Flaming Heart

Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto.

Author Note:

I am so but so mad at myself! I had the next chapter all typed on Microsoft word but somehow I deleted it from my computer! –bangs head on the wall- I tried almost everything to retrieve it but without success! I even downloaded some useless programs that are supposed to bring back deleted files. Urgh… just my luck!

Anyway, here's the next chapter! I sent this chappie to my dear beta but I take it she's pretty busy, coz I haven't heard from her for ages (A big big bear hug for her!) So I apologize for all the errors you might encounter!

Wowah what a big author note… OH yeah, I've been thinking and I realized that this story is coming to an end soon, 4 or more 5 chapters to go! Yay!

It was dark.

Not that he cared anyway because he preferred the dark nowadays. Kakashi crimson eye was the only light that the darkness of the room had not yet claimed. He was sitting on a green cushioned chair staring ahead with a codified expression stamped on his exhausted features.

There were so many foreboding feeling, emotions, and thoughts bombarding the poor young man's head from all directions. His eyes constantly shot from one end of the room to the other, expecting to find both, a brown-haired and a pink-haired girl hiding in some obscure corner. The deathly stillness of his surroundings only annoyed him further.

A faint silhouette moved in the thick darkness and Kakashi crimson eye caught its movement instantly. He looked significantly at the troubled shadow that slowly made its way towards him. In the darkness, Kakashi could distinguish the hardened features of a young boy. He slowly drew his arms apart and allowed the boy in front of him to embrace him.

"Kenji…" Kakashi whispered as the young boy held closer, nestling his head against his shoulder. The boy trembled frenziedly.

Kakashi arms enveloped the twin securely, as though it would protect him from his painful memories, his broken heart. However, even Kakashi knew that he could not shield the boy from that invisible pain. Not when, he too was suffering his own share.

It felt like an invisible creature was lurking in every shadow, ready to jump on him whenever he closed his eyes and saw their faces. The creature would laugh silently at his pathetic helplessness, revealing his misery.

"Shhh, everything will be all right," Kakashi whispered, feeling hot tears wet his vestments.

Another sick feeling took over his already sickened body. Would everything really be all right? Was not everything around him falling apart? Was not everyone around him gone? Could it be that he was cursed? Did the Gods hate him that much? How could it be? How could she be from the future? Was everyone around him completely mad?

There were so many questions… to so many empty answers. It was as if he was standing on the top of a mountain, screaming at the top of his lungs and only his echoes replied.

"I b-believe," Kenji words made Kakashi blood freeze, "I believe Sakura-chan now… it makes sense now…" Kenji voice was still frail but it came out strong enough for the copy-nin ears.

"Kenji," Kakashi tone had a hint of warning in it. He really did not feel like talking about it.

"The stories never made so much s-s-sense now," the young boy carried on as if Kakashi had not spoke, "because they are true s-stories,"

The silver-haired jounin tightened the embrace around Kenji's thin waist. He closed his eyes tightly; the darkness finally consumed the entire room, "W-what stories?" he finally asked, ignoring the lump on his throat.

"A story of Sakura and her friends," another voice answered, surprising both Kakashi and Kenji.

"H-hai," Kenji said, sniffing slightly on Kakashi's shirt.

"This story h-happened in t-the future," Kenjiro's voice reached their ears more clearly now. Kakashi opened his eyes and noticed that the other twin was still lying on the bed, "It was a story of team seven, a s-s-story about-" Kenji and Kakashi waited, calmly as Kenjiro cleaned his tears away, "about three genins... there was Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan,"

"N-Naruto was an orphan and the whole village despised him… Sasuke the last remaining U-uchiha and t-there was S-Sakura-chan…" Kenji paused; he could feel Kakashi racing heartbeat, "the p-p-prettiest girl of Konoha,"

Kenjiro chuckled lightly at the last part. Kakashi shivered at the young boy's chuckle, which was full of tremendous sadness.

"You can't do that!"

"What?"

"You can't choose you as one of the main characters!"

"Hehehe! Well I'm the story teller so tough luck, kiddo,"

"Coooome on! Carry on!"

"Team seven had the m-most lazy sensei in the whole world," Kenji added, his voice clearer than before, "he never got in time for the trainings sessions and he always carried a book with him,"

"What's so funny?"

"His name was…his name was Kakashi,"

Kakashi abruptly stood up and gently placed Kenji down, "I don't want to listen anymore," he hissed as he firmly pushed the twin towards his bed, "go to sleep,"

Kenji climbed to his bed without protesting. He quickly got under the blankets and turned his back on the silver-haired boy.

Kakashi took a deep breathe and he too turned his back on the twins as he walked towards the door.

