Chapter 17 Traitor!
I never considered myself a traitor. Am I a slave that has to be chained to a place just for the simple reason I was born there? The place and the family where you are born are random. It's only the choices you make in life that determines who you are.
And I choose to go where no man has gone before. I choose to fight for my dream. I choose to destroy the barriers that feeble humans create to hide their ignorance and fear.
And be aware all those that would stand against me.
Orochimaru.
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Sakura woke up when the morning light reached her. She opened the eyes, and smiled when he saw Sasuke's sleeping face next to hers.
Sasuke always had a worried and serious look. However when he was sleeping, his face reverted to that of a child. A child with a swollen eye, among other bruises and cuts along his body, the result of the fight he had had against the five Hyugas the last day.
She sighed. She needed to get stronger, so next time Sasuke got into a fight, she wouldn't need to care about her safety. She slid closer to Sasuke, put one arm on his face, and kissed the swollen eye.
His reaction was instantaneous. He opened the eyes, but even before that she was already pushing her down on the bed with the right hand, supporting his weight, while his left hand reached under the pillow, grabbed a hidden kunai and brought it to her neck. His knees were bent and straddled her hips. His sharp eyes were locked on hers.
His intent to kill was terrible.
For a few seconds, none of them moved. Then he dropped the kunai with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, my reaction was automatic."
Her chest heaved up and down as she took deep breaths.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I'm sorry. I... I am not used to being woken up suddenly... I have trained to react quickly and..." He stuttered. He wondered why she was the only person that could make him stutter.
"You had a kunai under the pillow?"
"Actually, it was sewed under the front part of the mattress, and..." He suddenly noticed there was something wrong. He was on top on her, and his hand was still pushing on her chest... He leaped away.
"Sorry, sorry, I..." Sasuke tried to say, while he noticed with annoyance that he was blushing "Anyway, why did you kiss me? You startled me!
Sakura, with the hair disheveled, looked at him. A smile was slowly moving to her face.
"What? It wasn't my fault. This is the first time you have woken up before me. I have been living alone for five years! I am not used to it! I always wake up the first one when we are on missions." explained Sasuke. He was angry with himself, because he had almost hurt her. He was still blushing.
Sakura was smiling more widely now.
"What?" Sasuke repeated. He absentmindedly wondered why women worried about their looks so much. She looked really good with her hair like that.
He blushed even more than before.
"Sasuke-kun" Sakura finally said "You are blushing! You are really cute!"
"No! I am not cute! I am definitely not cute! I am totally, completely, entirely, utterly, absolutely extremely, particularly NOT cute!" yelled Sasuke
She just laughed. Sasuke thought that if he wasn't careful, he would really fall in love with her. Then again, he probably already was.
"Say," he said "do you want to train together after we train with Naruto?"
Sakura stared at him, with her mouth open. For Uchiha Sasuke, that was the closest thing to a love declaration.
"Let's eat breakfast" he finally said.
"How are the bruises?" Asked Sakura, who was slightly limping after the day's training. Sasuke hadn't gone easy on her, as usual. She probably should have warned him when they first started to train together, that every time she had asked about training together, she had actually meant to go on a date together.
"Getting better" answered Sasuke "since we got married, I have been beaten every day, first Kakashi, then Kimimaro, Naruto, and finally the Hyugas. I am kind of surprised nobody has beaten me today. If I had known marrying was such a high risk activity, I would have married earlier" he commented.
Sakura laughed. She was glad that Sasuke was opening up to her.
"That's just divine retribution for your handsome face." Sakura joked
"Speaking about the Hyugas" continued Sasuke, trying to speak with a casual tone, and failing miserably "You claimed that you belonged to the Uchiha clan, didn't you?"
"Hai. I married you, remember?" She said with a sarcastic tone.
"Marrying somebody doesn't mean they can call themselves members of the Uchiha clan." He explained with a carefully neutral voice. "The same way that having an Uchiha eye doesn't mean Kakashi is a member of the clan."
Sakura looked at Sasuke. Fear began to stir in her eyes. Sasuke too looked into her eyes, the beautiful green eyes that seemed to enchant him.
"Follow me" he said sternly.
