DISCLAIMER: I do not own the 'Naruto' and 'Naruto: Shippudden' series.

PROLOGUE

The appealing aroma of wood crackling on an orange-yellow fire, camped out in my nose as I lay on my back, staring up sullenly at the midnight blue sky glittering with thousands of stars.

Lying beside me on my left was Sakura who was sleeping fitfully. An obvious sign that she was feeling uneasy about something.
My guess was that Sakura suspected that we may not actually find Sasuke where he was hiding with Orochimaru and his flunkeys. On my right was Naruto, who was snoring loudly with his back to me - but I saw this as a good sign, because it meant that he was recovering from the injuries he had sustained from his battle with Orochimaru's sidekick: the sneaky, manipulative Kabuto, on the bridge Sakura had said Sasori meant to meet Orochimaru, before Sasori was killed at Sakura's hands.

Kabuto and Orochimaru had gotten Naruto so enraged that they awoke the dangerous nine-tail fox demon living within him, much to Yamato's, Sakura's and my horror. Naruto's transformation caused not only damage to the battlefield we were fighting on, but caused damage to Sakura who tried desperately to stop him, and a lot of damage to himself as the firey chakra consumed him and burnt his body from head to toe.

It took the combined efforts of Yamato and myself to reverse the chakra, and Sakura had managed to heal him, but it came at a price. The nine-tail fox demon's chakra had weakened Naruto both physically and mentally.

Sighing, I sat up, trying not to disturb Sakura and smiled bittersweetly at the spikey, blonde haired ninja who had almost burnt himself into a crisp, and gingerly started stroking back his hair from his face. I instantly froze when Naruto stirred for a moment and instinctively clapped his hand on mine. But then he yawned and rolled over towards me and resumed snoring. The sound was similar to a chainsaw being ripped to life. I let out the breath I had unknowingly taken in, reliquished my hand from Naruto's and scooted closer to the fire. I picked up a stick and started prodding the fire, which sent up a wave of orange-yellow embers flying high into the air and popped and fizzed. Prodding the fire also sent a lovely wave of warmth over myself, Naruto and Sakura, who had stopped tensing up and was finally relaxing into a dreamless, unsuspecting sleep.

A twig snapped and I heard somebody land heavily on the ground behind me. Reacting automatically, I pulled a Kunai from my pack and had it at the ready to defend my weakened team mates from the unknown danger as I turned towards the newcomer. But I needn't have worried, it was only Yamato returning from his stakeout high in the canopies above us.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Yamato asked, striding forward to warm himself against the fire and observing my reaction with amused interest.

I stretched and replaced the kunai back into my pack as I eyed Yamato, with irritation.

"Who could sleep? I'm worried about Sasuke." I replied and moved back to settle myself between Naruto and Sakura. I hugged my knees and watched the flames in front of me dancing and twitching. Kinda like the tail of a lazy cat perched on a window ceil or mantlepiece.

"Uh? Who's turn is it to keep watch?" I asked, looking at Yamato who looked like he was preparing himself to go to sleep. Instead, he just shook his head at me and waved me away, thinking I was about to rise to my feet and volunteer.

"Don't worry, I'm not tired. I just came back to the camp site to warm myself. It's bloody freezing up there."

I looked up at the high branches above us. What he was saying was plausable. But I shrugged wishing that he would change his mind, but then yawned loudly.

"It seems the sandman has other plans for me. I'm going to sleep." I lay back down on the ground and angled myself in Naruto's direction.

Sakura moaned feebly in her sleep and I felt Naruto's fingers intertwine with mine. I opened my eyes to look at him, expecting that he would be staring at me sleepily with his typical warm but slightly cocky smile on his face that I had known all my life. But Naruto's expression was just as peaceful as it was when he went to sleep and conked out almost immediately.

A reflex action... I realised much to my disappointment.

"Sweet dreams, Akima. We'll be rising soon to continue towards Orochimaru's lair." Yamato promised as he got to his feet again and prepared to jump back into the trees to keep a solitude watch for the enemy.

I rolled my eyes and looked over to where Sai was sleeping by himself like the loner I had always suspected him to be. But saw nobody.
I sat up sharply, this time upsetting both Naruto and Sakura who both jolted awake.

"Wha-? What's going on?" mumbled Naruto, who cracked open an eye and saw that I was sitting up alertly. He immediately rose to attention as well.

"What's wrong?"

I turned to Yamato who was also looking at where Sai was supposed to be and instantly addressed the problem personally.

"Where did Sai go?" asked Sakura, who got to her feet and went over to inspect where Sai had settled in for the night. All she found was the little picture book that Sai treasured, lying discarded at the base of a nearby tree. She picked it up and frowned in confusion as she brought it over to Yamato who like Sakura was frowning, but with suspicion.

"Why would Sai leave behind his picture book?" Sakura pondered, flicking through the pages.
"This is his whole life."

Sakura kept flicking through the pages until she reached the very end of the book, where it showed a sketch of Sai holding hands with nobody.
Previously, the other pages showed pictures of a very happy Sai and an equally jovial blonde-haired boy holding Sai's hand, and both wearing different outfits on every page.

