Chapter 2: Hold On Tight

Sakura's body slammed against the glass of another window.

Her body swung to and fro as she held tight to the man who had thrust her out the window. As she opened her eyes and saw a patch of bushes and grass beneath her, she realized they were somehow still suspended in the air. Fearing that he would drop her without a moment's hesitation, a fight or flight mentality took over her whole being. She scrambled to hang on to the man who had flung them out the window, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"Oh my God, we're going to fall!" As a piercing fear took over her, she froze, her body unsure of what it should do.

"I'm attached to a rope, so calm down!" he demanded. Sakura tried to look up at his face, but it was blocked by his arms. He was working away at something on the rope...

"Wait!" She yelled. "Don't cut it-"

For the umpteenth time that night, her sentence was cut short. Her and the strange man fell to the ground, a tangled mess of arms and legs, her arms still wrapped around him in a near-suffocating death grip.

Sakura hit the ground with an "Umphf!" Their landing was surprisingly soft, as if they had landed on a mattress; but Sakura did not have time to ponder that thought, as her captor had grabbed her. His arms slid under her back and her legs as he picked her up, holding her close to his chest.

"Wait! Wait wait wait WAIT! Let me go! Stop!" Sakura attempted to roll out of his grasp, kicking her legs as hard as she could, but this proved futile. He was agile and strong; he had no intention of letting her go.

"I told you, you're my hostage."

"But!"

"Be quiet."

As he stood up, Sakura was able to steal her first glance at the man, hoping and praying he was not who she suspected he was. He began to run around the side of the hospital, staying as close to the shadows and out of the lights as much as possible.

Bile rose in her throat. He was, without a doubt, the Sasuke she knew so long ago.

Even in the darkness, she could make his sharp features; the ivory skin, his raven hair... And the eyes that matched the night.

Forced to be so close to him, she couldn't help but notice how built he had become. When she had last seen him, they were barely teenagers. He was definitely a man now.

As the nurse had mentioned, he was dressed like a jogger; he wore a tight, black compression shirt that highlighted every single muscle; she couldn't help but silently admit that his muscles were incredibly defined.

Apparently, he was as strong as he looked. Sakura's attempts to wiggle out of his grasp, fling herself to the ground, and her futile punches to his face only resulted in him throwing her over his shoulder.

She was running out of energy to fight. "Where are you taking me?" she called to him.

"We are rendezvousing with an ambulance."

"A what!?"

"Stop talking. You're annoying"

Well! He certainly hasn't changed.

After huddling close to the white-washed bricks of the hospital and slinking through another shadow, Sasuke finally slowed his pace to a walk. "Hn. We're here."

Sakura took in her surroundings as well as she could while she hung over his shoulder; Sasuke had taken them to the back of the hospital where there was very little lighting. An awning prevented any natural light from shining through and it was dark save for a security light or two. The back of the hospital was only used to transport the dead; the deceased left from the back of the building to go to their respective funeral homes. The thought did little to comfort Sakura.

She soon noticed what Sasuke had been talking about; there was an ambulance, parked and running, hidden underneath the awning on the loading dock.

Sasuke whistled, and a single back door of the ambulance flung open, guiding their way with just a small sliver of light in the darkness.

Sasuke ran towards the parked vehicle, and with little warning, Sakura was flung into the open door, landing hard against the metal and nearly hitting her head on the ambulance's stretcher.

"Ouch! What-"

Sasuke climbed in after her, slamming the door behind him. "Go!"

The driver floored the emergency vehicle, causing it to burn rubber before it peeled out of the loading dock.

Sakura, who still had not caught her balance, slid up against the wall, letting out a yelp as she went. Rolling over as the vehicle began to drive straight again, Sakura looked up to see Sasuke sitting comfortably on a built in bench.

She huffed as she struggled to sit up, the tightness of her skirt around her knees keeping her from doing so easily. Leaning on the stretcher beside her for support, she slowly caught her balance. It was short lived, however, as the ambulance turned a sharp corner and threw Sakura back to the ground.

