Darkest Before Dawn

The Prisoner

   "Do you have any idea where to go? At all? Way to go, brat. Way to go."

   Sakura rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her traveling companion. It had been about a week since she had left the village, and when Zetsu caught wind of it, he met up with her immediately.

   "I'm just heading out to some of the Bounty Stations in this area. I'll end up where I end up, no biggie. I've got five years of this, so there's no use rushing, you know?"

   Zetsu had to flinch at that. When he first heard that a young girl had given up her hitai-ate to wander for five years from a reliable source, Sakura first popped into his mind. He really couldn't believe she would go this far to grow stronger, but once she told him her plan, he had nothing to say. There was a Takigakure shinobi on her kill list and she would stop at nothing until she completed her goal. Zetsu sighed.

   "A good place to start would have to be Otogakure. It's a quiet village, not too much commotion. You could decide what to do from there."

   "Thanks, Zetsu-san!" Sakura smiled, "I'll contact you when I have everything planned out."

   He tousled her hair and sunk into the ground. Once he left, Sakura pulled out a map and pen from her backpack. She marked her current location and the places she had already stopped at. Otogakure was actually much closer than any of the Bounty Stations, so Ta no Kuni would be her first destination.

   It took three days to get there.

   She was on the border when she saw a couple of uniformed men carry some strange looking liquid-filled tubes to a cave a couple of hundred yards out. Being the curious person she was, she followed them inside. Right when she stepped in, the smell of blood, iodine, and burnt plastic hit her right in the face. The combination was sickening. Sakura silently walked into the area and saw cell after cell after cell of dead bodies. There had to be at least a hundred bodies piled and rotten in the cells.

   Damn, those uniformed bastards were human experimenters.

   Sakura finally reached a large metal door at the end of the main corridor. There were chains and numerous locks across the front and a clipboard filled with information to the side.

Patient: 12503

Name: Juugo

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 142 pounds

Notes: Incredible ability to absorb natural energy. Prone to random bouts of anger. Assumed severe case of bipolar disorder. Extremely dangerous. Further examination needed.

(Authors note: Remember you guys, since Orochimaru never left the village, the curse mark doesn't exist.)

   Sakura stared at the information with interest. She then picked up the keys that hung right under the clipboard and proceeded to unlock the door.  The second the last lock dropped and the door was pushed open, a fist lashed out and smashed Sakura into the back wall. Mad laughter filled the hall. It stopped abruptly when the dust cleared and Sakura appeared fine. Half her body had turned a dark gray and was holding her attacker's fist in her own.

   "So, you're Juugo, huh?" she asked. He jumped back and grabbed his arm.

   "I... You shouldn't have opened the door. I'm dangerous. You could've died. I'm so sorry." he muttered. Sakura let her jutsu fade and removed herself from the dent in the wall.

   "Well, I'm not dead, am I?" she grinned, "My name's Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you, Juugo."

   She extended a hand in greeting. He stared at her hand with uncertainty before tentatively reaching out and grasping her much smaller hand with his.

   "Hey! What are you doing?!"

   Both of them looked to see the experimenters running towards them. Sakura made a run for it, tugging Juugo along. Those men weren't hard to lose, seeing that they weren't shinobi. Just no-good 'scientists'. They made it outside within seconds and took refuge behind a nearby waterfall.

   "Are you alright, Juugo?" Sakura questioned. He nodded, staring down at the floor. She sent him a worried glance and approached him slowly. He suddenly crouched down and began feeling the ground.

   "Is this... grass?"

   She nodded. A small smile crossed his face.

   "I've never felt grass before... I've only heard about it. It feels nice. And it's really green. I didn't think things could be this green."

   Sakura had never seen someone look so happy from something as simple as that. A smile of her own crossed her face as she crouched down next to him.

   "Juugo, would you like to travel with me? I don't think you have someplace, so I'll take you everywhere I can."

   He was startled by the offer and looked at her with wide orange eyes.

   "But I-I nearly killed you! Why... Why would you..."

   Juugo stopped when he saw her sincerity and her cheerful smile.

   "C'mon, Juugo. Don't you want to see the world? I can take you anywhere you want. You don't have to go back to that crummy old cell ever again, and you certainly don't have to be anyone's test subject anymore. What do say? You wanna come along with me?"

   Sakura stood and had her hand outstretched once more. Juugo took a hold of it, this time without any hesitation.