Chapter 19: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
(I do not own Naruto.)
Suigetsu eyed Karin suspiciously. "I didn't know Sasuke asked you to come down here. Shouldn't you be drooling on his arm or something?"
"Of course he sent me down here. He knew you'd muck it up somehow."
The swordsman unlocked the door to Sakura's enclosure. Stepping inside, he melted into the frigid water, reappearing directly in front of the weary medic. He met her defiant glare with a smile, groaning inwardly as Karin strode across the distance to stand next to him. He didn't believe a word that came out of his teammate's treacherous mouth. He knew what she'd done to Sasuke. What the Uchiha didn't know was that it hadn't even been on Orochimaru's orders. She'd done it for her own purposes. Suigetsu was fairly certain Karin wasn't aware of just how much he knew about her. No matter how it was looked it, it all boiled down to one base truth.
He just didn't trust Orochimaru's former supporter.
"Let's break her arms first."
"That's jumping in to it a little quick, don't you think?" he asked. "She may respond to something less painful."
Karin shrugged. "Why waste time on things that might not work. I don't want to be down here all day, do you?"
"It doesn't matter," Sakura said quietly. "One day you will both be in my shoes. That's how Sasuke repays those loyal to him. So maybe you should watch and remember. One day this will be you."
"Shut up!" Karin slapped her across the face. "Sasuke would never do that! He obviously left your team because you gave him no choice!"
Sakura's expression was one of disgust. As Suigetsu watched her endure Karin's fit, he felt a reluctant admiration for the prisoner before him. She had spirit. She'd proven herself in battle. She'd almost bested him. So why was Sasuke so quick to dismiss his former friend? He was more interested in that answer than where the nine-tails was.
A tapping from the hallway drew all three pairs of eyes.
Sasuke tapped his sword against one of the bars, seemingly disinterested in the conversation. Suigetsu could tell, however, from the way the Uchiha's eyes flashed red, that Sakura had hit a sore spot.
"Karin, leave. Now," the Uchiha said.
The red-head bristled as a smile spread across her watery teammate's face. She rushed over to where Sasuke stood and hopped out of the confined area. "I was just making sure Suigetsu wasn't shirking his duties, Sasuke-kun. He seems to have taken a shine to your prisoner."
Suigetsu's smile only grew bigger. "My interest is purely intellectual, I assure you, Sasuke. Maybe it was Karin who had the ulterior motives. I had orders to be down here."
The Sharingan user ignored their attempts to discredit one another and instead asked, "Well?"
"She's not gonna talk."
"But he didn't even try!" Karin pointed at Sakura. "She's completely unharmed! I told you he wasn't going to do it right!"
"That's enough, Karin," Sasuke said coolly. "Leave us. Both of you."
Frowning slightly, the swordsman waited for Karin to be out of ear shot before he addressed his team leader. "Sasuke, you've only got a few hours before Pein will be down here. Maybe it's best that he handles this. She's not gonna give up the kyuubi without a fight."
At the implication he couldn't stomach harming Sakura himself, Sasuke's grip on his sword handle tightened. Wordlessly, he stared at Suigetsu until the other shinobi backed down, retreating up the stairs behind them. Once again alone with Sakura, Sasuke felt the atmosphere around him change drastically. When he'd entered the prison area, he could feel all three shinobi's battle anticipation. He could almost taste the tension in the air. All he felt now was fear.
Looking over at Sakura, who was currently refusing to acknowledge him, he knew she was afraid. That small revelation added to his foul mood. Sakura was more at ease with even Karin than she was with him. His jaw clenched in irritation. Putting his sword away, he entered the water-filled area.
At first glance, the Konoha medic seemed to be dealing with her confinement well. She didn't have the sickly pallor of death, and Sasuke was unable to detect any shivering. As he neared her, the small indications of mistreatment were more apparent. The medic's fingers, clasped tightly around the chains above her, were painfully raw from the unforgiving metal. Her wrists were worse off from the heavy manacles, and the tension in her arms indicated they were probably numb. Her former teammate could see the slow flux of chakra keeping her warm. The effort was enough to keep her levels below healing ability. Her green eyes lacked the anger he wanted to see, and were, instead, void of any noticeable emotion.
Sasuke pulled out two kunai and knelt down in front of Sakura. He watched her eyes as he brandished the weapons, wishing to spark something in her to force her to speak. He felt her tense considerably, but she remained silent.
