A/N: Who's ready for THE LAST NARUTO MOVIE in December?! It feels so bitter-sweet, and after Naruto ends all we'll have left is fan fiction…
Speaking of, on with the chapter!
Also, to avoid any confusion, this (o-o-o-o-o-o) separates the present time from the past, and also serves to acknowledge Fuu's speech from her p.o.v.
Sakura's mind had been officially shot; words were not able to be normally processed once Fuu placed her unexpected ones into her ears. Very slowly, her mind was becoming numb to anything that she may have or would take in as her knowledge of this horrid mission. And there she was, kneeling on the hardened dirt ground surrounded by sharpened rocks that threatened to embed themselves into her skin.
Sakura's widened green eyes took in Fuu's pale face and lack-lustered eyes that came out of hiding once the truth was spoken.
"What do you mean, 'killed them'?" Sakura asked softly.
"I mean," Fuu said sharply "That I physically ended their lives. I mean that their blood is on my hands!"
Sakura pulled back slightly, frowning worriedly. Her heart began to pound in nervousness for Fuu, having hit an incredibly sensitive spot in her heart.
"Gomen.." Fuu said softly. "I didn't mean to lash out like that.."
"Don't worry about it." Sakura said reassuringly. "If you don't want to talk about it-"
"No, that's not it." Fuu interrupted suddenly, wiping away a small glistening tear budding in the corner of her eye. "It's just that..well..I haven't spoken of this since..you know."
Sakura nodded solemnly.
"It's like each and every day, I see them. Even though they aren't here I can still feel their chakra very prominently, as if they never left." Fuu said, picking up a small pebble from the ground and rolling it around in her trembling hand. "Or maybe it's just some sick side effect that I've attained; not talking about them and shutting them away into my heart, pretending like they never existed. It's like my heart's released a sort of poison into my body; destroying and mangling me from the inside out. And I don't know how much longer I can keep it inside of me. I need to drain the poison from my blood, but it was me who put it there in the first place.."
Sakura's stomach began to drop hearing Fuu's words, and she found herself submerged in a deep understanding of her feelings; her talk of a poison that ate away at her body and spirit; the type of poison that one places in her heart with the face of a beloved one. Sakura knew all too well of the poison, she'd exposed herself to her own type of toxin after Sasuke left the village all those years ago, leaving her with a tear streaked face and a broken heart. She remembered waking up on that stiff and cold bench that he had left her on, the salt of her tears caked onto her flushed cheeks.
Sasuke-kun...where are you now?
"All because of what happened."
Sakura turned to Fuu. "'Because of what happened'?"
Fuu looked down at the pebble she held, and enclosed it into her fist softly.
"That day… years ago.."
o-o-o-o-o-o
I remember that day very vividly, as if it were engraved in my mind on purpose to serve as a sick form of remembrance.
Autumn had struck Takigakure like a wildfire, burning the green leaves on the trees into fiery reds and golds to signify the end of the warm summer nights and suntanned skin. Everyone tucked themselves into their houses earlier than usual, having been chilled by the icy water that flowed in the air and splashed everyone's skin to a glistening shiver; the waterfalls that we are known for beckoning us into our homes and into the arms of our loved ones who held steaming cups of green tea.
For us, however, it was different that day.
I had left training early that day, wanting to sit by the waterfalls and allow the icy mist to cling onto my body to wipe away the sweat and dirt of the day, but mostly to clear my head. As I sat on the dampened rock and stared into the rapidly falling water, I imagined myself living a better life, exchanging it for one where I was accepted by those who gave me stares colder than the mist of the waterfall; a life where my parents still lived and breathed, where they would welcome me home with steaming tea and dinner hot on the table. A world where they hadn't gone on the mission that killed them, their final form of service to our village.
I leaned in closer to my reflection, and I saw myself more clearly than ever, a girl who dreamed of a better life.
Then, another figure began to form next to my reflection, and I swiftly imagined it to be someone from my fantasy. A lover? Otōsan? My long lost brother whom I've yet to meet?
My mind stopped wandering as soon as I felt a hand clamp onto my back, and push me into the freezing water. My lungs exploded with ice as I accidentally inhaled the cold water, a soundless scream erupting from my mouth, sending a multitude of bubbles up to the surface of the water as I sank deeper into its depths. I could feel my numb skin begin to burn hot, I saw an orange shade of red glow behind my eyelids and a voice yelling at me to fight back.
"You're going down just from one push?" I heard Chomei ask me.
I didn't have any time to respond; I felt a hand grab my shirt once more, and I felt a rush as I was pulled to the surface. I must have overestimated how deep I was, since my body was so easily and swiftly plucked out of the water and into the freezing air. My skin boiled hot from the nanabi's chakra, and my fury rose with it.
I never got the chance to attack, because I felt a pair of fingers jab my forehead, and a sudden iciness forced Chomei's chakra to melt away from my skin, and I felt myself black out.
