Two

Sakura

Thick. That's the best word I can think of to describe how I am feeling right now.

My tongue feels too large in my mouth, and when I try to swallow, my throat feels swollen and dry. My eyelashes feel as though they have been glued together, and peeling my eyes open feels like an impossible task. I leave them closed.

I attempt to make a silent check of my body as I lay wherever I lay, (it feels like a bedroll), and am disconcerted to find that my magical capabilities are not responding. I cannot sense anything, cannot magically do a once over of my body systems like I usually can.

That's when I feel it.

There is a heavy, constricting binding around my thin wrists. I assume that whatever it is must be blocking my magic somehow. I would have been impressed by them were they not currently preventing me from doing anything. I grit my teeth in annoyance, still not at a point where I feel I can open my eyes.

Counting on my other senses to tell me things, I attempt to focus my nose and my ears on my surroundings. Immediately, I pick up on the scent of illness – the scent of blood and gore and death engulfs me like flames on dry grass. I nearly choke, but find that I don't have it in me to do that, either. The smell of decay is so strong it overpowers anything else, anything that might have given me another hint as to my surroundings. All I can tell is that I am likely surrounded by the dead and dying.

Promising.

My ears tell me that I am in some sort of camp. Probably enemy. They also confirm for me that I am in some sort of make-shift hospital, maybe a medical tent, full of injured soldiers. There are groans of pain, sobs of agony, some of them coming from a place disturbingly near to me.

I attempt to lift my arms, to just move, but I find I can't after several attempts. Frustration builds up inside of me at this, I never realized before how I had taken for granted just being able to lift my arm, to turn my head. Now, I feel as though I am made of stone. Lifeless, with only the ability to hear and smell what is going on around me. Load of good that will do me…

My heart begins to thud painfully in my chest, filling my ears with its rushing pump. I try to piece together what happened – how I had ended up in a place like this. I remember being in the cabin with Lee and Kiba and Hinata and Ten-Ten…I remember the approaching smoke of the battle and then going outside…

Sasuke.

The name is nearly enough to have me choking, but yet again I make no sound. Uchiha Sasuke had found me, had tried to kill my friends, and had likely taken me prisoner.

My childhood friend turned enemy. The boy that I loved so dearly in my youth, the boy that I continued to love until I heard what he had become. The boy that had unknowingly broken my heart and thrown it away. People said that he was the real reason that Itachi left home – they said he never forgave himself for letting the Uchiha take Sasuke with them.

I have, of course, heard about Sasuke, heard how he has become a commanding officer in the Sound army. His cruelty and power are well-known among every country in the area. The very thought of him makes my blood run cold, and causes a shiver to run up my sore and sweating back.

"Ah, I see you are awake," a masculine voice startles me. "Good morning, dearest Sakura-chan."

I try to jump to my feet, try to even open my eyes, but both tasks prove impossible as I lay on the ground motionless. Powerless. How the man even knows I am awake is beyond me. "Can't. Move," I manage to grind out between clenched, unmoving teeth.

"Ah, it hasn't worn off fully yet, then," the male voice speaks again, closer this time. Too close. "Don't worry, little princess, it's just a side-effect of some of the healing potion I gave you, no need to fret. The Uchiha did quite a number on you, I'm afraid. I had to use quite a bit."

There is his name again, filling me with a bitterness so strong that I wish I could spit. My mother would be horrified. If I could laugh, I would. Beaten nearly to death by Uchiha Sasuke, and now lying in an enemy medical tent, getting up close and personal with an enemy medic. Wonderful.

I manage a groan after what feels like an eternity of my silence, the vibration in my throat causing near instant, burning pain. The smoke most definitely damaged my airway, at least temporarily. Some fucking healing potion, I scoff in my mind, again thinking of how my mother would be horrified. She always hated when I swore. She would tell me how I sounded like a stable-boy. My father would smile into his tea.

At the thought of my parents, I feel an acute pain in my chest. I hope they are alive. They will soon be faced with the knowledge that their daughter is kidnapped, maybe dead, and I know they will blame themselves. They had wanted to keep me in the castle, but the fighting had gotten far too close to home, and it was determined that I would be safer hidden away on the edges of the country – in a place where Sound would never find me.

