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Chapter 3
I watched as his eyelids slowly parted open to reveal the same deep blue eyes that Takashi-san had. The medic on the side of his bed wore a tired expression and had dark circles around his eyes. He must not have had any sleep watching over the Tsuchikage.
"Takashi," a low voice coughed out from the elderly man. His breathing was irregular, and his hands were trembling as he reached for his son. Pain flickered from Takashi-san's eyes before it quickly disappeared. He held a tight grimace on his lips. Only a moment had passed before the Tsuchikage fell into a fit of coughs, the torturous sounds echoing through the high ceilings.
I walked slowly to the left side of his bed and waited for his coughing fit to pass before introducing myself.
"That didn't sound good," I mumbled to myself as I approached the elderly man. His breathing, which was hard and heavy, slowly came down to a steady pace. It seemed like he only just noticed my presence in the room because his eyes flickered with surprise.
"It's nice to meet you. Takashi-san brought me here to help you."
"Ah, Sakura-san is it?" he questioned with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
I nodded and returned his kind smile with one of my own.
"Takashi told me about you through a note he sent a couple of days ago," the elderly man explained. "Thank you for coming all the way here from the land of fire. The journey must've been tough for a young lady such as yourself."
"It's no problem at all. Can I take a look?" I asked and with a nod of his head, my hands glowed a light green before proceeding to examine the patient. Mixed in with his own blood, I could sense a foreign substance. It's definitely poison…but which one?
I placed my bag on the ground before digging around for my medical kit.
"I'm going to have to take a blood sample to examine it closer," I explained before pulling out a syringe and needle.
"It's poison," the other medic stated. He had been silent since my arrival. "We have never seen this type of poison before, and we've tried every possible cure for it. We've even tried extracting it with chakra but that seemed to do more harm than good. The more you extract the more life force you pull out of the Tsuchikage which means that we will essentially be killing him if we remove it all. There's nothing that you can do that we haven't already tried."
"Well, we'll never know until I try, would we now?" I replied as I put my bag aside to prepare for a blood draw.
The medic scoffed like I was wasting my time helping the elderly man. I ignored his actions as I proceeded to take a vial of his blood.
"How long has he been like this," I asked the medic despite his rude tone.
"About three weeks. There's not much time left," the medic gave an exasperated sigh. "I told you. We tried everything. There's nothing you can do."
I ignored his last words. Judging from my examination, he should have at least another week before things took a turn for the worst. That should give me time to examine his blood and find a cure for this poison.
I turned towards Takashi-san and said, "I'm going to examine this. I promise I will find a cure for him."
He gave me a weak smile before nodding. "Thank you, Sakura-san."
The Tsuchikage was already falling back into a light slumber as we walked out of the room.
"Here, let me show you to your room. I'm sure you'd want to send a message back home as well."
I nodded as I followed Takashi-san back through the long hallways. We stopped in front of a quaint door just around the corner.
"I want you to be close just in case something happens to my father."
"Of course," I replied with an understanding smile. "I'll help in every way that I can."
He gave me a brief pat on the shoulder before turning back around the corner. I entered the room and took in the soft comfortable sheets of the bed on the left corner of the room. There was a small desk adjacent to the bed on the other side of the room and a doorway which led to a private bathroom. A window was left ajar on the back wall and as I was closing the door behind me, I could see a small creature fly in, perching itself on the edge of the open window. My eyes lit up and a smile formed on my lips as I realized that it was Sasuke's hawk. Dropping the bag carefully on top of the desk, I made my way over to the familiar figure.
"Hey there, little guy," I cooed as I took the note from his right leg.
Let me know when you've arrived. -Sasuke
It was just like Sasuke to be short and simple with his messages. I chuckled to myself thinking about how happy I was from receiving a simple message from my husband.
"Okay," I said to myself as I stretched my arms up. First things first, I must send a note back home.
I took out two sheets of notepaper before addressing one note to Sasuke informing him of my arrival and another note to Naruto, informing him of the Tsuchikage's condition. I attached both notes to the hawk and sent him on his way back home.
I walked back over to the desk where my bag lay and pulled out the vial of blood and my medical toolkit. As I was about to close my bag, I noticed a strange item at the bottom and reached in to pull out a small black box. My eyes flickered with the realization that this was the same box that Takashi-san dropped when I first met him the day he bumped into me on the streets in Konoha. I looked towards my door and bit my bottom lip. There's not enough time to wander through the halls searching for the blue-eyed man. I'll give this back to him later, I thought before shoving it in my pocket.
