Title: Captured
Date:
October 15, 2009
Summary:
Uzumaki Naruto had to save her…And he was going to do it with Uchiha Sasuke's help…
Pairing:
Sasuke and Sakura
Rating:
T
Themes:
Romance/Drama/Action/Adventure


Captured

"Shit…"

Uzumaki Naruto groaned as he tiredly opened his eyes, wincing with pain as the sunlight streaming in from a nearby window momentarily blinded his vision. His head was throbbing painfully, causing another agonized moan to emit from the male's sore throat, his sapphire eyes clenched tight, teeth gritting together as he struggled to move his aching body.

"What the…hell!"

His arm, which felt so numb and heavy at the same time, slowly moved to bring his hand to rest on his soft, blonde locks, letting the appendage gingerly massage the pain pounding at his temples. Opening deep blue eyes once more, Naruto frowned as he glared at the beeping mechanics set up next to his bed, panning his gaze around the room, mentally noting the bleach-white walls and the chemical scents lingering in the air.

The Shinobi gave another frustrated groan as he tried to sit up, growling under his breath when he spotted the multiple IV drips attached to his chest and arms. He was about to take, or rather rip, it all off when a dark figure at the other side of the room captured his attention.

"…I wouldn't do that if I were you, Naruto."

The boy's frown only deepened, "What the hell happened to me Kakashi-sensei?"

The familiar orange novel snapped shut and was carefully pocketed, one dark eye calmly staring into irritated orbs of blue. Yet, Naruto noticed something was different about the famed Copy-Cat Ninja. His gaze, although usually aloof and composed was sharper and more severe, although it didn't seem to be directed at his blonde student.

"You don't remember."

A statement, not an inquiry.

"Remember what?" Naruto retorted, a little annoyed that his questions weren't being answered, "What the hell am I doing in the Hospital?"

Kakashi leaned forward, cool stare never leaving his expression as he regarded Naruto carefully, "You were on a Mission Naruto…Can you recall what that Mission was?"

"Mission?" Naruto repeated, confusion etched on his features, "What…mission?"

Sapphire eyes left Kakashi's lone charcoal, landing on his lap, where his clenched fists rested, pristine white sheets crumpled in his grasp. His hands, surprisingly, were scarred, familiar scars from chakra burns…

Chakra burns from Nine-Tailed Transformations…

"…What happened…?" He whispered brokenly, fearfully, closing his eyes, keeping his vision black so maybe, maybe, he could conjure up memories of his last conscious moments.

"You've been unconscious for four days Naruto," Kakashi sighed softly, the sound of him standing easily reaching the blonde's sensitive hearing; "You should rest."

Blue eyes snapped open suddenly, opting to glare at his silver-headed Sensei, "Tell me what happened Kaka-sensei!"

The older Jounin was facing the door, gaze to the floor, and hands shoved in his pockets. Naruto continued to watch him, his grip on the sheets tightening at the unrelenting silence. Slowly, the older Shinobi turned to regard him, his one-eyed expression filled with both exhaustion and…grief?

"Please…" Naruto pleaded softly, "…Tell me."

Finally, after a few tense seconds, Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair as he walked towards Naruto's bedside. He took a comfortable seat at the bed's edge, inhaling deeply before exhaling sharply.

"…You were on a Mission Naruto," Kakashi began softly, not having looked straight into his eyes yet, "A-Ranked…Left about a week ago. It was Standard Procedure for this Mission…You and your comrades were to travel to Wind Country to check up on Hidden Sand and their Kazekage…Just for some simple Meetings and Treaty Issues…"

Naruto frowned, "If it was so simple, why am I in the Hospital?" He looked down at his scarred hands, "Why did I…"

"…You and your comrades had been ambushed," Kakashi answered solemnly, "Just outside of Fire Country Borders…By the Akatsuki."

Akatsuki.

Naruto's frowned deepened, his hands balling together once more into vein-popping fists, blue eyes darkening as this piece of information hit home. The anger. The fear. The hate. Flashes of Black Cloaks with Red Clouds pounded in his head; screams of pain, blood, the horrors.

Immediately, Naruto grabbed onto his head and pulled his golden locks, hoping to stop the images, the pain, the screams as he moaned in torment.

"Naruto!"

