Sasuke tried but he couldn't get out of the ropes that tied him to the chair. His skin around the ropes was rubbed raw, he had to get to Sakura, he had to get them out of here and if he did then what? they were in the fucking desert. Well, he would have to think of that after he got out of the ropes if he got out of the ropes.
Sakura started to moan and grumble on the bed. Sasuke watched as her fingers twitched. He didn't know if he should call out to her or not. Sasori said she would be waking soon so presumably, he would be back to check on them eventually. Her hand moved to her head and she groaned again.
"Sakura, hey Sakura" Sasuke tried to call her quietly.
"Sasuke?" Her eyes opened and she tried to sit up but couldn't. It seemed whatever drug Sasori had used was strong and not completely out of her system yet. "Sasuke, where are we?" she asked her voice low and pushed, It seemed she was having a hard time talking.
Sasuke heard the footsteps, they were quicker this time as they came to the door and paused just outside.
"Sasuke," Sakura called him "Help me sit up please"
The door opened then and Sasori entered the bedroom. "Goodevening Sakura." he walked over to the bed, picked up the clear vial of liquid from the nightstand and sat down on the bed beside her.
"Don't fucking touch her!" Sasuke yelled, and as though he were outside waiting for that moment Kabuto came into the room and pulled the gag out of a box by the chair he had set earlier and gagged Sasuke. He left as quickly as he had come into the room, closing the door behind him.
"Tsk tsk." Sasori taunted Sasuke from the bed where Sakura was still fading in and out of consciousness. " Behave Uchiha and this could be a very pleasant evening for all of us, if not, not only will you suffer, so will Sakura." He ran a finger down her arm and looked back over his shoulder at Sasuke who was glaring at him with hate in his eyes.
"Now if you will please excuse me I have a date. You are more than welcome to watch, in fact, I don't see how you can't watch." Sasori turns his attention back to Sakura laughing under his breath.
"Sakura, wake up now, you're home, in Suna. Wake up, doll." He lets go of her hand and caresses her face.
"How much farther?" Itachi asks Kisame.
"48 hours non stop sir." Kisame squints at the dials of his SUV.
"Take shifts, Kisame, me, Deidara and Hidan last. Sleep if you're not on shift, scout duty if you can't sleep." Itachi climbs into the back and switches places with Deidara. He leans his head back and tries to sleep. Two days Sakura, hold on he says to her in his head, I'm coming I promise.
"Madara, he is crazier than we thought." Fugaku and Madara stare at the walls of Sasori's old studio apartment.
"No, not crazy, he is a genius." Madara turns to the box and the folder Shisui showed Itachi and his team earlier, "He has been planning this since he was what, 14 years old?" Madara picks up a painting Sakura did in 6th grade of a pyramid. "How did they even meet?"
"Did they meet? He might have just seen her one day, she has pink hair and green eyes, she does stand out, she always has." Fugaku countered.
"I can answer that." Shisui handed them a letter, "Sakura wrote this to Ino when she was 5."
Letter: Dear my bestest friend ever Ino,
I met the most wonderful boy today, he might be cuter than Sasuke! He has the coolest red hair, it is the color of fresh blood! I know because he hurt himself in the park and there was a lot of blood that came out of his knee. I took my sweater and ripped it up to fix him. I wrapped it all around his knee like in the movies when a girl saves the man she is supposed to marry. Maybe I will marry him one day if Sasuke marries someone else. His name is Sasori. Isn't it such a cool name? Anyway, I think I am in love.
Love your bestest friend in the whole world,
Sakura
"So they did meet, and she wrote this letter when she was 5." Fugaku read the letter again.
"He has been obsessing over it. Shisui takes a picture of that and text it to Itachi with an explanation." Madara instructed.
"Why though she was 5 years old, this letter, it means nothing, he was a 14 teenager, surely this was just silliness to him." Fugaku had read the letter twice and was frowning at it shaking his head.
"You don't understand, Sakura even at 5 years old was like a bright ball of friendly sunshine. For a boy whose father only cares about money and building his empire, who only spent time with him so his own legacy would live on after he died, it was like a drowning person taking that first breath when they reach the surface again. I think, she breathed life back into a broken soul. I have studied their family, I knew his father, he was a cold cold man. There was no love in his heart. My sources reported he never hugged the boy, never talked to him like a person, he used him as a tool, trained him as a killer from the age of 5. Sasori was sent out on his first assassin mission at age 7, he killed 3 adults and 2 children in cold blood without flinching." Madara shook his head.
"So, if your world is only darkness and you see a light, you do whatever you can to get to it, and if you catch it, you don't let it go." Shisui looked sick again.
"This is a nightmare, none of us would have even considered this, we thought it was human trafficking, then stalking but this? I almost can't even wrap my head around it." Fugaku looked at Madara. "What now?"
Madara thought for a moment, "He has to know we're coming. He knows as much about us as we know about him. He is arrogant though, he took her and Sasuke because he doesn't think we will be able to find him."
Shisui laughed, "He might know us but he doesn't know Itachi, or his friends." and they all grinned.
