Chapter Fourteen

Gaara pulled Sakura outside onto the street, completely ignoring any grunts or pulls of protest on her part. She was being dragged along like a doll, and it was only when he stopped right outside the restaurant that she stopped as well. Gaara's gaze was completely focused, and when she followed it she found Shikamaru and Chouji at the end. She smiled, though her insides her melting. 'They're still here!'

But Gaara had to ruin that. His disturbing, emotionless eyes pierced right through both boys, sending shivers down their spine. "Both of you should go . . . I'm looking for blood."

Sakura stopped her resisting, but her body continued to shake nervously as her eyes, scattershot, went from Gaara to Chouji to Shikamaru. Her friends also seemed to understand the threat as something real; they all just knew he wouldn't care who tried to stop him.

At last the tense, silent moment seemed to pass and Shikamaru stood straight, his eyes much calmer than before. He shrugged, yawning a little as if it were no big deal. Something about him had changed. Sakura was curious. "Go ahead, then . . . take her to wherever. We won't stop you."

'What!' Sakura thought, both her anger and fear rising. She had trusted them . . . both of them! And she was really planning on depending on their help! She looked do Chouji instead, hoping his answer would be better. He also seemed surprised by his friends' response, but he also nodded a second later. 'What am I missing here?'

Before she could even shout an answer to them or giving any sort of response Gaara tugged at her arm and turned, pulling her away from the two people she thought she could trust. For a moment she almost felt like letting Gaara take her, just to get away from the both of them. Neither side was really helping her, but unfortunately for now, she didn't have much of a choice. She frowned and looked down to the ground, a heavy weight encasing her. 'I really thought we had become friends . . .'

Once both Sakura and Gaara were out of their view, Shikamaru heaved a sigh and relaxed, stuffing his hands in his pockets once again and letting his shoulders slouch. He had no need to look strong anymore; not that he was trying too. He looked over to Chouji, who seemed suspicious.

"It couldn't be helped," Shikamaru explained bluntly. "There was no way we could beat him in a fight, even together. It's smarter to let her go for now. If Gaara is dragging her instead of hurting her, it means he wants her for something, so he's not going to do any damage as long as we're quiet about things."

"Okay," Chouji agreed. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out some gum, offering to give a piece to his friend until he refused. When he started chewing, he waited for Shikamaru to come up with a plan of rescue, which he knew was on his mind.

Finally, he spoke. "Chouji, do you have my cell phone still?"

The heavier of the two nodded. "Yeah . . . do we need to call someone or something?"

"Yeah. Call Ino. She might be able to help us on this."

As Chouji took out the phone and listened to the mastermind of their new, barely formulated plan, someone saw the entire escapade from inside the restaurant. His body sat comfortably in a booth alone, his small fingers gracing over a glass of ice water, the only item other than the menu itself on the table. He saw Gaara take Sakura away, and while he hadn't done anything, he had a feeling there was something to be done.

"Haruno Sakura, huh?"

Unlike the neighborhood Naruto and Sakura lived in, or even like the semi-delicate string of stores and restaurants nearby, Ino had walked into a rather wealthy portion of Konoha. She actually didn't live there; someone else of great value to her was the sole heir to one of the largest mansions, the one she was standing right before. 'Sasuke . . .'

This one was tall and completely white, the sun shining down on it so much the renewed paint literally glowed with rich appeal. The Greek Revival row of columns for the tall double doors Ino walked towards reached as high as the third floor, their intricate flowery carvings showing off immaculate beauty. With a wide smile on her face she stepped before the great doors and pressed a button to the side, an almost ringing-like tone echoing through the home.

As soon as Sasuke's irritated, grumbled face opened the door to peek out Ino hopped inside and pulled him into a big hug, squeezing his body so tight he could barely breathe. When she let go she squealed, pinching and stretching both of his cheeks. "Oh, Sasuke! How are you right now? It's been forever since I last came over here!"

Before he could answer to anything she was saying to looked around the house, staring up at the tall, white ceiling and the spacious entrance. To the left was a mostly empty room, with the exception of a wide screen television and a beige couch, while to the right there was a row of bookshelves, all looking spotless as if they had been dusted only yesterday. She giggled.

"Looks like someone has been cleaning around here," she said, only holding his hand now. Her fingers lightly intertwined with his, mostly at her rule rather than his. "Usually it's so messy . . . hey, you even got that stain off the carpet from when you spilled your Coke!"

"Ino," he muttered, as if he were used to this sort of this behavior and utterly annoyed by it. She decided to ignore him, dragging him into the hallway between the two rooms which led to a wide, open kitchen and a dinner table all in the same, spacious place.

