A/N: Beta'd by DistractedStudent
Chapter Forty-one
Sakura says nothing at first once the door clicks behind her. Instead, her eyes sway over to another individual who is hunched over a table. A new woman who remains silent while studying the map under her. Kakashi, meanwhile, finds a seat behind a desk. Sakura's mind begins to pick at her reminding her of Kakashi's use of her name.
'Does he...recognize me?' she wonders.
"The old man lives another day," the other woman suddenly mumbles.
Her voice is a familiar one; Sakura has met this woman before. As she spots the familiar physical features, Sakura is able to finally place a name on her.
'Kurotsuchi.'
The Tsuchikage keeps her gaze set on the map below her, studying it carefully, but speaks out still.
"No word from the others up north yet. Maybe we should send some of the underlings up there to assess the situation and report back."
Kakashi sighs to this before saying his piece.
"I've brought company," he says, the underlying words trying to convey to Kurotsuchi to be careful of her choice of words lest secret information spill.
Yet, the woman smirks still with eyes on the table.
"I can see that, old man," she tells Kakashi. "Surely you wouldn't bring an enemy in here now, right?"
Silence follows, and it's enough to make Sakura narrow her eyes and face towards Kakashi's own analytical gaze. It's a reminder, to the rosette, just how lost she has become in this world. The only person she has to fall back on is Gaara, a man who just destroyed a town in her country and murdered innocents; while her friends, like Kakashi in front of her, know nothing of her in this world. She has become a stranger to all those closest to her.
It is at this moment that Kurotsuchi also brings up her head, glancing at Kakashi as well.
"Right?" she asks again before her gaze shifts towards Sakura.
The brunette's eyes shake at the sight of Sakura and she quickly glances back at Kakashi.
"Where did you find this one?" Kurotsuchi asks while striding next to Kakashi, "It's not one of ours."
Sakura's fists clench then. Her confusion at this whole scenario makes her upset; her unanswered questions make her blood boil, and as they speak of her like an object, Sakura no longer holds back her tongue.
"I am not an item," she tells the two leaders. "If you have a question about me then address me for an answer."
Kurotsuchi returns Sakura's angry gaze.
"Then show us your true form," the brunette snaps back. "Let us see who you really are."
Yet, Kakashi sweeps his hand up, asking the two woman to be silent for the moment.
"Before we get into any discussions, let me tell you something," Kakashi begins with eyes set on Sakura. "There were plenty of men and women who were sacrificed today to save you and bring you here. We weren't able to save any other prisoners but you today."
Kurotsuchi's face drops at this information and she gasps turning to face Kakashi.
"No way..." she shakes her head. "Just her?! They didn't have any of our men, or even the townsfolk!"
"We were too late," Kakashi whispers, making the brunette's shoulders sag.
Silence rides within the air again, and while Kakashi keeps his straight face on Sakura, Kurotsuchi looks devastated at the loss.
"It was probably a trap to draw us out," she comments before looking up at Sakura. "Or to bring her here."
Sakura can see that Kakashi takes the brunette's words to mind for a moment. He, too, wonders if he has done exactly what Gaara wanted and sighs again when he finds himself unsure.
"Who are you with?" he finally asks Sakura.
"She's clearly not with us!" Kurotsuchi turns and says towards Kakashi. "If she isn't with us, she is with the enemy!"
Again, Kakashi raises a hand.
"There may be people out there who look for the same end goal as us," he tells her.
"And there are other enemies out there as well! Ones we may have no knowledge about!" she retorts.
Meanwhile, Sakura looks for the answer in her mind. What can she say? Her answers are as baffling just as much as this scenario, and she still wonders what it is they refer to when speaking of her as a fake, or a trap. She bites her lips, scouring her intelligent mind to put more pieces of the puzzle together.
"You're...You're going up against Gaara?" she asks, watching as the two lock their gaze on her. "You're what he calls rebels?"
