Chapter 11

At the familiar voice, Sakura stared upward. Towering above was someone she wasn't expecting, not in her current state.

Sasuke glanced at his corpse below Sakura and frowned. "You have to snap out of it now," he said calmly, "I don't know how much longer I can hold it-"

"Why?" Sakura interrupted.

Sasuke looked at her in irritation. "What do you mean why? You'll destroy what's left-"

"-Says the person who destroyed my life," Her resignation quickly turned into icy anger.

Sakura ignored the grimace on Sasuke's face. She could tell his patience was wearing thin. He was running out of chakra just trying to hold her attention. Sasuke glanced at her state. Sakura had deep bags under her eyes. Her hair was undone from her usual short, high ponytail. Her shoulders sagged, weariness bearing weight on her body. She looked pitiful.

She looked away to a faraway point behind Sasuke. "...Yes, I know I'm trapped," Sakura admitted begrudgingly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Then why aren't you getting yourself out."

"Maybe..I don't want to," The Sasuke corpse disappeared, leaving Sakura sitting on her knees. Her fingers scrape dirt from the ground and let the sand escape through her fingers. It was no use hiding her true self. This is what all the years of grief has reduced her to inside her mind. She wasn't strong as people thought she was. She was just tired.

Transparent bright images appeared around them, filling the void encasing them in a dome. Illusions of a happy Team 7 well into their teens, without a care in the world. One of them had Sasuke smiling.

Sasuke figured they must be Sakura's "What if' moments that she deeply desired for that kept her trapped in the genjutsu. The images were short clipped and looped. They replayed over and over again.

"I never got a chance to beat you in a battle. Now that I've finally killed you here...," she looked down at the bloodied holes below her, "Revenge doesn't feel so sweet after all."

She had an empty look in her eyes. "In the end, I feel even lonelier than ever. This is probably what you feel on the inside too, just a lot more."

Sasuke stared at her, figuring out what to say. Sakura continued and sighed, "I'm tired Sasuke...just leave me be."

Sasuke had a rueful look. He let out a long breath. Speaking more to himself than to Sakura, "It'll take more than this to get you out of here…"

He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply, hesitating. "I'm-"

"I know what you're trying to do," she spat bitterly, "Don't pretend to understand how I feel. You're the last person who should understand what I've felt for years."

The images froze. All of Team 7's figures in the fake memories stared at Sasuke with wide eyes. Sasuke intuitively placed his hand on his sword, eyeing his surroundings.

She clenched her eyes. "You threw us away like we were trash. You tried to kill me." The hue in the neverending sky turned red. It cascaded black shadows on one side of her body. She looked at a transparent memory of Team 7 smiling in front of her and grasped at the image in the air, feeling for a vision that never happened. The image dissipated.

Her voice was barely a whisper, "...I just wanted you to know that there are people that care about you. There are people that love you no matter what."

She looked away in regret. "...And that I loved you very much."

There. She had said everything she wanted to say. No longer did she wonder what would be the day she would tell him how she felt, what he made her go through. She didn't want retribution on Sasuke anymore. She just wanted to stop caring about him altogether.

Maybe this way, she can move on...

"I was wrong." It felt as if the ground was swept away. Sakura couldn't believe her ears. She didn't notice that Sasuke crouched in front of her, their knees almost touching.

Sasuke continued, looking straight into her eyes, "You're right, I only think about myself…"

He looked down and rested his palms on his thighs. "It is my fault. I was wrong, for abandoning and betraying all of you. I'm not asking for forgiveness but it's fine that you bear hatred towards me. I deserve to atone for all of my sins. I need to."

One by one the illusions faded like mist. Then it was just them, surrounded in the blackness.

He looked away, seemingly at nothing. His low voice echoed lightly in the vastness, sounding almost ethereal but also sad. "People are like sand. The tighter you hold on to them, the more they slip through your fingers...," he looked up at the black sky, as if it held stars but there was none, "...like Itachi." Sakura frowned.

He continued, "I couldn't accept his death, after learning that all he did was for our family. Not even after Kabuto resurrected him again and again. I just wanted my brother back."

Sakura stared at him, watching him trying to figure out the words to say. It was a rare sight of him being clumsy. "In my mind, it was better to kill off the things that made you feel human so no one else can take them away."