When she let go of his hand Sasuke opted to go sit at the table while Ino went ahead and dived into the cabinets of the kitchen, humming a sweet melody as she pulled out the necessary pots and pans for what she was planning. As she reached into the refrigerator she paused, then she looked back at Sasuke. "Hey, what would you like to eat anyway?"

"Nothing," he replied, but she ended up taking out some milk and eggs anyway. As she laid both objects down onto the counter she spotted a small but elaborate carnation of flowers and began fiddling with it, waiting for a more appropriate answer. "Come on, Ino. I'm really not in the mood for it."

Ino stopped playing with the flowers, looking over to observe Sasuke's face more readily. As she did, she frowned, disappointed in herself. 'He really does seem down today . . . I mean, most people think he's always annoyed, but today there's something different.'

Sasuke hadn't been paying much attention to anything until he heard a few footsteps and the sliding of the chair next to him, where a more serious, sympathetic Ino sat down. She let her hands rest in her lap, her eyes completely focused on him. "What's wrong?"

For just a moment Sasuke averted his eyes. He didn't want to talk about his problems right now, not with anyone. Things were just sort of weird, hard to take in. But as he tried to gather his thoughts in his mind an instinct to let them out began.

"Well . . ." he started slowly, still keeping his center of attention elsewhere. "It's just that . . . ever since I met Sakura, things have really changed. She's different from other girls."

At these words Ino felt a twinge of jealousy and shock run through her and she bit her lip, trying her best not to physically show it. Sasuke was continuing to speak, mentioning something about Naruto and Sakura as well but now she wasn't paying so much attention. She started to recall her conversation with Sakura the night before, and how the girl had slyly evaded using both boys' names.

'I can't believe this,' she thought, biting down even harder on her bottom lip to hold in the growing antagonism. 'I was fine with Sasuke and Sakura being friends . . . I really was! But now he's all . . . and she . . . she's playing Miss Innocent! That's not fair!'

Not being able to take it anymore and knowing she had to do something to get rid of this livid energy, she stood so fast out of her chair that it startled Sasuke and went back behind the counter of the kitchen. She wasn't even sure what she was going to cook, but she was going to make and Sasuke was going to eat it. 'No thinking of her like that! This is about me and him!'

But before she could even start her cell phone has rung and she picked it up from her belt and flipped it open, trying her best to sound cheery through the line as she spoke. A frantic voice appeared on the other line, loud and hysterical.

"Ino, Ino!" she recognized the voice immediately as her friend Chouji. "We've got a huge problem, and we really need your help with it or else it won't work, and-"

"Whoa, whoa!" She said, worry on her expression and she physically moved her hands with her words. "Hold on. Calm down Chouji. What's wrong?"

"It-It's Sakura." Somewhere the worry was completely gone, replaced by that same echelon of jealousy she had just discovered moments before. But still, she listened. She was curious to know what kind of trouble she had actually gotten herself in. "Right now, Gaara has her. You know where Sasuke lives, right? Go get him, and tell him to call some friends or something! We need to go get her, or else we don't even know what could happen."

Ino paused for a moment, weighing out her options mentally. She could try and help Sakura out, figure out what was going on and why she hadn't told her the truth in the first place. Either that, or she could just blow the whole idea off. She smirked, her voice strong and conceited. "Sure. I'll help you out."

Before Chouji could even reply for a thank you she hung up her cell phone and rested it on her hip again, ready to go back to making whatever food she wanted. Sasuke, who was laying his head in his arms on the table as if resting, picked it up momentarily, a little curiosity wondering in his eyes. "Who was that?"

"Just Chouji," she said calmly, as if nothing was going on. "He was acting like the sky was falling, but it was no big deal; he's worried about a math test tommorow and wants me to help him study."

"Oh." And he put his head back down, not in the least questioning her words.

Even though Sakura was tired and her arm was starting to feel sore right at the socket from being dragged so much by Gaara, she was actually looking around more at the neighborhood. This place that he seemed to be taking her to wasn't a scary underground club for gang members nor was it a round of homes that looked trashier than her own; they were ordinary, middle-class homes that possessed a sort of Pleasantville charm to them. Somehow, this made her feel a little relieved.

"I-Is this where you live?" she asked Gaara as they stepped before a particular home, one that looked just like the others; plain and rather ordinary. He ignored her, but he continued to walk up the driveway of the house and kicked the door so hard it opened, slamming into the wall and startling two occupants inside. Sakura recognized them both immediately as the two with Gaara at the library, the rather bulky boy on the computer in the room to the left and the girl sitting in a chair beside him.

