DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, but I do own this story so I can manipulate the world of Naruto till it suits me (manical laugh)

Author's note: I'm sorry but this will be a very angsy story in the beginning. I just want to test my tragedy writing skills and Sakura just happens to be the victim. But above all this is a love story, full of hope, full of dreams, and then ultimately a happy ending.

I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do, and if a particular scene comes up that may be too much for some I will post a warning. Oh and I WILL be changing the title of this fic when I find the perfect name.

Unexpected Love

Chapter One: Surprise

Sakura stumbled through the dense forest holding a hand to the gash that was on her side. It was slowing her down but she didn't have a split second to spare to heal it. Every moment counted. Before she had left for the mission she had an uneasy feeling about accepting it. As a jounin specializing in medic-nin work most of her work was down in the hospital or being sent on missions to recover and heal ninja's that were injured while on a mission.

Each jounin was trained to handle any situations and it wasn't abnormal for one to be sent on their own when it was a low profile case. The rare thing was for it to be assigned to Sakura. She accepted it, albeit weary, and the only information Tsunade-sama had instructed her was to retrive a parcel from a neighboring clan leader. The Hokage had assured her that there shouldn't be any major problems due to the fact that it was a low B-ranked mission and it was a simple retrieval mission.

It was her duty as a Konoha ninja to accept and carry out the mission successfully. At first there seemed to be no problems until about 3 hours of traveling to the village she was attacked. She quickly dispersed of them but the odd thing was not the fact that she had been attacked, but that she had been atacked before she even retrieved the item.

They weren't a huge threat but Sakura knew there would be more, and that the next ones would put up a harder fight. But instead about 30 minutes later she was attacked again in a similar fashion with a group of 3. They were about as advanced as Genins and Chunins. And this kept repeating every half hour or so. The only explanation she could find was that they were trying to tire her out so that they could take the package from her once she retrieved it. She begin to get a funny feeling that this was a team assignment and not a solo one. But as long as they had kept at the rate they were going she could maintain her chakra and energy at a steady level for the duration of the mission.

She was a fool to think that she thought wryly. She winced in pain and tried to stop the flow of blood while she was running.

Just as she had earlier expected, once she had picked up the parcel, the attacks had intensified, resulting in her current injury. In the midst of a fight between one enemy before she could dodge it, two shurukins were lodged between her ribs. She bore against the pain and continued fighting but the pain slowed her down. Her only option was to flee and escape them until she found a place she could heal herself.

"You don't believe we'll allow you to escape us that easily do you," a voice said ominiously. She spun around and spotted five ninjas, jounin skilled by their chakra level. She walked back cautiously preparing to escape, when she was seized in a chokehold.

"Not no fast little kunoichi," the one holding her whisphered into her ear. Fear trickled down her spine and she went still.

"Let me go," she demanded.

All of them laughed at that. "Do you really believe we would do that," that voice spoke again. "You have something that we want, and we're not leaving without it."

Sakura managed to keep her voice steady, "What do you want?" This was bad, very bad. In her condition she couldn't fight off all of them alone, and she had to find a way to escape from this alive.

One of them stepped forward and grabbed her chin and tilted her face up to his. He had a sinister grin on his face. "I'm afraid little one you didn't know what you had in store for you today when you left for this mission." He moved his hand other hand up to reach for her knapsack. Sakura struggled to break free from the headlock, but then he suddenly took her arm and snapped!

Lights flashed in Sakura's mind as white hot pain seared up her arm. He had torn her shoulder from the socket. She bit her lip to prevent any sounds of pain from escaping. She would not appear weak and she would fight with her dying breath to find a way to complete her job.

The ninja grinned wider, "If you resist again he'll stap your other arm, and eventually each one limb by limb."

Sakura glared at him, "The only way you can get anything from me would be by force. I won't give you anything willingly."

Irritation flashed over his face for a moment then cleared, going back to his disturbingly cheery face. "If you must make things so difficult then." He nodded towards her captive, "Snap it back in place Hiro."

"Sure thing Taka," Hiro said and gripped Sakura's shoulder and roughly snapped it back in place. Sakura screamed out in pain, she couldn't hold it in. She closed her eyes to keep the tears in.

Taka now asked, "Do you even know what's in that package you have kunichi? I doubt it, but I think its foolish for you to risk your life for something you know nothing about. Maybe I should enlighten you," he said.

She shook her head, "There's no need for me to know," she spat out.

"Such a nasty tongue," Taka murmured, "Maybe I should remove it." Horror shone in her eyes and he chuckled. "I see that caught your attention, little one." He snatched her from Hiro and flung her into a nearby tree. She slammed against it hard and blood was trickling from her mouth. He went and pinned her against the tree.

"I think we should introduce ourselves before we continue. I am Taka, the leader of this here group or team you could say. Our whole purpose in life is simply...nothing," he said with a careless shrugg. "Each of us are missing nins from different villages who share one thing in common. Each of us had a goal to become a Konoha nin. But because of different reasons we were denied. Imagine our delight to see a solitary Konoha nin on a mission come our way, and also in search of something that we could use." He sighed, "The bad news for you is that we're going to take out all our revenge on Konoha against you."

Sakura lifted her head up weakly, "What? You were too afraid to attack a team of ninja's? And you had the nerve to wait until I was weaker? No wonder you can't become a leaf nin."

Instead of getting angry Taka laughed. "That was all part of the plan, little one. It seems we have something in common," his eyes glinted. "We both hate to fail. And I was, no I am determined to see this through." He held his arm up and showed her he held the package in his hand. "It seems I am halfway through."

"What else are you attempting to do," she asked.

He smiled again, and this time it chilled her more than anything before. She had never felt a terror like this, even facing other enemy's stronger than her. This smile held a malice that was just intended for her, and that it would enjoy every single thing he would do to her.

"As I said we both hate to fail. I didn't pick you for nothing Sakura Haruno, direct student and prodigy of the Hokage, Tsunade. Taking this is only the beginning of what we plan to do. And you are at the center of it."

Author's note: I hope you like the first chapter. This and Strawberry Smoothie will be my primary stories and I will update every two weeks with a chapter for either story, most likely it'll alternate. But the good news is that I'll probrably update with more than one chapter so thats 2 chapters a month. See ya next chapter.

MAIDEN AYA