Chapter 07

"Anyway, Isaaru-chan..." The kunoichi tucked the little boy under the covers. "You really should go to sleep now." She told the boy because she really wanted to go downstairs and have a talk with Isaaru's perverted brother.

Henta lied to them! Not to mention, she was starting to have a really bad feeling about this. She kept wondering about Isaaru's story about his missing sister and the fact that she was somehow involved in whatever the boy was talking about.

The little child said that she was needed in order to get his sister back. What exactly happened to his sister? And who were the bad men who took his sister away? There were too many questions that were left unanswered. And it would remain like that unless she and her teammates confront their mysterious charge about it.

Her thoughts drifted back to her teammates who were probably waiting for her downstairs. Sasuke's warning suddenly invaded her mind. "Don't let your guard down."

Sakura looked down at Isaaru who was playing with his blanket. When he noticed her stare, he looked up at her and plastered a smile on his cute little face.

Isaaru may be a little bit perverted just like his brother, but he's far too young and adorable to lie to her like that!

"Umm... can Pretty Lady kiss Isaaru good night?" Isaaru asked with a slight blush on his cheeks. "Big Sister used to kiss Isaaru good night. Isaaru can't sleep without kiss!" He fiddled with his fingers in a shy gesture that Sakura found so incredibly cute.

"Sure, Isaaru-chan!" Sakura was more than happy to do what he just asked. She leaned in and lovingly kissed him on his forehead. She was about to pull away from him when she felt something poking her chest.

Hard.

She looked down and her jaw almost dropped down to the floor.

"Isaaru is wrong. Pretty Lady's boobies not so small. Look! They wiggle!" He exclaimed excitedly as he continued poking her already abused breasts. "Big brother says that wiggling boobies are good! Pretty Lady's boobies are good then!" Sakura resisted the urge to grab the little kid by the neck and slam his head against the wall. Or better yet, she could just march downstairs and crush his big brother's head with her bare hands!

Isaaru-chan's only a kid, he's only a kid... Sakura muttered inwardly over and over again as she tried to calm herself down. A really perverted little kid... She heaved a very deep sigh before she grabbed his tiny hand and gently pulled it away from her chest. "Please... Isaaru-chan..." She tried to keep the anger in her voice. "Go to sleep."

Much to Sakura's relief, Isaaru nodded to her and snuggled against his pillow. He was fast asleep in a matter of seconds.

Sakura rubbed her temple to stop an upcoming headache. Henta's gonna pay dearly for manipulating this child's innocent mind! And she's gonna make sure of that!

"Do I get a goodnight kiss later, too?"

Her thoughts were disturbed when the door suddenly creaked open and an irritatingly familiar husky voice sounded from the other side of the doorway. With an icy glare, Sakura turned to the source of the voice. "Hello, Sakura-chan! Thanks again for putting Isaaru to sleep!" Henta stepped inside the room with a boyish grin on his face.

Sakura's answer was to glare at him even more.

Henta didn't seem to be affected by her glares and smiled devilishly at her. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Sakura scowled at him before she moved to stand up. "Henta-san." Her tone was hard and overly commanding. "I need to speak to you right now."

Henta feigned a look of shock in his face. "You want to speak to me? You mean in private?" He winked at her as if he was suggesting something more. "Are you sure, Sakura-chan?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I mean... I did promise Naruto-san that I won't touch you and all..."

Sakura bit her lip in annoyance. She resisted the urge to yell at him right now in fear of waking his little brother. So, without further ado, she advanced towards Henta and dragged him outside his little brother's room.

Seconds later, a mighty slap echoed across the hall.

"That's for putting perverted stuff inside your little brother's head , you sick lecher...!" She slapped him again, this time, on the other side of his cheek. "And that's for being such a really big PERVERT!" With a huff, Sakura climbed downstairs without another glance at the stunned Henta.

"Wh-What..?" Henta murmured after he recovered from the shock and the pain from the kunoichi's slaps. "What did I do, Sakura-chan?" He followed her from behind.

