It's shorter than I wanted but not too short, don't kill me…
Yes here it is, the final chapter in this oh so loved fictional work of mine. I should warn you it's no meant to be the end, but merely the first part of a much bigger story. If I get enough reviews begging for a sequel then I will write one. (I'm aiming for 30 just to let you know) But yeah, get you tissues and chocolate and don't take my warnings lightly.
I strongly sugest you read King of the Sandbox and White Winter just so you know what's going on with the other guys. I do not own Naruto or the song Everything Burns. (I so wish I did though…)
Chapter Eleven
Day of Heartache
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She sits in her corner
Singing herself to sleep
Wrapped in all of the promises
That no one seems to keep
She no longer cries to herself
No tears left to wash away
Just diaries of empty pages
Feelings gone a stray
But she will sing
Till everything burns
While everyone screams
Burning their lies
Burning my dreams
All of this hate
And all of this pain
I'll burn it all down
As my anger reigns
Till everything burns
Walking through life unnoticed
Knowing that no one cares
Too consumed in their masquerade
No one sees her there And still she sings
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"I…I don't….I don't understand!" Sakura choked out with a group of tears forming at the corner of her eyes as she desperately tried to reason away the words haunting her mind.
"Sakura chan…" Sayawoharau Shinken began already feeling his heart scream in pain at her tears and the state of her emotions. "I wish there was another way but your father has too many connections in the village for you to live peacefully. We're doing all we can to make sure you are safe and not harmed again."
"Daddy told me not to tell! He told me not to let anyone see! And you saw, you all saw my scars and now I have to leave again because I was bad and let you see! I don't want to leave again…"
"Sakura…"
"I don't want to feel this pain here," Sakura wailed grabbing the fabric above her heart. "I don't care if I feel it when daddy hurts me, I don't want to feel this hurt again."
The older man frowned looking up at the pink haired girl who was sitting on the side of a cot while he kneeled before her on the floor. He really hated seeing his only true family, his granddaughter like this. She was so innocent and young that she automatically took all the blame upon herself and brushed off the wrongs committed against her.
"Please don't make me go again…"
"I'm sorry Sakura chan."
After trying to apprehend the father, his son, all Sayawoharau Shinken found was an empty apartment littered with empty sake jars and the smell of blood. The coward had fled. He abandoned his little girl and took off in order to save his own skin. Unfortunately he was a sore looser and would most likely come after Sakura or send some of his connections after her. The only safe choice was to leave the leaf village entirely. Sakura could come with him and help rebuild his clan, give them hope for the future and encourage them to strive for what was no possible.
"It hurts…"
"I know… but it'll heal with time and love. I'll be there to protect you and make sure you're never lonely or sad. You can count on me to be there for you whenever you want Sakura chan."
"But what about Naruto kun and Kiba kun and Sasuke kun and Neji kun and Hinata chan? Will I ever be able to see them again?" the bright eyed girl asked with hope reflecting in her emerald colored orbs.
"I'm afraid not. At least not for a while. If you come into contact with any of the children in this village you could put them at risk. I know you don't want your friends to get hurt right?"
"S…so I won't be able to see them again. Not ever?"
"Not for a few years, no. But I promise that one day when we are stronger and your friends are stronger you will be able to meet them once again. And when a Shinken makes a promise it's a good as done." Sayawoharau Shinken commented placing a worn swordweilding hand on top of her own small trembling ones.
"Oyaji Shinken, why dose my hear ache so badly? Why dose it have to hurt me so terribly when there are no wounds that I can see. I don't mind feeling the wounds I can see, but this pain is just unbearable. I don't want to feel it." Sakura moaned letting her he head bend forward and her silky pink tresses fall with it like a curtain to her tear stained eyes.
"You're heart is crying in emotional pain. It's different from physical pain. It can't be healed as easily…sometimes it's never healed. But Love and time smooth out the wrinkles and soften the scars. I know what it's like to feel this pain…"
"Did it ever go away?" He smiled softly remembering his son and his choices in life.
