The Barn


Chapter Eleven

Shopping


It wasn't morning when Sakura awoke next, but hours later when the sky was dark and burning with the promise of a not too far off sunrise. She could feel her magic spent and shallow, but the cuts were all but faded across her body.

She stood and looked herself over in the mirror, hesitant to touch the gauze bandage taped over her face and lip. She pulled back half the tape first and lifted the gauze. There was no cut, but a trail of piner skin still showed off even in the dim of the room what had once been there. She grinned like a bulldog, if only she bit as hard as one.

"It's been years since I wanted to hurt someone," she mused out loud, speaking to her own reflection like it had an opinion to offer back. "Just like it's been years since I've touched my magic. What a coincidence."

She channeled magic into her bones around her hand and let it glow green before hovering it over the pink scar. Bit by bit, she worked the skin back into a healthy color that bore no resemblance to the damage it once glared. Healing had become easier in her old age like they said it would. The older you grew the easier things were to control and manipulate, but the less vigor you had over magic. That was the trade off.

'But a bone witch will hold her magic longer than the others. You won't have to worry about controlling or manipulating magic when you're your mother's age. You'll be able to outlast them all.'

She let the magic stay in her hand, softly burning in her bones with no real goal or purpose other than to exist and be felt. It was warm with life to the touch, and langnuid in its unformed state. If she closed her eyes she could almost smell it, but the exact nature of the scent escaped her. It was easier to notice other's scents, but she could never pin down her own.

Sakura was starting to admit to herself that magic was like a bad habit or a warm bed, easy to climb inside of and harder to slip away from.

Why had she given up magic in the first place?

Sakura indulged and it felt like sinning when she channeled what was left of her magic through her body and built up the fibers of her muscles, the tissues and sinews, the knit of her skin and construct of her form to its prime with healing magic. Her bones burned and sang, seeping warm magic through her until it felt like she had run marathons daily for decades. It was a high that sent her brain reeling with glee.

She felt like she had to keep using her magic until it was spent. What else could she do?

She lifted her left hand to try something else and suddenly the magic rubbed raw there. She felt the rough texture like sandpaper under her magic and had to recoil. Her high came crashing down as the shock traveled up her arm and she stumbled backwards, hitting the edge of the bed with her hip and sliding down. She gripped her throbbing wrist and held it tight with her good hand, watching as her knuckles turned white and the skin turned red.

'Remember what you did, remember what you lost!'

The message was clear as fate and it was enough to bring her back. Sakura screwed her eyes shut and braced with her toes curling into the carpet for purchase. She felt the deep places of her settle and thanked God she hadn't gone too far and touched the black magic underneath it all.

They spoke of hitting your limit like crashing to the ground after flying, suddenly having nowhere to go. That was true for everyone else, but not for Sakura. She brought her grave digging shovel and she was ready to dig when she got to that others got to the end of their magic they stopped or were stopped, but those conventions held her like wet paper and she knew there was something more than just her limits to explore. There was more to unearth in the moist soil of her magic, and She did so because she knew there was something worth finding there.

She looked up to the mirror and swallowed, searching for any of the telling signs, but her skin was unmarred and just as pale and plain as expected. There were no patches of black blotting like ink drops anywhere, and her eyes were wide and scared, but still hers. There was no voice either.

"Stupid," Sakura said out loud to herself.

She felt like an idiot. It had only been for a minute, but for that small moment in time she had forgotten what she swore she would never forget. So many years ago she had paid for her greed with the dexterity of her left hand and the peace of mind that came with knowing your magic wasn't sentient and malicious.

Back then Sakura just wanted to be the best witch she could be.

Now all she wanted to be was sane.

She dressed, threw out the old bandages, and left with a folded note on the bed for Kakuzu to find when he woke. The walk back to the barn was mundane and long, by the time she made it her feet were sore and the sun was well risen, but her head was a little neater. When she opened the door and saw the breakfast cooking she was able smile and joke.

Everything was back to being mostly fine.

"I hope you saved some for me."


The paper crinkled. "Shopping?" Madara echoed, already frowning at the idea of it. "Please no, I don't want to go out today."

"You don't have to. I can find stuff for you if you want to stay behind, but I think it would be good to do something a little more mundane and normal. It's been a little too crazy for me lately and I need to get some of you caught up with the times more than others."

"I thought you could just magic our clothes," Gaara said with a wiggle of his fingers to help illustrate his words. "You don't need to spend your money on us."

Sakura grinned and held up a black matted credit card. "It's not my money. The Uzumaki coven will be covering this bill. Kakuzu had one of their cards and I helped myself. I'm thinking of it as payback for their overzealous monitoring."