Ramming the kunai into the wall above water level, Sasuke stood. He wasn't going to be the first to break the silence. She would have to take the initiative and use the step he'd provided because he wasn't going to instruct her. After a few infuriating minutes of her inactivity, Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he leaned over, wrapping his arms around her knees.
"Don't touch me." Her whispered words carried enough venom to make him pause for a moment.
He didn't reply, knowing her to be unable to back up her threat, and proceeded to lift her up on to the ledge he'd made out of his weapons. The elevation brought the medic out of the cold water and allowed the chains holding her to slacken. With her arms down partially and her body out of the cold, Sasuke had drastically improved her situation.
She watched him warily as he straightened and crossed his arms. He stood only a foot away from her, watching her chakra carefully for any sign she might be able to retaliate.
Satisfied that she wasn't going to try and fight him, the Uchiha allowed his sharingan to deactivate.
"Sakura."
She said nothing, but the emotion in her eyes was no longer masked. It was a surprise to him what he saw reflected in those green depths.
She hated him.
Haruno Sakura, once steadfast and loyal to a fault, now looked at him with loathing. Fear and loathing. Two things he thought he'd never elicit from her. An all too familiar twinge caused his chest to tighten and his jaw to clench. He fought the urge to leave the cell and break something.
Sasuke took a steadying breath and said through clenched teeth, "You're being stubborn."
"And you're being an ass!" she retorted. Her saturated pink hair plastered to her face as she spat the words at him. He thought she would have lunged for his throat like a wild animal if she'd been unrestrained at that moment.
"Tell me where the nine-tails is."
Her green eyes flashed with anger. "You mean Naruto? I'm sorry; I didn't know just who you meant for a moment there."
He cocked an eyebrow at her sarcasm, and Sakura continued, too infuriated to quell the barrage of words that tumbled out of her mouth. "And what do you think gives you the right to stand by while your entire village is destroyed?" She slipped slightly on the wet kunai. "That gives you the right to watch our friends die? You let them die, Sasuke!"
"That's what war is. Every shinobi goes into battle knowing it might be their last."
"Whatever," she mumbled. "Tell that to Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru."
Sasuke saw her eyes glisten even through the steady fall of rain drops. She looked down at the water below her. Her rage tempered slightly, she once again refused to look at him.
Damn it. Sasuke stepped even closer to her, his voice barely above a whisper. "What is it you would have me do, Sakura, since you seem to understand the situation so well?"
She swallowed, obviously nervous at his dangerous tone. "I would have you say goodbye to Naruto in a civil manner. If you truly don't care, Sasuke, just be kind to him once. He won't follow you if he thinks you're okay. That's all we've ever wanted. We just want to know you're okay."
"Hn. Be kind to Naruto. How foolish."
Her green eyes snapped up, meeting his dark ones, and Sasuke continued. "You think you have it all figured out. You think I'm corrupted with hatred for what was done to my family. You think I'm going to lose control over my cursed seal. You don't understand the half of why I've made the decisions I have." His brow creased in irritation. "What would you have changed about the recent months, Sakura? Would you rather I had left you with my brother when I thought him to be a cold-hearted killer? Would you rather I had left you, unconscious, on the battle ground at Konoha in front of Pein? Would you rather I leave you here now for him?"
"You make yourself sound so noble, Uchiha," she said. "You didn't come after me. You went after Itachi. I would have been an acceptable sacrifice if it had meant killing your brother. Your brother, who you say wasn't even to blame!"
His hand slammed down on the stone next to her head and Sakura flinched. Sasuke glared at her, the hurt from killing his brother rushing to the surface. It angered him to no end that Sakura was able to bring those feelings forward when he'd so successfully buried them deep inside his soul. Even now, after years of being apart, her adeptness at reaching his inner sanctuary was annoying. He placed his other hand on the cold stone on the opposite side of her, bracing himself as he thought of his next words carefully.
"That's your perception of the situation, Sakura. That doesn't make it true."
"Just as your perception of Konoha doesn't make it true!"
Damn it, she is so infuriating! He took a deep breath. "Once again, you're assuming you know something you don't."
"Then maybe you should have left me for dead. Naruto would have come after you for sure, then."
This time, her logic rang true. Sasuke knew Naruto would come for him just after hearing about his involvement with Konoha. Sakura was an unnecessary point of leverage. Especially alive. Once again, she'd hit the nail on the head. This time, however, she was unwittingly too close to something Sasuke was not willing to reveal—even to himself.
