Edited: April 25, 2020. This chapter remains unchanged from when it was first posted, but please see end for edit notes.

Okay, so this is my first ever fanfic! (eek!) So yeah, just give it a look and see if you like it. Cheers :)

Chapter 1

Kidnap

Ino and Sakura flew at a breakneck pace through the trees.

"Can't catch me, forehead!" Exclaimed Ino, pulling ahead of Sakura.

Sakura smirked, before landing on the ground. "Oh yeah?" She muttered, coming to a standstill. She quickly gathered chakra into her hand and smashed her fist on the ground, causing the trees around her for some 200 metres to rattle like an earthquake had hit. Sakura could faintly hear Ino's cry of "Forehead, you bitch!" before a distant figure fell from a tree. Sakura laughed and raced towards where Ino lay.

"Oh, I hope I didn't mess up your hair, Ino pig!" Sakura sniggered, helping Ino to her feet.

Ino just glared, mouthing obscenities under her breath.

"C'mon. We've gotta make it to the next town at least before sun down. Tsunade Sama wants us back in Konoha in two days at the latest." Sakura said, leaping into the trees. Sighing, Ino followed.

They soon arrived at a rundown little town.

"How far away from Konoha are we?" Ino asked as she watched the sun slowly slink behind the horizon.

"About a day and a half. If we leave around seven – ish tomorrow, we should be back before midday in two days." Sakura smiled. "Come on, let's go find a room." She started walking through the streets as the first paper lanterns were being lit.

Ino looked at her, annoyed. "We could leave later, you know. Tsunade won't kill us if we aren't back in time to make her breakfast in bed!" She called sarcastically. "Besides, I'm sick of getting up at the crack of dawn. Let's sleep in for a bit tomorrow." She yawned, trying desperately to convince Sakura.

Sakura just raised her eyebrow before caving. "Fine, but I want to be out of here by nine."

"Ten." Ino countered.

"Nine thirty."

"Fine."

They both nodded their heads in agreement. "What about that place?" Sakura pointed to a dingy looking hotel.

"You've got to be joking" Ino groaned.

"Do you see anywhere better?" Sakura asked.

Ino looked around hopefully, but quickly concluded that this was not only the best place, it was the only place. "Hmph," was all she said, before crossing her arms and following Sakura.

"Konichiwa!" Sakura greeted the portly man behind the counter with a smile. "Could I get a room for two, please?" She asked politely.

The man just grunted his yes and Sakura gave him the money. He passed her a key and said "second floor, third door on the right."

"Arigato!" Said Sakura brightly, dragging Ino along behind her.

Ino quickly claimed her bed by dropping her bag on it. "How do you do it?" Ino suddenly asked.

Sakura was confused. "Do what?" She questioned.

"Be so… Happy all the time. It's infuriating. You're always so chatty and smiley. When we were kids, you were always so whiney, but now you're just ridiculously happy. I mean, after Sasuke running away to Sound, and refusing to come back, I thought you would've gone back to your mopey old self again, but you're happier than ever!" Ino explained.

Sakura was taken aback. "Oh shut up, Ino pig. The last time I saw Sasuke, he tried to kill me; twice! I've grown up. I'm eighteen now, completely over Sasuke, and yeah. Just happy. Enjoying the single life. You know me. I was always upset over something to do with Sasuke, either because he'd ignore me or call me annoying," her face grimaced at that part, "and then I was just driven to being the best I could be and not always get in the way. I just wanted to help Naruto get Sasuke back. Now I know he's a lost cause, and I'm sick of being the one always holding out for him. So I decided to drop it and just be happy. It suits me better." She laughed at that and collapsed on to her bed. "I'm just in a good place at the moment, and really enjoying life."

Ino shrugged. "Makes sense." She agreed. "Anyways, I'm really tired, so I'm gonna hit the sack." She quickly changed into her pyjamas and curled up under the blankets.

"Alright. I'm going to take a shower. Night, Ino." Sakura grabbed her bag of toiletries and her pyjamas, then dashed into the bathroom.

"What a day" she muttered to herself, putting her bag on the sink and turning on the shower. Ignoring the protesting pipes, she stripped down and stepped under the slowly warming water and started putting some shampoo through her hair.

When she was done, she slipped into bed and her eyelids snapped shut of their own accord. She instantly fell asleep.

The nest day, Sakura and Ino left the village at exactly nine thirty.

"Hey Forehead, wanna race?" Ino asked, bored by the constant jumping through the trees.

"Sure" Sakura said, as bored as Ino.

"Ready," Sakura began, before Ino cut in.

"GO!" Ino screamed, bolting into the trees and taking Sakura by surprise.

"Oh no you don't, Ino pig!" Sakura called after her and picked up her pace. Before she got far, though, her eye caught a small stand selling fans outside a small, non descript town. Remembering that it was Hinata's birthday tomorrow, Sakura jumped out of the tree and walked towards the stand.

