AN: Hi, Cinnabunnbunn here.

So here is a new chapter. I know it has been a little later than my normal update rates, but I'm juggling four stories at a time, vut me some slack.

Anyway, Onto the chap-

Dark clouds and blood and ash and destruction was the only thing Sakura could see in her view. Her head was ringing from the onslaught of loud sounds and the absolute bloodbath the desert was covered in.

"Captain! The guards!" Someone called for her and her body moved on autopilot, her mind having shut off a long while ago. It was a soldier, covering the shelter that just got his arm blown off.

"Get me the wraps." Her mouth moved on its own even when her brain didn't. Her medical kit was placed in front of her, the soldier laying down on the rough ground breathing raggedly, on the verge of passing out from the shock. "Someone get the rescue troop, cover for the survivors. We need to start moving to the north."

She swiftly wrapped the lost limb of the knight, tightly to prevent it from opening up and with a copious amount of ointment and numbing balm. Her assistant snipped the bandage off, looking worriedly over at the pinkette, "But captain, who will stay here?"

Sakura didn't need to think about the answer, "I will."

"But captain! They need you back at the kingdom. Some of us can stay here, you are the only one that can lead the survivors safely back to the north camp, we-"

"I will stay here." The authority in her voice rang with finality, her hands falling away from her finished treatment. Her blank eyes fell on her assistant, "You will lead them back to the camps, and that's final. I will stay here with the army."

"But captain-"

"Pack up. You're leaving." With the last command, Sakura was out of the shelter and out on the field. She still couldn't hear anything from her left ear, and her legs hurt from their overexertion. She wanted to fall down on the sand, curl up in a ball and never wake up.

"Captain! Over here!"

But she couldn't, she wouldn't. They need her here.

The sun was nowhere near up when the sound of stone grinding could be heard from a chamber in the Uchiha compound. Ayame cautiously slid the door open to an unusual sight; a figure clad in thin robes, hunched over the chabudai with an assortment of herbs and other medicinal things that she has never seen in her life, grinding and mixing and experimenting.

"Doctor Haruno?" she whispered her name, her quiet voice sounding exceedingly loud in the dead of the stillness of the surrounding. Sakura looked at her, pink messy bun letting down a few tendrils from the jerky movement, "Ah, Ayame. Did you need something?"

Ayame shook her head, inviting herself inside and sliding the door close behind her. "No, just came here to check on you. What are you doing so early up?"

Sakura paused to spoon up some of the green, powdery mixture and dump it into another small, ceramic dish. "I was preparing the medicine for prince Obito. I had an idea on the kind of concoction that might work for his condition, so I was working on that." She took out a glass jar from the large trunk opened next to her, full of similar jars and pouches, taking out a few chunks of what looked like dried ginger. She looked at the maid still standing a few steps away and waved at the empty spot at the side of the table, "Have a seat."

Ayame watched in fascination at the alchemy in front of her. She has sometimes walked by the court herbalist office and seen the imperial physician at his work, but has never seen the work so close up. The doctor was so sure in her movements, precise in calculations and accurate in measurements, it was like watching a magician perform magic.

She looked around the table, at the heaps of parchments bound together, scrolls and notebooks opened to notes and observations, various tools and strange instruments, parts of plants she would have never thought of using, from flowers to roots to bark.

"Doctor Haruno, have you worked on this disease before?"

Sakura paused in measuring the sap of a tree for the favor of answering the question, "I think I have." She thought back to the time again, but couldn't remember for the life of her where she has treated it before, "I think I was traveling somewhere along the towns down south of Suna. It wasn't a widespread disease, only a couple patients, but the symptoms were similar. I worked with the local apothecary and physician there, so I think this might work."

"Suna?" Ayame exclaimed in surprise, "You've travelled outside Konoha? Even our imperial physician hasn't."

Sakura gave a low chuckle, thinking back to when the king questioned her caliber other the physician of Kuroshima. She was right in her assumptions of his knowledge being purely theoretical. "I've travelled to most places outside Konoha; Suna, Kumo, Iwa. I've went to only a few places in Kiri, but that's up on my list." She paused, thinking back to one village she has been nowhere near of, "I only one I haven't still travelled to, is Oto."

"Wow" Ayame breathed out in awe, eyes wide in amazement, "That's so amazing. You're so brave to be always travelling all alone." She sighed, cupping her cheeks and looking at the pinkette like she found a new idol, "I always wanted to travel, but I have never even went outside Kuroshima. Say, how is your kingdom? Hiraisumi is the central, and it's near the sea. I've always wanted to go to the see, how does it look like, your kingdom I mean."

Sakura smiled at the ramblings of the young woman, the excitement and wonder in her voice was so apparent, it was honestly adorable.

