Fairytale
By: RoseWaters
Chapter 5: Blindness
…
The breeze was slipping through the shattered windows of the Hokages office. They were lying on the floor there bodies intertwined. Her fingers were sliding through his blond locks as they lay next to one another. Bodies only semi clothed.
"Sakura, I want to give you something. But you can't open it until tomorrow."
She watched his features green eyes fixated on the serious structure of his facial muscles.
"I don't have much time tomorrow all things considered Naruto."
He pushed his body up, his long leg swinging over her small waist his body hovering over hers. His long fingers pulling her face forward to stare into his deep blue eyes.
"Open it tomorrow when you're burning the records."
She could sense the urgency in his actions and tones. Her fingers slid along his bare chest, as her voice softly answered his pleading call.
"I promise I will, Naruto."
His hands reached into his pockets to pull out a neatly folded piece of paper. She took it from his hands and he replied to her gesture with a deep kiss, their bodies coming closer together as they lost themselves in each other for the second time that night.
…
Saauke's POV
That quiet moment of anxiety. When you watch everything in slow motion and it feels as if you're suffocating on the air itself; only to have that horrible sensation of emerging from underwater when your mind finally chooses to catch up with reality.
He could feel the nausea engulf him as he stood still at the center of destruction. Red eyes fixated; watching as Naruto's body hit the ground. His limbs spread out, face hitting concrete, and blond hair falling all around him.
Sasuke could feel the way his eyes lingered on his sword. He could feel the shaking of his hands, the deafening roar of the Nine Tailed Fox shaking him out of his stupor.
His head raised slowly, his long low ponytail following the movement.
He swallowed hard, the lump in his throat lingering heavily. He was chocking on imaginary words. He was suddenly desperate and lonely as his words echoed around the still surroundings.
"Kill Haruno Sakura!"
There was a stiff silence as heavy tension filled the air. He raised his voice once again, his usual deep voice echoing off of every surface, his commanding tone stirring confusion.
"I will deal with the Kyuubi! Kill Haruno Sakura!"
He knew he shouldn't, and yet he couldn't help himself. His eyes found her, her slim figure standing perfectly still as she stared ahead. Her eyes shifted to his for only a second and something shattered; in that instant he regretted everything.
…..
Tenten's POV
She hadn't imagined it would feel like this. She wasn't expecting him to be the first to die. In all honesty she really never imagined any of them would die.
As she stood their eyes lingering on the young man on the ground she could see what everyone around her must have realized from the beginning.
This was painful. This was betrayal. This was wrong.
The grip her fingers had around Neji's arm loosened as any rational she had built up for fighting them, for fighting team 7, seemed to die. Her dark eyes found his profile; strong, naïve, handsome, arrogant, Neji. For a man that could see so much he was surprisingly blind and even though she was well aware of his short comings she still found herself infatuated by him.
But how could he not feel it in the air? That the entire group of people that he, no they, had struggled to gather together. It was so clear; painfully clear, how their resolve was tearing at the seams, how everything and everyone just seemed to stop and watch as Naruto just hit the ground. Dead.
Then there was Sasuke, his red eyes staring blankly as his sword stood protruding out of his teammates flesh.
It didn't take long for everyone to realize who killed Naruto. Then it came over the eerie silence, his voice so deep and filled with something that not even she could place.
"Kill Haruno Sakura!"
She strained her eyes to focus on him for the first time in years. Sasuke, in all his extravagant glory, his words somehow powerful even in this situation.
"I will deal with the Kyuubi! Kill Haruno Sakura!"
The words began to string through her mind like threads of silk. Painting a horrible picture that seemed too fragmented to be true; Uchiha Sasuke, the traitor, killed his teammate to save the village? Haruno Sakura and Naruto were the true enemies all along?
Her eyes found Sakura's small frame, such a small, beautiful, and delicate looking woman. She was playing though so many scenarios, yet regardless of how she seemed to play it out Sakura just didn't fit the role. She could hear the words leave Neji's hard pressed lips.
"That manipulating bitch."
