Chapter 10 – The Crows Cry Out

Why was she still seeing them?

Shaking hands clenched into fists, her eyes slowly shutting to try and block it all out. They were talking amongst themselves like they were real. Like they weren't brutally murdered a couple of months ago. Reopening her eyes slightly, she glanced over to the right, making sure she was still there in the corner of the room. As expected: her shishou was still there. For that, Sakura was grateful. She wasn't alone in the new hell Danzo had created.

"At least Danzo has one thing right this time," Tsunade muttered, glaring at the arguing group of men. "They're still acting like idiots."

Honestly, Sakura wasn't sure how much longer she could last. The physical torture was one thing. That, she could somewhat handle. Tsunade had taught her to go to her 'safe place' for the duration of those sessions. It was a field of blossoming flowers, the wind gently disturbing them with its cooling breeze, causing the bright colours to look as though they were shimmering. Oh, it was wonderful going there. Every night Sakura hoped she would dream of it, too.

"Looks like this place is secure," she went on to say and turned away, touching the wall. "It's hard to believe Danzo would go through all this trouble to screw with you, kid."

"What're you suggesting?" she demanded through gritted teeth. Gods, she couldn't handle it. There was too much talking. Too much noise. There was always too much noise from the dead. Why the hell couldn't they stay quiet?

"Maybe you really are out of that hellhole." Raising an eyebrow, Tsunade faced the group, narrowing her eyes on them. "They're all powerful men, Sakura. It's possible they-"

"They're all dead," came her defiant yell, uncaring of the dead people now staring at her.

Any moment, they would be covered – no, drowning in their own blood. She would hear their screams of agony and begs for mercy. She would be forced to witness each and every one of their deaths on repeat for many hours until her mind broke all over again. It was Danzo's favourite pastime, after all. Breaking her.

"Sakura-chan, we-"

She flinched at the sound of Naruto's voice. It always caused her great pain hearing it. He was supposed to become so much more than what he was now. He wasn't supposed to be used to break her. Naruto was going to become Hokage, was going to show the world that he was so, so, so much more than just a jinchūriki, than a tool. He was a person with dreams and aspirations and needs. He just wanted to show them all that he was capable of feeling. That he loved and wanted to be loved.

Her legs shook as she backed away into the wall. The physical pain was bearable. Sure, it hurt, but she would cope with it. She had to. Danzo could mark her body all he wanted, could brand her with as many names as he could think of, but she would not show her pain. She would not-

"Sakura," Tsunade said firmly as she came to stand beside her, glaring at the group of men now watching her closely. "Remain calm. Assess the situation. Remember your training."

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Sakura questioned harshly, hands flat against the stone wall. Shit, why did she back into it? Why didn't she go towards the-

There was a door. An opened door. No, it was an archway.

No one was guarding it.

And she now had access to her chakra for the first time in months.

It was reluctantly that she admitted she wasn't nearly as fast as she used to be, her limbs shaking as she forced them into a dead sprint towards the archway, teeth gritting and fists clenching as she prepared herself to take down anyone she had to, even if it meant fighting those she loved.

They're dead anyway, a voice hissed in the back of her mind. They can hardly die a second time.

That was right.

She willed herself to drain every last drop of chakra from her reserves when someone placed themselves between her and the exit, her left fist drawing back. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto's expression turn to one of horror, heard him screaming at her to stop. But why should she take orders from a dead man?

It hurt her heart looking into his face, knowing her fist was about to make it unrecognisable. Hurt that she was going to kill him after all the years of trying to-

No, he was already dead. Sasuke was gone. She was about to kill an impostor.

Short, spiky black hair was replaced with long, straight hair that swayed due to his sudden speed, that continued to sway as he summoned an immense amount of chakra to counter her attack. He knew from experience that, even if she was severely weakened, Sakura's strength was still a challenge. It would still kill him. He caught her wrist expertly, the chakra he'd summoned taking the force of the blow and protecting his bones – just like she'd told him in the past it would. Beneath them, the already damaged ground was further destroyed, crumbling under their feet at the collision of strengths. It didn't matter to her. She didn't care if the whole place came down around them. At least it would put an end to her torment. Her only wish was for Danzo to be hiding somewhere in the room, for him to be trapped. She wanted him to die with her so that he couldn't be a threat to anyone else.

