The sun had not yet begun its crest of the horizon when Yukine stepped through the room's threshold. The chill of the early morning hours was hardly distinguishable from the frozen aura of the decrepit space upon which he strode. The blood-stained floors and blade-marked walls merely a remnant of time passed, vengeance fulfilled, and yet another promise made.
Yukine withdrew his hands from the folds of his charcoal sleeves and ran a finger over the disintegrating edge of the stone-carved throne. Irony burned at him. How ironic that he had thrown one man from his throne only to replace him with another. He had a purpose back then. Now…
Now all he had was a debt. And honour as tenuous as the crumbling stone beneath his fingers.
He took a long drag of the stale air and felt the pinpricks of awareness sharpen within himself. Despite the late hour, the fortress was teeming with the flares of the waking individuals. He felt Ara's simmering disquiet as she stalked the halls from her room to Atsuhiko-sama's chamber, where two had become one.
And Yukine could not help the downward curl of his lips at the trail of his thoughts.
He could feel the girl's complete devotion now; could feel the way she lived and breathed as an extension of Atsuhiko-sama himself. She was but a fleeting flicker of light in his scorching hearth. And yet, the God appeared to be stalling.
Why not just take from her the Pomegranate in the immediate? It was clear she could not refute anything he would ask of her in this state. So, for what purpose had Atsuhiko-sama not acquired from her what was always his ultimate goal? With the return of his Godhood, they would have no need for the calamity pursing. Atsuhiko-sama could surely rip the eyes out of the Uchiha himself, once reclaimed of his otherworldly possession. Then he would have all he needed to return to his realm.
And yet, he had made no move to claim his greatest desire from the woman.
Yukine's fingers curled over the crumbling stone, his frown etching deeper into the lines of his pale face.
Perhaps Atsuhiko-sama thought himself in need of further entertainment – an itch of power to be satiated in the grandest of schemes. Perhaps he was eager for the calamity.
'Yuki, he's using us!'
A sour tang of rot encompassed his mouth, enveloping his skin, and Yukine didn't ignore the perverse symmetry of it all.
"Yuki." Hansai's scratchy voice called, pulling the man from his reverie.
Yukine cast his gaze over his shoulder to study Hansai's hunched form; salves and bandages adorning his blistered face and parts of his arms and fingers. The freshness of the man's amber robes did little to hide the padding of his abdomen where he knew a fragile wound to be. A fools' error to be so mobile in such a state.
"Hansai." He acknowledged softly. "You have not yet recovered."
"I can't sleep." The sandy-haired man breathed, white-wrapped fingers fidgeting. "It's coming, isn't it."
Yukine lowered his eyes, a heaviness falling over his shoulders. He could feel it too; yet another promise of repetition for these defiled halls. "Yes."
Hansai let a small howl of excitement pass his lips, his eyes blown wide. "Death."
The kimono was white – a pure delicate white which all but grated against her skin as she slipped the material over the wrongfully serene rosette. Ara hadn't bothered grumbling about the inane time of night when she was summoned to his chambers. She withheld her annoyance still when she was tasked with retrieving her most 'delicate of conquests'.
A kimono fit for ceremony he had said.
Ara had several pilfered ceremonial gowns in her collection in fact, but she had little doubt that it was this furisode which Atsuhiko wished to see ornamented upon Sakura. And as Ara fitted layer upon layer of fine silken cloth over the young woman's compliant figure, she couldn't help but consider the intent of such a gown.
It was simple in its design, yet detailed with fine stitching. The material itself was embroidered in faint flowers and delicate swirling patterns across its length as it fell to brush the floor. As she crisscrossed the layers over one another, only the tiniest hints of a lace fringe became visible in its trimming. The thick obi was next, wrapping around the medic's slim waist and fastening the look complete with a decorative golden pin tucked between the folds of the tie. She looked truly stunning, and Ara couldn't help but lick her lips as she stepped back to gaze upon the delicate framing of such a strong and powerful woman.
She watched as Sakura slowly lifted her head and stared into the mirror, dressed in a wedding kimono.
Ara had to bite back her urge to shake the girl when her viridian eyes remained as blank as the walls of her prison. The fire in those green depths had been snuffed, along with her spirit it seemed. Her Princess did not even seem to care of her presence here, did not even flinch away from the hungry eyes watching her dress.
Atsuhiko lounged at the edge of the bed, overseeing as Ara had worked around Sakura; the subtle triumph to his smile all but impossible to ignore in the quiet of the stuffy room.
"Hair next." Atsuhiko instructed warmly, and immediately Sakura moved to sit beside him on the bed, presenting her back and long flowing hair to him.
Disgust bubbled within her, and Ara curled her lips back as Atsuhiko began to card his fingers through Sakura's pink locks. She stiffly retrieved her basket of trinkets and deposited it beside him as he threaded his fingers through the medic's hair and began braiding the strands with deft hands. The sight of Sakura's pitiful submission to the man was enough to drive her from the room.
This was not her fierce Princess. This was everything she hated.
Ara stopped before she could completely retreat, a question lingering on her tongue and tasting of acid. "Why dress her in it?"
Atsuhiko hummed, and cast his lavender eyes to her in brief amusement before turning his attention back to the woman under his palms, his smile only growing fonder.
"I suppose because it represents all the possibilities taken from me, and the opportunity to reclaim them. This Woman, dressed for a ceremony that changes the course of peoples' lives forever." He caught her eyes and smiled. "Fitting, don't you think Ara?"
Then Atsuhiko leant forward and placed a kiss upon Sakura's hair, a deep satisfied rumble in his throat.
Ara left before the itch of revulsion could overtake her.
Sai panted; wisps of white unfurling from his cold lips as his ink creatures touched the icy earth and melted into nothingness.
Impatience and worry had gotten the better of him halfway through their journey. It was his demandthat he fly his team rest of the way to Sakura's last known location. His concern would not quiet otherwise.
"You alright?" Warmth spread through him at the cautious touch on his shoulder.
Sai straightened under Yamato's gaze and discretely wiped the sweat that had come to crest upon his upper lip. "Hai, Taichou."
His Senpai rewarded his lie with a deep frown before ushering him further from where the rest of his team had begun a brief scan of the area. "You've barely rested in the last twenty-four hours and that's not even accounting for the amount of chakra you've now expended both on your scout and getting us here."
Sai shrugged off his concern along with the hand on his shoulder, and reached into his thigh pouch for a non-descript canister. The chakra-pill was crunched between his molars and swallowed before his Senpai could chide him further.
"I do no regret my choices in getting us here, nor do I begrudge the honour of offering what I can to my team when they need me most." He said, rolling his shoulders back as he felt the pill works its affects most immediately. "Regardless, you and I both know we have operated at a far less capacity in ANBU previously. I am still within a functioning state."
Yamato shook his head at him before screwing his lips to the side in what Sai estimated was resignation. "Fine. Just no more acts of heroism from here on out. Get in and get out with Sakura. Leave some honour for the rest of us, okay?"
Sai gave a brief smile at his words. "We are all heroes, Senpai." He imparted before settling his gaze on the two figures standing poised at the tree line. "You do not need to worry. I will leave the reckless decision making up to Sasuke-kun and my Brother."
Something in Yamato's chestnut eyes softened for the briefest of moments, before he let out a long-suffering sigh and craned his head back in defeat. "Don't remind me." He murmured under his breath.
A fond smile coloured Sai's face just as third voice sounded. "Are you ready, Sai?"
Clear coal eyes met the silver of his Rokudaime and Sai nodded.
He was ready to bring his Sister home.
Hansai shivered as something big surged from beyond their home. His skin pulled in sharp prickles as he scrambled his way to the window and pressed his face against the cool glass.
It was nearly impossible to see. The sky was smudged in dark blues and purples with heavy clouds, the sun still halfway around the world. But he could feel it. Something was coming for them. And if he could feel it, that meant Yuki –
Hansai pushed from the window and whipped his head back to stare at his forever friend. Yuki stood completely still with nothing but a harsh mark between his dark brows and a thin frown to his lips.
Yuki felt everything. Even when it hurt him to.
"Yuki…" he whispered, grabbing a fistful of his blood-spotted bandages and squeezing.
Dark emerald eyes slid open and Hansai held his breath as Yuki lifted his sight to the darkened world beyond their home.
"So the calamity begins."
And Hansai shrieked with laughter and joy.
He couldn't wait to make some new friends.
Sapphire eyes glowed a brief orange as Naruto flared his Sage Mode to life and tracked the chakra signatures within the fortress. He saw them in all their colours. The smouldering red of the lone woman, the rotten pale yellow of the manic freak, the pulsing gold of two entwined signatures and of course the sterile jade of the Senor.
