Chapter Twenty-Four

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Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Six hours. Sakura and Ino have been missing for six hours. The two girls were kidnapped without a single clue left behind.

Naruto walked into the chapel. His usually happy grin turned upside down as his sun-kissed colored head hung low. The hard soles of his shoes echoed loudly against the tiled floors. Stopping at the end of the aisle, Nartuo slid into the seat beside his best friend. "Don't worry, Teme. We'll find her... Believe it!" The blond's attempt at loosening the mopey atmosphere failed. Naruto's blunt attempt seemed more like reassurance for the two; increasing the hope for the two boys .

Silence bounced back at Naruto - Not like he was expecting some sort of reply from the young Uchiha anyways.

Sasuke, like Naruto, had his head hung low with his elbows propped on his knees. In his hands, he held a bouquet. It was Sakura's. Sasuke fingered the petals of the pink blossoms, he smirked bitterly. Sasuke had sakuras in his hands, but it wasn't his Sakura.

Sighing, Sasuke ran a hand over his face before rising out of his seat. Then he made his way briskly to the the exit.

"Hey, Teme! Where are you going?" Naruto hurriedly stumbled out of his seat and chased after the teen. "Hey, wait up!"

"Hurry up, Dobe."

"Where are we going?"

"Where do you think?" Sasuke grunted.

A wide grin graced Naruto's features. "Ha! I knew you weren't going to let them do all the fun. Now this is the Teme I know!"

"Shut up, Dobe."

She felt horrible. No, horrible couldn't even describe what she felt. The inside of her mouth and throat was parched, leaving an awful, bitter taste. Her arms and legs ached as if she just finished running a marathon. Everything hurt.

Sakura winced as she opened her eyes. The sudden brightness took a strain on her eyes. Letting her eyes adjust, she scanned the room. A couple feet away, Sakura spotted a limp body. The person had on a white dress and blond hair that was slowly falling out of her updo. Her emerald eyes widen, it was Ino. Scrambling to the blond - more like crawled -, she turned Ino over onto her back.

Touching the girl's face, Sakura shivered slightly at the coldness her hand came in contact with. Frowning, she checked for a pulse on the girl. She found it. It was slow and steady but it was a pulse. Sakura sighed in relief.

Slumping back down to the ground, she crossed her legs. They were locked inside some type of closet. White painted brick walls surrounded them as a sound proof door provided an exit to the room. It kind of reminded her of a cello/bass room at the high school. But then Sakura realized an upsetting factor. Since it was like a cello/bass room, it was locked from the outside. Awesome.

And there weren't any windows either. Just four walls of brick, a metal door, and an insanely bright ceiling light.

"Jeez." Sakura rasped. "What is this? Double-o-seven, mission impossible?"

"Probably...," Ino mumbled. The blond tried flexing her fingers. Once they finally moved, Ino straightened up and collapsed against the wall. Dull, baby blue eyes stared at the rosette. "You love him don't you..."

Sakura's eyes widen at Ino's sudden comment. Slumping down, she replied, "Don't you love him too?"

"I don't know...," Ino sighed. "I don't know a lot of things these days."

"Then tell me," Sakura began, "what do you know?"'

"I know that Sasuke is unconditionally in love...with you." Ino replied, not missing a beat.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm 100% sure."

"What would you say if I told you, I'm only 99.9% sure about what you just told me." Sakura stated, her voice quiet.

Ino's head whipped around so fast that Sakura hear the snap of her neck. "What? You're kidding."

"Nope." Leaning against the cold wall, Sakura sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"Why?"

"It's not that I don't trust him or anything. Nor do I doubt our relationship... it's just he's not loving with his whole heart. I don't have his whole heart. The majority of it, yes. Not the whole though."

"What are you talking about?" Ino's brows knitted together in confusion. "How could Sasuke not love you with his whole heart?"

"His ex-girlfriend came into town a couple weeks ago."

Flashback...

"Sasuke?" Sakura stepped out of the dressing room with another white dress. This time, it was a classic long sleeve dress with a lace pattern. Surprisingly, it wasn't that out of style, it had a touch of modernness to it.

Scanning the room, the dark-haired Uchiha was nowhere in sight. Raising an eyebrow, Sakura stepped down from the podium and tapped one of the workers on the shoulder. "Excuse me, have you seen the young man I came in with?"

"Uchiha-sama?" The lady questioned. She pointed to the back. "Uchiha-sama is in the back examining a dress, Miss."

Sakura nodded and thanked the lady. Careful not to trip over the hem of her dress, she hiked it up and walked to the back.

