REDONE!!
Incentive
Chapter One
Reunion
XxX
Sakura's POV
Clink Clink
'Uhn… where am I?' I thought to myself. My entire body hurt, and I could barely see. I tried to stand up, but found I was chained to a wall.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked at my surroundings. The walls were solid brick except for one, which was barred. I could barely see the flicker of a torch – most likely in a banister attached to wall – from around the corner.
I furrowed my brow as I tried to remember how I got there. I remember doing my rounds at the hospital, walking home, opening the door of my apartment; then nothing.
Splash
My head shot up at the sound of someone's foot stepping through a puddle of water. Each rhythmic footstep slowly got louder as they got closer. I could now see a light coming towards me also.
Preparing myself, I tried to summon my chakra, just in case I needed it, but found none. I had been completely sapped of strength.
The footsteps finally rounded the corner and came up to my cell. The flame of the torch blinded me, so I had to look away, and couldn't figure out who it was.
"Who's there?" I croaked my throat dry and sore.
I heard a chuckle that sounded familiar.
"Why, Sakura-chan? You don't remember me? That's sad." Sneered the voice.
I gasped with realization. It was Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man.
"You bastard." I spat. "Where am I?"
"I thought that would be obvious. You're at the hidden Sound base."
"…why?"
"We'll leave that to Orochimaru-sama to explain." With that he opened the door with a grating sound, and entered.
Again, my eyes adjusted to the light, and I could finally see him as he approached me. He hadn't changed much since the last time I saw him, five years ago at the chuunin exams. The same silver hair, glasses and sly face.
He came down to my level and smirking, lifted my chin so I looked him in the eyes. All I saw there was coldness. They scared me and sent shivers down my spine.
Scowling, I wrenched my head out of his grip, which earned me a slap. The sting brought tears to my eyes, but I tried to remain strong.
Though my eyes still glittered, I faced Kabuto and tried to stare him down, which didn't work out that well. He just laughed at my defiance and slapped me again.
"Pitiful girl." He taunted.
He undid my chains, and then rebound my arms behind my back with chakra strings. Forcing me to stand up, he led me out of the cell and down the dank halls.
After a short trip, we arrived at a set of large wooden doors. Inside, on a pedestal, sat the legendary sannin Orochimaru.
His long tongue slid out and licked his lips slowly as he smiled down at me.
"Welcome, my little Sakura-chan. It's good to see you again."
I death stared him as I remembered our last encounter, on the last 'Sasuke recon mission'.
"What do you want with me, you bastard?" I spat.
He tutted. "Now now, such beautiful girls like you shouldn't be talking like that."
"Answer the question."
"(Sigh) what impatience. I brought you here to be a present, and an incentive." He explained.
It took me a moment to process this. "Wait a second, you mean you're going to give me to someone, as a present?!"
Nodding, he said. "Yes, a present. Also an incentive to work harder. Dear Sasuke-kun hasn't been working as hard as he should be."
"Huh? What about Sasuke? …I'M A PRESENT FOR HIM?!"
He nodded again. "Currently he is on an assassination mission, but he'll be back by tonight."
I would've collapsed onto the ground, if I weren't being held up by Kabuto. That, and the fact I couldn't wait till Sasuke got back, so I could attack him and yell at him for leaving me.
"And what makes you think Sasuke would even want me? He'll probably just kill me himself."
Orochimaru wagged his finger at her. "On the contrary, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun seems to want you very much. Kabuto has walked in on Sasuke-kun, more than once, saying your name in his sleep."
"It was more like moaning, Orochimaru-sama." Added Kabuto, smirking.
She sat there, flabbergasted (lol). 'Sasuke, dreaming of me?'
'CHA!! POINT ONE FOR US!!' Shouted her inner.
'Argh, not you. Go away.'
'NEVARRRRRRR!!'
'YOU ARE SO ANNOYING!!'
'What?'
'…you are so cruel.'
'So?'
'YOU'RE ACTING JUST LIKE SASUKE-KUN!!'
All was silent. Orochimaru had been staring at my changing expressions as I fought with my inner, mildly amused, and Kabuto had been twitching, as if he wanted to slap me upside the head.
Noticing this, I glared. "Whaddaya want?"
