Chapter Thirty-Four: The Labyrinth
"Every labyrinth has its minotaur"
-Carlos Ruiz Zafrón
Sakura stared down at the map that Sasuke had given her. Her green eyes traced every inch of it and considered every point of interest and note he had left her, trying to figure out which black line would lead her from this place if she followed.
Sasuke had left her at her bedroom door with hardly a word, which had surprised her. She had seen the questions in his eyes that he wanted answered, she could see the deep thought in his face, more than likely considering the words of her outburst. But he made no demands, only instructed her to go inside and to get some rest. And with one last look of concern, he had gone into his own room across the hall.
She had changed from the dress she had worn to dinner, carefully untying the knot and unwinding the skirt that Sasuke had wrapped around so perfectly before. Once undressed she neatly folded away the top layer and hung the bottom layer bodice and skirt away into her wardrobe. And for a moment, she was briefly tempted to change into a nightgown and fall into the inviting bed across the room. She was exhausted, fighting off the sharingan, always taxing on her energy levels, but breaking away from Madara's left her feeling indebted beyond empty. But that was the exact reason why she resisted the tempting bed and dressed into a basic shirt and dark thick leggings. She was surprised to even find them in her wardrobe but it seemed Mikoto had truly provided everything she needed.
Once dressed, she pulled out the map and waited. Waited for the night to grow old and waited for a plan to shape in her head. Because she needed to get out. Needed to escape Madara and his prying eyes. Needed to escape Sasuke and his inquisitive questions that she knew were to come. Him leaving her without a word had not eased her. If anything, it made the impending interrogation that she knew would come eventually all the more ominous. He was taking time to think, to analyze, which would give him an advantage at seeing through her omissions and half answers that kept her secrets at bay. There was just something about being around him that made her tongue slip up. She could recount several times when she let something slip and it was difficult to know what all Sasuke had caught onto but Sakura had a feeling Sasuke didn't need his blood limit ability to catch everything. He was too perceptive for her to have any hope.
Trailing a finger across the heavy parchment, Sakura followed a solid black line until she came across the small drawing Sasuke had left of her comic angel self, clearly deceased with crossed out eyes and a tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. Her finger taped against the stick figure as she thought.
If she were Sasuke, and didn't want someone to escape, what would he do to deter them from their exit?
It's dark out...It's not the dark that you should be afraid of, but what's in the dark...It will be fully dark soon...I told you that it's not the dark, but what's in the dark that you should fear...There could be other things that are lurking in the dark besides lost city boys...It is not safe for you to wander around in the dark...You don't want to find out what lurks in the dark within this realm...
The echoing words of warnings played in her head, all of them in Sasuke's smooth timber of a voice. Some of the warnings she remembered distinctly when and where they took place, while others, she had no recollection of when he would have said it. But as his voice died down in her mind, an idea came into her head.
Of course. It was always the dark with him, warnings of wandering in the dark and staying inside, staying safe. What better way to control and keep a person from the last place you wanted to go, than to make them fear the very place. Isn't that what mortals did to small children when they told them of their darker themed folklore. Naughty little children in fables were always being eaten, disappearing, or dying whenever they ventured to places they were not supposed to.
She looked back down at the map, vigorously chewing at her bottom lip as she thought. There was a hesitancy within her that made her apprehensive of what she was thinking. What if Sasuke was not lying? What if there really was a danger? He was so difficult to read and trying to predict his motive was impossible. Yes, he was keeping her here and did not want her to leave, but he had been oddly protective of her as well. In the market with lady Chiyo, appearing out of nowhere whenever she was wandering, stopping Madara. The only question was if he was protecting her as his property, or if he truly meant to keep her from harm out of concern for her own wellbeing.
Sakura weighed the odds but ultimately it came down to one fact. She needed to escape. Madara was dangerous and he was too curious. Sasuke had even asked her why she was drawing his attention and while she was not fully sure, she had a feeling Madara had some sort of suspicion of what she was. What he wanted her for though was beyond her. What use, other than confirmation, was she? What did he mean by her contributing? She had no answer but she had a feeling it was something she would want no part in.
With that thought in mind, Sakura grabbed the map then grabbed a small bag and packed a few things, the journal she had found and had yet to open, and a few trinkets Mikoto had gifted her that she did not have the heart to leave behind. Then as quietly as she could, she left her room, taking a moment to feel through the connection between herself and Sasuke to confirm that he was asleep.
Over the past few weeks she had learned to slightly control the link by opening and closing it enough to gauge a small idea of how he was feeling. When she felt nothing but a quiet and still feeling from his end, she was convinced he was sleeping. Taking in a preparing breath, she began to make her way through the tunnels, following the line that would either leave her to her freedom or possibly her death.
The moment she entered the large pocket in the earth her heart began to beat wildly. She remembered this room. Rounded to almost a perfect circular shape with dozens of tunnels branching off from it like the center of the spider web. It was the room where she had first been introduced to Mikoto, the one that the portal room had branched from. The only problem...she had no recollection as to which tunnel led to the portal room. She remembered it was narrow and tall, but there were about ten different passageways that fit that description.
