Gone
Gone were the days well spent with her loved ones, gone were the identity she concealed in order to survive.
It was somewhere in the morning when Sasuke sauntered through the empty castle hallways. Silence echoed through the walls, jerking up uneasiness in him all of a sudden. The sun has yet risen from the dark horizon, leaving the already deserted West wing to appear colder than the haunted tales that was passed across the kingdom for generations.
The tale has it that the castle hides a monster that awaits for the right moment to be unleashed, in the case where wars were ever on their odds. The warrior smirked a little, a hand brushed through the dusted doorknob that he had remembered too well, his old room. It was all due to their family's ability that had almost everyone cowering in fear; possessing the eyes that could see all.
He played the role of the monster this time, long enough to keep everyone away. Hence the tale circulated on Sasuke himself, a cursed prince who grew up isolated by his people and later stepped into the military force. Possessing natural skills that rivalled any ruthless warrior of that age. There hasn't been a battle lost since then, safe for the one time his life was threatened a few years ago.
Shaking off the heavy sense of nostalgia, his eyes caught sight of another spacious room at the far corner. He walked towards it almost absent-mindedly and pushed the door open with a loud creak, awakening mice. His eyes scanned through the dark, remembering the event that happened before. Walking towards the side table of an empty bed, he stared off as his mind rewinds.
"She's all healed." Karin noted nonchalantly, stealing a glimpse towards the ever emotionless prince.
She started to speak once they stepped outside the room, though both had their attentions directed to the same place, a window that overlooks the room.
Sakura stood still on her bed with a face void of expression, a hand ran across a bandaged arm. The throb on her head had lessen though the anxiety in her heart simply maximises, especially when there were other two taller strangers who stood guard behind her. Not that anyone here was not a stranger to her either.
"So, what's your plan?" Karin looked up to see Sasuke fully, still unable to decipher his thoughts through the leak of facial expression despite years of knowing him.
Silence follows as the prince himself was unsure of what to do nor say. He keeps his thought and intention well to himself, not wanting to reveal it to anyone including his trusted elder brother. Maybe Karin had sensed his slightest dilemma for she sighed as if helping Sasuke to make up his mind.
"Since she's a medic from the other side, keeping her prisoner doesn't seem to help at all considering that there was no news of the search for her." She paused, earning an empty glance from him. "It has been a full month anyway." Karin pointed out.
"Hn." Sasuke let out a short remark, one that allows Karin to continue.
Willingly, she speaks. "Well, there's this thought of getting her assistance in the medical department. Senju is full of good medics. I'm sure she's not as bad as the few we had in the healing camp." She grimaced, noting the stark difference in the reality of the two kingdoms.
And that was the last time he had landed eyes on Sakura.
Dried branches and leaves scattered about each time her eyes set upon the muddy ground. The storm had once again invaded the country, threatening to uproot trees as well as the old tents that shield numerous war victims. Most lost their shelter, others lost their limbs. There was simply nothing more horrifying than the routine she was forced to go through every day. But that was the kind of life Sakura had prepared the time she took the oath of a medic back then.
What truly challenge Sakura would be the exchange from the locals. Hateful glares were what she normally received, though the more extreme confrontation would be the patients that refused to get treatment from her, leading to an extent of pointing swords at Sakura despite the severe blood lost as well as fresh wounds. But that didn't budge her at all for she had mastered the art of concealing whenever it comes to her feelings towards these people. Trying to cooperate with the medics was another tale to tell.
Sakura's opinion were pretty straight forward, thinking that almost all of them were not trained properly for their tasks. Mixing medicines into poisons were pretty frequent as well, much to her horror. Telling them off into corrections was just as useless as she had tried before, only to receive spiteful remarks that lower her name and country. She had simply walked away, piling up hate a day after another in the depth of her heart.
Only thoughts were there to accompany her during the night, from a memory that had Sakura missing her home greatly up to the thought of not caring the mistakes made by those careless Uchiha medics, or at least tried to convince herself for the latter. But she couldn't bring herself into seeing the victims suffer due to their carelessness no matter how hard she tried. Her heart was not meant for cruelty and that alone meant doom for she is living in the world that opposes all of her principles. There was a sliver of thought that came after, thinking of how these people had managed to survive with the aid of those medics.