Panting from the exertion, Sakura glanced up, only for all anger and defiance to leave her instantly at the sight of his eyes. It wasn't the intense concentration written all over his face that bothered her. Wasn't the fact he was also panting from having to summon so much chakra so quickly (he didn't have the greatest stamina). His eyes…

Due to him still holding onto her wrist, she couldn't escape. Even if she wasn't physically immobilised by him, just looking into his Mangekyō Sharingan froze her in place. It stole all breath from her lungs.

"Look away, Sakura," snarled Tsunade, her eyes wide.

Her eyes squeezed shut even though she knew deep down it was too late. She'd already looked into his eyes and any moment now the torture would begin all over again. Shit, she should have known. She-

"Open your eyes, Sakura."

He sounded just like him. Used that same tone. He sounded just like the friend she lost. The one who was always there for her, who always, without fail, dropped everything to make sure she was okay. That she wasn't alone in her suffering. They shared their pain.

"Sakura," he tried again.

"Stop it," she begged softly. "Let me go."

The grip on her fist tightened but didn't cause her any pain. "Forgive me, but there are many here who care for you, myself included. I believed you to be dead for two months," he murmured. Sakura was almost tempted to look up, for he sounded just like her dearest friend, sounded just like the man who she shared everything with. "I am not going to allow you to leave, even if that means stopping you myself."

"Itachi-"

She cut the fake Sasuke off, muttering, "Why should I care about a dead man's feelings?"

"We are not dead," came his calm disagreement. "There are many here who were able to flee during the ambush, Sakura. Your friend, the one you went through so much pain to protect, is also here, along with her sister and cousin."

Hinata?

They had Hinata?

"Where is she?" Her softly spoken words belied the rage that had been reawakened inside her. How she kept it from showing on her face she wasn't entirely sure. All Sakura knew was that she had to be smart. She had to tread carefully. In her peripheral, she saw Tsunade nod once, agreeing with her.

"Safe," he assured her.

Was she, though? Did Hinata truly make it out of Konoha? There was no denying that she'd been in an awful state, unable to run in a simple straight line, never mind outrunning ROOT. What if she was captured again but kept in a separate cell? What if they were both still locked in that place and her current reality was actually a lie? What if–

"Sakura, calm down," her shishou ordered sternly and she flinched as the woman's hand came down on her shoulder. "We need to be smart about this if we want to get out."

No. There was no getting out. Everything she was seeing was a lie. It was all another way of toying with her mind, creating more cracks in her structure until she shattered into a thousand pieces, if she hadn't already. How much more could she withstand? Nothing. She couldn't. It was too much. She had to get out. She had to get out.

Almost instinctively, her leg swept round, determined on taking out Itachi's legs, but he seemed to anticipate that and easily leaped over them. Then, he spun her until her back touched his chest, her arm twisted painfully between their bodies.

"Enough," he muttered more seriously.

"Itachi-"

"Stay out of this, Shisui," he ordered. She could feel his breath on her neck, could feel the warmth his body radiated, could smell him. He was… Her eyes widened. He was real. He wasn't like the clones Danzo sent to her cell on a daily basis. Itachi was real. Her friend was… "You are in no condition to go against us, Sakura and I refuse to see you harmed any more than you already are." She could feel his muted frustration, she knew it would steadily grow if she continued to fight him. "I will stand here for as long as I must to prevent that. Stiff muscles are nothing compared to the damage some of the shinobi here can do."

Green eyes drifted from the floor, staring up at the faces around her. Naruto wasn't even looking at her, his head turned in a different direction like he couldn't even meet her eye. Sasuke was staring straight at her blankly. Kakashi's single eye was downcast, like everything happening caused him pain. Her shishou looked enraged, but Sakura wasn't sure whether that was with her or with Itachi. The last face was…

Shisui.

She quickly averted her gaze as tears filled her eyes, slipping soundlessly down her cheeks. It was all a lie. The Shisui she was looking at was an impostor. The Shisui she knew could barely see a thing, let alone have his Sharingan – his Mangekyō – activated. Gods, she wished she could've seen the real thing. She wished she could've kept her promise to him.

"Sakura."

It even sounded like him, not that she should have expected any different. "Stop it."

"Look at me."

