Ch: 17 Mirrors
It's been hours, Sakura thought to herself. Surely her teammates would be asleep by now?
But as she neared the end of the hallway, she saw that there was light and the sounds of a TV blasting from the little sliver of space under one of the doors. Dread began to stir in the pit of her stomach.
That was her room, right?
Unless the inn suddenly grew an extra hallway while she was out, it was hers.
Damn it.
At first, Sakura turned around, ready to walk back down the stairs and out the inn again. But she'd been sleep deprived for the last couple nights and she really needed the rest right now. The only option was to enter the room and face whatever horror awaited inside.
Here we go.
"Welcome back," the Jinchuriki called from on top of his sleeping bag as she opened the door.
The first thing she noticed was that there was stuff everywhere. Articles of clothing—mostly orange—were sprawled over the desk chair, on the floor, and—
Was that a tank top hanging off the lamp?
The second thing was exactly how compact the sleeping arrangement was—her teammates had aligned their sleeping bags on both sides of the bed, leaving a small crevice of space in between them, presumably for her to sleep inside the covers of the actual bed.
Now that was close quarters.
Sasuke's sleeping bag was empty. She almost asked the Jinchuriki where he went, but instead decided not to question her luck.
Sakura hung her cloak and slid off her boots. She grabbed her empty waterskin and headed to the bathroom to get some tap water.
"Wait Sakura—"
It was too late. She'd already slid the door open, and the fragrance of men's soap and a hot puff of steam hit her in the face.
She saw skin.
She saw muscle.
She saw Sasuke.
Shit!
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, wishing that she could gouge them out. The thin towel around his waist left almost nothing to her imagination. She could only stand there dumbly knowing it was all her fault for not knocking.
Slowly, calmly, Sasuke took his excruciating sweet-ass time as he finished pulling a shirt over his head and hanging his towel.
To be clear, she was not thinking about his wet hair clinging to his perfectly pronounced jaw. She had not noticed how the moisture on his chest only enhanced every crevice of his pectoral muscles, which, to be absolutely clear, she only noticed because of her anatomical expertise—and… and purely scientific curiosity—
Sasuke approached. And then he got so close that she could feel the heat radiating off his body. She held her breath so she wouldn't have to smell him too.
He dipped his head so that his mouth was next to her ear, and a single drop of water fell from his head onto her shoulder.
"You can open your eyes now."
He moved so gracefully past her that Sakura didn't even know he had, until a warm breeze tickled her face and she heard the flip of the light switch.
She wasn't comfortable opening her eyes until she heard the balcony door open on the opposite side of the room.
And then her starved lungs gasped for air.
It was nothing short of a miracle to have survived the rest of last night, considering that Sakura's blood pressure—the stubborn son of a gun—refused to correct itself after her near heart attack. It also didn't help that the source of the problem settled into his sleeping bag right next to her, shirtless, afterwards.
The humiliation carried on in the night, until at some ungodly hour she lay awake, staring at the ceiling, having tossed and turned for what seemed like forever. Thinking about it gave her a small rise in blood pressure again, and then she was forced to admit that fine, maybe, perhaps she supposed Sasuke wasn't absolutely terrible looking, kinda, and she hoped that admittance would allow the universe to give her some peace.
The next morning, the three of them ate their breakfasts quietly, and as planned, found the rug and carpet store recommended to them by Sasuke's lead from yesterday.
But none of that mattered because it was a dead end.
OUR STORE IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
"Sasuke, didn't Tsuta say this shop is open 24/7? Should we come back later?" the Jinchuriki asked. He managed to weave his arms through the iron bars securing the store's window and peered through the glass with his hands cupped around his eyes.
Sakura did the same.
The store was surprisingly spacious and in good condition, as if someone had kept up appearances even if no customers were allowed inside.
Rows and rows of giant rectangular-cut kaleidoscopes hung from metal railings suspended from the ceiling and stacks of rolled-up rugs formed neat aisles. The far back of the room housed two plush couches arranged on either sides of a glass coffee table.
It seemed the giant banner announcing the store's closure wasn't bluffing. Evidently, Tsuta, or whatever her name was, was wrong—there was no one inside.
"It looks like they still take appointments, though," the Jinchuriki said, pointing to a tiny piece of paper placed by the door of the main entrance.
APPTS AVAILABLE!
Finally, a small win!
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief that maybe the universe decided to go easy on her today. They only needed to schedule a time to talk to the shop owner, it seemed.
"Is there contact information at all?" she asked, checking over the door to make sure she didn't miss a name or address.
"Nothing here," said the Jinchuriki.
"There won't be," said Sasuke, pointing to the next window over.
Sakura would've almost missed the small slip of paper. It looked like had been torn out of a notebook, with hurried, scribbled letters:
APPOINTMENTS FOR EXISTING CLIENTS ONLY.
It was like the universe was mocking her.
Or, at the very least, the owner himself couldn't decide between teasing or angering his customers.
"This doesn't make sense." Sasuke picked up the note and flipped it around to see if there was any writing on the back, but it was blank.
"Yeah—which is it?" the Jinchuriki asked. "Are they closed, taking appointments, or only taking appointments from existing clients? How is anyone supposed to get their new carpet?"
"No, not that," Sasuke said. "The carpet stuff is a front. The part that's weird is, it just so happens the day after we inquire, it's suddenly closed? The timing is too convenient."
