paixaorpg | Arrival [complete]

Sakura clutched the electronic journal to her chest, looking at everywhere at once and nowhere at all as she wandered forward. The large, elaborate dome structures were beyond any architectural marvel the like of which she'd ever seen. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed, smiling occupants of the homes and shops scattered about the area seemed friendly enough; the variety of strange and unusual... 'people' wandering alongside her, on the other hand, were somewhat... troubling.

She had the distinct feeling she wasn't in Konoha anymore.

There wasn't a single familiar face among the dozens littering the streets before her. As for her recollection of how and when she'd come to be in this strange place? Sakura had absolutely no clue, which troubled here just as much as her observations -- if not more. Brow lightly wrinkled in concern (surely Tsunade-danna would be looking for her, soon, right?) she tried to push her hesitations and apprehensions away. Wherever she was, there was a reason she was here, and she would have to find ou....t...

Her eyes shot wide open as she spotted the distinctly familiar and heart-stoppingly apparent form of a youthful boy sprawled over the ground several yards away. The electronic journal fell from her limp fingers, colliding with the cobblestone streets (though she didn't notice in the least) and skittering uselessly away. Sakura's feet were moving at a hasty run as she pushed people aside, skidding to a halt before the prone, dark-haired youth and flinging herself to her knees beside him.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" She exhaled raggedly. She would recognize that blue shirt with the insignia of a fan upon the back anywhere... "Sasuke!!" His clothes were utterly mishapen and torn, with two strange rips upon the back in symmetrical shapes -- from what, she couldn't say. She turned him over, stomach-up, and set him in her lap, eyes quickly surveilling his physical condition.

Molding her chakra into her palms, she readied shosen jutsu; feeling the trickle of blue making it's way out of her skin and into his. His wounds were... extensive. What had done this to her Sasuke-kun?! Her heart was fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird in her chest. He didn't look a day older than when he left Konoha... all those years ago.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke groaned soundlessly when he felt the warmth spreading across his wounds, the pain cracking, shattering, burning before it began to fade away. Senseless with blood loss and the afterimage of pain, he could only lie there, boneless with exhaustion. His head was still pounding in a migraine that would take days to leave him in peace, and Sasuke squeezed his eyelids shut with a barely-audible growl to keep the light away.

Someone was holding him with a gentleness that was absurd, a gentleness that he hadn't experienced since Itachi took everything away from him. A dream, Sasuke thought, and turned his face to press against the warm figure, face pillowed against soft fabric.

"Mother..." he murmured, soft and subdued.

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"S-Sasuke," she exhaled, watching him pull away and reluctantly feeling her fingers releasing their grip upon him. She rose to her feet, trying to pay no mind to the blood still lingering over his clothes, and at her hands, upon her thighs. His eyes were still glazed with fever and pain -- did he even recognize her?

"Sasuke-kun, it's me," she said, her face softening minutely as she rested a hand against her chest. "You shouldn't be moving around yet. I stopped the bleeding, but you still... still need a lot of rest." Would he fight with her? It'd be pointless, as he was now; she could easily overpower him in his condition. She would do whatever it took to see that he was okay.

Seeing his face... hearing his voice... it made her heart tremble with joy and cry out with pain she hadn't felt as sharply since the day he'd left Konoha.

But there was no time for such thoughts now, she reminded herself. She took a slow step closer, not wanting to startle him. Naruto certainly hadn't thought that she'd changed all too much; surely Sasuke could recognize her. Why did he have that... wild look in his eyes? No, she should expect it, shouldn't she? He'd abandoned them for Orochimaru. Something in those jade eyes briefly hardened in resolve.

"Kai!" Sasuke said, violently forming the hand seal that would dispel whatever genjutsu this was. But the blank whiteness of the world remained, and this older girl who looked too much like Sakura was still standing before him. Was it just a lack of chakra, was this too high-level of a genjutsu for him to dispel at his present condition?

He pulled back immediately when she advanced, trying to relax enough to form a plan. She said she had healed him, but the Sakura he knew was nowhere even close to being able to heal the heavy wounds that Naruto had inflicted. Orochimaru wasn't stupid enough to test him with a genjutsu involving a Sakura that was so obviously false. What was going on?

"Get out of my way, or I'll kill you," Sasuke warned, for the last time. He was almost at his limit; barely any chakra, and only a little more physical strength. Sasuke bit down, tightening his jaw. This was just some girl pretending to be a teammate that he now felt only apathy towards. Itachi would be impossible if he could not even climb such a shallow wall.

"You can try," she retorted, a frown of resolve forming over her brows. Her muscles were tensing, and that familiar breathless sensation had taken over - this was Sasuke-kun. He was alive, and here, and real -- this were no illusion, she was certain. She'd have recognized it by now, if it were. Dispelling genjutsu was her specialty.

It seemed that he, however, would be harder to convince.

She slid a little bit closer, booted feet straining with all she had in her not to tear across the little distance between them and fling her arms around his shoulders (smaller than hers, now) and never let him go as she should've done before. Two and a half years ago. Too long ago. Far too long.

"You can't fight and we both know it," she reasoned, trying to keep the firmness in her voice. Perhaps he'd listen to that, if nothing else. "Don't push yourself too hard or I'll end up having to drag you away anyhow, okay, Sasuke-kun?" She couldn't help it; that worried smile found it's way onto her face.

Sasuke clenched his fists, eyes flashing dangerously. She was right; it was taking all of his energy just to hold himself upright.

