Disclaimer:/I want to own Naruto and all it's cool ninja goodness. Nor do I own Flyleaf and all it's coolness...
Please please review. Even if it's a flame,please review.
Chapter One
Healing
-
-
-
My hands are searching for you
My arms are outstretched towards you
I feel you on my fingertips
My tongue dances behind my lips for you
This fire rising through my being
Burning I'm not used to seeing you
I'm alive, I'm alive
I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing
-
-
-
Sakura opened her eyes half way to see the feet of a guard outside her cell pass by on his daily rounds. She lifted her head up expecting him to stop at her cell and drag her out but they merely passed by. Her head lay limply against the blood stained floor as the rest of her body followed in an extended position behind her. She limply turned her head back to the entrance of her cell and watched the floor as shadows passed back and forth.
"Shadows?" She weakly muttered as her natural feminine curiosity took hold of her heart.
She blinked in surprise when she was able to successfully lift her small boy up off the floor without any pain what so ever aside from the soreness of sleeping on a cold stone floor for however long she was asleep.
"How long was I out for?" she wondered aloud as she stared down at her extended arms that were void of all their cuts and burn marks that were there when she fell asleep.
Now the only thing left to scar her arms were her stitched patches that brought about her 'rag doll' nickname. Her legs and torso were no different, completely void of scarring wounds and burns aside from her patches. Even some of her beloved patches were gone. The ones around her ankles if she was correct.
Sakura bent down to examine this and was surprised when her once elbow length fell down to her hips. She gasped lightly snapping back up. With shivering fingers she lifted up a stray lock of her dirtied bubblegum pink hair and stared at it. It grew so much since the last time she checked. How long exactly had she been asleep? It must have been that drug they gave her, there was no way she could have slept that long, right?
Sakura frowned and clutched her head in frustration. It had to be a drug, for her hair to grow that long would take a month at the least!
"Oh you're awake. It's about time, the masters have been waiting forever for you to snap out of it." One of the guards outside her cell scoffed in pure disgust for a slave child such as her.
"L…long enough? How long was I out of it?" She asked hesitantly not really ready for an answer.
"A few weeks, nine or eight at the least. It might even be a few months, I don't know the details." He sneered before walking off, most likely to report to his superiors about her waking up.
"A few…months? Was I really out that long?" Sakura asked herself in disbelief running a hand through her dirtied limp dawn tinted hair. "Was it hat drug that caused it?"
Removing her hand from her messy tangles she stared down at the pale body part. What really hit her was why she was so healthy and clean for being out for so long. She thought for sure that they would torture her in her sleep and inject other various drugs in to her system as she continued to slumber.
It was so unlike them to leave her alone the way they did. This irritated her further since that meant they planned some sort of extreme torture that required her to heal before it could be carried out.
She breathed in deeply and let her small frail body fall against the wall in a huff. Gravity closed upon her as she slid down the cold stone landing in a slump with her legs on either side of her. It's not like she cared what happened to her, she had no reason to live for after all.
A vision of Naruto and Kakashi flashed through her mind before they faded to the darkness. Not even her closest friends could save her from what she was. Her two closest friends were now reduced to merely memories, shadows of the distant past.
Kakashi was gone, plain and simple.
She remembered distantly well the day when the dreaded news arrived. She was working in the hospital at that time working on repairing a chunin's ripped tendon when a fellow nurse ran into the room with a frantic expression asking for her. When Sakura asked what was wrong all she said was that the Hokage requested her presence.
-
"Hokage sama, you requested my presence?" Sakura asked stepping into the familiar large office that donned many windows and bowed to her sensei in respect.
Tsunade looked down for a moment inhaling deeply before raising her eyes to meet Sakura's. "Sakura chan, you are aware that you sensei was placed on a squad of several other Jonin not too long ago for a S rank mission?" The tall blond asked sternly.
Sakura winced inwardly as the sensation of a large hand taking hold of her heart and squeezing the life out of it gripped her mercilessly. "Hai Tsunade sensei." She answered calmly despite the grappling pain in her chest.
