Disclaimer: I, Lady Sassy Sasy, do hereby disclaim all rights to the wonderful world that is Naruto.
Was someone using a water nin-jutsu? No…then why did it sound as if there was a raging river all around her? Had someone summoned some terrible creature that wouldn't stop howling until everything around it was completely obliterated? She opened her eyes as far as she could and looked around her through blurred vision. Nope, no creature…that she could make out, anyway. Then where was the roaring coming from?
As she lay there on her back, she couldn't help but wonder where everybody was, or where she was for that matter. She was lying on the cold, wet ground surrounded by dead or dying bodies and trees. It was dark and the only light around was that of the half moon and fire from the various lightning and fire element jutsu's that had been used. She blinked as she gazed at the sky. She could feel her blood slowing in her circulatory system with each beat that her heart gave. Her breath was hitching every few minutes now; the blood was slowly filling her lungs. But she couldn't die, for she had another four months to go. Just another four. Then they would be happier than they already were. So, why was she dying now? It was too soon. She tried to move her hand to the curve that was her stomach. She could survive this, right? She had to otherwise their son would die. They had tried so damn hard to conceive; the seventh miscarriage had nearly made her give up all hope.
But they had succeeded. And she, Tsunade, Shizune, Ino, Kakashi and everyone else had been keeping a keen eye out for even the slightest problem. She was a high-risk case. All of the missions through life had left her with some serious uterine scarring, making it near impossible for her to conceive, so when it had finally happened five months ago and she hadn't miscarried in the first three, she had been overjoyed, as had her husband. Anyone could understand why she was feeling pissed off at the moment, not to mention confused as hell and extremely upset. She had gone through all that, just to have it taken away from her for the eighth bloody time!
Kami. You play some fucking cruel tricks at times. Nevermind what it's doing to me emotionally but haven't you taken enough from him, already? Do you really have to go and take another one –possibly two- important things from his life, again?
"See anyone alive?" she could barely make out the voice through the roaring in her ears.
"No. This is a waste of time, everyone here is either dead or too far gone to even consider taking back for healing," replied a second voice.
They were familiar…so very familiar and yet, she couldn't put names to the voices, or faces for that matter. What she did know though, was they were allies. How she knew this but not names or faces, she didn't know – didn't care – and with that, she forced her hand to move, grab the closest hard object she could find, channel what little chakra she had to give and make noise. She needed to be found, needed to save their son.
So she hit the hard object repeatedly against something metal, most likely a stray kunai or katana.
"Hey, do you hear that?" the first voice asked. There was silence for a few moments.
"It sounds like…clanging. It's coming from that direction," the stoic voice responded.
"Can't you use your-"
"No."
There was more shuffling and twigs snapping as the men drew nearer. She kept banging against metal, even though they probably knew where she was.
"Is that-"
"Sakura!" and then she heard the rushing of feet, the slight breeze coming from either side of her as the two males knelt down beside her and one of them covered the hand she was using to hit the metal object with, "Sakura, can you hear me?"
Why did his voice sound so far away even though he was right beside her? And why could she not see to whom the voice belonged? It was annoying that she still couldn't put face or name to it.
"She doesn't look good. I don't think she'll make it back to base," came the second voice to her left.
"Sakura, open your eyes." The first voice spoke to her again, ignoring the companion voice. And as much as she wanted to, her eyes were so heavy... "Come on, Sakura. Open your eyes. You can do it,"
All was silent for a few minutes before the owner of the second voice decided to speak out again, "Shikamaru, her pulse is fading quickly and her breaths are ragged and short. She won't make it back to base. Her chakra is also to the point of being non-existent. It'll be a miracle if she even survives the next five to ten minutes,"
"I can see that." A pause, "Who's the closest team with a medic-nin around here?"
"…I don't think that's the best idea, Nara. They need to concentrate. They're the key players in this whole thing, if that team fails then it's checkmate for us and Konoha loses."
"Damn it, Neji! Who the hell is the nearest team!"
There was deep sigh before the answer came, "Kakashi's, about fifteen minutes away, due north-east. Shikamaru, she'll be lucky if she even survives for that long…or unlucky depending how you look at it. Besides, are job is to bring back the allies who are most likely to survive long enough to be healed, not to bring back a lost cause."
