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... I don't know. Sakura - AU ficlet
I dunno. I was trying to write one of my multiparts. Teamwork!Sasuke, maybe, or Sephiroth? Instead, this happened. 550 words of post-apocalyptic!AU Sakura. And no, I'm not writing a sequel! D:
edit: managed to con![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
phoenix_melody into writing a sequel instead ohohoho.
The axe, she had found on a wood pile beside Mr. Sarutobi's house.
She was at his house because he was a good teacher, and because sometimes Ino babysat for him and she hadn't found her yet. She'd found the wood pile because when she walked inside the house to check for survivors the smell of rotten meat caught her by the throat and after that she had to run out through the kitchen door. And she needed something to climb, and there were only trees with high branches and smooth trunks, and the chopped wood pile, which wasn't high enough.
It wasn't high enough. It wasn't even quite steep enough, apparently.
But up there was the axe, still stuck in a half-splintered log, where Mr. Sarutobi had left it. When Mrs. Sarutobi started crawling up the edge after her it was like the axe's handle just appeared in her hand. She swung without thought, log and all. Sort of like tennis. The strain didn't even hurt right away.
On the upside when Mrs. Sarutobi crashed to the ground, jaw smashed, head askew, the log flew off as well. The shock almost jarred the handle out of her hand, unbalancing her. She jumped off the pile rather than drop it, landed a little wrong and ended up on her knee.
Mrs. Sarutobi's fingers skittered on the ground, reached for her ankle.
She still had the axe in hand.
It was a good axe -- the most basic log-splitter, and adapted to Mr. Sarutobi's imposing size -- heavy. But recently sharpened. She swung it down.
A second time. A third. Until the pieces stopped crawling.
Then she went back inside the house, because Ino had loved babysitting that kid, and someone needed to chop him up before he managed to crawl his way out of the baby pen.
When the car screeched to a stop in front of the house a half-hour later she was sitting on the porch, a backpack of stolen food and random odds and ends at her feet. She watched her classmates burst out -- Naruto first, with a baseball bat. Sasuke snapped at him and hung back, tracking her with his competition rifle.
She nodded a greeting. "Hey."
If Ino had been here they would have both grinned and jumped up, bypassed Naruto entirely, raced to him. Told him how they'd been so scared, thank god he was there, they felt so much safer now. Asked since when did Sasuke drive and oh, such a cool car, can we...? She couldn't bring herself to go through the motions right now.
Ino wasn't here.
Sasuke's rifle went down. Naruto was in her face, staring at the dry blood splashed all up her arm and cheek, paler than she had ever seen him.
"Are you okay? Were you bitten?"
"Damn it, we were supposed to stay all together for a reason!"
She watched them. She'd worried them both, silly little girl running from the group alone, with no protection. She could have died. Or worse. Did she understand that?
She'd understood from the start. Now she understood it even better.
She'd do it again. Ino wasn't here.
She kept tracing her hand back and forth on the axe's long handle, where it rested across her lap. The wood was warm under her hand.
edit: managed to con
phoenix_melody into writing a sequel instead ohohoho.The axe, she had found on a wood pile beside Mr. Sarutobi's house.
She was at his house because he was a good teacher, and because sometimes Ino babysat for him and she hadn't found her yet. She'd found the wood pile because when she walked inside the house to check for survivors the smell of rotten meat caught her by the throat and after that she had to run out through the kitchen door. And she needed something to climb, and there were only trees with high branches and smooth trunks, and the chopped wood pile, which wasn't high enough.
It wasn't high enough. It wasn't even quite steep enough, apparently.
But up there was the axe, still stuck in a half-splintered log, where Mr. Sarutobi had left it. When Mrs. Sarutobi started crawling up the edge after her it was like the axe's handle just appeared in her hand. She swung without thought, log and all. Sort of like tennis. The strain didn't even hurt right away.
On the upside when Mrs. Sarutobi crashed to the ground, jaw smashed, head askew, the log flew off as well. The shock almost jarred the handle out of her hand, unbalancing her. She jumped off the pile rather than drop it, landed a little wrong and ended up on her knee.
Mrs. Sarutobi's fingers skittered on the ground, reached for her ankle.
She still had the axe in hand.
It was a good axe -- the most basic log-splitter, and adapted to Mr. Sarutobi's imposing size -- heavy. But recently sharpened. She swung it down.
A second time. A third. Until the pieces stopped crawling.
