? days after War's End…

Naruto:

He's lost.

Lights, lights that float on the breeze. A drop of blood in his mind, clinging to a single point. Dead people speak to him, but Naruto can't see who they are. He doesn't let himself.

They've kept him as Hokage. He doesn't understand why, but that's a secondary concern – he knows that if they still need him, he will give them everything. He'll protect his village. His commitment, his mission, his hopes, it all remains unchanged while his eyes are open. When he dreams, he's not so sure.

If they are, in fact, dreams at all.

When he announces Sakura as his personal assistant, Rock Lee protests. He comes running with clear lethal intent. Leaving his weights behind, he's faster than the wind, implacable as an avalanche, deadlier than a storm.

Naruto lets him get close before releasing his chakra.

The village watches silently, disbelieving, glancing uncertainly at each other. None move a muscle – though Naruto later has the distinct feeling that Lee was not the only one in the crowd to attack him. It can't be, he tells himself, he can only recall Lee. Besides, there's only one crater. Isn't there?

That night, Sakura comes to his room.

She pulls him down, tearing at his zipper, and the animal within him emerges. Their sex is wild, desperate, hungry. Her moans make him tremble as he pushes himself inside her and thrusts again and again, her nails clawing bloody furrows into his back, and their climax blows away any doubts he had. She's on my side.

Two days later, the scratch marks are gone, and Rock Lee challenges him to a duel.

In the hours after he kills Lee again, a red-eyed Ino begins to flirt with him. He plays along, swallowing the guilt of this infidelity, even though he knows – thinks – prays – it will never get that far. Of course, she's not doing it for pleasure. Oh, she pursues him convincingly enough, but he has Kurama's chakra, and he knows her feelings. He can feel her boiling hatred, and he revels in it, because to react any other way would drive him mad – and because it feels so good.

One passionate night, during a successful seduction, she uses the Mind Transfer Technique on him. Naruto watches, grim, contemptuous, as the burden of Kurama's rage devours her soul. Her screams echo in his mind, and he feels nothing.

The next day, he has a kunai wound on his chest, Sakura's scratch marks are back, Ino is alive, and he knows beyond a doubt that the blonde has never flirted with him in his life.

The day after, both Ino and Chouji are dead, and he toasts the war's end with Shikamaru. An inky shadow watches from a nearby fruit stand, and he knows the Anbu no longer support their Hokage.

That night, he sends shadow clones to kill Sai. They report success, and he sleeps deep and well. When he awakens, Sakura reminds him of his meeting with the Anbu leader – their former teammate, Sai.

Sai – who frowns at Naruto's paranoid suspicions, who has no memory of his death, nor of any espionage on Naruto's person. He swears loyalty, putting a curse mark on his forehead for good measure.

Surprised, Naruto accepts, and Sai departs. The next week is a blur as he falls ill – at least, he thinks he is ill, there can be no other explanation for his inability to remember anything – and when he comes to his senses, Chouji has carried out his orders and slaughtered the Anbu.

Or maybe the Anbu killed Chouji. But then how can he see Sai and Chouji drinking to Shikamaru's memory?

And how could Shikamaru join them?

Another week passes. More people die, and return, and slay each other once more. Another. Kunai fly at him from the shadows, but he is already moving, and their owners drop as other dimensions stop their hearts. Another. A toast, and a table of samurai shriek, the acid boiling their blood even as he purges it from his. Another.

Shizune's eyes, narrowed with contempt. A red sky. Tree branches snapping, their creator failing for the last time to seal the Kyuubi. Tsunade. He finds the secret lair of the Uchiha, and a dead clan's last hideout burns.

A part of him knows something isn't right, that somewhere along the line, he lost something precious, something vital…but he can't place it, it's like trying to catch fog, he knows it's there, there's more than he could ever grasp but every time he closes his fingers he holds nothing, and it hides itself, and –

He clings to Sakura, the only constant in his ever-shifting reality, wishing that they could just leave. There's nothing for him here, nothing but her, but he stays because he knows he must.

He must.

For if he doesn't rule, if he falters in the pursuit of his ideals, how will there ever be peace?

Then one day, Konohamaru puts a rasengan in his gut, and he collapses in the street.

Sakura:

He lies in her bed, she sits by his side, and she can't decide whom she hates more.

She should have known he would pull through, that the Sharingan's control couldn't last forever. He's methodical, slow, as inevitable as the sunrise. Underneath all that's happened to him, all he's done, he's still the same Naruto. Fighting to the bitter end for a brighter tomorrow.

Sakura smiles. Her demon fox is so strong.

Perspiration lines his drawn face. He shifts, letting out a soft whimper at the still-bleeding wound. His one-time pupil hit him hard, and no one, alive or dead, knows better than Sakura: even the Kyuubi needs time to regenerate.

A part of her wants to let him bleed. To open the gaping wound and let it flow until no life remains, until his shivering body stills. It's as tempting as it is horrifying.

But it would bring peace, would it not? At the announcement of his death, the village will throw a celebration, if they still remember the meaning of the word. They'll recognize that she was his pawn all along, and in their need for a leader they'll turn to her, last remnant of the proud Sannin, and –

NO, she snaps.

The inky chasm in her mind watches her, silent, and she smirks. A month ago, it would have completed the thought. Three months ago, it might have carried out its will and called it hers.

Slowly, slowly, she's beating the Sharingan's curse.

You're resilient.

Sakura swallows. Not as much as Naruto – all Tobi could do was corrupt him and influence his actions, never control them completely. But this isn't the first time she's had more than one mind in the same body. I'll beat you, just as he did.

Trickles of amusement run into her thoughts, and she gasps as her hand moves of its own accord to Naruto's throat, her fingers playing around his windpipe. Will you?

