Chapter 3
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Sakura shoots up straight, her heart beating far too fast for her liking, before the undeniable pain in her head catches her off guard.
And here comes the stupid effects of a hangover, Sakura!
There was also the taste of bile which is rapidly rising in her throat, and Sakura quickly covers her mouth just in case some of it decides to make an impromptu visit out of her mouth. And the fact that Sasuke might be around, watching her cover her mouth over her mouth and turn a pale green, was something that is not appealing to Sakura this early in the morning.
Sakura looks around carefully, jumping slightly when she realises that Sasuke isn't in the small hotel room at all. Still, Sakura takes the odd opportunity to run to the small bathroom and empty the contents of her stomach out with each painful heave.
After Sakura finally finishes, she carefully leans her head against the tiled floor, smiling with relief at the coolness it provides to her flush skin. How glad she was that Sasuke wasn't here to see her display this sign of odd weakness. She hopes that Sasuke had been through a hangover, that he had experienced the undeniable pain in his throat that she was feeling right now.
Despite the fact that Sakura had seen him drinking at the bar last night, she seriously doubts Sasuke had ever heaved in a toilet and then lied sprawled on the bathroom tiles. The idea is so stupid that it almost made Sakura giggle, before she remembers quickly where she is.
Remembering where she is makes Sakura sober up a little, seeing as she is in Sasuke's 'care' with absolute no chance of escape, as her chakra was undoubtedly low and wasn't making any recovery.
Seeing as her little condition hadn't improved over night, Sakura was beginning to think that something was wrong with her body. Tsunade had taught her long ago how to tell if a strange toxin or poison was in her body. Sakura quickly tries to detect any toxin or poison with the little amount of chakra she has left, only to find that it is hardly enough to search out that type of problem.
If her chakra was going to stay depleted, then the chances of escaping from Sasuke were awfully slim. Tsunade would be expecting her home today. Last night Sakura had decided that her chakra would probably be back by the morning, meaning she could escape, leaving Sasuke far behind her, and quickly send an explanation to Konoha.
Now that her chakra hasn't come back, Sakura doubts that her awfully planned escape attempt would work at all.
Sakura is just about to attempt another quick search of her body for any oddities, when the door suddenly squeaks open, startling Sakura and making her jump rather obviously.
He gazes down at her evenly. "Your chakra hasn't replenished," he finally states, with a slight smirk on his face, as if he had known her desperate plan.
"Are we going to be here all day stating the obvious?" Sakura snorts at his statement, knowing that the best option for hiding her fear was to push out the smart comments.
"I have things to do," Sasuke begins, promptly ignoring her witty comment. He looks down at Sakura, making sure she is giving him her attention, before finally telling her, "I'm going to kill Orochimaru."
The reaction of Sakura's face is immediate, filled with shock and horror. "W-what?" she splutters, trying miserably to contain her surprise. "Why?"
"You have a problem with me killing an enemy of Konoha?" Sasuke smirks arrogantly at her response.
Sakura's open mouth quickly snaps shut, as she forgets her surprise and replaces it with boiling rage. "No."
"Good. We'll make our way to Sound now – I'll leave you somewhere…nearby," Sasuke says, clearly emphasising the word so Sakura understands plainly the fact that she could not escape. "After that I will be getting a few members for a team, however some we will have to travel to get to," Sasuke continues, as if his idea is something that two people regularly talk about.
"Can I leave your little entourage then?" Sakura asks bluntly, wondering why Sasuke would even bother to prepare a little team, as from what Sakura had seen, he seems far too powerful without companions.
Sasuke shoots her a quelling look that parents often gave to annoying children. "Get ready, we'll be leaving soon."
Sakura stares warily at Sasuke as he pulls out some warm bread and fresh fruit, as well as a bottle of cold water. He throws them to her, and to Sakura's dismay she was some trouble catching them due to the pounding headache from her hangover, which Sasuke must be ignoring.
"It's not poisoned," Sasuke tells her, before turning around.
Sakura watches Sasuke leave through the door, and she hears the loud and bluntly obvious click of the door being locked. Sakura tries her best to ignore the stab of anger that is breaking inside her, instead deciding to focus on the food which would fill her rather empty stomach.
The food in her hands looks reasonably fresh, yet Sakura still doesn't know if she could trust her ex-lover and teammate. With the tiny bit of chakra that she didn't lose during her failed search attempt in her body, Sakura does her best to search for any type of killing substance in the food. To her disbelief, Sakura doesn't find any, which in a way, if she thinks about it clearly, it did make sense.
Sakura really doesn't feel comfortable eating the particularly appetising meal, but her idea of there being poison was ridiculous. If Sasuke really wanted to kill her, he probably would have slit her throat ear-toear easily she had been asleep. He hadn't, though, so whatever reason that Sakura hadn't thought of yet, unfortunately he wanted her alive.