Sakura ignored him and proceeded downstairs. She frowned when she didn't see a trace of Naruto or Sasuke anywhere. "Naruto? Sasuke-kun?" She called, but neither of the boys answered her.

"Sakura-chan..."

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura tried again as she searched for the two missing boys all around the house. She deliberately ignored Henta who kept on following her wherever she went. "Where are you guys?"

"Sakura-chan, Naruto-san and Sasuke-san aren't here."

"What do you mean they're not here?" Sakura's patience was wearing thin. She forced herself to look at Henta straight in the eye. To her surprise, he suddenly had a serious look on his face. "Where are they?" Sakura ignored his strange expression and angrily demanded the whereabouts of her teammates. "And you'd better not lie to me or else!"

Henta looked extremely surprised at her words. She wasn't sure if the look of shock on his face was genuine or not. "Lie to you? Why would I lie to you, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "I heard something about your sister from Isaaru-chan..." She trailed off and expected some kind of reaction from him. She was slightly surprised that there were none. "Tell me the truth, Henta-san. What's going on here? And what do I have to do with your sister?"

Henta raised an eyebrow at her. There was a long moment of silence before he shook his head and sighed. "Darn...!" He slapped his hand against his forehead. "Little brothers really ARE such a pain in the ass..."

"So it's true!" Sakura pointed an accusing finger at Henta. "Explain yourself or else I'll beat you up real good!"

But instead of stuttering explanations to her, Henta just stared at her blankly. Sakura wondered what he could possibly be thinking in that perverted head of his. Seconds eventually turned into minutes. The kunoichi placed her hands on her hips as she glared at the still staring Henta. "Well?" She was getting impatient. Why in the world was he staring at her like that anyway?

Sakura nearly jumped ten foot in the air when the front door suddenly burst open with a loud bang. Three tough-looking men entered the house and Sakura couldn't help but cringe at the sight of them. The three men looked really hideous! Her heart pounded in her ears when their eyes locked with hers as if they wanted to tear her body from limb to limb!

"Wh-What do you want?" She forced herself to sound brave, but cursed herself when she failed miserably. She grabbed a kunai inside her pack and positioned herself into a fighting stance. She wasn't sure if she could take on three huge beasts by herself, but she swore inwardly that they won't be able to take her or Henta without a fight!

"Sakura-chan..." She heard her charge whisper her name from behind.

"Stay back, Henta-san..." Sakura commanded sternly. "Call Sasuke-kun and Naruto. I'll try to buy you some time." She glared at the thugs who were still standing near the front door. When she didn't sense Henta moving behind her, she turned her head towards him and scowled. "Henta-san! What are you...?"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence because something hard and painful hit her on the back of her head. She gasped when extreme pain surged through her head like wild fire. Black dots appeared on her vision as her knees buckled and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. Before she completely lost all consciousness, Henta's words haunted her mind.

"I'm really sorry, Sakura-chan..."

"Damn you! Why did you have to hurt her like that? I told you I'll bring her to him!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped open at the loud shout that came from outside the room. His mind was still in a daze, probably a side effect from the sleeping potion that the lecher had used on both him and Naruto. He couldn't tell where he was in right now because it was so damn dark. The only source of light inside this cramped little room was the small window at the highest corner of the wall. And considering it was night already, the light that shone through the window wasn't enough to lit the whole place up.

"Shut up, kid. Just leave her to us."

With a muffled groan, Sasuke tried to move his arms and legs in order to stand up, but much to his annoyance, he found out that he couldn't move either of them. It was then that he realized that his arm and legs were both bounded by two thick ropes.

"Don't touch her! I'll carry Sakura-chan and take her to him myself!"

Sasuke immediately tensed up as soon as he heard someone mention his female teammate's name. Obviously, Sakura was in some sort of trouble. And he knew that the damn lecher was behind all this! His first instinct was to get the hell out of here and rescue his teammate, but how could he do that if his arms and legs were tightly bounded? And also for that reason, it was hard for him to reach for a kunai inside his bag. "Shit..." He cursed inwardly as he unconsciously leaned back. He cursed even more when his head accidentally bumped against something hard.

What the hell...?

