Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only the parts that I'm adapting into the original story line.

Fated Encounter

CHAPTER 12

"This will only pinch a little," a shadow cooed and took a step closer, "Just breath and everything will be alright." Sakura's mind was fuzzy as she tried to get sense of the familiar words that still didn't register in her mind. Her head was lulling from side to side and she fault nauseated. Swallowing was hard and awkward with something sticking in her throat.

Right away as she swallowed she felt the familiar tightening in her throat. Why did she have the naso-gastric tube? What happened? It was hard to focus on anything in the very dim room she was in. But as the shadow that had talked to her stepped right next to her, she felt the panic rise.

It was like an avalanche that surrounded her faster than her body could almost even react.

Sakura tried to move away from the shadow, but found it impossible. Her arms and legs were bound to the table under her and her heart rate picked up even more.

At this point the shadow was leaning over her and the more she stared the less she could see it. She couldn't pin point where its arms were and where the needle, she was sure she saw before, was. Her body was cramping on the table, as she tried to get away and she could feel the liquid, given to her through the tube, come up.

Sweat pooled on her forehead and chest as she tried keeping the pile down the best she could, and at the same time try to get away from the shadow. Her body continued to trash with the adrenaline kicking in.

No! She screamed inside her head. This couldn't be happening again! Her body struggled more and more against the shackles keeping her in place. The needle flashed under the light dangerously as it was brought closer to her body. There it was! And only seeing it caused another wave of panic to come. She needed to get away!

As the needle came closer, her dizziness only grew. She tried yelling and shouting for them to stop, but the pile threatening to come up made her shut her mouth tightly. Her chest was hurting and she realized she was holding her breath in. Before anything could happen, she threw up on the table next to her head. Heaving and wishing that nothing else came up she cried out in panic.

Unfortunately, nothing came out except a raspy gasp. Her throat felt sore as if she's been trying to yell the whole day. Nothing that could help her situation came up to her. The panic was too much.

Her body was cramping under the effort and her eyes were wide from fear.

She thought she didn't have to go through this anymore. Sasuke was supposed to keep Kabuto and Orochimaru away from her. Did he betray her? Where was he?

Help!

The shadow loomed over her and reached for her arm.

Help!

Please, don't!

She begged to no avail.

No!

No!

Sakura felt a pressure on her shoulder and she snapped her eyes open. The first thing her mind registered was the darkness. The shadow was here. He was coming after her. No! She trashed against the pressure on her shoulders.

Her heart continued to bound against her rib cage violently as her arms tried to push everything away. She couldn't focus on anything else except the panic and the want to flee as quickly as possible.

Something heavy was pushing her against the-

Mattress?

Sakura's trashing stopped like she hit a wall. Her breathing still labored she closed her eyes tightly and swallowed hard. There wasn't any kind of tightening in her throat. Nothing was coming up the more she waited.

"Sakura?" Sasuke's soft voice broke through the silence of the room. That's when Sakura realized that she had had a nightmare. Her whole body shook and trembled. It took a little while longer of Sasuke hovering over her and her just lying motionless, before she felt her body relax. The panic changed into the after effects of adrenaline as Sakura's hands shook even more.

"Sakura?" He asked again.

"Yeah?" Sakura stuttered unsteadily. Her heart was still hammering and Sakura could hear the blood rushing inside her head.

"You okay?"

"I guess so." She answered quickly and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Sasuke scent was surrounding her entirely, and it helped to ease every down. She felt protected and safe. Squeezing her hands into a fist, Sakura took another deep breath. Her shirt was sticking to her body and making her itchy.

The more she became aware of her surroundings the better she started to feel.

There was no tube inside her nose and stomach. There was no restrains holding her down, except Sasuke's warm hands on top of her shoulders.

Sakura felt Sasuke move on the bed the side and then an arm scooped under her shoulders. She hummed from the movement of being pulled against a much warmer body of Sasuke's as he helped her to settle by his side. Curling right next to him, Sakura took another deep breath and snuggled closer to Sasuke's shoulder.

She felt dirty from the sweat, but Sasuke didn't seem to mind. He merely pulled her even closer.

