Quick update! Thank you to every reviewer who kindly took the time to leave their thoughts on the last chapter.
Visit the link on my profile for accompanying track at the final scene. This chapter is extremely plot-heavy, and will answer many questions relating to Kore/Sakura.
Chapter XLIV
In truth, I find,
Naught but death,
My lungs are stricken,
Spent of breath,
For Fate has sealed my endless qualm,
So fragile the Flower,
That rests in my palm.
As Sai's vulnerable form continued to limp and stagger away, an anxious Sakura fought against the inner-medic instincts that were positively screaming at her to do something to help ease his discomfort. Would he even make it to the river bank in his pain-crippled state? She wanted nothing more than to rush after him, to make sure he could manage. But she didn't dare to move. Somehow, she just couldn't bring her arms to release their grip on Sasuke.
Perhaps it was the remnants of shock still clinging to her that were responsible for how firmly she continued to hold onto him. Or perhaps it was the sudden, displacing feeling that he was the only real, physical anchor keeping her overwhelmed thoughts from being swept away by the crashing tides of chaos.
A tense silence settled between them, in which Sakura willed her racing heart to calm its frenzied rhythm. It wouldn't. Neither would her mind cease its relentless spinning. And it was only when Sai's form had completely vanished beyond the mist-warding gates and out of their sight that the death deity finally broke the uncomfortable hush.
"Sakura." Her name was drawled as silkily as ever, but Sasuke's tone remained decidedly icy. "Let go," he ordered bluntly.
His hands, she noted, were balled into tight fists; a sure sign that his displeasure still lingered. Swallowing nervously, she finally compelled her arms to slip out from around him.
An inwardly seething Sasuke remained motionless, glaring ahead. Nobody stayed his hand. Nobody ever dared. He was uneasy and outraged in equal measures that Sakura's tears had actually affected him enough to not only succeed in making him halt, but also reversed his decision to tear the wretched messenger boy's soul out.
He had spared Sai's life. It wasn't the act of her crying, he realised, which was the root of the problem. It was the unsettling realisation that she held some manner of influence over him – and he'd inadvertently let her become aware of it, too.
Sakura wondered how best to proceed. She had a multitude of questions and wanted an explanation for the dreadful scene she had just witnessed. Just what darkness had come over Sasuke? She decided to play it safe, however, to test the murky waters by beginning with a soothing expression of gratitude instead of confronting him head on.
When she cautiously attempted to thank Sasuke for allowing Sai to live, the death deity's inner frustration and resentment only crested.
"Sasuke," she began awkwardly, trying to level her voice. "Thank you for-"
The remainder of the sentence caught in her throat when he interjected, "Never interfere."
Sakura shook her head, momentarily speechless. Had he honestly thought that she would just stand by as he murdered her classmate in cold blood? She wouldn't ever allow it to happen to a stranger, much less to someone she personally knew!
It was enough to chase away the last of her hesitation. So much for playing it safe; unable to keep herself from demanding a justification for his alarming behaviour a second longer, she exclaimed in a mixture of anger and disbelief, "Did you expect me to just stand back and watch? You were going to kill him, Sasuke!"
He spun around swiftly to face her, dark irises hurtling daggers. Sakura lifted her chin and met his gaze as squarely as she could. The fatal haze of red and the smothering black chakra aura surrounding him had cleared – but a disgruntled Sasuke was still a dangerous and unpredictable one.
"He deserves it," Sasuke clipped.
Sakura blinked, startled and utterly appalled. For a terrible minute, she couldn't form a response. This wasn't the side to the death deity she wanted to reach out to and discover more about; it wasn't the part that fascinated her, the one which she had begun to see tentative glimmers of hidden deeply beneath the many protective layers he cocooned closely around the very essence of who he truly was.
This was his other, uglier side; the impulsive one that had abducted her without a care for the consequences. This self-centred, condescending, heartlessly unfeeling facet of his personality had just about pushed her to the edge of her limits. Suddenly Sakura was inwardly fuming at what gave him the right to treat others so deplorably, with absolutely no consideration for anybody else's emotions and wellbeing other than his own.
For this Sasuke, only his opinion was the one that mattered. He was always right. His wants and desires took precedence over everything else. He walked around with a superiority complex that was larger than the Underworld itself – and Sakura had had enough.
Just like that, she erupted. The panic and terror of witnessing his murderous streak were all at once overshadowed by the magnitude of how upset and utterly frustrated she felt at coming up against a dead-end, a blank wall with him over and over and over again. Her temper flared; she'd had enough of his selfishness and callousness – someone had to take a stand and make him realise that he couldn't just go around treating others like they were merely pawns on his personal chessboard – pawns he could manipulate and discard at will. And a frowning Sakura figured she had a better chance than most – she was equipped and ready to face his wrath with her own.
"He deserves it?" she echoed. "What gives you the right to play with people's lives like this, Sasuke?"
When he simply continued to stare aloofly and unrepentantly at her, she ranted on, "You can't go around treating other people like they're nothing just because you believe you're better and more important than everyone else!"
Sasuke blinked, inwardly incredulous, even as his outer expression remained stony. Was she actually reprimanding him? She actually dared to reproach him, the God of Death?
It was utterly preposterous for him to hear. But the mesmerising flames of defiance he could see burning in her emerald eyes made it impossible for him to look away or to interrupt her.
"You-" Sakura's spiking anger caused her words to lodge briefly in her throat for a moment, before she exploded, "You can't kill someone just because you feel like it! You can't just go around destroying things on some- some careless whim! These are human lives!" She pointed an accusatory index finger at him. "You're the King of the Underworld; aren't you supposed to be safeguarding the dead rather than adding to their numbers?!"
She had worked herself up into quite a state – but Sakura couldn't stop the words that were pouring out of her mouth. Months – almost four to be precise– of keeping silent were pushing their way up to the surface, like red-hot lava rising in the craters of a rumbling volcano.
"You can't go around bullying and belittling others because you think their feelings are insignificant and don't matter in comparison to yours! That's not the way the world works, Sasuke!"
What are you saying, you lunatic? A small, dismayed voice whispered nervously in her head, staggered by her tantrum. You're telling a god how the world works? Like you actually have a clue in comparison to his divine knowledge? Are you actually listening to how ridiculous you sound? He's been lenient, letting you rabbit on for this long at him. Maybe if you shut up now, he'll change his mind about aiming a Chidori straight through your thick skull-
She crossly ignored it, booting it resolutely out of her mind. If she wanted to hammer her point home, there was absolutely no room for doubt.
"They do matter!" she cried, relentlessly continuing her verbal onslaught. "Sai's feelings matter. My feelings matter! And do you want to know what I felt when I saw you lose control?" Not waiting for him to respond, she exclaimed, "I felt terrified! I was afraid of you – for you! I felt like I was looking at a monster!"
Monster.
The word reverberated thunderously in his skull.
Monster.
It struck him like a physical blow, harsher than anything else she had ever thrown at him. Sasuke felt something inside him twist, as if the slicing blade of a serrated knife was being driven deep inside his chest. He wanted to tell her to shut up – that she had no idea of the history he and Sai shared – of the countless messages Sai had relayed that had contributed to the demise of his clan – but it was his tongue's turn to be tied in the face of her fiery outburst. For the first time in an age, Sasuke was rendered speechless by a woman.
He had seen several glimpses of this feisty, assertive Sakura. He had always known she was slumbering somewhere deep within the outer shells of decorum and insecurity. It had been the Sakura he had wanted to coax out during their sparring sessions, the spirited one that was both exciting and unpredictable. Now he was being treated to a full-on spectacle and Sasuke didn't know whether he was utterly incensed by the fact that he was actually being lectured - or thoroughly impressed by how far she had come, by the indisputable display of courage he was witnessing.
"I didn't recognise you, Sasuke!" Her voice was close to breaking, trembling along with the rest of her body. "You made me think of the monster I believed you were when I first woke up here. Before you began to show me that you're not!"
His disbelief was complete. How could she think such a thing? He'd abducted her, kept her in his world against her will – fed her the Forbidden Fruit, of which she was still so blissfully ignorant - and she still didn't consider him to be a villain?
Another painful wrench inside - the closest he had ever come to unacknowledged guilt. Because she didn't understand that he was a monster. An avenger. Someone who had only ever been good at maiming and destroying. How could Sakura even begin to entertain otherwise, especially after everything he had done to her?
