Fire: This is Wait for Me: Following, chapter 11. Yay!
Sasuke: I'm finally back.
Fire: (sarcastic) Yeah, we're all happy to see that.
Sasuke: Yes, it's great!
Fire: Teme.
Sasuke: I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
Fire: Now, where's Kakashi with my Bag of Reviews?
Kakashi: (dragging the extremely heavy Bag of Reviews) I'm… (sweats) …here!
Fire: If you give me a review, then it won't be as heavy. (holds out a hand)
Kakashi: (stares at the hand before handing a review to Fire) Yeah, that helped.
Sasuke: Sarcasm from Kakashi?
Kakashi: It didn't help. (slumps to the ground) The bag's still heavy!
Fire: Well…time for some short comments.
Naruto: When am I going to come back!
Fire: End of short comments. Thanks to all those who reviewed. For those of you who think my babbling is too long, I've already received those comments and I'm trying to shorten them, but my cowriters complain a lot.
Sasuke: Give us some interesting flames, te—
Fire: (muffles Sasuke) Don't swear at the readers. (pulls up chapter 11)
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Warning: Nonreaction is not a real word. It has been created by Fire to express the absence of a reaction. That means that it belongs to me. Yes, I do tend to make up a lot of words. Sorry for the strangeness. And as always, don't steal my words without asking for permission first. I don't mind you using it, but I want to send you a full definition and all derived words before use. Words I create are not in the dictionary.
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Chapter 11: Inadequacies of the Sakura
In the dimly lit area with the candles flickering pale orange light across rows of columns, in the area where Fuuma Arashi had died, Sakura stared out at her former sensei. Her breath caught in her chest as her first thoughts revealed themselves to her. Hide. Hide behind Sasori. Hide behind Sasuke. Hide Sasuke!
Sakura leapt back, a barrage of kunai flying from her hands. They landed on the wall to either side of the intruders, explosive pouches hanging from each kunai. And as each pouch exploded, the walls collapsed, sealing the entrance from the shinobi who had shouted her name.
"Weren't those your friends?" Sasori looked at the kunoichi. The easygoing girl that he had known for the past day and a half was gone. There was only the pained stern look of determination now. "You could have killed them." He didn't really care, but it was something he wanted to point out. "Why didn't you kill them?" He would have killed them instead of letting them go.
"Let's go." Sakura ignored Sasori's remark and turned to the other door at the far side of the room. With that opening closed, there was only one exit left.
But, an explosion behind her drew her attention. Sakura turned around to see Lee jump into the room, landing in front of her. His black hair flew back from the force of the blast, but it was obviously his kick that had opened the way for them. "Sakura-san! Chotto matte kudasai!"
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted. 'Stop them!' She didn't want to see them. The cursed seal had spread throughout her body, ash covered her clothes and blood stained her hands. She really didn't want to see them right now. She was too tainted. She never wanted to see any of them again!
This monster that they saw before them only looked like Sakura. She wasn't Sakura. And she would never be Sakura again. She just wanted to finish her vengeance alone, and die alone. She never wanted them to know about it, to know about this ugly thing that she had become.
But the summoned minion refused to move. "Get him away!" Sakura yelled. Spoken commands held more force than thoughts, but Sasuke still refused to move. "Sa–" Her eyes trailed along the ground before she saw the shadow attached to the Uchiha, and to herself. 'Shannaro!'
"Ah..." the brunette chuunin sighed from where he stood, his hands held in the seal of the rat. "Mendokuse, na? I didn't think she'd put up such a fight." He had half thought she would say yes and just come.
"Oi! Sakura! If you back down, we won't use force!" Ino shouted from her side of the room. She didn't want to get too close to Sakura. That redheaded man at her side looked really strong, and Shikamaru didn't have any shadow left to stretch to him.
"Force?" Sakura couldn't believe what she had heard. Ino...had said force? "Don't talk to me about force, Ino-buta!"
As if on cue, Sasori leapt forwards, pinning the blond girl to the wall, a kunai against her throat. "I suggest you release Sakura if you want your teammate to live," Sasori said, his eyes glancing quickly to the chuunin before turning back to his hostage. He didn't care what was going on between these people and Sakura, but he didn't want to be drawn into another fight so soon. It might have been fast, but Orochimaru wasn't an easy opponent, and he was already exhausted from his earlier fight. In this condition, he wouldn't be able to hold them all off.
