WARNING: SPOILER ALERT (FOR ANIME ONLY) AND MODERATE JAPANESE
Gates of Hell
Last time:
Hesitantly, I made my way over to the bed, laying myself down on top of the blankets. My translucent head lay on a few strands of her hair that still shone in the darkness. She fluttered her eyes shut and started to ease her breathing. Not sure of what else to do, I watched her with a penetrating gaze. Her eyes clenched in uneasiness at the sheer intent of my stare, but she relaxed as she grew accustomed to it. Her breathing slowed to a dull, vacant sound as her chest rose and fell with each quiet breath. She looked content as she fell deeper and deeper into sleep.
I turned my gaze to the ceiling, beginning to grow bored of the silent night. It wasn't even half an hour into the night and I was already wondering how I would keep myself entertained.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 3: Run and Never Come Back
Pacing frantically back and forth, I glared at Sakura. How dare she not be awake to entertain me? Even on the squeaky-looking boards, I trod lightly. Not a sound was made that could've woken the sleeping girl. I had already looked around her room at anything of interest, including glancing at her from time to time. She would take in a breath every eight seconds. First, her chest would heave up, followed by her stomach and then her shoulders. I had memorized her every motion, using it as a way of telling time. Every seven and a half breaths was a minute. Every four hundred fifty breaths was an hour.
She moved her arm slightly, calling my attention to her. I knelt down by her bedside, leaning toward her head. "Sakura," I whispered. There was no response to my voice. "Sakura," I tried again. Still, she didn't even flinch.
I stood up from my position, leaning over her petite figure. Slowly, I lowered myself down next to her onto the bed. She sighed lightly as I set my head gently onto her pillow beside her own. Unintentionally, I wrapped my arm around her waist, only to have it sickly fall through her middle. Although unsure what I was expecting would happen, I frowned in displeasure. "Sakura?" I pleaded one last time.
Her eyes moved rapidly under her eyelids, signifying that she was dreaming. Her eyes continued squirming around, unfazed by my words. Exhaling, I started to get up, but stopped as a soft muttering sounded from her lips. I turned to her, listening to the quiet murmurings that escaped her mouth. They were contented and laced with sighs, forcing my own mood to calm.
Not wanting to disturb her further, I left the scene as it was; Sakura slept soundly in a mass of crumpled sheets and blankets strewn about. I slinked back to what had become my special spot in front of the window, staring into the black-veiled room. As I leaned against the window sill, my eyes grazed over now-familiar sketches of the room. There was the bed, the dresser, the desk...
Wait, was that an object that I hadn't seen before?
Eagerly, I swept over to where the object stood on the desk, pushed flush against the wall. Now that I was looking, there were three of them that I had somehow missed. Each was a photograph of familiar images. I mused over the faces staring back at me from the panes of the picture frames.
One was the team seven picture with Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and me standing in a group. Naruto glared at me in his usual way as I just stood there, wanting to get the photo done with; Sakura smiled at our antics and Kakashi's eye crinkled in enjoyment as well. We looked like such different individuals, yet we still were able to become a strong team for the short period of time when we were a team. To the right of that frame was another encasing a newer team seven, one that omitted Kakashi and me and replaced us with a tall, brunette man and a pale, dark-eyed boy who slightly resembled myself. If my memory served me right, they were the ones who broke into Orochimaru's place to take me back to Konoha.
In between the two pictures, there was one last frame just peeking out from behind the others, only showing the kunoichi grinning widely. Her eyes were squinted from the extremity of her happiness as her arms clenched to the black sleeve of a man. Narrowing my eyes slightly, I pivoted away. I looked back to the sober girl on the bed and then to the cheery cherry in the image. Out of curiosity, I reached out to pull the picture frame out to reveal who the man was. Pausing, I wondered if I should've really been snooping through her things or if I should've stopped indulging in my crazy fantasies and go into comatose.
I decided to do the former. So, I continued to reach for the frame, only to find that my grasp went right through it. Of course it did.
Continuing to try, I couldn't find a way to pull the frame out, not even enough to give another hint to who the mysterious person was. Thinking, I tried to configure a solution that would work. As I mulled it over, I brushed my hand through the pictures another time. An idea hit me. I leaned my head forward until it was centimeters away from the glass of the frame of the original team seven. Slowly, I passed my head through the picture frame, eventually getting my eyes through the back of it. I then had the hidden photo in my vision. My eyes screwed upwards to scrutinize the figure in all black. Once identified, I stood erect and walked away.
So, at some point she was with Sai.
Thoughts raced through my head as I wondered when it could've happened or even how. I furrowed my brows as I mused. A small light bothered the edge of my vision, but I tried to ignore it.
