All In The Name Of A One Sided Love
Sakura awoke, sore from the exhausting amounts of jumping and running she had done yesterday, with a splitting headache, and the taste of throw up in her mouth. Her head felt like it was splitting open, and she had no recollection of what had happened the night before, except that her other side had done it.
How, though?
How could her other side possibly take over her body? She had always suppressed it before; she had always had the will to suppress it… Maybe she was losing her will to do so? Maybe she really wanted what her other side wanted?
No. She hated Sasuke. That's all there is to it. She wanted, needed, him dead, or at least, back on Konoha's side with vast amounts of loyalty.
The door creaked open, and Sakura jumped in surprise, the headache peaking a little before going back down to it's level before. Kabuto appeared in the doorway, holding a tray of what had to be food.
"Good morning, Sakura-san," he said brightly, walking up to her and setting the tray down.
'What a dumbass…' she found herself thinking. She flew to her feet and reached for her shuriken, only to hit her thigh instead of weapon belt.
Kabuto wagged his finger in a reprimanding motion, clucking at her as if she was a little girl who had just eaten dirt.
"Ah, ah, ah, Sakura-san. Did you think I would leave you with weapons? Besides, this place is run by code—no keys to steal here. You'd have to memorize the codes, and there's no way I'm giving you a code. There's not even a single window, nor is there a room that isn't run by code. I'll give you the codes to every room I think you should have. Training room, library, dining room… Oh, and you get to set your own room code, but I have to know it," he explained with a nod.
"I'm not the usual prisoner, am I?" Sakura asked with a glare, a sort of hiss to her voice. She was angry that he had managed to kidnap her, and was sure that, had her second side not gotten in the way, it never would have happened.
"No. No, you're not. Not even close. You and Ino-san are to be pampered," Kabuto confirmed with a nod. "You two are… honored guests of sorts. You'll find out why much later. Enjoy your cereal, Sakura-san," he said, dismissing himself.
"Don't call us by our first name, Yakushi-san," Sakura said coldly from the bed. She stared down at the cereal, unsure of whether or not it was safe to eat. There could be a number of things wrong with it, from using spoiled milk and/or stale cereal to serious poisoning.
'If he wanted to poison you, he would have done so long before now. You're an honored guest, remember? That's got to account for something,' a voice in the back of her head told her. She nodded and began to eat the cereal, deciding after a few bites that nothing at all had been added to the cereal except milk.
'I wonder if Ino is alright…' Sakura asked herself as she put the bowl, spoon, and tray to the side. She stood up and looked around, taking in her surroundings. There was a shower, a bed, a nightstand, a large dresser, a full-length and a desk in the corner of the room. However, all of this was quite elaborate and extremely pretty—Sakura wondered if they made their own furniture, or actually bought it.
'Ch, probably stole it…' she thought bitterly. She looked through the drawers and drawers of the dresser, but was annoyed in finding out that the only clothes she could change into were all Orochimaru's style, fitted to fit a female. She looked down at herself, and noticed she was covered in dirt and leaves, especially her clothes.
She needed to shower and change.
She grabbed a set of clothes and examined it. She took the rope belt that was supposed to be tied around her waist and threw it aside, it now dejectedly lying in the corner. She looked around the outfit for any signs of other Sound Village emblems, but was relieved to find none at all, other than perhaps the rope belt (which she had always thought was gaudy, anyways). She took the clothes and went into the bathroom, preparing to take her shower.
----
She admired herself in the full-length mirror. The gray and brown contrasted extremely with her bright eyes and pink hair, which didn't look attractive at all on her. Even Naruto's bright orange would have looked better on her. She groaned and stretched before glancing at the door.
'It doesn't hurt to try…' the same voice from before told her. She nodded and grasped the door handle, waiting, as if wondering if she would be electrocuted or something similar. She turned the knob, shocked to find that it wasn't locked. She glanced around just outside of the door, checking to see if guards or someone—anyone—was waiting to attack her.
Nothing… not even Kabuto. She stepped outside of the room and glanced around, stomping on the ground, as if wondering when the floor would give way to some trapdoor.
Nothing.
