A/N: Yes, the long awaited chapter is here! (bows down to imaginary applause) hehehe. I told you I would update sooner than the last time, but I am aware that is wasn't as soon as many of you would have liked (laughs nervously).
Sometimes, when I review the stats for this story, I get completely blown away with the support it's received throughout its history. Thank you so much everyone… I'm not worthy!
Mitsuki, there's a bit of Itachi in this chapter for you! Yey! Just thought I'd put him in as a treat for you and give him a small part in the plot. Hehe.
Here we go!
Chapter 10 – Slipping control
The room was dark. The only source of light came through the glazed glass of a tiny window high on a wall, providing a ghostly luminescence all over the small chamber. The bed she was sitting on had a thin mattress on it, with no sheets or blankets anywhere. It was placed in a corner, so she could rest her back against the dirty wall while she sat. A small cupboard was the only other object in the room, and the walls and floors seemed like they had never been cleaned, grime and spider webs covering them almost entirely.
If she looked closely, she could swear there was a large stain of what appeared to be dried blood on the floor near one of the walls… and considering who her captor was, it wouldn't have surprised her if it truly was blood. Who knew how many people he had locked up and tortured in this very room.
But Haruno Sakura was not one to break under the psychological pressure Uchiha Sasuke was trying to place on her.
After having lived many years side by side with him, she knew perfectly well how his schemes worked. Now, she had overcome the long time abuse he had put her through and she was not about to fall into old patterns again. She was a strong woman, not a lost little girl like she had been back then. Her experiences had taught her extremely hard lessons but Sakura was a perseverant student, and what she had learned, she had learned for life.
This pink haired girl didn't grovel before anyone and she knew no fear, no matter what her ex-boyfriend threatened her with. This change in attitude hadn't gone unnoticed by Sasuke either and it had infuriated him to no end.
When they had first arrived at the underground complex he was using as a hideout, he had taken her directly to the small room which would serve as her prison. Throwing her in, he closed the door behind him, turning directly towards her with a familiar look in eyes.
It was the look he pinned on her when he planned to get what he wanted and there was nothing she could do to prevent it from happening. More specifically, it was the look he gave her when he forced her to have sex when she, having fallen into a deep and prolonged depression after her parent's death, wasn't in the mood at all.
But this time, instead of a submissive and obedient gaze, dark onyx met fiery and angry emerald, making him hesitate momentarily when he saw that she wasn't about to back down. On the contrary, she was defying him openly and there was no doubt or insecurity behind her solid stare.
However, she had tried to defy him before and it had never lasted for long. Hence, he jumped straight into his usual tactics, knowing that eventually, she would shatter before him.
"Sakura," he whispered passionately in the deadly silence of the room, "I've missed you so much."
He was in for a surprise if he thought his wicked plans were going to work.
"I'm sure you have," she said offhandedly as she turned to survey the room. "This place needs a little maintenance… it could use a good clean." Spotting the bed in the corner as she spoke, she moved towards it, calmly sitting down on the edge of the mattress.
"I guess I'm going to be a guest in this place for a while, so I might as well get comfortable," she finished, as she proceeded to take off her high-heeled sandals, bringing her feet up and sitting crossed legged on the bed, the springs squeaking under her weight.
She could feel his silent anger as if it were a physical touch.
'I'm sure you weren't expecting that, were you?' she thought triumphantly.
Coming forward in a burst of speed, he was in front of her in less than 2 seconds.
"Listen to me," he said harshly, grasping her arms forcefully enough to leave a mark, "you are mine, you have always been mine and you will do as I say."
If anything, the anger in her eyes grew in intensity.
"Don't you see that I'm doing this for us?" he asked, a mad look in his eyes. "Can't you see that we belong together? You belong to me and there's nothing you can do that will change that. It is written in our destinies."
He was talking as if he was trying to make her see reason, but his words were nothing more than the affirmations of a madman.
"Sasuke," she said firmly, vehemence in her voice. "I do not love you anymore… I don't think I ever truly did."
Onyx eyes widened in surprise at her response, having expected the pink haired girl to break into a fit of weeping like she usually did. Anger at her insolence followed quickly after.
But she wasn't finished.
"The last thing I want in this world is to be with you… You have NO power over me."
Eyesight turning red in ire, he let her go and rose in front of her. Before she knew what was happening, he slapped her hard on the side of her face with the back of his hand.
It was the first time he had ever dared to hit her and it stung incredibly. But Sakura clenched her teeth to prevent the tears from flowing. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of seeing her cry.
She knew very well that all he wanted was to break her, to see her weep in misery. He got his pleasure from seeing her suffer, that was how it had always been and it had taken her years to discover it. Never before had he abused her physically, since he preferred to have her willing, to hurt her psychologically and then force her to come crying back into his arms, begging forgiveness for mistakes she had never committed. That was how his perverse and twisted mind worked.
But not this time.
