As always, thank you so much to everybody who was considerate enough to review. :)

Chapter Three: Collision


Kabuto was leaning against the counter on the far side of his laboratory, facing the stone staircase that led down into the basement. Even through the thick walls, he could hear the relentless howling of the wind – it was easy to tell that there was a blizzard raging outside.

Distantly, Kabuto observed that he had not been this deeply agitated in years. Despite his best efforts to control himself, his heart was beating faster than customary, and even though the Sound base was even more frigidly cold than usual, he could feel himself beginning to break out in a sweat. Behind his back, his fingers clutched one of the more vicious-looking surgical tools in a white-knuckled grip. It was a comfort thing, although it wasn't having much of an effect right now. He had to regain some semblance of normality, though, before—

He heard her coming before he saw her; Sakura always insisted on taking the stairs at an almost recklessly fast pace, and the thick heels of her knee-high boots echoed in the stale air. By the time Sakura finally reached the basement, she had to blink a few times in order to force her vision to adjust better. She didn't know why Kabuto-sensei always insisted on working in such poor lighting, and it was a secret fear of hers that if she continued doing so long enough, someday she would have to wear glasses as well. Not that she'd ever tell Karin that; the other girl would probably try and claw her eyes out while shrilly screaming that these weren't the Middle Ages and that glasses were totally fashionable…

It took a few moments for her eyes to become accustomed to the dim lighting in the basement. Only one of the two bulbs was on, and Sakura stared at the man who had been her teacher for the past four years inquisitively. She could sense nothing off with his chakra, but Kabuto looked somewhat paler than usual, and a bit…clammy. The light was glinting off his glasses so that she couldn't see the expression in his eyes, but as a whole, the entire thing was a little unnerving. Maybe he had found out about her sneaking out to the village earlier this morning and intended to chastise her, but something that trivial wouldn't justify the strangeness of his entire demeanor. Perhaps he was ill? Either way…

"Kabuto-sensei?" Sakura ventured uncertainly, taking a small step toward him. "Are you feeling all right?"

For a few moments, compounding her sense of something being slightly out of place, Kabuto stared at her as if he didn't know her. At last, he gave a long sigh, his eyes finally focusing on hers. "Sakura-chan," he began, sounding a little distracted. His hands were clasped behind his back, holding something she couldn't see. "What have I told you about stirring up trouble and interfering with affairs that are none of your business?"

Oh. So it was about the whole sneaking out thing.

Even though she didn't regret it in the least, Sakura bowed her head contritely. "I apologize, Kabuto-sensei," she murmured dutifully. "I should have asked your permission first, but I knew that you were busy with…Orochimaru-sama…and I did not want to disturb you. It was not a frivolous trip intended to defy you, but rather a valuable experience in which I was able to practically apply my skills as a medic-nin and test them in ways that I am not often given the opportunity to…" Yeah. You know, I could learn how to actually heal someone, like I've always wanted to, instead of being forced to memorize new and gruesome ways to kill them…

Kabuto's fingers clenched around the surgical tool. Kami. Lookat her, mumbling on obliviously, apologizing for something that really had no bearing on the larger scheme of things. Her long hair had come mostly free of the messy ponytail that usually constrained it, and it fell around her face. Despite the unnatural color – or perhaps because of it – it was beautiful; thick and shiny and so full of vitality that it was undoubtedly a perfect match for her. Sakura's cheeks were prettily flushed from the cold and the run downstairs, and he could see the blood pounding in the delicate arteries and veins of her slender neck.

It would be so easy. Sakura's hands were clasped behind her back, and if he moved fast enough, she wouldn't be able to offer any sort of resistance. One quick, chakra-loaded blow to the heart would bring a swift end to all the life contained within her petite frame. It was a fast way to go; rather humane, as well. Sakura wouldn't feel any pain. She wouldn't even realize that anything was amiss, if he did it with enough skill and agility.

He had done all this and more in the past, a thousand times over, for Orochimaru-sama. He had killed the elderly and the infirm; men, women, and children, civilians and shinobi alike, without a second thought. Anything for Orochimaru-sama.

Why should this be any different?

Except that it was. This time, it was his student. Bright, intelligent, lively, talented, beautiful Sakura-chan, who had learned everything he had to teach her and still thirsted for more. Sakura-chan, who despite the things he had tried to teach her and warn her about, insisted on following a path not appropriate for a loyal Sound kunoichi.

He remembered one time, in particular. The first time he had told her to test out a disabling tendon-severing jutsu on one of the base's young, healthy prisoners, before killing him without laying a finger on his body. He had taken Sakura and the chained prisoner out to the forest, given her three minutes to finish, and then slunk back into the cover of the trees to watch. Sakura hadn't known he was there, and before his disbelieving eyes, she pulled the prisoner up to his feet and executed two strictly controlled Katon fire techniques in order to melt the chains away. In the next second, she had already shrugged off her jacket and thrown it around the young man's shoulders, emptied her pockets of all the money that had been there, hastily depositing it into his hands, and pushed the former prisoner off into the forest.

