Haruno Sakura and the War of Two Worlds

By Inner Self

Re-vamped 7 May 2011

The night after the failed capture of Uchiha Itachi, Ino decided that Sakura could use a good drinking game with a warm bottle from Tsunade-sama's sake stash. Sakura was surprised sober junior interrogator Ino knew of one. She told Sakura that her father played non-alcoholic versions with her all the time, that is, when he was not working his long shifts with Ibiki Morino and his interrogation teams. Ino and Sakura played for hours. Their favorite drinking game that night was Truths and Lies. Simple enough, it involved telling three statements; two truths and one lie. The goal was to for the teller to cover up her lie with ambiguous truths. As the night went on, the two kunoichi started to put down bets in the form of favors, money, et cetera. In the last round, each bet a free meal at the dango stand. Sakura was the Liar. Ino was, naturally, the interrogator. Sakura told told Ino A: that she had been in a near death experience, B: that she had encountered the fearsome Uchiha Itachi once before, and C: that she became a medic in order to save lives. Ino guessed that the last statement was a lie. Sakura confessed that Ino guessed correctly. Ino, laughed uproariously, triumphantly, and submitted to her drunken state. Sakura had wanted to be useful to Konoha and became a medic to put her superior chakra control to advantageous use. Still, she had a love for the battlefield and stayed on her team to avoid being a constant presence in the sterile, white-walled Konohagakure Military Hospital.

Sakura thought she played the game correctly. She thought she told two truths and one lie. As a matter of fact (or fiction if you consider the way an author can wield the "plot no jutsu"), Sakura told two truths that night. Sakura has always yearned for the approval of others, yes. She has wielded her chakra against Akatsuki, nearly dying in the process against Akasuna no Sasori. Haruno Sakura recollected her terrifying encounter with Itachi on that mission. So she picked her meeting as her incredible truth to try and throw Ino off the trail. She broke the rules unknowingly with that truth; for Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi have crossed paths more than once.

Chapter One: Love and War

Her heart felt like it was running a mile a minute. Well, technically, it was, but it was having trouble returning to normal systolic and diastolic rhythms. Sakura knew why she was there, facing him. She felt like she loved this boy her whole life. She still loved him and knew that she would always cherish her childhood crush on him. She would always have a special affection for him. She understood his pity-worthy plight. Hand on her heavy heart—from the run, she tells herself—Sakura took slow, determined steps toward him.

"Sasuke," she called softly, only mildly confidant that he would receive her presence. She faltered in her gaze and snapped her head up again to meet his visage. Her lips were slightly parted and ready to speak sweet words to him. "I miss you. I…," Sakura could not think of what else to say. Tears coated the edges of her eyes. One ran down her cheek. "Kiss me," she replied faintly, if not a little desperately, a desperation easily excusable. "Oh, Sasuke, please…kiss me. Kiss me like I had always dreamed you would. I missed you so much. I am in pain." He looked lost in thought. She was breaking through to him. She was significant for once and worthy of his attentions. Sasuke seemed to pick up on her emotion; he detected that they were genuine—to a degree at least.

The old Konoha warlord Danzo, indiscernible by Sakura, had been killed and his body lay half-tucked under rubble near one of the battered bridge's supporting walls. A girl with red hair lay on her front unconscious not far off in the distance. Her blouse was covered in blood that marked an exit wound over her right lung. The stage was a battle site, but the location did not seem to matter in face of the long awaited reunion, the private moment between the two.

Sasuke's eyes glinted suspiciously of guilt. Sakura felt a spark of hope as she stood on the battered bridge, but the look vanished within a fraction of a second. Sasuke calmly stepped forward, the fire characteristic of the proud Uchiha ignited in his charcoal-colored eyes. Sakura froze momentarily, although she knew the kiss would come, the one she dreamed of as a child. Sakura closed her eyes, calmed her nerves, and opened them again. Her breath caught. His eyes were still alight. A smirk reminiscent of years ago played at the edge of his lips. The nostalgia hit her like a meteorite. Luckily, Sakura remembered how to breathe again. She asked herself fleetingly if sparks would scour her innards. Would she allow herself to enjoy this long-awaited kiss? Well, after all the years, the fated kiss was bound to happen, whether Sakura was ready or not. She placed her hands delicately on Sasuke's chest as he cupped her face. He leaned in. Sakura's breath stilled again. Her heart reinitiated its marathon run. She forced herself to relax. She could do this. Sakura closed her eyes as she slid her hands up to hooked her delicate hands behind his neck at the base of his ebony locks. Sasuke kissed her then. It was sweet and charming. His tongue tasted unsuspectingly bland. She tried not to contemplate the awkward thought. Sasuke nibbled on her lower lip as she loosened her hold on the back of his neck to twirl the hair at its base. He tenderly, maybe desperately, even longingly, swiped his tongue across her lower lip. Sakura opened her eyes. His were open and focused entirely on her. The world could have ended at that moment, Sakura theorized, and Sasuke would not notice.

