Two chapters to make up for such a long wait! Will update soon.
-Chapter 11: Discernment
With just enough space to move her arm, Sakura did a simple but forceful hit into the abdomen on the lifeless thing holding her, shattering it into pieces as it blew away behind her. The man glared, eyes narrowing.
"Interesting." He spoke, tilting his head to the side.
"I told you a while back I was going to kill you." Sakura said, pulling out fingerless gloves from her pocket, slipping them on with assurance. Sasori scoffed.
"I am Sasori of the Red Sand. It won't be some walk in the park, flower." He smirked coolly. Sakura dodged a sweeping kick with hop in the air, following it with a kick to his face as hard as he cwould, throwing him back with force that he smashed through two walls and skidded across the floor.
Slowly, he stood as Sakura walked over to him.
'That strength.' Sasori's thoughts started, eyes staring at her walking towards him with that glare in her eyes.
Sakura's eyes widened as another puppet grabbed her, the puppet's arms began opening into thorns and spines. She glared, elbowing it to break it into tiny pieces, all the while, glaring down at the man she had been so submissive to for two months. No longer, she promised. She would no longer allow this bastard to take in her chakra to continue living. He had destroyed that path a long time ago anyway.
They had shared a lot back and forth and she had had enough of him. She would see him answer for absolutely everything he had done.
"You do know that I am a descendent of one of you right? I'm human yes, but...my grandmother Chiyo I'm sure you're familiar with." He spoke with a chuckle. He stood running a hand through his maroon red hair. Sakura's forest green eyes glared.
"Even now you reek of her." He glared, the statement stoic and deadpan.
"Being a descendent of one's kind doesn't make you impervious to judgment. Birth right means nothing on Earth other than to humans. You have no right to call yourself one of Mother." Sakura growled, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Sasori laughed.
"Judgment? Is that what you're calling this? You're calling this judgment?" He questioned amused.
"You're damn right I am!" She yelled, her eyes flashing white for a moment. A maroon eyebrow was raised with a smirk.
"You have murdered innocents and destroyed lives, both of Mother and Humanity. I was once scared of people like you. Of people like Kabuto, but now, I don't give a damn. I will punish all those who see fit to hurt others, everyone who threatens everyone I care for! Everyone will be together in harmony, and if anyone opposes the peace I want to bring, then they will be judged by Mother herself!" She screamed, running at him with a fist covered in her green chakra.
"Sakura...I taught you everything you know. What makes you think you can defeat me for your precious 'judgment'?" Sasori smirked, dodging her hits with ease. Sakura gave her own smirk, back flipping away from a kick and getting into a defensive stance, one that made Sasori's fall into a frown of recognition.
If he didn't know any better, he would've said that smirk and style slightly mimicked a certain Uchiha fighter.
"Because...you didn't teach me everything I know. Just more so I could perfect it." The man's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" It was Sakura's turn to laugh.
"A flower...or any being of Mother has a chance and/or choice to be synced to a human." She clarified. The man's eyes darkened.
"In other words...you can say that the first person who found me synced with me...and everything she knows I know. Maybe even more. Maybe even better." Sakura shrugged smugly.
"With this body, I can see things; everything, and remember it. I can take in information for my use. Sort of like back before I became this and I could feel everything my brothers and sisters told me." She continued, standing full and tall.
"It took a long while to kick in. The sync process takes months or even years depending on the strength of both organisms and it took me a while to accurately try and copy the many movements Sasuke-kun and even you made. When you contacted me two months ago with that threat of yours, I had no choice but to simply wait until I learned all they had learned. Until I learned more from you, just as you said—you wanted to teach me." Sasori's eyes narrowed, this information he was getting obviously troubling him. He hadn't been expecting such developments. He hadn't known she was capable of such things.
"Can only a Sage can do this?" Sakura nodded at the question. Sasori's eyes glared, teeth gritting tightly.
"Then...you're synced to..." He trailed between his clenched dentals Sakura chuckled, taking out fingerless gloves and pulling them on.
"You're looking at the protégé of Lady Tsunade." Sakura proclaimed.
