A/N: Yeah...sorry it took so long...it probably will happen again. In my defense, I've been working on two original novels, this, and my other naruto fanfic, plus working and dealing with a very strange moving situation. It's been a lot. But anyways, I haven't forgotten about this fic nor will I. I have plans for it and I'm not abandoning it. So thank you for your patience.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. TW for gun violence.
So very quickly, everything went to complete shit. You know what they say about best made plans…?
Sakura leaned against the back of the police-transport-van-turned-medical-center, positioned not far from the east exit they'd be bringing out the rescued captives from. She'd triple checked all the equipment—CPR masks, compression bandages, topical antibacterial ointments, splints, pulse-oximeter, blankets, blood pressure monitors…everything she would need to look after them until they got the victims to the hospital. Her hand rested on the gun holstered at her side…she'd taken TenTen up on her weapons handling refresher and had worked with her at the shooting range everyday leading up til now, and while she was no where near as deadly as TenTen, the markswoman had pronounced her as more than ready. It was reelected in the paper targets she shot as well, the bullet holes clustered fairly close together. It made Sakura uncomfortable though. She'd never liked using guns and the thought of killing someone with one, even as self defense, didn't sit well with her. Especially now that she'd taken an oath as a doctor to save lives. But what if killing, say, Orochimaru, saved the lives of not just herself but many others…was it alright, then? All she ever wanted was to help others, and restore and protect their dignity. Orochimaru was the opposite. He used people like disposable tools for his own gain, stripped them of their dignity and literal humanity, turning them into mutated monsters. And based off his criminal profile, there was no reforming him…killing him would put an end to it all. So did that justify it? Could she do it if it came down to it?
Sakura didn't get the time to ponder all the moral implications of it and come up with an answer. Gunfire rang throughout the warehouse. Her headset buzzed to life, as Ino's panicked voice sounded in her ear.
"Kiba's been shot! Little east from the center of the warehouse! Isle 4G!"
"On my way!" Sakura didn't hesitate. Briefly grabbing at the strap of her med-pack to make sure she had it, she ran into the warehouse, pulling out her gun without a second thought. The 13x13 grid layout of the warehouse made it easy to navigate, with a large clear square open in the center, and catwalks running above. Tsunade's training kicked in, her senses on high alert scanning for any inch of danger. She couldn't get hit, or there'd be no one to look after the team.
Carefully ducking and weaving behind isles, Sakura ignored the gunfire and shouting ringing around her and Shikamaru's voice shouting orders over headset to others, only stopping once she reached Kiba. Akamaru was sitting next to him, letting out low whines and nuzzling him lightly, while Shino knelt next on his other side, gun out, peeking around the isle to track the enemy.
"Don't worry, boy. ..If I die here…Hana-neechan will take…good care of you."
"Shut up Kiba. It's because you're going to get out of here and look after Akamaru yourself." Shino growled.
"No one's dying on my watch." Sakura affirmed, kneeling in front of Kiba and surprising him and Shino both.
"Regret…not getting that drink…with me when you…had the chance?" Kiba breathed out, his face sweaty, wincing in pain.
"I regret nothing, cause I'll have other chances." Sakura said, her voice firm and confident with a hint of levity. Bedside manner was important for the patient's survival whether it be in the field or the hospital. The mind was a powerful thing, and the body could save itself from certain death so long as it believed it'd be ok in the end. She examined his shoulder wound carefully, studying the steady blood flow that leaked from the bullet hole. Her mind superimposed a map of the bodies muscular and circulatory systems, and breathed an internal sigh of relief. "The bullet missed your subclavian artery by centimeters. I need to take the bullet out now. The smallest movement could cause it to shift and then Hana really would have to be the one looking after Akamaru. But you'll be completely fine once it's out." She studied her supplies…surgery in these conditions was less than ideal, but this wasn't something complex, and there was higher risk in leaving it in at the moment. "I'm gonna give you a localized anesthetic. It's not going to be enough, but I can't risk something that'll completely knock you out under these circumstances. It's going to suck, but I need you to keep as still as possible. I'll be as quick about this as I can safely be."
"Whatever you say Doc…just…make sure I live…to have that drink…"
"You know, Kiba…there's this woman who visits the hospital once a month to help her grandma with her arthritis treatments. Tamaki. She's beautiful, only a few years younger than us, and a huge animal lover…I think you'd really like her. Want me to set you up?" She chatted calmly, while cleaning his arm with an alcohol swab and injecting the anesthetic. She sounded calm and conversational but internally she was hyper aware of the ceaseless gunfire and shouting.
"Animal loving…hot chick?…hell yeah…" Kiba breathed.
"Great, I'll set it up." So what if she neglected to mention that the animals that Tamaki happened to love were cats? Sakura slipped on a pair of glasses with magnifying lenses, switched on a flashlight and held it between her teeth, positioning it to give her enough light to work with. The bullet wasn't too deep in. She could see it, and it hadn't splintered too much either, which was good. She'd be able to get it out fairly easily. "Ok, I'm starting now." She told him after cleaning the wound and her tools with alcohol. She had to be fast about this. She'd been ignoring the shouts over the in-ear and no one had specifically called for her yet, but she had no doubt there were other injuries that needed attending. She carefully and quickly extracted the bullet, Kiba giving a loud shout of pain.
"There, the worst of it's over." Sakura soothed, yet again cleaning the wound and applying a compression bandage. She tied a yellow ribbon on his wrist and wrote out the details of the injury, procedure done, anesthetic given, and time on his arm, for later clarity when they got him to a hospital.
