I am really sorry for not updating sooner. I rewrote this chapter at least four times till I was remotely satisfied. I'm still not pleased, but it is the best/ longest version of this chapter IMO. Also, things like work, social life, etc got in the way of updating sooner. I hope you guys like the chapter. R&R! Enjoy!
Chapter 4: The abduction of Sakura Haruno
It had already been over an hour since Sakura had won Kakashi at the auction. Though she felt like she'd been cheated by Genma. He deliberately let her win after she had practically emptied her wallet. He had no intention of letting Gai-sensei win Kakashi. Still it had been a good way to raise money for the new hospital wing.
And now she was walking beside Kakashi, towards what seemed like the route to the lake. His face was blank as usual and Sakura wondered what he had planned for her, and if he had planned anything at all. In the distance she saw several torches lit up the road towards a wooden deck with a rowboat lying next to it in the water.
Kakashi helped her wordlessly into the boat, taking the seat opposite of her and started rowing. It seemed awfully stupid to Sakura why they'd use a rowboat since they could both walk on water. But the normality of this date made her feel warm inside. He was actually trying to take her on a real date.
Suddenly Kakashi stopped rowing. "Look up," he said.
The words hadn't even left his mouth and the village went dark. A moment later fireworks were set off, lighting up the night sky in bright colors. Sakura stared openmouthed at the display of light and colors that she didn't even notice Kakashi moving over to sit next to her. Once the fireworks stopped and lights went back on Sakura looked at Kakashi, smiling. Kakashi pulled out a small box and gave it to Sakura. "I know this isn't exactly how this is done, but we've been doing things in the wrong order from the beginning," he said as he saw Sakura stare at the content of the small box.
"Kakashi it's beautiful," she said feeling very moved by this small gift.
Inside the box was a ring. The ring itself was gold and small diamond was on top of it. She took the ring and put it on her right hand. This really made it official, now the whole world could see that she was married. Kakashi smiled at the reaction and he wasn't even surprised when she threw herself in his arms. "I didn't get you anything," Sakura whispered.
Kakashi shook his head, but he didn't explain what he meant. He just never was the kind of man to talk about feelings. But this date was not what Sakura had expected, it was so out of character for Kakashi. Why would he even bother going on a date with a woman he was already married to?
This was not how she had thought her life would turn out. The ideas she had about romance, about love, about marriage seemed to have been turned upside down. All of this just because of one mission, which was a fake mission to begin with. Normally things didn't go as planned, but this was ridiculous.
Step one: Fall in love
Step two: Get married
Step three: Whatever the hell comes after that
Okay so this wasn't how she had planned things, she was married to the one man people said would never get married. He was hers and obviously very serious about being with her. Could things be any more perfect? Still there was thing one little thing that kept nagging her. He still hadn't said it. That annoying three word phrase. "I love you." Was that really so hard to say? Apparently it was since Kakashi still hadn't told her once how he felt about her. Sure they lived together, shared their lives had sex, but he just wouldn't say it. It was driving her out of her mind. Why wouldn't he say it? Why didn't she just ask him to it? She wouldn't ask him, because it was stupid to worry about such trivial things, when she had just gotten this beautiful ring from him. He did love her and she knew he loved her, but just once she wanted to hear him speak those words that meant so much to her.
Gai groaned when he was finally free from that annoying woman. All he heard her yapping about that evening was how lucky she was to score a date with Genma. That guy irritated him more than Kakashi ever could. And now he had wasted his valuable time servicing that woman instead of getting Sakura to realize that she actually loves Lee. Poor Lee was probably crying somewhere in a ditch, thinking about ending his life.
He wasn't about to give up! There had to be some way to get Sakura away from Kakashi, so she'd go through some sort of Kakashi detox program. Gai stopped in the middle of the street as the idea hit him. Sakura and Kakashi needed some time apart, that way they'd realize that they were completely wrong for each other. A mean giggle filled the deserted street as Gai worked out the details in his head. No better plan had ever been thought of as the idea he had. He'd kidnap Sakura and drill her in youthful love. Of course he'd also have to try to find out how Kakashi did it. How did that lecherous old rival of his got Sakura to make the mistake of marrying him? Was it the sharingan? Or maybe something even more sinister? There really was no point in pondering about it now. First he had to get home and get everything in motion. Operation "save Sakura" was now in motion.
