She knew this day would come.
From the likes of her son, he's fated to be a shinobi.
It's one of her greatest fears.
.
..
…
Kiro always seemed to be fascinated with the Ninja Academy.
He even borrows her kunais for practice.
She never dared to watch him progress.
Because It strengthens her fear of him getting killed in the battlefield.
…
..
.
Opening the door of his room, Sakura failed to see her son.
Running out of the house, there she found him.
Set of kunai in between his knuckles as he leapt in the air and threw it at a tree trunk marked like a dart board.
.
..
…
He was five.
And he's got the best aim, better than a ten years old.
He grinned and looked back at her awestrucked façade.
…
..
.
"See that mom? I'll protect you!"
.
..
…
X & | & X
R
E
V
O
L
V
E
R
You didn't ask me to be born
You,
Why should you learn of war or pain?
To be sure you're not hurt again,
I swear I'd give my life for you
X & | & X
Chapter Six : Paper Flowers
Disclaimer: The authoress claims no property of Naruto.
Leaping from tree branch to another, Sakura hissed- her vision started to get blurry. Corse pain and stinging hits her spine as if twisting them and tying a knot.
Stopping on her tracks, Sakura groaned, feeling someone coming close- she's in the worse situation to fight.
Glowing green palms brushed her own back, trying to at least identify the cause of her misery. She gasped as a dark spot suddenly appeared on her arm discoloring a good portion of her upper arm as big as her palm.
"Shit."
Sakura could feel the nerves of the said extremity slowly die down in senses as thedark pigmentation spreads slowly through it, her mediocre attempt to block the poison from spreading out through her major arteries and veins showed no major progress as she expected.
Poison
She knew it, Madara wouldn't let her off that easily. Not when she's of some use for to get what he wants, her mind was rattled with storming thoughts. Sakura's not in the best situation for healing- she's inside the enemy territory and her chakra portals aren't that much from recovery.
It's the only thing she could think of, but she'll just have to deal with it later- as of now she has to deal with another intrude-
"Sakura-chan!"
XXXXX
It's almost midnight, the flickering sounds from the bonfire sets the theme of tension between the group.
Juugo being as silent as ever, resting his back underneath the tree trunk. Eyes fixated on the small figure that sat just in front of the bonfire- his shadow danced as the wind blew the thin line of flame.
He was small- yet he possessed too much fury in his eyes, Juugo saw that. The moment Sasuke had drawn his Kusanagi from it's hilt, fear flashed over the young boy's eyes- and within the blink of an eye, Juugo even doubted that if the fear he just saw was even there.
What was his name again?
Kiro, right. He smelled like someone familiar- Juugo swore he saw those bright green eyes before. It seemed so luminous in the dark, how he'd love to see innocence flicker in them like it should.
"Where's your mother, kid?" Suddenly Karin spoke, sitting just beside Kiro as if trying to win his attention.
"Heaven, because she's kind and pretty." Kiro smiled unconciously as she pictured Sakura in his mind.
"She's dead?" Karin pressed on.
"Yes, you got a problem with that?" Kiro hollered.
"Uh, No. So where's your father. He should be worried about you." Long and piercing silence came between them. Juugo waited as he closed his eyes- his aura…felt so different, This kid….
"He won't exist sometime soon…" His voice so bitter, so cold, full of hatred and wrath. The octave too familiar to Juugo's ears, Karin can now resemble a patient under going shock,pupils dilated as she stares back at Kiro- Juugo knew, she felt the same.
Little did they notice, someone just right up above the camp, a pair of ears listens, and crimson eyes lingers.
In a way or another, Uchiha Sasuke couldn't bring himself to kill the kid In their initial encounter. He couldn't quite put his finger on it at first- but now…he knows why.
XXXXX
"Kiro? Where's my son?!" Sakura hollered swifltly hopping from a tree branch to another. Demanding answer from her blonde companion, The fear that eats her up inside must be exterminated. Being a young mother doesn't justify the strong maternal instincts she's feeling now- and it clearly tells her, she must find Kiro immediately.
"We're still waiting for Sai's update, Tsunade-baachan says that ROOT squads are deployed in minimal groups to hunt you and Ki-."
"I know that, but we have bigger problems Naruto." Sakura stopped in her tracks.
"Akatsuki?"
