Uproot
Defiance

"Get up."

That deep voice from the white haired medic ninja always pushed certain buttons within Sakura. It always made her arm hairs stand up, and her fingers would curl in on themselves; the skin around her knuckles turning white. The pinkette turned her face so she made eye contact with the dark eyes that stared at her from behind the glass lenses. Her training from the day before had become so tiring that her body eventually just gave up on her, and there she was. Lying on the cold and dirty ground, wooden dummies surround her as her motionless body lie on the ground, crippled and beaten up from her day of training.

Chakra exhaustion.

Sakura blinked her green eyes before turning her head to look back up at the ceiling of the enclosed room. She slowly sat up and her muscles all ached with pain. The pinkette's finely toned arms throbbed with cuts and bruises that traced down over her biceps and forearms. Sakura simply blinked at her limbs before sending the warm glow of green chakra over herself, watching her skin cells slowly mend back together, and the bruises turn from purples and blues, to light shades of yellows and browns.

"I said get up." A sharp order came from Kabuto's mouth before walking to the woman sitting on the ground; kicking her foot aside and crossing his arms with a scowl on his face. The look of determination ran wildly in his eyes. His white eyebrows knitted themselves together when he only got a smirk in response from Sakura.

Sakura looked down at the ground, dropping both hands into the dirt and rumble to play with a small stone that she had found. Pinching it in between her fingers, the smirk on her face grew into a mischievous smile.

"I'm done taking orders from you." Pink locks of hair fell over her emerald eyes as she remained looking down. The skin on her fingers began to break from the rough edges of the stone; pinching the stone turned into an anger outlet before she snapped Orochimaru's servant in half.

"You'll listen to me whether you like it or not."

This time instead of a kick to the foot, a hard knee was brought into the side of Sakura's head. Her body tumbled to the side and a soft groan came from the woman's figure. As she began to push herself up, a wave of dizziness overtook her body. She reached up and grabbed at the side of her head, a swollen knot forming above her ear and pain coursed throughout the side of her face - behind her eyes, over the bridge of her nose, and her ears rang.

"Let's go. Lord Orochimaru has something for you to do." Kabuto began to walk out of the room as Sakura finally pushed herself up to her feet. She gritted her teeth together to restrain from ripping the medic apart. Her curse mark throbbed to come out and play, but she inhaled and exhaled; her inner self hummed soft, melodic tunes that fluttered through her body.

Sakura finally came off of her adrenaline high and began to stumble after Kabuto, making her way to Orochimaru. Whatever he wanted now was definitely going to piss her off.

. . .

The feeling of a snake curling around her neck and constricting her windpipe caused Sakura to choke up at the words that came out of Orochimaru's mouth. Swallowing hard, she looked down to the ground and bit her lower lip. A slight breeze blew through her long pink locks; dancing through the many different shades of pink. She finally exhaled through her nose and looked up to meet the eyes of the snake Sannin.

"Sakura, if you don't find Sasuke for me, then I'll happily find him myself." Orochimaru's words stung into her like the venom from a snake.

"I'll go." The gears in the pinkette's brain started to turn and grind and she could feel a plan working itself out within her mind.

Turning on her heal and beginning her walk out of the corridor, she was stopped by the sound of a sigh. She stopped in her place and turned her head at the sound of Orochimaru getting up from his seat.

"Also, if you think about never coming back, it'll be the last thing you do."

A toothy grin pulled at Sakura's mouth before she started walking towards the doors again. Her beating heart began to pound against her rib cage and the saliva in her mouth started to dry up at the thought of seeing Sasuke again. Even if she had grown within the amount of time that she had been gone, she couldn't begin to imagine how Sasuke had grown, but not even him. She thought about Naruto, and Kakashi as well. She thought about her family, and the rest of her friends at the village. As Sakura pushed through the doors and turned to make her way for her room, a silent tear had pushed its way out from behind her eyes.

As the door closed behind her, she was already at a dead sprint for her room.

