Chapter Nine

A Healing Touch

At dawn the next day, Rin changed Sakura's bandages and applied a healing salve to the wounds on her wrists. Lucky for Sakura, the abrasions were clean and would not scar too noticeably if she applied the salve and kept her wrists wrapped. Rin made her drink another dose of medicated tea, and Sakura spent the rest of the day asleep in Kakashi's bed. When night came and it had been determined that Sakura was not bleeding internally, Rin escorted her back to the servants' chambers. She'd been so spoiled by the comfort of Kakashi's mattress and the heat from his fire that she'd nearly forgotten how cold and musty the servants' chambers were. Rin helped Sakura change and bathe before helping her into bed.

"Tsunade wants you well before your lessons start again," Rin said, handing her yet another cup of bitter tea. "How are those ribs feeling?"

"Sore," Sakura admitted. Walking from Kakashi's quarters had been a feat all on its own, and one Sakura feared she would not have been able to accomplish had it not been for Rin's assistance.

"You'll be nursing them for quite a while I'm afraid," Rin told her. "The bruise on your face is starting to look better."

Sakura snorted. "Which one?"

Rin cracked a glimmer of a smile. "You're too easy to like, Sakura," Rin said, adjusting her covers after Sakura finished her tea. "I wanted to hate you. That's what we've all been taught, right? Our clans have been natural enemies for ages, but… we're the same, Sakura. We're both human. We both want to protect the people we love."

Sakura let Rin's words wash over her as the combination of sleeping and pain medicine pulled at her eyelids. Sakura reasoned that there were good and bad people in any walk of life. She was learning that not all the people in the Black Army were the monsters that her clan made her believe. Yet, some were the worst kind of monster. Sakura knew that there were men just like Kabuto back home in Kumoga. None of them messed with her because she'd been raised Kumoga, and her warrior brethren would probably kick someone's ass if they so much as looked at her the wrong way. That's not to say that Sakura couldn't handle her own at her full strength, but it was nice to know she had people who loved her enough to fight for her.

Sakura blinked up at Rin. "I know what you're trying to say, Rin, but I'm still here against my will."

Rin dropped her gaze and nodded.

"But," Sakura said, "I don't hate you either."

Rin grinned. "Get some rest. If you can manage it, you'll be back on light duty tomorrow." When Rin left, Sakura fell into a deep, medicated sleep.

~oOo~

Sakura woke at dawn the next morning to the sound of rustling about in her room. She opened her eyes and spotted Ino digging through her wooden chest. Clothes and trinkets lay on the rug beside her in heaps.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked the blond.

Ino spun so quickly she toppled over, pressing her hand to her heart. "Gods, you scared me. You've been out cold for so long I kind of forgot you were there."

"Thanks," Sakura said drily.

Ino picked up a silk camisole and rose from the floor. "I'm really sorry about what happened, Sakura. I should have been honest with you about Kabuto when you asked if he'd ever hurt me…" Ino's gaze dropped to the floor, color rising in her cheeks. "I'm embarrassed and ashamed to admit that he and I courted for a while. His charming act is one for the books," Ino said with a derisive snicker.

"You were together?" Sakura could scarcely believe it.

"Not for long," Ino told her. "He… he tried to choke me. I had bruises for a month. I never told anyone what he did because he threatened to hurt my younger sister."

Coward, Sakura thought. She hated when men threatened women simply because they knew they could get away with it. Nausea rolled through Sakura's stomach when she thought of the warrior, the way he'd sliced her corset open with a knife and touched her. Anger coursed through her blood and pulled her hands into fists. She wanted to pummel him into black oblivion. "Where is he now?"

Ino's face paled. "He's in the infirmary. Kakashi almost killed him, Sakura. Tsunade refused to heal him on account of what he did to you. She says it's his punishment."

"She's not dismissing him from the Black Army?"

Ino wrung the camisole between her hands. "She wants to, but… some of the warriors are defending him and saying that since you're Kumoga–"

"–That he was entitled to rape and kill me?" Sakura guessed.

Ino didn't speak. Sakura watched her draw breath and then slowly exhale. "Did he...?"

Sakura clenched her jaw. "He would have if Kakashi hadn't gotten there when he did."

"Then you're really lucky, Sakura. Kabuto comes from a powerful family. If Tsunade dismisses him they might retaliate."

