Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Naruto grabbed Sai off the floor, eyes hard and furious.
The boy didn't bother to jerk at his touch.
"What did you do." The boy spat.
It is the first time Sai has seen Naruto so angry.
Sai wanted to smile—everything passionate has to do with you, Sakura.
"I had a mission." And that's when he began to lie.
She stood above them, her hair fluttering in the wind, eyes trailed on something none of them could see.
Sasuke couldn't really breathe as he gazed up into her face.
She looks the same. She moves the same.
Seeing Sakura—seeing Sakura should not have been like this. It should have been Sasuke yelling at her, Naruto grabbing her arms and pinning her to the floor, Sai slipping the chakra-manacles around her wrist and Yamato dragging her back home. Seeing Sakura should not have been her, standing above them, a strange gleam in her eyes and a katana strapped to her back.
When a curl of hair unraveled itself from the high ponytail, his fingers itched to move it away. Sakura had always hated having hair on her neck.
As if his thoughts were realized, she batted the offending curl away with a swipe of her fingers.
Sasuke couldn't breathe.
She is the same.
"Hello." Her voice was steady and calm, her green, green eyes focused on Naruto.
Sasuke wanted her to look at him and only him.
"Sakura-chan—"Naruto trailed off. It seemed that even the dobe didn't have anything to say at Sakura's calm eyes and steady hands.
She wasn't like she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be hardened and cruel and insane from her time here. She was supposed to be saved by them so she would finally love them again.
"Haruno Sakura, we have come to return you to Konohagakure. Will you come peacefully?" Yamato asked in a tense voice.
Sasuke itched to grab her and sit down somewhere, to sit and ask and cry and scream and yell at her. With her.
Sakura cocked her head and the long ponytail slid over her shoulder, the dusty pink gleaming in the midday sun. Her eyes trailed over their forms; Sasuke standing at the edge of the clearing, Sai right behind Naruto, the pale boy's hand gripping his own katana, Yamato standing, his hands already starting a jutsu sequence, the closest to Sakura. Naruto, of course, stood in the center, eyes forward and focused.
"I'm afraid not. I have other engagements." Sakura's smile was pure politeness and it made Sasuke want to scream.
To throw up.
To die.
Why, he bellowed inside his head, Why are you the same?
Naruto's determination would not be stumped because the boy began to yell. "Sakura-chan, we can understand if you tell us! Why you left, that is. Just please, please come home! We need you—I need you."
Sasuke's eyes burned red as the telltale emotion of affection became apparent in his voice.
They would be having a talk later on.
Preferably with Sakura walking with them, chakra sealed off and smiling.
But Sakura remained unmoved. Green eyes narrowed and then the girl—the girl he'd spent his best years with—sprang up in the air, twisting to land right in front of him.
Sasuke couldn't move as he felt the warmth of her body close to him. Sasuke couldn't move as green eyes twinkled with mirth, a strange, nostalgic smile tugging at her lips. Sasuke couldn't move as she came closer, standing on her tip toes, her mouth brushing his ear.
Yamato tensed.
Her lips brushed the shell of his ear.
Heat spiked in his veins.
"Did you get my note?"
And then Sasuke can move. Rage slithered onto his face and he hurled kunai after kunai at her, nearly screaming in frustration when she just smiled and moved out of the way. It was as if she was dancing around him, not bothering to take him seriously as he tried to catch her in genjutsu, traps and whatever.
"Sakura." He growled. "Stop this."
For a moment, Sasuke thought he saw a keen current of loss spark behind her eyes.
But it was replaced by a blank slate and then Sakura was at Naruto's throat.
Sai stood, sweating, as he blocked the katana strike.
Naruto's eyes were wide.
Sasuke couldn't breathe as he lurched forward. Sakura was his everything but Naruto had stood by him. He couldn't let her kill his best friend.
"Nice block." Sakura's smile was wide and Sai—Sasuke tripped as he saw—grinned back at her.
"Traitor." The pale boy acknowledged.
"Acolyte." Sakura spat back.
And then Yamato was rushing at Sakura and the girl flipped to the side, swiping at Sai's cheek and Sasuke watched as blood creeped down his chin and stained his throat. The wood-user slammed his fingers together as he urged his jutsu to go faster and cage Sakura.
A shadow blocked the sun from their view.
Sasuke looked up just as Orochimaru grabbed Sakura's collar.
"Well hello, younglings." The Sannin smirked, a tongue slithering out and licking dried and cracked lips. "I take you are happy to see your ex-teammate."
"She's still our teammate, bastard!" Naruto bellowed, fists tightening.
Sasuke didn't nod his head because his eyes were fixed on Sakura's. She stared back at him, winking.
He wanted to hurl.
He just wanted her back.
Please, he begged, let her come back to us. To me.
"I'm afraid," The Sannin tugged Sakura closer, his arm sliding around her tiny waist, hand cupping her hip in a way that had Sasuke wanting to retch. "That we have places to be. Engagements to pursue."
And then they vanished.
All that remained of Sakura was a fraught smile and a lock of hair, drifting in the wind.
They landed in another base and Sakura stumbled as they made contact with the cool floor.
He grabbed her throat, heaving her upwards and slamming her against the door. His golden eyes stared into hers, tongue slithering out to probe at her throat once more.
"Why," He started off fairly calmly, "Did you speak to them?"
Sakura pretended she didn't want to murder the man who held her life in his own two dead hands and a sickening grin spread across her face. She leaned down, not caring when his thumbs dug in the hollow of her throat or how his tongue lapped at the curse mark.
"Nostalgia kills. I wanted to see if that was applicable to me, master." She waited with baited breaths, her heartbeat slow and calm, to see if he would accept that answer.
They stared at each other for a small eternity.
Golden eyes bored into green and then she was released. Her throat burned with the effort of speaking and the way he had dug his thumbs into her skin. She held in her heaving coughs as he stared at her, looking for cracks in her armor.
"Never forget," He hissed, once again bending down to face her, "That you are mine."
Sakura grinned at him, pretending to be the lovesick fool. "Of course."
As he walked away Sakura dug her nails so deep into her skin that blood dripped onto her pants.
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