Wanted

Chapter One

by Creign

Sakura ran through the trees at breakneck speed. The rhythmic, thumps of her boots against the branches drove the birds out of their nests, but she could barely hear it over the pounding of her heart. Or the muffled cries of her pursuers- the bandits and thieves of the backcountry.

She had been on a diplomacy mission to a country now overrun by rouge nin, in hopes of restoring the political puppet of a daimyo to his former strength. Tsunade had specifically sent Sakura because the daimyo knew how important her apprentice was to her, and would hopefully honor Sakura in her stay at his country.

The problem was, when she had accepted the mission from Tsunade, she had no idea how long it would take. It wasn't till she had stamped the mission scroll that she realized the mission's length would conflict with her scheduled seminar to Suna's medical staff and board, which she'd promised Gaara.

There was no finding a replacement for her in this mission either because she was the only apprentice of Tsunade that wasn't heavily pregnant. She muttered spitefully under her breath. Shizune sure knew when to get laid.

Pressured by the time restraint, Sakura had doubled her pace and forgotten to focus on the possibility of assaulters. It was, after all, a country without police and a haven for criminals.

After unexpectedly breaking into a clearing, she realized she had stumbled straight into a criminal camp. Her eyes drifted from the makeshift tents, to the smothering fire, and finally to the rouge ninja that lounged around the camp. For a second, both parties stilled.

Fighting would take more time than she had to spare. Sakura had headed for the trees, cursing her luck. Shouts of confusion sounded behind her. She figured they'd give up once they realized she wasn't going to report them to whatever authority there was left.

But needless to say, they were still hot on her trails, even after miles of foliage. Sakura cursed again. At this rate, she would run out of chakra before she could get away. It figured that she'd have to fight them after exhausting her chakra supply in running.

She stopped on the branch suddenly, and braced herself.

"You little bitch, don't even think about getting away! You still owe us the cash!"

Cash? She didn't owe anyone anything. They had confused her with someone else, but she doubted that would keep them from attacking her. Standing back to back with the tree, she prepared for combat.

The bandits broke through the foliage gracelessly. There were three of them, each burly and armed with heavy weapons.

"Hey," one squinted at her. "You ain't the chick who asked for directions."

Directions? Sakura had never even looked at him. Not that there was much to look at. The man was built like a barn with a face only a mother could love. His two lackeys weren't much cuter.

"I think you… gentlemen have me confused with someone else." She could resolve this without conflict. Dialogue would buy her time to think of an escape route. Quickly scanning her surroundings, she calculated it was either down her original path, or breaking through the trees. Neither sounded appealing, or even possible with them on her trails.

"Guess not. But now that you've seen our camp…" he sneered. The other two bandits grinned.

They pulled out weapons and lunged.

Karin signaled for the group to stop, and pulled her own weight to halt her momentum.

The group looked at her questioningly.

After carefully utilizing her tracking abilities, she said, "The bandits from before are a little while ahead. They must have taken a detour around us. I think they mean to cut us off." She was pleased that she managed to sound cool and confident. After all, it was stressful talking with the man of her dreams standing a scant ten feet away. She was this close to turning to puddy at his feet.

"Shit, Karin. That was one hell of an idea." Another of the group of nin spoke up, running a hand through his grey hair. He leaned a little to keep his balance against the branches the group had come to a halt on and snapped a water bottle off his belt. "We can't run forever- now we gotta fight them anyway… Told you we should have beat the information out of them."

"Shut up, Suigetsu. We needed to avoid conflict," Karin snapped at him.

Suigetsu took an audible gulp of water. "Well, you shouldn't have offered them money for directions. You're lucky they didn't demand to be paid up front. But now…" he smirked, "looks like we have to fight."

"There was no other way," she said. "And for your information, they aren't after us. They're fighting now with a Leaf kunoichi."

Out of her peripheral vision, Sasuke shifted. "Leaf kunoichi?"

Suigetsu smirked. "Friend of yours, Sasuke?"

Sasuke ignored him. "How the fight going, Karin?"

Karin shivered. She felt a small pride in knowing that Sasuke trusted her abilities fully. The feel of his full attention on her was exhilarating. And the way he said her name… Quickly, she chided herself. Now was not the time for melting into a useless puddle. She concentrated on the four chakras up ahead. It was easy to tell who was winning.

"The kunoichi is drained, but it doesn't appear to be from the fight. She's not losing chakra as rapidly as the other three. Oh, wait…" Karin paused as there was a flicker in the kunoichi's chakra. "She just blacked out."

Nodding, Sasuke looked at his group. "Wait here." Then he headed for the bandits up ahead.

Suigetsu whistled when he was sure Sasuke was out of hearing range. "Looks like someone's burnt bridges are still smoking."

