Hostage

Month Prompt #2

justcontinue

Four tents were pitched in a neat row against the setting sun. Sakura stood in front of them and stared. Not at the tents necessarily. She wasn't starting at much at all. Her mind had wandered off into the distant horizon.

Even though the first stars had already appeared on the horizon, the camp was still bustling with activity. Lee and Shino were hammering the last tent leg into the ground. Choji and Shikamaru were gathering firewood, tossing them carelessly into the already raging flames.

"We're trying to keep ourselves warm, not burn the forest down!" Ino was screaming at them.

Hinata murmured something into the collar of her shirt and continued unpacking their possessions.

If the tightening feeling in her chest would give way for just a heartbeat, Sakura would marvel at how well the eleven of them worked together. Growing up together, attending the academy, training together, appointing rivals and allies…

It all seemed so long ago. Back when the summer winds were sweet, back when the grass was green and soft, back when the future was a distant speck in the sky and the melody of laughter rang in her ears…

Back when her hands weren't stained with so much blood. Back when she knew not of heartbreak, tears, anguish and lost hope.

"It's too bad Naruto isn't here to see this." Sai had appeared out of nowhere. Sakura startled out of her thoughts.

"It's probably a good thing," Sakura commented, trying to draw herself out of her lull. "He would've broken something by now."

Sai didn't say anything. Perhaps he didn't know what to say.

"He'll be okay," Sakura said, reassuring herself more than Sai. "He's stronger than any shinobi I know."

Silence.

"You're not worried about Naruto," Sai finally said. "You're worried about Sa-"

"Shhh," Sakura hissed. "Don't." She glanced around her. "We don't mention that name in front of anyone. We already went over this."

Sai looked genuinely confused. "I thought we're supposed to be scared of the guy, not his name."

"No it's not like that." Sakura clenched her fists. "Just don't, Sai. They're all going to go haywire if they hear it. Our mission in this war is to find him, remember? I can't believe you forgot!"

Sai backed off a few paces, nodding and blinking his dark eyes. For the longest time, Sakura had mistaken those eyes for another pair.

Sakura loosened her stance and let out a long sigh. "Sorry," she apologized.

Her muscles were sore from a long day of walking. Her heart was sore from a long year of hoping.

Stop thinking about it, Sakura ordered herself, shaking her head furiously to clear it of all possible thoughts returning.

A loud holler from within the woods caught her off guard. The rest of the camp raised their heads, eyes glued to the treeline, waiting like a pack of hungry wolves for a juicy piece of prey.

Sakura's heart began to race. She had sent out a group of them to scout the area, look for water sources and possible routes out of the woodland, but she never stopped twice to think there could be other things found on the battlefield.

She swore under her breath and raced towards the clearing where the camp met the treeline. The figures emerged out of the shadowy twilight in a mass. Sakura could barely make out Neji's long hair or Tenten's pigtails. The flashing emblems inscribed on their headbands were the only telltale sign that these were indeed Konoha shinobi.

"You won't believe what the cat dragged in," Tenten said breathlessly, the evening breeze blowing back loose strands of her brown hair. She threw a quick glance at Neji, reflecting his eyes shining with triumph and sparking with a battle-hungry light.

As they moved into the flickering firelight, Sakura noticed a third person behind the two.

Sakura felt her heart nearly jump out of her throat.

"I have to go check on… Hinata," she barely managed to choke out as she whirled around to make her escape. She didn't make it very far. The ground began spinning towards her and she was flat on her face in a heartbeat.

A voice cut through her ragged breathing. A voice she'd dreamed about for so long, dreaded to hear, swore she would give everything in the world to hear again, to forget forever…

"What's wrong, Sakura?" She barely heard it through the unbearably loud uproar started by all her fellow teammates in the campsite. They pushed and shoved and shouted in hopes of getting a glance at their unexpected surprise.

A soft hand rested on her shoulder. Hinata's large eyes peered at her with sympathy. "I'll ask Neji what happened later," she offered, her thin voice, like a delicate strand of spider's silk, swallowed by the din.