'Konoha Senpuu!'
Sasori felt his body fly across the room to crash against a column, sending fire falling to the ground in wax-filled rain. He looked back at the green clad chuunin who had kicked him. This was proving to be more difficult than he had thought. "Such impulsiveness..." Sasori said as he wiped the blood from his mouth. He was on his feet again within seconds. 'I should have used a puppet instead.'
"A-Akasuna no Sasori!" It had taken Kakashi a moment to realize whom the redhead was. As soon as the walls fell, his eyes were drawn immediately to Sakura, but the red hair was too obvious to ignore. His mind had searched through twenty years of memory to the picture that still resided within the Bingo Book. It was Akasuna no Sasori.
Then, his eye caught onto the headless corpse of Kabuto, and the body of the Sannin. And that eye widened as his mind pulled itself from the shock of seeing someone supposedly dead standing next to his student long enough to tell him what he was seeing. Orochimaru was dead.
Sakura stared at her former sensei staring back at her. Her skin burned under his gaze, the cursed seal refusing to let go of its control. It screamed out for attention, and the kunoichi couldn't help but think that it was getting it. Kakashi-sensei could see it. Even with only one eye, he could see it.
She was a monster.
The pink-haired girl curled into herself, her body folding against the eyes of the intruders. "Onegai," she said, her seal marked body sliding to the ground, the shadows broken by the fire of falling candles. 'Don't look at me.' She really didn't want to see them. "Just leave me alone." She really didn't want to deal with them. 'Just go away and let me...' She just wanted vengeance. Without Sasuke, vengeance was enough. "Sasori..."
But Sasori had already run forwards, her thoughts taking hold of his body even before she could say the words. He could recognize the grey-haired man standing at the entrance even if it had taken awhile to get his body there. This was Hatake Kakashi. His father, Hatake Sakumo, was the one who had killed his father.
He was going to enjoy this.
'Kuso!' Kakashi backed up a step, his arms raising two kunai to block the shoulder blades that tried to sever his arms from his body. He looked into the crazed eyes of the puppetmaster before pushing him forcefully away. Sasori leapt back, his body flying through the air in a single arch before a puppet sprang out of a summoning scroll toward Kakashi.
Vengeance. The thoughts of vengeance spilled from Sakura's mind into his own. He wanted vengeance too. He wanted to kill this man. He wanted to wipe the Hatake name from the world and know that his parents had been avenged...that he had been avenged.
With one sweep of his hand, another scroll unfurled, sending a mass of parchment flying across the room. Black ink faded as puppets rose, surrounded the masked man.
For a moment, Kakashi's mind blanked. It had been a long time since he had fought kugutsu. He had seen puppets in recent years–on the backs of genin and chuunin coming from Suna for the chuunin exams, or for official missions, and on the training grounds when they wanted some friendly practice that was hardly friendly–but he had never fought them. For puppets to be attacking him, that was an experience that he could barely remember.
Kakashi jumped out of the way of a poison tipped serrated saw. It seemed as if he would have to use the sharingan after all. 'He IS an S-ranked criminal,' he reminded himself. Why wouldn't he have to use the sharingan?
Kakashi pulled his hitai-ate from his forehead, his eyes fixed on the puppets around him. At least he could predict their movement a little. He wouldn't have to worry too much about their attacks. What he needed to focus on was Sasori.
Sasori was preparing for a complicated attack. The redhead watched his prey watch his puppets, unsure of where the next attack would come from, but...
'Kuso!' The Suna-nin turned back to look at the pink-haired girl. She was pulling on his mind. She didn't want him to kill the man. 'She wants them to go away, but she doesn't want me to kill them. Kuso gaki!' He was going to kill him slowly, but it didn't seem as if he was going to get a chance to do that now. With a final sweep of his hands, he pulled the puppets aside, rendering a punch across the jounin's face. At least, he could still beat the Konoha-nin, even if he wasn't allowed to kill him.
Kakashi slid back as the puppet's fist slammed against his face, his eyes catching onto the sight of Lee running toward him. Or rather, he was running toward Sakura. The puppetmaster had a puppetmaster, and it was Sakura. If they could stop her, they wouldn't have any trouble getting her home.