Kabuto hadn't said anything about her missing jacket when he had stepped out of the trees again. He hadn't acted in the least suspicious when Sakura had contritely told him that she had performed one wrong hand seal and accidentally incinerated the body instead. He had also never let her perform another execution alone.

Maybe that had been a mistake. Maybe he had let her get away with too much, and maybe it was his fault that Sakura had never been forced to give up her foolishly idealistic ways…that, by doing so, she had put herself in this situation, giving him no choice but to get rid of her.

Sakura finished her spiel, and looked up at him remorsefully. "I won't do it again, Kabuto-sensei," she offered quietly.

He knew she was lying – and, in that same second, he knew what he had to do.

Sakura never knew what hit her.

Two hand seals carefully executed behind his back, in conjunction with precise concentrations of chakra, and she collapsed forward, into his arms. The normally lively kunoichi was suddenly limp and boneless, so much so that she could be a corpse, and Kabuto caught her gently, stroking her hair with hands that trembled a little, as he struggled with the enormity of what he had done – or, rather, failed to do. She was completely defenseless now; totally unconscious. He should do it now, now that he didn't have to deal with the agony of looking into her vividly colored, expressive eyes…but he knew that he could never.

He had never disobeyed one of Orochimaru-sama's orders before, and his jaw clenched almost painfully, the beginnings of a tension headache pounding away at his temples. He would not kill Sakura, but he had to get rid of her somehow; so completely that she could never find her way back here. If Orochimaru-sama ever found out that he, Kabuto, had defied him so openly, his punishment would be swift and lethal.

Kabuto swallowed hard, feeling the abnormal tightness in his throat as he carefully picked Sakura up, slipping one arm underneath her knees and supporting the other at her back. Orochimaru-sama would be secluded in his rooms, or maybe even talking to the young Uchiha, so theoretically, he should be safe…

A pang of sharp apprehension struck the medic-nin to the core at the very thought of what Sasuke's reaction would be tomorrow morning, when he discovered his teammate was missing.

Determinedly shoving that idea out of his mind, Kabuto disappeared in a few elusive tendrils of black smoke, stretching the limits of his transportation jutsu as much as he could.


Despite the gravity of the situation, Kabuto spared the first few moments after he materialized again, carrying the still-unresponsive Sakura, to marvel at the power and extensive spread of his reach. They were in the middle of an incredibly dense forest that was largely carpeted in a thick layer of snow and ice, and it was nowhere that he could easily recognize. Specifically, nowhere remotely near either Sound or Konoha, which was really very good, theoretically, and he refused to allow himself to envision how frightened and bewildered Sakura would be, to awaken so far from home.

After a brief survey of the surrounding area, Kabuto ended up sliding his captive down to the base of an old oak tree. With her back settled against the bark and her legs stretched out in front of her, she looked like she could be sleeping.

He glanced at the sky. It was dark, but he could sense no predators in the immediate vicinity. Hopefully Sakura would wake before she could fall victim to one of the various ravages that this situation had the potential to offer.

Even though his better judgment protested it, Kabuto couldn't help but sink to his knees as well, settling himself beside the unconscious Sakura. Before he could think better of it, he was already reaching out toward her…gently stroking the contours of her pale cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, brushing the stray locks of vibrant hair out of her face and slowly, lingeringly tucking them behind her ear.

How cruel it was, that everything had turned out like this. Little Sakura-chan was the only one who truly understood him…appreciated him. He had taught her all she knew, and they could have explored so much more together.

His train of thought derailed, and detachedly, Kabuto observed that his thumb was dangerously close to her bottom lip, just barely skimming the sensitive skin there. It took a concerted display of self-control to finally pull his hand back, and he could feel a flush on his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold. Trying to regain his dignity somewhat, he forced himself to straighten and turn his back to his student. His student, who despite her obvious dislike and distrust of Orochimaru-sama, had trusted him fully.

No. Those thoughts were unreasonable. He had just saved Sakura's life…and now, all he could do was hope that they never saw each other again, because if they did, it would be under highly undesirable circumstances for both of them.

Kabuto formed a few hand seals and disappeared without allowing himself to take one last glance back at her.


One and a half hours later, Sakura's eyes snapped wide open, and all of the breath left her body in a strangled, painful gasp. Her head was hanging at an odd angle, her neck so stiff that she couldn't even move, and the first sight that greeted her was that of her legs. Her blue-tinted, numb legs. As a matter of fact, her entire body was bent over itself in a strange, twisted sort of way.

