Yo -Kakashi handwave-
-sigh- loses inspiration completely.
Disclaimer: Naruto mine? Bitch please. PAHAHAHHAHAAHA, HAVE YOU READ THIS! Kishimoto would spit at my feet.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.
What are bonds really?
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
She sped off as quick as her legs could take her, she could subconsciously see her clone jogging up the stairs of the Hokage Tower and seeing Yumi, the receptionist, laying slumped on the floor, that familiar bruise starting to form on her neck.
Her clone would find Sasuke soon and after that, she just knew everything would happen so quickly.
She hoped and prayed he wouldnt know it was a clone. Due to her chakra control and her knowledge of the human body, she had tried regulating the chakra around the clone's body and settling in the chakra points as if it was a real person. It usually worked, she had thought of the idea herself. The girl was actually meant to tell her shishou of it just before she had left the village for that mission, but it had simply slipped her mind.
The clone was very good for distracting enemies for long periods of time simply because of the fact they thought they were dealing with the actual person.
Sakura jumped over various pieces of debri and former buildings. On her way - passing blurs she thought she recognised, everynow and again one would call out to her. With the village's ninja all clad in their green vests, issued for situations such as this, she stuck out like a sore thumb.
As if her hair didnt already do that for her.
She let a short breath out through her mouth and she groaned slightly under her breath.
The muscles in her legs ached and burnt, willing for her to stop.
But she couldnt, she just couldnt.
She would be the one to stop him, madara.
And she would be the one to help for once, to be a part of something.
She could feel the dark chakra becoming heavier and heavier in the air, meaning she was getting closer to the man she was looking for.
Until something came at her from the side, catching her offguard and ramming her into the floor.
The girl let out a sharp gasp, the air knocked out of her as the body kneeling atop of her held her down, pressing on her chest.
"What are you doing here?" The person hissed urgently, desperately. She recognised it, the voice.
As soon as her vision stopped blurring and finally came into focus, she blinked up, her green eyed widening at the long blonde hair cascading near her face.
"Ino!-" She cried, a smile threatening to break out onto her face, going to lean up to greet her friend, only to find she was pushed back down to the ground again, a kunai hovering above her throat.
She glanced at Ino wearily, her apple green eyes flickering between Ino's blue ones.
"What are you doing?" She whispered, a lump forming in her throat.
"What are you doing, Sakura?" Ino said, under her breath, hushed, "People want you dead, you're a traitor!"
Her words stung and hung in the air. And Sakura looked to the side, no longer able to meet her gaze.
"I'm here with Sasuke and his team." She muttered, glancing at the girl wearily.
"S-Sasuke? What...why?" Ino said loudly, her eyes wide.
"I cant say..." Sakura muttered, turning her head to the side, Ino glowered at her and yanked her up by her collar.
She could have easily pushed her off if the girl thought necessary, Ino's strength was minute compared to hers.
Physically, that is.
"FOREHEAD, do you not understand the situation we're in? This is war! People want you dead, and Sasuke! What is going on!" She shrieked, shaking the pink haired kunoichi.
Sakura quickly grew irritated and let out a slight hiss under her breath.
"Ino!" Sakura spat, knocking her hand away from her collar and easily pushing her off of her. Ino let out a frustrated grunt under her breath and stood up with the other girl.
"I'm here, because..." Sakura looked down as she brushed off her clothes and flickered her eyes back to Ino, "Sasuke wants to kill Danzo,"
She watched the shock pass quickly across the other girls face.
"WHA-"
"Waaaaait!" Sakura said, waving her hands about, "Ino, its a long story, i promise ill tell you later, i swear to you."
Ino frowned, "Are you going to be here later?" She said sadly, her baby blue eyes narrowing in sadness.
"I-...uh-" Sakura was speechless. She realised she didnt know what to answer.
Suddenly a huge explosion went off somewhere in the direction she was meant to be heading, snapping her back to reality.
"Ino, i really need to go," She said, moving past the other girl, only for her arm to be caught.
"Please be careful."
"I know Ino.."