I'm going to come back to you, Sasuke.

xxx

"What do you mean we're going to go find her?!" Naruto shouted into the Fifth Hokage's face. Anger and pent up emotions filled his oceanic eyes as his hands flew up in the air. The hot headed blonde turned his back to the female and walked to the window to distract himself from the current conversation taking place.

"I have been asked, and asked, and asked again. You have bugged me to go and find her, Naruto. You have asked me countless times. So here it is, your one and only opportunity to go and find Sakura. I'm not sure how the consequences will turn out for her if and when you find her, but they won't be pretty." Tsunade, with her honey filled eyes barked back to the blonde shinobi. The two other men in the room; Kakashi and Sasuke, stood uncomfortably still while watching the meltdown of Naruto fill the Hokage's office.

"So why are you giving us the chance now? When you wouldn't give us this chance months ago?" Naruto pursued the issue further until his sensei clasped his shoulder.

"Accept the mission that we've been given, and quit arguing. It won't get you anywhere." Kakashi stated, his one eye tracking from Tsunade, down to his student.

The frustration began to mellow inside of the blonde haired youth as he looked at Sasuke, who still hadn't moved. He remained still, staring at the Hokage with an emotionless stare plastered all over his face.

"Teme!" Naruto shrieked. Walking to his friend now, nudging his elbow before Sasuke took his elbow back and made eye contact with Naruto.

"What, dobe." The cold tone in his voice cut through whatever thoughts Naruto had cooking up in his mind and brought Naruto back to reality. Sasuke looked back to the blonde Hokage who was now sitting, hands folded together and her chin resting on top of them - awaiting an answer from the three shinobi.

"We'll go, Tsunade." Thoughts of a pink haired girl walking through the dark filled his mind. He so badly wished he had opened up to her when she was still here. Wished that he would have taken the many chances she had offered him while she was here.

You don't even know if she's alive.

The thought disrupted his mind and his fists clenched at his sides before he began to frown.

"We leave at dawn." Sasuke ordered before brushing past Naruto and Kakashi. He heard a simple sigh fall from Tsunade's mouth as the doors closed behind him.

xxx

Golden streaks of sunlight has just begun to peak over the mountain tops, glazing the tops of trees in the Hidden Leaf with different hues of golds and yellow dust. The birds of the country sang their morning songs and welcomed the new day in the shinobi world. Small, nearly transparent clouds spotted the light blue sky, and a soft breeze swept through the village. Three shinobi stood at the gates to the village and awaited their time to take off on their mission.

Sasuke was now filled with emotions he didn't like to feel. Worry, guilt, and the one he had always welcomed, pain. That was one thing that Sakura was good at, and it was making him feel emotions. Although she had made him happy at times in the past, he never showed it to her. Sasuke had always come off as cold and heartless to the one girl that always made sure he was comfortable and happy; and now all he felt was regret for the way he treated her.

"Oi. Do you think they'll punish Sakura pretty bad?" Naruto questioned as the three took off from the village. Chakra had been sent to their feet and began their adventure through the trees.

"Let's not think about that right now, Naruto. Our objective is to find Sakura." Their silver haired sensei offered a smile from under his mask as he led the way through the trees. The tracking part of the mission was going to take the longest, and it was either fight or be killed once they found her.

Why did you leave?

The thought always made this cycle through the Uchiha's head, constantly asking himself why she left? Is she still alive? If she is, what is she doing, or thinking about right now? He could never get Sakura off of his mind, no matter how hard he tried. While they adventured through the trees, he finally noticed that a pair of blue eyes had been watching him. He met Naruto's eyes with a scowl before turning his head and focusing on jumping again.

Finally the intense stare from Naruto annoyed him.

"Quit being annoying, dobe." Sasuke snapped, attracting the attention of Kakashi.

"He used the word 'annoying!' That must mean that I have a special place in your heart-"!" Naruto teased before dodging a kunai at the last minute. "Oi, teme!"

"Hn." The black haired man smirked before returning his attention to jumping through trees. He has caught a smirk on Kakashi's face as well, the wrinkles of skin by his eye giving away the concealed smirk.

