-Set at the beginning of Shippuden, the Elders send Sakura off as a hunter-nin, wishing for her death as a way to weaken Tsunade's political powers. Sakura agrees to prove them wrong, but what she didn't know was that Orochimaru's involved! Oh, god… Just what did she get herself into?
Alright, I finally finished this chapter! Sorry it took so long! I just couldn't come up with anything for this chapter in a long while, and I finally came up with this on my week-long vacation. I'm sorry if you guys don't like it… I tried my best to incorporate some things you might like, and I tried to make it as long as possible, so please review and tell me how you like it! Please enjoy!
Episode Five
~Her Antics, Sasuke's Annoyance~
Sakura crossed her arms and pouted. "I want a lawyer," she said. "This is clearly harassment." Not only was she chained to the wall, the floor, the chair, and the table, but she was also drained of most of her chakra and, to top it all off, she had to face off with Orochimaru's series of questions while Kabuto examined her answers and Sasuke just sat there as impassive as ever. Kiki was put in a small cage, a cage smaller than even she was.
"Now, sweetie,"—Sakura inwardly cringed when Orochimaru called her that—"All I'm asking is whether or not you were on a mission when we captured you."
"And I'm saying that I won't tell you a thing without a lawyer present," the kunoichi retorted. "What your right-hand man is doing could be called sexual harassment and your pupil . . . he just bugs me!"
While Kabuto and Sasuke were just getting plainly annoyed with the girl's antics, Orochimaru chuckled with amusement.
"I don't know what you're laughing about!" Sakura snapped. "I won't say anything until my lawyer is present!"
Kiki barked, almost as if she seconded that.
"Sakura, you don't have a lawyer." For the first time since Sakura was captured, Sasuke actually spoke.
"Oh, what's this?" she asked. "You can still talk? Gee, and I thought you were just a mute!" Oh, yeah, she was just plain pissed off right now. But can you blame her? First, she's chased through the forest and in the rain! And then she gets captured. And afterwards, she gets knocked out in the same manner as when she was left on that freakin' bench when Sasuke had left Konoha. And when she woke up, she found herself chained up, sitting in an interrogation room. And last but not least, they were expecting her to answer "a few" questions which ended up being more than "a few."
Oh-ho, there was no way she was going to cooperate with the likes of them! Not even if all of Hell froze over!
"Heheh, it would seem like you got more than training from Tsunade-chan…" Orochimaru said, smiling. "You're just like her!"
"You know, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Orochimaru, why don't we just torture her for the information?" Kabuto suggested. "It doesn't look like we'll get anywhere by just asking nicely."
Sakura scoffed. "You call all of that 'asking nicely'? That was probably the worst treatment I had in years!"
"Now, now, Kabuto," Orochimaru started, "Torturing her would just be inhumane, and I wouldn't want to give Tsunade a reason to send every available ninja in Konoha out to kill me, now would I?"
"I suppose not…" Kabuto said, glancing at the girl. "Then what do you suppose we do, Orochimaru-sama?"
"Show her our evidence," Orochimaru said.
"Hai," Kabuto said. He threw a Bingo Book onto the table.
"Oh, wow… A Bingo Book!" Sakura said in a sarcastically amazed tone. "What are you going to do next? Pull a rabbit out of your pocket?"
Kabuto ignored her comment. "We found that in your backpack. Six people have been crossed out—one A-ranked criminal and the rest were S-ranked. That proves you were sent on a mission to kill those in the Bingo Book."
"Or," Sakura suggested, "That's Jiraiya-sama's Bingo Book, and it accidently got misplaced and put into my bag when I met up with him for a weekly check-up. And besides, let's face the facts. I'm a weak girl, and I'm too innocent to kill a fly. You can ask Sasuke. He knows how weak I am. He'll give you the full story."
The Uchiha suppressed an urge to roll his eyes and to run a blade through the girl's stomach. Since when did she become so melancholy?