'Kuso!' The masked jounin shook his head, clearing it of the stupid thought. It made no sense. If Sakura wasn't fighting them, they wouldn't have to stop her. If she wasn't fighting them, they wouldn't be trying to bring her home in the first place.
Why was she fighting them!
"Sakura-san, you must come back with us!" Lee stopped his approach a little away from the kunoichi and backed into his basic stance. "Even if I must fight you, we cannot let you..." He looked around at the dark room. There were many things that they couldn't let her do. They couldn't let her stay. They couldn't let her keep killing people. They couldn't let her lose herself in the anger and misery of losing her teammates. "Sakura-san!"
Sakura stared at the green clad chuunin. For a moment, she thought that she was going to make a clean getaway. It didn't matter that Sasori would have stayed within the confines of this cage, this underground place. She was almost at the door. But, Lee was actually trying to stop her. "Souka."
Sakura's quiet reply to Lee's determined words vanished in a shower of shuriken. But Lee was too fast to allow shuriken to stop him. He had no intention of killing Sakura, or hurting her, but he wasn't going to allow her to hurt him either.
If she killed him, who would be left to stop her? Ino was occupied with Sasuke, wondering what was wrong with him, obviously not seeing that he was dead. Shikamaru was keeping Sasuke from moving so that Sasuke wouldn't immediately kill Ino. And Kakashi-sensei was occupied with Sasori. There was no one left.
The kunoichi ran forwards, her legs moving with chakra-filled speed. With her superhuman strength, she smashed dents in the walls, the floor, the air around Lee as her efforts missed him. His signature speed made her movements crawl in comparison. "Sakura-san!" Lee dodged a strike to his left. "Yoshite kudasai!" A close attempt from his right. "We are not your enemy!"
But Sakura wasn't listening. Her mind was clouded with intent. She intended that they shouldn't have to bear the burden of her sorrows and her hatred. Her vengeance was her own. She wouldn't share that with anyone. Even if she had to hurt them, it was all for the best.
'Konoha Reppuu!'
Sakura leapt into the air, dodging the sweep of Lee's leg. She just wanted them to go away. 'Why won't they go away!' Her mind screamed as her fist blurred forwards, smashing into Lee's body, sending him crashing to the ground. He wasn't trying to hurt her, even if his words said otherwise. It wasn't difficult to hit him.
But as the girl landed at the green clad chuunin's side, ready to run, her entire body froze. Within Sakura's mind, she called out to freedom. But it wasn't working. Her body wasn't listening.
'Kanashibari no Jutsu!'
Kakashi was filled with apprehension as he held his hands in that seal. His plan hadn't gone as he had planned. Orochimaru and Kabuto were already dead. He hadn't expected it, but the mission had gone better than he had thought. Even if Ino hadn't coaxed the pink-haired kunoichi home, and Shikamaru hadn't held her down with the force of his family's technique, they had still managed to retrieve Sakura, although it had come down to force.
Sakura's eyes swept around the room, searching for someone to help her. Sasori...he was occupied with Shikamaru, his entire body frozen as surely as kanashibari froze her body. Sasuke...Ino had always wanted to get into his head. It was ironic how literal that was. Lee wasn't going to help her, and even if he would, his body was still in shock.
The girl turned her nervous eyes to her weary sensei, her eyes widening with dread as he grabbed her. "K-Kakashi-sensei..." and she couldn't think of anything else to say. Her hands were covered with the ashes and blood of dozens dead, the dead littering the halls, the dead piled around her room within this compound, and she didn't want to tell him about it. All she knew was that she didn't want to tell him what she had done.
"Sakura, we're not here to judge you," Kakashi said, miraculously finding the words in his mouth. "But..." he ran a hand over the black rip-like pattern on the pink-haired kunoichi's skin, his face frowning sadly.
There were many things he wanted to say. They couldn't allow the cursed seal to eat her. They couldn't allow her to suffer alone. They couldn't let her continue on this path to self-destruction. They couldn't let her die alone, covered in the blood of innocent men as well as in the blood of the guilty.
But he didn't say anything. The words that had flown to his mouth had sudden vanished.
