Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Dreaming ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter Fifteen: Dreaming

 

Such a strange feeling, talking to a man he barely knew, yet feeling like he could bet his life that he would stay loyal. Trust. That was the feeling that Sasuke now felt, sitting on a bar stool, across the counter from the ramen store owner, who nodded sympathetically now and then and smiled sometimes when Sasuke began to talk about Kira or Sakura. When Sasuke finished, the man leaned back and blew out a long breath of air.

“My, my, what a wonderful tale. Wonderful, wonderful, simply wonderful. But…you must understand it's outrageous.”

Sasuke's eyebrows scrunched together in a frown. He didn't believe him? After all that, he didn't believe him?

The owner saw that look and quickly shook his head. “Oh, no, Sasuke, I believe you! It's the only thing I can believe anymore.” He rocked back and forth on his heels, a browned hand stroking his chin. “I don't think you know the history of this town.”

Sasuke shook his head. “No, I don't. Why? Do I need to?”

“Well, not really, but—ah, here's your ramen!” The girl had come back and was balancing a steaming bowl of ramen between gloved hands. It smelled delicious and there were vegetables and meat piled on top of slippery, broth-drowned noodles. Sasuke could feel his saliva glands working up, and he felt almost ashamed.

“Sir, I really have to insist that I pay…” But the man cut him off, laughing.

“Call me Tohru! And, remember, you paid me in full! A marvelous story, rare and true. That's more than payment enough!” He winked and smiled, pushing the bowl of ramen towards Sasuke. “Enjoy and relax, my boy, while I tell you a story of my own.”

“Thank you, sir—Tohru. Thank you very much.” Giving in to his empty stomach and his nose, Sasuke broke the chopsticks apart and slurped up the noodles hungrily. It was a long time since he had real cooking.

Tohru breathed in deeply through his nose, wrinkling his forehead thoughtfully. “This village used to be a very prosperous, beautiful place. Children could walk through the streets without a fear, and people used to be the nicest and bravest you could ever meet. But then Itachi came, with his demon army.”

Sasuke choked on his noodle, suddenly finding it hard to gasp for air. Tohru, alarmed, clapped him hard on the back, and when Sasuke could speak again, he gasped, “ITACHI? Itachi was HERE?” It hadn't occurred to him that his brother had spread his reign of terror for so far, and for so long. “Are his people still here?”

“No, thankfully. But when they came, they seized all of our property, and all of our money, and took some of our children as slaves. But they didn't take anything of mine.” He said bitterly, gripping the stone counter so hard his knuckles turned white. “They liked my food. So I had to supply them with food every single day, for free, or they would kill my family. That part I wouldn't have minded so much. But I was the only one singled out to survive. I watched my neighbors murdered, my friends made into slaves, and there was nothing I could do about it. But then that got me thinking. What if I could do something about it?”

Sasuke listened intently, trying hard not to make any loud noises with his noodles. It was interesting, hearing from a first person point of view. It had been years since he'd last heard such stories.

“So last year, my wife and I made some poison from the herbs in my garden, in the restricted section, and invited the entire force of invaders to come and eat. It was a holiday, not something strange, so they all came, suspecting nothing.” The man smiled, shaking his head slowly. “The men were fools. They ate, and they died. The rest of the village joined me in pushing back any other invasions, and now we're free, though our numbers have decreased by much. Things won't ever be the same, but we're rebuilding, little by little.” Then his face clouded. “But I didn't get the main person. I couldn't kill Itachi. He was called away on important business at the last minute, along with that walking fish of his. He got away.”

“I'm glad you didn't kill him, Tohru.” Sasuke said nonchalantly, tilting his bowl towards him to gather the soup. “He's mine.”

