Sorry for the monstrous delay, there were summer fancy dress parties then the visitation of my evil family and then the rewriting of this whole chapter! Thanks to the reviewers of the last chappy, you guys are awesome. Beta-ed by my dear ShipperTrish. Anyway enjoy (I hope!)
Chapter 14: Remember Me.
The sound of footsteps echoed around the large stables as Kakashi was guided on unsteady feet back towards his and Sakura's makeshift prison. It was irritating how his feet dragged slightly, how he couldn't seem to keep his head from lolling as firm hands kept him upright. The rattling rasp of the chains linking his wrists to his ankles seemed like a mocking chorus, the restraints further hampering any chance of appearing like the graceful and deadly shinobi he was. He focused all his attention on the difficult task of putting one foot in front of the other.
His escort seemed patient enough, whispering quiet instructions when he needed to be navigated around various obstacles or when he had to traverse a wide grating in the floor.
He recognized the voice as belonging to Kenta, the Waterfall nin who he had nearly taken out in the cell only hours before.
Kakashi heard Sakura's gasp as the door was unbolted and instinctively curled his hands into loose fists to hide the worst of the damage from her. It was a futile gesture. He could feel the sticky wetness of his blood running in rivulets down his palms and wrists although, thankfully, his fingers themselves felt largely numb with a hot swelling kind of heat. He was exhausted, though.
As Kenta guided him into a sitting position on the cold, concrete floor, locking the chains at his ankles back onto the hook on the wall, Sakura's voice rang out with calm self assurance and an audible edge of anger.
"You can't just leave him like that."
Kakashi was proud of her, expecting her to be shaken and emotional. He must have looked terrible, but instead, she sounded strong and unmovable.
He heard a rustle as Kenta shifted on the balls of his feet.
"A shinobi is largely useless without his hands. Those wounds need to be dressed and cleaned." Sakura continued.
There was a long moment of silence and Kakashi could almost feel Kenta shrinking under Sakura's ice cold glare.
After several long seconds, there was the sound of a bottle being uncapped, the telltale sound of water sloshing, and then a cold, wet wad of fabric was placed gently in Kakashi's shaking hands.
Kakashi tried his best to grip at the fabric, but after several failed attempts, he settled on placing it on his lap and burying his burning fingers into the cooling mass, sighing slightly as the burning sensation lessened.
Kenta finally spoke up.
"That's the most that I can do for him, you understand? I'll leave the water here…" he said, nudging Kakashi's leg with the canteen so that he understood it was within reaching distance. "And I'll leave his arms out of the wall shackles so that blood flow can return properly to his hands, but that's all I can do."
Sakura's whispered "thank you" went unanswered and soon they were once again left alone.
The persistent thump of a fist against hardwood, jarring and inescapable, reverberated around Kotetsu's skull as he tried to push his head further under the pillow, the sound drilling a rhythmic, bass beat through his patience. Elbowing his bedfellow hard in the ribs, he mumbled out something which translated loosely as "It's your turn to get the door."
Instead, said bedfellow ignored this request and snuggled closer against his back, looping a well muscled arm tightly across his abdomen and replied with an equally unintelligible groan, "Just ignore it and maybe they'll go away" before slipping back into sleep with a gentle snort.
Kotetsu sighed and jammed the pillow tightly around his ears as the noise relentlessly continued. Unfortunately for him, their harasser was well schooled in making himself impossible to ignore, especially to the honed senses of a ninja.
Soon the rhythm of knocks shifted, carefully spelling out messages in Morse code against the doorframe:
'G-e-t . u-p . y-o-u . l-a-z-y . b-a-s-t-a-r-d-s.'
Kotetsu sat bolt upright, the thin summer top-sheet falling low around his hips.
"Kotetsu, pleeasse lay down!" came a childish whine from his side followed by a palm slapping across his chest and pushing him back against the mattress. Sighing, Kotetsu sunk back and screwed his eyes tightly closed.