But all it took was the image of the water tank that Naruto's Rasengan had left demolished for Sasuke to stave off the impending exhaustion and harden his gaze. Enough talk. Orochimaru was waiting, beyond this test, and Sasuke would not fail. Not again.

He hated that smile on her face. Maybe this was why Orochimaru had chosen to portray Sakura as older, wiser: the pity in her eyes infuriated Sasuke like nothing else could. He was not a child, to be looked down upon!

Determination was the only force behind the sudden kick that Sasuke threw out, his body twisting in the air as he sought contact for the blow. It was executed with his usual finesse, but even he could tell that the power behind it was maybe 50%, at most. Just a little more, Sasuke thought, just a little more.

Sakura barely had time to widen her eyes and bring her arms up to block as Sasuke's leg came rushing towards her in a kick. Why was he doing this? To test her? To push her away? Or did he genuinely disbelieve it was her? She couldn't understand how; hadn't he pushed that doubt aside when the dispel technique hadn't worked?

Pushed back by the force, Sakura held her ground, booted feet sliding backward slightly, but by now she was more than used to taking far more damaging blows quite nearly in her sleep. Tsunade was not exactly the... gentlest of tudors. The chakra had molded itself into her arms and fists the moment his muscles gave away his impending attack; she was ready to counter if necessary.

But to attack an already far weakened and vulnerable Sasuke would do her no good -- and nor would it do him good, either. She would have to exhaust him, or disable him - either choice was dangerous. With the damage he'd already sustained, it might be too risky to attempt to wear him down any further. Her best bet would have to be pinning him...

She waited for the next few attacks to gauge the correct moment to make her move, and to deduce his intent - she still had his mind to think about. What was he thinking, and why was he so keen on pushing himself like this? What did he think he would accomplish?

"Don't patronize me," Sasuke growled, as he realized what she was doing. She was not tensed to strike, and he felt nothing but a defensive intent about her. So, that was it?

Sasuke moved directly into a roundhouse after the kick. Loss of blood had left him weak, woozy, but the adrenaline was beginning to kick in again.

And exhaustion had never stopped Naruto, had it? That was why Naruto had grown so much in such a short time while Sasuke had been static, unchanging. Why Itachi had been able to defeat him without so much as breaking a sweat.

Sasuke bit back the bitterness, knowing it would get him nowhere. What he needed more than anything was a plan, now. He had three or four kunai at most, perhaps an exploding tag or two. There was no way he could pull off the Katon or even a simple bunshin in the state he was in; that ruled out any ninjutsu.

But chakra threads... it was a long shot, but it was the only chance he would get. He had used this move on Orochimaru in the forest during the chuunin exams, but he had no time, no energy for creativity. Whipping out the kunai between his fingers, he silently fed the last of his chakra to wind into strings across the small weapons. If he could tie her down, she could not avoid his physical attacks.

Sakura's face took on a look of determination as she leapt nimbly backwards to avoid the oncoming roundhouse. She was accustomed to the flow of Sasuke's movements, had watched them tirelessly in the days of her youth; quite honestly, maybe a little too much. However, that childhood crush served her well, now. She was used to his attack patterns and the muscle movements which betrayed his future motions.

When he withdrew the kunai from his pouch, her face hardened. Did he honestly intend to fight like this? Her hand clenched to a fist at her side; if nothing else worked, perhaps he deserved a well placed punch to assure him that she was real. That he was overstepping the boundaries he most likely thought she'd let him get away with. Sakura knew better than to let him take advantage of her feelings for him; she would always care for him, always love him, if not as the boy she once knew then as the friend he had been, no-- still was, somewhere. His face was the same. And he wasn't beyond hope. Not if she could find what he allowed to be lost inside of himself.

She sensed the chakra being molded and didn't wait to see what would come of it. He didn't have enough to pose any sort of offensive threat; she could disable any attack with this difference in power between them. He was in no state for a full-out battle with a medic-nin.

She hesitated only a moment before focusing the blue energy around her palms and leaping towards him. A single touch to disable the use of his muscles... she wouldn't hurt him. Just pin him. Just knock some sense into his stubborn Uchiha head.

Perfect, Sasuke thought, as she finally began to retaliate. The faster she was going, the more she would have to change her path when he threw the weapons. There was no soft enough surface for the weapons to dig into for the chakra strings to loop around her body, and he inwardly cursed at his misfortune. He'd have to use even more chakra to effect the path of the kunai themselves.

Her palms were glowing with chakra, and if Sasuke had been thinking about anything other than his desperation to win the fight, he would have been quietly impressed with her skill. To be touched with those glowing hands would spell an instant defeat, he had to make sure she did not read his movements. Everything seemed hopeless -- he was fighting with tactics so basic that Academy students could probably come up with better.

Slapping his one remaining explosive tag on one of the kunai - it would serve as a distraction, if nothing else - Sasuke let the kunai fly.

Sakura skidded in an attempt to stop her path as she saw the explosive tag fly from his hands attached to the kunai. She wasted no time in gathering chakra into her feet and making a clean leap away, keeping track of the remaining kunai as she did so; his aim was good, even with the impairments of weakness and the strain of his very last legs.

She wasn't about the give up. The second that her heeled boots found the ground, she was after him again, her eyes locked upon the distinct blue of his shirt she could make out through the dust kicked up from the explosion. Well, wherever they were, she was certain that they were bound to attract attention this way, and fast -- she'd have to end this as quickly as possible, and disable him the first chance she got, then speed away from the area as fast as he'd allow. If he struggled too much, well then... she might just accidently render him unconscious.