 

 

It was a beautiful day, with clear blue skies and fluffy clouds, but the best part was that Sasuke was there with her. Everything was blurry, but in a nice way, like something out of a romantic drama. The sun was soft and bright, but it almost seemed possible to look at it without bursting into tears. There were cherry blossom floating around and around them, swirling around their intertwined hands, the warm wind blowing gently through their hair, both their eyes glazed over in emotion. There were birds chirping in the background, singing a lover's song, and butterflies fluttered here and there in pairs, stopping a few times at flowery, sweet-scented bushes by the flowing green grass. They were sitting on the ground, side-by-side, gazing into each other's eyes, limbs relaxed and happy, the world suddenly carefree. Sakura opened her mouth hesitantly to speak, and Sasuke smiled at her, giving her strength to go on.

“Sasuke…” Her voice was more beautiful than she had remembered or realized. “I…I love you…” She blushed red, not knowing how to continue.

He placed a long, graceful finger on her lips. “I know. I know that.”

The wind seemed to blow a little harder, and the air happened to cool down a little more, and the sun somehow gained a little edge. Sakura looked down at her feet. The grass was losing a little of its color. Or was it just her imagination? Was it her nervousness at her next few words that made everything a little harder, a little stranger?

“Sasuke…I need to know something.” She looked up at him. He held her hand a little tighter, and she could clearly feel his pulse, hard and strong, against her skin. His eyes, so black and deep before, became a little grayer, a little more shallow.

“What is it?” His voice had lost some of its gentle, loving quality. It sounded worried, a little anxious, somehow distant and detached.

“I…” The butterflies quivered in the sudden, insistent wind, and flew away. The birds stopped singing and started up a quarrel suddenly, and as Sakura looked up, she realized horribly how dark it had become. The sun was white and sharp, and brought tears to her eyes. The clouds were darkening, moving swiftly across the sky like autumn leaves down a flooded river. She made to stand up, the grass suddenly cutting into her hands like little knives. But Sasuke reached out for her, stopping her.

“Tell me.” His voice had a harsh quality, rough like a cheese grater, but quieter, like the north wind whistling through the hollows of trees.

“Do you…do you love me?” She burst out, her words stumbling over each other like little children in a play yard, hurried, rushed, and almost indistinguishable.

He frowned and looked at her. He seemed to be fading away slowly, right before her eyes. The cherry blossoms, just swirling dreamily around her before, now rushed at her like kunai, hitting her in the face, and one even cut a shallow gash on her cheek. She cried out in pain and reached to Sasuke, but he was disintegrating before her eyes. It made no sense, none at all, but she reached for him anyway. “I need to know, Sasuke, I need to know!” She cried, running to him, but she fell right through him, like a ghost, and watched, horrified, as he faded away. He looked at her, confused to the point of being comical, and opened his mouth…but it was too late. The wind blew him away, like the tiny leaves from the bushes, tearing them away from the branches like children from parents, like family from loved ones. It set up a terrible howl, anguished and grieving at the same time, and Sakura screamed for him, and tried to run after his remnants, a lock of blue-black hair swirling in the twisted gusts of merciless wind. And then she saw him again, high in the sky, wincing like a thousand hot knives were being driven into his body, convulsing in the sky as a million needles came out of nowhere, and he dropped, dropped, back down to where she was, and a hundred different things happened at that moment—Sasuke died with his eyes open, a cackling laughter ripped through the sky, Sakura reached for him, she awoke, and she almost fell out of her tree.

“Sasuke!” She screamed, her eyes wide open, tears already spilling over eyelids. “Oh, Sasuke…” There was a cut on her cheek, but it was from a falling, razor edged leaf, not from cherry blossoms. His pulse was just her ring. The sharp grass was just bark under her hands, the light summer breeze actually cold, unforgiving wind, and the light from the sun, peering harshly at her from in between leaves. But the pain, the heartbreak felt so real, and his touch…his touch was so real, his image, his eyes, his voice, his smell. It was all so real, like she had him again, with her. And then she lost him again. Again! She closed her eyes, unable to hold back the tears, and she cried and cried and cried, feeling her heart shatter, her resolve weaken, and for a moment, all she wanted was for it to end. “Oh, Sasuke. Why couldn't you tell me? Why can't you love me?” And in her heartbroken state, she didn't notice the small band of black ninja nearby, one of their members watching her with interest. But that wasn't right. They couldn't see her…could they?

