Chapter Three

Shame and Sorrow

I had a pretty restful sleep after returning to my room - only to be awoken the next morning by none other than Karui the maid, who had brought me breakfast in bed. I tried to protest this treatment since I was Miss Sakura's nurse, but Karui insisted since the lady of the house was also under her care, too.

"Miss Sakura once said that the best way to start the day for a lady is to break fast in bed."

I couldn't help but laugh as I agreed with her then. I had no idea how I could even get away with anything like this. I had to say this sweet-and-spicy bread thing that I had was one of the best things I ever ate. Here I began to get acquainted with the maid who went on to say she enjoyed caring for Sakura Uchiha, who was as pretty as the flower she was named after. The Japanese cherry blossom...so beautiful but tragically short-lived.

I tried not to think about that morbid symbolism.

"Karui," I said after a bite, "if it's not too much, what else can you tell me about her?"

The red-haired woman sighed. "Well, to keep the story short, her heritage goes back to Tokyo, Japan, before her family relocated to the states. That is where she met Mr. Itachi, who then came here after his father's death, at the same time his brother, Mr. Sasuke. Sakura and Itachi married shortly after he inherited the land and mill, but the joy was short-lived. She was taken very ill and became...mindless."

Mindless...so she is mental, as a result of this fever. There are so many tropical fevers in existence, and no doctor was able to diagnose? Or have I not been told about that either?

"Well, Karui, let's see if we can make her well again," was all I could say. Then the topic switched to the maid explaining that she did her best to keep Sakura as if she was well, including dressing her like an overgrown doll and bathing her. Somehow that made me laugh alone.

~o~

As a nurse, I'd be in scrubs at the hospital, but here in the tropics I was allowed to dress casually and for the ever-humid weather. So here I was back in my airy blouse and khakis, which was somewhat like my uniform, and my hair in its ponytail because if I so much as let it run wild, it was ruined.

But before I could get to work, I was called by Itachi because he wanted to have a serious talk with me. I held myself together for what was going to come. As soon as I was inside his personal office, I admired how nice it was, though the word was an understatement. But one feature stood out most of all as soon as I came in, and that was a wedding picture on the corner of the desk turned away from him and facing me. Him and Sakura.

Maybe she looked different now, besides the hair, but I was drawn to how beautiful she was then. Though I admit I was a little shocked to know her hair was pink, because nobody had pink hair unless it was dyed. And hers appeared natural. I'd seen it long last night, but in this picture, it was short and lightly curled. Her eyes were green as the jungles, bright and full of life. Her white gown was ethereal, sparkling on the left waist, and voluminous. She carried exquisite, vivid birds of paradise blossoms. And as for the groom...

"Miss Uzumaki."

Let's just say that he was as handsome as depicted, but unlike this kind and smiling man in the photograph, his expression was cold and calculating, expecting me to take my seat in the chair across from his desk. Obediently, I sat down. "Mr. Uchiha," I answered.

And just like that, he wasted no time getting to the main point. "I made it clear in my letter to the company that this is NOT a place for frightened girls."

"I beg your pardon," I said, sitting up higher, keeping my legs from crossing because this was one of the signs you make a bad impression, "but I'm not a frightened girl. Hard to believe as it is after last night, I assure you that if I seem to be timid, I was only taken aback. I never would have gone into the tower in the first place."

"And what is so alarming about the tower?" he asked. This formality was starting to rub off on me, but it was an area that I accepted whether I liked it or not.

I shrugged. "Nothing, but you must admit, it's an eerie sort of place. Very dark," I answered.

Now this was the first time I sparked a reaction from him, for the slightest hint of surprise, but in his eyes only. "Surely nurses aren't afraid of the dark."

I laughed a little, happy about this mild change and at my own foolishness. "Of course not. Though...when I was a little girl, I was scared of it. I'm not anymore." Except on occasion just like last night. Before I knew it, I was going on.

"It was a bit of a shock to just see my patient that way for the first time. Nobody told me Mrs. Uchiha was a..." I stopped then and there, knowing this would make or break, but he knew what I was thinking and finished for me.

