Fire: This is Chapter 9, unless you got too depressed by the last chapter and decided that it would be best if you stopped reading it now. I understand.
Sasuke: Oi!
Fire: Sasuke! You're alive! (runs up and hugs Sasuke)
Sasuke: (constrained) You're crazy.
Fire: Anyway…how are you feeling?
Sasuke: Still dead.
Fire: (sweats) Um…are you sure? You're standing right there.
Sasuke: (glares at Fire) How would you know how I'm feeling?
Fire: Well…Sasuke seems to be in a foul mood at the moment.
Sasuke: I'm standing right here!
Fire: (sweats profusely) Well…on with the reviews. (looks at Kakashi with his Bag of Reviews)
Kakashi: (holding up the bag) Why do I have to carry the bag?
Fire: (snapping at Kakashi) Just hand us the first review!
Kakashi: (sighs and reaches into the bag) …
Fire: Our first review! (hugs the window) Yes, they'll be back. SASUKE AND NARUTO WILL BE BACK! I know that people are afraid that they might stay dead, but I promise that I'll find a way to bring them back!
Sasuke: I'm standing right here!
Naruto: And aren't you already done with that part of the story?
Fire: Ack! Stop giving away the storyline!
Kakashi: But that's what you were saying.
Fire: (sweats) Well…First of all I want to apologize if the next few chapters are too Sakura-centric. It's very important if we want to bring the boys back. I can't just have them pop out of nowhere and not explain what's going on.
Naruto: See? You ARE giving the plotline away!
Sasuke: What are you complaining about, dobe? You're not even co-writing this story like me. I should be the one who's angry. (angry) Who gave you permission to kill me?
Kakashi: Um… (holds up another window from the Bag of Reviews) We have another review.
Fire: (grabs the window) Yay!
Sasuke: They're for me too, y'know?
Fire: Positive reinforcement:) I'll answer universal concerns here but I'll also be replying using the reply function on the reviews page so don't be too worried if I'm not saying anything. I know that I'm an airhead sometimes.
Sasuke: (mumbling under his breath) How true. (looking at the audience again) That's it! Roll the chapter before Fire starts talking again!
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Chapter 9: Cenotaph
In the gloom of a raging storm, Tsunade stared out the window of her office. It wasn't something of which she did a lot, but today, work just didn't seem right. Today, she really didn't want to do anything, and she wasn't lying this time just to get out of doing real work. Even Shizune wasn't complaining today.
"It's passing, ne?" She said with a bittersweet smile as she leaned back in her chair. She turned a little to look at Jiraiya. "It was good...wasn't it?" She couldn't bring herself to say it. Funeral. She couldn't bring herself to say that word. It still hadn't sunk in yet, and she wanted to give it some time before she accepted that the two boys were really gone.
"Yeah..." the white-haired man said heavy-heartedly. "The storm really is passing."
"Thanks to our two little heroes...the village can finally have some sort of peace..."
They were silent for a long time after that as the sky, which had stormed only a few days ago–when Kakashi had slunk back with three children in his arms–began to roll its clouds back into its closet. Tsunade didn't know whether to be relieved or sad that day.
Four went. Two returned alive. The sentries who had stood at the gates found Kakashi collapsed not too far from the gates, his hitai-ate slipping from his head as the rain soaked his body through. The girl was unconscious, and for a little while, the two men thought that the boys were unconscious as well–over the years, they've gotten used to seeing Team Seven return in such a shape–until...they saw that the blond-haired boy and the dull black-haired boy's chests weren't rising.
Tsunade shielded her eyes for a moment as she hid the tears of quiet relief from her old friend. She was glad that her apprentice had survived this ordeal...but, she had to wonder if it was really a good idea or not. She had to wonder if Sakura would be able to deal with this. Born in a time of peace...death wasn't something that the pink-haired kunoichi was likely to stomach easily.
Sakura's hair was still drenched from the rain that had fallen only a few moments before. The sun was beginning to break through the grey clouds now, and soon, her hair would be dry once again. But, she was too busy to really care about her hair, not like she used to.
Her hands grasped the kunai tighter; the blood that coated the handle was making it slipperier, and she wasn't getting a very good grip. Her writing was a little crooked, but still legible. It wasn't the fault of the blisters on her hands. Her eyes weren't working either.
She wiped her eyes again with the back of her arm before continuing on. She still had another name to carve into the cenotaph. She still had Naruto's name to write.
