Part 4 in the Obelisk Series:
Kingdom of Man, Kingdom of Beasts, Kingdom of Monsters, and Kigdom of Gods.
OBELISK:
KINGDOM OF GODS
"I don't know how to stay tender
with this much blood in my mouth"
Emma Tranter - excerpt from heartless girls zine,
Recap: "Fine then. If you want it like this, then know that I never trusted you. Know I never trusted any of you."
"The dreams will do that to a person," Log said, sounding as if he was trying to make an excuse for her. It was as if he didn't think her words meant anything because they were said in anger. It was terrible how familiar that felt, to have a man excuse the words of another because she was meerly angry. There is still truth in anger, sometimes too much truth.
"I'm going back home."
She tried the door and the worker let her slid it back. Sakura stalked out, her footfalls heavier than they needed to be. She got to the end of the house and stepped outside, only to be stopped by a wall of bodies. Over a dozen workers on the apple orchard, usually out of sight and busy, stood shoulder to shoulder, staring her down. It made her stop on the threshold and still.
"What is this?"
She turned around and stared down the hall at Homura who stood just ahead of Danzo. The first looked smug while Danzu just seemed tired the way old men always seem tired.
"You may be king in the dream world, but you're not a god here," Homura said. "Try if you like, you'll just be brought back, one way or another."
Sakura swallowed.
Danzo said nothing.
Yamato watched Sakura leave and moved alone with Genma to follow her back to her room, keeping their distance the whole way there.
"She's pissed," Genma sighed. He crossed his arms and leaned against the far wall while staring at her closed bedroom door.
"Of course she's pissed. She's being treated like a criminal." Yamato said.
"It's not like Danzo was super excited about this whole deal. It's spooky when even he gets unsettled and those last few attacks really came out of nowhere."
Yamato didn't say anything, but took a step closer to her door and reached out with a hand to rest his palm on the surface. He wanted to knock, to pull back the door and cross the distance that existed between him and her. He always wanted to be at her side, that hadn't changed in the years he had grown to know her and he was afraid that it would never change. He would age and die with the same stone craving in his heart to be beside her. It wasn't fair how plagued he felt sometimes.
"She doesn't want to hear anything from you or me right now, so take a step back, loverly," Genma said.
Yamato narrowed his eyes and glared back over his shoulder at Genma. "Don't talk to me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you know her better than I do."
Genma chuckled and smiled sympathetically over at his friend. "You think I don't?"
"You don't care about her like I do."
"That's not what we were talking about. Maybe you really do care about her more than me, but that doesn't mean you know her better. You're looking at her through rose colored glasses and can't see everything through clouded lenses."
Yamato dropped his hand and turned around to face Genma. He kept his voice low so it wouldn't carry, careful that others in the hall wouldn't catch their conversation. His words weren't meant for them.
"I was her friend first."
"You hit on her first, but that was close. I mean, it was a matter of minutes."
"I wasn't trying to hit on her! I was just being nice. You were the one that tried to get into her pants."
Genma's smile thinned and his eyes narrowed. "Ah, maybe, but that's not for you to say in such a self righteous tone. I know her better now and I've never been accused of going where I'm not wanted. I mean, I'm the god of going down-"
"Not important!" Yamato snapped, interrupting the older male.
"Uh, it is if someone is challenging my title. I'm pretty sure there is a plaque dedicated to me in the Pussy Cat Lounge in Hoboken for that reason, made plenty of locals pissed a city rat stole the title." Gemma waved a hand between them as if to dismiss the topic. "But whatever. I'm not sure that's Sakura's preference or whatever because it's like I said, I know her better now. I know her maybe a little better than you and I know she doesn't want to see either of us right now. She needs some time and we're frankly, a distraction from what's actually important."
Yamato felt a roll in his gut. "You're just like them, you just want to see her get through the dream or die in it. You don't care about her at all."
"You think I don't care about her because I can recognize the truth for what it is. Like it or not, that world is a part of who Sakura is. She's not a victim, she's a conqueror."
Yamato sneered at his friend. "She's miserable because of it. How can you say that? You ever read her reports, about what she's seen or gone through?"
"You mean like Sasori?"
The rolling in his gut dropped along with the rest of the sensation of even having a gut. "She lost a close friend. She's lost so many."
Gemma chuckled, and it was with a note of pity. "Don't kid yourself, kid. You know just as much as I do about the actors of the past and who shows up and who doesn't in these dream worlds. Sasori shouldn't have showed up more than once, but he's manifested in every kingdom so far. Same could be said for Itachi, but he's an Uchiha and he shows up often like the bastard he is, but Sasori was one that's a bit more rare."
Yamato opened his mouth to say something but Genma was faster.
"And yeah, I did read her account, but no, not with those rose colored glasses of yours. You think she was just…friends with that guy? Not a chance kid. I know her well enough to know that."
