One of my real life friends, pandamari, is going to be a future beta for this story! Be sure to check out her account, and review her story Desperate, which is an awesome story about the relationship between Kakashi and Sakura. She's just started the story so any encouragement you guys could give her would be awesome. :) If you're lazy, you can find a link to her profile under my list of Favorite Authors!
Also, in regards to the ripper that was discovered last chapter: I've been in contact with her, and thankfully she's put down the story from her account. She seemed genuinely apologetic and regretful, just someone very young and immature who wanted attention but didn't quite know how to get it. And since I don't want this to turn into some crazy witch hunt, I won't release her name or profile... unless she tries ripping me again. Then I'll give you guys free reign. xD
Sorry for the late update! It's just that I had a plot worked out, and then I realized it was completely fail and wouldn't work. So I had to make a new plot. xD But by that time, I'd already written three thousand words, all of which I had to delete since the new plot went in a completely different direction. Naturally I decided after that little fiasco that it was time for a little break, but now I'm back and going stronger than ever! ...Hopefully. A lot of whammies this chapter. ;D Anyways, this chapter is nearly twice as long as my normal chapters, so that should make up for the long wait!
We're at 672 reviews, guys... it'd be so amazing if we crossed the 700 review mark with this chapter. :) I'm not saying you HAVE to review... just that it would make me happy if you did... and happy authors = productive authors, if you get my drift. ;D
The Gate Amidst the Ivy
Chapter Thirteen
(You must be careful, Sakura.
Why, Granny Tsunade?
What I'm about to teach you... this is powerful, Sakura. You could kill someone with this. Or you could save their lives. This is terrible power, power that is easy to misuse.
Tsunade! You know I'd never misuse power like this!)
The next day at the main castle dawned in a haze of silent foreboding. Servants went about their daily tasks with an affected nonchalance that fooled no one; powerful noble men paced angrily past, mumbling about negotiations and diplomatic efforts. Even ladies, who knew how unfashionable it was for a woman to keep abreast of politics, gathered in corners, making subdued conversation, laughing brashly like the sound of champagne glasses shattering, waving their fans to ward off the oppressive heat. This was a court that expected war and was preparing for it.
Everyone except for the Lady Hideki, it seemed. She had a certain confidence about her, a certain unerring assurance that everything would be alright that Sakura envied. Sakura herself knew that nothing would be alright. Duke Orochimaru was succeeding in his plan; soon, Sasuke would be off fighting a useless war and King Itachi would be weakened. Soon, Duke Orochimaru would be King Orochimaru, and Sakura had no idea what she could do to stop it.
After Hinata had been arrested, Sakura had stood there in impotent anger before running back into the ball. The thought of all the nobles celebrating and having fun at something so trivial as a ball while a coup d'état was brewing right under their noses was sickening to her, but maybe if she could find Prince Sasuke, if she could tell him what was happening, then he would understand, he would somehow make everything stop—
But by the time she'd gotten back inside, Prince Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, and neither were King Itachi and Duke Orochimaru. The ladies she'd asked had shrugged carelessly, saying that probably some castle business had come up—it happened all the time, didn't it?—and Sakura should just get back to enjoying the ball. But how could she...
And she couldn't stand the sour taste in her mouth, so she fled back into her suite, the Green Room, where she paced restlessly before falling into a fitful sleep. And in the morning the news had spread like the pestilence it was, until even the oblivious ladies had heard of it and were worrying over it but were pretending not to.
And when the Lady Hideki came to speak to her as Sakura was walking down a hallway, perfectly normal but clearly in a gossiping mood, Sakura was both puzzled and intrigued by Isabi's nonchalance.
"Have you heard about the… Hyuuga scandal, then?" asked Sakura probingly after Isabi had finished regaling her with a tale of the court's latest scandals and affairs.
Isabi gave her a disdainful look. "Well, of course I have, though I can't say it's anything pleasant to talk about." Her voice turned lower, more confidential. "Do you know what? I think it was King Itachi's work. He's always wanted a chance to get rid of the Hyuugas, and everyone's known that the Lady Hinata Hyuuga couldn't hurt a fly…"
Sakura stared at Isabi. Such talk could amount to treason—was treason. "I don't think you really mean that, Isabi," warned Sakura, in case someone had been listening.