With that taken care of and no new calls for her over headset, she immediately turned to Shino for answers.
"What happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure…it's because I was focused on staying hidden with the rescue party…the captives were being kept closer to the Akatsuki than we thought."
"So where are they now?"
"I'm not sure. We got separated when Kiba got shot, but last I saw, Hinata and Choji were with them."
"I'm going to try and find them. Someone may have gotten hurt in the crossfire. Wait with him until some of the dust settles and then get him medical attention ASAP. He was shot on his left side, so if you're helping him to walk, make sure it's from his right."
Shino gave a solemn nod. "Be careful, Sakura."
Sakura nodded back, and started making her way back towards the east exit where Squad A was supposed to bring the trafficking victims, but at isle 2H a call for her in her in-ear had her diverting course fast.
"Sakura, north side, isle 8L. Looks bad." Came Shikamaru's voice, which sounded urgent but straining to seem calm. He was probably trying his best to save the disaster that had become this opp.
"On it." Sakura broke into a run, doing her best to navigate along the periphery, away from the sounds of heavy gunfire and fighting coming from the center of the warehouse. When she reached 8L, she had to force oxygen into her lungs. Shikamaru hadn't been kidding when he said it looked bad…Neji was lying in a pool of blood. Sakura was immediate at his side and working fast.
"Neji, can you hear me." She saw his pale eyes flutter open, gazing at her unfocused.
"Sa…"
She examined the wound curiously…it had come from a knife, stabbed into his side not covered by the bullet-proof vest he wore. The real problem was that the knife had been moved up in a long slash while still inside his body, and pulled out. There was definitely damage to both the kidney and liver.
"Shikamaru, he needs to get to the hospital immediately, he needs surgery and depending on how bad it is, the Hyuga's should be notified that he might need a kidney transplant."
"An ambulance is on its way but it's still 30 minutes away and we technically can't let it in until the locations secure. How long does he have?"
"There's likely damage to some internal organs—if that was the only problem, he'd have at least two days to a week, but it's the blood loss that's really concerning. If he doesn't get more blood soon he's going to go into class 1 hemorrhagic shock. I give it twenty minutes left on its own. I'll try and buy you some time, I might be able to push it to thirty, but not much more than that."
"I'm on it. Do what you can." Shikamaru's voice cut out, probably to attend to some other emergency—hopefully that of the ambulance.
Sakura quickly cleaned and applied pressure to the wound on his side while checking his police issued dog tags.
"That's some good news…you're lucky day, Neji. We're both type O." She remembered from an incident last year, when he'd landed in the hospital, they were both O negative. Sakura thought through her options quickly. She had the tools necessary in her med-pack, but with the wound still open and bleeding she wasn't sure how much time it would realistically by him…plus the less than ideal setting.
"Alright. Neji. You probably can't follow what I'm saying right now, but I'm going to give you four stitches. This isn't to heal the wound, you're going to need surgery for that. It's to slow the bleeding. Then I'm going to give you a blood transfusion. It should hopefully be enough to get you safely to a hospital."
She set to work, giving him four carefully spaced stitches, and bandaging it with as much pressure as she could. Then she got to work setting up the transfusion. She carefully gave herself the IV, and began squeezing her hand into a fist repeatedly to pump the blood faster.
Something heavy and cold touched the back of her head and she stiffened. She'd spent enough time with TenTen at the shooting range to recognize the clicking sound of a gun cocking.
Shit. She'd been so focused on saving Neji, she'd let someone sneak up on her…and she couldn't defend herself at the moment. Not with the transfusion in process. Her mind reeled, trying to come up with her next steps. She couldn't see who was threatening her, since her back was turned, and she didn't want to make any movements that would cause the person to pull the trigger.
"I'm guessing you're not Akatsuki or you would have pulled the trigger already, since you have no reason to keep me alive. That means you are or you're with Orochimaru…I'll go with you. Just let me save him first. Please." A part of her doubted it would do any good. This person—she doubted it was Orochimaru himself—clearly had no respect for human life, or they wouldn't have gone so far working with that maniac. But for some reason, they didn't make a move, only continuing to hold the gun threateningly against the back of her head.
It felt like all she could hear was her own heart hammering. The person behind her never said a thing but the pressure of the gun never left. They sat in silence until she could hear faint sirens in the distance…the ambulance was almost there.
"We're leaning. Now." The raspy voice made Sakura jump. From the sound of it, it came slightly from her left and a bit back, implying that it did not belong to the person holding her at gun point. Was it Orochimaru then? She didn't get time to wonder. A burst of pain erupted in her head and the world went dark.
Sakura awoke to a bright light swimming painfully over her. Her head pounded and she felt dizzy and nauseous, but she distinctly remembered the events leading up to that point and it helped to clear some of her brain fog. She was very likely in Orochimaru's lab. She wasn't safe, and she needed to get out of here.
With that awareness, she began processing more of her surroundings. She was lying on a cold metal table. Her wrists and ankles were manacled down. There was an IV mark in her skin, but she knew that was from the transfusion. She saw IV bags near the table, but none had been injected into her yet. And none would be if she had any say in the matter. She didn't trust a single thing that jackass might try to put in her. She glanced about the ceiling, but didn't see anything that stuck out as a security camera. With any luck, they wouldn't know she was awake. She did see several types of medical laboratory research equipment lining the walls, and various other tables nearby, including CRSPR. It looked to be an operating room turned laboratory plus computers. So this was where the monsters were made…and there was no way in hell she'd let herself become one of them.
Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath thinking back on her training with Tsunade.
"Shishou? What are we doing at a gym?" Not just any gym either…this was the one built into the basement of the Prime Minister's house. Tsunade's personal gym.
"Your medical studies are going well."
"Yes, thanks to you."
"That's right. You're my pupil. And I'm more than just the head of the hospital, Sakura. I'm also the chief of police and the prime minister of Konoha. And you are more than just a doctor in training. You're also a former homicide detective. That makes you uniquely qualified to fill multiple roles as well."
"You mean…like as a medical examiner?"
Tsunade regarded the girl sternly. "You know that our police also function as our military."
"Of course…" Sakura's eyes widened as she caught where Tsunade was leading her. "Field medicine." Of course that's what she was talking about! Things had been much worse in Konoha when Tsunade was growing up—she'd pioneered the practice of field medicine.
The blonde woman nodded. "We have very few field medics…the ones we have aren't as skilled as they should be for the important roles that they play. At the time, we were too desperate to fill ranks that the training given was severally lacking. Their medical skills only just surpass the level of basic first aid, and their combat skills are mediocre at best. If it had been up to me at the time, I wouldn't have signed off on any of them. But those were desperate years back then and there wasn't time to train them well." Tsunade closed her eyes, shaking her head a little. She hated thinking about the past…the past where she lost everything. Part of what made Naruto so magnetizing was how he functioned so strongly in the present but strove boldly and loudly for the future. "In these times of relative peace, the need for field medics seemed to dissipate and the training was stopped. But that's just because the senators are a bunch of idiots who don't know what it's like actually serving on the force. External war or not, there's plenty of dangerous situations the police land themselves in, and casualties that could be avoided if only there were skilled field medics available."
"And…you think…I can really do that? I don't know, shishou…I was useless when I was on the force. That's why I left…"
"I trained Shizune when I was too broken to think about the war. But I'm the Prime Minister of Konoha now, and it's my responsibility to do what's best for Konoha. The senators won't give me the funding to set up an actual training program yet. But no other student of mine is going to train under me and not be taught the art of field medicine." The woman considered her pink haired apprentices unsure expression and shifting weight. Whoever shot this young woman's confidence so completely, she had more than a few strong words for them—Sakura was brilliant. The rate she picked up material, how quickly she was learning such a complex topic as the human body…And Sakura was so quick and agile too. Tsunade was convinced the girl was more than capable of anything she might wish to attempt, so who had so thoroughly convinced her otherwise? "You're going to do this, and do it well. I wouldn't be trying to teach you if I didn't believe you could handle it."
Sakura's fists tightened, the light in her eyes shifting. "Alright, M'Lady. I'll do it. Please teach me well." She bowed.
"Then let's get started. First you need to know my four cardinal rules of field medicine." Tsunade held up four fingers, ticking them off as she went. "1. No combat/field medic shall ever stop treatment until the lives of their patient comes to an end. 2. No combat/field medic shall ever stand on the front lines or initiate combat. 3. Combat/field medics must avoid fights and injury until they are the last of their platoon. 4. Only those who have mastered Lady Tsunade's Combat training and evasion will be given clearance to break the first three rules in order to protect themselves or their patients from harm. You got all that?"
Sakura gave a firm nod.
"Good. Now. Lesson one: Combat training. Just because you're not to initiate combat doesn't mean you don't have to learn to defend yourself on the field. Normally, I'd start with evasion, but with all the gymnastics training and academy self defense lessons, I think you'll pick that up fairly quickly."
"So we're starting with what's gonna be harder first."
Tsunade nodded in affirmation. "Watch closely."
Sakura's eyes widened as her teacher whirled around, her fist slamming and completely shattering the sand bag behind her. With one hit. One. Friggin. Hit. She hadn't even seen Lee or Gai pull something like that off!
"H-How did you…" Could she really learn how to do that?
"I'm sure you know about adrenaline responses."
"Adrenaline prepares and triggers our body to either fight or flee from a threat. It slows down all systems deemed unnecessary to the situation to divert more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the muscles, temporarily boosting the body's strength."
"Correct. Women in particular have an even stronger version of this response when a child, or someone they care for is threatened. 'Mama Bear Strength,' it's frequently called. This gives women the strength to flip cars to save the child trapped under it, and what have you. Unfortunately it doesn't kick in as much when their own life is in danger. What I just did has a little to do with conditioning and a lot to do with targeted adrenaline response."
"So…shattering that sand bag…that was just a mind trick?" Sakura gasped in disbelief…what a terrifying skill.
"Shattering it brought my base level strength into play. But breaking it…that's a mind trick mixed with a breathing technique."
Sakura's mouth felt dry. "How…?"
"The key is to tap into your Mama Bear Strength." Sakura opened her mouth to refute, but Tsunade beat her to it. "Obviously, I don't have a child, and there's no child or anyone else I care about in danger here and now. That's why it's a trick. You need to trick your mind and body into believing that who or whatever is in front of you is posing a direct threat to someone you deeply care about. That person is right behind whatever obstacle, and you need to break through it to save them. You need to believe it so deeply that for that one second it's true, and you need to stop believing it the second you land the hit."
"Because that strong an adrenaline surge is dangerous for extended periods of time?"
"That. And also because of the emotional trauma you feel when you break through that obstacle and the person you're trying to save isn't there…" Tsuande's voice grew sad. She was definitely speaking from experience.
