanted to berate him playfully for reading smut and tease him when he was late. She wanted to tell him it was alright he hadn't been the most attentive sensei, that just watching over them was good enough.
It was painful not being able to do anything. More painful than the weakness of her past when all she could do was cry and provide moral support and spit out facts. Now all she could do was cry.
Leaving her broken love she passed through the walls, shuddered at the strange sensation.
.
Familiar faces. Familiar streets. She saw them, burning with the desire to join them once more. A wind blew making the leaves shiver on their boughs yet she could not feel it. She missed it. The feel of the wind on her face and the rain on her skin. She missed the warmth of a hand and Sai's teasing. She missed being alive.
She walked aimlessly. There wasn't anywhere for her to go. Oh, she knew she could return to the hospital. But she didn't want to return. Not to those stark white walls and that antiseptic smell. Not to the constant beeping of machines and that soulless shell. She hated it. Seeing herself like that, her once strong body frail and still, connected to so many wires she hardly appeared human.
Shishou, she knew, would come in. Trying in vain to get her to awaken. It was useless. She wouldn't wake. Couldn't. She had given up hope she ever would. But still they came, testing, trying. Revealing things she had never known of them in broken whispers and pleading tones.
The grass did not bend as she walked. Her clothes didn't sway. Sitting on a rickety old bench that had seen better days, she observed the children as they played. Their laughter was sweet in her ears, their actions nostalgic. A little red-haired girl played with her blonde friend amongst the flowers while some ways from them two doting mothers watched. So peaceful. So precious.
She wanted that. That precious peace. She remembered dreaming of a day she would be an Uchiha with dark haired darlings underfoot. And she would watch them with that same secret, satisfied smile mothers always had as they dusted their hands and played in the mud. Kami, how she had craved that! And when he left, still the dream persisted, her heart hoping foolishly for love. She got it. Or some of it on that life changing night.
.
The brilliant burning of the flames, the acrid smell of smoke. She recalled them vividly. The final battle with the Akatsuki. Unsure of their fate they had fallen together. The melancholic prince and the perturbed blossom. It had been hushed, hurried, their movements inexperienced and driven by desire and their own overhanging mortality. It had been everything she wanted. For that moment her wayward love was hers and if she closed her eyes she could image he loved her too.
The summons broke her bliss too soon. Akatsuki was preparing for their final, devastating blow and every able hand was to fight. That week was torturously long. Nightmarish. Never had she killed so many. Never had she fought so desperately. Yet they were winning, did win. To think it had been an errant jutsu that had felled her.
The sky was darkening, inky tendrils seeping into a pool of flame. She knew what had to be done. Twenty hours. That was how long she could wander. Twenty hours. Any more and she would falter. Sighing she dusted her hands and made her way to Konoha's only hospital. And as she walked she didn't fight the burn as she saw those two girls rush into their mother's embraces.
She would never see her child.
It was oddly disconcerting to stare at yourself. Even more disturbing when the you in question was hooked up to more wires than a circuit breaker. She hated it. Seeing herself lying so still and silent, her pink hair dull and her skin sallow. The only sound the beep of the heart-monitor: a constant metronome she had learned to ignore.
She detested it. If she could she would avoid this room, this place for weeks on end, but there was that annoying stipulation…
.
Shock seized her as she woke suddenly, her mouth dry and her mind dazed. Where was she, she wondered, surveying the white walls and the pale blue curtains. The heart monitor was telling. A hospital.
A row of beds were in the room. Unconscious shinobi occupying them and she remembered, with a start, the war. Sasuke! Naruto! Kakashi! Were they alright? Had they been injured? Why was she here? Rubbing her eyes she leapt off the mattress. Damn, she was thirsty. Padding towards the skin she knew lay to the right she turned then jumped. Dark eyes met her own startled jade.
Her mouth flapped open, words escaping her.
A sad smile curved on those lips, only shocking her more. She was dreaming. She had to be. It must have been that blow to her head.
"Hello Sakura."
She openly gaped, too shocked to be frightened. "I-Itachi!" Her eyes widened impossibly. "What?!? How?!" She stumbled over the words. "I thought you died!?!"
