As the birds first began stirring in their nests, Sasuke lifted his head, watching their small, feathered forms take off into the early morning sky. The two sat high in a tree, perched on a thick bough, overlooking a valley in the distance. Sasuke sat with his back to the trunk with one leg stretched out before him and the other hanging lazily over the side. Katahana remained motionless, still buried deep into sleep.
Late last night when they'd settled in the tree for their final stop of the night, Katahana—who was practically dead on her feet and utterly unresponsive to Sasuke—had immediately crawled into his lap. Uneasily shifting her weight so that she lay more comfortably on him, she grabbed a fistful of his cloak, laying her cheek down on his chest, and let out a quiet sigh of contentment.
Awkwardly, Sasuke wrapped an arm around her curled up body, cradling her in a way.
Now, almost four hours later, she still remained unconscious to the world in the ex-missing-nin's arms. Sasuke knew that today would be harder on the child. The sun had only just begun to rise, although the temperatures were already rising at an incredible rate. And with the little amount of sleep the girl had received in the past few days, or weeks, Sasuke knew that she'd reach her limit soon enough.
As smoothly as possible, Sasuke shifted onto his feet, Katahana still held tightly in his arms. Looking out into the distance, he knew that they'd need to move as soon as possible. The sun was rising, so they had no time to waste.
"Sasuke-san?" a sleepy voice asked, peering up at him through half-closed lids. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling her face underneath his chin. "I'm so sleepy," she mumbled, her eyes falling closed once more.
No, there would be no way that he'd be able to travel with her while she was in this state. But as she kept her tiny arms encompassed around his neck, an idea stuck him.
Deftly moving her so that she released her hold on him for a quick moment, he moved his dark cloak so that it wrapped around her; Katahana's face—now almost completely hidden from sight—pressed against his shirt instead. Her arms had positioned themselves back in place, and only needing to support her weight with one arm, he held her securely and took off through the trees.
He'd travelled for two hours before Katahana began to stir. Without halting, he glanced down at her as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Can we stop?" she asked, squinting her eyes at the bright sun shining through the trees.
Halting, he lowered her gently on the wood beneath their feet. The girl stretched her arms above her head, yawning as she did so. "How far are we now?" she asked, rubbing her eye with a small fist.
"It'll be another day at least," he informed her, hand resting on the tree trunk, gazing off into the distance. "Ready?" She nodded, straightening her clothes slightly, before standing by his side.
Taking off, Sasuke was a bit impressed with Katahana's determination. She wasted no time bringing herself up to full speed and holding her stride as they ran. Even after they'd been running for a few hours, she showed no sign of tiring. He was halfway-tempted to ask her if she wanted to rest, but decided against it when he realized that at the speed they were going, they'd make it to their destination before sunrise the next morning.
As they crept closer and closer toward the village, Sasuke's anxiety began to rise. It'd been so long since he'd been in the village—he hadn't shown his face once since he'd left at the age of 13. Knowing that he'd soon be walking through the same gates of Konoha that he'd made his exit through all those years ago, made him nervous.
More than the village itself, the thought of having to speak to so many of his old comrades after his eight-year absence made him feel more uneasy than anything. Undoubtedly there'd be questions; lots of them. And there would still be the few people with leftover resentment who still considered him an enemy to the Village, even though he'd been acquitted of his charges after the end of the war.
In choosing to team up with the allied shinobi, he'd made a decision that had ultimately saved his life. If he hadn't, he would've undoubtedly been hunted down and executed. Up until the end of the war, he'd had no plans for his future. He wasn't even sure if he'd have one once the fighting were to cease.
He sat at the far end of the base, at the edge of the forest, sitting in a tree looking out into the distance. The sun had set hours before, and since then the temperature had dropped drastically. The cool air did not bother Sasuke though, in fact he found it oddly refreshing. It kept him on alert.
And like it had been for the past three weeks, standing below at the base of the tree, and sitting high in a neighboring tree, two nameless shinobi were given charge of monitoring him for the night. At this point, Sasuke simply ignored them completely, doing as he wished and not paying them any attention.
