Naruto, Sasuke and I were standing in front of Tsunade's desk. Sasuke and I both had something to tell her and Naruto, as usual had been bored, so he tagged along. I had just opened my mouth when a woman burst in through the door screaming "TSUNADE! AN ANBU SQUAD WAS JUST ATTACKED AND THEY NEED A MED-NIN!" I could feel all four pairs of eyes turn towards me. The woman pleading, Tsunade questioning, Naruto worried, and Sasuke indifferent as ever but intense. "Tsunade, send me," I said. I could almost see Naruto behind me silently begging me not to go. "Fine, but Sakura, please be careful." "Hai!" and I left, going to find the ANBU squad in need of my help.
I was ambushed. I had been racing toward the screams and crashing of ninjas engaged in combat when I felt searing pain shooting up to my shoulder. A kunai was embedded in my arm just above my elbow and blood was slowly oozing out around the weapon. I yanked it from my flesh hissing softly in pain. I remember stopping, trying to figure out whether I had an opponent or the kunai was just a stray that had missed its target. Before I was able to come to a conclusion the answer presented its self as two ninjas landed near me, one in front of me and one behind. I remember engaging in a battle with them and giving and receiving injuries, but the fight was not in my favor and I was captured and I couldn't help but wonder, why keep me alive? Why not kill me and be done with it? Then everything went black…
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"Tsunade, why did you need to see us?" the blond boy beside me blurted. He could be so obnoxious sometimes. I just threw a quick glare at Naruto before turning back to the Hokage. The look of well masked fear on her face made my stomach turn.
"The ANBU squad returned five minutes ago…" Tsunade paused and I felt my heart rate quicken, this was not good news. "…but Sakura wasn't with them." She stopped again letting the information sink in. I was right, this was not good news… hell it wasn't even bad news, it was the worst possible news!
"So… the squad is back but Sakura… isn't with them…?" Naruto was still trying to get this right and it was pissing me off how slow he was being in such an awful situation. Then he got it. "WAIT! THE ANBU ARE BACK BUT SAKURA'S NOT WITH THEM?! WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR HER?!
"Did the squad ever even see her or did she leave them after the battle?" I asked smoothly even though I was boiling with worry for my team mate inside.
Tsunade looked back and forth between me and Naruto, "the squad made no mention of Sakura and when I asked they said they never saw her. I can only imagine why she never made it to the squad." Tsunade's voice dropped when she said the last part. "Sasuke, Naruto," Tsunade whispered looking up, "you have to find her." For once, Naruto was looking serious and I was clenching and unclenching my fists and my eyes slowly bled red as I growled, "we will."
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When I regained consciousness I knew I wasn't still in the forest. A few people, two men and a woman by their voices, were standing to my left. I was sitting in a chair with my hands tied behind me. The bonds on my wrists were cutting into my fresh as I had them stretched taught because I was slouching forward. I blew a breath out making my short pink hair tremble in front of my face. I tried to roll my shoulders into a more comfortable position but ended up groaning as the sore muscles stretched. The three people to my left stopped talking at my groan. One of them walked over to me and yanked my head up by my hair and I involuntarily groaned again.
The man holding me smirked, "she's weak, I told you she was easy to capture."
"Sure, and that's why I had to bandage the both of you up, because she was so easy you started to fight each other because you couldn't decide who had caught her." The woman said and I could tell she was annoyed with the man who was still clutching my hair. I internally smirked, this woman was confident.
The man holding me was speaking, "–can stand this!" he slashed his hand across my upper arm. Only after I felt my flesh slide open did I realize he had been holding a kunai. I didn't scream, even thought it hurt I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream in pain. He became angry at my lack of noise and sliced across my collar bone through my shirt. Again I didn't scream even though I could feel the blood soaking my shirt. The man hissed in aggravation and brought the blade down on me again. This repeated again and again until my left arm was nothing but a bloody mass of torn flesh and my shirt had been reduced to rags and was covered in my blood. I had lost a lot of blood and my consciousness was slipping. The man beside me smirked, "see she's still weak, she's already lost too much blood to stay awake."
