Chapter 11

The Akai Akki

...still...only two reviews...Oh Well. It's probably because of the holidays! If it's not...then I've been crushed. Please enjoy this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I hope to own Naruto one day...maybe Masashi will "write" the papers to Naruto in his will to me!

Slowly, Sakura's eyes fluttered as she regained consciousness. Her eyes burst wide when she realized she could not move, like she was chained. As she looked up and around, indeed, her hands and feet were chained to a cold stonewall, as a hostage would be. Taking in the situation as her vision became clearer, the kunoichi attempted to scream, but it was muffled as a cloth was tied around her mouth. A tear escaped her right eye as she thought she wouldn't be rescued. Naruto had disappeared, and Sakura had no idea where he was, or what he was doing. Naruto…help me…she pleaded in her head, struggling to break free with all of her strength.

"It's hopeless," a cold voice chuckled as he walked into the clearing, his footsteps steadily increasing in volume. "Those chains are chakra-encoded. Chakra can neither be pushed in, nor sent out. I wonder how long you've been out…" Sakura began to panic as the footsteps stopped suddenly, and she stared at the black, blank room in front of her. "It's already nightfall."

Nightfall?! The word echoed in her mind as she tried to figure out the time it was when she was kidnapped. Her worried gaze melted as she saw the man who was talking to her step into a single light shining in the dark room. His hood was down, revealing bleach white hair, and eyes as black as pitch. He was wearing the same attire as the others who kidnapped her. It was almost like a clone of Sasori, the way he talked and his appearance. "Tell me, what are you thinking?" he asked, smirking in a way that shook Sakura down to the bone.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her tone more serious than what she had expected. "What do you want with me?"

A sharp cold wind blew through the hole in the room, making Sakura bit her lip to keep her teeth from chattering. The white-haired man stared at her, his smirk gone. "What we want from you," he said, his tone in a more serious tone, much like Sakura's. "Is your help."

The question shocked Sakura. "Then why kidnap me?" she asked, confused. "You could of just asked me."

"No," another voice stated, a lot warmer than the other's, and more feminine. "We couldn't. Not many people trust us, right Daitsui-niichan?" Another person stepped out, dressed the same as the white-haired man who appeared to be named Daitsui. The new person turned to face Sakura, with a warm, friendly smile on her face. Sakura let her gaze fall into the diamond-like eyes of the woman, sparkling with a shine just like the jewel it represented. "Sorry for any trouble we may have caused you. I'm Hananiki Tamaku." She said in her warm tone. "Are you hurt in any way?"

Sakura heard Daitsui growl, "Look at her! She's chained to a wall and is covered in blood! I swear Tamaku-neechan, you are having another blonde moment."

The tension rose in Tamaku, and she glared at Daitsui with her diamond gaze. "You have ten minutes to run." She growled, and turned back to Sakura. Daitsui just stood there until Tamaku turned around again and said "Nine minutes."

"Hai!" the white-haired member shouted before fleeing.

Sakura stared at Tamaku in shock, not seeing someone so scared of someone since Tsunade. "Again, sorry. Please forgive Daitsui-niichan for his rudeness." Tamaku said in her kind voice, and turned to face the kunoichi. "Let me get you down from there."

Gently, Tamaku undid the hackles, chains, and handcuffs, and caught Sakura before she fell entirely off the wall. "Arigatou," Sakura said gratefully, flexing around. When she was able to feel everything again, she sat down and stared at the diamond eyes. "Who are you?"

Tamaku chuckled lightly, and smiled. "You know my name, Hananiki Tamaku. I'm the leader for the Akai Akki."

"So why exactly did you kidnap me?" Sakura asked, still confused on the matter.

