Time is just a concept
And always the first thing to fade
Agony and weakness, nothing we can never evade
Years are cruel, they break us
Bringing on decay and despair
Awareness and perception, some things we can never repair
Excerpt from "Unleashed" by Epica
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Epica songs (or Skip Beat or Hanasakeru Seishounen).
Silent Sacrifice Chapter 6: Obscurity
Surely Kami must be playing tricks on her. After all, who else could make her day - or life, for that matter - so utterly, confusingly, undeservingly horrible?
It was all she could do not to start banging her head on the table - multiple times.
But instead of performing that tempting action, she groaned quietly and thought, Why me?
Because Uchiha Sasuke had just walked into the same restaurant Haruno Sakura was so conveniently dining at.
"Sasuke-kun, come sit next to me!" Karin all but yelled. "I saved you a seat!"
Sasuke just slowly shifted his gaze to the redhead before he closed his eyes and continued forward.
The orange-haired man by his side fidgeted and glanced around almost nervously, his eyes hopping from one person to the next in the restaurant. He seemed to stray near Sasuke's side more often than not.
"See, I told you he was hot," Karin whispered animatedly to her.
Sakura winced slightly, but didn't respond.
Said Uchiha slid gracefully into his seat at the very edge of Karin's booth. The redhead frowned (for she must've thought he was too far away to do any good) and scooted very subtly (Sakura relished in the sarcasm) closer to him.
Karin blushed as she grabbed Sasuke's arm and pressed her chest to him.
Sakura's eyebrow twitched.
"Soooo, Sasuke-kun, what took you so long?" Karin asked, her voice high-pitched and flirty.
"Hn."
Karin pouted.
"Anyways," Suigetsu drawled, "I have yet to acquaint myself with this pretty lady over here. If you would all excuse me…" He grinned - teeth flashing - at Sakura, who in turn shrunk back into her seat with a frown.
"Actually, my date" - Sakura purposefully enunciated the word to get the point across - "should be here…" She glanced up at the opening of the front door, and smiled widely. "Right now."
Naochi stepped into the room, eyes scanning the perimeter until they rested upon Sakura's waiting form. The corner of his mouth tipped up as he waved slightly in her direction.
Suigetsu grumbled something about 'the hot ones always being taken.'
"Yusumo-san!" Sakura called to him. "I'm so glad you could make it!"
A red tint filled his cheeks as he lowered himself beside her in the booth. "I said I'd be here, didn't I, Haruhei-san?"
Sakura smiled. "Please, just call me Sakaiya."
At that, Sasuke's eyes flashed to their table, narrowed to slits as he stared at her. The Uchiha leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table while he placed his chin on his clasped hands.
Sakura froze, her gaze slowly traveling to him, but when she met his opaque eyes, she turned away, swallowing heavily.
Naochi's brow furrowed in slight confusion before he leaned toward her and whispered, "Doesn't that guy look just like the one you were with yesterday? What was his name, again? Ita - Itami? No, that's not it -"
Sakura slapped a hand across his mouth to prevent him from speaking any more. Her gaze flitted nervously to Sasuke, whose eyelids had moved minutely closer. She winced - his Sharingan had activated, also.
"No, no, you must've heard wrong," Sakura stuttered nervously, slowly lowering her hand. "His name is - is…um, Imaki! Yeah, that's it - Imaki. That's his name." She laughed weakly.
Naochi's expression was one of perplexity with a hint of surprise. He blinked. "Uh, sure…whatever you say." Then he shook his head a infinitesimal amount. "But it's weird, don't you think, that they have those same red eyes? Creepy, if you ask me."
Sakura bowed her head in defeat.
"Hey, what's wrong? You look kind of sad…"
The kunoichi wasted no time in escaping; she stood up, thanked Naochi for the time, and, in a flash was at the door, then out it.
She just barely heard Karin yell in a whiny tone, "Sasuke-kun, where're you going? We haven't even ordered yet!"
Sakura only got five feet out of the restaurant before a pale hand came down on her shoulder, and she turned to meet a pair of spinning Sharingan eyes.
Itachi watched vaguely from the shadow of a tree as Kisame rewrapped Samehada. The Mist-nin took his time, careful not to rip any pieces of cloth on the sword's shredding skin.
