"Ill see you at the end" she whispered with a sad smile. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she was energized by grim, hopeless determination.
"Ill see you at the end, the beginning, or somewhere in-between, in this life or another, Heaven or Hell, yeah" the blond pledged, in one of his rare poetic moments.
She faced the battle field, trying unsuccessfully to hide her tears and sorrow behind her pink pastel hair and a blank face. The blond S-class criminal saw through it, however.
"If one of us has to die and one can live, only one, I want it to be you. I can't bear to see you die, yeah. I love you, Sakura-chan. Goodbye." He said, before charging recklessly into battle, blowing up whatever was in his path.
"Deidara!!" she cried, tears running down her face. He didn't hear her, and kept the explosions going. A particularly large bomb exploded, and many enemy shinobi died. Her tears flowed more, since she was worrying that he would accidentally kill a fellow Akatsuki member, or use his ultimate jutsu and kill himself.
She pulled herself together, and pledged to save his ass. She plunged into the fray, and slaughtered the Otogakure shinobi mercilessly. Her onslaught was swift, her blade shining, lit by the full moon. Her black and red Akatsuki cloak was now caked in blood, and the moon was invisible, hidden by the dark clouds.
She was in the midst of battle, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasori fall. A Kisame-looking wannabe-shark thing pulled his large blade out of Sasori's heart, and was killed by Kisame. She sighed in relief, but then gasped when the shark-man was killed. Then her vision was blocked by a female shinobi.
She then looked at the kunoichi in front of her, who had purple hair and blue eyes. Sakura thrust her blade into the other female's heart, and then pulled it out. She turned to face another kunoichi, with the same purple hair, but with green eyes, when she heard a voice eerily similar to Hidan's scream "KAKUZU!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! You bastard I'll fucking kill you!!"
Another tear slid down her cheek as she killed the kunoichi. Kakuzu was one of her favorite Akatsuki members, since he would always play poker and gamble with her, and always win, even though sometimes he would let her win, as long as money wasn't involved. They were close, and he was like her older brother.
She hopped onto a tall tree, and scanned the battle, looking for a living Akatsuki member that might need her help. Tobi was battling a red haired girl, who she remembered was named Karin. The kunoichi killed him with a kunai, piercing his heart, and then smiled. She actually smiled! That bitch SMILED! At a sweet person like Tobi's death!
Sakura jumped down the tree, and sped through the battling ninjas. She thrusted her blade at Karin with deadly accuracy and the red-head fell to her knees.
Karin wasn't dead yet, though. Sakura grabbed her hair roughly and yanked her head back, then leaned over to whisper in Karin's ear "Don't mess with the Akatsuki, or this will happen. Remember that. Well, if you can after you're dead" Sakura finished speaking and chuckled coldly.
The pinkette then took out the blade and stabbed the girl in the middle of her chest. The girl died, and Sakura looked around the battle field for her next victim who dared to attack her beloved home.
All the Akatsuki except for Deidara, Itachi, and herself died at once, presumably killed by Orochimaru and Sasuke. She watched as Itachi took his life to kill the rest of the Oto nin except for Orochimaru and Sasuke. Now four people remained in the field. Orochimaru appeared behind her and bound her in incredibly strong chakra ropes. He made her watch as the two other men battled. She watched the one she loved deeply battle the one she had once loved and now found repulsive. Her heart was torn in half as Sasuke's blade pierced Deidara's skin and came out his backside. He fell to the ground, defeated. She was released from the ropes by the snake Sannin and ran to her fallen bomber.
She dropped to the ground, and gently placed his head in her lap. Then she began to stroke his silky hair. Her teardrops speckled his face, and her shoulders shook from the intensity of her sobs.
"Don't cry, Sakura. Before I die, can I see you smile? It always was the best remedy when I was sick" he said weakly, touching her face softly.
She looked at him, and said strongly "You won't die, Deidara. You won't".
He met her gaze, and then spoke. "Don't lie to yourself. Even you, the best medic, can't heal me. Let's face it, I'm beyond repair" he said, and then laughed bitterly.
She smiled sadly. It was just a small smile, but it was enough for him. He smiled back, and then let his hand fall back to his side. "Goodbye, Sakura. I love you" he muttered, taking his lat heavy breath. His eyes fluttered closed, and he passed on.
