Beta'd by DistractedStudent


Chapter Forty-two


Curiosity killed the cat.

This was Sakura's first thought as she blindly followed Kakashi deeper into the mountain. Along with the wonders of who it was he spoke of, an old friend of hers he had said, Sakura's mind was still set on Gaara.

'I need to talk to him,' repeated over and over in her head.

Though he knows nothing of her, even threatens her with plans of interrogation, Sakura follows Kakashi through the halls. Perhaps she simply follows Kakashi for sake of familiarity in this chaotic world. In a way, he is no different from the Gaara of this world-her best interests are looked after by no other than herself.

'At least I still have a little bit of a past with Gaara than Kakashi in this world,' Sakura's mind tells her.

Yet, to those thoughts she quickly shakes her head. Her heart wants to sympathize with the boy she held hands with, but her mind is quick to remind her that the boy she knew is long gone with Gaara's declaration of war against all around him as well as the bloodshed of those who refuse him. She still needs to take the time to sync her heart and emotions with the information she has learned, and the logic that what Gaara does now is not justified.

Falling back to the man in front of her, Sakura knows she also follows for another reason. Gently, she places a hand to her chest, feeling her chakra. Again, she tries to draw it out, but there is only a flicker to the hand she calls it to before it abandons her call. To this, she sighs. Never in her field of work has she come across something like this without reason.

'Maybe from trauma,' she thinks.

Yet, if she is honest with herself, the stress of this situation has yet to sink in. There is so much on her mind now, yet all she can think about is accomplishing her next task of speaking with Gaara. Still, with a medical team perhaps she can get some sort of pill that can help rejuvenate her body. Maybe it just needs a little kick-start to start working again.

As they finally reach another door, Sakura takes a breath in and holds it for a moment-only releasing it when she hears the knob click. When the wooden frame opens, Kakashi holds it open and gestures for Sakura to enter first. The rosette strides in slowly and only stops when her eyes fall on the two other people within the room.

Curiosity killed the cat.

...But satisfaction brought it back.

Sakura's eyes widen to the woman in front of her who sits casually at the table with another brunette woman as they drink tea. Sakura's jaw falls as well, and she can't help it, even the tears well up in her eyes for more reasons than one. Meanwhile, the person who has stolen the rosette's focus entirely scans Sakura up and down before grimacing towards Kakashi who closes the door behind him.

"No, no, no" she shakes her head while speaking to Kakashi and Sakura. "If you're planning to do this little stunt again, you have to make her look at least ten years older. This is how she looked when I met her fifteen years ago."

The room falls silent as Sakura races towards the woman.

"Chiyo-baasama!" Sakura cries before arms wrap tightly around the old woman.

'She's still alive in this world!' Sakura thinks happily.

Even if in the back of her mind Sakura remembers that this Chiyo and herself did not share the close bond they did in her own world, like Gaara here, they have a past, and she is happy to see the old woman live still without her sacrifice.

No one says a thing for some time, they just watch Sakura hold the old woman with silent tears. And with time, Chiyo places a hand on Sakura's back. Those who watch are unsure if she does this because the feelings of reunion are mutual, or if she does this to calm the woman hugging her some. The old lady's sagging face is stoic, unmoved as she looks past Sakura's shoulder.

'Does this mean Gaara was never attacked by Akatsuki? There was never a need for a sacrifice?'

Questions arise again, but as Sakura sniffs back her tears she instead whispers to the woman with a shaky voice.

"What's happened to Gaara? Why did he turn out like this?"

It is then the old woman grasps Sakura's shoulders and gently pushes her away from the embrace. The two lock eyes for a moment before Sakura wipes her tears. As she does this, Chiyo turns to Kakashi, a question in her gaze. Before she asks, Kakashi answers for her.

"She says she is the real Sakura. I thought maybe you would be able-"

"I'll do what I can. No promises though," Chiyo cuts Kakashi off.

The two don't turn their eyes, and it is Chiyo who nods Kakashi towards the door.

"You can go now," she tells him.

Instead, Kakashi steps forward.

"With all due respect, Chiyo-baasama, I believe I should remain present until-"

Chiyo's face scowls then.

