Chapter 1: Hide and Seek
2:16 pm
The white forest.
Dead with barren trees. Their branches resembled waifish children sticking out their long claw-like fingers at the white sky in desperation.
The young ninja sitting at the base of a tree opened her eyes. Her world was spinning. She rested her dizzy head on her propped up knees and squeezed her eyes shut tightly to calm the disorientation, trying to grasp what had happened. What had happened? Only a single terrified thought devastated her mind: Naruto.
Naruto. Her partner, best friend and admittedly her champion. Missing. Where was Naruto? The very idea of him being harmed by the encumbrance that was Him made her freezing body tremble in anguish. The burdening guilt churning inside her yelled in fury that it was all her fault; she should've stopped him when she had the chance...but she couldn't. Now there was no turning back, what was done was done...she needed to find him. But how?
She lifted her head up. The situation was impossible; she thought staring blankly at nothingness with wide bloodshot eyes, mouth agape sitting on the snow. How would she rescue Naruto from him...him.
She had seen him again. Him again. With odd-looking strangers, including a girl with cherry red hair. Who was she? Not his girlfriend!...well it didn't matter now anyway. He was now that painful word. Enemy. She wasn't allowed to care about him anymore. She clutched the straps of her backpack tighter. The dirt and melting ice in her hair clung onto every dishevelled strand of blush pink on her head. The white forest and its loneliness.
Alone. She was alone.
She didn't want to be.
She blindly stood up from the base of a tree in the snow-covered forest and started running...
She was running, scared...
She looked around and around...
Naruto, Naruto, where was Naruto, where was everyone else as well...left, right everywhere...
The blaring and giant blast that had scattered and sent all eleven of them flying into the air had happened mere minutes ago yet an eerie silence had taken its place.
She listened to the whistling wind trying to hear something, anything at all, but the deafening, still silence pressing on her ears polluted her mind with fears. Breathing harder, she listened to her loud heartbeat. Finally, a sound, preventing herself from sinking into insanity.
The sharp breathing of the pastel-pink haired kunoichi broke the silence of the snow smothered forest, deep in nowhere. Her panting echoed through the white nothingness she saw in front of her. It was not but trees, white and her breath coming out in cold gasps escaping her mouth. She was running.
She ran around searching for any signs of life for what felt like forever until she couldn't go anymore. The freezing air was stabbing her lungs and exhausting all her senses. The cold slowly gripping on her exposed face. She finally stopped running to lean on a nearby tree for support and tried to catch her breath. It was a nightmare. A nightmare of a mission gone horribly wrong…
"NARUTO? SHIKAMARU? ANYONE?..." she cried in a desperate echo bouncing back to her.
Nothing.
It had been like that for a while now.
Sakura sat down again in near hopelessness on the body numbing snow at the base of another tree and tried to gather her thoughts. The last thing she remembered was arriving at the abandoned snow laden forest earlier that day with the other five Leaf ninja, six with herself included, on a mission to assassinate a rogue ninja. Luckily they'd prepared for the harsh winter on the outskirts of Kusagakure: The Grass Village, deep in the countryside but were unprepared for something else. The massive forest. The forest was so vast and thick that any hopes of finding the rogue in one day were diminished. But then they'd collided with another unexpected problem they'd not seen coming. Complications. Confusion and shock. The Taka….
They'd tracked the rogue ninja to the forest but unexpectedly ran into a group of wanted vagabond 'terrorists'. The Taka. Headed by him. The stranger they'd all grown up knowing, with the blue-black hair, broody mannerisms and the red-and-white fan crest emblazoned on the back of his clothing. That's when everything happened…
The meltdown of Naruto. The confrontation with the Leaf ninja and the Taka. Then the one big guy from the Taka, he'd gone crazy. Afterwards the giant blast, probably from the unseen rogue ninja himself scattered them all like origami paper in the wind…then nothing…
Her comrades. Naruto, team Captain Shikamaru, Ino, second-in-command Neji and Tenten were all missing from her team. Now, she was completely alone in a frozen forest not knowing how to get out and most frightfully, with a formidable rogue ninja still on the loose, not to mention the most unpredictable Taka themselves…The Taka.
But him. Dare she say the unspeakable name...Sasuke, seeing his face again since their last disastrous encounter at Orochimaru's hideout, for her was unbelievable…Naruto...
Naruto, what happened to Naruto, she had to find him before Sasuke and his gang did. She would never allow Sasuke to hurt him…Naruto. The panic of desperately needing to find Naruto pulled her heavy freezing body back up.
She kicked out her legs, trying to get some feeling back into them to carry her deeper into the woods, into the unknown. Naruto, where was he? No shinobi had ever heard of giving up no matter how complicated their mission became and she wouldn't be the first one to start. Feeling slightly calmer than when she was running, she pulled herself through the cold, clutching her thick jacket for comfort; at least they had been prepared for the cold. At least. She continued searching...
-BANG-
Sakura jolted around and let out a tiny scream in startle, scanning the surrounding area when she'd heard the loud indistinctive bang ricochet through the choking silence and sharp howling wind from somewhere else in the forest. Her heart began to beat furiously against her chest. Nothing came.
Until a shrill high-pitched scream came attacking at her like a thousand knives, piercing and stabbing the frozen air. She let out a gasp of pain as the scream assaulted her ears so she covered them...When it appeared to be safe, she let go of her ears. It was quiet for only a second, then…
"-h, h…hide and seek, hide and seek, k, k…-"
A high-pitched whisper echoed towards her from every corner of the white forest. Sakura felt the hairs on her back move steadily and uncomfortably down her spine to stiffen her body.
