The Disappearance of Haruno Sakura

By Chemicalisation

The Fourth Chapter

"Where do we go from here?" Shizune asked, her expression was composed despite the fact that she felt herself teetering over an edge. Where do we go from here? The question had been playing on her mind for the last a few weeks. And today it was hitting her that perhaps there was nothing. Nowhere to go. She felt her hands shake and before anyone could notice, she clenched them. She could not understand Kakashi, Anko and Kurenai before her. Were they like her? Hiding behind a mask of false bravado? No, Shizune realized, for them the disappearance of Sakura was ordinary business. She had to keep herself detached, if she wanted to be in the same room as the investigation team. If there was one thing Kakashi had a total and utter disdain for, it was overwhelming emotion.

Anko crossed her arms. She looked down at Kakashi, seated at the behind the massive wooden desk, and ignored Shizune. "The anbu team, the one with whom contact could not be made, arrived in Konoha one hour ago. They gave their report and, before they were even given a chance to rest, they were questioned regarding Ishigakure and Haruno." Anko paused and then resumed. "They had no information."

"We're stuck," said Kurenai grimly.

"No kidding." Anko began to tick off the number of leads on her fingers. "One, we questioned Haruno's parents. They weren't lying and have no idea where she is. Second, we went to Ishigakure. Questioned the people there. No leads. Every irrelevant movement of Haruno has been substantiated by several people and the relevant ones? Zilch. Nada. Third, we looked into criminal organizations in or near Ishigakure. None of them even suggested that they cared who Haruno was. Fourth, checked all the nearby inn and ninja check posts. No one has reported seeing her."

Anko slammed her hand on Kakashi's desk. Shizune jumped. "And now Uzumaki is saying that she is dead! Where do we go from here? There is nowhere else to fucking go!"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. "There could be multiple reasons as to why Naruto could not sense Sakura. Maybe Naruto's sage mode has limitations which he is unaware of."

"Or she may have chakra so low that she cannot even be sensed." Kurenai finished, her expression grim. "That would mean that she would be on her deathbed. Unfortunately, it seems more likely."

Anko scowled. She was antsy. Who ever was doing this was dancing circles around them, mocking the military prowess of Konoha. "At this point, Haruno is probably lying in pieces in a swamp."

Shizune's legs trembled but she caught herself at the last second. Calm down, she reminded herself. Calm the fuck down. Kakashi, Anko and Kurenai paid her no heed.

"Continue looking into Ishigakure and the surrounding locations." Kakashi impatiently tapped his fingers against the table. "There must be something."

"With all due respect, Hokage sama," said Kurenai, crossing her arms. "I believe it would be a waste of time. Naruto's sensing abilities have shown us that Haruno san is not there. And even if her kidnapper is intentionally keeping her low on chakra then Ishigakure would be the last place he'll be. He would have left by now knowing that Konoha would be keeping a close watch on the area."

"Look underneath the underneath, Kurenai," Kakashi said shortly. "That is what he would think and then he would realize that's what we think and then come to the conclusion that Ishigakure is now the safest place to be because two of Konoha's mostly highly valued nin have declared the area as harmless."

"That's a stretch, Hokage sama," said Kurenai quietly. "We can also make the opposing argument."

"But the order is mine to make, isn't it?" Kakashi's tone was cool. "Sakura disappeared from Ishigakure. The last time anyone saw her was there. Send a tracking team to Ishigakure and tell them to expand from here."

"We are grasping for straws," Anko grumbled as she and Kurenai left the room.

Kakashi waited until the door shut after them before turning to Shizune. "Don't I know it," he sighed.

"This investigation. Is it even going anywhere?" Tsunade poured sake into her cup.

Shizune sat on the opposite end of the kitchen table, careful to keep her expression passive. A wrong word and Tsunade would bite her head off. She looked around the kitchen and tried not to sigh. Dirty dishes everywhere. It was true that Tsunade wasn't a homebody person although, since her retirement, she usually stayed at home. But since Sakura's disappearance, her isolation had gotten worse.

"I don't know." Shizune admitted.

Tsunade clenched the cup before setting it back on the table.

"I don't what to do." Shizune's voice cracked. "Where to look? What to think? I am frightened of…"

"Don't," Tsunade cut Shizune off. "Don't think about it. Its the worst thing that you can do to yourself."