"Shut the fuck up,Hyūga! She isn't a lost cause until she's dead and gone. Besides, I promised her that I would make sure nothing happens to the kid should something ever happen to her. She made me promise that if ever she wasn't going to make it for some reason, that her son would and that the father would be reunited with him. I'm not going to break my promise; that's one of the important and wise things I learned from Naruto, which is saying something 'cause we all know how many wise things come out from his mouth when he speaks."
Neji snorted and looked down at the pale, blood and mud covered kunoichi and frowned, "What was she doing out here anyway? I thought she was meant to stay behind in the caves with the elderly and children?"
"I have no clue, troublesome as that may be. Come on, we don't have time to waste any longer. She's fading faster by the second. This area has been searched, nobody is gonna survive and it's just troublesome and time-wasting to go around and check every single shinobi," Sakura let out a loud groan of pain as she was scooped up into Shikamaru's arms.
How could I forget Shikamaru and Neji? I grew up with both of them for Kami's sake! Sakura frowned mentally. But she wanted to see their faces again. She needed to; it meant they were real and she wasn't imagining this whole ordeal. She forced her eyes open.
She stared up at Shikamaru's fuzzy face which was set in determination and looking straight ahead. When she looked past him she could barely make out the form of Neji who was on Shikamaru's right as they travelled on the forest ground.
"Sh-k-m-ru?" she managed to croak out before giving a weak cough as she choked on her blood.
Shikamaru looked down at the woman in his arms and saw her dulling green eyes and blood trickling from the corners of her mouth. She was very pale and you could see the amount of pain she was in through her grimace and eyes, "Don't try to talk, Sakura. Save your energy."
Sakura closed her eyes. It was too much effort to keep them open. She let go of all thoughts and just let the wind flow past her. It had a calming effect even though it was making her rather cold.
She had spent most of her teenage years trying to figure out her life, hoping that Sasuke would take her out-stretched hand to lead her to new, exciting places. Thinking how she would've gone with him to the ends of the earth and back again if it meant she could be with him. It never happened. Never would've worked out. He had left her there on that bench on that damn, cold night. Gone off to Orochimaru and then, after killing the Sannin, gone and formed his own group before killing his brother and working alongside Akatsuki.
She had felt nothing but sorry for him. He had been manipulated his whole life by Itachi, then Orochimaru and then Tobi or whatever his name happened to be. He had never really thought for himself or beyond the seeds that were planted into his brain that made him corrupt; mainly those planted by his brother. He had died during the Allied Shinobi War. All she had felt was relief when she heard. Well, sadness too but Kakashi and Naruto had been there to help her through it. They had all been there for each other. It was six months after the war that she had come to the realisation that she had feelings for Kakashi. Another three years before she had the courage to act on them. Another year before Kakashi had given into her advances. Then another two and they were happily married, with her being twenty-two and him being thirty-six. Age hadn't really been a concern for them. It had taken them another two before she finally became with-child. And so, here she was, at the age of twenty-four, five months pregnant with her and Kakashi's son, dying in the arms of one of her closest friends. Funny how life turned out, wasn't it?
When Shikamaru and Neji took to the trees, a pain shot through Sakura's abdominal area and she gave out a pained whimper.
Shikamaru glanced at the Kunoichi, "Hang on a bit longer, Sakura," he muttered determinedly before turning his attention ahead of him again, "How long until we reach their team, Neji?"
"…Another seven minutes or so," came his calm reply.
Shikamaru let out a sigh and glanced back down at the pink-haired woman in his arms again. Her lips were barely moving, obviously sub-consciously, voicing her thoughts, although he couldn't make out what she was saying. He only hoped he'd reach Kakashi's team in time. If she couldn't be saved then he sure as hell hoped the child could be, if it wasn't dead already. He knew her chances of survival were next to zero. He saw that when they first laid eyes on her. Her injuries were too great and she had already lost a substantial amount of blood never mind the internal bleeding. Shikamaru had never really been close to Sakura when they were kids and they didn't really become friends until they had become chunnin. But they had become a hell of a lot closer when they turned eighteen and had remained close ever since. After all, she had given her virginity to him. They had been a thing since the age of sixteen but they had mutually ended it when they had both turned eighteen. He had gotten together with Temari but not before having a two year relationship with the prattling long-haired blonde, team mate of his, Yamanaka Ino. It had been a good run but they just weren't suited to each other.
