Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind

Return

This was a never ending nightmare. Screams erupted from all around me, countless voices begging me for help. I shut my eyes, not wanting to have to see it again, but the feelings of hands grasping at my arms and legs tore them open.

The purple-black sky grew redder and redder as the hands crawling from the floor begged me for mercy. The ground pulsated beneath me, the texture of flesh soft against my own palms.

Walls were raising, desperate faces bursting forth to cry out in agony. Every heartbeat of the world was pained, vying, hungry.

The woman began to form from the floor once again, and my shouts joined the chorus, pleading her to spare me.

She only drifted closer with the same blank, unforgiving face. There was no face, only a canvas of ultimate neutrality.

The pain came back, the arms clawing even more desperately at my limbs. My left leg began to tear, a mouth gaping from the surface blow to claim me once again. I tried to fight it, but the arms chained me to the unforgiving ground, forcing my eyes to face the ceaseless dark.

I was being pulled in again, dragged into the nothing.

Gently hands replaced the violent, and Aaron gazed down at me with a smile, "It's okay, you're not going anywhere. I'm not going to let you fall."

The mouth closed, severing my leg but leaving me above the surface. I screamed in pain, but the shushing voice of my brother drowned it out.

"You're not going anywhere; you're safe." he promised, "We're going to get you out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I left the hospital in a rush; Sakura's condition was only getting worse, and if I couldn't get her out of her hallucinations she likely wasn't going to ever be the same.

So much had happened since that Summit, but there was no time to dwell on it now; I needed to make it to Tsunade and see how that drug was coming along. Takumi had been a big help, mentioning that she hadn't had a single dream after Pain's attack. It had to be the food pills; that was our only lead. I was back home, but this wasn't the happy reunion I wanted. This was terrible; I hadn't been able to see a single one of them, and that was all I wanted to do. Now more than ever, I just really needed a friend to talk to.

It was all just too much: the revived Hokage's, the stolen receivers from the Pain corpses, the hallucinations, the injuries. Even if I could pull Sakura out of the hallucinations, her lost leg might still erase who she used to be. I had no idea how she was going to handle it.

I needed to find out anyway. We needed to make that effort.

I burst into the laboratory, quickly locking on to Tsunade and rushing over before bowing, "Lady Tsunade, what is the status of the medicine?"

She only blinked down at me in surprise, "I didn't send for you."

"She's getting worse, ma'am." I explained, "I need a status report so that I can take care of her and possibly change tactics."

"No," she clarified, "It's just that I've finished the test batch."

"Really?" I gasped hopefully.

She nodded, handing me a vial, "Hopefully this will work."

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade." I bowed again before running back out to deliver the drug that would hopefully save my friend.

My original biggest worry upon returning was whether I could gain the trust of the leadership or not, but it seems that my performance at the Summit, me saving Sakura's life, and then working with her on the drug seemed to build her confidence in me. I suppose if there was anything good about this situation it would be that.