The ambiance of the city managed to penetrate through the thin walls of the almost quiet apartment. A thin trail of smoke rose up from the lit cigarette that lay in the ashtray. The sounds of the long forgotten television, stuck on the news channel, played in the background as a body lay on the worn out sofa. Thick, dark locs covered the arm rest, one hand spilling over the edge, loosely holding onto a pair of gold framed glasses. Soft snores filled the apartment, drowned out by the sudden shrill sound of a telephone. As the sounds got too loud to ignore, a groan left the mouth of the couch's occupant, a lazy hand reached to shut off the cursed device.
"It's—" They checked the time on the small watch. The ticking sound was ever so quiet that one would have to strain their ears to hear it. "Three in the morning, what do you want?"
"I think we might have found a lead."
His world froze, his eyes widened and it got harder to breathe for just a second. Sasuke sat up abruptly and searched for his sweater, he was sure that his airy breath was audible to Jiraiya.
"Where are you?" He asked, pulling on his sweater and combing a hand through his hair.
"I won't tell you until you're sure that you can make it here within the next few hours or thirty hours from now."
"The hell? Of course I can!" He stumbled slightly as he tried putting on his shoes in his haste. Grabbing his car keys, Sasuke placed Hinata's glasses in his pockets and closed his eyes as he said a silent prayer.
He wasn't one for religion, nor did he believe in anything, but he really did hope that Jiraiya found something about Hinata, or better yet, he found her.
"You'll need to take a ferry."
In an instant, Sasuke knew where exactly Jiraiya was referencing. There was only one ferry system that was near Konoha. The drive there, without traffic, could take a couple of hours or even a day depending on the route he took. He was determined though, and even if he got a speeding ticket, he would get there before noon or late at night the next day.
"I'll be there." He hung up the phone before Jiraiya could respond.
Pacing around anxiously in the hallway as he waited for the elevator, Sasuke rushed inside and repeatedly pressed the button for the parking lot. Every second felt as if it was taking too long, the more he lingered, the less time he had to save Hinata.
Getting out of the elevator and into his car at record speed, he revved the engine and turned on the GPS. Just with his luck, the interstate had little to no traffic, and there didn't seem to be any weather complications besides the thunderstorm warning.
His eyes narrowed as soon as he broke into the street, his grip on the steering wheel was tight and he had no plans of relaxing as he kept looking at the time. Six hours, he should be across the provincial border at that time, and another six hours to take the ferry and get to Jiraiya — if he doesn't stop for more than five minutes to eat and use the bathroom.
He didn't plan on telling Hiashi that he was going out of town, simply because he only wanted to give the man some good news after the constant beat down over the past few months. It was getting redundant, telling him that nothing has been found over and over again, at some point, they all lost hope.
This was different.
This was better.
Sasuke didn't trust Jiraiya at first, thinking him to be a little bit too immature to handle such a sensitive case, but he had done something the police couldn't. Despite the ill timed jokes he made, he really was serious about finding Hinata.
That pit in his stomach felt bottomless, and his heart ached at the thought of seeing her again. Perhaps it was because she was his best friend and nothing more, a friend missing a friend is completely normal, even if his hands felt clammy at the thought of holding her again.
Ninety miles per hour.
He needed to go faster. He was already going twenty miles above the speed limit but even that didn't feel like enough. He needed to make it to the interstate quickly, or now would be better. If only he could teleport to wherever he needed to be instead of being forced to make the long drive. At least he wasn't taking public transportation.
Tapping the steering wheel as he pulled up to a red light, Sasuke kept muttering under his breath. "Come on, come on." He looked left to right and froze as he saw someone standing under one of the lampposts.
A white dress clung to their skin, the rain making their hair darker than usual. They lifted their finger, pointing at him and then pressing their finger to their lips in a shushing motion.
Sasuke squinted, trying to see what they were saying. His heart sank as they opened their eyes, pale orbs stared at him, and as if their voice was echoing, he heard the words 'hurry up'.
Once the light turned green, they disappeared.
