Hooray! Here goes part eight... why am I even mentioning it? Anyway! I'm getting slowly but surely closer and closer to the end of this tory... though there is currently a totally new plot developing in my crazy mind... Muahahahahaha!
Uhm, whatever...
I wanna thank Uni for giving me a week off (damn greedy institution... -.-'), my sis for believing in my future with Kakashi (I already planned the wedding! Oh, boy. How sweet it'll be... and our honeymoon! n.n) and of course YOU!
Yes, I wanna thank all of you wonderful readers and even more those among you, who decided to review! Love ya!
This chappy is just like the one before pretty fight-less, but with lotsa feelings and UST... I think... had acute PMS when writing this, so bear with me (hears that some readers scream 'too much information' and blushes).
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means backflash, eh, I mean flashback (Katrin, your bad English rubs off on me...)
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Darkness.
That was the first thing, Sasuke got aware of as he regained consciousness. It was nothing he saw, but rather a sensation, like he had fallen into a wet pit with no single ray of light reaching down to the bottom of the abyss. He was cold and empty inside, all feelings having seemingly drained from his body.
After some moments, in which he tried to keep his breathing even and his eyes closed, he gained control of his other senses.
There were people standing around him.
6, no 7 ninjas, judging by the controlled amounts of chakra engulfing their bodies. Which meant, they weren't trying to conceal their presence from him. Sasuke was meant to know they were there, watching his every move.
Slowly, his body woke up and with consciousness came pain.
It wasn't the pain that made one pass out in agony. It rather felt like a million needles were stuck in his body, some of them only grazing the surface of his skin, others seemingly deeply imbedded within his flesh.
He felt disorientated, like he was strapped to a merry-go-round, the world spinning past his eyes in a blur...
The sound of two dripping IVs caught his attention. Some monitors, bleeping in the rhythm of his slow heartbeat accompanied them, were playing a strange tune.
Suddenly a hand touched his right shoulder, pressing lightly down on the sensitive skin as delicate fingers probed a still tender wound there. Carefully the digits travelled down his upper and lower arm until they came to rest on his wrist. There, the hand closed slowly but deliberately around it and Sasuke could feel his pulse bouncing off the skin of the fingers back against his own.
It was then that he smelled a familiar scent.
It reminded him of spring and fresh clear water.
Brows creased slightly in concentration, he tried to move his hand to catch the one still gently wrapped around his wrist. But a fatigue like none he had ever experienced before, engulfed him within a strange chill. There was no energy left inside his body and even the action of moving a brow felt like he was lifting boulders.
His chakra was practically nonexistent and by the feel of it, his chakra holes had been closed expertly. Probably the work of a Hyuga. But he guessed even if they hadn't done it, he would have surely not been able to even attempt forming the first seal for a Henge.
Inhaling, the raven-haired man tried to open his dry, cracked lips to call out a name.
"Sakura"
Bewildered, Sasuke listened as the voice died away and realized with a start that it hadn't been his. Though somewhere deep inside his mind he knew it wasn't the one of a stranger...
"I know." Sakura replied softly, her hand never leaving the wrist were it was still tightly wrapped around.
She, too, had noticed the change of Sasuke's state. Though she had rather felt than seen the young man move in a feeble attempt to lift his hand.
His pulse had sped up the slightest bit, any other person inside the room having probably not registered the barely perceptible change of the beeping sound of the heart monitor filling the silence of the room.
Unsure what she was supposed to do now, Sakura looked up, meeting the intense gaze of Rock Lee as he stood some feet away from her. His presence in here hadn't been required, but she couldn't deny the feeling of security and strength she was gaining from his stoic, lean form.
He smiled back at her and gave her a curt nod.
"Would you please leave the room?" Sakura suddenly asked. Her eyes had returned to the still body of Uchiha Sasuke,
watching as the corner of his mouth flinched into a grimace as something obviously discomforted him. Immediately, the pink-haired kunoichi gathered chakra in the tips of her fingers and allowed the energy to enter the man's body. It poured through his chakra channels, searching for the source of the pain and finally found a slightly bleeding vessel in Sasuke's left lung. She healed it within seconds and watched with a sigh of relief as his features relaxed.
He was almost looking handsome again then...
"As you wish." One of the ANBU said, bowing slightly as he walked past Sakura and Lee, closely followed by his comrades. She knew they would stay outside the closed door, ready to dash inside whenever they thought she was in danger.
"I will stay, Sakura." Lee said with a determination that told the medic nin that not even an army of shinobis could drag him now out and away from her. The concern he held for her well being was touching and she acknowledged his decision with a grateful smile.
"Sa..."
"Shhh... don't talk. You're still very low on chakra." Sakura unwrapped her hand from around Sasuke's wrist and gently started caressing the skin of his open palm. He responded by closing his hand loosely around her fingers, holding them awkwardly in a feeble grasp.
Sakura stopped dead, body going rigid as she waited. Her whole mind was focused on the touch, her consciousness analyzing every twitching muscle in Sasuke's fingers. And suddenly her eyes stared unseeingly at his chest, a flash of memories rushing through her brain.
She remembered the moment when she had woken up in the Ichiraku...
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Sakura was lying on her back, glassy eyes watching Naruto's kyuubi-fied claws grabbing Sasuke's torn shirt in anger.
"Sakura! I can't feel his heartbeat! That damn bastard is breaking his promise!" His voice echoed through her mind, bouncing off her skull and sounding hollow.
