Chapter Seven
P.O.V. Sakura Haruno
"Sakura!" Looking over my shoulder, I saw a small red head walk into the bedroom. I smiled seeing her annoyed face as she huffed out a puff of air, plopping dramatically on one of the two large beds that was placed inside the room.
"What is it?" I questioned looking away from her as I continued to fold the shirt in my hands.
"Your taking forever!" Annistyn groaned.
"I am not." I replied, "You are just impatient."
"I am like the farthest thing from impatient!" Annistyn defended herself sitting sat up. "I can't find them anywhere!"
"Did you even look?" I questioned,
"Of course, I looked!" Annistyn scoffed, "I even asked around and the servants don't even know where William and Arabella are."
"Hm." I hummed brushing over the curiosity of where the king and queen of the river village's whereabouts were for a second, before returning to folding my new laundry.
"That's it?" Annistyn questioned, "Hm?"
"Arabella agreed to have lunch with us today, I am sure they will pop up when-"
"But lunch was an hour ago!"
"You know how busy I would get being just a Commander." I said turning to look at the young girl, "William and Arabella run the entire River Village, they probably just got pulled into a briefing. They will find us when they are done."
"You're very relaxed..." Annistyn trailed off making me chuckled.
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked,
"Well it's not but...it's weird seeing you of all people relaxed." Annistyn explained, I shrugged turning to gaze out the window at the clear blue sky.
~~ Three Weeks Ago ~~
"Sakura!?" Annistyn gasped, tears instantly filled her dark green eyes. I smiled looking down at my fallen friends' daughter.
"Hey Annistyn." I smiled taking in her fair face.
"H-Hey!?" She breathed as tears fell down her eyes, "Th-That's all you're going to say!?"
"What do you expect me to say?"
"I-I was told you had been killed! Yo-You were supposed to have been dead this whole time-"
"I was." I said with a tilt of my head.
"Bu-But your-?!"
"Can I come in?" I asked, "I'd rather no one see me here just yet."
"Why?" Annistyn asked as I slide past her into her apartment, it appeared to be almost the same as I was here just a week ago like I believed I was.
"Um..." I turned to look at her, "...it would cause a ruckus."
"Since when are you not worried about causing a ruckus?" Annistyn studied me, "Who are you?"
"I am me." I promised,
"But Dawn-"
"Still believes I am dead." I said,
"But-How-Why-What-Wh-What!?" Annistyn quickly rambled off shaking her head. I let out a light sigh, moving to her I pulled her into a tight hug.
"I am so sorry." I breathed out my brows pulled together as I felt the pain in my chest for my careless mistakes. I left Annistyn alone, I walked onto that battlefield and I stepped in front of Naruto and Tsunade knowing I would be leaving Annistyn behind with no one to watch over her.
"What-What happened?" Annistyn gasped through tears, gripping Carver's baggy shirt tightly.
"Malachite." I said,
"The leader of the-"
"Was." I clarified. "He got me before I got him." I summed up.
"How are you here then?"
"His brother, Jadeite." I muttered. "I died with the Reaper's poison in my system."
"They brought you back!?"
"Yeah."
"Did they...Did they use-"
"Yeah..." I answered feeling a twisted anger inside my body, "They used me as a weapon."
"Sakura I...I am so sorry-!"
"I am the one who should be apologizing." I shook my head feeling so stupid, "I died leaving you behind and I-" Isadora would be rolling in her grave if she knew what I had done.
"No." Annistyn sniffed, "Your back now that's all that matters...your-your back now...right?"
"Well-" I sighed as Annistyn pulled away, looking up at my face. "-Dawn is the Commander."
"Yeah, but what does that mean for you?"
"I don't know." I shrugged,
"You don't know something?" Annistyn laughed, "Ok, really who are you?"
"I am me; I promise."
"Why don't you want anyone to know your back!?" Annistyn breathed.
"I'm not ready." I answered honestly.
"What does-"
"I came here for you." I said.
"For me?"
"Yeah, will you come with me?"
~~~~
I scooped Annistyn up from the Waterfall Village and that was it, her and I had been staying the River Village, subtract a few days inside the sand village. I about drained all my available chakra trying to transport us, Gaara was kind enough to allow us to crash inside his village until I recovered. I cleared my throat quickly looking away from her.
"Will it make you feel better if we go find them?" I questioned,
"Yes!" Annistyn catapulted off the bed, I chuckled.
"Alright." I nodded, "Let's go."
"Where do you think they are?" Annistyn questioned as we mindlessly walked through hallways.