Sakura didn't know why Sasuke took that Tsuta woman so seriously. So what if the store wasn't actually open all the time? Like he said, the store was a front. It probably only stayed open when it had to.
"And," he continued, "between closing yesterday and today, the owner came back twice to leave notes. That part is weird."
"He seems to be concerned about his existing clientele—maybe he doesn't want to lose them," Sakura guessed. But then again, she wouldn't have seen those scribbled notes if she wasn't looking for them. It was unlikely that a client would see them if they stopped by too.
Sasuke had a point. It was weird.
"Well that just means this person will be back again soon, right?" The Jinchuriki grinned, forming a cross sign with his two hands. He looked around to make sure that no one was watching."I can use a clone to babysit this spot until then."
Actually, that wasn't such a bad idea.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
Sakura and Sasuke waited as a second Jinchuriki appeared, grinning just as big as the original.
"Hey Naruto, watch this place until I get back, will ya?" He sent a cheery thumbs up to his clone, or at least who Sakura believed to be the clone, although she couldn't be too sure.
The enthusiasm between the two clones was quite endearing, which Sakura was surprised to feel. Truth to be told, she could use a little optimism considering her losing streak lately.
"Sure thing, Naruto! I could really use the chance to meditate!"
"Alright, me! What a good idea!"
"You're awesome, me!"
...
Nevermind.
Sakura felt a vein in her forehead twitch, and her hand began to itch for contact with the blondes' skulls as they continued their over-the-top banter. It was a fleeting appreciation she'd felt, after all.
"Enough," Sasuke said. "I'm leaving."
"Hold on—we haven't decided on our next steps," Sakura said to Sasuke's half-turned body.
"Let's talk over lunch." The Jinchuriki nodded to his clone, who disappeared into the nearest trees, before turning his attention to them again.
"Our time is limited, so we should be strategic about how we spend it," Sakura said. "I'm not sure taking a leisurely lunch is the best way." Truth be told, she was feeling quite dejected already. There wasn't a single glimmer of hope in their current situation.
"We have the highest probability of obtaining leads from bars, which won't be open until the evening. This store was our only lead for the time being," Sasuke said. "We can eat lunch until we find something else."
They did have another lead, actually. Sakura was working on it at the gambling spot yesterday before she was... interrupted. But she became too damned intoxicated to retain any of that information, and she wasn't about to admit that. "Okay," she sighed.
"Perfect," the Jinchuruki said. "I know just the place."
"I am ordering everyone to stop instigating more conflict between the Leaf and the last standing Uchiha in Konoha. Now."
Like it didn't piss her off enough the first time, Danzo was bringing up that snakeskin, allegedly from Ryuchi cave, again. Except this time, he brought the other two geezers into it too, and they supposedly had evidence that it really was Sasuke.
"Tsunade, no need to—"
The chair she was leaning on splintered under her grip, sending a startle through the three elders sitting around the table.
Their disapproving looks only infuriated her more—Tsuande knew she never became anyone other than the First's spoiled granddaughter in their eyes, even at her ripe age of sixty-something.
The worst of the three geezers sat facing her, smug with contempt, with his free arm resting on the table. He hadn't said a word. He didn't have to. He had Homura and Koharu wrapped around his finger, doing all the heavy lifting.
Danzo really did it. His team somehow found a single strand of red hair, which based on the intel Morino obtained during his interrogation, belonged to Sasuke's companion. So that put Sasuke and his ex-teammate at the scene four weeks ago, where there was evidence of some kind of battle.
"You originally said Sasuke never killed anyone besides Konoha's enemies," said Koharu. "Now we have evidence that says otherwise. So that begs the question—can we really trust that boy?"
"We don't know what happened to Sasuke and his partner that night. I don't want to rush to conclusions," Tsunade said. What she didn't say was that she was suspicious that Danzo was able to salvage so much of the evidence, even though her own team hadn't picked up anything.
"But Tsunade," Homura said,"there is danger in giving the child the benefit of the doubt. If this is connected to all the other disappearances, we could be housing an international criminal. Other villages—even Suna—may retaliate to get justice for their shinobi. We must be cautious."
"There is nothing connecting the disappearances to Sasuke," Tsunade reassured. "Unless we obtain new evidence that can link all the crimes and point them to Sasuke beyond a shadow of a doubt, you will stop—"
"I'm so glad you brought up the concept of evidence, Tsunade," Danzo said, finally breaking his silence.
What did the geezer have up his sleep this time? He was probably going to make some type of ridiculous leap in logic again, to place blame on Sasuke. Annoying.
"We must consider many variables when we use evidence to form a conclusion," she said. "Pictures can be doctored. First-hand anecdotes are unreliable. We have advanced science that we should use, for example, Konoha has adopted DNA—"
"Wonderful," Danzo interrupted. "You keep records of DNA samples of all Leaf shinobi?"
Tsunade glared at the fact that he kept cutting her off. "Of course," she replied.
"It just so happens that Iwa shares in death with us. They've handed us some samples. Why don't we compare them to your DNA records to see if it's a match with Sasuke's?"
