Um... Sorry?
-squeaks under the assault of a variety of rotten apples and tomatoes-
Disclaimer: This piece is created based on Naruto series, which is created and solely belonged to Kishimoto Masashi - no profit is made from this piece for it is used resolutely for fun. No copyright infringement intended.
Warning: Blood and gore, not much though... This whole chapter is set in the past; hopefully it doesn't confuse you all.
XXXXX
CATASTROPHE
By Silbi
Interlude, Part I: Criminal
Moonlight fell in rays around them, as red interlocked with green. Apprehension coiled in Sakura's gut as time staggered forward, leaving her there, static.
Uchiha Itachi. Kakeru in Kakashi. Information collected. Rustling trees. A glimmering pond and a small house. A kiss.
Dots in the red swirled, and she cared for nothing more.
(Rewind)
(Tape rolls)
(Play)
"Have you ever heard of Shadows, Kakashi?"
A little kid with silver hair stopped performing sloppy jutsus with his hands, his attention now focused on a wistfully smiling old man. His grandfather, apparently, from the admiration and respect that shone from the kid's eyes.
The kid shook his head in mild bewilderment.
The grandfather patted the boy's head gently. "Ah, your father wasn't even born that time, a long time ago, if it really happened that is..." the old man chuckled as he said that, as if reveling in his grandson's bafflement.
"What's the story?"
The little boy sat next to his grandpa who kindly smiled, who then drew a breath to start an almost-fairy tale. His voice reverberated with reminiscence, and as if on cue, the little one listened more carefully, as though he could catch the image it conveyed if he did.
"Once upon a time there was a princess, the only daughter of Sawarada clan..."
XXX
"...who, despite the luxury as a royal family member she had, was tired of being forced to do lessons she terribly hated, but couldn't do anything in fear of disappointing her parents - "
"Is she pretty, Mother?"
A little girl was curiously glancing at her from her lap; those beady eyes pleading for an answer. She smoothed her hand lovingly across the top of the little girl's head as spring wind caressed their skins comfortingly, the scent of flowers enveloped them on that balmy evening.
"Yes, sweetheart, she was gorgeous - and you know what? She has the same hair color as you do."
Emerald eyes stared back at her with awe as the daughter held her breath, and then asked, "She did?"
"Mm hmm, the shade of cherry blossoms in full bloom..."
The woman picked up where she had left off, and the girl listened.
XXX
A small house surrounded by sakura trees, late in the afternoon -
Cherry blossoms in full bloom swayed as wind played with their pink petals, carrying with it their sweet, heady scent; as well as a thousand petals, taken away from their flowers to be cradled lightly by the gust of spring air, one lightly flown through a half-open shoji door and landed soundlessly next to a young woman.
Alone in the small house, sitting just before the open doors was Sawarada Sakura, who was intently watching a small group of birds pecking on seeds on the ground merrily.
"Ah," she mumbled lazily, "what am I supposed to do in this place alone? Father sometimes can be too hard to understand." The pink-haired girl resumed her position of sprawling on the tatami mat, a pillow behind her neck, in order to continue her seemingly endless nap.
'You can take a catnap anytime you want there, Sakura-chan,' her father had said three days ago in the dining room, right after a silent meal. Her mother was pouring him a cup of green tea, and the sound of water hitting the porcelain filled the room for a moment. 'And you don't have to take koto and dancing lessons as well when you are staying there.'
She had inwardly squealed for those two had been her most-despised lessons, and to avoid having to experience them again she would do almost anything - though much earlier she hadn't had that much choice, being an only daughter she was. She hated it when someone told her what to do about making her own music, how she moved her own body, or how she expressed herself. They had been the only escape she had - the luxury other than the freedom in breathing.
'But you may not leave that house under any circumstances until the end of the week.'
The statement following the blessing had shocked her - how was she supposed to live without having anything to do? Was she supposed to hibernate?
'Is that understood?' her father had questioned her, before she threw out those impudent and somewhat ungrateful comments. It was almost rhetorical, the question was, for the way the steely-eyed man inquired had sounded as if he wanted nothing but a yes... It's not like he would listen to other answers anyway.
