Chapter Seven
Trouble With Detours
"I wonder where the girls are," Naruto said the next morning. He and the rest of the group, guys only, were sitting around the table with breakfast spread about them.
"Probably putting their makeup on," Blaze grumbled. "Pointless human junk."
"I wouldn't let the girls hear you say that," Naruto chuckled. "Believe me."
"I'll go see what's taking them so long," Kiba said as he stood up and headed for the girls room with Akamaru following. He was walking down the long hall then turned right into another hall and found Star was leaning against the wall with Twilight laying on the floor beside her. He rushed to her side. "Hey! Are you alright? What's wrong?"
"I'm fine," Star said as Kiba pulled her into his arms. She felt his heart pounding hard in his chest. She placed her hand on his chest and looked at him. "I'm ok. I just feel really tired and sleepy."
"You sure?" Kiba asked with concern in his voice as Akamaru sniffed Twilight then yipped at Kiba. "What is it, boy?"
Akamaru barked a couple more times and made Star wince as his bark pierced through her throbbing head. "Oh my head. What's he saying? I can't understand him right now."
"He smells something," Kiba replied then sniffed the air himself. "I smell it too. There's a faint odor of some kind. I can't place it."
"Oh man. I feel like my head is about to explode," Ino whined as she and Sakura exited the girls room.
"Same here. I wonder why," Sakura looked up at Kiba and Star. "Hey, Star, how do you feel?"
"Like you two," Star replied as she rested her head on Kiba's shoulder. "Where's Hinata and TenTen? They weren't in the room when I got up."
"They weren't in the dinning room either," Kiba said. "We've been up for a while and haven't seen them."
"I wonder where they went," Ino said.
"Or who took them," Kiba narrowed his eye brows.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"Something's not right here. There's a faint odor of some kind coming from your room and I can smell it on your clothes," Kiba replied. He looked at Ino and Sakura to study how they looked then looked back down at Star. He picked Star up in his arms. "Come on. We better get the others."
The group rushed into the dinning room and let everyone know what was going on.
"Hinata and TenTen were taken? How is that possible with all of us here?" Lee slammed his hands on the table.
"Judging from the odor Kiba told us about, the girls were knocked out with some kind of sleeping gas," Shikamaru said.
"But why would they take only Hinata and Tenten? And why take them at all?" Chouji asked.
"It could be those bandits that Kiba and Lee scared off," Kakashi said.
"But how would they know what room the girls were staying in? This can't be just a coincident," Shino said. "We should hurry up and check the girls room and find Hinata and TenTen."
"Right," Kakashi nodded. "Kiba and Shino will check the room and around the window to see if they can find any traces of where the girls abductors might have gone. The rest of us will split up and ask around to see if anyone in the village might have seen something. Are you three up to the search?"
"Yeah. I'm feeling a lot better," Sakura nodded.
"Of course! I've a score to settle with these punks for what they did," Ino slammed her fist into the palm of her hand.
"Lady Star?" Kakashi asked.
"Sorry," Star replied.
"You alright?" Lee asked as he leaned in closer to Star, who was still in Kiba's arms. "You don't look so good."
"The gas that they used seems to have a stronger effect on her," Talon said as he placed a hand on Star's forehead. "Even I feel a bit woozy just from the small traced of the gas on her clothes."
"She should stay here," Blaze said. "I'll stay with her."
"Good idea," Talon said. "I'll go with the others and help search."
"I want to stay with her too," Kiba said.
"We need you to help search for the girls," Kakashi replied.
"But I...,"
"I'll stay with her," Lee offered.
"Thanks Lee," Kiba smiled at him.
"We should stay too," Shikamaru said. "We can talked to the house help and see if they know anything about the thieves that attacked Serena yesterday and if they heard anything when the girls were taken."
"I guess that will be ok," Kakashi nodded. "Let's get going."
Star felt Kiba's body flinch when Serena appeared and shrieked his name. "Kiba!"
"Kiba, I need to speak to you for a minute!" Serena grabbed his left arm, which was under Star's legs, and tugged on him causing him to halfway drop Star. Star placed her feet on the floor and grabbed onto Kiba's right arm, partly for balance and partly to keep Serena from taking him.
"I can't right now. We have a bit of a problem we need to take care of," Kiba said while trying to keep his arm around Star's waist so she wouldn't crash to the floor.
"It'll only take a minute!" Serena tugged harder on him. "Pretty please?"
"Uh, Kiba," Star tugged back on his arm but because of her head she couldn't keep a good enough hold on him. As Serena tugged him away, his hand slid along Star's skin until their fingers intertwined with each other. They lingered like that for a few seconds before Serena managed to pull him away from Star completely. "Kiba."
"Star," Lee became a support pillar for Star when her knees began to buckle. "Do not worry, Star. She cannot take him from you."
"Yeah," Star nodded. Shikamaru carefully studied Star's eyes as she looked down at the floor. He noted she had the look of confusion. As he watched her, she raised her eyes to the direction Kiba was dragged and another emotion flashed through her eyes.
"Let's get going, Shikamaru," Chouji broke through Shikamaru's thoughts.
"Right," Shikamaru followed his best friend after casting one last glance at Star.
"Sit her down. I'm going to see if I can get the last bit of gas off of her," Blaze said.
"Of course," Lee nodded then help Star sit down. He sat down beside her and watched quietly as Blaze raised his hands to Star and engulfed her in his magic.
...