"Sakura," Shikamaru sighed through the silence, his hands still held in the sign of the rat as he held Sasori in place. "I would appreciate it if you'd call off your undead minion. We'd all like to return home alive."
But there was no need for it. Sasori had already felt the wavering of the kunoichi's will, and Sasuke had vanished.
Kakashi was a little shaky as he looked down at his student, his hands trembling as he wrote the marks on her skin. The last ones went around the cursed seal on her body, the characters connected to the ones on the ground.
Her arms lay across her chest, her body curled in on itself as she waited through the string of twenty seals forming from Kakashi's hands. Sakura had agreed to seal away the power of the cursed seal, but he still felt that she had another objective in mind. It was too easy.
'Fuuja Houin!'
The hand Kakashi held on Sakura's shoulder glowed bright blue, and although the grey-haired jounin knew that she must be in intense pain, she refused to scream like Sasuke had done; instead, she bit the inside of her lip and allowed the taste of blood to keep her sane. The characters rose from the ground, travelled along the lines on her back, across her chest and arms to the ring around the seal on her shoulder. The Gaia seal glowed in rebellion before dying.
It was done. Kakashi should have released an air of relief at that–the nightmare was over; Sakura was going to come home–but he didn't. He couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something important. It was definitely too easy. Sakura's agreeing to come home was just too easy.
The pink-haired kunoichi's breaths sounded loudly from where she sat. Her body had slumped heavily to the ground as soon as Kakashi had released her from his kanashibari. But that wasn't what concerned him. The cursed seal had spread all across her body, and it still wasn't relenting. She wasn't even fighting it anymore!
"You'd better seal it, Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru said as he pulled Lee's battered body out with Ino. It took another moment before Sasori left with Orochimaru's corpse in his hands, the signal coming belatedly from Sakura. He still had every intention of making Orochimaru into a hitokugutsu. It shouldn't take that much longer than Fuuja Houin.
"I'm not sure if it's better to leave with this crazy man," Ino said as she eyed Sasori's crazed face, and shivered. Sakura falling deeper into darkness, or watching someone skin Orochimaru's corpse. That wasn't what she was thinking of when she agreed to come on this mission.
But that was what was happening. Ino was just glad that Sakura was coming home with them.
"As long as I do it within the next five minutes, he should still make a fine hitokugutsu," Sasori said absentmindedly, not even realizing that Sakura was about to go through a painful process.
And the jounin was relieved when they were alone. The sealing of something like a cursed seal wasn't pretty, but he hadn't wanted to ask them to leave.
"Sakura," he said softly as he looked at the seal. The marks were pulsing with chakra. "Sakura, I'm going to seal the cursed seal, but–"
"I know." Her flat words were dead and emotionless, as if she didn't care. It was the first time that Kakashi had heard such a tone from the girl. Usually, her voice was so lively, even when she was in pain. "Your Fuuja Houin technique, ne?" She turned to him, her eyes suddenly cold in a never-ending glare. "Well, I refuse! I won't let you seal this power away! I can't let you do that, Kakashi-sensei!" She still needed it. She wasn't finished with it yet!
"Sakura, listen to me." Somehow, his voice was calmer than he thought it would be. At least she was only yelling at him. She wasn't–
The pink-haired kunoichi hit Kakashi across the face, sending him flying into the wall. He had spoken too soon.
"I said no!" Her voice filled the room, penetrating the thick walls into the halls beyond.
Kakashi pulled himself out of the small crater surrounding his body. "You will die. The seal will kill you." He walked toward his student as if nothing had happened. "Is that what you want?" He doubted that the answer would be yes.
"He's dead, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said slowly, her voice soft as she sank to the ground. "Does it make a difference if we seal it or not?"
And Kakashi was unsure if she was talking about Sasuke or Orochimaru.
"Yes." The masked jounin's answer marked a sense of finality in the air. He wasn't going to waver. "The seal will still react to your chakra." It was a horrible tool that drew on the user's chakra. Even if it wasn't connected to Orochimaru, it was still connected to her. Even if she never intended to use it, it would still force her chakra out. Sakura would still be in danger. "I won't let you die."