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"What if they are in like a secret meeting!?" Annistyn guessed,
"That is a possibility." I said fueling her curiosity, her face made me laugh as we continued to walk and peek into random rooms. After a while we came up to what I knew to be a conference room, I cracked the door open. I smirked turning to Annistyn hearing William's voice.
Found them.
I was about to open the door and allow Annistyn to hop into the room, but I stopped hearing other voices mixed in array of angered tones.
"This is an outrage!" The most annoying voice on the planet cried: Onoki head of the stone village.
"I hate to agree, but Onoki does have a point." Mei Terumi spoke, she was the mizukage or village leader of the mist village.
"This is ridiculous." Gaara snapped, he was the leader of the sand village and a friend, "The Reaper has always been an ally to every one of our villages-!"
"Sakura?" Annistyn tried to read my face, I glanced at her before looking back into the room.
"Go find Cedany and hand out with her for a while." I said, Annistyn searched my masked face for a moment before nodding.
"Ok!" Annistyn said spinning on her innocent heel and skipping off down the hall as I open the door slipping into the room. On the farthest wall multiple large monitors were all hung, and each village representative had their own screen. William spotted me, he stood behind Arabella looking more than just flustered.
"She returned." A spoke, the Raikage also known as village leader of the cloud village. "We don't know what crawled out from wherever she has been!"
"Sakura Haruno was of sound mind-" Tsunade spoke, I stood out of sight of the monitors. My heart fluttered and my throat swelled shut seeing Kakashi standing behind her. Butterflies glitter laps around my stomach as I gulped in his casual tone, his hands shoved into his pockets as he appeared slightly bored.
"You did not contact anyone when she was discovered!" Arabella snapped, "You could have put her health in jeopardy-!"
"You could have put us all in jeopardy!" Onoki added being overly drastic.
"Sakura Haruno was our former Commander-" Dawn's weighed voice caught my ear, I turned to the monitors seeing her and Diem. "-we should have been the first one's contacted!" Dawn knew I was alive; thanks to her rumors flew from village to village about my sudden return to the living. I had called her after taking Annistyn, it was a conversation that did not end well. She wanted me to return home but I did not feel that place was my home?
I am in a weird place.
"We are way off topic!" Mei shouted trying to gain attention, "This is about the Reaper and how much of a danger she can possibly be at the moment." I felt myself scoff, what the hell was this and why was this even a topic of discussion?
"Every person to ever return and be freed from the Reaper's control always had large pieces of memory missing, we have no idea what woke up when Sakura Haruno was freed-" Onoki tried to say.
"If I had been contacted-" Arabella glared at Tsunade through the screen which I thought might crack under the intense pressure. "-you would have known we discovered the reasoning for Itachi Uchiha and Sakura Haruno having perfect memory when being returned while other shinobi did not. But instead you tried to hide the fact Sakura came-"
"You know why Sakura has her memory!?" I heard Naruto's voice it scratched my ears as his bright blond hair came onto the screen, he quickly stood beside Kakashi.
"Yes." Arabella answered with a nod of her head. "Due to Commander Haruno's request, my village took over research on the reaper's poison. Even after she was killed, we continued our search for answers. As it turns out, the longer a person has the poison in their system before their death the better the odds are that they will be recovered with their memory."
"Really?" Tsunade breathed, looking like she was taking a moment to digest this.
"While we are on the subject of the Reaper's-" Onoki brought up, taking the open window to grab a hold of the conversation. I rolled my eyes at his voice as I hung back watching the show with my hands in my pockets. "-when is the Waterfall Village going to do their job?" I raised my eyebrow,
"Excuse me?" Dawn twistedly laughed.
"Yes, ever since the two leaders of the Reapers were killed off, they have been a scattered mess but there are still members running around causing trouble!" Onoki snapped, "When is your village going to do their job and take out the remaining Reapers!?" I looked at Dawn whose mouth was agape staring at the screen, was she stunned by the utter stupidity like I was?
She fucking better be!
"Commander Dawn?" Mei questioned, "When is your village going to do their job-?" I walked forward; William's eyes widened seeing the pissed off expression echo its way across my face. I wasn't sure the reason I moved forward, maybe I had just represented the waterfall village for so long it was hard to rip myself out of the commander title but-
"It is not the Waterfall's job to take out the Reapers." I snapped standing beside Arabella.
"R-Reaper!" Onoki gasped,
"Sakura!" Tsunade smiled,
"The River Village!?" Diem stepped closer to the screen, "Is that where you been?!"
