Leaving cover was a grave mistake, but the realization came too late.
The strike of lightning was noise before it was fire, crackling before blindness, warning before death. Kakashi knew he had no chance to dodge what was brewing above him. Not without the Sharingan. Not with these new-old eyes he had not quite gotten used to.
And yet, not doing anything was out of the question, like it had always been. He had spent his entire life fighting for that elusive thing called peace, for the dream that future generations would be able to live in harmony with no threat of war. The dream was built on countless sacrifices. Was that dream worth it? Without a doubt.
So he would die fighting for this dream and there would be no shame in that. It was what he had always known his life would amount to. He had done what was expected of someone like him. Had he a right to regret not living longer, not tasting a bit more of happiness? None.
And yet… regret was so strong he felt his throat constrict painfully.
The problem was that he had tasted happiness. That he had allowed himself to dream his own dream, foolish and desperate. A dream of having a family. A dream of having someone by his side to walk the roads of life together.
He regretted keenly that he would not have the opportunity to hold Sakura one more time. That he had not kissed her more often. That he hadn't told her he loved her a thousand times more. That he would not see their children being born, would not hold them in his arms, could not marvel at how tiny their hands and feet were. Would not see their first steps… a whole life of possibilities and love opening up in front of him was cut short, snuffed out.
A dream of peace, but never his.
Boom! Lightning shot down from above, a bolt so thick it looked like a searchlight had been switched on.
###
"Ichika… honey," Sakura murmured, clumsily stroking the heartbroken woman's hair. "He says he will come back. Here. See?"
If he can, she added in her head. She balled her hands into fists, rumpling Micha's letter in the process. Damn him! Why had he wiggled himself into their hearts when he didn't mean to stay? Well, unfair… he had meant to stay, but it was obvious he had obligations in that country of his. Important obligations. Why else would his own father have travelled around the world to fetch him?
"If he comes back, which I hope won't happen, I will rip every hair from his head and his beard one by one, then I'll pull out his fingernails, his toenails, I will cut off his…"
"That's enough, Kaeru," Sakura said sharply.
The young man was dressed in his Anbu uniform and ready to leave the village. Sakura had seen him in civilian clothing for so long his current attire took a bit of getting used to again, but he cut a fine, fierce figure, his frog mask dangling from his belt, his sword secured on his back.
She looked down at Micha's letter again. Next to his missive to Ichika he had sent Sakura some recent scientific notes that she found very intriguing and wanted to follow up on as soon as possible, speculations about how the Uzumaki essence interacted with Uchiha blood and why he thought the Uchihas needed the Uzumaki essence to be well. Kind of like he had thought long and hard about how to make the rest of her insecurities go away: The way he put it, it sounded as if Sasuke had not chosen Karin over her but Sasuke had simply needed that toxin from her skin and had instinctively sought her out. Made sense. Fate wired into genetics.
And what about Sarada?
In her, the forces are perfectly in harmony, Micha had written, if I correctly understand what you have told me about your world, all the good qualities of both bloodlines will be present in her without the bad. Her blood could have healing properties and more - it will be coveted. Guard her well against those strange people.
Poor Sarada. Fate wired into genetics and yet, she was just a small human being who needed nothing but a home, love, and the occasional encouragement. She would not allow anyone to use Sarada as a test subject. Never ever.
But if fate could truly be wired into genetics, what did that mean for Kakashi…?
Still reeling about what she had learned from Pakkun, Sakura wasn't ready to think the thought to its end. Not when she was so eager to reunite with Kakashi, wanted to remember everything they had shared. Wanted to look into his face when she told him about the baby, to see… to see that it was true what she felt deep inside of her: That his love for her was a gift she had received unexpectedly. And that it was precious beyond anything, worth fighting for with all she had.
Sakura sighed, swallowing down the fears that she would be proven wrong, and returned her attention to the sobbing Ichika who occasionally tried to be brave, stopped crying, blew her nose… just to start bawling again only a few moments later.
"I cannot leave," Kaeru said resolutely and began to pull at the straps that held his sword. "I will stay with her."
"You won't stay," Sakura said sharply. "They need you. Kakashi needs you. Just bring him back to me."
