LET THE FLAMES BEGIN
Some say the war will end when the fire dies out, the cherry blossoms stop falling and the hurricane ceases to exist.
A four shot collection focusing on the primary deaths of three characters and a finale of life after the war.
Primary Death File: Haruno Sakura
Chapter 2: When the Darkness Comes
'I'll be here waiting,
Hoping, praying,
The sky will guide you home.
When you're feeling lost I'll leave my love,
Hidden in the sun,
For when the darkness comes.'
Sakura was rushing over the plains to get to where Naruto and Sasuke were. She'd stayed behind to aid the wounded, but now she knew that she needed to be with them. She could only hope that she would make it in time. They couldn't have gotten too far from the original battlefield, and although Sakura wasn't sure about Sasuke's motives, she trusted him with Naruto at this point. It didn't hurt that Kakashi was close by, or at least, she'd hoped he still was.
Naruto's battle cry alerted her of where they were, Sakura made a sharp left and ran towards the cliff-side that she wasn't sure had been there before the war. Below, she could see them fighting. Both Sasuke and Madara had activated Susano'o and were facing off. Naruto was in full Kyuubi mode. Sakura quickly told the small Katsuya copies to attach themselves to both Naruto and Sasuke so Sakura could send some more chakra to them. Naruto was preparing some Bijuu attack that Sakura had seen Killer Bee and the Eight Tails so. A giant black sphere. He shot it free and right into Madara's Susano'o. And that's was when Sasuke attacked. Naruto's attack had been powerful enough to somehow throw Madara off guard and Sakura watched Sasuke's Susano'o arrow pierce Madara's defence and go straight through his body. It exploded in a puff of smoke. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned in a whirl. Her Katsuya's must have made it. That was when Sakura registered the presence behind her.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed and Sakura jumped forward, to get off of the cliff. But she was stopped. Madara grabbed hold of her hair and yanked her back, shoving her to her knees, so she would face Naruto's worried gaze and Sasuke's glare at Madara.
"This girl." Madara began, loud enough for everyone to hear. "She is a weakness to you. A distraction. Both of you."
The clearing is deathly silent. Sakura watched Sasuke's Sharingan go everywhere, looking for a way to save her, or kill both her and Madara at the same time. Like he did with Karin. The thought chilled Sakura to the bone.
"If I remove this distraction, maybe I'll see both of you at full power."
"Don't touch her!" Naruto growled.
Madara chuckles, a low and dangerous sound. "This is rich. A Genin team love triangle. A bit clichéd, but always effective to people like me."
It was then that Sakura tried to free herself, she brought her fist up and slammed it down on the cliff-side. Or she intended to. Madara's foot connected with her spine before she could made impact. Sakura fell forward, she hit the ground face first before Madara grabbed a fist-full of her hair again, pulling her up. Sakura felt a wetness on her face and was almost sure, from the overwhelming smell of blood that she'd broken her nose.
"I didn't take you for a coward." Sasuke finally spoke. "Using a hostage to win your battles."
"Oh she isn't a hostage. That would mean her actually surviving." And suddenly, he laughed again, bending down slightly, he spoke right into her ear. "Which one is it, hmm?"
Sakura didn't answer, she tried to turn her face away but he gave her head a hard pull. "Naruto or maybe Sasuke?"
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, she refused to answer him, to play his little game. If he wanted to kill her, he just had to get it over with.
Madara yanked her head backward and her eyes sprang open, looking up into his spinning, red eyes.
"Naruto or Sasuke?"
Sakura's will slipped from her. She felt her lips open. "Sasuke-kun."
Madara's face twisted into a smile. He shoved her forward again, his eyes now on Sasuke.
"Let me solve this for everyone before she dies, yes? Naruto is in love with this girl, am I right?" Madara said, phrasing it as a question and giving Sakura a hard shake.
"Sasuke loves her so much, he doesn't even see it. And in the end, Naruto will be the only one left in the cold. Because we all know who she would choose if she had a chance of living."
Naruto didn't turn to look at Sasuke, but he grimaced, not taking his eyes off of Madara. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, flipping down to Sakura, who was staring at him with wide eyes. Madara pulled Sakura up and to her feet.
"You have five seconds to either save her or kill me." Madara told them, pulling Sakura's head back again. Sakura forced her eyes shut. "You will open them or I will kill Sasuke first. They have no chance against me and you have already realized this."
Slowly, Sakura's lids lifted and she met his eyes.
"Sakura, don't!" Sasuke called from below them but it was too late, she'd already been caught in Madara's spell.
"Sakura, yes. What a nice name." was the last thing he said before he shoved her from the cliff.
Naruto and Sasuke tapped hands, deciding silently which would go after Sakura and which one would get Madara. Both headed straight for Sakura before Naruto extended his arms and Sasuke took up the cliff-side rapidly. He reached the top within two seconds, Chidori ready.
"Sasuke, no!" Kakashi cried from somewhere, just as Sasuke struck. And only then did his Sharingan see it. The wood melted and all he saw was pink before she crumbled before him. He heard the ground crunch beneath her knees and saw the way her hair flew up as she fell back. The sickening crack as she hit the ground send a ripple through him and Sasuke fell to his knees. He knew there was someone behind them, but he couldn't seem to move in that moment. His were fixed on Sakura's pale, pasty face. Blood gurgled from her mouth and Sasuke felt sick. His mother's lifeless face flashed before his eyes and he grabbed Sakura's shoulders. "I didn't-" he choked out, the 'mean to' drowning in his throat.
Sakura stared at him, her green eyes not blaming, just staring as she slowly opened and closed her lids. Sasuke was vaguely aware that someone was holding back Madara behind them.