"No…I'm still healing. But I think I'll be able to heal eventually now that I have you."
Sakura looked away. She hated it, the pain that she couldn't see or feel. The tearing and screaming in her chest that she could not heal. When she had to leave Kimimaro it was then that she felt it for the first time. The when she left Haku to blossomed up and tore her up once again sending her into pain. And then when that had to leave Suna she felt herself dying from the separation from her red haired friend Gaara. And now that she was being told she would have to leave all her friends…it was too much for her tiny little heart.
"Sakura chan, it's not just for your protection, I need you as well. My clan, your clan needs you. You're my direct descendent with Hana Shinken as an guardian. The Shinken clan is loosing hope without a direct heir to carry out the position of head once I pass away. Sakura chan, you can be that head! You're already a powerful child with the experience with your father and Hana protecting you… We need you Sakura."
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"Get away from us you demon."
"Get out of our sight!"
"Go crawl into some hole and die, why don't you?"
"We don't want you here!"
"Get out of our sight!"
"No one want you."
"Die!"
"Monster."
"Demon!"
Naruto whimpered under the harsh words thrown his way, raising a hand above his head to block the empty sake bottle throw at his face in hopes of hitting and possible killing the misunderstood boy.
His eyes were wide and scared as well as tear stained but not from the treatment, no something else had birthed these tears. He had been so heartbroken that he had forgotten that this part of the village was rundown and contained some of the more 'outspoken' villagers.
"Stop…please," the blue eyed boy whimpered as more and more objects were thrown at his face without regret or remorse. "Please just leave me alone…"
"Shut up! Shut him up!" More screaming.
Naruto slammed his hands over his ears and took off running for some dark place he could cry himself dry. Their words hurt but not as much as the words from earlier when he went back to visit his Sakura chan.
'She's sick, she needs to leave to get better. You can't see her.'
She was his first real friend that didn't see what those people saw in him. Sasuke was a rival in everything. Sakura chan was his first real friend. She was his friend and now she was leaving him.
His tears spilled down shamelessly as he stumbled into a small training ground surrounded by trees. He didn't care if he was seen by anyone, it hurt too much too keep it in.
"Sakura chan…Don't leave me…"
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Sasuke bit down hard on his bottom lip not noticing the crimson red droplets starting to roll down his chin and onto the floor. Pain and anger boiled in his chest as he slammed her fist down at the floor falling to his knees. The earlier conversation he shared with his parents still fresh in his mind.
"I'm sorry Sasuke kun but that's just not possible," his mother softly spoke with a sad smile.
"But I want to see her! I want to see Sakura chan!"
"I know and I'm really, really sorry about how you're feeling right now but we were told not to come into contact with Sakura chan because of her mental injuries and the stress of…. current events."
"But I already saw Sakura chan in the hospital and she was fine! I could see her then couldn't I? Why can't I see her now? It's not fair."
"I know but there have been some…issues that have come up preventing anyone aside from family from visiting her. Emotionally and physically she's very weak and heartbroken. Seeing you would just hurt her more. You want the best for Sakura chan right? Well we can't risk hurting her any more than she already is." The dark haired Uchiha smile patting her son's shoulders with love.
The onyx eyes of her young Uchiha son narrowed in anger at his confusion. "What do you mean heartbreak? Why would Sakura be heartbroken?"
Mikoto blushed and stuttered, refusing to look Sasuke in the eye as if she was caught in a lie or a secret she wasn't allowed to slip. "She's…just sad Sasuke kun."
"Why is Sakura chan heartbroken? What happened?" Sasuke asked quick trapping his mother with his words.
"Sasuke kun… it's nothing important."
"What's wrong with Sakura chan?"
"Sasuke kun you're not suppose to know. I can't tell you."
"Mom!" Mikoto looked up suddenly, seeing tears in her son's eyes as he desperately tried to pry the secrets out of her. "Mom, please tell me about Sakura chan…" There was a haunting silence between the two for a long time before the Uchiha mother decided to end it with her words.