Damn, she was anxious. She couldn't shake the ominous feeling that had snuck up on her last night after a terrifying nightmare. She couldn't stop remembering that time, when both Kakashi and Sasuke had gone missing after the attack on the village, and how she had felt. So empty, so… useless. But then, Kakashi had carried Sasuke back, whose legs had been shattered and she… she had made a choice. What did this tell her? As long as she could hope, she should hope.
Kaeru grumbled something, looking utterly miserable.
"I will take good care of your sister," Sakura assured him.
"You're not well yet yourself," Kaeru frowned. "She is supposed to take care of you."
"She will, won't you, Ichika?"
Ichika nodded bravely and dried her tears, looking at her brother with an expression that should probably have been resolute but only underlined her misery.
Having her own personal nurse was a new, slightly awkward experience for Sakura but Tsunade had insisted. She was going to stay with her parents for a while, Sakura had decided because she couldn't really squat in the Hokage Tower without the Hokage in residence. Ichika could live with the Harunos too, they had a spare room and it would do both of them some good to eat delicious food and chat their days away.
"Once he's back you will have to tie Kakashi down," Kaeru said. "I am sick of worrying about him."
You can't tie down the wind. But the wind might rest a little with her - and the baby growing quietly in her belly. She was sure he would. He deserved a little rest.
"I don't envy the woman you are going to marry," she teased Kaeru. "Will you try to tie her down too?"
"No," Kaeru shook his head sullenly. "If I ever marry, which I doubt…" of course, as expected, he was getting nowhere with Okami Akane the librarian, "I will treat her exactly like my father used to treat our mother. Like a goddess."
"Oh, I thought you didn't…," Sakura bit her lip, swallowing the rest of the sentence. She didn't mean to pry. But Kaeru had never spoken about their parents before and she had always assumed they had not known them.
"They died during the Uchiha massacre," Kaeru said stiffly, throwing his sister a look from the side. "They shouldn't have. They were just there to cook in one of the taverns. You don't need to know more, it's… in the past."
Oh. Suddenly, Kearu's hatred of all things Uchiha made perfect sense.
"I am sorry," Sakura said, her heart in a knot. Poor Kaeru. Poor Ichika. Poor Sasuke. Oh, when would they be able to move on?
Kaeru nodded, shrugged, lifted his hand into a farewell gesture, grumbled about having to go but promised earnestly that he would be returning soon with all the important people he was sent to rescue and walked out the door.
Watching his retreating figure, Sakura's anxiety skyrocketed. Waiting for people to return from battle… was the worst kind of waiting.
###
Boom! The sound hit Kakashi's eardrums at the exact same time a body hit him with so much force it propelled him forward and out of harm's way. Relief flooded him - then annoyance. This wasn't the direction he had wanted to go!
"Are you mad?" Sasuke yelled into his deafened ears. The blast from the explosion behind them accelerated them even further, making them tumble precariously in tha air but Kakashi managed to turn his body at the right time so that he could land on his feet halfway gracefully, Sasuke right next to him.
The Uchiha was still gripping his flack jacket tightly, looking behind them with a deep frown.
There was a smoking crater where the lightning strike had hit. Kakashi took a shaking breath. Okay, maybe he was mad. There was a tank of methane only a few meters away from it. What had he been thinking? Not so long ago, his suicidal plan had made a lot more sense.
There also was a monster that had once been Kabuto, unharmed and leering in their direction, Nice Rin's slack body hanging from one of his multiple mouths.
And large, alien eyes above them, focused on them intently, waiting for their next move.
Okay, it clearly wasn't only he who was mad. The whole world had gone mad. Or was it about to finally right itself?
"I was trying to get to that… that thing!" Kakashi said angrily and pointed at Kabuto.
"Have all your skills failed you now?" Sasuke jeered, "it was clear that something massive was going to discharge from that ceiling."
"Maybe clear for someone with eyes like yours. Not clear for a normal person like me," Kakashi answered stubbornly.
"Stay behind me, old man," Sasuke said and shoulder him aside. His Rinnegan swept over the cave, the God Tree. "Should we destroy that thing?"
"Yes?" Kakashi said, stepping next to Sasuke. "But I bet you those eyes won't let you get close."
"Then why did they let that… that thing close?" Sasuke gestured rudely towards Kabuto who was trying to stuff the now struggling Nice Rin deeper into his mouth. "And don't tell me he is your brother!"
