Chapter two!
Soprana
I then opened my eyes and found myself in this waiting room.
This stinks. I didn't get to even finish my sentence. Naruto knew that I loved him but, I want to be able to tell him myself. He kissed me, and I'll never be able to kiss him back.
A nurse walked out and read out a name. She didn't have a clipboard. She read the name off her watch. How odd.
"Haruno Sakura." I stood silently and followed the nurse. She put me in a white room with a desk and a chair.
"Welcome Haruno Sakura. Please sit."
I took a closer look and saw a lady sitting behind the desk. She had black hair tied in a bun. She was dressed in white and she had her hands folded. I slowly made my way to the desk and sat down.
"Sakura. Do you know why you are here?" She asked. I nodded slowly. The woman raised her eyebrow. "Wow. Usually people break down crying and beg for me to send them back. That they are not meant to die yet. It's happened so much that I expect it now. I like you already."
I tilted my head.
"I am Kanji. I am your mentor technically. I am to guide you to the proper path."
I made a noise. "Proper path? I'm dead. What path is left? A choice between heaven and hell?"
Kanji shook her head. "I don't get to say this often Sakura. But, you were not meant to die. You died to early."
My spirit lifted. Could it be? I get sent back?
"Unfortunately, I can't just send you back, licking split." Kanji added.
My heart dropped again. "What?"
Kanji looked apologetic. "Once you die, you die. However, you will get a special deal."
I looked up hopefully.
"You will get a specific duty for a month. If you succeed, you will return to Earth. This is a special offer because you have saved so many lives."
I waited. "Since you became a medic, you have limited our visitors greatly. And to thank you, we offer this loop hole."
I jumped up in joy. "Give me this duty and send me on my way!" I yelled.
Kanji didn't smile. Catching the drift, I plopped back down.
"Our rules still stand. It will be like a test. This duty won't be easy on you. If you fail, you will move on to heaven. No chance of returning. If you pass, your spirit will be sent to the heaven gate in the North of the Fire country. Your body will reform there. Then your spirit will return to it, and you will be alive again."
I quivered with excitement. "What must I do?"
Kanji was silent. "You must return to Konoha and prevent the man known as Namikaze Naruto from being harmed and committing suicide."
If my heart was still beating, it would have stopped. "Wha...?"
"Namikaze Naruto is a very special human. Your death will cause his death as well. He still has a destiny to complete. We can't have him visiting us so soon."
I was shocked. Naruto would commit suicide? I can't believe this.
"He truly loves you. This is a chance for you to save him so you could be with him. Sakura, this is a choice of a lifetime." Kanji added. I sat in silence for a moment. Kanji patiently waited.
"I...I...don't" I couldn't form words properly. This was too much.
"Of course, we could find someone else. You can just proceed to heaven if you so choose."
"No!" I shouted.
Kanji smiled. "Thought so. So, any questions before I give you the rules and escort you down?" I perked up.
"Do I get to meet Kami?"
Kanji laughed. "My my. That was a first! No, not until you actually make it to heaven."
"Can I like, walk through walls?"
Kanji laughed again. "On the ball aren't you? Yes, you can. You can also fly. You can posses others and control them as long as it does not cause them harm. You can contact others. It depends on the person. Some can sense your presence immediately. Some need effort. The rest will never see you." Geez, tough stuff.
"Is that all?" Kanji finally asked. I could only nod.
Kanji smiled in understanding. "Its a lot now, but if you ever need me, you could call me and I'll help if I can. Ok there are rules. First, don't fail your 'mission'. I think that's what you shinobi call it. Second, You can't cause harm to any living being unless it is truly, truly necessary. Third, don't get tangled up in lost spirits. You may see other spirits around. Some are friendly, others, not so much. Be careful. Fourth, if possible, help Naruto move on. Try to get another girl in his life." Anger spiked within me.
"No! He's mine." I stubbornly said.