Yamato felt squeezed thin. Someone had taken all his organs and compressed them painfully and set a fire under him that made his skin flush. He swallowed and the sensation abated, but his heart still stung. His heart would sting for a while.
"He's a dead man. He's nothing."
"He's real to her, just as real as you or I by this point." Gemma shrugged. "She lives half her life in another world. Of course something like this is going to happen."
"Sakura isn't like the others. She's not settled in any of the worlds. She's advancing through all of them so quickly because she's dedicated and strong and resilient and-"His voice caught and he coughed to cover it up, but Genma wasn't fooled.
"Just give her some time on her own, man. She needs some time to focus on surviving in another world right now, and when she's ready, so will we be."
Gemma went back to leaning against the wall and watching the hallways for sign or movement. After a minute of silence he looked back over to Yamato who wasn't moving. He sighed and pushed back off the wall and grabbed his friend's shoulder. Yamato flinched, but looked up.
"I know you love her, but you're not the one who's going to make things right for her. Only she can do that. Your job is just to watch her back. Do that, and leave the rest to her."
"If I did that she'd run away," Yamato whispered.
"If the situation was any different I'd say maybe it's best to let her run…but for now, the nights aren't safe, so do me a favor and sweep the immediate perimeter will ya?"
Yamato swallowed, nodded, and turned to leave.
That night Sakura dreamed with all her anger following her into the sleeping world. She woke among a bed of silk pillows and throws, enough to make a nest around her. She climbed out, trailing a gauzy nightgown more see through than not behind her. For a minute she stood there, simmering, and the fabric melted off her into something else. When she was done, Sakura left the room in a long white dress studded with river colored jewels around the neck line. The slits up the side made it easy to walk, run, and move around in.
Sai was the first to find her and she was grateful for that. She hadn't forgotten how she had left Gaara last time or his wandering hands. He seemed more desperate than she first anticipated when it came to distracting her in attempts to keep her behind.
"You look delighted," Sai commented in a even tone that was his attempt at sarcasm. "Is that because of this world or the other?"
"Both, but mainly the waking world. Where are Gaara and Sasuke right now? I wanted to say goodbye to Sasuke before leaving with Gaara. I'm departing this dream cycle, with or without him," she said, folding her arms.
"Sasuke is still in his room, maybe drunk still? He does enjoy the vices of life."
Sakura looked to the window and saw what she had first assumed to be morning sun was really a seeing sun. It was twilight, or the ghost of time just before. It didn't make much of a difference to her when they departed, only that she depart before she wakes in the real world.
Sakura leaned out a window and waved her hand over the horizon's line. She imagianed a sting ray, long and slender with flapping wings cutting through the oceans currents, rising up out of the sand like it was meant for deserts.
A creature painted as pretty as the picture in her mind rose up out of the dunes, large enough for a handful of men to sit atop its back. Several other smaller sand rays poked up out of the sand, feeding on my dream energy. There was a whole family of them.
"Your ride?" Sai asked. When Sakura just nodded he hummed a little to himself. "How creative. You break imaginations."
Sakura looked for Sasuke's room, knowing it would be better to see him first and get it over with. Gaara would drag out their departure if he knew she wanted to say her farewells.
Sasuke's room wasn't really a bed chamber as much as it was an entertaining hall There was a couch at the foot of his bed, long and plush where he reclined, staring down to the sunken floor below him where women danced and laughed, not as drunk on wine as they were on laughter. Sasuke was a pretty enough prince to earn smiles without the wine if he so chose. He was a brat, but he was still pretty, even Sakura could see that.
He lounged like an entitled monarch among the cushions with girls on the steps, but once he saw Sakura his grin was boyish and he seemed so young. He stood up at once and jumped back over the arm of the couch to greet her at the door.
"Sakura, you came to see me. I had been looking for you but Gaara said you went back. Are you avoiding me?" his smile was easy and his words flowed off his tongue like fruit wine, smooth and easy and sweet as any nectar. He meant to sound teasing.
"I'm here to say farewell. I'm leaving for the storm at the center of the desert tonight. I hope to dispel it with Gaara's help."
Sasuke blinked and then ran a hand over his face. "Storm in the desert, oh, I didn't know you were leaving so soon. I wasn't ready. No, wait, I can have my things assembled. I can be ready in half an hour."
There was a beat before Sakura realized what Sasuke meant.
"That's not necessary. It's just Gaara and I who are going to be able to do anything at the storm, so just us are leaving."
Sasuke looked quickly to Sai and Sakura amended her earlier statement. "Also Sai, but mainly Gaara and I are just going. I came to say goodbye to you. We won't see each other after this."
Sasuke stood there for a moment looking smaller and younger than he had seconds before when his words were almost flirting and easy. "You…are leaving me behind?"
Sakura suddenly felt guilty.