One week without those confines, a voice whispered in her head. No one to tell you what to say, how to behave, what to eat, what to wear -
"Yes, Father. I understood."
The list would have gone on and on, and she was more than willing to put it to an end.
As the consequence, three days and soon to be three nights she had spent with dying enthusiasm; and worse, she was reminded that she still had four more days to go. Sakura watched the sun moving closer to the horizon as she waited for her maids to knock lightly and serve her delicacies, the golden light teased her eyes, its warmth slowly lulling her into a sleep.
She felt like she was half asleep all the time. She wondered if those two maids with her felt the same way too, taking care of someone feeling as lackluster as she was.
"Home," she mumbled into her kimono sleeves she slept on, followed by the soft pattern of her slowing breathing.
Sawarada residence, at the same time -
"This matter will not escape my attention so easily, Sawarada," said a man perpetually, and the addressed man wiped a thin line of sweat over his eyebrows with the back of his hand, though his cold facade and the warmth of the room hid the act of nervousness well. They were both sitting cross-legged across each other, only separated by a tea set, each cup was half-filled with green tea.
"I am not going to sell my daughter to..." Sawarada found himself muttering under his breath, unfinished when he realize he had just spoken what's in his mind, as his eyes met the other's. That other guy smirked ruefully, un-crossing his hands and put them down to his lap.
"To an evil guy like me?" he finished, and Sawarada glared because a big part of it was undeniably true. He just didn't have the chance to blurt it out yet. "Sawarada Soushi, do you believe in what you've said, what you're going to say? That I intend to involve your daughter in a cheap bargain? You must've valued her more than that."
Sawarada Soushi could've sworn he had heard him chortle.
"It's not my place to decide what is best for her - it is for me to help her choose, and guard her decision. Therefore, your offer is unacceptable."
"Though it means to an end to your small reign?"
How badly Sawarada wanted to wipe off that righteous smirk off of that snake's face with violence - then again, the man not commencing anything to annihilate him and his country was something he should be grateful of - he knew that the man had the power. A headless king wouldn't be that useful to a developing country.
That, however, didn't mean that he would bend to the other's will that easily.
"I assure you, Uchiha-san, that it will be unnecessary to give it a try. I have another business to attend to, if you'll excuse me."
That excuse was bordering on an order - that could have been an act of someone inching nearer to a nervous outburst.
Masked perfectly behind that politeness and that fierce exterior, of course, Uchiha thought.
"Until then, Sawarada-san," Uchiha brought himself up slowly and made his way out. As he opened the door, he turned, smirking, to the eyes that had been boring holes on his back. "Till the time you acquiesce my offer."
The raven-haired man, long strands kept in a low ponytail, walked out languidly and slid the door close behind him.
Sawarada Soushi fisted his hands on his lap and bit his lips, contemplating.
On the other side of the door, a young man waiting outside raised his head, a bit startled after looking at the tatami pattern for so long. "Brother?" his voice was tainted with uncertainty.
"Let us go home," the older one said. Drop the subject, the tone actually ordered. "You needn't worry. She will marry you - in due course."
The young brunet's face was unreadable as he nodded an approval, his mind straying somewhere else to a memory of a pink-haired lady wandering alone in the backyard; and another of a little girl, long pink fringe hiding her eyes from him, sitting and playing koto with stubby fingers pensively.
She was smothered with luxury, a spoiled brat, she was; there was no need for her to have bonds with people, in her father's opinion.
Being in a similar position, the difference being the crucial fact that he didn't have to be a king someday - if his older brother chose to take the role - Sasuke too was spoiled badly in an attempt to cover the childhood memory gaps his uncaring parents left.
Uchiha Sasuke always gets what he sees.
At the small house, Sakura woke up to find that the sun had disappeared behind that wide stretch of horizon. She sighed in disappointment, and still feeling hazy from sleep, she dragged herself into the room and closed the shoji door.
