A/N: This is the last – and the most popular – of the chapters originally published in Affinity. Hope it was worth the wait!
The Lovers
The lovers share trust. Through their unity, each part of the pair is empowered with both confidence and strength.
Upright: partnership, alignment, choices
Reversed: loss of balance, disharmony, one-sidedness
"Soul Baring," Tsunade begins speaking, "It's the most important and intimate step of any Match."
Sakura fidgets with the red taffeta of the dress Ino had let her borrow. Her heart races at a million beats per minute, her finger trembling as she waits in front of a large and ornate onyx door. Intricate carvings lined in pearl decorate the smooth stone depicting a man and woman beneath a large tree, swirls and stars bursts from behind their joined hands representing the great power they hold together.
"Kaguya and Isshiki," the Hokage states, gesturing to the door. "The first magicians and Matched pair."
"I haven't heard their story before," Sakura responds.
"You wouldn't have," Tsunade's mouth is set in a grim line. "While their story holds significance, it did not have a happy ending." She inhales deeply before continuing. "We tell their story before the Soul Baring as more of a cautionary tale. You see, long ago…
The world was a different place, a place where magic was not yet wielded by humans and instead ran free and raw. It tormented the people, striking fear in their hearts and forcing them to endure hardship after hardship. The young Kaguya was no exception. As a child, her parents were taken from her by malevolent spirits that feasted upon anger and hatred.
You see, her father was not a kind man and the spirits thrived in the environment he created, amplifying it. One night, when his fury had boiled over, he killed her mother and then himself. The young Kaguya would have also fallen victim, however, she managed to escape and ran as far away as her feet would take her.
She collapsed in a spirit forest, dense undisturbed land where untapped magic flowed unencumbered. When she had awoken she found herself entangled in the illuminated roots of a tree, as if the tree itself were protectively embracing her. This was when Kaguya realized that while there are harmful spirits there are also nurturing ones. That magic itself is not evil, but the way it manifests in the world is determined by circumstance. Here, where nature was untouched, magic blossomed into something beautiful, it's true form.
She lived within that forest, underneath the tree for years, eating its fruit and drinking from the stream that watered it. Her skin and hair glowed from the brilliance and purity of the magic living within her. Learning to manipulate it, she became the first magician, at peace within her sanctuary. The more time she spent there, the more she realized that humans were the reason why dark spirits roamed the earth. Their hatred and greed warped the otherwise beautiful power that thrived in the natural world.
One day, a man wandered into her forest, injured and delirious he sought refuge from the warriors that had attacked his village. Kaguya, now a young woman, found him, Isshiki, and reluctantly nursed him back to health. She hadn't been around a man, let alone another human, since that fateful night she had to flee her home.
However, as she tended to him, fed and washed him, she found that he was kind. Isshiki was grateful for her help and respectful towards her forest. She taught him about her life out there, the magic that it held, and he told her of the world of suffering she had left behind. Famine and drought had led to war. Man killing man to survive.
"Nothing has changed since I was a child," Kaguya stated sadly as they sat across from each other within the cradling branches of her tree. "Man has caused the magic of this world to be out of balance."
"But there is still good in humans," Isshiki stated. "Compassion for a suffering neighbor, gentleness for a crying child," he pauses, reaching up to brush his fingers against Kaguya's cheek. "Love for a beautiful woman."
And as young people in isolated circumstances do, they fell in love. On the night of their joining, Kaguya gave Isshiki a fruit from the tree, giving him the power to wield magic as well. They found that they could do so much more together than they ever could apart. They summoned rain to water the forest, levitated to the top of the grand tree, and begun to read each other's thoughts.
"We have to share this with the rest of the world," Isshiki said many days later, in awe of the power now flowing within him. It felt as though he had never been hungry before nor thirsty and every memory of pain and injury from his life was washed away. "This could end the suffering; one piece of fruit is all anybody would need to never be hungry or hurt again."
The image Isshiki painted was a beautiful one, a perfect world but…
"No," Kaguya firmly stated. "Humans can not have this place," she glanced around at her magical oasis, her grand tree with its luminescent blue vines. "Should they know it's power, they'd destroy it."