'K-o-t-e-t-s-u . o-p-e-n . t-h-e . d-o-o-r.'
Kotetsu growled, running an aggravated hand through his hair.
'K-o-t-e-t-s-u . h-a-s . a . h-a-i-r-y . b-a-c-k.'
Another low growl.
'K-o-t-e-t-s-u . l-i-k-e-s . t-o . b-o-t-t-o-m.'
A shocked snort and the sound of light chuckling from the warm body next to him.
"I do not!" he hissed angrily at his companion.
"Go tell that to him," came the amused reply.
"Him?"
"Only Iruka would be this sadistic. Why don't you go see what he wants?" his partner giggled.
'K-O-T-E-T-S-U . I-S . A . P-A-N-S-Y!' came the deafening thumps.
"Okay, okay, OKAY!" Kotetsu bellowed at the door, jerking the top sheet awkwardly around his waist and dragging his sleep deprived body towards the front door of his apartment.
Izumo made a half ass attempt to grab the corner of the fast departing sheet, failed, sighed, and then made a half ass effort to find a pair of pants amongst the chaotic mess that was his lover's bedroom floor.
Wrenching the door open with more force than necessary, Kotetsu glared with all his might at the innocent looking chocolate eyes of one Umino Iruka.
"CAN I HELP YOU?!"
"Good morning, Kotetsu-kun," smiled Iruka cheerfully while wiping the rain of spittle off of his face.
"MORNING?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?!"
"A little after three."
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT AT THREE IN THE FU-"
"Hey, Iruka, wassup?" Izumo said with a sleepy smile as he appeared behind his screaming other half and clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.
"Hey, 'Zu. We've been given the order to evacuate the civilian population to the Hokage Mountain complex. I know it's early, but I'd like to get started right away. I still have all the pre-genins to round up." Iruka said, keeping his eyes locked firmly with Izumo's as Kotetsu's sheet slipped down his hips and onto the floor.
Kotetsu swore softly under the hand covering his mouth, but made no move to cover himself.
"Pre-genins are going to love being pulled from their beds a little past three in the morning on a weekend, Iruka," he said, removing Izumo's hand from his mouth and placing his own firmly on his naked hips.
"They'll have to get used to early starts and responding to crises if they want to become real shinobi." Iruka said with a heavy blush as he tried to look anywhere but at the junk jiggling in front of him. Coughing lightly into his hand, he turned and pulled out two laminated timetables complete with colour coded pie charts and presented them to his fellow chuunin.
"This is the itinerary for the next twenty hours. As you can see, I've divided everything into two hour slots as well as which of the pre-genin and off-mission genin will be most suited for the work. Izumo, I have you in charge of rationing and inventory. Kotetsu, I have you down for evacuating districts five through nine. I will be evacuating one through four and the commercial districts. Any questions?"
"Iruka…" Izumo said, gawping at the beautifully presented mission plan, "This is jounin level planning."
"There's a lot at stake!" Iruka said, flames of determination bursting behind his retinas, his fist raised in a manner that reminded both chuunin of one of the more exuberant personalities often seen dancing through the mission room. "The safety of our beloved village hangs in the balance!"
Both other chuunin tried to smother the horrified shudders running down their spines at the sudden and uncanny likeness.
"Okay, Iruka-kun." Kotetsu said, shrinking back slightly. "We'll do our best, but to do all of this in twenty hours…Well, it's not going to be easy, is it?"
Iruka's hands were suddenly grasping Kotetsu's bare shoulders, their faces nose to nose as his tirade continued, his early embarrassment of Kotetsu's unabashed nakedness forgotten as he practically bear hugged the man in his desperation.
"We can do it! If we work as a team we can overcome anything! We can-"
"Alright, alright!" both chuunin shrieked in unison. "We'll be out in five minutes!"
Panting behind the now closed door, Kotetsu wiped nervous sweat from his brow.
"Well that was terrifying!"
Izumo only nodded numbly.
