Keiko became a jounin because Sakura wanted her to. And she took that long-term mission because Sakura wanted her to. And she didn't accompany her on that last mission because Sakura told her not to. Keiko was so desperate for another living friend in her life that maybe the pathetic one between the two of them was really her--weak for a friend, and stupid enough to let her die.
Maybe if she hadn't promoted to jounin, things would have ended differently. Sakura would still have someone to train with, talk with, complain with for that year of her loneliness. Keiko would be there for every milestone--each test, passed, each lesson, taught, and each sore day after training. Keiko would have been there to laugh. And maybe that split-second decision to take a test was so pivotal in two girl's lives, maybe it mattered, mattered just as much as making Keiko proud mattered to Sakura.
Maybe Sakura would be here, asking Keiko why she was wallowing by some stranger's grave, telling her come on, let's go to the market, and laughing so alive and bright and happy. Maybe. But, then again, Sakura wanted Keiko's pride, but she needed everyone else's.
Maybe, even if Keiko were to disregard such a moment, such a choice, such a time, that this grave would fill itself in the end.
YOU ARE READING
empathy (rewritten 2019)
Fanfictionthe fourth shinobi war is over. konoha, among the other villages, have settled into a peaceful era of recovery and nonviolence. but years after the war and years into their recovery, on a spring march day, sakura haruno decides. and the journey of h...
