Sasuke:
Sasuke looked at the now sleeping woman, her face still stained with tears and held an expression filled with heartbreak, he watched as she tossed and turned, seeming to be reliving her past, 'she must feel so alone' he thought, 'just like me...'
Sasuke sat on the bed next to her, he had taken her to his room, he didn't really know why, he told himself it was easier for him to access than hers, but he wasn't sure he had convinced himself, this woman was for some reason important to him, and he was not letting her out of his sights. he looked at the sleeping pink head, her breaths were short, and her face tense, her plump lips were stretched into a tight line, her long dark lashes and neat brows scrunched in a look of despair, she had looked so vulnerable earlier, her stubborn strong willed nature trampled on, it seemed she too was still healing.
She had been silent for a while, he stared at the small square of paper that she had pointed at, as if she were afraid of it, Sasuke read it over and over, "Surrender Haruno, or more will die" he was pissed, he refused to surrender her, or be at the mercy of another, his clan would never bend to the will of the Akatsuki, or his Uncle he thought darkly, and like hell was Sasuke letting anyone take Sakura away from him, after all the Uchiha was never very good at sharing.
He rose to leave the room, certain Sakura would be fine, he had to show Naruto the note Sakura had found, and determine what needed to be done. He left the room without a word.
Sasuke sent for his closest allies and Naruto sent for his,
soon Suigestsu, Jugo, Karin, Gaara, Kankuro, Sai, choji and Ino arrived,
Sasuke pulled them into his office and begun to explain the events of the last few days,
"Sakura is here now?" Ino questioned, Sasuke nodded at the blonde woman, "shes asleep right now, but yes she is here and is the only reason Shikamaru is alive..." Sasuke said, the others looked at the floor,
"Madara is behind all of this," Sasuke growled "The murder of my brother, my parents, your families, everything! We will kill the bastard no matter what" he seethed,
the others looked down, Naruto simply nodded, his face emotionless, he had faced similar problems, his parents were murdered when he was a baby, murdered by Madara. Leaving him with no one, Sasuke and Naruto grew closer and shared scarred paths, they were brothers now, Sasuke trusted him with his life, likewise Naruto trusted Sasuke, they shared a special bond, not that either of them would ever say that out loud, but they had been there for each other through the best and worst times, so their alliance was natural once they both took over their gangs.
Sakura:
Stretching her arms out, Sakura took in a familiar smell, it wrapped around her slim frame in a tight embrace, she opened her eyes and a blinked a few times, sitting up she saw she was in a large modern room, the bed she was in had silver and gray covers, with white sheets, looking around the general aesthetic was made up of cooler tones of grays, blacks, silvers and whites, with large windows looking out over the country side,
standing up Sakura let her long hair fall loosely around her shoulders, she noticed a photo on the bedside table, it was of a family, the mother beautiful with fair skin and long dark hair, the father, tall with a strong and serious expression on his face, the older son his hair tied back in a low pony tail was laughing at the younger brother, the younger brother who stood there pouting at the camera, his dark raven coloured hair a spiky mess on top of his head, they all shared the same deep onyx eyes,
"This is Sasuke..." Sakura thought to herself, looking at the little pouting boy, "I wonder where the rest of his family is?"
Realizing she was in his room, and woke up in his bed she blushed madly, what on earth was she doing there? The last thing she could remember was... "Surrender Haruno, or more will die"
'die...' she thought, because of her...
Shaking her head she decided not to dwell on that just yet, making her way to the door she pushed it open and walked out
Walking down the long hall way she passed multiple closed doors, she assumed to other clan members rooms, once finding her way back to the main set of stairs she went to go check on Shikamaru, she had left him all alone, 'honestly' she thought 'the youngest best doctor in Japan, but I still managed to pass out with a patient in need behind me' she cringed thinking of what her mentor Tsunade would have said, definitely wouldn't hear the end of her rants.
Rounding the corner Sakura made her way to the medical room, pulled open the door where Shikamaru lay,
she looked him over, her hands moved in a practiced proficiency, as she made sure everything was stable, he seemed to be doing far better than before, she sighed, normally she didn't do all this work anymore, after all she was a qualified surgeon, so doing a nurses duties were not a common occurrence, nonetheless for the short period of time that she was a nurse, she had excelled.
Soon Sakura was joined by Temari again, they sat and talked for hours, Temari was kind, and she obviously loved Shikamaru a lot, although every time she talked about the pair Temari would turn a light shade of pink as if still embarrassed at the mention of it.
