Chapter 08

Sakura woke up at the sound of hurried footsteps. She fluttered her eyes open and noticed in surprise that she was... moving? She then realized that she was resting against something firm. A pair of two strong arms encircled her, one at her back, and another cradled her legs. Her head was nestled against someone's shoulder.

It took Sakura quite a moment to remember what happened a few minutes ago. She looked up and was startled as soon as she realized who was carrying her.

"YOU!" Sakura cried out angrily as strength she never knew she had suddenly welled up inside her. She slammed her small fists against Henta's chest, hoping that it would force him to put her down. Henta didn't let go of her, but he did stop in his tracks and stared at her with a look of shock on his face.

"Shh!" He narrowed his eyes at her nervously. "Not so loud! Do you want everyone to hear you?" Henta whispered to her ear, but this only made the upset kunoichi even angrier than ever.

That was what she wanted to do in the first place! She wanted to wake everyone in the village! "You'd better put me down right now..." She growled warningly at Henta and gave him a threatening look. Henta fidgeted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Sakura-chan..." He frowned at her with a pleading look on his face. "Can't you just come with me peacefully?"

She answered his question with a kick at the back of his head. Henta grunted in pain and his hold on her loosened. Soon enough, he was forced to let go of her completely. Sakura jumped out of Henta's arms and stepped back a few distance away from him.

"I guess not." Henta sighed. "Oh, man... that hurt!" He rubbed the large bump that was sticking out of his head. He frowned at Sakura when she fished out her kunais. "Sakura-chan... I really don't want to fight you, you know... It's against my nature to fight beautiful girls like you."

"Shut up!" Sakura didn't waste any more time and rushed towards Henta with her kunais extended. Just as she was about to punch him in the gut and shove a kunai down his throat, her vision blurred and her head throbbed in pain. She cringed and was forced to halt her advance.

"Ah... Don't push yourself too hard, Sakura-chan." Henta walked towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "One of those three huge idiots whacked you with a plate a while ago." He tiltled her chin up and smiled charmingly at her. "Now be a good girl and just come with me."

"Just what is it..." Sakura groaned and slapped his hand away from her shoulder. "...that you want?" She staggered back and almost stumbled in her steps because of the pain in her head.

This isn't good...

"Can't you see, Sakura-chan?" Henta reached out to help her stand up straight, but Sakura's deadly glare instantly changed his mind. "I want you." He eyed her intensely.

"You pervert!" Sakura screamed at him in disgust. How dare he? "You won't get away with this!" He was able to dodge the weak punch that she threw at him, so she fell on the ground in all fours. Her head was aching so badly that she felt like fainting right then and there. With a groan, she bit her lip and forced her body to hold out a little longer.

I'm not weak! I'm not gonna let anybody push me around and be the damsel in distress again!

Much to her surprise, Henta laughed good-naturedly at her. "I didn't mean that! And you guys call me a pervert!" His expression suddenly turned serious. "I want you to come with me so I can take you to that spoiled, stuck-up bastard living in this damn village."

Sakura was shocked at the anger and hatred that she heard in his voice. Curiosity won over her and before she could stop herself, the question spilled out of her lips. "But... why?"

Henta gave her a genuine look of pity. "Sorry, but I can't tell you." He advanced towards her and forcefully grabbed her by the shoulders. She cursed out loud when her hands slipped off of her kunais and left her completely vulnerable to him. Her breath got caught in her throat when he suddenly swept her off her feet and lifted her over his shoulder in one swift motion. He took her bag and threw it at a place where Sakura couldn't reach. "Now you can't fight me anymore!" He exclaimed with a smile before he picked up his pace and ran as fast as he could.

Before Sakura could start another bout of screams of curses and protests, Henta suddenly stopped and turned to her again. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!" Without releasing his hold on her, Henta slowly lowered her to the ground. "I need to check a few things first!" He exclaimed and started to pull down the zipper of her red dress.

Sakura yelped in outrage. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She struggled even more furiously as she tried to pry Henta's dirty hands away from her dress. "You perverted JERK! I'm gonna kill you!" She swore vehemently and gave him the most powerful head-butt that she could muster.

