"What?" Sakura asked quietly, unable to believe a word the servant had said. Sasuke had stopped what he was doing for a split second and a look of shock crossed his face, but it was only there for a moment before it was replaced with his normal look of boredom. The King glanced up from his infamous book; 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

"It-it can't be. She can't be gone. Are you sure she was kidnapped?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm sure. Here's the note to prove it." The gardener answered, swimming into the ballroom holding up an envelope.

"Please give that to me." Sakura whispered as she swam as fast as she could (as well as can be expected with a big ballroom gown on) toward the gardener. When she finally reached him, he handed her the envelope and she looked it over carefully. Finding nothing on the outside, she tore open the envelope and read.

Several expressions passed over her face, starting with even more shock and anger, but ending with a careful and dangerous blankness. Sakura had drifted towards the middle of the room while she'd been reading the ransom note, and once she'd finished she swam purposely over to her father's throne and handed it over.

Putting away his book, Kakashi took the letter and read it over quickly, seemingly uncaring about what it had to say. In less than a few seconds, he handed the note back to Sakura and stood up to address the now nervously murmuring crowd. "The party is now over, so please leave. I hope you all get home safe." He said with a hidden smile.

While her father sent away the assembled guests, Sakura looked over the ransom note again, wrinkling it in her clenched fist.

King Kakashi,

I have the Lady Hyuuga Hinata in my custody.

If you wish to have her back you will leave

One Billion Yen and the Princess Sakura in

Coral Cave at mid-night tomorrow.

Bring her and the money or the Lady will die.

As the guests left and the castle was now empty save for five people: King Kakashi, Princess Sakura, the Prince Naruto, Lord Sasuke and the gardener.

"You are dismissed, Kabuto." Kakashi stated, still looking far more relaxed than the situation allowed.

"Yes sir." Kabuto, the gardener, bowed and left through the main doors, closing them behind him.

"Are we going to go through with the kidnappers plan?" Sakura asked once she was sure he had left.

"Sasuke, Naruto, what are your opinions about this?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura was slightly confused. 'Why are they still here? Well, Hinata is going to be Sasuke-kun's… but then what does Naruto have to do with anything?' She shook her head as Inner Sakura answered for her. 'He doesn't have any reason to be here! Why doesn't he just leave? Stupid Naruto.'

"Hmh." Sasuke didn't seem to care one way or another, and made it clear. Sakura couldn't understand why. Hinata was going to… marry… him, didn't he care at all that she was in danger?

"We shouldn't just give up without a fight!" Naruto yelled, punching his fist skywards. "We need to get that Hinata girl back! You can't just kidnap somebody, it isn't right!"

"Sasuke, what do you think we should do?" Sakura asked, hoping that Sasuke-kun would answer her.

"I think we should find out whose behind this, and catch him." Sasuke answered calmly. "It's the only logical thing to do. Paying a terrorist would not be in the kingdom's best interests."

Sakura felt as though she'd just been insulted, but she knew that Sasuke would never do something like that to her. Maybe to the Prince Naruto, but he held her in higher esteem than that.

"I see. You're right, Sasuke, but there's a little more to the problem than that. We have until tomorrow, so perhaps we'd best meet to talk about this about this then. Let me think on this for a bit." Kakashi smiled enigmatically. Sakura was puzzled. What more could there be to the problem that they didn't know?

"I'd suggest getting some sleep." The King commented as he headed toward the "secret" door that led to the kitchens. "Tomorrow will be an interesting day."

As the "secret" door closed behind their strangely vague King, Sasuke decided that he'd had enough.

"I will see you tomorrow Princess Sakura, Prince Naruto. Good evening." He bowed to the space between the two of them, though it felt as though he was only doing because of his courtly training. This angered Naruto to no end. Still fuming as Sasuke left through the main doors, he exploded once the heavy rock doors were closed again.

"That stuck up guy! He's such a jerk, acting like he's better than me! He doesn't even care about saving Hinata!" Naruto ranted to himself. Sakura had been ready to beat him within an inch of his life, but then Naruto had made that last exclamation, and it made her pause.

