Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
7 Days, Come What May
Chapter XVIII: I See Butterflies
WOOF, WOOF!
Kiba and the others ran after Akamaru. With his fast pace, Lee soon caught up with the brown-furred dog.
"Akamaru, have you found something?" The green beast of Konoha asked.
WOOF!
Kiba came up behind them and crouched down next to Akamaru.
"My dog says this is where the scent leads," Kiba looked up at Lee.
"Hmm…." Lee furrowed his fuzzy brows. "...Well then, let's go into there now!"
"Y-yes…let's go, please," Hinata walked pass all of them, holding Naruto's dog, Ramen, in her arms.
"Hinata…why don't we stop," Shikamaru spoke up from behind.
Hinata halted without turning around.
"…It's a bad idea to go into that forest during the night," the Nara explained. "…I understand how you feel. I want to go and rescue them too."
Shikamaru still felt that Temari's capture had been his fault.
"O-Okay…" Hinata replied in a hoarse whisper and walked back to the gang.
Neji patted her gently on the back.
"We'll continue our search into the forest tomorrow morning, cousin," the Hyuuga male said, somewhat reassuringly.
Hinata nodded with a strained smile on her face.
'If I meet him again…there will be no hesitation…I'll tell Naruto…' she thought, walking away from the others to go back to her room.
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However, Emiko had a different idea in her mind. Plans could not wait till morning. After all, she was an enemy. Previously, the Sound nin had sneaked back up to her brother's room to check up on him. Finding the blonde hostage gone, Emiko now knew that her brother had been captured.
'All the more reason to catch those stupid shinobis!' Emiko thought, cracking her knuckles.
The blue-haired nin leaned back onto the tree trunk clutching a piece of paper in her hand. On the piece of paper were the names of the fifteen shinobis that she was supposed to kidnap. The names Naruto, Temari, and Ino were currently crossed out. Emiko erased the line that crossed out Ino's name, since Ino had been rescued back. Emiko's blue eyes roamed through the remaining list of names.
'Hmm…so who should my next victim be?' she ran her finger down the list. 'Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo…'
Her fingers stopped on Gaara's name. Her facial color drained. Sabaku no Gaara's name was famous throughout the land. Emiko knew that she did not want to face the redhead, even if it were Orochimaru's orders to do so. She had always planned to go back to Orochimaru with fourteen bodies, not fifteen, and tell her master that she could not capture Gaara. So, the blue-haired nin sighed and did her 'Eenie, meenie, minie, mo' again.
Her slender finger landed itself on Sakura. Now that, that, Emiko was sure she could manage.
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Sakura was not a person to hold grudges. She had already forgotten her fight with Sasuke the previous morning. So, needless to say, she was back to her sweet, usual self.
"Sasuke-kun! Do you want to go and eat some cake with me in that restaurant in the next building?" Sakura asked enthusiastically
"No."
"…Hm…okay then. How about….do you want to go and visit Hinata in her room? She seems pretty nervous about Naruto being kidnapped."
"No."
Sakura slightly stuck her lower lip out and shifted her sitting position on her bed.
'He's my crush, but he's no fun.'
So, the pink-haired shinobi decided to change the topic.
"I'm worried about Naruto and Temari...I hope nothing bad happens to them…"
Sasuke turned to look at her.
"Those bastards can take care of themselves."
"…" Sakura had no more words to say.
The silence was very discomforting. Unknown to both of them, a certain blue-haired Sound nin was watching them from outside their window. Emiko the Sound nin quietly took out a red pill from her pocket, split it in half, and poured out the red powder in the pill onto her hand. Tucking her blue hair behind her ears, she brought up her open palm to her mouth and blew. The red powder, as if it was under her power, flew through the slightly open window to where Sasuke was sitting.
Sasuke suddenly saw glowing, red butterflies in front of him. He also felt kind of fuzzy, but fuzzy in a very comfortable way.
'Wow…those butterflies…very beautiful…No! They're UGLY! Ugly!'
He desperately tried to shake his head and clear his mind of the butterflies. However, the spell was too strong.
'Wow…such pretty creatures…'
The Uchiha had stood up and reached his hands out to catch the butterflies without even knowing it. However, the red butterflies kept flying farther and farther away from him. Sasuke took one step…two steps in the direction where the butterflies were flying. Then, he followed the red butterflies right out the door.
Sakura just sat there, confused beyond belief.
'W-What was that!'
Then, she quickly got up to go find Sasuke in case he was really sick. Sakura could only see Sasuke staring up at the empty air and groping at something invisible. Unfortunately, as soon as the pink-haired girl got up, her knees buckled under her. She found that she could not move any part of her body at all!
"W-What happened!" Sakura cried to herself in disbelief.
As if to answer her question, Emiko pushed open the window from outside and jumped into the room.
"…You're paralyzed," the Sound nin informed her. "…and as you've suspected, I am Emiko, Orochimaru's servant."
Sakura's eyes got wide…then angry.
"Stop it right now! What did you do to Sasuke!"
Emiko knelt down to look at her.
"Why don't you worry about yourself first, Sakura?" With that, the Sound nin scooped Sakura up and carried her out the window.
Sakura protested all the way. Even if she couldn't move any part of her body, her mouth was still available.
"Stop it! STOP IT! PUT ME DOWN!" she practically shouted into Emiko's ear.
Emiko flinched slightly and shifted Sakura's position, so that the pink-haired shinobi's mouth wouldn't be right next to her ear. That didn't seem to faze Sakura at all.
"I swear, if you harm Sasuke, or any of my friends at that, I will kill you! I will kick you ass so that you'll wish you've never been born! And then I'll peel your skin off of your bodies and pull your fingernails out and then chop your bodies into a thousand pieces and…"
The blue-haired Sound nin was getting annoyed, but didn't show it. She pretended to ignore her hostage.
