A:N/ Hello there! So it's been awhile but I have my reasons! I've been feeling better these past few days and I'm sorry I haven't updated like anything for so long but with school and friends and relationships well you get the idea. Anyway I'm watching All Grown Up, you know the Rugrats who are all grown up, and drinking grape fruit juice from a jar that used to hold green olives...don't worry it's washed! Er I got off topic...just please R&R!
Dedication- This chapters dedication goes to... AkatsukiRedCloud! Thank you for your time and review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters, just the plot! So don't sue me...
"Okay Sakura how exactly are we going to do this?" I asked. I was of course nervous but my adrenaline was soaring like a bird in the sky.
"Well lets think about this, what does the clue say?" Sakura said. I took out the note and skimmed through it for the clue smiling at the sweet things my eyes passed over.
"It says, look to where the sun glows the brightest; where it brings life." After I said it I read it over a couple more times.
"Well in the school I would guess the sun glows brightest in a room with a lot of windows and there's only two rooms that have a wall full of windows, the art room and room 206." She said with her hand resting on her chin. I was glad Sakura was student body president, she knew this school inside and out, not to mention every students name.
"Alright well the art room is closest so we'll start there. Oh Sakura how are you going to get into a vent?" I asked as I took one of the ear pieces from Sakura and placed it in my ear and watched as Sakura did the same.
"Well just give me a boost and I'll pop this vent opening off and climb inside, we'll talk to each other through the ear pieces." Sakura pointed directly above us and looked back at me. I sighed knowing this was a bad idea but I bent down a little ways so Sakura could sit on my shoulders. She climbed on and I gripped her thighs to keep her still as I stood up all the way. We wobbled a bit but I got my balance back and stood still.
"Okay just hold still." Sakura said as she reached up and gripped the vent opening and pulled, it came off after she jiggled it for a bit and after she threw it to the ground.
"Sakura...come on my legs are getting...kinda wobbly!" I said as I started to lose my balance, I fell over and waited for Sakura's impact on me or her screech. But I heard nothing, I sat up and looked up and saw Sakura hanging onto the now open vent legs dangling and all. I grinned and stood up.
"Ino...a little help please?" Sakura asked.
"Oh yeah sorry!" I grabbed Sakura's long slender legs and gave them a push upwards.
XxSakura's POVxX
After I dropped the vent opening to the ground I told Ino to hold still so I could get into the vent.
"Sakura...come on my legs are getting...kinda wobbly!" I felt her wobble a lot and I knew I had to think of something fast so I hurried and grabbed the opening just as I felt the weight from under me disappear. I heard Ino hit the floor and I tried to pull myself up to no avail, my hands were to slippery, I was surprised since I had very good upper body strength. Once I took down the whole girls basketball team because they were all picking on my friend Tenten who had just joined the basketball team, I of course didn't take down Tenten but the rest took more than a few of my punches which Tenten recalled as 'super strength'.
"Ino...a little help please?" I asked out of breath. I kicked my feet a few times hoping to get her attention, I was slipping fast. I heard Ino stand up and say, "Oh yeah sorry!" I felt her grab my legs and push them upwards towards the vent. I started to move upwards and go all the way into the vent. I sat on the edge and looked at Ino.
"Okay Ino lets check our ear pieces. Just click the tiny black button so it's on." I said as I moved the pink hair covering the ear piece and clicked the small button. I heard a bit of static and then Ino's voice.
"Yeah dispatch 120 we got a vent crawler at 12 o'clock, over."
"Haha very funny Ino." I said into the ear piece, "Now just walk down to the art room and I'll follow you through the vent, anything you need to say use the ear piece."
"Alright, and Sakura remember, if you get claustrophobic tell me and just get out of the vent,
OK?" Ino said as I pulled my legs up and got on my belly.
"Alright, start walking." I said as I began crawling through the vent, I had to remember this was for Ino.
XxIno's POVxX
I walked passed some of my teachers rooms quietly just in case they were in there though I bet they were in the party also. I walked passed Mrs. Kurenei's class were a sub was seated since she was in the hospital with a baby on the way.
"Sakura, are you OK?" I asked looking up at the vent that was slightly moving with a light echoing coming from it, probably from when Sakura's knees hit the vent from crawling.
I heard a bit of static then Sakura's voice come in, "Yeah, hey there's a fork in my path, do we turn right here or keep straight?" Sakura asked.
"Just keep straight, I think the turn is to go into Mrs. Kurenei's classroom." I replied and kept on my way.
"Alright, hey I'm just wondering but what do I get for helping you?" Sakura said, her voice had a bit of static in it.
"You get to see your bestfriend happy and become her maid of honor if Sai and I end up getting married." I said kind of liking the idea.
"Oh ok, hey I thought I was going to be your maid of honor no matter who you marry!" Sakura yelled, I flinched at all the static that came with it.
