Chapter Text
Sakura wakes up to the steady sound of water dripping.
She blinks, grimacing against the dim light of the room, and then jolts upright. Her vision blurs, the pain in her head and her body screaming at the sudden change, before her eyes refocus on a man sitting beyond the bars of her cell in a cage of his own.
He sits with his back against the metal legs of the small, rusted bed frame with one elbow propped up on his knee, looking as casual as one could in a prison.
Dark bangs fell over coal black eyes, framing an angular face that looked utterly bored.
Slowly, her confusion turns to recognition and dread seeps into every pore of her body.
“Shit.”
Sasuke Uchiha sighs. “Indeed.”
On paper, the Uchiha and Konoha were not enemies.
In reality, they were the furthest two entities could be from friends without being in an all out war with each other.
Sakura has never officially met Sasuke Uchiha, but they have seen each other. She has grown used to seeing his carefully blank expression at his father’s side when they cross paths during political rendezvous. She knows the deep vibrato of his voice, though it’s never been directed at her until now.
The silence stretches between them like a rubber band about to snap, and even Sakura knows that she’ll be the one to break first. Sasuke stares at her coolly, like he could do it all day and the next, because even he knows she’ll talk eventually. Sakura is not usually one to lose in a battle of wills, her stubbornness hardly ever allowed her, but she isn’t sure just how long it would take for an Uchiha to admit defeat. She thinks they wouldn’t at all. And the quiet that sits over their heads was starting to ring in her ears.
That - or her concussion.
“How did they get you?” She all but blurts out, feeling heat creep along her neck. She hates that she broke first, even knowing all along that she would. Sakura hates the political bullshitting that has all but taken over her life in recent years, and being locked in a cell was no place to let her pride dictate her actions.
But she till absolutely loathes that Sasuke Uchiha still manages to look like that even while imprisoned.
The man regards her for a moment before answering, begrudgingly at that. “...Ambushed after a mission.”
“Hm,” Sakura hums, relieved he said anything at all. “Fake medical mission to deplete my chakra. Ambush.” She offers, unnecessarily, because he didn’t ask.
The Uchiha raises one sardonic eyebrow. “Doesn’t Konoha boast about their mission acceptance process? And this one just happened to slip by?” Sakura's eyes immediately narrow. She had hoped Sasuke would at least have the decency to keep any sarcastic comments to himself, if for no reason other than the fact that they are allies. Technically.
“Don’t the Uchiha pride themselves on their superior skills? And yet the clan head’s son was caught so off guard he was abducted?” Sasuke’s amused expression drops into a glare. He huffs out a breath.
They regard each other as if they were meeting on the battlefield for the first time. Sakura’s critical eye sweeps over his form, taking in his standard issue black shinobi garb. Long pants tucked into open toed sandals, matching long sleeve shirt. Dark hair fell over dark eyes, looking more like he had just come home after a taxing day than that he was being held prisoner. At least his clothes had some streaks of dirt on them, a shallow scratch across his right cheek, the only indications that he had been involved in an altercation at all.
Sakura, on the other hand, just knew she was worse for wear. Her dark blue long sleeve was torn jaggedly at her waist, rips across both knees of her slim fitting pants. She was grateful she had the forethought to at least change out of her usual short red dress for some heavier duty clothes for this mission, having been sent further north than she usually was. At least she still had her Leaf headband holding back her bangs.
Sakura sighs shortly, realizing that once again she would be the one breaking the silence between them. “Look, we won’t get out of this by bickering.”
“We?” Sasuke mutters, dull and sarcastic.
The medic narrows her eyes at him. “Yes, we. Do you have any idea where you are?” His silence and indignant stare is answer enough. “Exactly. Does the name Orochimaru sound familiar? Konoha missing nin, former Akatsuki affiliate, world renowned criminal -”
“I know who he is.” Sasuke interrupts, tersely.
“Then you would know that you don’t want to be anywhere near him. We need -” Sakura is interrupted by the heavy steel door creaking open with a loud groan, her head snapping up and causing a new wave of nausea to rock through her.
The newcomer scoffs. “Look who’s finally up.”
Sakura sighs, turning her gaze towards the ceiling and wondering just who she has pissed off recently to have landed herself in this incredibly terrible situation that was only getting worse by the minute. “Karin.”
The woman sneers. “Haruno.” Karin walks into the room with a tray of what looks like stew and bread. “Good morning, Sasuke-kun.” She greets the Uchiha brightly, a flirty smile tilting her lips. “I’ve brought you food.”
It’s all Sakura can do to keep from laughing out loud. “What? None for me?”
Karin whips her head around to bite at Sakura. “You can starve for all I care.” Sweetly, to Sasuke, she says. “I’ll be back later to check on you.”
Sakura watches the woman leave, waiting a moment in silence when the door closes behind the redhead. “How many days have you been here?”
Sasuke stares at the food left for him with as much distrust in his eyes as when he looks at Sakura. “… this is the third time she’s said good morning.” At that, Sakura does laugh.
“Are you serious?”
“What?” Sasuke asks, irritation lacing his voice.
“You’ve been here at least three days and you haven’t seduced her by now?”
He sputters out a breath, nearly choking on his own air, looking equally embarrassed and scandalized. Sakura would laugh at him again if she wasn’t so satisfied by getting such a reaction out of an Uchiha.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what? She’s absolutely salivating over you. At the very least you could have gotten her in a genjutsu.”
Sasuke glares at her again. “How do you know I haven’t?”
She matches his stare. “Because I know.”
“It’s not as easy as you’re making it sound.” The man grumbles.
Sakura rolls her eyes. “It is that easy.”
“She’s a sensor.” He shoots back.
“It would take you a second to get her under a genjutsu, sensor or not.” Sasuke wants to be suspicious of her knowledge of his kekkei genkai even knowing that Kakashi Hatake was her genin teacher.
“They…,” Sasuke struggles to find the words just as he struggles to put his trust in this stranger. “Did something. I can’t use it.”
Sakura’s response is immediate. “I can fix it.” He looks skeptical and her expression turns flat. “Seriously?”
“They put chakra suppressors on you.”
“And? Don’t worry about it. I can fix your eyes.” He understands what she doesn’t say, that she knows a way to break the seals. “We need to help each other get out of this. I know Kabuto. I know what he’s capable of with Orochimaru. You do not want to be here at his mercy.” Sasuke didn’t say a word, didn’t shift an inch, as he regarded her with all the suspicion in the world.
Sakura breathes, reminding herself that it’s not his fault that he mistrusts her, her village, so much.
His gaze softened and Sakura said, “Look, I’ll trust you if you trust me.”
Sasuke doesn’t answer still, but he does stand up after a moment to retrieve the tray of food Karin had left and sits down close to the other side of the bars from her. He holds out the roll of bread and Sakura smiles.