Except they found me, and now I lay on a thin, lumpy bedroll in a stinking medical tent alone with a man more than capable of killing me a hundred different ways. I am beginning to believe my mother's theory that I had been cursed at a young age – a conclusion my mother had drawn after I had broken four separate bones on four different occasions when I was ten. It would certainly explain how Sasuke and his men had just stumbled upon me out in the middle of nowhere. Bastards.

"Okay, Sakura dear, I think it's been long enough," the male voice is back, this time somewhere off to my left. "Open your eyes."

I try, I really do. Even though the last thing I want to do is obey some random man, I too would prefer my eyes were open. I tell myself that I am only trying to open my eyes because I want to, and not because the mystery medic is telling me to. To my great dismay, however, my eyes are still firmly clamped shut, unwilling to budge no matter how hard I try to will them open.

Fire explodes across my cheek, sending my unmoving head shooting to the side. I feel blood dripping out of the right side of my mouth where I have bitten my cheek. I think I have been slapped. I manage an indignant moan that probably sounds more pathetic than pissed.

"Now, now, Sakura, I asked you to open your eyes," the voice is soft, sweet even, but I can hear the malicious edge to his words. "It would be in your best interest to comply."

Attempting to spit the pooling blood from my mouth, I hiss through still-clenched teeth: "Can't."

"Oh, I think you can," the last word is punctuated with another slap, this one sends my head spinning behind my closed eyelids.

If anything, the slapping is making it harder for me to open my eyes. I begin to feel myself drifting back towards the darkness, and there's a part of me that wants to let go, to let the darkness consume me again where at least I can be oblivious to the torment. I know what happens to little women when they are captured. I don't think I want to be awake for it.

Just as I feel fingers come to rest above the pulse point on my neck, just as the grip begins to tighten, a new voice speaks.

"Planning to kill her so soon?"

Is that…is that Sasuke? I am suddenly more awake, all thoughts of returning to the darkness forgotten as I struggle to hear what he will say next. I still cannot force my eyes open, however.

The fingers leave my throat, thankfully, and I hear the man beside me rise to stand. "No," he answers curtly. Sasuke must have touched a nerve. "I'm attempting to get her to open her eyes. The potion should have worn off enough now that her senses are returning. She should be able to open her eyes by now, and I suspect she is keeping them closed on purpose."

The sounds of screaming lightning fills my ears, instantly taking me back to when Sasuke used his lightning spell on me when I had jumped in front of Lee. My heart hammers in my chest – he's not going to do it again, is he? Surely, I won't survive it if he does.

The unknown male voice pipes up. "Er, Sasuke-san, that might be a bit much. I just want her eyes open, I doubt you'd be very happy with yourself if you killed her by accident."

"She's withstood the chidori before," Sasuke's voice is monotone, cold. "She can handle it again. There is much less power behind this attack, anyway."

I still, willing myself to be swallowed up into the ground beneath me. I wildly try to pry my eyes open, feeling panic surge in my gut when my eyelids don't budge. My own body is orchestrating my death sentence. My very painful death sentence.

"Princess." That cold, empty voice is addressing me, now. I don't recognize it. "I will give you one chance to open your eyes before I am forced to encourage you. Now is your chance."

I try again, feeling a tear finally manage to break free through my clamped lids. I still can't do it.

The pain is enough to force a scream from my lips. I feel my extremities straighten out like rods and my back arches on its own. My eyes remain firmly glued in place as the smell of my own burning flesh reaches my nose. His electrified hand is pressed firmly on my stomach, pressing, pressing, pressing, until I am almost numb and all I can smell is charred fabric and skin. I almost don't notice when he stops. My nerve endings are so overstimulated that I can barely feel anything.

"Open your eyes," Sasuke snaps, a decidedly agitated edge to his voice that wasn't there before. "Don't make me do it again."

"I c-can't," I manage to whine, hoarse voice muffled by my slightly clenched teeth. While I feel like my jaw is loosening, my eyelids are most definitely not.

I am not numb anymore. The pain is now centered in my chest. He has moved his hand up six inches or so, to the valley between my breasts. I am on fire, I swear it. My heart is now beating erratically, and I know it can't take much more of this electrical onslaught. I am not thinking straight, but in the back of my mind, I know this will kill me if he doesn't stop.

