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It takes a little longer for him to notice at first – those fake smiles, and unblinking gazes. They behave as one should, their personalities mimic those whose forms they've taken. 'Hello's and 'how are you's are spoken with the stiffness of someone who is not sincere.
But Sasuke knows that isn't the case for these creatures, for they are trying – he guesses. But he begins to wonder, what happened to the real person that these...things, are imitating.
“That's crazy,” Naruto states, picking up a rock, and skipping it across the lake. “I mean, usually I come up with shit like that. But you bastard, you're saying it in such a serious voice – its pretty hilarious”.
“I didn't expect you to believe me,” Sasuke shrugs.
“Sasuke, really – don't be saying stupid shit like that to other people, alright. Your trial is coming up, we don't want them to think you're actually crazy”.
Sasuke does not reply.
.
.
He hears whispers from those who remain wary of his presence. He knows for sure that they walk the streets as their normal selves.
Sometimes, however, he notices a cheery smile, and perhaps a wave is offered in greeting as he passes those he does not know by name in the streets. In moments like that, they give themselves away far too easily.
“Hello,” one of them speaks, “good day, is it not?”
The person leans forward, fractionally, and speaks to a kunochi who replies with a curt, “yes it is,” before scuttling away so no continuation of dialogue can be had. The man who was just speaking holds his position just that little bit too long to quell any suspicion. The smile is still plastered upon his face. He nods to no one, and continues along his way.
Sasuke is rooted in his spot, several metres back. He had watched silently the scene play before him.
Without further hesitation, he heads off in the direction the kunochi had made break for.
.
.
“Sakura,” he grabs her arm, and pulls her into an alleyway.
She holds back her scream, “for fucks sake, Sasuke-kun! You scared me half to death”.
“Sorry,” he replies quickly.
Sakura shakes her head, “why did you pull me here?”
The street by their side continues moving in pace. The citizen know not of the conversation between the two, taking place within the cramped confides of the alleyway.
Sasuke hesitates before speaking, “you've noticed them too?”
Sakura opens her mouth, then pauses. She speaks in a hushed tone, “I – I thought I was the only one. I thought I was going crazy”.
He takes a breath, “do you know what they are?”
“No”.
“Alright,” he states. He scratches his jaw, “are they a threat?”
“Do you know what happened to the people that they...look like?”
He replies quietly, “no”.
“Well,” Sakura responds, “because of that, to me, they are a threat”.
.
.
It is a month later when both Sasuke and Sakura notice a pattern. One by one, day by day, another person would enter the streets, appearance unchanged – behaviour amiss. They had been tracking the phenomenon, as strange as that sounds. For they wanted to uncover the routine, they wanted to see if they were next.
“You're spending a lot of time with Sakura-chan lately,” Naruto observes one day, as the pair spar upon their old training ground.
Sasuke avoids Naruto's right hook, grabs the attack, and reverses the momentum – he sends the blond towards the other side of the field.
The counter-attack is intentionally weak, and Naruto is able to ground himself to a halt with ease. Sasuke replies to the blond's observation, “are you implying something, Naruto?”
The blond waggles his eyebrows, “you tell me, bastard”.
.
.
“Sasuke-kun, this actually really frightens me”.
Sasuke hands Sakura her drink, and takes a seat beside her. He is unsure of what to say in response. What words of comfort could he offer when he too acknowledges the utter dread the situation brings.
Sakura shakes her head, “I mean, I'm sure we are not the only ones who have noticed – but nothing is being said. Nothing is being done”.
“But it can't be,” he offers, “even if others knew, they cannot merely walk into the middle of central, and begin screaming the observation at the top of their lungs”.
“Why not?” she counters.
Sasuke turns to her, and raises an eyebrow, “you're not serious are you?”
The expression upon her face tells Sasuke that she is not, “I don't know,” she says, “what are they even? What are they capable of?”
“I don't know,” Sasuke replies. Unnecessarily, perhaps, but he rather not leave her words in the air, “I don't know”.
.
.
His trial proceeds within a considerable short amount of time. His punishment is light, a negligible sentence really.
“Probation, ppft,” Naruto slaps Sasuke's back. The blond remarks that being a war hero probably helped. Sasuke refrains from rolling his eyes at such an obvious attribute.
