A/N: Whoot whoot! Second to last chapter *dances*
I hope I wrapped everything up in here, because it's gonna be the real ending chapter, as everyone knows the last one is the epilogue XD duh. So if I didn't answer anything, let me know!
I still can't believe it's been over half a year already. And over thirty chapters and 200,000 + words O_O We've come so far *turns away to sob*
Disclaimer: Nah. Nope.
Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-Five
There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery the time when we were happy. –Dante
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you. –Unknown
Her hands gripped the curtains half-haphazardly, threatening to rip them apart of she clenched her fists any harder.
Her head leaned against the window absently, eyes staring wide but unseeingly onto the open street where people bustled around like a normal day. And to them, it was a normal day, with nothing out of the ordinary except perhaps the stray unfortunate accident occurring every now and then. They didn't know about the anguish running through her chest and causing her heart to ache right now. They didn't know anything.
Her shoulder shook once, and her mouth opened in a silent, tearless, dry wracking sob. She couldn't cry, she didn't want to cry, but … It seemed Haruno Sakura had finally learned to grow up over the years.
"Sakura!" Her mother's familiar, high voice called from downstairs. Sakura lifted her head, almost cursing herself for her own painfully dry eyes. Why couldn't she ever cry when she wanted to?
"Yes?" she asked, raising her voice as she gave herself an once-over in the cracked mirror they had scavenged (yes, scavenged) in the ruins of some poor, long-gone person's home in the aftermaths of all the recent attacks pit upon Konoha. Her reflection seemed warped so her face was unable to be seen, only her crisp black mourning clothes; and for once, she was happy that she was again a nobody.
"Your friends…here…see you!" Some of her mother's words faded in the background as Sakura painstakingly observed the shadows under her eyes that no amount of sleep would repair, because they weren't so much physically induced rather than mentally scarred. She closed tired, hard eyes and turned away from her own pathetic reflection, moving quickly through her house. Her home.
She smiled softly at her mother, who didn't know better to guess that something was wrong other than the fact that she was attending a funeral. "Come back soon, dear," she murmured and shut the door behind Sakura.
In front of her waited Ino and her team along with Hinata and Kiba. Even Akamaru seemed downcast, ears lower than usual and eyes drooping. A soft whine emitted from his throat every now and then as if in response to the terrifyingly gloomy mood hanging over the six shinobi as they moved like shadows through the quiet streets. It began drizzling lightly, but none of them bothered to stop and find some sort of cover. There were no words exchanged.
Along the way, they gathered Shino and Tenten before meeting up with Neji and Lee at a crossroad. Sai joined them silently later, and they were as complete as they could get—yet, the feeling of loss still rang in their hearts and every heartbeat reminded them of their loss.
At last, they reached the mourning grounds. The funeral wasn't held in Konoha. In the past, it might have been of reasons like yelling and insults, had the one they were mourning stayed, or even perhaps tears if the one they were mourning had become a hero like he had desired. Today, it was the fear of curious questions that kept them out of their sacred home. The eleven ninjas emerged from the wet trees to a light meadow, still strangely green and budding with flowers. A single, stony plaque lay in the center of the meadow and nothing else, not even a coffin. Flowers had already been piled luxuriously around the plaque, which, as they came closer, they saw had Konoha's symbol carved on it. There was no name.
"Thank you for coming," Tsunade said quietly from behind them, as if talking too loud would disturb the heavy peace that lay over them like a thick blanket. It wasn't like they wouldn't have come…not for him.
"Will there be a service?" Sakura's voice was small, nearly lost amid the sudden pickup of rain. It seemed the weather favored those who lost their lives bravely, crying tears for those who deserved them. Tsunade shook her head in a miniscule gesture, and surprisingly enough, none of them were astonished. It would not only have risked too much questions and curiosity, it would have made things public. This was a private funeral, a mourning for the select few in which the dead really mattered.
The next hour and a half passed in a strange blur. No tears streaked down, not that anyone could have seen them in the now thundering rain. Lightning flashed occasionally over the desolate treetops and an ominous wind howled through the branched, but otherwise, things were quiet and peacefully so. They were allowed to mourn in peace, mourn for everything and everyone and every word and every moment that had been robbed from them. They mourned for a friend and for a teammate and for a comrade, for a leader and a lonely soul and a fellow shinobi. They mourned for Uzumaki Naruto.
