The Cage...

Karin's POV

I'm on this special mission. Madara-sama gave it to me and only me-for Sasuke-kun's sake, I thought. It was a difficult one to say the least. Not that the target was strong, but she was well protected. It will take more than brains to get this job done, but I won't back down. I HAVE TO KILL HARUNO SAKURA.

Normal POV

It was the dead hours of the night, Sakura had been stuck working in the hospital. The number of patients being taken in had exponentially increased since Danzo was taken from power. Surely his accomplice is still out there acting. Who he was, they were uncertain. In addition to that pain in the ass was another ghost of the past who just kept on haunting their lives. 'Madara,' Sakura thought, he has Sasuke, if he was still alive. The encounter at the Kage's summit left both him and Naruto fighting death. At least she knew how Naruto was, but Sasuke was still out of reach.

Kakashi-san, the New Hokage, spoke to her earlier about what they found out from their last encounter with Madara. 'His dogma,' she thought. Sakura's thoughts would not waver from the sadness she feels for the destiny of the two men she loved the most.

When her clock struck 12, Sakura thought it was about time to go home to her bed and try sleeping. She went by Naruto's room to make sure everything is fine before leaving. Naruto did not even make a move when she entered. He was sleeping like a rock. Sakura went to his bedside and watched for a while. He was covered up in bandages yet he sleeps as if it were just clothes on him. Sakura motherly stroke his hair and let out a deep sigh 'We can do this, just stay alive and we'll bring him back home... together...' she then kissed his forehead and went on her way.

Her apartment was only a few walks away, but it was enough for someone to intercept her. Sakura felt the slightest change in the air, and she knew it was not the kind of change she liked. 'There!' she threw a kunai towards the presence and it disappeared. It missed Karin only by a centimeter.

Karin chose to retreat; there'll be other opportunities to kill her. 'I'll do a little more research first,'

When Karin came back to the lair, she was sure Madara would at least strike her for failing, but it seemed that he was not in a hurry to kill her. It was wrong of her to have been hasty and underestimated Haruno Sakura's skills- she was after all the third person of team 7. There was simply an amount of personal intrigue for Karin, that she could not help but see Sakura for herself. After checking on Sasuke's condition Karin was made sure that he'd be in bed for at least a week more. She decided to go to Orochimaru's main hide-out and do some research.

'Haruno Sakura....' a personal entry from Orochimaru's data log on Sasuke came out. It was the only entry where her name seemed to be of significance. An interesting observation was noted on the third paragraph, it said: 'The girl named Haruno Sakura kept Sasuke and Naruto alive while my team of Oto ninjas came to attack. Sasuke awakened with the seal in place at the very moment she was about to fail. In a fit of controlled rage, Sasuke attacked the sound genins one by one. He shows great strength and ruthlessness. He beat them up to the point of torture, until the girl interferred and stopped the growing seal. But never the less, Sasuke has tasted the power and will certainly be looking for more'.

'She stopped the seal from growing,' Karin kept on repeating in her head. What kind of jutsu could she have used? Was it a sealing jutsu, but the encounter was very premature. Several hypotheses came to Karin, but none of them were very plausible. At least now she has an inclination to why Madara wants her dead.

(skip to Sasuke and Naruto's final battle, however that may play out, i'd like the ending to be like this)

Naruto and Sasuke, in their strongest forms, met half way in mid-air, striking punches at each others faces. They matched in every way. Their friends looked on as they tried to tear each other apart. The kyuubi and the cursed seal were showing the worst of them and it was obvious that the killing instinct was stronger than the need to live. Sakura was fighting Karin half a mile a way. But she felt the force of the last strikes and rushed to where the boys were. Karin was very much insulted, it was obvious to her that Sakura hasn't been concentrating on their fight. She was busy monitoring Naruto and Sasuke. Though Karin was as much distracted, Sakura's earth shattering blows required her full attentions to evade. Karin followed her, she was very much worried about Sasuke. But upon making it through the smoke, she found him at last-barely conscious and still in stage 2 form. Naruto was still very much standing, he'd even gained more control over the kyuubi at this point. Sasuke was at the brink of defeat. He was preparing to defend himself as Naruto summoned a Rasengan. Karin simply stood frozen in her place. At the point of supposed impact, she was sure a whirlwind blast would blow her away, but nothing came. When her eyes came to focus, she saw Sakura at the middle. Her arms straingthened sideways, palms poised to stop the impact. Both men neutralized themselves to keep her from getting hurt. Naruto fell back, and Sasuke collapsed. Sakura caught him midway, and embraced him tight. Naruto stood-up and smiled, he waited for Sakura to give him a signal to help Sasuke up.'She stopped them,' Karin thought. 'She trusted them both enough that she knew they wouldn't kill her... Sasuke could not bring himself to strike her.' It would have been a sure win if Sasuke had coursed a chidori through Sakura, but he didn't do it. Sakura laid Sasuke down on the ground and placed his head on her lap. Her hand began to glow green as Karin approached.

'I can take it from here,' Karin demanded. She was ready to fight for him.

'Just a little longer, please give me the peace of mind that he's out of danger,' Sakura pleaded. Her eyes were wet with tears. It was so full of love and longing- feelings that her own could not compare with. She let them be and searched for Jugo and Suigetsu.

On her way, Madara caught her.

'I gave you an order,' he hissed as he held her by the neck.'Now look what's happened, Sasuke's been defeated.

'Release her,' Jugo demanded, he and Suigetsu stopped their own battles when they felt Sasuke had been defeated. They were both on their way to aid what's left of him when they saw Karin in trouble. Madara obliged, she was not worth his effort.

'Are you alright?' Jugo immediately asked, when Karin nodded a yes, Suigetsu asked 'What was the order?' Karin did not say.

A whole month had passed. Team Taka was allowed refuge in the Uchiha mansion, but was heavily monitored by jounins and anbus. They remained there undisturbed aside from Naruto's regular visits to bring them some food. They have not seen Sasuke the whole time. He'd been in the main Uchiha house, where he grew up. Sakura had been personally taking care of his unconscious self.

'Why are we still here?' Karin asked them, recalling a conversation they had after Sasuke battled Deidara.

'We don't have to be, our cages are unlocked,' Suigetsu remarked.

'Yet were here, waiting for him to wake-up,' Jugo replied.

Silence filled the air, until Karin spoke once again, 'That girl, she intrigues me...'

'She to him is like him to me,' Jugo explained. Karin did observed that much. Sakura didn't use any jutsu to control him, she naturally did.

Sakura's POV

'It's taking Sasuke a lot longer to recover. I feel worried about how he'll react to us bringing him here. I've been trying to stimulate his brainwaves, but it's been a month and still no response.' I looked up the sky outside the screen doors, and hoped that he'll wake-up soon. I've checked his body several times, and all his injuries have healed perfectly. It baffles me why he's still in a coma.

I held his hand, kissed it and held to my face. 'Sasuke' I called out in a whisper. Small tear began to fall. I was losing hope that he'd recover. It was then that i felt his hand move, he whipped the tear away. I looked at him and i saw his eyes blinking, trying to focus on my image.

'Sakura,' he said, i was finally sure that he was fine. I threw my self on to him. I could not help it. I embraced his lying figure as tightly as I could. I was not expecting anything from him, I was just too happy that he was alright.

He embraced me back and whispered, 'you can stop crying now,' I nodded a yes and tried to get up, but his hold refused to let me do so. I obliged him the whole night. I slept in his arms, remaining silent for the rest of the evening.

Madara's POV

That' daughter of Senju will ruin everything, now that kyuubi will be an even more pain...