Archive of Our Own ^beta

There was a boy she met in university. He was Sasuke’s distant cousin. But Sasuke had said they hadn't really spoken at all, when she'd asked about him. They were the sort of cousins in the family who you lose touch of. That was that. Sasuke told her to be careful though, because that part of the family had always been in bad business. He stuck with his brother, mother, and father, and that's it. 

She remembered that he could phase in to reflections—any sort of reflective surface—he could disappear in it, and he could leave it.

He called it the 'mirror world.' Everything was opposite in the mirror world. Everything. 

His name was Uchiha Kagami. He was now a criminal. He had an older brother who was in the police force, who she worked with frequently—Uchiha Shisui. According to Shisui, he had had a fight, and stormed out one wintry night. 

But then one fine day, several years later, he decided to show out of the blue. 

She and the local police had been trying to catch Uchiha Kagami. He’d performed a slew of minor crimes. No murder (that they knew of) so far, but public disruption, and hacking the local television along with stealing from some establishments. But this was the gist of what they knew of him. He was a troubled individual. They didn’t know what else he was involved in unless he was brought in. 

He wanted her attention was all they knew.

It was a cold and wintry day when she found him again, and the snowflake fell on her hair softly, as she floated in mid-air, glancing from window to window in that dark alley way.

“Hey, Red,” he called out. Sakura spun around to see him standing in the reflection of the window. He was a scruffy man, and he had dark curls, and darker, prettier eyes and a boyish smile that probably made some women's hearts flutter. But Sakura wasn't a normal person.

“Uchiha Kagami,” she snarled. 

She kept a safe distance from the reflection. 

“I thought I’d have a bit of a chat with you, Red,” he replied. He smiled at her through the reflection.

Her eyes beamed green, and the laser shot through the window. 

He reappeared behind her in the one above it. 

“Do you remember me, Red?” 

“Stop calling me that!” 

“Why’d you havta be a good girl, Red? Why’d you have to join the heroes? It gets to me now and then.” 

He held out a hand towards her, and his arm melted through the reflective surface. His power was an eerie thing. 

“You could join me, Red.” 

Sakura always had a bit of a temper, and her mentor Kakashi’s voice was in her head. Don’t let them get to you. Always look underneath the underneath, Sakura. But alas —

That mirror shattered with a laser beam from her eyes. 

She heard his laughter, and he reappeared elsewhere. 

“Look, if you really wanted my attention. You could have just walked up to me and said hello like a normal person,” she snarled. “You didn’t have to ruin those local broadcasts, calling out my name, But also theft—" 

"Whoa there!" he said with a laugh. "Red, I just wanted your attention. But also it's not my problem if they left such tasty food on display. All I did was slip in to the reflection, snipe some food and slip out. Too bad that lady wasn't watching her cat." 

"Uchiha Kagami. I have orders to bring you in."

“Me too, Red,” he said. “Listen, I'll tell you why I'm here. It’s nothing personal, Red. Being the super heroine, Petal, you have brought down a good number of his partners, and he wants your head. You're worth a fair amount of money. A fortune! I could retire to Takigakure."  

She squinted at him. Was he referring to Shimura Danzo? The leader of one of the most notorious crime syndicates in Konoha, who they were struggling to get a hold of for years. Membership number: Unknown. Danzo was... a former politician and generally a powerful businessman, so they didn't know his reach and influence. 

“You’re going to capture me?” she asked him incredulously. 

He grinned.

“I was offered the job.” 

"I see," she said. "Well, prepare to—" 

"But I didn't say I accepted it."

He phased out. 

She made him out a window over the fire-exit, and she flew up to see him phase in with a grin.

“You fascinate me, Red. Youngest Superheroine. Laser eyes, super strength, bullet proof and flight. Konoha’s strongest. No, the world's strongest! I'm kinda a fan, y'know?" 

“Get to the point already!” 

“I wanted to propose that I work with you guys, but you folks needta cut me some slack. I have intel on some of the biggest crime syndicates in the nation. What you say, Red?” 

She narrowed her eyes, and before she could open her mouth, he interrupted her. 

“Uh uh!” He held out a finger. “When you make up your mind, let me know, Red.” He pointed at the bundle near the fire exit. He phased out. She didn’t know if she could catch up to him given how many windows there were in the area. If there was one thing that villain Kagami was good at. It was running away. 

Sakura unfurled the snow-dusted bundle made together with scraps of paper, and she found an address and time written on one of them. She narrowed her eyes. 

.

“Do you trust him?” 

“Of course not,” she told Kakashi. “What does Shisui think of his little brother terrorizing me?” 

Officer Shisui had his head in his hands, while they were discussing what to do next in the other room. She made him out through the window of the office, as he was speaking to the current Police chief and his uncle—Uchiha Madara. Kakashi leant against his desk, and he tossed his book over his shoulder. 

