Chased away by shadows (ItaSaku)

Chapter 8 - Medicine

Sakura stepped out of the bathroom dressed in her loose pyjamas while trying to dry her hair with a towel.

The masked man was leaning on a wooden pillar with his back turned to her, watching outside the window. It was already night time and Sakura felt her eyelids heavy.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" she asked but as usual, she was ignored.

She sighed, jumping on the bed and puling the covers over her. She didn't have a decent sleep in weeks. But could she now?

She felt somehow safe but still alone. At least, back in Konoha, she still had her friends. Ino came over often when she felt that loneliness breaking her. She wished she had someone to talk to but this guy didn't seem so comunicative.

The pinkette closed her eyes and drifted off.

"I knew I'll find you here." a familiar voice was heard.

Suddenly, in front of her, a familiar figure appeared. Her eyes widened in shock. He still wore the same white shirt like that day. His eyes were staring dangerously at her with his Sharingan spinning wildly. She could feel his disturbed chakra and his intent to kill. Hatred flowed throughout his body and Sakura's body started to tremble involuntarily.

She gulped and clentched her fists. But she couldn't direct her chakra.

"Sasuke-kun..." she whispered.

He started to walk towards her with slow steps but instead of stopping in front of her, he went right through her.

Confused, she turned around only to see him charging at the masked man that protected her all along. The man seemed unbothered by Sasuke's existence like he was certain that he was no threat.

"Why? Why did you do it?" Sasuke shouted angrily.

Sakura took a step back, not understanding what was happening.

"This hatred... This loneliness... It's all because of you."

She saw a glimpse of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sasuke stabbed the masked man right through his chest.

He stood still until his figure disappeared, being replaced by crows.

The sky turned a deep shade of red and everything around was dark like in a nightmare.

"Hand her over." Sasuke calmly said, turning towards Sakura. The blood froze in her veins when she felt a cold hand on her jaw. The man behind her held her face, forcing her to look into Sasuke's merciless eyes.

"You have no business with her. Hand her over." his voice came out more sternly this time.

An evil laugh escaped the man's throat.

Sakura's eyes snapped open when she heard the door being slammed shut. She had sweat all over her face and her breathing was irregular. What was that dream about? How did Sasuke know this man and what did he mean through those words. Seemed like something was tense between them.

She tried to calm down her breathing while massaging her temples.

She looked around the room confused. The masked man was missing.

She threw the covers off her and went by the window to look outside.

There, in the moonlight, the man's figure drew his long sword being ready to defend himself from whatever or whoever was charging at him in the night.

The clash of swords was heard loudly on the open field.

An ANBU was thrown on his back where Sakura's sight was, soon enough being stabbed in his by the man who was protecting her. The dead ANBU had a Hidden Leaf head protector.

Sakura covered her mouth with both of her hands, gasping. They found her.

Another two ninjas were surrouded by some weird black flames. What kind of jutsu was this man using? What was he?

The pinkette tried to find support on the window sill, but unconsciously, she knocked a small bottle down.

It rolled on the wooden floor until it hit the wall.

She turned towards it, hesintantly taking small steps. She picked it up. Inside, was a yellow liquid with small, black bubbles. She saw it before. It was a medicine that she and her shisou used to slow down deadly diseases until they found a permanent cure.

Sakura felt a presence behind her, like a cold chakra, but before she could react, a hand covered her mouth and her hands were restained behind her back.

The medicine she was holding, dropped on the floor. The glass bottle shattered, spilling the liquid on the floor.

She struggled to get out of the strong grip, trying to scream for help but only whimpers came out. Without her chakra, she was ordinary, weak, defensless.

"You did a good job running for two days, but now it's time for you to be handed to the Five Kages. Don't make it harder. Maybe your death will be painless." he whispered into her ear.

Her body started to tremble in fear while tears ran down her pinkish cheeks.

Another two men appeared near the ANBU who was holding her, with their arms folded to their chests.

"Good job on distracting him."

"We should go and help them."

"No. We take her back."

"But this isn't how the plan was made. We don't leave our comrades behind." one of the men argued with the one who seemed in charge.

"If we don't leave in time, we-" he was cut mid sentence by the sudden presence of the masked man. He teleported behinf the other two enemiers, knocking them effortlesly.

The one who was holding Sakura, grabbed a blade and placed it at her throat.

"One more step and she is dead."

The masked man stopped in his tracks.

"That's right. I don't know why you are protecting her, nor do I know what she means to you, but I'm quite sure that she is important."

The masked man activated his doujutsu scanning his enemy from head to toes. His level of chakra was low so the chance of using any ninjutsu was close to zero. But he may not hesitate to slit the pinkette's throat.

He watched her pleading eyes and how her tears soaked the man's hand.

He had to do something.

From the ANBU's body started to pour white clay. He saw this before, it was used as explosive but it could be used as much more than that. He clentched his fists by his side. He couldn't use genjutsu. The ANBU's eyes were hidden behind his mask.

A weird looking clone was formed near the ANBU. So this is why his chakra level was suspiciously low. He was transferring it to his clay clone.

The clone chuckled devilishly. It raised it's forearm in front of it's face, preparing the attack.

The masked man gripped his sword.

A few black spears formed on his arm. They were thrown instantly towards the girl's protector at a high speed. He could see through his doujutsu how the spears were covered in green poison.

The man rapidly dodged every single one of them. The last one passed by his face at one centimeter distance. Everything moved so slow in his mind, but the thing he didn't saw, was the spear dividing itself in five small needles which were thrown towards him. One of the needles cut his mask in two, leaving a scratch on his face.

The two pieces slowly fell off, stripping him from his mistery.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock.