A/N: Hi! Enjoy! Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! :D

Warning: A tiny bit of violence? Maybe a bad word once or twice? I can't remember.

Shattered Hearts
By SpacePirateGirl
Dedicated to Xshadowolf

The Spy

(Directly Outside Konohagakure Palace)

She had heard stories of humans who survived the water for several minutes before their body shut down due to the cold. So all she had to do was make it to shore in that time, preferably on the castle's side of the moat. Easy, right? Yeah, except she didn't know how to swim.

It didn't matter right now though. Dageki was after Sasuke, and if she presented a small chance that he would be captured, she wouldn't allow it. Sasuke was everything to her, and she knew she wouldn't allow them to use her as bait.

The moat was long. If she was going to jump into the water, she'd need to do it before they got too far on the log. Now would be the only chance she had.

To Konan's and Pein's great surprise, Sakura leapt from the log and into the water, knowing no one would follow due to the risks.

"Shit! The damn girl!" Konan uttered loudly.

Sakura struggled to keep her head above the water, but her muscles were nonexistent, submerged with freezing water. Already her entire body felt numb. Kicking rapidly, she managed to at least keep her mouth above water. Any thought of reaching the shore was lost in her struggles to stay alive.

She heard someone say, "Let's get out of here," but her mind didn't register it. She coughed every time her head got above the water, instead of getting a decent breath. She was drowning!

"Sakura-chan!" she heard someone exclaim until a loud crash reached her ears. Someone was in the water with her!

She had jumped into the water to escape capture though! She would fail when this person reached her. Suddenly her head was completely above the water, and she found herself moving toward the castle shore. Sakura gasped and choked all at the same time, allowing the two strong arms to pull her to shore.

Another two arms pulled her body out of the water, and her rescuer accompanied her.

After she managed to breathe properly, Sakura looked to see who her rescuers where, and gasped when she saw Maito Gai and Rock Lee. Her sharp intake of breath caused her to choke, and she coughed rapidly for a few moments. Her body still shivered from the cold water.

"H-How did y-you . . . kn-know?" she breathed.

Gai laughed with his jolly voice. "You see, I noticed that all of Dageki's members weren't exactly a part of the attacks on the palace. So I figured it was just a diversion to capture you."

"Yes!" Lee agreed. "We knew they could not have gotten too far, so we scouted around the castle walls to find you."

"We wouldn't have been able to get you away from them if you hadn't jumped off the log though," Gai added thoughtfully. "That was very brave of you."

"Sakura-chan, you are amazing!"

Sakura blushed, embarrassed, as Lee patted her on the back softly. "It was nothing." She knew Lee had a huge crush on her, and she didn't return his love. But he had saved her from the freezing, moat waters. "Thank you, Lee," she said meaningfully and hugged him.

Lee also blushed at the embrace. "I am always here to save you, Sakura-chan," he said.

Sakura smiled gratefully, but her smile soon faded when she remembered what Dageki was after. Sasuke was in danger. She would have to tell her parents so that they could warn him—hopefully in time.

She had learned one thing in her life after seeing them in action many times. Dageki was very quick about getting what they wanted.

(Somewhere Outside Konohagakure Country)

"My apologies," Pein began, bowing before his leader, along with Konan. "We were not able to capture Princess Sakura."

Silence. Their masked master said nothing.

"What is our next step, Master?" Pein knew that his leader hated dwelling in the past.

Finally the man asked, "What did you say Princess Sakura told you?"

"She said Sasuke wouldn't lift a finger to save her, sir," Konan explained quickly. "She could have been lying—"

"I asked what she said, not your opinion on it."

"Sorry, sir."

Pein awaited Madara's next words, which would surely alter their plan. For a few minutes, silence overwhelmed everything while his master thought of a new way to capture Sasuke Uchiha. Or, at least, as far as Pein could tell . . . It was too dark to see what Madara was doing.

"Is Sasori to meet the spy from Otogakure tonight when the moon is directly above us?" Madara asked curiously.

Pein nodded. "Yes, Master."

"Good. Tell the spy to open the gates for us tomorrow night when it is dark. Tell him to leave a note a note for Sasuke that we will supply him with tonight."

Konan frowned. "What shall be the essence of the note, sir?"