The two leaders continue to stare. Like Lee, Kurotsuchi's contorting face tells Sakura that she should know all this already. To them, her questions probably make her all the more suspicious. Yet, Kakashi decides to play along, to pretend to take her bait, and nods his head to answer Sakura.
"War has been happening for many years. Gaara leads an army to destroy those who oppose him; rebels, are what he calls them."
Sakura swallows hard then, trying desperately to push the little boy out of her mind. If this Kakashi calls him an enemy then she should be doing the same, she thinks. Right? She has to at this point, for it keeps her grounded and her thoughts far from all that has happened with her and her little friend.
"Why haven't you stopped him?" Sakura asks, her clenched fists now shaking. "His army is small! You have more than enough men here!"
Kurotsuchi tries to share a look of disconcertment with Kakashi, but the silver-haired man only keeps his steady stare set on Sakura.
"His men you saw at the town are only a small portion of the men that follow him."
Sakura's eyes widen at this information and her jaw falls as Kakashi continues.
"South, east, west and now we fight the men he has up North. The world is surrounded by his army."
Kakashi studies the look of disbelief on Sakura's features, trying in his mind to figure out the rosette in front of him.
"Suna...Suna doesn't have that many ninja," Sakura tries to reason.
Kurotsuchi scoffs then.
"Don't play dumb," she tells Sakura. "Everyone knows his followers come from all around. Those that have defected from their villages to join him will pay one day."
Kakashi tilts his head some.
"Likewise, some men and women from Suna, and the Land of Wind, have teamed up with us to put an end to him. Though, I wouldn't put a label on their on home. Suna, and most of the neighboring towns, were destroyed years ago..."
"All our homes were," Kurotsuchi adds in. "We are allied as one. There is no more Suna, Iwa, Kumo or Kiri to go to that we can call our homes."
The woman sighs, finishing in an almost defeated whisper.
"There is barely a Konoha left."
Sakura continues to put up a strong face. Yet, inside her chest her heart is breaking, and she is internally struggling to dismiss a child's happy face as well as the many villages that flourish in her own world.
'Where had everything gone wrong,' she wonders.
"When?" Sakura begins. "When did this all happen? When did this war start?"
Kurotsuchi sniffs before crossing her arms, but she decides to answer this time.
"Where have you been these past fifteen years?" she first asks, not waiting for an answer. "This all began when Wind declared war against Fire. As allies came forth for both parties, the war spread. The Kazekage eventually lost his mind and even turned against his allies."
'Rasa did?' Sakura thinks, eyes scouring the floor under her. 'Rasa began all this? He seemed more level-headed than this. He knew his country could only endure so much. He wouldn't just throw his country into war and make enemies of everyone.'
"Before we set a plan in motion to take the Kazekage down, Gaara comes in and does it for us. Yet before we can rejoice, he continues his father's war. Where it was the world against him at first, he turned the tides quickly with his army of followers growing and growing until now. Now it almost feels like the world against us."
Kurotsuchi turns her head away, eyes narrowed towards the ground.
"Sometimes it feels like we're just cornered rats now, just biding our time and waiting until the day that bastard decides to show up to our gates."
Yet, despite the woman's words, only one thing, out of the many Kurotsuchi has shared, strikes Sakura as odd.
"Gaara killed his father," the rosette whispers with eyes scanning the floor.
It wasn't that long ago that Sakura had finally understood Rasa's coldness towards his son. He kept his facade for the village and counsel, but made sure that Sakura always stuck by Gaara's side.
"To protect people from Gaara," he had told Sakura.
In time, she would learn his words meant something else.
"To protect Gaara from people."
'Rasa,' Sakura thinks then, surprised to feel herself a little upset upon learning of his passing. 'You idiot, did you not tell him? Why couldn't you just tell that child how you truly felt?'
