Fated Encounter

CHAPTER 9

In the past two months, Sakura has never felt as comfortable as she was feeling right now. Lying on the stone bed was painful on your back at first, before your body just numbed to the stiff feeling of it. And the thin sheet given to her, by Karin when Kabuto nor Orochimaru wasn't around, was something to warm her up even more.

Since the Southern hideout was under the ground and under the sea for the most part, it could get pretty cold, and because it was only spring there wasn't much of a heat wave to warm the place up. And as Sakura's mind came more and more aware of the warm and cozy feeling, she began doubting more and more of its realness. Had she died? Did her body finally give up on all the torture?

If her body did give up, then what about Naruto? She wouldn't be able to find him and maybe get some help from him. Not that running away was an option since they were surrounded by water, and the likes of Sasuke would always catch her. When she had escaped, she had not predicted that using the tiny amount of her chakra to stay afloat was so exhausting. She was only able to run a little deeper into the woods before her body gave up on her.

All the forced testing and painful ways Kabuto and Karin experimented on her took their toll on her body.

At one point, she would have just wanted to give up. This whole thing was just pure bullshit. How can things like these happen to one person? What did she do to deserve experiences like these?

Probably any lesser shinobi would have given up already and maybe tried a suicide, but Sakura wasn't going to give up. Absolutely, not. She needed to fix her situation and do something about Konoha. Leaving it in the hands of those people was something she couldn't allow to happen. If it meant that she had to fight her way through to fix things, then that is what she would do.

As Sakura's mind and body became even more aware, she noticed that there were no beeping sounds that normally surrounded her and she was sleeping on her side. What was going on?

Her skin was still hurting but she was getting used to it slowly, but opening her eyes was a painful task especially after falling asleep. Most of the time she was under a drug induced sleep, because otherwise she would just stay awake and have a hard time falling asleep. If she wasn't sleeping, then her concentration wouldn't be on point and that is something Kabuto needed from her.

Instead of the brown ceiling she was so used to she saw a wall very close to her face and a white fabric covering the left side of her vision. Moving her head carefully she realized that it was a pillow.

Had Karin lost her mind? This was very much unusual behavior for the red headed kunoichi.

As she listened around the room silently and not moving at all, she heard a quiet breathing next to her. Biting down on her lip Sakura shifted around on to her back and to see where exactly she was. To her surprise, she was sleeping next to Sasuke.

Now she was even more puzzled. What had happened?

She remembered falling asleep or rather unconscious as she talked with Karin. That is the last recollection and nothing more. Sasuke had already left the room by then to go to his own devices, so why was she here?

Looking down at herself she took in the new clothes on her sweaty and ill looking body. If she wasn't so used to literally being seen naked by everyone she would have been horrified, because she doubted Karin changed her clothes. Even though, they were able to have a decent conversation with her neither liked the other very much.

That only leaves the option that Sasuke had changed her. Although she felt dirty and sweaty, the clean clothes were a nice comfort.

Deciding that she wanted answers, she thought about nudging her elbow to Sasuke's back, but it was better not to do that. She would much rather avoid any kind of contact with everyone as long as she was awake.

"Hey!" She instead said loudly.

Sasuke didn't wake up but she saw the small movement of his brows.

"Sasuke, wake up!" She said again. Talking felt like violating some sacred rule. You weren't supposed to be loud in a silent room where someone else was sleeping.

Her last words woke the man up and Sakura saw his jaw tighten.

"Shut up." He merely said and turned his back to her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Instead of shutting up Sakura decided to inquire more answers to her situation. "What did you do? Where's Karin?"

"You worried about her?" He asked with the most disinterest voice Sakura had ever heard.

"No, but you're an asshole!"

Sasuke huffed and sprang up to sit on the edge of the bed looking over his shoulder at her.

"Can't you just sleep?" He glared down at her easily.

"I've been sleeping for the past few months enough. I want some answers." Sakura fired back.

"At morning, you and I are going to leave back to Konoha." Sasuke said and got up. He was not wearing a shirt and Sakura instantly averted her eyes away from him. Even though, she was used to being naked, it didn't mean that she was used to seeing other's naked.

But the only thing she knew was that she wasn't going to go back to Konoha.

Sasuke walked through a door and closed it after him. Where did he go?

