Sakura realized, in a strange mix of pride and dread, that Netflix was actually sending her automated messages asking her if she was alright based on the logged hours of activity in recent weeks. She logged out of her account and decided she should probably cool it when it came to the Korean dramas.

"Damn those cliffhangers," Sakura muttered under her breath. It had been so much easier to get lost in a few television shows and tune out the rest of the world's happenings than the research and reading she had promised herself she would get to.

Also the headaches.

Sakura pushed her laptop away from her and checked the clock from the stove for the time. She had slept in again and was neglecting the rituals and routines that once kept her so faithfully on track. She hadn't made a breakfast for hersef or taken a shower.

She sought out the bathroom first and stripped to stand in the shower. Fifteen minutes later she was padding barefoot across the floor with her hair in a towel, reading the directions on her phone for the location of her first on site interview. She had passed the phone call interview earlier that week and tomorrow was the first they could see her. Sakura thought she had a good feeling about her chances, but didn't want to be overconfident.

"Do you need to?"

Sakura almost dropped her phone as she jumped, turning to find Sai sulking on her couch with his knees drawn up in front of his chin. He glared at her mournfully over the edge of his knees.

"Sai, we talked about this. It's better than relocating. If I commute I can still live here with you and Yamato and I won't have to worry about risking my life every time I open the clinic."

He lifted his head a little. "Why do you need to work? I make money. I can buy you anything you want."

"I'm not taking your money from you. It's yours. You should be able to do what you want with it."

"I want to give it to you."

"Th-that's not what I meant, Sai." Sakura couldn't help but laugh. He made things sound so simple.

"I don't need money like you do. I never needed money or wanted it. I have everything I want right here, and she has to go away all day because of something stupid like money. What good is it to have money if it makes you sad?"

"Some of us have debts and bills and financial needs that can't be so easily bartered," Sakura explained, while reminiscing on how countercultural Pompeii was with its way of doing business. It was like a place out of time. Money changed hands, yes, but so did promises, wishes, tokens, and favors. Pompeii was unique but Pompeii was also dangerous for her.

"I told you we could help you with those. You don't want our help." Sai's head shot up and the glare was back. "Why do you have to be like this? All you need is us."

Sakura saw his chin tremble. It was only a little, and anyone who didn't know Sai nearly as well as she did would have missed it. Anyone else would have see his glare and not the brokenness. Anyone else would have missed it, but not Sakura.

She crossed to room, dropping her phone onto the table and reaching for his face. He pulled away at first but when she made an effort to follow with her hands he didn't resist. Sakura held his face and ran her thumbs up over his cheeks, under his eyes. Her contact made his glare melt and his gaze go hazy. Holding his head she could feel how soft his skin was and all the micro tremors that shook him with each shaky breath.

"Never," she began in a low whispering tone, "doubt that I love you, Sai." She bent over and kissed the crown of his skull and she felt his arms reach out to pull her closer as the tremors intensified.

A year ago he was a boy with half baked emotions. Now he didn't know what to do with all the pain he felt because of them.

Sakura ran her fingers through his hair, petting it back like he was a scared animal that needed the contact. He leaned into her touch and his arms encircled her higher up on her waist, tugging her closer still. His face was buried in her stomach and she could feel that part of her shirt growing damp, but she didn't remark on it.

"Can I make you breakfast?" she finally asked.

"It's one in the afternoon," came the muffled reply.

"Oh, you're right. I guess that makes it lunch."

Sai inhaled deeply and rubbed his face in the fabric before pulling away slightly. Sakura could see his pout but little else of his expression stood out.

"Fine," he muttered.

It had been a while since he made a scene for attention, but Sakura wouldn't complain. Sai was still learning how to express his emotions and deal with his feelings. Some things like anger and frustration came easier than others. He was like a child in some regards, learning and growing like any young kid would. Sakura didn't hate it, she couldn't. She felt proud to see him grow.

Sakura smiled wide and clapped to get his attention. "Alright. How about something sweet like waffles and strawberries? I have whipped cream I think."

"What about chocolate sprinkles?" Sai reached up to flatten the upturned parts of his hair and then glanced up at Sakura. "I could go out and buy some if you don't have any."

Sakura remembered the list of things she needed and turned to grab it off the side of her fridge. "If you don't mind, while you're out there getting sprinkles can you grab these few things too. I'm a bit low on groceries."