She is upset at Gaara as well, but his explanation may be that he was trying to stop the man from destroying the world like Kakashi and Kurotsuchi explained. She wants to believe Gaara was trying to better a broken situation. Sakura thinks a little more to herself, grateful the two others in the room converse among themselves for a moment.
'Fifteen years...' Sakura repeats in her mind, eyes lifting back up towards the two.
She does the math quickly and realizes the declaration of war had to have happened around the time she disappeared. The two Kage's do not speak about the attack on Konoha Sakura witnessed in her exam years. In this world, had she existed, this war would have began when she was just a little girl. Rasa had already made claims to her how his village was crumbling, but was he that desperate years ago to strike against the world, or had it been for another reason?
As Sakura thinks of the possibilities for why this all began, she swallows hard and remembers what Rasa told her regarding her taking Gaara to Konoha.
"If you two are not back by that date then I'll send my men after you and treat this as a kidnapping. Wherever I find you, whether it be Konoha or somewhere else, I'll assume your ties with them and hold them responsible as well."
Sakura makes a silent gasp then with wide eyes, and she looks frantically at the two in front of her as her eyes shake.
'Did Gaara not find his way home?' she wonders. 'Did he get lost? Did someone find him and take him?'
As hard as Sakura is trying to push the little boy out of her mind, he digs his way through her heart and towards her head. There, a picture is painted of that lonely, boy crying while walking through the vast, bare desert just desperate for home.
Desperate for anyone.
Sakura's neck arches up then, and she grinds her teeth to hold back the heat boiling behind her eyes.
'It isn't your fault,' she says in her mind lest her tears come from the idea of how heartbroken Gaara must have been at that moment. 'There was nothing you could do!'
Kakashi and Kurotsuchi sense Sakura's change in aura, and watch her carefully as her eyes grow dewy. Sakura notices this as well, and speaks quickly to try and push the young boy out of her mind now. He is gone, after all, she tells herself. The Gaara she knew then is not a child now.
"Why?" Sakura's voice cracks, and she repeats. "Why did Rasa start this war?"
Kakashi's eyes are the same, solid and set solely on the rosette, but Kurotsuchi's eyes widen, almost as if she is being played the fool now, and she shakes her head at Sakura.
"Really?" she asks. "You're walking around looking like you do and ask why?"
The rosette knows then that she is correct in her assumptions. Gaara hadn't made his way home right away, and as their due date came, so too did Rasa's threat.
"Everyone knows your face," Kurotsuchi speaks, though her tone is astonished at what she thinks is Sakura's ignorance. "Your face was sketched on every wanted poster. You were at the top of the list in Suna's bingo book while Gaara was number one in the missing one."
Kurotsuchi scoffs and shrugs as she rambles on.
"I don't think of you as the real Sakura, so I can't ask how you possibly managed to stay hidden for fifteen years. Everyone was looking to end this war as quickly as possible while the Kazekage pointed his finger at every country thinking they were hoarding you and Gaara. You seriously can't just go asking a question like that while deciding to look the way you do."
Before Sakura can say anything, the brunette turns her pink gaze towards Kakashi and narrows her eyes.
"She's clearly a trap set up for us! This has to be Gaara's doing! He wants us to think she is the real one, she's probably some spy!"
Kakashi is quiet for the moment as he takes in his colleagues words, but eventually sighs and rubs his temple slightly while staring at Sakura's confused eyes.
"The relationship you and Gaara shared was no secret. You were his caregiver for a while when he was younger, and we used your disappearance as an opportunity against Gaara when he unveiled himself and when rumors spread that he was seeking out information for your whereabouts. Every so often we were able to slip an assassin disguised as you to him. After a few attempts, it seems almost silly that we thought we could get away with the idea more than once. Then again, maybe it was his sole intention to kill you upon finding you."
Kurotsuchi nods to this before adding in their defense.
"We were desperate for anything to work. And now..."
Kurotsuchi stops her words, instead taking the moment to travel her eyes up and down Sakura, thinking silently to herself.