Turning her face towards him, she gave him her most defiant look yet, giving out a cynical chuckle. In an apparent gesture of making herself more comfortable, she moved towards the wall on the opposite side of the bed. Leaning her back against it, she stretched her legs in front of her, anger still in her eyes but looking completely calm with the whole situation.
Giving a rough scream at her antics, Sasuke punched the wall with unimaginable force, causing the already peeling paint to come off where he hit.
Sakura wasn't ruffled in the least.
Breathing heavily, he turned back towards her, his onyx eyes bathed in anger.
"This is all about him, isn't it?" he asked her, derision dripping from his voice.
The pink haired girl looked at him as if she didn't know what he was talking about.
"Sabaku no Gaara," Sasuke said, spitting out every syllable of the name.
Being careful of not giving too much away, Sakura turned her face from him, observing the adjacent wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"This is all his fault," her kidnapper was saying. "He took you away from me and convinced you that he was better than me."
"You can think what you want," she replied, trying to keep Gaara out of the conversation; the last thing she wanted was to put him in danger. "But I was the one who came to the decision that you're no good for me… and you never will be."
But Sasuke appeared not to have heard her. He approached her like a stalking feline, intent on harming her with his words.
"I bet he fucks you better, doesn't he? He rides you all night long and uses you to obtain his nightly dose of pleasure. He overpowers you with his brute strength until you submissively surrender to his whims. I know that's how you like it… I remember. To squirm uselessly underneath a powerful man while he has his way with you. That's how you've always wanted it, isn't it, you little whore?"
How dare he?
How fucking dare he?
"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT!" Sakura screamed, her anger consuming her whole. How dare he mock the love between her and Gaara? How dare he speak of her preferences when he had never in his entire life truly made love to her? It was too much.
Meeting her anger with his own wrath, Sasuke hit the wall again, more forcefully this time.
"And you think you know?" he asked fervently. "Do you truly know Sabaku no Gaara, Sakura? Do you know where he's from? Where he has been?"
"Yes, I know everything about him and I still love him," she replied, voice filled with confidence.
The raven haired man scoffed at her answer. "Then you know how his sponsors would hire countless prostitutes for him as a reward for winning a fight? How he would screw all of them, one after another throughout the whole night?" He made an extremely vulgar gesture as he spoke and Sakura found herself looking away.
"How he consumed large amounts of booze and wasted away under the effects of drugs when he wasn't with fucking a hooker? Did you know all that? Why do you think he was so unstable?"
She knew he was bluffing. He was trying to plant a seed of doubt in her mind so she would turn from Gaara and run to him. He was trying to bring down the foundations of her confidence, of her inner strength. When it came to torturing a victim with words, he was incredibly cunning. But he wasn't counting on the unbreakable bond between Sakura and her lover.
After having confessed about his past to her that day to her in bed, they talked about it often afterwards. Gaara had told her how he was forced to be part of the decadence accompanying the illegal fighting world and how he was forced to create a barrier of loathing and unpredictable violence to keep a safe distance from it all. The problem was, he was consumed by his own defence and at one point, it became his way of dealing with the entire world.
"And that's not all," Sasuke was saying, "did he ever tell you about all the men he killed with his bare hands? All the lives he took during his fights? He's a murderer Sakura, a malicious killer who only did it for the money."
"You're one to talk," she replied, regaining her calm as she drew strength from the clear image of Gaara's determined eyes in her mind. "Look who's gone all ethical all of a sudden, when he has lived his whole life killing people as a lucrative venture! Who was the one who sold his soul to Orochimaru so he could have more power?"
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, punching the wall a third time, eliciting a crack in the weakened concrete.
For once, Sakura did what she told him, since she knew he was already reaching dangerous levels. When he got all worked up like this, he became incredibly unstable and would be capable of anything. She continued to examine the wall next to her, hiding under her perfected pretence of calm.
"Since you desire to defend him so much, why don't I extend him an invitation?" he said, a wild look in his eyes as a plan started to form in his mind. "Then I'll be able to show you how useless he is and how I am superior to him in all ways."
Turning abruptly on his heels, he made his way towards the door, completely immersed in his thoughts. Even if Sakura had wanted to rebuke his statement, he wouldn't have heard her. Closing the heavy door behind him with a loud noise, Sasuke left her alone.
The incident had taken place around four days ago and she hadn't seen him since. She assumed he was busy with whatever wicked scheme he was planning and she prayed for Gaara's safety. It hadn't been her intention to involve him in any of this, but it was entirely too late.
Knowing how possessive her red-head lover was, she knew he was probably going insane as a result of her kidnapping. She knew she had promised him that everything would be alright and she had promised herself that she wouldn't get into any dangerous situations for his sake. But her promises had been in vain and she could clearly see an image of Gaara losing his control in her mind, threatening the people around him in an attempt to find her.
How she wished for this whole thing to be over. And over it would be, she was sure of that. Gaara and Naruto would not rest until she was found and back in their care. But she also knew they wouldn't rest until Sasuke was eliminated. Her red-head would never let him live after what he had done and Sakura was sure he would have no second thoughts about ending his life with his own hands. They would have an inevitable confrontation and she could only pray for Gaara to emerge safe and alive after it.
