Living Out A Prophecy

Chapter 12

     Sasuke sighed as he sat in the hospital bed. Nao would have come to see him as soon as he heard he was in the hospital and it bothered him as to why she hadn't in the two weeks he had been unconscious. Daichi had come into his room earlier that day expressing the same concern. Futoshi had been sent out on another mission as soon as he got back along with Tenzou so he had no time to check on her either.

     Sasuke looked at the full moon. He was leaving tonight to go practice with Kakashi for the third and final stage of the chuunin exams so he planned to see her before he was off. Sasuke grabbed his clothes and dressed then jumped out the window to travel by roof top.

     Within minutes he was there and walked through the door. His eyebrows scrunched together. Nao normally had the door locked when it was night. He looked around at everything and went to the bedroom. He frowned seeing the bed was made. It didn't look like anyone had been in the bed for a while.

     "Something's wrong..." Sasuke muttered to himself.

     He looked in the bathroom finding nothing was moved from their spots like he left them then went to the kitchen. There were dirty dishes in the sink. Nao never left dirty dishes in the sink. She liked to have everything clean and in it's place. It was then he noticed a fine layer of dust on the table as he ran his fingers along its surface. His suspicions were confirmed when he found something on the floor beside the door.

     It was the white cherry blossom hair piece Sasuke himself had given her. It was enough evidence to cause Sasuke to run straight to the village gates. Upon seeing him Kakashi gave a wave and greeting, but Sasuke stopped Kakashi quickly.

     "Nao's missing." He then held up the hair piece. His training would have to wait.

     The village was in an uproar looking for the girl and people were sent out every few days to look for her. Daichi had to be watched at all hours so he would recover. He had tried several times in hearing the news to get out while still injured to look for the girl. He had even proposed to stop the chuunin exams so that a larger search party could look for her, but the final stage was just too close to postpone it.

     Gaara watched as shinobi came in and out of the gates. He was curious as to know what the uproar was about, him not knowing of the princess's disappearance yet. He sat on the inn roof and looked over as Temari and Kankurou joined him.

     "What is all this about?" Gaara questioned.

     Temari and Kankurou looked at each other, wondering if Gaara would kill them after hearing the news. Gaara wasn't close to the girl, but they both noticed that there was something about her that had intrigued and perplexed Gaara. His sights were set on the girl to find why she wasn't one he killed yet, and they knew that.

     "It's about that girl Nao that you have been watching," Temari said slowly, flinching when he glared at her. "Sh-she went missing about three weeks ago when we went into the forest of death. It was found out today."

     Gaara's eyes narrowed even more and Kankurou hid behind Temari as sand started swirling around the two. It was then Baki appeared on the roof, the sand retreating reluctantly.

     "She was in the way of the plan."

     Temari and Kankurou looked at the jounin in sadness as Gaara glared at him.

     "What do you mean Baki sensei?" Kankurou asked.

     "Yes. What do you mean?" Gaara asked as he got up from his seat and stood with his arms across his chest. "What did you do to her?"

     "The girl was a danger to us. Had she gotten in the way, you might have forgotten your objective Gaara," Baki stated gruffly as he crossed his own arms over his chest. "We don't need any distractions. I don't have her and I will not say anything further."

     Baki disappeared with that leaving Gaara glaring at the place he once stood. Temari and Kankurou looked at each other and Temari bit her lip, wondering if she should say something or not. She finally decided on not doing it and instead the two went back to their rooms leaving Gaara standing there contemplating Baki's words on how she would be a danger.

     "What is it with her that is so dangerous?" he pondered.

~

     Sasuke huffed as he dropped to his knees. Two chidori really was his limit. He couldn't help but think of Nao. If it was up to her, she would probably be right next to him helping out or scolding him. It brought a small smile to Sasuke's face and he shook his head, determination to get stronger running through him.

     Kakashi watched as Sasuke struggled with his speed training. His chidori was on point and his speed was the only things they really needed to work on. 'A straight forward attack is easily dodged...but with Sasuke's sharingan he can see and predict the movements his opponent is going to make.' Kakashi thought to himself. 'It won't be an easy thing, but he can do it.'

      Kakashi smirked under his mask and looked to the clouds. He frowned. 'It's just too bad that with Nao going missing, his attention has been occupied even when training.' Kakashi sighed at his thoughts. He just hoped that she would turn up soon, or else there would be more than just her brothers and Konoha trying to find her.

♪Koneko♥