Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters

I reached my word limit darnnit… I didn't want this chapter to end! Lol if I had to be completely honest with you guys, this story is evilly fun to write. I'm having way too much fun with it. One more thing before you get to the chapter: I finally, with many do's and don'ts have decided to make a facebook account purely for fanfiction. So if you guys want to keep up with me, the link should be on my profile. If not, PM me and I'll see what I can do. Anyways, enjoy chapter 2! :]

CHAPTER II

Her blood ran cold through her body, but her blood was the last thing she wanted to think about. What if the Sleeper could read minds? Who knows what these things are capable of? She shivered as she thought about the countless experiments that could be housed in this cold and dank stone laboratory. It was underground—it had to be, or else they would've been discovered a long time ago.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes. She had slept well—well enough for sleeping on a stone floor. The room was in complete silence, but it always was so—or at least close to that. She wouldn't be able to tell if Sasuke was awake or not. His eyes are dark… she mused, knowing that that had to be the reason she never saw him the previous night. She swallowed hard as she remembered the wails of what sounded like banshees burning to death.

A dim light sunk into the room through a sad excuse of a crack on the bottom of the heavy door which was responsible for locking her in the room with Sasuke and the Sleeper. The Sleeper certainly lives by his nickname… she mused, realizing that if his eyes weren't as dark as Sasuke, he had literally been sleeping for well over sixteen hours with no awakening.

She heard a light tap of footsteps coming towards her cell and her heart raced widely. Were they coming to get her? Sakura scooted towards the shadows, wanting to get away from where the light would hit her directly. "This is it, Lord Orochimaru: cell number 23." Kabuto's muffled voice pierced through the door, resonating in Sakura's ears. Oh no… they're here… she could feel her nerves tensing up as she pushed herself as close up against the wall as she possibly could.

"Excellent," the snake man hissed. "We should start out experimentations immediately. We're getting closer and closer to our goal," Orochimaru finished with a cackle, and a deathly cough following afterwards.

"My lord, you mustn't strain yourself… please, go rest. Lord Pain and I will take care of the experiments," Kabuto urged Orochimaru, and from what Sakura heard, the latter man complied. She heard a series of keys unlocking the cell door. She heard chain after chain drop to the ground outside with an eerie clang.

The door creaked open, and Sakura's emerald orbs met the coal ones of Kabuto, and the deep purple ones of another man. His hair was a subdued, fiery orange color—similar to that of the sunset, and his eyes matched that concept. His face was covered in piercings and bags hung under his eyes. A frown was constantly portrayed on his face—a frown that promised nothing good. His name matched his appearance: Pain.

Swallowing hard, Sakura continued to push herself onto the wall, feeling her heart jumping out of her chest as she did. Were they there for her? Or for Sasuke? Or even possibly, for the Sleeper? "Now we shall take her," the deep, resonating voice of Pain spoke out in a clear velvet—somewhat aligned with what felt like daggers as his words stabbed into her, engraining in her mind. 'Her'… I'm the only girl… She snapped her emerald eyes shut, tears practically dripping down from her eyes. Please don't take me… please, don't take me… She begged frantically.

The door opened wider, and the dim lighting shone in more. Shadows were still cast in the majority of the room, but light shone on both her and Sasuke. Sakura's emerald orbs darted over to her pale cellmate. His onyx eyes were dull and heavy, but he was awake. Dark, charcoal bangs hung in his eyes, ineffectually covering the dark circles that looked more like makeup than bags coloring the underside of his eyelids. His thin lips were curved into a constant frown that promised nothing but endless depression, and a sea of hopelessness.

Bandages were wrapped around his torso, colored near black with caked blood seeping through. Areas of those formerly white bandages were torn open—ripped apart by some rabid beast. That must be from when the Sleeper attacked him… she mused. The damage was obvious, and scabbed, opened wounds were showing evidence of literal chunks of flesh missing from his abdomen. Sakura's heart raced at the sight of him. As the light continued into the room, her eyes continued to travel. Where was the Sleeper?

The dim lighting never hit one particular corner, big enough to fit a human being who may have sat, but never to lie down. Sakura swallowed the growing lump in her throat, sweat dropping from her brow. There… she pointed mentally. That was where the Sleeper was—and that was where she had to be sure to never go. "She is a frail thing," the voice of Pain ended her free thoughts and brought her back to reality: they were going to take her for experimentation.

"Indeed she is," Kabuto answered, sounding almost disappointed. "She didn't put up anything near the fight that our little Sasuke did." His voice was full of mockery as his lips raised into a sarcastic smile. Sasuke scoffed, raggedly standing to his feet.

