I just want to thank all the readers that still follow this story and still have some faith in me. I've been dragging for years to finish this story and I'm so close to being done and I can't say I'll miss this story because I know my writing style, interests, and priorities have changed and this story doesn't sit as close to my heart as it used to. But I still love writing and I refuse to not finish what I started so here is another chapter.
I apologize for the roughness of it and the different writing style. As I mentioned above, my interests are different and there are other things I would rather be writing but this is my first FF story and I would like to see it completed and give my readers a reason for sticking around for so long when they had every reason to give up on me years ago.
So thank you once again for your support.
Warning: There is torture in this chapter so be warned. It isn't anything too bad, but if you are squeamish then I'd advise skipping those parts to be safe.
Regular
Thoughts
"Talking"
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Naruto is not mine, unfortunately.
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Enjoy
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"Sasuke! Slow down," Naruto called from a distance back. "We need to stick together!" Hinata struggled to keep up.
"Then hurry the fuck up," Sasuke roared without slowing down. Nervous sweat trickled down his back and his stomach twisted in worry. He could hear screeches echoing between the spaces of the trees, growing closer.
He wasn't sure where he was going. Leaping over a fallen tree, he tried to keep his path straight, knowing Sakura would run straight until she was sure she was safe, going on pure instinct. Then she would stop and plan out how to get to the village.
The pounding of hooves grew closer and he pulled out his lighter, readying himself for the fight even though all he wanted to do was find Sakura. Rationality won over his impatience.
Slowing, Sasuke spotted a clearing to his right. Heading for it, he stopped in the middle and waited, his fingers flipping the cap of the lighter open and then snapping it closed. His eyes scanned the towering trees for Naruto and Hinata frantically.
After a minute they broke through, sprinting for him. Naruto shouted, "Create a wall, Sasuke! CREATE A WALL."
Sasuke's thumb slid over the lighter's wheel. It created a small flame that flickered in the growing wind and then an explosion shook the clearing. A wall of fire started to form, the trees smoking and ablaze, and soon the clearing was encased in a ring of fire.
A line of black horses appeared on the other side of the fire, blurred and sometimes blocked by the black smoke. Eight horsemen sat atop the horses, their faces covered by hoods of wispy black. They disappeared into the shadows, but the tenseness of the air remained.
"It's not going to hold them for long," Naruto voiced and, without looking away from where they had been, he pulled his katana from his shoulder strap. With white knuckles, he closed his eyes and three black lines appeared on both cheeks. When he opened his eyes, the blue had been replaced by red.
Hinata unsheathed her katana, her chest heaving. She twisted around when she heard a horse screech. With wide eyes, she elbowed Sasuke and he glanced around to find the horsemen surrounding them on all sides.
The wind picked up, forcing Hinata to swipe at pieces of hair sticking to the corners of her eyes and mouth. The ring of fire slowly fell.
"Sasuke, it's falling," Naruto said, taking a defensive stance.
"We have to face them sooner or later," Sasuke replied and flipped open his lighter, setting his katana blade ablaze. His heart pounded so hard he could feel it in his throat and he couldn't tell if it was from adrenaline or fear of failing and letting Sakura die.
"Fine," Naruto growled as the first horseman broke through the fire barrier. Once it stepped through, they all followed, gaining speed as they pulled different weapons-scythes, swords, spears, flails, and maces-from their cloaks, each completely ink black.
"Shit, shit, shit." Naruto cut his gaze to Sasuke. "Like old times?"
"Like old times, dead last," Sasuke agreed and charged. Naruto and Hinata following suit, running in different directions.
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δώδεκα.
12.
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"Time to wake up, blossom."
Someone slapped my cheek, softly at first, then harder when I took too long in opening my eyes. I tried to move, but found my wrists and ankles tied to a chair. Part of me wanted to struggle to get free in whatever way possible, but I knew panic would get me nowhere.
A searing heat clawed at my front and I opened my eyes to a blazing fireplace a mere four feet from me. It burned against my skin like a whip and I groaned, pushing against the floor with my toes to try and scoot the chair back. It didn't move and someone chuckled behind me.
