Salvation

Chapter 20: Captivity

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Sakura awoke from a very unrestful slumber. She was still shackled to the wall and every bit of her body ached. She didn't know how long she had been in the small room, but she could safely bet it had been at least a day.

Since she had been captured, no one had even come to speak to her. She didn't have any clue as to who was keeping her. Even after all the ruckus she had made last night, no one had even come to punish her for screaming.

That must mean they know no one can hear me. Sakura shook her head and licked her lips. They were so dry and chapped. Her throat was parched and she could feel the aches in her stomach from lack of food.

She felt so weak and helpless. What could she do? There seemed to be no way out.

She heard a clang outside of her room and she listened quietly. Everything suddenly was silent, and she continued to listen. She could hear the drip of water in the corner from a leak, but nothing more.

Suddenly, she could hear loud footsteps echoing down the hall. They were loud and thunderous, which only meant to her that she was located deep underground. The footsteps grew, and so did Sakura's heartbeat. It matched that of the steps. Thud-bump, Thud-bump, Thud-bump.

Sakura could literally feel her chest moving with the pressure. Her face became hot with anxiety and her hands began to sweat with nervousness. What was going to come through that door? Was it someone to torture her? Someone to kill her?

The footsteps stopped and Sakura could see the thin shadow falling under the doorway. From the looks of it, the person behind the door was very large and Sakura tried hard not to panic. You have to keep your head, Sakura.

Keys jingled, then the doorknob began to turn. Sakura was mesmerized by the action. She couldn’t take her eyes off the door.

As it opened slowly, the shadow grew, and Sakura couldn't resist closing her eyes. Damn her to hell, but she was scared. Why wouldn't she be? She had no idea what to expect.

She heard movement, but she feigned sleep. Listening closely, she could hear the shuffle of feet. They moved to the back of the room. Whoever it was didn't acknowledge her, so that made her feel a little better. Gaining some courage, she cracked open an eye.

In the corner of the room, she could see a tattered cloth. She couldn't really make out the rest. She could tell whoever it was had their backed turned, so she opened both of her eyes. The figure was short, which surprised Sakura. It was actually rather small, maybe as small as she was. It moved nervously, clanking around and Sakura suddenly felt alot better. This person seemed almost as scared as she was.

She watched as it finished what it was doing, it turned to her, but she closed her eyes. She heard the person turn back and she opened her eyes again. She watched as the figure pulled their hand up and black hair fell upon its shoulders.

The hair was matted and dirty, and Sakura realized that this person was probably a slave, working for someone else. Unless I was captured by some cannibalistic hobos.

Sakura watched as the hand lay upon an empty brick space fourteen tiles up from the floor. The brick glowed, and suddenly there was a switch. The person pulled the switch and Sakura was jerked a little, causing her to utter a quick noise. The figure immediately turned around and Sakura saw that it was actually a young girl, probably no older than herself. The girl was dirty and grungy; clearly it had been awhile since she had a proper bath.

She looked at Sakura with wide eyes and Sakura could see the innocence lying within them. She looked like a meek mouse ready to scurry away at any moment.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the young girl broke eye contact with Sakura.

"I didn't realize you were awake," the young girl said and Sakura didn't respond. She didn't know how to respond.

She turned back to the wall, putting her hand back on the tile and Sakura's chained jerked once again, but this time she felt herself being lowered to the floor. Once her feet touched solid ground, she felt how truly weak she was. She didn't even have the strength to stand, instead she opted for letting her feet slide down the wall along with her body. Once she was in a sitting position the chain stopped moving.

The girl came over; clicking a lock on the chains and Sakura's hands fell from above her. She couldn't hold back the scream that emitted from her as her muscles screamed in agony.

Sakura fell over on her side, praying for the pain to subside. It was like she was being burned from the inside out. Her arms were completely useless.

The girl moved away from her and back to whatever it was she was messing with before. As she came closer, Sakura saw that it was a small bite of bread and a glass of water.

The girl sat the tray in front of Sakura, but Sakura couldn't get up the strength to move.

"You should eat something," the girl said, pushing the tray closer. She obviously could tell that Sakura couldn't move on her own, because she came over and helped sit Sakura up. She was careful not to touch Sakura's aching arms. An observation Sakura noticed that led her to believe this wasn't the first captive this young girl has had to take care of.

She took the water, holding it close to Sakura's lips, pouring it into her mouth slowly. Sakura gulped it down greedily, begging for more as the cool water rushed down her dry throat. After Sakura drank the entire glass she felt so much better.

"What's your name," Sakura asked and the girl looked at her with a bewildered expression.

