-Thank you guys so much for the reviews, they seriously keep me going!-
Chapter 7
The rays of morning light shined on Sakura's face, awakening her. She started to sit up, but looked down in surprise when she felt cool air brush her shoulders. 'What on earth? I have not shirt, or pants…' That's when the memories of the previous night flooded back to her.
She and Hinata had been in the hot springs for way too long. She had been exhausted from the trip, and then she was chasing a dog, and felt dizzy, then blank. 'I must have fainted.' She thought. 'But I wonder how I got back here?'
Looking up, she saw that Shino and Hinata were still asleep, Sasuke's bed was empty, and he was nowhere in sight. Wrapping the blanket tighter around herself she crept to her bag, searching for clothes. After finding her black shorts and red vest she made her way to the bathroom and quickly put them on. She then returned to the bag and retrieved her brush, pulling it slowly through her hair.
Sakura turned when she heard a slight rustling. "Oh, good morning." Hinata said sleepily. Sakura walked over to her. "Morning." She whispered back. "Hey, do you know what happened last night? I think I must have blacked out."
Hinata sat up then, she was dressed in pajama's almost the color of her hair, though slightly lighter. "Yeah, you did black out, in the hallway." she answered. "Oh no!" Sakura whined, embarrassed, knowing she had only been wearing a towel.
"What happened to that little dog anyway?" She asked. "It belonged to a girl, she came and got it shortly after you fainted." Hinata replied. "Shino and Sasuke came, because of the shouting." she continued. Sakura's face turned beet red, the poor girl was mortified. "What!" She all but shouted. Shino groaned and rolled over, but stayed asleep.
"Shh!" Hinata scolded. "I didn't feel well either. Shino helped me back to the room. Sasuke carried you back." Sakura was speechless, never in her entire life had she been more embarrassed. "Oooh! How can I face him now! I think I'll die!" The girl moaned. "You still had your towel," Hinata said, trying to soothe Sakura, "It's not like you were naked."
Sakura closed her eyes, 'breathe in, breathe out.' She began chanting to herself, trying to calm down. It did help a little. Now Shino was awake, yawning and stretching. He looked over at the girls. "Yo. I hope you slept well." "Yes." they replied in unison. With that, he headed to the bathroom.
"I think I'll go get some breakfast." Sakura said. Hinata nodded in acknowledgement. 'I need to clear my head,' Sakura thought, 'We're on a mission, not a slumber party!' She went to the lobby and walked outside, this time, there were a few people on the streets. Sakura quickly scanned them, checking for Sasuke, he was not among them. 'I wonder where he went off too?' she wondered. 'Come to think of it, I guess I'm lucky he brought me back to the room, instead of leaving me in the hall.' She smiled at the thought.
There was a small shop nearby and Sakura entered it. It had some groceries and a partial bakery. She purchased a bread roll and went back outside. To her dismay she found a restaurant right next door. 'If only I had walked a little further! Oh well, I'll just save the roll for later.' she thought, putting it into the bag she was carrying.
The first thing she saw when she entered was Sasuke, he was sitting at one of the tables eating some sort of soup. He looked up when she entered, meeting her eyes. His face was free of emotion and Sakura could not tell what he was thinking. She walked over to him, gesturing to the seat across from him, "May I?" She asked. "Hn." He nodded his head.
"Umm…" Sakura started. "Hinata told me about yesterday, sorry about that. But thank you for taking me ba-" She stopped when he held his hand up. "it's fine, don't mention it." He said, standing up. Sakura sighed, but looked up again when he continued speaking. "Hey, you want the rest of my soup?" He asked, pushing the bowl toward her. She took the bowl, it was only half eaten. "Thank you." she smiled. With that, Sasuke walked away. "Be back at the room in fifteen minutes." He said, pausing at the door. "We'll start our investigation then." Sakura nodded.
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The four of them split into two groups and headed to separate sides of the village. Sakura went with Shino and Hinata with Sasuke. Then next village was ten miles away, so they would meet up before noon to travel there.
The people were happy to help, giving as much information as possible, hoping desperately that these ninja would rescue their missing friends.
After regrouping, they shared their information. Sakura started. Pulling out the scroll she had been taking notes on, she said. " Two of the women that were kidnapped were from this village. Their names are Emi and Kazumi." "They were both very athletic, they had superior skills, compared to others in this village." Shino added. Sasuke nodded. "We were told the same thing."
Sakura pulled out two pictures, "These are the women, the dark haired one is Emi, and The blonde is Kazumi." She passed them around for everyone to see.
"From their description, the attackers were definitely experienced ninja." Hinata put in. "Though they could not describe them." she sighed. "Only dark, terrifying shapes in the night." Sasuke ended.
After a quick lunch, the four departed, hoping that the next village would hold more clues as to who the attackers were.
The trip to the village, which was called Haan, was over in an hour. Haan was like the previous one, small, with a few burned buildings, and anxious people.
There was a leader in this village, and after a few minutes they managed to get directions to where he was located.
With Sasuke in the lead, they entered the building. There was an old man sitting at a desk, and a small boy was playing on the floor nearby. The old man looked up after a moment, his face a mass of wrinkles. "We are ninja sent from Konoha." Sasuke stated.
The man stood, smiling, "Hello! My Name is Hideki." he walked over to them. "Just tell us what you need and we will try to help the best we can."
"Then we'll get started right away." Sasuke replied. "We'll need pictures of the women, and some of their history. Also, we would like to speak to anyone who may have seen the attackers." Hideki nodded and hurried out the door with a "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Chapter 7 end-
I know, I know, It's a horrible place to end. _
Oh, well…
Hmm… I don't Own Naruto…
That's it I guess! So, until next time, bye for now!
