Fated Encounter

CHAPTER 10

Sakura was unable to make the travel to Oto on her own. She could only make it over the sea and little bit on land before her strength gave out on her. Her legs were shaking and her breathing was hard when Sasuke once again scooped her up.

Kabuto only stood on a branch observing the two. He wasn't happy that Sasuke had taken Sakura with them, and since Sasuke had destroyed all the data they had collected on the girl, getting back on track was going to be a struggle. Not to forget that Sasuke seemed to not like the idea of Kabuto being anywhere near Sakura. Sasuke's pace was so haste to stay away from Kabuto that he ran in front of the older shinobi, making sure that he wasn't coming too close.

Sakura's fingers were squeezing Sasuke's shirt underneath the cloak he wore as the breeze felt cold on their skins. Her other hand was holding her own cloak tightly to herself in attempt to preserve more warmth. She was blacking out most of the journey and she couldn't keep up where exactly they were.

Only when a warm blast of air surrounded the space between her face and Sasuke's neck she finally came around. Sasuke was walking normally and it was pitch dark everywhere. She could only faintly see Sasuke's face in the darkness.

"Orochimaru-sama, would like to see you, right now, Sasuke-kun." Kabuto's voice echoed in the empty hallways.

Sasuke didn't reply, only followed after the grey-haired man until they reached a set of double doors. They walked in to a room lit up with torches and huge columns. Unconsciously Sakura glued herself tighter to Sasuke's form.

"Sasuke-kun, you're back!" Sakura instantly recognized the raspy voice of Orochimaru. His form appeared from behind one of the columns.

Sakura took notice of his appearance. His hands were draped on his sides and Sakura remembered the jutsu the Third Hokage inflicted on him.

"And our little jail bird, too." Orochimaru's eyes landed on Sakura's body and she turned her eyes away from him. She didn't want to give him any attention or time of the day. He was the reason why she was like this.

If she had the energy, she would bash his face so hard that he wouldn't be able to recover at all. That smug look on his face only infuriated more.

"Don't look at me like that, Sakura-chan," Orochimaru drawled and chuckled, "I gave you a gift. You should be happy."

Sakura bit the insides of her cheeks to keep herself silent. It wouldn't do her any good since she wasn't sure on whose side Sasuke was. She was still surrounded by three people she couldn't trust.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke's voice was tight and tense. He seemed annoyed with the way he huffed his teacher's name. "What do you want?"

"I heard you destroyed her data. If this some sort of a rebellion, then I think you should consider your actions better, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

"Always so rebellious." Orochimaru chuckled.

Sakura glanced up at Sasuke's bored expression. She was glad that Sasuke wasn't completely enchanted by Orochimaru. Everyone knew he only wanted Sasuke's body so it was odd why Sasuke would even risk being trained by Orochimaru. But guess everyone had their own plans and motives, it wasn't like she could say anything about the situation.

She didn't want to return to Konoha for her own reasons, just like Sasuke had his own reasons.

"Bring her to my lab tomorrow morning." Orochimaru smiled and turned to Kabuto, "Shall we?"

No other words were exchanged as Kabuto followed Orochimaru out of the room. Sasuke stared at their backs silently while Sakura observed his reaction.

"What is he going to do?" Sakura finally asked after a moment of silence.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to her.

"I don't know."

"I'm not going to let him test me anymore," Sakura found her voice becoming more urgent, "I won't let him." She was shaking her head and fighting against the pain in her body. She was already exhausted as it is and she just wanted a moment of peace. Was it too much to ask?

"I won't let him." Sasuke's stern words surprised Sakura to silence. She bit down on her chapped lip as Sasuke finally turned to walk away from the room. Her fingers were digging into his shirt as he stopped in front of a room.

Sakura didn't say anything to him as he laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers on top.

"Get some rest. I'll bring you something to eat."

Sasuke's back turned to her as he started to leave to room, except he wasn't leaving her alone in it. In the dim lighting, she saw the two snakes slithering from his sleeves on to the floor just as the door closed.

Soon her body felt the familiar weight of the snakes on top of her body as she fell asleep from exhaustion.

This time Sasuke was making her walk. Her legs shook like leaves as she tried to keep up with his pace and she tried taking support from the walls. Sasuke was merely regarding her with silent interest as he did nothing to help her to move.

Sakura glared at him each time he lifted that dark brow of his and made her legs mover forward. She still had almost no chakra at all, but slowly she felt it returning since she wasn't drained from it the past few days. The food Sasuke had brought her gave her energy to even dare to move without any help. She wasn't even going to ask Sasuke for help; she was going to make it to the lab alone.

