Btw, Gaara did not kill Dosu in this AU universe, so that's why he's alive and well in this chapter. You might want to listen to 'It's the Fear,' by Within Temptation when reading Sakura's fight. Why? Cause it's a good song! :)
The stadium was packed. It looked like everyone from Konoha had showed up, the crowds squeezed into the seats, a single mass of moving colour. It was good weather conditions for a fight, sunny but not bright enough to blind you in the middle of battle.
The contestants lined up. Sakura looked at them all carefully, wondering which of them she would fight, if she managed to beat Dosu. Aburame Shino was as inscrutable as ever, his body language relaxed, his face and eyes covered. Naruto was buzzing with excitement and worry – probably concerned that Sasuke hadn't shown up yet. Dosu's single eye was fixed on the Kage seats. Sakura felt a flicker of apprehension upon examining him. He looked confident. Shikamaru looked bored as usual.
The redhead from Suna, Gaara, kept staring at each contestant as Sakura did, his gaze hungry. She hoped she wouldn't have to fight him. His siblings looked tense. The tall one with the kabuki face paint winked at her when he noticed her stare. She grimaced. Hinata's cousin looked completely at ease, as though he fought shinobi in front of the entire village every day.
Sakura looked up, hoping to see a black shape amidst the clouds, but no. Raban was nowhere to be seen. She carefully examined the audience, trying to spot a henge jutsu at work, knowing it was pointless. If anyone in that crowd was truly confident enough to use henge in front of all the ninja in the village, they would be too skilled for her to see through, no matter how Kurenai-sensei had raved about her discerning eyes.
Sasuke had still not arrived. Sakura could see a ripple of tension go through the crowd, they had shown up to see the young Uchiha fight, and yet he was not here. Sakura bit her lip. Was it possible that Orochimaru could have…?
The Hokage cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, his voice strong and clear despite his age. The Kazekage watched him during his speech, waving a hand towards his face every so often, as though uncomfortable. Sakura frowned. There was something odd about that –
The referee, Genma (the previous one seemed to have died), stood forward and held a piece of paper out.
It was a diagram of the matches. Sakura scowled. She had an extra match. How unfair!
"Alright guys, this is the final test." Genma said, a senbon clenched between his teeth as he talked, "The arena is different but the rules are the same as in the prelims. There are none. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges defeat. But if I determine that the fight is over… I'll step in and stop it, OK?"
Naruto was first. He glared at Neji, who returned it with his own icy scowl.
Sakura followed the others to the waiting room. The single girl from Suna was in front of Sakura as they walked. Sakura noticed the girl's tanned legs were shaking, and wondered if it was too cold for her here.
Dosu walked a respectful distance from Sakura and stood far away from her when they reached the waiting room where the contestants stayed until their fight. Sakura glanced at him, noticing him flinch under her stare. Was he still frightened of Sasuke's wrath? How on earth was he going to fight her?
Sakura spotted Ino in the crowd and waved. She waved back, sticking her tongue out at her.
Then Naruto suddenly morphed into many Narutos and Sakura started to pay attention to the fight. Neji stood alone, his cold eyes slowly sweeping over the bunshin.
Naruto charged.
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Dosu leapt over the side of the railings and landed neatly on the ground, his head up, expecting Sakura to follow suit.
Sakura shook her head and patiently walked down the stairs. As if she was going to risk injuring herself before the fight!
She was so scared. It was difficult to stop herself shaking, but she managed it.
Sasuke had arrived just before her fight, flashy as usual, spinning into the centre of the stadium in a flurry of leaves, Kakashi at his side. Sakura had rolled her eyes. At his arrival, Gaara seemed to lose control. He started to shake violently, the sand in his gourd rattling. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Sasuke, who stood next to Naruto in the waiting area. He would have definitely attacked there and then had he not been surrounded by shinobi who would stop him, Sakura thought with a shudder. Before Sasuke had arrived Gaara had spent his time staring at Lee, who had done his best to ignore him.
