Author's Notes: Thanks to all the reviewers, I really appreciate all of you for not ghost reading. Also, sorry for the late update!
Title Reference for Chapter Four: "Painting the Roses Red" from Alice in Wonderland
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Title: Laying Claim
Rating: T (or PG-13)
Summary: (SasuSaku) An ancient law in Konoha permits people from prominent clans to buy people who aren't from clans at all. Unfortunately, Sakura just refused to believe it until her mentor confirmed that, yes, she was now owned by Uchiha Sasuke.
Pairings: SasuSaku
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but the plot is mine!
Chapter 4: Painting the Roses Red
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All that Sakura could register in her half-asleep state was that the time was entirely too early. It had to be near three in the morning, yet there was movement beside her. The woman simply turned to the opposite direction and tried to sleep once more. The shower being used registered in her mind before her eyes shut to carry her back into a light sleep.
What seemed like seconds later, a hand was turning her over on her back, promptly waking her up.
"Wha…?" Sakura mumbled. She shielded her eyes from the light in the bathroom. Once she adjusted slightly, it was clear to see that Sasuke was standing over her, making her jump in surprise, in full ANBU uniform.
"I've been called on a mission, I'm leaving now."
Rubbing her eyes, she propped herself on her elbows and looked at the clock. "But it's three fifteen in the morning."
"It's urgent. We have to leave now to make it to Mist in time."
Mist…Sakura didn't like the Water Country much. And, she knew for a fact, neither did Sasuke. "When will you be back?"
"A week at the longest, but it shouldn't be that long." Sakura nodded, and she felt Sasuke lean in close to her ear. "Be safe."
"I'm always safe."
She though she heard a "tch" but she couldn't be sure. Laying back down after a "be safe" of her own, she attempted to go back to sleep to get the energy for her job tomorrow. In her half-asleep state though, she didn't fail to miss the dropped kiss on her temple. She was just too tired to really take it all in. All she heard was Sasuke laugh lightly when a dreamy sigh escaped her mouth.
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Sakura sleepily walked into work the next morning and greeted the receptionist. For the moment, while Sasuke was on his mission, she was free to do whatever she wanted.
She walked into the doctor's offices and opened the door to her own. It was pretty plain actually, just a desk, a laptop, and some scattered papers. On the walls, there was a few pictures of her friends, but otherwise it was pretty bare. She discarded her jacket and donned her white medic coat. Putting her hair into a loose bun, she picked up her clipboard and went to go make the rounds for the day.
Overall, most people that came in these days simply had the flu. It was that time of year again where Sakura burned most of her chakra trying to get the virus out of people's systems. It was hard work, especially since the medical staff wouldn't be given a day off until flu season was over.
The pink haired medic walked into a room to find a young boy and his mother sitting on the bed.
"Hello, Mrs. Tanoshi, my name is Haruno Sakura. I'm the doctor that will be assisting you for today." She looked down at the chart. "Can you tell me what the boy's symptoms are?"
The mother looked worried. "Well, he's been coughing an awful lot lately and my husband and I began to get worried, so I brought him here to make sure it wasn't anything serious."
"Has he been on any medications?"
"Well, we thought it was just a case of the flu, so we gave him some Benadryl and he seemed fine. Then he started coughing again about an hour later. Nothing we've done seems to help. He claims to have some trouble breathing as well."
"Alright then, I'm just going to do a quick scan and we'll see what's the matter." The young boy shrank into his mother after these words. "It won't hurt, I promise."
Sakura told him to lay on his stomach, and she put her hands on his back. It was nothing major, but it was a good thing the boy's mother brought him here before it got out of hand. Green chakra flowed from her hands onto the boy.
"There was a minimal amount of liquid in his lungs, but that's taken care of and it shouldn't happen again. I'm going to prescribe some medicine, but if he starts coughing again bring him straight here."
The mother nodded and took the prescription. They thanked her and moved out of the room.
Sakura looked at the clock. Her lunch break would be starting any minute now, so she may as well take off the lab coat and go out to lunch.
"Hey, Sakura!"
Sakura looked down the hall to see Ino running towards her. The bruises on both of them had healed, since a week had past since the incident, and they both looked healthy as ever.
"Hey Ino, what's up?"
"You about to go to lunch?"
"Yeah, just need to put my coat up."
"Good, you can go with me, I have to tell you something!"
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They sat at a table at the barbecue restaurant where Ino's team used to have all of their meetings. Sakura thanked her lucky stars that she actually didn't go to Ichiraku today for one: ramen each and every single day for lunch and/or dinner was quite tiring and two: her sodium count at the end of the day had to be through the roof half of the time. She'd have to make a mental note to get a certain blonde into the hospital to give him a checkup. The boy only ate one thing and by heaven and earth she would force vegetables down his throat if need be.
The cooked meat was taken off of the grill. "So I was at the Hokage Tower for a mission briefing the other day. Tsunade wanted me to get a book to research this country that's taken up root on an island really close to Mist."
Sakura's ears perked. "Mist?" That's where Sasuke was headed.
"I checked up on it and it's supposed to be this awful place. One of the scrolls mentioned that it was practically the center for organized crime. The entire island is practically a red light district."
Sakura froze with a strip of beef halfway to her mouth. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, I read that there are hookers practically every turn you make. They've even developed this new type of jutsu that can make even the strongest of men bow at their feet. Something about pheremenemies I think…"
Sakura cocked a brow. "Pheromones, you mean?"
Ino snapped her fingers. "That's it! Couldn't remember it there for a second."
"Ino…is there any chance at all I could possibly…see this scroll?"