But Isshiki was insistent, begging Kaguya to give humanity one last chance, telling her that she could change the world. Reluctantly, she gave in to her lover's pleas, trusting him fully, and she left her forest behind to bring the power of the tree's fruit to humans.
At first, all was well, Kaguya and Isshiki's wielding of the magic brought about a more civilized era, their dispersing of the fruit started small with those in Isshiki's village allowing more and more magicians to emerge.
However, as with all power, came greed. Soon enough, word spread of a mysterious tree that could give power to all who ate from it. Hunting parties went out searching for this power to wield the wild magic of the world.
By the time Kaguya was able to return to her forest, her tree had been ravaged. The branches, once heavy with more fruit than ever imaginable, were bare. The roots that once cradled her were charred from an attempted burning and the great trunk no longer glowed the comforting blue, instead it greyed and withered away like ashes in a fire.
Kaguya wept and Isshiki was unable to console her. Her beautiful home was now ruined, all because of humans, because of their greed. But what was worse, was that her own love's naivety was the flint that lit the fire. Her tears of sadness turned to rage, an anger rooted so deep within her that the primal magic there grew until it consumed her.
The disbalance of their bond killed them both, but the magic of the tree had already been released within the world. The first of the magicians from Isshiki's village began to disperse into the world, each wielding it with their own style, growing and evolving the craft. However, one thing was constant in all of the factions that came to be, and that was the power of the Match."
Sakura feels her knees knock together as Tsunade's lesson came to an end. Something about the story tugs at her heart and she must force herself to release a shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Learn from their story and ensure that your Match maintains its balance, otherwise the power of the bond will consume you."
Feeling as if she's been punched in the gut, Sakura remembers the word's she heard the night of the accidental teleportation.
"Sasuke please don't kill me!"
Is that what happened with Karin? Did her bond with Sasuke consume her? Opening her mouth, she's about to ask Tsunade, but the words die on her tongue. She hasn't told anybody about it, not because she doesn't want to, but because she is too terrified to voice her thoughts. What if her destined Matched, really is a murderer?
"It will all be fine," Tsunade soothes, the paleness of Sakura's face betraying her fear. "The power between you and Sasuke is unlike anything I've seen before."
What does that mean?
The questions rush through Sakura's head at a million miles an hour. She feels as she did the first day at the academy like she's receiving too much and not enough information all at the same time. She must focus to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground, waiting for the dizziness to subside.
"Red is worn to symbolize the merging of your souls, your bodies, your blood," the headmaster continues the ceremonial words. "You surrender yourself completely to your partner: physically, mentally, and spiritually. Every emotion, every secret is laid bare for the other."
Her words are dramatic and daunting, but her voice is calming and with each sentence, Sakura feels the pit in her gut subside. She wonders if Tsunade is using an enchantment to calm her.
"Once the water is above your heart, you'll begin to feel your Match," Tsunade states, preparing her for what is to come. "All of his thoughts, his emotions, his power, they begin flowing into you and yours into him. Such is the power of the waters of Kaguya's stream."
"What if we're not ready," Sakura begins to ask. She hasn't so much as seen Sasuke since she was pulled into his mind, and that was weeks ago.
"Nobody ever feels ready," Tsunade says, pulling Sakura back to reality. "Besides, it's tradition to complete it on the eighteenth birthday of the youngest of the two."
Sakura's heart plummets, over her time at the academy, she has learned how much tradition is valued at the school, there is no breaking it. Today Sasuke, the younger of the two, turns eighteen.
"Now, Sakura Haruno," Tsunade lights a lone red candle and places it in the girl's hands, "You enter the –"
"Wait!" Sakura jumps at Hinata's voice, turning to see the dark-haired girl rounding the corner.
"Miss Hyuga," Tsunade scolds, "You can't be here."
"Just please," she begs the Hokage who seems to realize the direness of the situation. Hinata would never do something like this unless it was extremely important. "I need to tell Sakura something."
Tsunade nods, allowing the interruption against her better judgment.
The clairvoyant girl cups her hands around her mouth and whispers to Sakura. Green eyes widen at the words, her hands beginning to tremble all over again to the point that she almost drops the candle.
