Chapter XII – Aria

Tsukuyomi.

Sakura knew she was in trouble. She looked at her environs and saw she was trapped in an illusionary world. She was in a dense forest, full of tall, thick pine trees, completely unlike the true world.

Sakura did a hand seal.

Kai! she said to herself.

It was useless. She couldn't break free.

Tsukuyomi's used to cripple an opponent, Sakura thought. Why isn't Sasuke torturing me?

Sakura walked to a tree and touched it. All of her senses were in sync and eclipsed with the Genjutsu. She looked at the sky and was startled at what she saw. It was crimson. She turned north and felt a sinister chakra that paralyzed her. Biting her lower lip, she began to walk to the edge of the forest.

Sakura's eyes widened with shock and awe at what she saw: the forest ended in a sharp demarcation, but beyond was an endless crater as far as she could see. The earth was destroyed, cauterized, torn asunder like papier-mâché. The entrails of the earth—smoldering lava—flowed and ebbed across the ravaged terrain. The sky, red as blood, rained with heavy ash. Sakura covered her mouth. The air was dense, unbreathable. The heat unbearable. Her eyes followed the landscape and she saw a destroyed mountain range, and based on the markings, it looked like large claws had cleanly sliced through it.

What kind of battle took place? Sakura thought.

Sakura heard voices coming behind her. She turned around and saw Sasuke and his team walking along the edge of the forest.

"What the fuck's your problem!" Karin cried. "That was the last of our water!" She slapped Suigetsu hard across the face. His face didn't splash, but remained solid. Karin was parched. Suigetsu dehydrated. He was trying to conserve the little water he had. Jugo was sweating and uncomfortable. Sasuke walked unfazed.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke took hold of his katana's handle.

"We're close," he said.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

"What the fuck, man," Suigetsu continued. "We've been traveling for days now."

The team came across the large crater. Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin became quiet.

"What happened here?" Jugo asked.

Sasuke walked to Sakura and passed through her like if she was an apparition.

"A battle," Sasuke answered.

This is a memory, Sakura thought. Sasuke's memory. Why is he showing me this?

The team continued to walk along the forest. Sakura, hesitant at first, began to follow.

They walked and walked, until suddenly, Sakura heard the whimpering of a young woman. It was a soft voice. She was sure she recognized it, but she couldn't quite remember who it belonged to.

Sasuke's team stopped. The crying continued. Sakura walked right through.

There, standing a few meters away was Hinata Hyuga, crying, holding in her arms Naruto Uzumaki. He was lying on the floor in the middle of an ever-growing pool of blood. Sakura rushed to them. Kneeling next to Hinata, she immediately noticed what was wrong—Naruto's abdomen, the fox's seal, was broken. His whole stomach was wide open. The Nine-Tailed Fox had been released. And Naruto was now bleeding to death.

"No, no, no," Sakura cried. I must close the wound, she thought. I must close the seal—I know how to do it! I learned about seals with the Sacred Scroll of Sealing.

Sakura placed her hands above Naruto's abdomen and attempted to channel chakra, but it wouldn't work. What's wrong?! her mind raced.

"It's not going to work," she heard Sasuke whisper in her ear. She turned around, but Sasuke wasn't there. It was a disembodied voice.

"This already happened," Sasuke continued. "There's nothing you can do."

"Heal," Sakura said. She looked at her hands, concentrating on her chakra flow. She wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to let Naruto die. "Heal."

"It's useless. This is only an illusion—my illusion, my memory. You can't do anything."

"Heal."

"He's not real. This is just a projection of a past event."

"Heal."

Why wouldn't her healing jutsu work?

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried. "Please, Naruto-kun! Don't leave me! Please!" She furrowed her head into his shoulder. Naruto's slightly opened his eyes, encouraged by her voice. His eyes were dilated. He was weak. His life was leaving him. He feebly raised his hand and placed it on Hinata's head.

Hinata continued to weep.

"Heal," Sakura cried, eyesight blurred with tears.

"Now you know," Sasuke's overhead voice said, "what happened to your hero."

"I SAID HEAL, DAMN IT!" Sakura cried. Her hands began to glow in green chakra.

"What is this?" Sasuke's voice said, surprised. "You're overpowering Tsukuyomi! Impossible!"

Sakura had activated her medical jutsu, but beneath her hands, though she could clearly see Naruto's raw, open wound, his viscera, she felt nothing but empty space. There was no wound to heal, no blood to clot, no seal to close.

Sakura covered her face with her hands and wept.

She heard the heavy footsteps of Sasuke approaching. She looked up at him. Sharingan activated, Sasuke looked down at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes, though weak, focused on Sasuke.

