(A/N: Do you know what's so embarrassing? Mistakes. I'm aware that people make them. And by people I include myself as well. I was reviewing my last chapter… because I didn't have a beta reader… and found out one thing. Did anyone notice last chapter that instead of putting down Zetsu, like I was supposed to, I put down Zangetsu. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?! T.T I was watching a whole bunch of Bleach episodes that time I wrote it. I'm so embarrassed. Zangetsu is Ichigo's zanpakto's name. Not the schizophrenic plant/man thing. This is what happens when people don't give reviews…)
Disclaimer: You know what I'm gonna say anyway…
Title: Tarnished Soldiers
Chapter 4: Lack of Equanimity
Flashback
The Leaf kunoichi just stared at her dubiously as she kept charging. 'She can't be serious…' Sakura thought frowning. Suigetsu was right it was too hot for this. But the four-eyes didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon so Sakura had to find a way to counter her attack with her restraints. As soon as Karin was within a foot of her allowed range, Sakura pumped chakra down her legs to dodge with ease and tripped the shrieking harpy by the chakra rope.
The girl fell down with a thud creating a cloud of Sand upon impact. Sakura's pink head tilted in fascination as she subtly glanced down at her wrist and then at Sasuke. He seemed uninterested, ignoring the whole scene with his back turned. Had he been paying attention he would've noticed what she did. The flow to her manacles sporadically stopped its circulation from his wrist to hers. The interference seemed to be a godsend.
A smirk found itself on her face as she observed the red-head get up mumbling to herself as she got off the dusty ground, "Please don't tell me you're the most graceful kunoichi the Sound has to offer." Karin's eyes narrowed at Sakura's taunting as she finally straightened up and "humphed." Sakura needed a good stretch anyway. Too many of her muscles felt stiff even though she was exercising them as they ran from Mist Hunter Nin.
The roseate sprinted for the redhead and vice versa. The instant they collided, Sakura's wrists were held up in a block against Karin's kunai knife. 'Where the hell did she pull that from?' she wondered as they pushed off of each other and landed a few feet away. Surveying her arms made her frown as she saw the odd purplish coloring of her skin along with the blood streaming down her arms. There was poison in the blade. What a weakling.
Sakura always thought weaklings used things like poison because they knew the extent of their strength wasn't satisfactory. Although the girl had glasses there was no other indication that the she was smart. Her decisions were rash and she was even more hot headed than herself and let her emotions get the best of her during a fight. Nevertheless her test was a success. The fluctuation of the chakra was once again proven. All Sakura needed to do was have Karin hit her wrists again and activate her own chakra. It'd be easy because she was able to measure the extent of her taijutsu after the two first blows. What did Sasuke use her for, the bed? She shook her head to get rid of the wicked thought. He was the type to use people but she just couldn't see him like that and not because she…because she… whatever. Her mind was a dangerous thing.
Sakura's fists opened and closed to stretch the muscles in them. The poison worked on the victim's appendages and their mobility. She inwardly smirked already knowing that the poison was no big deal. All she had to do was summon a slug to treat it. She already identified what the concoction was and couldn't wait to give the girl across from her a wake up call. Karin was the one to start for her this time and Sakura let her come but dodged her blows fluidly. Knowing that this girl was emotionally unstable when it came to fights made this all too easy. She wasn't even this pathetic as a genin. Maybe it was because her "Sasuke-kun" had been insulted was the reason why she sucked so much?
After another dodge she turned around to stand side by side Karin and performed a sweep kick knocking her to the ground again. Her plan was working already as she saw the surprise and frustration evident in her opponents face. She waited until the fangirl turned around to face her before giving her, the most arrogant smirk and stalking off towards her crush. Sakura skipped over to him just to make her madder so that the next blow would be hard enough to cause the disturbance again. Her ears picked up on the girl standing up quickly and running towards her at a deadly pace. When her educated guess told her that she was close enough she turned around and held her wrists up once again and blocked the blow using her superhuman strength.
A small explosion sounded making Suigetsu hoot out at them to keep it up as he sat down on the desert ground and got his water bottle out. Juugo looked at him in the corner of his eye then nervously at where the girls had disappeared in a ball of smoke that was slowly dissipating.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" he asked his white haired companion.
Suigetsu spared the giant a glance still sucking on his straw before commenting, "Nah, d'ya see Captain Babyface doing anything about it?"
Juugo innocently shook his head.
"Then just shut it and enjoy the show," Suigetsu told him and sipped some more of his water.
