Now
Sakura feels... different. Not different in the sense that she has changed physically, but rather that her whole existence has developed into another form. Indra's red Sharingan sticks to her green eyes. Sakura cannot remember the number of Sharingan she has witnessed in all of her lifetimes; generations of Indra's descendants only developed stronger -and greedier- eyes.
Nevertheless, now, she can never forget the way his blue eyeliner clashes with his red irises. Or the way that his hair feels like when she runs her hands on it. Or how his voice sounds like when he chants all of her previous names and her current one.
"That is why, Haruno Sakura, you and I are destined to be together. It was claimed centuries ago in your past life, and I have been waiting for your return ever since. I have watched you grow and wither countless times, always too far away for me to attain you. Now, thanks to the moon's previous closeness to the Earth, we can finally be together."
Indra's hand softly caresses her cheek, following the clear trail of tears that had fallen from Sakura's eyes. She gazes at her past love, the man who was meant to protect her all those years ago. The man she bore children to. Her past self bore fruit to one of the most powerful clans in history; her chakra takes half of that credit.
She feels a new burden place on her shoulders. The Uchiha's past existence and purpose, filled with hate, stemmed from her untimely and mysterious death. A death that, according to Indra, was manipulated by Asura. Sakura has vague memories of his face and voice, yet they are still clouded as her mind puts pieces together. However, the back of her head is telling her to trust Indra's words. Asura must not have been a good younger brother if he made her lover suffer so much.
Had it not been for her tragic past, though, Sakura would not have reincarnated into this strong kunochi. Indra was ripped away from his chance of finding happiness in a world full of chaos. Now that they are back together, now that everyone she loved from her current life is long gone, they can finally love one another in peace.
Just by looking into his red eyes, into the chakra that transmigrated from body to body until they were ready to be reunited, she can finally understand.
"Indra-san..." Sakura whispers, a ghost of how she used to refer to him in his past life.
"All that love that you feel." His hand lands on her beating heart. It feels warm, alive, real. "All that love is not towards any of my reincarnations. You've been waiting for me to land from the moon."
Sakura places her hand on top of his and laces their fingers. It should feel foreign, but their warmth increases and she is finally in her place.
"I understand it," she confesses. "Now that we are both here without any intervention, we can at last live the years that were stolen from us centuries ago."
Sakura's mind rearranges thoughts and memories once again. She places her life as a kunoichi from Konoha in the back, and her previous life as priority. She starts to remember the little things Indra did for her, the love she felt for the children she never got to meet, the way her feet felt in the sand the first time they met. Her hair may be shorter and her clothing a lot more modern, but Sakura remains with the same face as always.
And slowly, but strongly, she finds that her old self's feelings for Indra are seeping into her veins.
Because she feels different. She feels ready to finally give all of that unconditional love she's held.
"If there is one thing I do not regret," Indra begins, bringing the tip of her fingers to his thin lips, "is to watch you grow from a small infant to a young, strong woman. I felt proud of you after every achievement, and I wish I could have rejoiced with you in every milestone."
A blur of dark hair and black eyes flash within her, but Sakura chooses to ignore it, solely focusing on Indra's red pupils.
"You should rest now."
"No. I'm a high ranked kunoichi now, remember? I don't need to rest anymore." She takes her hand back.
"Then what do you need?"
She smiles. "For you to take me down memory lane, of course." To the gardens, the beach, the shrine where they married, the mountains, and the flowers.
Sakura turns towards the door, ready to leave the room. Indra does not detach his vision from her back as she walks into the hallway, the feeling of hope reinstated in his spirit. Her memories from her life in Konoha as a kunoichi will soon be gone, and all that will be left is his millennial princess.
He's held on to his wife's memories for a thousand years until this time came, until he could implant them into the mind of her reincarnation and bring her back to life. Sakura is a perfect candidate; she is a pure reflection of Kono-hana, his Indrani, the mother of his successors. Indra has waited for too long to carry the guilt of implanting Kono-hana's memories into Haruno Sakura, and it is evident that the kunoichi's mind, body and chakra are successfully accepting her ancestor's memories.
It is all going according to his plan. Sakura will soon be gone from reality, replaced by his wife's conscience, and Indra himself will be at his full potential once Uchiha Sasuke dies and he gets to take all of his chakra.
