Outside the moon is perfect; outside the wind is warm.
She dangles her feet outside, sitting on the thin window ledge. It's quiet tonight.
Outside the sky is clear; outside there is freedom.
Sakura breathes in the light summer night air, wishing she was outside rather than inside. She could imagine herself slipping out her prison into the perfect, still night and could feel the grass, cool under her feet. Could taste her freedom.
But she was inside, and-
Inside the sun is out; inside the wind is bitter. Inside the sky is cloudy; and inside
freedom
is
non
existent.
AND THIS IS HOW IT ENDS
chapter two
"Brown rice?" Her face distorts in a frown. "Again?"
Sasuke gave an unmistakable roll of his eyes. "It's healthy." He says in a monotone.
She rolls her eyes. Says nothing, but takes the splintered chopsticks and chokes down the food.
The morning sun is rising swiftly, already illuminating the small kitchen in a warm, yellow glow. Sasuke glances outside, and says, "It's about time to wake Naruto up."
"No," Sakura contradicts with half a glimpse at the sky. "You're ten minutes too early."
Sasuke stares.
"He'll be mad." She informs, swirling the grains in her bowl half-heartedly.
"Whatever." Sasuke flings open Naruto's door. "Wake up, dobe."
He doesn't stir.
"Wake up, dobe."
Snore.
"NARUTO. IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP RIGHT NOW—"
"I'm up, I'm up!" Naruto jumps up hastily. "Please don't eat my head too, please—"
He pauses as he sees the Uchiha in the doorway, tilting amused eyes at him.
"Oh, hey, Sasuke."
Despite himself, Sasuke responds with, "What kind of dream were you having?"
Pulling on his shirt, Naruto makes a nasty face. "Sakura was dissecting a head and eating it, like oh hey, Naruto, this is a fried eyeball with its aqueous humor as a side dish. Look at how those eyelashes frame it so delicately—"
"Excuse me?" Sakura interjects, suddenly gracing Naruto's bedroom door, hands on hips. "What's this about fried eyeballs?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Naruto says hurriedly. "I was just wondering why I'm not allowed to change in private."
Sakura glares at him briefly then slams the door shut. "Three minutes," she calls after, "or the vitreous gel will be gone."
Naruto shivers.
"So," Sakura growls, crossing her arms, as she pushes her half-eaten (brown) rice away. "I hope you have given my idea some thought."
Naruto snatches the bowl of rice and wolfs it down before Sakura could complain. "Your idea? It was more like a suicide plan from what I could make of it."
She shoots him a glare.
"Yeah, okay, I thought about it," Naruto admits grudgingly. "It's appealing. But most impossible ideas are, you know? The fact that they're impossible is like, why, they're appealing. Human nature, I guess."
Sasuke snorts into his rice. "Deep Thinking, with Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto scowls, and says, "Well, deep thinking is what got you guys here."
"The bottom of the cesspool?"
"No, you idiot, this house that I boughtwith the money I made from my job."
"And seeing as Naruto's co-worker happens to be Shikamaru," Sakura interrupts, "I guess Naruto's deep thinking makes our lives that much easier."
"Pineapple head?" Naruto looks genuinely surprised. "What's he got to do with anything?"
"Well, he's married to someone who has a certain friend whose cousin's best friend lives in Sand country," Sakura explains.
"That doesn't clarify much," Sasuke says. "Want to get to the point?"
"I was going to, before you rudely interrupted. Anyways, since in order to apply for a visa, we've got to have a sponsor by a citizen of that country. So, said Shikamaru's-wife's-friend's-cousin's-best-friend can sponsor us, and then we can get the visa approved by some random person, and voila! Avoid the government agents with Akatsuki connections and we're off to Sand!"
"You make it sound so easy," Sasuke sighs. "You're forgetting that there are about two people in the whole Konoha government that are against the Akatsuki, and they're probably being tailed day and night."
Sakura waves away the technicalities. "But don't you see? It's that simple!"
"Sakura, there's a reason no one's every succeeded yet. I'm not saying I know what it is, but don't you remember Kiba and Shino?"
Silence.
Kiba and Shino had been the first to attempt escape. They had been part of two formerly powerful clans—the Inuzuka and Aburame, respectively— and Akatsuki had prioritized the massacre of both. Orphaned and lost, Kiba and Shino had managed to survive the bloody annihilation, and tried to run out of Fire County. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had been their friends, and had heard about their plan. Two weeks later, nothing could reach them anymore. They were gone. Never made it out of the Fire Country, at least not alive.
"We can make it work," Sakura decided finally. "We're more prepared. We can do it."
"Preparation doesn't have much to do with survival," Sasuke comments, a little off-handedly. "Preparation won't help with the stuff you didn't prepare for."
Naruto breaks in, voice a forced chipper, "Oh, shut up, guys. How about this— today, at work, I'll make my way over to Shikamaru's department. I'll tell him about your little plan, see what he thinks about it, then report back to you. But once I do, we have to take a vote—a fair vote, mind you—on whether or not we'll carry out the plan. Sound good?"
There is a pause.
"Okay," Sakura consents grudgingly. "Just don't let some random Akatsuki member be listening as you tell Shikamaru, or else you'll find yourself eating your own eyeballs."
Naruto rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the faith, Sakura-chan. I'm not that stupid."
Naruto flicks a glance at the time at the bottom right corner of the computer's screen. He breathes out a sigh, blowing sunshine hair away from his eyes.
Lunchtime.
He grabs his half-full (he was an optimist, after all) cup of coffee, ten dollars, and heads downstairs.
"Hey, Shikamaru," He greets his coworker with a trademark smile.
He turns to look, and gives a slight nod in reply.
Not at all disheartened by the less-than-warm greeting, Naruto bowls on: "Wanna join me for lunch?"
Shikamaru minimizes the PowerPoint on his desktop, shrugs, and says, "Alright then."
Naruto sits them at the table nearest the entrance of a nearly empty bagel store, away from prying eyes and ears. He remembers Sakura's threat endangering his eyeballs, and nervously looks around for any random Akatsuki member that might happen to be walking by.
"So what was this all about, Naruto?" Shikamaru drawls, lazily (some things would never change) spreading cream cheese on his plain bagel. "It's not often you invite me to lunch."
Naruto doesn't bother with any introduction, and snaps right into the problem. "Sakura's been really weird," he answers.
Shikamaru raises an eyebrow.
Naruto glances around again. Coast clear. "She wants to leave Konoha," He says in a lame, stage whisper. "And she says she needs your help."
Shikamaru stares.
A minute passes.
"So…?" Naruto prompts.
"I don't see how I can help her." Shikamaru says, spreading his hands.
Naruto beams. "Well, you see, your wife has a certain friend whose cousin's best friend lives in Sand." He pauses upon realizing how creepy this statement sounded. "I mean, I wouldn't know, it was Sakura who told me."
"I don't follow." Shikamaru states bluntly. "My wife happens to be Ino, and she has a lot of 'certain friends.' Come back when you know who this certain 'certain friend' happens to be." He pushes his chair back, the legs squeaking against tiled floors, and makes to stand up.
A back leg suddenly makes contact with someone's leg, and Shikamaru looks up, to see Kabuto with his foot hooked over a chair leg, wincing in pain. "Ah, Kabuto-san, sorry about that," he mutters as he pulls his chair away from a fellow colleague.
The silver-haired man gives a smile and waves the apology away. "Oh it's fine, I was just leaving. It's always nice to see you, Shikamaru-kun. And you, "he turns to address a startled Naruto, "Naruto-kun. In fact, I was just looking for you. My team has just discovered this really weird morphing bacteria in a patient's bloodstream and were hoping for someone to stop by with a little more information, so would you…?"
Surprised but grateful for the attention, Naruto agrees and gets up, nodding at the brown paper bag in the doctor's hand. "What kind of bagel did you get?" He asks, curiously.
Shikamaru muffles a snort.
Not at all fazed by the sudden question Kabuto answers smoothly, "I don't come here for the bagels." And upon Naruto's questioning look he adds, "Their coffee is better than Starbucks."
"Not to mention cheaper." Shikamaru agrees. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." He gives a meaningful nod at Naruto and exits, the bell on the door jingling softly.
Still curious on the contents of the bag, Naruto presses, "They put coffee in a bag?"
Kabuto rolls his silver eyes. "I got a muffin. Happy?"
Naruto wasn't. He raises his eyebrows.
There was a muffin in the bag.
"'Kay then!" Naruto says cheerfully, making his way over to Kabuto's office, "Whatcha got here?" The blonde spins around in Kabuto's black wheelie chair (the lucky duck) looking around quite enviously. "You have a bathroom? All to yourself?"
No answer. Naruto looks over his shoulder, confused, only for a flash of
silver
rope
blood.
When Naruto comes to, he's handcuffed, gagged, and tied to the point of ridicule. He's also seeing double. And there's purple flashing across his vision every so often.
"Naruto-san," Kabuto's voice hisses, from the left (left? Or was that the right? Agh, his brain hurts) "I would like for you to listen to me." Well, there wasn't much else he could do.
"You won't be able to escape."
tbc