I turned my head as far as I could and jumped when I found Orochimaru looming over me, his eyes glinting.
"Do you feel it?" he asked, tracing his finger lightly along my shoulder blade before inching my chair closer to the fire.
I closed my eyes at the heat licked my skin and found my mouth dry as sand when I went to respond. My throat burned with the effort and need for water as I barely managed to croak "feel what?"
"Your helplessness," he answered and came to crouch at my side, unaffected by the flames. "Would you like some water, my dear?"
I knew he was lying. He wouldn't give me water. So I focused on the ground, tracing the cracks with my eyes.
"And here I was going to give it to you with minimal begging," he whispered, running his knuckles down my jaw. I pulled away, but could only go so far.
"Don't touch me." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.
He smirked. "How else am I going to waste time?"
I didn't take the bait even though I knew I would regret it.
The carefree, amused look on his face melted away, revealing angry eyes and hard lines. His palm connected with my cheek.
"I hope you enjoy your last day as a spitfire," he growled, pulling a red hot bar of metal out of the fire, holding it towards me threateningly.
"You won't get whatever the hell you want from me." I glared at him, but knew it was all an act. My voice rose as he drew the metal closer to my skin. "You won't get it. YOU WON'T GET IT."
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Sasuke fell to one knee, clutching at his shoulder, blood coloring the creases of his fingers scarlet.
"Get up," Naruto urged although Sasuke wasn't sure if he was talking to because he was also on his knees. After a moment they both rose.
Hinata shouted as a sword cut her in the thigh, but she hacked and swung until the horseman backed away.
"It's endless," she whispered between heavy breathes, wiping blood and sweat from her brow. "We can't kill them, not without Sakura."
"Well she's not here so we need to find another way," Sasuke said, barely mustering up enough energy to engulf a horseman's feet in fire. Another attacked him from behind, catching him in the bicep as he twisted out of the way, raising his sword just in time to block a blow to his neck.
A kick sent him flying back and he pushed himself onto his hands and knees, the image of Sakura forcing him to his feet unsteadily.
"Watch out," Naruto shouted and tried to break his sword out of its lock with a horseman's but couldn't without being hit in the chest by its blade.
Sasuke ducked away from an axe, searching for his sword in the dim moonlight. Unable to find it, he pulled out a dagger from his boot and stood his ground, glaring at the horseman who started to screech lightly in amusement.
Growling in frustration and exhaustion, Sasuke charged at him, sinking his dagger into the horseman's chest. When the horseman didn't move to counterattack, Sasuke backed up and followed his upturned head.
What he found made his heart jerk in hope and fear for four streaks of white light were approaching them fast. Naruto and Hinata moved towards Sasuke, Naruto picking up Sasuke's sword from the ground on the way, until they were back to back.
A rumbling noise reached his ears and grew louder the closer the light got until he felt it shaking the ground. The clearing exploded in a wash of light as the streaks slowed and landed, each in a shallow crater. White smoke curled up and out stepped four figures in shining armor that covered shining skin.
Their wings, each with feathers the color of their hair, caught his attention and he watched as they disappeared in a glow of dim light. They each drew gleaming swords with silver blades lined with golden ruins.
Before Sasuke could blink, they each moved in different directions. One shouted, "Once our blades touch their skin, they are susceptible to your attacks."
With that, the clearing erupted in swordfight, metal ringing upon metal as the horsemen fell one by one.
When the last horseman fell at the tip of Hinata's sword, the four strangers approached Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata who watched them with their swords drawn.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, eyeing them wearily and ignoring how tired his body felt.
"We're the Guardians, sworn to protect and help the Chosen One," the one with white eyes exactly like Hinata's answered, his sword also drawn in defense. "And who are you?"
"We're friends of the Chosen One," Naruto replied, the first to sheath his sword, Hinata and the rest doing the same, Sasuke and the white eyed man putting theirs away last with hesitation. "And also her Guardians. We're from the other side."
"No way," a blond haired girl whispered with wide, excited eyes.