Her grip completely left him as the words feel from her lips in a desperate attempt to reach him.
"It doesn't make sense, Neji."
Her words fell on deaf ears and before she could stop him, Neji was already up and running forward his swift motions placing him right behind Sakura, his small ANBU sword protruding through her upper chest. She could feel the shaking of her legs as her mind vaguely screamed how wrong this all was. Her head shifted left to right as the surroundings began to spin, her heart thumping in her ears as she could read the looks from all around her.
They wanted her dead, they wanted Haruno Sakura dead. Her death would be like a neat ribbon to tie onto a situation that no one could seem to take responsibility of. Basically let them all die and forget team 7, act as if they never existed. Sweep this whole mess under the proverbial rug.
It was all so wrong.
Her eyes found Lee's, his body taking a step back, his movements clumsy and amplified by this height.
There was silence as a wave of serenity filled the area. Naruto dead, Sakura run through and the Uchiha flashing hand signs so fast no one could stop him. She could hear the whispered thoughts running through her mind. Is this the end? Is Naruto nothing more than a traitor? Sakura some crazed mastermind, and Uchiha Sasuke the man that put the village first? Would Neji be a hero for running Sakura through?
Are these the lies that they just created, is this story her children would one day hear?
It sent a shiver down her spine the moment that she heard it. A strong wave of nausea followed which she forcefully swallowed down.
That cold historical laughter that reverberated off of every surface, Haruno Sakura was laughing historically as her blood fell to the ground in thin disjointed streams.
Her fingers wrapped around his throat so fast. Those thin small fingers digging into the skin on Neji's neck, blood pooling around his white collar.
Her voice was a horse yell, "Let him go!"
It was sudden, the way Sakura let go of Neji's neck her hands wrapping around his upper arms. The crack of bones and his blood curdling scream silencing the entire surrounding area.
Her body felt stiff as she screamed his name with everything that she had in her.
…..
Konohamaru's
He could feel his head swimming as he opened his eyes; the heavy dose of nausea hitting him hard. He forced his body into a sitting position, the smell of burnt paper still fresh in the air of the room. He closed his eyes the balls of his finger tips pressing against his temples. He slowly reopened his eyes the nausea still present but not as prominent.
He exhaled slowly his eyes still attempting to focus. He moved his shoulder and felt the stiffness spread across him like a dull pain. His young body coated in a layer of pain from the damp cold air and the hard ground that he was laying on.
His mind was having a hard time refocusing as if he was coming out of an abnormally long slumber. He couldn't seem to place where he was or how he got there. For that matter he couldn't explain anything.
He lifted his sore body up until he was on his knees. A sudden wave of nausea over took him; he shut his eyes once again, the palm of his hands hitting the ground to balance out his large body.
He opened his eyes slowly and noticed that the floor was charred and ashes and half burnt papers were littered across the room. The damp air that had caused his body so much discomfort was due to the gaping hole where a wall should have been. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked around at the destruction around him.
The soft crunch of brunt material being stepped on caused him to turn to his left the motion sending daggers of pain through his stiff body. His dark eyes landed on the crouched figure behind him. The man crouched low on the ground finger tips coated in grey ashes as his dark eyes frantically ran over a pieces of crumpled paper, the fold lines still clearly visible despite the singed edges.
His voice came out hoarse as his hand rubbed the back of his head, "Kiba-san, what happened?"
The Kiba's head shoot up the fur of his collar jostling at the movements. His eyes widened in panic as he mumbled out a incoherent phrase.
"What was that Kiba-san?"
His movements were swift as he stood up panic written across his features.
"This is wrong."
Konohamaru watched as Kiba's hands twisted the paper tightly before his whole body lunged forward. His long bulky built springing forward and plummeting out of the open wall in a rush.
….
Kakashi's POV
Even watching from this distance it seemed surreal. Unnatural really, he never would have thought they'd die before him.
For a certain amount of time his students had seemed immortal, so powerful that they simply no longer applied to the laws of life and death. Yet there he stood, legs unable to move as his eyes stayed trained on the pool of blood spreading quietly under Naruto's body.