“Didn't you say that you knew him?” 

“We were… friends in university… I suppose. I guess." 

.

Back in university, Sakura, who had come from a small town, had a bit of trouble fitting in. He was the life of the party, when he came up to her, to talk. She remembered scooting away. She had decided to leave the party room. She was tired, and there was this one point where she shattered the window out of paranoia with her laser eyes, because she thought someone was watching her.

He phased out.

"Sorry! Sorry! I um... I didn't mean to scare ya. I was just curious, cuz you didn't come inside for the party, and I wanted to make sure you're okay."

She blinked at him. "You... phased out of that window. You... you're one of them?" 

He smiled at her. She thought it was a pretty smile. "Yeah, them. Those people with superpowers who have to hide, cus the world thinks we're freaks and another part wants to hunt us down. You're one of us though." 

She took a step back. 

“You’re like me, y'know?” His eyes shone. “You know, my brother doesn’t let me tell anyone about my super powers. He thinks I’m going to get kidnapped or something.” 

“There’s been a lot of meta human kidnapping,” she said. “He’s not wrong.” 

He took a seat with a grin. "You're safe with me, I mean your secret. I'll keep it!" 

She shifted her eyes away from him. 

“But I wanna be free, Red,” he said. “I hate how much my brother controls me. Just cuz he’s a cop. I know he means well, but I want to be free. I don't wanna hide no more." 

“Red?” 

“Red suits you. I like the name. You're better in red anyway than other colors,” he said with a grin. She shifted self consciously in her red sweater. “You and I. We could be awesome team like the comics!” 

.

Shisui was waiting for her when she got home from her patrol. He was standing outside her apartment door.

“Any trouble?” he asked her. 

“None, I couldn't handle,” she said with a shrug. She let him in and performed checks on her house, incase some villain planted a trap of sorts. He was standing in the living room blowing his fingers because it was cold. “I’m one of the best out there. Putting you cops out of business.” 

He laughed. Clearly distracted. 

“Did you want me to make some tea for you? I confess, I can’t cook.” 

“Thanks for the honesty,” he said. “We could order take out. Or I could take you out for dinner.” 

They decided on takeout. 

“So, you and him?” Sakura asked him. “What’s the deal?” 

Shisui narrowed his eyes at his takeout container.

“When he was younger, he had this strange ability to phase into reflections, and he’d do it all the time. He got kidnapped once.” 

Sakura remembered the first time they found out she had super powers, she had begun to float and she was able to punch through walls. Her parents had gotten quite the fright. She also found out she was bullet proof after she tried to catch a bad guy and a stray bullet hit her but it bounced off. But they couldn't tell anyone but Tsunade, a trusted practitioner who could help cases like her. 

She was told not to draw attention to herself. She hid behind bangs, and she was painfully shy, till Ino talked to her. Then Naruto. Then Sasuke. They were still friends, and the only few people who knew her alter ego as Petal. 

Ino told her to call herself Petal, and they spent hours devising her costume. She was a symbol of peace in the city of Konoha. She started to work with the local police after university, and after her first internship—which was going awfully. She just wanted to let go. But Kagami had gone missing a year ago. 

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“No,” he said. “I am. When I get him back. I’ll—” 

“Control him like he used to say?” she asked him. “He never really told me what his brother’s power was.” 

Shisui gave her a look.

“I can control people, yes. I’m not allowed to use it unless we need it on the case.” 

Sakura blinked.

"Did you do it again and again to him?" she asked him slowly. 

"I'm not a monster." Shisui looked at his feet. "Thrice. Once as a child, by accident. Once as a teen, during an argument. Once as an adult, when he tried to leave, during an argument. It was for his safety. I didn't want him to get involved with the wrong sort." 

Sakura didn't reply. There was no law for mutants. Sakura rarely let things get her emotional. It was part of the job of dealing with all sorts of criminals. But there was some sort of cinder of anger inside her. She couldn't exactly give him a piece of her mind, when she didn't know the whole story. She didn't even have the peace of mind to judge someone else's family issues. So she remained silent. 

Every family had skeletons in their closets. Every family had secrets.

“In any case, Uchiha, I need to know exactly who I’m dealing with. I don’t want to end up dead because he double crossed me.”

.

“I remember you liked coming here by the river,” she heard. She blew into her hands to warm them. She glanced at the frozen river surface, and he phased in front of her. “I was surprised that you’d even come here, Red.” 

“Your brother told me that you’re the type of person who liked to run,” she said. “So you told us about this place to run incase things went south.” 

At the mention of Shisui, his eyes narrowed. 

“Trust and all that, yeah?” 

