Heist

Callista Miralni

Disclaimer: I don't own Heist Society or Naruto.

WE'RE A-WHIZZING THROUGH THE BOOK!

I realized after I posted the last chapter that I forgot to include one of my favorite scenes. OTL. So I shall have to save it for another chapter. Hooray for ridiculously fluffy moments that give me cavities.


Three: The Name

-Ten Days until Deadline-

-Taipei, Taiwan-

The Dahai & Sons Dive Shop in Taipei was, in fact, a family business. Dahai Xiao Lang the Second was unfortunately afflicted with an embarrassing and uncured tendency to seasickness. So instead of following his father and brothers out to sea, he built boats on the marina.

Dahai Xiao Lang the Third took his father's trade and improved the design, catering to the demands of his West-inclined clients.

Dahai Xiao Lang the Fourth, however, was easily the genius of his line. In the last fifteen years, Dahai Xiao Lang IV built the Eastern World's sleekest, most advanced, and justifiably expensive water crafts, all patented under his name.

Or so Hatake Kakashi told his daughter with a mischievous wink before he purchased a particular water craft.

As soon as the afternoon's only sales rep (who was, coincidentally, the owner's middle daughter working after school) saw the young man walk in through the glass doors, she knew he was from one of old families. Anything in their showroom could have been purchased with either cash, a casually written check, or with whatever high-limit credit card he owned.

But that wasn't the reason she smiled when he stopped in front of the glass counter and removed his Oakley sunglasses.

"Ni hao." The teen said and the woman felt like swooning. "I was wondering if you could help me..."

Sitting on the low stone wall of the clothes boutique across the boardwalk, Sakura anxiously tugged at her hair. Part of running a crew meant knowing when it was appropriate to lead and when it was appropriate to let others take control. But that fact didn't help to lessen her anxiety any.

"He's going to blow it!" Sakura exclaimed as she and Ino casually watched Sasuke through the showroom's glass windows. "This is our only good lead and he's going to blow it!"

Ino didn't answer, too busy checking out the boy walking down the street who was obviously staring at her almost inappropriately short skirt.

Growling at Ino's lack of focus, Sakura returned to watching Sasuke. If he keeps this up, Sakura growled to herself, he'll leave with a girlfriend and no name!

The girlfriend did not bother her, she assured herself. The lack of a name did.

Still...

It had been twenty minutes since he went in!

They walked around the showroom, skin brushing against skin, a handful of exchanged smiles, eyelashes fluttering... it was enough to make Sakura go mad. Still, she had to hand it to him for being an excellent actor.

"That's it." Sakura snapped. She got off the wall and walked towards the Dahai shop. Ino didn't stop her, too engrossed with flirting with the boy she caught sight of earlier. Had Ino heard anything Sakura said, she might have done something sooner, but by the time she noticed her cousin was missing, Sakura was disappearing through the same glass doors.

"Hey." She casually interrupted the girl's overly-friendly sales pitch, pretending to be slightly out of breath.

Sasuke jerked and stepped away from the sales girl like he had been electrocuted.

"Hi." Sasuke cleared his throat. "I was..."

"Listen." Sakura sighed. "Chichuie said you have forty-five minutes to get back to the airport or we're leaving for Boracay without you and telling your mother you were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf." Sakura turned to the salesgirl and rolled her eyes. "Of course, I voted for leaving him behind." She sighed in exasperation. "I'm his sister."

"Stepsister." Sasuke added, smoothly continuing the flow of their cover.

The girl smiled with the knowledge that Sakura wasn't competition. She was just a girl who was too pale and too thin to have spent much time in Taipei. And she had pink hair shot with strawberry blonde highlights (or was it the other way around?—she wasn't quite sure). How strange.

Definitely not competition.

"Are you almost done?" Sakura snapped with some genuine annoyance.

"Yeah." The teen rubbed the back of his head. "They've got some cool stuff." He added, sounding like the typical billionaire's bored kid.

Sakura had to commend the sales girl for keeping a straight face when she heard her father's million dollar industry referred to as "cool stuff."

"So which one?" When Sasuke didn't answer her, choosing to walk towards a particular model they had their eye on the entire time, Sakura pressed, "Are you or are you not going to buy one?"

"Chillax imotou." Sasuke smirked. "I like this one." He grandly gestured to the model beside him.