Isabi laughed. "Oh, Sakura, you naïve girl. There's no one around here to listen to us, and anyways no one would arrest me, not when I have the sponsor I do! They could hardly imprison us for idle gossip!"
"Still, I don't quite feel comfortable—"
(Naruto, I don't feel comfortable with this—
Come on, Sakura, live a little!)
"Nonsense, Sakura! Now, you tell me right now, why don't you believe King Itachi was behind this?"
"I just—" Sakura glanced around the hallways. There really was no one around, and Isabi was so easy to talk to. And she needed someone to share her concerns with, however indirectly—keeping it inside was eating her up, killing her… "Don't you think it could have been Duke Orochimaru, then?" gave in Sakura.
True surprise sparked in Isabi's blue eyes. "You think—Duke Orochimaru?"
"Well—it's just a little—idea of mine," backpedaled Sakura hastily.
"No, no… it does make sense, doesn't it? I mean, I know I mustn't say this… but everyone knows quite how power-hungry our dear snake is…" Isabi giggled nervously, brashly.
"Yes—and perhaps with Prince Sasuke out of the way—"
"What do you mean, 'out of the way'!"
"I don't mean to imply anything…"
"No, of course not…"
"But imagine how easy it'd be for Prince Sasuke to die, to be assassinated in a war—by friend or by foe—"
Isabi stared at Sakura in horror. She was used to the double-talking, the sentences left half-unsaid in court intrigues, and she needed no further hints to catch onto Sakura's insinuations. "Do you really think—"
"Like I told you," said Sakura decisively, "it's just a little pet theory of mine."
But the subject seemed to have lost its charm for the Lady Hideki, and after politely excusing herself, the tall blonde woman rushed away.
The court's second shock of the day came just before lunch was served, in the form of Ino.
Lady Morikawa and Lord Toshi had been speaking (flirting, actually) by the main entrance of the castle when a splendid carriage drawn by two ebony-black horses pulled up by them. Out came four royal guards, and, lo and behold, the elusive Lady Ino Yamanaka. Ever curious, Lady Morikawa rushed over to Lady Ino, demanding an explanation, and Lady Ino had obliged.
The stress of being a member of the court had gotten to her, explained Ino, and she'd needed to get away, and how kindly Duke Orochimaru had obliged, secretly sending her away to save her any embarrassment. Unfortunately, the castle she had been heading towards was far too near the Hyuugas' territories, and what with the unfortunate state of events, she had been recalled as soon as possible and would in a few hours be heading off towards another castle, just as soon as the horses were fed and watered. And what, what was this? People had thought she was dead? Oh, how embarrassing—she clearly wasn't, it was all just a grave misunderstanding! What? Oh, yes, she really had been poisoned—the Lady Hideki had been as well—and she was glad that her poisoner—it had been the Lady Hyuuga, then? Well, she couldn't say she was shocked, everyone knew how much the Hyuugas had hated the Uchihas—she was glad the poisoner had been caught by the king. But she still wanted to get away from the main castle; it was just so stressful. Yes, people had thought she was Prince Sasuke's Bonded, but that was an unfortunate misunderstanding—people just loved to assume the most ridiculous things, didn't they?
Excitedly, the Lady Morikawa and the Lord Toshi excused themselves and ran off to tell their friends, and soon the whole castle was nodding knowingly, saying that Well of course a little farm girl like her couldn't deal with the stress and just ran—what else would you expect from the poor?
Yes, everyone thought that—except for Sakura.
"Ino! Ino!" exclaimed Sakura, running towards the blonde girl standing next to carriage just outside the main entrance. It seemed she'd arrived just in time, as the horses were pawing at the ground impatiently, and Ino was just about to climb into the carriage.
Ino turned around, signaling to the driver to wait for a few minutes. "Yes, Sakura?" she asked coldly.
"Ino! Oh, Ino, I was so worried—I thought you'd died—" Sakura wanted to cry in relief.
"Were you, really? Because you've been less than supportive of everything I've done so far. And look at you now, Sakura. You're a lady too. What, do you have to backstab me in every single little thing I do? Is it that hard for you to stand by once something good actually happens in my life?"
Sakura stared at Ino in horror, startled. "If you don't remember, Ino, I was the one that healed you, I was the one that saved your life—" she began furiously.
