Day 34 Part 2

Lee was frustrated. Every door was locked! And the only way to get passed them was with the help of a keycard. Lee knew he'd need one if he was going to find his missing teammate. But where could he get one? Obviously only the men working in the asylum had one, but they'd agreed that they wouldn't startle any of the guards and make their presence known until the very last moment.

So, where to get a keycard?

He wandered around, thinking about it. And somehow he stumbled upon a door (he almost walked into it, but he'd deny it...). There was a little picture of a man on it, to show that it was a washroom, but the little picture of a sprinkling shower under it showed that there was also a shower in the room.

Suddenly a light bulb clicked in his mind. Where there were people showeing, there was clothes laying around. And where there was clothes laying around, there just might be a keycard.

The door didn't make any creaking sounds as he opened it. Completely undetected, he entered the washroom. Which more or less looked like a school locker room.

It wasn't particularly big, with three showers and two stalls containing toilets and a couple of urinals lining the leftmost wall. The entreyway to the showers was between the stalls and the urinals, where passed a short hall were three cubicals, blocked from view with curtains. Lee could hear water pouring from only one of them.

So there was one person in here already...

On the right side of the room there was a row of lockers, for the workers who spent the night at home instead of at the asylum? Lee could only assume that was the point. They were surely more used back when the building was actually what it claimed to be. There was also a small bench near the lockers, where people could leave their things while they showered.

Lee saw that there was one pack and one set of clothing on it, and he approached it quietly.

Seems one kid had had a temper tantrum of sorts because the man's clothing was dripping soup and water. That explained why he needed a shower. (Although, why he would try feeding someone soup in the middle of the night was anyone's guess...) Lee searched the pockets until he came across a small card, and he pulled it out to inspect it.

Eureka! It was a keycard!

Before he could be caught and stopped, he left the washroom slash locker room.

He held up his prize with a triumphant grin. Where to first?

Far away from that spot.

Lee walked down several halls, decided it was safe, or well, safer, and went to the first door to the left. The door was made of metal, with a small machine next to it to allow access into the room. The entire hallway was made up of doors like that one. Bedrooms, perhaps?

Then he noticed that there were signs above the doors. In front of him, the sign read, "Room 024". It wasn't exactly the most noticeable thing, Lee thought, but it certainly made the asylum easier to manoeuvre in. At least now he would know if he was passing the same places or not.

He slid the keycard through the machine and it flashed green. There was a click, and then he pushed open the door.

A chest on the left, a bed, and a sleeping figure were all that the room contained.

Lee went to the side of the bed, looking at the little girl curled up beneath the old sheet. She was small, and no more than four years old. His fist clenched upon the sight of such a young person in such a place, but he pushed away his anger. Not the time.

The child was easy enough to wake, and she simply stared at him once she was up. She clearly did not know what to make of the stranger.

"Hello!" He greeted her cheerfully.

She burst out crying.

He stammered, waving his arms around frantically, "I-I'm sorry! I'm Lee and I want to help you! Please don't cry."

She sniffled and wiped away her tears, as if she hadn't been crying at all, "You help me?"

"Yes. I'm going to bring you home, but you'll have to come with me for that to happen. Is that okay with you?"

She stared for a long moment, then nodded slowly. Children trusted so much easier than adults, and Lee kinda wished it could always be that way. But, from where he was at that moment, he knew that there were untrustworthy people in the world and hesitance was necessary.

"Alright, just come with me." He held his hand out to her, and she took it. He guided her out of the room and into the next one.

She trailed slowly after him, but didn't remove her hand from his.

In the next room, there was an eight year old girl who was not quite as easy to convince of his reliability as the other child.

"Get out of here! I don't care if you want to help or not. We'll be the ones in trouble, not you. So, go away!"

He sat on the floor, knowing that children don't like to be looked down upon, and asked her simply, "Is there anything I can say or do to get you to believe me when I say I will help you? And that you will not get in trouble?"

"Nope." She huffed and turned around.

The younger child remained behind Lee, staring at the two of them with frightened eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving until you believe me. I'm not leaving anybody behind. Not again."

She looked at him over her shoulder, "Why are you here?"

"Somebody special to me was taken away, just like you. Just like all the children here. I promised myself that I would help every single one of you, and that I would get all of you back to your parents."

