A/N: I'd love to thank the following people who have helped me beta my first multichapter fanfiction after a long hiatus: mummapaintstheblues, thecopymistress, endohwrites, and thatlameginger
This is one of my fantasy plot bunnies on our discord and I finally decided to try my hand on expanding more of the story.
Hope you guys like it! Will edit notes once I get the chance to make art accompanying this fic.
Chapter 1: Sawbones
A healer's duty goes beyond improving abrasions and maladies. Besides your everyday affliction ranging in severity, a healer is also responsible for the safety and well-being of their comrades. So when Sakura was asked to take over for her grandmother as field surgeon, it was an honour she hoped to fulfill.
Sakura expected long travels to the neighbouring city of Taki, where the surgical headquarters was located. She figured if transportation was too vexing, she would have to move to make work within easy reach.
The Haruno Matriarch owned an old mint-green Konoha Roadmaster motorcycle that she had refurbished and given to Sakura as a parting gift. Although the automotive vehicle came with a few tiny scrapes that resembled claw marks on the rear fender, Sakura didn't mind them. Rather, she appreciated the stories the remnants held.
The scuffs piqued her interest. She would have loved nothing more than to hear each one's story, but her grandmother always answered the same way: a chuckle and "It's best to find out for yourself, my child"
Huffing in slight disappointment, Sakura deduced that they were probably from wild cats lurking in the deep forests of Taki. Whether she was right or wrong with her assumption, it temporarily sated her growing curiosity.
With the inherited motorbike in her possession, at least transportation was doable now.
As Sakura sped through the almost empty highway's bike lane, with the moving truck a safe distance ahead of her, she recalled her overprotective mother, Mebuki, nagging the moving crew's ears off to give her daughter enough space to travel and avoid any accidents. Before they set off northbound, she gave the men a hundred bucks as an apology.
She had all the crucial necessities packed, including the wolf plushie from her childhood she had snugly tucked inside her bike's compartment. All she had to do now was get there.
Adrenaline coursed through Sakura's veins at the thought of starting her career. However, if she were completely honest with herself, she was scared. Delighted to the core, yes…but she had doubts lurking in the back of her mind: the question "Will I ever be good enough?" plagued her constantly, especially after the wrongs that she worked so hard to right.
There came a point where she had gotten involved with the wrong crowd during her adolescence. As she and her family constantly moved from town to town, it was difficult for her to find her place. Sakura was sure she never would have gotten out of that rut without her grandmother's intervention. Sakura knew very well what the older woman was capable of, her fury infamous and threatening. But at Sakura's most vulnerable, she'd sat her down and spoken to her in a manner that Sakura would never forget.
The older woman, in her utmost sincerity, had instilled the Will of Fire in Sakura: To follow than to control. To listen to others who have been shunned. To keep her head high despite of adversity. And to keep standing tall despite losing ground.
Sakura didn't quite understand them back then. Like majority of the teenage populace, she only cared about technology, love interests, mind-numbing television, and junk food. It took her years to make her realize its significance and for her efforts to finally come to fruition.
At the day of Sakura's academy convocation, her grandmother, a typically stern woman, had been brought to tears. She'd pulled Sakura into a bone crushing hug, sobbing against her granddaughter's dark green gown, telling her how proud she was that Sakura had come so far.
Sakura remembered her saying, "The will of fire is strong, it runs deep. It's a reminder that, despite our mistakes, we can draw our inner power, and that's when we bloom. To serve a purpose and evolve into who we truly are, and that's what matters"
A smile slowly tugged at her lips as warmth began to unfurl within. The travelling winds might have been chilly, but the memories gave her comfort on her long journey.
— —
Once they arrived, the movers immediately set to work, helping her unload some furniture, boxes and bins of clothing, kitchenware—basically everything she needed as a starter, according to her doting mother. She poured them tea and helped with the other objects. It wasn't long before the last box into the house.
Once she'd paid them, Sakura retreated to her new apartment to get ready for bed. Though the clock only struck seven time and the sun was still high in the sky, it had been a long day. She decided it was best to take a step back and relax before starting her new job tomorrow.
That night, she slept blissfully like she hadn't slept in years. Tomorrow for sure, there would be a tonne of adventure awaiting her, and she was ready to face it head on.
— —
"Just keep good straight. It's gonna take a while, but you'll get there"
Sakura had awoken that morning filled with purpose. She'd pre-packed her bag before she'd even moved in so the only thing she had to do was take a shower, put her uniform on, and ride to the headquarters.
But there was one problem: Although she admitted she may have overslept a tad more than expected—which was a little disgraceful on her first day—the receptionist had informed her to head to the nearby headquarters where the group was currently settled, which would take no longer than a ten minute commute.
