41: an urgent matter

Suigetsu and Karin ran as if death were at their heels. Neither speaking, never stopping for a moment. Suigetsu's mind ran as fast as his legs as a thousand scenarios played out in his mind. Each passing second Hibiki moved further and further from his reach. Desperation plagued both his and Karin's faces. After what seemed like an eternity they reached the gates of Konoha, it was late into the night, possibly even early morning. They stopped ten feet from the gate where a guard approached them.

"What brings you two here this late?" He asked with a yawn.

"We need to see the Hokage." Suigetsu demanded.

"The Hokage is a very busy man, besides we are not going to let two strangers into our village without proper paperwork."

In an instant Suigetsu pulled his sword out and held it to the man's neck. He held the man by the back of his head, trapping him against the sword. One wrong move and his throat would be slit, and he would quickly bleed out.

"You're going to let us in, or I'll slaughter the entire village." Suigetsu's voice held no doubt. The man had both hands up in surrender.

At this point Karin and Suigetsu were surrounded by guards, Karin took a breath trying to even out her voice.

"We are from the sound village, there is an emergency taking place, we need to see the Hokage." her voice sounded strained.

The men looked at each other for a moment.

"Stand down and we will inform the Hokage of your arrival in the morning." The man at Suigetsu's mercy said.

"We don't have time for that!" Suigetsu yelled.

"We can't just let two unknown persons into the village, especially hostile ones! You will have to wait until the morning! For the time being, we will take both of you into custody." the captured man continued.

The sword's edge dug into the man's neck, this choked him a bit.

"What's going on here?" a softer voice asked.

The scene was not a good one. Two hostile people stood surrounded by guards, and one man held hostage, bleeding from his neck.

Sakura was not expecting anything eventful to happen tonight. She switched shifts with her friend, taking her midnight guard duties. It was supposed to be a long boring night…. Instead, she was now standing inside the circle of guards.

"Karin?" Sakura called. Karin snapped her head to see a pink-haired girl. Karin had seen this girl around Sasuke before. If she recognized her then that meant she was a shining beacon of hope. Karin ran to her,

"We need to contact Sasuke!" she said, grasping the pink girl between her hands.

"Why what's wrong?" Sakura asked,

"Hibiki is missing." Karin choked.

Shocked, Sakura looks over to the man still in a hostile standoff with the other guards, His white hair seems familiar...

"Are you Suigetsu?" she asked.

Not turning away from his prey he answered, "Yes, and based on your hair you must be Sakura."

Remembering How Hibiki had written about Suigetsu, his more violent tendencies and affection he showed her. Sakura slowly walked up to him.

"Ok Suigetsu, I will help you, just back away," she said as she carefully separated the two men.

The man she had heard so much about was standing in front of her, His murderous aura far more intimidating than she expected, leaked from him, his eyes a bit crazed, but still cold and calculating, and his frighteningly sharp teeth that showed through his sneer.

Not exactly what I was expecting…. Sakura thought.

"Ok I'll escort you guys in, can someone get Sai, He should be on duty tonight as well," she ordered. One of the men rushed off before quickly returning with a tall, pale man.

"Sakura, What do you need me for?" He asked.

"Sai, I need you to go and get Kakashi up. We have an emergency, we will meet you in the office." Sakura instructed.

"What should I tell him?" Said asked, knowing not a lot would drag that man out of bed.

"Say it's related to Sasuke and Orochimaru."

"Alright." He agreed.

Sakura turned back to Suigetsu and Karin,

"Ok, I need two men to help me escort,"

In a quick and efficient manner, Suigetsu and Karin were soon walking through the village's quiet and deserted street.. Sakura led the way as the guards stayed close to the guests. They reached the Hokage's office building and first went to a messenger room where a few birds waited.

"Here, write your message to Sasuke," Sakura said, handing a pen and paper to Suigetsu.

Karin snatched it away, knowing Suigetsu had the worst handwriting and clarity was needed. Karin quickly wrote a note about what had happened, then they sent the bird off.

"How long will it take that bird to get to him? Suigetsu asked as he watched the bird fly off.

"Three days at least," Sakura answered.

"That's too long! We've wasted enough time, we need to go find her ourselves!" he told Karin.

"How? We have no leads and no way to track her!"

"If we don't do something quick, who the hell knows what could happen!"

"Kakashi will be here soon, let's talk to him and see if we can help." Sakura calmly told them separating the two.

They then left the office to go to the Hokage's office down the hall. As they came around the curved hall, Kakashi and Sai could be seen approaching the office from the other side of the hall. His face, while covered, still showed exhaustion and irritation. He unlocked the office door and let the group file in. Kakashi walked to his desk and sat, turning to look at the two who caused such a commotion in the middle of the night.

"So what is it the two of you need?" Kakashi yawned.

"An executive from Otogakure, she's missing and we don't have the resources to find her," Karin explained.

"I am sorry to hear that, however, I don't see how that's our problem. Why should I send our ninja to find her?" he calmly replied.

