Sakura and Sasuke hurried down the dim underground hallway. Sakura reached another door and opened it hurriedly.
"Nothing in here either," Sakura called to her companion who was on the other side of the hallway at another door. A choking noise from Sasuke made her whirl, her ajar door forgotten.
"Sasuke?" She asked, hurrying over to him. When she approached however, he quickly closed his door and held out a hand to stop her. His face had gone very pale and his jaw was clenched. "Is he in there?" Sakura demanded, trying to push past Sasuke but he held her back.
"Sakura," Sasuke began, his voice barely a whisper. His eyes flicked around her face with uncertainty and a touch of fear. Frustrated, ignoring his warning, she pushed past him into the room and stopped cold. She couldn't make a sound; her breath caught in her throat. She just stared.
In the room was a prisoner hanging from the ceiling, suspended by shackles at his wrists. His arms were stretched over his head and his toes only just brushed the bloodstained ground.
He was completely nude but Sakura hardly noticed, her eyes were taking in the lacerations and burns that covered the man's body. Fresh blood dripped down his legs and chest from the various cuts and gouges. His muscles stood out more than usual due to his emaciation. He was completely unrecognizable except for the silver locks that hung limp and dirty around his slumped head.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura breathed, tears welling up in her eyes. Sasuke grasped her shoulder, whether to steady her or himself she wasn't sure.
The pink-haired medical ninja felt Sasuke tense next to her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from her sensei but Sasuke was looking back out of the door as if he'd heard something. There was murder in his eyes.
Sakura carefully packed her emotions away in a box, closing it tightly inside of her. She'd deal with that later. "Sasuke, help me get him down," she ordered, noting Kakashi's breathing rate and various injuries with all the professional indifference she could muster.
Sasuke's head snapped back toward the jonin and stepped forward quickly. The pink-haired medical ninja, already next to her patient, grasped Kakashi around the chest and held him steady while Sasuke destroyed the shackles. Sasuke then lowered the jonin down to her. Sakura received the dead weight carefully. A moan escaped the prisoner's lips and Sakura's emotions almost broke free. She bit her lip and lowered her sensei to the ground as gingerly as she could.
Sakura checked over Kakashi's vital organs, hands glowing. Sasuke grasped his sword hilt and began walking toward the door they'd come through. "There are more people here than the ones we killed in the initial assault," he informed her quickly. "I'll handle it." His voice was like ice but the kunoichi hardly noticed. Sakura nodded mutely, focusing on her own task. Sasuke quietly exited the room, shutting the door behind him.
Once she'd given Kakashi a once-over, she started to work mechanically on his wounds. She began on his eyes, which were red and swollen, and moved on quickly. She'd just finished with his loose teeth and began work on his left eardrum, which was ruptured, when his eyes fluttered open.
Sakura froze as the jonin blinked slowly at her. The inside of her chest suddenly felt very cold but she quickly stiffened her resolve. She cleared her throat to speak but her words were unintelligible and squeaky. She mentally slapped herself and began to try again when Kakashi spoke, voice hoarse, "Sakura?" He tried to swallow but coughed instead.
Sakura instantly reached for him and carefully propped him up. The strangled whine that issued from him at being moved made her heart freeze in her chest. She clenched her jaw as she unscrewed the cap on her canteen and helped the beaten man drink from it. The effort seemed to drain him. After he finished he sagged into her, taking shallow breaths.
He didn't make another sound as she lowered him back into a prone position. She would have thought that he'd passed out but for the way his jaw tightened at every movement. Once he was settled he tentatively opened his eyes again.
The silver-haired man began to rasp something else out when the whole room shook. Sakura bent forward and shielded the battered man with her body as dirt fell from the ceiling.
"That would be Sasuke," Sakura said blankly as she leaned back and began again on Kakashi's ear.
"Naruto?" Kakashi gasped out as a knife of pain from his left leg shot up his nerves.
Sakura shook her head, "he was on another mission when we left."
"You two need to leave," Kakashi pleaded, eyes closed. "I couldn't-. If they get at you-" The tone of his voice pulled at her heartstrings. Idiotically the jonin tried to sit up.
"We're only leaving with you sensei," Sakura interrupted, a hand to his chest reversing the two millimeters of progress he'd made. "Don't worry about them," Sakura practically spit out the word, "Sasuke is handling it." As if to emphasize her point, there was another minor shake from the slaughter taking place somewhere down the hall.
When her teacher didn't respond Sakura looked up from the torn muscles around his dislocated shoulder she'd been mending. He was still and his breathing even; he'd fallen back asleep. Her eyes lingered on his face. After so many years of wanting to see what was under his mask, she thought she'd be happy to have finally seen her sensei's face. But any joy it might have brought her was crushed out by the other things she could see. The dried brown blood on his jaw, the fresh red blood on his cracked lips, the sunken look of his cheeks, the multi-colored bruises, and the way his broken nose had been bent sideways before she'd healed it. She hadn't wanted to see him like this, never like this. The emotion box inside of her threatened to burst open once more but she shoved it down harshly and continued on.
As Sakura went along, she skipped the minor cuts to save time and chakra. The kunoichi finished with the bruised and broken ribs when Sasuke opened the door and stepped inside, purposefully not closing it. Sakura turned to look at him, hands now glowing green over Kakashi's right kneecap.
Sasuke said, "it's done. How is he?"
Sakura gave him a tight smile, "he'll recover." Sensei always does, she thought. Her emotions almost choked her and she looked away from the Uchiha.
"And you?"