"Is that the real reason you want to go out?" Gaara guessed.

"Oh please," Konan interrupted. "There are reasons other than revenge to go out and spend someone else's money."

"Like?" Gaara asked.

"Shoes!" Sakura interjected quickly, because it was the first basic, normal thing that came into her head that had nothing to do with magic or demons or black marks that spread like a plague.

Konan looked backwards over her shoulder at Sakura before facing Gaara again and nodding. "Yeah, pretty things. Besides that, it would be good reconnaissance for us. If we want to blend in here we should study the people and the culture. Madara, you're the only one with clearance to actually pick up a job here, you need to come with us."

Madara glared. "I don't want a job. It would leave the Barn unguarded."

"What are we?" Konan exclaimed, looking offended.

"Inferior," he replied without missing a beat.

"I'll go with you if there are star drinks," Gaara whispered to Sakura, watching Madara and Konan get into another argument.

"Sure, let me get my things and we can go."

Sakura punched in her code for the day and reached for her purse left by the kitchen counter. It was there she noticed the vase of flowers. Pretty yellow and orange foxglove stalks were clustered together. Sakura reached for one, more red than orange, and pulled it free from the waters.

Behind her someone called her name and Sakura blinked, replacing the stalk in the vase and turning away. She didn't bother asking who left the foxglove in her kitchen, she had seen the same flowers in Kakuzue's home and remembered it was the Uzumaki's coven flower, appearing on their family crest along with the grinning fox leaping over a human skull that sat atop a pair of crossed arrows.

In addition to just being a favorite flower, they were also convenient conduits of magic for people who weren't bone witches.

Sakura jingled her keys. "I'm ready to leave. Anyone who wants to tag along can come, otherwise I'll lock the door behind me and expect to be let back in when we come back." She leveled her eyes on Madara. "Okay?"

Madara lowered his chin but stood up from where he had been leaning so he was taller than her again. His arms were still crossed, but he wasn't turned away from her at least.

Sakura didn't wait for his answer, but headed for the car and hoped he followed. Konan took the passenger's front seat and Gaara slipped in the back. Sakura didn't hear anything else but when she looked in the rearview mirror Madara was there, just as dour with his arms still crossed.

Sakura drove them somewhere a little out of the city, where the shops were older and less unkept. The trees arched over the roadways and shed leaves of gold and crimson all the way down. Sakura glanced off to the side and saw the rows of brick front homes converted into shop fronts and turned away in the opposite direction.

Not far from the foliage was a tucked away strip mall old enough to have affordable prices and new enough to still sell overpriced confectionary drinks. Sakura parked and looked back to see Madara was gone again, leaving her alone with Gaara and Konan.

"Well, he's not getting star drinks," Gaara huffed, less bothered by Madara's disappearing act than Sakura.

Two hours later Sakura had spent three grand on clothes, shoes, and useless accessories, but felt the need to use her own money to pay for Gaara's drink in the mall.

Konan sat down on the bench alongside Sakura, dropping the bags to settle beside them on the floor. She sounded tired but Sakura knew she wasn't, since Konan had the most energy when it came to buying new things, a trait Sakura admired and found relatable.

"When I was younger, much younger, the family would have these champion games for fun, but really it was just the young kids showing off their magic. If you won you got something nice, some years it was a diamond tennis bracelet, a fine bottle of merlot, a champion thoroughbred for your stables, or a day trip to the mall with one of these little black cards."

"What sort of games were they?" Konan asked, recognizing the note of nostalgia in Sakura's voice.

"Games that ended with blood, mostly. There were puzzles sometimes, but Naruto was so stupid Kushina tried to shy away from those. When Mito was still alive she didn't play favorites like that and kept the courses traditional. The Wheel, The Courage, The Star, The Hanged Man, all different games. Find your way through the maze, untangle the illusion from reality before the real threat gets to you, track the monster before it is free on the world to kill, dig down to the end of your magic and then go further." Sakura shrugged in a way that was practiced. "Games like those."

"Did you ever win any games?"

"The Hermit, actually. It was a fancy masked party, a masquerade, and by the end of the night someone close to us would be dead if the hermit wasn't discovered or unmasked. Who didn't fit in this party, use your magic to find out."

"How did you discover it?"

Sakura's grin was wry. "He was the only one there less at ease than me. It wasn't a good example and Kushina had a little fit because I never used my magic, but Mito said…it was more than just how much magic or what spells you knew, but the character of a person in a lion's den, or something like that. I didn't understand it at the time, but I was just glad I had beat Karin who was a sensor and the obvious favorite. She won the most."

