Sasuke & Hinata (Romeo & Juliet)
By Narika & Baka

Chapter Ten – Insanity

Gaara tapped his fingers impatiently. What to do? What to do? He had promised Hinata to talk with Prince Kazekage, but the man had left for the Snow Country for a two-week vacation. How was he supposed face Hinata now? Of course lying was one option but it was incredibly hard to lie to that innocent, hopeful face.

"Gaara."

"What?" he replied turning around to face his butler with a frightening face.

Kankuro gulped and muttered a "Nevermind!" and slammed the door shut.

Gaara let out a huge sigh just as his maid came in with a feather duster. Temari ushered him out of the room claiming that it was cleaning time, closing the door in his face.

Gaara meandered down the hall to find some isolated corner where no one would disturb his thoughts.

...

Hinata sneezed. Orochimaru had pulled the blankets off of her and threw open the window.

"Nurse?" she moaned, "Isn't it still early?"

"You've overslept dear. It's just cloudy out today so it seems like later in the day. Hurry up and get dressed for church."

"EH?! I missed church!"

"No…"

"Oh. Good..."

"There's about five minutes before you will miss it though."

...

"Oi Sasu-chan!" Haku shouted, pushing Sasuke off the bed.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"Watch your language! Get ready for church!"

"Church? Since when did everyone here go to church?"

"Since Hidan came back."

"Who's Hidan?"

Moments later, Akatsuki gathered in the tea ceremony room at the resort as Hidan preached about the laws of suffering, or something along those lines. Sasuke kept glancing around the room, only to find there was no clock and that everyone seemed to be listening intently and taking notes.

Sasuke tried his best to listen and then he spotted something peculiar by Haku's feet. Was that a frog? All of a sudden it hit Sasuke—it was that demanding puny little frog from the previous day. He lunged for the Gamakichi and growled threateningly, "You…tricked me."

"Now that is a prime example of law number two – never let anyone get away with anything." Hidan stated excitedly. "Now Sasu-chan, continue yelling at him and then throw him out of the room."

Sasuke, dropped the frog and left the room. He was going to end up in an insane asylum if he continued living with his brother and his friends. Hell, he was already among the insane.

...

Hinata was horrified by what she read. It sounded like Sasuke's brother and his friends were torturing Sasuke to the fullest extent. Group bubble baths, weird ceremonies for church, and even ordering oddly-colored bath towels. Her poor Sasuke!

She tried her best to keep the horror from showing on her face as Moegi asked her how Sasuke was.

"Moegi! What should I do? Sasu-chan, I mean, Sasuke is being tortured by his brother!"

"EH?"

"That and I really, really miss him and it'd be great if he'd be back for the festival…I want him back!" Hinata concluded.

"Then talk to Gaara. Wasn't he going to help you?"

...

The clock chimed the hour as a maid brought in tea. Gaara spoke.

"We can go talk to Prince Kazekage together. He's currently in the Snow Country for two weeks, so if you go to find him, it'll show your determination to bring Sasuke back. I suggest we pack our bags warmly and set out as soon as possible or else my uncle might go somewhere else."

...

The flash of steel sent Sasuke running for his life. Sharp blades taunted him, glimmering whenever light hit at just the right angle, making slicing sounds as the two parts opened and closed. Scissors chased Sasuke across the resort.

"I promise it won't hurt even the slightest bit!"

Sasuke continued running from Deidara. A new obsession had engulfed Deidara's mind, and soon all the people present were chased down to be given haircuts by the overnight amateur.

"No! I am absolutely not cutting my hair!"

"Then at least let me dye it!" Deidara said, "Pink will look great with the bath towels and Akatsuki accessories we ordered!"

"NOOOOO!" Sasuke screamed as Hidan tripped him. Hidan sat on top of Sasuke, who fell on his face, to keep him from escaping.

"Sasuke," Hidan said, "if you do not want Deidara to do anything to your hair, then you'll have to let me paint your nails."

"No way!" Sasuke wriggled free and ran outside. He ran through the maze of bushes, knocking over Haku and the laundry in the process, and then climbed a tree with plenty of leaves to hide himself. He hoped no one would find him until the weird fetishes wore off, which would only be until the next morning anyways.

...

Hinata nervously held the reins of a white mare as Gaara rode confidently on a black gelding. The Snow Country was not too far, but the snow would impede their speed, so they left the village together at a moderate pace stopping only for meals. The journey was quiet for the most part, but if the scenery became too boring, Hinata and Gaara would converse.

"How much farther is it?"

"If you look to the west, Hinata, you'll see a valley."

Hinata scanned the horizon. "Ah, I see them!"

"The village lies there. Prince Kazekage is staying at a mountain spring resort there so we should be able to find him."

"Let's hurry there then!" Hinata exclaimed, flashing a brilliant smile.

Gaara's heart jumped. She's so charming without even trying. If only she would look at me like that more often. If only I could see that beautiful smile more often. They continued down the snowy path to the village where Prince Kazekage was staying.

