Now
"Sakura, you're heavy."
His voice is barely heard, but Sakura registers his words nevertheless. Her neck almost cracks when she abruptly turns her head to look down at her teammate, her friend, her companion. Sasuke's eyes are half opened, yet she can distinguish that black and purple as looking straight at her.
Their convincing worked, she sighs in relief. That is, Hana Sakuya's appearance and words, as well as Sakura's own begging, were enough to stop a dumbfounded Indra from finishing the only hope that Sasuke had of surviving.
Sakura witnessed as part of Indra's chakra travelled from the Ōtsutsuki straight into Sasuke's chest. She felt it with her hands, too. The warm sensation that filled every vein of Sasuke was strong enough to channel into Sakura's own healing chakra, helping her efforts to stop the internal bleeding. Her pale hands are covered in crimson blood, the blood of the Uchiha that has flown from generation to generation and that she, in her past life, had a connection to.
She still does.
Sakura can no longer ponder on the event unfolding in front of her, for Sasuke begins to cough in protest of her weight. His mouth stopped spilling blood not too long ago, and his breathing gradually goes back to normal.
"You really are," he struggles to say.
She is brought back to being twelve years old, a genin, and a crying girl over her crush's apparent death. Sakura lets out a noise that is between a laugh and a sob, straightening up her back until she is no longer covering Sasuke's chest. He tries to get up on his own, but she catches him struggling with his still weak body and lends a hand.
Her arm snakes around his shoulders and lifts them up. Sasuke's curved back is a sign of his debilitated state and his need of her support, yet he still tries to hold himself up without any help when Sakura removes her arms. At his failing attempt, Sakura puts one hand on his back while the other on his opposite side, cradling him like a small child.
Silly boy, always trying to bear the burden on his shoulders alone. It seems that it travels from lifetime to lifetime, as Sakura remembers Indra's own tragic story of bearing all of his pain.
Sakura feels finger tips trace her tear stained cheek, making her realize that her eyes must be red from all the crying. Her heart suddenly feels lighter, a weight lifted from her anxious body.
"It's you..." he says, the bruises settling on his beautiful features as the blood dries up around his lips.
Sasuke moves his fingers from her cheek down to her jawline, and then settles them on her bottom lip. She feels the bandaged material that covers them and finally notices the prosthetic that connects to his left arm. Of course it's her. She was lost in a whirlwind of memories and emotions, her mind being pulled apart by an ancient calling and her own wishes to return to him. But now she is back. Everything about her is back to how it was before Indra took her.
"It's really you."
This may be the first and last time that Sasuke does all the talking, as Sakura cannot find the right words to say in that moment. She carefully wraps her arms around his shoulders, trembling in relief for his heart is beating and it won't go out any time soon. Sakura buries her face in the crook of his neck, remembering the way his scent of smoke and forest (now mixed with blood and sweat) make her feel secure and whole.
I'm here. I'm here and I'm not leaving you.
Across from them, two pairs of eyes watch the reunion in nostalgia and melancholy.
Indra looks down at his hands and finds them translucent, the cracks of the ground can be seen through them. It was expected, he figures. Half of his chakra is gone, as well as his reason to keep on living. His eyes turn back to Sakura, still dressed in a torn bridal robe, her long hair made into a mess as she cannot let go of the Uchiha kid, who in turn has his bandaged arm around her back.
He can feel how life is about to leave him. How he will one day disappear into nothingness because that is what humans do. They are born, live, breed, and then become waves in the ocean, gusts of wind, and falling leaves.
"Not yet," his late wife says beside him, understanding his thoughts.
Indrani still floats, becoming as see through as he is. She looks like a ghost, a spirit from the folk tales he and Asura used to hear as a child from grandmother Kaguya and father. Indra tries to reach out to her, but their current state prevents the tip of his fingers to feel the softness of her skin or how silky her rose hair is. She still smiles at him, the same sweet expression she always carried when she knew he was feeling uneasy.
Somehow, at last, he is able to fulfill his wish to reunite with his wife. The suffering, his defection from his clan, the wars, their childrens' deaths, waiting, all of it brought them to this moment. It isn't as he envisioned it, for Sakura was meant to return to her original form as Hana Sakuya and start a new clan with him, not return to the Uchiha boy at the last moment. Hana Sakuya was inside of her this whole time, and it took them this much to finally meet again.