Once she's finished, Hinata gives her friend one last pleading look, her lavender eyes desperate for her to understand. Then, she turns to leave as quickly as she arrived, not glancing back once as she disappears from view.
"Let's continue," Tsunade states, pretending to ignore the whole encounter. Sakura wonders if the Hokage is overlooking what just happened as a mercy for Hinata, after all, the young girl had told Sakura that she could get in trouble for revealing her visions.
The pink-haired magician doesn't have time to dwell on this thought though or the words that were just whispered in her ear, as Tsunade quickly begins speaking again.
"Sakura Haruno, you enter the chamber as one half to a whole, you shall leave complete."
The black door slowly swings open, the ceremonious words having been spoken. Taking her cue, Sakura places one uneasy step after another, until she is through the doorway. Without a sound, the door swings shut, enclosing her in what feels like her tomb. She continues to tremble the blood in her veins feeling as if they turned to ice, but she knows she has to just keep moving forward.
The room is longer than she expected it to be, black granite covering the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, save for the pure white pool resting in the center. Perspiration gathers on her forehead from both the nervousness and the warm air wafting around her. Her eyes dart between the numerous black and white candles lit around the room, trying to avoid meeting the face of the only other inhabitant standing on the opposite side of the water as her.
"Sakura."
Her name bounces off the walls in the deep voice that's become so familiar to her. She tries to place the emotions associated with the possessor but struggles. Flashes of her nightmares flicker through her mind. Maybe she fears him, pities him, or perhaps she feels something stronger she dare not even think. She settles on it being a mixture of all three and then some.
"Look at me," Sasuke says, causing her to finally rest her eyes on him. She sucks in a breath, it had been weeks since she last saw him, even in her dreams, and his appearance rattles her. He's dressed head to toe in a pure black suit, save for the red piece of cloth that sticks out of his breast pocket, and it's hard to tell in the darkness, but she swears she sees deep bruises under his eyes, as if he hasn't slept in a long time.
Through the silence of the room, the terrified scream that she heard all those nights ago echoes in her thoughts. Sasuke, please don't kill me!
She looks away from his dark eyes and strong features, resting her gaze on her own bare feet instead as a shiver climbs up her spine. She had been ripped from that dark doorway, that prison that housed his memory before she could see anything but the darkness lingering in it. Just that terrified voice echoing in her mind.
The shuffling of fabric prompts her to look back up at the man that haunts her thoughts. He has placed the red candle at the edge of his side of the pool and begins removing his jacket and his shirt.
Sakura's body begins to move on its own. Baring yourself to your Match includes physically baring yourself to them. Placing her candle adjacent to Sasuke's, she reaches behind and begins unzipping her dress. Her fingers tremble so much it's hard to properly grasp the small piece of metal, but she manages, and her dress drops to the cold floor.
She stands there for a moment, in just her bra and underwear, staring at the figure in front of her. Her eyes follow the toned muscles and the smooth skin, remembering how it felt under her hands that fateful day Ino gave her the ribbon, those soft lips that had danced down her neck.
His face is blank, but his eyes burn as they lock on to hers and she swears he can read all her thoughts. Slowly his hands travel down to his boxers and he begins pulling them down. Sakura mimics his moves with her own underwear, never breaking eye contact with him. She unclasps her bra, gingerly resting her hand over the pale scar by her right nipple. She's not embarrassed by it by any means, but it's not something she wants to think about today. There's already too much racing through her mind right now.
Once fully naked, each takes a step towards the clear pool. The liquid sloshing as they slowly descend into the water. The moment her chest descends into the coolness, she begins to feel power and emotion flow into her. Anger, betrayal, vengeance, passion, they bubble within her and she knows what is happening. She's feeling his emotions.
Powerful, that's how she begins to feel as she approaches the center, closer to him. Could this water truly be from the stream in Tsunade's story?
Sasuke sighs as if the weight of his thoughts is physically lifted from him. His guard drops, but only for a moment and she's able to see herself through his eyes. He's filled with her confusion of this life and of him, hurt due to the way he's treated her, her fear of what she saw locked away in his mind.
Just like that, his walls are back up again, his feelings begin to drift away along with the overwhelming sense of power. He turns away as if to walk out on her as he's done so many times before.
