Ch. 7

Sakura Haruno was many things. Smart, headstrong, stubborn and even a little lazy when it came to physical training and exercise. But she wasn't blind nor deaf. Something had happened two days ago that upset or agitated nearly every ninja in the village, including her home room senseis Iruka and mizuki.

Everyone pretty much heard about the near destruction of the hokages tower yet apparently no one knew who or what caused it... or at the very least, the ninja of the village were keeping it hush hush. Even Iruka sensei refused to answer any of her questions about what had happened and that man talked a lot! So you know whatever happened had to be pretty serious if mr. talk-your-ear-off Iruka wouldn't speak about it.

Another thing she had noticed was the lack of Naruko in the academy these last two days. She, like all the other kids, didn't know the blond girl that well, yet the blond had stuck up for her against ami and her goons a few weeks ago and Sakura had tried many times to thank the girl but every time she sent out to find her, the blond would just be gone! It was kind of annoying.

Sakura had went home that faithful day and told her mother about how Naruko had stood up for her against her would be bullies and even told the older woman about how Naruko had called herself the nine tails, Sakura laughed after that but quickly fell silent when she saw the pale look on her mothers face.

*Flashback*

"Listen to me honey." Mebuki knelt down on one knee and gently grabbed Sakura by the shoulders. Making sure Sakura was listening, she continued." I won't tell you to stay away from naruko, but I want you to be weary of her." The older woman sighed softly.

Sakura looked confused." But why mom? I mean, sure Naruko has those weird whiskers but she doesn't look all that scary to me." The pinkette shrugged absentmindedly." I mean, she stood up for me and got my book back. If she was a monster like the other kids said she was, then why would she do something nice like that?" She asked curiously.

Mebukis mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, struggling to find the words. After another second or two she let out a soft sigh and leaned forward to kiss Sakura on the forehead before pulling back and smiling at her daughter." All I ask of you Sakura, is to be careful okay? I don't know what I'd do if you ever got hurt."

Sakura couldn't quite place the odd look in her mothers eyes.

*Flashback End*

Sakura didn't know what a girl her age could've done to make not just her mom, but most of the other grown ups, weary of her but Sakura intended to find out! She hated not having answers to her questions.

So, with a made up mind, she confidently walked up to ino after the school day had ended and greeted her.

"Oi, ino-pig!"

Ino, with a huff, stopped talking to choji and spun around with a glare." What do you want now forehead?" She ground out as sakura came to a stop in front of her.

"Hm, as much as I hate to say this, I need your help." Sakura admitted begrudgingly. She hated having to rely on the blond.

This got inos attention. Her teal colored eyes widened and then narrowed a little, yet sakura could still see the not so hidden curiosity within them.

"And what do you need my help with?" Ino tried to sound as uninterested as possible as she began to examine her light blue painted fingernails.

Sakura huffed a bit." Listen ino, don't you think it's kinda strange?" She asked quietly, almost as if she were talking about a well hidden secret.

Ino raised a brow curiously." What's strange, forehead?" She asked.

Sakura rolled her emerald eyes before leaning a little closer to the blond." Don't you think it's strange that just two days ago, the hokages tower was ransacked and then Naruko, who's never missed a day, suddenly stops coming to school-"

"She stopped showing up two days ago." Ino cut the pinkette off and sakura huffed in slight annoyance." Yeah I pay attention too sakura." Ino added smugly.

"That's surprising."

"Oi!" Ino huffed out and crossed her arms in retaliation to the other girls sass.

"Anyways, your the gossip queen around here so I wanted to know if you knew anything about what happened to the hokages tower and if it involves Naruko." Sakura explained.

Ino smirked proudly at the 'gossip queen' part before she answered her rival with a sort of smugness that sakura didn't quite like." Well, if you must know." She leaned closer to sakura and began whispering.

"So daddy got called into work super early the night the hokages tower got hit." She began and sakura listened closely." When daddy got home later that day he looked kind of worried and when mom asked what happened he said that the hokage messed something up but he wouldn't explain what."

"So the hokage almost destroyed his own tower?" Sakura asked skeptically. Why would the hokage do that? Isn't he supposed to be the strongest and smartest person in the village? How'd he almost destroy his own place?

Ino shook her head." I don't think so cause later that day when I showed up to school, I heard mizuki-sensei talking to sazume-sensei about how 'the whiskered brat went totally berserk on the hokage last night', now who do we know that has whiskers?" Ino questioned smugly.

Sakura looked surprised at that." So you're saying that Naruko attacked hokage-sama?" Ino shrugged.

"It sounds like it."

"That doesn't make any sense though." Sakura admitted with a confused look on her face." Sure, from what we saw during hers and sasuke-kuns match, she strong. But we've never seen her mad before, let alone mad enough to attack the hokage."