The second thing she registered was that she was breathing hard, as if she and Karin had just finished a marathon sparring session. Every breath hurt like hell, like her heart was pumping twice as hard just to circulate blood to her body, and besides, the air she was gasping in as if her life depended on it was bitterly, savagely cold. Freezing. It hurt her nose and throat, and it felt like a million needle pinpricks on every inch of her exposed skin…

…Karin…had her bitch of a best friend stolen her blanket in the middle of the night again? She really had to see about finding herself a better roommate…

It took a few more moments, and a few more ragged breaths, for Sakura's brain to start working properly. It was still uncharacteristically sluggish and her thought process was more jarred than it had been in a long time, but…no. There was something wrong here. She wasn't in her room. This kind of fierce cold wasn't because of Karin stealing her blanket.

Inch by excruciatingly painful inch, Sakura lifted her neck and body straight again, staring around at her surroundings with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Nothing she saw was familiar. Nothing. She wasn't in her room, yeah – she wasn't in any room whatsoever.

Her neck snapped right and left so quickly that it hurt as Sakura assessed her surroundings, one of her hands drifting to the base of her neck as she fought the instinctive urge to panic. Her breath was shallow and quick, and she was hyper-aware of the sound her own heart made as it beat and the rush of blood through her veins – definitely warning signs of a panic attack, which she could not give in to now.

Forest. She was in some sort of a forest, but this definitely wasn't the forest behind the Sound base – this was larger and thicker than any forests she had ever traveled through, including the ones that separated Sound and Konoha. The foliage was intensely greener in the few sparse places where it was still present, and the snowfall here was ten times thicker than it had been in Sound just a few hours ago.

Forget just the base…this wasn't part of Sound at all.

Distantly, Sakura felt part of her brain shut down, and weakly, she brought her arms back to herself, hugging them close and feeling herself begin to tremble in a belated reaction to the cold and snow she had been sitting in for kami knew how long. She tried to think like a kunoichi; to keep her cool and consider this situation calmly and rationally, but she just couldn't. Aside from the tiny, two-mile trip from the Sound base to the border town she had visited, and the small excursions into the forest behind the base, she had never set foot out of that damn place. And she had literally no idea where she was, and how she had gotten here.

A wave of nausea brought on by sheer panic hit her, and Sakura gulped a deep, uneven breath of air, leaning forward unsteadily and drawing her knees to her chest, before resting her forehead on the top of them. The last thing she remembered, very vaguely, was lying on her bed, talking to Karin, before Jugo knocked on the door and told her that Kabuto wanted to see her…

Kabuto?

The thought sent a stab of pure confusion through Sakura, making her close her eyes and run her fingers through her hair, pulling so hard on it that it brought tears to her eyes. Why the hell would Kabuto-sensei attack her and dump her body in the middle of nowhere? Or was this some sick, twisted way of teaching her a lesson, and he would come back and fetch her later once he considered her to be truly repentant?

As soon as the thought occurred to her, the pink-haired kunoichi dismissed it, shaking her head hard in an attempt to clear it. That was totally, completely uncharacteristic of him. If Kabuto-sensei had really been that displeased (and it seemed like he wasn't at all), he would have sat down and gave her a mind-numbing lecture about the code of conduct expected by a Sound kunoichi, as he had done many times before.

One disjointed thought fluttered back into Sakura's head as she raked her fingernails against her scalp again. Her conversation with Karin, shortly before going down into the basement to meet Kabuto-sensei.

I just hope Orochimaru-sama doesn't find out.

What could he possibly do?

You don't want to know.

Sakura froze, raising her head from her hands and staring into the depths of the forest disbelievingly, as her numb fingers curled into fists. It hit her, belatedly, with a sense of unparalleled clarity. But how had he – how had that snake known what she and Sasuke had been talking about?

Despite her best efforts to restrain it, a tiny, choked whimper of utter despair and confusion worked its way free of Sakura's throat as she looked around again, feeling more lost and alone than she had in her entire life. If she had to guess, she would say that Orochimaru…well, everybody knew his preferred method of dealing with those who caused trouble for him. He would have asked Kabuto-sensei to kill her, and for some reason, he chose not to. She owed him her life.

It was too cold to sit on the ground for any longer; the chill was making her dangerously lethargic. Despite the stiffness in her muscles and the panicky tightness that had locked over her chest, Sakura struggled to her feet, using the tree's withered, rough bark as leverage, before folding her arms over her chest and scanning her surroundings again. But there was nothing, nothing whatsoever to tell her where she was – in general, or in relation to the Sound base.

Sakura began to pace, and with each footstep, her boots sank a good four or five inches into the snow, crunching through the thick layers of ice. Normally pacing helped clear her thoughts a little, but today, it just complicated them more. She had to try and break out of the forest and find the nearest town, wherever that was. The thought suddenly occurred to her that if Kabuto had dumped her here, he probably wouldn't have chosen somewhere in particular – he would have likely just transported the maximum distance from the Sound base as humanly possible.