"Of course you did. So you'd look good in front of Prince Sasuke, right? I know your tricks, Sakura, and I can quite honestly say I'm very glad I'm getting away from them."
"G-getting away?"
"Perhaps you haven't heard from Lady Morikawa yet?"
"Heard what?"
"Well, you had your way. You always resented how I got ahead, didn't you? But"—Ino's voice trembled—"after the—the poisoning, I couldn't take it anymore. The—the lies. I had to get away. So I went and asked Duke Orochimaru to take me to—to another castle, less crowded. He obliged, very kindly, of course. Unfortunately, with the Hyuuga's arrest, my travel plans had to be changed, but I'm leaving for the new castle as soon as you finish talking with me." Ino directed Sakura with a look of pure disdain, anger, and impatience… but her eyes were blank. Dead.
"Ino," asked Sakura concernedly, "are you sure you're alright? Are you sure you aren't being—coerced—in any way?" There was something very wrong about those dead, stagnant seawater eyes. Ino's eyes had never been like that. She'd never seen anyone living with terrible, blank eyes like that—anyone except King Itachi, that is. But Ino, of all people, Ino shouldn't have eyes like King Itachi's—
The lacy collar of Ino's dress slipped, and Sakura could see bruises around Ino's neck.
"What? You're being ridiculous." Ino sneered cruelly, an expression she'd rarely used on Sakura, and it hurt the pinkette deeply. But her eyes remained dead.
"Ino, you have bruises on your neck—someone was trying to strangle you—"
Ino's lips straightened and she readjusted her collar. "You have no right to ask me how I live my life anymore—"
"Ino. I know there's something wrong! You can't hide it from me! I can see it in your eyes, Ino—"
(Sakura! I know there's something wrong! I can see the sadness in your eyes! Don't hide it from me!
It's just... I miss Papa, Ino.)
"Sakura, you're being an idiot. You think you still know me, but you gave up that right the minute you turned against me. I'm leaving."
"Ino—" tried Sakura, but before she could finish Ino climbed into her carriage and signaled the driver to leave. Her goodbye was said in dust and gravel.
Sakura sat in the Sunset Parlor, nostalgic, saddened. The last time she had been here, Ino had almost died. And now… Ino was as good as dead to her, anyways. Why couldn't Ino understand? Why couldn't Ino see that Sakura had done just what she'd needed to to survive? And those times when Sakura had distanced herself from Ino—it had just been to protect Ino's reputation. But now Ino had left, and Sakura was powerless to stop her.
She looked up when the door opened and relaxed when she saw it was Lady Hideki.
"Oh, Sakura!" trilled Lady Hideki. "I've been looking all over for you—"
"Is there something you wanted?" interrupted Sakura. She was in no mood to be polite today.
Isabi looked taken aback by Sakura's sudden ferocity, but smiled nonetheless, "Well, it's just that—I heard about Ino, Sakura. And I wished to convey my sympathy."
"Thank you for your consideration, then," said Sakura dully, focusing instead on the far wall.
"Well, anyways, I must leave you now though; my court sponsor would like a word with me this evening—" Lady Hideki looked almost nervous.
Sakura looked up in surprise. "You have a court sponsor?" Come to think of it, hadn't Isabi mentioned something about a court sponsor earlier this morning?
"Yes, of course. Just like you, Sakura. I wasn't born noble, after all. Someone had to bring me in!"
Vaguely curious, Sakura asked, "Who is it?"
"I can't—my sponsor enjoys his privacy, Sakura. But I must be going soon… he isn't exactly a patient sort of man, Sakura. Who'd have thought, though," Isabi went on excitedly, "that Ino was really just gone, not dead! What a shock—"
(—But they told me that the Lady Ino had left! Simply renounced her position and fled from here! Perhaps because of all the stress. I can tell you, it is so very stressful to be a lady—what with the poisoning and everything—)
"No, it wasn't," said Sakura slowly, focusing back on Isabi.
Isabi raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't what?"
"It wasn't a shock for you. You knew, didn't you?"
"I—what on earth are you talking about, Sakura?" asked Isabi, looking genuinely puzzled.
"You told me, yesterday, before anyone even knew that Ino was gone—you told me that she was running away to a castle because of the stress—"
"Oh, Sakura, you silly girl! That was just gossip I'd heard from the handmaidens!"
