"Finally!" I yelled throwing my arms up in the air. "We are home!" I laughed looking around, it felt like forever since we have been home! Kakashi and Sasuke who were both looking tired were looking at me annoyed.
"Shut up dope." Sasuke muttered as we walked into the village, I rolled my eyes at him. I could not wait to get home and tell Sakura about our mission! I felt so such more confidant in myself now that I knew she respected me and didn't hate me as such as I believed her too.
I couldn't wait to see her! I just couldn't wait! I ran through the leaf village excitement flowing through my veins. I didn't feel tired from my mission at all as I ran through the streets and to my apartment building. I knocked on her door.
"Sakura!" I called, jumping up and down. "Sakura we are home!" I called again knocking. I heard Kakashi and Sasuke behind me after a moment of me staring at her door, I looked around to see them.
"It is past midnight Naruto, maybe she is asleep." Kakashi said, opening his door. I ran past him and into his apartment. "Naruto!" Kakashi groaned sounding tired. I looked at the hole in his wall, it was only halfway fixed. "Oh good they are repairing it, finally." Kakashi said dropping his bag. Sasuke followed us into Kakashi's place as I jumped through the hole in the wall. It was dark inside Sakura's apartment.
"Sakura?" I asked looking around, I found the light switched and flicked it on. I looked around the room and saw it was empty. I walked into her room and no one was there. I sat on her couch feeling defeated as sadness filled my heart.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, walking into the apartment.
"They are gone Kakashi." I said quietly,
"So, it seems." I felt the tears in my eyes.
"They didn't tell us goodbye!" I cried out, wiping tears away.
"Maybe they had to leave in a hurry." Kakashi said as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "She is the commander of a village, Carver and Raiden are a part of that army, maybe something came up in a hurry?" I nodded my head at his words. "We will ask Tsunade in the morning. Ok?" I nodded my head again.
"Good. Now go get some rest Naruto." Kakashi said, all I could do was nod, I was so crush that they were not here. I was so excited to see Sakura after Carver explained she was warming up to us, but she was not even here. How long ago did she leave? Why did they leave? When will she be back? Will they come back? All these questions bounced around in my head as I left through Kakashi's apartment and I went to mine
The morning sun shined bright. I groaned and rolled over hiding under my blanket. I slowly opened my eyes and groaned at the morning sun. I slowly sat up rubbing my face with my hands, trying to wake myself up.
I looked around my bedroom, my clock read 11:47 am. I sighed and got out of bed and walked into my bathroom. I already knew I was going to be late meeting up with Kakashi and Sasuke. We all were supposed to meet up at noon, get a little training done and then see Tsunade after she got out of her meeting, I wanted to know if Sakura said anything to her about her, Carver and Raiden leaving.
Did she say when she would be back? Kakashi is always late so I wasn't rushing out my door. I will just have to deal Sasuke lecturing me which I could handle. I yawned, covering my mouth as I left my apartment after a half hour. I made it to the training grounds feeling peaceful until I saw the dark cloud engulfing Sasuke who leaned against a tree.
"Um..." I muttered to myself, looking behind me...I could run...
"Why-!" Sasuke yelled...ah, fuck I was too late. I slowly turned to see Sasuke moving towards me. "-am I the only one who cares to show up on time with half my team is always fucking late!?" Sasuke ranted, I fully understood I underestimated how pissed he was going to be.
"He-Hey Sasuke..." I nervously laughed, rubbing the back of my neck. "...what's up?"
"I have morons for teammates!" Sasuke snapped. "That's what's up!"
"What...?" I drew out looking anywhere but Sasuke's steamed face. "...No..."
"Where is Kakashi!?" Sasuke snapped.
"I don't know." I answered, looking at him as I plopped onto the ground. "I came right here after waking up."
"Unbelievable." Sasuke muttered walking past me.
"Where you going?" I called after him, following him as we left the training grounds.
"I don't believe Kakashi will be here anytime soon so we might as well just leave-"
"Where will I not be?" I spun around to see Kakashi standing behind us with his hands in his pockets looking at us with a blank stare.
"Hey Kakashi!" I smiled.
"Good morning Naruto." Kakashi nodded.
"It's noon." Sasuke glared.
"To some people this is morning." Kakashi told Sasuke who just rolled his eyes and looked away.
"Are we going to Tsunade's office or what?" Sasuke switched subjects.
"There is no need too." Kakashi was calm.
"Wait, what!?" I shouted, feeling my heart rate pick up.
"I already spoke with her." Kakashi explained.
"Without us!?" I accused.
"She summoned me there." Kakashi defended.
"So, she told you why those three took off?" Sasuke asked.
