Chapter 34: Tainted Sun

A/N: Hey hey… here's the next chappie. Hope you read and review.

Thud… thud… his heart thumps weakly against his chest. It was about to perform its final beat when a flow of chakra from the outside slammed against his chest. Soon his heart began to beat a normal rhythm.

Sakura didn't notice that the twitching of his fingers because she was staring into nothing. After an incoherent statement from her, Gaara felt her faint against his chest. He tried to move but then he couldn't… he can't even open his eyes to see her.

Then he felt them take Sakura away. He so wanted to take her back but then his body didn't cooperate. "Sa-ku-ra," he worded out before his mind went blank.

Five figures leaped from tree to tree with amazing speed. "That was cruel, Kamui… using 'that' on her," the female figure said as they continued with their travels. "He's cruel? You just gave that sand wielding guy your kiss of death…" one male said incredulously as he stared at the unconscious pink-haired girl.

They arrived on their hide out. "Touya, put her in her cell," the man carrying Sakura ordered. The man with short shoulder length grey hair took the girl from Kamui and did as he was told. "What is your intention on using the 'tainted sun' on her? She's already weak and helpless when we found her?" one of his companions asked.

"She is weak now… but I cannot say that she'll be weak forever. You must never underestimate her, Shin. This girl… is different. If you underestimate her… you might end up dead," Kamui said in a cool yet threatening tone. The man with long black braided hair raised his eyebrow as he stared after the girl that was carried away.

Images of Sakura being killed in different ways flashed in his unconscious mind. She kept on calling his name again and again until finally she can't. His eye's flew open as he quickly sat up, making the blood rush to his head, he grunted as he held his aching head. "You should be resting…" a familiar voice ordered as she pushed him back to bed.

Gaara glared at the hokage as she forced him to lie back down. His eyes wandered to the four other occupants of the nearby beds. "They're fine. More importantly… tell me what happened," Tsunade sat on the nearby stool. "Where is she?" he demanded an answer although it was obvious. "What happened?" the medical kunoichi reiterated with her tone rising higher with impatience.

It was a voice from the nearby bed that answered the hokage's question. The sharingan-user of Konoha was the one to relate what happened as Gaara could only grip the bed sheets at his anger and helplessness.

Tears leaked from her closed eyes as she remembered what just happened. They're all… No… it can't be it must be some sort of genjutsu. "That's right it's some sort of genjutsu… they can't be killed that easily… not them… not him," smiling faces of her friends passed on her memories especially the face of her beloved sand master. Then she felt her neck ache. Upon touching it, she winced in pain as blood trickled from it. "When did I get this?"

Two figures hid in the shadows and watched as Sakura struggled to rationalize how everything is a genjutsu. "Whoa? This one's intelligent. I can never expect that your 'tainted sun' can be easily figured out by her. What are you going to do now Kamui? The genjutsu will be useless if she proved it's all a lie?" a female voice asked cheerfully as she smiled with sarcasm.

The man with long silver hair looked at his female comrade with his golden eyes. "Sumire-san… I think you're underestimating my abilities. Though Sakura is indeed cunning, no one can break my tainted sun. But because she's resisting to fall easily into my genjutsu… I guess we have to show her the reality that'll break her sanity," he stepped out of the shadows followed by Sumire.

"Sakura-san," he called out behind the bars of the cell. The captured kunoichi raised her head and glared at the man calling her. In an instant, her hands tried to grab his neck but he evaded it with fluidity. "I've seen your trick Kamui. I know what I saw was just plain genjustu… I am not that dumb to fall that easily." She shouted as she gripped the bars that refused to give into her strength.

"Genjutsu? We never used any kind of genjutsu on you little girl… it'll be a waste of chakra." Sumire was laughing sweetly behind Kamui. "Sakura-san… you've felt the sand master's heart beat did you not? Tell me… how can you prove that what you felt is false?" the man looked at her intently. Sakura's eyes began to water. It's true… his heartbeat… the warmth in his body… there isn't a type of genjutsu that can manipulate that. No matter how hard she thought about it… what the bitch said was all… true.

Taking her reaction as a hint, "Sakura-san… I'd like you to meet someone," Sumire opened the doors and instantly tied a rope made of chakra around Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi did not resist. She stared on the ground as the female dragged her to the next room.

The sand master as well as the others scoured the entire desert, the nearby forest and the towns but none seemed to give any hint on where she was.