Although he couldn't help but notice when the two quickly departed, leaving him still sitting in his spot high in the treetops.
"Hey."
Turning around, Sasuke saw the pink-haired kunoichi jump from another tree towards him. Landing on the thick bough he occupied, she sat beside him, following his gaze out into the forest.
"Looking for something?"
He shook his head. "Just thinking."
"You're always thinking," she said. It wasn't an accusation, just an observation. "Care to share?"
"Thinking about the war."
Sakura let out a short laugh, tilting her head back and letting her hair fall behind her. "Aren't we all?" She placed her hands behind her and leaned back on them for support. "Everyone's saying that we don't have more than a week before things start to get… messy."
"A week huh?" He picked off a small piece of tree bark and let it fall to the ground below him. "That's not much time."
"Yeah," she agreed quietly. As he ran his hands mindlessly along the bark of the tree, Sasuke couldn't help but sense her eyes on him. Turning his head he met her gaze and raised an eyebrow in question. "Aren't you…" she hesitated, "are you scared at all?"
Another piece of bark fell to the ground below, his eyes following it until it disappeared in the grass below. "Not really," he shrugged. "I'm more relieved."
"You do realize that this is a war we're in right? And that people die in wars. Lots of people." She said, unbelieving of his supposed indifference.
"I'm aware. But I'm just thinking of this as the end of all this madness."
"Madness? War is madness, Sasuke," she said, almost reproachful. "War is terror and hate and death all rolled into one. There is nothing good about war—"
"I'm not saying there is," he countered sharply, shooting her a glare. "I'm just saying that this war marks the end of so many things." He looked away from her, stealing a quick glance over his shoulder and toward the base. From their spot they could view the entirety of the base. People were still working hard, preparing and readying themselves for combat. "After the war, and after Madara is defeated, I'll finally be free."
Sakura paused, studying his face, before nodding in understanding. "You'll be free," she repeated quietly. "Where will you go?" she asked after a couple minutes of silence. "You've said already that you won't return to Konoha. What then?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I might just travel some. Explore a bit more of the world." He shrugged. "I may not ever find a place where I'll actually settle down at. Odds are I'll just wander from village to village for the rest of my life."
"Will you ever visit?"
He thought hard and after a moment sighed, "No," he shook his head. "Probably not."
"I figured as much," she said, letting out a deep sigh of her own. The cool air evaporated her breath as is escaped her body. "Naruto's still convinced that he'll get you to return."
Sasuke gave her a sad half-smile. "I know."
"I'll have to try and talk about it with him some more," Sakura said. "Try and get him to forget about it finally."
Sasuke nodded. Over the past week and a half, the two had come to something they would both consider as a mutual understanding of one another. They initiated in quiet, private conversations like these almost every night. Finally, they were getting the chance to talk to one another civilly after all these years.
Of course, they avoided topics that were a bit too painful to discuss, much like their encounter in the Land of Iron several months back. But other than that, Sasuke had been uncharacteristically open with her. Talking freely and not turning away her company.
Sakura let out a light laugh, interrupting the silence that had blanketed them. Upon noting Sasuke's quizzical look, she shook her head, a soft smile gracing her lips. "Just thinking about ridiculous memories. You know, missions from our old genin days?" She let out another tinkling laugh. "I remember the look on yours and Naruto's faces the first time we were assigned to catch some woman's cat for her."
Sasuke allowed himself to enjoy the memory as well, smiling slightly and crossing his arms. "That was painful."
"You two were so angry," she laughed.
"Naruto was angry," he corrected, "I was just annoyed beyond belief."
"It was pretty funny though!"
"It's funny to look back on, but at that moment? Miserable."
She laughed again, leaning her head down on his shoulder, tucking her arm within his. The notion caught him off guard, and for a long moment all he could do was stare down at her pink head uneasily. Unsure of what to do he tried his best to relax his body. She'd done this countless times as children. Perhaps being away from her for so long was why it felt so much stranger.
"And that time we tried to get Kakashi-sensei to take off his mask…"
Sasuke couldn't help but let out a light laugh at that one memory. "That day was almost more frustrating than chasing after the cats."
