A GIGANTIC THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE ENCOURAGEMENTS! HOWEVER, I ONLY GOT TWO REVIEWS! HOW SADDENING!!! PLEASE REVIEWW! IT MAKES ME HAPPY! Heh. Of course you want me to be happy! Don't you?! Don't make me give you that puppy dog face! LOL.

NOTE: I rewrote this thing a little. Deleted the original chapter ten minutes after submitting it. -.-

Experimenting Flowers

Chapter 4: Lost

Kabuto smirked as he felt the young girl lean on his chest, unconscious. So shy and innocent, he thought and smirked to himself. Her abrupt loss of consciousness made him more determined to play with her. After all, life was rather boring as Orochimaru's lackey. The warmth of her this close to him was enticing. But he had other plans.

Slowly carrying Hinata in his arms, he brought her to her room that was opposite his. The room was small and dark, like the rest of Orochimaru's lair. It has a stale smell that reminded Kabuto of algae and moss, showing that it had not been occupied for a long time. It had a stone bed with some bedding on it. There was a lone dim candle lighting the room a little on an old wooden table. The room was empty for a long time. He put Hinata down carefully on the stone bed and watched her chest rise and fall while she breathed.

"Rather flat-chested," Kabuto noticed as he moved his gaze upwards to her face. It was pretty enough. Her button nose was cute and her lips, pink and inviting. Her face was flushed by the close contact she had with him. He moved close to Hinata's ear and whispered, "You will come to me, my prey." Kabuto stifled a chuckle that was about to erupt. The word 'prey' reminded him of his master, Orochimaru. Glancing at the sleeping beauty that would be his someday, he left the room, accidentally leaving the door slightly ajar.

Meanwhile, Hinata was having a nightmare about the medic ninja who freaked her out and just left her room. She was in a dark place where she was strapped down onto a stone bed, just like how it was when she first woke up after being captured. Kabuto was glowering above her. His glasses were glinting in the dark and they hid his eyes, making him resemble a perverse lunatic. He moved his face closer to hers, until they were mere inches apart. She could smell his breath, which reminded of miso.

"What the hell?! Miso belongs to Naruto, AND NARUTO ONLY!" Hinata screamed in her mind.

Hinata panicked when he edged closer to her. She struggled against the invisible bindings which restricted her movement in the first place. "Naruto-kun, save me!" she screamed and woke up. She realized that she was perspiring profusely. "Thank goodness it's a dream," Hinata whispered to herself as she heaved a sigh of relief.

What she did not know was that Sasuke heard her screaming for Naruto. He was merely passing by the room when he heard the white-eyed kunoichi scream his ex-teammate's name. He paused outside the room. "Naruto," he repeated softly. He leaned against the wall of the hallway, looking thoughtful.

Naruto was the closest friend he ever had. Even though he left his team for Orochimaru and nearly killed Naruto, he still treated Naruto as a person precious to him and was terribly guilty of betraying him. He missed Naruto even though he did not mention this to anyone, especially Orochimaru. Orochimaru would probably laugh at him for being weak.

"How is Hinata related to Naruto? Is she someone precious to him?" Sasuke thought. Maybe he should protect her, as a way to apologise to Naruto for his betrayal. Perhaps he should watch over Kabuto to make sure he does not do anything bad to the girl. Slowly, he made his way to his room for his afternoon nap.

On the other hand, in the hidden village of the Leaf, Tsunade was pacing up and down her office after hearing the news that Hinata was missing. Hiashi, Neji, Shino, Kiba and Naruto were in her office.

"OK. Can somebody tell me where could she be?" Tsunade shot an anxious look to everyone in the room, her tone hostile.

"Perhaps running away from home because she could not handle the pressure of being the heir of the Hyuuga clan?" Hiashi snarled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Neji stiffened. He clenched his fists. Of course! Hiashi would probably benefit the most from Hinata's disappearance. He would not need to fret over his weakling daughter anymore! Hiashi shot a warning look to Neji. Neji looked down almost instantly. He would not want the cursed seal to be activated.

Tsunade let out a small scream of frustration when she did not get any favorable answers from the group of shinobis. She roughly grasped a cup of sake that was on the table and downed it.

"Shikamaru!" she shouted.

Back at Orochimaru's little (maybe not -.-) dark cave, Hinata laid down on her bed, thinking. She wanted to stop Orochimaru from merging Sasuke and her genes. If he succeeded, she would be the one responsible for Konoha's downfall.

"Konoha..." Hinata whispered. It was her home. She could not bear to see it destroyed. Yet, she could do nothing to save it. Her family, her friends... What would they do? What would they say? "I miss them so much," Hinata thought as images of her father (A/N: DAMN! HE DID NOTHING TO DESERVE THIS!), her sister, her team mates and Naruto ran through her mind. Silently, she began to cry. She hated herself for crying, it was a sign of weakness. She felt her hand brush against something crisp. She grabbed it. It was a note from Kabuto.

To Hinata,

Meet me at the medical room after you wake up.

Kabuto

Hinata stared at the note, scrunched it up and threw it onto the gorund violently

"So where's the medical room?" she wondered as she stepped out of the room, angry at Kabuto for not giving her the directions. Looking around the place, all she could see an endless hallway. It induced shivers down her back as she felt fear for being in this strange and dangerous place. Walking to her right, she slowly opened the doors to all the rooms she saw. She opened so many doors until she lost count of the number. All the rooms were empty. She grumbled inwardly at the impractical number of rooms. "Why do they need so many rooms? They're all empty."

Finally, she reached a room with someone inside. The room was dark like the other rooms but she could feel a little warmth radiating from the room or something like that. She walked in, cautious. "Ano, excuse me. Can somebody tell me how to go to the medical room?" she asked slowly and softly. No one replied. She grew a little nervous and quickened her pace to look around the room. Suddenly, she felt her toe hit something hard and she tripped onto a stone bed that was similar to the one in her room. She groaned in pain as she felt her toe throbbing.

It took her mere seconds to realize she had landed on something soft. She. Had. Fallen. On. Someone. That 'someone' grunted and stirred.

A/N: GUESS WHO! Hahahaaa. It's been long since I updated. GOMEN-NEH! I was lazy and did not have such inspiration for this story. Hehh. GAHHHHH! SASUKE HAS A CONSCIENCE! I LOVE HIM!