Another time-skip. We're now in March.
Chapter LXVII
At a Spring Festival they did meet,
Death and the maiden he wished to claim,
A moment in which all time ceased,
Though back then she knew not his name,
Time's flow waits for none,
A year, in but a second, is so swiftly past,
Brief and fleeting, in a blink - gone,
Days lived as if they were the last.
Colourful banners streamed in the gentle breeze and the contagious sound of laughter and happiness filled the air. The annual Spring Festival had arrived again, and was overflowing with visitors roaming between countless stalls and attractions. But all Sakura could think about as she walked through the front admission gates was how the past year had flown by – and how much had changed in that time. The world, as she had known it, had been completely turned upside down on itself; a year ago, she had simply been a normal teenager, whose biggest worries had been passing her exams to make it into medical school.
A year on and she had changed, sometimes almost beyond her own recognition. Her outlook on life and death had altered greatly. She had learned so much about herself, about the truth behind her existence, and that of her family and friends'. She'd discovered chakra-energy and monsters were real. And, she'd come to terms with the fact that nothing about her had ever been ordinary.
She had lost friends, her ignorance and in many ways, her innocence. Sakura knew that she could never go back to being the carefree girl she had once been.
"You okay?" Ino asked softly from her left. Sakura turned her gaze from the rides she had thoughtfully been inspecting, to meet her best friend's pretty blue eyes.
She felt it too, Sakura knew - Tenten's marked absence from their lives. A twinge of sadness lodged itself in Sakura's chest. She missed her friend so terribly. It was difficult to acknowledge that three entire months had already gone by since the events of the Winter Ball and her passing.
Sakura still saw her lifeless body in her dreams - nightmares that always made her wake up with her heart pounding uncontrollably in her chest.
She managed a nod, and Ino reached out to clasp her hand, squeezing it tightly.
The previous two months had passed by without much incidence. Sakura didn't know whether to be relieved or worried that nothing else had happened. Life had continued on and she'd stayed occupied with her lectures, assignments and training. She and Ino had perfected the use of the chakra-crystals, which they carried on them at all times as a protective precaution. Meanwhile, Naruto had started his intensive training under Jiraiya and the Olympic guardian Killer B to fully harness Sage Mode and learn to monitor and control his Kyuubi chakra. They'd received no further word from the High Council regarding the quest to obtain the relics that would remove the seals from the surface deities. The last they had been informed was that the High Council were still busy agreeing dates for the trials and working on making contact with Cronus.
Everything had been unnervingly uneventful. Still, they all remained on edge, anticipating another attack from their unseen enemies at any moment.
Sakura inhaled deeply, and the smell of delicious food travelled to her nose. She had almost refused to go to the festival entirely. It was the first, large-scale public gathering she had been to since the Winter Ball and hadn't much felt like it, at first – but Ino had insisted that they try to retain as much normality in their lives as possible, to prove to the enemy they were not afraid. Sakura's arguments that nothing about their lives was normal had been shut down by Ino's quiet comment that Tenten would have wanted them to continue their tradition and go – and that if the enemy did decide to launch a sudden attack, then they had to be present to protect people.
To those points, Sakura had been unable to say no.
They'd arrived in several cars. Kakashi, Guy, Asuma and Kurenai had accompanied them to help keep an eye on things. The other seraphs and deities had remained behind and were on standby, only a call away to back them up, if required.
Ahead of Sakura strolled Naruto with Hinata by his side. Sakura had started to notice how much more often the moon goddess would sit and stand beside him, as if she had grown somewhat braver in closing the proximity between them. Naruto, too, seemed to welcome it. Sakura told herself she was glad; if anyone could make her knuckle-headed friend happy, it would be gentle, sweet-natured Hinata.
That wasn't the only change. Ino wasn't hanging onto Shikamaru's arm like she had the previous years, either. He was also walking in front of them, talking to Lee and Neji. Sakura had noticed that Ino had started taking to teaching Sai about emotions following their interactions at the Winter Ball. Their growing friendship was an unlikely one, with the Messenger deity frequently looking perplexed by Ino's animated attempts to get him to understand social queues better. Sakura had asked her best friend about what exactly was going on between them, when she'd been so glued to Shikamaru in the past.
Ino had blushed and fallen silent. Then she had answered that although she had lost her powers, she still recognised romantic love – and she wasn't so sure that was the form of love Shikamaru felt toward her, maintaining that she did still love and care for him deeply – but Sai had unexpectedly captured her curiosity, and she was simply enjoying a budding new acquaintance. She'd even managed to drag him along to the festival this year. He presently walked beside her, hands in pockets, wearing a black shirt and jeans.
Everyone was dressed down. Where Sakura had made a big effort with her appearance last year, this time she was dressed in a simple cropped denim jacket, a cream-coloured, soft-knit top, blue skinny jeans and cream ballerina flats. Ino, similarly, wore casual clothing; grey flats, faded grey jeans and a white top, over which was thrown a violet cardigan. They were all dressed practically, in the event anything unexpected were to happen.
"Keep your eyes open," Asuma instructed them, just before everyone was ready to drift off into different sections of the park. "We'll rendezvous at the lantern lighting ceremony at the end."
"Well, we'll be around," Kakashi sighed, and waved as he began to walk languidly away.
"Such a youthful atmosphere, Kakashi!" Guy exclaimed, accompanying him. "The perfect stage for our rivalry to continue!"
The younger deities remained gathered together.
"Chouji used to love the food here," Naruto spoke quietly. "And Kiba would always try to get Shino to lighten up. It just... it feels wrong without them."
There was a respectful silence as they remembered their fallen friends.
"Tenten would always really look forward to this, too…" Ino added sadly.
Sakura's gaze slipped to Neji. His face was as stoic as ever – but his eyes marginally lowered.
"Well," Shikamaru sighed. "Let's find Kiba. He said he'd meet us by the bumper cars."
"Sakura-chan," Naruto nodded at her. "Be careful."
Sakura nodded, and the group began to disperse.
Ino lingered behind.
"Hey, there's Ken," she pointed. "Right at the place he said he'd meet you."
Sakura followed the line of her finger to a candy-floss stall where Kenji was standing with three of his university friends. He had asked if they could spend the day together exploring the different attractions. At Sakura's hesitation, he'd insisted that they'd be going just as a group of friends hanging out together.
He hadn't tried to breach the subject of any confession again, much to Sakura's great relief. They had mostly spent time together in the company of other people over the previous months, with Sakura using the excuse that her mother wanted her back home early to avoid extra study sessions alone. So when he'd asked her if she wanted to go together, Sakura had reasoned that there was no harm in it. She still enjoyed his company, even if she'd resolved to keep him at arm's length romantically.
"Ino," Shikamaru called back over his shoulder, as he, Neji, Lee and Sai trailed away.
"Coming!" The love goddess answered. Then, glancing at Sakura, she said, "You sure you're alright hanging with Ken? I know he's sweet on you, so if you want, I can stay with to make sure he doesn't try anything funny."
"He's fine," Sakura replied. "He won't. Besides, his friends will be with us."
"Alright then," Ino conceded. "Try and have some fun? This festival is in your honour, after all. Oh," she added, scowling lightly. "And this time, we're meeting at the Fortune Telling tent before we head to the lantern ceremony, got it? No more wandering off on your own like last year."
"Right," Sakura gave her a tense smile. Then she turned away and left her friends, before Ino could see the look on her face as an unexpected knot of some semblance of emotion she could not quite place, settled in her stomach.
She remembered what had happened the previous year, when she'd 'wandered' off. Her friends had been unable to find her – and that's when she had first met him.
Sasuke Uchiha.
Beneath the dazzling, interchanging lights of a whimsical Carousel ride, those dark, ensnaring eyes had locked onto hers for the first time. And nothing, nothing in her world, had ever been the same again.
Pushing thoughts of the death deity firmly out of her mind, Sakura walked across the path, weaving carefully through running children and their hurrying parents, toward Kenji. It felt surreal, to now know that the ancient goddess that inspired the yearly festival, was in fact her. Kore, as she had been in her first life, in her full, immortal glory. Nobody believed in Kore anymore, of course. And yet this tradition had clearly withstood the test of time. Everyone was here to celebrate her season, the season she was responsible for triggering on the surface. Spring.
