Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Wasted Years ❯ Ch. 14: In the Company of Ghosts ( Chapter 14 )

Wasted Years

by Mizerable

Ch. 14: In the Company of Ghosts

* * *

He had no one to love him.

He lost everything he loved.

She loved all too much.

Beyond the love, beyond the loneliness, all the pain broke free and let the demons come out to play. Little children not so long ago, it was their own blood weighing down each other's hands.

The stains were the only way they could still find each other through the dark.

* * *

Sasuke could still feel her fingers caressing his skin even after her hand dropped away. It had been years since he last registered the sensation of fear and not once was she ever one to draw out such innate terror from him. Sometimes he used to feel panicked over Naruto's often-monstrous strength. But Sakura…

"Get out of the way, Sasuke-kun."

The growl echoing somewhere from behind alerted him to Naruto's presence. Shit…He had to wrap things up right now, then he could figure out what to do about Sakura's transformation.

"It's time to settle things once and for all, dead last. I don't really care what the hell happened to you but if you fuck with me, I'll kill you."

Sasuke could almost hear Yanagi's voice echo through the air. She said almost the exact same words to Jiraiya, hadn't she?

"He can't hear you," Sakura said flatly.

"Fine enough," Sasuke cracked his neck. He could tell Naruto was itching for a fight. If they didn't keep him here and somehow subdue him, he just might turn his attention towards the village. Sasuke wasn't sure what was telling him that but he wasn't going to ignore his instincts on that point. But from the gleam in Naruto's eyes, it seemed the "upgraded" Sakura caused enough of a disruption to hold him at bay for the time being.

Sasuke, however, had no interest in finding out what she was capable of with that power.

With cool regard, Sakura gazed past Sasuke. Perhaps if she held a mind with more clarity at the time, she could have found the irony. When she had Naruto, she could only look beyond him for Sasuke. With Sasuke before her, her sights were set on Naruto. Albeit, her motivations changed dramatically when it came to seeing either one. Women often are said to be difficult to please.

I promised I would defend my home and my loved ones-

I never wanted to fight them.

Even if it's them, for my home,

For their own sake, I will…

"Naruto, I want you to know I've always cared for you."

Sasuke's focus changed from Naruto to her direction as he watched her hand form a series of seals--a fire attack. While he easily moved out of harm's way, Naruto remained watching the flames encroach on his position. His chakra, strong as always, kept the blaze at a comfortable distance. He even had enough time to deflect the shuriken before her kunai jammed itself into his bicep. Her weight hurled against him was powerful enough to topple them both through the wall and into the adjoining room.

Naruto would never want to become such a terrifying creature. I know he'll be happy to know I stopped the change. I can save him, even if it means I must…

* * *

"The kids are getting' rowdy up there," Yanagi drawled between pants, giving Itachi time to spit out a dislodged tooth.

"Is it of any consequence to you?"

"…Not really," she replied, twirling a kunai by the handle around her finger, "Though you mind tellin' me what'cha need that Hunter-nin for?"

"The Nine Tails fox demon is sealed within him. It would be a useful tool to use against the Leaf," Itachi's grip tightened about the handle of his sword, "Though I suppose you don't have the capabilities of sensing such things."

"Can't say I do," Yanagi's palm came to rest at the small of her back with a slight frown pulling at her lips. He got her good in the kidneys. Looks like she'd be pissing blood for a while. "Though I can't say it fits your style. Why the hell do you care about what happens to the place anyway? You could'a taken out a lot more than your clan back then, probably the whole damn village. But you didn't. Why bother now?"

"The fate of the Leaf matters very little to me."

He considered searching for an opportunity to make eye contact with her, though it would feel like hitting a brick wall more than anything else. The always cool and under control Captain Yanagi, a woman whose will could not be so easily bent with mere cheap suggestion and hypnotism. Itachi didn't often meet an opponent who required imagery burned into their minds in order for him to gain control. The visions his eyes could imprint were most often reserved for those he knew well enough to know just what would break them. There was no sense wasting such a powerful attack on the weak, though. For them, a much more standard death was in order.

Then there was Sasuke. The extra push by showing him the death of his family over and over again sealed the path for his brother. He had been nowhere near the level Itachi was at but the images were necessary. If Sasuke were, in fact, alive, it would be intriguing to know if those memories drove him to finding his strength over these past years.