"Sakura...I…" he tried to speak but nothing seemed right at that moment. He wished he had the right words for her at the end. The words that would make her happy. As her presence would have made him happy, as he had hoped it would after the war. Team 7. The family they had promised him. The people were precious to him.
"You were someone I wanted to protect."
Slowly, her bloody lips curved into a smile.
"Tell me, tell me how to save you!" he demanded, a hint of desperation in his tone.
"…too late for me…" Sakura told him softly, a shanking hand reaching up to cup his cheek.
Sasuke stared down at her and Sakura opened her lips, using what strength she had to inch him closer.
"Take care of Naruto." She murmured, her lips brushing his ear and Sasuke's eyes moved to hers. She stared at him as if she knew what he had planned all along. To kill Naruto for the position of Hokage.
Her lips formed a single phrase. 'Promise me.'
Sasuke closed his eyes. Could he really give up everything he'd planned for her? Everything he'd decided for Konoha. He came to his decision without any logical reasoning.
"I promise." He whispered but when he opened his eyes, Sakura was already gone. Her face still and slack. Too still. When all he wanted to see was her vibrant green eyes, and the way she used to smile at him when they were Genin.
She couldn't be. Sasuke could feel himself shaking. A wild sense of desperation and loss rising in him.
"Sakura?" he called, staring down at her. "Sakura?!"
"Sasuke! Did you get-"
There was a terrible moment of silence, in which Naruto probably put the situation together before Sasuke was ripped away from her, and all he saw was a flash of blond before a fist connected with his face. He saw it coming, of course he did, but the will to fight back had drained from him completely. He vaguely knew Naruto was on top of him, his eyes a clear blue as he smashed Sasuke's face in.
"Naruto! Stop." Kakashi was there, lifting Naruto from Sasuke.
"No!" Naruto growled, "Let me kill him! He murdered Sakura-chan!" Naruto's face was stained with tears, unshed ones clouding his eyes.
"It was an accident." Kakashi said, trying to sound rational, but he only sounded tired, there was a hint of anger in his voice. Not directed at Sasuke, but at himself. Not only had he too, killed his teammate, but it was his jutsu that had done it. When he'd said he'd seen himself in Sasuke, he hadn't mean it in this very literal sense.
For a moment, there was a heavy silence between them, just sitting on the cliff. Naruto's heavy breathing the only sound around them. Every little bit of hate he could muster filled his glare as he stared at Sasuke's bloodied face. His eyes searching for some kind of defiance in Sasuke's, but he found none. Instead, he saw something entirely different, and after a moment, Naruto took a deep breath before he crawled away from Sasuke and to Sakura, where he reached out to her with shaking hands.
"Sakura-chan," he sobbed. "Sakura-chan…I'm sorry. I-I'm…" and then he pulled her into his arms, crying silently into her hair. Rocking her back and forth.
Sasuke faced the setting sun. He could feel the tears in his throat. But he couldn't cry. They wouldn't surface. Kakashi stood next to him, not saying a word, but Sasuke, for once, felt like he needed to.
"I was so angry…I couldn't see…" his voice was soft, almost as if he were afraid that he would wake the silence.
"I know." Kakashi said roughly, setting his stiff hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"I'm no good after all. It should have been me." Sasuke said, to no one in particular.
"No-" Kakashi began but Naruto's voice rang clear.
"Was Madara right? Did you really love her?" Naruto asked, his voice shaky with tears.
"I don't know." Sasuke answered truthfully. Naruto had expected a no. Had hoped for a no. It would have been easier to hate Sasuke that way. But he couldn't. Naruto knew the truth even if Sasuke didn't, and even if he couldn't hate Sasuke for this, he wondered if he would ever be able to forgive his best friend.
Instead, they all sat in silence as the sun set, Sakura's body cradled to Naruto's chest.
Sasuke
There was nothing special about the sky the day that she died. It was a clear, pale blue – like her, like the morning. She was those first rays of light, and by the time that last ray of light had faded from the sky there would be no more morning. No more spring. No more Sakura.
It wasn't a calm day filled with soft breezes and easy smiles as he'd wanted, where he thought wondering about the colour of the sky could not have wasted his time more. He didn't even notice when the clouds gathered casually, and somehow the storm seemed to creep up and attack with a rain so heavy and destructive it destroyed everything in its path until only splatters of blood and still hearts remained. And by the time the rain had given up, the morning was already gone, the blue sky shadowed in a permanent grey. It was the colour of everything he'd wanted to say to her one day. The colour of all his what-ifs and the colour of his regret. The words that hung in the air. His apology, one of many that would never reach her ears, like every little cloud that went by. He could name each of them one sin he'd done against her, done to hurt her. But the wind was gone, the blue sky – along with his hope, carried away.
There was nothing perfect about a sunset filled with a body too-still to be real. Skin too slack to be alive. A body so balky that a bathe of orange light could not even be absorbed. The last rays of sunlight filled with a sensei's pain, a best friend's tears and a ... someone's silence.
When the darkness comes and it's finally over. The silence is broken. There are no tears. Only loss. And a hollowness that he was all too familiar with, but the night is too dark and too long and the morning doesn't come. The morning is gone! Spring is gone, because Sakura is gone.
There is nothing fair about the darkness, about a life of regret without the pale, pale blue sky. There is no peace when your light has faded and there is no path to take when there is no revenge, when there is nothing he can do but accept – and even in that, he'd rather wish for revenge. Anything but a future without the light.
The shadows drag on. The morning didn't come back. The ground opened up and swallowed her. Took her away forever. In the silence soft whispers of fake slumber are crude to his ears. There is no slumber, there is death. He'd opened his eyes to see her, only to watch her die. Because, the morning had been taken in by the cold. The spring had blown away with the scent of the Cherry Blossoms, and Haruno Sakura had become the sky.
