Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: Ash Gray

Iron Bars. Conundrums. Partners.

Night 1

"Name?"

"Mira Sato."

"Age?"

"24."

Sakura watches as the bulky man across from her scribbles probable nonsense onto a notepad. Shifting her gaze to the side, her eyes find those familiar record files of her supposed identity and internship, sitting untouched and unopened on the table.

"What is your business here in Prath?" Ibiki Morino continues, voice neutral and disinterested.

Sakura looks at him blankly in the eyes, and then gestures to the folder. "You know, if you looked at my file, maybe we could stop wasting time with introductions," she suggests blatantly.

Seemingly unaffected by her crass comment, Ibiki doesn't look away. He does, however, put the ink down and leans in closer, arms propped onto the table. "Miss Mira, you are treading on thin ice as it is. If it is your wish to end this interrogation, then I suggest that you cooperate and be honest in your answers. I guarantee that it will be easier for you in the long-run."

She rolls her eyes and scoffs at the statement. If only he knew how familiar she is with incarceration. She knows the jurisdiction. She knows the law. She knows the inevitable outcome. It's funny how history has a way of repeating itself because here she is, six years later, committed and imprisoned. Again.

She wants to spit at his face. "Bullshit. Easier? For you, maybe. The mandate for treason is the same anywhere, and this place is no exception. The only penalty is death, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I fail to see how the 'truth' can save me."

He leans back on his chair, arms crossed, just a bit taken by her harsh remark. "But things can change, can they not? We certainly make exceptions for those who deserve it," he counters, receiving a quizzical eyebrow from her in response. "Back to my point, you're free to say whatever you want. But since you're so knowledgeable, you should know that we will be getting a confession out of you whether you like it or not. Believe me when I say this is only the beginning; there are much, much worse things to come."

The underlying threat is palpable because she knows exactly what he's talking about. If these interrogations won't get to her, then certainly some restricted powers will come into play. Six years ago, she confessed before they could torture her like that. There was no use wasting her already-tarnished dignity by giving up her mind for others to dissect.

Ibiki moves to grab a few items from under the table. "Moving on. We searched your room and found some interesting things. I'd like for you to explain them." With Sakura watching carefully, Ibiki reveals a few familiar items in front of her, laying them out in organized fashion on the desk. Once she recognizes their familiarity, she curses inwardly to herself. Starting at her left, he gestures to a few of her 'home-brewed' poison jars. "Let's start with these, shall we?"

Of all the things that raise a red flag, this is surprisingly one of the least threatening. Shrugging, she attempts to feign nonchalance. "I study poison. I'm on a medical internship. It goes hand in hand with each other, don't you think?"

Oddly enough, he doesn't prod any further. Instead, he quickly shifts to the next item on the table, which will inevitably prove a lot harder to explain. It's her maid uniform. Or rather, someone else's uniform. Ibiki clears his throat to catch her attention, "Fair enough. This next item however… I'm sure has a more interesting backstory. Care to explain why you own a maid's uniform?"

Sakura pauses for just a moment, searching quickly and cautiously for an appropriate response. As daunting as this evidence is, she'll be damned if she told the truth. However, if it's one thing she knows about interrogations, evasiveness is often met with terrible consequences; better to act direct as to not provoke suspicion.

"What about the uniform?" she inquires, as if the evidence means absolutely nothing. "Am I not allowed to partake in the occasional revelry and debauchery?"

Ibiki rolls his eyes, clearly not buying her comment, but can't refute it either. Out from under the desk, he pulls out something else entirely. It's a rolled up document. And as he unravels the paper, she curses more to herself. "Miss Mira. In your room, we found a personalized map of the Hyuuga residence. And before you answer, I'm also expecting to hear why have you have scribbled notes of the Princess' schedule at the top of the page."

Sakura swallows hard. Even she admits that this is almost un-defendable (even though she still had nothing to with the fire). With how this exasperating this conversation is turning out, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to resist addressing the bigger elephant in the room.

"Miss Mira, you should know that we've gathered multiple pieces of evidence suggesting treasonous action towards the Hyuuga clan. So if you think-"

"Okay, I can't do this. I need to stop you here," Sakura cuts off rudely, collecting a breath before resuming. "Can I ask you something? Do you seriously think that I started that fire? That it was me who kidnapped the Hyuuga girl? What, do you think I'm hiding her in my pocket? Or under my bed? Can I clarify something for you? If I had abducted the Princess, I would be hightailing it out of here as fast as possible. More than that, I certainly wouldn't be here, putting up with this ridiculous interrogation."

Ibiki sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Miss, whether or not you committed the deed, your involvement cannot be ruled out. Your questionable status and evidence suggests otherwise after all."

