Children:

Kago and Aya – Sakura's children

Useki – Hinata's child

Karai – Ino's child

Suda – Tenten's child

Chapter 4 up. Enjoy.

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R u n a w a y L o v e

Summary: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids[SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina

Rating: T (PG-13)

Genre: Romance/Drama

Standard Disclaimer applied.

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Chapter 4: Where'd you Go?

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"Hokage-sama, you said you wouldn't–" Sakura whispered.

But the Hokage had already strode to the door and shut it.

Sasuke was still staring at Aya and Kago, who also stared, openmouthed, back.

"Sakura…" he managed to murmur.

But her calm, almost rough demeanor changed into a panicked one, like one of a trapped animal. Her eyes scanned the room frantically before she, with lightning speed, ran to the door, wrenched it open, and ran out.

"Wait – Sakura!" Ino shouted desperately, running after her.

Tenten bit her lip before ordering the children, "Don't follow us. The guys over here will escort you to where you will stay; we'll be back later… we need to take care of something."

"Wait – okaa-san–" But Tenten had sprinted out also.

Hinata seemed on the verge of tears. "Remember that no matter what happens, we'll still love you."

And that the confused and shocked guys to try and decipher the past and present web of confusion the girls had left behind, starting with step one – the children.

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Naruto was the first to try to connect with his son. "Uh… so… what was your name again?"

"Useki," the blonde boy stammered. He looked just as confused as his supposed father was. He cocked his head and scrunched up his face. "But this guy looks to stupid too be my dad!"

Naruto was stricken by how Useki looked like him. Now that he was paying close attention, Useki's eyes would scrunch up and his mouth would turn into a lopsided frown of confusion as he raised up a hand to ruffle the back of his head.

He didn't even notice that Useki called him too stupid-looking.

"But… how?" Karai was studying Shikamaru with a critical eye, and Shikamaru was blown away by how her right hand rested on her hips and she'd stick up her chin just a bit defiantly.

Like Ino.

"Impossible," Suda murmured. "Okaa-san said that my father died."

Neji's eyes narrowed. Why would Tenten say such a thing?

Maybe… she meant… he died in her heart. The day she left.

"But… okaa-san said that you have children when you love someone," Aya protested. "This person over here–"

"Aya, don't say anything that you might regret," Kago said blandly though he looked at Sasuke with a confused fascination.

Awkward silence reigned.

"Did you love my mother?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke had never, ever been so dumbstruck by a simple question.

"Did you love my mother?" Aya demanded quietly, her eyes burning into his.

Just like an Uchiha.

"I…"

"He didn't."

Aya looked stricken as she turned her head to see her brother smirking sardonically.

"Don't you remember, Aya? When we asked who our father was… that was the first time we saw her cry." Kago turned his stone-cold eyes to Sasuke. "We shouldn't have agreed to come here with them."

Sasuke was struck again, by how he seemed to make her cry. Even when he wasn't there.

Karai's eyes filled with tears as she turned to Shikamaru. "You didn't love okaa-san…?"

"Er – I… –" He was, for once, speechless and fumbled over his words but Karai's shrill voice stopped him.

"Tell the truth, dammit! You… you didn't love her… you… never did…" Karai's head drooped down, her eyes lidded. Her tiny fists clenched at the hem of her skirt.

"Calm down, Karai. There is an easy solution to all this," Suda said coolly as Kago continued staring coldly at Sasuke.

"Let's just leave."

"WHAT?!" Naruto shrieked. "But, I mean… b-but…"

"I suggest you don't do that." Neji stayed just as cool as Suda, crossing his arms defiantly and leaning on the window. It was a simple gesture but it did not fool Suda's activated Byakugan. It obviously screamed that if the kids tried to move or escape, the supposed fathers would not let them.

"Aa. Hyuuga is right," Sasuke moved with quick speed toward the door, shoving his hands into his pockets and standing nonchalantly but his body was tensed, just in case anyone made a sudden move. "Your mothers told you to stay here."