"Never," Kakashi pressed out. It couldn't be! Or rather, he didn't want it to be a possibility - but however much he wished it wasn't, it still was one. Maybe his father had… he might have loved someone else more than his mother or he could have made a mistake. It would explain… some things in this mad world. If the Tree accepted Kabuto as a legitimate protector of the Nohara line, then picking its berries and even eating one was not a threat to it?
But they were a threat to Kabuto. It was going to come for them again, this defensive system. That other time with Rin, when she had been hit… she had taken a berry without permission.
"Can you dodge the lightning?" Kakashi asked Sasuke.
"Maybe," Sasuke shrugged.
"We should torch the whole cave."
Sasuke nodded.
"You can use Amaterasu."
"And you will get everyone out first?"
And leave Sasuke here alone, in danger? Not an option. Kakashi ran through a few scenarios in his head quickly. Which made him notice that someone was missing.
"Where's the other R…"
Evil Rin chose that moment to step through a portal right behind them. Kakashi swiveled around and dodged a kunai attack, but she wasn't trying to get him, she was set on hurting Sasuke. The Noharas were hellbent on believing the Uchihas meant to end them for good, just because Nakushita and Indra had hated each other so much. Whole generations wasted with plotting useless plans when the Uchihas had always been busy extinguishing themselves.
"You're useless!" Rin shouted at Kakashi, her face red with fury. "The consequences of your betrayal will lead to the extinction of your line!"
"I am sorry for what I need to do to you," Kakashi pressed out. "But I, the last of my line, will live a long life to spite you. Yours ends today."
"You're not the last of your line," Sasuke said, closing in from the other side.
Rin hissed and disappeared, only to reappear at another spot at Sasuke's back. He reacted fast enough and stepped aside when she attacked but Kakashi saw that only a split second in the wrong direction could turn their luck.
"You cannot win!" Rin hurled at them.
"But you will lose," Sasuke said with his usual arrogance. "I will kill you."
Evil Rin laughed and disappeared. Kakashi tensed and held his breath.
"You know what you have to do, don't you?" he asked Sasuke.
"Yes, kill the bitch," Sasuke seethed.
"No, Sasuke! The plan is to…"
"I fucking know the plan," Sasuke interrupted him, turning around his axis, at the ready to thwart Rin's next attack.
She reappeared right at his back, a kunai striking down even before she had fully materialized. Blindsided, Sasuke noticed her too late.
But Kakashi didn't. He shot between them, pushed Sasuke out of harm's way and… fell to his knees with a grunt of pain. Not fast enough. Maybe he really was getting old.
"You… you would… give your life for him?" Rin stared down at him in shock, at the knife hat was now embedded in his back.
"Of course," Kakashi pressed out, but speaking hurt. Everything hurt. Pain pooled between his shoulder blades like liquid fire, spreading everywhere.
"But he is your enemy! Our enemy!" large tears began to pool in her eyes.
Kakashi shook his head. What else was there to say? Rin was wrong. About pretty much everything. She had not realized that Sasuke was not just the last of the Uchihas - but that he was the one who would resurrect his Clan from the ashes, altered yet the same. A Clan that combined two bloodlines to its ultimate advantage, a balance of strength and temper. Like Mrs. Nohara had not realized that times had changed and that with him, the Hatakes had freed themselves from their shackles.
Because he had understood the fine print. Because he had hidden his own memories so that he not only fooled them but himself as well - until it was time to remember.
"It's over, Rin," Kakashi coughed. "Indra and Asura duped you. It ends here for you."
Such an elaborate prank. They really hadn't liked their sister.
"You cannot die!" Rin said in desperation, putting her hands on his wound.
Oh, but he could.
"Now, Sasuke!" the words came out more like a whisper than a command but Sasuke understood anyway.
He rammed a syringe into Rin's arm and released the serum. The serum mixed with a great deal of Uzumaki toxin, following Micha's advice. Without him here, Kakashi could not be sure it was the right amount. But they had no other option - and no other chance.
The cocktail took effect immediately: Rin screamed at the top of her lungs, all her limbs shaking and twisting. Kabuto's heads swiveled around. Given his distraction, the other Rin managed to jump out from her toothy prison and came limping in their direction.
"Take this for hurting Sakura!" Sasuke screamed at Evil Rin. "And this" - he rammed his own kunai into Rin's heart - "this is for hurting my Sensei. If he dies, I will..." he twisted the knife cruelly.
"Stop, Sasuke," Kakashi gurgled, feebly lifting his hand.
