A/N: Major props to TipsyRaconteur who, after all these years, supports me so earnestly in my writing and did the beta work for this. 33 READ HER STORIES! She's still writing!
And just to be absolutely clear - this story is going to be nothing like IC. The romance (if I want to even call it that) is going to be there but will be minimal compared to the angsty political conflict. Be warned. With love.
(With that being said, that's how I currently perceive the story will be like in my planning stage. It may write itself and develop more romantic content naturally as I go. We shall see. I guess we'll find out together.)
Kiba's snarl pierces through Hokage Tower like a blade, sharp and unyielding.
She is no more than a few feet away from the exit of the Tower and yet, Sakura hears him loud and clear.
"They don't even fucking care about her!"
When her hands touch the cool metal of the door handle, she almost pauses, as if the chilly wind that filters through her hair could quell the fury even she held silently within her. Yet the door opens, as if an outer power urges her forward, forcing her to face a reality she has been hoping is a dream.
Alarmed, Kiba snaps his head in the direction of the sound, baring his fangs in seething rage, but his vicious growl holds no candle to the inferno in his eyes.
The acknowledgement between them lasts hardly a second, as if the fire in his chest recognized a kindred spirit, and he turns back to the open air to howl at no one in particular.
But the village now seems cold and unwelcoming. It is early evening and the sun is setting into purple blue hues. There are no passersby outside of Hokage Tower;, only the rustle of dry leaves and the biting cold keeps them company, as if to aid their frozen hearts with numbness.
"She's dead and all they care about are their 'assets'? They don't even care about Naruto, for fuck's sake! All that matters is that he was connected to all of the tailed beasts!"
There is something admirable about his outburst, Sakura thinks, because her chest threatens to explode and yet she can only manage to keep her lips pressed in a thin line and restrain the tremble in her burning fists.
She wants to shatter everything, to rip deep tears into the earth that could never even compare to the cracks she feels in her heart, not even if she destroyed all of Konoha.
No, they don't care , she thinks to herself while she attempts to ignore the desperate plea of her bloodthirsty knuckles.
Behind her, Shino drags his feet out of Hokage Tower, his hands stuffed in his pocket and his nose buried into his collar. Kiba's leaden steps resonate in their ears until he is in front of Shino, both hands now fisting and pulling at Shino's collar.
"Shino…" Kiba's rage devolves into a shaky, pained breath. Without looking, Sakura can tell that tears are streaming down his face. "They don't even care about her…"
His response is delayed, but Shino laboriously lifts his arms to fist the thick coat fabric over Kiba's biceps. The two men are rooted in place, clutching each other as if their frayed camaraderie is the only thread tethering them to reality.
Sakura feels like an intruder. What right does she have to watch the heartbreak of Team 8? Even more, what right does she have to leave them alone with their grief as if she cannot hear their pain echoing in the air?
The three of them stand outside of the building unmoving, limbs numb and stiff from the cold, the silence saying everything they do not dare speak out loud–until Shino breaks it with a trembling voice that can barely be heard.
"Sakura, please… tell us what happened."
She looks at Shino but her expression is hollow. Not even she, Kakashi, Naruto, or Hinata know the truth. Hinata is dead, Naruto is rampaging, Kakashi is exiled, and she…?
What happened…? This is a question she asks herself repeatedly. The truth is she does not know. The mission was meant to be easy – to escort and guard Naruto to the first international Bijū Peace Council. Naruto was not someone who needed protection, and yet they were assigned to him as a formality. The event was meant to be a celebratory event to address the evolving relationship between humans and bijū, to lay the groundwork for the future of this unprecedented era of peace.
For a moment, Sakura gazes blankly at the sky. Her eyes follow a curl of smoke on the horizon. Somewhere in that distance, destruction unfolds, lives are being snuffed out, and the dream of harmony between humans and bijū feels like a punchline to a laughable joke.
Her gaze drops to her sandals.
Hinata was assigned to secure the perimeter of the council location, using her Byakugan to report any threats. Kakashi and Sakura were meant to hold a defensive line if necessary, but a decoy explosion tore through the plan, scattering their formation and drawing Kakashi and Sakura away. It left Naruto exposed, a pawn in what hindsight might reveal as a meticulously calculated ambush.
Through the radio, they heard Hinata's voice–panicked but resolute–shouting that she was moving to protect him. Kakashi's orders were sharp and immediate: fall back and regroup. She didn't listen.
By the time she and Kakashi reached the fight, it was already too late.
Tears blur Sakura's vision and her sandals disappear beneath pooling memories. In their place, she sees a vision of an impaled Hinata crumpling to the ground, the pale hue of her Byakugan fading to milk-white before her eyelids flutter closed for the last time.
