Hey, guys, this time Sakura was just really exhausted, so stop thinking she'll die!
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"Otou-san, I swear she's nice! Let me see the nice lady!"
Such a pounding headache…
"Otou-san!"
Someone please make that child shut up…
A spike of pain in the head.
"I want to see her!"
A disgruntled groan of pain.
"She saved me, after all!"
Her eye slowly opened. Even though she could feel there was light around her–the warm rays of the sun were heating her body–she could not see it. That, more than anything, told her that something was wrong. Very wrong. She tried to put a hand to her head, only to find that she had been handcuffed to the bed.
Figures.
"She's coming to!"
She heard a door open, then a squeal and something jumped on her bed, tackling her. She let out a hiss of pain as she felt her wounds being put pressure on.
"Pretty lady! Are you alright?" asked the childish voice she recognized as belonging to Temari.
"I've seen better days, but I'll live," she answered, felling like something had died in her mouth.
A cold voice resounded in the room.
"Temari. Come here."
"Hai, otou-san."
The little girl left Sakura's side and conversed with her father in a low tone. Sakura heard a whine, then the door opened and closed once again.
"Now. We are alone," said the same cold voice she had come to identify as the present Kazekage's. "Even though I thank you for saving my daughter, I cannot release you. You are a Konoha kunoichi, an enemy. What were you doing in our territory?"
"I cannot tell you. The only thing I can say is that it had nothing to do with Sunagakure or Temari-chan," she answered calmly, if not exhaustedly.
Both of them stayed silent for a long moment, tension mounting.
"I cannot accept that answer. I hope your village wants you back and is willing to negotiate your release, because if not…well, you can imagine the rest. Your mask has already been sent."
The Kazekage then swept out of the room. Sakura sighed. At least he hadn't figured out that she was currently blind. Unfortunately, if what he had said was true, Minato would have to trade to get her back. She could not allow it.
Kuso! I wish there was a strong alliance between Suna and Konoha like in my time…What to do?
The first thing to do was to get a message to Konoha to warn Minato not to give in. Then, she had to escape. She thanked her luck that she had had the thought to put an impregnable jutsu on her face to blur it to anyone who didn't know her when she stepped out of Fire country. At least, her identity would not be disclosed. Still, Minato would know it was her.
Trying to get out of the handcuffs, she hissed when her contortions opened her wounds once again. She could feel blood seeping through the bandages and growled. Her wrists were bloody and torn, but she didn't stop pulling. Even though the handcuffs were made of solid material, they could not last long against her chakra-enhanced strength. Ah, the wonders of being underestimated! Soon enough, she rubbed the angry marks on her wrists, swearing under her breath as she tried to think of the best way to escape with her handicapping blindness.
Time to get her ANBU techniques out of the closet.
She concentrated and laced her voice with chakra, murmuring her report of the situation and stating that she would escape by her owns means. Once she was finished, she felt a slight breeze around her and smiled. The wind would carry her message to the Hokage's ears.
Ha! I guess you didn't expect me to be a wind-whisperer, eh?
She put a henge on her whole body, making it appear like she was the young red-haired girl she had once shown to Minato's team members. It was then rather easy to shunshin out of the room and reappear in an alley. Once there, all she had to do was mingle with the rest of the villagers.
She had closed her eyes, as she couldn't see anyway, and had asked for help in finding a particular weapons shop. Fortunately for her, a middle-aged man had taken pity upon her and had directed her there himself before going on his way.
"May I help you?" asked the shopkeeper.
"Hai, I'm looking for a puppet. I have an acquaintance who's good at manipulating them with chakra strings, but he needs a new one, so I was thinking of giving one to him as a gift."
"I see. Wait a moment, please."
It did not take long for the man to come back with a puppet. Though blind, Sakura examined the quite lethal wooden weapon with her fingers and frowned.
"Don't you have a better one?"
That question was asked a few times until the shopkeeper brought her a puppet she was finally satisfied with. It represented a dark-haired man wearing cream-colored clothes and she was confident that Kyouya would be able to use it without any problem, having already been used to her own. Quite happy now, she looked at the shopkeeper and smiled at him.
"I don't have any money on me, but the Kazekage will pay you double its price if you tell him you've seen a fox in your shop. Ja ne!"
With a chuckle, she disappeared, leaving behind a befuddled man who could only do as she had said. Let's just say that the Kazekage wasn't a happy man.
Sakura had shunshined as far as she could to get out of the village. Unfortunately, it still wasn't far enough. It so happened that there was a group of patrolling ninja nearby and that they saw her appear out of nowhere. They quickly alerted their superiors, describing the kunoichi who had let go of the henge to conserve her energy.
