So the updates are coming along faster than I anticipated. However, I am going on vacation next week. So, I'll get back to you within a week. In the meantime. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: Daring Plans

She was dancing. Everything was perfect. The music. Her Dress. Her boyfriend. Perfect. She wished that they could dance forever. Slowly the music changed. The beat sped up…..faster….faster……faster. She couldn't keep up. It was far to fast for her. Dancing faster, and faster she almost lost her footing. Desperately she turns to her date, and her heart clenches in her chest. This isn't Sasuke. This being, with red eyes cant be Sasuke. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Looking around she realizes that she's surrounded by these monsters. Falling she tries to scramble away, to find that they've boxed her in. Slowly they approach her, almost as if they're savoring the moment. Pseudo-Sasuke reaches out towards her. Now she finds her voice, but it to late. Closing her eyes she can feel them grab her…….

She wakes in a cold sweat. It was only a dream. She hears some voices outside of her room, but since she just woke up, her mind can't quite decipher what they're saying. That or that fact that her head is killing her. And her back hurts, did she sleep fall off of her bed by accident during the nightmare. She tries to raise her hands to wipe the sweat off of her forehead, only to realize that her hands are tied! It all comes back in a rush. The party, the fight, Sasuke getting knocked out. Her kidnapper…….she realizes with a start that his voice what she hears through the thin fabric of the tent.

"……still going to take about a day to get back, maybe two. They've unleashed almost all of the regular army."

That voice was definitely feminine. Yet Sakura couldn't place it. It was probably one of Kitsune's cohorts.

"Man, you've really stirred up the hive this time. I mean, kidnapping a Noble. Are you fucking nuts? Scratch that, I've known you were crazy for a while, just not that crazy."

This one sounded wild. How many people were in this organization?

"It was unavoidable. We NEED that necklace. Granted, taking her along wasn't part of the plan. However, I could see no other option."

Sakura couldn't forget that voice. That man was the cause of all of this.

"I know it's troublesome, but the deed is done. The only thing that we can do now is get her to the camp, and wait until Jiraya shows up. No use bitching about it now."

That lazy draw was unmistakable as well. So by Sakura's estimation, there were four of them with her. She might be able to get away, she just had to keep her wits about her.

"That's not what worries me. Its what do we do with her when we remove the necklace."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, lets think about how to get her to camp. The best course of action would be to split up, split their patrols, and meet at the border. Only question, who gets the girl?"

There was no mistaking it. Kitsune was definitely the leader.

"I can't, I've got Akamaru. We attract enough attention without the help of a captive."

"As much as it pains me to admit it, I may not be the best option either. If I need to engage someone in combat, she'd definitely have the opportunity to escape. Sorry."

After a short pause Sakura heard the lazy one speak.

"That just leaves you and me Kitsune. If we apply Kusubana's logic to us, then I'm the best candidate. Seeing as to how I'm the only one of us that can subdue multiple targets at once." At this he paused for a heavy sigh." As troublesome as this sounds, I should be able to get her to the border without to much of a problem."

The lazy one is actually going to be taking her. What luck! Even though he used a jutsu, she was sure that she could escape one person.

"Fine. She's in your hands Bushou. We'll run interference, and split the search parties. See you in two days."

And with that there was silence. Sakura sat there in her tent, slowly trying to think of some means to escape. Her wrists were bound extremely tight, the knot expertly tied. Same with her ankles. The rope was thin and strong. She wouldn't be able to just snap it. As if she could of anyways. It was times like these that she really regretted coasting through the academy. Seeing no sharp object in sight, her only hope now, was for the lone rouge to untie her. And she knew that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"So I see that your awake."

The lazy rouge had poked his head into her tent, and was looking at her with what could only be described as boredom.

"Listen, if you promise to behave, I'll cut your bindings. Only if you promise to be good though."

