Chapter Twenty-One: Alliance

"Only reckless people can understand how stubborn minds work."

-MistyAnnE_04

XxxXxxX.

Third Person's POV

"Daddy and Mommy are going to arrest you!"

A young girl spat once the redheaded knight pushed her inside a cell. Sasori boredly stared at the ravenette and sighed. "You talk too much, little one. Much like your mother."

Daisy glared at the man before her and tried loosing the chains on her wrists. It was no use. She's just not strong enough to shake them off! What can a ten-year-old princess do at a time like this?

"What do you want from us, anyway?!"

But she got no response. Instead, Kisame and Zetsu appeared and locked the cell. The cold metal door slammed shut and left the little Uchiha in a dark abyss..

Mom.. and Dad..

I know they'll come get me.

-*-

That night, while I was reading some papers for an alliance, Ino came banging on my office door. Didn't Shikamaru teach his wife how to knock?

The blonde girl bowed.

"What is it?" I nonchalantly asked and skimmed through the pile of unfinished documents.

"SIR, SAKURA IS MISSING!"

And after hearing what she said, my body felt an sudden rush of emotions. I stood up and slammed my hands on my desk. "WHAT THE FCK?!"

Oh, not again!

-*-

The crystal palace grew silent as the stars shone above. It's marvelous structure glimmered underneath the luminous glow of the evening.

Swords were being polished and horses werr being taken off for a practice run.

At the center of an open field, the other criminals approached him. He took his eyes off the moon and looked at them. All he ever wanted was world domination. Is that too much to ask for?

"When are we going to attack, un?"

The blonde man asked while adjusting the sleeves of his dark cloak.

The puppet master smirked and stared at the moon once more before answering his companion,

"Tomorrow. We attack the Leaf, and kill all those who interfere tomorrow... let's see who can rule the land better."

-*-

"SAKURA?!"

I ran through the halls, with the ANBU squad following behind me. We searched every part of this freakin' castle but there's no sign of her anywhere! Where could that stubborn wife of mine be?!

"Sir, news came in.. some villagers saw her at the park earlier," a blonde ANBU told me.

I wasted no time and took the nearest exit I saw.

"SIR SASUKE!"

I smirked. Well, they're not really used to seeing me exit through the window of a five storey building, now are they?

"Oh, sir!"

"Hey, is that the king?!"

"He's finally back!"

"Why is he in a hurry?!"

People made way for me as I ran through the market place and made a beeline for the village park. I was deep in thoughts the moment I got there. Scanning the area, I finally found the person I was looking for.

"Sakura?"

It was dark. If not for the few lanterns on the streets, I wouldn't even see the glimpse of a pink hair on the ground. I hurriedly ran towards her and found she was unconscious. Tapping her cheeks, I tried to wake her up, "Sakura.. hey, don't you play games on me now, honey! We have a war to prepare for, baka."

But she didn't even budge.

Fear crept into my chest as I gently caressed the side of her face.

What am I going to do?! Why isn't she waking up?!

"King Sasuke! King Sasukeeee!"

I inclined my head to the tiny voice and spotted Miko. "What?" I asked. He bowed his head and turned to another direction. The moment I followed his gaze, I yelped when I saw a man appearing from the shadows.

I-Is he really here?

"M-Mr. Pein?"

His purple ringed-eyes met mine and I can almost make out an upward curve of his lips. "Long time no see, Uchiha. The last time we met, you trade me several drugs for a sack of rice back at Otogakure."

I frowned. "Why are you here?"

The rogue ninja's eyes dropped at the woman I was holding. Miko murmured something under his breathe. Pein spoke, "That wife of yours... she's as reckless as you are." My eyes widened. What the heck is he talking about?!

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

By instinct, I pulled out a kunai from my pocket and aimed it towards the tangerine-haired man. But unfortunately, metal clashed with metal when a certain blue-haired female blocked my attack. Konan boredly stared at me, "Reckless indeed."

Something in me boiled. Are they here to insult me? These bastards. "Just tell me what you freaks did to my wife!" I demanded in an authorative voice.

Miko flinched. "A-Ahh... King Sasuke, you should let him explain first."

I calmed myself down and nodded. Sakura wouldn't be so pleased once she finds out about my sudden outburst anyway. And after a few moments of silence, Mr. Pein took the opportunity to speak.

"We are the ones who kidnapped Sakura five years ago."

My mouth hang open at what he said. His words rang inside my head as I studied any sign of him joking around. But as far as I know, Pein never jokes around. Unconsciously, my hands balled into fists. Anger flared inside of me.

I can remember everything..

Standing up, I fixed my eyes on them.

"Why?"

Why did they kidnap my wife? Why them, of all people? I treated them as allies back in my rebel days. Mr. Pein gave me a hard look, urging me to just punch this man out of Konohagakure.

"It was the only thing we can do, Sasuke Uchiha. You are the King of Thieves, am I correct? But ever since you married that royal, you left us bankrupt. The black market trade became meaningless without your expertise. It was only logical to kidnap that nuisance."

I can't take this anymore.

"FUCK! Is that all?! You kidnapped my wife... you took her away from me just to pull me back into dirty business?! Where is the logic in that?"

Konan stood between me and her master. She stared at the pinkette for a while before fulling facing me, "We did that to provoke you. We mean no harm to the Queen. We did that to lure you out of that fancy castle of yours and help us."

"Help you?"

"Yes. By that time, Sasori and the other Akatsuki knights were turning against us. They were planning to conquer the whole Fire Country.. kidnapping your wife to have you back into the illegal side was our last resource. But after four years of waiting for nothing, me and Pein have already given up and planned to return her to you... but when we trailed down the Hidden Mist, ANBUs attacked us and Sasori---along with the other Akatsuki rebels---appeared."

My mind processed the information. "That was the time they took in Sakura to be their so-called Queen.." I nodded in understanding. I let out a sigh and firmly added, "but that didn't answer my question.. what did you do to her."

It was Pein who replied, "As I told you earlier, she's as reckless as you are. It turns out, she stole a potion from Tobi-sama.. a potion that can put anyone to deep sleep. The moment me and Konan trespassed, we saw her and that gnome fighting over it."

This time, I turned to Miko. He averted his gaze downwards and played with the hem of his shirt. "Ahh..... I tried to stop the Queen... believe me! Believe me! But she was too stubborn.."

"When she saw us, we explained to her our side of the story. We told her the reason why we kidnapped her before in the first place." -Konan

"...Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And after hearing their explanation, Queen Sakura said something about lessening your burden and drank the potion!!"

Third Person's POV

The Uchiha stared at his sleeping wife, his brows furrowed in frustration. He had never met anyone as idiotic as his beloved wife. Baka.. she thought she lessened my burden with what she did? He bitterly cringed.

"How long will the potion wear off?"

He scooped his wife in his lean and muscled arms. Pein, Konan and Miko looked at each other before the later answered, "Um.... from what I heard, to wake her up, you need to kiss her under the night of the full moon exactly at midnight."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. A true love's kiss? How cliche.

Sighing like a furnace, he looked up and remembered something. Tomorrow is night is a full moon.. Afterwards, he averted his full attention back at Pein and Konan who were unusually silent.

"Why are you trespassing again?"

The orange-haired former Akatsuki leader smiled as more figures appear from the shadows.

"The war's coming. We're here to offer our service."

XxxXxxX