Chapter 8
I.
Sasuke did not let her go easily.
After feeding her a large meal the next day, he took her onto a tour.
Early in the morning, they walked along the dewy edges of this village, and they arrived at the center, where each soldiers are prepped for battle. They train fiercely and ruthlessly, and when Sasuke walked in, all of them stopped fighting and faced him.
Sasuke didn't say anything at first. He stared down at all of them, which caused them all to bow to him on one knee. Even after they bowed, Sasuke still didn't gave them premission to get up, so the entire battle hall went in an awkward silence as Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his eyes at each and every one of them.
After almost five minutes, he opened his mouth and uttered a, "Get up."
They all rose.
Sakura stared as she recognize there are faces of females here. But one thing they share in their eyes is the fact that they are utterly and completely obedient to Uchiha Sasuke. None of them could ever betray him because of who he is and what he is capable of. Sakura knew that he has the ability to read minds, but she did not know the circumstances around that. For example, if he needed to stare into the eye of his victim, or just a glance of him.
Everyone in here emits an aura that creeps Sakura out. They have this aura of wanting to kill, wanting to murder something that is beneath them. They all are killers that would slit throats of any living being without the batting of an eye. There is no room for sympathy here because sympathy is overrated. It is something that can't be afforded. Of course-Sakura, a girl who came from the modern world with the views of modern era-couldn't quite understand that.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and said, "I have an assignment for one of you."
Most of them raised their head up to stare at Sasuke, who tilted his head and said in a calm voice, "This one is not an ordinary task. It requires superb skills to blend in and collecting information. I would like at least four people. However, it is noted that whoever volunteers for this mission also volunteers themselves for a screening."
Less than half raised their hands.
He chuckled a little before facing Sakura and told her, "Pick four."
Sakura stared at him, "Pardon me?"
"Pick four." He repeated.
"Randomly?" She asked.
He nodded.
She picked the three men and one woman closest to them. Sasuke's lips curved a little, "these four will be surveiling you in Konoha. The assignment scroll is with Ryoku. Go ahead."
Before Sakura could get a good look at them, the four disappeared. She silently cursed at Sasuke, who turned around in a slight astonishment and asked, "Since when are you relying on your eyes for identification?"
"What else am I supposed to rely on?" Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Your senses. Or did you loose that too? So you really are crippled." Sasuke jumped from a fact to a question to a statement in less than three seconds, which Sakura glared him and said, "At least I don't need my mind reading abilities to ensure anyone around me is loyal to me."
"Because none around you are." He said nonchalantly before waving off to the rest of the nins. "Keep on practicing. Whoever stands on this week's battlefield will be heavily rewarded."
Sakura was led out of the huge hall, and the gates closed behind them.
She looked at the huge gates, and then asked, "Were they not supposed to come out?"
"Of course not." Sasuke replies.
"How are they going to eat and have fun?" Sakura asked again.
Sasuke simply said, "They are fed. Those who wins gains their freedom."
"Freedom of what? To work for you?" Sakura couldn't hold the sarcastic tone in her voice.
Sasuke scoffs, "What did you think was going to happen? Those who gain personal freedom must be stronger than I am."
"Is anyone?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke gave her a look that resembled the one when Sakura asked him if he has ever killed anyone.
He then said, "we're going to test your strength."
"What?" Sakura asked, horrified. "A test? I don't do well in tests."
Sasuke ignored her and kept going.
They arrived at another huge center, except this time there are more people in white coats and glasses doing research. They took Sakura's blood pressure, temperature, saliva samples, and eventually her strength. They told her to punch a cushion as hard as she could, and when she did, it waved a little and did no damage. Sasuke looked considerably surprised, for him. He narrowed his eyes at her and then said, "Your chakra..."
In truth, Sasuke has two choices to chose from. One is that he could choose to believe that Sakura really did loose all her chakra, or that he could believe she hid it so well that even he couldn't detect it. Of course Sasuke would never admit that, so he firmly believe that she did loose her chakra. Then it means she really is useless to have around. This could potentially be difficult, but then he made a decision.
A few moments later, Sakura saw Sasuke holding a vile of clear liquid potion in front of her.
"Drink it." He said.
Sakura stared. "What is it going to do?"
His eyes did not allow her to speak any further, so she quickly grabbing onto it and gulped it whole.
"It was poison." Sasuke said.
