No coffee… But I am here to write another chapter. This one will be longer. Hope you enjoy and I don't own Naruto.

-Somewhere on the outskirts of the kingdom of Fire-

"Where do you think she went?" The twin-bun haired woman asked her companions. They shook their heads. "She said she would go to the apothecary." Naruto said, still puzzled at the disappearance of his friend. "And then we heard that scream that sounded like hers." Suigetsu pointed out. The group look at the ground in confusion. Kiba piped up, "Perhaps the guards took her to the castle? Tamaki says that there was a new addition to the dungeons and she can sometimes hear the wails of whoever is trapped there." Tenten visibly shudders. "That's creepy." "But helpful! Maybe it was her who was taken to the dungeons." Naruto exclaims. "We have to save her!"

"But how?" Tenten asks. "How can we get in un-noticed and save her?" "Yeah, and we don't even know if she's there in the first place!" Suigetsu joins in. Naruto scratches his head and says, "But we have to try. For Sakura-chan." "For Sakura-chan!" Lee raises his fist with glee and determination. Tenten shakes her head. "I suppose we have no choice. So what's the plan?" They all huddle near Naruto as he tells them his plan to save Sakura. "No way is this going to work!" Kiba yells.

-Midnight, The Dungeons-

Sakura waits patiently for her saviour to come walking down those steps but to no avail, she see's no one. The guards are in the corner playing cards, not paying much attention to her. She sighs in defeat. 'How could she ever think someone would help her?' Just as she finished her thought, she saw Karui walk down the steps with a plate of food. She winks at Sakura and approaches the guards.

"My oh my, you men have been working so hard." She gushes. The guards at this point, are blushing and going on about how it is their duty to protect. Karui gushes and giggles while the guards are staring at her cleavage in her low cut maid outfit. "Well, such hard-working men like you deserve something to eat so I brought you something from the kitchens." She lays the plate of treats on the table as the guards thank her and stuff their faces.

Sakura looks at her in confusion but Karui waves her off and winks. Still confused, Sakura watches Karui count to five with her fingers before the guards pass out. She fingers one of the guard's pocket to find the cell keys and makes her way to Sakura. "Okay, we have about 15 minutes to get you out of the castle. Hurry!" She opens the cell door and grabs Sakura.

They run up the steps and through the corridor. "This way, through the servant's entrance!" They run through the winding corridors until they find the servant's entrance. Exiting through, Karui stops and grabs a bag out of a bush beside the entrance. "There's clothes in here. And food, water and anything you may need. Keep running, through the village and out the gates. This is where I leave you." Sakura feels her eyes well up with tears and hugs Karui. "Thank you." She says. Suddenly, they hear voices from the castle. "Hurry! Go!" Karui pleads. Sakura bolts into the village away from the castle.

Karui turns around to see guards coming her way. Ducking her head, she discreetly makes her way into the castle.

-Earlier-

Sasuke couldn't wait until morning to go to the dungeons. Oh no. He got out of bed and put on his robe and tiptoed out of his chambers. Making his way down the corridor, he noticed how quiet the castle was. He hurried himself down to the dungeons to notice the guards passed out. 'What the-' He thinks. He looks over to the cell he was looking for to find it empty. "She's escaped!" He quickly wakes up the guards and alerts them that their prisoner has escaped. They quickly rush outside to find her. He follows them to see a maid coming from outside, ducking her head.

"You!" He says, startling her. "Why would you be outside at this hour?" She mumbles something about taking a walk but he doesn't know if he should believe her. 'I'll have to talk to Hiruzen.' He lets her go and goes back to his chambers.

-Next Morning-

"WHAT?!" a screech is heard from the King's throne-room. Sasuke can only infer that voice could belong to his soon-to-be-wife. He shuddered at the thought as he pushed open the door and took a seat next to his mother.

"What do you mean my prisoner has escaped?" Karin fumed. Hiruzen stroked his chin in response, unwavering his gaze at the redhead. "Where were the guards?" She asks. Mikoto nudges Sasuke for him to speak up. "They appeared to be unconscious at the time." He speaks curtly to his fiancée. "I can't believe this! Sleeping on the job! Where do you find these people King Hiruzen?" She snaps at the man on the throne. He gives her a disbelieving look and speaks, "Actually, according to the tests that Tsunade did on the guards, it appears they were drugged." Karin's face was full of shock. "From what?" She asks.