"Yes." Shizune gave a feeble nod.

"Remember," Tsunade continued. "Sakura is trained well. If she felt there was no way out then she knew how to end things for herself. Nobody knows that better than a medic."

Shizune's hands shook. She quickly hid them under the table. "How can you think that? How can you about Sakura…"

"Because I know. Because you know. Just like Sakura knows. There are worse things in life than death." Tsunade words were harsh and, as soon as she said it, she fell silent.

Shizune didn't talk either. There was nothing for her to say. The grandfather clock in the living room ticked on and on as if every one second brought closer the endgame. Tick tick tick. As soon as one tick ended, it created the dreadful anticipation of the next one. Shizune wanted to laugh, manically and hysterically. Why hadn't she ever laughed before? Did she ever laugh before? She closed her eyes and tried to remember but all she could see was Sakura's perfect smile. Her perfect green eyes. And blood. Blood on the mountains of paperwork in the Hokage tower as Sakura lay in the middle, smiling her gentle smile as blood gushed out of her from every orifice.

"Don't go." Tsunade's voice was soft. Shizune opened her eyes. Tsunade was looking at her intently.

Shizune licked her cracked lips. She needed some water. "What do you mean?"

"Don't go on missions anymore." Tsunade's gaze bore down on Shizune.

Shizune tried to inject some wryness into her tone. "This isn't the conversation we had a few weeks ago."

"I don't think I could bear it if I lost you too." Tsunade's tone cracked.

Shizune reached for Tsunade's right hand and gripped it tight. "I will never leave you. Sakura will come back. Don't doubt it." Shizune gave a weak smile. "And when we are both too busy to haul you around then you can summon Katsuyu and complain about children these days."

Tsunade gave a watery chuckle unaware that Shizune had gone still. As Tsunade looked up, her smile died on her lips. "What's wrong?"

Shizune had gone pale. "Katsuyu," she whispered.

"What about Katsuyu?" asked Tsunade, alarmed.

Shizune spoke as if in a trance. "If Sakura was attacked and presuming the attacker didn't catch her by surprise then won't Sakura have at some point in her fight summoned Katsuyu?"

Dawning realization filtered through Tsunade's face. "Katsuyu may have seen Sakura before she disappeared."

Shizune stood up from her seat and placed her palms on the table. "It might be a long shot. But you have to summon Katsuyu and ask," she urged.

As Tsunade made the seal, Shizune tried not to let the excitement get to here. It could fail, she reminded herself. But it could also succeed, as she felt the hope bloom inside of her.

"Good afternoon, Tsunade sama," said Katsuyu as she appeared on the kitchen table. Too often Shizune had been baffled by the ladylike polite tone coming from the blue slug on the kitchen table. Shizune looked at Tsunade and then back down at the tiny body of Katsuyu which was easily the size of her forearm. Of course, Tsunade would not need the larger body of Katsuyu. The purpose of summoning was not to attack, after all. As it was, a tiny part of Katsuyu would suffice for a few questions.

"Katsuyu sama," said Shizune, her eagerness betraying her voice. "Are you aware that Sakura has disappeared?

After a pause, Katsuyu spoke. "No, Shizune san."

"Has she summoned you in the last fifty days or so?" asked Shizune, deflating. "At any point. For anything?"

"Well, she summoned me a little more than a month ago," said Katsuyu, slowly. "She requested some plants from the Shikkotsu Forest. She wished to create an antidote for a poison."

"A little more than one month?" exclaimed Shizune. She looked at Tsunade. "That was when she was in Ishigakure."

"Ah. She probably needed it in her mission," said Tsunade, leaning back into her chair.

Shizune frowned. "But that virus wasn't a poison. The virus was just resistant to the antibiotics available. So Sakura was send to find another way to treat it."

Tsunade turned towards Katsuyu. "Did she specifically say poison?"

Katsuyu hesitated. "No, she didn't. But the plants, they are something you and Sakura previously asked of me only for the treatment of poison."

"Maybe, it was for something else." Shizune wondered out loud. "Or maybe…"

"Or maybe there was something about the mission which was not originally expected," Tsunade finished for Shizune, a grim line on her face.

Tsunade turned towards Katsuyu. "Thank you, Katsuyu. I think it would be all for now."

After Katsuyu disappeared, Shizune collapsed on her seat and put her head on the table. "Back to square one."