Sakura coughed and tried to choke it all back out. Sasuke stopped her. "It's already reabsorbed into your bloodstream. You need to come to me for a suppressant every month. Do you understand?"
She yelled at him, "Why are you doing this to me!?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Security."
"You think I would betray you?" Sakura screamed.
"Of course you will. You did once." He patted her her head affectionately, "Memories in which I have, and you forgot."
"It does not matter if I forgot of not-you should not have poisoned me!" Sakura screamed louder.
Sasuke glared at her, and she immediately shuts up.
He then said with a soft and affectionate voice, "Sakura-chan, this is a potion that will dissolve with my cure. You do not have to worry about it at all-in fact, it doesn't show any symptoms at all. You don't need to worry about this, as I will personally deliver the antidote to you every month."
"When do I get a cure!?" Sakura asked, less excited this time.
"When I deem it to be necessary." Sasuke said, giving her a light smile.
Sakura sincerely doesn't know what to say now. All she could do was to try to choke it out, but to no avail, because Sasuke is standing right beside her and glaring down at her. She quickly said, "since you are so untrusting, why do you want me to do this mission? Aren't you afraid that I will double cross you?"
"That's what the spies are for. I didn't say I don't trust you." He said, "then again, there is one thing I discovered about you that was different from the one previous..."
"Which is?" Sakura raised her eyebrow.
"You, are afraid of death." He said, lightly chuckling, "that just made everything so much easier."
Sakura sincerely cannot argue against that. Upon seeing Sasuke waling towards the entrance, she quickly walked behind him. When she took a look back at all those people in white coats and masks, it seemed that they are more robotic than actual living human beings. They did not look at her when she screamed, and none of them looked at Sasuke straight in the eye.
She cannot imagine what kind of horror they have been through under Sasuke's rule, but she has a feeling she's about to find out.
When they are on the streets, Sakura thought about her entire situation, then said, "Sasuke-sama?"
He was a bit astonished at the suffix, but he turned to her and made a single syllable sound, "Mhmm?"
"I want to know..." She phrased her voice very carefully, "...a bit about the me before."
He narrowed his eyes at her.
She quickly waved her arms, "Because you told me I'm going into Konoha, right? They are still very used to the me before. I don't know how should I act. Like, I should know some of my little quirks or habits so I don't break character... unintentionally. You don't want them to be suspicious of me, right?"
He turned back to the road straight ahead and walked without a sound.
She followed quietly, and they continued to walk in silent for around ten minutes until he begin. "You were a very... spirited soul."
She was a little startled, but immediately listened carefully.
"You were always cheerful, happy, positive, and above all, you possessed a very good grasp on medicine." He said.
Sakura rolled her eyes inside. Of course he was going to think this was the most important. "How did we get married?"
He paused a few moments before answering, "love."
She desperately wanted to know more on this subject, "What kind of love? Who loved whom? Did you love me?"
He gave her a look that indicate her to shut up.
She shrinks a little and pouted, "You're not giving me anything to work with here. Am I supposed to just roll with it when I go back? I don't think they are dumb enough to believe it."
Sasuke then decided. "So much has happened that I don't know where to start. Also there is no point in reminiscing if you do not remember. Memory is what shapes a person, and you have a chance to start over. Why would you want to remember?"
She silenced after that.
They went back to his residence, and before he stepped into the massive gates, he stilled and looked up at the air. She followed and there was nothing there. He then frowned and muttered, "it's early."
"What?" Sakura quickly asked.
He pushed the gates open, "There is a guest I would like you to meet, and he will accompany you for the most of your trip."
"What?" Sakura stared.
When they entered the huge yard, Sasuke spoke, "You're early."
And then a voice came, "Better early than late."
"Who are you talking to?" Sakura whispered to Sasuke. "I can't see anything..."
"Show yourself." Sasuke ordered.
And in astonishment, Sakura saw a bright orange and tall figure appearing in front of her. It takes in the appearance of a teenage boy with flaming hair and glowing eyes. He resembles a fox so much, right from the long and narrowed eyes to the whisker marks on his cheeks. He was also very beautiful, in an extreme feminine way. He emits this lazy and luxurious aura that made Sakura stare in awe.
"I'm Kurama." He said, tilting his head and chuckle at her, "I remember you-didn't you-"
"Kyuubi." Sasuke silenced him with a simple word.
