Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

Open wounds and closed graves

Sakura walked slowly, observing Konoha and its people with a half lidded gaze.
Her henge hadn’t drained her as much as she had anticipated and she was holding it well. It wasn’t hard to keep in character either. It almost came instinctually.
Her eyes fell into the sweet darkness of an open kimono collar.
One hand covered the view as the other left a red mark on Ryo’s cheek. “Pervert!”
“Don’t be that way, babe…” Ryo turned to watch her walk away. The woman, of coarse, only moved along, trying not to look like she was hurrying away. And as she walked away, Sakura’s eye stayed firmly latched upon someone that she was certain should have been dead.
As firmly as Kakashi’s hand had been solid proof that she was awake, so was this such evidence that she was not in Konoha anymore.
Haku was in the middle of buying rice a few booths down. The bolt of dark cloth under one arm and the basket of fruit over the other looked cumbersome at best.
Sakura made her way over to Haku, “Mind if I lend a hand, miss?”
Haku turned, looked Ryo in the eye pleasantly, “Thank you, but no.” She, or he…, tunred back, handing over the coinage for the rice.
“You sure? Looks like you’re carrying a lot already.”
Haku shrugged and flipped the basket around. The rice fit in the open end. “I’m afraid my father would not approve.” And Haku turned away.
“You always do what daddy says?” Sakura saw the hesitation in the step. *Damn! I’m blowing it!*
Haku spun on one heel, facing Ryo with ice where the warmth had been. “I don’t approve either.”
Sakura held her hands up and backed off a step, “Sorry.” Then turned, hands stuffing into pockets as She wandered away. *If Haku is still alive, then Zabuza should still be nearby… And If somethings are still the same… Maybe Zabuza could help.* Sakura looped back around through the alley that paralleled the street. Her mind ran through others she knew. *I’ve got to charm her… Get her to take me to Zabuza…* Shika had blown it. Shino was too creepy. Lee was too intense and Kiba would smell funny. Sasuke wasn’t the one to sidle up to someone and Neji acted a little too mysterious. *That leaves…*
Ryo’s hands came together and Kaji stepped out into the street.
Hair as blue as the sky and eyes to match, shoulder high to most people, bright green shorts and t-shirt, the red Uzumaki swirl in place. Sandals a size too big and those ridiculous goggles.
Sakura let him grin. It seemed unnatural not to.
Changing the henge had taken little effort and the gentle buzz of chakra running through her body made her limbs tingle. She HAD to do SOMETHING!!!
Or perhaps that was the personality seeping through.
“Ooh, noodles!” Kaji ran for the noodle counter. Haku was still coming this way.
*The Haku-gets-doused-with-hot-noodles plan is in action!* Sakura chuckled evilly as she turned a few coins out of a pocket as she flew past.
She fell upon the counter, dropping the correct change and ordered to go. They smelled so tempting…
“Did you order for both of us?” The voice. The jacket. The family seal; Hyuuga! *I lifted from a Hyuuga? I’m so DEAD!!*
Kaji turned slowly. This was a Hyuuga. The burning whiteness of the eyes unmistakable. And this particular Hyuuga looked a lot like Neji. *Don’t use the eyes, don’t use the eyes!!*
“Uh… You see… err…uhh…”
Neji chuckled. “Make that two!” And he set a short stack of coins down next to Kaji’s, “Keep the change.”
“Yes sir!”
*Neji chuckles…?*
They sat, looking at one and other. The noodles arrived. Neki picked up both boxes, handing one to Sakura.
“Don’t get caught again. The anbu aren’t as forgiving.” And Neji flexed his way back into the crowd.
Sakura had to change hands, the hot noodles heating her palms.
She stood ont eh stool, looking up and down the street. Haku had vanished.
*So much for the Haku-gets-doused-with-hot-noodles plan…*
Hopping down from the stool, Sakura headed deeper into Konoha.
She ate on a bench after the noodles had gone cold. The meal was short, but satisfying.
The body of Konoha was something other than what her memory said ought to have been.
Naruto’s apartment building had been replaced with some sort of fortress. Black soot marks streaked all the windows on the west side and an anbu in a black mask stood sentry on the lowest balcony.
There didn’t seem to be any ground level door.
Sakura moved on in silence.
Her own home was far different. And occupied by a family of twelve. They barely had room for their own.
Sakura found Ino’s house in a similar state.
She began to wander. The homes of her other friends were unknown to her. *If they’re even still alive…*
She leaned back against the outer wall of a complex.
The evening sun was yielding to the darkness of night and a chill breeze was prowling the streets.
Sakura looked up at the sky. Stars had begun to appear. The moon half obscured by the wall. A large red and white fan emblem set right in the way.
