DISCLAIMER: Oh boy, here I go again. I own none of these characters, except the one guy I made up, Jin Yamaguchi. But I guess even he belongs to Kishimoto-dono, since he is a ninja that hails from a village created by Kishimoto-dono. Just don't use him in any of your stories, since it will make me unhappy. Anyway, I plan to update a lot over the summer, so keep your computers ready! You'll never know when I'll crank out another chapter! Well, as usual, enjoy this fanfiction!

GO

Tazuna rapped his knuckles against the side of a decaying wood door. It opened with a long, loud screech. "What do you want?" asked a sleepy-eyed man, stepping into the doorway.

"Have you seen a teenage girl anywhere? Her name is Sakura and she has pink hair and green eyes."

"No way man," replied the drowsy guy, rubbing his eyes gently, "Can't say that I have."

"Sorry to disturb you," Tazuna grumbled. The man shut the door. "Well, there's only a few more houses to go…" He exhaled deeply.

"Tazuna!" said a voice off in the distance.

"What? Have you found her?" questioned Tazuna, recognizing the voice. Kakashi walked into view. "No, I have not found her, but I found this," he said, holding out a melon.

"A melon? What was that doing in our house? We don't have the money to afford such lavish foods," said Tazuna.

"No, I found this in Sakura's room, under her bed. I believe she may of escaped your house to deliver this to someone," Kakashi answered.

"But why couldn't she deliver it during the day?"

"That's what I'm worried about. She may be dealing with someone questionable. Maybe some rogue ninjas or even an enemy village. I deployed my ninja dogs to sniff her out, but they haven't found anything y-"

"Woof!" Kakashi turned around. Pakkun stared up at the jounin. "Pakkun! You found something?!" Pakkun woofed in reply. "Alright, let's go boy!"

Haku stared at the ceiling, worried. He had no idea what the time was, but he feared every passing minute, knowing that it would bring him closer to his execution. "Poor Sakura," he thought, "She probably doesn't even know about this…"

"I had no clue this was back here…" Kakashi said to himself, surveying the small hut. Pakkun treaded nimbly before him, nostrils flaring above the dewy ground. The dog alerted. Kakashi gently pushed the door open, not making a sound. He heard crying, sniffling. He poked his head in, and saw his female student sitting on the ground, curled up in a ball, crying.

"Sakura! What are you doing out here?!" he interrogated, "Did someone bring you out here?" She looked up at him with red, puffy eyes. He walked over to her and bent down. "Sakura, what's going on?"

"He's gone…I can't find him."

"Find who?"

"Him…"

"Sakura? What is this "him"? What is his name?"

"I can't…I can't tell…"

"Sakura, please! Is he still around here? Is he coming back for you?"

"I can't tell you…I can't tell you…" she replied with racking sobs.

"SAKURA! PLEASE TELL ME!" Kakashi exploded with impatience.

"H-h-haku," she sputtered. Kakashi drew out a scroll.

"No! Please! He's not going to harm me!"

"How do you know that? Why do you think he dragged you out here?!"

"He didn't drag me out here. I came on my own."

Kakashi put the scroll back in his vest. "But why Sakura? He tried to kill us a few days ago. Why did you come here?"

"You wouldn't understand. You can't understand."

"It looks like I'll be back to babysitting," sighed Kakashi, grabbing Sakura's arm and helping her to her feet. "You're not leaving Tazuna's house until it's time to leave for Konoha."

Kakashi put Sakura into the window-less guestroom in the back of Tazuna's house. The room was quite bare, except for a sheeted bed and chair by the door. Kakashi sat on the chair, keeping his ever-watchful eyes on Sakura. The only decoration that adorned the room was a dusty framed calligraphy of the kanji "hope", which hung crooked on the wall. Sakura eyed it with hate. How could she have hope in such a grim situation? Then, she remembered something out of one of the shinobi textbooks she had read in the ninja academy. Use your surroundings to your advantage. There wasn't much around her. Just the room, her bed, the sheets on her bed, the chair that Kakashi was sitting on and the calligraphy. What was she going to do? Use some ninjutsu to knock down the walls and escape? No, she didn't want to ruin Tazuna's house, and besides, she wasn't strong enough yet to do that. Use genjutsu to make Kakashi think that his chair was trying to eat him? No, he wouldn't fall for it. Then, Sakura noticed that one of the bed sheets had a large, green stain on it.

"Hey, Kakashi, could you get me some different sheets…these are kinda dirty," said Sakura.

"I'll let Naruto get you some. I won't fall for that trick that easily," replied Kakashi, "Naruto! Get some clean sheets for Sakura and take away her dirty ones!"

"Yes sensei!" answered Naruto's annoying voice. Inner Sakura smiled. There was still hope, if she could pull this stunt off. Soon enough, Naruto came into the room carrying clean sheets. Sakura balled up the old sheets, and handed them to Naruto. He placed the new ones down on her bed.

"Thanks," she said, "Now I can take my nap." She laid down on her bed and pulled the sheets up to her chest. Uncomfortable, she turned on her side, her back facing Kakashi. She put her hands under the sheets and listened to Naruto's footsteps. As soon as she heard the front door open, she waited three seconds, and then performed a hand sign. Then, the world went black.

However, that didn't last for long. Sakura regained her consciousness and found herself outside, on top of a pile of dirty clothes. Tsunami was outside, but she had her back turned towards Sakura. She was busy scrubbing the washboard for the clothes. Sakura had pulled the stunt off, at least, for the most part. When Sakura was lying on her bed with her new sheets, she used Bunshin no jutsu to create the illusion that she was resting, and used the replacement technique to switch the positions of the old sheets and herself.

Now, she had to uphold the illusion at least until she was far enough away from Tazuna's house. She tiptoed out of Tazuna's yard, hands still pressed together for the illusion. Sakura could feel the ache in her hands as her chakra diminished. She did what she had to do; she ran. It didn't matter if Tsunami saw her, she couldn't do anything but scream for help. Thankfully though, she didn't hear her, and Sakura relaxed her hands. After all, it would take awhile for Kakashi to realize the illusion had been dropped. He was probably reading Makeout Paradise.

Once Sakura had got into town, she stopped running and sat down outside of a bar. She gasped, like a beached fish, for breath. She hadn't run so much in a long time. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Something caught her attention however. It was a conversation between two men. They sounded like they were just around the corner, in the alley next to the bar. She controlled her breathing and strained her ears to listen.

"Ah, so it's going to be public?"

"Yes. I had originally planned for it to be discreet, but it is most important I win the favor of the villagers…they will be quite pleased to see justice done."

"Very wise. When is the Anbu arriving?"

"Around noon. He plans to do the killing by decapitation. It will be quick and painless, yet the blood will be quite a show. The villagers will love it."

"Indeed. So, what is the sum of this Haku character?"

Sakura let out a small gasp. Haku was still alive, but he wouldn't be for much longer if she didn't do something. She had messed up her chance earlier, but this time, she would not cry. She wouldn't hide in fear of what might happen. And so, she stepped out into the alleyway.

TO BE CONTINUED…