When I woke up, my head felt extremely heavy and I felt as though ice shards were in my blood, sharper than the stray one's I'd find in my hair after training with Koichi.
"Fuu!"
"Fuu-chan!"
My eyes widened when I heard their worried shouts. They weren't supposed to be here, wherever "here" was. I assumed that I was taken from Taki based on the fact that I couldn't hear any sort of falling water. The waterfalls are able to be heard throughout the village at all times, even in the classrooms at our academy.
And almost as if their voices had triggered the implied reaction, I suddenly had the intense craving for blood; their blood. I wanted to feel its warmth and wetness on my hands, I craved the satisfaction of ripping skin open and welcoming the fresh flow of life that a body held.
Something had strongly convinced me that only the blood of my precious friends and teammates would satisfy me, nobody else's would suffice.
I saw them running towards me with worried faces, and with one command, I blacked out.
Koichi…Hanako-chan..
"Begin."
And then suddenly, I could see once more. No, I hadn't fainted, but I hadn't been conscious either. The forest began to swim back into my senses, the flashing gold of the leaves burning my irises. For a moment, I was confused; I had no idea what had happened or where I was. But then, the blood that dripped onto my hand sent a raging fire of grief and shock through my entire body, as if it intended to burn me alive.
Her blood was like acid, the liquid burning my skin like hot green tea on trusting lips. It dripped down in petals around my hand that was clenched onto a kunai, the metal embedded into her lilac shirt; the blood creating a rose of wetness on her chest that began to blossom into her death.
Her green eyes were widened in shock and terror, but beyond that, I could have sworn that she looked at me and accepted her fate, to be killed by her best friend, to be killed by my hands.
"Fuu-chan.." she whispered hoarsely to me.
My eyes began to overflow with the salty tears that I'd been saving up, the tears that I refused to shed in front of the villagers who rejected me and wished me dead.
As she fell, I followed her, screaming out Hanako-chan's name as if the two of us were the last ones on earth. The only difference would be that she would be gone, and as I looked up from her lifeless face and saw Koichi's bloody and dead body crumpled in the blood-stained grass surrounded by melting ice crystals produced by his kekkei genkai, I suddenly realized that with the two of them gone, It would be like I was in fact the last person on earth.
My screams drained my lungs of oxygen, and I felt my consciousness begin to fade away, and I heard the voice of the devil himself.
"Well done, jinchūriki."
o-o-o-o-o-o
"After that day, I woke up here. And I've been here ever since." Fuu said softly, finishing her story.
Sakura's back was turned to Fuu, her eyes widened in shock and despair. Tears began to glisten in the corners of her eyes, splashing onto the polished rocks on the ground.
Sakura couldn't imagine the pain that Fuu had experienced that day, the depth of despair that had devoured her as she stared into the eyes of her dying friend. She could only feel the weighing gravity of her "almost" murder of Naruto and Sasuke, and how quickly that other night could've replicated Fuu's. She could only relive the terror she felt when she woke-up and realized that she had almost lost her friends.
She could only remember her dream the night before their mission.
Sakura clenched her fists, anger flowing through her without warning.
"You're wrong." Sakura said viciously, poison leaking with her voice.
"What?" Fuu asked, her voice hoarse.
Flashes of the past few days ran through Sakura's mind like a slideshow, from her first encounter with that bastard Joryoku in the forest; back when he was a nameless enemy; to herself asking Naruto for his promise, and finally, to waking up in the cave.
"You can tell me that you watched your friends die."
His taunting face began to flash viciously in her mind.
"I can even accept that you watched them die before your eyes."
His body switching forms shined behind her closed eyes, his voice changing to Hanako's light one. She saw how he acted just as Hanako would, she saw how Fuu slowly began to crumble.
Sakura turned around to face Fuu, who looked up at Sakura's with shocked, tear streaked eyes.
"But I will not accept you saying that you were to blame for their deaths. Because, the fact is that Koichi and Hanako weren't killed by you, Fuu. It was him, it was all Joryoku's doing! He is to blame for their deaths, not you!"
Sakura walked over to Fuu and stood over her, her fists clenched in anger.
"And I swear to you that he will pay. He will pay for taking the lives of the two of them. He will pay for getting inside of our heads and taking us away from our homes and the ones that we love."
Fuu's eyes were waterfalls.
"And I swear to you," Sakura said, summoning more chakra than she could even handle "That we are getting out of here. Right now!"
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've literally been drowning in AP work and other summer work, and not to mention college essays! I can just see myself accidentally mentioning Naruto in one of my essays.. "As Naruto Uzumaki once said, "'I will become Hokage.'" and if he has discovered his true power, then I believe I have the potential to find my own at this school." or something like that, haha.
Anyway, thoughts? I felt that telling what had happened to Fuu from her point of view rather than typing out all that in large paragraphs would be more effective. That day will be shown and explained deeper later on. Things get intense soon, so get ready!