yeeee
title: epinephrine
pairing: sasuke/sakura, shikamaru/ino
summary: you wish this were just a game.
chapter: 5/5
notes: LAST CHAPTER YES IT IS DONE \O/ it's awful but i hope you'll forgive me!
< previous chapter
epinephrine
and if you’re fast enough, vicious enough, strong enough-then you’re real.
-
-
-
“It seems your father was a weapon that defected a little over twenty years ago. We haven’t heard of him since, so we assumed him dead.”
Sakura blinked. “But he never mentioned that.” The memories that were artificially implanted in her were of living in the countryside with her parents. Both of them passed away in a bombing just days before she arrived in Kyoto, where the game started.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. For weapons, there are three rules. One is never to disobey your orders. Another is to never let what little emotion you have to hinder your actions.” Shikamaru pursed his lips then. “And the third is never to reproduce.” Under different circumstances, she might’ve thought that it was mildly funny, but the way he said it sent shivers up her spine.
“Why not reproduce?” she asked, voice eerily quiet.
Shikamaru sighed wearily. “As you know, weapons are genetically altered to have enhanced abilities. When they reproduce, there is a possibility of passing on those genes. It’s not a guarantee that they will, but it might happen.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t think there’s anything enhanced about me. Except for my forehead. I’m pretty normal.” Disappointment tended to lose its touch when you were constantly feeling that way. She had been useless nearly this entire game-it wasn’t much of a surprise that she was useless now.
“You don’t know that,” Ino quipped. “First, we’ll take a DNA test. And then we’ll do a full body-scan.”
Sakura bit her lip. She couldn’t quite understand the apprehension she was feeling. She wasn’t sure she could handle the weight of everyone’s lives on her shoulders. She’d been going on about how she didn’t want to be the useless one around-but now that she actually had the chance to do something worthwhile, it was difficult to gather the courage to think that she could do so. She wasn’t like Naruto-headstrong and reckless. She wasn’t like Sasuke, who was skilled and clever. She was just Sakura-the girl who liked to read.
Ino took one of her hairs first for the DNA test, and Shikamaru ran the body-scan. The results for the scan came back immediately, but she was informed that the DNA tests would take longer to return.
“What does it mean?” she asked Shikamaru. On the computer monitor were the results of the scan, but she didn’t know how to read it. The entire outline of her body looked normal, save for her right thumb, which had a red spot, fading out into orange, and then yellow.
“This is telling us if there’s anything radioactive in your body. Of course, our bodies are naturally radioactive, but this scan can tell what’s natural and what isn’t.”
“So, um…my thumb is radioactive?” She glanced at her right thumb. It looked pretty normal to her.
“We’ll need to conduct a more detailed scan before we’ll know what it is.”
-
Honestly, he was a huge flashing neon sign. How could he not have noticed?
“Oi, Naruto,” Sasuke hissed through the bars of the cell. He lost the people on his tail just seconds ago-and there was no doubt that the cameras in the corner were recording every moment. There was no time to destroy them. They’d be out in a minute anyway. “Naruto.”
The blonde ball of uselessness groaned from its spot on the ground. “Wha…”
“It’s Sasuke. Get up, unless you want to die.”
“I feel kind of dead already…so…hungry…”
“Then get up. I have food.”
“Food…!”
“Yes, Naruto. Food. Here, boy.”
Through sheer willpower, Sasuke was sure, Naruto heaved himself up on his feet. He smirked. Good. He pulled a laser blade from his pocket and easily cut through the bars-but immediately, the alarms went off again and red lights flashed everywhere. “C’mon, dobe!”
“Mmpgh-but the food-”
“We’ll eat later, when our lives aren’t at stake!”
Sasuke’s hand was clamped onto Naruto’s wrist, almost with bone-breaking strength as they raced through the corridors. Honestly, that moron was holding them back with his tripping and stumbling. Shouts reverberated off the walls, combined with the ear-splitting alarm going off-it was almost impossible for anyone to communicate with anyone else, which was good for them. Taking a sharp right (and almost throwing Naruto into the wall in the process), Sasuke continued to run.
Once they reached the stairs, he allowed for momentary rest. They’d been running so fast that only a few people caught sight of them, most likely. Glancing at Naruto, Sasuke fished out the last apple in his bag and threw it at the blonde’s head. It hit. Naruto groaned. Sasuke felt satisfied.
“Do you have any cup ramen?” his best friend rasped, grabbing the apple of the floor and biting into it without wiping it. Gross.
“Even if I did, we don’t have any hot water.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. We can eat it raw. Haven’t you ever done that before?”
Sasuke looked at him pointedly. “I don’t eat cup ramen in general. C’mon. Let’s go. Sakura is on the top floor with Shikamaru.”
“Shikamaru! I’d completely forgotten about him!” It seemed like a single apple could easily rejuvenate Naruto. And on that note, while crunching happily, they made their way up the stairs at a slow run.
“Right. Too busy trying not to die, right?”
“Hey! I could say the same to you!”
“I’m not the one of the verge of starvation in a game, dobe.”
-
She stared at her right hand. “So let me get this straight. I have a weird genetic alteration in my…thumb.” Shikamaru nodded. “Is that even possible?”
“Why not? It’s 2113.”
“So…what does it do, exactly?”
“We ran it through some of our scans,” Ino said, flipping through some papers. “It turns out the coding is almost the exact opposite of Pein’s code. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that you’re the hero, and you can do something none of the other players can.”
“But a code in my thumb…that’s a little stupid, don’t you think?”
