Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Ghost of Love: Chapter Fifteen
Sakura passed that night in a haze of disturbing dreams in which one moment she was surrounded by warmth and comfort and the next she was ripped away from it and abandoned to cold emptiness.
The next morning dawned grey and the same as ever within the Sound Compound, artificial lighting, steel and concrete creating an overwhelmingly dull brightness. Sakura rose, tired and frustrated with the world.
Breakfast passed as it usually did; silently and without colour or conversation. The many, varied inhabitants of Orochimaru's miserable 'village' worked and trained on unpredictable schedules, so mealtimes were often a mixed affair. Breakfast for some would be dinner for others and no one, whether just waking or about to head off to sleep, encouraged interaction. It was as though the snake sannin had warned every single ninja in the place that they were not allowed to socialize and they would be severely punished if they were caught doing so.
Sakura hunched over her bowl and ignored the subdued faces that loomed around her. She had learned by now that there was no point in making eye contact or trying to strike up a friendly conversation.
The young kunoichi shifted impatiently in her seat, legs jiggling, heels tapping against the floor with a strange, erratic sort of rhythm. Her muscles ached, her fingers trembled and sweat broke out over her pale skin; she was fighting intensely with the Matsumori chakra. Today Orochimaru would absorb the overload and she would be free of this clenching, shivering, hurting for another three days. The moment she poured the painful excess out of herself and into him couldn't come soon enough. She checked the clock high on the wall of the cafeteria, noting that it was seven thirty seven. Soon. I just have to hold out for another- she paused to calculate quickly –twenty three minutes.
At seven forty two Sakura gave up poking at her breakfast and jumped to her feet, deciding to wait outside the training room for the ever-punctual snake sannin to arrive.
Time passed with molasses-like slowness once she arrived at the room. Every second brought on another wave of teeth-gritting, spasm inducing pain. Groaning, the pink-haired kunoichi slid down the hard, cool wall and bunched herself up into a ball of trembling, sweating hurt. I wish, for once, he would just get here early. Her wish was not destined to be granted and Orochimaru arrived as the last second of 7:59 died.
"What are you doing on the floor, little Sakura?" He sounded incredulous as he loomed above her, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Sakura unfolded herself gently and made a valiant attempt to stand, only to wobble a second later and fall in a mute heap at the snake sannin's feet.
Orochimaru crouched before the pain-wrecked girl and sighed lightly. His breath ghosted over the crown of her head, tickling her oddly-coloured hair. Warm, cloth-covered arms slid under her own and drew her effortlessly to her feet. The door was pushed open with an impatient shove and Sakura stumbled inside the room, with plenty of assistance.
Orochimaru guided his reluctant student back to the floor, there being no seats in the room, and knelt swiftly before her.
He spoke sharply now, his voice a fine razor that sliced through the haze of her pain in a way that nothing else seemed to. "Sakura, now. Let go now."
Those heavenly words that meant she could let down her carefully constructed defences and allow the Matsumori chakra to do its thing. She didn't even need to guide it anymore; it knew where to go. Out through her fingers and into it's new host. It's favoured host, as far as Sakura could tell.
The exchange was over fairly quickly and soon Orochimaru had withdrawn his wrists from her grasp and sat silently, contemplatively. "Why did you attempt this?"
Sakura's head snapped up, her sea-green eyes seeking out now familiar gold with urgency. "Because I thought I could. That I'd improved enough to be able to hold it in without needing the band," here she hesitated, casting her gaze at her un-hurt hands- strange how the more chakra she used the more her skin, muscles and tissues adapted to it. "Apparently I was wrong."
Orochimaru chuckled softly, a sound Sakura had once found sinister, but now rather enjoyed.
"You weren't actually wrong, my dear. In fact, from now on, you will do this every time the chakra builds."
"What? No, but- I'm not ready, obviously!" Sakura felt herself beginning to panic at the thought of going through this hell every four days.
"Mmm… No, I disagree. You are, quite obviously, ready." - Silk and honey, Sakura thought, that's what his voice is like. - "If you weren't you wouldn't have managed to control it so completely. You didn't give in and let the band take over for even a second. There is no greater sign that you have developed your control to a level sufficient for this next step."
But it hurts so much. I don't want to hurt like that again.
Orochimaru reached out and flicked one of her bangs, languid and amused. "This is a good thing, little one, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment."
Sakura frowned at the gesture, annoyed with his condescending attitude. The temptation slap his hand away and glare at him like a petulant child was almost overwhelming, but she managed to resist. As his hand withdrew from it's affronting, playful pre-occupation with her hair she noticed four neat, silvery marks dotted across his wrist. That must be where the chakra passes through his skin and into the network underneath. All her irritation at the dark sannin disappeared, replaced with a kind of deep satisfaction. I wonder if they'll ever fade? Sakura found herself hoping they wouldn't. She had seen the marks before, of course, but for the first time she realized that they were growing more intense in their white-silver paleness, indicating that they weren't just temporary side effects that disappeared after a couple of hours. She resolved then to look for them the next time she trained with Orochimaru.
"Rest for the remainder of today, little Sakura. We will continue your training tomorrow."
AN: Some progress for Sakura, in a couple of ways. This chapter was easy to write but also very frustrating once it was finished; I'm just not happy with it and I can't seem to fix it so that I am. Anyway -.-' let me know your thoughts on it, if you see any mistakes, etc. =D