"Huh?" the girl said, and Sakura cleared her throat so she could talk more clearly.

"I asked you your name," Sakura said and the girl didn't take her eyes off Sakura. "You must have a name."

"Yes, I do. No one has ever asked me that before," the girl confessed. "Yuna. My name is Yuna."

"Thank you, Yuna," Sakura said as she tried lifting her one arm. It hurt so badly, but she knew she had to or else it would only continue to ache.

Sakura watched as Yuna tore the bread into small pieces. She did it so diligently, taking so much care into getting the pieces exactly the same size.

"Yuna, can you tell me where I am?" Sakura asked and Yuna didn't turn around or divert from her actions.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Yuna said.

"Well, who's keeping me here?" Sakura asked and Yuna shook her head.

"Master will be down to see you soon," Yuna explained and Sakura wondered who "master" was.

"Do you know why they want me?" Sakura asked and again, Yuna shook her head.

"We're not told anything besides what our job is for the day," Yuna told Sakura. Sakura decided to drop it, either Yuna really didn't know anything, which Sakura figured was the answer, or she wasn't going to tell Sakura anything.

Yuna turned around and put the pieces of bread in front of Sakura. "I would eat now because you never know how long it will be until they feed you again," Yuna explained, making sure to never meet Sakura's eyes.

Sakura watched as Yuna collected her things and walked back to the door. "I think Master is going to be down soon. Try not to talk back or bad things could happen," Yuna said, before opening the door and slipping outside. Sakura heard the click of several locks and felt somewhat proud of the fact that they needed to keep her under such strict confinements. It only meant they didn't underestimate her talents. She had grown into a very strong kunoichi, one that was known throughout the villages, and if she was under much different circumstances she could probably find a way out of here in no time at all. But, they had been very aware of her capabilities. They kept her chakra restricted, shackles on her arms and legs, and the door firmly locked with no doubt several jutsus placed around the entire room keeping her from any chance of escape.

Sakura felt her stomach knot with hunger and she eyed the bread warily. She had no idea what was in the bread. She took a piece, smelling it for any such contaminations. She didn't smell anything and it did feel like regular bread. So, against her better judgment, she popped a piece into her mouth. It tasted fine and she consumed the rest in no time at all. Once she was done, she looked back up to where Yuna had let her down.

She had watched as the young slave placed her hand over a tile and it activated the lever that lowered her to the ground. Looking behind her she saw a long metal beam with heavy chains attached. She could see the fine lines of chakra holding up the heavy rod. Wait, if Yuna had to control chakra to release me, that must mean she's a ninja, or at least trained in some ninja arts. Maybe I can convince her to help me.

Sakura felt her heart numb a little at that; she had no idea how to even convince Yuna to help her. The girl was obviously very weak and broken, mentally and physically. It would take alot of prodding to even scratch that surface.

Sakura leaned her head against the stone wall behind her, her eyes heavy with sleep. Her entire body ached and she needed to recuperate at least some of her strength before she could clearly assess her situation and determine the best solution of getting the hell out.

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Sasuke stood back and watched as Sakura interacted with Naruto and Sai. He scowled as he watched her, dare he say, flirt with the two of them. He couldn't necessarily call it flirting, but she was standing rather close to Sai and had touched him quite a few times. Sasuke didn't know why it bothered him so much. Emotions are a bitch!

"Hey guys," Kakashi said and everyone turned to see their sensei standing atop the ledge of the bridge. He looked down at them and waved. "I've got our mission."

"Finally, a mission. It better be a good one,” Naruto shouted and Kakashi raised his hand.

"It's actually an A-ranked mission," Kakashi said and Naruto jumped into the air. Sasuke actually perked up. It was about time they had a decent mission. These last few months it had been torture with so many D-ranked missions.

Kakashi looked to both Sakura and Sasuke. "I know you both are on probation, but the Hokage has decided to let the both of you go on this mission. She's a bit short-handed right now, and even though you will be back on probation when we get back, it was necessary for the both of you to go,” Kakashi explained and Sasuke looked over at Sakura.

She looked as if she couldn't care less about this fact. Sasuke found this odd, especially because she had wanted to have some real missions like the rest of them for weeks now.

"We are to escort a young gentleman who is a major witness in a case against a high-profiled killer. Sai, I wish you could accompany us on this mission, but the Hokage needs you for another mission that needs your specific talents,” Kakashi explained. Sai didn't say anything, he just grabbed his stuff, gave a wave and left. Sasuke couldn't say he was sad to see the man go.

“So, who’s this high-profiled killer?” Sasuke asked.

