Sakura

Sakura cringed rather noticeably as she was thrown at Kabuto pretty roughly by her former friend. Sasuke clearly had no care for her well being or sympathy for the pain he himself had caused her. It wouldn't have been so bad if her arm hadn't twisted again, but in the opposite direction as it collided with Kabuto's chest. The pink haired girl cursed mentally as she tried to at least halfway pull herself away from the boy with glasses, but to no avail. Sasuke's words rang in her ears and she cringed again, a shiver going up her spine as she tried to keep more whimpering from escaping her pale lips.

Sasuke

" I would have stopped her, you shouldn't have interfered. She's mine" Kabuto said to him.

"Tch. Be careful, Kabuto. That almost sounds like a challenge.." the Uchiha retorted as a faint smirk was visible before his disappearance into the shadows. Now Sasuke was interested. He loved to get under Kabuto's skin, and what better way than by taking away something that he felt was his?

[It's not really that I wanted Sakura in that way, nor did I know that Kabuto wanted her. At that point, I don't believe even he knew. It was the simple and honest fact that I loved to tick him off. Getting under his skin was a pleasure to me, and if taking Sakura away from him so that she was my responsibility rather than his, just to prove him useless in the eyes of the man he so respected, was what would really get to him, I'd do it. At the time, that became my newest plot to piss off four eyes. I'd take his prisoner from him to do with as I pleased. As long as I kept her alive while I was told, I saw no problem with it. Hell, I'd even make him 'watch' me torture her, emotionally, mentally, in every way that I knew she feared. Not only did I make it my goal to accomplish this, but as my own personal amusement, I'd toy with the girl's mind to the point of breaking her. It's pathetic now that I look back on it. How many people's lives was I willing to screw up, how far was I willing to go, just to piss off Kabuto? Hmph. Pretty far.].

Sakura

[I desperately attempted to crawl away from the two boys that held me captive. I wanted so badly to get away from Sasuke, something I never thought I'd say or even think. Even after all that he'd done to me, and I still cared about him. How foolish I was. I'm afraid to say that I was still mentally a child. I may have matured in my physical appearance, but emotionally, mentally, psychologically, I was still the same as ever. It hurt pretty badly to have my arm twisted at such an angle that I did not know was even possible, but being who I was, I dealt with it. However, it freaked me out to hear the possessiveness in Kabuto's voice when I heard him speak to Sasuke. It was as if I were no longer a person to either one of them. I even saw the look on Sasuke's face as he left me to deal with my captor and knew it well. He felt challenged. That could not be good for me..].

"I told you, you're not going to escape. You were rather unlucky that Sasuke got to you before I did, although you deserved your punishment. I was planning on switching your big toes, but I suppose a horribly broken arm will do."

Sakura did not look up at the gray haired male as he spoke to her. She already felt foolish enough, and here he was rubbing it in and making her madder than she'd been in quite awhile. It was to such a degree, in fact, that she actually turned to glare at him. If looks could kill, Kabuto would have been dead where he sat.

"Stop treating me like a child!" she demanded, angrily boring her eyes into his."I'm not some unruly child to be punished because I attempted to escape captivity..Aren't you always ranting about the 'intelligent and 'logical' thing to do? What's illogical about trying to get away from your captors?! 'I' already told 'you' that I 'will' escape. It's just a matter of time..The day that you again let your guard down, I will escape and take what information I have back to Konoha...Sasuke, on the other hand, can stay here where he wishes to be.." Sarcasm in parts of what she'd said practically dripped off of her being in pools and the malice that was laced into her tone was hard to fact that she knew Sasuke would rather be there than in Konoha made her sad, but she was in such pain right now that her caring of the Uchiha did not even register.

"Let me see your arm" Kabuto sounded very harsh at first and Sakura was about to blow up at him for a second time when he literally shocked her into speechlessness.

"Please."