That same sad smile and he looked almost wistful. "I did."
Her heart stuttered, flabbergasted she eyed him, noticing for the first time the deep black wings folded elegantly against his back. "What…"She swallowed. "What are you?"
The flowing white hakama and haori were telling as he folded his arms in the wide sleeves. "A shinigami."
"No," she whispered. Dread blossomed, followed quickly by hysteria. Oh kami. It couldn't be possible. She must be hallucinating. It was a nightmare. It couldn't be possible. Not at all. "No!"
She backed away from him suddenly, turning to run. And her hear dropped. Her mouth drying even more. "Oh Kami…" The words scrapped in her throat. Oh kami… There, lying on the bed was her! A respirator was connected to her, a number of wires following. No. It couldn't be. And yet it was. "Oh my kami… I'm dead!"
A warm hand lay on her shoulder and she jumped. "Iei."He said in that soft voice, so much more telling than when he had been alive. "You are not dead yet."
"Yet? Shit! You're going to take my soul aren't you!"
He shook his head, dark hair falling into his eyes. "Peace Sakura. It is not your soul I am here for tonight." He reached for her chest. "Look," he ordered extending his hand and suddenly she could see it, the thin blue and black chain connecting her and her body. "Your chain remains mostly blue." She nodded numbly, not quite understanding. "When the last link turns black you shall die."
"Wh-what?" She choked, eyes pleading with him. "H-how long?"
His eyes closed. "A little over eight months."
"E-eight months," she repeated.
"Aa."
She swallowed thickly, hardly believing what she heard but it was impossible to ignore the Uchiha. "Will I─ When─Why?" She asked finally.
"Hn." He stared at the ceiling as though seeing something beyond and she supposed he might be. "That is something only the Kamis know."
Her head whipped up suddenly. "Wait!" she exclaimed and he turned back to her raising a brow questioningly. "Who are you here for?"
The dark-haired shinigami sighed, pointing to her left. "Hyuuga Sousuke."
"You can't! Itachi! He's just a child!" Those midnight eyes looked at her with such a raw sense of anguish she faltered. Had death changed him so much? She knew from Sasuke of his so called crime, but this… This Itachi was so… raw.
"It is my duty." Leaving the stupefied young woman the winged man bent by the bed, his hands skimming lightly over the boy's wounded form and he woke, pale Hyuuga eyes wide in amazement.
"An angel?" His voice was yet high and child-like. He couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen.
A dark head shook and Sakura watched numbly as the once-Akatsuki bent towards the boy, ruffling his hair affectionately. The boy pouted. "I am a shinigami."
Pale eyes widened in horror as much like Sakura he began to cry, denying those soft words. "No! You can't! You can't!"
"Sosuke," Itachi stated gently, stilling the boy's movements. "You have one wish." The dark-haired boy looked up hopefully, that hope dying seconds later with his next words. "You cannot ask to live nor can you change fate."
"I-I," the boy sniffed, "I want to see my kaasan again."
"Very well." He extended his hand and the Hyuuga took it hesitantly. Waving, the air rippled and Sakura could see the outline of a door. Dark eyes caught her own as he turned. "You may leave your body for twenty hours at a time. Any longer and you will speed your death."
.
Sadly that hadn't been the last she had been of the Uchiha. The war had stricken down many shinobi and in the passing weeks she saw the white-clad again and again as he delivered onto souls their final wish before whisking them away. Perhaps for her he stayed.
In her hellish limbo he was the sole being capable of seeing her. The only once capable of communicating with her, and thus for her he stayed. Lingering for a few hours after his deed and, as time continued to pass, coming for a little at a time simply to sit and chat. She grew to crave those conversations.
Shinigami, it seemed suffered the peculiar curse (or blessing if you will) of retaining all the memories of their past life, and while the black sheep of the Uchiha clan was not sure of the particulars of how one came to be a shinigami, he theorized that "those who long for death often become death." After all, those he had seen among the ranks included the suicidal Deidara and the Sandaime hokage. All of who wished to die.
Sakura wasn't too sure, but she could follow the logic.
She half wished for death herself. This half-life of the in-between was more painful she was sure. Yet for him she fought on, determined to keep her body alive as long as possible. If she was going to die, than at least, at least she could give him part of his greatest wish.
