He wouldn't stop following her.
Sakura tore herself from the sight of the bell tower and fled to the nearest alley she could find. The emotions shadowing his features spoke volumes, and she didn't have to be told to run before instinctively jumping into action. This Sasuke was much different than the man she'd encountered yesterday, gawking in the street, and elicited a frantic timidity in every atom of her body.
His massive chakra trailed her every step like a thundercloud. The sheer weight of his unhinged potential suffocated her thoughts. She ran blindly, taking any and every turn as they came, praying another passage would be there with every snap of her head. Blood pulsed in her ears as she desperately attempted to find a way out of this obscure maze, and all the while she berated herself for believing that he'd let her go unharmed, even for a moment. Even by accident.
The years blinded her from the ruthlessness of his sheer existence. Had war been so close to the present, even when it seemed so far away? Foolishly she'd assumed that Sasuke had matured, detached from the carnivorous machine Orochimaru had slaved over for years. A man mastering his craft, that's all Sasuke was: a murderer maintaining his namesake. Maybe the satisfaction he required to return back to normalcy was her blood smearing his hands. And he could do it, she knew. Even as her legs pounded the flat dirt of the earth floor, the pressure of gravity fighting back flaring through her thighs, adrenaline threw her onwards in sheer terror.
Rounding a corner, she found herself barred by a dead end of rotting brick, the dirt ground littered with trash bags and abandoned food wrappers. She cursed such pitiful luck. Retracing her steps would be impossible as he'd surely follow her every move, closing in on her any second now. The wrath of his presence already felt like hot tar on her senses. Sakura glanced up in desperation. The walls of the store on her left were reflected by the same size building on her right; the brick climbed up another twenty feet above her head, at least, with the tops of each roof sloping downwards towards the ground, mere feet apart as if preparing to kiss.
She could scale the walls if she moved quickly enough, but truly escaping Sasuke seemed unlikely. His chakra signature grew more foreboding with every passing second. It would be close, but no other choice revealed itself.
Charging her legs with chakra and grinding her teeth to prepare for her jump, Sakura pounced a quarter way up the wall, landing in a crouch. Refusing to glance back she began to sprint upwards, avoiding bricks that appeared overly-sensitive and damaged, which led to a game of improvisational hopskotch. The world seemed almost entirely in slow-motion, the gap between the two roofs seemed miles away and panic trickled into her pattern of breathing. Sasuke's chakra signature was virtually palpable at this point, molding around every curve of her fleeing body and thundering in its rage. He was coming. This man was going to kill her.
A petulant voice whimpered for Naruto in the back of her head. For the first time in a long time, she did not believe she would be her own hero.
But she'd die trying.
She heard him before she felt him. Feet always light as a feather, the kunoichi remained oblivious when he joined her pursuit up the side of the building. But even past the deafening power of his presence, she barely caught the poison of his voice at the nape of her neck.
"Sakura."
Time itself couldn't have moved quickly enough to deflect Sasuke's oncoming attack. His rough hands gripped stonily around her bare throat, squeezing maliciously before hurling her entire body into the rubble below. The earth cracked minimally beneath her weight as the kunoichi deflected as much of the impact as possible, but the crunch of her left knee meeting the ground sent a cascade of lightning behind her eyes.
Green chakra hummed around the injury before Sakura finished flipping back onto her feet, fighting the urge to moan at the pain radiating throughout her lower body.
Sasuke remained unimpressed and visibly seething even after the intelligence of her physical reaction. Heat and searing desolation radiated from his every pore.
"Sakura," he said again, more pointedly and dripping with animosity.
He didn't expect her immediate charge, a flurry of kicks - repelled by the guard slapped across his forearm, fury increasing at the recognition of her strength. She wielded more power within her tiny limbs than he remembered or imagined, and the heat of his anger grew at the thought.
A shruiken aimed half-heartedly at her ribcage was easily batted away. Was he testing her? Sakura released a bout of senbon from a case on her hip, which Sasuke's shinguard absorbed harmlessly. He responded with a decisive blow to the nape of her neck, the majority of which she deflected with chakra. Calmly, she reached behind and caught his wrist, halfway to snapping the bone before receiving a knee to the gut - she'd foolishly left her torso exposed - and he retrieved his outstretched arm before retreating a few yards back.
