.:CHAPTER 11:.

TRUST

Miu twirled the pencil with her fingers as her mind wandered somewhere far. Her eyebrows knitted together as she fell in a pensive state. Thoughts swirled her mind, questions arose, and suddenly she was thirsty for answers. Since this morning nothing has been on her mind, but that strange and confusing moment that has been haunting her ever since. She was beginning to become irritated and suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when her teacher spoke.

""Miss Haruno?" he asked as he scanned the room, looking for a certain pink-haired student of his. "Miss Haruno? Absent?"

His eyes quickly darted towards Miu. "Miss Suzuki, is Miss Haruno sick or something? She's rarely absent to school."

Miu nodded her head in disapproval and said, "I don't know, teacher."

She cupped her hand under her chin and gazed out the window. A mouse was struggling to free itself from a cat's grip. Its claw held the mouse firmly against the ground and the mouse suffocated under the cat's weight. The cat purred and it was almost as if it smirked, as if it was content that it successfully held its food under its paw. It got distracted by its evil sin of gluttony that it didn't notice that the mouse was no longer under its paw.

--

Miu stood outside the doorway of Sakura's house, her face agape and utterly confused. The door was ajar and she fought with herself whether she should go in or not. She didn't want to intrude, but she also found it suspicious that the door was half opened. She called out Sakura's name, yet there was no reply. She grabbed a pebble she found on the ground and threw it towards Sakura's window room. Surprisingly Sakura's face didn't pop out of the window to say she was running late and that she'd be down there in a minute.

Miu sighed and hesitantly went inside the house. Her eyes widened in shock and a scream almost escaped her mouth. Blood was tainted on the walls of the hallway and the window was wide opened. She carefully walked through the hallway and into the kitchen. She saw stains on the floor, objects scattered everywhere and out of place. She picked up a familiar picture of Sakura and her older sister Kin and placed it back to its original place. She went inside the kitchen. Shattered glass filled the kitchen floor and for as much as the house was disordered, Miu began to suspect more and more.

"What is this?" she thought out loud, "It can't be…a murder scene…but this blood on the wall is fresh, so it happened either last night or early in the morning."

"That's right. This happened last night," a deep husky voice said from behind.

Miu abruptly turned around and found herself in the presence of two familiar faces belonging to a man and a woman. They both wore long, white cloaks. The man held stern emerald eyes and he pushed his falling glasses further up his nose. He was tall, slim and middle-aged with short shaggy hair and heavy bags forming under his eyes. The woman's docile, dark blue eyes gazed at Miu. Her long, silky pink hair was tied up in a ponytail.

"Nao-san! Minako-san!" Miu said, surprised.

Minako's soft, pale hands rested on Miu's shoulder and she smiled as she said, "Miu-chan, I'm sorry you had to see this. I'm afraid you have to go now or you'll be late to school."

They were Sakura's parents, but they seem calmed and collected about this.

Miu softly brushed Minako's hand off her shoulder and said, "Minako-san, please tell me what's going on. Where's Sakura? What happened here?"

Minako sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything. I have no right-"

"Sakura! Where is she?" demanded Miu, her eyes tense.

Minako's eyes widened in surprise. In all the years that she has known Miu, she had never acted this way.

She smiled softly and said, "Sakura really does mean a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"Miu-san," Nao said after a long time, "You can't stay here any longer. You have to leave. You'll be late to school. Sakura won't be going to school for a few days, weeks, months, I don't know. We can't tell you anything. We don't want you to worry, so please don't make this any harder than it already is."

"But-"

"Miu-chan, please," interrupted Minako, her eyes still kind, her voice still soft.

Miu noticed a glint in her eyes and decided not to go any further with this. She sighed and as she headed her way towards the door, she stopped, turned around and said, "If you ever see Sakura again, please tell her that she can trust me and to come back home."

Both Minako and Nao nodded and watched Miu go out the door. Minako slumped in a kitchen chair and placed her hand on her forehead.

"This was bound to happen. After all, she is the child of prophecy," Minako sighed, "We should have told Sakura everything, Nao."

"About being the Missing Child?" he asked.

"Everything, Nao! Everything!" she yelled as she bursts into tears.

Nao went over to her side and hugged her tightly.

"Tears aren't the solution," he said softly into her ear.

"It's the only thing I can do right now…cry," she murmured as she buried her head on his chest.

"Shh, it's okay, Everything will be okay," he tried to comfort her, but instead she jerked away from his embrace.

"You know very well it's not going to be okay, Nao. You know very well that she…that Sakura will…" she said in between sobs.

After a long moment of silence, after sobs and tears and despair, Nao said, "Miracles can happen."

--

The dismissal bell rang and Miu hurriedly made her way through the hallways. She struggled to get through crowds and when she found a small gap to go through, she bumped into someone on her way.

"Oh, sorry," she said as she rubbed her forehead.

"Miu!" a familiar voice said.

She looked up and found Jun looking at her in amazement.

"Jun! Sorry, I can't talk right now. There's somewhere I have to go…" she said.

She stopped in her tracks when she felt a firm, yet gentle grip on her wrist.

"I'm going with you," Jun said seriously.

"You have no idea where I'm going," Miu replied.

"I know it has to do with Sakura," he said, the tone in his voice different and concerned, "I know you know something. She was absent today and you seemed strange about that. She's my friend too and I want to help in whatever I can."