Koharu and Homura looked to Danzo incredulously. "Tsunade sent Team 7 on a mission to Iwa just a few days ago. Don't tell me Sasuke has already gotten into trouble—"
"Impossible," Tsunade said. "Our nations' relations are not that good. They wouldn't tell us these things. And how would you have gotten those so quickly?"
"I have friends in many places, Tsunade."
The comment disturbed her. Was Danzo working behind the scenes again?
She didn't have many contacts in Iwa, aside from the Tsuchikage, his family members, and Iwa's council. That's why she sent Team 7 with the scroll—otherwise they'd have gone another 10 years without speaking. And, of course, she had to go to him—Tsuchikage would never send Iwa-nin to their territory.
"Still," Tsunade said. "We can't trust that the DNA wasn't planted—"
"Enough, Tsunade." Homura, the usual peacekeeper, was now beginning to lose his patience. "Danzo is a respectable member of Konoha. Do not accuse him of treason. There is no harm in testing to see if the DNA is a match with Sasuke's."
"And that's the most unfortunate part of it all," Danzo began.
The way he emphasized the word indicated to Tsunade that he meant the exact opposite.
"The report is already on your desk, Hokage." Danzo said. "The DNA is a match."
Sakura found herself in front of a tucked-away nook, at a quaint hole-in-the-wall diner with a modest 'help wanted' sign in front.
"Irasshaimase!" A plump woman in her mid fifties greeted them with a welcoming smile. When she saw the Jinchuriki, her face brightened up. "You again! Back so soon?"
"I had to bring my team—"
Sasuke jutted an elbow into the Jinchuriki's ribs before he could finish that sentence.
"My friends," Naruto said. "I had to bring my friends back to try your other dishes. The bentos you gave me last night were delicious!"
"Welcome, friends," the woman said as she ushered the three of them to a table.
As Sakura was handed a worn menu, she noticed that there was nobody else there. They must've beat the lunchtime crowd.
"I think I'll try something new," the Jinchuriki said, perusing the lunch specials. "The number two, please."
The woman nodded and pulled a pen and pad from her apron to jot down some notes. She looked to Sakura and Sasuke for their orders.
"Soba noodles for me, thanks," Sasuke said, returning his menu.
"Onigiri, please," Sakura said.
"Ena, did you hear that? Throw in some salted eggs, too! These three look like they need the energy!"
"Hai," came a young voice from the back.
The Jinchuriki gave an embarrassed chuckle. It was hard for Sakura to believe that the owner of this restaurant just met him last night. The way the woman treated the Jinchuriki was like they'd known each other for years, even going so far as to treat her and Sasuke, mere strangers, with the same kindness.
"Thanks, Mrs. Yasumichi! I'll be sure to leave you an extra large tip!" he said with a thumbs up.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, son," she responded. "I like your energy. It's nice to have a change around here."
Sakura looked around. She could see what the woman meant. The place was a bit dreary looking, and they probably didn't get much business. Maybe there was no lunchtime crowd to beat.
As soon as Mrs. Yasumichi was outside of earshot, Sasuke got right down to business. "We should prepare for the possibility that we won't get the scroll back at all," he said.
Sakura knew this was coming. Knowing the way criminals operated, it was probably long gone by now, sold by some scumbag who wanted to make a quick buck. "So do we pull the plug on the mission?" she asked.
"You guys can't be serious," the Jinchuriki said. "This is our first mission as Team 7."
"Naruto, we would only embarrass Konoha if we showed up empty-handed," Sasuke said. "Statistically speaking, there's a very low chance the carpet store has it. And we can't even get in contact with the owner right now."
The Jinchuriki tightened his fists. "That's not what I mean," he said, shaking his head.
Mrs. Yasumichi came back to the table and put a plate of sliced eggs on the table, complete with toothpicks to share. The Jinchuriki smiled and nodded his thanks before turning a somber expression to Sakura and Sasuke once again.
"Sakura—baa-chan told Tsuchikage that we'd deliver a scroll full of common antidotes, right?"
"Common to Konoha," Sakura corrected. "Not common to everybody else. That's why the scroll can't be opened by just anybody."
"So how hard would it be to recreate the scroll?"
Sakura blinked.
Recreate the scroll?
And then the wheels in her head began turning.
The Jinchuriki continued. "How would Iwa know if we just gave them the same antidotes in a different scroll?"
"They… wouldn't," she said. She'd been operating under constraints that she put onto the mission, on herself, without even realizing it. Iwa didn't care about the package. They only wanted the stuff inside.
How could she not have thought of that?
"Let's stay one more night," the Jinchuriki said, encouragingly. He picked up a toothpick and started eating the complimentary tea-bag eggs. "Worst case scenario is that we're just a little late to Iwa, right?"
Sasuke already began planning. "Let's say we can. Sakura—what kinds of materials will you need? Would you be able to find them here?"
"I just need an empty scroll, for me to write in, I guess. And I can shop for some herbs to see if I can make something to go along with it," Sakura said. She might as well put that cash to good use. "It'll make for a better present that way."
She looked at her teammates, surprised, and feeling her appreciation swell at the fact that a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The Jinchuriki's idea was exactly the type of out-of-the-box thinking she needed. Not only that—it seemed they were making progress as a team, finally.
Can you really go through with it? A small voice asked from inside her head.