Sakura moaned in frustration, looking up at the sky and, thinking like a field shinobi, futilely attempting to get a geographical fix on her location using the stars. She couldn't see any; the night sky was completely black. The urge to collapse into a bank of snow, curl up into a ball, and make herself as small as possible was getting higher and higher by the second. She had never been out without Sasuke before. He would undoubtedly know what to do in this situation, but he was probably sound asleep in bed, with no idea of something being amiss…or he was in Orochimaru's little lair, sitting there calmly and listening to Orochimaru whisper poison into his ear, like always.

And now, she was completely powerless to stop it.

Sakura blinked harder than usual, trying to calm herself down, but the tears still began to spill out. Orochimaru had got what he wanted. She was maybe hundreds of miles away from the Sound base – from Sasuke, Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo; all that was familiar in the world – with no adequate protection from the elements, no supplies, no money; nothing except the clothes on her back. She was too powerless to do anything, and as much help to Sasuke now as she would be dead—

Sakura's left eye twitched of its own volition, and her vision spun and inverted for a moment, so that it felt like she was looking at herself from a distance. It was a pathetic sight, really. One petite, pink-haired, half-frozen teenager, crying like a miserable little child as she fought her way through the drifts of snow while walking aimlessly through the desolate, skeletal forest.

Snap out of it, she heard a distant voice order herself. It was loud and aggressive, and sounded like a mixture between the increasingly dormant Inner Sakura, along with Karin, and Ino.

Ino. Any thoughts of her old friends from Konoha usually triggered a pang of severe homesickness and sorrow, but tonight, considering the circumstances, it was nearly crippling. Sakura wondered what her first best friend would look like now; four years later. Ino had always been so confident and capable, excelling as a kunoichi from the very beginning. What would she do, if she was in this situation?

…Maybe even more accurately, what would Kakashi-sensei have told her, Sakura, to do, if she had become separated from her little genin team of Sasuke and Naruto while they were out on a mission?

Come up with a reasonable, logical plan of action, of course. Sakura's mind whirred into action, and she bit her lip thoughtfully. The forest couldn't last forever. It had to break, and once it thinned out a little, she would be able to sense chakra presences or one of the other signals indicating the presence of a nearby town.

Her newfound concentration was derailed by a sudden, sharp pain in her stomach, and Sakura winced, reaching to it instinctively. Kami, it was cold. She had thrown off her winter jacket and scarf when she had gotten back to the room, and of course she hadn't picked them up again for what she thought was a simple trip to the basement. It felt like so long ago that she had bought the small bowl of ramen at the border town, and her stomach was as empty as could be.

It was possible to live four to six weeks without food; hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Sakura glanced down at her body apprehensively. Even a few days' worth of starvation would lead to dangerous amounts of lethargy, physical weakness, excessive mental confusion and disorientation, poor judgment, a weakened immune system, and an inability to maintain body temperature, which, in this weather, would certainly lead to hypothermia. All of those symptoms spelled certain disaster for any human in this situation, but for a shinobi, it was definitely worse. Her chakra levels would suffer dramatically, and that was a larger safety hazard than anything else. Without her chakra and medical ninjutsu, she was, in essence, a normal, utterly defenseless teenage girl…

The sobering diagnosis caused Sakura to quicken her step, scanning her surroundings anxiously. No matter where she was, there was always the chance of encountering missing-nin or even rogue mercenaries. Her first order of business was to break out of the forest. Towns would offer their own sorts of risks, but at least she would find some opportunities there. Besides, once she found a town, she could find out where she was, and then maybe try to return to Sound. But before she could even think about that, first there was the issue of food. Stealing from any marketplaces would be extremely risky, not to mention unethical and something she wouldn't resort to unless it was a matter of life or death. The only really viable options were to ask around and offer her services as a hunter-nin to any interested parties, or to work as a healer in order to get a small amount of money.

Sakura closed her eyes, fighting the sudden wave of exhaustion that washed over her. The hunger had heightened into a persistent ache, and even though it was unhygienic, on impulse, she bent and scooped a handful of snow into her mouth. It melted into something so icily numbing that it dulled the hunger temporarily, and she rubbed her hands over her upper arms, shivering as the snow began to fall again.


Sound


Three hundred and fifty miles away, Sasuke Uchiha's eyes snapped wide open.

It took him a moment to realize, a little confusedly, that he was breathing much harder than usual, and another moment to question what had triggered his sudden wakefulness.