She turned back around and stared at him, then stretched out her hand, "Then give me a weapon."

"What?" He asked, startled.

"If you want me to leave with you, I want a weapon."

"That's completely reasonable." It was her turn to look startled as he reached into his weapon pouch, "But promise not to use it against me. I have to save my friend first."

She smiled softly and took the offered weapon, "I won't use it against you. Unless you deserve it."

He grinned, "Also completely reasonable."

Leaving the room, the two girls followed after him, holding hands and using each other as a safety blanket. Even the elder of the two, with her kunai in hand, was frightened by the trouble they could get into for what they were doing.

It was as they neared the next room that Lee sensed an approaching enemy. With the speed he'd acquired from years of heavy training, he took the two girls into his arms, used the keycard on the nearest machine, and entered that room.

There was a little redheaded boy sitting on the edge of the bed, watching them with fearful eyes.

Lee put a finger over his mouth, asking the boy to be silent, and he went to the corner of the room that couldn't be seen when the door was opened. He placed the two girls in the corner and crouched in front of them, waiting for the enemy to pass.

They were lucky, because the man just walked on by, not stopping to check in on the child.

The child walked over to him slowly, "Who are you?"

"My name's Lee, and I'm here to help you get out of here!"

"I... I don't understand." The child stuttered softly, staring at him in wonder.

"What don't you understand?"

"Someone called Lee said he'd help me, but he had pretty brown hair and purple eyes. He was tall and kinda looked like an angel."

"Neji..." Lee breathed out, kneeling in front of the child, "You know Neji?"

"What?" The child was clearly confused.

"We're shinobi. When we're in a dangerous situation, we don't give people our real names. He must have just wanted to be cautious if he used my name. His real name's Neji. How is he? Where is he now? Is he still here?" The questions came out too fast, and the child simply stared. "How did you meet him?" He asked instead.

The child looked over at the chest, and pointed at it, "He made a hole through the wall and he talked to me."

Lee stared at the wall, "There's no hole."

A giggle escaped the child's lips, "Of course not silly. This is a different room!"

The two girls giggled and stepped closer to the young boy, listening to what he was saying and how their leader was responding. The eldest knew that the more she got to know him, the better she'd be able to know if he was a good guy or not.

"Ah, silly me! Well, what did you talk about?"

"He told me to be a good boy and he said he would get us all out of here."

He smiled, "Well, you know what? He did. Neji's a part of my team, and this team is going to get all of you out of here and back to safety."

"Alright." The child got off the bed and joined their small group, having faith in the friend he'd made in the asylum, and thus also having faith in that friend's teammates. "Is Neji okay? He sang to me once. He's very nice. I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

"I..." Lee didn't want to lie to him, but neither did he want to believe that there could be a reason to lie in the first place, "He'll be alright. We just gotta find him and the other's and get out of here."

"Okay." The child agreed. "My momma said never to give my name to strangers. But you aren't a stranger. I'm Akahiko."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Akahiko!" Lee said with a bright grin, and that's when the eldest of the two girls knew she could trust him. No bad guy was this nice or smiley. But she kept the weapon, because although she now trusted Lee, she still felt as though she needed to protect the little girl who was clinging to her.

The group left that room and went on to the next, and then the next, and then the next, collecting children as they went. Not all the rooms were taken, but a surprising amount of them were.

Lee knew it was dangerous to be freeing all those children and to have them all following him, but he couldn't not liberate them. They needed freedom. They needed out of those rooms. He would do that for them, all the while hoping to stumble upon his teammate's room.

Unfortunately, Neji was in none of the rooms he passed through.

OoOoO

Gai was in a completely different part of the asylum than his youngest student. None of the doors around him needed a keycard to be opened. He was in the more business oriented corner of the large building.

He slipped past a kitchen, with a couple of midnight snackers and late-night water drinkers. He saw a couple living rooms, clearly for adults, with some ashtrays and small liquor cabinets loitering around. The air smelt of smoke and alcohol, and Gai quickly went to the next room. A library of sorts, with several rows of books, all covered in dust.

The titles all contained different mental illnesses or physical disabilities, or things of the sort, making it obvious that the library had been there in the building's past life as a normal asylum.

Deeming that room useless, he went to the next, waiting outside the wooden door to see wether or not it was occupied. Leaning closer, he could hear voices inside, and listened to what was being said.