“I think the creators just had a little mind block.” They flickered dangerously. “Okay. So. Every weapon is programmed to do its job. The program is just a small chip embedded in them that connects to their brain, controlling their thoughts and intentions. Most of the time, these chips are planted in places that are unlikely to be damaged. In Pein, that place is in his ear.”
Sakura couldn’t help but stare blankly at Shikamaru and Ino. “Of all places…”
“Basically,” Ino continued on, “we’re thinking that if we can somehow transmit your code into his program, you can pretty much mess up his entire system.”
Closing her eyes momentarily, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She could do this. Of course she could. She had to. Everything depended on her. “What do I have to do?”
“Because your thumb is radioactive, that means that it’s constantly emitting a stream of particles. It can be assumed that Pein’s going to react to it. Would you like to give it a shot?” Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets. “We don’t know what his reaction will be, so it might be a little dangerous. You still up for it?”
“Well”-she wrung her hands together-“I have no choice, do I?”
“He’s in his room over there.” It was rare that Ino had this air of somberness to her, and it worried Sakura. Reaching out, her fingers touched her best friend’s shoulder.
“It’ll work out.” Flicker. “We’ll be fine.”
Ino’s smile was so small and so soft that it almost didn’t seem real. “I know. What do you take me for?”
She just smiled back and shook her head. Of course. Ino had always been the stronger one out of the two of them. “Nothing. Let’s get this over with and get some drinks afterwards.”
“Deal.”
Sakura didn’t know why it came as a surprise to her that Pein looked the way he did. He was sleeping in his bed, looking normal, looking vulnerable, looking human. And it made sense; Sasuke was a weapon, Gaara was a weapon-both of them looked human. Why should Pein be any different?
“He looks like some badass gangster that you’d date,” she tried to joke to Ino, nudging her in the ribs. She just laughed emptily in response.
When Sakura stepped closer to the bed, Pein’s eyes flashed open, sharp and piercing. She froze.
“What’s up with his eyes?” she asked quietly.
“He has the ability to make corpses into his weapons. Those eyes help him see in the point of view of all of the bodies he’s controlling.” Ino shrugged, as if it was nothing. Sakura thought it was a whole lot frightening. “Go on. Walk closer to him.” Swallowing, she took another step forward. Pein sat up.
“Yamanaka-sama, this is our enemy. Why is she here?”
“Just doing some experiments,” the blonde chirped lightly. “Just be good and stay still.”
Pein shifted in his bed as Sakura came closer. “Something about her is interfering with my program.” His ringed eyes narrowed, and she could feel the tension rising in the room. Shikamaru was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, watching the entire exchange. She swallowed.
“I’m Sakura.” She stuck out her right hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He watched her carefully, but took her hand. “Pein. Likewise.” Well, at least he had manners. “Yamanaka-sama,” he continued, eyes flitting towards Ino, “does this experiment involve me losing some control over my limbs?” His hand felt stiff in Sakura’s, and she pulled away.
“Try his ear,” Shikamaru suggested from the door, ignoring Pein’s question. Doing as she was told, she reached out for his ear. Pein flinched, moving away.
“No,” he hissed. “Don’t touch me.”
Ino placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t be stingy, Pein. You’ll be fine.”
“There’s something wrong with her,” he said, darker this time. “She’s messing with my program.” When no one answered him, his eyes narrowed. “Have you lost use of me already?”
“I’m sorry,” Sakura said sincerely, “but we have to do this.”
The frown on his face was evident. “I understand that as my role as a weapon, I follow the bidding of those who have authority over me. However, I have been alive for no more than three days, and not once have I been sent out to do what I was made to do. And like that, you throw me away?” He moved to the edge of the bed and stood up. “I am worth more than that.” The way his eyes narrowed made her heart clench. Just a game, just a game, she repeated in her head like a mantra. A character. Not real.
But she had long since learned that although things weren’t real, they could very well be if she just believed them to be.
This was a person. A person with ideals and wants. A person with life. Would she be able to take all of this from him? Could she taken him down to save herself and her friends?
Of course, she would say yes. One life is nothing compared to several. But that didn’t stop it from being hard.
“Your ear, please,” she said softly, stepping towards him and reaching out again. He was much taller than her; he towered over her, large and intimidating, but she held her ground. She had to do this. For her, for Ino, Shikamaru, Tsunade, Naruto, Sasuke. For so many people. She couldn’t falter.
“Don’t think I’m just going to hand myself to you,” Pein said, eyes flitting around the room.
“Shit,” Shikamaru said suddenly. “We can’t let him leave this floor-!”
The realization hit Sakura harder than she’d like. If she didn’t finish him now, he’d kill others and use their lifeless bodies as his weapons. “Please,” she said, almost begging now. “Don’t let it be like this.”
“Don’t let it be like what?” Pein shouted. “Don’t let me live?” She flinched. That was harsh. That was also the truth.
Beside her, Ino moved-threw herself at Pein and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “We’re really sorry,” she murmured into his chest. “But please try to understand.”
It was quiet for a long, tense moment-and then he said, very quietly, “Please let go of me.”
“No.” Her voice was muffled. Sakura stared at her-she’d never seen her this way before; so vulnerable, so willing to fall to her knees. It kind of hurt, to watch her-out of the two of them, Ino had always been the stronger one. Ino protected Sakura. Ino stood up tall and proud. Sakura was the one who cried, the one who begged.
It all evened out, she supposed. This time, it was her turn to save Ino.