Hushed voices came from behind the racks of white dresses. One of the voices belonged to Sasuke while the other was foreign to her.

"... I heard you're getting married soon..." The feminine voice seemed wobbly, like she was on the brink of tears. "She must be very lucky."

"Hn, she's not the one though."

"Really?" The woman's head snapped up as a smile found its way to her face. "You're not in love with Ino?"

"Aa." Sasuke smirked. "The girl I love is the total exact opposite. She's smart, witty; sometimes too much that it gets her in trouble. She's a lovely five feet tall girl with a temper too big to fill her shoes. But most of all..."

The women's lips had blown into a full million dollar smile, showing her dazzling white teeth. She stared adoringly at him as he too return the same stare.

"... she has, the oddest color hair, bubble gum pink. And big, vibrant emerald orbs. Weird, yes. But I wouldn't take her any other way."

Immediately, the woman's smile dropped, disappointment and pain etched onto her pretty face. Her eyes fell empty to the ground, losing its spark it held moments ago. Her lips began to tremble and quiver as a film of tears covered her eyes.

Sasuke took notice of this and reached out for the girl, "Noemi... you alright?"

She pulled away from him. Hastily, she wiped away her tears. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Someone as petty as me wasn't going to hold the heart of a Prince for a long time. I don't have a personal place in your heart." Her voice shook as she spoke.

Sakura's heart ached for her. To love someone, yet they don't hold that love anymore.

"Who said, I don't love you anymore?" Sasuke replied softly. He was using the same soft spoken tone that he would talk to her. Sakura leaned in closer to hear his love filled words that she never thought he was capable of. It shocked her.

"I love you, Noemi. I've moved on though and another special girl has captured my heart. But that doesn't mean I've broken my promise. You still have a spot in my heart no matter what."

"Can you promise me that?"

"As much as it hurts you to hear this... I can't. There's going to be one day where I'm going to have to let you go. She loves me with her whole heart and I'm not giving her the same in return. For now though, I'll promise you that." Sasue stared at her tenderly as he brushed away her tears.

The girl let out a heart-breaking sob before pulling Sasuke into a hug.

End of Flashback...

Sakura was strangely silent.

Ino looked at her with concerned eyes, she's never seen the rosette so... torn. Her hands were clasped together in her lap as she twirled her thumbs around in circles. Her pink locks tumbled over her shoulders and fell messily over her face.

"Sakura...," Ino breathed. Moving towards the girl, she wrapped her arms around the fragile rosette. "Oh, baby, it's alright."

Tears cascaded down her face like waterfalls. Sakura's voice was winded. "My heart is tearing in two, Ino. I'm... I'm a home wrecker."

"No, you're not, Sakura."

"Yes, I am. I mind as well be." Sakura said in between sobs. "They loved each other."

"Exactly," Ino began, "they loved each other." The blond ran her fingers through Sakura's pink locks, murmuring comforting words into her ear. "Sasuke loved you. He's moved on. He has you now. Sure, Noemi will always have a special place in his heart and all, but like he said, he's going to have to let her go one day. Why? Because he wants you to have his whole heart."

"You know there's a saying for a guy's first love. They say that a guy's first love will always remain in his heart even long after it's gone. For girls though, that special guy remains in our heads. But I do believe that it's not the same for Sasuke. Noemi will remain in his heart but she'll move to remain in his thoughts. He'll love her with his head not his heart anymore. As harsh as that sounds, it's the truth."

Sakura sobs resided to little sniffles after a while. The rosette pulled away from Ino and blew a raspberry in attempt to stop crying. Laughing hollowly, Sakura forced real smile onto her face. "Gosh... look at me, I'm a mess."

"It's good to be a mess sometimes girl." Ino smiled. "Got to let that dam leak sometimes too."

After a while, Sakura had finally returned back to her old self again.

"So...," she began quietly, "let's get the hell out of here."

"Got a plan?"

Sakurra scanned the room. "Maybe..." A certain metal panel by the door caught her attention.

Shuffling over to it, she touched it. Examining it, she tugged on the corners. With one more hard tug, the metal panel fell loose and dropped into her lap. Looking across the room at Ino, Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Quietly, she placed the panel onto the floor and inspected the wired filled box. Wires of all colors were inside the box; they were attached to a single black cube. Placing her ear near it, electrical sounds emitted from it.

"I think it's the electronic lock to the door." Ino commented. "We have one of those at home. It's a four digit lock."

"Hmm...," Sakura fingered one of the wires. Suddenly, a light bulb went off. "Hey, Ino, do you have your phone?"

"Yeah. I hid it underneath my dress in my garter. Why?"