Anger begins bubbling within Sakura, not his but her own. She refuses to let him walk out on her again. With all the boldness she can muster she grabs his arm and begins chanting the spell she had to memorize for this occasion.
The water surrounding them begins to glow a blue hue, casting bright light in the otherwise dark room. Ever so slightly, she sees Sasuke's eyes widen marginally before he joins her in the incantation. With both of their joined voices, the blue glow turns to a brilliant white, an almost blinding brightness. Surprise flows through the water and fills her body as he opens himself up to her again. She moves a palm to rest on his cheek, her face focused on him as she begins traveling through his corridor of thought once again.
She runs through it trying to reach the end as rapidly as possible while her physical body moves closer to his chest, his arms coming up and resting on her shoulders. Their mouths no longer move, but the foreign words of the spell continue to echo around the room in whispered voices.
Her mental self reaches the end where the three large black doors had been, however, this time it is different. Hidden in their looming shadows lies a fourth door, smaller and less impressive in structure as if this memory seal had been made rapidly. It lacks the blackened symbols of the others and without even a touch, the door opens to her.
"Sakura." The word reverberates in his mind, a pained grumble as her partner's barriers begin to fall.
Stepping into the room she's instantly assaulted by all of their interactions upon her arrival, but this time from his point of view. In the beginning, he views her as weak; a vulnerable and silly girl that understands little of this life. However, in more recent memories, his attitude has completely changed. It has grown into a protective sense, a need to give her something he was unable to with his former Match.
His distance these past couple of weeks is clear to her now. He's been separating himself from her not because he wants to but to prevent her from getting trapped in the tangles of his past that had caused Karin's death. Underneath it all is a sense of affection and admiration buried deep within his need to stay away from her. He's seen a level of power in her that he didn't think possible.
"I feel it too," she whispers. She sees her actual body as if watching a movie screen. Sasuke is mere centimeters away from her like he's stopping himself from coming closer. His hands cradle her face as his eyes plead with her to understand.
She tries to project her feelings from when they teleported back to the academy, the way she felt when their powers merged properly. The strange humming that had warmed her from the inside out. It wasn't just power, it was a feeling of finally sipping water after wandering the desert, the feeling of taking a deep breath after nearly drowning. It was a necessity; it was a need. She needed his power to mingle with hers again, she couldn't feel whole without it.
Whatever she had been doing must have worked because at that moment she feels a rush of his power sweep through her body. He leans his forehead against hers and she revels in the tingling beneath her skin. The hair on her arms stands on end as if she's been electrocuted, which she may as well have been with the pulsating feeling within her. She holds her breath as she watches his head dip down slowly.
His lips touch hers and it's as if they are a cooling balm to the heat beneath her skin. She realizes the pool has begun bubbling, growing hot with their ability and emotion. Steam billows around the room evaporating from their bodies.
This is completely different from the way she felt under the influence of the amplifier spell. Rather than wanting to feel him, she finds herself wanting to disappear inside of him altogether, to truly merge together and become one. Feeling emboldened by his initiation of the kiss, she darts her tongue out to brush against his lips, letting him know she wants more. Then she feels him completely open himself to her. All of his walls and carefully constructed barriers drop, and she feels herself fill with his thoughts, his feelings, his power. It's not long before she's pinned against one of the white edges of the pool as Sasuke's hands wander all over her body, feeling each inch of her. His lips are pressed against the side of her throat the pressure of his mouth causing fireworks to go off under her skin.
He moves lower and Sakura jolts as she realizes he's moving closer to her scar, but she notices that his eyes are closed and, in the darkness, the puckered mark isn't noticeable. She feels him prod her mind as if questioning what her momentary hesitation was, but she pushes away the thoughts that quickly try to rush to her. The sounds of metal crunching, the smell of gasoline, and… No, she pushes it all away and focuses on the feeling of Sasuke's tongue against her goosebump laden skin.
Her head spins, how did they even get to this point? When did her hands end up clutching to his shoulders, pinning him against her, terrified he might let go at any moment. Between the part of her that's going through his mind and the part of her that's now gnawing at the soft spot beneath his jawbone it's hard to keep track of everything. She just knows she doesn't want this to end.
