Sorry for leaving you all hanging with the last chapter. Haha. No I'm not.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Chapter Ten: Catatonic

Kakashi's eyes closed… he had to block it all out… the sight… the sounds. He concentrated on something else – his chakra. 'Yes…do something for fuck's sake.' He concentrated all his chakra to his right hand until it became a visible mass of power. It was wild, and uncontrolled… streams of it spitting out from all sides. It quickly fizzed out though. He couldn't use Chidori. He couldn't move. He couldn't stop this.

It was the fourth time he'd tried to use it. 'I can't risk trying again. I'll knock myself out, and I have to stay awake.' As much as he would have liked to lose consciousness so he wouldn't have to witness what was happening in front of him – he couldn't do that to her. He couldn't allow himself to drift at a time like this. He heard the distinct sound of skin on skin impact and his eyes snapped up to see Goro slapping Sakura repeatedly. Kakashi involuntarily threw himself forward, pulling with all his strength against the chains that bound him to the wall. Though he knew he wouldn't be able to free himself, he kept pulling with all his force. He felt his arm pop out of its socket, but he kept struggling. Someone beside him smacked him to the ground, and he growled. He heard Sakura scream.

"Stop it! Don't hurt him; please!"

Jiro put a hand on Goro's shoulder, who reluctantly climbed off of her. "Alright, girl… we'll give you a choice. Either you stay here, and we can let him go… or you can go, but he has to stay here."

The answer came almost immediately. "Let him go…"

"No! Sakura, just go!" Kakashi yelled back. "I won't let you do this!"

Jiro laughed loudly, "I was just kidding." He trailed the tip of his kunai up her right arm, watching the skin split and the blood gush out… then he drove it deep into the palm of her hand, through the bandages she'd already had, and into the table on the other side. She bit back the pain, trying her hardest not to scream but let out a whimper anyway. Kakashi jumped forward again; pain searing in his dislocated arm. Goro chuckled softly before climbing on top of her again.

It was four hours before the group had left the two of them alone in the cell. Sakura was left barely conscious, but drugged so that she would not fall asleep. Kakashi was unblinking and silent. Before Goro left the cell, he stuck a syringe into Kakashi's neck and told him if he tried to mold chakra, he would activate the poison and would quickly die. Kakashi wondered if Goro really thought he cared at this point.

Sakura found her voice again. "It's not your fault…"

Kakashi didn't respond. He couldn't even look at her scarred body now. He couldn't look into her torn eyes. She stared at him for a long time; tears running down her face.

'He's disgusted with me…'

They were held there for another three days and nights. Almost all of Sakura's ribs had been broken… her pelvis was cracked somewhere. She had a dislocated hip, and multiple stab wounds on her limbs. Kakashi barely had a scratch on him, but for a couple of bumps and his dislocated arm. That was intentional. They'd kept him pretty much unharmed but still unable to help – saturating his body with paralyzing drugs at times, but other times just leaving him exhausted and chained to the wall.

On the fourth night, Jiro came with only Goro to accompany him. He carried the usual two syringes with him. The first one pulled Sakura out of her catatonic and blind state, and the second one made her unable to move but heightened all of her senses. She could see his grinning face – she could smell his stench and the stench of her own blood and other bodily fluids. She could feel what he was doing to her. All of this, ten times more than any normal human being. It was tormenting. Kakashi wasn't drugged this time… he could mold chakra but couldn't make seals or do anything but sit there. He never took his eyes away from the scene, but his mind often drifted to some dark place within himself. Goro sat beside the Copy Ninja, and whispered things into his ear.

"You're pathetic. You're sitting right here and you haven't done anything to help her. You're no better than any of us. One day, we'll drug you to do whatever we tell you to. You'll get up there and use her just as we have been for the past four days, and the three months before. You'll enjoy it. You'll enjoy the sounds she makes… you'll enjoy the despair in her eyes. You'll enjoy it because we tell you to. You're really sick; you know that?" The brute taunted him.

After an hour and a half of this, Kakashi suddenly looked sideways to Goro, cutting him off from any taunting statements he was making. "If you don't get the hell out of my face, I will kill you. And I suggest you tell your brother to take his filthy fucking hands off of her."

Goro laughed for a straight ten minutes, until he was suddenly interrupted by the door flying off its hinges and landing some fifteen feet into the room. At the doorway stood the shadow of some being… blazing swirls started appearing all over his body and his eyes became red with fury. Those eyes stared straight ahead to the display on the illuminated table. "Get… the hell… away from Sakura."