Dealing with Naruto had been rather simple. Itachi had witnessed enough of the boy's neglect during his time in the village. Broken as he already was, it took little effort to bend the boy's mind and convince him to free his inner demon.

When fighting with an opponent like Yanagi, however, there was no image that could ever faze her. She had seen and done things just as unspeakable as he. She was not a coddled schoolgirl. Yanagi fought nearly every single day in her life and that made her perfect when it came to surviving. She had no jutsus for him to learn. There was no real style to her fighting. But she transformed herself into something beyond his knowledge every time he stared at her across the battlefield. Even now.

He managed to catch her across the ribs with his blade, though not deep enough to earn the immediate kill. She bled enough for it to possibly warrant greater concern later, if she were anyone else. But to a hardened woman like her, it was no more than a pin prick. Her will to live was just so tremendously overwhelming.

"Is your desire to live still so strong?"

"Prob'ly ain't as strong as how much ya wanna die."

Itachi's eyes were slits of burning coal. Yanagi was just as presumptuous as always, it seemed.

"It's awfully bold of you to make such conclusions. You're hardly capable of declaring yourself the victor yet."

"Why didn't ya kill your brother the day you wiped out the Uchiha clan?" Yanagi's question came as a bit of a surprise. Ten years ago, a young man brutally butchered his entire family, his entire clan. Men, women, babies. They were all murdered, except for the killer's little brother. All this leaves behind one glaring question: why?

"I never imagined he would have survived our last meeting," Itachi stated coolly. If she were asking about Sasuke now, it confirmed that his brother lived after their encounter by the riverbank. Moreover, it seemed Yanagi had taken care of him these past years. How interesting… "The hatred in his heart wasn't enough to defeat me."

It was sort of funny. When she met the boy, all he'd had was hatred. Deep and completely consuming--eating him alive. How could he ever hope to be a successfully shinobi if he relied on such a useless power like emotion. Had Itachi always been so stupid as to push his brother towards gaining power by means of hatred?

"I thought a ninja wasn't supposed to rely on emotions."

Itachi felt compelled to comment on her knowledge of "textbook" shinobi code. It was a rule every ninja had drilled into their brains from the Academy, if not at an even younger age. Though with her lack of family or formal education to teach her such core rules, it was a tad intriguing to venture guesses as to how she learned such. Itachi had such virtue scored upon his heart from the times in his youth he could no longer recall. The first-born son within a family bearing the name of Uchiha with all the makings of the perfect solider; his mind memorized each rule with the photographic clarity just as his Sharingan recorded jutsu.

Even so, that night…Yes.

He had been angry.

* * *

It was a dark place, a damp place. He visited here before, hadn't he? Things were different from that time. He had been on the other side of the bars, while the beast thrashed about inside its confines. But now his arm extended right to the shoulder, clawing at air hoping almost that the bars would somehow grow further apart or that his body would grow a little thinner. Anything to get out of this damn cage!

It was cold here and quieter than he'd care for it to be. He always hated the silence. It was unrelenting and uncomforting and sometimes he would scream just to remind himself he was still there. He certainly had no one else to do that for him. A cage wasn't very different from the four walls of his tiny apartment, not in principle. There was still no one to fill the silences.

And if he got out of here, what would it change?

* * *

An agonized cry was wrenched from Naruto's throat as his foot lashed out at his latest attacker. Sakura took the brunt of the hit with her crossed arms, forcing some space between the two. Though all in all, she didn't seem to be in any pain. One would think that perhaps she was even stronger than Naruto.

The light pulsing off her gave Sasuke enough of a chance to look her over and confirm her strength. And froze. The bones of her forearm peaked and fell from the flesh; a gushing volcano. She set herself into a fighting stance right before Sasuke yanked her to the side. "Are you out of your mind? He just broke your arm."

"If you were fighting Itachi, would you stop if he broke your arm?"

No, he wouldn't. He hadn't, in fact. It still hurt every now and then, which was a helpful reminder that Yanagi wasn't a fabulous healer. Another injury like that and he may as well forget about using his left arm ever again. It was usually these reminders that compelled him to buy another round at the bar.