Sasuke turned to Sakura. His hand lifted towards her, reluctant at first, but eased his hand closer.

"You still showed compassion towards me despite everything I've done..." he lightly touched the tips of her hair around her shoulders.

"You didn't betray my trust when you woke up Itachi and allowed me to talk to my brother one last time." He extended his hand around her head and pulled her forward. She let her forehead rest on his shoulder, "I'm willing to let others in again...it's just going to take some time."

The sky cracked, some of the sky chipping away into the nothingness.

"I'm sorry...for hurting you."

The world split in half, the last of the world crumbling around her. A chain holding all of her feelings inside ripped apart and she wailed into his shoulder. His hand was placed on the back of her head to soothe her.

And he meant it, Sakura felt it in her heart, which made her cry even harder. A shinobi must never show their tears, was something Sasuke used to remind her when they were younger, though she would cry anyway or cry in secret to not embarrass herself in front of him. Now here she was, sitting on her knees unable to contain her crying.

Sakura pulled away and wiped her face, not wanting Sasuke to look at her in this state. She peered at him and saw that his hand was outstretched. Sakura looked down at it, not knowing what to do.

"We have no time left. I don't want to resort to something I don't want to do in the real world."

With a trembling hand, she grabbed his hand and gripped it tight.

Faintly, Sakura hears voices in the background. They sounded urgent. Not like the voices in the illusions which were full of happy conversations and laughter. The voices from far away were slowly getting closer, battling with the noises from the fake world she was trapped in.

"Don't listen to the genjutsu. Concentrate," Sasuke commanded.

For the first time in a long time, Sakura put her full trust in Sasuke. Subconsciously Sakura eased forward. She let him pull her forward as she feels him pulling out from this world, this illusion. The solid earth beneath rapidly speeds away. Sakura clutches harder, afraid to look away. Sasuke's expression is tense and focused. Sweat ran from the base of his forehead till it left his chin.

She focuses on Sasuke as the space around them bends and twists. Sakura feels a headache building as she feels every motion. The world was fighting to keep her in place but it was failing.

There was light around Sasuke, it glowed from behind. It grew brighter and brighter until all she saw was black.

It takes her a moment to realize she was looking at familiar black smoke. She felt the hard ground behind her. She was pinned to the hard earth by Sasuke to her left and Kakashi to her right, clamping down both of her arms to the ground.

Sakura's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Sakura? Sakura?!" Kakashi spoke above her.

"She's fully here." She heard Sasuke respond.

"...What happened?" She asked, feeling them loosen their grip but not letting go just yet.

"What was the last thing you remembered?" Kakashi asked, looking tired and sad.

Sakura racked brain to remember. It felt as if she needed to sift through clouds in her mind. She had little recollection of anything beyond her time with Sasuke in the genjutsu.

"Sasuke and I were talking for a while, Konoha was burned to the ground, some memories that weren't real...," as she was trying to recollect her memory she slowly sat up, both men helping her sit upright. She glanced around her and felt some relief to see Konoha's walls still mostly standing. There were two huge holes where the gate used to stand.

Sakura continued, remembering her memory coming back, "...there a lot of blood, someone had their sides blown up-"

Her eyes widened. "Ino? Where is she? She was about to die!"

"Ino is fine, Sai made it back to Konoha," Kakashi reassured her.

Sakura sighed in relief. "Thank god…" Hearing some good news, she couldn't help but feel her teammates were staring at her with concern in their eyes.

Suspicion built up inside of her. "Did something else...happen?"

Kakashi looked away. "When you were under the genjutsu, what you did was not your fault. You had no control over yourself. It's Madara's doing."

"What do you mean?" It wasn't until her vision cleared from waking up and the dust settling aside to reveal that it wasn't just broken boulders in their peripheral vision. She gasped.

A handful of shinobi lay scattered. Katsuyu with a huge hole blown at the base of its neck. Her mallet laid haphazardly aside. Craters dotted the landscape from all sides. A Konoha shinobi corpse with both of their arms ripped off, had two gaping holes where their eyes used to be.