They both jumped lightly and averted their eyes, and then realized they were the ass-kicking (so they think) evil guys and resumed smirking at me.
(A/N: Sigh, bakas…)
"In any case, Kabuto, take Sakura-chan to her master's quarters." Ordered the snake sannin.
Kabuto nodded, and pushed me in the direction of the door and down a few sparsely-lit hallways, until they reached a single door with a huge 'Stay out or be castrated' sign.
Not heeding the sign Kabuto pushed open the door. It opened to what seemed to be a small flat. It contained a small living area with an adjoining kitchen, a bedroom to the left, and a bathroom on the right. There were two other doors, but they were closed, so she couldn't see what was on the other side.
While I was examining where I was being forced to live, I didn't notice Kabuto release the chakra strings and snap something on my wrist until it was actually fully on. Lifting my arm, I looked at the snake bracelet attached there.
"What is this?" I asked.
"A chakra forcefield bracelet or CFB. You can't leave this room, unless that is removed, and also limits the amount of chakra you can have."
I gasped and began tugging at it, but it wouldn't come loose. I tried pushing my arm through the door, but it got stuck, the bracelet not going further than the frame of the door. Giving up, I grudgingly walked over to the couch and sat down.
"I hate you so much right now."
"Guess what, I don't care."
He gave me a few instructions, then left. Once he was gone, I tried again to get the bracelet off, this time with one of Sasuke's kunais, but to no avail. Again I gave up, throwing the kunai away, which embedded itself in the wall, and then decided to explore my new place.
The kitchen had hardly any food in it, and what was there was mainly tomatoes. Deciding on an apple, I continued on to the next room, which was Sasuke's bedroom.
The king size bed with black covers looked extremely comfy, but I turned down falling asleep until I had searched the other rooms. I fingered his bookshelf, which contained a lot of books on forbidden jutsus and sword technique.
Getting bored, I exited his room, walked past the bathroom ('that can come later')and continued to the first closed door. With flourish, she opened the door and peered in expectantly, but found a laundry.
'Well, that was a bit less, amazing then I thought it would be.'
'Whaddaya expect? A laboratory?'
'Well, no. But, I don't know. I just expected something a bit more… extravagant.'
'Too bad.'
Sighing, I continued to the next door, but found it locked.
'Must be something special if it's locked. His front door wasn't even locked.'
'It might just be where he makes his pottery.'
'What the hell?'
'You never know.'
'Right
Seeing as there was nothing else to explore, she returned to his room and pulled out a book on advanced jutsus, then hopped onto the bed. It proved to be as comfy as it looked.
Laying on her stomach with one of the fan emblazoned pillows to prop her arms up a little more, she opened the book.
Turns out there was a whole section of healing jutsus. She flicked through the book until she reached it, reading each name, she checked them all off in her mind.
'I know that one, and that one, AND that one, I learned that one when I was thirteen…' She thought.
Then she came across one she didn't know.
Joushou hebun: natsuin jokyo no jutsu (literally means rising heaven: seal removal technique)
Overview: Can only be performed by elite medic shinobi. Removes seals with curses placed over them. May cause death or comatose states.
I pondered over this. 'Hmm… seals with curses… curse… seal… OMG!! SASUKE'S CURSE SEAL!'
'Took you a while.'
'Grr.'
Before Inner Sakura could retort, I heard the front door open.
I quickly closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then looked around the corner of the door.
There stood Sasuke. He had grown a good foot and a half since I had seen him last. (Now they're seventeen, just so you know)
His ebony hair was grown a little, and splayed out a bit more, so it wasn't as chicken butted, and his pale skin had gotten a tan.
He was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck (not a very big turtleneck though, just a little one) that exposed his toned arms, and white baggy shorts that stopped at the top of his calf.
He was looking, well, he was looking at me. His eyes showed a small amount of surprise for a moment, before turning angry.
In the space of an eye blinking, he had me pressed up against a wall, A kunai to my throat. How cliché.
His eyes burned red with fury as he glared down at me.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered threateningly.
Instead of backing down I just smirked. "Don't pin this on me, this is your fault."
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm here for three reasons. One, you haven't been working hard enough, two, they thought you might like a present, and three, you keep on muttering my fucking name in your sleep. That's why I'm freaking here."