However…

"But you're fighting Naruto. Hardly worth getting your arm broken over."

Naruto was, in fact, stirring again and likely scheming up a lovely plan to eviscerate them both. And to be honest, Sasuke would rather hang himself by his own entrails before losing to the idiot. Especially when it seemed like something else was in the driver's seat of Naruto's body.

He'd seen those eyes before; those crimson slits. A long time ago, Sasuke might have panicked over it or felt threatened over possibly being surpassed by a moron that had a lot more going on than he let on. Hell, Naruto had surpassed him back then. Though in those days, Sasuke hadn't held much appreciation in himself, to the point that it no longer mattered who surpassed him. The end of the narrowing tunnel let his goal slip further and further away, as it took more energy just to wake up in the morning than to formulate plans for vengeance.

It sort of made him wonder how he could change so much when he still struggled to get out of bed everyday. He still chased after Itachi and had every intention of killing him, though he was different now. His body still ached and his ambition still thrived, but he changed somewhere along the way. Now that he actually was scrounging just to survive out in the big, bad world, life was tinted a different shade. Even so, it was only new light, same old hell.

* * *

"Fancy meeting you here."

Anko skidded to a halt as the words reached her ear. Kakashi looked as casual as ever leaning against a tree, hand in his pocket. "I had been under the impression you'd been assigned to a different mission," she replied briskly.

"Plans got changed," Kakashi vaguely gestured to the dilapidated building just ahead.

"You came alone?" Anko observed, "If you were so interested in stopping the Nine Tails, I imagined you would have brought more support."

"It would be dangerous to pull away so many ninja from the village, since this may well be a diversion," Kakashi replied blandly, "Though I assume your being a special Elite Jounin gave you the confidence to come alone."

"I'm sure you know why I'm here."

"…Yes."

The crack of tension snapped the air taut. With no more than a few crisp words, the challenge had been cast.

"A few years ago…you had asked me that if this ever were to happen-"

"I know what I said," Kakashi muttered, "However-"

"It's all through him like cancer!" she shouted, "Do you have any idea how dangerous Sasuke is like that!?"

Kakashi knew. The curse seal was horrid business to deal with. He also couldn't deny that Sasuke had likely committed some terrible acts in his absence from Konoha. Leaving him alive had been a huge liability back when the boy was younger. To ignore it now when they also had the Nine Tails to contend with would be suicide. Also resting in the back of his mind was the anger he still held towards Sasuke over his long absence and everything it entailed.

And yet-

"You're forgetting one of the core fundamentals of being a shinobi," Kakashi stated flatly, "You're letting your emotions make this decision."

"And you're not? Why are you protecting him!?"

"Not so long ago, it was you the Leaf granted mercy."

Anko balked. In those days, she'd been a trusting fool. Following her teacher's every wish, she eagerly donned the perfume of blood. She unknowingly assisted Orochimaru commit atrocities while the curse seal robbed her of all logic. Once she realized what she had become, it was too late to turn back. They were obviously going to kill her for her crimes. Not that she could blame them.

She woke up in a holding cell a great while later with Morino Ibiki sternly observing her. She learned later that the Third Hokage ordered for her life to be spared. But before that news ever reached her ears, Anko, still a child, cried for her mother.

Ibiki informed her that Orochimaru had killed her mother.

"Trying to make up for your mistakes now won't change anything. You must have realized that."

"Of course I know," she muttered, "But if I let him live, who knows how many lives will be lost because of it!"

Kakashi wanted to argue with her but the words didn't come. Sasuke didn't care much for the Leaf either way, at least not outside his own head. He left once and would do exactly that when this was over. Kakashi might have even assumed Sasuke, like his traveling companion, would kill whoever crossed his path on the way out, especially in this state.

But after seeing him this morning with that same haunted look in his eyes from so long ago, Kakashi felt somewhat more compelled to just leave him be. Sasuke had earned a place to rest his head when all this was over. Even if the boy had made his fair share of mistakes, couldn't he be allowed to start living again at some point in his life?

"Killing Sasuke would leave us with something more fearful than the Nine Tails."