Her wish. It grated on her. For hours she had dreamed up what she would ask. Those dreams spanned from ridiculous to startlingly serious. To live like a princess. To eat all the umeboshi in Konoha. To see Naruto become Hokage. To live just a little more.
She had asked him once, if he might grant her wish early. If, being she had months yet to live, couldn't he free her from the tubes and the sterile walls of the hospital to allow her to truly live the last few months of her life? The answer was crushing. Wishes, he said, could only be granted within three days of a spirit's death. And unless the Kamis decided to grace her or some soul decided to sacrifice their life for hers, in months time she would breathe her last.
Again she wished Chiyo hadn't died so soon. Selfish? Maybe. But she wanted to live! She was only seventeen. Why couldn't she be given another chance at life just like Gaara had? Hell, even that sick fuck Orochimaru and Madara had managed to beat fate! Her life should have just been starting, filled with searing romance and everyday adventures. Making ANBU with Sasuke and Naruto. They were going to be the ultimate team. The new sannin.
Two months. That was all she had left now. She spent the time watching and waiting. Agonizing herself as she saw her team grow to be even greater risk takers. They wanted to die. She knew it. Yet they held on by a thread. Hoping, praying she would wake. She heard their voices in the night. Their prayers carrying to her as her body heard what her eyes couldn't see.
Three days. One wish given within three days. Her head snapped up. Three days. She jumped off the stool at Ichiraku ramen, wincing as a young man walked through her. To her side Naruto sadly nursed a bowl of pork ramen, Hinata edged nearby.
Maybe. Maybe she could have that much.
.
.
She wasn't sure how she managed to convince Tsunade to release her. Maybe it was the pleading in her tone or the frown on her lips. Or the frightening serious look in her eyes when she croaked to the startled Godaime that she only had three days and she wanted to spend them outside the hospital.
It helped that she was Tsunade's apprentice. Her miraculous recovery didn't hurt either. Too bad she knew it wouldn't last.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" He cried into her shirt, hugging her as tight as possible without putting pressure on her girth.
Naruto. She loved him. The first few hours were spent between him and the silver-haired jounin, the Uchiha avenger even making a red-eyed appearance as he held onto her as though she was the last thing he had. It was uncharacteristic. Shocking. And her heart ached for giving them this taste of hope.
Three days. Only the few of them knew.
Those days were cherished, there were no goodbyes. They wouldn't mention them. Nothing to taint these last, precious moments with their beloved cherry blossom. And so she ate Ramen with Naruto until she was sick and nauseated. Delighting in the sparkle in those blue, blue eyes. Teased her silver-haired sensei, taking liberties on his "poor old" self that she never would before and laughing when he did the same. Sasuke, she loved him. Nothing more, nothing less and she swore her heart would burst when he told her the same. Her Sasuke, the dark angel struggling with his broken wings.
.
"Marry me," he whispered as his lips devoured her throat and she wanted to cry.
"I-I can't" the sorrow tainted this pleasure. Bittersweet and salty on her tongue. "I'm─I'm─"
"I don't care." He nipped her, reprimanded her. His dark eyes caught hers, unfathomable in their intensity. His hand caressed her cheek, his eyes pleading. "Marry me Sakura." His breath whispered against her. "Be mine. Even if it's just until tomorrow."
She swallowed thickly, nodding and he kissed her. Claimed her.
The wedding was a small affair. There was no white dress, no reception or grooms. They stood in their shinobi gear side by side. If there was family it was her team. Naruto, Kakashi, even Sai standing side by side. If there was a bridesmaid it was Ino who weaved flowers through her hair. Camelias and forget-me-nots she said for a love forever true.
With Tsunade's blessings they were one.
"Sasuke! Sasuke," she breathed her mouth meeting his furiously. Drinking him in, devouring every bit of him as the moonlight bathed their skin. Kami how she loved him. Consumingly, endlessly. She didn't care about Karin. She didn't care about tomorrow. There was only here and now entwined sweetly in those arms.
