disCLAIMER: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.
Chapter 18: The End of the Road
"Kaori!" Sasuke caught her limp figure, her blood pooling in his arms. He did not know if she would make it to the Infirmary. No, no. She would make it. Her life was in his hands, and if he could not save it with all his skill, he could not allow himself to be called a genius. He pulled her in close and took off with all his speed, Sharingan activated and guiding him through the dark streets.
He had managed to stop the wounded man's bleeding when he heard the blond sailor's cry for help. A glance up told him that Kaori was not outside, and a few quick steps revealed her stuck to the wall with a spear through her stomach. She did not seem to know that he was in front of her, and her "sorry" tore at his heart. When she passed out with tears streaming down her cheeks, he felt a wrenching deep inside that felt like a shuriken had sliced right through him. She would not, could not die. Not if he was the last Uchiha.
He knew exactly where to find Tsunade. Her lab was up on the fourth floor, and this time of night she would be there, researching and creating. The people he passed had to wonder if they had really seen someone run by, or if they had just blinked. Tsunade blinked a couple times herself when he burst into her lab, then threw off her white coat and cleared a table for Sasuke to set Kaori on. She did not even ask what happened. Seconds of words could mean the difference between life and death for Kaori. A pale blue light surrounded her hands as they hovered over the stomach wound. Sasuke silently prayed to whatever gods may exist that it was not too late.
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The surrounding darkness was not frightening, but it did not comfort Kaori either. What was pleasant was the familiar flickering of orange light in the distance. Campfire. She strolled towards it, a little disconcerted that she walked on solid ground, but she could see nothing beneath her feet. A pair of logs lay near the fire, perfectly inviting for a sit. She plopped down on one and stretched her hands towards the flames. But there was no warmth. No smell of burning wood, not even a crackle or two. Everything was...dead. Which made it even more startling when a woman's voice spoke next to her.
"May I join you?"
Kaori tried not to yelp as the polite voice broke the silence. She turned to the source: a young woman leaning over slightly, trying to look less threatening.
"Um, yeah. Go for it."
"My apologies if I startled you," she said sincerely, taking the log beside Kaori's. Near the light of the fire, Kaori could see her pretty features better. Her auburn hair caught the fake fire light and reflected it dazzlingly. Her skin looked slightly tanned and weather worn, possible used to manual labor. She turned and smiled, which made Kaori realize she looked startlingly familiar.
"How have you been lately?"
"Oh, um..." Kaori tried to remember. What had she been doing before this? "..good?"
"You don't know how you've been?" the woman laughed prettily. Kaori found herself liking her already.
"Well, I don't really remember..."
"Ah, this place does that to you. Blurs things together so that you don't really want to leave."
"And this place is...?"
"Think of it as a dock. It's a means to transfer from land to the sea, from one adventure to another."
"I was an adventurer?" Kaori found this to be highly unlikely.
"Of a sort."
"Are you an adventurer?"
The woman's pleasant smile turned sad. "The curse I carried forced me to run for my life, so yes, in a way I was an adventurer too. Then I fell in love, and that's an adventure all on its own."
"I'm sure it is," Kaori replied disbelievingly. She was one of those kinds of women, the kind who romanticize everthing.
"Haven't you fallen in love yet?"
"No I-" Kaori's voice caught as brilliant images flashed through her mind. She had not realized her mind was as blank as the surrounding world, until those images, those memories, came to her. A raven-haired man with angry red eyes, telling her to stop being an idiot and focus. Then his eyes softened to a black that squinted slightly when he smiled, telling her they would never be rid of each other. Telling her he-
"Loves me," Kaori remembered, overwhelmed by the memories suddenly returning. The sudden shock, then seeing the bone spear sticking out of... "Wait, am I dead?"
"Not yet, but that's what I'm here for."
Kaori swallowed. "Are you...an angel?"
The woman laughed. "No, no, I'm just Rene, but I have been waiting a long time. Waiting to tell you to turn back, because no matter how bad things get, you must remember that you saved thousands perhaps millions of people, by stopping the vicious cycle of Juubi no Tokage. You are a hero, my dear Kaori."
"You know about Juubi?" Kaori asked in awe.
"Of course. I did not want to, but I gave it to you."
Temujin's folklore rushed forward in her mind. Juubi passed from host to host by means of female offspring. Which also meant...
"Mom?" Kaori said, feeling a lump rise to her throat.
"It's time to go," Rene said suddenly, standing and facing Kaori. "You must return to your own adventure, and we must return to ours." Kaori stood as well, and Rene pointed towards a faint blue pulse of light. "Kaori-chan, I want you to know that despite the things your father did, I loved him." Tears weld up in her eyes. "I truly loved him. But I loved you even more, and there was no way I could let him have you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, but I think you turned out just beautifully...without me."