It was a viable excuse. Captain Yanagi was fiercely protective of Sasuke for whatever her reasons may be. Knowing how dangerous that young woman was could be something that just might lead Anko to waver in her decision. He certainly didn't want to fight her when they should be stopping Naruto and worrying about the Akatsuki, among other things.

"She's nowhere to be found in the village," Anko announced, her temper quickly fading, "And I doubt she has any knowledge about the Nine Tails."

Kakashi should have anticipated that Yanagi would follow Sasuke here. Perhaps she was the source of that dreadfully powerful chakra challenging Naruto's. Though after viewing her body, he sincerely doubted Yanagi could cram that much energy into her slight frame. While his next conclusion should have been that the chakra belonged to the one who took Naruto in the first place, that wasn't what his gut was telling him. Somehow, just a little, it felt like Sakura.

"What the hell are you two idiots doing?"

The loud gruffness of the voice could only belong to none other than Jiraiya. It wasn't too much of a shock, considering the Nine Tails was about ready to explode against the village. Who else but Jiraiya could come and try to seal the demon back up? Even so…

"Jiraiya-sama!"Anko called in surprise. She didn't think he would leave behind the entire village at a time like this. What if this was part of the Akatsuki's plan? "The village-"

"-Is in good hands," Jiraiya answered with a grin, "Though it seems like your students have gotten out of hand, Kakashi. You certainly haven't been doing a good job at keeping them in line."

"One of them is no long my student."

"He'll always be your student, you know," Jiraiya's attitude sobered to a degree, "He wouldn't have taken this mission at all if the orders came from anyone else but you."

Kakashi begged to differ. The only person Sasuke listened to was Yanagi. But that was a matter for another time. "That second powerful chakra," he began.

"If you think it's coming from your female student…You're absolutely right," Jiraiya explained rather humorlessly, "I think she has gotten herself into quite a bit of trouble."

Kakashi could feel guilt and bile rising in his throat. He sensed earlier today that something wasn't right with Sakura. He knew-still he sent her into combat zone with no idea how dangerous the mission might become and her only help was a traitor shinobi who barely cared about keeping himself safe, never mind anyone else. He let her walk right into hell again.

"Oh, quit sulking already!" Jiraiya demanded, "We've got work to do. I sure hope you're well-versed in gypsy jutsu."

"Gypsy?" Anko was a bit puzzled. She had heard bits and pieces over the years of ancient practices of gypsy clans that predated many hidden villages, though no one knew much of anything about what these techniques actually were.

"They say," Jiraiya started his explanation, "That in the old days, there was a great abundance of knowledge beyond what we possess now. Almost everything was lost in the Great Wars and before there ever was a Konoha. One thing that was lost was the ability to bind demons."

"There was a known way? How come we never sought that information when the Nine Tails appeared?" Kakashi had never heard of this before, which was a rarity in and of itself.

"We had. The Fourth came up empty-handed, though, and we were out of time. The gypsies don't like being found unless they want to be," he answered, "But anything that can be sealed always runs the risk of being released. It looks like the Haruno girl took on a sealed demon of her own."

"Are you saying she's become like Naruto?" Anko asked in shock. Why would anyone willingly choose to take on such responsibility? Her fingers brushed against the mark that wasn't there. Like most things in human nature, it was always there right beneath the skin biding its time until the body chose instinct over reason.

"There's no more time to think about the what-ifs. From the feel of it, the Anbu obviously didn't succeed so there's nothing in the way of the Nine Tails except another demon and a bearer of the curse seal. We need to act now," Jiraiya announced and was pleased that he was met with no opposition.

* * *

She didn't feel so well. Not that she was ever of sparkling health but she had her good days, and then her less-good ones. This one seemed to quite wholly fall in the latter category. Perhaps she should have stayed in that nice bed today, after all. That place was a pleasant dream, though she would always have to wake up at some point. Always she remembered only that life was bleak and usually colder than hell.

The point of her sword bit into the ground as she swayed heavy against it for support. With so much of her splattered about the room, she almost wondered why she didn't feel any lighter.

"Why do you struggle with such earnest?" Itachi's voice seemed more muted to her ears, farther away.

"If I don't kill you…I'll be executed."

"Wouldn't death be a relief after living as you have?"