It was so quiet all around him. Until Sasuke's gruff voice spread across the air like locus.
"Kill Haruno Sakura."
Everything seemed to happen rather quickly after that. He watched Neji plunge a short ANBU sword through Sakura's chest. He could vaguely hear Neji's scream as Sakura dislocated his shoulders. He assumed it punctured her heart but considering she was a medic it made sense that she simply didn't die.
He was amazed at how quickly Anko was on the scene her hands clutching Kunais as she swung at Sakura; driving her backward as she dodged effortlessly. He could both see the frustration in her face as well as hear it in her tone as her loud caustic voice echoed around the destroyed hospital grounds.
"Help me kill this little fucking girl!"
He watched as shinobi swarmed in around his only female student. A full scale battle ensuing. Sakura simply dodging, her features showing her disinterest as she seemed to effortlessly avoid the attacks of nearly 20 skilled ninja, he wondered how she became so strong.
He was trying to convince himself to move. To attack her like he originally planned, he'd made a promise to himself to finish them off, to carry the weight of their crimes on his shoulders. However, he just couldn't seem to move. It simply didn't add up. None of it really made sense.
He could hear the battle fading in the background as his mind tried to piece together his scattered thoughts. He caught it from the corner of his eye, the waving of panicked arms.
The sounds of the battle seemed to come back suddenly and then finally engulf him as he locked eyes with him.
He couldn't help but be confused as his eyes looked over the sight of. There he stood in the distance, covered in dust but perfectly fine, the body of Ino Yamanaka limply hanging from his arms.
Kakashi simply watched as the younger man stood tall against the ash laden skies. His eyes fixated on Sasuke. The only thought that he could grab hold of was, what the fuck is Shikamaru doing alive?
It was then that Shikamaru looked back, their eyes locking for a moment and everything becoming crystal clear.
His eyes looked back to the battle ahead.
He could feel the distortion of the sky in his bones as he watched Sasuke ready himself. The Kyuubi looking on in a listless manner as time and space distorted around it.
Sasuke was going to pull the fox into another dimension, and he had no intentions of stopping them anymore.
…..
Anko's POV
It was agitating her and it was impossible for her to hind it. She would swing with all her might and this tiny pink headed little girl would move about her as if she was playing with a toddler. For the life of her Anko couldn't understand why Haruno Sakura didn't counter attack.
She was just simply moving about avoiding any attacks sent her way. Anko lunged forward and watched as Sakura swung to her left avoiding the Kunai that was aimed for her lower waist. It was then that Anko saw it. The way her jade eyes shifted in his direction.
Haruno Sakura had no interest in her. Her thoughts were completely on Uchiha Sasuke. Her body froze for a moment as she watched the Uchiha, he had moved next to Naruto's dead body. Those read eyes shifting, and with it she could see the shift of the air around the Kyuubi.
It was foolish on her behalf, but her body froze as she realized what the Uchiha was doing. He had planned to send the Kyuubi to an entirely different dimension using the power of the sharigan. Something in her mind click and her eyes shifted to Kakashi in a rush of panic. His mismatched eyes landed on hers. They both slowly pieced together the pieces in that blurred moment. Her lips curled into a cold smirk.
Anko inhaled deeply the words hung on her lips the order she was planning to give lost as suddenly Sakura moved her swift body pressed against Anko's as her chakra covered finger slide along the woman's neck. Green eyes for the first time focused. Anko could feel her legs shake as the younger woman's eyes looked into hers. Her soft voice so very low as her palm slammed into Anko knocking the wind out of her, her features shifting into a gentle smile.
"Not a word Anko-san."
She fell to her knees gasping. Anko's head shot up her lips moving and her eyes widening as no sound left the usually loud woman.
Anko's eyes rushed back to Kakashi as he stood back in the distance, as if removed from the scene. It was then that she caught sight of him; Shikamaru stood only a foot or two away from Kakashi Ino's body pressed against his chest as he held her close; his eyes distant as he watched the Kyuubi distort.