If Sakura hadn't already known, she would have assumed the model in the showroom was a scaled display and not the actual product. But that was the entire point—it wasn't a scaled display.

The Jiaoren Wangfei was the world's smallest, non-military watercraft. It was about the size of Naruto's go-cart, roughly six feet long and four feet tall, meant to be piloted while lying down inside. This water vessel's minimum depth for complete submersion was ten feet. This was the watercraft that was their only lead and Sakura's only hope.

"Yeah..." Sasuke studied it again. "Definitely this one. What do you think imotou?"

"Excellent choice zunjia!" The sales girl exclaimed. "If you'll follow me to the counter, I can begin filling out the necessary paperwork."

Sasuke jerked his head in Sakura's direction. "You've got the card, don't you imotou?"

Truthfully, Sakura did not. But one brush pass later (that went completely unnoticed by the sales girl despite the fact that it took place right underneath her nose), Sakura had the card of one Uchiha Sasuke.

The sales girl tried not to let her disappointment show through at not being able to further deal with the young billionaire. She went around arranging and pulling out the necessary forms but then Sakura's pale hand landed on top of hers.

"If I may be honest Lian Hua," Sakura whispered conspiratorially, reading her name off her tag. "My brother... see... he likes toys. He's often bored."

She didn't know if Sasuke had heard her or not, but the other teen chose that moment to climb inside the Jiaoren and pretend to be a World War II sub pilot battling the American Navy.

"Oh yes, I see." Lian Hua nodded empathetically.

"Like... four years ago, he convinced his mother, my stepmother, that he needed a place to play. So, they bought him a beach house in Boracay. The next year, he said he needed something to be able to play on in the water. So he bought a twenty-five meter yacht. " Sakura sighed dramatically.

Lian Hua's eyes were wide and she shot the boy another look.

"But the year after that," Sakura continued. "The Hyuuga brothers bought a twenty-eight meter yacht and launched it at Boracay. Naturally, Aniki was most upset because their yacht was bigger than his. Of course, when Aniki is upset, his mother gets upset and when Misaki-san is upset..." She paused for effect.

"I see Xiaojie."

Sasuke whooped as he took out an entire underwater minefield.

"My brother needs to be the guy with the Jiaoren Wangfei, not one of the guys with the Jiaoren Wangfei. If we get to Boracay and the Hyuuga brothers have one..."

"Oh no! We don't sell that many." Lian Hua softly exclaimed, as if her father would have a heart attack for spilling trade secrets to a complete stranger. "It's really more for show... you know, we've only sold two in the last year."

"Really?" Sakura asked incredulously. I can't believe my luck!

"Mhmm." Lian Hua twiddled with her pen. "The first one went to an American marine research company and the other went to a private owner."

"I knew it!" Sakura exclaimed. "I must tell Aniki-"

"Oh but it wasn't to any brothers!" Lian Hua hurriedly explained, desperate not to loose her customers. "It was to a man who runs in the same circles as your family."

Oh you have no idea... Sakura thought.

"I'm afraid..." Sakura turned to walk away, counting on Lian Hua's eventual...

"He didn't live in Taipei or the Philippines." The girl babbled. "In fact, Namikaze-laoye was quite specific as to where he wanted his Jiaoren delivered."

Sakura froze. This is it...

"Namikaze?"

"Namikaze Minato. And he wanted his Jiaoren delivered to Thailand, near Bangkok."

They had their name and a location. Finally.

And just for kicks, Sasuke bought a Jiaoren anyways.

"Hey." He shot Sakura an amused smirk as he signed off on his purchase. "I'm a bored little boy remember?"

Groaning, Sakura swatted him on the arm. "Don't remind me."


On the flight to Bangkok, Sakura watched the cloudscape out her first-class seat window. They took a commercial flight instead of Sasuke's private plane in order to cover their tracks.

Namikaze Minato.

What kind of man was Namikaze? He must have been pretty cold-hearted, to let an innocent (relatively speaking) man take the blame for his heist.

Then again, Sakura mused, he must be pretty good to imitate another thief so well that it left Pein with no doubts as to who the perpetrator could be.

What kind of man would he be? Would he be young or old? Short and fat or tall and thin? Was he Japanese or just had a Japanese name?

Who was Namikaze Minato?

All these questions made her wish she was back at Konoha, although she'd die first before admitting that. There was something about being able to sleep in the same bed every night and knowing the way to the bathroom in pitch darkness. Plus, there was the library, a place where she could take all the books she wanted and not feel guilty about it later.