Nice Rin was upon them, looking from her sister to Kakashi with a face that had gone as white as snow.
"What have you done," she sobbed, "what have you done!"
"Did you think you could hurt the people I care for and I would do nothing?" Sasuke said coldly. "Revenge is what I live for and you… you came for Sarada, you almost killed Sakura, and you…"
"What…" Kakashi lifted his reeling head with an effort, "what are you saying?"
"When they invaded the village, they went straight for Sakura and hurt her very, very badly," Sasuke pressed out, "they're insane. They were thinking you were theirs or something. That you had to obey them? They can rot in hell and cry over their stupidity, I will…"
"Sakura…," Kakashi tried to get up, but he had no strength left. So he was the fool after all. A reckless plan gone wrong, hurting the innocent. What was he still doing here?
"She's much better," Sasuke assured him, stepping closer resolutely. "Stay down. You can't die."
Nice Rin was bent over her sister, trying to heal the chest wound, then looked towards the Tree with desperation, her face blanching even more when she saw that its branches were empty.
"Did he take all the berries?" she lamented, turning her head towards Kabuto. "Hey, you!" she yelled. "Come here and give her a berry or she will die!"
The Kabuto monster grinned and shook its heads. Well, now it was obvious which Rin he was in love with.
"What was in the syringe?" Nice Rin demanded to know from Sasuke, pooling healing chakra into her hands again.
"It renders you completely powerless," Sasuke said, "because it neutralizes the Uchiha blood you stole and poisons you at the same time. We have more and you are next!"
That was a lie. They were out of serum and out of skin toxin. Either this worked or… well. It couldn't get much worse.
Rin nodded, biting her lip in a visible effort to think.
"I can save him," she said and pointed her chin at Kakashi. "If you agree to a deal."
"Don't… bother…," Kakashi wheezed.
Sasuke threw him a scathing look. "You idiot. You're needed. Sakura is pregnant."
… what? Blood was roaring in Kakashi's ears and his limbs began to shake. Pregnant…? A groan escaped his chest. A dream of peace, a dream of family… so close. So close. And so cruelly ripped away from him. There was so much blood pooling near his knees. He would be dead in less than an hour. Far less.
"I will save him if you go get four berries from this… thing," Rin said, her disgust making her voice thick as she gestured towards Kabuto. "But you must kill him afterwards."
"What about you save Kakashi now and then you and your sister both die?" Sasuke sneered.
Rin sighed heavily as she went down on her knees next to Kakashi, peering at his face, then touching his wound. "Then we three die together. I understand now that we cannot have his love. Better he leaves this world too."
Sasuke glared at her, a calculating look in his eyes.
"Just… just protect them for me," Kakashi whispered. "My child. Your child. It was Sarada who freed me from this pact, Sasuke. A descendant combining Indra's and Asura's bloodline… Nakushita agreed to this, not understanding that…," he coughed up blood. "That it was possible… through the generations… for them to have 'a child together'."
"Shut up," Sasuke grumbled. "I'll do it. I'll get the berries. I'll try to be quick and you make sure you don't die. But I never want to hear another word about Indra and Asura and anyone else again, okay? We're not them. We're not even like them. They have no hold over us and our lives."
He rushed forward towards Kabuto, the eyes above them blinking more and more rapidly.
"Did you never love me?" Rin asked Kakashi. She sounded angry. But also a little sad. He lifted his eyes to look at her.
"Maybe I could have," he answered truthfully. "If Obito had not been there first."
She remained silent, the expression in her eyes unfathomable.
"Who would think love can be regulated by a pact?" he asked her. "Your ancestor must have been a very bitter woman."
"How else should she have gotten what she wanted? How else could we get what we want?"
So that's how it had come to pass. Poor Hatake ancestor, Kakashi thought. Had met the wrong woman and had paid for it dearly. Throughout the generations.
He had to laugh because of the irony. It hurt so much he passed out.
###
The pains in her belly started sometime in the afternoon after she had rearranged the furniture in her old room.
Quickly, Sakura laid down on the bed and put her feet up, but the pain wouldn't go away. She started breathing more deeply, slowly, willing her blood to flow into her womb, nourishing her child.
It was only her general state of anxiety, she told herself. When she was agitated or nervous, she always got diarrhea.
"You will meet your papa soon," she told the child in soothing whispers when it all didn't help, "please calm down."