XXX
The small house, the following day -
Having brought herself to the back porch of her temporary cage, Sawarada Sakura couldn't resist the urge to lean on the wooden joist and enjoy the peaceful view she had come to memorize too well in only three days and three nights - back at the big house, she hadn't had that much time to take things that passed her view into account, every minute of her day had been well-planned and the word 'recess' hadn't even made it into her schedule - it was the only outdoor recreation she was allowed to have, which was the view of the pond and the small garden.
She could catch the sunset there, and she imagined how beautiful it would be if it was full moon. The moon would be reflected perfectly by the pond, the silvery shadow rippling as she dipped her hand in the chilly water, the trees rustling and the crickets singing...
The wind whipped and shook the trees harder, cherry blossom petals falling like rain. The young princess narrowed her eyes as the pink petals were blown, some against her cheeks, and she brought up her long-sleeved arms to cover her face.
As the wind quieted, she lowered her arms and found that on her right had already sat a man, pensive.
Sakura meeped in shock and quickly quieted herself with the sleeves of her light yukata - the man didn't seem to realize her being there, however, seemingly fascinated by the sea of cherry blossom petals covering the ground - she was, too, seeing pink completely blanketing the place - some even were floating listlessly on the pond over the swimming kois. While he seemed to totally ignore her being, Sakura couldn't even bring herself to make him acknowledge the fact that he hadn't only trespassed on a private place but had also made himself comfortable without even asking whose property he was comfortably sitting at.
She shook her head. This place doesn't even belong to me, it's my father's.
And they say I'm too rational to have an imaginary friend... Talk about an imaginary stranger that will not talk to me.
The curious princess stole a glance to her side, watching from the corner of her eyes.
What's with the mask? she thought. And the garbs, unlike those common samurais I've seen... she couldn't help but scrutinizing the guy's attire, finding it very interesting - sleeveless black shirt that followed the strong lines of his body, and she could finally find the haori she first thought was missing, the top of his kimono, tied around his slim waist - before her eyes could study him any further a thought tore her gaze off him in an instant.
What am I doing?
A thousand of principles she had learned, repeated and practiced during her daily lessons rained on her hard - not to look at a man's eyes directly while speaking or while being in the same room, only speak when she was spoken to - all that taught her to behave like a princess she was.
God, my father's gonna kill me if he knew.
If he knew, a voice in her head whispered devilishly. If.
Sakura shook her head in embarrassment and, slowly not to produce sound, inched away before her ribcage spring open to release her furiously beating heart.
That simple, soundless act caught his attention this time.
Still trying to calm the pounding in her ribcage, she was downright flabbergasted when he addressed her casually, as if he had known her for quite some time. "Hime?" he had inquired softly, as if attempting not to scare her away.
Kami-sama, she trembled inwardly. She had never been that affected only by the sound of her name on someone's lips - it wasn't even her name, it was her royal title, almost like an epitome synonymous to her name.
She cursed inwardly for her foolishness had urged her to send her maids back to the castle to bring her 'her koto and a collection of literature for her to spend some quality time with'. She wouldn't even think of that pointless errand hadn't she been that desperate to get out of an act of watching the sun's movements across the sky.
Hime. Princess. He had known she was one.
Who else would be addressed as 'Princess' in this environment? she muttered inwardly, and as she had been taught, she answered politely without rising her eye level from her lap. "Yes?"
He moved closer to her - she inhaled sharply in fright, catching a whiff of musk and something spicy she couldn't quite name in the surge of air through her nostrils - and reached forward to take a cherry blossom petal she didn't even realize had perched on the top of her head.
Not an imaginary friend. I'm not delusional after all.
"...Thank you," she mumbled almost inaudibly, being in close proximity with this stranger didn't leave enough space in her brain to think of something more elegant and such.
Stranger.
A mildly shocked expression crossed his visible eye, another was covered by a head protector - did he not have much or did he not want much to be exposed? - when she backed as far away as she could and hissed, "Who the hell are you?"
No, he's not an assassin, not intending to be if he's one, the thought that she could have been killed because her lack of alertness made her skin crawl, and she looked timidly at the guy who was still sitting on the same spot he had been since ten minutes ago. Not wanting to show weakness, the princess gathered her courage and looked back at him in defiance as if challenging, all the while trying to scoot backwards to her room and prepared to dash and grab a dagger kept under her futon. A dagger that her father had entrusted to her, almost as a symbol that she was independent and could take care of herself, and that danger was always near the royal family member.