(I just—I heard that Ino—Ino left.
What do you mean, left?
Left, as in packed up her bags and renounced her titles and gone to a faraway land!
I—I can't say I've heard anything about that.)
But Isabi couldn't have heard it from the handmaidens. She'd been in her room the whole day, cooped up with a case of nerves, and anyways when Sakura had run into Isabi's handmaiden later, Ayame had had no idea what Sakura had been talking about in the first place.
"Anyways," continued Isabi, "I really must leave now. My court sponsor is waiting, after all!"
"Yes, of course," agreed Sakura complacently, staring contemplatively at Lady Hideki as she left.
Later that night, Sakura followed Isabi to her chambers, quickly casting a silent notice-me-not spell. There was something very suspicious about Isabi, something she'd only just realized—and she had a feeling that her sponsor, whoever he was, was somehow involved in all of this. It was far too coincidental—the fact that Isabi knew much more than she was supposed to about Ino, and the fact that her sponsor wanted a meeting with her the same exact day Ino had come back to the castle.
And as she walked to her rooms Isabi looked quite blatantly nervous. Her breathing was deliberately deep, as though she were just moments away from hyperventilating; sweat dotted her brow, which was most unladylike for someone such as Isabi; and her pace was painfully slow, as though the blonde woman was trying to delay the meeting as much as possible.
Finally Isabi reached her chambers. She nodded to the shy little girl who had been guarding her rooms yesterday. Bowing timidly, the girl let Isabi in, and Sakura quickly slipped past, forcibly reminding herself that the only people who could see her under the spell were the people who were actually actively looking for her. They entered the room, and Sakura's heart nearly stopped when she saw who was inside—Orochimaru.
Sakura threw herself behind a nearby couch. Orochimaru's back was to the door, which was why he hadn't noticed her yet, and she had no doubt that someone with Orochimaru's power levels would be able to tear through her illusion as though it were only so much tissue paper. The spell had been good enough to work on Isabi, who had barely any magic to speak of, but it would not have lasted a moment against Orochimaru. Sakura thanked the gods that his back had been turned, before turning to the real question: what was Orochimaru doing with Isabi?
Isabi took a few steps forward so that she was now in between Sakura and Orochimaru. Even then, Sakura could see how Isabi visibly composed herself, setting her shoulders firmly and lifting her chin as though she were a man. There was the strength Sakura had sensed lying deep within Isabi, the strength Isabi had tried to hide because it was unladylike—
"Well, well," hissed Orochimaru. At the sound of his voice, Sakura quickly ducked back behind the couch and held her breath. Her heart was beating furiously. She was surprised the room's other inhabitants hadn't heard her heartbeat already, and there was no way now to run away.
"My lord," said Isabi, her voice deeply humble. There was a rustle of cloth that Sakura interpreted as the sound of curtsying.
"Sssomething quite ssurprising happened this morning," taunted Orochimaru softly. He paused, but Isabi remained silent. His hiss was far more pronounced now than it was in public.
"No, then? You don't wish to sspeak to me about it?"
The silence continued.
"Imagine how shocked I was when I found that the Lady Ino had returned to the castle for sseveral hourss. My dear, she wass ssupposed to be dead." Orochimaru's voice got softer and softer, making him sound more and more lethal. Sakura dared a glance from around the overstuffed, sapphire couch and saw that the duke was circling Isabi menacingly. His movements reminded Sakura very much of a snake sliding silently through dry grass, trying to determine the best way to approach and subdue a mouse.
"I—you were going to start a war against the Hyuugas using her!" it seemed Isabi could no longer contain herself. "But you promised me that you'd keep Sasuke alive, safe! That was the only reason I went along with this, Orochimaru, because you promised! You know how much I love him—"
"You ssseem to be laboring under a misapprehension, Issabi. I owe you nothing. On the contrary, you are the one who owess me everything. I raised your father to wealth, Issabi, I brought you to the court—"
"In exchange for my skill! It was the deal between us—"
"The only reason I brought you here in the firsst place was for you ssskill. You would be nothing without it. You are otherwise inssignificant to me. And as ssoon as I tire of you, you will return to inssignificance once more. And you are fasst becoming much more trouble than you are worth."
Isabi stayed sullenly silent.