"We don't bobby trap our wing, you know. We all sleep here, and if someone is trying to kill us, it takes a Sanin to get this far. And if the Sanin even makes it, they'd be fighting Orochimaru by this point," Kabuto explained with a smirk.
Sakura let out a breath of annoyance. "So, what am I doing today, anyways? Just rotting away in this hallway?" Sakura asked, her tone giving away her annoyance just slightly.
Kabuto stared at her and blinked slowly, as if contemplating her sanity. "No, you'll be training. What, did you think I'd let you and Ino-chan rot away?"
"Stop using our first names, and stop using the '-chan'!" Sakura yelled, angry that he was being so casual with them, as if the two girls were only sleeping over.
"Yeah, yeah…" Kabuto said, pretty much ignoring her comment with a hand wave. "Do you suppose Ino is out of her shower yet?"
"What makes you think she's taking a shower?" Sakura asked, rolling her eyes.
"Because it is a sane human's impulse to clean themselves when they're dirty," Kabuto explained simply. At this comment, Ino stepped out of the room, similarly dressed in Sound clothes.
"Can we do something about the wardrobe?" Ino asked dejectedly, obviously depressed. Sakura was pretty sure she knew why.
"Not a thing," Kabuto said, without giving it a second thought.
"Can you do anything about my damn hangover?" Sakura asked with a growl, as her head began throbbing. She definitely had a full-blown migraine at this point, for the pain in her head alone was giving her nausea.
"No, we don't keep hangover remedies. You'll have to wait it out," Kabuto said, actually thinking about it this time. "I think I'll show you two around… and give you the passwords," Kabuto decided, after thinking for a few moments.
He began walking away, and the girls followed dejectedly. There was nothing better to do, and really, they were in his power. They wouldn't resist—not for the moment, anyways.
----
The first room he showed them was the library, which only Sakura really was interested in. It was a large room, well lit, and full to the brim of books. There were large chandeliers in the middle of room, golden with equally perpetual golden lights shining on them. The bookshelves were large and made of wood, though they weren't sorted by category or alphabetized at all.
The second room was the dining room, which was smaller, but with a similar design. The chandeliers, tables, and the walls were the same, except it was connected to the kitchen, and the ceiling was much lower. Kabuto had told them that they weren't to be as pampered as they were that morning, and they'd have to go and get their own breakfast. Breakfast was at six, lunch was at one, and dinner was at seven. These meals were usually a 'every man for himself' sort of affair, so they'd have to cook for themselves. Every few weeks Kabuto would go out and buy supplies, paid for by money which was undoubtedly stolen, unless Orochimaru inherited billions upon billions of dollars.
The third room was the most different of them all. It looked like a modern gym, with many different places to weight lifts for different areas on the body. In the middle of the room was a large circle, where apparently people sparred, though no one had sparred there for years. The floor was vinyl, and the walls were a very light blue tile, which contrasted deeply with the designs of the other rooms. Kabuto wrote down the passwords to each of these rooms, and they were all just as random as the next.
After giving them the grand, detailed tour, they ate lunch. Sakura and Ino made themselves sandwiches, while Kabuto ate canned ravioli. To their horror, he ate the ravioli straight out of the can, the sauce and everything still cold (1).
"You have a microwave," Sakura stated dumbly, more as a statement than a question.
"Yep," Kabuto replied, as he popped another one into his mouth.
"And you're eating it cold?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow in shock.
"Yes. I love these things. In case you didn't notice, there is a huge cabinet full of these. It's my daily lunch," Kabuto said with a smirk.
"You're disgusting," Sakura replied, shaking her head lightly.
"Says the one who's eating peanut butter," Kabuto said, giving off a fake shudder (2).
"Hey! Peanut butter makes the world go 'round!" Ino argued.
'Yes… they are beginning to think of you as a friend, somewhat…' Kabuto said to himself, keeping a self-satisfied smirk hidden underneath the surface.
"Nah. It's chocolate," Sakura said matter-of-factly. Then she paused and mouthed to herself, 'Chocolate?' as if she hadn't meant to say that.
"Something wrong, Sakura?" Ino asked.
"Yeah… I tried saying 'mocha latte' but… it came out as chocolate…" Sakura explained.
"Weird… I thought your chocolate obsession ended a little after Sakura left…" Ino mused.
