Fade In

Fade In

Chapter Sixteen – Teardrop

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Akai treaded softly throughout her empty home.

It had been relatively simple to enter Konoha. Suppressing his chakra flow, all he had to do was play the part of friendly, conversational traveler and the stupid foreign traders he’d happened to run across were all for helping the weary, handsome man in need of a place to stay. It’d been even simpler to find out where his pink haired obsession lived. The civilians here were much too trusting for their own good.

Silly little Leaf.

For one of the great nations it was awfully lax and unguarded. However, he wasn’t idiotic enough to assume everything by outward appearances. He had no doubt that if any threat were to be detected, Konoha would be ready in a heartbeat. Though he supposed they didn’t have much to worry about anyway, what with producing some of the greatest ninja to ever walk the shinobi world. Who would really want to attack when the odds of winning were ridiculously low?

But Konoha didn’t matter to him nor would it ever. He was here for one thing and one thing alone.

His fingers grazed along the soft duvet of her bed. Her scent permeated strongest here and he found himself inhaling long and deep. There weren’t any pictures, which slightly surprised him. His Pink seemed like such a loving and passionate person that he figured she’d have photos of loved ones decorating all the empty spaces of her home.

He really shouldn’t be surprised though. Two, almost three years ago he’d started the decaying of her heart and soul, his dark memory feeding the silent hatred deep within her. And soon he would see just how far and deep that hatred, that anger ran.

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Maybe it was the way black shivers slithered down her spine or the fact that her gut clenched and her heart raced, tumbled to a stop. But the moment Sakura stepped foot into her apartment she knew.

Sliding out the shuriken stashed beneath her poorly neglected bonsai, she cautiously made her way through her sunlit home, body ready to pounce and kill if need be. But as she stepped into her room, there was no sign of her intruder, just the remnants of what he’d left behind.

Sakura slowly walked over to her bed, hands clenched tightly until the whites of her knuckles shown and she was left tense and wary.

You know where to find me Pink.

And in her sudden flare of hot anger and hatred, as everything she had just built came crashing all around her, a hissing thwack ripped the air of her cold and detached home. Akai’s note was pinned to the wall by the razor sharp edges of her shuriken and with it, the stem of a pink rose, its blush colored petals torn and scattered all over the soft carpet of her room.

…

Sakura stood high on her favorite spot in all of Konoha. Overlooking the Leaf Village, she let the wind whip through her loose pink hair as her sharp emerald eyes stared out into the distant, darkening horizon.

Come tomorrow morning she’d be gone.

While Konoha was her home, her village to serve and protect at the greatest cost imaginable, Sakura knew she would never find peace if she didn’t face Akai. She had made a promise almost three years ago in a cold bloodstained prison and she was going to keep it no matter what. She was going to fulfill what was asked of her by her two dying teammates who had once been the world to her, who had taught her that being ANBU meant duty and sacrifice, strength of will and cold determination.

And if she died…

A wistful smile touched her lips.

This might be the last time she saw her beloved Leaf.

Her important people.

Life had never been clear cut for her anyway. It hadn’t turned out the way she thought it would, but then again nothing ever did. Too many things had happened to shape the woman she was today.

But Sakura liked to think she still retained a part of the old Sakura. The part that loved hard and cared hard. The part that didn’t hesitate to protect the ones closest to her heart no matter the odds against her. The part that still made her feel human after ending another’s life.

Sakura tilted her head skyward, breathed in deep, and felt the approach of her team. Her heart ached to tell them, but she knew she couldn’t.

Kano. Aki. Please forgive me.

No one could know where she was going, what she was going to do and why. They’d only try to stop and restrain her. To tell her to let go because it was all in the past and there was nothing she could’ve done to prevent it. Nothing she could do now to change it.

But promises had been made in tears and blood. Her soul wouldn’t rest until Akai was dead and in order for her to truly move on she needed to finish it and close this dark chapter of her past. It was her last duty to Michi and Hideki. A last duty to herself and all that she stood for. So she’d be damned if anyone tried to stop her. Akai was a threat to her precious people and if it came down to it, Sakura would willingly die to protect them.