"Hiraisumi… is a wonder on its own." Sakura spoke low, her throat full of memories, some good, some bad, but all of home. "Even the winters feel like autumn, its so colorful, always warm and sunny. You'll see so much sea food and tropical fruits. We also celebrate the beginning of spring with a big festival, which I unfortunately missed this year."

One look at Ayame's face told her to keep going, so eager to hear of the stories from the further lands. Sakura took a gulp of water before recalling the stories of her homeland; all the foods, different clothing, the crystals and sea glass that would wash ashore. She told her about the flower festival marking the beginning of spring and the end of winter, always accompanied by delicious and exotic food, dances around the fire and festivities. Ayame took it all in like a sponge, with starry eyes and mouth open in awe.

"I want to visit your home so bad." The whine in her tone made Sakura chuckle as she finished up the last of the tablets, rolling the herbal paste into little balls for easy intake. Sakura glanced at the maid who was now slumped a little on the table, so at ease with practically a stranger. "You should visit Hiraisumi. It's a beautiful place."

Ayame sighed again, before taking a good look at the pinkette's face. Since she has come into the room to check on the doctor, she has been talking to her but hasn't actually looked at her properly. And now when she saw it, the lady looked exhausted.

Not the kind of exhausted that was gained from being woken up in the middle of the night, or from tedious physical labor. She looked like she was exhausted from within. Her skin wasn't pale or face gaunt, but there were bags under her eyes and her eyes were what looked strained the most. They looked like they haven't rested beyond a blink.

"Doctor Haruno." Ayame called for her attention, "How long have you been up?"

"A while."

"Okay, since when have you been up?" Ayame raised an eyebrow at the slightly sheepish look on the pinkette's face, "Since the night?" Ayame gasped loudly, before standing up and putting her hands on her hips, "You are a doctor, lady Haruno. You are supposed to know what nights without rest does to one's body. I know you had to make the medicines, but you should not have neglected your rest in favor for that."

Sakura looked in amusement at the rant the young maid was on. She would normally be annoyed or irritated if someone she barely knew started lecturing her about herself, but the way Ayame was going off, sounded more like a little sister acting bigger. If was more amusing than annoying.

"Ayame." She interrupted the brunette, stopping her mid-rant, "Can you please get me some tea?"

"Sure." Ayame smiled before hurrying out of the room leaving Sakura in her own silence. She sighed, putting away her things and straightening out her notes, attempting to make the table look a bit more organized. She made sure to put the packet of pills and bottle of syrup into her satchel to give to the little prince later.

'Is it morning already?' By the dim streams of light from the bamboo shutters, it would appear so. She slid the door to the engawa open, looking out at the slowly brightening sky over the compound. Once again, only a handful of people were up, servants, by the look of it.

She should probably change out of her night robes into something more appropriate and get some workout done. She was sure her combat skills have gotten rusty over the time she has been travelling the island. Padding of footsteps outside her room were heard and a moment later Ayame was poking her head in through the door.

"Doctor Haruno, I have your tea." Sakura smiled at the maid, taking the cup of warm tea and going back to her table, leaving the door to engawa open to let in the cool morning breeze. She picked up one of the many brewing clothes with an assortment of herbs and spices in it, dropping it in the cup and letting it steep in the hot beverage.

"Ayame, how long have you been working here?" Sakura asked the brunette, taking a sip of the now spiced tea. Ayame thought for a second, recalling back to her younger days, "I think I was five when I first came here. My mother left out home in the middle of the night and left me with my uncle, so I came to the imperial palace looking for work." Ayame sighed as if she was recalling a fond memory instead of a painful one, "The queen was kind, she took pity on me and gave me lodging in the palace. So I've been working here since then."

Sakura paused when she saw the bright smile on Ayame's face, no trace of anger or sadness to be seen anywhere, as if her past was just a funny story to tell over a cup of sake.

Suddenly Ayame gasped a little, "Oh look at the time! I should prepare the breakfast, oh I'm so late." And with a hurried bow, she was out of the door, running down the hallway to, where she would presume, the kitchen.

"Oh well." Sakura sighed, feeling a bit more awake after the cup of tea, and decided to get dressed.

She had a lot to do today.

After having a cold bath, smelling of pine and rainwater, and dressed in a short, red yukata like shirt and black pants, she would consider herself appropriately dressed to wander outside.

Brushing through her damp hair, she belatedly thought that perhaps she should have asked for a guide if she was going to be roaming around in a foreign kingdom. But that thought was interrupted when Ayame came to deliver her breakfast.

The breakfast was delicious, a bowl full of rice, miso soup and tender chicken glazed with soy. She wasn't always a fan of raw vegetable sides salad, but this one was amazing too. Having filled her stomach and arranged her satchel, she threw her favorite charcoal haori over her shoulders and picked up her cloak, closing the door to her engawa and padded down the hallway to the main compound.