In the center of the room, she slowly spun around, trying to decide which one would lead her to the portal room until she was so disoriented and confused, she didn't even know which tunnel she had just come out of.
Stupid, she internally yelled at herself. In the excitement of her break through, she had forgotten all about marking which way she had come. With no means of knowing, she decided to let fate decide and choose a random tunnel to venture down and hope that she chose right.
She walked for what seemed like forever, the faint glow of crystals and bioluminescent lichen illuminating her way as she weaved her way through the jagged corridor. Eventually the plant growth and crystal formations became less and less and soon she was blindly making her way down the narrow crevice. She stretched her arms out to help guide herself and also make sure there was not a break off of the tunnel in which she would miss or accidentally walk down. She was already lost in getting back to her room, she could not risk not getting lost now, not when she was so close. There would be not telling when or if she would ever see not just the light of day, but light itself in a place like this.
You don't want to find out what lurks in the dark within this realm...
As she groped her way through the dark, the warnings of Sasuke rose in her mind once again. She paused for a moment as she stared forward into the dark. A small breeze crept up behind her, and a chill ran down her spine as the distinct sound of wings flapping and settling came from above her. She had grown used to the many bat-like creatures of this world, they were as common here as birds in the other realms but Sasuke's warnings had already put her at unease making her wonder what else the sound could be. She shifted slightly, looking behind her only to be greeted by blank darkness. She turned her head again, trying to decide if she should go farther or go back, as she was confident this was not the way.
She had just committed to going back when something caught her eye. In all her debating she had shifted back and forth, causing her to move farther down and suddenly something caught her eye up ahead. The faint glow and flicker of fire light. She strained to remember if there had been torches or not in the portal room. But either way, curiosity drew her forward and deeper. She would just check and if it did not open up to the portal room she would just turn back around.
The tunnel curved and narrowed slightly but as she rounded the corner, it opened up to a spacious pocket. One half was like what most of the underworld looked like, rocky ground and igneous walls that peaked in the middle. However there was a point in the middle in which the environment dramatically shifted. The uneven floor smoothed out until it reached a short ascent of steps that stretch out across the other side of the open area. The led up to a platform with four large pillars that stretched up before molding into the ceiling at various heights. And behind them, was a square doorway, two torches on either side in a flickering greeting.
Sakura ventured towards the stairs, slowly walking up to them as she stared deeper into the doorway. And before she knew it, she was crossing the threshold and entering into the building like space.
Unlike the usual organic architecture that was found throughout what she had seen of the underworld, this place was perfect angles and geometric shapes. She walked down the long hallway of the entrance until it split into a T, offering a choice to either go right or left. Sakura looked down each way and found they both turned off at an even length to go another way. Curiosity peaked, Sakura went right, wanting to explore the area a little more but taking note of the route she was taking.
The spacing of this hall was larger than the entrance, easily twelve feet high to the roof and from wall to wall. Her fingers which dragged across the right side of the corridor feeling the smoothed stone wall of the granite, every so often a vertical crevice would section the wall off into another piece, like large tiles, carved and placed side by side to form paneling. In the center of each tile was a carving, most all as identical to the next as she took in each carving with a critical eye. Only occasionally there was one section of wall with a design unique from the other. Usually grotesque depictions of fierce beasts or macabre faces of tortured looking individuals. Neither beast nor man ever looked natural in their features.
It was eerily silent for a place that would normally have a lengthy echo. The only steady sound was the flicker of fire from the sconces that latched to the walls every so often or the occasional crunch of loose gravel that crushed beneath her shoe and the sound of her stumbling feet tripping on a crack in the floor. Every once in a while she felt she could hear the hollowed sound of stone scraping against stone, but it was difficult to place as it sounded as if it was coming from the walls themselves, not echoing down from a different location. Despite the comfort that no other sounds meant she was alone, the hairs on the back of her neck still stood on end.
As curious as this place was, Sakura knew better than to venture too far. By what she could tell one could easily get lost in such a place. It reminded her of the tall maze of hedges that mortal nobles and royalty would have constructed in their gardens as a form of entertainment. Many centuries ago she had visited the labyrinth of versailles in the mortal realm and found she enjoyed such puzzles. And this place reminded her very much of it with the continuous twists and turns she encountered. Seeing another turn off, Sakura decided to venture down one more wing before turning around.
She reached the end of the hall and entered the next, this one massively more spacious than the other as the ceiling rose up nearly twice of the height from where she had entered from. Gazing to her left she found that it ran on for what seemed like an eternity. However, keeping to her strategy of always going right, she turned to go down the opposite way only to come to an abrupt stop when she realized she had reached a dead end. She stared at the wall with brows furrowed. Why would a hallway just end? Perhaps this truly was a maze, some form of entertainment for the underworlders.
Sakura continued to stare at the dead end. She took in the geometric lines and patterns etched into the stone to form a border around the centerpiece of the stone section. Like several others she had seen along her way, this one was unique. This one depicted a unique design of what looked to be a menacing bull head. It's longhorns stretched out past the border of the design until they came to a sharp tip. In the background swirling lines curled and wove together, looking almost like waves curling and cresting. And its eyes, while left blank and colorless against the dark granite of the wall, Sakura could not help but feel as if being watched. Reaching out she traced the profile of the bull. Her fingers brushed against the grainy granite until a thud sounded loudly around her, causing her to startle and retract her hand.
