Sakura felt the trickle of sweat leave her face and travel down her neck, joined soon by another. She swallowed thickly; her throat dry. She wasn't shaking yet, but if that man came any closer –
There was a part of her that desired to rush out swinging, killing the monster as painfully as possible, after beating some information out of him. The other, and larger, side was in favor of getting as far away from him as humanly possible.
At the moment, the best she could do was doing nothing, just waiting for Kabuto to make his move. She didn't have to wait long.
He reached for her, and she leap back, ducking his other hand as he pursued her further. She lashed out with her leg and managed to get him to dodge to the right, putting herself in line with the open door. He grinned at her mischievously, with his creepy Orochimaru eyes.
Sakura made a mad dash for the door and managed to get two steps out when Kabuto twisted her arm back and pulled up. Sakura let out a surprised grunt at the pain but jumped up into the air to relieve the pressure on her arm, pushing off Kabuto and flipping him over with her momentum. His grin faded into a slight frown as he landed awkwardly, and then a grimace as realized a little pink-haired girl just did that to the one who could control an entire undead army.
She was off again, hoping against hope to be able to escape him, but Kabuto did not underestimate her again. He caught her hair with one hand, to jerk her towards him, and used the other to land a blow to her mid-section while she was off balance. Before she could counter-attack, he was already retreating, and planning his next strike.
Sakura glared at him, standing there smiling at her. She winced slightly at the damage his chakra scalpel had inflicted on her insides but put aside healing until the fight was over; nothing critical had been injured with his attack. She really didn't have much choice since he was slinking about, toying with her, playing a cat-and-mouse game where she was the mouse.
Sakura knew she didn't have a lot of chakra to spare now, so she had to end it quickly, without killing him. As if I could, she thought to herself, at this point, I'm little better off than a rookie genin against him.
The next moment, Kabuto launched himself towards her, and she just managed to dodge his scalpel. They exchanged blows, and ended in a draw, both with a cut or two but nothing severe.
He chuckled at her, examining the cuts on his arm, "I see Tsunade finally taught you how to use a chakra scalpel as a weapon; it's about time."
Sakura sneered at him, refusing to give into his pathetic attempts at conversation, "This is a fight, not a social." Sakura launched her own assault, scalpel in one hand, Sasuke's kunai in the other.
He repelled her attack fluidly, grinning once again, looking every bit the literal snake he had become. He landed a kick to her injured stomach, and she let the momentum carry her away, biting her lip to keep from crying out like her body wanted her to, "Now, now Sakura, don't get ahead of yourself, I could end this anytime I want."
Sakura stood to her feet, eyeing him as she did so. He just stood there patiently, the stupid grin still on his face. She quietly weighed her options, time and chakra running low. She could keep this little game up until she dropped from chakra exhaustion, or Kabuto got bored, whichever came first. Or she could try her new jutsu, and her risky escape plan from earlier.
Neither option particularly appealed to her, especially because both would leave Sasuke alone in enemy hands, and her useless to help him.
Sakura begrudgingly lowered her kunai and canceled her chakra scalpel. Kabuto took his turn to look surprised, and Sakura clenched her fists as she forced herself to say what she dreaded to, "What do you want, Kabuto?"
He chuckled softly, but likewise canceled his scalpels, "My, my Sakura, I certainly wasn't expecting that just yet."
She nearly shouted at him, "Just answer the question!" Her patience was gone, and she wanted to get this done over with so she could go back to trying to help Sasuke.
Kabuto creased his eyebrows but refrained from frowning, "I want the nine-tails chakra from your arm."
Sakura imagined all sorts of terrible plans he had for her, but she could honestly say she had never seen that one coming, "I don't have any of the nine-tail's chakra!"
"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura," Kabuto shook his head as if he spoke to a child, "I healed your arm myself at the Heaven and Earth bridge barely a year ago; I know it's there!"
She shook her head, "Like you just said, that was a year ago! Any chakra from that was there is long since gone!" Sakura glared at him intensely, not liking the way he was looking at her. He took a few slow steps towards her, the creepy grin once more on his face.
"The nine-tail's chakra never quite goes away; it lingers in an area for an indefinite amount of time, depending on the conditions of its container. In your case, a small but still viable concentration of the chakra resides safely in your arm, ripe for the picking."
Sakura's eyebrows drew together as she began to suspect where this might be going, "Why do you want it?"
"In capturing the nine-tails of course, locating it will be so much easier with some of its recent chakra as a locator. I'll be sure to let Naruto know all about your contribution, and Sasuke's rededication to our cause. It's just a matter of time now," Kabuto took yet another step closer extending his hand cordially.
"LIKE HELL!" Sakura's fist smashed into his cheek even as she shouted, livid beyond recognition. Kabuto signed his death warrant when he threatened both of her most precious people in one breath.
Kabuto flew back, landing in the ground, creating a slight crater, and then skidding several feet further on his face. His eyes went unfocused from the force of the impact, and before he realized he had landed, Sakura was already on him. She heaved him up, and began a barrage of punching, as if he was a punching bag.
Sakura for her part was bent on finishing him off. She increased the force behind each punch, coming up just shy of a chakra-enhanced one.
Her body began to protest the harsh demands she placed on it to keep up the constant attack, shortly after she began. Soon she was panting, and her muscles screamed at her to stop, but she refused them the indulgence. She frowned sharply and dredged up the bulk of her remaining chakra quickly to both fists, laying a double punch to Kabuto's head, sending him all the way down the rest of the corridor and a foot into the wall.
She redirected some chakra to her feet and sprinted towards him. He coughed up some blood, grimacing oddly with a broken jaw. His glasses where broken, he had a constant spurt of blood from a nasty gash, several bones were peaking from beneath his battered skin, and he had blood gushing from his newly deformed nose. He was moments from death, but what nearly stopped Sakura in her tracks was the creepy smile he gave her.
His clearly broken hands still formed a seal, and as Sakura ran to stop him, he succeeded in pulling off his jutsu.
The very next second, Sakura was lying on her back, trying to suck in air and seeing stars. Darkness pressed in on her vision, and the last thing she saw clearly was the old, injured shell of Kabuto in the wall. She silently screamed at herself to fight, to struggle, to do something! But she found it fruitless as unconsciousness set in, bit by bit.
Kabuto unceremoniously dragged her back to the cell by the door, making sure to step on her hand to break it, and bumping her head on the ground as often as he could.
He dumped her in the center of the cell floor, already marked with the jutsu he was about to perform. He took the brush and ink from his pouch and began to write the kanji on her arm.
Sakura forced herself to remain awake, desperate to find some way to sabotage his jutsu, but the last shred of her consciousness was taken when Kabuto hit her pressure point, ensuring she wouldn't stop him.