Naruto bared his teeth in a grin when that icy green snapped towards him in clear awareness.
"Gotcha."
With a breath, Naruto released his Sage Mode and clashed his hands together in a familiar rhythm; hundreds of clones bursting into existence with a mere thrill of chakra. In an instant, lightning crackled to his left, scoring the sky in violent purple streaks as Sasuke shot his hand to the air.
The earth beneath their feet groaned a moment later when Yamato planted his hands on the ground and unleashed a tremendous surge of wood and vines from the forest floor, barrelling through the terrain towards their destination.
And there, stalking the vines and easily traversing the Mokuton with swift agility and deadly focus was Kakashi. Barely a whisper of chakra escaped him, and yet Naruto could not deny the look of pure intent in his dark grey eyes.
A man who was ready to fight with his bare hands and tear down all in his way with nothing more than his teeth and the strength of his will.
Naruto let a battle cry split his lips, echoing in the hundreds and charged forward. Trees toppled and fell, and as lightning once more tore the sky, the heavens themselves appeared to answer their call.
With a resounding boom and a flash of green, the sky shared in their terror with sheets of rain and hail, drenching them to the bone in cold determination.
A violent rumble unfurled in Naruto's chest, the beast within raging with a storm all their own.
"Let's fucking hunt."
Sai bent his knees and braced against the rough shaking of the fortress. It appeared as though his team had infiltrated the base in a rather loud and grand fashion. Just as planned.
He let a small smile tug his lips before picking his pace up after his ink mice. He slipped soundlessly through the concrete pathways, not a sound or sight betraying his existence. His heart kept a steady cadence as he ducked through an archway then spied his objective. Two large double doors stood imposingly before him, only slightly ajar.
Sai took a step and then had to brace himself against another ricochet of destruction as the foundations shook with his team's unruly presence. With a sharp eye, he cast another glance around his surroundings before following his mice beyond those heavy doors.
Sai squinted through the low light as he stepped through. A storm raged outside, visible from the tall window lighting the room in brief flashes of silvery-green, and filling the silence with pebbles of sound. He withdrew his tanto as he crept through the shadowy room, columns of chipped concrete lining his path as he made his way towards what was an altar of some sort.
Another flash of light, and this time Sai saw her. Sakura; draped across the stone steps at the base of that altar, lying unconscious as his mice nosed her cheek.
Sai inhaled sharply through his nose, though he kept his pace steady, despite his urge to run to her. Leather creaked as he curled his hand tighter around his tanto, a million and one different scenarios running through his mind on why she had been left here like this. Why she wasn't moving, why she was dressed as she was… Every possible conclusion drew his stomach further into a tight knot.
Sai crouched as he reached her side, fingers immediately finding her pulse and determining it to be strong, despite her unconscious state. He lightly tapped her cheek next.
"Sakura." He whispered, although his voice echoed in the cavernous room all the same. "Sakura, wake up."
Another strike of lightning and another heavy shake of the building sent his mice scurrying in frantic circles. Sai hardly spared them a thought as he worked his arms under Sakura and lifted her from the cold stone steps. He had to remove her from the situation, immediately. This was his sole task.
He had barely taken a step when a chill of foreboding slithered down his spine, sending his instincts on high-alert. Sai tensed, and clutched Sakura tighter.
"Oh dear, what do we have here?" A smooth voice lightly called from behind. "A little rat sneaking in to steal what does not belong to him. That simply won't do."
Sai swiftly turned on his heel and shot several steps back, his tanto once more raised defensively as he cradled Sakura to his chest.
There was a lazy hum as a figure stepped out from behind the strange throne at the top of the altar. A flash of light illuminated the man as he leaned against the chair, hand held aloft as he played with one of Sai's mice.
He would've appeared entirely indistinguishable from the dark of the room, dressed as he was in a raven-black kimono, falling in long elegant sheets across his tall, muscular frame. It was only the shining lilac of his eyes and the sheen of his long pale hair that gave him any true form. Sai watched as the silvery-blue of the man's bound hair appeared to shimmer even without light, as did the near-invisible golden glow to his figure.
A glow that was being echoed by the woman in his arms.
"It appears Yukine was right to suspect foul play." The tall man said wistfully. "How unfortunate your race breeds such predictability."
Within an instant, the mouse in his hand pulverised into ink without so much as a twitch of the man's fingers. Sai shifted a step back as instead, a wave of chakra hit him square in the chest almost leaving him breathless. He strayed a glance at Sakura, concern once more clawing at him when she did not even stir with the intense blast.
The man tilted his head at him. "She won't wake." He said kindly, before a wicked smile curved his lips. "Not for you anyway." He stole a step forward, as yet another wave of energy was released from his being. "She has the blood of the Gods flowing through her veins. And like I said before, you are just a rat."
Sai ran his tongue over the sharp edges of his teeth and cast a critical gaze around him before landing once more on his teammate in his arms.
He had to get her out of here. That was his sole objective.
Sai took a careful step back as the man strode another step forward. He would have to sacrifice his defence in order to summon a create to fly Sakura from the fortress. And he would have to be faster than a God.
"Are you going to run, little rat? Or will you be good and entertain me for a while?"
Sai locked his dark eyes on the lavender gaze of the man and decided.
He would not let his family down.
Apologies Taichou. It appears as though I am just as reckless as my Brothers.
Yamato looked around and ground his teeth at the lack of opponents coming to meet their destructive attack. He had driven his Mokuton through the brick walls of the fortress – speared it straight through – and expanded it back out again, just to make a scene. And still none had come to challenge his demolition.
The western front of the four-something storey building was now but a shredded ruin; entire wall faces torn from its structure as easy tearing paper from a book. Whatever light sources originally illuminated the building were now obsolete, only the pale flashes of lightning from the storm casting visibility over the otherwise dim architecture in spontaneous bursts. He had utterly wiped out an entire face of the building and still there was no movement from within, but for the pieces of debris falling from its brittle cling to its ancient standing.
Yamato spared a glance at Kakashi, and found the man to be just as cautiously alert. They had to wait on Sai's signal before splitting off. They needed to keep their opponent's attention occupied before they could afford to draw their gaze to their real target – the damn God – if only their foes would show their faces.
The hundreds of Naruto's that had once been swarming the half-destroyed western front now numbered only one. And as Naruto stood, screaming for a fight at the top of his lungs, Sasuke lingered beside him, his crimson eyes narrowed in critical assessment of the broken building.
"Where are they?" The question ghosted from his mouth as Yamato sent yet another wave of killing intent from his being. It was damn disconcerting. They should've been met with a flying shuriken or an aggravated homeowner at the least. And yet –
"Show yourselves." Sasuke's dark commanded abruptly captured his attention as the Sharingan user shattered a thin veneer of illusion with a sharp glare.
Yamato blinked around the miniscule shift. Nothing appeared to have changed but for the smallest yet most significant of details. Standing on the edge of the crumbling second storey drop, was a smug woman and a giggling man. Yamato guessed he had finally caught a glimpse of this Ara and Hansai.
Great. He hadn't even felt such a subtle, fine-woven genjutsu in all his mindless annihilation of the fortress around them. He had to be more careful. A stray thought had Yamato furrowing his brow in distant consideration.
Naruto's always been hopeless against genjutsu… but Kakashi - ? His rolling confusion was cut short by the woman's call.
"Looking for us, Handsome?" Ara said with a distinct sultry lilt. Her eyes found Kakashi next and she all but sneered in pleasure. "Hey there, Guard Dog. Miss me?"
"Where is Sakura?" Sasuke barked, his katana drawn and pointed up at the woman.
The tall woman threw her head back and tittered. "Missing your little ex-wife, Uchiha?" Her ruby lips curved into a smirk at his brief silence. "I don't believe we've officially met. I'm the woman who has been keeping your precious little Princess company while you've been away."
Yamato clenched his jaw at her taunt, and as Sasuke jerked forward with the intent to no doubt remove her head from her shoulders, it was Naruto's fast reflexes which stayed his advance.
"Sasuke." Naruto warned, eyes shrewd as his chin gestured upwards.
That's when Yamato felt it; the millions of chakra strings cast around them as intricately as a web. Explosive chakra-strings, he reminded himself with a tight jaw. His eyes drifted to the grinning man, watching carefully as Hansai splayed his bandaged fingers in perfect stillness where the rest of him was jerking in minute twitches, enflamed skin peeking out from behind the blood-spotted gauze covering much of his body.
