"I don't know what to say" Sasuke said clearing his throat.
"Well" she said while sitting next to him "why don't you start at beginning?" she suggested.
"The beginning, right" he said while taking a deep breath.
She got closer to him and sat directly next to him in the bed and held his hand.
Sasuke gave her an innocent smile "sorry, these allergies are going to kill me" he said retrieving his hand and wiping his tears.
"Right" she answered handing him some tissues.
"Thanks" he said wiping his tears and clearing his throat "I guess you kind off know, you were there" he suggested.
"What happened after they took away?" she asked directly.
"I was ah….taken away…you know then I was taken to this building, right" he said taking a breath "they ask me to ah…well, take off my clothes" he continued "I did and I had to walk in a hallway and was taken to a cell with around 10…no 20 people"
"That's a lot of people, was the place small?" she asked.
"The cell was really small….I must have been there for around five days, I am not sure….we had no windows" he said "they kept on bringing people" he took a deep breath "by the fourth day, there were so many people, some began to crush each other's skulls. It was impossible to breathe. The more people moved; the more people would die. It smelled like blood, urine, like dead people".
"How did you survive?" Sakura asked calmly.
"I had to hide behind the bed….I could have been killed" he agitatedly said putting his hand on his forehead "they brought me out after that. They strapped me to a chair, took my clothes off, and washed down with freezing water. After that, they took me to see Ibiki. I told him everything I knew, and he seemed satisfied" he said as he sarcastically started chuckling.
"then what happened?" Sakura asked.
"I was removed from the office, and another man took over my custody in the hallway. That is when things took a turn for the worst. He said that I could be making everything up and that he would get the truth out of me. As if I had something to lose by telling them the truth. They threw me in a hole, the smallest you could think of. I had to lie down and could not move. They kept me there for days. I was not taken out ever, not even to use the bathroom. Food would be placed in front of me, and I had to stretch in order to eat that moldy bread. I felt as if the walls were closing in on me" he sobbed "Gosh, I couldn't breathe" he covered his eyes.
"Sasuke…" Sakura tried to console him.
"Heeeeeeey" Naruto dashed into the room.
Sasuke was trying to hold his tears. He pridefully covered a pillow on his face. His sobs could still be heard a little regardless of him trying to fight them off.
"Naruto, Sasuke needs a minute. Is that okay?"
Naruto simply nodded and left.
Sakura took a look a Sasuke and didn't say anything. She stayed silent and simply held his hand.
"I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry" Sasuke kept on repeating.
"Sasuke; it's okay, take your time" She reassured him.
"I am…ah…I need to use the bathroom for a second" he said quietly.
"Sure" she said pointing to the bathroom in the room.
He was gone for a while. Sakura went to check on him when she heard a loud banging noise. Sakura ran into the bathroom without even knocking.
She was aghast. There was blood…. everywhere. Her mind was racing, her legs were trembling, her heart was beating fast… Sasuke was seating on the floor. Blood was gushing out of his forehead. The mirror was broken, and bloody pieces of glass were all over the floor and Sasuke.
"Don't move" she shouted while immediately running next to him "why Sasuke, why?" she finished.
"I just…I just wanted them to stop" he cried covering his ears.
"What do you mean?" she asked beginning to remove pieces of glasses from his hair and clothes.
"The voices" he shouted "I can't quiet them" he sighed heavily.
She ignored this part and kept on looking at his bleeding wound "this is not as deep as it seems, I can take care of it" she said grabbing something from the cabinet.
"They are right though, I deserve this. I need to go back" he kept on repeating while looking at the floor.
"Sasuke, you don't mean that. You did not deserve what happened to you and I am not going to let you go back to that place even if I have to force you to stay here" she said sternly while stitching his wound.
He didn't respond to this. His eyes just filled with tears, and he lost control of himself. He started audibly weeping and Sakura pulled him to her chest and into a hug. This time he let himself go and grief. She pulled him into a tight hug to which he responded by hugging her back and burying his head on her shoulder.
A while had passed, and Sasuke had somewhat calmed down. He was back in bed. Sakura had sutured his wound and covered it with some bandage. He had some visible cuts on his face and some minor bruising.
"I made some tea" Sakura said walking into the room.
"Oh thanks" he said grabbing the tea.
She sat next to him waiting for him to finish his tea.
"I am ready….to keep talking" he said.
"Sasuke, you don't have to. It's been enough for today" she quickly answered.
"No, I have to say. It will own me until it's off my chest" he said abruptly.
"Alright, I am here for you" she said with a soft smile.
"They….ah…pulled me out of the tunnel and proceeded to beat me up. After that, they took a metal thing, I don't know how to describe it but It was heavy. They hit my knee with it. I think they broke it. I couldn't walk, I had to crawl for a while" he said.
Sakura just listened quietly.
"I…I…I don't know what they wanted. I kept on telling the truth, but it almost seemed as if it didn't matter. No matter what they said, they would hurt me anyways. Each time worse than the last. I don't understand." He said.
Sakura simply hugged him tight.
"They'd put animals in me, in my ears. They pulled my nails, took chunks of my flesh. They buried me alive, they….they…made me walk through glass, hot stones….. I remember I got sick once, they had fed me some raw animal. They made me eat my own puke…." Sasuke gagged into his hand.
"You don't have to keep going" Sakura said "please stop" she begged.