Her questions were answered as she heard the sound of shower coming on, but as she waited for him to step in and the sounds to become different she didn't hear anything. After a couple of minutes Sasuke came back and had a towel in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked with an edge to her voice as Sasuke seemed to be walking towards her.

"Y-you can't!" She yelled and her voice cracked as Sasuke scooped her up with agility that surprised her. She was so shocked by his actions that the pain around her body did not register in her mind right away. But after it did, it was like being burned from the places that were pressured by Sasuke's touch.

Her nerve endings overreacted to all kinds of changes and touches with such ferocity that her whole body almost went into a shock each time. Especially being touched by another human was the most painful thing. People had their own bacterial flora on their skin and as it mixed with hers, it caused a reaction within her skin to destroy the change. It was the same thing with the acids.

Her skin reacted and she couldn't help it at all. Everything hurt and she had to use the small amount of chakra within her to alleviate the pain. Sasuke didn't seem to care about her body going tense and her biting her lip with a cry of pain as he carried her to the bathroom.

"N-n-no, don't!" She begged him as they neared the shower. "Please! Sasuk-!" It was like a rain of needles fell on top of her and she held on to Sasuke's upper body for dear life. Keeping her eyes open was impossible as her body started the response once again with full force. She could feel her chakra surrounding her body and skin to try and cover it from the water.

The overflow of sensations was even worse than it was when Kabuto poured acid on her arms. And it was painful because she couldn't control her chakra at all at that moment. It just made its way on top of her skin to stop the pain. That is how Orochimaru had planned it. To force the skin to feel pain with every touch so that her chakra evolved.

Before she knew it, Sakura was grasping for breath from the strain of the forced chakra use. She felt the tiniest pit of chakra left in her disperse as she once again succumbed into darkness.

Sasuke felt conflicted.

He wasn't sure whether or not he should take Sakura back to Konoha. What had caused Sakura to not return there was still a mystery for him and as the time went by, he came to conclusion it had something to do with danger. He couldn't be sure if that was the reason. Did she fear for her life or something else?

After she was fallen unconscious in the shower, Sasuke had quickly taken her clothes off and washed most of her. She smelled of medicine and acids that Sasuke didn't know the names of, and not to forget the sweat.

Karin probably never allowed her to shower or wash herself at all.

This whole situation just frustrated him. Was it that hard to let a weak girl to take care of her necessities.

Loud banging on the door to his room alerted Sasuke from his troubled thoughts.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin's voice was muffled as she yelled for him.

"Sasuke-kun! Where is she!?" She almost screamed and banged on the door even more. He had locked it from the inside because of this reason. The last thing he wanted was for her to barge in and give him even bigger a headache.

Looking over his shoulder at Sakura, Sasuke kept his eyes on her. Her hollow cheeks and the dark circles around her eyes. He needed to get her out of here as soon as possible, but he couldn't take her to Anako. That would be one of the first places Kabuto and Orochimaru would look for her. And he doubted that Orochimaru would let her go that easily since his experiment had been successful so far, but he couldn't leave her here either.

"I sent a massage to Orochimaru-sama! He's not going to be happy."

"Like I care," Sasuke muttered more to himself as he stood up from the bed. He had a towel wrapped around his waist as he went to pick up some clean clothes. Sakura was still completely nude under the blanket and he needed to find her something better to wear.

Unfortunately, he didn't have anything else except the clothes he had given her before taking her to the shower. In all honesty, he hadn't even thought of giving her a bath, since she obviously was in so much pain when something touched her. But she didn't smell very good and it was annoying him. He couldn't sleep next to someone like that.

Grabbing another pair of trousers from the drawer Sasuke pulled them on and headed for the door. Karin was just about to bang her fist on the door again, as Sasuke opened it. She missed her momentum and stumbled towards the door. Quickly she gathered herself and positioned her glasses back into place.

"Where. Is. She." Karin seethed. This must be the first time she's been so angry with him.

"Go back to the lab, Karin." Sasuke said and pulled the door closed. As he side-stepped Karin, she stomped her foot and headed for the door. She barely got the door opened when a black snake hissed at her. She slammed the door quickly back closed and glared at Sasuke.

"You can't do this, Sasuke!"

"I wasn't asking your opinion." He glared back and continued walking forward. Karin's light steps soon followed him.