"Have you seen his face at all since?" he asked peering down at her.
"I did once," she said glancing up at him, grinning. "It was about a year ago. He was out eating with Guy-sensei and he was acting completely normal about it, too. When I walked by—gawking at him of course—he just smiled and waved at me like he always did, and then went back to eating."
Sasuke was shocked and his expression did nothing to hide it.
"Jealous?" she laughed, "when I told Naruto he almost threw a fit."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious."
"He's pretty good-looking," she admitted, still-laughing. "I wouldn't be surprised if the mask was originally to ward off any unwanted attention." She elbowed him gently in the ribs, "I'm sure you would've loved having one, huh?"
He groaned, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
She laughed once more, leaning into Sasuke as they stared out into the depths of the forest. Hesitantly, he lowered his head slightly, resting his on top of hers. They remained sitting in a comfortable silence for quite some time, listening to the sounds of bugs chirping and frogs croaking, as well as the constant sounds of voices and movement coming from the base.
This was something Sasuke genuinely enjoyed; comfortable silences and being left alone. And even though he wasn't entirely alone, he was just as content as he would be if he were by himself.
"It's going to be strange," Sakura said, breaking the silence eventually, "once the war is over." She lifted her head and looked at him. "There's a chance I might not ever see you again."
Sasuke did not reply. He simply held Sakura's gaze for a long moment before nodding once. That had been one of the things he'd been trying to avoid thinking about. Ever since he was a child, Sakura had been consistently there for him, caring for him and about him. She was always there at the end of the day to say something overly-cheerful to him, always smiling at him, and offering him her company.
Of course, he'd never taken her up on the offer as children. But now, as they sat together high off the ground in the dark of night, he realized that he now preferred her company over anyone else's.
He even preferred it over solitude—something he'd never admit to her.
She was one of the only people in his life that was constantly and consistently looking for ways to help him. Even when he'd turned his back on the village, and her, and even through the past year with all the threats he directed toward her, his increased dismissive attitude, and his complete lack of concern or empathy.
He'd always been able to depend on Sakura. She was always there, waiting for him in case he'd need her help. It was only now, at the end of it all, when he accepted it.
And soon enough, none of it would matter. If they even survived this war, he would not stay. He couldn't bring himself to face the village he'd turned his back on all those years ago.
It would never happen.
"I'm going to miss you," Sakura said quietly, "you big pain in the ass."
Sasuke couldn't help but smile, resting his chin on top of her head. He would see her for the last time sometime within the next few weeks, and that would be it. Closing his eyes, and feeling a strange tightness in his chest that he immediately despised, he refused to think about his impending departure.
And for the moment, he decided to pretend that it didn't matter that he'd be leaving.
Lifting his head and pushing her away from him slightly, she gazed at him with confused eyes, the green shining brightly, even in the moonlight. Then suddenly, before he gave it a second thought, he leaned down and crushed his lips against hers.
They did not stop that day until an hour before sunset, Katahana impressing Sasuke immensely with her determination and will to keep going. As she drank what was left of the water Sasuke had brought with him, she let out a long breath of air. "How much longer?" she asked, still breathless from the constant running.
"I think we'll be at our point within the hour," he informed her as he re-arranged his bag, folding his cloak and shoving it inside. The air was still hot even with the sun beginning to set in the distance.
"And our point is north of the Village right?"
He nodded. "Whenever you're ready, we'll head out again."
Katahana handed him the empty canteen, threw on her shoes once more as well as her backpack, and looked up at him once more. "Ready."
Resisting the urge to grin at the child's eagerness, they set off once more. They were in the final stretch.
Running without putting any thought into his motions, as the sun finally fell behind the trees, Sasuke immediately had activated his sharingan, and was meticulously scanning the areas directly around them for any type of threats.
They were minutes away from their destination when—out of nowhere—a kunai shot toward Sasuke, who'd been facing the other way momentarily, and before he could dodge, landed itself deep in his upper arm.