The blonde roughly swallowed pork. "Sure, Tsunade-sama was drinking last time I saw her so you have a pretty good chance. She'll probably be drunk anyway."
"Now where is this scroll?"
"Okay, so you know that library in the Hokage Mansion? Just go in there and it should be…"
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After requesting a half-day at the hospital—there weren't many people that couldn't easily be handled—Sakura walked down the halls to the Hokage's personal library. She knew the place like the back of her hand, since she had spent night after night reading medical texts until her eyes were sore and she developed a minor tolerance for caffeine.
Opening the door, she closed it slowly. Sakura winced when the big rusty hinges gave a loud groan. She'd have to get someone to oil them down later, right now she was on a mission.
The scroll was right where Ino said it would be, right on top of one of the desks meant for reading and possibly note-taking. She pulled up the wooden chair and began to unravel the white parchment, displaying the characters written across.
Seaweed Country (How typical for an island out in the middle of the ocean. Did they name it after the plant or the alcoholic drink? Ah, the big question arises)
Recently founded by a high-profile gambler. Not much is known except there is a high rate of prostitution and gang-activity. "Red-Light Districts" and casinos, mostly. Attracts many missing-nin. On the South side of the island, there are several run-down orphanages with most of the children on the island inside. It is illegal for any child to go outside of a 8-foot stone wall. The children turn the legal age of twenty-one when they can leave the orphanage and turn mostly to prostitution themselves. The shelters are run by hostages captured by missing-nin. Freshwater is extremely limited, and the freshwater they do have goes to the bars for alcoholic drinks. Women on the island have developed a new jutsu involving pheromones, which makes a man immediately fall for her. This is all that is known.
Sakura gaped. Then, she was angry. How could Sasuke just leave like that without telling her the truth? Now that she understood what was going on, she would have gladly let him go, seeing as he'd liberate the island, but why had he felt the need to lie? They weren't dating, weren't in any kind of relationship. Did she care if he went with another woman?
A pang in her chest told her that she really did.
She sighed and began to roll up the scroll. After all these years, all he had done to her, she still wasn't completely over him.
The door to the outside creaked, and Sakura was behind one of the many large stacks after placing the scroll in the exact place she'd left it. Panting with built up adrenaline, she concealed herself before the person could even take the first step inside the room.
Peeking through the gaps between the books, the medic found herself staring at a Chuunin she hadn't seen before. He probably didn't have the skills yet to spot her, so she was safe for now. All he did was pick up another scroll and leave.
Relieved, Sakura made her way to the back of the stacks to further hide herself. She wasn't supposed to be in here without the Hokage's permission, and someone more skilled than the Chuunin was coming this way.
It was extremely dark back here, so Sakura didn't see a rather thick scroll until she stepped on it and slipped. Almost gracefully stopping her fall, she turned and picked up the scroll to give it further inspection. She had better put it back where it belonged, texts weren't supposed to be scattered like this.
She found the proper place for it and made to drop it…but it wouldn't leave her hand! It was literally stuck! She was reminded the time that Sasuke thought it would be funny to put superglue on Naruto's chopsticks. The ninja kept waving his arm around trying to get them unstuck but it was no use. Sakura finally pitied him and tugged them off, using a medic jutsu to ease the pain. Sasuke was not happy with her after that.
Her cursed necklace tingled, and her other arm began moving involuntarily. She was going to open the scroll! This was bad! Who knows what sort of trap was put on this thing? She might be knocked unconscious and get sucked to the dungeons or something. Before she knew it, the scroll opened, and Sakura's eyes widened dramatically.
Hello,
If you are reading this, then that means that you have been bought by someone from a prominent clan. These are the useful things that we, as possessions, have learned through our experiences and we feel the need to pass them on so you do not have to learn the hard way. Please do not repeat this to anyone, and if anyone asks, you learned all by yourself. We need to keep this scroll to help future generations.
Next Entry
I'm afraid I have not found a way to take the possession item off, however there is a way to get around the "no courting" and punishments. Get your owner flat out drunk. So drunk that he can only see in fuzzy images. This way, he will not understand the signals if you are doing something that he would reprimand you for. By signals, I mean that every time you do something wrong, he will receive some kind of message that you are doing so and punish you.
For getting him drunk, this is a recipe that never fails:
Vodka, pure alcohol, whiskey, and rum. Use lots of lemonade and pineapple to cover up the alcohol smell. Works even better if he has the flu.
Next Entry
This takes complete determination, so not everyone will be able to do it. When the owner bosses you around, focus your mind on completely something else. It can be anything, but you will not have to do what he says. If this fails, focus your entire being to fight him, it works, I promise. However, it is not easy. If you can focus your chakra to plug your ears or create a loud static noise in your head, that works as well. If you can't hear his command, you don't have to do what he says.
Next Entry
You can hit him. You may have tried and gotten a ripping pain, but there is a way to seriously do some damage. If your owner is a ninja, then he will not get hurt over a punch. If you tried before to hit him, and got the pain, then you were likely thinking that you wanted to hurt him. All you have to do is concentrate hard and think, "He won't be hurt if I hit him." The device that marks his ownership of you only shocks you depending on what your brain waves tell it. It is possible to fool this device.
"Haruno Sakura, just what do you think you are doing?"
Jumping, Sakura whirled around where her green eyes met the honey-colored eyes of the Godaime Hokage, and her mentor did not look happy at all.
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Author's Note: Again I am SO sorry for the late update. School has literally eaten up my time and, aside from homework, I've got a few extracurricular activities that keep me on my toes. Again, reeeeeally sorry!
In case you're interested, I named the chapter "Painting the Roses Red" because the cards are trying to get around their punishment for growing white roses. See the connection? It basically means trying to get around something without consequences.
