Cherry Bridge
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Only the brightest light can free a world of darkness.
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A/N
Here it is! The promised chapter for CHRISTMAS! YAAAYYY!
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Chapter 20
The number of guards patrolling the perimeter of the grounds was staggering.
Red eyes, glowing like the red-hot coals in a dying fire, examined the guards one by one, staring at the different chakra signatures just to check again that the watchmen weren't all clones. As it was, they were all individuals, but Sasuke couldn't care less.
"Karin," his sudden call startled the redhead and she flinched.
"Hai?" she asked hesitantly.
"Where is Danzo?"
"Um… he's somewhere in this building for sure. I think he's near the top level, but there are so many powerful chakra signatures around him that I can't really tell."
She waited for some sort of acknowledgement from her stoic team leader, but she didn't receive any response. No grunt, no huff… not a single sound or movement. Karin knew that she would usually be irritated by the lack of interaction and would have complained… but this time, something in Sasuke's rapidly darkening chakra signature told her to stay quiet.
"What now, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.
"They aren't ninja," the raven haired man gestured carelessly at the guards. "Their chakra signatures… they're somehow wielded differently."
"Samurai, then?" Juugo inquired quietly.
"Aa."
"Piece of cake! We'll take 'em out easily!" the ex-Mist nin bared his sharp, pointed teeth in a feral grin. He was already imagining the scenario of another good fight when Sasuke straightened to his full height and commanded in a cold tone:
"I'll go alone. Stay here."
"What the hell?!" Suigetsu spluttered indignantly, but the Uchiha was already gone. Sighing, the white haired nin turned to Juugo and muttered:
"He's changed…"
"I agree," the quiet man watched Sasuke silently slip into the shadows with deep concern in his orange-red eyes.
Karin pressed her lips together as she listened to what they were saying.
Her thoughts were conflicted. She still felt the irresistible attraction towards Sasuke's dark, handsome features, and his even darker, powerful chakra. But… he had treated her like a tool just now, not even as an inferior kunoichi in his team. He had ordered her to obey his command without the slightest indication that he thought about her, Karin.
Grimacing, she pushed up her glasses.
'I don't know…' she thought, 'Hopefully this will pass. And otherwise…!' Her thoughts took on a vengeful turn, directed towards a certain pink-haired medic.
'It's all her fault!' she spewed venom at her rival in her mind.
XxXxX
"J…Juubi?!" Sakura gasped. Her mind reeled. "But that makes no sense!"
"Yes, it does," Takeshi's voice was firm, and his expression was completely serious. "Eiri and I have been researching for a long time in the library, and there have always been scripts and books that were written centuries ago around the time of Six Path Sage. It's common knowledge among Rokukan who their ancestor was, and when I was just a boy, my father told me the hypothesis on the youngest son releasing the Juubi.
"You see, there's a series of records written by him about his more exciting moments, and one of them was when his father showed him how to use his second mind. The Sage already knew that his sons had each inherited one of his traits. Anyways, the youngest son was listening to the heavens when he chanced upon something.
"In his second mind, it was black and dark, and at first he dared not go any closer to it. He told his father about it, and his father answered:
"'Son, when the gods created the fauna and flora of this world, there were many scraps of power that were not used. They banished it into the corners of the heavens, for power without a host is dangerous and unpredictable.'"
"Power without a host?" Sakura wondered out loud.
"Yes, pure chakra without any material to bind it and control it. Chakra, raw chakra, doesn't have a mind of its own and will do what it does best: expand and change whatever it comes in contact with, be it material or immaterial matter.
"So, the youngest son was fascinated by the tale and little by little, he ventured closer to the black void. Soon, he was even touching it with his mind.
"It was incredibly powerful, all that accumulated chakra, and he decided that he would give it a host made out of matter so that it could come down from the heavens and live in this world. But the procedure was long and risky, and somehow, it went wrong.
"As the power destroyed its intended host, the youngest son panicked. He watched the chakra expanding and knew it was going to blot out any and all life in its path. In his panic, he acted foolishly.
"Reaching out with his two minds combined, he snared the moon, even though the moon is a sacred heavenly being. He brought it down to earth and managed to seal the chakra into it. The moon, with its higher capacity and stronger being, was able to absorb and hold all the power. But the moon is not meant to have chakra, so the chakra took over.
"By combining the two, a sentient being woke. And thus, the Juubi was born.