Sai took the list, glanced at it only once before stuffing it in his pocket and standing. Sakura was reaching for her purse to fish out money but Sai was already waving his hand and protesting.
"Put that away, this is stuff I'll eat anyway! Geez." Sai backed up towards the door, watching Sakura the whole time. "I'm going out but I'll be back soon. Don't eat all the waffles without me. I'll be right back."

"I believe you," Sakura laughed.

The door closed behind him and Sakura heard Sai's footsteps skip stairs in his descent.

Cute

The room spun for a heartbeat and Sakura had to reach for something to stay upright. It was a jerkish reaction, but as soon as it came it passed, leaving a splitting headache in its wake. Sakura had to bite her knuckles as the worst throbs of pain washed over her and then abated. It took a minute more before she could stand and reach for water. The pills to kill her pain shook in her palm but she managed to swallow them down.

"Please stop," Sakura prayed in some form of blind desperation, not knowing who was listing. For that matter, she didn't even know who was hurting her in the first place, but there was a voice that crippled her to hear. Something in her head echoed like a blood sore.

Sakura leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, holding a fistful of hair by its roots. She could feel the tears and knew she needed to gather herself if she wanted to look okay by the time Sai, or worse Yamato, walked in on her. They'd both freak out if they knew about the voice she kept hearing.

It had started a few days ago, and the first time was more odd than painful, but after that first time the voice came back with maybe a single word or phrase to tear a bloody path through her brain. The pain was so bad it was hard to remember what the voice sounded like or what it was even trying to say. Sometimes she thought they were words in a different language and then other times she thought they were words that she could understand, just not remember because of the pain.

This time the comment had been about Sai. Something called Sai the same time Sakura thought the same exact thing. Her Sai was cute and honest and she adored him. Someone or something else seemed to think so too.

Sakura didn't know if it was a psychic in Pompeii or someone else paying off a curse to plague her in retribution for the sickness that had grown so severe it even claimed Hashirama-a man who was famous for never falling ill for all the centuries he had been alive.

'The Good Neighbors don't get sick!'

More and more people in Pompeii were freaking out and growing more vocal about their suspicions. Even her friends...or the people she thought of as friends, were joining the mobs. There was talk about her seducing Sarutobi and tricking others to make it seem like Pompeii was protecting her.

'Cute' had been what the voice said. And it meant Sai. Her Sai.

Sakura's fingers tugged at the clump of hair and she seethed as one of the last rolls of pain swept through her.

"Don't you dare look at him," she seethed to the emptiness of her room.

For the first time she addressed the voice in her head. Maybe it was someone from Ino's family or a witch from the Uzumaki clan, but it didn't matter if that person was trying to hurt her through her precious people. She might not have many of them left, but she was fierce with the ones she called family.

"Leave….Sai alone!"

For a moment there was nothing, not even pain, and then, like a cloud passing over the sun unexpectedly, the voice was back in her head louder and more clear than ever before.

"You consider this one important to you. What a shame it would be if your family broke up… because of you."

Sakura couldn't breath the pain was running down her spine and threatening to make her head explode. She felt like what she was hearing wasn't meant for her brain the handle. She wasn't supposed to be comprehending something so big.

She hadn't felt anything like this and never expected to feel anything like this in the safety of her home with all the wards and charms and protection from Pompeii itself. She wasn't supposed to be hurting she wasn't-

"Get out!" Sakura snapped, suddenly full of something that burned in her. "Get out of my head-out!"

No one could harm her. No one could hurt her. No one would touch her inside her own home. She believed Pompeii wouldn't allow it in the same way she believed there was a sun underneath the shade of a passing cloud.

Her brain burned with pain that shot to every part of her but it was a swansong and as soon as it passed there was an unexpected emptiness. The voice was gone and there was a hole left behind.

Something had left her and something in her gut told her it slithered back to the forest. She didn't know why, or where the feeling came from, just that it was there.

Sakura let go of her hair and stood up. She brushed the dust off her pants and turned to the kitchen where her waffle iron was already out. She plugged it in and began mixing the batter mix together with the last of her wet ingredients. By the time Sai came back she would be fine. He had a long shift at the tattoo parlor in a few hours so once he set out she could do her own sort of investigation.

