So, I lied. Even though I said in my profile that I WOULDN'T be posting anymore Kidnapped or any of the other chapter stories I've got up, I lied :P :P :P
I'd already written this so I thought, what the hell? It's not be proof read or anything (coz I simply couldn't be bothered) So here you go, the raw material.
Enjoy Naruto fans!
- Xiah-sensei XD
Chapter 3
The auburn leaves crunched slightly under Sakura's weight but she wasn't too annoyed. The sound was only audible to her because of her keen ninja hearing. She was tracking someone. That someone was Sasuke Uchiha.
Sakura had noticed Sasuke's odd behaviour in the shop. Of course, it wouldn't appear odd to anyone else because they knew that Uchiha's were very stoic and emotionless, but there were only two people in the world who could read Sasuke even if everyone else thought he just wore an emotionless expression. An eye twitch; a curl of the mouth; his eyes widening; they were all signs of what he was thinking. Only Naruto and Sakura, herself could tell those signs in his facial expression and she had noticed his eyes grow only a millimetre in diameter at her assumption that he would be eating with Naruto. Sakura knew that Naruto and Sasuke's relationship was something completely different to hers and the boys. She'd known that and come to terms with it. She had moved on. She was currently engaged to none other than Rock Lee. There was no way that Sakura was taking his name as her own but she loved him to pieces and the thought of marrying him just put the icing on her very perfect life. Her family were close, her team were back together (even if there was the slight problem of Sai), she was a fully qualified medical nin and the right hand of the Hokage, and she had fond her soul mate. She'd thought nothing could go wrong. That was, until, she saw Sasuke today. She'd known immediately that he was hiding something from her. When he was lying his eye twitch slightly but it wasn't the same eye that would twitch when he was angry. Sakura believed that Sasuke knew exactly where Naruto was but was refusing to tell her. That made her suspicious. Sasuke had never kept a secret that involved Naruto. And why would he still hide it if he knew where Naruto was even after hearing that he needed to go to the hospital? It just didn't add up and her gut instinct had never been wrong before (well, apart from the whole 'Sasuke loves me' thing). She trusted her judgement as a Jonin medical ninja of Konoha.
And Naruto wouldn't pass up a chance to dine with the Uchiha. He was always trying to make Sasuke a better person and open up to him. Bless him.
Sakura stopped travelling along the canopy of trees to clutch her heart in pain at the mention of her cocky, blond headed friend.
Naruto was like a brother to Sakura. A little, annoying brother. It wasn't like him to miss an important appointment, and it was important.
Recently, Naruto's seal had been acting up causing either immense pain to a slight itch. It was very confusing and Sakura had had to sit through Naruto trying to hold back cries of pain while Tsunade tried to calm the burning skin of his stomach. It was very painful for her to have to watch and Sakura still hadn't forgiven Tsunade for putting her through that kind of pain. She had wanted to be there for Naruto but watching him struggle to try and keep the moans of pain from escaping it had hurt her more than she had expected. The ever strong and reckless Naruto reduced to a crying boy was very painful to watch. Kakashi had been watching from the corner of the room and Sakura had even noticed a slight crease of worry on his masked face.
Sakura shook her head and removed her palm from her heart to continue looking for clues. She didn't want to dwell on thoughts like that. They would just make her cry.
She jumped from the tree she was currently standing and glanced around at her surroundings. The forest was dense and beginning to get dark. The tree's auburn and orange leaves were turning darker by the minute, Sakura noticed. The large Oaks and slim silver birch looked slightly evil in the harsh light of the growing moon. The silver birch's glowed faintly in the light of the rising moon and their leaves became black and grey in colour. Sakura sighed when she realised that her search would have to stop for today. Tracking in the dark was almost impossible, especially when she couldn't rely on her eagle vision to seek out clues and things that shouldn't be there. She turned back toward the village but paused slightly when she heard some rustling in a tree nearby.
She crossed her arms and turned toward the noise. There, on a branch close to the ground, crouched Kakashi Hatake, once team 7's teacher. He was crouched on the branch reading the newest edition of 'Make-out Paradise'.
"What are you doing here Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked slightly annoyed that she hadn't sensed his presence sooner. Obviously she was thinking too much.
"I already told you Sakura," Kakashi said in a bored voice still glancing at the pages in the book while he jumped down from the branch and walked toward her. "Call me Kakashi. I stopped being your sensei a while ago."
Sakura sighed and relaxed her tense shoulders. "Sorry, Kakashi."
He seemed satisfied with her answer and nodded once in her direction. "What are you doing out here so late. I thought you would be with Lee. He came back from a very important mission this morning, didn't he?"
