(( As of today, SNK is officially one year old. And as a commemoration gift for such a momentous occasion, I have here to present to you chapter six. Take pleasure in knowing that I had to work my butt off to get this chapter out today. ))
CHAPTER 6: MOMENTS
As Sakura raced down the streets of Fuuma no Sato, a growing feeling of dread festered in her stomach. At five in the morning, the sky was growing lighter and nature's sounds had begun to play their daily orchestra, but she didn't think for a second to stop and enjoy what was shaping up to be a beautiful day. The nightmare that had woken her had been no different than the ones she had been experiencing as of late. However, the sense of alarm that normally accompanied a bad dream had lingered for much longer than usual and eventually driven her out the door. Standing outside in the departing morning silence had only fed her uneasiness, so she ran.
But what was she running from? Her dream? That wasn't what she was scared of, she resolved as a red entranceway that had been overlooked much earlier in the morning came into view. The past month's nightmares were frightening, that was for sure, but she had grown used to them. It was the lasting effects that had unnerved her so.
"Afraid of fear..." she mumbled to herself, having come to a halt, and scoffed. Letting her breathing slow, she chastisied herself, "I guess that's what you get for an hour's sleep."
And she was awfully tired. Opening her mouth wide to yawn, Sakura tried to find her reasoning in taking an impromptu jog so early. The back of her throat stung as cool air was sucked past it.
I'll make sure never to exercise this early again, she thought, massaging her neck gingerly. Though her limbs wanted nothing more than to rest, she knew through experience that once she was awake, it was near impossible to fall back asleep again. So she took a moment to think of something with which to occupy herself, as she didn't quite relish the thought of lying in bed until everyone else was up and about. She was already outside anyways.
... Although at that hour of the day, none of the shops or restaurants would be open yet, leaving very little to explore but the roads. She tried to recall any of the signs she may have passed two or so hours ago, but nothing came up. Except for the clinic. And then she had her answer.
It was very doubtful that any of three having been left there were awake yet, but visiting them would give more to think about than the fact that despite her supposedly calm demeanor, her heart was still gently hammering away. Passing it off as nervousness in regards to the ninjas' conditions, Sakura attempted to remember whether the clinic was on the left or right. It was supposed to be closer to the entrance, which was currently in sight, than the hotel she had previously exited, so she turned around again and started walking while on the lookout for its identification sign.
After five or so minutes, a sign on the right of the path that said "Morita Clinic" caught her attention, and she hurried her pace for the remaining few steps that would take her to it. Despite having been there before, the place was almost unrecognizable without the pouring rain beating against it and although it still looked quite small from the front, its appearance was much less overlookable than it had been earlier. It was actually much nicer than most of the other buildings, with cherrywood walls and pale rose roof tiles that accented it perfectly. Instead of flimsy ricepaper doors, they were wooden, and she discovered that they pushed open if unlocked when she entered the clinic.
A windchime overhanging the door clinked and jangled as she walked through. Instead of the elderly man that had sat there before, a young lady that appeared to be eighteen or nineteen was slouched over in her seat and on to the desk, quite apparently asleep, facing the door with a thin stream of drool trailing from the corner of her open mouth and into a small puddle on a half-completed piece of paperwork. Her breathing was audible from the doorway, and brown hair that looked to be slightly damp was covering half of her face. Although mostly kept back by a checkered bandana, it appeared to be frizzy as it wasn't completely dry yet.
Most would consider such a sight an example of poor staff, but Sakura understood very well how tired the woman must have been, coming in at such an early time. She regretted having to wake her up, as she stifled a yawn, but she had forgotten which rooms the others had been given. She walked over, and lightly tapped the woman on the shoulder.
"Excuse me," she said, and the woman jumped upright suddenly, startling them both. She blinked with wide turquoise eyes for a moment and her cheeks flushed, before she cleared her throat and relaxed somewhat (while still managing to look a little embarassed).
"Ah, how can I help you?" she asked, beginning to rub sleep out of her eyes. The ink from the document she had been working on was stuck to one side of her face.
"I'm sorry for waking you up, um..." Sakura trailed off, and eventually thought of the name of the clinic. "... Morita-san...?"
The woman laughed, and corrected, "Dairei Namu. Anyways, what do you need?"
