Chapter 5
"What can we find that belonged to him before…that?" the strawberry blonde girl pondered out loud in the living room of a small apartment. She knows better than anyone else that she should be sleeping and resting after a mildly tiring mission, but she could not bring herself to rest whilst being bombarded by thoughts. She remembered the headband that Sasuke left behind after his big fight with Naruto, but it's a long lost artifect after Sasuke returned. A small flashback played in her mind…
"If you leave now…I'll…I'll…I'll scream!"
"Sakura…thank you."
…
…
…
"Sasuke, why are you throwing out all these things?"
"Because it's a waste of space, the past."
"Sakura, shouldn't you be sleeping?" Came a sleepy voice that rescued her from the dark abyss she was tumbling through in the flashback.
"I…I…I have to go somewhere…"
"I guess I'll come with you then…" He trailed off with a small yawn. The moonlight sketched out his jaw line, the straightness of his nose and his ever-present mask on top of all that. His hair slightly messier than usual, but it caught the moonlight and reflected it back like a mirror. A handsome mirror, Sakura's mind corrected. "Now tell me, where is this somewhere?" The small area of handsome features played an innocent and confused face as he scratched the side of his head with his forefinger.
"Somewhere to think…Sensei, I can't think of where I can find something that belonged to him. The more I think about it the more desperate I become."
"Well…I'm sure by morning you'll figure it out…" He trailed of again, this time wandering back towards his bedroom and onto his bed, taking off his mask at the same time. The moonlight faded behind his trail, leaving her alone in the darkness once again, slumped on the sofa soon fast asleep.
The next morning started with a rather rushed breakfast with eggs and toast, Sakura style. By now, Kakashi has gotten used to having Sakura around his house. Whether it is the meals that she whole heartedly cooked for him or the fact that she has made his home feel complete, he couldn't quite bring himself to admit that he's growing attached to the young kunoichi. Attractive young kunoichi that is…
"Why do you want me in the hospital today? Haven't I told you that I'm fine and had my medical check up a few days ago with Sakura?"
"Err…Sakura mentioned to me that…she was worried about that wandering spleen of yours." Tsunade lied. Where could those two be? They should be here soon. I hope Kakashi isn't rubbing off that much on her to make her late for everything!
Just then, as if on cue, two jonin appeared…bickering.
"See, if you could have just taken the straight path, we would've been 50% faster!"
"But there was a black cat!"
"Liar!" Everyone sighed…obviously Kakashi was rubbing off on Sakura.
"You two." Tsunade sternly stood between them and pointed at the ward. Silently, the two jonin walked into the room to be greeted by a very angry pair of sharingan eyes from the bed. Sakura turned away and unrolled the little scroll and laid some things onto the table, slipping on her black gloves. Kakashi made himself comfortable on a chair nearby and began flipping through the glorious pages of literature, whilst his eye occasionally wandered towards the kunoichi who is currently flexing her fingers.
"What are you looking at." Sasuke spat, jealousy lingered in his voice. "If you lay another sight or thought on my wife, I'll kill you."
"But Sasuke, she's not your wife you see…" He innocently replied in an easy mannered voice. "Why do you think we were late?" He noticed how Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, and his sharingan swirled a bit. He could be at home reading, but he couldn't leave Sakura in a room with Sasuke much as he'd like to convince himself that Sakura is capable of taking care of herself.
"Stop picking on sensei. We have a life to save here, Sasuke." Sakura moved the table nearer to the bed. Needles scattered across it, bandages, scalpels…and all sorts of equipment. She noticed how Sasuke tensed slightly when his saw all those equipment on the table.
"Oh, those are there…just in case…" her face darkened with a mildy scary aura, "…you misbehave." She brought out a torch from beneath showing a scary face. The Uchiha resisted every temptation to flinch, but his minute flinch did not go unescaped, earning a small giggle from Sakura, as she tied him down and covered his eyes.
"I shall begin." She said, breaking the tense silence in the room.
She took the scalpel and made a small cut on her finger. She didn't stop the bleeding, but allowing it to drip slowly onto his body. Small sobs could be heard as tear and blood mixed together on his chest. Sasuke was completely unaware of what was happening, but the small voice at the back of his head was shouting at him 'No! Stop her crying! Stop her bleeding! Hey, let me out! Hey, are you listening to me? Hey, get back here!' He didn't know who it was, but he kept on ignoring it.
