The sound of the cell door being violently opened awoke Sasuke from his slumber; hands grasped him roughly, yanking him out of his bed and pulling him out of the cell. Dazed, he took in his surroundings, noticing that he was being carried off by two guards as Sai observed the spectacle. He heard Naruto shouting obscenities at the guards, anger evident in his eyes; he glanced over at Sasuke, jerking his head towards Sakura cell. It was difficult for his sleep addled mind to understand, but one scream from Sakura was all he needed to awaken and know what was happening.
"Unhand me, you uncouth swine," Sakura shouted, thrashing in their grasps. The guards merely smirked at each other, the multiples days of torture having weakened her to the point of posing them no threat. The guard on her left leaned in close to her ear, his hot breath fanning across her face.
"I'd be nice to us if I were you," He said, grinning; she flinched slightly from his closeness. "After all, Lord Danzou said we could play with you before we had to kill you."
Sakura visibly blanched, though her eyes held steely determination. "Ah, you boys have been kicked out of your whores' beds, eh," She said, offering a smirk. "Don't blame the poor girls; I would've done the same."
A knife was suddenly pressed to her throat, causing her eyes to widen considerably. "Unless you want another hole for us to use, I'd shut it," The guard hissed, the edge of the blade gliding across her skin; a thin line of blood formed, as if to emphasize his point.
Sasuke watched the exchange, hands shaking with rage; he thrashed against the hold of his guards, causing them to tighten their grips on his biceps. He clenched his jaw, watching as he moved further away from Sakura as they were dragged in opposite directions. The power that he had felt during their imprisonment roared through his veins, singing a song of pure instinct and vengeance. Before Sai had even a moment to try and stop him, Sasuke had his fists clenched, words tumbling out of his mouth before he knew what was happening.
"Ram en'naur," He shouted, fire flaring up at his feet; the guards holding him let go, jumping back to avoid the flames that surrounded him. Sai cursed under his breath as he pulled out a scroll, his brush dancing across the page. Sasuke glared in his direction, holding up his hand towards the guards that held Sakura.
"Koron en'naur," Sasuke seethed; a large ball of fire blast from his hand, knocking into the chest of the guard that had spoken to her; he flew backwards, knocking into Sai, effectively pinning him to the ground. The other guard watched the display in awe, his attention diverted from Sakura; in an instant he was unconscious as well, a blow with every last ounce of Sakura's strength directed towards his throat knocking him to the floor as well. She panted, hands on her knees as she watched Sasuke take care of the other two guards with his newfound powers.
"Where…" She began, watching as he searched the guards for keys, "Where…the hell…did you learn…to do that?"
He shrugged, finding the ring and heading over to Naruto and Kakashi's cells. "I don't know," He replied, unlocking Naruto's door. "It just…came to me."
"That's a crock of shit and you know it!" Naruto shouted, stretching. Sasuke ignored his comment, quickly unlocking Kakashi's door and going to work on the mage's cuffs. "The most you could do is give us extra speed and stuff; now you're shooting fire like you're a dragon!"
"I told you the truth," He snapped, glaring over at Naruto. He managed to unlock the last cuff; Kakashi lowered his arms, gratefully rubbing his wrists.
"As much as I'd love to explain, our primary objective is finding our weapons and escaping." Kakashi replied. He reached up to the brim of his hat, closing his eyes as he focused on the small bird charm in his grasp. Suddenly, a bright light shot from the charm, taking the shape of a bird; with a happy chirp, the light disappeared to reveal Rin hovering in the air. She flew up to the top of Kakashi's hat, perching herself on the brim. Kakashi reached up, brushing the tips of his fingers against the top of her head; she pushed against them, eyes closed happily.
"Now then, onto more serious matters," Kakashi said, reaching up to grasp a wolf charm. His face took on the same appearance of concentration from before, knuckles slowly beginning to turn white as light formed in front of him. Slowly it took the shape of the charm in his hand, the light changing color from white to brown, becoming more solid by the minute. As he released the charm it dissipated, revealing a small brown wolf standing in the middle of the corridor. He glanced around, taking in the dungeon before finally looking at Kakashi.