The girl selling the fans couldn't have been much younger than Sakura. "Konichiwa, miss. Would you be interested in a fan?" The girl asked politely.

"I would, arigato." Sakura answered, before beginning to browse. After a few minutes, Sakura had picked out a beautiful light blue fan with purple leaves and silver stars decorating it. "I'll take this one." Sakura said, passing the girl the fan.

"Of course, miss." The girl smiled, her soft brown bangs sweeping her cheek.

"I'm Sakura, by the way." Sakura smiled.

The girl smiled back. "Cho," was all she said when she passed back the fan "that's four hundred Ryou, Sakura."

Handing Cho the money, Sakura smiled her thanks. "Nice to meet you, Cho. Have a good day." She then darted back to the tree line.

Cho slowly turned her head to look at a big burly man. "Daiko, please don't. She was nice." Cho begged.

"Shut up, Cho. I couldn't care less what she is." The man named Daiko said dangerously.

Cho quickly clamped her jaw shut and a few futile tears escaped down her cheeks.

"Was she a Konoha nin?" Daiko ordered.

Cho nodded.

"I think we'll have some fun with this one, then." Daiko smiled, and signalled to a group of about six men behind him. They skittered silently towards the trees.

Cho looked sadly at all of her fans and fingered the silver thread that made an appearance in all of them, wishing she could take the small wisp of chakra out of all of them. "Sakura, I hope you are fast, otherwise my brother will catch you, and he will hurt you." Cho wiped the tears from her eyes and looked ahead, smiling. It was all she could do.

Sakura realised pretty quickly that she was being followed. Upon realising this, she jumped into the higher canopy and hid herself amongst the foliage. She meant to spring on them and demand to know why they were following her. Seemed like a pretty good plan until she felt a kunai pressing in the back of her neck.

"And what do you think you're doing, little miss?"

There was no time to think. Sakura quickly punched the arm holding the kunai away and turned around. She sunk a fist into the man's gut and jumped to the next tree branch. But that one had another waiting for her. Sakura snatched a kunai and hurled it at the man, successfully grazing his right cheek.

"Why you little…" He never got to finish his sentence as at that moment, Sakura had landed on the tree and kicked him across the head, effectively knocking him out cold and knocking him out of the tree.

"Ha. Serves you right, dickhead." She mused.

"I don't think so." She heard a whisper behind her. Before she had time to react, however, she felt her world go black.

The first thing Sakura was aware of was that she was bound. By chakra threads. Damn. She thought. I'll have to trick them into letting me go. Oh, and where the hell is Ino when I need her? Sakura was surprised that Ino hadn't come back for her.

"Hey boss, I think she's coming 'round." She heard a wheezy voice say.

Footsteps, then a sharp pain in her gut. The air whooshed out of her body as the boot made contact with her stomach. Sakura gasped and curled up in pain. "Wake up." A gruff voice commanded.

Sakura clamped her eyes shut.

"Wake up!" The same voice growled again, before slicing a kunai down her forearm.

Sakura gasped again as she felt the sharp pain and the hot, sticky liquid spill over her arm. Sakura quickly assessed the damage: not a deep cut, but a cut nonetheless.

"What the hell was that for?" Sakura yelled at him, angry.

The man shrugged. "Why not?" He countered, before sauntering back to his fellows.

Sakura looked around, coming to grips with the situation. She was bound by chakra strings, and was surrounded by about seven men; at least one of whom knew what he was doing, maybe two, seeing as it was a different man who said that she was awake.

"Well now, isn't this cosy?" Said the man who had hurt her. "Camped out around a fire with some mates, with our prize just waiting to be taken." He got a few wicked cackles from that. Sakura quickly identified him as the leader.

"Oi! What the hell do you want with me?" Sakura spat at him.

Daiko slowly turned towards her. "What don't we want from you, would be a better question, methinks." Sakura's eyes went wide and she felt a cold chill slide its way down her back.

"Don't you dare touch me," Sakura warned, edging backwards as best she could.

"Why not?" Daiko stood and walked towards her. "You're right here for the taking. But first," he got an evil glint in his eye, "let's make sure you definitely can't escape." He raised his hand, which suddenly started glowing blue. Sakura felt true fear then, and her face drained of blood. Oh no…

Daiko slapped his hand down once on both thighs, sending a pulse of destructive chakra with both slaps. Sakura felt thousands of tiny little snaps in both legs, before the pain hit. When it did, it crashed over her, and before she could stop herself, she screamed.

"That should stop you from running away. This should stop you from crawling." And he did the same to both arms. Sakura had prepared herself this time, and so didn't cry out, but she couldn't help the moan of agony that passed through her lips as every single one of her nerve endings snapped away from each other, along with some muscles that were torn.

Daiko smiled, obviously enjoying her distress. "You like that, huh? Maybe you should entertain the rest of us as well." He lowered his knife and started to cut away Sakura's shirt.