Ino was still single and loving it. Even though she had been obsessed with romantic idealisms when she was a gennin up until she became jounin and age twenty-one, he knew Ino wasn't looking to settle down just yet. She was still having a fun life being single and free without having a husband to boss around all day or kids to look after. She was a wild party girl and if he had to guess who her recent boy-toy was it would be Shiranui Genma. But that had ended a month before this war broke out and now all the shinobi chunnin rank and up were busy protecting the village and non-combatant people residing in it. Sakura was supposed to be one of those non-combatant people, which was what he was currently still trying to suss out. What the hell was she doing out in the middle of the battlefield when she was off-duty? How did she manage to escape the guards who were protecting the tunnels that lead into Hokage mountain? One thing was for sure, Kakashi wasn't going to take this well if he was with his team, when they arrived. And furthermore, even if she wanted to, he knew Sakura wasn't going to be able to explain it herself or talk at all for that matter.
"Shikamaru, we'll be there in thirty seconds. I can see three chakra signatures already. They appear to be Shizune, Kurenai and Genma. Raidou and Kakashi must be out either patrolling or setting up," Neji released the Byakugan, just as they stepped past the last of the traps and confusion genjutsu set-up by Kurenai to confuse anyone who it didn't recognise belonging to Konoha.
"Wh-Shikamaru? Neji? What are you two doing he- is that…is that Sakura?" Shizune's demand got quiet as she spotted the nearly dead woman in the Nara-boy's arms.
"Hai. Shizune, I very much doubt you'll be able to save her but I think you might be able to save their son," Shikamaru gently set Sakura on the ground about seven feet away from the fire. He looked up into her dark eyes with a mixture or sorrow, pleading and determination, "I promised her, that if anything should happen to her that I'd do my damndest to ensure her child survived. Please, Shizune, I can't and won't break that promise."
Kurenai looked back and forth between Sakura, her stomach, Shikamaru and Shizune with a horrified yet sad expression. She knew war. She had been in two before and now she was in her third and no stranger to loss. She was just thankful that her child was safe in Konoha, in the tunnels with one of her civilian friends. She had lost Asuma; she didn't want to lose their child.
On the other side of the fire, having been preparing the scrolls needed for the teams objective, Genma was now standing and looking over the fire and his best friend's wife who for all intense and purpose, was dead. His eyes filled with pain and pity for he knew of the hardship his silver-haired friend had gone through all his life and then the brief years of happiness before all the miscarriage shit happened. And now, the fact that his wife was finally carrying their child and dying before even having the chance to give birth….this was bullshit. He felt like tearing the enemy apart even more but he didn't and wouldn't. Instead, he slowly made his way over to the pink-haired beauty who had become like a sister to him, and gently knelt beside her and took hold of her left hand in both of his before running his right hand over her forehead and then through her hair. He felt how icy her skin was and felt that pang of icy fear and pure sadness radiate through him before the sympathy and anger set back in. Kakashi would be back with Raidou in about five minutes after planting the exploding tags over the enemy's base.
"Sakura…" he breathed before bringing her hand up to his mouth and keeping it there. How the world could be so cruel, he'd never know.
"Shizune, if we have any hope of saving the child you need to do something about now, while she's still alive. She's barely hanging on and her chakra pathways have all but shut down completely, now." Neji's voice broke through the silence that had engulfed the five.
Shizune blinked and slowly tore her eyes away from one of her best friends and subordinates to the pale-eyed Hyūga before her eyes hardened with a fierce determination. She quickly got up and moved to the right hand side of Sakura's body, opposite Genma and let her chakra flood to her hands before hovering them over Sakura's slightly bulging abdomen as she concentrated on the damage. She gasped out loud in horror and amazement that the woman and survived this long considering most of her internal organs had burst or been damaged in some capacity or another. Her eyes filled with tears as she realised Shikamaru was right: there was no chance of saving the pink-haired cherry blossom of Konoha. But there was a chance to save her son.
"Kurenai! Go into my bag and bring out the blue vial and a syringe and inject five milligrams of it right into her stomach," she instructed as she continued to flood the area surrounding the child with her chakra, trying to keep the pressure down due to the build of blood around it. This was going to be one hell of a test in her abilities as a medic-nin and it wasn't much later that she realised she was going to need a second pair of hands to help her. "Neji?"
She could see him walk around and kneel beside the senbon-user and straight across from herself, "Hai?"
