Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Devotion
Chapter 17: Doppelganger
----
He roughly ran his hands along her thighs, pulling her red dress up.
Not so gentle as she would've liked.
Her eyes widened in fright; it was going to happen again. And she couldn't do anything to stop it.
"No."
----
"No...no...please don't do this again...don't let Orochimaru control you..." she whispered, trying her best to fight the Sharingan to no avail. Sasuke chuckled, scraping his canines across her neck possessively. "Sasuke, stop!"
"Sasuke doesn't want to stop...I am Sasuke, you stupid girl..."
She tried to think of what this could possibly be if Orochimaru wasn't in control of Sasuke's body again, but her mind was going blank as Sasuke's eyes penetrated her own. This event was all too familiar...except that there really was something different. Sasuke didn't have any control anymore...unless this really was Sasuke and the whole thing had been an act...
Her head felt empty, as if her thoughts had just flown out of her ears. All she could see now was those red irises with the black flecks as Sasuke sneered at her from an unfamiliar face.
"Please...stop it..."
The opportunity for escape was over.
----
Kakashi climbed up and out of the ground to see a city that he recognized instantly; he was back in Konoha. And he knew exactly where to go.
"Where are we going?" Seiko asked as they set off down the street.
"I have to go check on someone first...get some back-up. If I'm correct in my theory about what's happened to your sister then we'll need more force than just you and I, especially because my Sharingan isn't functioning right now."
Kakashi could smell her sweet, lingering scent as soon as he got to the door, pushing it open slowly. Knowing Sakura, she would have some sort of jutsu set to warn her of intruders, and he definitely wanted her to know that he was here. She should arrive in just a few seconds, prepared to defend herself only to find her lover there...
Where was she? Kakashi turned his head to see if she was hidden somewhere only to see Seiko hiding in the darkness outside of the door. "Sakura...?" he said quietly, glancing around. "Are you here?" He turned towards Seiko. "My scrolls...do you have my summoning scrolls?"
Seiko nodded and opened up a pouch strapped to his leg, producing a scroll from inside and tossing it to Kakashi. The copy ninja quickly bit his thumb and rubbed the blood against the scroll, and a little pug appeared in its place. "Pakkun, can you find Sakura?" he said, "Quickly."
"Alright, don't rush me," Pakkun replied sourly, getting on the scent anyway. He sniffed around the house, eventually coming to her bedroom. Kakashi and Seiko both followed as he jumped up onto the window sill, still sniffing. "There's another scent here...it's Sasuke."
"Damn...I knew it. He's already been here."
"What are we going to do?"
"Pakkun," Kakashi said, his eyes narrowing, "Lead us to them."
----
"Kami, Sakura...don't let yourself go away completely or this won't be any fun." Sasuke jerked the numb and lifeless girl back to reality and she groaned, a tear slipping out of her eyes as she came back to consciousness.
"Please don't...don't...please...I can't take this again..."
"Do you think I'm doing this because you want it?" he said, laughing and dragging his hand from her shoulder blades to the back of her thighs.
Her voice was hysterical as she pleaded with him. "At least tell me you're not Sasuke...give me some scrap of hope for him."
"I can't do that."
"Then what happened?" Maybe she could keep him at bay a little longer...anything to put the inevitable on hold. "I know this isn't the same Sasuke that I talked to just last night...the same Sasuke that was so desperate to help himself out of this mess..."
"If you think you're helping yourself by saying these things, you're mistaken..." He leaned down and nibbled on her neck again, more violent than tender.
She took the distraction to her advantage. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
He covered her mouth with one strong hand, squeezing her jaw with no trace of tenderness, before she could yell out again.
----
It had been a short scream - short and cut off - but Kakashi heard it all the same. He hoped it wasn't already too late...that he would arrive only to find Sakura like they had found her before, Sasuke having flown from the scene already. Kakashi planned on beating that thing - what Sasuke was now couldn't be classified as human - into a bloody pulp.
They walked in through the front door, all of the windows and other entrances being sealed off, and made their way up and through the house, following Pakkun. Kakashi grimaced; all of the windows and mirrors were broken. He had a good idea of what was going on with Sasuke, and this confirmed it.
Seiko stopped short when he saw his little sister lying on the floor. Kakashi recognized the girl as the one who had attacked him so powerfully, but it wasn't the same person, and he knew it. What had been in Yuu was now in Sasuke, back where it belonged...back where it had started out, and where it would die. "Stay with her," Kakashi said gravely, "This is my fight. I can handle my own student."
Seiko nodded. "Good luck."
The room was dark as Kakashi walked in, Pakkun trailing behind. There was something wrong...
"I could have sworn there was someone in here just a few seconds ago, but I can't sense anything now," Pakkun said quietly, "This is...weird."
Kakashi had a strong urge to use his Sharingan to scope out the room, but he knew it wouldn't work. For some reason he could still see through only one of his eyes - the normal eye. He knew his Sharingan wasn't completely gone...he would easily be able to tell if they had taken it out or anything remotely similar...but it was really just broken.
He walked farther into the room, leaving the door open behind him and looking around carefully for any sign of either Sakura or Sasuke. That's when he saw it.
A red ribbon discarded on the floor by the window.
"Kakashi, look out!"
A puff of smoke popped where Pakkun had been; he had been attacked by something. Or someone.
Seiko hurtled out of one of the shadowy corners and Kakashi quickly dodged to his side, cursing himself for not turning the lights on and vaguely wondering why the man who had been his ally just a few minutes ago had decided to change sides. A small cloud of shuriken sped towards him and he ducked, looking around for his enemy but unable to see where he was.
A kunai originated from the other side of the room and Kakashi frowned.