Not until she came across a conversation exchanged between two elder women, whom had acknowledged themselves as the seniors. "Most of our experienced medics were wiped out since the war is at the verge of breaking out. There was simply no hope for this country to earn the best treatments for the moment being."
"Not when the declaration is nearing." Another replied, sighing out loud.
That fact alone had jerked up a startling reaction in Sakura, new thoughts started to whisper in her mind. Her normal senses returned as curiosity perked in her, needing to know more on the war progress despite still living on the grounds of the enemy. This is enough to prove that lingering around with her roots visible to the others would only lead to anyone making a move to end her life anytime, anywhere. Fear arises in her all the same but the first and foremost thought deemed to have a more solid grip to her mind.
'Declaration of war.' She recalled, caught in the flashes of overgrowing thoughts by the second. 'Nearing.' The last thought act as a reminder to herself, a stern warning.
Exhaling a long breath, her mind worked in a maddening pace over the new fact. She would blame herself for being too ignorant to her surrounding for missing out such an important clue to the disaster she feared the most. But she knew it better that rumours travel faster than the truth itself, though there is always pieces of truth hidden in each. Hence, that left as another question that she had to decipher all by herself.
Sakura was too busy keeping herself on bay for surviving in the land she was supposed to stay away from ever since she started to walk. Being dragged half-dead towards a forbidden ground, surviving each day without sparing the thought of betrayal towards her country for treating someone that possibly killed her people before, it would be a lie if that thought alone had not poisoned her from the inside. Her state of mind was far from as strong as before but she refused to give up to it in order to keep a strong façade in the faces of those whom potentially kill her at sight.
If she is to be killed, not that she would ever surrendered as easily either, she will still hang on to the image of determination and strength.
Sakura visited the make-shift medical lab as night falls. In which was located not far from her isolated tent. As expected, there was no sign of the others working late for the production of new medicine nor preparing for sufficient supply for the sudden break out of war. And there is no need to remind her twice for the conversation that still lays fresh in her mind where a war might happen anytime soon.
She lit the oil lamp from the corner of the table and walked over to the jars that contained chemicals. Different colours for different types and yet there was no clear distinction between which is what. Sakura could only rely on her past experience and sense of smell to distinguish each before working on the medicine they were lacking of. There was another set of jars sat next to the oil lamp, seemingly the ones that was ready for use. Getting her hands on those, she examined each one and only approved one to have the correct mixture of ingredients after going through a thorough test. The needles work well as her indicator, turning black at the tip when it contacted with the mixture that eventually kills when consumed.
Pulling her now short hair into a ponytail, she heaved a deep breath before started working. Her short hair marked the day she was assigned to work for the Uchiha's medical department by the red-haired woman. Sakura had prepared for the worst punishment coming from the ruthless leader though had hardly expected that. She admitted that it was a smart move for the country to gain purpose of her rather than to keep her in the dungeons. It was as if the act alone had Sakura caught in between feeling safe or used instead.
Sakura reached for the nearest dagger after those words were spoken, triggering Karin and the other two men whom seemed to be the leader of their army. Her swift moves had her pulling her long locks back and cut it off before they could act any way. The hair was a tribute for the act she was about to go for next, to serve for the country she had hated to the core while appearing dead to her family. The amount of hatred towards the situation she was forced into accepting never fades away.
Gone were the days well spent with her loved ones, gone were the identity she concealed in order to survive. But she hoped that someday, she will break free from everything that holds her away from her safe haven.
Sakura's current mind focused back into the present, channelling her full attention towards the medicine she was working in hand as she made sure to make no mistake. It didn't take long to complete mixing a jar before moving into the next one.
"One done, four to go." She told herself, almost missing her own voice during the unspoken days she spent the moment she arrived the healing camp.
The next day came a little chaotic than usual. Sakura had walked up to the lab, getting a set of new list of patients each day. Though her nonchalant mind was tugged by the glances and whispers of her colleagues. Making her way through the small group where everyone gathered, she saw the head medic suspecting the jars of medicine she worked on late last night. She drew a deep breath. The worst case scenario would be the medicine being thrown away due to their suspicion towards her attention. She will just have to brace for that and walk away, again. Running away seemed to be the best choice in avoiding unnecessary confrontation.