His mouth felt dry, sweat began to build up and run down the sides of his face. It happened again; his dreams manifesting themselves eerily. They seemed to be on the rise that very day, and he wondered if it had to do with Hinata — it had to be.
"Hurry the fuck up! The light is green, you moron!" There was a honk behind him.
Getting himself together, he sped off and looked in his rear view mirror in hopes of seeing that mirage again. There was nothing besides the usual city lights and the headlights of whoever was driving behind him.
"You're going crazy." He muttered.
Hinata abruptly opened her eyes and took a deep breath only to realize that there was something attached to her face. Her eyes hurt, and it took a few extra seconds to notice that she wasn't exactly in her room but suspended in water. The blue liquid around her was warm, and it made her skin tingle slightly.
Looking around, she figured out exactly where she was as her memories overwhelmed her. Scared, Hinata clawed at her skin as she remembered the needles that punctured her arms. She could still see them, she could feel them, and she didn't like that at all.
Swimming towards the glass, she banged on it, begging to be let out as her fear consumed her. They hurt! Her body hurts so much! Her tears mixed with the liquid that surrounded her and seemed to weigh her down but also make her feel so light.
The light above her made it hard for her to see, so she squinted in an attempt to make out if there was anyone in the room.
A body caught her eyes, filling her with hope as she pounded on the glass. With all the noise she was making, the door to the room opened, revealing an annoyed woman (or was it a man?). Hinata recognized them, they were the server from the cafeteria that was someone nice to her — in the sense that they were very nonchalant and didn't try to bother her.
Hinata pounded on the glass again, but then stopped. The body she had seen in the room with her was very identifiable by their red hair. She froze, her eyes focused on the dead woman on the floor.
There was no way that Karin was dead; that wasn't possible.
As if sensing her confusion, the new arrival walked over to the dead Karin and flipped her over. They recoiled as they closed her eyes, they turned to Hinata and shook their head.
Karin was dead.
Hinata yelled, bubbles forming around her as she shouted in pain. Her friend couldn't be dead, they promised to look after each other but there she was; laying dead on the concrete floor.
Standing up, the unknown person approached Hinata and pressed their hands to the glass. They looked back at the door, making sure that it was closed. They breathed on the glass and wrote something for her to see.
'Haku'.
They pointed at themselves.
'I'm a boy.'
Hinata nodded in understanding.
Haku cleared his throat, rubbing his chest slightly. Hinata noticed the gauze wrapped around his neck and wondered if he had an operation that had to do with his voice. Or perhaps he was just covered with marks like everyone else and he preferred to not speak very much.
"She died a day or two ago." He informed her, staring at Karin's body. "I hadn't seen her after lunch the other day and just assumed that Lord Orochimaru just forced her to eat in her room. She lost a lot of blood, that's all I can see at least. I'm sorry." He frowned.
Hinata bowed her head, letting the glass go as she thought about the short time she spent with Karin. Knowing that she had died, most likely trying to save her, made her feel worse.
"We'll get you out of here." Haku smiled.
She wanted to ask him why he was helping her since there was nothing she could do for him in return. She barely knew him. Then she remembered how Karin was willing to help as well; that seemed to be everyone's goal around here — they wanted to help each other.
Hinata tapped the glass, trying to get his attention. Once she had it, she shook her head. She didn't want him dying like Karin did.
"I can—"
The door opened, scaring Haku as he turned around quickly. Kabuto walked into the room and glared at the young man. Approaching the two, his eyes trailed to Hinata who feigned unconsciousness inside the tube.
"Why are you here? You're only supposed to stand on guard." He reprimanded, reaching for Haku.
He flinched, closing his eyes and he shook slightly. Only the heavens knew what sort of hell Kabuto had put him through. Feeling his hands on his arms made him recoil, they felt feathery, lingering for a second as they trailed lower.
"I heard some sounds." Haku answered quickly, moving away from Hinata and Kabuto. "I came to check it." He answered, his voice soft as he avoided the older man's gaze.
"What sort of sounds?" Kabuto ignored the way he moved in discomfort.
"Knocking." Haku answered, "I'll be leaving then."
