Fated Encounter

CHAPTER 3

It took another week before the girl started showing more signs of getting better. She had made small movements and Anako and her grandson Kuro had both chatted to her, even though they knew she wasn't going to answer. It became a habit of sorts that they used to introduce the new place for her. Of course, there was a chance that she could hear them but it was only a slight possibility. The most likely of situation was that she was only moving because of muscle reflexes but they decided to still chat with her.

Normally when they would change her bandages they would talk her through it, telling her what they were doing and what they were about to do. However, they never got any reaction out of her except small movements of her fingers and sometimes other muscles constricting. It was a game of waiting they had to do and more importantly they had to be patient.

Anako hadn't taken care of anyone this severely injured before so she didn't know what to expect. To her shame, she had to admit that Kuro was much more comfortable and daring when moving Sakura and he had no trouble to do things to her, whereas Anako was sometimes a little reluctant for she had no idea how much you could move an injured person.

Taking care of bad wounds and broken legs and arms were her thing but this was out of her league. Fortunately, none of this stopped her from trying to help the poor girl. She wasn't in debt to Sasuke so that wasn't the case. It was all her. It was fully her own decision. It was obvious that Sakura was suffering and taking care of her was the best course, otherwise she would die.

But as the week passed, Kuro came running into the kitchen his face pale as if he had seen a ghost.

"What is it?" Anako was making dinner for them and was currently stirring the soup.

"She opened her eyes!"

The spoon in her hand fell loudly on the hardwood floor as she sprinted past Kuro and into the living room. And Kura was right. Her eyes were open... well an eye since her other eye was covered with a bandage. Her eye was moving and taking in her surroundings. She obviously was assessing the place. Anako quickly made her way to the girl and leaned over her.

Sakura's eyes landed on the older woman and her breathing hitched.

"Calm down, calm down." Anako soothed and touched her unharmed cheek softly.

The touch seemed to have an effect for her body relaxed on the cot. Her eye locked with Anako and mouth opened to say something but nothing came out. The only thing that passed was a raspy groan that caused her to cough her lungs out. Anako couldn't do nothing but hold her shoulders as she coughed and couched. Dried blood dropped on the cot and floor.

Kato was back with a glass of water.

"Here." he gave the glass to his grandmother and she helped Sakura to drink it with small sips.

"Your throat is still healing, so you shouldn't talk." Anako scolded her and helped her back on her back.

Sakura looked tired and her brow was furrowed as she glanced down at her body. From her lying position with a cover over her she couldn't see properly what was going on with her body. But she would be fool is she thought that everything was fine. The fact that she had coughed out dried blood meant that she has had a serious wound to her throat, and who knows what was under the cover.

Her chakra was low, too low and with the amount in her body she couldn't make sure that everything was in place. She had so little chakra that it was barely keeping her alive, and that she could feel. She had perfect chakra control and she would know if her body was in its limits.

At this point, all she can feel is pain all over her body along with her chakra. The pain was distracting and she was having hard time making sure that she was in a safe place. The woman's voice had calmed her down but it was unfamiliar, and she had no recollection how she had ended up where she was. Her head started to throb even more as she tried to recall everything that had happened before she had clearly passed out. But all her attempts were to no avail.

The pain was just too much and she wanted to fall back into the silent and painless darkness that had surrounded her not too long ago.

"You should rest some more." Kuro said from next to Anako.

Sakura shook her head and looked around the room again. She couldn't pinpoint any of the furniture, everything was so blurry and she could distinct the shape of the two people in front of her and the color of blood on the cot. Everything was to disorientating but a small part of her didn't want to fall asleep, even if it helped with the pain. That would mean giving into her surroundings and whatever might cause harm for her.

Anako whispered something to Kuro who nodded and left the room only to return. He was holding needle filled with clear liquid. Anako gave him more space by stepping aside and Kuro moved the cover so that he could see Sakura's arm.

Sakura's pulse hitched again and she looked to be panicking for a second.

"This is just going to ease your pain." he reassured while he wrapped a piece of cloth around her bicep. As he tightened the string Sakura whimpered in pain and Kuro tapped her arm to see a vein better. He continued to clean the spot and soon he applied the needle into her vein.

It didn't take a while for her eyes to roll over as she fell asleep.

Team 8 was sent to look for Sakura a week ago. They had send regular updates and so far, they hadn't found nothing that might give them any clue as of where she was. Tsunade was getting frustrated and more impatient. She had sent Hinata, Shino and Kiba with Akamaru to the location she had sent Sakura on a mission and they had scouted the area thoroughly.

They also had scouted the small village in which Sakura's mission had mainly taken a place. The place was too hectic to get any information for it seemed that their leader was killed in an accident. No one was keen on helping the three ninjas looking for their friend because they were too focused on taking care of the village and making sure nothing went wrong.