"Sakura's leaving the village and no one is allowed to see her."
Sasuke's world stopped as his hear shattered into a million tiny pieces, just like glass. This was all just a joke, a cruel prank. His Sakura couldn't be leaving him. It just couldn't happen. It couldn't!
"No…"
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Hinata fell back down after that last attack and gasped as the floor came up to greet her face, mocking her defeat cruelly. There were people all around her watching with disapproving eyes from their seated mats as she stumbled weakly to rise up and stand once more.
"Put more power into your attacks." Her father sternly commanded not enjoying the humiliation he was going through for raising such a weak daughter destined to inherit the clan's head position.
"Yes father…" Hinata panted knowing her attacks were far too weak to ever hope for a successful completion of combos she was instructed to perform.
Just like before she was thrown back to the ground with a loud thud. Her father frowned deeply at how weak his little girl was compared to that Sakura child. She needed to perfect the Gentle Fist style if she wished to ever inherit her birth-right.
The Gentle Fist style of combat aims to damage the body's chakra circulatory system, thus inhibiting an opponent's use of chakra. To do this, the user will forcefully insert a small amount of their own chakra into an opponent's chakra circulatory system, causing the targeted area to rupture or divert flow.
"Get up."
"Yes father."
"You're done for today sit off to the side please while I deal with Neji."
Hinata looked down in sham as she was demoted in rank to a measly side mat instead of her usual spot at the front next to her father. Neji nervously calmed himself and kneeled in front of his uncle.
"Yes sir?"
"Neji, as you know, protection of the Byakugan ability is very important to the Hyuga clan and has led to the development of an elaborate family hierarchy. The branch house's main purpose is to protect the main house and the secrets of the Byakugan. You are of the Branch house and I feel this has been prolonged far to long considering the recant events."
Neji looked up curiously only to see his uncle's palm closing over his eyes before a darkness followed by a blinding pain took over his body.
Later on the two separately locked themselves their rooms letting their tears take over and flow with freedom.
A caged bird trapped in fat's hands and a disappointment in her father's eyes.
Only one person could make this pain better and she was leaving the both of them.
"Sakura chan…" Neji whispered
"Come back to us…" Hinata finished.
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Kiba angrily hugged his k9 companion as he let hot tears of anger and sorrow fall down over the tattoos on his cheeks.
He didn't care if someone saw him and accused him of being weak or unmanly. All that he cared about was seeing the one person who he was forbidden to never come into contact with.
His father felt his was loosing his dominance and going soft for hanging out with a bunch of kids consisting of two girls and three boys. The two girls part really got the old man annoyed.
"You're a Inuzuka, start acting like one!"
"Don't be a disappointment."
"Uphold the clan's name!"
"Stop complaining, suck it up."
"Be a man already."
Akamaru sensed his master's emotional distress and hesitantly reached up to lick away some of the tattooed boy's cheeks. He whimpered and whined softly not wanting to see his best friend and master in such a state.
"I know boy, I should toughen up shouldn't I?" Kiba hoarsely whispered laughing patathiclly at himself and his weakness. "I'm weak and a disappointment this way."
His fluffy white dog barked quickly as if to contradict his master's words, telling him he was wrong about himself.
"I know I should be stronger. I know I shouldn't allow myself to cry a lot like this but… but it really hurts. It hurts Akamaru."
Kiba looked down with hazed over eyes as he remembered his father's outbursts when he had found out about the party and it's events. His father wasn't in the best of health so he was putting more and more pressure on Kiba to grow up and take his place as head of the clan.
Kiba looked down at his wrist where a white bandage was tend lovingly with care. It was the bandage Sakura used to tend to his dog.
"Sakura chan…"
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Kimimaro looked up at the sky full of snow dully wondering why it would be snowing at this time of year. His red rimmed jade eyes felt heavy as he fell down to his knees in the snow kissed grass. They were gone. Every one of them, completely wiped out. He was the last.
