Previously:

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."

Chapter Sixteen

Destroyed

Sai's grip on her shoulder did not let up as she stared into his masked face. The reality of the situation dropped like deadweight into her gut and it left her feeling outright pathetic. He - her own teammate - was betraying her. At least when her last teammate betrayed her, he had left before the damage could sink in.

But he was going to mutilate her.

"Sai," Sakura whispered, a flurry of damp pink locks falling into her face when he jerked her again. This time his knife sliced across the skin of her arm, tearing a thin scarlet line across the exposed flesh. She groaned in pain and he leaned close enough to kiss her neck.

And then with a very deliberate swipe of his wrist, he slashed at her other shoulder.

She cried out, her shoulder gushing an absurd amount of life liquid.

In front of her, Kakashi jerked forward as if he meant to lunge in front of her to take the blunt of her pain, yet his constraints kept him locked painfully in place.

"Stop," Sasuke hissed, his voice so low and dark that everyone in the room spared him a glance. "She doesn't have it." Sakura gasped and Akemi jerked him upward roughly by his shirt.

"What are you saying, boy?"

Sasuke stared at him with a look of such strong contempt that Sakura was sure, even in her ridiculous amount of pain, intimidated even Akemi. The Uchiha closed his eyes and then blinked them open again in the next instant. A vortex of black stars spiraled together in his outer pupil which were bathed in the light of deep red irises. "How are you still able to access Sharingan? You don't have any chakra…"

"Tell him Sai," Sasuke continued as if Akemi hadn't spoken. "Tell him how Sakura doesn't possess Kyuubi's chakra and who really has it."

Sai turned halfway to face the two and smiled his odd, eye-crinkling smile. "I have it."

"But Genma -" Sakura sputtered.

"Never had it," Sasuke finished coolly.

No one moved. Sakura half expected Akemi to drop Sasuke and run full blown towards Sai, however he looked just as astounded as she was.

"You see," began Sasuke as his hand, which had lain against his body at a very unusual angle almost as if it were dislocated, grabbed Akemi's hand which was holding him by the collar. With an air of annoyance around him, Sasuke flung him into the next wall. "I always suspected it was you even if you had everyone else fooled. That was why the dobe and I always followed Sakura to her little sessions with you."

Akemi smiled his terrifyingly polite smile. "I realize much doesn't get by those eyes of yours."

"Not morons like you anyways," The Uchiha replied rudely. "It didn't take much for me to figure out that you guys are cowards - only attacking when the victim is weak. So I had the Hyuuga girl seal my tenketsu and sure enough like the predictable dogs you are…you came sniffling for blood."

"But you just broke free…"

Sasuke stared at him indifferently. "I don't need my chakra to kill you."

Akemi applauded, pleasantly pleased. "Then what will you do now, Uchiha Sasuke? Kill me like you just mentioned single-handedly with no chakra? And not to mention you are out numbered and ranked."

This time Sai cut in. "No ones coming for you Akemi-Senpai. When you kindly relieved me of my duties after we brought Sakura here, I simply instructed for no interruptions after Sasuke was to be brought in." With that being said he released Sakura and made an about face toward Akemi.

"And as for Sasuke killing you…" Sai laughed shortly - his eyes crinkling good naturedly. "He's going to take Sakura and leave. I'm going to kill you."

Akemi said something but Sakura had tuned him out momentarily. She was distracted by the throbbing in her chest. The seal - which formed a perfect triangle - burned endlessly. A gentle touch to her side had her glancing up. Sasuke towered over her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he hefted her up in his arms with the utmost care. "…For everything."

Sakura felt her eyes prickle and then glanced worriedly around his muscled shoulder to see Sai. Sasuke started moving towards the archway and just as he was about to make their escape, Akemi called after them.

"Don't think Uchiha's forgotten my words, Sakura! Vengeance is more powerful than love. I would know."

His words haunted her as he and Sai disappeared from view.

"What about Sai and Kakashi?" She breathed.

Sasuke glanced down at her and continued to keep up his healthy pace. Even without much chakra and in the darkness of the hall, he was still able to run fast, albeit slower than his usual speed. "There's a team of shinobi on their way here as we speak." Sure enough, she felt the familiar swell of chakra approaching, although Naruto's was the strongest and…darkest.

"I can walk," The pink -haired medic finally groaned. "And how do you know where to go?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and after several moments of silence, answered her in one breath. "This is one of Orochimaru's long forgotten testing lairs where he experimented on whoever he took a liking to. I can still smell him…"

"But you've never been here before?"

