Author's Note: I give you the real chapter 13! I have one more final tomorrow and then I am free for winter break. I am so excited! Thanks to all of those who have read my Christmas oneshot. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

Chapter 13

Sasuke kicked at his horse's sides and it jumped into a gallop. It shook its head as it ran, snorting since it was being pushed to the limit. Behind him, Neji and Naruto were keeping up with an even pace being only a few strides difference. Bouncing against his leg was his katana, a rather annoying weapon at a time like this. If he didn't need it so much at the moment then he would have unhitched it from his belt hours ago.

They had almost caught up with the bandits, but were slightly detained when the white-haired bandit threw a knife at the three. The weapon had caught Naruto in the shoulder, causing only minor damage to his body. The three had stopped and waited for him to pull it out. Sasuke on the other hand wanted to go on ahead, having Neji wait with Naruto as he scouted out the kidnappers.

However, Neji told him that is was best for him to stay and it would be safer if he did so. He didn't doubt Sasuke's abilities in taking them down, it was just that one of Sasuke against two (three if you want to add Karin into the mix) well-trained criminals would be extremely difficult for him. The Uchiha, slightly furious, stated that if he couldn't stop these men then how would he ever be strong enough to fight his own brother.

"Those two rely on each other in battle resulting in a combination of strength," Neji had explained. "Itachi will more than likely want to fight you alone. One on one battles are the easiest for you to succeed in. You will beat him even without having to defeat them."

The idea seemed logical enough yet Sasuke still doubted himself as he pushed his horse harder. He felt sort of responsible for Sakura's kidnapping. True, it wasn't really his fault, but he had asked (*bought) her to come along to Konoha. She was only to be his healer not to be involved directly with the fight itself. If anything happened to her there was no way that he would be able to forgive himself.

As the peaks of the mountains that surrounded the background of Konoha came into view, Sasuke was even more determined. Suddenly, a man slummed into the middle of the path. Sasuke jerked the horse's bridle to the left and swirved around him. He was about to race ahead when Naruto called him back.

"Teme, come here!"

Turning around, he trotted back to the other two riders. They were surrounding the man who seemed slightly familiar. The man pivoted to face Sasuke and waved his hand.

"Yo."

The prince couldn't believe it. "Kakashi?"

Hinata was sulking, that much Tenten could tell from looking at the timid girl. More of a suttle sulk rather than a drastic one that Tenten had seen the girl's cousin do. Poor thing was going to meet her husband-to-be and the man she had a crush on was oblivious to everything. There wasn't much of anything that Tenten could do to cheer the girl up. She asked her questions to help keep her mind off of the arranged marriage like what does she think sounds like a good name for Tenten's baby or what her favorite food was. She only received one word answers, something that didn't seem like Hinata to do at all. Usually she would give at least one or two good sentences in reply, but Tenten didn't push her.

They were travelling on a safe short-cut to the household where Hinata's "lover" was. It was actually a misconseption to say that his home was in Konoha rather than on outskirts of the city. The home, no, compound (he was that wealthy) was so big that it had to be placed outside of the city. Neji had explained all of this before he left.

"Tenten!" Lee shouted enthuiastically riding up next to the cart. "How much further do we have left of this youthful journey?"

"Not much longer," she assured him. "Maybe a mile or two left. When you see a huge house, then you'll know."

"Awesome! Did you hear that, Shikamaru?" Lee shouted back to the soldier on a tan horse.

Shikamaru didn't answer. Tenten leaned back to see why he wasn't answering and saw that he sat with his arms cradling behind his head. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping. Tenten wondered how he managed to even say upright like that.

"Tenten look!" Lee yelled pointed ahead of them.

It was the compound they were looking for. Perhaps one of the most beautiful households that Tenten had ever seen, it had a crimson roof with gold running around the rim. The walls themselves looked to be the color of sandstone. Few trees were actually inside the secure walls of the compound, but the flowers of the Cherry Blossom trees matched the house so perfectly.

"Make yourself presentable Hinata," Tenten demanded lightly.

The Hyuuga reluctantly began to smooth her dress and flatten her wind damaged hair. They walked through the open gates of the residence and halted the horses at the front door. Tenten jumped down from the cart and helped Hinata out from the back while Shikamaru went to the front door and knocked. By the time Hinata and Tenten had joined Shikamaru, a middle-aged man opened the door. He squinted at the four and wrinkles from age developed along his forehead. Tenten noticed that his hair was thinning and streaked with grey.

