Chapter 28

"Stop fighting." He hissed at her, yet again, his voice full of steel and the promise of excruciating things to come. It wouldn't work on her; nothing would. She wouldn't stop for less pain. Even if things turned out worse for it, she wouldn't stop fighting them. They were out of shape, that or they didn't really want her to stop fighting them at all. She could tell, the way that their entire bodies were ghosted in a thin layer of sweat, clouding up like a steamy mirror.

Either she was close to winning or her fight excited them. She hoped against all hope that it was the former. She was oblivious to their touches in the fighting mode that she was currently in, and she felt no damage at all from this. If it ended, if she won now nothing would be taken from her in this. She couldn't stand to see herself broken like her mother had been; still putting on the face and the mindset of someone capable of strength and bravery despite knowing that she had neither enough, and her own defense would do nothing. She kept pretending, not just for Sakura, but for herself, to feel like she still had something left of herself.

"Why should I?" She snarled back, clawing at their faces and letting satisfaction take hold as her long nails clawed at his eye, digging in to the skin of his eyelid, hard enough to draw blood and pulling down. She didn't feel any of the squeamishness that she would normally, only to hard weightlessness that took over her, forcing her to keep on going, not to stop.

"Because either you stop fighting, or she gets it instead."

Blood beaded deep red against Hinata's soft, pale throat, dripping down slowly as if some kind of water torture.

Drip, drip, drip.

It hit the collar of her pale blue jacket, staining it and expanding outwards, bleeding through the stiff material. It was hitting the jacket, but it felt like it was hitting Sakura instead.

She had to stop now. It was that or watch them tear sweet little Hinata to pieces. She choked, forcing down the overwhelming feeling that she might as well have just given in from the start.

Because there was nothing that she could do about it now. It was her or them.

888

Kakashi didn't bother to be quiet as he hurled himself through the window to land next to Naruto; they already knew that he was there.

"Where is she?" He tumbled out the words frantically, already knowing the answer but needing to here it all the same.

"Still at the house." Naruto answered him softly, concerned by the state that his teacher had returned in. "Hinata and Ino are with her." He added, hoping to console the panicked ninja slightly. It didn't work.

"We have to get them out."

"We can't, sensei. The breaks must be simultaneous."

"Then we'll break in twice - once to rescue the women and again later to finish the mission."

"I'm afraid that you are not seeing clearly, taichou. It cannot be done. We already know that they are not at risk of death, and so they must be left until we break in later." Kakashi frowned as he turned to face the owner of the voice. It was Yamato, ever the voice of reason in the ANBU squad that Kakashi had once trained. His morals and thought processes were both similar to Kakashi's own, and if he were deciding to play favorites, Yamato would have been his.

"How long."

"I," Naruto paused, knowing full well that he would be furious at the answer. "Three days."

888

Kurenai pushed on faster still, forcing herself to keep with the absurd speed that Gai preferred in light of recent events. Kakashi had radioed in a couple of hours ago, making sure that all of the teams pushed ahead at least a day early, using soldier pills if need be. There would be no stopping for breaks until they stopped a mile or so away from their target, and then they would begin the break the moment that the final team arrived.

She sincerely hoped that herself and Gai weren't the last team in. Kakashi would probably gut them.

Shikamaru and Tenten had left before Kakashi had sent out the message, and that meant that only one base wasn't being taken; the ANBU would have to take that one immediately afterward. They were masters at tracking and would likely be able to follow the whole group if they relocated, or if not, enough of the nin to find out who was responsible. And Kakashi would probably go to in order to bring them a whole new world of pain.

It would be pretty gruesome what he was going to do to the ones that held Sakura. She might not have been told anything, but something had definitely happened between the two and anyone who hurt her was going to suffer twice as much as she did before death took them.

888

Her entire body ached.

Her head was fuzzy.

Her eyes weren't blinking.

The blood was drying.

Sakura understood now, as she stared into space, seeing nothing, feeling nothing. She couldn't even hear Ino and Hinata although she knew that they were talking to her. It didn't matter. It wouldn't help. She saw everything, the same as she would have before. Nothing in her eyesight was damaged but she failed to connect it to the things that had once stood out in her mind.

The sun was setting. She could see it in the golden glow that crept in through the wood. But it was... sunset, just a word to associate with a idea. She knew that it must be, but she couldn't see it as anything other than that golden color and that single word.

She used to find it beautiful. Nothing seemed beautiful anymore. Something about that idea had died.

The act itself hadn't caused any real pain. It wasn't that hurtful, that physically damaging. The act itself hadn't been that different from when she had been with Torao, except for the blood. That was new. The pain wasn't unbearable, and had soon faded into the background as her sight clouded, fazing out from what was happening to her. She had stopped fighting, and somehow her panic had gone with it.

She knew that they weren't meant to be doing that to her. She'd known that she didn't want it. But the experience didn't really hurt as much as she thought it would. She'd seen it. She'd known what to expect. She hadn't gotten anything worse than that. It was when they were done that was worse. She could feel the throb and the sting down below from their abuse, and it didn't leave her when they did. She could hear the way that each of them cried out as they finished, and laughed if they forced a scream or cry from her involuntarily. The way that they spoke about her, to her. The way that they had taken pride in her bleeding form.

They were doing it specifically to hurt her, and they had enjoyed it.

What was worse was that she missed the lack of 'usual' actions during it. There was no way that that ought to bother her but it did. She somehow felt strongly the lack of touch and kisses that she felt belonged with the act. She knew that if they had it would have disgusted her. But she felt it all the same. As if it were incomplete, as if it was something that must be done but hadn't.

She felt empty. Not vacant, but as if a piece of her was missing, and it had left the room with them. She was hurt, more than they would ever know, and more than anyone would ever be able to fix. All she had to show for it was Hinata's still clothed body.

And that had been worth it. If only they knew how to keep their word.

A/N - Yes, a pretty gruesome chapter, with not much else happening. I wanted to make sure that I updated though, so I'm afraid I couldn't wait until I had written over 10000 words just so there would be a happy ending. I shall try and update again soon, but I can't make promises. (I'm typing this at the Library at the moment.) Thank you to Little-bad-Angel and Mina Luriya for reviewing. Cheers guys!

Angel - I'm sorreh! I couldn't really have that many close escapes, especially as it fits in for a reason! She will get her revenge... :L XXX

Mina Luriya - Thank you for your lovely review, it made me smile loads :) XXX

R&R Guys!

Kashi-Cookie-Monster

xxx