Something was out of place in Konoha. Sakura could tell someone that much although she couldn't place what was wrong with it, at least not at first. She had been kept so busy recently, Tsunade seemed to think that by working Sakura practically to the bone then she'd have less time to brood and miss Naruto. Unfortunately this approach also seemed to be working mist of the time as by the time she had a moments rest Sakura was so exhausted she went straight to sleep.

But she still had time to think about him, Naruto was such a large part of her life, always dropping round to spend time with her at her parent's house staying for dinner and then until late in the evening or even following Sakura from her house to Tsunade's in order to catch her for a quick chat. Naruto had been there for her so much that getting her to tend to more patients and giving her more assignments did little to stop Sakura from dwelling on Naruto's disappearance.

Despite being so preoccupied Sakura could still tell that there was something off. Somewhere between the early hours of the morning when she was racing to Tsunade's, or when she was out and about visiting and patients with Shizune or Tsunade, and when she was hurrying home in the dark, Sakura could feel that something wasn't quite right in her home. It frustrated her that she could never place what was so strange.

It wasn't that Naruto was gone, as Shizune had promised she had gotten used to missing him. There was something else happening and Sakura didn't like it. It felt like there was something moving just out of the corner of her eye and when she turned to look at it, it had gone.

This only added to Sakura's growing unease, she felt constantly on edge and everyone in Konoha noticed that Sakura was smiling and talking less. Some of them even found it a little suspicious especially as everyone else seemed to have moved on, at least that's how it looked like to the two new visitors in the village.

Then someone saw somebody else talking to a stranger, a person too well dressed to be a traveller or any kind of salesman, who usually passed through looking even more shabbily dressed than some of the villagers themselves.

After that the mood in the village tangibly changed. It was no longer just Sakura hurrying through the streets, avoiding eye contact once again. The breather they had felt in the quiet weeks after Asuma's body was discovered was shown to be just a small moment of reprieve, the calm before the storm so to speak, and now they were in the middle of a hurricane. And after that the two people didn't bother hiding anymore and then Tsunade never let Sakura leave on her own if she could help it. She was no longer allowed to wander the village looking for herbs and supplies, or to do rounds with patients even with Tsunade or Shizune next to her, she was stuck inside studying and reading as Tsunade had apparently decided (oh, so suddenly) that Sakura needed to go over some of the basics just to be sure and that endless anatomical diagrams of the nervous system and bones were the way to do this.

Instead Sakura watched the man and woman walk brazenly up and down the streets of Konoha whenever they went past one of Tsunade's windows. And she hated that now they didn't feel the need to hide anymore and they paraded up and down her home, taking peoples hard earned food and goods from the small shops and markets Konoha had kept going, and they did it as if they owned the place. Probably because they felt they did, Sakura thought, they had made no attempt to hide the fact that they thought they were better than everyone else here. And she hated them for that, Sakura's always short temper was bubbling away under a deceivingly calm surface.

She blamed them for Naruto's disappearance, she blamed them for the things they forced people to do, decent people who lied and cheated one another to buy another few months or years of survival. She blamed them for what they had done to her village, which had been lurching forward on the road to recovery following the body and Naruto vanishing and now people were too scared to look at each other, or maybe even felt ashamed if they knew that when the pressure was on they would say anything to direct an accusation on someone else to save their own family, even do it to an old friend. There was no real loyalty anymore and that was what Sakura hated them for most of all.

So when Sakura felt someone behind her when she was walking home that night, she knew something was wrong, it wasn't anyone from her village they wouldn't have slowly crept behind her pausing whenever she did at a time like this. And now, after all the wait, a small part of Sakura relished this moment. At last, something was happening, sure it was bound to be something horrible but it was better than the terrible creeping anticipation and dread she had been living with for the past months.

After weeks of feeling the futility of her own existence and struggles against the rest of the world, that anything she could do would be lost amongst the bigger picture, any kindness swallowed up until it was almost nonexistent against the rest of Fire Country's struggles. Sakura found herself welcoming the change. She knew if it was ANBU she couldn't win, but whatever stubborn pride she held onto wouldn't let her back down now.

