Itachi looked fondly down at the nude girl asleep on the futon in her apartment. The red fang shaped tattoos so telling of a member of the Inuzuka Clan while the black tattoo on her upper left arm revealed her as a Konoha ANBU. She stirred as he was clasping the white armoured vest of his ANBU uniform over his chest, "Hey." she muttered sleepily as she stirred and pulled the blankets over her sinewy body. He smiled down at her, Toki had been the best thing to happen to him in a long time, and the night of passion they had spent together would be amongst his fondest memories.

"I have that long term mission." he reminded her gently when he noticed her slit deep brown eyes look at his questioningly.

She nodded as the sleepiness cleared. "You don't know how long?"

"No. I don't know how long it will be until I return." Itachi replied. He knew that lying to Toki didn't work, with that advanced Inuzuka nose of hers she could smell lies. So he didn't, he was indeed going on a long term mission and he had no idea when he would return. If he would return. He just left out the part about massacring his clan. He would never lie to Toki but he would certainly withhold the truth.

"Wow. It must be serious." she said through a yawn so much like an animal's revealing her extended canines.

Itachi chuckled at the irony of it all. It certainly is he thought to himself. He looked at her pretty, sleepy face once again before walking over and placing a kiss on her lips and a second lingering one on her forehead. "Go back to sleep. I love you." he confessed.

She had closed her eyes and settled back onto her bed. "I love you too." she replied softly before sleep once again overtook her.

Itachi wiped the stray tear from his eye before slipping his ANBU mask over his face and vanishing from the apartment building.

Only a few hours later, the girl was startled awake by the sound of someone pounding at the door of her small loft style apartment. She sat up in bed and heard Moro stir as well. "Hold on!" she screamed. The knocking only became more insistant.

"Dear Kami!" She cried out as she yanked a robe from the back of her door and tied it tightly around her thin-boned frame. She stomped to the door and swung it open. "Do you have any idea what time it is!?" she demanded but stopped short when she realized it was an ANBU. His scent told her it was Yamato, no one could escape her nose and ears.

What's going on?" she demanded.

"It's the Uchiha clan. You need to report to the Hokage right away." was all the man said before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Come on Moro!" she called out before she slipped on her shoes and ran out the door her ninken at her heels. As they wove through the village, Toki became aware of the scents of smoke and blood. As she ran her imagination began to think the worse; another Kyuubi attack, the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans at war, an enemy village attacking them in the dead of night. However, not even her imagination could have prepared her for what the Hokage told her.

Hiruzen Sarutobu looked at her from beneath his haori. "Uchiha, Itachi has just murdered his entire clan."

Toki and Moro looked at one another, as if to confirm what they had just heard. "What do you mean, Lord Hokage?" Toki found herself asking, her eyes narrowing.

"That is why I have summoned you here. What do you know of this?" The Third Hokage inquired.

"Nothing. Itachi has been distant, talking to that creepy Danzo character, and obviously spoke of the errors of the Uchiha Clan. Nothing that would indicate an action like this" Toki replied.

"That is all you know?" the Hokage clarified. "I know that you and Itachi have been a couple for a time."

Toki nodded a blush forming on her high cheekbones. She self consciously pulled her robe more tightly around herself.

"Yes, Lord Hokage." she replied through tears that were beginning to fall as the realization of what had happened set in.

"The pup, Sasuke. Is he harmed?" Moro's deep gravely voice inquired. Like Tsume's ninken, Konomaru, Moro could also talk.

At the mention of Sasuke, Toki quickly tried to blot out the tears from her face. "Is he okay!" she cried out.

"Sasuke is at the hospital now, being treated for wounds. He is now a ward of Konoha, he will be provided with everything he needs." Sarutobu explained.

"Please Lord Hokage, let me have custody of Sasuke." Toki found herself asking quickly. Moro looked up at his partner, both confusion and understanding in her red eyes.

The Hokage let out a bitter chuckle. "If I had it my way, I would. But the counsel will not allow a fourteen year old girl, an ANBU no less, to be the guardian of the last surviving Uchiha."

"But I am all he has left." Toki found herself begging.

"I know." the Hokage replied softly.

Toki took a step towards the Hokage but was stopped by an ANBU with a Hound mask, almost identical to her own. Her nose told her it was Hatake Kakashi and on her other arm was Shirauni Genma. Team Ro's top operatives.

Despite Moro's growl, both girl and ninken dropped their heads in defeat.

Itachi made sure to take every precaution as he ventured to the lair of Orochimaru. If there was one thing he was certain of, Toki would be on every mission she could physically be on to find him. He had to make sure he didn't leave a trace. He spent most of his time traveling through water, others making sure to rub his scent on plants going in the wrong direction. A journey that should have taken him a week took him two.

His mind thought of the worst, Toki and Hatake Kakashi on the same team. If they were put together along with a Hyuuga, chances of him being found increased dramatically.

All of his ninja training in stealth were put to the test, he started becoming more and more dependent on his Shiringan making sure that he was hidden. Maybe it was his imagination but every once in a while he could have sworn he heard the sound of hounds, but as soon as he heard them they vanished.

By the time he reached Orochimaru, he knew he was safe.

Toki went on mission after mission trying to find her best friend turned lover turned enemy. She knew that she was a liability being on a team but she didn't care. She needed to find him. She drove team after team into the ground. When she wasn't leading teams she was part of them as the key tracker.

Every time she thought she had a trail she lost it. The worst time as when she led her team 13 miles in the wrong direction.

When she collapsed from exhaustion and malnourishment on a mission with Kakashi and Yamato she was taken off active duty until the search for Itachi Uchiha was called off. Itachi becoming a Missing Nin in the Bingo Book.