A/N: I'm back! Thank God for weekends…
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The Past. The Present. The Future.
Sakura was always running. She ran from her fears and her guilt and her sorrow. She ran and ran and ran, seeking to outrun them, but that was never possible. They always came back, and, every time, they just hit harder.
Sasuke…
"You said you would always love me, Sakura. You promised, Sakura. You couldn't save me, Sakura. Shizune had to, Sakura. You're weak, Sakura, even worse than Dead Last, Sakura. You've always been helpless, Sakura. We've always had to save you, Sakura. Always… You've always been the weakest, Sakura. You're worthless, Sakura…" The way he said her name, as if it was the worst word in the world; his eyes, so cold and bleak and hard, boring into hers, the distaste in them as the light faded from his black eyes, his life's blood spilling out into the dirt as she knelt, her hands shaking, unable to do anything, like always, leaving Shizune to heal him, the boy she had pronounced her only love, now the man she could no longer call her friend, but a teammate, carrying a piece of her shattered heart.
Naruto…
"Sakura, stay out of this. If you get between me and Sasuke, I will kill you." His words, so harsh, grating on her ears, his eyes, intense and frigid like never before, saying what his lips could not. She was useless, a hindrance. She was nothing. The way he said her name, the absence of the suffix almost always attached to it… it chilled her blood. She was but the pretty bauble they lugged around, something nice to look at but useless in the end, just sitting in a corner, catching dust, ultimately withering away into nothingness, watching but never living, never helping, never contributing; just slowly dying by pieces.
Kakashi…
Never had a hurtful word slipped past his lips in her childhood. He had stood by, always having to save her, silent, unthinking, a shadow that served as a constant reminder of her failure to repay her team for all they had done for her. He was the shoulder she cried on, the hand that pulled her up when she fell; he was the rock of her life, the foundation upon which she built her existence. He was the man who stood beside her, offering his silent strength; the man she found she could love with her mind, body, and soul. He had taught her how to fight and how to live. He had taught her that love was not about taking, but about giving without expecting anything in return. He had taught her that being a ninja was not about glory or fame, but about helping others: becoming the idol that they all looked up to, being the one that they knew they could trust with their lives, being the one that ensured that they could live long, full lives, even at the loss of one's own. He had always been true, never been cold… until April 27, when he cruelly turned her away.
Sakura slammed through life, a day at a time, with no past and no future, just today. She went through life just as Kakashi had preached, but never had lived: never seeking tomorrow, never lingering in the past, but a ghost of the present, only partly there.
Kakashi was always watching. But, he looked at the world through the eyes of a haunted man. Everywhere he went, everywhere he looked… he saw death.
He pushed open the door to the Yamanaka flower shop with a soft chiming of bells. Sunlight flooded the room with warmth, illuminating rows of fresh flowers. Kakashi did not see fresh, beautiful flowers, prim and filled with life. He saw wilting roses, dying by inches as they sat in the window displays. He did not see laughing children, filled with laughter and joy. He saw what they would become as the rigors of being a ninja leeched their light from them, graying their hair and claiming their lives. He did not see a cloudless blue sky. He saw clouds, bleaching the sunlight into nothing but cold, barren waste. He did not see the smiles and laughter. He saw the tears and the grief. He saw the decay and the death. He saw no beauty. He saw no light. He saw no joy. He saw no good. Until he met her.
She had been so full of life, so bright and vibrant. Her smiles were not stolen by his cursed eyes, who had seen so much blood shed and death. They remained, haunting his every waking moment with her warmth. Her eyes, so bright, unpolluted in her childhood… Over the years, that light had dimmed, slowly but surely, as it died. It was killing Kakashi slowly to see the sadness in her eyes. The darkness had set in after Sasuke had left, but it had not come back with the stoic Uchiha.
He had always been good at hiding his emotions. As far as he knew, she didn't know how she felt. It was better that way. She deserved someone who could give her what she deserved, not a shadow of a man like him. It could never happen.
He didn't deserve her.
No one did.
She knew she needed to act fast. She had holes to plug in. How long had the parasite been in Cloud? How long had it been infecting the Raikage? Could he still be saved? Her heart was racing, the blood roaring in her ears. Naruto was looking at her strangely, puzzled. Sasuke stood, his tea held to his lips, but he did not drink. Kakashi understood immediately. Tsunade had told him, as she had told Sakura, that there was a possibility that the parasite had managed to make it to Cloud. In a flash, Kakashi was behind the Raikage, pulling his hat away and tearing the parasite from the nape of his neck.
"It wasn't half way yet." Kakashi said simply, pulling out an exploding tag (where did he even keep those things?) and sticking it to the headless, beetle-like insect in his hands. He formed a quick hand seal, dropping the beetle onto the polished marble tiles where it exploded, blackening the floor. Sakura grabbed the Raikage's elbow, steadying the elderly man.
Suddenly, a grey-haired woman was gripping Sakura's thin shoulders, shaking hard. "What have you done?" She sobbed. "What have you done to my husband?" Sakura did not answer. Her green eyes were unfocused as she slipped beneath the tides of memory.