Sasuke ran out quickly, and looked in the distance to see smoke. Gaara flew by him, standing on levitating sand he was controlling with his mind.
"Gaara what was that?" Naruto asked looking up at the red head. Gaara shook his head.
"I don't know but it can't be good. Not to mention...from what I'm sensing...," Gaara hesitated, his eyes looking to Sasuke with worry making the Uchiha know already what it was the Sand Master was feeling.
"Sakura's there...isn't she." Sasuke growled. Gaara silently nodded after a moment of hesitation. Sasuke's eyes flashed red with the sharigan for just a moment, glaring in the smoky distance as crowds began to flood the streets in worry. As Gaara began to tell his people not to panic and to remain in their homes, Sasuke's hands began to clench into fist and he closed his eyes to try and calm himself. He however, couldn't help but feel angered, betrayed even. She swore she would be trustworthy, never to lie about her whereabouts, and to always tell him the truth.
"I'm going to Milana-Chan's bakery." She looked at him with that smile and it wasn't until now that he realized he couldn't tell the difference between her real smiles and her fake one. A before and after image came to his mind, of the old blissful Sakura, full of innocence smiling at absolutely nothing at all, and to the left, Sakura today, who had smiled at his face.
Both were the complete same. And he grew angry with himself as the ground shook again.
"We have to get over there!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke already began jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
'She lied to me. She fucking lied to me.' Sasuke thought in his mind.
"So this...this is Tsunade's power huh?" The man growled. Sakura stood glaring. She had pulled out fingerless gloves and ever since then, she had just been pounding away at him, having thrown and punched him through walls and into the floor without as much as breaking a sweat and while he had landed a few hits on her, they were nothing compared to the damage she did to him.
She cracked her neck and then her hands, letting them be engulfed in the green flame like essence of her chakra once more as she got back into a defensive position, this time, one that mimicked Tsunade almost perfectly. Her green eyes were calculating at ready. Determined. He glared.
"Don't feel so smug Sakura! I'm going to kill you! I don't care anymore about Akatsuki's wants!" He yelled, and from a puppet he was controlling, came thousands of poles, ready to impale her. Sakura stood in her spot, dodging only at the last minute, laying on the ground in a curvaceous way. They pulled away realizing they didn't get her, and Sakura ran at him with a growl.
"If I die, I die protecting those I love! And I'm taking you with me!" She screamed, and punched him square in the face. He landed, crashing through the wall of the old building they were in, covered in debris and smoke. Sakura took the time to think.
'First off...this building isn't going to hold out much longer...and his fighting style is different. He's not strong on close range combat, and uses puppets controlled with chakra strings to fight for him. If you can get passed the puppets, he's screwed. So my best bet would be to narrow his options and limit his bodyguards as much as possible. But how many does he have?' Sakura ended her thought process seeing her tormentor walk from the smoke. He glared at her with hatred and smirked.
"Well then Sakura..." He chuckled.
"If you won't cooperate anymore..." He waved his hand, and Sakura's eyes widened, as she dropped to her knees with a scream. She glared at him, blood falling from the corner of her lip, as her body felt engulfed with fire. She winced in pain, gripping at the ground.
"Don't you remember? We're entwined Sakura. I can control you. You took me in. I am you and you are me. We're practically lovers, hell; we're practically married. You would hurt your dear husband?" He chuckled walking towards her.
"I guess that's fair. As your husband, I would hurt you too and I would have a lot more fun with it." He said, a wicked grin stretching across his face as he took out a sword from somewhere in the sleeve of his red and black coat as it slid out and into his hand. Sakura glared, and knew there was only one thing to do in this situation.
"Consider this...our divorce." Sakura growled. What she began to do next made Sasori's face dropped from his smile to a shocked anger.
"No...you can't."
Sakura winced in pain and concentrated on the black flames of his chakra in her. Slowly, it began to ooze out her mouth, burning her insides just as it did when it entered having her gagging and wincing in pain. It hurt even more now than it did coming in. Sakura shook with pain and the man ran at her.
