..oo0oo..
What Lies beneath
Chapter Seven
Your Hand To Hold
..oo0oo..
It was exhilarating to say the least, when the pair exploded through the large wooden door and raced to the court yard where everyone gathered. Sakura felt her chest burn slightly as her lungs screamed for fresh oxygen. She started to feel a little queasy, she definitely needed to start working out.
Somewhere behind them, a fire engine pulled up just as the flames rose through the roof, the firemen working quickly and steadily to put it out. Her neighbor stumbled over, and was barely standing even as Sakura tried to balance them both.
"Hey, steady now. Look, everything is fine now." She tried to sound positive, and gestured to the firemen who shouted orders to each other, the flames growing smaller and smaller as the smoke faded. Yet, the girl shook her head, her fringe sticking to her forehead as her skin took on a deathly pale tone.
"N-No.. It's not okay. It's not fine." Sakura wasn't sure if it was the desperate note her plea had hit, or how her lavender eyes pleaded with her, but at that moment, she felt the same chilling touch spread across her skin and followed the girl's gaze way over to the roof of the building-
"Miss Shizune! Please hold back!" The sharp cry woke her, and she tore her eyes away from the building and glanced over to the crowd which had gathered around Miss Shizune and one of the security guards on campus.
"You had one job Asuma! One freaking job!" A busty blond scolded, hands placed on her hips. Sakura recognised her as the university's chancellor. The older woman was nearly a full head shorter than the security guard, but it didn't stop her from looking any less intimidating. With each syllable, she saw the man flinch from her sharp tone.
"What on earth am I paying you for if you don't even try to check if the doors here are functioning right! The last thing this place needs now is more fire incidents, another case just happened not even a week ago! There are plenty of students studying here Asuma and I'm not willing to see another pile of lawsuits against us. Have you seen the amount of paper work I have? Have you?" The blond shouted. "First some chemistry labs explode, then the library, and now the entire left wing! We already have security inspectors coming over next week, do you need government officials and news reporters to start hanging by before you start taking your job seriously?" Her fist was now inches away from his face.
"You've got to get this things checked Asuma. We nearly died in there!" Miss Shizune cried out somewhere in the crowd. "The fire was so close to burning us all, and if we had been any later, we would have died!"
The bearded man shook his head in disbelief, spluttering as he examined the keys . "I just checked all those doors in that building last week, nothing is wrong with them!"
"Oh, I'll tell you what is wrong with them-!' The chancellor had rolled up her sleeves and waved the keys in the man's face until another lecturer with wearing a surgical mask broke them apart.
"Please calm down Miss Tsunade. There are more pressing issues at hand right now. We have a couple of students in need of medical attention." He turned to the faint looking pig tailed blond leaning on who Sakura assumed was her boyfriend. "Can you walk, miss? Or should we get some help?"
The blond waved him away, "I'll be fine, I've been through worst. Some aspirin and sleep would do just fine. Come on, Shikamaru."
The lecturer shook his head. "Not with an attack like that, you're going to the medical bay. No excuses." He told her sharply when she opened her mouth to argue. "The rest of you better get back to your dorms now, report immediately if you see any suspicious behaviour." And with that, he and miss Shizune left with the limping blond and her boyfriend.
"How troublesome." Sakura heard the brunette groan, and got promptly throttled by the girl.
But she didn't have much time to stand around being amused as the chancellor walked up to her. "You girls alright?" She asked. Sakura shrugged while the girl beside her nodded weakly.
"That was some mighty scary incident that was. A minute later and you would have been this week's barbecue. " Their older lady said, winking at her, "You two take care of yourselves right now alright?" And with that she left, probably to shoo a couple more students back into their dorms, leaving the two young adults in awkward silence. Sakura shuffled her foot around restlessly while the parka clothed girl poked her fingers together. The pink haired girl resisted from groaning out loud, curse her social awkwardness!
She took her deep breath and turned to the other girl. "So, uhm... Err... Miss...?" Sakura tried to start the conversation.