"My love," Sakura's innocent face peeks from the other side of the door. "Are we going?"
Indra, feeling his chest warm up with the countless emotions this woman summons in him, responds, "Yes, we will be going. I will summon Airvata."
Then
When Sasuke regains his consciousness, his heart is beating so fast that it is about to escape from his chest. The only sound he hears is his blood rushing through his veins, until he calms down and picks up on the beeping of the heart rate monitor.
He is lying on his back, looking up at the same blank ceiling he had known for so many years, with an IV hooked into his only wrist. He tries to take a deep breath, but catches himself choking on a long tube that travels down his throat. Without thinking twice, he sits up, reaches for the feeder, and yanks it out of his mouth.
The heart rate monitor is going wild at this point, and he chokes incessantly, loudly, inhaling air with an open mouth. His lips feel chapped, his muscles weak. Almost like he has been unconscious for a prolonged amount of time.
"Fuck..." he mutters, gaining balance on his feet after getting out of his bed and unhooking the IV. He feels slightly drowsy from waking up so abruptly, but Sasuke has learned how to recover quickly, especially when unknown conditions plague his surroundings.
As if on cue, the door to his bedroom opens. A flash of pink catches his attention, and he has her between the wall and his body in less than a second, a furious fire flaming from his eyes.
Sakura isn't even shocked when she catches herself in this precarious position, between her old teammate and the wall. Sasuke's right arm blocks her from moving beneath him, the way his jaw tightens proves of how furious he is in that moment.
"How many days," he hisses threateningly.
"Well, you see," she wiggles her trapped arms, taking his attention to the pile of folders that he had not noticed from before, "I've been doing research—"
"Answer the fucking question, Sakura."
He presses against her, using his height as an advantage and intimidation mechanism. He can feel every part of her body through his clothing, and has to keep his mind in check to not falter from his anger. Sakura may have the ability to crush the wall with the tip of her finger, but he is currently not giving a single damn about her –or even his— skills as a ninja. Sasuke is beyond pissed off. This... woman uses every fiber of her being to keep him under protection, either with her medical knowledge or the simple fact that she is a magnet he gravitates towards.
And what's angering him the most is the fact that Sakura does not flinch under his full body. She watches him carefully, waiting until his scare tactic is no longer valid.
She finally speaks when he moves back a step. "Three days," she answers. "You started having more attacks, rejecting the antidote I had prepared. I had to keep you unconscious until you were stable."
The uncomfortable silence between them is broken when Sasuke's heavy breaths bring groans to his throat. A thousand thoughts rush through his head, none of them said aloud. In an impulse of anger, he pushes Sakura away from the door and steps out into the dim lit hallway.
Sasuke walks –no, he sprints towards the exit. He knows these passages like the back of his hand and could move around them with his eyes closed.
Fuck the uncomfortable pain that appears in his windpipe, right where the feeding tube was. Fuck staying in this hideout; he knows where he needs to go and Sakura has wasted three long days playing doctor on him. Fuck Indra. Fuck Sakura, who always gets in the way of his plans. Fuck his mind for asking her to come along. Fuck his body for responding to her.
Fuck... fuck this sickness, for killing him slowly and shortening the time he has left with her.
Sasuke realizes that he is out of Orochimaru's hideout when his sandals step on dry leaves and branches. The moon is full, the sky clear. That's how it probably was when Indra decided to come back to Earth to ruin his second chance at life, he thinks. There's a slight breeze that moves the surrounding trees.
He never fully paid attention to the way nature dances along with the wind until he departed from Konoha after the war. It comforts him when he thinks he is alone. It reminds him of Sakura, who can cause any sort of natural disaster with the palm of her hand while still give his lungs the fresh air they crave.
She does not try to mask her chakra or her footsteps when she follows him. What's the point, really? Sasuke is one of the strongest ninja and she one of the best medics. There is not need to hide when only the moon is watching.
Sakura left her files back in his bedroom. She is wearing a white lab coat over her clothes, while he is still wearing the same clothes from the last time he was conscious.
"Sasuke-kun..."
