Cherry Blossoms

🌸Only Online - History Maker🌸

"Cha!" The entire floor rumbled as Crystalee slammed her fist into the shell of the boss monster. Just that one punch split its health in half.

"Whoa..." Naruto gaped.

"Snap out of it, Idiot!" Sasuke ran past his friend.

"Right, right." Naruto continued alongside the rest of his teammates and held out his hands, "rasengan!" The blue blast hit the boss but only dealt five health points, "wow..."

"Mumixam gnilaeh lleps fo hgih level htgnerts!"

The spell hit all the players in the room and their health was restored.

"Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto yelled as he ran forward.

"Shadow binding!" Shikamaru clasped his hands together and a shadow came behind the boss and held it down, "now's your chance, guys!"

"Chidori!" Sasuke grabbed his left hand and ran to the boss, thrusting his hand into the shell of the boss and shattering it completely, "agh!"

"She's open, fellas!" Kiba laughed, "now we can finish this!"

"On it!" Neji held his hands out and a trigram formed underneath his feet, "eight trigrams, sixty-four palms!" He delivered his sixty-four hit combo to the boss and reducing its health to less than twenty.

"This one's mine!" Naruto yelled as he took out a kunai and slashed it, "let's go, twenty hit combo!" And sure enough, he reached twenty and the boss burst into millions of pixels.

"Yes!" Naruto jumped up and down with excitement, "I delivered the final blow! Didja see that, Hinata?!"

"I did." She grinned happily, "good job, Naruto!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke strained through clenched teeth as he gripped his left hand, "whatever, you idiot."

"Here." Crystalee ran up to Sasuke and grabbed hold of his left hand.

"Tch." He flinched at the pain, but was somehow soothed by the feeling of her holding his hand.

"Mumixam gnilaeh lleps level htgnerts." She recited the spell and his hand was back to normal.

"Wow." Sasuke moved his left hand and smiled, "thanks, Sakura."

She smiled and nodded in response, "you're welcome."

"Sakura... I absolutely love that name, Sakura!" Naruto giggled.

"No one can call me that." Crystalee looked at him.

"B-But... Sasuke..."

"He's my only exception." Crystalee smiled.

"Crystalee." Hinata walked up to her, "how do you know that spell? It took me years to learn! I haven't even mastered it yet!"

"Well." Crystalee shrugged, "I had a lot of time on my hands." She turned to Sasuke, but as she did, her expression became serious, "guys, this is the last boss. I remember battling him and he was a strong one. Stronger than all the rest. You'll need to drink some potions to max out your health and gather your weapons together. You'll need them all to clear the game."

"Right." Sasuke nodded as he went through his items and confirmed they were all still there. As the door before them opened, he turned to look at Crystalee, "time to clear this thing."

She smiled and nodded, "you ready for this?"

"Are you kidding? I've been waiting for this moment my whole life!"

"Then nothing's stopping you now, huh?"

"Nothing." Sasuke smiled as he took a deep breath and followed the rest of the group, walking up to the next level, "Sakura... Thank you."

"Aw." Crystalee giggled, "don't thank me. I'm sure you and your squad could've done great without me!"

"No. Not only did you make this whole experience easier... It's been fun." Sasuke explained, "I've been fighting with these guys for as long as I could remember playing this game, but you're just... Different from everyone else. You have this aura radiating off of you that no one else could seem to omit. You're amazing. Not as a player or an avatar, or even as Crystalee, but as Sakura."

Crystalee stared at him, then smiled softly, "thank you, Sasuke. I really don't remember the last time I met someone like you. You're definitely the big brother I never had."

Sasuke chuckled. Brother, "Now, ready to go make history once more?"

"Oh yeah! That's me!" Crystalee smirked and pulled on the edges of her gloves, "I was born to be the history maker!"

"Heh." Sasuke smiled as he held his sword and the boss came forward, "history maker."

_________________

Did we... Sasuke panted hard as the cloud of dust disappeared, "Neji?"

Neji peered through the dust with his upgraded sensory skills, "no sign of him."

"Did we..." Kiba wiped his mouth.

"Yes!" Naruto jumped up and down as the banner dropped and their rewards window opened.

"We..." Sasuke muttered breathlessly as he saw his drops. He'd delivered the final blow.

"Sasuke!!"

He turned around Crystalee ran to him and hugged him. He lost his footing and fell over, her on laughing on top of him, "S-Sakura, you're heavy."

"You did it, Sasuke!!" She cried, "you cleared the game!!"

"No." Sasuke sat up, hand on hers, "we did it."

"Sasuke!!" Naruto ran up to him, "the game is finally cleared! Party over at my house, everyone! You too, Crystalee!"

"Yes! I totally wanna--" She suddenly stopped.

"Sakura?" Sasuke looked at her, concern plastered on his face, "what happened? Are you okay?"

"Sas..." She stared at him, horror and fear in her eyes, "oh no, Sa--"

Suddenly, Crystalee started glowing, then her avatar went offline.

"Crystalee?!" Naruto looked around, "Sasuke, what happened?"

"I don't know..." Sasuke opened the window, "Naruto, I'll be back."

"Okay."

He hit the logout button and disappeared. Once he returned to the real world, he took the headset, threw it off, reached for his phone, and sure enough, there was a new message as of a few minutes ago.

"Tch!" He gripped the device as he ran out of his room and out the door to his car, "Sakura..."

The text still ran through his head. It was from Dr. Kurahashi.

Hey, Sasuke. Can you come right away? It's urgent. Something's happened. Crystalee...

Sakura...

Her condition's changed.

And it's not good.