Time seemed to give Kakashi space, leaving him be as Kakashi remained unmoving by Sakura's side. He reached out and closed her eyes, the lifelessness swirling inside them was too much for him to bare.
"Hey-!" An annoying voice threatened to shatter the small bubble Kakashi huddled inside, a bubble where he could still reach out and see Sakura. To him, it almost felt like she was just simply sleeping. "-Kakashi!" Naruto called out sounding tired.
"Dude where did you go?!" Raiden added annoyed, "I got your iced tea!" Kakashi reached to his neck and pulled his dark mask over his face. Sakura was the only person to ever see his exposed face, and that was how he wanted to keep it. Kakashi lightly brushed his fingers down her cold face and over her white lips.
"I think it's time my love." Kakashi breathed, reaching under Sakura's body lifting her close to his chest as he turned and numbly began to walk on jelly filled legs. Kakashi fought himself, forcing the tears to settle in the back of his eyes until he was alone again.
"There you are!" Raiden spotted Kakashi walking between two scorched buildings.
"We have been looking for you two for an hour!" Naruto shouted, holding his arms out seeing Kakashi holding Sakura. The masked shinobi ignored the growing group as he walked towards the open stretcher sitting off to the side. The medical shinobi of the leaf were now scouring the village for the injured and dead, so these stretchers were placed everywhere.
"Is she knocked out?" Carver wondered following Kakashi who remained silent.
"She had to have used like all her chakra!" Raiden laughed, "She fucking took down Malachite! The Reapers should now crumble by themselves since they don't have him anymore!"
"Yes." Carver agreed it was a good feeling that swirled around inside his chest, it felt like this long chapter of their lives was finally coming to an end. His team could move on and finally have normal lives, they fought so hard and for so long, it almost didn't seem like this moment would ever come.
"She was able to heal herself?!" Tsunade questioned as she came running towards Kakashi, he was to busy gazing down at Sakura's face, brushing his fingers through her hair to notice people were beginning to gather around.
"Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows seeing a distant look plastered inside Kakashi's one exposed eye.
"She's gone." Kakashi whispered, never removing his eyes from her resting face.
"Who's gone?" Raiden wondered, "Where did they go and when will they be back? We have a lot of clean up to do here and I will not be the only one getting stuck-"
"Raiden." Carver rolled his eyes. "Kakashi what-"
"No." Tsunade breathed, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes instantly watered. "Your lying!" Tsunade mindless stumbled her foot.
"Huh?" Raiden raised an eyebrow turning to Carver who shrugged feeling just confused.
"I'm not." Kakashi closed his eye, "She bled out."
"How-Wh-Wh-" Tsunade gasped as she quickly rushed to Sakura's side, searching for a pulse with shaky hands.
"Wait..." Raiden looked from Kakashi and then to Tsunade. "She's just sleeping...right?"
"No...!" Tsunade cried, hot tears steamed against the cooling dawn sky as she failed at finding a pulse on Sakura's wrist and neck.
"Sakura's...just sleeping right?" Raiden lightly laughed as Naruto moved to Kakashi's side, his heart rate spiked staring at the pinkette laying in the stretcher. Naruto's ears begged for someone to answer Raiden, to confirm his question; Sakura was just asleep!
"No." Tsunade cried, dropping to her knees holding on the side of Sakura's stretcher for support. "S-Sh-She got hurt because of me, I-I was reckless and-" Tsunade weeped.
"She is just sleeping right!?" Raiden snapped looking frantically from Tsunade and then to Kakashi.
"No!" Tsunade yelled, looking at Raiden through watery vision. "She has no pulse, her lungs aren't breathing, there's not blood pumping oxygen through her veins; Sakura is dead!"
"What?"
Carver turned his head, Dawn and Diem were walking towards them. The two commanders of the waterfall village looked scratched up, a little bloody but still breathing. Dawn's eyes scanned over the small group until her eyes landed on the pinkette.
