Senko: Hello everyone. Welcome to the twelfth chapter of "Worlds Apart."
Responses to Reviews
Lilmisssushi: Aww you're so cool; you always review:D Really? You think I gave Kisa-kun a cool personality? Yay! Yes…it is the beginning of the end (v.v) Mistress DragonFlame: No ;D he won't be dead in the real world. ninjaxbunny: You got that right! w1cked angel: I didn't deny you on myspace! And heck yeah they are so meant to be LOVERS ) inuyashaHELP: You will find the answer in this chapter. Angelism DNA: Yeah! We can all be friends:D more friends for me, YAY! Earwen Telrunya: Well, uhm…I don't know. I had to make Itachi ask something and that was the first thing to come to my mind, but you never know maybe the headquarters isn't in the same place. One person could make a lot of difference :o .H.P.I.A.L.: Really, you think so? Yay! Hao'sAnjul: It's okay! As long as the chapters were good, it's all cool! ;D Anime and Manga Girls: O.O;; Shy-Princess: If he dies in the fake world, he'll awaken in the real world.
Thankiez a bunchiez to .chie.x.sieka., huffpuff, pilar-ayesha, Iccena, Sakura0890, sillymail, Heartless Ghost, Sanquine Sreams, Natsuhiboshi, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob…, Itachi's-Gurl41, 'sayhellopunk-,animemistress419, Midnight-Miko66, sakura5584, A.B34UT1FUL-Lie, Yamanaka Ino, hinako89, Mareno Mikato, Rhonda21, balckXheart, Lady Light, Sylvok, Baka'sAngel, Hyousetsu, theoneandonlydarkpowderpuff, fantasy4luvr, Mizukage, winner-loser, Aruxia,and Winterflower for reviewing!
Disclaimer: No own. Duh.
Chapter 12
"What do you think you will gain from this?"
The sentence echoed in his mind. Itachi stared emotionlessly at the shark-like man sitting across the metal desk from him. Their eyes met and they held their stare for a moment, as if participating in a contest. Kisame was the first to blink and look away. Itachi shifted his gaze and focused on the candle placed on the center of the desk. "I am the one to do the interrogation."
Kisame laughed. "Seeing as I'm going to be executed in a few days, I could care less."
"Where is the Akatsuki hideout?"
Kisame slouched, leaning back against the chair. "Again with the same questions? You've been asking me the same questions for the past few days. You know I won't tell you anything. Honestly, Konoha is just so stupid."
"What is your reason for attacking the Kazekage?" Itachi asked, ignoring Kisame's comments.
"What do you think you will gain from this?" Kisame repeated his question.
"This will conclude today's interrogation," he said, using his hands to help himself up from the chair. He turned his back to Kisame and started for the door, but his steps stopped at a familiar question he heard many times during that interrogation session.
"What do you think you will gain from this?" Kisame said once again. "Respect? Honor? Everyone is just using you for your power. Don't deny it; you know it's true. What is it that you will gain from living like this?"
He inhaled before answering, "…life." And with that he took his leave.
A smirk brought its way onto Kisame's pale blue skin as he noted the purposely unlocked door.
"…and then I paired little Ken with Keiko for the project because it's obvious he has a crush on her. They were so cute together!" Sakura squealed. "Itachi-kun, you should have seen them! They were just plain adorable."
Itachi stood beside the teacher's desk, waiting as his fiancée collected the students' papers and placed it inside her bag. Glancing up at the clock, he noted that it was a quarter before 3 P.M. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and silently inhaled before he began his countdown. Ibiki should have returned to the interrogation room by now.
Five
Sakura placed her cream messenger bag over her shoulder and smiled at Itachi. "Okay, Itachi-kun! Sorry if I took long to pack up but now I'm finally done so we can go home."
Four
Sakura closed the classroom door and jammed the key into the doorknob, turning it to lock the door. Turning around to face her fiancée, she was stunned with shock as her lips were locked with another. Her eyelids closed, shielding her emerald eyes and her body relaxed when she felt Itachi's hand rest on her waist and gently push her against the door.
Three
He slipped his coarse fingers under her red blouse and she could feel his warmth against her skin. Their tongues danced to an unorganized rhythm of emotions.
Two
And then-
One
And then?
Pause.
Nothing.
Silence.
When the strong stench of blood quickly filled the room and reached her senses, Sakura's eyes bolted open only too late. Itachi's limp figure fell to the side, slowly revealing a smirking Kisame standing a few feet ahead of Sakura. The once glossy halls of the academy were now stained with blood. For a split second, although it seemed to be taking long, their eyes met. Sakura was the one to break their gaze, soon enough to catch Itachi before his body would have come in contact with the solid ground.
Tears quickly formed in her eyes and she instantly brought her hands together to form seals. Placing her hands over his body, a green light surrounded the section and began to heal him. "Itachi-kun..."
She could hear footsteps indicating that Kisame was heading towards her, but she ignored it until she felt his shadow hover over her. She looked up to see a wide and proud smirk form on his pale blue skin. Her emerald eyes stared into his eyes in fear.
It was the end.
She knew it was the end. He was far too strong for someone like her. He was so much stronger that she couldn't even detect his well-hidden chakra. Her eyelids slowly closed to shield her emerald orbs, but her hands never stopped the healing. She couldn't do anything even if she tried. She knew that it was definitely the end.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Silence.
She slowly opened her eyes to be met with an empty corridor, Itachi's unconscious body and splattered blood being her only company. But voices in the distance proved as the reason why her life was spared.
"Quick! This way!" a male voice ordered.