"I have written it just now," Madara told them, his gloved hand holding out a rolled up parchment. "Give it to the spy. Tell him when he opens the gates for us, he should leave the note onUchiha Sasuke's bed afterwards. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Konan and Pein said together.

Madara nodded. "Then what are you still doing here? Go get my commands done."

(Otogakure Palace)

"There. Stay off that arm for a few days, and you'll be better in no time," Kabuto told Sasuke as he finished wrapping the said arm up.

Sasuke leapt of the medical table Kabuto had made him sit on. "You know I have sword training to do. I can't fight as well with my left arm."

"If you leave your arm alone, you'll heal faster for more sword practice," continued Kabuto, a finger adjusting his glasses.

"Damn healers," Sasuke complained. "They only complicate things."

"Not my problem. Why don't you go run along? I'll fill Orochimaru-sama in on what happened."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Orochimaru was coming? He didn't want to speak with that snake at the moment. He left the room quickly, hoping not to run in with his father on the way out. Sasuke needed to find Kimimaru, and ask how he was supposed to train with only one good arm.

As he strolled down the halls, Sasuke glared at his broken arm, which hung limply in a sling. He had broken it after falling from his horse at an awkward angle during lance practice. After Kimimaru had sent him to Kabuto to make sure everything would be all right, Sasuke realized how lucky he had been to break only his arm and then realized how clumsy he had been to fall at all.

He found Kimimaru at the training grounds from where Sasuke had last seen him. Kimimaru saw him and came over to greet him.

"I see you've broken your arm," he said simply, calmly.

Usually hating conversation in general, Sasuke had discovered that Kimimaru was the easiest person to talk to—straight to the point. "So what am I supposed to do now?" Sasuke demanded coldly. He had wanted to practice more with a sword, his favorite weapon, but his left hand just wasn't good enough.

Kimimaru was never phased by Sasuke's attitude. "I suppose you could use your other arm to be competent with both hands."

But he didn't want to! He had been offered that choice many times and had refused each chance because his logic told him becoming stronger with one hand was better than remaining mediocre with both hands. Sasuke shook his head.

"Then you'll just have to be patient."

He sighed angrily, and began to walk away. Despite the ease of talking to Kimimaru, his temper wasn't helping much. There was no point in staying anyway. It was dark enough, and he might as well get to bed.

Taking one last glance at Kimimaru, Sasuke shuddered involuntarily. It was strange to know that a man at least twenty years older than him still appeared to be the same age. Sasuke had asked Orochimaru why none of his men seemed to age, and had gotten a vague answer—magic. But he knew full well that "magic" did not exist.

He had spent a lot of time studying in books for how someone the age of Kimimaru could still appear to be seventeen, and had found a very interesting topic. There were dragons in the land just below Otogakure, dragons that could retain human form for a time, dragons that may not even have known they were dragons while in human form. Finally after years of growing mature enough to understand, Sasuke had formed a certain question about his father: did he control one of those dragons? Was that dragon able to distort age?

"Where are you going?!" he heard a familiar voice call from Otogakure's gates as the anxious words broke into his thoughts.

Another voice answered, "Out of my way."

Sasuke recognized both voices—Sai and Tenten. If Sai was hurting Tenten in any way again, he would kill his younger brother without hesitation. Last time, Sasuke and Sai's fight had been broken up, but Sasuke knew that if another fight occurred, he wouldn't go easy on his own blood. He raced over across the road to the gates, and sure enough, saw Tenten blocking Sai from exiting.

"You leave every night," Tenten countered. "You're up to something, and I want to know what. Tell me where you're going and why!"

"Why do I have to tell you? I could get past you easily," Sai shot back, smiling in an amused manner.

Tenten shook her head. "You wouldn't hurt your own sister!"

"Maybe I would—"

Sasuke took his place in between them. "Enough," he commanded coldly. "Sai, why are you threatening my sister?"

He plastered a smile to his face, but Sasuke knew it was fake. "Threatening her? She's the one standing in my way."

Sasuke's onyx eyes glared at Sai's as Tenten also seethed from behind him. "Answer her questions," Sasuke ordered.

Sai's false smile grew. "I see you've broken your arm, Sasuke. Your right arm, too. What a shame."

