Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter Twenty-three

I woke up alone on the couch a few hours later, it was dark outside but every light in the apartment was on.

A loud banging on the front door drew my attention and I slowly made my way towards it. Lightening flashed and then the sound of rolling thunder echoed throughout the place.

I didn´t see either Shisui or Madara.

I looked through the peephole but didn´t see anyone, I was just about to return to the couch when the knocking started again. I opened the door to see a shadowy figure standing there, a gun pointed straight to my head.

"What… What do you… Want?" I asked him shakily and he only shook his head in a disappointed manner before firing the gun.

Everything went black.

I woke up with a start, a scream lodged in my throat. The movie was still running so I knew I hadn´t been asleep for long at least. I scrambled to a sitting position and then wrapped my arms tight around my legs, making me as small as possible.

Both my gunshot wounds hurt like hell in this position but I didn´t care about that, all I cared about was not giving in to the rising anxiety attack.

I felt strong arms wrap around me and it actually made me relax slightly, I felt like I was being held together, it was comforting. I heard Madaras dark voice reverberate close to me and then Shisui disappeared.

I started shaking because of the effort of holding back the panic and the arms around me tightened. Then Madaras voice once again resonated close to my ear.

"Breathe Sakura, it´s just you and me here. No one is going to hurt you while I´m here."

I eventually calmed down, but when I did embarrassment took over and I wanted nothing more than to hide. I tried to break free from Madaras hold and actually whimpered when he didn´t let me go, and I didn´t whimper because of the pain. Pain I could handle, the desperate feeling of wanting to hide I could not.

At hearing my whimper he released me and turned me around so that he could look at me.

"What´s wrong Sakura? Did I hurt you?" He sounded really worried but I only turned my head away and kept my gaze on the floor. I was causing him so much trouble yet I didn´t even had the guts to look at him, I was ashamed of myself.

I guess he must´ve realized what was bothering me since he gently forced me to meet his gaze and told me.

"Do never be ashamed in front of me Sakura, no matter what. I think you are an astonishing young woman who has overcome enormous troubles that would have broken everyone else."

I was surprised at his exclamation; I had no idea that he thought that. Perhaps he didn´t see me as trouble? Perhaps I had no reason to feel ashamed?

"You don´t see me as trouble?" I asked him nervously.

"Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Because I cause a lot of trouble… If I hadn´t left my parents you would never have met me and Sasuke wouldn´t be locked in jail, you wouldn´t have had your apartment invaded or your time stolen. It is all because of me." I answered him quietly.

"Well that's just a lot of bullshit to my ears. You don´t cause trouble, you encounter trouble. If you hadn´t left your parents you would most likely be dead and what would have happened to Sasori then? Sasuke might still have gone to jail and I like it very much when you 'invade my apartment and steal my time'."

I just blinked at him, to stunned to manage to form any kind of sentence. Instead I simply nodded and let Madara hug me. We pulled apart when the front door opened and closed and a scent of Chinese food spread through the air.

I got up from the couch and walked out to the kitchen to Shisui. I greeted him with a big smile as I saw that he indeed had brought Chinese food. He gave me a hug and I could feel the relief in his body that I was no longer panicking.

But a sticky sensation on my shoulder made me let go of him quickly and I pulled out the shirt I was wearing from my body so that I could take a peek.

"Oops…"

"Why? What is it?" Shisui asked me and I pulled off the shirt to show him that I had bled through my bandages. But as soon as I pulled off the shirt he turned a bright red and then promptly fainted.

"Oops…" I said again before I yelled.

"Madara! We have a problem here." He was standing next to me in a matter of only seconds and I showed him my shoulder before pointing towards Shisui and saying.

"I was only going to show him that I needed new bandages when he fainted on me."

Madara actually managed to look serious for a moment before bursting out laughing; I took one more look at Shisui and joined him. Shisui looked adorable when passed out and blushing.

Madara then quickly helped me to change the bandages before we woke Shisui up and enjoyed our now reheated Chinese food dinner. Immediately after dinner Shisui and I started yawning and Madara shooed Shisui off to bed before leading me back to the bedroom I had woken up in.

"You can have my bed Sakura, I´ll sleep on the couch." Madara told me and attempted to walk away. I grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving me and told him.

"Please stay! We can share the bed; it is more than big enough. And I… I can´t sleep when I´m alone…" I felt like I was begging him to stay, he might not even want to share the bed with me. But I was soon freed from my worries as he answered.

"Sure, I´ll stay if you want me to." I only nodded and went into the bathroom to change into my pajamas. I exited the bathroom dressed once again in Hidan´s shirt and Itachi´s boxers; I felt that I needed the security their clothes offered me.

Madara was already in bed but he raised one eyebrow at my outfit, silently asking where I had gotten it from.

"The shirt is Hidan´s and the boxers belong to Itachi." I answered and he actually giggled before pulling the covers over us and lying back down on the pillows.

It didn´t take long before the two of us were asleep.

I stayed with Madara and Shisui for two whole day´s and night´s before hearing something from Itachi or Hidan. But I didn´t complain, I got to know the two Uchiha's really well during that short amount of time.

But when Itachi finally called me, I immediately heard that something was really wrong. First, why did he call me and not Hidan? Second, why did he sound stressed? And third, why was Shisui and Madara paling while looking behind me?