Her eyes darted swiftly from corner to corner, left and right. The voice had come from nowhere…It was gone.
The second that the mystical voice vanished, Sakura felt the warm treacle of a thick liquid sliding slowly down her nose...her intuition told her that it was probably what she predicted in her mind...She wiped her nose and gasped at seeing blood smeared onto her hand. Her suspicions were correct. Her nose was bleeding. But it appeared that it was only the one red trail as it seemed to vanish...the nosebleed came and left. Just like the whispering voice...was it possible that she'd imagined the voice...
She strained her ears: there was no denying that a voice had just echoed and swiveled past her in blurred echoed speech; saying something about...hide and seek…there was nothing in her mind to explain what it could've possibly been. She frantically looked around to find where the noise could've come from but nothing came. Nothing from nowhere. She needed to get out of the forest and quickly. The trees began to move and shake as paranoid fear engulfed all logic. She was alone in the forest, hearing voices.
She was running scared.
2:31 pm
Finally as the trees began to thin out and the snow slowly starting to gently fall again, she narrowed her eyes to see…something…wait, she saw something. A flash of blackish-brown in the gaps between the white trees against a white backdrop. If she had even blinked, she would have missed it completely.
Was that...could it be...she peered into the distance and saw the silhouette of what looked like a house. A glimmer of hope sparked inside her as she rushed and trudged forward in ankle-deep snow to take a closer look and saw it clearly: a somewhat large-scale traditional Japanese house complete with a wooden patio and chimney. She stared at it in disbelief; a lone quiet home sitting proud and boastful about its magnificent architecture yet so snug and still in the cold as if waiting patiently to be stumbled upon. In the middle of nowheresville centuries outside The Village Hidden in the Grass. But with her pink nose running and her mouth blueing, she realised gratefully that she'd finally found shelter.
She ran as fast as her heavy frozen feet could carry her amidst the trickle of cotton balls falling from the white sky to the very inviting looking house as if it would disappear if she didn't get there quick enough. But something stopped her in her tracks halfway there; an unsettling thought crept into her mind…as quiet and eerie as the house stood, that didn't guarantee it was empty inside. It could be a trap…But she would have to take it, finding her friends and finishing the mission was crucial. But what about his team...Sasuke. She didn't know what to think.
As she arrived at the house, stepping closer to the stairs leading up to the patio, she noticed that a candle inside a lantern mounted on the outside wall acting as a porch light still had smoke emitting out from it… someone had been here recently. It made her curious; the house appeared to be quite...still and quiet in an eerie sort of way with its dark wood and closed up doors and panels as if its main aim was to keep everyone out. She braced herself for what could be waiting for her on the other side of the front door. She focused her chakra in her fist-
"…maru?..."
She stopped.
The faint voice echoed from a near distance behind her and made her stop in startle. Sakura quickly whipped around. Someone was calling out from behind the trees in the nearby forest she'd just come out of. As desperate as she was to get out of the cold at least for a while, she knew that the voice could be her only chance to find anyone, be it the Taka or Leaf team...or the rogue. She gave the house one last glance with a sinking feeling and a final shiver rolling through her body before running the other way to try and find the voice.
She ran back into the dense forested trees and looked around for any signs of someone. She decided not to call out in case it was a trap of some sorts and inspected around…until, someone's shadow was visible at a nearby tree, walking in her direction. The figure was getting closer. Sakura could feel her heart beating furiously against her chest as she prepared herself for the worst-the rogue ninja, Sasuke's teammates-she would have to face the enemy alone. Her knuckles turned a bright blue as she built up and focused her chakra in her knuckles for when or if she needed to strike a deadly blow at someone; strength was her speciality after all. She remained hidden behind a tree and waited for the figure to come closer. The figure didn't know that she was there so she at least had the advantage of a surprise attack.
"Hello?" the voice called out in a shivery echo.
Sakura stopped to think for a second; something about that voice sounded familiar and female. She stared at the person looking around helplessly in the snow who finally came close enough to the tree for her to see who it was. It was a teenage girl with ridiculously long blonde hair tied in a high ponytail and waterfall fringe over one side of her face in Leaf ninja uniform covered by a thick jacket like her own except it was purple instead of magenta pink.
Ino.
Blonde and blue-eyed sassy and gorgeous yet shivering Ino Yamanaka was finally in her sight.
Finally it came. That feeling she'd been waiting for. She was no longer alone. Relief washed over her body as Sakura realised that she had found at least one of her Leaf shinobi comrades even if it was only one person and not her own teammate, it was a start…
"Ino?" she yelled walking cautiously towards her from behind the tree where she hid.
"Sakura? Is that you? Oh my goodness! Sakura!" beamed Ino turning around to see her old friend.
Sakura rushed up to Ino in the thick snow and both girls embraced each other with a tight hug forgetting that they weren't as close as they used to be.
"Are you okay?" asked Sakura letting out a soft cry.
"Yes, I'm fine" Ino breathed shaking her head also relieved. They both pulled away and glanced at each other realising what they had just done. Sakura remembered that they were more like rivals or frenemies now, yet she couldn't help but feel genuine excitement at seeing her former best friend. They quickly jumped into pressing matters to ease the awkwardness.
"What happened? Where is everyone else, did they get hurt by the Taka or the rogue?" Sakura asked looking at Ino...
...The relieved smile was wiped off Ino's face; Sakura noticed it immediately and stared curiously at the blonde kunoichi...
"I don't know what you're talking about…" she said robotically in monotone as Ino noticed Sakura frowning at her.