Sakura took a breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes. She wrestled her feelings back and opened her steely eyes to the work in front of her, "I have a job to do."
Sasuke nodded understandingly even though she wasn't looking at him. He stepped over to investigate a pile in the corner that turned out to be Kakashi's clothes. He crouched down and began going through the articles. The vest was intact but all of the other pieces appeared to have been ripped or cut off of the last Hatake.
Sakura gasped slightly and Sasuke swung around. "What is it," Sasuke demanded, concerned eyes on her.
Sakura took a deep breath. Her head felt light and tingly, she shook the nausea away. "The tendons that run from the backs of his heels to his calves are ruptured," she answered. "They- they cut them."
Sasuke gave an involuntary shudder. Kabuto had once severed the same tendon on his leg after the Uchiha had talked back to him. Orochimaru had ordered for it to be fixed immediately but it was hardly a pleasant memory.
"I just wasn't expecting it. I'm sorry," Sakura said. Her hands were shaking but she clenched them and carried on. Sasuke continued to watch her from his position near the clothes pile.
In a few minutes Sakura had stopped the bleeding from Kakashi's nail-free toes and sat back. She pushed her sweat drenched hair out of her face and moved to stand up but she'd been kneeling on the ground for awhile and didn't notice that her legs had fallen asleep. When she made no progress with moving them she sat sideways with her hands supporting her. Her legs felt like sand mixed with pins and she waited for the feeling to pass.
Frowning, Sasuke walked over, putting his hand on her shoulder. She leaned into the touch for a moment but then stuck out her own hand. They grasped wrists and he helped her to her feet. He steadied her with his arms but then did not withdraw them when she tried to show that she could stand on her own.
The kunoichi looked up into Sasuke's eyes and there was no more anger there, just pain. The pain mirrored her own. Why hadn't they left to look for Kakashi sooner? He wouldn't have left them for three days. He had always- The box in Sakura's chest burst open. All of her fears, her sorrow, her anger, came rushing out in a tsunami of emotion that fought for a vent in her tears and wails.
A very distant part of her brain was reminding her that she might wake her patient with her sobs. She pulled free of Sasuke's arms and fled blindly from the room. She didn't get very far down the hall before she began retching, holding herself up against a wall with her arms so she didn't fall into the sick. After a minute she retreated from that part of the hallway and sank down against a wall, weeping.
In the quietness that followed she heard Sasuke's footfalls coming closer to the door of the room they'd been in. Anger welled to the forefront of her emotions and she screamed, sobbing, "don't you dare leave him alone on account of me!"
Sasuke's steps stilled as the echoes of her voice died down the hall. Sakura imagined him looking back at Kakashi, torn. She heard his footsteps retreat slowly from the door and then stop altogether.
She didn't know how long she sat there, looking at the opposite wall, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't get the images out of her head, most of all of when she'd first seen Kakashi hanging lifeless and bleeding from the ceiling. Even Sasuke had been shocked into trying to keep her away.
She knew her sensei had been captured and probably interrogated but nothing could prepare her for what that had meant, for what she'd see. It wasn't like she thought he'd be sitting cool as a cucumber in a cell waiting for them. She'd used her medical expertise as an argument for them to let her go along after all. She just hadn't thought about Kakashi actually needing the medical attention when they rescued him. He never needed anything. He was sensei, invincible.
Sakura almost laughed at herself, burying her face in her hands. Sometimes I still think like a child. She took a few deep breaths and uncovered her face. She thought of her sensei. He was the man who'd jumped to her and her teammates' rescue more times than she could count. He was the man who'd encouraged but not pressured her into taking the chunin exams. The man who'd called them equals and was proud of them. She frowned at the dark hallways. Enough of this. We need to get Kakashi-sensei out of this horrible place.
She hurriedly cleaned her face and stood up, making her way back to the room. She was shocked at how little headway she'd made down the hallway before collapsing.
Stepping into the chamber, the kunoichi saw Sasuke sitting next to Kakashi's still form; he did not look up from what he was doing. Kakashi's head was now cushioned by his jonin vest and he was wearing his repaired pants and mask. Sasuke pulled a needle through the torn blue shirt rhythmically, unhurriedly. Sakura watched, fascinated, as the last Uchiha finished off and examined the garment critically before cutting the thread.
"I-I didn't know you could sew Sasuke," Sakura said lamely.
He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "When Itachi and I were both missing nin, did you think I'd actually have something made for me with the Uchiha symbol on it?"
Sakura had never thought about it before. There's no way Sasuke would wear the clothes of his dead family members and his own clothing with the Uchiha crest would have worn out years ago.
Sasuke interrupted her thoughts, "help me get his shirt on." Sasuke propped the unconscious Hatake up while Sakura worked the shirt on over his limp arms and head.
Sakura tried to lighten the mood as they laid Kakashi down once more, "Naruto will be furious that we saw sensei's face." She laughed but it was forced and jerky and died quickly.
Sasuke replied, "he'll be more furious that he couldn't be here to help." After a moment of silence Sasuke spoke again, "you're the medical ninja. How do we best transport him out of here? I could carry him over my shoulder but I don't think he'd be very comfortable."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Under normal circumstances I'd say that we shouldn't move him at all," Sakura said. Then she looked around at the bloodstained chamber and broken manacles. "But I don't want him to stay here any longer than he has to." She bit her thumb.
Sasuke held out a hand, frowning in concern, "are you sure you can summon Katsuyu right now? You've used a lot of chakra."
Sakura smiled, "I have enough for this." She slammed her hand into the ground, summoning jutsu.