But the thing Sakura loved the most about Konoha was that it was the only place where she was allowed not to think.

On her first day, they gave her a slip of paper with her room assignment and her class schedule. A list of extracurricular events taking place that week and the menu for the day were posted in the common room of her floor. Her teachers would assign her specific chapters to read and hand out papers to complete—all with a specified deadline.

Everything at Konoha was what she expected it to be ever since the night Gai-jii-chan (who wasn't really her uncle but her father's long-time friendly rival and self-proclaimed best friend) had pulled her out of Sarutobi-jii-chan's kitchen and emphasized that boarding school was a lot like prison (an ironic statement considering Gai-jii-chan had just broken out of prison that day and showed up on Sarutobi-jii-chan's doorstep that night).

Sakura took in everything he said but refused to let that deter her. Looking at it from all the angles, she concluded that Gai-jii-chan was right about Konoha but what choice did she have? It was either Konoha now or jail later.

Konoha, for starters, had cuter uniforms. So it was a no-brainer as to which one she would pick.

But autumn was fading into winter and Konoha was no longer part of her life. In her jacket pocket, she fingered with three different passports, one of Sasuke's credit cards, and a pre-paid cell phone Sasuke insisted she buy before they left Taipei. Sakura herself was fluent in four languages and could efficiently stumble her way through two more. She could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and be perfectly fine.

Maybe it was the plane's dizzying altitude or the lack of a decent night's sleep, but Sakura felt her head spin with all the possibilities. Her mind wouldn't shut up with all the questions despite her best efforts not to think.

Like... how was it possible that Ino was even prettier when she slept? Something Sakura found quite unfair since she could never wake up without finding a bit of drool on her pillow.

And... why did Ino insist on resting her head on Sasuke's shoulder as she slept when Sakura knew for a fact Sasuke's shoulder was rather uncomfortable and hard from hitting him all the time? There were pillows, rather soft ones too, in the overhead compartment Ino could use instead.

She wished she had left all her questions on the ground.

But wishing wouldn't matter; once they landed in Bangkok, even more questions awaited for her to puzzle over. Her mind circled back to the most important one of all.

Namikaze Minato.

Finally, her mind yielded to her body's demands and she slipped into sleep. Sakura never saw Sasuke gently push Ino's head off his shoulder and get a blanket from a passing flight attendant. She never saw the gentle way he covered her with the blanket and never felt the feather-light kiss on her forehead. She was fast asleep.


-Nine Days until Deadline-

-Bangkok, Thailand-

The nice thing about being partnered with a billionaire was his butler.

She never knew how Iruka beat them to Bangkok or when he even left Hong Kong, but when they landed and navigated through the immense airport, he was already waiting for them at the baggage claim with their belongings collected and stowed away in the trunk of the car.

"Did you have a nice trip Ojou-san?" Iruka asked Sakura as he opened the door for her.

Thankfully, the car had been running for quite some time and it was cool, a welcome escape from the humid air.

"Sure." Sakura answered easily. "What's your definition of a nice trip?"

Iruka laughed. "You never fail to make me laugh Ojou-san. No wonder why Bocchan likes keeping you around."

"Iruka." Sasuke warned.

"Forgive me Bocchan." The old butler chuckled. "I couldn't resist."

"Try harder then." Sasuke said frostily as he slid inside the car next to Sakura.

The girl frowned and swatted her friend in the arm. "Be nice to Iruka; he puts up with you everyday. How he does, though, is completely beyond me." She grumbled the last part under her breath.

Sasuke eyed her before putting her into a headlock and mussing up her hair. "Take it back imotou." He taunted her.

"Mkmpf!" She yelled behind his arm. When the teen refused to release her, Sakura-

"Ouch! Goddamnit Sakura!"

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Sakura made a disgusted face. "Ugh. The taste of spoiled brat. Not good."

Someone cleared her throat and the two looked at the source.

"I'm right here guys." Ino reminded them. "Quit flirting."

"You-! Call-! That-! FLIRTING!" Her cousin shrieked. "He was fucking molesting me!"

Holding back a smile, Ino waved her hand in front of Sakura's face and asked, "Why are we here?"

"To find Namikaze Minato but Ino-!"

"Let's just focus on that okay? Flirt with Sasuke-kun later." Ino laughed. "God knows it's amusing to watch you fail. I knew it was a good idea to stick around; you elevate my self-esteem way too much."