Again she heard the scraping of stone against stone and an uneasy feeling came about her. Sakura turned around, content that she had explored enough and was ready to head back. Only when she turned, she found herself face to face with a problem. Here way back was gone.
Where she expected an open hall in which she could venture back to where she had first entered this strange, there was instead a wall. Carved stone with perfect corners that met the ceiling and adjoining walls with a carving just like the one she had just been examining. Sakura stared at the wall in confusion, then a slight breeze that made the hair at the back of her neck rise up had her turning back around.
The space which had just moments before ended in a dead end, was open to a long passageway. Panel after panel of wall was laid out before her, sections of the wall open to turn off into other directions. Sakura's stomach somersaulted and an acrid taste of bile came to the back of her throat. This was nothing like the labyrinth of Versailles.
Turning back to the section of wall that now blocked the way she had entered, she began to push on it but it was like a solid wall. She even put some chakra into the strength but again, it was to no avail. Heart beginning to thunder in her chest, she wedged her fingers into the corner crevice and tried to slide the stone but again it did not budge. She tried from the bottom to lift it with the same result. Standing back she looked up to the ceiling but it was too high for her to reach.
As she felt around the wall, pressing and pulling at different sections of the decal in the center, hoping to find some sort of switch or mechanism, a strange prickling sensation began to crawl up her skin. It was more than a sensation, it was a whole presence hovering over her and weighing slowly and steadily upon her, consuming her.
And then she heard it, a heavy snort like that of a large livestock animal followed by something weighted slapping against stone with a fleshy sound.
She stiffened before sluggishly turning, her movements dulled from the crawling shiver that was taking over her body. First her feet moved, then her body shifted with them as she turned to face down the long corridor. Her head turned last and the moment her eyes shifted to look down the long hall, Sakura sucked in a deep breath.
Consuming the entirety of the corridor, was a massive creature. The naked torso of a man made up the front of its body as two large humanoid arms held it up right. Its flesh was a sickly pallor with an undertone of a purple hue but this was the least of its oddities. Tentacles sprouted out behind it, some of them dragging behind it while others slithered up the sides of the stone walls and slapped against the floor in front of it. They wriggled and suctioned, pulling it slowly down the corridor towards her. Finally, she managed to pull her eyes away from the unconventional legs to take in the head. A bullish face stared back at her, its horns barely kept from scraping against the roof of the corridor as the creature leaned forward, its pale blind eyes vacantly staring down the hall past her.
For a moment Sakura thought she was in the clear of being detected as she slowly took a step back, only to place her foot on a piece of loose gravel which let out a voluminous crunch as it was crushed beneath her shoe. The sound echoed down the corridor with an exaggerated echo and her breath hitched. The creature stiffened, Sakura stilled, bringing a hand to her mouth as she held her breath hoping that the dull white of its eyes was a sign of blindness. But then the creature's eyes locked onto her just before its head tilted up as it let out a thunderous bellow.
Sakura did not even wait for the sound to die down, she turned around and ran. Pushing chakra into her feet as she took off down the corridor, taking the first turn that approached as she heard the thundering of the bullish creature chasing after her.
Sasuke woke up abruptly, his body lurching forward from the mattress as he rolled swiftly to grab his katana blade and wrenched it from its saya. Blade poised and ready he whirled around to face the room expecting to find an attacker. Disoriented from his abrupt awakening and the alarm of panic that had flooded his body. He looked around his dark and still room with confusion, his heart hammering in his chest as his breaths came out in hyper gasps. As he realized he was not in any immediate danger, his body began to relax as confusion began to set in.
He had woken up with adrenaline surging through his veins and panic racing in his mind, making him think he was under attack. Searching himself, he began to be able to identify why he was feeling this way when nothing seemed amiss. And confusion became clarity as he realized that such feelings were not his. They were Sakura's, leaking in through the connection. And then his own panic arose as his eyes snapped to the door.
Sakura was in trouble.
He threw open his door and crossed the hall as he practically crashed through the other door opposite of his. Katana in hand, his wild eyes scanned the room, unsure of what to expect to find. Sakura thrashing in her bed as she experienced a nightmare or Sakura being attacked by an intruder. He had been prepared for anything except for it being just as his room was, silent and still with only a few flickering candles casting a glow to easily affirm, she was gone. He even checked the adjacent bathroom, not even bothering or caring to knock. But unlike just hours earlier, the bath was empty and dry.
"Shit," Sasuke cursed beneath his breath, making for the hall.
There had been so much running chaotically in his mind by the time he and Sakura arrived back from dinner that he had just let her go to bed. He had wanted to start his interrogation then and there but he had seen it in Sakura's face, she needed a moment. And as much as he wanted to selfishly demand answers as he felt he deserved, he just could not bring himself to do it. Her confusing and mind altering words from earlier, paired with that haunting look of recognition she had displayed on her face at dinner after Madara dug into her mind...so he granted her the unspoken wish.
