Chapter Thirty: Welcome to Hell

Present Day:

As he walked through the portal, the warmth of its warping doorway caressed and tickled his skin as all portals did. There was the slight dizzying sensation of disorientation and the discomfort of struggling to breath, but it was gone nearly as quickly as it came as he stepped out into a terrain that contrasted with the heavenly scene he had just departed from.

As soon as he was through, he made his way down the staircase until he reached the main floor of the portal room, and stopped a small distance as he took in a deep breath and let it out. As he exhaled, he took advantage of his solitude in leaving first as he let out a curse. Then his fist came down on the side of the staircase he was standing next to as he let out another. A piece of the rock broke and crumbled, filling the cavern with its rocky echo as he let out another curse, venting his frustration with how poorly all of that went.

In his unstable mind, he had not imagined things to play out the way it did. In fact he was not sure he even knew how he wanted everything to go, he had not thought about how it would be but instead focused on what it would feel like. He had yearned to feel relief. He craved to feel satisfaction. He had hoped for some sort of conclusional ending to his misery. But none of that had manifested within his emotions. Only the twisted mix of criminality and guilt. Taking Sakura from them was supposed to bring justice but it only felt unlawful.

The sound of someone stepping through the portal had him turning around with a blank face and leaning cooly against the black rock, as he looked up at those returning from the heavens. One by one, the portal doorway lit up, its jewels set into the architecture sparkling with each new face as the fallen returned. Each time someone appeared, his heart treacherously skipped a beat when he found it was not Sakura. It seemed like it took forever for her to appear and it disturbed him how much it bothered him when it was just another face of a council member, and not her delicate features, that appeared at the portal.

His father came through, grim faced and scowling as usual. Sasuke followed him with his eyes for a moment as he descended the stairs until Fugaku looked at him in return. Straightaway, he looked back up to the portal, not wanting to bask in his father's scrutiny. When he looked back to the portal, it was just in time to see Sakura appear, relieving him of the building anxiety.

She blinked rapidly as she blindly stared forward, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Then, she paused when her eyes seemed to regain their focus and she looked around the cavern from the high platform. From below, Sasuke watched her, taking advantage of her distracted attention to take her in without notice.

Her hair shifted in the small breeze that always seemed to pass through the drafty underground world and the warm light of the portal gave a glowing outline to her body. Where she stood, in the center of the portal door, the gemed pillars of the portal framed her perfectly, giving the image of a live portrait as she rigidly stood and looked around the room. The white dress she was wearing was plain and simple, but when paired with the backdrop of the portal, it absorbed the glimmering colors and painted it so that it looked more like she was wearing a fabric woven of rainbows than a simple cotton. There was a certain familiarity about this illusion but there was something just not quite right with this replication. He would say she looked like a goddess but given the melancholy expression found on her lips, and the fearful look in her eyes as they skipped around the room, all while her chest rose and fell with hyperventilized breaths, she looked more like a sacrificial virgin meant for the gods than an entity herself.

There was a momentary blinding light behind her that quickly died when Itachi appeared. He put a hand on her back, causing Sakura to startle and look back at him. With a silent command, Itachi escorted Sakura down the dark stone steps, their spiraling path guided by the glowing crystals that had formed along the side of the staircase.

When Sakura's feet touched the ground, her eyes were drawn down the oblong cavern to where a crevice was located opposite of her. At its opening, were a pair of perfectly sculpted hooded figures. Their arms extended towards the ceiling to cross their seraph blades as their demon form wings spread out widely in an aggressive stance. Beneath the hoods, their blank faces loomed down at her from high above and she felt an unease. While their faces were shadowed by their robes, one could not ignore the impression they brought of being carefully monitored by watchful eyes. But then again, as she looked away and saw Sasuke looking at her intently, she wondered if it had just been his overbearing stare that she had felt.

