[A/N: Sorry for the wait, got in a bit of a rut...Again, Naruto is not mine. (Lame chapter title, I know, but I didn't plan on splitting it so I had to think of one in a hurry.)]

Chapter 4: Transaction

Sasuke had never felt so trapped. The slightest movement was impossible—he couldn't even blink. No matter how hard he tried to move, his muscles refused to respond. Just as he was sure some of his bones were going to break from the amount of pressure he was putting on them, he found himself stumbling to his feet, and not of his own volition. As he could see across the road now, he saw that the dark-haired genin (Shikamaru, Sasuke deduced from what Sakura had said last night) from the Konoha team was standing mirrored adjacent to him. Shikamaru stepped into the center of the road, and Sasuke perforce did the same.

While he could hear the Jounin approaching, Sasuke couldn't see him until Shikamaru (and consequently himself) turned to look. "So troublesome, Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru said. "What took you so long? I can't keep this up forever."

Kakashi promptly pulled Sasuke's hands behind his back and bound them with a few deft knots, after which Shikamaru detached his shadow. Exhausted even though he had scarcely moved, Sasuke sank to his knees on the dirt surface of the road, too shaken to resist when the jounin pulled his mask off.

Attracted by the noise, Sakura emerged through the bushes lining the road. "Kakashi-sensei, what are—oh!" she cried, noticing Sasuke, "You're that girl from last night."

"I'm not a girl!" Sasuke protested, finally regaining his voice. Sure, he'd been wearing a long tunic, and his hair wasn't exactly short, and he was an onnagata part-time, but that wasn't any excuse for her not realizing he was a boy, was it?

"Last night?" Kakashi enquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, I fell in the river," Sakura admitted, nervously wringing the front of her skirt. "S...He pulled me out."

"I see...Come along, back to camp," Kakashi ordered, dragging Sasuke to his feet and shooing Sakura and Shikamaru in front of him.

In the little campsite, the two maids were sitting tearfully by the fire while Naruto paced back and forth in an excellent impersonation of an experienced ninja. He whirled in a defensive position as the other ninja approached, but relaxed when he recognized his comrades. "Kakashi-sensei! What's going on? Who's that?" he asked as Kakashi pushed Sasuke down unceremoniously in front of the fire.

"That's what we're about to find out," Kakashi replied calmly, positioning himself in front of Sasuke. "First off: who are you?"

That was a fairly safe question to answer. "Yuki...Hiiro Yuki," Sasuke replied calmly. If Kakashi decided to search him, he had satisfactory identification papers to prove this, as well. Sometimes Itachi would do a little forgery to avoid having to do those missions; he was very good at it.

"Good. Now, who employed you?"

This was not so easy. Sasuke finally settled on the truth. "I don't know," he admitted.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Kakashi queried, his visible eye narrowing suspiciously.

"I mean I don't!" Sasuke replied defensively. "I don't handle that part of things." Stupid, he promptly chided himself, you might just as well have told him you were with Itachi.

"Really." Spinning around, Kakashi confronted the maids. "And do either of you by any chance know anything about this little...incident?"

"No," the first sniffled, "why should we, we were only—"

"He wasn't supposed to kill her!" the second wailed before breaking into sobs.

"Oh, indeed?" Kakashi leaned in closer. "And what was 'he' supposed to do?"

"W-we'll get in trouble if we tell," the maid protested.

"You're in trouble now," Kakashi pointed out, "so spill."

With some encouragement, the maids told the whole story. Apparently, while Frost Country wished to come to a trade agreement with Wind Country in order to have greater access to its cloth and dye production, the Daimyo did not want to give up his daughter for this end, and thus had arranged for her to be abducted en route. This way, Wind Country would not be able to complain about receiving short shrift and Frost Country could (discreetly) keep its princess until it was safe to report her 'rescue'.

"Clever," Kakashi said when they had finished. "But we were employed to make sure Kyoko-hime arrived in Wind Country and that's what we'll do. Now," he continued, turning to Sasuke, "where did your friend take her?"

"I don't know," Sasuke replied.

"Again with that. You really don't know much of anything about this business, do you?"

Sasuke bristled at the snide remark, but before he could say anything the radio clipped to his collar crackled to life. Not now, not now! he thought frantically, but Itachi did not appear to receive the mental message.

"Haven't you heard anything yet, Yuki?"

As Sasuke did not reply, Itachi apparently realized something was wrong and said nothing further, but Kakashi had already noticed. "Hey, don't!" Sasuke protested as the jounin pulled the little device from his tunic, but was predictably ignored.