Kenji's friends turned to her as she approached, waving in greeting. One of them was Yuki, who was part of their trainee unit at the hospital. The other two were Hiro, who had messy brown-hair, and Akito, who wore glasses and had shoulder-length black hair. They were also Kenji's fellow classmates.
"Hey, Sakura," they smiled warmly. "What's up?"
Sakura greeted them politely. They began to walk leisurely ahead, chattering animatedly amongst themselves.
"Hi," Sakura smiled at Kenji, who grinned back.
"Fancy some candy-floss?" He offered, holding out the blue cloud of sugar he was eating.
"Sugar already?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, shaking her head in mock disapproval. "We're meant to tell people to avoid too much of it."
Kenji laughed as they walked together, following after his friends. "Don't tell me you didn't eat yourself into a diabetic coma last year."
"Guilty," Sakura owned up, recalling all the food stalls that she, Ino, Hinata and Tenten had stopped at. They'd eaten so much, that they'd ended up hyper for the remainder of the evening.
"The event organisers seem to outdo themselves every year, huh?" Kenji looked around, admiring the well-organised layout. "And the weather always seems to hold up." He turned his face up to the perfectly blue sky. "Spring is definitely my favourite season."
A little laugh escaped Sakura's lips despite herself. Kenji peered curiously at her, as he bit through another mouthful of candy-floss. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Sakura dismissed. "So, where are we going first?"
"Do you have a preference? What kind of attractions do you like?" he asked.
"Oh…" Sakura thought again of the Carousel. But she thought to herself, maybe Kenji and his friends would find that childish, and wouldn't enjoy it. Instead, she offered, "I don't mind."
"Okay then," Kenji called to his friends. "Where to first, guys?"
"Shooting gallery!" Hiro turned back. "I need to beat your score from last year!"
"You actually remember that?" Yuki looked astonished. "You boys are so weird."
"Hey! It's a case of honour here!" Hiro protested.
"You can't beat my score," Akito teased.
"I wouldn't be too sure," Kenji remarked.
Sakura followed after them, listening to their pleasant, easy banter.
As the evening wore on, Sakura found that she slowly began to relax and enjoy herself. They visited lots of different attractions, and she even managed to win some prizes. Kenji was impressed at her aim, and complimented her profusely. Sakura supposed all the training she'd been doing was paying off.
They stopped at food stalls to purchase sweet and savoury treats. When a child accidentally collided straight into Kenji and caused his cupcake frosting to land in his face, Sakura burst out laughing. He grinned and retaliated by scooping icing off the remains of the cake and dolloping it on her nose, chuckling at her in turn.
The more time passed, the more Sakura found herself increasingly smiling and laughing. Kenji and his friends were great company, and their friendly bantering was amusing.
They took part in a screaming karaoke competition, which ended with them all wheezing too hard for the attraction supervisor to determine a winner. They went on the bumper cars, where Sakura discovered Yuki was a masterful driver. They ran through the Fun House, pulling stupid faces in the hall of mirrors, and scrambled up slippery slides, trying to grab frantically at prizes.
One of the prizes Kenji won was a white dove in a cage. He beamed at Sakura, and handed it instantly to her.
"Gotta keep up the yearly tradition, right?" he winked, watching happily as she accepted it with a knowing smile - before immediately releasing the trapped bird into the air.
They passed Naruto and Hinata at one of the stalls, where Naruto was trying to fish coins out of – Sakura giggled to herself – an adorable-looking frog wallet. Hinata caught her eye and gave her a gentle smile, her cheeks tinged pink and glowing with happiness. Her guardian seraph stood nearby, in Lee's company. They were at the Tin-Can Alley attraction.
Sakura also spotted Ino, squealing as Sai handed her a giant panda he'd just won. They were at the Ring-Toss stand with Kiba and Shikamaru, who were arguing with each other competitively over something.
"Let me help you carry some of that," Kenji offered, as Sakura shifted her prizes between her arms. She allowed him to take a giant fluffy rabbit soft toy off her hands, and a bag of sweets.
She then caught sight of Guy, locked in fierce competition with Kakashi at the High Striker attraction. Guy was gesturing animatedly as he held the striking hammer. In comparison, her masked teacher looked thoroughly unenthusiastic. Sakura turned away with a fond smile.
By the time they had gotten to the Looney Ladder attraction, she was near-crying with laughter at her friends' attempts to scramble up an unstable, near-unclimbable ladder in order to ring the bell. When she had a go herself, and fell off so many times that she could barely stand from giggling so hard, she forgot all about her worries.
For a few hours, everything was wonderfully normal again, as if her world had once more been cocooned in a perfect, blissful bubble. Nothing unexpected happened. Everyone was safe, relaxed and enjoying themselves.
But it took only one moment to break that illusion. To remind her, once more, how unequivocally changed everything was. As they began to make their way toward the Fortune Teller's tent, still laughing at each other, Sakura glanced to her left, and slowly came to a stop as her eyes found an enchanting Carousel ride, nestled at the end of a path that was set between some trees. A strong sense of déjà vu hit her and her pulse began to quicken as she stared at it.
And just like that, her smile waned. The cotton wool cloud of happiness that had settled around her immediately dissolved.
Children and grown-ups were queued up before it, and the ride was in full operation. Laughter and joy drifted from the attraction, and for a moment, time seemed to suspend around her as Sakura watched them. She felt something tug at her heart-strings as the melody reached her ears. It wasn't the same tune as the previous year's attraction, of course. But it was set up in a very similar fashion, and she once again found herself thinking of him. Of the precise moment the Carousel ride had suddenly halted, and she'd turned her face to find Sasuke standing at the control panel, scowling up at her so intensely, she'd been disconcerted beyond her wits.
She remembered gaping openly at him, for he had been the handsomest guy she had ever seen. Foolishly, she had believed him to be a fairground worker back then. She'd then gone home, unable to get his face and those heavy-lashed, enticing charcoal eyes out of her mind. She'd had no way of knowing back then that she'd been looking upon Death himself - upon a dangerous, alluring King of Shadows who ruled a magnificent, frightening Kingdom beneath the ground – and one who'd planned to snatch her away from her surface life.
She wondered what it might have been like, had Sasuke not been on opposing sides of her friends and family. She wondered, as she had so many times before, what might have happened, if he'd turned up at her door, normal and non-threatening, or simply walked up to her in a public place and just talked to her. Had he chosen, on the evening they'd first locked gazes, to speak with her, instead.
She almost laughed at the absurdity of the thought. That simply wasn't Sasuke. Even if he'd had no issues with the surface gods, she couldn't ever imagine him just casually strolling up to someone and engaging in friendly conversation of any sort.
That wasn't his style. He wasn't exactly sociable. Had he been human, she imagined he'd have been the cool loner in the class, private, indecipherable and stand-offish –with a huge legion of screeching female admirers following his every move.
He would've probably called them all 'annoying' too, she thought to herself.
"Sakura…?" Kenji's voice reached her, and she blinked, drawn abruptly out of her recollections.
"What?" she said automatically, startled. She hadn't realised she'd been lost so deeply in thought.
"You okay?" He curiously followed her line of sight to the Carousel.
"Uh." Sakura flushed, embarrassed. "I'm fine."
"You sure?" His hazel eyes regarded her with concern. "You looked really sad just now."
"It's nothing," Sakura answered hastily. "Really. I was just remembering something. Sorry. Come on, let's go."
They continued along the path until they arrived at the Fortune Teller's tent. The garish, flashing sign proudly displayed the name Madame Mystic, placed directly beside the attraction. Sakura glanced around. It seemed her friends had yet to arrive.
"I've heard she's really good," Yuki exclaimed enthusiastically. "A friend of mine had her fortune told last year; Madame told her that seven was her lucky number, and you know what?"
Sakura rolled sceptical eyes. She could guess where Yuki's recount was going. Akito seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for he concluded with false delight, "Let me guess… she won the lottery based on that number!?"
