I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

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Chapter 6: made of glass

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Thanks to Esther-himechan, Suzululu4moe, Marked Moon, PinKrystal, orlha and Guest who made this possible. 3

She eyed him, her senses kicking in. Enemy.

"I know," she asked, eyes searching Hizashi's in an attempt at mimicking confusion. "Why ask?"

Hizashi looks at her, but immediately Sakura recognizes that he is not looking at her. He is looking, watching the part of her that used to be someone else.

He sighed, and Sakura blinks, because this is not the way she envisioned their conversation. She had foreseen arguments and denials, but had been faced with loneliness and silence.

Silence, her good friend.

"Why you?"

The question catches her off guard. Hizashi has dropped his guard, she noticed. He sits slumped in the chair meant for straight backs and firm voices. "Why you? What made them choose you?"

Why me?

Sakura found herself speechless. An intruder, asking the very question she had asked the skies, the wind, the clouds, but received no answer.

He looks at her expectantly, and she feels implied to give a half-truth to satisfy is curiosity. "My father is an influential man," she said at last, swallowing down a lump of bad memories. "He wanted his child to be well-known for being the child who had stolen another's bloodline." She said it with distaste. The plan had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

"I see," said Hizashi, sighing once more. "Do you want to be here?"

What a dumb question. "No," she replies immediately. "Does it look like I want to be chained to a chair and have myself smell like mud and dried blood?"

He laughed a dry laugh, a crackling, half amused, half not. "I mean, do you want my clan's dojustsu?"

"Of course," Sakura replied, bitterly. "Who wouldn't want a dojutsu that could let you see further, push the limits of your sight farther? Having experienced it myself, I know. You know too."

She huffed, disappointed in Kami-sama for her lack of faith in this one pink-haired individual. "But under these circumstances, no. Most definitely not. Not when a life has been claimed to give me something I should not wield."

Hizashi nodded in approval. "I see it that way too, little girl," he mused, nodding.

Their little conversation of philosophy and ethics lasted a while, and Hizashi found himself speaking calmly, as if he were talking to his brother. They spoke of politics and law, belittling the feudal lords, and exchanging opinions.

Hizashi found himself enjoying the conversation.

Of course, his brother in his place would be threatening the girl with a knife for information on her homeland. The younger twin laughed inwardly. And he here was, discussing ethics with an eight year old that spoke like a wise man.

Sakura uttered a controversial statement, and he caught the way her eyes flickered to his, seeking his reaction. He had laughed slightly, and shot back an equally politically degrading sentence that made the girl crack a smile.

He had come in here to find a monster, a thief, but had found a wrongly accused girl, who happened to have the wrong connections.

Though he had enjoyed their conversation, he could not be here too long. He stood up from the chair. "You remind me of Hirobi," he revealed in a rare display of raw emotion.

You're young, just like my little brother. I should look after you, because his life has been replaced by yours. He bit back the anger that was sparked when he remembered receiving the news that Hirobi was gone. There is no place for anger in this world, his brother would say, as rational as always.

Hiashi had yet to use his own advice.

"He was wise, he was brave and he was innocent," Hizashi continued. "Just like you." Sliding the chair into place, he unlocked the door.

"Keep his spirit alive, Sakura."

-made of glass-

She's been given a new cell.

She's as excited as a kid in her new bedroom, because the update is long overdue. There's a bathroom in a small nook in the corner of the room with a curtain as a door. She sighs in contentment when she spots a stuffed rectangular shape.

A bed.

She throws herself onto the cheap mattress, ignoring the rips and tears in its sheets. She ignores its rough texture, but sighs in contentment when she feels her back stretching at her spine cracking slightly as she stretches her body out.

Any surface an inch more comfortable than the metalsteeliron chair was pleasurable. Too long had her back suffered in that upright position. She supposed it did wonders for her posture. Father would be proud.

Except father wasn't here to see her anymore. He was gone. Gone, like Deidara and gone like Hizashi's brother Hirobi.

Excitement coursed through her, even though jail cells are not the place for fun, Sakura! rings through her mind. But screw responsibility. She's free.

She's felt it for a long time, but now when she realizes it she can finally name the feeling in her heart that is right next to the dread of being captured and far from home. Freedom, it's called. And boy, does it feel good.