The cavern in which the portal gateways were located was narrow but where it lacked width, it made up for in height. Its vast ceiling was higher than most of the underworld's. The dark rock that formed its walls slanted inward as they soured up to support the earth's crust above. The height was accentuated by the bioluminescent lichen that painted the walls as it grew in large patches along the rocky cavern. The different species and their varying glowing colors gave it an intricate design of decor, creating an organic wallpaper for the cavern.

Madara was the one who guided them down the narrow path of the cavern as they all formed into a single file line to follow him deeper into the underworld. As Sasuke moved forward with the group, he found himself falling in line right behind Sakura. Her pink hair seemed to turn into a pale lavender under the green and blue hue that the lichen produced. He couldn't see her face, but her posture in the way she carried herself, and the general aura of her chakra which she seemed to no longer have any control over at the moment, told him enough to know how she was feeling without her expressions. And he could not help but feel a little disappointed.

Sasuke had dreamt of a moment like this thousands of times. A moment in which he escorted a rose haired woman of spring into his world. Every time, he imagined her astonished as her attention would fail to stay focused on all the wonders she was being introduced to. Every time he had envisioned this moment, she brought his world to life with her own vivid colors and bright personality. In this moment he was supposed to feel relieved, he was supposed to be happy. But at this moment, none of that was happening.

Sakura walked with her shoulders hunched as her arms wrapped around herself, tightening every moment he came a step too near her, as if his proximity brought her unease. There was no constant jabbering, there was no sounds of awe as she took in the wonders of his world. She wasn't even looking. She was quiet. Too quiet, as she stared silently at the ground and followed the feet of Itachi who walked ahead of her. And her aura did nothing to lighten his dark home. Instead, her somber stance seemed to muster a dark cloud over her, making his home look more gloomy than he had ever remembered it.

It was wrong, all wrong.

But that was because it was not her, he reminded himself.

This is not the woman he had planned to bring, the sun that was going to brighten his world, nor the companion he was going to keep by his side. This woman was nothing but a pawn in his revenge. She meant nothing to him. Him bringing her here was a punishment for her just as much as it was for Kakashi and Naruto. He didn't care about her presence, just so long as it got him the results that he had intended.

But if that was true, why was he so disappointed with her reaction? Why was he so inclined to want her to look around and fall in love with this place, to accept this place, and to be happy in this place. Why did he want her to turn around and look at him with a bright smile as she took his hand and gleefully asked him to show him more.

The narrow corridor widened to the circular cavern that had a lower roof and numerous openings, all leading to other parts of the underground labyrinth that made up his home world. Standing in the middle was his mother, wringing her hands as she waited for them to approach. As they entered into the room, their single file line spread out, but Sasuke kept to the back, watching and listening as he tried to ignore his thoughts and the pinkettes presence who seemed to be gravitating to Itachi, as if he would somehow shake her from the nightmare she seemed to be living given the shifting expression and tense muscles of her face.

He had mixed feelings between this bond she seemed to have with his brother. Judging by the easy manner in which Itachi had taken the role as her escort, they seemed familiar. And he didn't like this seeming closeness between them...it bothered him to see her clinging to his brother and not….

However, it was better than before when Madara had been the one to have her in his proximity. Perhaps it had been too long or Sasuke had not been thinking when he had gone to Madara, but seeing a fragile little thing like Sakura, under a powerful Madara's hand was worrisome. Now that he had a clear mind, he was realizing Madara had been too easy in accepting his demands. Almost too eager to fetch Sakura from the heavens, which had been too facile, too well planned. Madara seemed to know more about Sakura than himself and he was showing far more interest in her than he should for an angel that should be of no significance. Then again, he too was finding a lot of strange things about her. The wings he had already known about but her relation to Tsunade, her loyalty to the faction of the fallen…Those had all been a surprise today, yet not to Madara. It made him wonder just what else the demon lord knew as well as what Sakura was still hiding.

He looked at Sakura again with a pensive stare. But any conclusions or deep thought was interrupted when Madara spoke.

"Mikoto," Madara said smoothly, causing the elegant woman, who was eyeing Sakura curiously, to look at her ruler, and older brother. "We have a special guest," he said, turning to Sakura and beckoning towards her. "Come here Sakura."

