Against All Odds
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
AN: Writing is rusty. Please forgive me.
----
10: A Hundred Lifetimes
----
The steps were endless, Sakura decided, groaning as she lifted her foot once more. The straight path for a temple had transformed somehow on their walk, and was now a maddening spiral staircase instead. She wasn't tired exactly – she was a ninja, for god sake – but not knowing when the pathway ended was frustrating. In the cave they were in, everything - the atmosphere, the bones, the birds… even the damn stairs, which represented a humane world - truly aggravated her.
"I hate this," she complained to her companion. "Caves suck. I'm never going spelunking voluntarily again."
Sasori's eyes rolled.
"Why would you ever want to do something called 'spelunking' to begin with?" he asked, not even looking at her. She stopped moving, only to glare at him, and mirroring her lack of movement, he stopped as well, perfectly still. Or at least he tried to.
"You should be used to this by now, Sakura," he said after a moment, clearly perturbed by her eyes boring into the back of his crimson head. "This whole place sucks."
Sakura smiled slightly, and they began moving again. In truth, it wasn't that bad. Sasori had become more and more sociable with every movement made in their barren world, and, it seemed, she had even rubbed off on him. This whole place sucks. She almost snickered. Those words came from the mouth of the same man who could speak so eloquently about all forms of art.
Somehow, he must have heard her lips turn – or maybe, at that point, they had become so in tune with one another, they could predict each other's movements – because he turned to her, an annoyed glance on his angelic face.
"I was commiserating with you," he sighed, "and here you are giggling at me."
Sakura shook her head, her eyes laughing.
"Only a little," she replied, "I just think you're starting to lose your vocabulary." He gaped at her openmouthed, as if he finally realized exactly what he had said earlier. "But you know, in today's world, sucks is a really expressive term."
He looked as though he wanted to say something witty and nasty in response, but somehow, could not find the words, and he settled on pressing his lips tightly together instead.
They continued their journey, occasionally speaking and joking and laughing (if only a little), ascending more and more, hour by hour. But Sakura was becoming worried, and she knew exactly when she began to show it.
"What's wrong?" Sasori asked the second her eyebrows furrowed and her expression became lost. "Are you hungry?"
"No," Sakura said, "I just… I just don't know when all this walking will end. We've been at this forever."
Sasori frowned at her.
"It was like this earlier," he mused. "We spent a long time in the part of the cave where crystals grew. And then, we shared an even longer period in that barren wasteland. Might these steps be the same way?"
She nodded slowly, still unable to shake her worried expression.
"I know…" she said. "But… this place is different… there are no birds here…"
"Don't jinx it," Sasori snapped, and then they both smiled weakly. Eventually, he nodded at her again. "But, yeah, I agree. Something's not right here."
"I feel like we're not really moving," Sakura confessed. "I don't feel like there's anything at the top… hell, there might not even be a top to these stairs."
"No," Sasori said gesturing to the world below, visible around and under the unsupported staircase. "There are clouds, miles down. We must have moved."
"Maybe," Sakura replied, "but I don't ever remember walking through any clouds."
Sasori flinched slightly, clearly upset by the revelation, or maybe, Sakura figured in a small, cynical corner in her mind, upset that she had figured it out before he had.
"Well, clouds move…" he began to argue, but, realizing the futility, just trailed off and shook his head.
But Sakura was no longer paying attention, her head going back and forth on their new predicament. What could she do? She could not walk up the stairs forever, and she couldn't keep going through the levels like they were some kind of game, especially a game with no clear ending. Her friends were waiting for her… friends she had not seen in forever, but still held her heart. Enough was enough. That was it. She was going to risk it.
She moved to the edge of the staircase.
"Sakura," Sasori asked, an edge of annoyance failing to mask his confusion and worry, "Sakura, what are you doing?"
She looked at him determinedly.
"Sasori, I'm sorry," she said. "I've really come to admire you, and I shouldn't do this to you. But I have to try something. I have to try it even if it kills me, and leaves you behind."
"What is that something?" Sasori asked, and Sakura could hear his panic. Her heart broke a little inside. It wasn't fair, she knew – they had been through so much – and she knew what it was like to have friends abandon her for… maybe everything.
But they had gotten everything hadn't they? Naruto was a great ninja. Sasuke had the power to kill his brother. She was sure of it.
"I think you know." She smiled at him weakly, as he extended his hand out to her, trying to stop her, but to her, it seemed as if it was in slow motion.
"Goodbye."
She jumped.
----
It did not feel like he had jumped, Sasori realized when he landed. It felt as if he had simply walked off of that unsupported staircase onto dry earth beside it. But it looked as if Sakura had leaped off the staircase, falling forever into the clouds. But as he wandered around his new environment, he saw that the staircase had completely disappeared and figured that Sakura probably had felt the exact same sensation as well. Now he just had to find her… and murder her, he thought, while he was at it.