She followed
By the time they arrived at their destination, the moonless sky had grown dark enough and the first stars were shining on them. They were standing on a small dock that led into a black lake, which reflected the stars and the buildings around it.
"Katon! Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, and a great fireball went over the lake. Sakura shuddered. She had seen Sasuke's katon before, but his powers seemed to increase every time.
"That's basic Uchiha Ninjutsu. You must draw chakra from your mouth into your chest and hold it there, then blow it right out." explained Sasuke, saying exactly the words his father had said to him a lifetime ago. "It's your turn"
"Hai!" Sakura yelled, happy that Sasuke was teaching her his favorite jutsu. She copied the seals and she tried to do it, but not even hot air came from her mouth.
She looked at him.
"Do it again" he commanded
She concentrated again, and again, and again.
"The Uchiha family trait is the manipulation of fire. The mind of an Uchiha"
Sasuke was busying himself with lighting some lanterns, all bearing the Uchiha fan, and hanging on poles on the sides of the dock, casting a faint light.
"An Uchiha member is only seen as an adult when he can use Katon"
Sasuke sat down, and started giving directions to Sakura, that was still struggling with making at least some spark come out of her mouth
Then, among the unwelcome memories that were bothering him, another one really painful came back.
"You haven't reached Itachi's level yet"
Sakura paused when she felt the sudden intent to kill coming from Sasuke, who got up and started leaving.
"I guess it was my mistake. I am the only Uchiha after all."
"I am not backing down!" yelled Sakura.
He looked at her with frustration in the eyes.
"You can do whatever you want" he said, and he left. When he reached his home, he turned around and went to the dock again, using a different path and hiding his chakra.
Sakura was still trying to do it. He relaxed, wondering if she could do it. She would need to fight against disappointment and apathy. He had almost failed himself. He didn't really understand why he was doing this, anyway. The longer he was with Sakura, the more he was going to hurt her when he left for the Sound
"Do not follow after your brother."
Sasuke shuddered.
«How can I defeat my brother then, father? » he thought «How can I avenge you, mom, grandma, granddad, and everybody else? »
There was no answer. He already knew that there would not be an answer...
Sakura tried for what seemed like the millionth time... and failed. When she collapsed, Sasuke thought that this time she was giving up for sure.
Sakura tried unsuccessfully to get up. She was nearing chakra depletion, and not even a small flame to brag about. Maybe mastery of the fire ability belonged only to the Uchiha clan... Hell! She was speaking like Sasuke! She was Uchiha Sakura! She would create hellfire if that's what she needed to prove her point...
She only needed to make a small flame.
She slipped off her shoes and put her feet in the water. It was really cold, but refreshing. She closed her eyes and let the chilly feeling relax her... Then she opened her eyes violently. It was actually freezing. The only way to counter that cold would be with heat.
She got up and started gathering chakra at her mouth, then back at her chest. However, instead of launching it immediately, she kept it there, using her body heat to heat the charka. She used even more chakra to heat the accumulated chakra.
Just when she felt her lungs about to melt, she launched it. A huge fireball flowed from her mouth, illuminating the whole lake.
She panted, in the middle of a huge smile. She was about to fall unconscious, but... she had done it. She had really done it. She had...
"You did it" a proud voice announced
Sakura turned around, surprised that Sasuke was just behind her. Had he been there the whole time? The last nine hours she had been trying to learn it?
Sasuke walked calmly towards her, and he didn't move for a few seconds, just looking at her. She felt again as though she were melting under his gaze. No matter the place and the situation, just one look from Sasuke made her shiver with excitement.
"Uchiha Sakura" he simply said "Welcome to the Uchiha clan."
He put his hands on her shoulders and placed a caste kiss in her forehead, which sent a chill down her spine. She forgot to gather the last of her energy to stand, and would have fallen down if Sasuke's strong arms weren't there to hold her.
"You are as stupid as me and Naruto," complained Sasuke "wasting your energy so much you end up too exhausted to move."
Sakura smiled and hugged him although even raising her arms was an unbearably effort. He held her for a long time, even if for both of them was too short. Then he put her under a tree. She managed to sit, leaning against the trunk of the tree. He sat down, leaning against the same tree
"You know, I'm happy" she said.
