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Contradicted

Chapter Four: Fight For Your Life

There's something about fighting for your life. The adrenaline pumping in your veins, your heart beating rapidly in your chest, the pulse thrumming in your ears, the fluid movements of your body, capable of taking a life within split second. It's intoxicating.

But at the same time, it scares the shit out of you.

Because one day something will go wrong. You'll meet someone far too strong, too powerful, too merciless. Luck won't be on your side. You'll be exhausted by the end. Hurt. Angry. Defeated.

And you die.

Every shinobi expects it. Because dying from old age is just asking too much.

Death is always around the corner.

How depressing.

Five years ago
5th October
4.30 p.m.

They had been fighting for fifteen minutes and only half the Rain-nins had been killed or at least knocked out. The enemy ninjas seemed to be of Jounin status, which certainly didn't help their predicament. Two rookie Jounin kunoichis, a noisy blonde and a cold hearted ANBU against ten -now five- experienced, harsh Jounins.

Sakura was starting to get fed up. She was fatigued, aggravated, the fact Sasuke hadn't apologised to her was highly irritating and she was covered in bruises and cuts.

Sodding Rain-nins.

Sodding Sasuke!

Sakura ducked an impending slash of a kunai, spinning on her heel and lashing her foot out, connecting with her opponent's stomach. He reeled back, and Sakura took advantage of his momentary lapse of concentration to flick a senbon at his neck, the sliver of metal embedding itself deeply in the muscle. Sakura grimaced as the ninja suddenly transformed into a log in a puff of smoke, annoyed that she had been fooled by the common Kawarimi no Justu. Now she had a distinct disadvantage due to the fact she had no idea where her enemy now was.

She closed her eyes, focusing on her surroundings, her chakra spreading out, feeling and searching. Several meters away, Sasuke was in a heated battle with two ninjas, and not far from him was Hinata using the Jyuken on her opponent. Further away was Naruto, overwhelming his opponent using his Kage Bunshin.

She frowned and turned away from her teammates. Slowly withdrawing a kunai from her pouch, she steadied herself. Where was he? There...no, there...!

Sakura whipped around, flinging her kunai at a shadow behind a large rock. The Rain-nin leapt up to avoid it, blocking the descending sun. She winced at the sudden change of light, but focused her chakra, channelling it into her foot and stomping her heel into the ground just as her opponent landed. A tremor followed by a large rip in the earth definitely succeeded in surprising the ninja, and he fell into the tear and was crushed almost instantly.

Sakura sighed. She should probably help out Sasuke, but he was such a prat! If he was so great, then he should be able to deal with two ninjas, right? Honestly, he had gone against more then two at some point in his life if he was a real talented shinobi.

What a predicament Sakura had gotten herself into. She looked at Sasuke, who was currently propelling balls of fire at his opponents. To help him or not to help him? Ah, he didn't need help.

The kunoichi turned away from the Uchiha, looking over to her female companion and friend. Perhaps she would help Hinata. Not that Hinata needed help, but just for the sake of-

"URGH!"

Maybe not.

She whirled around, apple eyes focusing on the bane of her existence. And then the horror started to captivate her. He did need help. He did, and she had ignored him and now there was a kunai jammed into his gut and he was bleeding and-

"SASUKE!"

Guilt was going to have to come later. Within seconds, the medic had snapped back into business mode and with silent feet, raced towards her injured comrade. She approached one of the Rain-nin with his back to her, pulling out her kunai and quick as a flash tore the blade across his neck. It was barbaric, and cruel, but necessary. As the body dropped to the ground, Naruto finished off his opponent and hurried to engage the second of the two Rain-nin left.

Sakura dropped onto her knees beside Sasuke, hands reaching for the kunai handle that was on show, the rest buried beneath crimson blood and pale white skin.

"Here," she said breathlessly, "Let me see."

"No!" the Uchiha gritted out, trying to block out the spasms of pain drifting up his side.

"I'm the medic on this team!" Sakura replied hotly, "It's my job to heal you!"