"Stop it!" He screamed and Sakura was kicked in the face, an error to both herself and to her attacker. The flames already out of her, rushed back to him, burning him in a way it wasn't supposed to. He screamed, grabbing his face in instinct. For Sakura, whatever had not left her mouth completely shot back down, burning her twice over painfully as she flew across the floor, skidding across it and grunting in pain. Shakily, Sakura stood with a beginning to bruise cheek.
'At least that got him to stop...' She thought, knowing she couldn't get rid of him fully for now. She panted, watching as Sasori had finally stopped screaming, and he glared at her with panting breaths.
"You pathetic, weak, ignorant, pest! You think you can just defeat me? I am Sasori of the Red Sand! You will not defeat me!" He screamed as she ran. Sakura's eyes narrowed, as she clenched her fist, and Sasori ran at her.
"Sakura!" He screamed.
"Take this Sasori!" She screamed and Sakura jumped into the air, aiming a punch down at him filled with chakra and he aimed his own hit at her. The power from the two created a shockwave as their blows met, and the entire building began to collapse.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the scene before him. As that building simply blew apart and began to collapse like a pancake, he could only stare at it wide eyed, whispering no over and over again. Sakura could not have been there...she...she couldn't be there. Sakura had better not be there. She had to be alive.
"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto screamed, and Gaara stared down rather calm.
"She's still alive." He told them.
Sasuke took that as his cue to get in there and get really pissed.
Sakura slowly stood, moving a large part of the building that had fallen on her. She shook her head, looking ahead to see a puppet helping Sasori up. Her green eyes narrowed with seriousness, and Sasori glared at her with an anger unmatched to any angry look Sasuke had ever gave her.
"You know Sakura...I don't usually lose my cool like this...," He spoke as if she was an old friend. Sakura stared at him, and Sasori looked her up and down.
She wore a now tattered tank top the color of crimson red, and a black short jacket. She wore shorts and a black skirt split in two at the hips, her two inch heeled boots adorning her feet. And of course, there were the fingerless gloves on her hands.
He swore he was going to break them. He was going to break every last bone in her body, keep her alive and then she was really going to suffer.
Sakura took the time to observe him as well. He had long thrown away the cape and now revealed his red and black long coat, the red being in the shapes of clouds. The coat was closed so she had no idea what was underneath, not that it mattered much to her at all.
To Sakura...she only saw a monster.
"I don't like being pissed off. Me pissed off is the last thing anyone who's worked under me has ever wanted...and now you've really, really pissed me off." Sakura listened to him, beginning to twirl her stolen dagger in her hand.
"I'm going to end you Sakura. I hope you understand this. Who cares if the world will plunge into chaos afterward? I sure as hell don't." He growled. Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
He didn't answer. With the wave of his hand, the main puppet who had attacked her with thousands of impaling poles, turned into thousands of puppets. Sakura was completely surrounded and she looked at Sasori through the small opening of bodies.
"Mother's Final Flower...you shall die! Besides! It'll be fun!" He growled, and pointed at her. With this silent command they began to close in and Sakura glared. Dodging one with a flip in the air, she kicked one in the face, grabbing one by his hair, and punching him, and grabbing another with her legs and slamming him into another. She chuckled. For the moment, she was actually kind of having fun.
"Sakura-Chan!" She heard, and glanced only for a moment to see Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara hovering above on Gaara's sand disk. Sakura's eyes widened seeing them before she jumped up, to dodge hundreds of landing swords that would have impaled her, summoned by Sasori. She couldn't help but slightly giggle hearing Sasuke beginning to scream at Naruto to not distract her like that. In the air, she smirked looking down at the puppets below. Unwittingly, Sasori's rash and brash attempt to end her there had his little weapons vulnerable. They were all stuck, whether they had been impaled themselves, or even caught by the fabrics of their clothing. With that she used her own chakra strings to pull her back down and bullet dived towards them, fist raised and punching into the ground, the entire place breaking apart with her power. The puppets were all blown away, either impaled, broken, or taken care of by Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara.
Sakura started running at Sasori, dodging any others who may have gotten away from Gaara and the others. She took out her still bloody dagger glaring.