Sakura was reminded of the bottom line. Going to Iwa would support her ulterior motive to secure Tsuchikage's loyalty to Akatsuki. She felt a twinge of guilt that, at the end of all this, she was going to send these two to their deaths. And now they were just helping her do it.
But the Jinchuriki is just a vessel, she reminded herself. And Sasuke was just her partner's pesky little brother.
She could go through with it.
Their food arrived at the next moment, forcing Sakura out of her dark thoughts.
The three of them quickly took the rest of the remaining appetizer to make space on their table.
"By the way," Sakura addressed Mrs. Yasumichi, "we're looking to buy some medical herbs and plants. Where can I find a specialty shop?"
"Our family doctor specialized in those," she said. "He moved away a few years ago, and then a new doctor came into town. Kiya, my son, only went to the new one once. Actually it was one of the last places he visited before he—"
She stopped mid sentence.
"Sorry, I don't mean to ramble. I'll go get my phonebook," she said, hurrying away.
A photo behind the counter caught Sakura's eye. In it, Mrs. Yasumichi stood with a man and two young children. She wore a carefree smile as they posed right outside the entrance of the diner.
"Before he what?" Sasuke asked when the woman returned.
"My husband died a few years back. My daughter, Ena, and her older brother, Kiya, helped me stay afloat. But Kiya was kidnapped exactly four weeks and three days ago. September 2nd."
The Jinchuriki frowned. "And the police never found out what happened."
Sakura looked at Mrs. Yasumichi again. Suddenly, her eyes looked much more wrinkly and tired than Sakura had noticed before. The under eye bags and grey hair were absent in the family portrait.
"The police said it was unlikely for a grown man to be kidnapped. They said he probably ran away with a woman in the middle of the night. But I know my son. He wouldn't leave us."
Mrs. Yasumichi passed an address to Sakura.
"Thank you," Sakura said. "I'm sorry about your son."
"There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about what happened to him. It's a mother's worst fear—to wake up one day, thinking that your children are safe, only to find out that you'll never see your son again. Sometimes I pray that Kiya did run off with a woman, because then at least I would know that he's happy."
It was sad. The family hadn't received any help, and they probably got no closure either.
Sakura thought about her parents. It seemed shinobi weren't the only ones who suffered.
"I don't mean to spoil your lunch," the woman said, forcing back tears with a fake smile. "Please enjoy your meal."
Sakura knew there was nothing she could say or do to make the situation any better. Still, she couldn't help but think that even if Leader did succeed with reforming the shinobi world, there was an entire other world full of potential hurt.
That gave Sakura something to think about for the rest of lunch.
"Where is everyone today?" the Jinchuriki asked with his face up against the glass, again, giving her a case of deja vu.
Sasuke tried knocking on the door again, this time a little louder than the last.
Sakura stood behind her two teammates, doing her best to keep the stack of money she'd organized from her bucket hidden in her pocket. After lunch, they went to their room to count it, and found that she'd taken no less than 8500 ryo from that man in the gambling bar yesterday.
She would've been embarrassed if she wasn't about to spend it all on very high-end ingredients that would undoubtedly please the Tsuchikage, especially if she, the apprentice to Hokage, personally taught Iwa medic-nins how to get the most value out of the ingredients. She'd even bought a giant bag for it all.
"Are you sure this is the right address?" Sasuke asked her.
"I'm sure."
The Jinchuriki stepped aside to allow room for Sasuke to check the window too.
Don't, Sakura told herself. She stared ahead, purposefully keeping her gaze unfocused so that it wouldn't settle on a certain somebody.
She'd done so well all day, it almost pained her to think that she was about to betray herself.
She had to resist the urge to do it. It was just wrong, on so many levels.
Resist. The. Urge.
One look couldn't hurt.
When Sakura was sure that Sasuke wasn't looking, her eyes began to indulge in a little wandering. They first started at his feet. And then they trailed upwards, to his narrow waist, and then finally settled on his back as he inspected the inside of the office.
She looked to his left, where the Jinchuriki waited patiently. The two men were pretty much the same height and build, but for some reason looking at Sasuke's broad shoulders made her feel a little excited.
She couldn't stop herself now that she started. She'd suddenly become hyper aware that the shirt he wore was just getting in her way, hiding all the—
Sasuke punched the window. The glass shattered, sending a loud crash and a million broken pieces of glass pouring onto the ground.
What the hell was he doing?!
Sasuke stuck his arm through the now open window, fumbling around with his bent arm until Sakura heard the click of the lock. The door swung open, inviting them inside.
"Sasuke…" the Jinchuriki said quietly. "What are you doing?"
"We're breaking in," their teammate responded coolly as he stepped into the office.
Sakura gawked.
When she managed to get a hold of herself, she looked behind to see if anyone saw or heard them.
The coast was clear.
But still, she thought. How could Sasuke tout their need to stay under the radar when he was going around trespassing in doctors' offices?
"We're here to buy, not steal," Sakura whispered. "I don't have enough cash to cover the herbs and a new window! And what if we get caught?"
"We haven't triggered any traps or signals," Sasuke said. "I've already clocked the place."
The office was a clean suite, with a modest reception desk and another door on the opposite wall. Sakura looked around once again, paranoid that they'd be discovered. It would just be the worst if someone opened that door and caught them red-handed.
"Sakura, look."
She jumped. Sasuke had appeared silently behind her, pointing to a label.