"Not /here/, it's too dangerous-"

"Guys!" Naruto barked over his shoulder, parrying a kick, "Just get out of here. Sasuke's right, Sakura-chan; you need to get him out of here before you can heal him. You know that!"

The rose haired kunoichi gave a little humph before getting to her feet again, gathering chakra in her arms, flexing her muscles automatically before reaching down to pick up Sasuke...only to be knocked away.

"Uchiha!" she growled.

"Haruno." He retorted nonchalantly, onyx eyes narrowed in contempt. "I can move by myself."

"You stubborn idiot!" Sakura snapped, as her temper began to reach dangerous points. Inner Sakura inched away-or further inside-muttering about silly Uchihas and anger management.

Sasuke gave a "Hn." in response, slowly inching to his feet. He staggered slightly, and Sakura instantly moved forward to help, only to receive a death glare of all death glares.

Somewhere in her mind, whatever space that wasn't occupied by tactics, techniques and reflexes, Hinata wondered who exactly was more stubborn. It was definitely a close call.

"Kami!" Naruto whirled around, making the foolish mistake of just ignoring the Rain-nin he was fighting. Who, coincidently, just gaped at the sheer nuttiness of Naruto. "What are you two, retarded? We're in the middle of a battle! STOP ARGUING AND BEING STUBORRN EGOTISTICAL IDIOTS!"

Of course, then he got stabbed the shoulder by the Rain-nin he had been ignoring.

The entire thing could only be portrayed as catastrophic.

5.10 p.m.

They were back to the square one: staring at each other in extreme contempt as the air around them started cracking under the intense pressure of resentment. Sakura busied herself attending to Naruto and Sasuke's kunai wounds, scowl firmly in place, while Hinata sat next to Naruto, fiddling at his messy blond hair in an attempt to ignore the tension.

Hinata bit her lip, flattening a strand of canary yellow hair that simply wouldn't stay put with the rest of his hair. Her lavender eyes flickered from the cute male asleep with his head on her lap to the roseate haired kunoichi currently crouched beside a handsome raven haired man, pushing chakra into the wound in his side.

The entire situation, Hinata decided, was unbearable. Someone needed to talk to Tsunade about her choice of teams. And soon. Before some other poor idiots got themselves in a mess like this.

Then again, the golden eyed Godaime would probably just laugh and say, "Well, you're alive, aren't you?" Which would just be typical.

Hinata then decided it was best, once the mission was over, to never mention it again.

"There," Sakura said as she placed a gauze over the chakra-stitched wound, "Give it six hours and it should be healed, between my chakra and yours."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, pulling down his shirt.

"You could at least say thank you." The kunoichi said irritably.

There was a pause, in which Hinata groaned inwardly and simply waited for the angry retort.

"Arigato."

Hinata blinked.

Sakura blinked.

Naruto let out a muffled snore.

"Um. You're welcome." Sakura said softly, looking completely perplexed. Where was the angry snap? The jibe? The sneer? The anything remotely Sasuke-like?

Sasuke snorted, suppressing a wince as muted pain jolted through his side. "Of course," he added with a tell-tale smirk, "You're not much of a healer, are you? Shouldn't the recovery time for a minor wound be a lot shorter?"

"Why you!" the apple eyed woman growled, "Only Shizune and Tsunade-sama could give you perhaps half an hour less! Ungrateful brat!"

Hinata sighed.

It was nice while it lasted.

6th October
10.40 a.m.

The fatigued foursome approached the Hidden Rain Village warily and as quietly as possible. Their Konoha headbands had been shoved into their rucksacks, cloaks swung over their shoulders and hoods shadowing their faces. Hinata wore sunglasses, hiding her tell-tale Hyuuga eyes. Dressed in all black, they looked dangerous and a group you should leave alone. Which was the general idea.

Sakura felt entirely anxious. They hadn't left a single Rain-nin alive during the attack-although they had paid with tired, bruised and damaged bodies-so no one knew they were coming. But still, they were walking into a village whose entire system was in revolt and seemed to take extreme dislike to Fire Country ninjas.

The medic winced at the sight of smashed gates and the deserted path beyond it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hinata walk closer to Naruto, but the face behind the sunglasses remained impassive.