Sighing deeply as she looked up at the wasted ceiling, she heard footsteps coming down the hall. As she listened closely, she knew it was time for her meagre lunch.
The door opened as if on cue and in stepped the tall man who had been feeding her twice a day during this whole time. He had the same dark hair and the same malicious eyes as Sasuke. Even though they hadn't spoken at all, she recognized him as Itachi, Sasuke's long lost brother.
She knew very little about her ex-boyfriend's past since he talked very seldom about it. But from what she had been able to discern, he had an older brother, a person who he hated with his entire heart and soul. At one point, in a moment of bizarre openness, Sasuke had told her he hadn't seen his brother since he was five years old but that if he ever saw him again, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
Now, it seemed the two brothers were working together, ruling over the underground world of terrorism they were surely involved in. When they had met up again along the way was clear and what had caused them to team up was even more indiscernible.
In truth, she didn't give a shit. They could both go to hell for all she cared. They were wicked men and she didn't want to have anything to do with either of them.
Itachi approached the bed hastily, as if wanting to be done with this task. Placing the tray he carried on the bed, he methodically picked up the dishes from her last meal and without even looking at her, he turned round and walked out the door.
As she heard his footsteps fade, Sakura looked down at the meal on the mattress. It was the same gruel she had been eating the past few days, accompanied by a stale piece of bread and a glass of suspiciously dirty water. Knowing she needed to feed her body something, she forced herself to approach the tray and commenced the trying task of keeping her food down.
Looking up at the small window as she chewed, she thought of Gaara and proceeded to lose herself in fantasies of being safe in the embrace of his strong arms.
XXXXXXXX
As he waited for Naruto, Gaara stalked the training area of the dojo like a caged tiger. They had agreed to meet up to train at Konoha's Shidokan, planning on honing each other's skills for the upcoming confrontation. The red head's tension had been accumulating to extremely perilous levels for the last few days and he needed to let out some steam.
His obsessive mind was driving him crazy, playing all the possible scenes Sakura could be facing. Torturing himself, he imagined that insane bastard touching her, hurting her, hitting her… trying to force her so he could have his way with her. His stomach contracted as his ire constantly engulfed him, flooding him with a permanent feeling of nausea. But try as he might, he just couldn't stop thinking about her and the predicament she was in, making him want to use his own hands to destroy anything he found in his path.
As the days, hours and minutes passed, Gaara felt his control slipping more and more. But he knew he needed to stay focused, he needed to keep his act together or else he wouldn't be of any use to her. This wasn't like all the times he had fought for the mafia, where he could lose his rational mind completely and focus only on annihilating his opponent. It was necessary for him to think straight this time, since Sakura's well being was his top priority… but it was just so difficult not to give his anger free reign… it was so hard not to let the dark side of his being take over, the side which would break Sasuke's neck with his bare hands without any hesitation.
As Gaara was immersing himself in yet another fantasy of ripping his enemy limb by limb, Naruto walked into the dojo, already wearing his Shidokan uniform. Stopping abruptly at the tormented look on his friend's face, the foxboy took in a deep breath, trying to find the inner strength to offer him some sort of comfort. The truth was, he was already enough on edge with the whole incident and was worried sick over Sakura himself. But with Gaara's history, it was clear that he had taken the worst blow of all and his sanity was slowly slipping away.
Knowing it was a doubled-edge weapon, the blond walked up to his friend, not caring if the red head ended up beating the crap out of him. When it came to Sabaku no Gaara, violence was sometimes the only resource you could turn to.
Without waiting for the other man to turn completely towards him, Naruto sent a vicious punch towards his face, sending the red head flying partially across the room, only to land with a loud thud on the wooden floor some distance away.
The blond grimaced as he massaged his knuckles... it was one of the most powerful blows he had ever delivered in his life, but he knew that it had been a necessary action. He couldn't afford to lose his friend, not before they even attempted to rescue Sakura. He needed Gaara to face Sasuke with a clear mind, or else, the raven haired psycho would have too much of an advantage over him.
Confused jade eyes stared at him for a second as the red head tried to regain his bearings. The blow had effectively ripped his mind from whatever blood thirsty images he had been contemplating and he was left feeling slightly disoriented. Once he realized who it was that was standing nearby, the red head's eyes darkened dangerously.
"Listen up, baka!" Naruto exclaimed, not wanting to give his friend the chance to retaliate with an attack of his own. He had some important things to say, and damn it, Gaara's instability would not get in the way… not this time.
"You'll be facing that bastard tomorrow and we'll be getting Sakura back once you're done… I'm certain of that. But it's the way you approach the fight that's the problem."
The red head was about to retort angrily, but the intense look in Naruto's blue eyes held him back. It was a look Gaara had seen very few times before… it was determination, anger and willpower all mixed into one. It was the stare with which the blond had defeated him with all those years ago and Gaara was smart enough to let him continue with what he had to say.