Sakura paused in surprise at her recognition of the woman's surname, but recovered her composure quickly. She supposed Namu was about the right age to be Jin's daughter. However, she was silent for another few seconds in speculation. It wasn't possible to visit all three people at once. "Could you tell me Uchiha Sasuke's room number, please?"
"Sure, just hold on a sec," Namu answered and began rifling through the papers before her.
Typical, the sarcastic voice at the back of the kunoichi's head snickered. She willed it to be quiet, countering with the reasoning that he had been in the worst shape when they had brought him in. The excuse seemed rather weak even to her, however.
After a moment of rummaging, Namu eventually found the record she was looking for and spoke up. "Uchiha Sasuke, right? He's in room 109. Do you need help finding it?"
"No, it's alright. I'll let you sleep."
Namu chuckled a little, and said brightly, "Have a nice day," before letting her head drop back to the desk again.
Sakura walked past her and into the hallway, and observed the numbers on the doors before picking the right direction and looking to the left for the appropriate room number. She found it with little time and effort, and knocked tenatively on the door before entering.
It's not like he's even awake to--
She felt herself stop thinking as she stood in the doorway. And her prior anxiety was no longer unfounded, for there was nobody in the room. Breathlessly, she entered, and scanned the area. The bedsheets and pillow were wrinkled slightly, but otherwise undisturbed. The only thing missing from the small pile of belongings by the chair to her right was a pair of shoes.
She treaded over to the closed window at the back of the room and examined it, heart racing and throbbing in every part of her body. The windowsill was dusty, with a few clear spots in the shapes of finger and shoeprints. The curtains had been drawn. This alone was enough evidence to prove that Sasuke had left without anyone knowing.
Peering through the glass revealed that there was a small dirt path in front of the window, but it didn't go into the forest nearby. It continued on straight, most likely around to the front of the building. Without second thought, Sakura rushed from the room and back into the hall, then down to the lobby again and out the door.
Once outside, she debated which way to go in a panic. Looking frantically from side to side, she realized that Sasuke could have gone in any direction. She had walked this road herself, but only for a marginal amount of time. He could have gone anywhere in two hours.
She didn't consider for a second that he was simply taking a walk. She had never worried herself this sick before, and had been correct on weaker gut feelings in the notion that something was amiss. Suddenly struck with an idea, she ran towards the town's entrance for the second time that morning. As she approached the red entryway, she looked to the sky; an enormous pillar of pitch-black smoke that she had miraculously overlooked in her early morning stupor rose from beyond the village's limits.
Lengthening her strides, she felt her chest constricting from exhaustion, leg muscles straining. But she urged herself further, in the fear that something horrible awaited her. Soon she had passed straight underneath the well-sanded red wood, and was careening down a downhil dirt path leading to a grassy valley below. She flew by stone monuments marking the sides of the road, momentum increasing with her terror as tongues of flame suddenly burst into view on the horizon.
This was unlike any fire she had ever seen before. Flames as dark as ink reached up towards the sky, tossed about by a strong prairie wind. Ebony sparks flew in all directions like flower petals afloat in the breeze, landing in the grass and igniting immediately. The raging inferno had spread throughout almost half of the field in long branches, spreading its black berth by the second. As she neared, the fire towered higher and higher and looked to swallow the entire sky.
A lone man stood stationary before the fire, hands locked in a seal, silver hair whipped about him as he remained completely still in concentration. Enormous pillars of water twisted and raged from the very air before him, growing claw-like appendages and vicious snouts, branching out to reach the flames and combatting them fiercely. The water dragons surged furiously upon touching the fire and struggled around dark lengths of the blaze, dousing it minimally before vanishing into steam, only to be replaced by more of their coursing essence.
By this time, Sakura had rushed up to behind Kakashi, and shouted to him, horrified, above the roaring and gushing and hissing of the disaster displayed only meters in front of her. He flicked her a glance before focusing on his diminishing technique again, and yelled back in a strained voice, "I can't keep this up much longer. Sakura, listen to me."
Teeth beginning to chatter despite the intense heat, she answered with wide, fearful eyes, "Okay."
Kakashi acknowledged her reply with a nod, and continued, back still to her, "Sasuke is on the other side of these flames. The smoke is only coming from the top, so you can't go over, but you absolutely need to get him out of there."
