Chapter 2

Standing Around

At home, Sasuke couldn't begin to imagine who would have done this to her. If someone has done this to her. He figured that it was unlike Sakura that she would just get up and leave without telling where she was going but he also couldn't figure out who would be able to kidnap her. He knew Sakura got stronger, a lot stronger. She could probably be able to hold her ground if she was ambushed and walk off with little injuries. That is if it was an idiot that ambushed her. If someone did kidnap her they would have to be pretty strong, and be very skilled at kidnapping. Experience tends to be key when you're the bad guy in situations. Sasuke knew that as a fact.

The troubled Uchiha barely got any sleep that night. Too busy worrying. Where is she? Is she hurt? What things might the kidnappers be doing to her? That question scared him the most. What were they doing to her? Thoughts swarmed in his head making him picture all the horrid things Sakura could be going through right now, at that very second.

"AH!" He screamed, fustrated with himself. "Why is it that once I can see her, she disappears?" Sort of like what I did to her.

What if she did runaway? What if she just couldn't stand the war, couldn't stand the thought of Sasuke returning home? These questions made Sasuke grow upset and sick. What if it was all my fault?

~.~

Naruto stopped by the next day to check up on the Uchiha.

"Knock, knock." He said as he opened the door. "Dude, you look horrible."

"I couldn't sleep well last night."

"I can tell. Too busy worrying about Sakura?"

"No it was probably that ramen in my stomach." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"You wish! There is literately no way that delicious delectable ramen last night can make you sick! Unless your allergic to yummy foods!" Naruto exclaimed laughing.

"Tell me more about what happened to Sakura."

"He admits it!"

Sasuke shot him a look.

"Alright. Well, it happened five years ago." Sasuke choked on air.

"Five years ago?" Sasuke managed to cough out.

"Yeah." Naruto said disappointedly.

"Has anyone even tried to look for her?"

"Of course! Who wouldn't?"

Sasuke sighed. "Well, why hasm't she been found yet?"

"That, I don't know. I barely even know who they sent to look for her. Tsunade wouldn't tell me anything."

"I want to look for her."

"Don't we all? Look, Sasuke, I miss her too, but we aren't allowed. We need permission and with a raging war going on there is no way we are going to get it any time soon."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we need to wait. At least a little longer until the war begins to turn around. You know it yourself that since you are on our side now that it won't be long."

"It will be too long for pleasure."

"Agreed."

"But how can you just stand around thinking that someone else is looking for her? Knowing that she could be in serious danger as we speak?"

"You suck it up." Naruto snapped. "And you hope that maybe she is as strong as you think she is and she still has enough in herself to stay alive and wait for you."

"I can't live off of hope."

"Neither can I, but it is something that we will both have to just work off of for now."

"I suppose your right." Sasuke said feeling ashamed. "Can we at least ask Tsunade if we can look for her? Maybe not now but later if possible?"

"I see no problem in that. Just don't get angry at her if she says no. After all, she misses her apprentice too."

"No." was the only word that came out of her mouth.

"But-"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why should I let a man who just got off of probation go on a search and rescue mission?"

"Because this man has known this missing person nearly his whole life!"

"Sasuke." Naruto said trying to cut in.

"I still refuse!"

"Why?"

"Because we have a war going on and I have no intention of wasting good shinobi to search for her."

"You won't be wasting anyone! Me and Naruto will be the ones looking for her! It isn't like we are doing anything to help the war right now! I've told you everything I know! Everything about Mandara, the enemy army… Everything. As for Naruto, he is trapped here worrying about Sakura because you aren't letting him fight in the war like what you are doing to me. So tell me exactly why aren't you letting us go look for her?'

Silence stayed for a minute or two. During which both parties seemed to calm down a little.

"Because if I know Sakura as well as I think I know her as her sensei, then I would say that whatever situation she is in right now she is perfectly capable at getting herself out of it." Sakura trained and learned a lot while being under Tsunade's wing. That's how she learned to heal and gain so much strength. If anyone would know Sakura's strength it would be her. "If she has a plan then I don't want 'rescuers' to get in her way."

It made sense. Sasuke had to give her that much. If Sakura did have a plan then she would most likely base it off of the fact that she was probably not going to get rescued anytime soon. But one thing kept troubling him.

"Don't you think that if she really did have a plan then she would already have come home by now?"

More silence. The Uchiha made his point. Five years of waiting for Sakura to break out of trouble and come home seemed like a bit too long. Sakura would have already been home if she had a plan. If her situation was more complicated then she originally thought then that would mean she would have no choice but to wait to be rescued, and since no one was going to rescue her, she could be in serious trouble, more then ever was to begin with.

"Fine. You made your point. I will allow you two to go look for her. Under one condition."

"Any." Sasuke said feeling accomplished.

"You must send reports to me every time you receive new info, or once a day if you don't get new info."

"Deal."

"Start preparing yourselves boys. You leave in a week."

Sasuke and Naruto leave the room.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Tsunade? I mean we don't know exactly what Sakura condition is nor whether if this is simply a trap or not. If this has anything to do with the war, then they are personally being pulled into it." Shizune asked concerned.

"We have no choice. If the war keeps going any longer they were bound to be put in it in the first place. That is something we both know to be a fact. And with all of us being in the dark about Sakura's condition and possible kidnapping, it is just another reason why we should put the problem in the hands of those two. This is the only idea we can give to help Sakura that doesn't make a huge impact with the war. I will however get someone to assist them with their search just in case they get into some serious trouble. Until then, they should prepare themselves cause they will be walking in the dark for the next few weeks."