She felt a chill surge through her body and her heart plummet. "Oh my god. What have I done…" Her eyes scanned her teammates and saw they took some of her damage. Naruto and Sasuke had dirt and scrapes and were heaving deeply. She glanced at Kakashi and panicked at the sight of his right arm, limp at his side. Regret hit her like a truck.

She reached out to grab it. It looked as if the bones in her arms were grinded into pebbles, his arm was swollen and fell limp at his side. "Kakashi-sensei, y-your arm...I'm so sorry-"

He smiled. "No, no. Don't worry about it. It'll heal with time. We have some of the best healers in the world." He joked despite the pain.

She glanced at her palm and saw it was stained red. Both of her hands were red. Some of the blood hasn't dried yet. Whose blood is this? What have I done...how many innocent people have I killed...

Naruto in front, still glowing in his Nine Tails form. "Sakura-chan we're here for you. We're not leaving."

"Sakura." She turned to her left slowly where Sasuke was. Sasuke placed a palm behind her back, as if to reassure her. She hasn't forgotten their conversation in the genjutsu world and felt that he meant every word he said. He didn't say those things just to snap her out of it.

She felt her racing thoughts slow at the thought of her comrades braving themselves at the risk of dying just to save her. Rin and Obito were fending off Madara in the distance, most likely to distract him so that her team could isolate Sakura and stop her rampage. She scanned the vast area of her wreckage.

"If you didn't wake up, then I really had to kill you." Sasuke said next to her.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I get it." Then she added, "I wouldn't hate you if you did. Just so you know."

"Hn." Sasuke scoffed.

She shifted so she could stand and inwardly flinched. All of her muscles ached at every movement, every little touch seemed painful. She felt extremely weak, the amount of chakra she exerts for her patients daily, Rin's resurrection, fighting against countless enemies, and now her exhaustion from being under Madara's genjutsu. She hid her exhaustion and stilled her trembling hands by clenching them.

I don't know how much longer I can still fight.

"You need to go back to the village and rest." Sasuke said. Only he knew how exhausted she really was. She knew he was right but she could only look at him with a sad smile.

"I can't."

Kaguya appeared, almost out of nowhere, absorbing Madara. Then they were in Kaguya's dream world.

How are there more enemies? She thought as they landed on solid ground. They were in a wide open area with canyons in the distance.

"We made it guys!" Naruto triumphantly hollered as soon as they nearly escaped within a volcano that Kaguya put them in.

"Stupid!", she said, heaving, "Just...don't do that reverse harem jutsu again. I don't want that to be the last thing I see if I die."

Kaguya floated in the air and hurled spikes at all of them below. Her team and Kakashi's team leapt away, careful to dodge the spikes. At the last moment Kaguya whipped out a large form that split their group in half. One more swipe, she separated Sakura and Sasuke the furthest from the group.

Sakura made eye contact with Sasuke, something unspoken crossed between them. They wasted no time. Sakura grabs Sasuke's arm and flings him towards Kaguya. He hurls a fireball jutsu in Kaguya's direction, hitting her directly. Smoke dispersed, blinding her sight. In tandem, Sakura flew to one side with Sasuke on the other side of Kaguya. She landed a hit to Kaguya, a mask used as armor cracked, flakes gently dissolving into thin air.

Sakura fist pumped. Kaguya grit her teeth.

Kaguya darted to Sakura. "You two."

Her eyes flitted to someone to her left. Kaguya summoned a portal and reached her hand inside. The wisp sound of the portal was summoned right behind to Sasuke. He was pulled immediately inside..

Sakura met Sasuke's eyes briefly before the circle closed completely. The words rushed out of her mouth before she could think, "SASUKE-KUN!"

The remaining five of them surrounded Kaguya. Obito was shielding Kakashi from her spikes while Rin was deflecting Kaguya's onslaught of illusions assisting Naruto in mid-air.

All Sakura could think of was Sasuke. Was he dead? No, he was transported somewhere to waste away.

Sakura thought hard. Sasuke would be trapped there for the rest of his life if they didn't bring him back. No. She had to bring him back.

She stood straight and righted her posture. Calm down. Focus. You can't let your emotions get the best of you now.

She called for Obito. He crouched on one knee and summoned a portal after locating Sasuke. She pumped chakra through his back as he opened up a portal. She spotted a small speck, once he zoomed in, she recognized the person immediately.

