Chapter 3

"Normal"

'thoughts'

(Sasuke's POV)

'This was a complete waste of time.' After overhearing a few shinobi talk about Itachi's whereabouts, he quickly hammered them questions and threatened to kill them if they didn't cooperate. Finally getting what he wanted, he gathered his team and headed to the Tea Country... Only to find out that Itachi had left two days before he had arrived.

'Damn! Who knows where he's gone to.' Sasuke growled. He asked the inn keeper if he knew where the older Uchiha was headed to but he simply shook his head saying he had no clue. Of course, the akatsuki never reveal their whereabouts or missions especially to strangers. The raven nodded and left the inn.

"Hey, Sasuke! Let's rest we've been traveling non-stop! We barely had a break." Suigetsu whined.

"Hate to say it but the idiot's right. We're all tired, one night wouldn't hurt." Karin said.

"If I'm right... Why am I an idiot?"

"Because you are!"

"Whatever, fire crotch."

"Why you little!"

"Enough." Sasuke glared at them.

"Juugo, you look for an inn and get three bedrooms. Karin, check around the area and see if there are any shinobi around, make sure their not a threat. Suigetsu, go gather supplies. I have some business to attend to. We'll meet at the inn, in twenty minutes."

"But Sasuke-sama, why don't we use the inn right here?" Juugo asked.

"I'm not staying in the same place that bastard had stayed in." The younger Uchiha growled. Just the thought of it made him want to burn the place down. The rest of the team nodded and headed out.

As promised, everyone gathered at the place Juugo had checked in to. Except one... Suigetsu. It's not a surprise really, Suigetsu gets distracted easily. Sasuke sighed, one of these days he's really going the kill the guy.

"Juugo, Karin. Go get him." The raven said. They simply nodded and disappeared. Sasuke went inside the inn and into his room. He sat on his bed wondering where the older Uchiha had gone and what was he doing in the tea country. He didn't have time to think about it much because he felt three chakra signature flare, it was his team. The young Uchiha sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'What has the idiot gotten himself into this time?'

The raven grabbed his kusanagi and headed towards his team. He saw them near a small shop, Suigetsu and Karin were arguing as usual. He noticed Suigetsu looked pretty beat up, a broken nose, bruises and cuts all over, and a few broken bones. Whoever he was fighting with was skilled, the white haired nin usually would tear ordinary shinobi to shreds. The young Uchiha noticed Juugo was staring at something. He followed Juugo's gaze and his eyes landed on a woman. Not just any woman, it was his ex-teammate. His eyes widen slightly.

'What's she doing here? Does that mean Naruto and Kakashi are here, too?' If he guessed right, that could mean trouble for him. But then again, Karin would have noticed their chakra. Could it be that the rosette was by herself, then? He observed his ex-teammate, the last time he had saw her was almost a year ago, back at one of Orochimaru's hideouts. He didn't really pay much attention to her, then. She stood with confidence, something she lacked of back when she was a mere genin. Her hair was kept short, her eyes were bright, fierce and held wisdom from the years of being a shinobi. This made him wonder what she's been through the years he'd been gone. Deciding not to think too much about it, he activated his sharingan, jumped down and landed a few feet behind the rosette.

"Oh look! Speaking of the devil!" He heard Karin say. He could only guess they were talking about him. He continued to stare at the rosette, her back still facing him. He decided to grab her attention and call out her name.

"Sakura." She visibly tensed. He smirked, she had recognized his voice. She slowly turned around to face him, her facial expression held shock and fear. They remained like that for a few minutes, until she finally opened her mouth and stutter out his name.

"S-Sasuke." Her voice was soft. The raven smirked again, and slowly made his way towards the rosette.

'This is going to be interesting.'