"It's okay, after that….I never ate by my own means again. They would stick that thing up my nose and feed me that way" he said sighing "they had me dig up a grave with my hand, it took me hours. After that, they buried me a few times. It was suffocating, you know, that feeling that little by little you are going to run out of air. The dirt became heavy on my chest, I couldn't breathe, gosh I couldn't breathe" he said as tears rolled down his face once more. He covered his mouth trying to drown his sorrow.
"I am sorry Sasuke, I am so sorry. This should have never happened to you" Sakura said while hugging Sasuke tightly.
The rest of the afternoon was very difficult. Sasuke disclosed every detail of his torture and imprisonment. Sakura listened and tried to be understanding and as patient as possible. There were tears. There was silence. There was relief.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Although still quiet, Sasuke composed himself enough to have dinner with the rest of the team. Katsumi came later to prepare them for their testimony. As for the night, Sasuke fell asleep on Sakura's lap as she caressed his hair. Naruto fell asleep right next to Sasuke while hugging him by the waist. Sasuke wouldn't admit it but deep down, he needed that contact. As for Sakura, she carefully studied her statement and fell asleep next to them later that night.
In Court
"Were you subjected to torture and corporal and mental punishment in the last year?" Kastumi asked.
"Yes, I was" Sasuke responded.
"Were you cooperative?" Katsumi asked.
"I was" Sasuke said once more.
"Were tortured regardless of your cooperation?" Katsumi continued.
"yes" Sasuke said.
"Do you see the people that tortured you in this courtroom?" Katsumi asked.
"Yes, right there" Sasuke said pointing to the defendant's bench.
"Let the record indicate that the witness has identified the defendants" Katsumi said "your witness" she said while sitting down.
"Good afternoon Mr. Uchiha. I see you have several wounds on your face. Are you okay?" the defense lawyer suspiciously asked.
"I am, thank you" Sasuke said.
"Now did you get those through this so-called torture?" The defense lawyer said.
"No" Sasuke said.
"Now how did you get those?" The lawyer said "Did you inflict those on yourself?" he asked.
"yes" Sasuke whispered.
"Speak up, I didn't quite get that" the lawyer mocked him.
"I did" Sasuke said.
"So, you injured yourself in an attempt to look damaged, correct" the lawyer said.
"Objection" Katsumi said.
"Sustained" the judge said.
"I'll rephrase" the lawyer said "did you know that a jury would be here today?" the lawyer said.
"yes" Sasuke answered.
"Did you injure your face?" the lawyer said.
"Yes, but.." Sasuke said.
"Nothing further" the lawyer interrupted him.
"Your honor, redirect?" Katsumi said.
"Go ahead" the judge said.
"Were you tortured?" Katsumi said.
"Yes" Sasuke said.
"Regardless of cooperation?" Katsumi asked.
"yes" Sasuke said.
"No further questions" Katsumi finished.
Sakura's Testimony
"And how did you come in contact with the defendants?" Katsumi asked.
"I was asked to oversee medical procedures at the center where Sasuke was being held" Sakura responded.
"And did you by any chance witnessed the defendants unjustly torturing Uchiha Sasuke" Katsumi added.
"I did" Sakura said.
"What exactly did you see?" Katsumi asked.
"Sasuke was force-fed while he was attempting to cooperate. He was injected with fever-inducing medication until he began seizing and became uncurious. Without intervention, he could have truly died. After that he was not even given time to recover, all while he was cooperating" Sakura finished.
"Thank you, no further questions" Katsumi said "your witness" she told the defense lawyer.
"Miss Sakura, thank you for being here today" the defense lawyer said approaching Sakura to which she simply nodded.
"Were you in the force helping every day?" he asked.
"No, just once" she answered.
"So, you were not briefed on Sasuke's intervention plan, correct?" he said.
Sasuke shivered as he heard those words.
"I guess no, I wasn't" Sakura responded.
"In other words, you had no idea why they were doing what they were doing, correct?" the lawyer asked.
"I know what I saw, and it was wrong. Sasuke cooperated the whole time" she added.
"You don't know that. Perhaps you simply didn't like what you saw and acted upon it" he said.
"Objection" Katsumi said.
"Sustained" the judge said.
"Withdrawn" the lawyer said "did you know Uchiha Sasuke before your encounter?"
"I did" Sakura responded.
"How did you meet him?" he asked.
"We were on the same team" she responded.
"Would you say that seeing your former teammate being incarcerated and tortured?" the lawyer asked.
"Yes…." Sakura said.
"Were you ever romantically involved with Uchiha Sasuke?" he interrupted her.
"No" Sakura responded.
"Have you ever had or do you currently have romantic feelings for Sasuke?" the lawyer asked.
"I…I…" Sakura started stuttering.
"Objection, relevance?" Katsumi said.
"Overruled, young lady answer the question" the judge told Sakura.
Sakura look over to Sasuke who responded with a soft smile and simply nodded.
"Yes" she said regretfully "but…"
"No further questions" the lawyer cut her off.
"Your honor, redirect?" Katsumi said.
"Go ahead" the judge added.
"Did you help Uchiha Sasuke escape his imprisonment due to your feelings for him?" Katsumi asked.
"No, I did it because it was unjust. I feared for his life." Sakura said.
"Thank you" Katsumi said.
Sakura made her way back to her seat. She could not make eye contact with Sasuke. She felt like her credibility had been chattered in the stand. Her heart was raising, tears were coming out of her eyes… she wanted to crawl into the ground. She was afraid they would lose the case because of her.
The hope for peace was rapidly leaving Sakura's mind.