"At first, all it did was rampage without any goal or emotions. But when people began to fight it—all of them dying in the process—it began to hate. The hatred grew stronger every day as – wherever it went – it was hated for just being what it was, and doing what was its nature.
"So it was until the Sage of the Six Paths intervened, sealing the Juubi's chakra within himself, hurling the moon back to its original place. However, the moon never was quite what it used to be, seeing as pieces of it were devoured by the black chakra.
"He didn't want to give the entire Juubi to anybody, least of all his sons, so with his last strength, he managed to split it into nine pieces. And these nine pieces are the Bijuu that we have today."
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Sakura was overwhelmed.
As she sat there, on her white hospital bed, listening to her uncle, her disbelief grew. If this was how the Bijuu came about, then why didn't anybody else other than the Rokukan know of it? It was important, after all!
"Ojii-san… why has this been kept a secret?"
Takeshi sighed and reached out, ruffling her hair as he answered.
"The youngest son's folly was kept private, for it was an embarrassingly stupid thing to do. And the knowledge of the Tailed Beasts being the Juubi is common knowledge among all people, shinobi or civilian. But the story of the Ten Tails being created out of chakra… Sakura, you've seen Madara. He obviously wants to create the Juubi all over again, under his command. Don't you see? If people knew of this, they would go around trying to collect chakra and condense it to create another powerful being. It's just too risky."
"Aha… I guess…" Thoughtfully, the pinkette stared at her hands as she twisted her fingers around each other.
"But then, why are the Clans founded by the Sage such a secret? There's nothing important about that!"
"Well, the Three Heavenly Temples used to be widely known, but when the numbers of Clansmen and Clanswomen decreased, people began to stalk and bother them, wanting impossible things from them. Some powerful shinobi even wanted to kill the ninja from the Three Clans to try and steal their kekkai genkai."
"I… I guess that makes sense…" she pondered.
"It's the same for every prestigious Clan, Sakura. Every single Clan with a valuable Bloodline Limit has to take drastic safety measures to keep their Clan secrets out of the wrong hands."
"Hai." Sakura stared at her hands. After a short, thoughtful pause, she started again.
"Ojii-san… which kinds of precautions have the Rokukan taken? I mean, what has our Clan done to hide and protect our kekkai genkai?"
"We have the temple underground, for one. And even though you don't feel it, our temple building above ground is protected by layers of illusions and hiding techniques performed by generations of Rokukan before us."
"How come I've never felt any of them before?"
"Because they were Rokukan, and you are a Rokukan. The jutsus are meant to keep intruders and outsiders away, not those of their own blood." Takeshi clarified.
"I see… But, ojii-san…!" Dread dawned in Sakura's eyes as a thought occurred to her. "It didn't work! Somehow, Madara was able to get in or something like that because he has thousands of minds but not a mind of his own, and he's got this huge chakra, and he has the Mangekyou Sharingan and—!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Takeshi gently shook Sakura's shoulders. He seemed calm outwardly, but his widened eyes hinted at his inner panic.
"What was all that?" he whispered quietly, dangerously.
Silence.
Sakura felt her chest rising and falling rapidly, emphasizing her hyperventilation. Taking a deep breath to stead herself, she looked up and stared her uncle in the eye.
"Ojii, I need to tell you what happened when I went missing…"
XxXxX
Madara had left Sasuke to his own devices, returning back to his hideout in the blink of an eye. He warped to his lab and bypassed the genjutsu he had laid around the entrance.
Glancing at the dozens of Sharingan eyes floating in jars, he strode past them. Past severed limbs and dissembled corpses, past bits and pieces of decaying flesh scattered over tables… he stopped in front of a huge, heavy metal door.
He couldn't warp into the room beyond the door—he'd seen to it that the only entrance was to pass under the doorway. Performing a long and difficult series of handsigns, he sent a pulse of energy to the door. He had placed a jutsu that only responded to his own, unique chakra frequency. As the door slowly swung open, Madara felt a wave of powerful chakra signatures hit him with the force of a battering ram. Quickly, he entered and sealed up the passage behind him.
The room was filled with thick silence and the nearly audible hum of hundreds of chakras.
His gaze flickered through the room with something akin to satisfaction, and he slowly made his way down the long hall.
It was eerily dark, and the few lights sustained by a jutsu threw shadows on the tall, glass containers.