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The tinge of iron in my mouth drew my fingers to my lips. I felt my split lip tenderly and then struggled to get to my feet, falling onto my bruised back when Orochimaru kicked me in the ribs.
"I'll never give it to you," I muttered brokenly, rolling away from him onto my left side and trying to curl into a ball. Tears slid sideways down my face when I heard Orochimaru step closer.
Helplessness was exactly how I felt at this moment, along with anger and fear. I didn't know how to make it stop, how to defend myself, how to get out of here. I didn't even know where I was or what lied beyond this room.
Another kick to my back sent me skidding across the stone floor. I lowered my cheek, letting the cool surface ease some of the pain, and tried to talk myself into unconsciousness.
A sharp gasp caught my attention and I winced when I felt Orochimaru's hand on my back, his fingers trailing the tattoos I had all but forgotten about until he decided to overlay then with burns.
"They're gone," he murmured with amusement and then yanked me onto my back so that he could examine my bloody and bruised face. A knife flashed in his hand, cutting into my forearm so deep it made me cry out for it to stop. With greedy eyes he watched as the wound closed.
I had become his toy for his sick entertainment and there was nothing I could do but try and hold my tongue to keep from satisfying him. When I did this he would dig deeper into my flesh until I swore he was hitting bone, scraping past it and coming out on the other side.
It felt like hours as he repeated this over and over until I swear he had carved and let heal every millimeter of my body. My mouth grew dry, my throat on fire, and I stopped screaming long before he was finished.
When he had decided he was through, he sprang to his feet, screaming for someone I didn't recognize.
"All this time I had thought it was some little cup of gold, but how could I not see?" He circled me with fascination, dragging the blunt edge of the knife across my skin. "All this time...it was you, my little precious blossom, who held the powers that every man once roamed the Earth looking for, once circled the globe looking for, the Holy Grail."
With a flick of his wrist he let the sharp side nick my shoulder. Right before he pressed his lips to the wound, he muttered, "What better way to guard it than with your own body?"
I tried to twist away from his mouth, to head butt him, to do anything to make him stop, but he held me by the arms. It was worse than him cutting me up. I felt violated and dirty and wanted to tear the skin he had touched with him tongue off and throw it in the fire.
A man appeared, completely devoid of hair on his entire body. Instead, small markings, burned into his skin, covered his entire body. Orochimaru and he gathered near the door while I got to my feet, feeling my powers come back slowly the further I got from the fire.
"Her powers and the Grail are intertwined," I heard the man murmur. "If you take her powers, the Grail should detach from her as well. It's going to cling to whatever it thinks will keep it safest."
I tried to gather any water I could, but ended up feeling lightheaded for this room and whatever lay beyond was as dry as a desert.
Orochimaru glanced at me over his shoulder and 'tsked'. "I made this room specifically for you, blossom. Your only chance of escape is if I let you escape."
Then he hauled me up by the arm and dragged me out of the room, the man covered in ruins close behind with an excited gleam in his eyes that made my stomach twist. I fought the urge to scream for Sasuke, Hinata, Naruto, or anyone that could help me because I knew it would be pointless. Knights in shining armor were only in the misleading fairytales. In reality, I was alone.
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The brunette with two buns looked around and voiced the question the rest of her fellow Guardians had been wondering.
"Where is the Chosen One?" she asked and her face transformed into one of worry.
"They've taken her," Sasuke said. "And while we're standing here doing nothing they're doing who-knows-what to her. And her name's Sakura, not the Chosen One."
"Sasuke, we need to rest," Hinata reasoned and wiped at the blood falling into her eyes from the cut at her hairline.
"Hinata's right," Naruto agreed and then looked at the four other Guardians. "Is there a village nearby?"
"With flight it's not too far, but you guys don't seem to have your wings yet," a man with a brunette, spiky ponytail said in a lazy voice.
"Wings?" Naruto's face lit up.
"Yeah, they come when you need them most. It differs for every person," the man explained and then plopped on the ground, earning a kick to the thigh from the blond.
Sasuke stared off towards the edge of the clearing, anger filling his veins for not having his wings now when he needed them the most to help the girl he grew up knowing he would have to protect, the girl he never thought he would come to care about, even if he refused to admit it out loud.