People came and went. Shizune popped in and even shed a few tears before returning back to the hospital with a colder heart. The once-upon-a-time rookies' team leaders (those that were still alive) passed by, bowing their heads respectfully before moving on like they knew how to, like they were trained to. It was the only way they knew how to survive and not let their emotions cloud their minds and take over completely. Iruka and Konohamaru passed through, and both were clearly distraught but tried hard to control their soundless sobs. Nobody else came.
Only those who remembered him the way he deserved to be remembered…and that was all they could ever ask for.
Sakura was hardly aware of Ino bidding a quiet farewell nor Shikamaru and Chouji leaving with her; she barely recognized the wave Kiba and Hinata gave as they followed Shino away; Neji's own solemn goodbye was almost covered by the thick musical sound of falling rain as well as his team's footsteps crunching away. She was so absorbed in staring at a silent grave and caught up in her past mistakes that she was forced to have Tsunade shake her roughly to wake her up.
"Are you okay, Sakura?" she asked sternly.
"Huh? Oh. I'm…fine." Sakura fell silent again. Sai hovered worriedly near her, only leaving when Tsunade nodded her dismissal toward him. Even then, she was aware of him glancing back reluctantly.
"It's okay to cry, you know. It isn't a weakness."
"But don't you see?" Sakura whispered passionately as she abruptly turned away from the marker signaling where Uzumaki Naruto was not buried. "He's not gone."
Tsunade eyed her with a mixture of sadness and wariness. She hoped that this wasn't the first sign of insanity, but who knew? Grief often made the most strong-hearted of shinobi crazy in their denial that their loved ones were truly gone forever. She would know. Sakura caught the look and a small smirk quirked her lips, self-mocking in a way.
"No, I'm not going insane, sensei. He's not gone because he's in here, with me." She gestured to her heart. "Like Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei. They will all be with me forever." Tsunade relaxed at her words, reassured that her former pupil wasn't losing her mind. The mention of Sasuke prompted her to remember something and she snapped.
"Right. Sasuke. So you remember the two scenes we investigated after Naruto, right?" Sakura nodded, instinctively knowing that it was past the time for mourning and onto more serious matters. "They were quite destroyed. But the curious thing is, there were no bodies in either scene, even though one of them suggested large burns from fire jutsus and scorches of the chidori."
"So, that means Sasuke was at least in there, probably with Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki members. Are there any new info on them, by the way?" Her mind slipped easily back into the role of the practical medic she had played for the past two years of her life.
"No, but I have good reason to believe that they've been disbanded for the time being. Pein and Konan have disappeared; I don't think they'll be doing any harm with Madara out of the way…" Tsunade frowned and began the trek back to Konoha as Sakura fell neatly into step behind her as they made their way through the dripping trees.
Sakura furrowed her brow inquisitively. "How do you know that?"
"Well," Tsunade said grimly, "I'll show you when we get back to the tower. It doesn't matter anyway if Madara is still alive. The one they have been chasing after for so long is gone." Both fell silent at the reminder that Naruto was dead; not only that, the fact that they had not even given him a proper burial weighed between them heavily. Naruto was, in fact, still in a hospital cot covered with a blanket to hide his identity right now in the hospital. It was too dangerous to bury him in close proximity to Konoha because should the Kyuubi not actually be dead, he could easily burst free from his only restraining — Naruto's body—and destroy the village. It was a safety precaution…
Or so they told themselves.
"So Suna will take him and bury him out in the desert?" Sakura said, broaching the topic cautiously. Every time she was even reminded of Naruto, her heart fell a little more and the hole in her chest ripped a little wider and she was reminded of how she had felt when Kakashi died. Sasuke was probably the only one left alive, if he was even still out there somewhere.
But this is for me, she told herself. Every pain I must endure will make me stronger. I won't be hurt so easily again.
Only because there is no one left to hurt.
"Yes," Tsunade was saying. "We will have to bid our farewells today." She closed hazel-brown eyes and sighed, opening them just in time to see a sunbeam shoot from the thick cloud covered sky and light up the dirt path in front of them. It lasted only a second but was enough for Tsunade to believe the prediction, the sign, that their future would be a more peaceful one.
It was just unfortunate that they would have to go through a little more pain to achieve that happiness.
Darkness. Quietness. Not only that, but a terrible dullness that came with the accompanying fear that he couldn't even feel his own body.
