A\N:Thank you to everyone who has review so far, your support really helps!
So the next chapter is here, Yay‼ …mm… enjoy…
A friend in demand
A.K.A
Choices
"Naruto.. You ready?" the pink haired kunoichi said with a smile.
The blond just glanced over at her annoyed, but she didn't notice.. Sayuri stood back, watching silently.
Kei felt his heart quiver at the thought of leaving her alone again, then it hit him, he doesn't have to leave her alone, "Kakashi-San right?" he said stepping towards the masked ninja.
The mentioned person turned around, with a questioning look in his visible eye, "Is it possible.. For Sayuri to come with me to your village.. erm our village?" the blond asked.
Kakashi quickly figured that the blond wasn't really asking, he already seemed to have made up his mind, but that wasn't a problem anyway, "Sure" he said simply.
Sayuri's eyes widened, she had never considered leaving her cabin, her home. But the look of excitement on Kei's face, clearly said that she had no choice.
"Kakshi-Sensei.. Why aren't we running at our full speed? It's going to take much longer to get back to Konoha this way" Sakura moaned.
"Because we have two civilians with us, that can't run as fast as us Sakura" Kakashi said peering over his shoulder at the blond and his friend.
"But Naruto…" Sakura began arguing.
"Naruto no longer remembers anything about himself, including all his ninja training, he is a civilian.. For now at least." Kakashi interrupted.
Sakura looked away with a pained look on her face, Naruto didn't only forget about himself, but he forgot about everything and everyone in his life.. Including her.
"Don't worry Sakura, I'm sure Hokage-Sama can fix whatever's wrong with him" Kakashi said in attempt to assure her.
She forced out a pale smile, but she wasn't sure if she believed him or not, because she too was a medical ninja, but she couldn't find the reason for this odd memory loss. "Speaking of Tsunade-Sama.. Does she know about the developments in our mission?" Sakura asked trying to mask her worries.
Kakashi picked up on that and looked away, "Yes, I sent Pakun to her with some details last night, I believe he would have reached her by now" he answered in a semi-formal manner.
"That's.. good" she whispered, "That's good"
The trip to Konoha was long and tiring, by the end of the first day Sayuri had already doubted that she made the wrong decision to come along. But she quickly pushed those thoughts aside, as she argued that it was all worth it for Kei-San.
However, those thoughts insisted on visiting her constantly for the next three days of traveling, even though Sayuri insisted that they were not welcome.
Kei on the other hand was having much more problems with his inner thoughts than she was. He wasn't really sure what to think. He had already figured that learning about his old self is most likely what he should do, but there was always that nagging doubt. He didn't understand what he was afraid of, but he knew he'd probably find out. There was also the fear that he would never regain his memories. He didn't know if it that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he figured that it was a bad thing.
Every one was lost in their own world of worries and thoughts, including Sakura, but her main fear was Kei's latest one, what if Naruto never regained his memory? how would that work? she had never envisioned a future without Naruto being in it. But she quickly shook her thoughts off, she'd better not think like that.
"We should reach Konoha in about.. 3 and a half hours" Sakura said, looking up at the peeks of blue sky between the many leafs.
Sayuri let out a short sigh, she was tired of traveling, she wished that she could just teleport herself.. or maybe, fast-forward time. Sayuri sighed again knowing that she was fantasizing.
She tuned out the world, as she watched Bobo jumping around as he chased something. "We'll be back in about ten minutes," The masked ninja suddenly said, as he and the pink haired ninja backed their packs.
"We're just going to get some water, and do a quick look around the area.. Naruto" Sakura added, addressing her blond friend.
Sayuri peered at her annoyed, was she purposely ignoring her? Or was she just oblivious to her own actions.
The two ninja's jumped into the trees, with one leap. Sayuri turned her gaze back to the ground, and let out another sigh.. "Is something bothering you Sayuri?" she suddenly heard Kei's voice.
She looked up at him for a moment not knowing what was actually bothering her.. "I-Iie" she said forcing out a pale smile, "Nothing at all" she added trying her best to sound cheerful.
