Author's Notes: Soooooooo Deeeeaaaaaaaad~

Disclaimer: I own nothing! With the exception of Raitengeki, Tsukasa, Gen, Haruko, and Hourai.

Kimimaro woke suddenly, propelling himself into a sitting position with his back reflexively. He stopped himself from gasping or growing any bone protrusions, realising that he had woken because of a dream. By then, he could barely remember any details about it. For some reason, he felt he wanted to remember it- despite not being able to remember why.

He was sleeping on the floor of the lounge room (having surrendered the bedroom to Ino and Sakura before Shikamaru or someone else had any idea about insisting), which probably accounted for the lightness of his sleep. Glancing around slowly, he noticed that Naruto and Chouji- sleeping malignantly in the corners of the room- had a wary eye on him, apparently woken by his unexpected movement. Shikamaru, who had secured himself the couch at the earliest opportunity, was facing away from him, but Kimimaro had no doubt that he was listening to his every move.

Daruma, apparently resigned to being a captive until killed or set loose, was sleeping soundly. Hanging by a rope tied around his waist, which also pinned his arms to his back, he was breathing loudly with a placid expression on his somewhat bruised face- saliva evident around the corners of his mouth as he alternated gently from side to side.

Feeling a little put out, Kimimaro lay down carefully and tried to get back to sleep. Naruto and Chouji quickly lost interested in him, and tried to get some rest themselves. Shikamaru...he wasn't sure.

Trying to fall asleep in the middle of the night can, occasionally, be much harder than would normally be considered possible and Kimimaro soon found himself becoming frustrated. With an uncomfortable jerk of comprehension, he realised that something was bothering him- he just hadn't realised what it was yet.

Not really expecting to see anything that would obviously be causing him so much discomfort- besides the three Konohagakure shinobi in the room with him, of course- he scanned the room for anything overtly out of place. So it was that, with a certain amount of horror, he noticed something through the window. An eye.

Apparently pleased that Kimimaro had noticed it, half a row of teeth shone above it and Kimimaro realised he was actually looking at most of an upside-down face. It was a face he recognised, too.

He wasn't sure why Tsukasa was hanging from the roof and peeking through a window at him (until he once more remembered his company), but he had a fair idea of why he had come in the first place.

Tsukasa, still grinning like a sun-bleached skull, breathed through his teeth on the window, partially fogging it up, and disappeared. Kimimaro got the message though. He rose as quietly as he could, waking Naruto, Chouji and Shikamaru despite his best efforts, and made his way to the door. The Konoha shinobi, only slightly irritated at being woken a second time, were content to stay as they were and let him go. For all they knew, he was just going to walk off some energy- and for all he knew they trusted him to not disappear on them.

Closing the door behind him, he found Tsukasa lurking in a shadowy patch among the trees, still with that thin smile splitting his face. He turned away, motioning Kimimaro to follow, and disappeared deeper into the woods- clearly not wishing to be overheard by Kimimaro's guests. Kimimaro debated following him for a time, but eventually decided to pursue him in the hope of avoiding a difficult situation with the Konoha shinobi currently occupying his house.

He lost Tsukasa's trail some way into the woods but stopped quickly, knowing Tsukasa would be waiting behind the next tree, hoping to scare Kimimaro if he could.

Tsukasa stepped into view when he heard Kimimaro stop, looking a little put out at being denied his fun, but that damn grin reasserted itself quickly enough. Something very nasty was going to happen soon, if he was that happy. Kimimaro wondered if Lord Raitengeki had ordered Tsukasa to kill him, but set that idea aside as "unlikely."

Tsukasa waited for Kimimaro to ask something, like "what are you doing here, Tsukasa," but gave up after a while, seeing Kimimaro wasn't inclined to lead the conversation.

'Hmhm, Kimimaro-kun... I've missed you~'

'What do you want, Tsukasa?' Kimimaro put in, before Tsukasa could continue in his disgusting, lilting tone. The grin vanished from his face. One thing Tsukasa really didn't like was being interrupted- ironic, given that he would happily drive a cart through someone else's conversation.