---------------- flashback -------------------

Sasuke sat in a booth at the small inn he had been told to wait at. He'd been there for at least half an hour now, and was getting very impatient. Well…he was never a very patient man. He had expected Kakashi to be late, as he was always late for everything, but he wasn't sure about Sakura. Sakura had always been very punctual in the past. However, he hadn't had much interaction with her after she came back to Konoha. Either way, he was getting worried now, and being worried always made him irritable. He left the inn and started walking.

As he stepped onto the porch of the cottage he was told they would be staying at. He knocked but there was no answer, so he let himself in. He looked around warily… things seemed to be in place. Nothing was in disorder… so there had been no struggle. He didn't sense any danger. With a confused sigh, he turned into the hallway and glanced into the separate rooms quickly. He stepped into what seemed like Sakura's room… her stuff was lying around neatly. Another sigh, and he plopped down onto her bed…and suddenly there was someone on top of him.

"Who the hell – Shiranui!"

"Uchiha? What are you doing here? Where's Hatake and Sakura?" Genma got off of Sasuke and looked around.

"I don't know. The house was empty when I got here. They were supposed to meet me an hour ago, but they never showed up. Do you know where they might be?"

"Uh, I believe they went into the village to try to gather some information before doing some recon inside the enemy headquarters…do you think they're in trouble?"

"Sakura wouldn't be late to a meeting…"

"Well, unless they're…busy. With each other." He chuckled at the thought. It wasn't totally unbelievable, afterall.

"She's never late for anything. Let's go."

---------- end flashback ----------


Genma stood back against the hallway wall, observing the scene quietly with his senbon needle between his teeth and a bloodied katana in his hand.

"Who the hell let them in!" yelled Jiro. He was still on top of Sakura, still driving his hips into hers with brute force. "Goro! Deal with them!"

Sasuke wasted no time. He appeared beside Jiro and, driven with fury, picked him up, and threw him into the other man. Genma followed lazily into the room. He didn't want to be here. This was too much, and he was perfectly fine being the apathetic and always comfortable Jounin he always was, but after seeing Sakura's condition… seeing the cruel man on top of her… He glanced to where Kakashi was sitting. He wasn't doing so well either. This was a dirty business. Genma bent down to the two men who'd just been tossed to the floor. "Oi, oi… either of you have the key?" He nodded towards Kakashi. One of them spat on Genma's face. His katana came arching down, the tip stopping just above Goro's adam's-apple. Then the two bodies started to melt away and Genma sighed loudly. 'Kawarimi.'

"Look, I don't want to fight you two. Let us get our friends, and you can both live."

"Don't make promises like that," sneared Sasuke.

"Shut up, Uchiha. This isn't about them and it's not about your damned anger issues. We're here for our comrades – that's it."

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do!"

"UCHIHA." Genma's voice thundered. He calmed down slightly before continuing. "I outrank you in years, and you will do as I say, or I'll kill you myself." … 'damned brat.' … "Now can you get that shit under control!" he moved his head up and down, gesturing to the cursed seal that had been released.

Sasuke stood there in silence, teeth grinding visibly. Finally he turned and looked over Sakura's condition. He felt the air shift behind him and immediately threw his elbow back, slamming it into Goro's face. Jiro yelled to him from some place in the shadows. "Let them go! They don't matter..." He tossed a key on the floor, and the two of them disappeared.

"Sakura… can you hear me? Are you okay? Sakura…" The seal was slowly retreating now – partly because Sasuke knew it frightened her. He forced it back with his will. He brushed some hair from her face and looked over her broken and battered body again.

"S-s-s…" A pained expression washed over her face.

"Good enough. Where are your clothes; do you know?"

"N-nother room… next door," she rasped.

Sasuke left the room briefly before coming back with the black clothing she usually wore – they were ripped in places and barely covered her anymore, but it would have to do for now. He gently pulled the clothes around her body. Genma was helping Kakashi to his feet… it wasn't that Kakashi couldn't move by himself, but it seemed like he was still in shock.

Carefully placing his arms around her, Sasuke picked Sakura up and made his way to the door. Genma supported Kakashi with one arm as the both of them clumsily followed. He finally spoke. "How did you guys know?"

Sakura glanced backwards at him and then stared down at Sakura's now sleeping face. "Sakura has never been late."


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Sakura woke to the chirping of the birds outside her window. She looked around at her surroundings and recognized her room inside Genma's rented cottage. A hand took hers and she looked at Kakashi as if she'd just noticed him there. He looked tired… worn out… fed up. He looked like he was sick of living. 'Sick of being by my side.'

"What are we still doing here?"

"We're waiting for ANBU to come pick us up. They'll be escorting the three of us back to Konoha," he answered.

"Three? What about Genma?"

"He still has a mission to complete."

She nodded with understanding before she drifted back into unconciousness.


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sorry for the crappy rescue scene. i sort of lost all energy to really put a lot of effort into it.. i might rewrite this chapter when i'm feeling better.