"Do you think Gai has been giving him lessons? I mean, all that was missing was a burning sunset."
Izumo spoke up in a weak voice. "Do you think the pressure has finally got to him? The screaming children, the long mission room hours, the long mission room hours dealing with men who act like children?"
"Nah…" Kotetsu said, thoughtfully scratching a long finger against his chin. "Only one thing in this world would get Iruka so excited-"
"Ahhh…Desk fetish."
Hiroto Nakamizu looked longingly into the stable at the pink haired medic who was meeting his gaze with a look of fixed disgust. His large fingers curled tightly around the metal bars as he openly studied her long, slender legs, defined abdomen, and small, perky bosom. He hoped that she looked as glorious naked as she did with a mud smeared face and chains holding her firmly in place. He licked his fleshy lips in anticipation, the movement causing his jowls and second chin to wobble.
The girl's top lip curled up further, revealing straight, even, white teeth and her green, almond shaped eyes flashed with a vehemence not lost on Hiroto. This little girl wanted to gut him like a fish. It was written all over her face, promising a good fight.
He loved it when they were feisty.
"I can't wait to see if the collar matches the cuffs," he said, his grin widening and another chin appearing.
"Try it. I'll gut you like a fish!" Sakura snapped.
When her hands fisted and started shaking with outrage, Hiroto's pants tightened uncomfortably at the sight.
He chuckled, a wet, raspy sound and licked his lips again.
"You're a neutered kitten in that state. Now I'm sure that in a fair fight you could pull my head off from my shoulders…ninja." he added with a disapproving shake of his head. "But with that thing around your neck…" he gestured with a chubby finger to the thick metal collar fitted snugly to her throat, "You're just another wilful little lady who needs educating. When Kuma's finished with you, that's exactly what I'll do...Educate you."
"What with? Do you even have a dick?" she asked, cocking her head to the side and channelling as much of Sai into her remark as possible.
With a shriek of outrage, Hiroto wrenched the door open, the keys jangling violently in the lock.
"How dare you, you little bitch!" he screamed, striding over to her and fisting a hand into her hair.
Sakura was pulled onto her knees, as far as the chains allowed. The resounding smack across her face had stars bursting around her vision.
His other hand grasped her by the jaw, thick digits digging hard into the soft flesh of her cheeks. "Maybe I'll just fuck you here in the mud and dirt like the dirty little wanton whore you are!" he screamed in her face, his grip tightening painfully as Sakura struggled to break free, her arms straining against the chains to push his mass away from her.
"Don't touch her." came the deep, flat voice from the shrouded figure in the corner.
Hiroto's dismissive laughter was the only reply as his spade-like hands thrust roughly under Sakura's top, mauling her breasts with hard, painful squeezes.
Sakura hissed angrily, twisting her torso away from him, bucking her body hard to shake his vice-like grip, but he continued, pulling and yanking at her bindings, laughing manically at her renewed efforts and pleading whimpers.
Kakashi, covered in darkness, could only listen to his former student's sounds of distress. When he heard the sound of fabric ripping, a cloud of anger settled over him so dark and turbulent that he even heard Hiroto's heart rate stutter in response.
The bloated idiot, responding to the waves of killing intent, made the mistake of loosening his hold on Sakura, enough for her to slam her knees up into his jaw, causing him to fall sharply on his side on the concrete floor.
That was all Kakashi needed.
"Do you think I'm a neutered kitten, Nakamizu-san?"
With his arms no longer restricted to being held above his head, the Copy Nin lunged forward, catching the velvety fabric of Hiroto's long robe between bloodied fingers. With one sharp tug, the man was pitched towards him as he tried to stand. In a movement so fluid that Sakura, struggling to cover herself in the corner, didn't even see it until Kakashi had his knees locked firmly around Hiroto's head and the chain wrapped around his large neck.
