Torture

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Do I really need to type this again? grumbles Fine, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters there in. Happy Now! Gah...

Ibiki watched as Sakura's once tense form seemed to almost melt into the hospital bed as Tsunade continued to flood her with calming chakra. He was so wrapped up in what had just occurred that he had not noticed the door slam open and a worried Kakashi enter, until he felt the hand on his shoulder, "What happened?"

Ibiki looked up at the jonin, "She was over taken by a rapid succession of flash backs and lapsed into a seizure. Tsunade is handling it, she will be fine. We will probably continue the evaluation at a later time, judging by the Hokage's body language."

"Alright, let me know when you two are done in here." Kakashi turned and made his way back out into the hall.

When Tsunade had finished she turned to Ibiki, a worried and sad expression written across her face as she spoke,

"Ibiki, I think we should continue this later, and not here... and... and I can't watch her go through that again, I just can't. I know, I know, I am the Hokage, but dammit, she is like a daughter to me and I can't stand to see her in so much pain. I will provide another medic who is qualified to handle any outbursts... you can choose who will over see the other aspects that my being absent will hinder."

"Hai, I understand."

Tsunade pulled the chair over next to Sakura's bed and sat down in it. She reached for Sakura's hand and just sat there, holding her hand and watching the girl dream in a medically induced sleep.

Ibiki stood and walked out the door, he already knew who he would ask to stand in as a witness for Tsunade. Closing the door behind him, he took notice of Kakashi sitting in yet another chair in the hallway.

"Kakashi?"

"Hai, what is it?"

"I am sure you heard everything that was just discussed, correct?"

"Yes." Kakashi eyed Ibiki a bit warily.

"I am only asking you because you experience with such things, and the fact that Ms. Haruno will be comfortable in your presence during the evaluation, would you stand in for our Hokage?"

Kakashi tensed up a fraction at the request. He looked from Ibiki to the door that was between them and the woman in question and then back to Ibiki,

"Hai."

"Good, I will expect you to be in my office tomorrow morning at 9am sharp. I don't think you would, but just for good measure, Don't be late."

With that said, Ibiki turned and left the hallway, left the hospital and found a bar to get a few drinks to deal with that sound... that horrid sound that he could not silence from his mind.

Kakashi watched Ibiki's retreating form before turning to the door to Sakura's room and staring at it for a moment. Ibiki had never once looked that affected by a psychological evaluation before... Kakashi knew that the horrified scream he had heard coming from the hospital and that had made him drop what he was doing to return at once, was probably the culprit. It probably had scared and/or scarred most of the people close enough to hear it...

After contemplating Ibiki he pushed the door open and stepped inside, Tsunade looked up at him, her eyes were watering as she looked back at her sleeping student's hand in her own.

Kakashi picked up the other chair and moved it to sit on the other side of the hospital bed where he took up a simular position as the blond woman sitting opposite him began to speak quietly.

" Kakashi, you said in your report that she told you what happened... how did you handle this? How did you handle the pain she is in?"

Kakashi contemplated the question for a moment before speaking himself,

"I just listened, I held her when she reached out and stepped back when she pushed, she didn't break down other than tears when she told me, she was still in shock then though..."

Tsunade nodded slowly, the room remained quiet until Sakura began to stir.

Sakura woke up with both her hands being held, she wondered briefly what had happened before remembering the questions and Ibiki, and Tsunade... she opened her eyes slowly and looked to her left, Shisou... she looked to her right... Kashi. Looking back to her mentor she softly squeezed her hand, Tsunade looked up at her. Sakura could tell she was worried and had been crying silently.

Sakura had seen her teacher cry a few times, when she was drunk especialy. She could tell now the difference between silent and loud crying and the variants in between, Tsunade's eyes got puffy and red, her nose got a little swollen and runny when she cried loudly. But when she cried silently, nothing but the faint streaks of red lighting the path that tears had followed were left as proof.

She then turned her attention to Kakashi, he looked concerned, Sakura smiled sadly,

"Kakashi, Tsunade... thank you both for being here..."

The appreciative words brought a choked sob from Tsunade and a nod from Kakashi who patted her hand softly before releasing it.

"Hokage-sama, where will Sakura be staying tonight?"

" I think here would be best considering... well, it would probably just be best."