"You trained under Tsunade, one of the legendary Sanin, for the last two years!" Kabuto added.
"So?" Sakura asked. "Not everyone's like Orochimaru's pet over there." (A/N: By the way, she was referring to Sasuke for those who did know.) "How do you know I didn't shirk my training or something? How do you even know if I improved or not?"
"People talk about you," Kabuto explained. "About how you've surpassed Tsunade in skill."
"How do you know they're not rumors?" Sakura asked. "You can't trust someone else's gossip."
Kabuto was about ready to slice Sakura's pretty little head off of her body. "We're being nice here, Sakura-san. But if you continue to—"
Sakura knocked once on the table, and it turned to rubble. "Do you even know who you're talking to? Even with this little chakra, I can break the floor if I wanted to. Tsunade's my mentor, and I don't think you'd want her on your case, so I'm trying to be nice and not cause you any further trouble. You guys think I'm Konoha's hunter-nin but, sorry to disappoint you, I'm not. You're just wasting your time. How could I be Konoha's hunter-nin? Tsunade wouldn't even think of it."
"Very nice speech, Haruno." Orochimaru clapped his hands. "But how stupid do you think I am?" He knew the strong fighter façade Sakura was putting on was really to help hide her fear.
"Very, considering you're still wasting your time with me."
"Heh, you say I'm wasting time, but I say I'm having fun." Orochimaru chuckled. "With nothing much to do except train my pupil, the days do get tedious."
"Heh, well, let me say this first before you get any further. I'm not going to be your whore or your bitch, if that's where you're going with this."
"Heheh… Of course not, I still respect my old teammate, after all…" Orochimaru said. "I wouldn't do anything to disrespect her."
"Okay then, you can start by letting me go." Sakura said. "That is, if you're not going to disrespect her."
"I never said anything about that, now did I?" Orochimaru stood form his seat and walked towards the door. "Kabuto," he said, "I'll leave her to you and Sasuke, okay? I want whatever information you can get out of her."
"So I can—"
"No, you cannot torture our guest."
Ha! Guest my ass! Sakura thought, crossing her arms. I'm getting out of here as soon as I can!
✿。.:**:.。✿
Sakura groaned, ready to bash her head against the wall. "Why?" she asked. "Why did this happen?"
"You yelled out profanities at him and his ancestors, threw a chair at him, and threatened to castrate him which led him to go and get Orochimaru. You should've known the consequences."
"Well, thank you, Uchiha! But that was a rhetorical question!" Sakura snapped.
Kiki barked.
"I know what I did! I could've chucked Kabuto into the wall with that chair if he wasn't so quick to dodge it…"
Kiki barked in agreement.
"I just wanted to get out of the chains."
Kiki nodded her head. She, too, liked being out of that tiny cage she was put in.
"And you are. Happy now?"
"No, thank you for asking. I wanted to be out of the chains, but I didn't want to be held prisoner. And to make things worse, your teacher stuck me here! In your room! Of all places! I would have preferred a nice, cozy cell than here with you!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. It was already troublesome that he had to be the one keeping an eye on her, it was even more troublesome that she had to stay in his room, and it was just plain annoying that she wouldn't stop "voicing out her opinions," as she had put it earlier.
"Hey, I've got a question."
Well, no surprise there… Sasuke thought, still not even glancing at her.
"If Orochimaru wants you to stay with him," she said as she sat down on the floor. Kiki jumped onto her lap. "Then why would he put me in a room with you knowing that I might try and convince to go back to Konoha?"
He didn't say anything.
"Unless"—she yawned—"you've really broken your bonds and won't be fazed by anything I say."
No response.
"You know, now that I'm not blinded by my stupid crush, you really do resemble your brother, you know that? You two are exactly the sa—"
She was slammed into the wall—a hand around her neck, squeezing tightly. She could hear Kiki's loud barking, but she couldn't breathe.