"Getting bored, Itachi?" Kisame called out, a hint of amusement in his rough voice.
The Uchiha shrugged his shoulders minutely and moved to examine his fingernails. He decided they needed a new coating of nail polish. In a few areas the black was chipped, ready to fall off.
Maybe he would ask Sakura to do it…when she got back from her outing, of course. Because women were better at that sort of stuff, right?
Itachi's brow furrowed. He wondered what she was doing, if she was having fun. Maybe her food had gone bad. Then she would come back, because surely Sakura was too kind to trouble people with another order.
Itachi opened his mouth, about to ask Kisame if he knew any jutsu that could rot food over a long distance, and then closed it.
"Uchiha!"
His head snapped up at the sound of leaves crunching beneath sprinting feet. A flurry of russet and black came bursting from around a tree, skidding to a stop at Itachi's feet.
Judging by the way Kisame went on cleaning Samehada, Itachi guessed that he couldn't see the fiery cat.
"Uchiha, come quick!" Desunei - in her small form - exclaimed. "Sakura, she's…I can't risk exposing my existence to him…"
"To who?" Itachi asked calmly. (Kisame glanced up, decided that his Akatsuki partner had finally, completely lost it, seeing as he was talking to thin air, and, with a slight shake of his head, went back to work.)
This time the Tigress fixed him with a straight, intent stare. "Your bratty little brother."
Itachi blinked.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Desunei growled, her claws flexing in and out.
"Nothing." The Uchiha's voice was monotonous and unworried.
"What the hell do you mean, 'nothing'! She could get seriously hurt!"
Itachi went back to examining his nails. However, a small, blithe smirk - so insignificant you had to squint to see it - grew on his lips as he said, still ever-so-blandly, "Sakura can take care of herself."
The Tigress looked for a second like she wanted to kill the Uchiha right then and there, but slowly her murderous eyes took on a gleam of understanding. She thrust her chin up and spun around, walking dutifully away from him.
"Whatever you say, Uchiha, whatever you say." And with that, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Who are you?" The words were spoken silkily, softly, but in such a way that a lion glides forward before the blood bath begins. Venom coated in sweetness, fangs hidden behind closed lips.
Sakura desperately tried not to shiver at his remote words. "My name is H-Haruhei Sakaiya," she whispered, careful not to get caught in his merciless gaze.
Sasuke's pale hand slipped from her shoulder and came to rest upon his sword's hilt.
"Really?" He said the word slowly, no emotion whatsoever present as his head tilted to the side a fraction.
She gulped, and nodded.
You're doing it again. You'll actually allow him to have this much control over you?
…how pathetic.
How…annoying.
Sakura kept her gaze focused on Sasuke's exposed neck. Stopped her trembling. Took a deep breath.
And in her mind, she responded to the voices with a clipped, curt "Shut up."
"Yes, and who might you be?" She fixed a perfect, warm smile on her face, her eyes turned into little half-moons as she spoke. She leaned more of her weight to her right foot and placed her hand on her hip.
Sasuke only continued to stare at her with those numb eyes.
But Sakura wasn't fazed. "Oh, please excuse me for being so rude. Let me explain myself further. I am Haruhei Sakaiya of Kumogakure. Pleased to meet you." She held out a steady hand, still smiling.
He pointedly raked his eyes down her body - though she knew, him being the ninja he was, that the second he saw her he would have categorized everything to be noticed about her - and she remembered that she had no hitai-ate to prove herself.
And then Naochi appeared in the doorway; his eyebrows drew together as he took in Sakura and Sasuke's close proximity. "Sakaiya-san, are you all right? You rushed out of there pretty quickly…"
Sakura's teeth clenched together, but she forced her smile to remain on her face. "I'm perfectly fine - in fact, I was just about to leave. Would you like to walk with me, Naochi-san?" Of course she would not leave someone in danger because of her.
"Sure, if that's all right with you…" His gaze kept on flashing between Sakura and Sasuke; the latter of whom didn't take his narrowed Sharingan eyes off the black-haired kunoichi.
Sakura stepped swiftly away from the Uchiha, watching his body to make sure he wasn't about to attack. Just before she reached Naochi, she turned back and bowed to him. Her lips twisted into a sardonic grin as she rose and said, "It was nice meeting you…Uchiha-san."