He had two enemies here.
He stood up straight as both of the two figures dissolved into the darkness. "Sasuke...I know you're here. Where is Sakura?" Blue light glowed in his hand. If the chidori didn't do any damage, at least it would light up the room and reveal the location of the enemy. "Sas-"
A smaller person was suddenly on his back, and he supposed they must have dropped down from the ceiling. They had a kunai held centimeters from his throat; he tried to throw them off to no avail. More shuriken came out of the darkness and towards his ankles, and he jumped out of the way, the other person still on his back.
"Yuu, damn it! I can't hit him if you're on his back!" Seiko's voice said. So that's who the other person was...Sasuke and Sakura were gone.
Seiko had made a mistake when he revealed his location; with one strong throw, Kakashi hurtled Yuu off of his back and right into Seiko. Both of them squinted as Kakashi switched on the light. "Well, you two are very good at hiding in the dark," he said, his voice intentionally condescending, "But not much else. Killing an unarmed man, two against one, should be rather easy for nin with any skill at all."
Yuu glared, her purple eyes narrowed. "Murderer! Are you going to kill us too?"
She tossed a shuriken at him and he dodged it easily. "What do you mean?"
"You killed our parents!" she shouted, "You're a fucking murderer-"
"I'm not a murderer," he said, sighing and shaking his head, "I'm a shinobi...I kill because I am told to kill. I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I killed your parents. But I can honestly say that it was not a crime against you. I don't...I don't even remember them. If I had seen you...I probably would have had to kill you too.
"Now please...I have a feeling one of you has stopped my Sharingan functioning. I need it. I need to save the woman I love. Seiko," he cast a glance at the young man, "I helped you find your sister. Now help me find the person that's most important to me."
Seiko looked over at Yuu, and his sister looked back at him. "Yuu...we've killed many people too...we understand the ways of the ninja. He's not as bad as we thought..."
Yuu frowned, "No. I won't. I won't do it."
"Yuu, please-"
"She's going to die if you don't do it now!" Kakashi said in frustration, "Please...you can do what you want with me as soon as I save her."
The two younger people looked at each other and then Yuu muttered something under her breath.
Kakashi could see.
----
Naruto couldn't sleep.
There was something odd and uneasy about tonight...no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even get his eyes to close. He tossed and turned for hours, attempting to just lose himself and slip away. It wasn't working.
This was odd for Naruto. For one thing, he had never been one to have a trouble conscience or anything of the sort, especially for no reason. The few nights that he'd lost a lot of sleep, something big had happened the day before. Sasuke running away...when Sakura was attacked... And for some reason this felt almost exactly the same.
For another thing, Naruto could sleep through anything, and he often needed a lot of it. Right now, there was so much stress that he suspected he would sleep for days. That was...not the case.
His restless feet carried him to the kitchen, where his restless hands made some ramen. His restless mouth ate the ramen, and then he sat there for a moment before getting up and walking out of the front door and down the stairs of his dormitories...and then across town...and then...
He stopped.
"What the hell...?" he muttered, his lack of sleep and utter fatigue finally getting to him. Or at least that's what he thought.
A dark figure streaked across the sky...a glint of pink hair and a Sharingan eye.
Sasuke and Sakura.
At this point, Naruto was extremely confused and disoriented. He wanted to think that he hadn't seen what he had just seen...but it was obvious that what was up there in the sky was real. And it was headed towards the forest.
Naruto was the only one to save Sakura now. Sasuke had killed Kakashi. He was the only one that saw them.
Go! his mind said.
His feet followed.
----
Kakashi followed Pakkun through the streets and then out into the wilderness, his Sharingan eye capturing every little detail to prepare him for the battle ahead. He knew it would be rough; the broken mirrors...Sasuke's strange behavior...Yuu's possession...
It all pointed towards one thing, and that one thing honestly scared Kakashi to death.
He didn't know if he could take on Sasuke by himself...all that mattered was that Sakura could get away...
...and that Kakashi could take the monster down with him.
Pakkun stopped, sniffing the ground and the air perplexedly, and Kakashi glared at him in agitation. "Why are you stopping?" he growled.
"There's another scent..."
"Another scent...?"
"It's Naruto."
All at once, Kakashi felt relief and fear at the very same time. If Naruto was there, it meant that Sakura had a better chance of getting away...Naruto, however, did not.
"How old is it?"
"It's fresh," Pakkun said, "He had to have been here only five minutes ago."
Kakashi nodded. "Then let's keep moving."
They both sped away and deeper into the forest.
----
Wildlife seemed to have abandoned this clearing...the very same clearing where Naruto and Kakashi had found Sakura the first time Sasuke had hurt her. Naruto was determined not to let it happen again.
Not being a genius in regard to stealth, he walked out to confront his friend.
"Naruto, stay away!" Sakura yelped before the dark-haired man could cover her mouth.
Something was different about Sasuke. His eyes reflected none of the already miniscule amount of affection he had previously possessed. He chuckled when he saw his supposed best friend, his lips curling back in a sneer unlike Sasuke. "So I guess I wasn't so stealthy after all..." he muttered, "Who else is on the way, I wonder. I'm guessing Kakashi is tracking us...this might be a problem..."
"Ka...Kakashi?" Naruto sputtered, his eyes widening. Sakura's brow creased in confusion, ripping her mouth away from Sasuke's hand and demanding to know what he was talking about.
"Can't you figure it out?" Sasuke asked, sounding more like Orochimaru than Naruto would have liked to admit, "Here, I'll explain..."
"I can explain."
Sakura and Naruto both turned to see where the familiar voice came from.
It was Kakashi.
