Harven (English)

Sixteen

They were all ecstatic at such brutality, dreading what would come next, feeling their limbs freeze in fear and terror as the creature still howled at its deed. The female figure roared beside him also celebrating the quick and cruel victory the man had against the mercenary, only stopping when he turned his attention to Sakura once more. She gasped, afraid of that being, fearing for her life as she pleaded with him to put an end to her suffering.

"Kill me at once, you bastard!" - He yelled still in tears.

"Clarice!" – the creature shouted indicating that it would finish with Hinata first. Sakura closed her eyes and shuddered her body, frightened. The man turned his attention to the woman beside her. "Wood, fire, Clarice."

As if understanding the order given to her, the woman immediately ran outside, not even noticing the presence of the intruders hiding behind the rocks. The man moved a little closer to Sakura and brought his face up to hers, licking the skin of her cheek as if tasting her one last time before leaving the same way the mercenary had entered. Sasuke waited until the creature had disappeared into the darkness before he freed himself from Itachi and Neji's hands and ran to it.

"Sakura, hold on, I'll get you out of there!"

"Sasuke..." he whispered his name letting even more tears roll down his face. "You found me! I knew you would find me!" Sasuke felt a tightness in his chest at the sight of the woman he was so fond of being in such a vulnerable and pitiful situation.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner..." - She lamented, observing carefully all the injuries that had already been done to her, as she removed a sharp object from the waistband of her pants to cut the ties. "Itachi hold her please." – She asked as she already started to rub the object against the ropes.

"Sakura, where is Hinata?" – Neji questioned as he took care of all the entrances making sure they were alone.

"They took her that way over there." He pointed to a third exit without looking, just concentrating on Sasuke's embrace as he finally freed her from the bonds and set her down. "They talk a lot about fire... I think they want to burn her." - Neji shuddered with this information.

"I'll go there and see if I can find her." – Neji found out.

"Wait, let's all go." – Itachi said softly, still fearing having more of them around.

"Shikamaru and Temari..." Sakura said tearfully looking at two bodies in the darkness. Everyone there looked in the same direction and, as they approached, they glimpsed the young couple hanging by their wrists, with their innards almost exposed by the violence they suffered, in addition to several injuries to their faces and upper and lower limbs.

"My God!" -Tenten stated louder than she would like, covering her mouth with her hands, stunned by the scene she was witnessing.

"We need to get out of here!" - Itachi averted his eyes from that horror. "Sakura, can you walk?"

"I can..." He got up with Sasuke's help. 'Who was that man?' He looked at the body on the floor.

"Orochimaru sent mercenaries..." Tenten just said and for Sakura that was enough.

"Let's go. We have to get out of here before they come back." Sakura stated starting to walk with difficulty.

"Wear this." Sasuke took off his shirt with some difficulty, still not used to the absence of his left hand, handing it to Sakura right away. "I'll help you walk."

They crept carefully through the darkness, moving slowly along the path Sakura had pointed out, with only one more beam of light as a guide. They did not try to remove the bodies of Temari and Shikamaru from that location, fearing that the creature would return in time to find them there. Neji's heart became more and more arrhythmic imagining that yellowish light coming from a fire, where he feared to find his cousin. When they finally reached the other damp and fetid environment, they could glimpse Hinata once again attached to a specimen altar they had sloppily constructed for her.