Madness Contagion

(AU: Warning, dark themes, strong language, sexual content, yada, yada, yada, enjoy.)

Standard Disclaimer.
If I owned Naruto, Sakura would be a badass and kick Sasuke's ass.
But I do not.

Chapter One; Encounters Between Old Friends

The pink haired girl ducked the swipe of a kunai easily, her crimson eyes never missing a beat as she landed a powerful kick to the Oto guard's gut, forcing the man to retch, she sighed and crossed her arms, motioning to the group of men with a 'come hither' hand motion, signaling one to step into the training ground with her.

The group of men looked hesitant, but Kabuto pushed one forward just as Sakura unsheathed her katana in one graceful motion, extending it in front of her, her movements graceful like a geisha as she circled the cowering nin before her, eyes bleak and bored as he weakly tried to sweep her legs out from beneath her, she flipped backwards, her incredibly long candy floss hair shimmering in the brightly lit room, as she appeared behind the man, who attempted to elbow the lean girl behind him, who merely rocked back on her heals to avoid his blow, her eyes showing she clearly wasn't impressed.

She ducked just before his kunai swiped at the place her head had once been, a small scowl appeared on her face as a few pink strands flittered through the air, the oto guards hands shook as she pushed herself forward on the heel of her palm, using it as leverage to drive the heel of her black sandal into his chest, she smirked a bit at the evident cracks of his ribs dislodging and breaking, along with the pained wail that passed through his masked lips.

Slow, spaced out claps echoed through the training area, and Sakura's back slowly straightened, her crimson orbs fixated on the silver-haired man before her, his glasses glinting in the light as he used his index finger to push them to the bride of his nose, his ever present smirk in place, "Excellent job, Sakura-Hime. Lovely, lovely!" He cheered, a slow eruption of chuckles escaping his lips as he looked adoringly at the pinkette, looking so out of place in the middle of a bloody battlefield, surrounded by men who were either dead or injured gravely.

Oh how she has changed. Her pink locks had grown out, and now reached the beginning of her thighs; her bangs were cut straight across her forehead, which she had grown into quite nicely. Her eyes (A strange side effect from the curse mark) were a bright crimson, framed by luscious black lashes. She wore a black dress with crimson pin-stripes that reached a few inches beneath her knees; the sleeves were long and the collar high, covering her throat. The top half of the dress clung desperately to her upper body, showing her developing bosom and slender, subtle curves, flowing loosely around her thin, sculpted legs at the bottom, black, heeled sandals finishing off the outfit. She looked regal, which fit the bill, because she was Orochimaru's princess.

She stared at him with a blank expression, before slowly making her way towards the silver-haired medic, stepping over the expanse of bodies, ignoring their pleas and grunts as she ignored their injuries.

"Does Orochimaru-Sama require me?" She questioned. Her tone the equivalent of the divine, a musical tinge touched her tone and Kabuto wandered if perhaps she had a lovely singing voice as well. Probably. The medic offered a small smile to the pinkette, who per usual, did not return it.

"Ah yes, come with me." He smiled, turning to enter another damnable hallway, they never seemed to end, even thought they were in a new base, the air was just as humid and heated, Orochimaru-Sama always seemed to be hidden these days. He'd been injured a few weeks ago; his arms were destroyed by the Third Hokage.

Her eyes drifted into the expanse of hallway, zoning out Kabuto's rambling. He did that a lot. Sakura wished he would lack the air to create those words. His voice irritated her, his presence irritated her, the fact that he thought he was her superior irritated her. If he didn't have a purpose she would have killed him off years ago.

He paused before a grand door, heavily guarded with an array of seals, it contained Orochimaru-Sama's many scrolls and whatnots that he needed to protect, he didn't leave very often, considering he defected from the Akatsuki, keeping his ring, which apparently didn't sit well on both accounts.

As Kabuto swiftly released the seals and stepped inside Sakura flinched slightly at the pure chakra that radiated from the room, her crimson orbs settling forward as she slowly entered the room, greeted with a wide sinister grin and an expectant look.

"Aah, my beautiful Hime, how are you this fine evening?" Orochimaru grinned, his yellow colored eyes settling on his finest student, and best creation by far, she was his masterpiece and he the artist.