Sakura struggled to get away from Sasuke as Naruto himself turned back to watch their enemy, tearing his eyes away from his old sensei...who was supposed to be dead. "Let me go!" she screamed, "Kami...I thought you were dead! Please, let me go to him!"
"Why the hell would I let you go!" Sasuke yelled, pulling her back, "You stupid bitch...I'm never letting you go..."
"I don't want to hurt you Sasuke...try to get yourself under control. All you have to do is get yourself under control..." Kakashi said in a quiet but menacing tone.
"What if I don't want to be in control anymore?" Sasuke growled. He was quiet again as Sakura caught her breath, scowling at him. "I...I tried to win you back Sakura. I tried...and when that didn't work I had to get rid of Kakashi. When one part of me wouldn't do it...some other part had to do it for me..."
Naruto's eyes betrayed sorrow all of a sudden, and he shook his head. "You...so it was you all along?"
"No, it's not really Sasuke," Kakashi answered, "I'll explain...after Sasuke defeated his brother, his chakra was too strong for Orochimaru to completely take him over. The creature we sealed in Sasuke was not Orochimaru...but himself." Sasuke smirked at the Jounin as he continued. "When Orochimaru tried to annihilate Sasuke's soul and take over his body...it didn't work. Instead he joined with him, taking the pieces of him that had anger or hate and completely saturating them. The technical name for this condition is a doppelganger."
"Very good...although you haven't explained how I was capable of possessing the girl."
"It's a technique you learned from Orochimaru. You probably left the original Sasuke behind in your body when you temporarily inhabited Yuu's body and left it to get closer to Sakura while you got rid of me. This was all planned...plotted and calculated to the very last minute detail." Kakashi smiled. "But you didn't count on Seiko catching on to the differences in Yuu's behavior and letting me out of my prison. You thought he would keep me there while you took Sakura away...and then he and his sister would get rid of me. You didn't expect this."
Sasuke frowned. "So much talking! I could have gotten away already if you hadn't had your Sharingan eye on me...guess what? I've learned some new tricks."
The Sharingan activated and Kakashi and Naruto both quickly averted their eyes. Sakura squeezed her own eyelids shut. "Naruto, follow his feet and keep him close! Don't look him in the eyes!"
"You got it!" the blond replied, and sprang towards the Uchiha.
Kakashi cursed silently at his inability to use his Sharingan - it was practically useless when a much more powerful Sharingan-user was there - but thanked the gods for Naruto's presence. He could already feel a glimmer of the Nine-tailed Fox's power coursing through the forest. With Naruto on his side the battle would be over in no time...he hoped.
Tiny needles flew at him out of nowhere and he dodged in a narrow escape. "Watch out Naruto!" he yelled. "We may not want to kill him, but he has no reservations about killing us!"
He had no idea how he was going to get Sakura away from Sasuke. The Uchiha still had her clutched in his arms, and all she could do was keep her eyes squeezed shut in order not to look at his Sharingan. She was trapped...and at this point, Kakashi was sure that one of them - be it he, Naruto, Sakura, or Sasuke - was going to have to die.
He preferred it be himself.
Kakashi jumped into stride with Naruto and conferred with him quickly as Sasuke let fly more weapons towards them, using hand signs every once and a while to make a tree branch snap towards them or to make the earth unsteady beneath them. Naruto hesitated, but finally nodded.
"Don't die."
Kakashi leapt away and straight towards Sasuke.
But Sasuke's eyes were blank.
Kakashi wasn't able to catch the Uchiha or Sakura as they fell and hit the ground with a thump. Sasuke's body shook, his eyes white and blank, his extremities twitching with epileptic tremors. He screamed out over and over again, his eyes wide open but seeing nothing.
Right next to him, Sakura was stretched out on the ground, her breath coming in short gasps. Kakashi kneeled next to her, grasping her hand and stroking her wrist gently. "Sakura...Sakura, are you alright? What did you do, Sakura? Sakura?"
"I..." she shook her head, "I don't know what I did...I think I performed a seal...but I'm not sure...Kami, I wish I'd...known what to...look for the first...time..."
"What do you mean? Sakura!" He lifted her head up as her eyes rolled back in her head and she took a deep breath. "Sakura...tell me what you mean...come on, keep talking..." He cast a look over at Naruto and Naruto sped off into the forest towards Konoha. They weren't far from the village...help would arrive on time...
"I mean...all that trouble...with the seal..." She vaguely shook her head. "...it was all for nothing. All that...all that trouble...for nothing..."
"I'm sorry Sakura. I should have figured it out sooner."
She laughed - although it sounded more like a grunt. He could tell she was having a lot of trouble breathing and that she wouldn't last much longer if she didn't get help soon. "Well, I'm not going to tell you that it's OK...because it's fucking not. We medics...we've studied...doppelgangers before...I could have fixed it."
"You can't change it now," he whispered. He was not going to start crying. Shit. He was the copy ninja. He was not going to stop crying and she was not going to die.
She began to pass out again and he lightly patted her cheek, startling her awake. "Don't go anywhere," he said, almost harshly, his voice cracking, "I just got back. You are not going anywhere."
"Shit, Kakashi, I'm just going to sleep. How do I know you're even here?"
"Sakura...Sakura! No! Wake up!"
He could sense the steady flow of chakra through her body, and then...
It stopped.
They had to hold him back as Sasuke came to, a dazed expression on his face and no recollection of what had happened as Kakashi nearly strangled him to death. Sakura lay motionless as they transported her back to the hospital. She looked so lifeless...he couldn't take it. He couldn't stand it to be this way.
All he had tried to do was save her. All he had wanted was to get her away from Sasuke...he had been willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers...and instead the roles were reversed and she had saved him.