"Orochimaru will not be pleased with this. He is going to freak out. You destroyed everything he has worked for." She continued her rambling and did her best to stay after Sasuke. "Where are you going?" She finally asked as he stopped right in front of Karin's room.

She looked completely baffled with her mouth agape until a large blush spread all over her face.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" She squealed.

"I need clothes for her."

It was like he had thrown a bucket of cold water on her. The blush disappeared and she crossed her arms.

"Absolutely, not."

"Either you're going to get her some clothes, now, or I'm going to go and get them." Sasuke wasn't giving her much of a choice. It would be a dream come true to have Sasuke in her room, but the fact that he just wanted clothes for that test subject, infuriated Karin. Biting her lower lip, she sneaked quickly into the room and took less than a minute, before she appeared with a shirt and a pair of shorts.

Sasuke didn't even thank her, as he grabbed them and began his walk back to his room.

Sakura had not move an inch since he left and as he walked toward her he felt the snakes around the room. He wasn't just going to leave her in a room that he couldn't lock from the outside. He didn't doubt for a moment that Karin would try to barge in and take Sakura back to the lab. Sometimes her loyalty for the Snake Sannin was bothersome. It went often over the top and caused more annoyance than anything else.

Karin hardly even used her own brain and told her own opinions since she was so focused on pleasing her master.

Sakura's body was shivering from the water that was still left on her skin, when Sasuke pulled her up to lean into him. Pulling the shirt on was the easiest thing but the shorts were another. Covering her private parts Sasuke revealed her legs and pulled the shorts on without looking at all.

Feeling the exhaustion surround himself, he laid down next to her and covered himself with the same blanket. She was cold next to him. Not to mention tiny. When she woke up he needed to get her something to eat.

How annoying.

"Sasuke-kun, give back the girl." Kabuto sighed, leaning against the counter behind.

Sasuke had arrived later that morning to find Kabuto waiting for him in the lab with Karin by his side. Karin had just stood on the side lines, not once saying anything as Kabuto tried to get Sasuke to bring back Sakura. She had a smug loon on her face as she waited for Kabuto to tell Sasuke to bring the girl back.

"We are so close to a breakthrough here, and you're slowing us down."

"No."

"Sasuke-kun," Kabuto rubbed his temples. "Orochimaru-sama is not pleased with this. He would have come here by himself, but he had other matters to attend to."

Sasuke didn't say anything and instead just stood by the door. He was not going to let them get to Sakura again. This whole thing was stopping right now. Sakura was not going to be the subject to Orochimaru's testing anymore.

"I think you've gone too far with this," he finally started, "she's already reacting to things the way you want her to, so what's the point in continuing to torture her even more."

Smirk stretched to Kabuto's face as he shrugged his shoulders, "There's always room for improvement. And what's it to you? She is your former teammate, though."

"The only thing hindering your process is her declining to use her chakra at all." Sasuke commented and Kabuto's smirk fell off, "She doesn't want to do anything you want and that's the reason why you continue this. You're trying to break her will."

"Konoha's shinobis are very troublesome." Kabuto muttered to himself and the suggestive tone didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. He knew very well that Orochimaru thought that way, too. Sasuke wasn't an easy apprentice. He had his own mind and way of doing things, and if something didn't please him or he didn't benefit from it, he wasn't going to do it.

And Sakura being succumbed to this kind of treatment did not please him at all.

Sasuke wasn't like those mindless and back boneless followers Orochimaru surrounded himself with. He had a goal that he was going to do anything for, and nothing was going to stop him. If Orochimaru thought even for a once that Sasuke was just going to give into him, then he was wrong.

"Sasuke-kun-"

"She's coming back with me." He had finally made his mind.

"What?" Kabuto looked completely baffled and the stoic look on Karin's face turned into complete utter surprise.

"I'm not going to leave her here. She's coming back to Oto with me."

"She's a test, an experiment." The older man said and pushed off the counter. "She needs to stay here under Karin's watch."

"If she come back to Oto with me, you can watch over her." Sasuke said and turned around. "We'll be ready in an hour to leave." He wasn't about to give Kabuto any change to fight against him. If he wanted to see where Sakura's "abilities" reached than he had to let Sasuke take her with him. Sasuke wasn't going to leave her here. Not a chance.

And since taking her to Konoha was out of the question, this was the only way to go.

