Three years have passed. Three years since he abandoned the village.. and left her behind. Despite his words and his rejection, she couldn't stop thinking of the boy who stole her heart. The one who betrayed her and his friends. Her thoughts were overflowing with his image. Every night she would look at that picture from the old days, with Team 7. Naruto and Sasuke were fighting on that day because they didn't want to be in the same picture with one another. But Sakura was happy, that they were both by her side. Her best friend and the one she loved. After Sasuke left, her heart was aching. It was filled with despair and nostalgia. She couldn't live without him, she couldn't tolerate being apart from him. She wanted to feel his presence again. To touch his soft, black hair. To look into his glistening eyes and start daydreaming. But that wasn't possible anymore...
"Sasuke-kun, I have a job for you."
He was laying on his bed while Orochimaru passed through the door of his room. His hand covered his eyes and it looked like he was sleeping.
"What is it?"
With a grumpy response he slowly lifted his hand and stood up to face his sensei. He had already activated his Sharingan, something he'd always do when he's with Orochimaru.
"I need you to bring me something, but for that you'd have to go and pay a visit to the Leaf."
"The Leaf? And what is that what you want me to get?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just.. a particular someone."
"Hm?"
He raised his eyebrow and looked at the Sannin with a puzzled expression.
"A girl from the Haruno Clan, I'm sure you know her.. You were.. once on the same team, if I'm not mistaken."
Sasuke instantly knew who he was talking about. He looked at him suspicious and clenched his teeth.
"What would you want with her? Planning on performing some experiments? There are plenty other girls form other villages, you know."
"My, my you're not concerned about her, are you, Sasuke-kun? Indeed I could choose whichever individual I wanted if I were to act out my experiments, but in this case I need her in particular. Don't worry, it's not that I want to examine her. Her body just has something that I want. I only need to extract it from her, is all."
He frowned at first, but in the end, he had no other choice, but to go to the Leaf and pick up his old teammate.
On his way, sudden memories flashed through his mind. It would be the first time he'd see her after three years of being seperated. When they were young, he used to think she was annoying. He still thinks so. But considering that time had passed and that both of them had grown up, maybe she would be.. different. In their last conversation, she confessed her love to him. He could feel her emotions through every word she said. She spoke her heart out at that time and all he could do was running away.
"Seems like there's not much going on around Konoha. It's quiet."
He passed through the main entrance without being noticed. Orochimaru had taught him how to modify his chakra in order to sneak into places and the fact that there were almost no guards around at night was making it even easier for the young shinobi. The streets seemed deserted. Every building was shut and the only thing hearable was the wind that blew heavily that night. He was standing outside her window and watched her from afar. She was sleeping very sound, wrapped in two blankets and with her hair being all messy. He was standing there for a while, thinking about what Orochimaru told him. He said he wanted to extract something from her body. Apparently it was something that members of the Haruno Clan possessed, but what could that be?
It was freezing cold that night. The wind was so loud and fierce that the window glass of her bedroom started shaking and made an awful noise. She half-opened her eyes and turned around to stand up and close the shutter of her window. It was very dark, but with that little moonlight which pierced through the glass, she could see a figure standing outside, on her balcony. She couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. Blinking her eyes, trying to get a clearer sight, she approached the window and the moonlight lit up her face. Rubbing her eye lids, she pushed aside the transparent silk curtain and put one palm on the cold glass. A red light flashed in front of her. The figure disappeared. Her eyes suddenly opened very wide and then she sensed strange chakra. Someone.. was standing behind her. She sighed in fear and slowly turned around. The red light flashed before her once again and then.. darkness.
Her head was aching and her arm was feeling numb.
"Wh- Where.. Where am I?.. Why.. Why is it.. so dark?.."
Her vision was blocked and she couldn't see a thing. She could only rely on her other senses to get an idea of where she was. Her hands were tied and she was feeling cold. She tried to move her legs, but then realized they were also tied up. It hurt every time she tried to move. She was sitting on rocky ground, it seemed.
"Somebody.. please.."
Her voice trembled and echoed many times in a distance. The place she was kept in sounded and felt like a deep cave. Struggling with her hands, she was trying to loosen up the strings, but all her efforts were hopeless. Suddenly she felt someone's presence again.
"H-Hello? Is someone there? Answer me… please!"
No reply. She heard quiet steps coming closer and closer as that presence became more intense. Someone was watching her.
"Please.. Untie me! I can't see anything! Somebody.. please!"
Her whole body was shaking. She was scared to death. Tears were running down her cheeks as that presence approached. The steps became louder and then.. they suddenly stopped.
"..Hm.."
A deep voice escaped the figure's mouth and it leaned forward to look at the girl.
"Splendid! He did a great job bringing you here and I see he also took his precautions. We wouldn't want the Leaf to find out about this place before we're done. "
A slight, derisive laughter was heard and Sakura trembled even more. She had heard that odd voice before.
"Hurry up and get over with it, Orochimaru. I wanna leave this place as soon as possible."
Another voice sounded from afar. It was..
"Sa-Sasuke-kun? Is… Is that you?! Sasuke-kun!"
She quickly tried to stand up, but tumbled over her own feet and hit her shoulder on the ground. Her teeth clenched a bit from the sudden pain and she begun to struggle again.
"Sasuke-kun, would you wait outside? This won't be taking long."
"Oro..chimaru..? Why.. Why am I here? What do you want from me? Sasuke-kun, why did you bring me here?!Answer me!"
She moaned in anger and struggled even harder. But she got no answer from either. The air pressure around her got heavy and her head started aching again. Shortly after, she fell unconscious.
"I feel.. pain. Why do I.. feel pain?"