And all the same, he needed to sort through everything and analyze, collect his thoughts before he started his interrogation. So he had let her be as he retired to his own room to try and prepare his thoughts. For what seemed like hours he had lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as her words played in his mind, over and over again.
You are nothing like I remember...you are nothing like I remember...you are nothing like I remember….
What had she meant? Remember from when? At some point he had drifted off into a light slumber, his mind still pondering impossible answers and inconclusive guesses, planning to talk with her in the morning, thinking she could not get into any trouble before then. But oh how he had been so annoyingly wrong to think she could not get into trouble within only a few hours of releasing her from his sight.
Damn that infernal woman!
As he burst into the hall between their rooms, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate on the tether, doing his best to search out the tugging pull that he knew would lead him to her. The moment he found the tension of whatever invisible cord tied them together, he was sprinting like a shadow through the underworld.
He soon found himself coming to a stop in the terminal cavern that split off into dozens of passages. Knowing Sakura's past motivation to escape, he naturally started towards the tunnel that would take him to the portal room. However, he came to an abrupt stop when he realized the pulling sensation directing him down a far different path. Sasuke faced the direction, taking in the ruins and carvings that lined the entryway.
Shit.
The reality was far worse than he had thought. He knew she was stubborn and determined to escape, but never did he think she was so foolishly stupid to venture to a place he had blatently marked as out of bounds. He spurred forward, slipping through the narrow tunnel until it opened up into the maze of granite. Summoning his sharingan, he burst forward, weaving in and out of various sized corridors and narrow halls as the tyrannical roars of the creature who dwelt in this lair grew louder and louder as he neared.
Sakura ran in a full sprint, her eyes searching out for the next turn. The creature was incredibly fast for its size and anatomy. She had thought the tentacles would inhibit its movement on land but it seemed to have adapted to the environment. However she had quickly discovered that it had to build up its speed and momentum again each time it was forced to change direction. It struggled with corners and corridors that were smaller in size. Thus she had devised a strategy. Take as many turns as she could, and if possible stick to the smaller corridors of the labyrinth.
However it was easier said than done. It was as if the labyrinth had a mind of its own, strategizing against her. Several times she had come across a turn off, ready to turn sharply, only to watch as a stone slab of wall rose from the ground and cut off her escape. This had happened many times, sometimes she had managed to crawl over as it rose, but more times than not, she found another passage opening up to reveal the creature wriggling towards her like a land moving kraken each time she thought she had managed to escape. A couple of times she had tried to break through the walls but she found it seemed to not give her much of an advantage and only served to siphon her chakra reserves.
Since turning into the particular tunnel she was running down, it seemed she had lost the creature but she did not dare stop, knowing it was only a matter of time. And just as she predicted, a section of the wall opened up and the creature spilled into the hallway in front of her, cutting her off and causing her to come to a sliding halt, her breaths coming in raged.
Sakura watched it shift sluggishly as it twisted itself to face her. Immediately, Sakura turned back the way she had just come and began to sprint down the hall again, only for her stomach to twist horribly as she watched a slab of wall begin to rise up from the ground to corner her.
Pushing herself even faster she sprinted to the rising wall and kicked off the ground to catch the top as it rose. As soon as she gripped the ledge, she began to pull herself up. But just as she was about to swing her leg up, one of the bull's tentacles crashed against the ceiling, causing the entire hall to tremble and shake. Sakura's right hand slipped and her left fingers only managed to hold her weight for a few more moments before she fell down to the floor. She hit the ground hard, her legs buckling from the height as she crumpled into a heap.
Letting out a groan, she forced herself to get back up quickly as she heard the creature beginning to make its way towards her. Sakura's eyes darted down the hall, searching for an opened panel but there was nothing but wall, everything was shut, she was trapped.
Sakura glanced to her left and found a section with the markings of a panel that she had come to know as a shifting one which meant it was hollow on the other side. The square was smaller than most outlines of the closed door, a couple of feet from the floor of the hall she was currently in. Inspecting it, she noticed a worn fissure. A flaw in its structural integrity that gave her an idea.
Pooling chakra into her fist, she pulled her hand back and slammed it against the stone wall. Like a slate, it crumbled, causing Sakura to step back as she coughed at the dust as she looked at the gaping hole in the wall she had created. She could not stop the smirk of triumph that came to her face as she crawled through the space, not waiting for the dust to settle. The space in this turn off was the smallest she had come across, not even tall enough for her to stand. But while it put her at a hindrance, it put the creature pursuing her at an even bigger disadvantage as there would be no way it could follow her.
Sakura crawled on her hands and knees blindly as there was no fire light in this tunnel. Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to seeing in the dark since coming here, but it was still a hindrance. The only light source coming in from behind her from the hall she had just escaped. But it did not matter as she soon found herself at a dead end. And then what limited light that was trickling in behind her became even more dimmer as the creature's shadow eclipsed the end of the tunnel.
Turning around she pressed her back to the wall just in time to see the bulls face come down to look in at her. She had found that the bull was not fully blind, in fact it was not blind at all, it just had a sensitivity to light, which meant at this moment, it could see her perfectly.