"So…you want me to trick my body into having a very minor one to three second delusion?" Sakura confirmed unsurely. This sounded dangerous.
"I never said it was easy…not everyone can do this."
"But I can?"
"Yes you can. Because you have people you'd desperately try to save."
It used to be Naruto and Sasuke her mind called up. Were they safe? Had they survived the shoot out? She'd been so busy focusing on the rescue, she hadn't let herself get distracted by that worry—it had been there, but there was no time to dwell on it. But she was worried about Neji too. It hadn't been her fault, but she'd broken rule no. 1. She'd been forced to stop treatment prior to Neji's life ending. There'd still been a chance for him, but she'd been dragged away before she could ensure that chance was secured. There'd been sirens in the distance, so she could only hope that they'd made it in time. But it was yet another uncertainty. He'd been her patient, damnit! And Ageha…this bastard kept taking her patients away from her, or her away from them before she could make sure they were ok, and god did it piss her off. She was furious. And her fury only helped to clear her head even more.
Sakura opened her eyes, staring up at the florescent lights, and glanced down at her manacled hands. She couldn't pull her hands through them, but they weren't completely tight against her wrists. She could raise her arm maybe three centimeters off the table. But that was all she would need.
She closed her eyes again, imagining the table she was on had a cage beneath it holding and injured Sasuke and Naruto, a bleeding out Neji, and a barely alive Ageha. She drew up their faces so vividly, hearing their voices: Ageha's whimpers of pain, Neji's grunts and faint murmuring of TenTen's name, and Naruto and Sasuke arguing with each other, trying to escape, shouting for help, and trying to keep the other two alive despite their own injuries.
Her eyes flew open, still hearing their calls in her mind. She had to get to them! They needed her! She had to save them no matter what!
Sakura raised her arms the three centimeters she had, breathed into her fisted hands, and slammed them down on the table. Once…twice…it took seven times, but her tiny hands and wrists had dented the metal enough to wiggle her hands through.
She cut the vivid delusion off, her injured teammates and dying patients fading away as she sat up, pulled a bobby pin from her hair and picked the lock on her ankle manacles, freeing her legs from the table.
"Ok…now the hard part…how the fuck do I get out of here?" She'd been unconscious prior to arrival so she had no concept of how far out of Konoha she was or which direction. She hoped Sai planted a tracker on their vehicle but she didn't know if they'd known the accomplice was with him. Had they come together or separate? The fact that it was the accomplice that had gotten to her so quickly meant that the person hadn't been in the center of the warehouse making the exchange, and likely wasn't involved in the shoot out. Had they been there to ambush them—implying that they'd somehow known about the operation—or had they been there as back up for Orochimaru?
Sakura shook her head and looked over herself. Her gun was gone, as was her med-kit. Resources available: her own strength—not at its peak thanks to her post transfusion exhaustion and blunt force concussion, some bobby pins, her shoe laces, her belt, her brain. Alright, she'd just have to think her way out.
Sakura slid off the table and over to the computers, where she was met with her first lucky break. They weren't logged out, so she had full access.
"Alright…gather as much on their psycho projects as possible and send it to the KPD…that'll give them more information and evidence and hopefully they'll be able to track the IP address…" The last part seemed like a long shot. There was probably some sort of VPN or protection in place, but she wasn't skilled enough on computers to do much more than pull up the private sever Karin was operating on, copy and send files, and cover her tracks. And she doubted she'd have enough time to figure out anything more complicated. She watched the loading bar creep towards full, chewing on her lip with anxiety as she waited for the file to send. If they came back before the file sent…none of it would matter…She needed a plan, damnit!
Sakura pushed away from the computer and began looking around the lab, cataloguing what was there and available. she paused when she found a medical grade fridge filled with small bottles of liquid. She scanned through a few until she found what she was looking for.
"For your experiments, you'd need to put people to sleep…" She muttered, pulling out a bottle of propofol. She quickly prepped and capped two syringes with the knock out drug, hoping her dosing would buy her enough time to get herself out without killing them…it was a bit hard to know and anesthesiology had never been a main focus of hers, but she had bigger concerns at the moment.
There were voices coming from down the hall, both male. Sakura let out a silent curse, swiftly making her way back to the computer to minimize the open loading window. She hoped it would be enough for them not to catch on.
She climbed back onto the table closing the manacles over her ankles, but not locking them, and sliding her hands back into the indents, hiding the damage perfectly, and feeling a touch more secure knowing she had two syringes of knock out drugs up her sleeves. Despite her hammering heart and hyperawareness, she did her best to steady her breathing and catch what the voices were saying.
"—her. Get her prepped. I'll be in after I finish going over my losses today's little gift cost me." That was the raspy voice from before she'd been knocked out…was it Orochimaru? If it was, he sounded about as snake like and sadistic as she imagined he might.
Sakura heard footsteps walking away, and then the door opening. She didn't turn her head as footsteps neared the table, her eyes trained on the florescent light above her.
"You're awake. That was faster than I thought, Sakura-san."
"You." Sakura spat, glaring fiercely at Kabuto as he came into her view. She couldn't exactly say she was surprised—Sasuke had already warned her about him. But she hated it, because that meant the entire time he was "treating" patients, he hadn't cared a single bit. "How dare you! Turning Ageha-chan into your sick little experiment! You should never have been allowed to look after patients!"
"I warned you that caring too much would get you hurt." Kabuto answered, pushing his glasses higher up his nose and causing the glare to block his eyes.
