"This is it."
Perched in the trees, Sasuke's eyes scanned what seemed to be a small cave that peeked out from a wall of lavender rock, stray pebbles and larger chunks of minerals scattered all around the dusty ground. Despite the dark entrance of the cave, anyone would have assumed that the rock had just been a simple plateau of rock, stretching across for meters on end. And even as he gazed into the entrance from his distance, he had a hard time believing that this place could even hold someone captive.
"Are you.. sure this is it?" Naruto asked skeptically, scratching the back of his head while remaining perfectly balanced on his tree branch, his left knee pressing against the bark while his other hand was firmly planted next to the orange material of his pants. So, even he had doubts.
"Yes," Fuu said, kneeling down on her branch, copying Naruto's position. "It may not look like much, but you'll see when we go inside."
See? Sasuke could barely see into the opening, regardless of his position a few feet up from the cave itself. The darkness almost blinded his eyes, spots floating around in the air, taunting him to submerge himself in the darkness.
"And you're saying we just walk in like nothing's wrong?" Naruto asked. "Won't we be detected or something?"
Fuu shook her head. "Not from this entrance, or exit rather. I escaped from this side of the cave. The dome that he kept me and Sakura in is just a few meters from the entrance." she turned to head to Sasuke, and looked him in the eyes. "You ready?"
Sasuke nodded tersely.
"You bet, -ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.
The three of them dropped from the trees in unison, and landed smoothly onto the ground. As they rose slowly, Sasuke felt his chakra spike, his heart following suit. He looked down to his chest, as if he had never known that he possessed such an organ in his body, and that said organ had never given him any notice that it was there. Yet, it drummed and thundered on in his chest, sending violent yearning vibrations through his body.
He shook his head. No, he wouldn't categorize this feeling into that emotion. Not yet.
They approached the cave slowly, their eyes tracing the entrance cautiously. The sounds of their footsteps were audible beyond the breeze that began to blow behind their heads, and everything grew eerily still as their bodies became engulfed with darkness.
o-o-o-o-o-o
The walls of the cave were covered with dust and rocks, intricately stacked and stuck together like some inexperienced child had constructed the entire thing. It smelled of dirt and vaguely of stale water, and small flecks of green sparked in the corners of their eyes.
"Jeez, we've been walking for five minutes now!" Naruto said, his eyes studying the walls of the cave.
"We don't want to be noticed, idiot." Sasuke said, his eyes closed in annoyance.
"But still! This cave seems to go on forever." Naruto retorted, then turning his head to the girl beside him. "Fuu?"
Fuu shook her head. "I've only been in one section of this cave. Who knows how much Joryoku has done to the place, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an underground set of tunnels."
"Bastard.." Naruto growled. "Thinks he's so great.."
"Well, whatever the case, we need to locate where that jerk is." Fuu said, turning to Naruto and Sasuke. "Can any of you sense his chakra?"
Sasuke looked to Fuu, narrowing his eyes. "I thought that you were the one who was adept at chakra detection."
"Naturally, yes." Fuu said, her eyes now closed yet keeping her footing on the rocky ground intact. "But at the moment, I'm a bit preoccupied."
"With?" he questioned further, seriously wondering what she could possibly be doing at the moment besides keeping her eyes shut.
One of Fuu's eyes opened, flashing amber. "I'm trying to contact Sakura."
Naruto and Sasuke's steps instantly halted.
It took a few seconds for Fuu to realize that she had been the only one walking, and when she finally realized it, she stopped and turned to face the boys behind her, confusion in Naruto's eyes and a strange gloss on Sasuke's.
She blinked at them, as if she had no idea what they could even be confused about.
"What?" she asked.
"What did you say?" Naruto asked, his voice drenched in confusion.
Fuu blinked, then a warm blush spread across her tanned cheeks.
Sasuke stepped forward. "What do you mean, contact her?"
Fuu rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Right..I guess the topic never really came up before.."
"You can contact Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. "How?"
A few seconds went by before Fuu sighed.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. But I think that it's related to the fact that we're both victims of that stupid jutsu. In fact, the day he got Sakura was the moment that I began to feel her presence, even though we were so far away from each other.
"The moment that you released her from the jutsu, I saw a vision of where Sakura was, and I saw the two of you. Then, it was so strange. I began to feel her agony, I felt her thoughts on the safety of the two of you, she thought she had killed you…
"I heard her voice in my head, and I felt adventurous, so I tried talking back to her, and to my astonishment it worked."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "So..what then?"
"Both of our minds were breeched by the same person, so I think that it may be a side affect of his jutsu..though I bet he never kept more than one person alive at a time once he cast it..this may be the first time, who knows if he even knew that this was possible.."
Sasuke's mind raced. If Fuu's story was true, then Sakura had known about Fuu and their communication skills before she was taken away. So why had she decided to keep this a secret from them? From him? Then again, why did he even care that she kept secrets from him?
"No.."
Sasuke's eyes shot to Fuu's and they widened in apprehension.
Her amber eyes were glazed over, her pupils shrunken to an enormous degree, one that Sasuke had never seen before in his life. Her lips trembled, a dry and soft whimper releasing past them in a tremor.
"Fuu? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, concern growing in his eyes.
"Sakura…answer me!" Fuu whispered harshly, tears budding in the corners of her eyes.
"Fuu?"
"Sakura! Answer me now!" Fuu exclaimed, her body shaking.
"Fuu! What's wrong?! Did something happen to Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned.