...

Kakashi frowned as he looked down at the young spy. There was something almost familiar about the boy...maybe with some goggles...he shook his head in frustration. He was getting far too obsessed with the past if he was seeing Uchiha Obito in every sulky dark-haired kid he met.

"I've a fairly good idea who's on the other end of this," he said into the little radio, "and if you don't want your little friend to get hurt you'd best return Kyoko-hime at once."

"No, don't! I'm fine!" Yuki cried, although it was doubtful whether the radio would pick up his voice.

"Shut up, Yuki," Kakashi snapped, and was surprised at the boy's prompt obedience.

...

Itachi's mind was racing as he bore the still-unconscious princess southward, back to the campsite near the Kazan road. Kakashi's statement had shaken him more than he would admit even to himself. If Kakashi had recognized either of them, they couldn't hope to survive much longer once the news got out. Not only would Akatsuki be after Itachi to join them again, but Danzou would wish to dispose of them as well; and Danzou was rarely thwarted.

However, as Kakashi had not addressed him by name, perhaps he had only meant that he knew Itachi was the one who had abducted the princess. Hopefully that was the case, and Itachi could get safely away with Sasuke and lay low for a while. The loss of payment for this job would be a heavy blow, but they could make it up eventually. While it would be easier if he could leave Sasuke behind somewhere for a while so that he would be out of danger, he knew he would never be able to get his brother to agree to even a temporary separation.

It took him less time to retrace his steps than it had to cover them in the first place, but it was still some time before he made it all the way back. The girl seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, and he seriously considered cutting her hair off so it would stop getting caught on things, but concluded that this would be far too extreme and unlikely to do him any favors with Kakashi besides.

Arriving at the Kazan road, he halted some distance away from the campsite and laid the girl on the ground in front of him. Kakashi promptly appeared on the other side, dragging Sasuke who was looking quite miserable. Itachi tensed for a fight, but as far as he could tell Kakashi did not actually recognize him. There were three other chakra signatures nearby, but the genin did not show themselves.

"Release Yuki," Itachi demanded.

"As you like," Kakashi replied, cutting the cords tying Sasuke's wrists and shoving him in Itachi's direction. As soon as he arrived at Itachi's side, Itachi took his arm and the two of them vanished with a puff of smoke.

...

"Sasuke," Itachi said comfortingly a few days later, as they sat down to eat in their cheap hotel room, "It wasn't that bad. Anyone could have had that happen."

Sasuke knew he meant well, but was not much solaced. "But I ruined everything! You can't even get any little jobs now."

"That's not your fault," Itachi replied a little too quickly.

"You know it is," Sasuke replied. "People don't want you for missions because they know you'll drop everything if I'm in danger!"

"It doesn't matter if we can be together."

"Nothing's going to matter if we end up starving on the streets," Sasuke pointed out.

"True...you're about to try to talk me into something, aren't you?" Itachi inquired, raising one eyebrow.

Sasuke sighed and continued before he could lose his determination. "I...I want to take the Chuunin Exams!"

Itachi set down his chopsticks in surprise. "You can't be serious."

This was not going at well at all, but Sasuke pressed on. "If I pass, then I'll be a real ninja, and I'll be able to help you! I won't be a...liability...anymore."

Frowning, Itachi leaned back in his chair. "So that's what this is all about."

Sasuke nodded, concentrating intently on his soup so he wouldn't have to meet Itachi's gaze. "Before we left Suna, I heard some of the shinobi there talking about it. It's being held about a month from now."

"A month...that's not a very long time to get ready."

Nearly dropping his bowl in excitement, Sasuke leaned across the table. "You mean you'll let me go?"

"I suppose I must. Where is it being held?"

"Konoha," Sasuke admitted, hoping Itachi wouldn't change his mind.

From the conflicting expressions crossing Itachi's face it was clear that he almost denied Sasuke's request. "Promise me you won't do anything rash if I let you go," he said finally.

"Of course not!" Sasuke replied.

"That's that, then," Itachi said, apparently satisfied by Sasuke's promise. "Pack up your things, we'll need to leave first thing if we want to get you ready in time for the exams."

[A/N: This chapter struggles a bit but I think the next few will flow a lot better (and be written more quickly). I had some trouble with Kakashi's characterization, but I think I've got him settled now. I know this one's a teeny bit shorter than the others, but I had a good breaking point.]