Sakura focused her attention back on Itachi. Even though it wasn't her death, she knew that it was indeed the end of something - of her and him, of him. But still she couldn't stop herself. Maybe, just maybe, he could be saved after all. She could feel the ANBU members approaching but paid them no attention. For a minute or so thepresence of five otherindividualswatched the lifeless medic-nin.
"Sakura-san..."whispered a male member.
Sakura gave no reply.
"Sakura-san," he repeated louder.
Still no reply.
"Sakura-san!" his voice echoing throughout the halls. "You can stop now."
"No, I can save him," she said amidst her silent crying.
"No, you can't," he said bluntly.
"Yes, I can!" she retorted. Her healing was forced to stop when a hand grabbed her hand and forced her up from her kneeling position. "NO! I CAN SAVE HIM! LET ME GO!" the tears streamed down her face and she lunged towards Itachi only to be seized by a pair of hands wrapping around her waist and pulling her back and pushing her against the wall.
"YOU CAN'T SAVE HIM AND YOU KNOW IT" the man yelled. "Face it, Sakura-san! Whatever hurt him was big and powerful enough and all his vital organs are destroyed, including his heart! His spinal cord was cut in half! So stop being so stupid and foolish!"
Sakura's breathing grew shallow as she realized that she knew all of this ever since she caught his body from hitting the ground. She looked up at the ANBU, staring at his mask that covered his eyes. "I...I just...he can't..." her sentences stopped with no endings as she brought her hands up to wipe the tears away from her eyes. Oblivious to what had happened, her tears-stained face was now covered in blood.
Even though it wasn't the end of her, she knew that it was the end of something - of her and him, of him.
Itachi's eyelids slowly opened and his dark orbs met the world. He lifted himself up and rubbed his eyes, trying to rid himself of the blurriness. When his vision was better, he surveyed the area. It was the same grassy field of cherry blossoms that he had remembered seeing. Lying only a few feet away was a familiar pink-haired medic-nin, her black notebook only inches away from her hand.
Kneeling beside the peacefully resting female, Itachi took a good examination of her face. Suddenly, a single tear rolled down her soft cheeks. Sensing a familiar chakra approaching, Itachi quickly raised his right index finger to wipe away her tear before getting up and walking away.
When he emerged from the cherry blossom field, it came as no surprise to him to see Kisame standing there. Kisame grunted. "Damn it, Itachi. I searched everywhere for you since this afternoon! You know it's dangerous for us to stay in any shinobi village for a while, and we've been here since morning and its dusk now."
"I know," Itachi answered.
"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan," Ino chanted. "Let's go for some ice cream!"
Sakura gave no answer. Instead, her eyes remained focused intensely on her intertwined fingers that rested on her lap. Since the incident that took Itachi's life, she had remained cooped up in her room. She talked to no one except Sasuke and Naruto, but she didn't converse all that much. It had been two weeks now and she had hardly spoke.
"I..." she began.
Ino looked at the pink-haired girl, shocked to finally have gotten something out of her. "Yeah?"
"I think we should go for ice cream."
"Ice cream is the best cure, right?" Ino said, licking her vanilla flavored ice cream. "Don't you feel better now to finally get out of that stuffy room?"
"Hm," Sakura answered, taking a small lick of her strawberry ice cream. She was starting to sound more like Sasuke and Itachi.
"So, later on we should-" Ino began but was interrupted.
"INO!" yelled a voice from the distance. The two girls turned around to see Shikamaru running towards them. "There you are. Man, this is so troublesome. I was searching for you for hours or something. Your mom wanted me to tell you that you owe her some working hours?"
"OMG!" Ino screamed. "I totally forgot! I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan! I have to do something for my mom!" The two watched Ino's figure dash away.
"So, Sakura, are you feeling bet-" Shikamaru's sentence was brought to an abrupt stop as he noticed Sakura's figure walking away.
Her fingers traced the carved letters that formed his name. It had been two weeks since the incident that took her fiancé's life yet it still was unbelievable to her. He was strong, he was smart, and he was a prodigy. She knew he sensed Kisame's chakra. She knew he could have easily protected himself. But she didn't know why he stood there and allowed himself to be killed.
Just when she thought that she had a good life, the single thing that made it good was taken away. So now it made her wonder whether or not she was meant to not have anything. They say that we fall only to pick ourselves up, but that wasn't her case. What if she picked herself up only to fall down again?
She fell in love with Sasuke years ago and he left her. She became a part of Team 7 and grew so close to every member, but they all went their seperates way. Sasuke would never love her and Team 7 would never be the same. Even though Sasuke had returned, he was a part of ANBU and so was Naruto. She may be a Jounin, but her time was spent at the hospital and only occasionally would she be assigned on a mission. Kakashi had his own duties to take care of and had hardly any time in the village. The fact that Team 7 was now broken up gave Kakashi no reason to remain in Konoha for long periods of time. Now she was finally given a life of happiness, even if it was a fake.
CRACK
The sound of a twig cracking entered her ears and Sakura slowly turned around to see Kisame standing from a distance. The same smirk he held a couple of weeks ago formed on his blue face again. Her left hand grazed her thigh softly, feeling nothing; she hadn't strapped her holster with her, so she was weaponless. It hadn't occurred to her that something like this would happen.
"Kunoichi..." he chuckled, walking towards her.
"What do you want?" she said in a low voice, enough for him to hear.
"I've come to finish what I've left undone," he said, lifting his right hand to grab his Samehada.
And now she knew it was the endof not only him, but her as well.
Her eyelids slowly closed and tears streamed down her face.
Senko: One or two more chapters and it's the end. :D