This is a story written for my fan art at DA ~
The story can be set either before or after Sasuke's departure where Team 7 is together in Konoha. Enjoy!
- - - - - - - - At Ichiraku ramen place-
"I'll tell you there is something fishy going on in there," Naruto blurted out.
The three had been sitting at the Ichiraku ramen place for quite some time today and Naruto had not stopped talking about his suspicion of the new headquarter that was set up in the corner of Konohagakure in the past month.
"Naruto, I really don't think an organization would just take that big of a risk by setting its headquarter in the main land of our village if they were to have a bad intention," Sakura remarked, trying to calm their loud-mouth blond teammate. Sasuke listened intently as he started eating his order of ramen next to both Sakura and Naruto.
"Sakura-chan…that sounds true actually" said the blond. Before long he started to gobble down his large bowl of delicious ramen.
- - - - - - - - The next morning-
"Naruto, are you feeling alright this morning? You look somewhat pale," Sakura greeted her blond teammate as soon as he came by.
"Hn, more like sleep deprived," Sasuke smirked as he sat down on the bench next to the bridge. The three of them decided to meet up on their usual daily routine at the bridge. Today Naruto seemed less than his cheerful mood. Dark circles had developed on the underside of his eyes and he was starting deep into the resting water.
"I went past their property last night…" Naruto started.
"Their? …Naruto, you were spying on them?" Sakura interrupted the blond.
Naruto continued to stare at the glistering surface of the river. "I was about to leave when I heard a scream coming from inside their property. It sounded like a girl, so I decided to sneak in. I didn't get very far before the guards caught me…And threw me out."
"So that explains the bruises on your arms," Sasuke said, his hands crossed under his chin as he listened to Naruto. After hearing his statement, Sakura looked at Naruto's arms and found dark bruised just a little below his short sleeves.
"They did that to you, Naruto?" Sakura asked, concerned.
Naruto turned around before he began, "They gave me a warning not to go near the place again." And his eyes sank to the ground.
- - - - - - - - And the following morning-
"Naruto is late today. He is never late. You think he's ok after what happened yesterday?" Sakura asked as she looked around for a sight of Naruto.
"I don't know."
"Perhaps we should go by his place to make sure he is ok," Sakura said before turning to look at her raven-haired teammate. The two had been waiting for Naruto for over an hour. They knew Naruto would never be late unless he was sick or oversleeping. But from what had happened yesterday, the latter seemed not to be the case.
Turning the knob, Sasuke opened the front door of Naruto's house. Unsurprisingly it was unlocked. The inside was dark except for the light that beamed through the tiny holes of the blinds. The place was quiet. The two walked into this house and headed for the stairs. A few clothing articles were spread alongside the staircase and Sakura had the urge to pick them up. Sasuke led the way to the top of the stairs and to his bedroom. The door was open.
"Naruto, are you in here?" Sakura asked as she poked her head into his bedroom after Sasuke. They both took in the sight of a made orange bed next to the window, the only thing that looked out of place as clothes were left scattered on the floor and his closet door was left wide open. The curtain was pulled aside to allow sunlight to pass through the window. But Naruto was nowhere in sight.
"He is not here," Sakura stated the obvious as concern started to sound from her voice.
"Hn, he is probably out there causing trouble," Sasuke stated matter-of-factly. Something started to unnerve his calm demeanor for some reason.
- - - - - - - - Later that night -
The moon had already set out high above the clear sky. Its glow seemed to outshine the night territory including the stars. Sakura had gone out from her house towards Naruto's place. Her instinct told her to check up on Naruto again. Hopeful that she would find him there, Sakura had made soup for her teammate. Knowing Naruto, this should boost up his spirit a bit. As she approached Naruto's front door, she noticed the lights in his house were not on. Perhaps he is just out still? Sakura thought to herself.
Opening the front door, she poked her head in before flicking the light switch on. Glancing around the living room and the kitchen, everything still seemed as it was earlier that day. Her assumption quickly drew on the fact that Naruto had not been home.
"Hello? Naruto?" Sakura shouted to the top of the stairs. No replies. She then walked over the kitchen and put her bag on the counter. Sakura then walked to one of the drawers, opened it and took out a piece of paper and a pen. She gracefully wrote down, "I made soup for you, hope you feel better! – Sakura. P.S. Heat it up first!" on the piece of paper. Sakura then returned the pen and sticked the paper on top of the bag of soup before putting everything inside Naruto's refrigerator.
Sakura turned around to leave before something came up in her mind. What if Naruto went to that headquarter? Sakura thought it through before something else came up. He could really be big trouble if he was caught again! Sakura stood in the middle of the living room before she made up her mind.
- - - - - - - - At the midnight hour -
Looking over the huge gate through the fence, Sakura was couched down between the bushes. Suddenly she wished she had gone to Sasuke. It would have eased her mind so much better knowing that he was there with her. Stupid Sakura! Inner Sakura said to herself.