The other eyebrow lifted to join his already raised one. "Muttering your name…?"
"Yes. Kabuto has walked in a few times when you were sleeping and heard you saying it, so now I'm here."
Now Sasuke frowned. (What else is he gonna do with those frigging eyebrows? Though they are very pretty… HOW COME I DON'T HAVE EYEBROWS LIKE THAT?! anime cries) "He must've gotten it wrong. I was probably saying chakra, not Sakura."
I sighed. "Well, now that we have that figured out that you still hate my guts, and that I'm not here to molest you, can you stop molesting me?"
He glared at me for a moment then looked down at our positioning. His right hand was still holding the kunai millimeters from her throat, but his left was wrapped around her breast. (tsk tsk tsk. Naughty Sasu-chan.)
He wrenched his hand away and pushed off the wall then headed for the kitchen. Finally, I noticed the scent of blood in the air.
Frowning, I followed Sasuke, and finally noticed that his shirt was splattered with blood, and he appeared to have a few cuts.
My inner medic nin too over and soon I found myself poking Sasuke's wounds.
"What are you doing Sakura?" I grumbled angrily, pulling his arm out of my grip.
"You're cut up and there's blood all over you." I complained.
"They're just scratches, and this blood isn't mine."
3… 2… 1…
"Wait, you mean this is the blood from the people you killed?!"
He sighed. "Yes. Go away."
But I persisted. "Who were they?" I asked sadly.
"Some other assassin and his family."
"HIS FAMILY?! YOU KILLED HIS FAMILY TOO?!"
"Don't shout! Yes. I was ordered too."
I gaped at him. When he turned away to head back into the lounge room, I grabbed his arm, whipped him around, and slapped him. Hard.
I stood there, panting, a look of complete rage on my face. "How the fuck…" I began. "How could you kill an innocent family just because you were ordered to?"
"The guy was-
"I wouldn't care if the guy was the devil himself. That gives you no reason to kill his family too!"
Sasuke glared at me, then whipped around, threw his tomato in the bin and walked to the bathroom, slamming the door being him.
"FUCKING HEARTLESS ASSHOLE!!" I screamed after him. There was no reply but for the shower squeaking into life.
Huffing, I stormed back into the bedroom, grabbed my book and went back to reading.
'Screw the asshole. I was going to remove his curse seal, one day, but now I ain't doing shit.' I thought angrily.
'You never know, he might've been attacked by the family and forced to kill them.'
'Aren't you usually the angry one?'
'Not when it comes to dear Sasuke-kun.'
'You always get pissed off with him when he ignores us.'
'…that's beside the point.'
In five minutes, Sasuke was out of the shower, and standing in the doorway, in nothing but a towel.
I finally saw the extent of his injuries. It was mainly minor scratches, but there was one cut that was extremely deep, and seemed to have been made by a sword. I wanted to get up and help him, but at the same time, I was happy that he was suffering. I went back to my book.
"Get out." He growled.
I glared at him. "Why should I?"
"I have to get dressed baka."
"Don't call me baka, teme."
"Hn. Baka."
"Teme."
"Baka."
"Teme."
"Baka."
"Teme."
"…get out already."
"Ugh, fine. Just because you're too embarrassed about your small penis."
With that, I walked past him, smirking as he twitched. I swear I could hear him muttering, "Must… not… kill… her…" under his breath.
I plopped down on the couch and continued to read my book. Apart from the seal removal jutsu, I have already learnt all the jutsus in there, so I continued to the genjutsu chapter. I became so engrossed in my book, I didn't notice him come up and sit down on the couch as well.
I only noticed him when I heard the grating of him sharpening his kunai with a whetstone. I jumped and let out a squeak, before settling down again, only to glare at him.
"Couldn't you do that in your room or something?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I always sharpen them here."
"You are so annoying."
"Hn."
There was silence, except for the grating as he continued to sharpen his blades. I noticed after a while, that every time he brought back his arm to the start, he would wince lightly.
'His side must be hurting him.'
'Let him suffer. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!'
'What are you, bipolar? You were the one worrying about him earlier.'
'And you were the one hoping he was in pain.'
'Well he is.'
There was silence again. After a while more of watching him wince out of the corner of my eye, I finally gave up and walked to the bathroom, returning with the first aid kit.
