Stand By Me

Chapter 8 - Through Glass

''You can't expect a bit of hope, so while you're outside looking in, describing what you see...remember what you're staring at - is me.''

''AHHHH!'' Sakura's terrible scream filled the small, candle lit room. Her figure was slumped in her chair. Horrible hand imprinted burns covered her neck and shoulders. She was crying, she had held out for the first few hours but the truth was...Sakura had never been tortured before, and she'd tried to withstand the pain but it was more intense than anything she'd ever felt. Her gums were bleeding from the strain she'd put them through and eventually she broke, but the pain didn't stop and hours passed.

''Please,'' she sobbed hoarsely. ''What do you want?'' the questioning hadn't even begun.

''Again.'' the Shadow who was sitting on a table in front of her had been giving orders to the one torturing her.

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for the pain, but it caused her to hyperventilate.

''Please, please, please,'' she gasped, shaking her head insanely. ''No more...'' she heard the Shadow behind her dip his hands into the substance, that once activated by his chakra will turn into an acid that will eat at her skin. ''Please...please...plea-Nooo! AHHHHH!'' her scream went on and on even after his hands were removed.

''Ok, that's enough. I can take it from here.'' he spoke, and Sakura who had calmed down, heard the footsteps to the door, the metal door creaked as it opened and was then shut.

She swallowed and looked up at the Shadow. He was holding her ID card, the one Temari had obtained for her.

''Im just going to go ahead and assume that this,'' he waved it around, ''Is fake,'' he held it over the candle and it caught fire easily. ''and your lack of reaction proves it,'' he tossed it on the stone floor and it burned to a crisp.

''Lets start with something simple...how about your name?''

She couldn't. There was no way she could tell him the truth. Madara was looking for her - chances were, that either she would be killed on the spot...or worse, Madara would come.

''Akaya.'' she said softly.

He stood up and walked around her. ''Now, lets try this again. Your. Name.''

''A...Akaya.'' Sakura said in a broken voice and then she felt his fingers dig into the raw flesh on her shoulders. Sakura screamed through clenched teeth.

''Whatever, lets move on for now. Where are you from? You have neither the complection nor accent of someone from Suna. So lets have it?''

Another question that she couldn't answer. Konoha was destroyed. And she had escaped. Another reason for him to kill her.

''Wave country...'' she said, expecting the pain, but that didn't make it any less painful.

''That resistance, that fire in your eyes.'' he laughed. ''Another Konoha Shinobi.''

Sakura wouldve contained her reaction, but the fact that he'd been torturing others meant that maybe, more were alive...

''I love torturing you nin the most. Some break after a few drugs...but others...fight until the very end...I find resistance very attractive in a woman.'' he said coming and inch from her face and Sakura whipped her head back.

Another interrogation tactic.

''Now, what level Shinobi are you? Jounin? Or,'' he laughed delightedly, ''Konoha ANBU maybe?''

Sakura looked away, defiance clear on her weak features.

He stood up and walked around her, she heard him getting something and coming back to sit on the table. He placed a spray bottle next to him and took out his kunai.

''Now, you're going to tell me, ok? Really, no harm in me knowing?''

'Screw you...' she thought and stared at him with a dead expression.

He stood up, slammed his kunai into her finger, the crack signaling the break.

Sakura hit her head against the back of the chair and clenched her jaw.

''Answer me.''

''Chuunin.'' she said and blood ran down her lips.

''What a disappointment.'' he sat down, leaning his chin into his palm, trying to look bored.

''Any special techniques? Genjutsu, summonings, bloodline limit?''

''Does it matter? You're going to kill me anyway.'' Sakura said, not looking at him.

''True. So there's no harm in telling me, is there?''

''Med-nin.''

''Oh, how cooperative...and so boring too. but this could get fun.''

He picked up the can. ''You see this? It will burn anything dry that it comes into contact with. Skin, for example. But the downside is, it only burns what it touches and once its done the raw skin just numbs when its applied again. You see the problem?'' he paused and lifted her wrist. ''But you offer a solution. The reason I haven't tied you up is because of these.'' he tapped the cuff on her wrist. There was another on her other wrist.

''They've slowly been draining your chakra. What's going to happen is, I'm going to ask you a question, and if you don't answer me, I will spray this, on your face. And then you...will heal yourself.''

''But...you've been draining my chakra...'' she asked, her voice shook despite he need to hide how terrified she was.

He shrugged. ''How much chakra does healing take?'' he asked sarcastically.

''Now, lets begin. Who escaped Konoha with you?''

Bam. And there it was.

''You can just kill me now. That fire you see in my eyes? Its never gonna burn out, meaning I'm not telling you a fucking thing.'' and then she spat in his face.

The red liquid dripped down his cheek and before he wiped he released the spray in her face.

And it did exactly what he said.