It was ludicrous, but typical of her goodness - Sasuke thought to himself, swallowing back the bitterness in his throat - to try to seek out the best in others. It had been one of the many things that had drawn him unwillingly to her from the outset. She hopefully tried to find even the faintest glimmers of righteousness in everyone and everything – even if they were already damned and didn't deserve her unwavering kindness or faith.
"You're not," she repeated, panting to catch her breath. The outburst had left her feeling emotionally spent– but much lighter.
It then occurred to Sakura that he had actually stood there listening to every word and allowed her to finish. He hadn't incinerated her on the spot. She was still alive, after everything she had verbally thrown at him. And the relief of speaking her mind at last felt absolutely wonderful.
But she could see all too clearly that listening to her hadn't been easy for Sasuke's pride and he had not liked what he'd heard. His jaw was set tightly, and so were the fists at his sides. To her surprise, however, he didn't look the least bit taken aback by her tirade. Perhaps, Sakura told herself, he had been anticipating and waiting for this detonation since the very start.
Seeing that she was done, the death deity stepped closer to her.
"Aren't I, Sakura?" he demanded, as if testing the confidence of her opinion, his voice tense with enforced restraint once again. "Are you forgetting everything I've done?"
Still she stood her ground, remaining staunchly in position. Her eyes shimmering with fresh tears, she answered back pointedly, "You let him live."
The lie that followed through clenched teeth was an automatic defence mechanism - one which rejected a reality that unsettled Sasuke greatly.
"I didn't do it for you."
But despite the vehement force of his words, Sakura knew better than to believe him. Something in her expression had helped to snap him out of his vindictive attempt at terminating Sai's life. There was no other explanation. Had she not summoned the bravery required to place her own wellbeing in danger and intervene, she knew for certain that she would have been staring at Sai's bloodied corpse on the ground instead.
"You're not a monster," she insisted again with surprising conviction, the fresh tears in her eyes pooling, briefly blurring her vision. "I know you're not."
Catching her chin between his thumb and index finger, he angled her face to look up at his, exhaling, "Then you're foolish, Sakura."
He was avoiding directly acknowledging her words, Sakura suddenly realised, the air stilling in her lungs all over again. He was on the defensive, trying to shun the fact that he had done the correct thing sparing Sai's life, concealing it behind a stubborn façade of arrogance and superiority.
"I know that deep down inside, you know you did the right thing," she whispered, reaching out with a hand to touch his arm, trying to show him with her eyes just how much his decision to allow Sai to live truly meant to her.
Something flickered across his irises – and at that moment he almost did seem taken aback as he read and acknowledged the look in her honest gaze. Then Sakura practically saw the angry denial shutter down over his features. However, he seemed to be genuinely unable to find anything more articulate to utter at that second other than a scornful, dismissive, "Tch."
He released his grip on her face in annoyance and stepped around her to climb the steps back up to the palace.
Sakura slowly breathed out. Had she finally gotten through to him? Was the lack of a cutting remark proof that he had truly listened? She could only hope so. Using the space between them, she rapidly collected her scattered thoughts. Sasuke had doubtlessly intended to kill Sai because he had infiltrated the Underworld without permission and because he'd likely overheard Sai's proposition that Sakura escape with him. But she still didn't understand just how the two knew each other. She had the nagging feeling that they shared a long and unpleasant history – and that the unexpected shocks were not over for her by any means.
The pressing need for answers – who and what Sai was exactly, what message he had carried, and all the other things she desperately had to find out ate away at any remaining trepidation inside her, replacing it with a burning fire that roared into being.
This time, she would not back down.
This time, Sasuke would tell her what she wanted to hear.
She whirled and hurried after the death deity, calling to him as he stalked across the entrance hall.
"Sasuke, wait!"
Her voice echoed with a resolution that made him blink. Gone was the uncertainty and tremor in her tone. In their place were persistence and determination, which only blackened his less than amiable mood further. He needed distance. He did not stop in his brisk stride as he entered the throne room, forcing Sakura to jog lightly to catch up to him.
"How does Sai know about you and this place?" she demanded, falling into step by his side.
The muscles in Sasuke's jaw tautened as he briefly tuned her out. His own thoughts were still preoccupied by the horror he had discovered in Orochimaru's laboratory – and just how the moronic dead-last lump of stupidity that was Naruto had actually managed to figure out Sakura's whereabouts. Of all the mindless, brainless, incompetent deities out there, his arch-nemesis had been the one to solve the mystery of her kidnapping - when Sasuke had taken such extreme lengths to ensure he covered every single one of his tracks.
It was a painfully ironic twist of events. Sasuke felt like the Fates were laughing – at his expense.
"How do you know him?" Sakura's brain deployed each question on the tip of her tongue, firing them off at Sasuke like bullets. "He's known about me being here this entire time, hasn't he? For almost four months!"
It then dawned on her then that the death deity wasn't even listening. He was clearly distracted – which only made her even more frustrated. Slipping in front of him, she reached out, pressing her hands against his arms to physically halt him. The touch seemed to draw him out of his side-tracked state, for he blinked, his gaze finally focusing on her.
"He told me," said Sakura. "He told me it's almost July."
Her green eyes blazed with an emotion he had never seen in them before. Sasuke's own narrowed. He was regretting letting the foolish Messenger live already.
"It's true," she pressed. "Isn't it, Sasuke?"
He lifted his chin, glaring at her down the sharp blade of his nose. Finally he spat out, as if defying her to do anything about it, "Yes."
Nearly four months of her surface life; Sasuke had taken that away from her and she could never get the lost time back. June 25th. Final exams would have ended, and Sakura ought to have been graduating to medical school after receiving her results.
"That bracelet you gave me," her voice grew quieter. "Was that my nineteenth birthday present?"
"…" Sasuke's eyes bore into hers, as cold and grey as hard steel. He did not answer. He didn't need to; Sakura already knew in her heart that it had been a personalised gift to mark the occasion.
She exhaled. As thoroughly upset as she was, the duration of her stay no longer seemed to be the most important issue. Whether four months or ten; it didn't change her current situation. What mattered more to her right then was just who Sai was – and who had sent him.
"And he knew I was here this entire time, didn't he?" Sakura was now clutching onto his arms tightly.
He was silent for a long moment. Then he repeated coldly, "Yes."
Sakura could feel her breathing quickening as she went on, "How does he know about this place?"
"…" She saw the tense line of Sasuke's lips. For a second she thought he was about to obstinately refuse to answer, but he surprised her by stating flatly, "He is a Messenger."
Sai had told her so himself. "What sort of messenger?"
"…" This time, Sasuke said nothing.
"How do you know him?" Sakura had the sudden urge to shake him. But a part of her was still afraid. People couldn't just do that to someone as intimidating and powerful as Sasuke.
He knew that Sakura had already figured out what Sai really was – it was just a matter of fully accepting it. What was the point of keeping from her what she already knew to be the truth?
"He delivers messages between deities," he disclosed.
Sakura's numbed mind rushed to process this. Sai. Her classmate. The pale-skinned, strange loner with his inappropriate remarks and blank smiles – to think that his true identity was a messenger between the gods…
The words that followed Sasuke's revelation might have been absurd before, but now Sakura spoke them without hesitation. "Is he a deity, too? Is that how he had the premonition of the flower field?"
Sasuke's irritation was increasing with every question she fired his way – but he wasn't angry with her. He was angry with them. They had lied to her. They had kept her in the dark – and now he was expected to do all the explaining?
"Wait a minute," Sakura suddenly recalled something. "When he found me at the Carousel with Ino… he stayed behind." Releasing her breath in a whoosh of realisation, she finished, "Because he must have known you'd been there. He knew, didn't he?"
She was cleverly starting to fill in the blanks. Sasuke didn't bother denying it. He wanted to give her the clarity she so desperately sought – but how could he, when he still didn't know the reasons behind Tsunade and the others' decision to keep everything from her? It wasn't the right time, he told himself; it wouldn't be as long as he didn't have the full picture, either.
That wouldn't be the case for long, he vowed to himself. He was going to get the whole truth from Naruto – even if he had to beat it out of the disgusting buffoon's chest.