"You have no right to treat me like a lab rat," he interrupts her soft plea without looking at her. His eyes are set on the trees ahead of them, trying to figure out the fastest way of reaching Indra's location.
Sasuke does not see how she is taken aback by his words. Neither does he see the frown that appears between her pink eyebrows, or the way her lips wrinkle before she speaks.
"No right!? You requested that I come with you!" Sakura explodes. "I've made myself pretty clear several times that whatever happens to you is my business! And even if it wasn't, you're still my teammate, Sasuke-kun. I'm obviously going to care about you one way or another."
Sasuke remains silent while she continues. It's such a repeated scene between them that they already know the steps to follow.
"Do you even know how much it hurt to see you lying in your bed, unconscious, having those strange attacks without being able to do anything about it!? You should've warned me before deciding to take me along with you."
First, pour out her heart. Then, get hurt.
"You may have changed from the boy I knew two years ago. Heck, you're a lot better than when we were genin. Yet you're still treating me like trash when we reach a point that is too uncomfortable for you to handle. Do you ever consider how I feel about this? I'm losing you, Sasuke-kun. I love you and I'm losing you to an illness I cannot cure."
Sakura is surprised that her eyes remain dry. She has shed enough tears for him.
"I'm doing my best to keep my teammate alive while he is still too much of a coward to ask for help."
A gust of air and he's in front her. Disturbed for a second, guarded the next. Sakura raises her head high, daring him with the determination that flames in her eyes.
"You call me a coward?"
The air that comes out of his mouth reaches her face.
"Yes." Because you never take a hand when someone is extending one to you. Because you are too afraid to let me in. "I'm calling you a coward."
It does not matter how many times they have kissed or how much progress Sakura thinks she's had with Sasuke, as teammates or mere human beings. He proves to be the same selfish bastard who left her all those years ago and who still has her heart wrapped around his little finger.
All this hurting must be for something, she used to reason. There is no way that she can love someone so deeply and not have them react to it.
Sasuke takes a step back, that disturbed expression back in his face. He stares at her intently, trying to figure out what goes on in her mind, feeling impotent because he cannot even use his eyes. Sakura looks the best like this, with the moonlight contouring all of her curves, making her hair shine like a flower in full bloom. It bothers him how much he likes to see her so vulnerable, physically and emotionally. However, that strange feeling is nothing compared to his yearning for reaching that same vulnerability in front of her.
Now he really regrets taking her along. Sasuke knew the risks from the get-go; if Sakura finds out that his illness is connected to finding Indra, she would put herself in danger. When he showed up at the Hokage tower all those moons ago, he was scared of not surviving his condition until he met Indra and was acting on his instincts. Even the loneliest wolves need some company.
He knows that he is being selfish, but the fear of being alone after spending so much time far away from the people he adopted as family took over his intentions.
"Tell me, Sasuke-kun, why did you ask me to do this mission with you?"
Sakura's face shows all of her emotions. Whereas he struggles in expressing himself, she wears her heart on her sleeve and lets the whole world know how she feels. Sasuke never put it into words, but his mind and body understand that being around his teammate is the closest he gets to finding a home.
And that, deep inside, scares him. Sasuke sees a future in her, a hidden desire that cannot come true unless he finds Indra and cures his illness. It scares him to think that Sakura is in the right place, beside him, but at the wrong time.
He sees Sakura and he sees her head resting on his shoulder. Her hand holding on to his after Orochimaru gave him the Cursed Seal. He vividly remembers the taste of her lips for it was the last thing he processed in his mind before being sedated. The way her soft skin feels on his right hand...
"Answer me. Please."
Sasuke searches for the hilt of his sword. When he cannot find it, he realizes that he has left it in his bedroom back at the hideout. He purses his lips, feeling vulnerable in such an open space and hopes that Sakura carries her weapons in case of anything.
"If I die before we find Indra, I want to be with someone I..." he pauses, recomposing himself and rethinking his words. "When I spoke to Kakashi about this, I said that my intentions were to partner up with somebody that I fully trust, someone I can work with."
He hears her feet shuffle anxiously.
"Is that all?" she asks. It's the same explanation he has given her countless times, but she can no longer believe those words.
At this point, Sakura knows him too well.