So he changed the subject. "I brought you here for a purpose." He pushed himself away from her. "Tell me where Naruto is." He reached up, unlocking the manacles that held her. Sakura collapsed forward, her body off balance on the kunai, her arms too fatigued to help her balance. Sasuke caught her carefully, deliberately touching as little of her as possible. "Stop you're struggling or you'll end up in the water." She ceased her meager resistance at his words but her body remained tensed for action. She channeled her chakra supply to her feet, allowing Sasuke to support her while she hovered on the water.
Sasuke leaned in next to her ear. What he was about to say was only for the medic to hear. He felt the sharp intake of her breath. "For once in your life, don't be foolish."
He held her away from him at that point, letting his words sink in.
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Sakura felt Sasuke's fingers dig into her upper arms in his effort to hold her as far from him as possible.
She wanted to trust him. She wanted to think he wouldn't hurt her. The conversation they'd just had was the longest one they'd ever had. But she still couldn't read his motives. The Uchiha was a walking contradiction. He'd imprisoned her, sent his teammates to torture her, and then asked her not to be foolish about her life.
She wanted to punch him as hard as she could.
"Naruto is in Stone Country. He's out on a mission from the Hokage. I was left behind because we needed support staff at the hospital." She watched Sasuke's face for a reaction to her lie. He gave her nothing. Instead, he bent forward unexpectedly, slung her over his shoulder roughly, and carried her out of the cell. Once on solid ground, he set her down, only to hold her at sword point once she regained her footing.
Sakura's eyes narrowed angrily. "Why free me if you're just going to kill me?"
"Karin will rebind your hands when we meet up with them." Sasuke said, irritated.
"I'm not going with you!"
His eyes flashed red. "This is not a negotiation." He pushed his sword closer to her, lowering it to the place on her abdomen he knew held a scar. "You're too valuable to Akatsuki. Your next lodgings will be drier."
Sakura knew her options were limited. She had almost no chakra to speak of, and even at full capacity, she was doubtful she could best Sasuke. Dieing accomplished nothing. As long as she was alive, there was a chance she could protect Naruto.
For a moment, Sasuke thought she was going to attack him. Instead, she sighed, her emerald eyes once again dim. That twinge in his chest flared up again at the sound of her resignation and he silently cursed.
"Watch me closely, Sasuke," Sakura whispered, ascending the steps. "You'll only turn your back on me once."
Behind her, Sasuke paused. Even though he knew she'd lied to him about Naruto, what Sakura didn't realize was the fact that she'd told him anything was enough for Madara to allow her release from the prison.
But at the tone of her voice as she'd issued her threat, Sasuke wondered if maybe he should have let Pein deal with Sakura after all.
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The last few miles flew by as Naruto raced toward Konoha. His heart felt like it dropped lower into his stomach with every step closer to the source of the black clouds on the horizon. He knew without knowing that something was horribly wrong. As he passed the crushed western gate, the blonde young man slid to a stop. His blue eyes drank in the devastation that surrounded him. He was almost deaf to the voice that greeted him.
"Uzumaki Naruto. We are under orders to escort you directly to the Lady Hokage upon your arrival."
Dazed, Naruto turned toward the masked ANBU. "What the hell happened here?"
"We were attacked by Akatsuki."
"Why?"
The ANBU shook his head. "The Hokage will explain."
Naruto let himself be ushered through the remnants of his village, his eyes locked on to the images of the townspeople rummaging through their destroyed homes. "Oi, Sakura-chan must be overwhelmed at the hospital," he said to himself.
The masked shinobi glanced over at his remark, but Naruto was too busy taking in the reality around him to notice.
The Hokage tower itself had sustained little damage. When Naruto burst through the doors to Tsunade's office, he had expected the voluptuous blonde woman to chastise him. Instead, her pained brown eyes turned to him, and she shook her head sadly.
At the window, Kakashi stood next to Sai, the copy-nin's exposed eye belaying weariness. The ROOT member also looked distressed.
"Naruto," Tsunade watched him carefully. "I have something to tell you."
Outside of the office, silence ruled in the hallways of the Hokage tower. Five minutes after the doors had closed behind Uzumaki Naruto, that silence was shattered by the outraged, soul-rending cry of a person whose heart had just been broken completely.
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Coming soon: Chapter 20: This Is How You Remind Me of What I Really Am