67. Playing the Melody
The young woman padded down the eerily white hallways lighted only by the moonlight that shone through the barred high windows. She wondered who the genius, that decided to put the young medic in training on night shift, were. She'd love to introduce her hands to his throat. While she might be very advanced knowledgeably she did not think she had the experience handling the mentally ill criminals of Konoha Prison, better known as 'The Fortress'. Made from solid stone it was all gray and damp except for the psychiatric ward, where the uncompromising harshness of it all had been masked by sickly white paint.
Her teacher the great Tsunade had suggested she needed some practical experience in what being a doctor could entail. Apparently being a doctor meant many things. She had just discovered that she could end up in a dump like this; administering drugs to mentally deranged criminals to keep them from spending their days smashing their heads against the padded walls. Of course she wouldn't end up in a place like this. She was already a skilled surgeon and what she was doing here qualified barely as a nurse job. The actual doctors in this place was psychologists and none would actually let her in on their sessions with the patients.
One should think that being the legendary Tsunade's student would grant her offers all around for this half a year that she was supposed to gain 'practical' experience. She'd gained practical experience, all right. People were stupid. Bloody foolish. She'd been rejected everywhere but here. Told her they hadn't needed any extra help and then hiring the next scatterbrained blond that came by. Not that she had anything against blonds, many of her closest friends were blonds, it just so happened to have been blonds that got the jobs.
Sakura Haruno was not amused. At this hospital in a smaller city some way from Konoha the head doctor even had the gall to tell her that they would not hire her kind; sending a haughty look in the direction of her hair. What the hell?! Did she look like some street rat? Her clothing was neither holed nor did she have any piercings – she didn't even have holes for earrings. Not to mention, that if she was actually a street person, she definitely would not have decided to dye her hair that sweet pink bordering on Barbie. She had naturally pink hair in the same color of her namesake! How dared he insult her hair like that! It had all ended in her slapping the bastard and leaving without even showing him her qualifications.
It really was a good thing, that when all was said and done she would be working under Tsunade at her private hospital. She did not know how many more power hungry chauvinists, afraid of loosing their positions to a young woman, she could take. She wasn't even done with her education for God's sake! Just because she got private lessons from Senju Tsunade, did not mean that she could do everything. She still had so much to learn. So much she wanted to learn. It was not fair Tsunade had told her to go find work for six months. Now she knew of course that is was more a lesson on life her mentor had wanted to give her. A lesson on how it was to be a skilled woman in a world dominated by men. She just wished...
Her thoughts came to a halt along with the rest of her body. Straining her ears she listened. There it was again. Someone was playing the piano, sad tones reverberating softly through the empty hallways. It was around midnight. All the cells were locked. The inmates were sleeping. She was the only one on guard duty in mental. A chill ran down her spine. Someone was playing the piano.
The piano was situated in a small room. Everyday a man would come to play it. With a turn of a switch the live music could be heard in all the cells. It was something of an experiment, supposedly to calm the inmates. Somehow it worked. Having been in effect for three years it should be at least, otherwise it wouldn't be done anymore. She wouldn't have liked to have been here before the music calmed the inmates. She found them crazy enough as it was. According to her employer it lowered the drug expense. She dared not imagine what it had been before.
The sad melody became clearer as she neared the small room. The notes, low and hauntingly beautiful tugged at her soul. Overwhelming sadness. Melancholy. Her heart beat faster. Her throat hitched. How could anything be so sad? Blinking away tears she reached for the door. She needed to find out who was playing. Mentally thanking her shishou for the self defense classes she'd insisted on giving her, she reached for the handle.
The door opened with a high pitched screech. She flinched and looked up fearfully only to meet the dulled dark eyes of a blind man. She could have sworn her heart stopped beating. She knew this man. There probably wasn't a soul in all of Fire Country that didn't know his face. His strikingly handsome features with the high cheekbones, the straight nose, the thin lips and the regally slanted black eyebrows that matched his long raven hair perfectly. Not to mention his eyes; dark gray almond shaped and framed by long lashes. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. If it wasn't for the twin marks of stress under each eye, she wouldn't have thought him real. He was also the most dangerous criminal to ever have been born in the land of Fire. Brilliant. Insane. Genius. Mass murderer. Terrorist. Uchiha Itachi.