Sakura exhales loudly, now frustrated. Who knew it would actually be harder to convince people of the truth? "Look, I said this before and I'm going to say it again. I had nothing to do with it," she says with finality.

Surely not defeated by her statement, Ibiki rises from his seat and gestures for one of the guards to come over. "Fine. We'll resume tomorrow," he says to her specifically. Heel turning towards the door, he announces quite loudly, "Hold off her meals."

And as she's escorted back to her jail cell none-too-gently, she catches a peek of the orange and golden sky outside; the real perpetrator has been on the run for almost a day.

Damn it.

Night 2

The next day goes by rather unproductively, both on her and Ibiki's part. Her tiny cell offers very little comfort and she's starting to feel claustrophobic and lightheaded. Maybe it's the lack of food and sleep, but she can't deny the feeling of her body wanting to turn itself inside out. Her head hurts, her stomach is recoiling and she's feeling the pangs of doom and destruction if she doesn't find refuge soon.

As expected, Ibiki tries to wheedle a confession out of her. Any confession. He continues to reveal the telling evidence, and she responds with a simple 'no' and 'I didn't do it'. No doubt the ruse will continue until they wear her out. While Sakura has been in jail before, it seems different this time round. She insists that she's nothing more than a scapegoat, but it lands on deaf ears.

Fearing that her sanity will teeter over the edge, she urges herself to make escape plans.

Night 3

On Day three, she doesn't get escorted back to the interrogation room as previously informed. Rather, she receives an unwelcome visitor. Unfortunately, this 'visitor' seems to have no purposeful intention other than to perpetuate her misery. She wants nothing more than to wipe that irritatingly nonchalant look off his face.

"I brought you food," Kakashi informs casually, sliding a plate of gray and brown mush along the floor and inside her cell.

Cold and hungry as she is, Sakura remains motionless, lying on her side against the stone hard floor, purposefully turned away from him. "I don't want it."

Kakashi tips his head at her in question. "Hmm? Are you sure?"

She nods stiffly. "Uh-huh… might be drugged, poisoned… who knows," she responds sluggishly.

"But you haven't eaten in two days," he counters.

"Still not worth the risk," she answers with a stamp of finality, wanting to put an end to that conversation. With a hand, she motions vaguely in his direction. "Hatake, if you're here to gloat, go somewhere else. I'm not in the mood."

"My, my. You've gotten quite sour and might I say, aggressive, since our first meeting. I wonder if this is your true nature…" he ponders uselessly, to which she has no response. "Anyway, I'm just here to check on you. Nothing more than that, really."

She scoffs quietly. "Got nothing better to do, huh? Does that mean you and your men have captured the real perpetrator?"

Kakashi hums nonchalantly. "Not yet, actually. The cloaked individual disappeared without a trace. We're still tracking him down."

"Oh. Too bad. So are you going to keep me here until you catch him?" she tantalizes, not at all surprised at the incompetence of the council's military.

When her question is met with complete silence, she turns her head to him slowly, the muscles in her body agonizing with the smallest shift. Kakashi remains motionless across those iron bars, but he's staring at her with a curious haze. She raises an eyebrow at his actions. "What?"

Kakashi sighs. "Look, I'll be honest. I know that you had nothing to do with the fire. I saw your plans. You infiltration plan was only meant for one. You clearly work alone."

Caught off guard, Sakura fails to find the words to refute.

"However…" he continues, her silence encouraging. "… even though you had no part in that particular night, it is clear that you were plotting against the Hyuuga family. You had an intention to inflict harm and kidnap the Hyuuga heir, and that itself is enough to warrant an arrest for treason. I hope this is clear to you."

Sakura finally finds the words to bite back. In an effort for emphasis, she pushes herself up to face him, despite the aching muscles in her body. "Is that what's supposed to make me a criminal?" she retorts, chuckling deliriously at the accusation. "You know, with that sort of attitude, you might as well arrest half of the city then. It might help to offer more phony comfort to the Hyuuga clan," she hisses, unable to bottle up this growing tirade that has persisted for more than six years.

Kakashi narrows his eyes at her. "Do indulge me, Miss, but can you clarify what you mean by that?"

Sakura sighs. "I mean false reassurance. That's another reason that I'm here, right? You need something, someone, to appease the public? Make everyone feel 'safe'?" she raises, inciting a perturbed look from him. "Oh come on. Don't act so surprised. This is a classist society. As long as the decision favors the wretched and money-bloated clans, it's called justice. So while you waste your time dawdling and scapegoating me, the real kidnapper is out there rejoicing and making bank with his new premium bounty."