"Y-yes!" The girl squeaked, making her jump slightly. She immediately blushed, and burrowed further into her parka. "I-I mean.. Thank y-"
"Hinata! Oi, Hinata, you alright? You hurting anywhere?" With that, Sakura found herself pushed to the side as a feral-looking young man sprang out of nowhere and started to get all over the shy girl. Sakura had to take a double take when a large white dog bounded excitedly behind him. He grabbed her into an awkward one sided hug. "Thank God you're alive~!"
"Kiba, if you keep squeezing her like that, she won't be alone for much longer." His friend in sunglasses murmured. Said person stuck his tongue out at him,
"Ah, suck on it Shino. You baby her too much. Don't you know Hinata can be tough as rocks when she needs to." Sakura nearly snorted, the poor girl looked as though she wanted to met through the floor as she was dragged away by the arguing duo.
"Well, I'm sure her spine is working perfectly well." The shorter of the two started to walk away, "Unlike your brain of course."
"What did you say!" Kiba was now shouting, and stomped after his friend(?). "Come back here and say it to my face, you ass! Come on, Hinata, we're not going to let him get away with this.." With that, he stomped after the snarky boy, Hinata shyly waving to Sakura as she let herself get dragged further and further away.
With that last crowd gone, Sakura found herself standing alone again in the center of the courtyard. It was peacefully silent, just the way she had lived most of her life. Undisturbed and quiet. But for some reason, she just felt a great sadness welling up inside of her as the silence stretched longer and longer. No one came to her, no one came up to check up on her, no one who gave a slightest damn about her. Empty and left behind, just like the court yard. The early autumn wind swept past her messy pink hair, a lone leaf ridding along with it. She just had to smile at the irony. She looked up into the vast blueness above, and never had she ever felt so confined.
Who was she kidding? This was what she was meant to be. This was what she had to be. It just had to be.
She forgotten her place.
She will always walked alone in life, it was the road that she chose for herself. She would watched the people carry on with their perfect lives, happy and content, as they passed by her without even a second glance.
Even when she saved them all from certain death, they had just walked past her, as if she was nothing but a decoration in their perfect, perfect lives. She felt her anger swirl violently, and clenched her fist. Why did it had to be her? Why did she do to deserve this fate?!
She wanted to scream, scream till her throat went raw and started to bleed, until she keeled over and lay on the ground dead, maybe then, just then..
But Sakura Haruno couldn't bring herself to it, all she did was curl into a ball and tremble in her anguish , the air growing colder and colder as she stood alone and forgotten by the world.
Just like how it was meant to be..
"Haruno Sakura!" Her name rang out loud and clear and like a blind man seeing light for the first time, she stared in amazement as the figure rushed over to her, eventually towering over her small form.
She looked up and saw Itachi's face marred with the faintest hints of worry.
"Itachi..!" She breathed out. He grab her arm and hoisted her up, making her feel very light in the head. He looked very annoyed at her. She saw his ruffled hair and crumpled clothes, and realised with a start that he had been looking for her. He was looking for her, for her. She was beginning to feel a little light headed.
"Haruno Sakura bad." Itachi held up her note from this morning. She took it from him, her small fingers brushing across his long ones, feeling very confuse yet elated at the same time.
"I don't think I know where you're getting." She told him as he shove both hands into his pockets. "I mean," She flipped the paper behind. "I did write it all down to tell you... Oh." Sakura felt her face go really, really red. How stupid was she! She had forgotten he couldn't read. "Sorry." She squeaked.
Itachi sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, she halfheartedly tried to push it off. "Haruno Sakura safe."
"Yeah.." She felt her eyes grow glassy. "I'm.. safe.." She fought back the urge to smile as she walked together with him. "Let's go grab some lunch."
Everyone had passed her, all her life since the day she started to see ghosts. When she had crossed over into the realm of the dead, she had left behind her ability to live normally among the living. She had become unwanted, unneeded, nothing more than trash.
As everyone passed her on the highway, Sakura found herself stuck alone in the vast desert, her car refusing to move as it slowed to a stop, and firmly rooted itself unto the ground. And, no matter how hard she tried, the engine just wouldn't start.