Suddenly, Sasuke heard loud footsteps outside the room, followed by a loud slam of a door. After that, all was silent again. Sasuke strained his ears to hear something more, but unfortunately, all he heard was that annoying sound of a dripping faucet.

...a dripping faucet?

He hissed in pain when something suddenly kicked him hard against his side. Before he could stop himself, his legs moved by themselves and his feet landed hard against whoever or whatever that kicked him. The action earned him a loud "Ouch!" from someone whom he instanly recognized as Naruto.

"Damn it, Sasuke! Why did you do that for? That hurt!" Sasuke heard Naruto grumble loudly in the dark. He couldn't see where he was, but he assumed that he was positioned just a few meters away from him. "Eh? Where in the hell are we?"

"Your pack. Is it still there?"

"Huh?"

He sighed. "Your pack, Naruto."

There were a few rustles. "My pack? It's still here, but I can't reach it." Naruto grumbled defeatedly. "Ow!" The fox boy cried out in surprise when he felt Sasuke leaning his back against his shoulder. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Shut up, dobe. I'm trying to get a kunai from your bag because I can't reach mine!" Sasuke muttered in annoyance. Sweat trailed down Sasuke's brow as he blindly reached for a kunai inside Naruto's pack. Fortunately, after a few seconds later, he successfully managed to get a hold of a kunai with his fingers. Skillfully, he turned the edge of the small blade between his hands and worked on cutting the thick rope that held both his arms.

"Ne, Sasuke.."

"What?" Sasuke snapped at his teammate. He concentrated on the job on getting his hands free from the rope. Only a few more...

"I smell something... weird."

Sasuke was on the edge of cutting the rope into two. "Then don't breathe." He muttered grimly.

Naruto ignored his reply and continued speaking. "Did you fart or something?"

Sasuke glared at his teammate even if he knew very well that Naruto wouldn't be able to see his glare because of the darkness. Damn it! This isn't the time for any of his stupid jokes!

Naruto seemed to sense his glare because he immediately defended himself. "I'm serious, Sasuke-bastard! It's really smelly in here! Just where in the hell are we anyway?"

Sasuke had to admit that it was rather smelly in here... but it didn't really matter to him right now. He had to get them out of here first!

Finally, Sasuke managed to get his arms free. Next, he bent down and cut the rope around his legs and feet. He immediately stood up and started searching for a switch. Soon enough, he eventually found one and he clicked the lights on.

"Gah!" Naruto cried out in disgust as soon as he realized where the foul smell was coming from. He was leaning against a toilet bowl! "No wonder it smells like shit! Damn that pervert! He just had to hide us inside a bathroom, of all places!"

"Quit your whining." Sasuke muttered as he grabbed Naruto's arm and cut the rope around his hands with a single slash. Sasuke kicked the door open while he waited for Naruto to get rid of the rope around his legs.

"I'm gonna kick his sorry ass once I get my hands on that damn pervert!" Naruto growled as he and Sasuke ran out of the bathroom. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned to run upstairs to meet with his pink-haired teammate, but Sasuke's words stopped him in his tracks.

"She's not there. They've already taken her." Sasuke told him flatly.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed out loud. "That damn pervert..." He marched outside the house and found no trace of their missing teammate. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto desperately called out her name. "Where are you?"

"Stop screaming, Naruto." Sasuke frowned at him as he stepped beside the worried fox boy.

Naruto glared at the calm-looking Uchiha. From the way Sasuke was acting, it was as if this kind of thing happens everyday! Naruto wanted to yell at Sasuke for acting so much like a jerk. Here he was, extremely worried sick about his Sakura-chan while this insensitive bastard acted as if he didn't have a care in the world! Naruto was about to give him a piece of his mind when he stopped short as soon as he noticed Sasuke's change of expression.

Sasuke was glaring at a particular spot somewhere near Henta's front yard. Naruto followed Sasuke's gaze and was surprised when three huge figures stepped out from the shadows. The three men leered down at them with menacing looks on their faces.

Sasuke was the one who broke the silence. "Where's Sakura?"

To be continued…