"The mission was a failure and the entire squad was wiped out. No one survived." Tsunade replied rather bluntly without mercy.
Sakura sucked in sharply as her emerald green orbs widened in shock. No, it couldn't be. He couldn't be… "Then Kakashi sensei is…" She gasped leaving the rest of her sentence unfinished.
She couldn't finish it. That word was just too cruel and malicious.
"Yes Kakashi sensei is dead." Tsunade finished bowing her head in respect for the dead. "I know both you and Naruto were really close to him so I though you two should be the first to know. I think it is best if you didn't go back to work today. The shock must be horrible so I'll let you rest."
Sakura limply let her head sway back in forth in a nod before lifelessly stumbling out of her teacher's office. Her once dazzling bright green eyes loosing their life, turning into two lifeless dark pools of green.
-
Sakura remembered running home and crying for hours with a blanket and a box of tissues as her only companions for the next twenty four hours.
That was almost Two years ago, if she estimated her time correctly. Three whole long years since his death. She still refused to believe it but sooner or later she would have to face the facts. He was gone and he wasn't coming back.
Then there was Naruto, at least she still had him. In life that was true, but he was even father away than Kakashi was in a sense. At least with Kakashi they were always close, with Naruto the two seemed to drift apart.
She distinctly remembered her sensei's funeral so long ago. She stood out to the side alone clutching a single white rose in her trembling hands that refused to still for even a moment. He stood out in the middle surrounded by close friends, Hinta hugging tightly to his arm.
She notice even before then that they were not as close as they used to be but it was so slightly she could hardly tell. After Kakashi's death their relationship seemed to fall apart. He could see the longing for solitude in her eyes and left her alone completely forgetting her so it seemed. He would occasionally stop by the hospital where she worked and offered to treat her out to some lunch but she would always politely refuse, telling his she had too much work for a break.
That's what she said but somewhere deep in her heart there was nothing she would love more. She knew that this loneliness was what she asked for but it wasn't what she really wanted and she knew it. Maybe she just didn't want to bother Naruto with her troubles or waste his time with her petty problems. Maybe she care too much to be a burden to anyone other than herself. She could spend a multitude of days coming up with these excuses but there was one that stood out apart from the others.
Another vision of Hinata clinging to Naruto's arm flashed through her memory for a brief moment before fading into the nothingness of her mind. More memories of the times when they began to fall apart flickered behind her eyes as the distant memories resurfaced.
-
"Hey Naruto, do you want to come and train with me for a while?" Sakura happily chirped as she skipped to her best friend's side with a dazzling pearl white smile.
"Hey Sakura chan. Training would be great I really need it since I've been slacking off lately." Naruto chuckled with a bright dazzling smile of his own. His cerulean blue eyes bent upward in a fox like slant before his smile faded into a frown.
"What's wrong Naruto? Can't you train today?" She asked concerned.
"I'm sorry Sakura chan but I promised Hinata that I would help her out with something today. Maybe tomorrow, is that okay?" Sakura smiled sadly but nodded holding back her disappointment as her best friend ran off farther and farther from her small fragile looking frame.
-
"Hey Naruto want to go out to ramen?"
"I'm sorry Sakura chan but Hinata and her team are having a special training session and she wanted me to be there. How about next time?"
-
"Naruto, I was wondering if you would like to walk with me to the hospital."
"Man Sakura chan I'm really sorry but I have this thing with Hinata today. Next time I promise."
-
"Naruto do you want to take a stroll with me through the Sakura fields for a while."
"Please forgive me Sakura chan but I promised Hinata that I would help her with something she had trouble with. I swear next time we can do that."
-
It was like that all the time. At first it was only a few times but then those times grew more and more frequent until it was almost everyday he was gone. Then after the funeral it seemed she never saw him. He was a stranger to her. Someone who preferred the famous Hyuga heiress' company to her own.
It was pretty painful at first but time numbed her to the sorrow of her solitude.
So, first Kakashi left her for the darkness of death where she could not fallow and then she lost Naruto to Hinata and his other friends. Without those two she failed to find a decent reason for living. Heck, a reason for living at all.