"Kill me!" I hear myself scream, too delirious with pain to realize my jaw is unfrozen. "P-please kill me!"

My words have some effect, as I feel his hand withdrawal. The pain doesn't leave, though. My mercilessly racing heart begins to falter, and I think that now I really will die. That idiot threw my heart off-rhythm. That is my last coherent thought.

Dumbly, I blink my eyes open just as my vision fades to black, to see Uchiha Sasuke crouched over me, face as blank and uncaring as stone.

Sasuke

Sasuke stands outside of Orochimaru's tent, hands clenched at his sides. He has never enjoyed conversations with the snake-man and prefers to keep them as limited as possible. He frowns as he thinks of having to discuss the girl with him.

"Don't hover, Sasuke," Orochimaru's voice hisses from the other side of the tent flap. "Come in."

Sasuke grits his teeth, pushing the flap aside to reveal Orchimaru's unnecessarily lavish tent. King or not, no one needs three naked consorts lounging at their feet in the middle of the afternoon. Sasuke cringes as he thinks about grass getting…places.

"Don't be rude, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru purrs. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We have captured who we believe to be the Princess of the Leaf," Sasuke says without preamble. Perhaps he should have asked for a private audience with the King, but at this point, he can't find it within himself to care. "I sensed her presence a few miles from where the fighting was taking place."

Orochimaru doesn't seem surprised. His lips merely curl into a sinister smirk as he reaches down to pet the head of one of the girls at his feet. "Excellent. Pray tell, how did you sense her Sasuke?"

"She appears to have…magical capabilities," Sasuke explains, eyes fixed firmly on Orochimaru's pale, drawn face. The man somehow looks even skinnier in his oversized, over-decorated robe.

The King's eyebrows move upwards slightly at this. "Magical? How magical?"

Sasuke coughs, thinking on what to say. "Very."

"Interesting," Orochimaru replies, reclining slightly in his ridiculous, makeshift throne. "We will have to find something to do with her."

"Yes, that's why I'm here," Sasuke explains, averting his eyes to survey the tent around him. It is ten times larger than any regular soldier's tent…and those tents typically house two. "In addition to alerting you of her capture, of course."

"Hmm," the King breathes.

Sasuke waits for a minute or so, before finally returning his gaze to Orochimaru. The man is studying him with cunning, black eyes. Eyes even more soulless than Sasuke's own.

"If she is so magical, then I suppose it would be best to keep her with you, for now," Orochimaru finally speaks. "Plus, it will be important to keep her isolated. She is a high-profile prisoner, after all. I am not sure there is anyone else in this camp that can be trusted with her."

Orochimaru's words have him so thrown off, Sasuke barely knows what to say. "With me?" he repeats, bordering on sounding stupid. "I don't think –"

"Ah, Sasuke-kun. You have misunderstood me. This decision is not eligible for debate."

Anger flares in Sasuke's chest. He is without doubt that he can kill this man where he sits – in his over-indulgent tent surrounded by his whores. But killing a king comes with consequences, and now is not the time.

Checking his rage, Sasuke grits his teeth. "Whatever you say, my Lord."

He spins on his heel and leaves the tent without waiting for a response.

He walks quickly back to the medical tent to check Kabuto's progress. He trusts the white-haired man even less than he trusts the King. Leaving him alone with such a potentially important prisoner doesn't make Sasuke especially comfortable. He is almost unsurprised when he enters the medical tent to see Kabuto crouched down beside the girl, hand wrapped menacingly around her throat.

"Planning to kill her so soon?" Sasuke deadpans as he approaches.

Kabuto looks over at him sharply with a barely perceptible sneer on his face. "No," he says as he releases her throat and moves to stand beside her. "I'm attempting to get her to open her eyes. The potion should have worn off enough now that her senses are returning. She should be able to open her eyes by now, and I suspect she is keeping them closed on purpose."

Sasuke is beyond tired and irritated today. Without putting much thought into his actions, he calls chidori to his hand yet again, relishing in the feeling of the calculated electricity he so easily controls. The scream of his power turns the corner of his mouth up.