"This will be an unpopular measure, Hokage sama," counseled Aburame Shibi.

"But a necessary one," Hyuga Hiashi shot back.

Kakashi sat at the head of the table while heads of the most prestigious clans of Konoha sat around him. The Council of Elders meeting was usually the most troublesome part of his week even when he knew, at the worst of times, he still had the support of the majority of the table. Kakashi flickered his gaze at the individuals around him. Hyuga Hiashi sat to his right, in a seat which was traditionally filled by Tsunade. But Tsunade, despite being the head of the dying Senju clan and the former Hokage, had taken to missing the meetings of the Council of Elders. Kakashi certainly envied her but most certainly could not blame her. It was tiresome politics.

Hence, the seat was in such occasion filled by Hiashi who, although brilliant, was a positive bore. Hyuga clan, since the demise of the Uchiha clan, had solidified its standing as the most powerful clan in Konoha. Its circumstances were only improving with the competent Hyuga Hanabi being declared as the heir over the shy Hyuga Hinata. But it wasn't necessary to feel sorry for Hinata. She was about to get married to Naruto who as a famed war hero would go down in history. Next to Hiashi sat Inuzuka Tsume, her shapely legs on the table with an apparent disregard for the formal nature of the Council. For years Kakashi had marveled at the strange friendship between Tsume and Hiashi but he supposed it was more of a you scratch my back I'll scratch yours type of a thing.

Besides Tsume was Sartoubi Soma, father to Sartoubi Konahamaru. For too long Kakashi had tried to find a similarity between father and son. But the only one he found was the overwhelming belief of their way being the right way. Despite so, Soma had an agile mind. One which was quick on the uptake and even faster when it came to response. But Soma hadn't taken to him as he had to Tsunade. Annoyingly, he kept his own council and refused to discuss his vote with anyone beforehand. Kakashi could trust him to do the best for Konoha but boy, did Soma make him work for it.

Her make-up perfectly in place and her stature elegant, sat Yamanaka Noriko next to Soma. The only civilian on the table. She had entered the Council of Elders when her husband, Yamanka Inoichi had passed away in the Fourth Shinobi War. Ideally, he should have been succeeded by a shinobi. Unfortunately, his only child, Ino, was too young and no one else in the Yamanaka clan had the experience to deal with clan politics. Admission of a civilian had ruffled feathers but Noriko usually kept quiet and never voted against the majority. She wasn't troublesome, as Shikamaru would say. Then there was Aburame Shibi who never spoke except in monosyllables. But deadly nevertheless with the hive of insects who lived with him under his jacket. Next to him was Akimichi Chouza. A mass of frowning petulance. Today, Kakashi expected it. And finally, Shikamaru who sat between Chouza and Kakashi. The brilliant head of the influential Nara clan.

Ordinarily it should have been Naruto on Kakashi's left. But, like Tsunade, he was sporadic on his attendances. A habit which had only worsened since Sakura's disappearance. It spoke to the level of respect for Naruto and his contributions during the Fourth Shinobi War that immediately after he had been asked to join the Council of Elders as the head of the nonexistent Uzumaki clan. Kakashi drummed against fingers against the edge of the table and inwardly smirked. It didn't hurt that Naruto was also romancing Hinata. The Hyuga clan had been overwhelming in their support for Naruto as the war hero. But Kakashi and anyone with half a brain knew better. Naruto, with his ties to the Hyuga clan, could be counted on support the Hyuga clan in Council of Elders. And once Naruto became Hokage, an inevitable at this point, Hyuga clan would stand to become even more influential.

"Hokage sama, you may wish to give more thought to this," Shikamaru murmured. "Your blanket pardon to Uchiha Sasuke has impaired your popularity with a good section of the population. They will not take this lightly."

"Nara san." Tsume folded her arms. "You forget that we are still recovering from the after effects of war. Sacrifices need to be made."

"I understand that," responded Shikamaru. "Entering into a treaty with Kumogakure will open up allow Konoha to take up missions in the Country of Lightening. Hence, thereby, creating employment for the shinobi. But at the same time, Konoha will have to remove tariffs upon the goods from Kumogakure coming into Konoha. With their advanced technology, they are quite able to compete with Konoha. This will reduce demand for the services and goods of Konoha. Civilians will suffer from massive unemployment."