"After I'm done explaining, I'm going to focus everything into one spot. Run through the water as fast as you can. I'm almost certain Sasuke has been gravely injured, but pay no attention to his wounds. Just take him, and find a way out of the fire, am I clear?"
"What about you?" Sakura shouted back, every inch of her shaking.
Kakashi hesitated for a moment, then replied, regret seeping into his voice. "My chakra is almost completely gone. It's likely I won't make it out in time, or be able to stop the fire, but don't let that stop you. After you've escaped, go straight to the village and warn everyone. There's an underground passageway that starts behind Jin's house and ends on the other side of a mountain. Take the village there, quickly, and everyone should be safe. Time is of the essence."
Sakura was silent for what seemed an eternity. Nostrils flaring from the pungent stench of burning earth, she gripped her arms tightly, feeling more lost than if her entire life had vanished from behind her. It was all too much to take in. Then her shoulders began to shake, angry, terrified, confused tears brimming in her eyes and scattering as she took a rattling breath and screamed, "I don't understand anything! The return order, those giant snakes, the Hidden Sound, that bastard from the hotel, this fire; none of it! I don't know what's going on anymore!"
"I know!" Kakashi urged from over his shoulder, beginning to struggle with controlling his technique as a result of his momentary lapse in concentration. "And I know I promised, but there's no time to explain things!"
"How am I supposed to react, then!" Sakura fired back, frustration beginning to dominate the other emotions fueling her outburst. "I can't agree with what will happen if I follow your orders!"
"You don't have a choice!" The tone of the older man had begun to mirror that of his pupil. "The outcome is bleak at best, but a few dozen buildings is a small price to pay compared to what will happen if Sasuke dies! Do you understand me? This is a crisis for the entire country, not just the village at our backs!"
This drew only a few shuddering breaths and a stifled whimper from the young woman. She truly was scared senseless; half of her wanted to run as fast as she could back to town, grab her belongings, and high-tail it back home. The other half was torn between smacking her teacher for being so goddamned selfless and absolutely correct, and rushing head-on into the blaze to save one of the people she cared for most. She was supposed to be good in these perilous situations, calm and collected and ready to take the necessary course of action. But circumstances she should have been able to handle had reduced her to a blubbering mess, feet planted to the ground in unreasonable fear, lip quivering, sobbing shamelessly. A disgrace.
This was the part in the movie where the characters experienced some great revelation, either due to someone having encouraged them in the past or their admirable sense of duty towards protecting those important to them. They could defy all odds and come out victorious, thanks to the sweet nothings of their lovers, the moving words of their mentors, or the unbreakable promises made to themselves. Anything was possible in fiction. Having grown up on such pacifistic views, Sakura had always been sure that she could take on anything thrown at her, although no such motivation had ever existed for her. And she had; with numerous tough missions under her belt, she had achieved a sense of self-fulfillment all on her own. No crutches.
All that was gone now, and she had nothing to fall on but her knees as she sank to the ground hopelessly. Letting her shoulders slump, she put her head in her hands, letting tears fall quietly but freely. The reasonable part of her cried for her to stand and make herself useful, but her limbs had all but turned to rubber in her mind. There was a longing, swelling bigger and bigger in her chest and into her throat, for her to force herself on to her feet and go forwards to save herself from further disappointment. But she had drawn a strange and ill-timed comfort from sitting huddled in the grass, where nobody could see her.
She wanted to be brave enough to stand and go forwards. She knew she was capable of what had been asked of her, yet couldn't seem to scrounge up enough willpower. The danger of her surroundings wasn't a factor anymore. Silent and tearful, she debated what to do.
Kakashi stood amidst a veritable sea of flames, strength rapidly diminishing as he put every ounce of his focus into keeping his chakra output under control. Without any water in sight and every ounce of moisture sucked from the air, the technique was more of the summon variety than anything, and it was all he could do to keep it going. Without having made a blood contract of any kind, the dragons were not obeying him, but their own desire to survive and were accordingly taking more than their fair share of his energy to keep going.