"Kuso, why do their names have to be so long?" She wiped her eyes again.
"Sakura-chan..." Kakashi stood behind her, but she already knew that he was there, just as he knew that she would be here. "You don't have to do this..." His voice was almost reluctant. 'Hokage-sama will assign someone to do it. You should go and rest for a little while.'
Sakura ignored him as she carved out the first character. "U...zu..." She mumbled under her breath.
"Sakura..."
"You carved them too...didn't you, Kakashi-sensei?" Her voice was soft as she spoke. "Uchiha Obito..."
For a short while, there was only the sound of metal on stone. Sakura could see the characters a little above the one she had chiselled into the stone, and the one she was still chiselling into the stone.
Kakashi was silent. How was he supposed to answer that question?
Sakura's breath was haggard under the strain of chipping stone. "...ma...ki." She had the surname down. "Na...ru...to."
She looked over her shoulder at her sensei who looked a little dejected. "Akatsuki's retreating for now, right?" She sounded almost cheerful, but it was as fake as the smile that Naruto had on his face after Sasuke left. She turned back to the monolith as she brushed off the little chips of wet stone that still clung to the shaky names. "I shouldn't have let them go..."
"Come on...I'll buy you some ramen," Kakashi said, causing a small laugh to escape from the pink-haired kunoichi.
"Yeah..." The girl wiped her eyes again. She was trying to be strong. She really was... "Except, I'm not..." Naruto. The name hung unsaid in the air as both their faces fell again. "...hungry," she said instead.
"I'll buy you some ramen anyway," the grey-haired jounin said as he led her away from the cenotaph. He shouldn't have said ramen. He could have said anything other than ramen. But, it was a habit. Naruto always wanted ramen when he was depressed. He had just forgotten that Naruto wasn't here...anymore.
The pink-haired girl nodded slowly as she followed her sensei back toward the village. She cast one last look at the stone monolith with its two new lines before running after her sensei. These weren't going to be the last names to appear on the stone–she knew that–but that wasn't what was running through her mind as she looked at it. For now, she had other things on her mind...even though she realized that her name could very well end up on that stone one day. But she couldn't allow her name to appear on that stone...not yet anyway.
'I really envy you, Naruto,' she thought as she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes. She wasn't going to cry anymore. 'You get to be with Sasuke...' Her mind had sunk into a corner to sulk then. "I'm just not strong enough to come after you..."
"Did you say something, Sakura?" Kakashi looked down at his student, his only student now.
The pink-haired girl stared up at her sensei and gave him the best smile she could gather with the turmoil inside her little body. "N–no...I didn't say anything, Kakashi-sensei!"
'Did you really love him more than me? Is that possible?'
Her mind screamed in her head. However, all she had left was the sudden realization that had crossed her mind that day. She had thought that Naruto loved Sasuke more than her, but it wasn't as if she could really know now.
"Ramen...?" Ayame the ramen girl watched uncertainly as Sakura and Kakashi took their seats in front of the counter. She looked at Teuchi at the stove.
"...on the house today," he said as he placed two bowls down in front of the jounin and the kunoichi. He gave them a small, encouraging smile.
Sakura felt her breath grow short at that, and water welled up in her eyes, but she refused to cry. She could just hear Naruto now. He would definitely be disappointed.
'We're only dead, Sakura-chan! Stop being such a crybaby!'
'Hn!' Sasuke wouldn't say anything, but he would definitely be agreeing with Naruto.
'But...if you're not hungry, can I have your ramen?' There would be a huge pleadingly expectant smile on the blond shinobi's face.
And Sasuke would sigh and look disinterestedly away.
The pink-haired girl's head just sank a little lower as her hand made its way to the chopsticks. "A–arigatou," she said as she cracked the chopsticks carefully. "Itadak–" she stopped, her words caught in her throat as her eyes filled with tears again. She wasn't too sure if she could really eat ramen yet...or ever again. "Gomen..." She placed the chopsticks down, not daring to look up. "I–I can't..." She backed away, leaving only two teardrops on the counter.
Kakashi sighed as he looked worriedly at Ayame and Teuchi. "The pain is still too new, ne?" He spoke slowly as he grabbed the bowl of ramen left on the counter. "I doubt she'll really get over it... No one really does..."
Sakura stopped in the middle of the village. To one side, there was Naruto's old apartment. To the other, there was the old Uchiha estate, truly a ghost town now. She couldn't bring herself to walk in either direction.
