Well hey there :) So, I have the third chapter up officially :) And anything else I'd like you to know, I'll tell you at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto, but I do own this story :)

Chapter 3

Sakura kept her eyes wide open the whole way back to the base. She needed to look for ways she would be able to sneak back. Places to hide. Paths to take. When Sasuke stopped at a river, Sakura wondered why such a small thing would stop him from jumping over it.

"Can you stand?" Sasuke asked her.

"No, of course not. Incase you hadn't realised by now, my nerves have been cut!" Sakura had snapped at him.

"Hn," was his grunted reply, before roughly setting her down.

Sasuke bent his head and started muttering "Tatsu, Mi, Tori…" Whilst putting his hands into the seals of the Dragon, Snake and Bird. "Mizu Wakare no Jutsu*!" On either side of him, the water rose up. For a moment, Sakura could have sworn that the tops of the water had serpent heads moulded into them, but in the blink of an eye, they were gone. In the middle of the sopping riverbed, there was a trap door.

Sasuke bent down and lifted Sakura into his arms and walked to the trap door. "Hiraku*," he said, and the door swung open. Sasuke jumped through the hole and Sakura closed her eyes until she heard a soft thud and felt Sasuke's knees buckle slightly on impact with the ground. In front of them was a large steel door. "Hiraku," Sasuke repeated, and the door swung open, revealing a large earthen passage. Sasuke went through the door, which closed and sealed when he stepped foot into the passage. "Kai!" He stated forcefully, and Sakura faintly heard a massive splashing sound.

Without another word, Sasuke strode down the passage, taking a few turns and going down a flight of stairs. The sheer size of the place made Sakura feel dizzy. She was shocked that an underground lair could be this big!

Sakura finally found the voice to speak. "Where are you taking me?" She hoped her fear wouldn't leak into her voice.

"Infirmary." Sasuke replied bluntly.

"Oh." It struck her as odd that he would take her to the infirmary. "Why?"

Sasuke looked at her legs pointedly.

"Oh."

"Aa."

So she was going to get her legs and arms healed. "Why?"

Sasuke let out a breath of air in annoyance. "You are no use to us injured."

Sakura gasped. "I will not be a test subject for one of your sick, tortuous ideas!" She spat at him.

"I didn't say you would be."

Okay, now she was confused. "Then… Why?"

Sasuke sighed in annoyance again. "Just shut up."

Sakura harrumphed in annoyance. "Not until you tell me what is going on!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and decided to ignore her.

They continued through the passages. Sakura memorized the route. Left. Walk for two hundred metres. Left. Three doors down, a right through the fourth door. At the end of this hallway was a large wooden door with a flashing blue light over it.

Inside, the room was bare, apart from a cupboard, a small camper bed and a few constantly flickering lights, which barely kept the shadows away. On closer inspection, Sakura could also see a three legged stool by the bed.

"Kabuto!" Sasuke called out. Sakura looked up at him with frightened eyes. Not that arsehole again. His medic methods are so crude and out of date. I'll be lucky to not lose a limb!

No answer was heard.

"Kabuto!" He called again, impatient now.

A disturbance was made in the shadows, and a glint of glass was seen as Kabuto emerged, his glasses shining like halos.

"What?" He demanded rudely.

"Her nerves are cut. Heal them." Was all Sasuke said as he dumped her ungraciously on the bed, its hinges creaking.

"Why should I?" Kabuto shot back, crossing his arms.

"Because I can just imagine how pissed Orochimaru is going to be when he finds out you annoyed me again."

Kabuto gulped, and slowly made his way towards Sakura. But not before he shot a look of purest loathing towards Sasuke.

"What happened?" He asked Sakura.

Sakura glared at him. "I was attacked, and one of them had been trained as a medic nin. He cut some of my muscles and all of the nerves in my biceps and thighs."

"Huh. So I guess that you want me to fix that?" Kabuto smirked at her.

"It would be appreciated. Just heal one of my arms though. I can do the rest." She told him, not liking to rely on him.

"Would if I could, but that's not an option." He said nonchalantly.

"Why not? I'm a perfectly capable medic. Far better than you." She hoped that stung a little, and indeed he did look offended, but almost immediately put his cocky grin back in place.

"So harsh to one who is only meant to help? Fine. I was going to do you a favour and stop this from hurting a bit, but you've made me angry. Sasuke," he addressed the other male.

"Hn?"

"Hold her down."

Sakura was suddenly afraid. "What are you doing?" She squeaked, internally wincing at both allowing herself to show fear and when Sasuke firmly placed his hands on the areas where her nerves were split.

"We can't have you escaping after we heal you, can we?"

Sakura looked at him, confused. "What? How do you plan on doing that?"

Kabuto hmphed in triumph. Raising his hand it suddenly turned a frightening shade of red. Kabuto grinned manically, before slapping his hand down on her chest, right over her heart. "Chakurashiru Jutsu*!" He crowed, and Sakura immediately felt a painful pulse vibrate through her whole body.

Sakura screamed as it felt like her blood began to boil, then immediately went ice cold. It repeated: Boiling, then freezing. Boiling, then freezing. After a moment, the sensation started to recede from her fingertips and her toes. This continued. The sensation of being burnt on the inside, then frozen crept up her body, leaving the affected areas numb. The feeling slowly went towards her heart.

After what seemed days, but was probably only hours or minutes, it came to rest at her heart. It stopped, painfully, as if holding its breath, then with a bright flash of purple light, it was gone. Sakura stopped writhing, and instead tried to get her erratic breathing under control. She was shaking and covered in a sheen of sweat. Kabuto removed his hand and Sasuke stepped back.

"Wh… What did you j… Ju… Just d… Do to m… me?" Sakura choked out, stuttering in the aftermath of so much pain.