Kanji laughed. "Very well, but I thought it would make things easy."
"Clearly you have been dead too long my friend." I muttered.
Kanji smirked very angelic like. "Now then, are you ready Sakura?"
I nodded slowly as I stood. I followed her out. We entered the waiting room and saw a commotion. Two men in black jackets were restraining a man.
The restrained man was struggling and yelling, "I belong in heaven! I belong back on Earth! I don't belong down there! This is a big mistake!" I then noticed the words on the black jackets. 'Condemned.'
Ouch.
Then I got a good look at the restrained man. To my amusement, it was Sasuke.
He saw me too.
"Sakura! What the heck? Why are you here? Help!" I shook my head and saluted him. "Sorry Sasuke, I'm going back. It's...how should I say...It's not my time." Sasuke paled.
I smiled warmly and followed Kanji out the door. I nearly screamed. I was standing on the door step to heaven, literally. I looked over the stairs and saw Earth. Kanji laughed from behind.
"Oh no no Sakura, we use the elevator."
I turned to see an elevator next to the door.
Phew, she had me going for a moment.
I walked to the elevator and causally leaned on the wall. Kanji shut the doors for a second, then began to open them. "What? We forget something?" I mused. She opened the doors and I saw Naruto and Sai in the crater again. They were frozen in time.
Whoa! This was weird!
As they walked forward, Kanji explained.
"To us, life is frozen in time. When I leave, everything will be normal time for you. Now, Here is your mission. Good luck to you. If you ever need me just call out. I know for a fact these two won't notice you at all. If they did, then they would have noticed by now. Be strong Sakura. It's only a month." With that, Kanji stepped back in the elevator and vanished.
Naruto and Sai immediately began moving again. Naruto threw back his head and screamed, "Sakura-chan!" His voice reverberated around the crater.
Great, this is going to be cake.
Naruto clutched my body closer. It was kind of weird seeing Naruto hug me from a distance, but it was cool too. As Naruto sobbed into my body's shoulder, Sai inched forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We must return to Konoha." He said softly. Wow, even Sai had some manners.
Naruto sniffled. "F...fine...I'll carry...Sa...Sakur...Ggah!"
He couldn't even say my name! This is terrible to watch! Sai left Naruto and picked up Sasuke's body. This was the first time I saw it. It looked like it was put through a crappy meat grinder. Naruto stood up and carried my body bridal style. He held it close to him and continued to cry.
Crap. Now I was crying. This sucks. It hasn't even been five minutes! I'm suppose to last a month!
The traveling was easy for me. Physically. Not mentally.
I merely floated beside Naruto and Sai. Sai had Sasuke's body slung like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. Naruto held my body as if it was glass. I would have thought it cute. But seeing that I am dead and Naruto was crying over my dead body. I felt myself tearing up too.
When night fell, Naruto refused to stop walking, as if my body needed to get to Konoha to catch a date. Then I felt crummy. I would love to go on a date with Naruto right now. Funny how this happened.
Sai was sympathetic and created a ink bird to carry us home. Sai sat at the neck and Naruto held himself on with chakra to his butt.
Sasuke didn't have the privilege of riding up top. He was carried by the birds claws.
The flight was freaky. I saw the wind ravage Sai's, Naruto's, and my body's hair, but I didn't feel anything. I felt something rushing by, but it didn't feel like wind. It felt like feathers.
By morning, Sai had the bird land a mile from Konoha. The walk seemed like forever.
I was reluctant on entering Konoha and seeing everyone's faces. But my mission was to protect Naruto and bring myself back to life.
As we entered the gates, I got my first show. Kotetsu and Izumo noticed my body first. The stood up, slamming their chairs in to the back wall.
"It's Sakura-san! What the hell happened? Is she alright?" They both yelled in shock. Naruto clearly flinched. Sai answered for him.
"It was Sasuke's doing. She's dead."
