The Last Ones Standing

Chapter 6

They were searching the second layer. More animal-dimensions were filling up their scheme. Turtles- dimension, dimension of some strange marten-like creatures. Crows-dimension. At the discovery of dogs-dimension Sakura got emotional in a way Madara didn't understand. He couldn't quite tell if her agitation was stemming from positive of negative emotions, and when he inquired, she didn't tell him. She only stated that she knew some of the summons personally and needed to find them. She pressed on camping there and had them trek across the dimension entire day long, in the direction pointed out by the first-encountered dog. It was dusk when they found a medium-sized, brown ninken wearing sunglasses. Sakura addressed him as 'Akino' and in a strained voice asked him to 'get the others'. Then she sat down and proceeded to ignore Madara's efforts to set up a camp.

When after an hour or so, Akino arrived in tow with six other dogs of all shapes and sizes, Sakura finally stood up. Now Madara could tell clearly – she was upset and holding on by the last shreds of her strength. Her mouth was set into a thin line as if she was trying her hardest not to burst into tears. Surrounded by the dogs, holding the smallest of them in her arms, she went deeper into the forest. Bigger dogs were nudging at her legs over and over again as if sensing her distress.

Some minutes later, Madara heard howling. At first of a single dog, but its sound didn't even manage to die away before other voices joined it. Eerie chant rolled through the forest.

It was deep night when Sakura came back and sat by the dying fire. Her cheeks were all wet with tears. It was the first time she let herself cry openly in front of him, and he didn't have a consolation. He didn't lay another log into the fire though, thinking she might prefer darkness. He could still see her well enough in the moonlight.

"What are they doing?" he asked softly. Howling was sounding from all the sides now, the hills around them were singing.

Sakura lifted up her head to look at him. The tears were rolling down her cheeks. "They are mourning their summoner."

When they were packing up the next morning, a grey, wolf-like dog size of a horse approached their camp. He was accompanied with the same small ninken with squashed face that Sakura carried in her arms last evening.

"Student of Hatake," said the great hound and Sakura bowed deeply holding one hand to her chest. "We grant you, and your companion, the hunting rights in our world. That's the least we can do."

Other noteworthy event during the exploration of the second layer was them nearly drowning in the sea of acid. He teleported them away. He managed once again. When he lied splayed on the bare stones of the next dimension, his legs being treated by Sakura, he wanted howl. Not from pain, even though it was immense – the skin on his lower legs was almost gone, and it was only powerful Suiton jutsu that Sakura timely released that saved them by diluting and washing away the acid. He wanted to howl from the realization that had it been the last jump his chakra system could have supported, they would have been dead.

"We're never doing more than five jumps per day. Never again."

Sakura moved her hands away from his legs. That violet, shimmering seal was still enveloping her, changing her face into something alien, into something greater than she was. "It will slow us down."

"It will keep us alive. I'm not risking a single jump more if I don't have at least two jumps as a reserve. What we're doing is insanity – we're jumping head first into complete unknown." He was supposed to find those brats to break the Tsukuyomi, not to get pointlessly killed. But that wasn't all. He couldn't stand it - he couldn't cope with the thought that he had put her life at such a great risk. It weighted on him like a thousand of tones – that feeling of responsibility that he forgot two lifetimes ago.

"We have no time to waste!" she reiterated.

"I know. But it's already second dimension, in, how many? Fifty? Two in fifty that almost got us killed. The probability…"

Sakura was studying her sketchbook. "The probability may be unevenly distributed. This acid dimension… It was also on the bottom of the cube… There where Kaguya's lava dimension was. Maybe the worlds form clusters according to their properties? Look here." She pushed the notebook in his direction. "The animals' dimension cluster here," she pointed up to the corner of the cube, "so maybe the lethal ones also cluster together?"

Madara was pouring water on what was left from his trousers. "Maybe. Does it mean that I should be ready for hellfire in the next one?"

"Kind of."

"Then we better sleep already here. At least the ground isn't actively trying to dissolve us."

They finished the second layer and moved to the third. More empty, black dimensions followed and with each of them Sakura was growing quieter.

Each 'evening' before going to sleep she was perfecting her dimension map. She ripped the pages from her notebook, glued them together and drew each layer on a separate sheet. The third layer map was assembled from nine notebook pages and, to use it they had to lay it on the ground and walk around it.

'Once we get to the fifth layer, we will need to walk on it,' thought Madara.

Katsuyu was rarely required, so Sakura could spend most of her chakra on healing him, increasing the number of his daily jumps. Even with the precautions they were keeping a decent speed, around seven jumps a day. But defining days was becoming fuzzy. Their 'nights' were happening when Sakura had to regenerate her chakra.

"We need to keep track of time. Our sleep cycles will deregulate. Plus, there is no day and night in many dimensions. Or different days and nights."

Sakura peeked from under her blanket. She developed a habit of sleeping with her head covered, probably to further shield herself from their circumstances. Madara wondered how wasn't she suffocating. And he couldn't watch her in her sleep anymore. "The perceived 'days' get longer once organism is deprived of environmental cues," she pointed out.