"INO! YOU BITCH-!"

"Stop." Sasuke interrupted their fight. Well... that wasn't hard for him to do since he was sitting right between them. "Just... stop. Chillax. You're both killing my ears and yelling at each other won't help our mission."

Sakura lowered her fist and sank into her seat. On the other side, Ino leaned back into her chair and looked out the window instead. The rest of the ride to their hotel was spent in silence.

As they exited the car, Sakura couldn't help but notice the overly polite way the bellhops greeted them and took their belongings out of the trunk for them. She couldn't help but appreciate being able to go inside via the front entrance and not the ventilation shafts. It must be nice, living on the brighter side of the law every now and then. A girl was treated with more respect that's for sure.

And respect is what she got. At the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Hotel, located on the banks of Thailand's Chao Phraya river, Sakura was treated like a princess. Which should have come as no surprise to her since Sasuke (or more specifically, Iruka) booked the grandest suite in the hotel, the Oriental.

The Oriental housed foreign dignitaries, famous celebrities, visiting royals, and other distinguished guests in the last 130 years. Tonight, however, the Oriental was playing host to its first crew of thieves.

She couldn't help but admire the room. It was furnished in creams and citrons, cobalts and reds, soothing colors to her frazzled mind. However, Sakura didn't notice the person sitting on the couch in the living room until he spoke.

"Hello Sakura."

The girl jumped and stared wide-eyed at her great-uncle. "Jii-chan?" She gaped. "How did you-?"

Her uncle smiled crookedly. "Welcome to Bangkok." He opened his arms.

Behind her, Ino dropped her purse at the sight of their family head and ran straight into Sarutobi-jii-chan's arms. "Jii-chan!" The girl shrieked as she wrapped her arms around his torso. "I missed you!"

Four days ago, Sakura walked back into her great-uncle's home and good graces. But even she could tell that Ino, who hadn't seen him in six months in favor of picking the cushier pockets of Asia's busiest cities, had never really left the warm kitchen.

"So did I Ino. How is your mother?"

"Engaged. Again." The girl rolled her eyes.

Sarutobi-jii-chan looked unsurprised by the news. "He has art?"

"Jewels. Family collection. He's an European count."

"Or a marquis." Sakura quipped.

"I get them confused." Ino confessed.

"Who doesn't?" Sarutobi-jii-chan confessed with a twinkling smile. "It's good to see you child. Only-" He frowned as his eyes swept over her attire, a short blue skirt and a mid-drift baby blue tank top. "I wish I was seeing less of you."

"Hm?" The insult didn't even worm it's way into Ino's mind. "It's good to see you too Jii-chan. But how did you-?"

Their uncle shook his head. Immediately, Sakura knew the question wasn't how their uncle had gotten there but what had he come to tell them?

He settled back into his chair. "You have been to see Dahai."

She could smell jasmine tea and wondered when it had appeared in Sarutobi-jii-chan's hand.

"Namikaze Minato."

The name rolled off Sarutobi-jii-chan's tongue. He spoke to all of them but his gaze was focused solely on Sakura. "This name is not unfamiliar?"

"It's an alias right?" Sakura asked.

"Of course." He grinned, enjoying the feeling of educating his great-niece, just as he did when she was still a child.

"And his address is here in Thailand." Sakura stated.

"You have been busy." Her uncle chortled before sipping his tea. "I wish your efforts had not been in vain though."

"So who is he?" Sasuke pressed.

"He is no one." Sarutobi-jii-chan's gaze switched to Ino. "He is everyone."

Their uncle never spoke in riddles and Sakura knew his words meant some thing but that thing was just out of her grasp.

"I don't..." The words, those dratted humbling words that proved Sakura was still a child in many ways. "I don't understand."

"It's a Byeolmyeong Namja, Sakura." Her uncle clarified and Ino drew in a sharp breath.

She felt like her vision was tunneling and that time was standing still. Bangkok, one of the busiest cities in the world, was finally silent to her ears. Her chest heaved rhythmically and her mind was completely blank until-

"What the hell is a Byeolmyeong Namja?" Sasuke deadpanned.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and blinked in surprise. One—he admitted weakness in front of Sarutobi-jii-chan, something his stupid Uchiha pride would never let him do. Two—she couldn't believe that she had forgotten that Sasuke wasn't a true member of their family, no matter how accepted he was and how often he accompanied them on jobs.