The forest was like she remembered it, until it wasn't. There were so many flowering trees that it was hard to remember what the wooded lands looked like without them. Some of the trees looked distressed too. Someone had hacked a few down to wood chips and there were signs of burns on the ground, but the trees seemed to be fire retardant.

She remember when the mob tried to burn the effigy of her made out of twigs. That hadn't worked as well as they had hoped. Maybe some of those same people had split up to swarm the woods in search of some way to destroy what they didn't understand.

She didn't understand why they didn't seek out the library. Sure, she had been having only a little luck with her own search, but she didn't have the background some of these other citizens have! She started from nothing and at least she had some clues.

She saw something silver and turned to see the gleaming head of an ax stuck in the body of a tree that had since swelled up around the metal. Tearing it out to strike at the tree looked impossible with the edge that deeply wedged in.

Sasori

The redhead had been absent from the scene and Sakura had at first assumed it was because of whatever he felt about the whole situation, be it shame or remorse she didn't care. Yamato had been the one to tell her about the strange ailment that rendered his body immobile. He wasn't sick, but he was afflicted a new and unique way...something Chiyo still hadn't forgiven Sakura for.

Sakura inspected one of the trees that looked as if it had been splashed in acid. Pockmarks scarred the bark and the flowers were stripped in places.

Sakura thought she smelled peaches but couldn't see any when she turned.

"Hello?" she called.

There was no answer.

She then thought better about calling out into the forest without knowing if there was someone about who still wanted to burn her at the stake.

Sakura found her way deeper into the forest until she came to the place where she would normally meet with the knight brothers in all their blooming glory. Today they were out and about and that was fine. They would come back in an instant if they needed to. They were like that.

The shrine to the maiden sat alone and unprotected but not entirely defenseless. It hadn't escaped her notice how the blooms and petals from the flowering trees seemed to avoid the shrine. There was no unnatural wind to account for it, but something kept those sort of trees and blossoms away from the shrine.

Sakura likely hadn't noticed it last time because the amount of blossoms had gone from impressive to near overwhelming. It was nearing the spring season, after all.

"Has it been a year since this all started?" Sakura asked the shrine, knowing it wouldn't respond.

It was still a little early for the yearly anniversary of the event she suspected to be the catalyst for all their troubles, and so much had happened. She had seen highs and she had seen lows. She hoped soon things would change for the better, but doubted it.

"I have an interview tomorrow," Sakura said. "I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but I don't feel like I have much of an option anymore."

Like before, there was only silence.

Sakura chuckled and stuffed her hands back into the pockets of her sweatshirt. She shook her head ruefully and looked up at the sky. It was getting late and she had better get back if she wanted a good enough sleep to sustain her throughout the next day.

"Maybe the next time I come back here things will be different," Sakura said in parting.

No one answered, but she waved back over her shoulder, suspecting someone or something could see her as she left. Maybe they would make her words a prophecy. Maybe.

It was less an interview and more of an introduction to the clinic where they wanted Sakura to start working. She had showed up in her nice suit with another copy of everything they asked for the first time, and had been swiftly swept up into a flurry of introductions that seemed too warm for what she had come to anticipate.

"So you're the new transfer?"

Sakura turned at the sound of the voice and saw a young man in scrubs. She remembered seeing him in between the hallways but hadn't been introduced yet. He looked young, but not so young that he seemed out of place. Maybe he was a year or few older than her, but he still had a boyish smile that likely helped his bedside manner.

Sakura remembered to smile wide. "Yeah, that would be me. I heard you were all looking for another MD to add to your staff. You already have so many here though, so I was a bit surprised." She extended her hand for a shake and added, "I'm Sakura."

He took her hand and shook it firmly, the boyish smile staying in place. "Keith, another MD just like you. I'm glad you could make it out here. We had been considering expanding since the facility hasn't reached peak capacity yet and so many of the older members on staff want to start phasing out."

"Busy is good," Sakura laughed, looking back. "Where I was previously, it was the total opposite."

"Oh really? You were overstaffed for the patients?"he asked, sounding like he hadn't heard of such a thing happening.

Sakura forced herself to laugh again. "What can you do when they just stop walking in? The town was small and they really didn't need me."

"That's so unusual." He shook his head as if to clear the thought and the boyish smile was back. "Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out with the last place, but change doesn't always have to be a bad thing. "

"Sakura felt a weight slide off her heart and she breathed a little easier. The smile was easier to keep up as she responded. "You're right. I'm sorry to be leaving friends and family, but I'm excited to experience a change in pace with my work life."

