Title; Lucky

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Okay so the pairing will be SasuHina in the end, but don't expect me to avoid muddying the waters a bit first. Just trust me, in the end SasuHina.

Beware the timeline, I never said all this was perfectly chronological…or that I wouldn't skip minor things.

Chapter 14-

Sakura's Pov-

There was a chill in the room but that wasn't what woke me from my stupor, rather it was the dull rhythmic tapping on my forehead and the feel of a weight shifting on my stomach.

I came to my senses slowly, sluggishly taking note of my predicament. The open window, the open door, the pale brunette straddling my hips smirking inanely and the feel of bandages cutting off the circulation in my hands and feet as they pinned me to the bed. I tried to speak but the other occupant of the room shushed me quickly, fingers roughly digging into my jaw to stop me. Panicked eyes found my own.

"Don't, you have to be quiet or they'll catch you." She whispered conspiratorially leaning deeper so that her bangs scratched my forehead. I gave the shaking woman a second, as long of a second as I could in my panicked state of mind.

"Who'll catch us Kurenai? Can you untie me?" I threw out in my own whisper, rushed as I tried to both assess my situation and act to improve it in the same breath. Her amber eyes went wide as she nodded frantically reaching to untie my right hand. I only felt the scratch of her unkempt nails on my wrist before she paused, stilling as her expression went blank.

"…Kurenai?" I tried but she didn't react. Not immediately at least. After a second I felt her nails on my wrist scratching again but not in an effort to untie me. In a deliberate parody of gentleness she stroked along the inside of my forearm, across my bicep, over my shoulder and back to my chin. Her fingertips rested there gently for a moment just playing with my lower lip. Her expression had changed from frightened to ferial.

"Pretty little cherry blossom, trying to get away." I started to struggle again, certain now that it had been this polarised woman that was responsible for my predicament. The binds held tight despite my attempts and I began to grasp at straws. I could scream, there was a chance that Shikamaru wasn't an accomplice and despite her not being my first choice I wouldn't complain if Temari barged in to rescue me.

Something cool and rough slid along the top of my bare thigh and in a moment I caught a glimpse of it in the moonlight. Hanging loosely in the dark woman's pale grip was an ugly rusted scalpel. She continued to drag it over her own leg, over my stomach and chest until she reached my throat. In that moment I felt her other hand clamping down on my wounded leg, squeezing hard. My vision blurred as an agony that was like a searing fire burst to life in my thigh. A light had flared in her dull brown eyes and they looked almost to have been filled with blood they burned so red. I heard a heavy thump from somewhere in the building, Kurenai's grin turning itself into a snare for a moment.

"Shikamaru's began on the blonde, he's much too rushed though…" she commented drawing the flat of the blade along my neck the implication clear. There were more rumbles, crashes and a scream of agony. Kurenai didn't allow my attention to wander for long though, I felt the blade cutting into my arm as she eyes shun with a cruel satisfaction. She raised the old metal to her lips pressing a kiss to it that smeared her lips scarlet.

There was a crash as the room's door was forced open. Anger creased my captures pretty features for a moment as she twisted on my lap expecting to find Shikamaru. I heard a heavy whistle and felt the woman go tumbling off me as Temari rushed into the room swinging a single crutch like a bat. The older woman scrambled to her feet after a moment seeming feral and Temari swung again narrowly missing her but forcing the insane woman into the rooms corner.

As the tanned blonde advanced for another swing Kurenai made her move throwing her scalpel with a screech. I saw a spurt of blood as the blade cut a thin line into Temari's cheek and the dark haired woman went scrambling past her and out the door.

"Fucking bitch." The blonde continued to swear softly as she recovered the scalpel using it deftly to sever my binds. She didn't pursue Kurenai though, once I was free she plopped down clutching her ribs. Softly I pried her hands away and inspected her side, a nasty red mark trailed down her side and her ribs felt somehow crunchy to the touch.

"We have to get out of here." I spoke even as Temari seemed to lose more strength. I managed to hop to the fallen crutch and made use of it to take a lot of the weight off my right leg, it still hurt like hell though and I knew I'd need another one if I wanted to make it far…we'd both probably need some painkillers too.