And Indra feels like he would not have it any other way.
If it means spending the afterlife with her, with no worries and no physical body, he would still do it.
"Indra-san, my love," that's the singing tone he remembers, "I said not yet. Give us more time."
She extends her hand and hovers it over his cheek, both of them imagining that there is a real feeling of touch in her gesture. Half of their chakra is here, reconnecting, while the other halves are mending the bond that Indra almost broke.
"Sasuke!"
He turns his head towards the blond figure that runs towards the Uchiha boy and Sakura. His desperate behaviour reminds Indra too much of a figure he has kept an eye on for centuries. And there he is: Asura, his younger brother, cross-legged, levitating towards them with his eyes set on Indra. He tries to remember the last time that they spoke without bloodshed in mind, and can only find faint memories of their childhood.
"Brother," Asura gives him a curt nod before directing his eyes at Indrani. "Sister-in-law, it's good to see you again."
They should have all been dead a thousand years ago, but here they are. The cycle of hatred has ended, and so they watch as their final lives unfold in front of them, knowing this will never occur again. It has always been their destiny, to all reincarnate at the same time and interact during their lifetimes. Asura would always stick to the light while Indra is pulled towards darkness, while Hana Sakuya would suffer a tragic ending.
A boulder crashes beside Team 7 as Sakura cradles Sasuke and Naruto kneels beside his two best friends. He and Sakura protect the Uchiha from the crumbling pieces that start falling from the ceiling. Naruto looks around in distress as the castle, severely affected by the battle, destroys itself around them.
"Shit, guys, we gotta get outta here." He grabs Sasuke's arm and helps Sakura stand him up. Naruto ignores the grunts that come out of his best friend's mouth. He can get healed when they go back to Konoha, which is what they should be doing now before the fortress kills all of them. "Sasuke, do the thing again before we get crushed!"
"What thing?" Sakura's raised voice asks amid the crackling sounds. Her fist swiftly punches a large rubble that is about to fall on them, turning it into dust.
"He knows! The thing!" Naruto looks around and lands his eyes on the three ancient figures that should have been dead a long time ago. "Hey! Old me! The thing!"
More grunts follow from Sasuke. The Uchiha closes his eyes for a moment to concentrate. His chakra reserve is slowly growing, but it has yet to reach the point where he can fully open a dimension portal. His legs cannot even support his own weight, and he feels how his feet drag on the uneven ground as Sakura and Naruto support him. He counts in his head until ten, gathering the enough amount of chakra without passing out, and then opens his Rinnegan.
"Here!" he hears Asura shout as a familiar pattern forms from nothingness.
The pattern then opens into small squares that then connect and welcome a dark whole out of thin air. Sasuke maintains his gaze into the portal and tries to tighten his arm around Sakura. The last time she jumped into a portal he thought he was going to lose her forever. He is not going to let that happen again.
She has held on to him for too long, and it's about time he gets used to holding on to her as well.
"Alright, Team Kakashi! Let's go!"
Sasuke's feet lift up from the ground as his teammate jump into the portal. The same sensation of being pulled by his belly button follows, and then the three of them are travelling through space and time. He hears Naruto's loud voice calling for Konoha, for their home. A bright light appears in the distance and grows as they approach it, becoming so strong that it blinds them.
They crash against the concrete wall of the Uchiha hideout in the Naka shrine. Broken and battered, but in one piece.
Sakura stands up first and then helps Sasuke get on his feet. She looks around in both amusement and intrigue, for she has never been in this room before and it reminds her so much of Indra's castle that she grows frightened of not having escaped it.
"We're back," Naruto breathes out. "We're in Konoha!" He lets out a victorious noise and punches into the air.
Konoha. She silently mouth the name, not truly believing that she is back in her hometown with her teammates. Sakura looks down to her body and finds that she is still wearing her bridal attire, feeling out of place with the comfort that Konoha has brought her for two decades. There is something strange about being back in the town that she has called home, and cannot pin point it just yet.