Sakura stared transfixed at the bloodied chest of the man with the striking black hair. But it wasn't the black she remembered it being... it was the reddish black of crusted blood that matted the strands and covered every inch of exposed skin.
With an effort she pulled her body up into a sorry excuse of a sitting position and registered with a start that Kakashi was propped up against the wall beside her. His arms were slack, palms turned upwards and legs outstretched in a strange unnatural way. She remembered the state he had been in when she had last seen him and was surprised to find his uncovered eye half open, watching her every move.
With what seemed like the movements of a dying woman, she half crawled, half dragged her body across the small space towards her two comrades.
When she looked up, Sakura had problems concealing the shock on her face when she got a first real look on both Sasuke and Naruto. The latter was kneeling opposite her, his chest heaving heavily as the rage literally emitted from his body in spurts of bright red chakra. Something sounding like a snarl left his throat when the limp body in his hands didn't respond to the rough handling.
Her throat constricted almost painfully when she saw tears sliding down the dirty cheeks of her best friend, sizzling into nothingness as they touched the wall of chakra surrounding Naruto's body.
Sasuke on the other hand looked like dead.
Sakura knew she shouldn't have thought that, but she had rarely come across somebody that looked like he had already been buried and exhumed. It seemed like his soul had left his body and she felt a deep fatigue threatening to overwhelm her body as she realized there was probably nothing she could do to guide it back into the shattered remnants of the former strong and proud body.
Even as she took his wrist to feel for a pulse, she feared there was probably nothing to be detected.
But despite her feeling of despair and the knowledge that it was too late ('Why am I so weak!') she sent the chakra she could find in her body coursing through the channels of his ruptured form. What she found made her sick and Sakura had to fight back the bile that was rising as her stomach started churning inside, revolting. And if her eyes hadn't been so tired, she would have probably started crying.
Through the haze of her fogged mind, she registered a faint heartbeat of the man lying in front of her. As she looked up at Naruto with new hope gleaming in her black-rimmed eyes, the words stuck in her throat as she found him staring back at her with a look, Sakura had never seen before directed at her.
"Help him!" Naruto suddenly yelled at the edge of sanity and Sakura stared at him in horror, not noticing the swearing and grunting silver-haired man behind her.
"Help him, dammit! Sakura!"
Naruto wasn't thinking straight, a small voice in Sakura's mind said, but was ignored as a larger part of her consciousness was busy with self-reproach and a feeling of absolute helplessness.
'Why am I still so damn weak?'
As she directed another small amount of chakra into the lifeless body of her former great love, Sakura heard Naruto rambling on and on, like a mantra that was supposed to break her.
"Please..." Her voice sounded feeble and with surprise, Sakura realized, that silence had suddenly descended upon them. Naruto had stopped chanting in his venomous voice and was staring at her with eyes that held too many emotions for Sakura to take. "I need your help..."
Frowning, Naruto seemed to realize something then and with a sob, that sounded strangely out of place coming from him, he pried his hands away from around Sasuke's shirt and held them hovering above his chest right in front of Sakura.
Knowing what he was offering her, Sakura took Naruto's hands and placed them on the skin covering Sasuke's sternum.
'Next time, we'll do it together', her own words echoed through Sakura's mind. Her lower lip started quivering as she closed her eyes, concentrating on what she had to do.
She shut out everything around her.
The slight breeze playing with her hair, cooling her crimson skin. The smell of burnt wood and dust. The sound of collapsing buildings, broken water pipes and the last explosions racking the village.
And the voice of Naruto.
She thought she had heard him whisper 'forgive me', but she wasn't sure.
The only thing she felt where her hands being engulfed within a dark chakra. It felt like nothing she could remember and was so warm that she had to fight the impulse to draw away her hands from the source of discomfort. In the back of her mind, she knew of course that this red chakra was not Naruto's, but that of the demon trapped inside his body. It felt somehow strange that she would use the energy of a monster of destruction to save a life.
Expertly, the medic nin directed the chakra into the motionless body lying underneath the two pairs of hands.
At first she thought she should heal the worst damage before anything else, but it appeared that every injury she came across was in its own way life threatening. She slowly and carefully worked her way through the body, fixing ruptured blood vessels and mending broken bones. She stitched his inner organs back together with chakra strings as delicate as the strings of a spider's web and forced his system to start blood production again.
After what felt like an eternity, Sakura felt the body warming slowly up. There was a faint but steady heartbeat reverberating off the tips of her fingers and she could feel the slightest bit of Sasuke's own chakra flowing through the newly healed channels.
With an effort, the pink-haired woman opened her eyes, lids feeling so heavy that she feared they'd close again against her will. Cold sweat gathered on her brows, trickling down her nose and the side of her face.
As she tried to focus on the form moving slightly in front of her, she found her surroundings distorted and blurred. The colours were fading together, yellow mixing with orange and black with blue.
Sakura tried to lift her hands up from where they were still lying on top of Naruto's. They were moving up and down with the irregular pattern of Sasuke's rising chest as he took one shuddering breath after the other. But to her surprise she could barely move a finger and with a sudden pang of helplessness, she felt her hands gliding down Sasuke's side.
One came to a halt right on top of his own hand, her fingers resting uncomfortably inside his clammy palm.
Suddenly his fingers closed softly around her digits, like she had triggered some kind of reflex.