"You promise you'll tell me about all this later, forehead?" Ino said softly, her lips raising into a small defiant smirk at the end.
"Wouldnt miss it for the world Ino-pig," Sakura smirked, flashing her with a mischievious grin before smiling nicely and bounding off, leaving the other girl in dirt.
The blonde looked after her, sighing to herself before darting off in the opposite direction, noting the few pairs of eyes which followed her.
A Leaf Jounin narrowed his eyes slightly as the blonde sped off and he slowly spoke into the microphone near his ear.
"This is red hawk, a kunoichi has been seen fratonising with the enemy. Orders?"
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
So close,
That familiar feeling of the cold rush that runs over you when a clone gets wiped out hit Sakura a few moments ago.
He had killed her.
Sakura couldnt say she didnt expect it but somehow she wished it wasnt true.
Her heart definitely dropped slightly when she had realised what had happened.
A part of her hoped he had realised it was a clone and destroyed because of that.
Or maybe, when he destroyed the clone he thought to be the real her, that he felt at least a small stab or guilt.
But she couldnt dwell on such things right now. She needed to do this, she needed to this for him despite what he had just done to her.
She approached a large pile of debri, much taller than herself. She could just feel the quiver in the air, that tense, heavy atmosphere.
Sakura lowered her head and quickly jumped from piece to piece until she reached the top and when she did, she as quickly as humanly possible jumped to the bottom.
Her green eyes quickly caught something dark catch the corner of her eye. Her gaze darted down to something embedded in a nearby rock.
Suigetsu's sword.
The charred surroundings didnt sit well with the girl and dust would be thrown into the air even with a slight hint of a breeze. A wet drop hit her arm and she turned her head to the sky and saw the lightening flashing in the distance and the slight hue of mist in the air.
Huh, mist...
Her thoughts snapped back to Suigetsu and she looked around wildly for the boy. She finally found him slumped against a large rock, blood cascading from somewhere underneath his bangs.
Karin was laying a few feet away, her hand outstretched towards him. She dashed over to them both and one after another placed a hand on both their foreheads.
Both had minor injuries and were just knocked out cold.
"Sakura-san."
She snapped her head up at the figure standing on the otherside of the small clearing.
A man wearing a mask stood there, Madara of course.
Her eyes instantly narowed and she stood, stepping in front of the two people at her feet. She heard the man chuckle slightly and she wondered briefly if he knew she was as nervous as she felt.
"Nervous, girl?" He asked, cocking his head up slightly.
She grit her teeth and turned her head to the side, anxiously watching him with sea foam eyes. Her fingers twitching readily at her sides.
"Cat got your tongue?" He offered, his voice layed with sarcasm, "Are you here for anything or are you just wasting my time?"
"Whatever you're planning with Sasuke-kun, i wont allow it-"
She had realised her mistake as soon as the affectionate suffix slipped from her tongue. She drew in a quickl breath and tensed slightly as she saw the man's eyes beaneathe the mask narrow slightly in amusement.
"What i plan with," He chuckled, she flinched "Sasuke-kun is none of your concern."
"I am so sick of people telling me that!" She screeched, her fists flaring with bright blue chakra. She lunged at him, swing her fist heavily towards his face and connect but...
Her fist moved straight through him, her eyes widened and she could just feel the smirk radiating through that orange swirl mask of his.
Green eyes widened as he, in a matter of seconds, moved to the side and thrust his fist into her stomach, leaving her breathless.
The pain erupted through her body and she felt something crunch and crack under his hand. Her eyes clenched shut in pure agony and a small amount of blood was quickly coughed from her airways.
He took his fist away and stepped back. Sakura could see white and coloured blurs in front of her eyes, and her vision swam as she sunk to her knees barely noticing the squelch of potential mud under her skin. The rain was heavier now, starting to dampen her clothes and hair.
Her knees hit the dirty ground hard and her head rested against her chest as she struggled to even breathe in a small amount of air.
She was sure she had at least 5 broken ribs if not extensive internal bleeding.
That was one hell of a punch. Her body was aching already.
