A Lotus in Winter: A Rock Lee Love Story

Chapter 37: Destruction

Sayuri's POV:

I limped on, using my keen sense of hearing and smell to find survivors in the rubble. After finding a survivor, I would move rubble to the best of my abilities. My hands were cut up by the concrete and wood but it didn't matter. I had to save as many people as I could.

Eventually I couldn't keep moving the victims, so I made safe their location and healed them until they were stable. Many were on the verge of death. I began to lose count of those I healed. My adrenaline had kicked in and I could again move with more ease, but I knew this was a double edged sword. Not feeling pain meant I could hurt myself worse, but for the sake of the village it was a sacrifice I had to make.

I began to see other survivors and those that could helped me move rubble. That was when fighting broke out. The people behind this had been found. I told as many able bodied ninjas as I could spare to go help while others helped rescue the survivors. I soon learned the man behind it all went by the name of Pain, but to me he was nothing more than a monster.

Sakura appeared and she too began healing, she was unscathed in comparison to me. She begged me to stop healing and let her heal me but I refused. The more ninjas we healed, the more people to fight this enemy and secure the future of our village. We went in separate directions to cover as much territory as possible. Meanwhile the boy known as Naruto fought pain.

I was almost done surveying the hospital area and the surroundings about to move on when I caught a whiff of something familiar. Hitsugi. I limped as fast as my legs would carry me and desperately began clearing the rubble. When I saw him my heart broke. He was curled up in a ball barely breathing. I went to heal him but a weak voice stopped me.

"No heal. Save chakra for humans master"

"Hitsugi no, I have to heal you. Please just let me."

"No master. Too far gone, I'm just a dog. Save the villagers."

"Please Hitsugi, you can help save the village too. You're not just a dog, you're my family. Let me save you."

Again I tried healing him but he weakly stopped me with his paw, licking my injured hands he said.

"I wish I could have played fetch one last time master."

Those were his last words. My heart ached and hot tears came to my eyes. As he went limp, he uncurled revealing that his final action in life was to rescue the child he was visiting. The little boy was completely unharmed except for his already broken leg in a cast. He began to cry and I had to hold back my own feelings again, in order to make sure that Hitsugi's last action and request weren't wasted.

I choked back my tears and picked up the child. I limped to a safe place with him and left him with some villagers who weren't ninja. My adrenaline was wearing off and I fought back the urge to faint. I had many more people to save.

I have no idea how long I went on this way, I just had to go on healing. Lady Tsunade had summoned Lady Katsuyu. Her summon insisted I get healed but the way I saw it if she healed me then that was one less person she could heal. I refused and went on healing others, Katsuyu insisted she follow me and help heal as she had broken up into many slugs and could cover a wide area. I let her and together we saved many people.

I was beginning to go numb emotionally. I saw my companion die and hundreds more lay beneath my feet dying in rubble. Not to mention my own wounds which while not fatal made it incredibly difficult to keep going. That was when it all came crashing down. I was in the middle of healing a villager when I felt a sudden pain in my chest and I could barely hold back the tears. On the wind I smelled blood, Kakashi's and I knew or rather had a feeling deep down that he was no longer living.

I finished healing the villager and went away from everyone. Why had I gotten back these cursed emotions? I began panicking and could barely control my emotions anymore. Hitsugi, Kakashi, hundreds of others lay dead and I couldn't protect them, I couldn't save them despite my best efforts. I couldn't even tell elder brother goodbye. I choked back the sobs but a single tear slid down my cheek. I couldn't let their sacrifices be in vain. I had to continue to live on for them and help others get the chance to live on.

I went back to healing as many as I could even though I could feel my chakra reserves lowering. This is for you elder brother. I'll make you proud