Author's notes: So sorry if my last chapter (a.k.a the Lemon Chapter) wasn't exactly what you guys expected, but I'm just not really good at detailing those sort of scenes so again, sorry. In the mean time, I've been hard out working on this story (not that I got very far), in hopes of completing it very soon. I've been working on this story since...December I think, if not you can refresh my memory if need be :P. Thank you again for reviewing on each chapter and letting me know what you think of it, but now that the next chapter is up, I'd like for you (pretty please) to review again, and letting me know how I'm getting on with this so yeah. Hope you enjoy the thirtieth chapter of the longest story on my record book XD, see you on the other side :P.
CHAPTER THIRTY: ON THE ROAD AGAIN
"Really?" the busty hazel-eyed woman asked.
The pug dog nodded, "yes, according to Kakashi-san, everything about the mission progress and Sasuke's demise is inscribed in that scroll," he hesitated to mention Sasuke's death and almost cursed himself for bringing it up.
The hazel-eyed blonde sighed heavily and stared at the note a moment more before saying, "thank you for letting me know as soon as you were able to," the pug nodded curtly and watched as Tsunade rolled up the scroll and stored it away in her desk with all her other memos.
Pakkun was almost hesitant in saying something in reply, "I was also told that they should be back home in a few days and will update you on the rest of the mission," he said, watching Tsunade rub her temples frustratingly.
"Good, I just feel sorry for Sakura-san; she admired Sasuke-kun in every way and everything about him, but he was so involved in the killing of his older brother that he never returned those feelings," she sighed again, taking the sight of her load of unread scrolls and memos, slowly piling up by the hour.
Tsunade looked off to her right and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "I'd better get back to Kakashi-san," Pakkun added, cocking his head slantwise to look at the Hokage.
The blonde haired woman sat upright on her chair and eyed the pug a while before making a solitary flick of her hand, "you are dismissed, thank you Pakkun, and I pray to see our two best ninjas return safely," she announced, spinning around on her chair so that she was staring at the view of the village out the window.
"Hai," and without further words, Pakkun left the building quickly.
'Sakura…' Tsunade decision was falling in place now.
It was rather quite between Sakura and Kakashi as they packed their bags for their journey home.
Kuro and Kitsune sat on the windowsill and watched as their Jounin masters passed one another with smiles and the occasional peck on the cheek, which was pretty normal for a couple.
The two foxes had been staying somewhat close since festival, but they kept themselves a distance between their own masters for their own privacy as well as theirs, which was a good thing that they didn't stay so damn close during the Jounins' intimate event the night before.
"All ready?" Kakashi asked, his backpack already packed and on his back.
"Yep, almost," Sakura grabbed the photo of her and her team and stuffed it in the front pocket of her bag and swung it over her shoulder.
With a smile to assure she was ready, Kakashi opened the door for the medic, eyeing her as she went out. Kitsune and Kuro immediately clung to their owners and sat on their preferred spot: the shoulder.
Kakashi wrapped his hand around the medic's waist, keeping her close as they walked downstairs to the lobby, where they would most likely be greeted with a rather hyperactive Kongou. Once on ground floor, Kakashi looked around cautiously for the old man, who was napping on the countertop like any old person after a long day, but it was only the morning.
"I guess Kongou-sama had a long night as well," the Copy Nin remarked, walking over to the elder and prodding his shoulder.
At an instant, Kongou reacted and sat upright with widened eyes and fists up, "Yaah it's the enemy!" he shouted, making Kakashi almost block his ears at the sound of his voice.
He winced, "morning Kongou-sama," Kakashi smiled brightly at the old man and watched as he shook his head and stretched out his arms.
"Oh, sorry Kakashi-san, I was having such a wonderful dream about back when I was in the Second Great Ninja War, and how I lead my team through the dangerous planes of the Grass territory and defended the village with my life…" Kongou began ranting on about how he defeated several ninjas at once, but neither Kakashi or Sakura were really listening.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the man and backed away a bit, glancing over at the pink haired medic, who was only playing with the brown fox sitting on her shoulder.