Clenching her fist, she leapt through the clearing smoke towards the form of the boy standing amongst the debris of the floor before them where the path of his kunai had taken, issuing a soft exhale between gritted teeth.

"You're not getting away this time!!"

It was nearly impossible to dodge a strike in the air. Sasuke smirked, even though he knew that if she read through this attack, he was finished. Sending chakra through the strings of the kunai he had already thrown was excruciatingly painful, but he endured it.

A sharp jerk of his wrists and another burst of chakra sent the kunai hurtling towards the airborne girl. He had chakra enough for perhaps one more of such drastic path changes. Kakashi had once told the three of them that luck was part of being a shinobi. If luck were on his side, then she had never heard of such a technique, and would not expect it; that would almost guarantee him a win. She was obviously not just an everyday throwaway shinobi, she had at least some amount of skill to keep him at bay for this amount of time.

One, two, three of the kunai spun towards her figure, and it would be seconds until Sasuke would know if her was successful or not, seconds before that glowing fist met his face. Sasuke tensed, drawing his fingers together and tugging forward, the chakra strings just beginning their spiral around her body.

Her eyes briefly widened as a half-yelp of surprise left her lips. Speckles of red splattered down to the cobblestone streets already cracked and dirtied from the previous explosion; she landed prematurely, still a pace or two away from the Uchiha. She couldn't perform such particularly daring aerial feats without being prepared -- this was an attack that Sakura hadn't been able to dodge, but she had been able to angle her body just enough to prevent major damage to any crucial organs. She didn't bother to remove the trio of weapons, making mental note of their positions and the muscles in which they hampered (left shoulder; abdomin; right thigh). The uncomfortable sting of pain and heat from blood served to that end.

"Is this what Orochimaru's taught you?" She asked, staring at him from this distance so close yet not close enough, almost able to reach out and touch him yet just beyond arm's reach. "To betray your friends when all they want to do is protect you, Sasuke?" She still wasn't able to believe it was him, that this was real -- but it was, and this may be the only opportunity she'd have to speak to him like this. The only chance to knock sense into his stupid Uchiha head.

Clenching her right fist so hard the leather of her gloves squeaked and those tense digits began to tremble, her face hardened. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun," she said, voice quiet, before she slid her left foot forward as a brace(utilizing her good leg) and slammed her fist into the ground, shattering the surrounding cobblestone in every direction around the pinnacle of the entry point.

If it didn't manage to trap him, it would at least throw him off-kilter for a few seconds, precious seconds she could use to disable him. She couldn't let him go, not this time, and she certainly wasn't about to let him kill her in some misguided attempt to prove... whatever it was that he wanted to prove, these days.

This time, she could do more than cry.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he reacted to the attack, instincts long-honed by training allowing him to push off a section of the cobblestone into the air. But even that was enough; the shockwave of the attack sent bits of rubble into the air, and Sasuke could do nothing to avoid the slab of stone that hit him squarely in the side.

Landing unsteadily, Sasuke bit his lip to keep the hiss of pain in check. This girl, she was strong. There was no way this could be Sakura, who was easily the weakest of the three of them. Orochimaru had done well to imitate the determination in her eyes, but that was where this girl and Sakura's likenesses fell apart.

"I have no friends," Sasuke said, his voice hard. "I need no friends!" His previous wounds from the battle with Naruto were beginning to strain; the blow from the rubble had reopened the worst of his injuries. And now his left arm was completely out of commission, that meant no more jutsu.

Not that he had the slightest bit of chakra left for any jutsu.

All that was left was taijutsu. If nothing else, the kunai had slowed her down.

No, Sasuke thought, angrily, she was in a much better position that he was: speed, strength, agility, and chakra control that was years ahead of his. But losing was not a possibility. Going back to Konoha was not a possibility. Orochimaru was his only future. Killing Itachi and ending everything, that was his only future.

Throwing caution into the wind, Sasuke advanced, using the speed that Rock Lee had first shown him, that Gaara had been unable to avoid. This was it, and if one arm was all he had left, he would keep on fighting until there was none of him left to fight.

Sakura had leapt back to avoid the damage her attack had caused and landing on what remained of steady ground. She kept her eyes locked on Sasuke, feeling for his chakra at all times and trying to keep track of how badly he was injured -- but it seemed to be in vain, for as soon as she was sure that she'd finally managed to pin him down, he was back on his feet and rushing towards her with that speed she'd seen before, all those years ago.

So stubborn, she hissed internally, bracing herself and pulling the kunai from her shoulder, tossing it to the ground where it skidded uselessly away. He was fast, of that she couldn't deny, but his injuries slowed him down. She could track the motions of his body, see the pathway of his feet as he drew closer to her. And that bubbling, festering irritation and desperation that was knawing away at her gut finally erupted into something she couldn't contain. She didn't want to waste any more time fighting. She was sick of thinking of Sasuke as an enemy, as someone on enemy lines.

This was Sasuke-kun, and as she'd promised herself all those sleepless nights she'd stayed awake staring at the pictures of Team Seven in better days, she would get him back!

She didn't bother to move aside or dodge any oncoming attacks; instead, she took a calculated risk and made one of her own. As he dove in close enough to do the only thing he could do -- attempt some battle-wearied hand to hand combat -- she made her strike. Chakra-enhanced grip enclosed around him tightly as she thrust herself forward, enclosing her arms around his waist and trapping his arms against his chest, pushing her weight against him and sending them both falling to the ground behind him.