"Let me see it."

Ino handed her the phone. Biting her lips, Sakura unhooked one of the wires and connected it to the phone. Working her magic, a number pad appeared on the phone's screen.

"... So ... you wouldn't happen to know the pass-code would you...," Sakura joked half-heartily.

"Err... try 0-4-2-5...," Ino suggested.

Sakura typed in the four numbers and surprisingly, the meal door clicked. Her emerald orbs widen as she unhooked the phone, threw it back to Ino, and reassembled the box back together. "How did you know that?" The rosette turned to stare at the blond in amazement.

Smiling smugly, Ino replied, "Forehead, I'm just that awesome."

Now, Sakura gave her an incredulous look.

"Fine. Those four digits were written on the floor, where I was laying. It seemed like that last person that was locked up in here was trying to figure it out."

Sakura frowned. "Okay... this is way too easy. There is no way they planned this elaborate plan to kidnap us just so we can escape this easily."

"True. My, isn't our Sakura-chan intelligent." The voice sent chills down her spine as she turned her head. It was Kabuto.

Moments after, the door slammed open as a fuming Akame stomped in. Glaring at her prisoners, "Why the hell isn't Sasuke here to marry me yet?" Her unusually shrill scream turned the girls deaf.

"Who would want to marry a bitch like you?" Ino commented, returning a glare of her own. "Because I wouldn't."

"You lesbian or something, blond?" Akame retorted hotly. Huffing, "I wouldn't marry a whore like you either."

"At least I'm not desperate enough to go partner up with a snake obsessed weirdo for sexual purposes."

Akame's blood red eyes narrowed into slits. "Shut. Up."

"Whatever." Ino shifted her body around so that her back was facing Akame.

Clenching and unclenching her fists, Akame whirled around at Sakura. "Do you have anything to say about this, bitch?"

Emerald green stared back at her. "Uh, yes." Shakily, Sakura managed to stand up with some support of the wall. With a straight face, she said, "Pipe. the. Fuck. Down."

"Excuse me?"

Rolling her eyes, "You heard me. Pipe the fuck down."

Without another thought, Akame lunged for the barely standing rosette. Her claws were ready to rip Sakura's face to shreds. But a hand stopped her. "Let's not forget my side of the bargain, hm?"

"You can forget about your bargain." Akame growled. "Your cherry blossom is pushing my buttons."

Kabuto let out a dark chuckle, "Oh, I don't think so sweetie. Either you get off of my dear Sakura, or," he placed a gun beside her head, "boom."

Akame hissed at the man before reluctantly climbing off of Sakura.

Kabuto looked at her with lust filled yes. "Ah, no need to be frighten my dear." The psychopath placed his hands on her shoulder. "Kabuto-kun has your back."

The way he placed his name into the sentence sent bone-chilling shivers down her spine as she scrambled away from him.

"Get you filthy hands off of me, you bastard."

"Aw, don't be like that my dear." Once more Kabuto advanced onto the rosette. He moved his lips to he face and pinned her down. Smirking he bent down to steal a kiss. Instead, Sakura swung her fist and sent an uppercut under his chin.

He flew to the wall, dazed. Shaking his head, he rubbed his chin. The lust that was once in his eyes were replaced by sheer madness. "Dear, that wasn't very becoming of you. No need to be a bad girl."

"Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if you decided to keep your pant on, you horny asshole." Sakura's face reddened as her eyes lit up.

The devil smiled sickly at her. He bent down and grabbed her hand tightly. Raising it up, he said, "You shouldn't have said that my dear. You've disappoint me, darling."

Something was happening to Sakura, he knew it. Sasuke always had that qualm before the girl would start crying. A boyfriend's instincts one could say. But once he heard the heart wrenching scream, Sasuke's head snapped up as he took the stairs two at a time.

Naruto winced as another scream echoed through the building. The blond watched as his best friend flew up the stairs and with each scream, Sasuke went insane. He could see the blood-lust in the dark-haired teen's eyes, they were the eyes of a killer. And just for this one time, Naruto wasn't going to interfere. Nobody messes with Sakura without having their blood spill.

Both boys followed the direction of the commotion. They flung open every door, searching for the rosette.

Stopping in front of the last door, Sasuke's eyes gleamed murderously. Slamming the door open, onyx orbs settled onto the barely conscious Sakura on the floor, whimpering as she held her hand close to her chest. Meanwhile, Ino laid knocked out yet again not too far from her.

A low growl ripped from his throat a he collared the silver-haired man. "What the hell did you do to her?" His tone promised blood. And a lot of it. Tightening his grip around Kabuto's throat he repeated maliciously, "What the hell did you do to her?"

