Alrighty! Here's Chapter Two! I hope you guys enjoy. Please let me know if I'm capturing the story well, and what I should work on it further chapters! Thanks!
DISCLAIMER: As always, these amazing characters, besides Amaya, belong to Masashi Kishimoto!
"I miss you, miss you so bad,
I don't forget you, oh it's so sad,
I hope you can hear me,
I remember it clearly,
The day you slipped away,
Was the day I found it won't be the same."
-Slipped Away, Avril Lavigne
Chapter Two
"Please, Uncle Shika? Please, please, please?"
Amaya knew how to push the right buttons in all of the shinobi around her, especially her Uncle Shikamaru. The young child had the two men wrapped around her tiny fingers, and she knew it. With this knowledge under her belt, she knew with a little pleading and a large hug to her Uncle's legs that she would get the ice cream she longed for.
Shikamaru tried to resist, he really did. But Sakura's child really did pull on his heart strings. He'd once hoped to have a simple life, with a few children, and a loving, easy going wife, but life had taken him down another path. He had his beautiful wife, albeit her easy going nature was something to be desired. Ino was as easy going as white river rapids after a flood. Absolutely non-existent. What a drag.
Ino laughed from besides Shikamaru, trying to hide the giggling behind her hand. Shikamaru and Ino had entertained the thought of children for a while when Amaya was born, but then life had taken a hold on their paths and swung them another direction. Now that things had calmed down, somewhat, they had begun trying again. Not that they were telling anyone, because wouldn't that be just troublesome to have Naruto and Kiba goading him every time he was around Ino.
Shikamaru sighed, scratching his head and closing his eyes. "Kid, you have the stomach of your Uncle Choji. It never ends."
Amaya smiled, clapped her hands, and raced over to the ice cream shop with his wife in tow. Despite his facade of annoyance, the two girls before him meant the world to him. When he'd married Ino, he knew he had already fallen hard, but after Sakura had lost Kohaku while bearing his child, the rookie nine stepped up to help their fellow kunoichi. Well, rookie eight, minus Sauske.
From the moment Sakura had lost everything, she'd gained more than she would ever know. The rookie nine had been through so much growing up, that nothing could break the bond they all shared with each other. And especially since Ino and Sakura had settled their feud for friendship, Shikamaru had spent a lot of time with the two women. Then, when Amaya came into the picture, Ino designated herself the go-to babysitter. Since that child had been born, Shikamaru had vowed to keep her safe from harm. If not for Sakura, he would do it for Ino, because his wife shared a tight bond with the girl. They couldn't handle losing another part of their friend and family circle.
"Shikamaru, come on!" Ino shouted and waved from across the street.
Hands in his pocket, Shikamaru smiled and shook his head. "Coming, dear," he chastised, much to Ino's dislike, and strode across the street to stand behind his wife and niece.
Boom.
Shikamaru's hands stilled on Ino's hips, and he cocked his head to the east. A large plume of smoke rose into the night sky, and the many people in the market around him stilled to take in the same view.
"Shikamaru..." Ino murmured, and blinked a few times before taking a few steps back into the street. "That's in the direction of the prison. Sakura and Tsunade are there. Shika-"
As Ino turned to face her husband, Shikamaru had already gathered Amaya into his arms and taken Ino's hand. Rushing forward, he pushed himself from the ground to leap atop the roof tops.
As their house came into view, Shikamaru handed a very silent Amaya to Ino. "Get to the house and wait for me to come back. If anything happens, get to safety. Okay?"
Shikamaru touched his wife's face, and when Ino nodded with a set, determined look on her face, he had the confirmation to set off towards the ever growing plume of smoke rising into the sky.
He needed to check on Sakura, check on his Hokage, and help diffuse the situation if he could. Hopefully the situation wasn't anything serious. Because what a drag that would be, eh?
xxxXxxx
When Sakura came to, everything was a fog of smoke, debris, and dust. The air was static with electricity, which made Sakura's hair stand up akin to Naruto's yellow spikes. Blinking through the dust, she coughed and wiped her arm over her face.
'What happened?' Sakura thought, standing while rapidly blinking and swiping her hands through the air.
Before she went any further, she spun to the metal table she'd spent the past afternoon and evening pining over.
And he was gone.
'Shit.'
Sakura froze and tried to sense his chakra signature nearby, but all she got was a big load of nothing.
"ANBU?" She called, but no one appeared. Alright, then. She was on her own for the time being. Grabbing a scalpel off the table, she picked her way across the debris on the floor with the tool raised. No telling what this shinobi was capable, if he was anywhere nearby.
Taking a moment to look around, Sakura groaned inwardly. Part of the room had collapsed, revealing the interrogation cell perpendicular to her. It was a good thing she had been flung the other direction or she'd be suffering from more than a massive headache. The fluorescent lights were dangling from the ceiling by their wiring, and the door had been broken off its hinges and lay haphazardly on the floor a few feet away from her.
