Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. OWN. NAR.U.TO. Obviously.
Mind, Body, and Spirit
Chapter Ten
Sakura stared at the crack on her wall. Her eyes traced the thin lining of the crack and soon her eyes just kept moving up and down, from the top of the crack, to the bottom. Her eyes never blinked and soon they became watery and her vision blurred. Then it was black. Sakura's eyelids had finally closed…
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(Sakura's Dream and Her Point of View)
It was very quiet. No sound existed in this world I was in. I could not speak… or maybe I just could not hear… either one would have fit. I enjoy silence and prefer it, but I was in the hospital standing in the middle of the hall with a countless amount of people around. The hall was crowded and I was squished between a woman and a man, but I still stood there unmoving as everyone around me was running this way and that.
I watched everyone run. I observed. No one seemed to be upset, mad or sad. Why would someone run in a hospital? No one here was a doctor. Just ordinary people…
"Haruno!" I heard a voice calling out my name. I didn't move. "Haruno, you have a patient in 108." It was the same voice, and this voice was referring to room 108. Room 108 was the eighth room down on the first floor. I turned to my left, and right in front of me was the room. I was not at all surprised at this as I turned the doorknob and entered the room.
The room was normally lit, not dark, but not too bright. Upon my entrance, I was met with a man who greeted me and told me of his daughter's condition. His daughter was currently sitting on the bed in the middle of the room. She simply had a broken arm. All I had to do was fix it, which would take me all of one minute, possibly less.
I walked over to the little girl who had to have been no more than ten, and I smiled at her. She didn't smile back, but I blamed the pain in her arm to be the reason why she didn't. She lowered her gaze to her arm and her blonde hair covered her face. As I healed her arm, I tried making small talk so she could get her mind off the pain. I asked her her name and she answered, "Sakura."
"Hm?" I thought I had heard her wrong.
"My name is Sakura," she repeated in a whispered voice.
I stared at the little girl and said, "Really? Wow, that's my name, too." Then I smiled again when I finished her arm, but she still would not smile back or even look at me. She yanked her arm away from my hold, and she bounced off the bed to reach her father.
"Let's go home, Daddy," she said as she pulled on her father's hand, "I don't wanna be here anymore…" And then the two of them slowly faded away and I was suddenly in a new room.
The new room seemed familiar. Well, obviously, I thought, I've been in every room in this hospital… but still, this room seems…
I heard the sound of a door opening, and I turned around to see who came in. I gasped. My eyes widened and I stepped back. "M-Mrs. Y-Ya-Yama-sh-shita…"
"Dr. Haruno," she narrowed her eyes and then smirked, "It's been a while. I'm glad you came…"
"I-I uh…" I mumbled, not knowing how to respond to her malicious voice. Each step she took to get closer to me, I stepped away from her. I didn't know why she was here, or why she was slowly making her way toward me, or why she had that awful look on her face; I was not completely sure of it, but I could make a pretty good guess. Revenge. She wanted revenge. I had killed her son. What more reason could she possibly need?
The older woman looked very calm, she did a very good job composing herself. Her façade would have been perfect if not for the evil twist in her smile, the wicked look in her eyes, and the venomous aura that surrounded her. But even with these vicious features, Mrs. Yamashita was still calm. She may have been on the verge of attacking me, but she seemed relaxed. It was as if she knew that she had nothing to worry about; everything would all work out in her favor; there was no reason for her to worry. It seemed as if Mrs. Yamashita had had a glimpse of the future and she already knew the outcome. Maybe she knew something that I didn't.
"Dr. Haruno, I'm sure you remember me."
I nodded my head, unable to voice words. Mrs. Yamashita smiled her evil smile again as she stared at something behind me. I didn't dare look back as I heard light footsteps coming from behind. I closed my eyes and waited for something to happen. When the footsteps stopped, it was silent and I opened my eyes. Looking down, I was met with true blue eyes, beautiful eyes that I have never seemed to notice before. They were the eyes of that little girl I met earlier, Sakura.
Mrs. Yamashita walked up to the girl and put her hand on the child's shoulder and said addressing me, "I believe you know Sakura, my niece. She was very good friends with my son. But obviously you wouldn't know that."
"Um…"
The little girl, Sakura, looked up, facing me, and she stared at my face. "You couldn't do it," she said in a monotone.
I was afraid to ask, but I said it anyway, "Do what?"
"What you said you would do."
"And what was that?"
"Save others."
"…"
The little girl shrugged out of Mrs. Yamashita's hold and took one step forward, making her as close to me as possible. With her head still raised high and her blue eyes staring into mine, she continued to say, "You said that you didn't want to be weak anymore…" And then her eyes flickered. They flickered with an emerald hue, and then they slowly morphed into that color. The little girl continued, "You said that you wanted to be strong…" And scarily enough, her hair turned pink! "You said that you didn't want to be a burden…" And the next thing that came out of that little girl's mouth was said in not her voice, but mine! "You said that you would help others!"
I staggered back, completely freaked out by the situation. I kept walking backward as this little girl transformed into a younger version of me. Her face rounded out and her skin became paler. The red ribbon that held up her bangs was the cherry on top.
My eyes darted from the little girl to Mrs. Yamashita and then back to the girl. Everything was so confusing. This little girl… was she me? Was she the voice in my head that always told me to get stronger so I could be able to help rather than get in the way? Was she here to tell me that….