"And that is how she decided to change the future," Kenjiro's voice rose above Kenji's suppressed sobs and Kakashi's footsteps, "at last, she could be of use. At last, she felt needed. At last, she could repay him back. She could make Kakashi-sensei feel proud of her. That's the end of the story,"

His world suddenly moved too fast for him. A wave of dizziness took over his mind, making him feel lighter than a feather. He pressed his arm on the corridor wall to support himself.

"Sakura…" he whispered throatily as his knees gave away.

Six Months Later

"Dammit Sakura!" a loud voice echoed through the green fields, "What is the matter with you today?"

Sakura took in a deep breathe as she pushed herself upwards, ignoring Sasuke's helping hand. She darted her bright emerald eyes towards the opposite direction where a blonde-haired woman was standing with a concerned look on her pale features. Behind Tsunade, was Hanabusa, a walking stick supported his weight.

"Gomen," Sakura drawled angrily.

Sasuke moved quickly after the pink-haired kunoichi who had turned her back on the elders. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the young medic-nin attitude and stepped forward, balling her left hand into a fist. She stopped hastily when an unexpected hand clutched her shoulder.

"She needs time," Hanabusa spoke softly as he turned around, hiding a small smile.

Tsunade blinked softly as she watched the dark-haired boy follow Sakura into the forest. She huffed and finally shrugged. She knew it was probably too much for Sakura right now. All the training required to be able to perform such technique could drain anyone's strength. But, that was not what was worrying Tsunade. So far, Sakura's chakra was what was worrying everyone, even the Uchiha. Sakura's amount of chakra was still weak and not enough to perform the final seal.

Sasuke sighed as he silently followed the pink-haired girl. He watched as she punched a tree, breaking it to tiny pieces of wood. He tilted his head to the right, avoiding a sharp piece to connect with his skin. Several green leaves fell down, slowly. Sakura shifted and kicked the fallen leaves as if kicking and punching could make things better. She had never felt as childish as she did at that moment, with Sasuke prying eyes watching her every move.

Her pressed lips parted and an agonizing sound escaped. Sasuke remained quiet behind her as if any other sound could make things worse. His dark-eyes watched her indifferently as she kneeled down with her back turned on him. Her shoulders shook and he finally looked away, the usual blank expression vanished and a troubled one replaced it.

The Uchiha stepped towards the sobbing girl, "Are you okay?" despite the pain, Sakura was very aware of his touch, of the way, his arm was secure around her, the way he controlled her body easily. She had the altogether foreign thought that she was safe. He repeated the question, his hands clasped around her arms to keep her steady.

Sakura sighed, "Fine, fine," she stated bleakly as she fought back more tears.

She felt Sasuke become rigid, felt the heat of him in the simple touch of his hand. "You aren't so fine," he stated with calm insistence.

"What?" Sakura asked suddenly feeling tired.

"Never mind," he said as he jerked his eyes away from her green ones.

"How…" Sakura voice almost failed her. Sasuke did not stare at her but waited for her to carry on, "How can you be so calm?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied shrugging his shoulders, "I'm as nervous as you are,"

Sakura snorted as she gently pulled away from his embrace, "Doesn't seem like it,"

Sasuke smirked as he stretched his arms, his mouth opened and he yawned. Sakura eyes widened at the simple scene in front of her. She had never seen the dark-haired boy do such mundane act. She even had started to ask herself if Sasuke was even human.

"I'm not like you," he simply answered, the remains of a smirk still decorated his handsome pale features.

Sakura raised an interested pink-eyebrow at his answer, "How so?" she asked feeling the unexpected breeze caress her wet face.

"I don't display my emotions as you do. I control my emotions like a true shinobi must do," Sasuke replied as if his answer was too obvious and that she should have seen it coming.

Sakura offered him a small smile, "Sasuke?"

"Hmm?"

"What if… what if we fail…?"

Sasuke gazed at girl in front of him for a full minute with a most thoughtful, serious expression on his face. Sakura bit her lip as she grew increasingly uncomfortable under his scrutinizing dark eyes.

"Then we can only hope we have changed the past as much as we could," he replied, a strange feeling took over him. He preferred to think that they were going to succeed, even though their chances pointed to the opposite direction. Failure.

Sakura sighed softly and stepped forward, closing the space between them. She glanced quickly all around her, and then suddenly reached for Sasuke's hand, which froze solid at her warm touch.

"Thank you," she whispered softly catching the Uchiha by surprise. A flicker of unknown emotions crossed his pale features as he lost himself in her big jaded-green orbs, "at least we tried," she forced a smile, flashing her perfect white teeth.

"We have to leave," Sasuke replied ignoring what she had said earlier. The flicker of emotion was long gone from his blank expression.