Tears stained Kaori's own cheeks. "I can't stay with you?"
"No, silly girl. You have things to do still. My story in your adventure is long over. Just know that we will be waiting for you to join our adventure." Rene kissed Kaori's forehead and pushed her into the growing light. "I love you."
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"Mom!" Kaori reached out for her, but grabbed a startled Tsunade instead of Rene. The pain returned immediately, and Kaori regretted coming back as she doubled in half and coughed up blood.
"Hang in there, Kaori-san!" Tsunade commanded, returning her focus to healing the slowly closing wound. Kaori cried, not because of the pain, but because of the lost moment with her mother. I love you. Rene said it with confidence, because she knew there would never be another chance to tell her. I love you.
"Sasuke," Kaori said through clenched teeth. Somehow, through the red haze of pain, she knew he was there, gripping her hand hard. With a sob, she cried out, "I love you! I don't...know if I will ever...get another chance..." She coughed up more blood, but she did not even noticed the bitter taste through her pain.
"Idiot," Sasuke said bitterly, trying to keep his emotions under control. "If you don't get another chance, you better come back and haunt me."
Kaori chuckled, then cringed at the pain it caused her abdomen. "My mom is...waiting in the other...adventure."
"Idiot!" Sasuke repeated with a growl. "Don't you already have an adventure here?"
"Love is an adventure, all on its...own," Kaori sighed, feeling the pain reside. "Sasuke, I love...you..."
"Hokage-sama!" Sasuke panicked.
"It's okay. I just gave her a sedative." Tsunade wiped the sweat from her brow. "I'm done, but she needs rest in order to finish healing herself. Hopefully, with Juubi gone, it won't take weeks like it would have before."
Sasuke's knees were so weak with relief that he nearly collapsed on the floor. "Hokage-sama, thank you."
She rested her hand on his shoulder. "I'll get a gurney to take her to a room. There will also be a spare bed for you, if you don't want to go home."
"There will be more wounded coming in," Sasuke warned, his voice sounding so very tired.
"Understood."
Sasuke stared at Kaori's restful face until Tsunade returned with a gurney, then grudgingly allowed the nurses to do their work of cleaning her up, putting her in a hospital gown, applying bandages and IVs, then putting her in bed. Tsunade already took off to tend to the wounded brought into the hospital. Sasuke knew it was heartless not to care, but that did not stop him from feeling that Kaori was the most important person at the moment.
He knew for a fact that her mother was dead, died during childbirth, so when Kaori awoke calling for her mother, it scared him so bad. It was like she had met her mother in some sort of afterlife, like she had died for a few minutes. Juubi had died when fighting Naruto, but somehow that had been different.
"You have to quit dying on me, idiot," Sasuke sighed, burying his head in his hands. "Especially after saying 'I love you'. Idiot." A smile spread across his face. As bad as this was, the near-death experience encouraged her to return his affections. Uchiha Sasuke, in love with a woman. This would be major gossip for some time to come, for everyone would make a big deal out of him continuing the Uchiha line. Not like he planned on having a family with Kaori. At least, not yet.
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"The man you know as Hitanichi is dead."
Kaori tried not to react as she stood at attention before Tsunade's desk. At least, she was as close to being at attention as a person who was skewered days before could get. It still hurt to stand completely straight, but she was not nearly as laid up as she would have been just weeks before. She had suspected something very bad had happened to Hitanichi, since no one would talk about it, but that he was dead...it was like seeing it happen a second time.
"He pleaded with ANBU not to take his bandages off, but they did anyway. Without the bandages, his Chakra went rampant. The kekkai genkai wasn't meant for him, it was unnatural, so he couldn't control it. In short, his own power destroyed him." Tsunade placed her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her hands. "Which is too bad, because he volunteered information about Orochimaru."
"He did?" Kaori felt a slight surge of pride that in the end, Hitanichi was still able to do the right thing.
"Team Neji located him on their investigation of Mao's source of power. Apparently, after Teams Kakashi and Shikamaru escaped Orochimaru's cave, Hitanichi found his way over to the castles in the northwest. Castles, that were, until Orochimaru's death, invisible to our team. Even Sunagakure didn't know they were there. Kankurou has taken over the investigation, since it no longer directly involves us. Orochimaru is gone, for good. That is if Sasuke is to believed."
Sasuke did not react to this comment. He was used to Godaime's suspicions.
"Hokage-sama, I believe the disappearance of both Sasuke-kun and Kaori-san's cursed seals is evidence enough," Neji stated, bowing politely as he did so. "Bringing physical evidence, no matter how small, back to Konoha could result in the monster respawning. We cannot take that risk."
