Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

7 Days, Come What May

Chapter XVII: The Anger Within

Jiro just smirked at the guy.

"Ohayou, I take it you must be from the Aburame clan?"

Shino didn't answer. His sunglasses harshly reflected the morning sunlight. The swarm of flying insects around him seemed to have awakened. It charged directly for Jiro. Jiro sighed and shook his head. The purple-haired guy didn't even seem fazed at the cloud of insects flying at him.

"Aburame, unfortunately, I don't like insects much," Jiro reached into the pouch that was secured to his waist and brought out some green powder.

The Sound shinobi threw the mysterious powder at the swarm of insects that were flying at him. All of a sudden, the insects seemed to have slowed down. Slowly, the small creatures all dropped to the ground. Shino's emotions couldn't be read under his sunglasses.

"...Say bye bye to all your creepy crawlies, Aburame," Jiro grinned evilly. "…But don't worry, I won't kill you just yet. I'm dragging your ass to Orochimaru-sama!"

At the sound of Orochimaru's name, Shino flinched slightly.

"…Why did Orochimaru send you?" the bug guy asked darkly.

Jiro stuck out his tongue playfully. "I'm not gonna tell you!"

Suddenly, Jiro felt something itchy at his back. He reached his hand backwards to scratch it…only to find his hand full of bugs. Jiro despised bugs.

"A-Ahhhhhh!"

In seconds, his whole body was held still by Shino's insects.

"W-Why…H-How did you manage to…?" Jiro managed to choke out.

"Fool. The insects that were flying at you were a trick. The ones that are on you right now…I ordered them to sneak up on you by the ground. I'd left a female bug on you in order to leave a scent trail long before you knew it…" Shino's sunglasses flashed dangerously.

Then, Jiro got knocked out cold.

"Tcsh…cheap shinobi…" Shino dragged Jiro away.

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Jiro opened his eyes up to see twelve pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"He's awake!" Ten Ten cried.

"Yea…hey, Ten Ten, everyone, stay back I'm going to question him," Shikamaru pulled up a chair close to the bedside.

Jiro tried to get up but he couldn't budge. He found that both of his hands and legs were tied to the bedside. He'd also been stripped of all his poisoning weapons.

"…Yes, that's right, you can't get away. Now answer all our questions," Shikamaru informed the Sound nin sternly.

The purple-haired shinobi shot the Nara a sour faced look.

"No way! I'm not stupid, you know!" Jiro struggled against the bonds that tied him to his bed.

It was no use.

"Just tell us, dammit!" Chouji burst out, angry.

He'd been quite worried about Ino, his teammate. Shikamaru held Chouji back.

"Hey…calm down, Chouji. I'll deal with this," Shikamaru turned to give Jiro another stern look. "…Now, tell us who you are, why're you here, what Orochimaru wants from us, and where the hostages are kept."

Jiro stuck out his tongue.

"No!"

Shikamaru shook his head. "You asked for it, Sound shinobi. Gaara?"

The red-haired Sand shinobi lightly nodded his head and came forward. Jiro's eyes widened. He recognized the Chinese character on Gaara's forehead.

'Sabaku no Gaara…'

In the blink of an eye, sand surrounded the Sound nin's body. It squeezed tighter and tighter.

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jiro screamed in painful terror.

Sasuke smirked at the sound. 'As I thought…cheap shinobi…'

Shikamaru still stood at the bedside.

"Now, will you tell us where Temari is?..." Strange looks came the Nara's way. The Nara reddened. "…Oh, and Ino and Naruto?"

Jiro couldn't even answer. Gaara's sand was too horrible.

"S-S-STOP! PLEASE!"

"Hey, brother. Stop your sand for a while. We need to hear him speak," Kankurou said.

Immediately, the sand dropped.

"Tell us," Shikamaru was getting impatient. "…Now."

Jiro took a few moments to catch his breath.

"…I-I…" the Sound nin started. "…don't know what you're talking about! I didn't kidnap anyone! I don't know what the fuck is Orochimaru!"

No one was fooled. Now, the Nara was loosing his temper…which he rarely did. A Shadow jutsu crept its way up Jiro's neck and squeezed it.

"…Tell me now where the hostages are…" Everyone was equally surprised at how the Nara could sound this determined.

"Yea! Where are they!" Sakura was equally enraged.

She had been quite worried about her best friends when she had just heard this morning that Temari had also been kidnapped the night before. Sakura knew that Temari was strong. If Temari could be taken, anyone else in their group could be taken!

"No!"

"I don't think talking is going to work…" Neji commented and looked at Gaara.

Gaara knew his job. It's been a long time since his sand made people scream in pain and fear. He didn't enjoy it anymore. But now, he didn't mind, since the guy he was tormenting was an enemy. He activated his sand again…but then, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. The redhead turned to find none other than Hinata, the Hyuuga heir.

"…Excuse me, Gaara...Please let me handle this…" she said quietly.

Neji was surprised. It was…weird for Hinata not to stammer. Hinata pushed apart all the people crowding around the bedside. She walked up to Jiro, who looked confused.

"Will you please kindly tell us where the hostages are?"

"NO!"

Jiro had made a huge mistake. A dangerous aura arose from Hinata. Her Byakugan activated out of anger.

"Tell me where the hostages are. Now."

Hinata rose up her right hand and slapped Jiro on his face, so hard that a red mark immediately appeared. Everyone in the room froze. Who the hell knew that the Hyuuga heir could be this scary.

"Will you please tell me now?" Hinata asked again.

"NO!"

Slap. Slap. Slap.

"Tell me?"

Jiro was starting to waver. "N-No!"

Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap.

A bit of blood was starting to form on the Sound nin's cheeks. No one else in the room, not even Neji, had the nerve to stop Hinata now. Jiro looked like he was about to cry.