Sakura's trapped in another loop hole she doesn't know where to go. Promising kunoichi she may be, but having Madara Uchiha following your trail- more specifically Kiro's trail and would do anything to get him, Danzou who's more than determined to have her head because of some history-changing secret she knew about. She's a kunoichi, a mother and most of all she's just human.
"We have to find…him."
"Him…you mean…."
XXXXXX
They sat across both ends of the fire, He watched his eyes play a scene againts the flame. Funny this kid reminds him of himself, in every way possible.
That look in his jade eyes, couldn't be mistaken. .Loneliness.
Sasuke could see them clearly, he's hate to this kid walk the same path as he did. Not that he has something to feel sorry for- but being young is something he failed to have for himself, every kid deserves to enjoy their childhood. Given how tragic his past was, Sasuke failed to savour what life has in store for him as a child.
But he did enjoyed morning pancakes his mother used to cook for him after training, a bitter smiled crept up on his lips. How nostalgic he felt whenever he sees Kiro is still a wonder.
"Who killed her,your okaasan."
Kiro looked up and raised a brow at Sasuke, looking away from the flame Kiro sighed, but Sasuke couldn't miss Kiro's reluctance to smile bitterly.
"Rouge ninjas, but I doubt it. If they are rouge ninjas…My mom could've defeated them. I always knew someone wants her assassinated, I should've been there, I could've protected her." He could vaguely remember how Sakura glares so badly whenever he uses his kekkai genkai for petty things. He loves the way she tends his wounds after sparring with either Naruto or Kakashi. The soothing feel of her chakra that always puts him sto sleep. How he'd give anything to see his loving mother again, to wake up every morning to see her smile and to hear her say: "I love you sweetie" after breakfast.
Sasuke watched him contemplate, and he wouldn't admit that the kid had shot a soft spot somewhere inside his chest. Refreshing foreign feelings of longingness of his own mother. How she'd kept him in her arms for a couple of minutes when he got home from sparring with Itachi. But it's too late to dwell on it, it's just of piece of his memory he's like to keep precious for as long as he lives.
He looked at the kid again, those eyes are so familiar to him. Maybe he crossed paths with his parents, someone he killed? But the child's father is still alive, and he's certain he hadn't murdered a woman recently.
"And your father?" Sasuke probed a little more, he just had to know.
"I never knew him,he's a missing ninja. A Criminal. My mother always speak fondly of him, she doesn't want me to know… but people talk a lot of him." Kiro shrugged as he twirled a kunai in his small index finger, a mannerism he developed from watching Sai and Naruto competed about good aim.
"You're looking for him, but you never know how he looked like." Sasuke stood and a couple of twigs over the flame.
"Mom says im a spitting image of him. Besides,he came from a renowned clan…it shouldn't be that hard." Kiro follwed suit.
XXXXXX
"We have to inform shishou, another player comes in to picture." Sakura knew if it wasn't the poison that would kill her, Danzou or Madara would sign up for her death certificate one of these days. She wasn't looking forward to it but she can't just shrug and ignore the idea.
"So Madara took you as a hostage because he wants Kiro?"
"Exactly." Or worse, Madara might plan to use both Sasuke and Kiro against Konoha.
Cerulean met Jade, Tsunade has to know that this has become a threat of public safety more than political killings. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Madara wants to accomplish here, now that he found out about the existence of another promising Uchiha, his rabid craze has fueled tenfold. Sakura's sure he'd use Kiro against his own village, in which Sakura doesn't have the heart to imagine. Yes, she had accepted the fact that the father of her own son had turned his back against their village and will do anything in his power to annihilate the elders. But having her son do the same- it will be the death of her.
Danzo's political killing is out of control, Sakura always knew why he's in sugar high to kill her. The most precious secret that even the Godaime doesn't know about- Konoha's blood stained story of liberation from the Uchiha Massacre.
"Naruto, you know this is confidential. Right?"
It can't be of public knowledge just yet, and certainly they can't just use any carrier to deliver the message. One of them has to go back, and certainly it can't be Sakura- or if Naruto would consider watching her walk down the path of gallows or probably jump over the plank to her grave then why not.
"But, Akatsuki's after you! a-and Danzo! We can just send intelli-"
"Yes, And No. I know that, and don't you dare underestimate me baka. And no with sending intelligence via carrier because as you said it's Akatsuki and Danzo we're dealing with, the last thing we would want to happen is have either one of them intercept with our messages." Sakura forced a giggle, she knew Naruto didn't mean it the way she responded.