Madara grasped her chin and she resisted weakly as he pulled her face up to look at him.
"Well, that was disappointing." He said, moving her head from side to side slowly, his voice deep and filled with fake disappointment.
She pulled her chin backwards and out of his touch.
"Tch." His knee was quickly brought up and collided with her chest earning a pained yell from her as she fell back with a heavy thump into the quickly dampening dirt.
She groaned as she willed her body to sit up, her muscles, bones and tissue all in incredible pain even after a few measly minutes.
She well and truly felt pathetic. She couldnt even do this...
Wait, yes. Yes she could.
Sit up, you sorry excuse for a kunoichi.
GET UP, WHAT THE HELL. LETS GO PUNCH THE LIGHTS OUT THAT GUY, CHA.
Sakura shakily pushed her self to her feet, holding her broken ribs with an arm wrapped around her torso. She closed her eyes, which could have been misinterpretted as a sign of pain, and subtly sent healing chakra into her hand which was resting near the small of her back and quickly started on healing some of the bruised tissue and muscles.
She opened her eyes and looked towards the man who was standing a mere few feet away.
Sakura drew in a deep breath and once again, albeit weakly, lunged towards him.
The man let out a suprised noise from somewhere from the back of his throat before weaving in and out of her attacks. He was starting to grow slightly bored and this unsightly weather was not helping.
And thats when it happened.
She touched him.
It was only a brief brush of her little finger against his fore arm but it was definitely there.
Her green eyes widened and lit up where as his narrowed and darkened considerably. The girl was quickly pushed away, much to her displeasure, and he back away from her.
She had worked it out.
Judging by how many times she hit him and the amount of time she had been doing and when she finally hit him, she calculated that he must be only be able to do, whatever it is, for a period of time.
Until he has to... recharge and that gives her an opening of 5.67 seconds to be exact.
"So what, you can do simple mathematics, you will never defeat me. Sasuke and I have already planned the demise of this pathetic village." He spat out.
"Sasuke wont do it," Sakura said, shaking her head lightly, the water flicking from her hair in the rain
"Hah, you're naive."
"You're a sad man who couldnt fulfil his own goals when you were young so you're maniplulating others to do your dirty work now." She hissed out, her jaw tensing.
The red sharingan eyes narrowed in anger from underneath the mask and she smirked.
Before she could even blink he was in front of her. Her green eyes widened and she swerved wobbily to the left, hissing at the stress on her broken bones and minutely missing his swipe for her throat.
She ducked and spun so she was behind him and he turned throwing another punch towards her. Sakura nudged off she slight nick she got from the last hit and messily jumped backwards, making hims come to her.
When he was nearly in front of her, she kicked from the ground and flipped over his head and once again, he turned and swung at her.
But so did she.
Her fist went straight past his and his past hers, both aiming for the same thing. Just at the last minute Sakura moved her head to the right and then slammed her chakra engulfed fist into the mask and with a mighty crunch, it cracked.
Everything seemed to happen so slowly.
His head was thrown backwards as her fist connected with the mask and a small triumphant smile threatened at her lips.
That was, until, the man's head raised slightly, wiping the smile off the girls face and he grabbed her arm and pulling her close.
Sakura was pulled towards him, the mask still intact but broken, and her arm was twisted beneath his grasp. His eyes glowed from beneath the mask and she could feel that sick feeling gathering in the pit of her stomach.
"Bad. Move. Sakura Haruno." He hissed, barely audible as her arm was quickly snapped with a bare twist of his wrist.
She screamed.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Hinata-chan! H-Hi-Hinata-chan!" Naruto sobbed, the tears free flowing from his eyes as he shook her shoulder softly with no response.
It must have only been a few moments since Sasuke had left him, but it felt like hours.
The pale face of the girl was cold to the touch as Naruto had found out seconds before.
"Help, medic!" He called desperately, the tears blurring his vision completely, "Please..."
He looked down at her, the wetness from his eyes falling onto her skin mixing with the rain which was pelting both of them. He couldnt lose someone so close to him, one of his dearest friends, most important people like this.