Sakura closed her eyes as she sent a jolt of paralysis chakra into his neck. It was perfectly initiated. Sakura used the technique Tsunade-sama pitted against Kabuto during a fight years ago. Kabuto, for all the dodging and evading he did, ended up with all his interneurons temporarily scrambled by a hastily applied medical jutsu. In this non-combat situation, however, Sakura had gingerly and successfully invoked paralysis.

Sasuke collapsed against her, eyes wide with shock which cooled at the betrayal. Sakura brought him to the ground. She knelt beside him, never once looking into his eyes. She pulled out a vial and uncorked it as she placed her thumb and forefinger on either side of Sasuke's nose. "This poison is of my own invention. It will work slowly through your system, but you will not feel any pain. I longed for your kiss. For you, Sasuke, I would have committed treason. But I have grown up these few years. I will never again think to go on the run with you. Not after everything you have done. All I can give you now is justice." Sasuke's mouth finally snapped open after three minutes. He tried to suck in air quickly but Sakura shoved the bottle against his lips. When it emptied, she dropped the bottle and quickly forced her hand over his mouth in a death grip. Sasuke passed out with the potion still in mouth. She rubbed his throat to force it down. Dropplets of her tears cascade onto his neck. 'That's miraculous, Sasuke,' she mused, 'you always had an incredible willpower.' She forced her trembling hands to keep rubbing the poison down his throat. 'But that Will he now uses to hurt others. He would have killed innocent civilians and justified it to himself in the name of his cause, whatever that cause may be. War would have broken out against the remaining member of the Uchiha clan on top of any previous destruction. No doubt Naruto would be on the front lines and the hospital would be under a crisis of mass casualty. He is a monster and a harbinger of chaos. I need no more convincing; he had to go.' Tears kept falling. Once she was sure the poison was consumed, she removed her trembling hands.

"In a way, I did this for you, Sasuke. I am convinced of that. You see, I regret letting you become a monster. I feel like I could have done something more. I know that everyone needs to make their own choices, but I wanted so much to save you. I loved you too much… but this isn't just about you. Other lives were at stake and I was the only one who could save them. You always try to kill Naruto on sight, but you see me as too weak, too much of a bother. I was the only choice. This was the only way. I'm sorry."

She bowed her head and grieved for Sasuke. She always mourned the deaths of others, especially those slain at her hands, but her tears were only ever for him. Sucking in a breath, Sakura stood, but she could not find the strength to leave yet. She pulled out her Bingo book and a felt tip pen. Flipping to his page, she dragged her pen across his photograph. She placed the book and pen back into her pack. She had slain a villain, a monster, and a boy she loved all in one day; for the sake of justice and peace. Despite being a heroine, she felt dirty. She felt incapable of tears, like blood ran out of her eyes instead. She wiped off the liquid with a dirtied hand. She imagined blood smudging her tear streaked cheeks. His blood lingered. It stained her face, her clothes, her soul, and she believed it would never wash off.

Her voice cracked as she cried, "I'm so sorry, Sasuke. What's done is done."

"I am afraid sorry doesn't quite cut it, Sakura-chan. Surely even you do not believe that repentance for murder is that easy," said a male voice, sickly sweet with underlying malice. He was right behind her. His voice continued: "You cannot just come prancing along, stealing my apprentices, my prized pupils! That is ever so terribly rude, I'm afraid, and for that, you should be punished." He said the last with a bit more of his twisted gleefulness than before. Sakura froze, face as white as ash. Her terrified expression was all the acknowledgement Madara required.