Clutching her abdomen a splash of blood spluttered from her twisted mouth as she coughed violently. The air completely vacated her lungs upon contact and her self-annoyance doubled.
He permitted no time for recuperation, tossing a cluster of kunai at her main chakra points. Dodging haphazardly, she seethed as pain bubbled in her stomach. The nukenin activated his bloodline within a shadowed corner, face still and hardened with savagery.
"You shouldn't be here," he said simply, ominously. Casting her eyes to the side to avoid any oncoming illusions, enmity ballooned in the chakra that swelled to cloak every inch of her body.
A collection of clones leaped from above, surrounding Sasuke from all angles. He parred with each before retrieving his kusanagi, smoke puffing in a halo as he swiped the blade in a neat circle. A blur later and the sword was returned to his hip. He saw the oncoming punch, although he hadn't expected it, and caught her glowing fist with his already injured hand. The defense cost him its mobility; the resounding crunch signalled its full, clean break. Sakura smirked.
The victory was short-lived as he pinned her roughly, further cracking the earth. The ache of her newly-healed knee flared for a moment, warranting a grunt from the kunoichi. Now Sasuke smirked, a sadistic shadow pouring over his features. "Still so weak."
Venom coursed through her veins. Hooking an ankle around his thigh and twisting the momentum to reverse their positions, Sakura sank a heavy knee into the bone of Sasuke's hip, simultaneously wrenching his broken wrist into a particularly agonizing angle.
"Fuck. You," she spat with all the resentment she could muster. The shinobi headbutted her, dazing her momentarily, then threw her from his person. Sakura landed with both feet braced against the brick wall at her back, then rebounded to send another round of taijutsu at Sasuke. The light of day streamed narrowly across his features as they sparred, punching and kicking and drawing blood where they could. Sakura ground her teeth with every received blow. Glancing at the seals tattooed on his wrist she pondered why he bothered with hand-to-hand combat. They both knew no matter her adeptness these days, a chidori to the stomach would silence her for good. It was unlike Sasuke to hold back.
Past their grappling she could hear the townspeople stirring in the streets. Fishermen pulled shore-side and called out the day's catch. She wondered if Yuri was open yet, and if she'd sold any cake. A little annoyed she remembered that she'd forgotten to try a slice.
Sasuke was quick to regain her attention, suddenly halting their exchange of blows to bat away her swinging leg and launch to grasp her upper arms. Expecting to meet the dusty ground once more, she stumbled ungracefully when her weight was instead pushed parallel to the ground. Her skin met the bitter bite of old brick, the back of her head clanging against the wall. Sasuke's sharingan twirled sadistically in front of her. Sakura was admittedly thrown by the change of pace.
"Get off of me," she hissed, pushing her arms against his grasp, although resistance was fruitless. He resettled her arms above her head, flat against the wall.
Leaning closer he seethed in response. "Do not speak or move."
Grunting and wiggling again to free herself, this time the kunoichi was quelled with the chill of the kusanagi tucked beneath her chin. She'd completely missed his draw.
"I will not repeat myself," he whispered gravely.
Before Sakura could formulate a retort, a rustling tumbled down the alleyway. A small, golden ball bounced harmlessly against the pavement then bobbed clumsily along the openings in the earth. Sasuke sheathed the sword as they both tracked the ball's movement. It rolled across the wreckage with a bit of teetering, then plopped decisively against the opposing wall, mere feet away from where the two ninja stood at arms.
Sasuke instantly shifted further into the alley and into the shield of a gloomy corner, speed hardly impaired by Sakura's added weight as he lifted her along. He rearranged their position, tucking himself into the corner of the touching dead brick with Sakura hidden behind his back. Her arms remained gathered in a twist within his only functioning hand. Unable to peer around the shinobi's broad back and prohibited from adjusting her position to witness the issue (she'd tried to lean past his shoulder to see, which earned her a painful yank on her convoluted limbs), Sakura stole the opportunity to gather herself. Instantly she suppressed the discomfort she held at the closeness of their bodies.
At his impatient instruction to cease the externalization of her chakra, as its glow would draw attention, she complied reluctantly. Although she was uncertain what shook Sasuke so thoroughly.