"NO! Don't touch me, you bastard! Don't you fucking touch me! NO!" Sakura screamed at him, struggling to get away even though her limbs wouldn't respond to anything.

Daiko's face was getting more and more amused. "I think I'm going to enjoy this." He finished cutting off her shirt and pulled it off her, his eyes never leaving her chest. "I'm really going to enjoy having a taste of you."

Sakura started hyperventilating. "D… don't do this. Please, just leave me alone." She felt traitorous tears well up.

"I don't think so." He took his eyes off her chest long enough to cut away her shorts, until she was only in her underwear. Then his eyes had a new focus. Daiko licked his lips. "Are you a virgin? You'd better hope not, because not me, or any of my men are going to treat you nicely if you are. Personally, I hope you are. I always like to hear them scream." Addressing his men, he called out louder "we like the screamers, don't we boys?"

His grin started to fade when no reply was heard.

"When I talk to you, you answer me, dammit!" He turned his head, and his jaw dropped. All of his men had been slaughtered. Sakura had been too afraid of this man's ministrations to notice that every other man in the camp had been killed.

"What the fuck happened here?" Daiko stood up as a figure clad in shadows leapt down from the trees. "Who the fuck are you?" He spat.

The figure started to slowly walk towards Daiko, and said man took a step back. "I told you to tell me who the hell you are!" A few more steps back and he tripped over Sakura's body, sprawling in the dirt. "What the fuck do you want? Who the fuck are you?" Sakura managed to smile when she heard the panic in his voice. The strange newcomer didn't falter in their slow advancement.

"Answer me, dammit!" Daiko screamed.

"Whether I tell you my name or not makes no difference to your situation. You'll be dead long before you can imprint it in your memory." Said the man, raising his sword.

Wait a minute… thought Sakura. Why does that voice sound so familiar?

The stranger raised their sword high above their head and swiftly brought it down, embedding it in Daiko's skull. Death consumed him hungrily, and he died with a look of pain etched into his face.

Sakura wracked her brains to try and figure out exactly where she had seen this man before, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Their voice sounded so familiar, but their whole persona was darker than any she had ever come across. She looked up at him as he was pulling his sword out of Daiko's skull. "A… arigato, sir." She looked down and realised that the chakra bonds had been lifted. Probably because that bastard is dead, she thought.

The man just looked at her, his face still hidden in shadows. He wiped Daiko's lifeblood off the blade, then spoke.

"Hn."

Recognition sparked in Sakura's eyes. She felt her head spin with shock and blood loss. Her world went black.

It was dark when Ino finally came to a halt. "Ha, forehead, beat yah!" Laughed Ino, looking behind her. "Forehead?" A crease of confusion marked her brow. "Yeah, funny, forehead. Come on, I'm hungry." When only silence met her awaiting ears, Ino started to get worried. "Oi! Sakura! Get out here!" Ino knew that if Sakura was joking, she would take Ino seriously once she started using 'Sakura' instead of 'Forehead'.

Still no answer.

Ino scanned the area, feeling for Sakura's chakra signals. Nothing.

"SAKURA!" Ino bellowed.

So what do you think? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Oh, um I have wierd tendencies where my stories have to be finished before I let anybody read them, so the whole story is already written out on my computer. Cool, hey? So that means... No HIATUS! I'll update this every day or two, I just want to see a bit of feedback, how everyone reacts to it, not that I won't continue to update if I don't get anything... You get what I mean, right? I'll stop talking now *grins sheepishly*.

So thankyou very much! x

Edited April 25, 2020: First, I just want to express how indescribably grateful I am to everyone who has loved and supported this story throughout the years. There aren't words to adequately convey what that means to me. With a recent surge in renewed popularity for this story, I wanted to address a couple of things that have come up in recent years, through both reviews and PMs:

1. At the time this story was written, the manga and anime were still ongoing. Sasuke was in the middle of his "insane" arc, and that heavily influenced the way I approached his character for this story. At the time it seemed likely that Sasuke would either die or remain evil for the duration of the series. I note in later A/Ns that I'm attempting to keep him in character, and I was – I was trying to keep him in character insofar as he was being portrayed at that time. As I'm sure most of you are aware, Sasuke has had his redemption arc in canon and now the way I have portrayed him here no longer correlates to how he is canonically.

2. At the time I wrote this I was 16 years of age. I had a very unhealthy perspective regarding what relationships should look like and that is reflected in this story. As you go through this story, please keep in mind what it is: fanfiction. At 25 I would approach this story very differently to how I did at 16, but I refuse to change it as doing so would be the same as if it had never happened (and also I do not have the time or energy necessary to undertake such a massive revision). Please feel free to read it, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy it, but I also understand if you decide that some of the themes and messages aren't for you.

Thank you, and I wish you all well.

Much love, Alia xoxo