The Monster Within Me

Chapter 25: 1 Is to 20 With 15 To Spare

"I'm never going to forgive Tsunade for what she's done to Deidara." Sakura whispered to herself, tightening her fists. "You think you can defeat her with what you have now?" Sasuke asked, making Sakura to look at him. "What you need is more power, Sakura. Not hatred." Sasuke monotonously said, walking out of the room. "I know." She whispered, looking down on her hands.

A few days after that, everything returned to normal. Sakura knocked on Orochimaru's door and heard a come in. She entered and saw him reading a book. "What bringssss you here, Ssssakura-chan?" He asked, smiling. "A healing session, Jii-san." She answered grinning as Orochimaru stared at her in shock. Sakura bit her thumb and drew seal on Orochimaru's arms. She formed handsigns and sent a huge amount of healing chakra in his arms. Half an hour later, Sakura pulled back, looking exhausted. "You did a great job, Ssssakura-chan." He said, smiling as he stretched his arms.

"Jii-san, do you think I'm weak?" Sakura suddenly asked, making Orochimaru looked at her in shock. "Sssakura-chan, sweety, whoever said you're weak doesn't know the true meaning of ssstrength." He said, smiling. "Come, I'll train you. I'll train you so that nobody would ever have the guts to call you weak anymore." He said, making Sakura smile.

He stood up from his bed and walked towards the door, leading Sakura towards the training ground where Koori and Hidan can be seen. "Oh! Sakura-nee!" Koori said, getting a hit on the head from Hidan. "F**king focus!" Hidan said, twitching. Sakura laughed at this and turned to Orochimaru, who is now holding for weights.

"Put thesssse two on your wrists and thesssse on your anklesss." He said, smiling. Sakura did as she was told and waited for the next instructions. "Now run 20 lapssss around the training gounds in 1 minute while avoiding trapssss. If you just sssso happen to fail, you repeat from the beginning. Usssing chakra issss prohibitted" Orochimaru said, smiling. Sakura twitched at this. 'What traps?' She thought. "Start!" Orochimaru said, holding a stop watch at hand. Sakura ran without hesitation.

An hour later, Sakura panted and lied on the ground. She twitched when she touched a wound from the so called traps. "You're doing great Sssakura-chan. You were just one lap short." Orochimaru said, smiling as he stared down at Sakura. "One lap....short isn't.... Enough.... Again!" Sakura said standing up. "That will of hers isssss unbreakable." Orochimaru muttered to himself as he stared at Sakura who is gracefully avoiding the traps at a high speed.

Fifteen minutes later, Sakura fell on her back, panting. "My, you had 15 secondsssss to ssssspare." Orochimaru said, smiling down at Sakura. "That's.... Great." She said, falling asleep with a smile on her face. Orochimaru sighed and removered the weights from her wrists and ankles. "Kabuto-kun." Orochimaru called. Kabuto pushed up his glasses as he stepped into the training grounds. "Bring Sakura to her quarterssss." He said, watching as Kabuto picked Sakura up, bridal style. With that, the two left and Orochimaru returned to his room.

Later that night...

Sakura and Kabuto calmly ate their dinner as the others stared at Orochimaru. "You gonna eat that?" Sakura asked Kisame who is currently sitting beside her. "What the f**k is the pedo doing here?" Hidan asked, twitching. "How rude." Orochimaru said. "He's obviously eating, Hidan-kun." Kabuto said, smiling. "I thought he always eats in his room." Itachi monotonously said, obviously creeped out due to Orochimaru sitting beside him. He scooted over to Kakuzu who sighed and continued eating.

"Yeah, Orochimaru-sama, aren't you in pain?" Suigetsu asked. "Sssakura-chan healed me." Orochimaru said, smiling. With that, everyone but Kabuto and Orochimaru looked at Sakura, twitching in annoyance. "Sakura. Mission." Sasuke said, entering the dining room. "Ehh? Right now?" Sakura asked, pouting as she stand up from her sit.

"So what's the mission?" Sakura asked as the two walked down the dirt path. "Seduction." Sasuke said impassively. "Oh that's nice." Sakura said. "Wait, WHAT?!"

To Be Continued...