"I know you want to get in there and rip his arms with your bare hands and make him suffer to his last breath. That's fine, I have absolutely no problem with that. But things are slightly more complicated."
By then, the red head had stood up and was listening to his friend speak, eyes narrowing in concentration as he took in what Naruto was saying.
"Sasuke is choosing the battle ground, which means he will definitely have all the advantage and it's painfully obvious that he's planning something. Even if you beat him, he won't be handing Sakura over very peacefully…"
Gaara jade eyes shot towards Naruto abruptly, his quick thinking mind catching up with his friend's unfinished sentence.
"He plans to kill her," he said, his voice darkening with a rage so intense he felt his eye sight darkening.
Sighing loudly, the blond continued to explain things. "Yes he does. If you beat him or even if you kill him, his henchmen will do the deed for him. You have to understand Gaara, Sakura is Sasuke's obsession. His fucked up mind has always seen her as his possession and if he can't have her, no one can… and especially not you. He would rather kill her than to know that she will end up in another man's arms."
Screaming angrily, the red head punched the wall forcefully, splitting the wood from the impact.
"Fucker!" he shouted furiously, his temper reaching extremely dangerous levels.
"Calm down!" Naruto exclaimed harshly, trying to regain control of the situation. "You won't do her any good if you lose your mind before you even attempt to get her back."
The red head looked back at his friend, green eyes reflecting the inner torment he was suffering due to this whole situation. Gaara was fighting for control but it wasn't clear if he could keep it up for much longer.
"I didn't tell you all that so you could worry yourself sick," the blond said, a devilish grin on his face. "Actually, I came here to let you know that we have a plan."
"We?" Gaara asked suspiciously.
"Yes, we," an arrogant female voice came from the doorway of the training hall. As the red head looked up in its direction, he was completely caught by surprise when he saw his sister and brother standing next to his whole Shidokan Team.
"You're so stubborn, little brother," Temari said. "You always think you need to solve things by yourself and you never acknowledge the fact that sometimes, you do need other people's help."
Gaara narrowed his eyes further at the chiding tone in his sister's voice, but the woman was far from being intimidated.
"You seem to keep forgetting that you weren't the only one who grew up on the streets," Kankurou told him, throwing a mischievous grin Temari's way.
"Exactly!" Naruto cut in, chuckling in anticipation. "You see Gaara, I had a talk with your siblings and it turns out that they have an extremely well-informed network at their disposal and have connections even in the darkest parts of the 'underground' world. They're even better than Konoha's Police department!"
The red head looked them over and suddenly realized that Naruto was right. Kankurou had been the leader of a notorious gang which had wandered the worst streets of their part of town and Temari… well, he wasn't even sure of all the things she had done in her younger days, but it was clear that she was more than just a mere a survivor.
Angry at himself for not thinking to turn to his own brother and sister, Gaara swallowed his wrath enough to openly admit his gratefulness at the fact that Naruto had brought them here. It seemed he would owe his blond friend an even greater debt.
"Now, we managed to investigate enough to know exactly where Sasuke will be holding your fight," the foxboy was saying, "and I'm sure you won't be too happy with it."
"Where?" the red head asked darkly.
"Karuso's warehouse," Kankurou answered him, a grim look on his face.
Gaara knew the place well. It consisted of an abandoned conglomeration of warehouses located on the outskirts of the city. It was a favourite spot for all types of illegal confrontations, boxing, bare-knuckled and even dog fights. The red head remembered it well, since it was at this particular location where he had taken the life of another man with his bare hands one night, after a particular vicious encounter.
But there was no point in thinking over that now.
"He's going to force you to go back to your old territory," Temari said, her disgust for Sasuke reflected clearly in her voice. "And apparently, he's making a big deal out of it and he's been promoting it around in all the right circles."
"What?" the red head asked brusquely.
"He's been going around saying that this is to be your 'big comeback' or something along the lines of that, and all the mafia bosses you used to fight for are seemingly more than happy to bet at the event."
"Bastard," Gaara said, his anger returning once more as he fisted his hands at his sides. "He's going to make it a fucking public event so we can't get to Sakura so easily."
"Precisely," Naruto said, "and that's where the rest of us come in."
With that, Neji, Tenten, Lee and Shino walked forward.
"We'll be attending the event under disguise and we plan on getting close to Sakura while you're fighting Sasuke," Neji explained. "Temari and Kankurou have provided us with a detailed description of the warehouse, including the hidden rooms in the basement."
"Everyone will be concentrating on your fight, which will be enough of a distraction for us to look for her and get her to safety," Shino added, his voice serious.
"Naruto will be down on the floor with you," Neji continued, "We'll have constant communication with him through some microphones Shikamaru is more than willing to provide."