He didn't even move a muscle, but something akin to irritation brewed in his eyes. He then leaned against a wall behind him, arms crossed across his chest, as Sakura grabbed Naochi's hand and hurried down the road.
Sasuke waited until his teammates appeared through the doorway. He remained silent through Karin's anxious questions and Suigetsu's rude comments. Only when they became silent did he fix them with his cold eyes and order, "Stay in the town until I get back and do not draw attention to yourselves."
"Why?" Karin asked, confused. "Where are you go -"
But he had all ready disappeared.
With a sigh, Suigetsu lowered himself to the ground and whipped out a set of cards as if from thin air. "I'll deal," he said in a slightly bored tone.
Karin let out an indignant huff. "Bring it on."
"We need to leave," Sakura exclaimed when she burst into their camp site with Naochi - looking flustered - in tow.
"What for?" Kisame asked lazily. He appeared quite content just lying on his back on a tree branch, gazing at the sky. He didn't even seem to care about a stranger being there.
"Uchiha Sasuke is going to show up here any second now." She had already begun to pack all her stuff (which included a small backpack and nothing more).
"Ooh, your little brother, Itachi?" Kisame now sat up with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Let me deal with him. It'll be fun."
"Allow me to remind you that he is an Uchiha," Itachi said blandly. "We are not so easily defeated." He said it in a way that defended his late clan's power as a whole, and not Sasuke's.
Kisame frowned.
"Never mind that," Sakura ordered. In her mind, she added, Idiots. "Get your stuff packed, and then we'll leave."
"You're going to avoid the confrontation?" Itachi's voice came out softly, yet Sakura felt as if she were being reprimanded to some huge extent.
She froze in her hurried movements, taking deep breaths to calm herself. In an equally quiet voice, she answered, "Is right now really the time for it?"
He didn't respond. And it was that silence that convinced her more than anything. With a slight clench of her fist, she turned around and headed back the way she came. "Stay here, Naochi-san. Don't do anything stupid. And you"- she pointed to Kisame -"don't eat him."
The Mist-nin looked offended.
She didn't have to say anything to the Uchiha - she just locked eyes with him for a brief moment, a moment that conveyed so many unutterable things, and then continued into the forest.
Sakura watched him come. He traveled gracefully, arms trailing easily behind him, his large sleeves giving the effect of wings.
White wings that did not suit him well.
Sakura sat on a low-hanging branch as she waited for him. She had already dispelled the genjutsu around herself, and her pink hair fluttered about in the growing wind. She'd also brought out her hitai-ate - the metal now shined proudly upon her forehead, not hidden in the layers of her hair as before.
There was no going back. That thought went around in little circles in Sakura's mind as he slowed down in front of her, coming to a stop no more than fifteen feet away.
She didn't look at him, only swung her legs back and forth, listening to the swirl of the wind through the leaves and the steady hum of nature. Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet and gentle. "I don't want to fight."
Silence.
"And I hope you don't want to, either."
No response.
Sakura leaned her head against her arm, knowing that if he'd wanted to kill her, he would have done so already. "You're still the same, aren't you, Sasuke-kun?" she muttered under her breath. Then she paused, thought for a second, and squeezed her eyes closed.
She had called him Sasuke-kun.
Damn it.
"What do you want?" she snapped, lifting her head up quickly. She narrowed her eyes at him.
Ba-bum.
But no matter how angry she might've been with him, her heartbeat would not slow in pace. She couldn't guess whether it was fear, anxiety, anger…or happiness at being near him.
Ba-bum.
"I want to know where Itachi is." Sasuke's voice came out rather quietly, but it resounded in Sakura's ears, echoing.
She swallowed.
Ba-bum.
"And how would I know anything about that?" she responded easily.
"Sakura," he drew out. (It sounded so much like the way he said her name back when they were genin.) "Tell me where my brother is."
Before she spoke her next words, she fixed her eyes at his feet, just to be careful. That way she could tell what move he would make. "…or else what?"
She grabbed the branch and threw herself to the ground a millisecond sooner than his hand shot out to grab her neck - fifteen feet covered in one-tenth of a second, and the only warning she'd had was the slight blur of his feet before he'd disappeared.
