WHEREVER YOU ARE

Haruno Sakura, daughter to one of Konoha's heroes. Uchiha Sasuke, Chuunin, who might just be more of a disgrace to his Clan than his brother. Sakura knew going on this mission with him would be a mistake. That she would fall in love with him all over again, and the worst part was - she was right.

Road to Ninja Universe. SasuSaku.

Chapter 26 – Breathe
"You're my all and more.

All I know you taught me, yeah."

Mikoto went very still, her eyes going wide. Sakura stared at her, unable to move. Mikoto coughed – her blood splattering all over Sakura's face and then her body went limp.

And she dropped.

For a long, empty moment, Sakura stared at the spot Mikoto stood, not moving, not seeing anything. Sasuke stood in front of her, Mikoto's body between them, he stared at the sword in his hand, blood dripping from it. Sakura still couldn't move, she could feel blood trickling down her abdomen and her vision became blurry with unshed tears.

"What have you done?" she whispered, her voice broken.
He…he wasn't supposed to.
Sasuke shook his head and his hand tightened on the blade.
"How sweet," a voice said from behind him. "For you to mourn me."
Sasuke turned, purple chakra bursting from him once more as his Susanoo came around him. The sound of metal shattering filled the air and Sakura took a step back.
How…how was this possible? She forced her eyes down and the spot where Mikoto had been just a second ago…was empty.
The skeletal hand of Itachi's blood orange Susanoo came around Mikoto, yanking her away from Sasuke. At his side, his fist clenched and the skeletal chakra hand crushed Mikoto. She didn't scream. She didn't make a sound but there was blood dripping from where she was crushed – pooling on the ground below.
"It's not over yet." Itachi told them – his voice hard. Something stirred Sakura's hair and she spun, her kunai coming up just in time to block Mikoto's. Sakura looked over Mikoto, she was sure this wasn't a clone and neither had the last two been. So how was she doing this? Coming back from the dead? Did a jutsu like that exist?
Mikoto's arm shook with the effort to overpower Sakura's kunai but there was no way anyone could beat Sakura in a battle of raw power.
Sakura lifted her brows, clearly challenging Mikoto to do better but she simply sneered and leapt back and suddenly Itachi and Sasuke were on either side of Sakura. "What is this?" Sakura asked.
"Another cursed Sharingan ability." Itachi said. "If I'm correct this is probably the Izanagi."
"Izanagi?" Sasuke asked.
"Izanagi causes the jutsu user to cast a genjutsu on reality itself. This negates serious injuries and even death."
Sakura frowned. "Okay, but then why aren't more Uchiha using this technique. It sounds too good to be true."
"It is," Itachi explained. "In exchange, your Sharingan will become blind."
Sakura eyed Mikoto. Both of her eyes, even from this distance, still looked red. "So, she's using the Sharingan implanted into her body to save herself from death." Sakura guessed. "You guys didn't manage to count how many she had, did you?"
Both Uchiha were quiet for a moment. "Ten. From what I could see, there were ten."
"Okay, so if we go by the assumption that she has ten Sharingan in her body, we just have to kill her ten more times - if we're counting the actual eyes."
"Theoretically." Itachi agreed.
Sakura took off in a dead run towards Mikoto, Sasuke called for her but she ignored him. Dodging Mikoto's shuriken left and right before leaping up so quickly there was no time to dodge. Sakura caught Mikoto's head between her thighs and twisted hard as they fell back, a sickening crack filling the air. Mikoto's body was gone before Sakura hit the ground on her knees. She twisted but a hand in her hair yanked her back hard, Sakura had expected this and her body was replaced by a log as she moved into place behind Mikoto, her heel hitting the small of the woman's back and sending her flying through the trees. Itachi and Sasuke were staring at her wide-eyed. "What?" Sakura asked, impatiently keeping an eye on the trees. A Susanoo arm shot from the trees and Sakura flipped back, once, twice but the arm kept coming. Sasuke slid in front of her with amazing speed. His own Susanoo taking shape