His voice was gentle, loving. It was exactly how he spoke to her in their final days together – no, Shisui had always spoken to her like that, hadn't he? Like she was the only good thing in his life? Or was it? She could remember someone she loved treating her badly. Calling her names. Making her feel worthless. Was it Shisui? Or… Sasuke, maybe? What had Shisui become to her, anyway? Was he just a friend? Had he been her lover?

The presence of another standing in front of her had Itachi loosening his hold, had him stepping away. Knowing exactly who it was, she refused to look up. She refused to acknowledge him. Her mind was spinning as she tried to remember her past, as she tried to recall the forgotten memories that had been locked away.

"Please," he begged quietly. "Don't ignore me."

He sounded so lost and alone. Like she was the only thing that kept him going. Why didn't he sound evil like her mind was telling her he should? Why did he sound almost intimate? Why did he sound like everyone else had suddenly disappeared from the room, like they were lovers? What the hell was going on? She couldn't stand the confusion. It was ripping her apart not knowing what was real or fake.

"This is real," he told her.

"No."

"Sakura."

"No."

"Look at me."

The feeling of his hand brushing her cheek made her flinch, but it also made her freeze. Her eyes squeezed shut and she mustered every ounce of self-control she could to keep herself from looking at him, even as her mind began to spin with questions that needed answers.

Who was he to her? He was an Uchiha, making him her enemy. But was he really an enemy? No, he had to be. He was trying to use his Sharingan against her just like Danzo said they would, because it always came down to that – the Uchiha Clan had to be in control because they were power hungry. But she could vaguely recall the nights she and Shisui had stayed awake until the early hours of the morning talking about everything and nothing. Were they real? In all the screwing about with her mind, had Danzo planted them there? Had he taken memories from her? Had one of the Uchiha men planted them there?

It took her breath away when his forehead pressed to hers. A mixture of shock, fear and uncertainty stirred within her stomach, but the movement also brought a strange sense of familiarity, one she couldn't place.

Was Shisui truly an enemy?

The others became non-existent to her, like they were outside the bubble Shisui had suddenly created around them, which felt as familiar as his touch.

What was he to her?

"You don't have to be scared of me," he whispered. Was she truly hearing the pain in his voice? Was it real? Was he playing with her mind to bend her to his will just like Danzo had?

Whatever Shisui was or had been to her, it occurred to Sakura that his presence made more of an impact to her than the others'. With words alone he was capable of making her question absolutely everything. Did she like it? No. She didn't like feeling confused and lost, like she was missing a huge chunk of who she once was.

"She's shaking, Shisui," someone said firmly, bursting their bubble. "Back off."

"Sasuke-"

"Shut up, dobe," he snapped. "We're not getting anywhere by confusing her to the point of being frightened. All we can do is try and reverse what's been done."

What?

Her blood ran cold as her eyes snapped open, meeting the tender look that was slowly fading to stunned anger from the man standing before her. The blood red colour of his eyes had her backing out of his hold, but for the life of her, she couldn't look away from his eyes. He'd already caught her in a genjutsu, hadn't he? He was screwing with her mind. Making her see things that weren't really there. Trying to find out where her real precious people were.

"Sakura-"

"Stay the hell away from me," she spat coldly, flinching when her back hit the wall. The others were closing in, each saying something to her but she couldn't hear them – didn't want to. Their words were all lies because they were nothing more than impostors. They were Danzo's henchmen really, all playing a part in finding out her secrets. "I don't know anything!"

"You-"

"Come anywhere near me and I'll rip your eyes out like you did to Hinata," snarled Sakura viciously, fingers digging into the wall behind her, uncaring of the way her nails split in response. She didn't see Naruto's grimace. "And I'll leave you to bleed out on the floor like you've done to-"

"Try it," Sasuke stated coldly, Sharingan activating. "You're useless in your condition, Sakura."

"Sasuke, stop," Itachi ordered, his eyes narrowing. "Do not antagonise Sakura. Even in her condition she is still dangerous – more so when frightened and angered, because she is unpredictable."

Stepping forward in the same way as he had earlier, Kakashi took up her vision, demanding her full attention as he said to her, "Just breathe, Sakura. They're not going to hurt you."

"Bullshit!"