Sakura snickered. "Against the Black Army? I think I'd enjoy watching them try." Sakura lifted herself up with manageable difficulty and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I hope he heals," she said sardonically. "I hope he heals so I won't feel guilty about having a killing advantage over a wounded man."

Ino raised both of her eyebrows and puckered her lips. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"If he has a history of inflicting pain on people he is supposed to care for, what makes you think he won't do it again to someone else? Forget what he did to me, Ino. The fact that I'm Kumoga and you're Konoha has nothing to do with him being a legitimate revolting psychopath."

"Should you be up right now?"

Sakura grabbed hold of their door handle for support as she straightened her spine. Her limbs were lethargic because she'd been bedridden for two days and needed to get her blood pumping. "I'll be fine in a moment," Sakura told her.

"All I'm saying is you have an out if you want to take it," Ino said, holding up her arms. "You could exacerbate your injuries if you try to take on more than you can handle."

"Yes well, I've grown tired of laying around."

"Then let me help you." Ino wrapped her arm around Sakura's waist and helped her into the washroom. Rin had washed Sakura's hair the night before, and her long ringlets fell loosely down her back. "I don't know how to do the warrior braid," Ino admitted, "but I can braid the sides and pin it halfway up if you like."

"You don't need to trouble yourself."

"Hush and be still," Ino told her once they approached the mirror. Sakura propped her arms on the wooden counter while Ino set to work on her hair. It was good to stand – even if her ribs were protesting the simple act of being vertical. "You know," Ino said a moment later, "bruising aside, you're really pretty Sakura."

Sakura met Ino's gaze in the mirror. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because," Ino said, fixing a clip in Sakura's hair to hold her braid, "you're really not so different from us…"

Rin had said something similar the night before, Sakura noted, but it still didn't change the fact that she was their prisoner.

~oOo~

When the girls finished dressing and grooming, they went to the kitchen to start breakfast preparations. Ayumi, with her usual soured expression, gave Sakura a bag of flour and told her to make biscuits. The task was easy enough and didn't cause Sakura much overexertion where her ribs were concerned. Bending to put the baking sheet into the oven mouth was a little more difficult, and Sakura folded her arm across her ribs to try and steady herself.

"Let me," a cool, dark voice said, his hand wrapping around Sakura's bicep.

Sakura's blood pressure spiked at the sound of his voice and she twisted too quickly, the pain in her ribs bursting like a bomb. Sasuke was standing beside her, a smirk twisting at the corner of his mouth as he held on to her arm. Sakura wondered if all the Black Army warriors had been trained to sneak about like a ghost in the shadows. Sakura knew how to be quiet, but she hadn't quite mastered 'wraith' status yet.

"What are you doing here?" she bit out. And where had he come from? She hadn't even heard the door open.

"Sasuke?" Ino stood with one hand on the door, her lips parted in confusion.

Sasuke let go of Sakura's arm and lifted his chin. "The Hokage sent me," he said. "She's requesting to see Sakura."

Ino frowned. "I didn't think Sakura was supposed to resume her lessons until she was healed."

Sasuke was quiet a moment. "I'm merely just the messenger," he said.

Ino was still frowning.

Sakura wondered why a warrior had been sent to retrieve her and not one of Tsunade's assistants, like Shizune or Rin. Sakura didn't trust Sasuke, and she wasn't well enough to fight him if he tried anything between here and the Hokage's chambers.

Ino could read the apprehension on her face. "It's okay Sakura. I'll look after the biscuits." She nodded at the girl, letting her know that Sasuke, from her standpoint, wouldn't try to hurt her. He'd nearly killed her on the battlefield so the irony wasn't lost on Sakura.

Sakura untied her apron and draped it across a stool before following Sasuke out of the kitchen. She stayed several paces behind him, her eyes fixed on his hands that hung relaxed at his sides.

"Kabuto really did a number on you, didn't he?"

Sakura clenched down on her back molars, refusing to answer. Sasuke may have worded it like a question, but Sakura could hear the implicated leer in his tone. He was mocking her. Sasuke peeked over his shoulder, his black gaze sweeping over the bruises that colored her face. The look he'd given her as he drove his dagger into her side on the battlefield still burned raw in her mind. Sakura knew rage, but rarely did she encounter a warrior who enjoyed the killing and hungered for the bloodlust. Those warriors were the worst kind, in her opinion.

"How's your dagger wound, by the way?"

Sakura didn't answer.