Naruto began to tremble at the last sentence. Kotetsu and Izumo looked stunned.
"No way. I...I don't believe this." Kotetsu finally said. "You must be lieing. That is a henged log! Sakura-san! Jokes over! Come on out!"
"This...Why would we joke about this!" Naruto snapped.
Kotetsu let it sink in as he sank down to his knees. Sai turned to Naruto. "I need to drop this body off. You need to drop her off too." Naruto hissed in anger.
"No! She will not be 'dropped off' like garbage! I will walk with her to the Hokage tower. She deserves to complete this mission."
Honestly, I was touched. But I didn't want people to see my body. It looked terrible. Dried blood and all its grossness.
Naruto continued walking on. He started the water works again.
As he stumbled through the streets, people gasped, people stared, people parted out of the way. I saw the man who ran the shop I bought my medical supplies from turn white. I saw the old man from Ichiraku's starting to cry. Then came more pain for me. Ino.
She was outside organizing flowers when she turned to see Naruto. Her eyes went wide when she saw the blood on him. My blood. Then she saw my trademarked pink hair.
She screamed and dropped her flowers. She ran up to see if it was really me.
"No! No! Not billboard brow! She...She can't be..." Ino wailed.
"What's the noise about Ino?" Shikamaru and Temari appeared out of the shop. They saw why. Shikamaru paled. Temari gasped. "Sakura? No way!"
Choji saw the crowd of his friends and ran up. "Hey guys whats... Sakura?" His face looked kind of comical, but I didn't laugh. This was no laugh matter.
"How?" They all asked. Naruto was still sobbing and crying a storm.
"Sasuke...he..."
Their faces formed to understanding.
"She confessed her love and he killed her?" Choji said, oblivious to Naruto's scowl.
"No." Naruto snapped. "I was caught in a genjustu and was about to be killed. Sakura took the blade...for...me." Naruto's voice faded away. Everyone was silent.
"I...I need to get to Granny." Naruto whispered as he pushed past everyone. I floated along with him, but I saw the others group together and whispering.
Kiba and Shino were easy to bear. I hadn't known them well.
Neji, TenTen, and Lee however, was terrible. Neji saw us first. I felt pain when I saw Lee's and TenTen's faces. "Sakura's...dead?" TenTen asked again. Lee wailed. "Thus a beautiful cherry blossom was lost! The Great Green Beast of Konoha waited too long to water her with youthful liquid from the fountain of youthfulness!"
I saw Naruto's eyebrow twitch. There was a squeak from behind. Naruto didn't even bother turning, but I did. It was Hinata.
She was surprised by the sight of Naruto. She hasn't seen the blood or my body yet. Naruto sobbed again and continued to the Hokage tower. Hinata then saw the blood and my head just dangling. I saw mixed emotions in her face. Shock, Sorrow, Realization, and then, a planning face. The kind of face that made me want to pop up and grab Naruto yelling, "Mine!"
As we neared the Tower, We passed Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-san. They seemed not to have noticed. My mistake.
"Na...Naruto!" What?" They gasped. "Sakura! How? What? Who?" Naruto stared blankly at them.
"She's dead." He said simply. Way to be blunt, Naruto. Tears were still rolling down his face.
Kakashi-sensei dropped his book. Naruto remained impassive as he continued up the stairs. Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-san scrambled up behind him. Naruto got to the door and Yamato knocked on it for him.
"Enter." Tsunade-shishou answered. Yamato-san entered first. I squeezed in before Naruto.
Tsunade-shishou was sitting at her desk as usual with Shizune-niichan standing by her.
I got to see the before body and after body effect.
Their faces paled as they both grew shocked faces as if I hit the slow motion button. Tsunade-shishou slammed her hands on the desk and jumped up.
"What happened, Namikaze?" she bellowed.
Shizune-niichan was white as snow.
Naruto began to tell the story of my death.