"But with increasing mission opportunities," said Soma as he leaned forward. "The unemployed civilians will be able to attain livelihood through doing D-Rank mission, previously completed by genin."

Chouza slammed his fist on the table. "You forget! This will make us overly dependent upon Kumogakure. They will buy from us our raw materials and sell us the finished goods. Their advanced production will allow for them to create monopoly over our market."

"You forget, Akimichi san." Hiashi snapped back. "That the peace ushered in after the Fourth Shinobi War has meant that our shinobi have been left unemployed due to reduced mission workload. They are unable to earn their own livelihood and Konoha can only provide them with a pittance for their needs."

"Exactly!" Tsume snarled. "What about their sacrifices? Now that we are no longer in a state of war, are we supposed to brush them aside?"

Before Chouza could give a heated response, Kakashi held up his hand. "Enough." The table fell silent. "We have been discussing this for months now. There is no doubt about it that whatever course of action we take, we will reap disadvantages either way. It is for us to decide which option is worse one."

Kakashi paused to allow his words to sink in. "We will meet again in one week to take a final vote for this treaty. On this note I believe we should end the meeting."

Hiashi crossed his arms. "There are other concerns, Hokage sama. Such as those of a missing Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi looked at Hiashi sideways. "I am surprised at your interest, Hyuga sama."

Soma looked up. "Why would you be so? Have you forgotten? Haruno san is one of the only two people in the world who can use the creation rebirth jutsu. There is sufficient alarm for her disappearance."

"Not to mention," said Shibi, his voice low. "She was your former student, the apprentice to the former Hokage and Uzumaki san's teammate."

"Eh?" Tsume smirked as she leaned forward. "It almost seems like an attack to agitate Konoha."

"I am sure that Hokage sama is pursuing all the necessary avenues in this investigation," said Noriko, smoothly.

"Nevertheless, Haruno's disappearance suggests danger upon the horizon," said Shibi, his voice soft. "It is little things like these which remind us again and again as to why we must be vigilant."

"Hey."

Ino looked up as she stepped out of the Clinic for Children's Mental Health and saw Sai leaning against the wall. Despite all her stress and worry, she felt a smile beginning to form on her lips. "Hey yourself."

Sai smiled back. With Ino, his smiles did not need to be forced. "I brought a bento for lunch. Shall we eat it together?"

It wasn't until they had settled down on a bench in the nearby park that Ino voiced her agitation. "It feels so wrong. Going through the normal motions of life when Sakura…." Ino trailed off. "We don't even know where she is." Ino looked away.

Sai laced his fingers with Ino's. "Its Sakura. She is one of the smartest and the strongest people that I know," He reassured her. "She has consistently survived all the odds against her. She will survive this and come back to us."

Ino shook her head. "I just can't stop imagining the worst case scenario. Sakura and I," she said, motioning to the building behind them. "We build this clinic together, to help the children of Konoha. All of those kids keep asking about her. I have no idea what to tell them."

"Naruto is distraught as well," said Sai. "If Kakashi allows it, he would leave today."

Ino blinked her tears back. "If only."

"There is something I have to tell you," said Sai carefully, putting down his chopsticks. "Naruto thinks Sakura is dead."

Ino turned white. "Is he sure?"

"He believes it. But I'm don't." Sai paused. "For that matter, neither does Kakashi."

Ino remained silent. Sai continued. "I believe its for the same reason. Sakura can't die that easily."

"No, she can't." Ino's voice was low. "But its easier to think that, right? That she is dead? So you don't have to think about other things?"

"Its strange hearing such a thing from you," murmured Sai.

Ino gripped Sai's hand. "I can't be blind to it." She paused. "But wherever Sakura is, she's there. Living and fighting."

Sai looked at her with surprise. "How do you know?" he asked, curiosity lacing his words. "How can you have so much faith?"

"The same reason you do. Because you know. People think of Sakura as an ornament. Someone who decorates the background," said Ino, giving Sai a smile which made his heart stop. "But they forget. Even the beautiful ornament can make you bleed when it is broken."

A/N Okay, so this happened. I have to give credit where it is due. While writing the Shizune's part, I was rereading Monomoth by Ohtze which is incredibly brilliant piece of work. So I think I was somewhat inspired by that. This chapter took longer than I anticipated but I am somewhat satisfied by the finished version.

Please don't forget to review! Really want to know what you guys are thinking!