"We had planned on making this trip before we knew you," she admitted.
"But, you can make room to include me, can't you? You're going towards the storm, there are demons out that way. I'm not useless, I can help." But even as he spoke his eyes went to the new tattoos on her shoulders and neck; neither set was covered.
"It's nothing terribly exciting. We thought you would be more comfortable here at the palace where it's safe and leisurely. You won't get dusty here."
Sasuke looked behind him and had the decency to flush at the sight of dancing girls still twirling across the room with streamers and goblets of sweet wine.
"How long would you be gone?" he asked in a small voice. "When would you be back?"
Sakura felt more weight in her body. She wasn't coming back. Death or hell or heaven or salvation, whatever it was that waited for her at the eye of that storm, it was the end of the road for her. She wouldn't be able to go back if she died and if she lived through it all, she would never dream of the Obelisk worlds again.
"A couple of days, maybe a few more than that," Sai answered for her.
"You'll come back?" he asked.
Sakura didn't answer while Sai looked between her and the brat prince. "I'll be safe as can be," Sakura promised, not exactly answering the question. She could tell Sasuke noticed something about her hesitation, but wasn't sure what. Her throat felt cotton swelled so she hurriedly answered. "I don't want you to worry."
"Does Gaara know you aren't coming back with him?" Sasuke asked, boyish features hardening into something more adult like and elegant. "Because it sounds like you might actually care about breaking his heart or hurting his feelings."
Sakura didn't say anything back and Sasuke looked away, suddenly pink in the face from his own words.
"I'm sorry Sasuke, I didn't think and I am sorry if I hurt you, but this is not a place you would want to go."
"Wanting isn't something so simple though, is it? Yeah, I like it here, but you think that's all there is to me? I don't have a crown to be crushed under anymore. For all they know and care about me, I'm dead and free to do as I wish. I don't want to waste away here forever on the smile of interchanging service girls. I don't want a kingdom any more, but I want something better than that."
"What?" Sai asked, blunt as ever. This was a new side to the Sasuke actor and he didn't want to waste time seeing more of it.
"I want…I want what Gaara has, what you have," he said looking at Sai before his eyes landed on Sakura. "I want that sense of belonging you planted when you saved me. It's a bud now, but I want more of it, so I'm leaving with you. I'll catch up if I have to, if you leave me behind."
She couldn't remember from where, but she remembered someone saying that a life saved is a life maintained. Someone in her life once believed that if you saved someone and helped them stay in the world, then that person was your responsibility, a thread was tied between you and them from then on.
Her voice came out softer than she intended. "We'll leave in half an hour. Pack your things for three days, I'll provide the rest."
Gaara was downstairs in the main throne room with Temari and Kankuro, brother and sister. The three of them were talking in hushed tones. Temari looked upset while Kankuro looked worried. Sakura didn't doubt that she was the reason for their reactions.
"Are you sure you have to go?" Temari asks as soon as Sakura is close enough to hear. "I feel like you only just got back. You were gone for days in the desert."
Temari is dressed as the high priestess and smells of burring oils meant as an offering to her favored gods. The reveal bearing lives in every line and curve of her body. She was a figure fashioned for the crown in one way or another. Sakura wondered what Temari would have been like in real life if they had ever met. Who would the sister to Gaara truly be? How much of this world would stay a part of her and how much of who she was came from the narrative of the dream.
Sakura reached for Temari's hand but grasped the forearm in a grip meant for solidarity among doesn't hesitate, but grips back, not one to be outdone.
"I've stayed here as long as I should, but it's past time for me to move on and finish my business with this world."
"You sound like you're heading for the end of the world, not some silly storm."
"Who knows, maybe they are the same thing?"
Sakura pulls Temari closer and hugs the blond girl, missing Ino and then Karin too much to not squeeze Temari with familial affection. It's been too long and Sakura misses her girls. She starts to pull away but Temari tugs Sakura back and leans in to whisper more privately.
"Don't ever feel like you're imposing on us. You're our sister and only Gaara can dare to see you as anything more."
Sakura can't help but smile, feeling a tired thread of playfulness. "Only Gaara?"
Temari's smile was equally playful. "If I thought I had a shot or was someone worth standing beside the person who saved myself and my brothers, then maybe it wouldn't be just Gaara. Be as it may, don't dismiss the boy so soon. He would do you well as a mate. He would love you well."
"I wouldn't deserve it."
Sakura doesn't know why the words came out of her, but she doesn't say anything more to Temari after the hurt look crosses through her blue eyes.
Sai comes up behind her and it's only as Temari steps aside, talking to Kankuro, that Sai leans in to say anything.
"Are you going to travel looking like that?"
"I can look however I want," Sakura sighed.