At that her heart constricted painfully inside her chest and she felt tears sliding down her cheeks just when her lids slid close again.
Unable to hold herself upright anymore, she fell forward, every feeling draining from her body even before she had hit the body in front of her...
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"Sa-kura?"
Blinking rapidly, Sakura averted her eyes from the chest of Uchiha Sasuke, instead gazing into his orbs. Heavy lids revealed a thin line of red and black and Sakura knew without a doubt, that the sharingan were still activated.
For a short second, she wondered whether she would ever be allowed to see the dark onyx of his normal eyes ever again...
"Yes?" She asked in a soft tone of voice, never stopping to gently stroke the skin of his open hand. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to sooth him or herself with the small comforting action.
"C-can you... take of...", Sasuke stuttered, his chest heaving irregularly from the strain. "... the b-blindfold?"
A sharp intake of breath echoed through the small room and with some surprise, Sakura registered that it had come from her own lips. She gulped down hard and bit down onto her lower lip as she tried to get herself back under control.
The battered man lying in front of her looked like a small boy again.
In her mind his unruly black hair was longer again and his eyes had a look of determination and annoyance in them as he stared at her. But at the same time he looked so alone and lost and Sakura had to fight the urge to embrace him in her gentle arms and sing a lullaby her mother had sung uncountable times to guide her dreams.
"We haven't blindfolded you, Sasuke"
Sakura hoped her voice sounded stronger than she felt.
The picture of Naruto crouching in a dark corner of a room sprang to her mind. She was kneeling in front of him, caressing his cheek as he buried his head in his arms. 'I'll have to decide...'
A small weak smile played at the edge of Sasuke's mouth and his eyes closed momentarily, looking like he was considering something.
At last he opened them again as far as his lids allowed to. "Thought so... just checking... ."
An ominous silence descended upon them.
Sakura could hear her own breathing loudly in the stillness and nearly jumped when the forgotten third person in the room shuffled slightly from foot to foot.
"Wh-where is Naruto?" Sasuke suddenly said, his eyes flickering across the ceiling, unseeing.
"I don't know... " Sakura replied honestly, her own eyes scanning Sasuke's face in an attempt to read what was going on inside his head. But judging by the dark look that crossed his features, she wasn't sure she wanted to know at all...
"Sakura?"
Frowning, the young woman in question stared directly into his orbs. She was startled to find them returning her gaze and holding it.
Somewhere deep inside her she knew what was coming next. And she knew she wasn't ready, yet.
There were too many emotions tangled together in a net of confusion inside her mind and heart and she wasn't sure whether there was enough space to add yet another feeling and problem to the heap. There were things she had to sort out first before she could help him with the emotional fallout of his own actions.
"I..."
"I better go... maybe I can find Naruto and send him to you." She interrupted Sasuke mid-sentence, her hand stopping its journey across his palm. She let it slide down the bed and felt it fall against her hip.
Without another word, Sakura turned around, nodding towards Lee and signaling him to follow her without making eye contact. He trailed after her without a word, opening the door and allowing her through. He walked past her as she stayed in the door, her hand flat against the cool steal of the frame.
"I missed you."
She wasn't sure whose voice had uttered the words or whether she had only imagined it at all.
Unable to stay there, she walked out into the poorly illuminated hallway to where Lee was waiting for her. In the corner of her eyes she saw the ANBU disappearing again inside the cell, the door closing with a soft thud behind them.
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"How troublesome..."
Sighing, Shikamaru crouched down low at the end of the cul-de-sac, his back propped up against the cold wall of a broken house behind him.
It was late afternoon already and the setting sun cast long, dark shadows across his hiding place.
'How in hell am I gonna do it?', he asked himself silently. His elbows were resting on his thighs and his hands formed a strange seal in front of his face. Eyes closed, he concentrated on anything but his surroundings.
'With the money I get as chuunin, I can barely hold myself up... and now after a battle there is no chance I'll get anything at all. Not that I want any money from a village that has problems feeding its own citizens, but well...'
His ears picked up the noise of two children running past the small space between the two houses standing to either side of him. One, a boy, was crying, the second child, an older girl, running after him and calling his name with tears in her voice.
True, they had been able to get eighty percent of the civilian population of the village into safety before the largest part of the enemy's army had struck, but twenty percent were still missing or already found dead. Those who had been lucky enough to save their hide, had nothing to return to. The only things most of them had left were the clothes on their bodies and the crying children or friends in their arms.
'Five people... all women... I can see my money flying out the window.'
Again a heavy sigh echoed through the confined space of the dead end. Shikamaru's head suddenly fell back against the wall, pain exploding brightly behind his eyes as he did so.
'Maybe if I stop as strategist and work as teacher... but who needs a teacher when there is no school and no children to teach?' The man with the ponytail mused silently, sweeping a sweaty hand across his aching features.
He shouldn't be sitting here doing nothing. Should stop bathing in self-pity and get to work.
There were search missions to organize, buildings to rebuild, families to reunite and the largest funeral, he would ever attend to, to get over with.
"What do you want?"
No word was said in reply. But Shikamaru could hear the soft, deliberate footsteps heading towards him. That she hadn't cracked a wise-ass comment seemed totally out of place even in this situation and with a twinge of guilt, Shika realized, that he wanted her to leave him the hell alone. Why did she always come? Why did she think it was necessary to annoy him? Why did she think she had to rescue him?
