Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!
~3rd Person POV~
"Blossom to Angel. Blossom to Angel. You there? I've got the target in my sights. Going in for the kill. Back me up."
The voice crackled over the badly tuned radio. The Angel of Darkness, as was her codename, sighed and quickly hunted for where her partner was, currently closing in on an old friend of theirs.
"On my way, Blossom. Just going to contact Fox, Art and Copy. Get them to back us up." she called back, hoping that her partner would receive it despite the bad condition of the radios.
She pressed the button that connected them with their male counterparts.
"Fox, Art and Copy. Blossom has target in her sight. Close in and capture."
"Gotcha, Angel. Be there in a few." she heard Fox's voice reply, a definite smile on his face.
She let a small smile flash onto her face as she began running. They had finally found him. Maybe now Blossom would stop mourning and Fox would be his normal hyperactive idiot self again. She closed her eyes as she ran, honing in on Blossom's Chakra. She found her quickly, used to her partner's power and could sense it almost immediately, no matter the distance. She could also sense their target's power along with two other unknown power sources, though they were all definitely human. And one felt distinctly female. But she could be wrong.
She landed just behind Blossom and together they advanced on their target, him seemingly oblivious to their presence outside of the warehouse he was in. They were quickly joined by Fox, Art and Copy, all three of them as tense as the two girls. They had been waiting for this moment for six years and they weren't going to give up now.
~Three days earlier~
~Angel of Darkness's POV~
"You asked to see me, Hokage-Sama?" I asked as I stepped through the door to the spacious office, belonging to the Fifth Hokage.
The blonde woman nodded and placed the file she was holding down on a pile that sat next to her on the oak desk.
"Yes, I did. I understand that you and your teammates are still determined to find your lost teammate, am I correct?" she asked, holding my gaze perfectly, something that not many people could do without shivers wracking their body.
I nodded.
"Hai, Hokage-Sama, we are. However we have not had much luck so far, every time we think we have him he slips away, normally leaving one of the team seriously wounded, if not near death." I told her, choosing my words carefully.
I wanted her to see how dangerous what we were doing was, but I did not want her to stop the mission. Hence the diplomacy.
"I know all of this." she snapped, her tone sharp and business like.
I stood up a little straighter and threw up a few quick barriers around my person, in case she began throwing things at me again. The Fifth Hokage took in a deep breath, her age suddenly showing through her world weary eyes.
"I called you here to tell you that we have a new lead on where he might be. I thought I would tell you first since, after Sai, you are the one with the least connection to him, therefore you might be able to help me tell if this information is true or not." she explained.
I nodded once again, letting the barriers down one-by-one, sensing that all was calm once more.
"We have been told that Sasuke is hiding with two comrades in a warehouse on the outskirts of a village that is just inside the fire border…"
I nodded. Sounded believable so far. Pretty consistent with what we had heard from every other source that we had.
"And that his comrades were going into the village and asking about leaf shinobi."
I could feel my eyes widening. That was not of the norm.
"The setting seems to fit in with his pattern so far, however the information about his comrades doesn't match up." I told her, trying to make my face blank.
But internally I was really worried. True, I wasn't attached to Sasuke as much as the others of my team, since I had never truly trusted him, however I did worry about the rest of my team; Sakura and Naruto had truly cared for the Emo Deserter and whenever we got a piece of false information, or he had already left I could see them shutting down even more and it hurt me to see them do that. It hurt me that they were hurting.
"Do you think we should dispatch a team or not?" Tsunade asked, her voice shaking me out of my thoughts.
I let my mind run through all of the possibilities, from us being able to return with him to us all dying. The one that looked most likely was that it was someone else or that he would have already left by the time we got there.
"Yes. I do. But please send Team Kakashi. We would be the best choice, considering how we know Sasuke and we are the people he is most likely to listen to and trust." I said, again trying to be diplomatic.
I could feel a headache coming on. Myself and Diplomacy didn't go together very well. I preferred to either speak my mind or hold my tongue.
"That is what I was planning anyway but thank you for your advice, Konan. You may go. Please inform your teammates that your mission starts tomorrow at six sharp, and please tell Kakashi…"
I smiled, already knowing the end of the sentence.
"…that if he is late then it will be his fault if we don't catch Sasuke." I finished for her and she smiled at me.
"I should think of some new material. You're getting far too good." she said.
I smiled again before walking out of her office. Naruto first, then Sai, then Kakashi, then home. I was living with Sakura since I couldn't find a place of my own. We shared the rent and the cost of the housekeeping and it worked well.
~Two hours later~
"Honey, I'm home." I joked as I walked through the door of mine and Sakura's apartment.
I had stayed longer than planned with Sai, since he had insisted that it was the perfect time for me to teach him some origami. Now my fingers were all sore, but not as sore as his, since he kept getting paper cuts.
"Hey, Konan. Dinner's ready." Sakura called.
I sighed in bliss as I slipped off my shoes and stepped into the inside of the apartment. Sakura was just laying the table for our dinner when I walked up behind her.
"You do know you're the Goddess of Flatmates to me right now." I told her as I flumped down into my chair.
Sakura just smiled before walking back into the kitchen to retrieve the food.
"Itadakimasu." we said at the same time before we started eating.
"We have a new mission." I told her, in between bites of the hot food.
Sakura looked up, her attention grabbed by those five simple words.
"There has been a report of Sasuke in a warehouse, just inside Fire. We leave tomorrow at six." I said, trying to ignore the look of hurt in her eyes when I said Sasuke's name.
When she looked up again her eyes were resolved, as was her voice.
"We'll find him this time. We just have to."
~Present Day~
~3rd Person POV~
The five Shinobi advanced on the warehouse, their hopes high but their expectations low, each with a varying degree of emotion on their faces. Art had a completely blank face, whereas Angel of Darkness' face showed only determination. Fox's and Blossom's faces showed varying stages of hope and strength, whereas Copy's face was a mixture of all of the above.
Blossom and Angel were the first to reach the doors. They took one each and eased them open, making themselves known. The three male Shinobi walked in, flanked by the females. Although their expressions had all been different as they had approached the cavernous building now they all matched in one expression. Shock. The man that they had been hunting for, for two years, was stood there in front of them, the same smug expression on his face. Angel pushed her way forward until she was face to face with him.
"Sasuke." she said, her voice cold and void of any emotion, any warmth.
The rest of her team recoiled slightly, recognising her hostility as it was rolling off her in waves.
"Konan." he replied, his smirk still firmly in place.
"The guys here have something to ask you. However, I have a feeling that they are too dumbstruck to say it. So I will. They want you to go back to Konoha with us." she put extra emphasis on the word 'they', clearly showing her distaste and dislike for the young man stood in front of her.
"And what about us?" asked a voice.
Angel peered over Sasuke's shoulder to see a red haired girl with glasses stood with a boy with a shark tooth.
"The Hokage has extended an invitation, under certain circumstances of course, for you to return with us also." replied Angel, her voice still icy and empty.
"We accept." says Sasuke.
Blossom and Fox take a sharp breath in and Angel smirks.
"Let's go then."
R&R Please