"Ha?" she asks Kakashi. "You think I'm too old to handle someone? Go play politics with that other loud woman and leave the medics to their job. I'll have someone fetch you when I'm done here."

Kakashi sighs at Chiyo's loud voice, but does seem to trust her power enough to turn and head back to his office.

"I leave her to you then," Kakashi says with a wave of his hand.

Yet, he does stop short of shutting the door behind him and steals a glance at Sakura one more time.

"We'll have another chat when you're done here," Kakashi says before shutting the door.

Sakura, meanwhile, stares silently in the direction Kakashi has exited. For her, this Kakashi seems just a little different from the one she is familiar with.

'Perhaps war has changed him...' Sakura thinks. 'Or maybe...this is just how he's always treated those he thought an enemy.'

Sakura's thoughts vanish when she feels Chiyo pluck her cheek to pinch and pull at her skin.

"O-Ow," Sakura hisses, pulling away from the old woman's fingers. "What was that for?"

She turns to look back at Chiyo and stills herself as Chiyo presses a finger past Sakura's pink hair and against the seal on Sakura's forehead.

"You really do have ties with that slug-woman, don't you?" Chiyo murmurs. "You still keep up the same appearance you had years ago."

Sakura steps back from Chiyo's hand, and takes a moment to look at how much older Chiyo looks. She uses a cane now to hold herself up, and has shrunken quite a bit with a small hunch to her back. Still, despite the appearance, Sakura can't help herself from smiling at seeing Chiyo alive.

'Is this what she was supposed to look like if she had lived?'

Yet, as that thought occurs, the idea that Naruto's words had not reached this old lady come to mind. Though, as she is here now, maybe Chiyo had learned to put trust into others she refused to do so before.

"You're...not with Gaara?"

To Sakura's question, Chiyo raises an eyebrow. She watches as Sakura's smile falls quickly to a disappointing frown, and the young woman even looks towards the floor while rubbing her arm.

"Kakashi-sen-," Sakura begins before shaking her head to her error. "Kakashi told me what Gaara has become. What he does now..."

Chiyo's eyes move to Sakura's hand as it clutches the skin of her arm suddenly.

"This wasn't suppose to happen," Sakura murmurs. "This wasn't supposed to be his future."

The rosette's eyes narrow towards the ground next to her.

"Everything...everything now seems wrong. I don't even know what could have happened."

Silence follows, and as it lingers, Sakura realizes she must be careful now with her confusing words. As much as she is lost to all around her, she will make those close to her just as bewildered if she doesn't keep herself strong. She remembers that she is there as a prisoner, someone who had disappeared from everyone for all these years. There will be a lot more convincing needed for Chiyo before she begins her plight.

"Please, believe me," Sakura asks the old woman. "I really am the same Sakura from all those years ago."

Chiyo stares hard into Sakura's eyes, the pair quiet. Chiyo suddenly sniffs with a shrug before speaking,

"Alright. I believe you."

Sakura's jaw drops as her mind tries to register this.

'Maybe not that much convincing after all...' she thinks.

Still, she nods at the old woman.

"Thank you," Sakura whispers to her.

Sakura owes this old woman so much more now, for she has helped her in both worlds. Gently, Sakura slides down to sit on the table while Chiyo turns to the other woman in the room.

"A favor dear, can you look and fetch him for me? These old bones won't get me far," Chiyo speaks.

"Hai!" the brunette beams, smiling at the old woman and clasping her fingers upwards together.

Though Sakura listens, she is not interested in the conversation between the two, and asks nothing once she hears the girl agree before leaving her and Chiyo. It is only when the other party leaves that a stillness hits the air, and Sakura stares down at the floor deep in thought with Chiyo watching her. Yet, the question Sakura was sure to come to eventually rises from the deep waters of silence.

"What were you planning to do with Gaara? Where did you two go?" Chiyo asks.

Sakura shakes her head quickly.

"Nowhere," she tells Chiyo. "We were returning to Suna back then, and we...I..." Sakura's voice falters and she bites her lip hard.

There is nothing wrong with revealing the truth to Chiyo, Sakura thinks. It is the same with everyone else who would ask her this question; she should hide nothing. Yet, her logical side wavers against this. A part of her is thinking that the consequence for speaking the truth will have her marked as a mad woman. With a mad mind comes the doubtful figures who will forever question what truth really is for her.

