No Need for Love

C h a p t e r 28 - Confusion

Sakura's P.O.V

Immediately after reaching Sasuke's place, I knock on his door waiting for it to open. After a few minutes, I decide to knock again. I continue to wait, but the passing time only greets me with silence. I begin to play with my hair as a way to distract to myself, but I eventually give up.

"He must not be home."

Moving away from his house, I continue my search. As I walk through the village I'm greeted by a few familiar faces. I greet them back with a smile before moving along. I make sure to ask if they've seen Sasuke by any chance, but no luck so far.

"If he's not home, then where could he be? I wonder if-"

"Someone get help!" A voice suddenly shouts, interrupting my previous thought.

'What's going on?'

I turn my head towards the sound of all the commotion. There seems to be a small crowd of people up ahead. They're surrounding something that's on the floor. Deciding to check it out, I run towards the crowd. Without a clear view of what's happening, I begin to slither my way around the concerned villagers. All while letting out an "excuse me" here and there every time I bumped into someone. Finally reaching the center, I see what all the commotion is about. My eyes widen as I realize it's Sasuke! He's lying on the ground unconscious!

"Sasuke!?? Sasuke!!!" I call out while shaking his still form.

"It won't work." An unfamiliar voice says.

Looking up, I see a person I didn't notice before. It's a man who looked to be in his middle ages. He's sitting besides Sasuke body.

"We've tried to wake him up, but no matter what it just doesn't happen. He's out cold." The man finishes explaining.

I nod to him in acknowledgement before looking down at Sasuke.

'At least he tried to help.'

Grabbing one of Sasuke's wrists, I decide to take his pulse. Thankfully it's normal. Looking over his body, I notice he doesn't have any injuries.

'If it wasn't an injury that made him unconscious, then what was it? I highly doubt he would've fainted from fatigue. Even if he did, he would've woken up by now.'

Checking Sasuke again, I lift his eye lids in order to examine his pupils. They look okay but the overall color of his eyes seems to be faded. Almost as if the color was drained from them. His once ebony filled orbs are now a dark charcoal gray.

'What could've caused this? Could it be a genjutsu?! That would explain everything, but who would cast a genjutsu on Sasuke and for what reason? Ugh, I can figure that out later!'

I quickly form the genjutsu release hand sign in front of him.

"Release!"

Pulling my hand away, I watch Sasuke waiting for him to wake up. A minute passes by and his body doesn't move an inch.

'Why is it not working?!!'

Focusing my chakra, I try again, but I get the same result. Slowly getting desperate and scared, I continue.

"Release! Release!! Release!!!"

No matter how many times how many times I try, no matter how hard I concentrate, my efforts are in vain. Sasuke remains unmoving, and I don't know what to do. With no other choice, I turn to the middle aged man from before and ask for his help.

"Could you please carry Sasuke for me? He needs to go to the hospital and it'll take too long if I try to carry him myself."

The man answers with a quick, "Yes, of course" before lifting Sasuke and placing him on his back. The people behind us back away in order to make room. After passing the crowd, we immediately head towards the hospital. On arrival, medical ninja take Sasuke and put him in a different room. I'm told to wait outside as they examine him. All I can do now is wait. I take a seat in an nearby chair. Exhaling a deep sigh, I stare down at my lap while tears subconsciously begin to cloud my vision.

'What kind of genjutsu was that? Sasuke, what's wrong with you? Please, please be okay.'

Naruto's P.O.V

"ARGH! Where is he!!" I shout out loud while looking for Sasuke.

I've looked everywhere, but he's nowhere to be seen.

'Would Kakashi sensei know? It wouldn't matter cause I don't even know where Kakashi sensei is!'

In this moment it seems as if the universe had heard my mental dilemma, because I suddenly spot Kakashi turning a corner up ahead. His back is turned so he can't see me. He also just happens to be reading his one and only 'Icha Icha Paradise' book. Quickly disregarding that, I run up to him.

"Kakashi sensei!"

He turns around, surprised to see me.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Kakashi says while putting his book away.

"What do you mean?! You were supposed to meet us over an hour ago for training, REMEMBER!!"

Kakashi silently stares at me with a dead panned look on his face. It takes him a moment or two before he's able answer. I can he's trying to come up with an excuse. My right eyebrow twitches as I try to calm my nerves.

'This is what he does whenever we're waiting for him?!!'

"Of course! I was on my way there right now." He tells me with a sweat drop running down the side of his forehead.

'Lier.'

"Forget it, no one's there!"

"What do you mean?" He asks curiously.

"When I showed up, Sakura was the only one there, so we decided to look for (Name) and Sasuke. When I got to (Name)'s place she wasn't there. I only found this letter she left behind. She's gone, she left the village Kakashi sensei!" I explain in a slight panic as I realize the seriousness of the situation.

Kakashi's eye widens as he tells me to calm down.

"Naruto, where's the letter?"

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the now slightly crumpled letter and hand it to Kakashi sensei. He quickly reads the letter before suddenly asking me, "Where's Sasuke?"

"I don't know! Sakura went to look for him, but I haven't heard anything. I tried looking for him myself but no one's seen him, so I figured you might know."

"No I haven't seen Sasuke."

"Well what are we gonna do! Sensei, you don't think Sasuke went after (Name) do you!!"

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. We'll deal with (Name)'s situation later. For now, our priority is finding Sasuke, heck he may even know why (Name) left all of a sudden."

"Kakashi!" A voice shouts in our direction.

Turning around we see it's Kotetsu! Finally reaching us he tries to catch his breath before speaking.

"Kakashi, you're wanted at the hospital." He says while slightly slurring his words in the process.

He's still trying to catch his breath. Judging by his tone I can tell that whatever it is, it's urgent.

"Why what's going on?" Kakashi responds.

Kotetsu looks at me before bringing his gaze back to Kakashi sensei.

"It's Sasuke."