"Suigetsu!" Sasuke called to the front seat, "Could you possibly drive with some caution? We need to get out of here without being noticed."

A maniacal laugh echoed back to Sasuke. "But reckless driving is so fun! I've always wanted to drive one of these things. Hey, does this turn on the siren?"

"You idiot!" Sasuke yelled. "Don't touch that!"

"Aw come on Sasuke! Just this once!" With that, the ambulance's sirens began to blare, bright blue lights bouncing off the walls of the tunnel they had burrowed into.

"YEEEEE-HAW! YIPPIE KI-YAY, MOTHERFUCKER!" The driver was enjoying himself way too much as he blared the ambulance's horn, attempting to play what Sakura could only guess was Jingle Bells.

"Dumbass." Sasuke shook his head and scowled, obviously annoyed. Possibly sensing Sasuke's patience was thinning, the driver cut short his joy-fest; the irritating honking and siren ceased as they left the tunnel. Looking slightly more satisfied, Sasuke turned to the other side of the vehicle. "Why didn't you drive, Jugo?"

Sakura nearly gasped. Preoccupied with not busting open her head on the hard metal floor, she had not noticed the very large man hidden in the corner of the ambulance behind the driver's seat.

"Hm, he said he wanted to do it. I thought, 'Why not? We're probably going to get caught and die anyways.' And that was that." His voice was deep and rumbly, like thunder during a late night rainstorm; and yet it had a certain kind of calming quality to it. Even sitting down, Sakura knew he was tall. His head grazed the ceiling of truck, and his flaming orange hair added to his height.

Sasuke now directed his scowl toward the man named Jugo. "I'm thankful you have so much faith in us and our mission."

"I have faith in you, Sasuke. I also have faith in the men sent to hunt us down. However, I had faith in your ability to find Anko. And that young woman... is obviously not Anko." Jugo pointed towards Sakura, who was in the far corner of the ambulance, still unable to get her balance so she could seat herself properly and safely.

All eyes on her, Sakura suddenly remembered she was being held against her will. She had been so caught up in it all and how quickly it had happened; having a knife to her throat, falling from the window, realizing who had captured her... She had been in shock, but was slowly coming to her senses.

"Yes, Sasuke! What he said. Where the Hell do you get off bringing me with you!?"

Sasuke's face relayed nothing. "I have my reasons."

Jugo nodded, a small smile crossing his face. "I have faith in your judgement."

While the two men were distracted, Sakura attempted to stand, kicking off her heels, making sure neither male could see up her skirt as she went.

A stern voice interrupted her. "Sit down on the stretcher and be still, Sakura."

Finally standing, she grabbed a handle bar attached to the ceiling. Steadying herself, she brushed her pink bangs away from her face as she balanced herself.

The stopper that had held the cap on her anger burst off. A wash of emotions filled her mind as she stared at the stubborn man who had captured her. She was confused, aching, exhausted and scared. But more than anything, she was angry.

Still holding onto the bar, she wiggled a finger at her former friend. "Don't you dare tell me to sit and be still! I bust my ass all day, saving people, and I just want to go home and take a nice bath and sleep. But no. Some fucking psycho waltzes in and knocks out one of my nurses, threatens my life and hers, and then throws me out a window! And no, it can't just be any psycho. It has to be YOU!"

Sasuke said nothing, which only seemed to infuriate Sakura more as she stomped her bare feet against the metal floor.

Jugo nearly chuckled as he said, "Do you know her?"

Before Sasuke could answer, Sakura yelled. "You're damn right he knows me! But I haven't seen his crazy ass in almost ten years! I have no clue what you all have done, or who HE killed!"

Breaking his silence, Sasuke turned to Sakura, his voice darker than before."I didn't kill anyone. Don't talk about things you can't possibly understand."

Exasperated, Sakura threw her free hand in the air before letting it fall to her head to pull on a tuft of her hair. "Of course I don't understand. Why won't anyone tell me what the Hell is going on?!"

