Capitulum VIII – You can't allow yourself to feel empathy for her.

"Man, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. I still haven't figured out all the details, but it would have definitely worked as a trigger, no doubt. It probably would have taken a few seconds to lock on the chip's exact location, though. But then – boom."

Shikamaru spread his fingers in the air to simulate an explosion. "And check this out." He pointed to a tiny light in the middle of the small rectangular object. "This was why she kept looking at her arm. It signaled her distance to the chip. The light would turn orange if she were in a 30 metre radius, and it would flash red when she reached 15 metres. It was implanted right underneath her skin, so she would have seen it faintly shine through."

Sasuke eyed the object on the desk in front of him. So this tiny little thing would have blown me to pieces. "I want you to research it further. Find out as much as you can about it. And my tracking chip as well." He turned to leave Shikamaru's lab.

As soon as Sasuke exited the room and the doors closed behind him, Shikamaru sighed and leaned back in his revolving chair.

"So troublesome."


The first thing she saw after waking up were the stitches on her left lower arm. She moved her right hand and gently touched the threads with her fingers. It's gone, she deduced, it's finally gone.

She turned her head and looked around, only to realise she found herself in the exact same patient room she was in after one of Sasuke's henchmen had kidnapped her. She let out a sigh of relief. So they were his men after all. Sakura couldn't remember anything after reaching the inside of the chopper. She faintly recalled the sting of a syringe. They must have sedated her. She wondered how much time had passed since they had rescued her form the docks.

Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly when the doors opened and she was met with the sight of the same red-haired woman who had greeted her the last time she woke up here. "Miss Haruno." Karin closed the doors behind her. This time it was only her, no nurses. "Can I come closer or will you smash my head in again?", she asked sarcastically.

Sakura pursed her lips and cleared her throat. "Yeah, about that… Sorry. I'm sure you've heard about the bomb. I was just desperate to get out of here, because I thought-" Karin silenced her with a snort. "I know, I get it." She approached Sakura and came to a halt in front of her bed. "As I'm sure you've noticed already, Sasuke-san had your implant removed, so there's no need for you to wreak havoc on his employees and his estate again, because you're free to be around him now."

Sakura looked at the woman in front of her with a puzzled expression. "Free to be around him, does that mean… he wants me to stay here?"

"All I know is that he instructed me to inform you that you are to meet him this evening at 7 pm sharp. I will be back at 6 to provide you with clean clothes, and at 6.45 again to escort you to his office. What you do in the meantime is up to you; however, you are not to leave the patient room, Sasuke-san was very clear on that."

Karin raised her right hand to adjust her glasses. She waited for the woman in the bed to ask questions, but she said nothing. She instead turned her gaze to the stitches on her left arm. But they weren't the only ones that marred Sakura's skin. Karin heard about the circumstances under which her boss' ex-wife was rescued, she heard about the torture. She also read the doctor's report after her surgery. Apparently, the wound on her left lower arm was not nearly the only thing they had had to fix.

Get a hold of yourself Karin, she warned herself silently. She's the enemy. She hurt Sasuke. You can't allow yourself to feel empathy for her.

Clearing her throat and straightening herself, she looked into the bruised face of the woman lying in front of her. "If you feel any pain or need assistance with something, press this red button here and someone will come to your aid. Now, if there's nothing else, I will see you again at 6."

She turned around and strut towards the door, when Sakura's voice from behind made her stop. "Thank you."

Karin slightly tilted her head, and her suspicious eyes were met with Sakura's tired ones. "For what?" – "You're devoted to him, you care about him. So thank you for looking out for Sasuke." Surprised at her kindness, Karin didn't know what to say. She instead grabbed the door handle and exited the patient room.

Her puzzled expression still hadn't left her face, as she kept wondering what it was about Haruno Sakura that seemed to draw other people in.

Well fuck, I'm starting to like the enemy.


Post Scriptum: A short chapter this time. The last one was a beast and I thought it would be better to slow down a bit after the shit-almost-hit-the-fan-but-didn't-because-Sasuke-saved-the-day-stuff going on in the previous chapter. Hope you guys like it. Pax de (I wonder how many of you will get this one).