"I'll kill you…." His voice seethed with rage—and intent to maim and murder. Something akin to a bloodthirsty beast waiting to devour whatever came in his way. His lips twitched into an uncomely smirk, twisting his features into a crazed mongrel that was both rabid but enticing. Sakura shivered in fright. Was this the same person who was encouraging her?

"Be careful, Sasuke, you don't want to wake up the 'Sleeper' by causing blood to run everywhere, do you?" Kabuto's voice held the same tinge of mockery, but it didn't matter: it seemed that his words immediately registered into Sasuke's mind, causing the raven to slump to the floor, his eyes widening until the full of them could be seen. Sakura could tell simply by his face that fear had set in—an unmatched fear. Sweat dropped from Sasuke's brow and his mouth hung open as he gasped for breath. Did they put the Sleeper in here with Sasuke on purpose? She asked herself. It would make sense, considering how fearful he was of it.

A thought hit Sakura: what if the Sleeper was their only successful experiment, and they were trying to fill the world with others like him? Such a bloodthirsty beast could never be controlled, tamed, or sane. The thought sent chills to race up Sakura's spine and back down. Before she could expand on her musings, Kabuto grabbed her arm with a brutish force, dragging her up to her feet, but not before her knees scraped against the floor. "Ah!" She cried as she winced in pain, but the pain was nothing compared to feeling that came later: the wet.

Dripping from her knee, was that distasteful fluid. The fluid she needed to live was secreting from her body in slow, painless drips, spotting the stone floor with crimson. Deep, dark, dreary… Bleak. The blood colored gray into an incredulous beauty that spoke of death, torture, fear—and yet it was beautiful to one particular being in the room: the Sleeper. The scent rose to his nostrils, his heart raced, and his eyes fought to be snapped into life. "Wake me, wake me, wake me" Sakura could practically hear the voice, though sound was dead on her ears. "Get her out!" Pain raised his voice, obviously knowing the danger of losing their newest specimen to the Sleeper.

Sasuke's eyes dashed to the dark corner and he gasped for breath, screaming loudly as if he was in some sort of pain, but a matchless horror—an indescribably fear under toned his voice in a wail of anguish. Kabuto threw Sakura out of the room and slammed the door shut, chaining it as quickly as he could manage. Sakura saw nothing else of Sasuke in the room, and she heard nothing through the door.

Her heart pounded within her chest. The Sleeper was awake. He was awake and he was in the room—in that room with Sasuke. What will he do to him? She asked herself, fearful for her cellmate. She could practically see the tears of horror running down his cheeks as the Sleeper tore at his flesh, groan after scream after wail after pain ripping from his victim's throat. Wobbly legs brought her up to standing and her eyes veered down to her bleeding knee. It wasn't even a lot of blood: it was just a scrap with a few dots decorating the small cut, but the Sleeper had smelled it. It really doesn't take a lot to wake him… Sakura swallowed hard, subconsciously engraining Sasuke's order into her mind: "Never bleed, not ever."

Dim, faded blue lighting danced around the room, leaving it in near darkness. The walls were rough stone, shadows invading the crevices and hiding the impurities of their corrosion. An occasional candle light swayed with the breeze of an individual walking by it. It was hot and sticky in the laboratory, but coolness continued to wash over Sakura's forehead as she felt as if she was losing her consciousness.

Kabuto hovered over her, a mask tied around his mouth and nose. Sakura had given up on struggling. She was chained down to a table—exposed for all eyes to see. This wasn't how she had imagined the first man to see her bare body to be, but there was no helping it: there she lay, naked. The humiliation brought tears to her eyes, even if what they were interested in getting from her wasn't her body, the condition she was in was immoral, exposing, and demeaning.

"The last girl we gave the regeneration serum to began to have growths on her body that ate her away," Pain warned Kabuto as he saw the scientist preparing a syringe. The silver haired man planned on ignoring Pain's presence, but found it necessary to answer:

"She did—but we burned her; besides, I edited this one. We'll see if it works, shall we?" He snickered, flicking the needle to be rid of air bubbles. Sakura's heart throbbed in horror. Growths that ate her away?! She swallowed a lump in her throat as sweat dropped from her forehead. Her emerald orbs widened in horror as Kabuto brought the syringe to her arm, preparing to inject the serum into her system.

She tried to refuse it, attempting to pull away from the needle that was closing in on her skin. She tried to scream out protests, but her mouth was currently biting the cloth that they had tied between her upper and lower jaws, making her incapable of speech. She felt the pinch of the needle stabbing into her flesh, and the thick viscosity of the serum pushed throughout her blood stream, painfully making its course throughout her body.