“To be clear,” she said. “I don’t trust you either. So, we’ll let you help us, but we’ll pardon all your crimes. You’re under surveillance.” 

“With my brother?” 

“No,” she said. “I’m putting my neck on the line to watch you.” 

He had the prettiest dark eyes, she used to think. 

“I would never do anything to you, Red. Not you of all people.” 

He phased out of the reflection and stood in front of her. 

“You have my word.” 

If Sakura was younger, she would have been flustered. But she was a tired superheroine. The symbol of justice in a country that had too many bad guys and saving people from one too many bad days. She didn't know how to keep it all together some days. But she was Petal. 

“What caused your change of heart?” she then asked him as she led him to the police cars. He wasn’t going to be cuffed. It was cooperation. Shisui and her had plotted out a plan incase he escaped. 

“Secret,” he said with a grin. 

.

Petal was the kind of super heroine who would hold up a whole airplane from crashing into the mountain. That’s how she made her grand debut into the super hero life. 

She’s the kind of person who fought off super powered villains who were twice her size, and considered unbeatable to save her city. She was a hero. That was her job. A five point flower that was emblazoned on her chest was now on the shirts and backpacks of many little boys and girls, and she flew over Konoha city with a watchful eye. The people waved happily from down below. They wanted to learn about her. She would gladly tell them, so they could accept people like her better. 

"I believe I was born like this," she said. "There are more of us. We don't hurt people. Those are just lies spread by Shimura Danzo, who as you know, is a wanted criminal now."  

She was also, Kagami thought, a symbol of hope for meta-humans. They didn't have to hide anymore. They too could be loved, not feared or hunted down. 

That was her city. These were her people. That’s why she was a target for many. 

Her simple answer in a press conference surrounded by many flashing lights was, “If I don’t. Who will save innocent people?” 

It was such a simple selfless answer, and if Petal went down, the city would be overrun. Which is why the bad guys were getting smarter. She figuratively carried the weight of the country on her shoulders. 

For Kagami, Sakura wasn’t Petal. She was just Red. His Red. 

His Red didn't like big crowds, and he'd taught her how to slow dance in an empty classroom. His Red had the prettiest green eyes, which you could get lost in. His Red was beautiful, bright and warm, and he'd feel flutters in his belly when he looked at her chew her pen cap from across the classroom. She wore red a lot, and it contrasted with her cotton candy hair. 

But the thing about Petal was that she was impartial to who she saved. That’s why she covered him with her cape as she took a rain of bullets, and then flew forward and bent the gun on her knee before sending it flying. She didn’t see the bullet coming and it lodged into her arm. 

Red crashed weakly and she realized she couldn’t fight. He phased in between the mirrors and as she tried to get up, he reappeared behind the guy trying to shoot her down and knocked him out. 

They both stared at the gun.

She was bleeding. Red stared at the wound in shock.

“They can suppress your powers temporarily, Red,” he said. “They created it specifically for you.” Look, he kind of mucked around with the bad guys for a bit in his rebellious phase, but that was a family issue. But when Red made herself a target, he couldn’t continue with them. Kagami was selfish like that. He couldn’t fight Red. 

“What?” she asked in irritation. She tried to get up.  

“For tonight, Red,” he said. He began to treat her wound. “Let me be your hero, okay?” He left her lying there against that crater with gritted teeth and distrust in her eyes. 

He continued to fight through the warehouse, disabling and attacking people in the shadows using reflective surfaces based on all his training he had from his days with the gang he ran around with. 

But that’s when he didn’t see the bullet in the dark.

He clenched his eyes shut.

But the bullet didn’t come.

She was holding it between her forefinger and thumb. 

“Red?” he blinked. She glanced back at him with an unreadable look before she turned to the bad guys. 

“Add super healing to the list of things I have,” she snarled at them. Fresh skin was visible where the bullet tore her costume. Before she flew forwards, and before the guy could shoot at her, she sent him flying. 

.

And then, somewhere between dismantling Danzo's laboratory, the worst happened to her. He wasn't with her. He was trapped in her apartment. 

“Kagami,” his brother began. “Look. I know you and I don’t have the best history, but we have to work together right now to find her as professionals.” 

“Nii-san,” he continued. “I agree. I don’t want to argue and fight anymore. Not while she’s gone.” 

Shisui gave him a long look. The kind of tired look that he’d always given him, and Kagami blinked away. 

Shisui took one look at him and sighed. “But before everything. What is your obsession with her?” 

“I love her,” he said without a beat. 

“Love?” Shisui repeated. “You never even loved your family, Kagami.” 

"This again?" he asked. Kagami stared at the wall past him. “Because mother was dead, and father was a criminal, and you decided to pursue your own selfish job of stopping father down his path in a crime syndicate. Along with stringing me around like some kind of baby brother who you were obligated to protect.” 