Sasuke waits before continuing. In spite of taking a step back, he is still close enough to notice the way that her Yin seal proudly shines on her forehead. He extends his fingers until they hover over the diamond shape.
"That is part of the truth. If I die before finding Indra, I want to be with someone I consider a brother, or someone I see as more than a friend."
Sasuke is going to die. And it breaks her heart. He wants to be with someone like Naruto, someone who understands him and shares a bond stronger than blood. Sakura remembers the night when Kakashi informed her of this journey, and she realizes that Sasuke paying a visit to Naruto on that same night was his way of saying a potential goodbye to his best friend.
She would go to the end of the world for him, and in his own way, he finally understands it. He is no longer the awkward boy who left the village two years ago in search of an unknown path. He has responded to her in ways that she has fantasized countless times. Sasuke has never been one to share unnecessary words with anyone, and Sakura has to process the second part of his confession twice before deciphering what he means.
And when she does, Sakura feels her heart skip five beats as her breath catches in her throat.
His fingers leave a trail of fire on her skin. Sakura does not notice when she closes her eyes, but her lids reopen once that fervent, intimate touch between them is gone. She watches Sasuke as he truly is; a battered, broken boy who picked up the pieces to build a better man. The Sasuke of many faces is showing her the one he conceals from public view. She can still recognize youth in his features, but they have outlined with the great burden placed on his shoulders.
"Sasuke-kun, do you..." feel the same way?
His Rinnegan shines in the moonlight. What was once threatening has turned into one of the most beautiful things Sakura has ever witnessed. She can feel the air coming in and out of his mouth, the slight wheezing sound that comes as a side effect to the improved antidote she gave him while he was unconscious.
She does not get to finish her sentence, for their lips connect in the next instant with a fervent passion. Her arms find themselves wrapped around his neck, pulling him down in a desperate attempt to deepen their kiss.
Neither of them think of their precarious situation. Sasuke and Sakura follow their instincts, the pent up energy that had been building between their bodies finally released. There is only the air shared between their lungs, their skin burning with touch, sounds of lips moving in sync.
And they know that this time it will take much more than their will to stop.
Now
Though the low ceiling and entrapping walls of the Uchiha hideout surround Sasuke, he does not feel suffocated by them. In fact, the tightness in his chest and constricted breathing are a result of Asura's words, of how his ancestor had fallen in love and lost Sakura's past self. And what brings him the closest to the breaking point –to that point where he can no longer stand being on his feet because everything hurts so much— is that his Sakura, his teammate and friend, his home, may forever be gone.
"So that Indra is going to erase all of Sakura's memories and replace them with his wife's?" Naruto asks, dreading the answer. He feels the sweat drop on his temple.
The two shinobi are met with silence from Asura.
And Sasuke wants to break something, anything, everything.
"We won't let him get away with that!" Naruto exclaims while Sasuke's chin shivers. "She's our teammate, she's family. If she doesn't come back then Konoha will lose an important citizen."
If she doesn't come back, Sasuke will lose the woman he cares about.
"And you will lose your life, unless you stop Indra from his plan," Asura adds, looking at the Uchiha. "Your lifeline and chakra supply diminishes with every breath my brother takes in his alternate utopia. And with every breath he takes, he gains more power to erase Sakura's consciousness and replace it with his wife's."
"This is just... so messed up 'ttebayo." Sasuke hears Naruto mutter between his teeth, feeling a similar desperation to the tempest that is within him.
Unlike Naruto, he does not have to save his woman to stop the destruction of the Earth. No, Sasuke must stop Indra from destroying his life and own world. It had been spinning around a pink and green essence for quite some time, and his ancestor does not have the right to rip that out of him.
What was a mere mysterious abduction has turned into taking back the meaning of his life and that of his clan. Sasuke never wondered why he always felt a strong connection to Sakura; he always thought that it was similar to his bond with Naruto, that of close comrades, except that Sakura was his metaphor to a shelter he does not deserve to rest under.
And now he understands it, in a cruel way. He understands why she never gave up on him, why he let her come back regardless of the countless times he's pushed her away. They were destined to meet, to feel things together, and to live through tragedies.