“We should celebrate tonight,” Sakura offers with a smile.
“What, to celebrate that the bastard is on probation,” Naruto teases.
Sakura scrunches her nose, “no dumbass”.
Naruto chuckles and announcing he was just joking.
Sasuke cuts in before Sakura has a chance to retort, “that sounds good, we can go for drinks tonight”.
.
.
That night, one of the three members of team seven gets lucky.
In the romantic sense.
It is not Sasuke, It is not Sakura. Naruto, that night – inebriated to the point of idiocy, begins to kiss a small pot plant situated at the corner of the bar.
Sakura laments the fact that she'd not brought her camera.
.
.
A few days after their night out drinking, Sakura visits him at his apartment.
He opens the entrance to find her standing upon his doorstep. Her expression is marred with worry. “What's wrong?” he asks.
Her hands fidget nervously by her side, “Sasuke-kun, are you – are you busy?”
He shakes his head, and tells her no. He then repeats his question. Her eyes dart away anxiously before returning to meet his gaze.
“Its just,” she pauses, “its just...I was hoping you could. Sasuke-kun, could you follow me, please?”
He nods, and grabs his jacket.
.
.
She leads him to a flower shop. 'Yamanaka flowers' the sign reads. Sasuke turns to the kunochi by his side. “Is this your friend's place?” he asks.
Sakura nods, and leads him into the shop.
The fragrance is near overwhelming, and which fragrance in particular, Sasuke cannot point out. Nevertheless, he ignores the discomfort, and follows Sakura deeper into the store.
A girl near their age, wrapped in an apron, with her blonde hair tied into a bun, stands in front of them. She waters the plants.
“Ino,” Sakura calls out. Sasuke picks up on a slight hitch in her tone.
Ino slowly stands back to full height, she turns to the pair with a sickly sweet smile plastered upon her lips. She greets them, “Sakura, how are you?”
Sasuke bites his tongue, shit.
“Hey Ino,” Sakura weakly replies, “got the early shift again, huh?”
“Yes,” Ino replies with a smile.
Sasuke whisper to his team mate, “Sakura, we should leave”.
He notes her inhale. Sakura purses her lips, and discreetly nods. “Anyway,” she says, still regarding the blonde, “I only stopped by quickly to say 'hi', unfortunately I'm a little busy today Ino, so I wont be able to stay right now”.
Ino nods, “okay”.
He doesn't wait, and he allows for no hesitancy. Sasuke grabs Sakura by her wrist, and drags her out of the store. Peripherally he can see the gaze of Sakura's friend follow them to the exit.
He speaks again when they meet the morning chill once more, “Sakura, I'm sorry”.
“Yea,” she whispers, “I thought...maybe...I was wrong”.
He hesitates to point out, “its quite obvious with her”.
Sakura nods, “yea,” she cracks a shaky smile, “wishful thinking, I guess”.
Perhaps only now did their cavalier approach to the situation truly bare its consequence. They have been foolish so far. “Sakura,” he says, “we should get back to my apartment”.
She replies that she shouldn't, “I have a shift in about half an hour anyway”.
Her guise of stability does not fool him. Quietly, he speaks, “Sakura, come on, let's get out of this cold”.
.
.
He makes tea for both of them, Sakura's favourite brew (a fact he'd remembered from their genin days, he is pleased to find that her preference to the flavour has not changed).
“Thank you,” she says, taking the mug he offers.
Sasuke sits beside her. He focuses on his own drink, but from the corner of his vision, he can still see that her red cheeks, and bloodshot eyes have not diminished from prior – he'd always hated seeing her cry.
“Sakura,” he begins, “about you friend...”
Her grip around her mug tightens, “I don't–” she stops, and looks away.
He too is at a loss for words.
Perhaps the silence of companionship is enough – possibly. He had called Sakura's work for her, and informed them that she is unwell, and will unable to come in today. Sasuke intends for her to remain with him, at least for today. Her behaviour is akin to one in mourning, and it is fair as to why.
There really is no assurance on what had really happened to Sakura's friend.
“I'm going to find out,” Sakura whispers quietly.
Sasuke looks up from his beverage, “sorry?”
“I'm going to find out,” she repeats.
“Find out?”
“Find out what happened to Ino”.