They had agreed on the way to take to the roofs and avoid all busy routes. Sasuke, who had been to the Hidden Rain Village a few times already, would lead them. Luckily, it was mostly the civilians who were in revolt and most of the Rain-nins were attempting to keep the peace, although there were certainly a few (such as the ten Rain-nin that had attacked them) that were causing more chaos than the civilians.

Either way, the Village's shinobis were rather busy.

Sasuke turned and nodded, ignoring the faint twinge in his side. At the gesture, the four of them pushed chakra into their feet and leapt onto the nearest grey tiled roof. The murky, brittle air that promised rain chilled them to their very bones.

It didn't take them long to find the manor that belonged to Feudal Lord Tanaka Hideki. But as they jumped down into the gardens, the entire place seemed deserted. No guards, no servants, nothing.

Sakura never did like Ghost stories.

"Hinata." Naruto whispered.

The Hyuuga nodded her understanding, muttering firmly, "Byakugan!" Her lavender eyes puffed up with chakra, and she scanned the area tersely. Her eyes focused downwards, and caught sight of movement. Below? Perhaps... "The basement."

Naruto nodded and walked inside the building, noting its bare appearance. The walls were charred; some of the sliding doors had holes torn through them. It had been raided already? Were the people below not the Feudal Lord and his family, but angry civilians or worse, shinobi?

"Be careful." Hinata whispered once they had found the entrance to the basement. Naruto and Sakura went down first, kunais gripped in their hands, glinting dangerously in the almost non-existent light.

Sakura spread out her chakra again, searching and feeling. Naruto used his extraordinary night vision-courtesy of the Kyuubi, one had to assume-to scour the surrounding area.

THUNK!

Sakura blinked. She had moved reflexively to the right, only to have something thrown at her-an axe? Who in the name of seven hells used those anymore? Perplexed apple green eyes stared at the weapon now buried in the wooden walls.

"W-who goes there? I-I have weapons! I can fight, you know!" a shaky voice came from the darkness.

"Tanaka-sama?" Sakura called tentatively.

"Who are you?" the voice demanded.

"My name is Haruno Sakura of the Konoha Village. I am part of the team sent here to retrieve Tanaka-sama." She replied tonelessly, eyes scouring the basement in an attempt to find them, although Naruto had already spotted them.

"That's our lot, alright." Naruto muttered to Sakura.

"Who's with you?" the voice was definitely male, Sakura decided.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke." The kunoichi replied.

"That's it? No one followed you? Are you-wait! Rose! Don't move!" the voice became decidedly panicked, and Sakura picked up movement. A pair of feet shuffled towards them, and Naruto became impatient and found the light switch.

Light filled the small room.

A small girl stood before Sakura, looking up at her with large blue eyes. In her hand was a single dying white rose.

"Oh, hello," Sakura said, pushing back her hood and squatting down next to the girl that couldn't be more than six years old. "Who are you then?"

"Tanaka Rose," she said quietly.

"Rose. What a pretty name." She said softly, taking the dirt streaked cheeks and the sorrowful eyes. Eyes that seemed to be highly similar to Naruto's baby blue orbs when the people from the village spat at him and cursed him for the Kyuubi.

"Is Miss going to take us away from here?" Rose asked, looking up at her.

Sakura smiled sadly and nodded. Small arms encircled her neck in a hug, and the roseate haired kunoichi sighed, scooping the tiny six year old in her arms, standing up.

"Tanaka Hideki-sama, right?" Naruto said to the black haired man crouched in a darkish corner.

"Hai," mumbled the man, clutching something in arms, "Please, can we leave now?"

"Not yet, we needed to get the low down on what's happening," Naruto told him, before turning to stairway entrance and calling, "Hinata, Sasuke! You can come down!"

"Who-"

"Our comrades, Tanaka-sama."

"Oh."

Once everyone had been introduced and settled in, as much as one could settle in a basement anyway, Hideki went on to explain his situation. His wife was a kunoichi (which struck the group as odd, and Sasuke made a dry comment about women being useless, which earned him a slap from Sakura) who had left two months ago on a mission to Konoha to sign a peace treaty and form allies. Unfortunately, the Rain Village leader had long before been corrupted by his power, and attacked Konoha. Of course, they were driven off almost instantly, and half the shinobi on that mission had fled, ashamed of their country's corrupted ways. His wife had been one of them.