Hoping her thoughts were true enough, Sakura bites into the sweet apple, feeling the sticky juice run down her face. Sakura smiles contently, before reaching down to pick up the still slightly warm bread and ripping of chunks to devour.
By the time Sasuke comes back, all the food is finished, leaving a rather satisfied Sakura. Sakura does her best to block out the smirk that was all over his face, which she quickly presumes is from the fact that she had finished all the food that a missing-nin had provided.
"I need clothes," Sakura says, trying to distract her from the fact that in a way, that had been a sign of trust to Sasuke.
Sasuke shoots her an exasperated look, which clearly states that giving Sakura clothes is the least of his worries at the moment, if he had any at all. "Fine," he finally says.
Sakura didn't really expect much of an inviting response, but she still couldn't quell the anger that was boiling inside her. Sakura realises quickly that Sasuke seems to be able to rile her up faster than Naruto, which was clearly saying more things than it should.
"We're leaving," Sasuke says shortly, bringing her out of her reverie. "Let's go."
Sakura presumes she has to follow the arrogant bastard, so she reluctantly stands up, purposely being slow as to annoy Sasuke. It was clear by his aggravating glance that her little idea had worked.
She didn't dare ask how long it would take to reach enemy territory, or as Sasuke called it, Sound. The question was probably bound to earn a cocky response, and Sakura didn't know if she could deal with Sasuke at the moment, or at any moment.
Sasuke will just kill Orochimaru and then…come back. The idea of Orochimaru dead seems surreal to Sakura. If Sasuke dies, though, during the presumably vicious fight…what will Sakura do? Of course, for whatever reason, she doubts that Sasuke will drag a little pink-hair kunoichi to help him battle a legendary Sannin.
If Sasuke did happen to die, Sakura won't be able to heal him anyway. Even if she did happen to have the chakra, the idea of healing a known missing-nin who some close Konoha shinobi were trying very hard to hunt down was ridiculous!
Sakura feels a bit of emotional pain blind her for a minute, as she imagines Sasuke lying on the ground in a Sound base, his body a mess of tangled limbs and blood.
"What if you lose?" Sakura blurts out, undoubtedly because of the way her imagination had come up with such a horrific image of Sasuke's unlikely death.
"Lose what?" Sasuke asks, as he eyes her carefully, wondering if this was just a small sympathy façade from his ex-teammate.
"Your fight with Orochimaru, you idiot!" Sakura snaps, turning around quickly so Sasuke wouldn't see the sudden prickle of tears in her jade eyes.
"Then I die," Sasuke responds slowly. "Does that make you worry, Sakura?"
Sakura glares daggers at him, knowing that he was teasing her in a way that she absoloutely hated. He was making her remember a time when she very nearly ran after him on his mission to become stronger to kill his elder brother.
"Sasuke-sama!" A voice startles both Sakura and Sasuke, and to Sakura's hidden delight she feels Sasuke even jump slightly. "Sasuke-sama!"
Sasuke turns to the culprit of the noise, a Sound Jounin "What?" he snaps, feeling furious that this reckless idiot managed to get such a response from him.
"Orochimaru-sama did not inform us you were going to be working on the mission too," the Sound-nin says, before bowing to the waist, obviously hearing the irritation in his beloved Sasuke-sama's voice.
"Mission?" Sasuke echoes. "Explain."
The Sound-nin rather obviously lowers his voice to rasping whisper which irritates Sasuke to no ends, "To capture Haruno Sakura, Sasuke-sama."
Sasuke hides his confusion easily with an arrogant smirk, which at the moment seems to be the most frequent expression on his face. "Does it matter?"
"Not at all, Sasuke-sama! My group and I will head back to Sound immediately and report to Orochimaru-sama that you have captured Haruno Sakura." The Sound-nin bows slightly, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke turns back around to see a startled Sakura, obviously revolted by the idea of Orochimaru sending out some shinobi to capture her.
"Who were they?" she asks carefully, already knowing fully what the answer is.
"I thought that would've been obvious," Sasuke smirks, before grabbing her wrist and beginning to walk, already fed up by her abnormally slow pace.
Sakura stays unusually silent for a few moments, fuming with soundless rage. "They were after me, weren't they," she states quietly, the fear in her voice giving away what she was thinking.
"It doesn't change anything, Sakura," Sasuke tells her, answering her unspoken question which had been lingering in the air.
Sakura purses her lips together tightly, trying her best to hide her frustration. She didn't know what was worse – being captured by Sasuke or the Sound-nin.
This week is easily one of the top candidates for the worst time of my life.
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When Sasuke and Sakura arrive by a quiet village near the border of Sound, it was well into the night, possibly early morning. Sakura is thoroughly exhausted, as they had only stopped a few times for food and other much welcomed necessities. Sakura knows that Sasuke is looking for a place to effectively hide her, while he would go off and perform his…heroic feat.