She had not known that he was here. She'd known he was in "the Fortress" of course, it had been all over the newspapers three years ago; "Uchiha Itachi gives himself up", "Doctor: He is blind", "Guilty of all charges", "Sentenced to the death penalty", "Little brother relieved; finally it is over", "Uchiha Itachi transferred to death row". Like every other sane person she'd wondered why they didn't just kill him weeks after the sentencing. After all he'd pleaded himself guilty to all the charges and hadn't requested for a second trial.
"Either you come in or you leave" His smooth low voice was like a bucket of cold water to her senses. Frantically she searched her pockets for the emergency beeper. There! Triumphantly she yanked it from an inner pocket. Next time she was putting it where she could easily reach it. Her thumb was just about to press down on the red button when it was halted. Her whole body froze, how did he get there so fast? Long male fingers easily unwrapped her stiff fingers from her safety line. Wide emerald stared fearfully into the face angled just a bit too far upwards to be looking at her. A scared whimper left her lips and suddenly his head was aligned properly so that she felt he actually saw her.
This was a murderer. He'd murdered countless people. Even his own family when he was only thirteen. Surely he would not halt at a 23 year old med student. He blinked lazily, thoughtfully, as if he was wondering what to do with her. She really hoped for a quick death, but knew that was probably too much to ask from a sociopath. Tightly shutting her eyes, her heart beating frantically she awaited the inevitable pain.
A long suffering sigh left his lips. She cracked an eye open to find him run a hand through his bangs irritably.
"Will you stop acting like I'm going to torture and kill you," it was not a question rather a demand.
"You're not?" she asked hesitantly.
"Do you see any weapons," he said stepping back spreading his arms wide. Breathing came easier when his presence wasn't so heavy and Sakura instantly noticed her alarm in his left hand. Adrenaline was flooding her system. She just needed to keep him talking until an opportunity arose. Then she could be safe.
"I don't think you need a weapon to kill someone"
He seemed surprised for a moment at her statement. Then his arms dropped slightly and there was a bitter tilt to his lips as he answered, "you're right, I don't, but that's not really the point I was trying to make."
"What point then were you trying to make?"
"The one, where I'm not in the mood" he shrugged and turned around walking with sure strides back towards the piano, "This is more were my mood lies..."
Sakura realized that this was her opportunity to run away. Yet she felt strangely unwilling to do so. Her legs had automatically followed Itachi's steps. The medical part of her was very intrigued, how many could boast to have talked with the Uchiha Itachi and he seemed rather talkative to boot.
"Why are you walking around anyway?" His question took a moment to register, but then she spluttered indignantly, "How did you get out of your cell?"
He turned to face her, lips quirked bemusedly and raised an eyebrow, "I walked. Now what are you doing scouring the hallways?"
He walked... What the Hell? Was he trying to annoy her?
"I was doing my job and there's supposed to be a locked door preventing you from walking out" she huffed,
"Aa, but there is," his lips turned into a smirk that sent her hackles rising. Her weakness had always been and still was her anger. Completely forgetting who was standing in front of her she poked his chest.
"Listen here mister..." she trailed off suddenly as he grabbed her still raised hand and intertwined their fingers. The rough pads told her of a harsh life. She swallowed her heart back into her chest and looked into his thoughtful face. He had completely gotten used to her height now and his obsidian depths swallowed her whole.
"It seems you are the only one here doing your job then, usually the night watch just sits back in the office watching TV. I have never been caught before. It is rather" He tilted his head, "unusual."
He tugged her the last step to the bench before the piano. Dumbfounded and still paralyzed from his mere touch she followed as he sat down. Awareness that she was sitting rather close with Uchiha Itachi was slowly seeping through to her conscious mind, but it wasn't quite there yet.
He let go of her hand and then his fingers was flowing atop the tangents in an upbeat catchy melody. She looked up at him through her eyelashes. She was startled to realize he was smiling, it was just the faintest curl by the corners of his lips, but it was definitely there. His head was nodding in time with the music, seemingly fully engulfed.
The young woman suddenly realized her foot was moving, the music was getting to her. The rhythm worked it's way to her upper body. When her shoulder suddenly brushed his, Itachi skipped a beat. His head snapped in her direction a pleasantly surprised expression upon it. She sent him a smile herself even if she knew he couldn't see it.
Moving rhythmically side to side with a death row prisoner Sakura just knew that by the morrow she would question if this was real, and maybe keep off the alcohol for a bit, even if she hadn't gotten a single drink tonight, but for now she was going with it.
Author's Note:
Companion picture: http : // mokulule . deviantart . com / art / 067-Playing-the-Melody-154813691 just remove the spaces.