 

 

“Hinata! Come on!” Shikamaru called, peering back lazily behind him. Hinata was standing still, staring at a tree. “We've got to hurry.”

But she didn't budge, and Naruto, already annoyed, turned back towards her and tugged at her arm. “Hinata, come on, we've got to go! We have to find Sakura…”

“But…Naruto-kun, don't you see her? She's right there…” Hinata had a strange expression on her face, and her eyes were still slightly red from crying when she realized Itachi's intent. She and Sakura had never really been great friends, but she had always kind of looked up at and admired the other girl. The shock had hit her like a tidal wave, and she had doubled her attempts to try and find her, and had even had a slight nervous breakdown. “Look…” She pointed at a large tree a couple hundred feet away. She was using her special jutsu, and her eyes were strained, staring at that one tree in a peculiar way, as if not really believing her eyes.

Naruto looked in the direction her trembling finger was pointing towards, but saw nothing. “There's nothing there, Hinata. It's just a tree.”

“I know, I mean on the tree. Right there. Don't you see her? She's crying…” Her voice was distant and her brows brought together in a confused frown, as if she didn't quite understand something.

Her three teammates exchanged worried glances. Hinata hadn't exactly received the news well, but could it be that she had suffered a breakdown? Was she starting to hallucinate? Temari coughed lightly and cleared her throat. “Uhm, Hinata…there's nothing there. Really.”

“Yes there is! You just don't see it because you don't have my eyes.” She started to fret worriedly, wringing her hands in front of her. “But…Naruto…Sakura doesn't know how to make herself invisible, right? She doesn't know how to do that, right?”

No one said anything, but looked at Hinata blankly. She continued, regardless of their strange looks. “So then…so then how come you can't see her? Why is she invisible?”

“I don't…Hinata, are you sure you see her? Are you sure she's there?” Temari said softly, touching the younger girl's arm gently. “Are you positive?”

“Well…no, but can we check?” She saw the impatient look on Naruto's face and faltered a bit. “Please?”

Naruto conceded after receiving warning glares from Shikamaru and Temari, and sighed. “All right, Hinata, lead the way.”

She took off silently towards whatever she was seeing, taking special care not to make much noise. When she was about ten feet away from her destination, she cried out, “Sakura! I knew it! It was you!”

The others stopped behind her as she apparently hugged the air, but a moment later she was flung back and cried out, and Naruto caught her before she hit another tree. He snapped his head up alertly as he heard leaves rustle near his head, and when he looked up, something hard connected with his cheek. Shikamaru and Temari stared in confusion, then rushed to their aid. Seconds later, they too were hit by an invisible assailant, but Shikamaru was able to grab their arm, and Temari pounced on the person too, and grabbed a leg. Naruto recovered from his shock and grabbed the person too, but it was hard, since he or she was flailing his/her other limbs, making them hard to hold down. Suddenly, there was a sheen of black, suffocating smoke and they were all blasted backwards. There was a bout of cursing from under them, and they got a clear view of a pale, tear streaked Sakura, glaring at something in her hand. She looked at them wildly before dashing off into the forest, leaving nothing behind but a lock of hair, swirling around and around in the air. Naruto caught it wordlessly, fanning away smoke from his eyes, looking lost and desolate.

“That…that really was her, wasn't it?” His face was pale and sweaty, his bright yellow hair clinging to his forehead in thick, damp strands.

Shikamaru shook his head, looking confused. “That…but how could she…” For once, he seemed at a loss for words.

Temari ignored them both, looking around wildly. “Hinata!” She screamed, and suddenly, everyone realized what was wrong. Hinata still hadn't moved from where Naruto had set her down. Her eyes were closed and her face was pale, but everyone noticed the crimson blood leaking out of the corner of her mouth, and the tears down her cheeks. Temari shook her desperately, but she didn't wake. “Hinata! No! Wake up, wake up…please…”