"More or less." Kakashi was always so vague!
"What does that mean!" I yelled feeling frustrated.
"Sakura didn't give Tsunade a lot of details." Kakashi said,
"Well what did she tell her?" Sasuke crossed his arms.
"Sakura explained something about a seal that is around the Leaf Village and how to activate it, she took Carver and Raiden with her and that was all that was said, it is unclear when or if they will return." Kakashi willingly spelt out.
"When did she leave?" I asked, my heart felt like it was sinking to the bottom of my stomach.
"Not very long after we did." Kakashi answered, a faded image of Sakura's face ran through my mind. My stomach felt upset as I looked away from Kakashi.
"They knew..." I whispered, remembering Carver and Raiden who seen us off. "Those two knew they would be leaving!" I tightened my fists. They lied to us!
"Hey-" Sasuke said, I ignored him.
"Well I have some things for Tsunade I have to do." Kakashi sighed, "So I cannot stick around for training today."
"I don't think Naruto is up for it anyway." Sasuke muttered.
"I will see you two later." Kakashi waved, leaving Sasuke and I alone in the training grounds. Sasuke sighed sounding annoyed after a long second of silence.
"Do you want to go get some ramen?" Sasuke asked me.
"...No..." I pouted, "...ramen ichiraku is closed today." I further explained.
"You would know that." Sasuke shook his head. "I heard there was a new café that opened up not too long ago and it sounds good, you want to grab lunch?" I knew Sasuke was trying to make me feel better in his own way...I smiled slightly, nodding my head as Sasuke spun around on his heel and I followed him.
Sasuke had been right, there was a new upcoming café inside the leaf village, and it was quite popular. I knew a girl by the name of Tamaki moved into the village a few months ago with her grandmother and they opened the café three weeks ago. Sasuke and I walked into the shop and looked around. It was a modern design, I nodded liking the atmosphere.
There were three couches spread through the shop, little sofa chairs were placed beside the couches and coffee tables. Small tables and chairs were against the wall providing more seating. There was a bar against the wall, I followed Sasuke to it. We placed our order and the Tamaki girl smiled as she said she would call out our names when the food was ready.
It was slow since most people were in school, at work or training right now. Sasuke and I picked the couch closest to the door and took a seat. I liked this place.
"Hey!" I looked up seeing TenTen and Hinata waving to us as they walked in.
"Hey guys." I said watching them come and sit on the couch across from us.
"What are you doing here?" TenTen asked us.
"Lunch." I smiled as my stomach growled. Hinata giggled as she looked away from me. "What about you guys?"
"We are meeting a few people here." TenTen explained pulling out her phone.
"Oh?" I asked.
"Yeah, I thought you two had training with Kakashi-Sensei today?" TenTen wondered, explaining why Sasuke and I weren't invited.
"No, he got pulled into some stuff with Tsunade." Sasuke answered.
"I didn't know you two would be here." I looked at the direction of the door, Kiba and Neji were standing in front of us. I smiled.
"Hey guys." I said. Neji and TenTen went to the bar and ordered food as Kiba and I talked.
"Naruto!" I heard my name get called, I smiled jumping up as I told Sasuke I would grab his food I made my way to the bar.
"Sai?" I tilted my head seeing him sitting at the bar rail, I hadn't noticed him come in.
"Hey." He said taking a drink of his beer, I raised an eyebrow to him.
"You don't normally drink." I commented,
"Yeah well, there is a first for everything." Sai sounded more depressing than usual.
"Are you ok?" I asked him, he sighed and looked down at the bar with sadness in his eyes.
"No."
"You want to talk about it?" Sai turned around to look at the group of people collecting by Sasuke.
"Everyone looks so happy." Sai reminded me of Eeyore in winnie the pooh.
"Er...why don't you come join us?" I offered, looking down at the plate of food which was growing colder by the second.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Ok...?"
"I can't watch her Naruto." Sai rubbed his face, as if he wasn't understanding his own emotions.
"Wait...do you like someone?" I asked with a sly smile, I never thought Sai as a guy to fall for anyone. He was always well...Sai...
"Yeah, but she doesn't even know I am alive."
"I am sure that is not true." I laughed patting his back, "Who is it? Maybe I can help!"
"I don't think I want this out in the open Naruto."
"I won't tell anyone." I promised with a smile. Sai watched me for a long moment but turned around slowly, I followed his eyes and tried to line up to where he was looking. I turned around with Sai and leaned against the bar.
"I don't get it, all I can see it Ino and Shikamaru," I said, and Sai looked away from me, I blinked a few times. "Ino...?" I gasped quietly. "Ino?" I gasped again. "Ino!?" I repeated shocked. Sai gave me a dirty look. I could feel my mouth hung open and I was trying to absorb the fact that someone liked Ino...on purpose..."I mean yeah no cool." I said trying to recover. "So Ino?" I said trying to look casual.