With her eyes closed she took in the gentle motion of Sasuke's chest as he breathed and relaxed more into him. As his breathing continued to level she knew he had fallen as sleep. Soon she was counting his breathing and slowing her own to his pace.

She wasn't sure whether it was twenty minutes or an hour until her mind lost focus on Sasuke, and she fell back asleep.

"I'm getting bored." Sakura sighed in annoyance. They've been sitting in the huge room in one of Orochimaru's hideouts. They transferred here from Oto a little over a week ago and ever since the both Snake Sannin and his follower Kabuto has been nowhere around.

Sasuke was getting even more impatient than Sakura, since he's been lacking with training. It was getting more and more obvious that the Snake Sannin didn't have much to teach him anymore since he was always on the go and almost avoiding meeting Sasuke. All of it infuriated Sasuke, because he felt like nothing was moving forward.

Of course, it was obvious as day why Orochimaru stalled with things. He wanted Sasuke's body and the time wasn't up yet. Orochimaru needed more time before he could active the technique to get into Sasuke's body.

"Stop whining." Sasuke complained back and on his leg. "Have you eaten anything today?" He continued and glanced behind him at Sakura sitting behind a pillar. You could barely see her figure in the darkness even if the two torches lit up the room somewhat.

Sakura was silent for a moment and Sasuke could literally hear the gears in her head move before she looked up at him, "No?"

She woke up much later than him, and he was already training outside when she woke up. Then she spent her day in the small library the hideout has reading books about medicine. When they had transferred her, Sakura decided that she would much rather continued studying healing techniques rather than just around every day and watch Sasuke improve.

It was also easy to sneak few scroll into their room if she felt too uncomfortable alone. There wasn't anyone else in the hideout except Sasuke and Sakura. One of Orochimaru's followers stocked the kitchen every two days in the middle of a night, so Sasuke and Sakura neither has seen him enter the place. The only trace of him is the chakra left behind and the food in the small kitchen.

But even if they were literally alone, it didn't mean that Sakura felt safe alone. Often she picked the scrolls and few books to bring them to their room. The table inside was stacked with different writings and Sakura was spending most of her days plain reading. She read so much that she forgot to eat. That infuriated Sasuke since she wasn't gaining any weight at all.

She was still bony and scrawny. Her body needed more fat and as a medical kunoichi Sakura was aware of that. The proof that her body was lacking in every nutrient was plain as day with her hormones. Since leaving Konoha for the mission where she was badly injured, she hasn't got her period at all. It's been months already and it wasn't just stress.

But the fact that her body was also used to the state it was in, she didn't feel hunger that easily. And to add salt to the wounds, there weren't mirrors in the hideout. The only way she could see he bones sticking out was by looking down at herself, or Sasuke commenting that she had to eat more.

"Get something to eat, Sakura. Now."

"Stop being so bossy!" She snapped back and stood up. "You don't need to worry about me! I can take care of myself." Sakura stomped out of the room and headed for the kitchen.

Sasuke shook his head as he watched her leave through the side door. Every time he mentioned eating she seemed to get frustrated and snap at him. Not his problem, if she was getting self-conscious, but he wasn't having her die in their bed.

Sakura was getting more comfortable around him though. She was showing her emotions much freely and every once in a while, Sasuke could see glimpses of the Sakura he knew before leaving Konoha.

The double doors to the room suddenly opened and Sasuke activated his sharingan. Three shadows soon piled in and Sasuke stared passively at them. All three were staring straight at him, Orochimaru with a smirk on his face and Kabuto just stared right at him without anything. The third member of the crew was unfamiliar to him. The guy was obviously the same age as him and a shinobi.

Sasuke's eyes didn't leave the guy's form at all.

"You're late." He finally said lowly. "You were supposed to teach me a new technique this afternoon, Orochimaru."

"Again, with the rude tone." Kabuto grumbled from the side and glared at Sasuke.

"Calm down," Orochimaru said, "I picked up a little present for you." His eyes shifted to the guy standing in between Orochimaru and Kabuto, "He's from Konoha, just like you."