The second he had seen her step, he immediately followed suit. He needed her. He needed her abilities, her intelligence… he needed all that to survive. And he wanted… well, he…
He hated to admit it, but trapped in the miserable cave, he had come to like the girl.
And so, of course, when she had jumped, he had never felt more scared, more exposed, or more alone, even if it was only for a split second. Ninjas didn't have emotion, he knew, but since at that point, he had practically no ninja abilities anyway, his conscience had figured why the hell not? She was a great warrior. She was a surprisingly articulate intellectual. And she was, as she might put it, a kickass girl, and a cool kid. And what she had done, leaving him the way she did, was the cruelest act of betrayal he had ever received.
"Sakura?" he called. "Sakura? I know you can hear me. I'm going to kill you when I find you after this childish excuse of hide-and-seek."
She wasn't responding, but at the same time, something was undeniably wrong. His voice had no echo… his voice had no voice. He could hear himself, but his voice seemed muffled by something… something thick…
The clouds. They had seen the clouds, and now, Sasori realized horrified, they were in them. Or at least he was. And they were thick, so thick, that they stopped the sound waves… so thick that…
Sasori couldn't move, the cloud particles bogging him down and suffocating him. And though he didn't need air, the sensation that crept over him washed through him so fast that he could not remember what exactly had happened.
----
Sakura groaned, as she pulled herself up. The mist surrounding her had made her sluggish, and caused her to faint – how long exactly, she did not know. All she knew was that she was in a different place from before. Well, maybe she had made the right choice.
"Sasori," she coughed. "Hey, Sasori!"
She wondered if he had jumped as well. If she had to bet on it, she would have said that he did… he did need her after all. And besides, she reasoned, he would never let some little girl do something so daring while he just stood and watched.
But she knew the yelling was pointless. No one could hear her in the environment, that she knew. It was too dense… too empty…
"Sakura?"
Sakura froze. That was not Sasori's voice. But it was a voice she knew.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura turned around to face the voices, and her jaw nearly hit the ground.
"Sasuke-kun…" she whispered. "Naruto…"
----
When Sasori woke up, he felt a strange feeling. He had not slept in what felt like forever, and indeed, it had been a lifetime ago, that his eyes had closed and his mind had drifted to a more fantastical world.
And now, everything was warm. He had not felt warmth in the longest time, but now, it seeped through every crack in his puppet body, warming his cord of chakra almost as if it were his heart. He checked his hands. Well, his body was the same…
"Sasori, come here," a voice said, gentle and feminine. "We need you in the middle."
Sasori froze. He had not heard that sound… not since the time of his dreams…
"Mother?" he whispered. The dark-haired lady before him smiled. And beside her, a rugged man. "Father?"
"Why are you so surprised?" his father laughed, grabbing Sasori's arm, and pulling him in. "We want to take pictures today. Perfect time. Perfect weather in Sunagakure. 'Course there's almost always perfect weather here…"
"Father," Sasori said almost nervously, "we're not in Sunagakure. We're not anywhere."
"What are you talking about dear?" his mother asked sweetly. "We're in Sunagakure. Look around."
Sasori glanced around nervously, and Sunagakure formed before him instantly. He knelt to the ground and felt the sand seep through his fingers. He was in Sunagakure. There were children playing and there, in front of him, was the photographer, busily messing with the camera and impatiently waiting for the family to pose.
"Of course, we're in Sunagakure," he said, grasping both his parents' hands. "Shall we take a picture?"
----
They were older, Sakura smiled. They looked older, wiser, stronger – just as she knew that they would. She felt tears form at the corners of her eyes. She had waited so long for this day, and now, finally, it was here.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said beaming at her, bright as the sun (just as she knew). "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Beside him, Sasuke nodded.
"Yeah, Sakura," he agreed. "Long time, no see."
Sakura could only stare at them, her heart filled endlessly with happiness. They were here. They were here! And they were here together, posing just as always, waiting for her just as always…
"Why are you together?" she finally blurted, unsure of why she was even asking that question, almost as if her body had a mind of its own. "I thought you hated each other."
"Actually, Sakura," Sasuke spoke, a small smirk forming on his still-handsome face, "we never hated each other."
"You didn't?" Sakura asked confused. She paused for second before smiling again. "Well, that's great! But then why…"
"We never hated each other, Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted, a smile still stretched upon his optimistic face. "We only hated you."
Wait, what?
"You look confused, Sakura," Sasuke said softly. "I don't know why you would be."
Sakura could only gape at them.
"But…" she whispered. "I thought that… no, that's impossible-"
"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, using the same tone of voice he used when he didn't have his way with ramen, "how is that impossible? You're annoying, talkative, unappreciative, spoiled, and weak. Really weak. Sasuke, remember how we used to have to always save her ass?"