Sasuke hit the ground hard, his head bouncing against the cobbled stone with a sickening thud. She had known her strength and had anticipated his own: Sasuke could not suppress the wave of self-revulsion when it finally hit. Was this all the so-called genius Uchiha Sasuke was? Caught against the body of a woman that could pass for an older Sakura, spouting bravado but offering nothing to back those words up?

It was intelligent of her to meet him head-on, he knew. Intelligent of her to push her greater strength to pin him as she was, but he couldn't let himself go like this. He had so much more to accomplish, it couldn't end here.

But there was nothing Sasuke could do: out of chakra and nearly out of energy, while she was weighed down by only the kunai that he had managed to land earlier. As much as he struggled, she had the higher ground, and did not seem to be giving it up.

Sasuke gazed up at her, his gaze set, as hard and cold as a statue. "Do your worst, woman," he spat, and there was no fear in his voice. He would live through this. He had to.

A sharp gasp left her lips; the kunai pressing against her abdomen was only made harder to endure as the pressure between them pushed it further in -- yet this pain was one she'd gladly endure for him. "S...Sasuke," she said through gritted teeth. How could he still be like this? Her grip around him tightened and she buried her face within the bloodspattered remnants of his shirt at his shoulder. It was torture, to be so close and yet be so very far from his heart.

"Why are you being like this?" She asked, voice strained from the stress of with-holding her tears. She wanted so badly to let it go, to beat him to a bloody pulp (he was, already, wasn't he...), to knock sense into his thick, stubborn head. Yet she could do nothing but hold him like this and force him to submission. "I don't want to hurt you!!"

Sasuke buried the urge to flinch as the girl pressed against him, her weight sending a burning sensation through his broken body.

Tears, then? Orochimaru had been researching, then, but something this small wasn't going to deter Sasuke from a goal that had become his life. "Get off me, and I will finish this, then," Sasuke hissed, his tone icy.

Every minute that passed was a minute wasted. If Orochimaru thought he was going to give into such a pathetic show of emotion, the man was going to be sorely disappointed. Sasuke shoved at the girl with his one arm, but even the anger did give him enough strength to push her off altogether.

There was nothing she could do to change his stubborn mind. She'd learned long ago that the boys in her team weren't easily swayed once they'd set their hearts on something -- and even after all this time, nothing had changed about that. Clenching her jaw, she squeezed her eyes shut and withdrew one arm around his waist to slam her palm down on his chest -- not to injure him, but to pin him at another angle.

Sitting upright, she straddled his battered form and stared hard daggers into his dark oculars. "I might've let you get away with all of this three years ago," she said, her voice quiet but forceful, "but things have changed, Sasuke-kun. I'm not the same girl anymore. And I'm not just going to roll over and cry while you walk away again. So, you have a choice. Either you cooperate and come with me of your own will, or I'll take you with me, one way or another. It's up to you." Even as those features that so desperately wanted to betray the way her heart was beating faster as she looked at him were contorted and hardened with resolve, Sakura knew there was nothing she'd like better than to throw all this heart-breaking anger to the wind. Yet, it seemed he wouldn't allow it, not now, not yet.

Maybe his face hadn't changed, and maybe his body was the same, but time had passed. Nearly three years had gone by, and that was time she'd taken to get stronger for this day. She was not about to give up now. With her free hand, she jerked the kunai out of her abdomen and thigh, tossing them into the rubble remains of the cobblestone streetway, hapless for the cries of surprise from the gathered onlookers. She couldn't be bothered to care.

Sasuke choked noiselessly as she struck him, the adrenaline pumping through his veins doing nothing to numb the rush of pain that accompanied the strike. He could physically do nothing when she straddled him except shift fitfully in a vain attempt to dislodge her.

Her quiet words only reaffirmed his belief that this was not the Sakura he knew, who could only cry on the sidelines, who was too weak and blinded by complacency to do anything useful.

"I will never cooperate with you," Sasuke rasped, hating the weakness that his battered tone revealed. If only she would give him some small opening, he would summon the strength to deal the fatal blow. He was so close, so close to that forbidden fruit of power. This girl, strong as she was, would be unable to stop him if he were in full health; there had to be some way out of this. Before she took drastic action. Before his path to Orochimaru was closed off forever.

If his strength was not good enough -- god, what had he been doing these last few years, growing fat and comfortable with those damned fools that he had been stupid enough to consider friends -- then there was only one other way to approach the situation.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke strained, blood loss and overwhelming pain making him appear colorless, pasty. "Fight me yourself, don't hide behind these illusions like a coward. I will prove myself to you, but not to this pretense."

"I am not Orochimaru!" She said, frustration plain in the tone of her voice. He still thought that she were using some sort of genjutsu? "What would it take to convince you?!" She would give anything for him to understand, to see the truth with his own eyes. "I haven't gone through all this pain since you've left just to see you fight me again, Sasuke-kun. What do you want me to do? What can I say to make it right?!"

How couldn't he understand how much she cared for him? No one, regardless how profecient in genjutsu, could mimic that look in her eyes when she stared at him. The vehemence of every step she took, every move she make to bring him back. The things she'd done these past three years... How could anyone duplicate that?

And even pushing that aside, the things he said made no sense to her. Prove himself to Orochimaru? Why would the snake sannin of all people manipulate Sasuke through a genjutsu? All the pieces of this puzzle made no sense to her, between their strange surroundings, the gate, the influx of citizens, meeting Sasuke in such a way, his appearance, his age... and...

"Please, Sasuke-kun," she pleaded, feeling that familiar sting she couldn't prevent or hide in those jade orbs, "please stop fighting me."