Minutes turned into hours turned into three days before I gave an exasperated sigh and slammed my head down onto the desk I was currently working on. Almost there..almost there. Throughout the days, I've been checking on the Tsuchikage once every three hours to ensure that his health was not degrading at a dangerous speed. I've tried different combinations of herbs to extract the mystery poison. The other medic, whose name I learned to be Souta-san, was right by saying that we couldn't extract the poison through chakra. That was too dangerous and too risky. It was like a death sentence if we tried to cure him through that method. Takashi-san came in to check on me from time to time, but I was too focused on finding a cure to chat with him and he understood that. He usually stayed no more than 5 minutes at a time to provide me with food or ask for an update on my progress. Every time I shook my head, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. This was the third night since my arrival, and I still have not found a cure. Maybe Souta-san was right, maybe there's no hope. I shook my head quickly before brushing off the ill-thought. There must be a way. There's no way that this poison was created without a cure. I mentally went through the list again of all the poisons I studied when training with Tsunade and all the ones I read about.
Suddenly, my eyes flew open, and I gasped. That's it! Tomoshiri grass. That's the missing ingredient. How come I didn't think of this before. The same herb used to cure Sasori's poison when I fought him years ago. Although it is a very rare plant, I kept one in a hidden compartment in my medical kit ever since that day. It's been so long that I've forgotten all about it. I reached into the small hole I placed in the back of the kit and carefully took out the plant. Taking a small part of the plant, I started grinding it into a powder and mixed it with my concoction.
I took a bit of the mixture and turned it into a liquid form before mixing it with the blood sample I took from the Tsuchikage. I watched as the foreign substance in his blood disappeared leaving no trace. Bottling up the rest of the antidote, I rushed out of the room and ran out of my door only to run into a figure standing idly in the middle of the hall. Steady hands kept me from falling back, and I looked up to see Takashi-san looking at me with worried eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked with a questioning look on his face.
"Yes, YES!" I exclaimed with a bright smile. "I found it. I found the antidote!"
His eyes widened before he started pulling me down the hallway towards his father's bedroom. We were a few steps away before the door to the Tsuchikage's bedroom burst open. Souta-san looked around frazzled before his eyes landed on us.
"It's not good. He started seizing," he informed us as we rushed in.
"Hold him down," I instructed the medic as I hurried to the bedside. Without hesitation, I took the antidote in my hands and pushed the needle into his right arm. His seizing started to slow until the elderly man just laid there in silence. My hand glowed green before I started examining the effects of the antidote. As suspected, the foreign substance in his body dissipated until it was completely gone. I checked him over again from head to toe and watched as the Tsuchikage slowly returned to consciousness. The color was returning to his lips and from the way he was moving, it seemed like he was no longer in pain.
I turned to look at Takashi-san who had a worried look on his face. He made eye contact with me before I told him, "He's cured."
The medic, who was silently observing, looked at me with disbelieving eyes, "How?"
"With intelligence and a bit of skill," I told him tilting up the corner of my lips.
Takashi-san looked calmer but still seemed concerned over his father's wellbeing. He stepped closer to his bedside before he asked, "How are you feeling father?"
At the sight of his father's smile, Takashi-san gave a big, relieved sigh.
"Never better," the Tsuchikage replied with a smile. He turned to me before saying, "Sakura-san, thank you so much for your help. I owe you, my life. I can promise you that our relationship with Konoha will now be like family."
I returned his grateful smile with one of relief and watched as the father and son duo gave each other a hug. I felt a wave of sadness as I suddenly missed my family. It's been almost a week since I left Konoha. I miss my daughter's smile and my husband's embrace. Sasuke, Sarada, I'll be home soon.
I was deep in my thoughts when I saw a body looming over me in the corner of my eyes and felt strong arms wrapping around me. I stepped back in surprise to see Takashi-san burying his head in my shoulders.
"Thank you, Sakura-san. I don't know what I would've done without you," he expressed with appreciation. I smiled and patted him lightly on his back.
"I'm happy that I was able to help," I told him gently and pulled away.
"I'm sure you're excited to go home to your family, so I won't keep you any longer. I'll have some of our shinobi send you back."
I thank him for the kind gesture before making my way back to my bedroom, excited for my journey back. I entered my room and closed the door before hearing a familiar voice behind me.
"Sakura."
I whipped my head around to see Sasuke standing next to the open window in my room with his back against the wall. Upon hearing his comforting voice and seeing him a few feet away from me, I ran to the other side of the room and pulled him into an embrace. He welcomed me with his hand gently returning the hug. After what felt like an eternity, I pulled away, already missing his warmth.
"What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun? What about Sarada?" I questioned with a hint of worry in my voice. If both of us are here, who is taking care of our daughter?
"Don't worry. Naruto is watching over her. She's staying at his place," Sasuke replied with a cool tone, his eyes never leaving mine.
