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

Rescue

"I'm so sorry, I hoped Kakashi Sensei was already back, I thought..."

"He quite clearly isn't," Sakura snapped at Kaeru as they were roughly ushered into a damp, dark cell deep underground, "and I hope he won't return at all so he won't fall into this trap you helped set with your grand stupidity."

"But I... I didn't..."

Kaeru faltered. He looked so guilty and close to tears that Sakura felt immensely sorry for her harsh words. Their situation wasn't Kaeru's fault, of course, she would have done exactly the same for someone she cared for. But before she could apologize for lashing out and add a few encouraging words, heavy bars were clanged shut behind them, the ugly sound echoing loudly in the closed space of these underground facilities. After turning a key three times, the prison guards walked away without paying them any further attention.

What a relief.

She had expected the Mizukage would order a mind search and torture, worse, she had feared that she would use Sarada for leverage - but that Keiki woman seemed to have some decency after all. For now.

Sakura turned around once to get a good look at their surroundings. Dim lights. No windows. Barren stone floors. A pot in the corner - instead of a toilet. Three old looking mattresses with no bedding.

Unacceptable. Not that she was an expert when it came to prisons, but surely, Konoha didn't have facilities this shabby?

Pouting a little, Sarada walked over to one of the mattresses and sat down, looking gloomy but not frightened as she picked a bit of gravel from the floor and began building a little pile. The child must be hungry, Sakura thought when her own stomach growled. Surely they would be dinner? But maybe she didn't want to stick around that long to find out.

"Okay, we're getting out of here as fast as possible," she declared, wrinkling her nose at everything.

"They suppress chakra down here," Kaeru said, "I've already tried moulding mine."

Well, damn. No wonder they had not bound their hands too.

"Still! As fast as possible," Sakura insisted. She wouldn't let despair set in. She would get them out of here before the night was over, chakra suppression or not! But first, there was something that needed her urgent attention. Sakura turned to Kaeru's sister Ichika who had sat down in a corner with her back against the wall and her head between her knees.

"Hey. I'm Sakura," she addressed her. "Can I have a look at your wounds? I'm a doctor."

Ichika lifted her head a fraction and stared at her with distrustful eyes, the fading bruises on her face a stark contrast to her otherwise snow white skin.

"She's a friend," Kaeru assured his sister, kneeling down next to them. "Ichi, let her help you."

"It is my fault," Ichika blurted out, her voice raw and vulnerable, "all is my fault."

"No," Kaeru said tearfully, "no, please don't say that."

"It's nobody's fault in particular," Sakura said bitterly, taking one of Ichika's arms between her hands. "I like to blame myself for things too, but in this case..."

More like a series of decisions and unlucky events resulting in a mess of grand proportions. Sasuke fathering a child of great value to the Shinobi world with a madwoman, Kakashi doing what he always did, which was trying to protect everyone except himself, and her falling in love with him and following him out of Konoha like a silly duckling. But no. It had started way before Sasuke had cheated on her, hadn't it. This went back to events that had occurred even before her own birth. To Kakashi and Rin. Kakashi, Rin, Obito and Madara... always Madara. How was it possible a dead person could still have so much influence over their lives to this day?