Salvation

Chapter 14: Savior

Sasuke moved slowly down the hallway, making sure to keep at a steady pace so Sakura could keep up.

Currently, they were looking for another way out.  Their previous way was blocked and although they were sure they could take out a few sound-nins, they knew they couldn’t take on fifty of them.

Sasuke figured that Orochimaru must have alerted everyone to their presence after he vanished earlier.  All the sound-nins were too alert and there were too many.  They had been lucky so far as to being able to avoid any confrontation.

One guard spotted them, but Sasuke was able to render him unconscious in a matter of seconds.

Sasuke couldn’t wait to get out of there.  He had enough and he didn’t think he could take any more.

Sasuke heard shuffling up ahead.  He turned around to face a puzzled looking Sakura. 

“I think we’re going to have to do some fighting,” Sasuke whispered and Sakura nodded her head.

She crept closer to him and Sasuke had to resist the urge to tell her to be careful.  She looks too eager for this.

Turning around, they made their way to the end of the hall.

Keeping his voice low, Sasuke said, “Alright, we’re going to have to go through the basement and head out that way.”

“Let’s just get out of here,” Sakura replied and Sasuke could tell that she hated this place more than anything.

He opened the door and they walked slowly down the stairs.  Reaching a dark room at the end, they both stopped.  Sasuke wanted to shield Sakura’s eyes from what she was about to see, but it was too late.  Sasuke heard Sakura gasp beside him and he inwardly cringed.  The sight before them was not something he wanted innocent Sakura to see.

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Sakura couldn’t stop the onslaught of emotions as she stepped farther into the hallway.  Both of her hands were currently covering her mouth and she could feel the tears gathering in her eyes.

Down the hallway, lined up on both sides were cages.  Inside those cages horrified Sakura.

They were humans.  All types of humans: older people, men, women, and even children ranging in age.  Sakura counted thirteen of them.  Thirteen imprisoned souls.

Sakura walked forward and she felt Sasuke grab her arm, stopping her, but she shook him off.  Even though the site was terrible, she had to see this…needed to see this.  She knew that not everyone came from a village like Konoha, but the shock of seeing it first-hand would forever be imprinted in her mind.

She walked to the first cell, which had a young man no older ten, in it.  He had bright yellow hair that reminded her a little of Naruto.  He was curled up in the corner, and his eyes were wide with fear.

Sakura laid her hands on the bars, looking over at him.  “Don’t be afraid.  I’m not going to hurt you,” she said softly.  She reached her hand in and signaled for him to come closer.  He didn’t move, instead he sat still eyeing her hand.

The boy shifted some and Sakura saw a pained look spread across his face as he tried to move his leg.  Looking at it, Sakura noted that it was badly broken.  “Your leg…I can heal that for you,” Sakura said.

She grabbed two of the bars and forced her strength into them, but they didn’t budge.  Sakura looked over to Sasuke.

“Why can’t I move these?”  Sakura asked.

“Chakra infused bars,” Sasuke simply replied.

“But why would he need that if he was only keeping civilians?”  Sakura contemplated.

“Because, some of these people used to be ninjas,” Sasuke replied and Sakura gasped.

She looked at all the prisoners. They were so scrawny and unhealthy; their skin a nasty, yellow color from malnutrition.  Their eyes were black and dull-signifying that they were completely broken.

Sakura couldn’t believe that some of these people used to be ninjas.  It seemed so impossible.  Ninjas were made to be soldiers, yet they were born human.  And every human can be broken.  Sakura knew this better than some, as Sasuke was no doubt the person that could break her.

She turned back to the boy who continued to stare at her.  “Please, come here.  I’m going to heal you,” Sakura said.  She stared into the boy’s eyes, trying hard to comfort him.  Finally, the boy shifted and inched his way closer.

Once he was next to her, Sakura brought her hand over his leg.  Her hand started to glow green, and the boy’s eyes widened in fear.  Sakura took her free hand and placed it on top of the boy’s in a loving way.  It seemed to soothe him a bit, and she continued her work.  It took only a few minutes for the boy’s leg to be completely healed.

He started moving it around and a smile appeared on his face.

“Now, it’ll be sore for a few days, but after that it should be fine,” Sakura said and the boy looked at her.

“Are you an angel?”  he questioned with eager eyes and Sakura laughed.

“No, can’t say that I am.  I just have a great teacher,” Sakura admitted, thinking about Tsunade and how lucky she was to have her as her mentor.

“Thank you,” the boy said and Sakura smiled.  This was why she became a medic-nin.  Nothing brought her more joy then to see a patient happy.

“What’s your name?”  Sakura asked.

“Kohaku,” the boy said and Sakura smiled. 

“That’s a nice name.  I’m Sakura, and the brooding one over there is Sasuke,” Sakura said, pointing to Sasuke who gave her a glare.

Sakura didn’t think twice as she stood up and made her way around the room, healing each and every person.

She began to feel a little woozy as she neared the end, but she had to keep going.  She didn’t know what else to do.

She felt arms on her shoulders and she was turned around to meet Sasuke’s face.

“Sakura,” he said sternly.  “You have to stop.  You’ll kill yourself at this rate.”

Sakura brushed Sasuke off and went to the next person.  “No, I’m almost done,” she said and Sasuke sighed.

Once Sakura healed the last person, she flopped on the ground, resting her head in her hands.

“Thank you, young lady.  You truly are an amazing person,” an older man stated and Sakura looked up at him.

“No, when I get you out of here then you can say that,” Sakura said.  She stood up on shaky legs and she felt Sasuke come closer to her.  She turned to look at him.  “We have to free them Sasuke.”