"So…let me guess. You're a senior staff member in the hospital and work closely with the research departments. You could put in equipment orders under Konoha University Hospital's name…I never thought to question the additional CRSPR in the order."
Kabuto said nothing, merely cocking his head as he continued to regard her.
"You ran more extra blood tests on Ageha than necessary. She thought it was too much because it was—you were testing for whatever you wanted to see, not anything to do with her illness. You had full access to the security room and knew the placement for the Byakugan cameras."
"You really are brilliant, Sakura-san." Kabuto answered, genuine admiration coloring his tone.
"Still…you shouldn't have been able to hack the Byakugan from the hospital system. You'd need to be on their main campus to manage that…"
"Yes, well…courting a custodial staff member really will get you far." Kabuto shrugged.
So that was how he did it. He hadn't targeted a main Hyuga employee, he'd gone for the cleaning crew. The ones who could get him in anywhere in the building but wouldn't be given a second thought should an investigation be conducted because their inability to operate the systems. Incredibly manipulative…and smart.
"You disgusting bastard!" She growled. She couldn't attack. Not yet, it wasn't the right time yet…she had to time this perfectly or she might blow her chance. Though the idea was appealing. Kabuto, a man she used to consider her senpai, a colleague, maybe even a friend, had been working with a murdering mad scientist and reporting on her to him. She wanted to punch the glasses right off his face. But…he'd let her save Neji. What did that mean? Why'd he do that?
"You do actually care, don't you? You…You let me save Neji. Why do that if…?"
"I wouldn't get too hopeful about me, Sakura-san. I couldn't have cared less about Hyuga Neji's life. I just felt I owed it to you. I respect your commitment to your patients, and as that was the last patient you'd ever have, and saving him was your last request, it was only fair to let you try. It really is fascinating to see how far you go for your patients…making yourself an emergency contact, executing a blood transfusion in that situation with yourself as the donor…truly it's a marvel that someone so intelligent could be so stupid and self damaging."
Kabuto moved about the lab, going to the fridge and pulling out a chemical Sakura knew was meant for her—and also knew she wanted absolutely no where near her. Her jaw tightened. His answer squashed any hope she had for trying to appeal to some moral part of his soul. He'd let her save Neji out of morbid fascination, not a conscience.
"Why me? Why the fuck do you want me?"
"Well, I respect your intelligence Sakura-san. And you're beautiful. But it's not actually me who wants you."
God she wanted to kill him. On top of being a completely heartless psycho, he was one of those annoying assholes who'd point out stupid technicalities like midnight being "tomorrow." Ugh he had to be the worst as well as being a fucking scumbag. Just her luck.
"Fine, asshole, what does Orochimaru want with me?" She snapped.
"Well maybe I can answer that, dear Sakura-chan."
Sakura stiffened. She'd been so seethingly mad at Kabuto that she hadn't heard Orochimaru come in. His slithery voice and overfamiliarity made her skin crawl.
"Ew…" Maybe that was not the brightest thing she could have said in that moment, but it was what slipped out.
Orochimaru's smirk grew wider, but he continued as if she'd never spoken.
"Tell me, Sakura-chan. Have you heard of the theory of malleable genetics?"
Sakura opened her mouth to respond but he continued on before she could make a sound.
"Of course you haven't. It's a theory I came up with myself fairly recently. I posit that those whose DNA underwent De novo or mosaic variations are able to better tolerate changes to their genome. In other words, their genetic structure is more suited for mutations."
"Their genetic structure is more adaptable." Sakura murmured, pieces beginning to slide into place. No wonder Ageha may have been of actual interest to him…her illness was usually the result of a de novo variation. There was merit to the reasoning—it was insane, but not without merit. But then what did he want with her?
"So why…?" Sakura trailed off her eyes widening.
"Sakura-san, may I ask you something?" Kabuto's eyes lingered on the silky pink strands of her hair.
"Sure! Shoot."
"Your hair…You dye it, right?"
"Nah, it's natural. Weird color right?"
"Certainly unusual." He agreed with interest. "How…?"
"It was some strange mutation. My dad's got red hair and my mom's blond. Both are recessive traits and when they got paired, since there was no dominant allele, there was no way for the trait to express itself so it mutated. Pink hair."
"Fascinating. You're a mutant."
Sakura laughed. "Technically yes, but without the cool superhero powers. Anyway I need to grab some coffee. Thanks again for looking after everyone!"
Sakura blinked a few times. The second body had been found before that interaction—the one Sasuke thought was a message or threat to her. But Kabuto had worked with her for at least a full year. He would have had the chance to pick up on the fact that her hair never faded, her roots never grew out a different color, and there'd never been the pervasive smell of hair dye around her. Hell, he may have even had a chance to pick up and analyze a strand of her hair at some point—maybe post surgery when she let her hair out of its pony tail. He'd probably just asked to confirm what he already knew.
"So…you think I'm genetically malleable because of my hair." She sighed. She had a love hate relationship with her hair color growing up. She thought it was pretty and unique, but for a long time, it was one of many sources of bullying, because it stood out and was different. When she started the police academy, and even now, many underestimated her and didn't take her seriously because of her petal pink hair. But at no point had she ever thought of her hair color would be a threat to her safety. What a crazy, fucked up world…
"So what? Am I your final test?" She growled.
Orochimaru chuckled. "You? Hardly. I want the body that bears my genetic code to be much stronger. Capable or rare feats…say, your precious Sasuke-kun who you've been spending so much time with."