From the bushes, Sakura could make out the numerous guards walking around from the main gate, to the main building and even around the yard encircling the quarter. It seemed to have a pretty tight watched security for such a place, and she wondered why Naruto was so worked up about this place. Sakura was there for about half an hour before she saw a shadow move next to the main building. What the heck is that? Sakura quickly thought to herself. The shadow quickly disappeared after about 5 seconds.
Sakura decided to skirt further to the side of the fence. She was determined to find out just what that was. Making sure there were no one near her proximity, Sakura concentrated her chakra to the sole of her feet and swiftly and smoothly jumped over the top of the fence and down to the other side unnoticed. She then quickly ran to the nearby bush and masked her chakra. None of the guards seemed to notice a thing, and Sakura decide to sneak to the place where she previously saw the shadow. Once there, she looked up at the side of the building to see a small window that seemed to lead to the underground. Looking around once more, Sakura gently opened the window without a sound, and slipped herself through it.
A moment later, she found herself underground. Her curiosity perked as she tiptoed to around to the wall and looked out to see a long passageway with many doors. The passageway was lit up with burning lamps. Sakura then walked down the hall that quickly led to another. She quickly spotted a guard walking down the passage towards her. Shoot, she thought, don't let me get caught already!
Sakura quickly tiptoed down the hall away from the guard to another hallway, where another guard was heading her way. At this rate, she would definitely be getting herself in trouble before she even found out anything about the place. Sakura quickly turned around. There were three doors along the hallway she was in, and she prayed one of them would keep her safe for now. Opening the door next to her, she peeked in before allowing her inside and sealed the door close.
Inside the room, Sakura looked around and was relieved to find it empty. There were tables inside it, lab coats hanging on the wall next to her. In the middle of the room were medical equipment the she was familiar with from her frequent work at the hospital. She looked around to find more equipment on the shelves lining the high walls and medicine on one of the corners. She wondered if research experiments were being conducted underground this quarter.
Opposite from where she was standing was a wooden door. Sakura slowly walked towards it and put her ear to the door to listen for any sound coming from there. Nothing. She then slowly opened it, which to her surprise it opened a way to another passage way. Without hesitating, she took a step inside there and followed.
Before a while, it led her to the middle another passageway. Sakura looked around to see that it was safe and she quickly slipped inside it and walked towards another end. Why there were so many passages she had no idea. Footsteps were heard behind her and she quickened her pace. She looked to another passageway to find a guard.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Sakura gasped and turned around. She could hear the footsteps before picked up the pace but luckily there was no one behind her. Sakura heard the guards on the move she started thedown the passage quickly. Someone seemed to have set off the guard. As she ran down the hallway, she turned another and another. Sakura was getting panic but to her luck she found a passage in the middle of the hall she was in and she quickly took it. Hiding behind a shelf, she waited for the guards. Their footsteps were increasing closer and closer and Sakura held her breaths. Behind her, a pair of hands reached towards Sakura.
One hand reached to cover her mouth, while the other reached around her shoulder to grab her closer. Sakura was about to scream when someone hushed her.
"Ssshhhh, Sakura or we'll get caught!"
Sakura recognized the voice right away and she immediately calmed down. It was Sasuke!
Her breath slowed down a bit as she found herself pressing her back against Sasuke's masculine chest. Sakura could not remember the last time she was physically this close to him. Instead of her relaxing, her heart started to beat faster and instead of focusing on the on-coming guards, Sakura could not help herself focusing on how she was leaning and touching Sasuke while he had one arm around that crossed to the front holding her back to him.
What seemed like an eternity to Sakura, the guards finally went past them. Until Sasuke deemed it safe, he let her go. Once she was free, Sakura turned around to face Sasuke and spoke in a low voice, "Sasuke! What are you doing here?"
Sasuke smiled sheepishly, "I figured the Dobe had probably gotten himself in trouble."
Sakura smiled up at him knowingly before she noticed Sasuke was staring at her too. Suddenly she became self-conscious for some reason.
Sasuke could not help but notice at how delicate Sakura was. He took note at her outfit to see that she was wearing a light pink cami that exposed her delicate skin and arms, even showing a little of cleavage on top of that. Though she was wearing long pants, they somewhat hugged to her skin and displayed the shape of her hips and long lean legs. For goodness' sake, Sasuke couldn't register to himself why she was wearing such appealing outfit to an unknown place such as this. If she had been captured…Sasuke shook the thought from his head. If where they were standing wasn't so dimly lit, they would have noticed the blush appearing on their faces.
Sakura looked beautiful and Sasuke admitted it secretly. Sasuke looked away before another thought he'd rather not have at the moment crept up to him.
"Seems like the guards are already gone…" Sasuke continued.
"Oh, r-right," Sakura stammered a little before turning to look at where Sasuke was staring.
Both made their way towards the hall they were just in recently. No guards were in sight, and they slipped out from their hiding area. Surreptitiously, they headed down the hall. Five minutes later, they realized they were lost due to the numerous passages that all looked the same. Eying a closed door, they decided to go in.