"Remember what I can do to you. I can casst you out of the court the moment you cease to amuse me. And I won't have to sstop there, Issabi. I can ruin your father—what was he? A rare antiquities dealer? I can only imagine how terrible business will be once I sspread word that he is a forger. And how would dare dissbelieve the word of Duke Orochimaru?"
Isabi whimpered.
"Do not fail me again, girl, or elsse what I told you will become reality." He swept past Isabi and Sakura and into the hall.
Only when Isabi was sure that Orochimaru was gone did she collapse heavily on the couch behind which Sakura was hiding. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.
Sakura frowned inwardly to herself. There was no way she was leaving now without getting the full story. Clearly there was something going on, something far behind her scope, and she needed to get to the bottom of this…
Making up her mind, Sakura stood up, looking down at Isabi's bowed blonde head. "Isabi."
Isabi jumped, startled, and, standing up from the couch, turned around. "Sa-Sakura? What are you doing—"
"There's no use hiding anything from me now," began Sakura coldly. "I heard all of that conversation."
"I—you—how—" spluttered Isabi.
"A notice-me-not spell. Perhaps you've heard of them? Well, that's no matter now." Sakura walked around the couch, advancing on Isabi. "Tell me what's going on. What do you and Orochimaru want with Ino? What part do you have to play in all of this? What is this skill of yours that he kept on referring to?"
Isabi's eyes flickered to the vase nearby and back. That was all the warning Sakura got before the taller girl hefted the vase and flung it towards Sakura's face.
"What—" Sakura ducked, and the vase shattered against the wall in a piercing cacophony of noise. Taking advantage of Sakura's distraction, Isabi rushed towards the pinkette, throwing punches and slaps that Sakura would never have expected from a lady. Taken completely by surprise, Sakura held her arms in front of her in defense, grimacing as Isabi's punches landed on her arms. They hurt!
Sakura stepped accidentally on a glass shard from the vase. The jagged edge cut through her thin slippers and into her heel, and a sharp stab of pain lanced through her calf. Sakura let out a scream, but she was cut short when Isabi pushed her onto the ground, rolling over her, knocking the wind out of the petite girl.
Her head crashed against the marble floor. Her world went gray for a heartstopping minute, and Sakura tried to catch her breath again. But by then Isabi's delicate beautiful little fingers had crept around her neck, choking her, strangling her… Sakura squirmed furiously against her.
Isabi stared down at Sakura, her shallow blue eyes pained. "I'm sorry, Sakura. You were far too curious for your own good, and now I can't let you tell anyone else what you've learned. Orochimaru would ruin me, you see. You understand, don't you? And this is a far more merciful end than the one Orochimaru had planned for you anyways—"
(I'm sorry, Sakura.
No, Mama, NO! WHY!)
Sakura managed to get enough leverage to elbow Isabi in her neck. The other noble cut off mid-sentence, making a pained strangling noise at her abused voice box. They went rolling across the floor, and Isabi's concentration faltered for one crucial moment. Breathing heavily, Sakura placed her hand on Isabi's forehead, concentrated, and sent a burst of her magic to Isabi's brain.
Healing knowledge could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, such intricate knowledge could be used to drag patients back from the brink of death, to bring life where there was once only death, to heal and rebuild where there was previously pain and destruction.
On the other hand, because of the depth of her knowledge, Sakura knew how to manipulate her magic to cause people unimaginable pain, to trap them in permanent sleep, to give them painless death—she knew how to make the human brain into her tool. She could take advantage of it as artfully as any virtuoso could play the piano. She knew, for instance, that when she temporarily isolated the cerebellum (1) of the brain from the brain stem, Isabi would remain paralyzed for however long Sakura chose to keep her cerebellum isolated, unable to move, unable to do anything.
Isabi went slack suddenly, as Sakura's magic reached her cerebellum. She stared up at Sakura, unable to move, but her eyes communicating terrible rage and fear. As the adrenaline ebbed away, Sakura became aware of the glass shard in her heel, the shard that had dug deeper, and the glass fragments and bruises all over the rest of her body that had accumulated as a result of their struggles. She was sure there would have been ugly bruises all over her neck, arms, and face by tomorrow, had she not had healing powers.