"I was just kidding Sakura." I turned down the hallway on my right and saw the art classroom at the end. "Sakura turn right at the fork."
"Ok hold on I need to talk to you." I heard her trying to pull off the vent but then I heard talking and saw two teachers talking while coming down the hall. 'Oh crap!' I turned to the door next to me and tried the knob, locked! 'Oh no', I turned around but saw another teacher coming, he was sending a text so he didn't see me yet and the other two teachers were looking at eachother.
"Ino!" I heard Sakura whisper above me and looked up. I saw Sakura's upper torso out of the vent with her hands extended towards me. I looked at the teachers again and seeing that nothing changed except the distance between me and them, I grabbed both of Sakura's hands and got pulled up, my legs flailed a bit but before I knew it I was pulled all the way up and laying on Sakura. She made an 'oof' sound and began panting.
"Hey I'm not that heavy!" I whispered. She put a finger over her lip and a few seconds later I heard the teachers pass by. After two minutes she slid out from under me and propped herself up into a sitting position on her elbows.
"That was beyond close Ino-pig." I got into a half sitting position and looked at Sakura.
"How did you know there were teachers?" I asked.
"What do you mean, I saw them when I pulled the vent cover off. I was about to hop down but then I saw you trying to open the door and you looked frantic. When I looked over at what you were looking at I saw the teachers." Sakura replied in a hush whisper.
"I don't know if we should continue this, Sakura. What if we get caught like we almost did?" I looked at Sakura with doubt filled eyes.
"Ino, what are they going to do? It's the last day of the school year and it's kinda...exciting."
"Exciting? Sakura we're running around like fools playing a game of find the object." I said. I turned and put my legs out of the vent and hopped down.
"Ino...I mean whats the worst that can happen? Lets at least try and once we find the first clue we can stop if you want. We're right here so we mine as well." I looked at Sakura and something in me told me to listen to her, so I did.
"Fine, just come out of the vent for now." I said as I started to walk towards the art room. Behind me I heard Sakura's feet hit the ground and her footsteps begin to become louder as she got closer to me.
I stopped in front of the art room and waited for Sakura to catch up.
"Ok Ino, I have some sort of idea of where to look first." Sakura said to me as she hurriedly opened the art door and went in. I felt tired and honestly felt like going to sleep but I reluctantly followed her in and shut the door behind me. I watched as she made her way to the window where the plants were.
"It said where the sun shines brightest and thats here..." She checked under the plants that sat on the window sill and I walked around looking at crevices that were by the window incase it was hidden.
"I don't get it, this is the only place where the sun shines in this room and where it could give life." Sakura's eyebrows furrowed and she placed her hand on her chin.
"Well...when you were at your house Sasuke came up to me and told me that Sai is very tricky and that things aren't always as they seem with him."
"How would Sasuke know about this?" Sakura asked.
"Sai came to him asking a way to ask me out and Sasuke told me that he told Sai to let fate decide like how he did with you." I replied remembering the conversation.
"Well if he gave you the warning then that must mean he helped with the clues which means he would know where they're hidden...then that means he knew exactly how tricky this was going to be." She began pacing and I thought of how weird Sasuke and Sakura's relationship was...they were both so smart I don't know who would win in a contest of smarts. It made me shudder to even think about them competing in a quiz.
"You and Sasuke's kids are going to be einsteins..." I said to myself.
"Hm? What?"
"Nothing! Hey look at this painting." I said as I walked towards a painting that had Sai's signature in the bottom left hand corner. It was a beautiful scenery painting, trees on the horizon of a grassy field, a village with people going on with daily buisness, a few farm animals grazing and the sky was clear with a bright sun shining.
"...Where it brings life..." A sudden light bulb seemed to go off in my head and I looked behind the painting and saw a sticky note!
"Sakura look!" She ran over and exaimined the painting for a few seconds then looked behind the painting. I grabbed the sticky note and we both hovered over it.
"Finally! Man he is tricky," Sakura said, "we have to think outside of the box with this...that is if you want to continue."
"Well yeah this is exciting!" I smiled at Sakura then turned my attention back to the sticky note.
"What does it say?" I didn't have to tell Sakura, she hovered over the note next to me and read it aloud to herself.
"You've found your next clue, so here it is. Go to the room where Sakura and Sasuke first kissed, it was an accident that nobody missed." Sakura finished reading and crossed her arms.
"I remember that, room 202 of freshman year, the broadcasting room where you guys did the video announcements. You guys weren't even together yet."
"Yeah but where would it be in that room?" Sakura questioned, she began pacing back and forth again and I couldn't think of anything.
"Lets just go to the room and when we get there maybe we'll just find it by looking around or an idea will come to us. We just have to remember what exactly happened." I didn't have anything better to say and I haven't thought about that moment in a year or so.