Prince Tobi looked a bit better, as in his skin didn't look as sickly pale and sunken, the color having returned to his cheeks after a good nights sleep. He made a face when she popped the pill in his mouth and had to force a spoonful of syrup down his throat. He was really fussy about the bitter taste of the medicine until she relented and handed him a candy.

With a promise, that sounded more like threat, of returning by the night to give him a second dose of the medicine, she was out of the building and into the gardens.

But what surprised her was the presence of someone she did not except to be there.

"Prince Izuna, good morning." Sakura greeted the older prince, who was currently lounging on one of the stone benches in the gardens. He smiled at her, standing up from his position to greet her properly, "Doctor Haruno. What a fine morning to meet you." He patted the seat next to him, inviting her to cross the distance and sit by him, "Please do join me."

Sakura really hesitated in doing so, however rude it was to deny the prince, she had work to do. Giving him an apologetic bow, she took just a step closer "Forgive me, prince Izuna, but I have some work to get to."

Something akin to interest gleamed in Izuna's eyes as he sat up straighter and his ear perked up, "Is it about the illness? Are you going out of the compound?" At her nod, he stood up fully and grinned, "I assume you don't have a guide. Allow me to help you."

Sakura was surprised, to say the least, at his open willingness to help. "I appreciate it, my prince, but you really don't need to worry."

"Oh nonsense. It's no trouble, really." He held up a finger before backtracking his way to his room, "Wait a minute please." And not a minute later, he was back with his own cloak.

He led her to the stables, telling her about various breeds of horses they have, the species of plants they have in their gardens, and the varieties of animals that forage their lands. "The hawks and ravens trained by our clans are world renowned, excellent abilities and absolutely obedient." Izuna informed Sakura, turning a corner on the cobblestone walkway to the corner of the compound.

Sakura nodded at him, "Yes, I have heard of the famous Uchiha avian messengers. They are very impressive."

They could see the large stable, located on the side of the large, grassy ground, perfect for horse training and riding. A young boy came running at the sight of the pair, hurriedly taking out two horses, seemingly knowing which ones they would prefer. "Kouro." She affectionately patted her animal companion, chuckling low as it nuzzled her palm.

"Shall we get going, doctor Haruno?" Izuna was already on his horse, saddled up and reins pulled. Sakura copied his actions, mounting on Kouro's back and giving his sides a light pat to get him going.

The path to the lake was an easy one, but also a long one. The road was minimally rocky and more grassy, easy to stroll her horse through, but there were also many turns and took a while to get to. It also made her wonder how the little boy could get to and fro the place, often multiple days in a row, without anyone's notice. Especially without the guards noticing.

"Doctor Haruno, how come you were so curious about this lake in particular?" Izuna's question was laden with curiosity, slowing his horse down to a slow trot as the end of the dense foliage came into the view.

Sakura thought about it, looking around at the thick trees passing by them. "I heard from someone that there is a lake that is a primary source of water for most townsfolks. Thought it would be interesting to see it." But something about the dense forest surrounding the lake was creeping her out. It was early, so the wind in the mountainous regions was still slightly cool, but the dense canopy looming over the whole area and the minimal sunlight passing through, make the atmosphere feel degrees chillier.

The forest was beautiful, no doubt, but it was also a little unsettling. Someone could very well assume that it was before sunrise from the amount of light, even though it was well into morning.

She could see the end of the trees coming and the rays of light reflecting from somewhere beyond. "This is the lake Karasu." Izuna informed her, jumping off his horse and beginning the rest of the way by foot. Sakura followed his actions, rewarding Kouro with an apple and walking behind Izuna to where she saw the gleaming light.

"So this is lake Karasu." Sakura breathed out, gazing at the surface of water glittering from the ray of early sun. The lake was large, larger than any lake from the capital, and the water was clear like crystal. The grass and shrubs grew large surrounding the lake from the abundance of water and sunlight, new leaves peeking out in the spring.

"It's beautiful."

Izuna smiled at her, standing slightly straighter in pride at the amazement of his land. "This lake freezes over in the winter when snow covers all the land. It's even prettier at that time."

"I don't doubt it." Sakura muttered, stepping forward over the tall grass to kneel down at the bank. She took off her gloves, flicking her finger at the surface of the lake, sending slow ripples into the previously unbroken surface. The water didn't look dirty, as had been a cause of concern for most strange diseases.

"Did you want to sight-see?" Izuna stepped to a few steps behind her, observing her kneeling at the lakeside, swishing around the water with her fingers. "Do you want to perhaps take a swim?"

