i am one (but you are a million)

Summary: He lives forever. She lives to die. It’s a cycle he will never get used to as long as Kaguya’s plague beats in his chest.

Alternate Summary: Cursed with immortality, Kakashi serves and protects Sakura in every single one of her lives. She is Kaguya made human, reborn again and again to erase the plague. The same plague that consumes lives to give Kakashi his eternal one.

• Rating: T
• Trigger Warning/s: Major Character Death/s
• Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi/Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto
• Characters: Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Ootsuki Kaguya
• Additonal Tags: Alternate Universe – Reincarnation, Reincarnation, Soulmates, Friendship, Guardian-Ward Relationship, Partially Completed, Work In Progress
• Also on AO3 and FF.net.

Author’s note: This is inspired by Caius and Yeul’s (from FFXIII-2) Guardian/Ward relationship where Caius is immortal and protects the Yeul reincarnations. I added some vague FFXV lore too.

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i am one (but you are a million)

First

He is a warrior first, a man second.

For a plague had killed his wife right after he married her. She wasn’t the only one inflicted by the disease because only he was left alive in their small village. It was a miracle and a curse. He didn’t want to live without her.

But their Goddess had a plan for him it seems; he is alive because of a little girl. She healed him and she did it when she is six, only six. Her name is Sakura, all pink hair and green eyes. He wanted to weep at the sight of her. His wife in a small girl. Kaguya-sama you’ve blessed us.

But she isn’t the same, this he learned. The same face and nothing more.

“I am Sakura. I am the cure.” She told him and that’s when he knew, she is the healer of not only him, but of this world.

The plague of the stars was the Goddess’s lethal dose. The poison she crafted to kill humanity. And she had given him eternal life, her heart beats in his chest. For as long as he is alive, she too will send forth the plague.

“I am Kakashi. My purpose is to protect you until the last of you dies.” Because Sakura will succumb to the plague soon, with every person she cures, death shines brighter in her sea glass eyes, consuming her until she is all but alive.

Second

The second time he meets her she’s holding onto the body of a drenched blonde boy. Her shoulders are shaking and she’s got fat tears and snot dripping down her chin. 

“Sakura?” The name isn’t foreign on his tongue even though he’s only met her once. Twice now as she seeks his eyes.

“He’s dead!” She shrieks and clutches the blonde boy tighter. “I’ll kill him!”

It’s not the plague that claimed the boy’s life. It’s murder because he drowned right under another boy’s hand.

“I’ll be your friend now. Don’t cry Sakura.” He tries to console her but she doesn’t let the blonde boy go.

“I’ll kill Sasuke.” She says and he shakes his head. Little girls aren’t supposed to be murderers.

“How old are you anyway?”

“Nine.”

“Only nine?”

She nods and he feels a weight dropping on his chest.

“Four more years.” He says plainly.

Before you die again.