Great Responsibility
A/N: This sort of came out of nowhere and I don't know if there will be anymore, but we shall see.
xXx
"This is why everyone hated you in school."
"Because my first reaction to getting Superpowers is to help people?"
"Exactly, little miss goody two shoes. Staying home from parties on the weekend to study,"
"I needed a scholarship!"
"Passing on frat parties to volunteer at the hospital,"
"I was pre-med."
"And now you're a superhero."
"Well I could have become a super villain."
"No, you couldn't have." Ino said matter of fact. "There's not an evil bone in your body. You thought you hit a squirrel last month, no proof, just felt a bump and were completely inconsolable."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever, are you going to help me or not?"
"Of course I'm going to help you, forehead. That was never in question." Ino told her. She turned back to the television where the news had been playing a loop of the accident at Uchiha Technologies the night before. A dark figure, never made clear to any bystanders or news cameras, flew around the rubble of the company's courtyard where civilians were getting help from first responders. Every once in awhile a shot of the CEO, Sasuke Uchiha, was shown, his eyes tracking the dark figure. "I can't believe you saved all those people. No, that's a lie. Yes I can. I can't believe I actually got to witness it, though."
Sakura smiled at her best friend.
They're attentions were drawn to the television again as a familiar voice began to speak. "The employees of Uchiha Technologies are family, losing even one of them is a devastation I can't full articulate. But to look at all of this," he gestured to the rubble behind him, the wrecked courtyard the damaged facade. "And know that because of the actions of a single unidentified individual, we didn't lose anyone last night, it's a miracle."
"That was Uchiha Sasuke, CEO of Uchiha Technologies, earlier this morning. The tech giant's main branch was hit last night by a powerful localized earthquake, the aftershocks of which are still being felt in the farthest reaches of the city. Scientists have yet to determine what caused it, but many are speculating it may have come from within the building. Uchiha Technologies is no stranger to controversy. Under the former CEO, Uchiha Fugaku, experiments deemed unethical and in violation of the Harvard Genetics Compact, by a board of scientific review were held and subsequently shut down. At this time it is just speculation, and concern is growing over whether or not this anomaly with happen again.
Reporting live from Uchiha Square, I'm Hyuga Hinata, back to the studio."
"So, exactly how long have you had these powers?" Ino asked as she switched off the television in Sakura's apartment.
Sakura shrugged. "A couple of days after I responded to that chemical explosion on the docks I woke up from a weird dream and realized I was floating above my bed. For the rest of the day weird things kept happening. I broke a mug just from picking it up. I cracked my desk when I got frustrated at work. I could hear things that were happening on other floors of the hospital. I got side swiped by a crash cart and the cart fell apart. Oh and worst of all, I woke up a few days after that and my hair was pink, and my eyes were even more green than usual."
"I knew you didn't dye that. There's no way that bright color went on over natural red in one sitting. It's just not possible." Ino mused. Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's going to be a dead give away, ya know."
"Yeah, I know, but what can I do. I tried to dye it back last week and it was pink again in the morning."
"Hmmm," Ino hummed. "I don't know. I'll figure it, in the meantime, let's get you suited. Something durable to keep up with your new powers, something to help you stabilize yourself when you fly. Your flying really fast, so definitely something that'll keep you warm up there. It's gotta be flexible for hand to hand combat. It also has to take a hit. Non Flammable, water resistant, non conductive." Ino continued to list what they would need and Sakura didn't interrupt her. She'd witnessed Ino work enough times to know this was her process and interruption could throw her off. "I think I've got it." Ino finally said sometime later. "I've been working on a new material for military and first responder uniforms, I bet I could retrofit it into something for you." she turned and grabbed her purse and jacket off the sofa. "I'll run to my lab and grab my samples, I'll let you know what I come up with."
"Thanks Ino, I don't know what I would do without you." Sakura said as she walked her to the door.
"You'd be totally lost." Ino teased.
xXx
It took a few tries and several arguments before they finally settled on a uniform. All black with red pinstripes; it was sleeveless, and came to a short collar around her neck. She wore matching knee high boots with thicker padding along the shins and finger less gloves on her hands with inlaid hard polymers in the knuckles. Sakura had managed to talk Ino out of the cape. She'd been practicing her flying and she was pretty confident she didn't need it. The material Ino had created with reactive and should temperatures drop it would expand to cover her arms and the bottom her her face below the black domino mask.
"Have you always been this muscular?" Ino asked.
"I think so, I never really noticed to be honest. I mean I go to the gym every morning before I have to be at the hospital." Sakura explained, checking herself out in the full length Ino had set out.
"You have time to go to the gym every morning, but not to go on the dates I set up for you?" Ino asked.
Sakura shrugged. "Set them up at four in the morning, which is my only free time during the day and I'll go on a few."
"Urgh, I can't do that. The only guys available that early in the morning are meat heads and you deserve better."
"I appreciate that." Sakura replied with a chuckle. "You know you don't have to set me up, right? I mean I appreciate the effort, but it's okay if I don't find someone until later in life."
