somewhere over the rainbow.
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Prompt: 053. nostalgia & 343. prisoner in her mind
Word Count: 1064
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Notes: Written for 50 scenes & 500 themes. Prompt tables are here & here.
-
“Sakura-chan?”
The door creaked with the effort of opening, and the sight that greeted the inquisitive man was the same as always. She was there, sitting in the only spot she knew, staring vacantly out into the endless, measureless ocean of space. The soft footfalls of him padding into the room were met with silence, and the man came to a stop in front of the frail woman.
“You have to snap out of it, Sakura-chan,” he said softly, locks of wispy blonde tinged with premature gray covering his twin cerulean pools. She turned her gaze to him, and he willed himself to look away. Naruto didn’t want to see the vacant emerald orbs that were hollow, empty, broken - nothing like the vivacious eyes of his heart’s sister. Sometimes, he wondered if she had actually gone blind in her long attendance at the hospital. Her eyes resembled Kiba’s left eye in every way, except-
Even with complete blindness in one eye, Kiba’s eyes still held more emotion than both of Sakura’s fully functional eyes.
The coral haired woman inclined her head an inch, barely perceptible. She seemed to be scrutinizing him for a second, but turned her gaze back to the open frame on the wall, as if disappointed with what she had seen.
“Damn it, Sakura!” he yelled, pounding his fist on a nearby table in exasperation. The unfortunate piece of wood groaned under the weight of his fists, and gave way to the pressure seconds later. Neither occupant paid attention to the offending noise that followed the crash, much to his inner chagrin.
Nothing could shake her out of her mesmerizing world, he knew.
If the world stopped right now, if the building they were in crashed to the ground... she would not notice, engrossed in her illusion, in the lost abyss of her mind.
The telltale glistening in Naruto’s eyes screamed his frustration, even if his words could not. But like the noise and the world around her, the fragile woman sitting against the small, wooden chair seemed not to notice. He had tried to follow her never-ending gaze once, outside the sole window in the constricting room.
All he had seen was the miniature park located in the hospital’s rear. There was nothing there that warranted someone to never tear their gaze away, and he had long ago submitted to the fact that there was something there that only she could see. Something entirely different from the beautiful mini-forest in the yard created especially for this ward’s patients, something not entirely there.
Something involving Uchiha Itachi, he knew.
The urge to punch something, kill something grabbed him tightly in its grip again, forcing him to tear his teary gaze from the sitting woman.
He wondered why, five years after the monster’s death, he still found a way to plague Sakura daily, nightly, and probably forever.
The broken woman sat always on the same chair, a chair that was salvaged from the ruins of the last Akatsuki hideout. Naruto fought against the urge to scrunch his nose at the piece of furniture. It was surprisingly simple, and looked as if it was made from a child’s hand. He remembered the day well, when the ambush against the hideout had taken place. Everything in there had been ornate and flashy to the extreme, and looked fit for royalty, but it had all been easily destroyed.
Yet this ugly chair, made from scrappy oak with its dark stain peeling managed to survive the ruins of the battlefield.
And the image of a bloody Sakura clutching onto the dying remains of Uchiha Itachi was something he would never be able to forget. He had witnessed it, witnessed the entire thing. He had heard her scream and curse at the dying man - one second daring him to die in her arms, another second praying to some obsolete god or another.
He had also heard her scream that it wasn’t supposed to go like this, that he was an idiot for not taking her antidote.
And Naruto’s heart had shattered then - he wasn’t as dense as he made himself out to be, and two and two put themselves together quite easily. Sakura’s plan, carefully corresponded with Hokage, was to poison as many Akatsuki as possible while she was still there. The attackers also had the poison coated on any metal offensive they carried with them - she had created it herself, and was fatal on contact.
Naruto had watched as she threw the kunai that went clean through Itachi’s shoulder, and had watched as he had crumpled.
He hadn’t paid much attention then. Sakura had turned away quickly to defeat the next Akatsuki member, and it wasn’t until battle’s end that she returned to the Uchiha’s side, under the guise of disposing the body. And it wasn’t until then that she discovered her other carefully crafted plan had been broken at the Uchiha’s own hand.
And Sakura was never the same from then on - and Naruto suspected that he too, lost a bit of himself that day.
Swearing profanities at everything and everyone on the journey home in chakra chains, Sakura had seemed to not notice anything around her. Two weeks later, she had been declared mentally unstable, and three days after that, moved into the maximum security mental ward.
Naruto had felt his heart break a thousand times over at his heart’s sisters betrayal, but he knew that for Sakura, time stopped when Uchiha Itachi’s heart stopped.
Looking at her now, sitting in the same chair, staring vacantly ahead, he knew that there was no way he could ever bring her back now. Her genius mind (not anymore, a voice snickered inside-) was stuck in a continuous loop of the past, and she was stuck with it. Her frail body was in Konoha - but her mind and soul...they were in a different place entirely.
He shook his head slightly when his last attempt to catch her attention failed to bring a reaction. With a quick homemade jutsu, the rubble of the ruined desk was cleared away, and he walked out of the small room without a glance behind.
He would be back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that-
It was a hopeless cycle, but like Sakura, Naruto was also stuck in an endless loop of denial.