Yanagi shook her head and let the doubts tumble from her mind. He was trying to mess with her; she knew him well enough in battle to sense his tricks. Sure, he had all the physical strength one would expect him to possess, but he relied heavily on illusions and trickery. Such attacks would be devastating to most other shinobi, as few, if any were like Yanagi. She was beyond his words and imagery. What could he ever say or show to her that she hadn't experienced or even done to someone else? Even the most horrid of injuries did very little to deter her.

She had no attachments. She never had a home or a family to feel loyalty towards. She made sure her fellow Aohi were alive, as it insured her own safety. If Itachi burned down a village and killed everyone in it, she would hardly care on a humanitarian level. Yanagi cared only about her own well being and nothing else. She possessed the same disposition to commit the same acts as Itachi, should it be necessary for her own survival. She even threatened the Leaf that she would do just that.

If they hurt Uchiha.

Some part of her couldn't lie to herself any longer. Truthfully, she had been stalling in this fight. At first. She had wanted him to be here to see Itachi die. He struggled through three years of hell with her for no other reason than to see that man dead. If it wasn't for Itachi still being alive, Little Uchiha would never have left his home and traveled with her. Though after living the first sixteen alone, she supposed three more years wouldn't have really mattered for much. But all things considered, she realized her foolishness for not ending things sooner.

But there lied her problem. Since when did she care if Little Uchiha was there to witness her murders? She certainly didn't care very much for his revenge or whatever it was. If anything, they would all be better off if she ended things swift and efficiently. She offered to train him and now to even keep him alive. She never swore to let him have any other selfish requests. Selfishness and pride didn't keep a person breathing. Taking action did.

She only offered to train him, wanting him only to not die in return.

She never-

"He was happy once," Itachi spoke blandly, "In those days…"

Yanagi was what she supposed could be called startled, now unable to tear her eyes away from the Sharingan. As if she were standing in that same place during that very moment quite some years ago, she watched him. Excitedly talking at the supper table with a gleeful smile, young Sasuke was at peace with everything around him.

"Such a weak child could not amount to very much. Take everything away from him…and he still could not hate me enough to become stronger."

The bones in his arm easily splintered, the blood gushed thick from his side and he was left by the river to rot. Alone.

"Whatever strength you believe to have imparted upon that child will not suffice. My foolish brother will not survive a second fight."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yanagi growled. She kept her eyes fixated on the floor as she willed herself not to be so shaken up over some damn images. She knew how bad those injuries had been. Seeing how the kid got them was of little consequence. She ended up being stuck with him afterwards and that was that. But she paused a moment, remembering Sasuke at the dinner table. The person he was before becoming Sasuke dying by the river.

"He died ten years ago."

Her eyes the color of angry bruises matched Itachi's gaze again and even he could not mask his surprise completely.

"That kid--That little bastard Uchiha…He used ta smile and enjoy tellin' his mama about his days at school. He liked the way his pop's pipe smoke smelled," Yanagi continued, advancing step by step towards Itachi as the memories she was given of Sasuke's childhood spiraled through her brain, "He was a goddamn different person 'cause of what you did! You never left a survivor behind that night. You killed that poor kid and left his ghost trailin' in his place. He ain't gonna be able ta rest 'til he gets vengeance for the life you stole from him."

"And yet he still couldn't stop me…" Itachi murmured, his eyes cooling for only a moment.

The realization hit Yanagi just as hard as the dagger that was driven into her chest. Why hadn't she ever noticed before? Was this something only taught in schools?

Did Little Uchiha know?

Itachi…

Itachi had wanted…

* * *

There was no more room for reason or compassion. Because, more than anything else, none of them wanted to die here. There was such confusion and betrayal and bitterness on all sides and those feelings simply wouldn't fade beneath the stains of time and blood.

His control had all but completely collapsed and it was a struggle to hold onto himself. But it would be a far more hasty suicide if he fought without the curse seal. The other two were far beyond "gone," having given into whatever burden they each carried. Sasuke with his Sharingan observed the crimson eyes of Naruto and the golden ones of Sakura and felt slightly more unwell. Is this how they felt whenever they saw him covered in the black markings?