“You were never an obligation, Kagami,” Shisui said. “I’ve been wrong." 

“I’m a criminal. You’re a cop,” he said. 

“We’re family,” Shisui said quietly. “Look, I know everyone used to tell you look like Dad, but you’re not him. I regret never telling you that." 

Kagami stared at the floor. He closed his eyes. Family. It was always so complicated and messy. It all started with one brother, Uchiha Izuna left his older one when he hated the imposition upon being a metahuman, and he decided to rebel against society by joining a crime syndicate. Izuna was a metahuman with eyes that could see the future. He was shot dead. Half the family were criminals on the run or shot dead because of him, while the other half were cops because of his older brother, Madara.

History would always repeat itself in this family, because Izuna's legacy was like a curse.

“Red, how do you handle it?” 

She looked up at him from her textbook.

“Handle what?”

“Being so powerful.” 

“Well,” she said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “I make sure I use my powers to help whoever I can. It feels good to help people.”  

And for Red, it was probably just that simple. 

.

When Sakura was younger, she was told that she could rule the world. In the back of her father’s truck on the farm they lived on, Kizashi Haruno held her up over his head, and he flew her around, until she could float on her own. He even made her a red cape. 

“One day, blossom,” he would tell her. “You’ll change the world.” 

She giggled as she streamed over sunlit, corn-fields, wind rippling through her hair, and she dipped one hand down over the lake's surface, disturbing the reflected blue skies, and then she flew all the way back into the warm arms of her father. 

"One day, you'll be the symbol of hope for the world. I just know it." 

.

“The symbol of hope, broken,” Orochimaru cooed. “Lying down in despair and disrepair.” 

Sakura was bound by some strange crystal that seemed to be the source of sapping all her energy from her body, and she glanced down at the man. She felt weaker and weaker. She couldn't even rip off these chains. 

“What do you want from me?” she asked him plain and simple.

“Do you know how metahumans like you came to be?” he asked her. “Genetic advantage, they say. But really, it was the fumes of the crash of the Kaguya alien to earth, that spread through a good portion of the planet like a wild-fire. This was fifty years ago. Ever since then, we have had the fumes from that crash and invasion affect the pregnant mothers of the children of that generation in ways that are unimaginable. All sorts of abilities began to manifest in that generation of children and their children, and soon, their children's children." 

He looked up at her fondly and hungrily. 

“But you? You’re the direct descendant of the Kaguya alien. I believe you’re one of her kind.” 

.

On the farm, there were no powers allowed indoors. As far and as long as she’d remembered, she was always Haruno Sakura, daughter of Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki. 

That’s what the pictures always told her. They were always family. She even had her father’s ridiculous pink hair. 

They wouldn’t lie to her about who she really was. 

.

“Do you even know your own powers?” Orochimaru asked her. 

She was lying on a metal table now, hours after she was dragged away from her prison cellar. She was powerless and surrounded by crystals and the whole room was an eerie purple. 

“Please...” she muttered. 

“So powerful and so strong, yet so weak in the presence of the Celestial crystals. These are radioactive crystals from the core of the planet you're from. You're strong to withstand it for this long. Perhaps, the notes from the Kaguya alien's family, which I worked to decipher for years, are true. You're strong because of your birth and prolonged exposure to the yellow sun." 

And Sakura felt so tired and sleepy as he began to experiment on her. 

"Did you know... your planet exploded...?" he continued to talk, and his voice was fading. 

.

There was a disused shed of sorts which she was forbidden to enter, because there were lots of sharp and pointy things in that shed which she ought not to have seen. She remembered seeing something big covered in tarp, and when she was playing hide and seek with Ino, she had hidden in that shed.

She peeked underneath that tarp to see an object that looked kind of like a strange orb-like metal object, which was awfully good, and Sakura didn’t understand why her mother looked at her with sharp eyes at the door of the shed.

“Sakura,” she said. “Come.” 

And later that night, she was lying in bed hearing the sounds of her mother speaking in a low tone to her father. But she could hear them clearly if she pressed her ears against the doors. 

It’s just one more thing she could do.

“I don’t know. There’ve been so many kidnappings lately,” Mebuki said. “Of those meta humans.” 

“Maybe we should tell her the truth,” Kizashi said. 

“She’s not ready to understand, Not yet,” Mebuki said.

“It will be months, and years and days,” Kizashi said. “We have to make her understand. We’re not her parents. We’re not sure where she came from.” 

“Then what are we supposed to tell her? She’s from the stars?!” Mebuki asked. “The universe?” 

.

Orochmaru introduced her to ‘Mother’ or the Kaguya alien. Or more like a severed head suspended in fluid with many tubes and looking at her with blank white eyes, and her face was intact and emaciated. She didn't know how long it had been, but she was just tired, and the days felt like years. 

