I Hardly Knew You
"Well, I'm surprised you remember me," Orochimaru said.
"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke choked out.
"She's fine for the moment, better hurry and come save her, your time is limited," Orochimaru said as he snapped the phone shut and set it in his coat pocket.
The line went dead in his ear as Sasuke sat in shock before sprinting out the door, he pulled out his keys and quickly got into his car. He rushed quickly over to Sakura's house, as he dialed a number on his phone, but there was no answer.
He came to a stop outside Sakura's house and thrust open the door of his Mercedes before speedily running towards the front door of the house. He pushed open the door, rainwater drenched his hair making it stick to the sides of his face as the water dripped off the ends to the floor.
He looked around frantically as he yelled,
"SAKURA!!!!"
Quickly turning around he bounded up the stairs in quick strides. Coming to the top, he ran looking though each of the doors as he passed, before he came to a stop outside Sakura's room. On the floor he saw her parents crying in each others embrace.
"Mr. and Mrs. Haruno," Sasuke said.
They quickly shifted their tear stained eyes towards the boy they met before.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Mr. Haruno asked as he stood up pulling his wife up with him, they each wiped their eyes.
"I know who took your daughter," Sasuke declared ignoring their question.
"What?" The two said in unison as Sasuke's phone rang.
Pulling it out of his pocket he hit talk and held it to his ear.
"What's up Sasuke?" The voice questioned.
"Orochimaru took her," He said, "Orochimaru kidnapped Sakura."
"We're on our way, we'll follow GPS on your phone, don't leave your current position," The director ordered.
"Hurry, we've only got so much time," He replied as he hung up.
He paused as he looked over at Sakura's parents.
"Who is this Orochimaru, and who exactly are you?" Mr. Haruno asked.
"Orochimaru is a wanted man throughout several countries, he's on the most wanted list of every spy organization in the world," Sasuke explained professionally.
"And how do you know this?" Mrs. Haruno asked after he answered her husband's question.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I'm eighteen years old, and I work with an government organization known as ANBU," Sasuke declared orderly.
The shock on the adults faces was undeniable, never in their right minds would they have guessed Sasuke was an agent of such an organization. Their daughter's life was at stake yet there was nothing they could do.
Saturday was spent trying to locate Sakura's position, as they had the GPS on her phone switched on, with some big arguments with the service provider, ANBU coming out the victor. Now Sunday arrived, the agents of ANBU stayed with Sakura's parents in their house, as their tech professionals worked on locating the young girl.
Hiroshi and Amaya watched as the agents ran about their house trying to locate Sakura using the different computers that were stationed around the large space. The director walked over to the computers and watched over one of their shoulders as the tech man quickly entered passwords. The GPS wasn't working on Sakura's phone, but the ANBU tech agent could trace by the number. His eyes focused keenly on the screen as he typed quickly. He was given the nickname of cyberspace; he was a master on the computer.
They had her location, it was located not to far from where they were, a two-hour flight would have them there instantly. Sasuke was preparing himself for the coming mission; he sported a pair of black jeans, a black shirt with the sleeves missing. A belt was clipped around his waist it held a communicator, a combat pocket knife, a sphere, that looked like a yo-yo, with reinforced tether to hold Sasuke's weight, a present given to him on his first mission which allowed him to climb up various types of walls.
In his pocket, it held a laser, able to cut through several types of steel or rock, in the other next to the laser pocket were several explosives wrapped in a silver skin, once activated they would destroy anything like a normal bomb would, big bomb in a small package. Lastly attached to Sasuke's leg was a leg strap that held a large knife and a small .99mm hand gun, fully loaded with safety on.
Sasuke swept up his jacket and covered himself with it; the thin fabric concealed his belt of weapons. He placed his other communicator in his ear, in case something went wrong and he lost his other one, no one would know he was wearing it, easy way to call for back up.
"Are you ready to do this?" The Director asked Sasuke.
"Yes," Sasuke replied easily.
"Alright, I'll break this down for you," He said, "We'll fly you in, where you'll parachute down to the base, your objective is to sneak in and get Sakura out, that's your only objective, don't do anything else unless something goes wrong, we have to get Sakura to safety or Orochimaru could very well use her to their advantage."
Sasuke nodded in response to his words as they heard a helicopter overhead. Mr. and Mrs. Haruno stood staring as The Director ran out the door. The others would stay and communicate with Sasuke during the missions via satellite and computers connected to both of his communicators. Sasuke was about to follow suit and run out the door when he stopped and ran over to the adult couple.
"Don't worry, I'll bring her back, I promise, even if it costs me my life," Sasuke promised.
"Why would you risk your life anyway?" Mr. Haruno asked.