"See, that's the reason why you can't kick his ass too fast," Naruto said, his grin covering his face. "We need you to buy us some time so we can get a hold of your pink haired lady. Sasuke thinks that making the fight a big event will work to his advantage, but we're going to turn the tables on him. I bet he doesn't even expect for us to make such a move. So, once we have Sakura safely in our hands, you have all our permission to kick the fucker's ass."
"And once you do, Shikamaru's men will be waiting outside, waiting for our signal so they can move in and arrest everyone inside after we get out," Tenten added with a wicked tone.
Gaara answered her with an evil grin of his own, as the amazement of everything that had just happened overpowered him. He had just witnessed an unprecedented event, where the people he considered to be the most important in his life had come together in a motion to lend him a hand… to help him get his girl back. If his anger hadn't been so elevated due to the circumstances, he would have been easily overwhelmed by the unreserved support all of them were giving him.
They all looked at him as if expecting his assent to go on with the plan, a charged silence filling up the training hall.
"So, you're telling me that I can do what I want once you have Sakura with you?" he asked intensely.
"Yes we are," Naruto answered with a chuckle. "We're giving you permission to 'lose it' as much as you want."
The malicious smile on Gaara's face grew even more and was equally matched by the blood thirsty look in his jade eyes. "Let's do it."
"YOSH!" Lee exclaimed, shaking his fist at no one in particular. "Konoha's Shidokan is on a mission to save the beautiful Haruno Sakura! Team, we must do our best!"
As Tenten rolled her eyes at the antics of the 'Green Beast', Naruto cheered him on, agreeing completely with his enthusiasm.
"We should train," the blond said, returning his attention to Gaara once more.
"That was the initial reason why I can here," the red head answered him sarcastically.
"Let's go then!" Lee replied, as he jumped towards Gaara and sent a kick flying in his direction without any warning.
Thanks to years of skill honing, the red head managed to dodge the hit at the last second and went straight into an offence stance, sending a couple of kicks of his own in Lee's direction.
"Let's see how you do when it's two against one!" Naruto exclaimed, as he stepped earnestly into the fray.
As both of his team mates launched themselves at him at the same time, Gaara lost himself in the rush of the fight, banishing all doubts from his mind. He had his friends' support and they would accompany him to the end, a scenario he would have never thought possible earlier in his life. Anchoring his confidence in this solid belief, he let himself go and concentrated only on his movements and technique.
Sakura would be with him soon… there was absolutely no doubt about that.
XXXXXXXX
Early the next morning, Gaara found the expected blank envelope by the front door of Sakura's apartment. Inside his mind, he wished he would've stayed up all night just so he would have been able to catch the bastard who had slid the envelope under the door. But it was useless to think about these types of things… he needed to concentrate on the matters at hand.
As both his siblings had informed, Sasuke planned on holding their fight at the abandoned warehouse and he was letting the red head know the time he needed to show up. The fight would be taking place late this night, at precisely 2am. It was the typical hour for this type of illegal activities to be held and it didn't surprise Gaara in the least, since he already knew that the Uchiha was spreading the news of their encounter.
It didn't sit very well with Gaara in the least to know that he would be forced to go back to his 'roots'… not when this fight meant everything to him in this world. He knew exactly who would be attending the fight, and if he closed his eyes and concentrated a little, he could even see the leaders of the different mafia groups sitting in their preferred order at the edge of the arena.
The emotions of despair and blind rage flooded his being as the thought triggered all different types of memories in his mind. He saw his hands stained with the blood of his adversaries as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. He could clearly remember the feeling of breaking bone under his fist as he battered his opponent to a pulp, sending him to the floor, completely unconscious. He remembered the emotional detachment with which he brought down his challengers, injuring them and maiming them like if they were rag dolls… young men who were probably just as desperate to achieve a better life as he was.
Gaara had never allowed himself to think of them as nothing else but obstacles. They were between him and the money he needed to buy food for his siblings. He needed to defeat them, or else, his family would starve to death. With this thought in mind, he brought them down and he did so with such viciousness that it was inevitable for him to obtain reputation as the best bare-knuckled fighter in the 'illegitimate league'.
In truth, he fought so fiercely because his life, and that of his brother and sister, hung on his victories. Desperation drove him to excel and his employers knew this very well… they knew it and they exploited it. Turning him into an instinctive killing machine, they made tons of money, of which Gaara saw only a small percentage. But in those moments, he didn't care how much he received as long as it was enough to feed his family.
He shook his head fiercely, vanishing such thoughts from his mind. It did him no good to re-live such times; they only brought desolation and anguish with them. Gaara needed to concentrate on saving the love of his life, the woman who had brought so much happiness and light into his existence.
Before he had met Sakura, Gaara's life had improved considerably but he had always felt there was something missing to make his rise from misery complete. His pink haired beauty had provided just that and had taught him the joys of sharing and of caring for someone else at an unimaginably intimate level. The red head had been helpless to prevent the bonds of love which formed between them and in all honesty, he relished in them. He may not be the most assertive person on the face of the planet, but he would be damned indeed if he didn't try to make Sakura happy in his own way. And make her happy he would, especially after all she had inadvertently given him and taught him…
Beating the crap out of Sasuke was the least he could do for her.