"What?" The teen was growing irritated by the silence. "Is there something wrong with a Byeolmyeong Nam-"

"Nickname Man," Ino whispered. "A Byeolmyeong Namja is a Nickname Man."

The literal translation was lost on Sasuke—Sakura could tell by the irritated gleam in his onyx eyes, by the hand fisting in his jeans pocket.

"The old families..." Sakura started to explain. "-used names—nicknames, or aliases in the West—whenever they did jobs that were too big and too dangerous, the jobs they even had to keep from each other. They were secret names, Sasuke. Sacred names even."

They all looked at Sarutobi-jii-chan smiling a secret smile. If they had bothered to ask, he would have told them about the heist of the North Korean missile plans. He would have mentioned the theft of the last Japanese empress's favorite brooch. Namikaze Minato was the man who stole the painting of Ho Chi Min out of Vietnam's capital and got away with it. But Sarutobi-jii-chan told no tales and Sakura had to guess her uncle had only seen a Byeolmyeong a handful of times in his long life.

"If Namikaze Minato was real," His lips quirked into an ironic smile. "He would have been five hundred years old and the greatest thief who ever lived."

"I still don't get it." Sasuke grumbled.

"It's not a name to be used by the young and inexperienced boy." Sarutobi-jii-chan said sharply and Sakura knew his words were directed at her in particular. "It is not a name used by just anyone."

He rose from his chair and walked to the door. Iruka was already waiting there with his blazer and hat. "This issue is put to rest." The man declared. "I will make peace with Pein, hopefully convincing him to stop his ridiculous chase for his paintings. I will inform your father."

"But-!" Ino protested, jumping to her feet.

"A Byeolmyeong is a sacred thing!" Their uncle spun around and flashed them a deadly glare. "A job done in Namikaze Minato's name will not be undone by children!"

Sakura knew that every thief was a child a heart. It's part of what made them, well, thieves. She only had the body and appearance of a child to match. But the way Sarutobi-jii-chan spoke to her, spoke to all of them, made her feel small and very much like a little girl.

"You may go back to Konoha if you desire Sakura." Sarutobi-jii-chan paused at the door. "I'm afraid this matter is beyond you now child."

Sakura wished he had slammed the door; the quiet click as the lock latched into place echoed louder than it should have, ringing through her ears. Sinking into the couch, she barely heard Ino on the phone, making plans to work in the high-class resorts of Bali during the break. At one point or another, Sasuke sent Iruka out for food but Sakura could only wonder how he could eat at a time like this.

Then, the boy turned to her expectantly. "Well?"

Through the open door of the second bedroom, Ino's voice carried through. "Oh Chouji, you're making me blush..."

Sakura could only hear the echoing finality of Sarutobi-jii-chan's final words.

This is beyond you now...

Damnit.

Someone very good had gone after Pein's paintings.

Someone well connected had played one of the oldest rules of their world.

Someone very greedy allowed her father to remain the only suspect.

Some very foolish would disobey Sarutobi-jii-chan and try one last desperate play now.

If there were any desperate cards to play that is.

"Sakura, we could always-" Sasuke started to say but Sakura chose that moment to get out of her seat and walk to the door.

"I'll be back." She told him hollowly, pausing at the door to look at him.

She wanted to cry at the look in his eyes. Even though Sasuke was sarcastic and callous most of the time, even though he loved to provoke her and tease her, his eyes couldn't lie to her. Sasuke would give everything—his inheritance, his Hanabusa, his Mercedes car he was ridiculously proud of, his soul—to make sure her father was safe. The girl wanted to thank him, wanted to ask why he would sacrifice so much for her, the traitor to their family, but the words choked up in her throat.

"I'll be back soon," was all she could say before she opened the door and quietly slipped out into the humid afternoon.


Sakura didn't know how long she wandered around downtown Bangkok or where she was going. She let her feet carry her through the streets, lost in her convoluted thoughts. Looped in her brain was Pein's surveillance video, cycling through the room and lingering on the secret room underneath the river. It wasn't until she stopped in front of a cafe that she realized how hungry she was. Then she realized she wasn't alone.