around them both. Itachi shot into the trees, after his mother as Sasuke's Susanoo readied a bow and arrow. Sakura moved up behind Sasuke as his narrowed eyes watched the trees. She felt a little tense around him now. She'd seen his face after he thought he'd killed his mother – for her. Not only that, but she went after Mikoto with no hesitation and had killed her in front of him, twice now. The time they spent together at the inn felt years away now and Sasuke felt just as far away from her, despite being within touching distance. But Sakura couldn't feel anything about it, not right now. As much as she'd gone through in the last few hours…it felt like there wasn't much left of her heart. A strange, cold numbness kept spreading though her chest. The Susanoo aimed the bow but Sasuke seemed to hesitate. He blinked and his lips pressed into a thin line. He wasn't going to fire. He wasn't able to. Itachi flew through the trees back towards the road, hitting the ground.
"Shoot." Sakura breathed, eyes wide.
Sasuke didn't move.
"Sasuke! Fire the arrow!" She reached for his shoulders, giving him a slight panicked shake. Sasuke let the arrow fly. He watched it for a moment, and then his eyes closed. "Are you happy now?" he snapped, spinning to her.
Sakura stared at him for a long moment before she let out a shaky breath, turning her gaze to Itachi who was now getting to his feet.
"Let me out," Sakura told Sasuke without looking at him.
"Sakura I-"
"Let me out, Sasuke."
Mikoto flew from the trees, straight at Itachi. Their weapons clashed and sparks flew around them. After a moment, Sasuke's Susanoo seemed to dissolve around them and Sakura jumped into the battle. Mikoto spun to Sasuke, her Susanoo arm hitting him in his midsection and sending him flying away, she turned to Itachi but Sakura returned the favor, slamming her fist into Mikoto's chest and Sakura pursued her into the trees this time. Sakura felt Itachi go after Sasuke but she kept her attention on the enemy. Mikoto hit a tree hard and slid down, landing on all fours and breathing in heavy gulps.
"You seem weaker," Sakura said. "What changed?"
"She does, doesn't she?"
Sakura stilled. The voice…the voice came from….
She spun, looking behind her, but the space was empty. "Looking for me?"
The voice came from on her. Slowly, her left hand lifted on its own, her skin was covered in a slimy black texture, almost like…
"Yes." The voice said, as if it heard her thoughts. "Almost like me."
"No," Mikoto gave a wretched scream from where she was on the ground. "Don't do this to me!"
Sakura's body seemed to move on its own, stepping towards Mikoto. "I can still be of use!" she said desperately. One of her eyes had changed, the Sharingan morphed – changing color and shape.
"Only one?" Black Zetsu asked from where he'd attached himself to Sakura's body. Four White Zetsu leapt down from the trees and held Mikoto down.
"What are you doing?" Sakura whispered in a panic as Black Zetsu knelt and reached for Mikoto's face.
Sakura watched in horror, unable to stop what was about to happen no matter how hard she tried, as her own fingers pressed in around Mikoto's transformed eye, deeper and deeper as the eye bulged out further and then her fingers ripped the purple eye from Mikoto's face. The older woman screamed and thrashed, sobbing as she slumped down. "And now for you." Black Zetsu said, hand reaching up for Sakura's face.
"No," Sakura said, voice pitching high. "Don't."
Her own fingers pressed into her eye socket and she could feel her eyeball strain against it.
"Stop," she yelled, her brain sending the command to her head to pull and shake and get away. She didn't move. "Please!" Sakura yelled again and -

It turned into a scream.

x-x-x-x-

Thanks for the reviews!

I'm starting work again in August so I was spending the last week writing a few chapters ahead so I can keep updating regularly!

Here's a teaser for the next chapter: Lost With You –

"True," Itachi agreed. "But her chakra is dropping significantly every time she uses Izanagi. And she's almost out of chakra."

Sasuke's fists clenched at his sides. "Do we just….do we just kill her?"

Itachi looked at him.

"She's still our mother." Sasuke said.

Thanks for reading!

- Zana-Lee