"Don't you ever compare me to him! And don't think I'll let you continuing mocking me! I held back before." Sasuke let go, and Sakura fell to the floor, gasping for air.
"But it doesn't mean I won't kill you now…"
"Kill me then! Since all your bonds are broken anyway!"
"Don't test me, Sakura."
"Who's testing who? I'm just stating the obvious!"
Another roll of the eyes. Annoying…
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Don't you walk away!"
But the door closed with a slam, and Sakura was left all alone in the room with her pet dog. She sulked.
She couldn't believe she was so stupid! She didn't give it any thought when she had slapped the Uchiha. She should've known better. When she ran, she should've put up more precautions. The moment she had tried to slap her ex-teammate, she was put into a genjutsu. How could she have been so blind? In fact, when did this have to happen in the first place? She was just an innocent traveler who had gotten lost on the way. Did the gods have something against her? Or was it Sasori's doing in the afterlife?
Oh my Kami-sama, this is karma for killing those people! "Oh, why does this have to happen to me?" she asked.
Kiki barked.
"Yeah, you're probably right. I should look on the bright side of things…"
The dog barked again.
"You're right! There is no bright side of this!" She rubbed her now sore neck and sighed. Would Sasuke really have carried out with his threat? Would he really have tried to kill her? She decided not to ponder it any further. She was tired, after all. She'd think about it in the morning.
✿。.:**:.。✿
"Why did you put her in my room?"
Orochimaru chuckled. "Now, now, Sasuke-kun, we need to make sure our guest feels comfortable… And since you used to be her teammate . . . well, you understand, don't you?"
"No, I don't."
"Sasuke-kun, if Orochimaru does something, he has a reason." Kabuto said.
"Hn, whatever… Just cut the talking and train me."
✿。.:**:.。✿
When Sasuke returned back to his room, the first thing he noticed was that it was actually quiet. His immediate reaction was that Sakura had escaped, but then he saw her small figure curled up on the floor. At the sight, Sasuke—though he wouldn't admit it—was actually worried about her. She wouldn't have been so upset that she went suicidal, would she? He walked over and checked for a pulse. Normal, good. Then he checked to see if she was still breathing. Soft and light but normal, that was good too. So she was just sleeping…
"Che, annoying girl…"
When he moved to pick her up, he didn't see Kiki who Sakura had cuddled up in her arms. The dog was woken up by that slight movement and jumped out, barking at the Uchiha.
"Che, annoying dog…"
And with his feet, he brushed the dog to the side (A/N: keep in mind, I didn't say 'kicked' because then that would have been animal cruelty), picking his ex-teammate up in the process. And ignoring Kiki's barks, he placed the sleeping kunoichi on the bed, leaving the puppy-dog a bit confused.
Sakura had told her the whole story about Team 7 and about Sasuke's deflect of Konoha right before falling asleep. At first, the dog thought this was just Sasuke's attempt at leaving the kunoichi again to which Kiki started to growl at the Uchiha. But Sasuke sent her a death glare so scary that she quieted and got on her hind legs against the bed to take a better look at Sakura's face. She seemed more comfortable than before when she was on the floor. Kiki's tail started wagging.
Meanwhile, Sasuke just watched the kunoichi as she slept. She seemed as though everything was right with the world . . . or something close to that. If he didn't know her, he'd thought she was an angel in disguise. But an angel wouldn't be a hunter-nin, that was for sure. And so, Sasuke didn't let down his guard. If Sakura was actually faking her little slumber then he'd be in trouble if he wasn't alert.
Thump!
At first, Sasuke almost jumped from his seat, thinking that it was an ambush. However, when he just saw that Kiki had fallen from trying to get on the bed, he rolled his eyes.
"Che, annoying dog…"
The dog was so small that Sasuke's hand could wrap completely around her stomach. He picked the dog up and placed it right next to his ex-teammate. Kiki gave a small bark, probably a thank you. She walked around in a small circle, marched in place a little, before deeming the bed to be comfortable. And then she rested down right there. Perhaps, the Uchiha boy wasn't so bad as Sakura had led her to believe.