She reached up and brushed a few of her fingers over her soft sensitive skin that was now the color of snow. The feeling of her flesh underneath her fingertips seemed to sooth her from her troubling memories she rather not dwell upon.
No, she would no longer let her mind wander to those memories of her time in that traitorous village that she once belonged to. It was true if she still had her headband there would be a slash through it proudly displayed around her neck. She really did hate that village.
"Alright rag doll get up and eat this." A rough voice barked from outside her cell while shoving a pate of food into her small square prison.
Sakura blinked once maintaining a cool expression despite the confusion running through her head. On the plate were five strips of dried meat, a large slice of bread that surprisingly was not stale, and a apple. What were that doing giving her food that was good for her? No what were they doing giving her food that was good tasting. She thought that they wanted to inflict the maximum amount of punishment of her and he fellow cell mates. The last time she had a decent meal was long before she came to such a retched place.
Her stomach lurched and growled yearning for the food before her.
"I could be poisoned, or drugged." She mused looking over the food. Her stomach gave another lurch and growled again this time more fiercely. "Well, today is as good a day to die as ever I suppose." She sighed picking up the bread and hastily shoving it into her mouth followed by the meat strips and apple.
She moaned in delight as the tasty substances slid down her throat, filling the empty pit that resided in her stomach. She could latterly feel the food hit the bottom it was so hollow. The sweet juices of her apple trailed down the sides of her chi for a moment before they were hastily licked up.
Her joy was short lived as a flood of light hit her in the eyes forcing her to look away when her cell's door was opened from the outside. It must have been a bit brighter out there than she thought it was. Since the only light she could see by was the light that slipped through the window and slots on the iron door, the opening of this door released a great deal of light to her delicate eyes.
Her wide pupils shrank in size tremendously almost reducing themselves to a sliver of black in a pool of green in hopes to block out as much light as possible. She bared her teeth and hiss like the twisted creature of the darkness that she was growing into from all their torture.
"Careful pal, the rag doll has it's strength back now." One of the two shadows she presumed to be guards whispered to a second shadow with a long thin rope like object in his hands.
"You don't think I know that? Why else would they send two of us down here to fetch it." The second shadow whispered back to the first before taking a few steppes forward.
Sakura blinked and kept her eyes mostly shut as the shadowy form descended upon her thin pail body. She felt him slip something cold and hard around her neck but didn't protest. She knew it was a metal collar with an anti chakra suppressing seal that attached to a long chain leash they would use to drag her around with whenever she showed signs of irritation. Not that they needed it since she wouldn't try anything when they transported her. She still didn't care about things like that.
The small abused child winced subconsciously as the small spikes and spurs on the inside of the collar dug into her shivering flesh. Pulling herself to her feet she obeyed the tugs and yanks from the leas like a wounded little puppy as she was escorted by to larger, and most likely stronger, guards as if she was a wild animal that could turn on them in any second.
As if.
As they traveled down corridors and passages Sakura's sensitive eyes readjusted the surprisingly bright lights that surrounded her. She must be in a different part of the base, she never remembered the lights being this bright. Now that she thought about it these corridors and tunnels did seem a bit different than the ones she was used to. Passing by another tunnel they turned down a wide corridor that felt a bit more alive than the others.
Sweeping her eyes to the side she could see why.
To her left the whole wall. from top to bottom, was lined with tall iron bars making a cage out of the space behind it. Sakura's heat tightened a bit at what she saw inside the cage.
The sound of sniffling and crying filled her ears and her eyes darted from the form of one child to the next. The cage was filled with children.
She knew that the Yura no Nori captured children and experimented on them in order to turn them into their lifeless power soldiers that would help them take over the world, but hearing about it and seeing it were two different things. Hearing about how they cruelly butchered and tortured the most innocent of innocent and seeing the pain in their wide frightened eyes were two entirely different things that couldn't be farther apart. When she heard of these children her hear beat silently as if it were a cold stone, uncaring for their suffering.