"You summoned me without the staff." The wolf noted, its voice gruff and undeniably male. "It must be pretty serious then."
"You know me so well Pakkun," Kakashi replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Our weapons were taken from us when we were imprisoned, so…"
"So you want me to sniff them out?" He finished the thought. Kakashi nodded, giving him an apologetic smile; Pakkun merely sighed, shaking his head. He lifted his nose into the air, inhaling multiple times, face wrinkling slightly as he caught Sakura's scent.
"She smells like death," Pakkun noted, glancing over at her, "I doubt she came in here smelling like that."
"Can you find them or not," Sasuke asked crossly, glaring at him; Pakkun raised an eyebrow at him.
"Of course I can," He growled, "The smell of her forge is faint, but it's still there; as for you two, you practically reek of everything else. So even if your weapons are separated, I will find them, rest assured."
"Well then, best we get started." Sakura said, hoping to ease tensions by getting them on task. She began to walk down the corridor, only to get halfway before her eyes became unfocused, her body falling sideways into the wall.
"Sakura," Naruto shouted, running to her side. He grasped her by the shoulder, giving her a hard shake. She groaned, grasping her head, forehead creased in pain.
"I'm fine," She said, giving him a reassuring smile. Sasuke scowled, walking up behind Naruto.
"We don't have time for this," Sasuke reprimanded her, "Either get up or get carried."
Sakura glared at him. "I'm not some fair maiden that needs to be rescued." She retorted, standing up to her full height. She instantly regretted it, feeling the blood immediately rush to her head, body leaning back against the wall; Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Annoying dwarf," He muttered, pushing back Naruto. He grasped her by the waist, lifting her up into his arms with ease; she cried out in protest, eyes wide and face flushed as he slipped his hand beneath the backs of her knees.
"P-Put me d-down," She stammered, caught off guard by his actions.
"You can't walk by yourself," Sasuke replied calmly, glaring down at her. She glared back at him, though it wasn't effective due to the blush spread across her cheeks.
"Th-That doesn't give you the right to…to sweep me off my feet like some damned story book princess!" Sakura stated, arms folded across her chest; Sasuke rolled his eyes at her reasoning.
"If you behave, you can ride on my back," Sasuke offered, looking down at her, "Deal?"
Sakura glanced up at him suspiciously, green eyes searching for any signs of lying. Despite his face being serious, she could see that he was telling the truth; Sasuke felt her relax in his arms. "Deal," She said, looking away from him.
"Fascinating," Sai said; the group quickly turned, watching as he rose from the ground, brushing himself off. "In the entire time you've been here, I've never seen you act like this."
Sasuke pulled Sakura closer to his body, causing the blush on her face to deepen; he glared at Sai alongside Naruto, whose fists were clenched at his side. "You bastard," Naruto growled, "We're not here for your fucking amusement!"
Sai looked at Naruto curiously, head tilted to the side. "I never said that you were; I was merely observing your behaviors for my own notes. All of you were interesting, especially the dwarf girl…Sakura, was it?"
Naruto's jaw clenched, his body lunging towards Sai on its own accord. Before he could even get close to him though, he was jerked backwards by Kakashi; he glared at the mage who stood in front of them, almost in a protective manner.
"What the hell," Naruto shouted. Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at him, his lone eye meeting Naruto's.
"If you go against him, you jeopardize the mission," Kakashi explained, "Allow me to take care of him."
"Will you be able to handle it," Sasuke asked, eyeing him suspiciously. Kakashi looked at Sasuke, giving him a reassuring smile.
"You elves have always underestimated a simple mage like myself," Kakashi noted; he ignored the confused glances sent his way, waving his hand dismissively at them. "Go, now, while you can still leave somewhat undetected."
Sasuke and Pakkun nodded, both of them heading towards the door; Naruto hesitated for a moment, before following after them, glancing back at Kakashi for another moment.
"Don't die old man," He called out, exiting the dungeon. Kakashi smiled slightly as he turned back to face Sai, brush and scroll already in hand.
"You didn't attack," He noted; Sai gave him a small smile, brush poised above the scroll.