Sakura blinked in confusion and mild surprise. "How would you know that? I haven't seen you in three days. I didn't tell you."
Kakashi chuckled wearily and dropped his book to his side. "Gai decided I needed a day off so I ended up lumped with him all of yesterday."
Sakura nodded and smiled sympathetically.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head in irritation. "He's a real pain."
Sakura smiled knowingly. "Yeah, they both are."
There was a slight pause while Sakura remembered her Lee and all of his goofy ways and Kakashi tried not to remember the happy time he had yesterday. He couldn't help it though, Gai was, and always will be, the only person who truly took the time to know him for who he was, maybe apart from Iruka… but thinking about that man drove him crazy, best not.
Sakura sighed when she realised that that would be the end of the familiarity. Now it was down to business. "Why did you follow me?"
Kakashi chuckled again. "I didn't follow you. I was following Sasuke."
Sakura gasped slightly and uncrossed her arms moving quickly toward her old teacher. "You think something's wrong too?"
Kakashi nodded all ounce of humour gone from his masked expression. "I am fairly certain that Sasuke has kidnapped Naruto."
Sakura stared at him with wide eyes. "What on earth are you talking about? Sasuke kidnap Naruto? That is absurd! Why would Sasuke want to kidnap Naruto?"
Kakashi sighed and shook his head wearily. "I am not at liberty to tell you, Sakura. I'm sorry. Come back to the Hokage Tower with me and we'll try and catch Tsunade before she goes home. Perhaps she'll explain it better than I can."
The Hokage tower was eerily quiet and ominous shadows clawed themselves up the walls as each window disappeared. Sakura and Kakashi walked silently through the tower. Sakura felt cold as she ascended toward the answers to her questions. Did she really want to know why Sasuke would kidnap Naruto? It wasn't something that she would even want to think about. Sakura had thought their relationship was going so well that she had even let go of Sasuke just to see their relationship flourish, but now it seemed all of it was worthless. Could it be that Sasuke wanted to hurt Naruto in some way?
Sakura shook her head and quickened her pace to match Kakashi's.
Of course Sasuke wouldn't want to hurt Naruto. He couldn't hurt Naruto. He wasn't capable of hurting someone he cared about and he did care about Naruto. That, she was sure of.
So, what other motives would Sasuke have for kidnapping Naruto? Did he want the blond all to himself? No, that wasn't like Sasuke. No, it had to have been something important for Sasuke to have been so careless about hiding the evidence. He must've been planning this for a while because Sasuke had been reverting into the Uchiha compound more and more.
But Sakura was caught and brought back to reality by a steady hand on shoulder. "It seems we caught her just in time." Kakashi said calmly looking at the double doors to the Hokage's office.
Sakura glanced at the door. Without looking Kakashi knew she was in there. Sakura sighed and wondered if she would ever become a great enough ninja to be able to do that. But more pressing matters demanded her attention.
The doors burst open with a flick of Kakashi's wrist and the Hokage was revealed sitting at her desk in complete darkness. The darkness, of course, was broken the moment the door opened.
"What do you want?" Tsunade growled from her desk.
"We have something to report. It's about Naruto." Kakashi announced calmly.
Tsunade visibly stiffened at the mention of Naruto. "What about him? What's he done now?"
"He hasn't done anything, Tsunade-sama." Sakura interjected.
"No," Kakashi agreed. "He hasn't done anything. We have a suspicion that Naruto might be being held captive by Sasuke Uchiha."
Sakura started and turned her attention to her teacher. The bluntness of his statement caught her off guard but Tsunade didn't seem fazed by it.
She nodded calmly but her clenched fists revealed her anger. "I see," She murmured. Tsunade stood and rounded her desk to lean on the front of it in front of the two other ninja. "I'll give the order to search the Uchiha compound tomorrow. Sasuke is smart. If what you say is true then he would have hidden him where we never would suspect, right under our noses." She rubbed both her eyes with her finger tips and sighed. "And I'll also order a search of Naruto's apartment. Have you confirmed that he isn't there?"
Kakashi nodded. "The door is locked and Iruka said he was supposed to meet him for lunch today, which he didn't. Jariyia hasn't seen him since their training session yesterday; it's not like Naruto to miss training."
"Also," Sakura chipped in. "Naruto didn't come to his hospital appointment today. And when I went looking for him Sasuke was acting very suspicious and he lied when I asked if he was going to see Naruto later. Why would he want to kidnap Naruto though? What are his motives?"
Tsunade's blond brow crumpled. "Sakura, there's been a message from Itachi Uchiha."
