Chapter 22
Sakura faded in and out of consciousness for the next few days. At last the doctor in Suna renounced their capability to help her and insisted she really needs to be sent to the Capital right away. Sasuke decided he will do it by taking up a war horse, heavy capes and wrapped Sakura in his arms and rode back as fast as he possibly could.
Against the advisement of political figures and various generals, Sasuke took the forestry route back. He did not disclose his precise route in fear of a leak and ambush, but it's safe to say that the closer he gets to the capital the safer he will be.
Sakura drifted in and out of consciousness. Her dreams consists of different scenarios that mixed between her previous life and this one. She retained some memories of her past and her family, and she begin to utter nonsense when she's semi-awake.
One particular dream stayed with her. It was when she's standing in a pond and looking over at the shores and saw Sasuke. He's smiling at her and motion for her to come near him. She tried very hard to swim towards him but couldn't. Then she got irritated and said, "you have to meet me half way, I can't make all the effort."
He jumped into the pool, and Sakura realized for the first time that her surrounding were black and white, and when he come into the pond, everything radiating from his presence begin to have color. He raised his hand to touch her face and stoking her cheeks as if she's the most priceless piece of jewel he had ever seen, and she herself begin to see the world in color.
Sakura smiled, and at that moment she felt deliriously happy.
In reality she's slipped deeper into dreams and Sasuke, who is traveling with her in his arms on a horse's back, pinched her cheeks really hard to make sure she does not fall into deep unconsciousness.
Sakura was jolted awake for a brief moment, she couldn't see things clearly due to her surrounding being so dark, but she saw under the moonlight the trees casts faint shadows upon Sasuke's chiseled face. She felt his menacing pinch and she complained incoherently, "you just won't let me get a good night sleep won't you? I have to wait on my hands and knees literally... I want to sleep..."
Sasuke ignored her babbles and focused on rushing the horse to kept on going.
One of the reasons why Capital City Konoha is impenetrable is the forestry that surrounds it. The city itself resides in the deepest part of a dense and old forest sites. Even though the city itself is large and peaceful, outside its walls are miles of trees. To the north there's the tundra, and south there's the canyon valley. Only four main patches goes in and out of Konoha, and Sasuke must go through the south valley.
Normally the Valley is fine to go through during broad daylight. When it gets dark, different nocturnal creatures comes out to hunt for prey and food, in additional to various poisonous fungus and insects that crawls about the entire place. Releasing different sorts of poison clouded with damp air trapping it into the valley. This dense and poisonous condition had the locals call the Konoha Valley as the Valley of Death. A cliche but apt name, with all the different corpses decomposing in the valley.
This valley is the reason why Konoha is so medically renowned. Different medical professionals al over the world comes to Konoha to research the valley and finding different poison and antidotes.
When Sasuke arrived at the edge of the valley, he hesitated. To go through the valley would cut his journey to half a day before he gets back. To wait for the sun to come up would mean wasting precious few hours that Sakura may not have. To go around the valley would also mean wasting time. The best and most direct route he should take is going through the valley. He striped away part of his silk cape and formed two crude face masks. One he put on Sakura and one he out on himself. He switched horses in a nearby neighbour town and rode in.
It was a cold and long night. Sakura doesn't remember what happened when they went through the valley, but she remembered Sasuke's arms around her, strong, warm, and consistent.
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A couple days later, Sakura woke up, feeling better than ever. Her sluggishness was almost gone, and despite being very weak and hungry, she was able to get up all by herself, because there were nobody around her.
This is strange. She's on a very elaborate bed. A bed she recognized. This is one of the guest rooms of the Royal Prince's manor. She used to clean the floors and dust the windows of this bed when she first came.
Then she heard the different noises and drums that rang in the distance. She rubbed her eyes and ears and attempted to get off the bed. A servent girl with a tray of porridge came in and saw her, immediately she rushed over and exclaimed, "you're awake! Oh lord, thank goodness you're awake!"
"What happened?" Sakura asked, eyeing the delicious porridge. She licked her lips and found her lips to be moist and well taken care of.
"Your life is worth its own weight in gold." She said, "his Royal Highness carried you back to Capital City all the way from Suna within a couple of days! And he even went through Death Valley... which caused his illness..."