"Now that you two are done messing around, we'll be traveling all day until we reach the border of the Fire Country. We will set camp up along there and begin tracking tomorrow." Kakashi ordered. The two younger shinobi nodded in agreement as they made their way to the border.

. . .

The sky and all of her surroundings were still soaked in the pale moonlight as she left Orochimaru's hideout and made her way through the shadow infested forest. There wasn't much of anything that the pink haired kunoichi feared anymore, except for losing her friends (if she had any anymore), not being accepted back into the village, and losing her beloved Sasuke. Running around in the dark didn't startle her nerves anymore, it had been something she'd grown accustom to since her time with Orochimaru and Kabuto.

After a couple hours of traveling, Sakura finally came to a hault at the edge of an open field. Setting her bag down on the ground and taking a seat next to it, she casually laid back and rest her head on her bag and peered up at the sky. Smalls stars twinkled in the sky that was slowly reverting from dark blues, the warm purples and maroons. The pinkette no sooner found herself dozing off and waking up to a light blue sky with rays of sun expanding though out it. Sitting up quickly, she scanned the area around her for any chakra signatures and grabbed her bag and began her journey back into the forest. The field would've been the shortest route, but the most dangerous. Instead, she opted to make her way through the forest.

Sakura gritted her teeth as the day went on. Heat and sunshine etching itself in her creamy skin, along with the sweat that ran down the sides of her face. Coming across a small river, she concealed her chakra, set her bag down on the ground, and knelt next to the flowing river. The pinkette cupped the cool liquid into her hands and splashed it up into her face, ridding any dirt and grime that had come from her journey so far.

"There's a town coming up, not too far from here..." She spoke quietly to herself as she dried her face off and continued to rummage for her water bottle in her bag. After quenching her thirst and braiding her hair into a loose French braid with her ribbon tied securely around her head, she made her way towards the town. "Might as well get some medical supplies just in case. And some more food."

Once the trees started to thin out, and the small town that Sakura had noted was in view, she hopped down from the tree branch she was perched on and continued on the dirt path. The town was a medium sized town; a fair amount of people, small sit down restaurants, shops, and even a small motel. She thanked Kami for the motel that she had stumbled across and went about her way with getting a room booked for that night.

Once Sakura paid for her room and received her room key, she worked her way down the hall and up the small flight of stairs. Upon reaching her room, she grabbed some ryo and tossed her bag to the side.

While she stocked up on not only medical supplies, she grabbed various amounts of fruit, and a couple more kunai for her kunai pouch - a ninja can never have too many. Smiling to herself over her new stock of supplies, she decided to go back to her room and make dinner then get a night of rest. Tomorrow would be the day she would find Sasuke.

. . .

Her walk back to her room was quiet and peaceful. Only the gravel being kicked and moved around by the many different villagers, along with the small chatter sounded through out the town. Sakura began to see the motel building come into sight when she heard smalls cries coming from somewhere nearby.

Ignore it.

Inner Sakura ordered, stomping her foot down and demanding obedience. Sakura frowned on the outside. She was helpful, and the cries sounded rather distressed.

It wouldn't hurt to see what's going on.

Turning on her heal, the kunoichi made her way towards a small side road that veered off from the main road through town.

"Hello?" Her small question traveled through the vacated space.

No reply.

"Is anyone here?" Sakura began to take curt, small steps down the road. To no avail, the cries had stopped. Shrugging to herself, she turned around and began walking towards the motel.

At the sound of the distressed cry, Sakura's curse mark throbbed, and goosebumps covered her entire body.

"Please, stop!"

Sakura was already pumping chakra to her feet, honing in on the area that the cry came from. She was certain this time that she knew where it was coming from. Finally coming to a small gap in a broken down, and rather old looking building, she squeezed her body inside of the gap. The pinkette didn't need to scan the building for any signatures, for the door in front of her - gaping wide open - stood three men above a middle aged man, kicking and beating the guy senseless. Smalls moans and groans came from the man, along with many coughs and small whimpers. Sakura's curse mark screamed and boiled from beneath her skin.

