Chapter 5

Kenzo POV

I picked up her phone and sent a message to her friends to eliminate any suspicions as to why she hadn't returned yet.

"It's getting too dark to walk back on my own. Meet you guys at the restaurant. It's close to where I am."

Sakura POV

I had just finished getting ready to meet the others at the restaurant. I was wearing black pumps, grey skinny jeans along with a cherry coloured long sleeved button up shirt with a collar but the shirt revealed my stomach. On top of that I wore a black waistcoat.

By the time I got to the parking lot, Ino was already in her car at the wheel. I climbed into Ino's grey Mercedes and we were on the road within minutes. The restaurant was a lot further than I thought; we'd been driving for forty minutes already. I was absent mindedly staring out the window when we slowed down in front of a red traffic light. The car next to us was a convertible and I could have sworn that the driver was Kenzo.

My suspicions were proven correct when he looked in my direction; as soon as he recognised me, he winked at me than took off when the light turned green. A few seconds later my cellphone vibrated, I got a message from him:

"See if you can keep up, oh and Tenten says hi"

"Ino follow that convertible" I told her

"What why?"

"It's Kenzo's car, he recognised us and wants us to follow him. He's got Tenten."

Ino stayed hot on his tail for about ten minutes when Kenzo pulled over in an empty street and got out of his car. My phone vibrated again:

"We need to talk, just the two of us"

"What does the message say?" Ino asked

"He wants to talk, just me and him though. Stay here I'll be right back."

"But Sakura…" she held my wrist before I could get out of the car

"Ino please, the less people are involved the better" she finally let go of my arm. I walked out of the car and shivered slightly when cool breeze swept over me—maybe I should've brought a jacket along.

Kenzo was leaning against the hood of his car with his arms folded and a smirk on his face. As soon as I got to his car he spoke up…

"My my, don't we look sexy tonight? Spending the evening with your friends?" he asked

It took me a few seconds but I noticed it as soon as I glanced down at his waist. Right there in plain sight, he had a pistol in a holster. He wasn't even being discreet about it; he wanted me to see it. As soon as I did he walked closer to me and put his arms on my waist, I immediately felt uncomfortable.

"I'd rather you didn't" I said as I irritatedly removed his hands from my waist

"But now that you know what I can do, I know you won't fight me" he was referring to his pistol

"What do you want?" I acidly asked him

"I need you to give Neji a message for me. Tell him if he wants his girlfriend back, then he needs to come to this address in one hour's time. And if he's late I'll more than happily 'entertain' myself with Tenten. I'm sure you understand what I mean by that" he put the paper with the address in my back jeans pocket; he didn't put it there by accident.

"And what if I had refused to do all this?" I asked

"Simple…" he turned me around and wrapped one arm around my stomach and his other hand went straight for his pistol but now his chest was on my back. He pointed the gun from under my arm directly at the back of Ino's head "Your answer would depend on whether or not I shot Ino in the head" he whispered in my ear then ran the cold metal weapon over my cheek and down my neck. It sent chills down my back.

"Alright fine, I'll do it, just put the gun away"

"See that wasn't so difficult now was it. Oh and another thing, be sure to only tell Neji, I have eyes and ears all over the restaurant your friends are at. If you so much as breathe a word to anyone else, I'll know and you'll have sealed Tenten's fate…enjoy the rest of your evening" he released me and got back into his car and drove away.

My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out. My hands were trembling when I got back into the car.

"So what did he tell you?" Ino looked at me with concern evident in the way she spoke

"I-I can't say" Ino decided to let it slide and she started the car and drove off. We arrived at the restaurant ten minutes later.

The rest of the group namely—Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke were already sitting at a table with their drinks. Ino went to sit next to Shikamaru; I checked the time; only forty-five minutes until Neji had to meet Kenzo.

Neji POV

Sakura walked towards me and stood behind my chair. She put both her hands on my shoulders and leaned in to whisper in my ear:

"I need to talk to you…alone" I knew immediately what she was referring to so I didn't waste any time; I excused myself from the table and followed her.

