...

Suna-

Sakura sits by the counter and tries her best not to fall asleep. It's lunchtime and the streets are deserted as usual, rarely will shoppers come into the shop at this hour. And Sakura is tending a miracle medicine shop only tfools and desperates visit, with much reluctance. A far cry from her prized position in Konoha.

Her fall from grace was not born out of a stupendous mistake though. It's gradual downhill climb caused by one small mistake after another. She married the wrong guy, develop the wrong habits, did an operation on the wrong patient, retrieved the wrong scroll from a mission, signed and delivered the wrong papers, left for the wrong reason. Since then, she went from medic-nin to wanderer to janitress to dentist's assistant to bitter babysitter to scary nurse to shopgirl. All these odd jobs in several villages within four years did nothing to her flagging self-esteem. She's not past her twenties and she feels old and weary already.

That's why she's reaching for her water canteen she placed beside the bottles of fake fertility pills. A drink to drown self-pity. She takes a quick look around before swallowing in one go the bitter liquid that scalds her throat. The liquid warms her empty stomach. She smiles as she shakes her canteen upside down to catch droplets of that bitter alcohol.

From the corner of her eye, she sees the fat quack doctor enter the store. The old bitch is giving Sakura the I'm-displeased-you-better-behave look. Sakura replaced the cap of her canteen as she bows in greeting.

"Were you drinking sake again Sakura?" The bitch is eyeing the canteen dangling on Sakura's hand while eating a cucumber sandwich.

"No madam, it's tea. I've nothing to eat today." Sakura doesn't cringe with her lie and her not so subtle plea for crumbs. The bitch munches on her sandwich slowly until all of it goes into her bloated stomach. She licks her fingers and proceeds to snatch Sakura's canteen. She buries her nose deeply into the canteen's mouth.

"It's sake," she declares. And before Sakura could defend herself, the bitch continues, "This is the twelfth time I caught you drinking during work hours Sakura. If not for the Kazekage's high regard of you, I would have fired you the first time. But now I found the perfect girl to tend this store so you can go home and have a nice sleep now."

Sakura sees the perfect girl standing by the doorway. She's mouthing apologies in Sakura's way. It doesn't matter, Sakura hates her anyway.

"I'm sorry?" Sakura plays dumb.

The bitch takes a second cucumber sandwich from her sleeve. She's the kind of woman to wear a dress with silly unstrategically placed zipped pouches. She takes a dainty bite from her sandwich and smiles.

"You're fired Sakura, now go home."

"The hell I am," Sakura shouts. "You call this work? You call this shitty mixtures, medicines?" She takes her canteen from the bitch's well manicured hand and throws it at the shelves containing diluted ointments. The bottles fall over the bitch's shoulder so that she shouts profanities at Sakura.

"And to think the kage thinks highly of you, you stupid drunkard. You have deep psychological problem you fucking bitch!"

Sakura doesn't hear the end of it. She snatches the half-eaten cucumber sandwich, pats the newly hired mute on the back and walks towards her apartment. Arriving at the shithole that has been her home for months, she gasps and tugs down her uneven short hair.

Fuck, she needs a drink. She searches for the bottle of sake she misplaced last night and when she couldn't find it, eats the sandwich in one go. The cucumber and empty white bread does nothing to her stomach. She itches for a drink so the search for the missing sake starts again. She makes a grid search on the floor much to her amusement, she haven't done it in a long while. She starts to tear up in frustration and ran to sit in her shower. There the bottle of sake lodges bottom up in her toilet bowl. Old habits survive for she recoils from the dirty bottle. Fuck she is meant to be medic-nin, not a lousy shopgirl. At closer inspection, the toilet is filled with the bottle and her meager bills now crumpled and wet. She must be very drunk last night to duck her money in the toilet.

F-f-f-fuck everything.

Hokage tower, Konoha-

"No," Sasuke says firmly.

"Please Teme." Naruto practically grovels at the Uchiha's feet. "She's the best person to do the job."

"I get that but send someone to escort her back here dobe," Sasuke sneers and glares at Naruto for effect.

"As your hokage, I command you to fetch Haruno Sakura and bring her here Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto grins as Sasuke's growls in irritation.

"You don't do that to me you dobe!"

"Why not? I happen to be the sixth hokage. We fought for the title, I won, you lost." And to stress his superiority more than his authority, Naruto points at Sasuke, "you lost to me, remember?"

The good old hokage adviser Shikamaru, sensing the sudden drop in the room's temperature, backs out of the room. Trees always explode in the coldest winter.

Sasuke grabs the hokage by the collar and shouts, "I could've won if that idiot woman didn't divorce me moments before the fight."

"You let things get in the way of a good fight Teme."

"You can say that again. You don't have a troublesome wife to start with. Because you fancy yourself in love with my wife."

"Ex-wife Sasuke. Sakura divorced you, remember?"

Sasuke let go of Naruto. "And thank the gods above, she did."

Shikamaru carrying a missive to the hokage, steps back to the room. Sasuke found a new target. He turns to the kage, "The Nara prompted you to make me escort her back home, what reasons he have, I wonder?"

"Normally the hokage won't bother you with this mission Sasuke but all available shinobis were deployed to Iwa to help with the construction of a great bridge there, the rest haven't been back from their mission," Shikamaru says with a sigh hinting how he hates to explain himself.

