Forty-Six: Unbreakable

The room was dark, cold, and there was clearly a leak coming from somewhere in the ceiling. It could, fairly accurately, be described as a dungeon.

A lone figure was hunched in the corner, head hanging limply and body slumped. In fact, it appeared the only thing keeping her upright was the rope suspending her bound wrists above her head.

The heavily bolted door swung open, giving off a creaking noise that was the girl's only indication that her tormentors had returned. The pink-haired girl groaned, lifting her head with visible effort to look into the eyes of the person visiting her today.

It was Kaoru. So that meant this time, the pain would be physical.

Dark bruises already marred her body, but Sakura wasn't one to give in to pain—whether it be physical or mental. And considering she'd suffered more of both in however long she'd been in this place than she had the whole previous nineteen years of her life, she was surprised she was still staying as strong as she was.

So she gritted her teeth and looked Kaoru in the eye. She wasn't going to break.

"Still trying to look strong I see," Kaoru taunted. "There's no point. All your friends think you're dead. Taya is quite good at what she does. Not even the Hokage will be able to tell that the 'you' the rest of your teammates brought back was a fake."

Sakura made no move to acknowledge that he'd spoken, so he grabbed her roughly by the hair and pulled her face in close to his.

"No one is going to come looking for you, not even that Copy Ninja. You won't be rescued."

Sakura didn't let him see her despair. She wasn't stupid; she'd come to the same conclusion long ago. But just because there was no hope left for her, it didn't mean she was going to willingly sell out her friends and her mission. Not even if it meant an easier, and less painful death.

"You're going to die here, in the dark, all alone," he sneered, but he was beginning to show that Sakura's lack of reaction was starting to irritate him more than her.

"Stop staring at me with that blank expression!" he hissed, slapping her across the face with enough force to draw blood. Still, Sakura didn't give him the pleasure of seeing her pain. She kept her emotions locked tightly away in a box inside herself, like she'd been taught by Ibiki during her ANBU training.

"Tch," Kaoru said, clearly frustrated with her lack of response. "We'll see how well you respond to Taya's treatment. She's assured me that even someone of your strength can't withstand her onslaught forever. I'll be seeing you again soon, Sakura."

Only after the door closed firmly behind him did Sakura allow her pain to spread across her face. She didn't cry out, and she managed to only let one tear leak out of the corner of her eye.

She was strong, but she didn't know how much longer she could last.

"No luck?" Taya asked in a sing-song voice that told Kaoru she wasn't really surprised he wasn't getting anywhere with his methods.

His response was a glare.

Taya laughed. "You men are all the same. You think that because you break under the pain of torture that we women must do so too. But let me tell you, women like me and Sakura Haruno aren't like that."

"Do you have a point?" Kaoru snapped.

She laughed again. "No need to get testy, Kaoru dear. All in good time. I can assure you, by this time in five days, you will have everything you need to take down the Sasakis. Just five days and I will have broken that girl completely."

Taya grinned, and Kaoru thought it was one of the most terrifying sights he'd ever seen.

"And I think I know the perfect way to start."

Kakashi shook his head, wondering when exactly it was that Naruto had grown up so much. It seemed like only yesterday he'd been a little brat with no self-control and not a whole lot of talent. Now it seemed the future Hokage was stepping easily into the team leader role that Kakashi had admittedly abandoned ever since their return from the Land of Silver.

He owed his teammates an apology for that too, he supposed, but the remaining members of Team Seven had grown wary of his apologies, and frankly, Kakashi was tired of giving them. He was ready to move on.

But before that, there was still one more thing for him to do.

In his initial anguish and guilt over Sakura's death, he hadn't been thinking clearly. Kakashi realized that now. But at the time, he didn't have the courage to face the Hokage and tell her the news himself. And then afterwards, when he heard how hard she'd taken in, Kakashi felt like he was probably the last person she'd want to see, so he'd kept his distance.

But it was time to get over that now. They were both Sakura's teachers, and he owed her a personal explanation at the very least. Maybe she'd even share some of her secret sake stash with him. Kakashi knew she had some strong stuff imported from Mist.