"It's about him isn't it?" I asked as soon as we were out of earshot from the group. She was about to speak but something caught her attention and stopped her from speaking. Instead she took my hand and guided me outside. We sat down on a bench near the entrance.

"Sorry but we couldn't talk in there, Kenzo has some friends working for him in there" she explained

"No problem, hey are you alright, you look a little shaken up?" I asked as I took a good look at her. Her face was quite pale and she looked a little frightened

"Yeah well being threatened at gunpoint will do that to you"

"Gunpoint?" I was genuinely confused by her statement

"Yeah, Kenzo got himself a new toy and threatened to use it on me and Ino."

"What the hell does that guy want?" I got really angry really fast

"He wants Tenten to himself and you out of the way…permanently. He told me to tell you that he wants to settle this; meet him at this address…" she pulled out a piece of paper from her back pocked and gave it to me "By nine o clock and if your late, he'll entertain himself with Tenten. I'm sure I don't have to explain what that means."

I crumpled the paper in my hands as I began shaking with anger. I'd had just about enough of this damn bastard taking advantage of Tenten.

"Alright I'm going" I stood up

"I'm coming too"

"No you're not, there's already one person I care about in danger, the last thing I need is you getting in danger as well." I looked into her jade eyes and could see the worry in her eyes. I turned around and began walking to my car but she caught my arm.

"Neji…bring Tenten back…and please be careful"

"I will, don't worry" I put my arm on her shoulder to reassure her then I left for good

Sakura POV

I could still feel the warmth of his hand on my shoulder, I sighed heavily and blinked back the tears I could feel stinging the corners of my eyes. I just couldn't shake the feeling that things weren't going to go as planned as I headed back inside the restaurant.

As soon as I was back inside I took a deep breath and walked back to the table with the others.

"Is everything alright Sakura and where did Neji go?" Naruto asked

"Um, everything's fine Naruto, Neji just needed to take care of an emergency" I managed to say without giving too much away-we were being watched after all.

"Does it have to do with Tenten not being here?" Naruto suddenly got serious; he picked up from my mood that something was wrong and knew that I couldn't tell him everything. To say that I was impressed that he picked that up was an understatement.

"Yeah, something like that"

A few seconds later my phone vibrated, it was a message from Neji:

"Thought I'd keep you posted, I just arrived" the message read

"Good luck" I replied

"…akura, Sakura you zoned out, are you okay?" Sasuke asked

"Yeah I'm fine, my minds just a little preoccupied at the moment. I was just thinking about Neji."

"What's going on between you two, you've been acting very secretive lately"

"Nothing is going on between us" he couldn't have started this at a more inconvenient time

"Then what were you two talking about just now and why have you guys been spending so much time together lately?"

"I-I can't tell you but I promise you it's not what you think" I looked over Sasuke's shoulder and saw one of the waiters looking directly at me

"Well what am I supposed to think when my girlfriend isn't giving me any straight answers?" his voice was rising, I couldn't let the situation escalate out of control

"If you insist on acting like this then let's talk outside" I stood up and didn't wait for him, I just carried on walking until I got to my car. Sasuke caught up to me.

"I need you to trust me, why can't you accept that I just can't tell you what going on?" I was starting to get emotional "What could I possibly be doing with Neji?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about this situation and that's what makes me so nervous. If I didn't know any better I'd think that you were… seeing him behind my back" he just looked at the ground. So that was it, he was feeling insecure and not without good reason. I'd kept him out of the loop for days and I'd been spending a lot of time with Neji. Anyone would assume what he's thinking. I felt terrible; I had to make him understand.

"Sasuke…" I took his hands "Look I know it looks like there's something going on between me and Neji but there isn't. We're just friends caught up in a serious situation. I love you and I would never dream of betraying you, my relationship with you is untouchable and nothing and no one will ever change that" I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me "I just need you to trust me"

We stayed in each other's arms for a few seconds before Sasuke spoke up

"I trust you" I broke away from the hug and kissed him on the lips