Sakura stared. 

“This is Kaguya,” he said. He planted a pale hand over the tube “We managed to recover her head, and they’ve been trying to inject her cells into test subjects. We will soon create many beautiful puppets like you.” 

Sakura stared back at Kaguya. 

She was a heroine. She had to stop him. But how? She felt so fuzzy. So disoriented, and even if the crystal was weak. 

“Meet your mother.” 

“My… mother.” 

.

The sirens in Orochimaru’s base went off, and Kagami could only hear the screams as Shisui controlled the people walking away and dropping their guns. He grabbed Shisui and pulled him into a reflective surface and the pair of them, holding hands, decided to run in the mirror-world. 

“Just like the first time,” Shisui said. “Weird as hell.” They phased into the laboratory where the metal table was empty, and Kagami made out a strand of hair on the table.

Pink.

“They took her and experimented on her.” 

His voice trembled. He took Red. He performed goodness knows what experiments on her. 

“Well,” Shisui said. “We focus on getting her out and out of this place, because there’s no telling what this insane person has done to her. Hurry! My mind control will wear off and they’ll be onto us again!” 

.

In Sakura’s dreams, Kaguya opened her mouth to scream.

And so did Sakura. 

“You’d always known you were different, didn’t you?” she heard. "There's no place in this world for you." 

.

“What did you do to her, Orochimaru?” Kagami snarled at him.

“Ah,” Orochimaru smiled. “Kagami. It’s been a while since we’ve worked together. You were working for Danzo, was that it?” 

Red was behind him, and she was stripped down to a green, sickly hospital robes. She had bandages over her arms, and her hair was over her face and she had a cuff on her wrists. He couldn’t even see her expression, because her hair covered her eyes. But that wasn't Red, he thought, as hot panic flooded him. That was not Red. 

Shisui held him back with his arm and he narrowed his eyes on Sakura. 

“Give her back.” 

“Well,” he said. “If you insist.” 

Red's eyes lit up, and she stood up, but it wasn’t her. She was being controlled, or brainwashed, or something like that, and both brothers dove as her eyes lit up. 

“Isn’t she absolutely wonderful?” Orochimaru asked. “One of the strongest people on the planet. No more.” 

“Shisui,” Kagami breathed as Red was drawing herself up to full height. She began to float. He pulled him back and they phased into a reflective glass. “Orochimaru is trying to leave. You need to go after him.” 

“What? There’s no way I’m leaving you to deal with her all by yourself. She’s literally the strongest on the planet.” 

“Orochimaru. He probably cloned her or something crazy. You need to follow him. You have a better chance against him because he doesn’t know what you can do. It’s more important that you go in and figure out what he’s doing.” 

“Kagami—” 

“Don’t worry about me. I. I’m going to try and get to her because I feel like she’s still somewhere in there. I’ll try to snap her out of it.” 

“With the power of love?” Shisui snapped. 

Both brothers turned to look at Sakura, eyes lit up.

Kagami yanked him away as a beam of light from Sakura’s eyes hit the glass window they were standing in.

“Shut up and go after him. I’ll be fine.” 

. 

The night after she heard that her real parents weren’t her parents, Sakura remembered trying to run away.

The town they were living in was hosting this summer festival, and people from Konoha had come to it. She was sitting by the lake’s surface and she was staring down at her reflection in the moonlight. She hated the moon. She hated the stars. But that's when a ripple caused it to turn into a little boy with mousy hair and a big grin on his face. He was among the stars. 

“Hi.” 

Sakura skittered backwards. He phased out. 

“Sorry, did I scare you?” he asked. “I was just trying to hatch my escape plan from my dad. Y’see, my brother and I, we’ve been thinking of running away.” 

He reached over. “Why are ya crying? You sound like such a cry-baby!” 

“S-shut up!” she said, and she wiped her tears hurriedly, and he watched her intently with his pretty dark eyes. 

"Why are you crying?" 

“I just want to run away. Because my real parents are not my parents.” 

“Oh, what makes you say that?” 

She floated. 

“They can’t do this!” she said. “I’m a freak! I’m not even their child.” 

.

Red floated, as he was about to snatch her and trap her into the mirror world. Over there, she would not be able to use her powers to get out. Because the mirror world was the complete opposite. He could also break off the mind-control off her. 

He was reflecting on the shiny floor of the laboratory and she was looking at him.

“Red!” he began. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this, but I don’t know what he got into your head.” 

“Alone…” she murmured. “I… I am alone on this planet. Mother… mother had me do this. My true purpose is to eradicate humanity.” 

“What?!” he asked. “Red?! Snap out of it!” 

