Chapter 7 – Take A Look Into My Eyes

There was no time to focus on her heartbreak. No time to grieve for the death of her shishou and sibling disciple, or worry about how Shisui or his body would cope in Katsuyu's world.

Breathing deeply as the wind tore through her hair, Sakura continued to travel at high speeds, stretching her senses to try and find that one person. There were battles going on all around her, but it seemed many of them were ending with surrender. It was the wisest choice in their situation, for not every shinobi in their village could fight against ROOT – not when their numbers were so great, anyway.

If she wasn't mistaken, both Kakashi and Naruto were out of the village. The former was on a mission with Gai and Anko to try and gather information about the upcoming war, whereas Naruto was away training. She didn't even know where Itachi was but that wasn't unusual. He was always away on highly classified missions. However, she couldn't help but feel if they were there, it could've made a difference. With her boys there, they could've stood a chance in fighting Danzo. By herself…

No. She couldn't think like that.

Expression setting into a mask of grim determination, Sakura came a sudden halt, green eyes narrowing on the sight before her as she knelt, chakra levels dropping so she wouldn't be discovered. Danzo was there. Walking around with that cane again, although she was fairly certain it was only for show just like those bandages probably were. Maybe it was wrong of her to judge another, especially about something as serious as being injured, but… Sakura knew what it was like to be underestimated in battle. She knew that it always gave her the upper hand because they never expected much from a pink haired, petite girl. What would one think of an old man wrapped in bandages and walking with a cane? They wouldn't expect much from him, that was for sure.

"Go after the runners," she heard him order of his operatives. "And bring me Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke?

Her grip on the building's edge tightened, heart palpitating with fear. Had Shisui been right? Was Danzo the one who attacked Sasuke? What was he going to do to him? Why did he want him outside? He had chakra restraints on. His Sharingan was sealed. He was defenceless. Completely at his mercy.

She couldn't allow that.

Shifting her grip, Sakura used the building to add more momentum to her leap as she shot through the air, fist clenching and humming with chakra. However, just as she was certain the punch would connect, Danzo stepped to the side, leaving her to fall gracelessly to the ground in a last minute attempt to stop any further destruction of the village.

Distance was quickly put between them and by the time Sakura was up and on her feet, Danzo was surrounded by his operatives. The only face she could see was Danzo's due to the rest of them being covered in masks and cloaks and it terrified her how similar they looked to ordinary ANBU. There was no way to tell the difference – not to her, anyway. Just how many were her enemy in the village? How many were on their side? Who could she trust?

Gods, she could've done with Kakashi or Itachi fighting on her side. Their experience and strengths would've been a huge advantage for her – for all of them.

"It looks as though I won't have to go through the effort of finding you," Danzo said, voice low and gravelly. She gritted her teeth at his air of superiority because like hell he would ever be her superior. The man was nothing more than scum. "How wise of you to surrender."

"Surrender?" Sakura repeated daringly and then laughed. Straightening up, she stood as tall as possible, willing herself to remember every bit of training Tsunade had given to her. She could not let her shishou down. Not in front of the man who had murdered her. "You should know just by my shishou's name that I am not a submissive woman."

"But you are still a woman," he countered without pause. "Meaning you are emotional."

Chauvinistic asshole, she almost screamed at him. However, she knew she needed to remain calm. No matter what, her anger couldn't get the best of her and she couldn't let him rile her up, otherwise she would lose whatever edge she had in their battle. She would only be proving him right.

"It means you are easy to break."

At his words, two of his operatives appeared in front of him, making her chest constrict painfully when they dumped two lifeless bodies to the ground like they were nothing more than sacks of dirt. Her shishou's henge had obviously faded away with her death, as had her seal and the sight of her true form had tears filling her eyes. There was no mistaking or faking her death. As for Shizune… As much as she wanted to, Sakura was unable to look away. They were soaked in blood, bodies broken and beaten beyond repair. From the looks of things, not even Tsunade's seal had been able to save her.

What chance did she have?

No.

She had to try. For them. For those who had died and for those who were trying to escape. She had to protect them.

A near frantic operative returned before she could strike, panting as he told Danzo, "Uchiha Sasuke is gone. His cell is empty and there is a trail of dead bodies."

Itachi.

Sakura smirked. That was where he was, protecting his brother just as she always knew he would. She was so glad for that.