“No one really knows his real name, but he’s known as Pein. Apparently he has a habit of abducting young ninjas and experimenting on them or using them as slaves, both personal and sexual,” Kakashi explained and Naruto’s eyes widened.

“What?! That’s sick!” Naruto shouted and Sasuke looked over at him. Even though it was quite disturbing it didn’t bother him that much. He knew it was because of all that he had experienced while with Orochimaru. He had hardened himself against such things.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura wondering why she was so quiet. This was something he knew would disturb her. As he looked at her, her face seemed to show signs of disgust, but it was the look in her eyes that pulled at him. It was hard to describe, but her eyes seemed to convey a sense of acceptance, almost a sense of pride.

Sasuke tried to look harder, because there was no way Sakura would look like that. She despised people who hurt others, and especially in that manner. He would have expected her to have tears welling in her eyes from just the thought of others enslaved for such reasons.

It tugged at the back of his mind how different Sakura was acting. Granted, she said she had a new outlook, but to be so completely different in only a week’s time was unusual.

"Go get packed and we'll meet back here in an hour." With that, Kakashi disappeared.

"Alright, a real mission! Awesome. I'll see you both back here in an hour!" Naruto said, before taking off toward his apartment.

Sasuke turned to Sakura to see her giving him an odd look. "You better hurry and go get your stuff. You know how it takes you forever to pack," Sasuke told her. Sakura smirked at him before coming closer.

"Why don't you come help me pack?" Sakura said, giving Sasuke a strange look.

Sasuke grunted. "I think you're big enough to pack yourself,” Sasuke said. He didn't give her a chance to say anything else. He turned and began walking in his direction, giving a wave over his head.

Something was prickling at the back of his neck. Something was wrong; he just couldn't pick out what it was. Oh well, maybe this mission is exactly what I need.

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Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi all stood at the front gate to the village. They were about to head out; they only waited for their charge to show up.

Sasuke watched Sakura and just felt something wrong. There was something going on with her. He knew he had to keep a good watch on her during this mission.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking over, he saw Tsunade walking with a man, probably around seventeen. He had black hair that was tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck. He wore plain brown pants and a blue shirt. He seemed rather weak and Sasuke knew that this kid was an easy target if he had people out for his life.

“Hokage,” Kakashi greeted and Tsunade nodded her head.

“This is Kurosaki Gin. You are to escort him to the Hidden Mist Village. Make sure you keep a good watch not only on him, but on yourselves and your teammates,” Tsunade warned. “He has some very powerful enemies. Good luck and report back to me when you return.” With that, she turned and walked away.

“Hi Gin,” Naruto said, walking up and shaking the young man’s hand.

“Hello,” Gin said, his voice was calm, but Sasuke could hear the undertone of nervousness in his voice. The boy was scared, and he had every right to be. But, he had to admit the boy had some guts to testify against someone who had a lot of friends that he could easily loose his life to.

“I’m Naruto. That’s Kakashi-sensei, the pink-haired girl is Sakura, and the bastard on the end is Sasuke,” Naruto said and Sasuke clenched his teeth in anger as he sent a glare toward Naruto.

“Hi, nice to meet all of you. And thanks for protecting me,” Gin said.

Sasuke watched as Sakura’s eyes took on this unusual glint. Moving forward, she stood in front of Gin, looking him up and down. “Well, hello Gin. Team 7 is happy to protect such a young and strong boy as you,” Sakura said, and Sasuke could have sworn her voice sounded seductive.

Gin didn’t say anything, just ran a hand through his hair as his face turned bright red.

Sasuke coughed a bit before turning around. “Let’s go,” he said, walking forward.

“Yes, we better be on our way,” Kakashi said, and they all left the village, taking off into the trees.

Sasuke fell a little behind the rest as he watched Sakura talk adamantly with Gin. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much that she was so friendly with him, or that she seemed to smile more when she looked at him, or that she was traveling a little too close to the boy.

They continued on through the day. They were only about a third of the way to the Mist village. Kakashi had explained to them it would probably take three days to get there from Konoha.

They stopped at dark to set up camp. They each unrolled their sleeping bags, eager to get some rest. They cooked some food and Naruto, Kakashi, Gin, and Sakura talked.

Sasuke sat there quietly. He just wasn’t in the mood to talk. After a while he just couldn’t stand to hear Sakura say one more time how nice, friendly, and sweet Gin was.

“I’m going to go and get some water,” Sasuke said abruptly, causing his four teammates to stop talking and look over at him.

“Alright, but make sure you take in your surroundings,” Kakashi said, and soon they were back to talking.

