A/N: Okay after taking the necessary steps after part of this story was plagiarized, I thought about it for a moment and considered everything. I was a little ticked at the injustice of it all and I may have been too hasty with my words but I was definitely going to update. Thank you to all those who were concerned, sorry to keep you on edge like that. You might have gotten an alert for two new chapters, to those of you who didn't know about the situation, and those were just author notes. This is the real chapter fifteen.

Now in my haste, I named the author which was something that I probably should not have done. Some of you already know who it is but I will not be naming her from this point onward. This was pointed out to me by a reviewer but by all accounts I was just really ticked off. She went back and edited out my work. Now don't hold this against her! Continue to read and review her stories, the lesson has been learned and I just hope that in the future proper discretion and accreditation is used.

Chapter Fifteen

Confined

Thick, wet drops of some sort of liquid pitter pattered across the side of Sakura's cheek. It seemed to draw her back into consciousness. Slowly, she gathered her bearings.

Upon reaching full awareness or something remotely close to it, she found that her body absolutely ached all over. "Ugh," she grunted as she pushed herself up from what appeared to be concrete. The part of her face that had been pressed against the hard surface for god knows how long, throbbed.

The other half of her face that she had not been laying on and that was exposed, was still partially wet from some sort of water leak. From what Sakura could tell, she was in a variation of a holding cell that smelled of earth and mildew.

It was almost entirely black as pitch in her small cramped space but there was just enough light to make out the undersized door that led out into another room.

Sakura fixed her body into a more comfortable position and tried to flex her limbs. They screamed in protest, yet she pushed on, determined to get her body going again.

Three things were very clear to her.

From what that masked ANBU had told her - she was now the chief objective and it sounded like Sasuke had taken a back seat in their plans.

Sasuke was near her. The seal, which she could feel pulsing against her chest, had started to give off that same magnet like pull she felt every time she was around him.

And someone was walking her way.

She could hear very fleeting footsteps, so light and delicate that they could be a child's. But she knew better. Swiftly, the small door was pushed aside and a flood of torch light washed into her small cell. Involuntarily, Sakura cringed away, her hypersensitive eyes adjusting.

"Put this on," A definite feminine voice purred from the entry. She was masked, whoever it was, and was holding an unpretentious pale colored gown.

When Sakura was too frozen to move, the female stocked forward and snatched off Sakura's old dirtied hospital gown and shoved the new one over her head. "Can't have you all filthy for the big finale, can we?"

The green-eyed medic said nothing, choosing instead to plan her next move.

So she had found Sasuke. Now what? Sakura sized the female up with her eyes and she looked pretty much like a regular ANBU. Nothing special anyways. Tough but not unbeatable.

No, she couldn't afford to attack the female when she was really the only chance she had to get to Sasuke. Sakura let her body be dragged out into the dimly lit hallway and through some sort of archway.

It was damp and it stank of rotting flesh. She inwardly swallowed back down stomach bile and tried to memorize the number of turns the female was making. In the end, it was impossible to tell which way was which.

Ultimately they passed through one particularly convoluted archway and Sakura was thrown towards someone's feet.

Glancing up, Sakura was face to face with her coma worker and doctor. Akemi.

"I always knew there was something about you," he started as he waved the masked female off. She bowed and then disappeared through the doorway.

Sakura scoffed at his feet. "I could say the same for you. No wonder you were so keen on trying to unlock the secrets in my head. It makes sense," she hissed defiantly.

He laughed, his grayed face stretching. And then suddenly his skin warped before her eyes and he resembled a strikingly handsome twenty-two year old. "Yes, yes, I know. I fooled you to gain your inner most secrets. Cry me a river." Sakura noted that his aged voice was now a seductive purr.

"…I fooled everyone," he continued, glee in his voice. "…even Tsunade-hime. Oh! I forgot! You two aren't the only ones with exceptional chakra control. I can keep up a fairly good hinge myself."

"I see that," Sakura muttered, eyes still darting around for any sign of Sasuke.

He paced around, enjoying her discomfort. His heels clicked in her face. "Go fetch him," he snapped at two additional men that Sakura had not noticed before.

Sakura waited with baited breath, her knees still digging into the earth. The two men returned, shoulders squared, and carting a lean figure between them. They tossed whoever they were holding directly across from Sakura.

Akemi stalked forward and bent low to his knees. With the speed of a feline, he yanked onto the burlap sack that covered the figure's face.

Sakura gasped when she met a pair of bloodshot mismatched-eyes.

"…Kakashi-sensei?"

There was only a momentary silence before someone chose to speak again.

"Yes," Akemi drawled, flourishing his arms this way and that. "…He was very high up on our list. I had a team intercept him on his way back from Tea Country some time ago. You see we value rarity here. And Sharingan combined with Kyuubi's chakra is very exceptional."

He shrugged at her and then proceeded to seat himself onto a high backed chair in the center of the room. In front of her, Kakashi stared at her. His mouth was covered with tape and his arms and legs were bound with some sort of rope.

Sakura recognized it as a chakra restraint. One could only wonder how powerful these people really were considering they had brought down one of the most brilliant ninja to have ever lived.

"What are you going to do to him?" She whispered, her words seeming to linger even when her voice faded.

Akemi laughed shortly - though Sakura could find no humor in the situation. "You really are such an enthralling creature young Haruno. I mean why are you so concerned for your teacher when really, you should be worried about what I'm going to do to you."

"What of Kakashi?" Sakura insisted. In front of her with his head bowed, Kakashi seemed like another person. Weaker somehow. And that realization left her with raw panic.