With brutal strength born out of the need to protect his teammate from what Kakashi considered the most horrific form of abuse, the Copy Nin threaded the fingers of both of his hands into one, large, closed fist and beat down hard and heavy into the soft, weak flesh of his victim.
Sakura looked on in horror as Kakashi's arms came down again and again.
Gargled, choking sounds and a fine mist of blood and spittle rained upward as in one blow Hiroto's nose was broken, and in the next his lip split, and in the next his jaw dislocated. Blood and clear fluid foamed and frothed around the civilian's mouth and with each wet blow of tissue and bone, the Copy Nin's rasping voice could be heard barely more than a whisper saying, "Don't touch her" over and over again.
The kick to Kakashi's chest landed him hard against the stone wall as Kuma seemed to appear once again from out of nowhere, but even while panting and clutching at what was sure to be a couple of broken ribs, the red haze of blood lust did not lift.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kakashi realized that he had not felt such an intense urge to kill for a very, very long time, since the time when he had been the mirror image of the quiet, strong figure now looming over him, hiding behind an animal guise and a formfitting uniform.
"That's enough, Hatake-san." Kuma's deep baritone cut through the snorting gurgle of Hiroto's laboured breathing and the sound of Kakashi's own breath coming in short, sharp gasps behind the hood of dark fabric.
"Kenta, are you responsible for this?" Kuma asked, inclining his masked head to the side.
Kenta stepped slowly into the available light, his wide, shocked eyes fixed on the bloody pulp at his feet.
"Y-yes, Kuma-san," the man gulped, looking between the tense quivering form of Kakashi, the silent, shocked, and huddled form of Sakura, and the mess of a man who seemed to have no face.
Kuma nodded once before addressing the prone man on the ground.
"Hiroto, I'm afraid you're in no condition to be having any more fun with Haruno-san and now I have better plans for her. I'll find you a replacement when you're feeling better," he said without emotion or concern, ignoring the way the man clutched weakly at the hem of his trousers.
"Kenta, secure Hatake's arm restraints and then take Hiroto to the infirmary."
Kakashi's almost hysterical laughter bubbled out from his mouth before he could control it as Kenta gingerly manoeuvred his arms up and into the more secure shackles. The laughter stopped abruptly and he spoke with what Sakura recognized as his "teacher voice," calm and direct, as if relaying a tedious synopsis on chakra application.
"Nakamizu-kun will be eating through a straw for the rest of his life."
Kenta shuddered as he stepped away and carefully pulled Hiroto to his feet, supporting all of the gargantuan weight as he took the now unconscious man with him.
"Probably, but you'll be dead within hours and the teammate you're so hell-bent on protecting will enter Konoha as my most prized weapon, ready and willing to cut every Leaf-loyal throat she comes across. I think I'll have her kill you as a dummy run."
His hand slapped down on Sakura's shoulder and the room bent in a familiar way before Kuma vanished, taking his student with him.
Kakashi was left in darkness, pain radiating through his hands and chest with the intense weight of fear pressing down.
Teleportation at its core was nothing more than a flashy parlour trick. On the battlefield it served almost no purpose because it required a complete and intimate knowledge of one's surroundings down to the last cubic millimetre.
Sakura had always known this, being an avid learner and a keen student, but she had also always been enamoured with Kakashi's ability to poof his way effortlessly through the winding streets of Konoha. For his own amusement, Sakura had often witnessed him poof directly into the Hokage's office upon being summoned in an attempt to startle Tsunade and cause her to spill saké down her front, which almost always resulted in her launching a paperweight at his head and him trying to hide a chuckle behind a cough.
When Sakura had asked him to teach her the jutsu, Kakashi had been more than happy to oblige, citing her unique chakra control as a characteristic important for mastering the technique.
"It requires only focus and two weeks hard work at the most," he had said.
Kakashi had explained that to make things easier, it was important to have an anchor, an object infused with the user's chakra that would be used as a constant, or rather, a homing beacon from which to orientate one's travel.