Not believing her ears. Sakura could only nod her head. Was he really going to trust her? She flinched slightly when he pulled out a combat kunai, but quickly regained her composure when he skillfully cut the ropes that bound her hands and feet.

"Now, don't get any ideas. I'm only doing this because it would be to much of a hassle to carry you around everywhere."

Sakura could only stare at him. Apparently she was right on the money with him. He was extremely lazy.

"Well, foods out here. We couldn't build a fire for obvious reasons, but there is some field rations."

Nodding slowly she silently followed him out of the tent. The first thing that she noticed was that dawn was just starting to break. Meaning she had been out for about 7 hours. Taking stock of her surroundings. She realized that she had no idea where she was. Before she could get her bearings, food was shoved into her hands.

" Eat, and while your at it. You might want to do something about that bump on your head. We have a long journey, and I don't expect to carry you."

Looking down at the meager bread and cold field rations, she realized two things. One, she had never seen such unappetizing food before. And two, she was HUNGRY! Taking a bite, she quickly learned something else as well. It tasted as bad as it looked. Trying to find something to take her mind off of the horrible taste, she decided to try and find out more about the people who had abducted her.

"Ummmmm….e..excuse me."

The lazy bandit looked at her, but made no move to answer. So she tried again.

"Ummm..Excuse me."

Sighing heavily, he finally answered her.

"Yes."

"I was wondering, could you…..tell me why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you kidnap me? Why are you after my necklace? Why would you willingly rebel against the system?"

"That…..is a lot of questions. Obviously we kidnapped you for your necklace. Why we need the necklace……I'm afraid I can't answer that. As for the latter part of your question, why I joined KAGE? In a nutshell, the system sickens me. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for Kitsune."

"What's that supposed to mean?'

"You've met him. He's a natural leader. Hell, if it weren't for his age, and lack of experience, he would be the main leader. If it weren't for him, and KAGE, I would still be living on the streets, mourning the loss of my family's lands. "

"But why try to revolt? Surly you cant blame your family's lost land on the Nobles."

"Oh, I can. You see, when the Nobles rose to power. Any clan that didn't back their uprising were instantly marked as traitors. My clan lost everything because we didn't want to fight a pointless war. We were shamed, had our clan title revoked, our jutsu's outlawed and were forced to a life of servitude and poverty. So you see, I have every right to blame the Nobles. And one day, we will get our land back. "

Sakura was speechless. His speech contained passion and energy she didn't think that the lazy man possessed. Still as passionate as his speech was, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. If she did choose to believe him, the implications were HUGE. Her family…..her Noble family, steal someone else's land? It couldn't be true. She had to get away from him before he fed her more lies.

"Now, let me ask you a question. Seeing as to how we're to be traveling together, can you tell me your name?"

She debated not telling him. Why should she? She was the kidnapped one. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that she needed to get on his good side. But that didn't mean that she would just cooperate.

"Yes you may, if you give me your name first. I refuse to call you by some stupid code name."

There was the command she was used to hearing in her voice. She was a Noble dammit, time to start acting like one.

"Fine, my names Shikamaru."

Sakura was taken back. She didn't expect him to give it to her so readily. She expected some resistance.

"That's it? Your going to give me your name that easily?"

"I don't see the harm that it could do."

Sakura couldn't make heads or tails of that. It sounded so innocuous. Yet still came off as cryptic. Without thinking she blurted out.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

He paused as if to collect his thoughts, before answering.

"We have to take you to our base to collect that necklace. Your going to be the first Noble to ever step foot inside there."

"So? What are you getting at?"

Her panic was rising. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, and it scared her senseless.

"Have you taken the time to evaluate the situation your in. Even if we successfully get the necklace off of you. You'll have seen our base, possibly our leader. It's a very real possibility that your never going to go back."

"Your going to keep me?? As if I'm some kind of pet??"

"If you want to look at it like that, probably. Listen, don't shoot the messenger. And for what its worth. I am sorry. Kidnapping you wasn't part of the plan."