"Uh huh, not really I think she is pretty strong, you would be screaming right now, she didn't scream once." Even thought I hated this woman I knew that in a sick twisted way she was complimenting me. The three people in the room then left and at last everything went black again…
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"Naruto, get over here!" the blond boy came running over to me. We had been gone for about four hours now and had just recently gotten to the ambush ground. After noting all the damage done we tried to locate Sakura.
"What? Did you find her chakra signature?" the blond asked coming to a halt at my side.
"Yes, but whether that's good or bad I haven't decided, look." I pointed in front of me. Naruto followed my direction to see a small clearing twenty feet ahead of us. If anyone else saw it they would think a bomb had gone off but to Naruto and I, we knew Sakura had thrown a punch.
Naruto looked at me, "she was fighting…"
I nodded and walked forward trying to sense her and her opponent. "She was fighting…" my eyes widened, "…two ninjas."
"TWO, but I don't smell that much blood and even less is hers!" He didn't get it and it was driving me crazy how dense he could be.
"So, just because she wasn't bleeding much then doesn't mean she's okay now. Think Naruto, she was fighting two opponents, and even though she can hold her own, she's not you or me." I was staring at him, willing him to understand what I was saying. At last he seemed to grasp it as a look of horror spread over his face.
"Sasuke… can you find her? My chakra control is zero to none you have to find her," his face changed from a desperate pleading and hoping to one of rage, "then we can rip the guys who have her apart!" By the time Naruto had finished his threat he was screaming and I could tell his control over the kyuubi was slipping.
"Naruto," I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, "calm down, we'll find her." Naruto looked at me and taking a shuddering breath his control over the kyuubi slowly came back. "Now, let me concentrate and see if I can find her, my chakra control is nowhere near as good as Sakura's so this might take a while."
"Sasuke…" I could hear Naruto straining to keep his temper under control, "we don't have 'a while' just try to be quick… please… for her…?"
Not responding I reached out with my chakra to try and find which direction hers went. My eyes flew open and I cocked my head to the side in confusion, "What is it?" Naruto asked. "Her chakra… it seems to be—… but she's not far from here… her chakra is pulsing…"
"What does that mean… why would her chakra be pulsing… is there something wrong when someone's chakra pulses… Sas—"
"DOPE! SHUT UP! OKAY? If you be quiet I'll tell you what it means!" I blew a heavy breath out, "now, when a person's chakra pulses, like Sakura's is, they might be trying to… uh, well, how do I put this… send a message or—"
"THAT'S IT! SAKURA'S TRYING TO TELL US WHERE SHE IS! LET'S GO!" Naruto started running in completely the wrong direction. He stopped and turned around, "COME ON TEME!"
"Dope, that way…" I pointed at a one-hundred-twenty degree angle from Naruto's current position.
He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head as I mumbled "idiot" under my breath. Then we were running to our team mate…
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Wake Up… it was quiet. WAKE UP… It was louder this time. WAKE UP, DAMN IT! Then, searing pain across my cheek. My eye lids flew open and I groaned. My head rolled forward as the stinging on my cheek turned numb. "I said WAKE UP damn you" the man bearing down on me huffed a sigh, "you are making this no fun at all do you know that." I glared up at him and even in the dim light of half-a-dozen candles I could still see his leering face a mere two feet from mine. But he stood up still looking at me with a slightly more guarded look in his eyes. "You… you can't touch me," he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me, "you—you're strapped to the chair… you can't touch me." He smirked.
"AAAHHHH—" The ear splitting scream of my female captor came from behind the closed door but it was suddenly silenced. "Shit." The man beside me swore and drew a kunai from his weapons pouch and brought it to my throat. A few seconds later the door to the room was blown off its hinges and there stood my two favorite people in the whole world. "Shit," the man swore again and pressed the blade into my flesh, "if either of you so much as twitch I'll kill her."
I was loosing consciousness for the nth time as my head lulled back and I choked out a groan.
"SAKURA-CHAN!?" I could hear Naruto yelling to me but I couldn't tell where from. The room was starting to spin and I couldn't keep up with it as the edges of my already blurry vision bled black. The last thing I remember was the kunai falling from my neck, my wrists being released and strong warm arms lifting me up.