Kamui stood before a door. Sumire smiled as it opened. Their captive was still staring at the ground quietly. "Well… we've brought you here to meet him… you can at least look at him," when she made no move to follow what she said, Sumire grabbed her hair and forced her to look forward.

As she lifted her swollen eyes, it was as if her heart stopped beating for seconds then it began to slam against her chest wildly. Her breathing became impossible as she weakly knelt forward. Trying to hide her eyes from the scene, she covered her face with her hands but the gap between her fingers permitted her still to view the last reality she'll ever see.

Kamui looked at her with his golden eyes as Sumire was snickering beside him. "K-Kyo-Kyo-niisan," she muttered with her broken voice as her body uncontrollably shivered. In the middle of the lab was a man with orange hair that was all that can be determined. With the number of tubes inserted in his body through every way possible, it was impossible to know who he is.

Kamui knelt in front of her and whispered "I told you before didn't I? Strength is a weapon… not a shield. Just look at yourself… you tried to protect everyone and ended up not protecting anyone at all. Listen, Sakura… I can end your suffering… all you have to do is…" she can't hear what he was saying. Her senses were drowned with all her failures and sufferings constantly repeating in her head. The images of her dead parents and friends, the sound of their final breaths and heart beats, the smell of flesh and blood, the taste of death. Save me please… she prayed unconsciously.

He wind blew a different gust through the sand master's ear. Immediately, he spun around and dashed in a different direction. The others followed asking no questions.

Sumire untied Sakura and locked her in the lab. "Kamui… what do you have in mind?" she questioned him as they started to walk away. "To break your enemy, you must first break their spirit," he quoted as they joined the others in another room.

"What do you mean?" "Sumire… you have no idea how cruel the tainted sun can be," a man with short shoulder length hair joined the discussion. "The tainted sun is the ultimate form of genjutsu. It can not be broken unless the one who made it is killed by the same person who is affected by the genjustu. Like all other genjutsu, it is an illusionary technique but… it is reality as well." "What are you saying?" "The tainted sun combines illusion with reality… creating a living hell," "Sakura… will join us… soon enough," Kamui finally spoke but as he did the walls began to shake.

"What the hell's happening?" one exclaimed as he gripped his katana. "We have company," as Kamui said this, the four disappeared leaving him alone.

The plan was simple enough. All they had to do was exchange opponents. The one with lighting fast strikes must be with Sasuke, the one with multiple attack patterns must be with Gaara, the one with unreadable moves will be with Shikamaru and upon Naruto's insistent demand he will deal with his previous opponent.

The battle field was stained with blood and sweat.

His crimson eyes read every move his opponent will make. It was as if he was the puppeteer of this puppet show. It only took a few heavy blows for the man with grey hair to finally give up.

Naruto called upon the chakra of the Kyuubi to make his perfect rasenggan. He formed a thousand clones and concealed the rasenggan. As the clone's attacks progressed, he found an opening to release his rasenggan breaking to the opponent's side.

The one with unreadable attack patterns was no match against the genius of Konoha. In a matter of minutes, Shikamaru already figured it out and formulated a perfect plan. In a matter of seconds, his opponent was frozen with his shadow binding technique as multiple shadow spikes impaled through his body.

The multiple attack pattern of his opponent was useless against the sand master's ultimate defense. In a blink of an eye, the sand enveloped his entire body. Gaara walked away as his opponent was sinking underneath the sand. As felt that his opponent was deep enough, he clenched his fist. The pressure underneath the sand increased a hundred fold crushing everything underneath it.

As expected, the plan worked well enough. Though they forgot about the fifth person, they easily won their battles. Ino quickly entered their hide out, searching each and every room for her best friend. She came upon a metal door. As she stood in front of it, it automatically opened. She backed away and formed her battle stance as she saw a man with long silver hair.

No attacks came. The man simply stood there eyeing the kneeling Sakura who had her back against her. As Ino's eyes looked forward, she shouted in horror at what she saw. A man was chained to the wall with multiple tubes though his body. It was in his eyes, nose, mouth, skin everywhere. She had witnessed a lot of grotesque murders and thought she had seen it all but what she saw made her knees grow weak and her stomach turn.

Ino walked weakly to face Sakura. She grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. "Sakura…" she pleaded her to hear. In an instant, Sakura slapped her hands away. She stood up normally as if nothing's wrong and walked towards the man. "What are you doing Kyo-niisan?" she started pulling out the tubes from his body. Ino stood there watching her best friend talk carefully pulling out every tube out of his body.

