Bleeding Crimson

The more time Sasuke had to ponder his current predicament, the wilder his theories seem to get. None of them really making sense, yet, making perfect sense at the same time. He could not be sure if it was because he was losing his sanity from being trapped in this place. He hated to admit it, but the impending clutches of defeat were slowly starting to set in. With very little rations left, the Uchiha prodigy didn't think he would last long.

The faint hope of anyone finding him has long been extinguished. Maybe this was his fate.

The Uchiha lay on his makeshift blanket consisting of his traveling cloak and sleeping bag, staring up at the glittering viridian crystals which decorated the cavern. Sasuke got sick of staring up into the nothingness of the high ceiling of the cave, which was a constant reminder of how small he felt and the precarious situation he found himself in. It was like a growing unease and he needed to escape it. When, in his explorations, he had come across this part of the cave and for the first time since he had been trapped here, the cave felt homey. The soft hiss of the waterfall in the distance seemed to calm him. The glittering crystals all around him made him feel at ease (sans those annoying pink crystals).

He had given up on questioning his predicament because fighting it brought nothing but resistance from the cave itself. And, for some strange reason, that irksome pink-haired ex-teammate of his graced his thoughts more often than he was comfortable with.

A faint blush crept up his neck at the recollection of his dreams concerning this girl who, even in his thoughts, doesn't seem to want to leave him alone.

"Annoying" he muttered, his voice echoing down the cave halls, deeply thankful no one could see him right now.

Even as he said that he couldn't help but wonder what the rosette was up to these days. Was she alive? Was she still a crybaby like she used to be? Somehow he didn't think so. It didn't matter anyway. Their paths might have entwined at some point, but they have been separated for so long. They had become estranged and Sasuke couldn't care less about returning to the village or rekindling their 'team'.

He sincerely hoped they had long abandoned their mission of returning him to Konoha and pretended that they were one big happy family. Sakura with her big green eyes, always looking at him as if he were a God who could do no wrong.

He had also gotten more accustomed to forcing the dreams or visions – whatever they were – he had been having of said teammate way down, effectively blaming it on the weird chakra of the pink crystals (which he adamantly avoided at all costs).

"Annoying" he muttered again, as a not very welcome image of the rosette writhing underneath him came to mind.

The Uchiha turned over to his side, hoping the change in position will disperse these unwanted thoughts.

*********

The moon had risen high into the air by now, illuminating all it touches, thus, falling through an open window onto a naked girl with light, of pink hair. Her creamy skin looked almost luminous from the accentuation of the moon's rays. She was sitting with her back against the wall in front of the mirror, her elbows resting on her knees. Every once in a while a droplet of water would fall from her long, wet hair. She had not bothered to towel-dry her hair after her shower.

Jade eyes were staring through drenched locks, unfocused and deep in thought, contemplating her pale reflection in the mirror. Her porcelain face was half hidden in shadow. The slight breeze of the night causing goosebumps on her skin, but she seemed unaware of it.

After a long while, the Kunoichi slowly got up and stretched, absently flexing her sore muscles as she scrutinized her reflection in the mirror. She had lost weight during the entire ordeal. Despite her rigorous training, her muscles had also suffered because of this unknown "illness".

It was frustrating.

Taking a deep breath, the pinkette tore her eyes away from the mirror, took the towel hanging from her door and walked towards the closet, absentmindedly drying her long locks. From the closet, she grabbed the most comfortable thing she could wear - one of Naruto's old t-shirts. He had forgotten it here when he slept over once. It was the time when Sakura's illness had taken hold, when her symptoms had first started and her health started declining.

Through all that, he stayed with her. She can only imagine how helpless he must have felt, not being able to do anything to help his teammate. So he stayed by her side, falling asleep at the edge of the hospital bed. And when they could not find anything conclusively 'wrong' with her, they identified it as chakra-depletion, gave her food pills and had to discharge her. The knucklehead insisted that he stay by her side. She didn't argue because of the helpless look in his eyes. She knew that he just wanted to be there for his friend. She knew the feeling of being completely useless; not being able to help a friend.

