A/N: Hello, everyone, I was busy today so I could not produce a longer chapter, but I decided to post it regardless. After the story is finished, I will beta read it properly and edit and put the chapters together as I see fit. Since so many of you liked the story, I really wanted you to have a continuation asap.
Hope you enjoy it. :)
Sakura focused on the voices in the other room. It was the only thing keeping her sane at this point. These people proved to be unexpectedly polite, putting her in a room with a bed rather than a cell. She had suspected that it was because they preferred she changed teams and told them everything she knew. They had given food and she refused for fear it might be poisoned, but by the third day, she accepted to drink the water they provided and have a scoop or two of rice. She had been here for what she thought to be about a week and only one had a person come in to see her and then stomped away. Since then, it seemed that her captors were arguing. Food stopped coming. She assumed it was because they got her instead of Sai. They had no idea she was the one leading the secret intelligence agency. She planned on keeping it that way.
She passed her tongue over her lips. She was not hungry, but kami, she would have killed for a drop of water.
They are not professionals. I just have to wait for the right moment and seize it. And I'm sure Kakashi's almost got their trace. I just gotta wait and stay alive. She smiled when she thought of her colleague and cursed. Her cracked lips hurt. She rubbed her fingers together, feeling the callousness of her palms. She needed chapstick and hand-cream as soon as she got out.
Something fell on the floor in the other room. She shifted her position, the chain on her right leg clinked on the cold floor. This. This waiting drove her crazy. She didn't have anything to do, anything to focus on; she was alone in a room with no windows where the air was stale.
The door opened.
Her eyes shot up. She was as ready to fight as ever. She didn't recognise the man that entered the room, but he carried himself differently — with more elegance, more ease.
He motioned to her to shush. ''Miss Haruno,'' He researched me. ''I am sorry that you got tangled into this mess.'' He looks… ''You see, it has not been our intention to have you here,'' he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. …ah, what's the word? ''You are the Empress' stylist, correct?'' They didn't know the truth yet. ''Is that correct?''
''Yes,'' her voice was hoarse. He was next to her with just a few steps.
Pop. Before she realised, a bottle of water was next to her lips. ''Drink,'' he encouraged her. Normally, she wouldn't have. But she was so thirsty! She gulped down the water. He looked over his shoulder.
''I will help you get out, Haruno-san. My loyalties lie with the Empress. I am undercover,'' he whispered. She almost choked. ''Our leader will come to see you shortly. You better treat him with respect if you care for your life.'' He was back to his normal tone.
He stayed there and said a couple more things, but she couldn't focus. She felt like laughing hysterically. Oh, he was good! He tried to play with her mind, doubt reality and what was going on. This guy was on another level.
She stared in space for a long time after he left. She thought the first time she met the big guys in this gang, she would have to scream and fight and bite their necks off. Instead, she had to guard herself against human treatment.
…lethal. That's the word I was looking for.
The golden sunlight showered the room. The green silk sheets retained some of the light and glittered. Tsunade was laying down in the middle of the room. Her back hurt. She had no idea for how long she had been staring at the ceiling. She knew she should get up.
What am I to do? She covered her eyes and rolled over, facing the wall. She pulled the black robe over her legs. In private, she was still mourning her husband's death. Dan had been her pillar. Sakura had been gone for more than a week now. Hatake was in charge of the situation, but each time she saw him for a report, he looked exhausted and overwhelmed. They couldn't find her.
It was ridiculous. She had to be in Japan, right?
Tsunade tapped on the floor. Her red nail polish was chipped.
''Hn.'' Her mother would have been outrage. An Empress had to always look the part. Then again, her mother never encouraged her to wear red. She had been an outstanding empress, ruling the country through two wars.
She eyed the manuscript in the dark corner on the room. Shadows loomed over it. She found them rather inviting. The manuscript seemed to speak to her, to want to lure her in. 'Let me help you,' it said. Or it was just Tsunade's despair that made her see figures in the shadows and to hear whispers in her ear. She had turned the palace over in search for that manuscript and was grateful for finding it because it meant that it had not fallen in bad hands and also that she could make use of it.
It had stayed in that corner for over three weeks now. Tsunade's fingers twitched. It seemed she would be forced to use it. Her heartbeat quickened. It was dangerous playing with forces humans did not understand completely. Since the beginning of time, her family acted as a door between this world and the other, yet she was apprehensive. She propelled herself on one arm and studied herself in the huge mirror close to her dressing shield. She had dark circles under her puffy eyes, her hair looked lifeless. She was thin.
'You represent Nihon, Tsunade. You are Nihon,' her mother used to say. She thought of the strong women in her life. She thought of all the stubborn empresses before her, her pictures lined up on the main hall, of their imposing postures, her firm lips, their determined eyes. Tsunade got up completely. She lost her balance for a second. She could not disappoint them. It was her time to fight. Her time to do her part as an Empress.
Her time to look after her important people.
She lost her husband, her nephew, her friend. She refused to lose Sakura. She had no imperial blood that girl, but she had a lion heart and carried herself like a leader should. Tsunade could take a risk or two in this situation, especially since it would not affect Japan.
Dead or alive, she would get Sakura back.
The girl deserved that much.
################
''Look, daddy! Look,'' the little girl shouted excited and pulled at her father's jeans.
''M-hm. A second, sweetie.'' He had to finish writing this email.
''Daddy, daddy.''
''Yes, sweetie?'' His eyes didn't leave the computer.
''Isn't the sky beautiful today? It looks like an orange. I love oranges.''
He smiled. ''I know you do.''
He raised his eyes for a brief second. The sky did not look like an orange, it looked like a grapefruit, a bloody grapefruit.
''Sugoi, desu ne?''
''M-hm.'' He had never seen this sky before, but his grandfather used to describe it to him on the nights he had nightmares. The night of the dead. The man got up and pulled the curtain. Then, he turned on all the lights in the house.
Tsunade lit the last candle. She placed ten rubies in front of her in a circle. She put a sword in it. She opened the manuscript. She chanted the words while making different signs with her hands. With a small knife, she cut a wound in her palm.
'Madara Uchiha,' she wrote with her blood on the sword.
Sweat dripped between her shoulder blades. It was getting heavier to breathe. She finished the summon with her eyes half-closed. The blood disappeared from the sword. Tsunade trembled. It was so hot in the room, but she felt chilly. She intertwined her fingers. So much energy gathered that her piggie tails raised up and moved in the air. She felt a surge of power flow through her body. She picked up the rubies, blew a puff of air over them and threw them in different parts on the room. It was as if she had breathed life into the shadows. They started moving chaotically. She forced her eyes to stay open. She moved her hands to the side.
''I have the Will of Fire,'' she shouted and slapped the floor. Crack. Power still moved through her body. ''I rule the living and the dead, and I ask for thee, Madara Uchiha, legendary shinobi, to rise once more and strike with your sword those who've wronged the country you so love!''
The candles' light withered. As soon as Tsunade got up, she met a pair o red, devilish eyes. He cracked his neck.
''Ah. It's good to be back. How may I help you, Empress?''