"And now," Kakashi speaks for her, "the tables are turned. Now we're the ones given a Sakura."
The room falls silent, both parties waiting for the other to say what comes next. It'll be a few seconds longer before Kakashi gives another sigh and speaks.
"So, I ask you, Sakura...Who sent you? Are you from another party we aren't aware of? Are there others out there who have just come up with the same plan we used to have, or are you with Gaara? Feel free to show us your real face anytime."
He says that last part while leaning back on his seat. His nonchalant attitude suddenly unnerves Sakura. She can't find the source why, but annoyance strikes her. She isn't sure if it's becomes of all she has just learned, or because it is Kakashi's fault this is all happening in the first place. She wouldn't be in this mess had he just sent the scroll another way. Gaara, meanwhile, leads a bloody war that threatens her friends, yet she feels for him in the sense that he has lost his way. The little boy she loved is now gone, and his enemies have used her face to get close enough to him to strike him down. She is mad at Gaara and she is mad at her Konoha family. This world is far from her own, much much too far… Over all that, she wonders where Naruto's words to Gaara have disappeared to. Have they yet to come, or were they just cast aside? Could Naruto not find it in his heart to teach Gaara his errors like she had tried her best to do? So, instead of an answer for Kakashi, there is a question.
"Where is Naruto?"
She sees a reaction that surprises her. Kakashi shuffles in his seat, and Kurotsuchi bites her lips and digs her nails into her crossed arms. For Sakura, their reactions are frightening.
"Tell me," Sakura begins again slowly, "Where is-?"
"You're part of Gaara's army, aren't you?!" Kurotsuchi suddenly cries out.
Sakura says nothing, still in shock that Naruto's whereabouts are not a quick answer. The brunette storms in front of Sakura then, making the rosette narrow her eyes at the woman in return.
"Aren't you?!" Kurotsuchi screams in her face. "Because of your leader there are only a few of my people left! Because of your leader my home is gone! Because of your leader my Grandfather sacrificed himself for nothing! Because of Gaara Naruto is-!"
Kakashi appears besides them suddenly, trying to push the brunette back with his words.
"Enough, Kurotsuchi-kun," he tells her with steady eyes. "Tsuchikage's sacrifice will not be in vain. We'll make sure we use the opportunity he gave us then to win this war."
It is the brunette's soft tears that make Sakura be the first to step back, and she watches quietly as Kurotsuchi turns to open the door that leads out of the room. Before storming away, she speaks to Kakashi one more time.
"Interrogate her. Wring her of everything she knows. If not for this war then for Naruto at least."
Nothing is replied, and Kurotsuchi waits no longer, slamming the door behind her leaving Sakura and Kakashi alone. The rosette wastes no time on lingering thoughts, instead she turns her angry eyes swiftly towards Kakashi.
"This is all your fault..." she practically hisses, though she knows the culprit she wants is of her time.
Kakashi seems taken off-guard for the moment, for his eyes widen at Sakura's angry accusation. Yet, his solid gaze does eventually return, and he studies Sakura quietly and with a nonchalant face that hides his wonders and questions. Sakura, of course, recognizes this. It's her teacher's old way of getting those he wants to say more without him speaking a word while analyzing their voice and emotions.
Instead of falling for his quiet tricks, she bites her lip. What good would it be now to reveal the truth to him, she wonders. He thinks her more of enemy now than an ally, and she isn't sure if appearing crazy in front of him would help her cause. Still, there is a part of her that looks at this older man and thinks of him as her old teacher. A lifelong friend. The world may be different around her, but her mind tunes in on those physical traits and falls back to her own world.
Kakashi is a friend. Gaara is a friend. There is no war, and Naruto is never too far away from her.
"Have you ever heard of a scroll that sends people back in time?" she whispers, eyes turning back up towards Kakashi.
