Stripped Bare (kakashiXsakura)

chapter 15

Sakura couldn't believe she had heard right.

"Gone?" she whispered, suddenly feeling as if her heart had leapt up into her throat and was fluttering about wildly like a bird trying to escape its cage. "What do you mean gone?"

"She's not in the building," Tora said gravely. "And nobody knows where she is."

"Her bed hasn't been slept in," Misaki sniffled through her tears. "Hana, I think she's been kidnapped!"

As she spoke, she broke down again, fresh sobs wracking her small frame. All the other women remained silent, their faces pinched with worry.

Sakura's mind was reeling as she tried to figure out how this could have happened. She remembered seeing Miyabi last night after the club had closed. Nobody had been around except those currently present in the room. She assumed Tsurenai and Dajaku had been in their own rooms or downstairs in his office, but she had been so tired that she hadn't been focused on anything except going straight to bed.

Tora placed a hand on Misaki's shoulder but the comforting gesture did little to quell her tide of tears.

"When was the last time any of you saw her?" Sakura asked, trying to think straight and see if, perhaps, there was a logical explanation for all of this.

"She was reading on the couch after the club closed," Jitsu offered after thinking for a moment. "She said she didn't feel like she could sleep, like she felt restless. I didn't think anything of it at the time."

Several of the girl's exchanged glances. Miyabi was usually completely cool and composed and for her to be on edge was indeed unusual. Sakura's calculating mind was already working to fit pieces of the cryptic puzzle together in hopes of discovering where the missing woman could be, but she had little to go on She wished she had been more observant last night as opposed to making a beeline for bed.

"Anyone else?" she asked. "Did anyone see her perhaps talking with someone suspicious or acting strange?"

Tora and Misaki shook their heads but Kitsune seemed to remember something.

"There was one thing," she spoke hesitantly. "But it's probably nothing."

"Just tell me everything you can," Sakura encouraged.

"Well, I saw her come out of one of the end booths and she actually looked a little rattled, like just standing was difficult. It turns out her customer had been a real master in the bedroom and she hadn't recovered yet."

"Did you see the man she had been with?" Sakura asked, her heart thumping a little more rapidly in her chest.

"No," Kitsu said, sounding almost disappointed. "I wanted to track him down to see if he'd take me for a spin or at least come back on another night, but Miyabi figured he was already gone."

"She didn't say what he looked like, did she?" the kunoichi asked, feeling the almost tangible sensation of their only lead slipping through her fingers.

"Now that you mention it, she did," the redhead pondered. "She mentioned he had strange colored eyes."

"What?" Sakura questioned a little too sharply before realizing her mistake and forcing herself to calm down.

If the other women found her reaction strange, they didn't show it, even though Sakura wouldn't be surprised if they could hear her heart pounding loudly in her chest as if she had just run at top speed through half of Fire country.

"His eyes," Kistune continued softly. "I think she said they were yellow."

It was as if something cold and heavy had just taken up residence in the pit of Sakura's stomach as the dreadful realization sunk in. Yellow was their man. She was now completely sure of it. He had gotten to Miyabi and now she had vanished. It was all she could do to keep from uttering her next thought aloud.