*The Uchiha…?*
She jumped up, looking over the wall. The green of Konoha was slowly taking over the grounds.
Sakura dropped to the grass below. The building closest to her had been set to flame some time ago. The structure had caved in, charred timbers sticking out into the night. The ashes had returned to the earth in all but the protected places.
There had been a cellar door, but it looked as if it had been forced open.
Peering into the deepening shadows, she could see boxes that had been rent open and cast aside mixed in with the shattered glass of preserved foods.
The breeze crept by, sending a chill up her spine. The henge fell as Sakura released her hold on the chakra.
There hadn’t been anyone to see her here for a long time.
Too long… *Even the ghosts have left this place…*
She turned around. All of the buildings were destroyed. All of them burned.
The only structures that seemed to be any sort of standing were one stone gazebo and the manor house.
Sakura remembered the layout of the Manor. She had been allowed inside once before. A little while ago.
They had forgotten to bring a radio for a training exercise. Naruto had borrowed a spare from Kakashi and Sakura had come with Sasuke so she could borrow one of his.
It had been a nice radio.
But the layout of the house… She stood in the remains of the entryway. Stairs straight forward, kitchen to the left, den and parlor to the right…
She walked past the charred banister. The stairs had burned away. This part of the structure had been hit hard by fire.
The central courtyard still held the fountain, though the basin had been shattered.
The bulk of the house in the back looked to be more intact. She passed through the courtyard and re-entered into the wide hall. She looked left. The library.
Then she had looked though open doors to see shelves and shelves of scrolls. Now she saw a fallen wall and a young tree growing up where a desk should have been.
To the right had been a set of rooms. For family and servants. While Sasuke had neither, he had said something about living in one of the larger ones as a young boy. Before Itachi.
Ahead was the Lord’s office. The doors had been torn down and the room savagely pillaged.
Set against the wall, a set of modest stairs climbed up to the second level.
Sasuke’s room had been up there. Right over the office.
Sakura traced her steps up the stairs, listening for the creak on the seventeenth. *fifteen, sixteen, seven…*
The stair began to groan and sheered away under her weight.
Sakura tried to step back out of the hole and the sixteenth crumbled as she fell.
Sakura threw her hand out, charging it with chakra, griping the wall itself.
She was panting and coughed on the dust. *Could anyone have heard me scream?* She hesitated.
Silence. She sidled along the wall, climbing up and over until she could put her feet back on solid stairs.
More careful about her footing, Sakura finished the climb. Her chakra felt bottomed out.
*All I need right now is an old rug to curl up in…* She topped the stairs and faced the doors to the master bedroom. The only doors in the manor still up and closed. The door looked as if it had been assaulted directly, but had held firm until help arrived.
Sakura thought back. Sasuke had used the doorknob, but had stood leaned against the wall. As if he was playing with the molding.
Sakura checked the wall. There was a shallow groove, almost imperceptible, even to touch. She pushed gently on the strip. It moved slightly, and in the direction of the groove. She pressed and the lock thunked in the door. A rather heavy lock.
Sakura let go of the molding, expecting a spring action or something to close the lock.
It remained open. She swiveled the strip back into place, though the lock remained silent.
*Must be busted…*
She gave the doorknob a twist and pushed. The door opened, protesting with loud hinges.
And the room within was surreal. Untouched by fire or looters, it seemed as if someone had been here not ten minutes ago. There was no gathered dust and the only thing out of place were the clothes set out on the bed. Almost as if time itself had forgotten about this place.
Sakura shut the door behind her, painfully away of the sooty footprints she had trailed into the room.
She tossed her robe onto the chair that sat before the large vanity, wondering at the set of combs laid out with precision and care.
And the water in the basin. She dipped her finger and furrowed her brows. *still warm…*
She scanned the room. Something wasn’t right. Even museum rooms weren’t this perfect.
The only thing missing were fresh flowers. But there were no flowers anywhere, fresh or withered.
Out of raw paranoia, Sakura drug an armchair in front of the doors and set it against them.
She sat down in it for a moment to catch her breath.
*Perhaps I’m just panicking…* She got up and looked in the vanity mirror. *Jeez. I look like crap…* The dirty, scared girl was showing in spades. Soot smeared on her face and a fat, dark bruise where Kakashi had grabbed her throat. Her hair was tangled and smudged with dirt and her face pale as the moon.
Except for the bags of exhaustion under her eyes.
Sakura washed her face and wetted her hair. Most of the grime came free after the first few rinses.
After she had finished, Sakura pulled on her stolen robe and curled up in the armchair.
Before she could begin to worry about tomorrow, the sandman had claimed her and she slipped sideways as she slept.