"You!" She pointed her small finger at me. "You're the reason why Kioshi is dead! Sure, you can fix a useless broken arm, but when it comes down to it… when it really matters… when it's either life or death, you are the useless one!" She paused, narrowed her eyes, and with a disgusted look on her face, she said, "It's always been that way… always. You think you changed, but you haven't! It's all a lie!" Then the little girl that looked like a ten-year-old version of myself, started changing again. She grew taller and her hair longer, and her body slowly began to take the shape of an eighteen-year-old woman. Now she was identical to me. She was me. As she spoke, I felt like I was having an argument with myself, and maybe that was the whole point. To contradict myself. To argue with myself. To say things that I never said and get them out in the open…
The replica of myself put her hands on my shoulder and held me with a tight grip. With her sour voice, and green eyes staring into mine, she said, "It's horrible when your always burden to others, when you can't help no matter how hard you try. But you know what's worse than not being able to help those who are close to you? Hm? Do you know? Of course not!" My twin laughed in my face and smirked.
"What?" I asked. "What! What is it!"
The other me stopped laughing and all expression and emotion was wiped from her face. Her eyes stared dully at my scared eyes and she said, "What's worse than not be able to help your friends is…" Then she whispered into my ear, "is… not being able to help yourself."
She stepped back, let go of my shoulders and with a satisfied look on her face, she reminded me of what had happened to me. She told me about how easily I let Itachi get to me. How I was too weak to defend myself. Too weak to take care of myself. "You're a hazard to yourself, Sakura. You're better off… better off… dead."
She snapped her fingers and I was no longer in the hospital. Now, I was in the exact same training field where I had been when Itachi attacked. I almost expected him to be there, but he wasn't, instead, there was not-so-mini me. She stood in the center of the field and I was about twenty yards away from the evil clone. Her head was looking up at the night sky. It was pitch black with no stars to lighten up the sky. But I was wrong. Actually, there were five stars up in the sky; they seemed as if they belonged together. Maybe they formed a constellation.
"Queprur," I heard the other Sakura say.
"What""
She smirked. "You don't know who Queprur is?" I shook my head. "Oh, well, she represents the scythe. She is my favorite goddess. She is…" And then the ground started rumbling and the rock that supported the ground started crumbling away. This continued until I was on my own little island, surrounded by black nothingness. If I lost my balance, then I would fall into the dark, endless pit below.
I had been so focused on watching the earth crumble, that I had forgotten about the other me, let alone what she had been saying. That is, I had forgotten until she was suddenly in front of me, standing on the small island that was big enough for only one person.
Right into my face she said, "…the goddess of death." The word resounded in my ears and it kept repeating itself over and over again. Death… Death…
My body started tingling and then it turned completely numb. My throat felt clogged, like my windpipe was slowly closing, allowing no air to pass through. Not being able to breathe… it's one of the scariest things you can experience. It's like you can already imagine your death. Suffocating. A painful death; the worst way to leave this world.
My body was still numb, but it was somehow changing… I lifted up my hand and to my horror, I realized that I was morphing into something… well, someone. My small, slender hands grew larger and rough with dark colored nail polish. My body grew taller and my hair started shrinking as it changed from pink to black. My eyes widened and I realized who I was. I was my worst nightmare. I was Itachi…
I screamed as my heart raced. How could I be him!? How can this be happening!? I'm…I'm… I'm Itachi… Everything was just so wrong and screwed up.
I remembered what the other Sakura had said to me earlier, "You're a hazard to yourself, Sakura." I had always thought that Itachi was the hazard, and now, now that I am him, I am the hazard. I really am a hazard to myself…
I lifted my horrible hands to stare at them, and when I put them down to uncover my face, I saw myself, well, the other evil me, anyway. She still looked like the original me. She still had pink hair and green eyes… but I was turned into this monster… this terrible person…
I screamed and kept screaming, but there was no one there to help me. I am in a place where I have no control over what happens. My other self is in charge of this universe, and I am simply here as entertainment.
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(Third Person Point of View)
Kakashi, already done visiting the dead friends, made his way back along the peaceful street. All seemed quiet as he strolled on, taking large but slow strides. He had wanted to check on his pink-haired teammate, but he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Kakashi didn't want Sakura to think that he thought she was incapable of taking care of herself because she most surely was, but still, he needed to make sure with his own eyes that she was okay. He was also curious to know as to what she would be doing at this time of night. Was she reading a book? Was she watching television? Or maybe she was in blissful sleep…
All he planned to do was sneak a peak in her window, check to make sure everything was in order, and go on his merry way home. That is what he planned to do. As he finally reached Sakura's street, he grew anxious, praying to whom ever the higher power was, that everything would be all right. Sakura was under enough stress and if something else had gone wrong after her incident with Itachi, she just might lose it.
Kakashi continued walking and when he could spot out her house in the darkness, he heard a faint noise. He couldn't quite identify it, and he did not know where it came from, but as he neared Sakura's house, it got louder. And then he knew. He knew where that noise was coming from, and he was able to define the noise as a scream. The second he figured this out, he ran at a speed faster than his maximum. All he could say was, "Shit."
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Authoress's Note: Just out of curiosity, so far, what is your favorite chapter? It would make me very happy if you leave your answer in a review or send me a message. Plus, I am very sorry about the EXTREMELY late update. I'm a procrastinator. Sorry… I'll try to make it faster next time…