Should she call for her mother? No, better not to worry her, Sakura decided. She had seen the new lines in her mother's face. All because of her, she assumed. And her father had gone much greyer than before too. Get Ichika? But she didn't want Kaeru's sister to know she was pregnant yet nor did she want to further traumatize the young woman with losing a baby in front of her.
"My sweetie," she said to her fetus. "Come, let's go on a walk together?"
She had practiced hypnotherapy before, to be able to help Kakashi overcome his traumas. Autohypnosis was similar. And she had practiced that joint Genjutsu with him. Maybe one of those would help? Maybe she could calm down her baby like this.
Cautiously, she reached out to that tiny awareness within her. She imagined taking it into her hand very carefully, whispering hand signs into its tiny ears as she formed them for herself: Ushi, Tora, Mi, Tatsu, Mi, Tatsu, Inu, Saru, I, Uma, Tora, Mee, Ee, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Mee, Nae, Sara, Oo, Sara, Jin, Sara, Tori, Tatsu, Tori.
And…
Sakura gasped. It had worked! And she knew this place! A hallway with many doors, all open, all letting in sunshine and a gentle, soothing breeze. It smelled… It smelled lovely like spring, like freshly mown grass and cherry blossoms in full bloom.
"Kakashi?" she whispered. "Kakashi, are you here?"
"I know you," a voice said, somewhat familiar, yet Sakura couldn't quite place it.
"Who is here?" she asked, turning full circle.
Obito stepped from one of the rooms. Obito, like she had gotten to know him in those last days during the war, half of his face disfigured, his hair grey, his eyes hard and disillusioned.
"Sakura," he acknowledged her with a curt nod. "It's unexpected to see you. I got alarmed for nothing."
Indeed, very unexpected! Sakura wondered what Obito's ghost was doing here but then again, she knew how important the Uchiha had been to Kakashi. Maybe it wasn't so special to meet him in Kakashi's subconsciousness after all?
"I meant to…," how silly she would sound, but that didn't matter in a place like this. "I wanted to calm down my baby, you know?"
"Baby?" Obito frowned, looking her up and down.
"Hm, yes," Sakura said, feeling herself blush. Obito wasn't even real, why did she feel so shy about this? "You know, Kakashi and I… we…"
"His baby?" Obito's mouth flew open.
Sakura nodded. "Kinda weird, right? I used to be his student and people are not all looking at this favorably but we really love each other despite the age difference and he is… he is… he is so wonderful…"
"Not weird at all," Obito interrupted her and suddenly smiled, his solemn face transformed most wonderfully, "now I understand. You're good for him. He can finally be free."
"Free…?"
"It's a long story," Obito nodded. "And I'm sure Kakashi wants to be the one to tell you. I can leave now."
"Are you sure…?" Sakura suddenly didn't want Obito to leave without Kakashi's permission.
There was a small shuffling sound in the open room behind Obito and he turned around to look.
"There you are!" he exclaimed. "I thought I'd lost you in that forest. Come see, someone has come to visit."
"Who?"
It was a child's high voice, sounding a little shy and a little petulant at the same time. A head appeared behind Obito's leg, with unruly silver hair… and then she looked into eyes as green as new leaves in spring.
Sakura's heart wanted to jump out of her chest at the sight. How could she not recognize who this was?
"Sweetie," she whispered, overwhelmed, sinking to her knees.
"My name is Haru," the little boy said, stepping out from behind Obito. "Not sweetie."
"Come here," she sobbed, opening her arms wide, "let me hug you."
The boy nodded and stepped forward, straight into her embrace. Sakura couldn't hold back her tears when she felt the warm bundle snuggling up against her.
"Why are you sad?" her son whispered, "please don't be."
"I was so afraid I would lose you," Sakura wept, "please stay. Hold on. We will love you so, so much."
"I will stay," the boy agreed, hugging her back tightly. "I like you."
###
Was he dead? Kakashi thought he was lying in a pool of his own blood in a goddamn cave but why did he hear Sakura's voice?
"Sshhh, don't move," a female voice commanded. Someone was pouring healing chakra into him, holding the pain at bay and stopping the blood. Man, dying and almost dying so many times could really mess you up.
What had happened?
Kakashi turned his head, seeing… The cave. The ghostly white Tree. Smoke. The air carried a sharp, bitter smell. The lightning, he realized.