"But you never cared about them, did you?" Kago's voice had a cynical bite to it. "You never cared. You never will. Just let us go."

"Look, we can't let you go," Naruto said persistently. "It's on Tsunade-baachan, the Council, and even your mothers' orders to stay and let us assist you…–"

"Shut up." Aya was shaking with rage, and Kago shot her a worried stare. "You… just shut up… you weren't there when we asked about our fathers, were you?"

Silence.

"WERE YOU?!" Aya laughed in a quiet, hysterical way before taking a deep breath and continuing on. "You… have no idea at all… how heartbreaking it was. Our strong, independent mothers; our role models… crying."

More silence.

"You're really that curious?" Karai inserted quietly. "You want to know… the worst day of our lives? Here."

The dark-haired girl rapidly made handseals, her eyes illuminating unnaturally, hauntingly. Naruto made a quick defensive movement but Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulders, his dark eyes analyzing every single move Karai made.

"Welcome to one year ago," Karai whispered hauntingly.

And all went black.

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There was a small fire burning with a couple of fish roasting on top of it.

"I GET DIBS ON THAT ONE!"

"Too late, dobe." A pale hand snatched the biggest fish right before another, more tanned one.

"Teme! Give it back!"

"Tch. Dobe. It's your fault you're slow." Kago took a big bite out of the fish and chewed slowly.

Useki made a small whimpering noise, like he was being tortured by the fact that Kago had the biggest fish.

"If I were you, I'd get the second biggest instead of sulking," Kago murmured in between bites of fish.

Alas, Suda had already taken the second; Aya the third and Karai the fourth.

Useki groaned. "I hate you all."

"Useki-kun… that's not nice." A hand ruffled his hair.

The blonde looked up in surprise. "Okaa-san!"

Hinata smiled gently. "We always have more, Useki-kun. Don't be so selfish."

Useki's eyes drooped. "Gomen, okaa-san."

Hinata smiled again and offered Useki a huge chunk of cooked meat. "Sakura-chan and Tenten-chan had quite a hard time killing the animal but they did it in the end."

"Phew! I'll say!" Ino walked back to the little campfire carrying a giant bucket filled with fresh water from the spring nearby. "I won't need to exercise for another month because of this!"

"I know, right?" Sakura and Tenten emerged from another side, Tenten holding a pair of twin katanas smiling victoriously, and Sakura with some animal skins and meat slung over her shoulder. "This thing just wouldn't die, so I had to use medical ninjutsu to just put it to sleep peacefully."

The meal progressed in contented silence, until Karai decided to break the warm silence. "Okaa-san, how come I don't have a father?"

Ino froze in mid-bite. "Nani?"

"Me and Karai-chan were at the playground… and… we got sand thrown at us." Aya inserted softly. "We got made fun of."

"Because?" Sakura asked, her voice choking up.

"Because… we didn't have a father. One of the kids – she told us… that we're losers who probably didn't have fathers," Aya whispered. "It hurt. I almost punched her…"

Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously. "Did you?"

Karai shook her head. "We… didn't want to be as bad as them… so… we just… left."

Suda nodded. "I have been wondering as well. Why do we always travel and move around? Why are we constantly being attacked by–"

"Ssh!" Tenten hissed, quieting the rowdy kids. The brunette woman looked around nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "You never know who's around."

Neji knew that when Tenten was nervous, she always would do that.

"Gomen, okaa-san," Suda said quietly. "We are merely curious…"

Suda quietly shut up and his pale eyes widened by the sight in front of him. Kago and Aya's expressions turned mortified and Karai and Useki's confused and dejected.

Their mothers were crying.

Crying.

Tears ran down Hinata and Ino's cheeks like a river's rapids, Sakura was quietly sobbing, Tenten was dabbing at the corners of her eyes.

"Okaa-san?" Aya went up to Sakura slowly, hesitantly.

Sakura sniffled wretchedly. "I'm… so sorry, Aya-chan… Did you feel bad without a father?"