Sakura examined Ino up and down. She was clutching her right hand into a tight fist…her fist was dripping with blood…
"Ino, your arm's bleeding! What happened to your arm?" she yelled anxiously over the howling wind.
Ino didn't respond. Instead her nostrils flared and she glared at Sakura unblinking from the top of her narrowed eyes, eyebrows drawn together. It was the same stare down any savage wild predator would eye at its prey before devouring it. Sakura's pale green eyes swiftly darted from Ino's vicious facial expression back to her bleeding hand. Why did everything change so suddenly...?
"Ino? What's wrong with you?" she whispered feeling guarded. Ino licked her lips slowly...Sakura's eyes grew wider. There was an awkward frightened pause before Sakura knew that something was about to go down.
Ino lifted her bloodied fist at her as she involuntarily stepped back ominously...then...
In an instant Ino threw a dozen shuriken at her from both hands. Her hands were so fast that they were hardly visible to the naked eye...her speed was incredible...All the shuriken were coming at Sakura within one split second of each other; Sakura had no time to think, she bolted behind the nearest tree for coverage...but Ino was already there. Such was unnatural speed. She kept firing relentlessly at Sakura spinning around and rotating like a spinning top, sending a shuriken shower flying all over the forest at life threatening speeds while Sakura ducked and dodged them all. She'd been in a similar experience once but with Lady Chiyo had been there to help control her speed.
She jumped upwards into the tree to avoid the dangerously sharp weapons and the crazy Ino. The second her foot touched down onto the tree branch Ino was almost above her, shooting straight up like a missile and firing more shuriken at her. Sakura screamed; she couldn't keep up with her amazing speed. One, Two, three, four, five, six...all six shuriken pinned her hair and clothing to the tree as she struggled to get free. Ino landed on the tree and stalked towards her with the same evil look on her face, a bloodthirsty monster.
"Ino! It's me, Sakura...Why are you attacking me?" she yelled struggling to get free as Ino spat to the ground and flared her nostrils not saying a word.
She was getting closer and closer; Sakura tried and struggled...until Ino threw another shuriken at her. She closed her eyes in fear. It grazed her arm as it whizzed past her and sliced through the tree above her head. Sakura stood stunned when the top of the tree began to topple. The shuriken...she was able to slice through the thick tree with a mere small-sized shuriken. Impossible... Sakura stared at Ino. She was made into a killer. The tree began falling sideways as Sakura dislodged her arm free just in time to unpin the shuriken out of the falling tree to throw them at Ino and jump down...away. Ino flipped upwards over the shuriken to avoid them, whipping her long blonde hair in the cold air and launched herself forward and out of the tree towards Sakura.
Ino was gaining on her. It was now or never Sakura knew. She stopped running and waited for impact...staring Ino straight in her twisted face...Ino bared her teeth at her when she was a second from Sakura, as Sakura curled her own fist into a ball ready to swing...She swung her fist directly at Ino's face but Ino caught her fist and PLOUGHED into her. Both Kunoichi crashed with a loud thud, grinding and skiing onto the snow-covered ground. Sakura could feel the pain in her body at impact; Ino felt like a bullet hitting her.
She lay on the ground numb, but Ino was already getting up so she tripped her feet and Ino fell forward almost on top of her but this time Sakura grabbed her long ponytail to ram her down to the ground again and sat on top of her. The back of her mind told her that she couldn't hurt Ino but there was nothing she could do. She was under attack. She clenched her fist again above Ino's face... she only needed a second...
Sakura was about to strike when she saw the change flash in Ino's now softened bright blue eyes...it happened in an instant. Ino gasped in startle and emitted a fear filled yell, curling up and placing her hands over her face for protection from the impact.
"Sakura!"
Sakura stopped her fist hovering in mid-air just above Ino's beautiful face. One second more and the blonde kunoichi would've been underground.
Ino's whole body was trembling as she gazed up at her old rival. The look in her eyes like a scared rabbit told Sakura that it was over. She was somehow back to normal.
"What...what are you doing?" she cried breathing heavily with her chest rising and falling rapidly. She felt vulnerable being at the mercy of Sakura's well-known strength.
"What do you mean what am I doing? What are you doing attacking me?"
Ino tried to catch her breath allowing Sakura's words to sink in. Somehow her puzzled face was very disturbing to Sakura after what had just happened.
"Attacking you? I never attacked you. I just opened my eyes now and found you on top of me about to knock me into oblivion! I never attacked you Sakura!" she yelled outraged.
Her words vibrated inside Sakura's mind. The look on her face told it to her, she was being genuine. She somehow had no recollection of what just happened.
"What? Then what just happened..." asked Sakura stunned.
"I don't know...you're saying that I just attacked you? Out of the blue? Do you think maybe you were hallucinating or you were under a genjutsu?"
"I can't tell. But Ino...you were amazing. You're speed was incredible, like you were a robot or something shooting shuriken at me...are you okay?" she asked as they helped each other up.
"Well Sakura, I don't really know how to say this but...I think I felt something in my head" she massaged her head frantically.
"You did? I knew it...do you think maybe you were being controlled?"
"How? We're the only ones in this area right now" said Ino checking herself from top to bottom. That's when she noticed her bloodied hand and freaked out.
"My arm! What happened to my arm?" she freaked while looking frantically for any wound.
"That's what I asked you but instead you attacked me" said Sakura helping Ino find the source of the blood.
"There's...there's no wound" she said shocked and staring up at Sakura who couldn't understand it.
"Then where did this blood come from? Sakura what's going on here? First I could swear that I felt something in my head and now this."
"Well it's not my blood. There was blood on your fist before you attacked me...listen Ino, I was wondering whether you happened to hear a voice in the forest? A high-pitched scream followed by a voice?"