And he saw Sasuke, a bit to the side.
A very grim, defeated looking Sasuke.
We are not done yet, Kakashi tried to signal to him but he was too weak and Sasuke wasn't looking in his direction anyway but at someone lying on the cave floor in front of him.
"What have I missed?" Kakashi tried to say but he felt quite severely dizzy and he decided he'd rather listen to Sakura's voice, which was… far away… too far away, but soothing… he closed his eyes and imagined holding her, her warmth, her softness, her fragrance, and he…
… he found himself in a place that was familiar in an odd, dreamlike way, which made him fear another Genjutsu though it had no ominous feeling at all.
I am leaving, someone said. I'm no longer needed here. Gonna wait for a bit on the other side. But take your time?
Yes, Kakashi agreed.
"Stay with me," the female voice urged him, "Kakashi. Kakashi!"
He opened his eyes, mildly confused about where he was, what was real and what was not. Sakura had been there and he wanted to go back, but here… here was more important.
He saw Kabuto, looking like a grotesque parody of himself, getting up on his knees. He was much taller than he should be and much more ugly than usual. Also still alive, which was a problem.
"Dammit," Sasuke growled and his hand burst into a dazzling display of dancing light. He dashed forward and zoomed around the monster-Kabuto so fast, Kakashi felt even dizzier than before. The air around them tensed and Kakashi flinched when a bolt of lightning struck down, narrowly missing Sasuke.
"I need… to help him," he said to whoever was hovering over him, trying to stand up.
"You won't budge," the woman said angrily, pressing him down. "If the Uchiha cannot even do this, then he can go to hell right away."
Well, he kinda couldn't budge anyway, Kakashi realized, the weakness in his limbs was too great, as if his entire strength had flowed out of him. Which it probably had, judging from the drying blood on the cave floor.
But maybe he could do something else? Distract the tree's defense system, for example. Lure it away from Sasuke. Lure it to himself. Sasuke would have an opening to kill Kabuto then.
So he would eat a berry and draw the tree's ire towards himself. He turned his head to the other side and there it was… the basket. If he could only stretch out his hand he could… he could… he hesitated. The image of a boy with unruly silver hair and green eyes appeared in his mind. Sweet longing filled his chest. A child. He was to have a child! Sakura was pregnant. She needed him. He couldn't sacrifice himself. Not anymore.
There was one other option though.
Lying.
"Rin," he said.
"Yes!" the voice answered. Was it Nice Rin? It would be easier in that case but maybe it didn't matter.
"I wanted to tell you…," he turned his head to look at her. She was concentrating hard on healing him. It made it easier and at the same time much harder. "... that you are wrong. About me and you."
"Hm?" she looked up and into his eyes. He willed himself to believe what he wanted her to believe, what he wanted the Tree to believe.
"Hurting you almost killed me. Do you know why?"
Her lips twisted a little, her eyes became questioning, but her hard features did not soften.
"It's obvious," Kakashi continued, watching for a sign that she could be convinced. "I've always… I've always lo..."
Okay, it was harder than he had thought. He couldn't get himself to say it. That word. Love. It was reserved for another woman.
"We wanted a child with you," Rin said quietly. "You understand that, don't you? The Rin you killed was infertile. They wanted her dead because of it. We, the improved versions, are not infertile… barely. It seems to be the case that it's now or never. And then we foolishly thought..."
Kakashi's eyes sought Kabuto's form.
"You have another option," he said.
Rin laughed coldly. "We do, don't we."
There was movement somewhere to their left and Kakashi tensed. Evil Rin. She was not dead. But pale like a ghost.
"We have another option," she echoed him, revealing teeth colored blood red by the berry she had eaten.
"Don't do it," Nice Rin urged her. "Your powers are destroyed."
"I'm tired of it all," Evil Rin whispered. "And you…," she bent over Kakashi and gently touched his brow with a finger. "You cruel, cruel man… you showed me a way out."
"Don't do it," Nice Rin repeated more urgently.
"I don't want to be a womb for this family, sister," Evil Rin whispered. "I want to break free, just like him. Let it be the end!"
"You can't beat it!"
"We don't need to beat it," Evil Rin whispered. "Just to destroy it. So that none of us can ever be fashioned again."
There was a commotion at the cave entrance then, people came spilling in, Oni masks fighting people wearing leaf headbands. Keiki was there with her men. The tree went berserk, shooting its sizzling fire in all directions.