The crowd booed as Sakura walked out into the arena. It was nothing personal. They had been waiting for Sasuke's fight for a long time, and now an unknown genin from Konoha was fighting a ninja from a small, practically unheard of village. It was no wonder they were bored.
A crow cawed from above Sakura's head. She grinned. Sensei.
"Are you ready to fight?" Genma asked.
Sakura nodded, putting some ear plugs in. Dosu's eye narrowed.
The world fell silent.
"Begin." Genma said. The crowd, despite their previous disinterest, moved forward slightly.
This kind of wide open space was no good for Sakura. Had she been as good as Kurenai she could have summoned a forest, a fog and a thousand crows and just waited for her opponent to fall into a trap.
Dosu was waiting for her to get close so he could touch her and send sound waves through the water in her body.
No thanks, Sakura thought, and disappeared.
She heard the crowd murmur. It was a very tricky concealment jutsu, any shinobi worth his salt would be able to spot her, but Dosu had the disadvantage of having only one eye, and thus no real binocular depth perception.
Keep silent, Sakura warned herself, and slowly reached for a kunai.
The sun glinted off the metal, and Dosu attacked, launching himself at the glint. Sakura hurled the kunai and watched him freeze, confused. He could not tell where it had come from.
It would be hard on a sunny day like this but Sakura had a plan.
He couldn't hear much beneath those bandages, that much was obvious by the way he tilted his head constantly, trying to hear better.
The crowd murmured as silvery fog crept across the arena, blocking out the sun. It was a magnificent sight, grey mist thickening and arching over the stadium, leaving the audience blind.
Inside the eye of the fog, Sakura breathed out.
In an instant Dosu was upon her, knocking her hands from their seal and breaking the fog for a split second.
Standing in the waiting room, Sasuke and Naruto were peering out into the fog, searching for any sign of Sakura. Sasuke's Sharingan eyes were fixed upon a single spot. They narrowed when they caught a glimpse of Sakura, newly visible, being pinned to the ground by Dosu.
Kakashi pulled down his mask.
Shit, Sakura thought frantically, she wasn't built for close combat. Nevertheless, she kicked upwards, catching him in the stomach. She received an elbow to the ribs for her effort, and cursed. What had once been what she had considered a very sophisticated plan had dissolved into a common street brawl.
Screw this. Sakura brought her hands together and formed a seal, praying Dosu wouldn't have time to send sound waves through her body.
Dosu froze after Sakura had tapped him on the shoulder, a light touch that had him stiffen up and topple off of her.
It was then that she saw the feather. She pulled out the ear plugs and looked around, confused.
Raban cawed a warning and suddenly thousands of feathers were drifting through the air. Sakura felt the familiar itch of unfamiliar chakra trying to take over her system. She shrugged it off with a hand seal and very little effort.
Genjutsu, she thought, narrowing her eyes up at the stadium. She held up a hand and released the fog.
The ninja were fighting all of a sudden, she could hear the clashing of metal and shouts from the audience. The civilians were sound asleep, to her surprise. Realising the match was over, regardless of who'd won, Sakura released the paralysis jutsu on Dosu.
A kunai flashed in front of her face and she cried out in pain. Dosu had suddenly appeared in front of her, slashing across her neck in the obvious hope of a quick kill. She had tilted her neck ever so slightly and managed to avoid a deeper cut.
A crash drew her attention. The wall of the stadium was crumbling underneath the weight of a huge monstrous-like figure, staggering drunkenly through the arena, sand pouring from it as it looked around.
Sasuke chased after it, only pausing to look worriedly in Sakura's direction. She waved him on, her eyes on Dosu.
She glared at him balefully, jaw clenched against the pain.
"What's going on?" She demanded.
"This is a war between Oto and Konoha. And our ally, Suna." Dosu said, sounding like he was grinning.