The containers looked similar to the one Suigetsu had been imprisoned in, but these were by far larger. Furthermore, they were filled with clear, almost glowing white liquid, and each container had a multitude of instruments and machinery inside.
And, inside each container, at the heart of the machinery, were people. One person per container was suspended there; arms outstretched, eyes, shut, and head hanging limply. Oxygen masks covered the lower half of their faces and every once in a while, bubbles floated out of vents higher up on a nearby machine.
Madara paced past the containers, feeling the malicious glee well up inside of him. He had defeated these people, all of them, by himself. He had proven his superiority time and time again against these accomplished ninja. The fact that he was still standing there, unbound and powerful, was proof enough that he was the ultimate god in the shinobi world.
Picking up his pace, he turned down a side aisle between the containers and made another turn, his steps sure and determined. He kept on going, through rows and rows of containers holding people, before finally stopping before one of them.
His breath caught as a wave of anger flooded him.
The container held a young woman. Her reddish magenta hair floated freely in the liquid surrounding her, and she was naked. At the first glance, she seemed to be just like the other captured people. But, as Madara stepped closer, he could see that she was not in the same state as the hundreds of others around her.
Her eyes, a vibrant light green colour, were open and blank, staring unseeingly through the class confining her. She looked as if she had tried to move within all the straps and tubes connected her to the machines around her, and, when Madara glanced upwards, he couldn't discern any bubbles floating out of the vents on top. She wasn't breathing.
Disgust coated his thoughts and his fingers twitched in irritation.
'Damn you, Konoha bitch!' he snarled inwardly, 'This one was strong!'
Turning away, he stalked back to the main aisle and strode up the back wall. Lifting a hand and commanding 'Kai!' he dispelled an illusion that hid a huge panel of buttons, filling the room with the sounds of beeping and whirring.
Madara reached over to a blinking red button marked with the number 149, not hesitating as he forcefully pushed the button. Without wasting any more time, he turned and made his way to the next container.
The red button flared brightly, high-pitched beeping increasing in frequency… and then it and the surrounding few buttons went out.
Above the extinguished buttons was a small metal plate, engraved with kanji.
Rokukan Kasuri
XxXxX
The Temple of the Sun was utterly chaotic.
Just half an hour prior, the halls had been quiet and serene, and now, the sounds of running feet and alarmed shouts echoed off the stone walls.
After Sakura had informed her uncle of Madara's growing strength, he'd immediately alerted the Naien Clan of the danger. Now, the entire underground temple was bustling with activity.
A woman with golden hair curling in corkscrew locks down to her waist had come to aid the pinkette, letting her lean against her shoulder after Takeshi had left. Sakura discovered that the young woman's name was Naien Yuuhi, and she was somehow connected with Inazuma.
"Where are we going?" Sakura asked as Yuuhi led her down a hallway, both women keeping to the side as some people rushed past them.
"Towards the surface levels," Yuuhi replied, nodding at a passing person. "Those levels have our armoury and smithies."
The pinkette stared in awe as more people surged around them.
"Are these all Naien Clan members?"
"Not quite. You see, the Naien have long had their temple here, and over time a small village was built under their protection. These people all know of the Naien, and support them. We are very close allies."
"Ah, I see…" Just then, another woman rushed up to them, propping a crying baby on one hip and balancing a stack of metal ore in her other hand.
"Yuuhi! There you are!" she cried, her eyes slightly distressed. "Could you please help me and take Raiun? Hinoke-sama's been sending me back and forth to get the iron supply in the lower levels, and I swear Raiun just won't stop crying!"
"Hai, hai, give him here, sister." Yuuhi accepted the wailing baby boy and the other woman shot off.
At Sakura's questioning glance, she shrugged and said:
"That was Shikisa, my older sister. Raiun's her kid, and he definitely packs a scream." As if to prove her point, the youngster let out a shriek that could be heard clearly over the sound of the other people and bordered on ultrasound.
"Let me hold him," Sakura offered, "My legs don't quite work yet, but my arms are fine."
"Yes! Take him, the little monster," Yuuhi laughed and carefully handed the 'monster' over to the medic. Raiun's huge, navy blue eyes went perfectly round and, reaching up with small, chubby fingers, he hesitantly tugged on a lock of cherry pink hair.
