Hinata closed her eyes as the man in front of her reached down to touch her face. She flinched involuntarily as she felt the cold, clammy hands of the man closing in on her. Tears continued to stream down her face as she struggled to stifle her cries.
"You're alright." He said, trying his hardest to calm her panicking heart but the way his voice dripped with ulterior motives had the opposite effect. "We've prepared the most loveliest room for you whilst we waited for your arrival. One just like the one you have at home, isn't that right, Kabuto?" He remarked, his tone filled with a twisted satisfaction. The man's finger continued to trace her cheek, his touch sending shivers down her spine.
She watched the man walk into the dim light. His gentle eyes that stared at her with such warmth the other day was nothing but a steel gaze. He smiled at her and offered a slight wave as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose until his eyelashes tickled the lenses.
"It has been meticulously arranged with items that we believe you will find to your liking. Although, I must apologize for any missing details, as I have only had the chance to visit your room a handful of times," he sneered as he confirmed the words of his boss.
Hinata's heart sank at Kabuto's words. How long has he known her for him to be so sure of his words? How long had he been stalking her? How could he have eluded her family's watchful eyes? And who were these people? The questions swirled in her mind, adding to her confusion and terror.
"You're confused." Words laced with amusement managed to penetrate the buzzing in her ears. "I can imagine that you have a lot of questions. Perhaps you are wondering why you were the one we took," Kabuto's voice trailed off, leaving her with a sense of dread.
"Don't be silly, Kabuto." The snake-eyed man caressed her tear stained cheek. "She wants to know how long you've been watching her."
Hinata's eyes moved between the both of them quickly. Her gaze landed on the opened door behind Kabuto. If she could get up with enough force and run quickly, then she could make it out. Trying her hardest to calm herself, she listened to Kabuto laugh loudly.
"Lord Orochimaru has always coveted the strength of those who are different. Your eyes, dear Hinata, are a sight to behold. No one has such pale eyes. From the first time he had laid eyes on you, he knew that he had to have you." Kabuto stopped laughing, "you should be grateful."
Pushing Orochimaru's hand away from her face, Hinata hurled herself at him and stood quickly. She ran past Kabuto, mentally telling herself to not stop until she got to the door. Once she was passed the door and standing in the hallway it dawned on her that they were not rushing to chase her.
"You can't run away, Hinata." Orochimaru's voice sent chills down her spine. "There's no way out of here."
She kept moving, trying to create as much distance between them and herself before she stopped at a crossroads. She could hear their footsteps following her ever so slowly. Deciding to take a right, she ran down the hall again whilst trying to undo the ropes they tied around her arms. Her training with Sasuke from years ago came back in an instant as she twisted her wrists with ease.
"Are you really planning on going? We haven't shown you your room yet." Kabuto spoke calmly with amusement as he walked down the same hallway. He knew the layout of the building like the back of his hand. Unfortunately, Hinata would soon realize that there was no use in running from them.
With a breath of triumph, she dropped the ropes and took off the cloth that was wrapped around her mouth. Once again, she came to a crossroads. That wasn't possible. She was sure that the building she was in wasn't big enough to have such long winding halls but here she was standing at a new area in confusion.
"Have you given up already?" Kabuto leaned down and whispered in her ear. He pulled at her hair before she could run away, making her scream in pain. "You made Lord Orochimaru chase you, don't you know how disrespectful that is?" He didn't care as she fell to the ground, twisting and turning in his grip for him to let go. Pulling her back by her hair and ignoring her cries, he smiled. "You're going to love it here, I really do hope you do."
"Let me go!" She yelled and scratched his arms.
"I can't do that." He opened a door and tossed her inside.
Groaning in pain as her body hit the cold hard floor, she heaved as she sat up. "What do you want from me?"
"You should ask yourself what Lord Orochimaru wants with you; but you'll soon figure that out."
"Please, let me go. I can give you money! I'll do anything." She begged, her forehead pressed to the floor.
"Hn." Kabuto sneered down at her. "We have a lot of things we need to go over once you have come to terms with your new arrangements. No one will be coming for you, Hinata. Not your father. Not your boyfriend. And definitely not that snot nosed Uchiha." The sound of the last name of her best friend felt like a sharp knife coming from his mouth.