With a wave of her and the dress was gone replaced by billowing white pants cuffed at the ankles and a long sleeve cotton tunic that was thin and airy. Her gold and jewels were gone as well, and only a cloth of white cotton wrapped around her neck, waiting to be pulled up as a hood.
She looks past Sai and sees Gaara waiting and watching. He tugs on a cloth around his own neck that matches her hood. He is dressed for the desert just as well as she is.
"Are we waiting for Sasuke or are we hurrying to leave before he arrives?" Gaara asks her when she approaches.
"I'm not sure. I haven't settled my heart on this matter just yet. You think we should leave him behind?"
Gaara shot her a look that let her know exactly what he felt. He didn't want to tag along with the brat prince anymore than she originally had. Sakura had to admit that she at least had grown to tolerate Sasuke a bit better after sparing his life. He was starting to actually grow into a character that felt genuinely his own and not one assigned to him as an actor in the last kingdom.
"I want to wait for him," Sakura heard herself admit out loud.
"Fine," Gaara grumbled. "But we're leaving him behind if he's not here in the next five minutes. We can take camels or something of your own crafting."
Sakura smirk was playful. "I feel almost recidivous enough to want to ride unicorns or narwhals through the sky, but I'll restrain myself for this trip."
"Narwhals?"
Sakura waved her hand and turned her palm over to show a floating figurine made from polished stone in the shape of a narwhal. She held it up and Gaara watched it turn around in her palm. The stone melted away and it moved now in realistic color.
"They're whales with a horn that spirals out like this. They're obviously much larger and only live in the colder regions of the ocean, but they're beautiful animals. I'm surprised you didn't know about them. I thought actors had access to all of the dreamer's knowledge to help them live and operate in the constructed world."
"That's not true, not even for those actors who are self aware like Madara and myself. We only know what we are allowed to see and know from our guide, who is Baki in this world. I understand it's been many years since I was…alive, but I thought the world had outgrown mythical wonders."
"Mostly," Sakura said in a softer voice, watching Gaara watch the figure with childlike awe. He seemed so enchanted with it. "I guess there are still a few amazing things left in the world. It's just harder to see them."
"I think I would like to see the rest of your world." Gaara blinked and something came back into his eyes and he straightened. "But there are things we must do first."
Sakura let the illusion fade from her fingers and turned to see back over her shoulder Sasuke skipping stairs to make it to the bottom in time. He was out of breath and hastily dressed for travel.
"You thought we would leave without you?" Sakura teased.
"Yes."
She laughed and Gaara nodded before turning to head out first. Sakura tugged on Sasuke's arm and the trio headed to the courtyards. As he expected she would, Sakura dreamed creatures for them to sit atop and ride across the desert. Fashioned from what looked like mother of pearl and alabaster, she dreamed up a long snake like body of a Chinese dragon with curling whiskers. It leaned down for her to climb atop his back and she helped both Gaara and then Sasuke up, delighting in their awe stuck expressions. Sai was noiseless as he followed.
"His name is Haku by the way."
"Well, if we're going into the desert of monsters it is good to have one of our own," Sasuke said out loud. The dragon moved and he squeaked out and reached for the back of Gaara's shirt, clinging desperately.
Sakura shot the boys a look of puzzlement over her shoulder.
"Monsters?"
It took longer to cross the desert than she anticipated. Days stacked atop days. When she woke up the summer was gone and it was autumn already. It was harvest season and the air seemed thick with magic if she stayed outside long enough with her mouth open.
Jugo still kept coming to her room to try and get more of her history, but Sakura closed her eyes and mouth and stayed as still as stone until he was gone. Yamato and Genma both got the same treatment when they tried to talk to her and it was obviously causing irritation with the lot of them, but Sakura was fine being a bitch for as long as she was treated like the princess in the tower of a fairytale. There was no prince coming to save her so she would do what she could on her own.
The worlds felt backwards and upside down. She went to sleep to wake up and work. The waking world is where she kept her eyes closed and voice off. When she dreamed she was awake.
Crossing the desert was a challenge. Each night was a new branch of their flight or trek. Some places were impossible to fly through and in others there were hoards of flying beasts made out of wind that needed to be trapped in fire and sand to be completely subdued. There were creatures in the sand that pulled them down into dark tunnels and other creatures that struck from the shadows of the sand dunes, and then more creatures that were just traditionally terrible and needed to bleed the old fashioned way.
Her bone sword got plenty of use.
Oddly enough, Sasuke ended up being a useful ally in their party. He didn't cover but fought as well as he could with his abilities being what they were. Gaara was a tremendous help as well, and they traveled far slaughtering monsters and enemies out of myth and legend.
The storm in the center of the desert grew larger each day, as they drew closer to it, but Sakura was only starting to understand how immense the storm actually was. It was more than the size of a castle or a town or even a city. She had no doubt when she finally reached it, the storm would be all she could see.