Fresh tears brimmed in her emerald eyes, and she stood. Her fists clenched, and her whole body shook from anger and grief. Chakra built up around her, her soft green chakra turning midnight black, with maroon mixed in. It was dark and murderous, craving bloodshed, which was far-fetched from her normally kind, gentle chakra.
A lightning-bolt-like shard of it appeared in her hand, and she threw it at Orochimaru. It pierced his flesh, straight into his heart. It burst into sharp black cherry blossoms, and slaughtered all the snakes that came from this body, making his old body and all the snakes so heavily cut that they were unrecognizable. Hidan would be proud because of it. She smiled at that thought, and readied herself for the fight against the man she used to love.
Sasuke disappeared, and then reappeared behind her. He whispered in her ear "Hello, Sakura. Deidara looks quite dead, doesn't he?"
She whirled around, and snarled "Take that back, asshole!"
He smirked cruelly, and asked "And why would I do that?"
She glared at him, hard enough that a normal human would die. She readied her katana, and got into her fighting stance. Her black chakra burned the ground and turned it black, then flashed like lightning.
"You killed them all. You killed all of Konoha. Suna. You killed Ino, Tenten. Hinata, Temari. You killed Naruto, for Kami's sake! You killed everything I love. I had to join the Akatsuki because of it. And then you killed them. Every last one of them. And don't say that you weren't the one who killed them, because you were behind it all. You were the brains, Orochimaru had the forces. And to top it off, you killed Deidara! You killed the fucking love of my life! I thought I loved you, but that all ended when you left me on a fucking concrete bench! Die, you fucking bastard!" she screamed, then dashed towards him, with the fastest possible ninja speed.
He deflected her attack, attacking with his own sword, and she just barely dodged. He anticipated the dodge, and flipped the sword over and nicked her ribcage, just barely breaking the skin through her clothes.
She jumped back, clear from the range of his sword, and readied her own. She wasn't going to blindly charge again. No, she was going to come up with a strategy to beat the cold bastard.
She replayed his movements in her head, and quickly found his weakness. His eyes. They could only be locked on one thing at a time, and when he flew at you with his sword, he locked his eyes with yours so that you could barely dodge.
She smiled, and then warped behind Sasuke and locked his sword arm against his chest, and hugged him, pressing her chest against his back. She leaned her head forward, and breathed on his neck and the back of his ear.
"Sakura"
"Hmm, Sasuke-kun?"
"Get off of me"
"And why would I do that, Sasuke-kun?"
"Get. Off. Of. Me!"
She released him, then leaped back and faced him once again.
He gathered chakra into his palm, and it created a large Chidori. The piercing 'cry of birds' hit her ears and she smirked. That wouldn't help him, not if she could see it. What an idiot. But…..the idea of dying is quite an appealing one…..since everyone she cared about was dead….
He charged towards her, and grasped her foot as she jumped to dodge.
She kicked his arm with the other foot, and then landed on the ground a few yards away. She activated her Kekkai Genkai.
Her silver ringed eyes narrowed, and she created the Uchiha special attack: Fire Ball Jutsu. It rolled towards him, and he got out of the way just in time.
"Okay, Uchiha. I'm done here. Your teammates are dead, and my family is dead. One of us has to win, so can we hurry this up?"
"What, no Sasuke-kun?" he teased, completely ignoring her previous statement.
She gave him a hard look.
"Right. Let's get a move on"
He activated Mangekyou Sharingan, and the face-off began. It was the Sharingan versus the Rinnegan.
"I didn't know you had the Rinnegan, Sakura. Hell, I didn't know you had a Kekkei Genkei at all" he stated
Sakura hissed, and charged at him. He looked at her, and raised his katana, ready to block her katana.
She sliced right through his sword, and she stabbed his stomach. He coughed up blood, and then he looked at her, his crimson red eyes penetrating her steely gray ones.
She fell into his dimension, deciding to humor the youngest Uchiha.
It was all black, and she couldn't hear anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't breathe, taste, or use any of her other senses. But she managed to laugh. Yes, Sakura Haruno, the last sole wielder of the Rinnegan, laughed, while she was in the dark dimension void of all senses created by Sasuke Uchiha, last living Uchiha and wielder of the Sharingan.