"I personally took on the burden of hunting down the Reapers-" I ignored the comments flooding off the screen, I especially ignored the leaf village's monitor I didn't want to see him up close. "-sparing your villages from dealing with the rogue group but that doesn't mean the threat from the Reapers solely rested on the Waterfall's shoulders."
"Reaper!" Onoki shouted, "What are you doing inside the River Village!?"
"What I do, where I am and where I go is none of your damn business." I snapped at the stone village's monitor.
"You should watch your mouth when speaking to a village leader, Commander!" Onoki spat,
"If you hadn't realized-" I spat right back, "-I am no longer the Commander of the Waterfall Village-" I saw the unsettled looks on the village leaders faces as I spoke, their uncomfortableness brought me joy.
"If-If your no longer with the Waterfall Village, th-then where do you belong?!" Onoki pried.
"Not a damn place-" I smirked as the ghostly expression carved into his face. "-even when I was a Commander and I belonged to a village; I never gave a damn how I spoke to you. Respect is earned, not given."
"Sakura." Gaara smiled, I nodded towards him. I did enjoy my visit with Annistyn for a couple days, but the sand village is freaking hot and I don't like the heat.
"I have my full memory-" I called looking from screen to screen, except the leaf's... "-stay in your lanes and I probably won't show up at your doorstep." I smirked as Arabella cut the call.
"Do you believe that was wise?" Arabella turned to me; I shrugged my shoulders.
"Rumors about me being back were already in full rotation." I said, "It was only a matter of time until everyone discovered I was back."
"You didn't say one word towards Tsunade." Arabella noticed.
"Yeah well-" I let out a breath of air, "-your pissed at her and I have my reasons to be too."
"Oh?" Arabella perked loving gossip. "Please do share!"
"Only if you and William do you lunch with Annistyn, she was really looking forward to it today."
"Oh!" William gasped looking at the clock, "It got so late!"
"Yup." I nodded, "That's how time works, come on." I waved exiting the room.
"Have you told Annistyn yet?" Arabella asked,
"Not yet." I answered.
"Why not?"
"I don't know." I shrugged, "She needs to get back home, but I also know she is loving it here."
"Where are you going to go after you drop Annistyn off?" Arabella questioned.
"I-I don't know." I answered,
"And you love that." William realized with a smile.
"I do." I nodded,
"The girl needs to get back in school." Arabella said.
"I know." I said, "It was her summer break, I am not stupid."
"When do her classes start back up?"
"In a couple days."
"You should tell her, get Annistyn ready."
"Ready for what?" William questioned his wife.
"I assume-" Arabella dared to answer, "-for Sakura to wander freely."
----
"You are such a fucking twat!"
"Hey!" I called looking up from my new phone. "That's my word, get your own shit!"
"But Lance ate my entire box of cereal!" Finn whined to me; I rolled my eyes.
"Then go to the fucking store and get more." I said.
"No!" Finn cried, "I don't wanna go into the out!"
"Nobody does, you have to suck it up and do it."
"No!"
"Yes." I sighed with an eye roll. "Shouldn't you be at like, oh I don't know, at work?"
"Shouldn't you be fingering out what you want to do?"
"I am doing just that." I defended.
"You have been sitting around this house for two weeks, hanging out with us which yes, I am happy you're around and Annistyn is loving it, but you are bored." Finn crossed his arms over his chest. "You're not built to hang out and do nothing all day, you're a workaholic."
"People change." I shrugged,
"Not you."
"Why not me?"
"You don't change." Lance laughed,
"I do too." I defended, "I can adapt."
"Adapt, yes but change? Hm...no."
"What are we talking about?" Diem muttered walking into the house.
"Sakura, cereal and ability to change." Finn smiled summing up the conversation.
"Hm." Diem nodded, "How the mighty have fallen."
"What does that mean?" I asked,
"Nothing."
"Mhm."
"I'm just saying, you use to lead armies and you were a badass and now you sit around all day arguing with Finn about cereal." Diem explained,
"That was not the conversation." I pointed out.
"Does it matter?" Diem questioned, "I think your ass has fused to that couch."
"At least I have an ass." I muttered taking a drink from my straw.
"What was that?"
"I know you heard that." I smirked.
"Don't you have like stamps to go collect or some shit?" Diem asked me.
"Don't you have a girl to harass?" I countered.
"Oh-!" Diem scoffed, "-that happened one time! We were on a date, but she was just there for a free meal how was I supposed to the know that she-!?"
"Mhm." I muttered, "You do throw up a couple red flags."
"Shut up Sakura." Diem muttered but I saw him smiling.