"I know that." Ino said. "I just, I want to return the favor. You set me up with the love of my life, I want to help you find yours."
"And I love you for that, but I just don't think I'm in a place in my life where I have time to worry about that." Sakura sighed. "Especially now if I'm going to be taking all of this on too."
"Yeah, well, while your out there saving lives, don't forget to live your own, okay?"
xXx
"You've been staring at those security feeds for days little brother. Don't you think you should take a break?" Uchiha Itachi called out as he entered Sasuke's lab.
"Hn." was Sasuke's only reply. Itachi sighed, shaking his head.
"Sasuke, what are you trying to find? You've been over this footage dozens of times. You're not going to find what you're looking for here."
Sasuke sighed. "It's not just about finding out who saved everyone." he finally replied. "This company, this family has been through far too much already. I need to know how this happened, if it was our fault."
"Making yourself sick, neglecting your needs, isn't going to help you figure that out." Itachi told him. "You should come back to the Manor with me. Mom is worried sick. Let her feed you, let her dote on you and then you can come back here and do what you think is necessary."
"Is dad there?" Sasuke asked and Itachi didn't have to answer. He already knew.
Sasuke had looked up to his older brother his entire life, a byproduct of his father giving him very little reason to look up to him. It still came as a shock, however, when an investigation revealed the nature of the experiments his father was sponsoring. Genetic tampering, chemical weaponry, it was virtual nightmare. The company was rocked by the scandal, the blow softened only by the fact that it had been Uchiha Itachi's investigation that outed his father's crimes and his lack of hesitance to inform the world. Uchiha Fugaku was currently on house arrest, pending further investigation into his dealings.
As a federal agent, Itachi had no interest in taking over the family business, so the responsibility fell to Sasuke, who immediately started work cleaning up his father's mess. He'd come up through the company as an engineer, though he had several degrees under his belt, and he'd learned to care for the people of the company more than the company itself. It was with this philosophy that he garnered favor with the employees and confidence from the public.
Sasuke sighed. "I'm fine." he finally said, turning back to his bank of computers. He started the feeds from the beginning, playing them through and resolutely ignoring the fact that Itachi was looking over his shoulder now.
"Hold on, go back." Itachi told him. "Back to the beginning."
"Did you see something?" Sasuke asked as he restarted the feed.
"Maybe."
They watched it again, only the first few minutes before the quake started. "There, play it again." he did. "There, pause. Now zoom in on this section."
"Is that a man?" Sasuke asked. He hit play, this time the video focused on the blurry figure peeking in on the corner of the screen. The man seemed to be talking to himself, his posture stiff, limbs twitching every so often. No one seemed to notice him, which Sasuke thought was probably a good thing.
Suddenly the man stopped twitching, his face blank. They watched in horror as he looked up at the camera and smiled, a truly terrifying expression. The building began to shake around him, but he didn't move, even as the ceiling collapsed in in the entryway and was lost to the camera.
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke exclaimed.
Itachi wasted no time, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing. He gently pushed Sasuke to the side, taking over the computer. "Deidara, I'm sending you a screen shot, can you clean it up and run facial recognition on it?" Itachi paused, listening to the man on the other end of the line. "Good, I just sent it through. Make this your top priority."
Itachi had barely hung up when a small jolt sent the lights flickering. A split second later the building began to shake, knocking things off of shelves and table tops. Beyond the floor to ceiling glass windows, the lights of the skyline were also flickering, the night sky lighting up and dimming over and over as the quake grew stronger.
xXx
"It's happening again?" Sakura questioned, keeping Ino on her feet as the blonde got up off the sofa and made her way to her laptop.
"Another Earthquake. It's centered at U-Tech again." Ino explained as she typed furiously at her computer. "Time to put that new suit to the test I think."
Sakura nodded, disappearing into the bedroom to change. When she came back out the quake had slowed, but tremors could still be felt. "Are you going to be alright here by yourself?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Your building was retrofitted for earthquakes years ago. These little tremors won't do much." Ino explained. "Here, take this." she continued, handing over a small black ear piece. "We can communicate with that. I'll keep you updated on everything. Talk you through anything you need help with."
"Alright, let's do this."
xXx
"Kumomaru Gaara." Itachi said, reading the text off his phone. Records indicated he was treated for chemical poisoning after the explosion at the docks a few months ago. He had an episode at the hospital, attacked a nurse and disappeared. He's been missing ever since."
"What's he doing here then?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't know." Itachi replied, drawing his side arm.
The two brothers had managed to work they're way down from Sasuke's private lab and into the public offices. They'd found several employees hunkered down under cover on their way and had brought them along.
"Everyone stick together, we're going to go for that emergency stairwell." Itachi told the group, pointing out the door across the bullpen. "We need to move quickly and quietly to the first floor."
They all agreed, but before they could move, the ceiling caved in on the far side, Gaara appearing in the rubble and debris.