If he had half his sense he would have been frustrated that he had even needed to be saved in the first place. But Kami...he had. She had been saving him ever since Team 7 had come into his life. At first she had reminded him of Rin...the girl that had made him and broken him when he was young...but then...she was something different. She was strong and confident and beautiful and as she had grown into adulthood she had taken care of him more often than she even knew.
He wished he could say that he knew some hidden technique, some magic to bring her back, at least to trade his own life for hers. But he didn't. She was slipping away so fast...Tsunade was shouting orders at the hospital...there might be some chance...
----
"Kakashi? Kakashi...?"
He squinted at the light as he opened his eyes in the hospital room, looking across the room at Sakura.
She was awake.
"Kami, Kakashi-sensei. You just wouldn't wake up!" she said brightly. There was no sign of her previous...death. He was sure she'd been dead...he'd been so sure...
"Sakura," he croaked. He could feel himself breaking down. Was this a dream? He quickly strode over and embraced her, holding back the sobs. "I thought you were dead."
"Everyone did, apparently," she said, "Uh...would you please let go? You're choking me."
Kakashi sat down in the chair next to the bed, confused. She would be acting differently...wouldn't she?
"Kami, I have no idea what happened," she said, "I just woke up and you were here...I mean...I remember our mission. B-class. And...and Sasuke. He was there! He wanted me to meet him...and you and Naruto didn't want me to, but I went anyway...he was waiting for me."
Fear appeared in her eyes, and Kakashi couldn't imagine what he himself looked like.
She had forgotten everything.
Sorrow shook him and he put his head in his hands as Sakura recounted everything that had happened more than five weeks ago...and since then so many things had changed. What was he supposed to do?
And then he knew. It would hurt, but he knew what he had to do.
"That...that wasn't Sasuke," he said, "It was just someone disguised as Sasuke...and since then. Well, you and Sasuke are...you and Sasuke are together now. You're actually carrying his...carrying his child."
He knew she couldn't handle the truth of his completely different relationship with her now. She was so fragile, and that piece of information would probably disgust her so much that she could never speak to him again. Without everything that happened...their love was forgotten. It had been wonderful, but it was over now. He had failed to protect her...and now he would pay for it.
Sakura looked around the room, frowning. "Kami, I don't remember any of this stuff...are you absolutely sure? I had this feeling..." She trailed off, looking at him with some unrecognizable expression for just a moment and then looking away. "Nevermind. But where's Sasuke?"
"I'm sure he'll be here soon...I have some things to attend to...I'll see you later."
Her smile faltered and she blinked quickly. "Um. Alright. See ya...Kakashi."
He walked around the corner of the open door to see Naruto standing there, his head bowed. "I'm sorry."
"This is for the best," the older man said, patting his ex-student on the shoulder before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
----
Kakashi ate some canned soup for dinner, alone in an empty house, with his porn and his photographs and his old junk from the past. He went to bed that night under a neatly made set of sheets, although pink hairs were still stuck to the pillows and the comforter. The house was quiet and plain; the same as he had always liked it. He didn't like it that way anymore.
He spent the next weeks going about his business, and nobody treated him any differently because nobody knew what had happened. Sakura took up residence at the Uchiha house, her belly beginning to swell with Sasuke's baby. He saw little of her...and the weeks turned to months.
It was a long time before she finally came back to him.
----
He was standing on the bridge where Team 7 had always met. The sun was setting and the water was a translucent gold, the sun reflected in ripples and waves. He did not hear her as she came to him and put her hand on his shoulder...as she rested her head against his arm.
"Why did you run away?" she asked.
Kakashi tried to pretend that he hadn't heard her. It was already too hard to be around her...maybe she would go away. "What do you mean?"
Sakura sighed, and when she sucked in her breath quietly he knew that she was crying. "Do you have any idea what it's been like not to be around you? Even...even though I didn't remember...you could have at least told me the truth. Did you think I was too fragile or something? Did you think I wouldn't still love you? That I would love Sasuke? Please...you know me better than that."
His hands found his way to her shoulders and he turned towards her. "You mean -"
She silenced him with a finger on his lips. "Yes. Sasuke told me everything. I've been staying across the house from him and he finally decided to just tell me. Kami, Kakashi. I couldn't remember the specific events...but the feelings were still there.
"I was confused as first. I thought that how I was feeling about you was inappropriate...that you wouldn't and couldn't feel the same way. Do you know how much that hurts? To sit in a big, dark house for months, knowing that you're feeling something but not knowing why? I could feel your love and yet I didn't think you felt the same way...you were just gone..."
He stood in silence, honestly at a loss for words. It was the first time he'd felt awkward in...a very, very long time. And still she didn't say anything, and just looked at him with tearful, sea foam green eyes.
"I don't know what to say," he whispered, looking at the ground.
She sniffled and then demanded his eyes again. "Just tell me you love me. I need validation. I need to know that what Sasuke said was true."
"Well...I don't know what exactly he said, but...I do love you, Sakura. I love you more than I've ever loved anything ever before."
He wanted to give her a speech...more validation. But he realized that that would have been corny. And anyway, she had already pulled down his mask and sealed the promise with a kiss. Her lips were soft and welcoming...and he was whole again.
They walked away from the bridge hand in hand, her other palm placed over her unborn baby. "So...Sasuke said you and I were going to get married. You still wanna go through with that?"
"I'd be more than happy to."
THE END
----
Author's Note: Well...I'm pretty happy with that. But I want to know what you think. Sorry if any of it was rushed (which I KNOW some of it was) and I know that was the most pitiful action scene EVER. Please don't hurt me!
I'm not guaranteeing a sequel...so don't push me for one. But keep posted anyway and please review!