(Sakura's POV)

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Sakura cursed her luck. Sasuke freaking Uchiha had to be here of all places. She watched as the raven took slow, graceful steps toward her. He was doing that to intimidate her and it was working. He was now just mere inches from her, she could feel the heat radiating off his body. Neither broke eye contact, it was as if they were having a staring contest. She then realized how tall he was, he was at least two heads taller than her. He was practically looming over her small form, another way to intimidate her and again it was working. She continued to stare at his red orbs, completely mesmerized by its beauty. How can something so beautiful be so deadly? Sakura gasp and quickly looked down, mentally cursing herself. How could she be so stupid?! He could have knocked her out or put her under a genjustu or something!

"I'm such an idiot..." Sakura muttered. She heard the raven chuckle, she glared at the ground, not daring to look up. He lean down and whispered in her ear, causing her to shudder.

"What's wrong, Sakura? Cat got your tongue?" She felt his smirk widen. Oh, how she wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off his face. She suddenly felt cool, coarse hands grasp her chin and tilted her head up. He's trying to make her look at him, well she wasn't going to fall for that trick! She's not that naive fan girl anymore! She averted her eyes and stared at a tree as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Sakura. Look at me." His playful tone, gone. So he was serious, now. She still refuses to look him in the eye. She heard him sigh and mutter "Annoying." The rosette's hands balled into fists, she was trying to control her anger. After all these years he still thinks she's annoying! She just wanted to wrap her hands around his delicate neck and choke him to death! She suddenly felt his forehead pressed against hers, she gasped and unconsciously looked up. His sharingan was gone and replaced with dark mysterious onyx.

"What are you doing here?"

"On a mission."

"Where are the others?"

"If you're talking about Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, they're not here. It's a solo mission."

"What's your mission?"

"That's classified information but I can assure you that it doesn't involve you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mission to complete." Sakura turned around and walked towards the towns exit. She suddenly felt someone grab her wrist, she looked back and scowled. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Having enough with the craziness, she swung her arm and threw him. But of course, he was Uchiha Sasuke, so he landed gracefully as if it was nothing. Pain shot threw her upper arm, the rosette winced, she had forgotten about the cut Suigetsu had inflicted upon her. She quickly healed it before it got infected.

Sasuke observed Sakura while she was healing her arm. "You're a medic-nin."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "No shit, Sherlock." Sasuke flash stepped in front of her, she gasp, Sasuke's speed never cease to amaze her. He swiftly grabbed her neck and squeezed slightly but not too much to harm her.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you."

Sakura glared. "What do you want, Sasuke? If don't you have anything to say then I'll take my leave."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You'll be traveling with team hebi from now on and become our medic."

"WHAT?! Since when did I ever agreed to this?!"

"You have no say in the matter."

"Like hell I'm going to join you!"

"You are going to join me, Sakura."

"Who'd want to join a psychopath and his dysfunctional team? I think I'll pass."

Sasuke smirked. He walked up to the rosette and whispered in her ear.

"We'll see about that, Sa-ku-ra. You're going to regret those words." He took out his kusanagi and swung it at the rosette. She quickly dodged, grabbed a kunai from her pouch and threw it at him. She knew he could easily dodge it but what he didn't know was that there was a tiny explosive seal attached to the kunai. She jumped back, not wanting to get caught in it, she activated the seal. There was a huge explosion, smoke, dust, and debris flew everywhere. Taking advantage of this moment, she quickly grabbed Sora and teleported out of town.

"Phew, that was a close one! You okay, Sora?"

"Arf!"

"We can't rest, yet! They're still on to us." Sakura jumped from tree to tree, using chakra to increase her speed. Trying her best to get as far away from Sasuke as possible. She knew that he would be able to catch up because of his inhuman speed.

"What the hell was that about?" Karin scowled. Did she just see the Uchiha Sasuke tease and flirt with the kunoichi just now? Heck, he even SMIRKED! He had shown more emotion now than he ever did throughout the years she's known him! Who the hell was that pinked haired freak?! One thing she knew was that she didn't like her. Not one bit.

"Who knows. It seems like he knew her." Suigetsu shrugged.

"Sasuke-sama, what are your orders?" Juugo asked. The cloud of smoke started to clear. The young Uchiha walked towards the group, unscratched. His sharingan activated and his face was as stoic as ever.