"Uchiha." he breathed, his voice like gravel, deep and echoing all at once. His face was cracked like pottery, lines of black under the breaks, interspersed with fine particles, floating through the cracks and around his body.
Sasuke made a split second decision. "If your problem is with us, then let these people go." he said. "They've got nothing to do with whatever grievances you have with our father."
"How do you know his problem is with Fugaku?" Itachi muttered.
"Playing the odds." Sasuke replied.
There was a tense moment where Gaara just stood there, staring at them with his deformed face and then;
"Go." he directed toward the group.
The group was gone quickly, though Sasuke took to heart the fact that some of them were hesitant to leave them. When they were gone Sasuke turned back to Gaara.
"Maybe we can talk about this." he said. "Clearly our father did something wrong, yet another thing in a very long list of crimes. Maybe we can help you."
"The Prosecutor's office has been trying to find something to charge him with, but all the witnesses are coming up short. If you tell them what he did we can finally put him away." Itachi continued.
"What he did? What did he do?" Gaara replied, and both of them stepped back at the barely repressed rage in his eyes. "This! This is what he did!" he exclaimed, and all of a sudden there was sand everywhere. A wall of it rising up from seemingly nowhere and crashing toward them like a tidal wave. They turned to run but there was nowhere to go. The sand caught up to them, pushing them toward the glass panels on the far side of the building. The sand broke through the glass like it was nothing and the brothers were carried through the opening, dropping them twenty stories.
Sasuke could feel regret flash through him. There was so much he still wanted to do, so much to accomplish, all cut short because of a man he was cursed to call father. Sasuke closed his eyes, waiting for the ground to meet him, but whatever he expected to happen, didn't.
"Sasuke!" Itachi's voice called out to him through the howling wind and he pried his eyes open to find his brother facing him. How was that possible?
"I'd heard rumors the Uchiha brothers were adrenaline junkies, but this seems a bit ridiculous, don't you think?"
The voice that drew their attention was feminine, but distorted. Sasuke looked up, realizing rather belatedly that they were being carried, one under each arm, by a young woman. Her hair was a brilliant pink, her eyes a familiar jewel green, and she smiled at them teasingly.
Sasuke looked down to see the ground coming up to meet them much slower than before. And the next thing he knew she was setting them on their feet in the courtyard, first responders, employees who had escaped the building and new crews all around, gaping in awe.
"Thank you." Itachi broke the silence between them. The woman nodded, but before she could reply a roar erupted from the floor they'd fallen from. They looked up as more sand poured from the broken windows.
"If he keeps that up, the top floors are going to collapse and take the whole building with them." Sasuke explained.
The woman looked startled for a moment before taking a step back from them. "Find cover." she told everyone within earshot, as she bent her knees slightly and launched herself into the air with a shock wave that knocked them back a step.
"Who the hell was that?" they heard a fireman asked.
"Who cares, did you see what she did?" another added.
Sasuke saw, and he would never forget it.
xXx
"Not bad for your first official mission." Ino told her as Sakura collapsed onto the sofa, running a towarde through her wet hair.
"If all of my missions end with sand in places I don't want to talk about, then I think I'll retire early." Sakura replied.
"No you won't." Ino replied, coming to sit beside her. "You wouldn't give up helping people if your life depended on it. That's why everyone loved you in school."
"I thought everyone hated me."
"It was a love hate kind of thing. The overachiever who would drop everything to help someone, she barely knew, or even someone who was mean to her. You've been helping people all your life. This is only a natural progression." Ino explained.
Sakura blushed, reaching for the remote to avoid answering and flipping on the television. The news came up first, flashing headlines about a mysterious flying woman.
"It was incredible." an employee from the building was quoted.
"She just came out of nowhere and snatched the Uchiha brothers right out of the air. Saved them from certain death." another said in the montage of interviews.
"Whoever she is," Uchiha Sasuke was next. "I hope she realized the gravity of what she's done here today. She's a hero. And I am eternally grateful for what she's done not only for me personally, but for my brother and the employees of Uchiha Technology. We can not thank her enough."
"Well, you finally got his attention." Ino teased.
"Yeah, where was that gratitude in High School when I actually had a crush on him." Sakura laughed.
"In other news, former CEO, Uchiha Fugaku was arrested this evening on multiple charges of murder, attempted murder and ecoterrorism. Information is still coming in, but initial reports say that the chemicals released during the South Dock tragedy three months ago can be traced back to Uchiha Technologies and the explosion that dispersed the chemicals into the air and water in that area was orchestrated by Uchiha Fugaku and his associates. All of this brings up concerns for more people like Kumomaru Gaara, a promising geology grad student whose life was forever changed when he was caught in the explosion; leaving city officials to wonder how many more people were mutated by this experimental waste and what can we expect from them in the future?"
"She's right, who knows how many more of us are out there." Sakura said.
"We'll just have to wait and see." Ino said. "And when they show themselves, I bet you'll help them too."
Sakura smiled. "I'll do my best."