Dr. Jaaku
She remembered. "That's—"
"You've said his name before," the Jinchuriki said. "He's supposed to be some type of criminal?"
It was the lead that she'd struggled to remember earlier in the day.
"I overheard someone say that Dr. Jaaku is not to be trusted. He has some kind of criminal network. But I didn't expect Mrs. Yasumichi's family to lead us to him."
"Let's see what we can find," Sasuke said as he began rummaging through the papers on the reception desk. "Go look for the herbs you need."
Sakura and the Jinchuriki started opening drawers and cabinets, but most of what they found was empty space or new patient questionnaires, records, and invoices. As a medical expert herself, Sakura could see nothing out of the ordinary.
Just when she was going to say something, one of the drawers Sasuke opened caught her attention.
"Wait."
"It's empty," Sasuke said, stopping mid-movement.
"No, it's not."
She started knocking her hand against the inside surfaces of the cabinet as Sasuke and the Jinchuriki watched.
Right there. Her knocks were hollow.
"Kakashi has one of these," she said mischievously, as she used chakra to stick her hand to the thin piece of wood covering the false bottom of the cabinet. She smiled with anticipation as she thought about what interesting item she might find underneath.
"It's just a folder," the Jinchuriki said.
Well that was anticlimactic.
Sakura pulled out the slip of paper from inside:
NUMBER DELIVERED COST STATUS
3829 - March 3rd - 20,000 - Paid
4113 - May 1st - 145,000 - Paid
1567 - June 18th - 112,000 - Paid
2246 - July 21st - 95,000 - Paid
3129 - September 3rd - 202,000 - Paid
2813 - October 21st - 155,000 - Paid
2525 - November 1st - 180,000 - Paid
2196 - November 21st - 35,000 - Paid
"It's some kind of log," she said, passing it to Sasuke.
"We should find out what the IDs correspond to. It must be significant for him to have to hide it like that. And look at the date and cost of the last item—2196 looks like it could be the scroll," he said.
Sakura thought about it. November 21st was just a few days ago, when the scroll first went missing. And she supposed she could see how some idiot would pay 35,000 ryo for it.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan. The swirl of the tomoes in his eyes told Sakura that he'd just memorized the entire thing, which meant they could leave the folder where they found it.
Sakura put everything back to their original position and threw some of the stray, less-confidential papers onto the ground, so that it would look like a regular break-in and not a professional act.
"Good idea, Sakura," the Jinchuriki followed. Likewise, he began pulling the drawers out of place, making an even bigger mess of the whole room.
"We should get going soon. Let's see what's behind that door—that's probably where the medical supplies are," Sakura said.
The Jinchuriki went ahead and tried to unlock it, but it was bolted shut. He kicked a little harder, and Sakura almost thought that the wood was going to break in half with how loudly the impact thundered.
"I'll use Rasengan," he said, holding out a hand for his signature move.
Sasuke stopped him. "It's an electrical lock. I'll just deactivate it."
Sure enough, the lock fried itself when their lightning-natured teammate applied a little jolt of electricity.
As the door opened, they were immediately surrounded by cold air. The room was lit with stale fluorescent light, with jars of unrecognizable items placed on side cabinets for display, and a long and wide metal table in the center of the room. Three small metal trays, which were adorned with assorted tools for poking and prodding, lined up on the sides of the table.
The place felt more like a torture chamber than anything else.
"You two look around. I'll keep an eye out," Sasuke said, positioning himself just outside of the examination room so that he was facing the door leading outside. "The broken glass is bound to attract some bypassers."
"The medical supplies have to be somewhere," Sakura mumured. Starting from the very edge of the wall, she started to systematically check each cabinet, shifting gauze pads, splints, and jars of sterilization alcohol.
"I wonder if there's anything to drink in that fridge."
"Focus, Naruto," she replied without looking up.
The sound of the opening fridge alerted her that she was being ignored.
"What is that?"
Sakura stopped mid-search and peaked at whatever he was looking at, expecting to see some type of refreshment.
It was somebody's spleen.
She looked at his uncertain expression, halfway between perplexed and disgusted.
"Do you really want to know?" she whispered.
He turned pale and swiftly closed the refrigerator door.
She giggled.
"Help me find where he keeps the herbs," Sakura said, hoping to distract him from the gory thoughts. She forgot how squeamish he could be.
Ninjin, tomoshiri grass, renge—where were they hidden? These were the types of high-end herbs she always complained about in Konoha, for either being too expensive or in short supply. Given all those zeros she saw in his log earlier, this Dr. Jaaku person was definitely loaded with the best of the best, if only she could find his inventory.
"We're trying to win Iwa over, you know," the Jinchuriki said between searches. "I hope you don't give them one of your death balls."
Sakura glared. Maybe she should've told him that the spleen was a special type of pickle instead. It would've been fun to watch him open the jar and gag.
"What?" he said. "I'm just being honest! They're awful."
"Hurry up in there," Sasuke called from outside.
"Naruto—if you're not going to help, just collect whatever important-looking things you can find. But make it messy—we want to make this look like a regular burglary or something."
Sakura opened up the last cabinet. Bingo.
She took out her bag and started funneling everything from the top rack into it.
"U-uh, guys," the Jinchuriki said, clutching a bundle of papers as he backed away from the countertop.
