Hi lovelies! I know it's been too long since I stopped this story...but I kept coming back to this for a while now and just feel like I need to give this story the ending it deserves. I'm sure you guys are waiting as well, right? I'm sorry I've left it hanging for this long...

If you're new to this story - welcome! Go read the first story Severed Teammate to know all that's happened in the past!

If not, welcome back! I hope you stay for the rest of the story.

Chapter 14 - You Are

XxX

"You know you can't win."

"You're not strong enough."

Sakura jolted awake as she found herself gazing up at the soft blue sky above her. As she slowly sat up, she realized with a clenched fist in the grass that she was alone in some other dimension.

Where was Sasuke and the others? What had happened to the Stone? What was she doing here?

The last thing she remembered was the curse mark –

"When will we finally finish this, Sakura?"

The kunoichi turned her head so fast to the point of almost whiplash to see herself standing a few feet away. The look on her face showed disappointment as Sakura stood up with a slight gape of her mouth. There was something different about the Sakura across her. The energy she gave off was borderline exhausted, but if Sakura searched hard enough, she would've sworn there was a blaze of frustration in her eyes.

This wasn't the version from before. Not the one with the dark hair and the cold dead glint in her eyes.

Come to think of it, the more Sakura stared at her lookalike, the more she felt like she knew her.

Gradually, fragments of memories came back to Sakura. It was of a time where kids ridiculed her, told her she wasn't good enough, strong enough or pretty enough. Where an indignant, passionate, frustrated voice that sounded a lot like hers screamed into her head.

It was pushing her, encouraging her to see past those jerks' words.

As recognition filled Sakura's emerald gaze, the one across her gave a light quirk of her lip.

"Inner-Sakura." She revealed in a breathless voice, her footsteps hesitant as she approached.

"That's right. Now you remember me."

"I…I don't know what happened. Where did you go? Why are we here?" Sakura softly inquired as she noticed it was just the two of them.

"…over time, you didn't need me anymore. You were pushing back against everything that was stopping you from progressing forward. You grew in confidence, knowledge, and strength. You were blooming, Sakura."

Inner-Sakura let out a wistful sigh at the recollection, but then her expression gradually became hard and burning with frustration as she stared back at Sakura.

"But look at what's happened. You've got a curse mark that won't let go. It won't let go so it's trying to destroy you from the inside instead. And here you are saying you can't fight back at it? Thinking you're not strong enough?"

Sakura widened her eyes at the accusation, breath hitched.

"What the hell, Sakura?! No one has been saying that at all. No one…It's only you." Inner-Sakura tilted her head to the side as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's not me! It's the other one! The dark one!" Sakura cried out, emotions raging. She caught herself from saying more when a thought occurred to her.

What was she doing pushing the blame away from herself?

"Don't you see, Sakura!? That person is you too! There was no persona of that curse mark. They don't exist. They never did."

Sakura was speechless as she stared at Inner-Sakura's look of desperation.

"It was all…me?"

"Yes…but listen." Inner-Sakura took a step forward and grasped Sakura's arms, bringing her closer as she stared intently into her confused emerald gaze.

"You arestrong, Sakura. So incredibly strong. And I couldn't have been prouder to see how much you've grown." Inner-Sakura broke out into a grin as she looked at Sakura dead on. "You can do this."

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her lips pull into a small smile. She could feel the grip in the dimension begin to slip away. The warmth around her was starting to fade and she was slowly pulled from the darkness.

"You're right. I can do this."

XxX

Sasuke and Naruto held anxious expressions as they stared at Sakura's unconscious body in front of them. Right after they had told her they wouldn't leave her, she had given them a pained smile before fainting – the black streaks of the curse mark still creeping up her neck.

"This sucks," Naruto whispered, frustrated. His fist softly struck against the ground as he said it, his gaze downcast at the thought of unable to help his friend.

"She'll be back soon…I hope," Sasuke replied as he too felt the same way his friend was. It was up to Sakura to fend herself against the curse mark.

He and Naruto and everyone else were powerless to help.

There was a horrible ache in his heart as he lifted his blank gaze to linger on Sakura's still form. The expression on her face seemed almost serene. But as he continued to look on, her eyebrow twitched as she started to wake.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto softly uttered as he and Sasuke leaned forward in anticipation.

Sakura's form started to shake as her face pulled into a pained expression, her eyes squeezed tight. What she couldn't see that Sasuke and Naruto could, were the black streaks stretched across her cheek beginning to recede. Sakura grimaced at the effects of the curse mark retreating, her body stiffening for a moment before relaxing.

"Sakura, hey," Sasuke gently said as he leaned towards her and carefully placed his hand on her cheek. The kunoichi stirred after a moment, emerald eyes opening blearily as they rose to meet his own. When they met gazes, they shared a soft smile before she glanced over at Naruto in greeting.

"Sakura-chan! You're okay! Did you do it?" Naruto excitedly asked as he got up to his feet, Sakura and Sasuke following his lead.