Sakura stared uncomprehendingly at his face for a long time, trying to grasp his strange meaning.

"W-what?!" she wondered at last, fixing her green eyes on his face to make sure she didn't miss a single syllable.

Sasuke's whole face darkened mournfully as she pressed his hand for a reply. After a brief silence, he reluctantly closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak.

"You really did not notice?" he asked, pulling away his hand from her warm touch. Sakura blinked, and the Uchiha took that as a no. He sighed and his brows knitted together.

"That old man… and his apprentice," Sasuke started noticing her confused features, "that man apprentice-"

"Hitori?" asked Sakura, staring anxiously into his face.

Sasuke nodded, "He mysteriously disappeared right after we arrived. The old man claimed that Hitori had chosen to follow his own path. But, if it is as he said so, why is Hitori coming to visit him every first night of the full moon?"

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not sure if I understand…"

"Tsunade has noticed it too," his voice clearly told her that she should have paid more attention to what was happening around her. Sakura nodded slowly and waited for the dark-haired boy to carry on, "They have met each other every first night of the full moon, perhaps they meet more frequently,"

Sakura brows furrowed, "So? He visits his mentor, what is wrong with that?"

Sasuke glared at the pink-haired girl who pressed her lips tightly, "There is nothing wrong with that, but the fact that they do it behind our backs. They are obviously hiding something,"

"Leave?" Sakura whispered, looking down at her feet. Her heart started to race, "where to?"

Sasuke arched a musing eyebrow, "There is only one place we have to go, Sakura,"

Her throat became dry as she stared at Sasuke's emotionless features, "Konoha," her lips moved but no sound ever reached the Uchiha's ears.

"We have to stay close to the area that the Kyuubi will strike," said Sasuke as he turned his back on her, "We'll leave tonight,"

"T-tonight?" Sakura stuttered as she stared at his retreating back.

"Tonight," he repeated as he walked away.

"Demo…" Sakura ran to catch up with Sasuke. Her green eyes widened and she jerked her head towards him.

"Hn, tonight's a full moon,"

She could have sworn that she saw his lips curve into a smirk.

The darkness suffocated Kakashi's entire sweaty body. He had been running, walking, dragging himself through the thick darkness only to find that there was not a way to escape.

Escape the voices.

"Strange, isn't it?" chirped a soft voice near him.

"What is?" the silver-haired young man wondered.

"How you could go on living even though you should have died that day,"

"Yes, I should have," he agreed.

An unnatural silence seemed to stretch on forever.

"But still more strange," commented another voice suddenly, "that you actually thought that you could be happy with her."

"I never thought that."

"Why not?" the first voice asked, truly interested.

He scoffed at the stupid question, turning around, his mismatched eyes tried to see what was hiding in the darkness.

"Because I'm cursed. I will never be happy." he answered simply.

"He's that man son… Konoha's White-fang, pathetic!"

"Trash… that's what he is,"

So many cruel voices burst into disarray: they cackled, wailed, taunted, and screamed into ears all at once. His head throbbed painfully as the disturbed voices squeezed into his mind, each demanding his full awareness.

"Kakashi-sensei" another voice, so different from all the others came to the surface, making all the others disappear at once.

Kakashi suddenly woke up from his nightmare.

Much to his amazement, he found himself sleeping in a comfortable and unfamiliar sofa. He stared blankly all around himself, scrutinizing every detail his eyes stumbled across. He noticed a small wooden table next to the sofa, where an empty cup and several sheets of paper seemed to be part of the messy decoration of the living room.

"Are you alright?" asked a kind voice.

Kakashi blinked at first and only then, he noticed the red-haired woman comfortably seated in front of him. She had soft smile decorated her swollen features.

"You look very tired," smiled the red-haired woman, "and you probably have the hugest headache, ne?"

Kakashi's memory slowly floated back to him: he remembered last night. Gemna, despite his protests, had somehow dragged him to the new bar.

Kakashi nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Ah! Well ," chuckled Kushina, waving a hand in the air, "The twins found you unconscious at the doorsteps,"

The silver-haired jounin nodded again, his unmasked eye slowly travelled down to the red-haired woman's belly. It seemed to get bigger at the minute.

"Wait here," she instructed as she slowly stood up, a hand supporting her back. She made a face and stuck her tongue at the stiff and still sleepy Kakashi as she turned around and disappeared from his sight.

Kakashi sighed deeply and massaged his temples as he fell back down on the sofa.

"Kakashi-sensei…" he whispered, feeling the hair of the back of his neck stand up.

It was her voice. It amazed him how dreams could be so real, capturing the right scents, noises, feelings.