Looks like someone did a number on him before we got here…
"Where is she?" Kakashi's voice sounded from his right, entirely calm where Yamato knew he was as tumultuous as the storm raging at their backs.
"Princess-chan is with Master-Sama." The hunched man answered, cocking his head at them bashfully. "She got hurt cause I played with her too hard. Atsuhiko-sama's been looking after her."
And just like that, whatever advantage Yamato had been building over the man's obvious injury vanished in the face of visceral concern and fury. Like a ripple, a monstrous wave of killing intent rose from each of them.
"If you've touched her – " A rabid growl sounded from Kakashi, echoed by the wicked snarl that slipped past Naruto's lips.
"I'll kill you myself." Sasuke's finished, cold as the wind at their backs.
"Return her to us and no one has to die here today." Yamato heard himself say. He knew he was making an empty offer, with how much of him wanted to exact physical retribution on Sakura's behalf. But Sai hadn't cast the signal, so they needed to buy him some extra time it seemed.
All too soon, Yamato found himself under the woman's careful notice. Like a predator, her golden eyes flashed in the dark of the room. "Why hello Big Boy, I don't believe we've met."
Yamato coiled his muscles under her appraising gaze, half his attention still straining for sight or sound of Sai's signal. Come on, Sai.
"Mm. You must be the Wood-User and likely the one responsible for this lovely mess." Ara kicked at the ground beneath her, sending loose concrete falling to the ground below. "Such a rare jutsu for such a rare man… But I believe we're still down a member."
She drifted off with a thoughtful frown, and Yamato caught sight of the katana at her hip, the dagger strapped to her thigh, and the twin short-swords fastened to her back. She reached a hand out and began to twirl her loose burgundy hair, then she was grinning sharply at them.
"I wonder, where is that ink-haired fellow that usually trails your team like a shadow?" Her question struck a frisson of dread through each of their spines and Yamato fought against the urge to look to Kakashi in alarm. "Now I know you wouldn't be stupid enough to have sent only one of you to sneak around to find our Princess, and while we have a Sensor on high-alert?"
She sighed and locked them under her keen stare. "Why that's practically cruel."
"Ara, stop playing with them."
That new voice had Kakashi straightening and splitting his stance in grim preparation.
A tall dark-haired man melted into view, joining the others on the precipice of the second level. His footfalls were light as he stepped into the fledgling light, dressed in a pressed charcoal hakama. But it was what he held in his arms that forced the air from Yamato's lungs.
"Sai!"
"Shit."
He was hardly recognisable through the copious amounts of blood covering his body in slick sheets as he dangled limply from their enemy. There was no way to tell one injury from the next – no way to tell if he was in fact still breathing. There was just so much blood.
"Sai! Hold on! Damnit! You'll pay for this you – " Naruto had barely jerked a step forward before Sasuke barred an arm in front of his chest.
"Ah, ah, ah. Careful not to touch." Hansai sang, "My strings are very sharp and explosive." And then the man drifted one hand over Sai's bloodied, still body. "I twitch my finger, and he can wave his limbs goodbye… Or at least try to, without any arms."
Yamato watched, sick to his stomach as the man proceeded to manipulate his strings to curl around Sai, lifting a lifeless arm to wave it at them.
A red-hot twist of chakra bubbled from Naruto, "You're going to wish you never touched my friends."
"Mmm that's more like it." The woman purred, a glint to her gaze. "Sakura was right, I do like you, Blondie. Your whole team really. Such a fine collection of rare males." Her eyes sharpened to slits. "A pity I've never been very fond of men."
"Ooh! Yuki, yuki look!" Hansai cried, his face inches above Sai's. "He's getting close to death. That means I can have him soon, right?"
Another surge of molten-hot chakra burst through Naruto's composure as the freak began to toy with Sai's unmoving body. "Don't you touch him!"
Yamato glanced sharply at the streaks of red which began to flare off his tanned skin. "Naruto, calm down – "
"Oh no, the Demon Fox doesn't like it when I steal his friends. Boo!" Hansai cackled, and abruptly tore Sai's body from Yukine's arms to dangle him in the air right before their eyes; displaying him like a fly caught in a spider's web.
"Sasuke, take Naruto and go." Kakashi ordered tersely, steely eyes straying to the seething Uchiha.
"Oh? Does that mean I get to keep him?" Hansai exclaimed, revelling in the fury that he sparked in Naruto. "I get the friends the Demon Fox leaves behind!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke barked, struggling to haul Naruto back as he lurched forth, a blind rage overtaking him.
Yamato spared a desperate glance at Kakashi. He's losing control… Kurama is being invited to play now. He flexed his hands. Shit. I can't afford to take Naruto out of this fight. He can't afford to lose control!
"We'll kill you!" A furious growl tore from Naruto's throat, an echo of the beast stirring within.
Kakashi stole a step towards Naruto before flinching back from the chakra-strings cutting into his skin. "Stop it, Naruto! Don't let him manipulate you!"
With a hysterical giggle, Hansai strung Sai's limbs apart and tilted his head back with his strings. "I think I'd like to watch this one bleed to death. As slow and as painful as the Demon Fox's betrayal to run from his friends. But don't worry, Demon. I take good care of my friends."
Yamato saw what was about to happen a second before it unfolded. With a feral roar, Naruto wrestled himself from Sasuke's straining hold and pitched towards the mocking bastard, regardless of the sharp strings tearing into his skin.
And it was with his own hard-wired reflexes that Yamato managed to stop the blond from decapitating himself as his Mokuton shot up from the earth and constrained him to the spot; wrapping him in tight wooden vines. He ignored the curious interest in Ara, and the apathetic stare of the man known as Yukine. All he could focus on was keeping a hold of Naruto as the boy growled and tore at his restraints, familiar red chakra sparking and seeping past his skin.
"Sasuke, Kakashi go!" He shouted, shoulders shaking from the strength with which Naruto fought his wood release.
"Tenzou – "
"Just go Kakashi! I'm the only one who can contain him." Yamato grimaced as Naruto thrashed once more. "We can't let him face a fucking God in this state. I'll get him to you once we're under control. Just go get Sakura!"
He felt the burn of Kakashi's stare as freshly as he felt the burn of his muscles. He didn't have to look to see the hesitation on his Senpai's face. Three against two weren't terrible odds. But three against one – when one was also in charge of containing a raging Kyuubi and responsible for a comrade held hostage – was a damn near terrible probability.
"Don't take too long." Kakashi said at last, and Yamato could hear his frustration going to war with concern and trust.
Despite everything, he let a grim smile pull at his lips. "We'll be the ones waiting on you if you don't hurry the hell up, Kakashi."
That was all Sasuke apparently needed to hear. Abrupt as the lightning he wields, the Uchiha unleashed a powerful electrical strike from his being, clearing the area of its chakra-webs in swift assault. The charged air had barely begun to dissipate the smoulder of fried chakra when Yamato was locked under swirling red and lilac eyes.
"Tell Naruto he's an idiot when he wakes up."
In the next moment, Kakashi and Sasuke were gone and Yamato was left with his self-proclaimed fallout.
Shit. This was not part of the plan.
Kakashi tore through the ruin of the fortress; pieces of brick and concrete half-standing from where Tenzou and repeatedly speared the building through. He tried not to dwell on the absolute disaster of their plans, just as he tried not to dwell on the fact that they were the two worst people to be possibly charging towards Sakura's unknown fate.
The worst; because no one could have a greater conflict of interest, a greater emotional stake, a greater skew of priorities to deal with such a situation than the man running right beside him.
Shit. This was one of the reasons he and Tenzou agreed to get Sakura out first, then send Naruto and Sasuke in after. She meant too much to them. All of them. And Kakashi had been equal parts relieved and torn to be assigned the role of running interference in their plan.
But then, really, they should've considered the reality of their team's luck.
They weren't equipped to deal with this specific disarray of their careful planning. In fact, Tenzou had strictly planned against this particular combination of 'teams'. His Kohai had been smart enough to avoid putting one and one together, but it appeared the Universe always had other intentions.
Now, here they were; two fools in love, desperately running headfirst and willing into a painfully obvious trap. Hearts and minds intent on the same woman…
And yet, part of Kakashi couldn't help but feel selfishly relieved to get to see her for himself. To be part of the fight to win Sakura back, no matter the torture such a fight would no doubt inflict upon him. He could never abandon her. Never, ever again.
He had sworn to himself he was going to bring her home. And now, racing towards the God who held her ransom, Kakashi couldn't help but revel in his iron-clad will to do just that.
Hold on for me, Sakura. I'm coming for you.