"I'm glad," he laughed along with her. "It'd be nice to have a new face around here." He ended with a wink and the promise that they would see each other some other time.

Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see the woman in charge of hiring. The name escaped her and she mentally panicked behind the mask of a perfect smile. The older woman nodded at the male doctor's back and chuckled. "Don't mind him, he's such a flirt. A good doctor, but he is a terrible flirt with all the available staff."

"Oh no, I have no experience with that at all, ever," Sakura said in fake monotone until both women were snickering together.

"Oh you're such a sweet thing. You'll fit right in!"

Sakura laughed, but couldn't help but feel something like unease grow in her heart as she climbed back into the borrowed car and turned it towards the road that would lead to Pompeii.

Once people weren't watching her Sakura allowed her expressions to fall apart on their own. Her chest was tight in a way that couldn't be explained away with anything other than anxiety. She had left Pompeii for a single, simple interview, but something was seriously wrong about that.

Wrong, wrong, wrong

There was no voice this time, but Sakura felt it in her heart that something was wrong before she even got to the borderline. For over an hour she stewed in those feelings and it showed on the speedometer as she pushed the needle further across the warning numbers.

In record time she was over that invisible line and de-accelerating to coast into the downtown where no one and nothing seemed active. That wasn't anything new, but once she she came close enough to see the clinic she knew better.

She parked the car haphazardly half on the sidewalk half off, scrambling out without regard for stupid things like closing the door or grabbing her purse behind her.

The clinic was split open like a ripe fruit with sprawling branches and swollen trunks splitting the space apart. She had always been safe inside the clinic, but for some reason now it wasn't as impervious to harm as she first believed it to be. The smell of peaches was almost overwhelming.

"Sai, Yamato!"

Sakura screamed, tearing off and darting into the mess that used to be a clinic. Parts of the outside were inside and furniture from inside was skewered through and hanging out on spear shaped branches.

Inside was more of the same dark mess and Sakura was frantic, trying to climb her way up to the second floor, only to fall through the gaps and brittle parts of the trees. She felt her clothes tear and her nicely styled hair come undone but she didn't care as she scrambled with bloody fingers and bare feet through the mess.

"SAI! YAMATO!"

She didn't care who heard her anymore. She knew that Sai should have been home at this time at least. His shift ended a little after she took off for her interview. He would have been at home.

Something moved and Sakura saw a pale hand with bloody fingers grabbing weakly at the thin branches folded over each other. Sakura withdrew her knife and cut the dying branches away and reached into the hole to grab at Sai's arm. She felt a cold wetness instantly and the dread magnified in her chest.

"Shizune, Yamato!" Sakura screamed as she hacked away more of the branches.

No one was answering after she screamed again, but she didn't stop, Sakura stabbed at the trunks and they collapsed as if they had been old and dead for centuries.

Sakura felt her face dirty and wet with tears as she finally was able to open up a hole big enough to lift Sai up out of. He shouldn't have been so easy to lift, but she didn't know if that was because of her strength or his lack of weight.

Wet sobs wracked her as she pulled Sai to her and turned him around. He was hurt in too many places and bleeding everywhere.

"Sa-Sakura."

"Shut up," Sakura wetly interrupted, carrying him bridal style down the way she had come.

It was easier to make it back down to the ground and even with him in her arms, Sakura was able to kick her way into one of the old service rooms. It was a mess, but she turned over a table to lay him down on and then raced for her tools.

She was frantic but oddly focused like it was her life that hung in the balance as she cleaned and stitched Sai up. She had to remove shards of tree from his side and cursed every fragment she extracted.

Sai was quiet as she worked, being barely conscious, but Sakura wouldn't let him fall asleep on her just yet. He had hit his head and lost too much blood for that.

She was a universal donor. It would be okay.

"Sai, what happened?" Sakura gasped, staring down at him as the red fluids moved from her to him. He looked terrible, but she swore he would make it through. He would heal from this.

"Don't know, it happened too fast and there was no one we could see, just the trees and then-then-"

His words were lost in a hiss as it became painful to breath, but a moment later it passed and he stared up at her, eyes wet with his own sorrow. He had always been pale but now he looked more like a ghost than ever.

"Then it took Yamato."