17 : Sasuke
By: Kokoro Kakera HP ^^
Disclaimer: Naruto, (Manga, anime, products, etc.), belongs to Kishimoto Masashi
Author's Notes:
I apologize profusely to the people that go, 'WHAT THE HELL?' while reading this chapter. But really, ANGST ANGST ANGST is just so TIRING!!! Even if some of the best fics are constant flows of ANGST, does anyone not ever feel the urge to just kick the screen and blow bubbles just to lighten things up!? ...For those who are wondering, I tested negative for insanity. Somehow. The truth is though, it's mostly to make up for the angst I built put at the end...
I love Evanescence's new song, 'Going Under' ^_^!!! Michelle Branch's 'Are You Happy Now?' is pretty good too~ Oh goodness and let's not forget 'Young King Ours' from Hellsing!
Kakashi looked around. He had arrived at the usual meeting place as late as usual. Instead of Sakura being there though, the soft drum of rain greeted him on the bridge.
'Ah? She's not here... I suppose a sixteen year old girl's best interests wouldn't be to stay in the rain for a few hours - that's no excuse.' He was reasonably annoyed and worried by her absence, but found that he didn't have to act.
The smell of blood filled the air.
"Sasuke!"
"Mn?" Sasuke blinked sluggishly, attempting rather unsuccessfully to clear his filmy vision. A head bobbed above his.
"What are you doing, sleepy head? We're going to be late!" A familiar voice crowed loudly. Sasuke's eyes were open in a second and he shot up.
"OWW!" Two voices chorused in unison as a head collided into another.
"What the hell Sasuke!? We just came to make sure you wouldn't miss the occasion!"
'It can't be...'
"Naruto?" Sasuke stared dumbly at the boy before him.
"Eh? Yah... You feeling okay?" Naruto tilted his head to look over the dark haired boy. Naruto grinned. "Maybe it's just the fact that you look funny in the morning." Sasuke had barely heard the insult.
"How did you-?" He asked dizzily, his mind in a whirl.
'But he can't be Naruto. Naruto is-'
"Oh, we just broke in. You wouldn't answer the door, so we decided to let ourselves in to check if you were all right."
"We?" Sasuke murmured slowly, still processing the information and trying to connect it with what he already knew.
"You mean YOU let yourself in!" A girl's voice growled behind Naruto. "I just came in to make sure you wouldn't cause any trouble while you were in here... Sasuke-kun? Sorry about this but we really were just worried..."
'Sakura?'
Sasuke nodded slowly, still not sure what was going on. "Sasuke-kun?" Sakura smiled at him as brightly as ever, holding up a set of his usual clothes. "Unless you're planning to wear something different today, I found these in your closet."
"Sakura?"
'It's impossible... she was just-'
"Yes?" Her wide green eyes were focused on him entirely as they usually were whenever he asked for her attention. Sasuke shook his head, falling back to lean against the headboard of his bed.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura leaned forward and pressed a hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Y-yes." He said unsteadily, abruptly pushing away her hand. He ignored the hurt look she gave him. "I-I just had a weird dream."
"Weird dream?"
Ominous footfalls sounded upon a bridge.
"What was it about?"
The smell of blood grew stronger as the sound neared - A synchronized pair of messengers.
"Nothing." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "I need to take a shower." The room went silent.
"So... what?" Naruto spoke up, giving Sasuke a perplexed look. "You want us to go with you?"
Sasuke would have hit him had Sakura not dragged him out by his ear first.
"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked as he followed Naruto and Sakura.
"Eh? I thought you were the most excited about going to this, Sasuke!" Naruto said. "How could you forget?"
"Forget what?" Sasuke's brow became furrowed.
"Sasuke-kun... you really forgot?" Sakura looked saddened. "But... you broke a promise for this and I had to give up a lot for it to happen."
"Promise?"
"I'm counting on you, Sasuke!"
Sasuke's chest became knotted with perplexed frustration. "A promise?"
"Ya! You broke a promise you made so you could help Sakura out in this!" Naruto said sternly. "Don't tell me that you really did forget, you bastard!"
Her skin was so cold...
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked worried. "Are you okay? You've been acting strange today." Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'm fine. Let's go before we miss it."
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's face immediately brightened. "You remember?"
Her skin was deathly pale.
"Yes." He lied.
"Hurry up Sasuke! We're late!" Naruto yelled as he ran up a set of stairs to a large building.
"Ah! I have to go this way!" Sakura called as she veered left. "See you later Sasuke-kun! You too Naruto!"
"See ya Sakura!"
"Where is is going?" Sasuke asked.
"She's in the event! Of course she can't go with us!" Naruto yelled back.
They stopped at the front of a large set of double doors. Naruto pushed them open and both boys winced when the door hinges emitted a high-pitched squeal. The room was lighted dimly with candles stationed on various candleholders attached to the walls. Save Sasuke and Naruto, the entire room and its contents seemed to be petrified. It was as if nothing was meant to move once inside of the room. Sasuke didn't like the atmosphere at all.