He stayed on the edge of the group as they did introductions. While they planned, he listened quietly, making his opinion known every now and then when he disagreed with something. His fingers drummed against his thigh and when they finally set out, he led a few feet in front.
They backtracked to where they had last seen Sakura and then followed in the direction she had gone. When they found the clearing and the dead snakes, that's where their trail went dead. In desperate need of food and rest, they made camp half a mile away.
Sasuke remained silent as they made camp. He tended his wounds, took the food Shikamaru offered him and ate it even though his stomach was in knots, and lay on the ground, staring up the sky painted pink by the setting sun while trying and failing to get some sleep before his watch shift.
He took notice of the fact that the sky was a shade darker than Sakura's hair. Without meaning to, he fell into an ocean of thoughts of Sakura. It was easy to sort between his real memories and the ones he had dreamed about from a past life. Something in him panged for he wished he had experienced them all in this life, for they seemed to be closer in their past life both emotionally and physically.
Never once did he think about their demise in the past life or that history might repeat itself. He knew things might end badly for him or her, but it had never occurred for he had been training for this mission his entire life and had truly believed he was strong enough for it. Something in him couldn't admit that he might not have been, that if Sakura died he would be to blame.
While the rest of the Guardians sat around the fire and shared stories from their sides of the portal, Tenten and Neji who took the first watch and circled the perimeter. Realizing he wouldn't fall asleep anytime soon and suddenly restless, Sasuke slipped into the surrounding trees, ignoring Neji's stare.
The ache deep in his muscles, behind his eyes, pounding in his temples did nothing to stop his whirling mind. He couldn't stop imagining what Sakura might be going through right now. Each scenario was worse than the last until his forehead rest against a tree as he fought nausea and the urge to take out his katana and cut up the trees around him.
"You can save her," someone whispered and Sasuke whipped around, his katana in his hand in a flash.
"Show yourself," he growled and watched as a man with white hair and glinting glasses that hid his eyes stepped out from behind a tree. "Who are you?"
"I'm disappointed in you Sasuke for not knowing who I am," he drawled and passed behind a tree, disappearing.
"Kabuto," Sasuke murmured, his eyes scanning the trees for signs of movement. "Back from the dead for the third time?"
Kabuto appeared behind Sasuke, clapping mockingly. "You know your history."
Spinning around, Sasuke glared at Kabuto, mirroring him move for move. He turned in a circle, ignoring the way Kabuto circled him like a predator. It didn't make him the prey, not when he was the one holding the weapon, but he wasn't stupid enough to not expect Kabuto to have something up his sleeve.
"If I recall, Sakura has died once or twice also."
"Once, unwillingly," Sasuke said and felt a shiver run down his spine at the unwanted memories racing through his head. "And the next time she dies will be from old age."
At those words Kabuto chuckled. His laughter died down until the patter of the rain created white noise between them. Finally, he said in a low tone, "For all you know she could be dead right now."
Something in Sasuke snapped and he lunged at Kabuto, avoiding anything vital and aiming for his shoulder. As he brought his katana in a downward slash, Kabuto caught it with amazing speed between his palms. He stared at Sasuke over the rims of his glasses with amusement.
With all his strength, Sasuke landed a kick to Kabuto's stomach, sending him flying backwards through the underbrush.
"Play nice or any chance you have of saving her will be gone," Kabuto warned from Sasuke's left, brushing off dirt and leaves from his cloak. He straightened his glasses and then pushed them up the bridge of his nose.
"Save her?" He knew it was a trap, but at this point they were at a dead end. The rain had ruined whatever slim chanced they had had at tracking her and he was at his breaking point.
"Join us and we'll let her go alive," he offered, his voice smooth, drawing Sasuke closer hesitantly.
"Join you and do what?"
"Nothing too bad." Kabuto shrugged, holding out a small circular disk with three black commas on it. "Kill a few people, betray others, but it'll be worth it. Sakura will live."
Sasuke stared at the three commas, watching as they start to spin, faster and faster. It burned into his mind like a brand even after he looked away. He tried to think, but the words Sakura will live are the only words he could process.