Uchiha Sasuke's voice booming through the air as he yelled in a hoarse voice, red streams trickling from his eyes down the sides of his face.
She watched in horror as Sakura finally pulled the sword from her chest, the skidding of metal and bone running through her ears.
Her body moved swiftly through the crowd of shinobi that were left motionless eyes fixated on the scene of the Kyuubi moving through dimensions. Her head shifted to the left as Kiba came rustling through the leaves. His voices at a desperate scream as he ran toward Sakura as she made her way Sasuke.
Anko could hear Neji's desperate scream above the silence that was all consuming in the seconds that seemed to slowly move by.
"KIBA! STOOOP!"
His words feel on deaf ears as Kiba continued to move forward at a desperate speed. Who exactly knew the truth?
…..
Kiba's POV
Kiba could feel his muscles straining as he ran forward with everything he had; his fingers wrapping around the singed piece of paper.
It was as if neither Sakura nor Sasuke could see anything else but themselves. Kiba watched as Sasuke turned around his arms limply at his sides as Sakura moved through the distance at an unbelievable speed. What he could identify as Neji's ANBU sword propped up in her arms as she rushed by ready to run Sasuke through.
Kiba's arm was stretched out as it was made clear to him that he would never make it in time to stop what was happening. His voice was nothing more than a desperate scream that echoed around the silence, "Sakura STOP!"
The sword ran right through Sasuke's chest. Kiba's feet stopped moving as he realized no matter what happened now he was already too late.
Sasuke's knees buckled slightly as a panting Sakura shoved the sword through a little deeper.
Kiba stood a few feet away eyes wide body froze in some awkward stance, head slowly shaking left and right as if denying the scene right in front of him.
It was deadly quiet as everyone's eyes watched as Uchiha Sasuke's blood pooled on the ground around him only to make its way towards Naruto's motionless body; the thick red substance slowly changing the color of orange jacket.
It was such a swift fluid action, the way Sasuke pulled the sword out of Naruto's corpse swinging it up on an angle and driving it through Sakura's chest. They all watched as she gasped like a fish out of water before she shut her mouth, eyes narrowed. Dark grey eyes locked with a foggy green for only a moment, something being shared that no one but themselves could grasp. It was a moment longer before Sasuke's eyes lost focus. Her small hands gently shut his eyes, her fingers lingering as they glided down the sides of his face, her actions holding a gentleness that did not reflect in her features.
Sakura's hand roughly pulled the ANBU sword out of Sasuke's heart. His large body crumpled on the ground like nothing. Her fingers slowly released the metal and hit the ground with an empty clattering sound. She fell to her knees with a thud, her palms following close behind. Her body moved like a jerking machine with each movement, her blood hitting the concrete like raindrops. Her body slowly crawled next to Naruto's.
Kiba watched as her lips moved, reading each word carefully. "I'll find you first."
Her rapidly cooling fingers lacing with Naruto's, a twisted smile crossing her face as tears streamed from her eyes. Her body gave out and fell upon his, pale pink strands contrasting awkwardly against bright orange.
It was quick, it was graceless, and it was everything it shouldn't have been.
Yet there they all stood the scene more than obvious as destruction was the only thing remaining. It was a type of suffocating silence as the weight of what just transpired fell on only the shoulders of those who understood it.
Kiba's fingers wrapped around the crumpled charred piece of paper as the echoes of cheers arouse from all the Shinobi that remained.
The only ones that stood in devastated silence were himself, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Neji, Anko, and a dazed Tenten.
His eyes wandered around the area to the cheering shinobi, and Lee who was helping Neji to his feet, the other man half heartedly pulling his shoulder back into place with a sickening creak. It was the first time he had seen Neji look so defeated.
~~~~~~~1 month later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kakashi's POV
His footsteps were heavy as he walked into the small bar on the outskirts of a village somewhere in the middle of Mist and Sand.
It was a damp old building that creaked with any new weight added to it, the smell of mildew and moss so heavy that it almost covered the smell of cheap alcohol.
His eyes wandered left and right before he chose a seat on the left side of an old shrunken figure. Her long grey strands swaying gently at his movements.