"No, but I can still see infinitesimal traces of his chakra all around here. It makes it easy to follow his steps towards an exit," Sasuke replied, the black tomoes of his Sharingan spiraling inwards and out, forming odd inky colored stars.

But it looked as if they were going deeper into the tunnels instead of towards the surface, Sakura thought. Then again, she could just be letting her pessimistic attitude get the best of her.

In spite of her mental reassurance, she still could not shake the foreboding feeling that he wasn't telling her the whole truth.

Just as she could make out a narrow window of moonlight spill in from down one of the murky corridors, Sasuke slowed his pace. He came to a stop just at the mouth of the entrance to what Sakura presumed was the exit and set her down so that her head rested against the wall.

"You're not leaving with me, are you?" Sakura whispered. Above her, Sasuke stared at her with a look of slight affliction, his red eyes flickering to black for the tiniest of moments.

Akemi's last words still rang loud and clear. "Don't think Uchiha's forgotten my words, Sakura! Vengeance is more powerful than love. I would know."

"I think you already know the answer," Sasuke whispered back.

"But you heard Sai already say that he's going to kill Akemi and you already weakened him. And you know what the seal does. If Sai kills Akemi then Danzo is dead for sure," Sakura tried to reason, her voice shrill.

"I'm not leaving his life to chance anymore. Not when I've been existing in this same village for almost two years with the man that took everything from me," he whispered harshly. With that being said, he turned on his heel and began walking in the opposite direction. "Naruto is a few minutes away…he'll find you."

She tried to call out to him, but her voice just was not coming. Her legs and arms weren't moving very well and Sakura suspected Sasuke had used his hypnotizing Kekkei Genkai on her.

So she waited.

When she felt that she could take it no longer, a throng of voices approached.

"Sakura!" Two voices chorused together.

Genma and Naruto rushed to her side - each one taking her by the arm. In front of them, she could see that Hinata had led the way. The raven haired beauty was accompanied by several men of the Inuzuka clan, Neji, Tenten, and Shino.

In the very front stood her mentor and really the only mother she had left - Tsunade.

"Move, you fools!" The blonde woman bellowed as she shoved her way past. In seconds, Sakura felt the pain in both of her arms recede and the blood flow stopped altogether. "Sakura? Are you alright? I see they sealed your tenketsu somehow."

"I'm fine," The pink-haired woman lied smoothly. "I just need to get to Sasuke…"

Naruto and Tsunade glanced at each other.

"Where is the teme?" Her best friend asked.

"He…" Left to go avenge his family. "…we got separated."

Genma made an enraged sound. "You mean he left you here? Son of a bitch!"

"I told you we got separated-"

"And you expect us to buy that?" He said, his brown eyes sincerely worried.

Sakura ignored him and turned her eyes on her mentor. "Shishou they have Kakashi-sensei and Sai is in there with Akemi. It was him all along, Shishou. I suspect Yamato-sensei is here some where as well which is probably why Sai is on the war path…"

Tsunade nodded. "Everyone head to where the chakra is the strongest. As for you Genma, I want you to take Sakura to the location we discussed. I'm not sure if anywhere else is exactly safe."

"Gladly," Genma agreed. His arms wound around her to carry her bridal style yet Sakura refused. She'd had enough of that for one day. "I can walk!"

He eyed her speculatively and then sighed. "If you must…" And she leaned on him for support until the rest of the team disappeared down the hall.

"Genma?"

"Hm?"

"Take me to Sasuke."

He sighed and there was something heartbreaking in his eyes. "I was afraid you were going to ask me that."

"I have to."

"I know."

She leaned against his strong support as he helped her limp into the darkness. The corridor seemed to slant downwards and that itself seemed to make the darkness that much more imposing. The pair continued their descent into nothingness when Genma whispered quietly.

"You know, this is the third time he's left you…"

Sakura peered at him from the corner of her eye. "The second time was him trying to be noble."

"Yeah well, he didn't exactly plan on coming back to you, did he?" He snapped. And then his eyes softened when he saw the hurt in her own green irises.

"Look. I'm sorry its just I hate seeing you like this. All broken up and well quite frankly, an emotional mess, over some fucked up boy who cares more about seeking his revenge than a beautiful woman who'd go through hell and back for him."

"How did you know?" She asked.

"What? That Danzo wasn't dead? I suspected he was alive and that could be the only reason he would abandon you in the middle of nowhere."

"He didn't abandon me," she insisted angrily. He just left me to go finish the task he started years ago.

"Oh yeah? Then you really are blind sighted, Sakura."

"What's it matter to you anyways!" She retorted, her tone snappish.

"Because I love you!" He screamed back.