Sakura knows that once she is alone she could easily send an explanation message to Konoha, telling everyone that she is most certainly safe and if someone could please save her from having yet another awful day.
"Here," Sasuke's voice startles her out of her dream of a futile escape attempt, swiftly dragging her into the house with him. "You will stay here until I come back," Sasuke says clearly, looking down at her knowingly. It was written all over her face that she wanted to escape, and this didn't slip Sasuke's notice.
Sakura couldn't help but smirk slightly at Sasuke's clear statement, which she fully intended to disobey.
"Your chakra is low. You run, I will find you anyway," Sasuke adds, watching as Sakura's face suddenly turns into a vicious distortion.
"You do that then," she hisses, turning her back to the enemy swiftly.
"Your bag," Sasuke says suddenly, grabbing her shoulder and painfully twisting her back to face him.
Sakura looks up at him, half filled with anger yet the surprise wins over. "What?"
"I need your bag and your headband. Turn out your pockets, too," Sasuke clarifies.
Sakura stares at him, her face full of defiance, and she even opens her mouth to retort a smart reply before she suddenly realises that it's just plain childish. It was clear that Sasuke really didn't care in the slightest what Sakura's vicious tongue told him. With that little thought in her head, Sakura quickly gives Sasuke all the requested objects, her headband going last. She couldn't help but feel a moment of guilt as she hands him her rand hitai-ate.
Sasuke stares, a bit shocked but more than relieved as he realises that she must of noticed that he really didn't care what she tells him.
He looks at her for a brief minute, wondering if she was hiding anything from him, before nodding slightly. "I'll be back."
Sakura watches as Sasuke swiftly disappears, presumably to go and kill the lethal Sannin, Orochimaru.
He may actually be lying, Sakura. He could be getting Orochimaru right now, telling him where you are…
Sakura tries to ignore the hidden part of her that trusts Sasuke as much as she could. She found that she constantly needs to remind herself that Sasuke – the man who had just given her a warm place to stay, a blissful shower and fresh food – was the man who had attempted to kill Naruto. The thought itself was beginning to fail convincing her, though.
Sakura sighes, and slowly sitting down on the barren floor of the house, feeling all the energy leave her. Really, everything from the past couple of days was bound to catch up with her. Closing her eyes, Sakura silently resolves to only sleep for a few short minutes – as last night she had been tossing and turning due to a certain presence – before getting up and trying to escape.
Only a few minutes…just a couple, really.
Outside the small house that Sakura was staying in, Sasuke quickly peeps in, and realising that Sakura is asleep, he quickly begins making his way to the Sound base.
Sasuke reaches the Sound base in no time at all without Sakura's slow pace. She was like a liability, really. He had been secretly grateful that Sakura hadn't struggled out of his grip on her when he had dragged her at his own pace.
The thought of Sakura was distracting him from his target, though, and if he had learnt anything from his time in Konoha, it was that distractions did not make you stronger. That was half the reason why he had left behind Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura. They were far too distracting, making him momentarily forget his goal about killing his elder brother and instead wanting to spend time with them, which would not do at all.
Sasuke quickly dismisses the thoughts of Konoha as he approaches Orochimaru's dark room, the door slightly ajar. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke takes some particularly loud footsteps until he is standing directly outside the door, his shadow clearly visible to Orochimaru.
"Who is it?" Sasuke hears the Sannin ask in that disturbing hiss.
Sasuke smirks slightly, before summoning his Chidori blade to his hands. "Me," he states calmly, before aiming for where he knew Orochimaru's heart is from behind the door, and shooting the Chidori blade through the weak wooden door.
Orochimaru's gasp of pain was clearly audible from Sasuke's position, making Sasuke's smirk only grow. Knowing that Orochimaru knew who his attacker was, Sasuke effortlessly kicks open the old wooden door.
"Well, if it isn't Sasuke," Orochimaru hisses, and Sasuke couldn't help but notice that slight visible look of pain on the Sannin's face.
Sasuke merely smirks as his eyes slowly turn into the crimson gaze that over the past years he has grown fond of. Orochimaru's eyes widen slightly, before he quickly replicates his smirk.
"I'm not at all surprised…really, Sasuke, I was expecting you," the Sannin tells Sasuke calmly, before smiling even wider.
Sasuke feels his crimson eyes widen slightly as Orochimaru's body slowly turns into what could only be called a deformed snake which he knew would make any small child piss its pants. Feeding more lightning chakra to his hands, Sasuke braces himself for what could possibly be the worst battle he has experienced so far.
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AN: First of all – thank you so much to the people who reviewed, followed and faved this story. It means a lot to me. Second, I like the weekly updates because it's easier for me, and I may just update earlier than next Tuesday due to the fact that this chapter was shorter than I would've liked. Thirdly, I am going to do some much needed editing tomorrow, as I have mixed up the tense in the chapters.
Thank you again for all your wonderful support guys! I'll try and update before or next Tuesday!