This petty fear shouldn't scare her away, she thought. She was the daughter of Sawarada Soushi, the bravest man in the country that she had idolized since God-knows when, and she wouldn't disappoint him at times like these.
The tension cracked when the stranger chuckled, and dissolved into a heart-warming laughter.
Her fingers instantly flew to feel her face for any trace of dried rice or soyu, and feeling none under her panicked ministration she could finally relax a little. The laughter, however, kept on going, enveloping her in familiar warmth.
She froze when what came out wasn't what she expected, or what she would have ever expected - her mouth fell open in the most unladylike manner, her jaw hanging on its hinges as if avowing her shock.
"Tsk tsk... Such assertive language coming from those beautiful lips."
XXX
"Soushi..."
"Yes, Mikage?"
"Have you informed your daughter that her guardian might have arrived this afternoon?"
"You did not tell her she was going to have one?"
"Mikage, Sakura is a big girl. She is twenty-one, our daughter would've known how to act her age, don't you think?"
When his wife didn't answer, Sawarada Soushi began listing the fastest ways to communicate with his only daughter - when he found none was faster than the twenty-four hour mail he turned to Mikage for suggestions, and realized that his wife had taken with her her bathing attire and had gone to the bathing chamber.
"Women..."
"I heard that, Soushi."
The man shook his head. Never underestimate the power of a married woman. Ironically, no universal law he couldn't bend but this one - while practically his wife had that advantage of being a smart woman she always was, and married to a powerful man no less.
"If you still want my forgiveness, you know where to find me," she trailed off, and finally left to take the shower she craved.
Over the five-minute period walking to the bathing chamber, Mikage's mind flew back to the conversation she had with her husband two days ago, concerning the safety of their daughter in the outskirts of their region - she had wanted to go after her only daughter and stay with her until the end of the week, but Soushi decided against it, insisting that without her he would lose his anchor.
Such a sap, Mikage thought, smiling, a very sweet one. Sakura, for having a soft spot for your father, I apologize.
After agreeing not to follow her daughter to the small resort, Mikage had insisted on sending a personal guardian to look after their only daughter's well-being, and still she pushed him to tell her though Soushi had assured her that he had known just the right man and had already sent the man to the house long before she had the idea.
"Why would you want to know?"
"Why wouldn't I?" she had responded dryly.
"I don't have the knowledge."
Mikage gave him a hurt look, partly annoyed, and from the amount of control he sensed on his wife's face he knew she was trying hard not to lash out and give him a good punch across the face or two and knock some sense into him.
"I just want to know if it won't be a wild-goose chase that I'm going to go on, if anything happens to Sakura."
Her well-thought response silenced him effectively.
"Han'nin Kakeru, that was his name on the battlefield." was Soushi's response to his wife's quizzical and unconvinced expression, and Mikage found that there were edges of admiration in his tone when he told her his name. Later, the admiration slowly seeped into her system as well as she was being uncovered the facts of the young man's life surprisingly early yet outstanding career - at the age of eighteen, the young man had just turned eighteen the week before, Han'nin Kakeru had received the admiration and envious stares from all of his peers being the youngest member of an elite team that had worked on various high-level missions requiring the most brilliant and courageous men to do the job - all of which he had finished with distinction.
"That is impressive," she had exclaimed after hearing the short biography, and smiled wistfully at her husband. "Now I know I needn't worry so much, having someone to keep an eye on our beloved daughter."
But that nagging displeasure, albeit extremely minute, stayed - as well as the name, Han'nin, that resounded in her head and begging for attention, just like any other dangerous name did.
Han'nin... Criminal.
She stopped mid-track, feeling that she was being followed. Recognizing the sound of footfalls and to whom they belonged, smirking in victory, she opened the door leading to the bathing chamber, and left it for her husband to close behind him.