"Fine, fine." Kurama raised his hand up and laughed, "I should not say anything. But it's simply too interesting. I heard she lost her memories? I can test if that's true." He then licked his lips and crossed his arms at Sakura.
"I already did." Sasuke said, "It's true. Now, I want you to follow her, and gave her chakra when she needs it. She's going to go back to Konoha and join Naruto."
Kurama smiled wider, "I understand."
Sakura stared, "Sasuke-sama, uh..."
"He won't hurt you." Sasuke said, "Listen to him on where you should go and what you should do. He has excellent instincts. However, trust yours more. I only want you to retrieve something, and then you are relieved of all your duty."
"What is it?"
"It's a book." He replied. "You will be given more information later. For now, go pack."
"You're giving me nothing to work with here." Sakura said in frustration. "You want me to spy, but I don't know what I'm spying for. You want me to go retrieve a book, but I don't even know what it would be. I really want you to at least give me some credit so I can..."
Sasuke's response was, "Well, you have a choice. Either go do this, or stay here forever with me..."
"I'll go pack," Sakura immediately ran into the residence and straight to her room.
II.
There really isn't anything important in her bundle. There are some toiletries and a change of cloth, along with a bit of money. Sakura spent some time identifying the amount and the kanji imprinted on top, then she decided that Sasuke must be very cheap.
She didn't even see Sasuke the next day, because Ryuku, his guard, told her, "Sasuke-sama is currently in a meeting. He told me to instruct you to go ahead with your mission."
She rolled her eyes, and quickly walked out of the gates. And when she did, she saw Kurama walking along side of her.
"Seriously." Kurama said, "are you really going to walk all the way?"
"I don't have any chakra." Sakura said, "I can only walk."
"Then we might take months." Kurama said in a contemptuous voice, "He didn't tell me you are completely useless."
Sakura then said, "I want to smash your head against that wall. For someone so pretty, you can really be annoying."
"It's something you get used to after a couple of centuries." Kurama laughed menacingly, "I could flick my finger at you and you would be dead."
"Why don't you?" Sakura asked while trying very hard not to be impressed with his age.
Kurama could tell that she was impressed, and he ignored that question and smiled, "Do you want some chakra now? I could give you some and you could move way faster than this."
"I don't know how to use it..." Sakura frowned.
"You used to, so you should know." Kurama contemplated, "even for those who lost their memory, there should be a muscle memory or a trigger or something..."
"Mhmm..." Sakura thought about it for a moment. It would be fun to play flash, so she nodded, "Alright, hit me with your best shot."
Kurama snorts, and then grabbed onto her hand for a few seconds.
During these few seconds, Sakura felt an enormous amount of energy suddenly rushes from her hand to her head and to her feet. She felt as if she was on a sugar high and couldn't stand still. Her feet started moving automatically and before she knew it, she was clutching her bag and her feet is making her jump very high up into the air. With each step she felt like a very large toad, jumping forward with incredible speed and height. She was at the edge of the village within a few steps, and as she jumped over the gates, she screamed so loud that it left a deafening trail for the guards. She continued to jump up when she reached a dense forest, with a man made narrow path. She tried very hard to stay on that path as she moves forward along with Kurama beside her. The kyuubi yelled, "Isn't it fun?"
Sakura yelled, "Yes!" And then turned her head to look at him-and she almost tripped because of the shop. Kurama turned into a fox-with nine tails and jumps along side her. He is glowing all over as he went slightly ahead, "Come on! I know your chakra isn't used up yet-give me your best shot!"
Taking a few seconds getting over the fact that he is literally a kyuubi, Sakura bit her lips and decided nothing in this world surprises her anymore. She jumped up as high as she could and moved on forward. She found that this body of hers is quite durable, and far superior from the one that she had.
After about twenty minutes of jumping she could feel her chakra wearing away slowly. She got the hang of it and could maneuver quite easily, "Are you sure we're going to the right direction!?" Sakura yelled.
"Yes! Just keep jumping!" Kyuubi yelled back, "Oh and by the way, I can't appear in front of people, so when we're in public, I will disappear!"
"When will that be?" Sakura was shocked.
"Right about-now!" Kyuubi said, and with a leap, he disappeared in thin air with a puff of smoke. Sakura cursed while feeling that she could only jump around two meters ahead now. She managed to squeezed out a few leaps before her eyes went wide-
Right in front of her, actually, on the side of the road, was a large rock. On the rock there was a leaf symbol imprinted on top. However that was not what was shocking. The shocking thing is-that there was a glass transparent jar-that is stuffed with money. Literally.
