Fated Encounter

CHAPTER 7

"Put the I.V on her."

"Hmph."

"Stop wasting my time, Karin. I need to leave before midnight."

Sakura's brain was very foggy and she wasn't sure if she was hearing things correctly. Was she imagining this conversation between two people or were there actually people around her talking. Everything was so disorientating that she had no idea if she was on her back or on her stomach. Her body felt oddly numb and not in a good way.

"Kabuto, she's awake." The Karin girl said and Sakura furrowed her brows. Kabuto? Why was Kabuto here? Where the hell was she.

She started blinking her eyes and it was a lot easier than she thought despite her body being slightly numb. The room was quite dim and a bit chilly. And in deed Kabuto was there leaning over her and looking straight into her eyes. Sakura tried moving her limbs but was unable to. Her heart leaped in panic as she lifted her head to see what was happening. She was lying on a stone bed with cuffs holding her down in each of her limbs.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked and tugged at the restrains.

"Well, Miss Haruno," Kabuto started and brought a bottled of liquid from a table only to set it on an I.V rack. That's when she felt a tiny prick on her forearm and her head whipped to the right. A red headed girl, about her age, was leaning over Sakura's arm and placed an I.V needle into her skin. This must be the Karin person.

A peeping sound increased in the room and Sakura looked around. Realizing that the peeping came from a heart monitor that was attached to her, it all came down to her. He was going to experiment with her. Kabuto was going to make her a test subject to Orochimaru. She needed to get out of here. This just couldn't be happening to her. What were they going to do with her?

She was merely Tsunade's apprentice and had learned her mentor's chakra control. It was Sasuke they wanted so why were they coming after her like this. She was literally nothing compared to the Uchiha, who had limitless abilities with his sharingan.

Where the hell was even Sasuke? Was he the one who told these people to get her? Did he actually hate her so much that he wanted her to be some test animal, who was going to be tortured by these monsters. Was he even in the same hideout she was in or had he gone off on another mission to please his mentor? Sakura was very well aware, what was going on in Orochimaru's hideouts. While scrolling through some information in the library she came across few scrolls about the snake loving man.

And those scrolls were horrific to read. There was nothing good in them and it made her disgusted. How can someone use medicine and the advances of it to something so evil and disturbing. She had to talk with Tsunade after that day since she was Orochimaru's former teammate until the said man fled Konoha and has been on the run ever sense.

Not to forget, Orochimaru is the person, who helped Sasuke to leave Konoha and become his pupil. He also gave Sasuke the cursed seal which caused Sakura to be alone with Naruto and Sasuke unconscious for hours in the Forest of Death. But that also was a milestone for her. She found her inner strength that day and became more self-aware of her own goals.

She struggled even more against the cuffs and even tried to use her chakra to enhance her powers, but nothing happened. Shouting in frustration and annoyance she stared intently at Kabuto who walked to Karin and attached the drip into the I.V on her arm.

"Let me go!" Sakura shouted and tried to pull her arm away to no avail.

What bout Anako and Kuro? Were they harmed?

"Give her some sevoflurane to breath in. We don't want her to exhaust herself." Kabuto said and fiddled with the drip.

"Will it be okay with the IPE-4 going into her?" Karin asked and walked to somewhere behind Sakura's head where she couldn't see. A sound of something rolling towards her picked her heart beat even more. She knew very well what sevoflurane was. An anesthetic gas that was used to keep people asleep during surgery. It was one of the most common gasses Tsunade used during her surgeries.

"Just trust me. I'm not some good for nothing medic. I know what I'm doing. It only causes a little nausea and maybe throwing up, but nothing more." Came Kabuto's annoyed reply as he gave a warning look in Karin's direction.

Kabuto seemed to be in hurry. He's hands moved efficiently with familiar awareness of a medical shinobi. He obviously knew what he was doing and what he was supposed to do.

"I'll be back in a week. Make sure that the IPE-4 is dripping all the time." Kabuto said again and disappeared from Sakura's vision. "Put a naso-gastric tube on her. We can't have her starving, and start dripping some nutrient fluids into her."

"It'll be pain in the ass to put it on her if she's asleep." Came Karin's annoyed tone, then Karin's hands came back to her vision she tried throwing her head from side to side to stop her from placing the gas mask on her.

She needed to be aware of everything they did to her! They couldn't put her under!

With some struggle, the red head put the gas mask over Sakura's mouth and nose and held it there. Sakura instantly recognized the gas and tried to hold her breath until she couldn't any longer. She gasped in need of air and she had to breath the gas. After only few breaths she felt her eyelids grow heavy and her own breathing level out.

The last thing her eyes took notice of was Karin's emotionless face over her holding the gas mask in place.

Tsunade banged her hand on the wooden desk in her office. Shizune was standing in front of her holding Tonton in her arms. The pig looked stressed out and struggled against Shizune's hold, who had to let the pig go to run under a bench on the other end of the room.

