Chapter 21 – Stolen
Mia smiled as she approached Lee, he was leaning against a large tree at the edge of the forest, glancing around the sky. Mia frowned and glanced around too, Cynder should have been here already, unless someone else had collared her for something more important.
"Hey Lee, looks like Cynder isn't coming, I guess we're going by foot" Lee nodded, and saluted, before joining Mia as they sauntered into the overgrowth, neither in any hurry to return. "Well, that was a surprisingly good trip, once we got over the initial awkwardness, it made me remember why we became friends"
Lee grinned and nodded, intently listening, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, that was what Mia loved about Lee. She was sure he was easily, the most genuine and happy person she knew, and in her eyes they were important qualities to have.
Suddenly rustling in the bushes behind them, silenced their conversation. They looked at eachother, faked a smile and carried on walking, waiting to assess the situation further. But before they could do anything, the pair felt needles lodge themselves into the junction of their necks, and soon they blacked out, landing with a thump onto the forest floor.
Groaning Mia sat up, her eyes slowly adjusting to the extreme darkness in the room, there was no light, natural or artificial. She glanced around, seeing that she was in a large cage, Lee in one next to her, still passed out on the cold metal. She pushed herself up, rubbing her neck, feeling that she had begun healing, before heading over to the bars of the cage.
They were sturdy and chakra infused, meaning that there was little chance or her escaping on her own. She once again looked to Lee and sighed, they were in a small room, with no one else in it. "Lee" she called his name a few times, before the boy started to stir, glancing groggily up at her.
"What's going on?" Mia sighed and ran her hand over the bar infront of her, giving it an experimental tug.
"Looks like we got kidnapped, and I can't break out of these bars, and I doubt you can either" Lee jumped to his feet, a determined look on his face.
The door opened, allowing a sudden flow of light into the room, making Lee and Mia wince from the shock. A large scarred man stood in the door, and Mia scowled at him, he just smirked and winked at her, before waltzing over to their cages, leaning obnoxiously against the bars. "What do you want with us?"
"Well girly, Boss wants a word with the pair of ya, Konoha ninja no?" Mia looked down to her headband, wondering if the man was as stupid as he looked. "Well, anyways you'se were on a mission set by the Hokage, therefor you are with Konoha" Mia rolled her eyes, his speech already grating on her nerves.
Lee huffed and shouted some youth nonsense at the man, who raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Anyways, you be coming with me" Mia and Lee let the man place handcuffs on them, deciding to see just where this was leading them. Mia smiled at Lee, showing him that she was not giving up so easily.
They were led down many dingy, winding corridors, before they came upon wine red oak doors, obviously leading into where this 'Boss' was. The doors were opened and a man with long silver hair was sitting his arms resting on the desk infront of him, smirking at them.
"Well children, I would like to have a lovely chat with you. Please have a seat" Mia glanced at Lee, who glared at the man, but sat anyway, Mia perched next to him, obvious distrust in her eyes. "Oh, don't be like that, I just want some information, on a few people"
"Firstly, I believe you are quite close to a certain Kazekage, no?" Mia didn't even flinch under his gaze, feeling the darkness building in the room, ready to slaughter any man attempting to hurt her. "not prepared to talk? Well we'll see how you feel in the morning with no food. Or perhaps you would like to tell us about Sasuke Uchiha?"
When the pair remained silent, the man frowned, his happy demeanour now gone, as his eyes turned to steel, telling the guards to lock them back up. They were thrown back into their cells, and left alone in the pitch-black, with no food or water, their enemies were obviously trying to starve them into talking, but neither of them was going to crack.
"Hey Lee, how you doing?" Lee grinned at his friend and gave her thumbs up, signalling he was doing ok. It had been 5 hours since their last visit, and they were beginning to get tired.
"What are we going to do, they aren't going to let us out" Mia sighed, knowing that her friend was right, but she for once had no idea what she was going to do. The door opened once again, but this time it was the still unnamed 'Boss', walked through the door, a scowl on his face.
"When will you brats learn? Just speak and we'll let you go!" Mia hissed and spat at the man, watching as his eyes blazed with fury. "Fine! Kill them!" Lee's eyes widened and he started struggling, Mia's heart was pounding, either her Father would have to come and save them, or they were actually going to die.
She gasped and looked to Lee when darkness swirled outside of the cages, creating a mini tornado, dropping the temperature rapidly. "What is the meaning of this?" Lee's eyes practically fell out of his head, when Death fully appeared, in all his cloaked glory, scythe in bony hand.
The figure looked at Mia and nodded, his face hidden by the hood of his cloak, before turning to men in the room who were shaking but looked as if they were actually going to try and attack him. Death took what looked like a deep breath, and soon the souls of the very men who had been standing there, were being sucked towards the towering figure.
Lee was whimpering slightly, not quite registering just what was going on infront of him. The bodies fell limp, hitting the ground with a dull thump, lifeless and cold. The mysterious figure turned to Mia and Lee, slashing their cages and dissolving part of the wall, creating an easy escape route for both of them.
"Thanks Dad" Lee paled even further, and turned to stare unbelieving at his friend, who he thought he knew a lot about, obviously he was quite wrong. The figure nodded and departed back into the tornado of darkness, leaving an awkward silence between the two. "Can we talk later, I promise I'll answer anything you want"
Lee nodded and slid out of the cage following Mia out of the building, and over the fields, quickly trying to make it across to the forest. They made it and rested against a tree, desperately trying to ignore the burning hunger that rippled through them. They had to return to Konoha and report their news ASAP, or else they might sent out a search party.
The pair jumped side by side back towards the leafy village, sighing in relief when they saw the village looming in the distance. They heard a commotion at the gates, and soon saw everyone arguing at the gate, even Tsunade was standing there looking rather flustered.
When Lara and Santana saw them, they squealed and ran over , embracing their teammate, before quickly hugging Lee. "What happened?" Mia sighed and shook her head, glancing at Sasuke, who glared back at her.
"Can I just get some food, they starved us for a while" Everyone nodded, and soon they were in the BBQ restaurant again, each chatting happily, the days drama forgotten.