I wake to movement. My mother is holding me tightly, sobbing into my hair, rocking me back and forth. I lift a hand, weakly, and touch her arm. Her face, flying up to meet my gaze, is pure shock. She calls my father, and he asks me what happened. Looking about, the room is in shambles. There is a restless stir in my chest, abrasive scratching and anger that is not mine. One of my hands, covered in blood, presses against my torso, and my father's eyes track the movement. The heaviness in my chest and stomach increases.
My mother screams suddenly, and my back hits the hard floor. Pain swells through me, and I curl in on myself, the pressure unrelenting. Wearily, I blink, and the blurriness in my vision clears. Fire is dancing through the air and surrounding my body. It is not hot, nor is it cold. It is comfortable, and the color is of a cloudless sky. My father shields my mother in his arms, staring at me, then to our dead patient.
"You are a jinchuuriki."
The words, spoken so fearfully, rip through my haze, and the fire dispels itself. I tremble and try to crawl to my father's feet. My body is hurt, and tears run down my face. My mother turns from my father to cradle me against her chest, rising to her feet and avoiding the body of Yugito Nii.
"Where shall we go? We cannot remain here for long." Her words are full of worry, and I squeeze her lightly. I do not wish to worry my mother. My father's voice is firm inside the ruined cottage.
"We will return to the clan. The Elders will know what must be done." My mother does not answer, but holds me tighter until my father speaks once more, his voice gentle. "I will not allow harm to befall Sakura. Now, we must move." The wind hits my face, and I whimper.
The air is full of the coppery scent of blood, and it is cold. Rain begins to fall, soaking us quickly, and I shiver against my mother's warmth. We stop, suddenly, and I open my eyes from sleep. There are men around us, and the cottage is aglow with orange light. Smoke tickles my nose, and I realize - they have set the roof ablaze.
"Where is the beast?" A hard tone pierces the air, and I clutch my mother's soaked kimono tighter. My father's answering voice is muffled as my mother runs her fingers through my hair comfortingly. "Find the vessel, and bring her back to the village." Several of the men surrounding us break off and disappear, reappearing moments later.
"Yugito Nii is dead." The voice is soft, from behind my shoulder. My mother stiffens as the leader who first stopped us barks out in fury.
"With due respect, sir, the new jinchuuriki is the girl." My father steps in front of my mother and I, blocking our view to the leader, although this does nothing for the men behind us. Mother's arms tighten around me, pressing me more against her chest, as if she can hide me within herself. The pressure within my stomach is building again, and I curl tighter.
Without warning, I am ripped from my mother's arms. The man who first spotted the differences in my chakra holds me as I squirm. My father yells, loudly, and my eyes widen. The men surrounding us rush inwards as my father is pinned to the ground, still struggling to get to me. My mother screams, her arms and legs flying through the air, immobilizing the ninja around us in a whirl of deadly chakra. A burst of color draws my eyes. Red petals sprout from my mother's shoulder, even as she keens.
My face is spattered with something warm and wet. Sliding my tongue across my lips, I taste the horribly familiar combination of salt and iron, even as my mother collapses to her knees, her pretty white kimono darkening. It is blood. These people, these ninja, they are killing my parents before my eyes.
Rage from inside my spirit envelopes me, blue flames and hot, violent chakra exploding around me. The man holding me is thrown backwards and I tumble to the ground. The world is shifting in and out of focus, and a voice in my mind whispers of revenge, of saving them. All you must do, Sakura, is give me control. Then you may save them. I hesitate a brief moment. How could I trust this voice, so new and unfamiliar? A sudden eruption of pain from my left leg dispels all doubt. Let me out, so I can protect us both! I close my eyes and let go.
From all around me, there are screams. My body is covered in the red chakra, hard protrusions developing on my limbs. "Bring it down! Kill it if you must! The jinchuuriki is out of control!" Among the screams, though, I hear the sluggish breaths of my parents, both slipping closer to the edge of life and death. Opening my mouth wide, I scream.
Suspended within my own mind, I feel my body twist and turn, feel the reverberations in the earth from my passage. I feel the moist warmth spread across my face and hands, even as I cringe away from it. I do not desire this. I do not wish for anyone to be hurt. My feelings swell until the other presence is subdued. I will stop for now. I have given you an opportunity to save them, nothing more, nothing less. The feminine voice disappears within my spirit once more.
My eyes open again. All around me is evidence of the battle that must have just taken place. There are deep gouges in the earth, and several trees have been split, chunks missing and scattered here and there. I breathe in and gag - the air is heavy with the scent of blood. My face is covered in it, as are my hands. My fingers tremble as I examine them. The fluid is still warm, and there is a huge amount of it covering the ground, staining my dress. My hair is matted and limp, and clumps of blood congeal in it, cooling in the evening wind. Through my horror, I hear the wheezing of my mother, growing weaker by the minute.
I push myself to my feet, intent on running to their side and using my rudimentary healing. Instead, I collapse back to the ground, a wail ripping from my throat. Embedded deep in my left leg is a shuriken . The black metal gleams in the moonlight, my blood dripping from the blades. Gripping it tightly, even as the points dig into my palm, I pull it from my flesh. It slides free with a soft, wet sound, and tears slide down my face, scalding against the cold blood, cleaning trails down my cheeks. Raising my body with my trembling arms, I crawl forward, slowly, painfully.