She can refuse to train every morning. She can refuse to do her morning stretches. She can say no. She can object, refuse– heck, she can probably diffuse something if she wanted to.

What does this all mean for her?

The world is out there. It's yours to take.

She falls asleep, dreaming of possibilities and what-ifs, and things that would've, should've happened.

The world is up for grabs, and I'm calling first dibs.

-made of glass-

A knock on the iron door was heard seconds before the latch in the door opened, revealing the prison guard.

She looked up. She had been sitting on her bed, playing with the pillow in a small mind-game of pass time. She met the eyes of the prison guard innocently.

I haven't done anything wrong.

She hadn't really. Just an inconvenient sequence of events had lead her here.

"What," she said, when it was clear that the guard could do nothing but stare. His eyes were shifty, almost guilty under her gaze.

The guard blinked, snapped out of his reverie and cleared his throat. "Uh- well, I didn't know they kept a Hyūga here. Sorry, I-"

"Wait," Sakura snapped before he could continue. "Where are we?"

She has assumed that she was in some prison of sorts, but she didn't know of what type of prison she was being kept in. High-security, low-security… There were many types of jails suited to different crimes.

Her first thought was that this cell was a holding cell. The other cell from which she came seemed very high-security, which had worried Sakura. High security cells were for people who had committed crimes- well, any jail was for people who had committed crimes.

What had she done wrong? Surely, if she hadn't done anything wrong, she should be a free person.

But then again, she was here.

"I don't think I'm authorised to tell you that," the guard said, and she took a moment to admire his honesty. The guard inched the latch open more, peering into the room. "You're young," he stated.

"Yes," she replied. Sakura chose to play it cautious. She wanted this guard as her ally, knowing that he was probably a young jounin, new to the job. He reeked of naivety.

"Uh, well, I'm supposed to tell you that you have a scheduled risk assessment coming up. That's all the information I was given to tell you," he concluded, almost wistfully. Sakura nearly snorted. As if he'd tell her if he knew more.

"Risk assessment?" Sakura said, trying to look scared. She made her lip wobble and her eyes bigger. Heck, she hoped the blood stains didn't put off the young scared girl effect. "W-What's that?"

The guard blinked, fighting back curses under his breath. The last thing he wanted was the girl to cry."Hey, calm down," the guard said soothingly. "It's good news for you anyway. They usually only give these assessments once criminals are to be released. You're probably getting out of here."

She bolted up from her position, her head higher, her back straighter. "What did you just say?"

"I said you're probably-"

"No, I heard you the first time," Sakura snapped childishly, and the guard blinked in astonishment at the change of personality.

"Well, that's my message delivered," he said awkwardly. Sakura paid him no heed as the guard vanished from the door, and the latch closed with a muted bang.

She'd better ace that risk assessment. In the right way, of course. She didn't want people thinking she was a threat.

Play it low key, and you've got this in the bag, Sakura, she chided herself.

-made of glass-

When they opened the door the next morning, Sakura wiped the sleep from her eyes as quick as she could.

She needed to be alert. She needed to be aware. She didn't need to be half asleep, with her brain still struggling to properly process her thoughts at their normal accuracy.

Three guards had come to escort her to the upper floors via the concrete staircase in the heart of the floor. They flanked her sides, and she couldn't see much being the short eight year old she was. Sakura was positive she wasn't short for her age, but she doubted any tall eight year old could see past the towering figures of the soldiers.

Sakura has resorted to running her mind through various mental drills to keep her alert and, most importantly, awake. She threw random numbers together and selected random options – she had selected thirty-two and sixty-three, and was currently multiplying the two together. She double checked her answer.

When they reached the upper floor, Sakura was racing through the first few digits of pi. She knew up to the six hundredth digit, and was going to keep going, until Deidara had persuaded her to stop with the 'pointless endeavour that would not help her at all in the future'.

one four one five two nine eight six seven three –

It did keep her on her toes, though.

The upper floor was a bright white – a very distinct contrast to the dark and grey colour palette of the lower dungeon-like floors. She squinted as the lights hit her eyes, it was so bright.

They walked into a hallway with numbered, white painted, plastic doors. Each was numbered by a small digit on the top left. She was directed into room '05' and was instructed to sit in the plastic chair in the room.

The room was empty, except for another chair opposite to Sakura's own. She took a seat at her chair, examining the room.