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Prompt: 053. nostalgia & 343. prisoner in her mind
Word Count: 1064
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Notes: Written for 50 scenes & 500 themes. Prompt tables are here & here.
-
“Sakura-chan?”
The door creaked with the effort of opening, and the sight that greeted the inquisitive man was the same as always. She was there, sitting in the only spot she knew, staring vacantly out into the endless, measureless ocean of space. The soft footfalls of him padding into the room were met with silence, and the man came to a stop in front of the frail woman.
“You have to snap out of it, Sakura-chan,” he said softly, locks of wispy blonde tinged with premature gray covering his twin cerulean pools. She turned her gaze to him, and he willed himself to look away. Naruto didn’t want to see the vacant emerald orbs that were hollow, empty, broken - nothing like the vivacious eyes of his heart’s sister. Sometimes, he wondered if she had actually gone blind in her long attendance at the hospital. Her eyes resembled Kiba’s left eye in every way, except-
Even with complete blindness in one eye, Kiba’s eyes still held more emotion than both of Sakura’s fully functional eyes.
The coral haired woman inclined her head an inch, barely perceptible. She seemed to be scrutinizing him for a second, but turned her gaze back to the open frame on the wall, as if disappointed with what she had seen.
“Damn it, Sakura!” he yelled, pounding his fist on a nearby table in exasperation. The unfortunate piece of wood groaned under the weight of his fists, and gave way to the pressure seconds later. Neither occupant paid attention to the offending noise that followed the crash, much to his inner chagrin.
Nothing could shake her out of her mesmerizing world, he knew.
If the world stopped right now, if the building they were in crashed to the ground... she would not notice, engrossed in her illusion, in the lost abyss of her mind.
The telltale glistening in Naruto’s eyes screamed his frustration, even if his words could not. But like the noise and the world around her, the fragile woman sitting against the small, wooden chair seemed not to notice. He had tried to follow her never-ending gaze once, outside the sole window in the constricting room.
All he had seen was the miniature park located in the hospital’s rear. There was nothing there that warranted someone to never tear their gaze away, and he had long ago submitted to the fact that there was something there that only she could see. Something entirely different from the beautiful mini-forest in the yard created especially for this ward’s patients, something not entirely there.
Something involving Uchiha Itachi, he knew.
The urge to punch something, kill something grabbed him tightly in its grip again, forcing him to tear his teary gaze from the sitting woman.
He wondered why, five years after the monster’s death, he still found a way to plague Sakura daily, nightly, and probably forever.
The broken woman sat always on the same chair, a chair that was salvaged from the ruins of the last Akatsuki hideout. Naruto fought against the urge to scrunch his nose at the piece of furniture. It was surprisingly simple, and looked as if it was made from a child’s hand. He remembered the day well, when the ambush against the hideout had taken place. Everything in there had been ornate and flashy to the extreme, and looked fit for royalty, but it had all been easily destroyed.
Yet this ugly chair, made from scrappy oak with its dark stain peeling managed to survive the ruins of the battlefield.
And the image of a bloody Sakura clutching onto the dying remains of Uchiha Itachi was something he would never be able to forget. He had witnessed it, witnessed the entire thing. He had heard her scream and curse at the dying man - one second daring him to die in her arms, another second praying to some obsolete god or another.
He had also heard her scream that it wasn’t supposed to go like this, that he was an idiot for not taking her antidote.
And Naruto’s heart had shattered then - he wasn’t as dense as he made himself out to be, and two and two put themselves together quite easily. Sakura’s plan, carefully corresponded with Hokage, was to poison as many Akatsuki as possible while she was still there. The attackers also had the poison coated on any metal offensive they carried with them - she had created it herself, and was fatal on contact.
Naruto had watched as she threw the kunai that went clean through Itachi’s shoulder, and had watched as he had crumpled.
He hadn’t paid much attention then. Sakura had turned away quickly to defeat the next Akatsuki member, and it wasn’t until battle’s end that she returned to the Uchiha’s side, under the guise of disposing the body. And it wasn’t until then that she discovered her other carefully crafted plan had been broken at the Uchiha’s own hand.
And Sakura was never the same from then on - and Naruto suspected that he too, lost a bit of himself that day.
Swearing profanities at everything and everyone on the journey home in chakra chains, Sakura had seemed to not notice anything around her. Two weeks later, she had been declared mentally unstable, and three days after that, moved into the maximum security mental ward.
Naruto had felt his heart break a thousand times over at his heart’s sisters betrayal, but he knew that for Sakura, time stopped when Uchiha Itachi’s heart stopped.
Looking at her now, sitting in the same chair, staring vacantly ahead, he knew that there was no way he could ever bring her back now. Her genius mind (not anymore, a voice snickered inside-) was stuck in a continuous loop of the past, and she was stuck with it. Her frail body was in Konoha - but her mind and soul...they were in a different place entirely.
He shook his head slightly when his last attempt to catch her attention failed to bring a reaction. With a quick homemade jutsu, the rubble of the ruined desk was cleared away, and he walked out of the small room without a glance behind.
He would be back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that-
It was a hopeless cycle, but like Sakura, Naruto was also stuck in an endless loop of denial.