Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto & Co. Just the new character...

I know the events were a little rushed and the chapter a bit short and I must apologize to you. I promise I'll try harder for the next chapter... any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks for reading this.

Chapter four: Theatrical Play

"Another one already?!" Sasuke snapped, staring at Gaara in disbelief. "I've just gotten better and he's sending us in another mission? This sucks! What do we have to do this time?"

"Kidnap somebody from Otogakure."

"Otogakure? Wow, this is worst than I thought. Don't tell me we have to bring Orochimaru here! I thought it was Zetsu's job to take care of traitors!"

"Shut up, it's not about Orochimaru. It's a jonin. Kay." he told the dark-haired boy, handing him the photograph of a short, dark-red-haired ninja (somehow that reminded Sasuke of Gaara because he used to be short when he was younger).

"What's with the hitae-ate? It's tied around his eyes." Sasuke noticed. "Does that mean that our target is blind?"

"That doesn't really matter. Sound ninjas don't need their eyes most of the time. Being blind wouldn't be a problem for them." Gaara replied, finally done packing.

"He seems a bit too short for a jonin. I wonder how old he is... Is there any time limit for this mission?"

"No. We have to bring Kay here unharmed."

"Don't forget that." Sasuke sneered and Gaara glared at him, throwing him one of the two backpacks.

"And you should try to stay in one piece. I've had enough trouble already with you."

Sasuke remembered that night and couldn't stop himself from giving Gaara a small peck on the lips, happy that he hadn't blushed. It felt natural. The sand ninja slightly frowned but then responded to him with a kiss, sadly short, because they had to leave, although they both knew there would be time for that to be continued later.

It was sunny outside, but despite that the air was chilly. After all, it was late October. Sasuke pulled his cloak tighter around himself, although he felt warm. Otogakure was not far from there, they could get there by dusk.

"What else do you know about this ninja? Pein must have given you some information!" Sasuke looked at his partner as they were making their way through the branches.

"What makes you think that?"

"Just tell me! You have no right to keep that to yourself! If the Akatsuki wants this jonin alive and unharmed... I thought the only things Akatsuki members are hired for are espionage and assassinations. Does this mean Pein wants this jonin for the organization? I heard some of the members were also forced to join the Akatsuki... like Deidara, who was forced by my brother."

"I don't care what they want Kay for. Let's just get this done. The rest is none of our business."

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Sasuke activated his sharingan and glimpsed around to locate the target. He could feel a chakra pattern and he was sure it was Kay's. Gaara waited silently next to his partner, sand running over his skin with delicate touches because he was actually quite impatient about this. He wanted a fight, he felt desperate for killing somebody and he wasn't allowed to.

"Fuck." he muttered in a low voice. "Hurry up or I'll go after the ninja myself."

"Be patient. It's not easy to find..."

"Looking for someone?" a strange slender woman smiled at them. There was no hitae-ate visible and no chakra flow around her body. "You two are wasting your time." she continued in the same amused tone, making Gaara visibly annoyed.

Sasuke only had time to let out a small shout before the red-haired ninja jumped from the branch and his sand rushed at the woman, the impact hidden by a cloud of sand, dust and drops of water. His sharingan allowed him to discern silhouettes, but there were three instead of two.

Gaara was immobilized. His fist was inches away from the woman's face but the rest of his body was held in place by no other than Kay. His sound hitae-ate was over his eyes, like in the photograph, covered by strands of long, dark-red hair. Sand was on the ground, around the three, useless now that it was wet. One kunai was threatening to cut Gaara's neck, its blade lightly touching the skin on which sand moved chaotically because of the danger. The other kunai, held by Kay's left hand, had stopped in the sand ninja's hidden hitae-ate, tied around his waist, under his clothes. Any move and the sound jonin would have used those kunais.

Sasuke threw his kunai towards Kay, forgeting about 'unharmed', but luckily (or not) the woman behind the boy caught it easily. Gaara tried to use this diversion to push Kay away with his feet and he managed to do it, although the kunai had let a long scratch behind, on his neck. How the hell did that kunai cut through his sand armour?! He jumped backwards and Sasuke attacked the two enemies, as Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. The kunai's blade had been wet. He could see wet sand and blood on his fingers as he touched the scratch. A sound ninja using water instead of sound? How... unusual.