Sakura's heart leapt. Sasuke wasn't confirming her suspicions – but neither was he denying them.
So it's really true… Sai is a deity, as well.
Her head bowed, the weight of realisation like a crushing force bearing down on her shoulders. The hands at his arms fell away to rest limply by her sides. Sai wasn't who she had initially believed. Who else also harboured secrets like his? Suddenly her racing mind was throwing up all kinds of outrageous, wild theories, ones she never would have even contemplated before – and for a long minute Sakura wrestled to remain calm.
The next question was the most difficult for her to articulate. She'd asked it once before – but now it didn't want to leave her lips. She was scarcely aware of the fact that she had started shaking again. Her pulse was thumping out of control. A terrible feeling of nausea was creeping into her stomach.
"My mother," she whispered, not looking at Sasuke, her gaze fixed on her own two feet. "How does she have access to ambrosia?"
"…" Sasuke hesitated. If Sai's message held true, then Naruto would be arriving at the entrance to his realm soon. He couldn't have this conversation with Sakura before he had spoken to the fool – no matter how much he wanted to dispel all the lies she had been fed.
His continued silence was deafening. Sakura sucked in a sharp breath – before raising her eyes to Sasuke's face. His features were perfectly neutral, giving nothing away.
"Sasuke," she reached out to grip tightly onto the fabric above his chest. Her eyes welling with tears again, she demanded, her voice rising, "How does my mother have it?!"
Sakura could feel her composure wavering. She knew she was rapidly losing her cool. Speaking the question aloud only made the single most conceivable answer all the more likely – and it sent her world lurching on its axis as she frantically found herself questioning everything and everyone she had ever known. The way she'd always felt so over-protected. The way her mother had never allowed her to go anywhere on her own, without Naruto or Ino or someone else she trusted in tow.
The warm memory of her surface life, which had been a source of continuous comfort to her in the Underworld before, suddenly seemed fragile, as if spun from the most delicate of glass. The image was starting to splinter, fine cracks forming that threatened to smash everything she thought she had known completely.
"What aren't you telling me?!" she practically screamed at him, infuriated by the lack of clarity and emotion or anything in his distant eyes. Overcome by rising hysteria, she did something extremely hazardous – something she never thought she'd ever have the courage to do.
She went against her earlier advice and shook Sasuke.
That was when something finally flashed across his dark grey irises – something incredibly hostile – and dangerous. His left hand shot out, fast as a striking rattle snake, palm gripping onto the back of her neck as he jerked her forward, their faces a whisker apart.
"I am not the one keeping secrets from you, Sakura," he hissed. His patience had reached its limit; she wasn't backing down and there was only one way to postpone the inconvenient confrontation.
Sakura's breath hitched. Before she could fully process the significance of his words, before she could do anything else, she found herself staring in muted shock at a spinning, crimson kaleidoscope; at a beautiful yet devastating six-pointed star that spun hypnotically, burning its ruthless command into her throbbing mind.
"Sasuke-!" Caught between furious indignation and dread, Sakura pushed against his hold, instantly recognising what he was doing. But his grip on her was like iron. Even as her brain began to slow down, distantly registering that it was already too late to save herself from the power of his Sharingan, she frantically fought to remain conscious. "No, I won't sleep-!"
But the darkness of enforced unconsciousness was swift to rush up and claim her and seconds later, she fell into his waiting arms.
Sasuke clenched his jaw as he swept her up and carried her to the drawing room. Lowering her gently onto one of the elegant chaise longue chairs, he stood watching her for a moment. He knew she was upset that he'd cast sleep upon her, but he'd had no other option. She would wake up eventually; he had to make sure she remained within the confines of the palace when she came around.
The death deity turned and left the room then exited the palace, sealing the doors behind him as he did so. Nobody would enter and nobody would leave until he returned.
His mind was hell-bent on one purpose and one alone. He was going to unravel the mystery of Sakura – once and for all.
Naruto's teeth chattered as the misty air assaulted the exposed, tan skin of his face and hands. He wondered if it was just his wild imagination, or whether the daunting mouth to the Underworld really did feel frostier than usual.
Perhaps even the fog here reacted to its ruler's moods. After all, when Sai had returned to them on the surface in a terrible state and relayed the death deity's response to his message, Naruto had known that Sasuke was beyond incensed.
But that didn't matter; he'd expected as much. All Naruto had been able to focus on instead, while Sai had been talking to him and Kakashi, was the fact that he had seen her with his own two eyes. Sai had seen Sakura. And she had been fine.
Just as Naruto had hoped and believed, Sasuke had not harmed her.
And Sakura… she had somehow been able to curb Sasuke's killing intent and save Sai's life. Naruto's immense relief had rapidly escalated to confusion and fury. That Sasuke had been hiding her for all this time, deviously allowing the blame to fall upon Suigetsu instead! The blond didn't know exactly what was going on between the two, but he was determined to find out. He knew it was likely that the God of the Dead would come with questions of his own. Just how much had he managed to figure out about his captive?
Naruto gulped, suddenly anxious. He had been sworn to secrecy. Only a select few others knew the real truth. With the enemy on the move, Naruto wanted to believe with every fibre of his being that he might be able to trust Sasuke; to confide in him as he had done once, in a long ago past.
But he wasn't sure where Sasuke stood in relation to his elder ancestor. He didn't know where Sasuke's loyalties lay – which side he was really on. Would his allegiances shift if Naruto were to tell him the truth he had vowed to keep concealed at any cost? Then he found himself questioning – why would he? Sasuke had turned his back on them all and chosen his family over everybody else. Unlike the others who branded him a deserter, however, a part of Naruto was still reluctant to think the same, could even understand Sasuke's actions.
'Not a word about the Essence,' Kakashi had warned him firmly before he'd departed. Naruto knew it was more imperative than ever that he tried to keep a lid on his impetuous emotions. Saying too much this time would yield deadly consequences if Sasuke really was working for their adversaries.
"Hey, big slobbering fella," he greeted a rumbling Cerberus, maintaining a safe and careful distance from the beast. "You look even scarier every time I see you."
The humungous canine's triple heads barked in unison as the Hound of Hell prowled forward ravenously, the heavy chains around its legs and neck clanking loudly as they dragged behind him.
That was when a voice as cold as ice spoke up from the depths of the swirling mist and darkness ahead.
"I told you to stay away."
Naruto swallowed, immediately on edge, his anger spiking instantly. He didn't care about the clear peril he knew he was in, the dire risk he was taking by simply standing in Sasuke's territory. All he cared about was getting answers.
"Sasuke…" He could hear his words trembling with rage, along with the rest of his body. "You bastard; you've had her all along!"
Sasuke's tall form melted out of the shadows. He stopped beside Cerberus, who had grown still at his master's command. When the death deity said nothing, offered no explanation whatsoever, Naruto struggled to contain the intensity of his feelings.
"Why?" he demanded. "Why did you do it, Sasuke? Is it to get back at us? At me?!"
Still Sasuke did not respond. Naruto could feel himself losing his cool. It was remarkable and unnerving, just how quickly Sasuke had always been able to rile him – often without even speaking a single word.
Naruto knuckles were turning white from how forcefully he was clenching his fists. He had a sudden, thoughtless urge to leap forward and pulverise that indifferent, egotistical face to pieces, until that disdainful mouth told him everything he wanted to find out.
"ANSWER ME, YOU DAMNED BASTARD!" he yelled. "Why did you kidnap Sakura-chan!? Do you even realise what you've done? Or is this all just some kind of sick, twisted game to you, a way to hurt us!?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed into callous slits. It hadn't taken long to get the loud-mouthed idiot to get overly emotional. Naruto was still the same old foolish Apollo who still wore his heart dangerously on his sleeve.
It was disgusting. Simply standing in the same vicinity as the brainless buffoon was insulting
"Sakura-chan has nothing to do with this!" Naruto was raging on, his blue eyes blazing fiercely. "If you want revenge, if you're looking to hurt someone, then take it out on me!" He stepped forward, holding out his arms in submission. "Give her back to us now and take me in her place!"
"…" Sasuke sneered. His left hand itched to draw Kusanagi and carve out Naruto's tongue so he wouldn't have to listen to his aggravating drivel ever again. But if he did that, he would never get the truth.