He knew he wouldn't last at this rate. Be it either death from the fire or from using more chakra than he had, he was prepared to meet whatever end was in store for him should it be planned for that morning. He flinched as the feeling drained further from his arms. He knew exactly what would happen to him if he continued, having seen it occur in others many times before. And yet he continued to let the numerous water incarnations battle in his stead, with the fullest intentions of carrying on until either the blaze died or he did. He was the very reason for what had unfolded, and would do everything in his power to remedy the situation no matter what it cost him.
But was what he was doing really enough? He couldn't put out the fire, and couldn't save Sasuke himself. Everything was up to Sakura, who seemed far too upset and confused to be able to brave the task appointed to her. Though he supposed he had been rather harsh, considering the circumstances. Even so, he hadn't expected the young woman to break down as she had.
With his original plan down the drain, Kakashi had to consider his other options, and fast. Sasuke would have acted, had be been conscious on the other side of the flames. Naturo and Kiba were down for the count, so that left Hanabi. But there was another, this one awake and a distance closer with an array of techniques perfectly suited for dealing with the matter at hand.
"Sakura," he said to her again. "Hurry back to the village and get Jin." More silence answered him. He looked quickly over his shoulder, noticing she was still quite distraught. "Can you stand?"
Sakura sniffled quietly and sighed. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, wiping her eyes. "I'm fine." Her voice was filled with meek regret. She took another moment to regain her lost composure before speaking again. "I... I'm sorry, I just..."
"It's fine," Kakashi coaxed. That was the second time that day she had cried. He really had screwed up. "Now hurry."
She nodded, and turned back towards where she had come only to see more of those haunting, dark flames. Many small blazes had blossomed by themselves in patches, burning on the spot. Oddly enough, none of them seemed to be spreading at all, but most were far too close together for her to be able to maneuver through.
It took a moment of scanning, but she was able to spot a large gap far off to the left. She rushed towards it, the skin on her warm face feeling as though the heat had stretched it. Not seconds before she would have passed through, one of her feet made contact with something slippery hidden by the grass and she momentarily scrambled for purchase before leaping backwards, slightly shaken. She looked down and saw a dark, thick liquid dripping from the long blades of grass and into the large pool she had slipped in. Both of her feet were covered with it.
Numbly, she reached down to wipe some of the substance off of her calves. Even before she had studied the dirtied palm of her hand, she knew what is was she had slipped in and it only made her all the more terrified. She let herself panic for a moment, thoughts of how much more of the blood had been lost and how long the one who had shed it had suffered such injuries buzzing around in her head. But for numerous reasons, Sakura was able to hide her fear and worry away quickly. She had already disappointed her teacher and herself, and could be of no further use in such a petrified state. To Sasuke or to anyone.
Careful to avoid the puddle, she started forewards again. But as she neared the flames once more, something she would have never expected happened. Suddenly gaining lives of their own, the flames on all sides of her surged towards her, closing any and all gaps between them as they formed a ring and began closing in at an alarming rate. Caught in mid-stride, Sakura could feel and see the black flames coming and closer and closer, but there was nothing she could do by this point. She crammed her eyes shut and waited to be swallowed whole by the fre.
A near-deafening whooshing sound from above permeated the scorching night air, and as she threw her gaze upwards, she barely had time to behold an enormous sphere of water cannonballing towards her before it made contact. The breath was pounded from her chest as she found herself flattened against the ground, air bubbles streaming from her open mouth and nose. Every bone in her body felt as if it would snap under the immense pressure of the water coming at her from all sides, and she weakly struggled to force herself upwards as her lungs screamed for the oxygen they had been deprived of.
And then, with a final splash that washed over her from head to toe, it was over. She lay gasping for breath on the soaked ground, chest heaving, coughing out the large amount of water she had swallowed. There was no more fire. Just a few black spots on the ground that she could see if she turned her head enough. It was hard to believe, but she was still alive.
She lay on her back for a while longer, staring at the sky displayed for miles above her. Drenched completely, she had all but forgotten about the crisis behind her until another gigantic ball of water soared above her head and landed, spraying her with tiny droplets. Another followed, descending further back, and then another, and another. She rolled over on to her stomach, and saw that a great deal of the flames had been put out. Kakashi had stopped his technique and was looking at something past her.
Sakura turned herself over again and sat up, still quite startled. Someone had come down the hill from the village, and was now running towards where she was. As whoever it was came closer, she could see what looked like a housecoat billowing behind him. He held both hands in front of him, from which sprang a pale blue glow, and soon after yet another of the water cannon balls. She followed it with her eyes, and continued to stare in awe as it single-handedly doused the remainder of the blaze with a mighty splash.