"Sakura?" Dawn called out, dashing to her side. "Why-What..." Dawn's brain swam away from the unfathomable idea that Commander Sakura Haruno could be brought down.
Through the inflexible years Dawn as known her, hundreds of people came knocking on their front door trying to claim Sakura's life as their own but all had failed.
Why now?
What had changed this time?
Who was able to get close enough let alone take her down?
"What happened!?" Diem shouted as Dawn remained speechless staring at Sakura, waiting for those emerald eyes to open. Dawn's lungs felt compressed as she begged for Sakura to stir awake, this had to all be a misunderstanding.
Sakura couldn't die; she was to skilled, to strong. She was to bright in this dark world to be snuffed out, Dawn still needed her commander. Dawn blinked trying to stop the flow of tears from entering her eyes but as the thoughts of a future without Sakura leading her multiplied inside her head, Dawn found herself fighting a losing battle.
"Well!?"
"I-" Tsunade looked towards the ground,
"What happened!?" Diem yelled again, "We trusted you to have her back!"
"We-"
"What the fuck!?" Diem boomed, rage blossoming inside his chest. "We did our job! We were stationed at the break in your gate in order to stop those creatures from getting inside this village. You all had one thing to do, just one and that was to have Sakura's back, so please someone fucking tell me why I am looking at her laying there!"
"She...Malachite-"
"That isn't good enough!" Dawn snapped, "You all are not weak children who needs their hand held. Your village alone holds most of the popular shinobi in the world, so fucking tell us how our Commander is lying there dead!"
"She saved me." Naruto answered, "She blocked Malachite's sword, but was hit with it instead."
"I knew I should have fought her on not coming to this fucking hellhole!" Diem cursed.
"Hey." Raiden defended his new home.
"No!" Diem snapped, "Every fucking times she gets involved with this village she gets fucked over, look at her now!"
"Did she die alone?" Carver whispered holding her right hand in his, he couldn't stop his mind from inspecting this new odd feeling of cold stiffness resonating from her.
"No." Kakashi said, "I with her."
"Then why didn't you have her back?" Carver asked, "You were with her, that's why I didn't come search her out because I knew she was with you. You were suppose to keep her safe-!"
"She broke off from Kakashi." Naruto spoke up with a shaken voice, "She came to my aid."
"Fucking useless." Diem darkly laughed, he refused to look at her body. That broken shell wasn't the commander he followed and respected so highly. Why did she have to return here?
"It's not like I wanted her to jump in my way!" Naruto turned his pain and anger onto Diem,
"Shut the hell up boy." Diem snapped,
"Diem back off!" Raiden backed up Naruto.
"I am not the one who let Sakura fucking die!"
"Naruto isn't the one who killed her!"
"Might as fucking well be!"
"You don't mean that-" Carver butted in, "-your just angry. Knock it off, you all know she would be pissed if she saw us all at each other's throats."
"We don't really need to be worried about that now do we?" Dawn crossed her arms over her chest. "Since she is now dead and all."
"Dawn-"
"Your village is the reason my Commander is dead."
"No-" Carver turned, still holding Sakura's stiff hand. "-the Reapers, Malachite those are the reasons. You know she loved this village-"
"Yeah we fucking know." Diem snapped,
"It's not our fault she got tired of playing hunger games inside her own village." Raiden rolled his eyes at Diem snarky comment.
"How about you say that to my face!" Diem shouted.
"What the fuck do you think I am doing!?" Raiden yelled back, "I am not behind you blowing chestnut smoke up your ass-!"
"Enough!" Tsunade yelled over the angery mix of voices, she rose to her feet. As she did so Tsunade turned her focus onto Sakura, she reached out brushing a few strands of pink hair through her fingers. "Your Commander, your friend, your family member just died, show a little respect and let her be buried before you jump down each others throats!"
"Where is Itachi?" Dawn asked.