The look he gives her after her small rant is shrewd and insightful, almost acknowledging. "So you're accusing us of deceiving the public at your expense." It's not a question.

Sakura shrugs her shoulders. "I guess that's what makes it a façade."

Responding with a nod and a thoughtful pause, Kakashi then casually turns on his heel, making for the exit down the hallway. "Hmm. Your words obviously have some background to them. While I'm curious to know where you come from and who you work for, I have a feeling I won't be hearing it from you," he says, an underlying threat lacing his voice. Before disappearing from her line of sight, he makes sure to look her in the eye. "…And just between us, you can parade around with that borrowed face of yours, but you can't fool me. I know you're guilty of so much more. Not to worry though, I haven't told anyone yet so consider yourself lucky."

Sakura perks up at this, and then tries to conceal her surprise.

She watches him wave a farewell hand to her. "I'll look forward to knowing your history. I'm sure it'll be interesting. In the meantime, do eat your food."

Once he leaves, she scowls because she knows that the victory is his. He knows it's just a mask, that she's just a façade. She should have figured as much. How did it escape her that he and Sasuke have one very important thing in common? While she doubts that he'll draw the name Sakura Haruno right away, he's the closest to figuring it out and that is enough for her to start worrying.

Night 4

"Agh, shit!"

The bucket full of ice-cold water trickles down her face, leaving both burning and numbing sensations wherever they go. Feeling choked up and drowned, she coughs up the fluid lodged in her lungs. At this point, they might as well suspend and dunk her repeatedly over a water tank.

"This is only the beginning," Ibiki repeats so nonchalantly and graciously, pacing in annoying circles around her as she's bound to a chair. "However, should you decide to tell the truth…?"

Sakura gasps wildly for air, but she swears to herself that with or without breath, she will not utter a word. Her dignity might be wasted, but at least she still has her will. Going for a sarcastic response, she heaves out, "Oh, the truth? Wow, why didn't I think of doing that?"

Another bucket of water is pitched at her face.

She turns her head to minimize the blow, but the icy water still makes her want to retch. As she shakes off more droplets from her face, she finds that using foul words is her only way of retaliating. It's counterproductive and useless, but she enjoys the small kicks she receives from doing it; better to have some gratification during torture than to have none. "Hey Ibiki. You know, for a man of justice, it's odd that you're such a sadist."

"A sadist? Hmm. I actually think I'm quite reasonable," he retorts.

"Really? Because it looks like-"

Cutting her off, he hurls another bucket of water at her.

"Shit! Geez, you might as well just throw a punch at me!" she clamors out, the water feeling like millions of tiny knives jabbing at her skin.

Dropping the bucket, Ibiki stops in front of her, his large size appearing more imposing and daunting than usual. "Oh, is that your preference of torture? Would that get you talking?" he says, half-seriously and half-jokingly. "Let me tell you this. Water dousing is mere child's play. Just wait until you feel what a real beating is like."

Sakura can't stop the spiteful words from coming out of her mouth. "Oh yeah? Is that how you got your scars?"

As deserved, she receives another bucket of water.

"Watch your tongue, girl. You're already in deep waters."

Night 5

Eventually, she has to force down the mush that they call food. It was either that or starve until death. And although her situation looks dim, she refuses to doubt her ability to escape this prison. She's done it before, and she can damn well do it again.

After another round of water dousing, Sakura forces herself to stay alert. She examines her scarce resources, heavily pressed to be creative. There is almost nothing in her cell. Just a pile of dirty hay where she's supposed to sleep and a metal bucket intended for toileting purposes. There isn't even a window.

Obviously, she's not thin enough to squeeze through the bars (nor does she plan on doing so), but there is still hope. Familiar with this building, she figures that she'll have to improvise her way out, but for now, the first step is getting across these bars. If possible, she would like to avoid bolting out of here by force. The last thing she wants to do is spur a public and high-profile chase with her as the primary target.

Dislodging the metal wire from the bucket, she tests its malleability and molds a curve at the tip. Although worn and rusty, this could serve as one half of a lock pick. For the other half, she scrounges around the hay pile and floors for anything that could fit through a keyhole. Her saving grace arrives when she realizes that she's wearing a hairpin.

Oh, Bless my past self. Bending the pin in half, she moves to the iron bars.

Since she's behind the lock, the angle is difficult. Blindly feeling for the structure with her arms tangled in an awkward position, she inserts her makeshift tools and fumbles around for a while, praying silently that she'll hear that successful click.

