(A/N: Don't you just love my title?:D Enjoy… and yes I'll try to update regularly.)

Disclaimer: You know what I'm gonna say anyway…

Title: Tarnished Soldiers

Chapter 1: Incarcerated

Why is it that she couldn't take care of herself right to the very end? Someone always had to save her even if she was doing alright by herself. Just once she wanted to be the independent one that didn't need a knight in shining armor. Don't get her wrong, she appreciated Kakashi-sensei, Naruto… and even Sai when it counted the most but it still made her feel like a baby that always needed to be taken cared of. As she stared up at the wooden ceiling of what she guessed to be a cabin, her floral brows knit together in irritation. Would that annoying pitter-pattering of the rain stop anytime soon? She had a headache dammit!

"What was he thinking when he left something like "you" behind? That bastard…"

Her huge Peridot eyes slowly condensed in size and gained a darker shade accenting the anger in them. Did that cheap imitation of a shark just call her some… some thing? That's it. She's not waiting for "that bastard" to come back either. She'll just leave… but before that she has to escape and do it while her captors are off guard. Yes Haruno Sakura, age 15, the Godaime's apprentice, and permanent member of Team Kakashi, has been captured by Team Hebi. "That bastard's," Uchiha Sasuke's, newest team. It was more like they had saved her, as she was found on the ground in the rain next to the corpse of Akatsuki member Konan, but she wasn't allowed to go upon her merry way. Thus deeming her position in the matter… a captive. Ignoring the boy who spoke seconds ago, Sakura tried to remember what exactly happened as far back as she could remember.

Flashback

"Why not join Akatsuki?" a dark gaze settled onto her form as she shivered in pain.

"Why would I join?!" she yelled back incredulously while glaring at a woman cloaked in black with red clouds.

"We understand you and the jinchuriki are looking for the last Uchiha…" the woman drawled on bored and irritated that Sakura had drawn blood as a warm liquid trickled down her arm.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she muttered holding her own arm up. It had popped out of her socket and she was struggling to stand up as one of her legs had broken while an artery in another was suffering badly. She was going numb as she tiredly glowered.

"We are in the process of recruiting him. Your current goal is him is it not? You-,"

"You know nothing about what I want. There's nothing that you could interest me with concerning that traitor!" she yelled out offended. Her eyes were getting heavy. She needed to do something about her leg.

"…" Konan stared at her healing a cut on her supporting appendage as if contemplating something. "Then name what it is you want. Akatsuki would be happy to provide you with whatever you desire."

"Whatever I desire, huh? I desire…" she held up a hand sign as Konan readied her own jutsu.

"…" She attempted to separate herself into billions of pieces of paper to slash right into the pink haired kunoichi across from her but couldn't. "…what?"

"For you to leave us alone!" and glared as she yelled, "Hanabi no Jutsu!"

Konan started as she saw a trail of flames come her way and that her hands were attached to invisible chakra threads injecting Sakura's chakra to prevent her own flow. She tried to pull away but her limbs wouldn't budge. The Hokage's apprentice had won this fight as a shrill raw scream sounded throughout the wilderness that no one could bear witness to hear. Sakura dropped to the grassy floor in a panic after hacking out her own blood. Unable to lift herself she hurried to heal her side as she felt herself slip away. She could barely feel the cool raindrops touch her skin as she lay there with her chakra fading in and out of focus along with her vision.

"Son of a bitch…" she mumbled to herself as she barely felt a pair of broken ribs. She looked to her hand that was trying to close the wound only to see it not emanating the familiar green glow and instead had blood oozing down through her trembling fingers. Sakura coughed again as if objecting to her body's lack of response to her orders. She had no chakra left. She was going to die.

"Such a dirty mouth for a hot chick, don't you think, Sasuke?"