Then I realized it. Light? I turned to the sleeping girl whose hair was gleaming, calling my attention to the pink locks. Bewildered, I raced to the window to find the sun rising over the village. For the first time in a long time, I looked out over the village. The red of the sun touched the sides of all the buildings, reflecting the brilliant color back to me. Scrambling through my memory, I compared the old village to the new, rebuilt Konoha. A few landmarks were kept the same, but most of the buildings couldn't have been more than a decade old.
Shouting in the distance grabbed my attention. A man in red face paint ran through the streets, calling after him. Tailing behind was a giant, furry monster that resembled a dog. They ran off into the distance as a blonde woman exited her shop, putting up the "open" sign. By the looks of the outside, I would assume it was a flower shop. Slowly, the village was starting to wake up and so would Sakura.
Above the surrounding buildings, I was able to spot a few faces on the Hokage Monument. There was a bit of the familiar Third Hokage in sight, but I also spotted Tsunade, whom I had never met. The next two stone faces were familiar, yet I had never seen them on a mountainside. The sixth face was practically without details, for it had a mask of rock covering everything below the eyes. His hair spiked to the side, pointing to the last head. The last head shone bright in the morning sun, looking over the village that he so desperately loved.
Naruto became hokage after all...
Although multiple invasions and attacks had torn apart the village and killed many, everyone had worked together to rebuild it even better than what they had remembered it to be. They even replicated the mountainside with all of the hokages' faces on it. The village had a will of fire that could never be destroyed.
xXx
"Sasuke-kun," a groggy voice drawled. Pulling my gaze away from the window, I noticed that the pink-haired girl had woken up and began sitting up. Why hadn't I been aware that she was waking before? She rubbed the eye-gunk out of the corner of her eyes and let out a small yawn. "What are you doing up?"
Her hair was in a mess, almost looking like a troll's. My eyes searched her dazed green orbs as I felt a small chuckle erupt from my chest, choking me. "It's morning. I'm not going to stay in bed all day like some people," I sneered.
It took a moment, but her tired mind registered what I said. "Hey! I... um... I don't sleep past... What time is it?" Before I could answer her question, she stood up from her bed, stumbling slightly. She clumsily snatched clothes out of her dresser and threw them on her bed, completely forgetting about her question.
Only because she seemed so entertaining in the morning, I decided to ask the dreaded question. "So, what am I going to do for you today?"
"We're... We're gonna go see your family," she giggled. I froze as she continued to mutter sleepily. "I'll be like, 'Hey baa-san. Hey kaa-san. How you doin'?' and they'll be like, 'Oh pretty snazzy Saku-chan,' and..."
"Wait! You said that we're going to visit my family?" I screeched.
She stared at me blankly. "Yeah, what of it? It all came to me in this dream..."
I huffed out of the room, reaching for the handle, but ending up just passing through the door. I didn't care about her goddamn dream; I would never go back to that place. Defiantly, I raced as far away from the half-awake Sakura as I could. If I go to hell, so be it.
xXx
Leisurely, I sat on a high tree branch, leaning casually on the body of the tree. I could see the whole village from this spot in the shade and safety of this tree. Even the Hokage's office and the mountain fit in my vision. 'I wonder who the next Hokage's going to be,' I thought silently to myself. It probably wouldn't have mattered if I shouted it; I was fairly certain that only Sakura could hear my voice. Deciding to experiment, I uncharacteristically shouted over the village, "I'm going to be the next Hokage, dattebayo!" As those words left my lips, I started snickering uncontrollably. Now I knew why Naruto was always adamant in his dream in becoming Hokage: so he could be a loud-mouthed idiot. The hustle of the village wasn't disturbed by my outburst, confirming my theory.
It felt good to, for the first time in my life, shout for the hell of it. In contentment, I looked up at the clouds. They moved blissfully across the blue canvas, not having to worry about stupid girls sticking their noses into other people's business.
That one looked like a ninja dog.
One cloud was long and thin, one end of it looking almost like a spiked head. Little puffs of vapor gave it a strange texture. That one was obviously a snake.
Another cloud crept along, eerily resembling a face; It had two gaping holes in it, similar to two light eyes, bumps for a nose and mouth, and what looked like a mass of hair, strangely reflecting a little red hue. The woman's face seemed to smile at me, making my scowl grow. I squeezed my eyes shut, only to hear her whispering, "Sasuke-kun, take me to your family." Clasping my hands over my ears, I tried to think happy thoughts, but all that was reverberating in my head was the echo of her words. "Sasu... take... to... family..."
Sprawled on the tree limb, fighting insanity, I opened my eyes to look at the cloud one more time. Thankfully, it had drifted off and all that was left was an open sky.
I was losing it. Maybe I should've hurried up and went to hell. I wasn't sure how much worse it could be than what I was experiencing right now.
'Maybe I should just show Sakura around the Uchiha compound. It couldn't hurt, right?'
I shook my head furiously. 'No! That place is sacred to me! There's too many muddled emotions to go back. Now that I know the truth, I can't look at that place the same way ever again!'
