line-break.
5.5
There is no sound for a very long time.
Then there is only her breathing, expanding to fill the void, loud and labored and trapped in the humid darkness of-and she nearly laughs at the absurdity of it all-the burlap sack still tied around her head. Sakura is inordinately pleased that she'd brushed her teeth in the hospital locker room before she'd been—kidnapped? Taken? Snatched?
She flexes her bound hands as best she can, wiggling each finger and toe carefully, trying her best to focus on breathing through her nose. She can feel that while her hands are bound to the chair behind her, they'd left her legs free.
In, out.
Someone will come eventually. She can wait.
—
—
(She thinks she has not been here for long.
She knows that the worst thing she can do is panic. She knows that this probably involves Sasuke. Technically, her surname is still Uchiha.
And how does Sakura feel about that? How does she feel about any of this, beyond the panic and the terror that she is trying to pretend isn't hiding behind a very thin layer of meditative breathing?
Has she told anyone that she loves them lately? Has she finished all her outstanding paperwork?
Will he care? Would it hurt him; would that hurt stain?)
—
—
A screech of metal cuts through the silence, and Sakura immediately freezes—even though they already know she's here, even though they already have her caught.
Two sets of footsteps, not heavy but quite distinct from each other.
"She's awake."
The voice is closer than Sakura had realized, and there are a few indistinct murmurs before she hears one of the two leave and the thud of the closing door.
Come closer, she pleads. Just a little closer.
They do, and she tilts her chair back and kicks.
—
—
In the end, Sakura manages to knock the man out. Not because they hadn't accounted for her regular muay thai and kickboxing sessions with Tsunade, but because she'd been fighting for her life while he had obviously wanted to refrain from seriously injuring her.
The hood had been yanked off; Sakura works on her bound hands, one eye on the closed door in the far corner of the room, the other on her nondescript attacker, and does her best to quell her hysterical laughter.
—
—
She had finally felt free; she had finally started appreciating the feeling of the sun on her face after a long double shift at the hospital.
Sakura wants to live.
—
—
In the end, there is luck, a lot of determination, and a few small fires.
Sakura staggers around the side of the building, hair ragged, ribs bruised, and greedily gulps down the night air. The office had been derelict and closed off before her kidnappers had taken up residence, and she'd always associate the musty smell of its hallways with the terror of looking up, up, up from her prone position on the bland gray carpeting and meeting Danzo's eyes.
She runs, stumbling, trying her best to get away from the eventual blast, but the explosion still throws her. Coughing, spluttering, ears ringing from the noise, Sakura painfully pulls herself to her feet. Somehow, through the noise of the blaze, she thinks she hears her name, over and over again, like a litany—
There is a crowd of officers, and in the light of the fire she sees a man on their hands and knees, and it seems like an impossible thing, but—
"...Sasuke."
One of the officers finally notices Sakura and immediately draws her gun. The woman's mouth opens, but Sakura doesn't hear her. The man had raised his head at the officer's shout, and Sakura almost takes it back, because while the features are the same, the naked grief on his face is so raw that it makes her want to look away.
But this Sakura had saved herself; this Sakura had signed the papers and had had the strength to walk away.
So she holds his gaze, the ache behind her sternum worse than her ribs and head and back, until a rush of bodies separate them and someone buoys her away.
note: I know this fic took a somewhat unexpected turn a chapter or two ago, but if you're confused please don't hesitate to send me a mssg or say so in a review (I do reply!). Also, thank you so much for your outpouring of support on the last chapter! It was hard to sink back into this world, especially with where we were plot-wise, but we're barreling towards the end now, along with a return to form (pining! emotional catharsis! the comfort to the hurt/comfort! all the things you're actually here for!). As always, I wouldn't be able to do without you all, and I hope I manage to deliver something close to your expectations.