Sasuke had no other option but to take her with him this time. Hopefully, when the time comes, she would be a great asset to his needs. He just needed to make sure that the right time was upon them when he acted.

Sasuke made his way back to his room to find Sakura already awake. She was just lying on the bed on her back staring up at the ceiling as two black snakes slowly crawled over her legs and stomach. Her body tensed each time from the pressure, but she seemed in control. The snakes hissed and sizzled as they rose to look in Sasuke's direction. He was mildly surprised that Sakura wasn't bothered by their presence almost at all, she seemed very uncaring of them.

As Sasuke stepped further into the room, she finally rose to a seat and looked up at him.

"What's going on?" Her quiet voice asked. Her hair was a mess and she looked like someone who had slept two days straight. They needed to get her fixed when they reached Oto. She couldn't go around looking like a beggar.

"We're going to Oto, so eat." He pointed at the bowl on the nightstand. He had brought it for her before he had left to see Kabuto.

Sakura swallowed hard and turned her head away from the steaming bowl.

"I'm not hungry."

"You're on the verge of dehydration, as a medic you should be aware of that, too. Stop complaining and eat." It was going to be a long journey back to Oto and she needed to be able to stand the travel. Soup was something everyone ate when they weren't feeling their best.

Wincing she reached for the bowl, her fingers trembling. Sweat began instantly gathering on her forehead as she took the bowl. Sasuke took note of the tensing muscles in her neck and activated his sharingan. She was willingly using her chakra to stop the reaction. Sakura knew how to control the reaction of her skin better than he had thought.

She ate quietly with the snakes still roaming over her lap and dwindling their way up and over her bend arms. Sasuke waited patiently in a chair with his eyes closed. What a better moment to meditate, it wasn't like he was in any kind of hurry.

"Danzō," Koharu said as she stepped into the council room.

It was almost mid-day and she had been thinking all night and morning. Something was bothering her too much and she needed to do something about her worries as soon as possible. Her mind aching and back bend she made her way closer to the sitting area.

"Koharu? What is it?" Danzō raised his one eyebrow that wasn't covered by the bandages. He was sitting on a couch with a tea cup in his hands as he enjoyed his moment of peace.

"I need you to send someone after the Haruno-girl." Koharu replied and sat down opposite of the other council member.

"She's dead, Koharu. You don't need to worry about that anymore." Danzō shook his head and sipped his tea.

"I don't trust that."

"You don't trust the Root?"

"Your Root member is dead, and there were no signs of that stupid girl. If my visions are right than she is still alive, and still very much a threat to us." Koharu fire back and grabbed one of the cup from the table.

"I don't understand why we should go this far to just eliminate a simple girl because of a vision you think you saw." The older man didn't seem bothered at all.

"All Uchiha need to die. She needs to die." Koharu huffed, "If it was only for me to decide, I would have already eliminated Uchiha Sasuke long before things came to this. Now he's on the run and that girl could very much be helping him."

"I repeat myself again, Koharu. What could a simple girl like Haruno Sakura do with that Uchiha boy."

"I want the whole Uchiha line dead. There's no need for them to live. There's no need for the to reproduce."

"What about Uchiha Itachi?" That was a question on its own.

"He eliminated his own clan. Do you actually think he would be the one to revive it, too?" All the council members were aware that Itachi was a powerful Uchiha. Probably one of the strongest there has ever been, but they also knew that he was ill. No one knew for sure what was causing the illness, but it was rumors about him using too much of his sharingan.

"He's the last person to try that. His already weighted by the guilt of the extinction of his own clan."

"Probably." Danzō sighed. "I'll let three Root members to go look for her. I'm sure they'll find something or at least a rotting body."

"I knew, you would understand, Danzō. We don't need any more of those Uchihas walking around our village or even in this world."

Another chapter on time!

Thanks for reviewers:

Lady Rini

Rui

Reapers Masquerade

ILoveSxS

Uchiha Misaki

vero1092

A Shadow Away

delightfullyhumongouspenguin

and three guests.

One of you were worried about me following very closely to the shippuuden story line. I won't be going through it from Naruto's point of view like the anime/manga. This story is going to focus on Sasuke's side of things. So no this won't be any ultra long story. :)

Leave a review! I love to hear what you guys think about this story and what are your thoughts.

- Jakura