"I'd ask how you found me but since it's you, you probably used Shikamaru; sly bastards the bunch of you. I'm too damn old and too damn drunk to give a shit anyway."
The old woman grew quiet and long uncomfortable silence lingered in the bar.
"Tch, why bother doing this? Aren't you the one to usually avoid these types of things and just wallow in self pity till you die?"
It was at her comment that Kakashi quite literally shifted moods. His rage barely concealed under a cloak of forced calm.
"They're dead. They weren't even allowed to be buried in the fucking village that they gave everything for. It's not enough to wallow in self pity at this point."
Her old fingers gripped the sides of the porcelain cup, the sake dripping off the sides of her face as she forced it down. Her deep wrinkles shifting as she swallowed.
"Stop being so melodramatic Kakashi. It was their choice."
It was at this point that Kakashi words became oddly distant, "Why did you agree to it? Why bother to play along? There must have been another way."
She took a deep breath, her thin discolored fingers rubbing the skin that loosely hung around her eyes.
"There was no other way. The elders were corrupt. I barely got word out to Sasuke and Naruto about their orders to be assassinated. If it weren't for their speed Sakura would have been killed that night. After that I worked with Neji and the clan head. Without him the elders plan for assassination would have never been leaked to me."
Kakashi remained inpassive but his tone deceived his face as annoyance seeped in.
"Sakura never killed the elders did she?"
The old woman breathed in deeply, "She did, She took it upon herself to kill them all. I mean let's be honest here. We both know Naruto couldn't do it. And Sakura was always better at assassination jobs than Sasuke. I always found that kinda ironic."
The old woman snickered," Besides, Kiba knows better than anyone else that his Father-in-law is still alive and well. I hear he's taken several trips to a hot springs at the edge of Konoha with Hinata and their new born son. Visiting grandpa are we?"
Kakashi smirked; she was a cunning old woman. "So it was your plan to let the inside man live, huh."
The old woman sighed, "Kakashi you are the Hokage now I assume?"
He gave a nod of the head, "Yes, I removed the idea of village elder when we were rebuilding."
She signed heavily, "You hate the job more than I did, don't you. How many people know what really happened?"
He turned away from her, "For sure? Kiba, Neji, Ino, Shikamaru, and myself. Anko and Tenten have their own suspicious. God only knows what Hinata and Shino know, both don't play into either side."
It was then that Kakashi took out a piece of worn folded paper. His fingers shaking as he handed it to the old woman.
"I want you to read it. Kiba found it half burned in the records room. All the records were destroyed. I don't think she had the heart to burn it, or maybe she simply couldn't watch it burn."
The old woman paused before she took the paper in her boney old fingers.
"Do you plan to make me carry the weight of there decision until I die?"
Kakashi stood, for such a cold man Kakashi's eyes could be so very warm..
"It wouldn't even be a faction of the weight you made them carry, Tsunade-sama."
He walked out and she found the old bar to be colder than usual. Her weak fingers shakily opened the folded piece of paper; old golden eyes reading over every line. Poor hand writing becoming unclear as tears distorted her vision.
The young bar tender came around to the old woman, her tears hitting the counter tops.
"Do you want another cup?"
She shook her head weakly, grey strands swaying. Her voice shook, "Could you read it to me, my visions not so great anymore."
The young man picked up the letters and with a clear voice read it to the only person in his little run down bar.
"Sakura-chan,
I know I couldn't give you the wedding you deserved or the children I know you'd raise right. I always hoped I'd have a daughter that looked just like you, and a son with red hair. Hey, you remember how you taught me about reincarnation. I was thinking, if it's true, no matter what I'd come back, I'd come back and find you. I'd fall in love with you all over again. I'd defiantly make you love me in the next life, and any life after that."
The young bartender stopped, his eyes narrowing.
"Is this a love letter?"
Tsunade smiled, "No, It's a poorly written good-bye."
.
…..
A/N: I want to make a sequel. So if you liked this please patently wait for a story titled, "Graffiti Dreams."