“Let go-” Pein was cut off when he saw Sakura trying to get close again-this time, determined for her fingers to make contact with their target. His eyes narrowed and he moved, faster than her. Ino was sent stumbling onto his bed and Shikamaru was knocked out of the way as the weapon left the room. Upon making sure with widened eyes that both of her friends were fine, they all followed him out with hurried steps.
Watching Pein stand behind the computers, watching all of them with wary eyes, made Sakura want to flinch. Even if it was for their lives, would she be able to stop him? To kill him? Theoretically, he was just a character, just some data-but he was more than that, she knew, because she was more than that-her, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke-
“The heroes have arrived!” The door to the stairs slammed open, and coincidentally, right into Pein. For a moment, no one moved.
She felt the need to bash her head against a hard surface.
Naruto blinked. “Did we come at the wrong time?”
“Sakura, now’s your chance!” Shikamaru shouted. It only took her a moment to think-no, not to think-to realize that there wasn’t time to think. Her feet moved, around the computers and machines, and before Pein could calculate what to do next, Sasuke had appeared behind Naruto and shoved the blonde away to keep the orange-haired weapon in an iron grip.
“Monsters,” Pein hissed, thrashing against Sasuke. Sasuke was already having troubles with holding him-was that how well Shikamaru and Ino built him? She’d have to commend them later for that, if their creation wouldn’t be the death of them.
“His ear, Forehead! His ear!”
I know that, Pig, Sakura thought, a little sadly. She only briefly caught the flash of-could that be considered fear?-across Pein’s features before she tackled him, grabbing hold of his ear.
“What the hell are you doing, Sakura?” Sasuke shouted, being shoved backwards, sandwiched between the wall and Pein’s flailing body.
“Just trust me!” But even she didn’t know if it was going to work or not.
“You stupid girl.” Pein’s colorless, ringed eyes struck fear to her very bones as they narrowed. Her free hand grasped his shoulder desperately, in order not to fall off from his drastic movements. Her heart pounded widely in her ribcage, and she found that her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t afford to.
But it was working, because she could feel his thrashes become weaker from under her.
“If I’m going down, then you’re going down with me…” Pein started to slide to the floor, due to Sasuke doing the same. All three of them fell with a thump, and her eyes widened, staring at him. Take them down with him?
“Shit.” The tone of Shikamaru’s voice was not comforting in the least. “He’s going to self-destruct. Sakura, Sasuke-get away from him, now!”
It was amazing, because she could already feel him heating up from under her. Quickly, she scrambled off of him and ran towards Ino, Sasuke not far behind. The chip in her thumb had slowed Pein’s movements, so he was having difficulty rising from the floor.
“Are you crazy?” Sakura yelled at Ino. “He has a self-destruct option?”
“Shut up!” her best friend wailed. “We didn’t know!”
“Quick, this way!” They all followed Shikamaru down the hallway and back into Pein’s room. Once everyone tumbled in, he shut the door behind them. “He’s right in the way of the stairs, and the elevators aren’t safe anymore. This is the only place we can hide.”
“We won’t be blown to smithereens, right?” Sakura asked nervously.
“Only those within a three meter-radius of him are guaranteed death. We’re farther from him than that, and we also have a few walls separating us, so we should be fine.”
“But what if he gets closer-?”
Shikamaru’s eyes hardened. “Then you’ll have to stop him, Sakura.”
“I-” She swallowed, heart racing in her chest. “Me?”
“Are you kidding me, Shikamaru?” Ino looked close to livid. “She could get killed!”
He looked solemn. “Better one of us than all of us.”
“I-I can’t believe you! Don’t listen to him, Forehead! If we’re screwed, then we might as well be screwed together!”
“No. He-he’s right.” Sakura’s hands were shaking. “I don’t think I could handle it, knowing that I could’ve saved you guys, when I didn’t. I’ll-” She’d what? She’d try? That was what she was about to say, wasn’t it?
“You either do it or you don’t. There is no trying.”
Her hands clenched into determined fists. “I’ll do it.” When her eyes met Sasuke’s, he was still as unreadable as ever-but he nodded once, and she knew he approved.
“Wait-can someone please tell me what the hell’s going on?” Everyone’s attention settled onto Naruto. Oh. She’d forgotten about him.
“We’ll explain later when we feel like it,” Sasuke snarled, looking away sharply to glare at Pein’s bed. Sakura searched for something to grab hold of, for some sort of anchor. The person who used to occupy that bed was going to die just seconds, and if that person just happened to open the door before that happened, then she was going to die. It was almost impossible to fathom.
Ino clung tightly to her arm, and her grip only tightened when the entire floor shook. They all fell to their knees, no one even daring to breathe.
One minute passed, and then two. Naruto was the first to speak. “I, um, think we’re okay now.”
Sasuke stood, and the rest of them followed suit. “Then all that’s left is Orochimaru. He should be easy to defeat when alone-he only hides behind his troops.” Without a hint of hesitation, he opened the door and stepped out. Sakura cautiously followed.
It seemed that Pein had exploded just at the end of the hallway-dangerously close to where they were. She had been so close to dying. The thought made her a little dizzy.
The rest of it happened in a blur. Which was a little disappointing, really-the event of killing Orochimaru was supposed to be the climax of the game-if this could even be considered a game anymore-but she couldn’t quite remember how it happened. All she could recall was the shrill ringing of the smoke alarms that went off, the security guards that had finally found out that there were intruders on this floor, and looking back to see Ino sitting against the wall, flickering so much that she was gone more than she wasn’t, with Shikamaru kneeling in front of her.