"Sakura." His voice was soft, his fingers reverent. Touching her as though she was spun from the most fragile glass. He worshiped her, silently, wholly with his body on hers. His lips committing every curve of her body to memory. Delighting in every scent. Every sound. His.
She trembled as he kissed her. Burning her into him. Him into her. Until they would be inseparable. His hair touched her skin. And she moaned, and she cried. Basking in the wonder that was him. And when he finally joined her, stroking sweetly within her. She swore she saw the stars.
Deeper and deeper, spearing her to the soul. Nothing existed then. Nothing but them. Over and over, his body moving into her, over her, consuming her as her hands claimed him and the air was filled with breathless cries. Reveling, worshiping. The soft whispers of promise captured by the night. They fell, twinning, fusing. Joining.
There was no Sasuke. There was no Sakura. Together they were one.
.
Three days. They passed too quick. The hours spent in bliss lost as she relished in the beauty of being alive. The wind. It was delicious. A precious gift against her skin. Never had the skies been bluer. The clouds more white.
She was in love.
They never left her. Not a moment was she alone. Always there was a hand waiting. A mouth smiling. The eyes that plead and begged. Stay with us. They asked and her heart clenched. Her eyes did not lie.
Closer than close. She knew it was near. Basking in their collective warmth. Kakashi, his scent spiced of woods and smoke, Naruto raw and wild, Sasuke her hidden mist. Together they were whole. One unit. One being set together by fate and bound by cause. The bonds would never die.
Uncharacteristic. Strange. Contained despite their fragile joy. Yet their hearts understood. A cherry blossom never bloomed past its prime.
.
"Sasuke!" It was time. She could feel the rush of fluid from between her legs. Savoured the pain. "Sasuke!" She gasped. And she was whisked away back to those white, blank walls. Outside she could feel their anticipation. The persistent desire to remain. Any moment now they would be clambering at the door.
Her body jerked, her breathing labored. It hurt. Kami it hurt. Hand were there, gripping her own, the dark eyes startled and wild. This was her gift. Her last gift to him. The whinning machines grew erratic and she cried out, feeling the rush of blood. She had to continue. She couldn't stop. Not now.
"Shizune!" The blonde wailed hands working to heal as she instructed her to push. Kami it was hard. So hard. Yet she couldn't give up. Another push, another pain. Endless in its plight. Then sudden, jarring. It was gone. Her breath escaped her in a rush. It was done.
A single wail filled the air and her heart surged despite the weak pulse. Dark eyes seared into her, filled with awe. "Sakura," he whispered and she gave a weary smile.
"It's a boy." Amber eyes glistened with tears. Filled with pride, and she lifted shaking arms to hold him. Warm. Soft. A tuft of black hair crowned his head.
Her heart welled. Ten perfect fingers and ten perfect tones. Beautiful. He was beautiful. She breathed in his scent. Her son.
"Shit!"
The machines whined, whirled and she groaned. "S-Sasuke," she stuttered as she felt her breath leave her, her body searing. Painful. So painful. Her mind spun from the blood loss. All around her nurses bustled and she cried out as he was taken from her arms.
"No." She could hear him whispered and silently she begged the same. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when her life had finally begun. "Sasuke!" She cried, fighting as she felt her organs failing. Heard the screeching of machines and the frantic yelling of the nurses.
"Shizune! Stabalize her!" Tsunade's voice boomed. "Hurry get some blood here now!"
Her thoat constricted, her breathing shallow. It burned. Everwhere it burned. Glazed eyes looked upwards, her hand desperately gripping his own. "No." But her voice was silent. "No!"
Those eyes. Those dark, regretful eyes so similar to the one who held her. "It is time."
"No!" The tears were falling freely now and she could feel herself fading, the sensations trapped behind a rush of water. She couldn't feel him. Her hands were no longer her own. "You can't!" She begged struggling to hold on to the fading pain. That searing proof of life. "Please! Please Itachi! Don't!" Hot. Wet. They slid down her cheeks and she could hear his voice pleading with her. Begging her with harsh tones to stay with him. To stay with them. She couldn't leave him. She couldn't.
"Sakura," his voice was soft, weary with the weight of responsibility. "You must." Dark eyes gazed longingly at their twin, lips curling into a frown at the broken man now shaking her desperately. Openly pleading.
