Yuugure Pt. I

夕暮れ

Sakura nervously slid the shoji door open halfway and announced her presence to the room.

A man sat with his back to her on the engawa, facing the courtyard garden. The evening was quiet and the fading light of dusk cast a pink glow on the landscape. He was sitting with one leg propped against an elbow, posture relaxed but pensive.

He didn't respond to her prompt, but the slight tilt of his head towards her acknowledged that he knew she was there and she had permission to go in. Sliding the rest of the door open she obediently entered and turned to slide the door closed.

"My lord," she greeted, bowing low in subservience. "Matron Tsunade sent for me. She said you were in need of my… services?"

"Come." He commanded in a low voice.

She shuffled closer without sound, body tense in uncertainty. Once she was an arm's breadth away from him, she peeked her eyes up for a second to gauge his emotion, for a hint of what he may have called on her for. She wasn't the prettiest girl in the teahouse and she rarely had dealings with the high ranking guests. Her clientele were more humble retainers and she felt out of her depth sitting alone in front of a daimyo.

He turned to her in one motion so they were facing each other. She dropped her head and immediately bowed in respect.

He did not speak right away, as if he was taking his time inspecting her bowed form. The hairs at the nape of her neck stood on end the longer the silence continued. Was he displeased with her choice of outfit? Was she not to his liking? She chose a simple yellow kimono fitting for a late summer evening and it complemented her light pink hair colour so that she was a vision of pastel. She wore two small, ornate silver hair accessories that pinned her lower bun in place. Maybe he preferred his women in finer decor?

Unlike most samurai of his class, he didn't don the usual topknot that signified his social standing. His hair was loose and uncut, the black strands nearly touching his broad shoulders. She'd heard rumours that he had been terribly burned as a child, and used his long hair as a way of shielding the scars. The lone survivor of a devastatingly unsuccessful coup that resulted in the burning of the entire clan for treason. No one knew how he got away, but he emerged from the shadows years later as a terrifying warlord and reclaimed his ancestral lands. She couldn't imagine what someone like him must have gone through to become the feared warrior he was today.

On his opposite side, two swords lay on the floor unsheathed. They looked to be newly cleaned and the tips of each blade glinted at the slightest movement. No guards accompanied him and she noticed a futon laid out in another corner of the room.

"Tsunade said you passed your exams."

She blinked in confusion. She did not anticipate him knowing about this, let alone speak on it. Her forehead creased as she considered his statement before she responded, "…Yes, I was accepted into the medical guild, but I have not yet—"

"Can you heal this?" He pushed the hair back from the left side of his face.

Not sure what to expect, Sakura looked up almost choked back a gasp. The left side of his face was covered in dark veins that stemmed from the eye socket. The eye looking back at her was not natural in any sense. The whites of the eye were not visible, only a vibrant purple lined with black rings around where the iris should have been. The skin around the eye was highly irritated and swollen and looked as if it had been rubbed raw. She could see dried blood crusted in the corners of the eyes and forced herself to swallow any reaction and keep her expression impassive. So it wasn't a burn mark he was hiding. She wasn't sure what this was.

As if he heard her thoughts he said, "It is Rinnegan. My bloodline limit."

She nodded dumbly, but she had no idea what he wanted her to do or say. She thought she was called here to entertain a man in search of a woman's company. More and more it seemed he was here for her alternative services, which few knew about. Only Tsunade's closest allies knew she was skilled in medical ninjutsu and was passing on her knowledge to select disciples. Sakura would never have guessed that her master was in some way associated with the daimyo of the eastern border.

"I awakened it too early." He uttered, as if annoyed by a trivial thing.

She swallowed loudly. She had studied various ocular doujutsu, but the Rinnegan itself was never in her texts. It might have had something to do with the fact that the last Rinnegan users died off with the Uchiha massacre. What in the world was Tsunade doing sending her in for this?

"Does… it hurt?" She started with an easy inquiry as she reverted to her medical training. She didn't know what he wanted from her, but she could stall until she figured it out.

"Ah," he affirmed and cleared his throat. "It can itch. I can't have it hinder me on the battlefield."

"I see," She processed and thought of an idea. "Uchiha-dono, if I may…?" She reached out her hands towards his face and surprisingly he leaned forward and closed his eyes without question. She took a deep breath and lightly touched her fingertips against his temples and focused chakra into his skin. She read that eye techniques can strain the user's eyesight and form ocular migraines. She didn't know what was wrong with his rinnegan, but she knew some simple methods to ease these symptoms.

"I admit, I have not trained specifically for issues with a rinnegan, but I hope to relieve some of your pain tonight, my lord." She felt his body relax as she continued to channel chakra into him and watched as the swelling subsided and the veins fade. "I will have one of the other girls bring in a towel for your… eye. It would be good to keep a cold cloth over it for a few minutes." As she got up to leave, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist and she froze.

"No, this is a secret between you, me and Tsunade. No one else is to know of my condition." He let go of her wrist.

She abruptly fell back into a low bow, apologizing for her insolence, heart pounding.

"Tsunade said you are her most gifted. From now on, I want you to attend to me exclusively. You and her, figure out why this ails me. If this gets out, you'll owe me more than a life debt. Expect me once a week." With that, he sheathed his blades and stood up. He took one step off the veranda and in a blurred movement vanished into the air with the speed of a lightning bolt.

Left in the silence of the room by herself, she let out a breath she hasn't realized she'd been holding. As she stared at the space he had just occupied she could only think of one thing: what in the world had Tsunade gotten her into?

tbc.

A/N: Thinking of writing a prequel to this! What do you think? ^^