.
VISCOSITY
Word Count: 3985
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are copyright of Masashi Kishimoto. The anime is produced by Viz Media and Studio Pierrot / Aniplex. I am merely borrowing the characters for my and your amusement, like everyone else on ffnet.
Author's Note: SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES! Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm only putting this in the first few chapters, along with the disclaimer.
Torrent
He ran through the street so fast he couldn't see the spaces in between the buildings or the cracks in the sidewalk. There was no night sky. There was no ground. There were only bodies.
Bodies.
Bodies of the dead lay everywhere… his cousins. His neighbours… everyone. Everywhere. Dead.
The creak in his floorboards brought him to another place. Home. Except this house… this room… it smelled of something metallic and sick, and as his eyes slowly crept down the floor he saw why: blood. It seeped from the corpses in front of him all the way to his shadow. The sight paralysed every fiber of his being until he couldn't breathe.
Mother… Father…
After a million years his body forced him to gasp in heavily, inhaling the pungent insanity before him. He panicked. No… NO! His hands quivered and he lifted his hands up to his head to scream. "Why? WHY?!" he shouted over and over until he was choking on his own tears. From on top of his parents, his brother appeared, gazing at him with a wicked smirk. "Itachi?" he cried. The room spun. "Why did you do this? WHY?!"
Itachi laughed and the sound stabbed through the air until it permeated Sasuke's skin, reaching all the way into his bones. "Don't you know, little brother?" he asked as the room started to slow, although the world around him still remained blurry. "You did this, Sasuke. Don't you see? You did this…" Black fire slithered through the grains of the wood on the floor and made its way up the pile of cadavers who used to be his family and Itachi continued to laugh until his flesh sagged and melted off his face. "You took my eyes…" he said as his eyes became empty sockets. "You did this…" Sasuke's hands shook more violently as he brought them to his face; they were doused in blood. His Amaterasu engulfed his entire body along with the rest of the room. Everything burned with him.
Itachi stared at Sasuke as he became muscle, then skeleton. The room began to dim as he uttered the last of his words… "You did this…" Images of the lifeless bodies of his clan flashed rapidly in his vision. "You did this…"
The world went black.
Sasuke's eyes shot open in the dark, as he awoke panting and covered in sweat. He clenched his right fist around his hair and pulled hard, gritting his teeth to keep from screaming. Even though he twitched, he felt as if every inch of his body was numb. Itachi's melting face was scorched into his mind no matter how hard he kept his eyes open or shut. Still trembling, he tried to tell himself what he always did as he was waking from these nightmares. Breathe in. Breathe out. It was the only thing he could do – close his mouth firmly and forcefully breathe in, breathe out. Gradually the world around him came into focus. The smell of blood left him. Here the air smelled of pine. Breathe in, breathe out. Of grass. Breathe in. Breathe out. Of mountains. Breathe in. Breathe out.
He'd had the dream for a few nights in a row now. Sometimes he relived the massacre exactly as it had happened. Sometimes he was in Itachi's place, killing his parents with his own hands. Sometimes he just drowned in a torrent of ashes and black flames.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Sasuke was coming back to reality. He rolled over onto his back so he was facing the ceiling in the room, although none of his thoughts allowed him to observe it. He was far too preoccupied with his rambling mind to notice the drip in the corner, or the small cracks in the wood beams above his bed. Instead he held his arms above his eyes, comparing his full right hand with what used to be his left one. It was strange, but he could swear he maintained control of the fingers that weren't there… Still he would instinctively reach to sign, or even simply to grab pieces of clothing, before realising that he lacked the necessary appendages to do anything of that nature on his left side. In his travels he'd heard that a man's hands showed who he was, but with him not even having both hands, what did that make him?
Once in a while the thought would sneak up on him, that maybe that saying was true. Because what he was missing on the outside reflected just how empty he was on the inside.
Every time that happened, however, he pushed the thought away. It was getting harder and harder to do so when he awoke from these nightmares and the ghost of his hand continuously attempted to clutch at his hair. There wasn't any fighting it anymore, he'd stayed in this northern nation too long and had not much more to learn. He was also running out of ideas about how to reach his atonement being as crippled as he was. He needed his hand. And he needed to leave. Time to go back. He thought.
He was gone before the sun rose.
"You let her go by herself?!" Kakashi asked incredulously, holding his aching head. It had only been a few months, but the toll of being Hokage was wearing on him.
"Of course not. I had two ANBU follow her to the port. Don't act like that, Kakashi."