The whole village was in chaos and it seemed that there wasn't anyone capable enough to lead them through their hard times.

Team 8 had to admit that the destruction caused by the fire that had spread in a wide area seemed odd, but as they did their own small investigation nothing surfaced that might interest them. They were able to get a little help from a doctor from the village's medical center and he was able to tell them that they had received the medical supplies brought to them.

It was a relief that at least one thing had been accomplished but the doctor couldn't tell anything else except confirm that he had seen a group of three ninjas few weeks ago, who had brought the supplies. He was able to tell that one of them had a pink hair but the exchange had been quick because the group seemed to be in a hurry and wearing cloaks.

But that was over two weeks ago.

Something was terribly wrong and Tsunade's hopes of finding Sakura were diminishing. All kinds of theories that might have cause the supply team to disappear run through her mind until finally they got something.

It happened when team 8 was returning to Konoha when they noticed an old cabin in the forest that had a small patch of light coming through the windows. Hinata had used her byakugan and detected two ninjas resting inside. After further investigation, they found the two missing chūnins from Sakura's team. Them both were gravely injured and the younger male had serious internal bleeding.

A message was sent to the Hogake and soon a group of medical ninjas arrived to take them to Konoha.

Tsunade had met with the two men instantly when they were in better shape but all she could get out of them was that they were attacked by an anonymous rogue. They hadn't seen his face but they were both certain it was a male. The most heartbreaking news was that according to them, Sakura was dead.

They did their best to fight back which only lead to their severe injuries. Sakura tried her best to tell them to flee the scene but neither had listened. Eventually they had to flee after seeing their youngest teammate being plummeted to death. It was the only way to get the information of the rogue back to Konoha.

After all that information Tsunade sent another team to look at the place in the forest and it soon became clear that it was very likely that Sakura had died, according to the team. They found a vast destructed area full of signs of a vigorous battle.

Now the fifth Hokage was sitting in his office with Shizune by her side and Kakashi standing before her desk. Even the former leader of the team 7 couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Did they find her body?" Kakashi asked.

"No, but the battle site was full of blood and ashes which could only mean that she was burned to death." Tsunade sighed with exhaustion. She had the headache of the century and sleeping was out of the options. She couldn't even closer her eyes for ten minutes or even for a small nap without instantly getting bothered with everything.

The idea that Sakura was gone just didn't fit her mind, even though every evidence they had so far were leading them to the conclusion that she was dead.

"Sakura wouldn't go down without a fight." Kakashi replied putting his other hand in his pocket.

"I know, but there's no evidence of her body anywhere and team 8 looked around every village. There's no signs of her."

"Then let me go."

"No, absolutely not. We don't want any other good shinobi to die in the hands of this rogue."

"We need more proof. She could be somewhere trying to tend her own injuries waiting for help. We can't just expect her to be dead. What about Naruto? If we don't find at least her body than when he comes back he will, and you know it."

"I know, I know. But I've already send two teams and no one has found her."

"Let's look around a bigger area."

"Fine. I'll send you with team 8 again and team Guy. You'll scout the area around the battlefield and a little further, whereas team Guy searches the main area and its surroundings. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I want every village searched and every single rock turned."

Sakura was sitting with her back supported on pillows. It was the first time she wwas able to be upright and it felt good. Her back was starting to hurt from laying down so much, but she didn't have any choice. Her two ribs that were broken were still healing and any extra movement cause pain all over her body. But the small moment being upright was a relief.

She felt dizzy when Kuro had first helped her to sit but the feeling had soon dispersed and she was feeling more comfortable. Anako had pulled the curtains aside from the other side of the room so that she was able to what was going on in the village. People were walking left and right, and even though she didn't know any of them it brought a sense of calmness to her to be able to what was going outside the house's walls.

She felt grateful towards the grandmother and grandson, however she was still unable to from words. She was barely even able to eat soup that was made for her.

The thing that bothered her the most was that she couldn't get in touch with her chakra. She was aware that it was unusually low but to not even be able to affect the flow of it was disturbing. In a way, it was as if her chakra flow was on the level of an average commoner.

"Here." Kuro appeared next to her and offered a cup to her.

She sipped the water gently while holding the cup in her better hand. Her entire right hand was wrapped in gauze along with the right side of her face. When Kuro had first introduced himself to her he had offered to bring a mirror for her to see the extent of her facial injuries, however Sakura didn't want to see. She knew she looked gruesome and it would take a while for the burns to heal, but it was for the best if she didn't see herself.

The feeling of helplessness was already consuming her so she didn't need any more evidence that she was incapable of taking care of herself.

