It was… anger.
But it wasn't the kind of anger Sakura was used to. It wasn't the rage that ended in screaming. It wasn't the cruel, punishing wrath that resulted in her being thrown back into the pit whether she had done something wrong or not.
The man standing before her, bathed in the fading, ethereal light, was looking at her with pure anger that rise with each passing second. Yet, even in her broken state, Sakura could somehow sense that this heavy, suffocating anger was not directed at her. It was directed at the pit. It was directed at the house above them. It was aimed, with lethal precision, at whoever would dare do something like this to a child.
She didn't fully understand it. All she could actually see was that the man's face had gone completely, dangerously blank. Because of the dark cloth wrapped over his upper face, she couldn't look into his eyes to discern his true thoughts, though, even if his eyes had been uncovered, she doubted she would have known how to read them.
Whatever he had been about to say upon his arrival, he stopped mid-sentence. The arrogant smirk from a moment ago was dead.
In total silence, he pulled his hands out of his pockets.
Sakura didn't flinch. She was too numb to flinch. But as he took a single step forward, the horrific, screeching bugs that had blanketed her body suddenly began to scatter.
The glowing red mark on her hand dimmed, and the brilliant light that had flooded the basement faded away, plunging the room back into pitch black. Sakura couldn't see anything anymore.
But the man, it seemed, could see perfectly.
She felt warm, strong hands gently slide beneath her arms and her knees. He lifted her feather-light body off the cold stone. A moment later, she felt the heavy, thick fabric of a jacket, one he had just shrugged off his own shoulders, being wrapped tightly around her shivering frame.
…
Sakura opened her eyes.
The ceiling wasn't black anymore. Or rather, she could actually see the ceiling, which meant she wasn't in the pit anymore.
It was a stark white ceiling, with a slow-moving fan spinning quietly above her. There was a small, jagged crack near the corner of the plaster, and a glass bulb glowing warmly on the wall. Her eyes darted weakly from the corners to the baseboards.
There were no bugs in here.
She blinked again, slowly. The air smelled completely different. It didn't smell like damp dirt, rotting flesh, or copper blood. It smelled faintly of old dust and clean, dry air. And there was a sound, a low, rhythmic murmuring, coming from somewhere in the room.
Using trembling arms, she pushed her upper body off the mattress. She was sitting on a bed, and wrapped snugly around her was a thick, soft blanket that radiated a comforting warmth she hadn't felt in what felt like a lifetime.
"There isn't any news about it, huh?" a voice muttered.
Sakura moved her head slowly toward the sound. The tall man with the shock of white hair was sitting in a cheap, plastic motel chair. His incredibly long legs were stretched out casually in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He was staring at a small television set in the corner of the room.
"Must be a cover-up," he added, more to himself than anyone else, sighing as he flipped the channel.
As if sensing her movement, the man turned his head. He was still wearing that strange, dark blindfold. Sakura didn't know who he was, just as she didn't know where she was or how she had escaped the darkness.
"Ahh, you are awake!" he said, his tone instantly brightening, shifting away from the cold edge it had just held.
Sakura just stared at him. It felt like her mind was moving through thick mud. The man seemed to know she was looking at him.
"You have been staring at me for a while now," he pointed out, a slight, gentle smile playing on his lips. Even though his eyes were completely covered, she knew with absolute certainty that he was looking right back at her.
He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward slightly. "Does it hurt?" he asked softly.
Sakura looked down at herself, then back up at him. She didn't really know the answer. Did it hurt? Her body was a canvas of bruises and phantom pains, but... no. Not compared to the pit. Because she wasn't in the pit anymore.
Her memory slowly pieced itself together. The glowing red mark. The blinding light. The tall man appearing in the center of the dark. Yes, she remembered him now. She had seen him down there.
Slowly, she shook her head to answer him. No.
"Good," he said softly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, brightly colored plastic wrapper. He tore it open with a satisfying crinkle. Then, without moving from his chair, a faint, beautiful blue light pooled around his fingertips.
Sakura watched in mild, muted wonder as the small round candy lifted from his palm. Defying gravity, it floated through the air, drifting gently across the room until it hovered right in front of her lips.
"You like sweets, don't you?" the man asked.
Almost unknowingly, Sakura parted her dry lips. The candy slipped into her mouth. The taste of strawberry and sugar bloomed across her tongue, a sharp, shocking contrast to the bitter bile she was so used to.
"I'm Gojo. Gojo Satoru," he introduced himself, resting his chin on his hand. "You called for me... and in response, I answered."
Called him? Sakura thought, her brows furrowing slightly. She didn't know what he meant. She tried to speak, but her throat was incredibly dry, her voice a raspy whisper. "I... I don't know."
Gojo tilted his head. "Well, I'm here because you called for me. Are you not the Master?"
"Master...?" Sakura repeated the foreign word, the confusion evident on her pale face.
Gojo paused. He looked at the tiny, battered girl clutching the blanket to her chest. It became immediately obvious to him that she didn't know a single thing about rituals, Command Seals, or whatever twisted war she had been dragged into. She had likely summoned him entirely by accident, her desperation acting as the catalyst.
He sighed, the tension leaving his shoulders. "It seems you do not know anything," he said gently, deciding to drop the complicated explanations right then and there. "And you probably unknowingly summoned me. Well, to put it very simply... let's just drop it."
He stood up from the cheap chair. He was incredibly tall, casting a long shadow over the motel room, but his movements were deliberately slow and unthreatening as he walked over to the edge of the bed.
Gojo knelt down on one knee, bringing himself down to her eye level. He reached up with one hand and hooked his fingers under the edge of his blindfold, pulling it down and pulling it away.
Sakura's breath hitched faintly. Staring back at her were eyes of an impossible, crystalline blue. They looked like the sky she hadn't been allowed to see for over a year.
"You have been through a lot that I possibly cannot imagine," Gojo said, his voice stripped of any playfulness, leaving only a fierce, unwavering sincerity. He looked directly into her hollow eyes. "So, you do not have to worry anymore. Leave all of it to me. I will have your wish granted."
He leaned in just a fraction closer, ensuring she heard every single word.
"I'm on your side, and I will be till the very last. I will not leave you. Like many others have..." His striking blue eyes softened. "I promise that there will never be a day of that again... which you have been enduring for who knows how long."
…
A/N: BEEEEEEEPPPPPP…!!!!