"I have a message from Sakura,"

"I don't want to hear it,"

"Fine...Minato… I heard everything from Sakura--"

"Wh-what did she say?"

"I thought you didn't want to hear..."

"Hmph, I… I've changed my mind,"

"Right… here,"

"Thanks,"

"Just read it already,"

Kakashi hand reached his green vest pocket. He took a small piece of a torn and old parchment. He quickly unfolded it and inspected her perfect handwriting.

Dear Kakashi,

I wanted to tell you.

I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but I never found the courage to do so. I never felt so alone… carrying this burden on my shoulders for so long… but I held on.

I held on you.

I held on Rin.

I held on you for the sake of carrying on. Because I have to carry on…

Every time I looked at you, I could see you clearly. I could see your other you, nodding, pushing, incentivizing me further. I could not let you down. I could not let them down.

Naruto and Sasuke.

Moreover, Kakashi-sensei too.

I write this to you because I want you to understand. Everything I did was with good intentions… no… the best intentions.

I believe, that once a certain silver-haired jounin, told me that teammates comes first. I think that his words were exactly something of the sorts, "Those who break the rules are trash, but, those who leave their teammates behind are even worse!"

I did it for Naruto, you know, for his future. Because… now he will have a chance to have a future, one filled with happiness. He will have his parents, Minato-sensei, Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya-sama… and… you… for him now.

Just do not spoil him too bad.

More importantly, I write this to you, because my time is almost over and I need to let go. I need to let you know that…

I love you.

I know that you probably hate me right now. It's okay… to do so.

I hate me too.

Kakashi hands trembled and a deep frown decorated his features.

P.S - I do hope that this letter reaches you. I am counting on Jiraiya-sama persuasion skills, he guaranteed that he was the best and so I deposit all my trust in him.

Kakashi groaned softly and brought the piece of parchment to his face. His hand clutched to the parchment tightly, wrinkling it.

"T-tea?" Kushina's soft voice asked startling him.

Kakashi immediately sat, stared at the red-haired woman and nodded, "Kushina-san," he started as she poured down some hot tea on his cup.

"Yes?" she asked, her big eyes stared at the young boy in front of her in worry and sympathy.

"Have you thought of a name for the baby?" he asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Kushina flashed him a devious smile, "That… is a secret,"

Tsunade arched a blonde eyebrow in expectation, the dark-haired boy gave her a short discrete nod as he, and Sakura walked past her.

"Sakura!" the old man exclaimed, a glint on his large eyes as the pink-haired girl shot him a smile, "You are back! Right in time for dinner,"

Sasuke watched as the old man wrinkled hand held onto Sakura's arm, "I prepared us some fish," the man said as he turned around to stare at both, the blonde-haired woman and the Uchiha.

"Do you need any help, Hanabusa-sama?" asked Sakura in a polite tone. Her green eyes stared directly at the old man prying ones.

Hanabusa nodded, "But of course! I just need you to get the table ready,"

Tsunade fought back the urge to rip apart the old man every limb right there. According to the Uchiha, it would be better if they confronted both Hitori and Hanabusa at the same time. Despite her animosity feelings for the Uchiha, she knew he was right.

The dinner went by as any normal day. Hanabusa often questioned Sakura and the Uchiha about how were things in the future. Tsunade often interrupted Sakura since Sasuke never spoke a word towards the old man, and formulated her own questions, narrowing her eyes at Hanabusa who offered her a wide smile, where she had direct access to his toothless mouth.

It was as if he knew something that she did not. It irritated her beyond limits.

After dinner, Sasuke and Sakura pushed the living room table away, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. Tsunade stepped inside, three sleeping bags in her arms. The air around them seemed to have increased; it was almost unbearable to breathe.

Sakura's heart started to race as if she ran for miles. Her whole body shook with anticipation to what was coming next. She stole a quick glance towards Sasuke who never bothered to put on something to sleep. His eyes gave her the impression that he was oddly calm considering what was going to happen. She heard Tsunade sigh and jerked her head towards the blonde-haired woman who was lying down, her honey eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Sakura slowly placed herself in her sleeping bag. Her emerald eyes too stared at the dirty white ceiling. She put a hand on her compressed chest, feeling the thump of her own heart. Somehow, being in the middle of Sasuke and Tsunade calmed her.

She had nothing to fear...they were after all in numeric advantage.

Hours passed and Sakura could feel the weight of sleep crush her. She struggled to keep her eyes open while she listened to the other two breathing.

That's when she suddenly felt it.

A different and unknown chakra.

Sasuke sat upright; crimson took over his usual dark orbs.

Tsunade too, sat up and stared in horror at the dark-haired boy.

"Uchiha, what is the meaning of this?"