"It sounds like becoming a witch suited you. Why did you give it up? Finances would have been supplied by the family, I assume, so that's not the reason," Konan mused, looking over at Sakura with eyes too keen to swallow deception.

Sakura smiled, but her lips were dry and her throat was close to cotton.

"You know the last game I was a part of was The Wheel. There was this huge roulette table we had to find and spin. Depending on what it landed on we ended up fighting or facing a challenge. Naruto ended up fighting a low powered clone of himself, Karin was stuck unraveling an illusion, Tayuya was stuck in a room with walls closing in a little bit every few seconds, and I….I rolled a Black Knight."

"What does that mean?"

"It was a construct made from magic, or it was supposed to be, but there was something more to it and it was unlike anything mechanical when I stripped it down there was just teeth and eyes and darkness that swallowed all my magic until it devoured me. It was an undying thing."

Sakura closed her eyes to the memory.

She hit the ground, the end, the limits of her magic. She had spent it all and she was at rock bottom. That's when she picked of her grave shovel and started to dig until her skin was the color of topsoil and her teeth were just as long as her nightmares.

"Kushina's attempt to kill me went very differently. Remember, Menma?"

Sakura opened her eyes and saw the dark haired twin scowling down at her. Sakura's smile was a lazy stretch of her lips as Konan tensed alongside her. Gaara put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, making his presence known to her.

"Naruto won that fight fair and square. It was just an unlucky spin," Menma grumbled in a voice like gravel.

"Sure it was," Sakura cooed, eyes creased and playful. "And it all turned out okay in the end, didn't it? What else are you doing in my neck of the woods, cousin?"

"We thought you were Karin. She's the only one who spends this much."

"You could just call her," Sakura flippantly replied, knowing full well how Karin had defected from the family coven two days ago. She also knew she wasn't supposed to know about how Karin had left the family in such an ugly way. It was embarrassing to admit, probably.

"Funny thing about women and cellphones, they don't like to use them when they're angry with you."

"Karin's angry with you? I thought she was fond of you boys." Sakura teased. A part of her in the back of her brain was commending her for being so brave while another part was cursing her for being so stupid. Menma could tear her open if he wanted to.

But he wouldn't.

"Women get angry without reason all the time, regardless of how fond they may be of a person or thing," he huffed.

"That sounds like something someone who wasn't able to get a girlfriend would say. I know mama bear was the sheltering type, but I didn't think she was so bad. You know it's illegal to date your cousins so what are you doing tracking down Karin on your own?"

Sakura saw his face fill with color. "It's not like that, why you have to make everything a joke?"

"Why do you have to be so funny?"

"You have a problem with that mouth of yours."

Sakura wants to respond on that snap instinct of hers that would have made a witty comeback about that not being what his mom said last night, or something in that vein of rhetoric, but she held herself back in time. Menma was touchy when it came to his mother and she felt that she might push him a little too much if she said something like that.

Naruto was mother's favorite, not him.

Sakura leaned forward, resting the back of her fist under her chin. "You have a problem with my mouth? Cute. I haven't heard that one before. You gonna say something original or do I have to listen to the same lines as your brother?"

She blew him a playful kiss that kept his face red.

"Shut up. I was just here because I thought you might be Karin. It's not like the rest of the family cares that much about what happens to her next. At least I tried. At least I-"

His words cut off when Sakura thrust forward a single finger to touch his lips and stop him. Behind her Gaara was also tense. The area around them was silent, devoid of humans. Even the people inside the shops seemed gone or out of sight. Suddenly it was too quiet for a mall.

"Sakura," Konan whispered, touching the younger girl in warning.

"No, I feel it too. Where did Madara run off to?"

"It's not him," Gaara said.

Sakura pulled back her finger and stood, facing the direction of the magic that had begun to trickle from. It was familiar and intentional and teasing all at once, making it hard for Sakura to breath.

"Karin?"

Menma exclaimed as the redhead rounded the corner and came into view, looking stunning as always in thin black stilettos and a long mink fur coat. There might have been a little shadow under her eyes, but her makeup was flawless and a perfect mask to the world of her true exhaustions.

Karin smiled and waved to the pair of them with just her fingers. "I heard you were looking for me, Menma. Sorry Sakura dearest, I didn't mean for you to become a part of this. Before we have our girl talk let me take care of the pest, okay?"

It was an interesting idea, because on their own, Menma and Karin were almost evenly matched, with Karin showing more skill and talent in the end. If Sakura stepped back she didn't doubt Karin would win. That wasn't a bad things…but….