"Huh. Well that worked better than expected." Ara tipped her head in the direction the Uchiha and Rokudaime had swiftly disappeared and let a wry smile twist her cherry-painted lips. "I'd accuse you of planning this, but I know even you weren't anticipating Hansai to be clever enough to switch targets from the Uchiha to the Kyuubi container."
Yukine graced her with a bored glance, hands back within the folds of his blood-dipped sleeves. "It matters not. The Uchiha was never going to be manipulated by Hansai's whims a second time. It is merely fortunate that Hansai's provocations sought such a visceral reaction from the Jinchuuriki."
Ara nodded absently, her eyes already straying back to the precious Wood-User below, desperately trying to talk sense into a raging animal. The gravely sound of his roars were almost enough to drown out Hansai's cackling, and with a sigh Ara flicked her hair over her shoulder.
"Well, three is clearly overkill here. You go on ahead."
"Atsuhiko-sama made it clear – "
"He said he wanted the Uchiha himself." She finished waspishly, half-buried anger crawling back to the surface at the mere recollection of their orders. "Our tenacious little Guard Dog was never invited to party."
" – Fuck! Snap out of it, Naruto!"
A harsh slap clapped through the ruins and Ara found her attention straying back to the agitated man at their feet, his stress as palpable as the icy wind against their skin. This was going to be too easy. Ara almost pitied the turn of events. Yet, it was that same pitifulness that drove her tenuous mood to a sour point. The sooner this was over, the better.
"Get the hell out of here before you get on my nerves." She clipped, unsheathing her dagger with a casual flick of her wrist. "You made a promise to that Hatake didn't you? Go run along and show him just what an unsympathetic asshole you really are."
She hoped he caught the venom in her words, she wasn't trying very hard to hide it.
Ara had to smirk at his unimpressed stare, although that did little to conceal the thoughtfulness she saw flash behind his calm eyes. She watched as Yukine catalogued Hansai's swaying posture as he played with the suspended body tangled in his strings, sparing only a brief disinterested glance at the scrambling pair below. She could practically hear his disappointment in the emotional exhibitions of such 'revered' individuals as the Heroes of the Fourth Shinobi War.
Good. Let him be disappointed in people. Let him see how it feels.
Dark emerald eyes found her as Yukine turned definitively on his heel. "Do what you like. Just put them out of their misery."
It was an order as much as it was sigh, and Ara had to wonder if he was waiting for the exact same thing.
The sneer she rewarded him with was as bitter as her contempt for him in that moment. "Give Guard Dog my best."
Yukine spared her an indecipherable glance, then departed back into the shadows, and Ara was left with a group of scrabbling men and the tempered steel in her hands. The perfect tool in keeping every one of them at arms-length, until she cut them down as she had always done before.
Sasuke could feel it. The damn beacon that was calling to him like a siren in the night, mocking him. That steady pulse of chakra that guided him to the large double-doors.
He didn't hesitate in blasting the doors open; the heavy pieces of iron screeching as they exploded outwards and scattered across the length of the room. Despite his swirling Sharingan, the room was dim as he entered, Kakashi at his back. But that did little to hide the fresh streaks of blood staining the floor, as though a body had been dragged.
A sickeningly detached part of his mind informed him it was Sai's blood. And as Sasuke's eyes followed that crimson trail to where a discarded tanto was laying amuck in a puddle of blood, that same part of his mind was disturbingly relieved.
Better him than Sakura.
Sasuke didn't bother feeling guilty over the fleeting thought; not when the entirety of his being was consumed by the sight that next met his eyes.
He saw her first. The cotton-pink of her hair, laced with pearls and fine golden pins as it sat gathered in an artful bun. He traced the contours of her figure, wrapped in delicate whites and sparking an all too uncomfortable yearning in him. He devoured the precious silk of her ivory skin, the pink of her lips, the fullness of her lashes – so blessedly unharmed.
He memorised the angle of her smooth, long neck as she lay draped across another man.
"Sakura!"
The urgent call of her name came from Kakashi, and that was when Sasuke allowed himself to see the man she was wrapped around.
There, sitting on a damn throne was this 'God', smiling kindly at them while he stroked his hand up and down the length of Sakura's arm from where she was comfortably sat upon his legs.
Sasuke wanted to be sick. He couldn't tell if the static chocking the air was from him or Kakashi. In the end it didn't matter; Sakura was here and she wasn't even looking at them.
"So we meet, Uchiha Sasuke." Atsuhiko said, a tilt to his head as he slipped his fingers into the gap between Sakura's neck and the collar of her white kimono. "And I was beginning to think this Woman's value to you had been greatly overstated."
Sasuke swallowed hard at the way Sakura bared her throat to the man as he further ran his fingers over her neck, her jewel eyes hidden beneath her lashes.
There was a cold growl to his left when Kakashi demanded, "What have you done to her?"
The God merely traced his fingers along her jaw, answering softly, "Sakura has been fed a steady intake of my blood in order to strengthen our bond. She may be mortal, but she was remarkably alluring in her strength of fortitude to resist me."
Lavender eyes flickered up to them, "I dare say you should be proud of how long she held-out against the inevitable. Such a stubborn little thing she was." He said lovingly to her crown. "A lesser man might've been infuriated by such a fact but, well… I am no mere man."
Sasuke didn't realise he had drifted a step forward until he was pinned back under the God's piercing gaze. "However, she and I have made amends. Our gift of connection won't be wasted and I have no desire to physically harm her. Unless you force my hand, which would be unfavourable."
"Your fight is with me. Sakura has nothing to do with this." Sasuke wound his hand tight around the hilt of his katana, despite his bored tone of speech.
Atsuhiko chuckled lightly, burying his lips against Sakura's hair as he eyed them indulgently.
"Such is the folly of man. To reject this Woman after all the suffering merely knowing you has put her through. And yet she remained loyal to your safety to the very end."
Sasuke couldn't tell if it was the air itself that turned thin, or if his own lungs had betrayed his ability to breathe; the God's words suffocating him in relentless truth.
Atsuhiko's lips pulled into a tight grim line. "Her devotion to your team" he spat, "has been most exhausting. The lengths she went to, and for what? For the petty disregard of her own kin. You disservice her by claiming her exclusion, Uchiha Sasuke, when it was you whoinvolved her in the first place."
"Release her!" Kakashi barked, tension spiking from his tightly coiled chakra presence.
But Sasuke could only stare deep into the eyes of the God who would not be disarmed by the fierce spinning of his doujutsu.
Atsuhiko scoffed at their stand, raising a silver brow at them. "It was my initial plan to tear the fruit from the Woman's grasp and then watch as you pitifully surrendered your eyes to me in exchange for her life. Yet I find myself dissatisfied with such a notion."
Sasuke watched as the God plucked a golden pin from Sakura's obi and pierced the tip into his finger until it bled. Then with careful handling, he placed his fingertip at Sakura's mouth and dragged his blood along the seam of her lips, colouring her crimson. A pleased smirk tugged the corner of his mouth as Sakura sluggishly tilted her chin up and licked her lips.
"No." Atsuhiko said tenderly, triumphantly, "Sakura shall tear your eyes from her skull herself and then your last moments will be spent listening as she rewards our achievement by giving me the Pomegranate. And we shall eat it and share our lifeblood with those loyal to me. I will rule supreme over this realm. And you, Uchiha Sasuke will be felled by your own inability to see what was right in front of you the whole time."
Devil-red eyes recorded the fine details of Sakura parting her lips around that bastard's finger, and taking it into her pink mouth. Sasuke couldn't hear over the roaring of blood in his ears.
"I thought you wanted to return to your own realm?" It was Kakashi who led the allegation while Sasuke could do nothing but watch as Sakura leisurely accepted Atsuhiko's ceaseless touch.
Atsuhiko shrugged, "Change befalls us all, young mortal. It is the premise of evolution with the promise of extinction. I was cast aside here, thrown away to live among my so called 'brethren'. A King among rats. Well, now I have embraced that creed, so thrust upon me, as I will soon embrace you all."
The man withdrew his finger from Sakura's lips and used it to tilt her chin up to his face, staring raptly at her peaceful expression. "Beginning with my little mortal here."
"You'll be dead before you can lay another hand on her, you – " Kakashi's sharp growl was cut off as he abruptly pivoted to the left and avoided the whistling of a shuriken flying past his head.
Sasuke tore his eyes away from Sakura as he acknowledged the fourth presence entering the room, cursing himself for not realising sooner that they were followed.