"Otogakure is an ally…." Karin began to argue.

"Otogakure is not yet recognized by the ninja alliance as an established village. Therefore we have no obligation to assist in matters of the Village." Kakashi interrupted her. Karin's face became red,

"We can pay…"

"A missing village executive would be classified as an S-class mission, the fee would be one million ryo at least. Otogakure does not legally have such funds, and I have a hunch the village has not placed an official report of her disappearance. This means the funds cant come from the village itself anyway. Do either of you have the money?"

"Orochimaru…"

"Orochimaru is a criminal who is under surveillance, such surveillance reports on many affairs, including his money trails, and officially he does not have the money needed."

Kakashi sighed, irritated. "I know who you two are. You are both officially wanted criminals, unlike Sasuke you have not been pardoned by the Ninja alliance, the only reason we have not apprehended either of you is due to Sasuke's recommendation. He insisted you aren't worth the trouble of hunting you down and imprisoning you. Lady Tsunade had tried to pardon you but the samurai were not in agreement and still wish for your execution. You have barged into my village, threatening us, and demanding attention, all for a matter that could have waited until morning."

Both Suigetsu and Karin stayed in their place, both obviously boiling over in rage, the only force stopping them from acting was knowing that Hibiki was in danger.

"Now if you will both please leave," Kakashi concluded.

"Wait." Suigetsu stepped forward, he looked at those in attendance, "I need a moment to speak discreetly."

Kakashi sighed and waved for the others to leave, leaving Karin and Sakura as the only other people in the room.

The room was quiet, still. After a few long moments Suigetsu walked up to the desk. He looked the man straight in the eyes and said,

"She is an Omoikane."

Kakashi was shocked, to say the least, His eyes wide. As Hokage he had learned of certain clans that were still on a blacklist. This clan was especially hard to deal with if what he said was true... If someone could work around an Omoikane and capture them, then it would be bad news for everyone.

"They are believed to be dead," he stated.

"Hibiki is the last member."

"What proof do you have?"

"Nothing, but are you even willing to take the chance of an Omoikane falling into nefarious hands."

Kakashi sighed.

"I understand, this is a serious problem. One that will affect the affairs of not only the Leaf but the alliance as well. We will prepare a team immediately. I'm going to assume the two of you will be going as well?"

"Of course."

Kakashi sighed again, stood, and began to call the needed people. Sakura turned to Karin as Kakashi began gathering files, Leaving the office, leaving the three inside.

"What is an Omoikane?" she asked.

Karin looked down and thought for a long time, Hibiki would be freaking out if she knew how much they used that word. And even if it wasn't her secret to tell, Karin decided that if Hibiki and Sasuke had trust in this girl, then…

"The Omoikane are a very old clan that has been completely wiped out. Well, except for Hibiki. The clan members who are born with a special trait are the only ones considered clan members of course. They have Precognition. Hibiki can see the future. And if that power falls into the wrong hands, well I'm sure you can guess what can happen." Karin whispered.

Sakura stood there shocked for a moment. Precognition? SHe thought of when she first met Hibiki at the fire, how she was so sure of herself. She thought of when she came to visit Sasuke in prison.

"OH," she exclaimed, catching Suigetsu's attention.

Hesitantly she asked, "What if Sasuke had taken her?"

"Why would Sasuke take her?" Suigetsu demanded.

"Well, I overheard her once ask Sasuke to kill her if certain circumstances happened. I didn't really get it then, but if people found out about her…"

"WHAT?"

Suigetsu began pacing, every foul word that existed flew from his mouth. Karin quickly grabs his arm.

"Sasuke wouldn't run off with her somewhere, her body wouldn't have left the village, and Sasuke would make sure we knew what happened, that he killed her. It can't be Sasuke."

Suigetsu's mind was still panicking and enraged but he thought about it for a moment and agreed with Karin if Sasuke was involved then she wouldn't be missing, she would have left a note at the very least.

"So you're sure Sasuke doesn't have anything to do with this?" Sakura asked.

"We're sure." Suigetsu confirmed.

"Alright then, let's catch up to Kakashi," Sakura said.

A group was quickly formed, Sakura as well as Kiba, Naruto, and Shikamaru would be going, hearing this Suigetsu interjected.

"No, Naruto can't be a part of this. Hibiki won't be just sitting still waiting to be rescued, she'll try to escape and if Naruto is with us she won't be able to find us."

"If the people who have Hibiki use her vision against us, then the rescue will need to be blocked," Kakashi argued, having been given a brief rundown of how her precognition worked.

"No, She wouldn't give up any information about the rescue,"

"Is there a possibility the vision can be taken control of by others, can this information be taken from her?" Kakashi questioned further.

Karin and Suigetsu looked at eachother. "We don't know, Sasuke might know, but we have no idea," Karin reported.

"I see, but we can't wait for Sasuke, we need to act now. So do we block her vision or not?" Kakashi wondered.