"Damn it!" Naruto raised his fists in frustration at the continued silence that met his ears. "Say something, you asshole! Why are you doing this? I'm not your enemy, Sasuke! I've tried to tell you that I had no choice back then – you gave me no choice!"
"Shut up," Sasuke finally snapped.
"No!" Naruto jabbed an index finger in his direction. "You've changed, Sasuke! All this crazy hatred has made you blind! YOU'RE the one who betrayed ME!"
The death deity could feel his own composure slipping as Naruto tampered with old wounds that Sasuke had certainly not come to re-open. But he couldn't suppress his escalating anger any further. The stupid fool actually had the nerve to accuse him of treachery?
His disbelief only heightened at what reached his ears next.
"We were going to stop the war together – we AGREED to meet at Olympus! Why are you acting like it never even happened?! I waited for you, damn it! I waited and waited – but you never showed! And when I found out you were on the battlefield instead, fighting with that monster, Cronus-"
Working with Naruto to try to prevent the conflict? What lunacy was he babbling about? Sasuke had no recollection of such outrageous nonsense. Tired of listening to the moron trying to defend his past actions by sprouting utter gibberish, he lunged forward without warning, a stream of Chidori screaming to life in his palm as he snarled again in rejection, "Shut up! I'm not here to listen to your lies!"
Naruto's heart jumped as he frantically evaded, retreating from the advancing deity.
"Lies?" he exhaled, looking genuinely bewildered and surprisingly shaken for a deceiver. "What are you talking about? Why would I lie to you-?"
"You helped them," Sasuke seethed, finding himself dragged into the subject despite his initial resolution to avoid it. "You helped them crush my Clan!" He ran at the Sun God again, who tapped into just enough chakra from his seal to manage a duck in time and avoid having his head impaled by stabbing lightning energy.
"Are you LISTENING to me, you stubborn asshole?! By the time I got to the battlefield, it was too late! Why won't you believe me?!" He parried Sasuke's subsequent attacks, blocking and knocking them aside with his arms with a force that rattled his bones. "And what about MY family?" Naruto shouted. "I lost my parents too- gwah!"
In a flash, Sasuke had snatched Kusanagi from its sheath. This time, Naruto wasn't fast enough. The swiping, whistling blade clipped his right arm, just beneath his shoulder, leaving a slicing, shallow wound that wept blood.
Sasuke smirked menacingly. "I could kill you now, Naruto," he mocked. They both knew he could manage it with little trouble or effort.
The blond winced, drawing back again. "Kakashi-sensei knows I'm here," he panted. "If I'm not back in two hours, he'll alert the others!" Through his teeth, he revealed, "Only Kakashi-sensei and I know right now, but if I don't return, they'll all find out!"
Sasuke's smug half-smile immediately vanished. He didn't appreciate the clear threat he perceived in Naruto's words – but he wasn't a fool, either. The fact that only Kakashi and Naruto knew of Sakura worked to his advantage. The two still hopelessly clung onto their past memories and experiences of who Sasuke had once been.
Their mistake.
He took a moment to regain focus. He'd allowed himself to be drawn into another meaningless scuffle with the idiot and had strayed from his initial intentions. Loathing for his eternal rival brewed deeply within him, an ugly, violent emotion. He wanted nothing more than to end the little joke of a deity's existence right then and there, to sever any lingering ties of the foolish, cursed bonds he'd had so long ago. But he knew it wasn't the time. Right then, Naruto was no good to him incapacitated.
Slowly, with a deliberate reluctance that he made sure his rival could see, Sasuke slotted Kusanagi back in its casing. The electrical current in his hand hissed abruptly and pointedly out.
Naruto sagged in relief, taking a minute to catch his breath. He had not come to engage in a physical fight – and blessedly, Sasuke seemingly hadn't either. He didn't bother healing the shallow, stinging cut in his arm. He told himself he'd tend to it properly later.
"Sasuke," he finally spoke again much more quietly, returning to the topic they had both arrived to discuss. "Why did you abduct Sakura-chan? Are you working with that creep Orochimaru? Or with him? Is that it? Because she's completely innocent-"
The idea of cooperating with either of the two filled Sasuke with revulsion. But he hadn't come to answer to Naruto. It was Naruto who would answer to him.
"The Essence," he interjected with such bluntness, that Naruto couldn't keep the shock and alarm from scrawling itself all over his face in time. "Why is it sealed inside her, and who put it there?"
Pandemonium exploded within Naruto and he momentarily panicked. The haze of his memory reminded him that he had vaguely mentioned the Essence to Sasuke in their previous meeting, said something about keeping it hidden from Madara's seeking eyes. But how did Sasuke know of the Seal? How much else had he discovered – and who had told him?
What do I do, Kakashi-sensei?! Naruto thought frantically. He found himself thoroughly unprepared to handle such an unexpected twist. He'd vowed not to say a word - but could sense Sasuke's rapidly diminishing patience. What if the death deity was truly working for the enemy? What if Madara had somehow finally connected the missing dots? What if Sasuke's goal was to hand Sakura over in exchange for something important that he was seeking to acquire?
"Th- that's-" Naruto spluttered in a desperate, instinctive attempt to throw him off. "I don't know what you're talking about-"
The lethal plunge in air temperature informed Naruto that he had provided the wrong answer. He couldn't feel his numb fingertips or toes anymore.
"Answer," Sasuke's voice was equally frosty.
Naruto gulped. "Who told you about the seal? Was it Madara?" he asked fearfully. "Did that bastard tell you-?"
Relief flooded him when Sasuke moved his head slightly, signalling a negative. But he was still edgy.
"How do I know I can trust you?" he demanded through tensely clenched teeth. "How do I know you're not working for that snake or Madara?"
"You don't," Sasuke bluffed expertly. "But if you refuse to talk, she dies."
He watched Naruto's eyes widen as he took it the way Sasuke had intended – but not literally meant. Sakura would likely come to harm – if Sasuke didn't know how to correctly stabilise what was locked away inside her. The sun deity, however, interpreted it as an open threat on Sakura's life.
"You asshole," he whispered. "If you hurt a single hair on her head, I swear I'll-"
"Speak," Sasuke cut in.
"I can't!" Naruto exclaimed, openly distressed. "I made a promise, damn it!"
Sasuke tilted his head sardonically, utterly unsympathetic to his plight.
"Then you'll just have to break it."
"Khh!" Naruto released a guttural sound of pure frustration and swallowed thickly again. He was trapped. Damn it. Damn it! Sasuke always had a way of pushing him into a predicament! His mind was caught in the chaotic rush of cruel dilemma. Sasuke obviously wouldn't let him leave before he talked. And if he refused to answer, Sakura would suffer. He couldn't risk that. Her well-being mattered more to him than anything. Could he really afford to take the plunge and trust that Sasuke would choose to do the right thing after he shared everything he knew with him? What other choice did he really realistically have?
Still, the sun deity was apprehensive. He knew he was about to discuss the forbidden, was on the verge of breaking a strict, ancient oath of confidentiality which he had taken long ago to keep the truth about the Essence a secret from anyone beyond the select, trustworthy few who possessed knowledge of it. He was betraying the good faith of those closest to him, the people he respected most. He only hoped that he would be forgiven for what he was about to do – even if the punishing sentence for his traitorous actions was too terrible to contemplate.
"I…" he began hesitantly. "I'll be exiled to the Void if they find out that I'm telling you this!" Screwing his eyes shut briefly, he bolstered his courage. "Damn it!" His eyes then lifted to meet the Death God's aloof gaze. "If you tell anyone else, bastard, I'll kick your ass, and then I'll kill you!"
"Hn." Sasuke sneered, sincerely doubting that he could do either.
"But…" Naruto's tone then changed. "I believe you won't harm Sakura-chan," he spoke with a conviction that caught Sasuke internally by surprise. "Sai told us that she's fine. And if she's been alright with you for all this time, then maybe… maybe I can trust you."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He was nothing but a fool. But a correct one at that moment, even if he would never allow Naruto to comprehend it; Sasuke had absolutely no intention of allowing any harm to befall Sakura.
"Damn it. I don't know where to start!" Naruto rubbed nervously at the back of his head and began pacing about agitatedly in silence for a few seconds. Tsunade would slaughter him. She'd tear him to absolute shreds. A hysterical Ino would claw him to pieces. The Perverted Old Hermit would give his sorry behind a good hiding. Not even Kakashi would step in to defend him once he realised what he'd done.