"You know, if you got mugged and raped, or kidnapped for ransom even, I'm sure there are a dozen guys who will try to kill me and make my death look like an unfortunate accident."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke's reflection in the cafe window. The teen didn't smile. He didn't yell at her for leaving him again either. Wordlessly, Sasuke handed her a cup of cold bubble milk tea and she drank it gratefully.

Around them, more people were coming outside, enjoying the cool night air. Bangkok's entertainment district light up and started coming to life. It was the perfect place for pick pocketing, a crowd big enough for her to get lost in. Though Sakura was an excellent thief, she knew a crowd couldn't help her hide forever.

Eventually, someone sees you.

Looking out at the sliver of water, Sakura couldn't help but feel so extraordinarily young in a place so rich with thousands of years' worth of history.

"What do we do now Sasuke?" She asked, praying her voice would not crack and betray her despair. "What are we going to do now?"

Sasuke placed his arm around her and steered her back in the direction of their hotel. "Sarutobi-jii-chan said not to do anything. Do you trust him?"

Her legs felt like they were locked in place, as if she had forgotten how to move. "Of course I do. He'd do anything for me."

Onyx bore into her. "Would he do anything for your dad?"

Looking up at the boy with his arm around her, Sakura felt a tear slip out of the corner of her eye. Of course Jii-chan wouldn't go that far for Tou-chan; Sarutobi-jii-chan could barely tolerate her father. Rinnegan Pein was never going to get his paintings back or see them again. Her father would be hunted down and killed.

Sakura couldn't believe Sasuke had seen Sarutobi-jii-chan's reluctance to aid her father and she hadn't. This outsider, with his unclouded eyes, had seen what her heart continuously and stubbornly denied.

"We're crazy." Sasuke muttered. "Absolutely crazy."

She chewed on a boba and watched the ice settle in her cup. The clicking of the ice against each other made her remember something, something from a long time ago when her mother was still alive.

That's when she remembered the red door.

Sasuke stopped when she stopped. "What's up?" He asked her, faintly annoyed by her sudden stop.

Closing her eyes, Sakura delved deeper into her memories. All the answers she needed where right there in her head—she just needed to find the truth and bring it to the surface.

"Sakura." Sasuke's eyes narrowed, waving his hand to catch her attention. "Will you say-"

"Why doesn't Pein go to the police?" She blurted out.

Sticking his hand back into his pocket, Sasuke rolled his eyes as if the answer should have been obvious. "He doesn't like the police remember?"

"Yeah..." Sakura shot back. "What if there's something else that's stopping him? Why would a man with five priceless paintings go through all the trouble of hiding them in a room under a river? Why the separate camera loop? Why the back-up recording? Why not store them in a museum or bank?"

"What if those paintings aren't even his?"

Around them, neon signs continued to light up but Sakura continued to see a red door everywhere. Sasuke stepped closer to her. "Sakura-"

Grabbing his hand, Sakura raced off down the street. "We need to get to Seoul. Now."


-Eight Days until Deadline-

-Seoul, South Korea-

Goketsu Jiraiya was accustomed to receiving teenagers on his doorstep. Most of them were students on some far-fetched quest to earn a better grade for their art history class. A good number were bounty hunters, convinced that the dust covered painting in their grandmother's attic was a priceless treasure worth large sums of money.

But when he woke at five in the morning on that chilly Tuesday morning, Jiraiya pulled on a dressing robe a friend bought in Britain and wandered through his house in the dark, cautious and wary of what lay on the other side of his front door.

"Who is it?" He barked in Korean, wrenching open the door. Jiraiya squinted in preparation from the blinding sun but he realized it was still dark outside, still early morning.

"What do you want?" Jiraiya snapped, still in Korean. "Don't you realize it's still dark outside and that I would like to sleep?"

The couple standing on his doorstep were dressed like students but their eyes were like treasure hunters; Jiraiya could not place them into which category. All he could think of as the November chill swept through his thin nightclothes was there is a warm bed upstairs waiting for him.

"I'm sorry for the hour Mr. Goketsu." The girl said, barely prolonging the vowels as she spoke his native tongue. Japanese—Jiraiya immediately placed her accent—My heritage.

He was tempted to close the door and demand they come back at a later hour but something about the girl stopped him (and the boy did to but he didn't interest him as much). Of all the crazy students that have arrived on his doorstep, no one has ever arrived before sunrise.

"You would prefer Japanese, correct?" Jiraiya switched languages.

Sakura thought she was speaking perfect Korean and ruefully realized that Konoha had taken more from her than she thought.