Sasuke whirled on her lightning fast, but Sakura was ready. She'd seen him tense his shoulders before he lunged and managed to pivot and step to the side before he could get in her face. Sasuke, for his part, looked impressed. "You're quick, Kumoga, but you're going to have to be quicker if you want to survive around here." He grinned.

"What do you care if I survive or not?" Sakura snapped.

Sasuke gave her a half shrug. "You're important to the Hokage."

"That hasn't stopped the others."

Sasuke snickered. "Think about it for a second. Imagine our roles were reversed. Imagine that I was being held prisoner in Kumoga, living in their army headquarters and learning the layout of their training grounds…" Sasuke trailed off, his black eyes flickering back and forth between Sakura's. "Let's say I managed to get away… Do you think for one minute that I wouldn't come running back to Konoha and share all those secrets with my clansmen?"

Sakura paled. "You don't trust me, I get that. But you're the one who brought me here. You could have let me die out there… You should have let me die."

Sasuke's lips parted, his teeth sliding forward to lock together. "I didn't think our Hokage would let you live in the Black Army's barracks, Sakura. She has too much faith in your mysterious healing abilities. She thinks she can change your mind – get you to believe that your home is Konoha… But you are still our enemy. You will always be our enemy."

Sakura felt his breath on her face as he stepped closer. She recoiled, leaning away as his hands tightened into fists at his sides.

"You might gain friends here, Sakura, but there will always be someone who's wishing you were dead." His gaze leveled with hers.

She held her ground; the stubborn nature of the warrior rising on its toes within her. "Is that a promise?"

Sasuke only grinned. He left her there, in the hallway beneath a large window at the mouth of the stair. Sakura waited until his footsteps receded before finally releasing the breath that tightened her chest. She tilted her head against the wall, the cold stone seeping through her scalp. She looked up the staircase, flexing her hands before deciding that she didn't want to face the Hokage. Nothing Sasuke said to her came as a shock, and yet, something seemed to click into place. Even if Sakura played by their rules and did what was expected – they would never just let her go. They'd ensured her captivity on the grounds of allowing her to live inside the barracks. It was their insurance policy – the invisible ball and chain attached to her ankles. After all, one would never give a bank robber a key to the vault and expect him not to use it...

Maybe somewhere deep within her, Sakura always knew that her only chance of making it back to Kumoga was an escape. But she was only one in the sea of black, and they would hunt her down and end it all before she could make it out of enemy territory.

Hot tears stung at the corners of her eyes – but Sakura would not cry. She pressed her fists into her eye sockets, quelling the tears before they could roll down her cheeks. Sakura hugged the shadows of her dungeon, walking unseen until she reached the side entrance and pushed out into the winter cold. There was no one in the training arena at this hour – no one to see her slip through the side yard and into the stable. One stable-hand looked up from his sweeping, but he paid her no mind as she walked into the north wing in search of Frost.

Frost was nibbling on some hay, her head poking out over the stall door when Sakura approached. Her ear pricked in Sakura's direction.

"Hey girl," Sakura said, reaching up to touch the mare's face. Her fingers curled into the horse's mane, soaking up the warmth of her skin. "Care if I stay with you awhile?" Sakura lifted the latch on the stall door and showed herself inside. Frost continued to grind hay, letting Sakura stroke the length of her back before leaning into her and breathing in her smell. The mare shot her a curious look before lowering to her forelegs and then rolling to her side – an invitation, Sakura guessed, to join her. Sakura was small enough to curl up in front of the mare's legs, leaning against the creature's neck as she borrowed her warmth. Part of her mane fell over Sakura's shoulder like a blanket and the two sat in companionable silence, taking comfort in the warmth and stillness.

Sakura thought of her father the soap maker, recalling the sound of his belly-laugh to her mind. She thought of Sai, remembering the easy way she'd loop her arm through his and they'd stroll through the forest looking for animals and birds for Sai to practice his abilities. She thought of their friends – wishing she could go to the tavern with them after a long day of training and let loose over a couple of ales. They would tell stories, show off their scars, and try, (and usually fail) to impress a girl that caught their eye. Sakura would laugh at them in good nature, because they were her brothers in arms; her comrades – her family. She missed them all so achingly bad.

The comforting smells of the horses, the warm feel of Frost's skin, and the familiar sounds in the stable coaxed Sakura to drift in and out of consciousness. It wasn't sleep really, but something in between, and Sakura wasn't sure how long she stayed that way. She was only drawn back to herself when she heard the subtle click of the doorlatch. She looked up at Kakashi, his features hidden behind his mask. His eyes weren't on her. He crouched in front of his horse, taking Frost's big face into his hands as he spoke to her.