Sakura's breathing stopped. Her whole body froze in shock. "Itachi Uchiha?" She breathed. That was a shock. Why would Itachi want to make a move now? It's been so long since his last attack on the village, on Sasuke, and… on Naruto. That must be it. He's coming for Naruto.
"The message was brief. He didn't go into detail." She went to her desk and opened a drawer in the side. She lifted a crumpled piece of paper and rounded the desk again. "We're coming for the Kyuubi." She read.
Sakura stiffened. The Akatsuki were coming for the Kyuubi? That could only end in ruin for the Village. Giving them the Kyuubi would mean them getting power that the village could not with hold. She winced when she remember who the Kyuubi was residing in, Naruto. That meant that if they wanted the Village unharmed they could simply hand the Kyuubi over… hand Naruto over. No wonder Tsunade looked so miserable. She obviously had a tough decision to make. She cared about Naruto too much to sacrifice him but she had a duty to protect the village from any threat.
Could they protect the village and still save Naruto? If they didn't find Naruto and Sasuke then Sasuke would have to fight all of the Akatsuki in order to protect Naruto. But in the end would Sasuke choose to avenge his family or save Naruto?
Sakura shook her head and clutched it with both her sweaty hands. How could Tsunade and Sasuke make decisions like that? And how would Naruto feel if he knew that he was the damsel in distress in this situation. None of it made sense to Sakura.
"So that's why Sasuke kidnapped Naruto," Sakura murmured to herself. "When did you get the letter?" Sakura asked as she remembered Sasuke's distant behaviour the past few weeks.
"A few days ago, why would that be important?" Tsunade asked suspiciously as Sakura's eyes widened.
If the letter only came a few days ago… could Sasuke have planned to kidnap Naruto before hearing about the letter?
"So, Tsunade-sama, Sasuke kidnapped Naruto as bait for his brother, yes?" Sakura asked hesitantly. Tsunade nodded her agreement. "And Naruto was seen yesterday so Sasuke must have heard about the letter yesterday as well."
Tsunade looked at her with a bored expression. "Listen, Sakura, it's nice to see that you are piecing it together but we already-"
Sakura held up her finger. "Hold on, Hokage-sama, I might have some information about Sasuke that might help. Just bare with me."
Tsunade glanced at Kakashi who nodded and spoke. "She knows Sasuke and Naruto better than anyone. Her information will be valuable."
Tsunade sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples as the other two ninja waited for her command. "Continue." She breathed.
Sakura nodded. "The thing is, Sasuke has been becoming more and more distant these past few weeks. He's been spending most of his time in the Uchiha compound and the only time he did spend out of it were on missions…and…" Sakura gulped down the lump in her throat. "…With Naruto."
The two elder Shinobi glanced at each other before Tsunade sighed, defeated. "We will continue this discussion tomorrow. I would like you, Kakashi," She said pointing a slender finger at the silver haired ninja. "To lead the search party in the Uchiha compound. And you, Sakura," She said switching her finger's victim to the pink haired girl. "Will lead the search of Naruto's apartment. Leave everything as you found it and report anything out of the ordinary. I know Naruto and so do you so he wouldn't have gone down without a fight. If you don't find anything that looks like a struggle then we might have another problem on our hands." She finished and inhaled deeply clapping her hands after her commands. "Go, sleep and search tomorrow. Don't worry about the decisions because that is my job. Sleep."
She dismissed the two lower ranking ninja and rounded her desk again sitting in the plush cushion.
Sakura winced when the door to her house slammed shut behind her. She made her way up to her room and opened the door silently, making sure not to wake her parents or anyone else that might be there.
She crossed her room and dropped her hip pouch and removed her now heavy and heated clothes. Shrugging into one of Lee's large sleeping shirts she moved toward her bed and folded herself into the arms of her fiancé.
"You're home late, Sakura-chan." Lee murmured quietly against her soft pink hair. "Get up to anything interesting today?"
Sakura yawned and covered her mouth. "I guess you could say that." She breathed.
Lee shifted slightly to fit her more comfortably against his body. "Would you like to tell me?" He asked in a whisper.
Sakura sighed. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I need to sleep now."
Lee nodded against her hair and smiled. "'night Sakura-chan."
"Good night, Lee." She murmured before drifting off into a fitful sleep where Naruto was fine, Sasuke wasn't being secretive, and she was married to Lee.
Hey! So what'd you think? Hope you liked it! There's some LeeSaku because I thought Sakura deserved to be given a break from moi (coz I really hate her whining and winging)
I do like Sakura bashing but I don't think I will in this fic. I might be fun though so I might go Sakura bashing later :P :P :P
Lee loves Sakura so much :*) *sniff sniff* I just want to see him happy :)
- Xiah-sensei XD