"Kuso!" she cursed, coughing up blood from her lungs and attempting to pry herself up from the damp floor.
This was absolute madness, Sakura had really landed herself in a bad situation this time.
Her wrists were bound together in front of her with chakra dampening chains and she was in a dungeon of some sorts. The room she was in was small, cramped and the bars blocked her exit from the front. It led out into a long hallway that twisted out of view from behind the cell bars.
There was a minuscule window that let a little moonlight seep in, but otherwise, she was cloaked in complete darkness.
She tried again desperately to free her wrists but without her super-strength, she couldn't even dent the metal.
She stood up and winced as the injuries of battle came back to remind her of her earlier failures. She was fairly certain she had a few cracked ribs and there was a nasty cut through her shoulder that would probably get infected and kill her if she couldn't treat it.
"Well isn't that just marvellous," she bit out sarcastically. She grabbed hold of the bars in front of her and started to violently shake them.
It was no use like this. Under normal circumstances she could bend these bars into dainty little animal shapes with no effort in her current state, without any use of her chakra, the metal wouldn't budge a cm.
With one last-ditch effort she kicked at the bars with everything she had. She cursed and fell backwards with the impact.
"Itai," she complained, nursing her foot in her bound hand from her new sitting position.
She jumped when she heard laughing echoing in the hallways and came in contact with the unsettling blue eye of a certain blonde-haired Akatsuki member.
"Quite a feisty one we've got here, un," he said, still chuckling at her.
"I'll show you feisty if you get me out of these chains," she goaded, a massive scowl on her face.
He laughed again for what felt like a lifetime before he responded,"as much as I'd like to play with you kitten, I'm under strict orders not to release you.. or kill you, un."
"Who the hell are you calling kitten?" she yelled indignantly, eyes flaming with menace.
Her scare tactics didn't work however, other than to increase the interest he already had in her.
"You're the girl that killed Sasori-danna aren't you," his tone suddenly changed from being playful to dead serious.
She gulped, "uh, yeah. That was me."
"I'm sure he'll be dying to meet you again as soon as he finds out, un." He replied, a sickeningly sweet smile made its way onto his face. There was an undertone to his voice that sent a violent shiver down her spine.
"What? But he's dead, I saw his heart get destroyed!" she near yelled in disbelief.
"Correction, he was dead, but he isn't anymore. Also, could you keep it down, I'm not supposed to be down here but I was curious, hnn." he finished with a grin.
"No way," she muttered in absolute disbelief. Had everything her and Chiyo-obaasan did been in vain?
"Well, later kitten! I'd better be off before I'm found out, un." He said cheerfully, somehow giving her the creeps as he did.
The smile reminded her of Sai, perhaps it was the total lack of empathy in his eyes but she sensed something sinister.
He walked away down the corridor with large confident strides and left Sakura alone to contemplate what he said.
He's a member of a criminal organization, he was probably just lying to rile her up, right?
"Yeah that must be it," She muttered, letting out a strained sigh from beneath her cracked rib cage.
There wasn't a bed in the room, but why would she expect any kindness from scum like the Akatsuki.
She had all but forgotten about the organization since they had vanished off the face of the planet for the last 3 years.
Yet there they were when she was forced to go on a solo mission by Tsunade-shisou.
"It's just a village over, she said. It will be a nice break from hectic missions, she said." Sakura grumbled to herself, eyes narrowed. She didn't even want to go on this mission because it was so beneath her, but Tsunade had thought she was working too hard at the hospital and needed to take a break.
She knew that Sakura would never agree to sit at home doing nothing when there were sick and injured people at the hospital that needed her help. And so she had to force Sakura to take a c-ranked mission in the next town over where there just happened to be a hot spring resort.
The scroll she had to deliver probably said "Help this workaholic relax" or something ridiculous like that. She could see straight through Tsunade at this point.
She was only 20 minutes away from the border of the village when she was ambushed by the blue freak and the devil himself.
She shuddered a little thinking about those red eyes she knew better than to look at.
She pushed herself into a standing position immediately as she heard footsteps coming along the long damp hallway again. She didn't want to be caught off guard and look vulnerable in front of her enemies.
She hardened her resolve and set her fiery gaze on the edge of the bars where the culprit was likely to appear any second. However, as soon as her eyes spotted the raven hair and crimson glance she snapped her eyes shut.
Speak of the devil.