Sasuke didn't recognize the guy at all. Nothing ringed any bells in his mind and his gaze deepened. He wasn't at the academy with them so he had to originate either from another village or have private training. But not many shinobi changed villages after graduating the academy. This was very unusual.

Sasuke didn't feel good at all.

"I thought you two could reminiscent about the good old days in the village," Orochimaru explained.

The Uchiha boy huffed in humor. Had Orochimaru lost his mind? Did he actually think that Sasuke would just start thinking back to his time at the village with this guy. There was no way this was happening. He already had to look after Sakura and being with her took most of his free time, since he had to make sure she was taking care of herself.

Sakura's words suddenly popped into his mind. Someone from Konoha was after her.

Sasuke felt the rage start to build up inside him. If this guy was after Sakura, he would make sure there was no way he would get anywhere near Sakura at all. Even being in the same hideout as them was a risk. Sasuke wanted to lash out at him right away but steadied himself. There was no need to rush things.

The Elders of Konoha are a bog threat but killing one of their minions wouldn't be good. He just had to make sure that Sakura stayed away from him.

"Hi, there." The shinobi continued, "I'm Sai." He smiled. Sasuke could easily see through the look on his face. It wasn't a genuine smile.

"You must be Uchiha Sa-"

"Get lost." Sasuke barked.

The smiled dropped from the guy's face and he openly stared at Sasuke, "Even if I force myself to smile, I guess I'm just easy to hate." He said it more to himself than anyone. Orochimaru was intently observing the situation going on, along with Kabuto. Neither made a move to intervene.

"Even Naruto-kun hated me from the beginning."

Sasuke would have chuckled if he was any lesser man. It seemed that Naruto had grown at least somewhat. Trusting that everyone had good intentions even though they had tried to destroy everything seemed to be his way of thinking. The world just wasn't that easy, and it seems that Naruto has finally grasped the idea.

"Though," Sai opened his mouth again and Sasuke felt like slicing his throat open, "between the two of you, I think I'll get along better with you."

As if, Sasuke muttered in his mind and activated his genjutsu. The other boy was stupid enough to plain stare at his red eyes, making it way too easy to capture him. Even if it was only for a few seconds to show some of his powers, Sasuke knew that the boy was shook. The unsteady way he stepped back and fell backwards on the floor, indicated nothing less.

"Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto looked horrified as he scolded Sasuke. The gray-haired shinobi wasn't impressed with Sasuke's actions once again.

Orochimaru finally snapped out of whatever he seemed to be thinking and turn to look down at Sai, "I wouldn't bother Sasuke-kun, if I were you. Especially if our little flower is not with him." Sasuke's glare darkened at the mention of Sakura. The small movement of Sai's brows didn't go unnoticed at the mentioning of Sakura. Luckily the boy had no idea, who the Snake Sannin meant with the word.

"Sasuke's temper is even worse than mine." Orochimaru chuckled.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"I have nothing to say to this loser." Sasuke stood up on the stone pedestal he was sitting on, "Train me, Orochimaru." This was getting useless. Orochimaru had nothing else for him. Sasuke needed to file his plan a little more before making his move. He just couldn't hurry this too much. Orochimaru needed to be at his weakest when he finally struck. Getting ready to leave Sasuke took steps away from the room.

Instead of getting anything from Orochimaru, Sai opened his mouth, "I've heard a lot about you from Naruto-kun. He's been trying to find you the past three years."

His words stopped Sasuke and he turned slowly to stare into Sai's eyes, "I remember him." his eyes shifted to Oroshimaru's,"Let's go, now."

"Naruto-kun, really thinks of you as his brother."

"I only have one brother," Sasuke said back instantly, "and I'll I want to do is kill him."

Sasuke popped himself out of the room. He didn't want to give anyone anymore reasons to talk to him. Orochimaru had to keep his promise and train him this evening.

It had been one of the shortest training sessions with Orochimaru ever. And Sasuke wasn't pleased with it. He wanted to tell his displeasure with the situation aloud, but kept his mouth shut and walked away.