Sakura gasped, half in surprise half in pain, and looked up at the direction she heard a voice. Wind blew harshly as she slowly looked up and forced herself to stand with a wince. A boy with white hair and razor sharp teeth smiled down at her menacingly, or at least it seemed that way when lightning flashed behind him. Her eyes widened as she looked at the rest of his profile cloaked in black. If Sakura recalled correctly his name was Suigetsu. She looked him over once again before looking at Zabuza's zanpakto strapped along his back. The last time she saw him he was with that person…

She noticed his line of sight had changed slightly as if he was looking behind her. Quickly turning around to see who it was, a booming crack of thunder sounded as the sudden motion instigated a case of what she thought was whiplash before passing out while she envisaged a blurry form of a black cloak. Sakura could have been imagining it as darkness surrounded her but she could've sworn she saw the insignia of the familiar red cloud.

End Flashback

That same boy was right across from her at the foot of her bed watching her with interest and the storm was still going on. The next time she was awake was yesterday… her eye twitched.

Flashback

"Well hello there, gorgeous," somebody whistled right across from her as she slowly opened her eyes in irritation. It wasn't good to wake up to a voice she couldn't see or recognize. She'd found that she was still lying down so she started to sit herself up.

"Easy there…you're a medical nin, right? You should know better..." she ignored him and sat up in a panic. Instantly she gasped in pain and fell back down to the bed that she was on feeling the wetness of her sweat drenched in the sheets. Despite the unhygienic situation she felt comfort as the fabric cooled her feverish skin. She honestly couldn't breathe so she figured that it was her that was faintly wheezing.

"Told ya," he said.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked around as much as she could without moving her upper body trying to look for the source of the voice. Her ears felt like they were being plugged up and she could barely hear the reverberations of her settings as if they were muffled. "Maybe there's pus in them," she mumbled without thinking. It was possible that she could've developed an ear infection since when she decided to sit up her head felt like it was going to split in two and her ears felt tender as soon as her head it the pillow. No doubt she had a fever as well.

"Huh?"

She ignored him and decided to get right to the point wheezing and all.

"Where am I?"

"In a cabin," he cheekily stated. She could hear or rather faintly feel footsteps coming closer to her on the left.

"…where at?!" she yelled conscious of his approaching form. A slight silhouette surrounding it let her know that she didn't know the person.

"Calm down… I'm not gonna hurt you. He'd kill me if I did, especially after all the work he put up with dressing your wounds. You just wouldn't stop bleeding." The person kept advancing. Sakura was vulnerable and felt her heart rate escalate as he neared closer and closer. She didn't like her situation at all.

"Stay right there! What do you mean by "he?" Who's that?" she interrogated him and started to painfully sit up again, ignoring the pain coursing through her torso. The steps stopped.

"… You mean you don't know? He said that you guys knew each other way back..." she managed to sit up right and snapped.

"Just tell me who!" After her outburst her body wracked with soreness as coughs escaped through her dry mouth. She couldn't focus on his sudden steps coming closer to the edge of the bed and could barely sense his hands push her gently back down. "Easy there... don't want you to reopen your wounds. That wouldn't be very smart," he kept his hands on her because she continued to struggle. Sakura wanted to scream so badly and yell at him but her stupid dangling thing in the back of her throat wouldn't let her. (Note: It's called an epiglottis) "Aw crap! Karin! She's upchucking blood again get your jealous ass in here now!" True to his word, Sakura could feel the life liquid dribbling down her cheek and even tasted it on her tongue. 'I have internal wounds too?!' she screamed in her mind. The only people Sakura allowed touching her as medics would have to be Ino, Shizune, Tsunade-sama, and herself. This Karin person was in for a rude awakening if she thought Sakura was going to be a patient of hers.

In one fell sweep she once again ignored her smoldering torso and pumped chakra to her arms to push up and away. The guy holding her down didn't know what hit him as the shove included her pulling a left jab. She didn't know why, but as soon as her fist contacted with something solid she almost immediately felt fluid splash on her hand. And it was cold and runny. Not the familiar thick and warm red substance that usually erupted from her victims. Setting that thought aside she hurried off the bed and collapsed. Her legs barely responded to her commands and she thought back to when she had to heal a major artery in one of them and the other was still sore from healing up as it had been broken. That and she must've been asleep a long time in order for her leg muscles to become so weak that she couldn't stand.

"Hey c'mon that's not nice..." he said strangely.