Sakura walked slowly down the street, refusing to speed up even though her heart was almost pounding through her chest, it felt like she was facing down a wild animal as she refused to show any fear or hesitation. She could hear steady footsteps behind her, matching her step for step and then she saw it, a shadow just ahead of her. She was cornered, just like a pack of animals working together to trap their prey these two had done the same to her.

Sakura clenched her fist to stop it from visibly shaking, she wondered briefly what Naruto would do in this situation, probably shout and then charge at them if he had to get away. That thought gave her a moment to smile to herself, taking a small amount of comfort in her imaginary Naruto's actions but it wasn't really for her. She knew at some point this would have to come to blows and she was, hopefully, prepared for that, but Sakura wanted to know what was behind her first. She wanted to see the two people who would probably take her to her death and she was determined to go protecting the people she loved, she would make them proud of her if she could.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"What do you want?" She asked and was pleased that her voice was steady.

"Oh, little girl," a man's voice crept smoothly up behind her. "Don't worry your pretty little head so, we just want to talk."

Sakura felt a chill go up her spine but she did her best to ignore it, there was something in the way the woman was stalking towards her and that the man, who had suddenly gotten so close without her even hearing him move, that reminded her, once again, of something predatory in their actions. They were stronger than her, they had been trained to fight where she hadn't even been in anything like that since she was a child, and if that wasn't bad enough there were two of them against just her. She was significantly outmatched and Sakura knew it.

"So talk." She said firmly and the woman arched her eyebrow at her.

"Mmm, I love it when they're like this." The woman said casually making her way towards Sakura. "So strong, so determined not to give anything away, but guess what sweetheart-"

"Everybody talks." The man said right in her ear. Sakura jerked slightly and whirled round but he was already several feet away from her and they both were laughing.

"They always tell us exactly what we want to hear." The woman laughed and Sakura felt slightly sick to her stomach. Still she thought about what Shizune had told her, about Tsunade, about loss and how people above all had learnt how to endure things now. And that was what she had to remember, she could survive this if she could just steel herself for what was to come, if she could get through whatever these people through at her she could survive this.

At least that's what she kept telling herself. She knew there was a high chance of them getting bored and killing her but she tried to squash those darker thoughts, confine them to the dark part of her mind where they belonged, never to be examined.

And then the pain started.

It began like a school fight, there was a sharp tug to her hair that jerked Sakura backwards, tears in her eyes at the sudden unexpected burst of pain, then before she could recover Sakura received a blow across her face that sent black dots shooting across her vision. She fell to her knees and the woman grabbed a fistful of Sakura's hair and yanked her upwards.

"Now tell me, love, why are you being hidden away so much?"

"What?" Sakura gasped, and she could feel blood sluggishly dripping from her nose. There was another sharp pull. "Come on now, don't be coy, those village women are protecting you, keeping you all locked up in that Ivory Tower, and I want to know why."

"There's no reason." Sakura said and the woman tutted slightly.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way." She looked sharply up at the man. "Do it." He stepped forward and pulled out a knife.

"Scream all you like, little girl," He said stepping towards her as the woman held her stil by her hair. "No one will come out and save you, they're all too scared, and they should be, when they hear what we're going to do with you."

The knife came down.

Sakura screamed.

Sasuke couldn't help feeling slightly bored. They had been hiding out in Konoha for a while now and ever since they found out that two members of the specialised division ROOT had arrived they had been even more restricted in their movements. He and Gaara just couldn't take the risk of being seen especially since they had so little reason to be here.

He had taken to restlessly walking the village at night, always sticking to the shadows and using his training to render himself practically invisible to all but the most well trained eyes. At least then he felt like he was doing something, searching for anything even though most people were shut up inside after those two idiots had loudly proclaimed their presence.