"AH!" Henta was forced to back away from her as he clutched his head in utmost pain. Sakura took advantage of the situation and started to sprint away from him to grab her kunais that were left lying on the ground a few distance behind them. Henta's eyes widened in surprise when he saw her get away. "No! Sakura-chan! Come back!"

The pain inside Sakura's head was making her see double, but she didn't give up and ran even faster. Her heart pounded in her ears as she sensed Henta chasing after her from behind. With a grunt, she dived after her kunais. She would have used that to scare Henta away, but he managed to grab both her wrists as he pinned her body with his own against the ground.

"Sakura-chan..." Henta panted hard against her cheeks as he laid on top of her, much to Sakura's disgust. "You're pretty stubborn! I like that in a girl!" He smirked and tightened her hold on both her arms, causing her to let go of the kunais. "Now... It'll be okay, Sakura-chan... Just let me check something..."

Sakura's eyes widened in panic when Henta pulled down the zipper of her dress. She hissed angrily when she felt Henta's hot, white gaze travel all over her curves.

Stop it...! Inner-Sakura blazed in absolute fury. Stop it...! Henta still has a tight grip on both her arms as he pulled his weight from her in order to have a better look at her body. When Henta's hold on her slackened for a moment, Sakura finally decided to make her move.

Henta saw it coming and his eyes widened in alarm.

A shrill scream distrupted the stillness of the night.

"A girl's scream...?" Sasuke heard it loud and clear. Sakura's scream..?

"Damn it! Sakura-chan!" Naruto snarled angrily at the three mean-looking thugs who won't let them pass through. "Get out of the way, shitheads!" With a loud battle cry, the fox boy made a huge leap on one of the thugs and tackled him to the ground.

Sasuke frowned as he rushed towards the stunned thugs and slammed his fist against one of the men's face. The force of his punch busted the huge man's nose and made him bump against his equally large companion who was standing dumbly beside him. Both beasts landed on top of Henta's fence with a loud crash. Sasuke walked towards them and was about to beat them up for good when he noticed that both guys were already knocked unconscious.

The young Uchiha snorted. Huge but incredibly weak? Pathetic...

Naruto was surprised at this, too. He was able to knock out the guy, whom he tackled to the ground earlier, with just a single punch on the head? "Whoa..." He stared at the man in confusion as he sat on top of the man's belly. "Is this a trick or something?" Naruto couldn't help but ask as he peered at his enemy's face curiously.

Sasuke pulled one thug by the collar and scowled at the man before he dropped him to the ground. "No. These guys are just a bunch of idiots." He said coldly as he smelled the stench of alcohol and women's perfume all over the man's shirt.

When Sasuke looked around, he noticed that not one of Henta's neighbors was awake. After all the commotion, no one bothered to check out what was going on outside? And where were all the police who were supposed to be patrolling around the village?

Sasuke's sharp eyes suddenly caught movements inside a window on one of the houses. He swore he saw a person there, but the person was gone before he could take a closer look.

What in the hell is wrong with this village?

"This is all weird!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood up and turned to look at the quiet Sasuke. "Maybe these guys are dummies or something..." Naruto kicked the guy's head. "Hey, you! Wake up!"

"Leave him alone, you dolt." Sasuke muttered to his blonde companion. "Let's split up and find Sakura. I'm gonna head east." He left Naruto and ran across the street. He heard Naruto call out their pink-haired companion's name from behind. He glanced back and saw the fox boy disappear around the corner of the street.

The road that Sasuke was following was completely deserted. Since it was night already, it sounded fairly reasonable. But damn it, it wasn't that late! How come nobody was outside? It almost gave the impression that nobody lived here at all!

Sasuke continued to run for a few more minutes until he heard some moaning a few blocks from where he was. Cautiously, he ran closer to where the strange sound was coming from. The darkness made it hard for him to recognize anything, but he was able to make out two figures, one was lying down, and the other one was sort of standing. He picked up his pace to get a closer look.

His blood began to race at what he saw.

Sakura was lying weakly on the ground with Henta on top of her. Sasuke was just about to move in for the kill, when, much to his surprise, Henta suddenly dropped down to his side. He was reeling and groaning in so much pain. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him and noticed that his hands were clutching his...

