Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called happily as she barged into said man's apartment unwelcomed. Her smile diminished, however, when her bestie was nowhere to be found.
"Where you at, Sasuke-kunnn?" Sakura shouted again.
Shrugging, she let herself in and decided to ravage through his refrigerator. Sakura skipped into his kitchen and opened the white fridge, distressed when she found nothing of interest. She was craving something sweet, damn it! But of course, Sasuke would never allow anything sugary and not completely bland within a perimeter of 500 feet from him.
At last, Sakura settled for an apple she found on his counter. Grabbing the green fruit, she strided into his living room and plopped onto his firm navy blue couch, making herself at home.
Less than 5 seconds later, Sasuke emerged from his bedroom. Sakura realized he must've come from his bathroom, considering he was clad in nothing but a towel around his mid section.
Sakura yelped obnoxiously and dropped her apple, surprised at the sudden display of skin she was witnessing free of charge from Uchiha Sasuke himself.
Sasuke grimaced at the unpleasant sound. "What the hell are you doing here, Sakura?" In return, Sakura modestly shoved her face into a pillow she found on her couch.
She murmured into the pillow. Sasuke approached her, wondering what in the heck she was doing, unaware that it would cause an explosion.
"Can you just please, uh, put some clothes on?" She exclaimed suddenly, growing exceedingly embarrassed. He scoffed at her immaturity, and then proceeded to put on some pants. Sakura moved from the pillow and instead put her hands over her eyes, peaking through the gaps as he made the change from minimum coverage to, well, below average. Sasuke smirked as he mentally noted he should use this newfound weakness she had towards his naked body to his advantage in the future.
"Better?" He grunted, angrily. "Now, tell me who the hell let you in."
"I let myself in," Sakura replied simply, her own smirk growing on her face as she finally removed her hands.
"Leave."
"Sasuke, but we're bffls! I should be able to hang out here whenever I want!" The bothersome girl declared, earning a glare from Sasuke. He didn't retaliate, it was impossible to argue with her mediocre reasoning.
Abruptly, she stood up and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go train," she commanded, tugging on him.
He stood his ground defensively. "I'm still on probation, remember?" He wasn't really allowed to do much, nor did he want to deal with Kakashi and Naruto. They were an annoyance. Then again, Sasuke didn't do anything anymore. He couldn't find a reason to.
She laughed lightly, "Oh Sasuke, don't worry. We'll cover for you." Sakura's eyes shifted to his naked upper half and she smirked as she poked his stone hard abs. "Besides, we wouldn't want these to go away," Sakura smiled deviously. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, silently uncovering the sexual implication in her words.
He shook away his dirty thoughts and returned his attention to the problem at hand.
Listening to Sakura always meant trouble. But at the same time, he didn't want to become weak. But did he even have a reason to be strong?
He was stuck in Konoha now, and Itachi and all his enemies were now taken care of. There was nobody to defeat.
Sasuke glanced at Sakura. Friends. Sasuke didn't DO friends. But if this friend gave him a reason to be strong, he could deal with her.
"Let's go," Sakura pushed.
Submissively, he allowed himself to get pulled out of his home.
Ring around the rosy
Oh, how Sasuke hated hospitals. He had been there far too many times before. He had memories of being stitched and patched up, cut into, bandaged, injected with pain medication, and being trapped inside the white walls for weeks without permission to be discharged. Recently, he has been visiting Sakura to reverse the damage done to his eyes as much as possible. After the battle with Itachi, Danzou, and all the other enemies on his pass to revenge, his black orbs were in a recovery stage. He wasn't allowed to use them for a timed period of time that Sakura had set for him.
But that's not why he was there today.
Looking around the little room, he never understood how a place meant to renew life could also greatly encourage suicide.
But oddly enough, he didn't mind sticking around Sakura's office, which was also in the hospital. The walls were adorned with all sorts of pictures and notes, and her desk was cluttered with all sorts of objects. The window was large and let a large amount of light in, which he hated. It was far too bright.
The place was brimming with life. It was so like her.
She kept two chairs, one for her and one for him, he presumed, both of which were a muted red. Her nurse outfit hung on a hanger nearby, and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if she had worn it that same day, and whether or not it was still warm and smelled like-
Perhaps that's another reason he liked the office.
Then he remembered why he was there in the first place. Sakura had told, or commanded him, to be there so they could "chillax" at Ichiraku with Naruto later.
"Good news, Sasuke!" Came a high, overwhelmingly cheerful voice Sasuke knew all too well.
Then a second he recognized just the same, this one impossibly louder and more obnoxious, "Teme! Seriously, you need to hear this!"
He turned his head slightly, a dark eyebrow raised as the two excited imposers stood in the doorway of Sakura's hospital office. They were an hour late, he mused.
Sakura's pink choppy hair was in a mess around her smiling face, and Naruto was smiling wider than Sasuke had seen in a long time. He wondered why the two were coming in so happy together. The dark haired male was tempted to wipe the dobe's smile off his stupid cat face.
"Shishou said your probation is over," Sakura managed out, exasperated from the apparent run they had earlier. She approached him and declared, "She shortened it."
Sasuke's eyes widened minimally, surprised at the random change of heart the Hokage had.
Naruto's grin only grew. "She asked us and others a few questions about how you've been doing, and it turns out, you're not as much of a threat anymore." Looking at Naruto's smile with newfound meaning, Sasuke couldn't stay mad at him.
The nine tailed fox holder was the one who kept team 7 happy. Or at least, as close to happy as a demented family could be.
"And she knows we've been training," the short pinkette said. "Why not put it to use and go on missions?"