"Three on one, eh?" The tone of the kunoichi's voice was cold and sharp. Her emerald eyes glared daggers into the offenders. She couldn't sense one chakra pulse from any of the three men, and that meant that they weren't shinobi; just regular old thugs.

All at once, the three thugs turned to Sakura, rather startled expressions in their faces. Upon seeing a pink haired woman, they merely laughed at the site.

"Get outta here, wench." What she assumed was the leader jabbed at her, shooing her away with a flick of the wrist.

"How about you leave him alone before I make you leave him alone." Sakura demanded. Her temper was bubbling on the inside, and the curse mark was only fueled by her anger.

"I would love to see that, little girl."

A smirk overtook Sakura's features and she set her supplies that she had recently bought neatly on the floor of the old building. Her temper began to give way at the gnawing from the curse mark on her neck and she figured she could control what little bit wanted to come out and play. As she took one step towards the trio, she felt her curse mark begin to expand down and across her neck and chest, and throughout her left arm; a pattern of inky black thorns decorated her creamy skin. The eyes of the trio of thugs began to widen at the site of the cursed lines running down the pinkette's arm.

"Hey! Just what the hell are you?!" The smallest of the three cried out, side stepping so his body was concealed by the leader of the three. Fear was clearly written over all three of their faces.

"I'm just a little girl. What could I possibly do?" Inner Sakura sneered at her remark; sass came naturally for Sakura. "So who wants to go first?"

The leader of the group swallowed hard. He began to take cautious steps back, his followers doing the same. Their heads began to turn and look for a way out as Sakura approached them, cracking one knuckle at a time until she was three feet in front of them.

"I'll give you options: leave this man alone for good, or you'll deal with me. Got it? Okay, good!" She chirped, stepping to the side as the three began to exit the building. Before all three could get away from her, she grabbed the leader's shirt and yanked him back. Pulling his body so he was planted firmly in front of her, she glared into his eyes.

"I'm serious. Don't bother this man again."

A small whimper and a nod of the head confirmed that there wouldn't be anymore trouble happening from the three of them. Sakura released his body and shoved him away from her and towards the gap in the wall; he tripped and scrambled to get away from her and out of the broken down building. The pinkette merely smiled to herself before making her way towards the middle aged man who was now curling up in a ball to defend himself from Sakura.

"Please... Please don't hurt me. I'll give you whatever you want, just please don't hurt me anymore..." The middle aged man groaned through short coughs of blood. He had been bruised, cut, and possibly a few fractures. The man had obviously had a rough go with the thugs and didn't want do deal with anymore trouble, so Sakura crouched so she was at eye level with him. Her curse mark began to recede back to its home on her neck; thorn etched lines dancing across her skin. When she finally felt it tuck itself away inside of her, she exhaled and met pale blue eyes with her green ones.

"I'm Sakura. I see that you're hurt, and I can help you. Can you tell me what exactly they did, and what hurts the most on your body?" The medic offered her small hands towards the man to show that she wouldn't hurt him anymore than he was already hurting. He finally began to reach his hand out to hers. Covered in blood and dirt, he softly grasped her small hand and gave a brief smile.

"My name is Naku."

Sakura smiled and they began to converse. Naku went into detail about who those thugs were, how they terrorize the town, what they do and how they do it. He explained what was hurting on him, and Sakura began her healing chakra and ran over the spots on his body. To her surprise, nothing was seriously hurt, Naku had just had a great scare. Once she was done healing the middle aged man, she slowly pulled him to his feet and stabilized him. Naku thanked her for coming to his rescue and returning him home to his family who had also been greatful for the pink haired shinobi.

After her adventure of saving a local, she returned back to her course for the motel. Night had began to settle in on her way back, and she couldn't help but feel as though she was being watched as she reached the front door to the motel. A sudden urge swept over her as she felt the flicker of chakra, and then the feeling of it disappeared; she looked to the rooftops of the town only to find nothing. Shrugging it off, she figured it was time for bed after her eventful day. Once she got her supplies put away, she took a quick shower to wash the day away and crawled into the small and uncomfortable bed - at least it was better than sleeping on the forest floor.