The pinkette offered a respectful bow to her sensei, no matter how much she resented the man for kidnapping her and holding her to a deal she had made as an ignorant, scared young girl of questionable decent, he did hold up his end without hesitation, and she was honor bound to do the same.

"I've been training with Kabuto-San." Came her bleak response, her eyes not glittering with the admiration she had once had for the snake Sannin and his petty mind games, she saw him for the snake he was.

He knew this, but she was much too valuable an asset to lose, so he would deal with her arrogance. She may have not been exactly loyal, but she was an honor bound kunoichi, nothing alike to Kabuto, who would stand on whatever side he found convenient for him, but in a world like they live in you must always look out for yourself first.

"I see. Well, I was wondering if you'd mind doing me a favor." The snake Sannin smiled, his grin equal to that of a Cheshire cat who had caught a bird in its sharp claws, Sakura knew this grin well, her crimson eyes sparkled with hesitance, but she nodded, offering a bleak 'Hai' as she waited for him to fill on the details of the mission.

"These four have brought a special specimen back to me, his name is Sasuke. I was wondering if you could give him a medical examination, it seems his body took much strain to his curse mark." Orochimaru spoke, watching the girl's expression change to one of recognition for almost a millisecond, but in an instant it was back to a bleak, bored expression she had worn for the past three and a half years, always passive with her head down, she wanted to be a shadow, not a shimmering sun.

Her fingers thrummed lightly against her thigh as he filled her in on information. Apparently, he had granted him with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, the counterpart to her own seal. She was to study him and his progress gradually, although they were equals, it was understandable why he trusted her more. She of course, remembered the Uchiha from her time as an academy student, she had fawned over him hopelessly and neglected her studies like a mere civilian, the thought made her face twist into one of distaste.

"The Sound Four seem to have been eliminated as well." Orochimaru sighed, feigning disappointment, Sakura bit back the urge to narrow her eyes, and she knew that he knew damn well that they wouldn't survive this mission, although she didn't allow emotion to break her carefully placed mask, and offered a nod in agreement and acknowledgement, she wouldn't do more than what was necessary of her.

"How… inconvenient." Her statement ended with her face tugging into a strange kind of grin that stretched to inhuman length on her face, the sheer instability that shimmered off the two high-level shinobi had Kabuto's heart beating heavily in his chest, and when he felt two sets of eyes on him he was nearly certain that they could hear it beating in his chest, he wouldn't be half surprised if Sakura were to pull it from his chest and eat it right now, however the silver-haired man kept his composure and offered a sheepish smile.

The pinkette's eyes shifted to the Sannin before her once more, a silent request to be allowed to leave, granted approval she turned from the room, her long locks shimmering as she did so, the only lingering thing that stated she was ever there was the heavy scent of metallic blood and cherry blossoms.

Kabuto turned to the snake Sannin as Sakura disappeared down the hallway, his face grim as he repositioned his glasses, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Her emotions could get in the way." He spoke with a wide smirk.

The Sannin's grin only widened and he sighed dreamily, "What emotions?"

The room filled with the laughter of the two men.

-X-X-X-

The pinkette cursed those damned hallways, finally coming just outside the door of the second training room, pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation as she tried her best to keep her temper- and the raging instability flowing from her curse seal- under control before she had to check on the genin behind these doors.

As she roughly shoved the door open, forgetting to tame her strength as the door was too weak and ended up flying off it's hinges and crashing into the wall parallel from it, filling the room with a veil of dust. Sakura had started Sasuke into lodging a kunai in the direction of her head, which she was able to counter with one of her own, her crimson eyes blank and detecting as she searched over the man before her, sizing him up.

She was not impressed.

They had given him a basic Oto nin uniform, grey pants and an open white kimono shirt, revealing his slightly toned chest and a purple rope-like belt topping it off, his hair stood in gravity-defying spikes in the back, his hair in the front however just hanging limply around his face, onyx eyes watched her warily as she slowly walked forward, her steps fluid and graceful like a dancer's.

"Hello Uchiha-San, my name is-"

"Haruno Sakura." He spoke solemnly, his face stern but his eyes placed his disbelief, the corner of her mouth curved up into somewhat of a smirk and she let a humorless laugh escape her lips.