The pounding on the solid, heavy wooden door to the room that he shared with Suigetsu and Jugo continued, and he blinked, running one hand through his hair, irritated, as he began to sit up. "Jugo," he said hoarsely, because the other boy slept closest to the door, but Suigetsu had already pulled himself out of bed and was halfway to the door, while Jugo was only waking up. "I'll get it," Suigetsu said over his shoulder, and despite his usual flippant tone, Sasuke could see the worry in his violet eyes. "It's Karin's chakra signature—"

He pulled the door open, and the red-haired girl practically fell over the threshold to the room, ignoring Suigetsu's attempt to reach out and steady her. Sasuke felt his shoulders tense up as he watched Karin's eyes scan every inch of the room – finally, they focused on him, and the kunoichi actually stood on the tips of her toes, as if attempting to see if somebody was hiding behind his back.

"She's not here?" Karin blurted, spinning around and facing Suigetsu agitatedly, and Sasuke noticed that her hair was standing on end more than usual, as if she had run her fingers through it while worried.

Suigetsu narrowed his eyes and shook his head guardedly. "Sakura? Why would she be here?"

"I haven't seen Sakura-chan since I told her that Kabuto wanted to see her, down in the lab," Jugo echoed, stifling a yawn.

Supposedly it was medically impossible, but Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat as he shook his head slowly in response to Karin's questioning glare. "Neither have I…"

For a few tense moments, the four teenagers stared at each other, the same question written on all of their faces. Finally, Jugo sighed deeply, looking over at Sasuke; he was the only one brave enough to voice what they had all been thinking. "…Was she in any danger?"

Sasuke glanced out of the window at the forest behind the Sound base, partly to get away from the querulous glances of the other four. He could see his reflection in the polished glass – his skin was pale and ashen, almost gray, and his Sharingan had activated of its own accord.

It was his fault. Not hers, for trying to dissuade him of it, but his, for driving her to it and putting her in danger in the first place. He should have known that Orochimaru would have some kind of tracking jutsu put on him to spy or something of the like, but oh, kami, Sakura…

He had to hold it together. Part of him was more agitated than he had been in years, because Sakura belonged to him, and therefore it was his job to protect her, but he couldn't fall apart in front of the others. They were looking toward him for leadership and cues as to how to proceed, so he had to set the tone for what they would do about the situation that they had found themselves in.

Sasuke took a deep, steadying breath, turning back at his teammates and staring at them evenly. "He wouldn't have killed her himself," he said bluntly, ignoring how Karin and Suigetsu's eyes widened and Jugo's mouth fell open with shock. "He doesn't like getting his hands dirty. He would have made Kabuto do it—"

Suigetsu snorted disparagingly, kicking at the floor. "That pansy-ass wouldn't have done it. I've seen how he looks at Sakura when he thinks nobody else is watching, and I can bet you a million ryou that he would have found some way to get her out of here without killing her. If that makes any sense."

Sasuke repressed the sudden and rather uncharacteristic urge to growl at the mental image that Suigetsu's words triggered.

"So?" Karin interrupted his thoughts, placing her hands on her hips combatively. "What are we going to do?"

Again, the three of them looked to him for guidance, and Sasuke scowled, leaning against the wall and surveying them appraisingly. He had always been good at thinking on his feet, and the dark plan that was formulating in his head at the moment seemed to be rather appropriate for the circumstances, in more ways than one.

He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to come to terms with the impact and implications of what he was going to say. About the effect that it would have on him…on his search for Itachi…on how far he was willing to go regarding his brother…

Maybe Sakura had been right. Maybe he was better off doing it on his own. And if it wasn't too late – and it couldn't be too late…

Sasuke opened his eyes again, staring at them with the expression of chilling, ruthless determination that the other three – and Sakura – were all too familiar with. "This is what we're going to do…"


Two Weeks Later


"Demonstrate."

Sakura bowed her head obediently, trying her best to mask the desperation that threatened to show on her face. She hadn't had anything to eat in the past two weeks, save for a shriveled green apple on the first day, a few burnt bread crusts, and periodic cups of water with crushed mint leaves in them. Her chakra was a million times weaker than usual and wavering slightly, just when she needed it most.

She steeled herself again, forcing herself to regain the concentration she had lost while enjoying the warmth of the small study. Sakura's heart gave a painful twinge as she looked at the lame, brightly-colored parakeet in the golden cage across the room. It had the tiniest body, bright green plumage, and brown, intelligent eyes, and as if it could sense her eyes watching it, it chirped a few times; sweet, cascading notes. When she had been little, she had begged her mother for a pet bird.

The man behind her banged his fist on his heavy wooden desk suddenly, and the sound made Sakura jump. "What are you waiting for, girl?" he barked. "I asked you to demonstrate!"

Oh, kami. Sakura forced herself to think of the food – actual food, which she hadn't had since the day that Kabuto had left her in the forest, two weeks ago – that she could get if she earned the trust of this contractor and was hired as his hunter-nin for the brief assignment. Hot miso soup, sushi or sashimi, shrimp tempura, deep fried vegetables, rice and umeboshi…with maybe even enough cash left over to buy herself a jacket, granting her some protection from the bitter cold.