"Didn't you promise that we'll introduce ourselves formally when we meet again? I'm Haruno, Sakura." Ino's eyes began to form tears as she pitied Sakura who was trying to shake hands with a dead man. "Stop it, Sakura," she muttered as she made her way towards her best friend. Healing Kyo, Sakura looked at his face closely. "Wake up, Kyo-niisan. I've come to rescue you…" she was saying. "Stop it Sakura! He's dead!" Ino had to stop Sakura's delusions before it's too late.

Sakura carried Kyo behind her back as she spared Ino with a glance. Ino stood there unmoved as she saw Sakura's eyes… They're… empty. This thought scared her. It was as if Sakura had become a shell and nothing more.

The ceiling collapsed and soon everything fell apart. The four ninjas ran to the site but only found Ino and no Sakura. When Ino was conscious, she can barely say what she saw. "Sakura… I saw her… she's… no longer Sakura," her voice shook as she embraced Shikamaru for security. The sand master didn't understand what she meant but he must control himself from shaking the answers out of the blond kunoichi. He began to head back instead.

Tsunade heard every detail of what had happened and decided it would be best if they head back to the hidden leaf. She was bombarded with a lot of protests but then she said "Sakura… is a kunoichi. She'll know what to do. What's important now is she's safe for the time-being. All we can do is to wait for her return."

Gaara joined the shinobi of the hidden leaf back to their village. Though he didn't exactly know why, he just did.

On the third day upon their arrival, the hokage had an unusual guest. "Hokage-sama," the man acknowledged as he bowed his head. In that moment, "Tsunade-baa-chan, we have to look for her," Naruto barged in together with Sasuke, Ino and Gaara. The man backed away saying "G-Ghosts!" then he started to grow pale. "Huh?" the blond kunoichi reacted as they all looked at the pale man. "Syaoran!" Ino exclaimed as she clapped her hands.

"What do you mean ghosts!" Naruto felt insulted after minutes of analyzing what he said. "B-But… Sakura-san told us… that," even before finishing the statement, sand gripped his entire body and enraged green eyes glared at him. "What do you mean?" Gaara had to restrain himself from hurting the man. He needed answers and he needed it NOW!

"Sakura-san… she told us you were all dead," Syaoran stammered as he strained for air. The sand released him instantly. "Sakura's in your village?" Naruto asked hurriedly. "Y-Yeah… she's been there for days. Searching the halls of knowledge for something, she hasn't eaten or slept at all," the xenolith warrior detailed in.

Needing no further cues, the four ran out of the hokage's office and head towards the Xenolith village. "Just what the hell's happening?" Syaoran asked for an explanation as he looked at the hokage who seemed to have the worst headache she could ever experience.

In a matter of days, they arrived in the said village. Their leader, Kagura welcomed them and showed them to where Sakura is. Everyone stood at the doorway as they saw Sakura reading piles of books all at the same time. Flipping through the pages, she seems to show no interest on other things but reading.

"Sakura…" the sand master was the first to call her with pain in his voice. Her eyes slowly lifted but did not look at them. She clamped shut the book and stood up. Another visit eh! I'm getting tired of this genjutsu. I wonder how they'll die this time. The first time they died they were impaled the next they were beheaded I wonder what'll happen to them today. In a flash, she was gone.

Upon seeing Kyo, Sakura broke. She can no longer determine reality from illusions. Often times, she would see in broad daylight her parents… then witnessed their deaths. When she tried to sleep, she would dream about the deaths of her friends. Often times, the genjutsu would let her see illusions of Gaara and the others as if they were alive. The first time this happened Sakura was so happy but when she tried to approach them the horrid scenes would again play… their massacres and their agony. Now, Sakura seemed to grow immune to whatever the genjutsu would try to throw to her.

She thought she was immune… she thought she would never again be affected this way but when she saw them, it all seems so real… they were there looking at her worriedly. That'll be the way they'll look at me if they're really alive but… I know they're not.

On her neck hung the black phoenix as well as the heart shaped pendant Kyo had given her before, she fingered it gently as the wind grew cold. Save me please… she pleaded still as she stared at the cherry blossom petals flying with the wind.

A/N: I took too long I'm sorry. I just didn't had time to type this all down but this story's nearing its end so make the most out of it… READ AND REVIEW! Arigatou…