"So this is how you keep your word?" Sasuke said.

Excruciating pain on his face, Naruto said, "I. Never. Go. Back. On. My. Word."

Sasuke narrowed his Sharingan eyes.

"Humph," he said.

Sasuke and his team began to walk away.

"What happened?" Karin said, walking up to Sasuke.

"Naruto just killed Madara," Sasuke replied. "He beat us to it."

Sakura looked back at Naruto, but everything around her was fading to black, like someone had turned the lights off in a theatre stage.

"No!" Sakura cried. "No! Naruto! Naruto!"

The whole world swirled, her body contorting like she was in an invisible roller coaster. She was suddenly on a road. She looked around her, and in the distance, she could clearly see the full moon and the Hokages' profiles carved on a mountain. She was in Konoha. It was night. Crickets were chirping. Suddenly, she saw her own self—many years younger, as a Genin—standing right before her. Sasuke was walking toward her.

What are you doing here so late at night? Sasuke said, pausing right before her. Just out for a stroll?

In order to leave this village, young Sakura replied, you have to take this road.

Sasuke began to walk around her.

Go home and sleep.

"Why did you bring me here?" Sakura cried. She didn't want to relive the memory again. "Take me back! What happened to Naruto?! Tell me! I want to see him!"

Young Sakura began to weep.

Why? young Sakura cried.

Like a movie, the memory continued to play.

Why won't you say anything to me? young Sakura demanded. Why do you shut everyone out? Why won't you tell me anything?

Why do I have to tell you? Sasuke retorted. He stopped walking away. I'm telling you that you meddle too much. Stop bothering me all the time.

Young Sakura looked down.

You always act like you hate me, Sasuke-kun, Sakura said. Do you remember? When we became Genin…

"Why are you showing me this?" Sakura cried up to the sky. "Why?"

"You once wanted to know what made me what I am," Sasuke's voice replied.

"Stop it," Sakura cried. "Stop it!"

Young Sakura stepped forward, tears in eyes. I have family and friends, Sakura cried out to Sasuke. But if you leave, for me…To me it's the same thing as being alone. I love you more than anything! If you are by my side, I will make sure that you will not regret it. I will make everyday more enjoyable, and you will be happy! I would do anything for you! That's why…I beg you! Please stay here! I will help you with your revenge! There must be something I can do! That's why…please, stay here with me…If that's not possible, please take me with you…

"This time," Sasuke's voice, coming from the sky, an omnipotent presence, said, "I'll take you with me."

The world began to reshape and reform again. Sakura saw a young Sasuke standing right before her. He was carried his school bag across his shoulder and was looking up at the full moon. She was in a part of Konoha she had never seen before, in a neighborhood that no longer existed. It was the Uchiha neighborhood. She had known of its existence as a child, but she had never been allowed to visit. Sasuke stood alone, in a desolate corridor. He was nervous, visibly afraid, uncertain of what was going on. His face contorted in horror as he came across dead bodies of the Uchiha. Sasuke ran. Sakura went after him. As he ran, he came across endless bodies of people. Some were stabbed with spears, others with blades. Sakura's heart beat rapidly, not because she was running, but because of the fear of seeing such devastating horror. Sasuke came to his house. He took off his shoes and wandered room by room, calling out to his parents. He then came to a door and was afraid to open it. He did. His parents were lying across the floor, dead. Blood was everywhere. Itachi Uchiha emerged from the shadows. He used the power of the Sharingan on Sasuke, and Sakura, who was standing next to Sasuke, felt the power of the illusion as well. She experienced with Sasuke the vision of Itachi killing everyone. One by one the Uchiha members fell. Sasuke screamed as Itachi murdered his Aunt and Uncle. Suddenly, they were in the room with Sasuke's parents. Itachi held his blade aloft, ready to strike.

"Stop!" Sakura screamed. She couldn't envision such horror anymore. She closed her eyes.

"Don't close your eyes!" Sasuke whispered in Sakura's ear. "I didn't."

Sakura's pupils dilated. She saw Itachi strike his own parents.

Sakura stood motionless. Tears ran down her face.

Sasuke let Sakura live everything he lived—Madara telling him of Konoha's origins; the planned coup de etat; Itachi as a double agent; his orders to kill his own clan; Danzo and the Elders complicit in the Uchiha massacre.

Sakura curled into a fetal position. She was amazed by all she saw and heard.

Sasuke appeared before her, as calm as ever, without a trace of emotion in his face.

"Konoha will burn to the ground," he told her. "Now you know why."