"We...encountered Sasuke. He was waiting for us. We battled for a while. I told Sa...Sa..." Naruto sobbed. Everyone waited patently. "She was out of chakra. I told...Sa...kura-chan to wait until I called her back. I was fighting Sasuke when everything changed. I realized I was in a genjustu, but I couldn't escape. Suddenly, I was out of the justu. And..." Naruto's voice broke. "I...I saw...Sakura-chan...With her back to me...and...and a...sword sticking...out" Naruto began to cry again.
Tsunade looked down in sorrow.
Naruto choked and spoke again. "He lifted her up by the sword." Everyone's heads shot up.
"Naruto, You don't..." Kakashi-sensei began.
"Yes. I do. She...protected me. She died...to save me."
I felt touched and upset. A wonderful mix. Not.
Naruto continued. "He lifted her and then tossed her to the side. I battled with him for a while and killed him with a Kyuubi enhanced Fuuton Rasengan. Then I went over to Sakura-chan. She began to cough up a lot of...blood. She...she tried to talk to me, but she couldn't. She was trying to say she loved me." Naruto pulled my body closer. "and I told her I loved her too!" Naruto basically screamed it to the entire village.
"She...she...died in my arms...gah!" Naruto finished and sank to his knees. He put his head to my body's bloody chest and cried into it.
"And that is how I kicked the bucket!" I yelled to the room, knowing they could not here me. The human hearing is weak compared to what I hear now. I could hear children out in the park a mile away.
Kakashi-sensei bowed his head and Yamato moved to comfort Naruto. Tsunade was trembling in sorrow and Shizune was crying into a crying TonTon. I felt myself tearing up. This sucks. I hate being dead!
Tsunade-shishou then summoned a ANBU after the long crying fest.
The ANBU moved to take my body away. Naruto snarled and moved away from the ANBU.
"No one will take her! She'll just be treated like garbage, like a corpse!"
Well Naruto, that's what it basically is right? I mean, even if you can't see me, I'm here.
The ANBU looked at Tsunade-shishou who nodded. "Naruto, you can follow this ANBU to the shinobi moruge. You may carry Sakura there." Naruto nodded and stood up. "We will hold a funeral tomorrow. Begin to post notices." Tsunade-shishou said tearfully.
I lingered behind as Naruto and the ANBU left. As soon as the doors closed, Tsunade-shishou slammed her head on the desk and wailed. Shizune-niichan continued to cry.
Never mind then.
I floated through the wall and followed Naruto.
The morgue was horrible! It smelled. It was dark. It was cold. It had creepy people.
I saw Naruto shiver as he walked into the room that he was to leave my body. He laid it gently on the table and brushed hair out of it's face. He then leaned over to kiss my old forehead. He shivered at the cold temperature of it.
I glided forward and placed my hand on his shoulder. I was surprised when he glanced at his shoulder and placed his hand there too. For a moment, I thought he knew I was there.
Wrong. He removed his hand and looked around for a vent.
"Is something wrong?" A nasally voice said from behind. Naruto turned to look at a creepy old man. He had a black robe with spectacles. He was hunchbacked and his nails looked like claws.
"N...no. I just...felt something warm... on my shoulder for a second." Naruto answered.
Warm? I was still warm?
The man nodded and moved aside for Naruto to take his leave. Naruto turned back to my corpse and said, "Take good care of her. She's really...special to me."
With that, Naruto walked out. I waved goodbye to my body. "See you tomorrow then." I said.
I followed Naruto home. As if Kami wanted to make this day worse, it began to rain. Naruto showed no problem. He slowly kept on walking.
When he entered his house, he removed his shoes and his clothes. I felt like such a pervert. But hey! My job was to 'watch' him right?
Naruto showered and got into pajamas. As he climbed into bed I floated by his nightstand. Naruto grabbed the team seven picture and clutched it close. He then cried himself to sleep.
I would say this day could be worse but, for once, I couldn't see a silver lining.