Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ On the Wrong Path ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The events in this story are in the Alternate Universe of Shipuuden. Also, the Sakura in this story is the Sakura from Shippuden.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to the great genius Masashi Kishimoto!

CHAPTER 2

By DARKMizuSasuke

Years ago…

In the spring, two years after the War, a girl, aged 17, sat and smelt the rain. The air was warm and cloaked her skin gently. The view from the rooftop gave her the sense of freedom that only she knew she didn't deserve. Yet she allowed herself the treat of the sweet taste of fresh air and the beautiful sound of thunder in the distance. Light pink strands of hair wisped gently before her eyes in the breeze, and with delicate fingers (yet powerful fingers), Haruno Sakura wiped them away, taking a deep, long, spiritual breath as she tucked them behind her ear.

It was during that very spring that he had stumbled through the gates, bloodied, exhausted, dehydrated and dirty. It was then, when her heart suddenly missed its beat, that the rain suddenly plummeted to the Earth, and like a warning for all that was to come, the weight of the showering water fell onto the boy, as though attempting to beat him back to where he came from.

That boy could have only been one person, and the moment he lifted his weary head, drenched in blood, dirt and wholesome rain, she was by his side, panting and crying into his shivering pale ear. She held him in a tight embrace and her salty tears pressed against his hot cheek. The boy could barely move and she cried out his name, “Naruto! Naruto!”

As she clung onto him his painful whimpers penetrated her soul and their bodies had become one in the scorching rain. He could not even look at the beauty of the world; the beauty of Konoha, for another beauty, in his blue eyes, was by his side. Finally, while her frantic, yet relieved tears fell, he had fainted into her petite chest.

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That evening, forks of lightning fell onto the village, the loud, powerful and boisterous noise keeping everyone that could hear wide awake. In the office of the 5th Hokage, blond and busty, loud and strong, firm and intelligent, a terrible gambler yet the protector of Konoha, middle aged Tsunade clutched to her desk in confusion and panic. Her 14 ANBU men had not returned, the black haired man in exile was gathering more forces and Kakashi, after four months in the north, had not returned with the boy. Something, she could tell, had gone terribly wrong, and while she was concerned with the plans of the boy in exile, nothing could measure up to the rude awakening she received the moment she got the report. Uzumaki Naruto was alive.

She should have been rejoicing, dancing if she was not as careful of her reputation, for the boy she had instantly grown to cherish and love had finally returned. For a moment, she had rejoiced: fleeting happiness bubbled in her heart, but the moment she saw Kakashi's file on her desk her stomach cringed and squeezed violently.

Something was not right.

“Kakashi…” she whispered, angry, alarmed and… scared.

Shizune walked in with Tsunade's plump pig in the young woman's arms. They exchanged glances and Tsunade said, “He can't be dead! I won't allow it! Bring Naruto here as soon as he awakens! I want to know everything! No matter what you say I cannot believe that they killed him until Naruto tells me it's true!”

And while Tsunade waited for confirmation of Naruto's awakening, Sakura sat by his side in the hospital, wide awake and never, not once, taking her eyes off him. The rain pounded against the window panes and she shivered as the temperatures slowly yet drastically dropped. Choji, Ino, Shikamaru and even Sai had paid a visit. Hinata, having quickly heard the news, came with Kiba into the room, stumbling over her feet and could not take her eyes off Naruto, still unconscious in his hospital bed. It was the first time in all their lives that they had heard Hinata wail out, and she cried, “I tried Naruto! I thought you were dead! I tried, I swear! Forgive me! Please, don't hate me!” She had fallen onto her knees by his bedside and gripped the white blanket, her sniffs and cries drowned into the dunes of infirmary sheets. Finally, after what seemed like hours, her head rose up slowly. Both her face and blanket were drenched in tears and saliva. Burdened with sadness, Kiba gently took Hinata's shoulders, and she fell into his chest, hiccupping her exhausted pants as he cooed her. He looked up at Sakura, and wished desperately that someone other than Choji, Ino, the calm and wise Shikamaru, and even Sai, could hold her in their arms and tell her that everything was okay. For once in his life, Kiba wished that the boy in exile was the one that could hold her tightly from the back, and tell her that it was fine, because she would only accept those words if they had come from his mouth.

Naruto's friends slowly began to leave, until Hinata, Kiba and Sakura were the last to be by Naruto's side. The rain that still hadn't ceased and Kiba glanced at the clock, “Midnight,” he whispered and with that, bade Sakura a good night and carried a sleeping Hinata out.

It was not until 2am that Sakura had finally fallen asleep, crying in her slumber, for her dreams were filled with nothing but sorrow. Her tears did not come from the pain her mind gave her as she dreamed of the torture Naruto might have gone through, for she had gotten used to the hellish dreams every night during his long absence, but from the mere thought of Naruto hating her for the rest of his life. This thought, could not stop her ache.

////////////

April showers did bring flowers, and the cherry blossoms bloomed by Sakura's window. The last thing Sakura remembered a few minutes after she awoke was her father's voice. Unaware to her, he had her carried her back home. When Sakura had woken in her bed, and not beside Naruto in the hospital, she was afraid that what had happened had simply been a dream. As she was slowly taking in her surroundings, she panted “No! No!” She jumped out of her bed, whispering to herself, trying to calm herself down. Finally, after much thought, she concluded that it must have been a dream. There was no way Naruto could have come back. Slowly, she made her way to the wooden cabinet and quickly got dressed. She looked in the mirror. The dream she just had was telling her something, and that something was to try, once again, to save him. Her dream was proof that Naruto was not dead, and this was her only chance to save him. Determined, she fiercely pulled on her gloves, and feeling relieved, she established that Naruto would not hate her after all. She would find Naruto all by herself if she had to, and they would be friends again.