Kakashi sighed. Had he not been burdened with about a million other things, he would have already surmised that Tsunade had done exactly as she had said. But when his student hadn't shown up for him to see her off, and when he was prevented from chasing after her by the plethora of other duties that awaited him with every second that passed, the frustrations of all the recent events had crawled deeper into his muddled mind. And besides, how annoying was it that he wasn't even that late to wish her well this time… He was getting better, anyway. (Although he still never went anywhere without his Itcha Itcha novels, much to the chagrin of all of his advisors.)
"I think if your hair wasn't already grey, it might have turned that way by now, Kakashi. What will you do without me?" Tsunade smirked. Kakashi's silent disgruntlement had started to amuse her as of late, but there was only so much fun she could have with it until they had to get down to business. "She'll be fine. Don't forget, she was my student too."
Kakashi looked at the floor. He knew he wasn't the only one to have noticed how off Sakura had been lately, and he was positive he wasn't the only one to think she was still pining over Sasuke, of all people. He'd even seen Naruto, in the quietest moments, look away to some distant place no one else could see; as if waiting for the last Uchiha to appear on the horizon. There were so many other things to worry about these days that his guilt over the ever-breaking-apart Team Seven lay dormant in the far corners of his thoughts most of the time. But not today.
A knock at the door broke him away from his remorse. Tsunade beckoned it's perpetrator inside.
"You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sama?" The tall, blonde beauty stood at the entrance, still wearing her lab coat from the hospital. "Close the door." Tsunade told her. Ino slowly did as she was told, looking at Kakashi for clues as to her requested presence but finding none. "You can sit down." Tsunade said, her smirk leaving her face.
"Am I… am I in trouble?" Ino asked, taking a chair opposite Tsunade. She looked tired, which most of the young shinobi did these days. But Ino's fatigue was especially justified.
"Nothing of the sort." Kakashi said, folding his arms and leaning against a wall. Although he and Tsunade might be, when she found out her best friend had been sent away in secret.
"Ino. We wanted to thank you for all the hard work you've been putting in lately…"
Ino pursed her lips. What was going to come next? "It's… it's no problem, Tsunade-sama."
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to change plans for you."
"…Okay?" Ino swallowed hard. There were murmurs, this past week that Sakura had been gone. Her absence had left Ino too busy to think straight enough to get as angry as she usually would at such things, but the murmurs lingered around her all the same.
"I know we were going to ask you to be an instructor at the academy after your tenure at the hospital. You had mentioned that you wished to continue to volunteer your free time in developing the communication between medical personnel and to participate in other medical ninjustu training. I know I had told you that you could do both, but that is no longer the case." Tsunade pulled out a red scroll and handed it to Ino.
"So what will I be doing, then?" She asked while attempting to undue the unnecessarily tight knots which held the scroll together. Somehow she had known this was coming.
"Yamanaka Ino." Tsunade said sternly, causing the young kunoichi to look up from her untying struggle. "You have been pivotal in the treatment of veterans from the war. You and Sakura have been instrumental in helping me heal Naruto and guide him through his rehabilitation, among others. And we are indebted to you and your clan's ability to convey messages instantly to those in the surrounding area.
"You are hereby being promoted to the head of a new division being created in the hospital. You are going to help stabilise the communication between medical ninja of the five great nations and assist in the development of new remedies and medications."
For one of the few times in her life, Ino was almost speechless. "Tsu…" she couldn't even finish her sentence.
"I'm sure you've noticed the new construction developing on the southern end of the building?" Kakashi asked her. Ino nodded.
"That will be your wing of the hospital, when it's completed," Kakashi continued. "A large greenhouse will be attached to it where several herbs and flowers are going to be experimented on for treatments and the like. We're calling it the Inoichi ward, after your father."
Ino's eyes watered. The Hokage had almost combined everything she wanted to do into the perfect job. How happy would her father have been to walk through the greenhouse and see his precious blossoms put to such use? "Thank you, Kaka-sen – I mean, Hokage-sama…" she didn't know how to continue without crying. It had been over a year, but still the mention of Inoichi pulled at something in her chest and made her bite her lip.
"I will work alongside you for a little while during my transition out. Then I'll be traveling across the nations, helping you map out the medical networking for everything." Tsunade said.
"Is… well, who else will be working with me?" Ino asked, clutching her scroll to gain control of her emotions. She tried not to be too specific.
Kakashi sighed. "Shizune will be a large part of what you're doing, along with other healers you've been working with lately and hopefully some of your clan. But I'm guessing you're really asking about Sakura?"