"Actually, care to observe something fun?" Kabuto went over to the large metal desk, stepping over Karin without a care.
Haku knew he couldn't decline so he remained standing there. He watched as Kabuto shook a beaker, the liquid looked like water but the density was far greater. His eyes widened as Kabuto opened a small hole in the incubator Hinata was in and poured the liquid into it.
The blue body of water quickly turned a sick green colour.
Hinata opened her eyes again, feeling the change in whatever it was she was floating in. Screaming again, she kept running her hands over her body as the previous tingling intensified.
Kabuto stepped back and smiled. "So you're awake! No one has ever survived more than a day inside these incubators, but you probably knew that. You're a mystery, Hinata, no matter what we do, your body just heals so easily. But that's not the case for your mind, is it?" He teased as he walked around. "You may go, Haku, I need to talk to our dear friend alone."
Haku hesitated, feeling sorry as he bowed and finally left the room.
"Ah…Your mind must be going insane. Your body forgives and forgets, but your mind…It just keeps replaying everything, doesn't it, Hinata?" He smiled and pressed his body against the glass. His eyes trailed down her body, her naked body on full display for him. "You look so good when you're struggling, have I told you that?"
Kabuto sighed and stepped back. "Unfortunately, you're going to be inside there for a while, so we can't play our little game anymore. You'll get used to that new feeling, like you always do."
Once Sasuke got to the ferry, he was shocked to find an ambulance and a few police cars on the same one he was to take. He imagined that Jiraiya had called them in case of anything, and he appreciated it. Though, seeing the police wasn't exactly pleasant, he wished that they didn't come but understood that it was protocol.
Finding a seat for himself, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes in an attempt to get a little sleep in. He had only been drinking coffee and energy drinks during his travel, not wanting to spend any time on sleep. Even his meals were subpar.
He wasn't one for fast food, but he had eaten a lot more burgers during his travels than he did in the past year.
The loud horn of the ferry made it hard to catch any sleep though, but his eyes remained closed throughout the trip.
By the time they arrived at shore, the sun had already set and the moon had yet to reach its peak. Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder, signaling that he had arrived. Opening his eyes, he saw a smiling Jiraiya.
The man was a mess; his hair was disheveled, and he had a healing black eye. Before Sasuke could ask what happened, he was being escorted off of the ferry and to the forest that surrounded the building Jiraiya told him about briefly.
"It took a lot to find information about this place, but you could probably tell by my face." Jiraiya laughed and crossed his arms.
"Is she inside?"
Jiraiya looked at Sasuke and sighed, "that's what my intel says but there's only one way to verify."
Sasuke nodded and attempted to walk away from him, he didn't verbalize his plans but the older man was very much aware of his eagerness. He was stopped quickly, against his will, he was pulled back to Jiraiya's side.
"You can't." He shook his head.
"What do you mean I can't? I'm here for her, and I'll join the search."
"There are some guys in there that I trust getting the job done. I don't need you getting in their way. Sasuke—"
Shrugging him off, he glared, his visage and aura darkening. "I don't care if you think it's a bad idea. It's my fault she's in there, and I'll be the one rescuing her." He quickly broke into a sprint before Jiraiya could stop him.
Staring at the receding silhouette of Sasuke, Jiraiya sighed and returned to the ferry. He needed to make sure that the ambulance was ready for whatever they found; whether it be remains or a barely alive person.
The blaring sounds of the alarm system rung through the building. Everyone on the inside gathered in the cafeteria, wondering what was going on. Orochimaru and Kabuto were nowhere to be found, so there was no one to guide them.
The room broke into loud chatter as everyone expressed their confusion. Haku stood in the middle, looking around in hopes of finding who he was searching for. She wasn't there, he was sure that she would have been let go by now. Frowning, he hoped that the alarms had nothing to do with Hinata.
Down the halls, Kabuto was busy pushing multiple papers into a bag with little to no care about their organization. Sweat caked his forehead as he moved around the room collecting his specimens and lab notes that he kept in files.
The door flung open, revealing a distraught Orochimaru. "They're in the building." The man hissed as he entered the room and began helping with discarding their notes. "I don't know how they found this place." He muttered.