Slowly, anger was boiling inside his guts, but the man stayed calm to the outer eye, not moving away from the wall, even as he felt the intruder sitting down beside him.
"I've heard." Came the short statement and with a gulp, Shika noted that her voice had a slight tremor to it.
Not even trying to suppress the heavy sigh, he turned slightly around and faced the woman crouching beside him. She was dirty, hands, cheeks and legs stained in dust and sweat. Her beautiful brown hair was as usally tied into four small spiky balls. Her treasured weapon, the large fan, was lying underneath her as she used it to sit on instead of the cold cobblestone street.
"Who's the grapevine?" The black-haired man asked, staring at the hands of his companion lying folded in her lap.
"The two pals of yours were running around town, looking for you... I asked, they answered." Temari simply stated, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.
A comfortable silence broke out between them, both of the two shinobis deep in their own thoughts.
At last, the sand-nin looked to her left where Shika was leaning against the wall. His eyes were closed, but the expression on his face was anything but relaxed. With a small sigh, Temari's lips parted slightly.
"I'm sorry."
Perplexed, Shika's eyes snapped open as he stared at her in disbelief.
His jaw muscles clenched and unclenched as he swallowed the lump in his dry throat.
And again there was this blinding, white anger that seared inside his head. He wanted to scream, wanted to hide in a dark hole and never come back again. He wanted to beat the crap out of the man who was causing the turmoil of emotion inside his normally controlled mind.
"Sorry?" He asked incredulously, pushing his back off of the wall and standing up in one fluid motion. One hand was balled into a tight fist by his side, the other one pointing an index finger at the un-fazed woman in front of him.
"What the fuck? I don't need your damn pity! You wanna gimme again some damn explanation why Konoha shinobis are weaklings compared to you and your super-soldiers? Why we tend to break under emotional stress or why I would lose against a child wouldn't it always be for my stupid luck!"
By now, Shikamaru was panting heavily, his eyes flickering across the still unmoving kunoichi in blunt rage.
"'I' don't need him! I'll take care of everything myself!" He yelled. "Shinobis die every day, why would fate make an exception for him?"
Breathing through his nose, nostrils flaring angrily, the young man straightened visibly. He turned sligtly around and walked up to the nearest wall, resting his open palms against the cool surface. Slowly he allowed his forehead to touch the rough texture of the stone as well, succumbing to the first sobs ragging his body.
For a long moment, the only noise in the small corridor between the two houses, was the sound of Shikamaru crying.
"When my mother died, I was only one." Temari's gentle voice broke the near silence softly. "I can't actually remember anything at all about her. Not her smile, her eyes. What she smelled like. Her last words... I always wondered about that."
Gulping hard, Shika held back the next tears welling up in his eyes and listened to her words, his head still against the wall.
"Strangers always told me 'you still have your father and brothers', but well, I guess I don't have to tell you what 'that' was like." She continued, a harsh chuckle escaping her lips. "In academy, the teachers made us believe that family bonds were the worst weakness of a sand-shinobi... now I know they were wrong."
Temari was by now standing by his side, her fan lying abandoned at the end of the cul-de-sac.
"Yes, shinobis die!" Her voice had grown louder as she stood facing him with bright, clear eyes. "But dammit, don't accuse me of being a heartless ass! If you want to grief for him than do it the right way and stop hiding yourself in some dark hole like a fucking wimp! There are people out there caring for you! There is a woman waiting in a makeshift camp, who needs you! Right now!"
A new tear rolled down his cheek and dropped onto the dirty ground, vanishing soon into nothingness.
"Damn, your father died! He died saving his family! He died for your mother and her sister! He died for your friends and people he didn't even know! He died protecting his only son! He's a fucking hero!"
"I know!" Shika yelled at the top of his lungs, swivelling around, tired eyes staring down into Temari's.
Suddenly he fell to his knees. All his energy had left his system at once, draining from his body like somebody had pulled a plug. He didn't even have enough power to cry anymore.
"How?" He asked with a feeling of absolute powerlessness. "When my uncle died during the last great war, my father started taking care of his family as well... but me? I... my mother..."
Glassy eyes watched as Temari kneeled down in front of him. His body went rigid as her arms encircled him in a warm,
comforting hug, her hands pulling him closer against him even as his head laid down on her shoulder. His eyes closed automatically and he inhaled deeply the scent of dirt mingled with the faint smell of flowers.
"Why's it always you saving me?" Shikamaru suddenly asked into her shoulder, not daring to move out of her embrace just yet.
He could feel her smiling into his neck, her warm breath tickling the exposed skin there.
"Because it seems like I'm the only one capable of pulling your ass out of anything."
Reluctantly, Shikamaru pulled slowly away from Temari and stared at her large, beautiful eyes. They were glinting mischievously and with a brightness, the strategist had rarely seen before.
Maybe she was right. This woman seemed to be the only one out there able to save him whenever he needed her the most. Physically and mentally. She was 'his' salvation.
"I'll have to take care of some things." He told her, his hand slowly grasping one of her own and squeezing it lightly.
"But maybe we could have a coffee together tomorrow or so..." Shika's voice trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
"Keh. Only if you pay"
Grinning cheekily with puffy, red eyes, Shika shook his head softly. "Coffee's free in the headquarters"
"You're some greedy wimp... can't plan a real date on his own."
"Women..."
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"Yes?"
Looking up from where he was sitting on a window sill, Naruto jumped down onto the concrete floor and stared expectantly at the slowly opening door.
