Psychic King: *looking to readers* Hi everyone! How's it going? I've got
a special treat for all of you today as a thanks to everyone that sent me
in some recommendations for names! I just want to take this time to say
THANK YOU! Also, I wanted to say that I got a lot of great names, but I
got more than I could possibly use! So I chose a few (and I came up with
one or two on my own after I started writing the chapter...). I'll list
the names I chose at the end of the chapter, in case you missed anything!
Anyway, as I mentioned, I DO have a surprise for you, so... One second...
*walks off screen and comes back on, yanking male characters with her*
Male characters: *all dressed up in business suits*
Psychic King: *grinning* I had them get all dressed up, now I KNOW you can't SEE it, but at least I figured you'd appreciate the thought, ne?
Uzu: *loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top shirt button* I still don't know why they'd like to see us in these things anyway.
Psychic King: *rolling eyes* It's for my readers! Girls always love seeing a guy in a suit, right? *blushing* Well, even if THEY don't I do! *blushing even brighter as Shikamaru and Naruto both loosen THEIR ties and unbutton their top shirt button* Ah... Heaven...
Naruto: *going a step further and rolling up his sleeves* this thing is uncomfortable as heck and hard to move in, too. Why would anyone WANT to wear one?
Psychic King: *still blushing* Hum? Oh... I guess 'cause it looks good...
Sakura: *walks on stage* Hey guys... *notices the suits* Ah, um... *blushes*
Psychic King: See, Sakura likes it, too.
Sasuke: *pulls suit coat off and unbuttons suit vest* Why am I the only one that had to wear a vest?
Psychic King: *looking around* Now, that's not true, I made Gaara-chan wear one, too... Where IS Gaara-chan?
Tenmar: *shaking head* Donno. Haven't seen him in a few chapters.
Psychic King: *shrugging* I guess it can't be helped. Because I haven't had the exams start... If they started he would HAVE to be a more active character.
Naruto: *suspiciously* Why?
Psychic King: *shaking head* Not telling! I'm the only one that knows the future, got it? *looks at readers* Well, and probably most of them, too... But that's because they either read the manga or watch the anime! I, on the other hand, am psychic...
Kakashi: *picking something up off the floor and reading* Naruto, episodes 69-71?
Psychic King: *snatches it away* Well, OK... I read the manga and watch the anime, too... Anyway, rushing things along... *gesturing to the male characters, who are all stripping half out of their suits* I don't own these hot guys, well, I guess since I created them, I DO own Tenmar, Uzu and Ganten, not to mention Kentaar and his flunkies. But Naruto and the others, they belong to other people. *blushing* Watching them take parts of it off is my favorite part of making them dress up...
Sakura: *nodding mutely*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Embrace of Solitude
Chapter 15
Sakura's eyes popped open, for the first time in a long while her head felt OK... Besides the pain in her hand her body felt fine, if not a little weaker than normal. "Thank God..." She muttered, relief filling her. She hadn't been taken advantage of while she slept.
She sat up slowly, glancing around the cave. It was still dark out, but there was a small fire in the cave so it was very warm. She noticed that someone had placed a fur blanket over her as well and her hand had been re-bandaged. Someone was going through a lot of trouble to make sure she was alright. "Damned if I care..." Sakura muttered, "Just makes it easier for me to escape."
There was a derisive snort, and then from the mouth of the cave walked the man that had protected her earlier. He threw her a disgusted glare and tossed a bundle at her feet. "Eat."
"I'm not hungry." Sakura shot back, but even as she said it her stomach jumped at the idea of food. It had been almost 10 hours since her last meal, even though she was able to go much longer without food, the idea of eating was suddenly very appealing.
The man's eyes flashed, but he made no move towards her. Instead he glared at her, contempt so clear in his eyes. "I wasn't asking."
Sakura swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat as the man's hate-filled glare continued to bore into her and she grabbed the food. If they wanted to kill her they would have already done it, if they wanted her sedated they had other means to do it by; she was only hurting herself by refusing the food. The bundle was some sort of meat, burnt so badly that it was unrecognizable, but it was food all the same.
The man lowered himself to a sitting position across the cave from Sakura. He wasn't looking at her, but Sakura had the distinct feeling that he focus was on her. He whistled and two wolves moved into the cave, both laying their heads in his lap, but positioned so that their yellow eyes were on her. Sakura purposefully looked away until she had eaten enough.
When she finished the boy motioned to one of the wolves and it stepped forward. Sakura shrank back a bit in fear as the giant creature moved closer to her, but the creature ignored her, simply grabbing the remains of the food from the girl and taking it back to the boy. The boy patted the wolf as it brought him the scraps of what was left and the wolf curled peacefully back into the boys lap. The boy kept his eyes obstinately on the mouth of the cave, not even glancing at Sakura as she shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.
Sakura found herself staring at the boy as he purposefully ignored her. He was young, probably only a few years older than she was, about 15 if she were to guess. That man from before had probably Tenmar's age, and yet he was scared of this boy; scared enough to leave her to his care. The boy didn't look like a vicious killer as he sat absently patting the two creatures in his lap. He had brown hair, and large brown eyes that held so much of his emotion. He didn't seem to be that tall, likewise he was not very broad, but his presence was so commanding, Sakura doubted that even someone like Kakashi-sensei could easily talk down to someone like him. He had the air of someone that was truly powerful.
Sakura found herself comparing him to Sasuke. While both boys were aloof Sasuke was very cold, like ice. Very composed, very calculating, not caring about anything; Sasuke only ran hot when he was angry, annoyance was the most common emotion he showed. This boy was not cold; he was obviously very passionate, very caring and very angry. Every part of his being radiated a kind of energy, a heat. There were lines on his face, she noticed as she stared at him. They were the kind of lines her mother had, the lines Naruto had... Lines from excessive amounts of smiling and laughter... But that didn't make sense. Maybe he was sadistic and laughed whenever he killed something? That meant he must have spent most of his life killing, of course, because the lines were so pronounced. The scowl he was wearing didn't go with his face at all...