Sakura felt sick. But… Suna was Konoha's ally! She had a sudden surge of fear, and looked wildly at the Kage seats. She couldn't see anything.
When the Kazekage waved his hand at his face, she'd thought it odd… Why would the leader of a hot, desert country find a leafy, breezy village too hot?
A gigantic snake suddenly emerged from a massive cloud of smoke, its great purple head diving into the crowd.
Several people screamed.
"Who is that?" Sakura shouted at Dosu, her suspicions horribly confirmed "That is not the Kazekage!"
Orochimaru!
She thought she detected surprise in his single eye, "Oh you are a clever one, aren't you?" He said slowly, drawing a kunai, "You heard the rules… that referee won't stop us unless one of us forfeits… or dies. Are you going to forfeit or die?" He said creepily.
"Oh, shut up." Sakura spat, drawing a kunai of her own.
"Have you ever used one of those, little girl? They are dangerous tools, not toys. Tell me… have you drawn a kunai across a man's throat and watched the blood bubble in his mouth as he slowly chokes to death on his own blood? I have… It is… quite the sight to behold, little girl… Have you ever sliced a man's stomach open, and marvelled at how long a man can live with his insides hanging out?"
"No," Sakura said coldly, hoping that somehow her intense fear wasn't obvious, "But I guess I'm about to find out."
"Indeed."
Sakura's arm protested as it was drawn sharply back, Dosu's hand clenched around her wrist, the other hand holding a kunai that came slicing down towards her –
Raban clawed at Dosu's face, his wings flapping furiously as his feet scratched welts in the sound ninja's face. The bandages tied around his head were torn slightly and stained with blood by the time Raban flew back, landing on Sakura's shoulder.
"Keep a cool head, Sakura-san!" Raban shouted, his beady eyes darting around the shinobi running about the arena.
"Thank you, Raban-san!" Sakura leapt backwards, avoiding Dosu's strike.
The man was panting, deep scratches bleeding sluggishly on his face. He glared at her.
"I will inform your sensei of what is happening," Raban said. He paused, about to fly off, then rubbed her face with the flat side of his beak, an almost affectionate gesture, "Do not die in my absence. This is your first taste of war, Sakura-san. Let it not be your last."
Sakura bit her lip, then nodded. She wished Raban would stay with her, but knew she had to be strong. This was what was being a shinobi was all about.
She fought with Dosu for a while, surprising herself with the ferocity she displayed, matching him strike for strike, avoiding his sound amplifying weapon and getting in a few hits of her own.
She could see the jounin and chuunin picking off the enemies slowly, Kakashi standing back to back with Gai, surrounded by enemy ninja. She was surprised by her fear for her sensei.
She didn't feel any pain, but she felt the hot gush of blood as Dosu's kunai finally found its target, slicing open her upper arm. This distracted her long enough for him to plant a hard kick in her side, sending her spinning to the ground.
She hit the floor with a pained shriek; her sliced arm feeling like it was one fire.
Dosu knelt beside her, keeping her legs still with one, heavy leg pinning her knees to the ground.
Tears blurred her eyes. Oh God, she didn't want to die… Sensei…
"Fuck this," Sakura suddenly snarled with language that would have shocked her sensei, and drove her kunai into Dosu's leg.
The dirt stung her wounds as she shifted, keeping her kunai lodged in Dosu's leg. He was bucking now, in agony as she ripped through his leg slowly.
One light touch against his shoulder and he froze once again, trembling in pain and fear.
Sakura pulled herself up again, pulling her kunai from his leg and pointing it at the centre of his chest.
Her hand stilled. She couldn't do it. Tears dripped from her eyes as she shook, her breath near hysterical.
The snake reared again, its fangs flashing in the sunlight, and smashed through the stadium wall. Screams and cries of agony sounded out.
Sakura grabbed the kunai with both hands, the metal feeling slippery beneath her sweaty palms.
