04/02/2006
Revised: 18/12/2006
It's been a long time since my last update, people. There's...alot I want to say about this, but...it's been too long that I have forgotten what I wanted to say about this chapter, to be honest. In anycase...enjoy the story. There's no song this time - or rather, it's optional. I say this because I listened to this particular song non-stop when I was writing this, so...the song is,
Sakura Drops, by Utada Hikari.
Of course, I have the link for the song, but as usual, click my bio to find the link. I would like it if you hear that song, but any other sentimental, nostalgic, sad song could work as well.
Enjoy the story.
一
Closing the Chapter
Thanks to SharinganK for beta-ing.
Act 2:
Ghost Hammerin'
一
It was late evening when they started their journey.
He rolled down the window, allowing a cool breeze to enter. The bright moon was already out, despite the day not dark yet. Then he turned, and stared at her with unblinking eyes. For some strange reason he did not understand, she did not meet his gaze, instead looking at anything but him, cheeks tainted slightly pink. Briefly, he considered asking what was wrong, or if it was too hot in the carriage horse, but decided otherwise. It wouldn't do to waste too much time.
"Neh, Sakura-chan?"
"Mm?"
He lifted her slender figure into his arms suddenly, eliciting nothing but a startled squeak from her, surprised as she was by the sudden movement. Before she could even say anything, he leaped out of the car through the window, the woman he loved in his arms. She's light, thought Naruto, a little mystified. Were girls all this light?
"N-Naruto?" There was only surprise in her tone, and she wrapped an arm around his neck instinctively as he leaped from roof to roof. Which he had noted with a slight glee. She had not even boxed him - a move she would have performed in the past - when he grabbed her. He did a little victory dance in his mind, despite the somber mood he was in.
Which he also should not be.
That day, after all, was supposed to be a day for celebration, not for sobriety.
And yet...
"...Naruto?"
He glanced at the little weight in his arms, to see enquiring green eyes staring up at him. He could discern the concern there, the confusion, and also a hint of sadness. The same hint of sadness that had been there since...since so many years ago. Always there; an open cut, always bleeding, never healing. Idly, he wondered if it would ever disappear, even if for a flitting moment...
His heart felt heavy, all of a sudden.
"Naruto?" She called again, milk green eyes growing wide with worry. She had, of course, sensed how he felt. There was only so very little he could keep from her.
But, more importantly, he was amazed to see no fear. Not even a wee bit. Nothing. It had been years, and each time he had seen her, he sensed no fear. Unlike...unlike the people of the village who had lived to remember kyuubi.
And then there was trust. There wasn't even a glint of suspicion in her mind, and...and she just - trusted him completely. Totally, infinitely. Even when he's bringing her to who-knows-where, she trusted him to never harm her in any way. He would never hurt her.
"You just ditched the carriage without telling the driver, you know," she said casually. Stray pink hair, blown by the quiet breeze, tickled his cheek. Which, now that he was reminded, there was one thing he just had to do about it. Shifting his hand slightly so that his elbow would support her back - he made a quick move of removing the white, transparent cloth from her head, tossing it on her lap, and took out the clips from her hair that was put up in a bundle, and unceremoniously threw them on top of the discarded white cloth. Her hair fluttered, illustrious pink and flying freely with the wind. Her bangs were long, noted the man, shading those eyes of hers.
He thought she looked like an angel. An untouchable, innocent beauty that he would willingly sacrifice his life for.
"Naruto!"
"It doesn't look good on you," he said bluntly, looking at the path he was taking again. He paused, brow furrowed in a slight frown. "Well, it does, but I like it better when it just flows...you know, naturally?"
That boy. He never knows tact when it comes to dealing with females, does he?
She was silent for a brief moment, and idly, he wondered if she was preparing to kill him. He yelped when she gave him a little pinch on the shoulder, where her arm had wrapped around his neck.
"Tell that to Ino-chan, I dare you. She spent quite some time to fix it, you know." She glared at him with a mock-murderous look. There was a slight tinge on her cheeks, again, for some reason he didn't know. He resisted the urge to claim those soft, alluring, pouting lips right there and then. Focus. The road. Focus. Trip and Sakura-chan will kill me. Focus. The road. Focus.
Then he blinked, realizing she was still waiting for his answer with clear, beautiful green eyes.
"Well...it will have to come off sometime soon anyway."
She hadn't seen fit to reply, although she flushed slightly.