An impatient Sasuke was just starting to become extremely irritated by his delaying antics, when the Sun God swivelled back around to him and blurted, "Okay, I guess at the beginning. But you've got to promise you won't share this with anyone else."
"Talk, idiot," Sasuke snapped, unable to tolerate any further time-wasting.
"Fine! Shit!" Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably, before loathingly forcing himself to speak the treacherous words he could never undo. "The Essence in Sakura-chan is the remainder of the…" This was it - the point of no return. He took a deep breath, heart drumming hard as he disclosed, "…Goddess of Spring."
He hesitated for another moment, before venturing, "Kore, we called her. You remember, right? You met her a few times with me back when…" his voice trailed miserably off. He had been about to pitifully say: 'back when we were friends'.
Sasuke's expression remained unreadable – but on the inside, he felt like a giant sledge-hammer had been wedged straight between his lungs, knocking all the oxygen out of them. Kore. So she truly had existed. The Oracle had shown him a glimpse of the elusive, mysterious goddess – and Sakura had mentioned her from her visions, too.
Kore. The girl Sakura had claimed to see him kiss.
His heartbeat began to accelerate as his thoughts were overrun by a depth of confusion so uncharacteristic and unfamiliar to him that he was rendered momentarily disturbed. Naruto definitely didn't seem to be lying. So why did Sasuke have no retrievable memory of ever encountering a goddess by her name?
What was going on? Even if he'd met her only once, he would've sworn he'd remember. His memory was the kind that never omitted even the minutest of details.
Naruto, who assumed from Sasuke's silence that he did remember, continued, "She was responsible for creating new life during springtime and reversing damage to nature. But Cronus… that bastard got his filthy hands on her." His own fingers closed into fuming fists and his voice shook with raw emotion, "As part of his crazy plan to control both life and death, he poisoned Kore. Made every plant and tree she touched die. Her body was forced to go against the purpose it'd been created for, and it began to shut down, killing her. I- I wasn't there to see any of it, but Ino was." His eyes welled with tears. "By the time Tsunade-baa-chan and Kakashi-sensei arrived, she was already fading."
Sasuke was deadly still as he absorbed the knowledge of her tragic fate. His heart was now pounding as a strong and sudden sense of foreboding warned him that he was on the brink of finding out about something that went far beyond the scope of anything he'd ever contemplated before.
Wiping at his eyes, Naruto sniffled, taking a minute to compose his breathing again. Even after so long, the pain and torturous guilt of not being able to protect Kore's original vessel tore away at him.
"But they couldn't just let her soul pass on to the Void," he exhaled shakily. "Without it, there'd be no spring or life. Tsunade-baa-chan couldn't sustain life on her own anymore. So they took her soul out her body and wove a complex seal to keep it safe and stop it from going to the Void. Baa-chan extracted her blood, too. It took a long time, but she was eventually able to purify it again. With the water from the sacred pool in Kore's temple, they thought they could restore her." He shook his head sorrowfully. "But… it wasn't that simple…" Again Naruto's voice trailed off.
Hungry to hear more, Sasuke pressed, "Well?"
"They placed the Essence in the water along with drops of Kore's blood. Baa-chan tried to use her powers to reincarnate Kore. But since our own seals weaken our powers, that wasn't enough to make a new body. We didn't know what to do, and it was almost spring again, so Baa-chan called to Old Bag Chiyo."
The God of Death's hands curled into fists. He'd suspected it all along; Chiyo had been related to the events surrounding Sakura in some way.
"Old Bag Chiyo told us that even if we made a new vessel, it would die right away because the Essence wouldn't enter it. It could only be transferred into a new body if it was infused with the same degree of love and light that Baa-chan and my dad used to originally create it. Tsunade-baa-chan couldn't do it alone. So Ino gave up all her powers and combined them with Shizune's."
Of course it made absolute sense; Ino was – even though she was no longer active – Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love who had absolute dominion over all matters relating to the heart. She had sacrificed her abilities to ensure Kore's soul would be reborn. And Shizune, Goddess of the Hearth; her powers related to sacred fire – a source of warm illumination that was equal to the former King of Olympus's divine light. Combined with Tsunade's life-giving gifts, a strong, resilient vessel could be fashioned between them – and enough love and light to coax the Essence into entering a new body.
"They put their powers together and a new infant body was finally created with Kore's soul locked inside it. She even looked a little bit like Kore – but she wasn't all the same." Naruto shook his head dejectedly. "She didn't know who she was. We tried to inject more of Kore's blood, to see if it would help bring the old one back. We told her about her real identity, shared our memories with her. The blood eventually began to react with the Essence and slowly started unlocking parts of Kore's old memories. But then something else started to happen. Every spring, the new vessel began to suffer from these strange attacks we couldn't figure out at first."
Sasuke knew exactly what attacks Naruto was talking about.
"Baa-chan called to Old Bag Chiyo again. She told her the attacks were because the Essence was triggering spring in a foreign body. She said the Essence would slowly start to reject its new vessel because the seal on it prevented it from recognising the body as its true form, even with Kore's blood and all the ambrosia we used to try to stabilise it. Over the years, the attacks gradually grew stronger. She started to see more of her past life – but they were like visions, rather than her own memories. She started hallucinating and became really sick."
Sasuke felt sickened. What he was describing were precisely Sakura's symptoms.
Naruto paused, before going on, "Without unlocking the seal and uniting her soul, blood, memories and body, Kore can never be fully reborn inside any vessel. She's just a shell of her former self and eventually the Essence just poisons each one. The ambrosia helps to delay the process, but only if the dose is carefully controlled."
So for the Goddess to be truly reincarnated required her original blood to be combined with the Essence - which in turn contained the key to unlocking her memories - and the removal of the seal that prevented every aspect of her from merging into one being. Sasuke didn't understand why they had used a seal that they couldn't reverse. It made no sense, and flagged up all kinds of suspicions in his head.
"The seal is invisible," he stated. It was an indirect question.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "It was deliberately chosen to keep the Essence hidden from Cronus or anyone else who would go searching for it again. We've tried every hand seal we know to try and undo it. Nothing works. We just end up damaging the human vessel. Tsunade baa-chan and Kakashi-sensei told us that they never got the chance to learn from my dad how to reverse it. And because of that, she suffers each time. But there's nothing we can do." He raked his fingers stressfully through his sunshine hair. "There's no way to stop the cycle."
Sasuke found himself wondering just how new vessels were created. The Sun God seemed to read his mind, for he cleared that point up, too.
"The first vessel lasted for thirteen years before the poison stopped its heart. Old Bag Chiyo told us to place her in the pool of water from Kore's temple. The body dissolved, and the Essence finally came out. I saw it for the first time. It was… a beautiful gold… just like the sun…" his eyes watered again. Rubbing hastily at his face, he breathed out, "Then it just disappeared into the water. We thought we'd lost it forever – but Old Bag Chiyo just smiled and told us to wait for the following spring, and then place a few drops of blood into the pool again. So we did."
He smiled wistfully then. "We couldn't believe it when we saw the Essence create a new baby vessel all on its own in the pool. It had a strong enough life-force and had been infused with enough love to automatically rebirth on its own – but it kept coming back as a human after that. It was like the seal prevented it from fully realising its power to make an immortal vessel, like that was part of the seal's job to keep the Essence hidden. As long as her vessels kept dying, Cronus would just assume that we were trying to reincarnate something that was lost forever."
His head bowed sadly. "The new one grew, and looked different - and the cycle repeated itself. That's how it's been ever since then. Some vessels were born weak and others survived longer. We've learnt to spot the signs when a vessel is close to death, though. The attacks happen closer together, and instead of forgetting the visions, she starts to remember them."
The nauseous feeling was growing in the pits of Sasuke's stomach. Sakura had already begun to remember more. He was thoroughly unsettled by everything he had heard. Never could he have even begun to imagine the magnitude of what he had unwittingly stumbled across.
So this was why he hadn't known about Sakura before – why she had been so hidden from him for centuries. She hadn't existed in her current form. This was why her blood was human, and why she had aged naturally. This was why she had no knowledge of her father – and why she was haunted with phantom dreams of her former, first life. This was why she had acted so strange after entering the Garden of the Hesperides – and how she had spoken his past name.