"This is for Konoha." Sakura said quietly and plunged the kunai into Dosu's chest.
He gasped, his breath coming out in a death rattle. His eye bulged in silent accusation as Sakura sobbed over him, then dulled as his heart seized.
"No." Sakura sobbed, "No, no… I can't…"
She pushed herself to her feet, swaying as the blood loss kicked in. Her arm was still bleeding.
Everywhere she looked, people were dying.
Dosu lay where she left him, his body sagging in a way that only corpses did.
Sakura felt nausea rise within her and threw up messily.
Kakashi appeared before her.
She knew what a sight she must look, her lips and chin covered in vomit, her arm smeared in blood and tears streaming down her face.
"I killed him." Sakura said hysterically.
Kakashi spared the fallen Dosu one glance and pulled Sakura to him. "I killed him." She repeated, quieter now, her words confirming something to herself, like a click in her mind, a permanent change in her body. She was a killer.
"I know." Kakashi said, equally reticent. He heaved a sigh, "God, I remember how this felt. You need to be strong, Sakura. This fight's not over. I need you to do something for me. Well, for Sasuke."
There was no comforting caw of a crow, no familiar weight of her sensei's hand on her shoulder, just this strange, lesser version of her real sensei. Sakura gave in to the child inside her and cried harder. Kakashi's arms tightened around her paternally.
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Sakura limped home, the medics having been too busy to see to any wound except her arm, so every step was painfully slow.
She was crying again, and hating herself for it. How ridiculous she was! Even Shikamaru had killed before. So what if she knew the name and village of the shinobi she had dispatched? She should feel proud. This was a breakthrough in her career; it was nothing to cry about. Dosu would have killed her if she hadn't killed him first. That was a fact. She should take comfort in the knowledge that she had the first blow.
She put the key in the front door and slumped in front of it, her head resting on the door. Her wrist felt weak. The key slipped from her grasp.
The events of the day kept flashing before her eyes.
A thousand white feathers drifting lazily from the sky.
The caw of a crow, startling in its volume and urgency.
The villagers slumped in their seats, either dead or sleeping, Sakura did not know…
The cruel maw of the snake closing around a few screaming people, silencing them with a single crunch.
Her own blood flowing slickly through her fingers as she pressed her hand to the gaping wound.
Dosu's dying gasp, the sickening vibrancy of his blood and the astonishing amount that poured from his body and stained Sakura's shaking hands…
Sakura wept, holding her hands away from her as though disgusted by their proximity.
The sudden terror that had seized her when Gaara flew at her.
The abrupt sensation of being thrown against the tree, the audible crack of her ribs, Naruto's cries…
It all flew through her in that moment as she sagged against the front door and cried. How could she look her mother in the eye? What if she somehow found out? Would she think her daughter a monster?
Someone placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she jumped in surprise, turning her head to peer at the person who had crept up on her through tear-swollen eyes.
Her sensei stared down at her, an unfamiliar black cloak with red clouds gathered around him against the chill of the night.
"Sakura?" He said, his voice rough.
"Sensei!" Sakura wanted to hug him so badly, but she did not want to annoy him. She kept her hands to herself, irrationally certain they were still coated in blood despite her scrubbing them clean several times.
He frowned at her for a long moment, then made an impatient "tsk," sound and wrapped his arms around her.
"What happened?" He murmured.
"I killed someone!" Sakura said frantically, grabbing hold of the warm cloak and bunching it up in her fists in her eagerness for comfort.
She felt her sensei stiffen in apparent shock, then felt a soft breath of a sigh on her ear as he hugged her harder.
"I'm sorry, Sakura." He said solemnly, "I hoped you wouldn't have to… I had plans… I… this is the last thing I wanted."