"Eat this!" She screamed and she shoved it into his stomach. Her eyes widened when he had no pain like before. He smirked at her, and Sakura looked into his laughing eyes. She watched as he laughed in her face, and he back smacked her to fly into the opposite final standing wall.
"Sakura!" Sasuke screamed in a fury, and jumped towards her. Grabbing her hand as she stood slightly weakly, he checked her briefly as she kept her eyes and glared at Sasori.
"Sakura you have a lot of explaining to do later." Sasuke growled. She nodded.
"Now's not the time." She whispered.
"Well, well Sakura…just who is this? Oh, wait, I know…" Sasori said sinisterly, a matching smile plastering his face to go along with it. Sakura's eyes widened. She looked to Sasuke.
"Get out of here Sasuke-kun!" She suddenly yelled. Sasuke glared.
"You're an idiot if you think as your protector I'm leaving you in battle." Sasuke scowled.
"Please Sasuke-kun trust me!" She said.
"You lost the right to say that." Her eyes widened at his harsh words. She stared at him, her green eyes welding with tears to their brims, as Sasuke's sharigan activated and he glared down Sasori. Sakura looked down to the floor.
"The first rule I ever gave you...or one of them at least...was to stay behind in the midst of battle. You were suppose to leave everything to me." Sasuke seethed between gritted teeth, his voice filled with anger and he was beyond livid, beyond furious.
Worse…he was betrayed. She felt it.
"I told you I was sorry...," She whispered.
"I'm sorry again Sasuke-kun." She whispered. Just as Sasuke took a step forward he was punched to the side, flying into a mechanical crane before falling unconscious on the ground. Sakura closed her eyes whispering a small 'forgive me' and focused on her attention to Sasori. Her eyes widened at what she saw.
He had taken off his jacket and beneath it, his body was but a puppet.
"It's been a while since I've had to resort to this." He whispered. She looked to see something at the center of his chest, and noticed it was bleeding. Had that been where she stabbed him first?
"Y-You…and you claim to be a child of Mother." She glared, teeth gritting together in anger.
"I would've guessed that you'd like this Sakura." He smirked.
"My body is made of the wood of your brethren." He stated, chuckling. Tears filled into Sakura's eyes, as if already knowing; already realizing that it was her brothers and sisters.
If that was the case...
"Sakura...this is your end." He yelled and from his back came out metallic razor sharp blades, spinning at the speed of helicopter blades, he flew towards her, and Sakura ran at him. They dodged and kicked at each other and Sakura was cut of her cheek, as she had managed to keep him away from Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara. Sasuke remained unconscious.
Sakura ran again, sliding under Sasori, and with the speed of light on her side, she grabbed his bladed wings from the cords that extended from inside him. She panted, and pulled at him making him squirm until Sakura had him lifted, swinging him around with determination. That thing in the middle of his chest had to be taken out, and with that, she pulled him in with a speed unmatched by too many cars.
"Fuck you!" She screamed, and her chakra infused fist clashed into his stomach. Sasori lost all air, as the small round cylinder left his chest, and separated from it, he was thrown across into the ground. Sakura panted, watching as Sasori's body broke apart and she narrowed her eyes, not understanding something.
Why hadn't Sasori's life force left her yet?
Her eyes widened, and she dropped to her knees. She coughed up blood, and soon, the fire that was Sasori's life force. She glared.
"No..." She cried.
Sasori walked, the cylinder falling back into the hole in his chest.
"What the hell!" Naruto screamed, as Sasuke finally stood slowly. Sasori instantly turned to see the Uchiha, and with a sword in hand, dashed at him with Gaara and Naruto unprepared. Sasuke's eyes widened having just woken up from unconsciousness and unprepared entirely for the attack and Sakura screamed.
Time stood still.
"S-Sakura..." Sasuke whispered. She coughed, paining herself as she took in a breath. She stood in front of him, taking the blow of Sasori's thrust, the blade stabbing clean through her, and dripping with her blood, only a centimeter away from Sasuke, and held in its place by Sakura's cut and bleeding hands. The dust from beneath her feet subsided, having had kicked up when she slid to stop Sasori's inhuman blow. Sasuke's eyes stared at her wide with fear and no comprehension of why she had done what she had just done.