Naruto tried to move his finger. His foot. Open his eyes—do anything! A dull burn began to throb in his chest. Had the Kyuubi finally managed to take over, perhaps? Was that why he could not even move his own body? Was this how it felt to be pushed to the back of his own mind and be left there?
He pushed himself back into the corners of his mind, searching desperately for something. Anything. The hollowness that answered him just confirmed his suspicion that something was definitely very, very wrong right now.
Where was the Kyuubi anyway?
Where was that room, the one with golden bars and a giant beast residing within? No hallways, no sewers, no endless water drops dripping from the unseen ceiling? No voices, whispering silent mocking words?
Nothing.
Only infinite darkness, black as his own soul probably was by now. He tried to scream then, mouthing words like, Where are you? Why did you leave me in here? over and over, forgetting about his own past promises not to break down. It was too late. Panic was beginning to take over when he encountered something sharp and shard-like, glimmering brightly. He closed his fist over it, ignoring the sharp pain that he felt when the jagged edges pressed into his vulnerable palm, desperate not to let something else float away from him.
The moment he touched it, he was transported into something else. Images in rapid succession filed across his vision as well as the memories his conscious had unwittingly buried from him in order to protect him.
There were flashes of Nakami, standing bold and strong despite everything she had gone through, eyes dark and hair flying as she faced the Kyuubi boldly and whispered soft words to him. His father that looked so similar to him, who loved him. The Kyuubi, lying still and motionless as his power had been sucked from him. Endless blackness, a bleak landscape, a dozen glowing crystal shards as Nakami had simply dissolved. White hot pain, and strangely enough, the Konoha 10's faces.
What? He muttered, staggering back. The crystal was still clenched in his hand and he bit his lip harshly. That's right. Nakami had died for him…he had met his father in the strangest way possible…the Kyuubi was gone for now but who knew when he would gather enough power to return again?... and finally, was he dead?
No, Naruto decided. While he seemed trapped in his mindscape, he could still feel his body, even though it was immobile and there seemed to be no heartbeat. Was he living on his will alone, then? His promise?
"Live…for us."
Nakami's words echoed around in his head, bringing back more memories, but foreign this time. His eyes squeezed shut, feeling the strange, unfamiliar memories push for acceptance in his mind. He knew, if only he would let them, the memories would guide him to the answers to all his questions. He just had to be strong enough to look into them and survive.
Naruto smiled a little grimly. He would because he had to. There was a stronger resolve burning in his chest now, one he hadn't felt in a while when it had been repressed by the Kyuubi's omnipotent chakra and his own darker side that salivated for power. Both seemed to be gone now though.
The first memory pushed closer to him, and Naruto grabbed it without hesitation. It was the first step to healing his broken soul—answers were what he needed.
The memory was made of nothing but strange snatches of color and feelings; alone, sadness, anguish, happiness, black and blue and yellow and red. So much red. Confusion, acceptance, a certain guiltiness that never vanished but merely ended up blending in. Without an explanation, Naruto knew it was Nakami's past revealed through a mirage of senses.
The second memory was stranger but gave more of an answer. Nakami had already known about Naruto's condition, he realized, just as she had known about Sasuke's brutality and his quest. She had resolved to not only send Sasuke home but help aid Naruto, and when she had been healing him, she had discovered the Kyuubi, leading to a brief conference with his mother (red, red hair was all he saw) when she had been pulled out instead of his father. In one brilliantly clear moment, he saw his mother staring at him and smiling before the memory faded away. Nakami had left to think about the knowledge his mother had imparted with him about the specially hidden seal that could only be activated by love (the emotion's strength was stronger than anything hatred could produce) and a sacrifice and an Uchiha to subdue the fox's strength and keep him captivated.
It was then Nakami had had a startling moment of clarity. It was this she had been born for, Naruto reflected as he felt her sudden sense of belonging flood through him. She had been born to help Naruto because he had always been the one helping—in turn, it was his time to receive and heal and live. He would help those that came after him.
That memory dissolved too. There was one last memory, more of snippets of information than anything else. How tired she felt when she was drawing the complicated seal on the floor, how she kept persevering through it anyway to use up her chakra and pour her life energy into storing away the Kyuubi's chakra… How she had had to release the Kyuubi from his cage in order to get Minato to appear, according to Kushina's directions, and trying frantically to find Naruto and hoping that it wasn't too late to save him. Her worry for Sasuke, wondering what had happened to him now that she was going to be gone soon. Millions of tiny facts imbedded themselves into Naruto's brain, and when he gasped, they scattered.