Sasuke and Gaara had come to an agreement about that, they couldn't see what use striding up and down the village would do to conduct a proper investigation and now all they could hear when Gaara eavesdropped into people's homes were hushed whispers about the newcomers, fear and speculation about what could happen as people wondered if anything they had done could be considered treasonous. They had found out that someone had secretly taken above their quota of food to help their sick child, an act that was technically illegal but neither Sasuke or Gaara cared about that, someone else had 'borrowed' things from their neighbour and were scared of being turned in. But there was nothing worthwhile, just petty crimes and concerns from people doing their hardest to survive no matter the cost.

There was the curious girl though, they had seen her the first night they arrived, rushing home, and since then it seemed as if she had been cloistered away during the day and Sasuke only caught odd glimpses of her late at night or in the early hours of the morning, always hurrying. She was the only one who didn't look scared or too concerned and she was either very brave or very stupid and didn't know what was to come. Even the other two women who seemed to be sheltering her Sasuke had seen exchanging a few worried conversations and they seemed concerned about something, the girl or something else entirely maybe?

Either way, Sasuke thought he was reaching the end of his tether is he was starting to find village gossip interesting. It was then that he heard the scream. And that made things very interesting, it wasn't just a scream of fright, it was the kind of scream he recognised from the prison camps, one of fear and absolute agony. There was no reason for it to be heard in Konoha.

Sasuke cursed and began making his way in the direction it came from. It was interesting how even the slightest open window was firmly closed whether to try and block out trouble, or to avoid acknowledging that someone was in danger outside, if they couldn't see or hear it, it was easier to pretend it never happened, not in their village. Sasuke knew that better than most.

He heard another scream, this one was cut off half way through and Sasuke heard it trail off into a chocking sob and he knew he was getting nearby. He paused in the shadows, rounding the corner carefully so no to draw attention to himself but it seems he needn't have worried the two ROOT operatives were too engrossed in their activities to pay attention to anyone else. They seemed to be relying on fear and self preservation to keep away any witnesses and it seemed to be working well as a deterrent for the villagers. The woman moved slightly and Sasuke caught a glimpse of pink hair, some strands of it in the woman's hands where they had been pulled away from holding her still.

Then Sasuke could see her clearly, the odd little girl who was always carrying armfuls of scrolls and papers, buried under work and chores it seemed, too busy to get into trouble or so he had first thought. There was blood running down her arm and she was holding herself awkwardly as if the sitting position she had been forced into hurt her, that much Sasuke could see and some part deep down inside him felt that this was just wrong.

Usually Sasuke was able to ignore it, the greater good, that's what they had always been told, these things were for a greater good. Once apparently so great that ordinary people like Sasuke couldn't begin to see or understand it only Danzo could so they would do well not to question him. Still it was getting harder and harder to ignore the voice inside his that shouted every so often that something about this whole thing was just plain wrong. The echoes of a moral conscience maybe.

The girl wasn't giving them anything, young woman maybe would be more appropriate Sasuke saw, but since he had arrived she hadn't answered any of their questions, not without contempt and not giving them any information they could use anyway, and she wasn't fighting back which was odd. She didn't struggle and she didn't give them any reason to beat her more which, Sasuke was fascinated to see in a weird way, only served to frustrate them more.

"Why are they protecting you?"

"They're not." The girl said firmly and there was another crack and Sasuke watched as the girls head reeled back from the force. He was mildly impressed, despite it looking like she had been through a lot she was no closer to breaking.

Still, Sasuke hung back slightly despite the dwindling voice of his moral conscious shouting dimly at him to do something, anything to help her, especially as he knew it would only get worse. Sasuke ignored it and stayed resolutely still in the shadows, watching the scene before him undetected. He wanted to know why they were after her, what she had done to affect these two so badly, and, well, it wasn't like if he walked up and asked her that she would tell him the truth anyway. Not when she may well have been lying to these two ROOT operatives with such ease. She was being protected, that much Sasuke could tell, but there was always the possibility that she was unaware of how far these people were going for her herself.