A painful burn immediately jolted her, causing her to writhe in pain. Screams of agony tore out of her throat and she could almost feel her body convulsing. Was her body rejecting the serum? Was she going to die? Her breathing was heavy—Sakura barely had time to breathe as her groans transformed yet again into anguished wails when the burn turned into what felt like a series of jagged swords tearing her insides into mush.

"Ah, it's the sweet sound of accomplishment," Pain spoke with regality, looking down at the writhing pinkette with accomplishment.

"Lord Orochimaru will be pleased," Kabuto nodded, a sinister grin exposing his white teeth. Sakura could finally feel her body calming down as the serum seemed to fuse with her blood, making a more normal course throughout her body until it thinned with the red fluid completely. Her breathing continued as heavy as it was as she caught her breath. Her senses began to return to her, the wildness of horror escaping her body.

Pain removed the chains from her body as Kabuto began to put his doctor's and scientist's materials neatly away into a container. Loose wrappings were tied around her bleeding arm tightly, feeling as if it would stop her circulation. Sakura pulled away in resistance, but Pain's strength far outmatched hers. Her brain, though recovering, felt dull. Where am I? She looked around with foggy emerald orbs, her mouth hanging open in an uncomely gawk.

The fiery haired man then dressed her, ignoring the confusion she was portraying with her dull facial features. "I am taking her back to the cell," he spoke to Kabuto as he took his leave before the scientist could bother to respond. Sakura stumbled beside Pain as he more than dragged her across the floors. Her legs twisted as they wobbled with her lack of strength, and her stomach turned in knots. Several times, Sakura almost found herself tripping over her feet, but the strength from Pain's grip kept her stumbling.

He unchained the door with far more ease than Kabuto had earlier expressed, and he threw the door open. There was utter silence cast throughout the cell, but Sakura didn't have enough sense back in her system to look up to see the results of the Sleeper's awakening. Without further hesitation, Pain threw the pinkette into the cell and slammed the door immediately afterwards.

Sakura's head hit the stone with a thump, taking away her last bit of strength and knocking her unconscious.

A groan was eased out of her throat as her head throbbed towards her awakening. "Get her out!" Pain's voice recalled in her mind; it was a faded memory. Get her out… Get her out? What did he mean? Get me out… she continued to repeat in her mind, straining to remember where she was trying to get out from. Then it hit her: the Sleeper. The Sleeper was awake.

Jumping up, Sakura ignored the pain coursing throughout her body and tossed pink strands of hair out of her eyes: "Sleeper!—"

"Is asleep," Sasuke cut her off, struggling to speak as he was focusing of keeping even breaths of air. Sakura's head snapped over to the raven, and a frown curved her lips downward. But why? Why was she so disappointed that the Sleeper was gone?

"But… he was here…" her voice trailed off. She needed to talk to him—to see how dangerous he really was. After all, Sasuke was still breathing wasn't he? Which brought up another question: "How did you subdue him this time…?" She asked. This time it was recent. Sasuke had to remember what he had done to get the Sleeper away from him.

Silence fell over the room. Not even the shifting of weight to get comfortable was heard in the stone room. A cold air washed over the cellmates from the crack of the door. Sakura pinched her lips together. What is up with him? She wondered, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Her heart pounded within her chest when she heard something akin to another standing up. "S—Sasuke?" She stammered.

"Hush," he ordered, neglecting the question he was supposed to be answering. Eerie groans could be heard outside the door in a light, agonizing voice. It was pitiful, painful, and it stung Sakura's heart. Who was out there? "Suigetsu…" she heard Sasuke's voice practically whisper the name. A shrill screech reverberated in the formerly dead silence. Chills skittered across Sakura's skin and she breathed in a sharp breath, fearful of what she heard.

"You know him?" She could feel Sasuke's eyes practically glaring at her. Right… he told me to hush… she swallowed, remembering the hostile side of Sasuke that he had shown to Kabuto before she was taken away.

"He's in pain…" Sasuke said simply, but there was an understanding sympathy in his voice—a sadness that overcame any heartlessness that it could possibly be mistaken for. Sakura stood up carefully, being sure that her feet could balance her before she walked over to where she assumed the raven stood. "Why isn't Karin healing him…?" Sasuke mused aloud, his confusion coming out clearly in his shaky voice. Suigetsu must be a friend of his… Sakura confirmed in her mind.

"Who's Karin?" She asked almost silently. She felt him glare at her again, causing her to flinch back a bit. "Why are you glaring at me?" There was a long pause before he responded, his tone saturated in confusion.

"I'm… not… I haven't even looked at you," he assured her. Sakura lifted her brow a bit, but followed that action with a sharp breath inward, looking towards the corner where she believed the Sleeper to be located. She stepped closer to Sasuke and clung to him in fright.