Mustering her courage Sakura attempted to talk to the boy, "Your name's Rin, right? You're the one that saved me from that man..." She looked down, the boy still refused to look at her, to acknowledge her. "Th- thank you!" She bowed her head, even though she knew the boy wouldn't bothering looking. "For that and the meal-"
"Don't misunderstand." The boy responded, still looking away. "I didn't save YOU, I was looking out for my master's interests."
Sakura's eyes widened. "Even so..."
"And thank the rabbit for your meal. It's the one that sacrificed the most." With that said he rose to his feet, walking back to the mouth of the cave. The wolves both followed leaving Sakura once again alone in the cave.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Here..." Tenmar said, strain in his voice. They had reached the very outskirts of Konoha, the only thing beyond was the city walls and the wild. "I've lost her..."
Naruto and Uzu were both nodding, sniffing deeply. "I can smell her confusion, though..." Naruto said. "She obviously ran into something she wasn't expecting here but... I can't pick up on the scent of another person, but... There's SOMETHING in the air."
"I don't see any signs of other people. I can see her foot prints, but no one else's. How do you know your right?" Sasuke said, slight annoyance in his voice. It bothered him that Naruto was talking about being able to smell emotions Sakura had over five hours ago.
"Being part fox has some benefits," Uzu said, not really paying attention, he was walking towards Konoha's wall, sniffing deeply. "I think... Daddy, do you smell something here?"
Naruto knelt down, walking slowly on his hands and feet, keeping his nose pressed close to the ground. There was something... A string of something else in the air, but he couldn't tell for sure what it was, or if it had anything to do with Sakura. But whatever it was had definitely jumped the wall right here... That shouldn't be possible for an animal.
Uzu was following trait keeping his nose to the ground, when he reached the wall he jumped quickly, landing easily on the top. He whistled. "Well, whoever it is wasn't an average ninja... They almost completely have their scent covered, they were expecting someone with noses like ours to be tracking them. But I can follow it for now. If we wait any longer I don't think I'll be able to find it again..." He looked at Tenmar then his father and finally at Kakashi. "What are we going to do?"
Kakashi sighed, jumping next to Uzu. "It can't be helped..." He glanced at Tenmar, "Someone needs to stay behind to tell Hokage-sama about all of this and..." Kakashi's visible eye widened, he suddenly looked like someone had punched him repeatedly in the chest. "Iruka!" He turned, moving as if to jump back down and race to his lover. How could he have been so stupid? They were collecting people Naruto cared about and he just left the one person that had been Naruto's only family completely unprotected in a large house in the middle of nowhere.
Tenmar's face drained of its color; he clenched his hands into tight fists. "Kakashi... I'll go back, you guys should continue on. Even if they have taken this chance to grab Iruka, they won't send someone powerful enough to stick out too much. They WILL have extremely powerful people guarding their den, though. You are... stronger than I am, I can take care of whatever bastard they might send after Iruka, you just worry about keeping everyone else safe."
Kakashi sighed, even though his heart was rebelling against it, his mind knew every word Tenmar said was true. "Fine, I'll leave his safety in your hands... for now."
Tenmar nodded, glancing quickly at each of his siblings and his father and Sasuke. "I'll join up with you once everything's taken care of here..." He glanced at Kakashi, "Don't let anything happen to them." Then he jumped, running on both his hands and feet quickly back to Sasuke's house, to Iruka.
Uzu quickly jumped down the tall wall, to the outside of the village and began sniffing deeply. "Shit, this little bastard's good... They landed somewhere else, it's gonna take me a second to..." He trailed off, deep in thought as he pressed his nose near the ground and started crawling away a bit.
Sasuke sighed as he jumped down with Naruto and Ganten, an annoyed tinge to his voice as he asked them, "Why aren't you guys doing anything?"
Naruto shook his head, shrugging. "I haven't used that part of my senses in a LONG time, I probably WOULD be better at it than Uzu as I'm less human, but..." He shrugged again and looked questioningly at Ganten.
The white haired boy's face had taken a dark look and he replied with a little hesitation, "Uzu... Is used to certain things like that, he disappears for days at a time sometimes and lives with the local foxes. Anyway..." He muttered something that neither Sasuke nor Naruto could hear.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, it had been something about Mina, he caught that, but WHAT his youngest son was trying to say was beyond him.
"I said, 'Mina's a lot more powerful than the rest of us anyways.' Even though she looks the most like Mother, she's inherited more of your power than the rest of us, Naruto-sama. Uzu and Tenmar have a lot of raw power, too. I'm a lot weaker than the others when it comes to raw power. That means, out of the four of us, Mina has the most fox blood, followed by Uzu and Tenmar. I've got the least." Ganten's face was slightly pink as he talked, wither from embarrassment or anger at having to reveal his weakness, Naruto was not sure.
"But..." Mina's hesitant voice added from behind them. Sasuke and Naruto both spun in surprise to see the girl standing right next to them, WHEN had she gotten there? "But... Ganten-niichan is a lot better at planning things than the rest of us, and he's better at using the power he has to its fullest. Our actions usually waste a lot of energy, so he's a lot more effective than we are." She offered her older brother a slight smile.
Naruto grinned, folding his hands behind his head. "Eh, you must have gotten that from your mother. I've never been very good about conserving my power, either."
"Daddy! Everyone! I found the trail!" Naruto, Sasuke, Ganten and Mina all jumped swiftly over to where Uzu was pointing.
After a sparing another glance in the direction of Sasuke's house Kakashi finally jumped down from the wall and joined the others. "Lead the way."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Running as fast as his legs would carry him, Tenmar arrived at Sasuke's house in record time. Throwing the door open he dashed in, "Iruka! Iruka?" Tenmar dashed from room to room, but they were all empty. "Iruka, if you're here answer me!" He screamed desperately, but only silence answered him. "No..." He sank heavily to the floor. "Not now, not after Kakashi entrusted him to me."