He looked defeated, he felt defeated. Now that he's in a middle of crisis and left with no other options but leave her to hands of fate again, he couldn't help but feel helpless.
Sakura could already feel the necrosis progressing, the poison that was injected to her might be progressing really slow but it accurately responds to lactic acid that the body produces during sternuous activities, and right now it's on half of her deltoid muscle she would bet in the next 42 hours it completely destroyed her triceps and sternocleidomastoid, the dark pigment's already noticeable.
"Im running out of time…Naruto." She raised the short sleeves of her clothing as she scooped her long pink hair to the other side to let him have a good idea what she meant.
"Shit! Sakura-chan! We must take you to a hospital of Tsunade-baachan!"
"No, we have bigger issues to deal with. I can use herbs to synthesize antidote and control the spread rate. Im pretty sure the only one who has the antidote is Zetsu. He concoted the poison from the looks of it." Sakura spoke again.
Naruto's weighing the pro's and con's already. But He hated to admit that she's right like she always was. If Sakura goes to a hospital given that she's being hunted by ROOT and the latter being deployed throughout different villages in small yet accurate rate would make things harder, and having Sakura go back to Konoha is suicide. Naruto could always trust her judgement about the poison too, after all it's the basic rule of poison 101: A poison cannot be complete without and antidote. In which Sakura's lecture about the villain having the doses will always be expected. He came to only one conclusion: Akatsuki.
He sighed in defeat, gathering the maps he packed a couple of scrolls Sai had given him for communication. He threw them at Sakura who caught it easily.
She smiled sweetly, He grinned back. Sakura couldn't be anymore thankful to have Naruto- he never gives up and certainly he never grew tired of helping her and her son. She couldn't ask for more.
"Sai's headed for Ame, he said Kiro's tracks leads to Ame." Naruto spoke as he relayed the last information Sai had sent him.
XXXXXX
"Any updates with that kid?" A sitting hologram of Madara appeared just behind Konan's retreating back.
"The kid's in the border of Ame.I don't see why you wanted to have that kid abducted when he's willingly looking for us." Konan spoke coldly as she held one of her paper butteflies in hand.
"Really, that's amusing. Give him a pair of welcoming and loving arms okay?" Madara chuckled.
"I guess Sasuke can do that." She rolled her eyes.
"Sasuke? He's with Sasuke?" His voice stepped down five octaves lower.
"Yes, I'll send him a message-."
"Get him away from Sasuke, now. That's an order."
Konan could trace impatience in his voice, and trust she knew he's not kidding when he said NOW.
XXXXXX
"Really. A clan you say?" Surely, Sasuke wasn't a good judge of character but he knows a promising shinobi when he sees one.
"Yes, we have the same kekkai genkai."
Somewhere in the pit of his stomach crumpled, a missing ninja, criminal with a kekkai genkai. This can't be what he thinks it is. Could this kid be his- No, wait. That was seven years ago right? Sakura? She can't be dead, she's too strong and persistent to die. Naruto, Kakashi and that bastard Sai couldn't just have let her in any way-
"Kid,How old are you." His voice a certainly amends his need for an abrupt reply, his eyes tells stories he deemed that he suppressed seven years ago.
"Seven"
No shit.
"Your mother. What does she look like."
"Why the sudden interest?" Kiro raised a brow
"Just answer the damn question." His voice had gone lower which earned him a curious gaze from the seven year old kid.
In his opinion he does look like the kid, spare the the eyes. And the nail biting mannerism. The way he raises his eyebrows with curiosity, the way he flicks his finger with his kunai. He's so much like…like…
"We have company" in a sprint Juugo appeared beside Sasuke.
A flock of paper butteflies materialized a few feet from them. Her signature paper flower on her hair, Juugo's shoulder slumped and relaxed. It's Konan.
"You have no business here." Sasuke snorted.
Kiro stiffened over the ground, that cloak. He knows that cloak, Dark hair, and that strong chakra that surrounds her- it has the same emminence as that guy Naruto fought at the forest. This couldn't be- no…not that fast, Kiro couldn't control himself anymore, the cloak alone says that's his kyptonite is somewhere close-.
That woman doesn't seem to pose any threat to these people, then- does that mean that-
"Oh, but I do. Uchiha Sasuke. That kid…is my business." She spoke coldly and glanced a couple of feet lower than Sasuke's shoulder.
"You…" Kiro hissed, clutching his kunai in his grasps. He felt his chakra climb a couple more in his vertebras. His eyes started to feel was- and no it wasn't tears.