She knew that sound.
The countertop covered in explosive tags. They were about to be detonated.
"Run!"
Sakura's first thought was that she couldn't get to her teammates in time. She had nowhere to go but through the wall.
It happened in a flash.
As the blinding explosions ensued, she'd managed to create an opening, but the momentum of the tags threw her into the air and she landed on the ground with a thud.
Her ears rang. Her eyes were blinded. She coughed.
The Jinchuriki.
Was he okay?
What about Sasuke?
"Naruto! Sasuke—ouch..."
A sharp pain ripped through the side of her ribcage, and she realized that she'd landed a chunk of the building's debri.
That was going to bruise.
She brought a hand to her head to wipe away sweat at her brow.
It was blood.
Whoever it was that set the trap had gotten them good. They'd been taken by surprise.
Beside her, the bag of herbs was miraculously intact, albeit a little crushed, but she couldn't care less. The office had been completely decimated and there was going to be a lot of attention on the scene very quickly.
"Sasuke?!" She heard the Jinchuriki's voice behind a wall of thick dust and smoke. "Sakura—help!"
It seemed like the Jinchuriki was conscious, at least, but the panic in her body would not settle until she saw him with her own two eyes. She scrambled to her feet and followed the voice, coughing.
When some of the air settled, her stomach tied into knots at the sight. The Jinchuriki looked tattered and beat, which was the least she could expect, but he was still standing. Sasuke was—
"Sakura—he needs help…" the blonde said, holding their teammate upright.
It looked like Sasuke was fading in and out of consciousness. Half of his shirt had been torn off, and the exposed skin looked like it had second or third-degree burns.
How did this happen? The Jinchuriki was standing right next to the explosive tags. Sasuke was by the door, farther away, wasn't he?
Sakura hurried to his side and immediately began to channel healing chakra into Sasuke.
"He just jumped in front of me—his cursed seal… i-it...his wing shielded us..." the Jinchuriki stammered.
It was obvious he felt guilty.
"It's not your fault," Sakura said. Burns were easy to heal, and Sasuke's were already disappearing. "Can you walk?"
Sasuke nodded, still leaning on the Jinchuriki for support. "Were you able to salvage whatever you needed?"
"Yeah, but we should get out of here first," Sakura said. Concerned civilians were already beginning to swarm around them. The explosion must've caught the whole town's attention by now.
"I got these stupid papers," the Jinchuriki said, pulling out something crumpled from his jacket pockets. "Doesn't really matter now—everything's gone. They probably won't be able to figure out what's missing and what's not..."
Sakura grabbed the papers. It looked like some kind of patient record, with a name and four-digit number in the header.
Sasuke took one look and his eyes narrowed.
"Those weren't items that we saw in the log earlier. Those were people."
Images of her parents woke her up again. As she laid staring at the ceiling, her overactive, racing mind played and replayed the scenes in her head.
It was the third night in a row that Sakura couldn't sleep.
The death of a family member would never get any less painful. And that brought Sakura to think about the day's earlier discovery, which really, really bothered her. She knew it was none of her business, and she had better things to do with her time, but what the hell was this doctor doing with all those people?
She thought about Mrs. Yasumichi. She and Sasuke had to hold the Jinchuriki back from running straight to the diner afterwards. He kept on saying how the poor mother deserved to know what happened to her son, even if they didn't have any proof.
Was it better to tell her or was it better to let it be? Sakura couldn't decide.
Somehow, she and Sasuke managed to convince the Jinchuriki to wait. And now he was snoring at her feet, beside her, where he'd managed to fight his way out of his cocoon and sprawl his upper torso against her legs as he slept.
But Sakura didn't mind. It was surprisingly comforting to have someone to next to her—
Wait.
Why was the balcony door open?
Sakura jolted awake and scanned the room.
The left side of the bed next to her was empty.
Sasuke.
Somehow, without waking her, he'd managed to unbolt the door and remove her traps.
Why wasn't he sleeping? Was he having nightmares again?
Nevermind. None of her business.
But then there was that familiar nagging sensation again.
Shut up, she told the voice in her head, even though it hadn't said anything yet. She knew it would, soon, but this time Sakura wouldn't give it a chance—she quickly got out of bed, satisfied that she'd beat it to the punch and wouldn't have to suffocate from its incessant nagging.
With bare feet, she stepped outside to join her quiet and introspective teammate on the balcony, shutting the sliding door behind her.
"Sasuke? How does your skin feel?" she asked, reaching over to touch his arm where his short sleeves ended.
He flinched and grabbed her hand, which made her jump. "I'm fine."
One of the less talked about aspects of healing jutsu was the phantom sensations left on the patient's bodies for days after the wounds disappeared—the rapid healing often caused a temporary state of confusion in the brain, sending reflexes where there should be none. Evidently, Sasuke was no exception.
"It's nothing," he said, dropping her hand.
She almost snorted. Of course, Sasuke would say severe burns were nothing. He and the Jinchuriki always acted tough in front of her ever since they were kids.
So… now what? She thought to herself.
Bonding would be now or never, she decided. Easier to tackle one teammate than both at the same time.
"By the way… Sasuke, I never got the chance to thank you."
She supposed that would be a good way to get a pleasant conversation started. Though if he asked, she wouldn't be able to exactly pinpoint what she was thanking him for.