The woman was now leaning against a tree, watching the fight with a smile on her lips. Finally, a sharp sound made Gaara cover his ears and he saw Sasuke being thrown against a tree trunk by the jutsu. Gaara opened his eyes and glimpsed towards his partner, letting him know what to do. Something wasn't quite right. Sasuke attacked Kay again and Gaara had a chance to put his plan into practice. Luckily some sand was still in his gourd and he used it to attack the woman, but she noticed and dodged the blow.

Sasuke heard a scream of pain and turned his head towards Gaara, whose sand was tightly wrapped around the woman's body. Kay turned to Gaara but stopped on the ground, then disappeared with a puff. A smirk appeared on the sand ninja's lips as the grip became softer.

"What the-" Sasuke asked, but then he stopped himself, realising.

The woman became smaller and her hair turned dark-red, the hitae-ate now tied over her eyes. The real Kay smiled to them from the sand's grip,

"Why couldn't I see through that jutsu? What the hell was it?" Sasuke asked, wondering if something was wrong with his sharingan.

"Kekkai genkai silly, what else? Your sharingan can't see through that, can it?" Kay chuckled lightly. "You're lucky your partner figured it out for you."

His voice was cold, mocking.

"I'm sorry I couldn't fight with you properly. I'm a little tired after some missions..." the weird ninja excused.

"Let's go." Gaara said. "And you'd better keep your mind off any 'ideas'." he hissed towards Kay.

"I will. I'm going to sleep. Thanks for carrying me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Were they going to have to deal with such ninja every mission? How could he be so careless? Gaara would have dropped and killed that ninja on the spot for saying that but he had no other choice. He didn't want to tie him up and carry him on his back, he already had one backpack and so did Sasuke. Using his sand was going to slow him down a little, but he'd be okay if the prisoner didn't make him any trouble.

They left Otogakure and a few hours later they stopped because Sasuke needed some hours of sleep to keep going. He made a fire and took some food out of his backpack, using his kunai to cut the beef in three. Kay mentioned being in a mission before meeting them so he was probably hungry.

"Hey..." he said, looking at Gaara to make him let the ninja's hands free. "Are you hungry? It's not much, but..."

"No thanks!" Kay smiled. "But I'm a little thirsty. Could you give some water, please?"

"Sure." Sasuke replied, giving her a bottle of water. "What kekkai genkai was that? What clan are you from?" he asked, after she gave the bottle back to him. "And why are you wearing your hitae-ate over your eyes? I don't think you're blind."

Gaara frowned and he was right. That was a really stupid question.

"Uhm... actually, I have two bloodline limits. The first is that 'switch of places' you saw earlier and the second is the reason for which I wear the hitae-ate over my eyes."

"Well, you're lucky. Girls seem to fall in love with boys by looking in their eyes..." he muttered, remembering about all those crazy fan girls he used to have in Konoha.

Kay chuckled and eventually burst out into laughter. Gaara ignored that and thought about what he had said. Two bloodline limits. That would have been possible only if her parents had been from different clans. Such children were rather rare because it was said that the power of the kekkai genkai faded and eventually disappeared if mixed with other bloodlines.

"Get some rest, Sasuke." he said. "I want to get back to the Akatsuki by dawn."

"Fine. Make sure you won't kill him 'by accident'."

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"Ah, finally here. How did you mission go?" Pein asked, looking at the three ninja. "Sasuke, I heard you've had some problems with your health, are you better now?"

"Yes, Sir, I am."

"Well done, both of you. Now, young Kay, how about you sit down and talk to me?"

Gaara called his sand back into the gourd and the sound ninja turned to them smiling.

"Oh, guys, before this talking shit starts giving me headaches..." he whispered as his hand moved.

Sasuke watched her hand rising to the hem of her hitae-ate, pulling it up to reveal two perfectly black eyes, as his cheeks blushed and Gaara fidgeted a little.

"I'm a girl." she smirked, looking deep into Sasuke's identical eyes.