"Obito, there!"

"Got it."

She cried out to Sasuke, hoping he would hear her. She had no more chakra left but forced herself to get more.

Focus.

If it halved her life she wouldn't have cared. She had to save him, even if there was a small chance.

Focus.

There were muffled footsteps on sand, they were rapidly speeding towards her.

It was her duty to protect others…no it was more than that. She couldn't abandon someone she cared about. Even if it was Sasuke.

Blood started to ooze out of her nostrils, she bit the inside of her cheek and used the pain to stay focused. The portal closed and she was falling backwards and felt a strong arm catch her. She didn't know where to look at first until her eyes met his. She thought he said something but couldn't catch it and forced herself to stand. She also felt the urge to hug him and say she's glad he's back but pushed the feeling aside.

In unison, Team 7 struck Kaguya from all sides. Her illusion world dissolved and they were right back in front of Konoha. Naruto jumped around in joy. Everyone around them started to cheer. The war was over.

Sakura took one last look around her until she felt her body sag to the side. She could've swore someone caught her but she was too light-headed to see who it was.

This is it. This is all I can do...

She heard cries of her name somewhere in the distance.

She could make out Rin's voice above her, just barely. She must've been the person who caught her. "...you used up too much of your chakra...Sakura..." Rin cradled Sakura in her arms. She removed Sakura's head piece and stroked away her bangs.

There was a figure blocking the sun above her, she focused on two black eyes.

Her head moved so that she could look up at him, "I'm sorry I can't be around to see you back in Konoha...Sasuke-kun."

There was a pause but she sensed he was listening. It didn't matter. She felt Rin grab her hand and squeeze hard.

Another figure blocked the sun above her, the tips of his hair mimicking the sun's rays as the faint sun glowed behind his face. The figure was shouting but she couldn't hear him.

"...her life...revive…"

The edges of the clouds blurred with the sky. It didn't feel real. She's seen death so many times in her life. Patients whose lives breathed their last breath in front of her eyes. She felt her heart palpitate, panic growing with each sharp breath, grasping for another chance to see things to the very end.

I'm sorry we couldn't be a team longer.

She remembered in her training that the last thing someone feels before they die is not the pain but a relieving sensation. Soon Sakura lost the feeling of chills and the pain in her chest and the voices around her faded away. Her eyes gave away and shut closed. The last feeling she felt were two pairs of hands, one each grasping her palms and another set gripped her shoulders.

She was just an ordinary shinobi. No inherited bloodline, no Jinchuuriki…She was just Sakura. Ordinary Sakura with ordinary parents. This was where her journey would end.

Thank you guys…for being the best teammates I could ask for.

Then she felt light, lighter than she's ever felt in her life.

5 years ago

"Naruto, run away damn it!"

"No way, I never back down from a fight! Believe it-AHH"

Naruto's sentence cut short as Sakura and Sasuke grabbed each of his arms and ran in the opposite direction. Debris from a nearby blast completely decimating a house that they used to hide in. They sprinted further in the forest, the tall trees towering as far as the eye can see. The trio dropped down to the very bottom behind some bushes. They sat down, catching their breath.

Yells and explosions echoed in the near distance.

Sakura smirked to herself, "They walked into my trap hehe. That should slow them down."

She heard Sasuke sigh next to her while Naruto collapsed comically next to a tree, "We barely made it out alive."

"Hey, if you didn't offend that local we wouldn't be in this mess, you idiot," Sakura placed a hand on her hip.

"Hey, it was because I bugged him we wouldn't have known he was the spy we were looking for. You guys should be thanking me." Naruto crossed his arms and exclaimed a loud 'hmph!'

Sasuke snorted, "Idiot."

The silence stretched but it was a comfortable silence. Although they were indefinitely lost and were being hunted by dangerous shinobi enemies, their panic soon turned into a sort of gleefulness. Naruto snickered. Both Sasuke and Sakura turned to him.

"Hey, we were a great team though, weren't we?" Naruto cracked his widest smile.

"Hn," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, we were," Sakura giggled. She covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

It was moments like these made their dangerous adventures all the worthwhile. Being Team 7 altogether, were the best moments in her life.

A/N: Next chapter is the last chapter.