For a moment, just a fraction of a second, Sakura did not move. But then her face flinched with pain and she stumbled forward as if her body moved without her being ready. When she was at his side he put a hand on her back and directed her in front of Mikoto.

"This is Sakura," he informed his younger sister. "She's a friend of your son and will be staying with us from now on. She is to be treated as one of the family. Would you see to it that she is given a comfortable room, some new attire more fitting of this realm, and anything else that she may need?"

His tone was casual and calm but there was a strict warning underlining it that Mikoto did not miss. Nodding her head, she gave Sakura a warm smile before wrapping a comforting arm around her and grabbing her arm with the other to gently guide her down one of the many corridors.

"Oh and Sakura," Madara called, causing the pair to pause and the pinkette to slowly turn her head. Madara opened his arms to indicate their surroundings. "Welcome to hell."

It was difficult to tell if his words implied what was to come or if it was an attempt of humor. Whichever it was, Sakura paled and turned back around to let the older seraph woman take her away, most likely hoping it would be to take her all the way away, but it was a hopeless wish. She had been dragged down to hell and there was more than one demon determined to keep her there. As Mikoto led Sakura forward, she turned her head around to give Itachi an inquisitive look, who only nudged his head in the smallest of motions towards a figure standing in the back.

Sasuke watched as his mother craned her neck to look at him. Her gentle face pulled into confusion and concern as she walked away with Sakura, but deep down, in her slate colored eyes, Sasuke saw something in her gaze that made him think she was quickly drawing conclusions to the situation. For in her eyes, he saw something he had never seen expressed by her...disappointment. From his father he had seen it numerous times, from his brother and handful of times, from his mother never...until now. And he would be lying if he didn't feel the slightest twinge of guilt.

He heard Madara speak to Fugaku, something about looking at the mess his kingdom had become in his absence before the pair departed. Madara's departure was taken as a dismissal for the rest of those who had been present for the 'peace' talks, and they too moved to disband, all of them taking various paths that webbed out from the main cavern.

Sasuke tried to ignore the annoying feeling his mother had instilled within him and the earlier annoyance to Sakura's reaction, or lack thereof, to his world. But it was an annoyance that only created more annoyance that such a thing even annoyed him. He let out an irksome tsk and moved to make his own departure. However his escape was stalled when his brother's voice echoed out to him. He twisted his head to find that Itachi had lingered and was looking at him with his arms folded across his chest looking at him.

"What are you doing Sasuke?" came his brother's disapproving voice.

Sasuke glared at him, not in the mood for a lecture. "Going to my rooms," he answered, knowing full well this was not what his brother was inquiring about.

Itachi kept his expression the same as his piercing eyes continued to judge his younger brother. "Sakura is innocent in this all," Itachi answered. "And you know she does not belong here."

"Given her sooty wings and her obedience to Madara's Will, I would say this is exactly where she belongs," Sasuke countered. "She will fit right in with the rest of the manipulative, backstabbing, nefarious beings that infest this underground world."

Itachi pushed off from the wall and took several steps forward. "I know you were young when we last dealt with Madara, but you could not have been so young to be ignorant of his ways. Did you not think it odd that Madara was all too willing to bring her here, all too eager almost to have possession of her? Especially with her connection to Tsunade, who you know will not let this go for long."

"That's because it was his part of the bargain," Sasuke explained. "He just wanted my help and that was the-"

"You just took the girl you claim to care about so deeply from the safest place possible and delivered her to the most unsafe place!"

"That!" he said with a snarl, his finger jabbing towards where Sakura and his mother had disappeared, "is not her."

Itachi did not even seem phased by this. While he could not find a single explanation, his ever growing faith to the idea of fate told him otherwise. "And what if she is? You went to Orochimaru to find a way to make her immortal. You spent centuries searching for a way to bring her back. What if you have just been given one thing you have ever wanted so badly enough, that you spent all this time searching and fighting for. You endangered her by bringing her to this place, by bringing her to him. Just how long have you known he was still alive? How long have you been working with him? Was it when you first found her or after when you grew so selfish and desperate, that you align yourself with him instead of coming to me? I would have helped you." His admonishing tone became softened with a saddened and pained sound. "You should have accepted the benevolent gift not squander it by bringing her here."