For one second, fear rose up in her stronger than her rage, making her freeze. Her voice quaking for the first time. "S-Sasuke-kun?" No way in hell would she let him anywhere near Sasuke! She recovered herself, her rage coming back in full force. "What the hell do you want with him? He's not the product of a de novo variation."
"No, but he comes from a line of evolved mutations. A few more test subjects will prove it, but his body and DNA should be strong and malleable enough to withstand the mutation. You're just a necessary precursor experiment, Sakura-chan. Not the one that will make history, but a necessary first step."
"The fuck I am!" She growled, her fists tightening…not yet. She couldn't attack yet…Two on one on their turf were not odds she wanted to gamble with.
"It is a pity though, wasting a body like yours." Orochimaru smirked, fingering a lock of her hair, his eyes tracing her figure lustfully. She wanted to puke on him, see how sexy he'd find that!
He leaned in uncomfortably close, his lips grazing her ear. "All the things I would do to you…" He whispered sinfully, causing goosebumps of revulsion to explode down her arms. He pulled away, smirking down at her. "But sacrifices must be made for the sake of progress."
"Like you know the first thing about sacrifice." She hissed, glaring up at him. Her heart was pounding wildly, as her mind went into overdrive to come up with something.
"Fiesty." Orochimaru turned to Kabuto. "Call me when she's ready and we'll move on to phase two."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto agreed, bowing politely.
Orochimaru swept out of the lab as Kabuto began preparing chemicals again.
Now was her chance, Orochimaru wasn't planning on returning to the lab without some sort of signal, so it was one on one now. She slipped the syringe out of her sleeve, her muscles tensing in preparation.
"I am sorry about this, Sakura-san."
"No you're not, or you wouldn't do it." She bit back, watching as he withdrew as he drew near to give her an IV.
"I wasn't lying about respecting you. I just owe Orochimaru-sama more."
Owed him more? Did that mean Kabuto was the same as Karin? A brain washed tool who thought Orochimaru was their savior? Morally she knew she should probably try and unpack that with him. But not now. Not when he was posing a direct threat to her humanity and life. Not when he's sold her out to Orochimaru and passed him information about her. No. Someone else could take the role of therapist. This time around, she was prioritizing herself.
Kabuto leaned in to give her the IV, and she took her opening. Striking fast, she pulled her hand from the ruined manacle and jabbed him with the propofol. Kabuto only had time to blink in surprise before slumping forward on to the table. Sakura freed the rest of her limbs from the table and sat quietly, listening for any sign of alarm coming from outside the lab doors. There was none.
Letting out a relieved breath, she slid off the table and aback to the computer to check on the files progress. It had sent. Hopefully the KPD would be able to trace it back to here—Shino was good at that sort of thing. She wished she was better with computers so she could do a bit more in this situation but she'd spent so much time on her medical training that aside from what was necessary for the hospital, she hadn't had time to master computers.
Alright…so if she was going to get out of here, she'd need a weapon. She quickly went back to the cabinet to fill up more syringes with propofol, before glancing back at what Kabuto had wanted to inject her with. She should grab as many samples as possible…maybe she'd be able to reverse engineer a cure. Surely there were other test subjects that had been turned into monsters, or were waiting to be…
Sakura paused in her gathering. She completely forgot about the other victims. He must have some here too…she couldn't just leave them there…If she got away before the KPD got here, and Orochimaru found out, he might move everyone…or worse, kill them all, to ensure his own escape.
"Alright, find a building plan, try and find hostages, get everyone out…I…I can do that…" She had never believed anything less, but she didn't exactly have a lot of options.
He's got nothing on you.
You're more capable than you realize, Sakura…
She latched onto Sasuke's words, recalling them as vividly as if he were standing there next to her, speaking them right there. She had to get out of here. She couldn't let something happen to her and force Sasuke to go through the loss of someone he cared about again.
Sakura crept along the wall down the hallway, heart hammering and stomach clogging her throat. She was terrified. Never once in her time on the force had she been in such a dangerous situation. It seemed like it was a multi-level facility, with a layout similar to a hospital—maybe an asylum. The date on the computer had read one day after the operation, and given the time, it hadn't even been a full 24 hours. They wouldn't have been able to cross Fire Country boarders in such a short period of time, so she was still within Konoha's reach and jurisdiction. There were a few abandoned towns near spread across the country, some of which had abandoned hospitals, so it'd make sense. And it meant she was lucky—aside from being very familiar with Fire Country hospitals, all Fire Country buildings required a building map to be placed in the stair well of each floor.
She snuck quietly into the stairwell, closing the door as silently as possible, and checking the building layout. If she were trying to keep people locked up where would she put them?…The psych ward…but this hospital didn't seem to have one, so then…maybe the ICU? She'd just come out of OR 4, so according to the map, the ICU was up two levels. The closest exit from there was down a level at the opposite end of the hall. But Orochimaru had goons patrolling. She'd nearly been caught by one. Leading a mass exodus right out the front door wouldn't be easy…plus Karin mentioned some of the test subjects volunteered for this…not everyone would want to leave. Depending on what type of captive they were, they might make it harder for her and any others to get out safely.
That wasn't a reason not to try though…she wouldn't forgive herself if she just turned her back on them. Those people at the very least had the right to choose. Not all of them would be here voluntarily. Sakura refocused on the floor plans. It was safe to assume the front door was a no go, and likely the back and side doors as well. But what about the roof? The building was three stories with two sub levels…a three story drop may kill them, but maybe there was a way to climb down—a fire escape or maintenance stair case. All buildings in Fire Country built post the Third World War were required to have fire escapes on all the roofs. Unfortunately, her luck ran out, because no where on the building map did it say when the building was built.