"You, you cant die for me, Hinata-chan, i'm not worth that. Come onnnnnn, wake up pleaaaaase." He said quietly, sniffing loudly and shaking her again.
"Hinata-chan! This isn'y funny!" He cried out, holding his arm over his eyes to stop the tears.
"Naruto!"
His head shot up as he saw a ninja appear over the top of a building. Recollection swamped his features and he took a deep breath in.
"INO! INOOOO!" He shouted through the pelting rain, the girl looked at him before running in their direction.
"What the- Oh my god." She said as she sunk to her knees on the other side of Hinata, her hand flying to her mouth.
"C-can you do anything, you trained to be a medic right?" He said, his cerulean blue eyes gleaming with hope.
"I-uhh, i..." The blonde said, her eyes raking over the lifeless body of the girl.
"INO."
"No, i can..-i cant. Take her to Tsunade," She said hurriedly, her eyes sweeping over Naruto quickly.
"But she-"
"Naruto GO." Ino screeched at him, the fear of losing one of bestfriends becoming apparent in her tone. Naruto didnt need telling twice.
The boy scooped the girl up into his arms and craddled her close to his chest, gritting his teeth through the pain of his burns and injuries as he rose to his feet.
"Hurry!" Ino screamed, standing behind him, her baby blue eyes quivering with the tears. She blinked and they soon mixed with the raindrops falling down her face.
Naruto bounded towards the Hokage Tower which was luckily quite close to them, Pein obviously hadnt let them get far. He paused for a fraction of seconds at the steps leading to her main office and took a deep breath and bolted up there.
He nearly tripped over his own feet at some point and had to steady himself against the wall. Naruto only had to look at the girl's greying pale features for him to be off again.
"BAA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" He yelled as he made it to the top step, running down the corridor and slamming himself into the door on the opposite end, making it swing open in his wake.
Tsunade's head shot up from her place on the floor, next to Danzo's body, she must have been in the middle of examining his corpse. Her amber eyes widened as she set her eyes upon the boy who hastily sunk to the floor by her side, resting the girl down.
"H-help." He said, breathless. Tsunade, wide eyed, glanced down at the girl and placed two fingers to her neck.
"Naruto..." She said quietly, Naruto hissed something under his breath."I dont care! Just do something!"
Tsunade sighed and let the strong, green chakra flow into her hands and rest on the girls chest.
If she could just get her heart pumping again, and replace the chakra then maybe...
Thump.
Naruto slumped to the floor, out cold. Tsunade took note of his various burns and injuries but decided they were not life threatening. He was merely exhausted. She turned her attention back to Hinata.
Kami-sama, give me strength
She prayed, closing her eyes tensely for a few moments.
She was so exhausted already from all the Slugs around the dying city using her chakra...
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.
Sasuke was standing atop the debri where he could basically feel Madara's chakra lacing the air. He jumped down gracefully, the heavy rain marring his vision slightly.
The mud squelched under his feet and he glanced around the clearing, no sign of anyone.
Something glinting caught his eye and he saw Suigetsu's sword and behind it, Suigetsu and Karin. His eyes narrowed.
Juugo, Sakura and Madara were no where to be seen.
As the boy glanced around more, his sharingan activating immediately, he started to notice the faint puddles of a red substance on the ground in various puddles, mainly being washed out by the rain.
Something tensed within him, and he grit his teeth at the thought that graced itself into his minds eye.
A strange, mournful gurgling noise caught his attention, and almost from nowhere, a figure and something else was standing about 20 feet in front of him.
The figure, a man, was holding something -someone, up by the neck before he simply threw the person towards him like a ragdoll.
He recognised the pink hair instantly.
The girl landed about 10 feet in front of him, facing away from him but he could already see the extent of her injuries. The numerous puncture wounds from weapons littered her back and the rain washed the blood into her clothes and into the ground.
He glanced at Madara for a few seconds, receiving a nod before walking over to the kunoichi and dropping to her side.
He wordlessly looked her over, noting her split lip, her broken cheek bone, her black eyes, her broken ribs, her ripped clothes.