A wheelchair rolled into the room, a smiling woman pushing it further inside and finally closing the door again behind her as she left the occupant of the vehicle and Naruto alone.
"You wanted to see me in, eh, private?" Kakashi read the torn sheet of paper out loud, one brow rising into a lopsided frown.
"You still can't move?" Naruto asked cheekily, scratching the back of his head as he grinned. "Getting old isn't doing ya any good, Kakashi-sensei"
"And growing up, doesn't necessarily mean maturing... at least in your case." He retorted, his one visible eye wrinkling up into a strange resemblance of a grin.
"Whatever." Naruto waved a hand into his direction, something akin a pout on his face. "I actually came to bring you this."
Opening a dirty bag, he pulled out two tattered volumes of the Icha Icha series and handed them over to the slightly bewildered older man. Kakashi took them without a word, flipping through pages he had already memorized throughout the years, noticing some of the sites missing or holes puncturing the whole book back to front.
"Heh... I thought you'd be bored outta your skull with Gai as bed neighbour and well, I had pity with your lazy ass. Went to that perverted bookstore you always seem to be stuck to, but it has been crushed by one of Orochi's snakes." Naruto explained sheepishly. "The I went to your apartment, but the whole building is actually not existing anymore... I searched the debris and found these and some scrolls and clothes... sorry."
Naruto threw a second plastic bag into Kakashi's lap and watched him for a second.
As the silver-haired shinobi looked at what Naruto had been able to save of what had been left of his past, he crumpled the material of the bag in his fist.
Inside was a short katana. Its white blade was still sheathed in a dark scabbard. The faded picture of a man with the same hair colour flashed through his mind, the small version of himself at the age of five standing by his side.
Sighing in defeat, Kakashi laid the books and the bag on a nearby table. Leaning back in his wheelchair, he regarded Naruto with a long, scrutinizing look.
"What do you 'really' want, Naruto? Not that I'm not thankful for the distraction and yes, Gai was a real pain in the ass, but I know you long enough and you wouldn't go through such troubles for me, if there wasn't some big huge honkin'
reason behind it." Kakashi stated bluntly and the blond man could see a smile showing through his black mask.
"You were one of them, right?" Naruto suddenly asked his mentor, knowing that any attempt to delay the matter any further was futile.
"One of those voting against the council? Well, yes."
"Why? Why would you, or anybody else for that matter, want 'me' to become Hokage?" Kakashi heard Naruto mumble. There was confusion and disbelief in his voice and the question sounded strange in his ears.
"There are ten high-class shinobis needed to overrule the decision of the council of elder. Tsunade knew her death was imminent with Orochimaru knocking at the door of the village and called me in." Kakashi explained slowly in a soft tone of voice and shrugged slightly. "She always wanted you to become her successor and asked me for some loyal people who'd vote for you, beside herself, Jiraiya and myself."
It wasn't the full reason why Kakashi had voted against the council of eldest, but decided that answering why exactly 'he' had wanted Naruto and nobody else as Hokage would take too long and because it would both destroy his reputation as a hard, pseudo-carefree man (he would never admit to Naruto, that he cared about him like a father cared about his son) and would stir up too many hard memories and feelings. And Kakashi was pretty sure, Naruto already knew the answer deep down inside.
"I would have hoped for other circumstances, though"
Kakashi cut Naruto short with a chuckle. He leaned forwards, arms resting on his thighs and chin lying in an open palm. "Better circumstances? Godaime died defending Konoha and its people. It is an honour taking the place of a true Hokage, a protector of this village."
"Some pretty large shoes to fill, ne?" Naruto muttered under his breath, turning back towards the window and staring out at the crumbled village below.
"You know that I have to make a decision soon, right?"
Nodding, the silver-haired ninja sighed heavily. "You want my opinion on Sasuke"
"Yes. You've known him as long as I and Sakura have. It'd mean a great deal to me, sensei."
"You already talked to Sakura then?" "Yeah..." Naruto said, gnawing lightly at the inside of his cheek. "After I learned about my, uhm, promotion, I immediately went to her and told her everything about it." He stared up at the ceiling, recalling what had happened then.
-
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"I have to make a decision... about Sasuke..."
Sliding down the smooth surface of the wall, Sakura stared into nothingness. Her eyes were glassy and Naruto could see unshed tears welling up in them. Slowly, she averted her gaze from the opposite wall and looked straight into Naruto's ocean blue orbs. Her eyes could no longer contain the salty drops and allowed them to trail down Sakura's cheeks.
"Sakura, why is it always you who's crying for me?" He asked her with a voice thick with emotions. He didn't get an answer immediately, instead he watched her getting up from the floor and walking up to him. Carefully, the young kunoichi wrapped her arms lovingly around his mid-section, leaning her cheek against his dirty orange jacket.
"Who else than me is supposed to cry for you, Naruto?" She asked in a whisper. "I wonder, why it always has to be you? I know, Hokage has been your dream for so many years and I'm so unbelievably happy for you. Finally everybody will acknowledge you as the wonderful man you are. But..."
Fighting the urge to draw her even closer to his body, Naruto grasped the back of her dress more tightly. His lips and throat were so dry and he feared his voice would merely come out in a rasp if he dared to say something.
He didn't have to...
"But now it looks like we can't beat the crap out of the next Hokage, right?" He heard her voice near his ear and felt her chuckle slightly into his neck, shivering at the new sensation.