"Ninja academy pupils must have formed a three man units by now. Send one unit with their teacher."

"School is yet to start in uh- three days," Shikamaru says with another deep sigh.

Sasuke ignores Shikamaru and address Naruto, "Send Nara, Sakura will likely listen to him over me."

Naruto shakes his head. "We need him here Sasuke. So you would have to do it, solo. You don't have to tell Sakura anything, just hand her this scroll and she'll know it's a summon. She's still a shinobi of the leaf, she'll do whatever is expected of her."

Sasuke kicks the hokage's table in defeat. "The last time we talked, she threw a rock at me so don't expect much from this mission," he said and turns for the door.

Shikamaru nods at Naruto.

"Sasuke," Naruto calls the retreating figure.

Sasuke doesn't bother to face the hokage. He hovers by the doorway.

"I give you permission to tie her up, if necessary, just please please bring Sakura back here."

A grunt and Sasuke is out of the room.

Naruto sidles up to Shikamaru, "Do you think he heard that?"

"I'm sure he did."

"Will Sakura be okay though?"

"She would at least put up a fight, so expect they'd be here later than sooner."

Kazekage office, Suna-

"I don't mind handing Sakura to you Sasuke but I'm afraid she is not within our jurisdiction now," Gaara says solemnly, his hands folded as if in prayer.

Sasuke looks over the window to observe the sleepy clouds above.

"She personally bid me goodbye last week."

"And where is she headed?"

Gaara frowns. "She said she will stop at the next village and make up plans as she go."

"That's not helpful." Sasuke straightens his already straight back. Gaara takes it as a signal to leave. He motions Sasuke to stay for a while.

"She looks haunted when she first came here. I put her name on the list for welfare but she won't allow it. She did odd jobs sin-"

"That's not necessary Gaara. Thank you."

"It's such a waste."

"Yes well I have to go. She has a week ahead of me. The hokage needs her services soon."

Gaara sees the Uchiha out.

Temari drinking lemonade by the door quips, "Still as cold as always. He could've saved her from a lot of trouble."

Gaara looks at her sister. "She's not his responsibility. I thought it was you who said women don't need saving."

Temari just shrugs.

"Now I see why you're a spinster."

"Oh-ho! Don't you go there. Now go back to your post kazekage."

Somewhere in the Land of Water-

Sakura wakes in time to hear the roosters, crowing atop the bamboo fences, welcome the sun. She opens the shoji screens then the outer panels of her little home, to better see the view down the mountain. Wooden houses were strewn everywhere. From them issue the peasants who start to make their way down the rice fields.

"Sakura-chan!" An old woman peeps through the slit of her bamboo fence. "You must hurry, they're going to start soon."

"But I have to bathe first granny and prepare food."

"Oh I knew you'd say that so I packed you some leeks, let's eat it on the way. As for bathing, do that when the work's over- come, they're starting to sing below."

Sakura dons an oversize coat and rubber boats. Granny hands her a straw hat and together they make the slow descent from the mountain. The farmers below starts to clear the fields to the tune of the region's folksong. Sakura declares the scene most charming.

Granny spits her leeks and chuckles. "You should see last year's planting season, a lot of dancing and singing to invoke the raingod to shower his blessings. We caught so many eel too and had a festival of sorts. You will play the part of mother earth once we clear off the area, the villagers already agreed on that."

"I don't know what that is."

"A beautiful woman is to sleep on the fields the night before the planting begins. She is to represent the earth's fertility while a gallant man will represent the rain god. They are expected to copulate to ensure great harvest. It's not too hard, my husband and I were obliged to do it on our wedding night. The harvest was specially good that year."

Sakura turns to face granny with mouth wide open.

"Since you don't have a husband Sakura-chan, the villagers will pick a most suitable man to do the job."

"You're not fucking serious bitch!" Sakura covers her mouth as soon as the words were out.

Granny uncomprehending, blinks several times. "The harvest is a serious business. If we don't produce rice, five major villages will go hungry for the whole year. So we do everything we can, even burying Roku talismans on the fields, anything for a good harvest."

"But I'm not from here! Besides I had a husband once, I'm sure the ritual requires only virgins, or eleven-year-olds, or something." Fuck she needs a drink, a hot sake soon, soon.

The old woman cackles, showing her blackened teeth. "The rain god only need a beautiful bride for one night, husband or no husband. And you look like spring, everything will grow under your feet. As for your being not a native here, remember that we tread on one earth wherever we go."

They walk in silence for a time. Sakura thinks of ways to politely and properly decline the position of the bride of the rain god while granny enjoys her leeks.

Coming close to the foot of the mountain, the old woman speaks.

"I didn't know you had a husband before."

Sakura smiles blandly.

"Let me guess, he's an ugly brute who managed to put a love potion on your drink. And you somehow broke the spell and escaped. It happens a lot in this region."

Sakura frowns. "Yes, you got that right."

Shimu-

Sasuke plops down the snowy grounds in exhaustion. He'd been rounding up the countries looking for his ex-wife for months. Sakura presumably skirts around Konoha to avoid running into practically everyone else from home. So from Suna, Sasuke follows the path she will likely take. Apparently the Nara is right in thinking Sasuke is the best person to do this mission- Sasuke knows her well.

He mentally looks up the list of her possible hideaways. Two more countries to go, she can't hide forever.