"Well it's the only plan we have." Sakura sighed as she walked out of the room, her white skirt swayed in unision with her long pink hair and I followed closely behind, we didn't need another teacher episode.
I did want to continue this search, it was fun and scary...but a good scary like a rollercoaster however I did have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach but I ignored it and continued out of the classroom. I closed the door quietly behind me, Sakura didn't need to be in the vent yet until the next clue, I didn't know how many there were but there were at least three or four.
"Hey Sakura?" My voice sounded hoarse and as we walked down the dimly lit hallway. I spotted a water fountain a few feet away. I made my way to the fountain liking the feeling of the material that my purple skirt made against my legs. I held my high ponytail behind me so it didn't move down when I bent down to get a drink of water. Turning the knob for the water fountain I bent down and when I felt the rushing of cold water against my lips I sipped, the cold water made my throat feel refreshed and I let go of the knob and stood up straight. Letting go of my hair I brushed my hand against my mouth to get the excess water off, a drop of water fell on my plain black tank top but I just brushed it away quickly and turned back to Sakura.
"Yeah?" Sakura turned around towards me and I hesitated for a moment, I didn't really know how to word my thoughts since I hadn't been debating until now.
"Sakura I just...you don't need to help me really. I mean why should my buisness hold you up from having fun at the dance? I don't think it's exactly fair, you should be with Sasuke and our friends not helping a stupid and desperate friend who can't figure out some simple clues without help..." I didn't mean for it to come out in a way she might take offensive...I also wasn't planning on calling myself stupid but it came out better than I had expected. I looked back up at Sakura for a reaction but she kinda just stood there analyzing me.
"Look Ino, you're not stupid and you can figure out the clues. You're the one who found the note behind the painting, not me. And I'd rather be running around a school with my bestfriend than being at some stupid dance. There will be more dances and more time to hangout with friends, this is a one time thing and I plan on experiencing it with you until the end, and you aren't desperate you're just ready to find love like most girls are." She smiled flashing her pearly teeth and locked her hands behind her back.
There was something about Sakura that made people love her, all people, parents, siblings, family, friends and people in the hospital where she voluntered. Maybe it was her bubbly personality or just her looks...maybe it was just that whenever she smiled or waved hello to a stranger to brighten their day she looked like someone you could trust, someone who could care about anyone. And at that moment as I looked at the pink haired, green eyed girl infront of me with her bright smile...at that moment I realized she was more than a bestfriend. Sakura Haruno was the girl I couldn't live without from this moment on. She was the glue in our friendship and the person I could trust with anything and everything.
"Sakura, how could you be such a saint?" The sentence left my mouth without warning and I knew I caught her by suprise when her candy apple eyes widened. I didn't know what to do but hug her so I did. She quickly returned the hug and we just stood there until I pulled back.
"I'm sorry if that caught you off guard and turned this whole adventure into some sappy friendship thing but...just thank you for everything you've done for me." I smiled and she returned it gratefully.
"It's OK Ino, and you're welcome. Thank you as well...you know for everything."
"Your welcome. Alright lets get moving I'm pumped now!" I said as I turned on my heel and began walking to room 202. The room was all the way down the hallway by the main entrance. It's a broadcasting room where two students are picked to give video announcements for the year to the school live on the classroom TV's.
Sakura and Sasuke were chosen freshman year and have been doing it every year since. The students and teachers loved how Sakura was so entergetic about everything and Sasuke sat there giving a negative opinion about everything at the same time.
For example one time we were having a dance and Sakura was smiling and telling everyone the details and how much fun it was going to be. Meanwhile Sasuke sat there rolling his eyes and shaking his head complaining about money and how loud it was going to be and that suits were so uncomfortable. It was hilarious especially when Sakura began to whine and ended up crying right there when Sasuke said he wouldn't go. Of course she was embarrassed but Sasuke was even more embarrassed when he had to hug her and promise he would go. The funny part however was when Sakura looked at the camera, smiled and said, 'And thats how you get a boy to ask you to the dance.' Sasuke's face was hysterical, it turned red and he left the room.
It's not a big room, the camera sits against one wall and two chairs sit opposite of it against a window. The camera could only show from the mid-torso up, left of the chairs was the door with a P.A system and right of the chairs was a plain wall with another window. Infront of the two chairs was a table that reached the mid-torso so that they could rest their arms on it. The walls are a mint color and the floor is plain white.
Today of course Sakura and Sasuke didn't do the announcements since it's the last day of school but any other day they do and it's always hilarious. Of course freshman year was the best since they weren't together the first two months until that little incident where they ended up kissing...on the live video announcement...on accident. But yes nobody missed it, even the teachers saw since it was live and we have to watch the announcements. Of course nobody complains since everyone gets a good laugh from it, but the fact that their first kiss was not only an accident but also in front of the whole school is hilarious to me.
