Revamped

Crimson

Sakura cried out in dismay, as she saw her friend being pummeled into the ground.

"Tenten," she screamed. She scrambled towards her and quickly pulled her out of harm's way, narrowly avoiding the snake herself.

She dragged her over to the edge of the trees, as far away from the snake as possible.

"S- Sakura," muttered TenTen. She was having difficulty saying it. Her eyes were out of focus and blood was being coughed out of her mouth. "Thanks."

Sakura laid her down and turned to Orochimaru. He wore a cruel smile on his face.

"I am quite enjoying this," he said, "but if I must say so myself, it is a bit too melodramatic for me."

"Haruno," called a voice, "what's going on here?"

It was Neji and Ino.

"Oi! Sakura, we came as fast as we could. Are you okay," asked Ino.

Sakura nodded.

"Where's TenTen," they asked quizzically.

"She's over here," replied Sakura, pointing to TenTen. "She's hurt badly, she needs help."

Neji roared out of anguish and anger.

"OROCHIMARU!"

"I see, was she special to you Hyuuga? All the better then," said Orochimaru.

"Monster!"

Sakura quickly led Ino to TenTen. The snake was still nearby recovering, but it wasn't dangerous -- for the moment.

"She's not dead, but she's in bad condition. We need to get help."

"But if we leave Hyuuga here, he'll get hurt and Orochimaru will get away. You go take her, Sakura."

"No... I'll stay and help. You'll need it."

"Okay. If you say so Sa-- Hey. What's that sound?"

A dark shadow was starting to rise behind Ino. Moonlight glistened off of giant scales.

"It's the snake!"

It reared it's head and then lunged at them, causing them to fall over.

"Take TenTen now, Sakura!"

Sakura grabbed hold of TenTen and made her way to the edge of the trees with Ino right beside her.

"Good luck Sakura," yelled Ino. "Don't forget to bring help a.s.a.p.!"

"But-"

"Hyuuga and I can handle this just fine."

"But--"

"All of this noise should've caught someone's attention by now, forehead girl. Now stop worrying about us and just go."

"All right. Just remember to stay alive."

"Don't worry. Just hurry up."

Sakura headed off into the trees.

♠

The night seemed to get darker, and some time passed by without anything eventful happening. The kunoichi started to slow down from exhaustion. She began to steady her pace, and continually shifted her friend's weight from shoulder to shoulder.

"I really should hurr --"

She turned. She had heard the sound of movement behind her, somewhere in the shadows.

"This isn't good," she said to herself. She then called out, "Hello? Who's there?" Although she knew no one would be answering. "Hello?" There was movement somewhere above her. Her heart seemed to skip a beat for the second time that night. A leaf slowly danced down from the trees. The tension made her feel as though she would go crazy. Suddenly, a branch fell from the trees, startling her. She looked up at an empty black sky. The snake plunged down out of the sky. Sakura dodged it just in time.

She began to run as fast as possible. She flung herself into the dense patch of growth, getting scratched by trees and thorns. The snake was beginning to close up on her, it's mouth wide open, with venom dripping from it's fangs.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart was beating wildly.

Sakura lost her balance and fell, accidently letting go of TenTen. The weapons mistress fell right beside her, still unconcious.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The snake got to them before she could get up again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The snake began to form a wall around them, coiling it's body tightly.

Oh no, thought Sakura. I don't want this to be in the end. She was trapped. She had no idea what to do.

thought Sakura. She was trapped. She had no idea what to do.

The snake hissed violently at them. It raised it's giant head and bared it's fangs, a hungry look in its eyes.

No... But something else caught her attention. There was a faint sound of footsteps, though it was barely heard under the snakes hissing.

Who is it? Naruto?

But was it just a part of her imagination?

Her heart continued to pound even louder in her ears.

She closed her eyes, unwilling to see the cause of her doom.

I can't believe it. This is the end.

♠

Her eyes remained closed -- when she suddenly heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air.

Sakura's eyes flew open. A katana was embedded in the snake's throat. Blood splattered her face as it fell from the wound.

Seconds later another sword, this time much heavier and bigger flew through the air. It badly severed the snake's neck, nearly cutting the entire thing off. It cut through and stuck to a tree. The metallic smell of blood grew even stronger.