Sakura screamed.

x-x-x-x-

''Where is she?'' Naruto raged at the clone.

Nightfall had come and gone and Naruto knew he promised but...dammit, this was Sakura!

The clone disappeared and Naruto whirled around. A clone disappeared either meant that Sakura released the Jutsu, something disturbed her chakra or it was destroyed.

He doubted she'd released the Jutsu, she'd leave it here to set him at ease.

Naruto couldn't believe he'd been so stupid, he should never have left her!

He went forward like a rocket, but was thrown back a second later, hitting the forest floor.

He looked up to see Suigetsu, leaning on his sword, and the other one - Juugo, was sitting by a tree, watching him.

''What do you want?'' Naruto asked getting up, anger clear on his face.

''Nothing, just doing a favor.''

Naruto's eyes narrowed and then he realized he didn't care. Sakura was more important. ''Whatever. I have to go.'' he made to go but Suigetsu stepped into his path. ''Cant let you do that, man.''

''Excuse me?'' Naruto was ready to punch him but Suigetsu put up a finger.

''You'd only get in the way.''

''Of what?''

''Sasuke's taking care of it. All you have to do is be a good boy and wait here.''

Naruto's eyes widened. ''Sasuke's what?''

Naruto tried to run past the sword user again but this time Suigetsu punched him back. ''Relax, no one needs you to try and play the hero.''

Naruto got to his feet.

''Sasuke tried to kill her before! I can't-''

''Hey, hey! She tried to kill him, so his reaction is...understandable.'' Suigetsu defended.

''Let me pass.''

''No matter what, we can't do that until Sasuke gives the signal. So just sit down until then, if you want to fight then Juugo is going to step in and none of us wants that, plus the surrounding area is crawling with Shadows so just do as you're told.''

Naruto had two options, trust Sasuke or fight and risk being caught.

Naruto turned to look at Suigetsu again, but the man was gone, Naruto spun around but it was too late, there was a prick at his neck.

''Sasuke said you'd be difficult. So we came prepared.''

and then it went black.

x-x-x-x-

It was over but her entire face felt like it was on fire and throbbing horribly. Sakura was panting and whenever she cried, her salty tears stung the raw skin of her face.

''Heal yourself, you look disgusting.'' he said, his voice sounded amused.

Sakura's hands were shaking as she reached up and healed the raw skin of her face, the healing hurt more than the cause, her chakra wasn't soothing as she'd hoped and it stung worse than her tears.

Once she was done, her hands dropped to her sides and he didn't miss a beat. ''Who are you protecting?''

''Go to hell.'' she sneered.

''Maybe it wasn't bad because you couldn't see it, huh?'' he moved forward and she watched horrified as he cut away the material of the dress, but he left her shorts, which was a mystery until...until her sprayed that shit over the tops of her thighs. It burned the material of her shorts into her skin and then it began eating at her skin, Sakura began to scream and cry at the same time - her hands gripping the sides of her thighs.

When she opened her eyes, raw, charred flesh stared back at her. The site made her throw up, except there was nothing in her stomach so she dry heaved and coughed for a while until all that was left was her crying.

''Now...i'll ask again,'' he stood up and pressed a kunai in each of her hands. ''If you don't answer me, you will stab each of those kunai into your raw flesh, and if you don't I'll spray your entire body until I get an answer,''

''Go fuck yourself.''

He hit her for that, her head snapped to the side. Her lip was throbbing so her tongue went out to lick over it, it had split.

''Who are you protecting?''

''Your mom.''

There was a pause. ''You may stab yourself.''

Sakura stared at him, he was gonna spray her again if she didn't. But she couldn't exactly stab herself.

''Refusing? Ok.'' he lifted the bottle and sprayed in her newly-healed face before he grabbed both kunai and stabbed them into her wounded thighs.

Sakura's scream was cut off and soundless and she couldn't breathe, her hands circled the kunai, but she was shaking so hard that she couldn't remove them.

''I will drag this out until I get an answer, and then I will kill you.''

''Not if you're dead.''

Sakura's head lifted slowly, weakly. She must be hallucinating...there was no way that Sasuke stood in the doorway, his katana dripping with blood.

She blinked and he was gone, her head turned slowly to the Shadow, his body was arched and Sasuke's katana was stabbed through his hart.

''Chidori Nagashi.''

The Shadow went limp after Sasuke's lightning went through him. Sasuke threw him to the side effortlessly, swiping his katana through the air to clean the blood off before he returned it to its holster.

''S-...Sasuke?'' she whispered.

He turned to her and his eyes widened as he saw her. Blonde, bloodied hair. Her...her face...the skin had been burned off. She was skin and bones...her legs were almost as bad as her face, kunai had been stabbed into the wounds.

''Sakura?'' he asked as he took a step towards her.