XXX
"Back. Off." Sakura bit tersely, feet stepping backwards tentatively, carefully looking for a way to escape the man's twenty-four-seven surveillance on her daily life she had came to realize began on his subtle arrival.
"Hime..."
"I said back off!"
Can't, his eyes silently told her. "It was a direct order to keep an eye on you and keep you at an arm's length."
"I never heard of that last part!" the pink-haired princess shot at him, dashing with extremely narrow steps due to the length and the burden of her kimono. Sometimes being a royal family member is such a hard task to do. She hated, loathed those click-click-clacking wooden sandals she was to wear whenever she should go outside the royal courtyard, and she hated dragging the long end of her kimono here and there while it caught all that dust and dirt on the floor - she saw no point on moving around with the traditional clothes on.
"Alright, I should keep you in sight. That doesn't differ that much."
"It does!" she retorted childishly, defying her age and her appearance, and she hobbled to her private chamber, after going around in circles and passing the room at least three times - in her kimono, no less. She could really use some futon and pillow after hours of ridiculous hiding and seeking...
The guy who had been playing cats and mouse with her huffed indignantly, and she waited for him to curse or show a sign of anger - something she was looking forward to see, since a new presence, his presence in this house was making her feel uncomfortable in her skin, the wide stretch of forest around her suddenly looked more auspicious than frightening and she couldn't fight the urge of stepping into her sandals and stroll under the warm sun, an attempt which had been halted by the source of her anxiety himself - and received her ultimate goal of his departure.
Eventually.
Her patience was wearing thin, and the man hadn't even broken in a sweat. All of her attempts seemed like a warming-up to him.
"I won't act against your father's command." The man replied silkily as he leaned onto the wooden walls - she heard a soft 'thump' as his broad shoulders made contact with the hard material - and crossed his arms as he balanced on one foot, an ankle over another.
He sometimes looked wary, his face unreadable as she watched him observing their surrounding at the corner of his eye. At those moments, Sakura was forced to feel the same wariness, afraid that something might jump at her from out of the blue and do unimaginably wicked things like... like rape, for instance...
She would shudder, and then would pretend that she hadn't just been scared out of her wits by her own overactive imagination.
Half hidden by the shoji door separating her from the lanky guy leaning on the wooden walls not far from the door, Sakura stuck her head out a bit to check out on him. The princess saw him looking elsewhere, his mind occupied, though the air of alertness around him had never changed. The golden sunrays played across his features, and she admired how such masculine creature could reflect them so beautifully, his eyes and silver hair gleaming.
A beautiful stranger.
A beautiful jerk. Duh.
Adhering to command does not make him one.
No matter how I judge him, he was the one who's supposed to look after me until the end of the week, the one directly chosen by my father.
The princess contemplated seriously whether she should strangle her father or give him a bone-crunching hug for providing her with the man he'd honored and trusted with his life.
Clearing her throat first, making the other's head turn, she then asked. "What's your name?"
Mildly surprised, the guy looked deeply in her eye - in that visible eye she thought she had seen a mischievous glint, promising an evil deed that had yet to be done. Still leaning on the slightly opened door, Sakura hoped that he would answer soon.
After quite a short while that lasted a century to the anxious princess, the mysterious guy stood straight and faced her fully, and standing straight her head barely reached his chin; much to her chagrin because then her glare, if it had ever had any effect on him, would lose some of its edge.
That and she didn't favor looking up to some unknown guy. One of that laid-back and good-smelling kind.
As she was spacing out, he had actually began studying her emerald eyes intently - never had he seen such an enchanting shade, with a tint of almost a sea-bluish color that made his insides do an energetic flip - until the owner shifted back to reality from her half-daydream. Kakashi held back a grin threatening to split his face when that familiar pink graced the princess' face, and it was much harder to maintain his cool exterior after he realized she actually was trying to fight it.
He was not going to lose his cool here, at least not now... it'll be half the fun. Let's see what he could do.
The blush Sakura had so arduously willed to be off of her cheeks came back, redder and meaner, when the silver-haired guy before her dipped his head a bit to, she thought, maintain an eye contact with me. Her breath started to come unevenly, and so was her heartbeat - her fingers gripped the doorsill tighter as a thin layer of sweat formed on her palms.