I dropped my phone and spun to the side in the same moment a katana sliced the air where I had been standing only a second ago. I looked up and came face to face with an enraged Kabuto.

"It is your entire fault you fucking BITCH!" He yelled while at the same time attacking me with the katana. I expertly dodged him and he continued.

"If you would have just died Orochimaru wouldn´t have felt the need to replace me, ME, with a simple assassin!"

As I continued to dodge his attacks I concluded that he must have gone completely mad to come after me like this and not caring about the other two people in the room. I saw both Shisui and Madara get behind Kabuto and slowly moving closer to take him down.

But he suddenly noticed them and just as he was about to spin around and throw poisoned needles at them, I moved forward, placing myself in between them. The needles easily pierced my skin but I ignored it in favor of punching Kabuto in the face with as much force as I could muster.

I heard a crunching sound and actually felt the shattered pieces of his nose disappear up in his brain, killing him instantly.

As he fell to the ground I turned around and faced the Uchiha´s who both looked rather pale. Shisui then reached for one of the poisoned needles in my body but I quickly took a step back and more or less yelled.

"No! Don´t touch the needles! They´re poisoned and will kill you."

"But won´t they kill you as well?" Shisui asked in an almost whisper.

"No they won´t kill me. They developed this poison on me, using me as a test dummy." I told him as I slowly plucked the needles from my body, dropping them in a bowl on the kitchen counter.

The Uchiha boys were stunned silent as I calmly freed myself from the poisoned needles. Just as I finished Itachi came through the door with Hidan only seconds after. Before I had a chance at comprehend what was happening I was engulfed in a tight hug from Hidan.

"Would someone be so kind and tell us what´s going on here?" Madara demanded and as we moved to sit in the living room, Itachi started to explain.

Apparently he and Hidan had found out that Kabuto knew where I was and was going to get me here and had tried to warn me when he tried to slice me in half with a katana. They had also found out that Orochimaru had hired an assassin named Kimimaro to kill me since I had gotten his precious Sasuke-kun locked away.

And the reason it was Itachi who called me and not Hidan was because Hidan was driving way over the speed limit in hopes of getting here before Kabuto.

When all the questions had been answered and the mess in the hallway was cleaned up, we offered Madara and Shisui to come and stay with us in the house for a while. They declined, telling us that they had things to do but that they would drop by during the weekend instead.

So Hidan, Itachi and I went home alone. During the car ride home I pondered on what to do with my situation, Orochimaru was still alive and causing trouble and now I had this assassin Kimimaro to deal with as well.

I suddenly got an idea on how to end this mess, but my heart hurt at the thought of it. But I felt that I had no other choice…

Late that night, when Hidan was sleeping the heaviest I snuck out of bed and through the house without waking either him or anyone else. In the garage I went directly to Konans car, in which I had hidden a small backpack of supplies.

I felt bad about leaving them without an explanation but I told myself that it was to keep them safe while I ended this nightmare. I had left them a note, telling them that I would be back. I left on foot, taking a car would be too much of a risk. I let the tears fall as I slowly walked away from my happiness, my love and my family.

I hid in alleyways and in run down motels to avoid being found by neither Orochimaru and Kimimaro nor my own family. I was making my way back towards the hideout were they had kept me in hopes of finding something to lead me to Orochimaru.

It took me almost a full week before I finally was back in the hell I had sworn never to return to. I told myself that this was different and then entered through the heavy doors.

I crept through the abandoned hallways in search for something to point me in the direction of Orochimaru. Mark my surprise when I turned a corner and bumped into Kimimaro.

I looked up at him and took notice of his odd white hair, green eyes and red face markings before I realized who I was looking at.

"Aw shit!" I swore and tried to run away. But Kimimaro had a good grip on me and he didn´t let go.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded to know and I stopped struggling, wasn´t he going to kill me?

"I´m… I´m looking for something that could lead me to Orochimaru… Aren´t you supposed to kill me?" I asked him, my head spinning with confusion.

"Yes I was hired to kill you, but I´ve decided not to." He answered me calmly, his dark voice making shills run up and down my spine.

"Why?" I knew my curiosity could get me killed but I hoped that It would not.

"Orochimaru is a sickness that the world needs to get rid of, I´m merely helping with that." I didn´t quite understand his answer but I decided not to question him more.

"Since our goal is the same, maybe we could work together for a while?" I asked him carefully, wary of his reaction. To my relief he nodded.

"That would be nice, it gets lonely sometimes…" He said and a small, hesitant smile made an appearance on my lips. Maybe this wasn´t such a bad idea as it had seemed from the start.

I just hoped that the others were okay back at the house.

Traveling with Kimimaro was a lot easier than to travel alone and it didn´t take to long for us to find a trail that could possibly lead us to Orochimaru.

We were examining a possible hideout when both Kimimaro and I got a feeling. Our gazes met and then we started to run further into the hideout, Orochimaru was here.

We had located him to a large room in the center of the building and were now slowly approaching the door separating us. But suddenly the door flew open and Orochimaru was in the doorway.

"I see that my hired killer have gone and turned on me, we can´t have that can we? And to join forces with my enemy… Now that is just plain rude." He said and then he attacked us.

The fight was nothing like I had expected, it was just a blur, not the detailed movements that I would have thought. I didn´t know who killed who but when everything was over both Orochimaru and Kimimaro was dead and I was left alive and alone.

I was numb.