Title: Love Between Land and Sea
Rating: T – Language (yeah, that is about it)
Pairings: Sakura/Sasuke, Ino/Sasuke
Summary: (AU) Sakura, a mermaid, falls in love with Sasuke, a human. Sacrificing everything she knew to be with him was one thing, but getting him to accept her was another.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. And I do not own the story of the Little Mermaid. Thank-you.
Chapter XII: Naruto's Say
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Sakura sat on the docks with her knees brought up to her chin and her hands clasped around them. She silently wondered if the wedding had begun yet. The sun had long since gone down; now she was just waiting for the moon to be bright enough. She prayed Naruto would come to her call. If he didn't…she would never get to say good bye.
The very thought brought more tears to her eyes. The pain in her heart was becoming unbearable. 'Why couldn't I have just stayed where I belonged? I'm so stupid,' she thought. 'I thought I could do this…I thought I could get him to accept me…Stupid, stupid, STUPID!' she mentally yelled at herself, eliciting more tears.
She finally calmed herself down when she realized it was much darker out and the moon shone its white light all across the ocean. Wiping the stray tears away, Sakura slipped the flower pin out of her hair and held it up. It took her a few tries but she finally got it to shine.
'I hope he sees it,' she thought. Now all she had to do was wait.
One minute…two minutes…ten minutes…twenty minutes…He didn't see the signal. He was not going to come.
'I-it's understandable,' she choked on a sob as she tried her best to keep her thoughts straight. 'He was probably only watching for the signal to come from Sasuke-kun's castle…not from here,' she thought. 'I should have—'
"Sakura-chaaaaan!" a familiar and loud voice shouted, breaking the serenity of the night around them.
Sakura immediately laid her eyes on the blonde who was currently swimming his way towards the edge of the wooden dock where she sat. She had never been happier to see him in her life.
"I was just coming to see you! Luckily I saw the signal while I was swimming! What's this I hear about a wedding and you don't even invite me! I thought we were best—" he immediately stopped talking when he finally got close enough to see her face. Her eyes were puffy and stray tears were still sliding slowly down her flushed cheeks. "Sakura-chan?" he asked tentatively.
Her green orbs locked with his light blue ones and she attempted one of the smiles she always gave him, but she failed miserably.
"He's—Y-y-you're joking…you have to be—if he's…marrying someone else…th-th-then that means you'll—NO! You can't die, Sakura-chan. You just can't!" he said as he lifted his hands to touch her no longer clasped ones. He held onto them and squeezed reassuringly. "H-Hinata-chan and I are going to be married soon," he said, closing his eyes as to not let any tears escape. "I proposed to her not too long ago…a-and Anko and Kakashi married already. Everyone thinks she's expecting."
Sakura, trying to set the mood a little lighter, laughed faintly. The thought of her eldest sister having children didn't sound right for some reason to Sakura. 'Probably because of the way I have viewed her all these years.'
Naruto opened his eyes and looked up after her laughter faded. A few tears broke his vision, but he smiled. "Hard to believe, right?" he replied, following her example of trying to brighten the mood. These were, after all, probably the last moments they would ever spend together.
In the distance she heard her name being called. Instinctively, she let go of Naruto's hands and stood up.
"Sakura-chan, what's going—" but he stopped talking when she raised a finger to her lips.
Sakura turned around and came face to face with the man she really did not want to see right now; Sasuke.
'Isn't he supposed to be getting married?' she questioned mentally as she stared into his endless black eyes.
"Sakura, the wedding's going to be starting soon," he started, not noticing Sakura stiffening at the mention of the wedding. "Aren't you going to come?" he asked.
"No, she isn't going to come," Sakura froze when she heard Naruto reply for her.
'Naruto-kun, you idiot…' she thought, just hoping that Sasuke went deaf in the last seven seconds.
He looked beyond Sakura for a second and then back at her. "Who was that?" he inquired.
Of course, Sakura didn't answer, but she also didn't point Naruto out. All she did was shake her head.
"Wow, Sakura-chan," Naruto started, "you didn't tell me that Uchiha-teme was stupid, too."
'Just shut up, just shut up, just shut up…' she chanted in her head.
This time, Sasuke pushed past her and walked to the edge of the docks. There he finally saw the source of the obnoxious remarks. "Isn't it a little late to be swimming?" he asked, unaware of the fact that Naruto was not Human.
Naruto just glared up at the dark haired male, a few tears trailing down his cheeks. "How can you talk so casually? Or aren't you even aware of what you have done?" Naruto spat, never breaking eye contact with Sasuke.
Sasuke just looked at the blonde. "What I've done?" he repeated, almost in a thoughtful tone. "What are you talking about?"
