One half hour had passed since the Hokage had released both the ninjas and the Nagasani family.

"You can't be serious!" Kiu shouted at Kimiko. "We've just secured the help of Konoha shinobi! We are going to be escorted back to our home, and, what's more, we're still alive! Why would you want to tell them now!?" Kimiko looked down shamefully, but persisted.

"It's wrong!" she said as forcefully as she could, her slender fingers shaking. "Aside from the fact that we're lying to them, we also promised that we would not bring foreign ninja into our clan dispute! We promised the Igarashi clan ourselves! Completely betraying their trust and Konoha's makes us more likely to be killed!" Her parents reacted with stunned and angry silence. Kiku raised her brow.

"But, sister," she reasoned. "You were the one who was so excited about the prospect of being protected. Are you sure your sudden desire to practice morality has nothing to do with what a certain young Konoha shinobi will think of you if he finds out the truth?" Kimiko looked down and blushed. Kyoko stood and put a protective arm around Kimiko.

"Do not pester her for her desire to do what is right," she said. "She was also worried sister, that we would be discovered, and the momentary shock that came as a result of the realization that we were close to one of the greatest shinobi villages was enough to make anyone lose sight of what is morally correct. Look what it did to our poor parents." The girls were now speaking as though their parents did not exist and were not beside them throughout this entire debate.

"But we have come so far and are willing to pay!" Kiku argued. "We even told the Hokage about this! She agreed and now we have the aid of Konoha shinobi!"

"Whom we're lying to!" Kimiko interjected. "It matters not that we have protection at this point if that protection is killed in the future because of our failure to speak truthfully about the situation!" Kiku sighed exasperatedly and threw her hands out in an agitated gesture.

"They're shinobi!" she almost shouted. "Two of them are Jounin! They can handle a few petty assassins!"

"But these are not just 'petty assassins'!" Kimiko shouted back, now on her feet. "The Igarashi's are trained shinobi and can handle two Jounin and a few Genin! They're trained to! If they don't realize what they're getting into, then they can't possibly expect what could happen!"

"Could happen!" Kiku responded angrily. "You're not guaranteeing that anything will happen! Why can you not just keep this to yourself and suppose that we will live through it! The Hyuuga asked us to trust them and so I, at least, shall! What about you, Kimiko? Kyoko?" Kyoko was silent. Kimiko, however, faced her sister boldly.

"I do trust them, sister," she said. "I trust them to get us through this alive, and I trust them enough to tell them the truth. I'm sorry." She turned to her parents, standing, perplexed a few feet away, and bowed.

"I'm sorry, Mother," she said. "Father." She turned to leave but a voice stopped her.

"I knew it."

Kimiko whirled around in a flurry of robes and Kiku's head snapped to the right, glaring. Kyoko gasped audibly and quickly covered her hand with her mouth. There, standing before them, cool as you please, was Yoshikawa Sai. She stepped forward and smirked.

"I knew there was something wrong with this," she said. Her smirk widened as she looked around at the Nagasani family before her. "So you were lying." Kiku stood up angrily and opened her mouth to say something.

"Don't tell me that eavesdropping is rude, you liar," Sai retorted. "Because, lying to shinobi about a task is quite a bit worse than 'rude' and even borders a little on offensive!" Kiku's mouth shut.

"That's better," Sai said. "Now, the reason I'm here is because the Hokage told me to watch you and to listen carefully to what I might here. Seems she was right on the mark when she said I'd find out something interesting." She paused and let the impact of what she was saying sink in. No one said a word. Sai continued.

"You see, as Hokage," she said. "Tsunade-sama is charged with the protection of not only our clients, but also our ninja. She can't send us headfirst into a mission without the full knowledge of what exactly we're getting ourselves into. That lack of knowledge, however small it may be could affect our success rate, as well as our chance for survival. That would just be plain negligent. And, in your case, the knowledge that it's not just a random assassination, but in fact a premeditated one with a serious reason and motive makes all the difference.

