Disclaimer can be found on the first chapter.

I thank those that were kind enough to review. I also thank those that were brave enough to add this story as a fav. or alert. I can only hope I don't disappoint you. Again, reviews are greatly appreciated!!

On to the next chapter!!

Sakura walked the woods gathering up twigs and sticks to use as firewood, her thoughts on Kakashi and the mission.

"Maybe we shouldn't have taken the mission. I should've said no in order for Kakashi to get better. Sure it's a simple retrieval mission, but after what we've gone through so far, perhaps it's not." Sakura frowned as she thought on this and quickly reverted to her ninja training as she heard a snap of a twig.

Gently placing the firewood down, she moved quickly behind a nearby tree, trying to get an idea of what, or who, she was dealing with through her chakra. Keeping hers low, she could just make out fairly faint chakra traces before she found herself surrounded. Taking a moment to look at each of the ninjas surrounding, she turned back to the one she assumed the leader.

"Look what we have here. Are you lost? Would you like us to show you the way out?" The leader asked.

"I'm perfectly fine thank you. I was just gathering some firewood. If you'll excuse me…" Sakura said, moving towards the wood she had collected.

"By all means, allow us." The leader snapped his fingers and one of the men seemed to barely move before his arms was laden with the wood Sakura had collected earlier.

"Oh, well… thank you. Umm… I can take those." Sakura said, not moving.

"Please, we insist. A beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn't be out here alone, collecting wood. Have you no one to do this for you? We'll take care of it. Did you have a place already laid out for this wood to be place?" The leader asked.

"Umm…. I… well…. I have to insist that you allow me to take my own burden. I don't wish to trouble you… fine gentlemen. Surely you were on your way to something important? Stopping to help me was very kind, but… I can assure you I'm quite capable." She replied.

"I'm sure you are." The leader said, moving in close.

Sakura held her ground as he got closer, but she clenched her right gloved hand tightly as he got even closer.

"Well… if you'd like to get back to what you were doing. I'll get out of your way." Sakura said.

"That's alright. We'll take you back to your camp. We insist." The leader said, now standing directly in front of Sakura.

"I was afraid of that." Sakura said, sounding slightly defeated.

Slumping her shoulders, she quickly reached her right hand back and let it fly towards his face. The leader took a step back, being grazed by the chakra that flowed around her gloved hand. He jumped back and looked at her, a small line of blood showed up across his left cheek.

"Feisty. Just the way I like my women. Take her!" The leader said to his men.

Sakura dug down deep as she prepared to fight her way through this. Several men made to grab her, but she quickly evaded them. Moving into the trees, she threw a few shuriken and kunai's, catching one or two men off guard. One quickly appeared behind her, grabbing her from behind and wrapping his arms around her. She struggled and gasped when he began foundling her breasts. If possible, Sakura's green eyes grew darker and she managed to elbow the man in the side, possibly breaking a rib before she threw him off her, following to finish with a kunai in his chest. Two others attempted to grab her and she dodged them, sending an angry fist into the first one, successfully breaking his jaw, while the other received a swift kick to his privates. He wasn't going to be able to reproduce any time soon.

"Nicely done, let's see how you handle me." The leader said as he moved in front of Sakura.

She had him as well as two more to fight before she could get back to Kakashi. She only hoped he was ok. She wasn't sure if he was under attack or not. All the more reason to wrap this up and get back to him. Her mind had just taken her back to her situation at hand when she caught sight of the leader moving to attack her. She blocked his kick to her right side, but failed to see the punch to her face. She cried out and flew back, slamming back first into a tree. He quickly caught her by her throat, holding her up so she wouldn't slide down.

"Hummm…. You gave my men much more of a challenge than this. What's wrong?" The leader asked.

Sakura winced as his hold on her throat grew tighter. She wrapped her hands around his arm and began squeezing tightly. Twisting each hand inwards, she managed to get him to loosen his grip before he moved to punch her again. She ducked and closed her eyes against the splinters that were falling around her. Opening her eyes again, she got loose and fell to the ground in a crouch, leg sweeping him and bringing him down on his back. She climbed on top of him, her chakra thin and slightly long, as if a blade. She looked to the other two daring them to move closer than they already were.

"Take another step and he dies." She said coldly.

"What are you gonna do? You're too weak. Take her." The leader said.

Sakura moved her knife like chakra closer and managed to draw blood as well as a wince from the leader. The other two stood where they were, waiting for a sign or something. Sakura took that chance, disappearing off the leader and reappearing behind the two of them, a kunai in each hand before she stabbed them in the neck.

"You'll pay for that bitch." The leader said standing to his feet, a hand wiping off the blood that dripped down his neck.

"Bring it." Sakura said before she threw a few shuriken at him and moved into the trees once more.

He blocked the shuriken and looked around for where she might have gone. Growling, he moved to where he thought he felt her chakra and found it to be wrong. Two kunai came at him and he blocked them with ease. Sakura continue to hide, watching him from where she was.

"What's wrong? Can't finish me off like you did them? Let's have a little fun." He said and threw a kunai in the direction he felt her to be.

Sakura moved to dodge the kunai, but soon found herself in the arms of the leader. He brought them down to the ground and held her tightly against the ground. She winced and struggled, but found no way of escape. Bring up a hand, she punched him in the face, but he merely took it, turning his head away and looked back at her.

"Stupid bitch. You're gonna pay for that one." He said as he grabbed both her arms in one hand a held them above her head and reached down and ripped down her clothes in one go with the other.

Sakura gasped and tried struggling to get away. He simply punched her in the face and she stilled. Her chest heaved up and down as he ran a hand up and down her stomach and chest. She cringed as he fondled first her left breast and sucked upon her right. He removed his right hand from her breast and moved it down to her panties. Roughly moving his hand in between her legs, Sakura jerked when he forced two of his fingers into her womanhood.

"N-no!" Sakura cried, struggling more.

He tightened his grip on her and she stopped for a moment, trying to get her energy back. Smirking cruelly, he ripped her panties down and started pulling his own pants and underwear down. Sakura's eyes grew wide and she waited for the moment when his focus on the hand around her arms loosened even the slightest.

"Better hang on to something, this is gonna be a bumpy ride." He laughed at his on joke and moved to settle between her legs.

At the moment, his hold grew slack and Sakura raised her head, head butting him in the nose, and then punching him with everything she had in his face after pulling her arms free when he went to see if his nose was broken. She quickly took hold of a nearby kunai as he struggled to get up. His pants around his knees didn't help him and she quickly moved in for the kill. He looked up just in time to have his head cut off. His body fell to the ground where it knelt. Sakura tried to calm her beating heart and looked around her to make sure there weren't any others. Not getting a signature from any direction, she made quick work of burying and hiding the bodies. The realization of what was just about to happen caught up with her and she fell to her knees, shaking. Taking a couple deep breaths, she managed to get herself back in control and stood up, making her way back to where she left Kakashi and a change of clothes.

TBC...