'Shouldn't he be cursing at me or in pain rolling on the floor? I could've sworn I hit him hard enough.' She mused as she stood up. Sakura didn't like to brag but she had her pride and joy in those two fists of hers. If she hit you, usually you didn't get back up again… or you weren't supposed to. 'But I didn't even feel him hit the ground.' It was still dark so when she found the edge of the bed she was glad that there was some sort of barrier between her and the mysterious host... whom she couldn't see, "Please lie back down. I hate asking nicely," and probably had a tendency to violence. "Request denied," she stated and punched the bed putting as much strength she could muster into her right fist. Instantly the bed, none too neatly, smashed in half and caved up.

"Whoa!"

It was enough of a distraction to let her find the exit because she felt a draft coming from her right and he was too surprised, and immobile from going after her. It was probably a door or a window. 'Anything to get me away from this place. I don't know how far I can go but I will get away,' she told herself. Her eyes had become adjusted to the darkness conveniently in a few seconds and as she held her hand out she felt cool glass and turned to see a bunch of trees. 'A window,' she brought her fist to the pane and shattered it into pieces. Just then light spilled from behind, into the room exposing her as a female voice screamed, "I'm not jealous! Huh? Hey wait!" But it was too late.

Sakura had propelled herself out the window with her body catching shards still attached to the frame. "What the hell?!" the same voice yelled out. She didn't waste any time looking back to see if there were any faces she could identify. The only thing that ran through her mind was to survive. Within a second she rose from the ground she landed on from a crouching position and winced as she sped forward. She finally turned around feeling a heavy presence come towards her. All she saw was black and looked up as a huge form blocked her sight from the light that came from her temporary prison. "Fu–," she couldn't finish her sentence as something struck her in the neck from behind. The pressure point being unguarded and all told her brain to shut down and she passed out once more, '–ck…' but her thoughts continued the word.

End Flashback

So here she was still in the company of the boy she woke up to earlier and hating every minute of it. In the few hours she had woken up he decided to fill her in on a few details.

He was the same Suigetsu she saw before passing out.

He really admired her strength especially when he saw Konan's corpse.

There were 3 others with him.

Karin… the redhead with the glasses and matching eyes with the bitchy attitude. She honestly didn't know what her problem was as she glared at her the, technically, second time they met.

Juugo… the huge man that appeared behind her the last time she attempted to run away. Ditto on him times infinity.

And he paused before revealing the last person much to her annoyance but finally explained that he was the leader and decided to take her in… she yelled at him to tell her already if only it would get him to shut up. So he nonchalantly said, "Uchiha Sasuke." As if it was no big deal.

It actually took Sakura awhile to respond properly to what Suigetsu just said especially since he was observing her reactions carefully. When she woke up in chakra stocks and bonds they were very loose so her injured body would be comfortable enough to heal on its own but they were also loose enough for her to escape. Sakura carefully shrugged her shock off and said, "Oh, the traitor," much to his confusion. He probably expected hearts to replace her eyes and squealing along the lines of, "Really? Sasuke-kun's here? Oh it's been so long!" But she barely even flinched. Maybe a widening of the eyes was all the response he was going to get. How boring. He "tsked" and kept talking while she examined him from head to toe. 'So this is one of the people he replaced us with? If I know, Sasuke, he would pick a very capable and strong team. One qualified to not get on his nerves too much and to be able to serve their purpose when the time came to kill that man," she saw him clear his throat and once more began to talk. 'Not very impressive looking, with the exception of the big guy standing outside guarding the cabin,' she finished.

She already knew how to free herself from the makeshift chains that bound her to a new bed. Where the other one went she didn't know, nor care, she wanted to know where everyone was so that her escape plan would be flawless. The last time she tried to run away didn't turn out so well seeing as how she got caught in less than 10 seconds in her panic outside this place. Wherever this place was… Sakura noticed that the terrain was different from where she had fought Konan and was probably very far away from the battleground. She could be in a nearby town or in another country for all she knew. Sakura just had to get out of here. If Sasuke was recruited by the Akatsuki, she had to tell the Hokage so that Naruto would be prepared or protected. She knew the boy would hate the latter but the information has to be relayed none of the less. Now she had to assemble the pieces together.

