The Samurai's Blossom Part 5
Days turned into weeks with no word from Shisui or any of the Uchiha closest to him. The only proof that his heart was still beating lay on Sakura's wrist. It hadn't faded-yet. The battles raged to the west, and every day the sun rose red in the east, proof that after the gods of death and war had drunk their fill, their cups overturned with blood into that eternal source of life.
Even though Sakura's soulmark was as vibrant as ever, it didn't mean that Shisui wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere hovering on the brink of death. It didn't mean that he wasn't sitting chained in some madman's dungeon… Sakura's mind would go wild with possibilities if she let it. It didn't help assuage her fears that Hashirama himself had left to fight on the front. Tobirama would be leaving that evening under the cover of darkness. She couldn't help but wonder if they too would become another pair of scarred cherry trees in her grandmother's orchard.
The sun began to set beneath the bare trees. They shivered as the wind blew through their branches and the last of their leaves fell to the ground. Sakura closed the sliding door and huddled next to the iori. She took the spindle that had been set aside earlier and began to pull the cotton and wool together. Lifting it up, she dropped it and let it spin. It was uncommon for women in her class to spin thread, but this was one of her family's specialties. The thread would later be woven with linen to create bandages.
Those bandages would then be boiled in a mix of honey and dried herbs. When the bandages dried, they would be wound into tight discs. More herbs would be placed within each layer to preserve their medicinal qualities. No other samurai clan had been able to come close to crafting a recipe as effective as theirs. As a result, many competing clansmen died from infection or hemorrhaging. The bobbin dropped and spun again. It rotated slowly as the thread heated and released the lanolin from the wool, fusing it together with the year's cotton harvest. A song fell from her lips as it dropped. It was older than the tongues of man, sung long before humans forgot magic existed in the world. The oak charcoal snapped loudly, and a brief spark hopped out of the iori before it settled down into glowing embers.
Sakura exhaled. It had been close to the edge of her kimono. This one had been her grandmother's a very long time ago. Tobirama had been cleaning out the attics when he came upon a trove of family heirlooms.
There was a sharp rap on the door before it opened. Sakura's cheeks turned red in the brisk night air.
Tobirama's armor glinted slightly in the dim firelight. He too would be fighting shortly. "We're riding out. There's a small contingent of guards being left behind. I've made arrangements with Gai-san to release your man for the evening. I know that you've been putting more effort into the art of the sword. For my own peace of mind, don't leave his side."
"I won't, Tobi. I promise."
"Good. If things go south, you have Haruki's sword. His spirit will harken to you."
Sakura stood up and put her hands on her cousin's arm. "Tobi, I promise, everything is going to be okay. You've trained me yourself these past few months. Believe in your own work if nothing else."
"Hmph. We will send a message as soon as we are able. Good-bye, Sakura." The cold steel of Tobirama's chest plate nipped her cheek as they embraced each other.
'Please, gods, don't let there be another scarred tree in the orchard,' she prayed silently as he walked into the night.
It wasn't long after another set of feet stopped outside of her bedroom door. A quick knock and Lee was letting himself into the room.
"Good evening, my beautiful blossom!" he cheered. Lee settled on his knees on the opposite side of the room. He loosened the bandages around his hands and began to wind them into neat stacks. A grimace crossed her face when she saw how dirty they were. She usually never noticed, but settled next to the virgin thread she was spinning, the difference was truly apparent.
"Do you want me to have those washed for you?" She tried to hide the disgust on her face as best she could. Lee looked down at the growing stack in confusion.
"Oh, no thanks. The dirt makes them stronger." This time, the disgust on her face was apparent. He laughed in response.
An hour passed by quietly. The cotton buds and roves of wool slowly disappeared onto the spindle thick with thread. A sharp whistle sounded outside that made the hairs on Sakura's neck rise. Footsteps padded on top of the roof, and Lee immediately stood. He put his hand to his lips in a signal to be quiet. Sakura reached into the folds of her outer kimono and tightened the sageo that held her brother's sword in place. The hilt was well-hidden beneath the thick silk sleeves.
A large blade cut the door in half. Before the assailant could take one step, Lee had rendered him unconscious. The wall behind them crashed and two men came from behind, dressed on black. Coal was smeared across their eyes to prevent the light from catching them.
Sakura pushed over the iori. As it fell, the coals sparked and lit the tatami mats on fire. The blaze climbed the walls and cut a line across the room. The ninja raised their weapons. A whistle blew again in the yard.
Lee pulled Sakura through the hole in the sliding door. Paper lanterns that lit the courtyard were overturned and crushed. A maid lay dead on the engawa not ten feet from where Lee and Sakura stood.
"Follow me," Lee whispered. With Lee pulling her arm, they jumped and ran through the bushes around the manor. They made it to the fortress walls and entered a hidden gate on the side. The silhouettes of ninja flickered across the roof. When they ran to the top of the bannister, they saw nothing but bloodshed. It was unbelievable that a troupe of ninja had been able to take down trained samurai.
Lee pulled on Sakura's wrist, tugging her to the fortress gates.
"We are not abandoning the Senju fortress." Sakura picked up a discarded bow and quiver near a fallen samurai. She aimed at a ninja on the rooftop of the Senju compound.
The arrow was deafening when she released it. The target screamed as he slid off the roof to the ground below. Another arrow was loosened. Another scream. She panted. Her arms strained. She could feel the blood of the fallen Senju samurai soaking through her silk slipper.
Lee was no longer beside her. There was a commotion at the other end of the passage. The sound of flesh being hit repeatedly. A body falling. Bones crushed. Then silence. The bow fell from Sakura's hand as she ran to where Lee was.
"Surrender this fortress, or he dies." There were easily twenty bodies on the ground, in a circle around where Lee had been standing. The man held a knife to his neck. Another ninja came up behind her as she raised her hands behind her head.