"Apologies for my interruption, Atsuhiko-sama." Yukine said mildly, gliding into the room. "I was under the impression Hatake Kakashi would be an unwelcome presence in your endeavour with the Uchiha."
"Yukine-san." Kakashi acknowledged, voice dipped in bitterness.
"Kakashi-san, I must again extend my condolences that I will deny you your goal one more."
Sasuke split his focus back to the 'God' as he waved a hand with an amused smile. "You're always so considerate, Yukine." He said with mirth, his lips brushing against Sakura's temple. "It seems you have a score of your own to settle with our esteemed Rokudaime. So please, do not let me interrupt."
Sasuke caught Kakashi's soft curse as the man shifted his back against his own. "Sasuke." He said and it was as much a warning as it was an order.
Sasuke took a breath and let his back press against Kakashi's for a brief moment in acknowledgement. He understood. Sakura was his priority. If he could separate her from Atsuhiko long enough to give her to Kakashi, then he could deal with the false God once and for all. With a slow flex of his wrist, his katana was drawn, the sound of metal loud in the dense quiet.
"Oh? So eager to fight me are you, Uchiha? Are you that prepared to offer your life to your God so quickly?" Atsuhiko's smile turned oily.
"You're not a God yet." Sasuke said simply, looking down the tempered steel of his blade as he held it aloft. "I see no reason why you won't die at the end of my blade like so many before you. I haven't met a 'God' yet who didn't bleed like the rest of us. Nothing can stop me from cutting you down."
"Not even Sakura?"
Sasuke ignored the hollowing of his chest as his sword remained firm and uncompromising in his grip. "I told you, she has nothing to do with this."
There was a shift to the man's posture at that, a subtle tension lining his shoulders as he regarded him in careful appraisal, expression cast somewhere between disdain and amusement.
"Be that as it may, Uchiha. Your declaration is a double-edged sword and something tells me you've only ever used such a tool to fight for yourself. Tell me, how well does your katana parry against the bodies of your friends?" Sakura arched as Atsuhiko curled his arm tighter around her waist. "Or have you sharpened it to slice right through their flesh with as much ease and disregard as you cut through life?"
The man's words prodded something within him, but still Sasuke did not give him the satisfaction of a response. Showing any sort of regard for Sakura would only increase her value to him to be used as leverage.
"Are you looking for a demonstration?" Sasuke retorted blithely, ignoring the twinge of tension transferring from Kakashi's body into his own.
Atsuhiko sighed then, leaning back in his chair as his hand came back up to play with the loose hair at the nape of Sakura's neck as she relaxed into him.
"I quite despise mortals like you. Power for powers sake. You don't even respect the gifts you have; don't appreciate the things you could achieve with them. You squander them as you've squandered your connection to this woman. You are a mere rat who stumbled upon greatness and became too accustomed to reaping the benefits of that privilege. Who are you to wield a God's power and do nothing with it?"
Sasuke wanted to shut Atsuhiko up. He wanted to run his katana through his throat and watch him die in his mortal throne. It was only Sakura's presence that stopped him.
"You claim detachment to this Woman." Atsuhiko continued, "So I wonder if you would hesitate in cutting her down to get to me like you so promise?"
Sasuke felt Kakashi's violent twitch, and he purposefully pushed back against him as he made to turn around. He hoped the elbow he dug into Kakashi's ribs would keep the man focused on his own target. He didn't need his former Sensei throwing himself between them yet again in a fit of misguided concern… however rightfully founded.
Sasuke scoffed, "I didn't realise God's needed to hide behind mere humans to fight their battles for them."
Atsuhiko's lips thinned as lavender eyes curved. "You spoke of a demonstration before." He said, long fingers trailing to cup Sakura's cheek and turn her face in Sasuke's direction. "Would you care for a demonstration of Sakura's 'mere humanity'?"
Sasuke kept his face neutral as he intently studied the soft expression on Sakura's smooth face. Then Atsuhiko was leaning over her and whispering something into her ear. In an instant, Sasuke was pinned under Sakura's bright viridian eyes, and he couldn't breathe when they showed no recognition.
"Sakura, dear. I do believe it's rude not to greet your friends who have travelled so far to see you. Won't you say hello?"
It began with a slow blink – jade eyes hidden for another tortuous moment before they settled on him in intent focus. Then came the sensuous shift of movement; a dainty ankle peeking out of delicate white as she stood and left the confines of Atsuhiko's embrace. A gentle cock of her pink head as she took silent steps down the alter and dyed her bare feet red with Sai's spilt blood.
Sasuke dragged air in through his nose as she continued to calmly approach him, his back unwittingly retreating into Kakashi's as Sakura stepped right up to the point of his blade; the hollow of her throat reverently cradling its sharp point as she stood staring at him with blank green eyes.
Then she took another step and Sasuke almost choked as she forced him to draw blood from her smooth neck. His chest rattled as she took another step, and Sasuke was forced to weaken his hold on his katana so as to not run her though.
It was barely a flex of muscle; the smallest twinge had only just begun to lower his guard when Sasuke was abruptly ripped from her presence by a harsh yank on his collar. He stumbled back and got his feet under him as he was pulled several feet from his initial position.
Sasuke righted himself with a grunt and glared at the hand at his scruff, a tender fury bubbling up to curse Kakashi out for interfering – he still doesn't trust me. He thought I would kill her. He –
But then he followed the line of Kakashi's glare, and Sasuke's rage stalled in his throat as he traced the older man's gaze to Sakura, where she was holding a golden pin outstretched; piercing the air where his heart would've been a fraction of a second earlier.
He wasn't saving her from me… Kakashi was…
"Snap out of it, Sasuke." It was then he found himself under strident steel eyes, the admonishment equal parts nostalgic and novel. "If you let Sakura hurt you she will never forgive herself."
It was like the world had been tipped back into balance in the most sardonic of ways, and against all odds, Sasuke found grim clarity.
"Aa." The weight of his blade settled into the callouses of his right hand as Sasuke let his eyes travel to the amused stare of Sakura's captor then back to the blank-eyed woman herself. "I won't let her dirty her hands like that."
There was a heavy breath over his shoulder and Kakashi's hand fell away. "Don't underestimate her, Sasuke."
Lazy red pinwheels spun as he took in the shift of white fabric, Sakura returning the pin into the gathered hair at her head, barely a whisper of chakra escaping her quiet yet undeniable presence.
"It is decidedly foolish to take your eyes off your opponent, Kakashi-san." Yukine commented, "Not to mention disrespectful."
The warmth at his back retreated as Kakashi peeled himself from his side, and Sasuke didn't need to look behind him to know his Sensei was sparing his students a final aching glance. The cynical part of Sasuke scoffed at such a soft-hearted reluctance, but for all his battle-hardened prowess, he was the one who had hesitated to fight Sakura.
As Sasuke measured Sakura's patient stance, he had to wonder if maybe Kakashi was seeing something different in her cool gaze. He had to wonder when his Sensei stopped seeing the shadow of a young girl in Sakura the way Sasuke was… Had to wonder if it was his own arrogance or something else that blocked him from recognising her as an opponent when she had already proven herself fierce as she was skilled.
There was a murmur of movement at his back and Sasuke distantly acknowledged that Kakashi had begun his own fight, no doubt eager for the man to be dealt with. Yet Sasuke stalled. The woman before his eyes slowly raised her fists, hazy around the edges in gold chakra as she slipped into a defensive stance. Despite the display of her blazing chakra, he could barely feel her, and the thought sent his mood into a further downward spiral.
Sasuke took a breath and readjusted his grip on his blade. Why was he still hesitating? He couldn't afford to overlook her ruthlessness for imprints of softness in his impression of all things Sakura. He hadn't faltered at all in the past when she came between his sword and his goal, so what was different now?
Sakura moved before he could consider the truth of the notion and Sasuke only avoided her chakra-enthralled strike by a hair's breadth as she launched at him with intent to kill. He jumped back as she drove him into a corner, swinging at him in fine-tuned movements and not allowing him a moment's space.
She was fast, blindingly so. And Sasuke wasn't too proud to admit that whatever 'power-up' her connection to Atsuhiko had given her, she likely wouldn't even need to put him in the ground, permanently. Sakura was a force of nature in her own right, and he had been selfishly oblivious to her prowess to ever consider the danger she would impose on him, should she ever choose.
His katana lay useless in his grip, half his mind dedicated to angling the blade away from her every advance so as not to nick her, even as she barrelled forward in swift and hammering taijutsu, pushing him further and further from Atsuhiko.