A smile graced his masked face before returning his attention to the old man in front of him, "Kongou-sama…" no answer, "Kongou…" still no reply; Kakashi was getting annoyed now.
"Kongou!" he raised his voice a tad.
The old man looked up when he was in the middle of the good part, "yes…" he wondered with a raised eyebrow.
Kakashi sighed and rolled his lone visible eye to Sakura, who only shrugged, "thank you for letting us stay here on you expense, we're both very grateful for that," the silver haired Jounin smiled softly at the elderly man.
"No need to thank me kid, just as long as you had a good time at the festival last night," Kongou replied, winking at the tall man before him and glanced at the pink haired medic.
He leaned closer to Kakashi and whispered, "did she enjoy herself last night?" he gave the Jounin a nudge. Kakashi gave a quick glance at the medic on his left and smiled, "yeah, she had a good time at the festival," that was all Kongou wanted to hear, and with that he grinned like an idiot and sat back down.
"Well go on now, I'm sure you have other places to go, and be sure to come visit again some time, okay?" Kongou waved them off.
"Don't worry Kongou-sama, we will," the silver haired man waved back and the two left the motel.
The two Jounins took in the fresh morning air and sighed in bliss, "ready to go home?" Sakura asked cheerfully. Kakashi sighed again, and looked around his surroundings, "yeah, lets go," he mused, smiling sweetly at the medic and ruffled her pink hair.
Sakura pouted and started ruffling Kakashi's hair, "I…hate it…when…you…do that!" Sakura spat, trying to both remove the Jounin's mask and mess up his hair by digging her fist along his scalp.
Kakashi whined irritatingly but managed to pull Sakura from him without getting another thrashing of a fist on the top of his head. He held Sakura tight and laughter filled the air and their lungs. Sakura was held up high so that she wasn't able to touch the ground with her feet and wasn't able to move at all except for her head and arms, but she wasn't really struggling to get out of his bear hug.
Kakashi stared at the medic with a grin on his masked face. Sakura rest her elbows on the man's shoulders and leaned closer to him for a kiss. Smoothly, Kakashi slipped his mask down without somehow breaking the kiss and slid her down onto the ground.
He returned the kiss ardently and pulled up his mask swiftly so that the people around him couldn't see his face. He grinned and took Sakura's hand and lead her out of the village, avoiding the attention from the villagers after their little fun outside the motel.
"Do you think Kongou-san saw what we did just then?" Sakura asked, slightly worried at how that old man would react the next time they would meet.
Kakashi shrugged, "I wouldn't be too bothered if he saw us messing about like that; I'd say he would probably forget after a while and think it must've been a dream or something," he looked thoughtful under that cheeky grin of his.
Sakura groaned at that, "if he remembers, then he'll never live that down," she pouted disappointingly and slouched.
Kakashi squeezed the medic's hand within his and smirked, "that's if he saw it, so relax, and I don't think we'll be able to see him any time soon so don't you worry," that reassured Sakura a little and she sighed at that, smiling happily again.
They were quick at their return home, knowing that they were suppose to be at home the next day, but knowing it would take at least three days minimum, if not five. Sakura was looking at all the wildlife and beauty around her, not to mention the happy Jounin next to her, who wasn't reading his book for some odd reason.
"How come you aren't reading your smut?" Sakura asked cheekily, scratching Kitsune's ear a little.
Kakashi gave her a confused look and raised a brow, "why would I read porn if we just got together?" he asked instead, hoping Sakura would understand what he was talking about.
Sakura nodded her head, "right…" she mused, rubbing the back of her head lightly and walked on.
"Besides, what's the point in reading these books when I have you to look at," Kakashi stared teasingly at her while grinning like an idiot. Sakura blushed a deep shade of crimson but took it as a compliment, "true," she replied cockily and crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her tongue.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and pulled his mask down and stuck out his tongue too. The pink haired medic giggled; she found it cute the way the Copy Nin decided to show himself a little more since the night before, or basically since the beginning of the mission.