"What did they do? What did they do?" He mumbled into his hands, and then he looked up into Kakashi's lone eye, afraid, "…I can't remember! What did they do?"

"You need to calm down Naruto," Kakashi soothed softly as he rested a strong, warm hand on his shoulder, the younger Shinobi relaxing only a fraction as he stared blankly at his curled fingers.

After a few more moments of calming down, Kakashi deemed it safe to continue and removed his hand from his shoulder.

"You and your comrades fought…From what I've heard, you transformed…Six of you left Konoha…Only three of you came back…"

"But…" Naruto breathed, looking back up with lost, cobalt eyes, "I can remember…" He shut his eyes and shook his head, "…Yamato-sensei wasn't there…Ero-Sennin couldn't have been there…Who stopped me, how am I back to normal?"

Kakashi's jaw visibly clenched, despite the black obstruction on his face, his eye narrowing with the same grief Naruto had seen earlier, "…I was told that Sakura had reverted you back to your normal form…"

"Sakura-chan…? How–" Naruto's eyes widened, "Wait! Where's Sakura-chan? Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"Naruto…" Kakashi sighed as he closed his eyes, the hands resting on his lap curling into tight fists, "…Six ANBU in total left Konoha one week ago for this Mission…Of the six that were your age were you, Sakura, Sai, and Hyuuga Neji…Only three of you returned to Konoha four days ago…" Kakashi's hand flexed, lone eye opening halfway, irises darker than usual, "You, Sai, and Hyuuga Neji…"

Realization slowly settled in, Naruto's blue eyes widened and he harshly grabbed onto his Sensei's Jounin Vest, "What about Sakura-chan? Where's Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi shook his head, "I'm sorry Naruto…We don't know…We don't know…"

And so, the tears fell, and the screaming in his head resumed…


Hyuuga Neji frowned as he sat stiffly in his Hospital bed, narrowed, opaque eyes glaring balefully at a glass of water not too far away from his crossed arms. His teammate Rock Lee had come by earlier and placed a breakfast table on his lap with a hearty meal of Miso Ramen, an apple, a cup of tea, and a glass of water. Since the Hospital food was far from edible in his opinion, he had gratefully eaten the meal, leaving only the juicy, red apple, and the glass of clear water.

And as the Hyuuga Prodigy continued to stare at the glass of rejuvenating liquid, his lips couldn't help but curve downward in detest, his mind becoming lost in different situations, alternatives, options, decisions, what-ifs, could-haves, should-haves, would-haves…

At the moment, he considered the glass half-empty…

"Kami…He's losing too much blood…We have to get him out of here!"

Black Cloaks. Red Clouds. Blood. Retreat. Fear.

"Sakura-san…How did you do that? He was uncontrollable. How did you revert him–?"

"No time!" The female grunted as she took one arm of the unconscious Uzumaki Naruto, while he took the other, lavender eyes darting everywhere to spot any signs of the Black Cloaks and Red Clouds.

"We won't make it…Not with our injuries…"

"Shut up Sai!" She yelled, pushing more power into her legs to keep up with Neji, who hadn't been using his chakra to heal wounds and breaks, like she had been.

Sai remained silent, his ever-present smile absent from his face as he traveled ahead of them, katana gripped tightly in his hand. Sakura cursed again, Neji's peripheral vision catching pink hair as she removed the clay mask from her face. Behind the covering, blood was smeared messily over her face, viridian irises darkened with pain and exhaustion. At her side, lay a large crimson gash, given to her by one of their own…

Pearl eyes drifted uncertainly to the unconscious, blonde Shinobi he now supported before returning them to his female comrade.

"You are hurt, Sakura-san."

"Have we lost them?" She didn't acknowledge his remark and he immediately understood.

Byakugan eyes return to their more important task of searching, observing, scouting, warning…

"5 miles and closing…"

"Shit!"

"We won't make it, Ugly."

"Shut up Sai! What about Taro and Shin?"

"…Dead."

"Are we close to Fire Country Borders?"

"We're about 20 miles off…"

"…We aren't going to make it…"

"…"

"…No…We'll make it. I won't allow them to take Naruto…I won't."

However…Perhaps he should see the glass as half-full. It has substance, so why not indicate that there is something inside by saying it is half-full…?