For a fleeting moment she considered fleeing. He seemed distracted enough, body tensed and legs coiled to leap at any moment. The hold he maintained on her arms could be loosened or broken with enough brute force, and plenty of chakra stilled hummed in her body. Fear and curiosity kept her still.
More scuffing echoed through the tunnel that led into the alleyway, along with random shouts and incoherent warnings. A child's nervous laugh sang through the corridor. Eventually a group of tottering shadows soared over the little shadow that the opening of the alley provided and the noises slowed. Sasuke remained perfectly still as a group of children emerged from the thin light.
Confusion mulled their faces, one of the shorter boys in the group even cupping his hands around his eyes.
"I can't even see!" said the boy with the impromptu hand-goggles. Sakura had forgotten how difficult vision-training had been as a genin. These civilian children reminded her of the weeks she'd spent training at midnight with Naruto and Kakashi, wandering blindly through the forest.
A taller girl flanking the boys' right hushed him as she encroached further into the alley, wandering closer to the crevices and shards of rock that lay in the shadows. Sasuke watched, motionless.
"The ball is back here somewhere, it's a dead end," said the same girl in a quiet tone, her feet slowing as the group travelled deeper. Sakura could sense their anxious little bodies a few yards away. Seven children all gathered at the mouth of the entrance. They couldn't be older than ten or so, she guessed, and she worried for their parents.
"If you're so sure then you can go in and look, Tomi," teased another girl in the back of the flock. The taller girl halted at the front of the group, gazing senselessly into the black air. "What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?" the same girl taunted.
"Stop it, Mahani," whimpered a small, quivering voice. Sasuke glanced at the trembling young toddler clinging to the dress of the mouthier female he'd been regarding. Tears welled in his eyes. "I think somebody is in there."
Sasuke's muscles tightened as another child retorted. "Don't be such a baby. No one is back here. Just find the ball already," said an exasperated Mahani.
"Would all of you just shut up?" Tomi barked. "I can't even think."
Mahani scoffed and shoved the little boy from her clothes. Sasuke stared as she clamored bodily to the front, making a point to push the other children as she travelled forward. "You big babies, I'll get it. It's just a ball."
The young girl started off in the right direction, but she didn't expect the patches of open-earth that cluttered the area around the ball. Her small shoe caught the edge of a sharp rock and she fell to the jagged ground with a complimentary thud. Sakura nearly jumped at the girl's piercing shriek.
The children fell into absolute disarray, half of them tucking tail and retreating, screaming for help, while some other simply stood, blind and petrified, and joined the injured Mahani in her wailing.
Knowing Sakura's first instinct would be to heal the child, Sasuke swiftly turned to pin the kunoichi with a look. She stared unabashedly back, providing a slight nod in understanding. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow slightly in question, unsure he trusted her to understand his meaning. Sakura simply peered upward, gaze settling on the gap between the roofs that she'd attempted to escape through earlier. When she returned her eyes to Sasuke, he released one of her arms with a threatening, albeit meaningful look. Slightly aggravated by his utter lack of trust in her better judgement, Sakura began her swift ascent. Sasuke followed, the shrill shouts of the children falling gradually away. The two shinobi slipped soundlessly through the roofs as adults began to job worriedly towards the distraught children.
Sasuke did not relinquish his hold even as they emerged into the relative safety of daylight. The kunoichi gawked at his firm clamp around her wrist, tugging pointedly at their physical entrapment.
The shinobi regarded her lazily, searching for a route to a more discreet location. Sakura struggled again, beginning a verbal protest that was too loud for his liking.
Sasuke pulled the kunoichi closer with a flick of his wrist, boring into her furious eyes without hesitation.
"We are not finished. Stop pulling away, or I will gladly return the favor," he threatened lowly, lifting his broken wrist into her line of sight.
Sakura rolled her eyes and stepped back, uncomfortable with his habit of close proximity.
"Asshole," she uttered dimly. THe nukenin gladly ignored her.
Midday shined brazenly above their heads, illuminating every exposed crevice of the city. The two ninja stood patiently - although one significantly less so - on the rooftop of a humble storefront. The people below were less perceptive to the vastness surrounding them, the majority completely oblivious to the pair on the roof. Sakura imagined mockingly that she was a clueless civilian woman, dancing around in her apron and chiding kids and partaking in frivolous activities. The burn of Sasuke's grip, however, anchored her feet firmly into the ground, even as she stretched to submerge her heads into the clouds.