"I've read that it's rude to attack someone when their back is turned," Sai replied, giving a final stroke to the scroll. A small bird rose from the scroll, speedily flying towards one of the barred windows; Rin shot after it, knowing from experience that Kakashi would be unable to take it down in time. Her talons dug deeply into the other bird's back, an agonized screech arising from it. Quickly she dug her sharp beak into its neck, silencing it immediately; she puffed her breast feathers, beak stained black as she triumphantly watched it dissolve into a puddle of ink.
A slight rustle of paper brought her attention back to Sai, who had watched the whole ordeal with amusement. Her eyes widened as she saw hundreds of birds similar to the ones she just killed fly from the page, all of them headed for separate windows. She shot off from the ground, savagely killing all that she came into contact with, feathers becoming splattered with ink. All her effort seemed for naught though, as many escaped from the dungeons, each of them flying off to alert Danzou about the prison break. She let out a frustrated shriek, talons digging deeply into the neck of another bird, slamming its body into another in midair.
A wave of water suddenly shot through the dungeon, the birds melting in the air as the water hit them; puddles of diluted ink littered the floor. Rin shook her feathers, knowing that since they were damp she'd be unable to help anymore. Still, she flitted over to Kakashi, looking up at his panting form with concern. He merely smiled, lifting her to sit on the brim of his hat.
"Quite powerful for a mage without his talisman." Sai said, catching his attention. "I would have thought you'd be incapable of magic."
"I'm just full of surprises." Kakashi replied, clasping his hands together. A crackling sound began to fill the air, sparks flying around his hands. He slowly pulled them apart, revealing a crackling stream of lightning; Sai quickly drew on a scroll, brush flying across the page. As he put the finishing touches on, Kakashi shot the lightning towards him, aiming directly at his chest. Sai held the scroll in front of him, gritting his teeth as the lightning struck, the force pushing him backwards a few feet. After a few moments, the stream slowly shrunk, becoming nothing more than a trickling current before finally dissipating into the air. Sai panted, hands relaxing their grip on the smoking scroll; depicted was a fierce lightning storm, runes written along the edges of the painting.
"Stronger than I thought," Kakashi thought, frowning as he recognized it as a sealing spell. "Meaning elemental spells are rendered ineffective."
The corner of Sai's lip twitched upwards as he watched Kakashi stare him down. He retrieved a scroll from his pocket, unraveling it to reveal a painting of two ferocious mountain lions. He quickly painted a rune in the corner, causing the ink to glow on the page; the lions leapt off the parchment, charging towards Kakashi. As they pounced towards him, a sudden whirlwind caught them in mid-air, incapacitating them. Kakashi raised his hands upwards, columns of fire following his movements, eliciting agonized roars from the mountain lions. Sai immediately pulled out another scroll, brush frantically painting the sealing runes; just as he was about to finish though, Kakashi's hands clenched into fists, causing the fiery vortexes to disappear.
Sai's eyes widened as he scanned the room, confusion clear on his face. He looked over at Kakashi, watching him carefully for any sign that could predict his next move. He watched as Kakashi's fists slowly unclenched, his lone eye never leaving his; suddenly he felt a searing heat behind him. He quickly turned around to try and seal the fire, but was only able to scream in agony as the flames engulfed him, the smell of burning flesh quickly pervading the room. Kakashi snapped his fingers, panting as the flames disappeared, leaving behind a charred body and floating ash.
"Now to get to them before Danzou does," Kakashi thought, turning towards the doorway. A glint of steel caught his eye, causing him to jump backwards; the tip grazed his cheek enough for the mask covering his right eye to fall apart. He watched as Sai's eyes widened fractionally, his body straightening from his offensive stance.
"An elven talisman in your right eye." Sai noted, looking at the glittering blood red gem staring back at him; around the hole substituting as a pupil was a thin circle, on which three comma shaped marks lay. "And an Uchiha talisman at that," He said, slight surprise in his voice. "Tell me, how did you come by that?"
"From an old friend," Kakashi replied. "I see you're skilled with dimensions as well."