She had endured a beating, he realised with a strange, regretful feeling settling in his gut.
He checked for her pulse and, fortunately, found a weak one.
"She tried." Madara spoke up, Sasuke didnt look at him, he was still concentrating on the kunoichi.
"Even broke my mask," That caught Sasuke's attention as he glanced up at the man who was motioning to the wide crack upon the orange thing.
He glanced back down at her face, her eyes twitched and he looked at her intently.
"Sakura." Sasuke spoke quietly, albeit bluntly. A pained look came across the girl's face as she forced her eyes open slightly.
"S-sasuke-kun..." Her voice was meek and small, he could barely hear her over the rain pounding into the dirt. Through half lidded eyes she frowned slightly.
"Gome-.." She gasped slightly, agony ripping through her and the blood seeping from her mouth.
"Stop talking, save you're strength. What kind of medic are you." He said coldly, looking at her, unable to take his eyes off the blood running down her chin and her oddly glassy eyes.
"Ha," She chuckled slightly, even though it was more like an expelling of air, "Yours," She whispered.
The Uchiha boy frowned and closed his eyes.
"Touching." Madara said sarcastically, "Now shall i kill her or do you want to do it?"
Sasuke stood slowly, unsheathing his katana. Madara smirked proudly at the boy as he raised it above Sakura and she weakly stared up at him.
"I have nothing more to gain working with you, Madara." Sasuke said, speaking slowly and precisely.
The elder Uchiha deeply frowned, turning into a grimace.
"Meaning what," He spat.
"I will not work with you anymore, you were just a tool for helping me get to Danzo."
Sasuke stepped forward, leaving the girl a few feet behind him and blocked Madara's view of her.
"You idiotic fool! He screeched, "My plan shall not be ruined by a mere boy of your likeliness!"
"Tch," Sasuke smirked, lowering his katana to in front of him. Sakura watched his back through half lidded misty eyes.
"If i had refused your offer earlier, you would have most likely killed me." Sasuke stated blankly.
Madara's red sharingan eye was barely visible from the small hole in the mask, but the deadly intent radiating off the man was enough to tell he was not impressed with Sasuke's resistance.
"Heh," He chuckled darkly, "I guess that's true."
The man moved his left hand over to his right arm, clutching at the sleeve. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he tensed, raising his katana slightly only making Madara chuckle moreso.
"Boy, please," He said airily, he lifted his sleeve for Sasuke and a barely conscious Sakura to see a red, brown thin bruise on his lower arm just below his elbow.
Sasuke's eyes flitted down to the bruise and back up again to his mask.
"You're other teammates are weak too, the redhead was pathetic, and this bruise is from where that water boy hit me with his sword."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he inwardly cursed.
He stopped the blade with his bare arm?
Madara chuckled once again and he lowered his sleeve.
"Do you really think you can defeat me? One of the most powerful shinobi to ever live?" Madara said darkly, "The one's who chakra rivals the nine tailed fox?"
"Sa-Sasuke-kun," Sakura called weakly from behind him, "Me-medic, he knows about medic-..."
Sasuke turned his head slightly to the small noise from behind him.
"I may have to silence that girl, i think she knows a little too much for this to be interesting." Madara said slowly, leaning slightly so he could see the kunoichi.
Sasuke stepped in his view of the girl, making Madara's eye raise to meets the boys and a small knowing expression to cross his face.
"She's an excellent medic, Sakura Haruno that is." He said calmly.
"But she was awful fun to play with." He said darkly, the smirk sounding in his looked at him stoically and Madara thought he had misinterepretted Sasuke before until he saw the knuckles on his hand turning white.
"Have you ever heard her scream before? It's a beautful sound."
A cold shiver was forced down Sasuke's back and he quickly shook it off, the pouring rain not making it easier.
"Aa, yes you have, haven't you Sasuke?" Madara asked, tilting his head to the side slightly, Sasuke's brows furrowed.
"I took the curtesy of researching you're little team and such in Konoha. Just to check on things."