He never thought it would feel like this, like every corners of his heart's being torn apart piece by piece. It's as though her forgot how to breathe, he wanted to scream…he never thought hatred would make him feel this terrible. Like all the warmth in the world he knew off has long been gone. Kiro couldn't help but remember the last night he shared with his mother, and it makes eveything in his eyes burn.
It's taking over him, like id completely defeating his superego. It's consuming him ever slowly as his blood red sharingan met his father's dark eyes. The man who gave Sakura so much sadness, so much pain and loneliness. The man who abandoned them who never gave a shit to know how they'd been doing. This man who could've have protected Sakura, but failed.
"You…" His voice hitched, he refused to cry. And no he wasn't in the verge of crying. The words of hatred and anguish just won't come out, and the hilt of his kunai gets hotter he had to hurt him…it's all his mind tells him to do, all the rationality and self-restraint had completely levitated somewhere.
"Oh Shit." Suigetsu stopped in his tracks with Karin trailing just behind him.
TZUZUKU…
AN: im so very sorry I haven't updated for such a long time. Im in the verge of life and death situation these past few months. It's been a struggle. Really. I have a cut-scene for you guys. A little treat I guess. :)
Cut-Scene
Your First Word
She always counted the days since she gave birth to him, Sakura was bedridden for two days. But that didn't stop her from tending to his every needs, it's really hard to stay awake at night and sleep in the morning. Trying to synchronize her sleeping habits with his son is a tough job, but she never complained.
He was still an infant, but he gives her the joy she never thought she'd feel again.
Whe she looks at him, his face so innocent so gentle. His dark hair and his temper- surely he got that from his father. It's a good thing he didn't have pink hair. Sakura felt overwhelmed as her son looks around, curious of his surroundings. At his age, his vision's still a blur.
The first time he smiled at her was two months later. She was cradling him after breastfeeding. Sakura could tell she's in a mild post-partum depression. Although Naruto and Kakashi visits twice every week…still she couldn't help but feel that she's into this motherhood alone.
Sakura heard him burp, sitting in the couch as she scooped him up in her lap. She gave him a bitter smile, Kiro may not have been born out of Sasuke's love. But he deserves every ounce of which Sasuke failed to give him as a father.
Those green jade eyes he got from her, gazing so innocently. She wondered what would his life be like when he grows up? Will he activate his kekkai genkai at an early or late age? What will his personality be like, will he walk in the same path of shinobi world? There are so many questions that scares her.
Then, he smiled.
It melted her heart. Kiro may not be constructed out of love. But she will supply anything he needed, support or love. She will make anything possible for him. Protect him from any harm…because in her darkest moments of doubt and pain, Kiro's enough reason for her to fight on.
He's a year older now. Kiro accomplished to get rid of couple of reflexes that enabled him to proceed in the next stage of developmental progress.
By the time he learned to stand, Sakura's reading motherhood reference book while Kiro's playing roll-over on the futon at the floor.
On her peripheral vision, Sakura could see him trying to put himself up in a sitting position then reaches for the coffee table trying to pry himself from the futon he's sitting on.
Sakura was always there to witness the milestones of Kiro, and she was proud. Very proud and each time he accomplishes new things, she always add these up to her documentations, she would gladly tell him stories about his childhood someday.
Sakura knew, being a single and certainly a young mom is one of the biggest challenge there is, but even without Sasuke, she would manage. She would struggle if needed be. All for Kiro, All for her son.
For a couple of months, Sakura was skeptical that her son couldn't utter words that make sense, most of kids knew how to call for somethings or imitate vowel sounds. But Kiro doesn't have any of these.
This would probably because Kiro had no one else to talk to, therefore lack of verbalization training. He had no one else to imitate than Sakura.
And by this time, Danzo have learned about her knowledge regarding the Uchiha Massacre. The first attack had been today, Kiro's a year and 4 months old.
Naruto had come into rescue, having Sai as his sidekick for the day. Sakura had kept Kiro in a saferoom as she fought just outside the door to make sure he stays safe.
After the ruckus, He heard him sob. When she gathered him to her arms, she felt him trembling…Sakura smiled, a soft smile. He might've felt the danger surrounding him. Lulling him as she should, she felt him hiccup against her, his grip tightened at the hem of her shirt, and for the first time…Kiro had broken his mother's heart.
And finally he spoke his first words….
"Da-di."
FIN