Somewhere amongst the chaos, another's presence went undetected until the moment she all but tackled her to the ground, her arms wrapping around her securely, pushing Sakura's face into her neck, all the while gently shushing her. It seemed so routine, like it was something she'd done so many times in the past and as soon as the woman's scent filled Sakura's senses, she quickly realised that it was routine. It was real.

"Hinata," she choked back a sob, returning the hold and crushing the other girl to her.

"I need you to do something for me, Sakura-san," Hinata told her and pulled back, cupping her cheeks.

It hurt seeing the bandage covering her eye, seeing the strain on her bruised features. Throughout their time spent in that hellhole, she'd done all she possibly could to limit the torture Danzo inflicted on Hinata. She knew without even thinking about it that she wouldn't last long. If that meant more torture for Sakura, then so be it. She would deal with it. She would always deal with it.

"Anything."

The hold on her tightened like she was afraid of the reaction. "Trust them."

What?

"They're murderers," she yelled disbelievingly, switching her embrace to an arm grab, giving her a firm shake. "What the hell have they done to your head, huh? How can you so easily believe in their lies?"

Hinata cried out, her features twisting into a painful grimace. "Sakura-san, please let go. You're-"

"You can't trust them," she snapped, shaking her again roughly. "Don't trust any of them."

Somebody grabbed her, another pinching her nerves and forcing her to release Hinata. There were hand prints on her arms which were already turning a deep shade of purple, but that was the least of her concerns. Whoever was holding her was holding her securely, locking her arms behind her back. She couldn't move. The position of her arms made it difficult to breathe in and out, her chest feeling tight. The room began to spin, her breathing coming in short, sharp pants and a dull ringing drowned out their talking.

"Hinata, get out. You can't trust any of them. They'll use their Sharingan on you. They'll use your Sharingan on you like Danzo used his on me! Get out."

The hands holding her twitched and Itachi stepped in front of her, looking strangely pale.

"Danzo has the Sharingan?"

A/N - I've had the week from hell. Ever get the feeling something's building and building, slowly choking you? I could feel it all week.

Started with my nightmares coming back and making it difficult to sleep through an entire night without waking up terrified. Then I had the rudest customers at work. I'm falling behind with one of my assignments. I passed my driving test, but my car failed it's MOT, costing me even more on top of the insurance and road tax, etc - money I don't even have and had to borrow from my boyfriend, who I can't thank enough. Then, in the early hours of Wednesday morning (3:36am exactly, actually), when I got up to get ready for another day at work, my mum told me my nan passed away. Thursday, another fail on the MOT even though the car had been worked on. Turns out the first MOT place missed pretty dangerous faults in the car, so it's a good thing I went somewhere else.

Yesterday, when I was stood at my till at work, trying to get rid of a queue of customers that seemed to be never ending, I was serving a couple of guys. One much younger than the other, though no younger than me (21), both pretty big in terms of muscle and both looked like builders. I thought nothing of it, just wanted to serve them as quickly and politely as possible to get onto the next customer, trying to keep my queue down. The item they were buying, a door that had had its packaging removed (meaning no ordinary barcode) and a clearance sticker slapped on the side with a fairly big price drop, told me straight away I had to call the department to double check with one of the guys up there. No problem, he came down as fast as he could and then took the men aside to look through a catalogue to see what had gone on. During that time, I followed my training and continued serving the other customers, but was prepared to let the guys jump the queue when my colleague had finished talking with them.

About two minutes later, he comes up to me, tells me the barcode, walks off. I don't know if he told me to knock it down to the clearance price or leave it as it was, so left it at the price it came up as - wrong of me, I know. The older guy questioned me about it, I said I need to double check, just to make sure, as I'd been busy with other customers when they were discussing it. His response? "Fuck that. Why should I have to wait longer because you're clearly too stupid to listen to simple instructions? Tell you what, fucking take it all back. I'll go somewhere else."

Keep in mind my week had been the shittest in a while, so I wasn't going to let some idiot talk to me like that. I nodded, said okay, took the other item he'd picked up (tub of adhesive, probably 2L I think) and was about to go onto the next customer, apologising for the delay. Then I hear him yell so loudly that it honestly made me jump, "Fucking rude bitch. Acting all high and mighty when you're the one in the fucking wrong. Trying to charge me full price you cheeky fucker." He slammed the his hand down so loudly that several of my colleagues came running over, thinking he'd hit me and then he said, "I still want that adhesive and don't try charging me more."