"It's my fault Sakura is in this mess, I tried to protect her by breaking my ties with her, that's why she was crying when she came home, but that didn't work out so well, Orochimaru still got to her before I could," Sasuke explained, "And besides, I care for her, more than I probably should...I will bring her back."
"Thank you so much for this," Mrs. Haruno sobbed as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "And you make sure to come back too, Sakura would be hurt if anything happened to you."
"I'll try," Sasuke said as he ran out the door, a rope was hanging from the helicopter; he grabbed hold as his commanding officer pulled him up before the huge machine took off.
Sakura was thrown roughly into a small room, the walls were made of solid concrete, a small window occupied the top of the back wall, but not big enough for a person to get through there. The sun shown dimly through the tiny opening, the only other light came from the light located on the ceiling even that didn't provide her much comfort from the dark room.
She sat against the wall and hugged her knees to her chest. Her jeans were already stained with dirt, she was afraid to say the least, but there was nothing she could do. She was a prisoner, and she knew that. Crossing her arms over her knees, she rested her head and silently cried to herself.
The helicopter Sasuke was on, was above Orochimaru's base, Sasuke was about to begin his descent as he stepped into the harness of the parachute and slipped the pack onto his back. His boss looked at him and nodded, Sasuke nodded back and walked to the door of the helicopter. He was brought in range of the base and suddenly he jumped out of the helicopter, as the machine flew away to return to the Haruno household. Sasuke parachuted down to the base, the wind whipped through his hair and stung at his face. The years of training for parachuting coming in handy, he had to make sure to clench his teeth, or the impact of landing could cause him to bite his tongue off.
As soon as he came closer, he deployed his chute and swayed gently down to the roof of the base. Landing softy he released his body of the harness and stuffed the chute back into the bag the way he was taught and slung it on his back, careful not to leave any evidence that he was here. He ran to the side of the air conditioner vent, reaching into his pocket he grabbed his laser and cut through the side of it with ease. His muscles flexed as he bent back the metal and slipped inside before carefully closing it.
Inside the vent cool air brushed his face, luckily his jacket and pants kept his body warm, only his face and hands would get the icy touch. He crawled with all of his strength as he slipped through several ventilation shafts. Then the shaft curved upward, pulling the yo-yo from his belt pouch he twisted it apart and set the magnet on the sides, he propelled himself up the shaft and came to rest on the curved part. He turned the magnet to the off position and brought it back up. Continuing to crawl along the vent he came to a stop when he heard crying, looking down through the vent gate, he spotted Sakura on the floor crying as quietly as she could. Sitting up as far as he could go, he forced the vent open causing Sakura to jump.
She looked around her but saw nothing when all of a sudden a figure jumped down from the air vent above her. She stood up and backed against the wall, when the figure walked into the light, her eyes widened. Sasuke smiled at her as he came to stand in front of her. More tears made their way down her face as she ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her as she cried uncontrollably into his chest.
They both let go and Sasuke looked her in the eyes, placing his hand on the side of her face he brushed away the tears with his thumb, then lightly pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Sakura, I'm so sorry," He said.
As soon as he said that, his eyes widened when he felt a stinging feeling on his right cheek, Sakura had actually slapped him.
"I suppose I deserved that," Sasuke guessed rubbing his cheek.
"That's for breaking my heart," She cried, "Sasuke what the hell is going on?"
"You know how I told you I couldn't keep my friendship with you?" Sasuke inquired as Sakura nodded, "Well, the reason for that is because I work with a government organization called ANBU, we deal with terrorism and other shit like that."
She looked at him, shocked by his confession.
"That's why you're here, Orochimaru kidnapped you to get to me," Sasuke explained.
"Wait, are you serious?" Sakura asked shocked completely out of her skin.
"Yeah, you know I wouldn't lie, don't you," Sasuke said.
"How do we get out of here then?" She asked.
"The same way I came in," Sasuke responded, but before they could make a move the door was busted open.
The two looked over instantly, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Mamoru and another man by the name of Sakon appeared in the room.
"Well look who we have here," Orochimaru said as Sasuke shifted Sakura so she was behind him, "I knew you would come, I was just waiting for you."
"Let Sakura go and you can take me and do whatever you want to me," Sasuke tried to reason.
"I don't think so, I'm going to do whatever I want to you anyway," Orochimaru laughed as he gestured his head to the other three.
They came at them and pushed Sasuke aside while Kabuto grabbed Sakura and brought her to stand next to Orochimaru. Sakon and Mamoru walked towards Sasuke as he hopped to his feet, getting ready to take them on.