Picking the phone up, Gaara called Naruto and informed him of the letter he had received. The blond promised he would let the others know at what time they would need to leave. The rest of their team, along with Kankurou and Temari, would arrive separately to avoid any suspicions and would meet once they were inside the warehouse and among the crowd. From there, they would split into teams to search for Sakura and would be communicating constantly.
The red head would be arriving with the foxboy so that their plans wouldn't be apparent. Naruto would stay by Gaara's side at all times, even throughout the fight so that the moment Sakura was found, the red head would be free to do as he pleased.
The blond agreed to meet with Gaara for a final training session but after that, he prompted his friend to get some rest, since he would definitely need it for the coming events of the night.
The red head knew he would probably not be able to sit still for the rest of the day, but he understood the wisdom behind Naruto's words. He needed to be in top shape to face Sasuke, since he wouldn't be an easy opponent to beat. The Uchiha had an equal experience in martial arts as Gaara had and would probably have an advantage after seeing the red head fight in the Shidokan tournament a short time before.
No one had actually seen Sasuke fight in years, but being the former best friend of the bastard, Naruto was confident that he knew what to expect. Sasuke was extremely dedicated and disciplined when it came to becoming the strongest, therefore, his strength and speed would be something Gaara would have to contend with. Not only that, but knowing the devious way in which his mind worked, Sasuke would definitely not fight fair, especially with Sakura in between. He would do everything in his power to vanquish Gaara and to humiliate him, showing his superiority as a result.
But it seemed that the Uchiha was forgetting something… the red head was completely used to this type of fight, used to opponents fighting unfairly. Gaara had experienced every trick in the book, from the concealment of knifes inside their clothing to hiding needles inside their mouths. He knew what to expect, and Sasuke would do good not to underestimate him.
Putting on a sweater as he left Sakura's apartment, Gaara left to meet up with Naruto for their last sparring session. Adrenaline rushed through his body and he needed to calm down enough so he wouldn't be exhausted for tonight's fight. As he rode the elevator to the ground floor, his thoughts turned to his love and he wondered how she was doing for the umpteenth time.
XXXXXXXX
They had drugged her food, she was sure of it. It was the only reason to explain the feelings of numbness and disorientation thrumming through her body. Try as she might, she couldn't get herself to rise from the dirty bed and every time she attempted to shift even a little, her vision would blur up completely.
Sakura heard the hinges of her cell door opening as if they were coming from a very long distance. Heavy footsteps came towards her, but she couldn't really tell how near the person was.
"Is she out yet?" a raspy voice asked. She recognised the speaker, a grey-skinned individual who had been taking turns with Itachi to feed her.
"Apparently not," Sasuke's brother answered snidely, "it seems she's going to need a little help. I'm tired of my brother's nonsense. I'm going to get this whole thing over with."
The pink haired girl felt a pair of strong hands lift her up abruptly and forced her into a sitting position on the mattress. In front of her hazy eyes, she could barely make out Itachi's face even though he was right in front of her.
"She's apparently resilient to this drug," he said, irritation in his voice. "We'll use a more practical method."
And with that, Sakura saw him raise his arm and through her numbed senses, she barely felt him strike the base of her skull just before everything went black.
She shifted between a land of greyness and fog, as if she were hanging in between the worlds. Bizarre visions filled her mind and deep down inside, she knew these were the effects of the drug she had been given, but could do nothing but feel extremely disturbed by these induced dreams. Nothing made sense yet she understood what was happening as she ran down a dark endless corridor filled with locked doors. There was no way out wherever she looked and she could clearly hear Gaara's voice on the other side of one of the doors. She banged on it with all her might, but he didn't seem to hear her.
Behind another door she heard Naruto and Hinata, they were talking in whispers and she could barely hear what they were saying. A sense of dread came towards her from the direction she had come from and she found herself running for her life down the corridor… she ran and ran until she tired herself out.
But whatever was chasing her caught up with her.
She suddenly recognised the events of the dream when she felt a pair of hands surround her throat and she knew it was the same nightmare she had had the day she had received her first death threat. A person with a dark, evil face was trying to strangle her and a feeling of hopelessness overwhelmed her, just like it had before. She had no option but to allow herself to be killed, or else, the people she loved would be in danger.
A splash of icy cold water on her face brought her abruptly back into consciousness, her body utterly shaken by the unexpected transition. Her teeth started clattering and she didn't know if it was from the chill of the water or from the dreams she had just experienced. She was lying on a hard dirty floor and she sat up suddenly in an attempt to get her bearings.
"Good, you're awake now," she heard a man she had never seen before say. He was a large man, his shoulders twice as thick as Naruto's and his neck basically bulged from the corded muscles it possessed. He looked more like a bull than anything else, and like all of the people she had had contact with for the last few days, he didn't seem the least bit friendly.