The nukenin beside her roamed the horizon without bothering to disclose his train of thought. How absurdly strange it was that he'd stopped their fight at the sound of children. She'd never pegged him as the type to censor, or to generally pay any mind to the susceptibilities of young kids. Although it made sense if he was truly concerned about blowing his cover. After all, he'd made a life here. But did he really plan to resume their fight once he found somewhere suitable? For a person with majorly underdeveloped social skills, Sakura figured it wasn't wildly far-fetched. Side-eyeing him as he peered stonily into the distance, she didn't believe the choice fit, regardless. Sasuke was too intelligent to do something as petulant as start a battle for no reason. Although she didn't know what she'd done to warrant combat in the first place, come to think of it.
The raven-haired man tugged impatiently at her wrist, a little more forcefully than she deemed necessary. She was complying, after all.
"You will come with me," he demanded. His tone was as blank as could be the rage from minutes ago fully retreated into whatever recesses held it when unneeded. Sakura was not keen to follow alongside the brooding man, but he'd already begun hopping along the roofs of the town, back towards the hill where she had started her day. The kunoichi remained lazy in her pace as she joined him, trying to stall by decreasing the velocity of travel, but he simply responded with a rough pull forward. "Keep up or I'll kill you."
Without thinking, she scoffed.
"Are you kidding me? Why can't you just leave me alone?" she asked, trying to remove the whining tone of her voice. She'd settle for passive aggressiveness.
Sasuke grunted. "I could ask you the same."
"What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped. "I ignored you when I saw you. You tracked me down."
"Don't lie. You followed me this morning and tried to gather information," Sasuke said smoothly.
"Followed you? You hate sweets," she exclaimed. Sasuke did not respond.
Sakura gawked at the back of his head, yanking her wrist in his hand so he'd turn his head. Noticing her disbelief, he held her eyes.
The kunoichi struggled not to splutter. "I wasn't following you. You really underestimate the power of a decade of absence," she responded.
Sasuke was unimpressed. Placidly returning his mind to the horizon, he called back over his shoulder: "I am not going back to Konoha, Sakura."
The succeeding scoff caught him off guard. "I'm not here to bring you home," she corrected. "Although why I am here is none of your business."
"You will tell me," he stated bluntly, but without force. Sakura remained silent, jumping from roof to roof, hoping they arrived wherever Sakura planned to go sooner rather than later.
Both shinobi fell into a steak of stillness, travelling without speaking. Sakura's thoughts remained mostly barren, mindlessly scanning the unfamiliar scenery and flitting through a mental to-do list to pass the time. Sasuke contemplated his reckless companion, spending the majority of his energy forming some meager speech to convince Sakura to evade his immediate area. The kunoichi was fond of talking. That much, at least, remained unchanged. Sakura did not comprehend nonverbal communication much to his chagrin, and for that fact alone (although alone in his complaints it certainly wasn't) he would be glad to be rid of her.
The nukenin settled on a clearing beyond the mouth of the creek, where the water grew thicker and louder, only miles from the land of Waterfalls. Upon entering the center of the meadow Sasuke promptly released Sakura's wrist, then sprinted a few more feet before turning to face the kunoichi.
She rubbed her wrist irritably, scowling at the purple and black blotches forming there. Mild deja vu scrambled his senses as he watched her fumble over herself. She hadn't grown since the last time they met, during the war. He'd seen her so briefly, preferring to stay out of the line of fire to avoid run-ins with familiar shinobi. Anyone with a bingo book or common sense would've declared his presence to the ninja world if they'd discovered him unintentionally, and a tide of unwanted would follow. He did what little he could when he could, fighting for whoever his daily mood favored. Mostly he remained rogue, the unfitting hero in the shadows. He did not crave redemption like so many assumed. Just some peace and quiet.
But seeing Leaf shinobi was unavoidable; they were everywhere. Helping others remained forever in their blood. He'd avoided the audacious blond idiot at every cost, but often forgot to track Sakura's presence. Perhaps a boyish part of him never assumed she would make it to the front lines.
