Disclaimer: Okay, so here is chapter 14 for all of you who actually read this. I just chewed the life out of my nails so it's painful to type, so I'm sorry if there is a lot of spelling mistakes.
Sing reccomendation: Irene-Toby Mac.
I do not own Naruto.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: What a Twist!
Sakura tried not to let the information make her head explode. It was almost too much to think about. It took awhile for it to sink in. Next to Sakura, Ino wasn't doing much better. They were still in Naruto's apartment, sitting at his table trying to soak in this new information. Hinata was standing with Kakashi nearby. It was Kakashi who told them.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ino cried suddenly, looking feirce. "Aren't we trustworthy to know?"
"Calm down." Kakashi sighed. "Hinata didn't know either. Only Naruto, Sasuke, the hokage and I knew about it. The Kogenkan is too big of a commotion to tred lightly around. We had to take some precautions."
"So, she was living with Sasuke?" Sakura murmured, looking up with a strange look. Sort of, deflated. Ino tensed and looked sadly at her friend. Maybe Sakura was pretending not to care, but it would still now wouldn't it? Sakura had loved Sasuke for so long...
"Yes." Kakashi replied, seemingly uncaring. He chose not to get in the middle of the love affairs of those younger then him. It was too confusing. "Mostly because I was too busy to take care of her and well, Naruto already has a tenant."
Hinata blushed crimson and quickly threw her eyes to the floor. Kakashi made it a point to embarrass her every chance he got.
"Regardless of her living status, the point still remains that she's gone now." Kakashi continued. "Apparantly Naruto and Sasuke left last night to go look for her, without my concent. We have to get her back. Anything to do with the Kogenkan is potentially dangerous and a threat to the entire leaf village. So, will you two help?"
"Of course!"
&&
Ino wrapped her arms around Shikimaru's neck, pouting greatly.
"I'm goign to miss you!" She cried into his ear, making him wince as she covered his face in kisses. Not that he minded. What he did mind was the backpack next to her feet.
They were standing at the gates, and Ino was just about to leave on some misson. There wasn't much call for big time missons lately, so it proved difficult for Shikimaru to understand what was going on. He knew it had something to do with Uchiha and Uzumaki, who were missing since morning. It was now late after noon, a strange time to leave for a misson.
"Where are you going again?" Shikimaru asked curiously, glancing around him. Nearby was Hinata, Kakashi, and Sakura, all packed and ready to go. It was bizarre to see the three girls going off on a misson. If it had been Shikimaru, he'd probably be going just to be going with three beautiful girls, but he knew that wasn't the reason Kakashi was there. For some reason, there was an air of worry and unsaid secrets looming around the group. Even Ino, through all her kisses, still seemed a little scared.
"I told you I can't tell you." Ino sighed, patting Shikimaru's head.
"Ino." Kakashi said clearly. Ino glanced at him then placed one last kiss on Shikimaru's cheek.
"Bye!" She said, running after her friends. Shikimaru waited and watched as the gates slowly closed on the four figures walking away. He got the distinct feeling that they weren't planning on coming back, and somehow, it made his stomach churn.
"Come back Ino." He hissed to himself as he spun around and slammed his hands into his pockets. "Come back..."
&&
They were getting closer, Naruto could feel it. For some reason, he knew they were getting closer. Maybe because the clueswere getting farther and farther apart, but whatever the reason, they were definatly getting closer. Naruto could tell Sasuke could sense it too.
"What is that?" Sasuke said suddenly, skidding to a halt. He glanced around with his sharingan, searching for the source.
"What's what?" Naruto asked, following Sasuke's gaze.
"Can't you hear that?" Sasuke replied. "It almost sounds like, footsteps?"
Naruto glanced around but couldn't see anything. It was getting dark, the sun was begining to set.
"Is someone folowing us?" Naruto muttered, spinning around. They were underneath two large trees, and around them was a dark forest that seemed untouched by any humans. Or any life for that matter. In fact, it was so dead that Naruto almost felt heavy from the lonliness. He realized that throughout their entire run they hadn't even once paid attentio nto their suroundings. "Where, are we?"
Sasuke seemed to notice as well and glanced up at the sky.
"No idea." He replied honestly. "But it's getting dark."
"Obviously." Naruto muttered. "Should we set up camp?"
"No." Sasuke said. "We'll eat and then keep looking."
Naruto frowned, but he knew there was nothing he could do. The only way he could stop Sasuke now was to beat him, and that was the last thing Naruto wanted to do. Maybe when he was little he wouldn't give it a second thought, but as they grew up Naruto had gotten used to Sasuke. No more unnessecary fightign between the two of them. Only teamwork was left.
Naruto reached into the back pack he had packed quickly before leaving. Sure, they were doing this wholle reconisance misson without any type of plan, but there was no sense in being unprepared. Food was necessary in those situations. Of course it was only packaged ration bars but it was better then nothing.
They ate quickly and stopped at a stream to fill their water flasks before setting off once again in search of the clues, but the rather they went the more they felt lost. Finally, it got to the point where they had been running for twenty minutes without finding one clue.
"They've stopped." Naruto breathed as they halted to take in their bearings. "There's no more clues."
"Then where is she?" Sasuke snapped, glancing around. Naruto looked up with wide eyes, surrpised at Sasuke's response. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Sasuke was desperate. Maybe, something much deeper was going on then Naruto had first thought. Maybe, Sasuke truly deeply cared for Mayu. Could it really be possible? Had Sasuke finally found someone to love? "I hear it again, someone is definately following us."
"Do we attack them or wait for them to attack us?" Naruto murmured, taking a quick look around. Everywhere around him was darkness. The sun had finally decided to set. As they ran, Naruto got the distinct feeling that they were running towards something. To an end.
"A cliff!" Sasuke hissed, skidding to a halt just as they broke through the trees. A few metres away was a large cliff that fell down into racious waters that swelled and beat against it's side. Naruto skidded to a halt as well, gathering his barings as quickly as possible. The cliff was rather large with trees surrounding every side except the cliff face. "Where are we?"
"I don't know." Naruto muttered, trying to figure out which way was which. He tried to determin their heading by the moon, but found the sky empy of stars or the bright white moon. "Something's wrong."
"Something indeed." Chuckled a low, almost devilish voice. Sasuke and Naruto spun around but found no one there.
"Who's there?" Sasuke snapped loudly. "Come out!"
"So be it." The voice murmrued. There was a rustling noise in the bushes and by instinct Naruto grabbed a Kunai from his pouch. But it just clattered to the ground with the surprise of what he saw emerge from the forest. Or who.
"Sasuke, Naruto." She said in her oh so familiar voice. Her steps were light, everything about her was the same, except her eyes. No longer were they brigh and calculating, but dull and faded. Her eyes were lided as she walked forward. "So you did come."
Standing before them, was Mayu.
Bwahahahahhaha, CLIFFHANGERS RULE THE WORLD! Haha, ok I promise the next chapter will be up soon.
Thanks to all those who reveiwed.
Next chapter? THE BIG FIGHT SCENE!