"Damnit," she cursed.
She rushed through the gaping doorway, and winced, covering her head as another series of explosions resonated through the building.
Boom. Boom. Crack.
If this was another attack, related to the one from last night, Sakura wouldn't be surprised. But why had their hostage been from Amegakure? Konoha had no immediate quarrel with the Village Hidden in the Rain. Why now?
Sakura made her way quickly through the passageways, dodging debris that had fallen to the ground. Not for the first time today did she find herself wishing this ward was built with better ventilation, because every breath she took was laced with dust that scratched her throat and made her cough.
Sakura was just beginning to question whether she had gotten turned around while avoiding exposed wires and crumpled walls, when she heard a familiar voice around the corner.
"Sakura? Sakura, where are you?"
Turning the corner, Sakura collided with a tall body. "Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru instinctively grabbed Sakura's wrist with the scalpel, and then released her.
"Sakura, what happened?" he asked, looking around and wincing when the light above them sparked and flickered.
"I don't know. One moment I was cleaning up, the next there was a large explosion and everything went to Hell."
"Hell is right. The whole east wall exploded. There are Amegakure and Sound ninja crawling all over the place," Shikamaru said, glancing behind Sakura before motioning to follow him.
They ran the rest of the passageway to the outside door, and were met with the outside air filled with just as much smoke. Shikamaru wrapped his arm around Sakura's shoulders, hunching them both over as they ran along the side of the prison building.
A few yards away, chaos ensued. ANBU Black Ops and Shinobi fought against Rain and Sound ninja, some moving so fast Sakura couldn't even follow their movements.
"Sakura, come on!" Shikamaru urged as she slowed down to take in the scene before her. "You can't stay here!"
Sakura's first urge was to turn to Shikamaru and demand, 'Why the hell not?' But she knew her abilities would be needed elsewhere, particularly the hospital. So she let the comment go, and followed Shikamaru through the town streets and eventually onto the roof of an apartment complex. Looking around, the fighting seemed to be contained at the east side. The invading shinobi seemed to be held off so far, but a few battles were getting dangerously close to civilian housing.
"Oh man," Shikamaru groaned, taking in the same scene as Sakura. "This is bad; this is very bad. Sakura, Tsunade will need you at the hospital. I'll stay here to help fight."
Nodding, Sakura started to make her way towards the hospital before-
"Shikamaru?"
"She's safe," he replied, almost instantly. Sakura gave a sigh of relief. "Ino has her at our house. I told her to move to safety if things got worse, so I'm pretty sure she'll be at the hospital waiting for you."
"Thank you, Shikamaru."
He nodded, and they parted ways. Shikamaru towards his comrades, and Sakura towards her daughter and the chaos she knew the hospital would be in.
xxxXxxx
The hospital was a mess. Nurses scampering this way and that, shinobi piling up in the hallways with injuries. The damage to the wall had been severe, and, ever since the attack last night, security had been doubled in the east side area.
Sakura was happy that she'd decided to stay in her shrubs from her previous shift, because she was immediately swamped with questions, patients, and orders. Assessing each case she came across, she made her way through the halls all the while taking names, barking orders, and scanning the crowded areas for Ino or her daughter.
Right now, Sakura would give anything to drop everything and search for her daughter, but she had to trust Ino would watch over her as she always had.
Three broken femur's, two concussions, and three brain hemorrhage later, Sakura was running low on energy and chakra. She still hadn't recovered from the night before, not to mention the five hours healing Ibiki's hostage. There wasn't much more she could do until the second wave of medics arrived in an hour, per Tsunade's orders. Technically, Sakura could take on a few more patients, but Tsunade had warned her about stretching herself to thin. Sakura had experienced the effects firsthand, on her first solo shift in the E.R.
"Get this one to surgical. He's going to need much more healing before he's stable. Mika, help Kin get this one to the O.R., please! Karin? Come here!"
Sakura was almost too busy dishing out diagnoses and treatments to notice the shouting from one of the trauma rooms. Normally she would have ignored the loud voices, because painful cries were typical for these kinds of nights. But two names caught her attention: "Ino Yamanaka" and "Sakura Haruno."
"Ino?" Sakura murmured, wondering why she was in a trauma room.
Blinking, she passed the pile of medical charts on the counter to Karin without a word and raced around the counter to trauma room six.
Hastily pushing the door open, Sakura met every pair of eyes in the room, but not the ones she longed for.
"Sakura! Oh God, Sakura. I'm so sorry- Ah!" Ino interrupted herself with a shout as one of the nurses set her shoulder back in place.