He knew his brother's game, and he would not play it. Sai would explain himself, whether he wanted to or not. "I could still beat you with my left arm. Answer her questions!"

Sasuke reached with his left hand for his sword, but he wasn't quick enough. He couldn't even draw it halfway before Sai stepped forward and threw a punch to his stomach. Sasuke bit his lip to hide a yelp when his brother missed and punched his broken arm.

"Out of my way, Sasuke-kun," Sai ordered, still smiling.

He didn't listen.

"Sasuke!" He could hear Tenten's shouts of surprise as Sai shoved him to the ground, and he landed on his broken arm. Sasuke couldn't move; his arm was trapped under his body, and each move he made throbbed in his joints. His fall from his horse had not been in a merciful mood when dealing bruises all over his body.

He growled in both pain and anger when Sai's foot collided with his back. He felt the already broken bone in his arm crushed by the wait imploding upon it. "Farewell, Sasuke-kun," Sai said as he walked toward the gate.

He watched as Tenten got in his way again. "Don't you dare go!" she yelled. "What do you think you were doing to Sasuke?!"

"Tenten, no," Sasuke managed to groan. She was no match for him. She had no idea how to fight.

Reluctantly his sister backed down and let Sai pass. Far off in the distance, Sasuke saw the gate open and close until Tenten knelt down beside him, pushing him onto his back.

He coughed, the dirt close to his face entering his lungs.

"Sasuke, are you all right?" she asked, hesitantly touching his arm in the sling.

He nodded and tried to sit up with only one of his arms helping. His back ached from where Sai had stepped on it, and Tenten wrapped her arms around him, scared of what had happened.

Sasuke's arm hurt even worse than it had before. Maybe he had broken it again . . . Damn it, he thought to himself.

"I'm scared," Tenten whispered, still hugging him tightly, despite his efforts to shove her off with one hand. "He's getting mean, Sasuke-kun. Something's wrong. Something bad is going to happen. Soon."

"I'll protect you," Sasuke promised. "He caught me by surprise; I'll be ready next time."

Tenten shook her head. "No, it's not me. It's you. He hates you so much. He's your younger brother, Sasuke-kun. Maybe he wants you dead so that he can take the throne. And now that your arm is broken—"

"I'm fine," he told her, gesturing to his left arm. "Really, I am," he added when she looked at him in disbelief. "Look. My left arm is just as good as my right. I just wasn't expecting his attack is all. I can still defend myself, okay?" His heart squirmed as he spilled lie after lie, and she didn't appear as if she were completely agreeing with him.

But at least, she partly was relieved. "I think Sai . . . is spying on our kingdom. He leaves every night. I've seen him. He doesn't come back until much later."

He nodded, taking the information in. Yes, it was possible—highly possible.

"I think he's spying for Dageki," Tenten continued. "Who else? Konohagakure is too far away for him to be back in an hour. And Dageki is everywhere."

Sasuke nodded again. "I'll speak to Orochimaru about it."

A smile lit her face. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

"Of course." He paused, scrutinizing her curiously. "Why are you worried about me though? What could Dageki have against me?"

Nervously, Tenten shrugged. "I don't know. If he is in alliance with Dageki, maybe they're planning on capturing you. They love having children as slaves. Or maybe they want ransom money."

It was too simple, Sasuke knew. Princess Sakura would be a much easier target . . . So would his sister, for that matter. Why would Dageki want someone like him for ransom, or even as a slave?

"Please be careful, Sasuke-kun," Tenten whispered.

He smirked. "The only three who can beat me these days are Kimimaru and Orochimaru," he explained. "There's nothing to worry about."

Tenten shook her head and pointed to his arm. "I know you're right-handed. And besides, you haven't fought everyone. You can't be sure."

His smirk fell. Tenten was far too perceptive. She wouldn't fall for his lies. "Everything will be okay," he promised, hoping he could keep his word. Otogakure citizens labeled him as cold or rude, and perhaps he was all that they said. But around his little sister, he would do anything to keep her calm, keep her happy. She was important to him, ever since he had seen her born fourteen years ago.

Suddenly Sasuke remembered his marriage to Princess Sakura that was in a week's time. He glanced back down at the sling holding his arm. This better be healed before then, he told his body angrily.