Sasuke places his mug down, upon the small table beside his couch. “Sakura, how are you going to–”
“I don't know,” she does not meet his gaze.
“Okay,” he says, “do you know where to start?”
.
.
Sakura goes to work the following day.
Accidentally, she'd fallen asleep in his apartment. She'd spent the night, not that he minded.
With a rushed, apology, she bids him good bye as she leaves for her shift.
.
.
He had been worried, he will admit it. Nearing the turn of the new day, Sasuke treks the route that leads to Konoha's main hospital. He speaks to the receptionist, “has Haruno Sakura left yet?”. She says that she has not seen her, no one has – at least, they have not seen her leave.
Sasuke nods ands gives thanks.
He walks with purpose down the hospital corridor. Where he intends to go, he'd only been there once before. Kakashi had shown him, gave him directions to be more precise when a matter were at hand – but that is neither here nor there. Right now, all he remembers from that task were the directions to Sakura's office.
As expected, when he knocks, there is a soft response from the kunochi he seeks. “Come in,” he hears her speak.
Sasuke opens the door, steps inside, and closes the entrance behind him.
Sakura looks up, “Sasuke-kun?”
“Your shift ended five hours ago”.
“How did you kno–”
“You need to go home, Sakura. You need rest”.
He can tell she agrees, but she is far too stubborn to vocalise such a fact. “did you know, Sasuke-kun, that we are not the only village experiencing this phenomenon”.
He narrows his gaze, and asks what she means by that. Sakura picks up a file, and hands it to him.
He skims the contents, and looks up to meet Sakura's gaze once more.
There are stories, documents – but only from recent times. The triumphs of the fourth shinobi war eclipse any chance for more notable press. And even so, the accounts sound nothing more than ramblings of a mad man. Sasuke perhaps would not even believe it himself, if he didn't know any better.
But he does, “Sakura, you–”
“There might be a way to fix this,” she says. Cutting him off, and shuffling through her mess. “Ino may not be gone. Nothing indicates she is. Its just an absence of truth – and I will find how to fix this”.
And he will help her, he will. Because the days that pass by only do so whilst his anxiety towards the matter grows. There is nothing worse that fighting a foe that has an upper hand – an ability to mask its true power.
He had decided – he knows, at that moment; supporting his team mate is the only logical endeavour should he desire to quell this latent...whatever it is that is going on.
However, that said, he will not allow her tenacity to prove her own downfall. “Sakura,” he says, capturing her gaze.
Her eyes widen, then close. She slumps onto her desk unconscious.
.
.
He knows the sounds of Sakura waking up, merely from the muffled cursing, and ruffling of his bedsheets being flung elsewhere. Then, he hears her footsteps, down the corridor, charging towards him in the kitchen.
She stops in her tracks as he falls into her view.
She seethes, “What the fuck, Sasuke”.
He turns to regard her, “you're up”.
“What do you think – did you knock me out yesterday?”
He pauses, “I did”.
“You did?”
“Yes”.
“That's all you have to say?”
He knows that he steps around eggshells, “I'm – sorry”.
“For knocking me out?”
“I just,” he stops, and takes a breath, “you were pushing yourself that day. It was too much”.
“You don't get to decide that, Sasuke-kun”.
“No, but I could see it”.
“You don't get to decide that”.
He attempts to deflect, she is misinterpreting the situation.
Sakura shakes her head, “you've been back in Konoha for a few month now, and in that time I truly believe I have done nothing to warrant you treating me like such a fragile doll”.
“That wasn't what I was doing”.
“Sasuke-kun, you–”
“You aren't indestructible, Sakura”.
“No, I'm not,” she pauses, “I'm not – I'm scared. I'm so scared”. Sakura looks away from him with a softened gaze. “I'm scared – I don't know what is happening and I feel like I'm running out of time everyday in attempting to find out. Now Ino is gone. She is gone – there is no sugar coating that. Because whatever it is that walks around in her skin is not her, I know that”.
“Sakura,” he whispers, but he stops, she is not finished.
“I don't know about you Sasuke-kun, but I am so scared. You may not trust me, and it would be absolutely ridiculous of me to trust you. It would be stupid, and nonsensical, but I do anyway – I do it anyway and now I'm telling you that I'm scared. Because I want you to know that I'll run myself ragged if I need to if it means finding a way to help Ino”.