"No, why? Is that what you heard? Is that what did this to me?" said Ino. Sakura wished she had an answer to calm Ino down, she looked very uneasy. Sakura looked out to the quiet windy forest.
"Maybe when we find the others, all of this will make sense"
"So how will we find them, remember we have to find the others before he gets to them." Ino said anxiously remembering who their assailant was.
Sakura couldn't tell whether she was talking about the rogue ninja or the 'enemies' known as the Taka. But Ino was starting to shiver even with her thick purple jacket, Sakura had no idea what their next move should be as the snow started to beat down ever harder against the increasingly hostile wind picking up. She decided that it was best to get to the shelter first.
"Listen Ino, I think we'll have to get out of the cold first-
-SNAP-
The breaking of branches and crunching leaves on the snow-covered ground came from near them.
"Ouch!" someone whined.
Ino and Sakura involuntarily jumped and held onto each other without noticing this time for a second, and then their weapons were at the ready in defensive stances. They both stared in the direction that the noise had come from; it sounded like someone from the row of trees nearest them. Sakura could feel Ino's hands shaking against her own hands as they waited for the voice to reveal itself. It made her start to shake as well for some reason. They waited with frozen bated breath for this someone to come out…
Tenten came out of the trees carrying her long bow staff she had just used to knock down branches in her way. Sakura and Ino hid away their weapons and smiled up at the sight of Tenten looking confused and cold from the ever stronger wind and falling snow, her signature two-sided Chinese bun hairstyle now hanging in her face.
"Hey Ino, Sakura, I found you. Thank goodness." she said happily but sounded exhausted.
"Tenten, are you okay? What happened to you?" asked Sakura.
"I only remember waking up by myself in this forest then I went around looking for Ne—I mean everyone else until I found you guys now. And you two?"
"We only just found each other now as well but it's pretty much the same story. Except... something weird just happened..." said Ino trying to keep her long fringe from blowing in her face.
"Really, like what?"
The two medical ninja exchanged glances at each other not knowing how to go about explaining the attack, voices and disturbances to her. "Never mind, it's a long story and we need time to explain it" said Sakura feeling wary.
"So then... is anyone else found yet?" asked Tenten with someone in mind.
"Afraid not, that includes the rogue ninja and-
"-And Sasuke who still looks as dreamy as ever in his new outfit. Did you see how low his shirt unzips, when that black cloak blew away from his body, even in this cold!" came Ino randomly. Sakura and Tenten shook their heads at each other in disbelief.
"You're such an airhead Ino, how could you say that at a time like this. Not to mention that he's our… erm, not our ally or comrade!" snapped Sakura unable to say the 'word'. Enemy.
"Do you honestly believe that Sakura, do you see him as an enemy and not former member of team Kakashi, I mean team seven?" asked Tenten serious faced hair blowing in the wind...
Sakura couldn't answer; the situation with Sasuke was far too complicated for that kind of simple answer...
2:05 pm
The white forest. Only decades away, the only Jonin on the Leaf ninja team felt his head throb achingly against the sharp wind. Neji Hyuuga was annoyed and edgy. After waking up alone with a blistering headache, he breathed furiously to calm himself down and dug his fingers into his glorious hair to soothe the pain at the back of his skull caused when he'd hit his head on the tree during the blast that'd knocked him out. Strangely enough to him, there was no bruise or bump forming at the back of his head, only moisture from the melting snow on his hair. But that was not important to him now, as he was still in the eerie forest alone and needed to find his Leaf ninja allies and eliminate any enemy he came across-any. He trudged about the snow using his byakugan to scan the area but saw nothing...until he turned to a clearing behind a tree and spotted something or someone. He noticed the silhouette and chakra network of someone standing out in the open. Strangely, standing completely still. A girl, he saw when she turned around, had pale green eyes. Sakura. He let out an eased sigh and cautiously approached her.
"Sakura, is that you?" he asked coming out to meet her grateful that he'd found a Leaf comrade even if it wasn't 'the one' he'd hoped to find.
"Oh Neji, hi. There you are. Are you okay?" she asked frolicking straight up to him and squeezing him with a tight hug, she then looked up at him with shining eyes. There was only a slight moment's hesitation as Neji didn't realise at first what she'd done. After the initial shock he was somehow able to awkwardly worm his way out of her tight embrace and stared at her in disbelief, completely taken aback.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" he demanded staring at her wide-eyed and stiff; she could've just set herself on fire.
"I'm just happy to see that you're okay, that's all" Sakura said innocently looking up at his head. Neji furrowed his brows and looked away, clearing his throat.
"Yes well, there's no time for that now. We still need to locate the others. Have you found anyone else yet?" he asked keeping a slight distance from her and never returning her gaze.
"Nope. It's just me. I like your hair by the way, it's real pretty." she said smiling happily as if she didn't have a care in the world. His mind went numb; he hadn't recovered from the initial shock of her previous actions and now she was acting more bizarre. He didn't know what to do but stare. What on earth was wrong with her?
Looking closer at her he noticed her...she was...she was touching herself all over her body, spinning around in her thick jacket, gazing, checking out her long legs which made her smile, flipping her soft pink chin length hair, and she seemed fascinated by herself...all he could do was watch her blankly.
All his observations were interrupted by the sudden wooziness and dizziness that overpowered his senses as his head began hurting again so he closed his eyes for a moment to focus again. It didn't help.
He let out a sigh of pain; his headache was getting worse.
"Sakura, we have to find the others-
-Want to play a game? Maybe hide and seek?" she beamed at him out of the blue with a dazzling smile.
