A/N: Enjoy.

That morning, Sakura had had a dream about the adventures she'd have with Team Seven. With the chunin exams just a week away, she'd worked tirelessly on reading through her old notes from the Academy the night before. She was genuinely excited to see where her future was leading, with a cool teacher and even cooker Sasuke (and, yeah, Naruto was there, too), she was beyond ready to face up against the future.

And then Kakashi had knocked on her balcony window. That by itself wasn't unusual, most of her ninja friends avoided her non-shinobi parents and went straight to her. What was unusual was the way he smiled at her. Something had been off. Sakura, however, trusted her sensei and opened the door.

Now, she was cutting the rope off of Sasuke's arms, which was becoming more difficult with the endless stream of tears coming down her cheeks. Why was this happening? Yesterday, Kakashi had seemed fine. And today he'd kidnapped them all and left them in his basement. She already missed her house, her parents, and her freedom.

The basement was the size of her living room and felt even bigger since it was mostly bare. Several tatami mats spread across the floor along with rubber weapons and out of date romance novels. A tiny window above their heads provided them with natural light. Directly across was the stairs. Sakura had never been in Kakashi's house before, but she knew the style of the house was probably one story and designed for a small family or a single man.

"Why the hell are you cooperating?" Sasuke growled at her once his arms were free.

Sakura rubbed her eyes, moving to free Naruto. "I'm scared. Plus, Kakashi-sensei is a jonin. We don't stand a chance against him."

Naruto tore the gag from his mouth. "I hate this! Old man Kakashi has taken this too far."

"Naruto, please," Sakura begged, "let's just do what he says." She had no idea what Kakashi had meant by punishment, but she wasn't keen to find out. Maybe if they behaved well, he'd let them go. If he really loved them as much as he said, then it would stand to reason he'd eventually be compelled to let them go, right?

"Sakura," Sasuke warned, "he isn't going to let us go. Shinobi don't kidnap other shinobi from the same village. Something's clearly wrong with Kakashi. If we want to survive, we need to escape."

Naruto nodded. "I hate to agree with Sasuke, but I think he's right. We need to get out of here, fast."

"Aren't you guys forgetting, Kakashi-sensei is a jonin! Even if we got out of the basement, the house is probably booby-trapped. And he said we'd be punished if we tried to escape."

"It's either be punished or die down here." Sasuke stood and took the kunai from Sakura's hand. "Now you're either with us or against us."

Naruto nodded.

Sakura was afraid of Kakashi, but she was more afraid of the two of them escaping and leaving her behind. If they succeeded with out her, she'd be stuck here forever. Alone with their unhinged sensei, and no matter how cool he was, that was no future she wanted. "Fine."

They nodded at one another and crept to the stairs. The house appeared to be silent, nothing was stirring inside. Where were Kakashi's ninja hounds? Did they live with him?

There was a smell in the room, a generic cleaning product and earthy musk. It smelled like Kakashi.

Sasuke made his way up the stairs, kunai clenched in a defensive position. Naruto followed behind him and Sakura followed.

Her heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest. This was bad, really bad. Everything about their situation was awful. The last time Kakashi had tricked them, it was to pass a test. In retrospect, there had been clued to his deception — body position, rule-breaking, etc. But this was different. This wasn't a test, his body had been earnest and there were no rules to kidnapping. They were out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"I'm going to open the door now," Sasuke announced.

Sakura huddled behind Naruto.

"Don't worry, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei said he was out running errands. He won't be here." Naruto gave her a fear melting smile.

Sasuke yanked the doors open. The sounds of wire pulling taut echoed through the basement. In less than a second, the three of them had been knocked back down the stairs. Onyx colored wire wrapped around them, effectively binding them together.

This was bad. Really bad. It was going to be extremely obvious they'd tried to escape; if Kakashi wasn't aware already. Sakura struggled against the wire. If they could just get out of—.

Footsteps echoed down the stairs. Each a ricocheting clap of thunder. Kakashi had changed out of his jonin uniform and settled into casual wear, loose pants with a Make Out Tactics T-shirt and face mask. In his hand was a stopwatch. "C'mon guys, twenty minutes?"

A stopwatch? Maybe this had been an exorcize, after all. He'd sounded disappointed, maybe he'd wanted to escape sooner, work together faster.

"I know you three better than you realize. You were going to try and escape after I specifically told you not to bother trying." A dark feeling sank into Sakura's stomach. This wasn't an exorcize, was it? "And I warned you about the consequences."

"Sensei, we're so sorry," Sakura started. "We—."

"Don't bother lying. I was listening." He looked at Sakura, his dark grey eye more intense than she'd ever seen it. "I should have kept you separate from those two. You're too easily manipulated by them, Sakura."

Separated? A cold sweat started on her skin. Where would she be then? Would she be alone?

"Maybe I should—." He was reaching for her.

Sakura scrambled back, the wire cutting into her arm. Sasuke and Naruto grunted. "No! Please, Sensei, I'll be good. I promise."

He blinked. "Sakura, I'm not going to hurt you. I was just going to put you in another room. Just until those two have calmed down."

"No! I don't want to go." The tears were flowing again. She couldn't trust Kakashi anymore, besides, he hadn't even mentioned their punishment for trying to escape. Maybe he was going to make an example out of her.

Kakashi frowned. "Sakura."

"She doesn't want to go!" Naruto snarled. "Leave her alone." His eyes were turning red, a sticky energy spreading from him. It was chakra based, Sakura could figure out that much, but it felt like sandpaper against her skin. And then just as quickly as it started, it vanished. "What?"

"Oh," Kakashi said, "did I forget to mention the seal?" He lifted one of the tatami mats and Sakura saw black characters spread out across the floor. It must have been some kind of chakra stealing seal, activated when they tried to use ninjutsu or summon any. "I wouldn't recommend trying to use ninjutsu in here, you'll pass out."

Sasuke snarled, "Let us go, Kakashi."

"Sasuke." Kakashi crossed the room to, "You orchestrated the escape. Which means you have to be punished." The wire around them fell away and Kakashi grabbed Sasuke, tossing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'll see you both at dinner tonight." And with that, Kakashi vanished back upstairs.