The thought gave her the necessary motivation, and with a silent, heartfelt apology, she executed the requisite several hand seals – but almost at that exact second, she felt her face fall. The bird, instead of dropping dead immediately, wobbled around its perch briefly, before undergoing a violent spasm, flapping its wings erratically and making strangled cawing sounds for several moments before it finally toppled to the base of the cage, dead.

Sakura's heart clenched so painfully that she felt dizzy. She couldn't look at it anymore, and she turned back to the contractor, watching him expectantly. He was a retired Sand shinobi turned businessman, who needed the CEO of a rival company eliminated swiftly and discreetly. It was an unsavory job, but it would pay well, and right now, that was all that she needed. "Sanekori-san?" she prompted meekly, already bracing herself for defeat. She should have known. In perfect health, she could have killed the poor bird in less than a second. Now…not a chance.

The man made a show of shuffling the paperwork on his desk. "You don't have what I'm looking for, kid," he said gruffly. "I have a guy who killed the other bird in one second, and a lot more inconspicuously to boot. Get out of here and come back when you're on the same level with the men on this field."

Under normal circumstances, she would have bristled at the insult, but the disappointment was too sharp to bear. Without another word, Sakura excused herself from the study, bowing her head against the fierce wind as she stepped back out into the snowy evening. She had found herself in the Land of Stone – about as far away from Sound as could be, according to a local bartender. And it had been ages since she had eaten anything solid. For the entirety of today and even a few days before that, it had only been boiled water with mint leaves.

The kunoichi winced against the cold, lifting one hand up to her bruised cheek. She caught a glimpse of it as she passed a shop window – it had turned a spectacular shade of purple, clashing horribly with her hair. Two days ago, she had reached her absolute limit, and tried stealing some food from a local market, under the cover of genjutsu. Before she had cleared the area, her chakra had drained itself and the genjutsu had given out, leaving her caught red-handed in front of the fish vendor. The shock of her concealment genjutsu fading had slowed her down for half a second, enough time for the fish vendor to snatch the mackerel out of her hands and land a vicious backhand to her face.

Stealing was punishable by death in the Land of Stone, so it was lucky she had thrown a few civilians into the path of the irate fish vendor and then gotten the hell out of there as fast as possible. She had tried to cast another genjutsu several times after that, but her chakra reserves were so pathetically depleted that it just wasn't possible.

Sakura crossed her arms hard over her stomach as she passed a few different restaurants, all of which had just opened for the night. The mouthwatering scent of curry rice, onigiri, and seasoned beef just made her melt on the inside, and her knees actually buckled beneath her for a fraction of a second before she forced herself to hurry on, refusing to even look in their direction. Her head was pounding relentlessly, and Sakura became faintly aware that she wasn't exactly walking in a straight line. Actually, it was more of a drunken stagger, judging by the questioning, condescending glances that some of the other townspeople – comfortably dressed in long pants, heavy woolen jackets, thick scarves, and gloves – sent her way.

Stopping outside the high-end eateries was nothing less than masochism, so she hurried along until she left the more affluent part of the district. These streets were less well lit and full of smaller bars and taverns, and Sakura collapsed on the curb of a sidewalk underneath a weeping willow tree. Her breath was coming in quick, shallow pants, and she buried her head in her hands. She was shivering uncontrollably. She couldn't do it anymore; she was just so tired that she felt on the verge of passing out. The smell of food seemed to pervade the very air around her, and it made every fiber of Sakura's body ache from the inside out. She couldn't stay sitting on the side of the road forever, but she couldn't even summon the energy to stand up or even think about moving.

The wind hurt the bruise on her face so much that the skin felt raw and on the verge of bleeding, and it took more effort than it ever had, but Sakura finally summoned a tiny, pitiful amount of healing chakra to her hand and stroked it along the length of her cheek. It took several minutes, but she finally felt the skin there return to its usual healthy, unbroken state.

She tried to look at her hand, but her eyes couldn't seem to focus. The small part of Sakura's brain that was still functioning properly told her that this was a warning sign – she had seen prisoners in Orochimaru's base suffer from stage one hypothermia before – and she tried her best to remember the test that Kabuto had taught her.

She brought her right hand up to her face – it was the only way for her to even see it properly and keep her vision from swimming that badly – and tried to touch her pinky finger to her thumb. The first two times, she couldn't even move her smallest finger. The second two, she missed her thumb entirely.

Sakura felt her hands drop into her lap numbly, and even though she knotted them together, they wouldn't stop trembling. Stage one hypothermia, combined with all the symptoms of acute starvation. This was dangerous; just the kind of thing she had been trying to avoid for so long. Clinically, almost coldly, Sakura realized that if she didn't do anything – namely, warm up and eat as soon as possible – she would die. Maybe by the next night. This was rock bottom, like she had never experienced before.