It was surely the reason why she had always instinctively feared death so much, too. Because deep down inside, the Essence was conscious of its fate.
Suddenly everything made terrible sense.
Naruto swallowed thickly once more, his voice clogging over, almost breaking with emotion. "Y-you don't know how hard it's been." He covered his face with arm, trying to retain composure, not wanting to experience the humiliation of allowing Sasuke to see him cry. "Watching her be reborn and live s-so many lives. Watching her grow up, becoming attached to her only to lose her over and over again at any time. But this way's better than not having her at all. At least she always starts with a blank memory and never remembers who we are or that she's lived in different bodies – not unless we tell her, and it always hurts her each time."
"…" Sasuke's eyes lowered as the Sun God finally managed to regain his composure again.
"Anyway, we stopped using her blood; because each vessel was mortal, it just upset her chemistry and sped up the poisoning. Now we've only got a few phials left, so we just stabilise her vessels with ambrosia." He paused. "We tried to remind each girl who she was again after that, but we eventually learnt that the less we told her, the less she knew and the more slowly and naturally she remembered, then the less she suffered. Overwhelming her with her old memories – and telling her that she was doomed to eventually die - just made her deteriorate more quickly. She never could get her full memories back on her own, though."
Naruto exhaled. There. He'd said it all. Now Sasuke knew everything he did. He looked at the death deity again. His features were still indecipherable – but Naruto was adamant that somewhere deep inside, he had to have been affected, however insignificantly, by the heart-breaking story.
"Sakura-chan's the current one," he began again carefully. "Each girl is a little different every time, but… she's more special than the rest."
Sasuke thought about the radiance he had seen in Sakura's soul, the light that had been responsible for snagging his attention back at the funeral where he'd first set his eyes on her. Where did her soul end, and where did the Essence of Kore begin? Sasuke suddenly realised that there was no answer to that question – they were one and the same entity. The Essence was Sakura – and vice versa.
Which made her a slumbering goddess, trapped inside an imperfect body that was human by force – because the components required to complete her divine form were contained within a seemingly irreversible seal. But she had no idea.
She had no idea, because telling her the truth of her harsh fate would cause her distress. The more she remembered and the closer she came to who she really was, the more her body shut down. It was like the Essence had an inbuilt, deadly defence mechanism that would only yield its true memories to its fully restored form.
The Essence, the very source of life on earth, rejected its human guises and reincarnated itself in temporary bodies, like a phoenix that continuously rose from the ashes; a phoenix that was desperately waiting to find its correct home once again.
It was a cruel fate. But without the Essence, the balance of the universe would be grossly tipped in favour of death. Something burned unbearably in Sasuke's heavy chest as the depth of the awful predicament he was in washed over him. Just how was he supposed to deal with this? How was he meant to tell Sakura? She deserved to know, but how could he?
Why had they chosen such a dangerous seal? He was even more furious with the surface deities than he had been before he'd heard the whole story – even though he now understood the valid reasons behind keeping Sakura veiled in blissful ignorance. How would she react to the knowledge of so many tragic past lives? Of an inescapable death sentence that could hit her at any moment? He'd only seen this version of the goddess, after all; they knew more of the consequences that afflicted every reincarnated body – and time had clearly taught them the safest way to care for each vessel.
But how had Minato even come across such a seal? It sounded more like something that belonged to the ancient, forbidden dark arts of his Clan than something that the King of the Gods would utilise or much less teach to his loyal followers.
What he said next made Sasuke's mind whir to another abrupt halt.
"We all think Sakura-chan is her true reincarnated form. She's the closest one to resemble Kore in both looks and personality. That's why we've always protected her so much. She's also lived three years longer than any of the other vessels. Granny Tsunade believes that when circumstances begin to mirror Kore's original life, she'll be fully reborn. That bastard Madara is on the move with Orochimaru – and she's been abducted to this world again like she was before. It has to be her. We just have to figure out how to unlock the damned seal…"
"…" Sasuke had heard enough. Without a word, he shifted to leave.
Naruto's heart thundered in a mixture of anger and anxious apprehension. That was it? The asshole had absolutely nothing to say about everything he'd discovered?
"Wait, Sasuke! There's something else!"
Sasuke paused, his back turned to the Sun God. He waited.
"Spring hasn't arrived this year because of you! The more you keep Sakura-chan here, the more stress you're placing on her body. The Essence can't trigger spring if it's not on the surface. More people are dying from famine – you have to give her back! If you don't, you're not just putting humans at risk – you're putting her at risk. If the Essence can't do its job, it'll poison her human body more quickly!"
"…" Sasuke's eyes lowered. He remembered finding Sakura, wheezing on the floor in the banqueting hall, the decanter of ambrosia beside her. Something wrenched inside him once again. "Leave," he finally uttered, his voice hollow, devoid of any feeling, any compassion, any anything.
The last of Naruto's composure splintered almost audibly. He could take no more.
"YOU BASTARD!" He exploded, his chest heaving. "DON'T YOU GET IT?!" His voice hoarse, he screamed, "SHE'LL DIE IF YOU DON'T LET HER GO! NOT EVEN YOU CAN CONTROL IT! GIVE HER BACK TO US, DAMN YOU!" When the King of the Underworld simply continued to walk dismissively away, Naruto yelled in despair, "SASUKE!"
That was when the death deity – so casually and pitilessly - dropped his own revelation before melting away into the shadows once more; a crippling, blasting detonation that rocked Naruto's world in turn, sending it careening into a reeling orbit of chaos. Something that made the ground beneath the Sun God's feet fall away, as his heart near-stopped and descended into the dark abyss of pure turmoil.
"She has eaten from the fruit."
He dropped the heavy, thickly bound leather book onto the smooth oak table, causing the light from the candle-holder beside him to flicker from the impact. Unlocking the rusty padlock on the cover, his searching eyes agitatedly inspected the age-worn, crinkled contents page.
Kore… Where was it? His index finger trailed down the list of deity names. There was no such record. Scowling impatiently, he flipped the old parchment paper to Demeter's page instead, bypassing the sketched likeness of Tsunade's past guise and scanning the information written in a language that had long since died out on the surface.
-Goddess of the Harvest, she is responsible for-
Sasuke ignored the text. He already knew that. What he was looking for was-
His gaze was then snagged by something else.
-and her daughter, Persephone, whose dominion over spring and nature-.
His brain processed no more. His eyes were glued onto the name that was rebounding around inside his head.
Persephone.
He couldn't remember that pretty name, either. Why?
He returned to the contents page. Heart pounding, he looked it up. There! He practically wrenched the book open at the correct location, his eyes immediately stopping on the sketch of the goddess he'd been looking for.
Sasuke's breath stilled. It was the same girl he'd glimpsed in the Oracle, with Apollo. He was sure of it.
Her face was heart-shaped – like Sakura's. Her eyes were wide and doe-like – just as Sakura's were. But she was different, too. The death deity imagined she was what Sakura would look like – in her perfected, true form. In a body that wasn't slowly being poisoned by the essence sealed away within it.
His attention shifted to the text below.
Persephone (also known by her pet names, Kora, or Kore, The Maiden) was the Goddess of Spring, whose function was to ensure the nurture of flowers following the winter. While her mother, Demeter, ensured the continuation of the Harvest following the fruits of spring and summer in autumn, it was Persephone who initiated the growth of nature.
Was… the text was referring to the goddess in the past tense. He soon discovered why, as his hurriedly skimming gaze finally found the passage he'd been seeking.
-following poisoning during the War of the Gods, Kore perished and her soul passed onto the Void. Demeter has sustained all life on earth alone following her daughter's demise.
He leaned forward, resting his hands on the table, on either side of the book. He exhaled. Then he went back to one of the bookshelves and pulled out another book.
The record was exactly the same. In every other scripture he cross-referenced, Kore was listed as deceased.
So the idiot had told him the truth. Even his Clan's ancient records claimed her to be dead. Tsunade and the others had kept Kore's continued existence a successful secret.
Sasuke shook his head as everything sank in. That still didn't explain how he didn't remember ever meeting the goddess.
That was when another disconcerting thought suddenly struck him.
What if… what if he had forgotten? What if the trauma of his past had somehow caused his memory to overwrite his recollections of her? What if she had been so insignificant that he hadn't even bothered to remember their meetings?