"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, eyes narrowing. "Just thinking about that really pisses me off. I think she should suffer Naruto."
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Let's kill her!"
----
Sasori smiled as the camera flashed, the man behind it busily shifting through the material. It had to have been their hundredth picture, but for some reason, the cameraman deemed something imperfect each time.
"What's wrong?" Sasori's mother asked again, and Sasori braced himself for the usual answer; the lighting, some kid was in the way, the wind, the sand, the texture of the picture… In truth, though, he didn't mind. He was with his parents, taking a photo. There was no place in the world he would have rather been.
However, Sasori could tell something was different this time the instant the photographer met his mother's eyes.
"That kid in the middle isn't right," he said softly. He lifted a finger. "He doesn't belong here."
Although the man's words were sinister, Sasori's initial response was annoyance.
"What do you mean I don't belong here?" he snapped. "Of course I do. I'm with my parents."
"No," the man whispered, "there's something. Something horribly wrong. You're not like them."
Sasori frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at his hands," the man said, and he saw his parents look down to his fingers, his wrists, the creases around his wrists…
Oh, God. He wasn't human.
The man took a step closer to him.
"How old are you?" he hissed. "You shouldn't… you shouldn't still be alive… you managed to conquer death while the rest of us lay dying…"
Sasori reached back instinctively to reach his parents, but they dissolved before his eyes, turning to bones and dust, dust that circled around, swirled into him.
The man before him faded less quickly.
"You made a deal with the devil," he said softly, his eyes opened ominously wide. "You must… you must pay the price…"
And then, he disappeared, too, and Sasori was left in his village, his empty village, all alone.
He was alone.
And then the dust pierced him in.
----
Sakura couldn't run; something thick and heavy was dragging her down, pushing her to the earth. But Sasuke and Naruto were beside her, and she could almost feel their blows.
It hurt, she realized dully in the back of her mind as her eyes shut tight in what she thought would be forever. The pain was unbearable; the boys were so strong, and she was so weak. But what hurt most was that…
…She deserved it. Every blow, every bruise, she deserved utterly and completely. She was worthless. She could do nothing. She had promised that she would be there to save them, but, she realized at that moment, she had failed in so many ways. She had gotten lost. She could not find them. She was useless, always hurting them and her friends and Kakashi-sensei, always ruining them, always being the weakest link…
Most people would be grateful…
Her eyes opened. That voice… whose voice was that? She had heard it before…
You're forgiving. You're kind.
Slowly, she stood up, despite the boys advances.
"What are you doing!"
"Stay down – you don't deserve to stand!"
"You're weak!"
The weakest link isn't you, but that you're considered the weakest link.
Sasori.
He had believed in her, hadn't he? Even though he was the type of guy that simply didn't care about these things, simply didn't care about emotions and whatnot – well, somehow, she was sure that he had come to care about her. Because, to him, she knew, she was a companion. A useful ally. A friend.
She had abandoned him. It was her duty to find him.
"Sorry, Naruto," she said, her voice growing louder, and she stood with a strength she did not know she had. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun. But you can't do this to me. I'm sorry for what I once was, but I'm not that anymore!"
And with those words, she hurled a blow across her friends' faces.
They were gone.
Everything was gone. Sasuke-kun, Naruto… gone. The mist… gone. Everything…
"Damn it!" Sakura howled. "It was a trap!" She glanced around her surroundings nervously. The area she was in now completely white – the ground, the air – it was as if she was in a world of salt. But she could see clearly now. She could talk clearly now. But she was alone, and something was trying to kill her.
She had to find Sasori.
----
He had not felt pain in decades, and it was only now that he remembered how damn lucky (and how damn brilliant) he really was. At least until the point he was now in.
It was as if something was tearing at him. It was as if his mother and father had come to exact revenge for making false replications of them, trying to substitute the imagination for reality, and for using their likeness as an art of war. He had never meant for that to happen. He knew it now. He had become a puppet just so that he could forget the pain he felt… the pain in his body, the pain in his heart.
Ninja weren't supposed to have hearts. But he had failed. He knew this now.
He had earned this pain.
For all his life, Sasori realized, he had never been strong enough. Sure, he may have destroyed countries and assassinated the world's finest, but in every way, he had lost. He could not be with his parents again. And his parents could never look at him proudly. He knew this now as their ghosts haunted his body and destroyed his omnipresent soul, the soul he tried to dispel of, but was now irrevocably not enough.
He wanted to cry out. He wanted to die. He had come to a place wanting to live forever, but now, now, it was too late. He would give it up.
"I surrender," he said. "Mother, father… Mom, Dad, I surrender! I swear I'm sorry!"
The pain multiplied, growing exponentially…
And then it was gone? Was this what death felt like?
