"Excuse me, Ms. Haruno. I know you asked not to be disturbed, but Lord Hokage would like to see you in his office immediately. He has a mission for you."
Sakura raised her head from its perch on her arms, blearily looking around to try and remember where she was.
The sight of her office blinds reminded her of what had happened the previous night, of why she was here in the first she raised her head further up from its makeshift pillow, the muscles in her back screamed their abuse as she was reminded yet again of Saiiko's cruelties.
She whimpered and sighed when she felt the gentle tingle of her healing chakra enter her body, he had beaten the hell out of her last night after she had spurned his sexual advances. After the first few times he'd beaten her, she lost her sex drive when it came to him. She was loyal, faithful and sweet. But it wasn't enough for him, he always demanded to know who she was seeing behind his back.
For Sakura, cheating wasn't an option.
And for now, neither was leaving.
That had been one of the first things he'd addressed, if she left him, or even thought of leaving him, he'd kill every single one of her friends until he found her. And then he'd kill her too. So she simply let him do as he pleased to her, she made herself numb and indifferent to the pain.
She learned to survive.
To cope with the abuse, she buried herself under mountains of paperwork. She slowly distanced herself from her friends, hoping to keep them safe from him. She slowly got up and tested her limbs, when she found them to be less painful than she expected she silently thanked the gods Saiiko had been drunk.
Sakura opened the center drawer of her desk and pulled out a bottle of pain pills, taking two she made a mental note to pick up more after she noticed the bottle was almost empty. She dropped it back into the drawer with the others and locked it with the silver key on her key ring, the key was adorned with an inlaid Leaf Village symbol in dark pink.
A gift from Kakashi for her twenty-first birthday, he had made it after the kids in the hospital started getting into her desk looking for the stash of sweets she kept hidden for the kids who were brave enough to get their shots done by themselves.
She walked down the hall toward the doors, her heels clicking on the linoleum. She was beautiful, when she wasn't covered in bruises. Her emerald green eyes contrasted perfectly with her long dark pink hair and creamy tanned skin, she had no blemishes or scars in sight. She bore dark eyeshadow to make her eyes stand out and pale pink lipstick, along with jet black eyeliner.
A form-fitting red dress clung to her hips and her chest, but it was her white Head Doctor's jacket that hid his marks. Sakura was the current Head Medic in Konoha, and a highly decorated ANBU Kunoichi. She was also the Ambassador of the Hidden Leaf Village, so when she got a mission, she knew it was something big.
Sakura walked up the steps toward Naruto's office, that's right, NARUTO's office. He'd become the Hokage after Tsunade had died, the entire Village had proclaimed him Hokage a week after her funeral.
When the mourning period had passed.
A brisk knock on the door was her only warning that she was there, before opening the door. Naruto looked at her, but he did not smile like he usually did. His expression was somber and strained, like he'd swallowed something sour.
"What happened?"
"I need your help Sakura... Our relationship with the Sand Village has gone south, ever since Gaara stepped down from the throne the new Kazekage has made trade relations incredibly difficult."
"Difficult how? What exactly does my mission entail?"
"You'll be in the Hidden Sand Village for six months, you are to convince Gaara to resume his title of Kazekage. I want you to do this by any means necessary, however, I want you to put your safety and well being first. If at any time, you think your life is in jeopardy, I want you to come back. You'll be taking two people with you, Shikamaru and Tenten."
"Why am I taking them with me? If my goal is to convince Gaara that he must resume command of the Sand Village, wouldn't that be something ideally done with discretion?"
Naruto sighed and ran his hand through his cropped hair, his hesitancy made Sakura narrow her eyes at him.
"Naruto? What aren't you telling me?"
He buried his face in his hands, a low groan emanating from him. "You know... Sometimes Sakura-chan you're too damn smart for your own good.."
"Naruto."
"Oh alright alright... Shikamaru is on his last strike, and Tenten won't do anything since Neji's death. They need to get out of the Village, get some fresh air and do something with their lives. I can't just sit by and watch them waste their lives away.."
Sakura felt her heart break, they were her friends even if they rarely spoke.
"Sakura please.. Please take them with you.."
Sakura thought for a moment, she knew that when Saiiko found out she was leaving, even for a mission, he'd be furious. But the three of them needed this, they needed to escape.
She sighed softly, then met his pleading aquamarine eyes with her own vivid emerald orbs. "When do we leave?"