Danzo met her smug gaze, his eyes cold and features devoid of all emotion as he stared her down. In that moment, he seemed thrice her size, looking like he was towering over her. His aura was terrifying. It chilled her to the bone, forcing her to think of all the levels of pain he was going to cause her.

It didn't stop her from attacking in a final burst of rebellion, ignoring the last of the loyal shinobi behind her cheering her on. Soon enough, they joined her in the run towards Danzo, taking on the ROOT operatives to give her the opening she needed. Sending chakra to her feet, she leaped into the air, fist drawing back and a harsh growl leaving her as she swung forward, never hesitating for a second when he dodged. Instead, she followed after him, one punch after another.

"Your shishou could not defeat me. Nor could her assistant," he said coldly. "What makes you think her inexperienced apprentice can?"

Panting and sending more chakra to her left fist, she snarled in return, "It's because I'm her apprentice that I'm going to take you down." Gritting her teeth, Sakura spun on her heel, willing herself to land just one punch. One punch was all she needed. How the hell was such an old man so fast? He still had his freaking cane in his hand, too. "Not only have you killed my shishou, but you killed my comrades. You've killed innocent people. I can't ever forgive that!"

Seemingly growing tired of their dance, Danzo put distance between them before breathing in deeply, taking Sakura by surprise when he suddenly spun, muttering, "Fūton: Shinkūha."

There was no stopping her cry of pain as the harsh winds attacked her, feeling like real blades were cutting at her flesh mercilessly.

"Sakura-san!"

She couldn't falter. Despite the agony she was in, Sakura sent chakra throughout her body, coating it in an attempt to minimalize the damage. It was a technique Tsunade had taught her, one that protected their fists, wrists, arms and shoulders against their own strength. It only succeeded in taking a small amount of the damage, but that was all she needed and Sakura wasted no time in rushing forward again.

Only to be met with more wind blades.

Stumbling backwards while she tried to retreat, she grimaced, trembling. Danzo, on the other hand, wasn't even panting. He didn't look ruffled in the least and it aggravated her. He was just toying with her.

"Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku."

What?

There was no defending herself against the wind sphere, it seemed. She was a fair distance from him, but it still landed a hit, viciously cutting into her and sending her soaring into the nearest building, causing it to crumble around her in response to the assault.

Just a little longer, she willed herself. Help them escape!

It was harder to get up, harder to coax her already beaten body into moving as the pain became extreme. He was too much for her. She was no match.

"Continue like that and you'll die, foolish girl," he spat. "Hasn't that woman taught you anything?"

"Don't," she muttered darkly, body shaking with the effort of standing. Glaring at him defiantly, she used her last resort – her trump card. And as the markings travelled over her skin, she noticed the interest in Danzo's eye growing. "Don't talk about Tsunade-shishou like that."

She ignored the skidding of her foot in the dirt during her take off. Ignored the trembling of her hands before they clenched tightly into fists.

"Fūton: Shinkūgyoku."

"Sōzō Saisei!"

The smaller wind spheres were even harder to dodge than the large sphere, but that didn't matter to her. Not when her seal was activated and saving her life as she continued her run forward, meeting the small bullet-like spheres that cruelly slammed into her body, cutting her deeply. Just as quickly as she was injured, however, she was healed.

"Try harder, bastard," she snarled and leaped into the air again, leg raising high with her shishou's infamous Tsūtenkyaku. It came down without hesitation and Sakura inwardly yelled with pure joy that the kick connected, smashing Danzo into the ground that soon erupted around them. Knowing that it was her only chance at truly defeating him, she sent a blast of chakra through to her fist, suddenly bringing it down on him and gritting her teeth as the destruction increased around them. "Shannaro!"

She jumped backwards and out of the crater, breathing harshly before she fell to her knees. The spheres had caused more damage than she'd anticipated, taking more chakra than she'd originally thought. Combining that with her reckless attacks in her short lived fight with Danzo and then all her fights before him…

She needed to be wiser. Needed to save her chakra. Glancing over her shoulder at those watching, she narrowed her eyes. Most of them would need healing, if not all of them and there was only–

A presence suddenly appearing to her right had green eyes going wide and she began to turn, ready to defend herself, but was unable to fight against the sudden onslaught of another great wind sphere.

"Tell me where Uchiha Shisui is."

She screamed in agony as the sphere crushed her into the ground, creating a similar crater to the one she'd caused only moments before. The scream was soon cut off by the blood travelling up her throat, determined on choking the life out of her if the sphere didn't kill her first.