"But, at the same time, the Hokage can't betray your confidence. Think what that would do to our reputation. It was a real problem for Tsunade-sama. But she finally decided to tell Sensei's Kurenai and Gai and one of the Genin; me, obviously. I suppose her decision to choose me stemmed from the fact that I was already suspicious. Funny, how things work out." She stopped and Kiku found her voice.

"You were suspicious?" she hissed. Sai chuckled.

"Oh, yes," she replied, amused. "I already knew about the clan dispute between the Nagasani and Igarashi clans. It's not exactly a big secret. But, then again, I might well be the only one of your escorts who knows about it. When you mentioned nothing of whom the assassins were and why they were after you I became immediately suspicious. And I wasn't the only one. Hyuuga Neji and Aburame Shino were also suspicious, and I even believe Tenten became a little curious. Now I see why."

Then, suddenly she dropped her smug and indifferent attitude and became serious.

"That was a pretty low move," she said dangerously. "Lying to shinobi, the very thing you're trying to escape. Tsunade could've turned down the mission if she wanted to and then where would you have gone? I'm going to take this time to warn you that, right now, we're the only thing that stands between you and death." She stopped once again, this time, with no intention of continuing. The Nagasani's just stood frozen and looked at her. Sai gave them one last, meaningful look before she turned and walked away. Kiku stared resentfully after her.

"Is everyone ready?" Kurenai offered to help the Nagasani's with what their luggage, mostly goods that they were selling and some clothes for them and their children. Kiu and Yoshi quickly shook their heads. They were still shaken by the rather rough discussion between their daughters and the Yoshikawa.

As if to reassure them, Sai approached the two troubled parents and placed her hands on their shoulders. They started and turned to face her, with frightened looks upon their faces. She smiled genuinely at them and their looks of fear melted to looks of gratitude. Kiku still looked rather annoyed and Kimiko and Kyoko looked apologetic. Kimiko was also looking at Neji, who was still, to Tenten's embarrassment, oblivious to all attempts at flirting. Lee and Naruto were trying to hurry everyone up, Naruto saying in a whiny and irritating voice that they were too slow, and Lee, complaining about the very same thing, while throwing in the words "Youthful," "Invigorating" and "Passion." Tenten was watching Kurenai and Gai carefully, Sai's accusation of her being completely correct, and Shino was packing his own things, quite passively, as always.

The shinobi were ready within five minutes, having been trained to be ready quickly, and were waiting for the Nagasani's to finish their own packing, all of them having refused the ninjas' help. When, finally they were prepared, the ninjas led them out of the village and onto a wide pathway through the forest, towards their destination, the Land of Lightning. The journey, so far, was going well. Sai, Kurenai and Gai, however, seemed a little more on guard than the rest of them. Neji, Shino and Tenten noticed this, obviously and followed suit, not knowing what for, though.

They made their first stop around sunset and the little wagon of goods was pulled over and knapsacks were opened and sleeping bags, set up. At the right time, a fire was quickly and deftly lit and the group sat around it awkwardly. It was Sai who broke the tension.

"So, how exactly did you come to realize that you came to be a target of these assassins?" she asked, knowing full well what the answer was. Kiku glared at her. The angry girl stood, her ebon locks fluttering angrily about her.

"I think I'll go for a walk," she muttered. She turned and walked away, Kurenai and Gai stopping Tenten from preventing her. Sai shook her head and followed, nodding assuredly to the worried looking parents.

She followed Kiku to a secluded area of the forest and watched the girl sit down in a patch of flowers. She approached her and looked down; deciding what would be the best way to approach her. Finally she decided on a direct confrontation. She sat down next to her and looked down at the flowers between them. Kiku never looked up.

"Why do you insist on keeping this a secret from us?" she asked, truly curious. Kiku sighed, still looking down at the ground.

"Why should I speak with you?" she tried to sound angry, but Sai knew she was scared.

