Chapter 12: Dread and Relief
He couldn't take it anymore. Neji couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.
"Sakura, I'm taking a break too!" Neji called out, rushing out the door. "W-wait! You can't just—oh, I'm sorry! He'll be back soon!" Sakura said to Neji's customers frantically.
Neji ran towards the dressing room, stopping when he saw a student standing in front of it. The student was fairly tall and looked a bit older. He wore round glasses and had his hair tied to a pony tail.
"Excuse me; I need to get into the dressing room." Neji said suspiciously. The student smiled, but Neji saw slyness in his eyes.
"For what reason? You are already dressed." He said.
Neji realized it immediately, widening his eyes. "Wearing our uniform doesn't mean you're in our school. You're not a student here, are you?"
A loud bang was heard from the inside of the dressing room before the student could answer Neji. Immediately, Neji bolted for the door.
The student intercepted his hand by grabbing Neji's wrist and gave a soft scoff. "You're sharp. As expected of a Hyūga. That's right, I'm Kabuto, and I'm a college student." He said, pushing Neji's wrist downwards and nearly breaking it.
Neji reacted quickly by using his other hand to punch Kabuto. Another crash was heard in the room.
"SASUKE!" Neji cried out.
Within the room, after Orochimaru had surprised Sasuke with his sly back hug, he had pushed Sasuke to the floor and approached the fallen boy.
Not wanting to repeat the disaster from last time, Sasuke kicked Orochimaru's chin and quickly got back on his feet, escaping to the door.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru recovered fast and forced Sasuke to the door, making the first bang that Neji heard.
Sasuke's head hit the door hard and he winced in pain, feeling his wrists being caught together tightly with Orochimaru's. Orochimaru licked his lip and put his forehead on Sasuke's.
"Shall I knock you out and take you home?" He asked and pulled his head back. Sasuke knew this move. Orochimaru was going to head-butt him on the head.
Sasuke instantly picked up his right leg and kicked Orochimaru once more, sending him to crash into the lockers. This was the second crash Neji heard.
Sasuke heard Neji call out his name and he frantically turned to open the door. He twisted and turned but the door was locked from the outside with a key.
Sasuke's heart sunk as he heard Orochimaru stand once more. "Damn Hyūga, planning to mess with my plans again?!" He moaned and swiftly grabbed Sasuke's neck from behind with his arm, choking him in the process.
The door suddenly banged loudly once. Then once more. The last bang sent the door flying inwards, barely hanging on the hinges.
Neji stood in the doorway, lowering his leg that gave the door a powerful kick to send it flying and demented.
"Hold it right there Hyūga… any closer and…" Orochimaru said, tightening his arm's grip on Sasuke's neck, making him cough.
"That's cowardly!" Neji shouted. Regardless of the insult, Orochimaru looked for his body guard, who was sitting on the floor with his arms tied to his back with some left over rope from the festival and his face full of bruises and blood.
"Heh, you cleaned up quite nicely…" Orochimaru said, bravely walking out with Sasuke as a hostage.
"I'm taking this boy home, so if you won't let me through, you can say goodbye to him now." Orochimaru snickered.
Neji looked at the choking boy and hesitated. Orochimaru slowly backed out of the crowd of people, making sure no one sneaks up behind him.
Sasuke's vision was getting blurry. Was he being used as a hostage? Angry, he was determined not to have the same humiliating result.
Sasuke opened his mouth and dug his teeth into Orochimaru's arm, biting harder and harder. As a natural reaction, Orochimaru yelped in pain and pulled his arm back, releasing Sasuke.
Neji quickly ran as soon as he saw Sasuke open his mouth, catching him right on time when he fell from Orochimaru's arms.
He pulled the coughing Sasuke away and allowed him to catch his breath. The bleeding Orochimaru sprinted to the exit, but was blocked by Sasuke's and Neji's fan girls.
"Hold it right there! How dare you do that to our Sasuke! Don't think you're going to leave just like that!" they shouted, ganging up on Orochimaru.
Neji chuckled. A girl may not be strong enough to hold a grown man down, but together, not even a sumo wrestler can defeat them. And in his opinion, nothing else scares him the most than a mob of angry women.
Sasuke rested his head on Neji's chest, watching the girls beat the crap out of Orochimaru and panting to catch his breath.
Tenten walked up to him and kindly pulled out another rope. "Shall we tie him up?" She asked.
Neji looked at the pleading eyes of Orochimaru and smiled. "Nah, let them have a little more fun. Tie him up afterword." Neji said, caressing Sasuke's head.