Orochimaru flung some notes into a bin, starting a fire as he tried to burn them. They were making progress! Things were going extremely well, but now they were being infiltrated, and if they were caught, not only would all their research go down the drain, but they'd be sent to prison.
Murder and kidnapping.
He wouldn't be able to survive life behind bars, if that was his sentence and not the death penalty. Orochimaru looked at Kabuto and then the bag he held in his arms.
"What are you doing? Throw it in the fire!" He reached for it.
"No! I can't let these go, this is years worth of work, Lord Orochimaru. We can't let it disappear because we've been found." Kabuto pulled it back and shouldered it. "You can keep burning whatever useless things are in this room, but I'm leaving."
"No the fuck you're not." Orochimaru tackled him and reached for the bag. His hands wrapped around his neck in an attempt to kill him. If he was going down, so would everyone else.
Kabuto coughed, trying to get Orochimaru off of him. Reaching around him, he grabbed the leg of a broken chair and hit the man over the head. As soon as he was able to, he scrambled to stand and opened the door to leave.
When he was a few seconds away, he realized that the bag was no longer on his back. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of Orochimaru who limped out of the room and down the hall towards the emergency exit.
"No you don't!" Kabuto yelled, pulling a knife out from his pocket. He had saved it in case of an emergency, and that's exactly what was happening. "I won't let you take credit for my work." He ran after Orochimaru.
"I provided you the funds, you worked for me." Orochimaru quickly ran down the stairs, skipping multiple of them in an attempt to get away from Kabuto.
Looking down the winding stairway, Kabuto held the knife in his mouth as he climbed over the railing. He waited for a few seconds, calculating his jump. Once Orochimaru was in the right position, he jumped and held the knife at a high angle.
Orochimaru froze, the extra weight of Kabuto was nothing compared to the sudden rush of blood he felt as the knife pierced into his back. He coughed, blood pouring from his mouth. "What—"
"I was waiting for the right time." Kabuto smirked and pulled the bag away from him. "You're dying with all of those test subjects you killed, Lord Orochimaru." He left the knife in his back as he kicked him down the stairs.
Wiping his hand in disgust, Kabuto sighed and leaned against the wall. For a second, he thought he was safe until the sound of the doors opening made him face reality. Cursing under his breath, he decided that going down the stairs was better.
As he ran down the stairs, the doors at the bottom opened. He was trapped and there was no window he could jump out of.
"Police!"
"Fuck." He raised his hand up, turning around slowly to face the officer behind him. "It was self defense." He said.
"Turn around and put your hands on your head!"
As he was doing what the officer said, Kabuto reached down for his knife from Orochimaru's body and attempted to throw it as a distraction but he was met with a shot to the middle of his forehead. His eyes widened, time froze as he watched the blood trail down his forehead before he collapsed.
"Kiba, what the fuck?" Shino put his gun down and stared at his partner.
"I thought he was going to attack!" Kiba put his gun away and sighed. "These guys can't be trusted, Shino." He frowned and checked to make sure they were both dead.
"Still…"
"Let's see if there's anyone else alive in this place." Kiba picked up Orochimaru, "grab that guy. We'll drop them at the entrance and continue our search."
Shino nodded.
Sasuke pushed through the crowd of patients that were escorted out of the building. His eyes scanned them in an attempt to find familiar midnight blue hair and pale eyes but her face wasn't visible. Once the small crowd was out of his way, he faced one of the officers who kept ushering more people out of a large room.
"Has Hinata been found?" He asked, he stared at the badge number and name. "Officer TenTen." He nodded in acknowledgment.
"Not yet, I'm guessing she's somewhere further into this building. There are rooms still being checked."
"Are you looking for Hinata?" One of the many victims stopped walking, approaching them at the mention of her name.
Sasuke hesitated as he nodded. "Do you know her?"
"She's in the basement, you'll know when you find it." The young man offered him a smile. "She needs to be freed."
Sasuke faced TenTen, "I'll be back."