"What is the matter with you, were on a mission..." he said annoyed at her made worse by his pained head. He had no time for her to fool around; the current situation was already precarious without her childish abandon.
"Ah! No one ever wants to play that game with me. Fine! Let's just go" she pouted in a two-year old type tantrum taking is hand and pulling him along with her.
"Wait, what are you doing? Let go of me" he said looking down at her hands in his with one eye open as pain continued to hurt his head. Sakura was starting to get on his nerves now.
"So we can be safe and we don't lose each other" she said with a smile staring up at his head intently.
"No thank you" he said pulling his arm free. The girl next to him couldn't be Sakura, something was wrong with her...she was too bizarre.
Neji continued to keep his distance from her as he and Sakura both walked about the forest before he saw with his byakugan the silhouette of someone lying down on the snow near a tree, unconscious he saw, and a few metres from them.
"Wait, I see something over there. Let's go." hissed Neji hurriedly making his way to the tree.
"Uh-uh. Before we go there, I have to say, I gotta go" Sakura said suddenly shaking her head at him.
"Excuse me?"
"I need to use the bathroom. Right now, it can't wait. I'll just have to squat behind a tree somewhere."
An awkward pause fell upon them. Before he could express his annoyance at yet another one of her hindrances, Sakura was already jogging away from him.
"Wait, Sakura-
"Don't look you perve." Sakura scolded at him. He had no choice but to look away, growling under his breath in frustration.
"You really should've played with me. I would've been fun." she shouted back to him skipping merrily to a few trees away from him. She was gone before he could say anything more...
2:14 pm
Neji waited...and waited...and waited. Sakura never came back. It had been far too long now...he decided it had to be safe to go and investigate. He walked over to the trees where he'd seen her go to. Absent...
"Sakura? Sakura?" he hissed out angrily at her.
Nothing.
He turned on his byakugan. His head began to throb dangerously, he just needed to do it quickly... he scanned the area but she really wasn't there. Something about her childish antics made him unsurprised by her disappearance. She had been really strange. She was actually gone. He turned around with his byakugan still on. The silhouette of the unconscious person lying at the tree had vanished as well... He shook his head at the madness...
He really couldn't understand how she was able to completely vanish like that and why. Sakura had behaved very peculiar for some reason. He contemplated that maybe she might've been taken by someone, but he hadn't heard any struggle and he would've seen the chakra network if someone had arrived and abducted her. Then again, he remembered that he'd been forced to look away from her location on account that she'd requested privacy…Strange. Very strange.
A bolt of pain shot through his head. He gasped out in pain again and relaxed his byakugan.
His head felt like it was on the verge of exploding from pain. Desperation to find someone made him cling onto consciousness as he was near collapse.
He carried on searching...
2:57 pm
Light headed...how was it that his head could feel so light yet was so heavy to carry...Neji stomped about the snow looking for someone, anyone. Ninja life was extremely unpleasant at times.
"Sakura? Sakura!"
He'd yelled louder in frustration, it made his head hurt more. How long had he been looking for her now? It was ridiculous and unexplainable. He had no choice but to abandon his search for her.
Fortunately, this time he'd heard his own name coming at him in an echo.
"Neji?..."
It was distant but at least he could hear it.
"Byakugan"
His head continued to burn but the tiny hope of hearing someone calling out to him was all the hope he needed. Neji scanned the area; he saw with his byakugan three silhouettes of blue chakra a short way ahead of him, they were calling out to him and waving around their arms to get his attention. He followed the figures and then hid behind a tree before hearing familiar murmurings.
Neji stepped out of the trees and saw the three kunoichi of the Leaf team. Finally he saw her. The one he'd really been looking for all along. Tenten. Safe. He didn't care about anything else. His eyes shifted to see Ino then Sakura standing in the group and shot an irritated gaze at her.
"There you are. Are you three all alright?"
"Neji! Ah finally!" sang Tenten treading up to her teammate in the deep snow and biting wind. Something inside of her told her that she was happiest to see him specifically...Until she noticed something unnerving... Neji, he wasn't okay...
She stopped a few seconds away from him, wide-eyed. All three of the Leaf kunoichi did. When Neji noticed their faces, it alarmed him.
Neji especially noticed Tenten's overjoyed face replaced by horror as they all stared up at him stunned, and mouths agape.
"What's the matter?" he whispered terrified.
Tenten pointed at his head. She let out a horrified pained scream that sent the black birds of the white forested area flying off…
It petrified him, rooted him on the frozen ground.
Tenten, Ino and Sakura, nothing could explain the horror they felt staring at the large kunai sticking out from the back of Neji's head.
"NEJI!" Tenten screamed.
He couldn't respond, his mouth was glued shut in terror at her scream. Her scream...Tenten. He had no idea why they looked at him like he was about to die...
"You, you have a kunai sticking out the back of your head" she yelled pointing stunned at him.
He froze. Only shock and fear were able to move his arm. Neji's unnerved shaky hand shot up to feel the back of his head. He felt the cold metal of a giant knife lodged in his head. No wonder the headaches...It was stupefying... How? When? It hadn't been there when he touched his head earlier; he'd only felt moisture from the snow melting on his head. It dawned on him that the moisture he felt must've been his own blood. But he hadn't seen any blood on his hands...he brought his hand back down and looked at the evidence. Blood...Light-headedness overwhelmed and collapsed his body to his knees.
"Neji! Sakura, Ino, We have to help him." Tenten flew to his side as the two medical ninja followed behind her. She caught him before the rest of his body hit the ground and hastily aimed to dislodge the weapon from the back of his head.