"I can't remember, are there any other bastard gods hiding in the desert? I know there were like, four main ones for the tattoos, and we have all those, but are there any other Crawling Chaos demon spawns that I have to be worried about?" Sakura asked, looking to Gaara across the fire.
She and the trio of boys were camped out atop a cropping of ruins next to the husk of a giant scorpion Sakura had killed with a single punch. Sasuke had pulled pieces of it off and was roasting the meat over the fire. Sai was out mapping the surrounding areas and said he would be back soon.
"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"
Sakura shook her head and settled down next to Sasuke. "No real reason I guess. My tattoos were sort of bugging me though. Like, I can feel them vibrating some times when I am really still and listening for it. It's gotten worse the past few nights."
"That's because of the storm. We're very close to it, not more than a day or two away."
Gaara reached to the edge of the fire and pulled off a stick of crispy scorpion meat. Sasuke pulled a different stick off to hand to Sakura and she thanked him for it before biting down hard.
"Tastes like chicken without seasoning," she said around a mouthful of meat.
"Everything tastes like chicken," Sasuke huffed. "You've said that about everything we've killed and eaten."
She grinned wide and the swallowed what was left in her mouth. "I don't have a really good imagination when it comes to food so everything just tastes like chicken to me."
"How much longer are you going to…be awake for?" Gaara asked, pausing to look over at Sasuke before he misspoke and said something about her 'returning to another world.'
Sakura stared up at the stars and took another big mouthful of meat between her teeth to tear free. "I'm not sure," she said after a while. "I think a little longer more, but I don't feel the urge to sleep and drift like I should. I'll be awake a little longer I think."
"Stay with us longer. You always go to sleep as soon as the monsters are dead and you're out like the dead yourself," Sasuke complained.
"You sound lonely, dear," Sakura chuckled.
Sasuke stared at her hard, looking between her and then Gaara and then her again. "You really think there's stiff competition between who is better company?"
Sakura reached over to ruffle his hair playfully and he cried, pulling back and escaping from the reach of her hand. His cheeks were lightly dusted with pink from embarrassment.
"Don't treat me like a child," he complained.
"Yes, Sakura, he's old enough to have father plenty of real children. Don't treat him like a child."
Sasuke growled, glaring through the flames at the redhead. "At least I know how to father a child. No one ever questioned my ability to preform when it was important."
Gaara chuckled and rolled his eyes, refusing to take the bait and respond. In the beginning he and Sasuke would argue every night it seemed, but lately their spats had deescalated with Gaara's refusal to engage. It was different then when Sakura had traveled with him and Sasori. Now the tables were a little turned. Sasori had been able to get under Gaara's skin so easily.
"You know what would make this scorpion taste much better and less like chicken?" Sasuke asked, looking to Sakura. "Wine."
Sakura almost choked on the meat in her mouth. She swallowed hastily and beat her chest to help it down. "Oh no!" she coughed. "No-on, no, no, not anymore. I remember what happened last time. I don't want to have to hurt you."
"I said I didn't mind!" Sasuke whined.
"Yeah, that unnerved me a little," Sakura admitted, remembering have to fight Sasuke off and restrain him until he gained awareness for his actions.
It was unsettling how excited he seemed to get when bound and tied. When Sakura looked to see what Gaara's reaction was she wasn't surprised to see it was similar to her own. Neither of them wanted to see Sasuke moaning for tighter bands or to be slapped harder.
This trek out into the desert was vastly different from the last time she went out with Gaara and Sasori.
"If you're so bored go scout and come back. Maybe then your thirst will be quenched," huffed Gaara.
Sasuke grumbled but stood. "You just want to be alone with her," he huffed as he brushed past Gaara to the stone steps leading down from their pearch.
Gaara looked over at Sakura once he was gone and smiled. "He's not wrong."
"I didn't think he was," she sighed. The stick with scorpion meat on it was picked clean, but she sucked what she could off the stick before tossing it out into the dark.
"How are you doing?" he asked. "In the other world you said you were still trapped. Has that changed at all?"
Sakura shook her head. "Not yet, but I'm not sure if it should anymore. I don't have a place to go to, and it's been so long, I'm sure my friends all hate me now. I've been cut off and haven't been able to contact them. They probably think I'm a horrible person who doesn't care about them. I miss them a lot though."
"You know you have me and sort of Sasuke. We care for you."
Sakura spared a sad smile for Gaara. "I love you both, but understand it's not the same as having girl friends who have known you for years. It's not anything you could change, it's just…I miss my girls."
"And you can't go to them?"
Sakura rounded the fire and sat down next to Gaara, bumping her shoulder up against his. "Not in the waking world. I'm powerful here, but out there I'm not even seen as human anymore. I'm treated like a thing, like an item that must be insured and protected. I understand my life is in danger and they are keeping me safe, but it's not out of love and it's not respectful of my right to freedom. Even the ones I thought were my friends all sided with their boss over helping me."
