A/N: I know, I know
A/N: I know, I know. I should be working on the other story, but I'm just so inspired for this one, I have to get it al out. Or else my head will burst! Anyways, for the lucky ones who read this, this is an illustrated story! If you go to my profile, You'll find the links there. Also, I'll add them in the story. Enjoy!
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Unspoken
By: Goth-VampireNinja
Chapter Two: Scream
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"She's here," Hinata and Neji said simultaneously. "She's under us. In a cell underground," Neji continued.
"There don't seem to be any guards. This place seems…deserted," Hinata said.
As they kept on walking, Shikamaru took in all the surroundings. Naruto walked on ahead, despite the whispers that told him otherwise, and too late, they all realized that the place was crawling with traps. "Watch it, Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled. It was too late. Naruto stepped on the thin, near-invisible wire, and the floor started to rumble under them. "Run!"
The floor collapsed and they could all barely catch the ledge of the crumbling hole. Ino looked down and her eyes widened. There were some strange sorts of acidic spikes near the bottom. She tugged at a small piece of fabric with her teeth and dropped it into the pit. They all watched it flutter down and instantaneously burst out into flames as soon as it touched the purple liquid swimming at the bottom. "Urgh!" There was a rotten smell coming from underneath them. She looked again and gasped. Rotting flesh. There were pieces of unlucky corpses down there. She screeched and pulled herself up off the perilous edge. Then she helped some of the others get up.
"That was close," Naruto sighed carelessly. Ino glared at him.
"Why don't you watch where you're going, Knucklehead!" she said angrily.
"Shhh! We have to be careful, so shut it, both of you. Neji, you lead us through the traps to where Sakura is. Hinata, you go behind us, in case something comes at us from the back. I'm trusting you guys with important positions, don't mess up. All our lives depend on that," Sasuke said.
"Got it," they both said, and took their places. As they cautiously walked down the foul-smelling duct, they finally came upon some stairs. The passageway was completely dark, and Sasuke had to activate his Sharingan. The others were simply guided by the sound of the other's soft footsteps.
As they descended, the stench of fear grew stronger…more defined. There was only one place where it could be coming from. They unconsciously walked faster.
"There she is. Only three more cells down this way," Neji whispered. Sasuke nodded and walked up next to him. As they came to a stop in front of what seemed to be an empty cell, they were all silent. They listened carefully, and they soon heard the sound of muffled whimpers of fear.
"Sakura?" Sasuke called. The sound stopped. He looked at the lock on the door and tried to break it. He knew he couldn't use his fire jutsu without hurting Sakura, so he stepped back and motioned for someone else to try.
"Here," Naruto said silently. Everyone was stunned. They weren't used to seeing or hearing Naruto so serious, so when he used his Rasengan to break the lock silently and efficiently, they all parted for him respectfully. He opened the door and stepped inside. "Sakura?" There was a shifting in the corner of the cell.
Sasuke took out an emergency flare and lit it. They all winced at the sudden light, but then quickly looked around the cell, finally coming upon a malnourished figure crouched weakly against the far wall of the cell. Sasuke's face lit up inconspicuously as he walked towards the terrified figure. He noticed that there was something very different about her. She looked terrified, and she was holding her shoulder desperately, as if in pain. She was trembling horribly, and she seemed to be bruised all over. She was crying, and as he followed the paths of the tears as they ran down her cheeks, he caught sight of the marks on her cheeks. There were slash-like, whisker-like lines running across her pale skin, two on each side. They reminded him of Naruto's marks…
(Go to my profile page and click on the link near the bottom, where it's labeled "Unspoken, chapter 2. Or go to:
goth-vampiregirl./art/Unspoken-chapter-2-88594460)
"Sakura?" he asked as he approached. She cowered against the wall and stared at him with terrified eyes. He reached for her and a loud sound exploded from her. It took him a minute to realize that she was screaming. "Sakura?" He reached down and touched her arm just briefly, she screamed again and bit at his hand. Sasuke gasped as he felt two her inhumanly sharp canines dug into his flesh.
"Don't! Please don't! Stay away! It hurts so much already!" She screamed in panic. Ino and Hinata came forward, worried out of their wits.
"Sakura?" they called. Sakura stopped screaming and let go of Sasuke's arm. He backed away, clutching his hand in pain. Kiba and Akamaru stepped forward to examine his wound. They both sniffed and looked worried as they studied the wound.