His Sharingan spun fiercely, eyes locked and waiting for the moment she would look deep into them – and Sasuke couldn't decide if he was unsurprised or impressed that she never did. And as he narrowly avoided another strike to his chest, the resulting attack hitting a concrete column and shattering it into crumbling dust, Sasuke suddenly became aggravated.
Red and purple blazed as he slipped under her swing and kicked at her back, but Sakura dropped into a split and used his opening to drive a pin into the thigh of his supporting leg, immediately numbing the appendage. Sasuke hissed as she made her mark and pivoted to catch her exposed neck with the hilt of his blade.
He didn't expect the breath of relief when she caught his wrist with her hand, halting the blow. However, Sasuke had to react on reflex when she began crushing the bones in his hand. He used her harsh grip to pull her closer and swiftly drove his knee up into her face with enough power to break her nose. The moment she released him to avoid the hit, Sasuke shot back several feet and ripped the golden pin from his tingling leg, tossing it with dead accuracy at the smirking false God.
Sasuke grit his teeth when instead, Sakura threw her body in front of Atsuhiko to take the projectile in the meat of her shoulder, not even flinching. There wasn't even a twinge of discomfort as she slowly withdrew the bloodied needle and slid it back into her hair, straightening her posture and turning her back on him – as though he wasn't worth her remaining attention.
"Nice catch." Atsuhiko smiled with pride tilting his head at Sakura affectionately.
Sasuke frowned at her quiet retreat to Atsuhiko's side, his eyes sliding fractionally to the God's amused smile. He readied his blade, coiling his muscles. Then, Sakura turned and Sasuke had to swallow his curse when he saw Sai's tanto flying towards his face with lethal aim and speed, a whistle of chakra on its tail.
When did she - ?
He impulsively locked eyes onto Atsuhiko and, with a calculative twitch, switched their positions. When Sasuke reappeared in a twist of chakra on the other side of the room, he was met with a crunch of bone as Sakura drove her knuckles into his chest, cracking ribs where she otherwise could've worn his body like a bracelet.
The action winded him nevertheless and Sasuke was sent flying back into the stone wall, splintering the concrete with a mighty crack. Pain exploded as his body ricocheted off the wall and he could only glare up at the image of Atsuhiko laughing into his sleeve as he stood once more by Sakura's side; running a hand over her pink head, Sai's tanto lazily held aloft in his grip.
"You are going too easy on him, Sakura. I never realised you were the tormenting sort to be dragging out his humiliation. Although I do admit, you certainly have a penchant for entertainment." And then the man was pressing the tanto into Sakura's hand, eyes alight with predatory glee. "Why not continue the show for me, hm?"
Sakura's green eyes flit over Sasuke in bland assessment as she leaned into Atsuhiko's touch, hand curled loosely over bloodied steel. Not a single hair out of place, not a shade of emotion crossing her serene face as she stood with the grace of a Goddess. Sasuke worked his jaw as he considered the truth of the man's taunt.
Neither of them had even begun to scratch the surface of their capabilities and Sasuke dreaded to acknowledge the fact that he had never been very good at holding back and Sakura was all but forcing him into a death match.
'And you, Uchiha Sasuke will be felled by your own inability to see what was right in front of you the whole time'
"Fuck."
Timber groaned as he writhed, skin chaffed raw with ruthless aggression. Elongated canines pierced his snarling lips and fabric strained under the heat of his boiling rage.
We'll kill him. We'll kill them all. Let them see the wrath of the beast! Let them taste our fury as they choke on their own blood!
Gnashing teeth, clawing nails and the surge of animalistic power he didn't want to control.
No one controls us, no one crosses us, no one survives us. Not when they've come for what's ours.
Terrible, sweet chakra encompassing, pulsing, ready to be unleashed.
Unleash me, Naruto. Unleash us. God's and their pets have no place here. This is our world. These are our kin.
" – Fuck! Snap out of it, Naruto!"
A harsh spike of pain started from his cheek and echoed through his body stalling his mind, and suddenly Naruto couldn't move. He blinked, his world painted in shades of red, and Naruto jerked with realisation. He saw through beastly eyes; Sai suspended in strings, saw Yamato's desperation, saw that they were now alone and exposed because of his rage.
With a harsh pant he turned his anger inwards.
"Kurama, stop!"
The curling hatred roiled beneath his skin. "Why should I? They invited me out to play. You'll need me, Kit."
"Not like this!" Naruto shouted in the depths of his mind
"Why not? They deserve our rage, Naruto. They deserve the beast."
"That's not who we are." He countered, a thin veneer of control slithering back within his grasp. "And if we're stupid enough to get baited into acting like a monster, then we may as kill our friends ourselves."
Stillness overcame him; the roar becoming a rumble. A deadly twitch of claws and violent swish of tails and Kurama pulled back with a sneer.
"Fine." He bit out, tempered but not tamed. "But if I catch you losing, I ain't sitting back. I'll take full control, Naruto."
Despite the latent anger still simmering in his veins, Naruto smiled with genuine warmth in the face of Kurama's promise. "I understand."
With a glare of ruby eyes, Kurama withdrew.
Naruto came back to himself with a shudder, his body confined as Yamato stared at him in cautious concern.
"I'm sorry, Taichou." He dipped his head in brief shame as wooden tendrils unwound from his cooling skin.
"Sasuke and Kakashi have gone after Sakura and the God." Yamato said grimly, running his eyes over him. "We need to deal with these three and get Sai to safety before we can go further."
Naruto glanced sharply up at his audience and furrowed his brow. "Three?" And it was only after he heard Yamato's curse that he let the creeping guilt settle fully into his stomach.
"The Sensor must've gone after them. We don't have time to waste. We need to get you to Sasuke and that God."
"Well that certainly does sound important." A woman's voice sounded from far too close behind them.
Naruto turned abruptly to see Ara standing at their backs, inspecting her red nails in boredom. He took a step back, his eyes tracing fractionally back to the second storey where he had just been staring at her, to find her… still there?
"Kai!"
A wave of chakra dispelled her image and Naruto blinked, whirling to find her sitting ten meters to the left on a lump of rock, playing with her hair. The real her.
"You're lucky I let you play out your little beastly role-play, Hun. It would've been far too easy to behead your friend here while he was busy trying to appeal to your fairer nature." Ara drawled, inspecting her hair and trimming the ends with her dagger.
"Naruto, get out of here." Yamato ordered.
"No, I won't lea – "
Naruto cut off as his instincts screamed to life. In the span of a heartbeat, he hauled Yamato off his feet and jumped with him several yards back and away from their position, pops of explosions trailing their escape.
Hysterical laughter cracked like a whip above them as Naruto and Yamato glared up at Hansai, the man curling dirty fingers into his hair as he heaved elatedly.
"Oi! You idiot! Watch where you pop your rocks off." Ara shouted, similarly coiled a good distance from the blazing rubble.
"Sorry Ara-chan! But the Demon Fox was going to leave. I won't let him run away from me again."
An itch of anger scratched at him, but Naruto swallowed it down in favour of setting his clear sights on the freak. "I'm not leaving until I teach you a lesson."
"Naruto – "
Yamato's protest was cut off by the woman as she once more appeared out of thin air at their side. "You've got other things to worry about, Handsome."
Naruto had already begun attempting to cycle his chakra to dispel the genjutsu when he was ripped away from a blade slashing at his neck.
"That was wasn't genjutsu, Naruto." Yamato clipped, his hands clashing together and sending a tangle of wood hurtling towards Ara, who neatly began dodging with a sleek smile on her crimson lips.
"Then it looks like you've got your opponent and I've got mine." He growled, blue eyes straying to Hansai and then to Sai, where his brother was still suspended in the air by strings.
There was a grimace as Yamato exhaled sharply through his nose, before he passed a brief glance back at him. "If you get a chance to go, you go."
"Not without Sai."
And if Naruto wasn't already looking, he might've missed the soft pride in Yamato's hard, almond eyes. "I'll keep her off your back." The man said with a nod before unlocking his fingers and turning his sole attention on Ara.
"Just get yourself clear of this maniac's blast radius. I'll handle the rest." Naruto assented, reaching up to fix his headband, wrapping fingers around the worn headpiece.
"Oh, and Sasuke said you're an idiot." Yamato recited with a murmur of mirth before darting off towards the woman, a clang of metal filling the heated air.
A weak smile pulled at his lips. "Well, I'll just have to prove the bastard wrong, won't I."
Hansai's blistered fingers twitched and the pale boy's body did a dance just for him. He had heard the Demon Fox call him 'Sai' and Hansai thought that he liked the name. This Sai would be a perfect new friend. A friend to replacethe ones he had lost.