"There's some of those things inside, they got that bastard when he was…" the blonde trailed off. I could see the tears in her shirt and pants and had an idea of what the man might have been attempting. I didn't ask how far he got, what he was doing when he was blindsided.

"Meds and food, then we take the stairs." I bit out stumbling a little. The elevator would be considerably less painful but could be a death sentence when it opened onto the ground floor. Temari went ahead as I limped down the corridor, she'd already filled a bag with dry food and water from the kitchen and was rifling around in search of the meds we'd need. Industrial strength anti-inflammatories and more minor pain killers mostly, we really weren't sure what else we would need now.

"You need something now?" asked the dirty blonde choking down a handful of tablets for her ribs. I refused, despite my leg screaming in pain I wanted as much of my senses as possible. I was quick to request a second crutch though.

Tenten's Pov-

The machinery chirped noisily as I came suddenly back to the conscious world. I was only half conscious though, the twisting tingling sensation in my lower body and the feel of the leather straps holding me aloft by my shoulders were too painful to be ignored and kept me swimming back to awareness despite my exhaustion.

I cracked an eye open vaguely aware that it was getting harder and harder to do so. The grey haired doctor wasn't in my line of vision for once probing me or draining blood but he wasn't far off either.

"What's up doc?" There was a rusty squeak as he twisted in his chair pulling his pale slack face away from the massive monitor. He looked displeased but no more so than usual and turned back to his computer. He was waiting for me to change I knew, so far I'd only clocked one of his creatures. The one that had been Suigetsu before the cruel doctor had stepped in. Either the others had been failures or they'd escaped, either way he was impatient for me to transform and add to his stock.

"The zombie bite fucked it up huh? Imagine that. It funnier that a monster saved me from your experiments or that brainless thing like that screwed you over?" I let out a bark of laughter that actually had some genuine humour in it. I was getting used to the pain and antagonising the doctor was rather enjoyable in a spitting on the headsman sort of way.

"Sliver pawn. Punish." The command was followed from nowhere as the creature moved from the shadows. My laughter turned to howls of pain as a powerful strike hammered into my lower back. My vision blurred and I tasted blood in my mouth but it got the doctor what he wanted, I resigned to keep my silence.

That the computer monitor was on it shed some light on the dark corners of the room that had been hidden when I'd been dragged here before. More than one white board had been covered in equations and formulas that I couldn't even begin to make sense of, I didn't pay them much mind. One board did catch my attention though. Pictures of both Sasuke and I along with the others whom had held up with the doctor were pinned along the top of the board. I couldn't help but wonder if this meant the doctor was not in league with whomever had designed our phones since he seemed to lack a live feed or info on others.

I was marked with my age ethnicity and uncomfortably accurate measurements, more uncomfortably though the title 'lover' with a bracketed 'corrupted' had been angrily scrawled after it. Sasuke's information had been added too though with the title 'virgin' in place of lover whatever that meant. I was pretty sure he was not a virgin. The other four had been entered with B as 'hunter' with a 'stage 1' entered after while Garaa and Suigetsu had 'pawn' printed beneath their names as 'stage 2' and 'complete' respectfully. Tsunade the youngest had been marked more dramatically than the rest of us as a 'matriarch' though, she lacked any stage number like Sasuke or I did.

I guessed the terminology had to do with whatever he'd done to us though it told me little except that maybe he didn't think much of Garaa, Suigetsu or Sasuke and might have thought I was slutty. Detailed instructions on how to undo the zombie bite and whatever poison the bastard doctor had used on me would be nicer. Why not throw in an escape route and a way to get Sasuke to forgive me while I was dreaming.

"I won't hurt him, not again." That I wouldn't do, whatever the kid and I had shared I owed him more than I'd given him and I wouldn't hurt him again. I didn't care what the doctor did to me or offered, it wasn't going to happen.

"Silver pawn. Punish."

Sasuke's Pov-

The gun clicked empty and I twisted on the dark haired woman blinking for a second as I took in her raised weapon and slowly falling grin, the trigger was pulled and clicked empty again.