He picks up through her dialogue, a piece that nags him. His subconscious yells to not let it go. “Sakura, why do you think I don't trust you?”
She looks back to him. A flicker of curiosity passes her eyes, “what?”
“You think I don't trust you?”
“Don't you?”
“That's not answering my question”.
To his surprise, Sakura scoffs, “Sasuke-kun, you're not illogical. Call it what you will, but you were never that”.
“And?”
“And yea...– what reason would you have to trust me? What reason have I given you?”
“What reason have you given me to not trust you?”
Sakura narrows her eyes, “okay, now you're doing it – you're not answering the question!”
.
.
He avoids the swing of Naruto's leg with ease. He blond laughs as he stumbles upon landing – he then coughs with a curse as Sasuke's right fist meets the left side of his ribcage.
Naruto barks out a, “oi, that was uncalled for”.
Sasuke shrugs and tells his best friend that this is a spar – remain always on guard.
Naruto snorts and falls into his stance, “so how many hours of community service have you done so far?”
Sasuke ignores the question. He charged forward, pivoting on his left foot. He aims for Naruto's left peck. The blond kicks back, jarring out of the way and avoiding the blow.
He grins, “okay, okay – that was low of me”.
“Three hours,” Sasuke lies, standing upright to his full height.
Naruto snorts, “what are you doing all day if you're not doing your community service?”
“Training”.
“Liar”. Then, Naruto's grin grows wide, “you know I've seen you in the village, spending a little more time with Sakura-chan”. Naruto purses his lips.
Sasuke replies back that Naruto needs to remain focused. “It's no wonder I'm winning,” he jeers.
Naruto's reply is swift and laced with profanities.
–- --- ---
Sakura visits him around eight that night. He can at least say, he is happy to see that she has left the hospital at a relatively reasonable hour tonight.
She had knocked three times, and waited for him to answer. Sasuke invites her in, Sakura shakes her head with her refusal. “no, it's okay,” she says, “I just stopped just to tell you something quickly”.
He shrugs, “what is it?”
She takes her hands out of her pockets, and holds them awkwardly by her side, “I'm sorry,” she says, “sorry for this morning”.
“Sakura, you–”
“I was rude, and out of line. You were only trying to help me and make sure I didn't collapse from exhaustion and all I did was bite your head off and I'm sorry”.
He smiles softly down to her nervous countenance. “Sakura,” he says, “I really don't need your apology”.
“Okay, well, you've got it anyway”.
Sasuke shakes his head, “are you sure you don't want to come in?”
“I'm sure,” she answers, “I need to get home anyway”.
“You are going home though, right? You aren't just heading back to the hospital”.
Sakura smiles, “I promise, I'm heading home to rest”.
.
.
Reports reach as far as Suna, Amegakure, and Sora. “Even the skies aren't safe,” Sasuke muses without hitch. Reports all of a 'hush-hush' nature will do little to convince the public. He of course, is already persuaded.
“Nice day, isn't it,” a man speaks to him – one he has never met before.
That unwavering smile is only the tip of the iceberg of what other unsettling mannerisms the man gives off. Sasuke does not reply, and does not wait around any longer in said man's presence.
He walks away – these, things; whatever they are, now begin to emanate a feeling that is a little – off.
Not that they were all peachy before. But still.
His footsteps stop, and Sasuke stares at the scene before him.
Sakura is standing beside a fruit cart, speaking with a reserved demeanour to one Yamanaka Ino. She fidgets, and looks around whilst Ino smiles perpetually, nodding and speaking like every other soul trapped with the same affliction.
Just how long had Sakura been talking to her friend? – Sasuke decides that regardless, it is time to cut the discussion short. He walks up to Sakura's side.
She notes his presence, and turns to regard him. “Hey,” she says.
Sasuke doesn’t greet her, and instead focuses on the mannequin-like company that Sakura keeps. “Excuse us,” he says to the blonde whose eyes do not blink, “Sakura and I have a prior engagement”.
It is to his relief that Sakura does not fight him on the matter. She allows Sasuke to drag her away from Ino. He stops walking, and lets go of her upper arm when they are a significant distance away. A secluded location, with very little traffic.
“What the hell were you doing?” Sasuke exclaims, turning to her, and conveying his distaste at her volition.