It ended shortly after, telling her that Danzo wanted her alive. Probably for more information on the remaining, fleeing Uchiha men.

Slamming her fist into the ground, she got the distance she needed as Danzo backed off. It had her growling angrily to find that there wasn't a hair out of place on his head, even though she'd been so certain about hitting her target twice. Weakly, Sakura climbed to her feet, refusing to acknowledge the way her legs threatened to buckle under her weight. Had she missed him somehow? Had he used a replacement technique? What the hell was at the bottom of that crater?

"Even if I fail tonight, you're going to die," she warned breathlessly, wincing as her muscles started cramping. It only went to prove his comment about her inexperience. Tsunade would have lasted so much longer, would've fought so much better. "You're forgetting who's out of the village right now." Glaring at him angrily when he simply stared back coldly, she yelled loudly so that her voice rang clear throughout the battlefield that was once her home, "Naruto's going to be out for blood for what you've done. He won't just defeat you. He'll destroy you!"

Movement behind her had Sakura quickly looking over her shoulder and it both warmed her heart and broke it to see many standing with her. They were each standing just as defiantly as she was, each soaked in blood and covered in injuries. She ached to help them, to ease their suffering, but all she was capable of doing was standing in front of them, arms hanging tiredly at her sides and body shaking, blood dripping from her chin.

She had to protect them.

It was what her shishou would have done until her dying breath.

"You have one final chance to tell me where Uchiha Shisui is."

Sakura smirked, weakly smearing the blood from her mouth across her face. "Go to hell, scum."

Danzo sighed, making her wary as he reached up for the bandages covering half of his face.

"So be it," he muttered, eyes shutting during the process. It wasn't until the final bandage was falling to the ground that he opened them, freezing her in her place at the sight of the blood red eye staring back at her menacingly. "I will get my answers one way or another."

Green eyes snapped open, barely even aware of the pain her body was in. A cold sweat soaked her skin, but like the pain, she barely registered it. Couldn't when she immediately sensed that she was not alone in the cramped makeshift hospital room. Couldn't when she could sense the pure hatred coming from those around her in waves.

Couldn't when she met an angry set of Sharingan eyes.

They were directly above her, the person's hands pressing down onto her futon as he glared ahead of himself. His lips were moving, but the words didn't reach her ears. The fear the sight of the Sharingan evoked from her made it impossible to hear anything over the shrill ringing and it suddenly became hard to breathe, the cold sweat increasing as she got lost in the depths of the Sharingan, unable to even take in the guy's face as her vision suddenly blurred, as her world returned to darkness just in time as he turned to look at her with widening, bloody eyes.

They were the last thing she saw before unconsciousness took her once more.

Anything but that. She could take anything. Anything except for that.

Tears streamed down the sides of her face and into her hair as the liquid fell to her features in thick droplets, some going into her eyes, the others dripping onto her lips and almost making her gag. It reeked. Usually, it didn't bother her as much, simply told her where she was needed when somebody needed healing. This time, since she knew the scent…

Her shishou's face flashed to the front of her mind, along with the reminder of how she'd died. Even in death Danzo wouldn't leave her alone. He'd drained her body of blood, was using said blood against her apprentice and–

"P-Please," she tried to beg through tightly sealed lips. If any of that blood went in her mouth…

"Where is Uchiha Shisui?"

When a drop of blood was purposely directed to her nose, Sakura's body reacted instinctively and she tried to move out of the way. She only managed to move a measly couple of centimetres. They had her tied down too securely and this time, she retched as the blood went up her nose, feeling like it was burning her.

"I don't know anything," came her loud cry, no longer able to keep her mouth shut and she threw up over herself at the taste of her shishou's cold blood. "Please, stop!"

The next time she awoke, the room was less busy, but still being occupied by others. Somebody was tending to her, cleaning her wounds and touching the ends of her hair. She didn't care enough to look and see who it was. Danzo enjoyed toying with her too much.

"I don't know anything," she rasped, but before the person touching her could reply, their hands falling away from her in shock, she was out again.

"Oh?"

Fighting her injuries, Sakura tried to sit up as quickly as possible, eyes wide with horror at the smirking face standing in the doorway of her cell. After Hinata's escape they'd moved her from the cell she'd been sharing with her, instead dumping her in a place that had a door instead of bars as well as several operatives stationed outside, meaning zero chance of another escape.