The kunoichi sank down to the ground, her head buried in her knees. She didn't care that everyone was staring at her. She didn't care that their actions could have brought about the end of Akatsuki by destroying two vital limbs, and the Kyuubi they coveted. She just wanted them back!
"Is that selfish of me?" She said into her balled up body.
"Waagh!" The sound of falling boxes sounded around her, and a few items fell on Sakura's head.
Sakura looked around at a few cardboard boxes strewn around her. It took her a moment to realize what they were, to recognize the many cups of ramen that could only belong to a blond shinobi she used to know, and the red and white fan crests that belonged to a raven-haired shinobi she once knew.
"G–gomen nasai," the boy said as he bowed apologetically to Sakura. "I–!"
Sakura was staring straight at the man, her hand pinning the boy to the ground, and when she looked around, she could see many more boxes held by the boy's bunshin. "Wh–what are you all doing with these boxes!" All these boxes...they were all filled with Naruto and Sasuke's things!
The boy beneath her hand vanished with a puff of smoke. The boy was a bunshin as well. "Uh...Hokage-sama has ordered that Uzumaki Naruto-san and Uchiha Sasuke-san's personal belongings be removed to storage until a further time when they may be needed again," the real boy said shakily.
"No!" Sakura grabbed a few cups of ramen which were strewn around her. "No! You can't!" Her mind was ranting irrationally now. Naruto and Sasuke...they'll be so angry when they come back. They'll be so angry that they can't find their things!
"Sakura-chan..." Kakashi-sensei was behind her, and she knew it. "Let them do their work."
Sakura slowly lifted herself from the ground, only stared at her sensei. "But..." Her voice was dripping with tears. "...they–" Dull hiccups erupted from her throat and she doubled over again. "They can't be–" She dug her palm into one eye, smearing the tears away.
'They can't be gone! They can't be dead!'
Kakashi slowly patted her on the head in an effort to comfort the girl, but he could never know if he was making her feel better or not. In the end, it was hard not to believe his own words, the words he had said to Teuchi and Ayame only a few moments before. He really couldn't know if she would get over their deaths. His teammates...Obito and Rin...even he hadn't really gotten used to them being gone yet. He was never close to them–Sakura was closer to Sasuke and Naruto–but he and his teammates were together for much longer. They became chuunin together... That was more than Sakura was likely to have.
Sakura clung to her sensei's leg in an effort to stabilize herself. True shinobi must never ever show their emotions... A true shinobi must never show her emotions!
"I can't do this..." She can't be here and be a shinobi without them! "I can't do this..." There was resolve in her voice. She can't just be a shinobi anymore. She had thought that she was becoming stronger... But she was only becoming strong for them...
The grey-haired jounin didn't know what to do. He wasn't well known for his ability to comfort people in distress. So, he took her home and hoped that her parents could care for her. That was all he really could do.
And that was the last time he truly saw Sakura. He never really saw her again.
A few days later, the masked jounin had dropped by the home of his only student to see how she was, but had found the house in a frenzy. Both Sakura's mother and Sakura's father were running in circles, their bunshin also running around in circles. Not literally of course, but they were running all over the place.
Kakashi had asked them what was going on, why they were running around like that. And a bunshin of Sakura's mother stopped long enough to explain to him that Sakura was missing.
No one found her. No one saw her leave. There wasn't even a report from any of the gate sentinels of a pink-haired kunoichi leaving the village...but then, Sakura always was good at genjutsu. If she had wanted to leave without anyone noticing, Kakashi had no doubt that she would succeed.
And she did succeed. No one else saw her afterwards either.
Gomen...Kakashi-sensei. I really tried...but I can't be the kunoichi that I had hoped to be. Please, don't blame yourself. You were a great sensei and I feel honoured to have been your student. Take care of Kasan and Tousan for me...and Tsunade-shishou... Tell them that... Tell them whatever you can think of to ease their pain. And, don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
Sakura
A single note on the Icha Icha Paradise collection...just to make sure that Kakashi would get it. She wasn't going to be a Konoha shinobi anymore, and the note was as much as she could bring herself to do. If she had told them, they would have stopped her...and she couldn't have that.
So, without looking back, Sakura left Konoha, her Leaf hitai-ate resting on the neatly folded note with the name 'Hatake Kakashi-sensei' written plainly at the top.