All she’d ask was that they understand.

…

Her lips lovingly brushed against his vertical scar, lightly fluttered across his closed eye where the Sharingan lay hidden in the darkness. The pads of her fingers caressed the side of his face as she tried to memorize the way he felt in this moment so close to her.

And as their bodies moved and arched, became slick with sweat and overwhelmed with a deep, white hot pleasure Sakura wrapped her arms around his shoulders and never wanted to let go.

Kakashi ran his hands through her soft pink hair, trailed patterns over her lower back.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He teased huskily.

Sakura closed her bright eyes and inhaled his rainwater scent.

“I know.” She whispered, feeling her heart ache even more than it already did.

…

She gazed at him from the ledge of his window and nodded at her clone who had quietly taken her place beside the slumbering copy nin. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to keep up the ruse, but hopefully it would delay them long enough.

Goodbye Kakashi.

Sakura tore her eyes away then, ignoring the hammering pain in her chest as she disappeared into the darkness of the early morning hours.

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There was only one place she knew of that bloomed pink petals of the wild rose.

It was a secluded field far enough north from Konoha that they wouldn’t cause a disturbance, ensuring their fight would remain uninterrupted until one or both took their last breath.

Sakura clenched her fists as she sped through the tall trees of the forest, anchoring just the perfect amount of chakra to her feet to conserve as much of her energy as possible. Hopefully, none of the ANBU on patrol would be in the vicinity but if they were, they’d do well to mind their own business and not get involved.

This was her fight and she was going to finish it one way or another.

…

A sardonic smile twisted his lips when he felt her rapid approach. It deepened even more when he saw her smoothly land in the grass clearing and start walking towards him. Her emerald eyes were sharp, stance wary and slightly stiff. But her breathing was even, calm.

She was such a beautiful shinobi. Such an intriguing woman that it stirred his blood and made it boil with a furious want. Long black braid swaying in the breeze, Akai silently watched her as she got closer, coal black eyes raking up and down her body clad in standard ANBU gear.

Sakura stopped ten feet away from Akai and stared him straight in the eyes. She didn’t waver, wouldn’t falter in the face of the bastard who’d killed her team. She was much too hateful, too vengeful for that.

“Pink. It’s always a pleasure to see you.”

She narrowed her eyes at the nick name before slipping on her black gloves and taking a deep, cleansing breath.

“I’m going to send you to hell.”

His eyes seemed to glow with an eerie, almost anticipatory light. “Then know that I’ll be taking you with me.”

And then they were streaks across the distance before bright sparks ignited as sharp metal met sharp metal. Sakura jumped away and quickly blocked a succession of attacks from Akai with her ninjaken. She sidestepped, bent low and swung her blade outward but he back flipped away, pulling out his other kodachi.

She burst forward, pink hair flowing wildly around her as she feigned a strike to the left but quickly spinning on her heel, struck right with a harsh swing of her sword. He brought his shorter blade up to block her attack, not seeing her leg come flying around to catch him in the gut. Akai flew back with the force, skidding across the grass as he regained his balance.

He didn’t have time to recoup though as Sakura appeared behind him, ready to drive her ninjaken between his shoulder blades. But he quickly dodged by swooping his body to the right and kodachi in hand, swiped it across her side. It cut through the material of her vest and grazed her skin.

She didn’t feel it though, the slight sting, the trickle of blood, so far gone with the adrenaline pumping in her veins. They dashed towards each other and met in the center of the field, blades clashing once again. Akai expertly wielded his twin kodachi, raining upon the kunoichi sharp thrusts and quick jabs as she blocked and attacked.

Jumping into the air, Sakura twisted and kicked him across the jaw but he grabbed her ankle and swung her body, sending her flying through the air. She righted herself right before Akai appeared above her and slammed his chakra infused palm against her ribcage.

She exploded in a cloud of cherry blossoms as he landed on the ground. But he soon jumped out of the way as Sakura drove her sword into the place he’d just been. A dark smile turned his lips as she stood up and pulled out two kunai from her weapons pack and twirled them on her fingers before gripping them tightly in her gloved hands.