"The Sleeper's awake…" she breathed out in horror, clinging to Sasuke all the more. The raven peeled her hands off him carefully.

"No, he's not; he's sleeping, trust me," he responded simply, not a bit of fear heard in his voice. Sakura looked up at him, her emerald orbs flashing with a challenge.

"How can you be so sure?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. She felt a look that was softer, more comforting and gentle gaze down at her. Her heart fluttered slightly and she backed away. "W—what?"

"Trust me," he urged her gently, the velvet in his voice smooth and encouraging, promising nothing but truth. Sakura swallowed hard, backing away from the man. I can't get so close… what is he doing to me? She wondered until her back hit the wall and she pressed against it. The words repeated in her mind. "Trust me, trust me, trust me" They held such an assurance—such a lack of questioning that it confused Sakura. They became her own thoughts: Trust him… trust him… trust him…

It was like a cafeteria. Droning conversations filled the room, sounding closer to zombies than humans. Laughter never broke the monotonous tone. What was there to laugh about? The structure was crude, and dark, but enough lighting to see who was who and what was what. The gas lights were dulled down so the room only glowed eerily. If inside the room long enough, your head just might've begun to ache from the strange choice of light. This is where the experiments ate.

Sakura walked alongside Sasuke; both were wearing collars with wires connecting them to the eating cells ceiling. But that wasn't abnormal for this place—everyone's neck had a collar and everyone was connected to the ceiling. It was so that with the pull of a lever, if anyone dared to defy Lord Orochimaru or Lord Pain, or even Kabuto himself, they would receive a jolt of electricity that would shut them up.

Sasuke sat down at a table with a young man around his age, a whitish blue mop of hair tossed across his head messily. Lavender eyes were dull and weary with exhaustion. His lips hung in a constant frown at he poked at his food, seeming more interested in his water than anything else. His pale skin seemed to be taking on a bluish color, almost matching his hair.

Beside that man was another man, flames of orange hair dancing in disarray atop his head. He looked older than both Sasuke and the other man, and his face was simple. He didn't look hostile, nor did he look exhausted. There was more of a kindness residing in his facial structure.

Sakura knew both these men had been experimented on—or else they wouldn't be here. After all, she herself had already been taken into the laboratory, as dreadful an experience that might've been. Her eyes darted from one male to the other until she finally took her seat beside the raven. "Suigetsu, where is Karin?" The man with whitish hair looked up in a response: Sakura took it that he must be Suigetsu, the man who was wailing a few hours earlier.

Suigetsu only responded by biting his bottom lip in remorse, his eyes filling up with tears. He shook his head no and looked back at his cup of water. "Karin was burned last night," Jugo, the man with the disarray of an orange mane, answered for the friend sitting beside him. Sasuke bit his bottom lip harshly.

"So that's who it was…" he mused aloud, gazing at Suigetsu pitifully, offering his sympathy. "I thought she was getting better?"

"She was," Suigetsu spoke in a scraggly voice, choking on a gulp of water as he rushed to speak. "But they ain't hearing none of it… they just took her and—and… and burned her..!" He slammed his fist on the table, more tears making their course down his face. "Karin was—she was always there, you know? There for me!" His sentences came out broken, his heart wrenched. Sakura felt terrible for the man as she, too, chewed on her bottom lip. "Imma kill them—kill 'em all, that's what…" he grunted through his teeth, grinding them as he spoke.

"Suigetsu, we can't kill them, they're too powerful," Jugo contradicted, but his voice never being rid of the calmness that would ease anyone's downtrodden spirit.

"Then we'll get the Sleeper on our sides," Suigetsu snapped, glaring at Sasuke directly. "Why don't you get him to help us make our escape?! This place is killing all of us! Remember Neji?! Choji?! Ino?!" Suigetsu's list could have gone on, but he chose to stop there as his breathing intensified, as well as his temper. Sasuke flinched, leaning back a bit on the backless seat.

"I can't talk to the Sleeper," Sasuke nearly whispered. Sakura had to lean in to actually be a part of the conversation taking place. "He hates me—he wants to eat me alive…"

"Well guess what? So does Pain—"

"Lord Pain," Jugo corrected, trying to keep the rebelling fish boy from getting a stronger voltage than he usually did during the eating hour. Suigetsu chose to accept Jugo's advice, biting back the rest of his statement. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably in his seat, continuing to eat the mush of food before him. The four continued in silence, Suigetsu occasionally repeating sentences of mourning over Karin that he had earlier stated. It was almost like a repeating defect in his body. Maybe the experiments did that to him… Sakura mused, frowning. At one point, they were all normal people, weren't they?