Naruto's anguished screams echo in her mind, his boiling red cloak a searing reminder of what was lost.
What the administration cannot figure out is why they were ambushed. Each village points their fingers elsewhere, their alliances unraveling into discord. Yet none dare voice the unspoken lingering truth: Naruto, as the last jinchuuriki, is a tremendous advantage that Konohagakure has over the other villages, making him a natural target for sabotaging the perceived peace.
The hidden truth screams at her– someone planned for this. Sakura tries to explain her intuition, but all she can do is stutter and cry.
"This isn't right," Shino muses, letting go of Kiba and wiping his eyes. "They want someone to blame."
"There's an instigator of war out there and they're diverting attention to Kakashi ! Bull-fucking-shit!" Kiba growls, baring his teeth as he balls his fists and shoves them into his pocket.
At the mention of Kakashi, Sakura's heart splinters further. She tilts her head back, eyes squeezed shut, fighting to steady the trembling of her lips.
The men are silent then, alerted by how the mention of her exiled teammate has renewed Sakura's tears. They trade places now; Shino and Kiba watch her as she breaks down over her loss.
Sakura is alone. Team 7 has been fragmented since Sasuke's departure, but his role had always been substituted with others. Now, however, her world is irreparably shattered. Kakashi and Naruto had always stood beside her, and in a single day, all three men were forever out of reach.
Team 7 existed only in her memories now, a shadow of what once felt unbreakable.
As if on cue, the front door of Hokage Tower swings open behind them. Sakura, Shino, and Kiba turn on their heels to see Kakashi strolling past them, wearing all black, without his hitae-tae, and hands in his pockets. He does not bother to look up as he passes them, but she sees it all–Kakashi's eyes are cold and vacant, like a man who has lost all reason to live. The only thing that reminds her that he is alive and breathing is that he walks, and that his breath produces a cloud of steam in the chilly air.
Sakura lifts a hand as if to touch him, but the Daimyō's bellowing voice rings in her head: "You will not help him. None of you will. He will leave quietly, and no one is to speak of his departure until he is gone."
She shakes her head as if to dispel such an evil statement from her consciousness, her legs acting on their own as her body propels itself forward to take him in her arms.
"Kakashi, wait!" Sakura cries out, throwing arms around him from behind, pressing her face into his back as her fingers claw onto the black shirt they had fitted him with after stripping him of his jonin gear. His body is warm, and it feels like a hearth against the biting cold. "Don't go… you can't go… We're all we have left…!"
Kakashi's body stills in her arms. She has never held him like this, has never shown any type of affection for him in the way she is right now, but his hollow eyes haunt her, revealing that he needs her just as much as she needs him. Tears stain his clothes but disappear into the black fabric as if they never existed at all. He says nothing, and as quickly as she runs to hold him, two ANBU agents materialize beside him.
Sakura lifts her head in bewilderment, her eyebrows furrowing and eyes pained as the ANBU's presence threatens her to release him, but their appearance only serves to make her hold him tighter.
"NO!"
Her cry is as fierce as her grip, her determination unyielding. Though Sakura and Kakashi have never shared more than the bond of comrades, she feels that this is the closest she gets to understanding Hinata's disobedience in her desperate need to protect Naruto.
Sakura is consumed by her own despair.
The ANBU agents move to tear her off, but Kakashi raises a hand to stop them, signaling that he will handle this disruption himself.
"Sakura," Kakashi says, his voice devoid of emotion, his body unmoving. His hands find hers, gently prying her fingers from his form, the chilly air rushing between them as their bodies separate. "... Forget about me. For your sake and mine."
What…? Her mind spins as Kakashi extricates himself from her grip, walking away with the ANBU agents in tow. How could she let go ? Why would she ever forget him? What had they said to him in the short time since the meeting?
Rationally she knows he is trying to protect her. He is an exiled shinobi, and to stand by him is to sentence herself to the same fate. In the end, Kakashi's choices always prioritize Konohagakure–always. It devastates her to see what true loyalty has earned him: isolation and betrayal.
As he strides toward a destination unknown to her, Kakashi's silhouette fades into the distance. Sakura's fists clench, her head trembling in denial as a scream rises within her chest–yet despite her efforts to trap it, to stifle it with the weight of her sorrow, she cannot contain it.
"KAKASHI!" she cries one last time, her heart breaking in the sound of his name. Shino and Kiba draw near, their hands a quiet offering of comfort upon her shoulders. But her eyes remain locked on Kakashi's retreating figure, shrinking in the distance, fading with each one of her labored breaths.