[One-shot] Naruto: Paths of Deaths
Apr. 6th, 2007 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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inkcanvasFandom: Naruto
Characters: Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi
Rating/Status: PG / 499 words, complete
Timeline: Future fic, probably 2-3 years after The Strongest
Summary: They left her behind, and she finds herself living the lives of the dead.
Author's Notes: A stand-alone sequel-ish thing in the same universe as The Strongest, though I didn't originally intend to write anything of the sort. Somehow, my brain started brewing a ton of "Where Sakura Goes From Here" type of scenes. A couple of them morphed into Terribly Monstrous Things, none of which I'm able to tackle at the moment... so I compromised with this, to shut my brain up. It may or may not eventually serve as backstory to one of the aforementioned Terribly Monstrous Things, but I suppose it's irrelevant anyway as this stands on its own.
Paths of Deaths
by Téa P.
--
I'm always being left behind.
Even in death, they leave me here... a walking dead soul, belonging neither there nor here.
--
She senses his chakra signature before she hears his footsteps coming up behind her. She knows, though, it is only because he wasn't trying to mask it... knows that he is giving her time to compose herself if she needs to.
Does she?
Staring down at the sleek, black monument in front of her, she takes a deep breath and wonders briefly if it will release into a sigh. It doesn't, and instead, she lets the air in her lungs flow out slowly and steadily.
No, she doesn't.
He comes up beside her then, and she smiles softly, her eyes fixed on an engraved name, the only one that means something to her here. Sasuke's name isn't on it, and she doesn't expect it to be. He had died a traitor's death, took a hero with him, and left her behind to remember it. She wasn't worth taking, and she knows it better than anyone else.
"Good morning, Sakura," he greets, one hand perpetually in his pocket and another lifting in an easy wave.
She doesn't have to look at him to know that he has his head tilted to one side and his visible eye wrinkling at the edges in a smile. His tone is cheerful, as it always is when it comes to her. She prefers it this way. It makes everything just that bit more bearable, the pretense that much easier.
"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," she returns, quietly, casually.
He doesn't comment on her presence, and for that, she is grateful. She is aware that he comes here every morning he isn't away on a mission. Unlike her. She rarely comes, doesn't ever come, really.
She looks up, one hand raised to shield the morning glare, her eyes noting the pair of birds soaring in a wide arc some distance away. Always a pair. Then she catches him looking at her from the corner of her vision, and she shifts her attention back to him. He says nothing, and it is just as well.
"You're going to keep your team waiting if you stay here too long, Kakashi-sensei," she murmurs lightly.
"Ah... well," he laughs a little and rubs the back of his neck in his usual sheepish manner, "this lot is more forgiving than you ever were."
She doesn't respond to that, only giving him a ghost of a smile, and then she slides the porcelain mask over her face. He is already turning back to the monument when she bends her back slightly, her form blurring and wavering before blinking out completely from his side. She meets her new team for the first time, moments later, and imagines this is where they would've been.
Life, Sakura knows, goes on.
And sometimes, she thinks she's living their lives... breathing in the choices they have made and out the paths their deaths gave her.
/End
As always, comments and concrit very appreciated. On a side note, I generally don't see Sakura as the kind who would become ANBU. It's obviously something of an exception here though... like entertaining the idea of Sakura propelling her life forward in ways she imagines Naruto or Sasuke may have lead. Or not. Either way, I kind of see this as a path that their deaths gave her (if that makes sense).
Characters: Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi
Rating/Status: PG / 499 words, complete
Timeline: Future fic, probably 2-3 years after The Strongest
Summary: They left her behind, and she finds herself living the lives of the dead.
Author's Notes: A stand-alone sequel-ish thing in the same universe as The Strongest, though I didn't originally intend to write anything of the sort. Somehow, my brain started brewing a ton of "Where Sakura Goes From Here" type of scenes. A couple of them morphed into Terribly Monstrous Things, none of which I'm able to tackle at the moment... so I compromised with this, to shut my brain up. It may or may not eventually serve as backstory to one of the aforementioned Terribly Monstrous Things, but I suppose it's irrelevant anyway as this stands on its own.
by Téa P.
--
I'm always being left behind.
Even in death, they leave me here... a walking dead soul, belonging neither there nor here.