Sakura noticed that his hands were still swollen; his knuckles still cracked and creased with scabs from his brawl with Kabuto – if one could even call it that. Kakashi clearly had the upper hand and almost obliterated him from existence.

"Your hands," Sakura said, not moving from Frost's shoulder.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura, but he did not stop stroking Frost's nose. "They're about to send a squad after you," Kakashi said conversationally.

Sakura snickered. "Maybe I should just let them kill me." Sakura regretted the words the instant they left her lips. This man had risked his life to save her, and she was sitting before him, feeling sorry for herself because she feared she would never see her home again. Warriors should be harder than this, she told herself. "I didn't mean that," she said in a softer tone.

"I know," Kakashi said.

"How'd they figure out I was missing?"

Kakashi's chest expanded as he drew breath. "Ino went to check on you," Kakashi told her. "She was worried when you didn't show up for lunch."

"Has it really been that long?"

"She said Sasuke came to escort you to the Hokage's chambers before breakfast. Tsunade said that she never saw you. Curious, also, that Tsunade never sent for you..."

Sasuke had meant to torment her then... Sakura filled in the missing pieces. "Are you part of the firing squad?"

The corners of Kakashi's visible eye creased. "I asked Tsunade to let me try and find you before she sent out the ground troops."

Sakura turned her cheek against Frost's shoulder. He knew I would be here, she thought. "Why didn't you let Tsunade heal your hands?"

Kakashi dropped his gaze, his thumb rolling over his knuckles on his opposite hand as if he were massaging the hurt. "Some wounds," Kakashi said, even timbred, "need to be remembered."

Sakura let his words twine through her mind as she tried to pick apart their meaning. Did he want to remember how close he came to taking another man's life – a member of the Black Army who was supposed to be his brother in arms. Did he want to remember how it felt? Or, she wondered, did he want to remember that Sakura had almost died?

Sakura slipped forward from Frost's shoulder, reaching for Kakashi's hands. The motion came over her before she knew what she was doing. Kakashi's hands were strong and his fingers long and slender. His palms and fingertips were callused from wielding weaponry. His skin was warm to the touch, but comfortingly so, like the embers of a dying fire. She thought of his kindness and the gentle plea for her to remain alive as he carried her to his chambers. He could have let her die, she thought, turning his hands in hers.

Tsunade had told her that she needed to open herself up if she wanted to be a Healer – to become vulnerable to someone else's pain. How could she not, when Kakashi had made himself vulnerable by saving her life?

She felt the hurt in her hands as if his pain belonged to her, and Sakura closed her eyes and let her energy travel through their touching skin. It felt like a rising wave inside her chest, and she let it flow out like the tide and into Kakashi to heal the hurt that she had caused. Her palms grew warm; but it was a cool burn as energy shifted and Sakura felt his pain absorbing into herself. She winced as the back of her hands began to sting and burn. The pain was brief, and when Sakura opened her eyes, she looked down at Kakashi's hands and the fresh pink lines that traced his knuckles.

Her chest swelled, throat tightening at the visual proof that she had healed him. The realization struck hard, washing over her in waves. The prophecy was true… The god Chiron had really marked her and made her a Healer.

"I didn't ask you to bear this burden for me," she told Kakashi. She tried to steady her voice, make herself sound braver than she felt. "You don't need to remember these wounds."

Kakashi stared at her long and hard, the weight of his look boring beneath the layers of her skin. Sakura felt heat crawling up the back of her neck. It was like the healing connection between them hadn't broken and she could still feel him. Sakura wanted to look away – he was too close. Something stirred inside her chest like it had the night he saved her.

Finally, when she thought she could bear the silence no more, Kakashi said, tone soft, "I would do it again, Sakura."

And because there was nothing else to be said, Kakashi extended his hand and helped pull Sakura up from the ground once more.

O

O

I know, I know, Sasuke is still being a jerk. He has his reasons, and there will be a redemption arc at some point in this story. Hang tight. ;) But heyyy Sakura is finally coming into her powers!

Thank you for the comments and reviews: Snickiebear, your miss cadaverous, YessChristopher, iceandfire, gryffindorshinobi, Leafshadow2, and sukisuzukipuki! I appreciate you!

Who's following me on Tumblr? Do you guys like the chapter spoiler posts?

As always, thank you for reading,
~Sparrow