"No," Yuki elbowed her friend in his ribs. "She got with the guy she's had a major crush on… at seven o'clock on the seventh day of the following month. How crazy is that!?"
"Oh, geez," Sakura raised a hand to her forehead. "It could've just been a coincidence, you know."
"Sakura," Kenji admonished teasingly. "You really need to start believing a little more in fate."
"Fortune tellers can't predict the future," Sakura folded her arms, full of scepticism.
"Oh, yeah?" Hiro grinned, before nudging her playfully toward the tent. "You go first, then, since you're so unconvinced."
"Go ahead," Kenji chuckled. "But you've got to promise us you'll tell us what she said?"
Sakura met his twinkling eyes, and rolled hers once again. "Fine."
"We'll let your friends know you're inside if they get here before you're out," Yuki assured her. "My turn after her!"
Shaking her head dubiously, Sakura slotted her allocated time ticket into the wooden coupon box by the attraction's signpost and slipped into the tent. Immediately, she was hit with the smell of musk and incense. It was an intoxicating mix, and Sakura wondered why she suddenly felt oddly nervous. It was her first time visiting a fortune teller, but it wasn't like she actually believed in tarot cards and crystal balls. The only person she had met who could actually see into the future, was the Goddess of Crossroads, Chiyo. Human crystal balls, in comparison, were nothing but fanciful superstition.
As far as she was concerned, the future was moulded according to the actions people took. Nothing was set in stone – people were masters of their own fates. So she pinned the inexplicable, silly rush of childish anticipation that flooded through her down to mere curiosity alone.
The inside of the tent was bigger than it appeared on the outside. Sakura's fascinated eyes took in the varying shades of red, offset by softly glowing, unusually-shaped glass lanterns that provided the area with cosy, warm lighting.
"Be seated, child."
She jumped, having completely overlooked the figure on the other side of the circular, rug-strewn space. A thin woman who appeared to be in her mid-forties to early fifties was seated upon an old futon mattress on the floor, before a low, red-cloth covered table. A long, dark purple scarf was tied around her forehead, from which hung golden, coin-shaped circlets. Her gently curling brown hair, streaked with the telling greys of age, fell beyond her shoulders, and her almond shaped eyes were so dark they appeared almost black.
As Sakura approached the cushions that had been arranged for visitors on the other side of the table, she noticed that the woman's wrinkled hands were adorned with large, crystal rings. Her face complimented the mysterious atmosphere that hung like an otherworldly veil around the tent; high cheekbones, a thin nose and a large beauty spot just above the left side of her upper lip informed Sakura that the woman must have been quite beautiful in her youth.
A large crystal ball was situated in the middle of the table. The woman carefully laid out a set of cards around it, and, when she was done, lifted her eyes to regard her guest, who was now seated opposite her.
"Speak your name to the cards," the Madame solemnly commanded.
Sakura politely folded her hands on her lap, feeling a little uncertain of what she was getting herself into. The place was undeniably strange – but her sense of inquisitiveness was stronger than ever. What exactly did this fortune teller suppose she could figure out about her? She certainly wasn't holding out for much. And yet, with everything she had been through over the previous year, and with how much uncertainty she had about the likelihood of her seeing through the next one, Sakura supposed that she was silently hoping for any kind of sign - no matter how vague. Even if she didn't really believe in any of it.
"Sakura Haruno."
The mystic nodded. "A fitting name for a girl of your colourings. Now, let us begin. Select a card."
Sakura's eyes fell to the neatly spaced out deck. The cards' red backings were etched with golden, mosaic-like patterns, depicting suns in the centre. She lifted a hand, roamed it over the collection, before pointing at her choice.
"Lift the card. Do not show it to me."
Sakura obeyed, drawing the card and holding it up for her eyes alone to view. The picture was of a golden-haired cherub holding a slender trumpet. The word 'Judgement' was printed on its base. Her gaze rose expectantly to the fortune teller, who selected three cards in turn. After a long moment of silence spent examining the first of the cards, Madame Mystic began, "You seek accomplishment… and fulfilment."
Doesn't everybody? Sakura immediately thought back. But she said nothing, choosing instead to listen to what else the fortune teller had to say.
"There is a barrier that is preventing you from acquiring your true potential."
Sakura's eyes widened slightly as they lowered back to her card and the word it displayed. Her true potential. In some ways, those words were accurate. After all, the seal on her prevented her from remembering her past life, and kept her mortal. Then she internally scoffed that the Madame's words had to just be a coincidence.
"You are eager to please, but this causes turmoil within you as you cannot attain your true calling."
Sakura was bemused. What was the woman waffling about? And yet the words 'true calling' held her rapt attention.
"The cards whisper to me that you yearn for something. That your heart is not content… that it longs for something that is being denied to it…"
Sakura stared at her. Then she got out, "What thing?"
The Mystic closed her eyes and hummed. "A great power, a calling, perhaps even a person," she murmured. "Perhaps all three. Something that frightens you… and so, you turn from it."
Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to question this further, but the mystic was swiftly continuing, as she turned her attention to the second card. "You have overcome a great period of uncertainty and disturbance. You are in transition."
This was becoming ridiculous. Sakura, on the verge of laughing at the absurdity of the words, was just thinking that she had been right about mystics all along – they really did just prattle on about random nonsense – when the woman's next statement caused her to still.
"You… have known death. Its finality. The end of all things."
Sakura's heart gave an unexpected leap. She stared at the Madame. Incredulously. It was just another coincidence, she insisted to herself. So she had gotten lucky, and hit close to home. It wasn't a big deal-
"The fear of an end spurns you to preserve life, in any form you can. You are fond of nature. You feel a connection, a oneness to it."
This time, Sakura was unable to keep her jaw from falling open. She looked around the tent in confusion. Had someone set this up? How in the world could the mystic possibly know those things about her, otherwise?
This is so weird, she thought to herself, alarmed yet intrigued at the same time.
Madame flipped up her final card.
"Your transition is in stagnation. You cannot move forward to your awakening. You fear loss and separation. You have yet to discover your true calling."
There it was again – talk of a true calling. Perplexed, Sakura said, "I'm sorry - what true calling?"
The mystic lowered the cards back onto the table, and gestured for Sakura to do the same. Then she wordlessly held out her hands to Sakura. Baffled, Sakura placed her palms into Madame's and curiously watched the woman's face as she gazed into the crystal ball for another long moment.
What was she seeing? It was just an empty glass orb!
"I call to the spirits," Madame murmured. "I call to the Fates to lift the veil before me." She closed her eyes and began to hum again beneath her breath. Sakura strained to hear her, found that she could not make sense of anything, and uncomfortably shifted in her place. Time seemed to drag by, and nothing happened. The fortune teller had fallen silent, but was still grasping Sakura's hands. Sakura resisted the urge to huff impatiently, her gaze travelling idly over the lanterns that decorated the tent's interior.
The second I get out, I'm going to tell the others that this is a total waste of time, she told herself.
Her thought abruptly derailed when the mystic suddenly released a sharp gasp, her fingers tightening painfully over Sakura's own, causing the blossom-haired girl to wince.
"Wha-?" she began, but was cut off when Madame's eyebrows drew together to form a frown that seemed genuinely agitated.
"No… darkness surrounds you. I can see it. Darkness and…!" Her head turned left, as if she were listening intently to something, but all Sakura could hear was silence. She began to moan, chanting words in another tongue. Unnerved, Sakura tried to yank her hands back, but the woman's grip held firm like steel.
Then the woman spoke the word: "Death…!"
Sakura's entire body stiffened. Her heart began to pound sickeningly. She did not like the expression on the mystic's face – or the awful sounds that were coming out of her mouth. Then the woman's eyes opened, and the air in Sakura's lungs arrested. The fortune teller's eyes were glazed over with fear.
"Death," she hissed. "Death has marked you. You bear the mark of the shadows!" The fingers around Sakura's were now bruising in their hold, and the woman shrieked, "I sense it! A curse so deadly! It will consume you!"
