Queen of Air and Darkness

xix. you may see the world around you devastated

The door had opened to a narrow spiral stairway, that curved around stone walls and lead them down, into the bowels of the castle's structure. There were no windows, no source of light except for the orange glow of Sakura's magic. It was not a large space—they merely walked through the gaps forgotten by the castle architects. This was how Danzo's secrets had been kept hidden for so long. No one would ever notice a sliver of space around one of the four towers that stood at the corner of the castle's building. At the top of those towers was space for lookouts to keep watch for dangers growing on the horizon.

But they have served as shelter for far greater terrors growing within the castle itself.

Sakura led the way, her fist lit with magic to illuminate their path.

As they completed the first turn about the stair a crash echoed behind them: wood and brass slamming in on itself.

The door had slammed shut.

For an instant, Sakura's magic flickered as she jumped at the sudden sound. Gently, Kakashi took her other hand in his, a frim, steadying grip.

"Do you think I need comforting?" she teased, but the words came without an edge. Sakura flexed her hand around the grip, taking comfort in the sword-calloused feel of his hand.

"Maybe I'm hoping you'll protect me," Kakashi replied, his voice a good-humored whisper in her ear.

For an instant she let herself consider turning back. But no, that would be cowardice. They needed to find the truth. So Sakura took a deep breath, lifted her head high, and carried on down the stairs.

Although Kakashi's thoughts were a mystery to her, he did not hesitate to follow her down, down into this forgotten crevice of construction.

The air grew colder as they continued their descent, each turn taking them further into the Castle's stone foundation. But the time they reached the bottom, they would surely be in the level where the dungeons had been carved from stone, where Konoha's criminals were kept.

Then, they rounded the final corner, and their destination appeared before them like some dark mirage. In the area illuminated by the glow of her magic, Sakura could see stone walls, just as any other room might be built from. But something about this place whispered with magic. She tried to feel for the source, but there was no sign of it. It seemed to come from all around, a patchwork of power embedded in the walls themselves.

Sakura took the first step, the sole of her foot just brushing the solid stone of the floor. Too late, as she made that final step, Sakura saw the ruins scribbled into the floor in an arching intricate design. She did not know how to read them, but it did not take a scholar's education to feel the malice that was scrawled there. As soon as she made contact, the magic in her hand sputtered and died, as though a candle had been blown out.

Terror mingled with fury at the realization that her power had been stripped of her. Kakashi's grip on her hand went tight enough to bruise..

The wrongness of this place seemed to multiply. Her mouth tasted of iron—of blood, and the smell of metal and sand, sharp and sweaty and infused with the heat of summer filled her senses. It smelled of battle and armor and the clash of steel on steel.

They should turn back. Sakura knew it as surely as she knew that they could not; they would not. Something in her whispered that in taking that first step through the doorway, they had set themselves upon a path. The die had been cast, it was only a matter of seeing the score.

So she took another step, fumbling in the dark. Kakashi followed, joining her in the room, his hand still wound with hers.

This time, as he stood before her, light filled the room, bright and sudden and blinding. As Sakura's eyes watered and her vision adjusted to the sudden assault, she could hear Kakashi's voice. A faint and whispered: "no." His fingers threaded themselves through her hand, wrapping around her palm so tightly she thought she might bruise.