"Release my friend." The Demon Fox demanded, although now he looked more man than beast.
"But he's going to be my friend now. The perfect replacement."
Hansai didn't understand at all the way his words made the Demon Fox tic and seethe. But the action made him giggle all the same. He flexed his fingers and made sure to keep Sai's body nice and secure in his chakra-web and then slowly reached into the folds of his robe.
The Demon Fox traced his movements with bright blue eyes, but he didn't move. Hansai cocked his head, wondering what had changed to make him lot more patient than he was a few minutes ago. When he withdrew the storage scrolls from his pockets, he saw the Demon Fox hunch his shoulders and Hansai gave him a feral yellow smile.
"Do you want to meet his new brothers and sisters?"
He didn't wait for the Demon Fox to answer, rolling out the scroll and pulsing his chakra into it – just like Yuki taught him to do. With a flourish, he spread his strings out and called upon his pets, and like the good boys and girls they were; they came to him.
"What the hell?" The Demon Fox cursed, beautiful disgust painted all over his whiskered face as the heady smell of decay permeated the cold air.
"Do you like them?" Hansai asked shyly, before turning wistful. "No one else seems to… People hate dead things, they try to bury them away, forget about them."
He remembered the fires the Villagers had tried to throw him into, the burning pit where they put all their dead. When people found out what he did, they never liked him much. They would call him names like 'monster' and 'freak'. They hated him, just as they hated all dead things. People like them didn't deserve the dead.
"But I save them!" Hansai cried, spit flying from his chewed lips. "I remember them! I play with them! I give them friends!"
Like a swarm, his friends surrounded him – each one as perfect and beautiful as the next. Some were missing eyes, or legs or even their jaws. Others had skin that had begun to rot, or bones that peeked through their paper-thin hide. The newer ones were still a little clean, still looked a little too alive; with muscle mass and unbroken skin and all their hair.
But all of them, he loved.
Hansai looked back down at the Demon Fox when he was too quiet. He cocked his head, wondering if the great Hero Uzumaki Naruto would hate them too? For some reason, Hansai thought that if anyone else could love the unlovable, it might be a Hero.
A Hero who was also a Demon...
"What you're doing is wrong. How dare you disrespect their memory." The Demon Fox was saying now, deathly calm as something intense blanketed him.
And Hansai gasped as he realised something important.
"You're just like me." He whispered in awe, catching the Demon Fox off guard. "You're a monster and you love your friends!"
Hansai couldn't believe it had taken him so long to figure it out. Maybe this was why Yuki had sent him on his task to separate the Demon Fox from the Uchiha and Princess-chan. Yuki was trying to show him a new friend. A best friend. Someone like him.
The Demon Fox stilled, something strange passing over his eyes. "We're nothing alike."
Was all he said, and then he was pressing his hands together and he multiplied. Hansai had never been very good at counting but Yuki taught him well enough to know that there had to be more than fifty. A hysterical laugh slipped from his lips. He saw him do it once before, when they fought at the Seal, but seeing it up so close. Seeing how easy it was for him.
"You have so many friends, whenever you want! So many, you could never be lonely." He said excitedly, and didn't at all understand why yet again the Demon Fox looked in pain and lost.
Hansai wasn't a very good ninja, he only knew what Yuki taught him, and Yuki wasn't even a ninja either. But Hansai did know that the Demon Fox's friends were only clones – they looked just like him, anyway! And he was suddenly very envious. Clones would never wither away like the dead did – until they were only bones and ash and nothing left for him to draw friendship out of.
No one knew better than Hansai that even the dead still die. And he was tired of burying his friends. The dead were beautiful, but the undying were…forever…
"Will you teach me to be like you?" he asked carefully, polite as possible.
Hansai wanted to clutch at his robes in nerves but then he would drop his friends, and he wouldn't let his friends fall in front of the Demon Fox – he would surely never forgive something like that.
Hansai watched, riveted to hundreds of bright blue eyes as the Demon Fox's frowned and looked so terribly sad. Then one, the real one spoke to him, soft yet strong as a mountain.
"This world hasn't been kind to you. I can only pray that in the next life you'll live a decent one."
Hansai ducked his head to hide the way his anxious smile turned sour and crooked. He knew this feeling. He hated it. His strings wreathed around him protectively as something ugly wailed in his soul. Another rejection.
Even a Demon can't love us.
With a battle cry, the Demon's clones charged and Hansai felt himself answer his call with a scream of his own. Like a flock of pretty birds, his friends leapt from the ledge and met the Demon's in a clash of colour and flutter.
Hansai watched it all through wet eyes and a strained grin. A battle of friendship. And he wanted to be the victor. So bad.
There was a screech and then a boom. Ara and her opponent had enough sense of mind to disengage in order to avoid the shake of fire, rain of smoke and the occasional body part flung over their heads. She sidestepped a spray of gore and absently took note of Hansai's manic howl as he blew up yet another one of his 'friends'. The idiot.
"Shall we take our dance a little further from party?" Ara suggested as they skirted another round of explosives, her short swords drawn, having lost her dagger to one of his craftier Doton's.
The man shook dust and debris from his head, his fingers likely aching from alternating between dispelling her genjutsu and summoning his wood release. "Not a fan of the heat?"
"I don't particularly enjoy getting my hair singed off, no." Ara pouted with a lick of disdain, smugly eyeing the sluggish bleed of a long gash along the man's arm.
"Well then, allow me to take the lead on this one."
A wall of earth charged at her, driving her out into the thunderstorm and onto the sloshy earth. Her heeled boots skidded across the wet slush as she landed, Yamato swiftly on her tail and sending a volley of shuriken flying. Ara evaded the projectiles just in time to meet his next blow, her short swords crossed to take the downward parry of his tanto.
She smirked at his inferior steel. "You know, I like a man who takes control." She said just to watch him cringe. "Will you show me what you can really do with your wood, big guy?"
She let her grip on her swords slip enough to dislodge the weight of his blade and then used his faltering to advance; the tip of her sword just scratching the tin plating of his head-piece.
"I thought you hated all men?" He grunted as he ducked and weaved, once more creating distance as the rain poured relentlessly around them, soaking them through.
"Oh absolutely." Ara tossed her wet hair over her shoulder. "But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the way they writhe and beg when they die. But until that point, I like to decipher their gleam."
The man frowned, his eyes growing clouded. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"The things that matter to them, what they value most in the world. What they would do to protect and preserve it. And you, darling have quite the warm glow." She tilted her head, intrigue lining her shoulders. "So which is it, I wonder… Is it desperation that fuels your glow, or perhaps even fear?"
"Kai!"
Ara smiled as Yamato dispelled her genjutsu, turning wildly to block her slashing blow with a clumsy tanto. She slanted forward and then had to retreat when creeping wooden vines began wrapping around her ankles, forcing her to sacrifice offense for defence. It was only her secondary genjutsu that kept her head attached to her shoulders as Yamato's knife edge missed her neck by a scant centimetre. Tricky things orientation genjutsu were – hard to counter what you cannot strictly measure.
Ara laughed as Yamato let a soft curse pass his lips and dispelled her jutsu yet again, but by that point she was already several feet away.
"It's a noble glow, I'll give you that. You fight for your team. But the way I see it, that sort of determination stems from only one seed." Her fingers remained firmly wrapped around steel as she knitted genjutsu into thin layers around him. "So… who abandoned and hurt you so bad you've felt the need to never let go again?"
"Kami, do you ever shut up?" The man groused, once more looking just past her.
Her grin grew sharp as she peeled from her illusions' position and crept up behind him, sword raised. "Hit a nerve perhaps – "
Air left her lungs in a heavy choke as a thick column of wood hit her square in the chest and sent her flying back into the rubble at the edge of the fortress. Bones creaked and she felt something crack at the side of her head as she landed in a harsh tumble. Ara squinted up through rain-soaked lashes to see the dark stare of the man she had so easily underestimated.
"My aim isn't that narrow."
Challenge thrilled to life within her and she slowly drew her hand up to wipe blood from her temple. "Not bad, big boy. I suppose you've earned my full attention."
"Oh joy."
Perhaps the man had some gleam to him yet. "I'll turn that frown of yours upside-down, Handsome. Even if I have to carve it into your face."
Kakashi braced as a clap of chakra erupted at the opposite end of the throne room, the resulting doom bringing a rain of glass down as Sakura shattered the tall crystal windows with but a touch of her hand. A touch that had been aimed at Sasuke's chest…
He chanced a glance over to see Sasuke skirting the fallen glass, once more aiming to get behind Sakura to incapacitate her, only to have to counter her chakra-laden tanto with his katana. There was a push and pull and then Sasuke was kicking back in order to send a fireball her way; Sakura already drawing her hands together to summon an impressive Water Dragon to meet.