The woodlands she was encroaching on eased her mind from her tardiness. As she raced along, she took in Mother Nature's beauty. She thought Konoha, with all ts vast forested land, was beautiful, yet it was almost outmatched by the otherworldly backdrop of Taki, with its lush greens and azure waters.
Completely lost in thought, it only took her a split second to realize a whirling blue light appear in front of her. She felt the air shift as she passed through the portal, to which she noted, felt like melting meringue, warm and glutinous. But there was nothing sweet about the way her bike bounced against the uneven terrain, catching her off guard and rattling her whole being.
When she regained focus, Sakura was utterly speechless, blinking quite a few times in disbelief.
Before her was a canyon so vast it dwarfed Iwa's Great Gorge of the West. Sakura thought that she was dreaming, there was simply no way that she had been coursing through the woodlands a moment ago. Now she found herself speeding on what seemed like a suspended narrow bridge that stretched for miles.
Up ahead was a slight curve to the path, and with Sakura too dumbstruck in the moment, she accidentally skidded off to hurtle down the canyon. She figured she'd wake up any second now, still in utter disbelief that all of this was real. She was probably having one of those dreams where she thought she was late for a very important event that day and would wake up an hour or two than originally planned, but as seconds passed and she starts noticing her descent coming to an end she began to panic.
Sakura had a moment to herself, where she criticized her life choices down to the smallest of details. She'd also started to wonder when everything went downhill.
Was the deliverance she received a figment of her imagination as she lay wasting away in a former friend's bedroom? Had she hallucinated all the events that had happened in her life: leaving her childhood friend behind to move to a different city, her grandmother's intervention, her turning her life around and graduating with the highest honours in the academy?
Sakura felt despair mixed with delirium like a rancid cocktail. If she was going to phase out from this kaleidoscopic nightmare, would she be back in Samui's place wasted, filled with no purpose and re-live her stupidity. If she was indeed hurtling downwards harsh jagged rocks raised like swords of judgment, then so be it.
"At least I have lived a good life… I think" she whispered to herself, the air whistling through her garments.
Within seconds she would be just a pretty stain on the ground, her Indian Roadmaster bike would be somewhere a few feet away from her body in the same mangled state.
She accepted death, yet as darkness loomed over, the wind shift as if something had snatched her in mid-air. When she came to, she was sitting on a padded basket-woven armchair, a plush throw pillow sitting on her lap, and what seemed like a fox-owl hybrid curled under her feet.
"Kami, what was she thinking sending her granddaughter off without an escort? Does she want her to die?"
"Nah, that's unlike Tsunade. We found a mine under the bridge near the exit. Neji and I had to disarm it before it causes any unwanted damage. Everything was fine but you had to be a GIANT bag of dicks and pushed her off"
"I didn't push her on purpose! I noticed a trap the second before she ran over it so I had to do something!"
"You could've just grabbed her, Kiba!" a crack of a whip and a man yelping in pain finally jostled Sakura out of her daze and looked around to see three people in various states of undress.
"Are you okay? You're Sakura, right?" she turned to look at the woman crouched beside her, "I'm Tenten" she said, placing a hand to her chest. She then shifted in her place to point and introduce the other two in the room.
Neji, who Sakura presumed hadn't spoken a single word, stood in an imposing manner, his long brown hair gently framed his steely gaze, his pale pupil-less eyes unnerved her.
Sakura took notice of the peculiar flesh-coloured mark on his forehead, wondering if that was a birthmark but it was highly unlikely due to the symmetrical pattern splayed across his skin.
Green eyes then focused on Kiba who decided that he wasn't interested in the commotion anymore. His messy dark brown hair swayed as he plopped on the couch.
Sakura could have sworn she saw sharp fangs peek through his slightly parted lips as he grumbled, nursing the red gash across his chest, probably from Tenten giving him a good lashing for pushing her off the ledge.
I mean, he deserved it. I could have died, you know?
As she was about to speak, her eyes flickered towards a sudden movement in her peripheral vision and caught site of a tall man wearing nothing but navy-coloured breeches. The plains of his stomach where a wondrous map of lean muscle despite the numerous scars and bumps probably from the battles he had partaken in his lifetime. Her eyes traveled upwards to see amusement in mismatched eyes.
Her cheeks began to pink as she realized she was gawking.
Sakura heard shuffling from behind her and three voices greeting the man in unison.
"Captain" Sakura's gaze darted between the three and the stranger. The man sauntered towards them from the hallway, the sway of his hips precise and nimble.