Sakura began to drift to sleep until the bittersweet memory of finding Sasuke for Orochimaru coursed through her brain. Anxiety and annoyance embedded itself within her mind as she gritted her teeth. Opening her eyes and exhaling through her nose, she turned to her other side and cursed the snake Sannin.

She wished she had never left the village in order to get stronger, but she did it for Sasuke. Everything she did was for Sasuke; Sakura only wanted him to notice her and realize that she wasn't weak anymore, but strong like the rest of them. She shook her head at her thoughts and finally let the silence of the night enter her mind and take her consciousness away to the land of slumber.

That night brought dreams filled with tears and soft cries coming from a younger Sakura - training in a musty smelling room while under close watch of Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Her body and mind ached for the day she would finally be reunited with Team 7, her family, and the Hidden Leaf Village.

. . .

A fuming Uchiha and a nonstop talking Naruto had been sent to the town by Kakashi that day to stock up on supplies and search for one pink haired comrade; although they weren't asked to do that, but the men kept watchful eyes out for Sakura.

Sasuke did all the talking at the vendor stalls and left Naruto to keep an eye out for Sakura, mainly because Sasuke knew what they needed and Naruto would spend their money mindlessly. To no avail, no pink haired woman was seen that night. As they bagged the rest of their supplies and began their walk back to their camp on the outskirts of town, Sasuke heard an unexpected story coming from a man and his wife that were spotted with a group of people.

"Did she really make sure that those thugs won't bother the town anymore?!" A woman asked excitedly, clamping the man on the shoulder with a huge smile.

"She did! I was thankful she showed up, or I would've been a goner." The man pouted a bit, but kept an excited smile on his face, his wife held onto his hand.

"Is she still in town? I would love to see her pink hair!"

Everything inside of Sasuke stopped. His breathing, his heart, his blood stopped cold in his veins at the mention of a woman spotted with pink hair. Reaching out, he grabbed hold of Naruto's arm and began to pull him towards the crowd of people.

"Teme! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Did you say a girl with pink hair saved you?" The Uchiha pushed through the people and stopped before the man. Sasuke was now panting short breaths, hoping that he heard the story correctly.

"Yeah! She said her name was Sakura." Naku smiled at the blonde haired shinobi and the Uchiha; Naruto's mouth was now gaping wide and Sasuke's eyes were the size of the moon. "She swooped in just-"

"What way did she go." Sasuke was no longer asking questions, but demanding answers.

"Oi, that's not nice, teme." Naruto smacked Sasuke upside the head before turning to Naku. "Do you know what way she headed?" Kindness filled Naruto's question.

"That way, over there. I'm not sure where she's staying or if she's even here, but... Why do you want to know?" The middle aged man ask curiously, rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger, squinting slightly.

"She's our friend and we've been looking for her!" Naruto blurted before being drug away by a fuming Uchiha. "Thank you!"

The shinobi pushed chakra to their feet and began hopping across the rooftops, side by side. The sun had started to go down, and dark blues began to spread across the sky. The lamps and lights from the buildings kept the streets well lit, just enough to spot a pink haired woman. Sasuke scowled to himself to the feeling of his heart being in his throat. Sharingan eyes began to scout the streets, and he reached out, trying to find the chakra signature of his pink haired comrade. The questions he would ask her when he found her would be unlimited, but the minute he found her, he wasn't sure what he would do. As much as he wanted to feel her in his arms, he couldn't bring himself to lose control like that. The Uchiha clan was proud and proper. Acts like that wouldn't fly, but he would feel more emotions at once at the chance of being in her presence again.

Three years. It's been too long Sakura. It's time to come home.

"No way!" An excited whisper and a pinch from Naruto brought Sasuke back to his senses and he followed the pointing finger of Naruto. At the end of his line of sight was a slender, pink haired woman walking with a basket.

Sasuke's heart stopped and then began to stutter. He needed to see her face, to be next to her. Sasuke needed her.

"Let's go get her!" Naruto exclaimed before being tackled by Sasuke.