The blonde directed a concerned stare towards her, and his lips parted as he was about to say something in attempt to comfort her.. but his lips quickly closed tightly as he heard a very faint sound. He listened for a brief moment before saying in a low voice, "Sayuri.. did you hear that?"
Sayuri looked up at him, "Huh?" she said.
"Did you hear that?" he repeated straining to hear more.
Sayuri remained silent trying to hear anything, "N-no.. I don't hear anything"
Naruto's brows creased as he nervously looked around, "No.. I'm sure I heard…" he cut his sentence short at the sight of two men, who suddenly appeared in the clearing.
Naruto tensed, while Sayuri jumped up from her place with a gasp.. Bobo didn't seem to like the two men as he too tensed and let out a low fierce growl.
The men were very gruff looking, and wore a ninja protector on their person.. they smirked contently, eyeing the many baggage thrown here and there.
"Well well, what do we have here?" the smaller man suddenly said as he took a step forward, "You know, you kids shouldn't be camping out here.. it could be…." He paused for a second then added as his devious smile widened, "Dangerous"
Sayuri fixed a frightful stare on the two men, but at the same time tried to inch her way to Kei's side. "Stay right where you are Girly" The shorter man said, pointing a long Kunai at the petite girl.
Sayuri instantly froze in her place, her heart pounding harder than it ever had. She gulped in weakly as she slowly turned to look at Kei for help. Kei formed a tight fist, while the larger man started moving closer as well.
"Ah.. a fighter aren't you?" the shorter man said with a smug smile, noticing Kei's slow tensing.
The teen didn't respond as he tried to think of something that could save the two of them. At that moment the larger man was opening the bags and spilling them all over the forest ground.
His partner gave him a careless glance over the shoulder then turned back to the two teenagers with a mysterious gleam in his eyes. Sayuri shrunk into herself at his frightening glares, whilst Kei glared right back at him fearlessly.
Their eyes met for a tens moment before the man suddenly turned his mischievous beady eyes towards the girl. Sayuri couldn't help but flinch at the evil sparkle that suddenly filled the man's eyes.
"Yuji.. grab the girl, she's coming with us" he ordered, satisfaction filling his voice and eyes as they met the blonde's.
It was only a very short second that Kei took before launching himself at the man with all his anger, "The hell you are!" he yelled, throwing a fist straight to the man's face.
But the man simply ducked to the right, with an amused smirk on his lips.. "You're too slow kid" he said, as he was suddenly standing behind the blond, a kunai piercing the flesh of his neck slightly.
Kei fearlessly thrashed at the man, who was able to evade him with incredible ease. At the same time, the other man was walking towards Sayuri with slow confidant steps, knowing that he had all the time in the world.
The girl cowered back tears swelling in her eyes, the man took another step closer, causing Sayuri to shriek in fear, "Ni-San help" she yelped, tears streaming on her cheeks.
At that her faithful dog launched at the man, barking viciously as he sank his teeth on the large man's muscles. But the man only let out a low growled as he pulled the dog away from his skin and then kicked him away.
Bobo let out a whimper as he flew into the air, then another as his head smacked into a tree and he slid down it.
Kei failed to hear Sayuri's low cries for Bobo as the man had him in a neck lock, slowly squeezing and cutting off the boy's air supply. He kicked back, but hit nothing..
The man suddenly threw Kei to the ground. And as the boy wheezed as the air slowly reentered his lungs, the man cruelly kicked him in the chest. Knocking the air back out, and sending the blond a few feet into the air.
Lying on the ground next to a large tree, Kei struggled to push himself up, hearing Sayuri screaming his name. But just as he was able to lift his chest a few inches off the dirt, he received an extremely powerful strike, knocking him out cold.
"Nooo Kei-San" Sayuri cried desperately, the whole situation was overwhelmingly hopeless.
Being tied to a large tree, surrounded by scary people, and knowing that no one can help.. really can get to you. For some reason the man had decided to stay there and tie Sayuri to a tree with a large rough rope. Both Kei and Bobo were still out cold.