"Thank kami," the blonde woman sighed, relieved, "That shut him up!" She pulled a smiling Sakura down the hallway, then up a flight of stairs. All the time, Raiun remained quiet except for the occasional pleased gurgle.
Suddenly, small brunette girl around the age of seven came pounding around the corner, almost ramming into them.
"Yuuhi-sama!" she exclaimed, "Hinoke-sama said that I should look for you. He needs to find Inazuma-sama and he's nowhere to be found!"
"Hold on a sec," Sakura hurriedly said before Yuuhi could answer, sliding her eyes closed. Delving into her second mind with half of her consciousness came with ease, and she swiftly spread her mind around the underground temple with speed that surprised herself.
"He's one level under us," she told the girl, "Near a huge cavern."
"Oh! The Endless Grotto! Arigato gozaimasu!" Immediately, the girl raced away.
Yuuhi let out a whistle as she continued onwards.
"So the stories about the Rokukan are true," she said, openly admiring. "You can feel the minds of other people. Must be pretty awesome."
Giggling, Sakura shifted Raiun's weight on to her other hip before replying:
"Yeah, I guess you can say that. What does your kekkai genkai do, exactly?"
"Oh, reads personality as clear as words in a book. Some of the Naien can even change the personality, but I can't. My sister can, though."
A sudden thought occurred to Sakura and she blurted:
"Wait, how old are you?"
"Twenty-three. You?"
"Sixteen."
"Damn, you've got talent," Yuuhi laughed. "We need to spar sometime, you and me."
"That would be fun," the pinkette grinned.
They rounded a corner and entered one of the main halls which was absolutely packed. People were yelling and calling as they tried to manoeuvre through the crowd, all of them pushing and shoving.
"Kami-sama…" Sakura groaned. "Tell me we don't have to go through this…"
It took the two kunoichi at least fifteen minutes to move down the hall, squished like sardines in a can against the wall of people and the wall of stone. Raiun started his crying again, despite the women's efforts to calm him, and to top it all off, Hinoke appeared and began barking orders.
"What a mess," Yuuhi muttered. As Sakura agreed, the blonde woman added:
"We Naien haven't fought a war for so long, I think we've forgotten how to prepare for one. This is just… um, chaotic."
"That's an understatement."
A red blur among all the brown and blonde heads of hair caught Sakura's attention, and then Azami popped up.
"Ohayo, Sakura!" she chirped sweetly.
"Why are you so cheerful?" said pinkette grumbled.
"Oh, chin up! C'mon, Inazuma said he could use some extra hands in the stables."
"… Wait, what? Stables?!"
Yuuhi laughed then and gave Azami a friendly smile.
"Naien Yuuhi, by the way," she said, "And you are…?"
"Rokukan Azami, Sakura's awesome kickass cousin."
"If you're so kickass, then hold this demon and come out alive." Sakura challenged, holding up Raiun. Azami took one look at the red-faced, squalling baby and deflated.
"Okay, maybe not so kickass… That kid's scary as hell!"
The three—excuse me, four—of them managed to get through the main hall and into an emptier, calmer one. Yuuhi quickly navigated down the maze-like corridors and they finally came to a long, spiral staircase.
"Be careful, we're going up all the way to the surface," she cautioned them before starting the steep ascent.
As they huffed and puffed their way up, Sakura asked:
"So, how many Naien are there?"
"Well, there's Hinoke-sama and Inazuma, then there's Shikisa, Raiun and me, and then there's our grandfather Kogeme."
Azami turned to look over her shoulder at the blonde and asked curiously:
"How are you and your branch connected to Hinoke and Inazuma?"
"Inazuma had an elder brother and my sister, Shikisa, was married to him."
"Was?" Sakura dared to ask.
"… He died a year ago."
"Oh. I'm sorry," the pinkette murmured, clutching Raiun tighter. Pity welled up inside of her for the small boy—he wouldn't have a father to watch and teach him while he grew up.
"His name was Shinku," Yuuhi said fondly, her eyes taking on a faraway look, "He adored Inazuma and always coached him, sparring with him and patiently teaching him jutsu. One would think that he was more like a father than a brother."
"What about Hinoke-sama?"
"That was the time when Hinoke was travelling a lot with the boys' mother to help establish smaller ninja villages. But then she got cancer and died, so he returned to the temple just in time for Kogeme to resign his post as High Priest."