She turned her head just slightly, to look and see if he was okay, and gave a weak smile when she saw he was. She grinned, laughing painfully.
"No matter. As you lay dying, so will he. So will Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara." Sasori growled. Sakura chuckled.
"What are you laughing a-" Sasori stopped, his eyes wide with pain, as he looked down, and a sword was shoved deep into his cylinder. Two specific puppets belong to him held the sword in place, blue chakra lines controlling them. Sakura smiled.
"E-Even…Chiyo…will have you answer…for your crimes." She said in between breaths, as Sasori saw from her open wound the blue chakra that was controlling his puppets. His eyes widened, looking at his pierced chest.
"Chiyo Baa-Chan…" He growled. He looked into Sakura's eyes.
"Y-you...you bitch." He whispered.
Harshly Sasori pulled the sword out from her, making Sakura's eyes go wide, with a whimper of lost air. She stared at nothing in particular, as Sasori fell to the floor, and her eyes began to flutter before falling back.
She fell back into Sasuke's awaiting arms, listening to his muffled screams, and seeing his worried lips quiver. She smiled, weakly, and caressed his face, making him stop, and from Sasori's now dead body, a green mist spewed from his mouth, flying graciously over to the man she was touching.
Then everything went black.
Sakura moaned quietly, eyes opening slowly as she looked up to a white ceiling. Her mind felt blurred her vision a bit foggy as they adjusted to the light.
"W-Where…" She started, only for panicked blue eyes to rush into her view.
"SHE'S AWAKE! Sakura-Chan! Thank God!" He yelled excitedly, grabbing her and hugging her, only for a shockwave of pain to flood her body. She winced painfully, causing the blond to let go of her in worry. After inspection, he sighed in relief and slowly she sat up, looking around the room. They were in Gaara's office and she laid on the desk of his room. Her abdomen was bandaged along with her hands. Surrounding her, were Gaara, Naruto and of course, Sasuke who actually stood a bit further away, against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
His charcoal onyx orbs glared at her.
Naruto and Gaara finished whispering something, before standing together.
"We'll be back…" Gaara excused lamely. Naruto walked out along with the man, only leaving the protector alone with the flower he was suppose to keep safe. She had thrown a wrench into his side, breaking all three rules they had mandated at day one in one go, on top of lying to him with a straight face as well as stealing one of his weapons. She wouldn't be surprised if this was the last time she ever saw him again. She would understand fully and she was not going to ask him to hear her out or excuses. It was sure to make him all the angrier anyway. To think, he had told her just three months ago that she was not a burden.
As far as she was concerned, she had given him nothing but trouble.
"Sasuke-kun…" She didn't know why she tried. He remained, staring at her from his place against the wall, the look in his eyes one she could not read at all. She could say they were angry, but she could also say they were disappointed. Stern and irritated, she could say he was also calmed and relieved. Sasuke kicked off the wall, unfolding his arms from their place across his chest.
"Save it." He growled, walking up to her as she flipped her legs over as though to stand. She thought he was about to yell at her, Hell, at this point she wouldn't be surprised if he hit her and for a moment as he drew near, she waited for it.
She was instead, smashed into a tight, strong embrace.
Her eyes widened. Sasuke held her tightly, gripping her as though he had indeed lost her and she had just been found after years of searching. Slowly but surely, her eyes welled with tears as she realized what this hug was for, other than being completely worried about her wellbeing.
This hug…was for the long one month she had spent fighting. He knew her side, had somehow found out about everything she had been through in the last month and this was his way of telling her it was over. They pulled away, he, wiping away a strand of hair away from her face.
"Don't you ever, ever do that again. Ever." He said to her lowly. He looked into her eyes.
"Give me your honest word Sakura. You will never, ever do that again." He commanded. He had spent a long, long while thinking about the face that smiled at him and the face that smiled and lied to him and there was one thing he noticed between the two smiles and realized one thing that she didn't do that she always did. She didn't look him in the eye. She always did. She always had, at least when telling him anything and everything that was true.
Tears welded in her jade green eyes and she nodded. With green eyes staring into onyx, her mouth parted.
"I will never, ever do that again." She whispered.