...

Sasuke wasn't always a bad kid. Prince Kazekage knew that Sasuke and Gaara were friendly rivals when they were young and they were close to being friends, but then puberty took over. They both withdrew themselves from each other and other people as well, growing farther apart. In short, Sasuke and Gaara used to be friends, or at least merely acquaintances, and Kazekage was thinking about letting Sasuke come back to the village. Then again, someone had threatened to run him over the other day. Someone that looked like Sasuke.

...

"Achoo!"

"Yo, Itachi! Are you sure you're not coming down with a cold or something?"

"Quite sure," Itachi responded while grabbing another tissue, crumpling it up, and hurling it at Kisame.

Kisame ducked and it hit Sasuke on the back the head.

"Ew! Who threw this at me?" he questioned with a deadly glare.

The room froze and everyone pretended not to hear him. Sasuke had not been sleeping well and, as a result, acted way too emotional, snapping very easily and constantly being in a bad mood. The best course of action for everyone was to simply ignore him until his temper cooled.

...

Gaara covered Hinata's eyes as he led her around, telling her to watch her step. Wondering what Gaara was up to, Hinata meekly obeyed his directions, and when he let go of her eyes, she was thrilled to see an aesthetic view of a snowy village hidden snugly in a valley between the mountains. They had reached the Snow Country.

...

"You—you—you, apostate!" Hidan cried for lack of any other word to use.

Sasuke took a moment to even register that Hidan had insulted him. "What?"

Hidan was throwing a tantrum due to Sasuke's inactivity during their religious sessions. A messy fight ensued with books being thrown across the room, crashing through the paper doors and knocking off the scrolls from the walls. The rest of the people present put their hands over their heads, hoping to shield themselves from the onslaught of books and later stationery. Calligraphy brushes brushed past Zetsu's head as a bottle of ink splattered on the wall behind Tobi who tripped on a copy of Icha Icha Paradise and fell onto Kisame. Kisame in turn reached for Itachi's hair to stop himself from falling only to have Itachi's head squash his arm. Itachi deftly dodged a broken splinter of wood from the bookshelf as Deidara took cover behind one of the screen doors.

The fight and the cleanup took a total of four hours. By dinnertime, Sasuke had decided to leave. He met his brother and made some new friends, but it was time to move on. Lingering any longer would be harmful to his health. He packed the few belongings he possessed and left after all the lights were out. However, he did not know that Haku noticed him leaving that night.

Sasuke followed a followed the river in the back of the resort into a dense forest of towering trees. As he continued through the branches, the air felt colder as if he were slowly ascending a mountain. The ground was moist and snow soon covered the ground lightly. As if answering his thoughts of "When does this damn road end," the rocky path turned to brick-layered and he nearly walked into a billowing flag. It was decorated with speckles of white over light blue and a graceful character was written in the middle. It said, "Snow."

The scene before his eyes was a postcard picture. There were little houses with just the right amount of snow covering their roofs and a soft light seemed to penetrate the whole village. He shivered as he walked towards stands steaming with scrumptious hot food. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a huge wad of money. Sasuke quickly grabbed a handful and stuff it into his pocket while carefully stashing away the rest of his hard-earned cash.

"Steamed meat buns!" called one of the sellers.

"My stomach's growling like crazy. I'll buy five." Sasuke stated.

"These buns are the largest and most delicious steamed meat buns you'll find on the street! Are you sure that's all you want?"

Pshhh, advertising. "Seven then."

Sasuke ate while walking along the interesting village, savoring every bite while taking in the scenery. He finally grew tired and paid for a room at a mountain resort. He figured that since he's not allowed to return to Suna, why not get some good rest and relaxation?

...

"He's gone." Itachi stated in a monotonous voice.

"He's gone." Sasori repeated.

"He's gone!" Kisame said depressingly.

"THAT FREAKING ASSHOLE LEFT US!" Deidara shouted.

Hidan sobbed tearfully at the thought of never being able to make Sasuke feel real pain.

"Tobi is a good boy."

"SHUT UP!"

All in all, Akatsuki was miserable without Sasu-chan to make fun of. In fact, they were barely sane before they met Sasuke and now they were thinking of where he might've went.

Haku came in from taking down laundry and asked them what was wrong.

"He's gone." Itachi stated in a monotonous voice.

"He's gone." Sasori repeated.

"He's gone!" Kisame said depressingly.

"THAT FREAKING ASSHOLE LEFT US!" Deidara shouted.

Hidan sobbed tearfully at the thought of never being able to make Sasuke feel real pain.

"Tobi is—"

Haku cut him off, "You mean Sasu-chan?"

"YES!"

"Oh. He left when you were all asleep. It looked like he didn't have a clue as to where to go so he followed the trail in the garden.

"Let's bring him back!" they shouted frenzily, punching the air. It seemed that insanity had taken over them.