"Er, Sasuke?" Kabuto pipes up, taking a step away from the girl. "That might be a bit much. I just want her eyes open, I doubt you'd be very happy with yourself if you killed her by accident."

"She's withstood the chidori before," Sasuke's voice is monotone, cold. "She can handle it again. There is much less power behind this attack, anyway."

The girl still lies there, completely motionless. Her eyes remain fixed firmly shut. Stubborn little thing, he supposes. She had taken his chidori in place of her guard, it seems that she is one of iron will.

"Princess." He addresses her without emotion in his voice, unable or unwilling to speak her name, he isn't sure which. "I will give you one chance to open your eyes before I am forced to encourage you. Now is your chance."

Again, the girl remains still, although Sasuke thinks he sees a tear escape one of her eyes. He takes this as proof that she can hear them, and is simply disobeying out of spite. Stupid.

Her screams do not affect him. They don't. He presses his hand down upon her abdomen and shocks her hard. Maybe a little harder than he meant to, but it is at the very least getting his point across. He does not feel bad for it as her tattered traveler's dress begins to burn and blacken around his hand. It's her own fault, after all. If she would just listen and open her eyes, this wouldn't have to happen. He wouldn't have to do this. That thought makes him angrier still. She is forcing him to do this, and he hates her for it. He hadn't even really planned to do it - he thought that the imminent threat of being shocked again would be enough to have the girl's eyes flying open.

"Open your eyes," Sasuke snaps, pulling his hand back before he really does kill her. "Don't make me do it again."

"I c-can't," the princess whines behind clenched teeth, squirming beneath him.

His hand slams down again, this time he is truly angry. Will no one just do as he wishes today? His palm is centered above her chest this time, electricity flaring from his hand and into the air around them. She will open her eyes if it's the last thing she does. He doesn't care.

"Kill me!" she screams, suddenly, thrashing around beneath his hand. "P-please kill me!"

Sasuke feels his shoulder being ripped backwards, disconnecting his hand from her body. He turns around to see Kabuto behind him, eyes wide and hands trembling slightly from the shock he no doubt received when his hand came into contact with Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke turns back to Sakura just in time to see her green eyes flutter open, and then flutter closed almost as quickly.

He is knocked to the side by a wild-eyed Kabuto, who immediately kneels to place his hands on the girl's chest. "Idiot," he breathes, undoubtedly referring to Sauske, who does not flinch. "You put her into cardiac arrest."

Sasuke simply shrugs. "Fix her."

"I don't know if I can!" Kabuto shouts, placing a green-glowing hand on her chest as he reaches for a vial of medication on the table to his left. "When she dies, you will regret yourself," he snaps, clearly unable to hide his disdain any longer. Most people would never dare to speak to Sasuke like that, not even Kabuto.

Uncharacteristically, Sasuke falters for a moment. He would regret it if she died, only because he had given up such a powerful bargaining piece, a potentially useful prisoner. That would be the only reason.

"Fix her," he repeats, before storming back out of the tent, the smell of a girl's burning skin in his nose and the sight of her fluttering lashes in the back of his mind.

Sakura

I wake in a cold sweat.

For a moment, I think my eyes are still closed. My heart rate speeds up as I panic, afraid that I'll be subjected to another round of torture as my captors attempt to force my eyes open. Only after a few moments, when my eyes adjust to the darkness, do I realize that my eyes are finally open.

Then the pain hits.

It is debilitating.

A strangled gasp escapes my lips as I begin to choke on blood or bile, I'm not sure which. I hope that it is bile – the lesser of two evils. I cough a large amount of the substance onto the ground on my right side.

The light of a lamp suddenly illuminates the space, and I am now able to see the fluid I have spit out to my side. Clotted red blood. I shudder at the sight of it. I think that I might be dying.

"There, there, darling," a warm hand comes to rest on my forehead. "Take it easy, little flower."

For a moment, I think I have been rescued. That hope is quickly dashed, however, when my newly-opened eyes adjust more fully to the light and see a sweet-faced, white-haired man with circular glasses leaning over me. I am immediately wary of him. He looks nice, but I recognize his voice. He was there when Sasuke…

Suddenly, I am afraid. I have never been so afraid in my life.