"See what I'm doing with my chakra?" a curt nod from the Byakugan user, "I need you to continue doing that with your chakra. Can you manage?"
"I will do my best," Neji gave a slight nod and focused his chakra the same way he saw Shizune doing it.
"A bit more force…there! Now keep the flow steady until I tell you to stop." And as she said that she got up and walked over to the bags at the base of a tree and pulled out blankets and three sleeping bags from various packs before bringing them back over. "Alright Neji, keep going. Genma, Shikamaru. I need you to roll her over, just enough so I can put these sleeping bags under her and then we need to cover her with at least four of these blankets then I want you to use your chakra and warm her up gently as much as you can. This is going to hurt her quite a bit but I need her alive, at least until the baby's out, understand? Alright. Three, two, one, now!"
Three minutes later and Sakura was cushioned and her temperature was being raised slowly and gently by the shadow-user and the flirtatious senbon-wielder. Shizune gave one last look at the girl's bloody and dirty face before making a blade out of her chakra and begin to open up her abdomen. Of course, it was then that the Copy-nin and Raidou came back.
"Alright, the tags are set and ready to detonate, now all we need to do is- what's going on?" Kakashi finally turned to look at the scene. Two of his team members where crouched over someone and Shizune looked like she was operating on said someone. Neji and Shikamaru were with them as well. He looked over to the third member of his team and saw the worried and hesitant expression on her face and the full-blown sorrow and….sympathy? in her eyes, "Kurenai?"
The black-haired, red-eyed woman frowned deeply before making her way over to them before placing her hand over Kakashi's bicep and gently pushing him further away from the other group. She stopped and looked at Raidou before glancing down at the floor. Gathering her courage, she raised her eyes to meet Kakashi's one obsidian one and whatever she was about to say fled from her mind as her eyes started to well with tears.
Kakashi frowned as he saw this happen. If it made Kurenai, who was one of the toughest Kunoichi he knew, cry then it was definitely something to worry about, "Kurenai. What's going on?" he asked a bit lower with more seriousness and something akin to worry seeping into his tone.
"Kakashi…it's Sakura.." she started but stopped once she saw the blank look take over his eye but she knew his mind was racing with all the various thoughts.
"What about her?" he finally responded once he had gone through every possible scenario he could come up with, "She's in Konoha." He had made sure she had gone into the tunnels, and had ensured that one of the best medic-nin's in Konoha's hospital was with her. He had forced Tsunade to assign one to her, although, Tsunade hadn't really put up that much a of fuss over it. Sakura was like a daughter to her after all.
Kurenai shook her head and a few tears fell, "No, Kakashi. She isn't."
"What do you mean she isn't? How do you know!" Kakashi's heart was starting to palpitate a little faster as his gaze slid over to the group behind Kurenai's shoulder.
The kunoichi looked to Raidou and saw, as he also stared in the same direction as Kakashi, that he got it. He looked quickly from Kurenai, who nodded her head in confirmation to the unasked question in his eyes, back over to Sakura and then to Kakashi. He bowed his head and walked off.
The silver-haired shinobi barely noticed, Raidou's departure as he turned his gaze back to Kurenai, "Kurenai, I'm not going to ask again. Explain." He glared at her as he clenched his fists sub-consciously.
"Five minutes or so ago, Shikamaru and Neji appeared in the camp with an injured shinobi – the one Shizune is attending to at the minute." She paused as she took a deep breath, "He told her that she had very little to no chance of saving the shinobi but-"
"Then why bother bringing the shinobi if there is no chance of saving them? It's a waste of time and effort." Kakashi pointed out in an emotionless tone.
"-But," Kurenai continued as if he hadn't interrupted her, "there was a chance of saving the child she's carrying," This time Kurenai looked into his eye with a pleading expression, hoping he would get it on his own, without her having to tell him. But his gaze was focused on Shizune who at that moment was in the process of pulling out the child from the mother's uterus. It looked too small to him.
"What does any of this have to with Sakura?" he questioned as he brought his gaze back to meet with red eyes.
She dropped her gaze slightly before meeting him dead on with nothing but sympathy, "Kakashi…that shinobi – the injured, pregnant one – is Sakura." She whispered.
