REVISED 7/7/17 I'd also like to make it explicitly clear that this story will contain EXPLICIT VIOLENCE intended to SHOCK you. Not 'oh god I've been stabbed waaa' but 'digging trembling fingers into slippery cold corpses, sifting through maggots and rot to find the key'. There's a stark difference and it's here. If you sincerely cannot handle violence please do not continue. Let me know what you think, it really makes my day.

"Shit!" She'd fallen asleep.

When she'd opened her eyes she saw a golden sky and knew that hours had passed. Sluggishly dunking her head into the water she moaned, wondering what horrors she'd inflicted on her body. The last time she'd taken one of Yukiyos herbal.. remedies , her skin had turned purple.

Serves you right for blindly trusting that old witch.

Shaking slightly she shot up, grabbing the towel she had set aside. Pressing it to her chest she almost screamed, her body was on fire! It hurt everywhere, burning searing horrifying all encompassing pain. Her skin had turned a hideously painful looking red color. A sickly shade that almost perfectly conveyed the pain she was in.

Trembling now she bent over to grab her underwear, and found herself gasping for air when her muscles spasmed hard. A slow vice like grip was forming on them, like she was turning to stone. Her mouth fell open in horror as her skin started to roll and make muted sloshing sounds. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought it vaguely reminded her, rather unpleasantly of boiling curry. Desperately biting back the nausea now dancing around in the back of her throat, she felt her towel slip from her burning hand .

"Shit shit shit." Vision pulsing uncontrollably, she took an unsteady step forward and stumbled, biting her tongue. She felt hot tears pooling in her eyes, slightly blurring her vision as the taste of blood overwhelmed her. Curling a hand in the mud she felt her heart sink, something was wrong.

A surprised cough echoed out into the silence somewhere behind her.

Normally she'd just assume it was Yukiyo, since no one else was ever around- this time it was painfully obvious it wasn't. The cough belonged to someone with a deep.. masculine voice. Sakura stood up painfully slow, and turned to face the stranger whose eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline. His mouth hung open, revealing very very sharp teeth.

They continued to wordlessly stare at each other.

Her labored breathing and the sound of water slicking off her hair and hitting the ground broke the silence. The situation at hand was beyond awful, she felt like she was dying. She knew for sure that she had some kind of horrible fever. Even though she'd just slept the day away in the hot spring, she felt hot in a different way, the sick way that only a bad fever could make you feel.

"Whad.. do you... wan..?" She worked out, starting to slump forward slowly.

Silence.

The stranger stood up a little taller, his mouth setting into a hard line.

"Where's Yukiyo?"

"Yuki..yo?" If she had been capable of taking a defensive position she would have, as it were she could see the ground out of the corner of her eye getting closer and closer.

"The sacred herbalist. We have... business."

Sakuras breathing became louder and more drawn out. Business.. business... business? Did Yukiyo have business? She dimly remembered her saying something about a meeting months ago, but just figured it fell through. It wasn't uncommon.

With her vision becoming more and more unsteady she decided take a risk and tell him Yukiyos whereabouts. Hopefully he'd mention her in passing.

Hopefully he'd get help..

"The... ledge." She croaked.

The world went dark.


Kisame stared in deep, sincere confusion at the woman in front of him. He was drawn to what sounded like drowning, wondering if maybe it was the herbalist herself but was beyond surprised when this... naked pink person shot out of the water like an angry water god. He'd been momentarily torn between asking for directions and walking away, when she bent over in front of him. Obviously it wasn't intentional, but it still left him in shock. The longer she stood there, bent over, the higher his eyebrows rose. He watched, still in shock as she lazily fumbled her clothes for what felt like a long time.

Was she doing this on purpose?

For some unforeseen reason he got a tickle in his throat. A very persistent one at that, and cleared his throat.

They both went still. She very, very slowly turned around and looked in his general direction. She looked... amongst many words dazed. The water dripping off her made her appear to glow in the dimming colors of the sunset. It was somehow unsettling and beautiful. He couldn't tell if she were real or not. Maybe some kind of enemy genjutsu? Maybe one of the old hags tricks. He wouldn't put it past her.

The sound of her laboured breathing broke his train of thought.

After a very drawn out exchange, she dropped to the ground and began spitting up an endless amountof water that hissed the second it hit the ground.

He was here for Itachi-

She began gurgling and convulsing violently, eyes rolling up in the back of her head

-but obviously this girl needed help. He wasn't necessarily one to help people, but he knew that Yukiyo had a soft spot for those in need. And while Itachi was in need, he had the feeling that she may be more inclined to help if it were a cute, helpless girl.

He picked her up and immediately grit his teeth in pain, she was hot. Hot enough to burn his skin.

Just how hot do these damn springs get?