"Sasori, what, what are you doing?" Sakura is trying to keep her eyes open but it is very hard. She tries to hold her head up but it keeps falling back. "Sasori, where am I?"
"You're home with me, we're home together." he leans forward and kisses her on her lips lightly running his fingers through her hair with one hand.
She pulls away from him, her hands on his chest.
Sasuke yells through the gag making it come out as a muffled grunt. He can't move at all!
Sakura's eyes open, "Sasuke?"
"What's going on, why is he tied to that chair Sasori?" Sakura started to move to the edge of the bed to get up and help Sasuke.
"Please Sakura, let me explain." Sasori walked to the door of the room and rang a small bell, Kabuto appeared a moment later.
"Tea, and one for our guest," Sasori commanded.
"Yes, Sir." Kabuto left the room.
"Sakura, I kidnapped you but I have a good reason. I was worried about you." He spoke carefully.
"You kidnapped me, you admit you kidnapped me?" Her head hurt but she was starting to wake up a bit more.
"Yes, I did it to protect you. The Uchiha are not who you think they are. They are terribly corrupt people, they murdered my uncle, they locked my father away unjustly. You must listen to me" He told her.
Kabuto came in with the tea cart, rolling it up next to Sasori. "Pink for the lady and your usual sir."
Sasori waved him away. Kabuto stepped over to Sasuke with a syringe tapping out the air bubbles., stuck it in his arm and pushed down the plunger. He removed the gag from Sasuke's mouth then left.
"What, what is he doing, stop!" Sakura tried to stand but fell back down, her legs were still weak.
"Not to worry dear." Sasori put a hand on her arm. "A truth serum, only."
"But." Sakura began.
"Don't you understand what I risk doing this. I had to tell you, I couldn't let them ruin another life." He had to remain calm.
"What do you care, I don't even know you. We have had one class together." She lifted the teacup to her lips and took a small sip. The heat felt good, it was relaxing, she took a few more sips and sighed.
Sasori watched her drink her tea and smiled.
"I know you. You have forgotten me it seems. It is to be expected, it meant more to me than it did to you." He smiled ruefully.
"What meant more to me?" She set her now empty teacup on the cart.
"The park, I fell in the park in Konoha and you ripped your sweater apart to bandage me up." He took a sip of his own tea and filled her cup back up. He placed the cup in her hands before he continued.
"My mother was gone, she died. My father was, strict, not the loving kind. He wanted me to carry on the family business. I am sure you know by now what my family does. We are arms dealers. Drug traffickers, but not how you are thinking, by the look on your face. A necessary evil my dear. Your small gesture of kindness meant everything to me. I didn't have friends due to my father's profession. I was an only child. You were the only person that had ever been kind to me. I fell in love with you that day, watched over you, protected you. Even if you didn't know I was always with you." Sasori took a sip of his tea
"As for my family, we buy and sell drugs, manufacture and dispense them to countries without healthcare, without a means to make and dispense their own to keep their populations healthy. We acquire, produce and sell arms to smaller countries to protect their borders from bigger ones taking them over and controlling the native population. We protect those who can not protect themselves." He paused and let that information sink in.
Sakura bit her lip, "The Uchiha have always been good to be. I'm sorry about your dad, I'm not sure what happened with that but."
"Madara Uchiha hunted him down like a dog! For 25 years he hunted my father, taking one country at a time out from under his protection till none would shelter him! He stripped our family of their influence, wealth and connections till we were nothing!" His heartbeat furiously in his chest. He was scaring her, he had to relax.
"Forgive me. I, it is upsetting to me. Getting angry will only cast doubt upon my words." He said calmly.
"The boy will help verify my claims." Sasori turned to Sasuke. "Tell her boy, tell her what your family is."
"Get away from her you psychopath! You want to talk about the truth, tell her about all the women you killed!" Sasuke yelled.
"Ah yes, I was impatient," Sasori admitted.
"You, you really killed those girls?" Sakura covered her hand with her mouth, eyes wide.
"Yes. They were not you, only substitutes. They meant nothing to me. No one could replace you Sakura." Sasori smiled at her.
"You're insane, you're really insane, she won't love you now, you think she would ever want you? You just admitted that you killed them, that you have been obsessing over her!" Sasuke didn't understand what was happening, if he was trying to convince her, trying to make her love him he was doing a terrible job of it.
"I am very sane, more than you. Is logic not sanity?" Sasori looked at Sasuke with contempt.
"Why am I here, why are we here?" She looked from Sasuke to Sasori.
"I told you. You are here to hear the truth." He turned to face Sasuke. "Uchiha, tell her what your uncle does. Does he not deal with arms as well?"
"Yes," Sasuke said before he could stop himself.
"And Itachi, your brother, is he not part of the special forces in the Fire Country military that infiltrates and assassinates other world leaders?" Sasori continued.
"Yes but." Sasuke protested, or tried to.
"And once said leaders are gone are they not replaced by members of the Fire countries high council, Uchiha high council member?" Sasori concluded.