Sasuke took several steps forward and leaned in towards his brother. "Well it's a good thing that what you are suggesting is impossible," he said in a flat voice. "I know my Sakura, and she would have never looked at me the way that girl does now." Even as he said the words, he wasn't sure he believed them. Itachi's words of possibilities and chances had shaken something within him.

"Then maybe you should move on," Itachi snarled back without an ounce of sympathy. "Your Sakura is dead, but you are not. And you can't continue living like this because it will destroy you...it already has! I saw the way you looked at that girl before all this, in the city when you looked down at her, you felt something for that girl, I could see it." Sasuke opened his mouth to snarl back a refute but Itachi was not finished. "And even if she wasn't the same girl, did you ever think that maybe the gods were finally pitying you and gave you a gift? Gave you a second chance?"

"I don't want pity," Sasuke sneered. "And I don't want her!" Again he pointed to where Sakura had disappeared.

"Then why is she here then?" Itachi demanded. "You just took her from her home, bargained only the gods know what for her, and now you won't take responsibility. You just abandoned her and left her to be taken up by others. And you know who one of the people are?….Madara. He wanted her, he has plans for her, and nothing good will come from that!"

"She is here because they needed to be punished," he pointed up to the ceiling, to indicate who he was speaking of.

"Then you should have just confronted the people who wronged you, and left her out of this," Itachi lectured. "There is something more to her, something that we and even she, might not know. That was badly done Sasuke," he chided. "Badly done indeed."

There was a short pause as their heated glares cooled slightly and Itachi continued more calmly. "I spoke to her in the heavens, spoke to her of you." There was a small change in Sasuke's face with these words. "She did not say much, but I could tell she cared about you, cared about your well-being."

There was a long pause before Sasuke slightly stepped away. "Well I am sure now she hates me now, so no worries there. If anything I did her a favor."

His words said it, but Itachi noted the lack of truth in his eyes for his disregard in how she felt about him. "I would not blame her if she hated you," Itachi responded. "In fact, I find it unfortunate that her compassion will someday forgive you of it. And I hate myself for hoping that she does."

They walked in absolute silence as Sakura let the beautiful strange woman guide her down through a complex network of tunnels. She was not sure how long they had been walking or how far they had gone, but soon Sakura found herself in front of a set of double doors. Mikoto released her hold on her to open them both widely as Sakura tried to ignore the coldness that took over again with the woman no longer touching her. She followed the woman into the room slowly as she watched the raven haired woman set about tidying the already orderly room.

"This will be your room, most of the personal belongings of the previous occupant have been removed but if you find anything lingering just let me know, I can take them to be put somewhere else. This is your space now so if there is nothing to your liking just let me know."

Sakura's eyes slowly trailed around the room looking, but not really taking in, her surroundings. She caught some curtains hanging high over the wall and wandered over to them, surprised that such a place would have windows. However as she pulled it back, only to find a black, hollowed cavern outside it, she let the drapes fall back to block the drafty air.

When she turned back around, she found the woman whose name she had forgotten, looking at her, a curious glint in her eyes. Upon being caught staring, the dark haired woman gave her a kind smile, which Sakura could not return.

If she had heard right this was Itachi and Sasuke's mother and she wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She seemed kind and nice...but she had also thought Sasuke had been a gentle person before. And while Itachi had never shown her anything but kindness, she couldn't help but remind herself, she hardly knew him. She hardly knew Sasuke, despite what she thought she felt. And this woman she certainly did not know. She was in a lair of what she hated to call, but could only think of as now, the enemy.

"Your name was Sakura, correct?"

After a long pause following her question, Sakura silently nodded and despite her distanced hesitancy, the woman smiled again.