"Get off me," Sasuke growled, confusion echoing softly in the muted faltering of his voice. What was he supposed to believe? A footstep away from meeting Orochimaru and suddenly he was swept up in a world too white to be real, with a girl whose eyes were too real to be false? But this could not be Sakura, whose conviction was so weak that she could only stand and beg him with her tears when she had known the extent of his betrayal.

"I will never stop fighting," Sasuke replied, his eyes fever-bright as he regarded her. "You can do whatever the hell you want to me, but I will never give in." She could let those quickly pooling tears fall, she could beat him into a bloody pulp, but he would get out of this place alive. Wherever they were, whoever she was, and however strong this jutsu was, Itachi was waiting for him. That was the only thing that mattered anymore. He had left all of this behind, and he wasn't going to go back now, not when his dream was within his grasp.

"Give in to what?! What is there to fight?!" She shouted down at him, pressing a bit further against his chest in her fervance. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. I've had plenty of opportunities to do so. You're confused... and injured, and can't think rationally." Sakura listed off the state of his condition for her benefit as much as his. "Things have changed. There's no reason for us to fight like this. Let me take care of you, and we can figure out what's going on, together."

She didn't care if his stubborn will prevented him from cooperating with her, anymore -- though she really wished he would, she wouldn't hold back and would take him with her at all costs. Her bleeding wounds attested to that, all but ignored in the passion of her efforts.

She was hurting him, unwittingly, in her fervor, but he bit back a strained exhalation of breath. "Things will never change. I don't care who you are, or who you think you are, but I will never let you take care of me like a wounded child." If he had any chakra, his eyes would have been stained red with fury. He was trembling with emotion that he couldn't express through an explosive physical response, his hands fisted against the broken cobblestone.

"If you aren't going to kill me, get the hell away from me. I don't have time for this."

She briefly closed her eyes, gritting her teeth and exhaling quietly before responding. "Fine. If you want things to be this way... than I don't have a choice." The familiar tingle of chakra being emitted from her palm was soon to follow.

"You have all the time in the world as long as you're away from Orochimaru," she said quietly, opening her eyes to settle jade orbs on his face. Part of her was sick with worry and concern for him -- he hadn't changed at all, had he? What had the snake sannin done to him all this time? It didn't matter, as long as he was alright and with her, now. She could find Naruto, and together they'd find a way to make this right. Just so long as that sick serpentine freak didn't get his hands on their Sasuke-kun.

"This won't hurt," she said quietly, before she slapped her hand against his temple. Immediately she fed her chakra into his nervous system -- it would instanteously overload his sensory nerves and send a message to his brain that would result in unconsciousness. If knocking him out was the only way she could help him, then sobeit.

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Sasuke drifted slowly to consciousness, eyelids fluttering, until a brush of pain from an encroaching migraine had him wide awake and straining against his bonds. His eyes widened with astonishment when he caught sight of the girl lounging beside him. “Saku—?!” But Sasuke stopped himself before letting the name slip, schooling his expression back into one of absolute indifference once again. The memories of what had happened began to slide back, bitter at the back of his mind. This girl who looked so much like Sakura, she had beaten him. A mere woman, strong, yes, but clearly trained to be more of a medic than an actual field shinobi.

Then this whole white world and the absence of Orochimaru hadn’t been a genjutsu. No genjutsu could have lasted this long. Only one person in the world could hold a genjutsu that lasted more than a few hours, and Itachi had been nowhere near after the battle with Naruto. Where was he, then? The room they were in looked to have once belonged to a hospital, but it was in bad repair. The paint was fading, and the one window graying with a sheen of dirt. The sun was lower in the sky than it had been when he had first arrived here: perhaps an hour or two had elapsed. Who had done this? Who was the girl? An enemy of Orochimaru’s that didn’t want the man to have access to the Uchiha genes? They obviously had no qualms with keeping him alive, that was for certain: the girl was passionate enough in her attempt to assimilate Sakura, but the physical differences were too disparate for Sasuke to ever believe such a poorly constructed set-up.

Sasuke forced his thoughts away from that path, knowing that they would lead to yet another bout of self-hatred over his lack of strength, instead going through a mental inventory of the wounds on his body. Whoever the girl was, she had healed him yet again. He could feel the remnants of her chakra, warm against his still-tender skin. It sickened him utterly. That he was so weak that she, the enemy, felt that she had to heal him. But despite her skill, Sasuke still had to stifle the wince whenever he so much as moved: the wounds he had received from Naruto were deep, and her own attack had left him bleeding, as well. It would take at least a day of rest to regenerate properly. He didn’t have that time. Orochimaru was waiting for him.

His body felt sluggish and heavy, and though he struggled against the makeshift knots that held him to the bed, they held fast. “Let me free,” Sasuke ordered, his voice heavy with condescension despite the compromising position he was in.

As Sasuke first stirred from his state of bare consciousness and tugged against his make-shift binds, Sakura's jade orbs shot towards him, the girl jumping briefly where she sat; she'd been close to dozing off in the quiet rhythm of his breathing. The sound of her name almost left his lips, but he seemed to think better of it half-way through, and she let the hope trickle from her eyes. It was too much to ask for, to have him recognize her as such. No, he'd continue to be dead-set on some genjutsu or trickery.

