Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the characters.
Well...this is the last chapter of "When Calls the Heart." Kind of sad, really. But every story must come to an end!
Thank you so much for the reviews you guys!
Chapter Twenty-Two: Separate Missions
"Sasuke…thank you."
Itachi's dying words haunted Sasuke's dreams. Sasuke would never forget the look in his brother's eyes as the life slowly drained out of him.
After Itachi had died, Sasuke had cried out from the immense pain washing over him. He wasn't sad that Itachi had died; but rather, Sasuke was hurting because he had just killed the only other living Uchiha.
What happened afterwards was still fresh in his mind.
Sakura crawled over to Sasuke, blood dripping from her wounds.
"Sasuke…" she whispered, not sure what to do.
His scream of anguish had tore through her already-wounded heart, nearly cutting it in half.
The last of the Uchiha clan was on his knees, his head in his hands and his body quivering.
When she touched his warm shoulder with her cold hand, his body jerked and flung her arm off.
"Don't touch me!" he whispered hoarsely at her.
"Sasuke, please-"
"Just go away."
"But-"
Sasuke's head whipped around, his Sharingan piercing through her. "I said to leave me alone, Sakura." His tone was cold and his voice deadly.
Sakura, for the first time in a long time, felt herself overcome with fear of Sasuke. The commas in his red eyes were swirling, and Sakura wasn't dumb enough to test Sasuke when he was like this.
She bit her lip to and nodded, knowing that if she spoke her voice would waver and the tears in her eyes would spill over onto her pale cheeks.
Naruto groaned as he woke up, his body torn apart by the demon's chakra inside of him. Sakura shakily got up and limped over to him, her hand covering her wound.
She fell to her knees beside him and waved a hand over his body to check for critical injuries. His muscles were torn apart, and his internal organs weren't in there rightful places or functioning properly.
Sakura swore. Naruto needed medical attention, and fast. Sakura herself had only a minimal amount of chakra that she could give to Naruto without endangering her life.
She started to heal the damage that the Kyuubi had done to Naruto's body.
While in the midst of this Naruto's cerulean eyes opened up and he frowned. He was about to sit up when Sakura forced him to stay down. Naruto bit back a groan as his entire body felt like it was on fire.
Naruto saw how beat up Sakura was and immediately forced her to stop healing him. He told her that he would be healed by the next day anyway, so she should heal herself. When there was defiance in her eyes, he nodded in Sasuke's direction and said, "For Sasuke."
Sakura bit her lip and nodded her understanding. She had to stay strong for Sasuke. He needed her. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, Sasuke needed someone that he could always depend on. That someone was her, Sakura Haruno.
She healed the major damage and stopped the bleeding. She would still feel some pain but it wouldn't hinder her anymore.
Sakura once again crawled over to Sasuke, his black eyes stricken towards the sky. She cautiously touched his shoulder again, to which he jerked, but ignored her otherwise.
She shook his shoulder, whispering his name. He didn't acknowledge her presence.
"Sasuke…please. We've got to go home now. Our friends might need us-"
"I don't care."
"Sasuke-"
"I told you to leave me alone, Sakura. Go home."
"Not without you."
Sasuke tore his eyes away from the darkening sky to look at Sakura's green orbs. "Sakura, I'm never going to that place again. Not with you. Not with Naruto."
Sakura clenched her jaw. "But you said-"
"Forget what I said." He once again looked at the sky, now filled with dark clouds.
"Sasuke-"
Red eyes now looked at her, his Sharingan swirling. His cold hands gripped Sakura's upper arms tightly.
"Sakura, go away. I couldn't care less if I ever saw you again."
Unbidden tears sprang to her eyes, but Sakura forced them not to fall. "Sasuke, I love you. Please, come home with me!"
Without hesitation Sasuke coolly answered, "No."
"What about your goal, Sasuke? You've already killed your brother," Sasuke flinched, but Sakura continued, "And avenged your clan. I thought you were going to rebuild the Uchiha clan, Sasuke. How are you supposed to do that away from home, from your clan's home?"
"Sakura."
"Yes?" she asked hopefully.
"You're annoying."
The last thing Sakura saw was the commas of the Sharingan swirling before blacking out.
