Some notes before you begin reading. First, if you want to know what Sakura looked like, imagine her in a black lab coat with a hat (I got inspiration from Ace's hat in One Piece, if you wanna see the type). Second, there is now some fanart for this story! I'm so ecstatic. For the link, see my profile. Finally, you'll see that this chapter is full of angst, but also full of hope. Keep tuned, next week will be full of ItaSaku goodness!

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Sakura reappeared in her cave and immediately dropped to her knees, her smirk disappearing instantly as she hugged herself. She felt ill, so ill, and couldn't help but hate herself. She had no doubt that in mere days, the word would be out not to mess with her for fear of a gruesome punishment, but it only disgusted her that she had to stoop so low as to torture a man so people would respect her wishes. And there was so much blood on her hands…

She tried to rub it off, first slowly then with more and more desperation as it flaked and peeled away in minuscule sections, yet felt like it was clinging to her, suffocating her slowly but surely.

With a strangled pained cry, Sakura lurched to her feet and lunged at the bathing cavern. She dropped in the cold water like a stone, clothes and all, and didn't emerge for a long, long time.

-:-

Tohru and Toranosuke looked at each other uncertainly. They had long since sensed Sakura's now familiar chakra appear in her cave, but it hadn't moved since.

"Hey…What do you think she's doing?"

Tohru looked up at Toranosuke, noting with distaste that the nuke-nin was crossing his arms at the threshold of his patient's room and making himself at home.

"How should I know? It's not my place to question her whereabouts or her dealings."

Sniffing pointedly, he returned to wrapping bandages around his patient's thighs.

"Yeah, yeah. But she's been down there for an awfully long time, dontcha think? She hasn't moved at all, too."

Tohru sighed loudly and hung his head, grinding his teeth audibly.

"Fine! Go see what she's up to."

With a satisfied smirk, Toranosuke uncrossed his arms, pivoted smartly, and disappeared, much to Tohru's pleasure.

And so Toranosuke went down the steps to the cave, calling out to Sakura, and getting more and more anxious as time passed and she didn't answer.

He called out to her curiously, entering the bathing cave slowly enough that she would have plenty of time to make herself presentable if need be.

"I'm here," replied the medic's voice in a tone so dead that it made Toranosuke shiver as he looked at her immobile form floating, fully clothed, aimlessly in the water.

"Sensei…Are you alright?" he dared to ask uncertainly, barely keeping himself from wringing his hands together.

"Huh? Oh yeah, fine. Totally fine. Except I despise myself, and I hate myself, and—"

Whatever else she was going to say lost itself in bubbles as she sank beneath the surface. With a strangled cry, Toranosuke dove in after her.

He grabbed her firmly by the middle and dragged her up, spluttering at the coldness of the water. Why hadn't she activated the seal for hot water and how long had she lain there without moving?

"Sensei! Sensei!"

He climbed onto one of the rocks jutting up in the middle of the water reservoir serving as bath, holding her preciously against him, and sat down with her in his lap, gently but urgently shaking her.

"Huh? Tachibana-san? Was there something you needed?"

He couldn't help but gape at her stupidly, wondering if she had realized at all what had happened; she looked so unaware of his presence…

"Sensei…You were floating in the water…for a long time…"

"Huh? Oh. So I was."

He shook his head at how disinterested she sounded and, in one fluid movement, stood up with her in his arms. He walked out of the cave, up the stairs and into the house, getting more anxious as time passed and she didn't force him to put her down.

Something's seriously wrong with Sensei.

-:-

"Tachibana-san…Did you do something to sensei?"

"Shh…I didn't do anything! Except change her into warm clothes after she almost killed herself. I don't know what she was thinking, staying in cold water for so long in this weather…Winter is almost upon us!"

"Tachibana-san…You must have done something! It was a good idea to put her in a haori, especially since she spends half her time sitting despondently on the veranda…but to her credit, she does spend every minute she can healing our patients. It's as though when she's not drowning herself in work, she just becomes…empty. I want our old fiery, sarcastic and lively sensei back, not this empty shell she left behind!"

"Yeah…I feel that way too, and I know Satsuki-chan does, too. And did you notice? She doesn't even write back when she gets letters from the Uchiha anymore. Even though she used to smile so brightly whenever she got one."

The two men glanced at the medic sitting all alone on the veranda, shoulders hunched. At that moment, she sighed loudly, looking thoroughly depressed, and they resolved to bring her back to normal.

-:-

Autumn turned into winter and still Sakura showed no sign of feeling better. If anything, her state got worse, her skin becoming paler day by day once news got out of what she had done to Shirameki Kazuo. She stopped sleeping more than an hour or two a day, clearly resting only so that her body wouldn't give out on her, and stopped eating altogether. She had given up on food after the fifth time she had thrown up the contents of her stomach.

Watching her pop a new soldier pill in her mouth, Toranosuke shook his head. If she continued on that destructive path, there was no doubt she would soon perish. Already, it was clear she had lost weight and was only losing more as days went by.

"Ishika-san…Have you sent the letter?" he whispered to his companion.

"Hai…All we can do now is wait and hope…"

-:-

Sakura didn't know it—at that point, she didn't care much about anything anyway—but rumours about how she had ruthlessly hunted down Kazuo had reached far across the Hidden Countries. Those who hadn't taken her threat seriously began to reconsider their position; nobody wanted to be made into a mess such as the one the man had become after she had finally found him.