It let out a deep low as a hand came up and it reached inside, its meaty fingers stretching out and coming up just shy of where she pressed against the wall and drew her legs in. She let out a relieved sigh before turning back around and facing the end. She didn't dare try repeating what she had done by punching her way through to the other side, as she was limited on space and she could not risk collapsing the tunnel. So instead her fingers sought out the edges of the panel and tried to pull the wall open.
At first it didn't so much as budge, but as Sakura slowly pooled more chakra into the tips of her fingers, it began to shift. Soon she was able to wedge more and more of her hand into the small space that formed as the stone grate moved down with a horrible shifting sound, like that of millstones grinding together. She had just managed to create a space large enough for her head to fit and see to the other side when something wrapped around her leg and began to tug her.
Sakura felt herself being drawn back, her hands being torn from the stone, causing it to slam shut again. She let out a surprised yelp, twisting around to find one of the creature's tentacles wrapped around her leg as it pulled her closer to the opening. She tried to free herself but the limited space kept her from easily maneuvering. Panicked, she began to flail and kick out in an attempt to free her leg. She pressed her palms against the walls of the tight space in an effort to stop herself but without any traction, her sweaty hands only slid against the smooth stone.
She was half way out when she heard it. An electric screech, like the chirping of a thousand birds flocking together in alarm. The creature let out a blood curdling cry, as if it was in pain, before suddenly she found herself being released and the creature withdrew its tentacle to give its attention to whatever had newly entered.
Sakura tried to see as much of what was going on with the limited view she had. She could see the creature moving and shifting to face farther down the hall it was in. Its arms bent, lowering its torso as its head moved about like a bull readying to charge. Then she heard a metallic ring, like a sword being drawn and something dark blurred past as it avoided the creatures flailing tentacles.
Someone else was here.
As the bull let out roars and grunts as it crawled about in agitation, Sakura tentatively began to crawl out towards the main hall, pausing at the edge of the hole to peer out and survey just what exactly was going on, and just who exactly had arrived. At first they were nothing but a black blur of dark clothing and demon wings dancing around the beast. But then one of the beast's tentacle legs lashed out and her savior was unable to avoid it. It hit him square in the chest, sending him careening through the air until he hit the solid wall of the hall. The sword he had been holding clattered to the ground in front of where Sakura was perched, catching her attention for a moment before her eyes flickered back up to the new arrival.
He slumped for a moment before shaking his head, wild hair sticking out in all directions before he raised his head up. Sakura sucked in a breath as she recognized Sasuke's face as he slowly rose. As he stood and his dark eyes flickered to where she was crouched at the hole to peer out. For a moment he seemed to pause to survey her and the creature took advantage of his distraction.
"Sasuke!" she warned, pointing her finger towards the creature.
Sasuke flipped backwards, avoiding the creature's strong arm. His wings spread wide as he shot up into the air before his feet touched the ground. The creature focused its attention on Sasuke as he shot down, weaving through its legs and causing the creature to twist around. Just as the creature was finally situated, Sasuke wove past it again, causing the bullish monster to let out an angry snort. Like a matador Sasuke had the bull moving one way before suddenly switching directions and luring it another. Each time the creature became more and more frenzied.
Sasuke dropped low to the ground, his arm reaching out to grab ahold of his fallen blade as he sped past. His fingers had just loosely grasped the metal only for a creature's tentacle to shoot out and send the sword clattering out of his reach.
Sasuke was forced to ground himself, his legs taking several running steps before he came to a full stop from his accelerated landing. He halted just before Sakura, his dark eyes flashing up to her with a heated look.
"Stay there!" he warned when he noticed her starting to climb out.
"But Iー"
She was cut off when the creature's arm came swinging through the air. Sakura was forced back into the tunnel to avoid the attack as the creature's arm made contact with the wall, leaving an indent in the wall and opening up the hole even more that Sakura had created. As quickly as its arm hit the wall, it was retracting its arm back, rock debris crumbling and falling from the impact as it moved its arm from the crater. From the wider crater in the wall, Sakura's eyes widened as she saw Sasuke trapped in the creature's grip, its nostrils flaring as its milky eyes glared down at its captive with rage.
Sasuke let out a grunt as the monster squeezed him in its fist, pushing the air out of him as his wings flapped wildly in an attempt to get free. The sickening sound of bones beginning to crack filled the room and Sakura moved into action.
Dropping down from the ledge she was on, she moved towards Sasuke's fallen blade. Picking it up, she clumsily gripped it, her finger readjusting as she tried to figure out the proper way to hold such a weapon. She was not familiar with seraph blades as they were reserved for arch angels and being recently promoted to such a rank, she had not reached that level of her training yet. She was familiar with small knives and kunai, but the heavy metal and length of Sasuke's blade felt foreign in her palms. However she did not let it deter her too much as Sasuke let out another grunt as the creature tightened its grip even more.