Jumping to his feet, Tenmar dashed outside. There had to be a trace of his scent, a trail, SOMETHING. He couldn't give up; this was Iruka, the man he loved. He would find a way to bring him back. He inhaled deeply, the scent of Iruka hung heavy in the air, and there WAS an anger to it... Was he really abducted? It didn't make sense; if he had been taken surely they would have erased his scent along with their own, right?
Tenmar shook his head; he would worry about that later. He would FIND Iruka first, he could asses the situation after that. Another thing... He turned, away from the direction Iruka's scent lead him, praying that what he was about to do would not turn out to be a mistake that cost Iruka his life.
Ten minutes later he was dashing away from Iruka and Kakashi's apartment, clutching in his hands two articles of clothing, one belonging to Iruka and the other Kakashi's. When Iruka's scent trail led him out side the village he knew he had not made a mistake in his detour. Without ceasing in his chase Tenmar performed a quick summoning seal. With a puff two large red fox appeared and jumped quickly to catch up with the man.
"Oi! What do you want, Blondie?" The nearest fox asked.
"Yeah, usually the idiot is the only one that calls us." The other added a sight irritable tone in its voice.
Tenmar ignored them, tossing Iruka's clothing at the first fox and Kakashi's to the second. Once the both fox seemed to have gotten a good feel for the scents he continued. "Aidan, I want you to find the one called Hokage and tell him that Sakura-chan and Iruka have been captured by Kentaar and that the village is unsafe, then follow this scent and catch up with me. Kasai, following this scent will lead you to Uzu. Once you find them explain the situation and assist him, got it?"
Both fox made an acknowledging grunt, faces serious. Kasai immediately dashed away already picking up the trail he needed to follow, but Aidan held back for a moment. "Kentaar... you're going after THAT monster..." It shook its head. "Tenmar, just watch yourself until I get there. Uzu'd have my hide if something happened to his big brother on my watch."
Tenmar shot the fox a glare, "Just get moving."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Everything... Everything was going perfectly; the pieces were all falling into place. The twelve-year wait had been worth every moment. No, it had been much longer than that. His wait had been since the day that siren had entranced him, but now it was all coming to an end.
Glancing at the sky, the man noticed that it was a full moon; it had been a full moon THAT night, too. There was something entrancing about it, something... A low growl escaped the man's lips. He could still taste that witch's blood, even after twelve years. He longed to taste it again, NEEDED to have it again and soon he would. Patience... Patience, only a few more hours until the moon reached its apex and then...
"Kentaar-sama?" A low voice reached the man's ears. He turned his head in slight annoyance.
"I said I was not to be interrupted until everything was ready, did I not Garou?" The growl the voice carried implied no small threat.
"Yes, sir, but-" Garou replied, fidgeting. It had SEEMED like a good idea at the time to tell his master that Rin had taken over watching the girl and had forced him out of the cave, but now, in front of his master... And it was a full moon, too. Master was always a little crazy when there was a full moon.
"BUT?" For a moment Kentaar's rage was thick in the air and Garou almost turned and fled out of instinct, but then the master calmed and was saying in a soft, almost sweet voice, "But what, Garou? Please, if it was important enough to break a direct order than it must be very important indeed."
The rage aura passed and Garou's instincts turned off, now it was only his mind that told him he should be afraid. Listening to his mind had never been easy for someone like Garou though, and so he found himself telling his master everything. "Rin took over watching the human, sir. I wouldn't have bothered you, but the way he was acting, sir, I was worried he would do something to... compromise your interests."
"Oh?" The master raised a slender eyebrow, voice still soft, "Really?" The master rose and started pacing, walking in a circle around Garou. "So what your saying is, you think Rin would do something to damage the girl's purity? Or perhaps you think he's planning on killing her?"
Quickly swallowing a lump that was rising in his throat, Garou nodded. His speaking abilities seemed to have temporarily left him.
"I see, well that is a very serious problem indeed. My most trusted servant turning against me for a human... Of course, that's not the story Keitai told me." Kentaar stood face to face with his terrified servant, raising his hand.
"Ungh!" Garou looked down in shock. Suddenly his master's hand was sticking through his chest and blood was pouring everywhere. "Ah..." He raised his hand to grasp at his master's arm for support, but as quickly as it had been inserted it was withdrawn. The force of the movement sent Garou tumbling forward. "Ma-master..." He coughed once and then there was only darkness.
Kentaar stepped over the body and walked to the mouth of the cave. "Keitai."
The darkness outside of the cave shifted slightly, a pair of yellow eyes slowly opened, "Yes, Kentaar-sama?"
"Send Inuko in to clean up her brother's remains." Kentaar moved thoughtfully forward. As the moon's rays hit his face a dark smile formed. "I think I'll take a short walk before our 'guests' arrive."
"As you wish, however..." There was a thoughtful pause, and then Keitai continued, "It seems that the Shaman has just arrived.
Kentaar growled in annoyance. "Never a moments rest... After you get Inuko take the Shaman to Rin. She'll know what to do with the human."
"Yes, sir." The darkness paused, "Sir, if I may, what do you want me to do if Inuko is... upset by her brother's death?"
For the first time all night Kentaar threw his head back and laughed. He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Allow her to join him."
"Yes sir, as you wish." The darkness bowed and then the yellow eyes disappeared.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Uzu slowed his pace again. The person that had captured Sakura was good at trying to loose trackers but that wasn't what was worrying him. There were two things that bothered him about this chase. The first was the pattern the abductor chose to loose trackers. It wasn't a normal pattern; in fact it was a very specific pattern that was commonly used by both himself and his siblings to confuse animals. As far as he knew it was ONLY used by himself and his siblings, but that wasn't possible. None of them would EVER give one of Daddy's friends to that bastard Kentaar!
He wanted to believe that, anyway, but... It was Mina that was bothering him. He knew Kentaar still visited her in her dreams. He was pretty sure he was the ONLY one that knew, too. She had begged him not to tell the others, she didn't want them to worry. He was beginning to wonder if he had made the best decision when he agreed to keep her secret. He KNEW she couldn't be willingly working for Kentaar. He knew what Kentaar most likely did to her at night, it wasn't pretty. She looked so much like Mother, so... Revenge for mother's 'sins.'
