Title: Animal I Have Become
Author: mitsuki0tennyo (Mitsukino Tennyo)
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: SasuSaku (Uchiha Sasuke x Haruno Sakura)
Rating: T
Word Count: 729
Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.
Chapter Summary: Otogakure was place of cruelties and violence and to adept.. to survive Sakura had to kill part of her heart.
They were facing each other as they lay on Sakura’s futon, both of them exhausted from their respective training. He studied her face, hoping the lines would relax soon and that she would open her tightly clenched eyes. Yet he feared the moment she would, because the young Uchiha knew that another part of the light in her eyes would be doused by the inhumane place that was Otogakure.
Sasuke understood that they were suffering from different kinds fatigue – while his was physical, Sakura’s had to be psychological… Kabuto had made sure her training had been mentally exhausting. It was not in her nature to torture another human being for nothing more than the pleasure of it, but despite the fact it went against her morals, Sakura had performed the torturous surgery on the victim Orochimaru had chosen for her.
Kabuto was a cruel teacher, instructing Sakura to remove everything of the man’s body that was not essential to live. And since his own teacher had brought him to the labs, Sasuke had seen the thing that was once a human being now completely incapacitated and unable to communicate in the slightest.
Kabuto then proceeded to tell Orochimaru and Sasuke about how well Sakura had performed the amputation of the man’s arms, legs, penis, teeth, ears and tongue. The white haired medic had acted like a proud teacher the entire time he was bragging about his little student, shattering Sakura’s mentality with each twisted compliment he gave.
Sakura never had the desire to kill people, at least not willingly – despite the fact it was part of the lifestyle of ninja. While Sakura felt horrible after a battle kill, she could live with it. But what happened on that operation table was different than killing someone in the heat of a battle; it had been torture for the sake of torture.
She had pumped him full with sedatives, before steadily removing his limbs, genitalia and facial features. Then, Kabuto forced her to leave her victim on the operation table in front of a carefully placed mirror, so the man could do nothing but contemplate the hideous mutilation of his body, as Sakura was restricted from putting him out of his misery. It scared her to know that she was capable of performing such cruelties.
“The drug cocktail kept him alive during the surgery…. the chemicals in it, they will cause brain damage. And the fact we left him alone on that operation table will probably drive him insane. By tomorrow morning, he will be stripped off his humanity… and it’s my fault.” She sounded so shattered with the tiny tremors in her voice that it broke what was left of Sasuke’s frozen heart.
“No… it’s mine. You would never have to torture a man like that if I hadn’t allowed you to come with me.”
When she left Konoha with Sasuke, she was following her heart. She had been and was still willing to sacrifice everything she was for the man she loves, so she understand that the blame would never be his own. Sakura slowly opened her eyes to stare at him. Her hand reached up, gently brushing the hair that hung in front of his face away. “No, I would have followed you anyway….” There was a moment of silence, Sakura’s heavy words drifting between them. “Do you want me to heal you?”
“Hn,” he grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. She made the hand seals necessary for the Shōsen Jutsu, and the last Uchiha relaxed as soon pinkette’s green glowing hand passed over his injuries and mended his body.
Orochimaru’s training was brutal. The Snake Sannin drove Sasuke-kun’s body over its limits until the boy was seconds away from collapsing. Only Sasuke-kun’s resolute will had kept him resilient. In that sense, he was so much stronger than her.
However, Sakura knew of Orochimaru’s future plans which constantly worried her. She wondered if she should tell her love about the drugs the Snake wanted to inject into him, about the operations and surgeries which would make him immune to poisons and toxins. But there would be no use in telling him, since Sasuke-kun would go through with it either way – if only to have an edge over his brother.
(04. Rebirthing ←| Love Like Winter |→ 10. Breath Into Me)
Author’s note: Many thanks for Asha3 and halfkyuubikat for editing this chapter. Which was meant show you guys how Sakura became the coldhearted person she is now Either way despite the fact it was hard to write, I really like this chapter and will have a sequel as I really liked writing the girls like this. Oh btw, on my livejournal you can request prompts and themes for the LLW chapters after chapter 15. That’s if you interested of course.
mitsuki0tennyo 