Chapter 7: Never the Truth
Sakura
Silence was all I could hear.
White noise.
No sound.
No one breathed.
No one dared speak.
All eyes on me.
No sound from inside the body either.
Gaara.
"Is he?" Naruto whispered and I nodded slowly, almost unsure on what else to do, or what to do with my hands, I wouldn't just leave them on Gaara's chest. . .
"Yes. . ." My teeth drove into my lower lip and my eyes welded shut; I couldn't look at Gaara now. Dead or alive if I got him back I'd always know it was my fault for his death, though Hinata wouldn't know. She'd come to me for comfort, draw away with people and ask me to stay with her in her time of need.
I could have helped.
There was nothing you could have done, Sakura-hime. Saku whispered.
"I could have done something!" I growled throatily and my fist bashed into the earth.
Pein…my father, why is he doing this! I looked back up at the people around us, helplessly, seeing their tear filled faces. Then saw Chiyo moving over.
"Let me try something." She placed her hands on Gaara's chest and chakra waved out wildly pushing into Gaara's body. Her face was as stern and concentrated as ever, every line folded and creased into full concintration. Her chakra was poured into him, more and more and more.
"Chiyo. . .Your not strong enough. . ." Someone whispered.
"This is the only thing I can do."
Naruto helped her and I watched. I watched the scene in front of me.
Gaara was dead and I did nothing.
Hinata. . .
Poor, poor Hinata. . .
I gridded my teeth and suddenly wished I had never introduced the two.
Less pain.
No more pain.
Pain. . .Pein. . .Father. . .Daddy. . .Murderer!
A startled breath escaped Gaara's lips then and I almost jumped back out of spite.
Gaara sat up slowly with the help of Kankuro and Temari.
They muttered gibberish to him and he stared at the dark sky.
Watching.
Where had he just come back from?
What had he seen?
"Gaara-sama!" a girl with short brown hair ran through the crowd and stopped short in front of the small parade around him. "Are you alright."
Everything was so quiet.
The air so thick.
Gaara stared at her with a bemused expression. "Uh. . .huh. . ." he managed with a small nod.
The girl's face lit up and the crowd cheered and screamed and applauded. Most were in tears, others were dancing. As some screamed, others sighed in relief.
So much happiness.
So much joy.
I smiled.
I forgot the dead man-puppet back near Ame.
I was happy.
My friend was alive.
I wanted to rejoice with the others: to hug Gaara and say that I was so sorry for not warning him earlier.
But I noticed something everyone overlooked.
In the midst of celebration I spared a glance over at Chiyo, who was sitting up still, shaking heavy. I crawled over to her. "Chiyo-chan?" I touched her shoulder and her body titled. "Chiyo!" I grabbed her arm and her body titled again, this time towards me. She crashed onto my lap and laid their limply. "Chiyo?" I asked frantically.
The elder woman looked up at me and smiled weakly. "I. . .hope you're not really an enemy, then I'd truly. . .feel foolish." Her eyes rolled back and a serene look crossed her face. She was waiting. Waiting for darkness to overtake her. She released her last breath slowly –a painful rise and a soft fall.
Her spirit carried with her, out of her body, out of the crowd and into the open air. Free and dead and alive all at the same time. Knowing nothing of what was to come, yet everything that had peevishly happened.
The truth.
It was hers.
And now she knew that she had died in enemy arms.
She felt foolish.
"Don't worry, Chiyo-baa-chan should be coming to any minute." She glanced up to see Naruto crouching beside the young Kazakage. Kankuro glanced at him, then me, then back at the blonde.
"Naruto. . ." he whispered.
I looked down at Chiyo in my arms, strong emotions waving over the crowd as a few people, and then Naruto looked over. An unseen question passed between us and I nodded; Chiyo no longer had a pulse. She'd given her life to Gaara.
In that moment, everyone looked at me.
In that moment, I felt like they all knew everything.
Madara
Darkness set over Amegakure, swirling clouds of rain that Pein summoned were ready to fall. He pushed them all away, far away.
He knew he had to keep control over this.
". . .Sakura-hime went with the team hired to retrieve the Jinchuuriki container. The Kyuubi container and the Copy Cat-nin were with her."
Pein paused for a moment. "And the Jinchuuriki?"
Pein could feel Deidara's glare though the back of his head, I watched the scene from the shadows, unknown to everyone. Currently, the blonde had just come back from getting his arms sown back on by Kakazu and spending a day in intensive care with Konan and said masked man –it appeared he wasn't happy to be in Pein's office. Explain the entire mission to him.
"Extracted as planned, but they made off with the body." Deidara muttered.
"Well, then," Pein turned his head back to the small group that had appeared in his office. The gloomy afternoon catching the silver of his piercings. "Then I don't understand why you are here and not standing guard of the village."
"There has been a mishap with our plan, Leader-sama."Zetsu decided to speak then. Hanging halfway through a wall. "Sakura-hime killed Sasori."
Pein tried to keep his eyes from widening in shock.
No emotion.
Just a mask.