Uzu shook his head. He was not going to doubt his sister. He glanced sideways at her for the hundredth time. She was acting weird recently, though, wasn't she? And Ganten hadn't been lying when he said she was the most animalistic. If she were helping the tracking probably would have been a lot easier. So why wasn't she helping? He noticed his sister's terrified countenance. She was always that way because of Kentaar. But now they had Daddy. Soon it wasn't going to be possible for Kentaar to hurt them EVER again.
A noise behind him caused Uzu to stop his movements. "There's someone behind us..." He growled to the others, holding up his hands to motion to them to stop. "Just one, traveling very fast, though..."
Kakashi sighed; this was a distraction he was NOT happy about. They not only had to find Sakura-chan but Iruka was possibly in danger as well. "They're traveling a lot faster than we are, so we might as well wait for them to come to us. It'll give us the upper hand if it's an enemy."
Uzu shook his head, "It doesn't smell like an enemy it smells like... Kasai!"
A bright flash of red dashed from a tree, landing panting at Uzu's feet. "Long time no see, idiot."
"How did you get here? I didn't summon you!" Uzu grabbed the fox by the snout and started ruffling its hair the wrong way.
"You-your brother." The fox panted then it snapped its jaws at Uzu's offensive hand. "Stop that, bastard!"
"Hey, I was just givin' you some love, you old bastard!" Uzu grinned mischievously, patting the fur down the right way. This action still seemed to annoy the fox who again nipped at Uzu's hand.
Kakashi sighed, and then he spotted a flash of... Was that one of his shirts? "Oi, you two, stop playing." He turned his attention to the fox. Tapping it to get its attention he asked, "You said Tenmar sent you?"
Kasai nodded. "He has a message for this idiot. Let's see it was something like... Someone named Sakura-chan and some guy were captured by that bastard uncle of yours and the village is not safe so someone called the Hokage needed to know about that, and for some reason he thought you guys would want to know." The fox shifted its shoulders in an almost shrug type motion.
Suddenly Kasai found himself being lifted off the ground by the scruff of his neck. Growling he kicked his paws and struggled, but the grip held firm. "Tell me," Kakashi asked tone dangerous. "Was this 'some guy' named Iruka?"
"Let me down, pup!" Kasai growled, baring his teeth.
Kakashi tightened his grip. "Was the name Iruka?" He demanded, loosing control of his composure for a moment. If the damn creature didn't respond soon he was going to kill it.
"I think so!" The fox yelped out. Kakashi begrudgingly let it down. "Damn you, Uzu. You're hanging around a rough crowd, aren't you?"
Uzu's face had dropped its grin, he patted Kasai lightly, face serious. "That guy that got taken? Kakashi here's his lover. Anyway, these are Daddy's friends."
"You found Naruto-sama?" Kasai asked, jumping slightly in the air, obviously excited. "Where is he?"
"Ehh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head, stepping forward. "Good to see you again Kasai... How's Aidan?"
"You mean this RUNT is- YOU are Naruto-sama???"
Naruto nodded sheepishly.
Kakashi smacked Naruto lightly on the head. "You can get reacquainted later, for now can we please focus on the mission?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Psychic King: *smiling* So... Did you like my names so far? Just to warn you, I have a few more to name, like the Shaman (that's a girl) and the Shaman's assistant (male).
Sakura: *shaking head* you should list the people that suggested the names you choose, idiot.
Psychic King: *blushing and muttering* Well, at least she got over the whole Sasuke being in love with Naruto thing, but now she's a real bitch...
Sakura: What was that?
Psychic King: *shaking head* I didn't say anything! *bowing to readers, OK, I guess she's right, though. So I'll give credit where credit is due: *clearing throat* First off I REALLY wanted to use Kazae from Michiru, but I realized that I had WAY too many names that started with K, so I ended up changing it to Garou which means something like hungry wolf (or picture gallery) or something like that... (that was the character I killed this chapter anyway, so I don't feel so bad) The name Inuko came from Naruto'sTwinSister and I plan on using Sai for the Shaman (also provided by Naruto'sTwinSister) *gasp* Yeup, that's almost a spoiler... Gin (haven't introduced him yet) and Aidan are both from kit. Keitai is from someone that e-mailed me and they didn't leave me with a name to recognize them by, I'd feel mean putting their e-mail address down... (if you want credit for the name, just tell me who you are in a review or e-mail me with a name to recognize you by). Anyway, anyone that sent me a recommendation and I didn't use it, I'm REALLY sorry! I got a lot of great names that didn't seem to fit the strange villains...
Sakura: *growling* you're telling ME. That boy you have me with right now is SO EVIL. I don't care if he has smile lines or not, he's rude! And he's stupid.
Psychic King: *nodding* yeah. But he's cute...
Sakura: That's NOT the point!
Psychic King: *smiling* well, if it makes you feel better, soon enough the Shaman, Sai, will come for you and then... *grin* Ain't telling.
Sakura: *rolling eyes* It can't be good, you're never nice to me...
Psychic King: Tough love, my friend. Anyway, if I had Sasuke attracted to YOU that would mean that you'd HAVE to die. As it is, I think you're gonna live.
Sakura: What do you mean you THINK I'm gonna live?
Psychic King: Um... Anyway, next chapter will be up soon. I'm really enjoying writing these scenes, so I think the next chapter will be soon, but school work is starting to pile up, so it MAY take a little longer than usual. I don't think so, though. When I HAVE to do something, it becomes more appealing NOT to do it, you know? Anyway, Bye all!!!!! I'm gonna go get some water now! I've been cooped up in this room writing for the last three hours... And I ran out of water about 2 ½ hours ago... Ah, water.... *Rises unstably and waves* Have a good day/night/whatever! See you all next chapter!