Minato was sitting at his desk when a stressed kunoichi entered his office. He recognized her as being one of the ANBU currently patrolling the border.
"What is it?"
"Hokage-sama, I was patrolling with my team when we found this," she said respectfully, stretching her arm to show him a blood-splattered porcelain mask he knew only too well. "It was pinned right on our path with a scroll," she added, giving him the scroll that was, thankfully, devoid of blood.
Minato didn't waste any time reading it, only to grind his teeth when he finished. He threw it across the room, clenching his fists.
"KUSO!"
He paced, enraged and worried, pondering how he should answer to the Kazekage's message. How had he managed to capture Sakura in the first place? Apparently, the Kazekage didn't know it was her, which meant she still had a chance. She was too precious to Konoha to be lost, and he was sure she would be executed if Suna knew who she really was. He should have known, when he had received Sakura's mission report from one of her foxes, that everything was not well.
He was just about to call for an ANBU team when he felt a breeze against his neck and heard Sakura's voice whisper in his ear a message that appeased him somewhat. He hesitated between complying with the Kazekage's ultimatum and listening to Sakura's promise that she would make it back on her own safely. The part he didn't understand, though, was why she said in her message that no place else than in Suna's desert would she have as much of an advantage over enemies. After all, Suna ninja were trained to use sand-based jutsu, so how could she possibly turn their advantage over?
In the end, he ordered the ANBU kunoichi to return to the border with reinforcements and to wait for Sakura. He hoped she would be right and would not give him one more person to mourn.
Sakura had felt the various ninja appearing around her, but had paid them no mind. She had simply walked away slowly, never deviating from the direction she knew Konoha was in. Behind her, the Suna ninja prepared their sand-based jutsu, which didn't work, to their greatest surprise. They tried again and again, but to no avail. It was as though the desert had decided to keep them from hurting the Konoha kunoichi. In the end, they resorted to using kunai, shuriken and senbon, but as soon as they appeared in a ten feet diameter of her, a wall of sand appeared, crushing them. The sand abated as soon as the weapons were all on the ground.
The Suna ninja did not understand how she had managed to use the sand while they couldn't. Their question was soon answered when they heard a whisper on the wind.
"You were warned."
All around them, the sand began moving angrily and encased their feet firmly, climbing on their bodies, making them cry out in fright.
The kunoichi stopped walking and they heard her sweet voice issue a command, power ringing in her every word.
"Stop. Don't kill them."
As though tamed, the sand quickly receded, but still kept their feet glued to the ground. The Suna ninja had no choice but to watch Sakura get away, surrounded by a whirlwind of protective sand, without being able to do anything about it.
She tamed the desert…We must have that power…
At the border, a few groups of ANBU were waiting impatiently for the renowned white-haired kunoichi to appear.
"You think she'll make it?" whispered a burly man.
"Who knows? She took on 200 nin one time and survived, so why wouldn't she manage to do the same this time?"
"Still…In a desert, with no supplies to boot…" he continued, unsure.
A cry cut them off in their suppositions.
"Look!"
A cloud of sand had appeared over a dune, making them tense reflectively. They did not know why, but the sand was radiating an aura of pure power. Soon, they saw that there was a figure hiding behind the moving wall of sand.
"Is that…"
"It is! It's Sakura-san!"
They waited until she was within hearing range and called her. When they did, the sand rustled seemingly impatiently and restlessly, but, to their astonishment, Sakura shushed it gently, making it abate. It thus fell into a heap behind her, barely moving.
The ANBU went to her prudently.
"Are you alright, Sakura-san?" they asked at once, noticing her bloody wrists.
"Hai, hai. I just need water. Could you show me the way back?" she said as she petted the heap of sand. "I had no problem finding my way back up to now, but that was because the desert helped me. Now…with time, I could do it, but it would be much simpler if you could do it for me."
At that, the ANBU nearly gaped. It was not hard for any one of their ANBU-level nin to find the village, so either this was an impostor, or something was very wrong with Sakura. Immediately, they were on their guard.
"Tell us something only Sakura-san would know," they demanded suspiciously.
"Alright," answered the white-haired kunoichi. "I'm dying."
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Sorry to finish it that way, but that last line would have lost its effect if I hadn't made this into a cliff-hanger. To know more, review! I know you may find me evil, but I'll make you a deal. For every 5 reviews I receive, I will update a day earlier. So if I receive 5 reviews, I'll update Thursday. If I get 10, I'll update Wednesday, etc. so I'll await your reviews!