"That information is on a need to know basis."

"Well, the only thing I know for sure is that I'm going home right now and I'm going to have a nice, long, hot bath!"

The thought had crossed her quickly and swiftly. She was busting out of here, even if that meant possibly harming herself in the process. If she had not been so incredibly exhausted, she probably would have played the victim and done as Sasuke had said. She would have sat on the stretcher like he wanted and kept her mouth shut.

Sakura swirled around on the bar, turning to face the ambulance's back doors. Flinging herself from the bar, she reached for one of the handles and used it to steady herself as she pushed on the handle with all her strength. She felt the door give as she attempted to open it.

A large set of digits soon covered hers, forcing her hand to turn against itself and instead close the door with a definite "click."

Sasuke lifted Sakura with ease, despite her kicks of protest. Setting her down on the stretcher, he began to buckle his victim in, his balance never wavering.

After shoving her backwards to buckle the straps that he wrapped across her body, Sasuke bent and leveled his eyes with Sakura's. "Are you quite finished with your tantrum, doctor?"

SLAP!

Sasuke had not restrained her quickly enough. Without a moment's hesitation, Sakura's open palm met the side of Sasuke's cheek. The force of her hit caused his face to contort and face Jugo.

A moment passed before Sasuke blinked and turned to face the woman who had hit him with such a force that he was lucky he didn't lose a tooth.

His face showed only a hint of irritation as he remarked, "You hit like a girl."

Sakura screamed with anger as she reached up to punch Sasuke's face. Sasuke, unfortunately, was the quicker of the two. He strapped Sakura into the stretcher and returned to his seat on the bench, far from Sakura's fighting fists.

"Can you keep it down back there?!" a voice yelled from the front of the ambulance. "I'm trying to drive!"

Jugo had to force himself not to laugh. "I think it would be best if you stay out of her range, Sasuke. I think she means business"

Sakura growled in frustration. He had belted her to the stretcher well enough, severely limiting her movement. She wasn't going anywhere unless he decided he wanted her to.

Think, Sakura. Think. There had to be a way out of this situation that didn't include Sasuke foiling her plans.

As she wiggled in her restraints, she felt her hand run over something hard in her side-coat pocket.

My phone!

Sakura silently became ecstatic as she remembered the phone in her pocket. It had somehow managed to stay with her throughout her ordeal. Now that Naruto and Kakashi knew she was with Sasuke, they would be able to track her movements via her cell phone. It may take them awhile, but they would find her and save her.

In her excitement, she absentmindedly turned to look at Sasuke. He was resting his head against the wall, his eyes closed.

Sakura could not help but wonder what had happened to turn Sasuke into a criminal, and what he had done to deserve such a title. What did they want with Anko, and why was Sakura an acceptable replacement? Who was this odd Jugo fellow, and who was the batshit crazy guy driving the ambulance?

She was rocked from her thoughts as the driver slammed on the breaks, the ambulance teetering forward as it attempted to set itself straight.

She heard the man named Jugo grumble from behind her. "Are we here already? That was quite fast..."

The driver laughed. "Never under-estimate my fantastic driving skills! They don't call me... Well, truthfully, they don't call me anything. At least, not when it comes to cars. Now, when it comes to guns..."

"Suigetsu, shut up," Sasuke spat. He stood up and towered over Sakura, glaring at her. Sakura nearly trembled under his gaze; there was something about his eyes... This man was not the boy she fell in love with. Sasuke had become darker; he looked at Sakura as if she were an obstacle to a goal and not a human being.

"Do exactly as I say, because if you become dead weight, I will not hesitate to eliminate you."

Author's Note:

Yay, chapter two!

FYI to those who already read chapter one: I fixed the formatting issues. Also, my betta pointed out a few plot flaws in the first chapter, and I have since fixed those. They are not really significant, but you may notice a difference or two later in the story.

I am aiming to update this fic once a week.

Please let me know what you think!