I was shaking by that point and my chest was feeling all tight, like I couldn't take a deep breath no matter how hard I tried. I ignored that and told him calmly, making sure to keep my voice as level as possible, "After the way you've spoken to me, I have every right to refuse to serve you. If someone else wants to, that's fine. Go to them. But there's not a chance I'm serving you after that outburst."

He came back with, "Are you fucking kidding me?" By that point, the colleague who was speaking to them about the door tried calming him down, all the while the younger guy was apologising profusely to me, looking like he'd seen this so many times before. He was screaming and swearing, getting in the face of another female colleague who's about 60 and has arthritis, screaming and spitting as he yelled, calling me every name he could think of. I couldn't even hear him properly by that point because of this ringing I had in my ears and because I was focusing too hard on trying to catch my breath, because suddenly I couldn't breathe at all. Somehow I managed to serve the elderly couple who was behind him, who were just as shaken up. They were telling me something, but I couldn't hear it. Just about managed to hand them their receipt. I heard one of the bigger guys at work yell back at the customer, saying, "Oi, don't fucking talk to her like that, mate."

Then the guy was suddenly right behind me, shouting down my ear, "Give me the fucking adhesive you cheeky fucker."

Another colleague of mine came running over once the door colleague managed to get him away from me, put her arm around me and got me out of there, telling me to do something. I can't even remember what happened after that or how I got separated from her, I just remember one of the duty managers (we work in a huge warehouse and there's so many of them) finding me in the disabled toilets, collapsed on the floor and panicking so badly I was heaving, because I couldn't breathe and with all the deep breaths I was taking, I was nearly making myself sick.

Another manager drove me home after they'd sat me down for a cup of tea in the cafe and gave me some time to sit there and try and relax. I was shaking so badly, though. And I can remember being so warm that I had to take my work jacket and pinny off. My chest felt so constricted that I tried loosening my bra, thinking somehow that would help. Bless him the cafe guy came over with some victoria sponge and was all like "I won't crowd you like they're all doing, I know what panic attacks are like. Stay here as long as you need, sweetheart and shout me if you need anything. I'll just be over there."

God, it was terrifying. Even now, just writing it and remembering what happened, I'm shaking. I know it could've been worse and some people go through things a thousand times worse than that on a daily basis, but I'm not used to confrontation and I'm not used to someone I don't even know get so aggressive with me. I'll stand up for myself against someone my own size and age, but that guy was easily in his late 30s, nearly twice my size in muscle alone. Not only that, but he was so close to me at one point that I could feel him breathing down my neck. So close that he could have hurt me if it weren't for the guys at work getting involved.

I haven't had a panic attack in over a year. I thought I'd put all that behind me after I closed the door on my ex and all the shit he put me through.

All that over a door - one that wasn't even nice, either.

Usually, me and my boyfriend work near enough the same shifts, although he's on a different department and I'm on checkouts. I'm so glad he wasn't in, even though I could've done with his comfort. The other guys at work were all saying it was a good thing he wasn't in, too. He's not aggressive in the least and has to be the most laid back person I've ever met, but he would've snapped with the way that guy was talking to me. He gets annoyed with the way my sister talks to me when we're arguing, and that's not even a fraction of how horribly that customer spoke to me. And there's no way he would've missed it either, because staff from the other side of the warehouse came rushing over to help remove the customer, and the place is massive. Even knowing his personality and how he lets things slide, one of the guys at work was all like "Good job you weren't in yesterday, you would've beaten the shit out of him".

They've been so supportive at work, though. Loads of people have been asking me how I was today, some saying I should've had the day off to make sure I didn't get too worked up again. Honestly, I kind of wish I had, because it was scary being on the till again and they had to move me to a department for the day because I was getting lightheaded and having chest pains again, but I'm not going to let a maniac like that guy scare me out of work. I enjoy my job for the most part. I get on with most of the staff. When the customers aren't being rude, I get on with the too. And I need the money too much and with Christmas around the corner, it'd take a while to find another decently paying job. I'm just dreading when I have to go back on a till.

Sorry about the rant on my life story, guys. I needed somewhere to put that.