Sasuke broke through the clearing, simultaneously drawing a kunai to his hand. The remaining two bandits didn't see him coming; he had their throats opened before he hit the floor. Swiftly, he moved towards the form of the other, presumably the kunoichi.

His eyes fell over her disarrayed clothing, slim body, and fine-boned face. Pointed chin, high cheekbones, wide forehead, candy floss hair, and pale eyelids that he knew covered bright green eyes.

He almost sighed. Fate certainly loved its games.

He turned on his heel, satisfied to leave. She was no threat. Suddenly, a voice stopped him, a voice that he hadn't heard in over three years.

"Sasu-ke- kun, wait..." Sakura's voice drifted to him, thin and weak, a casualty of chakra exhaustion.

Hesitantly, he looked back at her. She hadn't moved from her position on her back. He walked and crouch down next to her shoulder, clearly expecting her to say something. He was impatient to get back to his team before they discovered him and her together and asked annoying questions.

He watched her peer him through her hair. His raised his eyebrow when she didn't say anything, seemingly content with drinking in his features.

"Sasuke," she started, "I, that is, we-"

"If this is about Konoha then I don't want to hear it." Sasuke cut in, cold and toneless.

"But..." she trailed off, intimidated by his bluntness. For a moment, she fell silent; then she closed her eyes. It looked like she was debating something.

Sasuke was about to leave again, when suddenly with one deep breath, she pushed herself into a sitting position. She almost fell on her back again, disoriented by the blood flow from her head, but she leaned against the back of a tree trunk near where she fell. During her shift in position, Sasuke noticed a mission scroll peeking out of her hip pouch.

Curious, Sasuke decided. He didn't sense any teammates around so this must have been a solo mission. The Sakura he knew wasn't strong enough to handle solos; she could barely qualify as a tag-a-long.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Sakura felt woozy and nauseous. She'd forgotten how miserable chakra deprivation felt. Struggling, she leaned her back against a tree and focused her attention on her former teammate, who, standing now, was staring down at her.

The first thing she saw were his eyes, blazing crimson, pinning her down. She almost lost her breath. It felt like he could see her thoughts, and they scared her. The black strands that fell over his eyes were longer, she noticed. His hair was the dark and unruly mess it always was. His nose was the same as before as well- aristocratic and straight, and his lips, thin and determined. In other words, he was the same cold, beautiful man he had been three years ago, when he'd tried to run her through with his sword.

Shaking, she pushed the thought out of her mind.

"What are you doing here?" She jumped when he suddenly spoke.

She hesitated before answering, but she had a feeling he could tell if she lied. "I'm on a diplomacy mission to the daimyo of this country."

"You're headed to the capital? Alone?" He seemed to scoff a little.

Indignantly, she huffed at his implication. "Yes, alone." She snapped. She was more than a little irked that after all these years, he still saw her as a weak and useless kunoichi.

She met his gaze dead-on. He broke eye contact first, opting to sweep over her figure- dirtied, and slouching.

Blatantly, she realized her current condition was no giveaway to the real power she'd achieved under years of Tsunade's tutelage and hard training.

Suddenly curious, she wondered what Sasuke was doing in a country like this. She knew it was a place for many fugitives, but in her mind Sasuke was always a few levels above the common criminal.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I have... business with the daimyo as well," he answered and turned on his heal, walking away from her. It seemed she already lost his interest.

"Hey, wait!" Sakura, alarmed that he was leaving without warning again, struggled to her feet. Once she regained her balance, she ran towards him. "You can't just leave like that!"

Sasuke paused in his steps. Inwardly, Sakura wondered why he had walked away from her rather than sprinting for the trees. Perhaps he was waiting for her to call him back...? She dismissed the thought as soon as it came.

"Then come with me." Sasuke was as monotone as ever.

"...what?"

Sasuke moved impatiently, and turned towards her. "Come with me, to the head village."

"Why?" Was he finally acknowleging her strength?

"We need a healer, and you need protection."

Sakura puffed up, annoyed. "I do not need- "

Once again, Sasuke cut her off. "Yes, you do." He eyed her current state meaningfully.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't looking perfect and spotless. But still... "Wait, whose 'we'?"

"My team." Sasuke said shortly.

"You have a team? Who?" Sakura was incredulous. She'd always pictured Sasuke to be the loner type.

"Come with us and find out."

Inwardly Sakura debated. On one hand, going with Sasuke to the capital was potentially dangerous plus she'd have to use chakra to heal his team, but on the other hand, she did have to get back in time for the seminar, which she was sure she wouldn't make on her own. Glancing at Sasuke, she silently decided to trust him. Hopefully, he wouldn't let her down.