"You will come to me with anything and everything that happens to you when I'm not around." He said.
"I will come to you with anything and everything that happens to me when you're not around." She cried, lowly, already sniffing. Tears were already cascading down her face.
"You will not talk to or go with anyone, anywhere, without my say so."
"I will not talk or go with anyone, anywhere, without your say so." She brought up her hands to wipe away her tears, but Sasuke beat her to it. Gently he caressed away her tears, just like he used to. Just like he had done before.
"You will not participate in battle…unless it is needed."
"I will not participate in battle unless it's needed."
"You will remain at my side and in my sights as much as possible."
"I will remain at your side and in your sight as much as possible." She sobbed, tears spewing from her eyes as she embraced him with her final promise. He held her, staring down at her solemnly. This had been his fault. In his negligence, no; in his ignorance and his negligence, he had put her into harms away. Not feeling she could come to him, she merely did what she could do…
"Sakura! SAKURA!" He screamed at her as closed her eyes. His eyes widened, looking at the green essence flying towards him as it dived down to her wound.
"GAARA!" Sasuke screamed, snapping between the red haired sand master and the flower in his arms. The said man ran over, dropping in front of Sasuke and Sakura and inspecting her instantly with his eyes. He took her hand as if checking for a pulse.
"The outside chakra is hers, it's healing her. But there's something wrong. Something's inside her. We need to get her to my office." Gaara said urgently, standing with Sasuke who carried Sakura bridal style. The three ran as fast as they possibly could.
The doors bashed open.
"Put her on the table!" Gaara commanded urgently. Sasuke moved instantaneously as Naruto cleared the desk of all papers and whatnot onto the floor with a sweep of his arm. Sakura was placed limply onto the desk. The Sand Ruler walked over to her hastily, Sasuke across from him right at Sakura's side. Sand flowed with the rise of his hands and as he placed a hand over where Sakura's heart would be. His eyes widened. Upon seeing the look on his face, Sasuke glared.
"What's wrong! What is it?!" Sasuke growled.
"She's entwined. That bastard infused his chakra into hers!" Sasuke glared.
"What the hell does that mean?" Sasuke questioned dangerously, as Gaara walked over to a cabinet, taking out a small vial and opening it.
"If I read one of your reports right before, Chiyo let her chakra flow into her right? That's called entwining. It can add to the lifespan." Gaara spoke as he lifted Sakura's head gently.
"In short terms for this case, it was used to be one with her. Everything she felt, did, even thought, it was shared with Sasori. It is called Entwining when one syncs like this with a being of Mother. It's meant to preserve, to do what we call Syncing and worse, in this case…" Gaara continued as he emptied the contents of the vial into Sakura's mouth.
"To stay alive. So long as the thing that is entwined lives, Sakura in this case…"
"He'll stay alive also." Sasuke growled. Sakura suddenly shook violently, trembling at first before going into an all out seizure.
"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled in panic. Gaara grabbed his shoulder.
"Let it be! It has to get out!" He yelled and as if on cue Sakura gagged, eyes snapping open as from her mouth came the black flames she had consumed. As it came, Gaara's sand grabbed at every last bit of it until it was all out. For five long minutes it seeped from her throat, while she painfully gagged, arching and shaking her eyes wide and dilated with pain. When it was finally complete, he closed his hands into fist, and the sand disintegrated completely with the chakra. Sakura fell back, eyes closing instantly as she returned into the dark realms of unconsciousness.
"She should be fine now. It'll only be a matter of time." Gaara said, Sasuke glared.
"Now what?"
"Now to check on the damage he's done."
The sand glowed, circling as even more joined it until it was a giant, glowing sphere, rising into the air and flickering with an occurring image as Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara watched.
The image came in, Sakura sitting on the fountain, gently caressing the water with her finger.
Footsteps brought her from her thoughts. She propped up, her vibrant emerald green orbs looking around her, suddenly in fear. Sasuke wasn't here. Naruto wasn't here. Should she leave?
"W-Who…Who goes there?" She yelled, standing and looking to a figure headed towards her. She could only see a smile.