The pink-haired kunoichi tried to hear what must be going through the minds of her friends outside this room. She knew they were listening. Even over the sound of Sasori's enthusiasm over his new hitokugutsu, she knew that they were listening, waiting for a reason to return and see what kind of person Sakura had become. This girl who was loving and kind was now a hideous monster, covered with the blood of dead men. Even if they sealed away the power of the cursed seal, it wouldn't make her any less of a monster. It still wouldn't wash away the blood and dirt that covered her hands.
"Yes, of course," Sakura said slowly as she tried to remember what Konoha was like, what their minds were like. She looked up at her sensei, her aqua-green eyes focussed on the Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead. If she wanted to live long enough to see the destruction of Akatsuki, she would have to seal it.
There was no way around it. She guessed they would have to have some sense of victory this day. They had wanted to save her, not just her body or her sanity. They wanted to save Sakura. Even if she was covered in blood and dirt, even if she should hold the lives of an entire generation of dead men, women and children, they would still only see Sakura. There was no sense in denying it.
"I'll come home," she said as Kakashi walked around her, already writing the first characters of many on the ground around her.
"Hmm?" Kakashi was surprised. "Nani?"
"There's no sense in running away." Sakura had decided. If she really wanted to destroy Akatsuki, it was going to take more than just the cursed seal of a dead Sannin wretch.
Konoha no Sato looked the same as it was when Sakura left. Nostalgia should have filled her body when she walked through those gates, but she wasn't relieved to be back. She didn't want to be back. The first thought that ran through her mind as she walked into Konoha was how to escape, how to get away from there. Tsunade-shishou wanted to see her. Her parents wanted to see her. The rest of the Rookie Nine wanted to see her. All her friends...all the people she had abandoned...all of them wanted to see her.
And they all asked why.
They all wanted to know why she had left. They wanted to know what she had wanted to accomplish by abandoning everything that she had valued in life. They wanted to know how she could kill all those people for the sake of two boys.
And she didn't want to answer those questions. She didn't want to see them, to hear them, to have to think of the appropriate things to say to them...when she didn't want to be there to do any of it. That was the difficult part of being back.
"Sakura?" A rustle of purple fabric at Sakura's side, and the girl was sitting. "You've been sitting here all day. Don't you want to do something else?"
"No." Sakura's hands rested flat on the counter of Ichiraku Ramen, her eyes fixed on the untouched drink in front of her, a cold smoothie although it was October. Teuchi and Ayame sent glances in her direction every once in awhile, but other than that, they didn't give the pink-haired kunoichi any trouble. "I don't." Today was Naruto's birthday.
Ichiraku Ramen was the last place she remembered sitting with everyone. Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei...all three of them, alive and together. She couldn't say that she was happy then, or even appreciative of that time, but they didn't know that they wouldn't be together like that again. That was three years ago. If she couldn't release her hold on that time, she doubted that Ino could make it fade.
Sakura appreciated Ino's will to try. The blond girl really seemed to want to cheer her up, but that wasn't going to happen. The pink-haired girl didn't want to be cheered up. She didn't want to forget them, the way they were. This was Naruto's place, the place where he pined over Sasuke, the place he came to when he was feeling sad or lonely. Sakura didn't have a place like that. She wanted to think that she could use Ichiraku for that purpose too.
"Where's Sasori?"
Ino forced a smile onto her face even though she knew that her friend wasn't looking. Sasori. Sakura has been sitting here all day, waiting for Sasori to return. The former Suna-nukenin had a lot of problems that needed immediate attention, and it wasn't as if Sakura could keep him from them. Even if she tried, she would eventually cave in. They had piled all around him as soon as he walked through the main gates. The Kazekage was waiting for him. Even Suna had heard of Sasori's resurrection by the time they returned.
"In another meeting with Kazekage-sama and Hokage-sama, I guess," Ino said as she looked around. There were one...two...three...four... 'That's a lot of guards for one girl.' There were four people in the ramen stand watching Sakura, all of them from the Hyuuga clan. And Ino knew that there were more hidden outside.
The Hokage had requested the Hyuuga buunke jounin especially for this task. Temporary restrictions on chakra usage within the village were placed on Sakura. It was for the safety of all the citizens of Konoha that she didn't try anything complicated. Tsunade was afraid that the cursed seal might react and put everyone in danger; she wanted Sakura to take some time to rest after her ordeal so that she could test the strength of that cursed seal, so that she could make sure that it was safe for Sakura to use her chakra. Even Sakura's medical jutsu was restricted.