The giant's brows furrowed together as he contemplated what his teammate suggested. True, their leader wasn't doing anything but…In less than a second he dodged out of the vixen's way grabbing Suigetsu's collar, unaware that he was choking him. He land 50 feet away from the disturbance and gawked at a sharp trail in the sand that wasn't there before. Surrounding components fell into the gap they had created filling in for what was lost. It was as if a huge knife just came out of nowhere and sliced its way into the ground. Suigetsu had choked on the water he was about to swallow before the incident and was currently on the ground sputtering and coughing for relief. When he finally settled down, Juugo looked at him as his argument was proven, but the smaller nin just rolled his eyes and stubbornly got comfortable again sitting on the sea of dust.
Juugo sighed and kept on looking out for the girls who were at the pinnacle of the indent. The pink haired girl was busy fighting while a slug, stuck on her arm, was sucking on the previous wound that was earlier inflicted by his red-headed teammate. She seemed oblivious to the said teammate who was screaming out her frustration, as she dodged effortlessly focusing on her wrists. That's when he noticed that the chakra bonds were gone. He looked at Sasuke who was now observing the battle with a blank stare. If Orochimaru's favorite subject wasn't worried, which is rare, then he guessed that he too should relax.
"Hold still you bitch!" he heard Karin screech out.
"Why would I do that?" asked the captive, arrogant smirk replaced with a raised brow. She's not a masochist unlike some people she knew. It ticked her off that the girl was so weak and painfully reminded herself of what she was like at 12. This girl was blindly devoted to an asshole that she'd do anything for even if it included something disgusting like bearing Uchiha heirs. She definitely had the figure for it and was fairly easy on the eyes. That thought in itself made her detest Sasuke even more. Her anger spread throughout her body as she decided that she would hit back. Hard.
The red-head and Suigetsu noticed that Sakura's demeanor had changed completely. She looked ready to kill but she was no Juugo. His sharp eyes watched to see if she would kill without a second thought. Karin must've struck a nerve with the girl or something. Her sudden killing intent didn't make any sense. Sakura's opponent smirked at the angry eyes, tight line of a mouth, and palpable blood lust, finally satisfied that she was the one who was able to annoy the other.
Karin didn't have a clue as Sakura charged after her with a high concentration of chakra in her hand poised like a blade itself.
'First I'll go for the clothes. Humiliate her,' Sakura told herself. As soon as she made it over she slashed at her target careful not to touch her.
Karin raised a brow, 'What the hell is she trying to kill, air?' After a total of 15 high speed slashes in her general direction the girl felt a draft on her arms and upper torso.
Sakura looked at Karin's white sleeves slide off of her arms. The cuts that formed from her slashes also produced red slits of blood on her skin and started to leak out down her arms. Shreds of clothing fell off of her at an alarming rate to the point that her shorts became almost null and void and her light jacket was nothing but rags held up by her body, 'Let her realize that she's exposed and that she's weak,' she added.
Which didn't take too long as Karin gawked down at her bra and shrieked at the absence of clothing on her figure. "OH MY GAWD!!" Suigetsu could be faintly heard whistling suggestively from a distance. "SHUT UP!" She looked back at Sakura who tilted her head at the site staring.
"I don't see why I'm such a threat to your non-existent relationship with that bastard over there," Sakura jabbed a thumb at the said bastard. Karin got redder by the second making the roseate wonder if she could match her own hair. "I mean I'm not even interested in him," she stated while thinking, 'Anymore…' "And besides your rack seems to be on his radar now." Karin shot her head to Sasuke and misunderstood that he was looking at her when he was actually looking at the interaction between the two instead. Clueless, she flushed and waved hello to the dark haired nin with a big grin on her face. Sakura looked at his blank stare.
Had he really been checking Karin out, his gaze would've been a little lower. They could barely tell anyway since he was on a higher dune than them but that's the only reason she could think of why he was looking down in the first place. Nevertheless she fell for the bait and Sakura found herself scoffing. "Typical," she muttered.
Despite the small jeer at her behavior Karin heard and spat back, "What was that?" Sakura raised a brow at the sudden change of attitude. Her opponent's hands were placed on each hip confidently and she stood proud. That was the only thing the roseate lacked back then, constantly being overshadowed by her two teammates in the past.
"Why do you throw yourself at that prick?" Sakura questioned her instead.
The bespectacled girl rolled her eyes as if she was asked the stupidest question in the world. "Isn't it obvious?"
Sakura came at her again noticing that she put up more of a fight when she was calm and gave her a look as they exchanged blows. "Not really. I mean he doesn't pay any attention to you, treats you like dirt, has a huge superiority complex, not as smart as he's made out to be, and asexual. If anything, he's just plain gay. Don't you notice how he pays more attention to the guys of the group than he does the girls?"