One of the two men was going through the small group's things, while the other sat on a large tree trunk watching his friend thoughtfully. Sayuri was careful not even to breath too loud, afraid that she might some how set her two captors off.
The shorter man, who seemed to be the head of the whole thing, stood up eyeing Sayuri maliciously, she jolted violently as the man walked towards her, "S-stay away from me" she screamed, fighting her bounds.
The man let out a short belittling laugh and continued, until he was standing right next to the bound girl. Tears filled her eyes as the man stared at her. "No" she gasped as he extended a hand towards her face.
She ducked her head and closed her eyes, however the hand didn't touch her, continuing traveling up. The man rested on his arm leaning in towards Sayuri until she could feel his hot steady breaths on her face, he extended his other hand and grabbed a lock of her short brown hair and fiddled with for a second, "You're quite pretty aren't you?" he said with a confidant smirk.
Sayuri's eyes were over flowing with tears as she looked into the man's merciless eyes. He moved his hand from her hair to her chin, gripping it tightly. She tried to turn her head away but he held her face in place, leaning towards her.
"NO!" she screamed again, this time doing something more effective.
She smashed her forehead against his nose with all her force. He let out an angry grunt taking a step back, "You brat" he spat, glaring at her murderously, "I was going to let you live, but now I just changed my mind" he burst.
Her heart pounded with fear as the guy quickly slipped out a kunai, stepping towards her. With the kunai holding hand, he ripped the ropes. As they fell, his other hand gripped her neck tightly, pinning her to the tree. He glared at her for a moment before dragging her across the tree trunk then throwing her to the ground.
She let out a short screech as she fell to her face. The dirt mixed with the blood from her newly split lip. She shrieked again as the man grabbed her from the back of her neck flinging her back with enormous force.
Sayuri let out a pained gasp as her back hit into a tree. She fell to her face again, struggling to move. She gasped again as the man stood over her; "Please!" she cried as he grabbed her hair and pulled her to her feet.
"I'm not even close to finished Girly" The man said with a mixture of content and anger.
There was a very short pause, as the man seemed to think something over, he searched his sadistic brain for the cruelest possible thing at the moment..
"Kill the blonde" he suddenly ordered sternly, an odd gleam appearing in his eyes, "Kill the blonde to save your life" he paused, "I want to watch you carve him open with your own hands!"
She blinked at him in shock, "What?" she whispered with disbelief.
"Kill the blonde!" she yelled viciously causing her to scream in fear.
"Takeo you're.." the other man said worriedly, creasing his brows and slowly standing up.
"Do not interfere!" his partner ordered shooting him a murderous glare, "And you! Kill the blonde now or I'll rip your throat out" he said to Sayuri extending a hand towards her.
Sayuri jumped back, but tripped on one of their empty backpacks, she fell on her back with a surprised shriek. She screamed as the man stood over her, grabbing her from her wrist, and lifting her into the air.
She kicked her legs about, as she dangled from her wrist, then let out a loud scream as the man squeezed it powerfully, nearly snapping it…
"Hey you let go of her!" a voiced suddenly called from behind.
The man turned around to see the blond boy awake, he was panting slightly and leaning against a tree trunk. "Ni-San" Sayuri joyfully yelled, forgetting the position she was in.
Kei turned to her, then turned to the man, his eyes filled with anger she had never seen before. But the man only smirked confidently, "Hold this" he suddenly ordered, flinging Sayuri towards his partner.
She let out a scream as she found herself flying back in the air. The large man caught the small girl with great ease, holding her between his muscular arms until his partner was through with what he was doing.
"Sayuri!" Naruto shouted, charging to her aid.
"Where do you think you're going?" Takeo said mockingly, kneeing the teen in the stomach.
Kei gasped as his body was suddenly sent flying in the opposite direction, then gasped harder as his back slammed into a tree. "Keiiii!" Sayuri screamed, struggling to free herself from the iron grip.