Come on, Sakura. She fumbles with it a little more, increasingly becoming impatient and motivated to escape as the impending thought of another bucket of water thrown at her sets in. For tomorrow, she heard under their whispered breaths that they would delve into something more 'intrusive'. Whatever it is, she wants no part of it. It's only a matter of time until-

Click.

At first, she perks up thinking that this was a success, but when she reconsiders, the relief disappears as quickly as its remained. That 'click' was not the sound of an open lock. Pulling out her tools, she realizes that it was the sound of the bucket wire snapping in half.

Ah, shit. In this cell, there is no way she can find a replacement. With all that wasted energy, she slumps down to the floor and re-entertains the thought of escaping by force. She's not a fan of flashy escapes, but this situation might necessitate it.

For some, this would be the breaking point. But she's neither a hopeful nor a hopeless person, and her sanity has long-waned for her to care. Simply, the best thing about having nothing and no one to lose is the freedom to be imprudent. And while it makes her foolhardy, it gives her less to cry about.

Perhaps she will escape here by force after all.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Footsteps. Lots of them.

In her slow and groggy wake, she registers the sound of loud and hasty footsteps thumping and vibrating beneath her across the floors. Past the door and down the hall of her desolate cell, she hears several guards clamoring out orders before another stampede of footsteps rush and cross each other in indiscernible directions.

Her body jolts awake in shock when the metal door is busted open, revealing a shadowed figure. Squinting her eyes, the dead giveaway is the swish of his lengthy coat. Never having felt more relieved over these past few days, she attempts to stand.

Finally, finally, she's getting out of here.

"Sakura, get up. We're leaving," Sasuke utters without falter, drawing his sword to sever the chains that keep her in confinement.

"It's about time…" she groans out, using the walls for support to help her stand. She glances back in between Sasuke and open door, expecting and counting down the seconds until a barrage of guards come bursting through. Over the years, despite the troublesome number of days she's spent doing time, she's never escaped like this. Orochimaru's lackeys are far from reliable, and oddly enough, Sasuke is actually the last person she'd expect to deliver her rescue.

"Hey, about the mission. I couldn't– there was a fire and someone in a cloak…" she stutters out with her tired and uneven breaths.

Not-so-gently, Sasuke plants his hands at her sides and proceeds to haul her over his shoulder like a sack of flour, hearing a displeased 'Oof!' from Sakura in her new unsettling position. "Sakura, I know all about the incident. There's actually more to it that you don't know."

Head and arms hanging loose as she's uncomfortably draped atop his shoulder, talking becomes even more difficult. "More? How so?"

"I'll explain later." And suddenly, a new onset of vertigo sets in as he starts rushing out the cell and back into the hallway. A sharp turn here, another sprint there, kicking another set of doors open… With her surroundings swaying and whirling all around her, the jagged movements make her to want to vomit acid down his back. It's also making it extremely difficult for her to feel grateful and alert – let alone conscious.

Amidst the run, she fights and struggles to keep herself together. The last thing she hears is more chaotic clamour of voices following them as she blacks out in exhaustion.

At one point in her blackout, she dreams of still being in prison.

At another point, she remembers icy cold water.

Taking an odd turn, she dreams of her father.

Towards the end, she hears a familiar voice.

Sakura, wake up.

Her eyes are impossibly heavy as consciousness slowly trickles back into her brain.

Sakura, wake up, damn it. I know you're in there. Time is wasting.

The cast of light from the side bothers her eyes as she opens them. Squinting against it, she turns her head away. "Ugh…" she voices out sluggishly.

She hears a sigh and a familiar voice. "Geez. Took you long enough. I'm tired of babysitting you."

She attempts to open her eyes again, more cautiously this time. "…what happened?"

"Tall, dark and handsome saved your ass is what happened. You've been out for two days, you useless slug," that same sarcastic voice replies. "How was prison, by the way?"

Catching a hint of red hair in the corner of her eye, Sakura sighs when she confirms the other presence in the room. And because they're 'friends', she swats a hand in her direction to tone down the unwelcome sarcasm. "Karin, where are we?"

"Back at the keep, of course. Where else?"

Slowly settling in, Sakura realizes that she's been reverted back to her pink-haired self; a sigh of relief courses through her that she doesn't have to go through that painful transformation process again. She also realizes that parts of her are covered in bandages and as she attempts to examine them, a flood of memories from the past week suddenly arise, reminding her of the mess she left behind. Hinata, Orochimaru, Sasuke, Kakashi, Ibiki, an unknown rival in a cloak… all these things suddenly conglomerate in her brain. Feeling nauseated, she tries her best to push it to the back of her mind.

Noticing her expression, Karin hops off the desk she was perched on. "Hey, since you're 'ready' to go, I'll go call them in. You're probably very eager to know all the shit that's been going on."