'Ugh…I almost wished I captured somebody else first…this Sakura girl really talks too much…' Emiko thought.
Sakura's screams were not completely ignored, though. Sasuke, who had supposedly followed the butterflies out to the front yard, spotted Sakura being carried by Emiko in the air.
"S-Sakura!" the Uchiha hoarsely whispered trying to break the spell of the butterflies…but it was really hard. His eyes were entranced by the beautiful butterflies…
'No, not beautiful! Those butterflies are a trick! Save that annoying Sakura first, you idiot!' he told himself.
The butterflies fluttered in front of his vision again.
'So…ugh…beautiful…'
They began to lead him in the opposite direction of where Sakura was going. The Uchiha forced himself to halt right there.
'Argh! Stop it! Stop following those butterflies!'
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Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had also heard Sakura's screams of rage.
"Is that what I think it is, Neji?" Ten Ten peeked her head out of her room in her nightgown.
Gaara was behind her.
The Hyuuga nodded. "I think so. Come on, Ten Ten, let's follow. Gaara, you can go alert the others."
The two jumped out of the window.
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Hinata joined Ino, Kankurou, Lee, and Chouji, who were running out of the building.
"Hey, Hinata-chan, so you heard the screams too?"
"Y-Yes, I did…" even though she stammered, Hinata's eyes were determined.
"…Hey, guys, you know what. Those screams sounded like Sakura's voice," Ino informed her group.
They kept running.
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"Faster, Gaara, faster!" Kiba shouted into the air gleefully.
Akamaru also barked in cheerfully. The two were currently sitting on Gaara's sand in the air, being transported in the direction of the screams.
"Shut up, idiot! This is not a racing sled, okay?" Shikamaru said, annoyed at Kiba's obvious excitement at being transported on sand.
Gaara ignored Shikamaru's comment and turned to Kiba from his position at the head of his 'racing sled'.
"Racing sled?" the redhead asked of the dog boy.
Apparently, the infamous Sabaku no Gaara had never heard of one.
"Whoa, man! You really gotta dig into life, ya know that? I'll show you what a racing sled is sometime! I got one at home!" Kiba grinned.
Gaara seemed interested. "Really…that's good…"
"Course it is! It--"A big bump appeared on Kiba's head.
Shikamaru had bopped the dog-boy on the head. "Stop. That. Foolishness!"
"Fine, Fine mommy…" Kiba replied, pouting. "…Was just trying to show Gaara around on the path of life…"
"Yea," surprisingly, Gaara agreed with Kiba.
Kiba gave Gaara a hi-five. Shikamaru slapped his hand on his forehead in hopelessness at the two.
"Ugh…whatever. Let's just get there, okay!"
Never had the Nara genius sounded so determined.
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"ARGHHHHHHHHHH! FUCKING BUTTERFLIES!" the Uchiha had finally broke the spell, but it made his knees so weak that he had to kneel on the ground.
Sasuke quickly recovered and shakily stood up. He ran after the Gaara's sand transporter that was in the sky.
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"What are you doing!" Sakura cried in displeasure.
"I'm tying you to the tree, duh," Emiko tightened the knot on the tree.
Sakura huffed. She was now too tired to scream any more.
"Why? And where're Naruto and Temari!"
Emiko sighed. Personally, she thought that the pink-haired girl cared about her comrades too much.
"I'm tying you here because I'm too tired to go back to my hideout in the forest. Just keep quiet and stay here with me till morning, okay?"
Sakura was not satisfied. "…And where's Naruto and Temari?"
"…At my cave hideout in the forest," Emiko answered wearily.
"...Emiko, you know you won't get out of this…" Sakura snarled threateningly.
"Oh? …And why not?"
The pink-haired shinobi glared. "I'll get out of this myself!"
"...And if you don't?" Emiko smirked.
"…Then…my friends! ...They'll come and rescue me!" Sakura retorted.
'…At least, I'm sure Naruto and Lee will come…'
Emiko had an evil look on her face.
"Well, in that case, I've set some traps along the ways just for them…"
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Neji and Ten Ten were running along the trees. The two were currently the closest ones to Sakura's location. The rustle of trees and the occasional hoot of an owl were all that were heard in the night.
'I wonder if Sakura-chan is okay…' Ten Ten thought.
A moment later, Ten Ten lost her footage. Neji too, stopped in his tracks. Ten Ten stared at her surroundings, wide-eyed.
"W-What is this, Neji!" her voice sounded a bit alarmed.
"Ten Ten, your guess is as good as mine."
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Joyce: Hey, sorry, people for now replying reviews last time! I was lazy. Hehehe…no good excuse this time. So, this time…I'll answer some reviews:
To Lightfellow: Whoa! I'm so glad that you liked my story and read it all in one go! Hehehe thank you! And I will try to have Gaara have more SHOWTIME! Lol I love that guy!
To lunarangel: Hm…your betraying idea sounds interesting! I will keep that in mind! Thanks for the suggestion! I think my writer's block is half-gone now :D.
To Blackangeltwin1: Hey, lol thanx for the suggestion for me to look at the moon at night! …I really must try that out sometime.
To bakusensei: Awww, thanks for the compliment. That's so sweet. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks!
To purerandomness: LOL! Cute, cute suggestion! Thanks!
To Animesenko: Ya! SESSHY RULEZ!
To TheGurlWithNoName: Hmm…I am not sure who's to be paired up with Ino…but maybe no one? Lol…well I'm just telling you, it's definitely not Chouji, so be relieved:) I like them better as friends…
To Dragon Man 180: lol, ya….didn't know what got into me when I made Hinata that scary:)
…ya, so that's all for this time! Please, please, review:D