"I..." Sakura begins before swallowing hard. "I ran."

To mask her falsity, her eyes look towards Chiyo with an unwavering gaze.

"Rasa kept me prisoner there to watch over Gaara. There was no more opportune time to run than then," Sakura adds.

Chiyo just sucks on her cheek at this news.

"And you just left the boy behind?" the old woman asks.

Sakura narrows her eyes and drops them. Her heart aches at the moment as images fall back to Gaara all alone in desert, and what she tells Chiyo conflicts with what her heart is saying.

'No,' she wants to say. 'I would never leave him behind. I loved Gaara.'

Chiyo, too, seems to notice Sakura's apprehension and hones in on the only way she can now.

"You defended that boy against every bad saying that crossed your ears. Yet, alone, you had no problem turning your back on him?"

The old woman shakes Sakura's emotions. An old tactic that can rock anyone to speak against their own lies. It is one of many reasons shinobi are trained to cast aside their feelings, and while Sakura knows it is something she can overcome with ease, Chiyo's questions make her want to cry out.

'No!' she wants to say. 'I would never turn my back on Gaara. I had no choice, I wasn't given a moment to explain or say goodbye.'

As the rosette thinks this, she bites the inside of her lips hard and fights to keep her tongue down. With a deep breath, she is able to answer Chiyo.

"I cared for Gaara, but I was not happy in that village knowing I had chains keeping me there. As much as I wanted to bring him with me, I wanted to avoid the consequences that would come if I did. So, I left Gaara without his knowledge. I didn't want him to follow me or go where I went. I left him in a place I was sure he would be able to find his way back home."

Her narrowed gaze goes up again to look at Chiyo and she grips hard against the table she is resting against.

"I loved that little boy so much," Sakura confesses then. "I did what I thought best, and wanted to believe his future was going to be a different outcome than this."

Sakura practically spits that last word, but with Chiyo's long stare and silence, Sakura lowers her gaze and says nothing more.

"I see," Chiyo speaks, presumably accepting Sakura's answer as the truth. "Where did you go then? Why did you not try to inform the Kazekage the whereabouts of Gaara and the Ichibi? If Gaara was found this war wouldn't have grown to what it is today."

Sakura shakes her head while closing her eyes, though her emotions are truthfully placed, this lie that is growing is starting to irk her the more she drags it on.

"Because by then even I knew nothing would stop Rasa until Gaara was found. At that point, I didn't know where Gaara had gone. It seems we both decided to choose a path with our faces hidden."

After her words, Sakura slowly opens her eyes and blinks a few times to the floor. Her curious mind does wander then.

'Gaara,' she thinks. 'Where did you go? How did you survive?'

"Why keep your appearance like that?" Chiyo asks then, curious. "If you weren't wanting to be found, you should have at least changed yourself, or at least allow your age to show. Instead you choose to look exactly like the posters from back then. Foolish woman."

To Chiyo's small speech of appearance, Sakura chuckles somewhat before pressing her hand against her chest.

"This is just how I look," she tells Chiyo. "I couldn't even transform right now if I wanted."

Sakura looks up just in time to see Chiyo raise an eyebrow to Sakura's confusing words. For the rosette, she let's out a deep sigh before letting her face become all the more serious then.

"My chakra, it isn't responding to me," Sakura says.

It's like a medic side to the two is suddenly switched on, and Sakura pulls her shirt down a little to allow Chiyo to press her own hand against Sakura's chest.

"It's there..." Chiyo mumbles, looking back up at Sakura.

Sakura nods before speaking.

"It is, but I can't draw it out. It's like...it's just stuck."

"Tired?" Chiyo asks. "Stressed?"

Sakura gives her a glare-her look is silently asking the old woman,

'You do realize what kind of day I've had today?'

Instead, Sakura says something else.

"Even if I was, it's never done anything like this. I mean...have you ever seen anything like this?"

Chiyo sighs as well, bringing her hand back.

"Never," she says. "It's like a force in your body is stopping your chakra...or maybe?"