Maybe it's the fact that she spent an unknown amount of time living in a separate dimension, convinced that Konoha no longer existed, thinking that her destiny was to forget her life as Haruno Sakura and to start living as Hana Sakuya.
Another beam of light flashes in front of the trio, and then three figures appear in front of them. Sakura readjusts her eyes to find her own reincarnation, along with Indra and Asura facing them. She is suddenly aware of how Sasuke is leaning on her for support, and protectively tightens her hold on him as if the three ancient lives were going to separate them again.
"Naruto," Asura is the first one to speak. "I strongly advice you to go and notify the Hokage of your return."
He then extends his hand, and then the rest of his body until it all turns into a stream of blue chakra that travels directly into Naruto's chest. The future Hokage stares at his chest dumbfounded, wondering how many times things will pop in and out of his body without him being fully aware of them. He then notices the silence in the room and nods towards his teammates.
"I'm gonna go get Kakashi-sensei. You'll be fine?"
"I got him, Naruto," Sakura reassures him. She sends him a short nod before he exits the hideout. "Sasuke-kun, sit down for a sec."
He silently obeys, and his knees touch the cold hard ground along with hers while her arm remains wrapped around his shoulders. Sakura clears his face from the stray hairs that have fallen in front, reminding herself that he has let his hair grown longer during his time away from Konoha.
"Sakura," Indra says and she is once again aware that they are not alone in the room. He is also sitting on his knees, along with her own past life. Hana Sakuya lays a hand on Indra's forearm, stopping him from what he is about to say.
"I believe I owe you an explanation," Hana Sakuya confesses instead. Her voice is a bit lower than Sakura's, more mature and full of experience. "Please."
"I uh..."
"Let her, Sakura," Sasuke's hoarse voice says beside her. She finds herself at a loss, everything still too surreal around her. Sasuke is in her arms, and their past lives sit in front of them asking for permission to explain the past reincarnations filled with tragedy and loss.
Sakura looks directly at Hana Sakuya's face and sees her own. It's the same two green eyes that reflect back on every mirror she passes by, the same arched eyebrows, lips, and cheekbones that she has grown to accept as part of herself. Her first life has slightly different pink hair, a few shades softer than the one falling down Sakura's shoulders, yet they both have a similar hairstyle.
Hana Sakuya was very young when she died, and it is seen in the way that her features have maintained the same youth as when she took her final breath. But Sakura can distinguish the aura of experience and years of wisdom that such a young figure carries in her shoulders. It's something that comes with age, and with witnessing your future lives perish in tragic ways, waiting until the final moment she can reunite with the one she has always loved.
And so, Sakura finds herself gesturing towards her past self, "Go on."
Indrani looks at her husband once and then places her delicate pale hand on his forearm. "I was tucked into your chakra, much like my husband's is connected to Uchiha Sasuke's. When you were taken away from this world, I felt an imbalance, a rupture in the dormant state I have been in since you were born."
"Does that mean that... you were always in me?" Sakura asks curiously.
"That's right, Haruno Sakura. You and I are the same, from a different time a space. With the end of the Cycle of Hatred, my husband would no longer be reincarnated into another life to continue with the path Kaguya set him up when I died. In other words-"
"In other words," Indra adds, "this was my only and last chance of reuniting. I had been waiting for your -or rather, her- return for centuries. Remaining dormant in the moon, close to my family's chakra, while I created a separate world in another dimension where I could one day be whole again."
"So all those memories that came into my mind when I was," Sakura hesitates with her next words, quite aware of Sasuke's presence beside her, "when I was with you," she clarifies, looking at Indra. "That was Hana Sakuya?"
The rose haired woman lifts the corners of her mouth. "Always so smart, my dear. It's been a pleasure watching you grow. Yes, that was me trying to free myself from the constraints of your physical body to finally be with Indra-san."
And realization dawns upon Sakura like a boulder falling from the top of a hill. "Then it wasn't supposed to be me. You were making your way out of my body through the back of my mind!"
"It was my mistake," Indra looks down in shame. He bows until his forehead touches the cold ground. "I never thought that my wife would reawaken in this manner. My belief was that her memories would replace your own, and that you would in turn become her in body and mind once we renewed our vows."
