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"Looks like you better be careful, Sasuke," Naruto joked, "you could get kidnapped, too."

"Shut up, you loser." Sasuke spat back.

"Yeah, Naruto!" Sakura screamed. "This is serious! There are real people in danger here, so don't joke about it!"

"Why do you always team up against me?" Naruto asked his pink haired comrade.

"Because Sasuke is smarter than you." She shot Naruto's hopes down before giving Sasuke a look of admiration.

"That's enough bickering," their teacher scolded, "we're here."

••••••

Nejiri's story was similar to that of Otoha's. It seems that his son fit the description that Mrs. Yamada provided: a pale boy with dark hair and eyes.

However, with the sun going down, Kakashi's team, would have to wait until morning to continue their investigation, for they would not be able to question people during the night, especially with the citizens fearing their children's safety.

Once the team was back at the inn for the evening, another debate began. "So who gets a bed and who gets the floor?" Naruto asked his fellow teammates.

"I want a bed," Sakura declared; she was the only girl on the squad and felt she deserved one; besides, she needed her beauty sleep to look good for Sasuke.

"That's fine, Sakura. I would also like a bed, and since I am the Sensei, I will claim one." Kakashi said.

Naruto and Sasuke met gazes before shouting in unison: "I get it!"

"Loser, why should you get it? What have you done to deserve it?"

"Saved your ass a bunch of times!" Naruto said, recalling the incidents with Gaara, Orochimaru, and Haku.

"You would have drown or busted your head open if it weren't for me, and let's not forget the time I almost died to save you." Sasuke combatted.

Naruto's eyes turned angrier. "I've told you a thousand times that I didn't want you to do that!"

"Shut up, loser! I did so..."

Sakura and Kakashi Sensei looked at one another. "How long are they going to do this?" The pink girl asked, growing tired of the constant rivalry between her two teammates.

Kakashi cleared his throat and sighed before speaking. "You're both sleeping on the floor."

"What?" Naruto shrieked. "But Sensei!" Sasuke glared at Kakashi to show that he agreed that the older man's solution was stupid.

"All you do is make rude remarks or yell at each other. It's ridiculous, and I don't really want to share a bed with either of you hotheads." He received nasty looks from both of his male students, but it did not sway his decision.

The space between the beds could not comfortably fit one of the boys, so they had to lay side by side at the foot of one of the mattresses.

"Move over some, Sasuke," Naruto whispered, "I'm up against the dresser."

"Get over it..." Sasuke mumbled wearily. He wanted to sleep.

Naruto was frustrated at the current situation. He stretched his hands out and 'accidentally' smack Sasuke in the face, which caused the Uchiha to become angry. "Oh sorry," Naruto said sarcastically, "I didn't mean to hit you."

"It's no big deal." Sasuke replied, also in a whisper while swiftly kicking Naruto in the shin with most of his strength.

"Hey!" Naruto screamed, breaking the mostly silent room. "What was that for?"

"Shut up, Naruto!" A girl's voice shrieked. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"But Sasuke kicked me!"

"I wouldn't have done that if you didn't hit me."

"You wouldn't move!"

"I don't have room to move, you loser!"

"You could have just told me that instead of-"

"Naruto, Sasuke; that's enough!" Kakashi groaned in anger, as he was awoken by yet another argument. "All you have done the whole day is argue; I don't want to hear it anymore. You're teammates, so start acting like it."

Kakashi often told them to stop fighting, but he rarely got as irritated as he was at the moment… It was probably because this time, the boys caused him to wake up in the middle of the night over a silly dispute.

"This is your fault," the blond whispered to Sasuke.

"My fault?" Sasuke asked quietly. "If you weren't such a loser, this wouldn't have been a problem."

"Stop calling me a loser, you idiot."

"At least I know what I'm doing; you barely graduated from the academy."

"Come again?" Naruto hissed.

"That's right; you're just a dead last loser."