The last she saw of that world was Sasuke with a gun in his hand, looking down at Orochimaru’s slumped figure with what she could only call relief.
-
“As soon as you’ve secured their condition, bring them to the ambulances! The critical ones go onto the first three!”
Sakura blearily opened her eyes, immediately wincing at her pounding headache and her overheated body. Before her, she could see a screen of some sort, with rolling text-credits, perhaps?
“Miss, are you alright?” It took more effort than it should’ve to turn her head. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” she answered with difficulty, tongue heavy.
“Good.” The person spoke nothing more after that, and she felt blissfully cool fingers pressing against her cheeks, her temple, her forehead-and that was when she remembered.
The game.
She sat upright, immediately causing the blood to rush to her head. Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru-where were they? Were they all okay? They beat the game, right? So they were alive?
“Miss, please don’t strain yourself!” They were alive.
They were alive.
The sigh of relief came from her lips in a sudden whoosh, and she went slack in her seat, closing her eyes. It was okay. They won. They survived.
“Does anything hurt at all?” The person was speaking to her again. “Anything feel strange?”
“I have a headache, and it feels like I have a fever.” But even as she spoke those words, her eyes were flitting around the arcade, empty save for the staff and the other players for the simulation games. She found Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru getting out of their seats. Immediately, she turned to her right, where she knew Ino would be.
Her best friend was still relaxed in her seat, seemingly not woken up yet. There was another staff member there, waiting for her to wake up-even gently shaking her shoulder once. Nothing happened.
She turned back to the person tending to her. “Is there something wrong with her? She hasn’t woken up yet.”
He shook his head. “We don’t know yet, Miss. Let me escort you to the ambulance. You’ll be brought to the hospital, and your family members will be contacted.”
Sakura watched her best friend with worry as she made her way to the front of the arcade, where there were already news reporters and cameras situated right outside the main doors, around the ambulances that were stationed there. She tried to keep her face hidden from the flashes, but it seemed virtually impossible-they were everywhere.
The person helped her onto an ambulance, where a paramedic swabbed alcohol on her arm and gave her an IV. “We need one more person to board before we can go to the hospital,” she explained gently. “We’ll be there soon.”
The next person that got on, less than a minute later, was Sasuke. He was administered an IV as well, and with that, the doors to the ambulance closed, and they were off.
There was an awkward silence. What was she supposed to say to him? It felt like she knew everything there was to know about Sasuke, but did she really? She’d only been with him for the past three days, but even that was a trick in itself-in reality, it was only three hours or so. And that was in the game-was he still the same person in real life, when his life wasn’t threatened?
“I…” She swallowed. “I’m glad we got out.”
He glanced at her, and gave a swift nod. “Me too.” And she smiled, because really, he still saw her as the same person-the timid hero, the girl he slept with underneath a children’s slide-not the person he had to get through a game with. And she was glad, because-well, because she felt the same.
When they got off the vehicle in front of the hospital, she turned to him and smiled, holding out a hand. “I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself properly. I’m Haruno Sakura.”
She thought she saw the corner of his lips tilt upwards by a fraction as he took her hand, but it might’ve been her imagination. “Uchiha Sasuke.”
-
-
-
Sakura headed to the hospital at the first possible moment, texting everyone else in the process.
I don’t care what you guys are doing, drop it and come to the hospital. Ino’s awake.
It’d been two months since they survived the video game, and since then, life had gotten back to relatively normal-well, as normal as things could be, anyway. She met up regularly with Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru, keeping in touch. It seemed that life-threatening situations really brought a group of people closer together.
Ino had been in a coma since. Sakura couldn’t explain why, didn’t know how it was fair-but the fact that she was now conscious was probably the best news that she’d ever heard in her life. She all but bolted through the lobby of the hospital and through the halls that she had been in several times in the past two months to visit her best friend, and slammed the door open, panting.
“Ino!”
The blonde was wearing a hospital gown, hair down and spilling over her shoulders-but otherwise, she looked healthy. Irritably so, actually. She was even propped up against her pillows and reading the latest edition of Vogue.
“Forehead!” she exclaimed in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to come so quickly. Did you miss me?”
“I don’t see why I would,” she said, feigning distaste. But it was difficult not to smile, because things were finally completely right again.
It wasn’t long before the door opened again, and Shikamaru and Sasuke entered the room. Sakura smiled and waved hello to them. Shikamaru was the only one who really made his way to Ino’s bed-Sasuke never really had the time to get close to her. Sakura stayed with him near the door so Ino and Shikamaru could share some alone time. (Shikamaru’s crush on her was incredibly obvious.)
He looked indifferent with his hands shoved into his pockets, but he sounded anything but. “I think I’ll need to plant a tracker on you.”
Ino raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
“I always seem to lose sight of you.”
Sakura beamed at Sasuke. “Isn’t that cute?” she gushed quietly. He gave her that look that told her he thought she was crazy. “Where’s Naruto, by the way?”
“Working. He told me to apologize for not being able to make it.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “There’s always another time, then.” She glanced back at Shikamaru and Ino, who were conversing quite comfortably. She wondered what exactly had happened between them in the game; Shikamaru never told him, despite their constant nagging. (Well, her and Naruto’s constant nagging, anyway.)
“I think they’re fine on their own,” Sasuke said, watching the two.
“I agree. Shall we go for some coffee?” She held out an arm that he could link his with, but he just rolled his eyes and left the room. Typical of him. “Hey! Wait up!”
“I won’t hold the elevator doors open for you. Be prepared to take the stairs if you’re too slow.”
