I knew where we were, but I didn't want to believe it. It was easy to make my way out of the bindings. Obviously our captors were dumber than they thought. The cuffs around my wrists were soon broken as a small bit of lightning struck them in the middle.
When I opened my eyes, I found the stupid black blindfold destroying my vision. I quickly untied them and looked around. I saw Mamoru sitting beside me. Sakuko was sobbing into Kikio's shoulder. Yukio was pacing, not daring to sit down. Kagami was gone.
Why was I the only one free?
"Guys?" I asked in a soft whisper.
Mamoru looked over at me and smirked.
"You were supposed to be the smart one, Sumiko. Aren't you a Nara? You should be a genius." He growled.
My eyes widened slightly and I looked over to Sakuko and Kikio. Yukio stopped pacing and turned to me as well.
"He's right Sumiko. You're the one who's always been the genius. You're the one who's always been the leader. Now see where you've gotten us!! Thanks a lot, Sumiko!! To think that I used to like you!" Yukio yelled before he turned around.
Sakuko lifted her head and opened her eyes. But they weren't the shadowy jade that I was so used to. Her eyes had flickered into a Sharingan-like state. Save for the fact that her pupil's were cat-like slits and the entire rest of her eye was blood red.
"If you were such a smartie-pants, Kagami would be here with us, helping to make a plot to escape. But thanks to you he's being…He's being…" Sakuko fell back into a thick spasm of tears.
I looked to Kikio. What was going on? She looked at me, her pale eyes disapproving and turned back to console Sakuko. But she wasn't having it. She got up and strides over to me. Before I knew what was happening her hands were around my neck, my back was to the wall, and my feet weren't touching the ground.
"Thanks to you, he's being poked and prodded by that disgusting thing!! Because of you, Kagami kun is going to become his new body!!" Sakuko screamed, her grip getting tighter on my neck.
I put my hands up to the hands that gripped my neck. I gripped my hands on her wrists, but this only made Sakuko grip my neck harder. I was suddenly grateful for the fact that I had the Element of Wind on my side. I could hold my breath for hours, but somehow, it wasn't happening here.
'Genjutsu!!' I thought.
That was obvious!! Sakuko's hold on me suddenly slackened and I fell to the ground. I enjoyed the sweet gasp of air and everything in my vision slurred.
In a more realistic world, my eyes opened. I looked around and found Sakuko's hands on my neck and Kikio's on my wrist.
"Opposite elements can sometimes bring back those lost in the world of genjutsu. In our case, it does work because genjutsu have no real elements. Putting that which is real within the body during said jutsu can bring a fellow Elemental out of it, due to the fact that our bodies are so very used to elements." Kikio muttered when she realized that I woke up.
I smiled down at her and looked around. We were in a cell. Yukio and Mamoru were speaking in the corner. Kagami was gone, just as I had suspected.
"Orochimaru took Sakuko away first, but then brought her back and took away Kagami." Kikio said blankly.
I sighed softly and shook my head. Why was this happening to us? Why our family of all families? I groaned and got to my feet, running a hand through my bangs.
"Well in any case, we need a plan."
"Kyoko!" I called out.
Few questions ran through my mind. Why was she on the ground? She looked like she was shivering. Was everything alright? Why did I care?
I ran towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. She rolled over. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked numb. I propped her back up and looked at her plainly.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
Her eyes seemed to snap back into place and she shot up and hugged me tightly.
"They're gone!! They're gone and I couldn't get them back!! Sasuke Kun, they're gone!! They're gone and I couldn't save them." She kept screaming, as tears began falling down her face.
I didn't know what to do at that point. I wrapped my arms around Kyoko and I held her.
"I'm sorry." I said.
I didn't know how much truth was held behind those words.
"I just contacted Hinata and the others telepathically. They should be here in a few moments." I said beneath my breath.
I didn't know how I could keep myself from crying and screaming. I felt numb and I could tell that the others felt the same way when they arrived. Tenten's hands were raw and looked red. What had she been doing? Had she been tearing at the outer layers of rock, not using her powers? Tenten had a habit of doing so when she was extremely nervous or under great distress.
"We need a plan and we need one now." Hinata said her voice soft.
Tenten nodded numbly.
"We can't just barge into Orochimaru's lair. Plus, we don't have the kind of connection they have." I said my voice void of really any emotion.
I looked down at Sumiko, surprised that she was the only one left. Why was she the only one left? With Orochimaru in this case, it seemed smart to take all of them at once. But the fact that Sumiko was still there confused me. I looked down at my daughter and narrowed my eyes.
"Hinata, run a scan." I said simply.
Hinata raised her brow. Running a scan usually meant dropping an opposite element onto an Elemental and seeing how their reaction would be. Since I was talking to Hinata, I was really speaking to Tenten.
Damn. It was complicated being us.
In any case, Tenten looked up and seen a small bit of dirt was coming in through an open window and landed on Sumiko. The real Sumiko would have shivered and wiped the dirt off immediately. This Sumiko looked at the dirt and wiped it off. I sighed softly and whipped out a kunai from my pack and stabbed the clone in the neck.
"Well what a no good, dirty rotten trick." I mumbled.
Hinata and Tenten shook their heads.
"This is just disgusting. Using an Elemental's DNA to try to make a copy…It's tiring." Tenten said blankly.
"But this does tell us that Orochimaru knows more than he leads on. We need to stay on our toes." Hinata said calmly.
I nodded and looked at Tenten.
"Have you told Neji yet?" I asked Tenten easily.
Neji raised his brow.
"What have you not told me?" he asked.
"That's Tenten, that's Hinata, and of course you can see that I'm Temari." I said evenly.
Neji raised his brow and looked from Hinata to Tenten who by now had discarded their disguises. I figured that despite his façade, he was really surprised and almost kind of hurt at the fact that he hadn't been told sooner.
"We have no time with dwelling on this. We need to contact Sakura. Do you have any idea where she is?" Tenten asked.
I shook my head.
"I don't know, but we can't decide on anything before she gets here or is at least in someone's head." I replied.
I slowly blinked open my eyes and decided on letting it go. I could feel my eyes turning back to their natural green and my hair back to its natural pink. I looked at him, waiting for his response.
Sasuke looked at me for a minute and I waited faintly for him to push me away, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled me closer and held me. I was surprised, and grateful.
"They're gone." I sobbed harder, and harder.
And he hugged me. He hugged me and kept me there in the warm sweet embrance of his arms. It was a warmth I had never had the pleasure of having before and I couldn't get enough. This feeling was sweet and new and I just couldn't get enough. And it was then that I realized something;
I was hurt and I wasn't alone anymore.
I could hardly believe that I wasn't alone.