"N-No! That's not it…" Aya trailed off uncertainly.

"I'm so sorry, Suda-kun…" Tenten laughed weakly. "You must be disappointed to see your mother in such a weak state."

Suda shook his head and embraced his mother. "No, I'm proud of you okaa-san."

Useki bounded up to Hinata, his face shining. "Don't worry, okaa-san! I'll never make you cry. I promise!"

Hinata looked up at Useki and nodded, her face slightly flushed.

Just like how she always looked at Naruto, the future Rokudaime realized miserably.

Karai regarded her mother with analyzing eyes. "I promise… to never make you cry again, okaa-san. I promise."

Ino launched into a full-scale sob, hugging Karai tightly.

Karai was crying as well.

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"Are you happy now?" Aya asked softly, her tiny fists clenched at her sides. "Were you the reasons why you made our mothers cry?"

Sasuke seemed frozen at the sight of Sakura's tears once again. 'No matter what, you always break her heart,' a small voice in the back of his head whispered menacingly.

He told that voice to shut up.

"I'm leaving," Karai said quietly, staring straight up into Shikamaru's eyes. "I've had enough. I can't stand to see you. You ruined our whole lives. Our mothers' lives."

She pushed past Naruto and jumped out the window, deftly landing on a tree branch. Looking up coldly, she said, "Follow me and I'll slit my own throat." She held up the kunai she had stolen from Naruto's weapons pouch to her throat. "Don't you dare try to follow me."

Aya had tears in the corners of her eyes. "Wait up for me, Karai-chan." She wiped her tears and flicked them to the floor. "If you dare to even call after us, I'll make sure to blow myself up."

Kago sighed, and having no choice to follow her sister, used the ANBU captains' shock to get past them out the window. And Useki and Suda followed the others, Suda shooting an acid glare at Neji before jumping from branch to branch.

"Goodbye."

And they could only stare at the children… Karai's words floating through their heads.

"I can't stand to see you. Your ruined our whole lives. Our mothers' lives."

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She stood in front of the gates, her eyes closes. Her now dried tears gave her cheeks an unnatural shine, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly parted.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata appeared next to her.

"Sakura-chan," Hinata murmured quietly. "You overreacted."

The pink-haired woman bit her lower lip. "Gomen… I just… It was just too much…"

Tenten smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. It's bound to happen some time or another."

"Yeah," Ino smiled weakly, punching Sakura's shoulder gently. "After all, we're already in deep shit. What else can go wrong?"

The sudden drop in temperature made Sakura's shoulders tense. What…

Hinata's Byakugan activated, her jaw set grimly. Her hands moved into a defensive motion.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata relaxed. It's just them…

"Them…?"

Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke dropped from trees, landing on the ground effortlessly.

"What are you doing here?" Ino asked tonelessly. "Where are the kids?"

"They're gone," Shikamaru replied quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked hoarsely. Her eyes widened the tiniest fraction, but it was an action that Neji's all-seeing Byakugan could detect.

"They're gone," Naruto echoed Shikamaru. He turned to Hinata defensively, like a wounded puppy. "We… we couldn't stop them. They… threatened to kill themselves. We tried." He looked into her eyes and flinched.

Hinata didn't seem angry at him. She regarded him with a calm horror.

He wanted her to slap him, yell at him for being such an idiot. Her calm regard for him drove him crazy. 'This isn't what she should do!!!'

She was just too gentle, it hurt him so… much.

"No…"

Sakura slumped over, on the same bench that Sasuke had left her on. "Nonononono… this wasn't supposed to happen," she gulped for air. "None of this… was supposed to happen," she whispered.

'They're coming.'

Tenten chewed on her lower lip, fingering a kunai anxiously. "This can't be happening. This… no… it's too…"

"Tenten."

Her watery eyes met his milky, blank ones. How she used to adore those intense, colorless, eyes. Now… it frightened her.