He says nothing, but his silence is answer enough. Besides, the item in question has been gone in this world, taken by her, by the time Kakashi ever settled within the Hokage's office.
'If he ever made it there...' her mind tells her.
The questions pile on with what she has learned. If war happened so long ago, what had ended Sandaime? When would it of happened? Was Tsunade ever called, or was Kakashi pushed into the role so that they quickly had someone to guide them? Then again, with villages in ruin, who was to say Kages were still a part of this world. Gaara certainly didn't call himself one, and it seemed there was him and his army occupying this world while those who oppose him took up the other parts of it. They once had homes, but Konoha held them all now.
You were either a rebel or with Gaara in this world, it seemed.
"If such a power existed, I doubt we'd be standing here right now having this conversation."
The irony of his words is felt by Sakura. Kakashi gives her his answer, and Sakura tries to see the lie of what he says in his eyes. He has to know, she thinks. But she hears the truth in his words, for she continuously wondered why it was Kakashi, in her world, who had sent her off with such a powerful thing to hand over to Gaara. She knows this Kakashi has every reason to keep secrets from her, but she is certain an opportunity to change the past would have been a goal if it meant ending this long war.
The scroll is long gone, whether lost in a void or still in the desert Sakura is uncertain of. It hits her hard then that she is back to square one, no idea how to return to her own world despite time fixing itself.
"I am Sakura," Sakura suddenly tells Kakashi. "The real one."
Kakashi's stoic gaze goes unmoved, she knows he thinks her a liar now, but listens to her continue.
"Fifteen years ago, I was in Konoha," she begins to tell him a tale he finds old, but with her happened only a few days ago. "You approached me back then."
Sakura sweeps a hand slowly down her long hair.
"My hair was black, and I asked you where I could find Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno."
She can see a flash of recognition in Kakashi's eyes. He remembers the scenario, but Sakura also wonders what good will there be with her telling Kakashi this. No doubt, as he mentioned he had sent assassins after Gaara looking like her, that a lot of her past with the child has been learned.
'They all probably know his mother's song.'
Before anything else can be said, the door leading to the room suddenly swings open. Kurotsuchi appears once more, but her aura is now frantic.
"Kakashi, we need you right now!"
The silver-haired man rushes by Sakura, but grabs her as he does so. The rosette knows better than to think she would be given an opportunity to escape or wander alone within the mountain. They pile once more into an open room, with many men and women that Sakura had seen fighting against Gaara's army in the town. One of them in particular stands out as he is anxious and frantic reaching and clawing at his back.
"Get it off of me," he anxiously whispers, a cold sweat breaking down his head. "Hurry and get it off of me!"
Despite his request, no one steps forward to answer his plight. It'll be a few seconds of pleading before one of the medics moves towards him. Something is there on the man's back, something Sakura cannot see. Yet, as the medic makes a reach for it, Kakashi swings his arm and hollers.
"Stop! Get away from him!"
It's almost as if Kakashi's voice is the spark needed for the horror that finally unfolds. A blade of sand is embedded in the man's back, and at Kakashi's cry the blade explodes into many grains, wrapping themselves quickly and tightly around the poor victim. His screams only last a few seconds before the sand creates a familiar scene that Sakura had once witnessed. As the man is crushed and ripped by the grains, Sakura pictures the brunette who succumbed to the same fate not too long ago.
'Annaisha...' she thinks, watching along with everyone as the man's dead body falls forward.
Surprisingly, it's Sakura who springs forward. In her heart she always has hope that she can save a life still. Yet, Kakashi catches her quick by the arm.
"Don't," he tells her, and as if he recognizes her motive, adds, "He's already gone."
Sakura grimaces, though she would like to make that call herself, she stands back instead and watches as Kakashi slowly kneels down towards the man's body. Within the lifeless grains is a small note planted on the man's back with the blade made of sand. Gaara, Sakura learns then, uses Kakashi's own men as messengers it seems. After all, the eyes that look on now seem to be familiar with this scenario.