I do my best to scoot away from the man now crouched at my side, but even the tiniest of movements causes me pain on a scale I didn't even know existed. I still manage to shift myself backwards a bit.

Horrified at my own weakness, I feel tears begin to track down my cheeks as an embarrassing sound escapes my mouth. "P-please," I choke in a whisper. "Help me."

"Of course I'll help you," the white-haired man croons at me, tucking a lock of my dirty, pink hair behind my ear. "My name is Kabuto. I'll help you get well again."

"Pain," I whisper raggedly, each movement of my mouth cracking my chapped lips more.

"I'll give you something," Kabuto nods at me. "Don't fret."

I follow the man with my eyes, too sore to move my neck to tilt my head. I watch him mix herbs and other ingredients, doing my best to hold back tears and wishing he would just hurry up already.

Every bump in the night has me jumping, every cough from another sick body nearby causes my heart to skip a beat and my stomach to drop to my toes. I feel helpless and sick and ready to die. I hate myself for it.

I hate Sasuke more.

"Here you go," the man named Kabuto has reappeared at my side. "Drink this."

He tilts the concoction into my mouth, fingers beneath my chin.

I grimace against the taste but drink the liquid anyway, willing to do anything to dull the pain, even a little bit. My stomach and chest feel very badly burned. I tremble as I remember why. My muscles are cramping and aching all over my body, and my hands and feet are tingling relentlessly - no doubt a lingering reaction from the shock. I am so cold.

"I'm going to have to change your bandages, Sakura," Kabuto explains to me slowly. I wonder if he thinks I am stupid. "It's going to hurt, and I am sorry for that."

Hurt turns out to be an understatement. There are no words to describe how I feel when he first begins unwinding the bandages from around my midsection. I bite my lip so hard the brittle skin there bleeds, dripping in a macabre trail down my chin. I tell myself I will not scream.

Kabuto inhales sharply. "Oh my. This is much worse than yesterday. It would benefit Sasuke to learn some restraint. Cardiac arrest and third degree burns..."

Cardiac arrest? What the hell? I am now even more horrified than I was a moment ago. I am truly lucky to be alive. Or perhaps I am unlucky. The way Kabuto spit the words leads me to believe that the man before me is not fond of my childhood companion. The thought leaves me quickly, though, as the pain is soon all I can focus on.

Cold air hits me like a wave, instantly tightening my skin and causing a rush of goosebumps to erupt all over my flesh. I am distantly aware that my breasts are exposed, but I can't begin to find it in myself to care. I feel Kabuto's hands touching me lightly, rubbing some sort of ointment over what I suspect is severely burnt skin. He did say third degree. His green glowing hands are comforting. I would be embarrassed if the ointment wasn't helping to soothe my pain away. If he keeps doing that, he can touch me all he likes.

After an eternity of moving and wrapping and tears, I am finally permitted to lay motionless on my back, breathing as shallowly as possible so as not to aggravate the wounds on my chest. I think if I can just stay still forever, I might be able to tolerate the pain.

"The elixir I gave you will help you sleep soon," Kabuto's soft voice says from somewhere above me. "Try to rest."

I don't think I will ever rest again.

Sasuke

Sasuke sits alone in his tent, reading over the multiple letters he has received from various officers of the Sound army. He lights a lamp to fight against the growing darkness, bringing the papers closer to his eyes. It must be late, he thinks idly, as the summer sun's rays have lasted longer and longer as of late.

His fingers feel a little burnt, he notes, looking down at the dry, cracked skin of his hands. Undoubtedly, they are damaged from his extended use of chidori the day before yesterday. His thoughts stray involuntarily to the little prisoner in the medical tent. The girl he knew so long ago, the girl he pledged to forget. He didn't really mean to put her into cardiac arrest, or whatever Kabuto had said that he had done. He just wasn't really thinking at the moment. He wasn't feeling. Anger is sometimes the only emotion he can process, it is the easiest thing for him to feel and he often defaults to it. That's why it was so easy for him to keep going, even when she screamed and begged. He was angry, and it felt good to hurt something.