"Go after her." They all nodded and ran towards the gates.

"Shit, I'm running out of chakra." Sakura muttered. She felt three chakra signatures approaching fast, she had forgotten about the Sasuke's teammates. The rosette cursed and created a clone. Naruto had taught her his infamous jutsu, although she can't make hundreds of them like he can.

"Time to give myself a little boost. Alright other me, I need you to throw me as far as possible, then I need you to by me some time. Hang on tight, Sora! " The clone nodded and grabbed her arm.

"Shannaro!" The clone threw her and sent her flying. Sakura screamed, tears falling from the rush. Well, now she could check flying off her bucket list. She grabbed a branch and pulled herself up. She looked back and whistled, her clone had done a good job. The rosette created four more clones and told them to run separate ways. She knew that the red headed girl was a sensory type, so she made clones to confuse her but she wouldn't doubt that she'll be able to figure it out. She just needed some time so she could find somewhere to hide, she couldn't keep running on forever. Sakura looked around and saw a small cave hidden behind a waterfall. She entered the cave, created another shadow clone, and put up a genjustu to hide herself.

"Alright, Sora. I'm going to need you to keep quiet, okay?" The rosette whispered. Sora simply nodded and hid in her backpack. What a smart puppy. She suddenly felt two chakra signatures approach. 'One of them probably stayed behind to deal with my clone.' It was quiet for a few minutes, then all of a sudden a kunai flew past her clone.

"Do you honestly think I'd fall for that lousy trick?" The red head came in, arms crossed. She look at the Sakura clone up and down.

She scowled. "I don't see why Sasuke-kun's so interested in you. You're just some pink haired freak!"

Sakura blinked twice. 'What?' Then it clicked. She faced palmed. 'Oh great. A fan girl...'

"Tell me! Why are you so familiar with Sasuke-kun? What's your history with him?!" The red head questioned. Sakura rolled her eyes. 'I don't have time for this.' She released her genjustu, disappeared and then reappeared behind the girl. The redhead froze and turned her head. "How?" Before she could finish her sentence, the rosette hit the back of her neck and watched her fall to the ground.

The rosette huffed. "Oh and yes, I did think you'd fall for my trick."

"Keep an eye on her." She told her clone. She jumped out of the cave and landed gracefully on the water. Of course, she applied chakra to her feet to keep her from sinking. She took out a kunai and looked around. 'Now, where could the other one be?' Then realization struck, she look down. Her eyes widened.

"Water..." She jumped back as someone emerged out of the water, it was Suigetsu. He flew forward and swung his large sword at her. She tried to dodge but being airborne restricted her from going anywhere. He managed to cut her thigh, she hissed and cursed. She grabbed Suigetsu wrist and threw him high into the air. She jumped up and brought her leg up high.

"Take this, you asshole! SHANNARO!" She brought her chakra enhanced foot down to his chest. He coughed up blood and descended to the ground at high speed. When his body hit the ground it created a massive crater and basically destroyed the whole area. She landed on the edge of the crater, waiting for the cloud of dust and dirt to clear up. When the cloud disappeared she notice that is body was nowhere to be found. The rosette squinted her eyes and saw that there was a small puddle of water in the center of the crater. She cursed.

"I forgot that he can turn into water. Smart move but I'm sure he obtained a few injuries from the impact. It'll take awhile for him to return to his original form." Sakura turned around, about ready to leave the area when suddenly she bumped into something... Or rather someone. She looked up and saw red. 'Oh shit!' She tried to get away, but it was too late. Sasuke had caught her eye and now everything around her was slowly fading to black.

"Damn you... Sasuke." Sakura fell forward but the funny thing was that she never felt herself hit the ground.

Uchiha Sasuke had captured Haruno Sakura.

A/N: Here's another chapter! Actually, this chapter was originally longer than this but since it got TOO long, I've decided to split it into two chapters. I usually go for 2000-3000 words per chapter. I'll be uploading the next chapter next week possibly earlier than that. Well anyways, hope you all enjoy the story so far. Fave, Follow, Review! Until next time!