"Don't make a decision based solely on your or 'my' feelings. You have to think thoroughly about every aspect, even the tiniest one."
Sakura pulled away slightly from where her head had been resting on his shoulder and gazed gently up into his moist eyes.
"But whatever you will do, or whatever you will be forced to do... I will always be there for you, no matter what. I'll stand by your side and face whatever fate throws at you. That's my promise of a lifetime!"
A sudden feeling of relief and gratitude flooded Naruto's heart and soul and his eyes closed as he considered everything Sakura had just told him. He wasn't alone anymore. And if the whole world would turn its back on him, Naruto would still at least have 'her'.
As Sakura watched him with concern written across her features, she suddenly found the corners of his lips pulling up slightly into a faint smile.
"You are wrong, Sakura." His eyes opened and his smile became gentle. "I'm pretty sure you could still beat the crap outta the new Hokage after all."
As he watched a dazzling smile appearing on her lips, some tears shining a path down her cheeks, he knew everything would be alright.
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"Naruto?" Kakashi's voice gently broke through his train of throughts and he watched him with tired eyes.
"I guess I don't have to tell ya 'who' your father was, right?" The jounin waited just long enough for his former student to nod, trying to ignore the slight flinch of the corner of his mouth at Kakashi's words.
"He was a remarkable man and I respected him a great deal... in some way he was the father I lost when I was too small to comprehend." Kakashi said, sighing and sweeping a bandaged hand across his pale features. "When I look at you, I can still see him here. You carry his legacy, but I think, you've got the potential to become an even greater Hokage than he has been."
Naruto's breath came out in a strangled gasp and his hands clenched into tight fists by his side.
"You have the talent to surpass them 'all'. But you also have the support you'll need to accomplish your aims." Kakashi leaned back heavily in the wheelchair, feeling his muscles strain and protest against the prospect of staying upright for much longer.
"When Tsunade asked for some people to vote for you, she expected five at a most. You do realize that most jounin and several chuunin were there when Kyuubi attacked, ne? It didn't matter. I could have given her dozens of names. People who trust you with their lives and future and 'that', Naruto, is the best position for you to start a new era with.
Because knowledge is power and even if you don't know every single rule in the grande book of stupid regs, I know, that you have enough smart friends, supporting you, to gain the power you need to protect a country. They're not called geniuses for nothing..."
"What about the rest of the villagers? I wouldn't bet a cup of instant ramen on their support..." Naruto trailed off as he felt the painful memories of their hated, venomous looks staring down at him, piercing his skull and heart.
"Hah." Kakashi chuckled drily at that, shaking his head slightly. "Even 'you' can't make everybody love you! But lemme tell ya, that there was a time when you would have had problems finding somebody to kick you! And now? Who'd have thought that you'd become such a chickenshit? Naruto, you're the number one surprise ninja, not only when it comes to fighting."
"What do you think the others will say when they hear about me having to make the decision. I know for a fact that they're all pretty edgy around me and Sakura... they'll probably expect me to make a decision based on my own feelings, but 'how' am I supposed to shut out that damn voice inside my head that tells me exactly that!" Naruto's voice sounded loud in the small room as it bounced off the hard walls until it died away with a last echoe. His hands were gesturing around wildly, arms risen high above his messy hair.
"And here I am, thinking you've learned 'something' from me and my smart-ass talk..." He sighed exaggeratedly and Naruto could see Kakashi's lips pulling up into a strange lopsided grin.
"Look underneath the underneath, my dear Rokudaime." Kakashi watched with maybe a bit too much satisfaction as a bewildered frown appeared on the blond man's face. "You're not the first Hokage to be confronted with a runaway ninja, especially when it comes to those having followed Orochimaru. I think I can recall your first chuunin exam and a certain person with purple hair, a pretty violent attitude and eyes scary enough to chase a Hyuga off into the forest. And lets just say, she wasn't the first ninja to seek refuge behind the walls of Konohagakure..."
The look on Naruto's face was priceless and Kakashi watched with a amused look as Naruto scrambled off to the door behind the wheelchair. He fell over the table with Kakashi's last belongings and swore as several items clattered to the floor. Hastily, Naruto grabbed them and pushed them into Kakashi's unmoving arms. Clearing his throat he straightened and gave his former sensei a curt nod.
"I'll go and look some underneath the underneath..." Naruto said with a seriousness, Kakashi had rarely seen on his face. "Thanks, sensei!"
With that Naruto was gone. Kakashi watched across his shoulder as the door closed behind the blond man and wondered whether Naruto'd tell somebody that he was still here and that he wanted to get his unresponsive body wheeled back into a warm, comfortable bed.
----------
The last rays of reddish light painted the broken houses and streets below the Hokage tower in an eery glow. Slowly the sun descended behind the monument, casting the five large heads in dark shadows.
Naruto watched from the broken window as some villagers still worked on retrieving belongings from underneath crumpled houses and shatterd stores. Others were carrying corpses of fallen ninjas to some tents in the east of the village. He could see a young woman trailing after one lifeless bundle, her whole frame shaking and Naruto could have sworn he heard her crying.
"Sorry, Sakura. I should have let you get some sleep"
"Don't be stupid, you idiot! I've been in here at least once a day for the last three years and lets just say Tsunade wasn't always there to participate in my 'studies'..." The kunoichi with the faint pink hair said, her arms stretched out above her head as her hands sought something on an upper shelve.