Sakura turned and looked behind them where two new figures stood, one she recognized, one she didn't. Tayuya smiled and waved from beside the boy taller and paler than her. Sakura felt instantly unsettled by the sight of him.

"Who are your friends?" Sakura asked.

Menma looked behind him and cursed too, seeing the new faces for the first time. It looked more and more like a trap for him. He wouldn't be able to beat Karin on his own, especially not if Karin had backup.

"Well, some of them are busy looking for that last friend of yours, tricky bastard, but the ones you see here are your cousin Tayuya and Kimimaro. Say hello and be polite, won't you dolls?" Karin cooed with a wave of her hand. Her nails were painted a bright red to match her lips and hair. She looked better than she had last they saw each other.

"This is a public place, let's be civil about it, alright?" Sakura cautioned, raising both her palms and grinning over at Tayuya and the other man. "Right?"

"You're not as uninvolved as you would like to be," Menma growled sidelong at Sakura. "You think they'll leave you alone? They'll try to take you like he did with your other cousins. Stupid girls."

"Not very nice, Menma."

Karin pointed a finger and Sakura heard the magic hit and latch onto his body. Menma choked as the blood inside him began to heat. His eyes bulged and he reached for his own magic to break the hold before his veins boiled.

He snarled and the marks on his face grew darker. Gaara reached for Sakura to tug her back and away, Konan rising to flank her as they turned together to run. In the way Tayuya and the other man stood, blocking their path.

"You're outnumbered," Sakura tried.

"Those two can't use their magic freely unless they want to run out faster. You gonna force them into that?" Tayuya asked, grin mocking. She pulled out her flute and turned it over once before taping it to her lips. "Just come quietly with us while Karin deals with the brat. Our Patriarch has something he would like to talk to you about."

"I can guess the rest," said Sakura. "Is it one of those, join me or die sort of deals? Someone mentioned a coven rising up to take down our family. What he say to get you to join?"

"Nothing extraordinary. I was ready with just the thought of revenge." Her eyes sparkled. "You ready to go?"

Konan reached in front of Sakura and her skin started to peel into paper. Sakura grabbed the older woman to stop her, knowing that Konan and the others only had a limited amount of magic before they ran out and were sent back into the screaming void she had first pulled them out of.

"Let me do this much. I can't just watch," Konan hissed, looking more pissed than Sakura thought she had ever seen the woman. "They threaten you right in front of me. I can't allow that."

"It's just smack talk. It's not your problem-"

"It is if it has to deal with you!" Konan interrupted. "I won't sit back and watch this again. Don't ask me to endure such a thing."

"I as well," said Gaara, hand back on her shoulder. "It's not fair that you take care of us all the time without asking for anything in return. Plus, I don't want to see you bleed again."

Tayuya smirked at the sight of them. "Fine, let's beat her down a little before talks and cake, yeah?"

The other girl laughed before rising her flute and blowing. The man moved at the first note and Gaara rushed forward to combat the physical strike while Konan unfolded into a thousand papers, thickening to absorb the blast of sound.

But then, too fast to know how it happened, Menma was thrown through the air, landing on the other side of the mall clearing where they all could see the state of his body, bound in gold chains. Sakura turned and Karin was there. She smiled playfully and then just pointed to where Gaara was fighting, making no move to do anything further.

Sakura turned and felt her heart sink. Gaara was doing his best with the little breakdown of sand he had transmuted from cloth or chair or bench, but the man named Kimimaro was too fast with a sword as pale as bone and smelling just like one.

'"You're not the only bone witch out there, cous."

Sakura started to fly through hand seals, forgetting that she didn't need them anymore. "Abort mission now!"

"But Madara-"

"He'll be fine on his own!"

Sakura pulled a bone from her wrist, still slick with fluids and threw it between Gaara and the other bone witch male, knowing it wouldn't hit but hoping it would be intercepted. She was finished with her own seals, she just needed to get in contact with both Gaara and Konan again.

Kimimaro caught the bone and stopped, rising out of his stance to hold it in one hand and eye it critically.

Sakura used that moment to grab Konan, or what was left of her paper body, and then turn for Gaara. He was close, but she dragged Konan with her to touch him because that was important, they had to be connected otherwise it didn't work.

She grabbed Gaara and felt bone between her ribs, ripping through her shirt from an outside source. It was pain, but she grit through it and pulsed magic into the seal that would take them all back to the place in the middle of her living room where such a seal had been painted right after the incident at the festival.

She saw sticking out of her side, her same bone, thrown back at her. The boy was glaring at her and it was a glare that promised another encounter-one she wouldn't be able to run away from.