"But she is still so wrapped up in Sasuke that she doesn't see anyone else." Sai said.
"Try talking to her, make her see someone else besides Sasuke. Make her see you." I smiled at him and he grinned a little.
"Y-Yeah. I will try."
"Good." I said standing. "Go talk to her, show her you are interested." I picked up the tray of food. "You can come join us, that is a good start."
"Maybe your right..." Sai nodded to himself getting up and following me to the group of noisy shinobi who were laughing as enjoying their day off.
I had fun hanging out with all my friends, it was nice to just relax with them and enjoy a day away from the crazy world. It was getting dark outside and I was beginning to feel tired. I wanted to go home, take a hot shower and relax in front of my television as I fell asleep on my couch. That sounded like a nice way to end my day off, I could tell Sasuke was bored out of his freaking mind.
Ino was ignoring Sai as she continued to be ignored by Sasuke. The girl was clingy and honestly, I was surprised she was even here showing her face after what she had done at Hinata's picnic. From what I had heard, Ino was on probation.
"Alright." I said standing from the couch, Sasuke quickly followed suit seeing a way to get away from Ino and her constant touching. Poor Sai, I really hoped his crush on Ino is only a phase, he was great guy and deserved someone who would treat him good. "I am calling it a night." I yawned.
"Boo!" TenTen giggled, looking a little flushed from all the alcoholic drinks she drowned herself in. I chuckled and said goodnight as Sasuke was practically hugging me as we left the café.
"That was fun." I smiled at Sasuke, "Thank you."
"Yeah-Yeah." Sasuke brushed off as we walked through the sleepy streets.
I about to open my mouth as I smiled when a force slammed into my body. It knocked me back a few steps as I hugged my stomach being forward gasping for air. I forced my eyes open as this force flooded the space around me.
"What is this?" Sasuke gasped, sounding affected by this presence.
"Chakra..." I breathed.
"But who's?" Sasuke coughed. "I have never felt such power before." I looked behind me in the direction the café was, they were all drunk and would be useless in a fight. Sasuke and I locked eyes my nervous rose on edge. We bolted in the direction the chakra was pouring from.
"It would be the arena." I muttered to myself, as Sasuke and I jumped over the white wall of the arena I saw we were not the only ones reacting to this force. Sasuke and I ran until we stood behind Kakashi. A swirling vortex of wind was forming in the middle of the grounds.
"Kakashi!?" I called over the wind as it whipped and screamed at us.
"Any idea who this is?!" Sasuke stood beside me.
"No!" Tsunade who was next to Kakashi answered.
"So, we could be standing here waiting to be attacked?" Sasuke looked annoyed.
"Pretty much!" I heard Iruka who was behind me call. I saw a lot of the sensei's and black op members had collected around us.
"Where are your-" Tsunade began to lecture at my friends slow reaction to this.
"They won't be able to help." Sasuke cut Tsunade off, "They are all pretty drunk."
"You have got to be kidding me!" Tsunade yelled as the wind was moving faster, her hair was blowing all over the place.
"It was their day off!" I defended them, why was this a conversation right now!? We might have bigger problems to deal with! I closed my watery eyes as the force of the wind became too much for them to bare. For a second, I gasped in air but failed, it felt like I was inside a vacuum and couldn't breathe! I opened my eyes feeling a cool breeze flow past me, the dome of wind collapsed but that was not the reaction I thought we would get, I was expecting to be ripped off my feet and thrown backwards.
I quickly pulled my attention to the source of that intense chakra. My lips parted as I felt my eyes grow wide. My heart stopped for a moment; I never knew what people meant when they said their heart felt like it stopped but in this moment I understood.
My heart rolled over in my rib cage as I forgot how to breathe. That heavy force of chakra that damn near put me on my knees belonged to none other than Sakura Haruno. I knew she was strong, but I didn't know she was that powerful.
I wanted to move towards them, but my body wouldn't respond to me. I was so sad when I discovered Sakura, Carver and Raiden had left the leaf village and I really wanted to see them again. I really wanted to talk to Sakura. There they were, in front of me but this wasn't what I had in mind when I thought about seeing them again...
Raiden was laying on his back his head was tilted in my direction with his eyes closed. Raiden looked beaten up bad, his uniform had multiple tares as I noticed the dark fabric of his uniform was stained with blood.