“Your dead team would be proud of you Pink.”

“Not as proud as when I finally kill you.” Her voice was chilling, cold and smooth just like her deadly ninjaken.

Her hands flew into a series of seals and two clones appeared on either side of her. And as Akai’s eyes darkened with sadistic pleasure, all three Sakuras came streaking forward to meet him head on.

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Kakashi wrapped his arms around her body, not fully registering how everything felt slightly off in his sleep fogged mind. She mirrored his movements and nuzzled his neck. But then a few knocks on his door interrupted them and his eyes snapped open.

“You should probably get the door.” Sakura said.

“Do I have to?”

She nodded against his chest.

More knocks came and heaving a sigh, Kakashi got out of his bed, missing the slight flicker in Sakura’s appearance, indicative of the real cherry blossom starting to lose concentration in keeping her clone alive. Pulling on a pair of pants and his mask, he quickly made his way to the door of his apartment and pulled it open.

“Hatake-san.”

Kakashi recognized them immediately as Sakura’s ANBU team. “Kano. Aki.”

They nodded and he didn’t miss the way they scanned his apartment through the open doorway.

“Have you seen Sakura by any chance? Hokage-sama wants us in her office in half an hour.” Aki asked hopefully.

“She’s—”

There was a shuffle from the hallway before Sakura emerged wearing one of his old jounin shirts. It was then that Kakashi’s eyes narrowed dangerously at the uneven, almost erratic chakra coming from her.

“Sakura.”

“Bunshin no jutsu…” Whispered Kano as his brows furrowed in confusion.

She gave them a sad smile, her jade eyes becoming duller as time flitted by.

“I’m sorry…”

Her clone abruptly disappeared in a soft ‘poof’.

“What the hell is happening?” Aki murmured, voicing what was all going through their heads.

It didn’t bode well either when a sudden heavy feeling of fear and worry swept over them. It just didn’t feel right nor did it make any sense.

A million things collided in Kakashi’s suddenly chaotic mind as he quickly pieced together everything he could remember from the past month. And for once he couldn’t control the cold dread that crossed his eyes, couldn’t ignore the urgency in his heart that was slowly setting his world on fire.

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Sakura flipped, sent a spinning kick towards his chest but went up in a cloud of white smoke when he unleashed a shuriken straight at her heart. Akai narrowly dodged a chakra enhanced fist but a kunai met his neck and he too disappeared in wisps of white.

The ground shook beneath the real him, opened up as debris flew all around during his escape from falling. Clouds of dust traveled every which way and suddenly kunai were flying straight towards him. Deflecting most of them, hissing through his teeth when one struck his leg, he missed it when Sakura appeared at his right. Using Shosen Jutsu she severed the muscle fibers at his side. But he spun around and released a shower of senbon hidden within the folds of his clothes.

Sakura winced when a few dug into her skin. Landing and crouching on the ground, panting heavily from the exertion, she glared at him. They were both breathing hard and bloody. But it’d be a cold day in hell when she’d lose to him.

He suddenly vanished and she felt him from all directions. And then she was flying back and colliding harshly with the ground as she heard a few ribs give way with a sickening crunch, pain blossoming all across her left side. His chakra control wasn’t bad. She picked herself up, green eyes calculating his quick motion around her. Her hands completed a set of seals and—there—a large ball of fire shot from her mouth and Akai was abruptly swallowed in its intense heat.

But as the world around her suddenly shifted unsteadily, Sakura knew something was wrong. A quick internal check and she cursed as she detected a foreign substance streaming through her blood.

Wind whispered behind her and she quickly jumped away, gritting her teeth through the pain.

“It’s my very own special blend of poison.”

“You forget I’m a medic.”

He smirked. “And you forget I’m one too. You can only suppress it for so long Pink.”

Sakura smiled and beckoned him forward. “It’ll be long enough.”