Psychic King: *walking back, glass of water in hand* What are you all still doing here? Oh, yeah... I forgot to end the chapter... um... Oh! Feel free to e-mail me Psychic_King@hotmail.com with any problems and such!!!!! And, please review if you liked the chapter!!!!! Bye!!!!!!
Male characters: *all dressed up in business suits*
Psychic King: *grinning* I had them get all dressed up, now I KNOW you can't SEE it, but at least I figured you'd appreciate the thought, ne?
Uzu: *loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top shirt button* I still don't know why they'd like to see us in these things anyway.
Psychic King: *rolling eyes* It's for my readers! Girls always love seeing a guy in a suit, right? *blushing* Well, even if THEY don't I do! *blushing even brighter as Shikamaru and Naruto both loosen THEIR ties and unbutton their top shirt button* Ah... Heaven...
Naruto: *going a step further and rolling up his sleeves* this thing is uncomfortable as heck and hard to move in, too. Why would anyone WANT to wear one?
Psychic King: *still blushing* Hum? Oh... I guess 'cause it looks good...
Sakura: *walks on stage* Hey guys... *notices the suits* Ah, um... *blushes*
Psychic King: See, Sakura likes it, too.
Sasuke: *pulls suit coat off and unbuttons suit vest* Why am I the only one that had to wear a vest?
Psychic King: *looking around* Now, that's not true, I made Gaara-chan wear one, too... Where IS Gaara-chan?
Tenmar: *shaking head* Donno. Haven't seen him in a few chapters.
Psychic King: *shrugging* I guess it can't be helped. Because I haven't had the exams start... If they started he would HAVE to be a more active character.
Naruto: *suspiciously* Why?
Psychic King: *shaking head* Not telling! I'm the only one that knows the future, got it? *looks at readers* Well, and probably most of them, too... But that's because they either read the manga or watch the anime! I, on the other hand, am psychic...
Kakashi: *picking something up off the floor and reading* Naruto, episodes 69-71?
Psychic King: *snatches it away* Well, OK... I read the manga and watch the anime, too... Anyway, rushing things along... *gesturing to the male characters, who are all stripping half out of their suits* I don't own these hot guys, well, I guess since I created them, I DO own Tenmar, Uzu and Ganten, not to mention Kentaar and his flunkies. But Naruto and the others, they belong to other people. *blushing* Watching them take parts of it off is my favorite part of making them dress up...
Sakura: *nodding mutely*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Embrace of Solitude
Chapter 15
Sakura's eyes popped open, for the first time in a long while her head felt OK... Besides the pain in her hand her body felt fine, if not a little weaker than normal. "Thank God..." She muttered, relief filling her. She hadn't been taken advantage of while she slept.
She sat up slowly, glancing around the cave. It was still dark out, but there was a small fire in the cave so it was very warm. She noticed that someone had placed a fur blanket over her as well and her hand had been re-bandaged. Someone was going through a lot of trouble to make sure she was alright. "Damned if I care..." Sakura muttered, "Just makes it easier for me to escape."
There was a derisive snort, and then from the mouth of the cave walked the man that had protected her earlier. He threw her a disgusted glare and tossed a bundle at her feet. "Eat."
"I'm not hungry." Sakura shot back, but even as she said it her stomach jumped at the idea of food. It had been almost 10 hours since her last meal, even though she was able to go much longer without food, the idea of eating was suddenly very appealing.
The man's eyes flashed, but he made no move towards her. Instead he glared at her, contempt so clear in his eyes. "I wasn't asking."
Sakura swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat as the man's hate-filled glare continued to bore into her and she grabbed the food. If they wanted to kill her they would have already done it, if they wanted her sedated they had other means to do it by; she was only hurting herself by refusing the food. The bundle was some sort of meat, burnt so badly that it was unrecognizable, but it was food all the same.
The man lowered himself to a sitting position across the cave from Sakura. He wasn't looking at her, but Sakura had the distinct feeling that he focus was on her. He whistled and two wolves moved into the cave, both laying their heads in his lap, but positioned so that their yellow eyes were on her. Sakura purposefully looked away until she had eaten enough.
When she finished the boy motioned to one of the wolves and it stepped forward. Sakura shrank back a bit in fear as the giant creature moved closer to her, but the creature ignored her, simply grabbing the remains of the food from the girl and taking it back to the boy. The boy patted the wolf as it brought him the scraps of what was left and the wolf curled peacefully back into the boys lap. The boy kept his eyes obstinately on the mouth of the cave, not even glancing at Sakura as she shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.
Sakura found herself staring at the boy as he purposefully ignored her. He was young, probably only a few years older than she was, about 15 if she were to guess. That man from before had probably Tenmar's age, and yet he was scared of this boy; scared enough to leave her to his care. The boy didn't look like a vicious killer as he sat absently patting the two creatures in his lap. He had brown hair, and large brown eyes that held so much of his emotion. He didn't seem to be that tall, likewise he was not very broad, but his presence was so commanding, Sakura doubted that even someone like Kakashi-sensei could easily talk down to someone like him. He had the air of someone that was truly powerful.
Sakura found herself comparing him to Sasuke. While both boys were aloof Sasuke was very cold, like ice. Very composed, very calculating, not caring about anything; Sasuke only ran hot when he was angry, annoyance was the most common emotion he showed. This boy was not cold; he was obviously very passionate, very caring and very angry. Every part of his being radiated a kind of energy, a heat. There were lines on his face, she noticed as she stared at him. They were the kind of lines her mother had, the lines Naruto had... Lines from excessive amounts of smiling and laughter... But that didn't make sense. Maybe he was sadistic and laughed whenever he killed something? That meant he must have spent most of his life killing, of course, because the lines were so pronounced. The scowl he was wearing didn't go with his face at all...
Mustering her courage Sakura attempted to talk to the boy, "Your name's Rin, right? You're the one that saved me from that man..." She looked down, the boy still refused to look at her, to acknowledge her. "Th- thank you!" She bowed her head, even though she knew the boy wouldn't bothering looking. "For that and the meal-"
"Don't misunderstand." The boy responded, still looking away. "I didn't save YOU, I was looking out for my master's interests."