Sasuke caught Sakura as she fell forward and laid her gently down. He saw Naruto stir and slowly sit up.
Naruto's chakra started to turn demonic when he saw Sakura on the ground and Sasuke's Sharingan.
"Naruto, take Sakura home." Sasuke stood up and turned his back on Sakura and Naruto.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, shakily standing up. "You bastard! What did you do to Sakura?"
Sasuke ignored him and continued walking away.
"After all that we've been through together you'd leave us, just like that, again? Sasuke, Sakura needs you! I thought you cared about her! Geez, you kissed her enough times-"
"Naruto, I care for no one. I am an avenger. That has been my identity since I was eight years old. That's what I live for now."
"You idiot! You've already had your revenge. Who else is there to kill?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "The man that made my brother the way that he was. I'm going to kill him."
Naruto frowned. "Who the hell-"
"The Akatsuki leader, idiot." Sasuke stopped and turned to look at Naruto. "Go home. Don't come after me, or I'll kill you." Sasuke briefly glanced at Sakura. "The same goes for Sakura. This is the last time we'll see each other in this life, Naruto. Live well."
"Wait-" began Naruto, but Sasuke had already disappeared.
Sasuke looked back at his three companions. He had killed his brother nearly a month ago.
"Are you ready?" he asked them.
The only female answered right away, batting her eyelashes. "Of course, Sasuke. I'm always ready for you."
"Karin you're such a whore. You're always hott for Sasuke. When are you going to figure out that he's not interested?"
Karin pushed her glasses up before responding, "Suigetsu, you bastard, I'll kill you for that."
The sharp-toothed man leered and gripped his massive sword. "Try it, bitch."
"Both of you shut it. We don't want to tempt Juugo." The two quieted down at Sasuke's warning. Juugo remained silent.
After a moment Karin asked, "Sasuke, are you sure you have to ties? Not to any village, or a certain medic-"
"None."
The answer seemed to satisfy her, for she shut her mouth and the four shinobi started their journey.
Konoha
Naruto looked at Hinata discreetly. They still hadn't told anyone about their relationship yet, although a select few of their friends knew about it. Naruto was terrified of her father finding out before he had a chance to prove his worth to him by becoming the Hokage.
Hinata blushed when she saw him staring at her. She tried to ignore him and focus on what Tsunade was telling them, but found that she hadn't been listening at all.
"…so that's your mission," Tsunade finished.
"Hai!"
The four Konoha shinobi left her office, leaving Sakura alone with Tsunade.
The pink-haired medic had been eerily quiet after returning home. Tsunade wasn't sure if they had told her the whole truth of what had transpired, but she got the gist of it. That Uchiha brat had once again eluded them and hurt Sakura.
Tsunade would kill him…after Sakura did. For now, Tsunade would work on trying to make Sakura forget all about him. She had enlisted the help of Rock Lee, who was all-too willing to comply with her request.
But Sakura had changed. She wasn't her normal cheery self anymore. She wasn't depressed, just quiet, only speaking when spoken to.
"Sakura."
"Yes, Tsunade?"
"I'm sending you on a mission."
"What kind?" Sakura asked.
"The kind that takes a long time to complete."
Sakura nodded her head briefly, waiting for her mentor to finish.
"It will require you to form a new identity and to be gone for an extended amount of time. Do you have any objections so far?"
Sakura shook her head.
"Good. I'll give you the details later. For now, go home and say goodbye to your friends and family. You won't be seeing them for an uncertain amount of time."
Sakura shook her head and bowed.
After she left Tsunade sighed. She hoped she was doing the right thing.
Sakura looked back at Konoha village, her home. She adjusted the pack on her back and headed off for a new mission and, hopefully, a better life.
It's finished! I'm sure you all want to kill me now for making you wait so long and for such a short chapter with a cliffhanger…but I am making a sequel (look on my profile page for info) and will try to make that story a lot longer.
Well I am very pleased with the way this story turned out. I got a lot of reviews, just about all of them positive, and way more than I thought I could get.
Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! I hope this story was worth your while!
Did I mention how much I love reviews?
The sequel will be entitled, "The Second Sannin" and should be up soon!