"SASUKE!" She heard a voice scream out—a double voice, as if it were possessed by some sort of demon. Her head snapped over to where the dangerously ominous speaker was: he was surrounded by a red glow that seemed to form tails and ears around him. His eyes were a bright red—not deep like blood, but piercing like flames of discord. Blonde hair shot widely around his head, and dark black whiskers adorned his cheeks, flushed in rage. A demonic shriek ripped out of his mouth as he widely reached for Sasuke.

"Down!" Sasuke ordered Sakura, pushing her off the table and pinning her to the floor whilst the crazed demon jumped over them, clawing at Sasuke's back, but never touching. "It's Kitsune…" the raven breathed under his breath, watching the blonde lunatic with careful eyes. If Sakura didn't know better, she would have been paying more attention to how Sasuke's body seemed to press on hers in a more than friendly manner, but that wasn't something to worry about now. Their lives seemed to be a bit more important.

"Kitsune?" She asked in concern, gulping down a growing lump in her throat.

"Stay down, I have to bring Naruto back," he ordered, jumping off her and facing who he referred to as, in some sense, Naruto. His posture was hunched, but something about the loose form was intimidating. Sakura's eyes stood on the raven until a shrill shriek was heard from behind her, followed by a deathly growl that promised nothing but immediate death. Her head snapped back to notice the formerly peaceful Jugo had transformed into a beast, crazed and foaming at the mouth.

"It's Restless, Sasuke!" Suigetsu called out to the raven, attempting to subdue "Restless" with brute force, but to no avail. 'Restless'? The name resonated in Sakura's mind. Sasuke was trying to bring "Naruto" back. Suigetsu was trying to subdue "Restless". It immediately came into Sakura's mind: They're bipolar… Her heart raced at the danger of the two males, who were struggling against Suigetsu and Sasuke.

A piercing shriek tore out of Kitsune's throat as he charged at Sasuke, beating the ground with all four limbs as he ran. Sasuke swallowed hard, grabbing a pole from the side of the wall. Does he know that's still connected to the wall? Sakura watched the raven as he absent mindedly was holding onto it. What was he doing? Her attention veered towards the struggling Restless, or rather, struggling Suigetsu.

The fish boy was more than struggling keeping Jugo in submission. Jugo writhed, screaming demonic groans and shrill shrieks, piercing the air with ghastly voices that seemed to be doubling. The reverberating sounds sent chills up and down Sakura's spine. She didn't know if the echo was worse than the real thing.

A loud crash was heard from Sasuke's side and Sakura once again turned her attention to him. The pole was in his hands and he had swung it onto Kitsune, successfully smashing him on the wall. He ripped the pole off the wall?! Sakura's emerald orbs widened and her heart raced. How strong was this man? Kitsune purred, sounding in pain, but that purr was followed after with foam dripping from his rabid mouth as his eyes danced. He heaved heavy breaths in and out as he waddled towards Sasuke.

Restless ripped free from Suigetsu's grasp. "Eh, girl, look out!" Suigetsu called out to Sakura, but his warnings were on nearly deaf ears as Restless grabbed her off the floor, tossing her onto the wall.

"Agh!" Sakura cried out, her lungs being emptied of air. Her eyes widened in fright.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill!" His orange hair danced as he repeated that word—that word kill, as if it was the only word in his entire vocabulary. A devilish smirk spread on his face as a demonic laughter sung on his lips. "KILL!" He shrieked, his eyes twitching in ecstasy. Restless grabbed Sakura by her throat, a burning, choking force dulling her brain of blood.

Sakura's hands raised up to Restless's, trying to pry them off hers, but it was to no avail. The crazed lunatic had found his prey. "Kill!" He repeated, his voice shaking in anticipation as his smirk transformed into a demonically delighted smile—a grin.

"S—Sas—uke—" Sakura managed to choke the name out in a breathy, cut off voice. Did he hear her? Would she be rescued? Her eyes became hazy from the lack of blood. The only sounds on her ears were the constant "Kill, kill, kill" from Restless and the shrill shriek of Kitsune…

Dull… lifeless… horror… Bleak.

Am I… dead?

XxxX

Cliff hanger. :[ I really didn't want to do that with this story, but I reached my word limit and this chapter was going to end up being too long. So! I'll be working on Chapter 3, trust me! :] Oh and… if you guys don't know, just in case, there will be characters dying in this fanfic, to my dismay, but it's the only way this will work. The people Suigetsu mentioned are already dead, as is Karin. Don't forget to R&R! Arigatogozaimasu for your support.

InaGaTa