Tsukasa hid his mouth with one over-long sleeve and squinted at Kimimaro through the wild flashes of crimson hair protruding from his hooded black jacket. 'You have not made contact in quite some time. Raitengeki-sama has been asking after you.'

'I've been...' Kimimaro searched for a way of phrasing it that wouldn't sound like he was just shirking his duties. Finding nothing particularly good, he settled with '...occupied.'

'So I see~' Tsukasa moved his hand away from his face, once again showing off the grin that suggested Tsukasa's face was not used to (or particularly good at) smiling. 'I hadn't realised that you were prone to taking stray cats home with you~' Then, as an afterthought; 'What's her name, by the way?' Kimimaro gave him an icy stare, daring him to push the line of questioning. Tsukasa accepted the challenge with delight.

'The blonde girl, with the nice body... Oh! What a terrible thing...! Being torn up like that, when you found her... But aren't you getting along well now? You two were almost going at it yest-'

The punch had been a good one, and Tsukasa had dodged it in his typical fashion- by bending backwards in an unlikely way at the last moment. He hadn't been able to avoid the somersault-axe kick, which carried all of the punch's momentum and then some. Tsukasa went over backwards, the back of his head striking the ground first regardless of his attempts to shield it with his hands. He regained his feet and glared at Kimimaro, rubbing his cheekbone distractedly. The humour was gone from his eyes.

'Temper, temper. You're a dreadful man when you get serious...'

Getting swept along by his emotions, Kimimaro immediately snapped back. 'You're one to talk. What's wrong? Run out of hair?'

'Never.'

Tsukasa reached out with one covered hand, the end of his sleeve dangling a good foot from his fingers, and grabbed at something invisible. In one quick motion, his sleeve was drawn up (as though under great tension from something extending from his hand) before dropping again, accompanied by an odd snapping sound. A very obvious crashing noise presaged the fall of a tree, which had been bisected with unnatural smoothness. Kimimaro glared at Tsukasa, unperturbed.

Tsukasa returned the glare with a slightly strained smile. 'We really are going to kill one another someday, Kimimaro-kun.'

'I look forward to it, Tsukasa.'

'Tsk.' No longer enjoying himself, Tsukasa finally arrived at the true subject of his visit. 'Raitengeki-sama has made final plans for his ascension to the Throne of Thunder. Plans in which you do not appear.'

'...What?'

'He has planned for your absence,' Tsukasa elaborated sardonically. 'Understandable, given the situation: The lord on the eve of his triumph! The village hidden in cloud choking off communication routes!' he threw his hands towards the sky and exclaimed, as though the entire world had just become his private stage, and its population his rapt audience. 'The loyal servant, separated by miles of difficult terrain! And the foreign kunoichi- seeking shelter and love from a cold-blooded killer!'

'Are you done?'

'I think I can, maybe, squeeze another few Acts in... The point is; your "services" are no longer required.'

That hit Kimimaro pretty hard. Years and years of loyal service, and now he was being dismissed- just like that. He recovered quickly enough to realise that something was off about Tsukasa's story. Communication hadn't been lost- Tsukasa himself was the proof of that. More so, if he had been watching Kimimaro for days.

'You bastard! You set this up. If Raitengeki-sama needed me for something, you could have relayed his message!'

'I may have...lied about Kumogakure's communications strangle-hold...to an extent.'

'Why?'

'Because I don't like you, descendant of Kaguya!'

'Our bloodlines have nothing to do with this, you know that!'

'Be silent! That doesn't change the fact that I find everything about you -especially your Kekkei Genkai- repulsive. For this, Raitengeki-sama's finest hour, I and I alone will stand by his side! Besides, you seem to have your hands full with- oh, excuse me. You seem to have your hands full of that woman recent- woah!'

Kimimaro prepared another bone dagger to throw at him. Tsukasa took the hint and made himself scarce, having said his piece.

Kimimaro stood stock-still until he was sure Tsukasa had left before turning on his heel and stalking back toward home. He wouldn't be the most well-tempered man in the world tomorrow. Tsukasa had that effect on him.