Two years prior…
The parasite had struck Konoha. No one was quite sure how it had reached the protected haven of the capital of Fire, but it had, presumably from a team of Anbu on a mission in Cloud. Tsunade and a group of carefully selected medics (Sakura among them) had rooted out the Infected Anbu members and treated them immediately. There were no casualties. They had learned well from the parasite epidemic in Sand. None of the many Anbu operatives Infected had been Infected too long to save. But, they had never found It. The Mother, otherwise regarded as It, had not been hunted down and destroyed. It still lurked, giving birth to thousands of Parasites each and every day, setting them out into the world to infect all men.
"The parasite… it only infects men…" Sakura said slowly, not addressing anyone.
"What parasite?" The thin, frail woman grasping her shoulders shrieked, shaking harder. "What is wrong with my husband?!"
"He… he's been… infected…" She said softly, the words disconnected as she struggled out of her stupor. "The parasite… it claims your body… latching on to a… a host, and… and…"
"And what?!" She screamed hysterically. "What does it do?"
"It… makes you… makes you a puppet… It drills into you… and… and…" Sakura drifted off, the dizziness too much to bear. She stumbled, falling against something solid and warm. "Kakashi…"
"It takes your body captive, devouring your brain and replacing that with its body. When the host's body is completely claimed, it absorbs the entire parasite." Kakashi finished patiently, stroking Sakura's hair soothingly. He turned to address the hysteric woman. "Your husband is fine. The Parasite, the beetle, wasn't fully absorbed. He'll recover."
"The girl… What's wrong with her?"
"Sometimes, the scent of a Parasite's blood is enough to evoke mindlessness in some." Kakashi said, guiding the dizzy, giggly kunoichi to a chair. She looked like she was drunk, her cheeks flushed, giggles spilling out at random intervals. "Shhh." Kakashi murmured.
"This parasite," A dark-haired woman cut in, "is it a threat?"
"Without a doubt." Kakashi said, turning to regard the chestnut-skinned woman with the feral green eyes. "This parasite… it is capable of wiping out all of mankind; shinobi, civilians, right down to the tiniest insect. But, it will do worst than that. It will claim our bodies and use them, using females as brood mares, creating more vessels; essentially, a factory for the parasite."
"Is there anything we can do to stop it?" The woman asked, her full lips twisting down in a frown.
"Killing them off one by one is impossible." Kakashi said, his charcoal eyes dead serious. "You would have to go straight to the source. You would have to kill It. The problem is, no one knows what It really is."
Sakura awoke in a bottomless feather mattress, a ceiling fan spinning lazily above her, cool air sliding along her face, soothing her pounding head. It was a hangover, but worse. It was parasite intoxication. The events of the previous night came flooding back to her. The parasite… the Raikage… the tea… that unbearable blond…
"You awake, sleeping beauty?" A laughing voice sounded from somewhere to her left. She shot up, realizing that she was still in the black evening gown from before. She glowered at the jounin sitting in an armchair by her bedside, looking totally relaxed. His headband sat on the bedside table, his silvery hair falling into his eyes, his sharingan closed beneath a long pink scar as he lounged in the soft cushions, flipping through his glaring orange porn – ahem – romance - novel. Even though the series consisted of over twenty smutty novels, Icha Icha Paradise still seemed to hold a special place in Kakashi's heart.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded.
"I was bored, so I came to watch you snort." He drawled, his eye crinkling, hinting of a smile beneath his mask. Sakura's cheeks burned as she snatched up the nearest item (a floor lamp) and chucked it at his head. He ducked, his eyes never leaving his book as he tsked. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura… We're guests here, so don't go around throwing lamps. I know it's a dear old habit of yours, but really, I don't fancy sleeping beneath the trees with Uzumaki 'Wandering Hands' Naruto. The boy does the strangest things in his sleep, like the time when…"
The way Kakashi spoke was even more infuriating than the way he thought it was perfectly fine to invite himself into a lady's room, his student's, nonetheless.
Not that I mind… Inner Sakura snickered.
"Out. Now. And take your little doggies with you." Sakura growled, pointing an accusing finger at Pakkun and a few of his friends having a party in her suitcases.
"Hai, hai." He drawled, closing his book with a snap and sliding it into his kunai holster. He scooped up his headband and stuffed it in his pockets along with his fists as he motioned with his chin for the dogs to head out. There were a few canine grumbles before the dogs poofed away. Kakashi turned, gave a little two-fingered salute/wave (Sakura could never figure out what it really was), and did the same.
Damn that man… All he has to do smile mask-less or do something cute like that and I can't stay mad at him. Sakura sighed, bending down to riffle through her clothes, shoving a few mysteriously (and hopefully they would stay that way) stained shirts aside into a closet where they would most likely never see the light of day (or at least until some poor, unfortunate soul discovered both them and their smell). She pulled out her customary top and medic skirt complete with black spandex shorts, folded them over her arm, and slipped into the bathroom for a long, relaxing soak. She had a feeling that she would need it.
The next few days would be difficult.
A/N: Short, but I thought, what the heck, why not post it? I haven't updated for over a week, so I decided to put those of you actually waiting for the next chapter out of your misery.