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Shackled

Chapter Two

Symbol

It happened so fast. The memories, the pain, the loss, it all came back to her. The layers of dust that had settled atop the book to Sakura's past was swiped clean by the same hands that had set it aside to collect such dust.

Her stomach twisted into a tight knot.

Her knees buckled beneath her a second time.

She wanted to scream, too forcefully make him understand that it was he, who had been the one to decide her fate. That he had single handedly ripped from her heart all the hope, all the belief that she held onto. But she couldn't. Because, when all was said and done, she was in this predicament only because he had tried to shield her. He had forced her to leave her home.

"Kakashi. Please. Vanish. From my life again."

Kakashi winced at the not so subtle way she spoke to him. But he did not expect soft words of kindness to fall from her lips. He did not deserve them, was not worthy to be in the presence of her light. And so, with one last glance at the woman who had once been his life, his fire, he turned and started to walk away. No soft apology for his misdeed's passed his lips, no final farewell to the woman he had wanted to keep safe disturbed the silence. He didn't turn around, he didn't look back to her. He continued forward, toward his fate.

She watched as he walked away from her, for a second time in her life. Only this time she could follow, she did have that choice. She didn't follow though, because she already knew she wasn't strong enough too. She belonged to him.

Sakura stood and tried to brush the mud off from her clothing. It wasn't so much that she didn't like being dirty, she had practically become accustomed to being covered in filth. Why she tried to tidy herself was because she would have to go back and see the man who both soothed and damaged her dying heart.

Itachi.

Green eyes traveled to gaze at the stars above, and an almost forgotten smile crossed Sakura's lips. Maybe it really was time to move on? Without expecting an answer to come, Sakura spoke her question to the world around.

"Should I stay? Or should I find him?"

One foot moved forward. Would anything good come out of it?

She took another step toward the fading shadow of Kakashi. Could she trade the present for the past?

Her heart skipped a beat as her pace quickened. Was she condemning herself further?

Newfound determination colored her eyes as she started to run after Kakashi. She may have loved Itachi in a twisted sort of way, but she knew that he was incapable of ever returning such feelings back to her. She may have loved Kakashi when she was younger, but he had betrayed her then. Even before those two, she had loved Naruto, more than she had ever imagined possible. But he, much like her love for Kakashi, was gone now.

Dark eyes watched as the woman he loved to hate ran out of his life. But he did not feel compelled to stop her, did not feel compelled to follow her. She had been slowly healing him, had been slowly humanizing him. He resented that about her, resented how she had made him start to feel. Now she had left him, had gone away. She was a but a small chapter in his life, one he would gladly erase. And so, he continued to watch long after her form faded away into the distant surroundings.

Sometime later in his life, he would close his eyes for good and imagine her face as she smiled softly to him. Would imagine her bright laughter as it filled his soul. His lips would tug into a final smirk, because he knew she would never think of him again.

Her lungs screamed at her for air, but she kept going, kept pushing herself to take another lunge forward. He really couldn't have gotten too much of a head start on her could he have? She knew how to track people down, could see through various set-ups to make a person believe you went one way instead of another. So why hadn't she caught up to him yet?

A twig snapped up and grabbed her foot, causing her to take her first break from running. Her sudden break caused first confusion to scramble through her brain as she had suddenly stopped moving forward. Then came the sensation of pain to run up her spin for greeting the ground face first.

Sakura winced and rolled over onto her back to rub at her pounding forehead. That one hurt, and would probably leave a mark in the morning.

Her lungs gulped in air hungrily, as her sides screamed with exhaustion. She did not want to move. Perhaps a short break would be much welcomed? Heavy eyelids won the battle and slowly closed, drowning out the world around her with darkness.

"Come now Sakura, I know I taught you better than to let an innocent twig get the better of you."

He was teasing her, and because of that, a small chuckled greeted him. So that was it, she had caught up to him, probably a while ago too. But she couldn't find him because she had passed him, and he had in turn started to chase her.

The sound of fabric flapping in the air caught her ears, then the sound of the ground crunching beneath the weight of Kakashi's body.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked in his direction, faintly relieved to see that he was sitting down and getting comfortable instead of continuing away from her. She observed him then, and allowed her eyes to relish in the sight of him. He may have been wearing a cloak, successfully shielding his body from her prying eyes. But that didn't matter, she still remembered what he looked like.

And then the memories flooded her system. Every soothing touch, every whispered word, every painful promise of what was to come, it all came back to her in a flourish. Everything she wanted to remember, and everything she wanted to forget. The chain of events that had led them together, and the moment of his greatest betrayal to her. She found herself looking away from him, unable to stand the intense hatred his betrayal had caused her to feel.

The silence between the two sickened her though; it was uncomfortable. Removing her hand from her forehead, Sakura propped herself into a sitting position. She was in the process of figuring out what to say to him when he beat her to the punch.

"Stop following me Sakura." His voice was like silk, yet commanding, when he spoke. Though underneath it all she could still detect a faint note of disappointment. But she was not sorry in the least bit that he had noticed her following him. That was, after all, the whole purpose of her going after him, even if he had made it harder than it had to be.

Her newfound determination still hadn't left her as she faced him, unready to give up. Her voice was unyielding, leaving no trace of the hesitance that had plagued her earlier, "No." She was not going to be cast aside again, this time she would pave her own future.

Kakashi sighed irritably, Sakura was nothing but stubborn. He didn't want her following him, his demons filled that role. Though, it would be nice to have some company again. His lone dark eye took in her appearance then. She looked haggard, barely there. The lady sitting in front of him barely resembled the Sakura he had known some years ago. The only things that connected this new Sakura to the old, by appearance along, was her hair and eyes. But even that had changed, he noticed. A good portion of her hair was not the vibrant pink that it should have been, but instead more of a dark brown, as if it had been dyed and grown out.

It didn't matter though, the few remaining were all different. No soul was left untouched in the aftermath. He could only guess that Sakura had not escaped untouched by the cruel hands of fate.

Green eyes watched intently for rejection of her. It happened once, it could happen again, the only question was the when and the where.

"Hm." Kakashi mumbled as he settled back into a more comfortable position. It was getting late, he would think it over in the morning. For a second time that evening Kakashi closed his eyes and welcomed his demons.

Sakura quirked her head to the side, not quite understand his mumbling. Was that a yes? Or a no? He was still sitting with her, so she felt inclined to gage it more of a yes, however past experience brought her to believe that he was just trying to dodge the subject.

Damn that man, Sakura ranted to herself, unable to see an argument the whole way though!

Her sides and legs still stung from the over exertion, she had fallen out of that kind of life quite a while ago. Itachi had always provided for her, in his own little way.

Itachi.

She would doubtlessly ever see him again. Her heart felt the loss, but her mind knew she was doing what needed to be done. Still, it hurt.

Following Kakashi's example, Sakura situated herself more comfortably upon the ground. Willing her eyes to close, forcing sleep to come, pushing the pain away.

The promise of eventually colored her mind, and gave false ease to her soul.

TBC . . .

A/N: Yeah I know, you all are probably going, "HUH?" But that's okay, because everything will be explained in the next chapter . . . And don't worry! I've already started on that one! So hopefully it'll only take me 3 months to get it out instead of 6! And yeah, this was a REALLY short chappie. I'll make the next one longer to make up for it! Promise!

To those who reviewed and/or just read it:

I love you all!

Fanfic by Inca