"No, that's not the reason." Sakura replied, still looking at the clear water and taking out a vial from her satchel. He dipped it into the lake, letting it get filled with the water sample and then sealed it to put it in her bag. "I want to conduct some tests. I heard there are some berries here too."

"Ah, yes, there are." Izuna nodded toward the distinct shrubs lining the clearing of the lake. "Surprisingly, they aren't native of Kuroshima. We actually don't know where they came from." He paused before glancing at the pinkette, "You don't think that they would be causing the disease, do you?"

"Only one way to see." Sakura murmured as she approached the woods, looking through the small shrubs and vines for the small pink dots. They were distinct enough with their bright colors among the green leaves, like small plums sprinkled in a plum pudding.

"There it is." She heard Izuna exclaim out, and followed his pointed finger to look at the cluster of bushes with the pink dots. "These ffffa0re the berries?" She asked in slight confusion, rubbing the pad of her fingers on the skin of the fruits, feeling the slick texture and shiny skin.

"Is this the reason?" Izuna asked with slight concern lacing this voice, a little worried that this might be the reason for the ailment spreading through his kingdom. But he didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when the pinkette shook her head.

"No, it isn't." Sakura flicked the berry away, straightening up and putting her gloves back on. "This is Rosa bellberry. It's native to the southern islands, and a very popular fruit over there. So it's totally harmless."

Izuna raised an eyebrow at that, "If it's native to the southern islands, then what is it doing here?"

"Perhaps a bird was eating it, and dropped the seeds here. Then the same thing happened with other birds. And this plant spreads quite a lot, so that's why there's so many of these."

"So it's a different reason." Izuna sighed, looking around at the vast expanse of the lake and the pair was silent for a while, basking in the stillness of the forest and the sunlight washing over them.

"That will be all. We can get going." Sakura turned toward the trees their horses were tied to. She heard the prince following her away from the lake and into the woods as she untied the reins of Kouro. Her horse neighed in satisfaction when she retrieved an apple from her satchel held it up to his mouth.

"Shall we return to the compound then?" Izuna was already on his ride when Sakura saddled hers. She thought about it for a second, about to agree to the plan when she remembered something. "I actually want to make a detour through the kingdom. Look around a bit, you know."

Izuna raised his eyebrows, quick in making an offer, "Oh, let me guide you then. I can perhaps show you some of the biggest specialties of Kuroshima."

Sakura politely shook her head. Though the eldest prince was unendingly kind in his hospitality, he was also hovering. "I truly appreciate your offer, my prince. But I would like to… mingle with the people of the kingdom. Try to find out if they know anything about the origins or causes of this disease."

Izuna looked like he was ready to protest again, but then sealed his lips shut. "Will you be okay navigating on your own? I can go with you, it's really no trouble."

"I will be okay, Prince Izuna. I have travelled a lot, so I'm used to navigating unknown territories. I will be perfectly fine."

Her answer seemed to somehow intrigue Izuna. An interested gleam flashed through his eyes as he cocked his head in thought, "How far have you travelled? And how long?"

"I've travelled throughout Land of Fire, and overseas into the Land of Earth and water, and I just came back from Mist before coming here. As for how long, is a bit harder to say." Sakura thought back to her first expedition, the memory coming up very blurry. It was quite young, that much she knew, a little too young to be going off on her own to a completely different location.

She does remember being too short for a grown horse, and that's when she was handed Kouro, who was still a developing baby horse at that time. "I was probably eleven when I first travelled outside Hiraisumi."

"That young?" Izuna's eyes widened at the information, almost getting a whiplash from how fast his head whipped to look at her. When she just shrugged, he released a low chuckle, "I was still exploring my own kingdom at that age, and you were already outside yours. That's really impressive."

"How far have you travelled, prince Izuna? if you don't mind me asking."

Izuna looked like he was thinking really hard, digging deep in his mind for answers that told her that he might have travelled very far and wide. "I have been to a handful of places outside Kuroshima. Mostly when we were invited for banquets or some other things. But I do remember going to the land of Mist during my knighthood."

"You were a knight?" Sakura quipped in slight surprise. "I didn't know that."

"I was a knight for a short while, very short while. I was mostly on patrol duty, but I left it before long. It just… wasn't for me." The smile Izuna flashed towards her was a little melancholy if anything, a little disarming in how openly he portrayed his emotions on his face, hiding nothing behind any kind of façade.

"Doctor Sakura?"

Sakura shook out of her stare, fixing her eyes on the road. "I can definitely understand that. Knighthood and military isn't for just anyone, not many people sanely survive it."

The rest of the way was silent for the most part, and then they parted ways at the divider; one path going to the compound and the other to the kingdom marketplace. Sakura went towards the second road, noticing her surrounding change little by little, the lush trees becoming fewer and the rocky terrain being replaced by the smoother dirt road.