Carver was standing at least, but his head was tilted down towards the ground, his arm was draped over a person who my brain would not let me process just yet. I could see Carver was in no better condition than Raiden was, his matching uniform was also stained with red and cut up. I saw drops of blood dripping down his mouth and onto the dirt he stood on. All I could do was stand and stare, flashes of Carver and Raiden laughing and being their cocky selves was all I could picture. Finally, my brain allowed me to process the person holding Carver up.
Ever since she returned Sakura has been this unstoppable force that no one could touch. As she stood here in front of me now, she looked like she was holding on by a thin thread. I could see her uniform that I loved seeing her wear was cut up like the other two. In her free hand she held her sword, its blade was red with blood.
"Sakura?!" Kakashi snapped out of the trace first, thank God someone did because my brain was numb and drooling. "What happened?!" I heard his deep voice and felt him taking steps forward past me.
"There..." She breathed; I shook my head refusing to believe this was what I was really seeing. This was a dream! I felt my numb legs move as I watched Sakura collapse before she would give any detail. Kakashi rushed forward catching her before she fell to the ground. Guy was able to reach Carver before he hit the ground once Sakura stopped being the force that held him up. Sasuke moved past me and kneeled beside Raiden.
"He's alive." Sasuke announced.
"What-What happened!?" I heard myself yell.
"Get them to the hospital!" Tsunade shouted. I saw Kakashi scoop Sakura up and turned, I quickly followed him never moving my eyes off Sakura. What the fuck happened!? Sakura always seemed so strong...what the fuck could do this to her?!
"Sakura..." I heard Carver, I snapped around seeing there were people following us. I hadn't noticed them. Sasuke had Raiden who was unmoving, Guy had Carver as Iruka was applying pressure to his stomach. I saw Iruka's hands were painted red. I looked forward as my eyes tingled and my stomach rolled, wanting to throw out all the continents.
"We got you guys!" My voice was shaky,
"Raiden?" He called out sounding confused,
"We got him too." Guy spoke up.
"What happened Carver?" I called looking behind me.
"Village..." He coughed, I watched as a blossom of blood bloomed out of his mouth, my heart clinched. "...attack...it was...a trap." Carver's broken voice and raspy breathing had me shook to my core. "Activate Sakura's seal." Carver breathed out as he cried out in pain, Iruka was trying to stop the bleeding.
"What?" I remember Kakashi saying something about Sakura and a seal around the leaf village.
"The ambush...was designed to kill her." Carver coughed and more blood dripped down his chin. "Reapers..." Carver was piecing together what had happened for us. I looked back over to Sakura. The Reapers had set up a trap?
"We will." Kakashi called in front of us as we quickly made our way through the village. "We will keep you and your team safe and we will activate the seal but right now Carver you need to focus on not dying."
"Yeah." I agreed. "You know how pissed Sakura will be if you died?" I tried to joke, I watched a small smile form on his face, but after a moment his eyes closed, and he went limp. "What happened!?" I felt panicked.
"He is still breathing." Guy said, sounding so solid right now. I watched as Guy and Kakashi glanced at each other, I knew that look and what it meant...it meant that if we didn't get these three to the hospital right now, they were not going to make it.
It took us seven minutes to get to the hospital, it was the longest and yet the fastest moments in my entire life. We jumped into view of the large building; three separate medical teams were waiting for us with stretchers. The three who call themselves soldiers and not shinobi were ripped from our hands.
I felt my body move forward, wanting to follow Sakura as she was lifted onto the stretcher and rolled away. Sasuke caught me, wrapping an arm around me. I didn't feel his light grip as I watched the direction Sakura had been taken, almost as if she and the others would walk around the corner any second now and smile at me, telling me this was all a sick joke.
This wasn't a sick joke. Sasuke moved sideways, going in the wrong direction to the waiting room taking me with him.
I couldn't wrap my head around this as Sasuke sat me in a chair. Ever since she stormed back into my life, Sakura has always been so strong like a rock no storm could move. Hell, she saved my life and then had that chakra stealing seal placed over her and even then, she still rose and fought to protect me and my team. But now she looked so fragile that it broke my heart to know if I touched her, she would shatter into a thousand pieces as if she was made from the finest glass. For the first time since she returned Sakura looked human, I could see her armor had kinks had in it.
"Naruto." I looked up, seeing Sasuke was holding out a can of soda in front of me. I slowly took it, the coldness from the can shocked me, a strange feeling then rose in my chest that I did not understand...did I...did I feel disappointed? What was this? Was this feeling because I discovered Sakura wasn't all powerful and perfect? How was that fair?
I sat beside Sasuke and Kakashi as I played with the can in my hands, why was it fair for me to judge her for having to escape when she has to come to my rescue more than once? Sakura was the Reaper, the all-powerful Reaper of Reapers yet here she lay in the hospital barely hanging onto her life. I shook my head as I felt disappointed in myself.