Sakura rolls her eyes, knowing Karin is just punishing her and enjoying every minute of it. She's scuttled out of the office before Sakura can even stop her.

Thinking logically, she tries to put the entire situation into perspective. There's a kidnapped Princess, an unknown perpetrator, an army that's not doing its job to locate her and a couple of outside thugs that happened to be involved (them). There is no light in this circumstance. Especially not in her case. It's like a derailed fairytale. How did things spiral into this convoluted mess? Clearly, she only knows half the story.

Her attention is brought the front door, where Sasuke and Orochimaru come walking through (or in Orochimaru's case, limping through with his cane).

"Sakura, nice to see you're finally settled down. I've been meaning to finally speak with you," Orochimaru greets, taking a seat on the armchair across her while Sasuke takes to standing at the side. "I won't bother to rehash your failure. I'm disappointed, but there's a larger issue at hand."

"And what is that, pray tell?" she interjects, feeling antsy.

Orochimaru exchanges glances with Sasuke, silently communicating who between them should proceed. The momentary pause itself irks her, and it makes her wonder whether people are becoming more irritating or if she's just becoming angrier (probably the latter).

Eventually, Sasuke resumes the talk. "Sakura, what do you remember?"

She rolls her eyes again, not up to revisiting the incidents. "Umm… Hinata was taken. Somebody beat me to the punch. I was thrown behind bars. Does that cover it?"

Orochimaru abruptly speaks up. "Did you blow your cover?"

She shakes her head. "No…" she answers simply, realizing quickly that she spoke too soon. "Actually… Hatake is suspicious. He knows more than he should," she corrects herself, inwardly cursing that irritating man for putting her through those interrogations.

Sasuke scoffs, shaking his head in displeasure. "Of course it would be him. He does possess something that shouldn't belong to him," he says gruffly, the spit in his voice not going unnoticed.

Sakura observes him closely, aware of how Sasuke regards the Hatake as a thief, a crook and an 'unworthy' holder of the Sharingan. If only she cared about his clan pride. If it's up to her, there's not a lot to be proud of when you bear the Uchiha name, especially since most of them are wiped out anyway. And while she does highly regard the power of the Sharingan, she also criticizes its tragic and flawed nature. These 'precious' eyes are passed around like hot potato, for goodness sakes.

"Uhh, so where do we go from here? Do I ditch this entire bounty?" Sakura pipes up, annoyed with all the pointless dawdle that has occurred thus far.

Again, Orochimaru signals for Sasuke to continue. "Sakura. On the night of the fire, I was close by. I actually meant to pay you a visit that morning, so you can imagine my surprise when, on my way to the city, the Hyuuga residence suddenly caught fire," he informs. "At the time, I thought it was uncharacteristic of you to plan something so indiscreet."

Sakura grits her teeth here, because this would be the umpteenth time she would repeat this sentence. "For the last time: I had nothing to do with that fire."

"Yes. I became aware of that afterwards," he says, satisfying her because he's the first to actually believe it. "In fact, what you don't know is that I actually ran into the cloaked man who abducted the Hyuuga."

Her eyebrows lift in surprise and suddenly, she's more interested in this conversation. "Oh. What happened next?"

"Sakura, it turns out this perpetrator made hundreds of clones of himself and the girl. He sent the military and myself on some wild goose chase, drawing us out in various directions until we all reached the outskirts of the city where he disappeared. Needless to say, the tactic worked. His scent disappeared and everyone hit a dead end."

Sakura attempts to process the story in her head, trying to fill in the multiple loopholes but failing to do so. "I suppose that's why Hatake and the rest are still tracking him down. By the way, were you able to get a good look? Do you know who this person is?"

Sasuke shakes his head 'no'. "It could be anybody. For all I know, this individual was wearing some sort of disguise. That's not the entire story though. It gets more confusing. Before the clone disappeared… it left a note."

"A note?"

"Yeah. And it wasn't an accident either." From the inside of his coat, Sasuke pulls out a small and folded strip of parchment and hands it to her.

Unraveling the peculiar token, she's about to ask whether everyone was given a note, but her question is answered upon first glance. This piece of paper isn't a just a memo; it's a personal letter. A challenge. She reads it out loud.

For the Snake,

Through forces divine her whereabouts are sealed.

But especially for you, this clue she's revealed.

Take heed. Take heed. For I have what you desire.

So what shall you do now?

Cool the flames? Or fan the fire?

With perfect harmony as above, so below,

Imitate the mantis upon the mammoth's canvas bestow.

An uneasy silence settles across the room, only the crackles from the fireplace filling the atmosphere.