"You look really cute when you do that," Sakura commented sweetly, watching the man's reaction.
Kakashi smiled with a small chuckle, "I was just about to say the same about you," he replied simply in his monotonous voice, yet with a slight twinkle in his tone.
He approached the pink haired medic calmly and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before walking on, "come on, lets get going," he reminded, slipping his mask back into place and stuffing his hands comfortably in his pockets. Sakura shrugged and soon caught up to him.
An hour of walking and Sakura was starting to feel as though there was something or someone screaming painfully loud in her head; she froze on her path. This obviously didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi, who was only a few paces ahead of her and he could sense her chakra signal change rapidly.
"Sakura-chan? Are you alright?" he asked ominously as he walked over to her.
Sakura's breathing became short and hitched when she was looking around as if the two were surrounded by something only she was able to see at the time. She bit her lower lip and shook her head, leaning forward so that her forehead was pressed against the Jounin's chest. Sakura fought back the fresh wave of tears welling up in the back of her eyes and felt Kakashi's arms hold her for comfort.
"Come on, we're almost out of here," he whispered, taking the sight of his surroundings suspiciously as he picked the medic up.
As soon as Sakura was lifted off the ground, she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck with her head buried in the side of his neck. Whatever Sakura was freaking out about, she didn't want to see it, and Kakashi perfectly understood that matter and started walking on.
He felt Sakura tremble against him, making him worry all the more, 'Sakura-chan…' he frowned, at the near sobbing medic in his arms and kind of wished the Kunoichi could loosen her death grip around his waist and neck so that he could breathe a little better.
His questions were soon answered when he came across the sight of blood; of course it had been raining, washing most of it away, but there was the faint smell of blood in the air, and Kakashi could see how the land had been damaged and the ground was thrashed about like a minefield.
'The battle we had here the other day…' it was becoming clear to what was going on and why Sakura was so scared.
Kakashi didn't bother wanting to check how things cleared up further ahead on the track; knowing full well what and who lay ahead. They should've done something about it sooner if they knew they were coming back here.
He sighed, glancing down at the pink haired medic, who wasn't really shaking as much as she was before, nor was she sobbing either, 'looks like she's calmed down now,' he said inwardly, ready to sigh when he heard a particular black fox hiss and growl.
"Kuro…?" he wondered, looking ahead to find the black fox stare straight at him, blocking his path.
Kakashi didn't know what was going on, but he knew Kuro had a pretty big idea on what was ahead of them and did this for Sakura's sake. Another little growl, and Kakashi was drawn to Kitsune, who was motioning her head to the trees next to the path.
The silver haired Jounin narrowed his eye back at the road ahead, where the scars of a battle lay to shock both Jounins out of their wits at the cause of the event.
Kakashi shook his head, ridding himself from the rewinding images of the fight three days ago, and followed the brown fox into the trees and away from the memories.
They skipped off into the trees with Kitsune leading the way. Kakashi glanced around the area as he jumped to the next tree and the next before catching the sight of something he had wished to avoid.
There, beyond the trees and on the ground in his bare-chested state, was the suppose-to-be motionless body of the last remaining Uchiha heir, but the only problem was…
'He's not there…!' he almost inwardly cursed himself for not dealing with the body after the event.
Sakura clenched her fists around the back of the Copy Nin's shirt and held her breath, "he's not there…is he?" she asked quietly as if the dead could hear her. Kakashi remained silent as he stared at the pool of blood and damage of the fight.
Sakura's grip loosened slowly and she slid down on the same branch as Kakashi's, facing him directly before looking over her shoulder where Sasuke was supposed to be lying, "I think he's still alive, but I was sure I hit a vital organ," the uncertainty was getting heavier in the medic's voice.
The medic took a deep breath and gazed up at Kakashi, who only stared at the washed blood of the battlefield, thinking of a way to deal with the situation. He heard Kuro growl next to him, glaring at the mess.
