Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story itself.

Warnings: Violence and a little language.

Finding Sakura

Chapter Six

By Michiru's Mirror

Uchiha Sasuke had a much more difficult time walking away from his old teammates then he thought he would, and that irritated him deeply. He had chosen the life of an avenger, had worked so hard to break all ties with his former comrades, and still he had the urge to help them!

He had no use for such ridiculous, childish notions. When he had emerged from Orochimaru's just-destroyed lair to see the males of Team Seven sprawled around him like discarded toys, he made a point of walking away as fast as he could. With any luck they would die from their wounds and he wouldn't have to worry about them any longer. If Naruto's words (Danger…Sakura-chan is…) meant that Sakura was on her way to death as well, so much the better. Everything that represented his life in Konoha would be out of his life in one clean sweep.

Besides, it wasn't like he didn't have places to be. He had trained for almost three years to become strong enough to kill Orochimaru, and now that he'd done it he didn't have time to just sit on his laurels. He had to announce to the world in general, and his brother in particular, that he had become a force to be reckoned with; what better way to do that then by destroying everything Orochimaru had built up?

Orochimaru had thirteen hideouts scattered across five countries. The six in the Hidden Sound Village and two of the three in the Hidden Waterfall Village were taken care of. Just one more in Waterfall, and he could move on to the sole hideout in the Hidden Grass Village. If the people in these hideouts were smart enough to run, they could go, since nothing would get the message to Itachi faster than word of mouth. He didn't kill the fools who stayed behind—they, after all, meant nothing—but the beating he gave them was enough for gossip, and gossip quickly inflated.

Sasuke was fast growing a reputation as a merciless killer without ever killing a single person. That was just fine with him. He was ready to show Itachi just what he was made of. His brother had made him a monster, and now that mistake would come back to him. Sasuke thought of little else…except for the occasional random tendril of thought that would creep into his brain and remind him that Naruto had been caught in the explosion he had made destroying Orochimaru's base, that Naruto could be dying and it would be his fault…

Good! Sasuke snapped at the inner voice. Good, he needs to die so my ambition can live!

None of this conflict showed on Sasuke's porcelain face. He had learned years ago the dangers of showing emotion on his face or through body language. If he didn't yet have perfect control over his heart—and he would, someday—he could at least have perfect control over his face. But those few who knew Sasuke would be able to tell just how bothered he was by his lack of attention to his surroundings. That was a mistake that could be just as fatal as the showing of emotion, and Sasuke knew it. As quickly as he could (and much faster than any normal person could have managed it), Sasuke brought his rebellious mind under control.

But he wasn't quick enough to catch sight of the tiny red demon that marked his location and scurried back to report to its Queen.

It was perhaps ten minutes later that Sasuke felt a vaguely familiar chakra signature coming towards him from the east. He paused and lifted his head as though trying to scent the air, and let the signature come to him.

It couldn't be Sakura, could it? No, impossible! This chakra signature was much too powerful for her, much too strong and aggressive. Besides, this signature was just plain different from hers somehow—it was as though someone had taken threads of Sakura's chakra and woven another's chakra threads through them.

The wielder of that signature was close enough now that Sasuke could see them as a tiny speck on the eastern horizon, coming closer at a very rapid pace. Sasuke waited patiently. He was curious about just who it was, and as an Uchiha, he had no reason to be afraid. His brilliance was beyond anything the approaching shinobi could hope to threaten him with.

The speck drew closer until he could vaguely make out limbs, and then a shock of bright pink hair that proved beyond a doubt that it was Sakura after all. How odd. Perhaps she'd taken a soldier pill, or some new concoction he hadn't heard of that made her this powerful? He'd have to ask her once she reached him; he could make use of something like that.

As he expected, Sakura slowed down as she got closer to him, and stopped completely about a hundred yards away. The look of shock that had decorated her face at their last meeting was entirely absent this time, but that wasn't surprising as she'd been the one to track him down today.

"Your chakra signature's changed," Sasuke said.

"No hello?" said Sakura. Her voice had changed too; it was much deeper than before. "That's terribly rude."

"Because I've always been so polite," Sasuke said. "What did you use to change your chakra so much? A jutsu? A pill?"

"Aren't you curious," said Sakura dryly. "I'm not surprised; you always are when it comes to making yourself stronger, right?