The girl, whom Sakura vaguely remembered as Temari, was the first to speak. Her voice sounded more shocked then anything as her eyes wandered from Gaara to his captive. "Gaara! What are you doing with that girl! You shouldn't be-"

A cold glare from him immediately shut her mouth and she looked back at the computer screen, glancing back a little bit as if she wanted to say more but couldn't. Kankuro hadn't even tried to reason. Sakura frowned as she felt herself being jerked up a flight of stairs in front of them, the first notable thing at the entrance of the home.

'Before I thought they were friends,' Sakura thought as she made sure not to trip, though it was a challenge since she was being pulled so quickly. 'I guess they're all family. But where's their mom and dad . . .? And why do those other two seem so scared? They looked older than Gaara . . .'

As they came across a long hallway, the stairs itself leading the center of it, there were five doors; two opposite of each other on the left, two opposite of each other on the right, and one right before the two, which seemed to be the door Gaara was reaching for. The young girl only glanced temporarily at the picture frames on the wall before shutting her eyes, a frightening visual coming to mind as she heard the handle being turned.

'I'm scared,' she suddenly thought, her eyes finally tearing as she was coming to the climax of the kidnapping. Before she felt scared, especially since it was Gaara, but she was outside in the open. Surely someone would have saved her then, but it didn't happen. 'I'm about to go into this guys' room, and . . . and . . . who knows what'll happen! I don't care who it is anymore; Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba . . . someone help me!'

X x x x x

Wow, I haven't updated this in over a month! Believe it or not, I have chapters upon chapters of notes for this story, so I'm definitely not quitting. XD I just need to write them down in story form and sort of confirm them. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter!

Relationships are finally starting to shift; especially the one between Ino and Sakura. T.T Ino's being evil! Just a jealous girl. And who do you guys think the msyterious guy/girl at the café-thingy is? Guess, guess! They play and important role pretty soon. :D

And also, we've reached over 100 reviews! –Parties- Thank you all so much for your dedication! It's really been a lot of fun! And I don't plan on ending this story anytime soon, that's for sure!

Diamond Skye- Yes:D Lee is totally cool. I adore Shikamaru, and I've always liked Chouji. Believe it or not, the first thing of Naruto I ever saw was I randomly started reading downloads off the internet, and the first chapter I read was the middle of Chouji's fight when the team was trying to get Sasuke. XD That's why I've always liked Chouji:D

Joann- Ack! This definitely was not soon. XD But I still hope it's okay!

Random Reviewer- Thanks so much:D Wow, I've never heard of that pairing . . . this story will definitely end with either Sasuke x Sakura or Naruto x Sakura, but that sounds like a fun pairings too! I'm a big Temari x Shikamaru fan though. XD

Miru-chan- Thank you:D Yes, I totally agree with you about Sasuke x Sakura; I love that pairing in the anime! Are you reading the latest chapters?

zornoid13- Of course I'll continue! –Celebrates- Yeay for twists! XD

twigy- Thank you so much! No worries, I won't be quitting anytime soon. This is the only Highschool story I've ever really written, and so far it's a lot of fun:D

DoCToR MeOwZiE- Yeay for Edge-of-the-seat-ness! XD Thank you so much; this is a little later than 'soon', but I hope it's still alright!

bubbles05- Yes, he is:D I need to put him back in this- he hasn't really been here much in the past couple of chapters!

Hyzenthlay-shine dew fur- Oh, heyo:D Gaara is playing a big role for now.

Crisis Haylo- Yes! Action-stuffs soon:D This is a part where lots of characters are going to get crazy-involved, 'cause it's fun! And I love those fuzzy moments when someone is in trouble and poof! All of the rescuers come and everything is good and cool. Know what I mean? XD

Lady Misao- Thank you so much:D I'm trying my best, so I'm glad you enjoy it!

myhelplessheart- Yes! XD Shikamaru used to be my favorite character . . . he's so sexay and smart and hawt and sexay and amazing and sexay and . . . lol:D I'm trying to make it a difficult decision, or not to obvious on who Sakura's going to be with. Am I doing a good job of that? XD

krn-kimbap- It's 'cause he's Gaara:D Don't worry, he has underlying special-stuffs that'll come into play. He wont be evil forever!

Vanillagal- Yup:D Guys like Naruto are so adorable, so I'm glad everyone likes him! The character I would want to be with most has yet to show up here though . . . he's gonna come in though! He has to since he's my fave! XD