She flinched slightly as she heard the door to her cell unlock. Everything in her wanted to run but she knew that it would be foolish since she would be forced to run at civilian pace, with her hands bound, and he was an S-ranked missing-nin that would probably catch her before she could even reach the door of the cell.
She could hear his footsteps as he approached her and couldn't help taking a step back, which happened to land her against the wall.
The footsteps stopped and she could literally feel the heat radiating off the body in front of her. He was invading her space and she didn't like it.
"What do you want?" She snapped, sounding a lot braver than she felt.
Her eyes were still closed and she felt helpless in more ways than once. But she'd be damned if she would let him have his way without a fight, as pathetic as said fight may be.
"Just stay still," he said, his deep voice taking on a commanding tone.
She jumped when the bottom of her tank top was lifted up and went to strike him with her bound hands. He caught them before she could and lifted them above her head, pinning them to the cell wall.
She snapped her eyes open when she heard the zipper of her tank top and felt the warm material peel away from her bloodied and bruised skin.
She instantly numbed as her eyes came in contact with his and her thrashing ceased.
"That's right, keep still." He repeated his earlier command and this time she could do nothing but obey. She was visibly shaking but all other movement was impossible, as though she was trapped in her own body.
He released her wrists but they stayed where they were pinned and returned to staring at her bloodied torso. He reached into a pouch strapped to his leg, and pulled out antiseptic, gauze and bandages from within it.
Moving the material from over her shoulder he looked at the shoulder wound intently before dousing it in winced but could do nothing but endure it anyway he then grabbed something from another pouch and began to suture the wound shut
Finally, he wrapped the wound in gauze and bandages and left it at that.
He then pressed his fingers into her ribcage and she was sure he enjoyed her whimper.
"Nothing I can do about that, I'm afraid," he said with not a single trace of sympathy.
She had remembered the kick he delivered that had caused that exact injury.
'Then why did you even touch it' she internally seethed at him.
She probably would have been unwise enough to say it to his face if she had been able to talk.
Her eyes widened when his glance lingered on her bound chest just a little too long for comfort. She was a doctor and she knew exactly how long "too long" is.
Eventually, he turned around and left her there, locking the cell door behind him.
She slumped to the floor in relief as the hold he had on her dispersed. Sakura fumbled with the zipper of her tank top for what was surely a long time, clumsy without the full use of her hands. Eventually being able to force the zipper closed again.
She never wanted to feel so vulnerable again, it was just too much.
The exhaustion she had been ignoring finally caught up to her and she propped herself up against the wall. She couldn't find any sort of comfortable position but finally fell asleep with her knees against her chest. She was sure her foetal position was pathetic to see but she was at least able to sleep.
..oOo..
She was rudely awoken in the morning by the gleeful voice of a psychopath.
"Oh look, they left me a sacrifice, how wonderful," the silver-haired man said with a sadistic grin.
She stiffened, this was the man that killed her best friend's sensei, Hidan, she was sure of it.
She was also sure he was in pieces at the bottom of a guarded pit.
His magenta eyes sparkled with malice and he started towards the bars of her cell.
"Come here pinkie, I promise I won't bite." He sang. But looking at the three-pronged scythe on his back, she felt like biting would be the least of her issues.
Oh hell no. There was no way she was letting that creepy fucker anywhere near her!
"Don't even think about it moron. That girl is valuable cargo."
Hidan turned to face the tan shinobi and then returned his piercing gaze back to her.
"What, this bitch?!" he exclaimed incredulously. A vein in her head popped at the insult but she held her tongue.
"Do you see any other girls?" The man sounded as though he was on the verge of losing his patience.
"Why is she valuable?" he finally replied, evidently wondering why he shouldn't be allowed to sacrifice her to his precious Josh-sama or whatever his name was.
"This woman is the successor of the Hokage, one of the legendary sannin and healing extraordinaire Tsunade. She is also the one who killed Sasori but above all else, she is Kyuubi bait. It would be useless if the bait was dead, wouldn't it?" he finished finally in the kind of condescending manner one talks to a misbehaving child. She swore she could hear his teeth grinding in annoyance of having to explain this to his partner.
"Jashin-sama will be disappointed. Better go find a fucking replacement now," she heard the man grumble as he walked away down the hallway.
The startling green eyes of the tan shinobi made contact with hers for only a second before he turned around and left.
What the fuck. Sakura felt as though she was in a circus full of madmen.
"I have got to get out of here," she groaned leaning against the bars and staring out the insufficiently small window.
Deciding to take a peek outside to see where they were she got up on her tippy toes and looked out.