And the only people who could enforce those commands were the Hyuuga. They could keep an eye on her chakra circulatory system and make sure that she wasn't using any excessive chakra, and they could stop her immediately if she tried to escape. There was nowhere to hide from the byakugan.
"Souka." Sakura remembered now. Sasori had said something like that to her. She wondered why she couldn't remember it.
"You're not acting like yourself, Sakura." Ino eyed the pink-haired girl worriedly. Lately, Sakura has been...different from what she remembered. Restless, distant, overbearing at times, and mean...this new Sakura was a completely different person from the one who had left at the end of June. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened.
"Sakura," Kakashi sang as he walked into the ramen stand. With the number of Hyuuga buunke members standing guard around Ichiraku, either Sakura was in there, or it was Hinata. And usually, Hinata didn't have that many people watching over her. "I was wondering how you were feeling." The masked man sat down next to the girl.
It wasn't a lie. His mind had wandered through all the same thoughts that had gone through Ino's mind, and he was worried. The girl was acting too strangely to leave alone. Even Obito thought that it was best to see what was wrong...although his dead friend didn't exactly tell him that that was what he thought.
But the pink-haired kunoichi hadn't heard a word that her sensei had said. She was just sitting, absorbed in her thoughts, in the shame she felt at imposing on them, at making them see the horrible person that she had become. Even if they could see beneath the blood and dirt that shielded her true self from view, she could still only see that blood and dirt.
"Daijoubu." Sakura had no idea what Kakashi had asked her, but she already knew what he wanted to hear. It was the same thing that everyone had wanted to hear from her. They just wanted her to say that she was happy, that she was glad to be back. But this was a prison. She wanted to leave and hunt down Akatsuki. Orochimaru was dead. Akatsuki was her only goal now. This place was too painful to stay.
"Sakura," another voice–this one weary and annoyed–from another direction, except Sakura heard this one. "Those meetings are too long. I want to kill all of them and just leave." Sasori sat down to the stares of everyone in the room, except Sakura. 'Tell me I can kill them and just leave.' She had expected those words from the nukenin.
"What did they say?" Her monotonous words grated against the nerves of everyone there, including Sasori. Her apathy was stifling, squeezing all of them into their seats until they couldn't move.
"Kazekage-sama wants me to return to Suna no Sato." Sasori took Sakura's drink, examined it, and then placed it down again. She hadn't touched it for several hours. It was already lukewarm. "He said I will get a swift execution if I comply."
Sakura smiled slightly, her eyes fixed on the counter. A swift execution. That sounded just like Gaara.
"Besides, I'm already dead, and he couldn't hurt me even if I wasn't dead. I could just make him into a hitokugutsu, just like his grandfather." Sasori looked at the girl, seeing the nonreaction coming from her direction. "He also said to give you his regards for Naruto's death."
Sakura's body froze at those words. Yes. Naruto was dead. She had almost forgotten. Summoning Sasuke back right before her chakra was sealed wasn't difficult, and keeping him from vanishing wasn't difficult either. As long as she didn't use any other techniques, she could divert all her chakra toward him. He wouldn't vanish as long as he still had chakra. She had forgotten all about Naruto after that.
The pink-haired kunoichi took a deep breath and sighed. This place held so many memories from her genin days. She could barely bring herself to leave. Barely. Almost. Words that held no attachments. She could still pull herself up and never come back. "You're not leaving." Her words to Sasori. She refused to allow him to leave Konoha. He was her servant! If she couldn't leave, he couldn't leave either.
"That's what I told them." Sasori looked beyond the pink-haired girl at the blond girl and the grey-haired jounin. "Is there something you want?" They have been staring at him since he came in.
"No," Ino said venomously as she rose from her seat. "I was just leaving!" And she stormed out of the ramen stand. All day. She had been trying to get a reaction out of Sakura all day, and that redheaded bastard of a shinobi managed more animation out of Sakura than she has gotten from her since their return from Otogakure.
"Ja, Ino," Sakura said with a mild wave of her hand. She didn't even turn to see her friend go. She had said her goodbyes. She had never wanted to see any of them again, not until the end of her task.