Sakura nodded her head numbly. Escape became her only imperative now. She HAD to get away from these terrorists. The sooner the better! The alternative was a lifetime of imprisonment. After several seconds she stood up abruptly and turned to the rouge.

" I have to use go to the bathroom."

"Uhhh, ok."

He made as if to stand up.

"ALONE!"

With a mutter of "troublesome," he stuck his thumb out in a some vague direction. Her face must have looked puzzled, because his next words were,

" Unless you want to sit in poison ivy, I'd go this way."

Nodding resolutely she walked by him without making eye contact. Choosing a bush on the fringe of the clearing they were in, she chanced a quick look back, and saw, to her astonishment, he wasn't even watching her. He seemed to be, cloud gazing!?! Ducking silently behind the bush, she made her break for it.

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Not knowing where she was. Her only hope was to run into a group that was searching for her. That idea was quickly becoming impossible in her mind. She had been running for the better part of the day, and she hadn't seen sight not sound of any humans. More than once she thought that she heard a wild animal, which would cause her to detour from her current trajectory, till she was hopelessly lost. Ha! How could you get hopelessly lost, when your already lost? Pausing for a second, she checked the position of the sun. To her dismay, it was already setting! She had been running all day. Her dress was ruined. Her feet were cut, bruised, and blistered. ( She had kicked off her shoe's hours ago.) And she was in desperate need of a bath. Still, it was better than the alternative. With that thought she set her jaw and ran, (more like fast limped,) onward.

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An hour later found her leaning against a tree. Night would fall any minute, and she still hadn't found anybody, nor did she know where she was. Thinking that her best option was to find some place to hide and wait until morning, she moved to push herself off of the tree…..only to find that she couldn't move. Was she really that tired. True, she never really pushed herself this hard before. She tried to move her arm experimentally, only to find it to was frozen in place.

"You run pretty fast for a girl. However, if you keep at it, you're liable to hurt yourself. And then I would have to carry you. Still, you got us pretty far today. I guess I should thank you."

As a testament to how tired she was Sakura couldn't even muster the energy to properly cry. She simply sat there, silently while tears rolled down her face. This whole time, he had been following her. Not only that, but she had stupidly run in the wrong direction. Hanging her head she let the tears fall to the ground. There was no way she could escape. If he was able to shepherd her into doing what she wanted, there was no way she would be able to allude him while backtracking an entire day.

As if to cap off her feeling of impending doom, he was building a fire. That could only mean one thing, there was no patrol out here. She was alone.

How long she would have stood there if he hadn't gently escorted her over to the fire, she didn't know. Sitting there, she barely registered the fact that he handed her food. Bread and warm rations this time. She ate mechanically. Neither tasting the food, or feeling it fill her. She had given up.

"You never told me your name."

His words brought her out of her trance. Blinking, she turned towards him but stayed silent. Sighing deeply, he tried again.

"I told you my name, its only polite if you tell yours."

"Sakura"

Her words were hollow, like her. She felt like crying again, but held it in. She finished eating, and was surprised when he handed her something else. Inspecting it closer, she saw that it was healing ointment. Looking at him puzzled he explained.

"I noticed your feet are pretty banged up. You'll never make it the rest of the way unless you take care of them. I have an extra pair of sandals for you as well, they'll have to do until we meet up with Kusubana….uhh, Ino. She'll give you a change of clothes."

Nodding dumbly, she slowly worked the ointment into the bottom of her feet. If she hadn't been so tired, she would have danced for joy. She hadn't realized that her feet were that bad. When she was finished with the ointment and bandage, she shakily tried to get to her feet, only to find Shikamaru pick her up bridal style, and gently put her on a sleeping bag.

"Best to stay off your feet for a few hours, let the ointment soak in. Anyways, we head out first thing in the morning, so you should get some sleep."

Shikamaru's words fell on deaf ears however, as Sakura was already passed out.