Sakura, having absolutely no words, lowers her hand and glances unceremoniously between Sasuke and Orochimaru, searching for answers. She holds the clue up for them to see. "Umm… what is this?"

"It's a riddle," Orochimaru says dully.

She rolls her eyes. "Yes. I understand that, but to what end? This cryptic letter is addressed to you. From someone who knows about you and your contacts," she puts into perspective. When she doesn't receive the reaction she expects, she puts on an appalled look. "Orochimaru, please, please don't tell me you're thinking about taking the bait."

The Snake waves a dismissive hand to rid of her comment. "Sakura, my dear. There's no need to turn a blind eye. This is about somebody who's inviting us to play a dangerous game. Who are we to refuse?"

This time, Sakura can't dispel the shock in her face at his curt and offhand suggestion. "Are you joking? Orochimaru, this is probably another wild goose chase! Why would we even bother? What happened to upholding 'sacred anonymity' and staying low?"

The Snake raises a hand to stop her. "It's clear that anonymity has already been broken. Besides, this perpetrator is leaving more than just a message. Believe me, there's a greater scheme and intent to this game and I will not cede to such lowly crooks. Sakura, I'm afraid you are not absolved of your duties. I will ask that you to investigate this further and hunt him down."

Face dropping, she sighs in defeat. And if it weren't for the fact that she's indebted to the Snake, she would have been out of the door already. "But what about the Hyuuga girl?"

Orochimaru rises from his seat. "Your objective remains very much the same, my dear. Consider this as an extension and a second chance." Picking up his cane, he starts moving towards the door. "Oh, and Sasuke. Do help her in solving this conundrum. Two heads work better than one, after all."

Sakura waits until Orochimaru's exited the room before shifting to the other presence in the room. There's an awkward pause that settles between them. In the back of her head, she hears Karin's annoying voice and words talking her ear off.

She sighs. "Hey, uhh… Sasuke? Thanks, for… bailing me out back there. Karin told me what happened. I was miserable, if you couldn't tell," she says grudgingly, wanting so badly to get that out of her chest. He responds with a simple 'Hn', which she regards is enough acknowledgement of her apology. Getting off the couch and standing on her feet, she rereads the clue once again. "So… you've known about this for a while. Got any leads?"

He shrugs. "Nothing worth mentioning."

Nodding once, she ponders for just a moment. Let's get this straight. This person wants us to find him. He left a clue specifically for us (or the Snake, for that matter) so we could find him. He disappeared without a trace, hoping we'll follow, which serves purpose of this riddle. Thus, in theory, we should be capable and well-equipped to solve it since it's what he wants, right?

Think it through more carefully, Sakura moves for the door, which draws Sasuke's attention. "Where are you going?"

Sakura halts her trek to glance at him. "To hit the books. As smart as I think I am, I doubt staring at this clue will clear up its contrived nonsense. You coming with?"

She's surprised when – albeit grudgingly – he follows.

As above, so below. As above, so below. Perfect harmony as above, so below.

"Ugh. What is the point of this bullshit?" she says more to herself, hurling the book at the wall. Sakura doesn't bother picking it up, grabbing the next threadbare paperback from the stacked pile.

Five hours. It feels a lot longer than that, but that's how long she's secluded herself in here. She's changed herself out of her tattered prison clothes and into something fresh, had a hearty meal and slowly worked herself back into her daily grind. And yet, she's got nothing. No definite location. No significant leads.

On the stone floors she laid out a large map of the continent, ticking off places, setting markers of deductions and wild guesses. Dusty books and manuscripts are tossed here and there, making a complete utter mess of Orochimaru's library.

Sasuke, who's been in and out of the room, has offered nothing but his dull and silent company. Stoic and lifeless as he is, he leans against the only clean desk in the room, away from her clutter. "Sakura. Have you figured anything out?" he breaks silence upon noting her growing hysteria.

She doesn't flicker or bat an eye at him, her concentration focused on skimming the pages before her. "Not much, though I'm certain the last two lines are all that needs deciphering. The first five are merely instructions," she answers as a matter-of-fact. Slamming the book shut, she tosses it to the nearby desk and reaches for the clue, reading it through over again. "One thing is for sure though: We're looking for a shrine."

He tilts his head in mild curiosity. "A shrine? How do you know that?"

She holds the note out as if it's supposed to make it clear. "It says to 'imitate the mantis'. And if you know anything about mantises, their legs are bent in prayer position. It's how they got their name," she explains in small detail. "In other words, I'm certain it's also a far-fetched way of leading us to a shrine."

"Well, that narrows it down. What's with the frustration?"

