Author's Note: Please remember that I will update AT LEAST once a week, and if you don't see an update all week, there will be one by Sunday 11:59 PM, EST. I recommend putting the story on your alerts list.


Chapter 4 – Find Me

When Kenji was leaving the computer café, just minutes after Sakura, he found her outside, screaming, beating her head with both fists. He'd been telling people to keep their hands off her all night and here he was, splashing through the puddles of frigid water and grabbing her hands.

Sakura shrieked like she was being stabbed and Kenji caught a couple of good hits in his jaw. He was totally the wrong person for this. He'd had chemo just three days ago and he was still very weak. He wasn't even supposed to be out. He thought he'd pass out from this tiny bit of exercise.

"Calm down!" He shouted at her in Japanese. At the hospital, he'd seen her nurses do this a couple of times, take her arms and cross them over her chest, holding them in place by standing behind her. Sometimes it was the only way to keep her from hitting herself, if soft restraints weren't available.

Kenji's heart palpitated in his chest and he held Sakura there as she bucked in his grip. "Calm down, calm down," he begged her. "Please, calm down."

He held her as still as he could. His pale, skinny arms began to tremble and he was already sweating like crazy.

Sakura calmed down eventually, a keening settling in her throat instead of the horrible banshee shriek she was making earlier.

Panting lightly, Kenji noticed the thin white object, like a communion wafer, but larger, lying in the puddle in front of Sakura. She was staring at it intently, even though she was sagging in his arms.

He slowly let her go, letting her right herself and stand on her own. She didn't move.

He breathed a sigh of relief, brushed his hand over his bald head. If the two of them were caught out of the hospital, there could be serious problems. And he'd probably end up getting the blame for her sneaking out. Sakura wasn't exactly known for being a ninja, but people had no idea. She was high-functioning autistic, and smart as hell. She was patient, precise and quiet as any capable ninja. The only thing she didn't know was the martial arts stuff. Hell, maybe she knew it, but couldn't execute it with her brain the way it was.

He tried to lead her away, coaxing her to follow like he would a hesitant cat, but she wouldn't look away from the object. He knelt down and picked it up, disturbing the water. All hell broke loose again. He quickly pocketed the item, cursed and went through the whole process again. Restraining her, calming her down. He felt utterly drained by the time she was finished. Kenji's legs shook and he had to sit down a minute.

Eventually, though, he had to get up and go. If he could have his way, he would have laid down right there on the street and gone to sleep. The worst part about the chemo wasn't even the throwing up or the hair falling out. He just hated how tired he was all the damn time. No matter how much sleep he got or how much Red Bull he snuck in, he never had enough energy.

Kenji walked her to the hospital. She was actually in a different ward than he was. There was no reason he'd ever meet her there, except for the fact that for some strange reason she enjoyed playing Uprising at the computer café just like he did. Go figure. The girl was a total mystery and he did kind of dig it. Made life more interesting than bed rest, IVs, and vomit buckets.

Once they were through the lobby of the hospital, they had to sneak past the security window, then they were free to go their separate ways. He knew she knew the way, but now he felt sort of responsible for her. Like an older brother. But then he gave himself a mental shake. What the hell was he thinking? Like he was some damn hero. She could talk when she wanted. Sometimes he swore she did the things she did because people showed her attention. She craved human contact and at the same time couldn't stand being touched. She was a walking paradox.

When he arrived at the elevators, he made sure to wipe all the droplets of water away with the hem of his T-shirt. The thing was not as flat as it had looked lying in the puddle. It was egg-shaped, completely smooth. Smoother than an actual egg. Made of some kind of pure white metal. Not painted, but the metal itself was white, whiter than silver. He'd never seen anything like it, and Sakura was fascinated by it. She kept staring at it, but not directly. Just using her peripherals.

"You want this?"

She didn't answer.

"Say you want it. I'll give it to you."

To a stranger it might have looked like he was taunting her in the cruelest way, taunting someone who couldn't even talk, but that wasn't true. He actually felt guilty even though he knew it wasn't true. She was pretty mischievous, like a little kid. Wouldn't talk if you let her get away with not talking.

"Come on, otherwise it's going back into my pocket." He pretended he was going to put it back inside. She was looking at him directly, like usual. But she could see everything he was doing. "Okay, here it goes, back inside my pocket." He touched the opening.

"Find me," she said suddenly.

Kenji chuckled. "Close enough, I guess."

"Find me. Find me. Find me."

"Whoa, calm down. Let's not freak out again, okay?"

"Find me."

He held out the egg to her and she slowly raised her hand, still not looking directly at it and took it from his hand like she was plucking a tulip.

"See you later." He said as she entered the elevator after it opened fully. She stepped carefully over the crack, one foot at a time, like a little kid that wasn't really sure how to climb stairs.

"Say goodbye, Sakura. Be polite."

She was still facing the back wall of the elevator. She would back out when she arrived at the right floor. "Good bye."


She'd been staring at the egg ever since she got back. Never stopped except when her nurse fed her or made her go to the bathroom. Her most familiar nurse, Angela, picked up the egg to look at it, put it back down on the wider end. But that was the wrong way. Sakura knew. The egg slowly shifted, turning on its tip. The tip was several times heavier than the wider base.

"Where did you get this?" Angela asked suspiciously. "Have you been sneaking out again?"

Sakura didn't answer.

"Where did you get it?" Angela picked it up again.

"Find me."

"I guess you mean you found it. Is that what you mean?"

"Find me."

"Or it found you?"

Sakura didn't answer. Angela sat with her, took her hand gently, held it. Sakura stroked her knuckles gently with her thumb, a ritualistic movement, but one that obviously gave Sakura comfort.

Eventually Sakura let Angela's hand go. She folded her hands in her lap and stared into space, keeping the egg it the edge of her field of vision.

Angela left her alone, because it was almost time for bed. She'd come back later to get her changed. Weaving around the maze of easels Sakura had built, arranged with respect to size, Angela left, careful not to disrupt the orderly room.

Sakura's paintbrushes were arranged neatly on a desk, all by themselves. On another desk there were colors, arranged in a perfect color wheel, a perfect circle. All the paintings Sakura made were of intricate objects, wires, connections, electrical panels, and the like. They were multicolored in an abnormal, but beautiful way. Threads of shiny hot pink blending with banana yellow, orange meringue. It was so intricately perfect, Angela was always in awe of her.

Sakura barely noticed her leave.

She sat mesmerized by the egg, keeping it at the edge of her vision, watching it swirl with an iridescence no one else noticed. It was so subtle to everyone else, but to Sakura it couldn't have been more obvious. The swirls of colors were not meaningless. There was a pattern, minute reoccurring symbols, glyphs and mathematical diagrams. Sakura turned the egg, engrossed in its design, trying to understand it. She'd never seen anything like it before, but it clicked in her mind immediately.

Angela came in within the hour, and got Sakura ready for bed.

Sakura complied without a fuss, enthralled with the egg. She placed it by her bedside table without assistance from Angela, keeping it at a certain angle so she could continue to see the patterns.

Angela was delighted with her calmness, but couldn't help feeling a twinge of apprehension. Anything that wasn't normal behavior—normal for her patient of four years—was cause for anxiety. It was probably nothing. Anything that kept Sakura so calm was a good thing. God knew they could always use more calm days.

Sakura lay in the darkness after Angela left, closing the door behind her.

"Find me," Sakura whispered.

She sat up in bed and touched the egg at ten different, precise points. Applied equal pressure.

It awakened.

So did she.


Author's Note: Uprising is not a real computer game.