She had begun shutting everyone out, but Naruto was having none of it. He appeared on her doorstep, demanding she let him in. He stayed outside her door for four hours, screaming at the top of his lungs until she finally gave in.

He was happy, even if she did give him a punch in the head for his incessant yelling.

Before pulling the shirt over her head, she drew it to her nose inhaling deeply a slight smile forming on her lips. It still smelled just like Naruto. It reminded her of safety, comfort and home. That was all she needed to renew her determination. The strength of her friend who would never abandon hope no matter how dire the odds may be.

"Thank you for always saving me, Naruto." She smiled as she turned off the lights and got into bed with a sigh. Tomorrow would be a new day, and who knows what possibilities this mission would bring.

*******

It was still dark out when team Kakashi gathered at the northern gates of the village. For once, Kakashi was there on time. It was probably due to the gravity of the mission. And that it had something to do with Sakura's condition.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, "let's go-!"

"Not so fast, Naruto" Kakashi sighed, grabbing him by the cuff of his neck.

"Can't expect to run in half-cocked like you always do, Naruto." Sai said bluntly, completely missing the pun.

Sakura and Kakashi exchanged brief glances of amusement. Sakura was trying not to snicker.

"Agreed, we need a plan of action due to the fact that it isn't a long journey." Kakashi said as Naruto growled, folding his arms grumpily.

Sakura silently agreed with both. On one hand, she knew they couldn't just charge ahead without a plan. They did not know anything about this entity nor its exact location. Although, she was feeling just as frustrated as Naruto. And it was mostly owed to the fact that Sasuke's name was involved. So, she knew how her knuckleheaded teammate was feeling at that moment. He probably didn't get any sleep last night either.

"Now, we all are aware of the limited intel everyone has regarding this entity." Kakashi said, letting go of a still pouting Naruto. "I will see what I can discern with my Sharingan from a distance. From what is revealed about this sphere, however, it might be dangerous to use carelessly. This mission is to be handled with utmost caution. And if the Hokage's assumption is correct, Sakura is the one who has to proceed. We are just backup. "

Sakura nodded, clenching her fists trying to disperse her nervous energy.

"When we near the parameter, do not do anything rash." Kakashi continued, eyeing a particular team wearily.

"Yeah, Yeah I got it, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grumbled

They were traveling for about twenty minutes until they met with Shizune, who was accompanied by an ANBU wearing a cat mask. They were standing in front of what looked like a large, dark blue bubble. It was oozing with chakra.

'That is some barrier' Sakura thought as they neared it.

"I assumed you're all filled in by the Godaime," Shizune said briskly ask they approached. She continued without waiting for their response. "The barriers spans over a kilometer in diameter to make absolutely sure this area is secure. We have sensory nin stationed all around and, including myself, we can sense the presence of the entity. Unfortunately, that is about the extent of it. The sphere is located in the middle of this barrier close to the outhouse. This was thanks to Sakura's dream that we were able to discover its location."

Sakura bowed her head briefly in acknowledgment, not really feeling she deserved any credit for this. But she couldn't afford to doubt herself now.

"Kakashi-san" Shizune nodded towards the copy-nin. "I will leave a temporary opening in the barrier."

"Right." Kakashi said, lifting his headband to expose his Sharingan, the Dōjutsu activating immediately.

He stepped forward, careful not to venture too far into the closed-off zone. The Sharingan cannot see across great distances as the Byakugan can, but if there's anything radiating from this unknown substance, he'll be able to see the flow of chakra and perhaps try to identify its source.

Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet as Kakashi did his survey of the area. Sakura was surprised, to say the least. He and Sai were focusing their attention on their ex-sensei so Sakura did the same.

For a few minutes, nothing really happened. Sakura could sense the chakra release from Kakashi as he built up the power in his Sharingan eye. There was utter and complete silence until-

"Gnnh!" Sakura clutched her forehead as a pain shot through it.