Both Sakura and Sasuke tensed as the man continued.
"I hear you sought comfort from her when first acquiring the curse mark."
"I did no such thing," Sasuke hissed, his teeth grinding. Madara's eye narrowed.
"Dont lie to me." He spat quickly, "And," His tone softly slightly and turned sort of playful.
"When you left." Madara let the other two shinobi finish the sentence.
Sasuke merely looked at the man, glowering. How coulf he have possibly known about everything? Even the details of his leaving.
"Thanking her for all she has done."
"If you go, i'll scream and-!"
"Sakura... Arigatou."
Sakura felt a painful clench in her chest and she didnt think it was the broken ribs.
"Dont...talk of things you dont know about..." Sakura's meek voice rang out and it seemed to echo over the pounding rain.
Sasuke's eyes widened a miniscule amount and he inwardly cursed for her to be quiet for once in her life.
The chakra in the air seemed to ... jitter for a few seconds and suddenly Madara was gone. Sasuke's red eyes widened immediately and he spun on his heel to see Madara crouching over the bleeding kunoichi, a kunai plunged into the skin of where her hip bone would be.
"Madara," He hissed, the tomoe spinning wildly in his eyes.
He trailed a finger over the kunoichi's pale, pained face making her flinch away from him slightly.
He clutched the kunai, earning a pained gasp from the girl.
"Yes Sasuke?" He asked calmly, his hand still around the weapon impaling the girl.
He could literally not do a thing. Sasuke's teeth ground in his mouth as his eye narrowed when he realised the stalemate he was in.
If he replies, he hurts her.
If he moves to save her, he possibly kills her.
He hung his head earning a small chuckle from the man.
"A-ah, no, dont-!" Her desperate voice made him look up to see the kunoichi's hands over Madaras as he clutched kunai, trying desperately to make him stop.
He twisted slightly and she screamed. The kunai was sitting dangerously next to the bone now and the utter agony which ripped through her was unreal. It was a red hot feeling which made her want to be sick from the pain.
"Sasuke? What are you going to do?" Madara asked curiously, the tomoe in his eye also spinning.
He was greeted with silence and Sakura tensed.
"Pain point number 4, the hip bone." He stated as he carefully and slowly twisted the kunai.
Sakura's scream shot through Sasuke making him have an instant reaction to bow his head and not look at the girl. He pained shrieks carried on as he still twisted and pulled at the kunai.
"S-stop-" He pleas were cut short by her own scream.
"Stop." Sasuke said abruptly, his tone making Madara look up, "Fine,"
"No S-Sasuke-ku-" He twisted.
"I said stop!" He yelled, his reaction making Madara smirk in truimphant.
"Fine." He pulled the kunai from the girl and she instantaneously fell unconscious, the blood free flowing from her wound.
Madara stood and walked towards the seething boy.
"That's what i thought," He spat, an instant change of attitude.
"Hn."
"Now, i repeat my earlier question, shall i kill her? Or ...you?" Madara asked, his eyes glinting from beneath the mask.
"You," Sasuke said blankly, staring at the unconscious, undoubtly dying, kunoichi.
Madara nodded once and moved towards the girl once again, Sasuke eying him carefully.
The man approached her and brought out a kunai from his sleeve, the blade glinting in the light.
And that's when he heard it, the call of a thousand birds.
Ew.
I am actually becoming rather uninspired by this thing now.
There is ooooooooooone bit i wanna do but i cant because its gotta come later on so basically these, for me, are like writing fillers.
Me writing, fight scenes + fillers = OHDEARLORD.
Well on the bright side, a lot of you seemed to like the last chapter! ^^ you're all lovely. And only 3 more reviews til 100! omfg, really guys? O.o lovelovelove.
Review if you want. I am actually expecting flames -.-
Pharix, i just know you'll have something to say about this chapter. Come, enlighten me.
Oh and SakurasIndecision.
EDIT: WOW. THAT WAS SO RUDE. erm, i meant, please tell me what you think people :S wow. erm, well my excuse is that i only had 3 hours sleep last night?