"I hardly know anything," Miu said sadly as Jun let go of her wrist.

"Well then, let's investigate together," Jun smiled genuinely at her and Miu felt her cheeks redden.

She quickly looked away and nodded silently.

"Yeah, let's investigate," she said, a smile in her voice.

--

"Sakura?" a distant voice called out to her softly. "Sakura, wake up."

Sakura stirred slightly in her sleep and suddenly the distant voice became more clear and her eyes shot opened when she recognized it.

"Onee-chan…" she uttered in slight surprise.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and stretched out her arms as she yawned. Suddenly she remembered what had happened last night. She turned her head to look at her sister and sighed in relief.

"You really are here," she said as she smiled, "I thought it was all just another dream."

Kin's gold eyes warmed up and she smiled kindly at her little sister. She went over her and smothered her in a tight embrace.

"I won't ever leave your side ever again," she whispered as tears silently fell down her cheeks. "Please forgive me."

"I forgive you, onee-chan," Sakura said.

Once they left each other's arms, Kin gazed over at the door. She then looked back at her sister and Sakura's emerald eyes widened.

"Sasuke!" she suddenly remembered.

She sprang up from the bed she was sitting on and made her way to the door, until her sister abruptly took hold of her arm.

"Wait, Sakura," she said softly, "Sasuke is tied up in handcuffs. We're afraid of what he might do when he wakes up."

"But onee-chan-"

"You're the only one he trusts right now, since you have nothing to do with what happened in his past. Can you please take this bowl of soup to where he is once you eat? He's upstairs, to your right, second door," she said as she pointed to the two bowls placed beside the bed in wooden furniture.

"What will happen when we take off the handcuffs?" Sakura asked out of curiosity.

"He'll become our ally," replied Kin.

--

Sasuke struggled as he tried to free himself from his imprisonment. He cursed under his breath and gritted his teeth as he did anything possible to free himself but soon stopped when he realized it was impossible. He sighed and closed his eyes and suddenly shot them open when he heard someone open the door.

"It's you," he said in a cold tone.

"Yes," replied Itachi.

"You're the last person I want to see, but the first to kill," Sasuke said menacingly.

"Soon you'll learn the whole truth."

"Don't start this bullshit that you're innocent like that other girl said!"

Itachi's eyes slightly widened and he said, "I see Azrael already told you."

"And I don't believe anything," Sasuke said as he shot a cold glare towards Itachi.

"Sakura," Itachi called and she nervously popped her head inside the room.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered timidly. She wondered to herself how he knew she was behind the door, listening, but it soon came upon her that this is Itachi after all.

"It's up to you. Use your gift to reveal him the truth," he ordered as he walked out the room, Sasuke's bitter eyes trailing behind him.

'My gift?' she wondered to herself.

Sasuke turned his head away from her as he cursed under his breath again. Sakura shifted nervously and walked towards Sasuke, with the bowl of soup in her hands. She bent down in front of him, avoiding any means of eye contact in case he turned his head towards her. She placed the bowl in front of him and quickly got up to head towards the door.

"Hey," Sasuke called out to her and she stopped in her tracks. "How do you expect me to eat this?"

Sakura had completely forgotten he was handcuffed.

"Well, do you expect me to feed you?" she asked as she turned around to face him.

Her cheeks slightly reddened as he stared at her blankly, the answer obvious.

"I'm not really hungry, though," he told her and suddenly his stomach growled loudly.

"Oh really?" she asked sarcastically.

She headed back towards Sasuke and bent down to grab the bowl of soup. She took hold of the spoon and her hand shook as she tried to feed Sasuke in the mouth. He rolled his eyes exasperatedly as he waited impatiently.

"Hurry up-" he was interrupted when she placed the spoon inside his mouth. His tongue burned and he quickly swallowed the soup as it smoldered down his throat.

"It's hot," he said irritatingly.

"At least appreciate the fact that I'm bothering to feed you," she said as her cheeks blushed.

As she tried to place the soup on the floor to let it cool, it slipped off her hands and spilled all over Sasuke's shirt. He flinched in pain as it burned deep into his skin. Sakura gasped and quickly aided to Sasuke. A will stronger than her mind forced her to move her hands on her own as she hesitantly unbuttoned his shirt. She placed her right hand on his chest, where she burned him, and Sasuke suddenly relaxed as the burn cooled down.

"Sorry," Sakura said guiltily.

"So this is one of the Missing Child's many gifts," Sasuke said and Sakura quickly turned to him.

"You mean to say I have more?" she asked curiously.

"Aside from healing, yes," he replied.

"It's up to you. Use your gift to reveal him the truth," Itachi's words resounded in her mind.

An idea suddenly sprang up and she said to Sasuke, "Close your eyes. I want to show you something."

"Huh?" he asked in utter bewilderment.

"Just do as I say," she ordered and Sasuke closed his eyes.

Sakura placed both her hands on the sides of Sasuke's head. She closed her eyes as well and slowly leaned towards Sasuke. Their foreheads touched and suddenly Sasuke felt a connection to Sakura. Her mind connected to his mind and he was able to see what she was seeing in her mind.

"This is what I want to show you," she whispered and his breathing suddenly became irregular as he saw his past be repeated again and the truth finally revealed.

TO BE CONTINUED…