No, he dismissed indignantly. That simply wasn't possible. He didn't suppress things. And he remembered every other deity in existence that he'd ever met, except for Kore. Not recalling her was only half the problem; Naruto had claimed they'd met her together, and he couldn't remember seeing Naruto and a girl other than a shamelessly flirtatious Ino.
The other significant part was that Kore obviously had some recollection of his past self. That explained how Sakura had whispered the name Hades on more than one occasion. Perhaps that was what had been responsible for the unnerving scene she'd claimed to have witnessed in the Oracle between them, too, though Sasuke was cautious that it still might have been an imaginary creation influenced by the fact he himself had kissed her.
But if he hadn't forgotten on his own… then what other possibility was there?
Only one. The thought began as a rustle that grew into a forceful breeze, gaining momentum until it became a whirling cyclone, a violent, destructive tornado that left his spinning mind disorientated and reeling.
What if Sakura wasn't the only one who had parts of her past memories locked away?
What if he had somehow been made to forget? And if he had, then of course he wouldn't remember, or know any better. Of course the logical thing would be for his pride to deny and outwardly reject the entire notion.
But what if it was the truth? And if it was, then what else was he missing? Sasuke rubbed at his head in frustration. Suddenly it throbbed far too much from the weight of his troubling, unsettling thoughts.
The deafening silence in the tower room around him was his only answer.
The golden antelope lifted its majestic head, ears twitching as it strained to make out anything amiss in the forest around it.
Hades froze in position, his grip on the elegantly carved bow in his hand tightening. The beautiful creature had obviously sensed that it was being followed - no doubt thanks to Dead Last's graceless, lumbering movements.
Hades scowled. Was it any wonder the stag had detected them already? He could hear noisy Apollo rustling in the grass behind him from a mile away. Taking up the offer of a hunting contest had been another stupid idea Hades had unwittingly allowed himself to be strung up in. Gritting his teeth, he sent a telepathic censure straight at the Sun God.
'Be quiet, you moron! Can't you see you're scaring it?'
'Huh? I'm scaring it?' Apollo shot back indignantly. 'It's probably your grumpy chakra aura that's frightening the life out of the poor thing. You just can't help being a grouch, can you?'
'Shut up,' snapped Hades irritably, 'or I'll fire this arrow into your head instead.'
'Heh!' Apollo chuckled. 'I'd like to see you try. Everyone knows I'm the better archer, and besides – that's my prize! No way am I letting you steal him!'
Hades scoffed. Apollo, the superior archer? It was universally known that Hades had a far more accurate aim – and his speed outdid Apollo's by leagues. In addition, he was able to fire multiple arrows at once. Apollo probably managed two at most.
'I saw it first,' Hades glowered.
'So?' Apollo's telepathic voice challenged.
'So back off, idiot.'
'Make me, bastard!'
It was in the midst of their bickering that the antelope abruptly turned and darted gracefully away.
"Great!" Apollo exclaimed aloud. "Now look what you've done!"
"Damn it," Hades hissed, slinking out from behind the cluster of trees to give chase.
They pursued the sprightly creature, racing with one another on foot to be the first to catch up to it. They leapt over upturned tree-roots and bushes, over rippling rivers and deeper into the heart of the forest.
"No way am I losing to you!" Apollo declared.
Hades sneered disdainfully. They'd see about that. Deciding to lose his loud-mouthed hunting companion, the dark-haired young deity diverged from the route they had been following together, disappearing further into the undergrowth.
"Hades!" Apollo called after him in frustration. "Where are you going!? You cheater!"
The Sun God was ignored as Hades pushed purposefully onwards. The glowing stag was heading south, and he planned to intercept it and strike it with an arrow before Apollo could catch up. He moved swiftly and silently, his weapon poised to fire the instant he glimpsed a window of opportunity.
It didn't take him long to track the animal down. Its golden hue glimmered ahead in the midnight-cloaked forest, beckoning Hades closer. The thrilling adrenaline of the hunt surging through his veins, he flashed a brief, devilishly cocky grin as the creature finally began to slow down. This prize was his for the taking.
A dense group of shrubs temporarily concealed his view of the antelope and Hades veered right to filter stealthily through them. When he spied the stationary stag again, it was standing in a small clearing in the trees ahead. He raised his bow without hesitation, ready to let a lethal arrow fly forth at his locked target – only to falter and halt abruptly in position, jerking back to take refuge behind a tree.
Against his better sense and judgement, against his wishes, his heart twisted violently deep inside his chest.
He hadn't seen her for a while, since the night he had taken her to the Underworld to restore his mother's flower, to be precise.
The night he had kissed her.
Slowly he peered around the tree trunk and watched as a smiling Kore, dressed all in maidenly white, reached out to the animal, stroking its head gently. Next to the stag's golden hue, she shone just as bright.
He lifted his bow again – but his trusty aim wavered. Why did she, of all people, have to be the one standing there? Frustrated, he inwardly cursed. He couldn't very well fell the creature while she caressed it so affectionately. She would probably cry. Then a sudden thought struck him. What if the stag was her pet? Or Demeter's? It belonged to the forest, after all-
His thought broke off, when she suddenly spoke aloud.
"Shame on you both. Have neither of you any respect for the life of the forest? Please lower your weapons!"
Hades frowned. Then he remembered that he was standing behind a tree, and she could sense him through her connection to plant life. When Apollo's voice whined in protest from somewhere behind him to his left, he knew the game was over.
"Aww, Kore! Come on, I challenged the arrogant bastard to a hunting contest!"
"Not in my forest," she refused, turning her head to glare green-gold daggers at the sun deity. "This stag has only just fully matured and I will not have you hurt him."
"Aww, noooo," Apollo stepped out into the clearing, his bow dutifully lowered. Rubbing at the back of his shock of sunshine hair, he pouted, "C'mon, Kore, can't you give us another one? Some older, fatter one, maybe? We've got a score to settle!"
"No!" In response, she grabbed the bow from his grasp and smacked him over the head with it, which only caused him to howl even louder. Hades found himself smirking despite his initial disappointment. He could stand there and watch the fool being taught a lesson by this diminutive goddess for hours…
"Kore…" Apollo sniffled. "You've wounded me!"
"Serves you right," Kore kissed the stag's head tenderly, before giving it a pat to send it along its way. It darted quickly out of sight and off to safety.
"Well, it wasn't even my idea!" Apollo bemoaned. "Hades was the one who spotted it!"
Hades slunk forward, bow clipped back at his belt, and glared at his rival. "You suggested the contest, Dead Last," he retorted.
"Oh yeah! Sure! Blame it on the Sun God; I'm such an easy target! Oww, my head!" he whinged, plopping himself down cross-legged on the grass - where he proceeded to rub at his throbbing skull pointedly – and just a little theatrically.
The Goddess of Spring's eyes rolled at his animated antics – before slipping uncertainly onto Hades. She felt her heart pound faster as their gazes locked. When he stared blankly and aloofly back at her, she looked quickly away.
"You had better leave the forest," she advised, pleased that her voice was stable despite how oddly breathless she suddenly felt.
"But I'm boooored," Apollo complained.
Hades's eyebrows twitched. The sun deity's voice was starting to grate on his nerves.
"Now that you've ended our game, we have nothing to do!" Apollo went on, throwing his hands up in comical despair. "You'll have to find another game for us to play!"
Kore huffed, placing her hands on her slender hips. "How about this one?" she sarcastically suggested. "Race to the edge of the forest and then leave!"
Apollo jumped up and punched the air with an excited fist. "Oh yeah! You're on! See you at the edge, losers!"
With that he bounded off. Kore lifted a hand weakly after him. She hadn't literally meant for them to race – she hadn't even specified which edge… poor, dear Apollo had clearly taken it literally, as he did with most things. She sighed, a mixture of exasperation and fondness.
Then it occurred to her that she was once again alone. With Hades.
"Tch," the markedly more astute deity scoffed after a moment, folding his arms as his eyes closed briefly in open irritation. "That brainless moron."
"He- he's quite something," Kore agreed, dismayed to find her voice faltering at last. She could feel Hades's eyes as they burned straight into her. Heat crept into her cheeks as she wondered whether he was thinking about their last meeting at that second, too. Or perhaps he had forgotten all about it. Perhaps he dismissed it as nothing – and that was why he had avoided her, why she hadn't seen him again for so long – even when her heart had both yearned and dreaded the anticipation of his reappearance every night.