He wanted to drown in those eyes, but instead, he looked back at the road, wary of where he was stepping even as he moved. For a while, they were silent, suddenly feeling a little awkward and uncomfortable. And a little hot, despite the cool breeze. Perhaps in the near future they wouldn't feel like this anymore, but...damn it. It was their first time!
He cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
The ninja snorted. "The driver'll live."
It was a vain attempt to break the nervousness in them both by bringing up the earlier question, but the bundle in his arms played along.
"Oh?"
"And besides," he let out a foxy grin, "We don't need a carriage."
"And how are we going to get back later? Just so you know, Naruto, I don't plan on running around and getting my clothes stained with dirt," she murmured, a hint of threat in her sweet voice. He almost gulped, but held back.
Lifting a finger from his hand that held her shoulders, he pointed at himself with a wide grin. He could, of course, always volunteer to be the transport. Not that he minded anyway.
It was her turn to snort, sighing in exasperation, even as she picked up the items on her lap - also taking out the gloves on both her hands - and somehow stuffed them into his pants pocket. A blond eyebrow rose at her, and she said, "Where else am I going to put them?"
Then she straightened, putting up her best stern look, even if a small smile was itching to form at the corner of her lips. "Today, Naruto, is not supposed to be a let's-be-ninja-day, it's - "
Her eyes widened, mouth snapping close as he came to a halt.
The strong arms that held her let her down gently, and she stayed silent, even as he let go and stepped forward, dropping down to sit on the smooth marble floor, arms automatically straightening as they grasped his ankles. Cherry trees blossomed in the distance, sprinkling the crisp grass and the stone with soft pink petals in a mild shower. It was April, the season when Sakura trees bloomed.
Green eyes softened despite the sudden chill when he unwrapped his arms from around her.
...It was just so like him to come here, especially on this day...
For a while, neither moved. He was as still as stone, and she did not want to disturb him. The silence was breached by only the sound of rustling trees and whistling wind. All around her, pink leaves floated in the air when the wind picked up its pace.
She looked at his profile, examining from his ruffling blond hair down to the toes. For just that day, he was not in his ninja garb, but formal wear, long-sleeved shirt and white pants...
...though his coat had disappeared.
She shook her head resignedly. Typical Naruto; it figured that he would take away his coat the moment the celebration was over. She doubted he would even wear such things if not of the occasion today. He was a grown man, now. Taller, and stronger. The fats in his cheeks were long gone, and often did she reprimand him for the stubble growing on his jaw every so often.
There were even times he had been perplexed when she shot him a thoroughly annoyed, murderous look, for some reason he could never figure out. Which, indeed, made her even more annoyed.
Of course, she hadn't been about to tell him that girls had been leering his way, and -
She blinked. Did she just...his shoulders. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw his shoulders shaking slightly.
And it wasn't like she was a medic-nin for nothing, either. Imagining things did not fall into her dictionary.
"...Oh, Naruto..." her voice was a whisper, almost too soft to be heard. She too, stepped forward, and stood directly behind him.
Without warning, she dropped to her knees, and wrapped her slender arms around his neck, leaning ever so slightly against him. His blond hair brushed against her cheek, and her hold on him tightened a little, like a mother comforting her child. Even then, he still stared right ahead, and she knew without asking that he was staring at a particular name engraved on the stone.
"She's proud of you, I'm sure."
The pink haired woman did not need to look at him to know that he was crying quietly. Even if his face was dry.
"She shouldn't have died."
"Tsunade-sama wanted you to live."
"She still shouldn't have - ! "
/ "Sakura Drops" by Utada Hikaru - Deep River /
His retort was cut off, when she suddenly turned and kneeled in front of him, half a head taller - gently tilting his face up with both palms - and kissed him.
He stilled, her soft pink hair now tickling his face - his nose, cheek, forehead. But all he needed was a full two seconds before he dove into her immediately, skillfully maneuvering his tongue into her depths almost possessively, frantically, urgently. He tasted like sake, with a hint of ramen. His hands were on her waist, tugging her down slightly to gain more access - and somehow, somewhere, she did not bother to figure out how - she was in between his now opened legs, and they were mere inches apart from each other.
When they parted - and it was only because of lack of air - her lips were pleasantly swollen. She regarded him with a hint of flush of her cheeks.
"And where...where would that leave you?" She asked quietly. "Dead?"
"I should have been dead years ago."
"She chose to release that seal, Naruto, when Kabuto nearly killed you!"
"Precisely my point."