"What did you do to Sasuke?" She no longer cared about herself. "Don't you dare hurt him."
"Awe, such a shame that you didn't have the same reaction about your father or the man that you love. Is the Uchiha that important to you?" Kabuto lingered in the doorway, curious to know her answer.
"I'll do whatever you want as long as you don't touch him, my family or Naruto."
"That is all up to Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto finally got tired of hearing her talk. "There is a change of clothes in the dresser and a bathroom behind that door; make yourself presentable for Lord Orochimaru before he retrieves you." He closed and locked the door.
Hinata's shoulders slumped as the gravity of the situation finally dawned on her. She was in an unknown area, stalked and kidnapped by two men who had plans for her that she didn't know of. She wondered if it was some weird initiation of a cult but that thought quickly dissipated as her family came to mind.
She knew they would find her. If her father couldn't, then Sasuke would.
Holding the door open for Hiashi, Sasuke didn't care to wait for Naruto as he entered the police station. Their steps were quick — impatient. They all looked around the room for someone to talk to, Naruto anxiously tapped his fingers against his thighs.
"Hello, how can we help you?" A brunette man with red tattoos on his cheeks smiled at them as he beckoned them forward.
"We'd like to file a missing persons report." Sasuke was the first to speak, clearly understanding that Hiashi was too angry and Naruto was busy keeping himself together to talk to the officer.
"How long has it been since the person went missing?" He logged into the computer and waited patiently for either one of the men to speak.
"About sixteen hours ago? I'm not too sure." Naruto stammered.
"Hm, how old is this person?"
"She's twenty five." Hiashi answered, "her hair is midnight blue, she's about five feet three inches and has really pale eyes like myself. She's my daughter, her name is Hinata Hyuga and she didn't return home from her date last night."
"Do you know who her date was with? Perhaps she stayed the night over at their place."
"That can't be possible because her 'date' is standing right there." Sasuke pointed at Naruto. "He dropped her off on the street near her house but she never arrived home — as her father had said."
"Has any of her friends heard from her?"
"Listen, Officer Inuzuka, if her other friends had heard from her, they would have called to let her father, hell, let me know that she's with them." Sasuke's calm façade was betrayed by the annoyance in his voice.
"Alright." There was a sudden silence that was only filled with the sounds of tapping on a keyboard. "When was the last time she's spoken to either of you?"
"Before she left the house; around 5PM." Hiashi said.
"I was the last person with her and I dropped her off on her street at 8:50PM. I left to deal with a personal matter but I did watch her walk some ways away before I left." Naruto nodded as if to reassure himself of the facts.
"…" Sasuke was silent.
"And you?" Inuzuka raised his eyebrow at his sudden silence. "When did you see or hear her last?"
"She called me."
The officer stopped typing and leaned back against his chair with his arms crossed. "She called you last night? Did you answer? Maybe that was to tell you that she was going somewhere else."
Hiashi and Naruto turned to Sasuke, awaiting his answer.
"I…I was asleep when she called me. She left multiple missed calls with no voicemail. When I called her back, she didn't answer."
"How long did it take you to call her?"
"A few minutes." He pulled out his phone and checked his call logs. "Six minutes after her last call, I called her back." He showed the police officer.
"Mhm. So everyone has seen or heard of her when she was presumably safe, except for you Mister…"
"Uchiha."
He nodded, "Mister Uchiha who she called. Do you know where her phone is?"
"I would guess that she has it, wherever she is." Hiashi grumbled. He was already tired of the miniature interrogation, he just wanted them to stop talking and get to work.
"Have any of you bothered checking her phone's location? Does she share her location with you?"
The two men behind Sasuke quickly pulled their phones out. Opening the same app together, they looked at each other confused.
"She's at a pawn shop?" Naruto mumbled in confusion.
"I don't think that's Hinata…" Sasuke turned to the officer, "someone is trying to sell her phone."
"Whoever that bastard is must have a hand in her disappearance." Hiashi's eyes narrowed.
"Give me a moment, I will accompany you three to the location in case that it is a suspect. If we do not find her, we will begin searching for Miss Hyuga." Officer Inuzuka printed the file he was typing.
"Thank you so much, Officer—" Hiashi began but was quickly interrupted.
"Just call me 'Kiba'. I'll meet you three outside with my partner and then we'll head out."