--
She senses his chakra signature before she hears his footsteps coming up behind her. She knows, though, it is only because he wasn't trying to mask it... knows that he is giving her time to compose herself if she needs to.
Does she?
Staring down at the sleek, black monument in front of her, she takes a deep breath and wonders briefly if it will release into a sigh. It doesn't, and instead, she lets the air in her lungs flow out slowly and steadily.
No, she doesn't.
He comes up beside her then, and she smiles softly, her eyes fixed on an engraved name, the only one that means something to her here. Sasuke's name isn't on it, and she doesn't expect it to be. He had died a traitor's death, took a hero with him, and left her behind to remember it. She wasn't worth taking, and she knows it better than anyone else.
"Good morning, Sakura," he greets, one hand perpetually in his pocket and another lifting in an easy wave.
She doesn't have to look at him to know that he has his head tilted to one side and his visible eye wrinkling at the edges in a smile. His tone is cheerful, as it always is when it comes to her. She prefers it this way. It makes everything just that bit more bearable, the pretense that much easier.
"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," she returns, quietly, casually.
He doesn't comment on her presence, and for that, she is grateful. She is aware that he comes here every morning he isn't away on a mission. Unlike her. She rarely comes, doesn't ever come, really.
She looks up, one hand raised to shield the morning glare, her eyes noting the pair of birds soaring in a wide arc some distance away. Always a pair. Then she catches him looking at her from the corner of her vision, and she shifts her attention back to him. He says nothing, and it is just as well.
"You're going to keep your team waiting if you stay here too long, Kakashi-sensei," she murmurs lightly.
"Ah... well," he laughs a little and rubs the back of his neck in his usual sheepish manner, "this lot is more forgiving than you ever were."
She doesn't respond to that, only giving him a ghost of a smile, and then she slides the porcelain mask over her face. He is already turning back to the monument when she bends her back slightly, her form blurring and wavering before blinking out completely from his side. She meets her new team for the first time, moments later, and imagines this is where they would've been.
Life, Sakura knows, goes on.
And sometimes, she thinks she's living their lives... breathing in the choices they have made and out the paths their deaths gave her.
/End
As always, comments and concrit very appreciated. On a side note, I generally don't see Sakura as the kind who would become ANBU. It's obviously something of an exception here though... like entertaining the idea of Sakura propelling her life forward in ways she imagines Naruto or Sasuke may have lead. Or not. Either way, I kind of see this as a path that their deaths gave her (if that makes sense).
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no subject
Date: April 6th, 2007 03:43 am (UTC)I love this line (mostly because of its crushing truth): "She wasn't worth taking, and she knows it better than anyone else."
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Date: April 6th, 2007 04:39 am (UTC)And yay for the line! It's rather weird, when I think about it, how I'm writing and experimenting with Sakura. She was my ultimate least favorite character ever in Naruto prior to the time-skip. I literally wanted to choke her half the time she appears. Then afterwards, it's like she did a 360 on me, sets camp in my brain, and morphs into something that isn't so flat anymore.
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Date: April 6th, 2007 04:42 am (UTC)I completely understand! I don't read the manga, mind you, but from watching the anime I've just wanted to smash Sakura's face in countless times... But now she's all strong &older, so I'm starting to like her a little more. She was pathetically weak before (not to mention whiny!) and virtually had to rely on someone else all the time, so I'm glad that's over.
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Date: April 6th, 2007 05:00 am (UTC)Ah, she's even worse in the anime, because there, I actually hear "Sasuke-kunnn!" over and over and over again. It's enough to melt brain cells. I wouldn't have minded if she was weak but actually tried or at least have some semblance of a character... though, really, she was just pathetic in every way. I'm so glad she grew out of that. I was still iffy at first, but so far (I keep up with the manga) I've come to like her much more.
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Date: April 6th, 2007 05:03 am (UTC)Oh, blargh. I was sick of her being Sasuke-obsessed in the anime, so having to read it over and over would be just as if not moreso annoying.
no subject
Date: April 6th, 2007 07:03 pm (UTC)You probably hear this enough, but you should read the manga too! I love it so. :D I'm all giddy over the Shippuuden episodes though... lordy knows how long I've been waiting for it.