Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

The Catch

Ouch.

Sakura straightened her back and titled her neck from side to side until her vertebrae popped.

So tense.

After throwing a quick glance at Sarada in the corner to assure herself the child was well, Sakura pushed her chair back with a grunt and let her head fall backwards.

The concrete ceiling above her was grey and ugly. The bright artificial light with its slight flicker gave her a dull headache. The warm air that smelled of disinfectants made her eyes dry and itchy. Her tummy hurt. She hadn't eaten anything properly for hours, but she had no appetite... she was beginning to suspect that the water here didn't agree with her.

In short, she was miserable. So damn miserable.

Kakashi had been gone for four days.

Which meant four days in a foreign village with horrible, moist weather, four days of not getting even an inch closer to understanding the Uchiha sickness, and four days to identify every possible problem ahead multiple times over in ever darker shades of grey.

And worst, four days of missing a certain silver-haired Shinobi so much it physically hurt.

She needed to see him, she needed to know he was alright after getting back what she guessed were his nastiest, most haunting memories. Most importantly, she needed him to tell her that everything was going to be alright. That she had a place by his side, whatever happened. Even if he became Hokage. Even if she knew, she just knew...

Sakura heaved a shaking sigh. Dammit. She wanted to cry. Like a stupid ninny.

When she turned her head to the side, Sarada was looking at her expectantly. She had been playing with used medical equipment and cotton balls for hours and had not complained even once. She was such a good child that Sakura felt ashamed of her self-centered misery.

"We can't go back yet," Sakura said to her apologetically and straightened her body with an effort. "Today's test takes more time."

Sarada nodded bravely, though she was barely able to hide her disappointment. On the first day, Sakura had tried to explain the details of what she was doing to this five year old. The girl's confused blinks had been sobering. It really made no sense. Breaking apart the blood and saliva of four people in a wild gooses chase for some hint she could pursue further... totally unscientific and clearly a waste of time. Properly sequencing DNA took four to eight weeks that she did not have, which meant she had to try all kinds of other things to keep herself occupied. Most of it was a complete failure. Yesterday, what she had done proved that she and Sarada were females and Kaeru and Kakashi were males. Glorious results.

"Hey, wanna practice chakra control again?" Sakura asked.

Teaching Sarada was slow progress, but if Sakura had learned one thing from interacting with Naruto it was that sometimes, not giving up was even more important than succeeding. Besides, even baby steps were better than nothing.

"Show me the hand signs," she told the girl.

"Ne," Sarada began the sequence dutifully. "U-ushi. Tora? Tatsu..."

Sakura got up to correct the position of Sarada's fingers, showing her once again how it was done properly, letting her copy the signs one by one. How was it possible Karin had not even taught her daughter the very basics?

"Okay," she smiled after another run through that showed improvement. "Just keep practicing. The trick is to get to the point where you can do it without thinking."

"Will Uncle Kakashi be proud when I show him?"

"Oh, for sure," Sakura said, feeling touched by Sarada's eagerness, "he'll be delighted to see how good you have become!"