Sakura gestures to the map on the floor. "Uhh, Sasuke? There are hundreds of shrines scattered all throughout this continent. I can't just close my eyes and pick one." Massaging the bridge of her nose, she slumps down on a chair, feeling the mental exhaustion catching up to her. "Anyway, that's all I got. What about you? Have you any thoughts about the riddle?"

He sighs at her question and looks down. "Not really," he says honestly. "I'm not too fond of the obscure words, so I'm taking a different approach. As opposed to trying to dissect the clue itself, I'm trying figuring out how I should interpret the riddle instead."

Sakura raises a skeptical eyebrow, unimpressed with his 'approach'. "Go on," she encourages, despite that she's already lost interest in his findings.

"Are we supposed to read it literally? Symbolically? Psychologically? Maybe even scientifically?" he asks in a rhetorical manner. "All of it might be philosophical for all I know. I mean, I'm not a scholar, but maybe it would help to look at it from different perspectives."

Although his advice is received with little appreciation, she nods her head anyway. "Well then. If you need me, I'll be over there, burying myself through the next pile of books."

"How fares the riddle-decoding?" Karin asks with ultimate nonchalance, handing Sakura three bottles of poison jars bought from the apothecary at the nearest town.

"It's been swell," Sakura replies, irritated and antsy. It's the morning after and she feels mentally exhausted, not just from the clue, but also the lack of sleep. Even though she still deems this entire ordeal as counterproductive, she refuses to be defeated. A challenge is a challenge no matter how meaningless and she is about as competitive as it gets. "Thanks for picking these up. I'm still bitter that they confiscated everything from me, including all of my hard-worked poisons. God, I didn't know I could hate that city even more than I already do."

Karin waits for Sakura to finish stuffing the jars in her pouch. "It can't be that bad now. It must be nice – working with the Uchiha. He's easy on the eyes."

Sakura pauses for just a moment to process the redhead's words. "…Ah, yes. It's been super so far. I mean, he's only threatened to kill me just once, so I'd say our friendship is off to a good start," she pokes fun, drawing humor from a serious situation that happened not too long ago. Apparently, being a wisecrack is all she can do to cope with her exhaustion.

"Oh come on. He also saved your ass, remember?" Karin painfully reminds, effectively silencing the pink-haired girl from joking any more about her budding relationship with Sasuke. Out of her back pocket, Sakura watches as Karin pull out a metal object. "Oh, I almost forgot. I also got you a new weapon, as requested."

Sakura stares at the silver weapon dropped into her hands with a perplexed face. "What is this? I thought I asked you to get me a dagger."

"No, you didn't. You requested for a weapon, which is exactly what you're holding right now," Karin corrects, irritatingly using technicalities and semantics to sway the argument in her favor.

Sakura examines the piece of metal on all its sides, not the least bit convinced. "Karin, how am I supposed to inflict pain with this? Or fend off somebody? It doesn't even have a sharp end!"

"It's still a weapon! Geez, just be open-minded for once in your life. It's not like you're going to be decapitating anyone sometime soon."

"Karin! This is not a weapon! This is a tuning fork!" Just to make her point more apparent and clear, she flicks one side of the fork, allowing the soft and high-pitched tune to resound their ears. "Just admit that the salesman probably swindled you into buying this."

The redhead reacts with offense. "I was not swindled! It can channel magic, if you didn't know. Look, either you make do with what I got you or you buy your own damn dagger. Those are your choices."

Sakura rolls her eyes at Karin's antics. The redhead can be the most helpful and aggravating person if she wanted to be, and yet, she always chooses the latter. Sighing in defeat, Sakura brushes off the petty issue as best she can. There's no such thing as winning an argument with Karin.

Reminding herself of the task at hand, Sakura grudgingly pockets the metal fork and looks towards the ruins. "Fine, I'll take the stupid thing. I should get back anyway."

Karin nods, happy with her small victory. "Okay. If you don't mind, please give handsome-boy my regards. And be nice to him. Maybe then he'll finally notice you."

As the redhead barks out in laughter at Sakura's expense (she regrets telling Karin about her childhood crush), she pushes that thought to the back of her mind as heads back to the library.

Five days in prison, a couple days spent getting back here, knocked out for two more days and wasted all of yesterday getting nowhere, which means the crook is approximately a week and a half ahead of us, which gives me no time to solve this. Perfect harmony? As above, so below? The mammoth's canvas?

The more she stares at the words, the more she's hoping for a much-needed epiphany-

"I think I've figured it out."

Sakura, train of thought interrupted, glances up to Sasuke, eyes wide and expression skeptical. "…Excuse me?"