That Karin girl was definitely inside another room and Sasuke… "Hey," she called out to the rambling boy in front of her. He looked a little disappointed that he was stopped halfway into whatever he had to say but complied anyway with a quick suggestive grin, "Yeah?" Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes. Did he honestly think… oh whatever. "Where is Uchiha-san anyway?" she asked keeping her other thoughts at bay. "In an Akatsuki base, there's a meeting there today. It takes 2 days to get to where he's going but he's fast so you'll finally see him in no time," she knew exactly what he was talking about as she reviewed a memory in the summer of this year, when Sasuke had told them that he had broken their bonds and he had no intention of mending them as he lunged at Naruto. Sakura couldn't even see him move.

"I thought you guys were close, you know?" She raised a floral brow in order to indicate that she knew nothing of what he stated. He went on, "He said that you two were in the same cell as genin right?" She nodded and remembered to keep up the nonchalant attitude, "Yeah something like that. It was only for a short time though. We weren't… close or anything," the last sentence kind of stung but it was true. She doesn't remember being on friendly terms with him very much when they were 12 and 13. He always clicked with Naruto even if they were arguing. But with her, one of his fangirls, he had no time for. So it was strange that he would want her to stay anywhere near him. He's the type to leave girls on cold benches in the middle of the night let alone on a muddy ground. The chatter box across from her said that he even nursed her wounds and wouldn't let anyone else touch her until he left for an errand. Maybe he hadn't changed at all and maybe he hadn't broken his bonds after all… if there were any, that is. Suigetsu stared at her for a second. Analyzing her words. "Huh… that's funny. With the way he acted with your half dead body I thought otherwise. Maybe he liked ya back then, I don't think I blame him…" he trailed off looking at her up and down.

Sakura remembered that all she had on was her black cycling shorts and tightly wrapped bandages on her upper body and blushed as she brought the sheets up to cover her chest. He snickered, "Cute," she really wanted to hit him. And that was a real problem. She found out why she felt cool water instead of warm blood splashing on her fist yesterday when she first woke up. The first thing she did was throw a nearby cup at his napping head intent on giving him a concussion. But the thing just hit the wall as he turned into water upon contact and woke up. After a period of shock she asked what he was and he answered, "A failed experiment. But don't worry I'm human too so try not to hurt my feelings. As you can see I'm very sensitive." Sensitive her ass.

At least she knew that he was human and that meant, like all humans, he could be hurt by anything... or something. It was definitely something inside the body that had to go wrong in order for him to fall apart. She doubted he still had any organs inside and the only thing she watched him do was talk and drink water. 'So he has to stay hydrated, I guess that helps,' she looked out the window to think some more. He would be the type of person that hated heat or more likely the sun. But the sky was gray and it was still raining. If she ran away this would be his element and she would never have a chance. The two elements that generated heat or energy would be fire and lightning. Both of which Sasuke could definitely control, one of which she was thankful her teacher made her practice over and over again until she got it right. Lightning. It wasn't much but enough to revive a person or electrocute them. Every medic nin had to have control at least a small portion of this element.

Sakura could switch the nerves inside his body but didn't think he had any. Still… there had to be electricity in his body keeping him intact. Every living thing has some electricity circulating inside them. It was worth a try and the only way she'd actually get to fry him was if they made contact. Her fingers twitched in concentration and she saw a small spark develop in between her hands. Good she was charged. Now… he seemed as if he would jump at the chance to touch her but she didn't want that much contact so she just blurted out, "I… uh have to go to the bathroom," she wanted to bang her head against something. How was he going to touch her then? He'd probably call the other girl in to help her with that. Her face felt hot in undetected embarrassment for not thinking of a better excuse.

He just stared at her for a moment and bent down on his side and reached a hand under his chair. Out he brought, surprisingly, a bed pan. Sakura couldn't help the blush even if she was faking. "What am I supposed to do with that?" He stood up and stretched while saying, "You're a medical nin you figure it out… unless..." he put his hands down and looked at her strangely through one eye as if it was calculating. "It's the other one?" She rapidly shook her head perplexed. This was weird but convenient. She could actually make contact with his skin. Making sure her own hands were charged she brought them up to take the pan from him and brushed her fingers against his to make static electricity. He raised a brow at the blunder but then she smiled so innocently before saying, "Kai." His eyes widened in realization but it was too late. A huge surge went through his body but on the outside he stared at her with a blank gaze. Sakura was having second thoughts about the tactic but sighed in relief once he started to react as his body started bubbling. "You… how did you know?" Before she could explain he collapsed into a huge puddle of water splashing on the floor. His clothes landed on her bed and the pan crashed onto the ground making a huge clatter.

