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Commentary On "Atropine"
Here is my DVD commentary on "Atropine" for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
devimelete . You can read the original version here.
Okay, I was SO happy that someone asked about this one because
1.) I'm really proud of it
2.) I wrote it recently, so I remember what I was thinking when I wrote it
and
3.) I have A LOT to say about it
This was written for rashaka, who wanted something where Sakura chooses Kakashi over Sasuke, but since I have two wips in various stages of written where that happened it a very overt, blatant way, I tried to go as oblique as I could with that prompt. It turned out more Sakura choosing Konoha over Sasuke, which I really, really like, and brings Sakura and her character arc full circle.
Had I not been writing for the kakasaku christmas exchange, I think I would have cut out the Kakashi/Sakura, or at least toned it WAY down.
She'd promised Naruto.
She'd promised.
The last time - the last time she'd felt the Nine-Tails chakra break over her skin, tasted fire in the back of her throat and seen her best friend's skin burning away, she'd promised, she'd swore that she'd bring Sasuke back, that she'd save Sasuke for him.
She'd promised.
And once again, she'd failed.
I came up with the idea of the Sasuke vs Konoha fight early, and so this just wrote itself. Plus (like so many other things) I cribbed the theme of broken promises from the manga itself. It's one of the reasons that this fic feels so very close to canon for me.
~~~
Sakura wasn't late - mostly.
Well, okay, she was, but only by three minutes, and if the Fifth Hokage hadn't been entertaining an extremely unpleasant courier from the Tsuchikage with Danzo at her side, Sakura was sure Tsunade wouldn't have even noticed.
I needed some way for Danzo to be with them, so I brought in external politics. This opening scene got tweaked a lot, so that I could get all the actors on the stage where I needed them.
As it was, she trotted down the hall, ignoring Naruto's hissed comments that they needed to speak louder and when was it going to be his turn, why did the Old Lady want him to be here if she wasn't even going to talk to him?
"Quiet!" she hissed back, sliding discreetly through the door way, Naruto already moving to put his ear back against the wood.
Everyone turned to look at her, the Stone shinobi stopping in his condescending drone, Tsunade unamused, Danzo looking implacable.
Sakura smiled nervously and had the paranoid suspicion that she hadn't healed the love marks on her neck sufficiently.
She was treated to a sudden, vicious memory of how she's got those love-marks, his teeth nipping at her neck and then laving her skin with his tongue. She flushed and scurried to stand across from Danzo, both of them perpendicular to the Hokage's desk.
She hadn't bothered healing the marks that were completely hidden under her clothes.
Because bite marks are hot. I wanted to establish the Kakashi/Sakura relationship right off the bat so that the readers would know what the stakes were and also have it new enough that it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to pick Sasuke.
Sakura spent the next forty minutes ruthlessly trying to suppress all memories of how she'd spent the last night.
It was very, very hard, especially when Kakashi clambered in the window behind her, limbs moving loose and relaxed
"Yo," he said, directly at her.
Sakura turned her head back to stare at the floor.
"You're late," Tsunade said flatly.
"So sorry," Kakashi said, his voice dripping with sincerity. "I was-"
"I don't have time for whatever fiction you'd like to share with us," Tsunade interrupted, wiggling a pen between two fingers. "I merely want you to clarify the details of the mission to Grass you and Anko completed four months ago." Her eyes narrowed. "Your report was vague."
"Really?" Kakashi asked, standing close enough that Sakura could feel his body heat. "I thought I was rather verbose."
The Hokage looked at a particular piece of paper on her desk in disgust. "Yes, a whole nine words. I was stunned."
"Well," Kakashi began, setting most of his weight onto his right leg and discreetly running a hand down Sakura's spine. She tried not to shiver. The pen in Tsunade's hand snapped.
devimelete asked: "does Tsunade suspect them together? I thought the snapping of the pen is an indicator."
Yes, yes it was. *grins* That was Kakashi's oh-so-suble, 'by the way, Hokage, I'm nailing your apprentice.' I'm sure Tsunade's thoughts are running something along the lines of 'must. not. hurt. elite. jounin. in. front. of. foreign. ninja.'
Also, I really like the fanon of Kakashi being very concise when he's writing his mission reports.
Sakura tried to paste an I'm-listening expression on her face while most of her synapses devoted themselves to reminding her of how he felt moving inside her, hot and hard and oh-so-right, how it had felt to trace her fingers over the dimples that appeared in his cheeks when he gave that little crooked grin that changed his face from very, very attractive to devastatingly handsome.
I also like giving Kakashi dimples.
She caught about one word in six.
Sakura was deep in reminiscing about the way Kakashi's breath had hitched when she'd taken him into her mouth, how his hands had fisted in her hair as she'd ran her tongue along the underside of his cock when chakra surged and spiked around her.
Kakashi threw her to the floor, his body over hers while Naruto surged into the room, splintering the door from the frame.
Okay, I knew I wanted to have Kakashi protecting someone right off the bat here. First it was Sakura, and then I thought it might be Tsunade, and then as the fight scene developed it turned back into Sakura. Again, I'm repeating things we've seen in canon.
"Old Lady what-" he started and then a very, very familiar voice said, "flame barrier," and the walls of Tsunade's office combusted.
It was only for an instant; a flash of heat and light and then the walls and roof were gone. Instead of a room, they were on a platform above Konoha, boxed in by purple sheets of fire.
Remember this? It's what Orochimaru used to capture the Third for their fight.
Sakura tried to get to her feet but Kakashi's weight was heavy on her back and then, craning her neck, Sakura saw who had done this and froze.
"Sasuke...." Naruto breathed.
Sakura trembled. She'd known for a long time that she and Naruto were going to have to chase Sasuke down, bring him back. She'd stopped dreaming about his coming back to Konoha on his own years ago and never in even her nightmares had she envisioned Sasuke returning like this, staring at Tsunade like she was the enemy, wearing the black and red cloak of the Ataksuki.
It hurt more than Sasori's sword shoved through her guts.
Sasori had never protected her, never been the hurt, lost boy she'd loved and tried to save.
Sasuke had.
"What are you doing here?"
For a minute Sakura thought she had asked that question but it had been spoken in Danzo's low growl.
Sasuke was watching her and then turned his gaze to Naruto, commenting to the kunoichi at his side. "Karin, can you hold the barrier?"
"Of course," Karin answered, hands clasped together, sweat beading on her brow.
There were three other enemy shinobi besides Karin and Sasuke. Two were ninja Sakura'd never seen before, and one of them was the strange shinobi with the sharingan that had delayed them while Sasuke killed Itachi. Numbers-wise, it was an even fight.
devimelet asked: What happened to the Stone shinobi in the battlefield? Did he immediately die in the beginning of the fight, or what?
The author forgot about him, that's what. He was supposed to be red shirt used to show how badass Sasuke is now, only I forgot to actually kill him off. Oops.
Sakura braced herself. Naruto would engage Sasuke, of course, and Karin would be occupied keeping that barrier up, which mean she should take out the one with the oversized sword and the gargantuan, musclebound bruiser, leaving the orange-masked one for Kakashi and Tsunade.
Sakura glanced over at her shishou, intending to smile encouragingly, and got to see Danzo step to Tsunade's side and shove a knife between her ribs.
I love Danzo. I think he's a damn good bad guy, not the least because he's connected to Sai and I keep thinking scenes with Danzo are going to lead to plotty stuff with Sai. Still holding my breath on that front.
Sakura screamed.
Sasuke reached out a hand, eyes flaring and twisting impossibly and Naruto was on his knees, yelling, chakra blazing around his body.
Sakura had watched Sasuke as a girl, trained with and fought beside Kakashi, she thought she knew how the sharingan worked.
This, Naruto on all fours, back curling as his spine arched, skin splitting open and his chakra boiled out, this was like nothing she'd ever seen before, the most vicious trick of magic or twisted miracle she'd ever even heard of.
That line was added so that my summery '"Have you got any magic tricks that will work for me?" Team 7 stands before the kyuubi and Sakura fails to keep her promises. ' worked and my title would make sense.
The shinobi with the orange mask giggled.
"This wasn't part of our deal, Uchiha," Danzo said severely.
"Bastard," Tsunade spat, seal flaring to life on her forehead as she slumped against her desk. She was glaring at Sasuke, and Sakura wasn't quite sure who she was referring to when the Hokage snapped, "How dare you pull this in my goddamned office!"
Shades of "I'm the goddamned Hokage!" Also, Danzo would totally make a deal with Sasuke and Sasuke would betray him in a heartbeat because while Sasuke SAYS he's an avenger, he's had more success with the betrayal end of things.
She flicked her wrist back, fingers snapping against Danzo's chest, and he crumpled with a sound like rotten apples hitting cement.