Kakashi kneels down to the man, bowing and asking pardon before he picks up the note and reads the few words on it.
'Give her to me,' it reads.
Kurotsuchi is quick to look over Kakashi's shoulder, and she shakes her head before whispering to Kakashi.
"He has to be doing this to make it more real. He's trying to fool us into falling for his scheme."
Kakashi folds the note and stuffs it gently into his pocket.
"What if it's not? She's a valuable asset now."
The brunette narrows her eyes at the man, confused by his logic.
"How so?" she asks. "He is just going to kill her like the others."
"I'm certain of that," Kakashi agrees before pushing himself off the floor,"but, let's say this isn't a trick of his. If he is as desperate getting her as it looks, then I'd say we just earned an interesting bargaining chip."
Kurotsuchi's pink gaze widens, she understands now and looks towards Sakura who is watching her and Kakashi in return.
"You think we can do a trade-off, our men that are held prisoner for her?"
Kakashi says nothing, quiet as he thinks thoroughly in his mind.
"That, but we do have to keep in mind the possibility this indeed is all a trick of his."
Kurotsuchi sighs, rubbing her temple lightly.
"Now what? We can hand her over to the interrogation team. They'd be able to look into her mind...Though, it will take some time. Days," she says. "Depends if he's done anything with her."
"And Gaara doesn't seem like he has the patience to wait that long," Kakashi finishes, thinking back on the note.
Kurotsuchi opens her mouth to speak, but stops as soon as she watches Sakura approach the two.
"You're talking about me," Sakura speaks, annoyed that she is cast aside in a discussion she is usually a part of.
Looking from the dead body, to the sand, and back to Kakashi's pocket and face, she comes to the conclusion.
"He's asking for me, isn't he," the rosette asks.
Yet, she isn't given a verbal answer, just long stares. Still, their eyes are enough to give Sakura her answer.
"Let me go see him then," Sakura decides then.
Kakashi raises an eyebrow, surprised by Sakura's words.
"You want to be ripped apart too?" Kurotsuchi scoffs.
Sakura shakes her head.
"No," she tells the two straight-forward. "I want to talk to Gaara. I need to know why he is doing this. I want to talk some sense back into him before any more damage is done."
Surprised by her answer, the two leaders share a brief glance at one another. Yet, a dilemma also begins brewing in Kakashi's mind. Letting Sakura go would guarantee safety from the rosette and Gaara. If a spy, his easiest route would be to send her where she had come from or kill her. Yet, if she is as important to Gaara as Gaara portrays it, Kakashi isn't sure what hell the young redheaded man would bring if they dispose of Sakura. That's only saying Sakura truly is someone of interest to Gaara; in which case, to not use her as a leverage against Gaara now would be a wasted opportunity.
Yet, as Kakashi thinks harder on which direction to approach first, an idea comes to mind.
"Sakura," Kakashi begins. "Are you hurt at all? We should get you looked at by our medical team."
Sakura narrows her eyes at Kakashi's nonchalant approach while Kurotsuchi scoffs.
"Seriously, old man?" she asks. "You're treating a prisoner?"
Yet, Kakashi says nothing, and instead strolls by Sakura and takes her arm. This time, the rosette pulls back.
"Stop grabbing me," she tells Kakashi, still skeptical of what he is planning now.
She stands her ground, her mind set on what she needs to do next.
"I don't care how you use me, but I need to speak with Gaara. Now," she tells him.
However, Kakashi has a more interesting plan. One that may help him in deciding what comes next for Sakura's fate.
"Are you sure you don't want to get looked at first, Sakura?" he asks again. "We actually have a pretty strong medical group on our side. I can even bring you to one of our best."
Sakura says nothing, instead letting her angry eyes speak for herself.
"Let's go give her a quick hello before we let you go. After all, she'll probably be happy to see you after all these years."