Truthfully, he is still angry. He is angry at that stupid, moronic girl for getting herself caught. He is angry at Orochimaru for forcing Sasuke to keep her with him. He is angry at himself for a reason he cannot determine. He is angry at everything and everyone and he has no idea what to do with all his pent up aggression. He used the girl to lash out, which temporarily relieved his ever-mounting rage, but the days after had left a bad taste in his mouth.

He sighs heavily, extinguishing his lamp and sitting in the dark, letters discarded on the table and forgotten. All he knows is that he is currently more angry than he has ever been, and the only thing that has changed in his life is the addition of a pink-haired prisoner. Sometimes he wants to snap her in two, and sometimes he wants to forget he knew her.

He hates her, he thinks.

She is the princess of a kingdom which framed his family for the murder of a king, after all. How can she sit idly by, living life as though she is not a part of such a wicked, pathetic place? How can she take part in it, when her very people exiled her best childhood friend? She is one of them, a traitor to him and his family. He hates that he is even thinking such things.

And so, he lets the anger consume him again, banishing any thoughts of the girl from his mind without remorse. He will continue to be angry, and more specifically, he will continue to be angry with her. She does not deserve pity. She deserves exactly what she has received, and Sasuke does not feel bad for her.

He doesn't.

Sakura

I am on the bank of the creek again, but this time I am alone.

The sun is high in the sky, it seems to be early morning. This is strange, I think, I almost never went to the river alone. I wonder if this is a memory or if my subconscious has just taken me to a place of comfort.

The creek is running fast today, and I think that it must have rained shortly before I got here. I wonder where Naruto and Sasuke are. Shouldn't they be here with me?

I stand up and walk along the creek's edge, with the vague feeling that I am looking for something, but I am not sure what it is. Every color is more vibrant around me, the creek is a brilliant blue, the trees are a happy green. Berries on bushes are a deep, otherworldly red. I look around and find that I suddenly don't know where I am.

"Sakura!" I hear someone call my name in the distance. The sound echoes endlessly.

At some point it starts raining.

I turn, looking for the person who had shouted my name, but I don't see anyone.

"Hello?" I call back, making my way through the thick foliage around me. "Who is it?"

No answer.

Finally I break through the mess of underbrush, finding myself in a beautiful clearing. A meadow, full of springtime flowers. My green eyes go wide as I take several steps into the field, too afraid to blink and have it vanish before me. I am almost sure that I have never been here before.

I twirl around once, twice, before I lose my balance and fall back among the soft grass and wildflowers. The smell of nature tickles my nose, and I smile. I am briefly aware that the rain has stopped and the sun is shining again. A bird calls sweetly from the trees in the distance. The wind whispers secrets through the grass. The clouds are lazy.

"Sakura!" the voice calls again.

I shoot up from my comfortable spot on the ground, looking around eagerly for the owner of the voice.

I am no longer in the meadow, but in the clearing where our cabin had been. It is burned to ashes.

Hinata, Ten-Ten, Kiba, and Lee lay massacred at my feet.

I gasp in horror, taking several quick steps back and tripping over my own feet and falling to the ground in the process. The mangled bodies before me nearly cause me to vomit. I am crying and I cannot stop.

Footsteps draw my horrified gaze upwards in time to see Sasuke walking out of the ruins of our burned home. He is dressed in all black, impossibly evil and impossibly cold. Impossibly beautiful. His eyes are a terrifying, swirling red, and he is staring right at me.

I attempt to scurry backwards, but I find that I am rooted to the ground where I sit. Still, Sasuke walks towards me.

I try to open my mouth, but my lips have been glued shut.

He is close, far too close, and my chest hurts as though I am being shocked all over again. He doesn't stop his relentless steps until he is four feet in front of me, staring down at me with nothing in his eyes but red.

"Sakura," he says simply, like I should be expecting it.

I wake up screaming.

AN: Just for some clarity here, in case I didn't make it obvious enough, Sasuke and Sakura have very different ideas about what happened on the night of the massacre. Sasuke believes his family was framed, Sakura believes his family did it. This is not a defense of Sasuke hurting Sakura at all, but he believes she is truly his enemy and that she turned her back on his family like the rest of Konoha. Don't worry though, for there shall be character development, huzzah! Let me know what you think!

~love, loony