And for the last time, they flew at each other and engaged one another in a fierce, bloody battle. Taking what she learned from Lee and all their training sessions, Sakura expertly executed her taijutsu until it almost felt like a deadly dance. Every part of her body moved with precision, dodging and blocking, striking hard and fast. She dropped down low, promptly ignored the way her body screamed at the abuse she was subjecting it to, and swept her feet under him only to shoot upwards and strike him under the chin. Akai flew upward and she flickered, faded in above him and pounded him back into the ground.

But she was a medic nin, an ANBU captain. She was taught by the legendary Sannin Tsunade to anticipate your opponent’s every move, to dodge and be quick on your feet. And she had learned as part of ANBU to be merciless and calculating, to not give up even in the most dire of situations.

So when Akai sent another wave of poisoned hari at her, she deflected them with her kunai. When he grasped her arm, sent a shock of his dark chakra into her and broke the bone with the force of it, her fingers darted out and struck the pressure points in his right arm, effectively rendering it useless. Her fist shot out, rammed into his jaw with a satisfying crunch and flying back, he hit the ground hard.

Sakura stumbled, sent another wave of her healing chakra through her to stifle the poison’s effect for just a little bit longer because that was all she needed. Her breathing was labored as she tried to heal her arm as best she could but her chakra was low. Dulling the pain was all she could manage. Her head shot up just in time to see Akai disappear from his place on the ground and she was just a little too slow to get out of the way of his chakra enhanced kodachi.

The sharp blade slid through her side as she choked out a heavy gasp, felt the blood fall from her lips. She looked into his dark eyes, could tell he was experiencing just as much pain as she was and smirked through all the pain and the blood.

“I’m going to kill you.”

His own deadly smirk crossed his lips.

“I know.”

Akai ripped his blade from Sakura’s body as he felt his ribs crack from the force of her punch. He coughed up crimson as he skidded backwards. Sakura, not losing a moment, forcing her body to comply with her demands, came straight at him as she gathered the last of her chakra into her hand.

Using her arm guard to block his downward strike, she spun around him in a dizzying blur and pulling out her last kunai, slammed it between his shoulder blades. Akai arched at the unexpected pain and twisted around, only to be met with the stunningly vengeful image of his bloody and broken Pink.

He felt her chakra infused fingertips dig into his chest then, right above his heart and he smiled darkly, knowingly. Akai ghosted his blood stained fingers down her face as he felt his chest constrict, tighten painfully as her chakra rapidly forced its way into his body, around his heart with no way for him to counter it.

“But I told you I was going to kill you too Pink.”

Sakura’s vibrant eyes never left his as she crushed his beating heart the same instant he drove the cool steel of his kodachi right through her middle, a satisfied smile on his cold dying lips. She swayed back as he fell lifeless to the ground, taking with him all her vengeful hatred. Fulfilling a promise made when unwanted death had surrounded her and loneliness gripped like a vice her body and soul in the red red blood and the laughing mocking darkness.

With the last of her strength, she pulled out the sharp blade and crumpled to her knees, her once white ANBU vest now a sickening, spreading vermillion. Sakura tried to breathe, but it hurt so damn much to and as she collapsed completely out of chakra, painfully inhaled the scent of grass beneath her, she could feel the lethal poison once again thread and slither throughout her weakened system.

Her vision started to blur and she closed her eyes, felt the hot tears burn a sorrowful path across her throbbing temple. Memories flickered across her mind, faded in with striking clarity and she reached out to capture them, hold them close to her dying, bleeding heart.

Her important people.

Her precious people.

And as the teardrops fell, a part of her really didn’t want to die. A part of her fought fiercely to stay alive, to keep all that she had for just one more day because truth be told, she wasn’t quite ready to leave it all behind just yet.

But it was so hard to keep breathing and she was losing too much blood. The world around her was fading, being consumed by his poison and she didn’t know what to do to slow it down, didn’t have anything left to stop it.

‘If we die…we die together so neither one of us is alone.’

‘And if one of us dies and we’re not together?’

‘Then we’ll think of each other and then…and then maybe we won’t be so alone.’

Sakura took a last, shuddering breath as everything dimmed, slowly flickered out of her life.

‘Forgive me Kakashi…’

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…to be continued…