Shit. To gamble or not to gamble? She heard what sounded like one of the stairway doors on a lower level being pushed open. Gambling it was. She didn't have time to wait around weighing her options. She took off, running as silently as she could up the stairs to the ICU.
That's where problem two hit her in the face. Of course he wouldn't have left potential test subjects unguarded. One goon was already standing at attention right in front of the stairwell door. She had to be as fast and quiet about this as possible.
Sakura slammed the door open into the unsuspecting guard as hard as she could.
The guard staggered forward. "What the fu—" but Sakura injected him with one of her propofol syringes before he could finish the sentence, and the man collapsed.
She knelt next to him, taking his leg pouch and clipping it to her belt, so she didn't have to keep carrying the syringes in her sleeves. She tucked the gun he was carrying into the back of her pants, and secured the knife he had on him at her waist. But before she could do anything more, the guard's walkie talkie clicked on.
"Test subject 046B21 has escaped!Apprehend but do not kill! Orochimaru-sama wants her alive! Repeat, Orochimaru-sama wants her alive!"
It took her a second to process who 046B21 was, and then it hit her.
"They already gave me a fucking number instead of a name!" In her indignance, she completely forgot that she was supposed to be sneaking around at the moment.
"What the fuck was that?!"
"Was that her?"
She heard the voices coming from down the hall and around the corner. Oops. Fine. Let them come, she'd just take 'em out all at once!
Two guards rounded the corner, coming to a stop when they saw her.
"Hey boys," she said casually, lightly tossing the walkie talkie in one hand. "046B21, huh. Pretty wordy, bit of a mouthful. I think Sakura would be easier, no? Or does that humanize me too much for you? Can't have you empathizing too much with the test subjects now, can we?"
"Shut it! You're coming with us!" One of the guards snapped, raising his gun.
Internally, Sakura's heart rate picked up and her throat felt tight. Externally, she remained as seemingly collected as she was before, her head cocking curiously as she stared at the gun.
"Slight problem there, pal. The big snakey boss man wants me alive, and probably not too damaged for his little experiment. So that gun won't help you too much. You're gonna have to try some other method." Please don't call her bluff, please don't call her bluff. How the fuck was she supposed to know if Orochimaru cared about the state his test subject arrived in? Kabuto had physically knocked her out when he took her, so obviously Orochimaru didn't find any head trauma too disturbing.
Luckily, the guard did seem to buy in, lowering his gun, as did the other.
"You're coming with us!" The other guard barked.
"Oh am I? I escaped for a reason, see? I didn't exactly volunteer to be here, and I'm not too keen on going back. So, you're just going to have to make me." She held her arms up casually, her eyes never straying from them. She had to take them out both at once before they grew the brains to call for backup. She needed them to try and engage her in close combat and she had to nail the timing.
The two weren't dumb enough to approach without pulling out their knives, but it was two on one against a small delicate looking woman. This would be easy. She was hot, clever, and sharp tongued, but those types always relied on those traits and had no physical strength to back it.
But Sakura was way more than those types. When they were within arms reach, she moved so quickly they had no time to process. She used their bodies for leverage, pushing herself into the air to vault over them. In their confusion, they both turned inward to look at the hand she'd had on their shoulders seconds before. In that moment, she grabbed the back of their heads and slammed them together hard, knocking both goons out, a large bump already taking form where their foreheads collided.
Sakura took off running, rounding the corner they came down to see one more gun wielding goon standing at the entrance to the ICU—clearly he'd been left behind on guard duty.
"You—!" His hand reached for his walkie talkie, but Sakura acted faster, hurling the walkie talkie she'd taken from the first sentry at him with dangerous speed and accuracy. The walkie talkie crashed into his head before falling to the floor, the battery pack clattering out.
"Shit!" The man cursed, holding his head in pain. Sakura didn't let up, she was in front of him in seconds, her fist slamming into the same spot the walkie talkie hit. The man crumpled to the floor and Sakura pushed into the ICU. The glass cubical-like rooms were all closed, each housing at least three people. Some banged on the glass trying to find some structural weak point. Most just sat looking dejected and hopeless. They all turned in shock when Sakura came sprinting in.
For a brief moment, Sakura said nothing, her eyes sweeping over each cubicle, doing a head count. There were 9 total.
"Listen up! I'm here to break you out! If you want to leave, follow me! If you don't, that's your choice, but please don't get in our way or I will stop you."
"…and who the fuck are you? How do we know you're not one of them?!" One prisoner demanded.
"Cause I'm an escaped test subject and they're all looking for me. My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm a doctor from Konoha and part of the KPD, and we don't have time for anything more than that. Trusting me is entirely up to you, but if you want to leave, we need to get going now."
"I don't care who you are. Get me the fuck out of here!" One ragged looking girl grunted.
"I'm in, if you can manage it, toots, but these doors don't open. We've tried." A scrawny forty year old man muttered.
"They only open with a card that only the pale man, and the man with the glasses have." A young boy in dirty torn up clothes explained.
"Stand back." Sakura ordered, nearing the glass door.
"You're not really going to try to break it…" Sneered a very over it twenty year old.