His wife places a hand on Indra's long hair, stroking it affectionately. To Sakura, it looks as if it was the first time they shared physical interaction since her death a thousand years ago.
"Yet that is the thing with our men," Indrani continues. "They never learn not to underestimate us."
Sakura knows a thing or two about that.
"Then, why did it take you so long to get out of me? Why did you have to wait until now?"
"There are several explanations to that. One of them is that I had to wait until you turned twenty, when Indra-san meant to renew our vows and you drank from the same rice wine. That sacred connection was the final point in my return, meant to once again fully link me to my husband. Another explanation, and one that is much more important, is him." She points at Sasuke, who, Sakura finally notices, is struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Me?" he manages to ask. His head settles on Sakura's shoulder, feeling to heavy to carry on his own after spending all of his chakra on opening the dimensional portal.
"And the love she feels for you, Uchiha Sasuke," Hana Sakuya continues. "It's as strong as the one I feel for Indra-san. And Sakura's memories of you, her feelings towards you, were blocking me from freeing myself. The confusion and cloudiness in Sakura's mind were just as strong on my side, as I became more aware of how much our love for our significant others has transcended through time and lasted until this day and age. I was able to start clearing the thoughts on my end when you surprisingly appeared, and it was a matter of time before I was able to separate my connection from Sakura's body and save you in the last moment."
It makes sense why she never gave up and harboured the pain of loving Sasuke when, so many times, she told herself that it was not worth it. They were connected from before they were born, by a power stronger than any shinobi can handle on their own. Sasuke suffered, just as Indra did, and Sakura was meant to bring him the salvation he never received in his past lives because he had to end the Cycle of Hatred.
Defeating the real Kaguya was not enough to bring them together, apparently. Her will was carried out from generation to generation, having ensured her return through more than one means if the Tree of Life did not work out. Indra was her second plan, her ideological heir meant to remain in darkness in every lifetime to maintain him in the path for power rather than salvation.
And it all that whirlwind, Sasuke and Sakura got caught.
"Wow- I just- I-"
She is hit with an overwhelming sense of emotions, radiating from every cell of her body. Realizing that her destiny was to always be with Sasuke, be it in this life or another one, seems both impossible and understandable at the same time. Yet Sasuke is still in her arms, beside her, willing to give his life for her and to share his deepest concerns with her.
"It's the sort of thing we do for the ones we love," Hana Sakuya interrupts her mumbling. "You would know that more than anyone else, Uchiha Sasuke. After all, you were willing to sacrifice your life to ensure that Sakura safely returned to her family and friends."
And now that this cycle has ended, there's just the two of them left. And nothing standing in between their destiny of finally being together after a thousand years.
"Promise me that you will never underestimate her strength, Uchiha Sasuke," Indrani says.
"A new chapter begins for the Uchiha clan, Sasuke," Indra continues. "You are the last one to carry the sins of past generations, and the first to let us start anew in this peaceful era. Bring justice and honour back into our name. Your ancestors are watching from the afterlife, expecting great deeds from my reincarnation."
And then, Sasuke and Sakura see for one final time as the spirits of Ōtsutsuki Indra and his wife before they fade away. Their departure is met with silence, the remaining couple left deep in their thoughts.
The king of goods has found his queen. And Sakura is finally able to stay with the one she's always felt strong about. She understands why too, why she never gave up, because Indra would never have let her give up on his reincarnations. It only brought tragedy to their timeless love.
Sasuke lifts up his head from her shoulder, a gesture that signals her to get up on her feet. "Are you sure you can stand up?"
"I'm fine."
There's something off in the way he talks. Sakura furrows her brows in suspicion. He must be affected by the return of his chakra, still adjusting to being fully alive again. Yet she thought they have reached a point where he was more open with her.
It got Sakura thinking, as she watched him make his way towards the exit of the Uchiha hideout and into Konoha in the middle of the night, that are some demons that they still need to tackle.
Wowowowowowooooo
One more chapter left! I don't think I will do an epilogue, bleh.
Hopefully this answered, like, all of your questions! Thank you everyone for sticking around in this crazy ride!
Let me know what you think in your reviews :)
Sincerely,
MSM