Sakura's eyes widened. "Even so..."
"And thank the rabbit for your meal. It's the one that sacrificed the most." With that said he rose to his feet, walking back to the mouth of the cave. The wolves both followed leaving Sakura once again alone in the cave.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Here..." Tenmar said, strain in his voice. They had reached the very outskirts of Konoha, the only thing beyond was the city walls and the wild. "I've lost her..."
Naruto and Uzu were both nodding, sniffing deeply. "I can smell her confusion, though..." Naruto said. "She obviously ran into something she wasn't expecting here but... I can't pick up on the scent of another person, but... There's SOMETHING in the air."
"I don't see any signs of other people. I can see her foot prints, but no one else's. How do you know your right?" Sasuke said, slight annoyance in his voice. It bothered him that Naruto was talking about being able to smell emotions Sakura had over five hours ago.
"Being part fox has some benefits," Uzu said, not really paying attention, he was walking towards Konoha's wall, sniffing deeply. "I think... Daddy, do you smell something here?"
Naruto knelt down, walking slowly on his hands and feet, keeping his nose pressed close to the ground. There was something... A string of something else in the air, but he couldn't tell for sure what it was, or if it had anything to do with Sakura. But whatever it was had definitely jumped the wall right here... That shouldn't be possible for an animal.
Uzu was following trait keeping his nose to the ground, when he reached the wall he jumped quickly, landing easily on the top. He whistled. "Well, whoever it is wasn't an average ninja... They almost completely have their scent covered, they were expecting someone with noses like ours to be tracking them. But I can follow it for now. If we wait any longer I don't think I'll be able to find it again..." He looked at Tenmar then his father and finally at Kakashi. "What are we going to do?"
Kakashi sighed, jumping next to Uzu. "It can't be helped..." He glanced at Tenmar, "Someone needs to stay behind to tell Hokage-sama about all of this and..." Kakashi's visible eye widened, he suddenly looked like someone had punched him repeatedly in the chest. "Iruka!" He turned, moving as if to jump back down and race to his lover. How could he have been so stupid? They were collecting people Naruto cared about and he just left the one person that had been Naruto's only family completely unprotected in a large house in the middle of nowhere.
Tenmar's face drained of its color; he clenched his hands into tight fists. "Kakashi... I'll go back, you guys should continue on. Even if they have taken this chance to grab Iruka, they won't send someone powerful enough to stick out too much. They WILL have extremely powerful people guarding their den, though. You are... stronger than I am, I can take care of whatever bastard they might send after Iruka, you just worry about keeping everyone else safe."
Kakashi sighed, even though his heart was rebelling against it, his mind knew every word Tenmar said was true. "Fine, I'll leave his safety in your hands... for now."
Tenmar nodded, glancing quickly at each of his siblings and his father and Sasuke. "I'll join up with you once everything's taken care of here..." He glanced at Kakashi, "Don't let anything happen to them." Then he jumped, running on both his hands and feet quickly back to Sasuke's house, to Iruka.
Uzu quickly jumped down the tall wall, to the outside of the village and began sniffing deeply. "Shit, this little bastard's good... They landed somewhere else, it's gonna take me a second to..." He trailed off, deep in thought as he pressed his nose near the ground and started crawling away a bit.
Sasuke sighed as he jumped down with Naruto and Ganten, an annoyed tinge to his voice as he asked them, "Why aren't you guys doing anything?"
Naruto shook his head, shrugging. "I haven't used that part of my senses in a LONG time, I probably WOULD be better at it than Uzu as I'm less human, but..." He shrugged again and looked questioningly at Ganten.
The white haired boy's face had taken a dark look and he replied with a little hesitation, "Uzu... Is used to certain things like that, he disappears for days at a time sometimes and lives with the local foxes. Anyway..." He muttered something that neither Sasuke nor Naruto could hear.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, it had been something about Mina, he caught that, but WHAT his youngest son was trying to say was beyond him.
"I said, 'Mina's a lot more powerful than the rest of us anyways.' Even though she looks the most like Mother, she's inherited more of your power than the rest of us, Naruto-sama. Uzu and Tenmar have a lot of raw power, too. I'm a lot weaker than the others when it comes to raw power. That means, out of the four of us, Mina has the most fox blood, followed by Uzu and Tenmar. I've got the least." Ganten's face was slightly pink as he talked, wither from embarrassment or anger at having to reveal his weakness, Naruto was not sure.
"But..." Mina's hesitant voice added from behind them. Sasuke and Naruto both spun in surprise to see the girl standing right next to them, WHEN had she gotten there? "But... Ganten-niichan is a lot better at planning things than the rest of us, and he's better at using the power he has to its fullest. Our actions usually waste a lot of energy, so he's a lot more effective than we are." She offered her older brother a slight smile.
Naruto grinned, folding his hands behind his head. "Eh, you must have gotten that from your mother. I've never been very good about conserving my power, either."
"Daddy! Everyone! I found the trail!" Naruto, Sasuke, Ganten and Mina all jumped swiftly over to where Uzu was pointing.
After a sparing another glance in the direction of Sasuke's house Kakashi finally jumped down from the wall and joined the others. "Lead the way."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Running as fast as his legs would carry him, Tenmar arrived at Sasuke's house in record time. Throwing the door open he dashed in, "Iruka! Iruka?" Tenmar dashed from room to room, but they were all empty. "Iruka, if you're here answer me!" He screamed desperately, but only silence answered him. "No..." He sank heavily to the floor. "Not now, not after Kakashi entrusted him to me."
Jumping to his feet, Tenmar dashed outside. There had to be a trace of his scent, a trail, SOMETHING. He couldn't give up; this was Iruka, the man he loved. He would find a way to bring him back. He inhaled deeply, the scent of Iruka hung heavy in the air, and there WAS an anger to it... Was he really abducted? It didn't make sense; if he had been taken surely they would have erased his scent along with their own, right?