"I don't think anyone's told you, but Sasuke is going to fight your supposed lover in a few minutes. He's going to beat the shit out of him and you'll be able to see him go down with your own pretty green eyes," he told her with an evil chuckle.
Sakura's mind reeled at the information and she tried to focus through the pounding head ache thrumming through her temples.
Gaara was fighting Sasuke? How could this be? What the hell was going on?
"Where are we?" she managed to say, her voice raspy from disuse.
"We're in the city," he said, "at a place your boyfriend is extremely familiar with,"
'Gaara has been here?' she thought, her mind still hazy from her drug induced sleep.
As the world started to focus once more, she started to perceive things a little bit better. She could clearly hear some loud sounds now, as if there was a large crowd on top of her. Looking up at the ceiling, she realized she was in some sort of basement and apparently, there was a large gathering of people somewhere nearby.
"It's time to go," her guard told her harshly, as he picked her up by the arm and dragged her out of the room.
Her mind was trying very hard to recover, but it was still extremely sluggish and most things seemed completely illogical. Why would Gaara fight Sasuke at a place he was familiar with? Try as she might, these events were just not making any sense.
The large man took her down a corridor and up a flight up stairs. The more they climbed, the louder the crowd sounded. Finally, they reached a pair of doubled doors at the top of the steps and her captor opened them easily with just one hand.
The burst of noise hit her face directly and made her lose her balance. She maintained her equilibrium thanks to the hold the bull man had on her arm and he forced her to move quickly towards a place to their left.
Opening her eyes widely, Sakura forced herself to concentrate. Luckily, the effects of the drug were already wearing down and she started to regain her senses once more. She found herself inside a very large warehouse with large halogen lights hanging from the ceiling. There were some medium sized stands arranged around the four sides of an arena and from what she could tell, they were completely full. There wasn't a single space left anywhere and she wondered what all the fuss was about.
But it all suddenly clicked.
'Gaara is fighting Sasuke!" she thought desperately in realization.
That was it. Her ex-boyfriend must have challenged Gaara after she had opened her big mouth and they were now at an illegal fight arena where the confrontation would take place. Her red head had probably been here before in his bare-knuckled fighting days, that's why he was familiar with it. That's what Sasuke meant when he said he would be extending Gaara an invitation.
Looking around desperately as she tried to find her lover among the throngs of people, Sakura failed to realize that her guard was taking her towards a platform situated in the middle of one of the stands. By the time they reached it, she was forced to climb on top of it, only to be met by Uchiha Sasuke.
"I want you to see this with your own eyes," he told her as he grabbed her chin and forced her to look directly at him. "This way you'll see how infinitely superior I am to Sabaku no Gaara, in every single aspect."
Anxiety ran through her and she cursed the day her life had crossed paths with Sasuke. No matter what she did now, there was no stopping the fight. She would've offered herself a thousand times to her ex-lover only to prevent Gaara from being hurt… from returning to one of the places he had tried so hard to leave in the first place.
"She's a tricky one, Hajime," Sasuke was telling the large man beside her. "Make sure you tie her up. We don't want her going anywhere while I'm fighting."
Grunting in agreement, the bull man brought out a piece of rough rope from out of nowhere and tied Sakura's hands and feet. He forced her into a kneeling position at the edge of the platform facing the arena, placing her joined hands on her lap brusquely.
"I want you to watch every single punch I give him," Sasuke whispered in her ear as he kneeled momentarily beside her. "I want you to see him fall, his life blood leaving his body as he tumbles to the ground…"
But as she kneeled there, unshed tears pooling in her eyes, and image of Gaara's determined face entered her mind. Once more, she saw him standing alone in the middle of a similar arena, his blood battered form towering above a fallen opponent.
He had gone through worse than this and had faced hundreds of adversaries in similar conditions. As much as they both hated to admit it, bare-knuckled fighting had made him the person he was, had provided him with a cold calculating personality which could overcome any obstacle placed in its way. Years ago, he had thrived in this type of environment and he was willing to return to it for her sake.
She knew he was making a large sacrifice for her and it wouldn't be in vain.
Sakura trusted her lover… trusted him with all her heart and soul. He would fight this night, like he had many other times, and he would emerge the victor once again.
Turning her face towards Sasuke, she looked straight into his dark eyes.
"You are no match for him" she told him, her confidence returning ten fold when she heard the words spoken out loud.
His expression twisting in anger, Sasuke stood up abruptly and walked over to the other side of the platform. Itachi and the grey-skinned man were sitting there on some chairs, looking like this was the most boring event of their lives.
"Watch over her," Sasuke told his older brother.
"Are you giving me orders?" Itachi said, a challenge in his voice.
Black locked with onyx in a contest of wills.
"Never forget, little brother," Itachi said dangerously, "that it was my decision to let you tag along with me and Kisame. We can leave you to your own means on a whim."
Sasuke looked like he was about to retort something, but the announcer of the fight chose that moment to take up the microphone.
The fight was about to begin.