Her emerald eyes took shape in his head. The rest of her face materialized and she smiled, her eyes crinkled in the corners as little wisps of hair caught the light behind her, glowing like a halo.
She's beautiful.
It wasn't the first time he had realized this or the last, but never before had he so openly admitted it or his true feelings for her. For so long he had been pushing people away, knowing they wouldn't understand how strong he had to be for himself and everyone else and somewhere along the way she had taken on the same burden. Somewhere along the way she had proven herself different from the rest and she was no longer some faceless girl he had to protect. She was his friend, his comrade, a girl he had a connection with in this life and their past life.
In his mind, the light dimed and her face fell until she was smiling sadly, like she knew something so terrible he couldn't imagine.
Sasuke opened his eyes, forgetting when he had closed them, and reached for the disk in Kabuto's hand. His fingers curled around the disk. It burned, a feeling he wasn't used to since he would control fire, but he held on and grit his teeth through the pain.
A dagger hit the ground near Sasuke's feet. Another hit his outstretched arm, making him draw back just as Hinata appeared.
"Don't," she yelled, out of breath, her katana drawn as she slid in front of him, taking a defensive position against Kabuto.
Kabuto growled, his calm mask falling away, and he flicked his cloak aside. A whip appeared in his hand, flickering like lightning.
"You've got one, too?" Ino mocked, appearing behind Sasuke and moving to stand next to Hinata, a whip of lightning in her hand. Shikamaru took his place next to Ino, and then Neji and Tenten. Each hand their weapons out, their wings out and ready for battle.
Hinata motioned for him to fall into line with her eyes.
He felt ashamed for almost falling into Kabuto's trap, all because of foolish emotions he had buried deep within and for a good reason. Without emotional ties he could make more rational decisions. At that moment he took ahold of the feelings Kabuto had evoked in him and pushed them into a steel box, hiding it away.
"The deal's off," Sasuke told Kabuto, throwing the disk at his feet.
Staring at them one at a time, Kabuto backed up, tucking away his whip and flipping up his hood. The shadows answered his wordless call, twisting around him like a second skin.
Before they could swallow Kabuto completely, Naruto appeared behind him and slammed the hilt of his katana into the back of his head. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground. Dragging him from the shadows, the Guardians took his weapons, bound and gagged him, and then stood in a circle around him, staring down at his motionless body.
Sasuke turned to Hinata. "Thanks."
Smiling shyly, she said, "We all fall off the path sometimes, even if our intentions are for the best."
"We still don't know how to find Sakura," he said.
"Don't worry, they'll come to us." Neji kicked Kabuto's shoulder, but Kabuto didn't move. "Especially when Orochimaru finds out we have his sidekick."
"You think Orochimaru's going to care that much?" Naruto asked. The fox whiskers were still visible on his cheeks, but they were fading as his power ebbed and exhaustion set in.
Sasuke looked around and saw how tired and beaten up everyone was. He felt it in his own body and knew that all they could do now was wait and hope Orochimaru cared even half as much for Kabuto as they did for Sakura.
"Kabuto is the only one who knows how to bring him back from the dead," Shikamaru muttered and plopped down on a nearby rock, making a face at Ino when she rolled her eyes at him. "What? I'm tired."
"You're always tired you lazybum," she countered, trying to hide her smirk. "So a trade off it is. One fucked up evil minion for Sakura."
"He's not going to make it that easy," Sasuke voiced, sheathing his katana but still keeping a palm on the hilt.
"We'll be lucky if we get her back alive," Neji admitted with creased eyebrows.
"Somehow I feel that will be the least of our worries," Tenten said as it started to rain lightly, making Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto feel Sakura's absence even more with each raindrop along with the burning anger at themselves for making it so easy for Orochimaru to succeed, again.
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I apologize if Sasuke seems out of character. I tried to make it seem as realistic as possible, to give reason to his feelings, but this whole story has taken so long to finish that I don't even know the different between up and down in it anymore.
Thank you for reading! I'm going to try and crank out the next chapter soon but knowing my record, I can't promise anything.