Kakashi's mind stopped. So did all of his other four senses. The only one working was his sight but even then he was dubious, for the baby who wasn't wailing and the injured woman on the ground couldn't be his family. Sakura was back in the caves. She was safe. She wasn't lying 10 feet away from him, dying and bloody and Shizune most certainly wasn't delivering their baby in the middle of a forest, near a hostile area. This was all a nightmare or some horrible genjutsu that the enemy had trapped him in. There was no possible way that his wife and child were there…
No.
Possible.
Way.
Shikamaru stared at his best friend's face which was scrunched up from pain and the struggle to hang on. He felt pity for her. He looked at Shizune who was busy working on the tiny boy wrapped in a warm thick blanket. Then he felt something brush his hand. He snapped his eyes down to where his hand lay beside Sakura's and watched as her finger slowly and unsteadily traced something into his palm. He picked up her hand his left and brought his right up to her finger before telling her to try again. It took a few moments but eventually her finger moved and re-traced what she had tried to convey before.
"Shi…ka…shi?" he whispered hoarsely. She retraced the characters again, this time more firmly, "Shikashi?" Shikamaru stared as her fingers grasped at his in confirmation. He looked to see her green eyes looking straight back at his with pleading in her eyes.
She wanted him to understand and Shikamaru was the smartest in their generation. He had to get it.
"Shikashi? What do y- Oh. You want him to be called Shikashi?" he looked at her. Her hand feebly squeezed his fingers again in confirmation. Shikamaru smiled and nodded his head, "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll make sure they know his name." and he gave her hand a small squeeze back.
Her eyes teared up as they shone with gratitude. She would get one of her dying wishes. Her last one being to see Kakashi again and to see her son.
"Sakura, would you like to see your son?" she heard Shizune ask quietly as she saw from her peripheral vision, the brown-haired woman walk and gently kneel down beside her head and shoulder on her right side. She squeezed Shikamaru's hand, conveying her answer.
"She says yes," he answered for her.
"Okay. Genma get behind her and help raise her up slightly and help her support her son," Shizune instructed quietly.
Genma, who had been silent this whole time while feeling like a spirit viewing the ordeal outside of his body snapped to attention and did Shizune's bidding. And as he did, he looked at Kakashi's and Sakura's son and couldn't help the soft gasp and small smile that formed on his lips. He had seen and done many horrible things in his life but it was at times like these, that he knew everything would be alright. Small miracles like the one that was passed from Shizune and into the dying mother's arms made the world seem less harsh and cruel. And as he supported and helped Sakura support her new-born son; he couldn't help but feel content. He doubted he'd ever have children of his own but he knew damn sure that he'd help Hatake raise this child and he knew for a fact that he would be the one to spoil him rotten and be the first to corrupt him; it was every uncle's duty after all.
Kakashi continued to stand there, mouth hanging open in disbelief and eyes filled with denial. He refused to believe that his wife was dying as Shizune passed his son into her arms as Genma supported them.
"Kakashi, go over to them. This is the last time you'll get to spend with her, the last time in which to tell her the things you want to say to her that she'll be able to hear. Go to her, Kakashi. Don't live with the horrid, heavy regret of not having done so." Kurenai gently prodded him in his lower back.
He stumbled forward a few steps before regaining his balance and continued to walk uncertainly to his family. He had to be dreaming. This was all just a fucking, terrible, screwed up nightmare, right?
As he knelt down in the place where Genma had been and reached out to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear, he realised that no, this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. It was reality. A fucked-up, bullshit of a reality. And then Sakura managed to raise those emerald eyes of hers to his one obsidian one and he instantly saw them alight with as much brightness as she could give. He bent down and kissed her on the lips before turning and looking down at their son, who was breathing quite rapidly. He frowned at this a looked at Shizune in concern but she just gave a sad smile before ushering Shikamaru and Neji away. Kakashi turned to look Genma who met his gaze through the rain that had started to steadily pour, nodded before gently giving his spot behind Sakura to the man he considered his brother.
And as Kakashi held his family in his arms, the first tear fell from his eye. It was the first time he had cried since Rin had died all those years ago. But this time, it was so much worse. For Rin, Minato and Obito may have been his first team and surrogate family but Sakura and the baby in her arms were his actual family. A family that had just begun and already a member was being taken away the life of another was unsure.
Kakashi had many regrets in his life but Sakura was not one of them. He loved her with all of his being and more, and did not regret a single day he had spent with her, especially since she was nineteen. He was glad he had married her and was ecstatic when they had found out they had actually conceived.