So that's what happened, he thought to himself. That's right. The sacrifice, everything. He stood shakily, bracing a hand on his knee, knowing he would have to wake up now that he remembered everything. It was only right, anyhow.
Taking one last look around his black surroundings (he couldn't help wondering briefly if the Kyuubi really was dead; his usually bloodthirsty energy lurking underneath Naruto's skin was gone, hidden away) he closed his eyes once more. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated, focusing back on his normal body.
He tried to reconnect with it, knowing that it was going to be hard since technically by all rights—he should be dead. Willpower was his driving force, as well as the promises still he had to keep. Promises were what damned him and what made him, he thought bitterly.
The first thing he felt was a rushing noise in his head, like he was sucked into a wind tunnel or something. Then cool sheets pressed against his fingertips, and there was a deathly sweet smell of faint decay hanging in the air. Naruto instinctively wrinkled his nose, realizing only after the action was completed that he could wrinkle his nose. He was back in his own body, it seemed, and for a brief second, Naruto was sad. His limbs felt terribly heavy, his body ached everywhere, and not only that... now that he was back in reality, he would have to face the world again. Face everyone.
Or I could run, he thought, the idea slinking into his mind. Run as usual, run from his problems. After all, it wasn't like he could stay in Konoha—he had already experienced the ultimate rush, tasted the most delectable wine, felt the giddiness that power brought. That the Kyuubi's power brought, a mix of chakra that made you feel invincible, like you could take on the world.
A power that was now unattainable forever.
Naruto gritted his teeth, dispelling the images of destroying and power. It was a heady thing, power, but it wasn't to be misused like the Nine-tails wished. That chakra wasn't to be misrepresented.
He told himself those truths (lies) over and over, repeating them in his head till they blurred and almost lost their meaning. It wasn't like he meant to, really! It was just the simple matter that once you tasted something, touched it, felt the draw it had over you, it was very hard to break free from it. One brush of that power could keep you addicted forever, craving it; Naruto knew all that.
It was the pull the Kyuubi created on purpose, then, he resolved grimly. He wanted to lose his hosts in their own mad bloodthirsty desire and then claw to control. After all, wasn't that how demons operated? Keeping to the shadows, like shinobi. Unlike them, though, demons preferred to strike any who dared stand in their way—the brave, stupid, foolish ones—and stain everything in colors of red. It was the easy way.
It was only regrettable that Naruto could have saved the demon from his own demonic ways.
Oh, not the way he had been recently, so corrupted and destroying everything. Not with so much blood stained on his hands. But maybe before—when he had stayed here in Konoha, in the hazy days, he could have eventually made peace with the Kyuubi. He could have resolved it from its hatred, accepted it like he had been by Iruka, become its friend…even eventually.
When had he started to refer to the Kyuubi as it again?
Naruto sighed softly. The scratchy, light blanket above him barely stirred by his breath, and Naruto knew that his time to escape was growing shorter. Every second he continued to stay here was another second to escape wasted. As far as he knew, the only reason he was in the morgue was because they thought he was dead. So if he escaped, who would be wiser? At least they hadn't buried him yet, he thought somewhat sardonically. And now, to the actual matters of escaping...
He experimentally twitched his hand, pleased when it responded well. Maybe his body had kept some of the Kyuubi's exponentially fast healing rate, although the idea was unlikely. The weights on his limbs seemed to have lifted a little, lessening to the extent where he could fully move his arms. Naruto did so cautiously; he didn't want some nurse walking in and freaking out because the sheet was moving in a place dead people populated.
Naruto tested his legs. They moved well, smoothly, and he knew he couldn't delay it any further. He breathed deeply, moving his hands slowly underneath the cloth to create a seal. Natural energy from outside flowed in him; he was careful not to take too much in, in the fear that he would become a stone statue. It had been a while since he practiced his Sage state skills, and he didn't want to overdo it on his first attempt. After all, he only needed enough chakra to reinstate his own chakra and therefore be able to sense any Konoha shinobi.
After two minutes of grueling work (it produced sweat on his forehead—gathering chakra did! And that was something that should have come easily to Naruto. What did it bode for his escape plan?) Naruto finally released his hand from the seal. His hearing seemed a tad sharper, and after expanding his senses a little, he finally exhaled.