Recognition flickered across Sakura's face as she looked at them. "Ino...? Hinata…?" A small whimper escaped her lips as they curved upward slightly. "I…I'm dreaming. This is all an illusion." She turned hatefully towards Sasuke. "You're doing this! Stop it! This is not fair! Haven't you tortured me enough already? What are you planning on doing? Killing them in front of me? You think all the other things aren't enough already?!" Everyone looked stunned.
"It's us, Sakura…" Hinata said softly. She reached for Sakura slowly, but she slapped her hand away.
Sakura formed a hand sign weakly and said, "Release!" Nothing happened. She stared unbelievingly at both other girls. "It's…really you?" She laughed, a hollow sound, and weakly threw herself at them. They hugged each other tightly. "I can't believe it! But…Oh, no! Not you too! Quickly, get away from him!" She pushed them behind her and glared at Sasuke. "Let them go! You've already got me as a guinea pig!"
"Sakura, we're here to take you back to the village," Ino said worriedly, stepping out from behind Sakura. She started walking over to Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru, but Sakura grasped at her sleeve with begging in her eyes. Ino shook off her weak, yet stubborn hand sadly and waked over to them. "He's with us."
"This is all a lie! This is all…" Sakura broke down into sobs. Hinata hugged her.
"Sakura…" Naruto called. Sakura's head snapped up. She looked at him in disbelief.
"You're…You're alive? Naruto…You're alive! I thought he'd killed you! I'm so happy!" she sobbed. She stumbled over a few steps in his direction, then stumbled and Naruto had to run forward and catch her. She hugged him tightly. "Naruto," she whispered. "I'm like you now. I know what it feels like now. You and Gaara…now we're all the same," she said.
Naruto pulled back to look at her face in confusion, but nothing about her terrified expression gave anything away. She was trembling in his arms. He let her go and she stepped back from him. He reached for her again, afraid that she might fall, but she flinched away from him. "You're a guy," she stated simply. Naruto couldn't help but looked worried, as if she might be insane, but also give her a 'no, duh' look.
"We have to go," Neji said, looking around above him, his Byaakugan activated. "Someone's coming." They all moved towards the exit of the cell, but Sakura didn't follow. "Sakura, come on, climb on my back," Neji offered. She flinched, as if afraid to even touch him.
"You're a guy," she repeated to him. They all exchanged worried looks. "I can't leave this place, as horrible as it might be. I'm meant to die. If I leave, havoc will be released on the world…Orochimaru-sama will be angry with me and he'll…" she whimpered as more tears streamed down her face. "Uchiha will hurt me too! This is all a test, isn't it?"
"No!" Naruto yelled. Sakura flinched. "None of us will hurt you! This is all real! We're here to rescue you, but we have to leave now! Come on Sakura! Please," he begged. Sakura looked at all of them, except for Sasuke, who she glared at.
"Okay," she whispered, and stumbled forward. Naruto reached for her, but she flinched away violently. "You're a guy."
"I know that better than anyone, Sakura," Naruto hissed impatiently. He was instantly sorry as more tears welled up in her dull emerald eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry, but you have to climb on someone's back. You're too weak to run, and we have to get out of here quickly…"
"But…guys…" she looked terrified and indecisive again. As if maybe rethinking the plan of leaving.
"I'll take you," Ino said. Sakura looked at her in surprise. "Come on, I've been training, and you can't weigh much at all. Climb on, quickly!" Sakura smiled at her and walked towards her. Ino, expecting a regular weight, bent at the knees and hauled Sakura up when she was on, nearly making her fly off. She was nearly weightless! "We need to get some food in you after this! You don't weigh anything! I could run all the way home with you on my back without stopping!" Everyone looked shocked. "Let's go."
As they ran out of the underground lair, they were surprised to find an old man with a small bundle on his back near the entrance. They all prepared to fight, but the man cowered and stumbled back. "No, wait! I mean no harm! I only came to feed the monster! They were orders from Orochimaru! If I don't do this, I'll be killed!"
"Go back to where you came from. There's nothing left here for you to do," Kiba said. Akamaru barked menacingly in agreement. The man nodded and scurried off. "That was easier than expected…"
"Let's go. It'll be safer once we put some distance between this place an ourselves," Sasuke said. Ino noticed Sakura flinch. Hinata walked closer to them, noticing the small, violent movement too.
She was so traumatized…so scarred. What had happened to her…?
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A/N: Yes! How do you like it so far? I hope it's good now, 'cause it's gonna get better!! - YES! Anyways, I hope you looked at the picture that goes with this. I drew it in two minutes, so it's crappy, but I hope you can bear with it. Review please! (Or the story gets deleted!)
GVN-out-