But when she walked into Tsunade's office she was greeted with a fierce slap on the cheek: there, with his back turned to her and wearing his usual orange outfit, was Uzumaki Naruto. She couldn't move as his innocent eyes met hers and he spoke worriedly, “Sakura-chan?”

If a soul could be sucked out of a body by a single word it had: Sakura felt like the reaper himself had descended upon her and with his scythe stabbed her heart and ripped out her very being.

“Sakura!” Tsunade cried as Sakura suddenly fell to her knees, her hands flying to her mouth as she felt the sick sensations of a vomit force up her throat, but she held it in, her eyes bloated with tears. Naruto rushed to her, still asking her innocently, as though nothing had happened, “Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan!”

She couldn't bear to look at him; she didn't want him to look at her! She begged him not to look at her, to spare her the grief, and that she understood that he would hate her for the rest of her life. Unable to bear it any longer, Sakura fled from the office leaving behind a bewildered Naruto.

“Granny Tsunade,” he said after a moment, “What just happened?”

“Dammit Naruto stop calling me that! Come on, don't act like you don' know, she's obviously terrified of what you think of her right now!”

“What I think of her?”

Tsunade sighed deeply. “Find her while I write up the report. Don't forget your medical checkups this afternoon as well okay?”

“Shit, you're serious about me going the whole week?”

“You better go this whole week Naruto, because God only knows how you survived that ordeal and I want you back in full health. In the mean time, no more missions, you got that?”

He gave her a disgusted look before he replied skulking, “Okay, fine!”

The pain in Sakura's throat throbbed as she gagged a little in a street corner before deciding the best place to hide would be one of the rooftops. She cleansed her mouth with water, managed to calm down and then leaped onto one of her usual spots. The sky was a clear blue and thanks to the natural breeze Sakura managed to concentrate on the winds. But this concentration was only temporarily, and before she knew it, her mind had come fiercely back to reality: Naruto was alive, and for all she could tell, he seemed okay. She pondered on it a little longer, until she heard the treading of footsteps and then a loud clang behind her. The person had fallen on his butt, and before she could glance behind her Naruto spoke, friendly and as happy-go-lucky as ever, “Nice place you got here, Sakura-chan!”

She cringed and held her breath, burying her face in her knees. He came closer and without asking plopped next to her, “So what have you been up to while I've been away? I see not much has changed… Everything seems okay, what with the fighting in the north-east.”

“Naruto…”

“Boy I missed the sunlight! It feels good sitting here next to Sakura-chan!”

“Naruto…”

He was about to continue, his wide smile radiating happiness she could not comprehend. Why didn't he try to kill her?

“Naruto! I couldn't save you!” There was a silence, but although his face turned a little more serious, he was not angry, nor hateful. He just sighed, “No one could, Sakura-chan. I know you all tried. I don't know how I managed to survive. But I'm here now. I think, at the last minute, if it wasn't for the Kyuubi…”

She wanted to ask him what he had gone through, how he had escaped but she couldn't mouth the words. They just sat there together, in peace and quiet, watching the clouds pass by and the doves danced in the air. Finally, he said, “I really missed you Sakura-chan,” and she could tell he was blushing, because he always blushed when he told her his feelings. She let out a small, sad smile. “I'm happy you're alive,” she whispered.

They sat there for another 10 minutes, until finally, before he left to meet Kiba and the rest and to tell her goodbye, he jumped up and said loudly, “Hey, let's meet tomorrow okay? Hokage, I still need to become Hokage! Let's start training again, like before!”

She smiled warmly, looking up at him with such compassion, and she stood up, lunging into a hug, before she let go and with determination in her eyes said, “You will become Hokage Naruto! You will!”

//////////////

That night, alone and unafraid, with the lights out and the only source of illumination from the crescent moon, in a home he hadn't seen in forever, Naruto stood in front of his mirror and cursed, the same swearword after the other, “Fuck… fuck… fuck… Fuck that bitch.”

He cracked his knuckles and stared into his pale blue eyes. “I've been out cold for three days and when I wake up I'm suddenly here, seeing your betraying ass?” He scratched his blond hair as he examined his face. There should have been plenty more scars, but the only one that remained was a light scar across his left temple. His once beautifully tanned bare chest, now pale, bore horrible marks and scars, and one word, deeply pierced into the skin of his lower right belly read: die!

“Damn, how the hell did I get back here? Did the Kyuubi…? No… Someone must have brought me back….”

But he couldn't take his mind off the woman, nor the rest of his so-called friends that had abandoned him. He had no need for useless bonds. What he wanted right now was to punish the girl that had failed to save him. And when he got to her house, aware that she still lived with her parents, he crept with the stealth of a cheetah into her bedroom, and by the time she had woken up it was too late. He was on a chair that was facing the wrong direction, his legs wide open and his chin resting on his arms. She gasped and he smiled, “Hey sunshine!”

He waited for her to get a little used to his presence before he said, “You wanna help me right?”

She slowly nodded. His next lines were so serious that she hadn't managed to sleep all night after he said them and left:

“Help me… become Hokage!”

TBC

Sorry for the detailed chapter everyone.