"It's terrible, isn't it," taunted Sakura, "to not be able to move? To be completely at the mercy of someone else's whims? But I suppose you have some experience with that, judging by the conversation you just had with Orochimaru. Do you know what I'm doing right now? I'm sending my healing magic to your brain. I've isolated your cerebellum. You won't be able to move until I decide you will. And who knows, if I'm careless, perhaps you'll stay paralyzed forever. It is a bit of a tricky thing I'm doing right now. It would be wise of you not to anger me."
The rage stayed in Isabi's eyes, but Sakura noticed with satisfaction that the fear grew.
"Now, I have some questions to ask you," continued Sakura. "You will answer them truthfully, or you will regret it. You, Isabi, are far out of your league here. Your body is completely at my mercy right now, Isabi. If you make me angry, if you disobey me, there are so many ways I could kill you. I could sever your brain stem, for instance. Do you know what that would mean to you? The brain stem deals with your heartbeat, with your breathing. If I cut your brain stem, your body would forget how to breathe. Your heart would forget how to beat. It's a moment of unimaginable pain, and then… dark. Or perhaps if I were feeling sadistic, I could rupture your stomach. Your stomach acids would leak out… they'd spread to the rest of your body… do you know how acidic stomach acid is? It's enough to burn you to death inside out as it eats up your kidneys, your bladder, your intestines, but slowly, very slowly. Fifteen minutes of unimaginable agony, and then death would be a welcome release to you. And that's only two ways I could kill you. I could slice up your lungs. I could rupture your liver and let the bile leak out into your body. I could shatter your bones. I could make your immune system attack itself, and then something as simple as a cold would finish you off. There is so much I could do to you, Isabi, so don't cross me."
Sakura paused and looked down at Isabi's face. Satisfied and sickened at the abject terror present there, she continued. "Now I'm going to release your cerebellum. After all, I need you to be able to talk. Instead, I'll use my magic to sever your first thoracic vertebrae. That means you'll be able to move your mouth and turn your head from side to side, but you won't be able to move any other part of your body." Sakura concentrated again, until beads of sweat stood out on her brow, and moved the clump of her magic down to Isabi's spine.
The minute Isabi felt sensation return to her face, she let out a gasping shudder. Tears began to trickle down her face, and Sakura felt disgusted at herself when she realized they were tears of terror, terror directed at her. What have I become?
"I—alright," gasped Isabi in utter terror. "I'll tell you whatever you want! Please, just, don't kill me. Don't hurt me…"
Sakura wanted to cry herself. To see someone else in such utter terror, because of her, repelled her and disgusted her. This was the kind of power Orochimaru wanted to wield over everyone in the country—this was the kind of power she wished she had never experienced. Sakura wanted to throw up.
(I'm going to teach you wonderful things, Sakura, and terrible things. You must promise to me to never misuse the knowledge I give you.
I swear, Tsunade, I swear!)
But she still needed the information Isabi could give her. So she said coldly, "Well, then, Isabi, you'd better make it good, because my patience is running thin. Alright, for my first question. What does Orochimaru plan to do with me?"
"He—he wanted to put you away," blubbered Isabi. "You were Sasuke's Bonded—Orochimaru was going to frame you as an accomplice of the Lady Hinata Hyuuga, and put you in jail, where you'd rot away."
"And why did Orochimaru want to do this?"
"To prevent the Uchiha line from continuing, so he could gain power—oh gods—" Isabi let out a heaving, terrible, painful sob.
"What about Ino?" Sakura pressed on ruthlessly. "What did Orochimaru mean when he said Ino was supposed to be dead? Why is she still alive?"
"She's not—she's not alive…"
Sakura frowned mercilessly at Isabi, sharply spiking her magic. A sharp pain rushed down the Isabi's spine, and she screamed. "I told you not to lie to me, Isabi. Ino is alive. I spoke to her not this morning. Next time you lie to me, you should make sure it's more convincing."
"No—I was controlling her—she's dead!"
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, you were controlling her?"
"That's my skill! Once someone has died, I can control their body. Ino's dead, Orochimaru had me kill her, it was horrible—"
"And why should I believe you?" Sakura's voice broke.
"This morning, Ino told you—she told you that the only reason you saved her life was to look good in front of Prince Sasuke. When her collar slipped and you noticed the bruises on her neck, she said you were being ridiculous. She said you had no right to tell her how to live her life anymore. The bruises on her neck were from when I'd strangled her to death. And she had such terrible, blank eyes, didn't she?"