For protecting her when she hyperventilated after hallucinating her parents' maybe-real, maybe-not torture? Maybe.
For taking care of her the next night, when her throat was too parched for her to speak and she was too afraid of her own thoughts to sleep? That was possible, too.
Or how about earlier, for literally putting himself between a few dozen explosive tags and the Jinchuriki, who would've otherwise died and sent all her dreams to shit?
Well, fuck. Sasuke could take his pick.
"You don't have to thank me," he said, breaking her from her thoughts. He continued to stare ahead into the darkness. "It's the least I can do," he added quietly, at almost a whisper.
Even though they shared the same six-foot space on the small balcony, Sakura felt like he was miles away. This was nothing like the Sasuke that had been mercilessly teasing her the past few days. This was the dark, brooding Sasuke that she grew up with.
"What... are you thinking about?" she asked, carefully. She never would've dared to ask that question before, but she was feeling brave right now.
Sasuke turned his head and looked at her pensively.
Shit. Was that a bad thing to ask? Was it too personal?
She braced herself to be shut down, as even a normal, decent conversation between her and Sasuke was already venturing into uncharted territory. In fact, this was probably the first time they talked one-on-one, at length, when Sakura didn't feel like she was being absolutely forced to. The fact that she was voluntarily doing it didn't change the fact that she was pushing her comfort zone.
"Someone's been watching us ever since that night," he said.
She relaxed. At least her question hadn't ruined the moment.
Actually, she felt that someone was watching them too—for the past few days, even. She just thought it was maybe Itachi or a fellow member of Akatsuki waiting for the right moment to reveal himself, so she never said anything about it.
"It started on the night of the ambush. And then in the city, in the alley. At first, I thought it was that group of guys trying to get their money back. But it's not the same. You should have felt it too."
Crap.
That was the exact thought she didn't want Sasuke to think. He'd just get suspicious if she denied it, being the sensory-type on their team, but then he'd be even more suspicious about why she didn't say anything if she did admit to feeling the presence.
"And what's weird about it is, then, the carpet store happened to be closed, and then the doctor's office too, like the person following us is actually somehow ahead of us."
"What's strange to me is the explosive tags," Sakura deflected. "Even if Dr. Jaaku wanted to protect what was inside those papers, why would any regular doctor have them? Where would he get those?"
Sasuke responded after a while. "I don't know."
They fell into silence after that, and Sakura felt a bit relieved that the topic of the conversation seemed to die off on its own. She'd much rather stay focused on the more immediate task of getting a scroll to Iwa so she could start her investigations on behalf of Akatsuki.
But, this was nice for the time being. They both leaned on the wooden railing and stared at the stars, and Sakura kept stealing glances beside her, at her teammate who was still deep in thought.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Sasuke asked, his eyes ahead. "You'll be tired."
"I could say the same to you."
"I'm used to it."
The only reason why she wasn't sleeping was because she couldn't, literally. Did the poison have an effect on either of her teammates, or was it just her?
"The poison. It should've affected us all in the same way," Sakura said. "But it didn't seem to work on you. How come?"
It was only fair for her to know what her teammates saw. She probably made a fool of herself that night—having that complete meltdown and screaming unintelligibly while enemy shinobi had them surrounded.
"It wasn't anything I haven't already seen before," Sasuke said.
Sakura paused. What was that supposed to mean? "What did you see?"
He shifted a little bit, and for a minute, she didn't think he was going to say anything.
"My parents."
She cursed at her own stupidity.
"I'm sorry." A lame response, but she didn't know what else to say.
When they were little, Sakura was too consumed with her childish infatuation to think or care about who Sasuke actually was, as a person, or what he went through and how it affected his personality. In fact, anything other than getting married and having kids was a bore—even the Uchiha clan massacre. It wasn't until it actually affected her when she developed an opinion about it, but that was only because she spent her teenage years in denial, sulking, praying, pleading for Sasuke to return to Konoha. She would've given up anything to make it happen.
She was different now. And Sakura felt he had every right to do what he did—leaving Konoha—because that's what she was in the process of doing right now.
"It wasn't worth it," Sasuke said.
What?
What was he talking about?
She must've had a very confused expression on his face because Sasuke glanced at her self-consciously and clarified himself.
"Leaving Konoha, I mean. It wasn't worth it."
Now that she did not expect.
But for fear of accidentally saying something she shouldn't and revealing her own plans, Sakura could only ask questions. And she suddenly had many. Like why did he come back before he completed what he sought out to do? Didn't he care about honoring his clan? His parents?
"What made you decide to come back?" she asked.
"I almost didn't."
"But why did you?"
"I still… want the same things," Sasuke replied. "I just want other things too."
Sasuke looked like he was putting his thoughts together, so Sakura waited patiently for him to continue before jumping the gun and saying something she'd regret. But for her own purposes, she felt like his return was premature.
"There will always be suffering. It's the nature of the world that we live in," he continued. "But maybe there's a way to be less miserable. And that's what I came back to Konoha to find."
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Sasuke was missing the bigger picture.
There wouldn't always be suffering. It didn't have to be that way. Once Akatsuki obtained all the tailed beasts, they could start from scratch and build a just system where something like the Uchiha clan massacre or Sakura's parents' deaths would never happen again.