In Konoha, too, word was out that she had made do on her promise. But word was also out that since then, she had lost herself in her work, and those who knew her became worried that she was pushing herself too hard.

The Uchiha, in particular, were used to receiving letters from her regularly, and not receiving any from her since them had them worried, even though they hid it better than most. That silence on her part was unnatural and even more so as she didn't respond to any of their letters. The normal hers wouldn't have been so callous as to keep from answering them, no matter how busy she was.

Sasuke was young enough that he could be fooled by Fugaku's explanation that Sakura had a lot to do at present, but Itachi knew perfectly well that there was more to the story than either of them knew. And he was worried by the lack of news.

"Aniki! A hawk!"

Itachi sighed. Sasuke had taken to watching hawks in the hopes of seeing Sakura's one fly through the sky to deliver them news and it was not the first time he had called out to him. As always, the hawk would fly over without stopping, for Sakura was keeping silent.

"Aniki! That's Konoha!"

And then his heart traitorously clenched as he had kept it from doing after the first dozen times Sasuke had called out. Wild hope bloomed in him as he ran out of his room; his heart pounded in his ears.

The door slammed open, letting the cold winter air in the house, and then he streaked in the garden, ran to the sakura tree up to the highest branch that could support his weight, and with one strong impulsion, propelled himself into the air, straight toward the hawk. Konoha swooped down and landed on his outstretched hand to the amazed encouraging cries of his little brother. And then he was landing primly on the frozen ground, feeling strangely more victorious than he felt when he accomplished a particularly difficult mission.

His fingers wrapped around the scroll Konoha had delivered to him and he closed his eyes for a moment to savor the feel of the paper under his calloused hands, only opening them when Sasuke's young voice urged him to open the scroll.

With trembling, feverish hands, he did as asked and read the message, eyebrows furrowing as he noticed Sakura had not been the one to write the letter.

He lowered the letter, clenching his hands at his sides, and looked in the distance, as though he could see her simply by looking toward the Land of Hot Water.

"Otouto-kun…I may be gone for a while…" he murmured distantly, hearing himself say the words through a haze, as though he was dreaming. And yet, another part of himself was so awake, so very intent; the part of him that was focusing on Sakura, that knew life without her was hollow.

-:-

"This is highly unusual, Itachi-san," murmured Sarutobi, looking at the genius over his steepled fingers.

Itachi inclined his head.

"I know, Hokage-sama, but this is the most direct and fastest way I had to achieve my goal. I do not know when the next mission in the Land of Hot Water will be requested by a client, nor is there any guarantee my team would be adequate for it. Hence, coming to you to request a mission, as client, is the fastest way for me to go there."

"So you wish to be escorted to the Land of Hot Water," resumed the Hokage, glancing at the scroll in front of him.

"Hai. My family would not accept it if I went without a proper escort, since I am the Uchiha heir. As a mission independent from my family, I shall pay for the expanses. I believe I have enough savings from my missions to cover the costs."

Sarutobi's wise eyes observed the young ninja, noting the firm set of his jaw. The young boy's eyes never wavered from his own, looking straight at him with a patience he was sure he didn't feel. He took a drag of his pipe and exhaled softly, putting the scroll down.

"Itachi-san…Am I to assume this has something to do with a certain pink-haired medic residing in the area?"

There was no embarrassment in his tone, eyes, or overall appearance as he answered affirmatively.

"Her people sent me a letter, requesting my presence. It seems that she is not well and they believe I could help her get better."

"Very well, you may go. I'll send three jounin with you. Make sure she is well. That brilliant young girl is very important and I do like her, never mind the fact that she is one of my students' daughter. She has spunk, that one. Get her back to normal, Itachi-san."

It was with a brief smile that Itachi bowed to his superior.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

-:-

Waiting at the gates, Itachi wondered who his escort would be. Seeing as he was an important member of the village, he didn't doubt that they would be good ninja, but when he had left the Hokage's office, Sarutobi hadn't yet decided on who would accompany him to Sakura's dwelling.

"Heeeey! The genius's there! Itachi-san!"

He knew that voice. He turned around and, sure enough, he saw Genma strolling down the street in his direction. Next to him, Gai smiled brightly and, with a thumbs up, hollered, "Good morning, Itachi-san! We are here to accompany you on your chivalrous journey of bringing back the flower of youth to Sakura-sensei!"

Had he been a lesser man—or not an Uchiha—Itachi would have groaned. Of course, both Genma and Gai were good ninja, and they both knew Sakura, but he could feel the journey would be more tiresome with the two of them as his escort.

"Isn't there supposed to be another ninja with you?" he asked, looking at the two intently.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't expect him to come anytime soon," said Genma calmly, rolling his usual senbon from one side of his mouth to the other.

"My eternal rival shall not disappoint us when he shows up!" yelled Gai enthusiastically, his smile becoming brighter if at all possible.

Yeah. That journey would be long. But not any longer than the waiting time would seem to him before Kakashi deigned to show up.

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Oh yeah! Itachi to the rescue! For those of you who don't understand the sudden change in Sakura, this will be explained in the next chapter, but keep in mind that she wants people to accept her village, not tolerate it because they're afraid of retaliation.