"No! No!" sobbed Sakura. How was this possible? She'd talked to Ino just a few hours ago—and though Ino had hated her, she'd been alive at least, Sakura had comforted herself with that thought—and now Isabi was telling her that Ino was dead? But Ino's eyes had been so very dead… and Isabi had known exactly what Ino had told her… "You bitch," hissed Sakura. "Who else are you controlling? Who else have you done this to?"
"No one! No one else!" sniveled Isabi. But Sakura noticed Isabi's hesitation, her fear, and knew Isabi was lying. She spiked her magic again, sent the sharp excruciating pain rushing throughout Isabi's body again.
"Tell me the truth!" Sakura demanded.
"No—"
Sakura narrowed her eyes again. Simple pain wasn't working, it seemed. She'd need to do something a bit more drastic, but her stomach curdled at the thought of inflicting any more pain. It was against all she'd ever learned as a healer, every sense of ethics she had developed… but sometimes, did the circumstances outweigh the crime? She let a bit more of her magic enter Isabi's body, sent it to another part of Isabi's brain, her amygdalae (2), her emotion centers. By artificially, magically stimulating them, Isabi would be hit with a sudden, irrational wave of fear, an emotion so strong she would never be able to overcome it. And the beauty of it was that this was all in her mind, that she wasn't feeling any actual physical pain…
"Are you ready to tell me the truth now?" Sakura taunted softly once Isabi's breaths got shallower in fear, making her voice as much like Orochimaru's as possible.
"Oh gods," moaned Isabi. "Yes, just make it stop—King Itachi—"
Sakura recoiled mentally. "King Itachi?"
"Yes—a year or two ago, Orochimaru simply showed me his body and told me that I was to take control of him, and I couldn't refuse—I had to do whatever he asked—"
"You mean King Itachi is dead?"
"Please, I'll do anything," begged Isabi incomprehensibly. "Just make this fear stop, Sakura—oh gods, oh gods, oh gods—"
"Why did you make Ino come back, then?"
"Because when you spoke to me this morning, I realized you were right! Orochimaru wanted to kill Sasuke by starting that gods-damned war! And I couldn't let that happen—I love him—but now I have no choice but to listen to Orochimaru. He'll ruin me if I don't… oh, I was stupid…"
Sakura stared down in horror at Isabi.
The blonde woman fixed Sakura with a look of newfound rage amidst crippling fear. "I hope you enjoyed this, Sakura. Because tomorrow when I go to find Orochimaru and I tell him all about this little meeting of ours, you'll be gone for good—"
"No, you won't tell him about this meeting," interrupted Sakura suddenly.
"What do you mean—why?"
"Because you won't remember this meeting at all," explained Sakura. Isabi gave Sakura a momentary stare of shock, then slumped into unconsciousness.
When Sakura had isolated Isabi's cerebellum, she'd also sent a smaller stream of her magic to surround and isolate the woman's medial temporal lobe (3). She remembered from Tsunade's lessons that that was the part of the brain the controlled the conversion of short term memories into long term memories—and by isolating Isabi's medial temporal lobe, Sakura ensured that Isabi would not be able to remember their conversation for longer than fifteen minutes—fifteen minutes that would be spent asleep, since Sakura had knocked Isabi unconscious.
Sakura dragged Isabi onto the couch, wincing as she stepped on the vase's glass fragments and forced the shards in her feet deeper inside. She quickly healed Isabi's few bruises. With any luck, when Isabi woke up the next morning, all she would remember would be her conversation with Orochimaru, and Sakura's interference would be completely forgotten.
Sakura sat down and gingerly removed the glass shards from her feet, wincing in pain as she did so. There were a few still in her back, but they would have to be either dissolved with her magic (of which it took an inordinate amount to do so) or removed later. She spent a precious ten minutes healing her injuries and bruises, until all that remained were some phantom pains, torn slippers, and a partially shredded dress.
She looked down at the peacefully sleeping Isabi, completely unaware of the world around her, and wished that she still had that luxury. Shaking herself from her reverie, Sakura walked out of Isabi's lush chambers, shaky and filled with self-loathing.