Sakura nodded, sucking in the new information. She had always liked history, and it was even more interesting now since she knew that the Naien, Yumihari and Rokukan were all connected, even though the shared bloodline was ages ago.
The women chatted about Clan history and kekkai genkai until the finally reached the end of the monstrously long stairs. Yuuhi opened the door at the top, and suddenly, Sakura and Azami found themselves blinking in wonder at the long rows of stalls.
The smell of hay, horse, and leather washed over them, and Sakura almost squealed in delight at the dozens of horses staring curiously at them, stretching their necks over the half-doors of the stalls.
"Welcome to our Stables," Yuuhi grinned. "The Naien pride themselves as excellent horse breeders. These equines are as close to perfect as you can get."
Azami eyed the horses with slight mistrust, but Sakura bounded up to the first horse immediately.
"Sugoi…!" she breathed, reaching out with her free hand to rub the horse's velvet soft nose. Like any other girl, she had often wanted to have and ride a horse when she was small.
Raiun let out a happy burble and reached out. The horse stared at him with large, liquid dark brown eyes and blew through its nostrils, tousling the little boy's hair.
"Oi, Azami, aren't you going to come look?" Sakura asked over her shoulder. The redhead shook her head, carefully treading down the middle of the centre aisle, warily looking at the horses.
"I don't like horses," she admitted sheepishly, "and horses sure as hell don't like me."
They laughed at that, but their amusement was cut short when Inazuma appeared at the end of the stable, hurrying towards them.
"Oh, great, you guys got here! Come, help me with the tack," he begged them, "My father just left me with a mountain of saddles, bridles and whatnots to prepare—all by myself!"
Giggling at his whiny tone, they all crowded into a small back room to polish, buff, and repair the tack.
Shikisa showed up after ten minutes, taking Raiun back after thanking Sakura fervently. Before the pinkette could say anything, the other woman whirled out the room back to her own tasks.
"Is she always like that?" Sakura asked Yuuhi.
"Yep," the blonde answered, "Ever since we were little, she's always been easily distracted and extremely erratic. But if she wants something bad enough she pursues it with frightening concentration."
"She's mental," Inazuma supplied from the other side of the room.
"No," Yuuhi snorted, "she probably has some sort of syndrome. That, or mom dropped her on her head."
Inazuma mock-gasped.
"That's it!"
Azami bonked him atop his head.
"Itai! What was that for?"
"You totally needed it."
Sakura laughed with them, feeling more relaxed than she had in weeks. Even with the threat of a battle with Madara and the frantic preparations, she was enjoying herself. These people were her family, even if they were only very distantly related.
'Great', she sighed to herself, 'More people that I might lose someday…'
But she knew that all the worries about losing her important people were worth it in the end. She, unlike some anti-social retarded bastard, knew the value of having friends, and keeping them.
As the others chatted on about inconsequential things, Sakura retreated into herself, brooding about a certain dark-haired ex-teammate of hers.
What was he doing now? How had he reacted to her escape? Was he even thinking about her, wondering where she'd gone? Or did he not care about her at all?
Sakura's eyes slid shut, and unbidden memories washed through her mind.
After the fight with Deidara, he had insisted—ahem—forced her accompany him and his team. He had protected her pretty well, and he had saved her from Tobi, i.e. Madara.
And then, he had let her use his chakra to heal herself after they fought. In the cave, he had been so close. He had been more gentle than she had ever seen him.
But then, after the fight with Itachi and finding out the truth, he had tuned her out. Her attempts to save him from the staggering truth about the massacre had been ignored by him.
Nevertheless, when Madara had almost gutted her, he'd saved her yet again.
'Ugh, this is just too complicated!' she groaned.
He'd sealed her chakra—then gave it back before her escape. He'd given her beating for her insubordination—then helped heal her after the punishment.
'…'
… What was his problem?!
'I don't think I'll ever understand him', Sakura groaned.
"Ne, Sakura! Who do you think is louder—Ran and Ken, or Raiun?" Yuuhi's voice shook her out of her brooding.
"Huh? Oh, Raiun, most definitely!"
"Yeah, the kid's got massive lungs. He's way worse than the twins!" Azami agreed.
"Why?"
"Because I can clobber the two baka boys into silence, and not the cute, innocent, little Raiun."
Their laughter echoed in the small tack room, and Sakura found herself smiling.