“Sakura, we can’t.  Not right now.  We wouldn’t be able to keep them safe.  There are too many of them and only two of us. Plus, you used up all of your chakra healing everyone,” Sasuke explained.

“We can’t leave them here.  We have to do something,” Sakura said.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and she stared at him hard.  She couldn’t leave these people.

Sasuke was about to say something, when he stopped and looked at the door.  “Someone’s coming,” he said and then Sakura could feel many different chakras heading their way.

“Come on Sakura, we have to go now,” Sasuke said, grabbing Sakura by the arm and forcing her along.

“No…no!  We have to help them!”  Sakura pleaded.

“You have to do as he says.  If you stay, you’ll never get out,” the older man who had spoken to her earlier said.  “There’s a small exit over on the right.  It should lead you to the surface.”

Sakura stared at the man and he gave her a half-smile.

“Thank you,” Sasuke said, pulling Sakura along.  “Let’s go!”

Sakura still resisted.  “I can’t leave you!” she announced.

“Go now, or else you’ll never be able to help us,” the man said.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura and pushed her next to the exit.  He was about to climb through when the door busted in and about ten sound-nin came bounding in.  Sasuke grabbed Sakura, pushing her to the ground behind a large crate in the corner.  He held Sakura in front of him with one hand and covered her mouth with the other.

They couldn’t slip out without being seen, so they had to wait until the sound-nin left.

“Well, well, look at all the tormented faces we have here today,” a sound-nin sneered.

The one sound-nin walked over to the old man’s cage.  He banged on the cell with his hand and the old man just looked at him.

“Get the hell up,” he shouted, but the old man didn’t move from his spot on the ground of his cell.  “You stupid old bastard!”  He did a few hand signs and the lock clicked.  He walked inside and grabbed the man by the neck, hoisting him up.  The older man just stared in defiance.

“You look healed!  Who the hell healed you?”  the sound-nin said and Sakura’s eyes widened.  She didn’t think about the fact that they could be punished for her healing them.

The old man didn’t say anything; he just stared defiantly at him.  “Answer me you filth,” the sound-nin shouted and still the man didn’t answer.

The sound-nin didn’t let the man go as he started to smirk.  “Fine, if that’s the way you want it,” the sound-nin said and in just a matter of seconds there was a loud crack as the man’s neck was broken.

Sakura gasp was muffled by Sasuke’s hand.  She wanted to do something and she tried to get up, but Sasuke held her in place.  The sound-nin dropped the old man’s lifeless body to the cold, dirt floor as he walked out of the cell.  He didn’t look in the least bit disturbed by what he had just done and Sakura was completely sickened.

“Now, one of you is going to tell me who did this or you’re going to end up like him,” the sound-nin said, looking around at all the frightened people.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and another sound-nin ran in.  “We’ve found two of them outside; male and female.  We’re giving chase and we need help now!”  the man shouted before quickly leaving the room.

Sakura’s mind shot to Naruto and Hinata.  It has to be them! 

“Alright, let’s go,” the main sound-nin said before heading to the door.  He was the last one to leave, but before he did, he stopped.

“We’ll continue this later,” he said and then he was gone.

Sasuke didn’t waste any time as he threw open the door and shoved Sakura through, even though she pleaded with him to let her go back.  It didn’t take long for them to reach the surface.

Running out, Sakura’s heart dropped.  She knew she should have stopped them from killing that man, but she also knew that if she did they would have all been killed.

Sakura could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks and this time she wasn’t ashamed to let Sasuke see.

“We should have helped them,” Sakura muttered and Sasuke laid a hand on her shoulder.

“No, we did the right thing,” Sasuke told her and Sakura pushed him away.  She glared at him, not really sure why she was taking her anger out on him.

“He shouldn’t have died!  It was because of me he died!”  Sakura stated, keeping her voice low and dangerous.  She looked down at the ground, trying hard to control her anger.  She continued to cry when she felt Sasuke grip both of her shoulders fiercely, making her look at him.

“No, Sakura, you saved them!  You saved all of them!  They were all broken when we got there, but after you healed them, they came alive again.  You gave them more than they could have dreamed of,” Sasuke explained and Sakura scoffed.

“What did I give them besides a death sentence?”  Sakura asked and Sasuke stared into her eyes.

“You gave them hope, Sakura,” Sasuke said and Sakura stared into his eyes.

“How would you know that?”  Sakura asked again, not taking what Sasuke said at face value.

“Because, you did the same with me,” Sasuke admitted and Sakura stood, struck at Sasuke’s words.

Sasuke rarely opened up, rarely communicated, but Sakura could tell Sasuke was being genuine when he said that to her.  The comment helped stop some of her tears.

“How are we going to help them?”  Sakura questioned and Sasuke let go of her shoulders.  She felt the loss of his touch and desperately wanted it back, but she decided to step away from him instead.  She knew that Sasuke would be feeling a little vulnerable at his confession, and he would want to have a little space, and she was willing to give it to him.  Sasuke was like a candle; he burns slowly and brightly, and with the right touch, care, and slow going it will forever burn, but with the wrong move, he can easily go out and fall into darkness.  Sakura couldn’t have that, because if Sasuke succumbed to darkness, she knew she could easily follow.  She had to help him, for both their sakes, and maybe one day she could crack the heart of ice, even if just a little.

“We’ll think of something, but for now we need to find Hinata and Naruto and get out of here,” Sasuke said, looking at their surroundings and Sakura couldn’t agree more.