Chapter 7

Friends Forever

Version 1.0

Whenever I get close to you

Whenever I want to say

Everything you mean to me

That's when I must go away

Sasuke could only stare at the spot where Sakura had once been. One moment she had been sitting there, crying out her feelings and the next...gone. 'How could this have happened?' he asked himself over and over again, never arriving at an answer. 'How could I have let this happen?'

After almost an hour Sasuke finally moved. His first action, after rediscovering the gift of movement, was to find out what had happened. After a brief overlook of the room, his eyes found an envelope lying on the nightstand. A couple feet away, lying on the bed, was the letter that the envelope had once contained. He reached over and grabbed it, praying for some clue as to what had happened.

He was shocked with what he read.

To whom it may concern,

Haruno Sakura, you are hereby being stripped of your visibility, powers, and voice. You will be given one hour to get your affairs in order and, when your time is up, you will be teleported back to your home world. There, you will be put on trial for breaking our kingdoms most critical law.

You will be given a lawyer upon arrival. Do not try to bring anything, nor anyone, with you. Doing so will only cause your punishment to be harsher. Your trial will take place on Monday, August 8th.

Sasuke stared at the letter in amazement. What law had Sakura broken? She'd done nothing wrong as far as he knew. And even if she had, she was his imaginary friend. He should decide her punishment. He wouldn't stand for this.

Growling, Sasuke sat down on the bed and thought, just as he'd thought that day 11 years ago. In his mind, Sasuke made up a person. This one, unlike Sakura, was male. He was blonde with blue eyes and an orange outfit. Sasuke didn't really know why he'd thought up this annoying looking boy...but why not? This boy was just meant to be a messenger for him.

The boy, who actually looked about the same age as Sasuke and Sakura, grinned at Sasuke and started looking around. "Hey, I'm Naruto," he said in a loud voice that Sasuke knew he hadn't chosen. "Ya know, I expected a kid...not a guy my-"

"Shut up," Sasuke interrupted him, not caring at all about how rude it was. "Can you contact the people that sent this letter? I need to talk to them." He held the letter out to the boy in front of him, stretching his arm as far as it would go, almost as if he didn't want to touch the blonde, or let the blonde touch him.

"Yeah," the boy named Naruto answered. And he better not think that Sasuke didn't catch that "teme" that Naruto had whispered under his breath. Sasuke was a lot of things, but stupid and deaf didn't make the list. The Uchiha watched as the boy closed his eyes after reading through the letter. Shortly after, a man appeared in a large puff of smoke.

This man was kind of tall, with silver hair that stood straight up and a mask over one eye. He didn't look old, no matter what his hair color may lead you to believe if you just glanced at him. He was also holding a hardcover, orange book. The book had a red warning label on the back, which immediatly told Sasuke that this book was porn.

Great...so the loser summoned up a perv. Just what he needed.

"Yo!" the man greeted, unknowingly making himself even more unwelcome to our beloved Uchiha avenger. Sasuke glared in response to the man's words. Or, word, rather.

"I want her back." Sasuke said simply to the man. The man nodded behind his book and, unseen to all, smiled.

"I suppose you mean that cute pink-haired girl that was brought to the courthouse earlier this morning," the silver-haired porn lover stated, alreay knowing that he was right. He didn't wait for a response. "Well...I can't bring her back. She's been put into a cell and only the king can let her out. And he's too busy moping about the fact that the kingdom is no longer perfect."

Sasuke could just see himself killing this man. "I don't care. Take me to this king." He said, anger breaking through and making him sound almost like a wild animal if it had been given a voice and was talking for the first time. "Now."

"Fine, fine," the man said, smiling unseen once again. "I guess I can make you...a deal. If your willing." Willing? Was there any chance at all that the 16-year old in front of him wasn't willing? No, of course not. But Kakashi liked to stretch these things out as long as possible. "It could be dangerous."

Sasuke glared at the man. "Aa," was his short answer. And just like that it was decided.

Kakashi reached into the pocket of the dark green vest he was wearing and pulled out a scroll. On the scroll was a long Term of Agreement that Sasuke was supposed to sign. After reading through it, Sasuke decided that the terms were acceptable and he signed his name in the lower right-hand corner. Kakashi followed him by signing in the lower left.

"Seven days, Uchiha," were the mans last words to the boy before disappearing, along with Naruto, who, until he disappeared, Sasuke had forgotten was even there. Sasuke sat on the bed and stared at the spot on the floor. He knew what he had to do now, and it was kind of hard. He'd just woken up, and Uchiha's weren't the type of people who just took naps whenever they felt like it.

They were the type of people who slept when they were so damn tired that they were about to fall down from fatigue. But, as part of the agreement, Sasuke had to sleep now. Go to sleep, fight the 'obstacles', rescue Sakura. That was his mission. It couldn't be that hard, he was a very accomplished ninja, afterall!

Sasuke threw himself down on the pillow and closed his eyes. It would be an hour before he finally found himself in the land of dreams.

Seven Days. Only one week to save his best friend.