"We are rouge shinobi from the Country of Blood. That is why we wear black cloaks, but no red water droplets on them." She said, and looked down at her cloak. Her hand squeezed in, and pulled out a forehead-protector with a tear symbol on it, crossed out in a large 'X'. "Our symbol is different from the organization Akatsuki's. They just etch a line through it, we cross it out." Tamaku slipped the headband back in her cloak. "There are five others on the Akai Akki. You met one already, my brother, Hananiki Daitsui-niichan. Then there is Kokami Mani-kun, Takimu Raiti-san, Sieri Nako-san, and Lyoki Pekio-kun." Sakura noticed tears well in her eyes suddenly. "We did have two others," she choked, and wiped her eyes. "Sokiyo Danu-kun and Kyuomi Saniku-kun. Someone killed Danu-kun; we found his body in the bushes. Saniku-kun was knocked unconscious, but died here in our care."

Carefully, Sakura put a comforting hand on Tamaku's shoulder, trying to cheer her up. "Do you know who did it?" she asked, but the leader of the organization shook her head. Sakura's mind wandered, and then she asked urgently, "How long have I been out?"

"About three hours," Tamaku answered, wiping her eyes. "Why?"

Three hours! That's how long she'd been out? I wonder if Naruto's worried…if he even knows… "When can I go?" she asked, wanting to leave as fast as possible. Tamaku stared blankly at her. "Oh don't tell me not 'till I help you!"

Still no reply came from the blonde, just another blank stare.

"Fine…" Sakura muttered, unsatisfied. "What do you need me to do?"

Tamaku's eyes glittered. "Well," she began.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto examined the cold cave wall as he came to a stop. The trail of pink hair strands ended here, and turned into the cave in front of him before disappearing. Wherever these pink strands led too, Sakura would be there. Carefully, his hand hovered over the cave wall, looking for a crack of some sort to open it. Suddenly, he felt his index finger creep downwards, but it was just going through the stone. In a split second the cave wall engulfed his entire body, as if someone had walked behind him and shoved him inside.

Finally, he felt his head hit against the ground, still the same coldness as the wall from outside. Naruto rubbed his head, and looked up at his surroundings. Instead of being greeted with bare, cold gray wall, stood in front of him were walls plastered with red cloths with 'Akai Akki' written in black kanji letters, and even bright torches illuminating the decorations. On the floor, was a huge painting showing what seemed like a timeline of a long existing family. Dragons and demons were what were painted in front of the Hokage, huge scale mythical creatures that seemed to be only legends as far as Naruto knew. Carefully he stood up, and just stared at the painting on the path in front of him. All of the colors, each of them with a red tint caused by the torches, were so beautiful.

Naruto grabbed one of the burning torches, and ran down the path, though he kept his head down to stare at the timeline. The mythical drawing had faded and they were replaced with now soldiers and shinobi, fighting what seemed to be other countries. Suddenly, something caught his eye. Immediately he stopped, and stared down at the image below him. Two shinobi were fighting, the one of the left winning. What shocked him was who that shinobi was.

The Nidaime Hokage.

This painting was based on centuries ago, while the Nidaime was alive. These people, whoever they are, they lived years ago. Naruto bent down to feel the old painting, and was shocked to come in contact with wet paint. If this had happened centuries ago, then why was the paint still wet? He lifted himself off the ground, and balanced on the cave wall. But he didn't stand very long. One of the cloths came down, taking him with it. His head slammed against one of the torches' posts, leaving some blood to shine and drip down the cold cave wall. Snickers and murmurs echoed in his ears, as well as footsteps growing louder, closer. "He's here." One of them chuckled, and the footsteps stopped. "Now get 'im."

Naruto felt many pairs of hands grab him, and lift him off the ground. Soon enough he was moving, but he felt no fear. Nothing at all, because that feeling was just a distant memory, something long forgotten. What puzzled him though, was that he expected to be knocked out. Not taken while conscious. What kind of people, or kidnappers, were they? But that thought receded as a new one arose. I sure have been getting kidnapped a lot lately…what do they want with me? And why?

Wow...those are some thick paragraphs...damn. I didn't know they were that big...

Anyways, please review! And Happy New Years!

Yamahato Yokimoko-san