So I just realized it is a habit of mine to give you something great in the character's relationship and follow it with something horrible and heart wrenching. Have fun with that.

Chapter 24

day one

Hell in a handbasket

Sachi shot awake in the middle of the night to a frantic buzzing on her forehead.

"Kai-chan? What?"

"Run! To Shino-sama!"

The words were simplistic but they came to Sachi clear as a bell. She tore off the covers and hurried to her shoes.

"No!" Kai-chan corrected abruptly. "Run! Run! Run!"

Abandoning everything in her haste, she took the stairs two at a time, sure that Kai-chan knew something she did not.

She thought something must have been wrong with Shino. She couldn't think of any other reason Kai-chan would hasten her to him. She wrenched open the front door, not even sparing the time to close it properly before tearing out onto the street. She concentrated her chakra straight forward as far as possible to avoid anything in her way as she ran down the street in nothing but her pajamas.

She hadn't run longer than thirty seconds when a hand covered her mouth and an arm pinned her own to her sides. Without warning, she was thrust into the air as they jumped onto the closest rooftop.

She struggled against them and screamed against the hand at her mouth. This person did not feel familiar at all, nor did Kai-chan approve as she buzzed menacingly upon Sachi's forehead, shouting "enemy!" to her mistress.

The person continued to hold her tightly as they leaped atop buildings and far away from her home and Shino.

Sachi screamed and writhed for all she was worth. She had lived her entire life based on what she could feel and hear from her surroundings. From what she found about being carried along in the air at the pace of a ninja, she did not like it!

Suddenly having no connection to anything but air muted every one of her senses. This sensation was nearly as terrifying as the realization that she was being kidnapped.

It was only a few minutes before the kidnapper stopped to recuperate. The second Sachi's feet touched down she struggled twice as hard. The hand over her mouth was removed only to be replaced with a cloth by a second pair of hands, muffling the new scream she had tried to let out.

Kai-chan couldn't stop buzzing through her mistress's terror. The insect had only just decided the smarter action would be to stay with Sachi for tracking purposes when the tiny insect was grabbed and thrust into a glass jar.

Sachi screamed at the loss, a tone of desperation coming in the form of sobs for the fear she held for her companion.

"What the hell are you doing?" the man holding Sachi hissed as he pulled her hands behind her back and made quick work of tying them.

"What?" the second man asked. "You really expect us to just kill this thing?" Sachi sobbed harder through her gag. "We could bring it with us to study it. Imagine what we could learn from a single kikai."

"Don't be an idiot. You heard the order. That's a female you've got there. The Aburame can follow female kikai indefinitely."

"You want me to just kill it then?"

"Nah, just drop it. It'll die soon enough without chakra."

Sachi screamed yet again as she heard the glass jar slip from his fingers. She stepped forward hoping to smash the glass with her foot when suddenly there was no ground beneath her feet.

When they had set her down upon a rough surface she had suspected it was a rough earthy floor that dug into her feet. Only now did she recognize the surface as tree bark. She had been standing on a large tree branch when she had accidentally jumped off.

An arm caught her roughly around the middle and she was thrown over a shoulder.

"What the hell? Is she suicidal or something?" the second man intoned.

"She's blind, what do you expect? She can't see anything. Just hurry up with that stuff."

"I'm working on it!"

Sachi didn't have to question what stuff they referred to for long as just a few seconds later a needle plunged into her arm and she passed out over the shoulder of her kidnapper.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai-chan heard her mistress's screams and cries from inside the jar she was in. The horror Sachi felt when they were separated drove Kai-chan to beat her wings and ram her body against the glass with tiny pings. Escape was the only way to help her mistress.

The jar plunged to the ground.

The mistress's distress mimicked her own as she saw the woman plunge towards the ground. The jar Kai-chan was in continued to drop while Sachi was caught uttering a final scream through the gag just before she was drugged.

The jar hit a rock on the earth floor and smashed open. Kai-chan wiggled her legs to right herself in the debris. She hurried to extricate herself from the broken glass. Even at this distance, she could sense her mistress's fear abate as she slipped into drug-induced unconsciousness. She flew after the shinobi carrying the sleeping red head and chirped forlornly when she realized she would never catch up.

She flew off in the opposite direction to a place all kikai would know by instinct alone. Scurrying her way into the house she buzzed loudly to alert her young and former master.

Master Shino sat up in bed as she rushed out her information.

"The mistress Sachi has been taken by the Kamizuru clan. 20 minutes have elapsed since her capture."