Focusing chakra into her feet, Sakura pushed off the ground and, using the wall as leverage to reach higher, she rebounded toward the monster's grasped hand. She sliced down, the sharp blade easily splitting open the back of the creature's meaty hand. Despite the lack of form in which she had wielded the weapon, the blade cut deep enough to reach bone from the sheer power in which she had put behind the attack.
The creature let out a monstrous roar of pain, its hand releasing Sasuke immediately where he fell down to the ground. He landed hard but controlled. Knees bent to absorb the shock as an arm shot out to stabilize himself as he landed. Sakura however was not so lucky.
Having flung herself into the air without any aviary control, having not summoned her wings, Sakura had no way in which she could maneuver her body to avoid the rogue tentacle that had lashed out at the last moment as she arched through the air. It hit her square in the chest, causing her to lose her grip on the sword as she was flung back. She landed with a hard bounce, rolling across the ground until she came to a stop against the wall.
Dizzy and slightly jarred, Sakura slowly tried to recover. As she managed to get to her hands and knees she felt something warm wrap around her middle and tighten. At first she thought it was the creature grabbing her with one of its tentacles, but then the familiar presence of Sasuke settled over her and she looked up to find Sasuke wrapping his arm around her, katana in hand as he lifted her up. However his attention was fully dedicated to the creature that was advancing on them.
She watched as he shut his eyes, momentarily causing her to suddenly worry. Sakura's attention shot back to the beast, its tentacles flailing as it advanced with a mighty roar. Immediately she began to squirm in Sasuke's tight grip to try and prepare herself for the attack but Sasuke's arm only tightened around her more, gluing her to his side.
She looked back up to him, to question what he was doing. But his eyes suddenly snapped open as a blooming red pattern formed in the dark pooled center of his eyes. The bull-like creature let out a roar that had Sakura looking back at it. Its head reared left and right as its eyes remained locked on Sasuke. Again it shook its head, as if trying to ward something off in its mind and Sakura felt the chakra pooling from Sasuke rise even more with intensity, his irises spinning rapidly as he gritted his teeth with concentration.
"Depart," Sasuke commanded in a firm tone. "Return to the heart of your prison."
The creature let out a long low of protest, its milky eyes seeming to land upon Sakura.
"She is under my protection," Sasuke spoke aloud, as if understanding the bulls call. "She is bound to me, and therefore also your master."
Again the monster let out a long bullish sound of protest but seemed to settle. A discontented snort of finality escaped it before breaking its gaze from Sakura as it turned. Its massive body struggled to shift around but once it had, it began to trot, then flee away into the darkness of the long corridor.
Sakura watched from her place behind Sasuke's protective stance as the bullish creature fled away. Tentacles flailing as it let out a dull sound of defeat and despondency. Soon it's thunderous retreat faded, leaving her and Sasuke's shallow breaths to fill the otherwise silent hallway.
"Wha-what was that?" Sakura finally managed to speak.
"Gyuki or more commonly referred to as the eight tailed beast," Sasuke answered, still standing with his back to her as he gazed down at the now empty corridor.
"Why is it here?"
"Indra captured the creature long ago and built this labyrinth to keep it trapped in here," Sasuke explained with his back still to her.
Sakura's thoughts strained. "Like the minotaur."
She watched as his head nodded, still not looking at her. "Yes, it is what has inspired many tales in the mortal realm about mazes, monsters, and heroism, some closer to the truth than others. Some promise gold at the center while other cultures only promise death."
"Which is it?" Sakura asked curiously. "At the center. Gold or death?"
"Neither," Sasuke answered as he slowly turned around to face her, before adding, "and both. It holds the demonic statue of the outer path. The souls of the deceased, but to some, that is a rich commodity."
He looked back down the hall. "Now this labyrinth, that was once the eight tailed beast's prison, has become its lair. It protects the statue. He keeps the souls from escaping while also protecting it from those not allowed near it." He turned his head to look at her again, this time, his expression hardening. "Which brings me to my question. What are you doing here?"
Under his watchful eye, Sakura fidgeted, looking around at the debris and rubble of the fight as if expecting to find her answer there on the ground. Her eyes settled on a leather satchel that was trapped under some rubble. She had not even noticed she had lost it and before she could even retrieve it, Sasuke was moving towards it. He pulled it easily from the piled rock and slid out the piece of paper that was sticking out.
Opening it up he found himself taking in the map he had drawn out for her. "Are you ignorant in the art of cartography or are you just stupid?" he asked bluntly, his dark eyes flickering up to look at her harshly. He raised the map and pointed at the clearly labeled path that she was not to venture.
Sakura was quiet for a long moment before she decided on an answer. "How was I supposed to know it would lead me to that...that thing?" she defended.
"The promise of death should have been enough!" he accused, pointing to his cartoonish drawing, which did not make it any easier to take his dark tone seriously.
Sakura gave him a scoffing look. "Give me some credit Sasuke. All you have done is try to dissuade me from leaving here. I thought you were just keeping me from finding my way out. I thought it would lead to the portal room or even to the surface. After tonight I know how you Uchiha work. Just like Madara, you use fear to control and manipulate people."