"And you're stuck up and obnoxious!" The volume of this conversation was slowly rising...

"Yeah, I'm the obnoxious one."

"You think you're just so much better than me, don't you?"

"Basically."

"Well you're not!"

"Both of you, go sleep in the hall!" Kakashi growled. "We are on a mission, and if we are all sleep deprived due to your foolish arguments, this assignment is going to take much longer than it should, so get in the hall. You'll have plenty of space to spread out, and I don't want to hear either of you complaining anymore."

The younger males grumbled but didn't really want Kakashi to be mad at them, so they gathered blankets, pillows, etc., and went into the hall. Naruto claimed the spot closer to their room, and Sasuke took the spot on the opposite wall.

"If you weren't so loud, we wouldn't be out here." Sasuke stated.

"If you didn't constantly insult me, we wouldn't be out here."

"If you didn't have so many things to insult, we wouldn't be out here."

"If you didn't... uhhh, this is ridiculous," Naruto sighed. Negative words ceased to exchange as Naruto started to think about the information his team had gathered. "Hey, Sasuke?"

"What do you want now?" The Uchiha glanced over at his blond friend and rival.

"What do you think is going on around here? I mean with the missing boys?"

Sasuke adjusted his pillow before answering. "I don't know... We don't have enough to figure that out yet."

"But don't you think it's weird that whoever it is, is only taking people that look like... well, like you?"

"I haven't really thought about that much, but that part did seem strange."

"Do you think that they'll come after you?"

"If they try, they won't get me. I'm not weak enough to get kidnapped." Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah, okay..." Naruto agreed that Sasuke could hold off a bunch of thug kidnappers; it still concerned him, though. "I'm going to sleep now."

"Me too..."

••••••

Naruto yawned and stretched his arms upon waking up the next morning. The window at the end of the hall allowed light to shine in his face, forcing him to rise with the sun. However, it suddenly dawned on the boy that a certain presence was missing... He looked to his right and noticed a certain Uchiha was missing.

The blond found it strange that Sasuke's bedding was still out in the hall; that boy usually picked up after himself. Naruto didn't think much of it, though; Sasuke had probably just gone to the bathroom or hot springs located at the rear of the inn.

Thinking about the warm water, Naruto got the desire to go soak for a while. Without changing out of his pajamas, the blond headed towards the back of the building. The steam rising up made him eager to jump right in, and he did just that.

Back on the second floor, Sakura and Kakashi were just beginning to wake up. "Sakura, can you go wake up Sasuke and Naruto?" The jonin politely asked.

"Of course, Sensei," the girl replied. She loved the sight of Sasuke in the morning. Flinging the door open with anticipation, Sakura set her eyes on nothing but two piles of blankets.

"They aren't out there..." She informed her teacher.

"I'll bet they went to hot springs; I've heard several people speak of how luxurious they are in this town."

"Did they have to leave their stuff out in the hall, though?" Sakura wondered as she generously brought it back into the room.

"We should get ready to go out today," the jonin instructed, "then we can get Naruto and Sasuke if they don't come back up before then."

Several minutes later, both teacher and student were ready for the day's adventure. Kakashi opened the door to exit as Naruto was strolling back towards the room.

"Hey Kakashi Sensei; hey Sakura." He smiled radiantly.

"Good morning, Naruto," he noticed that the other boy was not with him, "where's Sasuke?"

"You mean he's not with you?" Naruto asked.

"We figured you both went downstairs," Sakura said.

"I thought so too, but he wasn't at the hot spring when I was. I thought he was probably back in the room." The three started to get an eerie feeling.

"So you haven't seen him?" Kakashi asked, a bit of panic on the edge of his voice.

"Not since last night..." Naruto said. "When I woke up, he had already gone somewhere..."

It was obvious that they were all thinking the same thing... Sasuke fit the description of the missing boys perfectly, and now the Uchiha had vanished.