This was getting ridiculous and he needed to think of some way to stop it. How the hell did he end up fighting these two, anyway? Though the images were aged and faded in his mind, he could still find them. The last time the three, as a team, held a peaceful moment together. Though his mind hadn't been, in his catalog of memories, that night at the ramen shop before hell broke loose had been his last hour of calm. Sakura worried terribly for him that day, as she had all days. And Naruto had been glancing at him inquisitively that evening, never quite figuring out what was wrong with his rival.

In a matter of days, he wound up half-dead halfway from home. If he never left after his brother, his life would have been drastically different. In all likelihood, he wouldn't have survived those three years. He would have been in a coma before he even challenged Itachi. He hadn't been strong enough to live on his own. Not yet, anyway. If he had chosen his quiet and drawn out death within Konoha, how would Yanagi have passed the hours?

He let that thought fall from his mind. He couldn't think about how he had no one here to save his ass this time. Somehow he needed to find a way to end this and find out who the real enemy was. He didn't have time to settle his score with Naruto and Sakura…Or whatever it was, when it came to her.

In a lot of ways, it was greatly his own fault that it happened, her transformation. He had all the sincerity in planning to avoid her, yet his luck was never so fortunate. Their reunion somehow managed to surpass all his expectations when it came to disastrous results. Of all the horribly idiotic things he imagined she would do out of…out of whatever she felt, he didn't expect her to be so damn stupid.

Would she have made the same choices, if he never kissed her back then?

Stumbling back a few steps with a shudder, Sasuke forced down the steady impulses of the curse seal. Naruto, as he was, lost interest in pursuing and chose to resume his fight with the closer opponent, Sakura. She took no notice of her injured arm and even used it again in battle. But as she drove Naruto back, she swayed on her feet once given a moment to breathe. She was likely injured in other places now besides her arm. Her hand wound itself in her hair, palm against her temple.

A tiny angered whimper escaped her throat, her feathers glistening in the dark as they began dropping off in large clumps and floating away to leave behind skeleton wings.

It was killing her.

"Sakura, do you wanna die!?" Sasuke shouted at her, "Stop using that jutsu!"

Her eyes glared with feverish intensity over her shoulder at him, wild and murderous. "Would you care?"

Her voice didn't have the soft ring it normally possessed. Nor its warmth. Nor her. In a matter of moments, Sasuke was in front of her. "If you want to fight anyone, fight me. I doubt that you want to wake up tomorrow and realize you killed that idiot."

"We dated for a while," Sakura murmured, "Naruto and I did…"

Sasuke wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in response to that. It shouldn't have really come as a surprise. Once he had left, Sakura could finally stop wasting all her time and realize there was already someone ready, able, and willing to care for her.

"I was awful then," she continued, her voice sounding hollow, "Even now, all I can do to save him is to take his life--"

Of all people, he surprised himself the most. Her head snapped sharply to the side after his hand connected to her cheek. Her shoulders were shaking, her chest heaving. Somehow, Sasuke never envisioned there would come a point in his life where he would ever physically lash out at Sakura so violently. Just as before, she always managed to pull out the darkest of elements from within him.

She keened forward and Sasuke instinctively caught her shoulders, her body sagging against his.

"I did the best I could," she whispered, "Even so…"

"Why did you learn this jutsu?"

"Was I strong?"

"Too much for your own good."

"Was I like her?"

Sasuke's brows furrowed. He knew Sakura was talking about Yanagi, someone he could never compare her with. If Yanagi was the power, then Sakura was all the grace. Both strong in their own right.

"I never asked you to change."

Back when they were kids, he told her once that when it came to physical combat, she was the worst of their team. So wrapped up in his own mess, he never once thought about the impact that might have had on her. Sakura wanted the elusive strength her teammates had and finally acted out in desperation. Perhaps this, too, was his doing.

"Why did you stop me?"

"I wanted to see your eyes again."

He wished he had thought over that line again, not even sure if he meant it. Though if he were going to be honest with himself, he couldn't deny gold didn't much suit her.

Whatever she said after that was fuzzy and indistinct in his ears. White hot pain seared through his body as Naruto's claws buried themselves deep into the flesh of his back. Sakura was leaning against him as he staggered forward against her. As his vision tunneled, his eyes found hers.

He was sure they were green.

To be continued…