"Sasuke-kun!"
Oh god! The voice was back! I started to shield my ears, but realized this wasn't just in my head. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called from below.
Lightly, I scoffed. She was searching for me in vain. 'I've run away from Konoha and she wasn't able to find me. She couldn't find me then and she can't find me now,' I jokingly thought.
Ouch. That was a little harsh, even for me.
She had gone through such turmoil because of me, it wasn't right for me to do anything that would upset her. Feeling slightly bad about such dark thoughts, I decided to join Sakura and get this whole thing over with. "Come on Sasuke-kun! I've always wanted to know more about where you came from, but you never let me in! Please, allow me to touch your heart!" she screamed in a random direction.
Without a sound, I jumped down behind her. Then, I drew in a breath and...
"Boo!" I squeaked. She whipped around to face me. Her eyes grew dangerously angry and her fists clenched, cracking a few knuckles in the process. "Here," I motioned to her, "I'll give you the Uchiha tour." With that, she pouted and reluctantly followed me.
We headed out, towards a place that, until recently, had been a home that had swelled my heart with pride.
xXx
"So there was the bakery," I pointed to a vacant space, "and there was my Auntie's home," my finger stabbed in the direction of another empty lot. I didn't know what Sakura was getting out of this, other than me looking like an idiot, pointing to nothing but rubble. What did she expect after countless wars? The Uchiha compound wasn't going to remain standing. We made our way a little further down the path. "That's where my house stood."
I paused, staring at the open space, rerunning the first seven years of my life in my head.
"What was your family like?"
Not wanting to answer, I remained silent. After a moment, I spoke. "My kaa-san was kind and always worried about me. My baa-san was cold. He hardly ever acknowledged me until I proved my ninja talent by performing the katon goukakyuu no jutsu. I just strived to surpass my onee-san and gain my baa-san's acceptance. And my onee-san..." No words escaped my mouth as I left my sentence to just hang in the air.
Sakura nodded, understanding that I didn't want to continue. "I heard what Itachi did for Konoha. He's a hero." I looked down at my ghostly feet. "But why the Uchiha?"
"Because they're traitors!" She jumped back at my livid tone. Waiting for me to continue, she stood next to me silently. Heat burned in my throat, making me want to gag. The Uchiha weren't even worth mentioning. "When were you dating Sai?"
Startled, Sakura turned red. "How do you know about that?" she snapped.
Starting to relax from teasing her, I shrugged. "You're just that easy to read. Now you tell me about you two and I'll tell you about the Uchiha." At least I would get a good crack out of anything she was going to say.
She bowed her head, reminiscing. "It was about five years ago. We just decided that it was about time for the two of us to get together." She smiled, yet with a touch of sadness. "A few months later, he died while on a mission." Her eyes shook in pure agony.
Trying to come up with comforting words, I was drawing a blank. "Did he touch you?" Mentally, I strangled myself, but it was a question I was dying to know the answer to.
A blush traced every portion of her skin. "No!" She looked me directly in the eye and spoke clearly, "Just the fact that he was there was enough."
She was pushing more blame on me? Fine. It wasn't like she was mine to protect anyway. We stood in awkward silence for a while, before I decided to disrupt the tense atmosphere. "The Uchiha was planning a coup d'état against Konoha, in an attempt to regain the glory of the clan."
"Then... why did you betray Konoha when it was your onee-san's will to keep the village alive, even at the expense of his own comrades?"
"That's because I don't live by Itachi's rules," I growled. "I am... er... was an avenger of my clan. Konoha betrayed my clan, so I betrayed Konoha." Clarifying, I continued, "I don't agree with the methods they were going to use, but I became so obsessed with revenge that it was impossible for me to turn back."
Her pink head bobbed in understanding. "Well, that's all behind you now, right?
I nodded. I had already died trying to avenge my clan and nothing more could be done about trying to accomplish my living goal. "Good," she chirped. "That means we can continue on in trying to get you to Heaven, now that you trust me."
Glaring, I realized that this wasn't mostly a wish of an innocent, immature girl; she had wanted to reform the bond between us as comrades. Had she really planned this all along?
The rain plopped onto the ground, soaking the cracked pavement. I looked up at the sky, watching as the raindrops fell from the threatening clouds down to the earth. As Sakura's words seeped in, I swore that a few drops fell on my face and rolled down my cheeks, because spirits can't cry. The droplets seemed so tangible yet unattainable. I would've given anything to feel the moist air that carried them.
"Sasuke-kun?" my comrade carefully questioned.
No, not my comrade, my friend.
A/N: AH! Finally it's done! Sorry it took so long, but I was busy and this was a tough one... but it only gets harder from here on out. These are getting longer and longer, but hopefully they don't get too ridiculous. Thank you everyone for reviews and you guys are the greatest!