"I'm good with either." She shrugged but Jiraiya looked at the boy beside her.

"Your friend would protest."

Sasuke glared at him, hating him for exposing his weakness, his language barrier. But his glare was interrupted by a yawn he covered with one hand.

Smiling at how adorable Sasuke was, Sakura thought, Of all things, an Uchiha cannot buy a decent night of sleep. You'd think they would have figured out how to by now.

"I'm sorry about the hour Goketsu-san." Sakura repeated again, in Japanese this time. "We would have waited-"

"Then wait!" The old man grumbled, moving to slam the door in their faces.

Casually, Sasuke leaned against the doorframe. Even though he was half-asleep, Sasuke knew that if given the chance, this old geezer would have left them on his doorstep without a second thought.

"I hate to say this but... we really don't have the luxury of waiting sir." Sakura sighed.

"My time is valuable as well Ojou-san." Jiraiya snapped. "As valuable as my rest."

"I understand." Sakura placated him, glancing at the empty neighborhood street. "But we have some questions... about art."

"It's always about art here." Jiraiya chuckled. "You'd be better off flying to America and visiting the Smithsonian child. I'm just a crazy old man with too much time on his hands and few friends."

"And a porn collection penned in your younger years as well." Sasuke drawled lazily.

Sakura frowned at the mention of her father's favorite manga and elbowed Sasuke in the ribs. "Not now!" She hissed, even though she too could see the telltale orange cover of Icha Icha Paradise hiding behind the stacks of books. Farther back into the house, Sakura caught a glimpse of the red door from her memories.

"I was told you could help me Goketsu-san." Sakura smiled at him instead.

"And who said that?" Jiraiya demanded.

She could feel Sasuke's eyes on her, asking the same question. The sun started to rise in Korea, illuminating the neighborhood streets. In the pale morning light, Jiraiya finally got a proper look at this girl on his doorstep and suddenly, he knew the answer to his own question.

"My mother."

The old man sighed and beckoned them inside the house. "You look like her." Jiraiya said as he heated up some water and made tea. "Although I'm sure that comes as no surprise to you."

Sakura thanked him for the tea and grimaced. Life was cruel to turn her into part daughter, part phantom. But Sakura didn't mind the way Jiraiya regarded her. It wasn't like the way Sarutobi-jii-chan compared her mother as a thief against her. It wasn't like the way Tou-chan would jump when he realized he was looking at his daughter and not his dead wife. Goketsu Jiraiya saw her as an old friend, a student, a protege to pass his knowledge onto.

"I thought you would come to see me one day." He said as he took a sip of his own cup. "Do you remember your last visit?"

Sakura grinned at the memory. "You gave me milk tea and put in boba at the bottom. I drove my parents nuts for months afterwards because I wouldn't drink milk tea unless it had boba."

"You still drive Kakashi nuts if that happens." Sasuke muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

The old man was caught in between wanting to laugh and maintaining a serious face.

"You were still a little girl; I'm surprised you remember that. But enough reminiscing—are you here because you have something to add to our work together?"

Sakura shook her head and she felt Sasuke shift impatiently. "Unfortunately, I'm here on a different matter."

Sasuke gripped her hand but it wasn't for comfort or strength. Can we trust him?

We have to. She squeezed back.

Jiraiya waited for her to fill him in. "And that matter is-?"

"The kind of work my mother did when she wasn't researching with you." Sakura spilled, wondering if her words meant anything to the old man across from her.

As it would happen, they did. Jiraiya gave her a knowing smile.

"Do these—" Sasuke took out five photographs from his coat pocket "—mean anything to you?"

The photos were grainy black and white stills from Pein's surveillance tapes. Jiraiya laid them out on the table, studying each one intently, muttering to himself in Korean so fast that Sakura couldn't catch a word he said.

"Where did you find these?"

The question caught her off-guard although it shouldn't have. Sasuke never seemed to have that problem and he answered, "They were in a home movie."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "And they were all together? In one place?"

The boy nodded curtly. "It's a collection we're look-"

"This is not a collection!"

The shout made Sakura jump but she realized the old man was right. If the paintings were a collection, Rinnegan Pein wouldn't have taken such extreme measures to hide them. These works were pieces of history, locked away and hidden forever until the night Namikaze Minato broke them out of their cage.

"Do you know what this is, boy?" Jiraiya held up a photo of one of the paintings, a colored rendition of a peony flower.