"She ran him through with a sword." Zetsu coughed and suddenly hacked up something from his mouth. His white arm reached up and removed it, pulling out the bright crimson blade covered in saliva and blood. "It didn't taste very good."
He dropped it and it clattered to the ground at his feet.
The Saigo.
Pein's gift to her.
"What will you do Leader!" Deidara's voice rose over the murmurs in the room. "Your daughter has killed one of our own. We want blood in return."
Pein watched as the group got rowdier. Shouting their complaints and pointing to the weapon on the ground.
Sakura
I entered Gaara's bedroom slowly, caring my medic bag and clipboard I let the door shut behind me. It was time for his hourly check up, after two days of sleep he finally came to last night and I asked if I could be the one to monitor him. Most of the nurses requested I get some sleep, but I refused.
I sleep, I see Sasori's face.
Hinata was curled up on the couch with a blanket, a book and a pillow all strewn around her in some order. She had made it her job –no her duty- not to leave his side now that he was back. I smiled to myself and then heard the rustling of sheets behind me and a grunt.
"Gaara…?" I dropped my things onto the coffee table and went to help him, but his murderous glare kept me at bay.
"Don't…touch me…" he hissed and struggled to keep himself sitting up.
I flinched at his sharp tone, but quickly shook it off. "Don't be so proud. Shukaku isn't inside you anymore; you can't push yourself like this. Let me-" I tried to help him again, but Gaara stopped my hands. Swatting them away.
I recoiled.
"I know…now I know how you know everything…about the Akatsuki…those rumors…" He gasped, trying to get a decent breath from his lungs.
My blood ran cold.
But I didn't miss a beat.
Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie!
"What? What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice shaking.
I fear?
No, it was an act.
Gaara's murderous sea foam eyes met mine. "I know you're an Akatsuki…" My eyes widened and I struggled to find words. Something, anything, any sort of lie or story that could get me out of this mess, but there was nothing, I was trapped.
Forced to tell the truth.
"Can I explain?" I asked softly and Gaara glared at me disgust and hatred oozing from every pore on his face.
"You don't deserve it."
"Please?" I insisted. Begged. Pleaded. "There's a lot more to the story than you think. I never joined willingly. . .in fact. . .I never really joined at all." I went over the ways that I could, calmly, explain how I was in this mess, but all of them seemed too confusing. None of my lies seemed much better either.
"Then. . ." Gaara's voice was calmer now, but still anger laced his words. He was tense, but trying to think. Trying to keep a grip on his anger. "They're holding something over your head?" A sort of brotherly protectiveness burned in those words and I took comfort in it. My best friend, my greatest ally; I needed him to understand.
"No. . .I was sort of born into the Akatsuki. My mother and father are co-leaders." Gaara's eyes widened and I nodded. "It gets better. . ."
Sasuke
You could feel it in the air.
Something was going to happen.
It twisted around my instinct as Orochimaru called me and the others together at the entrance to the base where Kabuto waited with our marching orders and a grave look.
Fire burned.
My sword called for the kill.
"I believe you know this girl, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto held up a picture.
Pink hair. . .blue eyes. . .pale skin. . .
"I don't want to be your enemy!" She shouted, tears running down her heart shaped face. So beautiful, so unbecoming. So cold.
"I'm sorry Sakura." Her name fell off my tongue and I let her fall into the abyss of my eyes. Nightmares reached out and grabbed her, pulling her down to the floor. Cold and dirty.
Where she belonged.
"Sa. . ."
Dare I test the name again?
"We need you to find her." Kabuto smiled leeringly and I wondered what wicked plan he had in mind.
Sakura
An hour later I'd told Gaara my story, down to the very detail. Gaara was silent the entire time, nodding every now and then to let me know he was listening and seemed slightly intrigued by all the lies and betrayal I'd lead throughout the years. ". . .but I help Konoha and Suna the best I can, in any way I can because I've made friends here and I don't want to just choose one side. If you all make me choose there will be war. The Akatsuki will kill me and the Hidden Villages will hunt me down. I'd rather go rove then choose."
Gaara stared at me for a long moment.
The only sound in the room was Hinata's silent snoring.
Another minute passed and I began to worry.
"Will you rat on me? I never betrayed you do know that." I added softly.
Gaara looked away from me at that moment. "Please leave. . .I need to think."
"But. . .!"
"I'm Kazakage; I took vows to protect this village and our allies, but you've been my friend since we were children. So you're not the only one standing on thin ice here, Sakura." I nodded and stood, moving over to my medic bag and withdrew a bottle of pills.
"Here, take one of these if you feel any pain. I didn't make it, just so you know." I added and left the room. Shutting the door and going off to find the others to tell them Gaara was awake.
The further I walked, the heavier I felt. The heavier I felt, the more I thought. The more I fought….
"I'm Kazakage; I took vows to protect this village and our allies…"
…the anger that boiled inside me bubbled over and I snapped; smashing my fist straight through a wall. Cracks spider webbed around it and I withdrew my fist and once I did the plaster cracked away leaving a large hole in the wall…
And on the other side Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, Kakashi, Tenten, Lee, Neji and Guy were sitting around talking.