"You must listen to me very carefully," Asura explains. "Once Sakura has all of her previous life's memories implanted in her mind, she will no longer be the same person you know. This has been Indra's will for centuries. His bloodline's legacy is the hatred towards mine, which stems from the belief that I killed his wife. My brother never understood that it was our grandmother's wish to kill Indrani with Black Zetsu, for she was an obstacle to her revival.
"My brother's wish to reunite with his wife is almost accomplished, and he will be closer to creating a new bloodline of shinobi who will one day take over your world. Unless you get all your chakra back from him and prevent Sakura from losing all of her memories, everything you know will be at risk of once again getting wiped out of the planet."
Sasuke narrows his eyes at that last proclamation. "How do you know that he will do that?"
"My older brother has always thought that power is the only answer. The ideas implanted by Black Zetsu in his head led him to believe that his bloodline, the Uchiha, were meant to defeat my descendants and rule over the shinobi world."
He feels Naruto look at him, the memory of those thoughts invading his mind still fresh. There was a time when he thought that killing Naruto and of taking all of the pain in the world would solve all problems. Sasuke cannot stop finding parallels between his life and Indra's. They both lost the ones they loved, lived in hatred and revenge. His ancestor waited millennia to reunite with the one he lost, while Sasuke found redemption and a woman with pink hair who holds his idea of a future.
It is only unfortunate, from his side at least, that the person Indra and he want is the same one.
The tightness in Sasuke's chest worsens. "Indra believes that by reuniting with his wife he will be strong enough to finally rule over the shinobi world," he claims. "Does he know that you are not entirely dead either?"
Naruto follows, "Yeah, how come that you're here talking to us and I'm not affected like Sasuke is with the return of Indra?"
"That is because I am not trying to regain my full revival in this world. I am here to communicate with you two, to tell you that you must stop my older brother before he gets too strong. Otherwise, nobody will defeat the wish he has been harvesting for more than a thousand years."
It is as if the same ideas get passed down from one life to another, Naruto muses. Indra wanted to rule the world, Madara too, and even Sasuke at one point. They have all experienced tragic losses at some point, and wish to create a utopia where nobody dies. Knowing how it feels like to feel alone is what connected him to Sasuke, but now he realizes that there is a bigger reason as to why they chose different paths at a point in their lives. Naruto's past lives led him to follow the path of light, whereas Sasuke's only collected darkness until it culminated in almost losing his mind.
He is glad that his friend, though sick and dying, still stands by his side after all those hardships. Naruto would not be the same if it weren't for Sasuke's existence. They are comrades, friends, brothers, and will remain so forever. They can get Sakura back, and then Sasuke can finally live the life he had been detached from since childhood.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Asura says, "are you willing to sacrifice it all for her? Even if she does not remember much about you at this point? Even if my older brother takes all of your chakra and your chances staying alive are slim?"
The only answer that Asura gets is the determination in Sasuke's face.
"Well then, I shall transfer you some of my chakra to keep you strong. This is all I can do to help my brother's legacy," he announces, standing up from his sitting position. "After that, you shall open the portal that leads you to his dimension. Good luck."
Hey everyone! Thank you so much for sticking around. I apologize for the delay, I've been going through some personal issues and lost my interest in writing for a while. This chapter isn't as long as the previous one, I'm sorry. It will take me a while to get back to normal, though normal will never be the same. But enough about my personal sadness, let's talk!
So we get everyone's reactions to Indra's story :O Is this his true intention? To revive his dead wife by implanting her memories into Sakura? Is this evil or just a really broken heart? After all, the Uchiha feel strongly about family and love, and they tend to do lots of radical things.
Naruto and Sasuke will get through this dimensional portal, which will be further explained in future chapters. We are reaching a point in which both timelines will merge into one, and that's going to be fun! Sasuke will gain back some of his strength after he gets chakra from Asura.
There was a lot of dialogue coming from Asura. He answers lots of key questions and introduces new ideas into the story. Will Indra achieve his full revival with Sakura, as his wife, by his side while they take over the shinobi world? Or will be find out that Black Zetsu was behind this whole shibang and that he cannot do anything about it because Zetsu is no longer there?
Also, do you think that time in Indra's utopia runs the same as in reality?
Sincerely,
MSM