Surprise! A very quick update from your favorite author :D Just a little warning, the next chapter will not be so quick as there will be quarter-end-hell in the work this week :'( so make me happy and read and of course ENJOY the newest chapter :)

Enjoy!

The night was quiet. Too quiet. The living creatures in the forest seemed to hush down in anticipation. Maybe that is what startled Kakashi to wake or maybe it was the absence of heat next to him. Earlier that night he noticed Sakura standing up and leaving, probably to go to the bathroom. He fell back asleep before she came back.

He sat up on the bed listening to his surroundings. Quiet. He called her name and his only reply was more quiet. Standing up he put his pants on while walking through the room to the bathroom.

"Sakura?" he knocked on the door but no reply came back to him. He pushed the door open saw only more darkness and no Sakura. Looking around the room he saw nothing out of place but the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach was just getting stronger and stronger with each passing minute. Something wasn't right but he couldn't put his finger on it. There was just no reason for Sakura to leave the room. She looked quite sick when he left her to go for diner. Even though her fever dropped to normal by the time he returned she didn't even stir when he touched her forehead to check her.

Putting on the rest of his clothes he also quickly attached his small weapon pouch to his thigh. The bad feeling became more pronounced once he stepped out of the room. The ryokan was usually lit throughout the night. At least a light here and there so a guest in the night won't get lost. Now it was just darkness everywhere. He quietly made his way to Ino's room and was surprised to find the gardener standing in front of her doors as if keeping watch. He wasn't sure if it was to make sure she didn't leave or to keep others coming in.

Kakashi backtracked and jumped up onto the roof not wanting to confront the gardener. Looking around he made sure there was no one else beside him on the rooftops and ran silently to Ino's window. Jumping in her room through the window he saw her in the bed. She seemed to be asleep so he moved his hand to cover up her mouth to make sure she didn't give out a sound when she woke. To his surprise a kunai nearly cut his hand in half.

Recognition flashed in the blonde's eyes and before she could question the copy-nin he put a finger to his mouth to gesture that she should be quiet and then touched his ear and pointed at the doors. Ino nodded quickly understanding what he was trying to say though wondering what was really going on. She made a few hand signs and touched Kakashi's hand.

"What is going on?" Asked Ino's voice in Kakashi's head.

With family and good friends she didn't have to use the hand signs to activate telepathic communication. She and Kakashi never had too many interactions they were more of acquaintances rather than friends. The touch was just her way of preparing the subject for the mind intrusion.

"Not sure. Sakura is missing and the gardener is standing outside of your door." Replied Kakashi.

"She is not here either as far as I can tell." Replied Ino and removed her hand from Kakashi's so she could put some clothes on her.

Before they could continue with their conversation steps could be heard outside the door. They looked at each other and Kakashi quickly hid himself from sight. The doors slid open with a chilling slowness. Ino watched with big eyes, scared that she would see that ghost again. Instead a light came through the door followed by the hand that was holding it. A child entered the room, her green eyes open wide and vacant. She looked around the room as if looking for someone and spoke.

"Kakashi-san? I know you are here, please step into the light." Girl's voice split the silence and Ino finally let out her breath she was holding without realizing it.

"What the hell is going on? How did she know you are here?" Ino asked startled and honestly more than a little freaked out by the little girl.

"Can you read her mind?" Came a reply from Kakashi as he slowly moved toward the light.

"Ah, there you are. I have been looking all over for you. There is a little gathering prepared just for you, please join us Kakashi." Spoke Midori and smiled as she motioned with her hand to the doors.

"Who are you?" Asked Kakashi.

She cocked her head to the side and smiled. "I am Midori-chan of course." She said it in her little childish voice. Then suddenly her face changed and a crueler smile appeared on her face "Follow me, please."

"Kakashi! There is nothing or something." Came Ino's voice.

"Which is it Ino?"

"Why should I go with you?" Kakashi tried to stall for time. His suspicions was just confirmed, he knew that that feeling in his gut when he woke up had something to do with Sakura's wellbeing.

"I don't know. It's as if there was some kind of coat or layer around her mind. I can't get too deep. There are only the word's she is saying on the surface. I can't explain it better."

"Your pink haired friend is with us. She would be really sad if you didn't come." Replied the child.

"Is it the same with the guy outside?"

After few seconds came a reply. "Yes but he keeps repeating the same words over and over. Guard. Keep her away. Does he mean me?"

She didn't have to wait for a reply as the child turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, but this is invitation only. I am sure you don't want to upset your pink haired friend. Sakura would also appreciate if you left your weapon pouches here Kakashi-san. It's rude to bring weapons to a party."