"Keep track of your cycle."

"Pardon?"

"Keep track of your bleedings. Write them down. Good chance you will deregulate as well but it's our best shot."

Sakura sat up, wide awake, and opened her mouth in disgrace. "I'm not your freaking calendar!"

"But you will be one."

"You need to do something to feel better." She was starting to worry him. Now, she was sitting by the fire, motionless like a statue. Entire last day she didn't speak save the barest minimum necessary for communication. "Reality won't get better any soon, I know, but you need to give your mind some repose."

Sakura looked at him. Her eyes lacked the sparks. "Yeah, I know… I should work on that…" she sighed. "In the end the way how I feel only comes from chemicals in my brain…"

"Really? Chemicals? It's all that it takes?"

"Maybe it's not all it takes, but it boils down to that. In the end those chemicals are the goal. How you get them up is irrelevant."

"And how do you get them up?"

"Except for your life being in order?"

"Except."

"Chocolate. Training. Feeling loved."

"Well, we don't have any of those. And we should prioritize saving our chakra and not burn it out on sparings."

In the end, it was him who suggested going back 'home'. He pointed out their need to re-supply and she didn't put up much protest. He hoped that walking under normal sun and sleeping in a normal bed would stabilize her a bit.

He was partially right.

She apparently enjoyed sitting on the porch, especially in the evenings. She picked up mending the fishing net that was lying next to the cocoon there. Once, when the door was open, he overheard her talking.

"Doesn't this cloud front look like a storm to you?" he heard her asking. "Sure it does to me… But I've never lived on the coast, and I heard that weather patterns are different here. Do you have many storms here, Yoshiko-san? I bet you do…"

Madara froze. She gave a name to the cocoon.

"Probably mostly in winter…" continued Sakura. "Which will be soon. Don't worry, I'll take a look at the roof. I don't know much about construction, but I'll make sure there will be no leaks, this I can promise!"

The next day he indeed found her on the rooftop. To make things even more absurd, she had him find some boards, climb up as well and nail them to the rafters.

He thanked all the gods when the same day they left into the dimension maze. There at least she was focusing her energy on something less disquieting.

The next time they came back, which was a month later, the first thing she did was to climb the roof of another hut. "Our neighbours also need their houses taken care off," she retorted when he tried to protest.

"I want to go to the tree," announced Sakura when they finished the necessary restocking of the scrolls. And fixed the roof of the Tanaka's house. 'Which would have gone quicker had Madara concentrated more on helping and less on rolling his eyes,' she thought.

Nevertheless, she was really satisfied with their day's work. They were already packed, and she came up with a brilliant idea of sealing the sealing scrolls inside other sealing scrolls. They could spare so much space this way! That made her feel a bit more grounded, a bit more self-assured. They could come back home more rarely this way; they will be more efficient with their search. Maybe not a game-changer, but still an improvement… And when they move to deeper layers it will make a difference. So, today she felt she could face it.

"Why?"

"Everyone's there. Everyone I know. I miss them. I miss them so much…"

"You won't see them. I'm not sure if this is such a good idea. You will only get more upset."

"Probably. But I still want to. And I know what you are thinking about it," she added seeing his look. "And I don't care."

She was bracing herself for the shock but still she wasn't prepared for what she saw. Seen from the descending Susanoo the battlefield was enormous. When she had been down there before, she had been able to see tens, maybe hundreds of cocoons at once. The rest was obscured by the landmarks and tree roots. From the bird's eye perspective, she could see tens of thousands. White lumps littered the ground until the horizon.

And the tree. Standing under it, one couldn't comprehend its size. Now she could.

Madara was right, it made her only feel worse. Nevertheless, she continued her stroll through that semi-graveyard, watching cocoon after cocoon as the hung, lied and stood. She wanted to hack and beat at the roots, but it was pointless. Sand got into her shoes and she was thirsty.

She passed by a cocoon with a peculiar shape – it was more round at the base, more bulky. Sakura circled it slowly, aware that her brain was trying to make a connection. This shape – it reminded her of something, of something very familiar…

She looked around. In the landscape of yellow sand and pale cocoons a spark of color suddenly popped up. Sakura almost jumped. Next to the abnormally formed cocoon, there was another one, very close. She passed by it. From the next one something violet was sticking out and fluttering in the wind. Sakura came up closer.

Deep violet, smooth and lustrous. With perfectly trimmed ends. She would recognize this hair anywhere.

Sakura dropped to her knees. "Hinata! Hinata!" She clutched at the cocoon with all the desperation and sobbed. "Hinata, it's me! Sakura! Can you hear me?!" She propped her forehead against the folds. "Can you hear me?" she repeated quieter. "Can you…?"

She took a deep inhale and, holding herself against the cocoon, she stood up. She wound her arms around the top part of the cocoon, there where it was narrower. "Hinata, I'll get you out, I promise. I'm working on it. I'll get everyone out. Endure a bit longer. I will get you out."