Since then, the families of those who had fled had been targeted, and were forced to leave the Village. Hideki, Rose and the bundle in his arms that was their two-month-old son, was one of the few of those families left.

"Politics," Sakura snorted, "Its ridiculous."

"Politics is what keep people civilized," Sasuke said pointedly. "We are lucky Tsunade-sama is a good politician as well as a good ninja. Even if she is a woman."

Sakura rolled her eyes.

It was going to take a stick of dynamite and an act of castration for Uchiha Sasuke to finally see women as equals.

And Sakura could easily do both.

7th October
3.15 p.m.

Getting out of the Village had been easy enough; no one had stood in their way. Well, except some drunken fool that had recognised Hideki, but that was dealt with when Hinata only had to poke him before he went toppling over.

After that it was a straightforward journey to the Grass Country, a pleasant little place with pleasant, peaceful people. Which was a nice change. Hideki's wife had greeted them with tears and happiness, pulling her entire family into an overpowering hug. Hinata and Sakura had smiled fondly at the sight.

Rose waved happily as they left, making them promise to visit if they ever passed by. Sasuke scowled the entire time, while Sakura happily gave Rose a little cuddle and said goodbye.

The journey home, however, was a little different.

"I think that went rather well." Naruto said happily as they walked along the path on a cliff edge.

"We haven't gotten home yet." Sasuke pointed out sourly.

"True, but still, mission complete, right?" the blond replied.

"Hmm," Sakura agreed, looking over the cliff edge with interest. It was a hundred feet drop into a lush valley. A rather pretty valley at that. "Hey, wow, I haven't seen that flower before." She said, peering down at the white flower blossoming out of the cliff a few feet down.

"Want a closer look?" a voice growled in her ear.

Before anyone could react at all, a hand smashed into the small of Sakura's back, and the only thing stopping her from tumbling off the cliff was the arm wrapped around her waist. Pain exploded in her spine, pain that spread throughout her entire body. Her skin tingled to the point that it actually hurt, her muscles ached and her head pounded furiously.

"SAKURA!"

All of the sudden, her entire body felt weak. She slumped into the huge man's arms, unable to hold herself up. Her limbs felt dull, lifeless.

"So, these are the ninjas that slaughtered ten of our men and stole a family from right under our nose?" sneered the man. "How pathetic."

Through half closed eyes, she looked back at the others. Hinata lay unconscious in another man's arms, and Naruto struggled violently against two other burly men. Sasuke remained motionless pinned against a tree, onyx eyes full of fury.

"What d'you want?" Sasuke spat.

"We want to know where you hid the Tanakas." The man holding Sakura growled.

"Not a chance!" Naruto yelled.

At this comment, the huge man holding Sakura suddenly flipped her over, holding her by the ankle. Sakura dangled, alarmed, over the hundred foot drop into the valley.

Not good.

"Lets try again, shall we? Tell us where the Tanakas are or little miss pinky here falls to her death."

"Sakura!" Naruto yelped, receiving an elbow to the gut. "Fine, fine, we'll tell you, just put her down."

"No."

It was entirely disconcerting to know that the cold word had escaped past the lips of Uchiha Sasuke.

"Drop her," he continued coolly, "I'd rather her dead than the Tanakas."

Naruto gaped at him.

If Sakura could, she would've gasped. Did he really despise her that much? That he would ask for her death? But why? She would never do that to him, and she hated him a lot more than he hated her! ...Right?

The man chuckled. "I'm not stupid. You think she could save herself. She can't. No chakra. I drained it all from her with the Chakra Kyuushuu."

"I know." Sasuke replied coldly.

"Sasuke!" Naruto growled.

Sasuke ignored him resolutely.

The Rain-nin nodded, smirking. "You are a cold man."

"Drop her!" he snapped.

"SAKURA!"

And so she fell.

*

There is only one thing I can say right now... Ouch.