However, she knows that Soul Baring isn't just about the physical, it's about the mental and spiritual as well. "Your secrets," Tsunade had said. She reluctantly turns her attention away from her physical body and back to the figment of herself within Sasuke's cavernous mind.
She finds herself in the same dark area and turns from the room that locks away his affection for her. The same black door that she had stumbled into what feels like centuries ago faces her now. The marks shifting once again allowing her to step through. Her sensations are taken from her as she finds herself within a blur of flashes of red and dark shadows.
She hears the hiss of a snake before she sees it. A large black python slithers slowly and dangerously in an ash drawn pentagon. Various incantation media lie around the room, a bowl of raven's feathers, a swirling pendant, and locks of dark hair.
She watches as her hands grip a knife and her body walks towards the snake. Trying to stop herself, she realizes she's no longer in control, she's a bystander, observing the events of the path through Sasuke's eyes.
Kneeling, words begin coming out of her mouth that aren't her own as she plunges the knife into the python's head feeling the sickening crunch of its skull. Its body begins twitching as she pulls the knife down the length of the snake, stopping halfway.
"Karin, I'm ready," Sasuke's voice comes from her body. Her head turns and she notices the red-haired girl for the first time. Adjusting her glasses nervously, shaking hands betray her emotions. Yet she doesn't question anything, obediently coming forward with burning dried dandelions in hand. She waves the bundle in the air, summoning a vibrant spark before stuffing it in the belly of the disemboweled snake.
Sakura still grips the knife, heavy in her hand and dripping with blood. She lays her other one out to join with Karin's firmly, the other girl's skin cold despite the warmth of the room.
"Are you sure about this?" the redhead finally asks, her hesitation getting the best of her. Sakura doesn't hear Sasuke's voice again, but her head does a quick jerk of a nod.
Karin is the first to begin chanting, her voice slowly rising with more power as Sasuke's joins in. They continue, and Sakura feels the emerging power building between them. It's intoxicating like lava has been injected in her veins. It's similar to how her own power feels with Sasuke's yet completely different at the same time. There's a darkness in this feeling as if the magic is being eclipsed by the shadow of something malicious.
The belly of the snake bursts into flames that keep growing taller and taller as the couple's chanting continues. The shape of a figure begins to appear in the fire, becoming clear with each word of the spell. Eyes burning deep and menacing red stare out at her from the dancing heat.
She wants to continue watching them, but her head forcibly turns and her eyes shut. Her body rises of its own accord and the knife suddenly feels too heavy in her hand.
No, she silently cries in her mind. She knows what's going to happen next. No!
She tries to back out of the memory, tries to get back to the dark room, to the pool, to the real Sasuke, but she feels trapped.
"Sasuke?" Karin's voice questions, a tremble distorting her words, "What are you doing?"
Sakura's breathing becomes labored, her skin too hot. She can't decide whether she wants to open her eyes or keep them closed and face what her partner has done. She braces herself for the agonized scream, for the feel of the knife plunging into the innocent girl's chest as it did the snake's skull…
But it never comes.
Slowly, she opens her eyes, her nude body shaking and alone in the now frigid water. It's dark now, the candles having been extinguished at some point when she was trapped in the memory, but the water remains slightly illuminated. She wants to call out his name, but the echo of Karin's terrified voice stops her. So instead, she just looks around in the room.
The dripping of water from behind catches her attention and she turns to see Sasuke hastily gathering up his clothes and pulling on his boxers.
Her arms come around to cover herself suddenly self-conscious. "Sas-"
"Don't," he cuts her off, his tone as cold as the water. "Just don't."
Keeping her eyes on him, she lifts herself out of the water. As she beings pulling on her dress, he speaks again.
"Nobody has exited this chamber without completing the Baring Rites," he shakes his fingers through his hair, dashing droplets onto the slowly hardening wax of the melted candles.
"So what do we do?" Sakura asks her voice trembling from embarrassment and fear. Her mind not yet deciding which emotion is stronger.
"Lie," he replies curtly before exiting the room, leaving her alone in the dark. He slams the door and all Sakura can think about are the four words Hinata had whispered in her ear what feels like a lifetime ago.
"Deception will bring devastation."