Take Itachi, for example. He was given a very difficult task when he was forced to slaughter his clan, but he eventually recognized that the shinobi system was broken and that's why he found solace in Akatsuki.
"Nevermind," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. You wouldn't understand."
She understood so much that it hurt. And right now, Sasuke was probably the only person in Konoha who could possibly understand her too.
Looking at him was like looking at herself if she'd gone off and never found the support system and enlightenment in Akatsuki that she was very lucky to have now.
Sasuke shouldn't have gone back to Konoha. That part was obvious. What did he think he was going to find? The village only housed small-picture thinking and put too much emphasis on forming frivolous bonds with all that will-of-fire bullshit.
"Sasuke, I understand—"
"Don't. Just—don't," he sighed. "You don't have to. It's okay—I grew up differently from you."
But she was different now, and maybe she could help him. Maybe she could make him see what Leader was trying to accomplish, and then maybe he wouldn't be stuck in this rut where he thought that the small band-aids Konoha offered were solutions to his problems.
"We're not that different, Sasuke."
He tensed.
That remark seemed to piss him off. She could see him clenching his teeth. But Sakura wouldn't let it deter her, because truly, they weren't that different now. Not anymore.
"Everybody complained about having to go home after school. They complained about having to eat home-cooked meals," he began. "I dreaded going home. All that was waiting at home was for me to scrub my parents' blood off the floor. That was how I spent my dinner times and weekends and birthdays and holidays. And even when the blood stains were gone, I kept on scrubbing because I could still smell them. So tell me, Sakura, how similar is that to your childhood?"
His voice was accusing now, with the anger reflecting in his eyes as he stared her down.
She felt like she'd been slapped in the face. Did he really think she was that shallow still? With none of her own painful stories to share? She'd suffered too. She knew pain. "No. You're wrong. I've had my own experiences—"
"Look, Sakura. I know your parents got sick. I'm sorry. But you can't just—let's just drop it. Just forget it," he muttered as he brushed by her shoulder.
"They didn't get sick Sasuke, they were murdered."
He stopped in front of the door.
Now it was Sakura's turn to be angry. How could he say these things when he got it so wrong? Her parents died because someone in Konoha preferred money over their well-being, and they were killed because of it. What did Sasuke mean by the fact that they got sick?
"Sakura, that was the poison," Sasuke replied, shakily. He was trying to restrain himself from losing his temper, and the effort was visible. "I know how your parents really died. Tsunade told me. I'm sorry you had to see that. But it wasn't real."
Now she was furious too. These were lies. Lies that Konoha told in order to cover its tracks.
"Don't patronize me, Sasuke. Why's it so hard for you to admit that someone else could understand your pain?"
"It's not. Naruto understood me. Acknowledged my pain. Everybody else treated it like a disease, and he was willing to tackle it by my side, head-on. No one else ever came close."
Sakura scoffed. Was Sasuke being serious? The Jinchuriki was just a vessel.
"Fuck. Why does it always come down to this?" Sasuke asked. "Almost every time we talk, it ends in fighting."
"Leave, then."
"You serious, Sakura?" he asked, exasperated.
She turned around to look at the sky again. Behind her, the sliding door opened, Sasuke stepped inside, and then he was gone.
A small part of her knew he wasn't wrong. As a kid, she always complained that her parents never let her have any fun. She didn't like being told to eat her vegetables. She didn't like that she had a curfew.
All those years, Sakura carried on with the life that she took for granted, while Sasuke, her teammate, went home to a cold, dark, and empty house every night, and she didn't think twice about it back then.
But was it her fault? Team 7 never talked about these things. How could she have known? The three of them were completely dysfunctional and their communication suffered, even back then.
Guilt. That was the sensation creeping up in her body at that moment. Because, yes, it was her fault. It wasn't like Sasuke ever verbalized this to the Jinchuriki. He didn't have to. Somehow, the Jinchuriki just knew. And maybe that was just the strength of the friendship between those two. But could something as insignificant as friendship have such an impact on someone's life?
Sasuke's words stung because they were true and there was not one thing she could say to change that.
She just had to let him go. It wasn't like she could chase after him right now. She had no right to try to tell him that she understood, and she couldn't, without giving away her position in Akatsuki.
She tried to shove the feelings aside. None of it would matter when she succeeded, right? Nothing would exist anymore, and Leader would pave the way to a new world.
But unlike all the previous times she shoved away her distracting thoughts, this time they were hitting the most deeply personal topics, and it was difficult to not let it get to her.
Just then, a flutter of movement in her peripheral vision caught her eye.
Sakura was alarmed at first, but then she realized that it was just a bird.
Seeing that she wasn't a threat, it flew closer, until it perched itself on the far end of her balcony and looked at her with a cocked head.
It was a black crow.
Sakura sighed. "You remind me of someone."
It only stared back.
Great.
Not only was she now regularly battling a random voice in her head, but this time she was talking to an animal who definitely did not understand a word she said. She was officially getting crazier by the day.
"Sorry, I don't have a snack for you."
Suddenly, a gust of cold, violent wind tore through the air, sending her hair flying. Her hands jerked to the bottom of her night slip to keep herself covered.
When she looked up again, she saw that figure had materialized next to her.
Her heart stopped.
"Sakura…" he said. "I've found you."
Itachi.
To be continued...