✿。.:**:.。✿
When Sakura woke up the next day, the view she was met with was not one she expected. It would appear that yesterday had not been a nightmare, after all… She turned onto her side. Was it morning yet? She couldn't tell, the room was so dark. As she rolled onto her other side, something caught her attention. She pressed down on the thing she was laying on. She didn't remember the floor being so soft…
When she realized she was on the bed, she sprung up into a sitting position. She clearly remembered being on the floor when she fell asleep, so how…?
The door creaked opened.
"It's about time…"
Sakura's eyes shifted into a hard glare as Sasuke walked over and placed a tray of food on a nearby desk.
"It's not poisoned," Sasuke said when he saw Sakura's scrutinizing glance at the food.
"I'll be the judge of that," she growled.
He shrugged. "Suit yourself." And he immediately started towards the door.
"How did I get onto the bed?"
"I just assumed that the floor wasn't comfortable." And the door closed.
Sakura just stared at the door. Was Sasuke implying that he had been actually nice enough to actually care about her? But looking back, Sakura knew that couldn't have been a possibility. Her eyes shifted back to the food. She had trained under the best medic in the whole ninja world. Did they really expect her to not notice any traces of poison?
She got out of the bed and placed her ear against the door. Good, there was no one outside. She twisted the doorknob. The door was locked.
She scoffed. Did Sasuke honestly believe a locked door would stop her from escaping? She looked around the room for something to pick the lock. Obviously, she couldn't risk making a huge scene by breaking the door with just her fists. Her eyes soon came upon her backpack. Apparently, Orochimaru had thought it would be okay for her to keep her things. She went over and looked through her things, shortly coming upon the card Hinata had given her.
"It'll show you anything you want to see, you know?"
Hm… I wonder… "Show me an escape route." And as Sakura added her chakra into the piece of paper, a small map began to materialize. She smiled. "Thank you, Hyuga Hinata!" And at that moment, Sakura decided against not making a scene and punched her way through the door.
And luckily for her, there was no one in sight. "Okay, I'm good so far…" She kissed the bracelet Naruto had given her and said a small prayer before continuing on her way. She ran down the hall, Kiki right behind her. To her dismay, it was longer than it initially seemed. She stopped at the corner. She took off her headband and held it at an angle where she could see if anyone was around the corner. No one there.
And so, she started her jog again. She passed countless of doors on the way, and she only thanked the Heavens that no one decided to step out of those rooms. It would have been horrible if Orochimaru or Kabuto had come out to find her running around. It would have been worse if Sasuke had caught sight of her. She forced herself not to think of that possibility… It would only distract her…
When she turned a sharp left, she was met with the sight of stairs. Kiki whimpered. And so, now, Sakura had to carry her puppy-dog up the stairs.
"Kiki!" she groaned. "Why are you so heavy?"
And once she got to the top of the stairs, she saw a few windows. Her journey was almost over. Now she just had to open one of the windows and—
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Sakura gasped at the sight of the two Oto-nin. She quickly jumped through the glass window and ran. She heard one of the shinobi tell the other to call for Orochimaru, but she didn't look back as she leaped from the roof to a nearby tree, putting Kiki in her backpack.
Come on, come on! Faster, faster! she told her legs. She couldn't risk getting caught again. Faster, faster!
Kiki started barking, and Sakura glanced back. A giant shuriken was heading her way. She gasped again and jumped towards lower ground. At the very least, it wasn't Sasuke chasing her. At least, she still had a chance at escape…
She glanced down at the bracelet hanging on her wrist. Let's put you to the test… She quickly made the hand seals she had seen Naruto use. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And a hundred pink-haired girls appeared. Half of them went in separate ways while the other half stayed to fight the perusing Oto-nin.