"I thought you weren't a submissive type?" the visitor asked.

No amount of fighting could keep the tears from filling her eyes, a shuddering breath leaving her like she'd been punched in the gut. "S-Shishou."

"They're going to destroy you, Sakura," she told her sternly. Her amber eyes were hard and narrowed, taking in her appearance critically. "Give them what they want and they'll let you go."

Even though she knew it was all fake, even though Sakura could tell instantly that it wasn't really Tsunade, it still hurt to see her face. Like before her death, she looked beautiful and proud, standing tall in the doorway with her arms folded beneath her ample chest, a single eyebrow raising at her pitiful state. They almost had the expression. Almost. But even if they did, the words coming from her mouth ruined it all.

"Shishou would never tell me give up," Sakura somehow managed to find the energy to spit at the impostor. "You're nothing but a fake."

"Are you sure?" the fake Tsunade asked daringly. "Danzo wouldn't want the village to know of my survival. Surely you must have thought I was defeated unsettlingly easy?"

Yes, but… That was not her shishou. It couldn't be. Tsunade would tell her to continue fighting them, to never break. She had to be strong for the real Tsunade, the woman who'd cared for her and trained her, who took a weak, emotional wreck of a girl and made her into a fine shinobi.

"Get out."

The blonde smirked, eyes glinting. "No."

Hands coming up to her ears to block out all sounds of the voice that filled her with grief, Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, starting a slow rock that would hopefully take her mind away from the person opposite her.

"Get out!"

"Get out," she cried, thrashing against the futon when hands grabbed at her limbs, pinning them to the bed. She could hear them talking, several voices all at once, forcing Sakura to keep her eyes shut as she fought against them.

"It's a good thing her chakra's gone," one of them said.

"She's still putting up a fight, idiot. Stay focused."

"Sakura, calm down. Look at me."

"Sakura."

"Wake up."

"Please."

More ghosts from her past. They were all being used against her now. It was only Tsunade and Shizune to start with, but it seemed Danzo was pulling out all the stops now to screw with her mind even further – not that it really needed any more doing to it.

"I'm here."

"You're free, Sakura-chan. He doesn't have you anymore."

No.

She would never be free.

Danzo would always be a part of her now.

A/N - Does anyone know of any ShisSaku fan art? I can't find much, if any at all and it's so heartbreaking because I think they're adorable together.

Reviews for chapter 5:

TheAliceHuntt: I'm so sorry to hear that. If you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to message me, okay? I know what it's like to be in a really bad place. It doesn't feel like it'd help, I know, but sometimes it does help to talk about it. Please take care of yourself.

wowshutup: Sasuke has always been pretty whiny, hasn't he? I'm having so much fun writing ShisSaku - more than I ever thought I'd have! It's like rediscovering my love for ItaSaku all over again, though I don't think it's quite up to their level just yet.

I'm in here: She's doing really well, which I'm so grateful for! Honestly, I think I'd be lost without her. And now Shisui's the one who's lost without Sakura, who's been with him every minute since he returned to the village, blind.

DarkSecretKeeper: It's the best way, isn't it?

Guest: Kakashi is one of those who automatically assume he's going too. Like, he doesn't need to step forward because either way he's going, you know? There's no debating it. And who better to talk with him than the man who's seen her at her best and worst? He knows exactly what Sakura's like when she's in love.

Chapter 6:

WhisperingPen: All I can ever think of when I'm writing Sasuke and Sakura is what Kishimoto said about him: "If there's one person that Sasuke cannot hurt, it's her. It's Sakura."

UmbreonGurl: I was thinking that the other day! There's even fewer fan arts that I can find, as well, which is really sad. If only people could see how cute they are as a pairing.

wowshutup: I don't know what it is about this story, I just can't stop writing for it. Even when I'm working, I'm jotting down notes in a little book. I'm completely stuck for other stories, but this one is so easy to write for.

unspoiledrini: I hope this chapter gave you a brief inside to part of the torture Sakura went through. Don't worry, it's not horrible of you (if it is, then it makes me even worse, because I'm the one writing it haha), it makes an interesting read, right?

The White Leopard: You'll find out about Itachi's rescue mission in the next few chapters, I promise.

Thank you to everyone else who reviewed! I'm so grateful that you take the time to leave kind reviews for me. I'm so happy with how well this story is doing already. Thank you!