"I've sealed away your chakra. You can no longer use it. You will be just like an ordinary person." Sakura could hear the triumph in his voice.

The girl just shook her head, as if that one simple movement could stop his words from being true. "N…n…noo…no…n…nn…noo…" She gasped, fighting back tears. This couldn't be happening.

"Yes." Kabuto stated simply. "Now I can heal the rest of you." He walked forward, letting blue chakra cover his hands.

When Sakura was fully healed, she made to punch at him, but was surprised by her sluggish movements. It seemed to take aeons to get her fist from A to B. 'B' being Kabuto's face.

"Slow." Was all he said, easily avoiding her.

"Why you insolent little…" Sakura reached down to her cesspool of Chakra, but found it blocked. Sakura's brows furrowed as she concentrated, trying to get around the block, all to no avail. It was like trying to push through two metres of cement that had been reinforced with steel, with only a toothpick!

"What have you done to me!" Sakura screamed at him. She knew that he had already explained himself, but she was alone, frightened, in pain and in shock. She could barely recall anything.

"I already told you. I have blocked off your ability to reach your chakra." Kabuto explained again, obviously getting bored.

Sakura lunged at him, but before she could even get off the bed, an arm had ensnared her waist and was dragging her back.

"Who…?" Sakura looked over her shoulder to where Sasuke was. "Let go of me!" Sakura yelled.

"Hn."

"Let go of me, Sasuke!" She ordered again.

"No."

"FUCKING HELL SASUKE YOU WILL LET GO OF ME, DAMMIT! OR I'LL -"

Sasuke slammed her into the wall. "You'll what?" He hissed. Sakura stopped breathing.

"You'll what?" He pressed her tightly against the wall, his hand encircling her throat.

Sakura just shook her head. She had no answer.

"You'll do nothing. Your threats are empty, Sakura. I couldn't care less what you say you could do to me. There is nothing you can do. You are weak. A stupid, pathetic and ignorant little girl." He removed his hand from her throat and walked away. Sakura hesitantly followed him. She knew that if she didn't, there would be consequences.

Sasuke kept walking for some time, making the occasional turn. Sakura followed, keeping her distance. After a good ten minutes or so, he stopped, facing a set of double doors. Sakura slowly walked up to him, and once she stood beside him, he opened the door. She followed him inside.

"Sasuke kun, you're home!" A slithery voice echoed around the dimly lit chamber.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's response.

"And you brought a friend. How… Lovely. You should have warned me, Sasuke kun. That was impolite." Orochimaru teased, sliding from the shadows.

He made his way to Sakura and grabbed a hold of her chin.

"My my, what a pretty one we have here, ne? Sasuke kun."

"Let go of me!" Sakura hissed and ripped her chin from his grip.

"A feisty little one too, ne? We'll soon cure that, though. Won't we? Hai…"

"Keep away from me…" Sakura warned, quickly glancing at Sasuke in some weird, desperate hope that he would help her. He was as impassive as ever.

Orochimaru licked his lips. "Why? I just love seeing blossoms, such as yourself, wither…"

Sakura felt a cold chill chase up her spine. "Don't…"

Orochimaru grinned. "I think we'll play with her a little longer, don't you? It's fun teasing her."

From nowhere, snakes shot up and bound her wrists and ankles.

"Now, Sakura. You will answer me." Orochimaru whispered. "Else you'll pay a hefty price.

Tsunade paced her office. It was eight at night, and Sakura still hadn't come home. "Shit." She mumbled to herself. "Naruto! Kouta! Minori!" She barked. Almost instantly, three men stood before her. Kouta was a tall man, with blond hair and green eyes. Minori had flaming red hair and brown eyes.

"Hai, Tsunade Sama." Kouta and Minori addressed her.

"Baa – Chan, what the hell?" Naruto whined. "I was about to have some ramen! It's Hinata Chan's birthday today!"

Tsunade cut him off before he could continue whining. "Haruno Sakura is missing."

Naruto looked at Tsunade, dumbfounded. "Sakura Chan…? Baa – Chan, what the hell?" Naruto was angry now, as if blaming Tsunade for Sakura's disappearance.

"Shut up, Naruto! Sakura didn't return from her mission yesterday. Her team did. She may have got held up with something, but it is very unlike Sakura to not let anyone know. The last place Ino saw her was outside the small town of Koraru where they stayed for the night. That was in the Waterfall Country. You are to head to Koraru at dawn and find her.

"Hai!" Kouta and Minori said, before they were gone in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto, you are dismissed." Tsunade stated.

Naruto stared at Tsunade for a moment longer, before nodding his head slowly. "We'll find her, Baa – Chan. Believe it!" With that, he puffed out of the room.

*Mizu Wakare no Jutsu - This is not an actual Jutsu. I made it up (Aren't I clever?) It basically translates to 'Water Parting Jutsu'. Yeah yeah, creative, I know.

*Chakurashiru Jutsu - Another Jutsu I made up. It translates into 'Chakra Sealing Jutsu'. I'm just so good at creative names, aren't I? (Sarcasm). Oh well, at least they sound good in Japanese :)

*Hiraku - One of the billions of ways to say 'Open'. I just chose which one seemed to fit best XD

So. I've noticed that some of you have been adding this story to your favourites, and that makes me uber happy :) But hey, this is a request on my part, if you're going to favourite, could you pretty pretty please (with ice cream and marshmellows and sugar and chocolate and wafers and yummy - stuff - that - clogs - your - arteries on top) review? I'm a sucker for constructive criticism, and really like feedback, even if it's just a smiley face (or a frowny face). So yeah, now that that's off my chest... Review? I'll love you forever!

I'll stop talking now :P

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