"Don't worry Naruto." I looked up at Guy's voice. "They will be ok." I nodded at Guy's smile, but I could see his grin was forced, it was hard not to. I noticed the men around me, how they all had blood painted on them. This didn't feel real to me, it was like my brain was refusing the evidence in front of me.
Tsunade was passing back and forth with her face scrunched up. Tsunade was a highly respected medical ninja but she was kicked out of the emergency room. Tsunade's skills involved only the use of chakra, so she was useless.
Tsunade gave a little update, hitting us with more gloom as we discovered Sakura, Carver and Raiden were infected with the Reaper's poison that won't allow a body to heal with chakra. There wasn't a known cure that we knew off, I remember Sakura making a comment that the river village was working on something but they haven't succeeded yet.
Everyone sat in silence I kept thinking about how I had been sitting in a café with my friends without a care in the world enjoying my day off while Sakura was fighting for her life. I knew there was nothing I could do or nothing I could have done to change this outcome but that didn't make me feel any better I still felt horrible.
"Naruto!" I looked up to see Hinata running into the waiting room.
"Hinata?" I asked myself. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard." Hinata said looking at the floor and not at me, "I heard Sakura returned but she is hurt."
"She is..." I said looking at the floor. "...really bad."
"What happened?" Her voice was so soft as she spoke.
"We don't know." Sasuke answered from beside me. "We only got a few pieces before Carver passed out from his blood loss."
"Why are you the only one here?" I wondered. "Where is everyone else?"
"I was told to keep it on the down low." I nodded understanding. We couldn't have a waiting room full of worried people it would be too much and most of our friends were drunk.
"Smart." I nodded, Hinata moved to the row in front of me and took a seat. We all fell back into silence as we all waited around. These chairs were fucking terrible, my back and ass hurt as I shifted around but could not find comfort. I still hadn't opened the can of soda Sasuke gave me, I continued to play with it in my hands as I glanced at the clock ticking away at the wall.
Hours blob together passing by us as the night began to grow into the morning. Tsunade kept saying it was good it was taking time, it also means that no one had died yet the thought of Sakura dying now had me wanting to drop to me knees and pray that this was all one really messed up dream. I just found out from Carver that Sakura was beginning to warm up to me, I blinked a few times, leaning back in my chair fighting tears back. I had so much I needed to say to her...
Finally, at four o'clock in the morning we got news of Raiden and Carver being stable. They were put into a private ICU room. Room 407 and that we would be allowed in shortly. I stood, walking closer to the doctor who was explaining to Tsunade what they had to do in surgery. I looked from Tsunade and the doctor, what about Sakura?
Sasuke pushed me forward, I looked at him and saw they were waiting for me to collect my shit and walk. I kept looking at Tsunade, why hadn't they said anything about Sakura? Did she...I looked away from the floor I had been staring at as if that could make the thoughts of Sakura dying here today go away.
We followed the doctor to a room; it was large and could fit four patients. Carver and Raiden were both here, against the right side of the large white room. I stared at Raiden as I moved to his side, I touched his hand. He and Carver looked like they had a great fall and it took all the doctors and all the nurses to put them back together with duct tape.
"Hey..." Tsunade whispered softly, I looked up hearing her voice. I felt a large breath leave my lungs. I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath the second I walked into this room. Carver had his eyes opened as he was looking around the room looking at each of us, looking a little confused. "Welcome back." Tsunade smiled, sounding so unlike her natural self.
Carver ignored Tsunade for a moment, turning his head in my direction. Carver breathed looking relieved once he saw Raiden was beside him. After a moment, he began looking around the room. I knew he was looking for Sakura, I was wondering the same thing. Where was she?
"She is still with the doctors." Tsunade whispered, she reached out and took his hand with hers. Carvers eyes closed tightly, I watched him lift his free hand and cover his face with it. "They have high hopes for her." Tsunade added, what did that mean?
Carver shook his head slightly back and forth, his skin looked pale and sweaty. My heart skipped as I sucked in a breath seeing a tear falling from his eye. When I thought of Carver, I saw a fighter. He was retraining our shinobi to be stronger and he was such a flirt...tears didn't match him in the slightest.
"Is she going to live?" I snapped down, looking at Raiden and smiled seeing his eyes were open as he looked around the room.
"They have high hopes." Kakashi repeated Tsunade's original answer. Raiden's face twisted showing pain, he began to lift himself up from the bed. I quickly move pressing my hands against his shoulders trying to keep him in bed.
"Raiden, do not move. You're only going to make your condition worse." Tsunade said rushing over.