--Kat
----
He roughly ran his hands along her thighs, pulling her red dress up.
Not so gentle as she would've liked.
Her eyes widened in fright; it was going to happen again. And she couldn't do anything to stop it.
"No."
----
"No...no...please don't do this again...don't let Orochimaru control you..." she whispered, trying her best to fight the Sharingan to no avail. Sasuke chuckled, scraping his canines across her neck possessively. "Sasuke, stop!"
"Sasuke doesn't want to stop...I am Sasuke, you stupid girl..."
She tried to think of what this could possibly be if Orochimaru wasn't in control of Sasuke's body again, but her mind was going blank as Sasuke's eyes penetrated her own. This event was all too familiar...except that there really was something different. Sasuke didn't have any control anymore...unless this really was Sasuke and the whole thing had been an act...
Her head felt empty, as if her thoughts had just flown out of her ears. All she could see now was those red irises with the black flecks as Sasuke sneered at her from an unfamiliar face.
"Please...stop it..."
The opportunity for escape was over.
----
Kakashi climbed up and out of the ground to see a city that he recognized instantly; he was back in Konoha. And he knew exactly where to go.
"Where are we going?" Seiko asked as they set off down the street.
"I have to go check on someone first...get some back-up. If I'm correct in my theory about what's happened to your sister then we'll need more force than just you and I, especially because my Sharingan isn't functioning right now."
Kakashi could smell her sweet, lingering scent as soon as he got to the door, pushing it open slowly. Knowing Sakura, she would have some sort of jutsu set to warn her of intruders, and he definitely wanted her to know that he was here. She should arrive in just a few seconds, prepared to defend herself only to find her lover there...
Where was she? Kakashi turned his head to see if she was hidden somewhere only to see Seiko hiding in the darkness outside of the door. "Sakura...?" he said quietly, glancing around. "Are you here?" He turned towards Seiko. "My scrolls...do you have my summoning scrolls?"
Seiko nodded and opened up a pouch strapped to his leg, producing a scroll from inside and tossing it to Kakashi. The copy ninja quickly bit his thumb and rubbed the blood against the scroll, and a little pug appeared in its place. "Pakkun, can you find Sakura?" he said, "Quickly."
"Alright, don't rush me," Pakkun replied sourly, getting on the scent anyway. He sniffed around the house, eventually coming to her bedroom. Kakashi and Seiko both followed as he jumped up onto the window sill, still sniffing. "There's another scent here...it's Sasuke."
"Damn...I knew it. He's already been here."
"What are we going to do?"
"Pakkun," Kakashi said, his eyes narrowing, "Lead us to them."
----
"Kami, Sakura...don't let yourself go away completely or this won't be any fun." Sasuke jerked the numb and lifeless girl back to reality and she groaned, a tear slipping out of her eyes as she came back to consciousness.
"Please don't...don't...please...I can't take this again..."
"Do you think I'm doing this because you want it?" he said, laughing and dragging his hand from her shoulder blades to the back of her thighs.
Her voice was hysterical as she pleaded with him. "At least tell me you're not Sasuke...give me some scrap of hope for him."
"I can't do that."
"Then what happened?" Maybe she could keep him at bay a little longer...anything to put the inevitable on hold. "I know this isn't the same Sasuke that I talked to just last night...the same Sasuke that was so desperate to help himself out of this mess..."
"If you think you're helping yourself by saying these things, you're mistaken..." He leaned down and nibbled on her neck again, more violent than tender.
She took the distraction to her advantage. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
He covered her mouth with one strong hand, squeezing her jaw with no trace of tenderness, before she could yell out again.
----
It had been a short scream - short and cut off - but Kakashi heard it all the same. He hoped it wasn't already too late...that he would arrive only to find Sakura like they had found her before, Sasuke having flown from the scene already. Kakashi planned on beating that thing - what Sasuke was now couldn't be classified as human - into a bloody pulp.
They walked in through the front door, all of the windows and other entrances being sealed off, and made their way up and through the house, following Pakkun. Kakashi grimaced; all of the windows and mirrors were broken. He had a good idea of what was going on with Sasuke, and this confirmed it.
Seiko stopped short when he saw his little sister lying on the floor. Kakashi recognized the girl as the one who had attacked him so powerfully, but it wasn't the same person, and he knew it. What had been in Yuu was now in Sasuke, back where it belonged...back where it had started out, and where it would die. "Stay with her," Kakashi said gravely, "This is my fight. I can handle my own student."
Seiko nodded. "Good luck."
The room was dark as Kakashi walked in, Pakkun trailing behind. There was something wrong...
"I could have sworn there was someone in here just a few seconds ago, but I can't sense anything now," Pakkun said quietly, "This is...weird."
Kakashi had a strong urge to use his Sharingan to scope out the room, but he knew it wouldn't work. For some reason he could still see through only one of his eyes - the normal eye. He knew his Sharingan wasn't completely gone...he would easily be able to tell if they had taken it out or anything remotely similar...but it was really just broken.
He walked farther into the room, leaving the door open behind him and looking around carefully for any sign of either Sakura or Sasuke. That's when he saw it.
A red ribbon discarded on the floor by the window.
"Kakashi, look out!"
A puff of smoke popped where Pakkun had been; he had been attacked by something. Or someone.
Seiko hurtled out of one of the shadowy corners and Kakashi quickly dodged to his side, cursing himself for not turning the lights on and vaguely wondering why the man who had been his ally just a few minutes ago had decided to change sides. A small cloud of shuriken sped towards him and he ducked, looking around for his enemy but unable to see where he was.
A kunai originated from the other side of the room and Kakashi frowned.
He had two enemies here.