"How's Dawn?" I questioned,
"Good, little tired I assume. She is in another meeting with Kaguya."
"Joy..." I muttered after hearing that name.
"How long are you two going to fight?" Finn wondered.
"Well-" I sighed running my hand through my long hair, "-I trapped her inside a dome for a couple weeks and then I died so..."
"Yeah but she was going to flatten the Stone Village for no good reason, you did the right thing." Diem added,
"Doesn't make her less pissed at me." I said.
"True..." Diem sighed, "...but I mean it's not like she isn't going to cave soon, she looks like she is about to blow."
"Mmm." I muttered shrugging earning an annoyed eye roll from Diem, a dark bottle encased my vision. I blinked looking at the glass bottle a little confused for a moment until I looked up seeing the smile that played on Itachi's lips. Itachi has been coming and going between the leaf and waterfall villages since I have been hanging around my old team. Thanks to Itachi, Dawn and everyone inside this village knew the offer the Tsunade made to me. Needless to say that burned Dawn even more than picking Annistyn up and taking her halfway across the word on a mini vacation.
"If you're not careful your brother and Hokage is going catch on to where you have been sneaking off too." I smirked,
"I am not 'sneaking' off." Itachi said with a careless wave of his hand, "I'm not doing anything wrong, just visiting friends."
"Inside a different village-" Diem butted into the conversation, "-thousands of miles away."
"Tomato tomayto." Itachi pulled his onyx eyes onto me, "Can I speak with you?"
"Of course!" Finn chirred in,
"Alone." Itachi corrected shooting Finn an annoyed expression.
"Sure." I stood, following him out the front door giving Diem a confused shrug, I had no idea what was going on inside Itachi's mind. It was late nearing dawn; I was surprised to see Itachi. He and I settled on the roof of my house, each holding a cold beer under the warm twilight sky.
"How are you feeling?" Itachi broke the sweetened silence.
"I hate mornings." I answered, "But damn-" I breathed looking at the early sun rise, "-if that isn't the most beautiful view in this hellish world, I don't know what is."
"I do..." Itachi breathed,
"What?" I asked turning to see him gazing at me. "Are you ok?" I questioned, Itachi cleared his throat looking ahead at the sleepy sun.
"Of course!" His voice was higher than usual, he was lying. Itachi didn't normally lie to me, what was going on?
"What is falling from the sky this time?" I asked with a sigh, leaning back on my arm.
"H-Huh?" Itachi chuckled, "Nothing! I swear, everything is fine for once."
"Hm..." I hummed, "...I am surprised to see you here."
"Oh, why would that be?"
"Well I assume Tsunade is pretty pissed-"
"Everyone is pretty pissed." Itachi corrected,
"Right." I nodded, "So you scurry off to the village I am hanging out in, doesn't seem like something your Hokage would be cool with."
"Tsunade is hurt and possibly a little disappointed but she doesn't hate you Sakura." Itachi said, "She missed you, she wanted to find a way to keep you inside-"
"That's the problem." I cut in, "I don't want to be kept inside, I want to be left alone. I fought in so many wars, I did my time on the battle ground now and I even died for them. Now that I got dragged back to this hellhole it's my turn to live my life and do what I please and having guilt dumped onto me for that is bullshit!"
"I agree." Itachi nodded, "You know we are all on your side, we just want you around-"
"I know." I sighed leaning back against the roof, "But for the life of me I can't understand why."
"Sakura-" Itachi groaned, "-I have told you a million times-"
"No-" I said, "-you, Arabella, Gaara everyone says the same shit. I am strong and blah, blah, blah, but let's be real, each of those villages just wants the Reaper living inside their gates so they can get my bragging rights."
"Even so, they all still care for you." Itachi repeated.
"Get new lines." I said, "Then come back and try again." Itachi closed his eyes and laughed at my comment. I looked up at the twisting colors in the sky. "How are they?" I wondered out loud.
"Hm?" Itachi muttered, "Everyone is good, Carver and Raiden are getting their second round of students soon. Those two seem to be excited for it, Naruto is still a bottomless pit and-" Itachi cut himself off, I could feel him scanning my face "He is ok too." Itachi's words blazed my heart as I closed my eyes fighting back the emotions I lock in a box during the daytime.
"Sakura-" Itachi sounded unsure of himself, "-Hanare-" Her name sent anger coursing through my veins, raddleing all the locks I had placed on heart. I sat up turning to him ready to kick him off the roof! "-she is a good person."
"I-" I scoffed not wanting to hear anything about her!