Sasuke stepped towards her so quickly she found herself taking a step back, only to find herself pressed against the stone of the labyrinth wall. "I am nothing like Madara," he said darkly, one arm bracing himself against the wall next to her head as he leaned over her. But as if realizing that he was contradicting himself by using intimidation, he took a step back letting his hand drop to his side. He cleared his throat and looked at her. "My only intention of limiting your wandering was for this very reason." He gestured at the destruction around them. "He lifted the map and pointed to a dark point that indicated a passageway opening. "This is the tunnel that will lead you to the portal room."
Sakura looked at him, perplexed by the sincerity in his voice and the revelation.
"Why are you offering me this?"
"Do not mistake my intention. I am not offering you any kind of freedom," he proclaimed, folding the map up carefully and sliding it back into her bag. "You could go straight there, hell I will even take you there now if you wish-" he held the bag out to her- "but you will find yourself unable to leave, not without the permission from Madara. We used to be able to pass freely with the absence of the Lord of the Underworld. But now that he has returned, we are kept in line by the Will. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but you are bound here even without my efforts."
Her head slightly bowed as she stared down at his chest, no longer able to look him in the eye. Her eyes strained to fight the burning tears of frustration. She was so tired of feeling helpless. Before Sasuke had told her this, she at least had the motive to keep trying to resolve her situation. But now that hope of even saving herself was gone...she was struck, truly and helplessly stuck.
Sasuke felt a twinge of guilt begging to build as he watched her pull her bottom lip with her teeth and fight off the surface of tears that were building in her eyes. He hadn't exactly told the full truth, there were still ways around it. One could crawl through the literal cracks of hell to the earth's surface. But it was dangerous and admittedly, that was not the full reason why he omitted this.
Deep down he just couldn't let her go. Something within him prevented even the idea to fully be considered. And it was no longer about getting revenge, the fact was, he needed her. Something within him was tied to her, and he needed to know why. So he rationalized his lies with the fact that he had been lied to and was confident he was still being lied to. It was only fair, a lie for a lie.
"I do not tell you this to be cruel," he said, trying to smooth the uneasy feeling he had within himself. "And I resent that you would compare me to my uncle. You may not have any reason to believe me, but my intentions are to keep you from harm. I did not bring you here to perish."
She looked at him, finally taking the bag that he was still holding out to her. "Then why did you bring me here?" she accused looking at him with a hard expression.
It was a question he had been asked several times over the weeks, by Sakura, Itachi, his mother, he had even found himself posing the question. And each time he had less and less to give as an answer. Looking back into her hardened eyes, he swallowed thickly.
Unable to stand the image she was portraying any more and in an effort to avoid giving an answer he did not have, he turned away. "Let's go," he said, beginning to walk down the hall as he activated his sharingan, walking slowly as he kept a searching eye out.
He focused his eyes on the edge of the wall near the floor, searching out for something as he ignored Sakura's questioning look as she caught up to walk along next to him.
"What are you─"
Sakura's question was cut short when Sasuke caught sight of what he was looking for and began walking faster towards a specific panel of wall. A small line of chakra was running from the middle of the panel and farther down the hall. Ignoring where the string was headed, Sasuke ran his eye up the glowing line until it circled around the center carving of the panel of wall. It took him a moment of studying the carving before he found the hidden tomoe and he reached out to press the rounded end of the shape. The section of stone gave way and pushed into the wall, causing a mechanical whirl before the distinct sound of locks being released filled the corridor and the wall began to open up, giving entry a square room behind it.
"How…"
Sasuke looked to Sakura as she stood next to him, her eyes taking in the newly revealed square room before looking up at him.
"How did you know this was here?"
"There is a string of chakra that leads a path through this labyrinth," Sasuke explained, taking a step into the room. "Only those who possess the sharingan can see it. Each panel has a hidden switch which unlocks it."
Sakura looked around at the walls as she followed. "But that one had the same design that most of them have, those ones don't move," she challenged, only to receive a tilted look of arrogance from Sasuke.
"Looks like it's open to me," he said with a mocking tone, causing her to frown unapologetically at him. He let out an amused scoff as he reached out and grabbed her hand. "These doors do not open and close unless the hidden switch is activated," he explained stepping farther into the room as he gently pulled her along with him.
They had only taken a few steps before the scrap and thud of the doorway closing had Sakura turning back to look at it. She then looked about the square room they stepped into, noting that all of the sections of wall panels had identical patterns in the center carving.
"So what do we do now? Press randomly at each panel until we find a switch?"
Sasuke grunted with amusement and annoyance. "You could," he drawled. "But I wouldn't suggest it unless you were either very lucky or had a death wish."
Sakura furrowed her brow. "What?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled her towards the third panel on their left. "All the panels have a switch which will either open it like the one we just stepped through, or it will set off a booby trap that most would be unable to avoid or survive," he explained. "Indra was too paranoid to allow just anyone to stumble through the maze so easily."
Coming to a stop in front of the wall, he gestured to the hidden switch, giving her an expectant look.
"Would you like the honor?"
Sakura looked at the wall, an apprehensive look taking over her face. Sasuke snorted in amusement before lifting his own hand and pressing the button. For a moment it was silent before the mechanisms activated, causing Sakura to startle at the sudden sound and flinch when the slab began to shift. But it only opened up to a long hallway in another part of the labyrinth.