Sakura's eyes opened slowly as she heard an annoying bleeping sound. Her arm felt around the nightstand till she hit something hard, making it stop bleeping. A sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled to the warm body lying next to her. It was far too early to be getting up, and as she was about to drift back off to sleep a groggy voice, not her own, spoke. "Don't you have to be at the hospital today?"
Again, Sakura's eyes opened. The covers fell off of her as she jumped out of bed. In record time, she had showered, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and got dressed. She was out the door before Kakashi had even opened his eyes.
The streets were empty as most people still slept at this time of day. Unfortunately Sakura was not one of those people. She had things like work dictating her life. She was almost at her destination when she heard a groan. It sounded like someone was in pain. She listened for a while, trying to determine where the sound was coming from. It seemed like the sound was coming from an alley to her left. "Someone there?" Sakura asked.
"I'm here."
Sakura went into the alley and the last thing she saw was a green arm grabbing her….
Neji wasn't usually a man to panic. No he was always the embodiment of restraint, calm and unrelenting in the face of danger. Except when he woke up in a strange bed, with a woman and not remembering how he got there. Second he noticed that he was not wearing any clothes and when he looked around they laid scattered over the floor. His keen eyes also noticed the photo of team Guy, finally explaining who the woman next to him without him even looking at her once. Slowly the memories of the previous night returned.
He remembered leaving Korean BBQ with TenTen. He had offered to walk her home and she had accepted. After getting to TenTen's place he had wanted to leave when she invited him in for a nightcap and so they had a few drinks. Judging by the pounding of his head it had been more than a few, but he couldn't quite recall how much he drank. After a few drinks the conversation changed from happy friendship moments to talking about love. Somewhere over the course of the evening he let slip a little of his thoughts regarding his only female teammate. Although he had never said it out loud, he did have strong feelings for her. He just couldn't decide what label to put on those feelings.
There was something fascinating about watching TenTen sleep so peaceful. This was actually one of the few times he had seen her outside of being a shinobi. Of course he'd been invited hundreds of times to join her and Lee for some team-bonding, but he had always declined. Training together and going on mission was as far as he went with team-bonding. He'd always kept his distance, but apparently he'd broken his own rules the previous night. Being in a relationship with a teammate brought along a lot of unnecessary emotional attachment, that could even cloud his judgment.
He couldn't help but want this. Even if his brain shouted from the inside that this was a terrible idea, another part of him desperately wanted this. Emotions were a useless thing for a shinobi. Yet, he couldn't find the willpower to fight this feeling. His hand softly stroked TenTen's hair and he finally realized why Sakura had looked so happy those last few weeks.
The room was dark and smelled damp, like a basement. She still felt a bit light headed. Her hands were tied to the chair she was sitting, her feet were bound together. The memory of the alley came back to her and she knew some dumbass had abducted her.
"You're finally awake," a very familiar voice said.
"Gai-sensei?"
"I'm not Gai-sensei."
"Really?" Sakura asked playing dumb. "Because you do sound like him."
"Well I´m not him," Gai said
"Okay," Sakura answered. "So what do you want."
"I would like to know what you were thinking when you married Kakashi Hatake."
"Nothing."
"That's obvious," Gai said through gritted teeth. "How did he convince you to marry him?"
"He didn't need to."
"What's that?"
"I thought everyone already knew," Sakura said. "Tsunade switched the real marriage certificates with the fake ones. We didn't really have a choice in the matter. She did this."
"But why?" Gai asked sounding both disappointed and confused.
"I don't know," Sakura said. "Why don't you ask her?"
"I will do that."
After those words Gai disappeared.
"He could've untied me first," Sakura muttered as she gathered her chakra to break her bonds.
Kakashi muttered something when he heard pounding on the door. "Just a minute."
At the door was Ino, with a look of both excitement and worry on her face. "Hey Kakashi-sensei," she said. "Is Sakura here?"