"It is all my fault." Raiden gasped out fighting me. "I have to get to her." I was taken back seeing tears spill over his eyes. Raiden was always so goofy and loving, I didn't like seeing him hurt like this, my heart was squeezing together as he tried to fight me, but I felt how weak he was and I had to fight myself from letting me show tears. I had to be strong for them right now, I had to be like Kakashi and Sasuke who were so collected. I couldn't shatter, I had no reason too. I was not the one in the ambush, I was not the one hurt...I couldn't be this weak!
"She is alive, she is with the doctors." Tsunade repeated as Kakashi came to assist me with keeping Raiden in bed.
"No!" Raiden yelled as more tears fell down his face, "I won't let her die alone! I have to be there with her!"
"She isn't going to-" I tried to comfort.
"It's my fault!" Raiden cried out; his arms wrapped around my one right arm. I felt myself tense for a moment feeling his hug my arm as hard as he could. Raiden's eyes were bloodshot and he looked so tired as he leaned against me.
I bent down and wrapped hugged him with my free arm. I felt tears fall from my eyes and down my cheeks as I listened to Raiden gasping for air as he sobbed into my shirt. "I am the reason she is going to die!" He gasped out trying to suck in more air into his lungs, his voice was muffled but I knew everyone heard them.
"Raiden, what are you talking about?" Kakashi asked, I felt the bed dipped down as Kakashi sat on the bed.
"We were attacked." Carver breathed out pulling everyone's attention to him and off Raiden.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke questioned standing beside Guy and Hinata.
"We left." Carver sighed, leaning against the pillow behind him. "About an hour after you did for your mission." He said to Sasuke.
"Yeah." Sasuke's voice was darkened. "We learned Sakura took you two with her when she left."
"Don't-" Carver shook his head. "-Don't be mad at her." He sounded breathless.
"Why not?" I wanted to slap Sasuke, this was not the time!
"She got a call from Dawn, the Iron Village needed help, but she waited until your team left. She wanted you to believe we were waiting here for you so you three wouldn't be distracted from your mission, so you three would be safe." Carver explained, my heart felt sad and yet warm knowing Sakura cared enough to do this for us. "...she didn't want to leave... " Carver breathed catching my full attention quickly.
"She didn't?" I asked,
"This is not the time for this." Tsunade spoke up, her voice broke a little, so she cleared it. "Carver what happened to you three?"
"After we left here we saw the Iron Village looked fine, so we broke up and went our own ways Raiden and I went to search the nearby towns. We knew this village, we had personal ties to it. We had been there a thousand times; we knew the people and the streets. We just wanted to sure everything was ok. I got a call from a friend from the Iron Village-" Carver spoke up after clearing his throat again. "-he was crying and said he needed help. When I got there Raiden and Sakura were already on sight, she didn't like it she felt like something was off." Carver swallowed hard a few times, like he had a thump in his throat that he couldn't get rid of. "We were walking through the village and it was empty. Sakura didn't like, she was about to call the Waterfall Village and then out of nowhere it was like someone flipped a switch. Hundreds of Reapers poured into the open ambushing us. We tried to take cover but the father we got into the village the more villagers we found had already been slaughtered..." I watched Carver drift away from us and into his memories back into the moments he was inside the iron village.
"Carver." Tsunade said, touching his arm. He seemed to snap out of it. He licked his lips but wouldn't look any of us in the eye. I moved and sat on the bed as Raiden hid his face in my jacket still holding onto me like I was a lifeline.
"...The farther we ran the more destruction we stumbled upon-" Carver started up again. "-the more fire burnt. There was so much screaming, we had been in wars before but this hit different...we knew all the people, we watched children grow into adults and to see them lying in the streets with their throats sliced open it just..." Carver trailed off again, getting sucked back into his memory.
"Carver-" Tsunade picked up his hand, "-you're in shock." Tsunade said. "I understand this but please, tell what happened to the Iron Village."
"Sakura gave you her blood to activate the protection seal?" Carver looked up at Tsunade.
"Yes..." Tsunade nodded, "I remember that it was very gross."
"You activated them, right?" Carver looked and sounded like he was completely here with us. I watched Tsunade and Kakashi exchange glances, even though Carver was in shock he picked up on this. "What?" He breathed; his face twisted with anger. "Why haven't you!?" His voice boomed, echoing around the room.
"Carver-" Tsunade tried to reason.
"Do you have a death wish for your village!?" Carver shouted as he looked like he was trying to move to get up. Kakashi stood, moving towards Carver to keep him down like we had done with Raiden.