I guess if Naruto is watching her, she should be fine. With my mind on my daughter, I thought about the conversation that she started a couple of mornings ago. She wanted a sibling, but I'm certain that she doesn't know what would have to happen for her to have a baby sister or brother. I glanced at Sasuke with a blush creeping up my cheeks and was glad that he didn't notice. Instead, Sasuke was inspecting all the medical tools I left out to create the cure for the Tsuchikage. I left the room in such a hurry with the antidote that I didn't have enough time to clean my work area. I let out a deep sigh as I thought about the imminent work that was coming my way. The back of my head was still pounding from the lack of sleep that I have been experiencing the past few days.
Sasuke turned his head to face me again, and I looked at him questionably as he still didn't tell me his reason for coming all the way here.
By the look in my eyes, Sasuke could tell what was on my mind because he replied, "I just wanted to make sure you're safe."
"Worried about me?" I teased with a grin.
"Ah," he said with a straight face, and suddenly, I could feel the heat rush into my cheeks. I averted my eyes and pretended to look at the trees outside the open window. His steady hand cupped my right cheek and brought me back to his gaze, his eyes never wavering. As he lowered his face to meet mine, I closed my eyes and waited as he gave me a soft kiss. He guided me over to the bed as I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders. Sasuke laid me gently down onto the soft sheets while trailing kisses along my neck. At this rate, Sarada's wish may come true.
"You're thinking about what Sarada said," he stated and looked up at me with no doubt in his eyes. My eyes widened as my cheeks turned from a light shade of pink to a darker shade of red. I don't know how he does it but every time it seems like he can read my mind.
"And you're not?" I challenged, and I could see a flicker of emotions come across his eyes. Surprise, thought, and a hint of embarrassment. I grinned, content that I was able to read him as well as he was able to read me. Sasuke was silent as he caressed my face and met my lips once again. His hand trailed along every curve of my body before he stopped and pulled back.
My body felt hot at every place he touched, and I couldn't help but question why he stopped, "What's wrong?"
He reached inside my left pocket to pull out Takashi-san's small black box. That's right; I still need to return that to him before I leave.
Sasuke looked at me with questioning eyes before I replied, "That's Takashi-sans. I meant to give that back to him a while ago, but I forgot about it."
"What is it?" Sasuke asked, now sitting up on the edge of the bed. To my disappointment, I followed and sat up next to him.
"Hm…I'm not sure. He dropped it back in Konoha, and it's locked by a strong chakra seal, so I wasn't able to find out."
Sasuke looked at it hesitantly, turning it to inspect every corner of the black object. "I sense immense chakra coming out of this. It's unusual."
My thoughts exactly. But I didn't want to question Takashi-san, I just wanted to give it back to him before going home. However, Sasuke's reaction made me think twice. I grabbed the box from Sasuke's hand, ignoring the tingling feeling I got from briefly brushing against his hand, and decided to inspect it further. There was only one lock on it, and it didn't seem hard to break. I concentrated chakra to the tips of my fingers, but before I was able to break the lock, it snapped open with a click. Strange, I didn't even do anything yet…
"Sakura-san, are you ready to go?" Takashi-san asked while knocking softly at my door. He proceeded to open my door without my response and was taken aback when he saw Sasuke sitting next to me on the bed.
"Oh, I didn't know you had company, my apologies," Takashi-san said hastily before turning his head. I could see a tinge of pink tickling his cheeks.
"We weren't doing anything!" I blurted out in a hurry, hoping that Takashi-san didn't jump to the conclusion that anything inappropriate was happening in this room.
Sasuke smirked at my outburst, and I glared at him before turning back to explain to Takashi-san. "I've been meaning to return this to you since you dropped this in Konoha, but I kept forgetting."
I hopped off the bed and walked towards the blue-eyed man standing by the doorway. He turned his head back to me and looked at the object in my hands with wide eyes.
"Where did you get that?" Takashi-san said cautiously as he made his way slowly to my side.
"You dropped it when you bumped into me in Konoha. Although, I'm not quite sure what it is," I told him as I stared questionably at the box. Seeing the lock now open, I pulled it out of its hook and slowly opened the mysterious object.
"Nooooo! Don't open it!" Takashi-san exclaimed in a panic before he started running at me. It was too late. As the lock fell to the ground, I saw a blinding light making its way out of the box. Sasuke, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed, felt immense amounts of chakra spill out from the small box and grabbed the hilt of Kusanagi. My vision started to blur, and I saw black dots forming in front of me. My eyelids suddenly felt like they had heavy weights placed on top of them. From my narrow frame of vision, I could see Sasuke running towards me and Takashi-san grabbing the box from my hand, trying to force it closed. However, before I was able to comprehend what was happening, my mind went blank, and I felt my body hit the floor.
My last thoughts were of Sasuke, just moments before the event, surprising me with a visit to Iwagakure because he was worried about my safety, his gentle hold, and his soft lips on mine.