There was something about his gait that caught her attention, it reminded her too much of the wolf documentaries she loved to watch as a kid, how those predatory animals would prowl, the air around them absolute.
Sakura sensed the change of ambience and tried to displace the blame for rapid heart rate to the previous incident. Try as she might, her cheeks pinked before his presence, and she knew it would be unwise to wear her emotions so freely, especially when she was face to face with authority.
Regaining her composure, she finally stood and bowed as she greeted in respect, it was the only way to remind her of their differing status.
But the man chuckled, however, and she would have snarled had it not for the fact that her voice trembled mid-speech.
"At ease, Miss Sakura. I see you finally decided to join us" he teased, drawing his hands behind his back as he watched her lips curl slightly upwards with a grimace.
She admitted her fault in hopes of being forgiven, but his steely gaze chilled her, "Just to let you know, we don't tolerate that kind of behaviour here" there was a snort immediately followed by a weak yelp emitted by one of the three people behind her, Sakura was tempted to take a look but the captain had thrown her off guard by his question.
"Do you even know what Tsunade's role was before she left?" he asked, brow arching. She would have scoffed, however there was a certain truth to his words. What was Tsunade's role?
Pursing her lips and loathing the way he assumed she didn't have a single damn clue, to which to some extent he had a point, but she stood her ground nonetheless. She huffed with her chest out and answered.
"Yes, she was a highly skilled field surgeon—"
"Field surgeon," he cut her off, eyes squinting and lips forming a thin line at the word as if it tasted odd just by saying it, "Here in Elysium, we call them Sawbones"
"Sawbones?" Sakura asked, feeling a hint of regret for the short pause she took. She would have asked about Elysium as well but it would only confirm his belief of her naivety.
He eyed her with deep intent before taking a stride towards the high ceiling window that she was sure wasn't there a moment ago. He folded his hands behind his back and looked on, the glass slowly clearing, and Sakura's breathe caught in her throat.
"As you can obviously see, this isn't the human world" he deadpanned without so much as a glance her way. It took her moments before the air grew dry around them, followed by pinpricking sensation against her skin. She looked down on her arms and could almost see tiny hairs standing on end. Confused and unnerved, she glanced at the three people behind her who seemed unaffected by the current in the air.
When she looked back did she knew what, or rather who was causing it.
When Sakura thought she was dreaming awhile ago only to be deduced by the rapid descent and the alarming knowledge that she was going to die, watching the silver-haired captain emit purple lightning coursing through his body is what convinced her that she was indeed back at her new apartment, still curled up in a ball and nuzzling against her wolf plush.
There was just no way all of this was real.
Soon, Sakura felt the need to sit down and alleviate the overwhelming urge to pass out. Authority be damned, she needed to rest. But her body betrayed her, and she crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap.
The four figures stood in silence, the current slowly faded away.
"I think you overdid the introduction there, Kakashi" Tenten scolded, the utter disappointment evident in her tone.
Kiba doubled over, roaring in the background. Neji rolled his eyes, obviously fed up with playing along, but he would be lying if he denied the fact that it was anything but funny, "I can't believe she didn't know what Tsunade does"
Kakashi, knelt in front of Sakura to scoop her in his arms, chuckling as he want to set her on the warm daybed by the window.
"I can't believe Tsunade didn't brief her on the situation at hand" Kakashi said, a huffing in amusement.
"You know Tsunade, she can be pretty secretive. Still, you didn't have to go overboard with being a complete douchecanoe. If Tsunade finds out about this, she's going to ram your wand through your skull" Kakashi let out a hearty laugh at Tenten's flowery quips.
"Maa, maa, Tenten you don't have to be like that, I'm your captain"
"True, you are the captain, but I'd also like to think its because of you being captain that Tsunade retired early"
Suddenly the atmosphere grew a little grim, Kiba immediately stood to excuse himself, with Neji following close behind. It was too late for Tenten to retract her statement, what meant as a lighthearted quip somehow struck a nerve in Kakashi but he kept calm despite the steely glint in his gaze.
"I'm sorry, I went too far—" Kakashi lifted a hand to stop her, "That's alright. Anyway, we have he rest of the day to ourselves, see to it that you enjoy your afternoon. I'll wait till she wakes up"
"Certainly, captain" Tenten left the room in haste, leaving Kakashi with Sakura.
He lifted his hand slightly above his hips and languidly pushed downwards an inch to grasp the backrest of the chair that he just conjured up with the gesture. He settled down then pulled a book and reading glasses out of thin air.
It wouldn't do all of them good if he was on edge for the meeting once Sakura wakes up from her fatigue.
Flipping to the page he last read, he began to read the passages.