Chapter 3: When the Levee Breaks

"I wanted to put a bullet between the eyes of every panda who wouldn't screw to save his species, I wanted to dump oil over all those French beaches I'd never see, I wanted to breath smoke... I felt like destroying something beautiful." –Palahniuk

Just as Sakura began to let go of all hope the water began to warm. And not only did it become warm but it became incredibly still and dark as well. It was unnaturally still, so unnatural that it meant Sakura could only be one place.

Home.

"NOOOO!" Sakura screeched as her mouth filled with water and her head broke the surface of the calm Aio river. She thrashed about, her clothes and leather bag drowning her. Small dots of light began crowding her vision and her ears filled with whispers. Was this what it was like to die? As the small dots of light descended on her she could feel each one grab ahold of her clothing and drag her through the water. The small dots formed a puddle of light that she rested on while they brought her to shore. She realized that the whispers intruding her mind were coming from the light. Were they lightning bugs? No they had an organized language as far as she could tell. They were living, breathing things. Eventually all the tiny blessings that had formed a bed of light for Sakura dispersed as she reached out for the soft puppy fur grass. She grabbed a crude hold of the ground, tearing a few blades out as she pulled herself onto shore.

"I was hoping I would never have to see you again Sakura-chan." Said an all too familiar voice. Sakura lifted her head to see Osanshouo sitting cross-legged with his staff across his lap. Instead of the small black beady eyes of a normal salamander Osoanshouo's were very much that of a man's. And those old man's eyes were filled with sorrow.

Sasuke paced across the porch of the large, creaking, wooden home Osanshouo had built for all of the children. Sasuke admired how the salamander god had taken such care to make their home look so similar to the world that all of the children once knew. There were even rocking chairs and tables for playing chess scattered about on the wrap around porch. He had tried multiple times to wait patiently in the rocking chairs for Osanshouo to get back but his body refused to obey. Another child was coming in. They hadn't had someone cross over since Sakura and they hadn't had someone stay since he himself had crossed over.

Red flashed before his eyes as memories of his own crossing came flooding back. All of the blood drip, drip, dripping into a river littered with the remnants of war. "Coward!" Sasuke hissed to himself. He hated every fiber of his being when he thought of how he was too afraid to cross back over into his world to face the monsters that pit hundreds of innocent young men against each other.

"Sas..Sas.." Sasuke's heart sank when he heard Sakura's meager voice. She was older he could tell, but at this moment, broken and sobered, Sakura was just a scared little girl. He descended the stairs carefully as if the slightest disturbance would shatter Sakura's already fragile state.

Sakura's hair was matted all across her face and her soaking dress clung to every curve and crevice of her body. Her legs had become too thin and her face had become too hallowed. Before something awful had happened to her, she had already done a significant amount of damage to herself. That much was clear. "Sas…uke." She whimpered.

He approached her carefully and took her small shaking hands in his own. "Come on Sakura we're going to go lay down now, ok?" Sakura allowed herself to be led into the house as her large, sunken green eyes blinked wildly and darted side to side in confusion. Her mouth opened several times to speak but she was never able to make a sound.

Sasuke led her upstairs to his room; curious children peeked out of their bedroom doors as they heard Sakura's wet boots clunking down the wooden hallway. They watched silently, each remembering their own personal tragedy that had turned them into Kawa children.

Sasuke prepared Sakura for bed the best he could. She was still shaking and would flinch at every touch. All he could manage to do was giver her one of his large shirts to sleep in and tucked her away in bed. Osanshouo quietly came up into Sasuke's room and gently touched Sakura on her forehead with his twisted wooden staff. She instantly fell asleep.

Sasuke felt like he could finally breath. "Please tell me you have another one of those-" Osanshouo gently placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and held out a small silver bracelet with a red pearl attached. Sasuke sighed in relief, "Thank god." Osanshouo tried in vain to attached the bracelet around Sakura's wrists but she had lost so much weight that it would simply slip off. He was forced to clasp it around her ankle where it fit perfectly.

"Osanshouo," Sasuke hissed urgently. Sasuke was holding out Sakura's arm staring at the small scars across the inside of her left elbow. "Osanshouo look. What is this?" The salamander god carefully pulled the sheets back of Sakura's legs and leaned over to get a better look at her arms.

"They look like scars. Do you remember seeing anything like it back in the other world?"

Sasuke shook his head in confusion "No… well, yes. But it looks like it's from a syringe like what they used in order to give us medicine. The only difference is it doesn't look as professionally done." As the words came out Sasuke slowly realized what he was saying. She had done it to herself. "They're track marks." He felt a sense of panic build up inside of him. What had she become? "Osanshouo is it possible to end up here own to your own devices?"

Osanshouo shook his head. "No my child." Sasuke felt a sense of relief followed by another flood of panic. This meant that she hadn't been trying to destroy herself in order to get her but it also meant something terrible had happened to her. "We'll talk to her tomorrow Sasuke. The bracelet will keep her mind clear enough to recount everything without breaking down."

Even though Sasuke knew that what Osanshouo said was true he was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Fortunately for him he managed to doze off on one of the couches downstairs and didn't wake until the oversized sun was looming in the sky.

"Chill out Huckleberry it's too much for your pint size ears to hear."

"…Who's Huckleberry?"

Sasuke's eyes shot open at the sound of Sakura's voice. The screen door slammed into the wall and broke off one of its hinges as he bolted across the porch and into the fine, soft grass of the outside world.

"Come on Sakura! Everyone knows what happened to each other to get us all here so what happened to you?" Kiba snapped as he struggled to re-bait his hook. He sat cross-legged in his dirty overalls with Sakura sitting next to him watching with amusement at his attempts of containing the wriggling worm in his fingers.

"Will you stop it. Hey, look; Jim is building a raft for you guys to sail down the Mississippi together! So scram."

Kiba scratched his head in confusion as he watched Phillip tie together logs in his failing endeavor to make a raft. Phillip had come from Africa six or seven decades before Sasuke. His real name was too hard for everyone to pronounce so they decided to name him Phillip instead. "His name isn't Jim? And even though I have no idea what your talking about I'm fairly sure that comment was racist."

"Sa..Sakura?" Sasuke asked timidly. Sakura tilted her head back looking slightly bored.

"I was wondering when you would wake up." She stood up, brushed off her newly cleaned dress, and smiled very politely. "Thanks for cleaning my dress. I image it was pretty… wet."

Kiba turned around and looked up quizzically into Sasuke's eyes. "What does 'chill out' mean Sasuke? Oh, and also, what's wrong with her?" He asked nodding his head towards Sakura.

"Osanhouooo…" Sasuke called as he tried his hardest not to let Sakura realize how creeped out she was making him. "I think your bracelet was too strong…"

Sakura examined her anklet as Osanhouo hurried out from behind the house, moving at a surprising speed. "Sakura, do you know what happened?" Osanshouo asked sternly.

"Sure do." She nodded matter of factly. "Is this little anklet the reason I feel literally nothing?" She wiggled her foot around in front of them.

"Osanshouo sighed as he placed the end of his staff to the small red pearl around her ankle. There was a small spark of light and Sakura's face went blank.

Sakura stood for a moment as if it was taking all her concentration to keep her balance. There was a flash of recognition across her face followed by a small gasp. And just like that it was as if someone had broken the levee that had been keeping her stable all this time.