"You shouldn't be" warned Sasuke "even now I'm thinking of ways to make you hate me, so I can make the divorce as painlessly as possible if you are not pregnant."
Sakura smiled
"Sasuke-kun, you are really annoying."
Sasuke smiled too
"You are really annoying too Sakura."
They sat there, still and in silence. Sasuke looked at her. The wind was softly moving her hair. It was peaceful, exactly the opposite of his mind
He was afraid of the future, as he didn't know what was going to happen. He always had the future set: Whatever made him get closer to kill his brother. Now he was having doubts. If he went to the Sound, he would be selfish for just chasing his desires and not worrying about Sakura. If he didn't go to the Sound, he would be selfish because he would just be doing what he wanted, and forgetting about all his family. All those people, all those dreams, all of them, gone, like tears in the rain. He didn't have the right to forget them.
"Should we go home and sleep? We still have one hour before we have to meet Naruto" asked Sakura interrupting her thoughts
"We should, but I don't feel like moving." answered Sasuke
"Me neither."
They sat, unmoving, while the morning sun greeted them. Later, Naruto yelled at them for arriving two hours late.
Sakura woke up first, and kissed Sasuke in the cheek. He woke up slowly
"Wake up, sleepyhead. Time to work." called Sakura from the kitchen
"I don't wanna train today" answered Sasuke, still half-sleep, while he sat on the kitchen table for breakfast.
"Still bitter because of Lee?" asked Sakura.
"I am not bitter! Just because the ultimate creep decides that a good challenge would be five hundred laps around the Leaf village on our hands, and just because I lose there is no reason at all why I should be angry. Damn! Naruto is an idiot, but Lee still didn't recover from his secret lobotomy!"
"Well, at least next time it will be your turn to decide the challenge on Lee. You are still ahead, aren't you? Eleven to five."
Sasuke smiled evilly
"I could really humiliate him. What about a challenge on who manages to seduce more women? I bet that creep won't be able to get even one..." he shut up when he noticed Sakura's dangerous look
"It was a joke! Relax!"
"A joke?" asked Sakura, her anger gone. She stared at him like if he had seen a ghost.
"Hai, a joke. Joke, you know, a gag, when somebody says something to amuse other people."
She was still staring at him.
"Damn! Forget it. Every time I try to crack a joke, I sound so serious people believe I'm saying the truth. I am just no good at it. I should..." He shut up as Sakura suddenly hugged him "What now?"
"I don't know. I just thought I should hug you." She said.
Sasuke sighed.
"Sakura, did I tell you today that you are annoying?"
"No yet. It's just dawn." Sakura answered.
"You are annoying"
Sakura smiled.
Sasuke distractedly started eating breakfast. Sakura sat down at the kitchen table and smiled expectantly at him. Sasuke using his experience at hiding emotions and painful experiences, managed to hide the true suffering he was having due to the far too great amount of sugar and the far too weird taste of strawberry jam.
"It's great" he lied with a straight face. Sure, he had promised to always tell the truth to her, but he could at least lie to her about culinary subjects. Sakura had a hidden ability for poisons she didn't know about. Sooner or later she would learn to cook. Wouldn't she?
He had taken care of himself for the last five years, so it should be obvious that he should take care of food, as well as anything else inside the house. So, how come she had taken charge of the house? No way! Shit! That was his house. He had been born there, he had been raised there, and he had been living alone for five fucking years! He knew how to cook and clean far better than she did. There was no way he was going to allow her to be in charge in the house!
"What are you thinking, Sasuke-kun?"
"That I am very happy" he said, after just a second. Well, in a relationship there should be a few little lies here and there to keep it flowing.
Or maybe, just maybe he was scared she was going to get angry
"Sasuke-kun! Have you been awake the whole night?" said Sakura when he saw Sasuke still awake and with bags under his eyes at the kitchen table
"Hai" Sasuke answered, still concentrated on the Go board.
"You are still playing with that? Do you like Go that much?"
"No really. I find it boring, but Shikamaru beat me, so I have to beat him. I can't train Go during the day, so I have to train during the night."