The snake violently swayed and fell over them, covering them with its blood. She felt it soak into her clothes. Sakura pushed it off with some difficulty, but after a while she finally managed to put it aside. She heard their footsteps, a pair of two. Their voices were muffled, but they sounded deep. She heard the sound of their swords being pulled out. She looked up and saw one of them, but their face was too dark to make out.

She could still make out crimson red eyes though. It made her heart skip a beat.

She grabbed TenTen and jumped out hoping that they would still be there.

She came out disappointed. They were already gone.

Sakura placed TenTen against a tree and sat down catching her breath. Barely a second passed when a high pitched scream echoed into the air.

"Ino!"

She jumped up and was about to leave when she stop and paused.

"Wait. I can't just leave TenTen here. Oh... But like Ino said. Someone must've noticed by now."

She looked back at her friend, still hurt, still unconcious.

"I hope I'm making the right decision."

It didn't take long for her to arrive. Her eyes took in the scene. She was shocked. Ino was bleeding badly, unconcious as well. Neji was still fighting, but it wasn't going well.

His Byakugan was activated, spidery veins surrounding his eyes. He was in a desperate attempt.

"You're foolish -- letting your feelings get in the way."

"Shut up!"

The Hyuuga shot some of his chakra into Orochimaru's tenketsu, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect at all.

Orochimaru took out his katana and kicked Neji into the air. He quickly slammed him down with ease.

"You're not much of a prodigy."

The Sannin's katana shot through the Hyuuga's back. A great deal of blood poured from Neji's back and mouth. Anyone could see that he would no longer be able to fight back. Neji fell to his knees with a dramatic grace.

"NEJI," she cried out.

"I never liked the Hyuuga clan much."

Orochimaru then turned his gaze towards her. It gave her chilling feeling down her spine.

"So you're still alive aren't you? I wonder what ever happened to my snake."

"It's dead."

"Oh really?"

His hand shot out and closed itself around her neck tightly.

"You get in the way of things far too much, Sakura. I nearly lost Sasuke because of you."

"Orochimaru," said a new voice. "Let go of her. This is a fight between the two of us. You coward. Bringing the Leaf in hoping they would capture me. So where is my little brother anyway. I see he's no longer trailing behind you like a dog beaten by his master."

"I don't know where your foolish brother went. He left and gave me a bad injury trying to escape."

"So now he's stronger than you too? He may really be strong enough to take me on."

"He's just like you."

Orochimaru's grip became tighter around her neck. She was beginning to lose the color in her face.

"I told you to let go of her Orochimaru."

"And why is that? Do you have feelings for this pathetic kunoichi?"

"Orochimaru," said Itachi, threateningly. "You're a coward."

The Sannin let go of her neck and she slid to the ground. The two S-rank criminals started to battle when they suddenly heard a series of footsteps approaching at a fast speed. Orochimaru jumped up and fled, but Itachi stayed.

He walked over to her and said," I saved you twice little girl. Keep that in mind." With that he left the devastated clearing.

"Sakura! Ino! Neji," a voice cried out. A second later Naruto broke through the trees with the others.

"What happened here," Hinata said in shock. Her eyes strayed towards her cousin. "Nii-san!"

She ran over to the prodigy, who was, by now, surround by a pool of his own blood.

"Ino!"

Shikamaru walked over to Ino. She was hurt, but not as badly as the others.

"Hn."

Sakura slowly stood up, using the tree for support.

"TenTen. She's still back there," she said weakly.

"Don't worry about it. We got to her," said Kurenai. "That was one giant snake. Did you two fight on your own? I'm impressed. Kiba should be back soon with medic nin."

"I guess Orochimaru was too much for them to handle," said Anko. "Sai, go see what's taking Kiba so long."

"Just lie down and rest Sakura."

So she sat down and closed her eyes, falling asleep from all her exhaustion.

Chapter End Ok. This chapter was pretty confusing. But I hope you like it anyway. Sorry it took a while to update. I'm hoping to get up to 5 more reviews before I update again.

Thanks for the reviews: MistressBlossom, icygirl2, Silver Element, Sakura Uchhia, Mezumi Azuma, Denisen, and jessiemeiz!

Chapter 4: A few weeks pass and everything seems to stay quiet. Neji and TenTen were still recovering in the hospital. Sakura meets someone new and someone is attacked again.