Sakura's eyes widen as Chiyo brushes her bangs to the side, and brings her eyes close to inspect her forehead.

"Or maybe…?" Sakura asks, trying to usher the woman to finish her words.

Chiyo instead stays silent, staring at Sakura's seal for some time before stepping back and staring at the rosette hard.

"The seal on your forehead, it's vibrant color looks a little faded."

Sakura's eyes widen then, and she quickly reaches for the glass cup on the table before inspecting the seal herself. As she does this, Chiyo finishes what she was saying before.

"Your chakra levels are slowly depleting."

Sakura grimaces at that idea. She feels her strong power still; if what Chiyo proposes is true, would her chakra not be near depleted at this point. Would she not feel the fatigue and wear of her energy being drained? Not to mention, that doesn't mean she wouldn't be able to call forth what she has now. Something is still blocking her. Her seal, as well, looks as vibrant as ever in her eyes. Yet, Chiyo is someone who Sakura respects, and she will keep all that the woman has told her now to mind.

"If my chakra is draining on its own why is the process slow?" Sakura asks.

Chiyo shrugs, as if the answer should be obvious.

"Think of it like poison," Chiyo begins. "The less the target notices, side-effects and all, the longer it takes the target to notice until eventually it is too late to save the person. Perhaps, it's even being absorbed by another somehow."

Chiyo's words suddenly shake Sakura and she worries somewhat that this possibility could be true.

"Please, Chiyo-baasama," Sakura asks while removing her shirt, taking quick action now. "Will you transfer me some of your chakra? Just to be on the safe side."

"Aa," the woman quickly answers, and approaches Sakura's back.

As Chiyo goes around, she is already forming seals, yet, at the sight of Sakura's skin the woman falters to a stop.

"Sakura," Chiyo speaks, inspecting the sight on Sakura's skin. "Has there always been this seal on your back?"

Sakura's back shoots up straight to that news, and she even tries to twist her head to catch a glimpse of what Chiyo speaks. Though silent, Sakura's actions speak to Chiyo.

"I didn't think so..." the old woman murmurs. "This looks very strange. I'm sure this has something to do with your chakra."

Sakura's eyes widen, and she is silent for the moment while trying to think back on a time she may have had something like this on her. She can feel Chiyo trace a circle around her back, and she gets sense of how big the mark on her is.

"I've never seen anything like this before..." Chiyo mumbles. "We're you recently in a fight? Did somebody do this to you without your knowledge?"

Sakura scans her mind, only recalling her recent altercation in the destroyed town. Even then, her chakra before that wasn't responding. Had the scroll done something to her, she wonders. Was there something more to this new world that she was just learning, and how long exactly had she had this seal?

"It glows a dim blue color," Chiyo comments more on it. "Try using your chakra."

Sakura does exactly that, and tries to focus her chakra once more towards her hand. Yet, like before, there is just a spark of the power she wants before it is gone.

"The seal grows more brightly when you try to use your chakra."

Sakura says nothing, instead she narrows her eyes at this info before quietly feeling the power that remains stuck in her. Chiyo has suggested that something may be absorbing her chakra, but she still feels very little difference. Not to mention, if the seal is on her would it just not just be sealing the chakra within her?

"You said you've never seen a seal like this before?" Sakura asks.

Chiyo comes around to face Sakura and slowly shakes her head.

"Nn," she comments. "And I'm familiar with seals."

Sakura is quiet.

"Sakura," Chiyo calls quietly to her, earning back her attention. "You're a medic. I don't think I need to remind you what will happen if something is stealing your chakra."

Sakura is quick to shake her head.

"Nn," she replies.

Yet, her mind says more.

'I will not die,' she tells herself. 'Not here. Not in this world.'

She is trying her best to keep her composure. Everything is happening so quickly, so drastically, in this new world, that a part of Sakura wonders if she truly is absorbing all that is being thrown at her. Sakura brings up three fingers up, and speaks to them in her mind.

'I still need to find a way home,' Sakura tells herself, folding one finger in as she does this. 'There is a seal on my back that may be slowly killing me, I need to have the seal broken.'

Another finger falls, and as Sakura thinks of her third task, she chews on her lip some.

'I need to speak and stop Gaara!'

