Chapter ELEVEN

It was six months into their second year, during a lesson on taking care of their equipment and weapons, when Morino Ibiki himself came knocking on the doors of their classroom.

On that particular day, Sasuke and Naruto hadn't come to class. The two, while claiming otherwise, were pretty good friends. They often skived class together when they thought they could get away with it and Shikamaru hadn't thought much about it.

However, as they sat through one of Iruka's lectures on safety before their Taijutsu lesson, he noticed something.

The two boys never missed out on Taijutsu. Sometimes, they would leave in the middle of the day, but would always be back in time for Taijutsu.

Shikamaru's pooling feeling of dread seemed to deepen and he sunk deeper into his chair with a sigh. He could guess who the head of T&I had come for. Students with Shinobi backgrounds no doubt recognized the scarred man as well.

What he didn't understand, was why he had come himself. Usually, it was one of his subordinates.

Ibiki led Iruka out of the room with a flick of his finger and the two came back a minute later, the latter looking considerably paler than before.

Ibiki fixed the class with a chilling glare before he zoned in on Sakura, who was trying to balance her pencils on top of one another. "You have a job, brat."

Shikamaru turned to watch in surprise as Sakura slowly got to her feet. He had expected her to jump up and start cackling in glee or something. Then he caught the look in her eyes and realized.

She could tell that this was pretty serious.

He reached out and brushed his fingers against her knuckles as she walked past him and gave her the smallest of nods when she looked over. She offered him a small grin, then marched down to the bottom of the stairs. Ibiki grabbed the girl by her arm, something Shikamaru had come to realize was a common occurrence, and the two left the room.

The first thing Sakura noticed upon entering Ibiki's office was a wide eyed Sasuke and a shaking Naruto sitting in the guest chairs. Both had two people hovering around them and Sakura immediately recognized the Hokage. She deduced that the red haired woman was most likely Naruto's mother. The woman hovering over Sasuke had distinctive Uchiha features and was probably the boy's mother, and the last was Itachi. All six of them looked up when Ibiki roughly shoved open the door and stalked in, dragging Sakura behind him.

Sakura waved at Minato and Itachi. She no longer minded the rough treatment, though she did eye Ibiki's tight grip and grumble complaints under her breath. "If this how you treat all girls?" She asked. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend."

Ibiki yanked her forward so that she was walking in front of him and pushed her along. He must have heard her.

Ibiki walked around his desk and sat in his chair. He tightened his grip when Sakura tried to slink away. "Sorry to have kept you waiting." Ibiki said, looking at the six people sitting opposite him. "It took me some time to locate this one." He nudged her.

"Locate me?" Sakura asked. "I was at class. You just came to get me and we came straight here."

Ibiki raised his fist and hit her on the head. "Be quiet, brat." He sighed. "I'll start from the beginning and I'll only say it once, so you better listen very carefully." Ibiki did not bother to hide the threat beneath his tone.

Sakura clicked her tongue rudely but she stopped moving around. "Yeah, sure."

"This morning, on the way to school, Naruto and Sasuke-wait, you know them, right?" Ibiki gestured towards the two boys.

Sakura nodded. "They're in my class."

Ibiki nodded. "Anyways, on their way to school, they were attacked." He paused. "Three men were caught and apprehended, but we don't know who exactly they are. They are refusing to speak but I suspect they were moving on the orders of some shady character."

"You don't know who they were after?" Sakura jabbed her thumb in the directed of the two boys.

Ibiki nodded. "Could have been either. I suspect both the Hokage's son and the second son of the Uchiha clan would sell well."

Sasuke's mother gasped and she turned around to see the red haired woman glaring at the head interrogator. "Be careful, old man." Sakura scolded.

Ibiki whacked her again. "Brat." He hissed. "I need them to crack. Be grateful I called you here."

"So this is an actual interrogation?" Sakura asked. "Not a sacrifice being camouflaged as a inquisition?"

"At least I don't have to spell everything out for you." Ibiki said.

"You would have to, one day, if you keep hitting me." Sakura dodged the next blow. "And why am I here?" She asked. "You've never let me take care of someone you need alive."

"We need to find out who they are and what they are after."

Sakura turned to Minato, who had spoken up for the first time. She thought he looked shaken.

Ibiki nodded in agreement to the Hokage's words. "I would call it a promotion." He said. "All three are tight lipped." He said. "I need you to have your way with one of them. Might make the other two open up a little."

"You are in the presence of children." Sakura said. "You shouldn't talk about interrogation and torture in front of a pair of traumatized boys. You might scare them."

"You are in the T&I office." Ibiki said. "Torture and interrogation is what I do." Ibiki turned away from her, apparently done with dealing with her for the moment. "It's as I said." He said, turning back to the other people in the room. "You are welcome to stay here until we return. There are ANBU guards stationed around the area and I doubt Hokage-sama or Itachi will miss anyone trying to sneak in."

Minato nodded. "I know you were in class, Sakura-chan." He said. "I'm sorry we had to pull you out."

Sakura shrugged. "Didn't really mind." She said. "I learnt weapon maintenance back at the temple anyways."

Ibiki once again took Sakura's arm and led her out of the office.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A STORY...PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW IT.

- Sasori x Sakura, we think.

- High school AU

- They prank someone (Ino?). They knocked her unconscious and dump her in a bathtub full of dye, or something.

- Sakura says something about not really being friends with Ino and the others, and that they only want to be picked to go on an 'adventure', or something.

PLEASE TELL US IF YOU KNOW/FIND IT!

NEW STORY:

Ivy: (Sakura x Sasuke/Sakura x Multi?)

Under orders, Uchiha Sasuke is sent to Orochimaru's side where he meets Sakura, an isolated girl willing to do anything for her father's recognition. Sasuke sees Orochimaru take advantage of his daughter's loyalty to make her do inhumane things and realizes that with her upbringing, she doesn't know any better. Deciding to dig deeper, he finds a lonely girl starved for affection.

And they swore beneath the Fire Lilies (Sakura x Neji sibling relationship / Sakura x Multi):

Hyuuga Neji thinks 'Chance' is a stupid word. Such a simple word shouldn't define the power to change one's life. Hyuuga Sakura's world revolved around one person. She knows that once, they've seen the light they could no longer see and heard the song they could no longer hear. The story of a pair of broken siblings unable to escape the fate that has pitted them against the world.

So, Naruto and Sasuke will soon get to know Sakura...ye.

Darque: I HAVE MY FIRST EXAM THINGY MABOB NEXT WEEK AND IT IS BIOLOGY AND I AM GONNA FAIL! MWAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Raven: I think you've got the whole 'evil character' thing down. Most of it anyways.

Darque: Then I have a chem test two days later. So I'm going to try for bio and just flunk chem. Cause I can't focus on more than one.

Raven: Don't you mean, you're going to worry about one and give up on the other.

Darque: That;s what I said, right?

Raven: You shouldn't use words that might give me false hope. You're the girl here. Shouldn't you be the one worrying about grades and studying and stuff?

Darque: I believe that is chauvinistic.

Raven: Ooooo...Darque with the big words.

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