"WAIT!" yelled Sakura in the loud rushing wind. Tenten and Ino both stopped. Sakura could see Tenten was shaking violently and not from the wind.
"Don't just pull it out of him; he'll lose a lot more blood that way. This kunai is now acting as a plug when left in, keeping his blood from pouring out."
"So what do we do? We can't just leave it in his head like this" cried Tenten visibly shaken.
"Ino, help me here. Focus your chakra on the point of penetration to pull the kunai out and heal his wound at the same time so no more blood is lost. Do it slowly, we don't know how deep it is inside his head. We don't want to rupture anything." she said to the other medical ninja. Nothing in the world could've prepared her to perform medical ninjutsu under such stressful conditions.
Tenten held him upright as Neji's eyes began to flicker open.
"Don't worry Neji, you'll be fine" she said looking him straight in the eyes as he exclaimed in pain. He stared into her concerned soft brown eyes feeling every one of her emotions in himself, so close. His death was too close for comfort...for the both of them.
3:12 pm
Sakura and Ino withdrew the kunai knife from Neji's now sealed wound and he could already feel the alleviation of pain from his head. Sakura combed his long hair over the wound to keep it from exposure.
"Thank you, both of you" he said quietly to the two medical kunoichi. They nodded to him as his safety as their comrade was all the gratitude they needed.
"Are you okay Neji? How did this happen to you? And how did you not feel anything?" asked Tenten on the verge of tears.
"I have no idea. I woke up with a headache but I didn't feel anything in my head when I touched it earlier. How is it that I didn't feel something as large and dramatic as this in my head?"
"Perhaps someone threw it at you right now, before we saw you?"
"No, I would've felt the impact..." he drifted away when his mind backtracked to when he'd woken up from the blast. Sakura. He'd just remembered that he was with her and would later look for her.
"Hold on, Sakura, you were with me! Why didn't you tell me there was a kunai thrown in my head? And where did you disappear to?" he lambasted at her.
She furrowed her brows, throwing a 'who me' look at him. "What are you talking about? I never saw you until you got here with us now" she said nodding at both Ino and Tenten for confirmation.
He stared at her in disbelief. It was impossible.
"It can't be! Sakura I was with you just now trying to find the others when you said that you needed the loo and you disappeared. You were acting very...peculiar"
"Neji. I didn't do any of those things" she said serious faced and shaking her head slowly at him.
He should've known it wasn't rightfully her. The way in which she was behaving...but he was very sure that it had been her. He knew better than to believe that he'd been delirious due to his then unknown injury.
"Guess it was your turn to forget something you did Sakura" said Ino remembering what'd happened to her when she met up with Sakura earlier. They both exchanged uneasy glances. Sakura didn't want to acknowledge that something unexplainable had happened to them that day...It was too terrifying...
"Neji, you need to rest" came Tenten still clutching his shoulders and standing in front of him.
"No, I'm fine now. It's alright Tenten. Let's get back to the task at hand-our mission. That's our top priority now." he said steadying himself up amidst the heavy snow and battering wind. He could feel Tenten's unyielding concerned gaze stabbing him, but he had to ignore it.
"None of us have seen even a single sign of the rogue or Taka" whined Ino starting to shiver against the wind and snowfall.
"I also searched the entire area and, with this ever-increasing snowfall going on, we cannot do any more searching around. It appears that we are alone, for now." he said solemnly.
Sakura tightened her gloved fists. As relieved as she was that Neji, Tenten and Ino were found, her mind kept reminding her that her own teammate along with Shikamaru hadn't returned yet. Naruto. Where was he? It was starting to stir up a panic inside of her as she watched the strong wind beating the snow down hard on and around them. If they didn't make it to a shelter soon, they could freeze to death or get targeted by the many enemies around. Looking around at the rest of the group, she knew they were also thinking the same thing. Ino, she guessed, was especially was thinking about Shikamaru whilst Neji and Tenten looked quite satisfied to see each other now healthy and safe. She was so jealous of the feeling. She couldn't wait to feel it herself...Naruto.
"Guys, listen up. Earlier on I found a hous-"
The noise of branches breaking interrupted Sakura and made them all tense up. It sounded like it came from right above them. All their heads shot up to look at who or what was in the tree, weapons drawn and a sharp noses out to sniff out any enemy.
A figure jumped down and stood in the shadow of the tree in the weak sunlight, waiting...Ino was too hasty...she thought that she'd recognised the silhouette of the person. He was hiding...lurking...
"Shikamaru!" she exclaimed excitedly stepping to the forefront of the Leaf ninja group in front of Sakura and Neji, elated that she'd finally found her previously Team Ten teammate.
"Wait!"
Neji stopped her from walking forward with his arm outstretched; looking very alertly at the figure by the tree, straining his byakugan eyes. One look at his intense eyes wiped the elation off Ino's face; clearly it wasn't who she'd hoped for.
"What? What is it Neji?" she whispered staring intensely at him. He didn't respond but kept his byakugan eyes fixated at the tree. She waited...who was it...
A teenage girl who didn't appear to be a day older or younger than the three Leaf Village Kunoichi stepped out of the darkness with a mean scowl on her face, her pretty eyes hidden by brown framed glasses. She was wearing the famously distinct black Akatsuki cloak with the red cloud print that matched her fiery cherry red hair. Judging by the look on her face, she was not as surprised and alerted to run into them as they were. Sakura recognised her as the only girl on the Taka team from the confrontation earlier who'd stayed out of the way of the others trying to find a way out for her team. They didn't get the chance to find out how strong she was yet. All eyes of the Leaf team were on her now.