'Uuuuuurrhh...!'

Ino shifted slightly, disturbed by the strange noise. It did not take kindly to her movement.

'Uuuuhhhr! Ino...!' it whined irritably. Ino grimaced, cracked an eye open. Sakura glared back at her. She didn't seem happy that, at some point, Ino had shoved an elbow in her face. 'Do you mind?'

'Oh. Sorry,' she said, without much enthusiasm.

'You don't sound very sorry. Or are you saying that Kimimaro-san should have been here instead of me?' Wow, she was grouchy this morning. But that comment had been a bit below-the-belt, in any case.

'Lay off! First Shikamaru, and now you? I'm starting to wish you hadn't come looking for me.' Saying so, she rolled over and pulled most of the sheets around herself, exposing Sakura to the relative chill of the bedroom.

'Uhhh,' Sakura decided that she had been a bit harsh. 'Sorry...that was uncalled for, wasn't it?' Ino agreed by not responding. But she did loosen her grip on the sheets by way of accepting her apology.

Sakura, obviously still a little embarrassed at the unpleasant turn of events, clambered off the bed and stretched some life into her limbs. The unusual warmth of the last few days had receded, leaving behind a muscle-tightening chill that would make you shiver all night unless encased in several layers of cloth. Abruptly changing the subject, Sakura decided they should go and see how the boys were doing.

"The boys" were in a state of acute disorder. Chouji and Naruto were attempting to freshen themselves up by exposing their eyes to the harsh morning light, Shikamaru refused to leave the couch for an hour after being poked by Ino, but Kimimaro was already up and restless- irritably waiting for a large pot of water to boil. He had been intending to prepare miso soup and rice for his guests before they woke up, but the clammy, chill air was making the wood burn weakly and the water reluctant to simmer.

Daruma, either by play or actual feat, was still sleeping cheerfully. As though the prospect of imminent death meant he could at least get an extra few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Once kicked awake and fed, Shikamaru decided it was as good a time as any to inform everyone about his decision. The decision, of course, had to do with what they were going to do now.

'First- your mission, Ino. That was to collect information on the Kirigakure shinobi operating around the Kaminari/Oto border. Mission successful. Hell, you even got us a live one,' he gestured in Daruma's direction. Daruma, still dangling from the rope, seemed to be awake now and tried his best to look contemptuous.

'Second,' he continued, 'My mission. To recover you and your team, since we lost contact with you. Here you are, and we have already sent back the corpses of the others. Not a total success, but it will have to do.

'Third...Kimimaro.' Everyone waited for Shikamaru to continue. When he didn't, faces turned in his direction.

Kimimaro pondered how best to respond, risking a glance towards an anxious-looking Ino. '...Has just lost his job,' he eventually announced, without humour.

Nobody was quite sure how to take that. Not wishing to explain the current state of affairs with himself, Lord Raitengeki and Tsukasa, Kimimaro kept it simple. Shikamaru appreciated the need for secrecy about his former employer -as long as it wasn't something that would come back to haunt them- and didn't pursue the matter beyond a few pertinent questions. The others were similarly (and surprisingly) respectful about his past.

To his mild surprise, Ino chose this opportunity to raise the idea of taking Kimimaro back with them to Konoha. Not being from Kaminari no Kuni in the first place, not being affiliated with Kumogakure in any way, having lost his "job," having no living family, and only knowing a few people in the nearby town (which Kimimaro figured he could always visit or write letters to) was a fairly compelling argument. In the end, the decision of whether he could actually become a shinobi of Konoha fell to the Council of Elders and the current Hokage- but Ino was able to convince Shikamaru (with the help of a deeply moved Naruto) to take Kimimaro with them.

And so it was that Kimimaro became involved in the planning of their movements from then on. His familiarity with the local terrain, political climate and common trade routes quickly proving invaluable.

Author's Notes Again: If you think the last part felt a bit rushed- I agree completely. If you don't know what a Daruma is- google it(ggrks).