'Naruto saw it that way too? Does that mean that Sasuke-kun really doesn't care if Hinata lives or dies?' Sakura pulled her hands to her chest and fisted them, a sinking feeling settling into the pit of her stomach.

'No, what am I thinking?!' Inner Sakura countered, 'Agreeing with Naruto? I must be going crazy! Of course Sasuke-kun cares; he's just too cool to admit it out loud! Che!'

"Anyway, I'm really sleepy. Sakura-chan, I'll see you tomorrow!" Naruto exclaimed as he headed towards the main doors, and his room.

"Goodnight Naruto." Sakura said halfheartedly. As she saw Naruto leave the room, she swam over to a bench and sat down. Despite what Inner Sakura insisted, she was still uncertain. After all the emotional ups and downs she'd been through lately, she felt too exhausted to even float.

'What should I do? Should I agree to give myself up for Hinata's safety? Or should I be selfish and say no? But then, wouldn't I be leaving her to die? She's still my friend, isn't she? This is far too confusing.' Sakura thought putting her head in her hands.

'Hell no! Never give up without a good fight. Hinata betrayed you, remember?' Inner Sakura shouted. Sakura held her head in her hands, feeling that her head was about to explode from the stress.

"Hello Ms. Sakura." Sakura jerked, sending her floating off of the bench and into the gardener. "What are you doing up this late?" Kabuto asked, holding her arm to steady her.

"Oh, it's just you Kabuto. You scared me! I didn't even hear you come in. I guess I wasn't paying attention." Sakura stated a tint of red coming over her face as she rubbed the back of her head.

"It's understandable, Ms. Sakura. What with your best friend being kidnapped." Kabuto explained in an understanding tone. "Especially since you're being asked for as a part of the ransom."

"Thanks Kabuto. I think I'm getting a little tired, though. I'm going to go to my room now." Sakura explained as she got up and headed for the main doors.

"Alright. Good night Princess Sakura." Kabuto said with an understanding smile.

Sakura awoke with a start. On instinct, she pulled out the ceremonial knife that was hidden underneath her pillow and attacked the person who had awakened her with it. The person parried the attack with a blade of their own, and Sakura, finally waking fully realized who it was she was trying to kill.

"Sauske-kun! What are you doing in my room?" Sakura asked with a squeak, hiding the knife guiltily behind her back and pulling her sheets up higher around her.

'Not that I mind!' Inner Sakura giggled with glee.

"The King informed me that you were still asleep. I was sent to fetch you." Sasuke explained. The impersonal tone stung Sakura slightly, but she shrugged it off as she had many times before.

"A-alright." Sakura answered; still slightly unnerved that Sasuke-kun was in her room. She suddenly wished that she had cleaned up her room a little as she noticed some candy wrappers and a book floating around in the corners.

When Sasuke had swum out of the room to give her privacy, Sakura leapt out of her bed in a frenzy. She didn't want to keep Sasuke-kun (or her adoptive father) waiting. Realizing that she still had the knife in her hand, she put it back in the sheath under her pillow. This wasn't the first attempt on her life, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. The smarter royalty was never truly defenseless, if they could help it.

She went to her wardrobe and pulled out the first shirt she laid her hands on. It wasn't perfect for a Princess, but in the current circumstances, she didn't think anyone would care. She attached another knife sheath to her fin tightly so it wouldn't fall off if she had to swim quickly, and attached a short sword to her waist. She looked herself over after quickly brushing her hair out of her face with some oil.

'Maybe this is overdoing it, just a little bit.' Sakura thought to herself

'Hey, a girl has to be protected now-a-days!' Inner Sakura exclaimed. Finding that she couldn't argue with that logic, and remembering that Sasuke-kun was waiting for her (how had she forgotten?!) she quickly left her room.

