Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 5
Ino had been searching for Sakura for the past hour and there was still no sign of her.
'Sakura where on earth could you be?'
Her worried eyes scanned the crowd causing her to miss the person in front of her.
"Ow!" She cried.
Before she hit the ground a pair of strong arms grabbed her.
"What's the rush Ino?"
"Shikamaru!" The blonde cried out when she saw him.
"What's the matter Ino?" He asked.
"It's Sakura! We think she might have been kidnapped!"
"Kidnapped? By whom?'
"We don't know. We're not even sure if she has been. Kakashi, Naruto and I are looking for her around the village."
"What makes you think she's been kidnapped?"
"I've called her house phone and cell phone numerous times today but she hasn't picked up. I told Godaime-sama about it and she ordered Genma-san to go to Sakura's apartment and to go inside if no one answered. When he came back he said everything looked fine but something just felt wrong."
"That is worrisome. I'll help you look for her."
"Thank you Shikamaru."
"No problem."
The two suddenly blushed when they realized Ino was still in Shikamaru's arms. He quickly let go of her and coughed to cover up his embarrassment.
"I'll look from the roof tops." He said.
"Ok, thanks again."
"You're welcome."
A small awkward silence fell as the two stared at each other.
"Right, well I'll be going then." Shikamaru suddenly said.
Before Ino could say anything he quickly left. Once he had Ino resumed her search of looking for her best friend.
A few hours later the four shinobi had assembled back at Tsunade's office. The blonde Hokage raised her eyebrow when she saw Shikamaru there.
"I ran into him along the way and he was helping me search for Sakura." Ino explained.
"Then I assume you're aware of the situation Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes Godaime-sama." He answered.
"Where any of you able to locate Sakura?"
One by one each shinobi shook their head.
"Damn! It appears Sakura has been kidnapped then but by who and why?" Tsunade asked.
"Perhaps by an enemy village who bears a grudge against our village?" Kakashi suggested.
"Most likely but without knowing which village it's going to take longer to find her. It may not even be a village it might be a missing nin who kidnapped Sakura."
"Let us look for her." Naruto said.
"No." Tsunade said.
"Why not?"
"It's not your job. This is the job for the ANBU."
"Let us help then!"
"No."
"Why not?! Sakura's our friend!"
"It's not your job to locate missing ninja! I may need you here in the future so I can't send of any more ninja then necessary!"
"Saku-"
"Are you defying the Hokage?"
Naruto shut his mouth after that question but it was clear he didn't want to. When Kakashi nudged him, he spoke again.
"I'm sorry Godaime-sama, I was out of line."
"You're forgiven," She said. "I'm going to send out a squad of ANBU to look for her and I will inform you four when I hear back from them."
"Thank you Godaime-sama." The four shinobi said.
"You're welcome. Now you four are dismissed."
Sasuke continued to walk aimlessly around. He hadn't expected to run into Aiko but the fact that he was sure he'd left her in tears brought a smile to his face.
'It's so easy to make girls cry. Just say enough cruel things and they're bawling. It's so much fun. I bet I could make Sakura cry just as easy as I did Aiko.'
Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he heard people running towards him.
'
The movie was about half way through and the young woman was standing in the rain. She looked up when she no longer felt the rain to see her boyfriend with an umbrella. As Sakura watched this she couldn't help but be reminded of Sasuke and her.
'That happened so long ago that part of me wonders if it was only a dream.'
Flashback
Training had ended a couple of hours ago but Sakura had decided to go to the meadow for a while and was now walking in the rain.
"Damn, if I had known it was going to rain I would have gone straight home.'
She looked around to see some other unfortunate people caught in the rain as well. The rain was coming down fairly hard by now and her pink hair which had grown back a bit, was plastered to her face and neck. The cold was starting to get to her and just as she was thinking about running home, the rain suddenly stopped coming down on her.
"Only an idiot would walk home in the rain." A voice stated.
The pink haired girl looked up to see Sasuke standing in front of her holding an umbrella over her head. Processing what he just said she looked around to see everyone but her running to shelter.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I was making some beef stew but I ran out of milk so I went to the store to buy some." He answered.
"Oh."
Sasuke sighed when he simply stared at her.
'What an annoying girl.'