Naruto shrieked again, forehead against the ground, nails clawing curls of wood out of the floor and he bleed and burned.
"Stop it! Sasuke, you're hurting him!" Sakura bolted towards her former teammate (Kakashi grabbed for the back of her shirt, missed).
Sasuke looked at her, seemingly mildly amused, and her punch cracked across one of his perfect cheekbones.
"BASTARD!" she yelled.
Sasuke's head whipped to one side, and his eyes were amazed when his head turned back towards her.
I would pay so much money to see this in the manga. It's the second time I've written Sakura slugging Sasuke and it never. gets. old.
"You're different," he noted, tomoe in his eyes reducing, returning to the familiar triumvirate of comet-like shapes.
"I am," she agreed, feet set and fists raised. "Now stop hurting Naruto or the next punch is going to have chakra behind it."
...because if she'd punched him with chakra none of the rest of the fic wouldn't happened.
Sasuke looked approving. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," he said, "I wouldn't let you get hurt."
Sakura swung at him but her legs were already buckling, body going limp.
Stupid, stupid girl, Inner Sakura commented. Have you forgotten what a Sharingan is?
Sakura's feet were dangling in the water. She leaned back a little bit further, the warm rock behind her soothing against her back. Above her, the sky was blindingly blue and she watched the clouds from between her lashes.
She splashed her feet a little, feeling the resistance of the water sliding cool around her ankles and smiled.
Naruto was yelling further down the river, thrashing about. His clothes would be soaked when it was time to walk back but the thought of him complaining wasn't annoying at all.
Okay, this is supposed to be that one artbook page where they're all lounging around by the river.... it's also Sasuke's fantasy, because I think even as he damns himself, he wants his old Team back.
There were birds chirping nearby, and that reminded her-
Kakashi lunged at Sasuke, chidori crackling around his fist.
I like that transition.
I'm a huge sucker for dream sequences and hallucinations and prophetic visions.
Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw the orange masked shinobi intercept. He did something and then Kakashi was thrown backwards, slamming into the wall of flame.
It reacted like the most unforgiving of stone and Kakashi slid down to slump on the ground, clothes smoking.
-to check and see that her sensei was still perched on that branch above her, enthralled with an Icha Icha novel.
She wondered which volume he was reading.
There was a strand of hair falling in her eyes and Sasuke-
caught her body before her knees could finish buckling.
He turned, handed her to off to someone else.
"Keep her out of this, Juugo," Sasuke ordered. "She's not acceptable collateral damage."
devimelete asked: "Now, there is no way for Sasuke to know Sakura's private relationship with Kakashi in this fic, but I'm a bit curious on how you've made Sasuke a more focused man. He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want, and one of his goals is to perserve Sakura's survival. If he knew of this relationship (I refuse to call this an affair, as tempting as it is), would he be just as willing to have her as nonacceptable collateral damage? Or has he gone to the point where he wouldn't care one way or the other?"
First, I think Sasuke is very, very focused. To the point of missing the forest for the trees. He's focused on killing Itachi to the exclusion of the afterwards - how do you expect to revive your clan if you can't return to Konoha, do you want Itachi dead or do you want to kill him (so much would have been solved if he'd just dragged his team off to help him kill his older brother) and now he's focused on destroying Konoha without stopping to realize that he's totally bending over for Madara and that hey, maybe everyone in Konoha ISN'T guilty of murdering his clan.
And on that subject, yes, if Sasuke knew about Sakura and Kakashi's affair (they're had sex and so far only one other person besides them knows about it, it's an affair) it would change things. I imagine Sasuke is totally possessive of Sakura, in a 'I don't want you but you can't be with anyone else way.'
Also, I think part of the reason he's so focused on protecting Sakura is that a.) it's part of his character and b.) he's subconsciously using protecting Sakura to justify sacrificing Naruto.
Juugo carefully took her in his arms, holding her like a bride, and this was wrong, he was wrong, his chakra wild and cancerous and it was like facing Orochimaru again, she was helpless and frozen and-
No. Nonono.
That wasn't how this was supposed to go, she was supposed to help save Sasuke-
carefully picked the strand of hair off her forehead.
"Thank you," Sakura said softly. She curled her hands tightly together and her nails didn't bite into her palms at all.
Sasuke shook his head, leaned down to brush his mouth against her head.
"You're supposed to say, 'You're welcome'."
This is the continuation of the scene where he leaves Konoha: he wants her to respond to his 'Thank you' so he can feel good about what he's doing.
"NO!" Sakura yelled, flooding her body with her chakra, breaking the genjutsu like stones beneath her heels
Juugo startled, head tossing like a horse and she lashed out, grabbing his jaw and snapping his neck to the side.
His neck broke like a chicken bone.
I felt kinda bad about killing him so quickly, but you know, Juugo and Karin would probably be the easily members of Team Hebi for Sakura to beat, with her super-strength.
She rolled out of his embrace as he died, took in the tableau before her in one sweeping gaze.
Tsunade was gasping on her desk, her forehead seal activated as she tried to heal the wound in her side. (The dagger must have been poisoned, she thought, to give Tsunade-sama that much trouble. Inner Sakura didn't know whether to howl in rage or seethe in envy of his cunning.) Tobi and Kakashi were fighting, Kakashi lashing out and Tobi evading with creepy, high-pitched giggles. Naruto was still on his knees, the Nine-Tails flooding out of him like a river breaking a dam. She counted six tails already, lashing the air like whips, Sasuke standing still and calm before him, amused smile on his lips. And the shinobi with the sword-
I had such a hard time remembering to call Tobi Tobi. I did a lot of rereading of the fight scene were he's teasing Naruto and the neo retrieve Sasuke squad, figuring out how much they'd know about it. Also, in rereading the manga I realized that my initial plan of having Sakura kill Tobi wasn't going to work, because her offensive techniques are totally the worst type to go up against his....
-was coming right for her.
Sakura ducked and the blade sailed over her head.
"Suigetsu, watch it, you moron!" Karin yelled as Sakura slugged the shinobi, her hand passing right through his body.
...and you know, Suigestu isn't that susceptible to blunt force either....
She evaded his next stroke, backpedaled. She didn't have time for this. She stomped her foot and half the floor fell away. Below, she could see desks and chairs as bits of wood and carpeting hit the floor of fire and started to burn below them. Suigetsu dodged, grabbing Karin and jumping to the very edge, near the barrier, where bits of flooring still clung.
Little bit of my OTP showing there....
Sakura didn't stay to watch.
She leaped across the floor struts still clinging to the buildings frame, dodging Naruto's tails like she danced past Sasori's puppets. Duck, roll, the glancing slash that opened up one forearm didn't matter, one more jump, and then she was sliding to her knees, throwing her arms around Naruto.
I love this image. I can see it so clearly in my head. It's basically Sakura doing all the bad ass acrobatics she did under Chiyo's control on her own.
His chakra hurt; she felt her skin blistering, couldn't breathe for the heat sucking the air from her lips. Still, she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades, listened as her tears sizzled away in wisps of steam.
She was slumped on cold stone, gasping.
Naruto and Sasuke faced each other and beyond them was a great, golden gate, and beyond that-
If Sakura could have screamed, she would have.
It was the Nine Tails.
She could sense its chakra, its overwhelming chakra, it was wind and air and earth all shattering around her, it was death and gleeful destruction and entropy.
For one craven instant, Sakura thought, This is what lives inside Naruto. We should have killed him in his cradle.
I knew from the beginning that the above line was going to be in this fic. Also, why has Sakura never chatted with the nine-tails? Sasuke has and I think a Team 7/9 Tails conversation would be awesome.
The Nine-Tails grinned.
Sakura fisted her hands in her hair, yanked.
"NO!" she yelled, finding her voice at last, and then she was on her feet, clasping Naruto's hand in hers, standing at his side.
"No," she said again and if she directed her words to the gates, instead of the glowing golden eyes behind them, well.
She was brave, not suicidal.
In the ruins of Tsunade's office, Naruto bent his head, eyes red, licked at the blood dripping down her arm in one long sweep of his tongue.
I find this line really, really, really hot.
"Sakura-chan," he breathed.
Behind her, she heard Kakashi's footsteps running towards her and his opponent's annoyed voice, "I'm not done playing yet.....!"
Kakashi swore.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said again, mouth wet with her blood.
I imagine Kakashi is practically having a heart attack at the moment. What a great morning after; your girlfriend starts chatting up her ex and her demonic best friend is licking at her injured body! Kakashi is already seeing her name on the cenotaph.
"You're new," the Nine Tails responded, laughing soundlessly through his open mouth. "Delicious, too."
Sakura couldn't tell what Sasuke did, but suddenly the focus of the Nine-Tails shifted.
"And you," the beast said. "I recognize those eyes."