"Identify yourself," came a gruff voice as they secured her wrist.
"Sakura Haruno of the late Haruno clan. First cousin to the Senju clan leaders."
"What do you want to do with her, Danzo-sama?" The man behind her asked, gesturing to his leader.
The elderly man walked closely to her, and her captor pushed her down to her knees. "Where are the Uchiha and Senju leaders?"
Sakura remained silent. He struck her across the cheek and she could feel the blood well in her mouth.
"Where are they?"
Nothing.
"Slit his throat. Use her as you will."
The man in charge turned his back to her. She loosened her wrist from her captor, pushing an elbow back towards his eye. Haruki Haruno's sword ripped through her kimono as she freed it from its sheath. The tattered silk parted in the midnight wind, as the sword swung behind her. Her captor's head rolled on the ground, separated from his body. At the same time, Lee freed himself by twisting his own assailant's wrist and sticking their own knife into their abdomen.
The leader turned around quickly and caught the hilt of the Haruno's blade, stopping it mid-swing. He grabbed her hair and jerked her head back. Sakura kicked towards his neck in a neat split and temporarily freed herself from his grasp. The sword arced as it flew through the air. The man removed a blade from his cane, and he sprinted at her, intent on finishing their fight. Sakura rolled and landed on her feet away from him. The sword was in reach! She extended her arm to grab it. A pair of arms came up and trapped her in a headlock, holding her immobile.
"Tell your man to stop. And tell me where your clan leaders are," the gruff voice and sour breath against her ear made her sick. He stuck a hand on the back of her neck and locked her wrists together. "Death would be too gentle for you, woman. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I will give you to my men. They will…" He never finished.
Sakura freed the pin keeping her hair bound. The motion loosened his grasp enough that she was able to force it through his eye. The man released her and recoiled with a scream. In his attempt to remove the ornament, the barbs stuck, and the poison was released. His body fell to the ground in a sickening thump.
"Leave!" she commanded the remaining ninja. She wrapped the cords of her brother's sword around her hand and screamed again, raising it into the air. "LEAVE!"
The sound of horse hooves filled the air, intermixed with the shouts of the enemy as they left their wounded and dying behind. One of them looked behind at their fallen leader-the samurai woman standing over his body like a vengeful goddess. Her split, silk kimono shimmered in the moonlight as her blade, raised towards the sky, was darkened with the blood of their fallen comrades. The old man lay in a crumpled pile on the grass, his face covered in blood. The jade sakura blossom glowed in the pale night over his eye socket.
Fire engulfed the manor house amidst the frightened shouts of the surviving staff and clanswomen. Splashes of water sounded in the night. The crickets and frogs that usually sang so sweetly along the riverbed were silent. A red dawn would rise tomorrow.
The sword fell from Sakura's hand as her arms succumbed to exhaustion. She weakly walked towards Lee. He was kneeling in the grass, panting. His hand clutched his shirt over his heart and sweat ran down his face.
"Lee?"
"It's a shallow wound." The front of his shirt was soaked in blood. A slash had been cut across at a diagonal from his shoulder to his hip.
"Stay here."
Sakura had never run so quickly in her life. She prayed to all of the gods that she would make it in time. She tore the door of the pharmacy open and ripped a satchel of bandages and poultices off the shelf. By the time she returned to Lee's side, he was gray from blood loss. A teenage Senju clansman had his head in his lap. He looked up at her and shook his head. "Get out of the way, boy," she growled.
"You're going to be okay, Lee. You need to stay conscious." That was when she felt it. The gaping wound on the back of his head. He gave her a weak smile in return. "You are not going anywhere, Lee! Listen to me! You are not leaving me!"
All of her heart and soul went into healing him. She cleaned the wound and dressed it in bandages and poultices and carefully wound the gauze around his head. Her hands wrapped around his shoulder as she addressed the shallow wound on his torso. His head lolled when she raised him up.
"Lee! LEE!" She shook him. His eyes remained closed. "Wake up! LEE! WAKE UP!"
Panic welled inside her. This was Lee. Her best friend since childhood. Her bodyguard, her constant companion. The last remaining member of the Haruno household. The boy who used to pick daisies with her had turned into a man that risked the wrath of an Uchiha general to ensure she was happy.
There was no possible way he could leave her alone in this world.
"Lee! Please wake up… please wake up…" Tears fell from her eyes as her fingertips brushed along his jaw. They slipped downward and felt for a pulse. It was there. Weak, but present. She sighed in relief, though it was short lived. It would only be by the gods' mercy alone if he lived through the night.
The grass rustled behind her, and Sakura jumped, knife in hand.
"Easy, sister. Easy," came Mito's soothing words. The older woman nodded to two men who loaded Lee on a stretcher before taking him away. Mito took a handkerchief from her obi and wet it with water from the river. She grabbed Sakura's hands and began to erase the bloodstains. "My guard and I just arrived from Uzushio. We ran across a group of fleeing ninja and one is being held for questioning. I won't ask you what happened here. I can already guess. My husband sent a missive in advance of his intention to join the battle…"
Mito was silent for a moment before continuing. She gently grabbed Sakura's chin and held her gaze. "We're samurai women, Sakura-chan. Wives, sisters, and mothers to warriors. What you have done here tonight-defending the fortress is beyond worthy of honor. You have made your family, your clan, and your future children proud tonight. You need to know that."
Mito swept her arm out over the grounds, and Sakura surveyed the damage. Several ninja lay on the backs or sides in the grass, white-feathered arrows sticking out from their backs. The charred remains of the manor house smoked against the lightened sky. Mito pulled Sakura to her feet as the sun rose.
AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment. :)
Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious cherryberry12 herself. Thank you for all of your hard work! 3