He grinned and thanked her profusely. Though he knew nothing of the extent of her boyfriend's anger issues, he knew that by taking this mission, she was risking something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"You leave tomorrow night, you must be on your way to the Sand Village by eight. I told the current Kazekage that you three were heading over there to help train his people in Combat, Medical Ninjutsu, and Tacticians. I owe you big time for this Sakura-Chan! Go ahead and go, I'll tell the other two about the mission ok? I'll see you when you get back!"
Two hours later, said kunoichi hesitantly walked into her house.
It was late, and by the gods she hoped he was passed out. She didn't want to put on the fake smiles and laughs while silently gauging his moods, calculating the odds of her getting beaten within an inch of her life again.
"You know what time it is? You should've been home hours ago, so where have you been?"
Her heart stopped, his words were not slurred. His pitch wasn't uneven, which meant that he was completely, dangerously sober. She immediately began to apologize, hoping to quell any brewing rage he might have.
"I-I'm sorry Saiiko-kun, I was called into Hokage-sama's office for a mission-" A shrill cry rose from her as he backhanded her into the door, the handle slamming into the myriad of bruises on her hip from yesterday's beating.
"Did I tell you you can go on any missions? Who's going to make me dinner? Who's going to take care of the house? You can't leave me Sakura. I thought I made this clear yesterday, but no. It looks like I have to reiterate it again."
He wasn't yelling, or looking at her cruelly.
It was his voice, that made her shake. That made her whimper in fear.
Saiiko had a way of speaking that made anyone unlucky enough to be the object of his displeasure, tremble in fear. He spoke civilly, politely even. But his tone always held a certain degree of hatred, an unspoken promise of pain that would be inflicted at even the slightest hint of displeasure. At the moment he spoke to her as if she were a child being scolded for breaking their father's favourite plate, but underneath that was a hidden note of growing rage.
"Why do you insist on disobeying me Sakura? Do you think I enjoy hurting you? Do you think I like blackening those pretty jade eyes, that you always hide so well with makeup?"
Sakura was bent on the floor against the doorframe, clutching her sides as waves of pain danced up her spine and reverberated in her bones.
"Well? DO you?"
A vicious kick was sent into her stomach, before he grabbed onto the dark pink hair he claimed to love so much, and yanked her up toward him. He crushed his lips to hers as her face twisted in pain, then he smiled and forced her to look into his eyes.
"You're mine little girl, I can do with you what I please. Do you understand me sweeting?"
Tears dripped down her face as she whimpered in agreement, willing to say anything if he would just let her go.
"I think you're lying, I think you need proof.."
He released her hair and dragged her down the hall by her arm to their bedroom, shoving her into the bedpost. The night dragged on with the occasional whimpers and and moans of her pain and his pleasure, and when he left the next morning, Sakura laid there and cried.
Slowly she got up from the bed, forcing herself to look in the mirror and face the wreckage he'd wrought unto her skin. Bruises spiraled up her hips and unto her ribcage, red marks and scratches from his nails and slaps covered her thighs and her a small portion of her face.
It was odd, he always avoided coloring her face too much. He knew she barely used concealer, so her suddenly wearing it all the time would make others suspicious.
'Look at yourself Sakura... look at what he's done to you girl. How long are you going to sit by and let this happen? How long are you going to let him hurt you? Until you can no longer move? Until you can't walk, and are confined to a wheelchair for the rest of your life? Or maybe, you're waiting till he finally kills you. You're already a walking corpse, why not make it official?'
Silent tears slipped down her cheek, her inner self was right. She no longer looked like the Sakura she once knew, she looked healthy yes. But her eyes were no longer bright and alive.
They were dull and void of all emotion but sadness, she looked hollow, broken.
She spent what little time she had left packing and sending all her luggage ahead of her, like most ninja do when they go somewhere for long periods.
But unlike them she wouldn't be coming back.
She quickly showered and sent her chakra to her face, putting up a small henge to make herself look normal when she realized makeup wasn't going to cover the marks this time. Seven thirty rolled around, and after writing a brief note, she hurried through the back alleyways to the gates.
She didn't want him to know she was gone until she was too far away for him to catch her, too far for him to force her home.
The other two were waiting for her, dressed in their ANBU uniforms like they were told.
"You ready? Good, then let's go. If we wait any longer we'll be behind schedule..."
The duo nodded and they set out, sticking to the treetops to avoid detection. They were well past the Leaf Village's border when Saiiko arrived home and discovered her note, and proceeded to completely trash the house looking for her. Her note was fed to the flames after he reluctantly cleaned up his mess, her elegant and rushed script disappearing as the fiery tongues lashed at the ink.
"You will never touch me again.
By the time you read this I will be gone, far from the Leaf Village and far from you.
You will NEVER, touch me again.
~ Sakura"
He completely disagreed.