All she asked for was his name.
"My name... is of little importance," slowly he said with a low voice, and his visible eye crinkled as his lips stretched into a wide smile under his mask. Wide-eyed, the princess watched him retreat to resume looming over her, unconsciously displaying a protective manner around her - silent moments passed and he turned his back on her to leave - yet her long, delicate fingers instantly grasped the sleeve of his haori tied loosely around his slim waist, holding him back.
He patiently stood there, waiting for her next move.
Her lips parted, for it was so hard for the words to go past them coherently, and it took some time until finally she could tentatively ask, "What should I call you with?"
The ends of his eye crinkled again as the soft, unseen smile, she imagined, graced his feature. "Han'nin."
She neither made any movements when he pulled away from her light grasp nor when he slid the shoji door close - she did only to pull back as the door finally separated her from the outside world.
Criminal.
Her brain rewound the occurring scenes, and replayed them half as fast.
Sakura almost pulled at her hair in frustration when she realized how he had treated her like a baby and how pompously he had refused to tell her his name - what, was he afraid that his cover was gonna be blown? Who was he anyway?
"Argh, you stupid arrogant boor!"
The silver-haired man smiled when the wooden wall his back was pressed against rumbled a little, shaken by the young princess' angry bellow, and he leaned back to the cold wall to savor the comforting chill it transferred to his neck and below.
With that, he closed his eyes - only to see jadeite eyes staring back at him, clawing at his soul.
On the other side of the same wall, Sakura sat in silence, lost in thought. Then she dragged her futon to the far side of the room, pushed it until it met the wall, and slept on it with her back flush to the wooden panel.
Eventually, they fell asleep.
XXX
Kakashi opened his eyes to the view of a battlefield.
Everything was moving in slow motion, the dust rising and blocking his view, clogging his lungs with dirty air that drove him to the brink of tears. Samurais, soldiers, everything was there but sound. He wondered idly if he had gone deaf, and started checking his body parts for wounds, though he doubted he would even feel it for he was practically numb.
The hands he brought to his face were bloodied.
Crimson, then a deeper shade of crimson in the form of dried splotches all over his arms.
Someone behind him - !
Everything stopped moving slowly - all of the sudden they all were moving at the speed of light. Slashing, cutting through armors, clothes, then skin; the scent of blood hung heavily in the air, the coppery smell of death.
Here in the battlefield everyone dies. The brightest son of a mother, the beloved husband of a wife, the father of little children - one dies surrounded by hopes of living.
He whipped around swiftly and aimed the kunai he hadn't realized he had been holding to his attacker's chest, burying it deeply right under his sternum, blood already spurting out from the newly made wound, a bit to the right where the heart was situated. The person fell like a dead log face forward to the sandy ground.
Another random kill, he found himself thinking.
One's lover had just been killed.
A mother had lost her brightest son.
A wife had been widowed, and still she would wait for his return, until the bad news of grief be brought home and send her crying for days.
It might be someone's father. Someone's lover. Here, he died in anonymity, in the hands of Han'nin Kakeru.
God, he didn't even know what was the real name of his killer. His family and relatives would bear a grudge over an epitome of a cold-blooded murderer that covered his back throughout the war, might have passed him by the street and not having the slightest idea.
Kneeling, Kakashi reached the dead man's shoulder and flipped him over to examine his face. His blood froze at the sight of jadeite eyes opened wide in horror, blood trickling out past rosy lips onto porcelain-smooth skin.
My God -
The corpse of Sakura blinked at him and reached her hand, blood dripping from the tips of her fingers and down her wrist, a ghost of sickly smile appeared on her face.
"Gah!"
The silver-haired samurai woke with a start, heart pounding painfully and his lungs screamed at the lack of oxygen. Feeling a burning sensation in his chest Kakashi realized he had been holding his breath, and quickly he breathed deep - the air when it was that time between midnight and morning washed down his respiratory tracts and calmed him from the devils of his nightmare.
Another devil, however, might not be that easy to kill. The devil in his own brain. His logic.