But Itachi came into her car, broken and worn, and he sat next to her. He had chose to be with her ruined self, out of all the moving cars on the road. He had decided to enter hers and sit by her side, even if it meant waiting for an eternity for her engine to finally come alive again.
And that was enough for her to get out and start finding some gas.
For the first time in six years, Sakura finally found the courage to trust.
..oo0oo..
It was not surprising to say the least, when Itachi sat across Sakura the very next day with a notebook open and a few books scattered around him. His brow so furrowed in concentration that one might wrongfully assume that he was in a national chess competition.
"Come on, you can do it." She encouraged him patiently, pointing at the book. "Look at it carefully and think back, we just did this." He stared harder into the book and opened his mouth hesitantly.
"I-If we d-desire.. Law to be.."He paused and looked up at her for encouragement. She nodded and pointed at the next word. "R-Respec-Respectable.. We have to r-respect the law.."
"Good job. See, you're doing much better now." She patted him on the shoulder. He looked distinctly pleased with himself, with his chest puffed out proudly, but as usual said nothing. Sakura pulled the thick law book away from him and glanced at the clock on the wall. It read ten minutes to five. They've been going at this for almost four hours straight since their last break, but Itachi had no sign from slowing down, and quickly pulled a heavy looking marine biology book towards him."
"Keep on going, Haruno Sakura." He flipped open the book excitably, almost tearing a few pages out with his force. Sakura quickly shut the book before he got to the section about ocean mammals. The last time he saw a blue whale he had grown so excited he made the shelves tremble so violently all the books fell off. She definitely remembered Miss Tsunade's glowering expression and decided to save the poor lady from more paper work.
"Uhm, no. I think we should work on your writing now, just in case." Itachi looked longingly at the other book and pulled another notebook closer to him. He flipped through pages of chicken scrawl and eventually came to an empty page.
"Alright then. Just repeat what I say." Itachi sullenly refused to look at her but took up his pen anyway. Sakura sighed, it was like teaching a child honestly. "She sells seashells by the seashore." She glanced over at his work, but was blocked by his arm. "Do you want me to repeat myself?"
"No, Haruno Sakura." He scribbled it down fast, and glanced up at her expectantly for the next phrase.
That was how their day had went. Reading law books, writing simple phrases or rhymes, and occasionally taking short breaks. Sakura was lucky her student was so eager, he absorbed everything up like a sponge and threw back more than what he was given. Sakura would be hard pressed to find any complaints about her student, he was bright, hard-working and had very high expectations of himself. She assumed he must have been some sort of scholar in his previous life to be this desperate for knowledge. Truth be told, she had her reservations at first about going to the university library and feared the reading material would be too heavy for him. But the space had been relatively empty since the fire, even it's librarian, an eccentric girl named Shiho who for the most part burrowed up in her office reading. And it was her pressing need for privacy that ultimately brought them here.
"You're working really well, Itachi. If we keep this up you'll be proficient in no time." She told him after the fifth phrase. He mumbled a response but didn't look up. She peaked and saw him struggling slightly to finish the last word. Sakura had seen many a genius burn out due to pushing themselves way past their limits, and found it to be a pity if Itachi fell into that same trap.
"We should take a break now, get a drink or two, and come back to finish up your writing." She flipped through his note book, and felt very pleased with his improving handwriting. It looked significantly less like scribbles and more like proper words now. They both got up and went to the courtyard. Sakura stretched and hummed when the warm rays of the sun kissed her cheeks, the rare breeze messing up a pink hair. She took in a deep breath, slowly exhaling. She smelled the dry leaves, the sweet smell of maple leaves, and crisp coolness of the air, and deeply appreciated it. With the winter drawing nearer, she would soon no longer be able to enjoy this familiar warmth. She probably had to start finding her thickest jacket too.
She felt Itachi stir restlessly next to her, his can drink spilled over the floor, but he didn't seem to care as he bolted upright and stared into the shadows made by the columns. She almost asked him what was wrong when she felt it too. Her eyes widened with shock as dread settled in her, as she forced her head to turn to his direction.
Food.. Where is the food..?
Give us the food..
So hungry..