The kunoichi's eyes softened ever so slightly when the word 'please' came out of his mouth. She was not sorry for what she'd said, nor for yelling at him, but she was so shocked that her other arm literally moved of its own accord in obedience to show him the broken and rather swollen arm. She planned on healing it herself, but at the moment, she was just too surprised to say anything. Talk about being shocked into submission.. she thought with a frown, trying to keep her thoughts and emotions in check. She was not going to cry. That was not an option. Even though every fiber of her being told her it was okay, Sakura bit her lip, hard, until blood trickled down her lips and onto her shirt.

[Kami it hurt...Why did Sasuke have to hurt me so badly..? When I ask that, of course, it's literal. It was not any of the many times that he had emotionally harmed me, nor was it a time that he had harmed me psychologically. He harmed me physically and it was hard to focus enough to heal it at the moment. Not to mention that four eyes had shocked me with his 'please.' I mean, the guy was naturally pretty polite, in a weird sort of way. It was more of a weird thing to me, because how can a guy that is so damn sadistic and manipulative actually be so polite? It's weird! It's unnatural! Ehem. I digress..Things were getting weirder and I just couldn't help but feel I would probably pay for my outbursts as well..].

Kabuto

A challenge, hm? I'd say he's a knight. He could easily take out a pawn, but he can't take out me. Which is, of course, because I'm the controller of the entire game board.

"Stop treating me like a child!"she shouted at him. His eyes narrowed angrily, and he was about to reply with a sarcastic comment on how she acts like one, when suddenly he realized how serious she was. Almost to her breaking point. "I'm not some unruly child to be punished because I attempted to escape captivity..Aren't you always ranting about the 'intelligent and 'logical' thing to do? What's illogical about trying to get away from your captors?! 'I' already told 'you' that I 'will' escape. It's just a matter of time..The day that you again let your guard down, I will escape and take what information I have back to Konoha...Sasuke, on the other hand, can stay here where he wishes to be.."

He actually considered her words. Was she being illogical about trying to escape? He had thought so. But what would he do if konaha had taken him? Of course he would try to escape..unless he found better opportunities where he was taken. Which was, of course, impossible. He thought it possible for her though. Here, there were so many possibilities because there were so little rules for him. If she stayed here long enough, it could be like that for her as well.

"You will be more free here than you would ever be in Konaha. You are bound by so many rules, but here I have few."he began, than turned to face her. The emerald in her eyes were furious. "Escaping is a very logical thing for you to do, however you should have picked better times and techniques in doing it. If you had managed to knock me out before leaving, and had been more stealthy so Sasuke had not found you, you could have escaped. You've got to think of every possibility in your head and have a plan for each. Use your brain more."he explained.

Why was he giving her any advice? To make the game more fun.

"I must say I'm glad you see that Sasuke shouldn't return. As for the book..well I'll need that back of course. But since I don't plan on letting you leave any time soon, I suppose that can wait."

He could have easily forced her to show him her arm. Right now, she was in no position to start another fight, especially for something as simple as a touch. It was better to have her permission though, he realized. She was so stubborn. He firmly, but not painfully, reached out to hold her arm with one hand, and he ran his other down her arm. A faint glow appeared as he closed his eyes. Seconds later, he slowly opened them and removed his hand. A look of pain crossed his eyes for a split second, but it wasn't pain he was personally feeling. Her injury was worse than he thought. Her arm was a mess, and he wondered how much of that was new and how much was old. Although he had experienced many physical injuries much worse, and he assumed she had too, broken bones were no fun. Even if she could mend the bone completely, it would still be uncomfortable no matter what. Oh well, she got what she deserved.

He looked up at her and saw that her eyes were teary, although due to the look on her face she seemed adamantly determined to not actually cry. At first he had assumed it was mere physical pain. But no, he realized she was more emotionally hurt. Whatever the Uchiha had said to her, it must have been bad. Of course, that was to be expected considering it was him. He let go of her arm.

"Your arm is in bad shape. Of course, you already know that. I have some medicine that is already made that can help numb the soreness once you're done taking care of it. If you're a really, really good girl and do what I want, I'll give it to you. And what I want is for you to stop running away..at least for a couple of days. The break would be nice."

He then stood up from the bed, hearing it squeak. "Now then..would you like something to eat? You haven't had food in at least a day." he questioned, and showed her the same exact smile he had at the chuunin exams.