And her hands were still covered with blood. Even as she looked down at them, even as she felt the presence of Kakashi-sensei behind her, she could feel the squish of blood between her fingers.
"And you?" Sasori looked at Kakashi. He obviously wanted the Copy Ninja to leave too.
"I'm not leaving Sakura alone with you." And Kakashi obviously didn't trust Sasori.
Sasori could only smile at that reply. "Fine," he conceded. He wasn't going to argue with the man. Obviously, he wasn't going to be able to convince the masked jounin that he wasn't going to hurt her, kill her, or make her into a puppet. Yet. "Sakura, do you want to take a walk?"
Sakura stared at her drink for a little while longer before standing up. She had ordered it just to stare at it. She had wanted a distraction from the red blood jelly that covered her hands. "Sure," she said flatly as she turned to the door. "Ja ne, Kakashi-sensei." She obviously didn't want Kakashi to follow.
And the jounin didn't. It was painful for him to see her like that too. 'Sakura...' his mind mourned even as the kunoichi left. It took all his strength not to follow after her.
She didn't look at Kakashi, or the Hyuuga buunke members as she walked out into the street. She stared at the busy marketplace before Sasuke appeared at her side, the remnants of a Shunshin no Jutsu swirling away.
'Oh, yeah.' She stared at the dark-haired boy for a moment before turning in a direction and walking. 'I forgot that he was...'
Sakura had forgotten that Sasuke was like that now. It was one of the properties of Edo Tensei. The summonings were all mentally connected to her. It was an advantage during battles. She didn't have to consciously tell them what to do–not like a puppeteer–but it was annoying for everyday life.
Sasuke came, but only because she had wanted him to come. A walk with Sasuke. That was what she always wanted. That was what still went through her mind every time she looked out into fresh air, and every time she walked outside. 'I have to stop doing that.' It didn't used to be annoying, but it was annoying now. Sasuke coming at every thought. That only served to remind her that he wasn't really with her anymore. Without her chakra, he would just vanish.
And the expression on his face, the reactions from the uncaring puppet as fangirls swarmed around him was enough to make Sakura cry. She couldn't look at that. That wasn't the Sasuke that she knew.
"Then, tell him to go home." Sasori stared at the girl. She seemed to beat herself up at every command. "It was necessary. Without his techniques, Kabuto would have overwhelmed us." Without the invincible body yielded by the second step of Edo Tensei, Kabuto's regenerative skills would have completely dominated them.
But it didn't sound as if Sakura was listening. Her distant looks only yielded slight nods of her head. Sasori and Sakura had both understood what was needed to be done, but only Sasori had the will to do it. Sakura just couldn't find it within herself to destroy the sanity, the free will, and the life of the man she loved.
"Makes you wonder what Baasama would have done." Sasori made it sound as if his grandmother would have killed Sasuke too. "She–"
"–wouldn't kill him." Sakura glared at Sasori. "Chiyo-baasama wasn't you!"
"Of course, you'll never know," the redhead said, a smile creeping onto his face. The pink-haired girl was smart. She didn't need any more hints.
She already understood. In the middle of the futile shouts of fangirls all around them, Sakura's mind managed to pull the thought out. 'Chiyo-baasama...' The Sasuke that stood emotionless, thoughtless, in the middle of the crowd...she could make him whole again. She could really have him back. Chiyo-baasama could do it.
And Sasori already felt her mind catch onto the idea.
Sasori knew that he was smiling. There was always a smile on his face when things happened the way he wanted it to happen, and the pink-haired kunoichi was actually accepting his guidance this time, instead of sealing him to a waking death. And she looked happy about it.
'This is easier than I thought.'
He had planned this. Orochimaru probably had a similar plan, and that was why he had to destroy him. He was happy about that too. He needed more hitokugutsu. The Sannin was actually a strong hitokugutsu too, although he doubted that Manda would obey him if he summoned him.
But the plan was something that he had decided to implement since that morning. He had planned it long before, but he had waited all day to put it into action. He was going to destroy her...slowly. He always had enjoyed killing people slowly. It was just a shame that he hadn't done it to Orochimaru.
"Yes, we can." Sakura's words came slowly as her mind decided to do it. She'll never know what Chiyo-baasama would have done. That was what Sasori had said. "I can..."