He stood up straight as both of the two figures dissolved into the darkness. "Sasuke...I know you're here. Where is Sakura?" Blue light glowed in his hand. If the chidori didn't do any damage, at least it would light up the room and reveal the location of the enemy. "Sas-"
A smaller person was suddenly on his back, and he supposed they must have dropped down from the ceiling. They had a kunai held centimeters from his throat; he tried to throw them off to no avail. More shuriken came out of the darkness and towards his ankles, and he jumped out of the way, the other person still on his back.
"Yuu, damn it! I can't hit him if you're on his back!" Seiko's voice said. So that's who the other person was...Sasuke and Sakura were gone.
Seiko had made a mistake when he revealed his location; with one strong throw, Kakashi hurtled Yuu off of his back and right into Seiko. Both of them squinted as Kakashi switched on the light. "Well, you two are very good at hiding in the dark," he said, his voice intentionally condescending, "But not much else. Killing an unarmed man, two against one, should be rather easy for nin with any skill at all."
Yuu glared, her purple eyes narrowed. "Murderer! Are you going to kill us too?"
She tossed a shuriken at him and he dodged it easily. "What do you mean?"
"You killed our parents!" she shouted, "You're a fucking murderer-"
"I'm not a murderer," he said, sighing and shaking his head, "I'm a shinobi...I kill because I am told to kill. I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I killed your parents. But I can honestly say that it was not a crime against you. I don't...I don't even remember them. If I had seen you...I probably would have had to kill you too.
"Now please...I have a feeling one of you has stopped my Sharingan functioning. I need it. I need to save the woman I love. Seiko," he cast a glance at the young man, "I helped you find your sister. Now help me find the person that's most important to me."
Seiko looked over at Yuu, and his sister looked back at him. "Yuu...we've killed many people too...we understand the ways of the ninja. He's not as bad as we thought..."
Yuu frowned, "No. I won't. I won't do it."
"Yuu, please-"
"She's going to die if you don't do it now!" Kakashi said in frustration, "Please...you can do what you want with me as soon as I save her."
The two younger people looked at each other and then Yuu muttered something under her breath.
Kakashi could see.
----
Naruto couldn't sleep.
There was something odd and uneasy about tonight...no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even get his eyes to close. He tossed and turned for hours, attempting to just lose himself and slip away. It wasn't working.
This was odd for Naruto. For one thing, he had never been one to have a trouble conscience or anything of the sort, especially for no reason. The few nights that he'd lost a lot of sleep, something big had happened the day before. Sasuke running away...when Sakura was attacked... And for some reason this felt almost exactly the same.
For another thing, Naruto could sleep through anything, and he often needed a lot of it. Right now, there was so much stress that he suspected he would sleep for days. That was...not the case.
His restless feet carried him to the kitchen, where his restless hands made some ramen. His restless mouth ate the ramen, and then he sat there for a moment before getting up and walking out of the front door and down the stairs of his dormitories...and then across town...and then...
He stopped.
"What the hell...?" he muttered, his lack of sleep and utter fatigue finally getting to him. Or at least that's what he thought.
A dark figure streaked across the sky...a glint of pink hair and a Sharingan eye.
Sasuke and Sakura.
At this point, Naruto was extremely confused and disoriented. He wanted to think that he hadn't seen what he had just seen...but it was obvious that what was up there in the sky was real. And it was headed towards the forest.
Naruto was the only one to save Sakura now. Sasuke had killed Kakashi. He was the only one that saw them.
Go! his mind said.
His feet followed.
----
Kakashi followed Pakkun through the streets and then out into the wilderness, his Sharingan eye capturing every little detail to prepare him for the battle ahead. He knew it would be rough; the broken mirrors...Sasuke's strange behavior...Yuu's possession...
It all pointed towards one thing, and that one thing honestly scared Kakashi to death.
He didn't know if he could take on Sasuke by himself...all that mattered was that Sakura could get away...
...and that Kakashi could take the monster down with him.
Pakkun stopped, sniffing the ground and the air perplexedly, and Kakashi glared at him in agitation. "Why are you stopping?" he growled.
"There's another scent..."
"Another scent...?"
"It's Naruto."
All at once, Kakashi felt relief and fear at the very same time. If Naruto was there, it meant that Sakura had a better chance of getting away...Naruto, however, did not.
"How old is it?"
"It's fresh," Pakkun said, "He had to have been here only five minutes ago."
Kakashi nodded. "Then let's keep moving."
They both sped away and deeper into the forest.
----
Wildlife seemed to have abandoned this clearing...the very same clearing where Naruto and Kakashi had found Sakura the first time Sasuke had hurt her. Naruto was determined not to let it happen again.
Not being a genius in regard to stealth, he walked out to confront his friend.
"Naruto, stay away!" Sakura yelped before the dark-haired man could cover her mouth.
Something was different about Sasuke. His eyes reflected none of the already miniscule amount of affection he had previously possessed. He chuckled when he saw his supposed best friend, his lips curling back in a sneer unlike Sasuke. "So I guess I wasn't so stealthy after all..." he muttered, "Who else is on the way, I wonder. I'm guessing Kakashi is tracking us...this might be a problem..."
"Ka...Kakashi?" Naruto sputtered, his eyes widening. Sakura's brow creased in confusion, ripping her mouth away from Sasuke's hand and demanding to know what he was talking about.
"Can't you figure it out?" Sasuke asked, sounding more like Orochimaru than Naruto would have liked to admit, "Here, I'll explain..."
"I can explain."
Sakura and Naruto both turned to see where the familiar voice came from.
It was Kakashi.