" Oh please noooooo. I don't wanna sleep in this bed anymore, please let me go home, I want my bed." Sakura whined, Tsunade rolled her eyes briefly before smiling a little inwardly, she was being herself at least after all.

"You can't stay by yourself, you need to be monitored Sakura. So unless you can find some one willing to stay with you you will be staying here." Tsunade had gone into teacher mode.

Sakura bit her lip and glanced around, "Kashi?" she asked giving her best puppy dog eyes.

"Yes Saku?" A hint of sarcasm was present in his voice.

"Will you stay with me at my house so I can sleep in my own bed, puh-leeze?"

Tsunade chuckled a bit at her students behavior, and especially the way Kakashi rolled his eyes at the pleading pink haired girl doing her best to look like a sad puppy.

"Yes Sakura, but you owe me."

Sakura clapped her hands and smiled at Tsunade, who rolled her eyes before dropping into teacher/medic mode once again,

"Sakura, you do realize how serious your condition has proven to be thus far correct?"

Sakura nodded,

"And you do realize that the evaluation is not yet complete, correct?"

Sakura's face darkend and she nodded slowly.

"Alright, I will go start filling out your release papers. Oh, and your blood tests all came back clean. So you are all clear on that front."

Tsunade stood and walked to the door, looking back over her shoulder for a second before heading down to the front desk to get Sakura's paperwork in order, god how she loathed paper work.

It was 6 in the evening before Sakura was standing outside in front of the hospital. Ino had come by earlier and filled her in on all the latest gossip which had brightened her mood considerably. Naruto and Hinata had come by a bit later and stayed with her for awhile, Sasuke joined them. After they had taken their leave she was visited by Sai and Yamato again, Kurenai came by with her son in tow and Shikamaru, Choji, Neji and Kiba stopped in, Kiba gave her Shino's get well soon message since he had been called away on a mission with Tenten and Lee. Gai had even stopped by, much to Kakashi's aggravation.

She looked over her shoulder at Kakashi who was currently carrying all the stuff people had brought her when they stopped by, mainly flowers, food and a big goofy looking balloon. She started walking towards her house, Kakashi falling into step by her effortlessly,

"You know Sakura, you could help me carry this stuff, considering it is all your's anyway."

Sakura reached over and grabbed the gift basket full of chips from Choji and the large bouquet from Ino and Shikamaru and continued walking throwing a cheeky smile at the Copy-nin. He rolled his eyes and continued to walk beside her.

When they finally made it to her house she went up and shifted the things in her arms and unlocked her door, stepping through the door she breathed in deeply and walked over to the small table near the door, setting down her stuff. She kicked off her shoes and meandered over to her couch, dropping ungracefully down and letting out long relieved sigh.

Sakura rolled over and hit the power on her stereo, and pushed play on the CD deck, traditional drums and flutes began to pour from the speakers. Sakura sighed and leaned back again. Relaxing into the back of her sofa,

"So, Kashi, when does Ibiki-san plan on finishing this stuff?"

"Tomorrow morning, Tsunade will not be present, she is sending another medic in place of her for medical support, Ibiki asked me, and I agreed, to be present as the witness."

Kakashi had kicked his shoes off and set the rest of Sakura's gifts down and was now sitting on an overstuffed club chair next to the sofa,

"Sakura, where did you get this chair?"

"Oh, it was my dad's."

Sakura realized he probably wanted to discuss what was going on just about as much as she did and continued with the odd small talk,

"Why?"

"I was going to try and figure out where to get one like it, it's really quite comfortable."

"Heh, yea. I love that chair, it's great to curl up in with a good book."

"I can imagine."

Sakura looked at him and chuckled,

"Yea, you probably could, you and your Icha Icha. So, what do I owe you for staying with me?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, I was kidding. You've done a lot for me in the past, not to mention sneaking Icha Icha in to the hospital for me and staying with me before so, yeah. Where did you get all those copies of Icha Icha anyway, I always wondered but forgot to ask."

"Oh, heh..."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly,

"Well?"

"Ano... look at the bookshelf..."

Kakashi turned and glanced at said bookshelf, at which time his jaw abruptly dropped,

"That's the whole collection!"