Horrified, Sakura tried to wrestle her hands back. To her utter dismay, the woman continued to babble on as though she were possessed; her eyes unseeing, her mouth agape.
How? Sakura thought, her face mirroring her internal shock. How could the mystic know that? She couldn't even call the woman insane. Because everything she was saying rang alarmingly true for Sakura. Death. Death's mark. Sasuke. The pomegranate seeds. Her seal. The cycle of rebirth. The reading was terrifying in its unexpected accuracy.
"How do you know about death marking me…?" Sakura managed breathlessly. "What did you mean about my true calling?"
The Madame's eyes locked right onto Sakura, as if looking through her. "You must die," she murmured, breathing heavily. "Quietus. It is the only way to achieve release…"
With that, she released a pained moan, and let go of Sakura's aching palms. Sakura snatched her hands back, and gawked at her, stunned.
"Release from what...?" she near-whispered.
The Madame waved her off, pressing fingers to her temples in discomfort. "Please. Your reading has exhausted me. Leave me now."
"But I-" Sakura began to protest.
The Madame rose from her seat, and disappeared to the back of the tent.
Sakura remained frozen in place. Her heart was racing. The words had been far too accurate to be mere coincidences. But it had been the last ones that the fortune teller had uttered which caused such unease to fill her.
'You must die. Quietus. It is the only way to achieve release…'
Her mind was reeling in disbelief. She'd expected a silly, light-hearted reading upon entering - not something that skirted precariously close to her own reality. She exhaled slowly, taking a few minutes to compose herself. She couldn't well go outside looking spooked; Kenji and the others would surely ask her questions.
Finally, when she felt ready, she got up from her cushioned seat, not wanting to spend another second in the suddenly stifling tent, and hurried back outside - only to collide straight into Kenji, who laughed.
"Hey, it took you a while. How'd it go? You got your life all figured out?"
"What'd she say, what'd she say?" Yuki pressed eagerly.
Sakura plastered what she hoped looked like a convincing smile on her face. Even though it felt more akin to a grimace.
"Oh, it was fine," she lied. "She just told me that I had a true calling, and to follow my heart."
That had been close enough – before all the startling death and curse talk had come into it.
"That's good advice," Kenji smiled. Then he frowned. "Hey? What gives? Why's she closing the attraction?"
Sakura turned – just in time to see a CLOSED sign being hung up on the front of the tent. Unnerved, she stared at it, as Yuki behind her whined that it was so unfair.
"No! This is the second year I miss it, damn it!"
"That sucks," Kenji agreed.
"I guess we won't get to find out what our futures are, after all," Hiro lamented sarcastically. "What a shame, guys."
"Shut up, Hiro! Ugh!" Yuki pouted.
"Forehead!" Ino's voice reached Sakura, and she glanced back in front of her to find her best friend had arrived. Sai was with her, carrying lots of prizes. "Are you ok?" She glanced at the tent. "Did you get your fortune read?"
"Yeah," Sakura answered, re-joining her as Kenji and the others fell into step behind them.
"What'd she say?" Ino asked, sipping on the raspberry slushed-ice drink in her hand.
"That I'm going to die," Sakura said frankly, mouth twisting at the irony of the words.
Her best friend almost choked on her drink. "Wh-what? Geez. Don't listen to that."
Glancing behind her, to make sure Kenji and the others were out of ear-shot, Sakura disclosed quietly, "No, Ino. She said some scarily accurate things. In fact, all of it was accurate. Like how death has me marked, a curse that's on me."
Ino's pale-blue eyes widened. Then she shook her head. "Look. Whatever. She's human. There's no way she could've known that?"
"But she did," Sakura replied, frowning in confusion. "And she said... dying is the only way I can be released."
Ino blinked. "Just forget it," she reassured her. "Some crazy coincidence. Humans can't see the future."
As Naruto boisterously drew up to her right, Sakura dropped the conversation. But the words remained stubbornly ingrained in her head, regardless.
'You must die. Quietus. It is the only way to achieve your final release…'
The visit to the fortune teller had sapped any excitement Sakura might have had left for the lantern lighting ceremony right out of her veins. As they took their seats on the benches surrounding the stage, she sat pensively beside Ino, who was lost in chatty conversation with Sai, Shikamaru and Kiba.
Was it true? Would she die soon? Sakura had already accepted and come to terms with the very real possibility of permanently dying in her final lifetime. But what had the Madame meant about a 'final release'? The last time she would die? That she would die for good? And why was she even letting it trouble her so much? Maybe Ino was right. Maybe the tarot reading had all been some freaky coincidence.
The problem was, Sakura didn't much believe in coincidences anymore. Not ones that related to death. Both the actual entity, and the event itself.
She was drawn from her heavy musings and glanced to her right when Kenji sat down beside her.
"I've got something for you," he said – and then held out a pink paper lantern.
Sakura gasped in surprise. "You managed to get hold of one?"
"Two, actually. I remembered you wanted to light one last year," he smiled, dimpling. "And, well, I pulled a few strings, and here we are."
"Thank you," she replied earnestly, accepting it, just as the announcer finished introducing the event. Enchanting flute music began to play and dancers, decked in flowers, took to the stage.
This time, as Sakura watched them dance and sing praises to the ancient Spring Goddess, her eyes began to sting with a myriad of emotions. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the stifling awareness of who she really was. Ino glanced over at her – and gave her arm a gentle squeeze, as if she understood the significance of the moment. Sakura rapidly blinked back the tears, inhaling deeply.
Whatever happened in her final life, she reminded herself fiercely, she would meet it bravely. Even if she was scared inside of the unknown. Even when there was no guaranteeing the outcome at the end of it all.
The beautiful music drew to an end, and the time came to light the lanterns.
Sakura distinctly remembered what she had asked for the previous year. For Mr. Arakawa to survive. He hadn't.
To be stronger. Which she was.
And the final wish had been… to find someone special, who would love her unconditionally until the end of her days.
Her lips twisted slightly as she considered the final wish she'd made. To her right, sat a nice, normal boy who was clearly very interested in her. The only other person was…
Dark eyes once again flashed across her memory. She swallowed thickly. She'd had an uncomplicated, simple romance in mind at the time of making the wish. Fate had delivered to her something else entirely. A force of nature and an experience quite unlike any other.
The crowd began to sing the hymn to the goddess, before making their own private prayers.
This year, Sakura silently wished, I just want to live. I want to survive. And I want for the people I love to be safe, to have the strength to protect them. That's all I ask.
She took the lighter Kenji offered her, and lit the paper lantern, releasing it up into the air. The evening sky was illuminated with beautiful colours. It was a bittersweet, poignant moment, and Sakura's eyes wistfully followed the dancing movements of the colourful lanterns as they floated gently away, carrying hopeful wishes with them.
The Spring Festival was over for another year – and Sakura had no idea of knowing whether she would survive to the next one.
It was a humbling, albeit upsetting thought. But somehow, she was able to accept it. There was no point, she told herself, of warring against the harsh reality of her situation. She could only do her utmost to make the best of it, and to use whatever time she had to do as much good as she could.
Kenji and his friends rose as people and families began to steadily stream out of the area. He turned to Sakura and handed over the prizes he'd been carrying for her.
"I had a lot of fun today," he said gently. "Thanks for joining us, Sakura."
"Me too," Sakura answered. "And thanks again for the lantern."
"Hey. Anything for you," he said. Then, as if realising what he'd just blurted out, he added awkwardly. "Uh. I'll see you at uni after the weekend." He then smiled, said a polite goodbye to Ino and the rest of her friends, and then departed with his group.
"He's got it real bad, huh?" Ino remarked with a raised eyebrow, as she watched him leave. "Even got you a lantern."
Sakura sighed heavily. "Let's just go," she muttered, and after waving goodbye to Kiba, they moved.
"Looks like this event went by without a hitch," Asuma remarked, puffing on a cigarette as the surface gods and seraphs began to walk out of the park together.
"What a relief," Ino exhaled.
"Youth prevails!" Guy gestured enthusiastically.
"Absolutely, Guy-sensei!" Lee echoed, pumping a fist into the air.
