Disclaimer: Whatever they say, they don't have proof…DENY EVERYTHING! Yeah…I don't own Naruto.
NOTE of IMPORTANCE: THANK YOU SOO MUCH DEAR REVIEWERS YOU ALL MAKE ME WANT TO GLOMP YOU ALL WITH THESE FANTABULOUS REVIEWS! KEEP IT UP! I HAVE A GOAL FOR ALL OF MY STORIES TO REACH 100 REVIEWS EACH!
I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! (does Gai's good-guy pose)!!
Sakura frowned in mild trepidation as she looked at the ANBU agent before her. He had a gaping wound around his middle torso profusely spilling blood while his right lung was punctured by a fractured rib. To add to it, he was suffering a severe concussion and could die if he fell asleep currently.
"Shizune I need you to get one of the interns and have them keep this man awake I also need a blood replenishing pill pronto and an I.V. drip bag. I should be in E.R. 5." With that being said, a few nurses rolled the man into the room previously said and immediately the cherry blossom began her tedious work of saving yet another life that day.
It had been eight hours and she successfully treated four ANBU in critical condition. She would've smiled at her feat but was overcome with untold exhaustion that she collapsed onto her chair in her office with a strained sigh. Carefully she moved her head towards the clock hanging on the blank wall before her and fought the urge to groan. She still had thirteen hours left until she could go home and sleep.
"Sakura-sama?" A meek nurse questioned, lightly tapping on the door frame, "would you like to make your rounds in the ICU?"
Waving her hand dismissively at the nurse she replied in strained wakefulness, "I believe you are capable of doing so on your own Kimiko, if anything unusual appears that would require my expertise then come get me, but until then allow me at least an hour's decent rest."
"Hai Sakura-sama."
The soft clicking of the door was the only indication that she was alone in the room and she silently reveled in it only allowing a small contented smile to appear on her otherwise exhausted-seeming face.
It seemed once her eyelids were shut, she was disturbed by hard knocking on her door. Growling irritably she snapped an unlady-like reply, "what the hell do you want?"
The door opened to reveal Neji holding a small bouquet of lilies, "I am sorry if I came at a bad time Sakura-san, if you wish for me to leave..?" He motioned to head out but was stopped by her voice,
"Neji wait." Once he turned around she offered a kind smile and motioned for him to sit on the chair across from her, "please sit and tell me the reason behind your sudden visit."
He complied with her command and stared at her, trying to regain the words he previously formulated outside her office door for the past fifteen minutes. Once he found the words he took a deep breath, "I know you're busy and will be tired once your shift ends; however, I wish to invite you to join me tomorrow night for dinner."
She quirked an eyebrow, "why Mr. Hyuuga, are you asking me out on a date?" she stifled her laughter at seeing his face light up in a light tint of crimson and she mischievously commented, "but then again if you were asking me on one, you would've ended your previous statement with a question instead of a statement." If possible, the Hyuuga Neji fidgeted alongside his deepened blush and she couldn't help but laugh in amusement,
"Of course I would Neji. How does five sound?"
Regaining his composure, he straightened his back and looked her in the eyes with new found confidence, "that sounds good Sakura-san. I will be punctual in picking you up." He stood up and began walking towards the door when he was stopped by Sakura,
"Neji, were those flowers for me or did you suddenly take a liking to them that you just had to parade around Konoha with them?"
Seeing the Hyuuga so flustered made her day as he quickly handed them to her, mumbling incoherent words before rapidly dashing out of her office. She smelled the lilies with a bright smile, yeah today was definitely a good day she laughed again before heading out of her office to begin her final rounds.
The counsel members sat once again at the same table as they have been for months on end. They were worried over many matters but their main focus currently was of a broader more lethal affair than trying to control a certain cherry blossom.
This affair was dealing with an ever growing organization of elite shinobi-well meaning ones at that- leaving their villages of their own accord: no brain control, genjutsu or anything. They were worried that whatever was causing great shinobi to turn on their villages was heading for them.
Usually the council would be in a self-induced state of denial of these problems ever existing but with the ever looming threat of Orochimaru and Akatsuki they couldn't allow any room of denunciation.
"Perhaps Orochimaru is behind all of this?" A council member broke the uneasy silence.
"Oh yes blame the traitor every time why don't you? It's always easy to point a scapegoat but even harder to find the true reason for this all." Another retorted.
"So you think it could be someone else?" Hiashi questioned with his hands folded under his nose, "or perhaps we're not fully concentrating on this matter" he allowed for his words to hang over the council. He may be one of the youngest council members but he was in no way disregarded-quite the opposite actually, he was seen as the overseer of all meetings and one to quickly quell any on-coming temperaments.
"No" he began again, "we should be concentrating more so on how to make sure what has happened to numerable villages wont happen here."
"In order to do that we must concentrate on the why Hiashi" Tsunade walked through the doors in her irritable sober state, "we cannot be so foolish as to denounce the reasoning behind all of this. To build a plan and put it in motion would require information that we currently don't posses. It would be folly on our part to put effort into something that's not stable, only to see it crumble before our own eyes."
"Then how do you suppose we go about this Hokage-sama?"
"You think I know? I'm just here to point out everyone's idiocy in this matter." She rubbed her temples in irritation and let out a long-drawn sigh, "what we need to do is background checks on all the missing nin and see what they all have in common maybe that would give us a clue as to why they're suddenly doing this. Also, we should have a meeting with the other councils in the villages that have lost their own and figure the similarities from them, and if we hold anything close to what they're doing then we should seek to amend them ASAP. From then on it's all brick work. The pieces will eventually fall into their places and by then it hopefully won't be too late and if it is-" she took out a hidden sake bottle and took a swig, "-then hopefully we were able to help a village from falling prey to whatever the hell this is."
"Do you have any suspicions?" Hiashi inquired.
"To have suspicions is to draw water from an empty well; until it becomes plentiful you have nothing." Not bothering to bow in respect to the council members Tsunade walked out of the musty hall and down the corridor to be swallowed up by the sunset's shadows.
The council looked to one another and then to Hiashi who then spoke, "everything is running smoothly. My nephew was able to persuade our cherry blossom on a date."
"And everyone else?"
"They are trivial matters as long as we hold this one tightly in our grasp."
"Hai" murmured the council in unison before each getting up from their seats and taking their departure.
Hiashi lingered a moment longer than the rest, his gaze lost in silent thought before slowly ascending into the conscious world about him. He shook his head and slowly walked out the hall with his footsteps heavily bouncing off the walls. It seemed that everything was running smoothly but he couldn't help but think this as a terrible sign,
The calm before the storm he reflected before silently closing the heavy double-doors behind him and making his way towards his compound.
So what do you readers think? Who's behind this new development? Is it even relevant to what's going on or am I simply toying with all of you?
Either way I'd like to hear your thoughts and what you think should go on, or what's your conspiracy theory? Nothing is too absurd in this story in fact the most unfeasible conclusions are perhaps the most probable.
Don't forget to drop a message!
Have lemon squares! Yumm!