All this theory Sakura gleefully gobbled up and immediately set to work sealing her own anchor, a decorative summer kimono that had been her grandmother's. It hung in a glass case on the wall of her tiny little apartment, its fading silk and embroidered chrysanthemums now imbued with her own cool energy.
This was the only stage that had been even remotely successful.
Her first teleportation had been in tandem with Kakashi. She had been aiming to transport them from one side of Training Ground Three to the other. Sure enough, after completing the two-part hand seal, they had found themselves on the other side…only twenty feet up in the air. Being a medic was brilliantly useful when you seemed to develop a penchant for breaking your team leader's ankles.
The teleportation itself was impossible to get used to. As soon as the hand seal was completed, it felt like you were being pulled through a tunnel by your teeth. The world seemed to shift and spasm, sliding into a myriad of cool blue contours, each person in the village lit up like a blue, flickering candle and the brightest of all was the shape of a kimono burning a mile away in her fourth floor apartment.
Sakura had felt Kakashi's presence steering her away from it and knew immediately that the point of this exercise was to use her anchor as a way to get one's bearings, not try and travel directly to it. Hence, why their re-emergence had found them twenty feet up in the air and Sakura clawing blindly into space.
That wasn't the worst of it, though. The after-effects were horrendous.
Over the next couple of months, she had tried and tried and tried again, to the point where she would use the technique to travel home after her shift at the hospital every single day, a short journey she knew well and left little chance of her accidentally re-emerging in a wall.
Once, after a group of interns that had been shadowing her all day had asked if she wanted to come for an after work drink, Sakura had replied that unfortunately, she had training to do and had spun on the spot, disappearing in a shower of beautiful pink petals. The interns had oo-ed and ah-ed at the dramatic display, spreading word quickly throughout the hospital that their mentor was by far the coolest, something that would have been negated had they seen her land unceremoniously on her arse on the cold, tiled floor of her bathroom and then promptly scoot over to the toilet to empty the contents of her stomach.
Sakura didn't like to be defeated, but after two solid months of flailing limbs and unbearable stomach pains, she had finally conceded and told Kakashi to poof-off when he had come to check on her progress.
Kuma's teleportation felt nothing like this...It was worse.
One second she had been staring at the half crazed form of her team leader and the next she was hurtling through complete blackness at an incredible speed. There were no blue flares of chakra lighting the way, no brightly burning summer kimonos to allow her an understanding of her surroundings, and when she popped back into existence beside the tall, lean ANBU, it felt nothing like being pulled through a tunnel by her teeth and more like being turned inside out. Her knees hit hard flooring and her stomach rolled violently, leaving her dry retching against cold tiles. She was brought back to awareness by a sharp prick of pain to the nape of her neck.
"Shit!" she screamed, slapping a hand around to the back of her neck, realizing in horror that she had been drugged as cold liquid spread out in her head. "What the hell did you do?!" she gasped as Kuma unhinged the chakra repressing collar and shackles around her wrists and ankles. Staggering uncertainly, she forced herself across the room away from him, whirling around to stare apprehensively at her attacker.
"I injected you with a substance to stop you putting up too much of a fight. We need to access your chakra highway for this procedure to work." Kuma said, holding up a small vial for her to see.
"Vecuronium Bromide?" she whispered, giving him a questioning look as she silently tried to gain control of her newly awakened chakra highway and breakdown the compound coursing through her body.
"You are a medic, are you not? One of the most promising in Konoha?"
Numbly, Sakura started reciting in perfect textbook fashion: "Vecuronium Bromide is a muscle relaxant and paralyzing agent used alongside anaesthesia in surgery. It works by blocking the cholinergic receptors and thus, inhibiting motor function."
"Very good. Complete paralysis, but full consciousness."
"What are you going to do?" she gasped. Her legs were starting to feel numb and heavy. She staggered backwards further, reaching out awkwardly to support herself on a gurney. The compound was working too fast for her to isolate it, the best she could do was slow it down.