They stared at each other for several minutes, heat still embedded in both of their gazes. And then she actually heard what he said.

"Genma I-" Sakura could not finish her sentence. Her vision went from good to terrible in the span of a second. Microscopic dots lined the air in front of her, causing her eyes to swim with tears. Her head was ringing and Genma's lips were moving yet there was no sound.

In her right side, she felt a sharp pain. Almost like the time when she had been impaled by Sasori of the Akatsuki all those years ago…

That thought had her glancing down in panic and sure enough, she was gushing blood like a mad man. Hurriedly, she tried to heal the wound yet it kept tearing itself open every time she came close to closing it, each time more painful than the next.

"The seal…"She breathed.

Something had gone terribly wrong. Either Akemi had gotten the better of Sai or Sasuke had fallen to Danzo.

She knew which one it was going to be. Without asking, Genma swung her up in his arms and ran at break neck speed down the hallway. Finally, at the very end there was a fork in the path, and Genma chose to go left.

It seemed to have been the right choice for they reached a small patch of light at the end of that hallway and a door. Genma kicked it open and the first thing they both saw was a handsome man that bore a strange resemblence to Danzo.

It took Sakura seconds to realize that it was in fact Danzo, although much younger. He appeared to be around Genma's age and just as good looking. Behind him was a bed with a small monitor and various tubes and wires.

And then her eyes deviated to the floor where Sasuke kneeled, a katana lodged through his right side. Blood was everywhere on the floor…

Genma lunged at Danzo before any of them could think and Sakura was forced to hit the hard earth. She struggled to sit up but she could hear everything.

"Uchiha is mine!" She heard Danzo growl. Sakura noted that even his voice was noticeably younger.

Just as she regained balance, she saw Sasuke hit the earth, half of his face pressed against the ground. The side of his face that was visible allowed for one of his eyes to be seen.

The pain in the seal itself was beyond anything that she had ever felt. It left her gasping for air and the wound in her side was starting to bleed out way too much. She was light headed and she fell against the ground too, her body almost completely drained.

She was in so much pain.

Still, she could see Sasuke watching her from his position on the floor as he lay next to her, bleeding out from the same exact spot as she was.

It occurred to her that they were going to die. Together. And she still had not heard the words she had wanted to hear. There were going to be no 'I love yous'. She was going to die knowing that she was always going to be second best.

And yet she couldn't help herself. She reached for him, her hand leaving a bloody smear where it trailed across the damp earth.

It seemed like he was reaching for her too…

And then his chest gave a final jolt as if he had been shocked by his own Kirin and then he remained still. Completely and utterly still. Sakura felt something wet fall from her eye and onto the ground, it was clear unlike much of the blood everywhere. She realized it was a tear.

Above her voices started to fall in and out of focus. Though she could hear a voice that sounded strangely like Sai louder than the rest.

It mattered very little though. She inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly as the darkest eclipse she had ever seen descended on her like the very end of a long movie. With a pang of irony in her head, she realized this was the final chapter for her.

Sakura stared ahead into the oblivion and did not move.

It was a paradox - really it was. Life was a cycle. That was what everyone was taught from the moment they were old enough to understand. Yet she could make no sense of it. She was clearly alive. Even though she clearly remembered dying.

Death was supposed to be natural. Life sucks and then you die. That was it. And somehow - someway - she was still breathing. She pondered this for a few moments…and then opened her eyes.

Like before, the sudden brilliance of the overhanging lamp made her close them and then try again, slowly this time.

"Where am I?" She asked slowly, her words a bit slurred. She might not be able to see very well but she could definitely sense someone next to her. And then there was the fact that someone was holding onto her hand for dear life.

"The intensive care unit," a nonchalant tone answered.

Instantly she turned her head, tears of joy spilling from her eyes. Sasuke was gazing at her, his cool black eyes taking in her every act. He was shirtless, though it did no good since his entire chest was completely bandaged. His black hair was even spikier than normal, as if he had just woken up from a long nights sleep.

"I'm ready," he said after several moments of staring at each other.

Sakura smiled, a strange euphoria surrounding her. "…For what?"

"To breathe again."

TBC

A/N: Hello! I left things a bit vague but that's just my style for this story. And I'm cool like that. Kidding! Anyways EVERYTHING will be concluded next chapter. And everyone's fates will be revealed. And then that's it. Next update should be quick!

P.S: I have not forgotten about Conceiving With You. That will be updated as soon as I have wrapped up the last of this story since I can devote my full attention to it. And dude I'm really excited about my newest one which I find myself daydreaming about all the time. It's going to be darker and waaayy more sexual than my usual stuff. I can't wait dudes!

Surmise