He did not break his eyes away from hers even once, blue orbs unflinching. She never thought they would have looked so regretful before, that pair of cheerful eyes. She never thought that those bright eyes could be so flat and dull.
There was silence, a tense, saddening saturnine.
"Are you saying you would have left me too?" She asked abruptly. She saw the flash of surprise in his gaze.
The wind quickened its speed.
Her fingers tightened on the fabric of his clothes. She stared into his heartbreakingly sad blue eyes. "Are you saying that you would rather choose death than - "
Sakura petals flew all around them, guided by the breeze.
His head had shot up suddenly, not allowing her to complete the question, lips capturing hers in an instant. The words were left hanging in the air.
She didn't resist, but, like him, she knew the answer.
Always knew the answer.
Always.
They did not part for some time. For a very long time.
There wasn't, to Sakura's logical mind, any reason to be sad that day. Despite his somber mood, she wasn't at all particularly sad, even if she felt remorse over what happened. Her heart and mind, on the contrary, had been clear of all worries, all fear...it was just, just and only, peaceful.
Like a breath of fresh air that she inhaled into her lungs.
But she did not know why a tear lurked in her eye, the dewdrop rolling down her cheek gently. The bright moonlight seemed to make it sparkle.
"Don't cry," he whispered in between insistent kisses. The tone was oddly urgent, for some reason. It was...it was - she could not describe it. To say it was sadness, remorse, was wrong.
A warm, slightly rough, moist tongue licked the salty tear away.
...It didn't even come close to that.
"Don't cry," he said again, licking away the tears that continuously came down for reasons she could not comprehend.
She did not notice when he had started towering over her, now on his knees as he took her in a tight embrace, all the while still kissing her as a calloused hand caressed her face. Her hands were in between, lightly gripping the soft fabric of his clothes.
Then he kissed her forehead, her closed eyes, her nose, her cheeks, all the while murmuring the same thing.
"Idiot." She had been certain her voice sounded like something in between a laugh and a stifled sob.
Not more than a second after she said that, he captured her lips with his again, and their tongues started a battle of will and passion, each side unwilling to back down.
Eventually, they parted. But neither wanted to move, their foreheads touching, and they just - stayed that way, completely still, eyes closed. The only thing that disturbed their total stillness was the traitorous breeze that made her hair fly and his ruffle.
Then birds, one whole flock of birds, too far to discern its shape, flew out of the forests, it's bright chirping sounding too much like chidori.
He had looked up, startled, as she did.
Her eyes honed in on one particular bird, seemingly flying in circles, looking a little lost, which then - much to her horror - started to fall. Her body had moved automatically then, shrugging off his light hold, and ran forward to catch the bird before it hit the ground.
It turned out that she did not have to move very far at all, and she leaped, catching the bird in mid-air before landing gracefully without a sound. Kneeling, she laid it down on the grass, and felt its soft blue and white feathers; eyes and hands both probing for wounds.
She traced the wings gently with two fingers,mentally cataloguing the possible injuries it may have, and felt for its chakra pathways. The flow of chakra was slightly irregular, she noted. Seeing the right side looking perfectly normal, she turned it around gently, and saw little cakes of dried blood.
And therein lies the problem.
This time, chakra on the tips of her fingers, her palm hovered over the bloody wing. There was a deep graze on it, extending from that small shoulder down to the middle of the wing, most likely something received on the edge of a tree branch.
She never did notice Naruto peering over her shoulder with a concerned look on his face - he had kept silent while she was working on the little bird. But then again, she thought distantly, he was not in a cheery mood today, aside from during the celebration...and even then, she had sensed a wave of sadness from him despite him being happy.
She lifted her hand away from the bird, her job done. The wound - though she suspect would leave a scar - was closed. And now...
A handkerchief dangled in front of her, and she blinked. She turned around, to see a grinning blond. His smile was infectious. One could not help but smile when he had this wide, idiotic grin on his face. Taking the cloth, she brushed off the dried blood from the wings. How he always figured out what she needed, she supposed she would never know.
Discarding the handkerchief - her palm hovered over the bird again. This time it wasn't just the tip of her fingers, it was her whole palm that glowed a soft green. Rejuvenation technique. In a sense, one could just say she was giving her own chakra to the animal - a move than can help or devastate the bird, since she now held the power to control its chakra flow.
The bird chirped, chocolate brown eyes suddenly wide and blinking, even as the faint glow on her hand faded. It peered up at both of them - somehow it had gotten itself to stand properly - and chirped again. It was almost as if it was saying its thanks. Then, flapping its wings experimentally, the little bird took off, and flew high into the sky.