"She left for the hospital hours ago."
"Well she's not there," Ino said. "I came here looking for her."
Kakashi grabbed his keys of the table next to the front door. Outside he summoned Pakkun to help find Sakura. He led Kakashi and Ino down the route Sakura usually took till he got to the alley. "That's weird," Pakkun said. "It seems like she took a left here and I also smell Gai."
"New target," Kakashi said. "Find Gai."
Seemed the man had been all over the village. Pakkun just couldn't get a clear picture of where the man was heading. After a long while Kakashi saw something green flash by and decided to chase that whilst letting Pakkun keep tracking the way he had been.
Gai had always been fast, but Kakashi didn't want him to know he was being followed. At some point he was just going around in circles so Kakashi decided to confront. "Gai," he yelled.
"I'm not Gai-sensei," Lee said.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know," Lee said. "He was supposed to help me train, but he didn't show up so I'm doing a short warm-up. Want to join me Kakashi-sensei?"
"No thanks," Kakashi said. "I have to find Gai."
"I'll help you look."
At the Hokage tower, Gai barged into Tsunade's office. "What is it this time Gai? Is the training program for new students not hard enough?"
"Why oh why!" Gai whined.
"Why what?"
"Why did you marry Kakashi and Sakura?"
"It was an accident," Tsunade said innocently.
"But now he's tainted Lee's love."
"Tainted," Tsunade repeated. "You make it sound like Sakura was a saint and Kakashi the devil."
"That's exactly what I mean," Gai said. "How could you do this to your own student? Have you no heart?"
Tsunade lay a hand on her chest right on the spot where she could easily feel her heart beating. "Still there," she concluded. "And to take away some of your worries… Sakura can always file for a divorce."
"But she's been brainwashed."
"Really?" Tsunade asked sarcastically. "I'd say Kakashi's been brainwashed by her not the other way around."
"This is no time for jokes," Gai said. "I'm serious."
"You're over thinking things," Tsunade said. "But I will have a word with my apprentice if it'll make you feel better."
Sakura broke the ropes that held her in place and got up. It took her some searching the walls till she found a light switch and turned it on. She was indeed in a basement. There were some canned goods in there and freezer. The stairs were in the middle of the basement. She went up only to find the door locked. One kick and the door broke with a loud crack.
She was now standing in a hallway. There were several photos on the wall. Some where Gai was still little and others were his current team was with him. It was naturally considered impolite to snoop around a man's house, but curiosity got the better of Sakura.
In the hallway she took a left, going into what seemed like a storage area next to the kitchen. There was a washing machine, a dryer, another freezer and a laundry basket in this space. Moving along she came into a very simple white kitchen. Unlike what she had expected of Gai's home, it was very light. On the kitchen table, located under a window to her right were fresh flowers and the house was remarkably clean. Finally she came into the living room. Four chairs and a couch stood around a small glass coffeetable some used mugs still stood on said table. A rather large photo caught Sakura's eye. On the photo was Gai with a woman and they were holding each other tightly. The woman in the photo had short black hair and brown eyes. She seemed a little full in the face, but looked generally happy being held by Gai. I didn't know Gai had a girlfriend.
Her eyes finally rested on a clock ticking on the wall above the TV. She'd been here for hours as it was already past noon and she was supposed to be at the hospital at 6 AM. People were probably looking for her. She was about to make her way to the front door when she heard someone enter the house. For a moment, she froze, then she ducked behind a closet.
"Sakura?" Kakashi called out. "Are you here?"
Pakkun took a long sniff. "She's definitely here," the Pug said whilst following his nose.
"I'm here," Sakura called back upon hearing the familiar voice.
There was that look again. She had seen it when she told she loved him and now he was looking at her like that again. Except now there was a little sign of relief in his visible eye. Without saying anything else he walked over, closing his arms around her.
"I'm fine," Sakura said.
"I know."
"Let's get out of here," Sakura said, taking Kakashi's hand and leaving Gai's house, leaving the door open as they moved away from the house.
That's it. Sorry it isn't longer, but I was totally pissed off with this chapter… R&R. Laterssssss
