Chapter 29

Sakura had no idea whatsoever how much time had passed.

The only focus she had was the light, shining into her prison. Everything else was non existent. They hadn't been back since though called away by some kind of commotion that was no longer of any kind of interest to her; she couldn't care less anymore about their plans, or about the mission. As long as Kakashi was alright, and came back for her not,in else mattered. Kakashi's life, and the freedom of herself and her friends, that was all that mattered now. Their job was pointless to her and, or so she thought a a tear slid over her battered cheek, she was no ninja.

Ninja put the mission first. They endured. And so she had been told as a young wannabe kunoichi in the academy, they detached themselves from their bodies and emotions until they were no longer related. No, she was no ninja at all.

888

There had been no word yet. Kakashi had taken over the radios for now, as he wouldn't be heading over to the building until much closer to the time. He needed to feel like, somehow, he was in control, regardless of how true the opposite was. He couldn't stand it, knowing that she was in there, what they were most likely doing to her. They were hurting her, and he hated it. His fingernails dug in again, forcing their way through to leave crescent shaped cuts in his hands as his body shook, his head tilted down to stare into the dark wood of the table that held the equipment on.

There had still been no word. No one had arrived yet, despite the increase in speed that he had encouraged, no, demanded. They couldn't leave until everyone was in had not one team arrived yet? He used to send ANBU teams on runs that length just for fun, for the short amount of peace he would get in order to read his book. This was fucking ridiculous, and getting more so by the second. There was no way that it should take them this damn long.

"Taichou, I am sure that they will get there soon enough." Yamato's calm voice broke into Kakashi's thoughts, but what he said was far from welcome. "They are not used to traveling at the same speed as us, that's all. They'll all be there as soon as they physically can."

Kakashi buried his head in his hands, rubbing his face in his bloodied gloves as he let out a shudder of breath. He tensed as he felt Yamato's hand on his shoulder. "You ought to have more faith, if not in your teams then at least in Sakura, if half of what I have been told of her is true." He grinned lightly. "Medics are pretty hard to hit down."

"Sakura is... special to me." Kakashi's voice broke at his own words, at how pathetic they were. It was ridiculous how he couldn't say it, couldn't bring into words how important she was, how much he felt for her. He could take the most intense of emotions and somehow be unable to verbalize it in a way that showed it as it was. Instead, he told of his emotions in a way that to his teammate probably sounded like nothing. The words he had chosen were just so insignificant. He wanted him to know, he wanted him to understand. So he told him the one thing that he hadn't shared with anyone else yet, not even Sakura.

"When we get out of this, I am going to marry her." And he was certain that what he said was true.

888

They'd come back in again, and she was still unsure how much time had passed, only that there had been at least a day, a night and most of another day since she'd been here. At least a night and a day since Ino and Hinata had been. Was that all that had gone? Or had more time passed with her mind and body unconscious or unresponsive?

"Get her jacket off, now." One of the men ordered, and Sakura kept her gaze focused on that specific spot on the wall that she had been staring at for the last few hours. Wasn't anything that they hadn't done already, she thought bitterly. But that request was odd. She wasn't wearing a jacket. She wasn't wearing anything.

They hadn't bothered to clothe her again after they had ripped hers off. She was reminded of that by the cold, that she couldn't really feel.

She could see the goosebumps.

Sakura sat up quickly, dizziness hitting her and spotting her vision as her quick movements were combated by her blood loss. She clutched her head, tugging on the hair at the nape of her neck as she waited for the fuzz to clear. There was a third man now, and that one was the only one sparing her a glance. They weren't here for her... the jacket that they wanted removed belonged to Hinata.

"You bastards!" Sakura screamed, her vision hazed in red as she saw them, laughing as they tried to remove Hinata's jacket while keeping the ropes on. Had they put chakra restraints on her, too? Or was she too scared to use her Byakugan? "You said you wouldn't touch her!" She roared, bringing herself to her feet from anger alone.

"Yes, sweetie..." They laughed cruelly at her pathetic naivety. "We lied."

The heat was spreading now, from her eyes out, racing through her body like lava, filling her with heat, burning fire that needed a way out. "That's not good enough!"

She was losing it. losing the tight control that she had always tried to keep on this, holding it in. It was taking over, and she was frightened... she was so scared of what she was going to do... she couldn't control it.

She didn't really want to. She stopped fighting it and reached out her hand.

888

"Only one team left now, Sensei." Naruto stated the obvious as they all strapped their equipment onto their bodies at record pace, Yamato and Sai joining them until they found the whereabouts of the final base. As soon as Choji and Kiba radioed in, they would be kicking off.

And they couldn't wait.

A/N - Yeah, things are starting to kick off... I shall try and have another update as soon as humanly possible, I promise! But I am going to my Dad's for Easter weekend, and may not be able to update while I am there. I shall try and at least have an update before then - I wanna write about Sakura's pretty awesome Jutsu. (I've planned that bit out from the start. I wanna write it!)

Thank you to: Laurie, Mina Luriya, Temarilyn and MySoulIsYoursTakeIt for reviewing! You guys are the absolute bestest and I am imaginary hugging the shit out of you right now! :) xxxxxxxxx

Teehee, I am sorry if the last chapter was a little much... I tried to gloss over it! :L

R&R

Kashi-Cookie-Monster

xxxxx