Yay, update! Sorry it took so long, school has been stressful. I would have had the chapter up sooner, but I went to a Breaking Benjamin, Seether and Three Days Grace concert this past weekend. It was AMAZING. Do any of you like those bands? Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Thank you for all the reviews!
A group of laughing teenagers passed by Shikamaru, drawing his attention to them. They looked to be in their late teens, maybe even young adults. The two girls had their arms linked together while the three males walked with their hands in their pockets. He noted that they were all dressed in similar outfits, their tops red and their bottoms black.
"Hey, you're from the Hidden Leaf Village!" one of the girls of the group of five commented, making her way over to the man. The teens stopped and stood in front of Shikamaru, the girls smiling brightly.
Glancing at each face, the leaf shinobi threw them all a slight smile. "I've always admired the skills of the leaf ninja," the other girl gushed, a light pink dusting her cheeks. "Are you here on a mission?"
The man gave a firm nod, then said, "I'm trying to figure out what is going on with all the child abductions. Do any of you happen to know anything about it?" All of the younger ones shook their heads except for one of the boys, who cast his gaze towards the ground, eyebrows knitted together. One girl brushed past her friends to rest a hand on the boy's shoulder and try and comfort him.
"My little brother," the boy started, forcing himself to look up and make eye contact with the man he was speaking to, "was abducted two months ago." The brown-haired teenager swallowed hard.
Sighing, the older man shook his head, knowing it must be a touchy subject for the younger male. "Did you see it happen?" The boy shook his head back and forth slowly. "Ah, okay. Well, I'm staying at the local inn if you figure anything out." Shikamaru glanced at the others just as the brown-haired boy smirked slightly.
"I'll be sure to pay you a visit," he said softly, then added, "that is, of course, if I figure anything out."
The group turned and sauntered down the street, talking in loud voices. Turning, Shikamaru decided it was time to head back to the inn and meet up with Sasuke and Itachi.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Sakura rolled her eyes as a knock sounded from the front door. Sliding her chair out, she stood, automatically resting a hand on her stomach as she made her way into the living room to get to the door.
"W-What are you doing here?" Sakura stammered, gazing out at the Fifth Hokage herself after opening the door. "Is Sasuke alright? What is-"
Tsunade smiled weakly and held out a manilla envelope. "Your precious Sasuke is fine. I just came to drop off your ultra sound pictures." Sakura blinked, emerald eyes wide. Once she took the item she tilted her head to the side, suspicion appearing in her eyes.
"You came all the way to my home in person to deliver an envelope?"
The blonde shook her head slightly, her smile intensifying. "Open it." After hearing those words, the pink-haired kunoichi tore the envelope open and examined the ultra sound picture. Tsunade watched as the woman in front of her paled and swayed to the side a bit. When Sakura started to descend towards the ground as she fainted, Tsunade caught her and drug her over to the couch, setting her down gently on it. "Sakura, I also came here to catch you when you fainted. You'll be a mother of twins."
The mother-like figure of Sakura let out a chuckle then left the house before Hinata and Naruto could come and see her there.
A curious Naruto and worried Hinata rushed into the living room not long after they heard the front door slam shut. Gasping as her pearl-colored eyes landed on her best friend, Hinata rushed over and patted Sakura's cheek lightly. "Sakura. Sakura, wake up, dear." Drawing her small hand away, the woman shook her head. "She's out cold."
"What's that?" Naruto wandered over to the front door, picking up the envelope and ultra sound pictures strewn across the floor. With a blank expression he stared at the objects he had picked up. Suddenly, he yelled, "Sasuke and Sakura are going to have twins?"
Hinata waddled over to Naruto as fast as she could, snatching the items out of his hands and peering at them with excitement. A smile spread across the woman's face and then she started to laugh lightheartedly. "This is wonderful. I'm sure Sakura will be very happy when she regains consciousness." Laughing even more, she added, "I wonder how Sasuke will react after hearing the news." A mental image of the scene flashed through Naruto's head and the man started to laugh.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Sasuke wrung his wrists as he sat on the edge of the bed in their room at the inn, thinking about how Sakura was. He couldn't seem to get her off his mind since it was the first mission he had been on since they had gotten married.
Itachi watched his brother with raised eyebrows. "Thinking about Sakura, huh?" he said with a small chuckle. "She's fine, Sasuke. You're going to go on a lot of other missions away from home, you need to get used to focusing on the mission. It was like that at first for me too, but after you end up getting hurt in a battle because your mind is at home, you'll realize you need to concentrate."
The younger raven-haired male nodded, sitting up straighter. "You're right, I need to focus on the mission." Sighing, Sasuke threw his brother a very small smile. Both pairs of grey eyes drifted to the door as it swung open, Shikamaru making his way inside.
There was no greeting from the man, he got right down to business. "Itachi, did you find out anything?" The man shook his head and Shikamaru turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke?"
"I passed by the park, and it would be the perfect place for someone to take children. There are patches of thick bushes that a person could hide in. I didn't see many parents around to watch their children, and the parents that were around were socializing with friends and not paying good attention to the kids."
Shikamaru paced a bit, scratching the back of his head. "One of us will monitor the park from now on. I met a boy whose brother was abducted only two months ago. The boy and his friends will contact us if they figure out anything about these kidnaps."
Getting up off the edge of the bed, Sasuke peeked outside the window to find it was already dark outside. "We should get some rest soon so we can wake up early tomorrow." Itachi's stomach growled loudly and two sets of eyes landed on the man as he snickered.
"I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat before going to sleep." The three men decided to go to the nearest bar for a drink and some food.
Once inside the building, they sat down together at the counter and ordered a drink and some food. The bartender set their drinks down, promising their food would be out shortly. Sasuke was the first one to take a sip of the alcoholic beverage. He set the glass down, his hand remaining on the side, and heaved a sigh. Shikamaru glanced over and him and noticed how tired his comrade looked, he could tell Sasuke had been worrying about his wife a lot since they had set out on the mission.
Itachi leaned over and whispered something to Sasuke. The man receiving the information glanced around casually as he took another swig of his drink.
"We're being watched," Sasuke mumbled to Shikamaru, gesturing his head slightly to the far corner of the bar. When the dark eyes of the Nara male landed on the people Sasuke had pointed out, he just sighed and said, "Those are the teenagers I met earlier." The brown-haired boy was looking over at the three men, smiling slightly. When he realized Shikamaru was staring, he raised his hand as a wave and Shikamaru returned the gesture.
The girls noticed the leaf shinobi and smiled broadly at them before directing their attention back to each other to once again babble.
Itachi leaned in front of Sasuke to ask Shikamaru in a hushed voice, "Are you sure they're teenagers? They look a bit older, and one of them in drinking a beer. In these parts you have to be twenty-one or older to consume alcohol."
Raising an eyebrow, Shikamaru nodded. "They must be older than I thought. I'm sure they are young adults. No big deal." Giving a shrug, the man downed his drink and slammed the glass down on the counter, asking the bartender for a refill.
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll update again soon! Please review, I love hearing what you think of my story!