Tenmar shook his head; he would worry about that later. He would FIND Iruka first, he could asses the situation after that. Another thing... He turned, away from the direction Iruka's scent lead him, praying that what he was about to do would not turn out to be a mistake that cost Iruka his life.
Ten minutes later he was dashing away from Iruka and Kakashi's apartment, clutching in his hands two articles of clothing, one belonging to Iruka and the other Kakashi's. When Iruka's scent trail led him out side the village he knew he had not made a mistake in his detour. Without ceasing in his chase Tenmar performed a quick summoning seal. With a puff two large red fox appeared and jumped quickly to catch up with the man.
"Oi! What do you want, Blondie?" The nearest fox asked.
"Yeah, usually the idiot is the only one that calls us." The other added a sight irritable tone in its voice.
Tenmar ignored them, tossing Iruka's clothing at the first fox and Kakashi's to the second. Once the both fox seemed to have gotten a good feel for the scents he continued. "Aidan, I want you to find the one called Hokage and tell him that Sakura-chan and Iruka have been captured by Kentaar and that the village is unsafe, then follow this scent and catch up with me. Kasai, following this scent will lead you to Uzu. Once you find them explain the situation and assist him, got it?"
Both fox made an acknowledging grunt, faces serious. Kasai immediately dashed away already picking up the trail he needed to follow, but Aidan held back for a moment. "Kentaar... you're going after THAT monster..." It shook its head. "Tenmar, just watch yourself until I get there. Uzu'd have my hide if something happened to his big brother on my watch."
Tenmar shot the fox a glare, "Just get moving."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Everything... Everything was going perfectly; the pieces were all falling into place. The twelve-year wait had been worth every moment. No, it had been much longer than that. His wait had been since the day that siren had entranced him, but now it was all coming to an end.
Glancing at the sky, the man noticed that it was a full moon; it had been a full moon THAT night, too. There was something entrancing about it, something... A low growl escaped the man's lips. He could still taste that witch's blood, even after twelve years. He longed to taste it again, NEEDED to have it again and soon he would. Patience... Patience, only a few more hours until the moon reached its apex and then...
"Kentaar-sama?" A low voice reached the man's ears. He turned his head in slight annoyance.
"I said I was not to be interrupted until everything was ready, did I not Garou?" The growl the voice carried implied no small threat.
"Yes, sir, but-" Garou replied, fidgeting. It had SEEMED like a good idea at the time to tell his master that Rin had taken over watching the girl and had forced him out of the cave, but now, in front of his master... And it was a full moon, too. Master was always a little crazy when there was a full moon.
"BUT?" For a moment Kentaar's rage was thick in the air and Garou almost turned and fled out of instinct, but then the master calmed and was saying in a soft, almost sweet voice, "But what, Garou? Please, if it was important enough to break a direct order than it must be very important indeed."
The rage aura passed and Garou's instincts turned off, now it was only his mind that told him he should be afraid. Listening to his mind had never been easy for someone like Garou though, and so he found himself telling his master everything. "Rin took over watching the human, sir. I wouldn't have bothered you, but the way he was acting, sir, I was worried he would do something to... compromise your interests."
"Oh?" The master raised a slender eyebrow, voice still soft, "Really?" The master rose and started pacing, walking in a circle around Garou. "So what your saying is, you think Rin would do something to damage the girl's purity? Or perhaps you think he's planning on killing her?"
Quickly swallowing a lump that was rising in his throat, Garou nodded. His speaking abilities seemed to have temporarily left him.
"I see, well that is a very serious problem indeed. My most trusted servant turning against me for a human... Of course, that's not the story Keitai told me." Kentaar stood face to face with his terrified servant, raising his hand.
"Ungh!" Garou looked down in shock. Suddenly his master's hand was sticking through his chest and blood was pouring everywhere. "Ah..." He raised his hand to grasp at his master's arm for support, but as quickly as it had been inserted it was withdrawn. The force of the movement sent Garou tumbling forward. "Ma-master..." He coughed once and then there was only darkness.
Kentaar stepped over the body and walked to the mouth of the cave. "Keitai."
The darkness outside of the cave shifted slightly, a pair of yellow eyes slowly opened, "Yes, Kentaar-sama?"
"Send Inuko in to clean up her brother's remains." Kentaar moved thoughtfully forward. As the moon's rays hit his face a dark smile formed. "I think I'll take a short walk before our 'guests' arrive."
"As you wish, however..." There was a thoughtful pause, and then Keitai continued, "It seems that the Shaman has just arrived.
Kentaar growled in annoyance. "Never a moments rest... After you get Inuko take the Shaman to Rin. She'll know what to do with the human."
"Yes, sir." The darkness paused, "Sir, if I may, what do you want me to do if Inuko is... upset by her brother's death?"
For the first time all night Kentaar threw his head back and laughed. He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Allow her to join him."
"Yes sir, as you wish." The darkness bowed and then the yellow eyes disappeared.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Uzu slowed his pace again. The person that had captured Sakura was good at trying to loose trackers but that wasn't what was worrying him. There were two things that bothered him about this chase. The first was the pattern the abductor chose to loose trackers. It wasn't a normal pattern; in fact it was a very specific pattern that was commonly used by both himself and his siblings to confuse animals. As far as he knew it was ONLY used by himself and his siblings, but that wasn't possible. None of them would EVER give one of Daddy's friends to that bastard Kentaar!
He wanted to believe that, anyway, but... It was Mina that was bothering him. He knew Kentaar still visited her in her dreams. He was pretty sure he was the ONLY one that knew, too. She had begged him not to tell the others, she didn't want them to worry. He was beginning to wonder if he had made the best decision when he agreed to keep her secret. He KNEW she couldn't be willingly working for Kentaar. He knew what Kentaar most likely did to her at night, it wasn't pretty. She looked so much like Mother, so... Revenge for mother's 'sins.'