"Nothing of your concern, Uchiha-san." Kabuto tried to push Sasuke off of him but it was a failed attempt, he wasn't moving.

"Anything that concerns Sakura is of my concern."

Naruto entered the room moments later. He froze as his body went rigid. The room was in shambles. Dents were found in the walls as the white paint was beginning to chip and peel off. Wooden chairs laid broken and shattered to pieces. Strangely, Akame was found moaning behind a couch.

"Jesus, what happened in here?" Naruto was left speechless.

Kabuto smirked. "Oh, nothing. We were just about to have some fun, blow off some steam. To bad our dear Sakura wasn't corroborating... some consequences had to be paid. What a shame."

It happened all so fast that Naruto couldn't even registered what had happened. Sasuke grabbed Kabuto by his shirt and threw him up against the wall. Not more than a second later did a team of men dressed in black swarmed into the room. They took Kabuto from and Sasuke and held in a tight hold.

Kabuto glared with such burning hatred in his eyes that he could have burned a hole through Sasuke's head.

"These men are top of security for the Uchiha Family. I'd like you to meet someone. This is Ibiki. He's quite familiar with your dirty works. He's going to handle you himself and explain to you what your very limited options are."

As Ibiki carried the thrashing psychopath out, Ino and Akame were carefully carried out too. Leaving Sakura in his care.

Sasuke knelt down beside the girl and pulled her gently into his arms, careful of her broke hand. Lifting her up bridal style, he exited the room with Naruto at his heels.

He leaned down and whispered tenderly, "Hn. It's alright. I'm here, and I'm not going to let anything hurt you, even if it kills me."

From her head to her toes, she was numb. Yet, at the same time she felt weird. Everything just seemed so out of focus... it was an uncomfortable feeling. It was probably the painkillers she was drugged up on. Although her eyes weren't open, she could still "see" everything that was happening.

A rhythmic beat of what she assumed was her heart, beeped loudly next to her ear. Voices and the sound of shuffling flowed through the air, filling the tense atmosphere.

"She's in a stable condition. Everything's fine, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Once she wakes up, she'll be a bit groggily from the painkillers but that's absolutely normal. We'll keep her overnight to make sure that nothing's wrong. But other than that, she's good to go." The doctor reported as she dropped the clipboard back onto its hook with a 'clack.'

"Thank you, Doctor." Detecting the slightly cheerful and carefree tone in his voice, Sakura decided that it belonged to Naruto. The boy patted someone on the back and said, "I'll leave you two alone."

Nothing was said back to him so Naruto led the doctor out. The wooden door clicked shut, leaving her and her visitor alone.

Judging by the way the room was oddly silent, Sakura had a feeling she knew who her visitor was.

The sound of a chair scraping across the tiled floors screeched loudly as the person sat down in it. A bit of pressure was placed by her arm as a set of elbows rested on the corner of the bed. Lovingly and affectionately, he slipped his hand into hers and held it in between his hands.

And with just that one touch, Sakura didn't need to have second thoughts about who it was, she knew it was him. It was none other than Sasuke.

Sasuke brought his lips down on her hand and kissed it. Then he moved and kissed her forehead. And he sealed his undying love for her with a final kiss to the lips.

The sky was dark with thousands of stars illuminating the night sky when Sakura finally opened her eyes. Blinking rapidly, she cleared the foggy film that distorted everything in sight. Groaning, Sakura turned her head from side to side. It was pitch black but the small lamp by the bed emitted a dim light. With much effort, Sakura pushed herself up and supported herself with her elbows.

"Hn. You're awake."

His voice soft as if, if he had spoken any louder he would have broken the fragile girl. Sasuke was frowning at her, eyes worried but he sighed. This time though, his gaze was warm when he looked back at her.

Walking over to the her side, Sasuke sat down on the edge of the bed. Then he turned and faced her. Leaning in, he placed his forehead against hers. His hot breath caressed her lips, making them tingle. He opened his eyes, onyx clashed with emerald.

"You are never leaving my sight ever again. I'll handcuff you to me if that's what I need to do."

Sakura let out a shaky laugh as tears blurred her vision.

His arms slipped around her waist as he pulled her in. Sasuke rested his chin on her shoulder. Burying his face into her pink locks, he took in her mesmerizing scent before whispering, "I thought I lost you... I can't even tell you how worried I was..."

Sakura didn't say anything but she knew.

After quite some time had passed, Sasuke withdrew from their embrace and slid down beside her. Sakura's head rested on his chest as he let his other arm drape lazily yet tightly around her body.