Sakura quickly stopped in her movements, alarming both Sai and Neji as she removed Naruto's jacket and shrugged it onto her form. Then, she used the hood on her ANBU Cloak to hide her pink tresses. With a frown, she motioned for Sai to approach her and when he was within arm's distance, she grabbed his shoulder and jerked Naruto' weight onto them.

Sai had taken her place in carrying Naruto. And now she was facing the opposite direction of Konohagakure no Sato…

"I'll distract them…You get Naruto home and you run fast…They're not going to have him…" She took a step forward, kunai already in hand, "They're not taking anyone else away from me…"

"Sakura-san…"

"Ugly!"

"GO!"

No…The glass was definitely half-empty…Because without it being full, to the brink, there was always emptiness. Now he just wanted to emphasize on the absence of the water, because most usually, there was always an emptiness…Always something that wasn't there…

Right?

And so they ran. Ran to Konoha for Naruto. Ran to Fire Country for safety…

Ran away from danger. Ran away from death. Ran away from a Comrade…

The last the Byakugan had seen…Was blood…

It was a Half-Empty Glass.

"Neji…?"

The familiar, soft voice was hesitant and drifted to his ears, slowly bringing the Hyuuga Prodigy back to his senses, back to reality as he allowed his pearly gaze to pan towards the doorway, finding his female comrade hovering at the door uncertainly. He offered a nod of acknowledgement and the female smiled, taking it as a sign to enter and took a seat on a chair at his bedside.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with a hint of worry, brown brows furrowed together.

Neji's frown remained in place as his gaze returned to the glass, "…Better…"

She smiled, "…That's good." Biting her lower lip uncertainly, she leaned back in the chair and removed a kunai from her belt to fiddle with, "…Do you want to talk about anything…?"

"…No."

The Kunoichi frowned again but then managed a weak smile, "Good news…Naruto woke up today…He seems to be recovering fine, like Hokage-sama said he would…"

The brunette slowly turned towards her, his features, unsure, which was uncommon for the female to witness, "…How is he? Does he…remember? Does he know?"

She frowned sadly, "Kakashi-sensei told him…Last I heard, he's a mess…"

"And Sai?"

"Still unconscious but recovering," She informed, "He was a little bit more bruised and beat up than you had been…"

Neji's jaw had clenched and he turned away from her, instead to glare heatedly at the harmless glass of water.

The young woman sat up a little straighter, staring directly at her comrade, absolute seriousness on her young features, "…You know that this wasn't your fault, Neji, right?"

The Prodigy sneered, "How was it not my fault Tenten? I should have seen them coming, I was in charge of the Mission!" His fists clenched as his eyes narrowed even further on the glass, the sunlight playing off its surface, causing multiple colors to shine off it, "Naruto was almost captured, Sai was hurt with major internal bleeding, two of my comrades are dead and Sakura…" His eyes closed in self-torment, "She sacrificed herself to save us…If anything it should have been me to do it–"

"No!" Tenten interrupted angrily as she stood up, brown eyes burning, one finger pointing at him accusingly, "Neji, you were ambushed, you didn't know! How can you put all this blame on yourself when it wasn't your fault? What matters is, is that you tried your best, you did your best and at least half of you had made it out alive instead of none of you," She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she sat back down, "What Sakura did…Was her choice, not your fault. She did it to save you three not to put burden on your conscience…Don't make her chosen sacrifice out to be something to weigh you down in self-guilt…"

Neji's glare had softened, but it was still directed on the glass in front of him, his brows furrowed, eyes showing the mental battle he was enduring with the guilt he did possess and the words Tenten had just shared with him.

Seeing this, Tenten immediately took the glass of water, opaque eyes following her movements, and downed the entire liquid substance, placing the completely empty cup back onto the table, "What's done has been done…No more thinking about it. Now's the time to think about something more important…Like finding Sakura, because we both know that she won't die that easily…"

Neji stared at the empty glass, seeing Tenten's smirking reflection upon its surface before he finally turned to her and shared a small smirk of his own.

"Thank you, Tenten."

She smiled, pocketing her kunai, "…Anything for you, Neji."


A/N: I…have no idea where I had initially been going with this…Maybe another Fiction similar to Prisoners except Sakura is all alone and Naruto and Sasuke work together to bring her back…?

I don't remember…

Well…Keep Or Scrap?

Haha.

I'll try to update my other stories as soon as I can!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Company

Len83