Sasuke felt passive, unsure of why they were so overjoyed by this. But perhaps, he should have also felt happy. Because it meant he was getting Konoha's trust back.
And he was sick of being known as the "traitor" all the time. He had been betrayed his entire life, and now that he had found people that were less than likely to betray them, they were afraid of being betrayed by him.
Sasuke Uchiha was not about to take his second chance at Konoha for granted.
It was all so twisted.
A pocketful of posies
Sasuke jumped through trees alongside Kakashi, Sai and Naruto. Sakura was off on a separate mission as a medic. Their first mission was to fight and defeat Kabuto, who had become Konoha's current most dangerous enemy. Sasuke was not supposed to be on such a grave mission yet, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Kabuto had been defeated before, or at least he was thought to have been defeated, but now he was on the move again and they were given a great opportunity to sneak attack him without his knowledge.
Kakashi signaled, and they all scattered to hide behind different trees, surrounding the area they expected the culprit to be in.
Sasuke noticed Naruto hiding a few trees to the right of him, and they held each other's stare for a second before giving a slight nod.
On the second signal, they ambushed him.
Boom. An explosion.
Kabuto had expected this attack.
And another. This time, shaking the very Earth beneath them.
Sasuke grunted at the bleeding sharingan that instinctively activated in his eyes. He was blinded for a split second, but it was enough to mess him up.
He leaped into the trees and then into the open sky as soon as he felt the ground crumble, but still not soon enough. The pressure from the explosion would catch up with him in seconds. The last Uchiha felt a warm surge of chakra block the impact as his vision was blinded once more from sensing the massive rush of chakra.
And everything went cold.
Sakura walked in and solemnly seated herself on a chair in the hospital's E.R.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Her lips quivered. Her former sensei sat next to her, face in his palms. He had been there since morning. He hadn't moved or said a word since she arrived.
She wanted to reach out to him, to wake him up from his trance, because she was there and she wanted answers. But she was frozen. "Please, sense-i… say somethin-g…" Her voice diminished into a mere whisper as her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes grew moist.
She finally found the strength to turn her attention to the motionless figure laying in the hospital bed, head covered.
Sakura's tears spilled over her lost friend's broken body.
Desperately, she wanted to hover her ungloved, shaking hands over him and heal his wounds that were lathered with dried blood. But he had no pulse; it was too late. She wondered how this had happened. She demanded an answer from herself on how she could let this happen.
Why she wasn't there to save him.
Then she remembered, she would be useless even if she was present. She had always been nothing but useless. And now he was dead.
And she would always keep losing those close to her.
Her recently recovered heart broke once again from her loved ones leaving her.
Again.
A callused hand patted her head lightly, failing to take any of the pain away.
She hugged herself and trembled uncontrollably.
Ashes, ashes
8 p.m.
Sakura closed the door to the lit hallway behind her and allowed the darkness to envelop her. Her battle-hardened hands felt her surroundings as she made her way through the pitch black.
She had just returned from a long and exhausting mission and her chakra was nearly drained into nonexistence.
But rather than being at home resting, it was far more important to be here, she decided. She searched the dusty wall for the light switch, unsure of what she'd find once they went on.
Not presently being patient or sharp enough to locate the switch she had turned on and off so many times before, she gave up and settled on moving blindly in the dark abyss.
She smiled sadly.
It was so like him.
Sakura grew worried. What if he had run away again, sick of all the betrayal? She should've been there with him, at home, where she belonged. Not on some mission. Medics were ample in amount, but there was only one Sakura.
But no.
She used what little concentration remained in her to listen.
Breathing. He's here.
Growing sick of the suspense she felt coiling in her stomach, Sakura found the pathway she remembered had led to the living room.
And there he was. His black, still silhouette sat on the coach against the wall and she was then positive he had heard the news.
Slowly, Sakura made her way across the room and felt her muscles tense as she pulled the chain that hung next to the couch. Shadows flickered onto his face as a weak light filled a portion of the room.
Still dark.
But she could see him. He sat motionless with hunched shoulders, feet glued on the floor, and forearms resting on open legs. His eyes looked straight ahead when she saw him, but they went right through her.
Pitch black and empty.
He looked unreal, like a beautiful withering stone statue. It had only been a week, but he looked older.
Her voice came out a shaky whisper, "Should I leave?" She lightly touched his arm and he finally saw her. But he gave no reply. She turned away to leave him but suddenly felt a cold grip on her wrist.
Her heart twisted.
Sasuke tugged on her arm gently, pulling her into his lap. She sat sideways with her legs falling over one side of him and she wrapped her arms around him. He leaned into her slightly, but didn't return the embrace. She exhaled softly and her grip on him tightened.
"There is still some good left in this world," she whispered.
He didn't want to listen to her. How could he? Everything good he had ever known was ripped from him.
But still, a part of him believed her.
Because she was here.
And she was good.
We all fall down.
A/N: Been forever. I know. Im inconsistent. Really, what inspired me to write this was the last verse/section of this chapter I started with which was inspired by a picture I drew which was inspired by a particular verse in the song, "Wild Wolves" by Athlete. Check it out. So, I kind of wrote this chapter as I went along, going backwards. Which meant making alot of changes because the story line was uncertain for me. It's been a while. I did this more for fun than for anything.
And I KNOW, I will probably regret killing Naruto. But I felt like SOMEBODY needed to die to bring another aspect of the story out. Hopefully you guys won't mind too much.
Not sure if doing the nursery rhyme thing again was overkill this time. Review? I'd like to know what you think.