Sasuke smiled. "I'm here to let you out of Naruto."
"Sasuke, you can't!" Naruto protested while the Nine Tails chuckled, and Sakura locked her knees against the weight of the sound.
"I can," Sasuke said, watching them both like they were strangers. "I'm here to destroy Konoha." He turned towards the demon again. "If you help me, I'll let you finish what you started. You won't be trapped in a weak boy anymore."
Naruto shook his head mutely and she could feel his hand shaking in hers.
"You wouldn't!" Sakura went to him, reached out. She cradled his face in her hands and he let her, let her slide her fingers over his cheekbones, along his jawline. It was like touching a statue.
"Sasuke.... please.... come back to us."
"You broke my genjutsu," Sasuke said and there was an odd note in his voice.
Sakura nodded. "I've been practicing. We'll all grown stronger while you've been gone. Sasuke... please don't do this. Itachi's dead, you got your revenge.... why wouldn't you come home to us?" She looked back at Naruto, wanting him to help her convince Sasuke.
Naruto wasn't looking at her and didn't turn his head even when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it again. She had the feeling that there was a conversation going on that she was missing. Part of her said that she needed to get Naruto's attention, but the rest was focused on saving Sasuke, on getting him to realize that he needed to come back to them, come back to Konoha.
Right now, Naruto and his demon are bargaining.
"Won't you come home?"
Sasuke looked away, gazing dispassionately at the fox behind the gate.
"Konoha is rotten. It's poisoned from the very core. I'm going to fix it," he said.
Sakura tugged at his arm. "Destruction isn't how you cure something! I know! I can heal anything, just tell me what! Just tell me how to save you and I will! I promised! I promised I would!"
Sasuke looked at her, red flashing in his black eyes.
"I'll make sure you survive," he said kindly.
Sakura screamed through her teeth. "I'm not the one who needs saving!"
Tsunade was coughing, hacking, blood flecking her lips. Sakura twisted to see Tobi shove a tantou through Kakashi. The blade slide in just below her sensei's collarbone, pinned the pocket that held his summoning scrolls closed. He lashed out with a fist and Tobi evaded, chortling.
Oh, god, she so wasn't the one who needed saving.
"We have to-" she started.
"As long as Sakura is okay," Naruto said to someone who wasn't her or Sasuke and that only left- only left- and oh god he'd sounded so defeated, and that was wrong, Naruto never sounded defeated, this was wrong, wrong, wrong.
I have a thing for when people put one person above the greater good, even if it's the wrong call, and only if bad things happen because of it.
The Nine Tails chuckled and–
–Naruto shrugged her off his back and she tumbled across the floor, sliding into Danzo. Danzo clawed ineffectually at her, moaning deep in his throat. His grasp tripped her up until Tsunade snarled and stomped down, her foot crushing Danzo's head like a grape.
Way back in the first draft of this, Sakura was going to be the last one standing after this fight, Danzo was going to order her to heal him, and she was going to crush his head like a grape. I quickly realized that the upcoming Kakashi/Sakura vs Madara fight was going to end with Sakura out of it, and that I hadn't given Tsunade enough to do.
Sakura got her feet under her and bolted towards Tobi and Kakashi.
Tobi had his hand around Kakashi's neck, was pressing him into the barrier. Kakashi's clothes were smoking and she could smell the reek of burning hair.
"Naughty boy," Tobi breathed. "You're playing with a toy that doesn't belong to you."
He dug his hand into Kakashi's face. Kakashi jerked away but Sakura saw blood and gleaming white between Tobi's fingers and then she was punching, her hand passing through thin air.
I like Kakashi with his sharingan. Unless he's dying and giving it to Sakura, it's staying in his eye socket.
Tobi let go of Kakashi, though, who shoved her out of the way in time for the kunai Tobi threw at her back to pass harmlessly into the flames behind them.
Kakashi's hand was pressed against the side of his face, blood coursing down his wrist. Blood had soaked through the front of his flak vest, so much of it that she couldn't understand how he was even on his feet. He was panting with pain and flinched away from her when she reached for him.
"Not now," Kakashi mumbled. "Let's deal with the Uchiha first."
"Which one?" Sakura asked bleakly.
Sasuke and Naruto were still embroiled in their tete-a-tete, seemingly frozen.
Kakashi made an amused sound deep in his throat.
Tobi snapped out a set of seals and there was a spear in his hands.
"Kakashi...." Sakura said, attention caught by the chakra glowing at her fingers. "If I hold him still, can you..."
"Yes," he said, the word slurred and she knew, knew that if anyone could kill the Uchiha in front of her, it was Hatake Kakashi.
"But will you-" she started to ask and then Tobi was there, mask cheerful and impassive.
...be okay.
She feinted, dodged, and he followed her as she flipped back, twisting and arcing to avoid the thrusts of his spear.
He cornered her, flames at her back, and when he thrust his spear one last time, she didn't dodge.
She let it pierce her, let the spear tip rip through her body, let her body slid along the haft.
She covered his hand with hers. The chakra that coated her skin felt as soft as swan's down, glowed as softy as the moon on a misty night, and she let it flow into Tobi's, let her gentle strength mix with the implacable force of his Uchiha chakra.
So if the offensive techniques don't work, use the healing ones. One thing I really love about Kishimoto is that he is all for people teaming up against a tough opponent and I've always thought that Kakashi and Sakura make a great team.
She saw one eye widen and looked to the side before he could ensnare her.
He broke his hands free of hers, snapped the spear haft and letting her fall. It was a valiant effort, but it didn't work. It didn't matter if she wasn't touching him, if she was kneeling on the floor, impaled, because her chakra was in him, twining around his body, slowing him down, keeping him from leaving.
He moved like he was underwater.
Kakashi - bloody, broken Kakashi- moved like lightning.
This line is so, so, so blatant and obvious and oh, Kakashi = lightning metaphor, never seen that before, but I ADORE the repetition of his name and the alliteration. Sometimes we just can't bear to kill our darlings.
His hands snapped through a set of seals and then there was two wolves made of blinding light and birdsong loping forward.
Sakura closed her eyes against the brightness and concentrated, keeping her chakra twisted through Tobi's body, holding him as static as an abandoned puppet while Kakashi's wolves bit.
Blood splashed her face.
She released her chakra and Tobi's body hit the floor with a dry rattle.
Sakura quickly shoved a bit of chakra into her wound, slowing the bleeding, and then crawled over Tobi, moving towards where Kakashi was crouched on the floor. He was curled around himself, hands hovering above the bloody wreck that was the left side of his face.
Sakura placed her hands over his. "Shhh, let me," she whispered. "I'll fix it, I promise."
She looked up at Naruto and Sasuke. Tears blurred her vision, so she couldn't see the expression on their faces but one minute they were still, even Naruto's tails frozen, and then one tail lashed out, blindingly fast, and wrapped itself around Tsunade and squeezed while another ripped open Sasuke's belly.
Sasuke's entrails and Tsunade's head hit the ground at the same time.
In my head, this is Neon Gensis Evangelion and Shinji just killed Kouru.
Sakura watched it happen.
Naruto fell backwards, hit the ground with a flat smack and the Nine Tail's chakra dove back inside him.
The barrier failed.
The wind blew.
Sakura shivered.
She heard the scrap of shoe soles on rough wood.
"Get out," she said in a dead voice and Suigetsu threw Karin's limp form over his shoulder, grabbed the two pieces of his blade and teleported.
Karin isn't dead, she just passed out from chakra exhaustion and possibly shock.
"You sounded like me," Sasuke noted.
This was me giving a reason for Suigetsu to obey her and also for Sasuke to start this conversation. (Although I think Sasuke is stroking his ego - Suigetsu's a smart boy, and not overly loyal.)
Sakura flinched at the wet sound of his voice.
Her chakra was flowing into Kakashi. He was unconscious, dying. She would feel it, feel where he's used his life force, his will, his sheer stubborness to get that last jutsu to work.
She bent over him, his head in her lap. Tobi had missed his Sharingan and instead had ravaged the left side of his face from mandible to zyosislymore. Sakura would think in those terms. Sakura tried to put the broken bits of bone back into the right places, urging the torn flesh to mend. She had the darkly humous thought that it was a damn good thing he'd let her see his face, or she wouldn't have the least idea where things should go. She tried to ease some of her energy into his chakra channels, wanting to prevent them from being damaged by the lack life force.
Remember that line Kakashi has to Sasuke about there being no third chidori at his level? This, I speculate, was why; that you can damage yourself past recovering from using chakra you don't have to use.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, and she looked up. "Sakura... come here." He crooked his fingers at her, and her body shuddered. She wanted to go to him, to pour her chakra into his body, and there was a part of her screaming that it was Sasuke, Sasuke-kun, she loved him beyond death.