"You are not taking her back to the Waterfall Village." Raiden stated,
"Like hell we are not." Dawn laughed, "She is our Commander, not yours. Sakura will be buried inside her village."
"Your right." Raiden agreed, "She will be."
"The Leaf is not her village." Diem said,
"Hmm..." Raiden thought for a moment, "...history will say something different, where did she spend all her free time?"
"With her boyfriend."
"Inside the leaf-"
"Kakashi Hatake was leaving the Leaf Village." Dawn announced, "He was going to transfer to the Waterfall Village to be with Sakura, but he died before he could. Tell me, if Kakashi wasn't here would Sakura ever be around?"
"You were going to leave?" Naruto breathed looking at Kakashi's masked face who hadn't moved his eye off Sakura.
"Yes." Kakashi answered.
"But-But why-"
"I was going to marry her Naruto." Kakashi answered, giving him a quick glance.
"You-" Naruto blushed before feeling sharp pain inside his heart, he remembered how broken Sakura was when Kakashi was supposedly killed, how was Kakashi going to fair without her now?
"I think..." Tsunade sighed, "...since Sakura doesn't have any living relatives, Kakashi should be her next of kin-"
"Hell no!" Diem and Dawn protested,
"They were engaged." Tsunade said.
"For like two seconds!" Diem scoffed, "Then he died like a dick!"
"They were together, you know how much Sakura loved him." Tsunade rationalized.
"When she had to power the shields with her chakra-" Carver added, "-Kakashi was the only one who could touch her."
"That is true." Dawn breathed looking at Sakura, she looked like she was sleeping...was everyone sure she wasn't just sleeping? "Fine."
"Fine?!" Diem turned to Dawn.
"She loved him." Dawn looked into Diem's eyes. "He would be the closest thing-"
"What about us!?" Diem called out offended. "We are her family!"
"Diem, this isn't a popularity contest." Dawn sighed, "Kakashi, if you wish you can be appointed Sakura's next of kin."
"This is bullshit." Diem muttered,
"The fact Sakura is even dead is bullshit." Dawn agreed, "But she is and we don't have much time before her body begins to decompose. We need to have a funeral and bury her."
"But he is just going to say she will be buried here-"
"Sakura-" Kakashi said, tilting his head praying to the heavens for those eyes to open. "-should be buried inside the Waterfall Village."
"What!?" Carver and Raiden turned,
"Alright!" Diem said, "Let's go home."
"No!" Carver objected.
"Sakura does have family-" Kakashi said, "-but she is to young to be given all these responsibilities."
"Huh?" Naruto said,
"Who the fuck-"
"Annistyn." Kakashi said, turning to the grief riddled group.
"You know about her?" Dawn questioned.
"Of course." Kakashi said, "Sakura and I talked about me meeting her soon."
"Kakashi..." Naruto breathed.
"Sakura would want to be buried where Annistyn could visit her." Kakashi cleared his throat. "The child already lost one mother, and she is about to lose another."
"Your..." Diem said, "...Your a good man, I am glad you were with her."
"Yeah." Kakashi swallowed down the rising emotions swirling inside his chest like a fury filled tornado.
"This is not the good morning I thought I would be getting." The group turned seeing a woman moving to join their little gathering.
"Piper!" Raiden weakly smiled seeing his teammate had awoken.
"Hey." The red head waved but she ignored the group. "Is she really...?"
"Yeah." Carver breathed, turning back to Sakura. "She's gone."
"That's fucked up." Piper shook her head, "We return only for her to die?"
"You remember everything?" Tsunade wondered,
"For the most part." Piper said,
"Everyone else is...?"
"Still knocked out." Piper answered, "Lucky bastards, they are in for one hell of a shock when they wake up."
"Yeah." Carver agreed.
"Who killed her?" Piper wondered,
"Malachite."
"That bastard?"
"That dead bastard." Carver corrected.
"She got him?"
"Yeah, before he got her."