"Leaf Ninja! Thought I'd smelled foul chakra. Disgusting!" she spat.
"Where's Shikamaru? What have you done with him!" yelled Ino who tried to step forward wielding a kunai at the ready but was held back by Neji.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Where's Sasuke?" she sassed placing her hand on her hip and sticking out her leg.
"Sasuke?" asked Sakura standing behind Ino.
"Yes, village girl" she sneered with an overbearing attitude. "I take it you at least know Sasuke since he was previously in your little-
"Shut your damn mouth!" snarled Sakura stepping forward and giving the red-head girl a dirty look up and down. "How dare you talk to us about Sasuke like you know him?"
"Sakura calm down" said Neji never taking his eyes off the stranger.
"So I take it that you did know him-once. Well I didn't come here to pick a fight with you Leaf ninja; I'm just looking for my own teammates just like you. You know Sasuke on my team now..."
"Well we can't just allow you to walk away freely. You Taka are wanted ninja in every one of the Great Hidden Villages because of your affiliations with the Akatsuki." said Neji.
"The Akatsuki huh...funny...hmmm" she smirked deviously at them for some unknown reason. "Well it doesn't matter anyway. There's a snowstorm coming. You can't take me anywhere for arrest because there's nowhere to go. We're all going to die here. Well, except for Sasuke (Sakura clenched her fist when she said the unmentionable name) who is probably long gone now." she said smugly.
"Not quite. I know somewhere where we Leaf ninja will be kept safe. But that doesn't mean…" came Sakura.
The Leaf ninja exchanged glances and all nodded to each other. Then. With one swift movement Tenten launched forward and grabbed both the Taka girl's arms with her one hand, twisting them up behind her back and wired her entire body bound before the girl could blink and let out an exclaim of annoyance. Tenten then placed a kunai under her chin.
"Good work Tenten. At least that's one of them out of the way."
"Thanks Neji" she said appreciatively to him, flashing a smile at him which caught him off guard.
"Seriously, this is the same as doing nothing. What will kidnapping me do? Sasuke and the rest of the Taka are long gone. Like I said, we're all going to die there." said the Taka girl. The Leaf ignored her comment.
"Wait, so why are we capturing her if her team is gone and they won't come looking for her. She's no use to us as bait if we want to find the Taka" said Ino.
"Well we can't just allow her to go freely; she's one of our enemies. Well take her just to be cautious" said Neji.
"Don't forget guys, we still need to look for Shikamaru and Naruto" came a concerned Sakura.
"The storm is worsening; pretty soon we won't be able to cope out here." said Neji examining their wind and snow whipped surroundings.
"Don't worry about that, as I was going to say, I found a house outside the forest where we can hopefully take shelter and keep this girl there until we find Shikamaru and Naruto." said Sakura.
"Fantastic Sakura, take us there"
3:24pm
They all made their way through the forest. Sakura led them through the forest to where she remembered the house's location with their female captive not even struggling as she went along with Tenten. They walked with ever more difficulty against the howling wind and snowfall but finally as they exited the dense forest, the dark lonely yet majestic house was finally in sight. It made them feel slightly better to finally be a near distance away to marvel at the shelter they needed so desperately...but without their two comrades. Then the girl spoke.
"Ah finally, he's come, even if it's with the other two, but still. He's come to rescue me, how romantic!" she chimed dreamily which made the whole group stop a mere short distance away from the last row of trees before the clearing to the house...
"Could someone shut her up?" said Sakura annoyed.
"Wait a second" Ino said looking at Sakura who looked back at her. They both felt something...
"SCATTER!"
Sakura and Neji jumped backwards while Ino and Tenten still holding onto their female prisoner jumped sideways just in time to avoid the giant fist that pounded the ground they had just been not even a second ago. The Leaf ninja had almost detected it too late; three other people had landed with a crashing thud onto the soft snow-covered ground. The Leaf ninja group backed up slightly to face the new group of people.
"There you are Kariin, caught up with the enemy have you" came someone's light-hearted mocking.
The collective gasp of Leaf ninja in surprise at the sight of the rest of the Taka showed their frustration...The Taka. With him as Sakura saw. Sasuke, standing forward and confident, flanked by the two other Taka ninja. Sakura tried not to look at him; it stirred unwelcome and confusing emotions inside her. The one who had said the silly snide comment had chin length whitish-blue hair and a shark like incisor tooth peeping out the top lip of his smug, toothy grin. Sakura noticed that he had a giant blade strapped to his tiny framed body that she recognised but couldn't remember from where.
Then the other guy who'd just smashed his fist into the ground, the huge guy with ginger hair who looked formidable like the strong and silent type. He was the one who had freaked out and attacked them before the blast that had separated them. As for Sasuke he had the same blank unperturbed expression on his pretty boy face with no feelings whatsoever of encountering his old comrades.
Sasuke. That name was a poison of unfulfilled wishes to Sakura. It was unspeakable to her. Seeing him so upfront was both intimidating and exhilarating. Her inside swelled up in anger and anguish...with none being more dominant than the other.
"Suigetsu, would, you, just, shut, up, and, get, me, outta, here!" the Taka girl said indignantly finally squirming and struggling against the wire bounding her of which Tenten grabbed her tighter.
"What, with that attitude. No way...and erm who's the good-looking blonde near you?" he retorted, his smile growing evermore at her predicament; he seemed to be in his element in the heavy snowfall.
"Is that trick talking to me?" stung Ino.
"Give her back to us, now" demanded Sasuke in his deadpan voice over the howling wind.