The girl winced again as the man, this time, struck her from behind, sending her sprawling forwards toward his partner and part of Sasuke admired the skill and familiarity in their actions. Even if it only served to remind him just how many times they had probably done this. Whenever he was faced with something like this he usually found it easier to leave it to Gaara but even his partner who had a growing reputation as a sadistic killer preferred to give people a quicker death than these two would give the girl.

And it was that thought that made Sasuke slightly uncomfortable as deep in his subconscious something kept tugging at him. He would regret this, if he just stood and watched it happen, it seemed to say.

"I'm impressed little girl that you're still not talking to us." The woman said, "Still, neither of us take kindly to rudeness and we're starting to feel ignored so talk!" She kicked at the young woman and was surprised to see that she had been stopped. Sasuke was as well. The girl had her hand out and was grasping her shin. It looked like this could only get more interesting, he thought, she had decided to fight back.

"My name is Sakura," She said, glaring at the woman in front of her. "And if this is all that ANBU are capable of them I'm not scared of you." She yanked at the foot she was holding onto causing the woman to wobble slightly. "And I don't need protecting." She added loudly, getting to her feet as if she hadn't been beaten at all and launched herself at the other woman. Punching her full in the face. There was a crack as the woman's head was flung backwards under the force behind it.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. Now he was really impressed that the girl, that Sakura, with such a delicate sounding name, advanced on her opponent and punched her again. It wasn't what he would have called a soft 'girly' hit, she put her entire force behind it and whatever it was she did with her time in between running backwards and forward with those scrolls, it had made her strong. She managed to hot the woman a few more times but she had forgotten about the man behind her who easily seized Sakura from behind her dragged her away from his partner. She thrashed for a moment until he hit her, stunning Sakura momentarily and using that moment to pin her to the floor.

"That little bitch." The woman said and Sasuke felt strangely pleased to see that Sakura had drawn blood as the women held her hand up to her nose.

"What do you want to do with her?" The man asked and Sakura started struggling again.

"Let's kill her, whatever she knows can't be that important anyway and what can she really do. If she's being protected by those women, well, then whatever her importance we can deal with it just by removing her from the equation." She said.

Sakura twisted in vain trying to get away from her new captor she bit down hard on part of his arm to try and force him to let go of her but he held on stubbornly.

"Looks like someone doesn't know when to give up." The man said and gave her another blow to the head. Sakura felt dazed and she fought to remain conscious, fought to keep on fighting them and she dimly wondered just how hard he had hit her as she thought she could see a shape forming in the shadows by the parade of shops she was in. She shaped solidified as she starred, still uncomprehending, part of her ached at the thought of it being someone to help her but she knew that would never happen. No one in Konoha could stand up to these people even if they tried to. Yet she just couldn't help wishing...

"Let her go." What? Sakura was confused at the voice, it was calm and controlled and she didn't recognise it.

"How sweet Princess," The woman sneered at her, "It looks like people are dashing to your rescue, still feel like telling us you're not being protected when so many of these pathetic villagers are going out of their way to protect you, those two women and now him."

But he wasn't from Konoha Sakura thought foggily, she was too stunned, her body was aching too much for her to be able to figure out what was going on now and part of her thought she was still dreaming or hallucinating this because as the woman raised her hand to strike Sakura again the stranger vanished. Then before she could bring her palm down a hand reached out and yanked the ROOT woman's arm back, pinning her in place.

"I said," the man hissed and this time the threat in his voice was clearly heard, "Let her go." Sakura shivered. But the two with her seemed to shake off the feeling of dread Sakura had with bravado.

"Like you could do anything to us." The man said, bravely Sakura found herself thinking or was it foolishly?

Her – savour was it?- smirked wickedly and again only Sakura seemed to notice that he was practically radiating danger.

"Is that what you think?" He asked dryly and with one fluid movement he slammed the women into a wall and seized one of the man's arms. There was a sort of crack and Sakura realised with some sort of horror that he had probably broken the other mans arm. This was confirmed when he howled with pain and his tight grip on Sakura herself loosened. Sakura hastily struggled to get away from him, bending his fingers back as he momentarily lost his grasp on her and then as the ANBU man seemed to attempt to regain his grip on her he was wrenched away.