Sakura struggled to get away from Sasuke as Naruto himself turned back to watch their enemy, tearing his eyes away from his old sensei...who was supposed to be dead. "Let me go!" she screamed, "Kami...I thought you were dead! Please, let me go to him!"
"Why the hell would I let you go!" Sasuke yelled, pulling her back, "You stupid bitch...I'm never letting you go..."
"I don't want to hurt you Sasuke...try to get yourself under control. All you have to do is get yourself under control..." Kakashi said in a quiet but menacing tone.
"What if I don't want to be in control anymore?" Sasuke growled. He was quiet again as Sakura caught her breath, scowling at him. "I...I tried to win you back Sakura. I tried...and when that didn't work I had to get rid of Kakashi. When one part of me wouldn't do it...some other part had to do it for me..."
Naruto's eyes betrayed sorrow all of a sudden, and he shook his head. "You...so it was you all along?"
"No, it's not really Sasuke," Kakashi answered, "I'll explain...after Sasuke defeated his brother, his chakra was too strong for Orochimaru to completely take him over. The creature we sealed in Sasuke was not Orochimaru...but himself." Sasuke smirked at the Jounin as he continued. "When Orochimaru tried to annihilate Sasuke's soul and take over his body...it didn't work. Instead he joined with him, taking the pieces of him that had anger or hate and completely saturating them. The technical name for this condition is a doppelganger."
"Very good...although you haven't explained how I was capable of possessing the girl."
"It's a technique you learned from Orochimaru. You probably left the original Sasuke behind in your body when you temporarily inhabited Yuu's body and left it to get closer to Sakura while you got rid of me. This was all planned...plotted and calculated to the very last minute detail." Kakashi smiled. "But you didn't count on Seiko catching on to the differences in Yuu's behavior and letting me out of my prison. You thought he would keep me there while you took Sakura away...and then he and his sister would get rid of me. You didn't expect this."
Sasuke frowned. "So much talking! I could have gotten away already if you hadn't had your Sharingan eye on me...guess what? I've learned some new tricks."
The Sharingan activated and Kakashi and Naruto both quickly averted their eyes. Sakura squeezed her own eyelids shut. "Naruto, follow his feet and keep him close! Don't look him in the eyes!"
"You got it!" the blond replied, and sprang towards the Uchiha.
Kakashi cursed silently at his inability to use his Sharingan - it was practically useless when a much more powerful Sharingan-user was there - but thanked the gods for Naruto's presence. He could already feel a glimmer of the Nine-tailed Fox's power coursing through the forest. With Naruto on his side the battle would be over in no time...he hoped.
Tiny needles flew at him out of nowhere and he dodged in a narrow escape. "Watch out Naruto!" he yelled. "We may not want to kill him, but he has no reservations about killing us!"
He had no idea how he was going to get Sakura away from Sasuke. The Uchiha still had her clutched in his arms, and all she could do was keep her eyes squeezed shut in order not to look at his Sharingan. She was trapped...and at this point, Kakashi was sure that one of them - be it he, Naruto, Sakura, or Sasuke - was going to have to die.
He preferred it be himself.
Kakashi jumped into stride with Naruto and conferred with him quickly as Sasuke let fly more weapons towards them, using hand signs every once and a while to make a tree branch snap towards them or to make the earth unsteady beneath them. Naruto hesitated, but finally nodded.
"Don't die."
Kakashi leapt away and straight towards Sasuke.
But Sasuke's eyes were blank.
Kakashi wasn't able to catch the Uchiha or Sakura as they fell and hit the ground with a thump. Sasuke's body shook, his eyes white and blank, his extremities twitching with epileptic tremors. He screamed out over and over again, his eyes wide open but seeing nothing.
Right next to him, Sakura was stretched out on the ground, her breath coming in short gasps. Kakashi kneeled next to her, grasping her hand and stroking her wrist gently. "Sakura...Sakura, are you alright? What did you do, Sakura? Sakura?"
"I..." she shook her head, "I don't know what I did...I think I performed a seal...but I'm not sure...Kami, I wish I'd...known what to...look for the first...time..."
"What do you mean? Sakura!" He lifted her head up as her eyes rolled back in her head and she took a deep breath. "Sakura...tell me what you mean...come on, keep talking..." He cast a look over at Naruto and Naruto sped off into the forest towards Konoha. They weren't far from the village...help would arrive on time...
"I mean...all that trouble...with the seal..." She vaguely shook her head. "...it was all for nothing. All that...all that trouble...for nothing..."
"I'm sorry Sakura. I should have figured it out sooner."
She laughed - although it sounded more like a grunt. He could tell she was having a lot of trouble breathing and that she wouldn't last much longer if she didn't get help soon. "Well, I'm not going to tell you that it's OK...because it's fucking not. We medics...we've studied...doppelgangers before...I could have fixed it."
"You can't change it now," he whispered. He was not going to start crying. Shit. He was the copy ninja. He was not going to stop crying and she was not going to die.
She began to pass out again and he lightly patted her cheek, startling her awake. "Don't go anywhere," he said, almost harshly, his voice cracking, "I just got back. You are not going anywhere."
"Shit, Kakashi, I'm just going to sleep. How do I know you're even here?"
"Sakura...Sakura! No! Wake up!"
He could sense the steady flow of chakra through her body, and then...
It stopped.
They had to hold him back as Sasuke came to, a dazed expression on his face and no recollection of what had happened as Kakashi nearly strangled him to death. Sakura lay motionless as they transported her back to the hospital. She looked so lifeless...he couldn't take it. He couldn't stand it to be this way.
All he had tried to do was save her. All he had wanted was to get her away from Sasuke...he had been willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers...and instead the roles were reversed and she had saved him.