She had tried to pursue Sasuke in not taking her there, but it was futile.

Neither had any idea what Orochimaru had planned and neither were they in hurry to get to their destination. Sasuke was oddly patient with her and Sakura would have expected him to lash out on her already.

As she finally almost stumbled on her feet, she saw Sasuke making a move towards her, but she nearly yelled, "No!"

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks crossing his arms.

"I want to do this on my own. I don't need help."

He shook his head and turned to face the hallway as they slowly made their way to the lab.

Kabuto was writing something passionately in the corner and completely ignored the two teenagers in the room, whereas Orochimaru instantly greeted them.

"I've been waiting for you, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan. Please take a seat." He offered a pair of stools but Sasuke remained standing. Sakura was about to do the same if it wasn't for the icy glare from the brooding Uchiha. How he somehow knew what was going through her head slightly amazed her.

Sakura's muscles cried from relief as she sat down. The stools hard surface tingled through her skin and caused the reaction of her chakra immediately. Every hard surface was like she was being punched by something. Biting her cheek Orochimaru just plain observed her.

"Does it hurt much?" He asked after a moment of staring Sakura.

Sakura didn't nod or anything. She would rather dig her own eyes out than give any kind of answer to him.

A smirk stretched on his face, "I must say, you've exceeded my expectations, Sakura-chan. I never imagined your chakra control to be this strong. All the other test subject had already died due to the excessive drainage of their chakra. You on the other hand fight the reaction and are able to hold on to the tiniest amount of chakra that is able to keep you alive. I am very much impressed."

Kabuto had finally come out of the corner and was standing next to the table separating Sakura from the snake sannin. She somehow got a very bad feeling and glanced at Kabuto, who was hiding his right arm behind his back.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked him and Kabuto's lip twitched.

"Nothing." He merely shrugged.

The slight spike in Sasuke's chakra made Sakura turn to him to see his sharingan activated.

"Don't even think about it Kabuto." Sasuke growled.

He is hiding something behind his back, Sakura thought.

"Kabuto, put it down." Orochimaru suddenly said, but Kabuto did not do as he was told.

"We can't let this test go waste." Kabuto said instead.

"It's not going to waste, my dear Kabuto. As you can see, the test seems to have been a success. She can already control the reaction." Orochimaru explained, "She's just been deceiving Karin."

"Karin is a very capable kunoichi, she would-" Kabuto started.

"Ah! But so is Tsunade-sama's apprentice. Tsunade-sama would never choose just anyone to be under her teaching."

Sakura had no time to do anything except gasp out loud when Kabuto suddenly reached for her hand. He pulled her arm on the table and threw some liquid on to her skin. A panic seized Sakura for a moment as she felt the burn of an acid before she focused her chakra. With the remaining chakra she had, she molded it on top of her skin and stopped the burn of the acid.

Sasuke was already in action as he pulled Kabuto easily away from her and pointed his kusanagi to the grey-haired man's neck. Kabuto's hands were raised as he backed away from the scene with Sasuke following closely.

Orochimaru didn't do anything except stare at Sakura's arm. The acid started cascading down and onto the table as if being resisted. Sakura's abilities were certainly exceeding their expectations.

He tapped his chin, "I must say, I am surprised. It is done." with that said he got up and gave Sakura one of his devious smiled.

"Come on, Kabuto, we need to check on Kimimaro."

Kabuto backed away from the room and Sasuke went back to Sakura's side. He took Sakura's arm in his hand and turned it from side to side. There were few burned spots on her skin but nothing major. Sakura flinched at his touch and her arm started to tremble.

Orochimaru had succeeded. There was no need to Sakura anymore. He didn't need to test on her anymore. Otherwise he would have probably tried to force her into submission and continue the experimentation.

"Let's go eat." He said finally and Sakura sighed in annoyance.

"That's all I do!" She was tired of just eating.

"It'll help with restoring your chakra and gets you into better shape much faster." Sasuke snapped back at her pulling her from the stool.

"I'm not even hungry." Sakura grumbled but got silence from her companion.

It was very bothersome that Sasuke just controlled her life.

"You're not my parent." She said back at him which caused him to stop and turn back to her.

"No, I'm not. But since you don't want to go back to Konoha, you don't leave me no choice."

"Then just dump me in some village and I'll do just fine!" Sasuke stared at her as if it was the worst idea in the whole world.