Sasuke felt his heart begin to palpitate at a violent pace, and as he watched Fuu's trembling appearance, he began to lose it. He lunged forward and grabbed Fuu's shaking shoulders, and shook her once.
"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you-"
"Tell me what's going on!" Sasuke exclaimed, his eyes boring into Fuu's, bleeding into the sharingan due to the stress of the situation.
If anything had happened to Sakura..anything at all…
"Her mind…" Fuu whispered. "Is blank."
Sasuke's body froze, his fingers digging into Fuu's skin.
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide.
"I-It…she's…" Fuu stammered. "Her stress levels are… extremely high..at this rate… she might be.."
"Don't you dare say it." Sasuke threatened through his teeth, eyes blazing red. "Don't you dare say that she's-"
Sauske felt hands clamp down on his shoulders, and he lost his hold on Fuu as he felt himself being pulled back harshly.
"Sasuke! Get off!" he heard Naruto exclaim. "It's not Fuu's fault!"
Sasuke glared at Naruto, then grabbed his shoulders. "Do you think I'm going to sit by in a situation like this? When Sakura could be-"
Sasuke's tongue froze in his mouth when the entire cave began to shake violently, a few stray rocks falling down and hitting their bodies. A low grumble sounded out all around them, sending deep vibrations into their bones. Sasuke tilted his head up at the falling rocks, and they widened when a giant rock had loosened and began to fall down to crush them.
"Look out!" Fuu's raspy voice screeched as Sasuke's vision was suddenly blinded with a bright flash of orange as he saw something sprout out of Fuu's back, flying up to shield the three of them from the falling rock. They all watched as the rock slammed into the orange film of what appeared to be a giant dragonfly wing. It shattered on impact, sending rock particles flying into the walls of the cave, which ended up loosening more rocks out of their hinges and made their way towards the dusty ground, creating an enormous pile-up of rocks and dirt.
"I can't…hold it.." Fuu's voice spat out through her gritted teeth.
Sasuke's eyes widened as the giant wing that shielded them buckled under the pressure of the rocks, Fuu's gasp of pain echoing through Sasuke's ears.
"Move!" he yelled as the three of them leaped away from each other, a giant cloud of dust blinding their senses completely.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Sasuke's acute vision had been clouded with dirt and dust as he coughed violently.
The walls of the cave had collapsed entirely, creating an enormous pileup of rocks, a giant wall dividing the path the three of them had just been on.
Sasuke turned his head, and noticed that as the dust lifted, the path had continued on in the direction that they had been traveling in originally. So, he'd made it to the other side after all.
"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto's voice yelled out.
Sasuke's head turned towards the pile of rocks, Naruto's voice booming out between the cracks of the fallen minerals. It seemed that the others hadn't made it over like he had.
"Sasuke-san?" he heard Fuu's voice yell. "Can you hear us?"
They were both fine.
"I'm fine!" Sasuke shouted back. He turned away from the rocks and stared at the path ahead.
He heard a few short rumbling sounds, then Naruto's voice greeted his ears once more.
"There are too many rocks! We can't get through to you!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. There would be no way that they would be able to reach the other side in time.
If Fuu was correct, which she was slowly proving to be, then Sakura needed assistance as immediate as possible.
Almost as if on cue, Fuu's voice rang out.
"Sasuke-san! I've located Sakura! Go on ahead and we'll catch up!"
Sasuke's heart pounded. She found her?
"Where?" he called back.
"Only a few feet ahead! Now go!"
Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. After all, the two of them were jinchuriki. Together they would be fine, assuming Naruto didn't do something stupid like usual. But it was a shot he'd have to take.
He took off running down the path, and as he ran, he felt his palms begin to sweat and his heart had never ceased to beat the entire time, and it hadn't been from the lack of oxygen or the almost meet with death from the rock avalanche.
He knew that if he didn't find her soon, there'd be hell to pay.
o-o-o-o-o-o
The path had ended sooner than he had expected, and he felt himself slow to a halt as his eyes traced the smooth black wall the stood before him, shining as if it had been dipped in tar and black crystals.
This was it? He'd come all this way for a dead end?
No..that couldn't be right. Fuu had said that she sensed Sakura at the end of the path, but to mistake her chakra for a wall?
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he examined it closely, bringing his fingers out to stroke the crystal shine of the rock slowly, the surface tickling his skin. He allowed his eyes to bleed into their sharingan, and almost immediately he drew his hand back. His eyes traced the rock, watching as small flecks of green light began to poke through, light containing small bits and pieces of foreign chakra, which seemed incredibly strange to him, given the circumstances.
But maybe..
White-blue electricity shot out of his left hand, sending an excited chill down his spine. He brought his arm back, and thrusted it into the rock, which broke immediately from the force, sending a blinding green light flashing into his eyes.
Once the light dyed down, he saw that the rock had revealed the entrance to a room of some sort, a dome that had been made entirely of rock and green light. Frowning, Sasuke hopped into the hole he made and immediately made contact with the dusty ground on the inside, his body becoming swallowed in green light.
"What is this?" he said quietly to himself as his eyes scanned the room.
Then, his eyes landed on the two figures before him, and his heart stopped.
A/N: I'm back and I've survived midterms! (almost, I have one more left on monday) So I guess this is an early update since I told you guys February.
Next chapter will consist of a VERY pissed off Sasuke..
And I'm freaking out right now because I just bought tickets to see The Last in theaters! I'm literally crying and I'm so excited! And yeah I know it was leaked and I can watch it online, but I'm going to wait until I see it in theaters. And I won't lie, I've seen some scenes already and read the plot, so I know what happens..almost..
See you guys! xx