"Sakura-" Itachi caught my arm keeping me from getting up. "-Hanare is a sweet woman, she is kind and caring-"
"You got to know her?" I felt my voice accuse.
"I did." Itachi nodded,
"How could you-"
"I needed to make sure Kakashi was safe with her." Itachi quickly explained, "Kakashi is a close friend of mine, for the past months he has only been hanging around her and so I needed to make sure..."
"I don't care about this-"
"You do." Itachi stated, "It's ok to be hurt by this but I think you need to know Kakashi is safe with her, so you can accept this and move on-"
"Move on?" I turned to look at him.
"We-Well-"
"How could he-" I turned from Itachi's wide eyes gazing back into the swirling sunrise wishing it could spell out answers for me. "-how could he?" I repeated shaking my head.
"Hanare is beautiful-"
"He wouldn't be drawn in by appearances." I half snapped, "That woman is nothing like..." I quickly cut myself off.
"She is nothing like you were."
"What is that suppose mean?" I asked,
"Hanare is like...she is like a trickling pond, tranquil and halcyon. She is simple; where you were the Commander of the Waterfall Village, you are the Reaper and being around you is like...uh..."
"It's like being strapped down to a comet-" Diem's voice filled in from behind us, I didn't turn around to look him. "-that's flying at the speed of light, twisting and turning like a rollercoaster off its tracks and your seat belt ain't buckled." Diem sat beside me.
"I am a wreck, I get it." I leaned back.
"You're not a wreck." Diem chuckled, "But you lived a fast pace life that burnt regular people out, just look at Carver and Raiden."
"I see." I licked my lips looking into my lap feeling my heart cracking under the water weight of my tears when I cry alone at night. "He hasn't even tried talking to me, not even once..."
"Do you blame the guy?" Diem wondered, "Do you think he even can talk to you? The dude has got to be freaked out seeing you walking around after two painful years."
"But-"
"Dawn and I kept tabs on the leaf village and it's shinobi while you were down under, Kakashi had been completely alone taking whatever mission he could get his hands on, he did this for almost the whole two years while you were gone. I think this was his coping mechanism to deny the fact you were really gone. It wasn't until just a few months ago when he met Hanare that he slowed down and started enjoying his life again."
"Oh." I muttered, hearing all this should be making me feel better but it felt like he was throwing lemon juice on my open cuts.
"I know it hurts, it has to burn like a bitch but-" Diem cleared his throat, "-he is happy and isn't that you wanted for him?"
"Yeah." I breathed scrunching my face and blinked my eyes as I fought back the tears from slipping out into the open revealing just how torn I felt inside.
"What are you thinking about?" Itachi questioned making me breath out a laugh as my eyes filled with salty tears. Diem's face grew three times whiter seeing the tears spill over.
"I keep wishing that somehow, someway my mother will walk through my front door because I would give anything to talk to her right about now." I gasped out as I leaned forward as cries spilled like beads falling out of my chest.
"Sakura." Itachi breathed wrapping an arm around me.
"I-I don't understand." I breathed shaking my head hating the fact I had broken in front of Diem and Itachi.
"He doesn't deserve you." Itachi soothed, rubbing small circles on my face.
"I wanted to marry him-" I gasped through the racking pain the invaded every cell of my body, "-I have no idea how I am ever going to be alright and I-" I cried into my hands, "-was any of it real if he can sleep at night without me?"
"Sakura..." Itachi breathed my name again. I believed he was like me, completely at a loss for what to say in a moment like this.
"I-I am going to go get Amethyst or Piper or someone who can handle this-?!" Diem quickly scurried to his feet, almost making me want to smile. Diem and I got along so well because we both never displayed our emotions, that's how we dealt with the hand given to us.
"Whoa!" I heard Diem shout, I looked over seeing he almost crashed into Dawn. "Where's the fire?" He half snapped, "I can't use you, your more desensitized than I am!"
"Huh?" Dawn asked moving past Diem, "Where are you going?" Dawn called out to her cousin.
"To find a person who can feel feelings!" Diem answered as he jumped off the roof.
"What?" Dawn shook her head turning to where I sat with Itachi still by my side, her face froze seeing my tear stained face. "What-!?"
"Sakura is having a little emotional melt down right now-" Itachi explained, "-what are you doing here?"
"I-" Dawn tensed; I knew her better than anyone. I pulled my eyebrows together feeling my muscles tighten.
"Where's the fire at?" I copied Diem's comment.
"It-" Dawn sighed some of the tension expelling from her chest, "-it's inside the Leaf Village."