His hands moved to the sheet. They hesitated for one half of second, wondering if this would bring him a new future of a good or bad sort. A millisecond later, his lips twisted into a smirk. Good? Bad? He had already decided those were irrelevant things, hadn't he? The whole concept of good and bad was a convoluted, twisted thing that people used to blame on their enemies. And so, with all that rushing through his mind, Naruto thrust off the blanket, letting it fall carelessly over the side and crumple to the ground. He swung his feet off the side of the cot, testing the icy floors and breathing in the smell of death that hit him more prominently now that there was no barrier between him and the room's oxygen.
And at last, Naruto opened his eyes.
Everything seemed like shadows on shadows—black on black. He could see enough to recognize the lumpy long shapes lying in rows to his immediate left; more bodies. Judging on the smell, he had only been in this dank place for about an hour, because the flesh smell wasn't changing to that of decomposing yet.
Naruto shook his head slightly, ignoring the lurching feeling in his stomach and the small accompanying roll of nausea. His eyes had no trouble adjusting to the dark after that. Whether it was lingering effects of the Kyuubi or the natural energy he had absorbed, Naruto didn't know. Whatever it was, it was helpful as it aided him in locating the door quickly; three paces to his right and then ten paces up.
The first step was easy. His foot glided smoothly over the linoleum tiles, chillingly cold under his feet. The second step was a little harder as his muscles got adjusted to moving again, as if they had been very sore or comatose for a long time. Naruto frowned, rolling his shoulders back slightly, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder at the dead bodies. It wasn't as if they would suddenly jump back to life (like he had). Still, it unnerved him that it was so silent—wasn't this a hospital? So what if he didn't make any noise? There were supposed to be nurses somewhere, right?
He breathed through his nose, trying to calm his unreasonable anxieties. What was he thinking? Nurses? They would just discover him, the opposite of what he wanted. If it were up to Naruto, and if he was at full strength, he would blast a hole through the wall and escape that way. However, his limited power and chakra right now only provided him with one escape route: the door, and from there, out of the hospital. He set his face in a firm expression, determined to move through whatever pain might lie in store for him.
Third step. Fourth, fifth, eighth, and finally he reached the door, leaning heavily against the doorframe. Ugh, Naruto thought, at this rate I won't even be able to cast a weak genjutsu around me. His breathing was labored again, his eyesight fuzzy, his forehead breaking out in sweat. This must be what it was like coming back from the dead. The thought wasn't humorous.
He must've leaned there for a good couple of minutes, regaining his breath and bringing his body back to normal. The vague idea that he should have developed some sort of plan at least before charging out crossed his mind but he dismissed it. How could he think in this state anyway? His mind still felt a little numb as it was.
Naruto clenched his hand around the door, pulling it open cautiously. Maybe he should cast a henge? No, it would only attract people to the strange chakra signature. He slipped out of the room, barely remembering to pull the door shut behind him once more as he fled like a shadow down the hallway. Lights blazed terrifyingly bright through the cracks under doors, and fluorescent lighting lit the overhead corridor. The hospital's antiseptic smell clung to him, erasing the decomposing smell but replacing it with something just as bad. Curiously, there were no nurses or medics around to catch him; Naruto didn't dwell on that fact too long. Whatever the reason, it was good for him to escape unnoticed.
It all was going quite well as he darted through hallway after hallway, somehow remembering the intricate maze-like setup of the hospital despite the years. He leaped down a stairwell, jumped into an alcove as a nurse wheeled by, and then ran down another staircase. Yes, it all was going quite well until he got to the ground floor, and then things began to get tricky.
Medics appeared around every corner, forcing him to duck into (luckily) empty rooms and even cast a transformation jutsu hastily, draining his meager chakra even more. He didn't have time to stop and gather more natural energy and besides, freedom was so close. He just had to break out through the back door or something… Then something went wrong. Up till now, he hadn't met anyone he knew (thankfully). Naruto shouldn't have expected it to stay that way. Just as he sighted the open window a mere tantalizing twenty feet away, he heard a familiar voice weighed down with sadness but still issuing orders expertly. Sakura.
"Bring him over here! We need to treat him as quickly as possible. Yumino-san, it's going to be okay. He'll survive," he heard her soothingly say. The voices grew louder as the group approached, causing Naruto to hiss in frustration as he was trapped in the closet he had jumped into. For one heart-stopping moment, the entourage seemed to stop right outside the closet, and he held his breath... then, he heard them moving into the room next door and sighed, only to seize up again as he heard another male's voice calling.