Neji thought Sasuke had enough and brought him to the infirmary where Shizune allowed him to lie down.
Sasuke had said nothing so far, still tired and terrified of what just happened. "You did well Sasuke." Neji said to him.
He put his hand on Sasuke's forehead. "Rest now, I'll be here when you wake up." Neji said.
Sasuke held on to Neji's hand and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep from exhaustion. Neji was smiling, but as soon as Sasuke fell asleep, his smile turned into a frown.
How did Orochimaru get into the school? Why didn't the students recognize him? Moreover, where was Gaara?
It was strange that Gaara would miss those two walking in. Perhaps something happened to him? In any case, he needed to find out where Gaara was.
Neji heard the door slid open and quickly hid his hand that held onto Sasuke's under the blanket.
Tenten entered the infirmary and quietly tiptoed to Neji, whispering her report.
"They took Orochimaru to the police station along with that kid. How's he doing?" She asked.
"He's alright. More importantly, I have a task for you." Neji said. Tenten nodded, accepting the task.
"Those two couldn't have gotten past Gaara. Find out where he went." Neji said. Tenten nodded once more and quickly ran out.
Tenten walked out to the halls and into Gaara's classroom. As expected, he wasn't there. She left the classroom and headed towards the front gate.
Once again, she didn't see Gaara anywhere. Where could he have gone? Tenten walked past the food stands and the crowds of people, looking for that red headed teen.
She then saw Kankuro, Gaara's brother, running past her and out of the school. "Kankuro!" Tenten shouted.
The brunette stopped and turned his face, looking very nervous. "Where is Gaara?" she asked.
Kankuro looked down and grabbed her wrist. "Come with me!" He said.
Tenten was taken to a hospital where Kankuro asked the receptionist for Gaara's room. They were taken to a room where only Kankuro was allowed in.
Tenten saw Shikamaru sitting nearby and ran to him. "What happened?!" Tenten asked.
"…Temari and I were walking back to school after making up…then we saw Gaara lying in a pile of garbage all bloody and bruised." Shikamaru said.
"We called for an ambulance and they brought Gaara in. He's stable now but only family members are allowed in. It seems like he was stabbed with a knife down his back. We don't know who did it yet…" He finished.
Shikamaru then looked up and stared at Tenten. "What happened in school?" he asked, knowing something was wrong.
Tenten explained what happened in school and Shikamaru nodded while analyzing the situation.
"…and so Neji thought it was weird that Gaara wasn't around and asked me to find him." Tenten finished.
Shikamaru hesitated and then stood up. "Neji is pretty sharp for sensing when things go wrong."
"It's a very high chance the culprit is Orochimaru and Kabuto… Gaara wouldn't have been beaten like that so easily. Kabuto probably tricked Gaara into thinking he was a customer or student in the school and lured Gaara out of the school grounds, giving Orochimaru a chance to attack from behind with a knife. Then being unable to move, they beat him unconscious and entered the school…Gaara was a main obstacle if you look at it in their perspective." He explained.
Tenten was speechless at this deduction. Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, it's only a guess though."
"And a very accurate guess indeed!" Someone said from behind. The two peeked over and saw the head of the police force, or Shikamaru's father, Shikaku.
"When Gaara wakes up, we can find out if you're correct. You'd make a fine detective my son!" He said while patting his child's back and trying to cheer the two teens up.
"Orochimaru is locked up now so you don't have to worry about him anymore. Gaara is safe too so Tenten, go back to school and give them the good news."
Tenten smiled in relief and sprinted out of the hospital.
"Energetic girl isn't she? Speaking of girls, I heard you made up with yours." Shikaku said.
Shikamaru turned a little pink and pouted. "That's none of your business old man." He said in response, making his father chuckle.
In the room where Gaara slept, his brother and sister sat next to him and waited for his awakening. The beeping in the room filled their hearts with worry.
Temari held onto her brother's hand and closed her eyes to pray. "…You made up with Shikamaru?"
Temari snapped open her eyes and Kankuro stood up from his chair. "Gaara!"
Gaara's eyes were half opened, but he was awake. He turned his head over to his sister. "Well? How about it?" He asked.
"Heh, he took a walk with me and we talked. He then apologized to me and we spent the morning going on a date." Temari chuckled as tears stream down her face.
"Good, that's the right way to settle a fight." Gaara said.
"Worry about yourself more you idiot." Kankuro said, caressing his brother's forehead.
A/N: Alright, it's a short chapter because I have exams coming up. A lot of things happened though so take a good grasp of the situation! Wish me luck on my exams! :D