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As she groaned Naruto called out to her and I could hear the pain and worry in his voice. Without even talking we fell in sync, leaping forward to save her. Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu and attacked the ninja who was threatening her while I went to her. I sliced through the ropes around her wrists in one fluid motion then lifting her out of the chair with one of my arms under her knees and the other around her back. Her eye lids fluttered once as I picked her up then closed as her head fell back exposing her pale neck.
"Teme… what's wrong with her? Why is she…?" Naruto came up to stand next to me but he wasn't looking at anything but her. Neither was I. When I looked at her left side I felt rage and horror. Her arm was a mass of torn flesh that was slowly oozing blood along with her collar. Her shirt was so caked in blood it was stiff. I looked at her face and my rage grew. A fresh violet bruise that was only going to get worse was spreading from the corner of her mouth to her cheek bone and all the way across her jaw line.
Also, her naturally pale skin was porcelain white. She had lost so much blood. Too much! She was going to die if she didn't get help fast.
I looked up at Naruto only to be washed away in his worry. For once in his life he actually seemed to understand the gravity of Sakura's situation without any prompting.
"Come on we have to get her back to Konaha (sp?) now." I said and with that we were out of the hideout and running home. Sakura came around a couple times before we reached Konaha but she didn't stay conscious very long. We skidded into the village, Naruto turned towards the hokage tower to get Tsunade as I continued to the hospital. I burst through the doors, Sakura still limp in my arms. A nurse directed me to a room. I had just laid her down when Tsunade nearly broke the door down with Naruto on her heals.
"Move!" Tsunade screeched. I leapt back as she bent over Sakura to examine her. "Someone get me a blood transfusion now!" The door still being open allowed anyone nearby to hear her and I could hear at least three sets of feet start running to fill her request. Naruto and I were shooed from the room so Tsunade could work in peace, not that us not being there made much of a difference, we could still hear her screaming to things to help stabilize Sakura.
After about an hour Tsunade exited the room looking worn out but pleased. Naruto who had been pacing for god knows how long pounced on her with questions, "how is she… will she live… she didn't die did she… I will kill that guy again if Sakura's dead…"
"NARUTO…!?"
"…What?"
"SHUT UP! Sakura's fine, I healed her left side and she has received enough blood now that her life is no longer in jeopardy… in short, she. is. FINE." Tsunade glared at the blond with her arms crossed over her large chest.
"hehe…" Naruto looked slightly embarrassed and arfraid of the woman standing in front of him, "well… can we see her?"
I stopped glaring at the hack of Naruto's head from my seat to look at Tsunade.
She sighed. "Even if I said no I'm sure you would find a way in so yes you can see her…" Naruto began to run around her towards Sakura's room, "don't wake her up or you'll have me to answer to." I don't know if he even heard her. She sighed again and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like "I hope she wakes up so we can both beat so sense into him… and maybe so manners." Then she left. I followed Naruto more slowly. I came to her room and stood leaning on the door frame with a small smirk on my face. There she was staring up at Naruto with a look of annoyance in her eyes as he squished her to him. She caught sight of me and silently begged me to make him get off her. I shook my head then walked over to them and pulled Naruto back from Sakura. She collapsed against the pillows behind her; it seemed her body was unresponsive to her will because she looked even more annoyed as she looked down at her hand, glaring at its disobedience.
After her glaring match with her hand she looked up at me, her clear green gaze shifting between myself and the blond still in my grasp. Her face softened, "I knew you would find me." She whispered. Looking back at her hands she seemed to be willing them to do what she wanted them to do. Slowly and shakily she brought her right hand up and wrapped her small fingers around Naruto's larger ones. I looked at his face and it held so much joy. Then I felt cold fingers wrap around mine, I looked down to see her small hand in mine. I looked up at her face as I squeezed her hand. A small smile passed her lips, "I'm tired now. I'll see you later." She whispered. Naruto and I said good-bye and left, but before I closed the door I saw her roll over slip back into blackness, the IV drip connected to her arm quietly filling her what Naruto and I had first found her covered in.