Most of Tsunade's office was barely recognizable as such anymore. The shattered large desk, the the medic had crushed herself some days ago, was lying in the middle of the room. Scrolls and books lay scattered everywhere and a large dark blue stain on the round carpet showed where a fountain pen had broken into half.
The bookcase at the left wall didn't look much better. It seemed like some sound nins had been able to invade the Hokage tower through the boarded windows and had put up quite some resistance when Konoha had engaged them in a battle. There where still kunais sticking out of walls and books and some large red but already dried puddles showed where they had fallen.
"Why don't we just break that door open, anyway?" Naruto suddenly asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he examined the large wooden door beside him.
"Because!"
"But I thought you sneaked around here before, when you searched for information about Sasuke and Akatsuki..." His voice trailed off when he found his friend glaring daggers at him. He wisely swallowed the next comment that was burning a hole into his tongue, instead giving Sakura a sheepish smile.
"Show some respect to the dead, Naruto! You can be such a jackass!"
"Sakura?" Naruto suddenly asked, seemingly oblivious to the newest insult. He watched as the person in question turned her head slightly across her shoulder to stare at him. "Now that I'm Hokage, do you think I could order Kakashi to show what lies under that mask!"
The disbelief on Sakura's face should have been all the answer Naruto should have needed, but she decided better to make sure.
"He'd say 'yes', wait until you were close enough and than say something like 'but I won't do it anyway"
"Oh... you think so?"
Rolling her eyes at him (just for good measures), she walked up to him and lifted her fist towards his face. With a cheeky grin, she watched him flinch away from her clenched hand until he noticed that she had opened it. A simple key was lying on her open palm and with a snort Naruto took it. He inserted it into the hole of the door and turned it with a metallic creak.
Unfortunately, the door wouldn't open. It was still locked and with a hint of irritation, Naruto rattled at the knob.
"So much for breaking it open, huh! Did ya really think, the door hiding some of the most valued secrets would just be locked?" Sakura asked annoyed and brought her hands up into the horse seal. As she concentrated her chakra into her hands, they flew through a complicated set of seals.
"Now?" Naruto wanted to know, not entirely convinced that there had been any change at all.
Not waiting for him to open the door himself, Sakura pushed it open and stepped into the room beyond. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness as she fumbled for the light switch on one wall. A sudden flash of brightness made Sakura wince and close her lids against it.
When she opened them again she found herself breathing a sigh of relief. The room was just like she remembered it. Nobody had touched the countless shelves with hundreds of scrolls. A small table was standing in the middle of the room, some open scrolls still lying on top of it. Underneath the table, three bottles of sake were standing. Sakura had once been forced to promise by her honor as kunoichi never to tell Shizune of the secret hiding place. Tsunade's young apprentice had complied without a word.
"Let's see..." Sakura mumbled, walking to the far right corner and getting up on a small ladder.
"Wow!" She heard Naruto gasp in awe at the sheer mass of scrolls and books. "What's written in 'em"
"Well, they're the most secret scrolls a Hokage as access to. Information to every secret move of every single clan in Konoha and even of some in other countries. Special requests of different daimyos or Kages. We have the few mission reports of S and A class missions that have actually been written down. You do know that usually ANBU mission and debriefings are given verbally, right?"
Naruto nodded absently, aware that Sakura couldn't see him with her back towards him.
"Then there is a diversity of selected medical jutsus, Tsunade has partly developed herself and of course there are the ninja registrations of every ninja in here, complete with profile, full biography, accomplishments and photo"
"Photo! Don't tell me ya ain't got the same thing on your mind, Sakura!" The excitement in Naruto's voice could easily be detected and for a fraction of a second, the medic considered telling him to wait another few years with being Hokage until he had matured some more.
But well... it wasn't like she herself hadn't thought the same thing when she had first found out about this room.
"I already peeked into Kakashi-sensei's registration... he's wearing a mask and a look that must have won 'most bored expression of the century'."
Naruto mumbled something incoherently, evoking a small smile from Sakura in return.
Suddenly her eyes fell on the desired object and with a triumphant 'Ha!', she pulled the white scroll out of its dusty hiding place and jumped down the ladder.
"'Case 2564; Mitarashi Anko' and 'case 172; no name given'." Sakura read out loud, giving Naruto the first scroll and opening the second herself carefully.
"How'd you know about that one?" Naruto asked incredulously, nodding his chin at the paper in Sakura's hands.
"I overheard a talk Tsunade had some months ago with an ANBU. It was about an experiment connected to Orochimaru where he had cloned something or someone... not sure. I just made out the number of the scroll, but never looked further into it."
Sakura had her eyes already averted from Naruto. She read the first few sentences and felt her blood going cold in her vains.
"Oh my God..." She whispered, gaining a concerned look of her companion. "It seems like he used the DNA of the First to modify the genom of children... that man I saw back then was the only known survivor!" Her head snapped up and she stared at Naruto with a look of horror and sorrow.
"When they found him, the Third gave the order to keep it a secret in order to protect the child and wrote the entry for ninja academy himself. He's ANBU now..."
"It seems like our mad chuunin instructor could tell us some long story herself..." Naruto said, again engrossed in his own scroll. "The small village she has been born in at the border to the west got destroyed and she became an orphan. Seems like Orochimaru took her along for some years and showed her some pretty violent things in that time..." He continued reading until his eyes went wide in surprise.