Grunting, he allowed himself to fall from the treetops to the ground, relieved when he saw Katahana quickly mirror his motions, not more than a couple feet behind him. Grabbing hold of its handle, Sasuke yanked the kunai clean out of his arm, not showing a single sign of pain.
The child though, taking note with wide eyes of the dark red blood immediately beginning to pour out of his injury, flinched, her grip on her kunai shaky.
"Remember to focus, Katahana," he said quietly and quickly, red eyes peeking at her swiftly before turning their direction back towards the forest ahead of them.
"So the rumors are true?" A deep voice spoke from the thick brush of the forest. Slowly, a man with white hair, also dressed in a white cloak, stepped out from behind a tree and took a few steps toward them. "Uchiha Sasuke still lives."
Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke took a defensive position, waiting for the main to make the next move.
"This is such wonderful news," he said with a sickeningly sweet smile, "I had settled for finding the child for a little while, but now that I know you're still alive? Well," he held his arms out wide, almost as if inviting Sasuke for a hug, "You'll do just fine."
"Leave," Sasuke demanded in a cold, hard voice.
"But I've only just arrived," he grinned wickedly, "and I've only just gotten started…"
Suddenly, as if a switch was flipped and a light went out, he disappeared completely out of sight. The sharingan did not detect any movement, for it would've immediately followed it. The man simply… vanished.
Sasuke had been knocked violently to the ground before he'd known what had struck him. Immediately springing up, ignoring the blood that was pouring out of a wound on his temple, he turned toward Katahana to see the cloaked man standing beside her. He smiled down at her, reaching out to her, as if to hold her tiny hand.
Sasuke flew towards him and was inches away from striking him in the chest when the man vanished once more. Digging his heels into the ground Sasuke halted himself and quickly side-stepped, placing himself in front of Katahana again.
"You need to get out of here." He spoke to her so quietly and rapidly that she hardly made out the words as he uttered them. "Head back the way we came, but wait until I lunge for him again."
"But—"
"Be ready Katahana," he spoke sharply, glaring with the sharingan. She watched, startled as the patterns in his eyes morphed.
"I'm not going to hurt the child, Sasuke," the man reappeared directly before Sasuke, a reproachful look on his face. "I may even decide to let her keep her eyes."
Sasuke could hear the quick tiny footfalls retreating back into the forest as Katahana listened to his advice and ran. Good, at least he wouldn't have to worry about protecting her as well as himself as he fought.
"Especially since you have the mangekyou," the man's face was lit up with delight, only causing Sasuke to grow more infuriated. "How could I pass us this beautiful opportunity?"
Igniting his arm with chidori and shooting his hand forward at the same instant, Sasuke once more tried striking his assailant. But as the man disappeared yet again, Sasuke growled and spun, looking for him angrily, only to have the man slice Sasuke's forehead with a short blade.
Jumping back, Sasuke couldn't stop the flow of blood from entering his line of sight. Frustrated and acting as quickly as possible, he ripped a strip of his shirt off and quickly wrapped the fabric around his head. But as he regained his stance and stepped forward to approach the man, he was immediately kicked in the back roughly.
Yet again, he'd disappeared and reappeared in an instant.
"I'd really rather this not go on any longer," the voice spoke smoothly, approaching Sasuke's fallen form. "You cannot touch me Sasuke. Just give up."
Sasuke jumped upward, landing in a tree as he glared down at the cloaked man. He was a moment away from using his amaterasu when he heard an ear-piercing scream in the distance.
Katahana.
Completely ignoring his opponent, Sasuke turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. She was in danger. The moment he realized how idiotic of an idea it was to have her run off he wanted to yell. Furious with himself, he pushed his legs further…
… only to run directly into the man's long blade.
The white-haired man had materialized directly in front of him, a long sword pointed at Sasuke. Appearing too quickly for Sasuke to be able to move out of the way, he'd ended up running into the blade. Which was currently pierced straight through his chest.
And as soon as the blade had entered his body, the man pulled it out, casually wiping the blood directly onto his bright white cloak. "I didn't want to do that, but you left me with no choice."