"Mental case." He chuckled, but it was without humor. I noticed its difference between Sasuke's loose and carefree one; his was smooth and fine like aged wine. "Why should you be ashamed to admit it? My wife IS a mental case, but I had my reasons for not including it in the letter. It's...far more complicated than you comprehended, Miss Uzumaki." He stood up and began to walk around to stand over me. Suddenly I felt smaller in comparison.

"And please remember this: when some of the people around here start regaling you with local legends, you'll find superstition a contagious thing. Some people let it get the better of them, but I don't think you will."

I shook my head and answered no.

It wasn't long before I found myself introduced to the Uchiha's primary physician who had a Japanese name but was really from America, similarly to how Sakura had come to be. His name was Kabuto Yakushi, and he was the same age as Itachi, barely reaching the third decade of life. His hair was long and silver, held in a ponytail like me, and his dark eyes were covered with broad, round glasses. He was really nice and sweet, and he was happy to have me work with him. I really looked forward to working with him.

He had to make me laugh in the sense he respected nurses, but most of them scared him, and often they looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing, and he would do the same to them to make sure that they didn't make a mistake.

It was here that I finally had a clear view of our patient unlike last night, and the way she was now differed greatly from her photograph. Whereas she had been vivacious, now she appeared to be all but lifeless. Her skin had been flushed, and now it was pale as the sheets. Her hair, rosy as her gown, was a little past her shoulders and stringy despite being washed and brushed with care. And her eyes were once lively emerald green, but now they were dull and muddied like moss in the rain. I'd seen patients like this before, but because this woman was someone so happy with life, clear as a crystal, and remembering Itachi's harsh words, made me clench in the heart more than other parts of my body.

Zombies themselves, in lore, were ghosts or living dead. Modern stories had them as flesh-eating corpses that rose from the graves. There was also a really good but strong tropical drink of the same name.

Yet here was a "living" woman in a trance, brought on by a severe disease.

"She really makes a beautiful zombie, doesn't she?" Kabuto said jokingly as we stood over Sakura, who lay there in bed, awake but saying nothing and staring at nothing. "Sakura and I were friends. We worked together in the hospital. We went to medical school together in the states even." Then his face fell, which didn't surprise me.

"Sometimes it's easier for a doctor to laugh than to put on a long face."

I knew he was thinking about Itachi's so-called wisdom, but for his part, it was his morale to show sadness because Sakura was an old friend of his. I could understand him very much. Why should he have to be forced to smile when inside was another story?

"I know what you mean," I said softly. "But I have no idea about zombies, Doctor. I've seen patients in states like this, though caused by illnesses that we know, and one of them happens to be...encephalitis." A well-known inflammation of the brain which was caused directly from a virus, a vaccine or anything to trigger. Common causes were fevers, headaches, seizures as well as extreme fatigue and confusion. The spinal cord was also involved, just like in the case of Mrs. Sakura Uchiha. Portions of the spine were burned out, rendering her without willpower.

She can't speak or do anything she wants, but obey simple commands.

"Does she...suffer?" I asked Kabuto, who had no answer. Even modern medicine couldn't pick up some things.

"I'd rather think of her as a sleepwalker, feeling and knowing nothing. Very little we can do except keep her physically comfortable, exercised and on light diets."

That really was important, but not as important as - "What about a cure? Could it be possible?" That was why I was here, right?

He looked at me as if he hadn't thought of that. "I didn't...consider. Everything just seemed so hopeless," he admitted. "We did everything we could that other options just seem to run out." Which is never the first time.

There was one idea of a cure that came to mind, but first I needed to see the records of care for Sakura thus far before I would even dare to bring this to light. What I thought of was very serious, and it was a fifty-fifty chance.

Dr. Yakushi left me alone to read over the reports, and I happened to find myself in Itachi's presence at some point, taken aback with the question: "You didn't find your patient so frightening in the daylight, did you?"

"Not at all. Mrs. Uchiha must have been...very beautiful," I said, but that didn't make him smile at all. What happened had really hurt him so bad that he didn't like to show his emotions anymore. And his response was plain and simple, like he expected it: many thought Sakura beautiful. I agreed with him and was just leaving before he had to ask me again, giving me that stony look again.

"Tell me, Miss Uzumaki: do you think of yourself as pretty?"