They snuck a peek at Sasuke's face. His eyes were narrowing dangerously at Sakura who only smirked in triumph. Karin sputtered red faced, "Tha-that's not true! Sasuke-kun notices me in every way and he's not stupid he's a genius!"
Sakura wanted to gag. Karin was definitely in her own world. She needed a wake up call from earth. The girl aimed for Sakura's jugular with another kunai but Sakura dodged and grabbed it at the hilt around the girl's wrist. The red head aimed a punch for Sakura's gut with the other hand but that was blocked and restrained by Sakura's other hand as well. Frustrated once again she lifted her leg to kick her side and hit her desired target. Sakura took it in stride and trapped that leg with her elbow and cracked the girl's wrist in retaliation earning a scream. The other girl realized she was trapped as she tried to keep her balance and pull away. Sakura wouldn't let go and Karin was perplexed at such a strong grip.
"Stop kidding yourself," the Hokage's apprentice said suddenly.
"Huh?" Karin didn't get what the girl was saying. She was implying that she was ignorant of something.
"He only noticed you for your chakra tracking abilities, nothing more. And he is so, stupid. I was the smartest one on his old cell in Konoha. Plus he's joining the endangered species, known as Akatsuki, in which all 5 great shinobi nations are hunting down. You'd think he'd stay away from a group that could eventually bring the demise of his clan seeing as how he's the only one left… granted he hasn't used you as a baby machine yet. How can you be so stupid? That's probably the only reason why he keeps you around."
The girl was beyond red and looked like she was going to cry. Sakura didn't care, someone needed to say it. "That's not true! Sasuke-kun loves me he just doesn't know it yet," This time Sakura rolled her eyes. She wasn't even that naïve when she was younger.
"No wonder why he doesn't give you the time of day, you don't even respect yourself. He isn't capable of loving anything. He only tolerates and hates. You know what I'm talking about." Karin, eyes wide, shook her head in denial. Sakura narrowed her eyes and head butted the pathetic girl in front of her and let go of her limbs so she would fall back. The red head crumpled on the ground and clutched her head half in pain, half in realization, Sakura guessed. She watched her get up from the ground again and ignored the tears flowing down the girls face but noticing a familiar red liquid trickling down her forehead.
Sakura felt her own forehead with the back of her hand and snorted. She was bleeding too. Karin was shaking, 'After humiliation comes the pain,' Sakura told herself. The girl had unknowingly brought back memories that she tried so hard to smother out of her head. The red head was strangely silent but clearly upset which annoyed Sakura even more. It was like her old self was trying to take back its place in her life. Sakura wouldn't have any of it. She let Karin come at her with a strangled cry then let loose as soon as she dodged another kunai aiming a chakra filled punch for the ribs. A sick satisfaction of hearing and feeling the bones crush under her fist, rolled through the leaf kunoichi. She aimed another punch in the form in front of her lifting the girl off the ground.
Sakura lost count of the inhuman blows she dealt on Karin but when it was all over she felt Suigetsu holding her back telling her to "Cool it!" Sakura wouldn't listen and kept struggling as Sasuke walked over to the half dead kunoichi in his recent team. His face was completely blank as he surveyed the blood everywhere and then the pissed ex-teammate. He didn't expect Sakura to change into a merciless killing machine. She was definitely strong and he was pretty much sure that this wasn't even a slight percentage of her strength. No wonder Akatsuki wanted her.
It kind of bothered him how she was able to defeat both body and spirit of her opponents. She wasn't capable of that back then. Karin was still alive but he knew she wanted to die by the way she looked at him. "Sa…su…ke…it," she hacked out a considerable amount of blood then continued, "It's…n-not tr-true, is i-it?"
He didn't answer her or take his eyes off of her but instead commanded, "Nice job Sakura now fix her," Suigetsu let go of the one he held in surprise as to how their leader handled the situation. Karin's face scrunched up in heartbreak and she became upset once again sputtering and hacking out more blood. Sakura calmed down considerably and stared at him as he stood up and looked away from the fallen kunoichi, scouting the area. Someone was closing in fast. "I'd rather you'd do it quickly," he added. Sakura sucked her teeth then commented, "Asshole," he turned to her as Karin passed out, "I expect nothing less from an animal that used to be my pet."
Sakura's face contorted into one of surprise. Her mouth dropped and her eyes widened in realization of his insult. She lunged for him but was stopped from by behind once again, by Juugo this time, who had a good hold on her arm. Her fist was inches away from Sasuke's face, 'Just a little more,' she told herself. Juugo was surprised that this skinny girl could give him trouble.
