We will be bouncing around perspectives for a few chapters but I've kept everything in chronological order. That way there is less confusion. Each day is also numbered to help keep the time line straight in your minds as the chapters go along.

Chapter 25

Gut Feeling

day one

Noriko never failed to rise with the sun every day. But on this particular day, she had woken several hours earlier than usual with a general sense that something wasn't right.

She had attempted to calm herself, insisting it was nothing but a forgotten dream. But after an hour she had given up and rose for a quiet cup of tea.

Upon entering the kitchen her previous frown returned. The front door was open. She shuffled over to close it insisting again that this must have been the cause of her bad feeling. Heaven only knew if a nocturnal creature could have wandered into her kitchen for a meal.

But despite her self-assurances, there was still a weight in her gut that insisted something was not as it should be. She pushed it to the back of her mind with difficulty and went about making breakfast.

"Good morning, Kaachan," Kaito greeted sometime later.

"Morning, dear," she returned as her husband shuffled into the kitchen. "Kaito, were you the last one in last night?"

"I think so. Yuuki-kun and I were catching up on his homework, he was sick all last week."

"Did you shut the door when you came in?"

"Yeah," he asked dubiously. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Someone must have left it open." She set down plates in front of her boys. "I found it wide open when I came down."

Aoi looked around the room with his tired eyes. "Doesn't look like anyone broke in to steal anything. Even so, they would be terrible robbers if they made it obvious by leaving the door open."

Noriko hummed thoughtfully. "Where is Sachi? She'll be late if she sleeps in anymore." She ascended the stairs and seeing the bathroom was unoccupied continued to her daughter's room.

The door was ajar. Sachi never liked to leave her door open. What had begun as a necessary precaution to keep an infant Kaito from entering her room had turned into a longstanding habit.

The weight in Noriko's stomach grew heavier when she saw her daughter was nowhere to be found. The bed was unmade and all of Sachi's possessions remained exactly where she kept them.

Noriko had been downstairs for the better part of the morning. For Sachi to have left she would have had to leave the house in the middle of the night. She descended the stairs quickly.

"Has Sachi mentioned anything about her plans for the day?" Noriko said rapidly.

Both sets of eyes looked at her curiously.

"I don't think so," Aoi answered. "Why?"

"She's not in her room."

Aoi grunted and bit into his toast. "She's probably off with that boyfriend of hers."

Noriko wrung her hands. There was no point sharing her worry if she was wrong.

"Right, of course. You two best be off. You'll be late for school and work if you don't hurry."

Noriko was not about to give up until she was sure the circumstances that morning were nothing. Not long after Aoi and Kaito left she hurried outside to check the bookstore and found it bereft of her daughter. With increasing worry she hastened down to the Aburame compound and was granted access by a less than friendly gate guard.

She followed his directions to Shino's home and quickly found herself knocking on the door.

She was met with the sight of a tall, willowy woman that couldn't be far from her own age.

"Hello, can I help you?"

"Is this the home of Shino Aburame?"

"Yes, it is. I'm Youko, Shino's mother."

"Lovely to meet you Aburame-san. I'm Noriko Hara, Sachi's mother."

The woman's countenance instantly fell.

"I was wondering if you knew where my daughter was? I thought perhaps Shino-kun would know."

"Please come in, Hara-san."

Noriko was ushered to the sitting room, her worry increasing with every second she didn't receive an answer.

"Please, if you know something..." Noriko said as she sat down.

"Hara-san, I'm sorry to tell you this but your daughter has been kidnapped."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kiba and Akamaru had tracked the scent for several hours that morning when they stopped at a clearing.

"They stopped here," Kiba said, sniffing the air. "But the scent doesn't lead on. I don't think they doubled back to trick us. We didn't smell it going in any other direction."

"Their tracks don't lead back into the trees," Hinata observed.

"They would have flown from here," Shibi intoned.

"They are trying to throw us off," Shino said. "If they had the ability to fly away then they would have done it immediately. They could travel faster and without direction."

"The scent is real enough," Kiba said. "She had to pass right through here."

Shibi nodded. "They are trying to lead us away from their destination. They wanted us to go in the wrong direction. We will have to start our search at the Kamizuru's home in Iwa."

They immediately jumped into the trees heading back the way they came.

A malicious killing intent rolled off Shino in waves that each of the members of the team could feel permeating their skin like a chill up their spine. They traveled for the remaining morning and long into the evening. The sun was close to setting before Shibi called an end to their day.

The three people that knew Shino best could tell he was far from being comfortable in the quiet of their camp. He had barely touched his food and continued to huff forlornly each time his thoughts brought him to a place they shouldn't be.

Hinata's gentle hand covered his shoulder.

"We will do our best to find her, Shino-kun."

"Yeah, it's not like they are going to kill her. They need her alive," Kiba added.

A near tangible wave of thought passed through the camp illustrating exactly what the Kamizuru needed from Sachi, a visual none wanted or needed, least of all Shino.

Kiba paused in his chewing as Shino's gaze pinned him on the log he sat on. He gulped down the food audibly and grimaced.

"Sorry."

"We should be in Iwa in two days," Hinata continued. "Try to get some rest tonight. Worrying won't help Sachi-chan now."

He nodded reluctantly. Hinata squeezed his shoulder once and left to rest.

Shino followed suit feeling as if rest was pointless. His mind alternated between graphic visuals of what Sachi could be going through right now and imagining what life would be like without her.

Neither allowed him much rest.

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