Still holding her small hand in his, Sasuke entered the hall, guiding her along. Silence fell between them with the occasional sound of a door shifting and opening, some by Sasuke when he pressed a switch, others from the maze's own volition as it randomly shifted and changed around them. At one point one of the automatic doors opened right next to Sakura, causing her to jump as her heart began to thunder, expecting it to reveal the large creature again.
"Do not worry," Sasuke assured, noting the way Sakura pressed closer to his arm as her left hand crossed her body to grasp onto his wrist, her right hand still clutched in his own. "The eight tails will not be bothering us now that it knows who its master is."
He came to a stop and pressed another switch to open a door. And like the many others they had already passed through, it clicked and whirled before opening up for them. As they stepped through, Sakura was greeted with a cool breeze that swept past them into the warmer halls of the labyrinth. As they stepped through the doorway, she found herself standing at the steps of what she recognized as the entrance. She looked up at the high ceiling of the cavern, suddenly realizing just how stuffy and claustrophobic the maze had been.
As Sasuke led her down the steps, she looked back at the entrance. The door stayed open this time, looking deceivingly inviting to anyone who didn't know better. She looked up to Sasuke to find him watching her. When he noticed he had been caught, he removed his gaze and began to walk on, leading her into the narrow crack in the stone that brought her here. Soon the darkness that she had once walked through before took over. But despite the darkness, Sasuke seemed to easily navigate them through it without the need to reach out and follow the wall.
"If the maze is constantly changing, how do you remember which door is safe and which door is a trap?" Sakura queried as they walked along in the dark.
"There is a chakra string that runs through the labyrinth, guiding a way through it and linking the doors," Sasuke explained as they emerged from the narrow hall into the larger rounded cavern.
They crossed the stone floor, crossing over a gold design that was inlaid into the center of the black basalt floor. Sakura gazed down at the design as they passed over it. It formed an uchiwa fan that looked similar to the Uchiha clan's with the exception of an extra symbol etched into the smooth gold.
"So long as that string is followed," Sasuke continued, drawing Sakura's attention back to him as he continued to lead her. "No harm will befall the follower nor will they get lost. It leads to the center and was Indra's way to see to it that only an Uchiha could remain leader, as only the sharingan can see it."
It was quiet for a moment and Sasuke peeked to the side to see Sakura with a thoughtful face. Suddenly her attention snapped up to him, her movement causing her hand to slightly slip from his and his muscles reacted of their own accord, grasping onto her hand to keep her from slipping all the way free. If Sakura noticed this, she made no indication of being aware of it.
Instead she spoke.
"It's like Ariadne's twine," she commented.
"Hn?"
"Princess Ariadne," Sakura specified. "She was the daughter of king Minos, the one who the Greeks say built the labyrinth to trap the minotaur. It was said that there was a conflict and the result was that every decade there was to be a sacrifice. Once a year one of the sacrifices was a son of another king named Theseus, who had volunteered, and with whom Ariadne fell in love with from the moment she first saw him.
"Not wanting him to die, she provided him with a sword and a ball of string, so that he might kill the minotaur and then find his way back out of the labyrinth who had followed the string. When he came out triumphant they ran away together as she betrayed her father and country by helping him."
As she spoke, Sakura failed to notice the change in Sasuke's posture. No longer relaxed, his body had become slightly stiff and his steps became rigid. He starred ahead, his face pulled tightly as he blankly stared ahead.
Sakura let out a small laugh. "Since Indra created that labyrinth and captured the eight tails it's like he is king Minos and the chakra strings are like Aradne's string, guiding you through the maze. Although I am not sure who the two lovers would be in this comparison. I guess it's like you said, some myths and legends are so close to the truth yet still far away."
She looked up at Sasuke expectantly, only to notice his stiff posture and changed demeanor. As she noticed his changed aura, Sakura's soft smile faltered.
"Sasuke? Is everything alright?"
He did not even look at her, only loosened his grip on her hand until her fingers slipped free of him as he shoved his hands into his pocket. Her own hand dropped loosely down to her side, the warmth of his calloused skin becoming lost to the cooler air of the cavern. Sakura frowned down at her empty hand, her footsteps slowing as she lagged behind.
"Hurry up," Sasuke said, not looking back as he continued walking on, not even slowing down.
Sakura increased her steps but hung back, looking at Sasuke's back as she questioned herself. Did she say something wrong?
I had to cut this chapter in half so sorry for the abrupt ending. Thank you all for being so patient, can't believe this story will be two years old already this month. Sasuke is getting super close to knowing all the truth which will happen in the next two chapters. Next chapter we will be having more sasusaku as they have a talk, we will also get a glimpse of what's going on in the heavens and even some Ancient Greece time line! legasset drew a gorgeous picture of Sakura with this story in mind and it just made me miss that timeline so much it inspired me to bring that timeline back earlier than planned. You should all find her on tumblr because her work is superb, absolutely gorgeous and I still can't get over the fact that something of mine inspired her!
As always take care and wish you well in the year to come! Thank you everyone