The lock clicked, and Sakura was left alone with the bright white walls.

Moments later, the door clicked again, before revealing a man with the lightest blonde hair, and cerulean eyes. He smiled politely at her, before taking a seat opposite to Sakura.

"Hello, Sakura," the man said, bringing a notepad into his lap. She stared at him.

Stay calm, Sakura.

"My name is Yamanaka Inoichi," he said smiling, when it became apparent that Sakura would not respond. He ducked his gaze for a moment, and Sakura followed his line of sight. He reached for a pen from the bag at his feet, then wrote the date on the notepad. 2/3.

Second of the third? It was March still? Sakura had thought she spent months in the genjutsu –

Ah. It was only a genjutsu.

"Relax now, Sakura," Inoichi said, and she blinked as the room disappeared around them. Inoichi faded away, but his voice remained. The room became a sea of white, the only colour being the little blush in Sakura's skin. Her once-vibrant dull hair became explosive colour in the white.

"Not another genjutsu," Sakura muttered, fighting back the dread that curled like a living thing in the pits of her stomach. The last time she had been afraid was when she had been caught in the Uchiha's genjutsu, and she had vowed that she would. Not. Be. Afraid.

This is not a genjutsu, Sakura.

The reassurance helped, certainly, but where was he? What was this place?

This is not a genjutsu because genjutsu create figments of the imagination and trap their victims inside. In another words, genjutsu is not real.

The next words sent Sakura chilled to the core.

This is not a genjutsu because this place is real. We're inside your mind, Sakura.

As he said it, his words echoed around the vast chamber. They echoed in Sakura's mind, they literally did, as Sakura felt the words bounce off the unseen walls of the white room.

Inside your mind, your mind, your mind, mind, mind, mind…

"Shut up!" exclaimed Sakura, as the echoes grew louder and more insidious. Her words echoed longer before finally fading into the peace that was silence.

Inoichi's voice came back into her mind. Very good, Sakura-san. Please, relax. This will only take a moment.

She clenched her fists and cried out as the world around her warped and became distorted, and cracks ran through the whiteness that was around her. Pieces of the walls broke, and with it Sakura could feel her inner defences crumbling with the visual. The walls faded away into the black abyss, and Sakura was left standing on the last white shard that had survived.

Her heart leapt into her throat as the piece broke, and she was sent plummeting into the recesses of her own mind.

-made of glass-

She found herself in the dark, and around her were several rectangular pieces of white, floating and circling her small figure in the dark abyss. She stared into the white, and slowly each rectangle became a screen.

She whirled around, watching herself take her first steps, say her firsts words, throw her first shiruken. She watched as the small pink-haired girl stumbled towards the target, picking up the kunai which had missed, before throwing them with renowned fury.

She looked at all the screens, eight in total. Each represented a year of her life. Sakura stared at the top screen, which had yet to properly conform, and saw herself, staring at the screen which showed her staring at the same screen.

Shaken, she tore her gaze away from the eighth year and cast it onto another. This one showed her laughing as her brother sighed and frowned, muttering words that she could not lip read under his breath.

Four-year-old Sakura ran around the house, her mouth wide because she was laughing, as her brother chased after her in a mock-attempt at a race. She watched as the younger Sakura declared herself the winner, and Deidara pretending to be disappointed as he ruffled her hair.

Her breath hitched, and it was only when she blinked that she was snapped out of her reverie. Droplets, tears, fell from her eyelashes when she did so. She sucked in a breath, shuddering as she let it go.

The happy scene continued on, before Sakura tore her gaze away when she couldn't see through the bur of the tears that hadn't, that she refused, to let fall. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Eventually, the room warped again, like a distorted mirror and she found herself back on the plastic chair, in the white room. Away from the screens that shone with an ethereal glow as well as memories of her childhood.

She raised a hand to wipe her cheeks – only to realise they were dry. Dry and free of any tears, with only caked blood in its place.

Inoichi looked at her piercingly, and when she felt his gaze, she looked up- remembering that she wasn't the only person in the room. "Oh," she said through slightly parted lips. I forgot you were here.

He eyed her, his gaze no longer steely but soft. "Thank you for this session, Sakura-san," he intoned, rising from his seat. "You will be escorted back to your cell now."