As her final finger folds in, she grips her hand hard into a fist. What was once one turbulent task, two more have fallen into her lap. Even if there is an option to forsake Gaara and this world, and instead return to her own home where the seal in her back can become examined by expertise who won't treat her as a prisoner, the idea of doing such weighs heavy in heart.

The little boy's bright smile is too big in her mind, and she is sure it can be the same if she just speaks to the redhead. Her friends here as well, though treat her differently are so rundown and worn. This wasn't the future she had hoped for them, there was suppose to be peace within the nations now. Though she doesn't put the blame on herself, a simple mistake in the past had led to this, and she wants to fix it.

For everyone she loves.

The question for Sakura is...What next?

Finding a way home will take time. Having others look over her will keep her chained in this place since Kakashi would probably not let her out of his sight. As this thought occurs to Sakura, she looks around the rocky, medical room, and realizes no better opportune time to ask for help out of here will come any sooner than now.

The drive to end this fighting as soon as possible pushes Sakura to a decision.

"Please, Chiyo-baasama," Sakura begins again, eyes determined. "Help me escape from here. I need to speak with Gaara!"

Chiyo's eyes widen in surprise, aghast at the request.

"Foolish woman," Chiyo whispers towards Sakura. "He would kill you the second he recognizes you!"

Yet, Sakura shakes her head, undeterred by Chiyo's warning.

"I need to speak with him! I'll speak some sense back into him. He knows right from wrong he-"

"He's not the child he once was, Sakura," Chiyo cuts her off. "He's a grown man now. He no longer needs someone to tell him what he is doing is wrong. He chooses this path, he chose to harbor the Shukaku's darkness."

Still, Sakura is determined her words can breakthrough to him.

"No," she tells Chiyo. "I just...need to talk to him. To understand why he does this."

Chiyo sighs and even tilts her head some in exhaustion.

"I understand, Sakura," Chiyo tells her. "I understand how you're feeling right now, and what you think you can do. I once approached Gaara as well. I looked past his malice eyes to find the child who once cried in my arms for his mother."

To those words, Sakura looks back up at Chiyo with a slack jaw and round eyes. Her heart sinks as she watches Chiyo shake her head slowly.

"That little boy you knew is long gone, Sakura," Chiyo whispers. "I realized then that the man I had tried to reason with was one who had accepted the demon within him. That child you seek out is gone..."

Those words are like a stab to Sakura's heart, and before she can stop herself, she cries out with shut eyes towards the ground.

"You're wrong! That isn't Gaara at all!"

Sakura gasps once she realizes how loud her small outburst was, and slowly looks back up towards Chiyo who only stares at her in silence. The rosette can feel her heart racing, for the eyes she looks at now are ones she is accustom to. She once had people all around her tell her to give up on the man she loved. Sasuke has rejected light and welcomed the darkness in his heart, many would say to her.

"Give up."

"Just let him go."

"Help us to take him down."

"He is gone from redemption."

"He will never be the same person he once was to you."

Words of the past echo again in her ears, and she grinds her teeth to all the lies they all once were. If she could help save Sasuke from becoming a monster, she would do the same for Gaara. No one would convince her otherwise.

"Please…" Sakura begins again. "Help me escape from here. I need to speak with Gaara."

Chiyo sighs again.

"You'd be walking towards a battle you cannot win," Chiyo says before eyeing the door skeptically behind her. "Those of us who have ties with Suna are already looked upon with suspicion."

Sakura grips the table again as Chiyo's words sink in. It is true that she doesn't want Chiyo to experience the consequences to come, but the idea does not falter her drive in the slightest.

"Say I managed to escape on my own. They know nothing about me, you could even say I put you under genjutsu."

Chiyo is silent, and she let's her back sink for a moment while contemplating Sakura's word. With the room quiet, Sakura takes the moment to put her shirt back on, filled with the thought that nothing will stop her now. For her, she thinks she is tackling the easiest part on her list first.

As time passes, Chiyo eventually speaks with closed eyes.

"I watched, years ago, as a monster raced for your hand. Once he had it, you were the one not to let go of him."

Chiyo's eyes open then and the faintest of smirks graces her sagging face.