"Hold him, I want to enjoy this," Orochimaru commanded as Sakon and Mamoru grabbed Sasuke and forced him to his knees.
They each had a hold of one of his arms; he was facing Orochimaru as he walked over with an evil smile. He came closer and reached around to Sasuke's ear and ripped the small communicator from it, causing him to wince.
"Make the girl watch," He stated before he looked back then spoke to Sakura directly, "This is what happens to people who cross me."
Orochimaru clenched his hand into a fist and brought it back, and with as much force and momentum as he could muster he made a connection with Sasuke's stomach. His eyes widened as he let out a yell of pain, clenching his eyes closed he coughed and groaned trying to rid himself of the pain he felt in his abdomen. Sakura watched in horror as Orochimaru's fist made contact with Sasuke's face, causing blood to flow from his mouth. The dark red liquid spilled onto the floor below him. Finally Orochimaru whipped out a knife, he lifted it up and thrust it into Sasuke's shoulder as he yelled in pain as the two dropped him to the floor, he clutched his shoulder and looked up into Orochimaru's eyes.
"SASUKE!!!" Sakura screamed.
The older male then grabbed Sasuke by the neck and lifted him up before slamming him into the wall, choking him as Sasuke gasped for air and struggled to claw away Orochimaru's hand. His vision was already blackening, he didn't know if he was going to stay conscious much longer.
"STOP!!" Sakura pleaded with a yell.
Orochimaru looked over at her and smiled deviously.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Please, just stop," Sakura sobbed.
"Take her to the plane," Orochimaru commanded roughly, "I'll finish up here and be there soon."
Kabuto, Sakon and Mamoru walked out the door as Kabuto dragged Sakura with them. She struggled to get away but his grip was too strong. She was pulled from the room and taken to a large airplane just outside from where she was at before. Tears leaked from her eyes as they forced her over to the plane, she couldn't help but worry about Sasuke.
Orochimaru had just finished his dealings with Sasuke and he was in horrible shape as the black haired man dragged him to the plane and boarded without hesitation. Sasuke was dropped harshly on the floor of the plane right next to Sakura. She stared in shock at his motionless body before she let out a shaky breath and crawled over to him hoping and praying he was just unconscious. Rolling him over to his back she placed his head in her lap, and rested her hands on both sides of his face. His left eye was bruised; a fairly large bruise was on his right cheek. The wound in his shoulder still had blood coming out of it, but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier. She was pretty sure he had some bruising to his torso but wasn't completely sure.
Sasuke groaned in pain as he opened his eyes to stare at Sakura in the face. Suddenly, movement below them made them flinch, the plane they were boarded on was taking off. They felt some turbulence for a few seconds but now they were soaring through the air. Sasuke tried his best to sit up, but had to have some assistance from Sakura, he leaned on her shoulder as they sat against the wall of the plane.
"Sasuke," She whispered.
"Yeah," He managed to get out despite the pain.
"Are you okay?" She asked through rough breaths.
"I don't know," He replied and tried to take in an inhale of breath before continuing to speak, "But don't worry about me, I made a promise to your parents, I'm going to get you home."
Just then, Orochimaru came through a door to where they were currently waiting.
"Well, this is the last time we will speak to each other Sasuke," He said with a smile of a devious nature.
"What are you talking about?" Sasuke questioned in a strained voice.
"Since you are going to die anyway," Orochimaru snickered, "This plane you are on will crash into that school of yours, its filled with bombs that will set off upon impact, destroying that school, this will give ANBU and all those other pathetic organizations a reason not to toy with me."
"You'll kill all those kids," Sakura stated with shock and fear laced within her voice.
"That's the idea," Orochimaru replied back, "My men and I will be parachuting down while this plane is left on autopilot, so this is farewell Sasuke, it was nice while it lasted."
He gave one final laugh of victory before leaving with his men right behind him. Sasuke became furious as he quickly jumped up but staggered slightly as Sakura stood and steadied him on his feet. He sprinted out the door that Orochimaru and his men went through and spotted the last guy about to jump from the plane. Sakura gasped and the man, Sakon, turned around quickly and sighted them. He ran over as Sasuke brought his hand back and punched the man in the gut with his good arm. The man gave a cough as he keeled over and Sasuke struck him swiftly on the back of his neck.
Reaching into the man's pocket, Sasuke pulled out a cell phone, and muttered a quick yes as he dialed The Director's number and gave a sigh of relief when the phone was answered. Sasuke spoke clearly into the phone his voice not faltering when he began to explain the situation.
"We have a huge problem, get to the school now, Orochimaru has a plane set to crash into it, the plane is filled with nuclear explosives that will detonate on impact, he is planning on destroying the school and several other buildings will be destroyed along with it."