But now, that was being taking away from them again. Only this time, they weren't losing a foetus. This time he was losing her and possibly the baby as well. And he knew that if he lost the both of them, this time he wouldn't bother trying to carry on no matter what anyone said to him. He would just stop living in every way. And he would finally accept death with open arms and a warm smile.
But now was not the time to dwell on these thoughts, as he felt Sakura give a feeble cough, trying to clear the blood in her lungs and throat to breathe. She was in her last minute of living and he had to make the most of it.
He pulled her closer against him and kissed the side of her neck before bringing his mouth to ear to whisper the last words she'd ever hear from him, "I love you and our child, Sakura. I am blessed to have you both and I thank you for being with me; wanting to stay with me and have a family together." He took a deep breath and took in her scent of lavender and cherry blossoms before continuing, "I have watched you grow since you were twelve and I am so proud of the woman you have become. You weren't and never have been weak, despite what you think. Yes, you were obsessed with love –always have been- and besotted with Sasuke but you were never weak, at least not in mind and that's what I have always admired about you. You are my first and the only woman I will ever love. I'm in love with you and have been since you were nineteen." He looked down at her green eyes and more tears slipped from both of his eyes but he did nothing to stop them and repeated the last line of their vows to her dwindling hearing, "Till death do us part and beyond, I devote and pledge myself to you in every way I am able, until I am unable to."
And then he cried openly and sobs wracked his body, for she had died before he was able repeat the last line of their vows before she had taken her last a final breath.
Shikamaru and Neji finally made it to the base camp twenty minutes later after departing from Kakashi's team, flying through the trees as fast as they could. He looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms before walking up the steps onto the porch before through the doors in the med-tent. He gazed over the cots and the dozens of shinobi occupying them and the medics who were tending them, looking for the blonde-haired Hokage and spotted her off to the left near the door to her office. He looked back at Neji who carried the body of one Haruno Sakura in his arms.
As they moved through the tent to the woman of their attention there were gasps, horrified whispers and quite a few sobs that rolled through the tent in one long, slow wave. Tsunade looked up sharply as she heard the various reactions before the clipboard in her hand dropped with a clatter to the floor and a hand flew up to cover her mouth. She looked from Shikamaru and the baby to Neji and the dead body of her dear apprentice/daughter in his arms. She quickly composed herself to best of her ability before turning her around, opening the door, holding it for the two shinobi to pass through before snapping it shut and locking it. She quickly shoved everything off the desk for Neji to lay Sakura down on and then turned her attention to the new born baby in the other man's arms. She let chakra pool in her hands before letting it gently stream into the tiny body.
His lungs were very under-developed and his heart although small, was strong. He needed to be hooked up to a ventilator and soon. She quickly walked to the door, unlocked it and poked her head out and beckoned to one of the medics near her and asked for a ventilator to be brought along with heart monitoring and other respiratory equipment as well as a drip.
Ten minutes later and the baby was hooked up and when she was finally satisfied with everything she turned to face the two men and the woman on lying dead on her desk. She knew the first moment she laid eyes on the pink-haired medic-nin that there was nothing she could do. Sakura was gone.
"Report." And she stood beside the body and gently stroked her hair as she listened to two of her most prestigious subordinates recount the details.
Kakashi stumbled into the med-tent along with the rest of his team. His eye was lifeless and his sharingan was raging with pain. His body felt like a dead weight and he wanted nothing more than to be at home, snuggling with Sakura and stroking her stomach. But he couldn't.
He was needed here. Sakura was dead and not pregnant, anymore. Their son was born and somewhere within the vicinity along with his wife's body. But he was too tired and sore to ask about it. He needed to lie down and sleep. He needed pain-killers. But most of all he needed the one thing he couldn't have…because she was gone forever.
He spotted an empty cot and started to make his way over to it as Genma said his name, "Kakashi..."
"Hatake!" and Kakashi groaned. He wanted…no, not wanted – needed sleep. He stopped but made no movement towards the leader of his village for he knew what she wanted and knew who she had with her. He just stayed, swaying on the spot as his eyes gazed at the floor. Maybe that was a good place to sleep. If he couldn't make it to the cot the next best place was the floor, right? It was comfy, surely.