Sakura wondered just how Guy and Lee remained so energetic and upbeat all of the time. The day had left her feeling absolutely drained - though she suspected that was more due to the rollercoaster of emotions she'd experienced throughout.
"Alright," Kakashi sighed, as they finally reached the venue car-park. "We're all clear."
"We'll go on ahead," Kurenai nodded. "Guy, Lee, we'll drop you both home. Have a good evening, everyone."
"Make contact when you get back, Kakashi," Asuma lifted a hand in parting as he opened the driver's door of his car. Kurenai got into the passenger side, and Lee and Guy stepped into the back. A minute later, they had driven off.
Naruto unlocked his vehicle. Neji and Hinata slipped into the back, while Kakashi sat in the passenger's seat at the front.
Sakura got into the passenger seat of Ino's car. Shikamaru and Sai sat at the back. They pulled out of their parking space, queuing behind the lines of other departing cars until they reached the exit gates. Ino slotted the ticket into the barrier machine and drove out onto the main road.
Sakura placed her elbow on the door's arm-rest, gazing thoughtfully outside. The sun had completely set and night had fallen. They drove through traffic lights and slower-moving residential areas, before Ino took a roundabout that led to a faster, winding dual carriageway flanked by trees and open fields.
"Don't you think it's weird," Ino asked, slightly lowering the pop music that had been blaring from the speakers, "that things have been so quiet since the Winter Ball?"
"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "It's been too quiet."
Shikamaru, who was also looking outside the window, answered, "It's troublesome. The enemy has to be planning another attack. We can't let our guards down."
"Right?" Ino went on. "I feel like the longer nothing happens, the worse it'll be."
"I'm so glad nothing happened today," said Sakura. "There were even more people at the festival than at the Winter Ball. Children with their families, too."
"We've been fortunate," Sai remarked.
"It was fun…" Ino sighed pensively. "I mean, at least we got to let off some steam. Who knows when the next time might be with everything that's-"
"Ino, look out!" Shikamaru suddenly yelled.
She gasped, wrenching the steering wheel aggressively to the left to avoid the unexpected swerve of Naruto's car ahead of them. But it was too late. She was travelling at too great a speed. As Naruto's vehicle spun uncontrollably in the middle of the road right in front of them, veering straight into their path, Ino slammed down on the brakes, screaming in terror.
The last thing Sakura recalled before her vision blacked out was the front of their vehicle smashing into the left side of Naruto's, before being flung violently up into the air.
The strange sound of crackling was the first thing she became aware of as she slowly came back around. Sakura lifted her heavy eyelids, disorientated. Blinking groggily, she stared at the sight that met her eyes. An open air-bag. And beyond it, a badly cracked wind-shield.
Ungh... she thought to herself in a daze. What happened...?
Throbbing pain then assaulted her head. She lifted a hand to her left temple, and drew it back to find warm stickiness on her fingertips. She was bleeding. Fighting off the dizziness, her brain finally caught up, recalling what had happened, and Sakura realised why she felt so displaced and nauseous. She was hanging upside down in Ino's upturned car.
They had crashed into Naruto's vehicle. She twisted her aching head, to find that Ino was out cold. The glass had completely shattered on her window, and her face was also bleeding.
Then the strong smell of smoke reached Sakura's nose, chasing away the last remnants of her inertia. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, the fight or flight survival reflex activated as she spotted the flames lapping behind them in the rearview mirror. The car had been tossed completely off the side of the road, and was now resting on the open field. Grass had caught fire behind them.
In the passenger seats behind her, Sai and Shikamaru were starting to come around.
"Shikamaru! Sai!" Sakura called out hoarsely, lungs burning from inhaling smoke. "Wake up! The car's on fire!"
Her heart thundered. She needed to get out, to get Ino out! She tested her body, was relieved to find that other than severe discomfort in her left shoulder, her limbs were otherwise miraculously in one piece. The worst of the pain was definitely in her head. Concussion was a real possibility, her trainee-medic mind supplied. Before she moved, she focused, drawing healing chakra into her body from one of the three chakra-crystals slotted into her arm-brace. She felt it work immediately as warmth filled her veins, soothing the pain afflicting her body, mending the damage caused by impact. Once she felt like herself again, she moved her right hand, and unclasped her seat-belt, but its release caused her to fall forward onto the airbag and dashboard. Gritting her teeth, she reached out to open the door – only to realise that the tilted weight of the car was resting on her passenger side, and the door was trapped against the ground. It wouldn't budge.
The cracked window, Sakura told herself. She could just about squeeze out – but she needed to break it completely first. The brace equipped on her arm beneath the protective barrier of her jacket and clothes also contained a strength-enhancing chakra crystal in one of its slots. Sakura borrowed from its reserves and with all her might, smashed her elbow into the window repeatedly. It splintered completely, shedding glass everywhere. Making sure to smooth over any jagged edges as much as possible, Sakura then crawled through the small space, wriggling to manoeuvre herself out onto the grass.
"Ugh…" with a groan of effort, she finally managed to drag herself out. The ground beneath the car smelled of leaking oil. As she stepped back, she noted in dismay that Ino's car had been completely wrecked.
"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?!" She heard Naruto's concerned voice and looked up to find that he, Hinata and Kakashi had just climbed out the wreckage of his car. It had also come to a stop away from the main road. They were all wounded and bleeding. Sakura gulped in shock. His vehicle was in even worse condition than Ino's, the left side completely indented and crushed. Heavy smoke billowed from it. It was incredible that they were able to stand at all.
She saw Kakashi pull Neji out the passenger window. He was unconscious.
"Aww, man!" She heard Naruto lament, as he looked unhappily at his destroyed car.
Shikamaru climbed out the other side of their car. He then reached in to help Sai out. Sakura ran around to the driver's side, and yanked open the door. Ino was starting to come around, and turned dazed eyes up to Sakura as she leaned over to undo her seatbelt.
"Uhn… Sakura…?" she winced.
"It's alright," Sakura reassured her. "I'm here. I'm going to get you out."
Shikamaru placed a hand on her shoulder, wordlessly asking her to step aside. Sakura did so, and he leaned in, unclasping the belt, before scooping Ino out. He set her gently on the ground, a safe distance away from the car.
"You okay?" he asked, looking at her grimly.
"Uh. Yeah. I think so," she answered, rubbing her forehead as Sai crouched down beside her.
"Do you require assistance with healing?" he offered.
Ino swallowed. "I've got a healing chakra crystal. I can do it. Thanks, though." She then began to draw from her arm brace, steadily mending the aches in her body.
"Is everyone alright?!" Kakashi called. Hinata was kneeling over Neji, a soft, pale purple light glowing from her hands as she healed him. Slowly, he began to stir.
"Y-yes," Hinata squeaked, but she was visibly shaken.
"Still in one piece," Shikamaru muttered, as he stood up beside Ino, wiping the blood off the side of his face with the back of his arm.
"W-what happened?" Ino demanded shakily. "Naruto! Your car swerved right into mine!"
"I'm sorry! Something jumped out in front of us, I swear!" Naruto exclaimed guiltily. "I hit the brakes, and I guess I just lost control."
"You think?!" Ino retorted angrily. "Look at what you've done to my car! Ugh! It's completely trashed!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Naruto waved his hands frantically in apology. "Mine is, too! We'll get them fixed, dattebayo!"
"What was it?" Sai questioned. "That jumped onto the road?"
"We didn't see it clearly," Kakashi answered, reaching a hand down to help a fully healed Neji up to his feet.
"Hey!" An unfamiliar female voice suddenly called. They looked behind them, to find a young couple had come to stop by the inclining side of the road. "You guys okay down there?!"
"We're fine!" Naruto waved back.
"Want us to call an ambulance?" The guy asked. "Your cars are absolutely wrecked, man! Better move away, before they blow up!"
"Don't wor-"
Naruto's words caught in his throat, as the car carrying the couple abruptly exploded into flame. The screaming pair were thrown into the air like rag-dolls from the force of the detonation. The sun god's cerulean eyes widened, and he ran instinctively forward toward the wreckage. Thick smoke filled the air. The others followed after him, climbing back up onto the main road – to find that a raging wall of fire had been summoned, blocking off all sides, preventing any further traffic from entering.