I reach my father first. His breath is much slower, and he is covered with welts from the ninja that attempted to subdue him. My father is strong; I have never seen him like this, and the fear that pierces my heart draws my chakra out from me faster than I have ever been able to heal before. There is internal bleeding. I see this and focus my chakra to that area. I am unable to repair all the damage, and I cry out in frustration. My mother lies curled on her side next to my father. Her eyes open slightly, their gaze unfocused.
"Sakura?" She looks at me, her face pale. Awareness flashes across her features, and she gasps. "What happened to you? Are you hurt?!" She attempts to sit up, only to fall back, clutching her shoulder. Blood seeps sluggishly through her fingers, and her breathing is labored as she props her elbow against the ground. My father's breath gurgles in his throat - the internal damage I was unable to fix is now killing him. I cry harder, tears blurring the horrific scene before me.
My mother gasps as my father's breathing stops, his heart beating one last time. Tears wet her cheeks, and she collapses onto his still chest, her shoulders heaving with sobs. His shirt, torn and dirty, is held firmly between her fingers, even as a red handprint blooms on the fabric. I grip his cold hand in one of mine, and with the other I reach for my mother's.
No sooner have I touched her than she tears her hand away from mine. There is wild fear and despair in her heavy gaze, and she stares blankly at me until I begin to cry anew, and horror fills her face. "Sakura…" Her hands shake violently, and her face is losing color quickly. Sweat beads on her pale skin, and her breathing quickens. She is going into shock. I know the signs, and so does she. I used almost all of my chakra trying, and failing, to save my father, and her chakra is depleted from immobilizing our attackers.
I throw my arms around her neck, pressing my tiny hands against her wound. She flinches, and I pour the last of my chakra into her, the pitiful flow barely knitting together her skin. The world appears darker now, and I slump backwards. My mother's hand, already so cold, touches my face, and she uses her once-beautiful kimono to clean the blood from my face. "Sakura, you did your best." Her voice is weak, and that frightens me. I am unable to move, my limbs too heavy and sluggish to obey me. "You, ninja. Come out. I can sense you."
From the forest, there comes the man who first caught me. My mother snorts. "Dispel that jutsu. I know that you are not one of them." She nods towards the men lying dead upon the ground. "Who are you, and where do you hail from?"
The man seems to flicker and blur for a moment before appearing again, different this time. His forehead protector bears a new mark, and his clothes are vastly different. A small katana is strapped to his back, a leather harness crossing his chest and shoulders. Black hair, short and messy, deviates from a pale face. His eyes capture my attention. They are black, yet when I blink, they glow red, a lazy spiral beginning in their depths.
My mother raises a tremulous hand. "There is no need for a genjutsu. It seems introductions are also unnecessary." A small, hard smile bends her lips. "Uchiha Shisui, the Body Flicker, of Konohagakure." She gestures to herself. "I am Rie of the Clan." Her fingers tangle through my hair briefly. "This is my daughter, Sakura. We were to return to the Clan when we were attacked." Her tone sharpens. "But you already know of that, just as you know that my daughter is now a jinchuuriki, as part of an unplanned transference from one village's vessel to a mere child, unclaimed by any village." She draws a shallow breath, her hand closing briefly around my matted hair.
"I am dying." It is said so bluntly that I wince, a quiet sob rocking my body as the voice inside me quiets abruptly. "Once I am gone, the Clan will wish to judge Sakura's life. Many of them do not wish to have any contact with the world of ninjas, even with jinchuuriki of the Tailed Beasts. Those of the Clan would choose to exile or execute my daughter, because of a choice that she did not make." Moisture hits my cheek from above. My mother's bloody hand clenches into a fist as she continues to play with my hair.
"What would you have me do, Rie-san?" The ninja before us speaks for the first time since he held my body in his hands. His eyes are black again, and emotion is swimming through them. He kneels before the body of my father, holding the steady gaze of my mother even as the life drips slowly out of her wound.
"I would have you take Sakura to Konoha. Train her. Protect her." My mother's breath rattles in her throat, her chest heaving against my ear in her struggle. "If she is to be shunned by the Clan, let her not be a part of it. Raise her in your village." She leans forward, squeezing me tightly against her as she shudders. "I beg of you. Do not let my daughter be put to death for an event she did not have any control over."
The Uchiha before us is quiet for a moment. I bury my face in my mother's chest even as the smell of blood grows stronger. "I will do as you ask, Rie-san. Sakura will live on. I will make sure she remains safe." My mother pries my hands free of her kimono, one hand falling to my injured leg. I feel brief warmth as the flesh knits together, and a lingering mark in my spirit. My eyes widen slightly and I begin to struggle, even as the man before us takes me from my mother's arms.
"No, mother! No!" Tears blur my blackening vision, and the Uchiha bows briefly before he begins to walk away. My mother stretches a hand in my direction, holding the jutsu for as long as she can as the life drains from her. I feel her Blessing take strength in my spirit, even as the vitality leaves her body. "Mother!" The Blessing complete, she slumps over the body of my father, a small smile on her face, beautiful even in death. My vision tunnels, and the beast inside my body mourns as I fall into unconsciousness.
A/N - Hello again! I must say, this chapter was exceptionally hard to write, especially when I'm emotionally invested in the characters. I hope I haven't scared anyone off here. I tend to think that characters are best developed by tragedies and difficulties. If a character has everything delivered straight to them on a silver platter and no difficult times to test themselves against, they're not going to be as strong or likable a character as they could have been. So, I'm putting Sakura through horrifying trials. She'll come out better for it in the end, I promise. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter - the reviews not only make my happy, but they give me a reason to write more. If you want the next chapter quicker, give me reviews! Feed me! :D I'll see you guys next time! - AT