Sakura speaks freely, “I was spending time with my friend”.
“Sakura, you know that–”
“Ino is my friend, Sasuke-kun,” she mumbles softly.
Sasuke holds his nerve, “you know not to trust these...Sakura. We can't be sure what these things are capable of”.
“She's my friend,” she repeats, even softer.
Sasuke exhales, and reaches out to tilt her chin up. He wants her looking at him when he asks, “Sakura, did something happen today?”
Her eyes tells him, 'yes' – that little flicker of gold, that softening of gaze. However, She herself hesitates a little longer before admitting that. “Sasuke-kun,” she says, “some people, today...some of them visited me, as patients. They wanted a check up”.
“People you know?”
“No. They were...them. They were acting like normal...as normal as they could act. Just a routine check-up, they had asked for me unnecessarily due to my reputation, at least that's what they said”.
Sasuke can already picture the scene; wide eyed gazes, and insincere smiles, Sakura on guard whilst she must perform her job. “So,” he asks, “what happened?”
“I, did my job. The whole routine. A regular check up”.
“And?”
“And...” Sakura bites her lip, “they don't have pulses”.
He pauses, “what?”
“No pulses, no heartbeats,” her expression crumbles, and Sasuke knows why. The implication is clear. “There is no heartbeat in these things,” she continues, “...I'm too late”.
.
.
She is in true mourning now – but not for just her friend alone. For the men, women, and children's lives who have been lost in such a way that no one had really known they were going. It is a cruel death, she says, a terrible fate – for when death takes your life, he does not come back to wander the earth impersonating you.
“I don't even know what we're dealing with here,” Sakura stresses, running her hands through her hair. Her tear stained cheeks begin to ease in their redness.
Sasuke answers her dishearteningly, “I...don't know either”. But even worse, unlike Sakura, he hasn't even been doing anything much compared with Sakura's efforts to know more into the silent epidemic.
Sure, a news article here and there, confirming what he already knows can at least solidify that he isn't completely removed from the situation. But comparatively, with Sakura's efforts – she runs herself dry whilst he still wades around in the shallow end.
Perhaps he was selfish – for as long as he is unaffected, why should he care for others? This village and its people had once been his target, not that long ago even. So now they suffer, silently, as his clan once did.
Sasuke exhales, and glances over at an anxious Sakura; deep in thought, with green eyes filled with worry. He looks away, and knows that his mind no longer runs in that vein – why force it?
He looks back to Sakura – at the very least, he considers, he has a few exceptions to his rule.
She is one of them.
“Sakura,” he says, “perhaps it best you stay here for the night”.
She shakes her head, “no, no, I will be too much trouble–”
“Don't be ridiculous”.
She smiles, “there isn't any point in me being here? Is there?”
He does not answer, his honesty goes begging.
Sakura leaves him with a friendly goodnight.
.
.
The next night, late at night, Sakura visits him again. “I went to see Kakashi today,” she tells him.
Instead of speaking on his doorstep once again, Sasuke grabs her by her upper arm, and drags her into his apartment. He close the door once she stand in his front foyer, blinking in surprise at what had just happened. Then, she begins to laugh, “okay, okay. I'll come in this time”.
Sasuke shrugs, “you're already here,” he walks past her, “would like some tea?”
“Yes please,” she replies.
.
.
That night, Sakura tells him something a little disheartening, “Kakashi-sensei knows,” she says, “he knows, but cannot do anything”.
He asks why not, and Sakura replies that barring her, no one else has spoken to him about the issue. “He thought he was going crazy,” she states.
He shrugs and attests; it is a rather fair reaction. After all, had he not witnessed Sakura's reaction earlier on, he too would be living in this village – suspicious of all that walk it. Even Naruto had not believed him.
“I can imagine he was relieved to find out he was not alone,” Sasuke remarks.
Sakura nods, and puts down her empty cup. “The elders are taken, so are several of the higher ups, and his advisors”.
He turns to her, “taken?”
“Yea, you know, like...they've...”
Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose, “just how far has this...why did we not notice this!”
“I don't know,” she whispers, “we only made an assumption before; one person, one day. We could have been wrong”.
“We were wrong,” he says, “obviously, we didn't consider...even Kakashi as Hokage cannot do anything but watch idly by”.