Sasuke lowers himself to the ground in front of the continent map, flicking and brushing away all the markers locating potential shrines. "Perfect harmony? As above, so below? The riddle we've been working on for a day now? I think I might have a lead."

Sakura, remaining wary and doubtful, shoots him a raised eyebrow. She refuses to believe that Sasuke might have beaten her to it. He is intelligent – that much, she will admit – but their fields of expertise originate from entirely different backgrounds. He's quick on the field, has great instinct and can master a technique in half the time expected. She, on the other hand, relies heavily on books and old texts as her foundation of knowledge, studying meticulously until satisfied.

In light of their rocky history, she also hates to lose to him.

"Sakura, what do you know about the phrase 'as above, so below'?"

She contemplates it, pausing momentarily. "Umm… If I recall correctly, it's hermetic language, synonymous to 'as within, so without'. Take it like yin and yang, where good, bad, man, nature, the world, the universe – you name it – all function and act as co-existing units to create a sense of balance and interconnectedness," she explains, almost recalling verbatim from the text. "The expression… it's abstract, open for interpretation, and quite frankly, difficult to derive any concrete findings."

Sasuke nods. "That might be so, but…" Sakura watches intently as he places a marker atop one of the locations, much to her confusion. "We know for certain that this clue will lead us to a particular location. You already deduced that we're being led to a shrine – which I agree with – but then it becomes a matter of which one," he starts, putting their situation into perspective. "You bring up a good point about balance. Actually, I'm certain that it relates to the 'perfect harmony' portion of the riddle. Just like you, I interpreted it philosophically at first. Then, I looked at it literally, scientifically, even musically and… nothing. But, then I remembered: this riddle is supposed to point us to a particular direction."

She raises a quizzical eyebrow. "I understand that. I thought it was self-explanatory. Is there something I'm missing here?"

He sighs. "Sakura. Currently, we no longer use these names, but do you remember a time when the lands were split based on their inherent elements?"

Sakura, her mind sparked by the mere thought, instantly reverses her sour mood. Inwardly, she reprimands herself for not considering it. "I remember."

"Well, when I was young, I was taught that certain elements could join in 'harmony' as to wield additional control over nature. Like forming wood, from water and earth. Or lava, from earth and fire." He gestures down to the map. "Based on this presumption, I mapped out all the possible combinations and their locations."

Sakura, peering down, tips her head to the marker he placed. "And what combination did you end up with?"

"Ice."

She stares at him blankly. "Wind and water? How?"

Sasuke takes a deep breath and leans back to sit on his heels. "Well, it gets complicated from here. First of all, it makes sense symbolically; tying the higher element of wind to a baser element like water."

"Does this refers back to that 'above and below' bit?"

He nods. "That, and this place is filled with mountainous terrain. If you read old manuscripts, you'll know that mountains are symbolized as the vault that connects the waters 'below' with the skies 'above'. Even from a scientific standpoint, there's a phenomenon where wind meets water in 'perfect harmony'. It occurs in cold places near bodies of water; often cool air temperatures interact with water droplets to form-"

"Mist," she finishes for him, despite being dumbfounded.

Sasuke gestures for her to look at the map again. "Branching off that conclusion, this clue might be pointing us to the 'Land of Water' or the 'Mist Village', otherwise known as 'Port Caligo' today."

Sakura gets on her knees across from Sasuke to get a better look. As useless as she's been throughout this entire conversation, she needs to find a way to contribute. Scanning her eyes through the inked map, she contemplates it carefully before pointing to her target location. "Ah, here. Mount Eskelon. There's a shrine there, dedicated to the Lunar Dragon. That's probably the 'mammoth's canvas', right?"

"You think so?"

Sakura shrugs. "It's our best shot. I mean, we don't have much of a choice anyway." Now energized and motivated, she rises from her position, quickly counting the number of days in her head. "If we leave now, we could be there in three days. We'll just hash out the details later. Are you ready to go?"

He moves to grab his sword, strapping it across his back to make it accessible from behind. "Yeah. Let's go."

She allows him through the door first and once he's not looking, her expression turns somewhat pensive. Falling a couple steps behind him, she's overcome with a sense of thoughtfulness. This is probably the first time she's ever appreciated Sasuke like this, without the fanatic, crazed and obsessed girl urges to be impressed by anything he does. She muses that this is how it should be – how it should have been.

Relaxing her shoulders, she hopes that things can only get better from here.

Thanks for reading. I'm aware of the slow build-up, but I promise you that the plot can only thicken from here. I've had a few questions regarding the chapter titles and I hope that as the story progresses, you will understand what they mean, who they are referring to and how they relate to the story title itself. Other than that, I hope you have a fantastic day. – MT