A hospital?
Looking around, automatically searching for possible exits, Sakura noticed only one door. The room was clean, clinical white, smaller, but similar to the room she and Kakashi had been caught in. Monitors were set up in the corners, tables of surgical implements lay on glass tables in metal trays. She stumbled towards one, leaning heavily on the smooth surface and picked up a scalpel with clumsy fingers.
"You bastard!" she shouted, brandishing it in front of her. "When the Hokage finds out what you're planning, she will obliterate you and Danzo! By touching me or any other Leaf shinobi, you'll be signing away your life!" she lunged forward towards him, but he side-stepped neatly, allowing her to hurtle into the wall. The scalpel dropped from now lifeless fingers and Sakura could only look at her useless hands with panic and frustration.
The mask cocked to the side and seemed to clearly articulate the ANBU's confusion.
"Danzo has nothing to do with this. I'm acting on my own volition," he said simply.
Sakura felt her own face contort into a muddy mask of shock and confusion.
"W-what do you mean? Danzo had us followed! He has to know what's going on! He has to have people letting the girls into our territory!"
"I'm sure he's more or less aware of my plan, but he wasn't part of it. His involvement would be political suicide. This was simply what I theorized to be the best course of action to achieve his goals, but even Danzo would frown upon this as treason."
"Then why do it?" Sakura asked incredulously. "You are supposed to blindly follow orders. You aren't supposed to be able to think freely!"
"My orders have always been to facilitate Danzo's inevitable rise to Hokage. I'm completing my mission by working outside of the given perimeters. I will complete my mission no matter what."
"Sounds like a glitch in the programming to me." Sakura sneered, her legs slowly crumbling under her.
"It's true that Root members are trained to block out emotional reactions and impulses, but that doesn't mean we don't think for ourselves. The battlefield requires a certain level of freethinking and adaptation, making Root operatives better suited for solo work."
And then realization dawned on Sakura. "The Root teams that were tracking us from Konoha...They weren't sent to stop us, were they?"
Kuma shook his head slowly. "No, Haruno. If a team of ANBU Root were trailing you at the start of your mission, then they were sent to follow you to me, to assassinate me."
Suddenly, Sakura felt incredibly stupid. The ANBU Root team that had been following them would have ended this much sooner. If only Root and the Konoha main had shared intelligence, all this could have been avoided.
Kuma exhaled and continued, "Danzo wants the title of Hokage, so I amassed an army to bring Konoha so close to the precipice of destruction that they would have to turn to new leadership. It's logical that Danzo, with a complete understanding of my thought process, would be the only one to know how to counter my attack. The Root division would be the most effective at wiping out the enemy because the training of my soldiers has been almost identical. Root, bred on the suppression of emotion, would have no qualms about annihilating an army of women and children. The Konoha main, however, are soft with compassion. I'm sure the upcoming fight will take its toll on them all, psychologically as well as physically."
"You underestimate us." Sakura supplied. "Tsunade is a stronger leader than you imagine. We are stronger than you imagine."
"You put a lot of stock in the Hokage, Haruno. You also seem to think the Hokage puts a lot of stock in you. Would you say you are close to the Hokage, Haruno?"
Sakura fell silent, reeling from all she had learned and having no choice but to let her body sink fully to the floor.
"You must be. You are her apprentice, after all."
Silence.
She wanted to tell him to go to hell, wanted to say something to make him realize what a mistake this was, but her tongue felt like a ball of cotton and she just couldn't get the words out.
He was walking towards her now.
Without the ability to turn her head, Kuma's feet were the only things Sakura could see.
"You are going to be my prized possession. While Konoha is crumbling under the attack, the Hokage will be heavily protected, but when you return in a blaze of glory, the only survivor of your team with the knowledge your leader's needs, she will accept you with open arms and you will slit her throat. While she bleeds out on the floor of her gilded office, there you'll be, cursed with more power than you can imagine, cutting through the jounin ranks like butter."