"If you must know, I spent some time training just like you did." Sakura was smiling, and trembling which surprised Sasuke a bit. He'd seen her tremble in fear many times, but he'd never seen her so excited about anything that it would make her shake. "I had to be sure I was ready to kill you for what you did to me."

Sasuke blinked. Of all the things he thought Sakura might say, that wasn't one he'd imagined in his wildest dreams. "You? You're going to kill me?"

But he realized that she was serious by the way she was trembling, and by how wide and frightening her smile was. She'd wanted this, planned it, waited for it and now the thought of doing it made her excited enough to shake like there were insects under her skin. She really thought she could do this.

Sasuke drew kusanagi from the sheath on his hip. If she wasn't going to tell him how she'd developed her chakra or get out of his way, there was no point to letting her live—and if that thought pained Sasuke somewhere inside the remains of his soul, he didn't acknowledge the feeling.

"Even you can't be deluded enough to think that I'll go easy on you," he said.

Sakura laughed, and when the laughter died the look on her face would have been enough to scare almost anyone. "Oh, Sasuke. Who knows better than me just how cruel you can be?"

And with that, she leapt to attack.

She hated him. The demon didn't just dislike him, wasn't just disgusted by him, wasn't just annoyed by him; she hated him down to the very last hair on his head.

He was so stuck-up, wasn't he, so confident in his perfection. He looked at Sakura as though she was a little nothing irritation to be borne without grace. All the rest of the humans scurrying along beside him were little ants, little jokes who could never possibly be as high and mighty as he was.

You're annoying.

How dare he? How dare he think that the love of another was something to be shattered with cruel words and thrown away? How dare he think of Sakura as beneath him when she had more compassion and humanity in her little finger than he would have been capable of even if his family hadn't been killed?

Bastard!

The demon who Sakura called "Auntie" thought all of these things, and felt the hatred and rage and pain that already existed in Sakura's mind bleed into her until they became her own. She let them, and gloried in the power that they gave her. She would show this boy, this little snot, this arrogant upstart just how pitiful he really was, would show him and shove his perfect upturned nose in it!

You're annoying.

There was no more painful memory in Sakura's head than Sasuke's harsh parting words to her when he left to join Orochimaru. The demon felt her gaze begin to narrow and redden, focusing in on Sasuke's unmoving, posturing form. She saw him through a haze of scarlet hate, a film of pure rage that covered her and sunk into her soul.

You're annoying.

He would die. Oh yes.

Sasuke wasn't too surprised when Sakura launched herself at him like a hungry wolf. She had, after all, proven before that she was willing to attack him. He was sure that her abilities were no more impressive now then they had been three years ago, but the willingness was there.

No, what surprised Sasuke was the sound she made.

Coul any human make such a noise? It was a yowling screech, a cry of hatred so concentrated and pure that Sasuke could not help but be taken aback. He felt such hatred every day of his life, and had for about eight years, but hearing that cry was almost frightening.

And what could make pampered, timid Sakura hate so strongly?

Sasuke raised his right arm and blocked the blow that was aimed for his head, and readied himself to leap back to give himself more room to maneuver.

He never got the chance. To his utter astonishment, Sakura's blow smashed right through his guard, breaking his arm and sending him sprawling.

When did she grow that strong?

His right arm useless, Sasuke quickly drew his sword with his left as he rolled back. The pain this caused his right arm almost made him black out, but he endured—Uchihas did not faint.

Sasuke sent chidori through kusanagi at Sakura, and the blue light struck with enough force to send the girl reeling back. Sakura fell back onto hard, sharp rocks, her front covered with horrible burns from Sasuke's jutsu, her back punctured in a dozen places.

Sasuke lowered his sword, but didn't sheathe it. How had Sakura become so powerful? Was it some jutsu that she'd had learned? Was that why her chakra had felt so strange, because she'd learned such new, powerful techniques? But that wouldn't explain why she came after him alone or why she spoke in such a strange way.

Sasuke entertained the possibility that she might be possessed. It would explain the strange speech, the uncharacteristic habits and the new strength. But what had possessed her and why?

Sasuke again grew irritated with himself. Her death wouldn't matter—why would it? This girl was a nuisance, and always had been. Here was his chance—she was helpless before him, if he killed her she'd be out of his hair for good, and whatever was possessing her (if indeed something was) would die with her.His expression stoic, his limbs steady, Sasuke readied his sword and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

He never got beyond that. Before he could even move Sakura was sitting up, making wet sucking noises as rocks slid out of her back.

