When Sai reached the hospital, he already had an army of gnats painted and searching for Sakura's whereabouts. She wasn't in any of the patient rooms or in the cancer treatment ward. He checked the ICU personally and found Haruno Mebuki being supported by her husband, Kizashi, as the two slowly, stumblingly, made their way out into the hall.
"Haruno-san, is Sakura-san sleeping?" he asked. "I wanted to bring her a painting of this morning's dawn to brighten her mood."
Mebuki and Kizashi gripped each other tighter. It was almost all the answer he needed.
"What happened to her?" he demanded.
...
The moment they got out of the jail, Yamato bolted ahead of Kakashi. Thankfully, someone had heard Kakashi's prayer that there would be ANBU guards waiting. Five of them pounced on the weakened prisoner right away, pinning the desperate man to the ground and placing seals on him to restrict his movement. More like Akimichi Chouza sat on him while Nara Shikamaru restrained him with shadow control, Rock Lee knocked him out, and the two ANBU guards placed the restraining seals on him.
"Thanks guys," Kakashi said honestly. "Why so many of you?"
"We saw where you were going and asked for help on the way, just in case this happened," one of the ANBU answered. "We also sent someone to move Haruno Sakura quietly. Sai-san contacted us."
Kakashi didn't bother asking how or when. He had been at it for over an hour with the jail guards and the warden in order to break Yamato out somewhat-legally. "Where?"
"The Inuzaka residence," she answered. "Shizune-san sent someone to keep her stabilized."
Kakashi frowned. "Let's get there quickly."
...
Inuzaka Hana shoved her little brother out of the guest room, "I don't care! You know what to give Akamaru for that cough, so take care of it yourself, idiot! I have better things to do right now!"
"But he only likes it when you do it. So do it!" he demanded.
"GET OUT! This is serious, damn it!"
The window to the room opened, admitting a pair of brunet medics behind the pale skinned Sai. Yamanaka Ino had been sent ahead to warn Hana of the group's arrival and had already taken up watch on the roof, Uchiha Sasuke at her back doing the same since before she arrived. It was clear to her that he wanted to be in the room when Sakura arrived, carried by the medics, but Ino had to remind both him and herself that it was the council stooges, their henchmen, and Naruto that had to be kept away. As it was, Sakura's parents already believed Sakura to be dead, and the news would travel fast. People in the morgue would be expecting her body right about now. It wouldn't be long before they started looking around town.
"It's just that... I feel like I owe her something," Sasuke admitted.
"You owe her a hell of a lot," Ino spit back at him. "Right now, this is what she needs you to do. She needs you up here with me keeping the bad guys away."
Down below, they spotted a couple people in the street hauling a man between them. From another direction, they could see Kakashi, one ANBU, and Akimichi Chouza walking together. A second ANBU was in position atop a near-by roof. The woman gave a friendly wave to Ino and Sasuke, then pointed both previous directions to Kakashi's group, and the knocked out man and his supporters, then gave a thumbs up.
"I guess she's on our side," Ino relaxed a little.
"That's Yamato being held up by Lee and Shikamaru," Sasuke noted. "They must have split up to throw suspicion off of Kakashi."
"Hope it works."
"Let's stop and think about this. What's the endgame in bringing them both here? Sakura isn't going to get better, and the council could possibly blame Yamato for her death when they find out this happened. Kakashi could be removed from office. The rest of us are going to be put in prison."
"Does any of that matter in the face of love?" Ino asked. "Sakura's last request was to see him again. Did you know they only got to have sex once? I mean, come on! I bet right now he could kiss her and she would die of the resulting orgasm."
"Enough, Ino," Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I don't want to think about these things."
Inside, Rin was following Shizune through the door to check on Yamato. Sakura was already woken back up from the staged coma. Now it was time to undo the damage Lee's kick had done.
"Something tells me that if I hadn't gotten him out myself, you lot were going to do it anyway," Kakashi said, happily hugging his friends before they worked on Yamato.
"Damn straight," Rin said, giving him a peck on the cheek.
"He said he thinks it's possible they were experimenting on her instead of giving her chemo," he mentioned. "Is it possible?"
"Very," Shizune grumbled. "I found some things in her system that shouldn't be there. Pulled her file. A lot was missing."
"Now that we have her, if we can keep her hidden, she might survive," Rin said, pulling a glowing hand away from Yamato's head.
Said man was "doing the chicken dance," the jerky movement that sometimes accompanied coming back to consciousness.
"Let's get him lying down next to her," Rin suggested.
Seconds later, the weight change in the bed alerted Sakura. After three weeks of sleeping in a hospital gurney alone, this sudden shift was alarming. Someone was off to her right, sitting gingerly on the bed, then stretching out beside her, gently bringing their legs up to hers and placing a wide palm on her hip. When she was able to clear her eyes enough through the haze of sedatives and pain killers (were they wearing off a bit?) and could see who it was, she interlaced her fingers with his, starting to cry.
Yamato looked her over carefully. She was thin, much more so than before. In fact, she was smaller around than he was now. He had been willowy most of his life, but that was due to what had been done to him, it was the physical mark of his body's acceptance of the mokuton abilities. Sakura, however, should never have been this thin. And she was cold. Careful of the IV line in her left hand, he pulled her over to face him, tucking her head under his chin and pressing her flat against him. He wanted to get her warm again.
"H... hi... ha...aaandsome," she shuddered against him.
"Hi beautiful," he smiled into her hair, pressing a kiss to her scalp.
"Mom s...said, y... you came t... to see her?" she asked, trying to raise her head to see him better.
"Yes," he answered, rubbing her back carefully. "I think she likes me."
"Good." she smiled. "I n... need you to d... do something f... for me."
"Anything's possible with the help of our friends," he encouraged.
"G... get me away... from... hospital. Bad p... people. O... Orochi...maru. He consult...s..."
"I thought so," Yamato frowned. "He's the one who told me you were worse off than you said, but... I wonder if he even knows it's you they're doing this to. He wouldn't be stupid enough to go against Tsunade-sama's apprentice knowingly, would he? Not unless she isn't around town anymore?"
"She's not! Th... they cover my head. He d... doesn't know."
Yamato took a few seconds to calm himself. Perhaps, due to her uselessness as a baby factory, the council was doing this instead. If so, the council would be undergoing a quick change in staff soon after this came to light. as much as he didn't want others to be suffering, Yamato hoped there were others in her situation, others that could be used as evidence.
"Well, I have good news for you. We're not in the hospital. I don't know whose room this is. I got knocked out cold on the way here."
Sakura managed to pull back a little and look at him with pursed lips, "What did you do?"
"Bolted away from Kakashi-senpai in a stupid attempt to run to you at the hospital," he smiled at her. "Don't worry, that Rin woman healed me up nice."
"Idiot," she whispered, a smile starting to form in her bruised eyes.
"You look terrible, you know," he commented honestly. "Like you're not sleeping, eating, or resting at all."
"You don't look much b...better," she retorted.
"I got stuck in jail for mouthing off to the council."
"Once again... you...are an idiot."
"Yeah, maybe so, but I'm your idiot."