"Carver, you're in shock." Tsunade called over Carver's protests. "We don't want to raise alarm with the entire village just because-"
"Put the seals up!" Carver demanded. "Or let me go so I can get Raiden and Sakura out of this village!"
"You're not going to take them anywhere." Kakashi's voice sounded almost like a threat.
"You three are injured, you can't travel-" Tsunade tried to speak again but Carver cut her off demanding some seal to be put up.
"First tell us what happened." Sasuke said trying to compromise. "If it is anything that we can't handle than we will put Sakura's seal up."
"You guys will not be able to handle-"
"Prove me wrong." Sasuke challenged.
"You don't want to know..." Carver trailed off, defeat in his voice.
"Everyone thinks you all got attacked by surprise. That is why you are so badly hurt." I found myself saying. "Unless you can shock the hell out of everyone in this room...those seals will not go up." Carver looked down into his lap and took in a deep breath.
"The Iron Village is gone." Carver breathed, "It burnt to the ground as Sakura transported us here."
"You're going to have to do better than that." Sasuke said.
"I knew the Reapers were a sick bunch of bastards, but I never expected to see what I saw. The Reapers used the villagers against us, that is how we fell. They strapped explosives to children and forced them to run at us, if they didn't comply they were punished."
"Punished...how?" I was stupid enough to question.
"I heard Raiden screaming..." Carver answered, causing me to look down at him. "...when the children fought against the Reapers they were punished in different ways. Most were males, they were beaten and if that didn't work then they had limbs cut off and then cauterized there on the spot. If the child was female and she refused, then she was taken so they could break her in later. The Reapers captured a lot of the females so they could sell them off."
"Carver this is all fucked up but your tired and-" Sasuke started.
"I watched that group of sick fucks rape innocent women and men of all ages, excuse me if I am just a little tired!" Carver snapped.
"How did Sakura get hurt?" Kakashi asked.
"Sakura and I had a small group of survivors." Carver sighed. "We rounded a corner and tried to hide them inside a building while we fought but ran into a group of Reapers taking turns with the Kage's wife as her children were tied down being forced to watch. When the Reapers saw we found them they forced one of the wife's daughters to run at us, a bomb strapped to her chest as they tried to flee with the Kage's wife...Sakura and I were busy fighting and Raiden failed to take the child down so the bomb on her chest went off. That is what took him down, injured me and Sakura. This was the event that slowed Sakura down enough to where the Reapers could do real damage to her. The group of survivors we had were all killed, Sakura turned and tried to go after the Kages wife."
"Why did they want her?" I wondered.
"Because she was a trophy. The reapers like to collect them." Carver answered as if that was common knowledge.
"I thought only towns and villages were trophies to them." Sasuke said, causing Carver to laugh only to end up coughing.
"They make everything a sick game, which makes anything a trophy. They love to collect woman of high power. It is one thing that they get off on." Carver spat out; my stomach felt sick. I didn't think this kind of evil could exist. "We found the Kages wife about a half hour later, I think...I thought I had seen the worst of it, but I was wrong...what Sakura and I stumbled upon...when we were able to kill most of the Reapers, we pulled the Kages wife to safety, but I turned around as I heard her say she could not live with what has been done to her and her daughters. She took her own life with Raiden's sword." I don't think anyone knew what to say.
"I am so sorry..." I heard Tsunade whisper.
"For the past few months, we thought the reason for the low activity from the Reapers was because we had hit them hard enough to need time to recover but we were so wrong."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke wondered.
"The reason the Reapers had been so quiet was because they had planned this ambush. It had to have taken them months to plan this and get the manpower we saw."
"I am not following." Sasuke shook his head.
"This attack on the Iron Village was planned out very carefully over a period of time, it was their attempt at taking Sakura down." Carver whispered. I looked at Kakashi. "Which is why you need to put up the seal, they are not going to stop until they have tracked Sakura down and finished the job while they still can."
"You think they will come here?" I asked.
"I think they are going to flood every village they can get inside. I am sure the price on Sakura's head as tripled because of this."
"It was my fault." Raiden spoke up again, I looked down at him. "I couldn't do my job." He whispered, "There was so much fire...so many people were screaming...It was just a little girl...she just kept came running at me when I kept yelling at her to stop. She just kept crying for her mother and I couldn't...I couldn't kill her."
I looked up in time to see Tsunade had left the room, I knew where she went so, I didn't need to ask. Once again, silence filled the room. I didn't know what to say, what do you say after being told stuff like this? What do you say to someone who just barely escaped a war? How do you begin to find the words to comfort them?
"Look!" Hinata gasped, I rushed to the window with everyone else. A large light blue dome was covering the entire village, so that was Sakura's seal? I could see a lot of people on the streets from being on the fourth floor of the hospital. A lot of people looked confused seeing we were basically a snow globe now. I wonder how long that thing will stay up?