"It looks like a Hsu Hsi."Sasuke answered boredly.

"It is." Jiraiya seemed pleased with Sakura's choice of traveling companions, even if this one had the personality of an ass. "It has no title but it is commonly referred as Meili Xiaoyao."

He got up from the table and thumbed through his stacks of books until he found the one he wanted, a binder he had not touched in almost eleven years. "Years ago, a wealthy nobleman received this as a gift. It hung in his private quarters for years, until bandits swept through the land and murdered the noble in cold blood. They took the painting and it has not been seen in almost four hundred years. But-"

Jiraiya passed the book to the two. "-Paintings of the noble and his wife clearly show the work in the background."

Jiraiya went through them all, going through the thick binder as he showed them the rare, documented images of the works compared to the paintings in the tape. They were identical matches. A Monet, a Hanabusa, a Kuroda, and a Takeuchi appeared, all once missing from the pages of history.

The Kuroda won special attention. "Do you know this painting Sakura-san?" Jiraiya asked her quietly.

The girl glanced at the painting and shook her head. "No."

"Are you sure? Look again." The old man urged her.

Sakura's eyes glazed over as she glanced at the photograph on the page. She shook her head again. "No... I don't know it." She answered whisper soft, sensing the man's disappointment.

And disappointed he was. Jiraiya withdrew his finger from the page and relaxed in his chair. "It is called Kunoichi." He informed them. "And it's a long way from home."

Sasuke gave her a passive stare.

"Your mother used to sit in that very chair and listen to an old man's tall tales and theories about the whereabouts of these five paintings." Jiraiya sighed. "She used to hear all about the injustice of law and the corruption of the fair trial. And that is how we met... she used to say that it sometimes takes a thief to catch a thief." Jiraiya's eyes shone with anticipation. "You're going to steal these paintings aren't you Sakura-san?"

She wanted to tell him the truth, wanted to tell him so badly, but the truth... it painted the bleakest image of reality.

"Goketsu-san." Sasuke addressed him, attaching a rarely-used honorific (well... rarely used for Sasuke that is. He must be playing some kind of game). "It's a long story."

The old man accepted the vague explanation without a doubt, staring at the two teens with the look of a man who has given up trying to preach right and wrong in this world.

"The men who took Meili Xiaoyao were evil, Sakura-san. The men who received them from those men were also evil. The paintings became items of trade on the black market, the greatest prize of all. There is no good that follows that collection."

He stood and his two visitors also rose.

"Where ever you go, whatever you do—" He grasped Sakura's hand tightly and his eyes pleaded with her "—be careful."

Sasuke opened the door and stepped down onto the front step. The neighborhood was slowly coming to life as the early school arrivers set out from their homes.

Sakura breathed a sigh a relief, knowing this trip hadn't been in vain. Theories were laws, fears were threats. And she felt even more like a ghost, since her mother had stood on this same step years before with all the same questions she had.

"It's good to see you again Sakura-san." Jiraiya smiled at her from the doorway. "When I realized who you were..."

The statement caught her off-guard. "You what?"

"I thought you were here because of the TNM."

Sasuke was already opening the door to the idling car but paused just short of getting in at the mention of one of the best museums in the world. "What happened at TNM?"

Jiraiya laughed outright. "You two should know better than I would." He chortled. "It was robbed." He rolled his eyes at the last word. "Or so they say."

Sakura smiled at the sarcasm. TNM—Tokyo National Museum—was infamous for its high-security measures.

"I'm in no position to rob the TNM Goketsu-san." The girl reassured him.

"Oh I knew that." Jiraiya dismissed. "The police are looking for someone already, a man called Namikaze Minato."


Author's Note-

I'm SOOO sorry this is two days late! My schedule is being tossed down the drain! T_T

Short chapter (or was the last one extremely long?). The next one will be just as short. We're about halfway through the book and we haven't even gotten to the exciting part yet.

The most exciting and most difficult part to write.

As a note, all the painters mentioned are real. The paintings are not. The museums are real. Their security measures I have no idea of so I fabricated them. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the history behind the Oriental suite are all factual (I looked it up on the official website).

Just thought I'd let you know. XD

OSSU! Time to haul ass in Chapter Four! I might be able to post it in the late evening, but I doubt it. I have no idea what my homework load will be like tomorrow.

Ja ne!
Callista Miralni