Sakura sighed. It wasn't a sad sound by any means either.
"We have to going to train" said Sasuke abstractedly in the breakfast table. He was being bothered by Sakura's wild hair. She hadn't combed her hair since getting out of the shower.
"Ok, I'll be going soon" answered Sakura, who was busy with some writing
"What are you doing?" asked Sasuke. The hair was still moving left, right, left, right
"I am planning some teamwork strategies. The way we fight now is too anarchic. We should learn to plan before actually jumping into combat..."
"May I?" asked Sasuke from behind. Before she could move, she felt something touching through her hair. She partially turned around, to see Sasuke skilfully brushing her hair.
Sakura leaned on the chair, letting Sasuke brush her hair. It was a peaceful scene, except her heart was thumping painfully as if it were to jump out of her chest
Sasuke panted as he entered home, while Sakura prepared breakfast
"What's up? Were you jogging?"
"No. The ANBU are spying on us again. I thought I could train a little with them. Even now they are probably following my shadow clone." Sasuke said with a smile
Sakura laughed.
Kakashi appeared really early, just two hours late. He hided his chakra, his smell, and even his heartbeats, and spied a little on his three favourite students. Six months. He had been missing six months doing special missions while the Leaf recuperated its strength, and he was anxious to see how they were doing.
At first he saw they were all right. A little taller, but so far so good.
Then he saw that there was something weird. Naruto was talking endlessly, as always. Still, instead of Sakura partially ignoring him, and Sasuke totally ignoring him, the both of them were concentrated on his words. Also Sakura was very close to Sasuke, who wasn't backing away. Finally Sasuke was doing something that Uchiha Sasuke never did. He was laughing, an open, happy laugh
So the question was: When did he fall into an alternate universe?
"What? You received a love letter, and you don't even know who sent it to you? What about your information gathering abilities, you chuunin-baka?" asked Sasuke
"Don't call me that, you chuunin-bastard!" yelled Naruto. He didn't sound angry.
The wonders kept growing: Sasuke and Naruto speaking in a friendly mode to each other. Well, sure, they were friendly in their own special way. Still, there they were, exchanging friendly insults and invectives. Who had replaced his old students? Only after a few minutes, Kakashi appeared.
"Sorry, guys. I was late. There was an earthquake just in front of my home."
"I am not even going to comment on that" answered Sasuke... with a smile.
"YOU LIE!" yelled simultaneous Sakura and Naruto.
"Sasuke and Naruto, congratulations on passing the chuunin exam. Sakura, I am sorry you couldn't pass. Don't worry, though. Next time you will do better"
Sakura smiled weakly
"It's OK, Kakashi-sensei. Don't worry about it. I'll make sure I pass next time" she said with the usual expression and words. However, Kakashi noticed that the nervous looks that Naruto and Sasuke were giving her were not normal.
"Don't thank Sasuke-chuunin-bastard! Even if we had to fight in pairs in a free for all, I did most of the work!" Naruto yelled
"Meaning that instead of using a single strategy, you just jumped at the middle of the fray. Any dobe would have guessed that staying in the corner of the arena was a better choice. I mean, it's not that I cared that you got beaten, but your loss was my loss. So I had to save your ass... how many times was it? Twenty, thirty?"
"Shut up, chuunin-idiot!"
"That's my line, chuunin-baka"
Kakashi had already understood that for some spoken or unspoken agreement, they both had decided to compliment each other in that way. Wonder of wonders.
"I was thinking that I have been away for a long time. I need to test what Sakura's training has done for you."
Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other with a dangerous smile.
"We just have to hit you once? Just once?" Asked Naruto in the middle of the clearing in the forest where they were going to train.
"That's right. I want to see if the examiners actually made a mistake."
"Naruto! You fight alone. I'll fight with Sasuke-kun. You have bothered me fifteen times too many" ordered Sakura yelled hugging Sasuke.
Kakashi thought that so far, their reactions were kind of normal, like they were before.
