Teammates
Chapter 16
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Luckily for Sasuke, Itachi and Shisui's chakra was still a way off, though the killer intent and their anger was unmistakable. Using their delay to his advantage he gave Sakura one more swift kick to her chest and executed a perfect transformation jutsu, timing his departure flawlessly to coincide with the arrival of his family members, he disappeared just as Itachi arrived at the scene.
0o0
Itachi's heart stopped, but only for a moment. He didn't sense her chakra, he didn't see any movement. Nothing. It was as if she wasn't even there. Time stops, Itachi is frozen. What is this feeling? He doesn't understand. But of course he wouldn't, Uchihas were bred to be emotionless, taught to suppress their emotions from a young age, so right now Itachi was experiencing an emotion or maybe it was many emotions swirling inside him that previously he had never experienced before. In slow motion Itachi watched Shisui check the fallen kunoichi's pulse, Itachi could feel Shisuis alarm as he gathered up the bloodied and unresponsive girl in his arms.
0o0
Shisui was afraid, he was honest to Kami afraid. They were going to be too late, he just knew it. He felt this sickly heaviness in his stomach. He pumped more chakra into his legs, willing them to go faster. He only felt so sure of death one other time, when he was very little.
When Itachi was still in the womb, Shisui's mom was pregnant as well. He was supposed to have a baby sister, supposed. There were complications with the pregnancy. His sister wasn't supposed to see the world for another three months but his mother was sent to the emergency room anyways. Stillborn, he recalled, was what the doctors had said.
0o0
Shisui arrived maybe a second after his cousin. He couldn't explain why exactly, but he knew Itachi was unable to act so he rushed over to the pinkette himself. She looked terrible. As he patiently waited for a pulse he knew might never come, he scanned her body with the sharingan taking in her injuries. All of her ribs were broken, though her spine was luckily intact. She had three stab wounds, a punctured lung, shoulders dislocated, some sort of brain trauma, Sakura's pelvis was shattered, a broken ankle, her wrists sprained, all her fingers were either broken or dislocated. She had numerous lacerations all over her, bruises littered her body. Her right eye socket was broke and her jaw was at an odd angle. She was bleeding everywhere. There was so much blood. Her chest was caved in where a dusty footprint lay. Burns covered her back and legs. Shisui sat there, covered in his comrade's blood, eyes frantically searching for some sign of life. After what seemed like forever, Itachi's body unlocked and his mind cleared allowing him to leap forward and approach his cousin. His insides felt like stone, it was hard for him to comprehend that his baby brother was even slightly involved with this. Deep down, he knew there was no hope for this blossoming young Konoha shinobi. Her life was over, and it was all Sasuke's fault.
0o0
Inner Sakura was freaking out. She was running out of her spirit energy and fast. Normally, it would replenish but because her host's body was dying, she was down to only what she had at the moment to save her.
"If only I could get those boys to believe in you, in us." She whispered to the comatose body of Sakura Haruno. She paced as she racked her thousands of years for a solution. If only she had control of Sakura's body... If she had enough energy to flare Sakura's chakra, maybe Lady Tsunade could reach them in time." Inner thought.
She started pouring her soul energy into the seal on Sakura's forehead. After a few minutes, a bead of sweat formed on both girls.
"It isn't working! There isn't enough power!" Inner exclaimed. She poured more and more of her precious soul energy into the seal, pushing everything she had, literally. Her body started to glow and as she poured more and more of her soul into Sakura, she didn't notice her feet sparkle and then start fading. She didn't notice the tips of her fingers melting into Sakura's temples or her hair slowly dissipating. Inner was giving her soul to Sakura in order save her. She was giving up all her one thousand seven hundred and seventeen years of life into this human named Sakura. Oh her beloved Sakura, a tear slipped out of Inner's eyes as they too, disappeared. It slipped down her cheeks as they too, disappeared, forever. The lone droplet of water raced the ancient magic, as if out of fear that it too would disappear, which actually, it would. Inner started to feel a burning sensation almost like she was doused in oil and was lit aflame. Inner knew she was dying then, but if that ment Sakura had a chance to live, then she told herself she was okay with that. Inner had had many hosts, and she could easily get another if Sakura died. But Inner didn't want Sakura to die. In all her years, Inner had not met a single soul worth trading her life for, until now. Inner was almost entirely gone now, just wisps of smoke clinging to the body of a pink haired, seventeen year old girl. Hoping that her soul was enough of a trade. And as the essence of Inner was leaving forever, the teardrop finallay hit Sakura's forehead and rolled down her face. Inner was no more.
0o0
"Lots of things weren't supposed to happen" Shisui thought, for once bitter. Sasuke wasn't supposed to attack Sakura. Sakura wasn't supposed to die. No not like this. No. Sakura wasn't supposed to have such horrible teammates. Shisui thought of her bright smile, of the determined glint in her eyes when Itachi and he offered to train her. No, it wasn't supposed to end like this. He looked down at the bloodied mess that he held. It was getting late, they needed to do something, tell someone. Her body felt like ice and was heavy like lead. Her one non-mangled eye stared out blankly, vacant. But he couldn't move. Because to move ment it was real and if it was real and if it was real then that ment Sakura was really dead. So he sat there with the body of a once proud Konoha shinobi. No, Shisui thought, she was so much more than that. Shisui didn't register his cousin sitting beside him. What he did notice was Itachi's hand, fore it was placed on her head, Not stroking, not caressing, just laid atop.
0o0
Just before cundown panic spread down Tsunade's spine. Summoning a small Katsuya she immediately ordered the slug to gather all the slugs and sent them to check on Konoha.
"Check every corner, and give me a status report in an hour, do not fail me. fore if you fail me, you fail all of Konoha. Now get going!" Tsunade bellowed. Shizune made camp as Tsunade relentlessly paced. It was the longest hour of their lives so far. Their beloved home was at stake. Shizune's nerves were frayed and Tsunade's pacing was not helping. Normally she would dismiss any "feelings" Tsunade got because she used that as an excuse to gamble but combined with those two letters, one given and one intercepted, even Shizune could feel something was up and if she believed in anyone to figure it out, it was the leaf's Hokage and beloved master, Tsunade.