The market was bustling to say the least. Shops of fresh produce and meat lined the road, alleyways and lanes leading to an even bigger network of road weaving the market district. She didn't see much fish, but the animal meats were plentiful in the stalls. Fresh harvests consisted of some unusual vegetables and roots eaten in Kuroshima, that might not be familiar to the rest of Konoha.

She turned a corner of the road, seeing less of the food stalls and more of the clothes and other variety stores. The thicker linen and wool clothing hung in the shops, ornaments with bells and fur were also a common theme. But she wasn't looking for all that.

"Excuse me." Sakura called one of the passerby, a plump, old lady with a small handbag and shawl. "Where is the town apothecary?" The lady thought for a second before pointing the way and giving the directions. Sakura thanked her before going that way, tugging Kouro behind her.

The medical store wasn't hard to find, with the directions in mind. A board hung outside the glass window to let the people know of the store and the tell-tale sign of grinding stone could be heard even from outside.

Sakura slid the door open, finding the store empty but the curious grinding sound paused when she rapped her knuckles on the wooden counter in front of the large glass case, full of what looked like bottles of potions and tonics. "Hello! Anyone here?"

She heard footsteps from somewhere behind the other door. An old man stepped out, his robes hanging on his frail form. "Who is it?" The voice was very aged, even more than his appearance. He took his place behind the counter, adjusting the glasses on his noses and looking at her through narrowed eyes.

Sakura cleared her throat, pulling out her identification medallion "I'm the guest doctor from the imperial family. I just want to ask a few questions regarding this new disease." At the nod from the herbalist, she pulled out her notepad from her satchel and her brush. "How long has this been going on?"

It took a lot of time and Sakura's patience to get the answers out of the herbalist. He was old, with not a great memory and cracking voice, but eventually she managed to get the information.

The first signs of the disease were seen around a month ago, the same symptoms all around; fever, body ache, nausea. But surprisingly, a lot of the patients seemed to have recovered, without any special medicine. With all the same tonics and pills for fever and aches.

She thanked him for his help and was out of the shop and into the street again. There were still two more apothecaries she wanted to visit and the sun was already up high. Sighing at the heat that will soon follow up, she took hold of Kouro's reins and turned back the way she came.

Sakura sighed in exhaustion, tipping her head back and dunking inside the cold water and resurfacing again, hair wet and heavy.

Scrounging around for information on the disease has taken much longer than she thought it would, and much longer than she would've liked. She has visited both the other apothecaries and by the time she came back, the sun was already past its prime and it was past lunchtime.

Ayame was sweet for going through the trouble of heating up her food and bringing it mere minutes after she came to her room, and then went away to draw her bath while she ate.

Sakura decided to put mint and sandalwood in her bathwater, the scent helping greatly with her tiredness. She looked at the ceiling of her bath, spreading her arms on the rim of her tub and sighed again.

The information she got from the town wasn't much, but she did get to know that there was a cure. From the total of three apothecaries in the heart of the kingdom, she got to know that the disease is curable, but the cure is discovered yet. There were so many patients that have gotten better, so many that have died outright.

It was either one extreme or the other.

Sakura breathed deeply, getting out of her bath and wrapping her robe around her body and picking up a towel from the nearby rack. For now, she should focus on making the medicine and finding the roots of this problem.

"I should visit the herbalist." She mused to herself, throwing on a loosing yukata shirt and pants and picked up her cloak. She gave the cloak an annoyed glance before hesitantly putting it on again. While she loved her cloak and the sense of familiar protection it gave her, the weight was getting a little too much when the weather warmed when the sun was high up in the sky. But she would rather walk around with her cloak than have to deal with the stares she knew she would get if the residents of the compounds saw her in her unusual clothes.

The compound was very lively at this time of the day. Maids and manservants ran around with their chores, around the garden, the yard, the kitchen. She walked past the intersection hallway and into the imperial residential building. She turned the corner and up the stairs, and found someone walking toward her from the across the upper hallway.

It was one of the younger Uchiha prince, the one that made his dislike for her immediately apparent. She had half a mind to pretend that she didn't see him, but he knows that she has seen him and just walking past him would be really rude.

"Prince Sasuke." She greeted with an inclination of her head, but wasn't really surprised to see a scowl flash across his face. Sakura still kept her composure straight and face blank even as he glared at her.

"Foreigner." He spat out, and Sakura almost corrected him that no, she was not a foreigner, she was still a Konoha native. But she didn't, instead pretended like he just didn't spit venom at her, "How are you feeling, prince Sasuke?"