"Sasuke! I found the Leaf ninja but I knew that I couldn't take them on by myself, so I told them that you'd left this place, knowing that they would still capture me in any case, for precautions sake. That way, when you did come to find me like you always would, we would all be in one place and you could finally get rid of them." sang the Taka girl.
The realisation came clicking on like a lightbulb. The Leaf realised that they'd been duped. She'd deliberately tricked them into falling into a trap. She'd been counting on the fact that they would take her as a prisoner to get what she wanted. Neji growled peeved that he'd not seen this coming.
"Move, you're in our way or we're going to have to take you all back to the Leaf for arrest." said Neji when Ino also stepped forward. Sakura felt anchored on the spot at the sight of Sasuke.
"Sasuke, whatever you're doing here, just stop and come back with us. I don't understand, Itachi is dead, you killed him. You don't have to do this anymore" said Ino. She was confused; he'd done what he'd always intended so why didn't he go back with them. Sakura whished he would answer the question.
Mention of his brother's name by someone unknowing of the hellish, extremely personal complicated and emotional experience of them as Uchiha brothers seemed to ignite Sasuke's aggression.
"Shut up, you don't know anything, and you're annoyingly starting to sound like that brat Naruto. Now let her go!" he spat narrowing his treacherous eyes at Ino. Now it was Sakura's turn, as mention of Naruto's name by the undeserving likes of him unrooted her from her drawback at seeing Sasuke.
Sakura finally stepped forward.
"Sasuke, why are you doing this? Where is he? Where is Naruto?" she whispered.
"I'll say it one more time, give us back Kariin or we take her from you" he said ignoring her question. It stung her. She lost the confidence to speak to him afterward.
Kariin was too delighted and blushed; being demanded back for rescue by Sasuke was like being rescued by her favourite male superhero crush.
"Get out of our way" Neji barked stepping toward Sasuke.
Everyone was on edge; they'd reached an impasse. Sasuke placed his hands on the hilt of his katana, the guy called Suigetsu touched his giant blade and the big guy cracked his knuckles as did Sakura as Ino placed her hands on her ninja tools.
Everything was interrupted by a yelling coming from the left hand side in the forest that caught their attention and made them stop and turn to see where the voice had come from.
"AAAAAH!" came someone's frustrated yell.
They all jerked around to find another member of the Leaf ninja team that they couldn't see precisely as the snow decreased visibility, coming from behind the trees towards them.
Shikamaru Nara stumbled out of the woods holding onto his side and squinted in front of him. The sight of yet another Leaf shinobi who was alive and well delighted them, especially Ino, and angered the opposition. When she saw who it was, she was the first one to run to her fellow former team ten operative and current team captain that she respected so highly. He whined looking at everyone a metre away as he slouched down.
"Shikamaru!" she yelled overcome by emotion and running to greet him.
"Wait Ino- yelled Sakura. She grunted under her breath, annoyed that Ino had made a run during a heated standoff with enemy. It could've easily triggered anyone to jump into fight with the distraction.
From what she could see in the limited visibility, he looked pretty banged up. But, something was not right. He screwed up his eyes in pain and clung onto his side. He was bleeding slightly. The enemy ninja's noticed, so did the Leaf. Relief was quickly replaced by anxiety.
"Looks like he's injured, give us back Kariin so you could tend to your wounded" said Sasuke.
They had no choice. Neji gave the order to let her go and Tenten threw Kariin back to The Taka and unwired her. Kariin stood next to Sasuke smiling at him...until she felt something disturbing.
"Wait, what is that chakra. Another chakra heading this way?" Kariin said looking around wildly about something unknown, feeling a pang through her body.
"What are you talking about Kariin?" asked Suigetsu rolling his eyes, she didn't respond but looked toward the direction where Shikamaru came from. The rest of their eyes trailed as well...
...A thunderous booming sounded somewhere in the forest a few miles behind Shikamaru as scared off birds in the forest flew away.
Sakura momentarily forgot their standoff and looked down at the ground. It began with a gradual vibration below that steadily grew into a full-scale tremor...The ground began to shake violently in a loud grumbling and groaning like a hungry giant was below the surface. Sakura could feel the earth exercising all effort to heave her body down by the sheer force. She looked around frantically at the rest of the ninja trying to hold onto their balance. They looked at each other in surprise. What had started the earthquake...progressed into pounding...galloping...
"No Ino, Run!" Shikamaru yelled suddenly.
She stopped and stared at him in a state of panic as did the rest of the Leaf and Taka group.
"What?" she shouted as the earthquake threatened to topple everyone over.
"RUN!"
The booming noise sounded again from the forest. It sounded like a rapid pounding and stomping gaining momentum and speed with every giant earth shattering gallop. They all looked around in panic. Sakura couldn't see straight, she grabbed a hold of a nearby tree to keep balance as did most of the other ninja. Weak visibility made it worse to look into the far distance. Something was coming... Something massive, colossal, malevolent…
"Sasuke...I don't like this chakra!" yelled Kariin.
"EVERYONE RUN!"
The Taka were the first ones to move. Sakura panicked, she didn't want them escaping but she couldn't deal with them at present. She tried running and stumbling towards Shikamaru to help him but was instantly grabbed by Neji. No time...get away, get away...
"No! You're our best medical ninja, save yourself first. That's an order." he said grabbing her and Tenten to get away as fast as possible.
"Shikamaru!" screamed Ino sprinting to him...no time...get away, get away...
"Ino take him now!" Neji yelled behind him… no one had even a second to think…Sakura could feel her heart beating fast. She could feel the momentum and galloping pace steadily getting nearer and nearer with every steady smashing gallop...it was only a matter of time now...she kept running with everyone else while she closed her eyes for impact...
…Three…Two…One…