Chapter Twelve

Sasuke knew something was wrong. He felt it in the air. That familiar strong Chakra. His eyes narrowed as he realized the source. Itachi. What the hell was he doing here? Sasuke rolled over to face the window.

He watched as kids played hopscotch and other childish games as if they hadn't a care in the world. Then he thought about what had happened a few days ago. Sakura. That just about summed it up. She took care of me; waited in this room for five days just to make sure I'd be all right when I woke up and I treated her like she was worthless, he thought.

He hadn't seen her since his outburst. In fact, no one had visited his room besides a few nurses and Ino, who was no longer a loyal fan girl, (she'd hooked up with her teammate Chouji) but was still quite annoying.

Although the fact that he hadn't seen his ex-team for the last few days was odd, Sasuke was far from worried. Or at least pretending to be far from worried.

Sasuke turned at the sound of the door creaking open. It was Tsunade; bring him some smelly hospital food. Even though Sasuke knew Tsunade wasn't exactly his biggest fan, it was nice to see someone other than the nurses who knew nothing about him. Maybe he could finally get some information.

"Have you seen Sakura?" he asked as Tsunade set down his tray on the night table by his bed. His question was ignored. "Where's Sakura?" Sasuke demanded. Tsunade again said nothing. "Dammit!" Sasuke yelled. If he had a kunai he would have stabbed something.

"Sakura's gone," Tsunade said. "She has better things to do than sit around and listen to you insult her and treat her as if she's still twelve you know."

Sasuke calmed down slightly. "When am I going to be released?" he asked, changing the subject.

"When your injuries heal," Tsunade replied, shortly.

"When will that be?" Sasuke said, through clenched teeth.

Tsunade shrugged. Up close Sasuke noticed her eyes were bloodshot and her eyelids were drooping as if she hadn't gotten much sleep or had been crying a lot.

A horrible realization struck Sasuke. "Sakura's missing isn't she?" he said.

Tsunade looked taken aback. "Of course not," she responded, after a long pause. "Why would you ask such a question?"

"Tell the truth!" Sasuke snapped, loudly and impatiently.

Tsunade lowered her eyes. She sank into a chair nearby and buried her face in her hands. "Yes she is," She muttered to her hands rather than Sasuke. "Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto are also missing. We believe it was kidnap Not that you would care or anything."

Sasuke himself became very interested in his hands, one of which had a large bandage covering it. "How long?" He inquired, quietly.

"Since three days ago," Tsunade answered, still talking to her hands. When she finally did raise her head at the sound of movement, a few minutes later, she was surprised to see Sasuke stumbling out of his bed.

His eyes had turned Sharingan out of anger and he had a determined glint in them. "I'm going to find them," he growled.

"They might already be dead!" Tsunade cried. "We don't want to loose you too, traitor or not. Just let the ANBU handle it."

"I may not know who has them," Sasuke replied calmly. "But neither do the ANBU. So why is it any different if I go? It might even be better, since I know them from my former days in Konoha."

"Look in the mirror," Tsunade nearly shrieked. "You can't even walk properly. How do you expect to find them, let alone fight the one who has them?"

"I have my ways."

"I don't trust you!" Tsunade continued, furiously. "How do I know you're not part of this? This could be a plot to destroy Konoha! You've been gone for six years. SIX FUCKIN' YEARS, UCHIHA! And now you just show up out of nowhere. Did you really expect the village to welcome you back with open arms?"

"That's none of your business!" Sasuke snapped. He hobbled (yes THE Sasuke Uchiha hobbled) over to the wardrobe where his clothes were located. He was surprised Tsunade didn't try to stop him.

As Sasuke looked into the narrow closet like space, he noticed that someone had bought him a new blue shirt and had the Uchiha crest printed on it, probably at some store. He also noticed that someone had also got him some brand new gray shorts. He smiled faintly. Sakura. He silently thanked her in his mind, grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom.

Once inside, he locked the door and began to change out of the ugly thing the hospital had put on him after he'd taken off his mucky shorts. It was so hideous that he couldn't even tell what it was. When he was finally done (it took a while to get the ugly…. thing off.) he raised his head to look in the mirror.

What he saw surprised him, but not by much. There was a huge crack in the glass, with smaller cracks spreading out in all directions. The crack was obviously made by a kunai, which Sasuke discovered, was stabbed into the center of the glass. It was holding up a Konoha headband.

Upon closer inspection, found the headband had flecks of blood splattered all over it and a few strands of hair still clinging to the edges. The hair was long and as pink as a cherry blossom in the spring. Wait…Cherry Blossoms! Sakura!

Also on the mirror, Sasuke noted through his panic, was a message spelled out in Sakura's hair and taped on with blood. 'The cherry blossom is wilting quickly. Better hurry before it falls from the tree…' At the end there was a long trail of red substance running down the mirror and dripping onto the counter.

Sasuke took the headband down with shaking hands. Using the kunai, he ripped off the bandage on his left arm and re-opened part of the long cut that extended form his shoulder to his wrist. "I swear by my blood I will bring back Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura. Whoever did this to them is as good as dead," he said, his voice colder than ice. His blood dripped onto the silver part of Sakura's headband covering the Konoha symbol almost entirely.

As he was about to leave the bathroom, he realized who had his teammates. Yes, he thought. That makes perfect sense. I'll have to hurry if I want them back alive. He won't give them a chance. His anger nearly consumed him. Just thinking about that man made him feel sick.

Furiously, Sasuke threw the door open. Ignoring the bewildered Tsunade, he raised the kunai that was still tightly clamped in his hand. Blood poured from his other arm and soaked the carpet, but he didn't pay any mind to that either. With all his might, he hurled the kunai at the window. It shattered. Tsunade screamed as Sasuke jumped through. She rushed to peer down at the ground, but Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

A/N- yes I know kind of a long chapter and a bit rushed, but this is where the action begins! A few more chapters and it will be the showdown of the Uchihas! And yes the 'mystery person' was Itachi. I think I made that a bit obvious…but anyway here I go again with the rambling! Review and tell me what you think!