NARUTO: KakaSakuTobi - "There and Back Again 2" [Snippet]
["There and Back Again" on AO3]
At the crater, Team Seven found themselves surrounded.
Realizing the danger and feeling the portal morph and warp, Sakura saw the last of the oily relic's chakra zig-zag brokenly through the sliver of the portal's opening like a rotting skeleton's fingers and reach for Kakashi-
Sakura's feet were moving before she could stop them. She threw herself in front of Kakashi, saw the panic on his face as she felt the stab of poisonous chakra through her back, heard her name falling from his lips in horrified understanding-
"Sakura-"
She grabbed his hand-or he grabbed hers-and they clung tight for a moment, their eyes holding each other desperately. For the first time Sakura clearly saw what it was Kakashi had been so afraid of losing. Or, rather, who.
“No, Sakura, not y-”
"Kakashi-!"
The words choked Sakura as she was suddenly ripped away, hurled through the air by an invisible hand, no up or down or gravity, just spun like a sample in a centrifuge.
There was a flash of bright light as if a hundred thousand blades of lightning had suddenly exploded around Sakura, blinding her.
Then the portal sucked her through and everything was gone.
*****
The thunder crashing down around them deafened Sasuke and Naruto, who braced themselves against the downward force of the blast wave that followed. Dirt, debris and rocks erupted around them, followed by the melee of thousands of chirping birds.
Grabbing an injured Sasuke, Naruto summoned Kurama’s chakra and leapt from the crater, his jaw tight and eyes flashing. They escaped the mushroom cloud and took shelter as the maelstrom continued.
TBC
At the crater, Team Seven found themselves surrounded.
Realizing the danger and feeling the portal morph and warp, Sakura saw the last of the oily relic's chakra zig-zag brokenly through the sliver of the portal's opening like a rotting skeleton's fingers and reach for Kakashi-
Sakura's feet were moving before she could stop them. She threw herself in front of Kakashi, saw the panic on his face as she felt the stab of poisonous chakra through her back, heard her name falling from his lips in horrified understanding-
"Sakura-"
She grabbed his hand-or he grabbed hers-and they clung tight for a moment, their eyes holding each other desperately. For the first time Sakura clearly saw what it was Kakashi had been so afraid of losing. Or, rather, who.
“No, Sakura, not y-”
"Kakashi-!"
The words choked Sakura as she was suddenly ripped away, hurled through the air by an invisible hand, no up or down or gravity, just spun like a sample in a centrifuge.
There was a flash of bright light as if a hundred thousand blades of lightning had suddenly exploded around Sakura, blinding her.
Then the portal sucked her through and everything was gone.
*****
The thunder crashing down around them deafened Sasuke and Naruto, who braced themselves against the downward force of the blast wave that followed. Dirt, debris and rocks erupted around them, followed by the melee of thousands of chirping birds.
Grabbing an injured Sasuke, Naruto summoned Kurama’s chakra and leapt from the crater, his jaw tight and eyes flashing. They escaped the mushroom cloud and took shelter as the maelstrom continued.
TBC