He left the room, the lock clicking after him. The doors reopened moments later to reveal the squad that had escorted her up.

Sakura felt like anaesthetic as she walked back down. Cold, sharp and numb.

-made of glass-

The aftermath of the psych test had done its number on Sakura. Her first thought after was thank you. Not I hate you, but thank you.

Seeing her childhood again had made Sakura numb. Numb because it hurt knowing she had left that person behind. She had looked happy. Truly happy, with her brother.

Seeing the younger Deidara had been a stab in the heart. Watching him have fun with her and lose so she could gain had been salt in the wound. She thanked Inoichi, because seeing him again had made her realise what she had to fight for.

It had made her angry, too. Watching the memories for her had been hard on a mental level, but harder personally because she knew he was watching through her eyes, watching her memories with the use of the mind-transfer jutsu.

But she knew one thing from this experience. She wanted her brother back.

She didn't care if they were in Konoha, or maybe they had run away to Suna like they had planned when they were younger. She wanted to free him from the cage that she had left him in.

Her father had locked them up, but she had left him there alone. Sakura felt so guilty that she has left Deidara to face the wrath of his anger.

"Hey," she called. No one answered in the empty room, but she knew that someone out there was watching, listening, monitoring her cell. The graffiti on the roof hid the small round eye of a camera. She waved at the camera, sticking her tongue out.

"I would like to speak to a lawyer."

-see through me, because i'm made of glass-

endnote. hiya, and welcome back to idnwid !

sorry, this was terribly overdue. i've been planning and writing down all the ideas for the conclusion of this story. i think that, at this rate, we will see this story having a sequel ! (which, btdubs, means teenage sakura !) also, i was on vacay so that didn't really help as i had no access to internet ;(

witness as a new layout is in place. chapter titles still serve as scene breaks, but there will be no a/n at the top of the chapter anymore. all that will be here !

xx

serious shit. So we're seeing Sakura 'man-up' a little as she comes to terms with the fact that she can't escape from here physically as she lacks the resources coughstrengthcough to plan a jailbreak. We see her trying to get some allies by playing nice sweet kid. She's going to try to get out of here by using her biggest strength – knowledge. She can't get out using force, but she can use the legal system to her benefit.

Also, Sakura has softened up this chapter a whole fucking lot. This place is getting to her, and she feels her mental securities and masks breaking down, leaving a dishevelled weak lil' girl.

xx

thank yous. Thanks to all four thousand (shit that's a LOT) of you for reading ! idk why you read my stuff but you seem to like it so I won't complain ! wow, we have like one-fifty (150) follows and allllmoooossst a hundred faves ! cool beans ya'll ! and most importantly, over twenty reviews. yumyumyum !

replies. as always, thank you for reviewing. :D

Esther-himechan so do i! I'll try and integrate that in later ;) that's partly why I wrote this story- for the hyuga and sakura interaction. I think that when Sakura's being serious in canon her personality is a little like neji's. I secretly ship NejiSaku, even though there aren't many of us out there :( Thank you for your kind review!

Suzululu4moe lolz :) I agree with you 110%. She's flippin eight. I wasn't planning anything of the sorts for a very long time. Thanks for the clarification and for your review.

Marked Moon I disagree. Just because she doesn't act like Sakura doesn't mean I need to state that this Sakura is an OC. Fanfiction allows us to use characters and change them. That's the whole point of this community. But thanks for the review.

PinKrystal nawww thank you! I write this story for people like you. I'm glad you like the concept because this isn't your typical piece of fanfiction XD Thank you for your kind review.

orlha I think I'm genuinely considering it XD I might write a oneshot for you where that happens cause currently, if that happened, it would mess with the storyline a little. But I'm SO TEMPTED TO SCREW EVERYTHING UP SO THAT HAPPENS! Thank you for your review!

Guest This is the guest that reviewed on Chapter 5. Thank you! I hope you know who you are XD And yes, I agree. That's how I wanted to show Sakura's situation. And yes, she's eight. XD I have no plans for pairings this early in the story cause she's so young- so definitely any pairings that I use in the future will come into play wayyyy later. :) Thanks for your review!

xx

lolz and please leave your feedback in the nice place known as the review box :) very much appreciated! ily all so so so much ;) it means the world to me when you say such nice things ;D bye for now! cya all next chapter ;)

/silverdiadems