His whole hand encircled her upper arm but he had to use all of his strength to hold her back. He looked at their leader who just blinked at the fist and then smirked at the roseate as if he knew something she didn't. The boy didn't use his Sharingan at all but Juugo could tell that he read her mind somehow as she paled considerably and stilled her movements. He let go of her and watched her posture slacken and her arms drop to her sides.
Sasuke walked up to her and leaned forward past her head and stopped at her ear and whispered, "You'll never reach me, no matter what you do," then walked past her. Juugo noticed the girl's little fist tighten once more as she looked at the girl on the floor. Blood seeped from the painful grip. What was this girl to Sasuke? The others could never defeat her physically but Sasuke only said a few words and she was down for the count.
End Flashback
ShoutouttoLes-liaisons-dangereusesShoutouttoShadows08Imissedyoudid'jamissme?
Naruto slammed both of his hands down on her desk in fury, "HE DID WHAT?!" The 60-something old woman stared at his hands that were scratching grains of wood off of her desk as he tried to hold the immensity of his anger in. She swiveled around in her chair so that she could look out the window observing the air mail flying in and out of the tower. "You heard me, brat." Kakashi stepped forward and pulled his ex-student back by the arm with a harsh grip. "Compose yourself, Naruto," The blonde snatched his arm away and ground his teeth together slightly aware of the Copy nin's disapproving gaze.
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, since Sakura's disappearance have you done nothing to ensure her safe return?" His lone eye watched Tsunade's arm pop out from behind the big black leather chair and grab her saké bottle. After minutes of hearing the liquid pour into a cup, she finally sighed out, "What do you think I've been doing? Checking my lottery tickets?" Shizune let out a nervous laugh and the Godaime shot her look that said, "Shut up." The younger woman silently obeyed and checked over paperwork. After a few more seconds of silence and no more view of birds, Tsunade turned around and slammed the urn on her desk.
"I have Kakashi. Anbu has only come up with what might've been Team Hebi's hideout. Some of her fingerprints and DNA have been identified in a nearby rundown cabin from the area she was seen last."
The silver haired jounin seemed to relax a bit as his shoulders lowered a little, "I see."
Naruto was still angry but a lot more poised than a few minutes ago, "And nothing else?"
Tsunade nodded frowning, "That's it." It was silent for awhile as she observed the usually upbeat but highly obnoxious boy. He was quiet and had his head down but she could see his mouth in a tight line. The brat was never one for silence.
Then, "How soon can we leave?" she smirked at the determination in his face. He was still teeming with anger but anyone could see that he now had a clear head and overbearing resolve. Even if she wanted to, Tsunade didn't know how to say, "No."
"I didn't even say you would," she sighed out leaning back into her chair, as he gave her his infamous impish smirk.
ShoutouttoXxMomo-chanxXShoutouttoEmoNinjaSaraShoutouttosanhaseneCha!
Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered open at the sudden sense of another in the room with her. She was still tired and didn't want to get up so she just lay there lazily and tried to recall the past events as to why she wasn't in her own bedroom. Her eyes were barely open and she was still half awake as she stared at a blurred figure approaching. She followed the silhouette's movement until it was standing right in front of her, observing her as well. She blinked a couple of more times before widening her Peridot eyes after remembering her dream of yesterday. She sat up quickly finding herself staring at Sasuke who was looking at her with a raised brow. 'Why is he staring at me like that?' she asked herself as she looked at what was in his hands.
He was holding a bento box and chopsticks in which she guessed was her meal for the time being. "Do you have an overactive salivary gland?" he asked her out of the blue. She looked up at her captor and looked at him puzzled. What exactly was he getting at? He shook his head and tossed her the box and utensils in which she caught. At the sudden gust the action created she noticed that her chin felt wet. In a panic she wiped her hand across her mouth only to discover that the side of her face she lied on was covered in drool.
"Ew," she muttered to herself wiping the rest of the liquid away frantically.
"Hn," he commented.
She snapped her head towards Sasuke who was looking at her. "What are you looking at?" the girl asked, kind of irritated and suspicious of his observing her. He didn't say anything but she could tell he wanted to, "Spit it out asshole," she hissed out at him.
He gave her a smirk instead and turned to an armoire ignoring her on purpose. Her eye twitched as she looked at him taking off his cloak and drop a bag he was holding on a chair near the door that was now unsealed. Sakura licked her chapped dry lips in anticipation of escaping when he wasn't aware. She saw the black sleeveless shirt with the Uchiha symbol stitched in adorn his torso and wondered if he did it himself. There wouldn't be a tailor anywhere that would do that for him, right? But after remembering that the almost expelled Uchiha clan still had servants in their secret hideouts, she figured anything was possible.