"I wouldn't consider them friends then," he said, turning his face so that his lips pressed up against her shoulder. He kissed her through he fabric there and then rested his chin on the place where his lips touched.
"I feel like that sometimes too, but then that becomes too lonely. I don't want to wake up in a world where I am truly without friends."
"It's a terrible truth, but even if the lie is sweeter it is not what will help us grow."
Sakura huffed loudly, sounding frustrated and feeling frustrated through and through. "I don't like it when you're right about how stupid I'm being. How did you get to be so wise, Gaara?"
"I devoured a thousand grasshoppers and studied the stars for a thousand years," he answered sarcastically. "Ah wait, no, I think eating a grasshopper is supposed to give you luck, not wisdom. What do you eat for wisdom in the stories?"
Sakura laughed and felt a little lighter. "You make this hell endurable. Even with powers, if I had to go through all of this without a friend I think I would extinguish."
Gaara was quiet for a while before speaking. "That's what makes you different from the other dreamers in the past I think. You value love where others valued power." She heard him swallow before he whispered, "It makes me want to love you."
"I love you too Gaara," she said.
Sakura reached to ruffle his hair and he caught her wrist while burying his face deeper into the curve of her shoulder. "Not like that."
Sakura was still and let her hand drop. "I know, I'm sorry," she whispered.
Gaara inhaled and then held the sent of her in before exhaling shakily. It almost sounded like a self pitying chuckle. "I know better, but I still can't help it, so don't tell me I'm wise. I know I'm not the one you love."
Sakura didn't say anything, but let him lean on her shoulder, knowing and believing in the deepest parts of her heart, that Gaara was someone she could trust her life with. He never lied to her about what he felt, but he saw the line and the limit of her affections and didn't resent her for it. He didn't cling to her and say things like, 'I know I'm not the one you love, but I could be, but I should be…' He didn't do anything more than just stay on her shoulder and keep her company through the chill of the desert night.
Looking back, she should have said something more.
Looking back….
She woke, she worked, and then she dreamed again.
Sakura opened her eyes and saw the world of the dream, the desert that went on forever and the storm that had encroached on their camp in the night. She bolted awake and ran outside to see the desert's storm had moved while they slept and was now close enough to reach. It was practically on their doorstep. Her tattoos were screaming at her and felt like they would vibrate right through her skin.
"Gaara!" Sakura screamed, seeing no sign of him or Sasuke.
Had they gone ahead? Their things were still around the dead campfire. They were never gone when she woke up in the dream. Sometimes they were out a handful of paces, but they were never gone…not like they were now.
Sakura screamed for both of the boys, running around the ruins and lifting her scarf up to protect her mouth from the winds and sands as she went. When visibility got bad she dreamed on a pair of goggles and flew high on Haku to better see her surroundings.
The winds were strong and she couldn't go much higher than where she had already been, but with a new vantage Sakura caught sight of something before Haku had to land. There was something shining not far from their camp, but on the other side of another crop of ruins.
She felt the wrongness of it all in her chest before she even saw where they were.
She directed Haku down towards the rubble and came in like a dark, jumping off his back to skit to a stop in front of where Gaara knelt under a hand made out of sand. Two long gashes ran across his chest making an X shape. He was grinding his teeth and seething, but didn't look any worse than that.
"What happened?" Sakura hissed, raising her hands to heal him.
Gaara opened his mouth to say one thing, but his eyes flashed and he moved, grabbing her wrists and pulling her aside screaming, 'dream killer!'
Sakura rolled with him and then popped up in a suit of white gold, plated intricately to protect her from any strike or impact. She didn't see the creature or the form right away, but after a quick glance about she noticed the form.
"Sasuke?" she gasped, feeling a betrayal in her heart for what she knew needed to happen next. It wasn't really Sasuke, he was just possessed again, moving and operating in ways beyond his will.
"No, Sasuke died. That's just his corpse," Gaara gasped, climbing to his feet to stand alongside her.
At his words Sakura's eyes went to the gaping hole in his heart where there were nothing but blood stains and void. His eyes were possessed and his skin was pale. It made her want to retch again.
"That's not fair!" she cried. "I was asleep I couldn't have-"
"It's the last Kingdom, they're not willing to play fair. They needed my tattoo so they lured me away from you. I'm sorry I couldn't save him."
"Where's Sai," sakura heard herself sob, not seeing her companion anywhere.
"We were separated, but he was fine last I saw." He grunted with a step backwards. "Better than me at least."
Sakura dreamed her bone rifle into her hands and fired. The shot went straight to the head, but in a flicker Sasuke's whole body was moved sideways and then back. Sakura fired again and again, but both shots missed when they should have hit.
"He's the up close and personal type I take it," Sakura growled, melting her rifle into a sword. "Fine, I know how to use this pretty well by now."