Stop before it's too late.
No, no... I can't. It is my job. I want to do this. I can do this.
Quit! Do something else. You're trained in effective assassination.
I...
You can't have a feeling towards the one you're protecting. Her.
Then, simultaneously, he and his consciousness recited an old saying, an oath of loyalty he'd taken thousands of times he could recite it in his sleep - "...not to be involved emotionally with the One..." - though the message was muted, every passing second it became more and more indistinct until it was no more than a low beckoning at the back of his head.
I might end up killing myself... or the one I'm protecting.
XXX
Sakura woke up to the view of an endless field.
Alone standing in the middle of the blue-tinted field, she felt frail and utterly at loss.
She tripped over something, caused her to stumble and fall forward. Her palms met the ground before her face did, and the feeling of damp earth and crushed grass under her fingers made her shiver. Cold. Breathing white puffs of air, the drop of temperature was then brought to her attention. Must keep warm.
Shakily bringing herself to stand, Sakura wouldn't in a million years think that the earth supporting her under her feet would swallow her. Yet that what's happened.
She let out a muffled scream as the wet ground pulled her in, and to survive she had clawed into the ground around her desperately - but the solid then liquefied, and all around her was now crystal blue, deeper and deeper she went.
Kicking and flailing to avoid sinking into the deep abyss, yet not even moving an inch to the source of light, perhaps just above the surface, Sakura forced her eyes that she hadn't realized had pressed shut all the time - she only sensed everything since the earth opened up and took her in - straining in the glimmering blue and black shadow, she looked around her, every direction, up, down...
...to the pale fingers curled on the end of her kimono.
To the silver tuft of hair dancing in the water that belonged to... Han'nin...
Her mouth opened to scream, and bubbles of oxygen escaped her throat, up and out, the dark bitterness pressing her body now forcing to enter her lungs.
Fire butterflies danced underneath her eyelids, even as her eyes close, and she stopped breathing. The princess thought she had.
Sakura gasped, coughed, and woke in her bed, drenched with cold sweat.
Her eyes darted to the door leading to the living room, where there would be a corridor that ended up at the maid's chamber - and almost slapped her forehead realizing that she'd forgotten a terribly important fact.
No. Her maids hadn't come back yet.
Nowhere to go, except...
Her eyes fell at the wall beside her, that had given her a sense of safety throughout the night until the nightmare disrupted her sleep, hoping that she could see through it and find solace from her protector.
Han'nin.
Without giving a second thought, Sakura stood up, her feet trembling at the memory of earth closing in at her, and stepped out of her room to enter another's.
XXX
Kakashi curled on his side, back facing the door as if willing anyone intending to knock to back off and leave him alone, brooding. The series of signs appearing in his dream were confusing him, since all of them were fuzzy and he tried to make sense of them but they weren't clear enough for him to remember, not enough for him to discern the pattern.
Stay away from her, wasn't that clear enough?
Stop.
She'll die.
Please.
She'll die like everybody else...
"Stop this," the silver-haired man groaned and pressed his shaky palms to his ears, praying the voice would just go away.
Just like Obito.
He didn't hear the sound of wood scraping against wood as the door behind him opened.
"No..." he pleaded like a vulnerable child when forgotten memories now tried to settle an old score with his sanity.
"Han'nin?" the voice, using his other name as if in attempt of mockery, touched his trembling shoulders.
Kakashi saw red.
The masked samurai blew up, and he reached for the long katana he kept next to his pillow and lashed out with an animalistic growl, baring his canine to scare the voice away, pushed the person down and put his weight on his knees on the person's sides, after stabbing his katana at the tatami mat an inch away from his cheek...
The red haze before his eyes cleared, and he could now see whose sweet breath was mingling with his.
...her cheek.
It was Sakura.
The One. The one he should protect with his life, breathing heavily under him, eyes firmly shut, lips trembling.
XXX
Sakura hoped this was just another bad dream.
Han'nin had been there, as she had expected, when she entered the room and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible - but she lost the need of moving surreptitiously when she heard him moaning in sleep. Not exactly moaning, but pleading in pain, as if under a nightmarish effect.