"You can call me Mikoto," she offered.

Mikoto watched as Sakura made no acknowledgement to this, instead she went and sat on the edge of the bed. Her small hands grasped at the dark comforter for a moment before moving to her lap where her fingers twisted together as her head bowed to look down at them. It was only then that Mikoto frowned slightly, perturbed not by the girls lacking manners, but by her presence here in the underworld. She had been brought from the heavens and the reason being was somehow connected to her youngest son. But was she really a guest as Madara said because she seemed more like a prisoner.

Just what happened up in the heavens? Why was this angel here? Or was she an angel? Madara had spoken about gathering the demons that had wandered from this realm, but what would a fallen seraph be doing in the heavens?

Everything about her seemed angelic but Mikoto was not so ignorant like most to think being a demon or an angel was divided by good and evil. There were plenty of fallen that were kind and gentle, who genuinely cared about mortals. It was why they picked the bad ones out and preyed upon them. Like a garden, they took out the bad thistles and suffocating plants so the good could grow.

Walking over the wardrobe she opened it up. "We will have to get you measured and fitted for some clothes to be made later, but I can bring you some clothes that you can wear in the meantime," she said as she pushed aside some old clothing that was hanging up as she began to open a few of the drawers to check their contents. "I will have these packed away and–"

"Leave them," came a quiet command that sounded more like a request. Mikoto turned around to see the girl's bright green eyes peek at her before looking back down to pick at her nails. "Don't trouble yourself with changing anything for me. I won't be here long."

Mikoto admired, but was also saddened, by the determination in her voice. This girl was obviously taken without consent and while Mikoto felt this was beyond wrong, she knew her brother, she knew her son. Unless they let her, Sakura was not going anywhere...and even as she thought it, Mikoto found herself not wanting her to go herself.

She had seen the strange way in which Sasuke looked at this little angelic demon and her motherly intuition had told her that her son needed this girl. If he was going to stay, if she was going to get her son back again, this girl would be the reason. Mikoto was a kind and generously giving person, but she was still an Uchiha. Which meant she could be selfish when it came to her loved ones and Sasuke she loved, she wanted him to be happy.

"Very well," Mikoto said, going along with the girl. "Maybe I will just bring a few things then," she suggested. "Just to make your temporary stay comfortable."

Sakura did not reply and Mikoto went towards the door.

"You know what you could use," Mikoto said cheerily. "A warm, soothing bath with plenty of scents and bubbles. In fact, let me just go grab you some extra clothes and a few special oils I have in my collection. I promise you will be–"

She cut herself off when she opened the door widely to exit the room as the door across the hall swung open forcefully.

He arrived at his room with as much ease as if he had never left, his memory easily navigating the warren of caverns, crevices, and dark plunges that made up the underworld. Everything was as he remembered when he walked in. The dark silky bedding of the large four poster bed. The immaculate wardrobe that still held clothes that had not been worn in centuries, but all as clean and fresh as if just newly tailored. In fact everything was still fresh and clean, most likely due to his mother's instructions.

At that thought, his mind wandered to the matron. It had been good to see her, it had been long since he had left her and while he had not allowed himself to think it before, he could not stop the thought now. He had missed her. Though the last look he received from her made him not as eager to see her again. While normally he did not care what others thought of him, the opinion of his mother seemed to still hold some significance.

The image of her leading Sakura away made him wonder where exactly Mikoto had found Sakura a room. There were hundreds of thousands of places in which his mother could have taken her, but something in him told him that she was nearby. That ever annoying pull within him told him so. He had not felt it in days and had thought he had somehow managed to sever it several nights back when...when everything happened. He would have liked to say he had been happy with the detachment, but he would be lying if there was not the smallest part of him that mourned the loss of his connection to her. It was that same small part of him that had beat vigorously when he first stepped into the heavens and felt the immediate tug.