And she did.
She just loved him beyond her death, not the death of the man bleeding in her lap, not beyond whatever Naruto had sacrificed in his own mind to keep her safe, not beyond the broken body of her beloved shishou.
Originally it was just "not the death of the man bleeding in her lap" but that felt weak to me; thus it explicitly becomes Konoha > Sasuke.
"No," she breathed. "I'm sorry, but no."
"Ah," Sasuke said, and closed his eyes like he'd been expecting that.
"When I finish-"
"I'll be dead," Sasuke said factually. He looked down at her belly. "You'll probably be too."
He sounded pleased.
Sasuke propped himself on his elbow, watched her as she moved her hands along Kakashi's bare face.
Black spots were dancing in her vision and Sakura kept going, even when she felt the healing she'd placed on herself flicker and fail, a fresh wave of blood soaking her shirt.
"I think you're right," she gasped.
"Of course," Sasuke said gravely.
~~~
Sakura blinked.
The off-white tiles of the ceiling came into focus.
She could feel the drugs moving through her system. Everything felt far, far away.
After a moment, she licked her lips.
It took another long moment before she could summon the strength to reach across her body, tug out the iv. Liquid spurted a bit from the needle's end, and she dropped it, left it to spill saline and sedatives into the sheets while she wandered away with bare feet and ripped clothes.
Think Faith waking from her coma in the episode right before 'Who Are You?'
She found Naruto two floors above her, chakra suppressed so throughly that she stood for ten minutes with her fingers on the pulse point in his throat before she managed to convince herself that he was alive.
There were ANBU crouched warily at the cardinal points of the room.
One of them shifted when she adjusted his intravenous drip, reducing the intake of tranquilizers and she looked at him.
She wasn't sure what he saw in her face but whatever it was caused him to still.
When staring at Naruto's paper-pale face got so painful she was half-crumpled over, hand pressed to the place where hours ago she'd had wood and iron shoved through her, she left.
She stumbled and the shinobi sitting on the West side of the room steadied her with a hand on her calf.
Why, I wonder who this concerned ANBU member could possibly be? (It's Sai.)
She took a moment to regain her balance. The ANBU patted her foot awkwardly.
Her feet were cold.
They were colder when she reached the morgue.
The morgue was where she found Kakashi and Sasuke.
A note on where Kakashi is: I originally wanted him to be by Sakura's bedside and carry her home, only I realized that I wanted her to check on Naruto. Subsequently, I was planning on having Kakashi outsides Naruto's room, and have both of them watching him through the glass only... Kakashi WOULDN'T be outside Naruto's room. That is not where he would loiter. He'd be brooding down with his latest mistake. Also, I specifically phrased the above line and didn't mention Kakashi for the next five sentences because I really hoped people would think he was dead, or at least have a minute of nail-biting terror.
Sakura went to stand next to Sasuke's body.
He was pretty. Even dead he was pretty.
Her hands gripped the end of the table he lay on.
"I couldn't save him," Sakura said distantly. Her knuckles were white. "I promised Naruto, I promised, and I just couldn't."
She bent, resting her forehead against the chilly metal, the chilly metal on which Sasuke was going to be sliced and dissected and examined, and it was too much, he deserved better, she should have given him better.
Sakura was sobbing without sound, great heavy breaths that deprived her brain of oxygen, and then Kakashi's hands were on her wrists, pulling her away from Sasuke.
"Oh, Sasuke," she choked out, "Oh, what do I tell Naruto? Oh, god, what do I say to Naruto?"
What Sakura is partially freaking out about is that she just grocked that Naruto killed her other best friend and her teacher.
She felt Kakashi exhale, his breath shockingly warm against the back of her neck, and then he was twisting her around, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck and closed her eyes.
She welcomed the dizzy disorientation of the teleportation jutsu.
~~~
It was later and hot water was flowing down her back.
She'd stopped shivering a while ago and Kakashi had just finished rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. The air was humid and smelled like him.
She kept her face down, hair plastered against her cheeks. She reached up, fingers hovering over his face.
"Did I.... are you....?"
Kakashi rubbed a hand along his jaw, like he was checking for stubble. "Feels like always," he said with a shrug, water cascading along his chest, running in rivulets along the muscles of his abdomen. His sharingan whirled gently.
I really like that bit; the image of Kakashi rubbing his face and not quite being familiar enough with it to say 'it LOOKS just like always.' That's also why I had them be in a relationship when this fic started, so that I could give Sakura enough familiarity to put him back together again.
Sakura let herself touch him, let her fingertips brush his cheekbone, his lips.
"I failed," she said.
"I know."
"It hurts so much."
"I know."
"Make it stop," she whispered, tipping her chin up peremptorily.
He did.
He kissed her forehead first, delicately, like he was afraid she'd bruise. Then he kissed the corner of her mouth, lips closed. Then he nudged her back against the wall, knelt down, spread her legs, took her in his mouth.
He'd learned what she liked already, long, slow strokes, his hands tracing idle designs on her thighs. She threw an arm over her face and shoved everything away, all the jagged mess of emotions, all the pain, distracting it with dissipation rates for the drugs in her blood, burying it under the feel of Kakashi's lips nibbling at her clit until her climax came like a merciful death, and for one glorious, perfect moment, Sakura and all her weaknesses didn't exist.
~~~
When Naruto woke up, Sakura had already pulled the curtains wide open, the daylight bright and harsh on her face. The rod was crooked, so she had to hold them to keep the length of fabric from sliding back and blocking out the sun.
I reread the scene where Naruto is in the hospital post Sasuke-in-a-barrel arc about five times to get this scene right. Some of the dialogue is cribbed directly from that.
If she squinted against the light, she could see the ruined top of the Hokage tower, charred and blackened.
Naruto swallowed thickly a couple times before he said anything.
"Hiya, Sakura-chan..." he said, trying for cheery. He mostly sounded scared.
Sakura didn't answer.
Shizune had a pry bar and was currently trying to get one of the drawers of Tsunade's desk open.
And this is another reason why I don't write longer, plotty fics. I ALWAYS get jossed. So badly. Like, I finished my Suki-in-prison fic two days before Boiling Rock came about. Right in the middle of writing this one, Konoha got bombed, and now there isn't a hospital or a hokage tower to be wrecked, and Shizune is dead (she should have had more company).
Three roof tops away, Kakashi was sitting against a chimney.
He might be looking up at her or he might have been wondering when he was next due for a much-loathed check-up. Sakura didn't motion towards him, afraid that he wasn't paying her the slightest attention at all. She didn't examine at all the fact that thinking of him ignoring her make her chest feel like it was made of broken glass.
After this, Sakura would go to help Shizune. Her monstrous strength - Tsunade's monstrous strength- would make getting the paperwork a snap and there was information in those drawers that the next Hokage... that Konoha would need.
"Does Naruto's deal with the devil cause him problems (internal and external) in his dreams to become Hokage?"
Yes. I honestly think more internal and external, simply because I don't think any of the people who know what happened would be willing to admit it and throw Naruto on Konoha's nonexistent mercy, but I think the general population would be able to figure out that the kyuubi got lose, even if they don't know that that's what killed Tsunade.
Honestly, however, Naruto was always fighting an uphill battle for the Hokage robes - his problem is going to be that after this, I don't think he could even think about wearing them after killing Tsunade. He wouldn't be able to take the guilt.
"I'm sorry," Sakura said.
"Huh?" Naruto asked. "You're what? Sakura-chan, you're acting really weird."
For one instant, he sounded exactly like always, and Sakura felt the world tilt under her feet, tremble and steady.
She looked over at Naruto.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"And what's wrong with your face?"
This is shades of Hakkai and Gojyo - 'what's with that face?' 'shut up. Just... shut up.'
She took a deep breath.
"SHUT UP!" she yelled and Naruto's flinch managed to rattle the water pitcher on the bedside table.
Tsunade would have been proud.
Sakura fought a grin, fought tears, and waved at Kakashi.
He lifted a laconic hand in response and Sakura smiled and stepped away from the window, let the curtains close.
Naruto was trying to smile at her, trying to hide the broken look in his eyes.
She boosted herself onto the bed next to him.
"It's all right," she said, smiling so hard her eyes crinkled closed as she ruffled his hair. "Soon things will get better. I promise."
