I Am Strong

Darkness.

A silent, frigid darkness. Her body throbbed from the barest amounts of chakra running through her system. A limbs were mostly numb even after trying futilely to circulate the blood towards them.

If she ever got out of their she doubted she would be able to even walk.

Every time she breathed a rattling echoed in her chest, constricting her throat as something metallic boiled at the back of her throat. Not mentioning the slithering knife like pain that sharpened once ever few breaths, she had no doubt that a few ribs were broken.

Presumably six ribs were broken and a couple snapped in two places she was lucky they hadn't pierced anything though if she didn't attend to them soon, they were unlikely to heal probably and that would be problematic.

If not including incredibly painful.

Blinding bright white light pierced through the dark and she turned from it instinctively as her eyes readjusted. As she blinked several times to clear her eyes she turned to the light suspiciously, noticing the light widening as the door was fully opened.

She growled as she finally heard the ambled footsteps of her captor. She steeled her resolve, she already could guess who would enter, if she was even worth his time, that is.

And true to her thoughts, Uchiha Sasuke entered the tension piling in her throat as she noticed the darkness permitting from him. His shoulders were set stiffly into would should have been a relaxed position and his once alluring eyes were covered underneath a layer of fatigued and decay as if his actual soul had molded into something less then human.

"Sasuke…" Was this really the boy she had a flickering crush for? For all he had done, she still remembered him way back when and thus she knew it was possible. She wanted him to be happy, happier than he was, than he had been. It had taken much thought but she believed that was why she had liked him. Because he had the abilty to better then all of them but at the same time his disability, his pain, was what made him human.

Now she wondered if there was any shred of humanity left.

There had to be, right?

She knew him better then most, with any luck, would she be able to crack his shell? As soon as the idea became she dismissed it, swallowing as thickly as she allowed herself with her injuries as he came closer, she hadn't been able to get him to open up to him before. Why would after so much more had been crumbled beneath him and set upon his shoulders would it be any easier?

He was silent as he stared at her with those sharp eyes, though there was something so dull in their depths as if he had no energy to continue with what he was doing but was being held to do it. Prisoner to his own will, her heart yearned to comfort him but the anger ever present in his gaze stilled her.

"You are weak." Her jaw tightened as she felt the familiar prickle at the back of her eyelids, the pure conviction in his tone was painful as if it was an observation, a fact, barely worth admitting.

She shook her head lightly, staring at the light still glowing from the semi-open doorway. "No, I'm strong, Sasuke…" Her eyes lifted to meet his own, searching for any understanding, some empathy, some realization. "I may not be the most powerful person…but I am strong. I may not be able to understand what you've been through Sasuke, but that doesn't mean I can't try." Her eyes flickered towards Sasuke, amused lightly by the crimson Sharingan whirling in his eyes; a small smile laced her lips.

"Your still pitiful little Uchiha Sasuke."

His eyes widened momentarily, a large reward before came the punishment even so she wasn't scared. Indifferent, glad perhaps that she had finally been able to express herself even if it put her on the list of the endless sleeping. Her fate was sealed the moment she was captured.

All he did to her would only open Naruto's eyes, that this wasn't the same Sasuke, this Sasuke was capable of things unthinkable. No matter how much they wanted him to be the same broody Gennin and hopefully, he would finally understand what needed to be done.

"You're going to die here, Sakura." A chill ruffled the small hairs upon her arms and exposed leg, seeping into her into her hollow feeling bones. The clench on her jaw tightened; stretching the muscle working harshly she forced herself to stare him straight on and looked down her nose at him as best as she could from her lack of height.

"No, Naruto will come for me and beat you and kill that masked freak you're following like some foolish pawn..." His hand shot out from clenching quickly on her throat, she hadn't accepted him to react so violently and she chocked on her air, tugging on her wrist chains even though she knew it was futile and shook her head trying to maneuver her chin to touch her collarbone to protect her vital airway. "Y-ou don't t..think you-'ll be…ach…" She choked as she tried clenching the muscles in her neck to protect herself further but it was futile on his tense grip. "…a-ble t-o…wi-n…"

She doubted sand would be able to escape from his grip. Each taught muscle in his fingers were bruising her neck furiously clashing with her own and it, god damn, it was painful.

Her vision blurred as seconds passed to excruciatingly long minutes, her breath nothing but a raspy screech. He was slowly choking her. Even though he believed that she would perish there, she would not take that lying down so she shuffled back as much as she could even though it plopped her shoulders into harmful positions and tried once more futile to escape his clawing hand.

Finally gaining some length in the chains connected to her ankle she tried kneeing him in a place sensitive for him. She missed as he stepped back leaving her to crumble as she felt feint but she forced herself awake to stare at his decaying glare. "You're pathetic." He stated.

She grinned as much as she could, her breath slithering between her teeth. "I'm strong."

A/N. Maybe there will be more, maybe not. I just wanted to upload this.