Sasuke walked away from the fading voices until he could hear nothing. Making his way to the small creek just down the bank, he tried to think about things that had happened lately and how he was feeling.

What disturbed him the most was Sakura. Her attitude and whole personality had shifted. And even though it bothered him that she seemed so fond of Gin, it bothered him even more that she wasn’t herself anymore. He missed the old Sakura, he truly did. He hated change, but he hated it even worse when people changed. His brother went from a nice, loving person, to a murderer in a blink of an eye. Even with himself, he had changed from being a boy set on revenge, to a ruthless, emotionless man. And now Sakura, who was, besides Naruto, the one constant he had in his life, was gone. Well, not gone, but different and it bothered him deep into his core.

Something’s up and I have to figure out what.

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Sakura shifted a bit, trying to stand on her wobbly legs. Her strength was definitely depleted. She grabbed the wall for support as she lifted her frail body off the hard ground.

Leaning against it, she looked around the small room, hoping something would jump out at her that could help her. She found nothing. They made sure she had nothing in sight.

She had no silverware, no pieces of metal or wood, nothing. Even the tray that held her food was nothing but paper. It could do nothing to help her.

She heard loud noises coming down the hall, and she pushed herself farther into the corner.

Her body stiffened, wondering who would be showing up. Yuna had said that the “master” would be coming to visit her later, so maybe this was the main person behind all of this.

The door clanked and swung open. She could see the shadow of two, large people. They wasted no time barreling into the room, striding right for her.

They were two very large men wearing black suits. There faces were hardened and covered in terrible scars. The sight of them frightened her.

She knew that she had no strength to fight them off, but she had her voice and she was going to fight none-the-less.

“Get away from me!” she shouted, as they came closer. She jerked her arms forward, but the fact that she was shackled meant she couldn’t move that far.

They both got to her and one grabbed her arms, jerking them behind her. She twisted and turned, trying to break free.

“Stop! Get away! Leave me alone!” she shouted at them. They paid her no mind, just continued to restrain her.

The other grabbed her shackles, releasing the locks on her legs. Taking the opportunity, she used all the strength she had and kicked her leg out. Even though her chakra was restricted, she still had pure strength in her, and she had adrenaline on her side.

Her leg struck the man’s shin, sending him to the floor; she kicked hard into the other man’s stomach. It was hard enough for him to release his hold on her. She didn’t waste a minute and she bolted for the door, before she could get there she felt an arm wrap around her neck. She was hoisted off the floor and the next thing she knew a large needle was being jabbed in her throat. She felt the pain for an instant, the suddenly she was numb. Her world was spinning and before she knew it, her world was black.

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Sakura awoke to find herself strapped to a large table. Her wrists and ankles were secured with straps and she had multiple cords running from her body to various machines all around her.

She tried to move her head, but it was strapped down. She moved her eyes fast across the room, but she couldn’t see anyone.

“Hello?” she said, hoping to get some answer. “Help me! Help!”

“You can scream all you want, but it’s rather futile. I would suggest saving your voice and strength,” a voice said, and Sakura looked around for a face, but there was none.

Suddenly, she saw movement to her right and the next thing she knew, there was a person standing beside her.

The person seemed to be a few years older than Sakura, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. He had jet black hair that was pin-straight. It ended just an inch above his shoulders. His eyes matched his hair and Sakura felt very vulnerable under his gaze. He had a few piercings in his nose and ears.

“What do you want?” Sakura asked, even though she felt so cliché for saying such a thing, but nothing else would come to mind.

The man smiled a bit, before checking some of her cords. “Oh, we’ll talk more about that later. First, I need you to meet my assistant. Well, actually you already know him, so I should say, see him again,” the man said and a figure came to the left side of Sakura.

Her eyes shifted to the newcomer and then they widened in shock. No way was this man standing in front of her now. It just couldn’t be.

“Nice to see you again, Sakura-san,” the person said and Sakura couldn’t hold back a growl that escaped her lips or the anger she directed toward him with her eyes.

“If I could, I would kill you right now,” Sakura ground out and the man just laughed.

“That’s no way to treat an old friend,” the man said. He looked Sakura over and nodded at his partner. “Alright, let’s begin.”

“Begin what? What are you going to do?” Sakura questioned and the two men were silent.

Sakura began to shake and she had no idea how to handle her situation right now.

She saw a needle and a knife come into view and Sakura struggled with her straps.

Both men just smirked at her. One jabbed the needle into her arm, while the other readied the knife.

He pushed his glasses up and smiled as Sakura started to scream.

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Sorry for the long overdue update, but to make up for it, I’m currently working on the next update, which should be out later this week!