According to Naruto, who had been bothering Jiraiya in his office a few days ago, Tsunade was feeling much better after her vacation with Shizune and was going to be returning to her duties soon. Kakashi figured he'd stop by the Hokage Tower on his way back from the training grounds. If Tsunade was there, he'd talk to her, and if she wasn't then at least he could say he hadn't been avoiding her.

The building was eerily quiet. Kakashi had been in Hokage Tower before when it was shut down. Most of his years in ANBU had been spent in clandestine after-hours meetings with Minato or the Third, since almost all of his missions had been of the utmost secrecy, but never before had the darkened building made him feel so off.

As nearly thirty years of shinobi training will do, Kakashi's senses heightened subconsciously as he walked calmly up the stairs to the top level, which contained the Hokage's office.

The first thing he noticed was the sound of elevated voices. The Hokage's stuck out to him, and Kakashi wondered if he should come back later when she was in a less volatile mood. He'd been known to go through some self-loathing, but despite what many of his friends thought, Kakashi didn't have any real desire to be smashed through the wall by his Hokage's monstrous strength.

He was about to turn around when the voice of the perennially lazy strategist caught his ear. He didn't think he'd ever heard Shikamaru shout.

"…As long as it's not zero, don't you think we should take a chance?"

Someone else, a calmer voice, probably Jiraiya, was talking now, but Kakashi was at the top of the stairs, too far away to make out his words. The silver-haired jonin had to admit, he was intrigued by whatever Shikamaru was so passionate about.

"If there's even the slightest chance that she's still alive, don't you think we should take it?"

Kakashi froze.

The world—everything around him—stopped.

Even the slightest chance…

…She's alive….

Alive.

He forgot to breathe.

"You really think Sakura might be alive?"

That was Tsunade's voice again.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kakashi took in the rest of her conversation with Shikamaru, but it wouldn't be until later that he realized it. Right then he was too busy trying to formulate how the ponytailed genius had come to the conclusion that Sakura was alive.

The door opened, and both parties' eyes widened as they took in the sight of each other.

"Kakashi?" Shikamaru gasped. He only needed one glance at the man's face to know that he'd heard enough.

"Sakura…is alive?" he stammered.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" Tsunade sounded worried.

"Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked, poking his head out so he could see the man for himself.

"How?"

"I don't think—" Shikamaru started, only to find himself being gripped tightly around the shoulders.

"I heard you. You think she's alive. How?"

"Kakashi, calm down!" Tsunade snapped. Jiraiya shot her a look behind her back, clearly amused with the fact that she was telling someone to be calm.

"Lady Tsunade, she's my teammate!"

"Yes, I know that. But you're scaring Shikamaru!"

"Sorry," Kakashi mumbled, letting go of the brunette.

"Eh, it's alright."

"You're going after her?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"I'm coming with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"You'll need back-up."

Shikamaru frowned. "Kakashi, if you overheard me saying I think there's a chance Sakura is still alive, then you overheard me say that it's an extremely low probability. I just don't think you'll be able to handle it if it turns out I'm wrong. I know you're older and more experienced than me, and I have no right to talk to you like this, but this is what I honestly believe."

"You're not going without me. I won't be dissuaded on this one."

"But—"

"Let him go, Shikamaru," Tsunade ordered.

"Lady Hokage?"

"He'll be fine, and I'd feel better if you had someone with a bit more insight into the mission with you on this one."

"Um, okay. Man, this is turning out to be such a drag," he grumbled. "Come on, Temari's waiting for us and scouting the area. I'll brief you on the way."

Tsunade turned back and sat down comfortably in her chair, a satisfied look on her face. But she offered no explanation.

"You want to tell me why you decided to let him go?" Jiraiya asked, slightly shocked by her decision.

Tsunade smiled. "It was the look in his eyes. He looked alive."

"What information does Sasaki have on us?" Kaoru shouted, accenting his question with another hard kick to Sakura's side. Blood was trickling out of her mouth now but she dutifully ignored the pain. She would not betray her duty as a shinobi, and she certainly wouldn't give in to this man.

"Tell me." Another punch. Sakura could tell he was starting to get frustrated. Kaoru hated that he always lost his cool before she did. Sakura was beginning to see that he wasn't as calm and collected as he had everyone else in the rebellion believing.

Her thoughts stopped as she took an especially painful kick to the ribs. She knew at least two of them were broken, but her mind stopped processing there as she watched her own blood fly out of her mouth and land in colorful patterns on the cold tile. Any more of this and she'd have her own little blood painting on the ground.