And that's Kakashi's line from when Naruto and Sasuke almost killed each other (the first time). The implication being - things get different, but you don't get what you wanted and lost ever again. Also, i realized that Naruto finding out about Kakashi and Sakura being together is totally going to wreck him when that happens, since Sakura is really all that Naruto has left at this point; Sasuke's dead and I can't imagine Naruto continuing to try for the Hokage position. In that way, it's a great set-up for Sakura-as-Hokage, since she's clearly in a 'this all sucks terribly but we're going to keep moving because we don't have any other option' place.
devimelete . You can read the original version here.Okay, I was SO happy that someone asked about this one because
1.) I'm really proud of it
2.) I wrote it recently, so I remember what I was thinking when I wrote it
and
3.) I have A LOT to say about it
This was written for rashaka, who wanted something where Sakura chooses Kakashi over Sasuke, but since I have two wips in various stages of written where that happened it a very overt, blatant way, I tried to go as oblique as I could with that prompt. It turned out more Sakura choosing Konoha over Sasuke, which I really, really like, and brings Sakura and her character arc full circle.
Had I not been writing for the kakasaku christmas exchange, I think I would have cut out the Kakashi/Sakura, or at least toned it WAY down.
She'd promised Naruto.
She'd promised.
The last time - the last time she'd felt the Nine-Tails chakra break over her skin, tasted fire in the back of her throat and seen her best friend's skin burning away, she'd promised, she'd swore that she'd bring Sasuke back, that she'd save Sasuke for him.
She'd promised.
And once again, she'd failed.
I came up with the idea of the Sasuke vs Konoha fight early, and so this just wrote itself. Plus (like so many other things) I cribbed the theme of broken promises from the manga itself. It's one of the reasons that this fic feels so very close to canon for me.
~~~
Sakura wasn't late - mostly.
Well, okay, she was, but only by three minutes, and if the Fifth Hokage hadn't been entertaining an extremely unpleasant courier from the Tsuchikage with Danzo at her side, Sakura was sure Tsunade wouldn't have even noticed.
I needed some way for Danzo to be with them, so I brought in external politics. This opening scene got tweaked a lot, so that I could get all the actors on the stage where I needed them.
As it was, she trotted down the hall, ignoring Naruto's hissed comments that they needed to speak louder and when was it going to be his turn, why did the Old Lady want him to be here if she wasn't even going to talk to him?
"Quiet!" she hissed back, sliding discreetly through the door way, Naruto already moving to put his ear back against the wood.
Everyone turned to look at her, the Stone shinobi stopping in his condescending drone, Tsunade unamused, Danzo looking implacable.
Sakura smiled nervously and had the paranoid suspicion that she hadn't healed the love marks on her neck sufficiently.
She was treated to a sudden, vicious memory of how she's got those love-marks, his teeth nipping at her neck and then laving her skin with his tongue. She flushed and scurried to stand across from Danzo, both of them perpendicular to the Hokage's desk.
She hadn't bothered healing the marks that were completely hidden under her clothes.
Because bite marks are hot. I wanted to establish the Kakashi/Sakura relationship right off the bat so that the readers would know what the stakes were and also have it new enough that it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to pick Sasuke.
Sakura spent the next forty minutes ruthlessly trying to suppress all memories of how she'd spent the last night.
It was very, very hard, especially when Kakashi clambered in the window behind her, limbs moving loose and relaxed
"Yo," he said, directly at her.
Sakura turned her head back to stare at the floor.
"You're late," Tsunade said flatly.
"So sorry," Kakashi said, his voice dripping with sincerity. "I was-"
"I don't have time for whatever fiction you'd like to share with us," Tsunade interrupted, wiggling a pen between two fingers. "I merely want you to clarify the details of the mission to Grass you and Anko completed four months ago." Her eyes narrowed. "Your report was vague."
"Really?" Kakashi asked, standing close enough that Sakura could feel his body heat. "I thought I was rather verbose."
The Hokage looked at a particular piece of paper on her desk in disgust. "Yes, a whole nine words. I was stunned."
"Well," Kakashi began, setting most of his weight onto his right leg and discreetly running a hand down Sakura's spine. She tried not to shiver. The pen in Tsunade's hand snapped.
devimelete asked: "does Tsunade suspect them together? I thought the snapping of the pen is an indicator."
Yes, yes it was. *grins* That was Kakashi's oh-so-suble, 'by the way, Hokage, I'm nailing your apprentice.' I'm sure Tsunade's thoughts are running something along the lines of 'must. not. hurt. elite. jounin. in. front. of. foreign. ninja.'
Also, I really like the fanon of Kakashi being very concise when he's writing his mission reports.
Sakura tried to paste an I'm-listening expression on her face while most of her synapses devoted themselves to reminding her of how he felt moving inside her, hot and hard and oh-so-right, how it had felt to trace her fingers over the dimples that appeared in his cheeks when he gave that little crooked grin that changed his face from very, very attractive to devastatingly handsome.
I also like giving Kakashi dimples.
She caught about one word in six.
Sakura was deep in reminiscing about the way Kakashi's breath had hitched when she'd taken him into her mouth, how his hands had fisted in her hair as she'd ran her tongue along the underside of his cock when chakra surged and spiked around her.
Kakashi threw her to the floor, his body over hers while Naruto surged into the room, splintering the door from the frame.
Okay, I knew I wanted to have Kakashi protecting someone right off the bat here. First it was Sakura, and then I thought it might be Tsunade, and then as the fight scene developed it turned back into Sakura. Again, I'm repeating things we've seen in canon.
"Old Lady what-" he started and then a very, very familiar voice said, "flame barrier," and the walls of Tsunade's office combusted.
It was only for an instant; a flash of heat and light and then the walls and roof were gone. Instead of a room, they were on a platform above Konoha, boxed in by purple sheets of fire.
Remember this? It's what Orochimaru used to capture the Third for their fight.
Sakura tried to get to her feet but Kakashi's weight was heavy on her back and then, craning her neck, Sakura saw who had done this and froze.
"Sasuke...." Naruto breathed.
Sakura trembled. She'd known for a long time that she and Naruto were going to have to chase Sasuke down, bring him back. She'd stopped dreaming about his coming back to Konoha on his own years ago and never in even her nightmares had she envisioned Sasuke returning like this, staring at Tsunade like she was the enemy, wearing the black and red cloak of the Ataksuki.
It hurt more than Sasori's sword shoved through her guts.
Sasori had never protected her, never been the hurt, lost boy she'd loved and tried to save.
Sasuke had.
"What are you doing here?"
For a minute Sakura thought she had asked that question but it had been spoken in Danzo's low growl.
Sasuke was watching her and then turned his gaze to Naruto, commenting to the kunoichi at his side. "Karin, can you hold the barrier?"
"Of course," Karin answered, hands clasped together, sweat beading on her brow.
There were three other enemy shinobi besides Karin and Sasuke. Two were ninja Sakura'd never seen before, and one of them was the strange shinobi with the sharingan that had delayed them while Sasuke killed Itachi. Numbers-wise, it was an even fight.
devimelet asked: What happened to the Stone shinobi in the battlefield? Did he immediately die in the beginning of the fight, or what?
The author forgot about him, that's what. He was supposed to be red shirt used to show how badass Sasuke is now, only I forgot to actually kill him off. Oops.
Sakura braced herself. Naruto would engage Sasuke, of course, and Karin would be occupied keeping that barrier up, which mean she should take out the one with the oversized sword and the gargantuan, musclebound bruiser, leaving the orange-masked one for Kakashi and Tsunade.
Sakura glanced over at her shishou, intending to smile encouragingly, and got to see Danzo step to Tsunade's side and shove a knife between her ribs.
I love Danzo. I think he's a damn good bad guy, not the least because he's connected to Sai and I keep thinking scenes with Danzo are going to lead to plotty stuff with Sai. Still holding my breath on that front.
Sakura screamed.
Sasuke reached out a hand, eyes flaring and twisting impossibly and Naruto was on his knees, yelling, chakra blazing around his body.
Sakura had watched Sasuke as a girl, trained with and fought beside Kakashi, she thought she knew how the sharingan worked.
This, Naruto on all fours, back curling as his spine arched, skin splitting open and his chakra boiled out, this was like nothing she'd ever seen before, the most vicious trick of magic or twisted miracle she'd ever even heard of.
That line was added so that my summery '"Have you got any magic tricks that will work for me?" Team 7 stands before the kyuubi and Sakura fails to keep her promises. ' worked and my title would make sense.
The shinobi with the orange mask giggled.
"This wasn't part of our deal, Uchiha," Danzo said severely.
"Bastard," Tsunade spat, seal flaring to life on her forehead as she slumped against her desk. She was glaring at Sasuke, and Sakura wasn't quite sure who she was referring to when the Hokage snapped, "How dare you pull this in my goddamned office!"
Shades of "I'm the goddamned Hokage!" Also, Danzo would totally make a deal with Sasuke and Sasuke would betray him in a heartbeat because while Sasuke SAYS he's an avenger, he's had more success with the betrayal end of things.
She flicked her wrist back, fingers snapping against Danzo's chest, and he crumpled with a sound like rotten apples hitting cement.