He dodged as she attacked the flooring he was reflected on. 

.

“You’re like me,” the little boy said. “You got super powers too.” 

She stared at him with wide emerald eyes, and he grinned at her. He held out his hand. “I want to show you! Everything is the opposite.” 

.

“Red,” he said, panting. He reached out for her ankles and she just flew up higher. “Dammit, Red! I’m trying to save you from becoming someone who will regret.” 

She seemed to hear him faintly.

“This is not you! You’re Red!” 

He phased out of the reflection, and she flew towards him, either to disable him, and he turned around and caught her arm, and he drew her into the mirror world, and she tried to fight him, but she only fell limply into his arms.

"Gotcha, Red. I gotcha." 

In the mirror world, everything was the complete opposite and she didn’t have any powers. Red crumbled down on her legs, feeling weak. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, Red. I told you. I could never.” 

She looked scared nonetheless as he pulled away from her. She wasn’t seeing him. She was seeing past him at a point of time. 

“Trust me okay?” 

She didn’t reply. 

“Look, I don’t know what he filled your head with,” he said. “But this is not you, Red. He’s put you through a lot. I can’t even begin to imagine—” 

He turned around to see what she was seeing. 

“Oh,” he said. “Did you know that the mirror world sometimes has these sorta illusions?” He grinned. “It’s us, Red. It's us when we were little kids. Gosh, I was so tiny. Remember that? I tried to run away, and you tried to run away too. What a pair we both made?" 

She rested her cheek on his shoulder as they watched the illusions of the pair of them.

.

“Kagami!” the two children heard, and they made out a taller boy running towards them. “Kagami, where are you?” 

He spun around to see an older boy. 

“There you are. Oh. You got yourself a friend. Look. Dad’s mad. There’s a kid missing, and a lady freaking out, and you um. You wouldn’t happen to be her, would you?” 

They returned to the festival, and Kagami wouldn't let go of her hand. 

The boy, Kagami,  looked over his shoulder at her. He stretched his hand out towards her, while Kizashi held her hand. Kagami turned his hand and it twisted into something like a goodbye. He looked so sad. 

.

“Red,” he took a seat in front of  her as she cried. “This isn’t you. Whatever he told you that you are. You’re Red.” 

She sniffed, and she was wiping off her tears, and she was looking down. He took her hands. 

“You’re going to be okay,” he said. “You’re going to be alright. It’s okay, you don’t have to be the strongest heroine on the planet. You know we can like… um save each other? Gosh. Sounds a bit funny doesn’t it. A lowly criminal and the biggest heroine on the planet.” 

She looked up at him. He never remembered Red looking so tired. He never remembered her looking like she was on the verge of breaking.

“Look,” he said. He drew her into a hug. “No matter who you are, Red. I don’t know a lot about it, but I don’t think I’ll ever not be in love with you. Even if you’re just ordinary little Red with no super ultra powers.” 

She grabbed onto his trench coat.

“Kagami…” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m here, Red. You’re not alone. Let me be your hero.” He ran his fingers through her hair. 

.

“She’s free,” Orochimaru noted.

“What?” Shisui asked. He was pointing his gun at the nutter from behind a bunch of overturned metal tables, who was eying him lazily. “Tell me what you know.” 

Bullet holes had ridden the test tubes, and the ground was coming apart at the seams. 

“Mind control,” he said. “Fascinating. But unfortunately, I’ve not got much of a mind these days.” He laughed at his own joke. 

“I can see that,” Shisui said. No wonder, mind control wasn't working. It was like chucking an empty can at a wall. 

The doors burst open, and Kagami was carrying a Sakura. Orochimaru watched her lazily. She leant on Kagami for support. 

“Come to fight me, haven’t you?” he asked her. 

“You can’t use it on him,” Sakura croaked at Shisui.

“Good to have you back, Petal,” Shisui said with a smile in her direction. He turned on Orochimaru. “Give up.” 

“No,” she said. “He’s not even human.” 

Orochimaru began to morph into something large like an enormous giant snake and then it grew claws and scales and it towered over them. Shisui flew out of the way the Lizard swiped at the laboratory. 

“Let me down, Kagami,” Shisui heard Sakura tell him. 

“You sure, Red? You’re feeling a bit faint there. You’ve got this cocktail of drugs in your system. And you couldn’t even walk steady.” 

“I…” He let her down. She wobbled on her legs. “What kind of heroine would I be if I can’t take down one pesky lizard?” 

The giant pesky green lizard swiped at her once more, and she caught the tip of the claw with her hands. She then flew at him and with a kick, she sent him flying through the room full of experiments, and crashing through the test tubes and the whole place filled with a noxious fume that made him wrinkle his nose. 

“While you guys are at it. Be prepared to tear up this whole place,” she called out to them. “This place has to be reduced to a cinders.” 