Sakura almost rolled her eyes. She was starting to get delirious.

"Well," Kaoru looked like he had to restrain himself from killing her right there, "there's no sense in continuing any more today. We'll pick back up with this again tomorrow. Then we'll see how much longer you can really last."

A worry that she might be nearing her limit crept up inside Sakura, but she quickly pushed it back down. She was nothing if not stubborn, and she was not going to let this man see her break. She would never let him have the satisfaction.

The door squeaked, and Kaoru turned, blocking Sakura's view of the person opening it.

"Oh, so this is what she had in mind." He laughed, and Sakura decided that she didn't like the sound. Whatever it was had amused Kaoru, and that didn't bode well for her. "That's cruel, even for her. That Taya." He shook his head, giving Sakura one last glance before exiting the room and leaving Sakura alone with her new visitor.

The person was small, likely female, but Sakura's vision was blurry from the repeated blows she'd taken to the head, and the girl was standing in the shadows, making her too difficult to see.

The other hesitated, and appeared to take a deep breath before slowly moving towards Sakura with tray of minimal food and water. This wasn't unusual. If they wanted to get information out of her, they couldn't afford to have her die of starvation or dehydration. That didn't mean they went out of their way to make sure she was kept it good shape—she was a prisoner after all. She was given just enough to keep her alive and coherent. It wouldn't do to have her too far gone to feel pain, Kaoru had said.

But in the moment that the girl's face came into focus, Sakura wished they would have just skipped the food and water for the day.

"Takara?" she croaked, her voice scratchy from dehydration and the coating of dried blood she'd been unable to cough away.

The girl flinched back, probably startled by Sakura's horrid appearance. Maybe she'd assumed Sakura would be unconscious. Or maybe she was just shocked at hearing the voice of the person who had murdered her older brother, Sakura didn't know.

"They told me to give you this," Takara said, not looking Sakura in the eye. The kunoichi didn't delude herself into thinking it was out of pity or any sort of regret stemming from their previous friendship. It was probably too painful for her to be in the same room as Sakura, let alone speaking with her.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said weakly after her a few gulps of water had cleansed her throat.

Takara's hand shook as she fed Sakura a bit of bread, but she made no move to acknowledge the pink-haired medic's words.

"I'm sorry for killing Mitsuo. I really am."

The tray clattered to the ground as Takara brought her arms to her side, fists clenched. Tears dropped onto the ground, so large that Sakura could hear each one as it fell.

"If you regret it, then why?" Takara cried, looking at Sakura for the first time with a wild and broken look in her eyes. "Why did you do it? He was never anything but a friend to you."

Sakura met her gaze sadly. She could lie, try to soften the blow, but she felt that she owed the girl the truth, even if it was painful.

"I said I was sorry, Takara, not that I regret it."

Takara's mouth hung open in shock, but Sakura quickly went on before the other girl jumped to the wrong conclusions.

"Mitsuo was just doing his job as a soldier in stopping me," Sakura explained, surprised to find that tears of her own were stinging her eyes. "I tried to convince him to walk away and let me go, but I was the enemy, so he felt it was his duty to try to stop me. But he threatened my teammate, so I had to do my duty as a shinobi and stop him."

An image of Kakashi's face flashed through her head, and Sakura had to suppress the urge to think about her teammates. If she thought about them, she was afraid she might break.

"And that was killing him?" Takara asked through her sobs.

The first tear leaked out of Sakura's eye as she nodded.

"That's horrible!" Takara screamed. "It's sick! You were his friend and you just turned around and killed him with no regret! It's disgusting!"

The other girl turned and stomped out of the room, only to be stopped by the soft sound of Sakura's voice.

"That's the harsh life I chose when I signed up to be a ninja."

Takara turned back with a look of shock—and maybe a sliver of pity—before turning around again. The door slammed behind her, but as the tears began to fall, Sakura wondered who had really been tortured the worst here—her or Takara?

"The prisoner has been fed," Takara said, stopping for only a moment before fleeing the room adjourning Sakura's.

Taya smiled as she heard the telltale sounds of sobbing from behind the locked door.

"You see, Kaoru? Sometimes the worst pain isn't physical at all."