"That's Sakura for you."
"That it is..." Carver nodded. "...can we at least have the funeral here?"
"I don't see why not." Dawn said, "Sakura's funeral inside the Waterfall Village would be a headache anyway."
"So since Sakura is gone now-" Carver thought, "-that makes you Commander of the Waterfall Village?" Everyone turned to Dawn who painted a weak smile.
"Yes."
"Those soldiers are going to be after you now." Carver said.
"I know." Dawn said.
"Are you...Are you ready for that?"
"No." Diem answered, "Sakura could keep them at bay but now that it's just me and Dawn they might overrun us."
"What would happen if that occured?" Tsunade dared to wonder,
"The Waterfall Village will be destroyed-" Diem's voice was grim. "-and Purgatory will rise."
"How-" Tsunade went to question more into the waterfall village; the village Sakura builts fate until Dawn dashly pulled up a dome around the group. Kakashi looked around, it appeared similar to Sakura's. Fire rained down around the dome, Naruto looked all around not understanding what was going on. The fight was over, Malachite was dead and the reapers were no more...right?
Dawn pushed the dome outward, moving the boiled flames with it. Tsunade and Kakashi looked all around them, shielding Sakura's body by instinct as their eyes spotted a figure on a roof, the same one that Malachite and Sakura held their last standoff.
"Not you." Diem groaned, Jadeite stood against the morning sun with a small group of seven reapers behind him. "Go away."
"I warned you-" Jadeite called out to Tsunade, "-I told you to back away from the Reaper but you stood against me, so now your beloved village will fall to its knees and bow to me!"
"I am so tired of these unstable individuals thinking they can just come into a village and be all high and mighty." Raiden said pulling out his sword, the seven reapers took off running into the village.
"Hey!" Raiden yelled running after them. "Head starts are for sore losers!"
Kakashi moved to go after Jadeite but felt himself hesitate glancing back at Sakura, he didn't feel right about leaving her alone.
"She will be fine." Dawn said, seeing Kakashi pause. Kakashi stared at Sakura for a long second before turning, running after Dawn and Tsunade.
----
Tsunade, Kakashi, along with the two commanders of the waterfall village tracked Jadeite for three blocks. The new leader of the Reapers stood inside the training grounds with a sneer for a smile on his face, waiting for the shinobi to catch up.
"I was beginning to think-" Jadeite started, but was cut off by Kakashi and his lighting blade slicing the air where Jadeite stood. Kakashi's dark gray eye glowed with a painful rage as his sharingan reflected raw power.
"Kakashi!" Naruto yelled running towards the fight between Jadeite, Kakashi, Tsunade and the two waterfall commanders. "What-" Naruto watched as Kakashi landed his kunai in Jadeite's back, instead of the expected cry or angry scream Jadeite vanished inside a puff of cloudy smoke.
"What?!" Kakashi gasped.
"How?" Dawn breathed looking Diem in the eye.
"Sakura." Tsunade stated, feeling beads of dread spilling into her chest. The collection of shinobi didn't take another precious second before sprinting off in the direction they left the pink cherry blossom.
"Where are we going?!" Naruto yelled trying to keep with his sensei, no one responded as they dropped down on the block they had left her body. Kakashi's heart pounded wildly in his chest, with wide eyes he took in Jadeite standing on the building Malachite lost his life on.
"Run." Dawn said looking at the large ball of destruction collecting over Jadeite's head, wind was being pulled into the changing colored sphere as fuel.
"Sakura-!" Kakashi ran towards her without a care in the world for his safety.
"You moron!" Diem shouted over the roaring winds, Diem and Naruto grabbed Kakashi's arms and dragged him into a nearby store. Dawn held the door open staring at the sphere, she begged the three men with her eyes to move faster. Diem threw Kakashi inside the room, he quickly helped his cousin slammed the door shut as Jadeite lowered the massive bomb onto the leaf village.
