Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

Chapter Two

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"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

Carl W. Buechner

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Sakura wasn't exactly sure how much time had gone by. While it appeared that the sun still had some ways to go before setting, it had already sunk towards the horizon fairly far. Her captor - his face still not revealed to her - had her walk in the opposite direction her team was moving, but not towards their old camp, either. He had not spoken to her since their encounter, but he made the occasional noise of irritation when he heard someone, or something, in the distance and had to make sure they couldn't be seen. His hand was still tightly grasping both her wrists behind her back, and he would push her face first into a tree – probably to keep her quiet and to just piss her off – until he was sure whoever, or whatever for that matter, was there had passed.

He was most likely on his own out here. That made Sakura wonder where the rest of his men were, if not in the woods. From what she knew, the enemy was heading for their old camp site, unless they had heard of their plans, which she found unlikely (more so that she hoped). She couldn't think of any way that the information was leaked, unless there was a spy amongst them. The thought made her feel sick.

Stumbling over an exposed root of a tree, Sakura nearly fell to her knees, and she silently cursed the world. The man held her up and then pushed her forward, almost causing her to lose her balance again. She huffed, and the man smirked.

"What? If you're angry with me, then fucking do something about it." She could tell he was enjoying himself. She reminded herself that it could be must worse, so she ignored his comment, figuring it was best to just let it go.

A low chuckle emanated from the back of his throat, and Sakura felt herself shrinking, afraid of what was going through his mind.

"Well, damn. It's not any fun if you don't fight back." Sakura bit her tongue. "What? Not going to talk?" She could taste blood. "You won't be worth anything to me if you don't talk." He stopped and spun Sakura around, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and pulling her face towards his.

Her breath hitched in her throat as his face was finally revealed to her.

"But, then again, I could always make you. Your choice."

The man's eyes, an unnatural shade of purple, gleamed dangerously in the light, like a sword ready to strike. His silver hair was slicked back out of his face except for one piece that rested against his forehead, most likely falling out of place during their walk. Sakura could see the muscles in his face move beneath his pale skin as he scrutinized her, and one silver brow arched upward when he saw her eyes move from the missing chunk of his ear to his chest.

Sakura's heart sank at the sight of the pendant around his neck.

"You're..." She couldn't finish her thought.

His face twisted in anger, and he threw her down to the ground. He spat at her feet.

"Tch. I can't stand it – that look."

He walked up to her and stepped down on her hand, digging his heel into her skin, a crazed look distorting his handsome face. She writhed beneath the pressure, and tried to pull herself free. The pain shot up her arm, and she just wanted to scream.

Stepping down with even more pressure, he began to laugh, sounding delighted by her distress. "You know, you would be much more useful as a sacrifice!" Sakura's heart was about to leap out of her chest when she saw his hand slide to the sword at his side. "Scream all you want. No one will come."

He had already begun to pull out his sword when Sakura's body took over her mind, and she kicked upward as hard as she could between his legs. The man doubled over in pain, cursing loudly, before lashing out at her. Sakura had already managed to get a good distance away when he could finally get to his feet, and she was praying she could find someplace to hide, since there was no way she could outrun him.

The thicket of trees thinned until she hit a clearing where only the ice covered its surface. She only hesitated until she heard the man calling out to her. And he sounded close.

"You damn son-of-a-bitch! I swear, I'll kill you with my bare hands!" He sounded like an animal mad with hunger.

Not wanting him to get any closer, she began to run straight through the clearing, her feet pounding onto the ice. When she was almost halfway through, her heel hit the ice at an odd angle, and Sakura slid back. She waved her arms frantically about in a feeble attempt to catch her balance. She had fallen onto her rear, which quickly numbed by both the cold and the hardness of the ice, before spinning her head around to see where he could be. Sakura found him at the edge of the lining of trees. Not being able to see his face, she couldn't guess what he could possibly be thinking.

He slowly stepped forward, and Sakura rose to her feet, ignoring the pain in her lower half. She did not let her eyes leave him.

She could see that his shoulders were shaking, and Sakura almost called out to him, just to see what was so funny. Was it because she had fallen? She highly doubted it.

The sword at his side was now pointed at the ground, and she threw him a questioning look, despite knowing he could not see it.

"Do you know what you're standing on?" He laughed even harder now. "It's ice. A pond - frozen solid over the winter, but now slowly thawing." The man walked onto the edge of the frozen pond as he held his sword high above his head, and Sakura began to back up even further.

"Enjoy your swim."

He laughed maniacally as he plunged the sword deep into the ice. The vast cracks formed quickly and extended outwards towards a panicking Sakura. She couldn't swim that well, and in water this cold, she wouldn't be able to last for more than a few minutes - that is, if she were lucky. There was no way she could just run off now – not with the ice as unstable as it was – so she just stood there, trying her best not to flinch when one crack collided with her shoe. She raised her chin to get a glimpse of the man, who seemed to be upset that his idea hadn't worked out the way he had planned, and then back down at the ice.

At this point, even if she could get off safely, he would be waiting for her no matter which way she went.

And there was no way he was going to just let her go, or live, for that matter.