Ino looked at him, with wide and trembling eyes. All of her exhaustion, her long nights and longer days, and all of the tears she'd shed for her father and Neji and everything the war had taken from her were sitting on the edge of her heart threatening to tip it over; and sometimes in the midst of all of the sadness all she wanted was simply to talk to her friend. They'd worked their best to heal each other these past few months, from eating ice cream and laughing late into the night to crying on each other's shoulders after what seemed like endless shifts at the hospital. But looking at Kakashi, she realised that same weight which had made her feel like sinking was in his face as well. She didn't have to take off his mask or read his mind to see that they were plagued by the same troubles. She wondered if the Ten Tails haunted his dreams as much as it did hers.
"Sakura's doing something similar to you… However…" Kakashi trailed off.
"She's in the Land of Rapids, Ino." Tsunade finished for him. "You won't find all of this information in your scroll. But we're developing a new centre there similar to what's being built here. You'll get more and more of the intelligence as it becomes unclassified. The area isn't completely… stable, at the moment."
An uncomfortable silence settled over them for a few seconds. "So she isn't here anymore…" Ino said. She wondered how long it would take her to count all the strings in the carpet underneath her feet, and if by the time she was done doing so would she feel less overwhelmed than she did now?
"No." Kakashi replied. "For what it's worth, no one got to say goodbye to her."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, wondering if that was a stab at how hurriedly she'd sent her pupil away or a stab at Sakura herself for leaving early. "We were reaching a point where we might lose the ability to send anyone there for a while and I had to act quickly. I'm sorry, Ino. I know you've had to take on many of her duties. But with your new assignments, I promise you will be in touch with her. You'll be apart, but still working together towards the same goal."
Ino stood up from her chair, arms slightly shaking. She wanted to scream at the world, for taking away yet another of her treasured loved ones, although she knew it wasn't the same as losing her for good. The mature woman in her, the conscience which talked her out of stupid things when Sakura couldn't, calmed her out of saying anything rash to the leaders of Konoha. "I accept." she said, and with a fierce determination, she looked up from the floor and straight into Tsunade's eyes. "I accept." she repeated. She then bowed to her superiors. "Thank you for this opportunity, Hokage-sama!"
"You're welcome, Ino." Tsunade replied with a half-smile. "You are dismissed. Finish your shift for today and report here tomorrow morning."
Ino nodded affirmatively and left. Kakashi shut the door behind her. "I'm surprised. We didn't get screamed at." he said.
Tsunade scoffed. "Pshh, she knows better than to scream at me!" she asserted. "Besides, it's not her reaction to any of this I'm worried about," she looked at him with raised eyebrows. "They should be back any minute with our special friend."
Kakashi shook his head. He felt like an old man already. It never ends, he thought to himself.
Sakura lay with her arm draped over her eyes in her little room. As much as she hated to admit it, she was finally beginning to understand why Guy-Sensei had lain white as a ghost in that little tent, yelling over and over about how sick he was back when they'd seen Naruto on Nanakusa. The water had been especially choppy the past couple of days, and since she tried to stay away from her herbal stores, her stomach seemed to drift up and down with the waves. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and succumbed to having a small portion of ginger root and willow bark to qualm her reeling insides.
After drinking the remedies down with some water, she lay back on her bed with a sigh. She really should read one of the books she had brought, but was only in the mood to brood. She wondered if she'd hear it from Tsunade about leaving without a word or an escort. She probably had me followed or whatever anyway, she thought. Or at least reported on. It wasn't hard to spot someone with pink hair among any crowd, was it?
Sakura watched the dust dance in the light from her small window and put her palms above her face. "Your hands… they don't have blood on them, Sakura." A certain masked-ninja's words tumbled through her mind. "I can't let them be stained. I'm sorry." He had said to her.
Stupid Kaka-sensei. What did he know? Well, almost everything? She answered herself. Still, he aggravated her. She looked at her hands, seeing every line, eyeing every callus that had formed over the years of hard training and missions. She thought of all the chakra that had passed through them, all the soap that had washed the dirt and scrapes away. What was it like for Naruto and Sasuke, to be missing one? Not that Naruto was missing a hand anymore. However… It was something she pondered.
It hadn't been a long journey so far, but she was getting impatient. This assignment was a chance to start over and push through all the limits she had ever been restricted with, whether from being weak, being a woman, or being in the shadow of Naruto and Sasuke, (or even Tsunade-sama.)
Then a thought struck her right when a particularly bad wave smacked against the side of the junk her room was on. Didn't that man say they might not even go to the Land of Rapids in a couple weeks? If that was the case, how was she going to communicate with people from Konoha, or the other nations? Her analytical mind began to tick. Besides skirmishes, viruses, and the general antagonism of the Benisu, she was going to have to worry about keeping in contact with anyone?