Very soon, dozens of Naruto's clones started running to him, while Sasuke and Sakura hided
True, Naruto had improved. He was faster, stronger, and had a far better control of his Kyuubi power. However, he still sucked at taijutsu. Eventually, he ran out of clones and Kakashi hit him with a double palmed strike, sending him tumbling against the bushes
"I guess everything is up to me now" said a smirking Sasuke. "Well, that much was obvious."
Kakashi noticed that behind him, Sakura was clutching nervously a kunai.
Naruto just jumping into the fight without any thought. Sasuke fighting on his own. Sakura nervously following Sasuke. They were too much like their original selves to be real. Where was the trick?
Sasuke ran and attacked Kakashi, who was carefully avoiding his attacks. Sasuke was going fast, but not with his maximum speed, and his taijutsu strangely seemed to be slightly unpolished. He seemed to be holding back...
Kakashi felt Sakura coming closer. He understood the plan. Sakura was actually planning to distract him, so that Sasuke could find an opening. Well, that was too...
Sakura's chakra vanished...
One second later, before he had time to react, in a perfect air kick, Sakura hit him in the face with a strength that should have been too much for her small body.
Then Sasuke made a seal, and four clones surged forward. Kakashi, even distracted by that kick, managed to attack the four of them, only for his strikes to vanish into thin air.
«Normal clones! » He thought, but in was too late, as Sasuke attacked his legs from the right. He jumped away to the left. He thought one second too late that it was looking like if he was acting exactly like they wanted him. One second too late because from underground a Naruto pushed upward and hit him straight in the chin. Kakashi tried to move to protect his fall, but he realized with horror that he couldn't move
"This is Shadow Leaf Dance, sensei" said a voice.
Kakashi strained his neck to see Sakura behind him, a Sakura with Sharingan eyes.
Even as "Sakura" used the Lion Rendan, and Kakashi tried to protect himself against the barrage of kicks and punches that were coming from apparently everywhere, Kakashi had decided that last minute revelations suck, especially, because they come too late. The comment of Sakura saying that Naruto had bothered her "fifteen times too many" was actually a codeword for some kind of strategy. Naruto's first attack had just been a diversion to allow Sasuke and Sakura time to switch appearances. "Sasuke's" second attack had just been a diversion to allow "Sakura's" time to attack him from behind.
From that point forward, he had fallen in their traps one after another like an amateur.
Kakashi managed to stop the final kick to the abdomen, but Naruto and Sakura, this one in her true form already, had taken positions around the falling area. However, Kakashi didn't get up.
"You have improved a lot" concluded Kakashi, still in the ground with a sore voice. "I have to warn you, though, that I was underestimating you because I thought I knew your current level. Other shinobis..."
"Whatever! Let's train, let's train!" yelled Naruto
"I don't think so" answered Kakashi
"Are you all right, Kakashi-sensei?" asked the always nice Sakura
"Don't worry. It's just my wounded pride. Tomorrow we will have a long training session, but today you can take the day off."
"All right!" yelled Naruto, that somehow could never lose his happy attitude." Sakura-chan! Why don't we practice another strategy!
"Baka! It's not that easy to plan them..."
Kakashi heard them walking away. It wasn't that he was angry and that was the reason he didn't want to train them. It was just that he couldn't move. Sasuke's combo had improved too much, and he had been too unprepared. He wished he could say that he was happy, but Sasuke's loyalty to the Leaf was too much a wild card yet
Besides, there was still Tsunade's order, which he had accepted: He had to make sure Sasuke and Sakura broke up.
"Mmmmmm. Sasuke-kun, you are soooo good!" moaned Sakura
"Sakura, I have said many times that I don't mind what people think of me" warned Sasuke "But if somebody were to hear us. They would think... well, you know."
Sakura smiled, as Sasuke continued with his massage on her back, pressing pressure points. Outside, the storm that had been raging the whole day continued.
"You are still very good at doing massages."
"Of course. Every shinobi needs to learn about the human anatomy to be a better killer."
"Did I tell you how "romantic" you are, Sasuke-kun?" She said sarcastically.
"Aa" he answered. He was staring at her petite body. He was being forced to admit that there were no more doubts. He had meant to wait exactly nine months, but eight months had already passed and her stomach still wasn't sticking out. It was useless to keep lying to himself anymore. Not during that day "I am glad you are not pregnant" he said, like with an afterthought.