"Shut up, dobe! Conceal your chakra, you idiot." Sasuke ordered, Naruto followed orders. "We need to inform Kakashi and come back for her. In the meantime, we know where she will be and we can simply follow her in the morning. Got it?"

Naruto nodded his head before pushing Sasuke off. The blonde glared at his friend before the Leaf shinobi headed back to their camp, supplies in hand. Upon reaching camp, they informed Kakashi of finding Sakura and knowing where she would be staying that night. The three of them cooked up a plan that they all agreed on, ate dinner, and worked out their schedule for who would be on what watch rotation that night; Naruto first, Kakashi second, and Sasuke last.

. . .

Sasuke's rotation had come rather quickly, due to the fact that he didn't sleep at all except for stare at the stars and moon and think of what the reunion with Sakura would be like. His inner emotions washed through his body like a tsunami, taking everything over and jumbling his thoughts.

I need to see her.

Once he felt the soft flicker of chakra pulsing from both Naruto and Kakashi, Sasuke set out towards the town in search for Sakura and the place she was staying at. Traveling through the dark was made easy due to his Sharingan, and within an hour, he was standing at the end of the road of the town; Sakura's chakra signature was burning hot and rigid. The kunoichi was awake and making her move.

Sasuke concealed his chakra and waited for the kunoichi to pass by. He would track her down in the forest, a more secluded area.

Once the burning hot chakra began to grow closer to the end of the road, it began to mellow out and become transparent, almost disappearing. Luckily, Sasuke was already tracking the kunoichi through the last remaining bits of the town, and began their adventure through the forest. Sakura had grown and was now faster, but not faster than Sasuke.

The Uchiha followed her for twenty minutes before exhaling his last deep breath and making his move. One shuriken would alarm her enough to catch her attention, and that is exactly what he did. The pinkette stopped atop a branch and crouched to a defensive stance, chakra fumed from her now.

Sasuke made his way through the shadows of the trees, making sure that she caught site of his silhouette so that she would follow. Moonlight washed in through the trees of the forest and began to light the way for the two. The Uchiha could feel her hot on his tracks. Finally slowing down, the whisper of a kunai soared over the top of his ear, and he came to a halt. The sizzling of chakra could be heard coming from behind him, and at the nick of time, he turned to catch her arm and stopped the punch that was aimed for his jaw.

The look of determination burned in her emerald eyes, but all of that determination shattered once she made eye contact with the crimson eyes staring into her green orbs. Salty, hot liquids began to form at the corners of her eyes and her facial expression dropped. Her body began to quiver and the chakra surrounding her fist faded away. She dropped her fist before taking a step away from the man. Sasuke still had a hold of her arm and could feel the shaking radiating from the core of her body.

Sasuke watched as his old comrade took a step away from him again, pulling her arm from his grip. Her body was now bathed in the white glow of moonlight, and his heart stopped at the site of how she had grown. She no longer had the face of a child, but a matured female. Perfectly smoothed cheeks, very long and shiny hair, a petite nose, and smooth lips. Instead of her small and weak build, she was now framed with toned arms. Her torso was solid with muscles, and her legs were long and slender. She was now taller than she had been, and filled out. Sakura had possessed so much woman inside of her now, Sasuke couldn't help but realize that she was no longer the weak girl that he had always ignored and thought poorly of.

Their eyes still made contact with each other and a word was never spoken between the two. The shinobi stood mere feet apart, soaking in the presence of one another. Finally, Sakura took a step towards the Uchiha, her hand reaching out towards him.

"Sasuke..."

Hand in hand, the Uchiha and pinkette stood in the night. There was no way she would return to Orochimaru; not now, not ever.

A/N: Hello there, I'm still alive xD I would really like to apologize for my absence. But I'd like you all to know that I'm back and writing again and hopefully shouldn't take a long leave of absence again. And if I do, I'll try to make a reminder for it.

Anyways, here's the second chapter, Defiance. I had fun writing this one. I plan on doing a lot more in the near future with how Sasuke and Sakura will get along and what will happen winkwink.

Don't forget to review, and thanks for reading. :D

-Ro.