“Not like that hasn’t happened before.”
pairing: sasuke/sakura, shikamaru/ino
summary: you wish this were just a game.
chapter: 5/5
notes: LAST CHAPTER YES IT IS DONE \O/ it's awful but i hope you'll forgive me!
< previous chapter
epinephrine
and if you’re fast enough, vicious enough, strong enough-then you’re real.
-
-
-
“It seems your father was a weapon that defected a little over twenty years ago. We haven’t heard of him since, so we assumed him dead.”
Sakura blinked. “But he never mentioned that.” The memories that were artificially implanted in her were of living in the countryside with her parents. Both of them passed away in a bombing just days before she arrived in Kyoto, where the game started.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. For weapons, there are three rules. One is never to disobey your orders. Another is to never let what little emotion you have to hinder your actions.” Shikamaru pursed his lips then. “And the third is never to reproduce.” Under different circumstances, she might’ve thought that it was mildly funny, but the way he said it sent shivers up her spine.
“Why not reproduce?” she asked, voice eerily quiet.
Shikamaru sighed wearily. “As you know, weapons are genetically altered to have enhanced abilities. When they reproduce, there is a possibility of passing on those genes. It’s not a guarantee that they will, but it might happen.”
Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t think there’s anything enhanced about me. Except for my forehead. I’m pretty normal.” Disappointment tended to lose its touch when you were constantly feeling that way. She had been useless nearly this entire game-it wasn’t much of a surprise that she was useless now.
“You don’t know that,” Ino quipped. “First, we’ll take a DNA test. And then we’ll do a full body-scan.”
Sakura bit her lip. She couldn’t quite understand the apprehension she was feeling. She wasn’t sure she could handle the weight of everyone’s lives on her shoulders. She’d been going on about how she didn’t want to be the useless one around-but now that she actually had the chance to do something worthwhile, it was difficult to gather the courage to think that she could do so. She wasn’t like Naruto-headstrong and reckless. She wasn’t like Sasuke, who was skilled and clever. She was just Sakura-the girl who liked to read.
Ino took one of her hairs first for the DNA test, and Shikamaru ran the body-scan. The results for the scan came back immediately, but she was informed that the DNA tests would take longer to return.
“What does it mean?” she asked Shikamaru. On the computer monitor were the results of the scan, but she didn’t know how to read it. The entire outline of her body looked normal, save for her right thumb, which had a red spot, fading out into orange, and then yellow.
“This is telling us if there’s anything radioactive in your body. Of course, our bodies are naturally radioactive, but this scan can tell what’s natural and what isn’t.”
“So, um…my thumb is radioactive?” She glanced at her right thumb. It looked pretty normal to her.
“We’ll need to conduct a more detailed scan before we’ll know what it is.”
-
Honestly, he was a huge flashing neon sign. How could he not have noticed?
“Oi, Naruto,” Sasuke hissed through the bars of the cell. He lost the people on his tail just seconds ago-and there was no doubt that the cameras in the corner were recording every moment. There was no time to destroy them. They’d be out in a minute anyway. “Naruto.”
The blonde ball of uselessness groaned from its spot on the ground. “Wha…”
“It’s Sasuke. Get up, unless you want to die.”
“I feel kind of dead already…so…hungry…”
“Then get up. I have food.”
“Food…!”
“Yes, Naruto. Food. Here, boy.”
Through sheer willpower, Sasuke was sure, Naruto heaved himself up on his feet. He smirked. Good. He pulled a laser blade from his pocket and easily cut through the bars-but immediately, the alarms went off again and red lights flashed everywhere. “C’mon, dobe!”
“Mmpgh-but the food-”
“We’ll eat later, when our lives aren’t at stake!”
Sasuke’s hand was clamped onto Naruto’s wrist, almost with bone-breaking strength as they raced through the corridors. Honestly, that moron was holding them back with his tripping and stumbling. Shouts reverberated off the walls, combined with the ear-splitting alarm going off-it was almost impossible for anyone to communicate with anyone else, which was good for them. Taking a sharp right (and almost throwing Naruto into the wall in the process), Sasuke continued to run.
Once they reached the stairs, he allowed for momentary rest. They’d been running so fast that only a few people caught sight of them, most likely. Glancing at Naruto, Sasuke fished out the last apple in his bag and threw it at the blonde’s head. It hit. Naruto groaned. Sasuke felt satisfied.
“Do you have any cup ramen?” his best friend rasped, grabbing the apple of the floor and biting into it without wiping it. Gross.
“Even if I did, we don’t have any hot water.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. We can eat it raw. Haven’t you ever done that before?”
Sasuke looked at him pointedly. “I don’t eat cup ramen in general. C’mon. Let’s go. Sakura is on the top floor with Shikamaru.”
“Shikamaru! I’d completely forgotten about him!” It seemed like a single apple could easily rejuvenate Naruto. And on that note, while crunching happily, they made their way up the stairs at a slow run.
“Right. Too busy trying not to die, right?”
“Hey! I could say the same to you!”
“I’m not the one of the verge of starvation in a game, dobe.”
-
She stared at her right hand. “So let me get this straight. I have a weird genetic alteration in my…thumb.” Shikamaru nodded. “Is that even possible?”
“Why not? It’s 2113.”
“So…what does it do, exactly?”
“We ran it through some of our scans,” Ino said, flipping through some papers. “It turns out the coding is almost the exact opposite of Pein’s code. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that you’re the hero, and you can do something none of the other players can.”
“But a code in my thumb…that’s a little stupid, don’t you think?”