Naruto shrieked again, forehead against the ground, nails clawing curls of wood out of the floor and he bleed and burned.
"Stop it! Sasuke, you're hurting him!" Sakura bolted towards her former teammate (Kakashi grabbed for the back of her shirt, missed).
Sasuke looked at her, seemingly mildly amused, and her punch cracked across one of his perfect cheekbones.
"BASTARD!" she yelled.
Sasuke's head whipped to one side, and his eyes were amazed when his head turned back towards her.
I would pay so much money to see this in the manga. It's the second time I've written Sakura slugging Sasuke and it never. gets. old.
"You're different," he noted, tomoe in his eyes reducing, returning to the familiar triumvirate of comet-like shapes.
"I am," she agreed, feet set and fists raised. "Now stop hurting Naruto or the next punch is going to have chakra behind it."
...because if she'd punched him with chakra none of the rest of the fic wouldn't happened.
Sasuke looked approving. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," he said, "I wouldn't let you get hurt."
Sakura swung at him but her legs were already buckling, body going limp.
Stupid, stupid girl, Inner Sakura commented. Have you forgotten what a Sharingan is?
Sakura's feet were dangling in the water. She leaned back a little bit further, the warm rock behind her soothing against her back. Above her, the sky was blindingly blue and she watched the clouds from between her lashes.
She splashed her feet a little, feeling the resistance of the water sliding cool around her ankles and smiled.
Naruto was yelling further down the river, thrashing about. His clothes would be soaked when it was time to walk back but the thought of him complaining wasn't annoying at all.
Okay, this is supposed to be that one artbook page where they're all lounging around by the river.... it's also Sasuke's fantasy, because I think even as he damns himself, he wants his old Team back.
There were birds chirping nearby, and that reminded her-
Kakashi lunged at Sasuke, chidori crackling around his fist.
I like that transition.
I'm a huge sucker for dream sequences and hallucinations and prophetic visions.
Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw the orange masked shinobi intercept. He did something and then Kakashi was thrown backwards, slamming into the wall of flame.
It reacted like the most unforgiving of stone and Kakashi slid down to slump on the ground, clothes smoking.
-to check and see that her sensei was still perched on that branch above her, enthralled with an Icha Icha novel.
She wondered which volume he was reading.
There was a strand of hair falling in her eyes and Sasuke-
caught her body before her knees could finish buckling.
He turned, handed her to off to someone else.
"Keep her out of this, Juugo," Sasuke ordered. "She's not acceptable collateral damage."
devimelete asked: "Now, there is no way for Sasuke to know Sakura's private relationship with Kakashi in this fic, but I'm a bit curious on how you've made Sasuke a more focused man. He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want, and one of his goals is to perserve Sakura's survival. If he knew of this relationship (I refuse to call this an affair, as tempting as it is), would he be just as willing to have her as nonacceptable collateral damage? Or has he gone to the point where he wouldn't care one way or the other?"
First, I think Sasuke is very, very focused. To the point of missing the forest for the trees. He's focused on killing Itachi to the exclusion of the afterwards - how do you expect to revive your clan if you can't return to Konoha, do you want Itachi dead or do you want to kill him (so much would have been solved if he'd just dragged his team off to help him kill his older brother) and now he's focused on destroying Konoha without stopping to realize that he's totally bending over for Madara and that hey, maybe everyone in Konoha ISN'T guilty of murdering his clan.
And on that subject, yes, if Sasuke knew about Sakura and Kakashi's affair (they're had sex and so far only one other person besides them knows about it, it's an affair) it would change things. I imagine Sasuke is totally possessive of Sakura, in a 'I don't want you but you can't be with anyone else way.'
Also, I think part of the reason he's so focused on protecting Sakura is that a.) it's part of his character and b.) he's subconsciously using protecting Sakura to justify sacrificing Naruto.
Juugo carefully took her in his arms, holding her like a bride, and this was wrong, he was wrong, his chakra wild and cancerous and it was like facing Orochimaru again, she was helpless and frozen and-
No. Nonono.
That wasn't how this was supposed to go, she was supposed to help save Sasuke-
carefully picked the strand of hair off her forehead.
"Thank you," Sakura said softly. She curled her hands tightly together and her nails didn't bite into her palms at all.
Sasuke shook his head, leaned down to brush his mouth against her head.
"You're supposed to say, 'You're welcome'."
This is the continuation of the scene where he leaves Konoha: he wants her to respond to his 'Thank you' so he can feel good about what he's doing.
"NO!" Sakura yelled, flooding her body with her chakra, breaking the genjutsu like stones beneath her heels
Juugo startled, head tossing like a horse and she lashed out, grabbing his jaw and snapping his neck to the side.
His neck broke like a chicken bone.
I felt kinda bad about killing him so quickly, but you know, Juugo and Karin would probably be the easily members of Team Hebi for Sakura to beat, with her super-strength.
She rolled out of his embrace as he died, took in the tableau before her in one sweeping gaze.
Tsunade was gasping on her desk, her forehead seal activated as she tried to heal the wound in her side. (The dagger must have been poisoned, she thought, to give Tsunade-sama that much trouble. Inner Sakura didn't know whether to howl in rage or seethe in envy of his cunning.) Tobi and Kakashi were fighting, Kakashi lashing out and Tobi evading with creepy, high-pitched giggles. Naruto was still on his knees, the Nine-Tails flooding out of him like a river breaking a dam. She counted six tails already, lashing the air like whips, Sasuke standing still and calm before him, amused smile on his lips. And the shinobi with the sword-
I had such a hard time remembering to call Tobi Tobi. I did a lot of rereading of the fight scene were he's teasing Naruto and the neo retrieve Sasuke squad, figuring out how much they'd know about it. Also, in rereading the manga I realized that my initial plan of having Sakura kill Tobi wasn't going to work, because her offensive techniques are totally the worst type to go up against his....
-was coming right for her.
Sakura ducked and the blade sailed over her head.
"Suigetsu, watch it, you moron!" Karin yelled as Sakura slugged the shinobi, her hand passing right through his body.
...and you know, Suigestu isn't that susceptible to blunt force either....
She evaded his next stroke, backpedaled. She didn't have time for this. She stomped her foot and half the floor fell away. Below, she could see desks and chairs as bits of wood and carpeting hit the floor of fire and started to burn below them. Suigetsu dodged, grabbing Karin and jumping to the very edge, near the barrier, where bits of flooring still clung.
Little bit of my OTP showing there....
Sakura didn't stay to watch.
She leaped across the floor struts still clinging to the buildings frame, dodging Naruto's tails like she danced past Sasori's puppets. Duck, roll, the glancing slash that opened up one forearm didn't matter, one more jump, and then she was sliding to her knees, throwing her arms around Naruto.
I love this image. I can see it so clearly in my head. It's basically Sakura doing all the bad ass acrobatics she did under Chiyo's control on her own.
His chakra hurt; she felt her skin blistering, couldn't breathe for the heat sucking the air from her lips. Still, she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades, listened as her tears sizzled away in wisps of steam.
She was slumped on cold stone, gasping.
Naruto and Sasuke faced each other and beyond them was a great, golden gate, and beyond that-
If Sakura could have screamed, she would have.
It was the Nine Tails.
She could sense its chakra, its overwhelming chakra, it was wind and air and earth all shattering around her, it was death and gleeful destruction and entropy.
For one craven instant, Sakura thought, This is what lives inside Naruto. We should have killed him in his cradle.
I knew from the beginning that the above line was going to be in this fic. Also, why has Sakura never chatted with the nine-tails? Sasuke has and I think a Team 7/9 Tails conversation would be awesome.
The Nine-Tails grinned.
Sakura fisted her hands in her hair, yanked.
"NO!" she yelled, finding her voice at last, and then she was on her feet, clasping Naruto's hand in hers, standing at his side.
"No," she said again and if she directed her words to the gates, instead of the glowing golden eyes behind them, well.
She was brave, not suicidal.
In the ruins of Tsunade's office, Naruto bent his head, eyes red, licked at the blood dripping down her arm in one long sweep of his tongue.
I find this line really, really, really hot.
"Sakura-chan," he breathed.
Behind her, she heard Kakashi's footsteps running towards her and his opponent's annoyed voice, "I'm not done playing yet.....!"
Kakashi swore.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said again, mouth wet with her blood.
I imagine Kakashi is practically having a heart attack at the moment. What a great morning after; your girlfriend starts chatting up her ex and her demonic best friend is licking at her injured body! Kakashi is already seeing her name on the cenotaph.
"You're new," the Nine Tails responded, laughing soundlessly through his open mouth. "Delicious, too."
Sakura couldn't tell what Sasuke did, but suddenly the focus of the Nine-Tails shifted.
"And you," the beast said. "I recognize those eyes."
Sasuke smiled. "I'm here to let you out of Naruto."