A small frown decorated her brow as she crossed her arms over her chest and glanced downward at him. "No," she replied blandly. "You'll undo all your stitches and open your wounds. I didn't just spend the last hour tending to you for you to jump up out of bed." She didn't want to add that it'd taken all of her remaining chakra to do so; if he still considered her an adversary, there was always the opportunity he'd wiggle his way out of his binds and try to attack as long as he figured there was a chance of getting the upper hand. Realistically, there wasn't -- not in his condition -- but she'd do what she could to keep it that way.

"What you'll do now is rest," she said firmly, resting her hand atop his head and checking his temperature. Thankfully, it didn't feel as hot as it did last time she'd checked. She soaked the damp cloth into the basin of water at his bedside again before re-draping it over his warm skin. "You need to sleep, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke shrugged off the damp cloth, murder in his eyes as he regarded this girl who still insisted on pretending to be Sakura. "If you were really the girl who you are pretending to be," Sasuke said, coldly, purposefully refusing to say Sakura's name -- Konoha was dead to him, now. "You would know rule # 127 in the shinobi handbook: Never let your guard down in the presence of enemies."

She was exhausted, Sasuke could now tell, her hands not employing the same finesse that they had on the battlefield. If he could just break these bonds... all he would have to do would be to incapacitate her and escape whatever place this was. It would not be too difficult: his wounds were severe, but he had regained a fraction of his stamina. The Sharingan was out of the question, but he had been able to pin her with the kunai even before...

Sasuke growled and tugged at the restraints, but they would not move, however much he struggled. Sasuke was overestimating his current situation, he knew, but he was not about to just lie down and let her continue her ridiculous facade.

"Where are we?" he glared, grudgingly, unwilling to carry on polite conversation but wanting to have an answer to his question, regardless.

"You're not an enemy," she said heatedly, "and neither am I, so don't bother with that nonsense." Shaking her head lightly, pink tresses gently swayed before she once more resumed her place alongside him on the bed. "You can say whatever you want, but I'm not listening. You don't know what you're talking about."

She crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest, closing her eyes as if she was no longer listening when she heard the first question resembling something non-adversarial leave his lips. Peeking at him side-long, she waited before slumping her shoulders forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "I don't know," she said in an exhale. "I don't remember how I got here... and I certainly don't remember having any plans to leave Konoha." She'd been in the midst of a study session within the library for Hokage-sama, last she could recall.

Konoha, she dared to mention. And he'd let down his pride enough to ask her the question. If she was reluctant to offer anything resembling truth, then she had set up this whole mess. Or she actually was Konoha -- had they sent ANBU to retrieve him? Was that what this was all about? "Konoha," he repeated, scoffing. The word felt all too familiar on his tongue, and the self-hatred burned at the knowledge. "They sent you to retrieve me, didn't they."

He turned his head, anger again snapping him up. But why would they go through all of this trouble -- this building, the failed attempt at recreating Sakura, the fact that he was still here and not in Konoha, awaiting trial for treason? None of it made sense.

"...'They'?" What was he talking about? "No, no one sent me to retrieve you, Sasuke-kun. We had no idea where you've been all this time." It'd been nearly three years, and the sightings of Orochimaru had been scattered far and wide -- by the time any lead worth pursuing had arisen, the snake sannin and his entourage had long departed, leaving nothing to betray their next destination behind.

She exhaled a sigh. "Things have changed. I don't even know what your intentions are, anymore. I never thought we'd meet like this... and I'd been sure that it was Naruto who would've brought you home in the end." She had promised that it would be their joint effort that would, at last, bring about the fruition of seeing Sasuke-kun back within the boundaries of Konoha. Yet, even so...

Somewhere in her heart, she knew that the blonde-haired boy had a bond with the Uchiha that Sakura couldn't hope to duplicate. Not as she had been. Perhaps not even as she was. All she could do was lend him her strength and hope that it was enough to see them through this ordeal.

Trying to make her expression a bit more cheerful, she lifted her head and glanced back towards the bed. Maybe there was something to be said for the training she'd endured, all with the distant goal of this day in mind. Whatever had brought them together in this strange place might've been a blessing in disguise, even if it were another puzzle for her to sort through.

"Do you have a headache? I made some medicine..."

"I don't want anything from you," Sasuke exhaled, feeling that soft gaze on his back and hating it. The migraine pounded black circles against the white of the walls, his vision clouded and unsteady, but he would never do anything to accept her help.

Even if she was a former ally, he no longer had any connections with Konoha whatsoever.

The confusion was only mounting as the moments passed. Her actions itself made little sense. She had knocked him out, had him at her mercy for hours. And yet, she had done nothing but to heal him, using her chakra so generously that she had been left exhausted.

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably under that gaze. "As soon as I'm strong enough," he promised, in a low voice. "I am leaving. I don't care who you are. All that I know is that you are obstructing me from reaching Orochimaru, and that in itself is enough for me to call you an enemy." He turned back to narrow his eyes, attempting to look threatening despite the fact he was tied down like a misbehaving child. "You are no match for me at full strength."

"Is that so?" She asked, arching a brow. She didn't doubt he beleived it, and she herself really couldn't say one way or the other; Sakura was held back by her conscience and care for him. She wouldn't wittingly hurt him unless she had to, and even then... only what she had to in order to incapacitate him. She'd proven that, before. "Do you still think I'm against you, after all this? How many times do I have to point out that I could've killed you dozens of times from the moment we met?"