Sasuke opened the door to his and Sakura's room, and to be honest he was surprised to see Sakura with a bowl of soup on her lap. She had a scroll on her knee as she was sitting cross-legged on their bed. The cover was pulled on her lap to cover her legs to protect them from the steaming bowl and cold air of the room.

"Sasuke?" Sakura mumbled as she barely even looked up at him.

She seemed to be so far in her studies that everything else was oblivious. Even the soup looked like she hadn't eaten at all.

"Sakura," Sasuke barked again with a glare, "keep eating."

Her head lifted fast to stare at him and then back to the scroll on her lap before moving to the bowl of soup.

"Oh," she shrugged absent minded and took the spoon for another mouthful.

Sasuke shook his head again and closed the door behind. As she took a few more spoonful's, Sakura's eyes drifted back to Sasuke, as he placed his kusanagi to lean against the bed frame.

"What's that chakra?" she finally asked when he sat down.

"What chakra?" He fired back and leaned over her lap to take the scroll away.

"Hey!" Sakura reacted right away and tried to grab the paper back. Unfortunately, Sasuke was much faster since he didn't have a bowl filled with food in front of him. "Give it back!"

"Keep eating." Sasuke still pressed and Sakura had to bite the insides of her cheeks. She was so close to saying something bad, but refrained from opening her mouth. Las thing she wanted was to insult Sasuke too much. He might completely throw her out without anything to help her, if she did.

Grabbing the spoon again, Sakura began shoving the soup into her mouth. Between spoonfuls she was able to ask again, "The chakra?"

"Some guy Orochimaru brought from his journey."

"You're awfully interested if he's going to stay here with us."

Sasuke stayed quiet. Sakura didn't need to know where the guy came from and what he might be. That would only send her into full blown panic mode and that was the last thing she needed right now. She had to focus on eating, and after that he might tell her.

Sitting in silence was calming. And Sasuke even closed his eyes and focused on nothing. The only sound was Sakura eating the rest of the soup and getting up from the bed. She was just about to leave the room when Sasuke's eyes flashed open, "No."

Sakura was surprised with his reaction and almost dropped the bowl.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You can leave it here for the night."

"I can't just leave it here," Sakura said and looked at him like he was the stupidest thing in the world, "it's dirty and needs cleaning."

"You can take it tomorrow morning." He said and twisted his body easily to lay on his back.

Sakura huffed in annoyance.

"If this is about me not wasting any calories on energy than you've taken this way too far!"

"Shut up, and go to bed."

"That's all you say!" She continued. It was getting on her nerves that he was constantly babying her. "Go to bed! Eat more!" She cited all his commands.

"Sakura." Sasuke opened his closed eyes and gave a leveled look.

Again, she had to bite the insides of her cheek to keep herself from lashing out. This guy seriously was pissing her off!

Complying she placed the bowl on the table next to the door and walked back to the bed.

Sasuke was occupying the edge of the bed so she had to crawl from the bottom to get to her place next to the wall. To be honest, her body was sluggish. The serving she ate was big, and she needed some time to rest. In no time her eyes had closed and she was back asleep.

Sakura is doing a lot of sleeping, but taking in her circumstances I think she needs it. After experiencing things that she has, she need some time to gain more energy and weight. Like I've mentioned earlier, I'm a nursing student and injured people really do need a lot of energy to heal and recover.

What did you think about the Sai moment? It was from the anime/manga. I tried making it as realistic as possible, but still changing some lines to make it feel like my "own" (I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AT ALL). I honestly didn't want to plain copy the scene from the anime. Hopefully I did a decent job at transferring this story into the Naruto plot. And as you guys can see, this will not be completely the same story line as Naruto's.

We'll only be going with Sasuke's and Sakura's point of views and what happens to them. Of course, there will be few scenes from Konoha and other places here and there. :)

Thanks for reviewers:

ILoveSxS

Lady Rini

Emily da great

SakuraXAkatsuki

Uchiha Misaki

sasusakulover

Guest

guest

It's been a long week for me, but I'll probably will be posting another chapter next weekend. Maybe even in the next two days. We'll see how much time I have to write.

Leave a review! I really want to know your opinions on if you like the direction this story is going.

- Jakura