Sakura's eyes widened as she took in her friend. Gashes criss-crossed Ino's face, with bruising around her neck and eyes. She was definitely going to look like a racoon later. The corner of her lip was split wide open, and the front of her shirt was covered in blood.
As sakura was scanning over the kunoichi's appearance, Ino had been rapidly speaking the whole time.
Sakura shook her head. "Ino, what are you saying? Where's Amaya? Slow down, I can't-"
"They cornered us, Sakura. I was on my way here, and they just came out of nowhere. We had no warning. I couldn't stop them, they grabbed her, and-"
Sakura's stomach dropped, filling with dread. "Ino!"
Ino paused in her babbling, eyes glazing over. "I couldn't get her back. They grabbed her, but she slipped out of my hands. They took her. Amaya. She's gone. Sakura, I'm so sorry. I tried, I held on as tight as I could, but I passed out..."
Sakura registered 'Amaya' and 'gone,' but nothing else. Ino's words flew right over her head as she tried to comprehend the words coming out of her best friends mouth.
As Ino started seizing on the table, Sakura's heart dropped.
Amaya was gone.
"No."
As the nurses flooded around Ino, trying to stabilize her, Sakura took a few steps back with wide eyes. Normally, she would have stayed at Ino's side, but Amaya...
Her daughter was gone.
Sakura pushed through the halls, ignoring the calls from her fellow nurses and medics. When she emerged onto the front street, the outside air held a tinged scent of burnt wood and fire. Pushing what chakra she had left to her feet, she sprinted through the streets that led to Ino and Shikamaru's apartment. Amaya was nowhere to be seen along the way, nor was she inside the Nara's home.
Sprinting over the rooftops, Sakura sped the way to her own apartment. No luck.
Her heart was racing a mile a minute and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. Her eyes were scanning the area around her as she stumbled around in the street, hopelessly shouting, "Amaya?"
'This can't be happening. She's somewhere. She wouldn't just disappear.'
Sakura managed to make her way to the east wall, retracing her steps from earlier. As she approached the field Shikamaru and she had crossed earlier, she took notice of the lack of battles occurring. The foreign, invading shinobi seemed to have retreated back through the wall where they had infiltrated from.
Amaya had to be here. Someone had to have spotted her, and grabbed her. Kiba was here, and Shikamaru. No telling who else had shown up to deflect the attack. She could trust them to keep an eye out for Amaya, to notice when something was wrong.
Right?
"Amaya!" She shouted, running forward across the field, through the bodies of Rain and Sound shinobi, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Sakura?"
Her wild eyes landed on Shikamaru, who stared at her with confusion. Blood splattered his face and clothes, but all she could do was shake her head and keep a look out for Amaya.
"Sakura, what are you doing here? Did something happen at the hospital?" Shikamaru asked, approaching the frantic kunoichi.
"Amaya," Sakura shakily whispered, and pushed past Shikamaru to search through the crowds of shinobi gathered before the rubble. "Where is Amaya?"
Shikamaru blinked, and spun to face Sakura. "She's with Ino, Sakura. What are you…?"
"Ino…She couldn't—someone took her—I couldn't find—" Sakura shook her head, tears falling over her cheeks.
Shikamaru blinked and gripped Sakura's shoulders. "Sakura, what are you talking about? Where is Ino? Amaya?"
Sakura's breath sawed through her throat faster and faster as her gaze came up empty over the field. She tore out of Shikamaru's grasp, pushing him away.
"She has to be here. Someone had to of grabbed her from them. Ino couldn't hold onto her. Ino was hurt to bad. Amaya?" Sakura gasped, forcing the words, as choppy as they were, from her mouth.
One of the ANBU Black Ops landed behind Shikamaru. The dog mask gave it away, but his concerned tone helped Shikamaru place him. "Shikamaru, what's going on?"
"I don't know, I— Sakura! Kiba, stop her!"
Kiba had Sakura in his grasp in an instant as she tried to sprint over the rubble and into the forest.
"Let me go. I have to find her. She's not here. She had to be here, and she's not. They grabbed my baby, now let me go!" Sakura screamed, fighting with all of her might against Kiba's strong grip. Thank man struggled, and his head whipped around to stare at Shikamaru.
"Ino…" Shikamaru breathed, eyes wide and body quivering. If Amaya was gone, where had Ino been?
"Amaya!" Sakura scanned the darkness of the forest just outside of the village.
"Stop, Sakura! Stop!" Kiba shouted, pulling back on the kunoichi until they both fell backwards to the ground.
"Let me go! I have to go after her!" Sakura shouted into the sudden silence. "Amaya!"
I hope you guys enjoyed chapter two! I hope to be incorporating Pein/Pain next chapter, hopefully, if he will cooperate! Lol! Please Review! Even a few words makes a big difference and gives a big confidence boost!
~Adoration.