"Mmmm" she agreed distractedly. Then she tensed
"Relax your body" warned Sasuke "I can't do the massage if you are stressed."
He continued with the massage. He could feel Sakura looking for words, and failing.
"I had my period two months after... that night." She confessed.
"Aa" he said. "I'm done."
She bolted upright.
"Sasuke-kun! I..." she struggled for words "What are you going to do?"
He didn't answer for a few seconds. He was staring at the window... straight at the direction he would need to take to go to the Sound.
After an unbearable silence, he turned around with a smile.
"I don't think I can leave today. It would be kind of stupid to leave you only to die of pneumonia the next day. Don't you think?"
She didn't smile. Sasuke decided that definitely he didn't have the touch to be funny
"What about tomorrow?" She asked
Sasuke looked at the window again
"I don't really know."
Sasuke was walking. He wondered where he was going. He felt a huge number of chakras just behind him. He spun around, only to see his whole clan, all of them, every single of them. They had bled all their blood and they were starting to decay
"You have forgotten us"
"No, no I haven't..."
"Six years have passed, and you want to forget about us and keep on living"
"Of course not. I would never do that. It's just... I..."
"The whole clan was killed. All of us were killed. Every single one of us was killed."
The images of the massacre were appearing again, the images that, no matter how much he wanted to forget, would always be there. There were engraved in his brain.
"And yet you survived" there was accusation in the voice
"It would be worthless to kill someone like you" added another voice.
The shadows disappeared, and the only one that was still there was Itachi. He was smirking, and looking at Sasuke with an expression of superiority
"Foolish brother. Run away, run way, and cling to your pitiful life." He said with scorn
Sasuke shouted curses as he ran to Itachi, but the distance was growing bigger every second. And every second it was harder to move
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled. The last thing he saw was Mangekyou Sharingan eyes looking at him with disdain.
Sasuke opened his eyes, panting. Sakura was at his side, still sleeping. Sasuke sighed. Not even she could do anything to stop the nightmares. Not on the day that marked the sixth anniversary of his family's massacre.
He couldn't forget it. The scars were too deep. Itachi had destroyed his family, taken away the possibility of him ever having a friend, Naruto being the sole exception, and set his path. No matter what Sakura or anybody could say, it was pain what had truly shaped his personality. If he wanted to live, he had to end Itachi's life. However, Itachi was no normal shinobi. He was the one that had exterminated the strongest clan in the Leaf. Other shinobis could train their whole lives and never even touch the level of ability he had. If he truly wanted to avenge them, he had to become a true Avenger.
He had to go to the Sound. He had to leave everything he had.
He looked again at Sakura's angelic face, and at that moment he would have cried if he remembered how.
Sakura opened her eyes. Sasuke was not there. She stretched and went to the kitchen. On the table there were two stacks of papers. She looked at the first one, and paled when she saw they were divorce papers. All of them dutifully signed by Uchiha Sasuke. She could sign them, and their marriage would be no more.
"No!" She whispered.
She looked at the second stack of papers. In the first page, in the middle, there was a single sentence, barely two words, written with Sasuke's clear handwriting, the one he hated because it looked too much like that of his older brother.
"I'm sorry"
"No!" She said
She looked at the second paper. The same
"I'm sorry".
"No!" She repeated.
She looked at one paper after another.
"I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry". "I'm sorry".
"NO!" She yelled, throwing the papers to the air, scattering them all.
As the papers with the apologies settled down, she was already in the ground.
"Sasuke-kun" she whispered, and she cried, because she hadn't forgotten how.
I got the idea of the different scenes in the breakfast table from Citizen Kane.
60 reviews for 17 chapters. Well, I guess there are some people worse than me, I guess, maybe... When I first started writing, I thought I didn't care about reviews. Not I realize they are my blood force.
Well, ladies and gentlement, this is another chapter of the Uchiha Tragedy. As you can see, the plot quickly moves forward. The part with the different breakfasts, as we can see Sasuke and Sakura getting closer, is an homage to Citizen Kane. Well, please, tell me what you think of the story so far.