It was funny how her sanity seemed to be doing the exact same thing.

***ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇsᴇ sᴛᴀʀs ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴋʏ***

They had him tied up somewhere outside.

Sakura sipped a cup of bland tea, huddling her legs together. A small flap across the tent entrance allowed a steady trickle of silver starlight to enter the otherwise gloomy living quarters.

How? WHY? It was physically and mentally impossible for Sakura to stop thinking about it. About him. She hadn't seen or heard a shred of his existence for years, and now he just showed up at her doorstep.

Sakura swore again and buried her head in her hands.

Apparently Tenten and Neji had just… walked into him while they were scouting the forest.

Walked into him? Sasuke was never that careless. He knew they were there. He must have.

Did he let himself get captured deliberately?

Well whatever the case was, he was now Konoha's hostage.

"It makes no sense," Sakura whispered to herself, lifting her head. She crawled over to the corner of their tent. "Hinata. Hinata, I need to talk to you." There had to be more that her friend wasn't telling her. Sakura refused to believe that was the entire story.

Hinata stirred in the shadows. "Go to sleep, Sakura," she murmured sleepily, then rolled over and the tent was silent again.

Sakura set down her mug. If Hinata wasn't going to give her answers, she was going to have to find them herself.

Sakura held her breath as she slowly, painstakingly unzipped the entrance flap. Somehow she managed to crawl out of the tent and was suddenly faced with the most beautiful expanse of stars she'd ever seen, glittering across an indigo sky. Instantly she was reminded of her genin days. Team 7. Lying in the long grass, sleeping in the summer breeze, counting the billions of stars that shone coldly down at them.

She was going to cry. She had barely even taken a step and she was already breaking down. She never understood how one being could affect her to such an extent.

Shikamaru was, or was supposed to be, keeping guard, but he was fast asleep, his snores reverberating through the empty clearing. Sakura couldn't help shooting the sleeping genius a glare. Sasuke would've burnt their village to the ground by now.

But he didn't, Sakura thought, letting out a shaky breath as her vision focused on the center of the camp.

He looked so small, curled up alongside the dying embers in dirty white clothing. His hands and feet were bound and his hair was too long.

Sakura was making a beeline for him, ignoring the hundreds of inner voices shrieking at her to stop.

Oh yes, she knew this was a mistake.

Her pace slowed to a halt as Sasuke's eyes snapped up to meet hers. Suddenly her throat felt incredibly dry.

They just looked at each other for one achingly long moment.

He was still the same. Even after all these years, all these battles and wars and deaths, all these discoveries and losses, there was still the ghost of a broken boy etched on his face.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but Sasuke spoke first.

"I'm coming home." So soft the wind could've carried it away like a feather.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut for a heartbeat. "You're coming… home?" she repeated, confused, searching him for some rhyme or reason. The last time she saw him she was positive "coming home" was the last thing on his mind. Hell, he wanted nothing more than to completely destroy his so-called "home".

Sakura suppressed the urge to slit his throat right there and then.

"Do you even…" Tears were falling. Her vision was getting blurry. Oh no. "…I can't believe you'd have the nerve…" Her voice was rising. Blood roaring in her ears.

"I figured this was the easiest way," Sasuke continued coolly, flatly. "Captured as a Konoha hostage."

"They're going to kill you the moment you step foot in the village gates, and rightly so, you… you…"

The corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk so familiar that Sakura could literally feel it cutting into her heart.

"I won't bother explaining to you. A lot of things you'll never understand." His gaze suddenly dropped to the ground, and a look of undeniable pain twisted his features. Only for a fleeting second. Then it was gone.

He raised his head again, locking eyes with hers. Black to green. Darkness to life. End to beginning.

It was in that moment Sakura understood more about this boy she'd loved for so long than at any other time.

A/N: Oh mai. I don't know how I feel about this one. It doesn't really answer the prompt does it…

Thank you for the lovely reviews! I would love it if you reviewed this one as well!

I'm such a night owl. Am I the only one who needs to write in the middle of the night?