"Thank you all for leaving your families at this hour for your job. It's well appreciated. You all should know by now, that I would never interrupt your personal lives, if it weren't for something very serious." The blonde-haired chief scanned everyone's facial expressions, showing she means business.

Sitting in her seat, she continued, "I was just informed by Sai, that one of our own was captured by the Akatsuki. We don't know their motives with her yet, but-"

"Her?!" Kiba started, his voice rising, "Who was taken?!"

Closing her eyes in frustration at him, Tsunade said, "If you'd let me finish, Inuzuka. . . Anyway, just to ease the ongoing questions, Haruno was the one abducted."

Wary whispers echoed throughout the large room, until a booming voice interrupted, "What, how!?" Kiba questioned, his facial expression showing confusion and anger.

Sai butt into the conversation, and stated with his eyebrows slightly furrowed, "She was apparently dropped off at the 24/7 grocery store by her friend, and when I went with her to pick up Haruno, she was gone, with a piece of their signature cloak left behind."

Tsunade nodded, "Right. We were planning on doing an investigation tomorrow, because Nara and Haruno found something very important to the Akatsuki case. Shikamaru," she looked at him, "I'll let you do the rest."

He nodded, "Today Haruno and I went to South Avenue, because we both suspected the Akatsuki's hideout was located there. From research, we discovered there were rumors of an underground area, where the head of the Uchiha household is, which is where Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha used to live. Once we got there, her and I did indeed find a door on the ground underneath a tatami mat. We can't be sure that's their hideout, but that's why we were going to do an investigation tomorrow. Plans have changed now."

Everyone in the room looked at each other with questionable glances, and the pineapple-haired detective continued, "Now that Haruno is gone, and all fingers point to the Akatsuki, we are going to go there tonight, coming in with as much force as needed."

"Wait," Naruto started, "How can you be so sure that the underground entrance you found is indeed the Akatsuki."

"Good question, Uzumaki, but I have one to ask you as well. Don't you feel that it's ironic how we just discovered this information just today, and Haruno disappears with traces of the Akatsuki being left behind?"

Thinking for a moment, the sun-kissed blonde said, "I see now."

Smirking, Shikamaru replied, "Good. Even if we're wrong, which I doubt, we still need to do everything we can to get Haruno back. Tonight is when we enter South Avenue silently. A few people need to guard the perimeter, and the rest will go to the location silently. Are we clea-"

"One question," Kakashi started, "What are we going to do about Sasuke Uchiha? Wasn't the plan to bring him in and take down the Akatsuki at the same time?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Shikamaru opened them with determination in his eyes, "That plan has changed. Haruno is our main priority now. She will be brought back."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The vulnerability she felt was excruciatingly painful. What could she do to get out of this situation when nothing worked? The ropes on her wrists were tightening with each movement she made, and Sakura could feel the circulation being cut off. The dehydration in her system was pushing her to the brink of blacking out, and the hope that somebody would come for her, was slowly diminishing. It's only been a few hours, but she expected Sasuke would worry for her. Even though they had a fall out that morning, all she wanted to do was see him. If Sakura was going to die here, she wanted to tell Sasuke how she felt.

The sound of a creaking door snapped Sakura out of her sulking. Her head slowly moved upwards to look up, a thick strand of hair stuck to her face. The man walked in, face expressionless, but she could see the hint of a smirk within his lips. Just seeing this man made her want to charge at him.

He stood in front of her, staring down at her as if she was his own personal victim, which irked Sakura to the bone. Taking his brown eyes off of her for a moment, he looked around the room filled with human puppets, and gave a slight smile.

"Amazing, isn't it?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her. She glared at him from below, but he ignored her deathly expression, "Isn't it amazing how humans can be so useful, even when they are deceased?"

Sakura's breath became shaky from his statement, but he continued, "This—This is real art."

"Art?" Her tone sounded almost child-like, baffled by Sasori's mindset, "You call this. . . Art?"

Crouching down in front of her, he gave her a frown, and said, "Of course. I wouldn't expect someone without an artistic mind to understand. We all have our own impressions of art. Deidara for example: he has his own extraordinary art that has benefited us for a very long time."

She shook her head slightly, "You are monsters. Killing innocent people. . . How can you live with yourselves?"

"Isn't it the same for your boyfriend?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "What are you-"

"Sasuke Uchiha has killed many innocent people, yet he's not a monster?"

"No. . . Those people were not innocent! They assaulted and-"

Her sentence was cut off by the light chuckle that came from Sasori, "How can you take his word for his acts? How can you even defend a criminal that will never come to save you in the first place?"

The pinkette gaped at him, and he smirked at her expression, "Why do you look so surprised? Do you really think Sasuke will come to our hideout for you? You must be kidding yourself. Sasuke's main goal is to kill his brother, not to rescue you."

"Then why—Why did you kidnap me?"

Sasori looked intently at her before replying, "I've said too much already."

He reached into the inside of his cloak, and pulled out a syringe with a clear liquid inside. The emerald-eyed detective's heart pounded furiously at seeing the object in his hands.

"Don't worry, kid. Once we're through with you, your body will not go to waste. You'll be a great asset to my collection." He opened that cap of the syringe, and flicked the needle.

Grabbing the side of her face, he tilted her head, and she asked quickly, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Ignoring Sakura's question, he stabbed the long needle into the side of her neck, making her scream in pain from the sudden impact. Slowly, his thumb pressed down on the syringe, and he pulled the needle out of her neck. She looked up at him for a moment, before falling sideways from her sitting position.

"This is one of my latest concoctions of poisons I have created," the red-head started, "It numbs your whole body, only allowing you to slightly move your eyes, while everything else on your body is unable to move. It'll be a miracle if you can talk after this spreads through your body. Depending on how strong your immune system is, it shouldn't kill you."

All Sakura heard before blacking out from the invasion in her body, was the sound of the door closing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The speed of his running made the leaves and debris fly behind him. It was as if his motivation urged him to keep running, and never stop. The wind made his long hair flow behind him, while he panted as he ran. The Uchiha grit his teeth, as the thought of her lingered in his mind. Just the made up image of her being hurt, left the feeling of fury course through his body.

I can't lose the only person left in my life that I care about.

Sakura meant something to Sasuke that added to the rage of losing her. He couldn't quite understand this feeling, but it was consuming the Uchiha by the second, clouding his mind with a series of instances of being alone again.

Corner after corner he turned, until the onyx-eyed man reached his destination. Entering the dangerous neighborhood, Sasuke ignored the tactic of being wary of others. He couldn't waste any more time, because the Uchiha knew the life of Sakura lays in the hands of his brother, and he knew the worst was to come.

The criminal finally stood in front of his former home, squinting his eyes at the opened entrance. Just by narrowing down the possibilities, he knew this. . .

This is where she is.

And he was prepared to reach every extent to save Sakura.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It's sure been a while. . . Yeah. . .

In case none of you have not read my recent messages, I have been dealing with the struggle with high school. Not. Fun. At. All.

I have been working very hard in school, so that has made my free time disappear, so that should give you an insight of why this update took 2 months. And what sucks, is this update is TERRIBLE. It's short, and I know it could've been better, but 2 months is way too long. You guys needed an update, so I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!

Updates will be slow from now on due to school, so try not to hate me too much for it.

~Kit_Katzzz