"Will you stop pulling on me? I can walk on my own you know!" Kiba growled. "Two of my friends are missing! I should be looking for them not being dragged around by you!"
"I know they're missing," Serena looked back at him and smile. "And if you want to ever see them again you'll go on a date with me."
"What? What did you do to them?" Kiba grab the front of her shirt as Akamaru started growling.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Serena continued to smile sweetly at him. It made his stomach turn. "See I know all about your precious little fairy girlfriend."
Uh," Kiba felt his whole body go numb as his hands dropped from her shirt.
"Or I guess I should say your non-girlfriend. You can't ever be with her so why waist your time?" Serena adjusted her shirt.
"Wha...What did you do?"
"Haven't you figure it out yet?" Serena asked. "I set all of this up. The attack in the woods, you all coming to my house, the girls being taken..."
"But why?" Kiba asked. "What's the point of all this?"
"The point is for fun. Lancer offered to pay me but money I've got," Serena replied. "When he told me about you all I couldn't resist. I get bored easily you see."
"You're doing this out of boredom? You stupid little..." Kiba pulled out a kunai.
"I wouldn't do that. You want to see your friends again, right? And I'm sure you don't want anything to happen to Star," Serena smirk with victory at him. Kiba clenched his hand around the kunai but put it away.
"What do you want me to do?"
"You are a good boy, aren't you? You're going on a date with me, right now."
"Fine," Kiba turned with Akamaru and headed back to the house.
"Wait! One more thing," Kiba paused but didn't turn around. "You are to tell no one about this. I have spies all over this village. I ordered them to kill Hinata and Tenten if you resist me or tell anyone what I've told you."
Kiba clenched his hands tighter and tighter to where his nails were biting into his skin. Akamaru whined at the blood and the fact Serena was bending him to her every whim. She walked passed him and headed for the house. "You should go tell your friends you can't help with the search. I'm gonna get ready for our date. Be ready in fifteen."
...
"Did you find out anything?" Lee asked when Shikamaru and Chouji returned.
"Nothing," Chouji frowned.
"Most of the help goes to their own homes when the day is done," Shikamaru added.
"I guess we just sit and wait for the others to return," Lee said as he turned his attention back to Star. Blaze's power was healing her and she looked at lot better from before.
Just then Serena danced into the house like a kid with a bag full of candy. "This is going to be wonderful."
"Why's she so happy?" Chouji asked.
"I'm going on a date with Kiba!" Serena smiled.
"Right," Lee laughed.
"Kiba loves Star. There's no way he'd ever go out with you," Chouji added with a chuckle of his own. Serena stopped dancing around and stared right at Star.
"You'll see. I've got to get ready," Serena just waved and continued her dance out of the room.
A minute later, Kiba entering the house made them all look up. Chouji was the first to say something to him. "Hey, you're not really going on with that girl, are you?"
Kiba didn't say anything or look at anyone as he passed by them. The guys exchanged looks as Star spoke. She was holding her emotions in well. Blaze quietly looked up at her then over at Kiba. "Kiba? Is something wrong?"
Kiba stopped but kept his eyes on the floor. Shikamaru immediately noticed a painful look in his eyes and the fact his fists were clenched so tight that blood was starting to appear on his hands. "I'm...I'm sorry. I can't...help with looking for...for the girls."
"It's ok," Star gave her best smile, even though everyone in the room knew it was fake. "You do what you have to do."
Kiba just nodded and continued on to find Shino.
"What did you do that for?" Lee asked.
"It's ok, Lee. I mean, I care about Kiba but I can't keep him from seeing other girls," Star replied but if was obvious she was forcing out the words.
"What are you talking about? He's your boyfriend and..." Chouji started but was stopped by Star.
"No. He's not my boyfriend," Star shook her head. "We never agreed to a committed relationship."
"That is not true! You love each other! You should..." Lee screamed but Star raising her hand silenced him.
"It's fine," Star said. "Let's just drop it."
Chouji and Lee exchanged looks while Shikamaru watched Star carefully. Her eyes drifted to Twilight, who had just laid her head on Star's lap. Shikamaru caught the same look in her eyes as before. Star was still confused and jealous. Shikamaru watched her and pondered on why she was feeling those two emotions at the same time. His eyes drifted to Blaze. Blaze was looking right back at Shikamaru. That's when he realized why she was feeling like she was. Blaze nodded to confirm it.
...
"Hm," Shino stood in the middle of his room as his bugs did their work. Kiba walked in. "About time you got here. My bugs have picked up small traces of human scent. I got to say this is some gas they have used. It took a while for my bugs to find..."
"I can't go with you," Kiba interrupted.
"What?"
"I have...I'm going on a date with Serena," Shino studied his friend and teammate. He wasn't sure what was going on but trusted Kiba.
"I understand."
"Thanks, Shino. Akamaru will go with you to help."
"Right," Shino nodded as Kiba turned to leave. "I hope you know what you're doing. Star will be..."
"I know, Shino. I know."
"I'll find them. When I do I'll send you a message."
"Right."
Serena was the only one who spoke as she left with Kiba. They all knew it was just for show. To hurt Star more. Kiba nor Star look at each other or anyone. They, but Star, watched Kiba and Serena exit the house before looking back at Star. She was on the verge of tears and trying to figure out why she was feeling the way she did.
Notes: Sorry I haven't update in FOREVER! But that's technology for ya and it's been a uh not so good summer -.-' But I'm back now and hopefully will get this fic back on track and update quick. Hope you still enjoy it! :D