"What?" Sakura pouted.

Sasuke shook his head and started their way back out of the lab. This time he was not allowing her a chance to walk on her own and instead he was holding on to her arm to give her more balance. In Sasuke's presence, Sakura felt like a child. He literally controlled every aspect of her life and just because she didn't want to go back to Konoha.

"You do understand that I'm going to get killed the moment I step my foot through the gates of Konoha." Sakura said with a more leveled tone.

"Hn," Sasuke hummed and she took it as a yes. "Who exactly is trying to kill you then?" He suddenly asked and Sakura was surprised. It wasn't Sasuke style to go asking questions concerning her at all.

"I'm not completely sure."

"Then how do you know you're going to get killed?" Sasuke asked again.

"The Konoha shinobi I was with tried to kill me before you found me in the snow."

Sasuke's brows furrowed.

"What?" It was now his time to look surprised.

"I've seen him around the village since I was little, and he had the familiar fighting style of a Konoha shinobi. I also saw a secret mission scroll he had on him before he attacked me." Sakura explained. It wouldn't hurt to tell Sasuke everything. Now he seemed much more interested in her situation.

"What did the scroll say?"

"To eliminate me."

"To eliminate you?" Sasuke asked with a light tone as if he found the fact humorous.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. The scroll had a formal seal of the elders on it." Sasuke looked bothered for a moment as he thought about her words.

"Get in the shower." Sasuke said with a stern tone.

"No!"

"Sakura, I'm not fighting you." He ignored her complaints and grabbed the towel again that she had thrown on the bed.

"It hurts! I don't want to!" She had curved herself in to a ball on the bed as Sasuke did his best to get her to shower.

She's been locked inside the room for four days already and not once has she gone to shower. Showering was like being shoved into the molting flames and she would much rather not do it. It hurt since the water fell as drops all over her and using her chakra was hard all over her body at the same time.

"You haven't showered in almost a week. Stop being a baby and go." Sasuke was still as calm as ever but Sakura knew his patience was running low. He's been trying to convince her the past two days, but so far she's been the one to win every argument with him storming out of the room.

Sakura only bushed herself further into the bed and wall to get as far away from Sasuke as possible. It was already getting much easier to touch objects that were not living creatures. Her back didn't have a reaction at all as she pushed against it. However, it was a whole another thing when someone touched her.

Sasuke finally growled under his breath and stretched to grab her. Activating her chakra, she pulled back from him making him stumble on to the bed. These were the moments Sasuke wished she was still drained from her chakra. Everything would be much easier and simple, if she didn't have ability to literally throw his body though a cement wall.

Sakura avoided looking in to Sasuke's eyes the moment she pulled him on to the bed. She knew he had activated his sharingan to get her to comply, but he was not going to give up this easily. She might be an expert when it came to genjutsu, but Sasuke was fast and he was going to get her into the shower even if it enraged her. His arm stretched he tilted her head catching her in his illusion and grabbing her from the waist at the same time.

Throwing her over his shoulder, he quickly walked into the bathroom. The shower was already on so he dropped her and just as he placed her under the water she came back to reality. She shrieked from surprise and tried to push past Sasuke, but he wasn't letting go of her.

They were both under the water in seconds and Sakura literally had no other option except bite her cheek and try to snuggle as close to Sasuke's towering build. The bathroom in this hideout was much smaller than in the Southern one and Sasuke covered the entire way to the rest of the bathroom. She would much rather be touched by him than the water.

"Relax and focus," Sasuke commanded her and grabbed a bottle of soap for her.

Sasuke pulled away from her leaving her alone in the bathroom. It took a while of just standing under the water to get used to the droplets, but after she somehow could tolerate the pain she quickly took her wet clothes off and washed herself. Turning the tap off has never been more satisfying. Her skin was red but not from the water as she quickly dried the rest of her skin.

There was a shirt paired with trousers, on top of the sink. Grabbing them Sakura got dressed as fast as she could.

Sasuke was waiting for her in the bedroom putting the dark purple cloth around his waist and tying it up. He glanced at her over his shoulder and nodded for the bed. Sakura grabbed the jacket and followed Sasuke out of the room as he closed the room behind them.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked as Sasuke put on his cloak.

"Training."

This is not a long one, but an update nonetheless.

Thanks for reviewers:

Uchiha Misaki

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Leave a review! They really make my day and show me if I'm going in the right direction with this story!

It has been a hectic week for me because of my clinical training, but I've been doing my best.

- Jakura