She winced at the noise but no one came to see what had happened. Sakura took a deep breath and yanked her hands away from each other disrupting the chakra that bound her in one fell swoop by forcing her own in and did the same with her feet. In no time she was off the bed and in the hallway. 'I wonder if he died…' she pondered but couldn't think on it more as soon as she was grabbed from behind in a choke hold. Sakura gasped in surprise. She forgot that the girl was still in the house. "I don't know why Sasuke-kun is interested in you so much. You couldn't even sense me approaching," Karin sneered at her. "Maybe because he's drawn to the past…" she choked out before elbowing her captor in the stomach, 'And because I still have my ear infection,' she added. Karin let go in pain and even fell on the floor. Sakura still had her inhuman strength and she smirked at the factor. 'Note to self: Thank Tsunade-sama a hundred times over if I get out of this mess alive,' she told herself.

Before Karin could pull herself together Sakura stomped her stomach in, not caring if she hit the solar plexus. The less people following her the better. The red-head let out a strangled cough before her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. "And then there was one," she said to herself catching her own breath. It actually took awhile to relax her respiratory system as she leaned on the wall with her arm supporting her weight. It wasn't good that she felt dizzy. Before she moved on she summoned a small slug, partially because she didn't want to make more of a ruckus and partially because she had to save what little chakra she had. "Yes mistress Sakura?" the little bug squeaked. She brought the creature up to her face and smiled weakly, "I need you to find some antibiotics in this place and do a perimeter check around this cabin. Do it fast, I don't have much time," she kissed it and it disappeared in a pink poof of smoke.

Meanwhile Sakura walked around and found a closet of boy clothes. They weren't clothes that she approved of concerning her gender but desperate times called for desperate measures and… she was freezing. Stifling her shivering, she hurriedly slapped on some black pants and a long sleeved shirt that smelt familiar. For some reason her boots were in this closet too. Shrugging at the coincidence, Sakura also found a cloak made for the kind of weather outside the cabin and just when she was warm enough her ninken came back and somehow spit out her medical bag out of its tiny little body. "I found something better, mistress," it relayed making Sakura smile. "Thank you Tsuru-chan. Anything else?"

While Sakura was rummaging through her bag thankful that none of its contents were touched the slug added that there was a huge man outside the front door talking with its natural enemies. Sakura thought for awhile figuring out that Tsuru's enemies were birds. It made sense but not the part that he was talking to them. Then again Inuzuka Kiba could communicate with his own dog, Akamaru all the same; she guessed this guy was no different when it came to birds. "Okay… this is what we're going to do, Tsu-chan…"

Preview: They were right there. If only she could… "Don't even think about it. If you make a commotion I will kill them in a heart beat. Understood?" The stinging in her eyes was relieved by warm tears that spilled down her cheeks and onto his hand that covered his mouth. It seemed almost upon contact with the liquid that he dug his fingers further into her side. She couldn't help the muffled sob from the pain and heartbreak that escaped her throat. Nor could she get away with the extreme trembling her body made that seemed to have a mind of its own. Sakura was afraid. He had definitely changed and she would probably die. "Alright, let's move out," she heard Genma announce. Sakura could only watch with her frightened wide green eyes as they disappeared from view. He ripped out his fingers making her writhe in pain as she dropped helplessly towards the ground but was stopped as she was yanked by her waist. She looked up and saw a snake wrap itself around her legs while it hissed in her ear. Sakura couldn't help but screech in dread.

(A/N: Well, do you like? I've been gone for so long I bet you think I disappeared. I changed my contact info because apparently my hotmail kept thinking that the fanfiction bots were junk or spam. Either way, if you gave me a private message at all, I didn't receive it. :( Sucks huh? So message me again please if you will…)