Sakura tried to hold back her tears, conscious of getting his cloak wet. She felt ashamed, knowing he was probably marvelling at her childishness, not being able to handle killing someone. She was a ninja. She could not fall to pieces with every kill. But, at the realisation that there would be more dead people at her hand, she felt a wave of despair. She could not – would not go through this again. She just couldn't. She felt as though she was looking at her friends, her teachers, even some of her family and wondering if she really knew them at all. If they were capable of murder…
But then, so was she. She had proved that.
She was a murderer.
"Come with me." Her sensei said suddenly, pulling back from the hug in order to gaze at her. His face darkened at her defeated expression.
She obediently moved to step forward, ready to follow him anywhere, but he shook his head.
"No," He shook his head, and for the first time Sakura could ever remember, her sensei looked nervous, "That's not what I meant. I mean, come with me. Forever. Leave this place."
Sakura took an unconscious step backwards, towards her front door.
"I can't leave," She said, an odd kind of severity to her words, "I would be a missing nin if I abandoned my village."
"So quit." He made a frustrated hand gesture.
"No!" Sakura protested, "I won't quit and I can't leave. I'm sorry, sensei, but this is my home. My friends, my family, my life is –"
"Yes, I know. I had simply forgotten," Her sensei interrupted, looking away, "I just think this place is going to twist you, corrupt you… turn you into a murderer."
"Shinobi are murderers, sensei." Sakura said, her face still flinching at the word 'murderer,' "And I'm not twisted or corrupted… he was going to kill me… we were in the middle of a war, sensei…"
"A war," He repeated, his tone sour, "Where children are forced to fight whilst Kages watch from the safety of their hideouts. This is no place or time for you, Sakura. Come with me. I know you would be shocked at first by the truth, but I know you are intelligent enough to understand why I did what I did. You are my student. Your place is by my side."
"My place is here." Sakura disagreed softly, pointing to her front door.
Her sensei stared at her for a moment, the coldness of his eyes frightening her.
"Do you understand what I am saying to you?" He asked, his dark eyes intensely focused upon her own, soft green ones, "I'm telling you to choose. You can choose to live here, and grow up a monster or not grow up at all, or you can choose to come with me, and fight by my side, knowing you are safe with me."
The wind blew harder at that point, lifting Sakura's short, choppy hair and waving it as she looked steadily back at her sensei.
"You are asking me to betray my village." Sakura said, her voice hushed and frightened. She had never once suspected her sensei would want her to leave Konoha with him.
He looked as though he would deny it and then sighed, "I am." He confirmed.
Sakura thought of her friends, Naruto, Sasuke, Ino… everyone… her family… even Kakashi-sensei.
She shook her head silently.
"You don't want to come." He said flatly.
Sakura lowered her eyes.
"When Raban said you were in a warzone… do you know how worried I was? And I couldn't even come to your aid, couldn't set foot in that arena… I don't think I could live without knowing you were safe." He admitted.
Before Sakura could blink, a hand was clasped around the back of her neck, pushing her head down. She let out a muffled cry. For the first time it occurred to her that she was scared of her sensei.
He seemed to sense her fear and cursed. He released her neck. She pressed herself against the front door, terrified he would suddenly attack.
He wiped away her tears gently.
"Don't look so frightened." He sighed, "I was going to knock you out, not kill you."
Hands settled on her shoulders like fluttering birds, and for the briefest of seconds there was a tiny pressure on her forehead. Her sensei moved his face away from hers with something regret and shame in his eyes.
"Don't think me capable of hurting you," He almost pleaded, "I am not that much of a monster."
The front door key glinted in the moonlight, lying on the grass as her sensei stole away into the darkness, leaving trace behind him except the tingling skin of her forehead and the wiped away tears on her face.
Um, you can squeal now. Lol, only joking! Sorry about massive delay in updating, but I have so much homework to do.
Here's what I should have been doing:
A 750 word essay.
A 2500 word essay.
A 1000 word essay.
Exam preparation.
Damn it.
Quick poll take: What is the worst jutsu?
No options, tell me your own ideas!