"Be careful, he's a corpse so he doesn't react to pain strikes."
Sakura heard the warning but moved just as fast. The idea that this enemy was any more difficult than ones she had already bested didn't register. She had come too far and was too close and had given up too much to not be the champion of this fight.
Gaara was right, Sasuke didn't register pain, but he was as fast as the devil and just as pretty. It almost seemed as if he wasn't truly there when she stuck out for him. Occasionally they would lock blades as he raised his own saber to meet hers, but often times he was just out of reach and darting around her like lightning.
One of her greatest strengths was her endurance. She didn't get tired in the dream and could wail on a person for hours if she wanted to. In this fight, that wasn't an advantage because Sasuke was a corpse that also did not get tired. He could fight and run as long as he wanted without having to rest like other enemies.
Sakura felt her skip separate across her face, over the bridge of her nose and she snarled at the sting, but turned herself into the next attack and caught Sasuke's sword again, grinding down his blade until they were face to face. She was bleeding and huffing angrily while he just stared up at her with possessed eyes.
"You said you were going to protect me," Sasuke's voice spoke.
Sakura faltered and he was able to break the hold and draw back.
"That's not fair, I wasn't even here!" Sakura screamed, throwing herself into the next attack.
In her mind there was a mantra on repeat she moved to and sustained herself on: Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair…
It had become so manageable in comparison to the hell that was her waking world, Sakura had forgotten that she was in a dream constructed to test her for godhood. She existed in a world designed to kill her. It was hard to keep that in perspective with her fire light talks, with the jokes, with her friends, and with the powers of her own imagination.
Sasuke's dead possessed eyes staring up at her with blame grounded her in the reality that she was in hell, and she still needed to rise above it.
Sakura screamed and her blade was longer with chakra, reaching further than the actual metal. It was a sword as long as a lance when she swung, and Sasuke dodged it again with a flicker, but her chakra trail caught him at the throat and she saw the strike clear.
She staggered away and watched as his head fell from his body and the light from the dream killer dissipated.
"Sakura!" She turned at the sound of Gaara's cry. He sounded worried. "I need you here, now!"
Sakura ran for him and reached him as he staggered against a wall. She dropped her sword and readied her hands to heal him, but he was trying to get something out of his belt that was wrapped in cloth. He grunted and motioned for her to help him so she did.
"Take it, hurry."
Sakura removed from his belt the cloth bundle and pulled it apart to see the mother of pearl handle dagger. She turned it over and gripped it securely so as to not lose it.
"What do you need this for?" Sakura looked up and it was already too late, even though she watched it happen.
Gaara smiled sad and kind, grabbed for her shoulders, and pulled himself in for a hug with one arm while the other guided her hand with the dagger into his body.
"No," she whispered, too stunned to scream anymore.
"It was poisoned, I have a minute, maybe less left. I was afraid he would get my god mark instead of you. Finish me so you can go into the storm, finally."
Sakura choked, feeling nothing in her fingers and hand even though she knew there was a dagger there. "No, you didn't."
"I had to. There was no way I was letting the enemy gain this advantage. And…you knew I was already dead anyway. It doesn't matter." He leaned to the side far enough to see her face. He was smiling. "And I told you, didn't I, that you were different? You will conquer this world. I believe in you too because you…to me…you are…ar-are love."
His eyes slid closed and the rest of his body went limp.
Sakura dropped along with him and couldn't even cry, not even when the scarab burned itself into her back, completing her set of God Marks.
Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair…
For her the storm parted.
Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair…
For her the Temple at the end of the world revealed itself.
Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair…
Sakura found Sai, wounded and unconscious, and carried him with her to the outskirts of the city surrounding the temple inside the curse. She was numb to the sights but she found a place to sit down and rest. She grew around them a barrier of quartz to protect them as they slept. Sakura laid her head down and drifted, all the while thinking: Not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair…
She should have kissed him.
Sakura woke in the real world and felt the burn on her back and knew it was the new tattoo that had once belonged to Gaara. She had a full set now and one less friend to take comfort in. Sasuke was gone, hurting her more than she though it would, and Gaara was dead from her blade. If she had ignored Sasuke and healed him right away-if she had been faster-if she had dreamed sooner-if she had found them quicker-if-if-if…..
Sakura grabbed her head, feeling the short hair on one side and the long curls from the rest of her skull. The tattoos under her chin that stretched down her neck like the arms of the sun stung as fiercely as the new one on her back. She could feel all of them like she was still back in the dream at the mouth of the storm.
Alone.
She missed Karin and Ino too much in that moment. It hurt her to think of them and how she was without them at this time, and without Gaara now. He meant more to her than she knew and she didn't tell him that at the end. She told him she loved him, but she didn't impress upon him what that meant, how big a deal that was. He didn't know how she felt. He didn't know how she cared about him. He died not knowing how important he really was to her.