The Fifth Hogake has been anything but pleasant the past few months after Sakura's disappearance. There were no clues anywhere of Sakura's location or if she was even alive, but Tsunade wanted to believe that her apprentice was alive and well. Sakura wasn't a weak girl. She was an excellent kunoichi with a bright future ahead. Tsunade was sure that the pinkette would even eventually surpass her, because the amazing chakra control the girl has.

"Kakashi's been on the look out, and so far, nothing has come up. He doesn't even sense her anywhere. All of her traces on the battleground had disappeared." Tsunade mumbled to herself.

"Tsunade-sama, we will find her. I'm sure when Naruto comes back with Jiraya-sama, we will find her. Naruto won't want to lose another teammate." Shizune explained and went after Tonton to grab the little piggy back into her arms.

"I just wished we could have found her before Naruto returned." The blond woman huffed and leaned against her hands.

Everyone was feeling antsy because of Sakura's disappearance because it seemed almost impossible for one team to experience such losses. First Sasuke left on his own will and hasn't returned and now Sakura.

The only problem with Sakura was that they had no idea if she left on her own accord or if she was kidnapped. Sakura adored the village, she had the Will of Fire burning inside her and she has done nothing but excelled in her training the past years. Tsunade couldn't be more proud of her and only wished good things for her student. Sakura had also never mentioned anything that might indicate her leaving the village.

She always loved everyone and was kind, but with a fiery temper like her teacher. Nothing in her bac ground would indicate that she had purposely left the village except the fact that years ago she had tried to go with Sasuke, who had declined her offer leaving her alone on a bench outside in the middle of a night.

Sakura might have cared for the young Uchiha boy but she wouldn't go this far for romance, now would she.

"Tsunade-sama," Came Shizune's annoyed and scolding tone, "You're thinking about the romance thing again, aren't you?"

"Tch."

"You've been reading too many novels these past weeks. Sakura isn't a stupid, love struck girl anymore. You need to give her more credit." Shizune continued and petted Tonton's head, who had completely relaxed in her arms.

Tsunade leaned against his chair, "Who knows?" shrugging her shoulders.

"What romance?" Suddenly came a familiar lazy voice slightly scaring both women in the office. Kakashi was crouched on the windowsill lazily with one of his books in his hands as he leaned against the side of the open window.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade yelled angry and almost threw a scroll at him.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He waved his hands and hopped down from the window. "I couldn't help but hear you two talking about a romance. What's going on?"

Shizune shook her head and sighed, "Tsunade's imagination is going wild. She's been thinking that Sakura ran away to Sasuke like in some romance story." Kakashi's brows furrowed at Shizune's words, who instantly was shocked at the reaction.

"You don't think it could be possible, do you? You've known her the longest of us all." Shizune asked unsure of what the jonin was thinking about.

It took a while for Kakashi to reply, "No. She wouldn't do that. She would wait for Naruto to return and go find Sasuke together. Sakura is a team player, and won't go doing any solo mission like these." Kakashi said with a serious tone. "I think something bad is happening to her, right now."

A knock on the door was followed by the door opening even without Tsunade's permission. The Elders walked in with Danzō in the front and Koharu and Homura behind him.

"What brings you here?" Tsunade glared at them. She wasn't fond of their ways of just barging in to her office.

"We came to talk about the new contract with the Hidden Sand village, but couldn't help but hear you talking about Miss Haruno Sakura." Danzō said and walked towards Tsunade's desk.

"What about her?" Tsunade asked with interest. She couldn't believe that the Konoha's Council member were even giving Sakura a thought.

"We think it is futile to place our resources in finding that girl. She is very likely dead and won't be found." Koharu answered.

"It has only been couple of months since she's been missing." Kakashi said sternly. "I'm sure we can find her soon."

"We're wasting resources. After the winter, things have been much slower here and all the other surrounding villages. We, the council, think that for now we could set aside trying to find that kunoichi."

Two months before Naruto returns to Konoha

Sasuke wasn't ecstatic. No, he was the complete, opposite of that, as he traveled towards Orochimaru's Southern Hideout. A prisoner had gone missing few days ago and they had to find him before something bad happened. Orochimaru's test subject could be dangerous when let out and could easily attack other people while at the same time cause a lot of havoc.

Sasuke's training with Orochimaru had lessened quite a bit the past few months. There hasn't been much training with the Sannin and Sasuke has been doing most of his training alone. The unfortunate thing for the Snake Sannin was that he was completely unaware that Sasuke knew that his condition was worsening. Kabuto was doing his best to hide the effects of the jutsu the Third Hokage caused on him, but it was starting to be obvious.

Soon Ororchimaru would want to get Sasuke's body and Sasuke didn't care at this point. He just wanted to kill Itachi as soon as possible.