Sakura turned. Now it was clear – the shorter cocoon was Akamaru, the one standing next to it – Kiba. "And you guys as well!" She gave Kiba a short hug, and a pat to where she believed Akamaru's head was. "I'll get you all out!" she screamed.

The renewed pertinacity pushed her through the good quarter of layer four. But in the ocean of void she was losing her momentum. It wasn't her resolve that wavered, it was her strength. Sometimes she felt she just couldn't anymore. Like now.

Sakura was rocking herself. Back and forth. Back and forth. Arms curled around her knees. Back and forth. She didn't know why was she doing it but she felt she had to. Back and forth.

She wanted to cry but it was empty inside her.

Madara, lying in his bedroll already was observing her, she knew it. She could feel it. Some part of her felt ashamed but most of her didn't care.

"Would you finally eat something and lie down? I want to sleep."

They discovered a dimension with actual landscape, for once. After checking it with Katsuyu – it turned out empty, of course – they decided to set up a camp. They found a large rock with a half-cave of sorts at its foot. There was finally something to attach the protection tags to, so after closing the cave entry with a mesh of barrier seals (and attaching some seals to the stone, because Sakura was admittingly a bit paranoid) they decided not to hold watches. They could both sleep longer this way. And do so within an actual shelter, and not on an endless, empty, black plain as it was the case it most of dimension. It was such a welcomed change. But sleep was elusive for Sakura, once again.

"Are you in hurry somewhere?" she snapped. She really expected some more understanding from his side. Apparently, she was mistaken.

"Yes. To sleep."

Sakura shoved the last chunk of bread to her mouth. It tasted like nothing. She tugged at her blanket feeling even more hurt.

Absorbed by preparing her sleeping mat she didn't notice that Madara stood up and lifted his bedroll.

"What are you doing?"

"We're sleeping together." He aligned their bedrolls.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're breaking down. Lie down, I'll hold you."

"What? No! I don't want to cuddle with you!" That wasn't how Sakura imagine her first nightly contact with a man. "You're only making me more upset."

"You need human contact. As much as you need food, or more. You're a stranger to loneliness, you cannot handle it. And I am the only human around. You should be thankful that I am willing to indulge you. Now come here." He yanked her arm and she toppled on the mat. Then he pulled her so that she was lying against his chest.

Sakura stiffened. "Why are you doing that? What do you imagine this will lead to?"

"I'm doing it because we need to survive. And should I remind you what is at stakes? It's in the best interest of everyone that you stay healthy and mentally balanced."

"You know, if you wanted to cuddle you should have phrased it in a different way."

"I don't want to cuddle."

"So you're saying I am the only one who needs it?" asked Sakura with snide. As much snide as she could muster with her nose pressed into his chest.

"I managed to unlearn this need. But I don't think it did me much good."

"Sakura? Sakura?"

Sakura forced her eyes to open. With effort – she was just in the most blissful phase of sleep. But when she saw Madara bent over her, shaking her by the shoulder, she sat immediately, suddenly covered in cold sweat. "What happened? What's wrong?"

He edged away from her. "Nothing's wrong. I didn't mean to scare you. I just really need the map of layers two and three."

"And why exactly it couldn't wait until the morning?"

For a moment he seemed embarrassed. "Because I have a theory. And I need to check something."

Sakura threw the blanket away. She was very much awake. She didn't even feel the need to further comment on him waking her up – she could only sympathize with his predicament. How many times did a sudden idea for a new therapy drag her out of the warm bed to her desk in the middle of the night?

She recovered her maps from the sealing scroll and spread them before them. Madara crouched on her sleeping pallet.

"List once again the dimensions that Kaguya was jumping between when you were with Obito."

Sakura put a finger to her lip. "Hmmm. Core, gravity, ice, lava and desert. Those five."

"Five?"

"Yes. Five."

"You've mentioned that when Obito opened a portal you got injured by acid. Where was that?"

"We didn't jump there. We just opened it a bit."

"But it was there. And for some reason Obito opened it, so if he was somehow tracing the goddess she might have been there as well."

"Maybe. Then it would make it six. What's your point?"

"Seven." Madara's finger landed in the center of the map. "Our world is the seventh. Look." He grabbed a pencil and started sketching. "If we re-draw this, so that the middle-down dimension – the Kaguya's core dimension - is in the center of the map, we have the lava, ice, gravity and desert as four directions on the horizontal plane. Front, back, left and right. Four closest dimensions. The 'up' will be our world. And the 'down'…" Madara grabbed the map of the second layer. "Will be that sea of acid that almost cost us our lives!" He tapped triumphantly at the red-crossed circle.

Sakura bent over the map. "Makes sense. But I still don't get what is the big deal…"

"She was moving along the lines of shortest distance. Those six cardinal directions are the closest. That was her route all the time. She never jumped on diagonals, never used other directions."

"That means that we are searching it… wrong…? That our center should be her core dimension and…"

"…and that we should search along those six lines," finished Madara looking her straight into the eyes.

AN: After a long break, I'm back to this story! It was a bit of struggle to come back into the correct mindset and remember the tone that I wanted to achieve. So, please let me know what do you think about it. I value all the comments, also the critical ones!