"Mind your own business." Sasuke bit out, the hostility in his tone telling her all she needed to know. "Do whatever the hell it is that you're here to do and then crawl out of my kingdom." He gave her a last glare, stalking past her to the stairs but not before biting out one last time, "Annoying."

To say that Sakura was surprised would be right. She had expected him to be a little apprehensive of his presence, but the outright hostility really threw her off.

What did she even do wrong, to deserve such malice? This was the first time she was even meeting him.

Sakura sighed, slumping her shoulders. Men, she would never understand.

"Whatever." She mutters to herself, turning around and continuing on her way to the little prince's room. If his highness wants to do nothing with her, then she wouldn't bother wasting her courtesy on him.

Sakura knocked on the door before sliding in open to the sight of a surprisingly cluttered room. And it the center of the room, on the bed, sat a little bundle, wrapped in thin blanket and papers and ink laying all around him.

Tobi looked up from his attempt at drawing a rose, and his eyes brightened when he saw the identity of his visitor. "Sakura-chan!" he untangled himself from the blankets, attempting to stand up, before he was pushed down by his shoulders.

"Sit down, prince Tobi." Sakura chuckled softly, swiping away some of the papers away, her eyes catching the messily drawn pictures on it, clearly made by an immature hand. It was almost unrecognizable what it was, but she somehow deduced that it was supposed to be a lily.

She looked at the other couple dozens more of papers, filled with similar picture. She recognized two of them; one was a lotus and the other was a daisy.

"Prince Tobi." She called the prince, collecting the strewn out parchments up and stacking them in a pile. She looked at the little boy staring up at her with wide eyes and smiled, "Do you like painting?"

Tobi grinned at her, nodding his head vigorously, "Yes! I really like painting, and Sai got me these brushes. See!" He held up four brushes of varying sizes and hair frayed out pathetically.

'Sai?' Sakura thought back to the unnervingly unwelcoming prince from the first lunch. So he could do some nice things too. "What do you like painting?"

Tobi grinned again, "I like painting animals, birds, food." Then he blushed, cheeks reddening adorably "I was trying to draw some flowers for you."

Sakura blinked in surprise at the sweet statement, "For me? Really?"

Tobi nodded again, a childish laugh rising from his throat, "I saw you had so many flowers in your bag, and you hair is the color of a flower. Your name is the name of a flower too!"

"Aww, thank you so much prince Tobi." Sakura smiled warmly at the boy, ruffling his hair. Sakura never had any siblings, blood bound or otherwise, but little Tobi was quickly starting to feel like a little brother. It was strangely comforting.

She set down the papers and lifted her palm to Tobi's forehead, pressing against it for a few seconds. "It's doesn't seem like you have a fever. Are you still feeling tired Tobi?"

Tobi shook his head, hands playing with the light blanket. "A little. But I'm feeling a lot better than I did."

"Good." Sakura reached in the pocket of her haori and fished out a crumpled up paper, unwrapping it to reveal two pills, one green and the other brown. "Open wide." When she saw him pursing his lips and shaking his head, she quickly cupped his face and pinched his nose, making him open his mouth to inhale and Sakura snagged the moment to pop both the pills at the same time.

"Sakura-chan! That's so mean! They taste so bad." Tobi whined in her ear, making a disgusted face and falling back on his bed. Sakura smirked at him, pinching his cheeks when he pouted, "Well, it's necessary if you want to get better. Now go to sleep."

"No!" Just when Sakura was getting up to take her leave, small hands reached out to grab at her sleeve. She turned to see Tobi looking up at her with big, glassy eyes, and the absolute disheartened expression on his face tugged at her heartstrings.

"Sakura-chan don't go. Noone stays with me here. Please stay." Tobi looked like he was on the verge of crying, his eyes brimming up with tears.

"Oh Tobi-chan." Sakura sighed, sitting back down, "I can't stay here, I have work to do. And you have so many brothers, you can play with them."

Tobi huffed, pouting at the thought of playing with Sai and Sasuke, "They are so much bigger than me, they don't play. Sai and Sasuke are always fighting, and the only one nice to me is Izuna, and he's always busy."

Sakura frowned at that. "What do you mean they're not nice to you?"

"Madara and Kakashi, I never even see them. Itachi and Shisui are always working, and Sasuke and Sai are always fighting. Izuna is the only one who spends time with me, and now he's busy too." Tobi's lips trembled, eyes graining a glassy sheen. "No one wants me."

Sakura's heart pinched at the absolute heartbreak in his voice. Having spent the majority of her childhood and early teens in her own lonesome, she completely understood the pathetic loneliness that accompanies when no one is with you. She felt terrible for the boy.