Nodding, the three men did as the officer said and made their way back to Naruto's car. They sat inside in silence; Naruto tapped the steering wheel in nervousness, Hiashi kept clearing his throat as if to stop himself from crying, and Sasuke said nothing as he stared at the call logs on his phone.
If this was Hinata's idea of a prank, he didn't find it very funny. He would rather it be a sick joke than for her to actually be missing. He didn't know what he would do if she was gone.
They opened the door to the pawn shop to see that the place was practically empty except for the shopkeeper and three other people who wandered around the store.
The three men stood in front of the police officers, hiding them from view for a moment.
"Hello, how can I be—" The storekeeper's voice trailed off once they realized the police officers standing there. "Um, is there a problem I can help you with?"
Before Hiashi or Sasuke could answer, Kiba held his hand up to stop them. "I'll take care of this, you three just wait here." He mumbled and approached the man with a smile. "Did you recently receive a cellphone from one of your clients?"
"We did? Is something the matter?"
"Do you know who that person is?" Kiba leaned against the glass counter and looked at the things on display. He beckoned for his partner to come closer; his dark shades blocking his intense gaze. "Shino, be sure to write this down, okay?"
"…" Shino nodded and pulled out a miniature notebook and a pen.
"It was a homeless man, he came in here with some things he tried to sell; the phone was the only thing that was of profit."
"And you just took it? You didn't question him about how he came to possess it?" Hiashi interrupted Kiba before he could speak.
"Well, no. I don't really question these things at all."
"You should." Kiba mumbled, "because the phone belongs to a woman who just went missing."
"I didn't know, I swear!"
"Can we have it?" Sasuke asked.
"Uh, yes, sure! Just let me get it for you." The storekeeper stammered and excused themselves to collect the device. They returned with it and handed it to Kiba with shaking hands. "Is there any other way I can be of assistance?"
"Can you provide a detailed description of this homeless man? We'd like to ask him some questions." Shino asked, "please be as detailed as possible."
"I know what he looks like." Sasuke mumbled.
"You do?" The small gathering looked at him.
"He was the last person we saw in the area." Sasuke answered their question, "I asked him if he's seen anything but he didn't; but since he tried selling her phone…"
"We'd still need a description." Kiba motioned for the storekeeper to provide Shino with the details. "You seem to be keeping some information from us until the last minute, Uchiha, is there anything you'd like to share before we continue?"
"Sasuke?" Hiashi's voice was hopeful, he wanted to know everything his 'son' did.
He shook his head, "that is all."
With defeated shoulders, Hiashi sighed, "let's get going then."
"I'd have to ask that you three wait at the police station whilst we go around asking if anyone saw anything. Is that alright with you?" Kiba thanked the shopkeeper and held the door open for all of them to walk out.
Since the three men had no right to question the police officers in front of them, nor could they tamper with the investigation, they nodded in understanding.
"Good, we will return quickly after having another look at the street she went missing. If we do not find anything, we will begin a full investigation and have other precincts look into her disappearance as well. Just be a little bit patient, I'm sure she will turn up soon." Shino closed his notebook and pushed it into his pocket as he talked to the trio.
"Alright." They nodded.
No one spoke as they left and returned to the police station. Just as they did before, they sat there and thought about the gravity of the situation.
Hinata needed to be found. Neither of them was prepared to lose her or fathom how life would be without the Hyūga woman.
"Would you guys like something to drink?" Naruto mumbled. "We've been walking all day…"
"Just a bottle of water would do." Hiashi answered.
"Sasuke?"
"Hn?" He looked up from his phone, his thoughts far away, it was as if he wasn't there at all.
"Do you want anything to drink?"
"Just a…nevermind." He shook his head, "I'm alright."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded.
Naruto hesitated but understood that Hinata's disappearance affected them differently. Perhaps Sasuke was feeling deeply worried but he would never know. The Uchiha was always quiet, especially around him, but that didn't offer any solace for Naruto. Sasuke was quiet now, but not his usual quiet, he just seemed distant.
"I'll be right back." He announced as he left the car.
Hiashi and Sasuke shared a glance for a second.
"She'll come home." Hiashi said, his words felt empty coming from his mouth as if he didn't believe them. "I know she will."