She recognize the green bills-because she has two of them in her pocket. Her eyes went into dollars signs immediately, and having came from the world of the 21th century, she quickly stumbled a few steps over and grabbed onto the jar.
"Oh my god." Sakura squealed. "Oh my god!"
She was bout to take another step, but a blade stopped her.
The blade belonged to a nin, actually, and it went right beside her neck. Even when there's a sword on her neck she did not forget about the money, as she grasped onto the jar tightly and already planning on how to spend them-she would like to open a snack shop.
"Haruno?!"
A disbelieving voice came from behind her, and immediately there was another blade on her neck, "Where is the manual? Tell me!"
Sakura stared into a blank eye. It does not have any pupils and it belonged to a exceptionally handsome young man with dark hair.
"What?" She could only utter.
"The manual. It makes sense that you would deliver it. Where is it?" He repeated coldly from his mouth.
"What manual? You must have the wrong person." Sakura clutched on her jar harder.
Neji did not waste any breath. "Search her."
So with the blades still on her neck, Sakura was patted down from top to bottom. They pulled out two pieces of bills, and that was the only paper on her.
"I told you I don't have it!" She yelled at him.
Neji snorted, "Rumour has it that you lost your memory. How did you know there was going to be an exchange?"
Now Sakura finally understood. There was an exchange going on, some sort of manual for this large jar of money. And she accidentally fell into this exchange without knowing about it. She bit her lips and replied calmly, "can you please remove these swords and knives, I am about to be injured. I think I'm bleeding."
Neji did not buy it. He narrowed his eyes, "Speak."
Sakura finally said, "I don't know anything about the exchange! I just walked by!"
"Why did you take the jar?" Neji chased after her sentence.
"Why wouldn't I? It's a jar. Full. Of. Cash!" Sakura yelled.
Neji coughed. "Even when there's so much?"
"I just know I'm going to be rich." Sakura replied.
"Hyuuga-san. She's obvious an idiot." The guy holding the sword on her neck spoke.
"I'm about to die from bleeding out!" Sakura screamed.
"Let her go." Neji said.
And they took the jar of cash with them. Sakura stared after it in sadness.
"Wait!" Sakura quickly yelled, "You can't leave me here, I'm bleeding!"
Neji sneered, "No you're not."
Sakura rubbed her finger on her neck, and as it turns out there weren't even a single drop of blood. However, there is a small indentation, and she pointed at it, "I am injured."
"We're not going to leave you anyways." An average looking nin spoke while holding out a rope, "We're taking you prisoner and back to Konoha. Uchiha Sakura."
Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, therefore she said the only thing on her mind. "I'm hungry-do you have any food?"
They ignored her and tied her hands up, dragging her back to Konoha.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
TBC
A/N: I knocked on my keyboard for a couple of hours and there is the result. I feel so bad for not updating this story and also wanting to procrastinate on my upcoming exam that I created this. This chapter seemed incredible boring to me. I don't know if you guys feel the same way. If you do, please contact me with suggestions or ideas. The length is also a subtle apology for not updating after so long.
As I am roughly drafting the rest of this story, I wanted to make a small... ok, Large, change.
You guys know that the main male protagonist is Uchiha Sasuke. Right now, he is very evil. However, the one directly in contrast with him would be Naruto. It would be too easy, I think, to write about Naruto's character as he is very predictable. He is utterly and completely-good. He would be making very simple and obvious choices. So as I am writing the last part, I thought i should switch the Second Male Protagonist from Naruto to Neji. The latter has more complexity and layer within him. This means he is going to fill the role of Naruto, being an extremely good shinobi and the protector of the village. Naruto is still going to play a role, however, a slightly minor one.
Please let me know what you think ASAP. The sooner I get a response the faster I pump out another chapter.
Lastly-and I ask this as a favor to all my loyal reviewers. Please, please, read my original story in Fiction press. com (no spaces). It's titled "Lilaea", and I worked very hard on it. It's about a girl travelling to the world of Greek myths and fell in love with a God. I will update all my stories, but the lack of reviews on that one made me have doubts on my writing in general. There is no pressure-but thank you for all those who will.
Thank you very much!
