Chapter Text
The acrid tang in the air is faint. But it’s there. Sasori is certain.
When he looks up, following his nose, there’s a brief searing light of flame that makes him instinctively raise his arms to shield his eyes. He grunts at the sting. The smell of smoke grows stronger along with the smells of burning wood like a campfire. A crackling reaches his ears similar to burning paper.
Squinting through one eye, Sasori manages to watch as something pale and thin emerges from the ashes of suspended flames. A folded piece of paper?
His eyes have to readjust as the bright flash dies. He hears the paper flutter to the ground. He blinks as he lowers his arms and sees the white sheet folded in half a few steps ahead. Innocuous as if someone had dropped it rather its burning into existence.
What the…How does that even make sense? He can’t help his incredulity despite his accepted position in the afterlife, curious and wary for the first time since he woke up.
The paper has a faint glow about it which only adds to his bewilderment. There is still a faint scent of smoke in the air, fading by the second. He notices what looks to be writing between the folds.
A…letter?
Sasori cautiously moves forward and picks it up, holding the edges by his fingertips. There is nothing written on the outside so he opens it, turning it over when he sees the words upside down.
It’s a short letter, addressed to him… he skips to the end without fully reading the rest to see who..
Sakura.
Something violent and strong wretches his breath from his throat as images rise unbidden from memory. His last memory alive. A girl with ostentatious pink hair and piercing verdant eyes in outrageous red gi that stood defiant against him.
‘What is human life worth to you?’
‘What does family mean to you?’
Her words haunting him even now, long after when it should no longer matter.
“Is this a fucking joke?”