Kakashi remembered the tank of methane and his stomach did a little flip.
"I loved you like crazy," Evil Rin said to Kakashi and pressed a kiss on his forehead, "and it made me so angry because it didn't feel like I had a choice at all. Now I realize I've always had one. Thank you."
Nice Rin stopped applying healing chakra to Kakashi. She sighed.
"Okay," she said, in a defeated, sad way that got Kakashi right in the heart.
"Don't do it," Kakashi urged them and tried to grab their hands. Too late.
"Please forgive us," they said. And then they were gone.
It started as a deep, ominous rumble all around them. Kakashi closed his eyes. He gathered air into his lungs. And then he screamed, as loudly as he could: "Everybody out! NOW!"
He wasn't sure anybody had heard him over the general ruckus. He wasn't sure there was enough time. When the two Rins reached the God Tree to destroy it, the cave was turned into a blinding hot inferno in which one exploding methane tank made only a little difference.
###
The troops were coming back.
Like so many other Konohans, Sakura rushed to the village gates, her heart in her throat, anxious and exhilarated, craning her neck and standing on tiptoes.
There were too few, she immediately realized. Much too few and those she saw in a very bad state. She threw Tsunade a look but her grim, sad face was unbearable so she looked away. What was a victor if it felt like a defeat?
"Sai!" Ino shrieked and ran forward so hasilty she almost tripped, throwing her arms around the pale father of her child, sobbing uncontrollably in her palpable relief.
"It's good to be back," Sai sighed against her hair. When his eyes met Sakura's over Ino's shoulder, his face took on an expression she had never wanted to see on there.
No.
Captain Yamato stumbled into her view, looking dazed and completely exhausted. His clothes were full of blood and soot, singed at the edges and ripped.
Fire. They carried the signs of it all over their bodies.
Yamato shook his head at Tsunade. His eyes flicked towards Sakura and away. Like he felt ashamed.
"What happened?" she heard herself ask, her voice strangely composed and cool.
"We…," Yamato swallowed. "We don't know. A huge explosion. The entire mountain..."
"You don't know?" she interrupted angrily. "Is he dead or not?"
"Sakura," Tsunade said and put a hand on her arm. "Let's go to the Hokage's office for a proper debrief. You can sit down."
"I'm not going anywhere," Sakura stubbornly said. "I will wait."
"But…," Yamato looked miserable.
"Where is Kaeru?" Sakura demanded to know.
"Stayed back," Yamato reported.
"See? There are people who don't lose hope until they have to," she flung at both her seniors. "I'm staying."
Tsunade looked like she wanted to say something else but then she just shrugged and fell in next to Yamato.
Waiting was pure agony. Sakura didn't want to believe it was futile. But she feared it was. Naruto appeared next to her not half an hour after the troops had returned.
"They will be back," he said simply and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm not ready to be Hokage yet. Kakashi Sensei wouldn't leave the village alone. Just believe it."
"Thank you," she said and pressed his hand in gratitude.
They waited for a long time. People brought them refreshments, offered words of encouragement. Hoping became easier.
It was growing dark already when three lonely figures appeared in the distance.
"See?" Naruto grinned.
They were walking slowly, supporting each other. Kaeru. Sasuke. And Kakashi.
Sakura squealed and flew forward, Naruto following her out the gates at a somewhat slower pace.
"Ouch," Kakashi grunted when their bodies met with a thud.
And "hmmmm," when he buried his face into her hair and inhaled deeply. "I heard you didn't remember me for a while? Are you sure you've got the right guy?"
She had no words, only tears of joy.
"Get a room," Sasuke grumbled and limped forward. Kaeru grinned at her and winked, leaving them standing there in the falling dusk, clinging to each other like they never wanted to let go again.
"I'm home," Kakashi sighed and touched her belly tenderly and with wonderment in his eyes.
"Took you quite a while," she sobbed, touching his face, his hair, his chest and finally his hand on her belly. "Will you stay a little?"
"I never want to leave again," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "Is that okay with you two?"
It was funny, Sakura thought, falling even deeper into his embrace, feeling like she could grow roots right here and stay like this forever, that the air suddenly smelled like spring, like freshly mown grass and cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Or maybe not funny at all. Because this smell… it was the smell of hope.
And it went so very well with the love she was feeling. A dream of peace - it was their future.