Sakura looked up, and there he was, about to crash on top of her with his Kusanagi blade positioned behind him. She brought up her kunai to block him.
Yamato had his kunai positioned and ready for the blow about to be delivered to him by Sasuke's sword.
Sakura watched Sasuke's eyes flash mercilessly as he said, "Your choice of defense…quite the mistake."
And the blade drove into Yamato's chest, cutting straight through the kunai.
Gasping, she side-stepped and attempted to stall the Uchiha with an uppercut to his jaw. But she saw his eyes flash from her face to her fist, and in another blur, he was gone.
She mentally slapped herself for almost forgetting that Sasuke's sword could cut through her weapons - and just about everything beside.
Water. I need to find water for my jutsu.
'No, first you need to find your opponent,' Desunei calmly instructed. 'Don't even think of turning your back on him and running. And I wouldn't use the bracelet now if I were you - until you learn how to fully control its powers, it will be of no use.'
Sakura blinked, having realized that once again she had completely forgotten the Tigress existed. She nodded jerkily and her eyes began to flit from tree to tree.
'Why do that when you can hear him better?'
The kunoichi let her eyelids pull down a small fraction, and sent chakra into the tiger's eye on her bracelet to clear her mind. With the clarity, she took slow, shallow breaths and kept herself perfectly still.
The leaves rustled through the leaves…a bird chirped fifteen feet to her left…a breath was taken in…
…not her breath.
She caught sight of the bright red colors of the fireballs and swore immediately before she jumped quickly out of the way, flipping and leaping her way through the branches of the trees around her. Her eyes widened when one fireball passed by her face not more than two inches away and continued on, only to envelop a tree and begin eating its way up the trunk.
Smoke rose in the air, its heavy smell filling her nostrils.
"Sasuke, please stop," she yelled into the seemingly empty forest, hating the way her voice cracked a little at the end. "I told you I don't want to fight!"
"Then tell me where he is," a soft voice responded right behind her.
Without even thinking, Sakura whipped around to meet his crimson eyes. His…spinning…crimson eyes…
She blinked.
And stepped back shakily, her hands reaching out behind her, searching for anything stable to rest herself against.
Her fingers clutched around cloth. Arms came to wrap around her chest, pulling her against a lean body. She felt cool, calm breaths on top of her head, mildly stirring her hair. The smell of winter wind and pine trees chased away her anxiety.
Relief flooded through her body.
"Itachi-sama," she exhaled, and rested against him.
"Sasuke," the elder Uchiha called - his voice didn't raise, yet the word seemed to travel immensely - "I believe it would be wise for you to leave us alone."
The only sign of Sasuke's fury was a slight clenching of his fist and the mad spinning of his Sharingan. "Itachi." He said his brother's name with inconceivable vehemence.
Itachi's matching eyes gleamed with a melancholy sadness so hidden that only Sakura - as she twisted her head to look at him - could see.
"Farewell, little brother," he said quietly, and together they disappeared with a teleportation jutsu.
They landed beside a tree next to where Kisame was slinging his sword onto his back. Ten feet away, Naochi nervously picked at his fingernails while his gaze flitted from space to space.
Itachi stepped away from Sakura, and with a low voice instructed, "Gather your things. We are heading east, to the Lightning Country."
Sakura stood still for a second before she turned on him, livid. "And now I guess you're going to avoid the confrontation?" she asked, her eyes demanding an answer.
Itachi held her gaze without any emotion. "It is a confrontation that I now realize you are not yet ready for. This is for your sake, not mine."
"You think I'm not strong enough to handle him? Is that what you're saying?" She ground her teeth together.
"You have many things to learn before you will be ready to face the Sharingan," he replied flatly. "Speed, skill, and experience are not in your favor as of this moment."
"How long until they will be?" she questioned, dropping her eyes from his.
"…time will tell. For now, we focus on the present, and not what lies in the future." He placed a steady hand on her head. She almost fell over from the shock. "Do you think you can do that?"
"Hai," Sakura whispered.
"Good. Are you ready to leave?"
She nodded, and his hand fell back to his side.
"What are we gonna do about him?" Kisame droned, pointing a pale blue finger to Naochi, who continued to stare at Sakura and Itachi.
