The Weight of Shadows

Chapter Six: he said I never left your side

Naruto didn't look convinced, but then again he hadn't believed her when she told him she had lived five thousand lives. She could hardly explain herself without involving the matter of her being a centuries old being who viewed him and his tendencies with a fondness reminiscent of a grandparent watching over their grandchild. She chuckled at the comparison, smiling then as the worry seemingly fled from his face.

In fact, her worry for him was probably more of a pressing concern, all things considered. After all, he was to be the one who ventured off before her – where she couldn't protect him. Then again, he was old enough by mortal standards to be responsible for his own safety. Sakura couldn't help but worry though, given how she truly did want to enjoy this latest cycle to the fullest. And what better way to distract herself from her love for a certain golden-haired elf than to think and build on a friendship with a blonde boy who had lived twice. "I would be far more concerned for your own safety," she remarked, bringing back some life to the quiet which had settled down between them. Like there was an insurmountable distance between them all of a sudden. In a way, Sakura supposed that was a rather accurate view. There was a distance between them, compared to her very first life, where they had both been so innocent and naïve.

"Sakura!" he groaned, pouting then, and Sakura could only snigger at the urge to poke those whiskered cheeks she knew so well. "We can still use chakra," he said, heedless of the way she stiffened at those words, because she couldn't. She was incapable of using chakra if she wanted to live to a decent age. "And I don't think the rest of these people here can so—"

"Chakra doesn't make you invincible here," she warned, dark eyes clashing with the sky blue ones. "Do not make that mistake."

"I know." Naruto rolled his eyes at that, no doubt used to lectures from Kakashi on that very subject. After he had become Hokage, or so Sakura vaguely recalled – she had watched him lecture too many times to be unable to dredge up such a memory. "But those orc creatures are super weak, so long as there aren't too many of them."

"There are other creatures, Anorion," she cautioned, voice losing its playful edge, and she stared at her dear friend with the weight of her five thousand cycles behind her. "Older creatures from an age long past. Creatures whose strengths are on another plane compared to orcs." Like dragons, like balrogs, though the latter were fortunately gone from Arda. "You would do well to heed this warning – do not walk into the pass unaware of what could bear down upon you, else doom will befall you and all hope will be lost."

"Sakura?" Naruto stared at her then, a hesitant smile upon his lips, and Sakura felt dread weigh down upon her gut. She wasn't an elf then, so surely it wasn't possible for her to speak of prophecies. She was mortal, and it was just those worries which had come across in that confusing formal speech.

"Worry not about my words," she mumbled, shoulders sinking. "Just be cautious when you venture ahead of me, so that we might meet again."

"Neh, Sakura, is it me, or are you getting more funny with your words?" he asked, and Sakura laughed. Truly she had lived far too many lifetimes speaking as a feudal princess would. She'd had far too few elven life cycles. She wouldn't have minded a few more. But then, she supposed, the pain of leaving would only become that much greater.

::

Life #7000

She eventually walked into Imladris under her own steam, all the while cursing her big mouth as she wished the earth would just swallow her up already and free her from the intense grey-eyed scrutiny she had been under for the many days it had taken for them to reach that particular elven realm. The fire she had played with was on a course to burn her, and Sakura could only bemoan her lack of restraint when it came to the focus of her affections.