"Yeah I guess so." Ino conceded to the pinkettes point." But why the sudden interest in Naruko anyway?" She had to asked.

Sakura shrugged." I still haven't gotten the chance to thank her for the whole ami incident and if you think about it, she's just one big question mark." Sakura told her." I mean, she's a girl our age right?" Ino nodded." Yet it sounds like all the grown ups are either afraid or weary of her. My question is why?" Sakura asked." What did she do? And if what you say is true ino, why would a kid our age, attack someone as strong as the third hokage? And why did she just up and vanish?"

Ino took a moment to think about sakura words. She had to admit that she too was curious about the enigma that was Naruko.

"So what do you propose we do about this?" Ino asked curiously.

Sakura smirked at her rival." I say we track her down and ask her ourselves." Ino immediately looked skeptical so the pinkette continued." Think about it ino. With our smarts, we should be able to track her down right?"

"And what if she's in some sort of black site prison for attacking hokage-sama?"

"Those types of things are real?"

"Oh yeah, daddy talks about them all the time."

Sakura deadpanned. What kinda ninja went around talking about that sort of thing?

Putting that thought aside, sakura looked at her friend- now rival." What do you say ino? Wanna find her or not?" She asked.

Ino hummed, pretending to think about it for a few seconds before she grinned." Alright forehead, where do we start?"

    ***

Sakura and ino spent a good three hours simply asking anyone if they knew where Naruko was but each and every time, they got the same answer. The kids they ran into simply shrugged and shook their heads No while the grown ups gave them strange looks and asked 'why do you wanna know where that thing is?'before walking away.

Ino and sakura were genuinely confused as to why the adults seemed to hate Naruko so much and it only served to fuel their desires to find the blond.

"This is crazy!" Ino huffed out as she and sakura took their seats at the counter of a small ramen stand." How can she just drop off the face of the earth like this?" She added. Her entire clan was made up of people that were trained in information gathering and yet, despite talking to well over thirty people, she still hadn't gotten any info as to where their runaway classmate was. It was like she just disappeared!

Sakura leaned on the counter and let out a tired sigh." I know what you mean ino, it's like she just vanished." She muttered.

After she finished speaking an older gentlemen walked up to them from the other side of the counter. He wore a small white hat on his head along with a white chefs coat and a black apron tied around his waist.

"Hey there kids." He greeted with a polite smile, his eyes seemed to squint even more from the action." Welcome to ichirakus ramen, what can I get for you girls today?" He asked as he reached into a small pouch on his apron and pulled out a small pad and pen.

"Mmmm, just a medium veggie ramen for me please." Ino ordered with a polite smile of her own.

"Medium beef for me." Sakura added tiredly.

"Coming right up." The older man replied before he turned away from them and headed back into the kitchen.

A teenage girl entered the kitchen area through a back door and headed straight for the sink. " trash is out dad." She told the older chief as she began to wash her hands. Her dark brown hair was long but styled into a low hanging ponytail. Her outfit looked nearly identical to her fathers, the only difference was that she wasn't wearing an apron.

"Thank you Ayame-Chan."

"Oh, you two are new here." Ayame called out to the two girls sitting at the counter. The brunette used a clean rag to dry her hand before she set it on the sink and walked over to the two kids." My names Ayame, you are?" She asked curiously. It was always nice to see new faces in their ramen stand.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm ino yamanaka and this here is my friend sakura haruno." Ino reached her hand over the counter and Ayame shook it with a light giggle.

"Oh my, so polite." Ayame said with a smile before she took on a thinking pose, her head slightly tilted and her right Pinter finger gently tapped her chin."Yamanaka, that's a ninja clan right?" She wondered and ino nodded, puffing her chest out a little in pride." So that must mean you two are in the academy then?"

"Yeah." Sakura answered." It's mine and inos first year." She explained.

"Oh, I know a little girl that's in her first year as well but she doesn't really talk about it." Ayame told them and she leaned onto the counter." How do you guys like it?" She questioned.

"Well, it can get a little boring sometimes." Ino admitted, getting a chuckle from the older girl." But it's really fun too." She added.

"Your ramen." Teuchi called out as he walked over carrying two medium sized bowls of ramen, one in each hand. Setting the beef down in front of Sakura and the veggie down in front of ino. He finished the meals off by laying chopsticks down next to the bowls.

"Thank you for the meal!" Both kids called out as they picked their chopsticks up.

Ayame smiled as she watched them eat and as if she could feel the older girls gaze, sakura looked up from her food and stared at the teen.

"So, ayame, you said you knew a girl in our grade right?" The older teen nodded her head." Who is it? Maybe we know her?" She suggested, looking towards ino who nodded in agreement as she slurped up some noodles.