The man had jumped over to where Kei had fallen, he bent over confidently, grabbing the boy from the neck with a powerful grip. He lifted Kei up, pinning him to the tree by the neck, slowly tightening his grip.
Sayuri cried intensely, watching her best friend's face as it grew redder. "Kei" she whispered weakly, her resistance fading to nothing.
But suddenly out of no where appeared the masked ninja, he jumped out of the tall tree aiming a kick to the shorter man's chest, "Sakura" he said in an ordering voice.
Out of another angle came out the pink haired ninja, she jumped out of the high tree standing in front of the large man. Sayuri stared at the girl with fear as the man holding her tightened his grip around her, "Stay away little girl, I don't want to hurt you" he growled threateningly, pointing at Sakura with his free hand.
The female ninja smirked confidently, "Little girl?" she scoffed, raising a brow.
Her smirk soon disappeared as she shifted her foot to the side, and tightened her black glove. She confidently glared at the man for a second, before lunging at him her fist glowing in a threatening green light.
The man only had a few seconds to react as the emerald eyed girl came at him with a battle cry, her fist thirsting to land a hit. Apparently the man didn't react fast enough, because by the time the next second ended; Sakura had jumped into the air, then came down her punch making contact with the man's cheek bone, cracking it, and sending him flying a few meters back.
As the man started to fly in the opposite direction, Sakura grabbed Sayuri's hand pulling her out of the man's grip. The girl stumbled towards Sakura, "Are you alright?" she asked smiling kindly.
Sayuri was unable to respond; she stared at Sakura with tears in her eyes, then collapsed to her knees. Sakura turned her gaze to look behind her. She watched calmly as her teacher finished off the other man.
Her gaze then shifted down to see her friend on the forest ground panting for air. "Naruto!" she gasped dashing to his side.
Sayuri stared at her with surprise as she picked her friend up, leaning him against the tree.. She couldn't hear what the short haired girl was saying, but she watched as the girl lifted the blond's top.
A green light then formed around her hand, Sayuri turned her gaze to look at Naruto's face. He seemed to be calmer as he closed his eyes, leaning his head back and surrendering to the other girl.
"Are you alright?" she suddenly heard a voice say with a soft touch to her shoulder.
She looked up at the masked ninja as he was crouched next to her, a fatherly glow in his visible eye. Tears weld up in Sayuri's eyes as she shook her head meaninglessly. "You are safe now" she heard the ninja say warmly.
She continued starring at her blond friend, as a small smile formed on his lips in reaction to what the pink haired girl was saying. She struggled to stand on her feet; she nearly fell but then leaned on the ninja's arm. Using him as support she steadied herself on her feet, then slowly inched her way to Kei's side.
"Ni-San?" she whispered fearfully.
Kei's eyes suddenly shot open, "Sayuri" he gasped starring at her wide eyed.
He tried to pull himself up, but fell back down as intense pain shot through his leg, "S-Sayuri I…." he started, a guilty look imprinted on his features.
"Ni-San" Sayuri cried, throwing herself onto his chest.
Kei winced in pain, but didn't let it show as he embraced the petite girl in a gentle hug, stroking her hair and back with a calm smile, "We're okay now Sayuri… you're safe" he assured her as she sobbed into his chest.
"Sakura-San.. would you heal her first?" Kei said turning to the kunoichi.
"But Naruto.." Sakura protested knotting her brows with concern, eyeing his many wounds.
"Please Sakura" The blond said, a pleading look in his eyes.
"Hai" she murmured weakly, turning towards the brunet.
Sayuri turned towards Kei's face, he flashed an encouraging smile, "Please Sayuri.. for me?"
Sayuri nodded slightly, forcing out a pale smile. And so Sakura placed her hands on Sayuri's wounds, it was a brief moment until a green glow formed around her hands. The brunet winced as she felt a slight prick, but then stared in awe as she watched her cuts fade away.
"After Sakura is done healing everyone we'll be off" The masked ninja said, looking around in thought.
A\N: so that's that.. I don't have anything to add to this chapter.. I'd just appreciate it greatly if more people would review!