"But I'm free of my cage…" He murmured lightly to himself laying his head down.
Thoughts of his past confinement flashed behind his eyes and he smiled softly knowing that those days were over.
"They can't get me now." His smile however fell when he realized that he now had no one to be loyal to.
No one to devote his life to. In simple terms he had not meaning to life. Life was better for him but he had nowhere to go and no purpose.
Words rang in his head as he remembered his father's words before the massacre took place. The exact wording vaguely slipping from him at the moment. He remembered what it was he had to do. He needed to find someone to live his life for. He needed to serve someone, that was his meaning in life.
He knew who it was he wanted to serve, who it was that would fit him perfectly. Someone he hardly knew yet felt completely at ease with. Someone who brought the confusion of his world into light. Someone who could smile and make him feel happy despite the pain in his body and the troubles in his life.
He closed his eyes and let her face float into his vision in all it's glory and splendor. Her emerald colored orbs bright and shining with innocent curiosity. Her silky soft dawn kissed locks falling around her face and framing it cutely, as the wind came to play with her small curls. She closed her eyes and laughed and he felt warm inside. He didn't feel cold like he did when he was killing. He felt content, the way he should feel.
His vision of her vision blurred and he found himself surprised to feel wet droplets clinging to his ashes, refusing to fall from his jade colored orbs.
"Tears?" He carefully examined the droplets hanging to his fingers before letting them fall away. He couldn't remember the last time he cried.
He chuckled making a silent promise not to give up and die until he met the pink haired girl who owned his loyalty.
"Look at what you have done to me Sakura chan."
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The snow was falling for him, cascading down the skies in an elegant winding dance. He was making the snow fall from the heavens and grace his lands in the heavenly white substance.
His steeps were wobbly and uneven as he weakly stumbled up and over the small homey hill in front of his house. He didn't bother to look back at the condition his cottage was in. He knew multiple spikes of clear ice were piercing the structure from every angle, outward. After all it had been him who made the spikes of ice form and pierce the walls and roof as well as the multiple bodies inside.
Haku sniffed feeing his heart cry out a sob at the memories of the invasion. It was because of hat he could do that they had come after him. His father leading the mob of hell-bent villagers determined to end his un-pure life.
First the came for his mother butchering her mercilessly as she cried and pleaded from her husband to spare the life of her child above her own. Haku watched in horror as the event unfolded before his young innocent eyes.
"No, daddy! You can't do this!" Haku screamed as he backed up and away from the man he once called father and the sharpened blade in his hand.
"You are tinted," was all that was head before the knife came down and blood jumped from the open wounds.
Haku didn't want to and a dormant part of him woke up acting without his will. The moisture in the air hissed forming a solid liquid that pierced their flesh mercilessly and pushed it's self out of the house and into the open.
A tear trickled down his chin as a snowflake fell right next to it. The brown haired boy looked up at the sky. It was crying for him like it had that one time his heart ached like this.
The clouds of dark gray rolled in, blocking out the sum and it's warm ray with their menacing forms. Slowly, almost as if to answer to call of the young boy's sorrow, their treasures were released upon the earth covering it with a pure white blanket of snow once again.
A single snowflake fell upon Haku's cheek as the beautiful water crystals continued their decent upon the earth. He tenderly reached up and touched it, remembering the warm kiss she bless him with a moment ago.
He remembered that day well, her face never once left his mind as her lingering presence continued to haunt him.
Haku recalled the blood on his shirt from when she had hugged him and had run away, back to whoever had hurt her. His heart was screaming for her even now, bleeding and yearning for her presence.
"Sakura chan…won't you come back to me…?"
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The sun had set and the moon was well on it's accent up the night sky as it filled the sandy village with it's haunting lavender and silver rays that seemed to hiss out whispers of fright on such nights. Gaara had a reason to be afraid. He had a very good reason to be afraid. Not because he was in danger or because he was wounded physically or because he was sick. No he was afraid because he had almost killed one of the closest people to him in self defense.
