Note: I don't own Sachiko, she belongs to my friend RyuKazuki who has allowed me to use her in my story and I thank him for that.
Ch. 21 Sachiko
Don followed a safe distance behind Tsunade and her escorts for some time and then eventually broke off his course to head towards his destination at his own pace. Above the treetops, he could see the village walls in the distance. He had no trouble slipping past all the ninja that were hidden waiting for unexpected visitors. He needed to head to the land south of the village, unfortunately with the little time he had, a more direct route would be cutting past Konahagakure, so he did so.
A girl with magenta hair was strolling alone in the forest outside of Konahagakure; she thought about her past two teammates who had deserted the village but above all, she thought about Don. She froze when she felt a faint familiar presence fly by. She looked around frantically. She knew that presence even after all these years; it was Don.
She had a faint grasp in which direction Don was heading and quickly followed it. Don was ignorant that he being followed because he was too focused on reaching his destination.
Eventually Don slipped into the land that was south of Konahagakure. He came to a stop when he came to a small mountain, one that was about the size of the one in Konahagakure which had the Hokage carved on it. However carved into this mountain was a temple entrance.
He sighed to himself, "Well, this is finally it. The final piece of the puzzle." He then entered the dark mountain temple. Sachiko a short time afterward reached the temple and stood outside puzzled.
"Why would he come here? Did he go inside?" she thought to herself. She cautiously took a few steps into the temple.
Meanwhile, Don managed to make himself a torch and lit it. He navigated his way around the temple until he reached the main chamber which, like the other temples, had carvings on the floor and walls. The fire titan was the most revered, the most destructive of the titans. It also shared residence with another titan; the wood titan. Their occupancy much resembled the founding of Konahagakure; it was founded by the first Hokage and a Uchiha. Wood and Fire.
Sachiko called out into the darkness, "Hello? Is anyone in here?"
Don's head shot up when he heard the familiar voice. "Crap! Someone found me!"
Sachiko went into the temple even more seeing a dim light. She entered the chamber that Don was in. The light shone on Don's face dimly so it was hard for Sachiko to tell if it was really him or not.
"D...Don? Is that you?" she asked with hesitation.
Don threw his torch on the ground and extinguished it. Now it was pitch black in the chamber and he ran past her towards the entrance. Sachiko, when she realized he was running for the entrance, chased after him.
"Don, wait up!" she called out to him as she could make out a silhouette getting closer to the entrance.
Don made a hand sign and a wall of earth shot up behind him halting Sachiko's advance. She pulled out an explosive tag and blew up the wall. She shot out of the debris quickly and grabbed Don's arm stopping him where he was.
"Don is that you?" she said with tears about to fall down her face.
"I don't know who you are talking about." Don replied.
Sachiko turned Don towards her and she felt his face and ran her hand through his hair. She may not have been able to see him well because of the darkness but she could tell it was Don. She hugged him tight and tears streamed down her face as she began to cry.
"It is you. I thought you were dead." she cried.
"I am dead." Don replied with a cold tone.
"No you aren't!" she screamed. "You're alive and right here in front of me, there is no mistaking it! I know your presence anywhere!"
Don pulled our a kunai and held it to her throat. "No one is supposed to know I'm still alive. At all cost, the unfortunate person who finds me out would be killed."
She cried even more, "I know you wouldn't. The Don I know wouldn't harm the one he cared about, especially when the one cares about him even more than he could ever know."
Don let down his kunai and put it away.
"For the longest time I have suffered the pain of a broken heart. The ones I love were ripped away from me so quickly. They either died or remained unwanted to be found for what seemed like forever. Now that I've found you, I'm not letting go. I love you Don!" Sachiko cried out.
"You have to forget your feelings for me Sachiko. You should forget I even existed, you should forget you even saw me here." Don replied.
She hit his chest, "No! I won't! I wouldn't dare! I love you Don, I have always loved you and I never want to lose you again! My heart has been destroyed too many times from seeing you die!"
"I have to go." Don said breaking from her and beginning to walk off only to have his arm grabbed again and him jerked to a stop. He sighed and turned to face her.
"Please. Don. Don't go. I don't ever want to be separated from you ever again." she said softly and sadly.
Don embraced her, wiping the tears from her face gently. "I know, but I'm on a mission right now and I have to do it alone. I will return one day. I promise." he replied kissing her making Sachiko turn a deep red. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back. He heart was skipping beats and Don felt the ice around his heart beginning to melt. The guilt and pain that had damaged his heart was slowly fading away.
He broke free from her and stroked her hair. "I'll hurry as fast as I can and will return to your warm embrace." he said.
She sniffled and nodded. "Please..." she replied.
A thought had crossed his mind; what about Temari? He couldn't help but frown. Enough damage had been done and he couldn't keep her waiting forever. By now, he would want her to move on. Hopefully she had, there were better men for her out there like Shikamaru. He knew they would work out, his time with her was over.
The two of them walked out the temple with Sachiko clinging to his arm. Don turned to her and gave her one final kiss before sending her home.
"I've completed the final task of my mission but I need to put all the pieces together before I can safely say I'm done. I will see you soon Sachiko. Remember, no one must know I'm still alive." he smiled at her.
She smiled and nodded back with teary eyes and ran off back home.
Don sighed with relief, now it was time to put together everything that he had uncovered during his mission. Don then slipped back out of the country returned safe house he had created in the Land of Rivers. There he put together the most important scroll he would ever deliver in his life.