"I never thought I'd see the day," he heard a familiar voice say, somewhat amused and somewhat relieved, "where I'd hear you talk like that. You're Sasori, the great ninja, the artist. I thought you never gave up."
Sasori reexamined his surroundings. He was in a white plain, and before him, was that pink-haired girl – oh, what was her name - Sakura! – lifting his hand and smiling at him slightly.
"It was just an illusion," she said brightly, pointing out the obvious. "Feeling better?"
"You saved me," he whispered.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"I hate to admit it, but you saved me first."
He did not know which one moved first, but before he knew it, they were in each other's arms, clutching each other tightly. It was not a lover's embrace, they both knew, and it was not the tender touch of parent and child, but it was, it was, a hug, a shared contact between friends. Because undoubtedly, Sasori knew, undeniably, that was what they were. Stuck in the most impossible world, against the most impossible odds, they had become friends. Great ones. Ones that could last… a lifetime.
When finally, one of them stepped back – and once again, he did not know who – they smiled at each other. Their clasp had lasted only a moment, but to Sasori, it seemed to have lasted forever. And it might as well may have, he thought, because he knew now that was the only way to live.
"I might actually owe you one, kid," Sasori said. "I might actually owe you."
Their arms were still locked, and Sakura grinned cockily.
"You don't, but let's say you do. I'll keep you to your word."
Sasori nodded.
"Sounds fair," he responded. He looked around their surroundings. "Well, since we seem to have mastered this place, I wonder what will happen next."
"Undoubtedly," Sakura replied, "something new's going to show up. I'll bet I'll find it first."
"Too late," Sasori smirked, as he looked forward, straight above her head. He released her, and pointed his finger straight ahead. "There's a black hole over there. Shall we walk into it?"
Sakura laughed.
"Oh, yeah. Tell this place to bring it on!"
----
"We're almost done," Tenten said, a smile behind her sweat as she looked at her partner. "We've been working for days, and looks like it's finally paid off. Gai-sensei was right. This place will fall to the ground."
Neji nodded as he adjusted his eyes. It had been an exhausting and tedious process, but results seemed near. He used his vision to see the kinks in the mountain, the underground rivers of chakra that surrounded it.
"Aim your weapons there, Tenten," he said, "and watch this world collapse."
----
There was snow, and it was snowing.
It was cold, Sakura realized, it was cold. They had stepped through the portal, and there were now things she recognized. Snow. Ice. Stone. Something about this was right. It was as if the cave was from a lifetime ago.
"Sakura," her partner said, somewhat (although he'd never admit it) in awe, "I think we're at the top of the mountain."
"So there is a top," she breathed. "There is a mountain."
"We're above the clouds," Sasori said, almost unable to contain his excitement, "We're at the place no man can reach – Sakura, we've done it. We've gone where no one's gone before, or at least in a very long time."
She stepped forward, admiring the footprint she left with every step. Everything about the air here was clear and fresh. She had never felt so clean.
She could not see off the edge of the mountain – she did not care – but she knew that they could climb down it somehow. She knew that it would take a long time to go down what was impossible to climb up, but she knew there had to be a way.
"What are you doing?" Sasori asked.
"I'm looking for a way down," Sakura replied. "We may get out of here soon enough."
She could feel Sasori smile although she wasn't looking at his face.
"Don't you want to read the secret first?"
Her eyes widened, as she looked across the plateau they were on, straight ahead, to a tablet. She could not read it from the distance they were, but she nodded to her companion, and they began to walk towards it.
"A life worth meaning. I can't believe it's here," she said. "I just can't believe it."
"I can," Sasori snorted. "It's what I came here for."
And Sakura had never felt so happy as the approached, never felt more satisfied. It felt as if the world was rocking back upon itself in celebration of this glorious discovery.
Sasori froze. Sakura glared at him.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Come on, let's go read it."
"Sakura," Sasori said, "we're shaking. The ground is shaking."
"So?" Sakura questioned, confused. They were about to make the greatest find of a hundred lifetimes!
"It's moving – the mountain's collapsing – Sakura, we have to move!"
Somewhere, she felt him grab her hand, felt her eyes being torn from the tablet she had been so transfixed on, and suddenly, she had the feeling of falling, falling, with somewhere beside her, off the edge of the world and into the tumultuous black.
----
AN: I realize that it's ridiculous that I'm posting this now. I know there are no readers that owe me any favors, but if you were an original reader of this story, I would love to know if you still are reading this. I know this chapter wasn't very good – I remember struggling with it the first time I wrote it, and I definitely know it was rushed by the end. But, please, give me some time to warm up. I'll make it better. I promise.
Lots of grammar errors in this chapter. I'm sure of it. But I was a little rushed. It's past midnight, but I seriously wanted to get this out. Thank you. I may edit sometime later.