But looking at these kids she had to ask herself how could she not let her heart go out to these young ones? There were little girls dressed in nothing but rags huddled up in corners tighter trying to conserve their body heat as their male companions sat in front of them blocking any threat that might walk in the door and seek to harm them. Most of them were five and four years of age. The oldest one in the group couldn't have been no older than seven or six, the age she was when she and Ino were picking flowers for ninja class and playing ball with her friends.
That's what they should be doing.
Not rotting in some prison where they are beaten and killed each an every day while serving as guinea pigs and lab rats.
She could see it on the floors and staining the walls, their blood. Crimson like hate it scarred the stone with it's devilish evil gleam that shone full of malice. Their blood, the blood of children, The blood of the hopeless ones, the blood of the innocent. The blood that should never be spilled in such quantities for one so young an age.
One of the little girls that sat hugging what appeared to be her brother, looked up and held her gaze, fixed in her scarlet red orbs dotted with black. Her short raven black hair falling wildly around her face in a filthy mess. Sakura could see lines cutting through the dirt on her cheeks from tears recreantly shed. She was shivering violently and the look in her eyes couldn't have been more desperate.
Her brother who was holding on to her also looked up at her with pleading eyes that begged for release. Only his were a dark onyx of the blackest of color with his limp straight hair falling down his back tied with a simple piece of string. There were no streak marks on his face indicating tears but she could see in his eyes that he was fighting with all his might to hold the droplets back, maybe in an attempt to look brave in front of his sister.
Their eyes screamed as clearly as any shot or cry could have communicated what they wanted. The wanted release, they wanted escape, relief, freedom, deliverance from this nightmare that they couldn't seem to wake up from. The wanted out and they wanted it badly.
Sakura's heart tightened up and almost stopped beating as their eyes bore deep into her soul. A deep conviction grasped at her heart as well. How selfish could she be? Here she was rolling around as lifeless as a rag doll not caring in the slightest what went on in the world around her while these poor children died and starved wanting noting else than a release. It really made her open her eyes up to how selfish she really was being as she wallowed in self pity and misery.
Her eyes were jerked from theirs as the collar around her neck was tugged forward, pulling the spikes and prongs into her flesh. Was it just her or did she feel the pain more than what she once did. Her eyes were no longer locked with theirs but still, she couldn't seem to get the vision of those poor little children out of her head. Their shivering bodies, their gleaming red blood, and their pleading dead eyes haunted her mind without mercy.
"Come on stop dragging your feet rag doll. We don't have all day to wait for you to come to a decent pace." The guard at the other end of the chin growled giving her another yank.
Sakura growled at the pain as it burned at her throat but didn't voice her complaints. Her forest green eyes narrowed and hardened staring into the back of her captor's head with a new found determination and fire that danced widely. She would no longer submit to them willingly they way she had before. She would no longer roll over like the rag doll she once was. No, if she was going to go down than she was going to go down fighting and causing as much damage as she could. She would be their hope.
Her scarred un clad feet stopped before a large iron door with a large lock of the heaviest metals positioned squarely in the middle. Sakura could see the many metal gears and bolts through the hole in the middle groan and turn, releasing the slots that held the door in place. A thing black line that was invisible a few seconds before grew darker and larger as the lock was shifted into two pieces allowing the heavy iron door to open. She was slightly amazed at how thick the doors were once completely open. Whoever designed these arraignments must have been expecting an attack or raid of some kind.
"Dang. This might just be a bit harder than I though it would be." She regretfully thought as another painful jerk from her chain brought her out of her musings.
"Come on rag doll at least try to act like your alive you little piece of trash." Barked the guard at the end of her leash as he led her on deeper into the room beyond the large iron door.
Something stirred in her heart when she heard those hatful words directed at her in such a way. How dare he, she would make him eat those word soon. She wasn't a rag doll anymore, she didn't roll over and watch the word move on without her, treating her like trash. No, she cared now and she wasn't about to let they have their way with her or those children.
She growled darkly narrowing her eyes into slits but did nothing else to protest as they led her into the room beyond the door. The room she was in must have been three or four stories high entirely painted in a black/gold paint that seemed to change color when light was reflected off it. In the middle was s a large circular object supported by five poles on the outside in the form of a star. A long twisting stairway led up to the circlet where the group of three were heading.