He had looked around, searching for her, but there was something off about the connection. He could feel it but there was something different. It felt tangled and loose making the connection difficult to thread directly to her. He had felt her presence but couldn't find her in the group of those present. However when she stepped out from behind that statue, he knew why he had felt her. However it bothered him that he had not felt her as strongly as before when she was in such close proximity. There was something wrong with the tether...somehow it had been weakened.

Pushing the pinkette out of his tired mind, Sasuke moved towards the bathroom attached to the room. Stripping his clothes and leaving a trail of laundry, he stepped into the shower and let the water cascade down his body. After cleansing himself he was tempted to just fall into the bed and enter a mindless sleep, but the day was still young, this morning having felt longer than it really was. So instead he got redressed, throwing on whatever clothes he pulled from his wardrobe first and made to depart.

Just as he was walking out to leave his room, he noticed something that made him pause. A small slip of paper sitting on the ancient apothecary desk set between his bookshelves. Side tracking, he walked over and picked up the piece of paper that was rolled loosely up into a small scroll.

He frowned slightly when a slimy residue stuck to his fingers when he picked it up. Wiping the residue on his pants, he unrolled the small piece of paper to find a small message scribbled in sloppy handwriting, familiar sloppy handwriting.

We need to talk. -N

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he tilted his head to see a small toad near his foot. Sasuke's brow twitched at the sight of the amphibian before shifting his foot and stepping on it. Just as he suspected, instead of squishing beneath his weight, there was a small pop as a small wisp of smoke escaped from beneath his boot.

Irritated, Sasuke held the note up to his eyes as he gently let out a heated breath, fire forming within his breath. Catching the parchment alight, he threw the burning note onto the stone ground, where it crumbled into a small pile of ash. Stomping to his door with a dark cloud of irk following him, he wrenched the door open only to freeze in its threshold when the door adjacent from him opened, only much more gently than his.

His mother was paused, looking at him with surprise, and the door of the room behind her propped open. Behind her, Sasuke could see the slumped form of Sakura sitting at the edge of the bed.

The pull that used to be strong, but was now coming in and out of focus like a radio frequency, seemed to find a strong connection and he felt his heart lurch within his chest. It seemed that she too felt it, for her pink head snapped up with her vivid green eyes contrasting against the dark colors of her room. Like a lone flower that survived a brush fire.

He stared back at her for two moments before wrenching his eyes away as he slammed his door shut and quickly walked down the hall, ignoring his mother when she called out his name. He walked briskly and quickly but soon he was out of breath and it was not from exertion. He stopped in the middle of an abandoned corridor, grabbing at his chest as pain spread from the spot within the cavity of his ribs. It burned and ached all at the same time.

"Fuck," groaned.

It had started with a pinch the moment the connection had seemed to strengthen and when she looked at him, in her eyes he saw everything she was feeling...not just saw but felt. He felt everything that she was feeling, disquiet, sadness, anger, trepidation...everything.

As he took in deep breaths and grabbed at the pain in his chest, it slowly began to recede and dull to a numb throbbing. When he straightened back up he moved to wipe the bead of sweat that had formed on his brow only to find that not only sweat but tears had escaped him. He glared down at the wet tear now smeared on his hand, staring at it in confusion. What the hell was going on?

If you decide to live by, what you think's wrong and what's right

Believe me you'll begin to wish you were sleeping

Your weeping will creep in head and you'll cry

But if we wake up every morning and decide what we believe

We can take a part our very heart and the light will set us free

-Twenty-One Pilots: Isle of Flightless Birds

End Part I

To Be Continued in Part II

Big thank you to everyone who have supported this story since the beginning, to those just discovering, and everyone who joined inbetween. And and even bigger thank you to those who have shared their thoughts, excitement, reactions, theories, anything and everything! I will start posting Part II here once I have taken a little break and gotten my thoughts into order. Hoping it wont be too long, I have ideas and plans, I just need to sort them out as to when and how everything will play out. I will start with the earlier chapters so that I can start posting them sooner. I would love to hear your thoughts and constructive criticisms thus far!

Until the next update: Stay well for everyone, be kind to others, and be your excellent selves!