Sakura suddenly remembered that she still had on his clothes and looked down at herself. They were honestly too comfortable to take off. How did he expect her to wear anything else if he didn't have any female attire around? She looked in the armoire he opened up and was surprised that he started stripping in front of her as he took another outfit out. Her jaw dropped as she looked from his bare back and arms that rippled with muscles that she could see from far away.
It was only till she felt her cheeks heat up that she realized he was being indecent and sputtered out, "W-what are y-you doing?!" and cursed herself for stuttering.
He turned at her yelp, showing off his abs and chest. Sakura thought she was going to die. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
She sighed out shakily and looked down so she could concentrate on her words. Why was it, that all the jerks were blessed with good looks? "You know what I mean, Uchiha! Why are you in my room undressing?!" Sakura reminded herself to breathe and calm down as she almost snapped the chopsticks in half.
She sensed him walk towards her at an agonizingly slow pace and stopped herself from gulping in fear. He proceeded to crawl on top of it towards her. It was then that the kunoichi noticed that the bed was huge and possibly king sized. Sakura didn't move an inch, even when he stopped in front of her, and not even when he reached behind her head and whispered in her ear, "Who said that this was your room?" She held in a gasp and lifted her head as he pulled away from her.
The bastard was still able to make her have a heart attack. Their eyes only met briefly but in that time frame it seemed like forever until he smirked and turned on his side and laid down the bed. 'WHY DO I LET HIM TOY WITH ME LIKE THAT?!' she inwardly yelled at herself as she looked at his still bare back. Sakura gulped and looked down at her food and opened the box so she could distract herself from the obvious temptation in front of her.
Instead of freaking out like she would've done at twelve years of age she calmly asked, "Why did you join Akatsuki?"
He let out an annoyed sigh. "If I answer one of your annoying questions will you shut the hell up?"
"Not exactly how I would put it but, yes." Sakura answered frowning at his rudeness. "I also have other quest-,"
"For revenge," he sighed out, interrupting her. He was so tired. Couldn't she see that?
"Eh?"
"Are you fucking deaf?" He snapped at her turning around as he did so.
She glared back, "You watch your mouth! Of course I'm not asshole," was her hypocritical reply.
He snorted and rolled back on his side showing her his back once more. "…"
"… Sasuke… you already had your revenge," she started again inspecting her food for poison and what not.
"…" he could sense the softness of her tone and decided the girl was bi-polar or something. One minute she was completely afraid of him, the next angry, and then compassionate. He couldn't keep up.
She separated her wooden chopsticks and stabbed the octopus meat. "…Answer me," she sighed out almost giving up.
Sasuke sensed the resignation in her voice and was almost compelled to answer her but thought better of it. He never gave her his confidence as a child and he wasn't going to start now. He didn't think her worthy of his inner most thoughts anyway. She'd never understand.
"It's none of your concern. Don't bother me anymore."
The Uchiha could feel her Peridot eyes on his back and could just picture the sad look on her visage as she did. He didn't care, never did, never will. Unbeknownst to him Sakura was actually studying his still form. She wasn't in the least bit sad, just a little angry, but more concerned than anything. The kunoichi wondered why it was so easy to talk to him now than it was when they were genin of Konohagakure. It was obvious that he finally acknowledged her after she beat the crap out of Karin. Although… he still thought very low of her. That one factor irked her more than Naruto's whining after practice.
Her eyes softened at her thoughts. What would Naruto do or say in this situation? She smiled lightly as she finished up her meal and put the box on a chair before going to the bathroom. Minutes later she came out, having taken a shower, and brushed her teeth. Remembering that she didn't have any of her own clothes, not wanting to put his dirty clothes on again, she glanced at the armoire and then at Sasuke's sleeping face. Grins galore.
Preview: "Hey, watch your hands, you creep!" Sakura huffed refusing the urge to shiver. The guy's appendages were so freaking cold. They were in the middle of a dessert, how could anything be cold out here? "Terribly sorry m'lady," he mumbled with a fake air of sincerity. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man measuring her waste. Apprehension gone, she told Suigetsu, who was snickering the whole time, to kindly:
"Shut the fuck up."
Sasuke's presence was ignored though. She told herself that it was because he wasn't looking at her. He was.
(A/N: So how was it? Do you want her to kick Sasuke's arse, or what? Don't worry she will. :D)