"Ongeai Itachi! Onegai shimasu!" It was slipping. Her frail connection to life. "Let me live! Let me see him grow! Let me make them happy!"
He tore his gaze away. "I cannot stop this. Not even for my otouto."
Faster and faster it faded. She could hear their voices clearly now, Tsunade openly breaking as the monitor suddenly picked up speed, frantic. Something broke in her. The keening wail slipping from her lips.
Soft hands held her, embracing her gently. Warm. So warm. She didn't want it. This false comfort. Sasuke. Only Sasuke.
"Sakura." Hands cupped her chin. "Sakura, look at me." He repeated and she looked up. Red. It swirled, enticing, mesmerizing and she felt herself falling, forgetting. The world blurred at its edges. Black and red.
.
"Sasuke! Sasuke come look!"
"What? What is it Sakura?" He called from the door.
Pride filled her, overflowing and her jade eyes shone. "Look Sasuke he's walking!"
A smile cocked on his lips and the dark eyed toddler tripped, looking at the floor in wonderment. Simple and pure. Perfect. He scooped down to pick up his son, kissing her soundly as he did so.
.
Tsunade was smirking at the side as the boisterous blonde took the stand, clad in kage regalia and now mesmerizing the crowd with his somewhat crude but inspiring words. Naruto. She was so proud. Who knew the number one rookie of the Konoha twelve would make it so far. Sakura smiled widely and started as he appointed her advisor.
"And Sakura-chan…"
.
Christmas. It was Christmas eve and soft dusting of snow fell outside. The door opened then shut and she turned. "Okairi." She smiled pecking her grumbling mate on the cheek.
"Hn." He replied hanging up his coat. "Where are Sakuya and Natsuki?"
As if on cue the two girls lunged at him, small arms flailing as they clung to his legs. "Here we are tou-san!"
"We got you!" Cried the other, her jade eyes filled with mirth. Sakura's heart warmed.
"Come on you too. Why don't you let otou-san get cleaned up and go help your older brother with the tree."
"Kaay!" The two twins chimed scampering towards the family room, eager to play with their precious ni-san.
.
A teary, pink haired kunoichi stood proudly as her eldest daughter was lead up the aisle by a scowling Uchiha. She chuckled softly. Sasuke was too possessive of his girls. She was surprised he had actually agreed to the wedding. Then again Sakuya had inherited her temper and her perfect chakra control. She smiled as the ceremony began, her blue-eyed blonde friend looking regal and elegant in his ceremonial kage robes.
A lifetimes worth of memories spilling behind her eyes and tears stained her cheeks when the jutsu dispelled. Her lip trembled.
"Thank you." She smiled wistfully, tears shinning. "Thank you Itachi."
His lip twitched and he held out his hand, helping her up. "Come." And she did. Disappearing into that frameless door.
A keening whine broke through the air. And her hand slipped from his. Cold. So cold. His heart twisted, searing. He looked down, hiding his eyes under a curtain of hair. Around him a blonde-haired jinchuuriki and a silver-haired pervert leaned heavily against the wall, the irate nurses giving up their efforts to remove them.
"She's gone." The dark-haired medic swallowed. The world faded around him.
It couldn't. She couldn't. Denial was a comfort her clung too, heart already saturated in the knowledge. "Uchiha-san." He blinked. "Uchiha-san." How long had she been calling him? What had she said?
Teary eyes caught his. "Uchiha-san." An unfamiliar nurse stated. "What would you like to name him. Numbly his hands caught the fragile form, holding it close. Protectively.
Little lids parted, revealing brilliant green orbs. His jaw clenched.
"Chiharu," he rasped. A tear slid down his face.
Chiharu. For the spring that would never die.
000
I know, my first SasuSaku and it's this depressing.
This just kind of came to me as I was going to class a few days ago and I had to write it down. The idea actually morphed quite a few times. From a shorter ghostly haunting, to a shinigami romance, to finally settle into this.
Hope you don't mind how it's written too much. I haven't gotten it edited so some typos among other things might be persistent. Tell me what you think about how it is written.
And remember Review!
-SacredRoseDream