"Prince Tobi, how about this?" At his curious expression, Sakura smiled and pointed to the stack of parchment stained with ink, "You draw me some flowers today, and when I come by tomorrow, I'll pick my favorite and take it with me." She handed the stack of parchment to him, standing up again, "And what is your favorite place in the compound?"

A thoughtful expression crossed Tobi's face, "The garden. It's really pretty and colorful."

"Then tomorrow, you take me on a tour to the garden. What do you think?"

A wide grin lit up on Tobi's face, his small frame vibrating with excitement. "Yes! Let's do it. The garden is so pretty, you'll love it."

Sakura smiled at him, her gloved hand ruffling his short hair. "Good boy."

A long sigh of exhaustion escaped past Sakura's lips. She rolled her shoulders, groaning in relief when the cracking sound reached her ears.

It was already nearing midnight, judging from the lack of light streaming through the bamboo drapes over the open shoji door to her engawa. Sakura sighed again, closing the plethora of scrolls and tomes opened before her on the low table and set them aside.

'This is such a drag.' She groaned, falling back on the tatami mat and hearing the way her back cracked from the change in position. She has been sitting in the same position since afternoon, hunched over the chabudai and pouring through all the new books she acquired.

She visited the library straight after coming out of Tobi's room, thankfully finding it empty except the librarian and two small girls. The librarian has so kindly informed her that he has better things to do than help her, so she looked through the racks for the books herself.

And since then, she has been going through all the books she got; Uchiha clan's history, the history of Kuroshima and the leader's ledger. She didn't find anything worth her interest, but she did realize that Kuroshima has a much deeper hold on Konoha's economy and military than she thought.

She'll need some more references to properly gauge the medical strength of Kuroshima, but that seemed to be confidential information.

"I should take a walk." She whispered to herself, stretching her back while still laying on the ground and then standing up to stretch her legs. "Or perhaps I should train some." That would be better. She hasn't had the time to practice her combat skills while she was travelling to Kuroshima and getting settled, this would be the best time for her to train.

Sliding off her thin haori over her shoulder, she stood in her undershirt bindings and loose pants. Looking down and tugging on her binding, she unwrapped the thick cloth and redid it tighter, huffing in satisfaction at the more secure feel on her breasts. She looked at her clothes, rummaging to the bottom and taking out a loose yukata shirt with short, flowy sleeves and the tie on her waist loose enough for the neckline to slump open and reveal the binding underneath. She remained in the same ankle length loose pants, deeming them fit enough for her training.

She picked up her gloves and dimmed the lamp sitting on corner of her table, extinguishing the only light source in the room and enveloping it in darkness. She padded out of the engawa and in the courtyard, relishing in the feel of grass tickling her feet. She would've loved to train in the courtyard, large and spacious with neatly trimmed grass. But she could see a few people still walking around the yard, and she did not want an audience for her training.

Instead, she took a detour around the building and toward the back of the compound, and saw the other courtyard, the same span as the one inside, covering close to a kilometer in circumference. The area was lined with lit torches, and with the moon hanging in the sky, providing well enough lighting to see her surrounding.

"This is well enough." Sakura whispered before bringing out a ribbon to tie her hair at her nape of her neck, and sliding her gloves over her palms.

She doesn't remember how much time she spent in the yard, flowing through moves after moves, punching the air and kicking her feet high to the sky. She would do a series of double punches and then jump up and twirl her body and legs in a swing of helicopter kicks, rolling over on the grass as soon as her feet touched the ground as if an enemy threw a fireball toward her. She would crouch low to jab with her fingers and then stand on her hands to kick with her legs like the blades of a windmill.

Sakura puffed out ragged breaths, limbs splayed out and hair having come undone long ago. Sweat dripped down her forehead and neck, her face feeling hot from the rush of blood flowing through her body.

This is what she feels the best in, working out her muscles and feeling the adrenaline running through her veins. As much as she loved filling up her brain with knowledge and experimenting with unheard substances, making medicines and healing people, she never feels freer than she does while throwing kicks and getting her knuckles rubbed raw.

Something about the delicious aches in her muscles after a grueling spar and the soreness that follows after, makes her feel so delighted. Tsunade has once called a little twisted for finding the pain in her muscles enjoyable, but she's okay with that. She does regardless.

A gentle breeze blew through the yard, so cool and refreshing over her damp skin. She should probably get back, because if she keeps laying there for a minute more, then she might fall asleep and never make it to her room.

Groaning at the strain on her muscles when she stood up from her position, she dusted her pants free of grass and retied her hair. The walk back to her room was even quieter, with silent, nimble footfalls and making sure to stay in the shadows in the hallway. She knew that she doesn't need to be sneaking around like a ninja, but she would rather stay in the shadows, unheard and unseen.