"Yes. You may call me Haruno-San. Now, Orochimaru-Sama has asked me to look over some injuries you obtained using the second level of your curse mark, ne?" She questioned, lowering herself onto a knee beside him, her hands taking on a bright emerald glow as she hovered them inches over his chest, closing her crimson eyes as her chakra surged through his system, healing the normal injuries to his person on instinct. He had somehow obtained multiple broken rubs, a fracture on his cheekbone, some internal bleeding and a sprang ankle.

Next she moved on to the damage done to his chakra tunnels due to the surge and type of chakra the second level of the curse seal had inflicted, they had been forced open beyond their limitations and burned slightly, healing to the chakra tunnels took more time than a normal injury and was much more complicated to heal, she could only heal the tunnels themselves, but it would take a few days for his chakra to channel properly, in those days he shouldn't perform high-level jutsu because there was a chance it wouldn't work, no harm no foul.

He watched the pinkette warily, by the way she moved about his body, and the glint in her eyes she was being strictly professional, no intention (or clear intention) of foul play just yet. He remembered her from the academy, she had grown out her hair- and her eyes had changed colors, other than that her skin was still pale as paper and her frame still delicate and feminine, for a girl the age of fourteen.

Her chakra was warm, and the Uchiha felt his eyes close for a moment, enjoying the feeling of it coursing through his injured body, the pain slowly fading as she healed his wounds, it was a good feeling, it left his skin hot wherever her chakra remained. He slowly opened his eyes, her crimson eyes, the colors of cherries were looking intently at his chest, nose crinkled slightly in thought as she pushed her healing chakra into his chakra tunnels, healing them where the curse mark had over expanded and abused them.

When she finished she slowly backed away, making it clear she appreciated personal space, the bottom of her long dress flowing slightly with her steps, "Would you like me to show you to your room, Uchiha-San?" She questioned, her eyes seemingly looking through him instead of at him, he grunted in response and as she turned to walk from the room, he followed.

As they walked through the obscene amounts of hallways he sighed, he remembered the girl from the academy, she had been close friends with the dobe, in fact, as well as the Yamanaka girl. Sasuke had known her briefly, but tired of her quickly as he found her constant and unwanted affections annoying. Now it seems she favored not talking, she also kept a large distance between them.

The avenger wandered what use Orochimaru found in the girl, he couldn't sense her chakra signature, and he supposed she had masked it earlier while she was healing him, she moved gracefully, so he assumed she had some decent training. Although he noticed that she looked serious, detached, uninterested, her manors were those of nobility and she kept him at a good length, his eyes narrowed slightly, what was she hiding?

She came to stop in front of one of the doors in the expanse of hallways, pushing on it softly, a seal pulsed and it sprung free, she peered at him from the corner of her eye and motioned for him to enter the room before her, he eyed her cautiously and did so, noticing the door pulsed on impact, he sent a questioning glance to the pinkette, who then stepped into the rather spacious room.

"These rooms are spares for the Oto guards; they act on sensory weather or not to alert Orochimaru-Sama. Since you've entered the room before me, the door has observed your chakra and connected to it," She nodded, tapping a crimson-painted fingernail on the wooden surface of the door with a sigh, "Now if anyone besides you were to enter the room it will alert Orochimaru-Sama or myself and we will come to your aid, or send the guards, ne?" She nodded, and he inclined that he understood.

"Good, I will come and retrieve you for training in the morning. I must ask you not wander around the halls, friends and foes are hard to indentify here." She pointed out sharply, "Good evening, Uchiha-San." She offered with a small bow before disappearing and shutting the door behind her. He didn't hear her footsteps as she retreated down the hall.

He looked about the room, his eyes showing he wasn't impressed, there was a simple cot, a chest at the end of said cot, and a door that undoubtedly revealed to be a personal bathroom. He walked over to the cot, taking a seat at the edge, his sharringan eyes glowing in the darkness of the room.

Prepare yourself, Itachi. I am coming for you.

…..

The cover for this fic should give you a glance of Sakura's new appearance, JS. I know this is only the first chapter and there really isn't a plot yet or anything, but I hope there are some people out there getting a kick out of this story, I know it's not all that great yet, and the updates are short, but the next will be a bit longer, promise.

Oh, I also re-vamped this chapter, so some if not all the clear spelling mistakes are fixed up. I cannot promise the grammatical errors are, however. Sorry.

Please Review, suggestions appreciated.

Much love,

-Tobiismyname.