"Haruno-san! Kazekage-sama is here to transport a body; is it prepared?"
"Oh! Yes, a moment," Sakura said as her footsteps hurried past in the direction Naruto had just come from. He couldn't mistake the lonely tone in her voice and the hidden tears; she seemed sadder than usual. Had something happened perhaps, earlier today?
Then the full effect of the doctor's words hit him. Kazekage. Gaara. The only body Gaara would take must be his—but he was right here, so when Sakura reached the morgue, she would discover he was no longer there—and then all hell would break loose. Naruto cursed in his head as he yanked open the door, recklessly running down the corridor so fast he must have seemed like a blur had anyone been watching. It was too late to consider his consequences as he jumped through the window, lithely landing on his feet and springing away into the twilight. His heart thudded erratically as a stitch began forming in his side, muscles protesting loudly. It was a chase, like those he had longed for back when he was a missing-nin…well, he still was a missing-nin, nothing had changed there. But yes, it was a chase, chasing him, the prey, but he couldn't let them catch him or else everything would be all over.
He had to run to protect them, the strangest irony of all.
Naruto thought he heard a shout behind him as he weaved past civilians who stared confusedly after him (wondering what the strange blur had been). He didn't stop to investigate, in case it really had been someone discovering his miraculous departure. The wind bit chillingly through his thin clothes, in which Naruto realized that he now had on some black shirt and what could only be described as hospital pants. At least it wasn't a hospital gown.
The sun had obviously just set, Naruto noted as he raced through the unfamiliar streets. The Konoha hospital was in the west side of the rebuilt village, so he veered toward the lingering rays of red stretching across the purpling sky, hoping to reach the forests before anything drastic happened.
It was a, unfortunately, futile wish. He had barely ran for more than three minutes before a clanging alarm sounded, shrieking, making Naruto wince and resist the urge to cover his ears childishly. He grimaced instead, forcing his legs to move quicker, aware of the heartbeat thumping in his ears.
The next moments were full of surprise and instinctual behavior. Something in Naruto acted by sheer intuition, twisting into a dark alleyway just in time as a fleet of white-masked ANBU flitted overhead. After that, he barely made it another block before another platoon of jounin ninjas darted by, clearly on the hunt for something. He frowned. It was going to be even harder to escape now, but definitely not impossible. Never impossible. A hunting smile lit his features as he poured newfound strength into his limbs, curving along the roads and taking shortcuts between alleyways. Once he scared a woman throwing her garbage away, causing a loud shriek to ring through the air above the clanging alarm, drawing several chunin. By the time they got to her, though, Naruto was already long gone.
He crossed the border with surprisingly little fanfare. The adrenaline of the chase hadn't died down—not at all—but he felt confident that he could escape now. There was nothing left for him behind, nothing left for him in the future, so he just had to carve out his own path.
It was while he was thinking that, already half a mile away from Konoha, that he felt the familiar chakra signature catch on behind him.
Naruto spun, cursing that he didn't have any weapons on him. He crouched, ready to defend himself.
There was no need.
Sakura lurched to a halt in front of him, chest heaving and hair stuck to her face. Eyes were wild and green, glowing in the dark almost in a cat-like manner. "Naruto," she breathed, looking baffled. "How are you still—?"
"Leave, Sakura," Naruto commanded coolly. He really wished he still had the protective chakra of the Kyuubi's right now, but unfortunately, Nakami and his father seemed to have made it impossible. Once you have a taste of something, it's near impossible to let go of, he reminded himself. "I don't want to hurt you, and you can't stop me."
"I won't," she said, shaking her head. She still had rubber gloves on; she had probably checked the morgue, then run straight toward the border in hopes of catching him.
"You can't come with me either."
"I'm not going to." Sakura's words confused Naruto. If none of that, what did she want? Why did she even bother coming after him? "I know you have your own path now, Naruto. You've chosen the direction you want to take, and I cannot stop that. You could've been happier in Konoha, that I know, but if you think you belong out here, then be free. I didn't come to stop you."
Naruto let the words sink in, feeling something in him lift. His eyes remained cool though. "Then what are you here for?"
"I just wanted to tell you…" Sakura took a deep breath, twisting her fingers in the dim light of the moon that had begun to rise. She locked eyes with him again, and they looked as sad as before. "Pein and Konan are probably out there, but they won't bother you anymore. Madara has been vanquished by Itachi, the evidence seems, because Itachi has disappeared too. Sasuke is somewhere here, though, and... will you keep your promise, Naruto?"
