Chapter 3

"What do you mean 'she's not here'?" Tsunade hissed.

"She's not in the room. She must have run away," the ANBU answered.

"Sakura did not run away," Sasuke cut in. "She wouldn't run from a marriage with me." Sasuke glared at the ANBU and the Hokage before disappearing.

Moments later, he reappeared in Sakura's dressing room. He searched everywhere in the room, looking for any clue as to where his bride-to-be had gone.

'Sakura, where are you?'

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Itachi and Kisame swiftly made their way out of Konoha with the sleeping woman. Neither of them spoke. The only noise was the soft clacking of their shoes pushing off from the tree branches that could only be heard if you were listening very hard for it.

Suddenly, Itachi dropped down to the forest floor. Kisame quickly followed his partner.

"What is it?"

"Hn."

Kisame looked around, centering all his attention on his sight, hearing and sense of smell. Then he felt it, the Calling.

"Where should we go?"

"We'll find a cave," Itachi answered Kisame's question with an irritated tone. "Two miles north."

Soon the two shinobi were leaping among the treetops, heading for the cave that Itachi knew existed.

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More ANBU were searching the room. No one could find any signs that Sakura had been taken, so they all assumed that Sakura had either chickened out or had realized that the Uchiha wasn't worth it.

Tsunade, Kakashi and Sasuke were in a huddled group trying to figure out where Sakura had gone. Sasuke had checked her apartment, Tsunade had checked her office at the tower and hospital, and Kakashi had checked the training grounds.

"She had to have been taken by someone," Sasuke argued.

"There is no evidence that proves your theory. She probably left of her own free will," Tsunade flung back at the angered Uchiha.

Kakashi didn't enter the conversation. He was busy thinking of how Sakura had been acting. He remembered one incident very clearly.

Kakashi walked up to Sakura's apartment door. He had decided to see if Sakura had time to train today since she had the day off from the hospital and training with the Hokage.

Kakashi knocked lazily and waited for Sakura to promptly open the door like always when he came… but she didn't come like usual.

'Maybe she isn't home? No… I feel her chakra… and… someone else's?'

"Sakura?" Kakashi called out, hoping to get her attention.

A muffled "Coming!" was heard through the wooden door. Soon the sound of locks being released and the doorknob turning greeted Kakashi's ears.

"Sorry, I was watching TV," a flustered Sakura said, out of breath and looking disheveled. "Is there anything I can help you with Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes there is," Kakashi stated. "I was wondering if you wanted to train since you have the day off from your other normal activities…" Kakashi trailed off letting Sakura finish the sentence.

Sakura turned around and looked into her apartment briefly, as though she was checking the time. "Why don't you come in Kakashi?" Sakura asked.

"Why not, I've nothing better to do," Kakashi said with an eye crinkle.

"I'll put on some tea then," Sakura said leading Kakashi into the kitchen after closing the apartment door behind them.

Kakashi walked up behind Sakura and grabbed a strand of her hair. She jumped when she felt him grab her hair.

"A bit jumpy?" Kakashi asked.

"N-no," Sakura lamely tried to hide her stuttering.

"Who was just in here?"

"No one, not that it's any of your business."

"Fine, fine. Just making sure your not getting yourself into trouble, that's all."

'She was so jumpy that day because of her guest… Sakura must have been cheating on Sasuke, or thinking about it. She might have finally picked whom she wanted to be with. Or she was taken by a jealous lover…'

Kakashi sighed, catching the attention of the two still arguing ninja.

"What about you Kakashi?"

"What do you think?"

Kakashi looked at the two of them and sighed again, knowing he couldn't keep secrets from them. "Sakura… might have been seeing someone else," he said with grim finality.

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Itachi and Kisame landed in front of the cave. Itachi walked in still holding Sakura while Kisame followed slowly behind making sure the cave was well hidden from prying eyes.

Itachi walked to a corner of the cave and, after setting his cloak down first, placed Sakura down gently, careful to not disturb her sleeping. He then joined Kisame sitting in the center of the cave. Both went into meditation, their minds going to another cave far away from their own.

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"Where have you been?" a dark and foreboding voice asked.

"We had an important mission to complete," Itachi answered the dark form where the voice was coming from.

"Suuurrrreee, un," another voice spoke up. The owner's one visible blue eye sparkling with concealed laughter. "Like the 'important mission' you had to complete before the one you were given, un?"

"…" Itachi remained silent, ignoring the taunt from the other Akatsuki member.

"Silence!" the first voice spoke again. "We must get on to business. Zetsu, report."

"Shinobi have been seen around our base in Mist. They have not been eliminated yet since their purpose is not known. If they become a nuisance or they discover the base they will 'disappear'. Also, it seems as though Konoha's pink-haired kunoichi has been having an unusual visitor," a raspy voice accompanied with yellow eyes spoke. "This visitor is unknown, but is definitely not from the village." Everyone in the cave could imagine the smirk that was growing on Zetsu's face as he spoke. "This visitor is also very strong, probably Akatsuki level…" Zetsu trailed off, the smirk on his face almost visible.

"Everyone's orders are these, don't give the shinobi around our base any leads, don't kill them either. Also, watch this 'visitor' of Haruno's, we wouldn't want her to be captured," the voice that seemed to have called the meeting ordered.

"Dismissed!" the dark figure said and seven figures around him disappeared.

"Do you think it's him?" a feminine voice asked.

"Honestly? I don't know."

Sakura groaned slightly as she regained conscienceness. She slowly opened her eyes. Looking around she saw close to nothing because there was little light. When her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was in a cave. She saw Itachi and Kisame sitting in the middle, she couldn't tell if they were awake or not. She noticed that Itachi didn't have his cloak on. As she shifted her hand she felt fabric, not stone, under her palm. She looked down and saw Itachi's cloak. Sakura immediately looked up in surprise.

'Did he actually want me to be comfortable?'

'No, he just doesn't want you getting sick.'

'Right…'

Sakura became lost in thoughts about why Itachi and Kisame had taken her. As she was thinking, Itachi stirred, finally finished with his meditation. He looked over to where his captive sat, thinking. He was vaguely surprised she didn't try to escape, but he realized she was probably too busy thinking about useless things.

Itachi stood up and walked over to Sakura. She quickly looked up then down when she realized he was staring intently at her.

"What do you want, Uchiha?" Sakura asked with venom coating her words.

When Itachi didn't reply, Sakura looked up to see that he wasn't in front of her anymore, but walking back to Kisame. She tilted her head in confusion.

'What is his problem?'

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A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I have a lot of schoolwork and I've had writer's block. I hope to make the next chapter longer. Also, sorry for the crappy ending of this, I really wanted to post something over the break. Merry (late) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Review! It makes me happy and I'll update faster:D

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!