I set it down beside him, and stared at him. When he didn't look up, I coughed lightly. He still didn't look up. I coughed again. No reaction.
"For frigs sake. Sasuke-teme, look at me."
He looked up finally. "What?" He spat.
"Take off your shirt."
"…no."
"Yes."
"No.
"YES."
"NO."
"YES!"
"…Why should I?"
"Because it's annoying me to see you wincing all the time. I wanna patch up your wound."
"…I'm fine."
"No you're not. If you were, you wouldn't be wincing."
"I'm guessing that's a yes. Take it off."
When he made no move, I sighed and moved over to him then began pulling on his shirt.
He grabbed my hands to stop them. "No."
"Sasuke, either you take off the shirt, or at least let me take it off, or I'm going to rip it off."
He thought about this, then finally pulled off his shirt.
"Thank you."
He just glared. I pulled out some antiseptic and put a bit on a cloth, then began dabbing it on the wound. He hissed as it burnt him.
"Don't worry, it'll be over soon." I soothed him.
After I finished cleaning the wound, I bandaged it, then sat back, satisfied. "There. Just keep it clean and you'll be fine."
"What are you, a doctor?"
"Yeah, I am, actually."
"…Oh."
I shook my head, and replaced everything in the kit then put it back in the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I finally noticed how bad I looked.
My hair was all messy and my clothes were all torn. Bruises had started to form where Kabuto had struck me. Mustering what chakra I had, I tried to heal the bruise. It lightened slightly, but that was it. I ran out of chakra again.
Using my chakra had made me woozy, and I stumbled a bit, but caught myself. Shaking my head, I decided to take a shower.
I closed the door and slipped out of my clothes, and into the shower.
The hot water revived me, and I smiled lightly. I looked around and noticed some shampoo and conditioner. It smelt wonderful. I couldn't define what it smelt like, but it was a smell I hadn't smelt for years and that I missed. I lathered the shampoo through my hair, and after it was washed out, I put through the conditioner. After that, quick soaping of the body and I was out.
It was only now that I realized I had no clothes to wear. 'Shit.'
Sighing, I wrapped a towel around my body and opened the door. Sasuke looked up and saw me and what I was wearing. He seemed speechless.
"I… uh… I need some clothes to wear." I said blushing. (She's not the only one, mwahaha! You perv Sasuke, I see you staring)
"Just get some out of my closet." He said, trying to look as natural as he could.
I walked over to his bedroom, but before I closed the door, I said, "Sheesh, I did a better job being smooth when you walked in with a towel on."
I could nearly feel him blushing now. Smirking, I closed the door and walked over to his closet. (Just so you know, she is going to wear her bra and underwear underneath) I picked out a white hakama type shirt and some black pants. They were a bit big on me, but they will have to do.
I walked out again to sit on the couch and continue my reading. Now Sasuke had finished sharpening his kunais and shuriken, and had begun on his katana.
'Ooh, pretty sword' I thought childishly.
Sasuke noticed me looking at him. He looked up at me. "Yes?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. I was just looking at your sword."
He smirked. "I thought you said it was small."
3… 2… 1… "NOT THAT SWORD YOU PERVERT! YOUR FREAKEN KATANA!" I shouted at him.
Huffing, I sat down, and I heard him chuckling beside me. I picked up my book and began reading again.
It was silent for a few minutes (except for the grating as usual), until Sasuke spoke up.
"You've changed."
"What?"
"I said, you've changed."
"No, I mean, you're actually starting up a conversation. That's never happened. EVER."
He glared at me.
I sighed. "Yes, I've changed. You'd kind of expect it, since he haven't seen each other for five years."
"Hn."
"Grr, I see some things don't change. Such as you're still a cold bastard who has 'hn' for a catchphrase."
"You don't call me Sasuke-kun anymore."
"Nope. Because I don't worship you anymore. Not in the least."
"And you talk back."
"I've got guts now."
"And you're a doctor."
"Medic nin, actually. Best in the village."
"But you're still annoying."
"Yep! Wait a minute… HEY!"
He smirked again.
All went quiet, as he went back to sharpening his sword, and I sat there fuming over his comment.
'Sorry to use your word Shika-kun, but this is gonna be troublesome.'