A million voices invaded her mind, each screaming for her attention. She clutched her throbbing head, and tried to stop herself from falling to the ground. She saw the familiar black blob oozing out of the ground, forming morbid looking limbs in the process. It's many eyes focused on them as it's arms waved dangerously around it.
Must get.. Must eat..
Very hungry..
Time to.. EAT..!
It's screamed was piercing and Sakura nearly doubled over from pain as the monster lunged itself furiously at them. She could only see it get closer and closer until she could see its's rows of teeth, but found herself suddenly way up in the air before she was thrown unceremoniously across the courtyard.
Sakura struggled to get up, rubbing her back and gasp as Itachi evaded the monster's blows, and froze. His face was expressionless as always, but there was a certain dangerous calculating glint in his eyes, as if he were predicting the monster's next move, his posture tensed. It was a different side of him she had never seen before, as he dodged the attacks with so much agility and grace it intimidated her. Her eyes grew wide when she saw him deliver a hard back kick to the eye and sent it wheeling back and crying out in pain. Since when could Itachi fight like that? The sluggish guy who refused to pick up his pillows on the floor was now jumping around like a panther as the monster's attacks grew more destructive. He raced around the creature at blurring speed, and shot recklessly towards it.
Her heart climbed to her throat when he stumbled slightly from one of the stray tentacles that had lunged for him, and skidded across the tiled floor. He was pressed back against the fountain when a million arms surrounded him and nailed him firmly to it. Itachi struggled against the arms, desperately trying to free himself when a cool black arm wrapped itself around his face.
And he stopped moving. The lack of oxygen was familiar to him, and he felt the strange sensation of falling through an endless darkness as a thousand silent memories passed him in a blur.
A moving car. A young child. A crying woman. Many, many flowers marred by the sick smell of burning paper..
He felt himself losing conscious, sleep calling for his name..
"Get the hell away from him!" Itachi awoke and saw Haruno Sakura in all her pink headed anger rush towards the monster with her back pack held dangerously over her head. He wanted to scream for her to go away, to run and save herself. What could she do? She was only a human girl fighting against hell's demon. But when she met his eyes, his uncertainties faded away.
Burning emerald, tough and shining like the rarest form of jade.
And Itachi learned, that she was alive, and that was enough.
Living, breathing Haruno Sakura threw her bag at the monster yowling her war cry, hitting it square in the eye. The monster clutched it's eye and stumbled around in pain, before turning lividly towards the girl and slapped her to the other side, she gasped out in pain, clutching her stomach, successfully distracting it from him.
Sakura could feel the rush of air around her as the arms sailed towards her, sharpening into malicious looking blades. But the distraction she had given Itachi was more than enough for him to free himself from the monster's grasp with quick slashes and blew a giant fireball in it's direction.
The heat from the flames was terrifying, as it engulfed the black creature whole, the flames spreading across the large body quickly and burnt it into a crisp. The light it brought forth was almost blinding, but Sakura just couldn't find it within herself to tear her eyes away from the flames.
And when she saw the ashes before her disintegrating slowly into the air, she only had eyes for the Itachi who trudged through the pile of ashes and gave her his hand.
She grabbed it and allowed him to pulled her up, feeling very loss for words for that moment. There were so many unanswered questions, so many mysteries surrounding them both, the recent uprising of dark creatures not withstanding. But even in the center of a very scorched earth, her hands still fit perfectly in his.
Out of the rising smoke, a silhouette stumbled to them, the smoke blocking the person's face from view. But as they went closer, Sakura came face to face with a very pale Hinata Hyuga.
"Ano.. Y-You can see ghost too right? I-I.. have a favour to ask.."
..oo0oo..
A/N: Well well well, what does Hinata Hyuga want? This will be a secret, huhu...
On a side note, the poll is currently still ongoing! So far, the stripper AU, Hospital AU,and Carnival AU are all tied! So go and vote! The winning vote will be the chosen one-shot prompt!
Special thanks to Mokki-chan for her very lovely review, honestly speaking your review was what pushed me to write this chapter :) Never underestimate the power of reviews dear readers!
Next Chapter: Hinata Hyuga's request is insane, and Sakura is dragged deeper into the world she wanted to escape.
R&R
