Chapter Text
Cold... So cold... Her lifeless body was slumped against him. His rigid hands could barely handle her corpse that was weighed down by the soul crushing guilt he felt.
"Sakura..."
He called out apprehensively. Sasuke refused to look at his hand. It was drenched with blood- her blood. The ripped sinews and muscles of her dissevered heart wrapped around his fingers. When his chidori pierced her chest for the first time she didn't even let out a scream. Just a small pathetic whimper. A lone tear rolled down her cheek and crimson rushed out of the corners of her mouth. Those sweet lips of hers parted, but not a single word escaped. Not even a sound. With a loud sickening squelch he pulled out his arm that was marred with sin a little past his elbow. Before he could process what happend. Sakura's body no longer supported by her chakra fell into the depths of the lake.
"Sakura!"
Water splattered over his attire. Mere seconds later her headband resurfaced. He picked up the red hitai-ate with trembling hands- one covered in dirt and the other with her blood. Moments passed. The minutes spent blankly staring at Sakura's headband were agonisingly long. To him it felt like hours until Naruto's crass voice pierced his ears.
"Sasuke!"
He slowly raised his head up. His bead glossy eyes stared in Naruto's direction, but he did not look at him. It took everything inside him to not lose control over the chakra on the soles of his feet and sink to bottom where Sakura's body was. He was teetering to the edge of chakra exhaustion. His sight was impaired. He could make our the general shapes of his surroundings, but the details were murky. Sakura's forehead protector brightly contrasted with the cold grays and blues cruelly reminding of his crime. He killed her. He killed Sakura.
Sasuke was so lost in his state of dissociation that even Naruto's screams and the whirling of his Rasenshuriken fell deaf to his ears. Suddenly a pair of gloved hands pulled him out of the way. It was the newly revealed Madara Uchiha who roughly tugged him inside his Kamui.
...
"Sasuke."
Sakura's voice pulled him out of his restless sleep. Sasuke shot up from the bed. His balance wavered. He had his brother's eyes transplanted in him just last night. The bandages obstructed his vision.
"Sakura."
He tried to feel her chakra, but it was so feint. A shaky arm reached out to the darkness. His fingertips grazed something cold.
"Look at me, Sasuke."
Then her fingers ghosted over his cheek just below the bandages.
"Look at me, please."
She pleaded softly. He knew that his new eyes were transplanted just recently, but he did the unreasonable without a second thought. Sasuke slowly pulled the bandages down along with the dressing and patches on each of his eyes.
There she was standing just a few feet away from him. He saw her. Sakura was just like how he saw her last time albeit more alive and sporting a different outfit.
"Do you see me, Sasuke?"
She took a step closer. She reached out to touch both of his upper arms. He saw just how different she was now. Her hair was a few inches longer, she wore a skirt that was shorter than even her tight fitting leggings, the neckline of her red vest was deeper. The dark circles from before were gone. Her eyes looked bigger. The Sakura standing before him was truly an enticing sight. He copied her gesture. His fingers lightly dancing on her cheek, traveling down to her jaw, then to her neck. He then tightly wrapped them around her throat and lifted her up in the air.
"Sasuke!"
She choked out. Her nails clawed at his wrist and her legs thrashed at him as she was suspended in the air. Her teary green eyes met with his deranged bloodshot ones. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan commited her pained expression and tears to memory. Blood flowed down his cheeks.
"You're not real."
His voice- cold and even, was barely above a whisper.
"Please-"
She tried to plead for mercy, but he gave her windpipe one last harsh squeeze. It was followed with a loud pop. She then went limp. His newly acquired eyes could see through the genjutsu which lasted longer than it should've. Her limp suspended body refused to dissipate even after he unraveled the illusion(a sick test by Madara no less). It was as if her dead body was mocking him. Sasuke hurled the fake Sakura's body to the floor, but it was still there.
"Sakura...?"
Was everything that happened in the Land of Iron true? Did he truly kill Sakura there? Or was this the real Sakura? His eyes saw an illusion that looked very real. An illusion that persisted to torment him.
"Kai!"
He weaved the necessary sign and chakra. Nothing happened. Sakura's body layed there unresponsive slowly degrading into cherry blossoms. Very slowly starting from her feet and he was forced to watch.
"My new eyes see through this darkness."
Sakura's eyes continued to silently judge him.
"And yet they are unable to dispell it"