Unexpectedly, Sasuke asked, "You know, I love you."

Sakura hesitated, which was something that Sasuke did not miss, but she nodded.

"With my whole heart, Sakura." Sasuke said. He didn't like the way Sakura was remarkably quiet, it made him feel uneasy. He didn't accomplish his end of the relationship. "Something's wrong. What is it?"

"Hn." Saura brushed it off as she stared at the ceiling.

"No," Sasuke took her by her chin and looked down at her. "Tell me."

She sighed heavily. "You love me, yes. But not with your whole heart."

"Explain."

Once again she let out a heavy sigh. "You love Noemi too, Sasuke. Maybe not with your whole heart but she does have fraction of it."

Sakura saw his eyes widen for a split second before returning back to normal. Since he didn't say anything, she continued on. "It's not that big of a deal though... I'm just being a typical girl."

"No, it is a big deal. And Sakura," he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "you're nothing like a typical girl. You're different."

"And Noemi... she's a close friend of mine. We practically knew each other in the womb, our mothers were best friends. We played together, went to the same school, and grew up together. We were the best of friends. In the third grade though, she had to move to America because of her dad's business. We kept int contact of course but... the connection slowly died off."

"We met each other again though, it was our freshman year. She came back to Japan, and that was the year we went out. It was a young love that was just the beginning, a time of pure innocence. The relationship ended in the middle of our junior year... she had to leave again. This time, she had to leave for America for medical issues. She was diagnosed at the beginning of the year, a secret she kept to herself. Noemi left me that night with a single 'thank you.' She was leaving and was expected to never return. I was crushed, my first love slipped through my hands like sand in an hourglass. But she told me.. it was okay. I made the remaining time of her life fun and happy.. Most importantly, she got the chance to experience love. She was content. She was ready."

Sakura was left beyond speechless.

"Don't be sad though," Sasuke said as he looked at her in the eyes. His thumb brushed away the stray tear that escaped. "She was happy. I was happy. So should you.'

"But... -,"

"But nothing." He leaned back and rested his arm behind his head. "She met me at the dress boutique. She wished that she was the one I still loved but she didn't regret letting me go either."

"She had you promised though... -," Sakura began but quickly covered her mouth as she realized her mistake.

Sasuke smirked. "Hn. Don't we have a sneaky eavesdropper here." He pinched her nose and his smirk widen.

Her face flushed tomato-red.

"But... you missed the ending," he continued. "After catching up a bit, we decided it was best to just... let go. How can you move on with the next chapter when you're still re-reading the last one."

"All those emotions... and memories are just thrown away...?"

"Hn. Emotions, no. I'll be able to continue and relive them with you." The corners of his lips tilted up into a light smile. "As for those memories, that's what photos are meant for. I've let her go and she's let me go so that we can continue on. I'll be able to give you my whole heart and I'll still remember her in my mind. And as time flies by, I'll love you with my whole soul and she'll be remembered by our memories. Neither of you will be forgotten."

Sakura looked up at him with a knowing smile. No words were exchanged but they knew what was running through each other's mind.

For the rest of the night, they laid side by side, talking.

A/N: And there we have it, folks. The chapter you've been waiting for is finally up! But I do apologize for such a late update, not to mention I left you guys on a cliffhanger too... sorry. Please don't kill me... I had some complications with life, major ones though... and I wasn't able to write much of this chapter up. Boo... but for those of my readers living in the Midwest, hehehe liking the snow hm? Snow Day for this girl! But tomorrow is regular ole school again, sigh. Well I hope this chapter was up to your guys' standard...honestly though...this chapter wasn't my best... Fail. Please review.Review!:) The amount for last chapter was amazing! Even though it didn't reach the goal, I was still happy. So review! :) Please? Like no lie, I'm sitting on a bathroom floor, hiding in a closet as you're reading this. I'm not suppose to be on this late...shh... :) Til next time, bye!

{Thanks to:} ILoveSxS, BlackPoppy. 0, MiyatheEarthninja, DiamondDreams789FIFi, Dina Sana, AnimeLover824, shione-chan, xXmysterious-unknownXx, Sakura -Haruno- Uchiha 10, SkeleTonQueeN06, uchiha. sakura. 23, Freedom and Hope, BananaphoneBob, 7TeamSeven7, Raikiri80, Sasuke14, Rikato Tojidofukuto, Alyssa Michele, MikazukiDreams, Lilac Queen, Hearts grow, ohmigod, Rukia Himirashi, destany, Iloveallanime16, Aspretto, and Domina.

~KP