For a moment I was unbelievingly happy about not checking the second gun over before sense kicked in and I tried to raise my weapon. I didn't quite make it in time though as she lunged forward in a tackle. The uneven ground and her weight brought me off my feet and I hit the ground hard. Her elbow jammed down on my weapon arm hard as she tried to keep it pinned, I saw a flash of silver and got my other hand up in time to stop her attack. A shard of glass flashed dangerously just before my face before she pushed down hard again, I twisted my arm at the last second and felt the edge cut into my cheek.

Looping my arm around hers would save my face but she was too fast and kicking her away couldn't work with her so close. Before I knew it her knife came down again and I barely managed to avoid it. I wasn't sure I'd last another attempt but I didn't have to. A leg roughly collided with the woman's midsection forcing her off my body.

The blonde standing above me offered a raised eyebrow before he lowered a hand instead the other holding a pistol trained on the woman. I didn't accept it.

"You always seem to have some girl pawing at you kid. I think I preferred the earlier ones though." He looked amused as he observed the woman gasping for breath. He'd kicked her pretty hard but I was still worried. I struggled for a name.

"Uzumaki?" It had been days since I'd seen him which wouldn't have seemed like much just last week but seemed like an eternity now. The last time I'd seen him he'd disappeared I assumed back to the other crazy blonde.

"I saw this place last night and Sakura, where are the others?" he asked as I brushed off the dust I'd gained and recovered the pistol the lunatic had dropped. It was a good question.

"I haven't found them yet. They were upstairs though, in the dream." It seemed my luck was turning as there was a click before both women in question stumbled into the hallway. Sakura looked to be the rougher of the two, she was leaning on the blonde and I could see spotted blood stains on her leg. They seemed more surprised than we did.

"Sakura." Something shattered in the small woman's façade and her head tilted down suddenly as a wet laugh broke from her lips. She'd dethatched herself from Temari in a second and skipped across the distance to me. Her nose and forehead hit my chest and her arms circled me tightly overwhelming me for a second before I wrapped my own around her. She smelled of disinfectants and just below that sweat and blood but I found it comforting.

"No hug for me." Naruto asked with a slight laugh but he still seemed tense and I noticed his attention was still unquestionably on Kurenai as my friend didn't so much let me go as she shifted her grip for better support.

"We need to go." I offered up shifting an arm under Sakura's armpit to support her, our height difference was too much to support her normally.

"Yeah but…what do we do about her?" asked the Uzumaki gesturing loosely toward the still crouched woman. It had been a question I'd been trying not to think about the last few moments. She was a danger to anyone else she'd encounter, a killer but what were we supposed to do with her, press her head to the wall and execute her. If it had been during the struggle when she'd had her knife and I had no other choice I could have, maybe, but…in cold blood.

"Shoot her." It was Temari that offered the hard line but I could see Sakura's eyes blazing in fury. I could feel her shaking beneath my arm and squeezed I hope to comfort her. Naruto looked taken aback and I recalled his soft nature.

"In the leg maybe, no her arm. So she can't hurt anyone." Sakura offered. It was softer only in the sense that it save one of us taking a life. In reality it was a crueller fate for the woman, without her hands she'd be easy prey for the things that roamed this island. A death sentence that cut out the hard choice or guilt but I couldn't exactly blame Sakura for not being a killer…I could still remember lowering my own gun and shutting a heavy door locking someone as dangerous behind me.

"And what do you think?" the blonde tried me last and I could have almost laughed at the hope in his bright eyes, who was this guy? Seriously, he'd went back for that cow that had almost been the death of Hinata and now he was trying to protect this psychopath. How many people had that much empathy in them especially in a place like this.

"You want to take her with us right?" I threw out hoping for some ghoul or nightmare to interrupt us and force the issue, there was no luck on that front. Sakura seemed shocked but the supermodel didn't, she'd picked up on Naruto's feelings too it seemed.