All she could see was that it was a sheer drop down for hundreds of feet. Well, that eliminated any possibility of escaping through it.
She could only assume that the dungeon she was in was nestled within a cliff face. The window was so small it was probably unnoticeable from the ground.
She frowned, getting herself caught was now putting Naruto in danger. She knew Tsunade wouldn't allow Naruto to search for her, and she knew Naruto would go regardless.
'Naruto stay away, your safety is more important than my life. For the sake of everyone.' she thought sadly.
She didn't like the situation she was in but she would die for Naruto in a heartbeat if need be.
She turned around and froze when she realized that she was being watched by dangerous red eyes.
She closed her eyes and stayed glued to the floor where she was standing.
She tried to stay calm but today the Uchiha had decided to be silent in his footsteps and she had no idea where he was.
She jumped when a warm hand made contact with her shoulder. Moving the sleeve to look at the wound beneath it.
She assumed that she had bled through the bandages because she could hear the sound of her vest unzipping again.
She cursed herself for wearing a tank top with a zipper at the front. 'I swear if I ever get out of this alive I'm changing my wardrobe.' She thought bitterly. She doubted anyone ever made it out of an Akatsuki base alive other than the men themselves.
She wondered if the man drew a short straw, having to take care of her like this. Or maybe he was the only one with any medical training?
She didn't care anymore anyway. She could feel him unwinding the bandages, or attempting to anyway. She didn't resist but rather tried to pretend he wasn't there.
"Lift your arms," he said firmly, evidently having difficulty unwrapping the bandages with her arms blocking her sides.
A spiteful smile made it onto her face as she ignored him. She was met with her wrists being violently slammed above her head.
He wasn't very patient. She made no sounds of pain as she relished in making the man's life just a little more difficult. It was about all she could do in her current state.
He finished bandaging her with difficulty, using only one hand but did not release her wrists. Instead, he grabbed her chin between two fingers and said, "Open your eyes."
"Why would I do that, Uchiha?" She bit out. It was an unreasonable request and she knew why he wanted her to do it.
She winced as the fingers that were gripping her chin went to press painfully on her damaged rib cage.
She grit her teeth but didn't budge.
That was until that same hand travelled a bit higher and brushed against her wrapped chest.
Oh fuck that.
She snapped her eyes open and stared defiantly, straight into his eyes.
His hand fell away and she felt all control of her body slip away.
She found herself sitting and eating some poorly made rice balls. Whoever cooked this food should not be allowed anywhere near a kitchen. Ever.
She was quite the cook herself since moving into her own flat and the taste difference was a lot for her taste buds to adjust to.
She understood why he had to force her to eat it, there was no way she'd get any of it down otherwise.
She didn't understand how it was possible to screw up rice balls but the cook managed it somehow.
A single tear fell down her cheek as she finished eating the disgusting food and just sat there like an obedient puppy waiting for whatever the man wanted her to do next. The Sharingan was a terrifying thing when you had no power to resist it.
In the dim light, he reminded her so much of Sasuke it was almost painful.
"You will keep your eyes open from now on or I will be continuing where we left off," he said, his voice lacking any emotion whatsoever.
The threat was serious, she could tell and as she felt the hold on her relinquish, she nodded her head in understanding.
She would do as he said, for now, her stubbornness wasn't worth the risk.
She didn't bother moving from the sitting position and just moved back to prop herself against the wall. She was a workaholic and survived with around 4 hours every night if she decided to go home from the hospital.
But without her chakra, she was permanently weak and exhausted. It was a terrible feeling for someone as active as she usually was. Being deprived of chakra as a shinobi was different from being a civilian without the use of their chakra.
Even as a civilian everyone has chakra, however, only a few know how to use it. But in her case, her chakra was being entirely suppressed and it was physically draining. Not to mention the metal chains were cutting into her wrists painfully.
She could heal every injury on her body within minutes if they just let her out of these chains, but she also knew that if they did she was going to try to fight her way out, probably unsuccessfully.
She closed her heavy eyes and thought back to Konoha and Naruto, did anyone even know she was missing? She was supposed to be gone for four days. How many days was she on now, three? Four? She didn't know how long she was unconscious for initially.
She sighed and let her thoughts numb, she hoped her friends never looked for her, the situation was way too dangerous.
..oOo..
What's this, a new story when I have a bunch to update? Actually I found this in my Google drive from like 2016 so technically it's an old story. I wasn't going to post it but I can't resist some angsty Akatsuki x Sakura.