'No matter what stupidity Sasuke's let himself commit—I certainly won't. He has no clue about all the fun and love he's missing out on by betraying his friends.'
XxXxX
The busy activity in the underground temple calmed somewhat an hour later, and Sakura found herself itching to ride one of the horses. She had ridden ponies in her childhood days, and she loved the feeling of flying over the countryside by horseback.
Yuuhi caught her desperate, longing look and decided to do a favour to her new pink haired friend.
"Oi, Sakura, do you want to go for a ride?"
"Nani? Honto?!" Sakura gasped.
"Yes, really. I'm sure now that the preparations are pretty much done, we can go for a day's ride or something. Azami, you wanna come?" she asked impishly.
"Gods, no!" the redhead backed away immediately, eliciting laughs from the other two women and Inazuma.
"You two can go, I'll stay here with Azami," the young man smiled.
"Awesome! C'mon, let's pick you a mount."
Sakura followed Yuuhi, excitement starting to flow through her. The blonde woman automatically steered towards the back stalls, proudly pointing out one of the horses to the pinkette.
"This is Chaba," she grinned. Sakura arched a brow and laughed.
"Chaba? As in a 'tea leaf'? Really, Yuuhi?"
"Uh… hehe… yeah, that's exactly what his name means…"
Sakura examined the gelding.
Chaba was white in colour, with greyish-black spots decorating his back and rump. He had black highlights on his face and muzzle, and around his feet.
"He was a present from my dad when I turned sixteen."
"Aw man, I'm sixteen," Sakura playfully groaned.
"Well, then it's about time to get you the right horse!" Ignoring the medic's protests, Yuuhi dragged Sakura around the stables.
Colours, sizes, genders… there were so many horses that Sakura lost track of the exact number of them. In the end, however, one of them caught her interest.
A silver mare in the second last stall took a liking to her, just as she took a liking to it.
"Who're you?" Sakura quietly asked, rubbing the horse's forehead. She didn't catch the odd look that Yuuhi slanted at her.
"Um… that's Ginsen. Sakura… it's, um, not possible to ride her…"
"What? Why?"
"She's had really bad experiences with riders. It's simply impossible to saddle her, she won't let anybody. Plus…" Yuuhi opened the stall door and gently pushed the mare to the side, exposing a deep, long scar in Ginsen's left flank.
"Oh… that looks pretty bad…" Sakura stared longingly at Ginsen, who stared right back. That in itself was unusual for a horse—horses tended to avoid eye contact.
"What happened?"
"Nobody knows… " Yuuhi averted her gaze. In a softer tone, she said:
"Shinku, Inazuma's elder brother, was out riding Ginsen the day he died. He went out… and just never came back. Ginsen returned completely traumatized, almost dead and bleeding all over the place. We never found Shinku…"
Sakura felt her eyes soften. Without thinking about it, she reached out and hugged Yuuhi before saying quietly:
"You can't be sure that he's dead, then, right?" she smiled gently. "You said you never found his body, so maybe he's alive, ne?"
Yuuhi gave her a small smile in return, then shook herself, clearing away her morbid thoughts.
"Anyways, back to the matter on hand—Ginsen won't let another rider on her back ever since then."
A small silence descended upon the two of them. Sakura glanced back and forth between Yuuhi and Ginsen, before softly saying:
"I want to try anyways." She met the blonde woman's serious gaze with all the sincerity she could muster.
Expelling a long breath, Yuuhi turned and paced away, her face troubled. Sakura watched her leave silently, and when the other woman disappeared from view, she turned back to Ginsen.
"What happened with you?" she whispered, tickling the mare's ear. At the horse's low snort, she sighed.
"Here."
Yuuhi's voice startled Sakura. Whipping around, the pinkette gaped as she spotted the tack that the older kunoichi held out to her.
"… You mean it?" she breathed.
"Aa."
With hands that shook, Sakura took the tack from Yuuhi's outstretched arms. The blonde left to saddle her own horse while the pinkette carefully slipped into Ginsen's stall.
"Okay, girl, let's do this," she told the mare. Lifting up the bridle, she was about to slip it around the horse's neck when the Ginsen's ears plastered flat against her skull. When Sakura tried again, the mare reared violently, forcing Sakura to back away.
The commotion Ginsen created brought Yuuhi hurrying over, but the pinkette assured her that she was okay.