Sakura didn't respond. How could she respond?

"You once said that you would help me with my revenge. Tell me, what's your answer?"

Sakura thought for a while.

"No," she replied. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I can't."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sasuke said. "I'd thought you'd understand."

"I do, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, "I do. But you can't punish people for sins of the past, for sins they have nothing to do with."

Sasuke vanished.

Two large, red pupils appeared over the horizon. Everything—except for the eyes—turned black. Sakura was enveloped in darkness.

"Then I will make myself very plain," Sasuke said. "Heal me, or die."

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, looking up. "Sorry about everything. But I can't. I won't."

"I thought we could come to an agreement. I now see we can't."

Sakura saw visions flowing below her feet. They were her memories, those hidden in the most profound crevices of her subconsciousness. How was he accessing this? Sakura thought in horror.

"My Genjtsu reveals your deepest fears and secrets," Sasuke said.

Sakura tried to stop Sasuke from accessing her thoughts, but everything proved futile. She saw and relived the explosion that killed Choji and Ino. She saw the Jonin uprising against Danzo, their defeat, and their execution. Kakashi. Kurenai. Gai. Dead. She relived how Danzo used their friends as human shields and how her group of shinobi had no choice but to retreat. Danzo taunted her, calling her out. He suddenly emerged with a man and a woman. Each were at his sides.

"Mom! Dad!" Sakura screamed.

Danzo raised his blade. He beheaded Sakura's parents.

"AAAAHHHH!" Sakura screamed. She tried in vain to muffle her sobs by covering her mouth with her hands. She was hysterical. Broken. She felt actual physical pain, the greatest pain she had ever felt in her life. She rocked herself back and forth like a child seeking comfort.

Sasuke released his Genjutsu.

He looked down at her.

"He did that to your parents?" Sasuke asked. He cried tears of blood.

Sasuke collapsed in exhaustion. He had burned through most of his chakra. He fell in front of Sakura.

Sakura looked up, and for the first time since they had reencountered each other, they both looked into each other's eyes.

The stared at each other for a long time.

Sakura raised her hand. She channeled chakra to it. It began to glow. She slowly eased her hand in the middle of Sasuke's chest, above his sternum. Purple-black spots, like freckles, began to appear.

Sasuke was surprised.

"My disease," he said. "You're removing it. Why?"

"Because," Sakura said, "I loved you once." Her eyes looked into Sasuke's. "I still do. In spite of all your faults, or rather, precisely because of them. I grew up in such a mundane and ordinary home. My world was completely normal until I met you. I hoped to one day give you what I had—friendship, companionship, love, a sense of family—but now I see what I've always suspected and feared about you is undeniably true."

"And what is that?"

"That you and happiness are incompatible."

"Happiness…Peace…Love…they could all be knocking at your door, but you'd never let them in. You can't bear the vague possibility of being happy. Of letting yourself be consumed by it. But you do deserve happiness, Sasuke-kun, you do. If there's anyone that deserves it, it's you. Tell me, have you ever loved someone?"

Sasuke didn't reply.

"I see," Sakura said. "I have. Rather, I do. I have loved and been loved. You and Naruto. A world of a difference."

Sakura ran her hands across Sasuke's chest.

"Thank you for letting me know what happened to Naruto. In my mind and heart, he's alive and with me always."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. He let Sakura heal him.

"Come with me. Avenge your parents."

"No," Sakura said. "The past is the past. I've learned to put it behind me, and I've learned to reconcile myself with it. I don't dwell on it. What for? I live for the future and for its endless possibilities. That's why I was willing to challenge Danzo to be Hokage. Not for revenge. Revenge is futile. I learned that from Naruto: he let Pain live though Pain had killed Jiraya. But Naruto's gone now."

Sakura leaned in into Sasuke. She placed one hand on his sternum, and the other on the base of his back.

"This is going to hurt," she said. She began to extricate the disease from his tissues. The process was intense.

Sasuke collapsed into Sakura's arms.

"To think," Sakura said, "I've held you like this so many times."

She thought about the time during the battle with Haku, when she thought Sasuke was dead, how she had embraced his body. She thought about the time in the Forest of Death, after Orochimaru had given Sasuke the Cursed Seal and she was left alone to fend for them both. His confrontation with Lee and how he had fallen and she had run out to capture him. And now she had him in an embrace once again. He didn't protest. It felt so good to have him close.

"I'm completely vulnerable," Sasuke said. "I can't move. If you're going to kill me, you better do it now. Because if you don't, you may live to regret it."