"Not nearly as well as you," Sai said, sheathing his blade; Kakashi noted that it was a small dagger hidden inside the handle of his brush. "To be able to transport not only your magic, but my magic as well…that requires many years of skill and control."
Shouting could be heard from outside the dungeon, metal armor clanging as guards rushed through the door. They stood behind Sai, swords raised, warily watching Kakashi; the captain looked towards Sai, seeking his approval to capture him. Sai merely nodded, resulting in the captain waving his hand to signal the other guards to surge past Sai towards Kakashi.
Kakashi made a circle with his hand and, putting it against his mouth, blew air towards them; an icy mist was released, freezing the front soldiers into ice sculptures, causing the rest of the company to halt. He immediately took the opening, large balls of fire forming in his hands, throwing one of them at the guards. It hit one of the sculptures, causing it to explode into lethal shards, resulting in the other guards retreating in order to avoid being hit. He then shot the other ball towards the wall; the stone exploded on impact, shaking the foundation of the castle as a large opening was created, dust falling from the ceiling. Kakashi ran towards the opening, signaling to Rin to fly ahead of him, the guards still trying to get themselves together after the blast. Rin flew ahead, her body growing larger as she escaped from the dungeon; by the time Kakashi had reached her, she had transformed into a giant eagle. He climbed up onto her back as the guards began to rush out of the opening towards them. Rin gave a shriek as she began flapping her wings, creating powerful gusts of wind that knocked some of the guards off balance. Soon she was airborne, high out of their reach, flying off to where Sai assumed the rest of the group was.
"Sir," The captain called, snapping Sai out of his thoughts, "Shall you give them chase?"
Sai shook his head. "There is no need," He replied, "We know he's going to find the others, so our best bet is to capture them first to trap him. Have archers on the rooftops though; if we can take him down beforehand, then we shall."
"Yes sir," The captain replied, saluting him. He began to direct his soldiers to their appropriate tasks, leaving Sai to go back to watching the skies, pondering over his recent battle.
"What an enjoyable match," He thought, a small smile crossing his face.
"This place gives me the creeps," Naruto grumbled, looking down the dark corridor disdainfully. After escaping from the dungeon, Pakkun had located an underground passageway; he led them into it, saying that it was safer for them to travel that way, lest they wanted to be caught immediately. Although he had been right about staying hidden from the guards, Naruto couldn't help but feel as if other horrors awaited them inside.
Sasuke nodded, frowning as he felt Sakura shiver on his back. The air in the corridor was much damper and cooler than the dungeon and he worried that she would fall into worse health, especially without his cloak to give her. A mumble sounding suspiciously like chastisement for worrying about her came from Sakura, followed by a light flick on the side of his neck; he adjusted her on his back in response, wondering how she knew without seeing his face.
Tremors suddenly shook the ground, halting their progress as dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling. Naruto and Sasuke looked up at the ceiling, wondering what it might mean for Kakashi's fate, as well as their own. Pakkun sneezing brought their attention back to the wolf, his body shaking as he tried to rid himself of the debris that made its way into his fur.
"Kakashi must've blown something up," Pakkun said; Sasuke assumed he was trying to reassure them. "He'll be fine though; he's survived far worse."
"But shouldn't we go back and help him" Naruto asked, gesturing back the way they came.
"If I'm still here, then he's still alive." Pakkun replied, resuming his path down the corridor. "Now let's get moving before we get caught."
"But," Naruto began, but was instantly cut off by Sakura's voice.
"He's right" She said, voice soft yet still holding the authority of a competent dwarf. "We need to keep moving. Besides…what good…would we be without our weapons?" She grit out the last part, fists clenching the fabric of Sasuke's shirt as she felt pain course through her chest. Naruto's shoulders slumped, eyes softening with worry for her as he nodded, silently following Pakkun.
"You should conserve your strength," Sasuke said, following them. He felt her smile against his neck as she adjusted her head to be comfortable, a small snort of amusement escaping her.
"Never took you to be the doting mother type." Sakura replied; she smirked slightly as she felt the back of his neck heat up, a grunt of annoyance leaving his throat. "Besides, conserving strength is impossible when you have that bumbling idiot for a friend."