By this point, the person had come up in front of her. "I apologize," Jin said, noting her dazed expression and her drenched clothes and hair, "But there was no other way. Although you had me worried for a second, there. I thought I'd accidentally killed you, when you didn't get up."
The kunoichi flushed, despite herself. "S-sorry," she answered, abashed.
"It's fine," came the reply. Jin was looking intently forwards. "There are other things you should be worrying about."
Sakura followed his gaze, and immediately leapt to her feet. Kakashi was crouched by someone a distance away, and she knew exactly who it was. She rushed over, dread and fear and worry making themselves present again. How could she possibly have forgotten? She pulled up beside her teacher, and gasped audibly. There was Sasuke, still and pale as if dead.
The first thing she saw was the blood. Smeared across one side of his face, spreading from a ghastly, deep puncture wound at the base of his neck. Dripping from numerous slash marks across his torso and arms. Oozing thickly from a terrible gash above his knee. Pooling around his torn hands. Trailing from the corner of his mouth. Blood was everywhere.
She dropped to her knees, this time not from hopelessness but with purpose. Leaning over, she placed her index and middle fingers under his chin to check for a pulse. She waited, the silence in the air almost choking. Nothing. She cursed and drew her hand back, instead taking a limp rist and awaiting the telltale thump of a heartbeat. Her arms began to shake. Still nothing. Biting her lip, she hastily tucked her hair behind an ear and pressed the side of her head against his chest, flinching but not pulling away as her skin became wet with blood. And still she waited for a sound she thought she would never hear.
... Ba-dump...
It was faint, but it was there. Sakura drew back, her own heart pounding, and studied what lay before her. There was no question that the wound in the man's neck was the most serious. She held her hands before her, and concentrated on the seals she had long since imprinted on to her arms. Most of her power had been exhausted the previous night, and she still hadn't completely recovered. Her own strength wouldn't be enough.
After a moment of focusing, she felt the old energy beginning to course through her. A familiar tingling feeling ran down her arms, and she began forming the seals for a basic healing technique. Once she could feel the chakra materializing around her hands, she leaned over towards the injury. As soon as one of her fingers touched the clammy skin around it, however, a startling vision made her jump. It had been quick, disappearing in the blink of an eye, but no less jarring; a yellow eye, dark-rimmed, with a thin pupil. Just like a snake's.
Kakashi, watching powerlessly, noticed as Sakura recoiled as if bitten. "What is it?" he asked.
She blinked, brow furrowing, puzzled. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. She neared the wound again, slower this time, as if expecting something. Then she suddenly yanked her hands away, falling on to her behind and looking very shocked. She swallowed, eyes wide.
"I can't get close at all," she said fearfully. "Every time I try, I see a snake's eye. I don't even know why it scares me."
"This is undoubtedly the cursed seal acting up," Jin explained, coming up from behind. "You won't be able to heal Sasuke until it's taken care of."
"Cursed seal?" Sakura asked, trying to recall anything he could be talking about. Then a possibility came to mind. "You mean that strange mark on his neck?"
Kakashi nodded. "But now isn't the time to explain," he added. He indicated towards the rapidly growing pool of blood beneath the Uchiha. "It's true that chakra isn't of any use right now, but there are other ways you can slow down the bleeding."
Sakura immediately siezed a corner of the tank top she wore overtop of her gray mesh undershirt, and tore off a long strip around the bottom with her other hand. She wove it underneath Sasuke's arm and wrapped it tightly around the wound, tying it off with a double knot. She followed suite with the injury above his knee.
Kakashi considered something for a moment before saying, "We should go back to the clinic. I can preform a sealing technique better there, and there are plenty of medical supplies for until I'm finished."
"Kakashi-dono," Jin started, "aren't you--"
"I know. I have almost no chakra left." He glanced at Sakura. "That's why I'm going to need some help."
oooooooooooooooooooo
Naruto yawned and stretched, sitting up in his bed. He looked around. His things had been dropped on a table nearby, the window was open a crack, and he couldn't tell what time it was, thanks to the fact that some idiot had decided not to put an alarm clock on the bedside table. Though if he were to make a guess based on the fact that the sun had just risen, he'd say it was around six o'clock. A bit earlier than the time he'd usually wake up, but it would have to do; he already felt awake.