Sasori heard her mind lock onto the task. There was no stopping the girl once she had decided. Sakura was stubborn. "I'll prepare for it," he said as he turned away.
He had missed it, his grandmother's death. He had really wanted to see her die, but that was just a bonus. With the wavering joy that fluttered in the kunoichi's chest, he would strangle her and tear her apart as surely as time and life had peeled away the optimistic cheerfulness that once resided in her heart. She would suffer. If he had to paint her hands with the blood of a million women and children, she would suffer.
End Chapter 11
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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:
In the next few chapters, I'm going to be talking about English, but that's not really new. Actually, what's different is that I'm going to be talking about the three different kinds of English. And everyone out there is asking, "There are three different kinds?" Yes. There are three different kinds of English. There's formal English, informal English and colloquial English. These are three points out of five different styles for writing a story. The sixth style is not really appropriate for creative writing and I won't be discussing it. The other two points of style will be brought up in different chapters, possibly in different stories of this series since the length of this story doesn't allow for it. Today, I'm going to talk about formal English. A lot of people think that formal English needs to have a lot of big words, but that isn't true. Polysyllabic words are best used to provide variety and better flow in a sentence, but the effect of polysyllabic words won't be explained here. That will be at the end so it won't be swimming in your head when reading this. Formal English is usually dignified, precise and serious. This is the English that the Hokage might use in a meeting with the village elders. Usually formal English will avoid the use of the first person singular (I) and the second person (you), and it uses the more impersonal first person plural (we). There are a lot of other rules, but basically, formal English is the extremely structured English used for anything you might term business—for example, if you're a student or teacher, school is business; if you're a lawyer, the courtroom is business, or in front of your clients; if you're a government official, etc, not just CEO stuff—not used in everyday speech or even in normal writing of any kind, unless you write contracts, or you have a character that uses formal English. The sentence structure of formal English is relatively complex and slightly longer than normal speech, and there is a sense of impersonality, precision and seriousness to it. Unless you're writing an essay for school or for a journal to be published, it's best to avoid writing in formal English. But it's a good tool to have, especially if you're writing about a stuck-up and snobby person, a relatively dull person, a noble (like Byakuya from Bleach) or generally someone who is so well-learned and cut off from the rest of the world that they speak in strange sentences.
Now, for the polysyllabic words, if you use too many of them, the voice and tone of the story or characters become impersonal and distanced. This is especially true if you tend to write in renaissance English—the kind of English you read in fantasy novels, or something I call Post-middle English which is a little newer than Shakespearean/renaissance English but older than modern English—since the writing becomes even stranger. Use polysyllabic words only for variety and the flow of a sentence. Don't overuse them. That will make your writing incomprehensible.
Fire's babbling:
Sasuke: Didn't I hear you say that you were going to cut down on the length of your English tidbits?
Fire: (sags) I'm trying. The next ones should be shorter.
Kakashi: You're failing.
Fire: I know.
Sakura: They did WHAT to me!
Fire: (sags more) And now Sakura's yelling at me.
Sakura: Of course I'm yelling at you! Did you read the story!
Kakashi: I just wanted to bring you home, Sakura.
Sakura: Leave me alone and let me have my vengeance!
Fire: Well, enough yelling. Save that for next chapter. (turns to the audience) Tell me what you thought of this chapter. I know they're long so try to stay awake. Yes, Orochimaru is going to become a hitokugutsu.
Sasori: (smiles) I knew it.
Fire: And we're going back to Konoha.
Sasuke: And I'm still a puppet! (glares at Fire)
Fire: (cowers) Well…that won't be for long.
Sasuke: You better not kill me again!
Fire: Waah! Review! Review so that Sasuke won't kill me!
Sasuke: I'll flame you!
Fire: Kisame! (pulls Kisame in front of Sasuke) Save me with your suiton techniques!
Kisame: O.o
Sasuke: Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!
Fire: Ja ne! (dodges a fireball)
Kisame: Suiton: Baku Suishouha! (spits up a gigantic wave of water and puts out all the fire)
Sasuke: Eww! Don't spit on me!
Kisame: It's a technique, baka! (grabs Samehada)
Fire: Waah! (closes window quickly)
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