Blinking in surprise, she realized that she was mistaken. Sasuke wasn't waiting for her. Sakura sighed, but then realized that Sasuke was probably needed more in the meeting than he was to just escort her downstairs. Though it made her feel a little sad, she ignored the sadness and headed down to the meeting hall.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" Naruto shouted as he put Sakura in a bone crushing hug.

"N-Naruto…c-can't breath." Sakura whispered.

"Oh sorry Sakura-chan" Naruto said shyly as he released her.

"It's okay, but next time a little softer okay?"

"Okay!" Naruto shouted and swam back to his seat around the table.

"Good morning Princess Sakura." A long haired, white eyed man said

"Ah yes, Sakura you have never met Neji before he is Hinata's older cousin." Kakashi explained not looking up from his book.

"Very pleasant to meet you Neji." Sakura supposed

"Likewise." Neji replied.

"Now that that is out of the way, on with business. Neji I want you to read this." Kakashi held up the note. Neji read it and thought for a moment.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?" Kakashi asked.

"I think we should first discover who we are dealing with and then see if we would be able to save her. Those are my thoughts." Neji finished.

"Very interesting idea. Anyway bring in Kabuto." Kakashi said.

"You called Milord?" Kabuto asked as he swam into the meeting room.

"Was there anything else at the place you found this?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes there was this, but I only found it today." Kabuto answered

" From the Evil Sorcerer Orochimaru."

"Well now that we know, let's go and save Hinata!" Naruto said as he sprung from his chair. Knocking it down, I may add.

"Dobe." Sasuke said as he whacked Naruto over the head. "First we need a plan."

As Naruto went to sit down , he did not land on a chair but on his butt.

"Correct and the plan is you four go rescue Lady Hinata." Kakashi said returning to his book, "You have one hour to go forth and get ready. Oh, and Princess Sakura, Prince Naruto you're wedding is postponed till two days after you come back."

As that was said, they hurried off to go get ready for their big 'quest'.

Sakura changed once again into a different shirt that was plain dark green and black pants. She took off the sword and replaced it with a pair of black gloves. After all Sakura was known for her amazing strength.

Naruto just wore a black top, some armor and orange bottoms with a sword and kunai pouch. Naruto didn't need much because of his 'magic skills' (we all know it's chakra).

Sasuke wore a blue top, some armor and white shorts, also including a sword and kunai pouch. He also didn't need much.

Neji wore a white shirt and white shorts with some armor under neigth .He wore a sword and a kunai pouch.

They all met at the edge of the city, each having packs on their backs. With that the swam off to go on their little 'adventure'.

Naruto being very annoying, did the worst thing in the world.

"Are we there yet?" Naruto asked for the 17th time.

"Naruto we are not there yet! We'll get there when we get there!" Sakura shouted getting feed up with his annoying antics.

"But Sakura-chan I just wanted to know if we where there." Naruto whined slight upset that his beloved Sakura-chan yelled at him.

"You have eyes use them dobe." Sasuke said calmly.

"What did you say teme?" Naruto shouted.

"I said 'You have eyes use them dobe'" Sasuke repeated, "Are you deaf or something?"

"Don't you know that you're supposed to be nice and respect a prince?" Naruto asked.

"You, a prince, ha, I thought that they where joking when they called you that." Sasuke retorted.

"Enough, both of you stop bickering, you're acting like an old married couple!" Sakura shouted over the arguing. Neji wishing to get rid of this future headache announced:

"We're here." Now that everyone was shut up they looked at the town that was closest to the Evil Orochimaru's lair. Naruto could only come up with one word to sum it all up.

"Wow!"

Sorry for taking so long to update. I've had it ready for a long time just my beta is to lazy to check it so I got tired of waiting and just posted it. Answers to reviews time. YAY!!cricket cricket My aren't you excited.

Mezumi Azuma: Um it is that pairing. And it can be whatever I want it to be.

angelic lily: I am just weird not inventive

neu chi no nai u: I know but just you wait and see.

If you don't see your name up there it is probably because your review was just like "lol update" or because I was uterly speechless by your fantastic review.