"Wait! Don't you want an officer with you in case of any danger?" TenTen raised her eyebrow, silently offering to accompany him.
Reaching for her gun, Sasuke pulled it out of the holster and side stepped her punch. "I know how to use this."
"Don't ever do that to an officer, are you insane?" She glared. "If this wasn't an emergency then I would have to arrest you this instant."
He nodded in understanding, before she could lecture him further, he quickly left.
Sasuke ran down the halls, trying to find the pair of stairs that led to the basement. It took some time, and a lot of opening a bunch of doors before he found the heavy metal doors that hid the stairway going down.
It was dimly lit and cold. He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight as he walked further into the unknown area. He should have asked the boy he spoke to what room Hinata was in, and his regret settled in as he came face to face with a winding hall of doors once again.
Cursing, Sasuke began the long trek through the hall. He opened every door, and the sight was not pleasant. Rooms of incubators, operating rooms, ones filled with cages — it never seemed to end. Just as he was about to give up, he came across a fork in the path.
Confusion settled in before he remembered Suigetsu's words. He's been here before. Closing his eyes, Sasuke allowed his memories to be his guide, he walked into a hallway and didn't stop until he faced a final door. Opening his eyes, he lifted his hand and paused.
She would be on the other side of that door, waiting for him to set her free.
Twisting the door handle, Sasuke opened it and pulled out the gun. His eyes narrowed as he walked into the room, he looked around, ready for any sort of threat.
All the incubators in the room were empty, except for one.
He froze. His hands fell to his sides as he took in her appearance. She didn't look like Hinata — she didn't look like she was alive either. Approaching the incubator, his skin began to crawl as he noticed all the marks on her bare skin. Gone was the well built, slightly pudgy woman he adored, in her place was a walking corpse. Her bones were defined, and what little he could see of her face made him want to throw up.
"What did they do to you?" He muttered, trying to find a way to release her.
Tears bubbles in his eyes, the controls in front of him were barely legible as he tried to calm himself.
Growing frustrated, Sasuke yelled as he pounded his fists against the glass. He remembered how he did the same with the chamber Suigetsu was held in, but the material of Hinata's cage felt stronger than that. Pulling out the gun, he fired it in an area that wouldn't hit her in case it broke through.
He emptied the clip, his tears falling. With an empty gun, he used the nozzle to hit the area he was firing at. Soon, a small crack formed and it began to leak. Having an ounce of hope left in him, he continued assaulting the chamber. The crack spider webbed across the surface, he could hear it crinkle under the pressure of the water. With one last hit, the glass gave away and he caught Hinata quickly before she could fall.
His clothes were drenched but he didn't care, all he could focus on was the fact that she felt as light as a feather in his arms. Pulling the breathing mask she had off of her face, Sasuke pushed her hair back and took in her sickly appearance.
"I found you, like I promised." He kissed her forehead.
Grabbing one of the many sheets that littered the room, Sasuke wrapped them around her carefully and held her close. His mind was blank as he made it out of the basement, everything that happened within the last three months went by like a blur. He couldn't believe it.
Once he was outside, Jiraiya quickly recognized him and the body he held in his arms. He called for an ambulance, leading the way quietly, he knew that all Sasuke needed at the moment was silence.
"Stay with her when she gets to the hospital." Jiraiya patted his knee.
"Hn." Sasuke kept staring at her face, watching as the paramedic prepared her for the long journey. It took a few seconds for him to snap out of it, so he called Jiraiya before he could go. "Karin was found dead."
"I know." He gave him a solemn smile. "Get some rest, Sasuke."
"Thank you for finding her."
Jiraiya nodded.
A/N: Hey guys! This is amrises, I just wanted to make a note concerning future updates. Unfortunately, after the next two updates [which would be written by QueenFox352] the story will be put on hold for a little bit. That is because I'm responsible for the following two chapters after that, but because of my health, I'll be taking a short break from writing to focus on getting back on my feet. I'm sorry if you've been anticipating where this story would go, you'd just have to wait a little bit longer, but it would be worth it, I promise. I'll return quickly and show my improvement!
Thank you for understanding :)