"Yeah, it's done." Sakura replied with a tired smile – a real one this time.

"Great! Let's head on out of here then." Naruto said as they headed towards the exit with the waterfall. "The others are heading to Cloud Village! We have to go before Takashi destroys the place!"

As they made their way to the entrance, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that it wasn't over yet.

And she didn't say it, but Sakura felt it too.

XxX

Takashi had stopped struggling against the barrier at this point. He could only stare after the back of his best friend that was leaving him in silence. He could have broken the barrier in a second and chase after him…but something told him not to.

It had been too long since he had seen Haru in so many successions. He had mentally prepared for it, for the future encounters, the yelling to come back home – all of it. But each time he ran into Haru and spouted the words that he said, he couldn't help but feel a nagging at the back of his mind.

What was it? What was his own mind trying to get him to see?

As he stood there for a moment, Takashi suddenly felt his heart beat too slow to be normal, resulting in him bringing a hand to his mouth as he gagged.

The feeling of cold hand wrapping around his heart came as he involuntarily retched into his palm, pressing his hand against the barrier for support. Dots of his blood hit the grass through his hand making Takashi widen his eyes at the sight, recoiling in shock.

"It can't be…" he whispered to himself in surprise.

As he stared at the blood, he suddenly remembered of a time long ago – the catalyst to everything that had happened.

[2 years ago]

"It's the truth, Takashi."

"You're lying. Why was it only found out now?!" Takashi exclaimed as he tried to wrap his mind around the news.

"It was a sudden onset…no one would've seen it coming. I'm sor—"

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it! You're telling me I'm going to die! How can you say that and be sorry!?"

The lead medic that was in front of him had a guilty, pitiful look on his face as he winced at Takashi's voice. He was huffing with his fists clenched beside him, eyes wide with disbelief. He had only gone to the clinic for a yearly check-up…it wasn't supposed to end up this way.

For him to be sick? When being a shinobi mattered the most?

To die not in battle, but through an illness that would slowly eat away at him from the inside?

How laughable.

"….is there a cure?" Takashi whispered after a few moments. His gaze was on the floor where he could see the medic's feet. At his words he saw the medic stiffen and take a step back and inwardly cringed.

"I…I've heard of this disease before. But…" The medic trailed off as Takashi raised his head to meet his gaze. "It's possible there could be records about it somewhere else. I wouldn't be able to tell you though because I only heard it through the grapevine long ago."

An emotion Takashi hadn't felt in a while burst into his heart – hope. If there was a chance. Any chance to live, he would take it.

He had to live.

For Haru.

[End Flashback]

"…how could I forget?" Takashi muttered to himself as a bitter smile stretched across his lips. He brought a hand up to grip at the fabric of his shirt, clenching it tightly as he felt the inside of his body begin to feel as though it were touched by ice.

Everything he had done – left the village, left Haru, was to find a cure for this godawful disease. He had said he was protecting the village by leaving, but was he?

Was he really? He had left his one and only best friend who had no one as family besides his sister. What kind of friend was he?

Takashi had found temporary ways to stall the sickness from consuming him over these two years, but along the way he somehow became tainted.

He wanted more power. More recognition. Someone to remember him.

As the cold feeling around his heart began to spread throughout his body, Takashi humorlessly laughed to himself, shaking his head.

"Haru, I'm so—" Takashi stopped talking when the grip around his heart became worse, knocking him to his side as he writhed in pain.

Was this where he would die? With the damn disease finally breaking of its restraints, free to destroy him?

The feelings of guilt and regret filled him as a cough of blood escaped him, his forehead pressed into the grass. His heart felt like it was getting squeezed like one would a stress ball. He didn't know how long he could last anymore. With his eyes squeezed tight, all he could hear was his own ragged breathing when there was a thump on the barrier near him.

"Oi, Takashi what's—!"

"Idiot! What are you doing? He's the enemy!"

"But look at him!"

"Haru probably put an end to it."

"Are you stupid, Sasuke!? Haru would never do that!"

As Takashi turned his head to the gradually muffling voices, he caught a pinkette's troubled gaze.

Well, you must be a little confused, right? (It has been 2 years...) Especially with Takashi's recent behavior...I'm trying to fix some of the plot strings in this story that have knotted to the point of confusion and disarray to the best of my ability so if you have any lingering questions PM me/or review so that I can help clear it up for you! I'm trying to get this story's momentum moving again - even if just by a little bit.

Some timeline things to clear up:
-The universe this story is set in is a little odd I realize. Sasuke used to have a curse mark but got it removed (I initially began this story with the idea that he had one then had it removed/suppressed).
-Itachi is still alive as you can see from the previous chapters. He and Sasuke never had their fight and for how long it's been since they've seen each other? Quite a while.
-Team 7's ages were around 17/18 in Severed Teammate so they're 19/20 in this sequel.

Hope this helps a little.

See you in the next update!

-FallenWing21