"Kuro and Kitsune seem to know what's going on; we'd better take a look," Kakashi advised, taking Sakura's hand and guiding her slowly down the trees and onto hard ground.
Sakura wasn't really acting herself since she noticed this; she was acting like a little girl, the one that Ino tried so hard to push spirits up, and the one who was known to be quite scary in her work as a medic when the patients wouldn't cooperate. This was understandable for Kakashi, knowing Sakura was pretty afraid of Sasuke now that he was constantly haunting her in her nightmares.
"Come on," the Jounin tugged at Sakura's wrist a little and pulled her along.
Sakura stayed behind him the whole way and by the time they reached where Sasuke was supposed to be lying dead, Sakura had managed to calm herself down again and stand strong.
At the scene, Sakura constantly glanced around in case someone was about to attack. Even the slightest of unfamiliar movements or actions would set the medic in her fighting stance and attack. Kakashi examined the blood and noticed something that Sakura had mentioned before, "his body's been moved; and it looked like Sasuke did it on his own accord," he said, standing up and letting his hands drop to his sides.
Sakura looked thoughtful, "what could've happened to him to make him move?" she didn't expect answers at this point and followed the trail of blood leading into the bushes and past the trees.
Kakashi followed in suite, making sure Kuro and Kitsune were with them as well. The trail went on for a while until they walked past the trees into a clearing, where the two foxes began growling and trying to make themselves look more intimidating, but it wasn't really necessary.
There, lay the quivering and near dead body of Sasuke, who appeared to be…crying? Sakura felt her heart pound hard in her chest and tried to calm herself down but something was preventing her from doing so.
Kakashi approached the Uchiha slowly, not letting his guard down, "he meant more to me than you thought…" he croaked, his breathing husky and short. Kakashi stopped after hearing the boy speak.
Sasuke didn't even look at his old team standing behind him and stared at the pile of ashes that lay there under the tree. Kuro's blue eyes widened and crept closer to the raven haired Uchiha.
Another sob escaped his lips as he reached a hand to touch the pile of vestiges when the air around him became cold at an instant. Sasuke flinched when he felt Kuro's soft fur brush against his arm lightly as he stood before the remains of Aku.
"Sasuke…" Sakura tried, but was only spat back at with a low and tired "humph" from the Uchiha.
The silver haired Jounin neared his former student and sighed, "you inflicted this upon yourself if you really wanted to know…" he trailed off, hoping Sasuke wouldn't turn on him, but he was confident enough to stand his ground because the heir was so wounded and worn out that he wouldn't have the strength to attack him.
Sasuke sighed in defeat, "I guess that is true…" he inhaled deeply as if he would die any second, "at least allow me to fix my mistakes…" he raised his gaze to the medic and nodded his head.
"I am sorry Sakura, I wish you wouldn't have to go through all this under my expenses, so that is why I end my life here," eyes widened around the raven haired boy. Was he really going to end his life here and now?
Sakura didn't know what to think anymore, and Kakashi…he didn't think much at all at this point; he was just staring at his male former student with no emotions expressed at all, "Sasuke…I…I'm sorry you have to go through this, but that doesn't mean you have to take your own life because of it," Sakura interjected, making Kakashi wince at the comment for some reason.
His random reaction to her words didn't go unnoticed by the medic, and was contemplating over why Kakashi flinched in the first place. She reminded herself to ask later on when there wasn't a dying teammate lying on the ground before her.
Sasuke looked lost now. He glared weakly at the pink haired Kunoichi and sighed, but before he could say anything, Sakura beat him to his words, "you can come back to the village with us and redeem yourself for what you-" Sasuke raised his voice, "I can't redeem myself Sakura!" he paused and placed his hand over the stab wound that Sakura found quite familiar.