“He is doing what he can,” Sakura defends.
Sasuke stands up, “he's surrounded by them, his council, his advisors, so he has grown scared – he's not doing anything”.
“And I don't blame him,” Sakura as well stands up, “I – I mean...I'm just as scared”.
“But you're doing something”.
“And exactly just how far has that gotten me?”
He purses his lips. The truth usually stings, “you're also doing it alone”.
Sakura shakes her head, “I'm not making any headway, Sasuke-kun. I feel like I keep getting pushed back to square one”.
He makes a stance, “we'll visit Kakashi, tonight”.
“Tonight?”
“We've been dawdling for far too long, and these things...”
Sakura brushes a stray piece of her fringe away from her eyes, “Sasuke-kun, its too late to visit him”. She smiles, and shrugs, “its almost near,” she turns to the clock, “oh crap, its near midnight. Sasuke-kun I'm so sorry! I didn't realise I've been holding you up so long and speaking with you for, oh wow – how long has it been?”
He doesn't answer her. Sasuke walks past Sakura, and grabs his coat that he'd haphazardly thrown upon the counter-top earlier today. He turns back to her, “it's fine, its not too late anyway. And Kakashi is probably still up”.
Saukra pouts, “No he wouldn't be, he need his rest”.
“He's probably reading porn”.
Sakura's cheeks dust red, “Sasuke-kun, no!”
.
.
They had played an old game from their childhood to determine whose method of approach they would take.
“Paper beats rock, Sakura,” Sasuke smirks.
Sakura crosses her arms over her chest whilst pouting.
The pair, (begrudgingly for Sakura), scale the building alongside Kakashi's apartment complex. Sakura persists in stating that merely knocking on Kakashi's door, and greeting him like normal people would have been the preferable course of action.
Sasuke also continues to disagree, “if he's sleeping, we're bothering him. If he is awake, we're definitely bothering him”.
Sakura rolls her eyes, (she still blushes somewhat at the implication).
They reach a ledge, outstretched is a tree that Sakura chooses to hop upon. Her weight is light enough to cause minimal stress to the branch. Sasuke doubts he'd be so lucky.
“I'll snap it,” he says.
Sakura replies, “well...we'll definitely wake up Kakashi if you do that – then at least we'll know he's awake”.
The pair peer into the jonin's room. His curtains are open, and give full view into the area. Their former sensei is asleep in his bed, Sakura raises one eyebrow, and peers over her shoulder towards her partner. Sasuke shrugs.
“We shouldn't wake him,” Sakura remarks.
He could think of a few reasons of why they should choose the inconsiderate route instead. But that line of thought flies from his mind as a scene before him catches his eyes. “Sakura,” he whispers, and stares past her into the room of their old sensei.
Sakura frowns, and follows Sasuke's line of sight.
There – in Kakashi's room, is a man, another man, standing at the foot of their Hokage's bed. Kakashi sleeps, and the man in the shadow watches.
Sasuke's blood runs cold – who is that? How did he get there? He had merely blinked, and there is was.
He hears Sakura's soft gasp; a light flickers into the bedroom and the visage of the man is briefly shown to them.
“Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura whisper to herself.
And she will be right in that assessment, for Sasuke had seen it too. There, in that room, was their sensei standing rigid at the foot of the bed. And yet Kakashi was also curled in his bed, tucked away beneath the covers.
“What the fuck,” Sasuke whispers, for another flicker, another second, one blink – and the man by the foot of the bed is gone.
Sasuke tears his gaze away from the room; now quiet and with only the presence of one. He turns to Sakura; she is visibly shaking in her spot. Discreetly, for most – but for him, not so. He hears her whisper, “Sasuke-kun, we need to go in there”.
He doesn't hesitate to agree with her.
.
.
They break in, (“through the front door,” Sakura does not fail to point out). The apartment is silent, clean, nothing appears out of place. Sakura takes the lead, and enters before him. She walks into the living room. Sasuke sees her stop ahead of him. He approaches to fall by her side.
There is blood. There is a lot of blood.
Sakura's hand flies to cover her mouth. She lowers her fingers slightly to whisper, “what happened?”
All he can tell, there was clearly a struggle. Shattered glass, marks of a fight. Sasuke steps over the broken ornaments that litter the floor, and begins to head towards the direction of Kakashi's room.