That I didn't think I'd hear from him even though I should have. Pretty? I had been told pretty before, but never had I thought of myself that way. "I hadn't," I said honestly. "I've only been told -"

He cut me off. "That's good enough. The less you think of yourself as pretty, or charming even, the more you save yourself the trouble and the rest of us a great deal of unhappiness." He looked back down to the papers he was reading, ending the conversation then and there.

I said nothing and just left. I had to keep asking myself over and over if there was anything I could do to prove to him that happiness could last if you wanted it to. But based on what I'd seen when I got here, I found myself caught in the middle of something I never understood.

~o~

Several days went by when I found myself settled into the job, getting Mrs. Uchiha into her routine of bathing, dressing, eating and exercise with Karui's help as well as a few other maids, I thought life was good except for the fact this woman had to be suffering inside. Though most of the time, a person in a zombie-like state could wake up without recalling what happened to them.

If we ever got Sakura back to the way she used to be, would she be able to tell us?

Today I found myself enjoying a day off, wearing an orange peasant blouse as well as jeans, the weather mild but still humid. I really wanted to enjoy any little shops that were here, since there was no shopping online here unlike back home. Except I could use the help as soon as I was outdoors.

Coincidentally, I found myself nearly running into Sasuke - and he had come in on a horse! "Well, Nurse Naru," he said with that charming smirk of his, "what in the world could you be doing on a day off like this?"

"I was beginning to wonder," I said. "Restaurants or shops around?"

"Better part of it, I should just show you around outside the Uchiha place. It happens to be MY day off, too."

And here we were now, out in the open and enjoying good drinks, though Sasuke might have been having one too many, since he just asked for a second. "Give me another. I have to keep the lady entertained." This worried me a little, because if I saw him have two or three glasses on night one, then who knew how it would be on his day off. I had to take a guess that working either with or for his older brother had to be as bad as it was implied.

"Must be hard working at a sugar-mill if you need at least six ounces of rum," I noted.

He looked surprised. "Six ounces? How did you know how much I drank?"

"I'm a nurse. I always watch people when they pour something. Mathematics." I picked up my mug of local tea when I heard the nearby calypso singer pick up with a new song...and I almost dropped it, but I think Sasuke looked more stricken.

There was a family that lived on the isle

Of St. Sebastian a long, long while

The head of the family was an Uchiha man

And the brother, he was the younger man

Ah, woe! Ah, me!

Shame and sorrow for the family...

It didn't take long for me to pick up that it was literally a song for the Uchihas. Though Sasuke quickly spoke up and tried to tell me about a mule that had once been on the plantation, but as much as I wanted to listen, I had to hear more of this song, my interest piqued and no going back.

Suddenly, I felt I may have gotten a bit too far, got more than I bargained for, at the same time Sasuke lost it and called over the waiter who was just returning with his drink, and ordered him to make the singer stop the infernal tune about him and his brother...and of Sakura.

The Uchiha man, he kept in a tower

A wife as pretty as a big pink flower

She saw the brother, and she stole his heart

And that's how the badness and the trouble start -

Suddenly, I found myself connecting more dots in my head. I feared I might be getting too involved in a business that wasn't mine. None of this has to do with me, but it's come whether I asked or not. This song...it talks that Sasuke and Sakura might have had an affair before she fell sick.

Now I think I deserved to know, but to tread as carefully as possible. Except I had no idea how to even ask the man himself without getting burned by the fire. "Sasuke," I said to the man when I saw the extension of the song which was clearly a scandal I hadn't heard, "if I had known, I never would have listened." But he said nothing, just sat there and continued to brood morbidly.

The singer, a dark-skinned young man, came over and apologized in a rush. "Mr. Uchiha," he said with a bow at the waist, "I've come to apologize."

"All right," Sasuke said bluntly, not looking at him, but the poor man wasn't done so easily.

"Just an old song I picked up somewhere, but I have no idea who made it up. Some of the singers on this island tattle-tale on anybody. Believe me, Mr. Uchiha, if I had known you were with a lady, I never would have sing that song."