"Dearest flower…I do not mean you harm. Only to hear your beautiful song." He said. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed.
"I-I…I have to go." She said, stepping away, only for the man to be directly in front of the way she was going. She jumped and looked up at him, eyes wide with fear.
"Poor, gentle flower, fragile thing.
You were suppose to have bloomed by spring.
But coddled and loved its only a matter of time,
Death awaits this summertime."
He ended his poem, her eyes wide with tears. Death?
"W-What do you mean? H-How?"
"Everyone in Suna dear flower, they will all die." She gasped at his revelation to her. He leaned into her ear.
"Unless, you listen to me."
Sasuke glared. "Sasori…" He growled in hatred.
"He's dead now, Sasuke."
"I should've been the one to kill him." Sasuke started quietly.
Sakura looked at the hooded man, freezing.
"W-What will you have me do?" She asked quietly, green eyes looking down with both fear and helplessness. The man's hand reached to caress her face.
"I will teach you."
The image shifted in the grains of sand. This time when it focused, they danced in the moonlight, a silent waltz unaccompanied by music at all and suddenly they stopped, a colossal hand caressing her face tenderly. They leaned in.
Sasuke's teeth gritted tightly. It was angering seeing Sasori touch her like that. As their lips were brought in; a few inches, an inch a centimenter, Sasuke's eyes got angrier and angrier, his jaw tightening and fist clenching at his sides deeper and tigheter.
Just as their lips were going to touch, black flames entered from Sasori's into Sakura's. Her eyes snapped wide open, widening in pain as she thrashed away, dropping to the floor screaming. She grabbed at her throat, as if she was painfully struggling with air, but no, this was worse. This was something else that couldn't be explained.
Tears fell down her face, her hair falling onto the ground beneath her as her head hung over in her weakening. Sasori chuckled.
"Now now, if you can't handle this, how will you ever hope to protect Suna? How can you hope to protect Milana-Chan? Naruto? Humanity? Or…who is it? The one most important to you?" Sasori said cynically as he crouched beside her. Her head lifted just a bit at the mention of the one most important to her. She looked over at him. He looked at her from a tilted head.
"I believe his name was Sasuke-kun?" He grinned and Sakura's eyes widened even more. Watching this, Sasuke's eyes widened himself. The one most important to her…was him? She cared for him the most?
"How can you hope to protect him at all? He'll die and it'll be all your fault, poor little flower." Sakura listened to his words. Her teeth gritted and with her hands digging into fist, she slowly but surely stood.
"I…I will…protect him!" She yelled defiantly. Sasuke glared at her, not in the flashback but lsleeping on the desk. Idiot. She was a complete idiot. She was not supposed to protect him, he was supposed to protect her and where she got the idea that he needed any kind of protecting was lost to him. He looked up to the image in the sands.
"I-I…I-I!" She gasped dropping to her knees, screaming lightly and grabbing at her heart.
"I just remembered. You might as well see what will happen to him if you continue to be a weak little flower, another lesson of this world that I should teach you." Sakura looked up panting, gripping at her heart.
"Watch. Watch every day, as I kill him in a million ways." He said grinning, when Sakura started screaming gripping at her head.
"NO! NO! STOP! STOP IT!" She screamed over and over.
The image changed again, this time, over and over, all it showed was the many ways Sasuke and Naruto, as well as everyone could die, Sakura in the center of it all crying as she tried not to listen or watch. Everything from blood and gore to even just brutal beatings that didn't stop until they were lifeless, she was forced to watch. If she closed her eyes, black flames lined her lids and forced them open. If she tried to cover her ears her hands were bound.
It all happened, as she walked down the street, a blank stare in her eyes, that same blank stare with coldness that Naruto, Sasuke and even Milana had all been greeted with from her. Her pain and anger lashed out at the real and living rather than the images in her mind like she thought.
Sasuke had instantly been reminded of when she had
"Don't listen. Don't listen, don't listen. Don't listen Sakura. Don't. Listen. Anymore!" She cried over and over, rocking back and forth. Black flames grabbed her, lifting her to her feet and binding her arms. Her head held towards a bloodied, beaten Sasuke screaming mouthed words to her.