The last was whispered in a wistful sort of way, as Sakura allowed herself to hope foolishly before squashing that same hope. "Ha, don't bring Sasuke back," she breathed. "Aren't I a hypocrite? To say follow your own path, yet trying to force Sasuke back against his will." Her eyes closed. "Just, try and find him. It might clear up some answers, and…" she hesitated, seeming not to know what to say. Naruto stood awkwardly in front of her. "Your grave is around here too."
The last was released in a woosh of air. Sakura turned sharply. "Well, that's it. This is goodbye again, Naruto, it seems. Always farewell." Her head lowered before her legs tensed, preparing to leap away. She looked back once, eyes darting over him as if to memorize his prone figure. Her cheeks were shining wetly in the moonlight. "Good…bye…"
And then Sakura was gone, leaving nothing but a breeze to signal her departure.
Naruto knew she was leaving this time for good.
It was déjà vu all over again. Reminiscent from that first night, so long ago, when the Kyuubi had somehow persuaded his broken mind to escape from Konoha; it was just as dark and just as lonely, feeling like he had lost everything in the world…
Yet, Naruto felt strangely fulfilled too. He finally knew where he was going to go after this, what he was going to do. And first on that list was finding Sasuke.
It wasn't very hard.
The clearings where large fights had taken place weren't hard to miss. It was obvious Sasuke had been here, along with some unwelcome guests. Naruto took in the ruffled earth, fresh dirt showing up at every groove dug into the ground. Weapons still littered it here and there, but it looked more like primal, lithe, dangerous animals had been fighting here rather than ninjas—rather than human beings. Of course, what else to be expected of Uchihas?
Naruto was attracted by a large caw then, and he lifted his head to search the dim darkness. His eyes narrowed as he saw the hunched form of a raven, blood red sharingan tilting in the bird's eye as he jerked his head toward Naruto before spreading midnight wings and flapping off slowly. Naruto set off after it, instinctively knowing to follow it but not knowing what was at the end.
After a few minutes of weaving between trees, movements now coming more fluidly to Naruto as he avoided low-hanging branches and tree stumps, he reached a small creek. It babbled refreshingly in the wintery night, light rippling over the black-looking water. Directly across the creek was a large tree. In that tree was Sasuke, leaning on a branch.
Naruto didn't say anything as the raven mysteriously disappeared. Both pretended to ignore the other's presence for a while before Naruto grew tired of the game. He had somewhere to go, somewhere he would rather be, than talking to the one person he didn't save. But he had promised, and this was the last promise he would try to deliver. "So, how did the fight go?"
"Madara's dead," came the low reply. "Itachi and I killed him." The figure in the tree didn't move, arms hanging by its side rather limply. There was a shiny figure stuck in the wood's flesh beside the prone figure, sticking straight up and shining coldly. The Kusanagi.
It wasn't a surprise to Naruto that Madara was dead. It seemed all of the geezer's sins had finally caught up to him. Naruto sighed softly, the noise oddly loud in the hushed night. Even the crickets had been scared away by the ruckus of the day before, he thought as he moved to sit lightly on a cold stone that overlooked the rushing creek and waited. He couldn't force Sasuke to talk, but something in him suspected that if he left him alone long enough, he would. Just as there was something different—missing—about Naruto now, there was something lessened in Sasuke. Something was lighter.
And Sasuke talked. "Ha. The man didn't even suspect it…no, he did," he corrected himself, finally bringing his arms up to clench his hands in front of his face, silhouetted against the bright moon that had fully risen by now. The hint of insanity was still there, as surely as the fact that it was still in Naruto's eyes. Power, revenge, they did that to people. "He knew we were going to kill him, but he didn't know I only killed him so I could finally fight Itachi and defeat him. He kept running, you know? He wouldn't stop. But then Madara died with that look of smug satisfaction on his face, and Itachi just looked at me. Looked at me with those smiling eyes, he breathed… and then he died."
"Did you kill him?" Naruto asked, morbidly curious. Had he finally succeeded in his revenge? Was that what was lighter?