On her tiptoes, silently approaching him, Sakura forgot about her own nightmare and thought what could have cracked that demeanor of his and show her this... fragile side of him... and stirred something in her heart so.
The princess bent her knees and crouched behind his curled-up body, seeming to shrink in size as his long legs and shoulders were bent, and she was then seeing a little boy experiencing his first nightmare. Her fingers followed the spikes of his hair, barely touching them, and they landed on the spot just in the middle of his shoulder blades. Under her fingers was blazing hot -
Before she could exclaim how extremely feverish he felt and asked if he was okay, he attacked her, his sword now planted firmly just next to her cheek. His weight was pinning her to the floor, knees on either side of her waist, his face hovering over hers, eyes blazing.
Sakura had never imagined that she would be seeing that eyes so soon, kind of regretted it, but soon her thoughts were wiped away as all now was centered to those mismatched eyes.
Brown and red, she told herself inwardly. In case she didn't get to see them again.
A light breeze passing them couldn't seem to get through the millimeter-wide gap between their bodies, and once reminded of his closeness - closer than any of her cousins or any men had gotten - the blush crept back and colored her features from head to toe. Her lips felt too dry they'd crack, and she licked them, and she saw his eyes followed the way her tongue was dragged lazily over the pink skin.
She couldn't say a thing, even when she wanted to, when he pushed himself off of her - and limped out of the room.
Sakura stayed where she was for a full minute, and when the wind blew against her again and Han'nin wasn't there to share the warmth he'd given her earlier, she rolled over lightly to his bed and slept there all the way through the cold night.
XXX
The silver-haired man stood outside, shoulders hunched as he looked upwards. His eyes met the silvery orb up in the dark sky, and his muscles hardened when he felt that familiar tingling at his back.
Again, he thought. Someone is watching us again.
Was this the reason why he had been asked to keep an eye on her?
Easing down, Kakashi rested upon the thin door behind him, his trained ears picking up crickets' song from afar and soft breathing some feet away. The night was peaceful and he should've slept, but no matter how much he wanted his bed that night he couldn't get back in - not with her sleeping unprejudiced on his comfortable cot, open to any kinds of assault. The samurai contemplated on going in and watching over her closely, just in case.
His imagination ran wild when it came into contact with the memory of his earlier encounter with the pink-haired princess - she had not been roughly pushed under him, she had been in that position willingly, her body undulated with him, beckoning him to make his move with that endless jadeite orbs -
He should wait outside. He would.
Lullabied by the soothing feminine breathing, Han'nin closed his eyes and let himself relax - partially.
XXX
The figure lurking in the shadows, loitering, narrowed his eyes. He had been watching from the beginning and he didn't at all like what he'd seen. His fingers had gripped the hilt of his weapon as the scene unfolded before his eyes, but then he restrained himself from doing something that might be extremely foolish.
Not now, he told himself self-convincingly. Soon.
XXX
Is it a crime to want someone so bad?
XXXXX
TBC
Author's Note: Long time no see, folks :) Huge thanks to readers out there that have patiently waited for an update... I totally understand if some of you already erased this story from your update list, since the update date is always tentative. Here's the insight into our beloved 'shadow' who invaded Kakashi's head! -grin- The story would support the upcoming chapters, so I hope you do not think of this so-called 'Interlude' less than the normal chapters.
Special thanks to Sunsilver: Don't lose your spirit, cheer up! Here's an update to cure your blues ;)
To artsaffron: Always show up at the very hard part of writing (which is beta-ing myself) and, again, kicked my butt and remind me of my long-forgotten update schedule. Thanks!
To all who have reviewed since the very beginning: Koruyuu, Kyuubi no Kitsune0101, Meadowcroft, SilverGhostKitsune, Tiasha, Romm, ArishaGinkaze, artsaffron, antilogicgirl, sessygirl66, and tixylix... you guys rock:D
And of course, all that I haven't mentioned above but to whom I'm not less thankful. Stay tuned:) Check for story status at my profile, I usually write my rants there.
P.S.: Bash me in the head in a review! -wink-