When she saw the servant girl outside, she ordered, "Clean up the vase that Lady Hideki threw inside. She's asleep now, so make sure you don't wake her. Also, don't tell her about the incident when she wakes up tomorrow. She lost control of herself for a moment. And you know how it is with ladies who have a case of the nerves. Just the slightest mention of anything could upset her…"
The shy, timid girl nodded seriously, solemnly, completely trusting. Sakura felt terrible for taking advantage of her like this again, but there was no other choice. And compared to everything else she'd just done, a little lie was hardly the worst of her worries…
But there were more important things to worry about now.
The Science Behind Sakura's Moves!
(1) The cerebellum is primarily associated with coordination and voluntary movement. Voluntary movement is basically any movement you make with conscious thought. Writing, walking, and playing the piano are all examples of voluntary movement. Breathing, digestion, and blinking are all examples of involuntary movements—actions you take without conscious thought. Coordination refers to balance. The cerebellum is the reason why you don't flop over the minute you stand up, and why you don't accidentally stab out your eye each time you try to poke your nose. Alcohol, in fact, inhibits the proper functioning of the cerebellum, and that's why when cops want to test if you're drunk, they ask you to touch your nose.
(2) The amygdala (plural is amygdalae; the brain has two amygdalae) is heavily involved in the processing and memory of emotional reactions. Have you ever felt like you hated someone? Have you ever felt love? Have you been so annoyed at someone that you wanted to kill them? Have you ever been terrified during a scary movie? Well, that's all because of these neat chemical reactions in your amygdalae, which are these tiny puny things hidden in the middle of your brain. The amygdala primarily deals with primitive emotions like pleasure, fear, and rage. The bigger someone's amygdala is, the more aggressive they tend to be. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) victims in particular, as well as war veterans in general to a lesser extent, have severely overactive amygdalae, probably due to the emotional and negative content of the memories that haunt them. Interestingly, the fact that they have such overactive amygdalae could possibly account for the aggressive behavior associated with PTSD victims and war veterans. Additionally, since the amygdala deals with the processing of the sensation of pleasure, it also plays a role in addiction to drugs, alcohol, thrill-seeking, etc.
(3) The medial temporal lobe of the brain does indeed control the formation of long term memories (basically, things you remember for longer than five minutes). Scientists discovered this in the 1950s, primarily due to a brain surgery that went spectacularly wrong. In 1953, a man (known to the public as patient HM) who suffered from severe epilepsy underwent surgery to remove parts of his brain (most significantly, the medial temporal lobe) to hopefully get rid of his seizures. Technically, you could say that the surgery was successful in that it did help control his epilepsy. However, after the surgery, he developed severe anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to form new long-term memories. He would remember things for five to ten minutes, and then he'd forget all about them, though all the memories he had prior to the surgery were largely unaffected. Interestingly enough, he could still learn new motor skills after the surgery. For instance, with enough repetition, he could be able to learn how to write in cursive or how to ice skate; he just wouldn't be able to remember how on earth he'd learned those skills in the first place. Creepy, huh? Anyways, the whole point of this is that the medial temporal lobe is heavily involved in forming long-lasting memories.
I'm not a brain surgeon or a neurologist. What is up there is what I (believed I) understood from reading a couple of different sources. As such, there may be inaccuracies in the explanations above. Also, the parts of the brain that I mentioned above often work in tandem with other parts of the brain and the body. For instance, the amygdala is not the only part of the brain dealing with emotions; instead, it's part of a much more complicated system in the brain related to memory, social perception, and emotional reaction, called the limbic system. The cerebellum is associated with coordination, true, but so is the inner ear; the cerebellum is also associated with voluntary movement, but so is the brain stem and the spine. The medial temporal lobes are not the only parts of the brain associated with long-term memory; so are the thalamus, the hypothalamus, and the basal ganglia. The brain is a marvelously complicated structure that I believe will take us centuries more to fully understand, if ever, so please keep in mind that what we do know about the brain is far, far dwarfed by what we don't know. Sakura's neat little tricks with stimulating/isolating certain parts of the brain is probably nowhere near realistic, but I did try to keep it from being totally unbelievable by doing some research, as you can see above.
Review and something amazing will happen to you by the end of this week! What is this amazing thing, you wonder? Well, you'll just have to review to find out! ;D
added 7.28.2010