When rounding the corner of the hallway, a shadow in her peripheral caught her eyes. Fully turning her face to the side, she saw that it was actually three shadows to be precise, sitting on the roof of the guest wing, one with long hair, one with curly, and one with spiked in the back.

'Huh, the princes are up at this hour.' Shrugging at the thought, she continued on her way to her chamber. When she had to turn to the corridor leading to her room, her position was even closer to the place where the three of them were sitting, close even to be an unwilling listener to their conversation.

In the hindsight, she should've taken a different route.

It was Shisui's voice that reached her first, slurring slightly from sake, "So, Sasu-chan, have you talked to the new doctor yet? She's cute, isn't she?" A snort answered the question, "Yes, I talked to her. She thinks she's some real big shot."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, her steps slowing down as she reached directly behind the roof, where she could clearly hear the conversation, and unwittingly, she stayed there.

"She's a very decorated doctor in Hiraisumi, as well as an integral part of their military." It was the third voice that spoke up, Itachi, she deduced. "I think her honor is only well-earned."

She heard Sasuke scoff, the sound of pouring liquid accompanying it, "If I heard correctly, she's the regent queen's adopted daughter. I wouldn't know how much of that 'honor' is actually hers."

"Sasu-chan, I think you're doing a lot of offences against someone you don't know well enough."

"You aren't the one who should be saying all this, Shisui. You're really only on her side because you want her to warm your bed at night."

"Now, now Sasuke. That's not how you talk to your elders. Besides, whatever you might think of me and my partners, one thing that I've never lacked for them is respect." The teasing tilt in Shisui's voice was very apparent, and even as Sakura repeated in her head that she should go to her room, her feet felt rooted to the spot.

Sasuke growled at him, and he might've said something had he not been interrupted by Itachi, "Whatever you think of her, Otouto, you have to respect her. She's our guest and a help, mother will not be happy with your open distaste for our guest."

"I would've been more inclined to be nice to her if she was here to help with the kitchen, like every other woman does. But oh, she thinks she's some God whose here to save us measly peasants because we are just so incompetent that we need to ask for foreign help." Sakura didn't know what to make of the venom dripping from each of his words, or how did it escalate to that point when she has only ever spoken to him once.

Tsunade must've been right when calling her twisted for liking the pain in her body, because wasn't that what she was doing right now. It was like ripping scabs off old wounds, she knew it was bad, but she couldn't stop.

"Otouto, you-"

"And I don't care enough what mother wants from me, she's still the Senju's daughter, she isn't getting any respect from me."

What surprised Sakura was the way he spat out the word 'Senju', with so much malice and hatred. He said it like it was derogatory, but Sakura had no idea why.

A low thudding and rustling sound was heard on the roof, like someone was standing up, and Sakura silently backtracked her way into the shadows and away from them. "I'm leaving." She heard Sasuke say before he jumped down from the roof and into the corridor one hallway away from her.

That was when she unrooted her feet and quickly speedwalked to her chamber, quietly shutting her door shut. She didn't pause to breathe, sliding down her sweat-soaked clothes off her body and picked up her towel, hopping into the adjacent bath.

She didn't add any fragrance to her water, neither did she linger longer than needed to wash the dirt and sweat off her skin and hair. She didn't give her head any silence to think about the insults flying through her mind, keeping herself busy with patting herself dry and dressing up in short pants and haori, fully open in front with nothing underneath it.

She didn't even look at her bed, opening the door to her engawa to let the cool night breeze in, and lit up the oil lamp on the table, opening the books she had previously closed.

She tried to push out the mocking voice in her mind, continuously reminding herself that 'she didn't care what they thought of her. She's heard worse, she's been called worse. They can think what they'd like, and she'll do her work and then leave.'

She told herself that the words didn't prickle at her skin, that the didn't pierce through her back like a needle. She's not six anymore, who would cry when someone made fun of her forehead or threw stones at her head. She's gone through hell and back, insults don't affect her anymore.

But as the words from the books refused to enter her mind and the voice in her head grew louder, she once again felt like she was a child, hiding behind the bookshelves and muffling her cries in her hand.

A hiss left Sakura's lips, realizing that this is no good. She slapped her palm on her ears, reading the words on the pages aloud, as if it would drown out the heat in her brain. She did it again and again, until she felt like she could keep her concentration on the pages and not the slurred derogations thrown at her not ten minutes ago.

She didn't care. No, she didn't.

AN: Okay so, how was the chapter? Did y'all like it? Sasuke is a little bitch, I know. He's a bitch now, but he'll get better, he'll just need someone to beat some sense into him. And so will Itachi and Shisui. They aren't bad, I know, but they're pissing me off right now. But everyone will get better, I promise.

Anyway, review it. Tell me what you think and I'll see you in the next chap.

Bye bye