Chapter I: A Prelude to the Game
AN: … Words in these indicate thought. Also, I do not own any rights to Naruto.
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Jade eyes blinked wearily once. A muffled groan resonated around the abandoned room.
Damn, it's cold. How long have I been here…
Mother… Why have you abandoned me…?
His attackers had put up a good fight. His sand had not tasted that much blood in months. But his chakra was running thin and the sand could not keep up with the fast attacks. A senbon had reached its target and ended the fight.
He woke up in this dark room. He was given food and water. It was meager, but nourishing. Yet why they would give him any nutritional supplement at all baffled him. In fact, why did they keep him alive?
Feh, how pathetic.
His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door.
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"Get in there girl before I slit your pretty little throat."
"You won't keep me here for long! They'll find me. You're underestimating my teammates." She retorted, emerald eyes narrowing with anger.
It was difficult to deceiver the man's identity. Light flooded in from the hallway behind him, guarding the man's facial features. He snorted and turned on his heel. Pausing, he tilted his head slightly towards her.
"Don't even bother to waste your chakra on jutsus. We injected you with fluid to prevent any summoning of chakra."
The door slammed heavily behind him.
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Sakura sighed. The whole situation was unbelievable. How does she manage to get into these kinds of predicaments? Surely Naruto or Sasuke-kun would not have been so easily captured…
She shook her head. Thoughts of either Naruto or Sasuke-kun would not do. Naruto and Sasuke-kun were on an S-class mission with Kakashi-sensei. Chances were that they would not return to Konoha for a few weeks. It could be a month before they find her.
She smiled bitterly. Lately, more and more missions were done without her. Sakura knew that she was not the strongest ninja in the village, or the bravest. Still, it had hurt immensely whenever her team was commissioned missions without her…
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Flashback
"Why are you leaving without me again? Am I not a part of this team?"Sakura screamed.
"Sakura. There is a specific reason why you are being excused from this mission. A reason that I cannot tell you about right now." Kakashi murmured.
"And why is that! Why is it that lately everyone has been treating me like porcelain! I did not study or train my ass off for this! I did not put my life on the line for this! Goddammit sensei, I'm a ninja!" She cried as she beat on his chest.
"Sakura, stand down. You're a mature woman now, therefore act like one. 18 years old, and yet you still throw temper tantrums? I'm beginning to wonder if your reputation as the most mature girl in the village was exaggerated." Kakashi drawled.
Sakura stopped. She stepped back. She noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were watching from a distance. Naruto's expression was pained; even Sasuke looked a little uncertain.
"What, what's going on? I'm sorry sensei. I cannot… I cannot take this anymore. If you leave for this mission without me, then I withdraw from the team. I can't take being treated like this anymore." She whispered as she stepped back. "Good luck…"
Then she fled from the plain.
"Sakura… when we come back, I will explain everything to you. I swear it." Kakashi thought as he watched her run.
"Yosh... Naruto, Sasuke. Let's go."
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That was the last time she saw them. Who knows, perhaps they had finished their mission and had begun searching for her. Sakura shook her head. No, she couldn't count on them. There were too many unknown factors to hope for rescue.
Her kidnappers were from another village, she was certain of that. She knew she was somewhere up north because of the freezing climate. But she knew nothing of their intentions…
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Flashback
"What… what do you want from me?" Sakura whispered as she clutched her mother's body. "Why did you kill her?"
The man sneered. "You ask too many questions. Come with us voluntarily, and we spare your village. Resist, and we will smite this village from the earth."
Sakura tightened her hold.
"How do I know you're not bluffing?"
The man made a signal to his subordinate and something heavy rolled toward her feet. Sakura suppressed a shriek of horror.
It was the head of the gatesman. Several other heads began to roll near her. The gatesman's wife. His child. Her playmate.
Turning away, Sakura promptly threw up. She wiped her mouth and avoided looking at the heads.
"…At least tell me what you want with me before I come with you." She stammered.
"I said you asked too many questions."
The world faded.
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Sakura's mother had tried everything to protect her. But before she finished the hand movements of her final jutsu, a kunai pierced her heart. Sakura watched the entire fight, her fear rendering her body useless. Helpless, like she always was.
"I'm so weak. No wonder they didn't take me along with them to the mission. I would have only hindered them" She muttered bitterly.
A rustle from somewhere in the room interrupted her reflections. Instinctively, her hand reached for her kunai.
Shit, I forgot that they took them from me. The bastards. She swore. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
Nothing.
Not even the sound of a smirk.
Damn, this looks bad.. No kunai. Can't even do a jutsu… "I SAID SHOW YOURSELF!"
"Hn… So you were caught too. Foolish girl." The voice said mirthlessly.
Where… Where have I heard that voice before…? A mounting fear began to build up inside. Where…? "Who… who are you?" she whispered.
"Don't ask me stupid questions. Just shut up. You're wasting air."
It was then Sakura noticed that the room was small. Extremely small. It was not adequate enough to allow enough air to last a single person for a week, let alone two. But that wasn't important right now. Who was the person she was sharing her cell with? Would he kill her? …Did she know him?
What could she do? Surely she wasn't so stupid as to actually go and search for the voice's owner?
She stepped forward.
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The boy stirred. The girl was coming closer. Gaara frowned as he recognized her scent. It was that annoying girl who followed dogged the Uchiha's heels. Just his luck.
"Stop."
The girl stopped. From her body position, it was easy to tell that she was afraid of him. Good.
"At least give me your name so I know who I'm sharing this cell with." She murmured.
"It is irrelevant."
He let the tiniest of smirks grace his lips as he felt the girl stiffen with irritation. Then quietly, she offered a response.
"Aa... Well, my name is Sakura. Haruno Sakura of Konoha."
"I said it was irrelevant."
A crack of the knuckles was heard in the darkness, and then…
"You rude shit! It's common courtesy to give your name when someone gives you theirs!"
"…I don't have to respond to your so-called rules of courtesy, but if you desire my name that badly, I am Garra of the Sand."
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Sakura's mind swirled.
Gaara of the Sand? As in, that Gaara? The freaky bloodthirsty kid who almost killed them all in the forest?She was sharing her cell with him!
Sakura moaned, and the world faded to black.
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AN: Not many changes here. Onward!