Uzu shook his head. He was not going to doubt his sister. He glanced sideways at her for the hundredth time. She was acting weird recently, though, wasn't she? And Ganten hadn't been lying when he said she was the most animalistic. If she were helping the tracking probably would have been a lot easier. So why wasn't she helping? He noticed his sister's terrified countenance. She was always that way because of Kentaar. But now they had Daddy. Soon it wasn't going to be possible for Kentaar to hurt them EVER again.
A noise behind him caused Uzu to stop his movements. "There's someone behind us..." He growled to the others, holding up his hands to motion to them to stop. "Just one, traveling very fast, though..."
Kakashi sighed; this was a distraction he was NOT happy about. They not only had to find Sakura-chan but Iruka was possibly in danger as well. "They're traveling a lot faster than we are, so we might as well wait for them to come to us. It'll give us the upper hand if it's an enemy."
Uzu shook his head, "It doesn't smell like an enemy it smells like... Kasai!"
A bright flash of red dashed from a tree, landing panting at Uzu's feet. "Long time no see, idiot."
"How did you get here? I didn't summon you!" Uzu grabbed the fox by the snout and started ruffling its hair the wrong way.
"You-your brother." The fox panted then it snapped its jaws at Uzu's offensive hand. "Stop that, bastard!"
"Hey, I was just givin' you some love, you old bastard!" Uzu grinned mischievously, patting the fur down the right way. This action still seemed to annoy the fox who again nipped at Uzu's hand.
Kakashi sighed, and then he spotted a flash of... Was that one of his shirts? "Oi, you two, stop playing." He turned his attention to the fox. Tapping it to get its attention he asked, "You said Tenmar sent you?"
Kasai nodded. "He has a message for this idiot. Let's see it was something like... Someone named Sakura-chan and some guy were captured by that bastard uncle of yours and the village is not safe so someone called the Hokage needed to know about that, and for some reason he thought you guys would want to know." The fox shifted its shoulders in an almost shrug type motion.
Suddenly Kasai found himself being lifted off the ground by the scruff of his neck. Growling he kicked his paws and struggled, but the grip held firm. "Tell me," Kakashi asked tone dangerous. "Was this 'some guy' named Iruka?"
"Let me down, pup!" Kasai growled, baring his teeth.
Kakashi tightened his grip. "Was the name Iruka?" He demanded, loosing control of his composure for a moment. If the damn creature didn't respond soon he was going to kill it.
"I think so!" The fox yelped out. Kakashi begrudgingly let it down. "Damn you, Uzu. You're hanging around a rough crowd, aren't you?"
Uzu's face had dropped its grin, he patted Kasai lightly, face serious. "That guy that got taken? Kakashi here's his lover. Anyway, these are Daddy's friends."
"You found Naruto-sama?" Kasai asked, jumping slightly in the air, obviously excited. "Where is he?"
"Ehh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head, stepping forward. "Good to see you again Kasai... How's Aidan?"
"You mean this RUNT is- YOU are Naruto-sama???"
Naruto nodded sheepishly.
Kakashi smacked Naruto lightly on the head. "You can get reacquainted later, for now can we please focus on the mission?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Psychic King: *smiling* So... Did you like my names so far? Just to warn you, I have a few more to name, like the Shaman (that's a girl) and the Shaman's assistant (male).
Sakura: *shaking head* you should list the people that suggested the names you choose, idiot.
Psychic King: *blushing and muttering* Well, at least she got over the whole Sasuke being in love with Naruto thing, but now she's a real bitch...
Sakura: What was that?
Psychic King: *shaking head* I didn't say anything! *bowing to readers, OK, I guess she's right, though. So I'll give credit where credit is due: *clearing throat* First off I REALLY wanted to use Kazae from Michiru, but I realized that I had WAY too many names that started with K, so I ended up changing it to Garou which means something like hungry wolf (or picture gallery) or something like that... (that was the character I killed this chapter anyway, so I don't feel so bad) The name Inuko came from Naruto'sTwinSister and I plan on using Sai for the Shaman (also provided by Naruto'sTwinSister) *gasp* Yeup, that's almost a spoiler... Gin (haven't introduced him yet) and Aidan are both from kit. Keitai is from someone that e-mailed me and they didn't leave me with a name to recognize them by, I'd feel mean putting their e-mail address down... (if you want credit for the name, just tell me who you are in a review or e-mail me with a name to recognize you by). Anyway, anyone that sent me a recommendation and I didn't use it, I'm REALLY sorry! I got a lot of great names that didn't seem to fit the strange villains...
Sakura: *growling* you're telling ME. That boy you have me with right now is SO EVIL. I don't care if he has smile lines or not, he's rude! And he's stupid.
Psychic King: *nodding* yeah. But he's cute...
Sakura: That's NOT the point!
Psychic King: *smiling* well, if it makes you feel better, soon enough the Shaman, Sai, will come for you and then... *grin* Ain't telling.
Sakura: *rolling eyes* It can't be good, you're never nice to me...
Psychic King: Tough love, my friend. Anyway, if I had Sasuke attracted to YOU that would mean that you'd HAVE to die. As it is, I think you're gonna live.
Sakura: What do you mean you THINK I'm gonna live?
Psychic King: Um... Anyway, next chapter will be up soon. I'm really enjoying writing these scenes, so I think the next chapter will be soon, but school work is starting to pile up, so it MAY take a little longer than usual. I don't think so, though. When I HAVE to do something, it becomes more appealing NOT to do it, you know? Anyway, Bye all!!!!! I'm gonna go get some water now! I've been cooped up in this room writing for the last three hours... And I ran out of water about 2 ½ hours ago... Ah, water.... *Rises unstably and waves* Have a good day/night/whatever! See you all next chapter!
Psychic King: *walking back, glass of water in hand* What are you all still doing here? Oh, yeah... I forgot to end the chapter... um... Oh! Feel free to e-mail me Psychic_King@hotmail.com with any problems and such!!!!! And, please review if you liked the chapter!!!!! Bye!!!!!!