A/N: I am soooooooo sorry I didn't update yesterday! I had to babysit late last night! SORRY!!! Please don't kill me... TT.TT
Well, are you all wondering whether Sakura's alive or not? Well, I think that you'll be finding out in this chapter... Oh, and about the lemon, it was VERY close. By one review, the "No" voters won. I might make the lemon, but I'm not sure or not... I dunno if I want to make a lemon or not... Maybe...
I... I can't die, thought Sakura, fighting to just stay alive, let alone conscious. If I die... If I die, Sasuke will-
She wasn't able to think on that further because another wave of pain coursed through her body. She was sure that the wound was getting infected and that it was still bleeding, but she had no strength or chakra to fix it.
All she could do was use her hands to hold pressure to the wound with all her might, which wasn't a lot.
The room was spinning and the loss of blood was causing her limbs to feel numb.
Still, she wouldn't cry or give up hope. Giving up hope would mean giving up on life. She refused to do that!
"I... Can't... Die..." she grunted and, panting and shaking from exhaustion.
Finally, her exhaustion became too great and she was no longer able to keep her eyes open.
As her eyes closed, she could feel Kisame's chakra approaching...
He was probably going to finish the job...
Sasuke ran through a dense forest, in a fit of range. Not only was Sakura missing, but he'd just had two very, VERY aggravating conversations. One with the Tsuchikage and one with Tsunade...
"We're not sure where she is," the Tsuchikage had told him when Sasuke asked where Sakura was. "The last she'd spoken to our shinobi, she said that she knew where the Akatsuki was. It's very likely that she was taken by them. Worst case scenario is that they killed her."
"Well, we have to find her!" exclaimed the Uchiha. "We'll send out a search party and-"
"Excuse me, 'We'?" asked the middle-aged man. "The attack wiped out half the shinobi in our village. If not, more. We can't afford to send them after some dead kunoichi that doesn't even belong to our village."
"She's from Konoha, a village you're allied to! She risked her life for your gutless village! The least you can do is show the same damn respect in return!"
"We never asked for her help, did we? Besides, you know as well as I that our alliance isn't even worth the paper it's written on. If I choose not to help your village, it's my choice."
"So, that's it?" he asked, a look of disgust on his face. "You won't lift a finger to help her?"
"We can't. I'm sorry."
"No, you aren't," he replied, running off.
He'd left to call Tsunade at his hotel.
Once she answered the phone, he yelled, "Why the hell would you send us to protect this spineless excuse of a village?!"
"Sasuke? What are you talking about? What's going on? What happened?"
He explained about the attack and how Sakura had disappeared.
"You mean, they actually attacked?"
"What do you mean? That's why you sent us here!"
"Oh, no..."
"WHAT?!?!" he yelled, getting deathly impatient.
"You see, there was no mission... I sent you there so the both of you could get together and closer. I knew the both of you liked eachother and that you'd realize it once somebody gave you the extra push..."
"... But Naruto told me he reccomended us, how did that happen? You couldn't have brainwashed him..."
"Oh, I didn't, the pixies did... They owed me a favor..."
"..."
"Just... Go and look for her, Sasuke. Once you find her, apologize to her for me."
"You're so lucky you're hokage or else I'd kick your ass to Canada and back..."
"Yeah, yeah... Just go find her!"
He hung up the phone and ran off to find his wife.
Yes, I said wife. (Isn't it romantic?! n.n)
So, there he was, racing to find Sakura, all by himself.
I won't let that sadistic son-of-a-bitch before he kills her, he thought, picking up his pace.
Sakura tried with all her might not to cry or scream while Kisame handed her her beating on a silver platter.
To cry out would be to show weakness. She couldn't be weak this time, not here. If she showed weakness, she would definitely die!
"So, are you going to tell us where the younger Uchiha is?"
"I don't know," she stated, telling the truth.
He gave her another hit, sending her to the other side of the jail cell and causing a large dent in the stone wall.
She coughed up blood, but refused to give in.
It continued like that until Itachi stopped him.
"Kisame, stop, Sasuke is on his way..."
"So, we can just kill her now?" he asked.
"No, she'll be the bait. He'll want to see her alive."
"How about we rough her up a bit then?"
The Uchiha stayed silent, meaning that Kisame could have a little more fun.
He made it... He found the base and made it inside.
He was faintly surprised that nobody had attacked him yet.
Then, out of nowhere, Itachi appeared. He stared at his brother indifferently, making his younger brother angry. It always did...
"Where is she, Itachi?"
"You've failed, Sasuke," he stated.
"Failed?"
"I told you to do whatever you needed to do to kill me. You gave up on your hatred and fell for a woman, therefore giving up on your love for our family. You've failed our parents, our family. You're not fit for the Uchiha name."
"Tell me where she is!"
"Come with me."
He turned and began to walk away. Sasuke followed. He led him to a jail cell where he saw an unconscious Sakura, beaten until an inch of her life.
"Sakura!"
"So... That's her name," commented Kisame.
He held the near-dead woman in his arms, glaring at his brother and his partner.
"Now, Brother, it is time for you and your woman to die," stated Itachi.
Sasuke stood and readied himself to kill his brother.
Then, surprisingly, he activated Mangekyou.
"I failed, huh? Well, I have Mangekyou, have I still failed?"
"He has it, too, huh?" asked Kisame.
"You were wrong, so was our family," he told Itachi. "It wasn't the actual killing your best friend that gives you Mangekyou. It was the feeling of the loss we all would have to endure when we lost that person."
"My, so you've become so smart all of a sudden?" asked the elder Uchiha.
Ignoring the question, Sasuke began Chidori and charged at his brother. Before Itachi could catch him, though, he dodged and charged again.
He purposely made a pattern to throw his brother off and he continued to do so until he found an opening. Taking advantage of that opening, he was able to hit his brother in the side with the Lightening.
He received a blow to the chin from his brother and flew into a wall.
He got back up and began Chidori all over again. This time, though, he made sure that he got hit and he fell to the floor at his brother's feet.
As Itachi stared at him, thinking he'd been able to render his opponent unconscious, he didn't see the real Sasuke behind him hit him in the back with the Chidori.
He fell to the floor and couldn't get up.
He'd received the attack directly to the spine, one of the fatal spots. He was a goner...
"Then, there was one," commented Sasuke, turning to Kisame with a smirk.
A/N: XD Yet another cliffy! I feel so deliciously evil!