If he had half his sense he would have been frustrated that he had even needed to be saved in the first place. But Kami...he had. She had been saving him ever since Team 7 had come into his life. At first she had reminded him of Rin...the girl that had made him and broken him when he was young...but then...she was something different. She was strong and confident and beautiful and as she had grown into adulthood she had taken care of him more often than she even knew.
He wished he could say that he knew some hidden technique, some magic to bring her back, at least to trade his own life for hers. But he didn't. She was slipping away so fast...Tsunade was shouting orders at the hospital...there might be some chance...
----
"Kakashi? Kakashi...?"
He squinted at the light as he opened his eyes in the hospital room, looking across the room at Sakura.
She was awake.
"Kami, Kakashi-sensei. You just wouldn't wake up!" she said brightly. There was no sign of her previous...death. He was sure she'd been dead...he'd been so sure...
"Sakura," he croaked. He could feel himself breaking down. Was this a dream? He quickly strode over and embraced her, holding back the sobs. "I thought you were dead."
"Everyone did, apparently," she said, "Uh...would you please let go? You're choking me."
Kakashi sat down in the chair next to the bed, confused. She would be acting differently...wouldn't she?
"Kami, I have no idea what happened," she said, "I just woke up and you were here...I mean...I remember our mission. B-class. And...and Sasuke. He was there! He wanted me to meet him...and you and Naruto didn't want me to, but I went anyway...he was waiting for me."
Fear appeared in her eyes, and Kakashi couldn't imagine what he himself looked like.
She had forgotten everything.
Sorrow shook him and he put his head in his hands as Sakura recounted everything that had happened more than five weeks ago...and since then so many things had changed. What was he supposed to do?
And then he knew. It would hurt, but he knew what he had to do.
"That...that wasn't Sasuke," he said, "It was just someone disguised as Sasuke...and since then. Well, you and Sasuke are...you and Sasuke are together now. You're actually carrying his...carrying his child."
He knew she couldn't handle the truth of his completely different relationship with her now. She was so fragile, and that piece of information would probably disgust her so much that she could never speak to him again. Without everything that happened...their love was forgotten. It had been wonderful, but it was over now. He had failed to protect her...and now he would pay for it.
Sakura looked around the room, frowning. "Kami, I don't remember any of this stuff...are you absolutely sure? I had this feeling..." She trailed off, looking at him with some unrecognizable expression for just a moment and then looking away. "Nevermind. But where's Sasuke?"
"I'm sure he'll be here soon...I have some things to attend to...I'll see you later."
Her smile faltered and she blinked quickly. "Um. Alright. See ya...Kakashi."
He walked around the corner of the open door to see Naruto standing there, his head bowed. "I'm sorry."
"This is for the best," the older man said, patting his ex-student on the shoulder before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
----
Kakashi ate some canned soup for dinner, alone in an empty house, with his porn and his photographs and his old junk from the past. He went to bed that night under a neatly made set of sheets, although pink hairs were still stuck to the pillows and the comforter. The house was quiet and plain; the same as he had always liked it. He didn't like it that way anymore.
He spent the next weeks going about his business, and nobody treated him any differently because nobody knew what had happened. Sakura took up residence at the Uchiha house, her belly beginning to swell with Sasuke's baby. He saw little of her...and the weeks turned to months.
It was a long time before she finally came back to him.
----
He was standing on the bridge where Team 7 had always met. The sun was setting and the water was a translucent gold, the sun reflected in ripples and waves. He did not hear her as she came to him and put her hand on his shoulder...as she rested her head against his arm.
"Why did you run away?" she asked.
Kakashi tried to pretend that he hadn't heard her. It was already too hard to be around her...maybe she would go away. "What do you mean?"
Sakura sighed, and when she sucked in her breath quietly he knew that she was crying. "Do you have any idea what it's been like not to be around you? Even...even though I didn't remember...you could have at least told me the truth. Did you think I was too fragile or something? Did you think I wouldn't still love you? That I would love Sasuke? Please...you know me better than that."
His hands found his way to her shoulders and he turned towards her. "You mean -"
She silenced him with a finger on his lips. "Yes. Sasuke told me everything. I've been staying across the house from him and he finally decided to just tell me. Kami, Kakashi. I couldn't remember the specific events...but the feelings were still there.
"I was confused as first. I thought that how I was feeling about you was inappropriate...that you wouldn't and couldn't feel the same way. Do you know how much that hurts? To sit in a big, dark house for months, knowing that you're feeling something but not knowing why? I could feel your love and yet I didn't think you felt the same way...you were just gone..."
He stood in silence, honestly at a loss for words. It was the first time he'd felt awkward in...a very, very long time. And still she didn't say anything, and just looked at him with tearful, sea foam green eyes.
"I don't know what to say," he whispered, looking at the ground.
She sniffled and then demanded his eyes again. "Just tell me you love me. I need validation. I need to know that what Sasuke said was true."
"Well...I don't know what exactly he said, but...I do love you, Sakura. I love you more than I've ever loved anything ever before."
He wanted to give her a speech...more validation. But he realized that that would have been corny. And anyway, she had already pulled down his mask and sealed the promise with a kiss. Her lips were soft and welcoming...and he was whole again.
They walked away from the bridge hand in hand, her other palm placed over her unborn baby. "So...Sasuke said you and I were going to get married. You still wanna go through with that?"
"I'd be more than happy to."
THE END
----
Author's Note: Well...I'm pretty happy with that. But I want to know what you think. Sorry if any of it was rushed (which I KNOW some of it was) and I know that was the most pitiful action scene EVER. Please don't hurt me!
I'm not guaranteeing a sequel...so don't push me for one. But keep posted anyway and please review!
--Kat
Sign up to rate and review this story