"Sasuke, you can't!" Naruto protested while the Nine Tails chuckled, and Sakura locked her knees against the weight of the sound.
"I can," Sasuke said, watching them both like they were strangers. "I'm here to destroy Konoha." He turned towards the demon again. "If you help me, I'll let you finish what you started. You won't be trapped in a weak boy anymore."
Naruto shook his head mutely and she could feel his hand shaking in hers.
"You wouldn't!" Sakura went to him, reached out. She cradled his face in her hands and he let her, let her slide her fingers over his cheekbones, along his jawline. It was like touching a statue.
"Sasuke.... please.... come back to us."
"You broke my genjutsu," Sasuke said and there was an odd note in his voice.
Sakura nodded. "I've been practicing. We'll all grown stronger while you've been gone. Sasuke... please don't do this. Itachi's dead, you got your revenge.... why wouldn't you come home to us?" She looked back at Naruto, wanting him to help her convince Sasuke.
Naruto wasn't looking at her and didn't turn his head even when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it again. She had the feeling that there was a conversation going on that she was missing. Part of her said that she needed to get Naruto's attention, but the rest was focused on saving Sasuke, on getting him to realize that he needed to come back to them, come back to Konoha.
Right now, Naruto and his demon are bargaining.
"Won't you come home?"
Sasuke looked away, gazing dispassionately at the fox behind the gate.
"Konoha is rotten. It's poisoned from the very core. I'm going to fix it," he said.
Sakura tugged at his arm. "Destruction isn't how you cure something! I know! I can heal anything, just tell me what! Just tell me how to save you and I will! I promised! I promised I would!"
Sasuke looked at her, red flashing in his black eyes.
"I'll make sure you survive," he said kindly.
Sakura screamed through her teeth. "I'm not the one who needs saving!"
Tsunade was coughing, hacking, blood flecking her lips. Sakura twisted to see Tobi shove a tantou through Kakashi. The blade slide in just below her sensei's collarbone, pinned the pocket that held his summoning scrolls closed. He lashed out with a fist and Tobi evaded, chortling.
Oh, god, she so wasn't the one who needed saving.
"We have to-" she started.
"As long as Sakura is okay," Naruto said to someone who wasn't her or Sasuke and that only left- only left- and oh god he'd sounded so defeated, and that was wrong, Naruto never sounded defeated, this was wrong, wrong, wrong.
I have a thing for when people put one person above the greater good, even if it's the wrong call, and only if bad things happen because of it.
The Nine Tails chuckled and–
–Naruto shrugged her off his back and she tumbled across the floor, sliding into Danzo. Danzo clawed ineffectually at her, moaning deep in his throat. His grasp tripped her up until Tsunade snarled and stomped down, her foot crushing Danzo's head like a grape.
Way back in the first draft of this, Sakura was going to be the last one standing after this fight, Danzo was going to order her to heal him, and she was going to crush his head like a grape. I quickly realized that the upcoming Kakashi/Sakura vs Madara fight was going to end with Sakura out of it, and that I hadn't given Tsunade enough to do.
Sakura got her feet under her and bolted towards Tobi and Kakashi.
Tobi had his hand around Kakashi's neck, was pressing him into the barrier. Kakashi's clothes were smoking and she could smell the reek of burning hair.
"Naughty boy," Tobi breathed. "You're playing with a toy that doesn't belong to you."
He dug his hand into Kakashi's face. Kakashi jerked away but Sakura saw blood and gleaming white between Tobi's fingers and then she was punching, her hand passing through thin air.
I like Kakashi with his sharingan. Unless he's dying and giving it to Sakura, it's staying in his eye socket.
Tobi let go of Kakashi, though, who shoved her out of the way in time for the kunai Tobi threw at her back to pass harmlessly into the flames behind them.
Kakashi's hand was pressed against the side of his face, blood coursing down his wrist. Blood had soaked through the front of his flak vest, so much of it that she couldn't understand how he was even on his feet. He was panting with pain and flinched away from her when she reached for him.
"Not now," Kakashi mumbled. "Let's deal with the Uchiha first."
"Which one?" Sakura asked bleakly.
Sasuke and Naruto were still embroiled in their tete-a-tete, seemingly frozen.
Kakashi made an amused sound deep in his throat.
Tobi snapped out a set of seals and there was a spear in his hands.
"Kakashi...." Sakura said, attention caught by the chakra glowing at her fingers. "If I hold him still, can you..."
"Yes," he said, the word slurred and she knew, knew that if anyone could kill the Uchiha in front of her, it was Hatake Kakashi.
"But will you-" she started to ask and then Tobi was there, mask cheerful and impassive.
...be okay.
She feinted, dodged, and he followed her as she flipped back, twisting and arcing to avoid the thrusts of his spear.
He cornered her, flames at her back, and when he thrust his spear one last time, she didn't dodge.
She let it pierce her, let the spear tip rip through her body, let her body slid along the haft.
She covered his hand with hers. The chakra that coated her skin felt as soft as swan's down, glowed as softy as the moon on a misty night, and she let it flow into Tobi's, let her gentle strength mix with the implacable force of his Uchiha chakra.
So if the offensive techniques don't work, use the healing ones. One thing I really love about Kishimoto is that he is all for people teaming up against a tough opponent and I've always thought that Kakashi and Sakura make a great team.
She saw one eye widen and looked to the side before he could ensnare her.
He broke his hands free of hers, snapped the spear haft and letting her fall. It was a valiant effort, but it didn't work. It didn't matter if she wasn't touching him, if she was kneeling on the floor, impaled, because her chakra was in him, twining around his body, slowing him down, keeping him from leaving.
He moved like he was underwater.
Kakashi - bloody, broken Kakashi- moved like lightning.
This line is so, so, so blatant and obvious and oh, Kakashi = lightning metaphor, never seen that before, but I ADORE the repetition of his name and the alliteration. Sometimes we just can't bear to kill our darlings.
His hands snapped through a set of seals and then there was two wolves made of blinding light and birdsong loping forward.
Sakura closed her eyes against the brightness and concentrated, keeping her chakra twisted through Tobi's body, holding him as static as an abandoned puppet while Kakashi's wolves bit.
Blood splashed her face.
She released her chakra and Tobi's body hit the floor with a dry rattle.
Sakura quickly shoved a bit of chakra into her wound, slowing the bleeding, and then crawled over Tobi, moving towards where Kakashi was crouched on the floor. He was curled around himself, hands hovering above the bloody wreck that was the left side of his face.
Sakura placed her hands over his. "Shhh, let me," she whispered. "I'll fix it, I promise."
She looked up at Naruto and Sasuke. Tears blurred her vision, so she couldn't see the expression on their faces but one minute they were still, even Naruto's tails frozen, and then one tail lashed out, blindingly fast, and wrapped itself around Tsunade and squeezed while another ripped open Sasuke's belly.
Sasuke's entrails and Tsunade's head hit the ground at the same time.
In my head, this is Neon Gensis Evangelion and Shinji just killed Kouru.
Sakura watched it happen.
Naruto fell backwards, hit the ground with a flat smack and the Nine Tail's chakra dove back inside him.
The barrier failed.
The wind blew.
Sakura shivered.
She heard the scrap of shoe soles on rough wood.
"Get out," she said in a dead voice and Suigetsu threw Karin's limp form over his shoulder, grabbed the two pieces of his blade and teleported.
Karin isn't dead, she just passed out from chakra exhaustion and possibly shock.
"You sounded like me," Sasuke noted.
This was me giving a reason for Suigetsu to obey her and also for Sasuke to start this conversation. (Although I think Sasuke is stroking his ego - Suigetsu's a smart boy, and not overly loyal.)
Sakura flinched at the wet sound of his voice.
Her chakra was flowing into Kakashi. He was unconscious, dying. She would feel it, feel where he's used his life force, his will, his sheer stubborness to get that last jutsu to work.
She bent over him, his head in her lap. Tobi had missed his Sharingan and instead had ravaged the left side of his face from mandible to zyosislymore. Sakura would think in those terms. Sakura tried to put the broken bits of bone back into the right places, urging the torn flesh to mend. She had the darkly humous thought that it was a damn good thing he'd let her see his face, or she wouldn't have the least idea where things should go. She tried to ease some of her energy into his chakra channels, wanting to prevent them from being damaged by the lack life force.
Remember that line Kakashi has to Sasuke about there being no third chidori at his level? This, I speculate, was why; that you can damage yourself past recovering from using chakra you don't have to use.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, and she looked up. "Sakura... come here." He crooked his fingers at her, and her body shuddered. She wanted to go to him, to pour her chakra into his body, and there was a part of her screaming that it was Sasuke, Sasuke-kun, she loved him beyond death.
And she did.