One of the many perks of being a vessel to a nine-tailed fox demon, he supposed, putting his hands behind his head and falling back on to his pillow again. Damn, that was a good pillow. Where was he, anyways? He needed to ask where they got their pillows some day. He glanced over to the bedside table and noticed one of those notepads, like the ones you would find in a hotel. Weird. They had notepads, but not alarm clocks.
He took a while to scan the front page for the name of wherever he was, and eventually read "Morita Clinic" at the bottom. Odd. Why was he at a clinic?
... Wait, now I remember!
Naruto sat up again, and pulled up the bottom of his shirt. He looked for any burns, scars, rashes or cuts, but only saw the regular swirling pattern left by the Fourth and watever kind of permanent ink he'd used to seal the Kyuubi. That was also weird. He could have sworn that snake guy had done something to his gut, but he didn't look or feel any different.
Oh well, he resolved. I'll just wait for someone to explain things. That usually works out for me.
He swung himself off the side of the bed and on to the floor, shivering slighly as his feet touched the cold hardwood. He wandered over to the window, and noticed that for the first few steps, he stuck to the floor. Eesh. You'd think people would have the sense to install a carpet.
He slid the window open all the way, and was pleased to note the air was quite warm. The birds and insects looked to have just come out, but were already making plenty of noise, just the way he liked it. Things were creepy sometimes in the morning when all was quiet, which was why he normally didn't wake himself up until about seven when the city was bustling, but he looked to have picked just the right time that morning.
What to do, though? Nobody seemed to be up yet, judging from the absense of conversing voices outside, and that meant none of the stores or places like that were open yet either. The occasional walk was nice, but Naruto was more in the mood for interaction than anything else. So as much as he hated it, he just decided to wait until the town woke up a bit. He went over to his bag, with the intent of searching for something to occupy himself with.
It turned out he didn't have to wait long at all for that, as the sound of a slamming door met his ears. Voices, most of which he recognized followed soon after, but after a moment's discussion there were only footsteps. They went straight by the room he was in and to what he assumed to be the end of the hallway, before another door closed and all was silent.
He abruptly strode to his own doorway and turned the knob, peering out into the hallway. Nobody was there anymore. But as he looked in both directions for any sign of what may have happened, something on the floor caught his eye. He gazed down at it to discover it was a dark fleck, but before he was able to figure out just what it was, someone came bursting through two swinging doors at the end of the hall.
He didn't really have time to see her as she hurried by him, so close they almost collided. Naruto stepped back into the doorframe and watched, bewildered, as she hurriedly rummaged through a cupboard behind the entrance desk. The woman pulled out rolls upon rolls of bandages, packaged herbs, bottles of anesthetic, cleaning swabs; anything you'd expect to find at a small pharmacy, or a, well... Clinic.
"Hey," he called as she ran out from behind the desk, "what's go--" She had disappeared behind the swinging doors again before he could even finish his sentence. In her rush, she had dropped almost half of what she had been carrying on to the floor. A roll of gauze had fallen on to the dark spot he had been examining earlier, and it revealed itself to be a liquid as it soaked through and turned red.
Alarmed, he looked further down the hall and saw that numerous other puddles marked the floor, leading to and through the doors at the end. For once more nervous and worried than curious, he stepped out of his room and walked brusquely past the others to where he could begin to hear a commotion. Without second thought, he pushed through the doors and stepped into utter chaos.
oooooooooooooooooooo
"--losing too much blood--"
"--Namu, make sure to bandage--"
"--almost done. Just a second more--"
"--what am I supposed to do about--"
"--much longer! Hurry!"
Kakashi placed the finishing touches on the sealant script, placing the wet ink brush down on a cabinet behind him and hurriedly placing his palms over the gushing wound above his student's shoulder as Sakura drew hers away. "Pay close attention," he said to her, making sure she was listening. She nodded grimly, and he continued.
"When I take my hands away, focus your chakra into the ink and disperse it as evenly as possible. Only when every single drop has been affected will the seal start to work. From then on, all you have to do is watch, but make sure the process is completed before you start healing him."
"Got it."