XXXXXXXXX
Neji watched with troubled silver eyes as a large thug dragged Sakura to the platform on an adjacent stand. He saw Sasuke talk to her and he was not at all pleased when the pink haired girl was tied up.
"What do we do now?" Tenten asked, her face covered partially by the hood she was wearing. The couple were sitting in the middle of one of the stands and were waiting for the fight to being so they could look for Sakura. Their search had been cut short, however, when the pink haired girl had been brought out in plain view.
This made things much more difficult. With their goal kneeling in clear sight of everyone attending the illegal event, they couldn't hope to get to her stealthily and to take her away without anyone noticing.
Lee and Shino were out there somewhere too, as were Kankurou and Temari. The four of them were now also aware of their predicament and would have to change their tactics completely. The two men and the large brute on the platform with Sakura would evidently be a problem. They couldn't possible attempt to reach her without taking them down as well.
"We will have to engage them," Neji said, seeing no apparent way out of the situation. "We will have to distract those three men while one of us takes Sakura away."
She hated to admit it, but Tenten knew that Neji was right.
"What's the signal?" she asked.
"We'll wait for a moment when Gaara knocks Sasuke to the floor… then we make our move. He probably has security all over the building and we need to prevent him from giving any orders."
Nodding in agreement, Tenten spoke softly into the microphone attached under her shirt, letting their team mates know what the plan was. As if on cue, the couple saw one of the people underneath the platform raise their head to look directly at them.
It was Temari and she was sitting directly beneath Sakura, an arm's length away.
"Good, now we know who's in charge of getting her to safety," Neji said. "Now we wait."
In an attempt to calm her nervousness, Tenten reached out towards him and took his hand. Neji squeezed back, giving her all the comfort she needed with the simple gesture. Silently, both of them waited for the fight to commence, their eyes never leaving the lonely figure of the pink haired girl kneeling miserably on the platform.
XXXXXXXX
"Time to go," Naruto told Gaara solemnly.
They were sitting in one of the warehouse's 'changing rooms'. It was a courtesy given to Gaara by one of his former employees, as if trying to buy the red head into his favour again. His plan would never work, however, since the ex-fighter only had one thing in his mind this night.
Sakura
Speaking her name inside his mind, he stood up from the bench where he was sitting, facing his blond friend. He had been lost in deep contemplation as they waited for the fight to be announced, mentally focusing on the moves and techniques he had been practising for much of his life.
He would be fighting shirtless and shoeless, with bandages tied round his hands, as was his trademark way of approaching a bare-knuckled fight. Wearing only the black trousers of his Shidokan uniform, Gaara made his way to the door, Naruto walking next to him.
"Kick his ass for me," Naruto told him, his face completely serious.
"I'll do just that," Gaara replied and the blond grasped him affectionately on the shoulder.
"It's show time!" he said, a devilish grin on his face and he proceeded to open the door for his red headed friend to walk through.
"And returning after many years of absence," the announcer was shouting as he gestured widely with his arms in the middle of the arena, "is none other than the notorious fighting machine, Gaara!"
The crowd cheered as they saw the red head approach slowly.
But Gaara's attention wasn't focused on the announcer or the crowd… his jade eyes looked straight ahead and found the vision of his dreams kneeling on a platform directly in front of him.
It felt like if entire centuries had passed since he had last seen her.
Relief washed through him when he saw that she was alright. Her face was haggard and worn, her face showing some signs of bruising… but apart from that, she was fine. She was alive and she was here, waiting for him.
At the mention of his name, Sakura had looked up to see him walk in and Gaara could see tears streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly. He wanted nothing more than to run up to her and kiss her while taking her in his arms.
But that would have to wait, for the red head saw the cause of his all-consuming wrath standing beside her.
Uchiha Sasuke.
The raven haired man was standing there casually, a look of utter contempt on his face.
Rage uncoiled itself from the pit of Gaara's stomach and made its way up his body like a monster unleashed, tensing his muscles as its raw power flowed through his veins. The red head welcomed his ire… it was an old friend which had never failed him before. His fury added unimaginable strength to his attacks and he felt his rational mind slipping as he contemplated all the ways in which he would make Sasuke suffer.
'Not yet' he reminded himself and kept his anger in check… just barely. With Sakura right in front of everyone, he knew his team mates would have to change strategies and he would have to buy them even more time so they could work things out.
But as Sasuke came down from the platform and approached the arena, the red head realized that the time he could give them wouldn't be a lot. He honestly didn't know how much he would be able to control himself.
The moment of their fight had come and Gaara's wish of taking Sasuke's life with his own hands was finally about to come true.
Yes, I know, I didn't make it to the fight scene in this chapter! (dodges randomly thrown items by infuriated readers). The thing is, if I kept going, this chapter would've been way too long, so, I decided to end it here.
Coming up next: Gaara in full Shukaku mode! Haha. I'm really looking forward to writing this part, since I really like to write fight scenes.
Read and review, people!