“Like I’D LET YOU!” the monster roared. 

The lizard shot this ball of energy, and she flew towards Shisui and Kagami, yanking them out of the way by their collars, and they kicked open the large double doors. 

“The way I see it, Red,” Kagami said with a laugh. “Lizard-brain’s doing it himself.” 

“Where are you taking us?” 

“I have to destroy ‘mother.’” 

“Who?” Shisui asked. 

Orochimaru was hot on their heels, and his huge giant body was tearing up the whole base, and ramming into walls like a mad person, as Petal’s flight seemed to dip occasionally while she summoned the strength to fly while carrying them. Shisui noted that Kagami was right. She shouldn’t have had this much trouble. Orochimaru really did a number on her. 

“Listen, Petal,” he said. “What is your plan?” 

She lured them into a large chamber where the test tube reached the ceiling, and in it was a woman’s head. Sakura didn’t put them down. 

“He’ll be here any moment,” she said. She glared at the test tube, and a beam of light shot out from her eyes, and it shattered the test tube where mother’s head was suspended. “I want to destroy everything here . Because he plans to create more clones like me.” 

She yanked mother’s head up. 

“NOOOOO!” They heard a blood curling scream and thundering footsteps. 

Shisui began to shoot at some of the test tubes where human-like figures were suspended and they began to shatter on impact. 

“Kagami,” she said. “There’s this substance. This crystal, which he used—” 

“To subdue you? Yeah,” he nodded. “I know.”

She fixed him with an unreadable look.

“If some of these clones are complete. We need to use the crystals on them. There’s chances that their radioactiveness would be harmful to them if they are made up of the same biological composition as me.” 

“Okay, Red,” his brother said in a smaller voice. 

Orochimaru and Petal fought through the laboratory, and test tubes shattered, and her foot connected with his nose and she sent him flying across the room. She yanked up the severed head. 

“Come my children. Come follow me while I get your disobedient sister.” 

Clones began to crawl out from the test tubes like a horror movie gone wrong. He would, for that matter, never watch any of those. 

Grabbing him by the middle, she flew down the hallway to find Kagami waiting there with some kind of blaster. He fixed her with an unreadable look. She picked him up. He tossed another to Shisui. 

“Let’s go!” 

Orochimaru’s base was on top of a mountain. 

Sakura dropped them as they hit some kind of large terrace, and over railings, and beneath them was nearly a thousand food drop into a chasm between the mountains. This place would have made a lovely vacation home, Shisui thought idly.

A large amount of clones began to follow them, bursting through the doors and skittering over the terrace like one of those zombie movies.

But she held up mother’s head like it was a bait, and Orochimaru sent his clones after her. Shisui and Kagami began to shoot the blasters, green blasts of energy hitting the clones in the head.

She held mother’s head over the railing, and Orochimaru crashed after her and the clones began to merge with him in some kind of morbid display.

“Now KAGAMI!”

Kagami shot the mother's head and she began to melt. Shisui began to shoot at Orochimaru’s body and he screeched. The clones lunged after Sakura and began to meld together like clay around her, hands grabbing for her face as she attempted to fight them off. 

Sakura threw the head off, and Orochimaru was sent crashing over the railings and into the chasm. Shisui shot at Orochimaru. repeatedly in the head as he fell.

“Kagami, Shisui,” she said. “You have to… use the crystal inside the guns.” Shisui didn’t know what to do with his blaster. He looked at it. 

“Petal, it might...” 

“I don’t have the strength to resist them… please. ” 

“Red…” 

She smiled at him. “I’ll be okay.” 

He pulled out the crystal, and he held it up, and the clones started to melt away while Sakura collapsed. His brother yelled her name with horror, and he ran towards her, and he threw it over his shoulder. 

“Red!” He screamed as he tried to lift her up, and he pulled her onto his lap and he cradled her. Shisui watched him. “Why would you make me do that?!” He was panicking. “Red. Hey. Red!” 

“Kagami…” 

“I’m alive,” she whispered. “Just tired. Thank you, Kagami.”  

“You’re so stupid, Red!” 

He pulled her into a tighter hug with tears and watery laughter. Shisui turned to look down the depths of the chasm. It was a long way down. 

.

After she regained her strength, she managed to fly them off towards the base of the mountain where the cops were waiting. Their uncle, Madara, was a kind man. He was always very reluctant to put her in danger too. Shisui looked like a sheepish child under his uncle's glare.  

“So what's going on between you and my little brother?” Shisui asked her. She was bundled up in blankets. Madara had his men scour the whole base while they arrested assistants of Orochimaru for kidnapping her, who were trying to escape. 

She gave him a tired look. He snorted.

“Got it.” 