"Ow," she said, smirking at him. Without a trace of shame, she grabbed the zipper at her neck and pulled it down, revealing her chest and torso—and the quickly healing burns on them.

Sasuke couldn't help but be impressed. That was incredible healing power.

Of course, it also meant that he was in trouble.

Ten minutes later, Sasuke seriously began to consider retreating.

He just couldn't seem to get the upper hand. Sakura was splitting the ground asunder with her punches and effortlessly lifting rocks as big as she was over her head to throw at him. Sasuke couldn't even get near her when he was dodging horribly accurate projectiles and the ground kept disappearing out from under him!

Worse yet was his broken arm. He hadn't been in so much pain since being branded by Orochimaru. When anything so much as brushed up against it Sasuke would see stars and feel positively ill. How could he strike out at Sakura when sudden movements almost robbed him of consciousness?

Worst of all was how quickly Sakura healed. The few hits Sasuke did manage to land vanished so quickly that he might as well have not made them at all. And didn't she know it—Sakura stood before him sneering and gloating, lording his helplessness over him like some sort of schoolyard bully.

The very idea that pampered, coddled Sakura, who couldn't hit a target nine throws out of ten with a kunai, could have become this powerful in the few years Sasuke had been gone was mind-boggling. Even stranger was her cruelty; Sakura had many faults, but she had never been mean, she had never been violent, and even when she tried to attack him mere months ago she hadn't shown any sign of pleasure.

Sasuke again wondered if she was possessed. That theory was making more and more sense. And, of course, there were Naruto's parting words: "Danger...Sakura-chan is..." But in that case, why would the possessor come after him?

Perhaps because of his ability. He was, after all, Uchiha Sasuke, last of the genius Uchiha line and a deeply impressive warrior. Whatever was attacking him had probably heard of his considerable skill and wanted to challenge him.

The truly frustrating part of all this was that Sasuke knew he could take this attacker on if it weren't for his goddamn broken arm! If he had just leapt back instead of blocking "Sakura's" opening blow, he'd be more than a match. It was that first attack that had ruined it for him.

And it had been ruined. Humiliating as it was, Sasuke knew he was going to have to accept that and retreat or die and never have his revenge against Itachi, which was unacceptable.

It was then that "Sakura" threw a stone the size of a soccer ball at Sasuke's head. It made a spectacular collision with his eye and sent him reeling back, almost vomiting with pain. It was no difficult acting job to lay still and shallow his breathing.

"Sakura" gave a screaming cry of triumph and ran towards Sasuke so hastily that any doubts he'd had about her possession were erased. Sakura's only virtue on the battlefield was her intelligence; she would never be stupid enough to leave herself so open when coming up to a dangerous enemy.

She was talking, he realized, rambling like a madwoman. You bastard, you stupid fucker, you loser, you pathetic pile of nothing! This is what you get, this is your fault, all your fault for acting like the love of another human being was worthless, your fault for your cruelty and arrogance and betrayal! Oh yes, you slimy, motherfucking beast, you rotten pile of shit how dare you, how dare you hurt me that way, how dare you take me for granted and treat me so coldly, how dare you exist when you have no right!

Sasuke was beyond confused. Was this Sakura, then? Was he wrong? It sounded like Sakura talking, except that he couldn't believe the Sakura he knew would ever say the things he was hearing!

But then Sakura was grabbing onto his hair and yanking him up off the ground, and there was no more time to think about it. He'd have to find his answers another time—for now he had to take advantage of Sakura assuming he was helpless just as she had taken advantage of him assuming the same.

Sasuke swung his unbroken arm around and grabbed onto Sakura's pale face, crying "CHIDORI!"

Sakura screamed in agony as her eyes went blind and the flesh burned right off of her face. She released Sasuke and stumbled backwards like a drunkard, clawing at her face in a panicked attempt to stop the pain.

Sasuke righted himself, face as cool as ever, and straightened his ruined clothing as best he could. He grabbed his sword from off the ground and slid it home into its sheath before turning his back on the howling kunoichi and walking back to where he'd left Team Seven scattered in the dirt. If there were answers to be found, they'd have them.