Even so, she took in his words carefully. Had he gotten seperated from Orochimaru? Was that was this was all about? Perhaps there had been an attack...? By the way he was readily willing to accept that she was here to trick and fool him, she wouldn't doubt it. Whatever the circumstances, she doubted he'd be open with her now. Running a hand through her hair, she shook her head and folded her hands loosely in her lap, but didn't avert her gaze from his face, unwilling to let the kindness and amiability fade. It seemed to be penetrating that icy interior he so fervantly enjoyed upkeeping. "I want to keep you from Orochimaru for a good reason," she said more quietly. "It's because I care about you. The only thing he wants is to take over your body, Sasuke-kun. He wants to make you his next vessel." Why would he willingly turn himself in to such a fate? It was beyond her. She laid a hand lightly over his sheets, at his stomach, leaning gently forward to try and catch his gaze.

Sasuke jerked away at the touch, eyes opened almost frighteningly wide, eyes as black as the shadows that crept across the rundown room. "Don't touch me," he snapped, even the echo of her touch sending shivers of disgust down his back. Kindness, affection, it was Konoha's inability to see past the dredges of kindness that had gotten him into this situation in the first place. He had almost died fighting a ninja that had graduated last in the class. He hadn't even landed a scratch on Itachi. Itachi had been an ANBU captain at thirteen.

Sasuke wasn't even a chuunin at twelve. He snarled and began to pull against his bonds with renewed fervor. The dull ache of healing wounds became the burn of tearing skin, but Sasuke didn't care, didn't even feel it. "I don't care!" Sasuke nearly shouted. "I don't give a shit whether he wants my body. He can have my fucking body. It's none of your business! I am special, I am something, Orochimaru wants me for this blood, these genes, and he will give me the power I need! You can keep your fucking nose out of it and let me free, if you're not going to kill me."

Sakura staggered to her feet and stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to believe the words that came out of his mouth. She'd never heard him talk like that. He'd snapped before, sure -- after all they'd endured together, it was unavoidable. And suddenly, the anger those words produced... the implications they created, like gears turning over in her head, were unstoppable.

She didn't realize she'd slapped him until she recognized the stinging in her cheek as real. They twitched in reflex. "Don't you dare talk like that," she said, voice just above a hushed whisper.

Sasuke only bared his teeth his response, rage making him look like less of a human and more of a beast. The slap registered as a slight sting, and that was all.

"You, a shinobi formed by the complacency of Konoha... you, who have suffered nothing, you have no right to tell me how to talk." His heart was beating like a drum against the cage of his ribs, blood rushing through his veins in a frenzy.

She laid her hand on the rail of the bed, leaning slightly forward and staring into his face, not at all offput by that utter rage that met her gaze. Firm resolve strengthened in her countenance, resonating through her body. "I know I haven't suffered as much as you have," she said, "but that doesn't mean that you can go through your life pretending like everything you do is right, is justified, because of it. Especially giving up everything good in your life and turning yourself into a... a monster who can nearly kill his best friend as if it were nothing!!"

The memory of the day Naruto had returned from the Valley of the End was still imprinted upon her mind's eye. Despite his battered form, the first things he had said... the first concern on his mind, had been for his promise to her...

Her fingers tightened to a fist at her side, the leather creaking. "You aren't the only one who's suffered and you weren't alone. Naruto and I would've stood by your side no matter what, and you threw that away as if it were nothing. Even after everything I said to you, you didn't... didn't even falter." Something crossed those emerald eyes before sinking once more into steely determination. "You can justify this stupidity all you want, but I refuse to go along with it. And the sooner you allow me to take care of you is the sooner you get back to health and can overpower me, isn't that right? So shut up, lie down, and listen for once!!"

"I have no friends," Sasuke replied, softly, but he was quieted by the mention of Naruto. The rage was slipping away, replaced by a confusion that was beginning to grow more and more familiar.

She knew about that night, when Sakura had tried to stop him. They had been alone. Could she really be Sakura?

But that was impossible she was a good two or three years older than the girl he had seen last!

Sasuke closed his eyes, regaining his composure. It didn't matter whether she was Sakura or not. He knew no one by the name of Sakura. Sasuke grimaced and lay back down against the bed, lacking the energy even to pull at his bonds. He didn't know what to do. A full night's worth of sleep would leave him rejuvenated and able to slip past "Sakura's" detection, but at the same time, sleeping would leave him at her mercy.

She had done nothing to suggest that she would harm him. Perhaps it was a ploy to lull him into a feeling of false security.

Itachi, Sasuke forced himself to think, lips twisting into a scowl. Itachi would have never gotten caught like an animal in a trap, never. But Sasuke had no better option. He would have to take the chance. "Don't touch me," he said, sharply, for the second time, and turned his face away.

At least he seemed subdued.

The words "I have no friends" felt like daggers to her heart, but she tried to push the thought away as she withdrew, finding an overturned chair to stand up and sink into beside the doorway. Let him think what he wanted. Things would be better once she found Naruto. He would know how to knock sense into his head... together, they could do something... Yes, she was sure that he would be able to fit together the pieces that Sakura alone couldn't.

"Get some rest," she murmured, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her chin atop them. Perhaps he never would be that boy she'd fallen in love with again. But she wouldn't give up hope. She'd keep fighting. Giving up wasn't an option. Not anymore.

"And just so you know," she said quietly, "I'll always be your friend, whether you return the feeling or not."

Sasuke ignored her entirely, curling up as much as his bonds would allow. He forced his thoughts away from the situation at hand, even as the exhaustion curled around his body. Too many things were going wrong; it had been nearly a full day since... since Naruto. But, Sasuke thought, Orochimaru wanted him desperately. He wouldn't just let Sasuke go. Orochimaru would find him, and then he could leave this pretense behind.

Sleep was effortless to fall into once he let himself go.