"Just tell us what. What is going on?"

She laughed inwardly sardonically. He used to seem to know everything, she the one that used to ask all the questions. Now… it seemed so weird that it was the other way around.

"We have to leave," Ino said suddenly. "It's not safe here." She ignored all the males, speaking to Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten hurriedly. "Leave the kids. Let's be decoys."

"I…" Hinata whispered. "Useki…"

"We're doing this for them," Ino insisted. "They're coming. I can feel it."

Sakura clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, as if torn between two decisions.

Tenten relaxed her shoulders. "Well, we all know what to do," she said calmly, pained. "It'll keep them off our track for at least a couple more months, maybe even a year."

Wordlessly, Sakura stood from the bench, her green eyes clouded with furious determination.

"Hold it."

Morino Ibiki stood in front of the gates imposingly, his large arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Why?" Ino asked defiantly. "You don't know anything about us. We're getting the hell out of here."

The Konoha Interrogator smirked. "I've gotten my fair share of information out of kids while you were out, girls. Don't doubt me."

Something flashed in Hinata's eyes.

A silver of anger, Naruto noticed.

"Did you hurt them?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Not at all," Ibiki drawled casually. "I merely made promises to keep you safe from… them."

A snarl rose in Sakura's throat. "Don't be talking as if you know us so well. You have no idea how much stronger their forces have gotten."

"I know," Ibiki replied calmly. "I just thought you might want to know… that they are here. They should've caught up to the kids by now."

The world seemed to freeze. Hinata trembled, Sakura let out a small moan of despair, Ino's fingers had a small spasm of fear, and Tenten cursed quietly.

"You have two choices," Ibiki said in a hard voice. "Fess up and receive Konohagakure's protection and aid, or leave your children to die and keep your secrets to the grave."

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"Kago-nii, where are we going?" Aya struggled to keep up with the other childrens' speed. She hated the drawback of her kekkai genkai.

Useki looked back to see Aya falling behind. "Aya-chan, you need help?"

She shook her head. "No, Useki-kun. I'm fine."

"Let Useki help you, Aya," Suda said blandly. "We don't want you hindering the group."

Aya bit her lip at the harsh comment but knew Suda was right. She let Useki effortlessly pick her up and fly through the treetops, catching up to the rest of the group in no time.

"Feel anything unusual?" Karai asked nervously to Aya and Suda.

"No," Suda replied. "There's–"

Suddenly, a kunai cut through the air and cut into Suda's back.

"Guh–!" Suda's eyes widened. 'How do they know… the blind spot…?!'

"Suda-kun!" Aya shrieked.

They jumped down to a clearing, only to meet a few dozen leering faces.

"No…" Karai whispered. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"There's no time to whine!" Kago ordered harshly. "We have to fight our way out of here!"

Suda got up, effectively using a Jyuken on an opponent while Karai mercilessly manipulated shadows to keep the opposing shinobi in place as Aya used the opportunities to burn them.

Kago grunted as he slid back, his left arm blocking a fierce roundhouse kick. He countered quickly, snapping his arm forward and crashing his tensed hand into the nose of the ninja that had tried to kick him. It worked. The enemy nin reeled back, clutching his bloody and broken nose and Kago quickly used a Katon.

Useki was jumping from place to place, his newly grown claws of chakra slashing without remorse, cutting deeply into enemy flesh.

However, the numbers of enemy ninja overwhelmed the children.

"Bochoong! (1)" Aya cried out, and the other children suddenly felt replenished.

However, it still wouldn't help. "Aya, don't drain yourself," Kago commanded. "We… we've lost."

"But–!" Aya's eyes widened as she fell onto her knees. She covered her mouth in horror, coughing. As she removed her hands, they saw that her hands and mouth were stained with blood. 'I've overused it…'

"Aya-chan!" Karai cried, rushing over to the fallen girl. However, she never reached her. Chakra strings bound her wrists and ankles and she fell hopelessly into the dirt.