"What?" Sakura was confused for a second, in between drinking her porridge, then she grasped the main point, "the prince is ill?"
"Yes, no doubt from inhaling all that dark and damp gasses at night. He couldn't even stand up properly when he came into the city, only when he endured a doctor was able to see you he fainted-"
"He fainted? Are you sure?" Sakura had a hard time imagining a man as strong as him could ever faint.
"Yes. The Emperor and the Dowager Empress are very worried, they send teams of doctors over, and they even went to the temples to pray for the monks to come and bless the Royal Prince with health..."
"Let me see him." Sakura quickly said, limping off her bed and with the help of the girl, they walked over to Sasuke's bed chambers.
As big as the room is, there must've been at least 30 people crowding the bed. If this was in a modern hospital the nurses would've gotten rid of everyone. In front of the chambers there are various monks kneeling and praying for blessing, and beats of drums and bon fires with dancers dressed in elaborate costume as rituals.
Sakura squeezed herself in, and to her relief everyone crowding the bed are doctors. Neither the Emperor or the Dowager Empress is present at the moment.
Sasuke lie on the large bed, weak and unconscious.
The first thought Sakura had was that he should go to the hospital right away and be placed in an ICU. Second was that all these noises are really bothering her, and she's awake.
She cleared her throat, and everyone went silent to look at her. If there's one thing people learnt what to do is to recognize authority in a room. Sakura looked towards the various doctors and asked, "what do you suggest we should do?"
The doctors all lowered their heads and mumbled incoherently.
It's not that they're incompetent, it's that anything they say will be used against them and it's a great way to get yourself killed if your medical suggestions do not work immediately.
Sakura shot them a contempt look, and turned to Sasuke. She raised her hand to touch his face like he did in her dream, and discovered him to be burning up.
She looked down at her arm, which was bandaged and mostly healed, and decided that since she owed her life to him, she should try her best to save him somehow. And the first step is to lower his temperatures.
"Everyone who do not have a good suggestion, get out of the room. Clear the air, put out the fire, fan away the smoke, open up the windows and do all this as quietly as possible." She said clearly but calmly, and everyone had to lean in and listen closely. "Give me some clean clothes and cold water. Get me some ice from the underground storage vault-"
Everyone did exactly what they're told, since they're gladly to have Sakura shouldering all responsibilities.
When things died down, Sakura took iced towels and placed it on his forehead, while stripping his robes to wipe away sweats. The problem with this is that she haven't had intimate contact with him yet, despite what everyone thinks, and she can't really strip him clean and give him a cold sponge bath.
Just as she was deciding what to do, suddenly Sasuke muttered, "prince... where's the Crowned Prince?"
The difference between a Crowned prince and a Royal prince is that the first is destined to be the Emperor, and the latter will always be inferior. In his case, Sakura gathered he'd probably talking about his brother. But his brother is already the Emperor, it was a long time ago when the nation had a Crowned Prince.
"We can't wait, there's no time, he has to ... Crown... my brother..." Sasuke suddenly became agitated and delirious, grasping onto air while struggling.
Sakura was confused. She quickly lent her hand out and intertwined her finger with his, "the Crowned prince is fine, he's the Emperor now. Your brother cares about you very much, he's sending his best doctors over..."
Everyone in the room backed away when they first heard Sasuke muttering. They knew that he's muttering secrets. It has been long rumored that since Sasuke and Itachi looked identical, when the previous emperor died it was actually Sasuke disguised as Itachi ascended the throne. Itachi was imprisoned somewhere and could not make it for his coronation or something. This is extremely dangerous information because it could mean the throne would be up to debate. It's all very complicated, and those who ever mentioned it or made guesses were all executed. Later it was written in history textbooks that Sasuke was up in the temple on mountains, there's no way he ever left and got involved in the politics.
Those who head Sasuke's initial mumbled quickly backed away and ran out the room, even the doctor that was staying by Sakura's side turned away and left almost immediately. All other servants quickly found excuses and something else to do. While Sakura was cluelessly naive, she held onto Sasuke's hand and soothed him back to a calming state.
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A/N: Happy New Year!