"Well," she recovered lightly, "I suppose we had better follow him before-" her breath caught in her throat when she felt an iron-like grip wrap around her left arm.
Just like that, the dangerously unpredictable deity had closed the gap between them. Kore blinked in surprise; she hadn't even heard him move.
"Not a word to him about the flower," Hades hissed into her ear. "Or anything else."
The last word was stressed emphatically – and Kore knew he was referring to the dance – and the kiss he had given her.
Her skin tingled where his fingers held onto her. So close to her side, she could smell his distinctive scent – wood-smoke and alluring spice.
"Why did you do it?" she breathed, asking the question that had tortured her for so long – even as she still refused to look at him. "Why did you kiss me?"
"I told you," he whispered harshly – and Kore could feel the tension rolling off him, crackling between them like a sizzling current. "It was a favour."
The words tumbled from her mouth before she could consider their impact and consequences. All she could think about was how much his closeness affected her, how it sent her heart somersaulting, her stomach tickling with senseless butterflies and her head spinning.
"Then you owe me another to keep me quiet."
For a moment, Hades was silently astonished by her boldness. Then he recovered, and a displeased growl escaped his throat. In an instant, he had snatched her other arm with his free hand and pressed her against the trunk of the tree behind her. Kore's breathing quickened. She was enthralled by the blazing, angry fire she saw dancing in his sooty-lashed, smouldering eyes. It made an exciting change to their usual, detached coldness. A part of her knew she was dicing with danger. The other, more significant part did not care. It was too distracted by the fact that it was the handsome Hades who had her body pinned back against a tree.
She couldn't look away from his marvellously sculpted face. He was so close. So heartbreakingly beautiful. She knew what a shocked Aphrodite would say about her; she was hopelessly smitten with a god she knew very little about. But how could she help it, when such an overpowering magnetic attraction existed between them? Surely Hades felt it, too?
"Don't flatter yourself," he sneered, stealing away some of her exhilaration. "It meant nothing."
Kore thought that the crushing grip on her upper arms wasn't required; his gaze was doing a sufficient enough job skewering her in place.
The words were cutting. They struck her like a physical blow. But Kore would not let him win – even if he had injured her feelings. She lifted her chin defiantly at him.
"Then you shan't mind if I tell anyone," she countered, her eyes glittering with equal challenge.
His glare intensified. Kore felt as though her very soul was being set aflame.
"You test my patience," he seethed through clenched teeth - a clear warning that Kore knew she ought to have heeded. "You shouldn't mess with darkness, goddess."
She shook her head slightly, licking her lips, suddenly nervous of her predicament. Apollo had likely reached the forest edge already, and there was nobody else nearby to intercept them. She saw the way Hades glanced at her moistened lips briefly – saw something shift and flicker within them.
"Maybe it is you who shouldn't play with light."
"…" His mouth twitched, not quite a sneer. He could scarcely believe the impudence the tiny goddess possessed, trying to force another favour from him. Seeking to intimidate her into standing down, he leant forward until their noses were almost touching.
"Do you know who I am, Goddess?" he murmured. "Do you know what I can do to you?"
"I'm not afraid," Kore answered. But the wobble in her voice suggested otherwise. She watched the sensuous smirk curve one corner of his lips and the blasted wings tickling her stomach intensified.
"Aren't you." It wasn't a question.
She could only manage a breathless shake of the head this time.
Hades's irritation was slowly morphing to something else. Genuine curiosity. And an almost predatory, adrenaline-fuelled rise that was eager to take up the challenge she presented.
He'd treat it as a deadly hunt. Only what she so foolishly didn't comprehend was that he was the hunter, and she was the victim. She thought she was the one in control, the one who had the upper hand? Fine. He'd make her realise how wrong she was. He'd make her regret the day she ever messed with forbidden things.
Tilting his head to the right, he whispered into her ear, "You wish to play games, Kore." Her name rolled sinfully off his tongue. It only caused Kore's heart to pound harder. "A mistake. I never stop..."
She stifled a gasp, as his lips brushed over her ear, leaving excruciating tingles in their wake.
"...Until. I. Win," he finished emphatically.
She was still asleep in the same place he had left her when Sasuke finally returned. As he approached her slumbering form, the heaviness in his chest seemed to increase, until it seemed to weigh him down enough to bring him to his knees beside her.
His eyes trailed slowly over her face, over her sweet features. Naruto had said she was closest in appearance to her original form. But more delicate. More vulnerable.
And now he knew exactly why.
"Sakura…" he whispered her name. For she would always be Sakura to him – his Sakura - no matter what other name or names she'd carried in her pain-afflicted past. Reaching out, he brushed the back of his hand gently against her flushed right cheek. It felt like silk beneath his feather-light touch.
"I…" his voice trailed. He didn't know what to say. How to say it. He desperately wanted to believe that this so-called 'vessel' – he refused to think of her as merely a temporary accommodation for a divine spirit that would one day discard the mortal body it had fashioned before him – was stronger than the others. More resilient and capable of knowing, processing and accepting the truth.
Surely she was. Sakura was intelligent. She'd channelled and moulded her own chakra as well as his with remarkable ease. She was, as Naruto had stated, different to the others. She had to be.
Surely she was Kore's final form that would be fully reborn soon – somehow.
But what if she wasn't? For the first time in countless eras, Sasuke felt a sliver of genuine fear. What if he was the catalyst that would ultimately become responsible for Sakura's untimely passing? She'd already lived longer than the other bodies the Essence had generated to house it – but that didn't mean she was immune to death.
And he couldn't control or prevent it, just as the moron had said. For once, he was powerless to influence the destination of a spirit inside a human body. He couldn't control it, because her soul – Kore's – would always return to its pool. It did not belong in his world.
Yet he had bound its current body to it.
The hand at her cheek slipped away. Anger shook him to his core, burning in his veins like boiling, molten lava. His fingers closed into tight, furious fists. No. He would not allow it.
"I won't let you," he hissed with formidable vehemence, making a vow to the sealed Essence within her – her soul – one which he swore would never be broken. "You won't leave."
He wouldn't let the Essence take this body from him. He was going to do everything in every last ounce of power he possessed to ensure that the sleeping young woman before him was the final, fully reincarnated form of Kore. He would find a way to reverse the forbidden seal responsible for her eternity of suffering and restore her body to its immortal state – and then he'd make her his Queen.
As a goddess, she'd be his forever.
Queen. The word he'd never even allowed himself to entertain before echoed in his head – but he was no longer afraid or uncertain of it. The decision had come to him so naturally while he'd been listening to the truth about her. It had started as a whisper, and ended as a concrete goal.
Because Sasuke would not lose her. He couldn't. If he did, he knew she would disappear forever and forget every memory of the time she'd spent with him, and he'd never get the same Sakura back. His Sakura, the girl who had somehow become irrevocably tied to every fibre of his being.
The Sakura he could not envisage a world or a bleak existence without.
For just as Kore was the earth's salvation, Sakura was his Sun. His Spring. He wasn't going to let a cursed seal outdo him. And he'd make the vision he'd glimpsed in the Oracle of her holding a crown of glistening diamonds a reality.
He would break the cycle of rebirth and save Sakura. He'd go to any lengths and do whatever it took.
At any cost.
Author's note
So there you have it, guys. The truth behind Kore/Sakura. It's quite long and complex, so if anything doesn't make sense then just send me a note.
Lots of revelations here, though; Sakura finally gives Sasuke a piece of her mind. Sasuke finds out about Sakura. We finally understand why she's been kept in the dark. Naruto finds out she's eaten from the pomegranate. He begins to question how he can't remember Kore, when he has supposedly met her in the past. And even more excitingly, his determination not to lose her.
He's started to love her, guys. He won't admit it yet, but the fact that he wants to make her his Queen now is proof enough of how much he's fallen for her.
What's with the seal, though? Any ideas about who might be the one who can remove it?
I'd love to know your thoughts on this. There's a lot to take in, and because this is so plot-heavy, I'd really appreciate it if you took a moment or two to leave your feedback. Please consider leaving a sentence or two!
Thanks so much for reading and see you next update!