Kakashi didn't like this one bit but he couldn't risk Sakura's life when he didn't know in what state she is. He hesitated for another few seconds before slowly removing his hip pouch, followed by the one he had on his thigh.

As he stripped of his weapons the gardener moved inside the room to bind Ino. Her stance changed and muscles tensed, she was ready to fight him when Kakashi's voice stopped her."Let it be. We don't know what kind of situation Sakura is on. I'll deal with him quietly."

She relaxed and let the man come near her with shackles in his hands. Chakra sealing shackles. They came prepared. Ino realized startled. She didn't expect this little vacation to turn into this. She almost forgot about the little scary incident at the start of the week and hoped the rest of the stay would be nice and quiet.

Kakashi nodded his head at Midori. "Alright, lead the way."

As the child turned her back at him in a split second he had his sharingan spinning at the gardener, sending him into a dream world where he successfully bound the blond kunoichi and prevented her leaving the room for the rest of the night.

"Ino. He should be out for quite some time. Follow us and make sure you are not seen or heard."

Following the child through the halls of the ryokan his mind kept spinning images of Sakura. His stomach turned at the possibility that she is in danger. His hands clenched into fists. He had to willfully calm himself with few breaths and made himself relax his hands. Losing his cool in this kind of situation wouldn't help anyone.

The girl led him through the main hall and into the back, where the private part of the ryokan was located. The hall ended with a carved ornamental wooden statue that was pressed against the wall. She pressed her little hand at four specific places and turned little knobs of wood. Only upon close inspection one would notice the slight color difference, probably due to their usage.

The silence stretched for few moments when suddenly a little cracking noise came from behind the statue and part of the wall started to move. I wasn't expecting this. Thought Kakashi as he watched the girl push past the statue and into the darkness of the newly opened passage. Following her he stepped behind the statue and onto stone steps that led steeply down. The air was damp and the stairs seemed to go on forever down. When he thought their end would never come a faint light could be seen just behind a corner just as they reached the end of the stone stairs. The ground wasn't stone but dirt, he realized this was manmade, rather than a natural cave. Behind the corner was a big entrance hall illuminated by several lanterns hanging on the walls.

Midori set her lantern down on the ground and picked something else from the ground and moved to stand with the rest of the assembled people. His eyes scanned the room. Everyone from the ryokan was gathered in the underground room.

Ayako stood in the middle of the room. On her right side stood Kotone, Hokori and Izumi, the maids. Next to them stood Nana with her daughter Midori beside her. On the left side stood the old grandmother, Kashikoi and the cook, Sabaku with a rather large knife in his hand. The cold steel was pressed against Sakura's tender neck. His eyes lingered at her for a few moments, noticing she didn't have any visible wounds. He tried to make eye contact with her but she kept looking up at the ceiling.

A muffled sound made him look to the left where Kaori lay bound on the ground, hands behind her back and with a gagged mouth.

Kakashi noticed that all of them had sharp looking daggers or knifes in their hands. This is not good at all.

Kakashi broke the silence. "I'm here. What do you want?" Not sure to whom to address his question.

His cousin Ayako was the one who answered. "The vault. Open it." She moved to the side a bit and he noticed sealed doors behind her.

"Why?" Asked slightly confused Kakashi. He really didn't expect this to be about some vault he didn't even know existed.

"Because I want it opened. Don't make me repeat myself or I will have her eye out." When she spoke those words, Sabaku moved the blade from Sakura's neck just to stop at the delicate skin just below her eye. She didn't make a sound, only her eyes looked at the dagger and then at Kakashi as if trying to tell him something.

He moved slowly towards the vault. He could at least try to open the vault, or pretend to. It would by him some time to figure this whole situation. He also wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to Sakura and maybe try to get her out of his grasp. He started to slip the hidden kunai from the sleeve into his hand when Ayako spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She brought her hand up holding the dagger. "You wouldn't have enough time."

This almost stopped Kakashi in his tracks, threats like this didn't work on him. "Time for what?" he asked, trying to create a distraction.

He followed the movement of the dagger as she brought it up, but instead of moving it in Kakashi's direction she pressed it against her own neck. It took him a moment to notice that the others made the same move. All the others moved their knives to their own throats and in perfect unison they spoke.

"To save all of them."

I'm sorry for the massive cliffhanger but It would be too long if I didn't split it into two chapters :)

Thank you for all reviews and favs :)

Anyways I hope you liked it! So don't forget to R&R. I will try to post another chapter as soon as possible!