"How can you say such a thing?" Sakura said. She began to run her hands over Sasuke's back, grazing his skin, reconnecting broken chakra channels to his kidneys, vertebrae, nerves. "Even if I wanted to," Sakura continued, "I couldn't bring myself to. You're all I have left."

Sakura continued to reconnect the broken chakra channels to Sasuke's organs. When she was finally done, she looked once again into his eyes.

"This gift is personal, of my free will." Sakura placed her hands over Sasuke's eyes. Her hands glowed. She removed them. "Look at me, Sasuke-kun. Please. I want you to see me clearly, remember me as I am right now, so that when you're an old man, an old man whose battle and glory days are long over and you're sitting on a rocker somewhere, surrounded by your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and have completed every goal you've set out to do in life, you will remember seeing clearly this fool in front of you, this fool who instead of fearing you, hating you, all could really do was love you."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke. She recalled how long ago, just after Sasuke had left the village to join Orochimaru, she had gone to her house and locked herself in her bedroom. She wept. Concerned, her mother knocked and asked to be let in. When Sakura opened the door, Sakura collapsed in her mother's arms and confessed her love of Sasuke to her. Her mother smiled. Why are you smiling, mom? she cried. It's not funny! Her mother embraced her. Sakura, her mother told her, do you think men love the way we do? Sakura became confused. She didn't understand the question, much less how to answer it. Her mother removed the tear-clumped strands of hair away from her eyes. The answer is 'No,' my child... Men enjoy the happiness they feel. We women only enjoy the happiness we give.

Sakura was happy. She hadn't been this happy in such a long time.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, "you'll never go blind again."

Sakura stood up, wiped away the grass and dirt from her knees.

"Be merciful," she said, taking several steps away from Sasuke, giving her back to him. "When you invade Konoha, place the citizenry to sleep. That's all I ask for in return for healing you. No one deserves to see their parents die in front of them, nor do any parents deserve to see their children slaughtered. As for the shinobi…they will defend the village at all costs, but we both know what shinobi signed up for the day they graduated from the Academy."

Sakura heard Sasuke's shuffling. He stood up.

"You will let Konoha rot?"

"Danzo needs to be stopped," Sakura said. "It's that simple. He and Konoha are inextricably linked now. His campaigns kill innocents every day." Sakura nodded in a "no" fashion. "And without Naruto, there's no hope. No atonement for what was once our home. This is as far as I go. I realize now that I was never strong enough to defeat Danzo. But you are. And so, I send you in my stead.

"It's over," Sakura said, looking at the red-orange sun over the horizon. "It's finally over." She heard Sasuke's feet shift. He took steps toward her. He stopped right behind her. She could feel him. "Kill me quick."

She closed her eyes. She wanted everything to be over.

"Sakura Haruno," Sasuke said, "you are a fool!"

Sakura felt Sasuke tug at her hair, and suddenly, she felt the world fold within itself. Is this a time/space jutsu? she thought.

She was suddenly standing before a battlefield, bodies lying everywhere. Sasuke pushed her to the ground and she fell into a man's arms.

"Sakura?" Shikamaru said, shocked.

"Shikamaru?" Sakura cried.

She looked around her. There were only thirty-six ninjas left. She turned to Sasuke. Several of Konoha's ninjas who had charged began to take step backs.

Sasuke did a seal and lightning eagles began to form from his body Chidori nagashi. They grew and grew. Their wing span extended over seven feet. Sasuke did another seal and the eagles burst into flames.

Sasuke pointed to the opposing ninjas.

The Lightning-Fire Eagles descended across enemy lines like meteors, leaving a fiery streak of crimson behind them. They crashed. Exploded. They set ablaze all what they touched. Mushroom clouds registered the impact. Konoha's shinobi screamed in agony. Order disintegrated. Pandemonium reigned.

Sasuke touched his abdomen with his hands, and running them up his stomach, he belched and opened his mouth. A small snake's head protruded from his esophagus and leaned against his tongue. It hissed. The snake opened its mouth wide, revealing its poisonous fangs. Slowly, a sword's handle began to come out from the snake's entrails until a full katana blade emerged—Orochimaru's Kusanagi sword. Sasuke took the Kusanagi sword, wielding it in front of him, ready for battle.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, awestruck by Sasuke's power, "what're you doing?"

"You want a hero," Sasuke said, his Mangekyo Sharingan spinning, ablaze like a demon's eyes, "I'll give you a hero."

[Thank you for your reviews! They have been so encouraging! I apologize if Sasuke-Sakura isn't your cup of tea, but this is the way I envisioned this story. One more chapter to go and this story comes to an end. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. ]