"I'm fine," she tried convincing her friend. The blonde eyed her critically, before reluctantly leaving her alone.
Turning back to Ginsen, Sakura released a slow breath.
"What are you thinking?" she asked, but though her question was directed at the mare, it seemed more like an inquiry to herself.
Those words snapped her out of her cluelessness.
"Of course!" she facepalmed.
Without a second thought, she split her consciousness, entering her other mind and releasing it from the confines of her body. She reached out towards the mare, and instantaneously, she was submerged in a torrent of fear.
Ginsen's blind panic shook her to the core. Who knew that an animal could feel so much fright?
Sakura tried to stem herself against the naked fear, and succeeded only partially. But she quieted the horse enough to be able to come in contact with some coherent—as coherent as a horse could get—thoughts.
"It's okay," she soothed, "I won't hurt you… Shh…"
Slowly, under her coaxing, Ginsen calmed. Sakura absently reached up to scratch between the mare's ears as she continued to send quiet, soothing emotions to her.
"Why won't you let me saddle you?" she asked gently.
Another flicker of fear passed through the mare, but gradually, a stream of memories poured through Sakura's mind, blurred by past alarm.
A scene flashed before the pinkette's Inner Eye. Great, sprawling plains. She felt as if she had four hooves and a tail. Her ears pricked eagerly in the late afternoon breeze, and she felt the weight on her back shift slightly.
She loved her rider! He always cared for her, seeing to it that she was well kept. And he let her gallop over these endless, grassy plains…
Suddenly, she felt him stiffen. Wondering what was wrong, she slowed.
"Hold up, girl," she heard him say, "I think something's comi—"
A heavy blow impacted her left flank sending her flying through the air. She screamed in panic and pain, hazily registering the weight of her rider vanishing off her back. She landed on her side, sliding across the ground and ripping open her right flank as well. Her left side throbbed terribly and she scrambled to her feet.
Yells and clanging of metal on metal terrified her and she spotted her rider just in time to see another human cleave his shoulder with a huge, serrated sword. Another man stood there, watching calmly, before turning his eyes on her.
She caught a flash of red, and she was suddenly filled with panic. She couldn't understand what was going on! She hurt all over, her rider was bleeding, and now this man with red eyes was starting to walk towards her!
It was too much. Turning tail, she fled.
She never saw her rider again.
XxXxX
Gasping, Sakura snapped her eyes open.
Feeling Ginsen's gaze on her, she offered her a weak smile.
"I'm so sorry…" she thought at the mare. "And then you just came back here?"
Feeling the mare's affirmative, she asked tentatively:
"So why won't you let anybody ride you now?"
She felt the prickle of fear run through Ginsen again. Sakura sighed, realizing that, even though she conversing pretty normally with her at the moment, Ginsen was still only a horse. The mare connected bad events with certain things, and grew used to it that way.
"Something like that was pure bad luck, you know," she told her, "That didn't have to happen. It probably never happens to most horses in their entire life. And you were an excellent mount for him, I think."
A small glow of pride touched the pinkette's mind. Slowly, Ginsen lowered her head to look at the bridle still in Sakura's hand. Hesitantly, the horse decided that it wouldn't hurt to just try…
"Thank you," Sakura whispered. She swiftly saddled Ginsen, keeping contact to the mare in her mind the whole while, and led her out of the stall, coming face to face with a stunned Yuuhi.
"Oh. My. Kami." The blonde woman was floored. "How did you do that?"
"I talked with her.
"You… what?"
Sakura didn't mind the disbelieving tone that Yuuhi used, and explained:
"I can communicate telepathically. No joke."
"Even animals?"
"Hai."
"… Wow."
Sakura started to laugh, but almost choked in surprise when her second mind abruptly started to expand at a crazily fast tempo. Gasping as her head began to ache fiercely, she only partly heard Yuuhi's shocked cry and Ginsen's alarmed concern as her legs folded, letting her pitch to the ground.
A single sentence rang through her mind, the voice unmistakable.
"I will kill them all."
Sakura's heart seemed to stop.
Sasuke.
XxXxX
XxXxX
A/N
So, that was the Christmas present to you all! Hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, and enjoyed the chapter!
Please leave a review behind! It's a huge gift to me for X-mas!
Ja ne!
EbonyEye
XxXxX
'Nani?' – 'What?'
Itai! – Ouch!
'Honto?' – 'Really?'