"Get down!" Naruto yelled feeling the raw energy vibrating inside the air. He ducked down as the glass windows of the store shattered, heat gushed inside the building. Dawn threw up another dome trying to keep the hungry flames for scorching them up for dinner.
----
"Naruto?" Tsunade's voice opened Naruto's crystal blue eyes, he was lying on his side coated in dust, debris and pieces of shattered glass.
"Granny?" Naruto asked looking around, as he sat up his lungs gasped out and forced him into a fit of coughing. "Wha-What happened?"
"Jadeite, he set of a bomb."
"A-A bomb!?" Naruto coughed harder as he forced himself to rise to his feet. "What-"
"We were so close to the blast sight, Dawn tried to protect us with her shield but that failed."
"We all got hit with it?"
"Yes, we were all propelled against the wall. Raiden had a shard of glass puncture his leg but other than that, we are all alright."
"Where is he?"
"He was rushed to the hospital by Carver."
"How long was I out?" Naruto blinked gazing around the destroyed store. The windows were shattered, bits of glass laid everywhere as the front wall was blown away.
"Not long." Tsunade sighed as she got up, she already could feel her body aching from the pain of being shot back against the wall.
"Where is Kakashi-Sensei?"
"He..." Tsunade sighed, "...come on." Tsunade turned moving from the building. Naruto didn't ask why, for once he simply did as told and followed the blonde outside. The street appeared as if a tornado came and rolled around.
"Wow..."
"Yeah." Tsunade agreed, it was going to take months to repair the village. Naruto saw from over Tsunade's shoulder where Kakashi, Dawn and Diem had wandered off too. Kakashi kneeled in front of a burnt stretcher that was flipped onto its side.
"What happened?" Naruto pulled his eyebrows together.
"Sakura." Tsunade said her name and instant tears formed, she quickly cleared her throat. "Her body was destroyed in the explosion."
"Wh-What!?" Naruto breath hitched as he quickly turning to Kakashi.
Dawn and Diem stood behind him looking towards the ground, their faces told their story on how the felt. They believed they failed their beloved commander today, they were unable to protect her when she needed them to, they couldn't stop Jadeite from getting away and they couldn't even keep her body in tact to be laid to rest.
"Shh." Tsunade said pulling Naruto into a hug as he began to involuntary cry. Naruto's chest was over filling with dread kissed emotions, making him feel like even though he and his beloved village was still standing in the aftermath, he still failed here today.
"We-We can-can't even bury her!" Naruto cried into Tsunade's shoulder.
"I know." The blonde hokage breathed, blinking back her tears. "But we can remember her."
"She-She was so young and-" Naruto cut himself with a shake of his head, he didn't want to finish his own thought. Naruto didn't want the gruesome details making themselves known, but they were slipping through against his will anyway. Sakura dying at the young age of Twenty Two, she had so much more living to do. This world still needed someone as strong as she was to change it for the better. "-she's never going to get married, or have a family..." Naruto glanced over towards Kakashi.
"Now is not the time." Tsunade cleared her throat pulling away from Naruto, "Our village is in pieces, we have missing shinobi, multiple breaks in our border and the Reapers are still a threat. We need to be on guard now more than ever."
"What-What do we do?" Naruto asked, tearing his large blue eyes from his broken sensei.
"We need to first secure our gates." Tsunade answered, "Can I trust you to go find Sasuke and do this for me?"
"Yeah..."
"Naruto-" Tsunade called as the blond shinobi turned.
"Yeah Granny?"
"We will mourn her tomorrow." Tsunade said, "We will hold a memorial in her name but until then I need you to focused." Naruto nodded before turning breaking into a light run, his eyes against his will turned brushing over the fallen over stretcher that was burnt and melted, Naruto's heart clenched as he forced his eyes forward trying to keep his mind on his task at hand.
"One step at a time." Naruto breathed to himself, on his way to check on his parents, track down Sasuke and then get to the gate and start damage control.