Sakura was fatigued from grief and thus an easy prey. Madara grabbed her by the throat and spun her around to face him. Capturing her gaze, Madara unleashed the power of his blood-red devil eyes. Sakura felt the pull of the tomoes immediately. Her fight or flight response appeared to be non-existent.

He leaned in close, projecting his bloodcurdling voice in her ear. "You're not the only one with a paralysis jutsu." He laughs his crazed, dark laugh. Sakura wanted to wriggle her neck back and forth, even if the futile task would result in snapping her neck—anything to hide from his visage—but she cannot even grit her teeth in fright. Sakura had never experienced terror like this in her life, not even when she was battling against Sasori of the Red Sand. And this time, the late Chiyo baa-sama was not here to save her.

'Calm yourself, Sakura… or better yet,' she thought with determination rising in her eyes, 'Get angry. Get enraged. Get fucking pissed!' And she did exactly that. She sent a death glare at Madara that seemed to shock the hell out of him. He grinned and retaliated by dragging her toward one of the bridge's damaged walls. Sakura cracked the genjutsu's first of multiple layers and found enough strength to dig the heels of her boots into the ground. Her fingers flimsily grappled at his hold around her neck. He laughed sadistically at the futility of her antics. She was only kicking up dust in her struggle and dramatizing the ordeal. He swung her over the side. His hold on her throat was the only support against gravity. She hated the degrading way he was drawing out her death more than the imminent death itself. Fearfully, Sakura analyzed her death, knowing which physiological structures would perish first. 'Damnit,' she thought fiercely, 'get a hold of yourself. Either survive this somehow or die with honor—Shannaro!' She was not going to start cowering again. It would be inexcusable. So she jerked her gaze back to Madara rebelliously. With all her willpower, she spat at his face. If she could release even half her displeasure with the ambiguous man, she was sure in chakra form it would release a blast the size of two kiloton bombs.

Still, Madara laughed smugly about her pathetic, frail hold on life. "I have not seen that look on many of my victims. I am so glad I could be of assistance in eliciting such passion from you, my dear! I feel we have been through so much together already, and that we are becoming fast enemies. I almost feel sorry to let you go… no pun intended. Well, a little pun intended I guess. After all, I intend to murder you by dropping you off a bridge. Or do I? Perhaps I am not as strong as I once was. Perhaps my hand was to slip? Ah, but that is not the case for I intend to murder you. So if you would kindly—."

Sakura was running low on air. He was crushing her wind pipe now. She felt dizzy. Sometime during the staring contest, Sakura realized his gaze was gathering distance. The wind was catching in her hair and on her skin. He had dropped her, and she was falling. Her stomach flopped and churned. Her heart leapt plummeted. She focused her being on the beautiful midday sun with all her strength. Yet, the fear returned and she failed to hold back the terror that washed over. She grappled for another way to accept her short life. She had just bloomed into a woman of 16 and already her petals were falling. Such is her fate and that of her namesake, she thought morosely.

Her world blackened. The sun, her only companion in her last moments purged from sight. Was she dead already? Everything looked so empty. Sakura's throat felt sore. Pain, she thought hopefully. The darkness seems to last forever. Frightened and confused, she screams silently, into the voice; no sound coupled with the sensation of raw vocal cords. She notices she cannot hear the rushing of wind either as she floats in the void.

Sakura spends a few bizarre moments like this, almost settled into the idea of a void of eternity to spend with herself and her alter ego, wherever that ego may be, but the wind returned with all its foreboding whispers and and its cool caress. It blew her hair into her face once more. The midday sun lit up her world as she plummetted again and quickly hits the rock hard earth. But the earth sank after the initially painful contact. She thought she might drown. She was in too much pain to move. Her eyes closed. Sakura felt a pair of hands reach for one of her arms each. She fainted before they could haul her unto shore. Minutes later she awoke to concerned voices amassed around her, rumbling low in her ears.

So I changed this up a bit. I wanted to use the Millenium Bridge in London. I guess she'll wander across it in the next chapter (when I revamp it).The story needs to be betaed into 3rd person/past tense. Sorry. I could not decide in the first draft. This part was originally quite short. It gets its own update all to itself! I really hope I outdo myself on this story. Note: This is the only crossxover/story in general that I will be working on. It is my only pride and joy in Sakura x Itachi fanfiction right now. It is going to be totally uncliche, so with certain hope in your hearts, stay tuned!