Madara along with chief doctor Tsunade managed to come onto the scene to treat Sakura. Tsuande, who had been Sakura’s family doctor, since she was young, was horrified to find her in such a state. 

Tsunade also knew Orochimaru from her days at University, so she was angry. She made a war-path for Sakura. 

Kagami was sitting on a rock across from her, while Madara approached him and asked him questions. Madara looked annoyed at what he'd said. Madara huffed and turned to beckon at some of his men. Kagami met her eyes, and she smiled at him. His eyes widened before he grinned back at her with the brightest grin she’d ever seen on his face. 

“How are you feeling?” Tsunade asked her as she checked her over. 

“Tired and weak.” 

Tsunade crouched and put a head to her forehead. “You’re safe now, Sakura.” She wrapped her into a hug. “I was so worried. Your parents are so worried.” 

Sakura hummed into her shoulder.

.

She visited her mother and father in the country side, where she spent a week. She finally visited the shed with her parents, and she opened the tarp. She found that she could read her original language in the baby craft which had transported her here.

Then she returned back to Konoha with the baby-craft, which was secretly in a trusted research lab with all of Orochimaru's findings—who was now dead.

Naruto cried. Ino cried. Sasuke didn't cry, and neither did Kakashi, but they both embraced her a little longer. Her apartment was not safe, so they moved her to Ino's apartment. Ino invited her friends and loved ones over. Shisui and Kagami shuffled awkwardly into Ino's apartment, and Shisui made eye-contact with Sasuke. They gave each other a stiff nod. 

Kagami ignored his cousin and made a beeline for her, ignoring the looks on Kakashi and Naruto's faces. 

And then, when they were all comfortably settled, and she was sitting on a couch, she curled up and played with the stitches of the cushion. Ino sat on one side, and Kagami was on the other. 

"I have something to tell you guys," she said. "As nightmarish as this whole ordeal has been, I have learned a lot about myself. About who I am, and where I come from. And all of you, I trust you all. You've been with me through the worst. You'll be with me in the future, I hope." 

They all looked at her expectantly. 

"I come from the stars," she began with a laugh. "Or so my mother used to say. But I um... I'm not from this planet, which probably explains my powers and how I ended up here. But that planet, it got destroyed, and my biological mother and father from that planet sent me here when it was going to erupt." 

She looked up with wide eyes and a smile.

"I want to tell you guys about my old planet. They say I was the daughter of a noble family, and it was being ruled by a queen, who banned space-travel in her paranoia of invasion. I'm the only one who made it out alive according to my parents, but I'm sure some broke the law, including the queen herself who fought with her sons to death, and her dead body and ship crashed on this planet, causing the radioactive cloud fifty years ago."

She looked between Shisui and Kagami. 

"We destroyed her head. But we don't know... where the rest of her is... but that's under investigation." 

They listened in disbelief. Ino had a hand on her shoulder. Naruto smiled at her. 

"So, um my original mother and father left me a message. I got to see a final recording of them," she said with tears through her eyes. "They told me that I was a symbol of hope for their civilization... the last survivor." 

.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked her.

It had been two months, and she was carrying him over cornfields past the old farm they sold and towards the lake. Kagami was let down, and they both gazed at the lake.

“This was the place where I first met you,” she said. 

“Where you first… you remembered?” he asked her brightly. “I thought it was just me.” 

“I don’t remember a lot about my childhood,” she replied. “Sometimes I have gaps missing. Things I don’t want to remember, so yeah, I didn’t remember you. I wanted to thank you,” she said. “For coming for me.” 

“So you brought me here, Red?” he asked her with a warm smile. 

“Yeah... I wanted to thank you properly, for always saving me. I don't know if I would even be Petal. You always found me, you know? You made me feel like I belonged."   

“Nah, Red, you were so cool. You're like one of those heroes in those stories who come back after a long, torturous ordeal, and they come back and save the day anyway. You were so cool. ” 

She shook her head.

“You saved me Kagami,” she said. 

He took her hand and he planted a featherlight kiss on her hand. She blinked and blushed. 

“I’d do it again, Red. Cuz alien or not, you're savin' the whole world and people like us—symbol of humanity or whatever—so someone's gotta save you."

She felt her eyes get misty. She cupped his cheek, and she bent, and she planted a kiss on his cheek. 

"Thank you, Kagami." 

His eyes widened. She then pulled away.

"SO. I um... did you want to go around to see this town?" she asked. "I sorta grew up here and you didn't. We could find umm... get something to eat or something." 

She didn't see him hold his cheek with wonder, as she was walking away. He ran up to catch up to her.

"Yeah! Sure! Whatever you want, Red!" 

She hid a blush behind her curtain of hair. He blushed at the ground. Their eyes met, and they smiled at each other.