Thank you, Naruto, thank you! Sakura thought as she quickened her pace. She couldn't get caught, she just couldn't risk that…
✿。.:**:.。✿
Sakura fell to her knees. She had been running for a few hours already. It was noon now… None of the Oto-nin were pursuing her now, probably thanks to her shadow clones, but thanks to them, she was almost out of chakra.
Now . . . I know why that's a forbidden jutsu… And Naruto makes it look so easy!
She sat to catch her breath. She was so hungry too. She hadn't touched her breakfast, and she didn't even have lunch yet… And when she looked over at Kiki, the puppy looked as if she was as hungry as the kunoichi was. Sakura groaned. Really! How could she have let things get so out of hand? She should've saved that nice tray of food Sasuke had left for her… Oh, why was she so stupid? In the end, she decided that it was because she had spent too much time with Naruto… Yeah, that was probably it…
Poof!
Sakura almost jumped.
"Yo! Surprised to see me?"
"Pa-Pakkun?"
"I take that as a yes. How have you been, Pinkie?"
"Just . . . peachy, just peachy."
"Good! How about you, Kiki?"
"Arf!"
"It's nice to know you guys are staying out of trouble."
"Anoo . . . well, don't jinx us…" Please don't!
"So, anyway, how's the mission going?"
"Pretty good…" That is, if you can count being a "guest" in Oto to be good!
"That's good to hear." However, at that moment, Pakkun smelled something funny. And he began sniffing harder. "Oy, Pinkie! What's this weird scent? You smell like . . . something I haven't smelled in a long time… Smells like someone I haven't smelled in a few years already…"
At that minute, Sakura and Kiki began panicking in their heads. Not good, not good, not good!
"What was his name? Oh, I can't put my finger on it… I know I—"
"Oh, well, look at the time! Me and Kiki must really be going!" Sakura said, Kiki nodding her head. "It was nice to see you, Pakkun!"
"But—"
"I said, good day!" And quickly making hand signs, Sakura made a counter summoning jutsu that made Pakkun disappear. She let out a sigh. "You know… For a second there, Kiki, I thought I was in trouble."
The dog barked in agreement.
"Do you think we lost them?"
"Guess again."
Sakura could have screamed if she had been the girl back in Team 7's genin days. Lucky for her (and Sasuke), she wasn't, so she didn't scream as if she had seen a ghost and was scared out of her life. She just grimaced a helpless frown, fashioning widened eyes filled with exasperation and a bit of fear. The face practically matched that of a defenseless kid.
"But . . . but . . . you . . . there and oto-nin… How…?" She just couldn't recover from the shock.
"I was training somewhere nearby and, on my way back, I see ten and more flashes of pink." the Uchiha explained. "From there on, it wasn't hard to piece things together."
In Sakura's head, her Inner would've been screaming profanities if she had been around but, to Sakura's dismay, her Inner wasn't around anymore to provide her any comfort.
"So . . . I'm guessing you're going to take me back to Orochimaru's evil lair now, right?"
"Well, seeing that you're out of chakra and you're not as stupid as the dobe, you'll probably come willingly this time and without a fight, am I correct?"
Sakura sighed in defeat and nodded her head. If only Naruto saw her now…
And as Sasuke walked away, Sakura just stared at his back, trying to stand up. In a few seconds, Sasuke realized she wasn't following him, and Kiki's barks were more worry-toned than he'd like. He turned back to the kunoichi.
"Hurry up!"
"But . . ." Sakura seemed hesitant to speak.
Sasuke knew he was going to regret asking, but nevertheless… "What's wrong?"
"I can't stand up!"
The Uchiha inwardly groaned. If he had thought she was annoying before, she was beyond the point of irritating now. Oh, the days to come were not going to be pleasant…
Whew! It's done. Did you guys like it?
Oh, and I finally made a oneshot! It's a NaruHina one which contains major SasuSaku and minor Saino and ShikaTema pairings. It's called APPEARS, and I hope you guys check it out! Please review for that story and this story! Thank you and stayed tuned for my next chapters!