"Still," Sasuke pressed on, "Unless you wish to see the end of your life before the end of this journey, I suggest you at least try."
"I'm letting you carry me, aren't I?" She shot back, almost as if daring him to challenge her. When silence met her statement, she continued. "Besides, a dwarf does not fear Death; when he comes for us, we greet him with open arms and an invitation to drink with us. If Death has the patience to wait for us to finally have our fill, only then will we go with Him, stumbling and singing drunkenly the entire way."
"What a pleasant belief," Sasuke muttered; he felt her nod, cheek resting against the base of his neck.
"Yes," She agreed quietly, "It has soothed many terrors."
Before he could question what she meant, he heard Pakkun bark. He focused his attention ahead of him, noticing that Pakkun and Naruto stood underneath a trap door, a ladder leading up to it; he quickly caught up to them, glancing up at it as well.
"The scent is strongest here," Pakkun stated, directing his attention to them. "I'll be the first to go up, in case there's some sort of trap; one of you guys will need to open the door for me though."
"Leave that to me," Naruto said; Pakkun leapt off the ground, landing on Naruto's shoulder. He climbed up the ladder, Sasuke following after him; when he reached the door, he gave it a hearty shove. Dust fell on them as it creaked open slowly, the door falling to the floor above them with a thunderous boom. Pakkun leapt off Naruto's shoulder, landing on the floor as he scanned the room.
"Alright, coast is-" He began to say, but was cut off as black marks began to spread across his body. He howled in pain, falling to the floor, prompting Naruto and Sasuke to quickly up into the room.
"Pakkun," Naruto shouted, kneeling beside the wolf. He began to reach for him, but was halted as the other occupant of the room spoke.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Danzou said, coming out of his hiding spot in the shadows. "If you touch him, my magic will immobilize you as well."
Naruto stood up, glaring at him with pure, unadulterated fury. "You bastard…" He growled. "I'll kill you!"
"With what," Danzou asked, "You have no weapons and your mage is being hunted. You have no chance against me."
"That's where you're wrong," Naruto said, jerking his thumb back at Sasuke. "We've got an elf who can blast some pretty strong fire here! So, unless you wanna get burned to a crisp, I suggest you step aside!"
Danzou looked over at Sasuke, his eye appraising him. Sasuke's body stiffened, every fiber of his being telling him to do something besides wait around for his next attack. Danzou smirked as he noticed Sakura on his back; the action made Sasuke glare at him, imaginary hackles raising in response.
"Well, let's see how you fare," Danzou replied, snapping his fingers. Pakkun shouted, drawing Sasuke's attention away from Danzou, only to have what appeared to be a clone attack him from behind. He felt the wind knocked out of him as he was punched in the stomach, doubling over as his fist curled up. He heard Sakura release a scream and could only feel her struggle to hold onto him as she was taken away. The power from before thrummed through his veins; he grasped the clones wrist, glaring up at him through his bangs.
"Koron en'naur," He spat, holding his hand out into its chest. Instantly a fireball engulfed Danzou's clone, allowing Sasuke to catch his breath and stand up straight. He observed his surroundings, noticing that Naruto was busy fighting off two, having stolen one of their staffs and using it as a makeshift sword. He turned his attention back to the real Danzou, seeing that he had a knife at Sakura's neck.
"Let her go," Sasuke demanded; Danzou merely smirked, edging the tip of his blade closer to her neck. Sasuke growled, not noticing that fire had formed in his hands; Danzou's eyes glinted as he saw the fire flicker to light.
"I think you're ready now," Danzou stated, snapping his fingers; instantly roots came up from the floor, winding around Sakura so that she couldn't move. "I wouldn't want her to get in the way," Danzou said, noticing Sasuke's angered expression. He smirked, moving into an offensive stance. "Now, show me what the Uchiha clan is made of, young elf."
Koron en'naur: Fireball
Ram en'naur: Flame field
A/N: Sooo, my laptop had a hard drive failure. Also, like I said, school started back up. But yeah, we're gonna blame the delayed chapter on hard drive problems. If anything seems weird, it's because I got all the newest software, so still learning it.