Sakura looked at the head medic in the eyes for a moment before proceeded to the other side of the tent to obtain the daily assigned list.
"You over there." She called out but Sakura chose to ignore that before anymore insult is to be thrown at her. "Hey, Senju medic."
Only then that Sakura looked up at the owner of the voice, still not saying anything. "Did you make all these?" she asked out loud, piercing gaze set upon Sakura who then glanced over at the few jars she added to the collection from last night. Sakura nodded.
Loud murmurs were passed among the group, sounding out their obvious worries of her work. Nothing unusual, Sakura thought. She silently waits for their next act of despising her only to see a few experienced medics locked themselves in an urgent discussion. Two of them were from the conversation she overheard. The woman looked up again towards Sakura, sight still as intensifying as ever.
"How do you know if these are not poisons instead?" she shot rather ruthlessly.
Sakura scoffed lightly to herself, expecting something like this to actually happen. She walked over and revealed another four smaller jars of different coloured chemicals from under the table.
"These were the samples from the original mixture from yesterday and the ones you were holding were the ones that I, altered a bit." Sakura started as the group went dead silent. "As you can see I had placed needles in each one of these jar, including mine," she pointed and continued, "The characteristics of each mixture is revealed based on the colour of the soaked needles."
The three head medics watched closely from one jar to another, noting the black needles from the four smaller jars as well as the unchanged ones in the bigger jars. They discussed amongst themselves as murmurs began to travel in the group once again. Sakura, on the other hand, just stood there calmly, awaiting for whatever invalid reasons they had in mind to not believe her words.
"After our discussion, we concluded that the needles could not fully prove the true characteristics of these mixtures."
"Who knew if the needles were changed before they were soaked in each jar?" Another girl said from the side lines, as if adding fuel to fire.
Sakura scoffed louder now, mustering a full smirk to herself as she cast downwards for a while to gather her next words that same almost immediately. "The needles will still change over the few hours they were immersed in that liquid." She then turned to the girl from the side lines almost sarcastically. "And the reason where I had immersed them overnight would be due to the long hours it takes for each needle to reveal its colours."
Taken aback by Sakura's reply, the girl fumed and disappeared into the crowd. Her eyes went back to the three seniors as if in question over their investigations.
"We will still need to conduct a few tests to ensure that." One said.
Sakura nodded. "If only all the medicines here were prepared and checked with such intensity, it would be great for the patients." She flashed a short sarcastic smile before gathering the blood-stained cloth from the corner and walked out of the tent.
She heaved a long breath once they were out of sight, relief of the small intervention earlier and away from those toxic people. She was alone safe for the two annoying guards that were appointed to keep an eye on her though it was not the same as the ones back in the healing room. Her cautious self would suspect the two over the trick that they might pull at her. Killing her was one of those thoughts. All that seemed to change over the short time. She observes the two, noting their ease compared to the few army troupes she met in Uchiha despite guarding someone that should be considered as a prisoner of war.
Sakura sighed as she sat on a stone by the riverbank, starting to wash off the blood-stained cloth. She was almost finished when she caught herself staring off the blood drifted off the river surface. The first thought that came to her mind was to match that trail to the cloth she had in hand only to realise that the source differs. Her brows furrowed in pure confusion as she tried to search for the source of the trail from the headwaters and turned to the mass bush not far away, seemingly coming from there.
The bushes started to move and Sakura scrutinize at it, anticipating for the unknown only to hear panic screams filled the air along with two women running away like mad. Her guards were alerted as well, demanding them on what they saw and Sakura only caught a few words before triggering a reaction from her. Man and bleeding.
She stood up and rushed towards the bush, not caring about the order that came after.
"Wait!" one of the men shouted over at a sprinting Sakura.
Pushing past the shallow branches and into a forced-out clearing, Sakura's hand flew up to her lips in a gasp. But it took only a matter of seconds for her medical-mode to take over as she crouched down to inspect the man with fatal injuries across the torso, his hand clutching upon a big gash on the left-side of his body while another rested flat across the pebbles. Sakura's attention was tugged from his injury and to his pale face when his hand pulled Sakura's weakly, mouthing words that no one hears nor understands.
"I… Found you."
A/N : Here's yet another update on the story. Thanks for being patient with this story and hoped you enjoyed this chapter no less than the other. ;)
-Callester-