"The carriage in the back is ready."

"So, this trip, it's the kids from rooms 1 through 10?" A second voice asked.

"Yes." The first one replied.

A third voice spoke up, "Takeo's brat, double-o seven, do we take him too?"

"Last I checked, it was a yes. Matsu was supposed to tell us if he changed his mind again." The first voice appeared to be the one of the three to know the most.

A frustrated sigh, "Why is he changing his mind so much?"

"The brat entertains him, I guess. I don't know. But we'll be rid of him soon."

"Good."

"By the way, where is Matsu? He usually makes sure our things are in order before we leave."

"He probably got caught up with something. C'mon, let's head out of here. I hate gathering up the kids, and I like to get this part over with as soon as possible. 'Sides, the sooner this is over, the sooner I get to sleep." That was followed by a loud yawn.

Gai thought for merely a moment before deciding that he had to intervene. He wasn't going to let them leave with children! And certainly not when there was a possibility that one of them was Neji.

He knew they'd agreed not to startle the enemy, but he simply had to do something. And he did what he does best. Fight.

The door opened with little noise, as he'd wanted, but it still alerted his enemies. The three men stared at him, not knowing who he was. Then one of them noticed his forehead protector, and the sign that was on it.

"This guy's looking for the brat! For double-o seven." The man said, his eyes narrowing.

"I told Takeo keeping him would be trouble, but no..." Another said.

"You all have taken part in child trafficking, an illegal activity in all five hidden villages. For this, the punishment is death. And for taking away my student, the punishment is death in the most painful way you can imagine." Gai's voice went low and cold, speaking from his heart, where all his anger towards these people resided.

The three men had never heard of Might Gai before, but just from his words and actions, they knew he was completely serious on the painful part.

"But, I still have a student to save, so I can't waste too much time here. Be thankful for that."

The three men knew that they would lose, because messing with (or creating) an angry shinobi was like knocking on death's door. They were dead as soon as Gai had entered the room. They agreed that the least they could do was attempt to alert the other's in the building about the intruder, but they didn't get a word out before they were all struck by a bone crushing blow.

Gai put all of his anger into those punches, because he knew that he would need a rational mind once he was face to face with Takeo and his right-hand men, one of which must be Matsu, as the men had spoken of him as if he were an authority figure.

The three men lay dead at his feet, and he felt suddenly lighter.

Now, to find Neji.

OoOoO

Shino's bugs had managed to track Neji's chakra. He had previously been occupying the room 007. Previously being key, because he was no longer there.

The chakra was so thin and easily swept away with the smallest movement of air, that Shino actually begun to worry about Neji's safety. For a shinobi's chakra to be so... Frail meant they were in danger. Their body just alive enough to produce the energy.

He got his bugs to continue their search, following the small stream of chakra. Once assured that he was following the right trail, he sent out some of his insects to each of his new teammates. They would bring them to him, and thus, to Neji.

They were so close, he could sense it.

As he approached the two big wooden doors where he knew Neji was waiting for them, he sped up his pace. So, so close...

But he had to wait. Wait for Gai, Lee, and Tenten to catch up to him.

Then they would go in and save their teammate. Although he wasn't on Neji's team, he thought of him as a teammate, as they had fought together once. It had been some time ago, but still. You don't simply forget the people who fight by your side.

He stayed away from the door, for fear of being sensed too early, and waited.

Patiently, because that's all Shino could do at the moment.

AN: Hello! The reason it took a while is because, no, not laziness, but because I wanted to take some time to figure out where I really wanted to go with this. Next chapter should be the last of day 34, I should think, unless I get carried away.

I was debating wether to be mean or nice about how this goes, so you'll all figure out which path I chose next chapter, which will be up in a little while. Again, need to make sure everything is good and cleared up before I post it.

I must thank AUehara, Guest (whoever you are...), darkstardragon432, Cole-Hyuuga, Angelheart17, and BeautifulDesertFoxglove for your kind and wonderful reviews! You are all utterly fabulous. Thank you to all my readers and alerters and favouriters! I am exstatic to see that I have passed the 200 mark in reviews! I never ever thought I'd see the day... You all make me the happiest writer there is!

Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this update, next one shouldn't take too long, I swear!
-MewMew