"I don't believe in vigilantly justice, or revenge." The blonde spoke up. He'd been a politican or something or the sort before and I could see that now, he wanted her arrested and brought to trail and in prison or rehabilitated, maybe he'd even accept execution if that was what the process led to but I didn't think him the type to like it. In the real world he was unquestionable right but here.

"We don't have restraints, half our party is injured and I doubt any of us have experience holding a prisoner let alone one that knows we won't kill her. She might kill us all but she'd at least kill one and we'd be back here again." She'd tried to kill me without hesitating, there was no way we could handle her. None.

"You let her go she'll kill other survivors or follow and attack us, you shoot her hands you're leaving her to be eaten alive by those things defenceless, you lock her in a room she'll starve to death." For whatever else it seemed shooting her might well have been the most humane thing to do and yet.

"I'll do it." Offered the tanned woman unflinchingly up for the task, Naruto stepped forward defensively but it was still obvious he was indecisive. His morals were in conflict with well his morals, I didn't pity him.

"Decide between yourselves." I decided suddenly that I didn't care as I realised Sakura needed to be somewhere else, there'd been too much noise here and when something came to investigate she couldn't run. The blondes seemed to catch the point.

"There's a boarded up restaurant with supplies two stops away on the automatic cars, we can regroup there after…." Naruto called as I helped Sakura limp away. I considered not regrouping but figured in the long run it was the only way things really could go well if I was…

"Do you have your phone Sakura?" My voice was thick and heavy even to my own ears but Sakura didn't question it. A soft 'no' crushed whatever hopes I'd inflated.

Sakura's Pov-

"Should we change the bandage?" the younger man's eyes were avoiding both my own and my bare leg rather awkwardly. There were quite a few questions I wanted to ask him and as many questions I didn't really want to answer, I wondered if that was what kept him quiet too.

Our shelter wasn't much but it was barricaded except for the heavy door we'd entered from, there were provisions and some spare melee weapons hanging about making this a much more generous checkpoint than the school had been.

"Maybe, don't really know." She'd struck it before Temari had gotten to us, for all I knew I needed new stitches and I doubted Sasuke or I was up to that task. We shared a shrug before the Uchiha went for supplies.

"Hinata and I got separated just after you were taken but I managed to find Ten…Teagan. We found some survivors on the top floor but they wouldn't move. We left, we...went separate ways and now I'm here." It was jittery and rushed and more than that I noticed the hick-up on Teagan. I guess I got to play the pushy bad guy first.

"Any idea what happened to Hinata?" It seemed the easier option to start with but the pale man's face darkened.

"I dreamed of her, trapped and in need of help. Teagan told me she was dead though, before she lost my phone." There was anger in his voice and I regretted not leaving well enough alone. Particularly when he applied the antiseptics.

"You don't trust her?" I asked cautiously.

"She said you were dead too." My reaction was a soft 'oh'. I felt distantly betrayed, maybe I'd be angry later after I'd processed it but for now something else had caught my attention as the Uchiha pulled aside the neck of his shirt. I just looked for a moment, at the angry red wound just barely beginning to heal. It occurred to me to draw my gun but I didn't as the dark youth went back to re-bandaging my leg. I could've came to the conclusion that he'd been bitten and Teagan had fled but I didn't, maybe because of what Sasuke had just told me or the way he said her name or any of the other little clues that told be the betrayal went further than that.

"She…she did that huh?" I received only a nod.

"I realised she'd been lying, I confronted her and then…" he trailed off only offering me another clue, that she'd been human when she'd…I started to laugh, uncontrollably I laughed sure that I seemed utterly mad. Sasuke tried to move back but I caught him by the collar and pulled him into an embrace.

I don't know if he joined in but before I knew it my laughter had turned to tears and I was weeping into his shoulder. All of it was pouring out of me now, the loneliness, the death, the ugly face of the living monsters on this god forsaken island. And more than anything I was crying because if the boy in my arms was infected I'd have to shot him…and I didn't want to do that.

You know what sucks, writers block. I'm really sorry folks this chapter's taken much too long and I've spent far too long with it open on the computer just staring at a blank screen. Hope it was worth the wait.

R&R