Sasuke told The Director the coordinates of where Orochimaru had jumped from the plane. Their main concern was getting out and stopping this machine set to hit the school. the Director had dispatched agents to apprehend Orochimaru and his crew while another team evacuated the school just in case. Sasuke shut the phone and looked over at Sakura, he tried to think of what they could do and then it dawned on him.
"Sakura, we're going to have to blow up the plane before it gets to the school," Sasuke declared as Sakura looked at him with wide eyes.
"Are you out of your mind?!" She asked oblivious to what he had planned.
"Sakura listen to me, if we can set a bomb to be detonated by remote, we can use that man's parachute and get out of here," Sasuke explained as he gestured to the guy out cold on the plane floor.
Sakura only nodded, but fear was still evident in her eyes which didn't go unnoticed by the male in front of her. Sasuke gave her a quick hug to reassure her then walked over to one of the bombs and suddenly got an idea. Reaching into one of his pouches he pulled out one of the small bombs he had and placed it on top of the nuclear explosive. Working swiftly he managed to find a small remote in the cockpit of the plane and rewired it to work with his bomb. Now he was in control, but as he turned to face Sakura, he froze in place. Sakon was back on his feet and he had a hold of Sakura, not to mention they were standing near the open door of the plane.
"Let her go," Sasuke warned as he held up his hands in a an attempt to calm the man.
"Fine then," Sakon chuckled as he turned and shoved Sakura out the open door he would have jumped out of earlier as her screams faded in the distance.
"SAKURA!!" Sasuke yelled before he charged after Sakon and engaged him in hand to hand combat.
Sasuke snagged the parachute off of his back and backed towards the door, slipping it on to his back he smiled victoriously and fell backwards out of the plane. Sakon ran toward him but was too late as Sasuke was already falling through the sky. He looked at Sasuke and noticed the remote he held up, and his eyes widened. That bomb was going to explode one minute after the switch was triggered and Sasuke hit that switch the second he jumped from the plane.
Sasuke stuffed the remote into one of his pouches and began diving, sticking his body straight as he tucked his arms to his side to help him gain speed. He dove and glanced around but had some trouble since the wind whipped into his eyes and through his hair. He heard screaming and turned his head to see Sakura falling though the sky. Gliding towards her, he came and grabbed her into his arms and held her tightly. Her scream caught in her throat as she clung to Sasuke's torso, fastening her arms together around his neck.
"Hang on tight, you'll feel a strong jerk from the parachute," Sasuke shouted at her so she could hear him, all Sakura did was nod as she clutched him even tighter.
Sasuke reached to the pack and pulled the string of the parachute and they were jerked up roughly like Sasuke had said; now they were gliding towards the ground. An explosion was heard behind them as the bomb finally went off and destroyed the plane. Smoke and pieces and bits of metal swept down to the earth falling past them, Sasuke just hopped none of it would hit them. Debris rocketed to the ground, but not enough big to cause permanent damage to anything.
At the school, the students were gathered around outside, ANBU had long since evacuated the school and had them prepared to run if something went wrong. But as they stood gaping into the sky, fleeing was no longer necessary. The plane had exploded and the teens of the high school watched in awe as two bodies came gently down with the assistance of the parachute. Sasuke and Sakura landed onto the courtyard in front of the school.
The Director smiled proudly as they landed, he didn't waste any time in running over to them. The teens outside stood in shock as they realized these two had attended their school.
"Sasuke, Sakura, are you guys alright?"
"Yeah, did you get Orochimaru?" Sasuke hesitated in asking.
"We did, we have him custody right now," The Director stated as he glanced at Sasuke's shoulder, "He's going to prison, for attempted murder, kidnapping, being basically a terrorist, he may even get the death sentence."
Sasuke nodded as The Director eyed him. "What?"
"Your shoulder, are you in pain?"
"Huh, oh no I'm fine."
The man sighed. "Your mother is going to kill me."
"What do you expect dad? She wasn't all too thrilled with me joining this organization in the first place." Sasuke smirked.
"True," The director, aka Fugaku, returned his son smirk.
"Orochimaru is in there." Fugaku pointed to a van before turning to Sakura. "Your parents are on there way."
She smiled and nodded at him.
"Dad would you mind if I went to say something to Orochimaru?"
"I guess not, just stay on your guard."
Sasuke nodded and made his way over to the van that Orochimaru and his gang were being held in. There was a small window that was open and covered with bars so Sasuke went to stand in front of it and looked inside. Orochimaru glared at him with hatred.
"Looks like you won't be threatening anyone again." Sasuke stated with assurance.
"Oh I guarantee this won't be the last time."
