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Ghost of Love: Chapter Five

Sakura stirred slowly, consciousness returning to her in an agonising rush. Her whole body ached horribly, her abused chakra pathways spreading threads of pulsing pain through her muscles, tendons and various sinews. "Uuugghh," she moaned cracking her eyes open with effort.

"Ahh, so you're finally awake."

Sakura stiffened, her mind freezing, locked in a loop of confusion as she tried to recall what had lead to her being in the same room as Orochimaru. Oh, right. Damn.

"I was beginning to think you might never wake and I was loathe to disturb you…" The snake sannin sounded disgustingly pleased about something and Sakura could only wonder what.

"How… sweet of you," the kunoichi murmured haltingly as she struggled to locate the source of his voice.

"Don't bother trying to move little one, you're tied down."

Oh god, what's he going to do to me? Another thought occurred then: Oh jesus, what's he already done to me?

"Don't fret girl, no horrors have been committed upon your body while you slept." Orochimaru sounded both mildly amused and slightly offended.

As if that reassures me. "Why am I…? What are you going to do to me?"

The snake sannin suddenly came into view, looming over the pink-haired girl in order to look directly into her eyes. "I have a proposition for you."

"W-what? What sort of proposition?" she asked warily, trying to shrink back into the mattress of the bed she lay on.

Orochimaru smirked at her discomfort and spent a long moment examining her face, as though looking for something. "You have a rather… odd situation, do you not? Your body is infested with chakra that is not your own and it does not appear to be going away of its own volition."

Sakura's eyes widened as she took immediate inventory of her body. Past the pain and the dead weight of her exhausted limbs there thrummed a horrible energy, pacing and rumbling, rattling at the cage of her body. Why is it still there? It surely should have drained away by now!

"Ah, so you can feel it even now? Do you know why it is so subdued at the moment?"

She shook her head slowly.

"You have been administered an extremely strong chakra-inhibitor combined with a sedative. The sedative appears to be wearing off, though. Don't worry, Kabuto has plenty more."

Sakura shuddered at the sickening amusement in the snake sannin's voice and waited for him to continue. What does he want?

"Now, I don't want to waste all of my pharmaceuticals on you, nor are you of any use to me lying around unconscious. So… my proposition is this; I will teach you how to control this chakra. Or I will kill you. You choose." Orochimaru smiled pleasantly down at the girl, watching her reactions with interest.

Sakura blanched, eyeing the dark haired rogue ninja with intense suspicion. "What's the catch?"

"Such mistrust," Orochimaru shook his head and clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. "Well…" Orochimaru disappeared from view for a moment and Sakura felt the mattress dip slightly as he seated himself beside her. His face reappeared momentarily, closer this time. "All I require is that you allow me to extract the excess chakra that your body and mind cannot handle."

Sakura tried to wriggle away from the snake sannin but quickly found that the ropes tying her down were much too tight. She gave up with a sigh and let her eyes wander over the dark ceiling, giving herself a little time to think. "Why don't you just take the chakra you want?" Why did I say that? Dammit, what if he hadn't thought of that and I just put it in his head?

Orochimaru sighed wistfully. "Oh, I wish I could. It would be so much easier to simply keep you drugged up and tied down in here, draining your chakra whenever I feel like it… But unfortunately it doesn't quite work like that." He picked idly at one of the ropes, a vague expression on his face. "You see, I cannot take your chakra from you. Your body won't give it up that easily. If that was how it worked, you would see ninja stealing one another's chakra all the time. But you don't, do you? No; you have to actively give me your chakra," the distant look disappeared and the snake sannin's eyes snapped back to Sakura's, locking onto her gaze intently. "But enough of that, you need to give me your answer. Allow me to take your excess chakra in return for lessons in how to bring it under control. Or die. Or maybe I could just torture you until you volunteer it… that might work."

"No! No, I'll give you some of my excess chakra if you teach me how to control it."

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with something akin to pleasure and he grinned at the girl with a small chuckle. "Alright then… Kabuto!"

"W-wait- what are you going to do," Sakura struggled vainly against the ropes as she heard the door open and close quietly, trying to see what Kabuto was up to. The pale-haired ninja walked slowly towards her, flicking the end of a syringe with clinical efficiency.

"You need to be sedated again- the first dose has worn off," the medical ninja murmured, concentrating as he eased the needle beneath her skin and found a vein. He depressed the end with careful detachment before removing it and pressing soft white gauze to the mark, taping it in place. Sakura felt her eyes begin to slide closed as a heavy, woolly feeling overcame her. She was vaguely aware of the two ninja conversing in low tones as they exited the room, the soft snap of the door closing heralding her retreat back into slumber.

AN: So, chapter six is the new black... or five, or something. Anyway, the previous chapters have been condensed and lengthened, so this one gets the dubious honor of being demoted from ch 6 to ch 5. I know, no real update and I apologise for that, I really do. But chapters one through four have been heavily edited and bettered, so... I know, it doesn't really make up for no new chapter :(

Anyway, on to the thanking! Everyone loves the thanking XD

Thanks go to:

ReginaSlytherin
Orochimaru's Cherry Blossom
Akatsuki Demon Keira666
Echo Uchiha
The Crazy Hatter

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. *gingerbread for everyone* You guys told me there needed to be more details and so, I give you more details! Thankyou, though, honestly, because I needed to be pushed into putting more effort in. You really are the BEST!

Next up: the extraction Sakura's excess chakra -.-' *excited*