He jumped up and scurried over to it to look over the spines and read all the titles. Sakura watched with amusement at her ex-teachers obvious obsession with the dirty novels. Truth be told it was kinda his fault for her reading them. When she turned 18 she had broken down out of curiosity and bought a copy and was hooked by page 15, they really did have decent enough plots, though they could be a bit cliche at times.

"Well, I am gonna go take a bath and get ready for bed, help yourself to the books, though if any are missing I will know exactly who took them."

Kakashi nodded as he continued to paruse the books before him. Sakura stood and made her way back into her room to get a change of clothes for bed and then went into the bathroom, shutting the door and starting the water, she looked in the mirror as she undressed. The scars were healing well so far, no infections.

Once the tub was full Sakura turned the water off and slipped into the warm water, savoring the feel of it against her skin and the relief it brought her tense muscles.

Sinking deeper she smiled lightly and grabbed a bottle of bath oil from a small cubby on the side of the tub and poured a little into the water. The fresh smell of bergmont washing over her she relaxed fully into the water.

Silence overtook the room as the water stilled, Sakura's eyes grew unfocused as she slid her head under the surface of the water, coming up moments later, slicking her hair back as she surfaced.

The shower head dripped and Sakura flinched.

It dripped again and Sakura nearly jumped out of the tub.

The third time she heard the drop of water she about have screamed half choked as she pulled herself up and jumped out of the tub, ignoring the water that sloshed over the edge of the fancy footed tub and fell backwards knocking her head on the counter before scrambling back between the toilet and sink, shaking and crying every time the shower head dripped.

A few seconds later Kakashi pushed into the room.

---

Kakashi had just sat back down in the overly comfy chair with his choice of literature from Sakura's collection when he heard what sounded like a gasp come from the bathroom. He quirked an eyebrow and went back to reading until he heard water splashing and a loud crash.

He was up in an instant and down the hall, he hesitated before opening the door, not wanting to anger her if she was actually alright, pushing doubts out of his mind he pushed the door open and walked in to find Sakura curled up, her arms wrapped around her knees, holding them to her chest rocking back and forth, and flinching every few seconds.

Sakura looked up when she felt another presence in the bathroom, when she saw it was Kakashi she flung herself at him. Kakashi opened his arms and caught her as she landed against him. She was shivering and still twitching every few seconds, Kakashi grabbed the large towel from on top of the toilet lid and wrapped Sakura's trembling for and carried her into her room putting her down on her bed.

When he went to move to get her some clothes she clung to him as if her life depended on it. Kakashi looked down at her,

"I'm just going to go get you some clothes."

"No please... please don't leave, just stay right now..."

She tugged on his sleeve and Kakashi sat down next to her and she practically burrowed into his side trying to find safety from whatever it was that had frightened her to begin with. Kakashi put his arm around her and rubbed her arms, once he felt her relax a little he asked quietly,

"What happened, what got you so spooked?"

"The dripping..."

Kakashi suddenly understood, the shower head was dripping, and now that he thought about it the twitching in the bathroom coinsided with the leaky plumbing.

"Sakura, it's alright, it was just the shower head. You're home and your safe..."

Sakura shook her head violently against him,

"He promised... he promised he would get me again... he said he would punish me... Kakashi I don't wanna go with him."

Sakura was sobbing again and Kakashi pulled her closer,

"Sakura, shhhh, I'm right here. I wont let him get you again... shhhh, I promise."

Sakura looked up at Kakashi from under his arm and squirmed a little,

"You promise promise?"

Kakashi kissed her forehead softly and whispered,

"Yes, I promise promise."

Sakura stopped trembling as badly, though she was obviously still shaken, so Kakashi stayed there until she had calmed down a bit more before pulling back and looking her in the eye,

"I am going to go get your clothes now, alright? I'll be right back."

Sakura nodded and reluctantly let go of the comforting warmth that he supplied and waited for him to come back. A few moments later Kakashi returned with the clothes from the bathroom and handed them to her,

"I am going to step into the hall so you can change, call when your done. I'll come right back, Okay?"

Sakura nodded again and watched him close the door behind him after he left, she dressed quickly and called him back in. He sat on the edge of the bed while she adjusted herself under the thick comforter and sheets. Sakura tugged on his sleeve again and Kakashi just sighed and lay back. Sakura immediately moved over and snuggled into his side and fell asleep clutching onto him.