"Because I'm trying to protect you," Sai said. "It's not worth trying to remain angry at me. I know that you're probably the most frightened of either of your sisters. As the eldest, you know more than either of them and are charged with their safety, correct?" Kiku squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep the horrifying images in her mind at bay. She jumped when Sai placed a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"You don't know the Igarashi clan," she said angrily. She paused and Sai thought she was trying to keep from crying, but one look from her and that thought left her mind. Kiku did not cry. She expressed anguish and fear in different ways; in anger. "I was the one they caught listening in on their negotiations. I was the one they were after. I managed to escape them and alerted my father, who immediately took us up and left with us. We were found and attacked. We fled and managed to come within sight of your village. At seeing where we were headed the shinobi chasing us fled into the forest, no doubt to regroup. And we rushed into your village out of panic and desperation, but knowing very well that you detested involving yourself in clan disputes. But we still needed help. And now we're here." Sai looked at her, surprised at how willingly she had given up so much information. But one part of it still did not click.

"It's still a little unclear," she said. "How does your promise not to involve foreign shinobi have any connection with this, then?" Kiku sighed again, somewhat impatiently.

"Before we left the Land of Lightning, we were confronted by the elder of the Igarashi clan and he asked us to remain quiet about what we had heard otherwise he would…kill us," Kiku started, in a surprisingly calm voice. "We promised that we would and he said he'd let us leave the Land of Lightning. However, we had to promise that we would not go to any of the four shinobi villages to request help from their ninjas. We made the promise and tried to leave, but his shinobi attacked us. We managed to shake them off and made our way here. We figured that, since they had broken their promise, all promises since were now moot. So…we requested help from Konoha ninja; you, telling you most of our situation, but not all of it. We still feared and fear an attack from the Igarashi clan so we did not…and will not…tell you what we overheard; what I overheard." She stopped and broke off, breathing slightly faster than was the norm. Sai watched her for a moment and let her hand fall. She looked down.

"You still haven't answered my question," she said. "Why didn't you tell us the truth?" Kiku looked at her, shocked. Sai looked back at her, serious. Kiku looked down and took a breath.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" she asked. Sai smirked and said," Nope." Kiku sighed.

"Fine," she said quietly. "I didn't want to tell you, because, I knew that we were going to be discovered by the Igarashi shinobi and I knew that they were going to assume that you were hired by us to protect us from them. I just thought that if—when—you were accused, you would be able, then, to deny it truthfully, insisting that you had no knowledge whatsoever of any of this and that you were hired by us to complete a simple bodyguard mission. I figured it would be alright, but then my sisters developed a conscience." She spoke in a disgusted way, but Sai could also sense despair somewhere deep within her voice. She shook her head.

"You've developed a conscience as well," Sai said. "In fact, I think you've had one all along." Kiku sniggered softly and shook her head, but Sai pressed on.
"I'll bet you even considered turning yourself in to the Igarashi clan just to keep your family safe," she said. "Why, then, do you think your sisters wanted to tell us what really happened?" Kiku glanced at Sai and saw that she was smiling, already knowing the answer to her own question.

"I…don't know," Kiku lied. Sai rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you know," she said. "But, since you clearly won't say it, I will. They don't want to see you killed and they know that to keep us in the dark would, essentially be the same as killing you." She stopped and all that could be heard were Kiku's frequent shaky breaths.

"They love you very much, you know," Sai said quietly. Kiku was surprised at how gentle the nin's voice was. She glanced at the Yoshikawa and she fell forward, face in hands, trying to stifle the sudden wave of tears that had erupted from her fragile eyes. Sai sat and watched her cry, knowing well that sympathy was not what the girl needed. It was genuine love; something she could not provide.

They sat in the flowers, Kiku silently sobbing, Sai silently watching, the sun sinking lower and lower behind the line of the horizon, slowly and quietly bringing the day to a close.