Sasuke sweatdropped. Now he knew who screamed earlier...

He really couldn't blame him for screaming like that. If he was hit there by a girl like Sakura, he'd probably scream, too...

"Take that, you pervert!" He heard his teammate yell at the lecher. She stood up and wobbled a bit before she screamed at Henta again. "How dare you!" She kicked him at the head and punched him on his stomach. "Damn you!"

A smirk tugged at Sasuke's lips as he continued to watch Henta's sufferings. He'd let Sakura have her way with the lecher first...

Unfortunately, Sasuke's amusement was cut short when he saw the damn lech reach out for something under his shirt when Sakura wasn't looking. He scowled when he realized that it was a dart.

A poisonous dart.

With a curse, Sasuke bolted towards Sakura and grabbed her by the waist, barely missing the dart that was fired at their direction. Instinctively, Sasuke shoved the surprised Sakura behind him and glowered at the shocked Henta who was sprawled on the ground.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called out his name. Sasuke frowned. He inwardly hoped that she wouldn't give him one of her hugs after this as thanks for saving her life...

Henta stared at them for a moment. Eventually, he bowed low and sighed in defeat. "Fine, I give up. I lost. You win." He grumbled more to himself than to them as he picked himself up from the ground. "Damn... so much for all that trouble..."

"Henta-san." Sasuke heard Sakura speak up from behind him. "Tell us now. What's going on here?" Her voice sounded very tired, as if she was in pain or something. He glanced back at her to study her face.

Sasuke knew she was hurt, but he chose not to say anything.

"Sakura-chan..." Henta sighed again before he gave them an apologetic look. "I told you I can't..."

"Just spill it out! I'm getting tired of this!" Sakura growled. Sasuke had to cringe at her sudden outburst.

Henta was taken aback. "A-All right! I'll talk..." He muttered grimly. "I did all this because of..."

"DAMN YOU, PERVERT!" Naruto suddenly appeared out of nowhere and punched him on the face, knocking Henta out cold before he had the chance to explain everything to them. "How DARE you kidnap my Sakura-chan?" He grabbed him by the shirt and was about to give him another punch when Sakura stopped him with a frustrated yell.

"Naruto!" Sakura sounded really pissed off at the interruption. She stopped hiding behind Sasuke's back and stepped forward. "You know what? You have the worst timing ever!" Sasuke could sense that she was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. "Come on, let's..." Her voice trailed off and she began to fall dangerously to the ground.

Sasuke's arm immediately reached out and encircled her waist. He shook his head at her. "Sakura... you're getting reckless."

Sakura made a muffled sound, but Sasuke knew that she chuckled at him. His eyes widened when she shifted all of a sudden. She rested her head against his chest and her hand reached up to grip his shirt. Her weight almost threw Sasuke off-balance. He was forced to tighten his hold around her, so she wouldn't fall down to ground.

The two remained like that for a long moment before it registered inside Sasuke's brain that Sakura was fast asleep. He cursed out loud. He tried to pry Sakura's hands from him, but she had a vise-like grip on his shirt. He looked at his teammate and raised an eyebrow when she found Naruto glaring at him.

"Having a good time, Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto asked him with a deep scowl on his face. "I'll carry Sakura-chan."

Sasuke snorted and turned his head away. "Tch. Suit yourself." He waited for Naruto to pull Sakura from him, but much to their surprise, Sakura wouldn't budge. She grabbed on to Sasuke as if there was no tomorrow.

After several more failed attempts to get Sakura off of Sasuke, Naruto finally decided to give up. "Fine! You carry her! Damn, lucky..." Sasuke heard him grumble as the upset fox boy marched away from them and headed towards the unconscious Henta. "Why do I have to get stuck with you?" Naruto cursed out loud and vented his frustrations out by kicking Henta at the head again.

Sasuke looked down at the girl who was snoring quietly against his shirt. He didn't know if he should be happy that Sakura decided to stick herself on him rather than on Naruto. Something stirred inside him as he stared at Sakura's sleeping face, but he forced it down before he could recognize what it was. Gently, he lifted her in his arms and carried her all the way back to Henta's house. Naruto, who was dragging Henta by the shirt again, grumbled noisily under his breath as he followed them from behind.

To be continued…