Orochimaru chuckled as a sinister smirk came to his lips which took Sasuke by surprise. "I have connections everywhere."
Sasuke suddenly froze as his breathing became short, he felt dizzy and he didn't know why. His vision was beginning to blur as he finally felt pain shot through his chest. He glanced down and spotted blood seeping through his shirt as his eyes widened before he reached his hand up to clutch the wound.
How...?
He fell to his knees before falling to lie on his back, his sight turned black and returned as breathing became more and more difficult for him. Fugaku turned to look at his son who he had seen was on the ground. "SASUKE!"
Sakura gazed in his direction and her eyes widened as she followed Fugaku who had run to his son's side. Orochimaru grinned darkly. Revenge is sweet.
Fugaku hovered above him as Sasuke's eyes stared up at him. Blood was already beginning to run from the side of his mouth. "I need an ambulance now!" Fugaku yelled and turned back to Sasuke.
"Sasuke stay awake!" He called the young male.
...Dad...I can't...
It...
...Hurts...
Sasuke's eyes closed as his mind turned blank before losing consciousness.
"Sasuke." Sakura called him as a medical team arrived and began placing IV's and and an oxygen mask on his face.
They took him away in the ambulance as fear settled into her heart.
He can't be...
Its been so long.
Sakura's thoughts were running wildly as she walked onto the stage to accept her high school diploma.
Three months to be exact.
She headed back down the stage to return to her seat as the other students continued to walk on stage to grab their diplomas from the principal. Her eyes held sadness and fear as she glanced up at the night sky. Their graduation was held out on the football field, it was lit up from the lights since darkness had fallen during the ceremony. She sighed softly as thoughts continued to run through her head.
Sasuke are you even okay?
She and her parents never heard from ANBU or Sasuke's father since the incident. A sniper had shot Sasuke in the chest, of course it was one of Orochimaru's henchmen, but at least they caught him. That alone hadn't taken away her worry though. When Sasuke was taken by the ambulance, the rest of the ANBU team just disappeared without a trace and she hasn't heard from them since. She had doubts that Sasuke may have..died...from the wound he received.
She shook her head, refusing to believe that.
But then again...
She sighed as the last student walked across the stage with her diploma. The principal immediately congratulated them before she announced them as official graduates which sent the audience into an applause. All of the students stood and went to find their parents as Sakura copied their actions.
When she found her parents they embraced her in a hug and congratulated her, when she pulled away her father could see the distress in her eyes.
"Sweetheart, whats wrong?"
"I'm fine, I just need some air," She turned to leave. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Her parents nodded as she walked towards the gates to exit the football field, she leaned against the wall as her eyes stung with unshed tears. She reached up to wipe her eyes as she removed her graduation cap from her head.
"You know a girl shouldn't be crying on the night of her graduation."
She jumped when someone spoke from the shadows, when she looked over she couldn't see who it was.
"Go away, I'm in no mood to deal with anybody right now."
"Hey I'm only trying to cheer you up."
"Yeah well its not working." She muttered as a few more tears escaped her eyes.
"Why are you crying anyway?"
"Why do you care?"
"I want to know if its because of me." The person stepped out of the shadows as Sakura looked up.
Her eyes widened as her tears replenished themselves.
"Sasuke." She murmured breathlessly.
"I don't want you to cry because of me."
"When did you...?"
"A few days ago," He stepped forward so he was in front of her.
She glanced down until he pushed her chin up so she would look into his eyes.
"I'm sorry for being the cause of your tears." He didn't hesitate to kiss her on the lips.
Her eyes widened before her lids covered her irises. She returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck as his wound around her waist.
Fugaku smirked from his seat in his car. "Still think he shouldn't have left the hospital." He asked as he turned to his wife.
"No, I have to face the fact that he's not a kid anymore."
"Mikoto, Sasuke will always be your baby boy," Fugaku said as he grabbed his wife's hand, "But he has to start living his own life now."
"But does he have to do it as a member of ANBU?" Her eyes softened. "I just don't want to see him get hurt again."
"Don't worry about that, I think he'll want to take some off anyway, I think you can tell why." He smirked.
Sasuke pulled away from the kiss so they could catch their breaths. Sakura smiled at him as he returned it with a small one, he rested his forehead against hers.
"Congratulations," He smirked as she blushed.
"To think I hardly knew you before, but now I see the real side of you."
"Hn, good." He kissed her again which she didn't hesitate to return.
I hardly knew you before
But now I finally see
Who you really are
And who you'll always be
A/N Yes I know I took forever to post this and I apologize. I'm not really satisfied with how this came out...but yeah anyway, please read and review.