She performed the seals written on the scroll and placed her hands on his chest, above where his heart nestled, green chakra clouded her hands. It will be hours before she can safely say that she's done. Will my chakra be able to…
"Kakashi-sensei, how are you feeling today?" She shouted over her shoulder, still focused on her patient.
"Mmm, why do you ask all of a sudden? Are you up to something?" He replied with suspicion. That's the worst pick-up line ever, but I could say yes! Oh shut up. Should I stop by Yamanaka for some – SHUT UP!
"Kakashi-sensei, are you even listening? I can't hold out like this for more than three quarters of an hour, it's quite intensive this…can I tap into some of your chakra later on?"
"Sure…" Kakashi's head suddenly hung down with a sigh. Disappointment!
"Thanks…" She was already halfway there.
She continued without a word. The room was silent again, but Sasuke occasionally moaned. His mind was racing, battling with something foreign.
"Kill her."
"Why?"
"Kill her."
"No!"
"You have killed so many already, what does one kunoichi make a difference?"
"No, I have not killed anyone except for Itachi!"
"Mmm…really, Sasuke-kun?" The wicked voice in his mind played pictures of countless shinobi of different ranks falling before him with a splash of blood and a shocked face. "Just face it, you can't be strong without me in you, Sasuke-kun."
"Whoever you are, get lost!"
"I can't, you and I are one now." The voice trailed off with an evil laugh.
"You can't have, I killed you! I killed you! I killed you!"
"You did, but that's only half of me. Now stop her before she rids this half of me or you'll be weak, like her." The voice faded leaving him in the dark. He welcomed it.
Half an hour passed and Sakura was starting to feel the strain of the jutsu. I'm nearly there, she encouraged herself. It was pointless, the cloud of green chakra around her hands was slowly fading as her chakra levels were falling towards empty. She turned her head slightly to look at where Kakashi was sitting only to find his seat empty. Maybe he got bored.
Just when she was giving up the hope of being close to finishing the jutsu, a pair of hands landed on top her hers. The green glow grew to full strength again. She gasped as she felt the warmth of the hands above hers.
"You owe me dinner." He simply stated, amusement in his voice.
"You're late."
"Well, I was lost on the path of life."
"Liar." She could feel just how close they were standing, his chest resting on her back, his chin nestled on her shoulder, his soft silver hair dipping into her pale pastel hair…Stop it! their minds chanted in unison.
Nearly half an hour later, Sakura's hands formed another seal and stamped her hands onto Sasuke's bare chest again, a light blue chakra surrounding her hands while Kakashi's hands rested on top again. Small black curse patterns began wandering from every part of Sasuke's body and towards the blue chakra. It was another hour before all the curse patterns have been removed from the pale Uchiha body. The blue chakra now turned into a red chakra, encasing a small blob of black that was once curse patterns residing within a body. She turned around and captured the small blob onto a scroll and sealed it in. Once that was done, she place her forefinger onto his chest and passed on whatever remaining chakra she had to his heart.
Sasuke woke with a start. A soft white cloth fell off his face revealing an image of Kakashi carrying the pastel haired girl awkwardly. He then remembered what happened. Three months of coldness and anger. His gaze wandered to Kakashi, who immediately back off to his seat.
"It's not as it seems…you should be fine now." He muttered as he rested his ex-student in his arms as he sat down to read again, while Sasuke tried to undo whatever was tying him down.
"What happened."
"She cured you. You had half of Orochimaru in you, she used all her chakra in exterminating the him in you. See for yourself." He did not even lift his head from his book, at the same time, injecting some of his chakra into Sakura, in hope that she'll wake up in time for the dinner she promised.
Sasuke turned his head and saw the scroll on the table. The seal on it resembled the one that once resided on his shoulder. He felt his shoulder and found out from a mirror nearby that it was gone. He felt free, and wandered out of the room only to be greeted by Tsunade and Naruto. Meanwhile, behind him, tucked in a corner, he could hear Kakashi reading nothing but his little orange book…outloud to a sleeping Sakura. What have he missed for the past few months? Why is he feeling so…empty?
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