Sakura didn't answer, her eyes on the young scared boy. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, Sasuke was in there with him, his eyes scanning for a way out. A flash of blonde in her periphery informed her that her mind had conjured Naruto into another one of the cells, and Ino in the last. Her rage and desire to get them out went straight to her fist, and her fist went straight through the glass, shattering it and getting bloodied up in the process. She ignored the stinging, breaking through the other two cubicles with one punch, to the immense shock of the prisoners. The delusion dropped and it was just her and the prisoners again, no friend in sight.
"If you want to stay, then stay. But I'm leaving and you're more than free to come with me."
"Nee-chan! Take me with you!" The young boy cried, flinging himself at Sakura. She immediately softened, scooping him into her arms. The boy's arms locked around her neck, keeping him firmly in her embrace with no prayer of letting go.
"Anyone else?"
All but two made picked their way out over the shattered glass. Sakura turned, the boy still in her arms and lead them out of the ICU.
"Up the stair way—all the way up to the roof! Hurry!" Sakura instructed in a harsh whisper. She could hear doors slamming levels below them, and footsteps on stairs. No one had gotten the chance to radio in that she was on the ICU level, so they must be going floor by floor. The hospital wasn't that big though and they would catch up soon.
"The roof?!" A prisoner whispered sharply. "How are we supposed to get out from the roof?! Groups suicide?!"
"Fire escape! This building should have one!" She snapped back.
"Should?!"
Sakura wasted no more time arguing. The last prisoner made it into the stair well and started up the stairs, and she brought up the rear, child still tightly holding on to her.
They ran up the two flights until they hit the door to the roof, which wouldn't budge. Sakura turned, hearing footsteps bounding up the stairs behind them.
"Let me through!" The prisoners quickly moved to either side of the staircase, giving Sakura access to the door. She didn't even need to conjure a delusion this time—the adrenaline and group of prisoners, especially the little boy clinging to her, was enough to give her the necessary burst of strength. She kicked the door open, causing to bang loudly into the outer wall.
The prisoners charged onto the roof of the hospital, Sakura leading the way. Her eyes scanned wildly for any hint of a latter or staircase down the side of the building, but it was difficult. It was dark out, there was practically no lighting in the abandoned town, and she didn't have eyes like Sasuke's or Hinata's.
"Now what?" Demanded one of the prisoners.
Sakura's eyes widened. "There!" She pointed to the far end of the roof where she could just make out what looked to be the rails of a fire escape ladder. "Climb down from there!"
They didn't have to be told twice. The group sprinted for the fire escape, Sakura reaching the destination first, but staying back to help others onto the ladder.
"Five, six…ok, just us left." She told the little boy soothingly, after the rest had safely started down the ladder. "Can you go down on your own?"
The little boy shook his head, his hold on her tightening. "I wanna go with you, nee-chan."
"I'll be right behind you, I promise. But this way we'll both get down faster."
The boy nuzzled into her more, she could feel him shaking. He must have been terrified. Clearly he'd either been separated from or never had a family to begin with, if he was here in the first place. The kid was definitely traumatized, and she represented the first nice, good, secure thing he'd probably experienced in a long time. Of course he'd have separation anxiety. And convincing him to go down first without her would take longer than just braving the ladder with him in her arms.
"Alright, we'll go down together. Just hold on tight, ok?"
The little boy nodded, his hold tightening.
Sakura had only just placed a hand on the railing when there was a loud bang and a painful heat erupted in her left leg. She stumbled, nearly about to fall over the edge, but managed to catch herself leaning her full weight onto her right leg and the railing.
"Not so fast, Sakura-chan."
Author's note: So this chapter's all action. I hope you could follow it and it wasn't boring. Obviously it's the bust and events immediately following from Sakura's point of view. Not too many feelings or anything, because she's very good at compartmentalizing and right now she's in full survival mode. The next chapter will be the same thing from Sasuke's point of view, so you'll learn what exactly went wrong with the plan, and a lot more emotion because Sasuke is not good at compartmentalizing nor is he in survival mode. I'm sure everyone saw it coming because it's canon, but Kabuto was indeed the accomplice. He's a bit of a complex character in this and a bit hard to write, because he doesn't care about anyone, but he does hold a certain level of respect for intelligence of talent. He respects Sakura, and is fascinated by her selfless and giving nature, but he doesn't care. So he's willing to let her save Neji, but it really is just fascination and morbid curiosity for him, and maybe even a little arbitrary. He was like that in canon a bit too, like when he heals Hinata at the chunin exam finals for no reason. To explain Orochimaru's theory and interest in Sakura a bit more, his theory is just that those who already underwent a first generation genetic mutation are going to be more adaptable and able to handle further changes to their DNA. Many of the kind of genetic variation he's thinking about cause some form of illness of disorder. Sakura though is a rare case of a first generation genetic mutation (her hair color) that is completely healthy and strong, she's also 26, which is still pretty youthful, so she's kind of the ideal test subject for him. That being said, his final goal would and is to gene match or body switch with someone who has an actual genetically evolved enhancement, like an Uchiha or Hyuga, who have genetically enhanced vision, and in the Uchiha's case, a resistance to fire as well. Sakura is his first step to gene matching with Sasuke. I hope that makes sense...Orochimaru's gross. He was gross in the mange/anime and I made him gross in his essays and stuff, so he had to match that level of gross. You also finally got a glimpse at the training and explanation for Sakura's super strength in this. It's not possible (I don't think) and please don't try it, but I think it's as valid a science fiction explanation as everyone else's genetic advantages are.
Anyway, this chapter was pretty short, partially from the lack of emotions, but it was kinda hard to write and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Thank you so much for your patience again, and thank you for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed it! :)