The only annoyance right now was the travel from the Land of Sound to the Land of Waves where the Southern Hideout was. He had to pass through the Land of Fire and he didn't have the patience to come across anyone from Konoha. Last time, he came to the Southern Hideout was similar kind of visit as this time. At the time, many prisoners had escaped and Karin, Orochimaru's follower, needed his help to capture them.

Karin was the one in charge of the Southern Hideout and could be a real pain in the ass at times. But other than that, she was a capable kunoichi. She could heal everyone no matter how injured they were and her sensory skills were on a whole another level. In other words, she was a good companion if needed. She even was able to drag Suigetsu, from Eastern Hideout, back there with her sealing abilities.

Suigetsu was a real trouble maker. But he had to prove his worthiness if he wanted to get out of the hideout at some point. During the past months, Sasuke's been collecting information about Orochimaru's best test subject. He needed to have something to help him find Itachi and, so far, Suigetsu and Karin were the first options. Jūgo was another capable shinobi. Very dangerous but with his sharingan, Sasuke could help control him.

Jūgo was the most dangerous of the three of them. He could lose all sense of understanding and calm if riled too much. He was also one of the main test subjects of Orochimaru. From Jūgo, Orochimaru created the Cursed Seal that even adorned Sasuke's neck.

But so far he still had no need for a team.

Finally, Sasuke arrived at the coast line and jumped on to the water. Easily he ran across it towards the hideout. It was already past midnight and he's been on the move since this morning.

As he came upon the small island Sasuke stopped in front of the massive doors. A bang on it and it took few second before the door was opened by one of Orochimaru's followers. The thin looking man didn't look his way at all and Sasuke brushed past him into the hideout. He had to find Karin and get more information about the escapee.

Karin was in one of the labs. She was pacing around the room in concentration and didn't notice that Sasuke had arrived. Usually she knew instantly, so something must be very much wrong.

"Karin," his voice finally snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" She looked utterly surprised and flushed. "I didn't know you were already here."

"What's the problem?" Sasuke asked and waited for Karin's response.

"Well, a prisoner ran away and we just need your help to find them." Karin explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know that, but I need something to identify them with." This was taking too long for his liking.

Karin crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip, "So Kabuto didn't tell you?"

Sasuke merely lifted his eyebrow not looking impressed at all. What was this woman doing stalling him?

"She's a girl, my age, my height," she swallowed, "pink hair, green eyes."

"What?!" Sasuke's voice rose and Karin flinched. His long strides brought him right in front of Karin, who lowered her head in shame. She knew that Sakura was his former teammate because who wouldn't know about the pink haired kunoichi. She was the Fifth Hokage's apprentice and very well-known medical ninja.

Sasuke's tall form towered over Karin's, who was avoiding looking at the obviously furious Uchiha. But in such a close range, Sasuke took notice of the bruising on Karin's body. Bruises peeked from under her collar and side of her neck looked to be healing. They weren't the kind of bruising she received by being bitten to heal someone. It looked like she had to fight something. And Sasuke had a hunch it had to be Sakura.

That's why they need him to catch her. Even in a bad condition Sakura still put up a fight with Karin. Though Karin could very well beat her in a fight, Sakura wouldn't give up that easily. And if they made Sasuke go and get her, it would very likely be much easier and less stressful for everyone.

"It isn't my fault!" She was able say, "She was the best candidate for Orochimaru's newest test."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and you could see his jaw clenching. Without another word, he stormed out of the room and back outside.

In all honesty, he should just let her go, but he was sure she wasn't going to return to Konoha. Not by far. And very likely she wasn't going to go back to Anako's. She might not even survive the travel that far since Orochimaru is known for under feeding his test subject. That way they couldn't escape because exhaustion would kick soon in. Sakura might not even be far.

She was already in a pretty bad shape back at Anako's but who knows what has happened since she ended up here.

Sasuke's legs took him easily over the sea and towards the forest. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke scanned the area to see anything out of the ordinary.

Something moved to his right and Sasuke instantly went there.

And bingo. Sakura was sitting there, leaning against a trunk of a tree looking exhausted. As he landed next to her, she didn't even look surprised as she lifted her tired gaze at him.

It was weird looking at her. He had gotten used to the brown hair that staring at her pink locks was almost foreign. She looked so much like herself but at the same time did not. She had once again lost a lot of weight, and a tube was inserted through her nose and taped to her cheek.

She looked pale and bony, but that fire in her eyes had not faded at all.

I'm a real superwoman today. I posted Breaking The Habit this morning and now this. Sooo next week will be His Possession.

Thanks for reviewers:

Kiyomi Inuzuka

ILoveSxS

Uchiha Misaki

and two guests.

Leave a review! I would like to know what do you think about this turn of events. Does anyone have any idea what might have happened to Sakura when Sasuke found her in the forest months ago?

- Jakura