The wall of flames was unnaturally high. Sakura gulped. She could feel it in her bones. Something was terribly wrong. She knelt down to check on the young couple who had so kindly stopped by the roadside - and her heart sank to her feet.
They were already dead.
"What the hell…?" Shikamaru looked around them, frowning.
"I sense something," Neji warned, staring intently ahead into the flames.
A moment later, an inhuman roar reverberated through the air. They watched, in horror, as a humongous, ancient monster warped out of a spinning vortex before them.
"Whoa…!" Naruto's eyes widened, as they gazed up at it in disbelief. "That's a- a-!"
"C-cyclops!" Hinata gasped in alarm.
"N-no way!" Ino shrieked. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"What a drag. Looks like we spoke too soon," Shikamaru briefly closed his eyes, irked.
"Watch out!" Kakashi shouted.
They all scrambled aside as the creature lumbered forward and attacked, swiping down with an enormous spiked club. A menacing male cyclops towered over them, his lone eye locking directly onto his targets with killing intent. As with the monsters they had encountered before, his eye glowed red - as if possessed. In the centre of his forehead was a large, spiked horn and a thin strand of braided, dark hair ran down the middle of an otherwise bald head. His heavily pierced ears were pointed and his limbs thick and muscular. A thick, brown-leather pleated skirt was the only form of clothing he wore, along with spiked arm bracers and an armoured shoulder pad, attached in place by a strap across his broad chest.
The cyclops released another roar, opened his mouth – and spewed molten flame right at them.
Once again they dove for cover.
"Bring it down!" Kakashi yelled, gripping onto his right arm, summoning a stream of screaming lightning energy. "Quickly, Naruto!"
Naruto stilled, closing his eyes. He then lifted his hands and focused, channelling Sage Mode as he had been taught, drawing precisely from nature's energy around them, blending it with his own inner chakra network. His eyes then opened, revealing toad-like, golden irises with orange pigmentation around his eyelids.
Kakashi charged forward, the lightning flaring brightly in his palm.
The cyclops lifted the burning vehicle on the roadside, and hurtled it with ease at them as though it weighed no more than a toy car. Kakashi ducked out the way – but Naruto braced himself to stop the impact, swiping his right thumb across his lips rapidly, drawing blood with his teeth. Then he slammed his palms onto the ground, invoking a summons that Jiraiya had taught him over the course of the previous three months of his training.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried in alarm, stepping instinctively forward as the flying car spun uncontrollably toward him. Neji grabbed her arm to pull her back, pushing her protectively behind him.
"Stay back, everyone!" Naruto shouted. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke filled the air just as the car reached Naruto – and when the smoke cleared, Sakura blinked up in amazement to find that a gigantic, rust-red coloured toad had materialised out of nowhere. It had darker-red markings adorning its face and wore a large blue happi vest, with a massive dosu blade at its hip. It had caught the vehicle between its great hands just in time.
Sakura gaped at it in disbelief. Ginormous warrior toads? She told herself that now she surely had to have seen everything.
"You again?!" The toad rumbled gruffly, addressing Naruto grumpily.
"Eh?!" Sakura couldn't help but screech out in surprise. "It can talk?!"
"Gamabunta!" Naruto, who was standing balanced atop the enormous amphibian's head, yelled, pointing at the cyclops. "Please! Fight with me!"
"Hmph. I see," Gamabunta growled, eyeing the enemy - and then shifted to hurtle the car straight back at the cyclops. It struck the creature in his chest, causing him to howl in pain and fury. Kakashi closed in and leapt up into the air, kicking off the monster's body, propelling himself fluidly up to his head, where he aimed his chidori stream straight at the cyclops' eye.
The creature roared in agony, and disgusting, deep green blood oozed from his wound. He swatted at the masked deity, who hopped lithely away, avoiding a devastating blow from the monster's hands. Blinded, the cyclops thrashed angrily with his club, lifting gargantuan feet to crush the group. Sakura dove aside for cover, and drew chakra from the strength orb slotted into her brace. Running in a wide arc until she came up behind the monster, she aimed a crushing kick at the back of its left calf, concentrating as much chakra in one blow as she could.
Her foot connected. She felt the impact of bone jarring and splintering beneath her heel, as the strength orb depleted in one go, delivering a shattering hit.
The cyclops buckled to one knee, enraged.
"Alright, Sakura-chan!" Naruto praised.
Sai quickly swept in, grabbing Sakura out of harm's way as the cyclops retaliated by smashing his club back behind him. Gamabunta then charged forward, grabbing the monster's club arm. The huge toad aimed a hefty, chopping palm swipe down at the monster's elbow, disarming him of his weapon. The cyclops opened his mouth in fury and directed another stream of fire straight at the toad summon - who abruptly vanished in a plume of smoke for his own safety, leaving Naruto plummeting to the ground with a surprised yell.
"Wha-!? You're not meant to just leave me like that, dattebayooooooo!" he cried, realising that he still had a way to go before he mastered keeping his summons in battle.
That was when Kakashi saw it. A ripple of movement in the air, sucking and distorting air particles into an imploding vortex. It was taking form right beneath Naruto's line of descent.
His lone eye widened in disbelief. He had seen that technique before - and he knew only one other person who had ever used it.
He knew it because he was the only other individual who was able to summon the transportation, space-time manipulation technique named Kamui.
"Naruto!" he shouted, lifting the eye-patch above his eye, exposing the Sharingan underneath. In sheer desperation, he dragged every bit of chakra available to him from the confines of the seal afflicting his body, and felt his eye burning in response, the delicate veins screaming with agony as he prepared to channel the same technique. There was no way to prevent Naruto from being dragged into the gravitational pull of the vortex otherwise. He raced forward as fast as he could, heart racing. This was his only chance-!
But using Kamui was no straight forward affair for a non-Uchiha. Kakashi needed to concentrate enough chakra beforehand. And at that very second, time was not on his side.
Neji, whose keen eyes had also spotted the danger, leapt into the air without a second thought, shoving Naruto bodily aside just before he reached the spinning vortex. Naruto landed roughly on the ground, rolling from the impact, and looked back up – just in time to see Neji being sucked into the portal in his place.
Hinata, who had been running right behind her guardian seraph, reached out to grab his hand, trying to heave him to safety. Neji slapped her hand away.
"Hinata!" he yelled as his body began to distort into the swirling portal. "Get bac-!"
His words trailed as he vanished from sight. But it was too late. Hinata had already drawn too close to the vortex, and gasped as the pull of the portal dragged her in, too.
"NO!" Naruto cried desperately, leaping to his feet, diving frantically after her. But Hinata and the portal blinked out of sight just as he reached them, and his hands snatched at nothing but air as he fell to his knees onto the road. "NEJI!" he screamed. "HINATA!"
Sakura's heart was thundering in her chest as she watched on in horror. Hinata! Neji! What had just happened?
"Naruto!" Kakashi warned, as he joined him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto was outraged. Hyperventilating, he was near-hysterical, and threw Kakashi's hand off him.
"Get a hold of yourself!" The masked deity exclaimed. "Your chakra control-"
"WHERE DID THEY GO?!" He turned frantic eyes to Kakashi.
Shikamaru grit his teeth and summoned shadow hands that wrapped around the cyclops. With a violent jerk of his hands, he felled the creature, causing it to tumble backwards, crashing to the ground which quivered from the force of the fall. The cyclops raised his powerful arms, attempting to free himself, but Shikamaru directed further restricting hands at the monster, pinning the behemoth to the ground, sweat beading his brow from the sheer effort required to keep the cyclops contained.
Ino and Sakura aimed blasts of fire-chakra at the giant, and he screamed in agony as his flesh was set alight – right before Sai jumped forward onto the creature's chest, and stabbed a dagger straight through his throat. The cyclops choked on his own blood, and writhed – before growing still at last.
