Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN NARUTO.

Sakura just couldn't get Nari and Amaya out of her head. The two twins said that they would come back for them. They had not gotten to fight for very long before they had retreated. And that rain that had appeared once Amaya disappeared and then stopped when she reappeared just didn't sit right with Sakura. Something had been off. Sakura knew that they had retreated because of the wounds Sasuke had inflicted on Nari. But she just couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if the fight had continued instead of being interrupted. She couldn't decide for sure if Amaya was a medic-nin or not yet.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun?" she finally spoke up.

He inclined his head towards her, signaling that he was listening to her.

"I think that there was something off with that rain from yesterday during our battle."

He seemed to take in her words for a moment, and then replied, "Do you think that that girl has some special jutsu?"

Sakura nodded and said, "Yes, I do. I suspect that she has medical training as well… but I'm not for sure yet."

Sasuke watched as she bit her bottom lip and furrowed her brow in concentration. She did that a lot and he didn't think that she even noticed that she did it. Sometimes she would even bite her finger when she was really concentrating. He found it amusing.

Aiko watched them curiously and listened in on their conversation. She was still terrified from the battle that had occurred yesterday. She gazed at the two shinobi in front of her and couldn't help but wonder if they were scared. If they even became frightened at all. They sure didn't show it at all. Maybe shinobi had no fear, Aiko mused.

"….What do you think, Sasuke-kun?"

Aiko had missed some of the conversation because of her thinking. She listened more closely now.

Sasuke's face remained stoic as always and he answered, "I think that you're right, but next time let me deal with the quiet one."

Aiko watched as Sakura's face started to become red with anger. She couldn't understand why Sakura was getting angry over what Sasuke had just said.

Sakura crossed her arms and said, "No, Sasuke. I will handle her."

Both Aiko and Sasuke looked at her because of her lack of using the ever-present suffix.

"You're better matched with the one that I fought, Sakura."

Sakura didn't look at him as she asked icily, "Why? Because she's weaker?"

Aiko gulped and felt the hairs on her body stand up. Right now, she felt as safe as she did in the battle from yesterday. Sasuke didn't seem fazed in the least.

Sakura stopped and so did the others in return. She then turned towards Sasuke and said, "Why don't you just come out and say it, huh? You still think that I'm weak and annoying! I've grown stronger and even your precise sharingan eyes cannot even see it! Well, I got news for you Sasuke! I'm not the same girl that you left behind all those years ago! I've changed!"

Aiko watched the whole exchange in shock. There was so much venom in Sakura's voice that it scared her. Even she, who didn't even know Sakura very well, could hear the hurt that was behind the rage. She looked between the two and could sense so much history there. What had happened?

Sasuke gritted his teeth and met her intense gaze. If he would have been a different man, he would probably have been scared or had some kind of reaction. But of course, he was Sasuke Uchiha. He was starting to get angry as well because she had twisted his words around. He never called her weak, but she was being annoying right at this moment. He could just feel all of her anger and hurt seeping into his pours and he could see it for himself right in her green depths.

It wasn't like he was trying to hurt her or anything… Last time she had gotten hurt fighting that girl, so he didn't want that to happen again. She just would be safer fighting the other one. Why couldn't she just understand that he was trying to protect her for kami's sake?

"Annoying…" he finally said.

Sakura raised her fist to punch him, but instead she was hit in the side with a kunai. She was in too much shock to scream. She just gasped. Aiko did scream though. But Sasuke sprang into action. He went to catch her before she fell and she fell into his arms.

She pushed him away and stood on her own. She held onto her injured side and yelled at Sasuke, "Protect Aiko! I can handle myself!"

He drew his katana and blocked a kunai that was going straight for Aiko. He could sense only one chakra. How had he not sensed it earlier? He glanced at Sakura and she was healing her injury. He cursed himself for being so caught up with fighting with Sakura not to notice the enemy.

He could feel rain falling on him now. He looked at Sakura and saw her running at the chakra signature that they both had sensed. He could hear her yell and then the ground shook beneath him. Aiko clung to the back of his shirt and he tensed.

All of a sudden, he felt his limbs go completely limp and he fell to his knees on the ground. That's when Aiko screamed. The rain was pouring even harder now and they were soaked to the bone. Aiko looked at Sasuke and saw that his sharingan was no longer activated and his eyes looked glazed over, like they weren't really looking at the surroundings that were in front of him. Now she was really starting to let the terror of her situation start to sink in.

In the midst of a punch, Sakura heard the scream. She knew that it was Aiko's. She cursed and Nari landed a blow on her. Sakura flew back and hit a tree. She could feel a couple of her ribs break. She started to heal her wounds as she stood back up and glanced in the direction of Aiko and Sasuke. She saw that Sasuke was sitting on his knees and not moving. Something was wrong. He was in a genjutsu, but how could his sharingan missed it?

Nari chuckled and Sakura turned her attention back to her reluctantly. She fixed a glare on her enemies form and waited for her next move.

"Worried about pretty boy over there?"

Sakura's glare hardened, if that was even possible. Nari didn't seem to notice though. She blew some wavy, black strands of hair out of her face and grinned even wider.

"If I were you, little girl, then I would be worried less about him, and more about yourself," Aiko said as she went for another attack at Sakura.

Sakura was about to counter Nari's attack, but she was struck by some kind of jolt of electricity. It shocked her so bad that it knocked her unconscious to the ground below. Nari grinned evilly.