“I think the creators just had a little mind block.” They flickered dangerously. “Okay. So. Every weapon is programmed to do its job. The program is just a small chip embedded in them that connects to their brain, controlling their thoughts and intentions. Most of the time, these chips are planted in places that are unlikely to be damaged. In Pein, that place is in his ear.”
Sakura couldn’t help but stare blankly at Shikamaru and Ino. “Of all places…”
“Basically,” Ino continued on, “we’re thinking that if we can somehow transmit your code into his program, you can pretty much mess up his entire system.”
Closing her eyes momentarily, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She could do this. Of course she could. She had to. Everything depended on her. “What do I have to do?”
“Because your thumb is radioactive, that means that it’s constantly emitting a stream of particles. It can be assumed that Pein’s going to react to it. Would you like to give it a shot?” Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets. “We don’t know what his reaction will be, so it might be a little dangerous. You still up for it?”
“Well”-she wrung her hands together-“I have no choice, do I?”
“He’s in his room over there.” It was rare that Ino had this air of somberness to her, and it worried Sakura. Reaching out, her fingers touched her best friend’s shoulder.
“It’ll work out.” Flicker. “We’ll be fine.”
Ino’s smile was so small and so soft that it almost didn’t seem real. “I know. What do you take me for?”
She just smiled back and shook her head. Of course. Ino had always been the stronger one out of the two of them. “Nothing. Let’s get this over with and get some drinks afterwards.”
“Deal.”
Sakura didn’t know why it came as a surprise to her that Pein looked the way he did. He was sleeping in his bed, looking normal, looking vulnerable, looking human. And it made sense; Sasuke was a weapon, Gaara was a weapon-both of them looked human. Why should Pein be any different?
“He looks like some badass gangster that you’d date,” she tried to joke to Ino, nudging her in the ribs. She just laughed emptily in response.
When Sakura stepped closer to the bed, Pein’s eyes flashed open, sharp and piercing. She froze.
“What’s up with his eyes?” she asked quietly.
“He has the ability to make corpses into his weapons. Those eyes help him see in the point of view of all of the bodies he’s controlling.” Ino shrugged, as if it was nothing. Sakura thought it was a whole lot frightening. “Go on. Walk closer to him.” Swallowing, she took another step forward. Pein sat up.
“Yamanaka-sama, this is our enemy. Why is she here?”
“Just doing some experiments,” the blonde chirped lightly. “Just be good and stay still.”
Pein shifted in his bed as Sakura came closer. “Something about her is interfering with my program.” His ringed eyes narrowed, and she could feel the tension rising in the room. Shikamaru was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, watching the entire exchange. She swallowed.
“I’m Sakura.” She stuck out her right hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He watched her carefully, but took her hand. “Pein. Likewise.” Well, at least he had manners. “Yamanaka-sama,” he continued, eyes flitting towards Ino, “does this experiment involve me losing some control over my limbs?” His hand felt stiff in Sakura’s, and she pulled away.
“Try his ear,” Shikamaru suggested from the door, ignoring Pein’s question. Doing as she was told, she reached out for his ear. Pein flinched, moving away.
“No,” he hissed. “Don’t touch me.”
Ino placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t be stingy, Pein. You’ll be fine.”
“There’s something wrong with her,” he said, darker this time. “She’s messing with my program.” When no one answered him, his eyes narrowed. “Have you lost use of me already?”
“I’m sorry,” Sakura said sincerely, “but we have to do this.”
The frown on his face was evident. “I understand that as my role as a weapon, I follow the bidding of those who have authority over me. However, I have been alive for no more than three days, and not once have I been sent out to do what I was made to do. And like that, you throw me away?” He moved to the edge of the bed and stood up. “I am worth more than that.” The way his eyes narrowed made her heart clench. Just a game, just a game, she repeated in her head like a mantra. A character. Not real.
But she had long since learned that although things weren’t real, they could very well be if she just believed them to be.
This was a person. A person with ideals and wants. A person with life. Would she be able to take all of this from him? Could she taken him down to save herself and her friends?
Of course, she would say yes. One life is nothing compared to several. But that didn’t stop it from being hard.
“Your ear, please,” she said softly, stepping towards him and reaching out again. He was much taller than her; he towered over her, large and intimidating, but she held her ground. She had to do this. For her, for Ino, Shikamaru, Tsunade, Naruto, Sasuke. For so many people. She couldn’t falter.
“Don’t think I’m just going to hand myself to you,” Pein said, eyes flitting around the room.
“Shit,” Shikamaru said suddenly. “We can’t let him leave this floor-!”
The realization hit Sakura harder than she’d like. If she didn’t finish him now, he’d kill others and use their lifeless bodies as his weapons. “Please,” she said, almost begging now. “Don’t let it be like this.”
“Don’t let it be like what?” Pein shouted. “Don’t let me live?” She flinched. That was harsh. That was also the truth.
Beside her, Ino moved-threw herself at Pein and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “We’re really sorry,” she murmured into his chest. “But please try to understand.”
It was quiet for a long, tense moment-and then he said, very quietly, “Please let go of me.”
“No.” Her voice was muffled. Sakura stared at her-she’d never seen her this way before; so vulnerable, so willing to fall to her knees. It kind of hurt, to watch her-out of the two of them, Ino had always been the stronger one. Ino protected Sakura. Ino stood up tall and proud. Sakura was the one who cried, the one who begged.
It all evened out, she supposed. This time, it was her turn to save Ino.