Naruto just chose to ignore him after his response. "C'mon, Sakura-chan," he said, moving his eyes to her. "Climb on my back. I'm sure if we go now, we can reach the surface above the palace before sunrise."
When Sakura didn't respond, Sasuke did.
"What? You'll drown if you expect to swim out into the ocean while carrying someone on your back," he exclaimed.
Naruto glared again at him. Against better judgment, Naruto raised his blue tail out of the water and flipped it around a bit for Sasuke to see.
Sasuke just stared at the tail, mute for words.
"I'm not like you. Neither is Sakura," Naruto explained. "I'm going to take her as close to home as she can go so she can d-die peacefully, with her family," he said as his voice broke slightly.
Sasuke then turned his head towards Sakura. "Die? She can't die… she's not even ill," he uttered in pure disbelief.
Naruto glowered up at the Uchiha. "Illness has nothing to do with it, Uchiha-teme. Besides, it's your fault anyway," he said, hatred dripping in each word. Before Sasuke could even respond, Naruto continued. "Sakura-chan sold her voice to what might as well be the devil's incarnation just so she could be with you. But he also gave her a sort of time limit. If you were ever to marry someone else… on the morning after the wedding Sakura would die. And can you guess what tomorrow is?" he explained.
Sasuke just looked from Sakura to Naruto. "You expect me to believe this?" Sasuke laughed. "Merpeople? Spells? Absolute ludicrous. Besides, if this were true, how would Sakura even know me? I don't believe I've ever met a mermaid before," he said as he laughed some more.
Naruto growled. "Who do you think saved you from drowning?"
Sasuke smirked. "I know who saved me. Yamana—"
"You think that, that blonde bitch showed up in the middle of the ocean and swam you to safety? All she did was find you on the beach when Sakura-chan had to leave you. You think the currents of the ocean carried you over those countless miles to safety in that short a period of time? Sakura-chan saw the ship go down and immediately dove into the water looking for you. Once she found you, she hoisted you on her back and swam you to safety," he paused for a moment to look at Sakura, who was currently looking at her feet, wringing her hands. "She stayed with you on that beach until past sunrise…until the flock of Humans came out of the building; then she left you," Naruto finished, trying to gauge the Uchiha's reaction.
Sasuke was silent. It did all make sense…but the idea of half human half fish people living in the ocean was ridiculous.
"Was that explanation enough for you? Can we go now?" Naruto said impatiently.
"Do you have any more proof?" Sasuke replied, almost surprising himself that he was slowly buying into this.
Naruto thought for a moment. Then it hit him. "The scale!" he exclaimed. "Before she left you on the beach, Sakura-chan ripped off one of her scales from her tail and placed it in your pocket. It was green in color; almost the same shade as Sakura-chan's hair pin," he said.
It was then that Sasuke believed Naruto's words. He told no one about that scale, no one could know about it… except the one who gave it to him. Subsequently at that moment a memory flashed before him.
A dark sky…vicious waves…emerald eyes… a soft voice… "It's going to be alright, Sasuke-kun…I'll keep you safe."
Sasuke turned to Sakura. "It was you…I've made a horrible mistake," he said as she brought her eyes to look at his.
"You sure as hell did!" Naruto yelled.
"I will probably never be able to apologize enough for the emotional turmoil I've put you through, Sakura. But I know a way to try and make it up."
Both Sakura and Naruto looked at him in surprise.
"I'm going to call off the wedding… I know now who should truly be my wife." With that said he took stepped towards her and brought her into an embrace. "I'm not marrying you because I would be saving your life or because you are the woman who saved me…It's because I think I'm in love with you," he said softly into her ear.
Sakura smiled and returned his embrace. Hours ago, she truly believed that she was going to die...that she would never be able to talk with Naruto or her family again…that Orochimaru was going to win.
Naruto smiled up at the two. "I'll see you later, Sakura-chan! I've got to let everyone know!" and before Sakura could spare a glance in his direction, he was already gone.
Sasuke receded from the shared embrace. He brought his hand up to wipe away the tears that stained her cheeks with his thumb. "I never meant to put you through so much pain, I hope this can compensate for it all," he apologized.
Sakura shook her head and smiled at him. 'It's alright now,' she thought. 'I can be by your side now forever; that's all I ever wanted since I first saw you.' She pushed all her previous doubts out of her mind and focused on what her destiny held for her now. She hoped it would be happy from now on.
End
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Author's Notes: Sorry for the BIG lag in an update. I had trouble deciding how to end this story. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't what many people expected. The ending probably would have been better if I stuck true to the stories ending, but I wanted to have my own ending for it. Besides, many people didn't want a sad ending, so here's the cheesy ending xD.
Thanks for all the reviews throughout the entire story, I enjoyed them greatly. I intend to start a new story soon; hopefully an ItaxSaku paring. So keep a look out:)