"Ahhrgg!" The pained groan came from Kakashi as he crumbled to the ground on his knees, clutching his mismatched eye at the same moment.

"Sakura!"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

There were shouts from Shizune and Naruto. Sakura stood rooted on the spot as Shizune opened the barrier up to retrieve Kakashi with Naruto's help.

"I'm alright," Kakashi gasped, still clutching his eye.

"Let me have a look." Shizune said, activating the healing glow of her medical ninjutsu.

"Kaka-sensei." Sakura gasped, at the sight. Kakashi's eye was bleeding.

"It's alright, Sakura. I'll heal his wound." Shizune said, already doing just that. "What did you see, Kakashi?" she added urgently.

"It was like the entity was repulsing my jutsu." Kakashi managed to say, his breathing was labored. "It's hard to explain but it was like there's something protecting it from the outside. I could not see a thing."

"From the outside?" Shizune breathed, eyeing Sakura. "Did you feel something too just now, Sakura, you were clutching your forehead."

"Yes, it was a sharp pain, but it disappeared as quickly as it came." Sakura said, pressing her hand to her forehead.

"You are more closely tied to this sphere than we could have imagined." Shizune sighed, still attending to Kakashi. "It seems we have no other choice."

Clenching her fists with determination, Sakura knew what Shizune meant and said, "I'm ready, I can do this!"

"We will now open up the barrier," Shizune said after she had seen to Kakashi and had handed him over to the medical-nin on standby. She will have to examine him more closely, but there were more pressing matters right now. "Sakura, you will now enter the barrier try not to venture too far in, as we don't know how the sphere will affect you."

"Hai," Sakura said as the barrier opened up to admit her.

"Good luck," Shizune said before closing the barrier back up again.

The pressure of what lay ahead was tangible as soon as that barrier closed up. Sakura could feel the gazes of her teammates and Shizune, as well as all the sensory nin around the parameter. She had to admit that it did ease her mind somewhat that she had so many shinobi backing her up. This gave her a new sense of determination and she slowly stepped forward in the direction of the strange (yet familiar) pulse of energy.

She could not for the life of her figure out why this chakra felt so familiar. Aside from having felt this pull in her dreams (which she recognized at once) she had no idea what to make of it. One thing was certain, however. Her dreams. Her illness. All of it was definitely tied together with this strange phenomena.

Trying not to overexert her already weakened chakra reserves, Sakura released a subtle amount in order to feel out the pulsing chakra coming from the alien, yet familiar sphere. She honestly had no idea what she was doing, there were no guidelines for this sort of thing and no one was there to help her with this. Whatever happened now, would be entirely new ground.

'Cha! Whatever happens, we will face this bitch head-on!' Inner Sakura shouted, doing some ridiculous karate pose.

Sakura couldn't help but grin. 'Yes, like we always do.'

As she drew nearer to the source, the pull just seemed to get stronger. She could not see anything yet except the enclosed area, which mostly consists of grass and sparse amount of trees. In the distance, she sees the outhouse and got struck with an odd sense of deja vu and was half expecting to see Sasuke standing there. Her heart jumped at the thought, but she saw nothing.

The irresistible pull was growing ever stronger, however, and Sakura found herself walking faster. There was a vibrating coming from within herself, it was as though her soul was resonating with the pull of energy. It felt like she was floating and it was the lightest she had felt in years. Very vaguely she could hear the shouts from her teammates in the distance, telling her to stop and come back. But she couldn't care less about anything at the moment. She felt such fulfillment and, at last, she saw it. The same pink sphere in her dreams, pulsating with a magnificent glow of light radiating from it. It was emitting the same vibration as what was emitting from her. One moment, she felt free and weightless, filled with light and serenity. The next moment, everything went dark and she was falling.

Falling through the abyss of nothingness…

****

Somewhere, in the deep darkness of the cave bathed in glowing green hues, the dark-haired Uchiha lay on his makeshift blanket with his eyes closed. A pulse of chakra disturbed the calm and quiet cave causing his eyes to ease open, dark eyes bleeding into crimson.