Everything was deathly quiet. Sakura panted, looking in despair at an inconsolable Naruto. Where had Hinata and Neji gone? How could they just disappear into thin air?
"Hinata..." Ino whispered. "Neji. Oh, no... no..."
The sun god raged, "I'll tear that fucking bastard to pieces-! I swear by Olympus, I'll-!"
A stranger wrapped in a black, hooded cloak suddenly stepped through the billowing smoke around them. Tall and strongly built in frame, he came to a stop before them, form illuminated against the flames and wreckage. His face was entirely concealed by a wooden mask with only one opening set in the right eye.
They all tensed at the new arrival.
"Tear me to pieces?" the individual spoke in a deep, echoing voice. "Now is your chance to try."
"You…!" Naruto got out, shaking with fury as he got back to his feet. "You're the one who took Neji and Hinata?"
In response, the masked man silently raised a hand. Rotating blades materialised at his command – and then shot outward, too swift for the eye to follow. Sai, Shikamaru, Ino and Sakura leapt aside for cover, forced to scatter apart to avoid the whistling metal projectiles.
Kakashi stared hard at the individual, heart pounding within his chest. This was the man who had sucked Neji and Hinata into a vacuum? But how was that possible? He would have had to possess the Sharingan-
He sucked in a sharp breath, as he glimpsed crimson glinting firelight in the opening of the mask.
No, Kakashi thought to himself in horror. It wasn't possible. The only other Sharingan users still alive were Sasuke and Madara Uchiha. Who was this person, who had the ability to use Kamui - just like his old best friend, who had perished so very long ago? The best friend who had gifted to Kakashi the very eye he now possessed.
Naruto was already summoning a whirl of savage wind energy in his palm. With a furious yell he charged forward, drawing his arm back, the Rasengan howling and flaring in response to his turbulent inner emotions. He aimed it straight at the cloaked stranger – who flickered out of sight at the last second, evading the attack. The wind orb flew off instead into the flames, aggravating them.
The masked man reappeared unexpectedly behind Ino. Too swiftly for anyone to act, he grabbed the goddess by her blonde ponytail, yanking her head forcefully back. Then, looking directly at them all, he raised a dagger and ruthlessly slit her throat.
A blood-curdling, hysterical scream echoed deafeningly in Sakura's ears. She realised the awful sound was coming out of her own mouth as Ino spluttered and coughed on her own blood, eyes wide, glazed with shock. Crimson flooded out her wound. But the masked man was not yet done. He lifted the knife, and stabbed it straight into the front of Ino's chest.
Just above her heart.
Shikamaru lunged at him, outraged, shadow-hands rearing back to attack. Sai unfurled his scroll, calling forth roaring ink lions. The masked man retaliated, throwing spinning, slicing shuriken at them to ward them off. Naruto shouted. Kakashi yelled. Everything, in that moment, turned to absolute chaos.
"NO! INO!" Sakura also ran forward, pulse hurtling. She raised a hand to call forth an elemental attack – only for pain to suddenly explode in her gut as another flying blade shot through the air toward her, impaling her straight through her mid-section. She blinked in shock, and looked down, staring stupidly at the sword protruding from her stomach. Then she stumbled, the air arresting in her lungs as pure agony assaulted her body. Felt her feeble, mortal shell immediately begin to tilt sideways.
"SAKURA-CHAN!"
"Sakura!"
Sasuke swiftly dodged the incoming needle attack, commanding his team to scatter.
'Don't look into their eyes,' he telepathically directed.
'Sound and paralysis attacks?' Suigetsu's voice responded. 'This fucking creep is really throwing everything at us!'
The latest of Orochimaru's hideouts had held in store for them the most unpleasant surprise yet. Over the course of the previous months, Sasuke's team had steadily taken down almost all of the locations, with only two known ones remaining. The serpent hadn't made it easy for them. Each base had been fortified with dangerous defences and they'd had to fight their way through to destroy its contents.
But the present one, with an entire army of variant, mutant-harpies, whose sound-based attacks made it near impossible to defend against, and that had clearly been genetically modified to be able to turn whoever looked upon them to stone - were definitely the nastiest. They were far more savage and perilous than any species of harpy Sasuke had ever encountered before. A testament, he thought in disgust, to Orochimaru's twisted experimentation skills.
Another wave of needle-like feathers shot out at them.
'How the fuck are we meant to attack them without looking at them?!' Suigetsu demanded, directing a howling funnel of water in the general vicinity of the feral winged creatures. They evaded and swooped down blindly, frustrated that they could not visibly see their targets.
Jugo grabbed a heavy piece of equipment from the ground and with closed eyes, lobbed it at the creatures. A sudden explosion then rocked the room, causing smoke to pour in. The ground rumbled – and a moment later, began to crack beneath their feet.
'Shit!' Suigetsu mentally exclaimed. 'Sasuke, the floor's about to-'
'Above ground!' The death deity ordered harshly, and flung Kusanagi into the air, warping to its hilt as it embedded into the wall.
Jugo alighted beside Sasuke and Suigetsu hastily grabbed Karin's arm as the floor gave way. As Karin was yanked into the air, her eyes turned reflexively upward, a fleeting instant of sheer carelessness on her part - at the exact second a screeching harpy dove straight through the thick smoke.
Blazing silver eyes met Karin's, who released a fearful shriek – and immediately felt her mind and limbs begin to grow heavy.
Suigetsu faltered, when the weight he was trying to pull upward with him suddenly grew too heavy for him to haul up onto the wall.
'What the fuck? You're so heavy bitch-' he began to complain, channelling chakra into his feet to keep himself anchored in place. He glanced down - only to find that Karin's body was being progressively covered with stone like scales. 'Oh, shit! Karin!' he thought out furiously. 'What the fuck?! You looked at them? You stupid fucking bitch!'
The harpies wailed, now able to see Karin clearly, turning their focus onto her. The Helm of Darkness only concealed those who possessed active chakras. Karin, turned to stone, was immediately removed from its cloaking protection.
Another harpy screeched deafeningly at them, and lunged toward the frozen nymph, forcing the water deity to snatch the hand holding onto her away to save it from a set of shredding claws.
'SHIT!' he yelled, eyes widening in alarm as Karin's solidified body plunged heavily through the collapsed opening in the ground like a falling deadweight. Smoke concealed his view of her. 'Sasuke-! Karin's turned to stone! They can see her!'
Sasuke's head whipped around, Sharingan locking immediately onto the scarlet haired tracker nymph's descending body, and he shifted, meaning to flicker straight to her and catch her in mid-air – when a sudden, chilling sensation washed over him, causing him to tense and hesitate uncharacteristically.
He blinked as his seeking mind identified the source of the unsettling feeling.
Sakura.
He could sense her. She was mortally wounded.
He inhaled sharply, distracted, his immediate, instinctive thoughts turning toward her well-being – and that tiny split second, that minute fraction of indecision, was all that two of the screaming harpies needed to dive down below and snatch Karin's plummeting, cemented body from the air.
'SASUKE!' Suigetsu's voice yelled in his mind.
Sasuke blinked, his attention snapped violently back to the situation at hand, and rapidly flash-warped down to them, chanelling Susano'o to grab the nymph back from the creatures.
But it was too late. His hesitation had cost him. A moment later, they had vanished into mist, stealing Karin away with them.
Sasuke alighted against the wall, inwardly cursing.
Shit! He glared at the space they'd disappeared into, internally fuming and furious at himself. Damn it!
'Did you get her?!' Suigetsu's telepathic voice called from above the blanket of smoke.
Sasuke warped back up. 'No,' he got out seethingly.
The ocean deity turned perplexed eyes to the death god. Why hadn't he caught her? 'What the fuck, Sasuke?! Are you fucking kidding me?' Suigetsu shouted in his head. 'You just fucking let them take Karin-?'
'Shut up,' Sasuke angrily snapped back. He hadn't just let it happen. It had happened so quickly. At the exact instant Sakura's physical distress had briefly diverted his concentration – and he'd paid for it, by losing Karin.
'I've already taken out five,' the death deity glared. 'How many have you?'