Sasuke was completely surrounded in darkness. He looked around, but he could not see anything. He tried to scream out loud in frustration, but nothing came out of his lungs. He tried to move, but that didn't work either. He was in a genjutsu, he knew that much. What he didn't know is how he didn't notice it earlier. His sharingan should have noticed it right away. The only thing he could do was curse to himself.

Just when he was going to release himself from the genjutsu, he saw a light in the distance. This time, when he tried to move, he could. He walked towards the light and he was shocked to see who it was when he reached it.

It was a younger version of Sakura. She was crying. When he went to move towards her, he stopped because he saw a younger version of himself walk up towards her. Now that he looked closer, he remembered this day. This had been the first day that he had met Sakura.

Suddenly, he was seeing everything through his younger self. He looked down at her small form that was sobbing. She had her head in her hands and her pink hair was a mess. His keen eyes caught some bruises on her arms.

"Why are you crying?" he felt himself ask.

She tensed and reluctantly looked up at him. He gasped because of her beauty. Her big, apple green eyes were filled with tears. Her heart-shaped face was framed by those pastel pink locks, and her cheeks were stained with tears.

"B-Because they k-keep m-making fun o-of m-me…" she sobbed.

Now he knew where those bruises came from. Who would want to hurt someone like her, or make fun of her? It didn't make sense to him.

"Why do they make fun of you?" he asked.

She sniffled and answered, "B-Because of my f-forehead...they think that it's b-big."

His dark eyes were instantly drawn to the object and he couldn't really tell if it was or not because her hair was covering it. His now small hand was moving the hair out of her face and revealing her forehead before he could even stop himself. He examined it and he looked down at her.

Their eyes instantly met and he felt a jolt go through him. A blush formed on both of their faces and he instantly looked away and took his hand away.

He didn't look at her as he said, "It's not that big, so stop crying."

Her cute face instantly broke out into a smile. He found himself watching how utterly breathtaking it looked. Only one person he knew smiled like that: his mother. It was extremely hard for him to not return one.

The younger Sakura stood up and she bowed in front of him.

She stood back up and greeted cheerily like she hadn't just been crying, "My name is Sakura. Sakura Haruno."

He nodded at her and said in return, "Sasuke Uchiha."

The smile never left her face and he studied it. Her smile was almost the same, except now she sometimes faked it. When she smiled, it was like you could feel all the happiness that she is feeling. This, in turn, made you want to smile as well.

This was the day that he had started to protect her. This was their beginning. She was about to say something to him, but he was sprung back into the darkness. He then proceeded to release the genjutsu from himself and found himself back inside his own body.

He activated his sharingan and stood to his feet as fast as he possibly could. He was still weak from the genjutsu he had just been in. The rain was now gone and he could not sense the enemy anywhere. Aiko was beside him.

His heart stopped when he realized that he could not sense Sakura's chakra as well.

He looked around frantically but he could not find her. He turned to Aiko and asked, "Where is Sakura?"

Aiko's eyes were wide open in fear and she shook her head.

She gulped and mumbled, "I don't know…."

"Dammit!" he yelled.

Sasuke tried in vain again to locate her chakra signature. She was not here. They had kidnapped her. He let out a few more cuss words and started to pace back and forth. How could he let this happen?

Aiko watched him. She could see the worry all over his usually emotionless face. She felt a pang in her chest because she knew that he cared for Sakura. It was so evident. She wondered if Sakura knew….

Sakura groggily opened her eyes and instantly regretted it. She groaned and tried to open them gain. She felt a pain in her ribs and it was getting hard for her to breathe. She had a punctured lung. 'Dammit', she cursed to herself.

She couldn't move. Both her feet and hands were bound by chains that restricted her chakra. She looked around and saw that she was in an old abandoned room of some sort. There wasn't a bed or anything. It was just bare. She was also alone.

She tried to break free, but it just made it even harder for her to breathe. She didn't have any chakra because of the chains.

She heard footsteps coming towards the room she was in. Soon enough, the door was opened and in came a large man and Nari. Sakura glared at them icily.

The man looked at her approvingly and said, "Well, she sure is a pretty one…"

Nari rolled her eyes and said, "Don't let her looks deceive you. She is a kunoichi."

"Where am I? What happened?" Sakura asked.

Nari grinned at her and said, "My lightning hit you, and you are in a place that nobody will ever be able to find you. Unless we want them to…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at her. So the girl had used some kind of jutsu on her? What about Sasuke and Aiko? Were they okay?

Nari seemed to read her mind because she said, "Don't worry… we haven't done anything to them…yet."

Her punctured lung and talking made her start to gasp for air. Her chest was hurting and she knew that this would kill her. She could be lucky and it takes the collapsed lung to kill her in a couple of days, but it will most likely take a few hours. She needed to heal herself.

The big man looked at her and said, "We want Aiko Genji. I have issues with her father."

Sakura barely heard him because she was trying to breathe. Sasuke's face instantly flashed into her mind's eye. She inwardly hoped that he would come to her rescue. She needed him. She needed him to save her.

Nari cracked her knuckles and said, "Now tell us everything that we need to know, or you die."

Sakura gritted her teeth and decided that she was fucking screwed.

"Hate isn't the opposite of love. Indifference is the opposite of love because if you hate, you still care."

So sorry that it took longer than usual to update! I've just started school again and I was (and am) really busy.

I hope you enjoy! And thank you for the reviews! :)