"Hatake?" The Godaime's voice sounded closer but the same time, so far away. But the floor seemed to be calling him closer. Literally. He felt his front collide with it but no pain came. He just stared at the legs of an occupied cot with no thoughts running through his head. He vaguely heard someone curse and then his body was being rolled over and then lifted onto the empty cot he had been making his way to before. He closed his eye and tried to let his mind sink into oblivion.
He was barely aware of someone opening his eye and shining a light into it before his hitai-ate was removed and chakra flowed into Obito's eye and easing the excruciating pain that stemmed from the chakra pathway that kept it permanently activated and then even more chakra flowed through the rest of his body from four other various points, healing the cuts, bruises, breaks, fractures and whatever other hellish injuries he'd acquired. During all this he whispered his deceased wife's name before sinking into blissful unconsciousness.
He awoke three days later and noticed that he had been moved from the main area to a secluded room. He was confused for a moment as to how he got there but then it all came flooding back in one unwanted tsunami. He winced and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill again. Instead he decided to take in his new surroundings to take his mind off of the reality of his situation.
He was in some sparsely furnished office. His bed was to the left side of the room underneath the only window in the room with the door to the right of it and the desk at the opposite wall, directly facing the door and to the right in the back corner was a filing cabinet and just above that and slightly to the right was cupboard. Further up from that was – his heart stopped before racing. He felt panic, pride, joy, sorrow and anger swell within him all at once and he had to clutch his chest to help him breathe and prevent them from escaping.
Slowly he got up; ripping the various wires attached to him, of and made his way over to the plastic box shaped thing that contained the tiniest human being he had only seen once before in the arms of its mother.
He gently placed his hand on the plastic cover and stared down at his son. He just stared and stared without expression. He kept replaying the last moments in which he had held Sakura in the forest while she was dying and he felt somewhat happy and grateful that she at least got to hold her son and see her family one last time before she left them for good. He gently stuck his hand through one of the holes in the side and stroked his sons face before gently bringing it down to his tiny hands where his son suddenly latched onto his index finger and he was surprised at the strength he already possessed.
"Sakura...our son is…" but he didn't know how finish it that sentence because all the words he came up with to describe him, just weren't enough.
"A wonderous and welcome miracle," a voice finished softly behind him. He didn't turn as she came up beside him, "It's good to see you up, Kakashi. It was a bit touch and go there, I wasn't sure if you were going to live. I'm glad you did or this little guy would have been an orphan…that or the Hatake and Haruno lines, would have both ended and what would have been a prestigious family would have died before it had even begun," she paused before divesting another bit of information, "Sakura named him Shikashi and she wanted him to take your surname if you wanted that too."
Kakashi didn't reply in any way. He just continued to stare at the little baby boy and wondered if he would survive. But he knew, and so did the woman beside him, that he had no argument against Sakura's wishes.
"He should. He'd have an even better chance if he went back to Konoha were they have all the proper facilities and right equipment. So far, Shizune and I have been able to keep him and you going," Tsunade stared down at the child before putting her hand on his father's shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "I'm sorry and distraught as you are over her death, Kakashi. I also want to know how the hell she ended up out there and rest assured I will be making a full enquiry out of it when I get back. Hell, if I have to I'll make it an S-classed mission and have the elites on it.
"Her body is ready to be taken back to Konoha. We'll be leaving late this afternoon and her funeral will be held two days after we get back and then a week of memorial services will be held for all of those who have fallen before I come back here. You on the other hand won't be returning. Neither will Genma or Kurenai. I'm giving you and indefinite leave of paid absence."
Kakashi felt like giving a deep sigh but he didn't. He was bone tired and didn't want to fight anymore. He was glad that Tsunade was giving him this. More than he could ever show or say but Kakashi would try to convey it. So he did the only thing he had ever done willingly for Sakura. He turned and engulfed his Hokage in a tight hug, "Thank you, Tsunade. Thank you."
Well, this is a oneshot that I've had in my head for a long time and I've only been bothered to write it now what with me being wide awake and sleep evading me as per usual. The title of this fic is due to a song called Shattered by Trading Yesterday and it is amazing! Check it out if you haven't heard it before ^^
Fanart: gallery/#/d5fik3d (if someone could tell me how to the icon link, it would be very helpful!) by the awesome theFudgy94 over on Deviant Art!
Also, this is also until I can write chapter three for my other story: Hope for the Hopeless (please check it out if you haven't already!)
Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading!
Lady Sassy Sas