When they were closer to the silvery round object she snarled in protest seeing four metal clasps for her legs and arms at the edge of the circlet. Her captors heard her growl but did nothing to restrain her, they just kept moving forward, closer and closer to the object. Sakura was finding a very confusing feeling taking root in her heart as she was led closer and closer. She had gone through numerous tortures and beatings before barely batting an eye. Why was she acting up so much now?
"Come on rag doll in you go." The second guard said as the reached the landing were they would place her in the circlet.
Sakura shuddered as the two men took hold of her and lifted her protesting body into the middle of the cold silver object. Sa if magnetized the clasps lashed out and clamped down on her wrists and ankles, concealing her hands and feet in it's cold metal. Sakura hissed again in protest as they lifted the chain of her leash and attached it to a hidden hook at the top of the circle, casing the spikes and prongs to bit into her neck.
"Ha, 'ya comfy rag doll? What, no? Aw isn't that just a shame 'aint it. I wish I could help but I'm feeling a little tired so you'll have to just deal with it 'eh." One of the guards mocked as the second did nothing but laugh heartily.
"Shut up you two," someone from down the stairs called accenting the black/gold steppes. "I really don't know why you mock her, you should at least make her last moment worth while." A tall man in a lab coat and glasses stepped up onto the landing.
"Aw, she'll make it. If the master says she will, then she will. Besides what's wrong with a few stray words 'nah? Besides she can't be to resistant or else she'll extinguish it."
The man in the lab coat frowned but stepped past the two guards and stared up at Sakura intently. "Her nick name 'rag doll' dose not support my brother's theory and only adds to my concern. The Karasu could very well overpower her and if that happens she will shut down all her internal organs, killing her in a most painful way. And if that happens we will loose the raven and our chance for the ultimate weapon."
Sakura raised her drooping head to stare at the man before her that talked about her like she was a table of piece of furniture. The man must have noticed her hard stare or maybe her sneer because a sickly evil smile crept across his own lips. Sakura inwardly shuddered at the horrendous sight before her.
"Hello darling. I bet you have a lot of question about what is going on around here and what you are about to endure. I'm sorry but I can't tell you too much about what is going on but I can spar a few word on your behalf. Would you like that child?"
Sakura remained silent but pulled a bit at the clasps that held her hands and feet locked in place. Never once breaking the icy cold glare she had fixed on the stranger before her.
"Can't you speak darling, I bet you have a wonderful voice… for now at least. Why don't you use it while you still have the chance, you may not get it again."
He was met with only silence once again.
"Ah, sorry sir but the rag doll doesn't speak. It's a terrible battle to even get her to scream or cry out in pain even after the most horrible beatings. The only way you'll get anywhere with anyone here is by brut force." A guard behind the man spoke up moving forward with a raised hand as if to strike her.
Sakura hissed and moved back as far as her binds would allow her and drew her body as close as possible, waiting for the hard strike, but it never came. Cracking a single eye open she saw the man in the lab coat holding the guard's arm in a death grip. Her brow furrowed in confusion at this. Why would he spare her one measly beating?"
"You fool!" He hissed whirling around to face the guard. "Did you not know that the host of the Karasu must be in he best health possible or else it will reject the body?!"
"I….I am sorry sir, please forgive me. I forgot momentarily." The guard replied hastily falling to his knees and bowing down as lowly as possible at the man's feet.
"Imbecile, why did you think we took the time to care for her so? This isn't just another one of my brother's day to day projects. This is earth shattering. If this succeeds we will finally have the ability to overpower each and every nation that stands in our way. We can not afford for anything to go wrong here again. Have I made myself absolutely clear on this subject?"
"Yes sir, you have made yourself perfectly clear. It will not happen again." He whimpered.
"Yes I will make sure to that. Now both of you go, there can be no one else in the room when the transfer is in process. I will join you both shortly after I finish my matters here with the girl." At this command both soldiers bowed lowly and quickly hurried down the stairs.
"Imbeciles."