He takes a puff of his pipe and says, "We found half-eaten food from the kitchens by the guards. It's quite peculiar." "I'd say the prisoner had help from someone in the castle." A random voice piped up. Sasuke couldn't help but think of the maid he saw last night. "We have a traitor in our midst, but who?" Another voice said. Shikamaru looks pensive for a moment and then speaks up, "Whomever helped the prisoner must've been someone working for the kitchens. My deduction is it had to be someone with excellent expertise in baking." Hiruzen looked thoughtful for a moment until he turned to one of the guards. "Bring in the head chef."

The guard left quickly and came back with a plump man who goes by the name of Choji. "I am to understand that one of your baking goods drugged my guards last night." Hiruzen said. Choji looked confused, "I didn't know about that. What's going on?" Karin pointed at him and said, "He's lying. Execute him!" Choji looked like he was about to cry but the doors opened and standing in the entryway was Karui, frazzled and teary-eyed. "Stop! Don't execute him! He knows nothing of what happened!" She walks in front of her husband, protectively. "I did it. I took the pastries and helped the prisoner escape." Karin fumed. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME AND THIS KINGDOM!" Karui shuddered for a moment but straightened up. "King Hiruzen, I helped the prisoner because I felt it was unjust to detain her. She did no wrong." Karin, still fuming, screeched. "She's lying, execute her!" The king chewed on his pipe and asked. "I don't remember ordering anyone to be detained in the first place. Karin do you know something about this?"

Mikoto secretly smiled because she knew the truth but she held her tongue. She loved watching her sweat. Karin stammered and said, "Why does it matter? She committed treason!" The king gave her a pointed look and said, "It isn't treason if the prisoner was wrongfully detained. Now can someone tell me why she was detained?" Karin saw Mikoto rise from her seat and all blood drained from her face. Better she do it than her evil mother-in-law. She said it, out loud to everyone. Her jealousy, paranoia of the Haruno and possessiveness of her fiancé. She laid it all out and she felt stupid for thinking so in the first place. Embarassed she left the throne-room and walked to her chambers. She was feeling very depressed.

In the throne-room, most people gaped at the recent show Karin put on. Hiruzen cleared his throat finally after a few moments and said, "No one shall be punished for the recent events. Although I am not happy my guards were drugged." He gives a pointed look at Karui and she mumbles an apology. "Dismissed." He fancied himself a kind king, one that isn't quick to anger. That's why he fears when Karin takes the throne. He rues the day when the red queen will rule.

-Later in the gardens-

A lazy advisor is lying on the grass watching clouds. 'So relaxing. I wish I could do this all day.' His train of thought was interrupted by his lovely wife blocking his view. "We need to talk." She says. Oh how he dreaded those words. He pats beside him on the grass and she lies down next to him. They lie in silence for awhile before his curiosity makes him give in. "So what do you want to talk about?"

She turns on her side and says, "You love me, right?" He nods. "You see a future with me right?" He nods again. She turns his face toward her and looks him deep in the eye. She smiles tearfully and says, "You're going to be a father, Shikamaru." He initially looks shocked but then turns over and mumbles "Troublesome." Temari fumes. "I thought you would be happy!" Unbeknownst of his secret smile, he loved getting her riled up. As she was about to leave in a huff, he grabs her wrist and kisses her passionately. Of course he is happy she's pregnant.

-Somewhere dark and sinister-

"Soon we will attack Fire. Very soon." A deep baritone voice says in a dark room. The others laugh maniacally, echoing off the walls.

-Kingdom of Snow-

The attractive king focused on his canvas, waiting for inspiration. He remembered something he read in a book. Flowers. He doesn't see those here in Snow. He picks up his paintbrush and starts painting different kinds of flowers, lilies, roses and carnations alike. He wished his land had more beauty in it. 'Maybe I should import flowers.' He muses.

Okay, it's almost 4am. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Big things next chapter. Good night.