The Flower and the Avenger

Chapter 46

"You hesitated."

And then he kicked him so hard Sasuke could see stars.

He could literally see stars- every last one of them twinkling and sparkling at the dark night sky as he flew through the air, his body seemingly weightless.

He hung there for a moment, gazing at the brightness of the balls of fire and the stillness of the moon. Where have we gone wrong?

Why did he kill them? Why does it have to be like this?

Those thoughts kept repeating in his head as he fell back to the trees, the leaves and small branches cushioning his fall.

"Ouch."

Itachi stood above him, in the tree. "Your back's probably imbedded with twigs. Does it not hurt?" He sounded genuinely curious. Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Screw off, Itachi."

"But I have your wife."

Sasuke glared up at him. "How about we make a deal." Itachi appeared in front of him, still standing above him. "I quite enjoy deals. What do you have in mind?"

Sasuke had murder in his eyes. "Give back Sakura and I'll let you go."

Suddenly, a whoosh and all Sasuke could see was Itachi's glowing eyes. They were so close he could feel his nose. "So you're giving up? Throwing away the legacy of the Uchiha? Goodness, Sasuke. I didn't realize how much she has changed you. Maybe I should have kept her alive to make you fall to your knees."

A rush of adrenaline leaped inside Sasuke. "What did you say?!"

Itachi continued glaring at him. "Maybe I should have kept her alive. You said she was covered in cuts? Was weak? Hanging limp against the pole? Did it not occur to you that you were early?"

Sasuke stared into his right eye, then his left. "You wouldn't dare kill her."

"Oh, I would. And did. I also saw that you brought others with you. That was your punishment, little brother- you foolish, foolish excuse of an Uchiha."

He snapped.

He snapped hard.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Sasuke clenched his fist and smashed into Itachi's face, hard, as he flew backwards into the tree trunk. The pain in his back subsided. Nothing was real. Nothing mattered.

He sped at him, barely giving him time to get up before ramming his elbow into Itachi's nose, a satisfying crunch sounding as he slew his face again. "YOU WANT HATE?" he roared, swinging again. "HOW'S THIS FOR YOU?"

He kept swinging, and swinging, and swinging, until Itachi's face was no more than a hunk of meat springing out blood- but he was smiling. Damn smiling.

He struck him until his knuckles were covered in his own blood, uncovered raw from repetitive use. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO STRIKE YOU TO WIPE THAT SMILE OFF YOUR FACE?!" he bellowed as he stood up and crushed him underneath his foot. "I'LL MURDER YOU, THEN I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN WHEN I DIE TO MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Swing. Crunch. Swing. Crunch. Swing. Crunch.

Something- or someone- pulled his shoulder away from Itachi. "SASUKE, STOP!"

Blinded, Sasuke turned around and socked the person in the head, not even caring who it was.

"No!"

Unable to hear the gasps, unable to hear the warnings, Sasuke just hit him over and over again until Itachi lay underneath him, unmoving.

He stood up, panting. "Are you smiling now?" he said in a low growl, glaring down at him. "Do you have the balls to say I'm foolish?"

His eyes were still open- red faded into black.

Sasuke spat at him, then turned around to receive a massive shock.

The one he punched was Sakura- bleeding from the head against a tree, mouth open and eyes glassy.

"SAKURA!"

Before he could rush to her, something stopped him.

It was Itachi.

He turned slowly to stare at him, the now-unrecognizable piece of meat smiling still. Itachi painfully turned him around as Sasuke did so obediently, too shell-shocked to do anything.

A pair of fingers reached up as Sasuke's eyes stared into Itachi's almost identical ones.

He tapped his forehead, just like it was in the old times.

A rush of memory flooded through Sasuke's head, all the good times that he had spent with Itachi when he was younger- the camp, training with him, playing, teasing, eating, sleeping, until one sentence remained.

"I will always love you."

Then, Itachi's breathing eased. Then stopped.

He fell to the floor gracefully as a trail of blood remained on Sasuke's face.

He stood there, shocked, before getting sense of where he was, and what was happening.

He turned to see Sakura, still lifeless on the floor. Rin and Hinata were crying. Yamato and Kakashi was shaking her shoulder helplessly.

What...

A single tear dropped on his face as he took a step towards his wife.

What have I done?  

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It was short. It was short. It was short. It was short.

GODDAMMIT IT WAS SHORT!

This chapter was supposed to be longer T-T I imagined this for god knows how long, this specific scene that I was going to create... ohhh kami I screwed up T-T

But I'm here to make a very important announcement :ahem:

The Flower and the Avenger will, sadly, be ending soon.

By one or two chapters, this fantastic book will be coming to an end... but don't worry! A sequel will come right after that :)

The Forgotten Fiance will be written on Wattpad as soon as possible- as soon as I finish the last chapter for The Flower and the Avenger, I will put up the first chapter of The Forgotten Fiance.

Now that I've fed you some more information...

What do you think will happen in The Forgotten Fiance? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

Thank you for reading The Flower and the Avenger.

-Storywriter-