Sakura recalled that she had asked Sai about his picture book. Sai had briefly and sort of stand-offishly explained to Naruto, Sakura and I that the blonde boy in the pages was his 'brother', but he had been killed – taking with him the bond they had shared together. Sakura's trip down memory lane prompted Naruto's memory to drift to the time when he had discussed with Sai what they believed bonds were. He remembered that Sai held onto his every word with widened, fascinated eyes. When Naruto had finished his explanation, he had been told by Sai that Naruto reminded him of his dead 'brother' – through Naruto's kindness and strong dedication towards Sasuke.

I remembered that Sai used to stare at me with this really intense and fierce expression that freaked me out, and appeared to always be frowning slightly and dangling an object between his fingers; whether it be an ink brush or a kunai. This irritated me each time he did this.

"What!" I finally snapped at him one day when I caught Sai staring at me again without explanation. My outburst had startled both Naruto and Sakura.
Sai smirked and lowered the chopsticks he was holding in his slender fingers before answering my question.

"You're very beautiful. You know that, right?" Sai observed, flashing me his fake smile. I frowned at his odd statement, lowering my chopsticks which were holding some 10 minute Ramen noodles back into my disposable Ramen cup.

"So I've been told..." I looked inquiringly at Sakura, who looked just as confused and flustered as I did.
"Why are you staring at me? And telling me this?" I asked, getting highly suspicious about his observations.

Sai opened his eyes and stared seriously at not only me, but at a thoroughly confused Naruto (who had been shovelling noodles into his mouth at top speed, and had paused mid-shovel, so that he had noodles dangling from his mouth and dripping into his Ramen cup) and Sakura, who was looking unwell and irritable, and had been quietly blowing on her steaming hot noodles before taking small bites.

"Why are you being so creepy, Sai?" asked Sakura, who was sitting next to me. Sai set down his Ramen cup and stared at me seriously.

"I'm just wondering why someone of your obvious beauty and elegance, not to mention brains, is hanging around with a bunch of losers." he replied in his typical unthinking innocent way, obviously not noticing how his team mates had immediately tensed up and started staring daggers at him. And also obviously, not realising how deep the insult cut me. The insult understandably angered both Naruto and Sakura.

"What did you just call me, you little shit?" snarled Sakura, dropping her chopsticks into her Ramen cup and clenching her fists threateningly.

"You really are a total dick!" agreed Naruto, and he seized Sai by the lapels and turned bright red. My cheeks burned as I saw red, but this was because my sharingans had formed in my eyes the moment Sai openly insulted my friends. Sai saw the hateful look in my eyes and instantly looked afraid. My eyes narrowed, causing Sai to shake with fear, and it seemed that he had changed his mind about how 'beautiful' I was.

"Those 'losers' are my best friends, and my loyal team mates. But most importantly, they are my family – the only family that I will ever have, because mine had been stolen from me. Twice." Naruto and Sakura looked flattered and charmed by my words. But I hadn't finished yet.

"Even Sasuke is my family, for other reasons though. I love them all unconditionally. And I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world." I added, fiercely staring at Sai who shrank under my piercing glare.

Sakura smiled happily at me and gave me a hug. Naruto stared at me speechlessly, but then he too came over and wrapped himself up in my arms. We glared hatefully at Sai, who got up and moved away rather than risk being maimed by his angry team mates.

Coming back to reality, the three of us saw Yamato find and pick up an unfamiliar black notebook and started to flip through it. However, he instantly stiffened when he reached a certain page in the book. Yamato lowered the book, and the expression on Yamato's face made my stomach flip over. He looked frantic and annoyed.

"What's eating you?" asked Naruto, frowning at the rapid change in Yamato's expression.
Yamato held up the black book and beckoned to the three of us to come closer.

"This book is a Black Ops Bingo book. Ninja Assassins use these to keep track of all their past and will be victims. Once that victim is eliminated, they are crossed off the list." he explained. Then he opened the book to the page that cause the rapid change in his expression, just as Sakura asked an obvious question.

"But why would Sai have one of those?"

Yamato turned the book around to show us the contents of the page he had stopped at and all three of us froze instantly. It was a picture of Sasuke back when he was 13 years old. Although, clearly he would most definitely appear different now. But that was not the reason why Naruto, Sakura and I froze. It was the fact that Sasuke was going to be Sai's next victim.

"Oh God! Sai's on his way now to kill Sasuke! I'm gonna kill him!" squealed Sakura in dismay. I scoffed, bitterly.

"Not until I'm through beating the living crap outta him first." I countered. Naruto immediately packed up his things at top speed in a furious rage.

"SAI! YOU'RE DEAD!" he declared. He, Sakura and I started to charge off after Sai, but Yamato stopped us in our tracks.

"I think it would be better if I led the way. My wood clone has followed Sai and has reported back to me his whereabouts. He'll make totally sure that Sai doesn't make a break for it, so we can find him and apprehend him." he promised. I really didn't care who led me towards Sai as long as he was severely dealt with for betraying our trust...