With a cry she wrenches her hand away and locks it in a death grip. You bastard. You're dead. All I need to do is wait you out.

Can you?

Of course not. Sakura knows her defiance is hollow. Her resistance to the curse's control is growing, but it might already be too late for her psyche. It wasn't entirely Tobi who'd wanted to let Naruto bleed into the sheets.

If it had been the Uchiha at all.

And there are Zetsu's words to consider, too, the things he had said when she lay dying in the ash. She has weeks, maybe a month or two, before their plan is complete. She can't afford to wait, either.

The dark haze sighs. You're tiring, kunoichi. If you think this will fade before you've made Uchiha Madara look like a village healer—

"Sakura?"

His eyes are open – his blue and her green, flicking wildly about the room. Sakura takes several deep breaths, suppressing the urge to stab him. "I'm here, Naruto. You were wounded."

Naruto nods.

His eyes are wet.

Sakura stares, breath hitching in her throat.

"Konohamaru."

Sounds to me like he wants you to kill the boy. It'd be—

Shaking her head, Sakura puts a hand on Naruto's chest, tenderly, firmly. "Hush, love. Don't worry about him. He'll never see me coming if I –"

"If it'd been just a little stronger, he'd have killed me."

Sakura freezes. He doesn't sound angry. His tone isn't triumphant, or regretful, even disappointed. He sounds like a teacher who's secretly proud, who yearns to say so but withholds it because his student hasn't quite achieved his full potential.

It's as close to the old Naruto as she's seen since that night in the woods, maybe since the end of the war.

Naruto tilts his head to look directly at her. Clear, direct, his gaze makes her heart race. "I…I screwed up, Sakura. I didn't mean to, but…I…"

Sakura swallows several times. She can feel Tobi watching her thoughts. "There's nothing we can't do together, Naruto. Whatever you messed up, we can correct it."

He shakes his head. "I can't fix this. I want to go back, I want to dream again. But I can't. I have to believe that…I did this for a reason, it was my dream…"

Naruto's facial muscles work, and Sakura remembers again that he's fighting as hard as she is. Of course he is. I put him in a genjutsu, and he's breaking it. He's winning, just like I am.

And he's also too late.

His hand covers hers. Not sexual or demanding or insistent. Just there. "Until I have no more reasons to fight…"

When he falls asleep an hour later, regret and shame crash down on her. She wishes they would bury her.

It's ten minutes before she can compose herself, before the tears slow, but for the first time in months she feels free. Though the Sharingan whispers its sweet, sweet poison to her, she finds that – at least for now – she can ignore it.

Not for long. In the end, it'll overpower her once more.

But the heartbreaking happiness of seeing Naruto fighting, of seeing the boy she loves beat back the monster she's created, has given her a window, a brief respite. She'll be damned if she'll let this opportunity slip away. It might be the only one she'll get.

Invigorated, she leaps from her room.


Rooftops blur beneath her feet. There are a few people in the streets, a few open windows. Any who see her duck and hide.

A wry smile twists her lips. They fear her almost as much as they fear the boy in her bed.

A few of the more courageous among the Anbu – what's left of them – halfheartedly attempt to shadow her. Whether to protect or to kill, Sakura doesn't know. No matter. So easy is it to lose them with a few dozen illusions that she almost laughs.

See? You like these powers, don't you.

Sakura nearly crashes into the window she tries to jump through – she tries to swear at Tobi, but all that comes out is a whimper. If this curse overtakes her at the wrong moment…if she kills…

He's not only awake, he's seated across the room. Either he never sleeps anymore, or he knew she was coming.

On his face is the purest loathing Sakura has ever seen directed at her.

"Shikamaru, I need your help."

His expression does not change.

Sakura takes a shuddering breath as the Sharingan's curse stabs her mind. Hold on, Sakura. Just a few more minutes. "Shikamaru, I know how to end this. If we work together, we can push Naruto…"

She trails off. She can't tell if she's imagining it or if his eyes really do contain an ounce of pity. Of course not. He knows what I am. "Even mad, Sakura, you're too smart to think I will believe anything you say. But we both know I have no choice but to listen to you. I'd even listen to you if I had a choice, because I know that this madness of Naruto's, this madness of yours, is as natural as an artificial man."

He has to notice her flinch at the word "artificial", but he doesn't react. Sakura blinks. Of course. He's Shikamaru. "You know he's here."

The genius merely folds his arms across his bare chest. "Zetsu's presence near the village isn't my concern. With the war over and the rest of Akatsuki destroyed, he's not a threat to Konoha anymore. You, on the other hand, are. Why do you think I'll help you?"

Sakura's eyes widen. So Shikamaru doesn't know everything? Zetsu is the only reason both Naruto and I are alive. Without his healing, I'd never have done what I've done. It would have ended.

This is all part of his plan. If ever there was a threat –

Dark splotches shatter her vision.

When she comes to, she's on the ground. Shikamaru stands above her, unmoving and unmoved. She can imagine what he's thinking, what he's feeling. He'll never help her, the way things are.

Why should you? You see what I've done in Naruto's name, what he's done in mine. We're a plague on the shinobi world, he and I, and there's no way to see past that.

But there's something you need to know. About exactly what this creature said to me.

So she tells him.

Shikamaru listens as she explains what she wants to do. What she needs to do. He says nothing, but he listens.

Sakura leaves uncertain. If he doesn't help her, or if he can't think of a plan, there's nothing left for Konoha. For the world. Everything Naruto wanted will mean nothing.

When she sees the messenger hawk fly, her heart flies with it until her cursed burden, squeezing her lungs, throws her into unconsciousness.


A/N: Another one for the pairing fans.