He'd seen her once squandering the leftovers of a battle, appearing much like she did now. She picked through the injured, stopping to heal where she could and for as long as she could stand. Strawberry hair still so flashy and full of light, a smile radiating from her core even amongst the shambles of men and things. The kunoichi looked largely the same as he remembered, with the curves he'd never grown accustomed to and the wit with which he was poorly acquainted. He remarked dimly on how she'd held together over the years - the decade - that parted them. Restlessly he wondered if she thought the same of him, though he doubted it.
Nose scrunched in discomfort, she continued to grope at her wrist. FOr the first time, he willingly acknowledged the disappointment brewing within him. Undoubtedly childish and irrational and disgusting, the feeling remained even with his berating. Sakura was so incredibly unmoved by his presence, so naturally fearsome and independent. While fighting him had not been easy, she held her own without bragging and without brashness, meaning she knew that level strength intimately. He should've trained more on his own. Should've kept the cement walls around his emotions solid. Why had he even spoken to her? He said too much and now he seemed foolish, less intimidating.
In reality he was perfectly adept, he knew, but he wanted to be more. Her improved taijutsu was a challenge and a surprise, but even with it his ninjutsu would demolish her. A pump to the ego numbed the throb of disappointment a little, but his self-aggrandizing stayed poignant in the center of his mind. Too weak. Too frail. Powerless.
Eventually they caught each other's eyes and locked there. Each stood with arms stilled at their sides. Absently Sasuke noted the ache of his wrist begin anew. He wondered how hard it could be to heal oneself without training, not even considering to request the assistance of the coveted mednin in front of him. Too weak.
Sakura cocked her hip in impatience. She wondered at the time and then at the incredulity of time. She'd spend approximately twenty-six years of her life sleeping, four years of her life eating. She wondered how many years of her life she'd spent just watching Sasuke.
Wrought with agitation, she snapped and finally spoke, albeit awkwardly.
"So. How long have you been here?"
Sasuke did not react. Bad move, she noted. This was not the time to give the impression that she cared. After all, he did not seem convinced that her current mission had nothing to do with him.
"Sorry, probably a personal question," she added after a minute or so of silence. She wiggled her toes against the grime collected on her sandals, sifting through potential questions to break the tense air.
"Are you waiting for me to hit you again? Am I supposed to fight you some more?" she questioned. Because, I mean, if so, just give me a sign." This was only half a joke, knowing she'd be ready to pounce if it came to blows.
No bait. Sasuke just regarded her cagily, face stony and body straight as a line. The sun's rays drew a bout of sweat from her forehead and she carelessly reached to wipe it away with the back of her hand. She didn't expect the crumbled blood that was carried back down on the skin of her appendage.
Suddenly the kunoichi became painfully aware of her haggard, beaten appearance. The serene field couldn't contrast more with her mottled bruises and numerous wounds and dirtied skin. Heart beating in a rhythm of girlish worry, she scowled internally.
This was ridiculous. After repeating the statement in her head, she decided to tell Sasuke as much. Still, he did not react.
Tossing her hands halfway up the length of her body, Sakura huffed in exasperation.
"What do you want from me?" she nearly yelled, leaning towards the motionless man that stood on the other end of the field.
He stared, perhaps deciding on an answer, but never moving, never speaking. Sakura phased in and out of her own frustration, falling into her own thoughts and then refocusing on the shinobi's face at arbitrary intervals. She contemplated running for the hundredth time, but didn't want to give the appearance of retreat. And he'd chase her, certainly, and she really didn't want to fight again. She'd lost the desire to beat Sasuke senseless many years before.
And then, suddenly, a dull sound rang in her ears. She glanced up, noticing the new expression of Sasuke's mouth and realizing she'd missed what he said.
"What?" she asked, a little embarrassed.
Something unidentifiable flitted over his features before he repeated himself.
"Leave."
And this time, it was Sasuke's turn to walk away.
Hey everyone! Told you it would be out in a few days.
So I hope you don't all kill me for the ending, but I felt like it just had to happen. Next chapter will be Sasuke and Sakura heavy as well, although I can't promise when it will be out because I move into college next week!
Please review and let me know your thoughts! Also, just wondering because I am an anxious grape, but are the chapters well-paced, or are they moving too fast? Or too slow, but I feel like that never happens. Let me know! Love you all :-)