Sakura reached for her bag to find some stationary and whatever she could to write with before it was practically slung out of her hand by the unsteady ocean. She tried her best to write a note to Tsunade, although her handwriting ended up looking more like she had written it in the midst of her battle with the puppet master or that it had come from Konohamaru on after inhaling ten pounds of sugar than from her. Across the page, she told Tsunade how she had gotten to the port fine and was going to mail the letter the second she got off the ship. She told her all about the inspections she'd had to go through and how she was worried that she wouldn't even be able to send word of anything once she got to the island because of what the ship attendant had said. And lastly she asked what she could do if the equipment they had was too rudimentary to work with. Would Tsunade send more? Would the other nations?
Finishing the letter gave her an idea. Since she had no idea when she'd see or talk with anybody for a while, she decided to write letters to everyone. There was plenty of time to kill on this rickety vessel before she got to Benisu, and plenty of things to say to the ones she'd left behind.
Sasuke had chosen to walk for much of the way. Any other route of transportation, besides jumping through the trees, left him owing people around him for their services, which was a feeling he couldn't quite stand anymore. Thanks to the Samurai in the Land of Iron, he had learned a considerable amount of control of his sword with his right hand, and he had paid for it through labour made harder without the use of his left hand. He wasn't afraid of much, he never had been. But he was certainly annoyed and inconvenienced at everything he wasn't afraid of, and he wasn't about to let rogue ninja or any other hooligans take advantage of his condition.
As dawn came over the sky, he focused his senses to make sure he was alone with the forest creatures. Observing the world around him also kept him from getting lost in his thoughts. He heard the songbirds calling for their lovers and the wind whistling through the trees. The pines had stayed majestically green throughout the winter, but the other trees were just starting to sprout their tiny neon leaves and colourful blossoms. Scenes like this always reminded him he had yet to master sage mode, but he had better damn well try to soon. It wasn't like Jyuugo was going to show up whenever he needed to harness all the nature energy he had yet to fully understand. And it was still something the dobe had over him.
It took a few miles to walk through the forest on the weary dirt path. After a couple hours he came upon the log cabin he had passed on his trek up to the mountains in the early autumn, and its inhabitant was outside just like last time, tending to his sprouting plants in the outside garden. "Ohayo, wanderer!" The man greeted him. Sasuke noticed his dark brown beard had gotten longer, making his glasses look smaller on his face.
"Say, weren't you the one who came by here a few months ago?" he asked. "Aa." Sasuke replied affirmatively. "You came back down at just the right time, everything's a bloomin'! 'Specially the cherry trees. Keep an eye out for flash floods though. When the snow melts in the spring it all comes a-rushin' down the mountain."
"Thanks." Sasuke said. He was a nice man, but definitely one of those types to give advice that was never asked for.
"Where are you off to this time?"
"Konoha. In the Land of Fire."
"My, well you've just been all over, haven't you? What will you do there?"
Sasuke was growing tired of the small talk. And truth to be told, he really didn't know how to answer the question. "My arm. Getting a new one." He said, showing the traveler his lack of a hand. If Tsunade hasn't changed her mind. He grumbled in his head.
"Oh. Well good luck, traveler. Have a safe trip home." Sasuke nodded. When did he say anything about it being home? He didn't know where home was, anymore. But whatever.
He reached the pass at the bottom of the forest in the early twilight; as he turned a corner on the path, a fox looked up at him with a newly caught rodent in his clutches before scampering away. "Tch…" Sasuke scoffed. If the universe was trying to send a hint, he wouldn't take it. It was nothing more than a forest animal.
As he passed the oaks at the base of the woods, he came upon a giant cherry tree he hadn't noticed last time. It was clearly a couple hundred years old, its branches weaving around each other towards the star-filled sky, covered in blushing coral blossoms. Again he dismissed it.
But when he built himself a small shelter under another tree, and the moon came out to greet him, and the soft breeze blew the smells of flowers through the air, and an owl called out into the night, he looked over the fields past the mountains one last time before he drifted into sleep. And the breeze carried with it a torrent of petals that washed over him, playing in the moonlight until they settled like a blanket at his feet, and it left him with what would have been a smile had it been anyone else's face, because it wasn't like Sasuke smiled or anything. Just wasn't his thing.
The man's words echoed in him as he let go of his consciousness. Have a safe trip home. Yeah, okay gramps. Just no more nightmares. The world was fading away.
"Where are you off to this time?"
"Konoha. In the Land of Fire."
"Have a safe trip home."
…Home.
End of Chapter Two
A/N: Whew! So much exposition. Hope you're still with me, folks. I've gotta take a minute to set things up the way I want them to be. I guess the cherry blossom thing is kind of literal and cliché but I really wanted to write it in so there it is. I would love a review, pretty please!