A tear rolled down Sakura's face. Inside she was screaming. Inside she was ripping this traitorous bastard limb from limb, but her body didn't move. Tears seemed the only thing it was capable of.
She was picked up easily and lowered onto the gurney.
"Doctor, please proceed with the seal then send her down for programming. After that, Hiroto-san needs some medical assistance in the infirmary." Kuma said before disappearing.
Milky blue eyes filled her vision. An older man with salt and pepper hair wearing a high neck lab coat smiled in a manner that should have been reassuring.
There was a cold pressure against her thigh as her shorts were pulled down over her hips.
Doctors always have cold hands…
He made a thoughtful sound as he prodded the orchid tattoo Kakashi had given her for her cover.
"A good fake," he said in a cracked, hoarse voice.
Sakura suspected that he was probably a heavy smoker.
"Never mind. We'll just have to put it on the other side."
Unfurling a small scroll over her waist, he started to prepare a complex seal with light strokes of a calligraphy brush.
She managed to force a very quiet and strained whimper through her teeth and his eyes snapped to hers, foggy and a little lost.
"Shh, shh..." he crooned with a gentleness that touched every part of his face except his eyes. "I know you're thinking that what Kuma-san is doing is terrible, but you wait and see. In the long run it will be better for everyone. His master is a tactical, driven man who will overthrow our enemies and restore a proper balance to the great nations, and countries like mine will prosper, no longer threatened by the unstable power surrounding our borders. You wait and see," he smiled warmly at her and his vacant eyes switched back to his writing.
Sakura tried to argue, to tell this man that Danzo, if ever put in power, would crush rather than unite. That little countries like Taki would be mere cannon fodder under his reign, but once again only a snivelling whimper escaped her lips.
"You're right!" the doctor nodded, keeping his focus on the symbols across her belly. "Kuma-san is a great man. I'm so honoured to be part of this, as should you be. You'll end up being possibly the most important soldier to graduate."
The way he said "graduate" was unnerving, as if he honestly believed that what he was doing was normal and a privilege.
When he once again turned his gaze back to her face, Sakura was absolutely sure about one thing…This man was bat-shit, fucking crazy.
"Now when I apply the seal, it will feel very uncomfortable. The sensation of your chakra gates being pried open is never a pleasant one, but the pain will subside in time. This is why we've given you a muscle relaxant. It will lessen the stress on your body and also help the seal to take."
The way he spoke was kind and reassuring. In fact, Sakura would say he had possibly the best bedside manner she had come across in recent years, but she was terrified.
The tears fell unhindered from her open, staring eyes. This seal would kill her and it would do it slowly and she would be used as a weapon against someone she viewed as a surrogate mother, especially since her estrangement from her own.
All too soon, his hand was glowing with a purple light.
All too soon, the ink was jumping off the paper and into his waiting palm.
His hand moved down towards her skin at a frighteningly slow pace in a second that seemed to stretch on forever.
Will it hurt?
The glowing hand continued its steady arch.
Will I even be aware of who I am after this?
She could feel the prickling aura of the sealing jutsu drawing closer to her thigh.
Will I even know that when I drag a blade across my beloved leader's throat that it's wrong?
The heat drew closer and Sakura found the inner strength to close her eyes.
Will my friends hesitate before they kill me?
Her fingers twitched against the plastic sheet, but it wasn't enough. It was too late.
Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Lee, Neji, Tenten…Will I remember the word "friend"?
Closer.
Tsunade, Shizune, my interns at the hospital, Iruka-sensei…
Closer.
Kakashi.
Closer.
Kakashi.
The tears ran down her face at a snail's crawl as the hand drew ever closer.
I have to find a way to remember. I have to find a way out. I have to... I have to...
"R-A-A-A-S-E-N-N-G-A-N-N!!!"
AN:
yeah…hands up who saw that coming…all of you? Dammit! lol,
Next chapter = Flashback no jutsu!!!
SlinkyM xxx