'One! You know why?! Because I don't have the fucking Sharingan to be able to look at what the fuck I'm aiming at without being turned to stone, you asshole!' Suigetsu retorted. 'And I'm not the one with the fancy shadow flicker abilities either-!'
Their arguing was cut short when the remaining creatures released a skull-rattling, piercing shriek and began spiralling in a furious frenzy. Sasuke clenched his teeth as the sound waves assaulted their ears.
With an angry yell, Suigetsu directed another spinning typhoon of water at them. Sasuke summoned a stream of chidori, electrifying the water which clipped the harpies' wings. The acrimonious smell of burning feathers filled the air, and the harpies screamed. Several of them dropped like flies, plunging into descent through the bottomless hole in the ground.
Another vibrating roar then filled the air.
'Lord Sasuke!' Jugo telepathically communicated in warning. 'There is another creature there!'
'We need to take down the rest of these bitches so we can see what the fuck we're doing,' Suigetsu snarled.
Damn it. Sasuke's heart pounded. He couldn't get to Sakura at that moment. He couldn't take Suigetsu and Jugo with him before they took down the base – neither could he leave them behind. They'd already lost Karin, which was a heavy blow to their plans. In Orochimaru's hands, her abilities would be dangerous.
He could still sense that Sakura was injured. Her life-force was still strong. She merely needed healing.
Having no other choice, and wondering what the hell the idiotic surface gods were doing that had allowed her to fall into such risk, he angrily engaged the seeds rooted within her body that bound her physically to him. He felt them respond to his call, a mere whisper in his mind, and then sent out a telepathic command, transferring a precisely controlled stream of chakra through the connection they shared - directly into the seeds, activating them.
Hands grabbed at her, dragging her backwards. The blade embedded in her gut twisted violently, causing a wave of indescribable pain to wash over her, so extreme that Sakura felt she would throw up from it. Then, an instant later, the weapon was telepathically wrenched out of her. She felt warm wetness pool onto her clothing. Voices were shouting, words she couldn't understand in her state of shock. Sakura couldn't speak. The pain was numbing. Desperately, she pumped chakra from the healing orb into her body. But the wound was too deep, and the rate at which she could feel blood rapidly flowing out the wound was quicker than the rate at which the healing chakra could work to mend it.
Her entire body trembled, from fear, from shock, from pain, from anger – she couldn't tell whether it was one or all. She fought against the restraining hands that held her, eyes turning frantically back to Ino – just in time to see her being sucked into another vortex.
"No!" she near-sobbed, clawing like a wild animal, even as every movement caused her abdomen to scream in anguish. "Ino! INO!"
"Sakura, you're hurt – stop!" Shikamaru, who was physically restraining her, pulled her further back. His voice was strained.
The masked man evaded Sai's ink-beasts and then lunged toward Naruto, arm drawn back to grab him in a choking hold as an enraged sun god charged at him, Rasengan spinning like a devastating hurricane in his palm. The air began to swirl menacingly between them, as the stranger prepared another wave of space-time distortion.
Kakashi, having finally charged enough chakra into his Sharingan, leapt after Naruto, bodily tackling him aside. Naruto howled in protest as the Rasengan flew off-target and into the flames once again. Kakashi's Sharingan stung and burned with effort, and he felt the incredible pull of the vortex behind them trying to drag him and Naruto backwards. Pouring every last ounce of chakra he could into his limbs, he jumped toward Shikamaru, Sai and Sakura, and unleashed Kamui, manipulating the space around them.
A second later, they had all been sucked into Kakashi's swirling transportation vortex, and spirited away from the scene.
They landed roughly in Tsunade's living room. Naruto scrambled out of Kakashi's hold, and turned furious eyes onto his teacher.
"Kakashi-sensei!" He roared. "I could have taken him! Why did you stop me?!"
"He was about to drag you into his vortex," Kakashi replied levelly, doing his best to hide the inner carnage of his own thoughts. "If the enemy got hold of you, it would be over, Naruto."
"But I was about to hit him-!" Naruto protested.
"That's enough!" Kakashi raised his voice, something he rarely ever did – and it worked. Naruto sucked in a breath, stunned, as the masked god gently laid a whimpering Sakura down on the carpet, lifting the bottom of her blood-stained top to inspect the damage on her stomach.
"Get a hold of yourself," Shikamaru grabbed Naruto by the shoulders, giving him a little shake. "There was no way you were going to get close. Didn't you see his ability?!"
"But Ino-" Naruto said, stricken. "Neji… Hinata…" his voice cracked with emotion.
"Losing our heads won't accomplish a damn thing! First, we heal Sakura, and then we'll figure out what to do next!"
Naruto blinked, and lifted an arm to wipe at his tear-stricken face. But he managed to nod sullenly. Shikamaru released him, and he dropped to his knees beside Sakura. Gripping onto her hand, he called out to her.
"Sakura-chan…! You're gonna be okay!"
He gulped as his gaze soaked up the brutal extent of the debilitating injury – and fresh fury filled him. It had taken everything in his power to not lose control on the roadside, to not engage the Kyuubi's chakra. It made the sun god even more furious, knowing he had to grow so much more stronger in order to protect everyone.
"This is bad," Shikamaru remarked, as he and a silent Sai looked at the deep wound in concern. Blood was overflowing. The blade had likely hit a vital point.
Sakura had turned pale and was shaking violently. Still she tried to direct chakra to the injury. Pale green glowed at the outermost edges of the wound, slowly mending flesh. But the blood continued to pour.
Tears welled in her eyes. She couldn't even think or worry about herself. Not when she had seen what had happened to her best friend.
Was she alive? Had the wounds killed her? The masked murderer had slit a vital vein. Ino was immortal, but without ambrosia to heal her, then surely she would lose enough blood to-
Sakura swallowed, unable to finish the thought. Her heart palpitated unsteadily inside her chest.
Tsunade and Shizune, who had heard the commotion from the kitchen, ran into the room.
"What happened?" Tsunade demanded. Her eyes settled immediately onto her daughter, and she rushed forward, horrified. "Sakura?!"
"We were attacked on our way back from the festival," Kakashi explained, moving back to allow the harvest goddess space to treat her child.
"By who?" Shizune gasped.
"A cyclops," Shikamaru replied. "Then a masked man we've never seen before."
"That masked bastard hurt Sakura-chan and took Ino, Neji and Hinata through some portals!" Naruto exclaimed torturously. "Damn it! We have to get them back!"
"We must regroup," Sai suggested.
Shizune shook her head, alarmed. "How could that happen?!"
"He had the Sharingan," Kakashi murmured, deeply troubled. "We weren't expecting it. He used Kamui to take them. It's a space-time distortion technique."
"You're sure, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto demanded angrily. "That he had the Sharingan?"
"Positive. I saw it," Kakashi confirmed. "Besides, Kamui can only be cast by the Sharingan."
"How is that possible?" Shikamaru frowned. "The only people left who have the Sharingan are Sasuke and Madara."
"So we thought," Kakashi replied tightly.
Tsunade's eyes widened, as she held her palms over her daughter's abdomen, channelling healing chakra into her hands. Sakura had broken into a cold sweat and was starting to mumble incoherently to herself. A worrying sign that she was falling more deeply into shock.
"Sakura!" Her mother called. "Stay with me. I need you to-!" she broke off and inhaled sharply, when before her very eyes, something astonishing began to happen.
Everyone in the room grew silent, watching in disturbed amazement as black, shadow-like wisps started to leak out of her daughter's grievous wound. Dark, vein-like tendrils extended beneath the skin surrounding the puncture – and then, slowly but steadily, the damaged flesh began to mend.
"What is that…?" Shizune exhaled in alarm.
"They look like… shadows…?" Shikamaru peered down at the silently working wisps.
"Shadows…" Kakashi began. "But that's…"
He didn't need to finish his sentence. Tsunade swallowed, and stunned realisation hit her, as the dark wisps worked with her healing chakra to close the wound and halt the bleeding.
The seeds in Sakura's belly. Somehow, they were helping to heal her.
Author's note
I'd appreciate feedback. See you next update! Thanks for reading.