"It's over, kids," an enemy nin snarled, flicking blood off the cut that Useki had given him. "Just come quietly."

"Don't listen!" Karai shouted, wincing in pain as her bindings tightened and cut into her skin. "Run for it!"

"Quiet," another ninja hissed, kicking her in the abdomen harshly and she fell silent, crying in pain.

Kago's bloodred eyes flickered from what seemed to be the enemy leader to his fallen sister and friend. "I…"

The enemy smirked in satisfaction. He knew that they'd won. Master-sama would be so pleased with him…

He opened his mouth to speak, but instead, a blinding white light appeared in front of his eyes.

With a gargled cry of pain, he blew up.

The enemy ninjas panicked as the ground before them broke and rose upward.

And as the dust and pieces of rock settled back on the ruined ground, the children saw their hope.

"You did well, kids." The man said softly. "Now it's our turn."

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death-chan is back!

-insert crickets chirping-

Um… yeah, I'm really sorry about the delays. I haven't updated in… how long… more than a month.

Really, I apologize. School and wayoftheninja have really been eating at my time, and even though my works are not really that popular, I think I need to take responsibility and finish my stories.

I'm going to write like crazy from now on and try to update at least once a month. Maybe. Once again, I apologize for all the inconvenience.

Thanks to narutoalicefan, VWaterlily, Dolphinbreeze, Da Cute Snowbunny, anbu-kunoichi, o0 anime-goddess 0o, Why is th RUM always gone, animeloverxoxox, serenity uchiha, Honey Noelle, DarkenSoul92, sakuraxcherryxbloosom, CLIEKIE-THIS-LINKIE, -WittoKaawit-, Doll.Affascinante, NinjaNitaRamenChan, Aly Uzumaki, 123PIKACHU, raindrop's n' roses, siny, slavetothekeyboard, Sw33t.Stuff.Sakura, Fast Talking Dolphin, whitephoenix13, Winter Thunder, Sakuranata, Suk-fong, Altais, Kurenai no Chinoumi, Airashii Mochidzuki, hizmit12-waterlily3721, Firefly Lanturns, Rockingurworld234, Kanname-Chan, TaniHime, firegirl343, charryblossom67, sarahhasley, sakura-sasuke-together, my lil' cherry blossom, love cross to sakura sasuke, sasukexsakura4ev, TentenXIrista, Wingless-Crying-Angel, uchihagenius4.0, kanna01, Poet of the Moon, Darkhope, GlowlyInsanity, Mysterious CherryBlossom, Lady Lassa, Romance is Me, Alusy, NorthernLights25, dianalovely1995, 93addict, SammyFace, xo M i M i, Depressing Truths, The8thSin, Freddy and Cherries Garcia, XXDragonheart6XX, kanker soar, Ophalina, asianangelgirl, CalwynN.D.Forever, SakuraGaara, MoonlitRain16, rizeleth, sakura4594, ItaSaku29, mak0-ch1, VioletIris, purpleeyednekoyoukai, pinky101, SweetKisses9, meloveneji14, young-love, DiamondOasis, lolsuzie, Mei fa-chan, Little Minamino, Mate-of-Sesshy, Kawaii IceCream, Baby Acoustic, ninja-kyoko, Kaze-Yume No Tenshi, obliviously, FrozenNight, kinimarubloodsuckeryaoi, furryhatlover2543, rikku92, Kaydreams, xXstardust401Xx, when.my.eyes.meet.yours., tru-viet, RawrRemy, Aishiteru Neji, St.Rivenj27, Tears like Crystals, co0kIeS-n-CrEAm, -my-name-is-V-, Ruffle, Hakumei.xo, HPBabe91,and kittygoesmeow for reviewing for chapter 3. Seriously guys. 106 reviews!! That's a new record.

And for those who guessed Korean for the bimil language, you guys deserve cyber uber cookies. And for those who guessed wrong, you get cyber cookies anyways because you guys have enlightened me with your reviews.

Until then!