Chapter 10: An Offer

It wasn't until late the next morning that Sakura pushed open the doors to the hospital, feeling still drained from the other night. Exhaustedly she dragged her feet through the entrance, not really wanting to work that day.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," Shizune greeted as she approached the petal-haired girl, "Tsunade-sama is awaiting your presence in the medical office upstairs."

"Ohayo," Sakura yawned, the lack of sleep not helping her be rid of her exhaustion.

"I hope you slept well," Shizune said, leading Sakura along to the elevator, clutching a clipboard and stack of papers close to her, "I can't imagine that you had an easy time of it after last night. I'm amazed that you could remain so calm during the procedure."

Following Shizune as they entered the elevator, Sakura was too tired to even ask what the Hokage's assistant was talking about. The words themselves made sense, but she could not see how they applied to her. She had seen ninja in worse condition than the young man the previous night—she had seen ninja die as she continued to work on them, struggling to keep them alive even though she knew it was futile. Tsunade had always said that she had to recognize when to give up, but Sakura could not bear the thought of quitting. That aside, it was needless to say that she was not squeamish around blood or injuries, and she wondered why Shizune was so proud of her all of a sudden.

"I know that if it had been me in your position, I wouldn't be able to handle it," the said assistant continued as the elevator rumbled slowly upward, "Anyways, Tsunade-sama is filling out the paperwork in the office down the hall. Please come with me."

Sakura, who had opened her mouth to ask what Shizune was going on about, shut it as the elevator doors opened and she was required to match the young woman's brisk pace as they marched down the linoleum hallway.

Understandably, Sasuke woke to darkness, but despite the fact that he knew that he would not wake to anything else, it still took him a little time to register what had happened to him. He first noticed the dull throbbing in his eyes, which he supposed was an improvement to the burning pain he had felt as he took the kunai to his face. His left arm was tingling slightly, but it was no longer hurting. Dimly he tried to remember what happened, and where he was.

He remembered the pain clearly—he was unsure of how he had been tortured, but he knew that he had been put under the method by some strange jutsus he had never heard of. Whatever it had been, he felt lucky that he had even survived it, as it had hurt so badly. After that he could dimly remember being half-carried, half-dragged into the forest and left out there to die. The memories after that were a little hazy, but he recalled the cherry tree—the smell was so strong, seeming like a haven amidst all the agony he felt, and lying under the trunk, he prepared himself to die. Much to his surprise he found himself alive, lying in a foreign location, having no recollection of how he got there or why he had been rescued.

The pungent aroma that was in the air was far from pleasant, but it was enough for him to realize he was most likely in a hospital, or some other medical facility, which would account for the sudden disappearance of his wounds. But while the information was somewhat helpful, it still did not help him understand where the medical facility was, or even what country he was in.

Sasuke sat up slowly, trying to gather information from what he knew of the surrounding area, which is when he discovered that his right wrist was shackled to the hospital bed. He scowled—this meant that wherever he was he had been taken hostage by people who knew he was a wanted criminal. There were a number of people that could have captured him; he tried to narrow his options down by trying to remember where the base had been located, and how far away they would have most likely dragged him, but his memory drew up a blank. He growled, remembering Orochimaru's order to have important information erased from his memory. Apparently the location of the base had been part of said important information—he supposed it was obvious, but it still frustrated him that he could not remember.

He dimly knew that it was somewhere in the Fire Country, and it was most likely that he had been dumped somewhere there. And judging by the fact that he was bound, no matter how simplistically, it was probably safe to assume that he was in Konoha. Lying back down on the bed that he had been laid in, he grumbled darkly in his mind—the Village Hidden in the Leaves was the last place he had hoped to end up, and it was a great inconvenience for him, considering that even if he could escape the hospital in his condition, he would most likely not make it to out of the village.

Sasuke listened carefully—he would have to wait until someone came and checked on him before he could get some answers. He lay quietly, knowing his expression probably looked grim, but there was little he could do about his situation—the only thing he could do was wait.

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