She felt sick and weak and tired, and, well – it would be easy to die right here, with the soft snowflakes cascading down around her.

But she couldn't. No. She had to find her way back to Sound; to Sasuke, before Orochimaru could fully sink his poisonous fangs into him and make the damage that had already been done absolutely irreversible. That was the purpose she had given herself for the past four years, and she would be damned if she died before fulfilling it.

It was easily the most difficult thing Sakura had done lately, but she pulled herself to her feet, wrapped her arms around herself, and stumbled across the street, into the first bar she could find. She had to warm up first, and once that had been accomplished, she had to get something substantial to eat…regardless of what measures she would have to take to do so.

The bar was small and dismal; almost deserted, but it was dark, smoky, and it warmed her to the bone. Quickly, Sakura found a small booth in the back, and slunk into it hastily, eager to avoid notice by any of the other patrons. The fake leather was comfortable, and she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tight, breathing deeply as she felt the minutes tick by slowly, and her body becoming acclimatized to the warmth. The shivering had diminished, her breathing had returned to normal, her vision had cleared, and she was able to move her fingers properly again.

Now, if only she could stay here for the rest of the night, or charm somebody into buying her a bowl of hot soba noodles…

The warmth lulled her into a sleepy state, and the heavy, overpowering scent of smoke and food was enough to lure her into a deceptive state of satiation. Sakura propped her chin on her knees and lazily watched the people that strolled up to the bar to purchase their food, her eyelids falling ever lower. It was mind-numbing enough to help her catch maybe a couple hours of sleep before things got too busy and loud for her to lurk in the shadows, or the bartender kicked her out for not buying anything.

There was a blonde man who walked away from the bar with four full bottles of sake. A brunette who ordered the largest platter of sushi she had ever seen. A middle-aged, redheaded woman who flirted outrageously with the bartender before buying a large bowl of ramen. Perversely enough, that reminded her of Naruto.

And then she saw Sasuke out of the corner of her eye, carefully balancing a plate of onigiri in one hand and a tall, chilled glass of water in the other, while making his way to another table in the back.

Sakura's eyes snapped fully open, and she jerked into a proper sitting position so convulsively that she banged her knees on the table, hard. In the time that it had taken the image to register, he had disappeared from sight, and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, craning her neck and pulling herself half out of the booth, looking around the bar desperately. Sasuke. Where was he?

…Sitting exactly across the bar from her, staring blankly at the other side of the empty booth.

Except—

It wasn't Sasuke.

Sakura felt her fingers' grip on the fake leather of her booth loosen, and her breath caught in her throat as she collapsed back into the booth, backing herself into the very corner of it, sinking down, and trying to make herself as invisible as possible. In about six seconds flat, she had gone from sleepy and relaxed to panicked. Utterly, thoroughly panicked, in a way even more nerve-wracking and intense than she had felt two weeks ago, when she had awoken to find herself in the forest.

Itachi. She hadn't recognized him at first, not without the Akatsuki cloak. He was dressed in the same kind of clothes that Sasuke wore when relaxing – dark pants and a close-fitting, long-sleeved gray shirt. His partner Kisame didn't appear to be present, but…

Sakura became vaguely aware that she was biting the inside of her cheek hard, and that her fingernails were gouging into her palms. She tried futilely to calm her breathing, but it was no use. Despite her brave plan of two weeks ago, about leaving the Sound base and hunting down Itachi so that Sasuke wouldn't have to, right now, she was so terrified that she was actually nauseous. For the kami's sake, Itachi was just slowly and decorously eating his onigiri less than ten feet away from her, and she was just about ready to have a nervous breakdown. She knew what he had done. She knew what he was capable of. She knew what he deserved. But most infuriating of all, she couldn't do anything now – two weeks ago, she could have killed Itachi a hundred different ways, but now, she would barely even have enough strength to walk across the bar to confront him.

She needed Sasuke. Or, more accurately, Sasuke needed to be here to get rid of Itachi, but—

He couldn't be here, of course.

Sakura propped her elbows on the table and set her head in her hands, directing another paranoid glance at Itachi through the moderate crowd that separated them. Still eating, apparently peacefully. She scoffed at her fears; it was unlikely that he would suddenly get up and go on a mass killing spree by executing everybody in the bar, but…

Oh, kami, fate was cruel. Sasuke would undoubtedly kill to be in her position right now; he could probably think of ten different ways to kill Itachi from right across the bar, or he would just take advantage of the element of surprise to charge over there and stab his brother through the heart with a steak knife. And yet, it was her who, despite all odds, had ended up here.

…Here, for this limited window of time. With an opportunity that her teammate would love to have, but unfortunately, couldn't. Therefore, there was only one thing that she, in good conscience, could do – she had to do what Sasuke couldn't.