"You are strong as I expected…Gaara sama."
It hurt, his heat was aching and crying like never before. Ripping, tearing, burning, bursting. Pain exploded within him.
"Yashamaru!" He screamed as sand jumped up all around him. His ucle did nothing but caugh up blood and lay helpless. He knew he was dying. "Why…why? Yashamaru, why did you…? Why? Why?" Gaara asked through his many tears remembering his uncle's words on what love was. "You…you…I thought you were…."
"It was an order…" the sand hared man choked out weakly. "I was ordered to kill you, by your father, Kazekage sama."
"Father did…? Gaara felt his stomach lurch wanting to throw up. "Father why….why me?"
"...You were born... with the Shukaku of the sand...and observed like a guanine pig, Gaara sama. But since you could not control... the power of the living soul, Shukaku, and were unable to manipulate sand on your own, your existence was deemed a danger to the village. Before that happened…" Here the uncle of the red haire boy let his words trail off as his hear slowed down a few beats, he knew he was dying.
"Then you did thing unwillingly because father ordered you to?"
"No that is not correct. It is true I received an order from the Kazekage sama... but I could have refused if I had wished to... Gaara sama, deep within my heart I hated you. You took the life of my beloved sister when you were born... I tried to love you by thinking of you as her treasured child. But I couldn't. My sister did not wish for your birth, she became the village's sacrifice and died cursing this village. After that I carried a would that could never heal."
Gaara remembered when his uncle had explained to him flesh wounds and hear wounds that could not be fixed. The memory once so real now tasted bad within his mind.
"My sister gave you your name. 'This child's name is Gaara, a demon that loves only himself. Love only yourself, fight only for yourself. By doing so you could continue to exist.' Your name carries those wishes. But my sister did not give you this name because she loved you or cared for you. She gave you that name so you could continue to exist, because she hated and cursed this village as she died, and wanted this deep hatred to exist and remain, to let others know of it. You were not loved."
Gaara looked up slightly surprised as his uncle undid his vest and lit the explosion tags over his body.
"This is it. Please die."
An explosion rocked the building forcing smoke up into the air, blocking out the moon. But Gaara was not hurt, his sand would not allow it.
Memories of love flashed in his mind as he collapsed screaming and crying. A piece of him shattered then and there. His screams echoed throughout the city as his sand, for the first and last time, attacked him marking him with the character LOVE above his left eye on his forehead. Gaara looked up bloodlust reverberating in his eyes as his uncle's words played over in his head.
"Love only yourself, fight only for yourself."
"I am alone…" He growled readying himself to go out and kill someone why the fluttering of gold around his neck caught his eye returning his sanity and possible saving a few dozen lives.
"I'll always remember you Garra kun and when I'm older I'll come find you, I promise."
"Sa….Sakura chan?" he cried touching the red stone at the end of a gold chain. He had replaced the silver chain with one of gold like Temari had suggested. He remembered her departure and the pain he was feeling knowing he wouldn't be seeing her again for a long time.
"Of course we are Garra kun! You're my friend!"
That's right, he wasn't alone. He still had Sakura chan to hold onto.
"Nu uh it's not goodbye Garra kun! It's see you later 'cause I will."
"Sakura chan. I need you."
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Till everything burns
While everyone screams
Burning their lies
Burning my dreams
All of this hate
And all of this pain
I'll burn it all down
As my anger reigns
Till everything burns
Everything burns (Everything burns)
Everything burns
Watching it all fade away (All fade away)
Everyone screams
Everyone screams (Watching it all fade away)
(While everyone screams)
Burning down lies
Burning my dreams (All of this hate)
And all of this pain I'll burn it all down
As my anger reigns
Til everything burns (Everything burns)
Watching it all fade away
(Everything burns)
Watching it all fade away
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Other AN:/ Review! Review, flame, make a face...just review. I love it when you review.
HAPPY HALLOWEE! What are you'll going as? XD
Ja ne