"I had a suspicion this was the direction you were wanting to take next," Chiyo adds.

As if her words are a cue, a small knock emits from the door before the threshold finally opens. To the movement, Sakura's heart races. She worries Chiyo has forsaken her plea and somehow summoned Kakashi. Yet, if the small smirk says anything to Sakura, it's that the old woman already knew this outcome was to be and had planned ahead.

As a tall, tan figure steps into the room, Sakura is pretty sure this familiar face solidifies Chiyo's accord in helping her.

"Your assistant summoned me, Chiyo-baasama," the figure says.

The tall man looks towards the old woman, and Sakura can't help her grin as she recalls the older man's name.

"Baki-san!"

The man's eyes widen to the call of his name. As he turns to face Sakura, those dark eyes of his only grow more round with a dropped jaw. He is shocked for the moment to say anything, but does so eventually with his eyes on Sakura still.

"Another one?" he asks Chiyo.

"The real one," Chiyo explains.

Baki's skin flushes, as if he has seen a ghost, and his eyes go back and forth towards the old woman and the rosette.

"What? Real one?!" he asks, surprised. "What do you mean?!"

Chiyo shrugs, as if the ordeal is nonchalant, despite her approach to first seeing Sakura.

"I mean she is Sakura. The real one," Chiyo answers him before she casually strolls towards the door.

Baki's jaw is still dropped, and his eyes are stuck toward Sakura as the rosette slowly approaches him.

"You-you look no different..." Baki murmurs.

Sakura shrugs to this, and even offers Baki a sympathetic smile.

"I age well, you could say," she comments.

Silence follows as the pair lock eyes. She is sure the questions that came from Chiyo also swim in this man's head. He also followed Rasa closely, and Sakura has a suspicion there's a hint of defeat in him seeing her now instead of finding her before this war had escalated. Inside of her, and she is sure Baki feels it as well, there is a connection between the two not through Gaara, Suna, or Chiyo, but through a brunette long gone.

Yet, between them, her name remains unspoken.

"I did not steal Gaara," Sakura tells Baki then, hoping to brush away whatever hate this man has for her. "Never, would I have wanted all of this to happen."

Yet, as she remembers him to be, Baki is impassive as ever to her words.

"The mission to find you was cast aside ages ago. Our new objective has been finding a way to stop Gaara."

I hold no grudge against you, is what Sakura hears under Baki's words. She's grateful to him then, to Chiyo as well, but can't help herself as a sad frown appears.

'Gaara has gone so astray,' she thinks, 'that even his old teacher would rather join his enemies than him.'

It is the same in Chiyo's case as well, Sakura thinks. There is a little sadness in her to see two of the closest people to Gaara stand here now instead of beside him. Not because she thinks their place is with Gaara and the bloodbath he brings, but because their presence here speaks to her in a different way.

"Gaara is bad," is the message she keeps hearing. "Really, really bad. We would forsake him and instead take him down."

"If Chiyo-baasama can find it within her to forgive and trust you, I shall do the same," Baki adds.

His words are enough to make Sakura smile, for his familiarity in following others still shines. He is always one to follow, it seems.

"Thank you," Sakura mouths to him.

The duo turn as Chiyo clears her throat, drawing their attention towards her.

"Baki," Chiyo speaks. "I need your help in sneaking Sakura out of here and back to where Gaara was last seen. Without being detected by Kakashi or anyone else."

"Aa," Baki affirms.

Yet, not a second passes before his eyes widen to what he has agreed to do. From Sakura's grin to Chiyo's soft smirk, Baki's round eyes go back and forth once more.

"Wait," he asks again. "What?!"

Yet, the two let their smiles speak before Baki faces Sakura sully.

"You do realize the dangers of doing so? He will think you a trick and attack."

Despite the many warnings, Sakura is still sure that she can reach the redhead with old words.

"I'll be alright," she tells Baki. "I've got it all figured out."

Baki still looks uncertain.

"I'm not so sure if..." he begins, but is cut off as Chiyo gives her final say and ushers the pair to begin their mission.

"Just go and take her," Chiyo says with a wave of her hand. "If she is brave enough to face a monster alone, while we hide as an army, she may be the only one of us who has the guts to take on Gaara."