Itachi was alone right now, which made him, to some extent, more vulnerable than he would be normally. Sakura's mind kicked into the kind of overdrive which it hadn't in a long time, as she kept a discreet eye on him. Her options were limited. She was still hungry and exhausted enough for a long-range heart-stopping jutsu to be out of the question – besides, there were at least four people occupying the tables between her and Itachi, and even though it was something that Sasuke wouldn't mind doing, she refused to let innocent civilians get caught in the middle of something like this. That excluded the possibility of getting rid of Itachi by using any medical ninjutsu whatsoever, at least at this moment in time.

No. If she was going to get involved in this, her plan had to involve a lot more finesse. She knew that she was capable of getting rid of Itachi if she managed to restore her energy, but that was a big if. There was always a chance that she couldn't be the one to do it, at least not right now…maybe she would have to find a way to tail him or even hold on to him until she could get in touch with Sasuke, somehow. Sakura sighed, raking her fingers through her hair exasperatedly. Her body had been under enough stress before the added element of this unexpected situation, and she could barely think straight. She was smart, but in a different way than Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin, who were all a lot more adept at thinking on their feet. She had one chance to make it or break it, and she didn't even have the luxury of having a few hours to come up with a strong, comprehensive plan.

Her stomach took the opportunity to clench up in another violent hunger spasm, and the kunoichi made a small, strangled noise in the back of her throat as she locked one arm around her middle, directing another cautious glance at Itachi. It looked like he was about halfway done with his food…so if she was going to do something, she had to move now.

There were enough people separating them that Sakura felt comfortable surveying him for a few moments longer than usual. He didn't appear to be armed, but then again, she knew that he could kill her several different ways with his bare hands…or his bloodline limit. At second glance, she couldn't understand how she had confused Itachi for Sasuke – the two definitely had marked differences in their facial appearance, not to mention that Itachi's hair was much longer; falling to the middle of his back and held in a simple ponytail at the base of his neck. His features were sharper, more angular and defined, and he was much taller and more leanly muscled as well. All in all, the very sight of him sent shivers down Sakura's spine. It wasn't because of how attractive he was, or how she had basically feared the very thought of him since she had been ten years old. It was just that…from here, Itachi looked perfectly unassuming, even peaceful.

It turned her stomach, and she quickly redirected her thoughts to something, anything, else. She was starting to get dizzy again from hunger, and as she watched Itachi take another bite of the salted salmon that had apparently been inside his onigiri, Sakura felt her insides tremble. She was out of the cold, but for how long? Her chakra was dangerously low, and she couldn't face Itachi Uchiha in such physically weakened condition. That would be suicide.

Her fatigued, aching eyes swept him again, and for the first time, Sakura noticed the fabric that his shirt was made of. It was fine, thick gray wool. Expensive, to say the least – she glanced down ruefully at the red cotton that made up her sleeveless red zippered vest – and definitely hard to come by. If she had to guess, she would say that Itachi was in possession of a lot more currency than the average missing-nin, who lived from one meal to another, if they were lucky.

She watched the bartender hand off another plate of onigiri with umeboshi to a team of what appeared to be Stone shinobi, and Sakura swallowed, almost unconsciously moistening her dry lips as the team walked past her booth; the scent of the pickled ume fruit hanging in the air behind them and making her nearly dissolve with need.

Sakura sunk down a little further in the booth, shooting another reflexive glance over at Itachi as a new plan began to take root in her head. It wasn't pretty. As a matter of fact, it made her a little sick and if she didn't play her cards right, it could end up as a torturous death sentence…but it was still better than a slow, painful death by starvation.

When Itachi returned to his table after getting a cup of jasmine tea from the bartender, he hardly batted an eyelid upon finding the pink-haired girl sitting across from him.

His apparent nonchalance sent yet another shiver down Sakura's spine as he calmly, deliberately slid into the booth as well, seating himself across from her. No matter how unassuming and peaceful he had looked from across the bar, suddenly, the tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. This close, Itachi's very aura was dark and implicitly menacing; enough to make her want to be as far away from him as possible.

Every single one of her nerves was ferociously on edge in a way that she had never experienced before, and she had knotted her hands together underneath the table, pressing them between her knees, and they still wouldn't stop shaking. Despite that, the pink-haired kunoichi had to fight to keep her fear from showing on her face – she couldn't come into this looking like a prospective victim. Sakura lifted her head up high and met Itachi's searching gaze evenly. This was her chance to help Sasuke-kun, to prove herself as a kunoichi…to save her own life. It had to work.

Itachi's eyes swept over her coolly, and Sakura marveled at how he could look so very…disinterested, but at long last, he inclined his head a fraction of an inch. "Hello, Sakura," he said mildly, and just like that, her entire silly, trivial plan flew out the window.


to be continued


As always, any and all feedback would be very much appreciated. :)