Disclaimer:

-I do not own Naruto, but I do own Toshio, Anju, Hideo, and Masaki.

-Credit to Lia113 for the idea to have Toshio specialize in water.

Chapter 8

Orders

Sakura was more than tired. She recapped the eventful day as she walked casually to the prison. She wasn't anxious to be near him again. He confused her. Years had been spent telling herself that her feelings were just a crush and definitely in the past. She wanted to be happy. Dammit, she deserved to be happy. After he had left, she had wasted countless nights crying herself to sleep. She couldn't go through that again. But the stupid Uchiha had changed the game. The first kiss had been a test, but she couldn't figure out the second kiss.

'Ah! I'll drive myself crazy if I keep dwelling on this!' she told herself.

"Sakura? Are you feeling well," Toshio asked, coming from the shadows. His handsome face was worried, ebony brows lowered. "Listen, if you're thinking about what happened before, when I…."

Sakura stared at him with a blush creeping across her face. 'Is he talking about when he pressed his body up against mine?' She wondered. Before it could become more akward, Sakura rapidly explained. "Hey. I know you didn't mean anything by it, right?"

Toshio looked confused. One black eyebrow lifted slightly. His eyes narrowed a bit. "Well, I wrongly accused you. That was childish of me. Especially to you, Sakura. I let my feelings get in the way." His face turned angry, and his sapphire eyes looked away abruptly.

"Oh…that's what you meant." Her blush became a deeper color.

Tohio whispered, "What did you think I was referring to?"

"Well….when you…when…" She was too embarrassed to finish. "It doesn't matter. I forgive you for the false accusation. You don't need to explain yourself."

With those words, Toshio's fury melted. Once again, his eyes rose to stare into Sakura's.

When Toshio was seven, his family had been furious to find out that Akane, his mother, had been having an affair with Souta from an enemy clan. If the Enoki clan were to kill Souta there would have been a disastrous war, so Toshio's father, Takeshi, had gone to Orochimaru and made a deal. Orochimaru would kill Souta for Enoki blood. Takeshi had been contracted to donating a pint of blood per month for Orochimaru's exclusive use, but once Orochimaru saw how effective the legendary kusanagi was, he quickly became obsessed.

In the middle of the night, he killed the Enoki clan one by one and drained their blood for future use. Toshio had fortunately been on a mock mission, and was unknowingly spared. He had been adopted by a close friend of the family.

When he was 15, he began dating Mai who wasn't a ninja, but an inn keeper's daughter. He had been heartbroken to learn she was revealed as a traitor to Sound by selling information to an enemy. After that, Toshio was presented with an opportunity to transfer into Konoha. He had readily agreed.

This was all Sakura knew of Toshio's past. He had just shown up one morning at the village's gates bruised and covered in small cuts. Toshio and she became fast friends.

"I guess you're wondering why I asked you to accompany me," Sakura stated, breaking the silence.

They began to walk towards the holding cells. Toshio just stared straight ahead with a blank expression. "No. I remember what happened when you healed him last time….alone." Toshio gazed over at Sakura to see her blush brightly. A smirk settled on his lips.

He liked Sakura, as more than a friend. He swept his gaze down her body, the appealing image burning itself into his mind. 'Definitely more than a friend' he thought. His smirk grew to a grin. Sakura was more than beautiful. She wasn't skinny, but toned and full of womanly curves. Her hips swayed with a natural seduction as she walked. Her hair was shiny and soft. She had a woman's body, and everyone knew.

Toshio easily remembered the day they had met.

He had just been dismissed from the Hokage's office with an escort, and taken to the hospital. As he sat alone in the white room he was surprised to see Sakura walk in and introduce herself as his medic. Her smile was genuine, her pink hair swayed as she talked, and her mesmerizing green eyes shined off the light.

He instantly knew they would be friends. When she had started asking questions about his medical history and how he obtained his bruises and cuts, the door to the room had been thrown open and his escort, an ANBU, had rudely begun informing her she had no business prying and that Toshio's past was classified.

An argument had started. Sakura, being headstrong and stubborn, yelled that she was the top medic; therefore, had the ranking to know the required information. When Sakura had turned back to Toshio, the ANBU had whispered something under his breath that Toshio hadn't heard, but Sakura had. In half a second, she had turned and sent the ANBU through all the hospital walls. A shower of dirt was barely seen as he landed.

Sakura turned back to Toshio and smiled. "Some people can be so rude," she'd said.

Toshio was brought back to the present from a dark, rich, earthy stench. They were at the entrance to the underground holding cells. He looked to Sakura, wondering why she hadn't gone in yet.