Sasuke's head jerked up as his patience snapped. His lip curled, his eyes flashing dark fire, and he ground out, "Get out of here." The dark man clearly was afraid of him now and took off after another bow. I stared after him for a second before returning my attention back to Sasuke. I didn't know if I was afraid of this side of him or not, because all these questions I wanted to know made me feel more bad for him than ever. Though I had no idea what happened, I didn't want to shift blame to Itachi or his wife either.

"I'm sorry he bothered you so much, Sasuke."

He grumbled and picked up the glass of rum. I could smell the vanilla from where I was sitting. "You heard what he sang, Naru. You shocked?"

"Just wished I hadn't heard," I answered, picking up my mug.

A brow lifted as if asking me why without saying it. "Everybody else knows it." So that was his way of admitting to a possible affair with his brother's wife. "Itachi saw to it. Sometimes I think he planned the whole thing from the beginning just to watch me squirm."

I was now learning this about Itachi, a man who intrigued and bothered me at the same time, but to go as far as create a song that tarnished his family's reputation without a care for his own. "That doesn't...sound like him." And why would he be so blatantly honest if he kept this from me of all people?

Sasuke regarded me with a snide look. "Playing the noble husband for you, isn't he? That won't last long." He brought the glass to his lips. As I watched him, I came to an idea of a conclusion he must have gotten to drinking because of what happened to Sakura. Alcohol was his way of coping, which worried me because I had seen good men turn into complete scoundrels over one too many.

Suddenly, I really wanted to get back to the house, but he wasn't finished. "One of these days, he'll start on you just like he started on her. 'You think life is beautiful, don't you, Sakura?'" The spite was there, and it struck me as much as the words had.

He said them to her once like he did to me.

"'You think you're beautiful, don't you, Sakura'? What he can do to the word beautiful is Itachi's great weapon, like other men use their fists."

Somehow I felt a little something akin to deception, but I wasn't foolish either. Itachi Uchiha really did know how to draw you in with the subtlest ways possible, but I didn't really count on the fact that was me being influenced by his words. I had seen beautiful things my entire life, from small to large, and of course I never was perfect, so I wasn't surprised that he hadn't been either. Nor could have been his marriage.

Yet I never would have been smacked in the face with anything like this. I tried to wrack my brain as to whether or not Sakura's sickness was connected to her and the war between the two brothers...

We remained at the restaurant even as night was falling, and by then, Sasuke had so many that he passed out by the time the lights were being lit. "Sasuke, it's time we started home," I insisted, but he seemed to be sleeping so soundly. I resisted a groan of frustration and started to push at his shoulders to get him to move, but then I heard that same tune that never got to finish. Why did he think to come back at this time?!

Damn it, that song really had me glued under its spell.

The wife and the brother, they want to go

But the Uchiha man, he told them no

The wife fall down, and the evil came

And it burned her mind in the fever flame

Ah, woe! Ah, me!

Shame and sorrow for the family...

"Sasuke!" I almost shouted. This time I did get a response, but it was nothing more than a roll of the head as if he was trying to clear his brain, failing miserably. But then I broke when I heard myself in the mix.

Her eyes are empty and she cannot talk

And the nurse has come to make her walk

The brothers are lonely and the nurse is young

And now you may see that my song is sung

Ah, woe! Ah, me!

Shame and sorrow for the family...

Okay, I really have no idea how in the hell he managed to think of me in the verse in a single day, or if anyone else did it for him as he said, but if the episode in the tower didn't unnerve me, then this sure did.

Behind him, the figure of a woman was coming up, and he halted the song then and there as he saw me looking over his shoulder. And it turned out help had arrived in terms of Sasuke's drunken state.

The song in the movie is "Shame and Sorrow for the Family", and if anyone wants to see the differences between it and this version for the Uchiha, check out its clip on YouTube, with subs. :D

Regarding said video, one reviewer said this and quote: "You can see how talented the director (Jacques Tourneur) is. He creates a powerful atmosphere of mystery and horror with just a few touches. Sir Lancelot (the singer) makes two appearances in the film. First we just hear the song and the reaction it causes and then the back of Sir Lancelot's head. In the second clip he appears foreboding; like a ghost out of shadows against a turbulent sky and his song gathers extraordinary power and dread."