"It did. I didn't touch chocolate again for a long time, and even then it was only a bite…" Sakura explained.
'Somehow, I've heard of this… Somewhere,' Kabuto told himself with a frown. Something was going on, and it sounded like a mental illness.
----
Sakura awoke the next day and glanced to her left, where the nightstand was. The digital clock said that it was five thirty, just enough time to be able to catch a quick shower before eating breakfast. Why the Sound nin got up and ate so early, Sakura didn't know, but it was kind of nice to have some sort of schedule to go around.
She frowned at herself, berating herself about how she was almost enjoying staying there. Half of her just wanted to be home, to do work with Tsunade, to hang out with Shizune, and to even talk about Chouji and Shikamaru with Ino… But the other half desperately wanted, needed to be away from Konoha. The other half was going on and on about how much of an adventure this was, and how awesome it was to be in such close quarters with only Ino and Kabuto. That same side was even somewhat infatuated with Kabuto!
'I'm growing weak again…' Sakura told herself.
'No, you're not. You're becoming human!' a voice, which once sounded like herself, but now sounded totally different exclaimed.
'Who are you?' Sakura asked the voice, but was annoyed to find that the voice stubbornly refused to respond.
She found that she had used up a good five minutes arguing with the voice. She growled in annoyance and stood up with a huff, rushing off to take a shower at super-speed.
----
She ate breakfast alone, and wondered if Ino even remembered to get up for it. Kabuto seemed like he had already eaten and gone—there was a lone spoon and bowl when she came in the room. She stood, and contemplated going to the training room, back to her room, or to the library. After deciding on the latter, she walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and to the library. She entered in the code with a flourish, having memorized them all the night before.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Kabuto sitting down, reading a scroll. She couldn't see the title, but she had a feeling it had something to do with her or something else he didn't want her to see, for as soon as she came in, he jumped as well, and slammed the scroll down title-first, leaning over it 'casually' to hide what the pages contained.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan! I'm surprised you've woken so early," he began, trying his best to start a conversation and keep her mind off the book.
"Uh-huh. And stop using my first name and the '-chan'," she growled as she passed by him, no longer caring that he was in the room.
----
A near week passed by, along that schedule. Sakura would get up, shower, eat, read for hours upon hours, eat, work out for hours, eat, change into pajamas, and sleep. She noticed that Kabuto was still working on becoming 'friends' with them, or rather, put up the illusion they were friends. Ino continuously slipped in and out of depression. One day, Sakura caught her friend holding up a huge weight, frozen in place. It was not that the weight was too much for her to handle—otherwise, she would have called out—but she was obviously thinking about something, and her thoughts were so depressing she just stopped working out, more than likely without even realizing it.
Kabuto continuously read books and scrolls, all about mental diseases, but never ever let her see the titles. Every once in a while, Sakura and/or Ino would attempt to figure out the code to the front door, only for the alarm to and to call Kabuto. He'd shake his head, reprimand them, and haul them away by the wrist, as if they were little kids trying to get into a cookie jar.
Sakura was still constantly arguing with the voice in her head, however.
'C'mon, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!' the voice would protest.
'So, when I'm a prisoner, I should drink lemonade?' she'd retort, annoyed that her voice was still pressing this.
'Exactly! You don't drink enough lemonade! Wait… no, you don't enjoy life enough,' the voice corrected itself. The voice didn't seem to mind having to correct itself, while Sakura thought deeply before speaking one comment.
'Why don't you shut up?' Sakura would ask testily.
'Heh. Try and make me,' the voice would joke.
----
"Damn it! I have no clue what it could be at all!" Kabuto growled, shoving yet another book onto the shelf. "Looks like I have no choice…" he muttered, before walking over to the table nad taking out a piece of paper and a pen.
'Dear Takara,
I require your services.
--Kabuto'
He sent the owl away with the letter, awaiting Takara's arrival.
----
(1) – Yummy. Inspired by none other than me! )
(2) – I'm not too fond of peanut butter, but I love it when it's paired with chocolate, honey, or jelly.
A/N: Check out my homepage, for it has a detailed calendar of (about) when I should be letting out new chapters and such (ignoring oneshots, of course...)