The door's burst opened, we all turned around to see a bed being rolled in. Tsunade was behind them as the same doctor from before was talking to her, but I didn't understand anything she was saying. I watched eagerly as a staff of three brought in machines I didn't know existed. The curtain was drawn so we could not see a thing and only Tsunade was allowed over there. I looked around as we waited to be told what the hell was going on. I sat at the end of Raiden's bed as we waited and listened to the low mutteres of the doctor and Tsunade.
It took eight long ass minutes for the three nurses to leave the room, but the curtain was not pulled back. I huffed, feeling annoyed and impatient. After a moment I heard Tsunade,
"Thank you, Dr. Yu." I watched the doctor nod and leave the room closing the door behind her. Tsunade walked around the curtain and looked at us.
"Er..." I didn't understand what is going on.
"No one is to panic." Tsunade sounded so calm, I felt my eyebrows pull together confused as I looked at Sasuke to see if he had a clue with the hell was happening. With that comment Tsunade pulled back the curtain, I felt my body stand but instantly numbness filled my cells when I got a view of Sakura.
Her eyes were closed as she laid against her hospital bed. Her long pink hair flowed around her like a sea of silk. Most of what I could see was bandaged and she had an IV in her right arm. What I did not like, what made my stomach ache and desire to hunt down every monster who called themselves a Reaper was the tube that was inside her mouth.
"Why is there a tube in her mouth?" I asked, my voice was so shaky and unsure.
"Sakura is intubated." Tsunade explained as I traced the tube that was inside Sakura's mouth as blue hoses were connected to it running into a weird looking machine. "That is what is keeping her breathing..." Tsunade's words were soft as I felt Kakashi move past me and walk to Sakura's side.
"She can't breathe on her own?" Kakashi questioned, staring down onto Sakura.
"No." Tsunade answered. I walked next to Kakashi getting a closer look. Her skin was pale and covered in bruises. There was tape holding the tube in place which ran into Sakura's airway. This scary looking thing was what was keeping her alive...
"How is she?" I asked Tsunade, wanting to know more information. Tsunade sighed,
"She is stable." Tsunade answered, I looked at her. Was that all she was going to tell us? As I turned back to Sakura, a sharp pain hit my heart, seeing Sakura in this state was hard. I reached out and took her left hand, as I realized this wasn't her fault but Raiden's but at the same time how could I be mad with him for doing the same thing I couldn't do either...I could never take the life of a child.
This wasn't either of their faults it was the Reapers. I felt anger and hatred brewing together inside me using my stomach as a mixing pot making me want to throw up, Sakura hated the Reapers more than I did, was this how Sakura felt all the time?! It was fucking horrible!
"Tsunade." Carver called out after an hour of silence and us all sitting around staring at Sakura. I wonder if she was dreaming...a hard fact to swallow for me was realizing this was not a bad dream I was going to wake up from. Tsunade said Sakura was stable but until she could breathe on her own is when she will be out of the woods.
"Yes Carver?" She turned to look at him as did I.
"Was it ok for us to come here?" Carver sounded unsure.
"Of course!" Tsunade got up and speed walked over to his bed. "I have told you three a hundred times you three are always welcome here; you are family."
"I know...it's just Sakura did not want to endanger the Leaf Village." Carver explained, "But with Raiden down and I could barely-"
"You and Raiden are family now. With or without Sakura you two are always welcome here." Carver nodded, a light smile on his lips.
"Thank you." He breathed. She nodded and looked back over to the pink haired woman asleep in her bed across the room.
"Why didn't she want to come here?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his pervy book.
"The attack was designed to kill Sakura off. We were cornered, Sakura lost so much blood and we couldn't heal ourselves. Raiden was down, and I could barely stand. It was such a mess, I knew she didn't want to go to the Waterfall Village, not like this. Hundreds of soldiers would jump to kill her. So, she brought us here, telling me that if she passed out or died to get the seals up because she was afraid that the Reapers would follow to finish the job...she didn't want the Leaf Village to suffer the same fate the Iron Village had."
"I am glad you three came here." Tsunade said taking his hand. "This is your home now. You three do not have to be strong here. No matter who comes to our gates we will fight." Carver smiled, squeezing Tsunade's hand as hard as he could, which wasn't much, I could see it in Tsunade's eyes. "No one is going to get to you three."
"She missed you." Carver said,
"We missed you too." Tsunade smiled, I got up and walked over to Carver and took his free hand, I waited for a perverted comment from him but didn't get one...he really is hurt.
"Welcome home Carver."