A loud knock on the door almost caused Sakura to lose her hold on the water in her hands. She splashed some of the water on herself and Kuro immediately made himself busy by drying her off while Anako yelled from the kitchen that she was going to open the door. Huffing so loud came from the foyer that Sakura for a moment though that the person was having a heart attack.

"A group of shinobi are scouting through the village." girl's voice replied while gasping for air.

"What are they scouting for?" Anako's annoyed voice asked.

"They didn't say. Mom asked about it when they arrived at the gates but they merely said to mind our own business and act as if they weren't here. Nonetheless they were polite. But it's obvious they're looking for something."

"Thank you, Nea for telling."

"I was just thinking that maybe they are looking for the girl you're helping. She does seem like a ninja so it would only make sense."

"Come inside, Nee, we can ask out visitor." The door closer and the two women walked into the living room.

A bright smile spread on the younger girl's face as she saw Sakura, "Oh, my! You're sitting already!" She seemed excited by the fact and walked to Sakura' bed side, "My name's Nea. Who are you?"

"She can't talk yet." Kuro interrupted Nea and took the now empty cup from Sakura.

"Huh?"

"She has burns in her throat that make making sounds difficult."

"Oh.. poor girl." she turned to Anako, "So you don't know her name yet?"

"No, we don't."

"Weird that the guy who brought her in didn't say anything concerning her." Nea said more to herself than anybody else, while tapping her forefinger on her chin.

But her words made Sakura's back straighten as she glanced between all the three people in the room. She became instantly intrigued to know who had brought her to this combo of grandmother and grandson. Not once has either of them mentioned anything involving that event and since she can't talk asking about it is out of the question.

Nea seemed to notice the change in Sakura and faced back towards her, "Oh yeah! That cute but gloomy guy. What was his name?" She asked from Anako.

"I'm not going to invade anyone's privacy." the older woman coolly replied crouched on the floor to pick a hair off it.

"How's that invading anyone's privacy?"

"That guy is very secretive to begin with so unless he himself comes here than I'm not going to continue this conversation."

Nea crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, "You just don't like to gossip."

"Back to the original reason you came here." Kuro interrupted again seemingly aware that Nea might do something stupid before she thinks anything through. "What did the shinobi look like?"

"Well there were two teenage boys, one with sunglasses and the other had these red triangle marks on his face. And then there was one girl with dark blue hair and then an older man that had a mask covering the lower part of his face. And a dog."

Anako looked to Sakura, "Do they sound familiar?"

Carefully Sakura shook her head in denial.

"Pity." Nea replied her head down. "But I have to go."

"Say hello to your mother from me." Anako said and escorted the girl to the front door.

The older woman returned into the living room and leaned against the door frame. She squinted at Sakura with a frown on her face, "I'm going to hide you for now, but if things get ugly with these people then I'm going to call you in." With that said she left to go upstairs.

Kuro looked baffled and turned to Sakura, "You know those ninjas?"

Sakura's eyes slowly found Kuro's and she nodded.

"Then why don't you want to be found?"

With a bittersweet smile on her face she shook her head again.

Now wasn't the right time.

Sasuke had just returned from a training session. Orochimaru has been busy with other work for the past week and haven't been personally able to watch over Sasuke's training. Not that he needed someone to constantly watch over his training, but it has started to feel like the older man couldn't even teach him anything. All their training session were the same with slightly different situations or enemies.

It was only natural that he was getting suspicious of his ability to teach him any new techniques.

His kusanagi was leaning against the bed as he rid himself of his shirt. Two knocks echoed in the otherwise empty room and the door opened without him even allowing anyone to enter. But he already knew who was coming.

"What is it?" he drawled with annoyed tone.

Kabuto's amused chuckle filled the room and the gray haired main hummed to himself.

"Orochimaru-sama wants to send you on a small errand for him."

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at him.

"Near the border of the Earth Country there is a small village, and a very known merchant is going to pass through it in the next three weeks. And that merchant has some very valuable information that Orochimaru-sama needs."

With a grin on his face, he continued, "You have to execute a small stake out. We don't know for sure when he is going to appear but it's in the next three weeks."

You do know that Sasuke's mission means, right? At least I do of course... but do you?

Sorry for the late update. I'm really late for all of my updates because my summer job is literally sucking all the energy out of me.

Thanks for reviewers:

AprilRich

Tried To Walk

Meemy-Chan

suvi

vero1092

Strawberrys000

and one guest.

Also I really apologize for all the grammatical errors. I'm not a native speaker of English so those are inevitable, so I hope they don't bother you. I'm doing the best I can to beta read these chapters for myself, but unfortunately I'm not bale to notice every mistake. However, I'll do my best every time I write.

- Jakura