"Come on Sakura, I'll walk you home."
"Really?!"
The Uchiha mentally rolled his eyes at this.
'She really is annoying.'
"Yes really and if you don't hurry up I'm going to change my mind and leave you behind."
Sakura was so happy that she wanted to hum and skip home but she restrained herself. She didn't want him to actually leave her behind and she also knew that if he did that this would never happen again. She racked her mind for conversation but nothing came to mind. She was so nervous to be walking next to her crush and she didn't want to make a fool of herself.
'I can't have Sasuke-kun think any worse of me.'
It wasn't necessarily that Sasuke wanted to walk Sakura home. He was carrying a gallon of milk and that couldn't stay out of the fridge long and he was hungry. When he saw Sakura walking home looking like a drowned rat he couldn't just leave her like that, he wasn't that heartless after all. So despite the fact that he was carrying milk and that he was hungry he decided to do the nice thing and walk Sakura home, even though she could occasionally be a highly annoying teammate.
The walk home was silent and Sakura desperately wanted to start a conversation in an attempt to get closer to Sasuke but the more she tried to think of one the more nothing would come to mind.
'Am I really supposed to just have him walk me home in silence? Maybe the gods are just telling me to be grateful that I'm even getting this opportunity? No, I need to take initiative because if I just wait for something to happen then I'll never get closer to Sasuke-kun!'
"Have you seen that new action movie that's come out?" She asked.
'Not bad Sakura, not bad at all!'
Sasuke glanced at her before answering.
"No."
"I saw a preview of it on TV last night and I thought it would be fun to go."
Sasuke glanced at Sakura again.
'Oh no, please don't let this go where I think its going.'
"I was thinking that Naruto, you, me and maybe Kakashi-sensei could go."
The Uchiha automatically opened his mouth to refuse her but quickly closed it.
'Wait, what did she say? She's not asking me out.'
"I'm sure the dobe would love to go but if you want Kakashi to come then that might take some convincing."
"What about you?"
"I'm not interested."
Sakura looked at him in disappointment but quickly masked it.
"I'll make you a deal, if I can convince Kakashi-sensei to go to the movie without telling him that it's because I want you to go along to then you have to come with all three of us. Deal?"
Sasuke looked at her, thinking it through.
'It's not likely that she'll be able to convince Kakashi to come, he's more of a loner just like me. Then again there is always the possibility that he'll say yes.'
"Deal" He said deciding to take his chances.
A small sad smile crossed Sakura's face at that memory.
'I remember I ended up convincing Kakashi-sensei to go.'
When Sakura looked at the screen again, the couple was kissing in the rain. Sakura closed her eyes as her heart clenched in pain.
'If Sasuke-kun had stayed in the village could we have what that couple has? Can we still have that or were Sasuke-kun and I never meant to be from the start?'
The more Sakura thought about it the more she was afraid that it was true. Sasuke never said he loved her, they never went on a date and the only times they went on planned outings was with Team 7.
Tears fell from Sakura's eyes and she quickly wiped them away. They kept on falling even though she kept on wiping them away and finally she just gave up and let them fall.
'
Sasuke quickly jumped into a tree and waited to see who was coming. When he saws that it was only Sound shinobi fooling around, he threw a kunai in front of the one in front. The shinobi came to an abrupt halt and the one behind him almost crashed into him.
"What's wrong, why'd you stop?"
"Someone threw a kunai in front of me."
Before either of them could get a weapon out Sasuke jumped down from the tree.
"Oh, it's you Sasuke-sama. Were you the one who threw the kunai?" The one in front asked.
Without a word Sasuke picked up his kunai and put it back in its pouch before walking away.
The two shinobi simply stared at his retreating back.
"Well I guess that answers your question."
Sasuke silently laughed to himself. He knew it wasn't an enemy pretty soon after he heard the footsteps because he recognized their chakra patterns; he simply wanted to mess with them.
'At least I got a little entertainment.'
The Uchiha continued walking around for a while before he decided to head back.
'I wonder how Sakura's doing. She might have thought of some distressing things while I've been gone.'
Sasuke chuckled evilly at that thought. It wasn't like he planned for Sakura to be distressed while he was gone but it wouldn't bother him if she was.
'
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