In later years, it would occur to Sasuke that with Sakura as helpless as she had been in that moment, he could have killed her. He would brush this revelation aside as weak and pointless, and try to avoid questioning just why he hadn't taken the chance he'd bought himself.

He would fail, of course.

And so, Sasuke retraced his steps back to where he'd left his unconscious comrades. Finding them gone, it was easy enough to track them by the very obvious trail of debris and trodden ground they'd left in their wake. Having to rescue them was a bother, but it was reassuring to know that he was still so much more powerful than Konoha's other ninja. He'd been worried after that last fight.

It was about an hour before Naruto managed to catch Sasuke up on what was going on. Sasuke did not once speak, did not once change the expression on his face as he was told about cutting and possession and the eminent destruction of Sakura's soul. He sat calmly in front of Naruto and let the blond talk, sitting as straight and still as a marble statue.

While he listened Team Ten busied themselves treating the last of Kakashi and Sai's wounds. Kakashi was conscious and moving about by the time Naruto finished his story with a, "And then you came back and got rid of alla those demons."

Kakashi was examining Sasuke from the side. "Ino, do you have any chakra left?"

"Not much, but I can give a little more," she said. "Do you hurt somewhere?"

"No, but Sasuke's arm is broken. Got enough to heal him?" Kakashi asked.

Ino threw Kakashi an incredulous look. "Are you joking? I'm not healing him."

Kakashi turned to look at her, surprised, though Sasuke didn't seem particularly bothered by her words. "Healing is your duty, Ino."

"Healing the ninja of Konoha is my duty," said Ino. "I've got no power to spare for a traitorous little rodent."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he turned to fully look at his impromptu teammate. "It's a good thing I'm not asking for your opinion, then. Heal him. Now."

Chouji and Shikamaru gave simultaneous grimaces. This was not good. Ino was not the type to do as she was told—indeed, she had never hesitated to give Asuma a piece of her mind even when he was in a rage, and the way she was tossing her hair in a show of attitude now proved that she wasn't about to back down. But Kakashi was a man who expected to have his orders followed, and neither Chouji nor Shikamaru knew what he was apt to do if Ino kept defying him.

"No," said Ino. She put her hands on her hips and met Kakashi's eye with her own blue gaze. Her message was clear: make me!

"All of this is going into my report to the Hokage," said Kakashi. "You are going to be doing fifty thousand extra laps around Konoha with Guy strapped to your back so help me!"

Ino gave a scream of mirthless laughter that froze everyone; this level of disrespect was rare even for her. "Appealing to mommy to punish the bad little girl, Kakashi-sensei? I'm sure I would be in trouble if it were a real person I'm leaving to die of infection, but this is a disgusting little piece of slime, a traitorous cockroach that no one except this idiot—" Ino thrust one bloodied hand in Naruto's direction, "—Wants back in Konoha! If he dies here it'll save ANBU the trouble of killing him later, and good riddance! And Tsunade-sama knows it too!"

Naruto was on his feet at this point, his wounds already healed by the kyuubi inside him. "Shut up, Ino! You don't know anything!"

"I know what he did to Sakura," Ino snapped. "I know he thinks he's the only one on earth who's ever suffered, and that he thinks it gives him the right to treat people like shit."

"Enough," Shikamaru cut in, putting one hand down on Ino's shoulder. "Ino, that's enough. You're way out of line."

Ino rolled her eyes, but backed down from her aggressive position. "Whatever. If I'm the only one with the guts to say it, that can't be helped. But I don't care, I'm not healing him." Her head held high, Ino marched away from the group. Her teammates followed her.

Naruto and Kakashi seemed much more upset by this exchange than Sasuke, Sai noted with interest. During the entire argument Sasuke hadn't said a word, but instead busied himself forming a series of one-handed signs for a jutsu of some kind with his working hand. With a grunt, he pressed said hand into his broken right arm; there was a flash and a cracking sound.

Naruto spun around. "Holy shit! What did you just do?"

"Healed my arm," said Sasuke, waving about the newly fixed right arm to make sure everything was where it should be. He knew about a half-dozen healing jutsu, but he rarely used them and didn't have the confidence with them that he did with battle jutsu. He was pleased to see how well he'd done, since he might need it later. Kabuto was obviously no longer around to heal those wounds and he had to rely on his own power.