His dojustsu is activated, his sharingan flowers out to its highest state. Sakura follows close behind.
The bedroom door is left ajar, Sasuke pushes it open with his only hand.
There is blood. More blood. A line of it that pools near the foot of the bed. He can feel his own veins twitch – this is far too much blood.
Contrary to what they'd seen before, Kakashi is no longer asleep in his bed. Sasuke takes another step inside, and finds his old mentor standing in the corner of the room.
“Fuck,” Sasuke jumps back.
The figure of Kakashi; standing still, eyes open, unblinking gaze – how had he not sensed him? wonders Sasuke.
He sees peripherally Sakura rush to his side, and freeze upon the sight.
And yet, still, their former sensei has not moved.
Sakura takes a small step forward, “K-kakashi-sensei?”
Kakashi's wide gaze illuminates through the moonlight, “hello Sakura, Sasuke. Nice to see you two tonight”.
Sasuke reaches out, and grasps the top of Sakura's arm, “right, yea – sorry for just inviting ourselves in, Kakashi”.
“Not a problem”.
“And,” Sasuke continues, “we'll...just be leaving”.
To their surprise, Kakashi takes on big stride forward, “oh, that's too bad,” he states, his eyes bulge, his head tilts, “I was hoping for some assistance, it appears I have made a...mess”.
He knows, Sasuke knows, there is far too much blood – too much lost for a normal person to sustain. On the carpets, on the walls – so he decides, 'fuck this,' because what use is there to continue entertaining that which holds the upper hand.
With his grasp still around Sakura's arm, he pulls the kunochi into his embrace, and distorts their surrounding to get them outside the complex within a second – for he had seen it, and he knows Sakura had seen it too. Within that second of action; Kakashi, or whatever that was, had begun to charge towards them.
.
.
“Fuck,” he seethes, “fuck, fuck–”
“Sasuke-kun,” she whispers, “please–”
“They took Kakashi, before our god damn eyes he was gone,” his breathing grows erratic, “we saw nothing, and it just happened. Where did all the blood come from? I don't understand how...” he runs his fingers through his hair.
Conquer a war – for this?
“It's just another enemy,” she mumbles, “just another one. One we don't know of, one most don't even know is there but its just another one, just another one...”
Sasuke digs his fingernails into his palm, then relaxes. “What do we do?”
“I don't know”.
He looks at her, “Sakura, I–...,” he pauses, “stay here for the night”.
She looks back to him, and nods.
.
.
She makes no complaints to share a bed with him.
They don't drawn attention to it, and really, he is comfortable like this.
Sakura falls asleep before him. Sasuke gazes upon her expression until it falls serene; content with her slumber. Only then does he too close his eyes.
.
.
Sakura has a shift. A long shift, a double shift.
“Will you be able to come back here after work?” he had asked.
She promised him that she can.
“Oi, bastard,” Naruto teases, sticking his face just that little bit too close to the daydreaming Uchiha.
Sasuke moves to upper cut the blond. But Naruto is too quick. He side-steps the attack, and plonks himself down beside Sasuke. He raises his arms above his head, stretches, then leans back on his hands.
“Soooo,” Naruto begins, “how many hours so far?”
“Three”.
“Still?”
Their sparring session today had cut short relatively to their normal lengths. “I've got plans later on,” Naruto grins, flashing that familiar thumbs up.
Sasuke shrugs, and does not ask for details. However Naruto – being Naruto – offers them anyway. “A date,” the blond grins, “jealous?”
“No”.
“Yea...you probably wouldn't know her anyway”.
Sasuke rolls his eyes, and tells the blond that maybe he should head off to get ready.
“Yea, yea,” Naruto waves off, “I will. Anyway, you wanna hear about her?”
“No”.
“She's a year or two older than me, I forget which. But she's so gorgeous man...but yea, you wouldn't know her, I doubt you even know any girl outside our graduating class...actually, you may not even know them”.
Sasuke, once more, reiterates the fact that he really rather not hear about Naruto's love life. And again, the blond teases, “sounds like you're jealous”.
Perhaps, thinks Sasuke, this is merely a lose-lose situation.
“I'm serious though, man,” Naruto laughs, “name one person, that is not me, that is from our graduating class”.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “Sakura,” he responds.