End Chapter 9
End Book 1: Wait for Me: Leaving
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Note: GO TO WAIT FOR ME: FOLLOWING TO CONTINUE THE STORY and WAIT FOR ME: CRYSTALLINE MIRAGE FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION. THAT'S THE PREQUEL.
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Moral of the story:
It is selfish to ask someone to wait for you. Tragedy only waits for love born out of accepting this request. The pain of worrying often sways unwavering devotion, but when a promise is kept such unwavering devotion is worthy of respect. Not everyone is capable of keeping such a dense promise.
Fire's English tidbits for those who care:
Here's the long awaited simple sentences! Hooray! Okay, now I'm being overdramatic. I'm sure that no one has been waiting for simple sentences, but all the sentences I've used so far are simple sentences. English is known as a SVO language (Japanese is SOV). That means that the simplest sentence written in English should have a Subject, a Verb, and an Object. Although objects are not completely necessary in English, usually a sentence will have one. Try to use simple sentences sparingly. In a story, the most basic simple sentence (a short SVO sentence) should be used like the fragment. Only for effect. Usually simple sentences should have a conjunction (ie. and, but, because…etc) or a preposition (ie. about, in, after…etc) to make it a little longer, and to allow it to flow more fluidly with the rest of the story and other sentences. Simple sentences are good for statements ("what" sentences) but stories can't be a conglomeration of "What" sentences. "What" sentences are what propels a story forward, but it's the "why" and the "how" which make a good story.
Fire's babbling:
Sakura: ... (reads the chapter again) What do you mean by becoming chuunin together? We never became chuunin together!
Kakashi: (smiling) Exactly. At least Rin, Obito and I became chuunin together, at the same time. We were together longer too.
Naruto: (crying) Yeah! Gaara ruined our chuunin exam!
Gaara: (glares at Naruto) …
Fire: (sense of accomplishment and finality) That's it!
Sasuke: (staring at Fire) That's it? That can't be the end! I can't die! I'm the hero in this story!
Naruto: (confused) I thought I was the hero.
Fire: (holding up nervous hands) Well…you'll have to read the next book for that. It's the end of the first volume, the first book!
Sasuke: What a rip off! (turning away from the group) I don't need this! (shunshins away)
Sakura: (yelling) And whose great idea was that! I'm not a wimpy girl like that!
Kakashi: (depressed) And that's all the chapters I get?
Fire: Well…Sakura, you're a very emotional person, so it can and probably would happen if Sasuke and Naruto died. As for you… (looking at Kakashi) …you're in the next story, so you'll definitely have more chapters then.
Kakashi: Can I be the hero?
Sakura: No! I have to be the main character in the next story. Your next protagonist should be a girl!
Naruto: (crying) I'm not the hero anymore? I'm dead? (sinks to the ground in depression) I should have cremated myself when I had the chance.
Fire: I have enough complaints on my hands without you adding to it Naruto!
Naruto: It can't be the end! It can't!
Fire: It's not! (turning back to the audience) See you in the next story/chapter…if you choose to read on. (crying) I'm going to lose so many readers because of what you did, Mizuki!
Mizuki: …
Fire: Well…I'm definitely going to bring them back, you'll see!
Sasuke: (reappearing) We never know with you. (sighing) I'm just going to take a vacation. I need a break from your insanity.
Fire: I will bring them back! I promise! The next book is Wait for Me: Following, and there's also the prequel Wait for Me: Crystalline Mirage, which takes place before this book. If you were wondering just what happened before this story like how Sasuke returned to Konoha, and what led to Kakashi's leaving, and all that mysterious stuff that seemed to just appear out of nowhere, read the prequel. For the rest of you, who don't care about any of that, just continue on to the second book. Just keep reading, and review! Review!
Sasuke: Yeah, or Fire might cancel the entire series, and believe me, it just might happen. (nodding) Even though the entire series has already been thought out, planned and practically finished.
Fire: (shouting at Sasuke) Urusai! Or I won't bring you back!
Sasuke: Phft…like you would.
Fire: I also want to know if anyone's still reading the English tidbits. If you want them to stay, add it in your review or email me about it, otherwise I might stop putting them up in the next book. I know I sound like an English professor.
Sasuke: (mumbling under his breath) I told you Fire might start canceling things.
Fire: (shouting) That's not what I mean!
Sasuke: Review. Make this lunatic stop yelling at me.
Fire: (yelling) I'm not yelling!
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