"Of course." Tsunade sat silently for a few minutes. "Thank you all for coming. I have a meeting with Temujin. I will keep you updated on the progress in the Land of Dragons. Neji, a word please."
In other words, she would let them know what Sakura and Kakashi were up to. Sasuke glanced surreptitiously at Kaori as they bowed their respect, but her face was a careful mask of impassiveness. When they left the office, he walked beside her.
"Are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah." She kept her eyes lowered.
"No you're not." He stopped and gently drew her into his arms. "Is it about...that guy?"
"A little," she admitted, her face buried in his chest. "Mostly, I'm thinking about how he probably met my mom. She kept referring to her death as an 'adventure' and that it was 'ours' and 'we'. I think she meant Hitanichi. I just didn't catch it at the time, having lost my memories and all."
"You forgot everything?"
"Yeah, but," Kaori lifted her head up to meet Sasuke's eyes, "you were the first thing I remembered."
Sasuke smirked. "Of course I was." He leaned down and gave her a warm kiss. "So what do you want to do tonight?"
"I think I just want to stay in," she admitted, suddenly feeling very tired. "My stomach hurts."
"Okay. I'll try cooking something again."
Kaori made a face. "You may be able to live off your cooking, but I can't. Why don't you just stick to baking desserts and I'll order out until I'm up for cooking again."
"Fine." Sasuke returned the face. "But I'm sick of Ichiraku."
Kaori gasped. "You are not my boyfriend!"
"So would you prefer Naruto?"
"That'd be like dating my brother. Yeesh. Don't you know anything about me?"
"Maybe just one thing." Sasuke drew her close again placed tiny kisses on one of her ears. She gasped, then giggled as she tried to pull away.
"Tickles!" she managed through the spasms of pain her laughter gave her stomach.
"Ahem." Neji stood about a meter away, an expression of amusement on his face. "It's probably better if Hokage-sama doesn't catch you doing this outside her office."
"Right," Kaori blushed, tugging Sasuke along in a hurry.
The late spring evening smelled deliciously of kousa blossoms. Kaori was suddenly reminded of something.
"I think I missed Iruka-sensei's birthday," she worried. "I promised to throw him a party and everything."
"I think he'd understand if you didn't have the time," Sasuke commented wryly.
"When's your birthday?"
"July 23rd."
"What do you want for your birthday? That way I can save up for it."
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "You."
"I'm sorry what?"
"I want you for my birthday."
Kaori grew flustered. "Oh, uh, I'll see what I can do." She hurried through the door into Sasuke's apartment building, and he had to smile at her reaction. Love made her silly, and he adored it.
After she had ordered delivery, from Ichiraku Ramen, of course, he started preparing manju for dessert. Kaori gingerly sat on the floor of the kitchen to watch him work.
"Do you think we'll ever see Sakura and Kakashi-sensei again?" she asked morosely.
"Sakura, probably. Kakashi, probably not." This was a conversation Sasuke was not looking forward to.
"I think you're right."
Sasuke paused his baking and looked at her.
"Sakura, even though I think she like Temujin a bit, she still has lots of reasons to come back. Sensei, though...Sasuke, I really liked him." She met him with clear eyes. "And I think he kinda liked me too. But it wasn't enough to get him to stay. He needs a new place, since he's been around here so long. It'll be good for him."
Sasuke sighed. She was partially right, but Kakashi's feelings for her were too much, and that's why he left. But she did not need to know that.
"I think, their part in our world is done." Sasuke squatted in front of her. "They're making the Land of Dragons a better place for the future, but now that Juubi is gone, I think you've reached the end of that road. And you found a new one to walk. With me."
Kaori smiled. "I think so too." She stuck her finger in the bowl of red bean paste Sasuke held and wiped some on his nose. "You've got a little bit of something right there." She gestured to her own nose.
The following food fight was just the beginning of war between the pair, but every battle ended in a sweet truce. Konoha citizens and military personel alike could agree that Akumako Kaori was the best thing to happen to the Uchiha clan in all those years of sorrow. And although they did not know it, Uchiha Sasuke was the best thing that ever happened to her.
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Caranril: I appreciate everyone who stuck through with me all these years. As a final thanks, I've composed an epilogue that I'll be posting after I've posted this last chapter. I always hate ending stories; it's so awkward. Just like essays, it's difficult to draw a conclusion that's satisfying. Hence, the invention of epilogues. Funny thing is, when I wrote it, the epilogue was longer than most of my chapters. Huh.
Legolas: My time here is done. Despite the horrific lighting of my confetti with your fireworks, or smart-ass comments about my sexual orientation, it's been real, Caranril. Dear Readers, I'm due to sail for Valinor any moment now.
Caranril: As cliche as it sounds, it's been real. Although not really, since this is fiction. Haha. Ja ne.