Run!
Run Sakura!
Run Sakura! RUN!
"STOP IT!" She screamed lengthily, left in darkness now. Silent tears of utter shock trailed down her face, as though she had just realized it wasn't real.
"Kill all the humans Sakura. Kill them all yourself and this won't need to happen." Sasori whispered into her ear.
"N-No…" She growled. Her head lifted, green eyes once lively and vivacious, steeled into cold, hateful orbs.
"I just need to kill you." She said between gritted teeth. Sasori chuckled.
"You can try and you will fail."
Sasuke stared down at her. For a month straight, everyday, she had been living a nightmare, watching everyone she cared for be killed in some shape or form every day. Day in and day out she had to bear witness of something so traumatizing.
It had happened to him with his entire family and he still had nightmares about it.
"Sakura…" He called to her. She brought up only her eyes from her downward facing head, tears still adorning her cheeks. He wiped them away.
"We are leaving Suna tomorrow. After we find shelter, your training begins." He said, having finished caressing away her tears and turning. Her eyes widened. Even after all of this? Breaking his laws and regulations, not listening and downright being a pain in the ass and yet, he was still going to remain by her side?
Then another question hit her mind. Training?
"Training?" She questioned. Sasuke stopped walking, remaining silent in hestitation before speaking.
"You…showed potential…fighting Sasori." He said quietly. He turned his head to give her a view of his profile, his onyx eye looking to her for a reaction, which while he was hoping for one that spoke of fear and regret he instead got one of surprise and slight gratification at his comment. He looked away, sighing. Of course she would want to try something new.
One thing that hadn't changed from day one was her willingness to experience the world. He now supposed it wasn't such a bad thing...somewhat. However, either way, he had misjudged her. In the earliest days of his assignment with her, he had simply in mind two things, the first being to protect a gentle, fragile flower who knew nothing of the dangers of the human world and the second; to ensure the well being of a gentle, fragile flower placed artificially into a human body and into the human world. With a lack of discernment, he had only thought of those two tasks, rather than the many others he should've truly acted upon.
Such as teaching her about the world.
He should've brought many things up to her attention. If she had learned more with him, if he had taught her the things he knew and the things she needed to know when it came to her survival, maybe they wouldn't have ended up here...or earlier when she had taken that blow for him.
The memory reaching his mind made him frown, eyes lowering into unknown sadness and affliction.
"Naruto has gone off back to Konoha to fetch our old teacher. Until they catch up with us, I am going to personally train you to hone your fighting skills more than just you remembering through what you've seen and knowing it through your synchronization with Tsunade." Sasuke briefed. Sakura stared at his back, shocked.
"If you're going to fight…you may as well learn how to fight correctly." He said, closing his eyes in contemplation of his made decision. He hoped he was making a right one.
"But…I-I…" Sakura stammered, standing slowly.
"Let's go Sakura." Sasuke said ending all talking on the matter completely, turning to look at her just as he stopped at the office door. Sakura stared at him, eyes wide before warming and allowing a smile to grace her beautiful face. She walked to his side, grabbing his hand.
"Okay."
Next time on The Last Flower…
"So Akatsuki wants her too huh? But for what?"
"They've always had their agenda. We have to strike but we need more information."
"Sakura-Chan's only been around for four months and too much has happened. Are we just going to sit back and let them hit at us when they want and are prepared for it? Look at where that's gotten us!"
"Sasuke you're not being honest with her or yourself."
"Neither are you."
"Sasuke-kun…the truth is…"
"This world will end and I will bring its rebirth upon the blood of humans."
A.N; Hey guys. I just wanted to say thank you so much for your continued support. Ever since coming back, I've been flooded with messages of good will, encouragement and nothing but things that have inspired me to continue to try and be here for you guys. I'm so glad and honored to be able to have taken such a long break and still be able to receive such amazing support from both old and new reviewers alike and for this I truly do sincerely thank you all simply because I don't have the time to give you individual thanks. It is entirely appreciated and I hope you guys can continue to show me that love and support as we go along and I update both this story and my others. Thanks again so, so much!
-Yours Truly, Me! (Haha!)