Akemi smiled slowly. "He's going to watch," And another figure was hauled into the high arched room and dropped to the side of Sakura. The seal against her chest started to throb uncontrollably. "…as his two favorite students are destroyed."

With the seal against her chest feeling like it was bound to tear itself open at any moment - she found it hard to concentrate on much else. But there was no mistaking the person who had just been thrown down next to her.

Sasuke.

Gradually, Akamaru's barking slowed, and Inuzuka Kiba lowered his nose to the ground. He sniffed it a couple of times and then made a disgusted face. He raised a finger to his ear piece and pressed the small commute button. "Hokage-sama…we found blood. And lots of it."

"Is it Sakura's?"

He sniffed the sample that had been given to him and then the trail of deep burgundy that seemed to stretch on across the pavement. "Definitely."

There was a small pause before he could hear Tsunade's husky tone drift into range. "How much?"

"Enough to leave a solid trail. If I didn't know any better it's almost as if they intended to leave it. It's still fresh."

She was begging. And it hadn't even occurred to her that she was. But she was crying - pleading - screaming for him to stop. Yet Akemi did not stop. Cruelly, he twisted his blade into Uchiha Sasuke's shoulder again and again.

Sasuke showed no sign of his pain but that mattered very little. She could feel it - just as much as if it were her own. There was a river of sweat across his brow that dripped into his eyes and drenched his bloodied chest.

"Please…"

He turned halfway - his handsome face alight with a polite kindness. "Then release it."

"I don't even know how!"

"Get angry," he demanded seriously. "It shouldn't be too hard considering that your perfect little life just crumbled at your feet. No parents. No truths. Just lies. Doesn't that make you mad?"

It did make her mad. Unbelievably so. Yet she could feel nothing besides that. She remembered how Kyuubi's chakra had felt inside her from her stolen memories. It had been untainted ferocity. And she just was not feeling it.

But she had to fake something. The torture was taking its toll on Sasuke's body even if he showed no signs of it. Not to mention that she felt every twist of the blade as if it were her getting stabbed repeatedly. If only she could get his mind off of Kyuubi…

"Why are you doing this?" She finally managed to rasp out. Sakura could see how her question put a slight frown in Akemi's newly young and handsome face.

"Because I need it. We need it," he answered, the thick seductive undertone of his voice caressing the very air.

"For what?"

And Akemi swiped his blade across Sasuke's other, unhurt shoulder. He grunted but continued to stay silent. "To get back what he," And he spat on the dark-haired Uchiha with vehemence. "Stole from us! Our leader and redeemer - Danzo."

She stopped breathing. Danzo was dead. Sasuke had killed him. She had saw it through Sasuke's own eyes. That was the sole reason he had returned to Konoha in the first place - it had been to kill Danzo! And then of course he had involuntarily found her broken and dying body and had chosen to help her after he had gained his revenge on Danzo by snapping his neck.

But what was Akemi getting at? He needed Kyuubi's chakra to revive the dead? Was that even possible? However, Sakura thought with panic, she was still alive despite her near death two years before.

And then it made sense.

"You," she started when it dawned on her but Sasuke beat her to it.

For the first time since she had seen him in the hospital, Sasuke managed to speak. "You used the Shoumon Seal. And you bound yourself to him," The Uchiha coughed out, bits of blood trailing from his mouth. "So he's still alive." And something in Sasuke's eyes darkened. Whatever it was - Sakura did not like it.

Akemi smiled. "Of course. We watched silently that night when you sought your revenge and "killed" him. And we also watched when you saved Miss Haruno and because our master was still alive, barely mind you, I copied the seal."

Sasuke laughed - very darkly.

"Of course…he's dying isn't he? That seal wasn't enough to sustain him and you need more. Something infinite and just as forbidden as the technique. Kyuubi's chakra."

The smirk from Akemi's face ran clean and Sakura watched as he clenched his gloved fingers. "Danzo, our master, is in fact slipping away. And if he dies as do I."

Sakura gasped and then stared at Sasuke.

"Yes,"Akemi continued. "If the original creator of the seal dies so does the bearer. And vice versa. But if a third party of the seal is included, he or she remains alive. And if they choose to - they can give up their life to save the first two from death. That's how it works. Unfortunately, there is no third party included in the seal and its much too late to do so. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Uchiha-san didn't tell you?"

No, he hadn't told her.

Sasuke stared back - though his eyes were filled with an emotion she just couldn't place.

Akemi jerked his knife from Sasuke's shoulder and kicked his foot into it. Helpless - Sasuke grunted and fell back against the earth. Breifly, Sakura wondered why he was so powerless. Had they stolen his chakra or was Sasuke up to something? She sincerely hoped the latter was true.

"I can see that this just is not working and that a more radical method needs to be used. Young Sai," Akemi called and a shadowed figure stepped forward. "Come motivate your old teammate. Stimulate some anger…"

Sai stopped dead in front of her. His fingers swiftly grabbed her left shoulder and jerked her upright. His other hand unsheathed his faithful carving knife that he used for his many artistic ventures.

Akemi's seductive voice difted into focus. "Carve me a masterpiece."

TBC

A/N: Yes this is a little short but the next update will be quick and then one more chapter and that's it folks. This story will officially be wrapped up. Le sigh. It makes me sad and also a little happy. Thanks for reading and please review! Also please don't be sad that this story is coming to an end ( or am I getting ahead of myself? Lol) I have a new fic on the way. It's a Sasu/Saku and it's very dark, angsty, sexual, and drama packed. Everything I live for. LOL.

Surmise