Great, now they're resorting to jutsu.
Her long hair had come loose, her white kimono carrying traces of dirt and scores of blood. And yet, she still looked infinitely better than Sasuke…
"You seem preoccupied, Hatake."
Yukine's chiding observation was bland. Although, Kakashi was beginning to catch a whisper of emotion from each of his statements. Hints of anger, curls of annoyance, touches of anticipation. As though the man had been dislodged out of his learned disposition and thrown unwillingly into his natural course. He was beginning to sound damn human.
"And you seem inordinately obsessed with gaining my attention now that I'm no longer in chains." He licked his teeth in thin frustration, eyes locked onto Yukine's firm stance.
Every move Kakashi had made to stray towards Sakura, or attempt to throw an attack at Atsuhiko had been vehemently countered and swiftly shut down by Yukine. Predictable but no less maddening. And Kakashi had stopped trying to direct anything at Atsuhiko. Not after he realised that Sakura would be the one to take the blow. Every single time.
However, what was irking Kakashi was that the man was hardly making a move to finish the fight. Yukine blocked his blows, and would strike to establish contact, yet he did nothing to take Kakashi out of the fight indefinitely. It was as though he were merely entertaining his attention for a brief period of time. If he didn't know the man hated time or effort wasted, Kakashi would've said he indulged in the stalling tactic. Yet that assessment didn't sit right.
"You're not going to put me on my ass again like last time?" Kakashi baited, intentionally leaving himself open.
He followed Yukine's critical eyes as they swept over him, palms ready and waiting. Still he did not move.
"Such would be a waste."
"I find that hard to believe, seeing as you seemed to enjoy it so much in the past."
There was a harsh grunt and then a body was sent once more flying, crashing into the stone throne and taking half its crumbling stature with it. Sasuke barely managed to get his feet under him as he tumbled, but Kakashi caught the way he favoured his left side on his landing.
A peal of laughter rang through the air as the false God rumbled in his good humour, and Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the way Sakura leaned into his tender touch. Her pink cheeks cradled in Atsuhiko's large hands as he cooed at her in affection, wiping a trace of ash from her jaw.
"I prefer it this way." Yukine said, and Kakashi ripped his eyes from Sakura and the way she accepted Atsuhiko's poisonous lips upon her cheeks.
"How is that?" He asked sharply.
"There is nothing I can do that would hurt you more than you already hurt yourself." And there was a sad wisdom to Yukine's words that only grated Kakashi further.
Kakashi exaggerated a sigh, shifting to conceal his withdrawal of senbon and a handful of exploding tags. Slightly more underwhelming and juvenile than Yukine would expect from him, but that was the aim.
"So that's it? You're a sadist and you came to see the show?"
"I came to ensure its conclusion."
Kakashi dashed towards Yukine, senbon splayed between his knuckles. He left himself open long enough for Yukine to catch sight of the needles and plan his course of action and that's when he let the exploding tags fly. Predictably, Yukine shifted his weight, eyes shrewd as he calculated and leapt back from the tags. The small pops of fire and smoke created enough of a haze for the senbon to be concealed as they flew towards their target. But Yukine was elite, and that's exactly what Kakashi's counted on.
Kawarimi was an Academy level jutsu. Easy to perform but hard to perfect. And Kakashi had to bank on his lifetime of perfection to compensate for the lack of ease with which it would take for him to perform the simple jutsu.
The thin silver needles were expertly evaded but by that point, it was too late to escape the confines of Kakashi's deadly hands as he reappeared behind Yukine. The man turned sharply, hand half-way raised to deflect a blow when Kakashi caught the offending appendage and broke it in half with a clean snap.
The feel of broken bones beneath his fingers sent a slither of disgust along his skin as he let Yukine's wrist fall from his numb hands. Some distant part of him tallied the ease of which he could still shatter bone – as easy as he remembered. Kakashi smoothly danced away from the man's lashing kick and only then did he register that Yukine had never even made a sound. Silver eyes darted to find his opponent standing poised and holding his left hand as though it were only cold and not snapped at the wrist.
There was a thoughtful frown to Yukine's eyes that Kakashi didn't kid himself into thinking was in relation to the pain he was likely in.
"You should not have done that." Yukine admonished, disappointment lining his tone. "An error on my part not to assume such a tactic, but a greater error on yours to attempt it."
And it was then that Kakashi felt the pull. That cold twinge in his abdomen that could only mean one thing.
"You tore open your little chakra-patch, Kakashi." Yukine said, as if he needed a verbal reminder of the fact. "And now you have sealed your fate as much as Sakura-san has sealed hers."
A deafening chirp of a thousand birds pierced his ears, and Kakashi tore his attention towards Sasuke's lightning streaked fist as he aimed it towards Atsuhiko.
He had a single fleeting thought of No! and then Sakura was between them, chest perfectly placed to take his fist through her heart.
Kakashi saw it as if he were living the moment himself. He saw the whites of Sasuke's eyes as he realised how majorly he had mis-fucking-calculated. He saw the intrigue in Atsuhiko's face as Sakura set herself determinedly in front of him. And he felt the damnable itch of his hand as Sasuke tried to pull back, tried to stop himself from killing Sakura.
"Just as the Uchiha is realising his own fate… To be responsible for her death."
"Sakura!"
Someone called her name. Screamed it. She thought she recognised that voice, but she became distracted before she could figure out why it hurt her to hear his cry.
It happened in a bright flash of pale blue. There was a tickle then a burn. But she didn't feel it. Not really.
She caught the lightning wreathed wrist in her hand and the world stood still as pain and light exploded.
It started at the centre of her palm and then worked its way out, up her wrist and all the way through to her shoulder. It smelled of ozone, of burnt flesh and singed clothes, but it didn't hurt. Not the way it should have.
There was a crackle then a stinging clap close to her ears as she twisted the hand in her grip and redirected it's strike up and outward. Her world flashed in blues and whites and then blurred back into dim colour, a shaft of grey light filtering in from the new hole in the ceiling.
Vaguely, in the back of her mind Sakura felt a small sense of remorse and affront as she tightened her grip on the man's hand and then kicked him back with a chakra-infused leg.
'Don't hurt him!'
But mostly she felt vindication.
She watched as he righted himself with a brutal huff, his raven hair half-drenched from either sweat or the sideways rain, she couldn't tell. But she looked away before she could stare into the crimson spin of his eyes.
Always look away.
Fleetingly, something inside her ached at the panicked, sorrow of his frown – something that wrenched with his horror-filled expression. Something that told her that what he did hurt himself more than it did her. This stranger before her.
'No! Remember damnit!'
Warmth and pleasure seeped into her bones as Atsuhiko caressed the side of her neck, his approval and affection so clear and sincere in her mind and body she couldn't help but relax into him, despite the sizzle of her skin.
"Thank you, Sakura."
She turned into him, blood thrumming in contentment as she basked in his company.
Be good. So good. So proud.
This was all she wanted. All she needed. Him.
Her God then delicately wrapped a hand around her smouldering wrist and brought it before their eyes. He tsked and Sakura almost recoiled in apology at his upset.
"Won't you heal this for me, Sakura?" He asked tenderly, cradling her wrist as he held it in front of her.
Like a cooling wave, green chakra swept up her arm and flowed through her, mending all that was wrong. However, with that surge of green came a sense of apprehension – a trickle of unease that threatened to linger and overtake her should she but let it out.
'Let me out!'
"That's enough, love." Atsuhiko hummed and Sakura found she had to consciously stop the green before it grew any greater in its dominion. "Very good."
His praise made her glow, but this time it was gold that shimmered along the panes of her ivory skin. Its warmth seared away the cool of the green, until it was only him and her.
Sakura and her God.
"So good." He whispered, hands splayed once more over her jaw and cheeks. "So good for me, Sakura."
Then his face was angling down towards her, and she was tilting back towards him. And when their lips met in a rush of heat and ecstasy, Sakura was sure the screaming had come from her own mind.
A/N: Yikes. Sorry for the delay team. Some chapters write themselves and other's simply DO NOT. This was one of the more stubborn chapters. Lots of POV changes to get the story really spinning and rolling, hope you don't mind.
Your fun fact for this chapter is that the majority of it was written to the song 'Devil Inside' – London Grammar cover. But I think it fits. :P
But you GUYSSS I am so excited for the next few chapters! So keen to share them with you when I can!
Thank you for all your continued support and dedication. Much love team!