Sakura growled softly and continued to wriggle within her most uncomfortable bindings. She could already feel their cold metal sides rubbing away at her flesh. This did not go unnoticed my the tall mad before her.
"Don't waste your energy struggling, without chakra you'll never be able to break free. And even if you could you would still be locked within this room and recaptured within minuets."
Sakura ceased her fidgeting but kept her dark forest green eyes narrowed in anger. Finally she spoke, "What do you plan on doing with me?"
"Ah it speaks, it's so good to hear that voice of yours. For a moment there I doubted you had one. As to answer your question…" Here he paused and closed his eyes, resting a clamped hand underneath his chin. "To sum it up in a few word we will be using your body as a vessel for a winged monster that will grant us unimaginable powers. The Karasu, or Raven known by some."
"So your going to kill me?"
"Not entirely, you will be dead in a sense, but your body will be alive and well if all goes according to plan. And speaking of plans it is time for this operation to commence. Chow darling." An with a wave his entire figure was enveloped in a white cloud that transported him out of the black/gold room.
Confusion once again took hold of the petal haired girl but that was so replaced by fear as the stairway before her shifted before sinking into the ground, now invisible to the human eye. The walls around her started to glow as a low humming sound rang I her ears. Sakura whipped her head from side to side wildly searching for something that could help her but she found nothing. The humming was getting louder and soon the silver circlet that held her began to glow. Sakura pulled madly t the clasps on her hands but to no avail, true to the man's word they held firm.
She hissed in pain as the metal bindings around her feet and hands began to heat up sanding little shivers of electricity through her body. Soon they too began to glow and hum. Her limbs pulled and attempted to retract now more franticly as the small sting began to escalate into a seething pain. Bolts and bolts of electricity flashed through her body now. The feeling was unbearable, it felt as if her whole insides were being ripped apart and pushed aside to make room for something else.
"No, I won't be pushed out, I won't give into this pain. I am stronger than this." She hissed through clenched teeth as she willed her body mind and soul to fight back and resist this intruding feeling. "I will not loose!" She screamed as another flood of intense electricity flooded into her body through her clasps.
Her crimson red lips parted and her forest green eyes widened before glazing over with a sheet of white as her ear splitting scream pierced the room's atmosphere. She could feel it on her outer body as well, that sticky wet feeling running down her head, face and body. The heat must have been too much for her body as it some of it's skin split and parted letting the scarlet red liquid cascade over her pail form.
Something was pushing it's self in to her mind and it wasn't being gentle about it either. It felt as if her very skull was being ripped apart, split right down the middle like a doorway for someone or something. There, it was pushing it's self further and further into her mind pushing aside her one conscious to make room for it's own, planning on taking over her body. Something dark and silky...
She always hated the idea of body switching. God gave her this body and it was hers and hers alone, no one else had a right to it.
Her hair whipped around her in a deadly frenzy as she continued to scream even after a stream of blood decided to trickle down her chin."I will not give in to you. I will not…I… WILL… NOT!"
-
-
-
My hands float up above me
And you whisper you love me
And I begin to fade
Into our secret place
The music makes me sway
The angels singing say we are alone with you
I am alone and they are too with you
I'm alive, I'm alive
I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing
And so I cry
The light is white
And I see you
I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive
I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healing
Take my hand I give it to you
Now you own me
All I am
You said you would never leave me
I believe you I believe
I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I'm breathing
Holding on to what I'm feeling
Savoring this heart that's healed...
-
-
-
AN:/ Please Review! It makes the updates faster.Ta da... man I'm mad about this new updateing thing...once again it would not let me do it the fast way. Took me forever and a day! It wasn't enough for them to keep me for two hours with Like Moths to the Light was it?
-vents on pile of BLUE plushies-
But anyway this chapter is the first, and as you can see, much longer. I like long chapters. I just don't like how long it takes to write one. Takes forever and then another foreverto edit now that the updateing thing changed. Did I say how much I hate it? Well I do...a lot. But here is your chapter. Hope you liked it.
I hope you all liked this chapter and it's longness. I want to start making them longer, so tell me if you like them short or long. Oh yeah and Review! Review, flame make a face...just review.
Ja ne