“Let go-” Pein was cut off when he saw Sakura trying to get close again-this time, determined for her fingers to make contact with their target. His eyes narrowed and he moved, faster than her. Ino was sent stumbling onto his bed and Shikamaru was knocked out of the way as the weapon left the room. Upon making sure with widened eyes that both of her friends were fine, they all followed him out with hurried steps.
Watching Pein stand behind the computers, watching all of them with wary eyes, made Sakura want to flinch. Even if it was for their lives, would she be able to stop him? To kill him? Theoretically, he was just a character, just some data-but he was more than that, she knew, because she was more than that-her, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke-
“The heroes have arrived!” The door to the stairs slammed open, and coincidentally, right into Pein. For a moment, no one moved.
She felt the need to bash her head against a hard surface.
Naruto blinked. “Did we come at the wrong time?”
“Sakura, now’s your chance!” Shikamaru shouted. It only took her a moment to think-no, not to think-to realize that there wasn’t time to think. Her feet moved, around the computers and machines, and before Pein could calculate what to do next, Sasuke had appeared behind Naruto and shoved the blonde away to keep the orange-haired weapon in an iron grip.
“Monsters,” Pein hissed, thrashing against Sasuke. Sasuke was already having troubles with holding him-was that how well Shikamaru and Ino built him? She’d have to commend them later for that, if their creation wouldn’t be the death of them.
“His ear, Forehead! His ear!”
I know that, Pig, Sakura thought, a little sadly. She only briefly caught the flash of-could that be considered fear?-across Pein’s features before she tackled him, grabbing hold of his ear.
“What the hell are you doing, Sakura?” Sasuke shouted, being shoved backwards, sandwiched between the wall and Pein’s flailing body.
“Just trust me!” But even she didn’t know if it was going to work or not.
“You stupid girl.” Pein’s colorless, ringed eyes struck fear to her very bones as they narrowed. Her free hand grasped his shoulder desperately, in order not to fall off from his drastic movements. Her heart pounded widely in her ribcage, and she found that her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t afford to.
But it was working, because she could feel his thrashes become weaker from under her.
“If I’m going down, then you’re going down with me…” Pein started to slide to the floor, due to Sasuke doing the same. All three of them fell with a thump, and her eyes widened, staring at him. Take them down with him?
“Shit.” The tone of Shikamaru’s voice was not comforting in the least. “He’s going to self-destruct. Sakura, Sasuke-get away from him, now!”
It was amazing, because she could already feel him heating up from under her. Quickly, she scrambled off of him and ran towards Ino, Sasuke not far behind. The chip in her thumb had slowed Pein’s movements, so he was having difficulty rising from the floor.
“Are you crazy?” Sakura yelled at Ino. “He has a self-destruct option?”
“Shut up!” her best friend wailed. “We didn’t know!”
“Quick, this way!” They all followed Shikamaru down the hallway and back into Pein’s room. Once everyone tumbled in, he shut the door behind them. “He’s right in the way of the stairs, and the elevators aren’t safe anymore. This is the only place we can hide.”
“We won’t be blown to smithereens, right?” Sakura asked nervously.
“Only those within a three meter-radius of him are guaranteed death. We’re farther from him than that, and we also have a few walls separating us, so we should be fine.”
“But what if he gets closer-?”
Shikamaru’s eyes hardened. “Then you’ll have to stop him, Sakura.”
“I-” She swallowed, heart racing in her chest. “Me?”
“Are you kidding me, Shikamaru?” Ino looked close to livid. “She could get killed!”
He looked solemn. “Better one of us than all of us.”
“I-I can’t believe you! Don’t listen to him, Forehead! If we’re screwed, then we might as well be screwed together!”
“No. He-he’s right.” Sakura’s hands were shaking. “I don’t think I could handle it, knowing that I could’ve saved you guys, when I didn’t. I’ll-” She’d what? She’d try? That was what she was about to say, wasn’t it?
“You either do it or you don’t. There is no trying.”
Her hands clenched into determined fists. “I’ll do it.” When her eyes met Sasuke’s, he was still as unreadable as ever-but he nodded once, and she knew he approved.
“Wait-can someone please tell me what the hell’s going on?” Everyone’s attention settled onto Naruto. Oh. She’d forgotten about him.
“We’ll explain later when we feel like it,” Sasuke snarled, looking away sharply to glare at Pein’s bed. Sakura searched for something to grab hold of, for some sort of anchor. The person who used to occupy that bed was going to die just seconds, and if that person just happened to open the door before that happened, then she was going to die. It was almost impossible to fathom.
Ino clung tightly to her arm, and her grip only tightened when the entire floor shook. They all fell to their knees, no one even daring to breathe.
One minute passed, and then two. Naruto was the first to speak. “I, um, think we’re okay now.”
Sasuke stood, and the rest of them followed suit. “Then all that’s left is Orochimaru. He should be easy to defeat when alone-he only hides behind his troops.” Without a hint of hesitation, he opened the door and stepped out. Sakura cautiously followed.
It seemed that Pein had exploded just at the end of the hallway-dangerously close to where they were. She had been so close to dying. The thought made her a little dizzy.
The rest of it happened in a blur. Which was a little disappointing, really-the event of killing Orochimaru was supposed to be the climax of the game-if this could even be considered a game anymore-but she couldn’t quite remember how it happened. All she could recall was the shrill ringing of the smoke alarms that went off, the security guards that had finally found out that there were intruders on this floor, and looking back to see Ino sitting against the wall, flickering so much that she was gone more than she wasn’t, with Shikamaru kneeling in front of her.
The last she saw of that world was Sasuke with a gun in his hand, looking down at Orochimaru’s slumped figure with what she could only call relief.