Sakura took a few moment to gasp up some air before she realised, getting shakily to her feet, that she was now positioned between the two that had tortured her and the man who had been strong enough to attack them both and attacked them so viciously. For the moment he seemed to be protecting her but without the presence of two other enemies Sakura wasn't sure what was in store for her, what he wanted, and who he was as it was obvious that he was no ordinary civilian like her.

Sasuke was struggling to maintain his focus as the girl behind his got cautiously to her feet, ignoring the pain she must have been in to get better mobility in case she had to run. He had to commend her bravery as the girl, Sakura, he reminded himself, was still trying to fight as best as she could against an impossible enemy. She seemed smart and from the corner of his eye Sasuke could see her weighing him up as both a potential ally and opponent. Despite this there was still a certain innocence surrounding her, she hadn't seen or experienced half the things he had in this sheltered village that had been largely left alone since the Resistance had been chased here all those weeks ago. But her wide eyes, scared but refusing to show it, that had tugged at Sasuke until he felt compelled to intervene were now narrowed in thought as he turned to give his full attention to the ROOT agents ahead of him.

The woman had straightened herself up again and she seemed to be the more intelligent of the two as she now watched him carefully. The man however was cradling his, now useless arm, with barely concealed rage.

"You little bastard" He exploded and made a few hasty steps forward to where Sasuke was standing before his partner got in from of him.

"Don't." She said sharply and then it was her that took a few more steps to stand up in front of Sasuke. "Who the hell are you?" She demanded. Sasuke said nothing, he just tilted his head as he looked at the woman thoughtfully, he didn't know much about ROOT but there were always rumours flying around about them. They were specially trained by Danzo himself to act as his right arm in maintaining order in Konoha, they were practically superhuman, impossible to beat. He smiled grimly, well he had just made both ROOT members bleed so it looked unlikely that any of these rumours were true. And he didn't like what they had done to the girl, to Sakura, it stirred memories deep inside him that he had long since tried to forget, feelings of home and family that he could just recall but never wanted to.

Sasuke pushed all of this behind and focused entirely on the two before him, they were skilled, that was definitely true but it seemed that they had grown too cocky in their abilities and that, Sasuke thought with a smirk, would work against them quite nicely.

He moved forward quickly and Sakura was surprised to see him almost disappear in front of the woman to be suddenly in the space between where she and her partner were standing. There was a momentary look of horror on her face when she realised just who, or maybe what, she was facing when there was suddenly a lot of blood.

Sakura felt slightly sick, the man had struck down the male ANBU so easily, she wrenched her gaze away and glanced around for anything to use as a weapon while everyone's attention was directed away from her and found- nothing. No, not nothing, there was an old piece of metal partially rusted, from a support maybe, that was partially hidden behind the locked bins of waste material that shopkeepers sorted though and sold and traded later if there was any use for them. Sakura thought that it looked heavy and while parts of it had rusted away, rendering it unusable from a tradesperson's point of view, it had created a jagged edge that would do Sakura quite nicely. She only had to get it.

Sasuke looked dispassionately at the man in front of him. He was bleeding a lot now sure, but none of them had hit any major wounds, the idea to hurt and maim more that inflict fatal injuries was one Sasuke rarely used but in this case it felt justified, that they were going to be hurt in the same way they had hurt hundreds of other people, Sasuke just felt that it was right.

The man whimpered, apparently as unused to receiving physical pain as he was to dishing it out and Sasuke moved round to wrench him up by the hair. Much like they had done to Sakura.

Suddenly remembering the girl, Sasuke glanced up to see her dart sideways and retrieve a heavy metal pole. Smart girl, he thought approvingly, overriding the nagging feeling that she shouldn't have to be doing this, that someone else should be protecting her. Someone rude and rash and annoying. Sasuke shook that thought away. Focus. He eyes the woman in front of him as he firmly placed the small blade he had been using against her partner throat.

"Now I want you to talk." He said coldly. "What do you want with the girl?"