She just loved him beyond her death, not the death of the man bleeding in her lap, not beyond whatever Naruto had sacrificed in his own mind to keep her safe, not beyond the broken body of her beloved shishou.
Originally it was just "not the death of the man bleeding in her lap" but that felt weak to me; thus it explicitly becomes Konoha > Sasuke.
"No," she breathed. "I'm sorry, but no."
"Ah," Sasuke said, and closed his eyes like he'd been expecting that.
"When I finish-"
"I'll be dead," Sasuke said factually. He looked down at her belly. "You'll probably be too."
He sounded pleased.
Sasuke propped himself on his elbow, watched her as she moved her hands along Kakashi's bare face.
Black spots were dancing in her vision and Sakura kept going, even when she felt the healing she'd placed on herself flicker and fail, a fresh wave of blood soaking her shirt.
"I think you're right," she gasped.
"Of course," Sasuke said gravely.
~~~
Sakura blinked.
The off-white tiles of the ceiling came into focus.
She could feel the drugs moving through her system. Everything felt far, far away.
After a moment, she licked her lips.
It took another long moment before she could summon the strength to reach across her body, tug out the iv. Liquid spurted a bit from the needle's end, and she dropped it, left it to spill saline and sedatives into the sheets while she wandered away with bare feet and ripped clothes.
Think Faith waking from her coma in the episode right before 'Who Are You?'
She found Naruto two floors above her, chakra suppressed so throughly that she stood for ten minutes with her fingers on the pulse point in his throat before she managed to convince herself that he was alive.
There were ANBU crouched warily at the cardinal points of the room.
One of them shifted when she adjusted his intravenous drip, reducing the intake of tranquilizers and she looked at him.
She wasn't sure what he saw in her face but whatever it was caused him to still.
When staring at Naruto's paper-pale face got so painful she was half-crumpled over, hand pressed to the place where hours ago she'd had wood and iron shoved through her, she left.
She stumbled and the shinobi sitting on the West side of the room steadied her with a hand on her calf.
Why, I wonder who this concerned ANBU member could possibly be? (It's Sai.)
She took a moment to regain her balance. The ANBU patted her foot awkwardly.
Her feet were cold.
They were colder when she reached the morgue.
The morgue was where she found Kakashi and Sasuke.
A note on where Kakashi is: I originally wanted him to be by Sakura's bedside and carry her home, only I realized that I wanted her to check on Naruto. Subsequently, I was planning on having Kakashi outsides Naruto's room, and have both of them watching him through the glass only... Kakashi WOULDN'T be outside Naruto's room. That is not where he would loiter. He'd be brooding down with his latest mistake. Also, I specifically phrased the above line and didn't mention Kakashi for the next five sentences because I really hoped people would think he was dead, or at least have a minute of nail-biting terror.
Sakura went to stand next to Sasuke's body.
He was pretty. Even dead he was pretty.
Her hands gripped the end of the table he lay on.
"I couldn't save him," Sakura said distantly. Her knuckles were white. "I promised Naruto, I promised, and I just couldn't."
She bent, resting her forehead against the chilly metal, the chilly metal on which Sasuke was going to be sliced and dissected and examined, and it was too much, he deserved better, she should have given him better.
Sakura was sobbing without sound, great heavy breaths that deprived her brain of oxygen, and then Kakashi's hands were on her wrists, pulling her away from Sasuke.
"Oh, Sasuke," she choked out, "Oh, what do I tell Naruto? Oh, god, what do I say to Naruto?"
What Sakura is partially freaking out about is that she just grocked that Naruto killed her other best friend and her teacher.
She felt Kakashi exhale, his breath shockingly warm against the back of her neck, and then he was twisting her around, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck and closed her eyes.
She welcomed the dizzy disorientation of the teleportation jutsu.
~~~
It was later and hot water was flowing down her back.
She'd stopped shivering a while ago and Kakashi had just finished rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. The air was humid and smelled like him.
She kept her face down, hair plastered against her cheeks. She reached up, fingers hovering over his face.
"Did I.... are you....?"
Kakashi rubbed a hand along his jaw, like he was checking for stubble. "Feels like always," he said with a shrug, water cascading along his chest, running in rivulets along the muscles of his abdomen. His sharingan whirled gently.
I really like that bit; the image of Kakashi rubbing his face and not quite being familiar enough with it to say 'it LOOKS just like always.' That's also why I had them be in a relationship when this fic started, so that I could give Sakura enough familiarity to put him back together again.
Sakura let herself touch him, let her fingertips brush his cheekbone, his lips.
"I failed," she said.
"I know."
"It hurts so much."
"I know."
"Make it stop," she whispered, tipping her chin up peremptorily.
He did.
He kissed her forehead first, delicately, like he was afraid she'd bruise. Then he kissed the corner of her mouth, lips closed. Then he nudged her back against the wall, knelt down, spread her legs, took her in his mouth.
He'd learned what she liked already, long, slow strokes, his hands tracing idle designs on her thighs. She threw an arm over her face and shoved everything away, all the jagged mess of emotions, all the pain, distracting it with dissipation rates for the drugs in her blood, burying it under the feel of Kakashi's lips nibbling at her clit until her climax came like a merciful death, and for one glorious, perfect moment, Sakura and all her weaknesses didn't exist.
~~~
When Naruto woke up, Sakura had already pulled the curtains wide open, the daylight bright and harsh on her face. The rod was crooked, so she had to hold them to keep the length of fabric from sliding back and blocking out the sun.
I reread the scene where Naruto is in the hospital post Sasuke-in-a-barrel arc about five times to get this scene right. Some of the dialogue is cribbed directly from that.
If she squinted against the light, she could see the ruined top of the Hokage tower, charred and blackened.
Naruto swallowed thickly a couple times before he said anything.
"Hiya, Sakura-chan..." he said, trying for cheery. He mostly sounded scared.
Sakura didn't answer.
Shizune had a pry bar and was currently trying to get one of the drawers of Tsunade's desk open.
And this is another reason why I don't write longer, plotty fics. I ALWAYS get jossed. So badly. Like, I finished my Suki-in-prison fic two days before Boiling Rock came about. Right in the middle of writing this one, Konoha got bombed, and now there isn't a hospital or a hokage tower to be wrecked, and Shizune is dead (she should have had more company).
Three roof tops away, Kakashi was sitting against a chimney.
He might be looking up at her or he might have been wondering when he was next due for a much-loathed check-up. Sakura didn't motion towards him, afraid that he wasn't paying her the slightest attention at all. She didn't examine at all the fact that thinking of him ignoring her make her chest feel like it was made of broken glass.
After this, Sakura would go to help Shizune. Her monstrous strength - Tsunade's monstrous strength- would make getting the paperwork a snap and there was information in those drawers that the next Hokage... that Konoha would need.
"Does Naruto's deal with the devil cause him problems (internal and external) in his dreams to become Hokage?"
Yes. I honestly think more internal and external, simply because I don't think any of the people who know what happened would be willing to admit it and throw Naruto on Konoha's nonexistent mercy, but I think the general population would be able to figure out that the kyuubi got lose, even if they don't know that that's what killed Tsunade.
Honestly, however, Naruto was always fighting an uphill battle for the Hokage robes - his problem is going to be that after this, I don't think he could even think about wearing them after killing Tsunade. He wouldn't be able to take the guilt.
"I'm sorry," Sakura said.
"Huh?" Naruto asked. "You're what? Sakura-chan, you're acting really weird."
For one instant, he sounded exactly like always, and Sakura felt the world tilt under her feet, tremble and steady.
She looked over at Naruto.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"And what's wrong with your face?"
This is shades of Hakkai and Gojyo - 'what's with that face?' 'shut up. Just... shut up.'
She took a deep breath.
"SHUT UP!" she yelled and Naruto's flinch managed to rattle the water pitcher on the bedside table.
Tsunade would have been proud.
Sakura fought a grin, fought tears, and waved at Kakashi.
He lifted a laconic hand in response and Sakura smiled and stepped away from the window, let the curtains close.
Naruto was trying to smile at her, trying to hide the broken look in his eyes.
She boosted herself onto the bed next to him.
"It's all right," she said, smiling so hard her eyes crinkled closed as she ruffled his hair. "Soon things will get better. I promise."
And that's Kakashi's line from when Naruto and Sasuke almost killed each other (the first time). The implication being - things get different, but you don't get what you wanted and lost ever again. Also, i realized that Naruto finding out about Kakashi and Sakura being together is totally going to wreck him when that happens, since Sakura is really all that Naruto has left at this point; Sasuke's dead and I can't imagine Naruto continuing to try for the Hokage position. In that way, it's a great set-up for Sakura-as-Hokage, since she's clearly in a 'this all sucks terribly but we're going to keep moving because we don't have any other option' place.