"Fuck,"she mumbled, at a complete loss as to what she should do.

Very annoyed at that point, the man hoisted his sword high above his head, preparing himself to repeat the process, until a low grumble rang out in front of him. Out in the center of the pond, Sakura was tilting from side to side before falling forward. The break in the ice gave in, and she plunged into the subzero water below.

The water hit her like a thousand pins. It was so cold that it burned her skin, and she shrieked, not being able to hold her cries in any longer. As best as she could, Sakura tried to keep her head above the surface, but it did her no good, since it felt as if her lungs had collapsed and that her limbs were made of lead. The darkening sky was soon a blur, and the last thing she could remember seeing was a dark figure looming over the edge.

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Her body was on fire. She could feel the sweat coating her skin. It dripped from her hairline into her eyes and down her back in a pool beneath her. Never in her life had she felt as disgusting as she did now, but it could not compare to the pain that coursed throughout her body. She felt as if she were dying, and if she wasn't, Sakura hoped she would, because she would not be able to tolerate the pain for much longer.

Sakura passed out without her realization, and it would be hours until she would be conscious again.

The next time she came to, her fingers twitched at her sides. She moaned. Her whole body ached, and she couldn't remember exactly what she had done earlier to feel like that.

Sakura realized that someone was talking. She was having trouble making out what they were saying and wondered for a second if she was dreaming.

"-uro?"

Sakura cracked an eye open.

"Hey, she's awake! Saburo, can you hear me?" Someone was now leaning over her, poking a finger at her cheek and grasping her hand. Their skin felt surprising cool against her's.

Sakura could only grumble out a response, which made them even more frantic. "Sabur-!"

"Na... Naruto?" She coughed, finally realizing how dry her throat was. "What happened?"

The man with the strange colored eyes flashed through her mind, and Sakura quickly sat up. Her head began to spin. Someone put a hand on her shoulder, easing her back down.

"Take it easy, Saburo. You have a fever." Naruto gave her a lopsided smile before looking off to the side. He nodded.

Someone else stepped up to the opposite side of Sakura's bed. They didn't grab her hand like Naruto had, or make any gesture to show concern.

Naruto's eyes widened when he looked back over, egging whoever was there to speak.

They sighed. "We know that you disguised yourself to get in." Sakura was surprised to hear the voice of Neji. "You may have had your reasons for sneaking in, but you need to understand how reckless you were being. If it weren't us who had discovered this, you would have been executed without a second thought. And what good would that have done? You shouldn't throw your life away so carelessly."

"Neji..." Naruto shook his head. "She's been through enough. Just let it go."

A quiet whimper made both men look down at the bed. Sakura had her hands in her face. Her shoulders were shaking from her cries, and she coughed from her throat being so dry.

She gasped before crying out, "You don't understand! If I did not stand in for him they would have killed him! There was nothing else I could do!" Her sobs cut through her words. "My brother... I couldn't..."

When Sakura had finally calmed, Neji asked, "Where is your brother now?" He did not look at her.

"I don't know."

"I see."

"Where's Kiba and Sasuke?" Sakura wanted to change the subject before they inquired her about her decisions any further. She did not want to think of her brother right now.

Neji scrunched his nose like he used to when the other soldiers would remove their boots. "Kiba is keeping Sasuke away. If Sasuke finds out, don't even think he'll let you off the hook."

"As soon as you're feeling better, you have to get as far away as you can." Naruto had found a spot on the floor to be particularly interesting and stared intently at it.

Neji didn't elaborate on it, and Sakura made no reply. The three allowed the silence to linger, feeling that it spoke clearer than any words could.

Sakura tested her strength by pushing herself into a sitting position, which proved to be much more difficult than she had imagined. Her arms shook under the pressure, but she gritted her teeth and sat up. Both men were watching her now, curious as to what she planned on doing, and surprised that she even had the strength to move. When Sakura pulled her blankets off herself - someone had changed her into a white nightgown, and she really didn't want to know which one - and swung her legs over the edge, Naruto wavered on the thought of helping her, but Sakura shook her head at him, and he backed off. Once on her feet, she had to steady herself with the bed and could only take a few steps at a time.

She stopped before Neji. She looked up at him and mustered a smile. "Thank you." He looked at her as if she had just grown a second head.

"For what?"

"For saving me. For protecting me." Sakura turned to Naruto. "Thank you, too, Naruto."

Scoffing, Neji waved her off. "Don't thank me. This was all Naruto's doing." He turned his head away.

Using the remaining strength she had, Sakura stood on her toes and threw her arms around Neji's neck. He made a choked sound before allowing his arms to hang awkwardly at his sides. Of all things she could have done to him, she hugged him. It was baffling, to say the least.

"Uh... Saburo?"

"My name is Sakura. Promise me you two will be careful?" Sakura said into his shoulder.

Neji sighed. He draped his arms over her, ignoring the sinking feeling in his chest and the way her small form pressed against him.

"You're the one who needs to be careful, Sakura."

A/N: Hope everyone is ok with these changes. I'll be posting the third chapter Friday.

Total words: 2273

MaXdana