"They will kill me anyway if they knew I came back, even if you stopped them; they will never trust me again. That's why I choose to kill myself; for the village's sake as well as my own,"
Sakura's glare softened; she knew it was hopeless now that Sasuke wasn't willing to take any positive action to the situation. He slouched as he returned his gaze to the remains of Aku and grimaced, "I'd rather die now than face all of Konoha despising me…" he muttered, trying to sit more comfortably on the grass without taking his sight off the pile of ashes.
Kakashi sighed longingly and glanced at the medic, who was worrying about the one she used to have feelings for. He was deep in thought about what Sakura had mentioned only minutes ago, reminding him of something rather dark in his life, 'no…not now…' he told himself, battling out the reminiscence of his past and tried to force it back in his memories from whence it came.
"Kill me…" came the deep voice of the Uchiha, staring at Sakura feebly.
Sakura's green orbs widened at his uttered words and held her breath, "what…?" she asked herself. Sasuke grunted lowly at himself, "kill me now, and end everything; your pain, my pain, the struggle to wish everything back the way they were," he declared, appointing the medic to make the decisions now.
She kneeled beside her former teammate and held back the tears that were longing to escape her eyes, "Sasuke…I can't kill you…I-" again Sakura was cut off by the raven haired boy, "I can't fix all the damage I've done, so at least allow me to die so that I will forever prevent these things from happening again," he motioned for Sakura to kill him, but the medic almost refused to do so.
She hugged him close, hearing the cringes from the Uchiha from the pain in all his aching muscles and injuries, "I'm sorry Sasuke," she paused, slowly pulling out a kunai that was stashed away in the front pocket of her backpack and held it ready.
"I wish there was some way I could help you," she continued in whisper, tightening her embrace.
Sasuke smirked softly, "don't worry Sakura-chan…you will…" with that said above all his objections, he smiled contently at the medic in his arms and held Sakura's kunai in her hand as well as in his and drove it into his chest, puncturing his heart and causing internal bleeding within seconds.
Sakura's eyes widened at the feel of fresh blood smothering her hands and dripping off the steel blade of her weapon. Sasuke stared softly at the medic who was embracing him so carefully and watched as his vision turned to a blur and faded into blackness.
The medic saw his eyes go blank and his heart stop through the stuttering beats of pain and agony; she relinquished the anguish in her heart and allowed all her emotions to almost explode on impact. With tears rolling down her eyes, she gazed at the forever motionless Uchiha in her arms, who was being watched over by a silent Copy Nin.
"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Kakashi started calmly, placing a hand on the medic's shoulder.
Sakura's shoulders shook up and down as she whimpered with the heir in her arms, dead with the ashes of his fox guardian.
"I could have done something,"
"You did,"
"How is this helping? I killed Sasuke all for this?"
"He wanted this,"
"But it's not what I wanted,"
The tears in the medic's eyes were so hard to avoid. Kakashi kneeled down beside his former student and pulled her back, making her lay the Uchiha on the grass and allow herself to be held by the man she loved.
Kakashi rest his chin on the top of Sakura's head, closing his eyes and thinking deeply to solve the quandary, "we'll get through this Sakura-chan, don't worry," he whispered softly, kissing the top of her head and taking in the fresh scent of her pink hair with a sigh along with the fresh scent of Sasuke's blood stinging in his nostrils.
Author's notes: HA! You all thought dear Sasuke-kun was already dead didn't you, but I just had to let him live and die in a more of a way that he wanted it to end rather than get stabbed in the chest during battle and die on the spot under the blanket of rain...boring. So yeah, Sakura did practically kill Sasuke after all (poor girl), and Kakashi basically stands there in the sidelines in hopes of someone to throw him something to do, so I'm trying to find our famous Copy Nin an interesting part to play in the next chapter, but have yet to discover it. If you have any ideas, now is the time to shout them out before I finish the chapter and then, zoom! I'm done altogether. I hope you liked this chapter, because I certainly did; especially the bit with Kongou and the lovey-dovey scene with Sakura and Kakashi outside the motel. Anyways, I'll update real soon, so reviews please, and I'll see ya later ;D.