None of it was fair and she was still trapped like a princess in a tower.
'You will conquer this world.'
Gaara's voice was a ghost in her head, but it was a ghost she needed.
Sakura rose from the bed and grabbed jeans to pull on, tucking her nightshirt into the waistband and not caring that it looked terrible. Her face was still bleeding from a cut across her nose but she ignored it as she moved to the door and pulled it open. There was no one in the halls, but once she stepped out, Genma unpeeled himself from the shadows.
"Sakura, your face. You're hurt!"
He reached for her and Sakura rammed her elbow into his gut. Not expecting the lashing, Genma went down hard. He groaned holding his gut and squinted up at her with a playful curse on his lips, but that died when he saw the black marks peaking through the low dip in the back of her nightshirt.
"Stay asleep," Sakura said, waving a hand over his prone form. Dark colored smoke seeped from her form and washed over him. A moment later he was dozing on the floor.
Sakura staggered in the hall, feeling pain all over her body. The tattoos were darker on her hands where she could see them best. There was smoke all around her and she let it rise, billowing out of the pores of her skin like she was a furnace coughing up billows of black.
She stepped out of the house into the yard trailing smoke and seeing the prone bodies of all the workers on the floor. She took one of their keys and found the car, turning it to the road and driving it away. They would find it later, but Sakura didn't plan on letting them take her back without a fight ever again.
By the time she arrived she was half folded over the steering wheel and panting from the pain of her tattoos. The ones on her hands had stretched and spread a little, but were starting to recede back to their original limits after not using the smoke for a period of time.
When Sakura swallowed she tasted copper and cotton in her throat. She wanted to sleep but she didn't want to dream. She didn't want to be alone. She didn't want to see anymore of her friends die ever again. It wasn't fair.
Sakura staggered to the door, knowing it was well past midnight and an unreasonable hour. She was a terrible person for wanting this, but she tried the door and found it locked. She knocked and sagged against the doorframe when she heard noises. The floodlights came on and someone came to the door.
She lifted her head from the frame to see the majorly pissed off face of a feisty redhead. Karin looked ready to murder until she turned and saw Sakura. A new kind of anger came into her eyes until she saw what state Sakura was in.
"Shit, Sakura what happened!" Karin reached for her and Sakura let herself be gathered into her friend's arms.
"Is that Sakura?" a new voice cried.
Sakura looked back over her shoulder and saw Ino on the stairs, looking shocked and less pissed. The blonde blinked and then was running for them.
"What happened to her, why is she like this?! Sakura!" Ino cried, sounding ready to start sobbing. "I thought she was supposed to be sick. What the hell are with those marks?"
Karin cursed loudly and kicked the door shut behind them as she dragged Sakura in. She hauled them to the living room couch and set Sakura down on the cushions for Ino to approach and fawn over.
"What the hell, girl?" Karin huffed, looking Sakura over with a look of wide eyed confusion. She swallowed and when she spoke again her voice was a slow tremble on the edge of rage. "What did they do to you?"
"Please, I can't go back there," Sakura whispered, feeling pain around her throat and not knowing if that was because of her tattoos or because she was crying.
Karin's glare was fierce as she bent to Sakura's side and grabbed the girl's shoulder. "You're going to tell me everything and then never do that again. I'm not letting those bastards pull you away again."
"I call upon you who are in the empty air, you who are terrible, invisible, almighty, a god of gods, you who cause destruction and desolation, […] You who were driven out of Egypt and have roamed foreign lands, you who shatter everything and are not defeated."
- [From] PDM XIV. 675 - 94. (Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation.P. 232)
AN:/Wow. I know you don't believe me, but I hate it when sad things happen to the characters and Gaara's scene destroyed me.
That took forever and I am so thankful for all you lovely readers for reading, reviewing, and sticking with me this whole time. I can't explain it with words well enough, but the reviews that were coming in each week or every few days for any on of the Obelisk stories just made it that much easier to go back and write. I wouldn't not have gotten this far without the support, love, and care from this community. You guys are amazing. Knowing that scenes and parts of my writing were meaningful just helped me so much in going back again and again to add to this chapter, scene by scene. I am overwhelmed by the love for this series. It's a lot.
So, one more full chapter is left in this series with an epilogue if I'm feeling not so evil, because this sort of story needs it. A lot of stuff gets revealed in the next chapter, the stakes are truly exposed, and some masks come off. (Like, who's been trying to kill her, why are Ino and Karin living together now? What happened to the rest of the world while she was cloistered away.)It's a big update and I'm going to cry-no lie-once this stories is done. It's been a long time in the making, but it is time for this story to come around.
I love you all. Thank you for sticking with me!
If you can, please leave me a review to let me know you're still on board with the story and still find it interesting. I love to hear back from you and know my work is reaching people. Thank you!