A long wine-coloured carpet graced the floor before him. He gingerly walked up to it. A large carved wooden box that had been lavishly decorated lay at the end of it, but seeing it made him feel only apprehensive about approaching it.
"What are you doing? Come on Sa-su-ke!" Naruto shoved him forward roughly. As soon as his feet touched the carpet, Sasuke felt compelled to move forward. As he came closer, he realized that the box was a coffin. It wasn't long before he realized that someone was inside it.
"Sakura!" Sasuke rushed to the coffin's side. He stared at her, shaking terribly as he reached out to touch her. "What happened to her?" Sasuke whispered. "She was just-"
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" A voice said calmly from behind him.
"Naruto! What happened to Sakura!?" Naruto's eyes became cold.
"What are you talking about? Weren't you the one who wanted this the most?"
"I never-"
"Yes you did." Naruto's face twisted into one of great disgust. "You hated being near her. She annoyed you. She knew how to be happy with her life. She was everything you're not. She was weak."
"I never wanted this!" Sasuke yelled.
"You're the one who broke a promise for this."
"I'm counting on you, Sasuke!"
Sasuke stiffened. "It's your fault she's dead. Not that I think it really matters to you." Naruto stepped back and Sasuke watched in a horrified fashion as he took out a kunai and held its tip to his throat. "It's the same with me, isn't it? I'm weak and as long as that's true, everything is fine because you're the strongest one. No one else can possibly surpass you. Itachi is as good as dead by your hand. But you know what? I'm becoming strong too, Sasuke. Does that scare you?" Sasuke snarled menacingly at Naruto.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto continued talking as if he hadn't heard him.
"I'm going to do you a favor, Sasuke. I guess I should, since even Sakura-chan didn't seem to mind granting the first one." He pressed the kunai at his throat in and a trickle of blood ran from the fresh cut.
"Don't!" Sasuke's eyes widened when he realized he was frozen in place. "What's wrong with you?" He yelled.
"You want to be alone, don't you? All that matters is being strong."
"Stop it!" The kunai went in further and large globs of thick crimson liquid slopped sickly and pooled at Naruto's feet. "Stop it!" Why couldn't he move?
'Weak. I'm always too weak.'
Naruto grinned despite the blood sliding through his teeth and coating his lips. "See ya, Scaredy Cat."
"Naruto!"
The boy's body hit the floor and the sound seemed to echo forever throughout the room.
Sasuke shot up from the bed he'd been sleeping on. Sweat ran down the side of his face in rivulets and the sound of his panting seemed to boom inside of the small room he was in. His head spun wildly and he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
The small white room he was in didn't have a trace of dust, much less blood. Naruto was nowhere in sight.
'It was just a nightmare.' He fell back against the bed and inhaled deeply. 'When did I fall asleep?'
He couldn't feel her breath against his shirt anymore.
Sasuke's breath became hitched when he remembered the events before his collapse.
"Sakura! Is she-"
"Shh." Sasuke's head moved stiffly to look to his right. His eyes squinted to focus in the painfully bright sunlight that slid through the only window not covered by a shade. Tsunade was there, her hand placed delicately upon the pink-haired kunoichi's forehead. Tsunade was the one who had shushed him. Sasuke relaxed and a small smile of relief pulled at the corners of his mouth.
"Sakura-"
A hand came upon his shoulder. Sasuke recognized it as Kakashi's and looked up, wondering what he wanted to say. Sasuke frowned when he was met with the solemn eyes of his teacher. He could rarely recall the times he'd seen his eyes look like that. Kakashi shook his head - a sign to keep quiet. Sasuke closed his mouth and looked back to where Sakura was.
He had turned his head just in time to see Tsunade press a kiss to the girl's head and pull the bed sheet over her face.
Sasuke's heart nearly stopped and he stumbled up clumsily. Heart racing, he flew forward. He got halfway from his bed to Sakura's before a pair of arms restrained him.
"Sasuke! Calm down!" Kakashi's voice broke through the tunneled focus Sasuke's mind had created during the shock of the moment.
"I'm sorry." A woman's voice apologized softly. Sasuke looked up, his unfocused eyes somehow finding Tsunade's. The whole room seemed to be turning. "When I got to her, she was already..." The fifth hokage gave him a helpless look of regret and lowered her eyes, unable to meet his gaze any longer. It was the look of an ashamed woman admitting that she couldn't help when she was most needed.
"There was nothing she could do." Kakashi said quietly. Sasuke stared at the small and still body.
'Sakura is...'
Some of her pink hair still protruded from underneath the edge of the sheet and the outline of her face was clear through the thin material.
'Dead.'
Everything blurred together. Sasuke's legs failed him and he slumped to the ground onto his knees.
It wouldn't stop raining.
"Sasuke!"
He couldn't hear Kakashi's call over the roaring of his pulse running in his ears as he threw up.