"Miss! P-Please stop!"

Jiro's pleading did not seem to soften Hinata one bit.

"Will you tell me?"

Jiro did not answer. He just shook his head. Hinata climbed up onto the bed and stood over the guy. She looked mercilessly down at the Sound nin.

"I apologize," Hinata stated before bending down to give a series of punches down onto the Sound nin's stomach.

The purple-haired shinobi coughed up blood. Neji's eyes widened.

'If my cousin doesn't stop soon, he's really going to die…' the Hyuuga male thought.

Eventually, Hinata stopped.

"Will you tell me now?" Hinata offered Jiro the chance to answer again.

"NO!"

As the Hyuuga heir was about to give Jiro another series of punches, the Sound nin yelled out.

"F-FINE! STOP! MISS! STOP, PLEASE! I'LL TELL YOU!" Jiro shouted out.

Hinata did not budge from her position.

"Is what you are going to tell me going to be the truth?" she asked.

"Y-YES! OF COURSE, MISS!" Jiro shouted out.

'Who would dare to lie to this dangerous woman!'

Hinata nodded and jumped down from the bed. Her calm, sweet expression was back. She smiled at Jiro.

"Please explain," she said sweetly, a deadly poison hidden behind the words.

"I…the hostages…I only know where one of them is…the one called Ino…that's because my sister Emiko caught the other two hostages. I don't know where she put them. I hadn't had further contact with her since the day we arrived here…" the Sound nin explained in a wary voice.

"I-Ino! I-Is she…safe?" Sakura spoke up, a look of desperation in her eyes.

"Yea, she's safe. She's in my room right now…"

Sakura breathed out a sigh of relief.

"What does Orochimaru want?" Sasuke suddenly questioned.

"…I don't know his entire plan…but me and my sister…I think it's along the lines of…Orochimaru wants another perfect body…so he needs fifteen bodies of talented shinobis…which you guys have the perfect number here….and he wants to capture all of you, merge your bodies with a new forbidden scroll he found…and well…POOF! New body!...Well, you guys get the picture, right?" Jiro let out a hopeless sigh.

"…Bastard," Sasuke commented.

Jiro looked up.

"You mean I'm the bastard or Orochimaru is?"

"…Both, idiots," the Uchiha replied.
"Jiro! Where's Ino right now? Please lead me to her!" Sakura said.

The Sound nin was about to decline when he spotted Hinata staring dangerously at him from the corner of his eye. He immediately decided to do as Sakura asked.

"Fine, okay…will ya just untie me first!"

Kiba came up. "I'll handle this."

In moments, Kiba had the Sound nin untied except for the hands. Kiba prodded Jiro to go in front and lead to where Ino was. Everyone followed. Eventually, the purple-haired shinobi stopped in from of room number 009. Kiba got the keys out of Jiro's pocket and unlocked the door, to find Ino sleeping on the king-sized bed. Sakura ran to shake up her best friend awake.

"Ino! Ino! Wake up! Are you alright? I've come to rescue you!" the pink-haired girl cried.

Ino groggily opened her eyes.

"E-Eh? Sakura? How'd you get here?"

Sakura didn't answer; she just pulled her blonde friend into a tight hug.

"Ino! I'm so relieved that you're safe! Jiro didn't do anything to you, right?"

"Well…no…except for making me unconscious and kidnapping me, he didn't really do anything bad. He treated me very well, as a hostage…" Ino smiled at her pink-haired friend and hugged back. "…But I'm still glad you found me!"

After that, the two friends walked up to the others, who had already come in the room. Sakura made her way up to Jiro. Unknown to her, Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Um…Jiro..I just wanted to thank you that you treated Ino so well! Thanks for not killing her or anything!" Sakura smiled at the purple-haired nin.

In spite of being a prisoner now, Jiro flirtatiously smiled back.

"Anytime, Sakura-chan…" he leaned closer, even though he was tied up behind his back. "…Do you still find me hot?"

Sakura blushed a deep shade of pink. Everyone looked at her, confused. They obviously didn't know about her previous plan to try and seduct Jiro and catch him earlier. Sasuke's eyes were only slits now.

"…Ooooh….Sakura-chan! Hahahaha, you naughty girl! You were two-timing between Sasuke and Jiro?" Ino gave Sakura a melodramatic shocked look.

"N-No, Ino! It's not like that!" Sakura tried to explain.

"Aww….it's not like that? How could you be soo cruel, Sakura-chan? Didn't you tell me earlier that you found me irresistible?" Jiro cut in at the perfect cue.

A flash of blue flew past Sakura's eyes. In moments, Jiro lay crumpled on the floor. Sakura looked at the Sound nin in shock and looked up into Sasuke's face.

"…You…didn't have to do that, you know."

"….Let's just say I did," he looked at her emotionlessly.

Ino just looked in between the two and laughed.

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Joyce: Hey guys, again, I LUFF YOU AND UR REVIEWS! Really. Lol. Yea…and again…sorry for long delay! This time's excuses: 1. Been forced by sister to read Inuyasha. I'd say it's an okay-okay story…not too good, not too bad. But I this guy called Sesshoumaru. 2. Been watchin the Inuyasha movies… :D… 3. Been busy drawing…busy with my account..:) …oh, yea. I drew this cover page for my fic…not that good but if you'd like to see it soon I'll post it up somewhere…lol :D 4. WRITER'S BLOCK! Yes, I have a writer's block. Well, every writer has that thing some time or the other, right? So, SUGGESTIONS WELCOME! Really. And, even if you suggest and I don't use your ideas, your suggestions will give me ideas anyway….like, as an inspiration….hmm..that came out weird. I wonder if any of you understand what I'm saying. Okay…yea. So you better review:)