Naruto purses his lips, “...oh yea”.
.
.
It is past midnight, and she still hasn't arrived back to his apartment.
Her shift was a double, that much Sasuke knows. But her hours push too far.
Sasuke grabs his cloak, and leaves the apartment. Probably fallen asleep, he muses, pushing herself too hard again.
.
.
“Oh, yes – I believe she is in her office. She also said something about taking a quick nap, so no one is to bother her”.
Sasuke glares blankly at the receptionist, “and when was her shift scheduled to end”.
The man behind the counter flips through his notes, “about two hours ago”.
He cannot say that he isn't surprised.
A familiar route he takes; down the corridor, up the flights of stairs, turn left – he knocks on her door. Sakura does not answer.
Probably asleep, he considers. Sasuke turns the knob, and opens the door.
There is blood.
Too much blood.
Papers are strewn across the floor. The window is shattered, books are ripped apart, signs of a struggle are evident.
And there is blood – so much blood.
No – no, he wasn't....
Silently, Sasuke takes a step back, and closes the door behind him.
He greets his insanity like an old friend.
.
.
It is one in the morning when Sasuke bangs on Naruto's door, yelling for him to wake up.
After a few silent moments, the door slowly creaks open, Naruto steps forward, “it's late”.
“I know,” he bites out.
“Sasuke–”
“She's gone,” he screams, “Sakura is fucking gone. Just like that, she's fucking gone. And don't give me that bullshit that you don't believe in what I'm saying because we've just lost Sakura”.
“Sakura is gone?”
“Yes,” he seethes.
Naruto tilts his head, “oh, that is too bad”.
And then, Sasuke stops – just like his sanity. “Naruto,” he speaks, low and cautious. He takes a step back.
“That's too bad,” Naruto repeats. Then, he smiles.
Not like this afternoon, not like normal. Nothing akin to the moment he'd turn to his side, to see his brother in arms staring back as they'd bleed out to what they'd thought was their end.
No, this time, Naruto smiled, and glared – just like the rest of them.
Sasuke wastes no time, he turns of his heel, and leaves in a flash.
Perhaps that doppelganger had reached out to him within that moment. Perhaps not. He wouldn't know – and he doesn't care.
What use is clarity to a mind that is already lost.
.
.
There is nothing that runs through his mind.
No thoughts, no hopes.
His process of unlocking his front door, and stepping inside proceeds on automation. Moving on autopilot, he treks to his main living area.
It is there, he stops.
Sakura – Sakura; she stands in the middle of his living room.
Scratched, bruised, and covered in blood.
He can feel his rationality return.
He takes another step forward, whilst she rushes to his side. “Sasuke-kun,” she whispers; panicked, worried – it is still her.
Without a second thought, Sasuke kisses her.
Grasping at the back of her head, and pushing her closer – Sakura reciprocates, she clings to his shirt..
For the kiss is not some surprise declaration of love, or a twisted foreplay into lust. No – Sasuke kisses her with desperation. With that mind whirling, dizzying relief. She is still here, she is not gone.
Sakura pulls away, and whispers his name.
Sasukes swallows, and places his forehead against hers. “They didn't get you,” he whispers.
“They almost did,” she replies.
.
.
She heals herself, and he comes to terms.
“We have to leave,” he states.
“How can we just–”
“We have to, Sakura. We're fighting a losing battle”.
The sun barely peaks over the horizon.
“But, I wanted to stop this. I wanted to help, them. And...and Ino, I can't just–”
“Sakura,” he leans forward, “we cannot delude ourselves. We're at risk here. This is not a level playing field”.
“So we give up?”
“No, we regather”.
“Where?”
“Somewhere,” he pauses, “somewhere else”.
“This is crazy”.
“And so is the situation”.
She fiddles with the end of her shirt, “what if we can't...”
“We will,” he whispers.
She doesn't attempt to argue, “do we leave now?”
“We leave now,” then, he asks, “Sakura, can you – will you trust me?”
She takes his hand, and holds his fingers, “I trust you, Sasuke-kun”.
.
.
The streets of the village begin to wake from their slumber. Last night's regrets start being recalled. Duties of the citizens rolls out in routine. And Sasuke and Sakura have left the village.
They leave together.
They leave in silence.
They intend to come back.
They hope.