Suddenly Shikamaru begun to stir, he groaned a bit and opened his eyes, anxious Temari grabbd his hand, Shikamaru looked at her and managed a small grin, "Miss me?" he asked the woman who now had tears in falling from her eyes, "SHUT UP YOU FOOL, NOW IS NO TIME FOR JOKING!" she scolded him in response,
Sakura smiled, she envied the pair, despite so much hardship, and the life styles they both lived, they were in love...
Sakura heard people walk past, quickly poking her head out she spotted the maid who had shown her to her room, she called to her "Excuse me miss! Would you mind letting Sasuke and Naruto know Shikamaru is awake", the maid nodded and hurried off, Sakura then turned back to the room where a very sheppish looking man was being scolded by his girl friend "I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU EVER PULL SOME SHIT LIKE THIS AGAIN I WILL MURDER YOU MYSELF" Temari yelled at her boyfriend, who sat there and muttered to himself
"what a drag..."
"WHAT'D YOU SAY?!?"
"I-I Love you..."
"Mmm, well I love you too, but please don't scare me like that again" Temari cried hugging the poor man
he simply smiled, and raised his arm to touch her face, their eyes seemed to communicate with one another, Sakura looked away, in fear of intrusion on this sweet moment. She stood quietly, when Shikmaru met her eyes, clearly unfamiliar with who she was Temari turned to see he was looking at Sakura,
"Shikamaru, this is Sakura Haruno... She saved your life"
Shikamaru stared at her for a moment, then sighed
"I suppose a thanks is in order, so thank you Sakura, dying is such a drag" he said with a coy smile as Temari glared at him,
Sakura smiled at them, "No problem, anything I can do to help"
Sasuke:
After discussing and catching up on the previous events, Sasuke pulled out the note Sakura had found,
Karin sat next to Sasuke, "I say we give her up, what importance does she have to us? Right Sasuke" she said clinging on to his arm, he only glared at her,
everyone sat silently, the tension in the air was thick,
"We can't give her to them!" Ino exclaimed,
"They obviously intended for Shikamaru to be found... They knew we would investigate and take apart the bullets, they likely think Shikamaru is dead, and he probably would be if Sakura wasn't here" Naruto said,
Sasuke remained silent, only listening while being deep in thought, what did they want from Sakura? he thought, yes, she was the next in line to be leader of the Haruno clan, but the clan had disbanded, and if it were really a problem why did they not kill her when they had the chance? Perhaps they underestimated her... Or... It was something else...
Just then a maid came bursting through the door
"I am terribly sorry for the intrusion Master Uchiha, but Master Shikamaru is awake!"
All of them were on their feet at once, and heading to the door lead by Sasuke,
Ino lingered behind them, "Ino, what's the matter?" Naruto asked
"I-I haven't told Sakura that I am apart of this life... she thinks I only work at my flower shop and just have rich parents..."
"Ino, you don't have to approach her now, you can wait here and find Sakura later" Sai said kindly,
Ino nodded and the rest continued.
Hurrying Sasuke walked straight to the room where Shikamaru was, unaware of his surroundings, Sasuke walked straight into a petite woman who yelped, looking down he saw long pink hair and emerald green eyes meet his own, they held his gaze for a moment then she blushed and looked away, muttering a quiet "sorry".
"He's awake and stable" Sakura said to the group
Suigetsu strode towards Sakura taking her hand "So you must be the infamous Miss Sakura, a true beauty I must say" he said taking her hand and winking at her,
Sasuke growled, glaring at his clan member,
"Oh someones a tad bit possessive" Suigetsu mocked, causing Sakura to blush deeper,
Sasuke really had no reason to be annoyed, but something about others flirting with Sakura rubbed him the wrong way.
Continuing on the group made their way inside the room, once they all sat around Shikamaru and had exchanged greetings things got serious, they sat looking at Shikamaru expectantly,
he closed his eyes took a deep breath and begun talking
"So I arrived early for my date with Temari because I wanted to buy a few things before hand..." He said blushing madly, and next to him Temari blushed a scarlet red, causing Sakura to giggle,
he continued "As I got out of my car I was approached by a group of men all wearing masks, they surrounded me, told me I was to send a message to the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan bosses, "You will die by Madara's hands" then I was shot, and they left me there, I heard them say as they left, something about the Hyuuga Princess? I don't know what they mean, no one even knows anything about the Hyuuga, but they also said next they needed the Haruno heir..."
The room fell silent, everyone looked to Sakura, who sat there deep in thought
Sasuke's fury was beyond imaginable, Madara thought he could manipulate Sasuke and Naruto into conforming to his will, Sasuke would rather die than give him what he wanted,
"Madara will recieve nothing from us, we will not bend to his will. Ever."