"Ino? Hey, snap out of it." Sakura snapped her fingers infront of my face and I jumped a bit. I hadn't realized I had stopped walking and spaced out not even realizing we had stopped for a minute or so.
"Sorry, I didn't realize...I got kind of distracted from thinking..." I trailed off and began to get distracted again. Sakura snapped her fingers again and I came back into focus.
"Ino, what's wrong? It's not like you to go off into Lala Land."
"I'm sorry it's nothing serious I was just thinking about the broadcasting room." I wiggled my eyebrows at her and nuged her, she gasped and slapped my shoulder.
"Ino! What the hell?" We began laughing and reached the broadcasting room. I was about to touch the door knob when I got a bad feeling.
"Sakura I know this may sound weird but...get in the vent."
"What? I don't get it Sai wouldn't end the sticky note hunt at note number two." She put her hands on her hip and swayed to the side.
"I just feel like you should...just trust me please." She made an over exagerated sigh but listened. I gave her the boost like before except this time I didn't fall over.
"Okay Ino, are you happy now?" She was all the way in the vent with the lid pushed up inside. All I could see inside of the dark vent was her bright green eyes and a tint of her pink hair.
"Yes I am, thank you." I turned on my heel and just as I was an inch from the door handle a voice stopped me.
"What do you think you're doing maggot?" I turned my head and saw our girls gym teacher standing five feet away.
"I was just uh you know hanging around?" I shrugged my shoulders and tried to keep calm but Ms. Anko was so intimidating it made my face feel hot and my stomach feel like it was in my mouth.
"Yamanaka explain yourself or else." I heard a slight jutter and when Ms. Anko turned I looked up. I saw Sakura's shocked face and realized the vent was coming apart, Ms. Anko was turning her head up but I stopped her by flicking her shoulder.
"Oh my gosh there was a bug on your shoulder! So anyway I was just going into the broadcast room because I think I left my school badge when I went to see Sakura." Woah I never knew I could lie so well.
"Is that so? Well you can go get it after the dance is over." Ms. Anko grabbed my right shoulder and gave it a small nudge. I couldn't do anything but walk down the hallway with my gym teacher by my side and hope Sakura was going to be able to get out of the vent okay.
Xx Sakura's pov xX
I watched with relief as Ino and Anko-sensei walked away, relief because at least we didn't get caught. However now I don't know how I could get out of this vent without it falling and I have no idea how I'm going to be able to sneak Ino out of that teacher guarded dance. I heard the vent squeak again and watched as the vent began to slowly dent outward.
"Oh crap!" I whispered and turned. I hurried on my hands and knees down the vent but it kept squeaking. Before I knew it I heard a huge shuddering and felt the vent give out from beneath me.
"Not this again!" I half whispered half yelled to myself. Before I fell I managed to hang on to the end of the vent and dangled there just like before. I kicked my legs and tried pulling myself up but to no avail. There were footsteps coming down the hallway, I could hear them. Fear ran threw me and I tried as hard as I could but just couldn't get enough grip.
"Sakura? Hows it hanging?" I heard footsteps beneath me and looked down at Sasuke.
"Oh ha-ha so funny." I watched Sasuke smirk and suddenly became conscious of my skirt.
"Well I guess I'll help you, if I get a sneak peak." I watched him smirk and I gasped.
"I don't think so you pervert!" I yelled kicking my legs around.
"Sakura, I'm joking," He chuckled and grabbed my waist, "you're so gulible."
"Well you never joke around so I always believe you." I replied as he set me down and embraced me. He was a whole head taller than me so my head rested perfectly on his chest.
"Yeah I'm aware. Where's your annoying friend at?" As he talked I felt his chest vibrate and it tickled my head. I looked up at him resting my chin on his chest.
"She got caught by Ms. Anko, I gotta get her still, we have the second note now." Still hugging Sasuke I toke out the note from my pocket and showed it to him. He read it over and smiled, an actual smile, teeth and everything!
"Well I guess we have to get Ino, don't we?" He said looking back down at me.
"You're going to help? What about the dance?" I said with furrowed eyebrows.
"I never even went, I just sat in the bathroom. I got bored though and decided to go but then saw you on the way, Spiderwoman." I smiled and put away the note.
" Well, lets go find her then." I gave him a small peck on the lips and turned towards where the dance was. I still felt the tingling on my lips, as we turned the corner. I wonder how we're going to get her out of there.
A:N/ Well guys I've had this chapter done for about two months but I lost my USB where all of my stories are kept on. Finally I found it yesterday and was able to update one of my other stories as well. I don't really know what I'm gonna do from here but I'll update soon hopefully!
Love you guys and stay positive! Happy reading!