Sakura turned to the silver-haired ninja, a small, inviting smile curving on her lips. (To this he blushed furiously.) "Naochi-san," she said, "I think that under these circumstances, it would be best for you to travel with us. I will not allow someone's life to be endangered because of me." She raised her eyebrows a bit as she met Itachi's ostensibly lifeless eyes. "That is, of course, if it is all right with you, Itachi-sama."
He didn't respond for a few moments as he stared at Naochi somberly. To Sakura's surprise, the silver-haired ninja met him eye-to-eye, his own sapphire orbs narrowed in a silent challenge.
"He will be yours to take care of," Itachi replied curtly to Sakura, and spun on his heel, heading away from them.
Naochi turned to the kunoichi with his eyes gleaming contentedly. "So I guess we'll be stuck with each other for a long time, ne?" He smiled.
Sakura grinned back, genuinely glad that she had found someone sane in the chaotic world she knew far too well. "Yeah, I guess so."
The four of them traveled east at a quick pace with Itachi leading, Naochi and Sakura in the middle, and Kisame keeping guard from the back.
About an hour into the journey, Naochi leaned toward Sakura and asked quietly, "I'm still confused - is his name Imaki or Itachi?"
Sakura laughed. "It's Itachi. I'm sorry about that earlier…there was just a little mishap between that man and I."
"You know him?"
"…I'm not too sure about that anymore," she whispered.
Ten feet ahead of her, Itachi's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
When the sun began to set, Sakura insisted on taking a break to refill their energy. Naochi eagerly shared some pocky sticks with Sakura, and she was more than willing to accept.
Meanwhile, Kisame gnawed on a slab of dried fish.
And throughout Naochi and Sakura's laughter-filled snack, Itachi watched them with his cool, vacant, Sharingan eyes.
It was midnight. The black sky above hid their movements while the waning moon provided just enough light to travel by. Millions of stars competed with the peaceful silence - a silence broken only by the soft pat of their sandals as they leapt from branch to branch - for beauty.
Sakura watched (to do this she had to squint) the crimson clouds on Itachi's cloak wave back and forth from the speed at which he traveled in.
She found it odd how he took it upon himself to lead when, during any other situation, he would probably prefer to keep eyes off him. Nevertheless, Uchiha Itachi was a leader, not a follower. Maybe he hated to watch others' backs from behind.
It was a mere second after that thought that Sakura found herself gaining speed. She added more muscle into her leaps, and in a short period of time had caught up with the Uchiha.
Now side-by-side with him - with only about a yard between them - she had to work to keep her newly set pace. She ignored the burning in her thighs and instead directed all her focus on what lay before her.
Itachi glanced at his apprentice, placidly curious. She caught his eye and offered him a tiny smile before turning back to the darkness.
They continued like that, at the same speed, no one trying to outdo the other, until the morning came.
And Sakura knew that she neither had to watch his back or him hers, but rather work alongside him, together.
Without pain, the world would not be
For here, in our pain, lie the answers to life
Knowledge we gain, insight we receive
But some pain is too opaque to distinguish
There is no way to tell what it might convey upon our minds
And we find ourselves, ever so gently, fading into
Obscurity
A/N: I am so sorry. It has been far too long since I've posted. *bows* Feel free to mentally slap me.
And I know this chapter wasn't too great (I know you all were probably expecting so much more), but my brain has been fried. Literally. Because school sucks like that.
Well, aside from that, Linkin Park's new CD, A Thousand Suns, sucks too. I'm sorry if you liked it, but to me…bleh.
Now, I feel as if it is my duty as an authoress to make sure you are entertained while waiting for a new chapter to come out. So, I will recommend to you guys two animes (or manga, whichever you prefer to watch or read) to keep you busy (because God knows how long the next chapter will take me). Also, there will only be two for right now because I know that I hate it when there is a huge list to choose from - but that's just me.
1: Skip Beat - currently my favorite; you should really check it out :D
2: Hanasakeru Seishounen - completely different from anything I've seen; worth the time
Again, I am so sorry for taking so long. I will definitely try harder to get the next chapter up earlier (and make it longer - I hate how short this one is!). As always, thank you for reading, and I would highly appreciate it if you would review! :D Until next time…