"Is this all you can manage, Uchiha?!" she called. Yes, though she couldn't breathe or taste or feel, she could talk.
The chicken-butt haired man hissed at her, and then he created multiple clones of himself with two katanas each. He started to stab her, and wouldn't let her feel anything but the pain of the blades.
She laughed again, than stopped all chakra flow in her body, releasing her from his 'mind fucking', as Hidan used to describe the Sharingan.
Sakura winced, and felt a tear at her heart, which was pretty much already torn up. She didn't want to think of the Akatsuki. Not when she was in the middle of the battle, with a possible way of exiting the deep-rooted pain from their deaths.
The pinkette shook her head to clear the depressing thoughts, and then she warped in front of Sasuke and hugged him from the front. She controlled his sword-wielding arm with her mind, and Sasuke yelped and tried to get away from her. She kept him locked in her iron grip, and she brought the sword through her chest and through his, as well.
She looked at him, and he was staring at her, his crimson eyes widened in shock that she had killed herself as well.
"Well, Uchiha. It should be fun to see where we go. Heaven or Hell. Or……perhaps somewhere in between" she breathed, thinking of Deidara's promise before this whole battle had begun.
She smiled at the thought, and then closed her eyes. Sasuke drew in a ragged breath in front of her. She hugged him tighter.
"Imagine what could have been, if you had taken me with you that night" she whispered. Cracking open her eyes slightly to stare at him. He just stared back, possibly thinking along the same lines she was, though slightly different for him.
She could have helped him become great, she could have helped him take revenge on his brother, and then perhaps restore his clan once again.
But she wouldn't have met Deidara, she wouldn't have met her new family, she wouldn't have known true happiness, even if it was in the life of an S-Class criminal. Yes, she had made the right choice. She was Sakura Haruno, last living member of the Akatsuki, last known wielder of the Rinnegan, and the last and only lover of Deidara, who she hoped to meet again in the her next life, or in the afterlife. Who knows? She would find him though, and they would find a way to live together, forever.
"Goodbye, Sasuke" she breathed in a rasping voice. Then she closed her eyes once again, and with her last breath, she whispered "I'm coming, Deidara". Then she smiled, and her body shut down for the rest of eternity. She had ended up dying in her first crush's arms, the way her child self had dreamed of, but she had really wanted to die in her lover's arms, which were always caring and warm. Now, she was in the enemy's arms, which were cold and unforgiving. But, her forever frozen face still held her small, hopeful smile.
XXXX
Overhead, the dark clouds that had gathered through the light and into the braking dawn grouped together and started pouring, the Heavens mourning for all that had been lost. The rain washed away the blood, and the bodies of the fallen shinobi were drenched in water, their faces forever frozen.
The spirits of eleven individuals gathered above the bloody, wet scene, staring down. Their dark, bloodied, torn black cloaks with their uniform red clouds billowed in the wind, creating an ominous cloud of their own.
Then the eleven all turned in unison, and headed towards the bright light in the clouds, not one of them looking back at their ruined world, where every bit of their lives was shattered.
They were all headed to Heaven, and only because one pink haired blossom had come into their lives and changed their hearts, turning the stone-like beings into real individuals. Yes, they were going to Heaven, and they went out with a grand finale, taking all of their enemies with them.
Nine of theses individuals continued walking, but one stopped, and another stopped when he saw his comrade hesitate.
"What is it, Sakura, yeah?" he asked, his voice light and breathy, with the weight off his life totally removed.
"I'm going to miss this place" she sighed.
The blond looked at her weird, and she couldn't help but laugh, a clear, almost sparkling sound.
"I mean everything life stood for. Life itself. What will happen to us later, when we enter that light?"
"Who knows, what will happen. That is one of the secrets of life. But whatever happens, I'm sure we'll be together, yeah"
She grinned at him, a bright, sunny smile that warmed his entire being, and then she grabbed his hand and started running after the nine others, who had stopped by the Light to wait for them. When the two reached them, all together the eleven stepped into the Light, the anti-heroes turn to experience true happiness.
The blistering cold of the life they had chosen had vanished into the Heavenly light, and the engulfing rain had finally lifted, leaving the ex-criminals room to really breathe, to live the afterlife in peace, their dark hearts coming clean and replenished.