Ayame smiled softly." Well, her names Naruko-" both ino and sakura turned their heads and spit out their ramen in surprise, catching Ayame off guard."uh-"

"You know Naruko?!?" Ino cried out as she leaned forward and stared into ayames brown eyes.

"Err-"

"We've been looking for her all day!" Sakura added quickly." Do you know where she's at?" The pinkette asked, her tone was full of hope.

Ayame blinked as she stared at the two girls before she slowly shrugged her shoulders." Well I mean, maybe?" She added in a tone of uncertainty." Why do you wanna know?"

"Naruko hasn't been to school in two whole days!" Sakura admitted.

"Yeah and she's never missed a day before so we're a little worried about her." Ino explained, though she lied a little. She wasn't exactly worried about the other blond per day, more curious about her then anything else.

"She's missed school for the last two days huh?" Teuchi asked from his position at the cooking area. He placed a basket of balled up noodles into the boiling water before looking over towards the two kids." That's unusual." He added with a small frown.

"Are you two friends of hers?" Ayame suddenly asked.

"Not really." Sakura admitted softly." But, she helped me with some bullies a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to thank her yet." She explained." Every time I try she just vanishes." She added.

Ayame smiled softly before she reached into her pants pocket and took out a small note pad and a pen." Well." She began as she started to write something down." I can't say I know exactly where she is right now but I can give you a few places to look." She told them as she stopped writing, capped her pen and slipped it back into her pocket. She then tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to sakura. " I know she likes hanging around  training ground three and she also spends some of her time up on the hokages mountain. If she's not at either of those places then check her home, I wrote the address down for you." Ayame finished with a small smile.

Both ino and sakura looked at the small piece of paper with an address scribbled onto it before looking back up towards Ayame.

"Thank you!" The girls said at the same time.

"Come on sakura!" Ino said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wad of bills." Let's go find our runaway blond!" Slapping the cash onto the counter and seemingly forgetting about their food, the two academy students dashed off.

Ayame sweat dropped a little as she picked up the wad of cash." This is to much money." She commented.

Teuchi laughed." Don't worry dear, I'll give most of it back to inochi next time we see him."

                                            ***

Both girls huffed as they climbed the last stone step that led them up to the very top of the hokages monument. Both girls were drenched in sweat and their legs burned from exhaustion.

After leaving the ramen stand, both girls had, in their excitement, run all the way to narukos home, which turned out to be and apartment building and not and actual house. Not to mention that it was about four whole blocks away from ichirakus.

After racing up three flights of stairs and finding the correct apartment, ino had knocked on the door multiple times. But after about five minutes of no one answering the door, they decided to check training ground three, which was all the way on the other side of the village.

Which was a waste of about two hours since the training ground was empty.

Now here they stood, a few hundred steps later, at the top of the hokages mountain with the sun getting ready to set.

"She better be here or so help me kami!" Ino groaned out as she leaned down to rub the back of her legs.

"Ino-" the blond heard sakura a voice and also felt the pinkette lay her hand on her shoulder." Look." Sakura pointed in front of them.

Ino stood straight and looked to where sakura was pointing and she saw her.

Past the black safety railing, sitting right before the edge of the mountain on top of the fourth hokages head was Naruko. Naruko sat there quietly, facing away from both of the girls with her head slightly tilted to the left, allowing them to see that she had her eyes closed.

The right side of her shoulder length blond hair was braided into three separate braids that were seemingly sticking to the side of her head while the rest of her hair swayed in the light breeze. Around the girls shoulders was a black cloak that ino assumed, had Naruko been standing, would hang just above the girls ankles.

But other then those small differences, Naruko looked the same to ino. But for sakura, it was much different.

The pinkette wasn't sure if it was the way narukos hair looked or the way she had her eyes closed as if she were peacefully meditating or if it was the sunset that framed her in its orangish-purple hues but she was sure of one thing.

She had never seen someone look so beaut-

"Ino, sakura." Both girls watched as Naruko slowly opened her crystal blue eyes and stood up. The blond turned to face them and a small smile graced her whiskered cheeks." It's almost night time, your parents must be worried about you."

Sakura felt her cheeks heat up and her tongue go numb. She didn't know why but any questions she had for Naruko simply vanished, in fact, she didn't seem to be able to even form words.

Thankfully, ino didn't have that problem.

"Naruko." Ino began, taking a step towards the safety railing that separated the two blonds." We got some questions for you, you runaway blond!" Her teal eyes were narrowed in curiousity and Naruko tilted her head in a way that made sakuras heart start to flutter.

'Oh god' sakura thought to herself as she stared wide eyed at the whiskered girl a few feet in front of her.' What's going on with me?!?'