They all stared.
"Gaara's awake."
". . .you punched a hole through the wall. . .Why?" Temari's blonde brow rose and I searched for something to say.
"Gomenasai. . .I had to, um. . .Take it out of my pay check. . ." Leaving them all stunned, I stalked off, found my room and slammed the door as hard as I could before burying my face in the pillows and screaming.
"She never wanted a headstone, but I thought I'd be nice if people had somewhere to go to say good-bye to her…" rasped Elder Ebizo. I nodded and stared at the headstone wondering what mine would look like.
"Take as much time as you need." He added before walking away, but someone quickly took his place.
Gaara.
I'd been skillfully avoiding him all morning, giving him space, but now I had no chance to get away. I wanted to pay my respects to Chiyo and there was nothing he could say to make me leave. I wanted him to forgive me, an impossible act itself, and give me another chance.
I gave him plenty.
I never let him push me away.
I fought for our friendship.
"Are you alright?"
That surprised me.
"I'm okay. Chiyo protected me and helped me defeat Sasori…"
Gaara and I stared at the headstone a little longer; going over the color and the words engraved into it and the sand that blew on top of it after only a few seconds. I stepped forward and brushed it away quickly; this was a monument. Someone important that should be remembered, not just another untended old grave among the many others here in the graveyard.
"Sakura…I've decided not to tell anyone you're from the Akatsuki." I glanced over my shoulder and Gaara nodded. "You were my friend long before I became Kazakage and my most valued advisor…though I'm not sure I can trust you like I once did, I don't want to see you beheaded at my hands."
I stared at him.
"Thank you. . ." I bowed my head respectfully and smiled. "You have no idea how much this mean to me. . ." I glanced over his shoulder to see the small good-bye party that'd formed at the entrance into Suna; Hinata was facing us, staring at me with her quiet composure.
Gaara leaned closer. "But you have to understand why I told Hinata. . .she'd already heard half of the conversation. . ." My heartbeat sped up and terror filled me, but I quickly beat it back down. This was bound to happen with the way I handled everything. All the trust I invested into my friends. . .Time to face the music.
Never had there been truer words.
"It's alright." I breathed. "I was going to tell her next. . ." I walked around Gaara and towards the bluenette, stopping a good yard away. Giving her enough space, just in case she decided to attack.
Hinata's eyes locked with mine and she decided to speak first. "You lied to me."
"I did. . ." I agreed. "But I had to. . .Gaara told you that, right? My whole story?" She nodded and anger flashed in her eyes.
"How could you do that to me?"
"I didn't want." I whispered. Trying to keep my voice low, she caught on and she lowered her voice too. "It was my family at stake then, they're not my family now. Not after what they did to Gaara and me."
Hinata's look wavered.
A look of protectiveness.
A look of worry.
She had to stop doing that.
"What did they do to you?"
"My old master. . .tried to kill me." Hinata gasped and looked torn in between comforting me and staying professional.
"What about his partner. . ."
"Deidara." I offered.
"Right, Deidara. He was identified as dead too." My eyes widened, I hadn't really thought much of Deidara.
"How'd he die?"
"Nii-san says he killed himself. He blew himself up."
"Then he's not dead." I groaned.
"Huh?"
"It was probably a doppelganger of Deidara, they look and act like the real thing. It's a jutsu I read about." Hinata chewed on her lip.
"So…Sasori and Deidara, were they…close?"
"As close as two straight men can get." I answered; Hinata flushed and shook it off, going back into her serious mode.
"If he's alive and he reports back to his leader. Will he kill you?" That question had been wracking my brain since I'd watched Sasori fall after driving my katana threw his heart. Will I be executed for the crime of killing 'my own'? Or will I be shown mercy as the leader's daughter? Hardly likely.
"I partook in killing Sasori; they won't forgive me easily…" I trailed off.
"Will they come for you, Sakura-chan?"
Hinata's pearl eyes bore into mine. Pearls for purity… And that was it, I couldn't tell Hinata. She was too pure, too innocent, too ignorant to understand any of what I was going through. I'd have to deal with it myself, without my best friend who I've trusted over all these years.
So doing what I do best, I fixed my best fake comforting look on my face and replied.
"No, no they wouldn't lay a finger on me." Hinata sighed in relief and pulled me in for a hug, saying a few more things she was stuttering too hard for me to understand, but I nodded and agreed while my mind wondered what fate awaited me back at home.
Pein
I didn't want to do this.
But I had to.
"Itachi-san," The dark man materialized from a corner of the room, having stayed deathly silent the entire time most didn't know he was even there.
"Yes Leader-sama?" He seemed a bit amused that I summoned him forward.
"Bring me daughter to me," I hissed. "For her trail."
With that final line, I sealed my own daughter's fate.
*SCREAM* This is the twist I've been working on for hell knows how long. Thank you Pein and Sasuke, we've done well.
Comments? Questions? Concerns?
Reveiw me!
~QueenVamp
