Regret

"Rasengan!" "Chidori!" Shouted a pair of anger and wrath-filled voices.

A pink streak flashes between both men before their attacks can get close enough to connect. They sliced through her as if her body was made of fragile silk, leaving tears and gaps in her body. Her face twisted in pain and the smell of burned flesh permeated the air between all three of the participants.

The blood drained from their faces as both blue and black eyes widen and their brains connected the sight. For a few precious seconds, no one made a sound until both men pulled their bloodied arms out of their teammate. A pair of golden arms stretched and caught the girl before she could fall to the ground while the other pale man stared shocked as the body fell.

"No, no, Sakura-chan." The golden boy shook the woman in his arms. "Sakura-chan! Please, Sakura-chan, heal yourself! Please, please!" He begged her.

The girl, Sakura, opened her emerald green eyes and managed to smile weakly at her golden boy, tears trailing slowly down her face. "Gomenasai Naruto. I was just a burden for you two. I was never strong enough." Blood escaped her mouth as a cough shook her body.

Naruto shook his head in denial and despair. "Don't say that Sakura-chan. You were the best thing to come out of Team 7. You even became a Sannin dattebayo!" The words were said with fake cheerfulness but filled with strong emotion nonetheless.

Pale thin fingers reached out to the boy and he stepped closer following the hand as if was his last lifeline. Face to face, lip to lip, the woman gently pressed her lips to his own. Blue eyes widen in shock before relaxing and giving in the sensations.

Sakura smiled wistfully. "I'm sorry for not giving you a chance." More tears started trailing down her face, with tears of pain, both the emotional and physical, mixing together. "Maybe Kami-sama will be nice enough to let us meet again in another life ne?" She coughs and spat out more blood. "Goodbye, guys. I lov-" Her eyes dimmed and her last words were lost in the wind.

Naruto's p.o.v

I faintly took note of Sasuke taking a step back from me and the body in my arms. I knew the exact words that flew through his mind because they were flying through mine. 'Please, Kami-sama. Let this be a nightmare. Not her. Please Kami-sama anyone but her!'

I waited with baited breath for her next rise and fall of her chest. It didn't come. "Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan? No, don't leave me. Please, Sakura-chan! You can't leave me. You said you'd watch me become Hokage." Vision became blurry as tears welled up and fell one by one on the most important person in my life.

"Kakashi-sensei needs you. Tsunade-obaasan needs you. I need you. I'll do anything so please, come back to us. Come back to me." An inhumane scream leaves me. So much had already been taken from me and I knew that this would break me forever. Already I could feel the seal unraveling in me as more of the fox's chakra and hatred entered my system. "Please, Kami-sama give her back. I'll do anything. I'll give my life for her. Give me another chance. Another chance to make it all right. I'm begging you. KAMI-SAMA!"

The Gods wherever they were refused to answer and all I could do was sink to the Earth with my best friend in my arms. My eyes snapped to the only other person when he dropped to his knees a few feet from us. I laid Sakura gently to the ground and marched to the bastard's side ready to do what I should have done years ago, kill Sasuke. Blood dropped to the earth where my claws dug themselves into my fist. I lifted one and let it fly to the bane of my existence. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't been so hell-bent on revenge - if only you had stayed like she wanted, Sakura would still be alive. She was your teammate and she spent her life chasing after you! Don't you feel anything!?"

He stayed limp under my glare. Face already becoming purple where my fist connected. "This wasn't supposed to happen," Sasuke whispered, "you should have died or you would have killed me but not-not this. She was supposed to live. The world is pointless without her. I-I love her."

I stare at him in shock and more anger -no hatred- boiled inside. The Kyuubi's chakra threatened to drown me in its anger and sorrow and I was tempted to let it happen. My hands wanted to rush to his collar. "You bastard. How dare you? How fucking dare, you! After all, you put her through? Now is when you have the balls to say it? After she's dead and can't hear you! I can't believe you. She deserved to hear those words but now it's too late. She'll never know that her sacrifices weren't in vain. I'll never forgive you Sasuke." I spat on his still turned cheek and walk away before I did something that would stop me from seeing Sakura in the afterlife.

I go back to her and cradle Sakura in my arms. My flower, my hope. Gone. Years of undying devotion and if only I had listened, heard the words for what they truly were, I could have spent the most wondrous months in my life with her. I would never forgive Sasuke, not after all the pain and heartbreak that he caused Team Seven. Killing Sakura cemented the thought that had long been flying in my head. Sasuke was dead to me. Even if the Gods themselves forced me to, I would never forgive him. If it weren't for his stupid desire to be an avenger. If he had the guts to say-

"What would you do to have her back kit?"

I don't need to open my eyes to know I'm inside the remains of the seal. Like always Kuruma would be in his cell except for this time there would be no open bars but a gaping hole where they used to be. The more the seal deteriorated the less I could feel Kuruma's presence in one place. He was everywhere in me now. "You know I would gladly give my life so that she could breathe again."

"What about the other one?" Kuruma rumbled.

I force myself to look at Sasuke who stared lifelessly at the ground. "What does it matter Kuruma? He's the cause of all her miseries. It's all his fault."

Kuruma bares his teeth at me. "Do not take that tone with me kit. You are both in the wrong so own up to your mistakes!"

I look away. He was right. I killed Sakura. If I'd been faster. Noticed her sooner… I take a deep breath and blank my thoughts. Kuruma seemed to have come up with a plan to bring her back and I would not stand in the way of his doing so. "What would you do to have Sakura back?" I ask after a second to Sasuke.

Sasuke answers but doesn't look up. "I'll do anything. My life is worthless without her."

I turned internally at Kuruma ignoring the emotions behind those words. "You heard him. We'll do anything so please, bring her back."

Red chakra flows out of me and I feel my chakra reserves diminishing as the Kyuubi's chakra leaves me. It pools together and condenses into out the faint outline of the fox. "I cannot do that kit."

"But you said-!"

More chakra was flowing out now and the tails length increased with each passing heartbeat. "I can grant you both a chance to go back in time. One more chance. Just like you wanted. One more chance to fix this. But be warned, things won't be the same. She won't be the same."

"That's all I'm asking for." I smile widely at Kuruma. Maybe this was the Kami's answer to my prayers. A chance to do everything right.

Kuruma's tails wrapped around the three of us. One wrapped itself around Sasuke and Sharingan started spinning wildly in response as it turns in the Mangenkou. Another tail slithers its way around my body and I can feel the nature chakra that signals my Sage and then bijuu mode. Our chakras start mixing together and that's the last thing I see before everything goes black.

I really shouldn't be posting another story but I'm at an impasse with my other stories and inspiration for this story is coming out like Athena out of Zeus' head so I'll be writing for this story while me and SM(V)L have a talk about how we're going to move forward. Comments appreciated and most definitely welcome
~VioletV~