"Whenever you're ready."
Sakura took a deep breath, and prepared herself. "Okay."
Kakashi removed his hands, and for a moment, everything froze. Namu looked up from tightly wrapping gauze around one of Sasuke's hands. Jin neglected packing dried herbs into the injury above his knee. And to Sakura's utmost fear and dismay, she hesitated.
But then she closed her eyes tightly, concentrating on the infinite blackness before her. Black, like the ink. Black was where the energy needed to go. Strands of her mental and physical consciousness intertwined and rolled into a ball in her chest, beating and pulsing. Then imaginary hands began weaving them into a fine thread, letting the sphere unravel and twisting the two strings together with delicate and precise fingers. The threads flowed through her blood and veins all the way to her own fingertips, poking through each individual pore and congealing into one thick stream.
The river of consciousness lurched and twisted, trying desperately to tear itself apart. But the imaginary hands yanked and pulled it, until it was back on course again. Back towards black. The threads continued to be woven and released, all the while the ball from which they were being created growing smaller and smaller until almost no raw energy was left.
And then the stream touched wet ink and merged with it, coursing through it like a river of stars in the ocean of night. It twisted and turned through complex characters, all intertwined, coming up one collumn of writing and swirling around a wheel in the center to spread to the rest. Over cold skin and on to frigid tabletop, then back again. The blackness in its entirety had soon been englufed by the pure light of the body and mind's connection, and retreated to a small ring around more darkness before reverting to its original hue once more.
Emerald eyes flew open. A chest heaved exhaustedly. And the hands continued weaving, channeling their masterpieces into the damaged life force of another. Even as the last of the string left its host, the hands worked on, taking blood and breath and other things that weren't theirs for crafting and sending them to that which they had lead themselves to believe they existed for.
The room spun furiously. Sakura could feel her eyelids closing, her arms falling and her knees buckling, yet did nothing to stop herself from plummeting into unconsciousness. As long as she saved... Long as... Save...
The hands disappeared, and she fell backwards against a startled Uzumaki Naruto. The last thing she heard before the room's colours melted together and dripped to black was two voices calling her name.
oooooooooooooooooooo
--feel and see himself bleeding, but he never--
--heard a cry not of rage but of sheer adrenaline rush and realized it was his--
--pain that finally woke him from his state of madness, and he screamed in agony as the blade slid further and further into--
"--despair, and know you have failed as--"
"--expected, from my foolish--"
"--little brother. Know this, before I--"
"--did it for you."
The darkness before Sasuke's eyes slowly faded to a scorching orange as he reluctantly gained consciousness. There was no need for him to sit up, nor for him to examine his surroundings. He didn't need to feel the thin covers on top of him, he didn't need to feel the breeze wafting in from an open window, and he didn't need to feel the warm afternoon sunlight on his face. He was awake. He knew he was alive because of this, and that alone was enough to make him wish he wasn't.
Someone shifted in a chair nearby and sighed, and he could hear the rustle of clothing as they moved around for a while. There was a staticky noise from beside him as whoever it was turned on the radio, and a clicking noise followed soon after as they repeatedly pressed the button to change channels. The person eventually decided on one, and leaned back against their chair.
The song started out oddly, with ambient sound effects and various random noises like a door creaking and footsteps falling on the pavement. Then a tune became distinguishable, in its dreamy, slow and very synthetic splendour. A female vocalist began with a calm melody of "la"s that seemed vaguely familiar and continued for what seemed like an eternity, beginning to lull him back to sleep. He had barely heard the first four lines before he became deaf and blind to the world once more.
Your heart was burning,
And there was a smell to it.
It was the end of your dream,
And the beginning of everything...
(( Yeah, those lyrics are from the song "Moments" by Ayumi Hamasaki, hence the title of this chapter. I first heard the accoustic piano version (which is a million times better than the original, might I add) over the summer when I was working on chapter two, and I pretty much adored it, so I looked up the translation. And lo and behold, they fit what I had planned for the story perfectly. Kind of funny how those things work out.
I actually had the concept for this chapter planned when I wrote the prologue. Naturally, a lot has changed since then, but knowing exactly what I was going to do definitely helped the writing process. Truthfully, I've been doing a lot of planning lately, which means that you can expect more frequent updates. Hopefully. ))