"Oh no..." She had whispered. It was - once more - flying in circles.
The flock of birds had disappeared.
She felt someone touching her shoulder. Again, she turned, and saw Naruto - who had bent down next to her - looking at one particular direction, which she followed.
It was another pair of birds. They were flying towards the once injured bird, and three chirps resounded distantly in her ears as they flew around each other in circles, before taking off in the direction the pair came from.
Another wide grin, filled with childlike happiness, was on his face, before it turned into something...sadder. Older.
"A trio...eh?" His voice was quiet.
Trio.
"They looked like they were the best of the best friends." His tone was going softer with each word.
Her fingers touched his hand that was on her shoulder.
"Like the whole world was revolving around them..."
She squeezed his hand encouragingly. He responded by covering her small hand in his bigger one, bringing it to his lips, and held it there.
"...He had called me his best friend, you know." Spiky blond hair shadowed his eyes. Another hand lifted; his both hands now covered her own, and brought up to rest on his forehead. The trio of birds had moved too far away to be seen anymore.
He had called me dobe. Then he said I was like a brother, too. He did not say, yet she seemed to hear those words.
"I know," she found herself whispering.
"And he said... he said he had loved you."
She did not answer him. His hands were shaking as they gripped hers more tightly.
"He said that...he said that he was sorry."
Still she was silent.
"...That fool of a bastard! Purposely taking that blow that I knew he could block - "
"You are not much better, Naruto!" She cut him off sharply.
He looked up at her, surprise in his features.
Her eyes narrowed. "If you think I didn't notice the way you moved when you realized he was not fighting to win, you are a fool," she bit out.
This time, he was silent. He knew as she knew he knew that she spoke the truth.
Then she sighed, her words quieter now.
"And he didn't want to be saved, Naruto. He wanted to die." By our very own hands, she stopped herself from saying.
She felt something rolling down her cheek - something like a little ball or warmth. Startled, she blinked, her eyes moving towards the grass - and saw a little dewdrop at the edge of one pink petal. Which was strange, she thought, the weather was sunny that day. Not once had it rained.
Then another drop of water fell.
And another.
A thumb moved to caress her face gently. She glanced up, to stare into blue eyes. Blue eyes that held so much emotion, so much, so much that it almost overwhelmed her.
"...Don't cry," he whispered for the third time that day.
She couldn't find any response, merely shaking her head. More tears pooled at the edge of her eyes, for reasons that she could not -
"Don't cry," his voice was hoarse this time.
It was then did she realize it. She hadn't been crying for herself.
She was crying for him.
For him who could not cry.
For him who swore to never shed a tear again.
She was crying for him, for the little boy inside whose pain could not be seen by the naked eye.
For him.
For him.
For him.
He took her in his arms again, holding her tight, almost as if she would disappear if he did not. He was carrying her once more, bridal-style, and she all but snuggled into his chest, head buried in his shirt, tears coming unbidden.
It was odd that it had not been noticed before, but two plain gold bands, hooked on the fourth finger of their left hands, glinted in the moonlight.
"Let's go home."
She could only nod into his shirt, fingers curling tightly in the wrinkled fabric.
His legs bent slightly, and then, they disappeared into thin air.
Where they had once stood, only the soft pink petals remained, floating idly in the air, before the wind nudged it elsewhere.
Author's notes:
So who was surprised about Sasuke?
Or actually, who wants to kill me for doing that? Some of you, I imagine, could be unsastified with how things turn out - but the way I see it, it's either Sasuke or Naruto. One of them has to go, from how I have written this story, and from how I see the relationship between the three.
But, of course, things aren't stated point blank, so readers are welcome to draw up their own conclusions. I, for one, won't be saying what really happened to Sasuke...or anyone else, at that.
It also seems that many of you particularly liked the photo-falling-scene. It's a dramatic scene, I admit. I have some obsession about dramatism and perhaps, even some very cliche themes, so I may have went overboard with being dramatic. But hey, that's me. XD
However, for stories rated M and MA, you will have to register in the forums to get access to it. Other stories is free game. I apologize for the disruption, but personally I feel it better this way...there are some people, no matter the age, who isn't comfortable reading those materials. And in regards to that, I won't be posting the chapters in my livejournal anymore, since there's a library around.
And that's the end of my tirade.
Following this site's new development, questions, critiques and the sort will be answered privately - unless if I feel there's a need to address everyone regarding anything.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.