"They are but," Sasuke said weakly.
"You see my dear, the Uchiha are trying to take over the world." Sasori poured her more tea.
"But." She shook her head. "They couldn't possibly." She looked at Sasuke. He was looking at the floor and wouldn't meet her eyes.
"No." She said.
"Sasuke, is it true?" She frowned.
Sasuke looked up at her, "We aren't trying to take over the world in a sinister world domination sort of way, we want to protect it."
"They sell the guns to the bigger nations and let them take out the little ones, then their stronger army or special Ops team, his brother's team, your fiance, goes in and assassinates the leaders of the country, military, and noble families, then they place Uchiha high council members of the Fire Nation in charge. I call that world domination. One by one the smaller nations are falling. Soon it will only be three. Fire, Earth and Wind." Sasori was watching her.
She didn't say anything right away, she was thinking about what he said. Realization came over her. She remembered the little things, conversations she had heard over the years, Madara showing up late with a spot of blood on his shirt and having to go change, phone calls cut short in her presence. Mounds of fresh dirt appearing overnight on the old compound grounds. The family gathered around the news at night making comments she didn't understand but did now.
"Sasuke, why did the Uchiha compound move? Why didn't your family just renovate the older buildings as deeply engrossed in tradition and history as your family is, it never did make sense to me. Why build a whole new compound?" She looked at her friend tied to the chair in front of her.
"Why indeed." Sasori smiled.
"I don't know for sure, Madara only said it had been compromised. Too much waste." He looked at her and grit his teeth.
"We have a hand in many things Sakura, but we are nothing compared to him and his father, nothing! You saw those girls, you saw what he did to them, do you think you are going to fare any better. He will kill you after he is done with you!"
"So, it's true, your family assassinates world leaders to take over their countries? Is that where Kagami is? Is that why he left Fire two years ago, to become one of the leaders of a country you took over?" She could stand now and did.
"What countries Sasuke? Which ones does your family have a hand in a representative of the clan in charge, in power?"
"Sound, Rain, Frost, Cloud, and lightning." He grit his teeth again, he hadn't meant to answer her.
She gasped. "Shisui and Itachi's trip to Lightning last year."
Sasuke nodded.
"They said the death of the Raikage was an accident, a hunting trip gone bad." She sat back down and took a sip of her tea.
"He was assassinated, by Itachi Uchiha." Sasori hummed.
She was listening. She would understand why he had done this, that he had done it for her.
"Sakura, please, listen to me. Madara, he just wanted to protect the family, unite the nations under one flag." Sasuke tried.
"You mean under one crest, the Uchiha clan crest?" She looked into his eyes and saw the truth.
"Konoha was taken from us by the Senju, they took power over all the major decisions, they pushed us to the corner of the village, their names went down in history as the golden clan of Konoha, while ours faded into the back under a single paragraph in the history books!" Sasuke said heatedly.
"We are doing this for the good of the whole world!" He wanted desperately for her to understand.
"Peace through murder? You will bloody all resistance and call the wreckage peace?' She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Clever girl, so clever, I knew you would understand." Sasori watched their interaction.
Sakura ignored him.
Sakura had known that the Uchiha controlled the police of Konoha and the special forces of the Fire Country, she didn't know it went this far. She had never asked how she got moved to the front of the line on the classes she applied for, or how the leasing office for the apartment she had wanted had called her the next day after turning her down. The car loan she had applied for three years ago had miraculously gone through with the lowest rates...all because she was considered "Family".
"Sasuke." She said looking up to her friend, her friend she had known all her life, her ex-boyfriend, her best friend, her first lover.
"I am a fool." She said quietly.
"No, you're not. You are trusting, but you have trusted the wrong people." Sasori spoke softly.
"You, you are no better. You killed, tortured those girls, your family may do it for the right reasons but you sell illegal arms and drugs. What is the difference, production, value, status? No, Sasori, you are the same as the Uchiha." She put her teacup down.
"I don't want to have anything to do with either one of you. I'm leaving." She stood up and went to walk to the door.
Sasori sighed. "I tried to do it the easy way."
He withdrew a spring loaded shot from under the napkin on the tea tray and stuck her with it.
"What the." She collapsed half on half off the bed.
Sasori rolled the tea cart aside and lifted her fully onto the bed in a more comfortable position and pulled a small blanket over her.
Turning to Sasuke, "You have served your purpose."
He took another shot from the tray and stuck it into Sasuke's arm.
"Fuck you," Sasuke said as his eyes closed and he slumped in the chair.
"Yes yes, all that and more I'm sure." Sasori rang a bell by the door.
"Yes, Sir." Kabuto's head popped into the room.
"Take him away. Don't kill him just yet, I haven't won her over completely he may still be of some use." Sasori sighed.
"Yes, Sir." Kabuto cut the ties that bound Sasuke to the chair and threw him over his shoulder.
"I will be back with a fresh pot of tea and additives Sir." Kabuto bowed as much as one can with an unconscious person over their shoulder and left.
"The memory ones!" Sasori called after him.