"…No. I didn't kill him… He just died. He fell, and I didn't even touch him!" Sasuke's head lifted, and the red glinted clearly in the dark, but they were a different pattern than what Naruto was used to seeing. Instead of black on red, they were now red on black, three circles overlapping—
Naruto turned his head away, trying to control his breathing again. Why should looking into such eyes bring a thrill down his spine? He wouldn't let Sasuke take control again, so he turned his head determinedly back; by then, Sasuke had already faced forward again, his head tilted more toward the moon to allow the light to shine over his pale visage. Something dark like blood shone on his cheeks.
"So basically…he just died?" Naruto repeated slowly. Now that Sasuke was looking away, the fear was receding to a bad nightmare.
"He died," Sasuke said in a hollow voice, and finally Naruto knew what was missing from Sasuke. It wasn't his anger and revenge. It was that he was lost—floating somewhere, unsure of where to go now, because he no longer had a place to go without revenge. He was simply confused, broken, lost.
(Like how you've always been lost yourself, and are still lost, without a home, homeless, lonely, lostlostlost…but no, now you have somewhere to go, so you have to stop being selfish and find somewhere for Sasuke. No one deserves solitude.)
Naruto ignored the thoughts spinning around in his mind, placing a hand under his chin. The moonlight was cold now, freezing like he was. "Then go—" Not home, because there was no home left for either of them. If home was where the heart is, that heart had been deserted long down the path; now home was wherever their goal took them.
"Just leave," Sasuke echoed quietly, arms falling back to his sides laxly. His head hit the bark as he leaned backwards. "Disappear?"
"Yes, disappear," Naruto agreed, standing. He was pretty sure Sasuke would be okay now. "Don't kill any more. Help save people now, go where the wind takes you." He briefly considered saying fly, but that was too ironic and too strange. So with a brief smile that Sasuke probably couldn't see, Naruto turned to leave only to be halted as Sasuke's voice rang softly through the night again.
"He…he said," Sasuke muttered, "fight. Fight for what you believed in, what I believed in. Listen to me for the last time. That's what he said." Naruto paused, on the verge of disappearing and merging back into the shadows.
"Then listen to him and fight."
Naruto looked back after his lopsided version of advice only to be greeted with emptiness. Sasuke was gone as well, vanishing into the darkness he'd been a part of for so long. No doubt he would continue to stalk in that darkness, but hopefully with a different intent than before. Naruto turned again.
Maybe, he thought as he took the first step toward his new beginning, his new future, feeling emptier but fuller than before all at once. Maybe, all the mistakes we made in this life…
Not so far away, a blonde-haired Hokage bowed her head against the window, a handful of mourners behind her as they grieved for the chance that had passed them by again. One particular shinobi looked toward the stars, green eyes bright despite all the pain they had suffered.
…all the mistakes will be cured soon by the only disease that heals everyone…we will be forgiven for our sins.
A black shadow raced through the trees, no longer knowing what his purpose was, but feeling lightened now that his revenge was gone.
Perhaps one day, a fateful day from now, our paths will cross again. Our fates will entwine again as one, as the one we were meant to be…if not, then we'll just meet again after death, because despite everything…
Naruto was once again alone as he forged his way through the woods, staring at the cold-looking moon and wondering if others were seeing the same sky, the same stars, the same unearthly orb hanging high in the sky. Was he alone? No…he could never be alone, now that he had his memories back. They would keep him company throughout the chilliest days.
He would never be alone.
Because despite everything, we are connected. We will never stop being connected. We are a part of you, you are a part of us.
And as their lives moved on again, nobody noticed as Uzumaki Naruto's name was removed from the 'missing-nin' files. Nobody noticed the corpses that stopped coming, the bloodstains that were carefully removed, the person who erased from their memories.
But some people remembered. And that was what mattered.
Someday, we will meet again, because we cannot be apart. We are inseparable, we are one.
Naruto.
Sasuke in this chapter was inspired by the possibility of which he could have turned into, had Madara not CORRUPTED him. Cough.
So, once again, anything I missed, let me know so I can fix it! :) Reviews rock because feedback keeps the mind going, etc, and I am so going to write a shorter story next time… um, did I say that out loud? Anyway, thanks for coming with me this far! Hang in there for another week…
BTW, anyone have any ideas on a story to do next? I was thinking of unrelated one-shots compiled to make one 'story', with different cliché het pairings like SasuSaku, NaruSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno, etc. inspired by a random word. A challenge! But anyway, I'm always happy to hear ideas ^^
Thank you all for everything! See you :)
TBC!
P.S. I apologize for the later and later chapters…meh. Well I had a busy week, including this weekend which was my birthday! 8D