The room was dark and empty with only the shine of moonlight that illuminated through a tiny crack near the ceiling. They both heard a sound on the floor and Sakura jumped, clinging onto Sasuke's arm. Both wondered what it was. It happened again and a muffle was heard.
"Who's there?" Sasuke demanded.
Sasuke stuck his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a flashlight. He turned it on and beamed it at the source of the sound. To their surprise, they saw Naruto all tied up on the floor with a fold across his mouth to keep him from talking. Without hesitation, Sakura ran up to him and quickly untied Naruto.
"Naruto! So glad we found you! What happened here?" Sakura asked.
"Heheh, let's just say let's get out of here!" Naruto let out a nervous laugh. Sasuke and Sakura both raised an eyebrow to his response, somewhat confused.
"One thing. It seems you're doing quite alright. The other thing is it appears that we're lost in this underground dungeon," Sasuke said, his eyebrows crooked.
"Oh, that won't be a problem! You see, I've been down here for so many times I seem to know the place inside out. They only tied me down here because I was caught again before I got the chance to escape and…"
"Save it Dobe."
"Huh? WHAT, TEME!"
Sasuke only smirked.
"Remember Teme, you are the one needing help out of here!"
"I can easily do without you, Dobe."
"URGH..!"
"BOTH OF YOU CALM DOWN!" Sakura interrupted their nonsense. "We're in the middle of God-knows-where! So let's just be civil and find our way out of here, OK?"
Both the boys calmed became silent. Sasuke crossed his arms while Naruto continued to untie himself.
"Pfft"
"Hn"
- - - - - - - - Fives minutes later -
"Dobe, you even know where we're going?" Sasuke said right behind Naruto as the three continued to sneak past the guards in the numerous hallways.
"If you don't want to get out of here then don't follow me. Sakura and me will make it out just fine," Naruto retorted.
"I," Sasuke corrected.
"Guys, come on," Sakura said.
"Tell Teme that, Sakura-chan," said Naruto.
"Hn," said Sasuke as he continued to follow Naruto and Sakura. They had Naruto lead the way, while Sakura followed in the middle and Sasuke last just in case. Unknowingly, while the three were heading down a hallway, Sakura somehow extended her hand and grabbed a hold on Sasuke's. Their hands connected and it seemed just simply normal holding each other's hands like this. After a while, they made their way to where Sasuke and Sakura started out. All three climbed up to the top and slipped through the window to the outside world.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke made it outside the fence grateful that they were not caught. Sakura and Sasuke were still holding hands.
"So Naruto, what was it? Did you find out anything?" Sakura asked after they all made it outside.
"Oh…Well..Heheh…It was no biggie really. Not much going on..," Naruto attempted to brush it off before he saw the gleam from the annoyed Sakura's eyes. "…Um…Well, you see as I was snooping around, I came into this room. There, I saw Granny Tsunade there with a pretty girl. Turned out the scream I heard yesterday belonged to the girl. After they caught me, Tsunade explained the girl there was the daughter of the headmaster of the quarter. They've only settled here temporarily so that Granny Tsunade can heal her from her sickness. The scream sounded really painful, dattebayo! And it all made sense."
". . . "
Both Sasuke and Sakura gave Naruto a straight face as they realized the big fuss Naruto was making turned out to be nothing of serious and the trouble they had gone through was for nothing.
"Right! And then why were you captured and tied up in their basement?" questioned Sakura.
"Well, I uh…came back there again early this morning and they found me. Sakura-chan, if you were there you would have seen how beautiful the headmaster's daughter is!" said Naruto, a blush creeping up his cheeks.
"Naruto, you're an idiot!" Sakura said before she smacked him upside down the head.
"B-But Sa-Sakura-chan..!" Naruto wailed.
"Hn. Serves you right, Dobe."
"BAH! I can't get more insulted than this. I'm tired so I'm going to head home!" with that Naruto turned around and started to head back. "Later Sakura-chan! And later, TEME!" he waved and disappeared into the night.
"Alright, later Naruto!" said Sakura.
After Naruto was gone there were just Sakura and Sasuke standing under the street lamp. Sakura turned around to face Sasuke who was stand behind her. She looked up at him and smiled, "that was quite an adventure though, ne Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, I guess it was," he said, looking down at her. The night breeze roamed over to them and Sakura shivered. Sasuke noticed it and said, " let's go back. I'll walk you home."
Sakura, upon hearing those words, beamed as bright as the moon. "Ok, Sasuke-kun," said Sakura and she gripped onto Sasuke's hand more tightly, both now realizing they were still holding hands.
Sasuke found it awkward if he was just to let go of her hand now while she was in such a good mood. The light that shown her happy features made him feel content and protective of her even more and naturally just to keep her happy and safe for this very moment. They both started walking side by side, hand in hand. At that very moment, nothing shone more brightly than the glistering hope in Sakura's eyes and smile.