Naruto gaped. "You can do that?"

Sasuke spared him a contemptuous look before standing up and starting to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Kakashi in his Teacher Voice.

Sasuke didn't bother to answer, but continued on his way until Sai blocked his path.

Sai smiled, automatically going back to the fake smile he had learned before joining Team Seven. "May I suggest that it would be to your benefit to help us save Sakura?"

"No, you may not," said Sasuke, brushing past Sai.

"She already wiped the floor with you once," said Kakashi. Sasuke had not told them this, but his bruised state spoke for itself. "She'll find you and do it again. You stand a much better chance fighting with us."

Sasuke's wounded pride forced him to stop and respond. "She caught me by surprise, that's all. It won't happen again."

"What if it does?" said Kakashi. "We don't know just what this demon can do, and it might not have showed you everything in just one fight. We do know that it's going to get more and more powerful as it grabs control of Sakura's mind and body, and we can guess that these things—" Kakashi gestured at the fallen demons, "—are its friends. Who knows what else it can call up?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto chimed in, thrusting a finger at Sasuke's stationary back. "First when it fought us, we beat it. But then it fought a group of ANBU, and it beat them! That was just a few hours different, and she'd gotten that much stronger! Then she comes out and beats you less than a day later! Wha'dyou think she's gonna be able to do by tomorrow? A week from now? You'll never get your revenge if you're killed here, bastard!"

Sasuke paused for another moment before turning around to meet Naruto's eyes. "You realize we might have to kill her. If she gets too powerful to be knocked out or captured, there might not be another choice."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "That's really not an option."

"Then we really can't work together," said Sasuke, turning again.

"Sasuke, we're going to be working together whether we like it or not," said Kakashi. "She's going to go after you again, and since we're going to keep chasing her we're all going to wind up in the same place in the end."

"And besides," Sai pointed out, "You're the one with the power to go into people's heads, aren't you? If we set her up so you can go into her head, we can both get our way—you can kill the demon inside of her and we can get Sakura back alive."

There was a long silence as everyone digested this suggestion.

"That's kind of brilliant," Naruto said.

Sai smiled. "I know."

Sakura was buried in Auntie like an unborn child awaiting not life, but death in the womb. Her Auntie's love wrapped her up and comforted her, assuring her that she was loved and cherished, that never again would she be harmed by the cruel world and its uncaring inhabitants.

The small part of Sakura's soul that realized she was being used and slowly killed rebelled, railing at the injustice of her capture. You don't love me, she silently screamed, you're eating me like I'm some kind of dessert, you're murdering me!

Don't be silly, the reply would come, don't be dramatic; all of this is for your own good!

You murdering the people I love could never be for my own good!

They don't love you! Was the reply. No one who loves you would call you annoying! No one who loves you would call you disgusting!

But was that true?

Sakura thought about that a lot; thinking was all she could do in the prison her body had become. She thought about Sai and how she had used him to slake her masochistic lust. She thought about Ino and regretted how she'd hurt the other girl when their minds connected. But mostly, she thought about Naruto.

Sakura's will had been broken and crushed, her mind bent far beyond the limits it could safely go to. She had no belief in herself or her future, no belief in her worthiness as a kunoichi or as a woman. But somewhere deep inside her heart was the belief that Naruto loved her, and neither Auntie nor her own self-doubt could take that belief from her.

How could that be? He had told her she was sick! He had seen her doing terrible things—how could he love her now?

But he did. Sakura didn't need to see Naruto to know that he did, and any words he'd said in the heat of the moment had no bearing on that love. Naruto's words had wounded her deeply, and it would be a long time before she could look at his face without feeling the hurt he had caused her. But even now, even lost in the clutches of a powerful demon and guilty of committing acts with Sai that left her feeling vile, even now she knew that Naruto would never abandon her. If the whole world turned against her, he would still be by her side.

So it didn't matter that Auntie was railing at her and telling Sakura that she had no friend but her. It didn't matter that Sakura hated herself, because Naruto would never hate her.

Naruto would come for her. It was just a matter of time.

A/N

Poor Sasuke-kun! I love Team Seven and look what I'm putting them through in this story…sigh…I have to write a happy fluffy fic after this.

Okay, raise your hand if you think Sakura is really as pure and Sasuke really as evil as Auntie makes them out to be. Yeah, right!