Shino shot out of bed in a panic, hurrying to write several notes and sending them off to his teammates and the Hokage with a dozen kikai to alert them of the situation. He sent another kikai to inform his father for the same reason. If they were truly up against the Kamizuru then his father's help would be invaluable.

Kai-chan rested herself discontentedly in Shino's hair as he dressed in a flurry of movement.

Sachi had been taken by their rival clan of insect users. A clan he knew was in dire need of numbers, even more than the Aburame clan. There was no doubt in Shino's mind why she had been taken. With her strong connections to all insects, they would hope to use her to repopulate their minuscule clan. Shino gritted his teeth. He wouldn't just stand by as his Sachi was taken. He wouldn't let the Kamizuru keep her or force her into anything as distasteful as becoming a breeding slave.

He leaped from his house, taking to the rooftops towards her home, quickly finding himself within her empty room after letting himself in through the window. It didn't seem like a struggle took place in her room. Yet, the only evidence that she had been here being the hastily thrown back bed covers. Everything from her cane, hat, and shoes remained in the room. He cast his eyes around for another common item, only to remember her glasses remained in his pocket from when he picked them up on the street after their kiss. He pulled them from his jacket and scowled down at the lenses.

He pocketed them again, refocusing on his task. Finding a laundry hamper in the corner he pulled off the top garment, the shirt she had worn just hours ago.

If they would be tracking her the best way would be using Kiba and Akamaru's sense of smell. He lifted it to his own nose, wanting to ensure it smelled strongly of Sachi. A powerful wave of loss crept over Shino as he took in the feminine smell of vanilla and paper. His hand clenched tightly in the shirt and he promised himself he would get her back.

As he exited the home his kikai returned to him, ensuring him that all messages had been delivered.

Less than five minutes later found Shino, Shibi, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru within the Hokage's office in front of the bedraggled silver-haired Hokage.

"So what's this emergency?" Kakashi questioned from behind his desk, a hand holding up his face that looked intensely tired.

"A civilian, Sachi Hara, was kidnapped by members of the Kamizuru clan 33 minutes ago," Shino answered. Hinata gasped and the remaining two men turned surprised gazes to Shino. "I'm requesting permission to take this team to find and return her immediately."

"I assume you have solid proof of the kidnapping. Who exactly is it that was taken and what else do we know?"

"Sachi-chan is my girlfriend. She was likely taken by the Kamizuru because of her strong affiliation with insects. Which makes her a prime candidate to become a breeding slave for their small clan as well as revenge upon the Aburame clan." His hands were clenched tightly at his sides. "As for our knowledge of the event, Sachi-chan possesses a kikai she refers to as Kai-chan, which was separated from her upon her kidnapping and has relayed the events of the night to me. Kai-chan sensed danger and made Sachi-chan run to the safety of the Aburame compound. However, in the attempt, she was taken and by two Kamizuru to the outskirts of the village where she was bound, drugged and separated from Kai-chan. I have checked her home and confirmed that Sachi-chan has disappeared."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at how quickly you responded, given all the facts. You have already gathered more than enough information to convince me and even assembled a team," Kakashi mused. "Alright, retrieval mission. Shibi-san is the team leader. If there is nothing else you are dismissed immediately."

The team left the Hokage just as he began to grumble about going back to bed.

"We will start from the last place Kai-chan saw Sachi-san," Shibi said.

Shino nodded and took the forefront of the team, leading them according to Kai-chan's directions.

"Shino-kun?" Hinata asked. "Do you really think they took Sachi-chan for more than revenge on your clan?"

"Yes. It's clear she would mix well with any clan of insect users."

"So what?" Kiba interrupted. "They kidnap her and repopulate? Seems a bit desperate to me."

"Since our last encounter with the Kamizuru while we searched for the Bikochu they have become increasingly desperate. Their numbers have dwindled over the years and they have more than enough reason to steal her away from us and use her for their own means."

Kai-chan flew from Shino to the ground and flew in circles around a broken jar on the forest floor.

"This was the last place Kai-chan saw her," Shino said.

"Kiba, it's up to you to track her from here," Shibi stated.

"Sure," Kiba responded. "Hey, Shino, you got anything with Sachi-chan's scent?"

Shino retrieved her shirt and handed it to the Inuzuka to refresh his memory.

"Always one step ahead, hmm?" He buried his nose in it, inhaling a few times before bending to let Akamaru sniff the garment as well. The pair sniffed at the air a moment. "Yeah, she was definitely here not too long ago. About the same time as two unfamiliar scents." With one last sniff and a bark from Akamaru, they took off towards the south.

I do love a story with a good roller coaster of emotions. Don't you?