''Sasuke...'' she gave a weak nod.

Her hands were still clenched around the kunai and she felt Sasuke's large hands cover them. He had an impulse to warn her...she'd been through enough, but he ignored it and pulled both kunai out and tossed them aside as Sakura let out a strangled cry. Next he used his katana to cut the cuffs from her wrists.

''Sakura...your face...'' his voice was a little strained.

With effort she reached up and pushed the last of her chakra to the surface, healing the skin and leaving just a red tint, almost like a bad sunburn if you could pretend.

Sasuke put his hands below her armpits and lifted, it took him three tries to get her up. Sakura tried her best not to look weak in front of him but as soon as such was up, her legs couldn't handle it and she screamed in pain, Sasuke caught her, handling her weight easily. With one hand holding her up around the waist, the other took off his robe and covered her.

''Get on my back.'' he ordered and turned around, Sakura weakly tried to climb up but it was quickly apparent that it was impossible. Sasuke sighed and lifted her up in one quick movement of knocking her weak legs out from under her and holding her up bridal style. He began running at an incredible speed, holding her close so she wouldn't jostle about and scream in his ear. He'd killed all the Shadows that came to the supplies shop so now he had a clear escape. Sakura passed out before they'd made it out of Sora-ku and once they were far enough away, Sasuke stopped and set her down, inspecting the damage. She'd been tortured. Badly. He'd seen worse, fuck...he'd stayed with Orochimaru, but it bothered him that Sakura had been subjected to this. He kept seeing the girl, crying, begging him to stay in Konoha. She shouldve taken his advice and quit being a ninja.

Sasuke found himself covering her wounds with bandages. He had no form of first aid so the bandages would have to do for now.

He found himself annoyed with he blonde hair. If she hadn't said his name, he wouldn't have recognized her. He tugged at the hair and...he felt her chakra infused with it. If it was an illusion, it wouldve disappeared during her chakra depletion, so it must be real. He pulled at it and a lock of pink her fell free.

At least it wasn't real. Sasuke sighed and lifted her up again. Just a bit into the woods, he lifted a Genjutsu that he'd placed to conceal the tunnel and once he was in, he replaced it before he continued through the tunnel, and to the other side where a safe house of sorts awaited. It was a house, that belonged to his parents. It wasn't on any map, but his mother had once explained it to him and it took him quite a few days to find.

Sasuke kicked the door open and walked inside. It wasn't anything extravagant. A living room, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.

Sasuke laid Sakura down on one of the beds. She moaned painfully.

Great, all he needed now for he was to get a fever. How much more would her have to deal with?

Sakura moaned again and reached out towards him. Sasuke stayed completely still and she grabbed on to his pant leg, shivering. Reaching out for his heat.

Oh...she was cold. Simple. Sasuke let out a breath and covered her with a blanket. It had been a while since he'd had to deal with...people. He watched her for a second more before he turned and left the room to go and send Suigetsu the signal. Going for Naruto now would be too risky. Shadows will be swarming that place in no time, going there would be suicide. In a few days they would begin to clear out, but until then they needed to lay low.

x-x-x-x-

Naruto woke slowly and then with a start. Sitting up and looking around frantically.

''You're awake!''

''You!'' Naruto seethed, getting up.

A hawk cried twice and circled before it flew off.

''He's got her.'' Juugo said, getting up.

''What...what do you mean?'' Naruto demanded.

''It means Sasuke successfully saved her, idiot.'' Suigetsu said, and then gave a toothy grin before he sipped some water.

''Suigetsu...'' Juugo called, he was eager to go for some reason.

''Shadows will be arriving any second. Sasuke will contact you when its safe. '' Suigetsu and Juugo disappeared and Naruto was left stunned.

Sasuke would 'contact him'. What the fuck? He was just supposed to accept that?

He didn't have much of a choice. Naruto took off at full speed. He needed to get to the next town, there he could wait for Sasuke's 'contact'.

A week. If Sasuke didnt fucking contact him before then...Naruto still had the map Sakura sent with the clone, he'd find them himself.

Okkiiiii, short, quick update.

I received some awesome reviews for the previous chapter and I am so happy that you all are enjoying this story.

Thanks so much. :)

Oki, yes. Kind of a rough chapter lol. Buuuuut enter Sasuke-kun *squeals* lol.

The torture scene was a lot more messy in my head by I toned it down a lot lol because somehow I just couldn't do that to Sakura lol and also, Sasuke had to carry her after.

There was also I scene I deleted where the Shadow is using a chakra string (like the ones Kankuro uses on his puppets) to make her stab herself repeatedly -.-''

A bit too twisted, I think.

Luckily Sasuke killed him :)

anyhoo, reviews please! Loved it? Hated it? Questions? Suggestions? Please let me know!

Zana-Lee

xoxo