Sasuke fell to his knees, stumbling off the branch and to the forest floor below. Hitting the ground he coughed up a large amount of blood, finding it almost impossible to take air into his lungs.
"I was going to just leave you blind. But now I guess you'll have to die," he said, as if saddened by his decision. "I find it terribly disappointing that I'll have to orphan another child. Haruno Sakura put up much more of a fight than this."
Lifting his head Sasuke glared at him, unable to say anything—instead the only thing he could get to come out of his mouth was more blood. The taste of iron was almost enough to push Sasuke over the edge towards unconsciousness, but at the mentioning of Sakura, his mind was struggling to form a coherent sentence; his thoughts were running a mile a second. Spitting a mouthful of blood on the man's white cloak, all Sasuke could manage was a weakened glare.
Before the man could lift his sword once more, he could hear a faint noise. Bodies were approaching, and quickly.
"Hm," the man sheathed his sword, glancing down at Sasuke with a smile, "it seems this will have to wait for another day."
"It's him!" Sasuke heard a voice nearby yell. Still watching the white-clad man's figure, he observed as the man waved toward the newcomers and smiled, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Unable to hold his head up any longer, Sasuke's thoughts were only centered around two people; Sakura and Katahana. The way he'd spoken of Sakura made Sasuke's chest erupt in a pain not caused by man-made tools. Was she dead? Had this man killed her?
And as he struggled to keep his eyes opened, he tried looking off into the distance, more than anything wanting to apologize to Katahana. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
But just before he allowed his eyes to close, a tiny form flew through the trees and directly over top of him. If he had the ability to even inhale, he would've sighed in relief. Her dark gray jacket and long black hair made her presence known to Sasuke as she landed on the opposite side of where he'd been facing.
"Stay back!" he heard her tiny voice screech toward the approaching forms. With as much strength as he could muster, adrenaline pumping once more at the sight of the child alive and well, he rolled himself over onto his stomach and slowly picked himself up on all fours, slowing rising to his unsteady feet.
Taking note of his blood-soaked clothing, and the pool of red steadily growing beneath him, he knew that it wasn't very likely he'd survive any further fighting, but he'd try and protect Katahana until the very end.
It wasn't until he looked at her face, which was staring back at him, worried and scared, when he fell to his knees once more.
The shock hit him like a ton of bricks—no, it was unlike anything else he'd ever felt before. Bright red eyes stared back at his, the child's sharingan glowing in the night.
"Sasuke!" she ran up to him and grabbed his sleeve. "We have to get up, we have to move!"
Sasuke could not move. All he could do was stare back into her eyes. The same eyes as his.
"I'm not going to hurt the child, Sasuke. I may even decide to let her keep her eyes."
"I find it terribly disappointing that I'll have to orphan another child."
"Haruno Sakura put up much more of a fight than this."
Opening his mouth, nothing more except for more blood spilled out, causing Katahana to scream, terrified at the sight of him before her, dying.
"Hana!" A voice called from behind her, appearing before the child seconds later, "Katahana!"
Sasuke could hardly make out the glowing form before him, but the voice was unmistakable.
"Naruto," the child sobbed, "You have to help him! Please help him."
"Sasuke!" just as the ex-Leaf nin allowed himself to fall forward, a pair of glowing yellow arms caught him. As Sasuke fell into unconsciousness all he could do was listen as voices yelled back and forth to each other. The last thing he remembered seeing was Katahana, tears spilling from bright red eyes.
A/N: And finally, so many things fall together.
Many of you were correct with your theories so keep 'em coming as the chapters go along! It's fun to see. And just so you all know, this story is going to be extremely lengthy, so if any of you are put-off by that for any reason, I'd rethink getting too into this story. I know usually that isn't an issue with most people, but hey, I figured a heads-up would be appreciated. So far I have about 180 pages written; this chapter brings you all up to page 65 or so. And where I am right now (on page 180) I've just barely reached the halfway mark for the story.
So you all have a lot of reading ahead of you. I genuinely hope you are enjoying yourselves.
Look for the next chapter sometime this week. Hopefully I'll have more to say once the new Naruto chapter gets posted.