-
“As soon as you’ve secured their condition, bring them to the ambulances! The critical ones go onto the first three!”
Sakura blearily opened her eyes, immediately wincing at her pounding headache and her overheated body. Before her, she could see a screen of some sort, with rolling text-credits, perhaps?
“Miss, are you alright?” It took more effort than it should’ve to turn her head. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” she answered with difficulty, tongue heavy.
“Good.” The person spoke nothing more after that, and she felt blissfully cool fingers pressing against her cheeks, her temple, her forehead-and that was when she remembered.
The game.
She sat upright, immediately causing the blood to rush to her head. Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru-where were they? Were they all okay? They beat the game, right? So they were alive?
“Miss, please don’t strain yourself!” They were alive.
They were alive.
The sigh of relief came from her lips in a sudden whoosh, and she went slack in her seat, closing her eyes. It was okay. They won. They survived.
“Does anything hurt at all?” The person was speaking to her again. “Anything feel strange?”
“I have a headache, and it feels like I have a fever.” But even as she spoke those words, her eyes were flitting around the arcade, empty save for the staff and the other players for the simulation games. She found Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru getting out of their seats. Immediately, she turned to her right, where she knew Ino would be.
Her best friend was still relaxed in her seat, seemingly not woken up yet. There was another staff member there, waiting for her to wake up-even gently shaking her shoulder once. Nothing happened.
She turned back to the person tending to her. “Is there something wrong with her? She hasn’t woken up yet.”
He shook his head. “We don’t know yet, Miss. Let me escort you to the ambulance. You’ll be brought to the hospital, and your family members will be contacted.”
Sakura watched her best friend with worry as she made her way to the front of the arcade, where there were already news reporters and cameras situated right outside the main doors, around the ambulances that were stationed there. She tried to keep her face hidden from the flashes, but it seemed virtually impossible-they were everywhere.
The person helped her onto an ambulance, where a paramedic swabbed alcohol on her arm and gave her an IV. “We need one more person to board before we can go to the hospital,” she explained gently. “We’ll be there soon.”
The next person that got on, less than a minute later, was Sasuke. He was administered an IV as well, and with that, the doors to the ambulance closed, and they were off.
There was an awkward silence. What was she supposed to say to him? It felt like she knew everything there was to know about Sasuke, but did she really? She’d only been with him for the past three days, but even that was a trick in itself-in reality, it was only three hours or so. And that was in the game-was he still the same person in real life, when his life wasn’t threatened?
“I…” She swallowed. “I’m glad we got out.”
He glanced at her, and gave a swift nod. “Me too.” And she smiled, because really, he still saw her as the same person-the timid hero, the girl he slept with underneath a children’s slide-not the person he had to get through a game with. And she was glad, because-well, because she felt the same.
When they got off the vehicle in front of the hospital, she turned to him and smiled, holding out a hand. “I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself properly. I’m Haruno Sakura.”
She thought she saw the corner of his lips tilt upwards by a fraction as he took her hand, but it might’ve been her imagination. “Uchiha Sasuke.”
-
-
-
Sakura headed to the hospital at the first possible moment, texting everyone else in the process.
I don’t care what you guys are doing, drop it and come to the hospital. Ino’s awake.
It’d been two months since they survived the video game, and since then, life had gotten back to relatively normal-well, as normal as things could be, anyway. She met up regularly with Sasuke, Naruto and Shikamaru, keeping in touch. It seemed that life-threatening situations really brought a group of people closer together.
Ino had been in a coma since. Sakura couldn’t explain why, didn’t know how it was fair-but the fact that she was now conscious was probably the best news that she’d ever heard in her life. She all but bolted through the lobby of the hospital and through the halls that she had been in several times in the past two months to visit her best friend, and slammed the door open, panting.
“Ino!”
The blonde was wearing a hospital gown, hair down and spilling over her shoulders-but otherwise, she looked healthy. Irritably so, actually. She was even propped up against her pillows and reading the latest edition of Vogue.
“Forehead!” she exclaimed in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to come so quickly. Did you miss me?”
“I don’t see why I would,” she said, feigning distaste. But it was difficult not to smile, because things were finally completely right again.
It wasn’t long before the door opened again, and Shikamaru and Sasuke entered the room. Sakura smiled and waved hello to them. Shikamaru was the only one who really made his way to Ino’s bed-Sasuke never really had the time to get close to her. Sakura stayed with him near the door so Ino and Shikamaru could share some alone time. (Shikamaru’s crush on her was incredibly obvious.)
He looked indifferent with his hands shoved into his pockets, but he sounded anything but. “I think I’ll need to plant a tracker on you.”
Ino raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
“I always seem to lose sight of you.”
Sakura beamed at Sasuke. “Isn’t that cute?” she gushed quietly. He gave her that look that told her he thought she was crazy. “Where’s Naruto, by the way?”
“Working. He told me to apologize for not being able to make it.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “There’s always another time, then.” She glanced back at Shikamaru and Ino, who were conversing quite comfortably. She wondered what exactly had happened between them in the game; Shikamaru never told him, despite their constant nagging. (Well, her and Naruto’s constant nagging, anyway.)
“I think they’re fine on their own,” Sasuke said, watching the two.
“I agree. Shall we go for some coffee?” She held out an arm that he could link his with, but he just rolled his eyes and left the room. Typical of him. “Hey! Wait up!”
“I won’t hold the elevator doors open for you. Be prepared to take the stairs if you’re too slow.”
“Not like that hasn’t happened before.”