Hurt and uncertainty was plain on Sakura's face. She thought she had cast out her childish feelings for Sasuke. She wanted to move on. She needed to move on. She didn't want to look at him and remember when he had saved her over and over again when they were young. He had always been there. Both he and Naruto were the reason she was alive.

"Let's get this over with," she said coldly.

Toshio nodded and followed silently behind.

The darkness of the tunnel was lit by small lights in the dirt ceiling. The walk wasn't long. They soon came upon a few guards who told them which way to go. After thanking the guards, they walked for a few more minutes until they came upon about a dozen more guards.

"Lady Hokage overestimates him," Toshio commented quietly, referring to the amount of guards.

Sakura threw Toshio a smirk and raised her eyebrows. "He escaped the chakra bonds in record time and beat a dozen or so ANBU. She's merely being cautious."

Toshio didn't reply.

Sakura politely greeted the group of guards. They let both of the ANBU pass through, respect in their eyes. The door closed and locked loudly behind them.

Sakura noticed how Toshio rested a hand on his ninjato. They walked further into the dark until they came upon a figure sitting against a wall. Coal eyes watched them as they came closer.

Sasuke's moonlit skin made him stick out in the dark holding cell. Encircling his wrists was a new sort of chakra band. When the hands were brought close together, the bands repelled one another; therefore, not allowing the hands to come within six inches of each other and in turn not allowing any hand symbols. They also drained the chakra of their victim every hour, leaving only enough to eat and walk slowly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in their direction.

Sakura glanced at Toshio, and seeing his nod, she headed for her ex-teammate. "If you try anything funny Uchiha, I'll pound your ass so hard into the ground they won't need to worry about you anymore." She knelt in front of him, his gaze unwavering and focused on Toshio. Swiftly, Sakura tied her hair back and began roaming her eyes over his exposed flesh. Dried blood ruined his shirt, but a couple of bad cuts were still bleeding.

"I thought you were a medic."

The cold voice startled her. She looked up to find him staring at her, a smug Uchiha smirk on his face. "I am," she ground out.

"Then why so hesitant to touch me, Sakura?"

His words made her stiffen. She clenched her fist. "Let that be your last warning, Uchiha." She felt Toshio's chakra rise behind her. She needed to control her emotions better.

"Hn."

"Lift your left arm above your head," she ordered.

Sasuke hesitantly lifted his arm, closing his eyes against the pain. His face remained empty. The slash in his side was deep, but not life threatening.

Sakura ran her hands over the wound, pouring chakra into it. The skin mended within a few seconds, stopping the bleeding. She moved her hands away quickly, afraid of staying too close for too long. He lowered his arm, staring at her as if she were a ripe, juicy tomato prime for plucking. Within minutes, she had healed the rest of the bleeding cuts and a dislocated pinky. Slowly, she stood.

"Someone will come tomorrow for your mental analysis. I'm sure some other medic will come for your next physical check-up." Sakura walked to the cell door and knocked twice, Toshio right behind her. Against her better judgement, she turned back to Sasuke and looked him in the eyes.

"I can see now how you could run away from Konoha, Kakashi-sensei, and me. But I will never understand how you just walked away from Naruto. Don't you see Sasuke? After all those years of bickering to see who the better ninja was, you forfeit the day you left the village."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed even farther. Sakura turned back towards the door as it was opened and walked out, hoping to never see Sasuke again. She and Toshio walked back the way they came, thanking the guards.

Sakura's heart wouldn't slow down. She took a couple deep breaths, releasing them slowly.

"That must've been hard for you," Toshio comforted her, gently touching her arm.

"I just get so angry with him. I don't understand his logic, stupid Uchiha." Sakura smiled at Toshio and tenderly brushed his cheek. Toshio smirked, reminding Sakura of Sasuke. She quickly drew her hand away and backed up, frowning.

Toshio's brows furrowed. "Sakura?"

"Thank you for coming with me," she said hastily. "Excuse me," she whispered as she disappeared in a shower of cherry blossoms.

Toshio sighed and began walking towards the training grounds. He needed to let out some pent up aggression.

Ayame81131- thank you! It's hard to make a fanfic that's somewhat original, but still following the manga. I think Karin and Sauke have gotten scarily close in the real manga. I haven't read past Sasuke fighting Danzo. I've gotta catch up!

Innocent blusher- thank you! It is extremely hard keeping Sasuke in character seeing as we haven't seen him in any real romantic scenes.

Thank you to all those who read this and to all who have and still are reviewing. I really am sorry this took so long to get out. I had the most terrible writer's block with this chapter. Any ideas are highly welcomed! If you find something wrong, please let me know! Thanks!

I haven't started the next chapter yet, but I will write fast as soon as I have an idea!