Sakura watched as the dark-haired boy finally seemed to surrender into sleep, the muscles in her body immediately relaxing. Breathing a silent exhale of relief, she briefly closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. Things had happened so fast, so quickly, almost in the blink of an eye. The pieces of this rapidly forming puzzle were far too much to grasp at once. What was this place? And how had she just managed to stumble upon Sasuke-kun? It was too much to be a coincidence...

She never thought she'd see the day she truly wished for Naruto to be around. Seeing his goofy grin would've made her feel better.

Everything the Uchiha had said still resonated through her head. What could she do? She couldn't let her friends down -- not Sasuke, and not Naruto. Not Konoha. She had to do what she could to bring him back. If there was a way back...

An inumerable amount of time later, she rose and checked on her haphazard companion. To her relief, his fever seemed to have broken. As long as he got enough rest, he should be fine.

She slowly sank down beside him, reaching a hand hesitantly forward before brushing strands of his dark bangs from his forehead. He looked the same. Not a day older. As if plucked right up out of her memory... Sakura sighed, and waited alongside him to watch over him for the rest of his reverie.

Sasuke slept deeply. Usually restful sleep did not come easily to shinobi, who were taught from the moment they were born to sleep lightly and keep one ear open for any sign of danger.

But after the mental and physical stress of the past few days; "dying" for the second level of the curse seal, fighting with Naruto, and then being taken to a strange new world, complete with a girl who resembled Sakura too closely for coincidence...

Even so, as soon as he felt the touch against his forehead, Sasuke was awake.

80%, he estimated, he was about 80% in terms of his general health. Another night of sleep and he would be back to normal. A tug of his wrists and the sheets ripped, easily, reduced to rags in the face of Sasuke's sudden movement.

He turned away from her touch, pulling himself into a sitting position and tearing off the remains of the knots around his wrists and ankles.

"I'm leaving," Sasuke said, finally, unraveling to his full height and staring her down. "Don't get in my way."

Sakura blinked as he stirred and once more drew into the world of the conscious, and nearly jumped to her feet as he ripped himself from his cloth confines. She was relieved that he had recovered so quickly, yet disheartened that he'd awakened in no better a mood than the one he'd fallen asleep in, and with no greater connection to the pink-haired kunoichi who'd tended to him in his time of need.

A soft sigh escaped her lips. She was tired; fighting him again would prove more difficult than it had before, and both of them were likely to incur injuries that she no longer had the chakra to remedy. "Sasuke-kun," she said, "there's no where to go."

Sasuke was equally calm when he looked back at her. "I don't need you to tell me that," he said, and made his way past her. Wherever he was, it didn't matter. With a night of sleep behind him, he felt slightly less pessimistic than he had the previous day. He had gotten this far, nothing was going to stop him now, even if he was still dangerously low on chakra and his physical state was still only 80%.

She reached out, grasping him by the elbow to halt him, wounded shoulder protesting with the motion -- but pain was easy to ignore with these circumstances. Fatigue was making her more irritable, and her patience, usually quite durable in situations of distress regarding Sasuke-kun, was brittle and ready to snap, even though such a thing would result in nothing but good for either side. She gripped him firmly, stubbornly attempting to turn him around.

"There's no where to go," she repeated. "This.. thing, it ties all the people of this place together," she said, brandishing the electronic journal towards him. "While you were sleeping, I read a little bit on it. This is some kind of city, and we're trapped here. No one knows why. Playing investigator can wait til you're more well-rested, okay?" The strain in her voice was plain; she simply didn't want to have to argue with him anymore, not as he was and not as she was.

"Look," Sasuke said, wrenching out of her weakened grip. "I don't know who the hell you are. I don't care who you are, because I am walking a very different path that no one from Konoha would ever understand. I don't want your help, and you're lying to yourself if you think I need it." he said, his voice seconds away from degenerating into something much less patient.

He honestly just wanted to be left alone, to lick his wounds and find a way out of this place. He had clearly outlined where his loyalties lay, was she really so stupid as to hold him back further?

If she wasn't so sure he was perfectly capable of walking out of her life forever right then and there, she might've seriously considered letting him go. Sakura was sick of seeing him as an adversary, as a distant, faraway part of her heart -- both as a friend, and as the only boy she'd ever truly loved. Why couldn't Naruto be at her side, this time? Why did she always end up having to fight him alone?

"You know who I am," she said in frustration. "Haven't you figured it out by now? This place is some kind of... trap, or... maybe some elaborate genjutsu. Either way, no matter how much you hate Konoha, it doesn't mean you have to hate me. We're better off sticking together than getting seperated. The chance of finding another familiar face is slim to none." She wasn't sure how much of what she was saying were true, but it didn't matter; all she wanted was to keep him with her, to stall long enough to find a reason decent enough to keep him by her side.

"I did not leave Konoha in order to find a familiar face," Sasuke responded, his voice dripping with condescension. He didn't at all like the way that things were going. If she was truly Sakura, he had no intention of forging any alliances with a teammate he had willingly abandoned.

Nothing she could say would convince him otherwise; Sasuke was immersed in the depths of a hatred that blinded him to anyone but the man that had once been his brother. He had neither the desire nor the patience to return to the people that loved him. That love itself repulsed him, that love had been responsible for his own weakness. With one last scathing look backwards, Sasuke pushed off the ground in an immediate sprint, using all that he had learned in the past few months about speed.

Maybe he couldn't prove his earlier bravado true by defeating her once and for all; still, he was still a great deal faster than she would ever be.