Then she went back inside the house, because Ino had loved babysitting that kid, and someone needed to chop him up before he managed to crawl his way out of the baby pen.
When the car screeched to a stop in front of the house a half-hour later she was sitting on the porch, a backpack of stolen food and random odds and ends at her feet. She watched her classmates burst out -- Naruto first, with a baseball bat. Sasuke snapped at him and hung back, tracking her with his competition rifle.
She nodded a greeting. "Hey."
If Ino had been here they would have both grinned and jumped up, bypassed Naruto entirely, raced to him. Told him how they'd been so scared, thank god he was there, they felt so much safer now. Asked since when did Sasuke drive and oh, such a cool car, can we...? She couldn't bring herself to go through the motions right now.
Ino wasn't here.
Sasuke's rifle went down. Naruto was in her face, staring at the dry blood splashed all up her arm and cheek, paler than she had ever seen him.
"Are you okay? Were you bitten?"
"Damn it, we were supposed to stay all together for a reason!"
She watched them. She'd worried them both, silly little girl running from the group alone, with no protection. She could have died. Or worse. Did she understand that?
She'd understood from the start. Now she understood it even better.
She'd do it again. Ino wasn't here.
She kept tracing her hand back and forth on the axe's long handle, where it rested across her lap. The wood was warm under her hand.
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Why do you always write the most awesome AU's?That said, I really loved this. I love when fics make me love Sakura's character, because I remember how much I hated her when the series first started because she was young and a sorry excuse for a Shinobi and then how much I fell in love with her because she got so BADASS and how now I'm sort of indifferent because in recent chapters she's been disappointing me a little. But I loved this! She handled herself so well. And though I'm beyond glad that all three of them made it part of me is intrigued by the line Sasuke snapped at him and hung back, tracking her with his competition rifle. because I mean, what if she had been a zombie? I mean, obviously they would have taken care of that, but imagine how much worse it would have been for them to kill HER and how horrified they'd have been if she was just sitting there and then she'd moved and they realized what she was.
And part of me wants to see the fragment where she comes across Ino. Y'know, as a zombie. Sorry, I've been obsessed with "what-ifs" in fics lately.
Creepiest thing, I woke up about 2 hours ago from the most frightening zombie nightmare I've ever had and was ridiculously scared to read this. Cause yanno how sometimes when you wake up you aren't really sure if you're still in the nightmare. Well, it's kinda been like that, because the busy street outside of my house has been nearly completely deserted and the lot next to my apartment suspiciously bereft of the sounds of children playing. So creepy vibe plus creepy zombie fic = even more freaked out Heather. I don't even know.
no subject
#.___.# ♥because I mean, what if she had been a zombie?
It was indeed a possibility! *ponders* Actually I don't think in this 'verse they're especially close to each other. they're all classmates, but they're not a trio, there are other people they're closer to than each other. Still, killing a classmate...
I wonder how they'd grow closer together as a trio despite not starting out with a ready-made excuse to bondAAAAAAAAA NO BUNNIES DAMN IT YOU TRIED TO TRICK ME DIDN'T YOU DX
Whoa, that sounds freaky indeed, both the dream and waking up to find the street deserted. brrrr. *sends hugs*
I've never had a zombie dream for some reason. Hmm.
no subject
And I totally did not try to trick you into plot bunnies but if you got some than I TOTALLY do not regret it. All kidding aside, I really wouldn't mind more of this verse, but you have enough lengthy projects that you're working on. I didn't even consider that they wouldn't be close yet...
And yes, it was really freaky. I have zombie dreams at least 3 or 4 times a year, but I chalk it up to the fact that I am simultaneously completely terrified of them and incredibly intrigued by the idea of post apocalyptic zombie AUs. Annnnnd I blame that on reading World War Z. Question! Is this part of the apocalyptic AU NaruSasu thing you wrote a little while ago or a stand alone?
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You tricking trickster. I don't believe you. >:(
Ahh, second time someone mentioned that book, i'm gonna have to find it at this rate! It sounds so fascinating. And no, this is a different AU, the other one was pretty much just "95% of people fall over and die!" epidemic -- the zombie thing in the comments was mostly an afterthought, they were college-aged, and they were going to meet Sakura for the first time later down the road in that sequel I am so not planning to write. In this one they were all in high school together and it's zombie attacks from the start. But that's all my headcanon, and they both draw from the same big idea, it's just the details that change, so if you want to imagine them all in the same 'verse then who am I to stop you. XD
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Also, wonderful characterization, as always.
no subject