"What?" Sakura asked, edging forward some inches without noticing. "Spill it already"
"During a minor battle with Orochimaru, some jounin brought her along. The Third took care of her and made her special chuunin and later jounin!"
"Kakashi was right... though you said, he hinted that there were more than just two cases similar to them." Sakura said, frowning up at Naruto's own uncertain face. She could tell that he was fighting a inner battle, mirroring her own inner turmoil.
They had what they needed to defend Sasuke from most accusation, but not all! And the question was whether there would be enough support among fellow shinobis to pull his neck out of the already tight sling?
Suddenly a knock at the door to Tsunade's office interrupted the thoughts of the two friends sharply. As one they turned their heads out of the second room they were still standing in and glanced at the closed door nervously.
Hastily they lay the scrolls back down on the table and walked out of the storage room, closing and locking the door securely behind them.
"Yeah?" Naruto called out into the silence and nearly jumped out of the shattered window, when the door burst open with an angry groan, slamming into the wall and causing a dust cloud to rise.
"Uzumaki Naruto"
"Thick brows"
"Lee?"
The three friends stared at each other in turn, Naruto and Sakura looking baffled and Lee grinning stupidly back at them.
Not wasting another second (the introduction had taken way too long in Lee's opinion), the young slender man jumped, rather than walked, into the room. He came to a halt near the place where the two other ninjas were standing and extended his hand eagerly towards Naruto.
The irritated blond took the proffered hand and flinched involuntarily when Lee started shaking it vigorously, the smile in his brightly shining eyes never faltering. Suddenly he pulled away and bowed oddly in front of them, straightened again and almost stood at attention.
"And here I was hoping, I'd be the first one." A light female voice errupted from the door.
When Sakura looked behind Lee's rigid form, she found Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata standing there. Her friend and rival had her arms akimbo, a cheeky lopsided grin plastered on her lips. Sakura noted that her left cheek was dark purple and one arm was hidden in a thick cast. The second woman looked a bit disheveled, hair messy where a bandage wrapped somewhat awkwardly around her forehead and down to her neck.
"Ino-pig, Hinata! What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with a frown that screamed 'what the hell' chiseled into her enormous forehead (as Ino would probably call it...).
"Naruto! Gai-sensei couldn't keep the news a secret any longer!" Lee suddenly announced, gaining everybody's undivided attention instantly. "He told me about your promotion! I congratulate you in the name of Gai-sensei, Neji and Tenten to becoming our new Hokage!"
An embarrassed smile tugged at the corners of Naruto's mouth as he watched Lee give him the 'nice-guy-pose' with thumbs up and his bright white teeth going 'plink' like somebody had flicked a switch.
"I'm very proud of what you have accomplished through hard work and a will strong enough to beat every genius who has strived to become Hokage just like you!" Listening with a smile, Sakura feared the poor man would break out in tears soon. "I hereby vow, that I will follow you wherever your path will lead and I will do as you order, whatever it may be that you need of my humble being!"
Sweatdropping, Naruto chuckled nervously, obviously at a loss of words.
"I guess what Lee wanted to say in his own queer way is that, Naruto, you may be stupid and so not my type, but if you need us, we'll be there to kick some asses!" Ino said, walking up to the three figures and hugging Naruto a bit awkwardly.
"N-Naruto..." The small, uncertain voice of Hinata broke through the silence feebly. Naruto, ears glowing bright red,
stepped around Ino and Lee until he was right in front of her. He didn't actually notice her flushed cheeks and glassy eyes as he scratched the back of his head in an uneasy manner.
"I-I wanted to s-say"
"Thanks, Hinata! See, I told ya, I'd become Hokage one day!" He interrupted her mid-sentence and chuckled warmly. "Now you won't have to worry about your clan any longer... I'll take care of things my way!"
"Thanks..." Hinate mumbled uncertainly, looking anywhere but at Naruto's grinning face.
"Achem..." Everybody turned to look at Ino, who had cleared her throat soundly. "Before you give us your first orders, lemme get something clear first." She declared, staring firt at Sakura and then at Naruto with mischievously glinting eyes.
"What exactly where the two of you doing alone in here, huh?"
Lee's and Hinata's heads jerked around as they stared at the two bright red friends in shock.
"Sa-Sakura, don't tell me you and Na..." Lee started to say.
"INO-PIG!"
--------------------
FINIS?
Yay! So, about the polls from the last chapter:
Most of you (or all?) were FOR letting Sasuke live. I really liked the idea where I'd get the chance to kill him off. Lots of emotions, tears and some hard feelings would have followed. But I won't hold a grudge against you for spoiling my plans (Hehehe! Good thing the readers can't read minds, or they'd know that I'm preparing some ultra cool jutsu that'll cause monstrous pimples!...o.O'). So stay tuned for more Sasu? and Saku?...
The name... well... my sis hasn't decided, yet (though I slowly get the feeling that it has been a bad idea allowing her to choose the name for TenNej son). We both loved the names you have suggested so far and some walked right onto the grande list of all lists! So yes, you can still read some more dictionary or wrack your brains for some cool names!
Well... I could now write about 'who' had come to Kakashi's rescue (though I have to admit, that he never actually reached 'his' bed...), but I guess you all know who the lucky person was, ne!
ME! We're getting married soon, after all! As if I'd let anyone of you near him! He's all mine! MINE, MINE, MINE! Muahahahahaha!...