"Who are you? What do you want with my master at this hour?" he asked defensively, holding the door slightly shut.

"We're sorry to intrude like this, but your master is expecting us," Tenten explained kindly. Then she motioned towards Hinata. "This is Hinata Hyuuga, the girl that was arranged to met and marry your master."

The man's eyes darkened and he slide the door ajar.

"Oh yes, I remember him mentioning that he was supposed to met the female Hyuuga soon," he replied motioning them inside. "Please follow me."

The four followed the man into a hallway that led to a peristyle garden. There, on the deck, was a low risen table surrounded by pillows. Hinata sat on the one closest to the table and the others situated themselves behind her. The man snapped his fingers and two women entered the garden. One set cups down around the table while the other poured tea. It was almost like they were expecting them.

Something doesn't feel right. Tenten thought watching the women leave through a hidden doorway.

"My master is glad to have you visit his home," the man said bowing in his master's absence. "He will be with you shortly."

When he left, Tenten quickly turned to Shikamaru.

"Do you feel something strange about this place?" she asked quietly. "Something seems off."

"Why do you suggest that?" he asked in return looking around the garden. "I don't sense anything."

"Why did that man look at us like he hated us or rather that he knew something we don't," she tried to explain. "And why does it seem like they knew we were coming here?"

Shikamaru leaned against the house's exterior and closed his eyes. "There's nothing wrong here. You're being paranoid."

Tenten was about to hit him (there was no way that she was paranoid!) when something, or actually someone interrupted her.

"Hello."

The four looked in front of them to see a man dressed in dark noble clothing. He grinned widely when he looked down at Hinata. She shuttered in reponse and Tenten could see why. His teeth were shaped weirdly and even more strange, he looked blue.

"It's nice to met you Hyuuga," he addressed Hinata. " My name is Kisame Hoshigaki."

"Kakashi, what the hell happened to you?" Sasuke exclaimed jumping off his horse to met with his old teacher.

Kakashi was extremely glad to see his old student and leader of the rebellion. He was in sort of bad shape after jumping out of the window in the prison. It was the impact of the glass not the actual fall that hurt him. The water was plenty deep for him to fall in. He kept underwater until the guards left the banks of the moat. Then he swam to a hidden backside of the castle and went into the forest. It wasn't long until he saw Sasuke.

"Your brother that's what happened," he explained pulling a piece of glass from his shoulder and winced. "He put Iruka and I in prison after we started a revolt. We tried to escape, but only I was able to escape."

Naruto handed him a bandage and a water bottle which he took gladly. Pouring the water over his wound, Kakashi began to clean it.

Without looking up, he asked, "Why are you heading this way anyway? Ready to face your brother?"

"In a sense," Sasuke retorted coolly. "Itachi had someone from my team kidnapped."

"Yeah, Sasuke's girlfriend," Naruto joked beside Kakashi.

Neji brought his hand up to his temple as if to relief a headache. Kakashi seemed to have become rather interested. Meanwhile, Sasuke looked like he was starting to fume. If looks could kill.

"Dope, now is not the time," Sasuke grunted irritated. Then turning to Kakashi, "She's just a friend that got mixed up with all this Itachi buisness."

"I see," Kakashi said from behind his mask and smirked. I doubt that's all true.

"We need to get into the castle without being detected," Neji informed the older man.

"I do know of one place," Kakashi said, thinking about it as he said it. "It's a passage way that I found while swimming in the moat. There is a hole wide enough for us to swim into and I don't know where it leads, but to get to it is a piece of cake."

"Go on," Sasuke stated, listening.

"The walls that surround and protect Konoha have one major flaw," he started. "It has an archway that goes over the castle's moat so that it can flow into the river and be replenished."

"So basically we have to go into the river and swim into the castle just like that?" Naruto asked. "Dude, this is going to be so easy!"

Kakashi put his hand up. "Yes that is the easy part, but I do have some theories about where the hole leads."

"Like?"

"The lower prison cells, for maximum offenses. Maybe the sewer system and perhaps the servants way it's risky."

Without hesitation, Sasuke mounted his black horse. "That's a risk we're going to have to take. Naruto, help Kakashi onto your horse. We're leaving."

Hinata stared back at her to-be fiance. This was the man she was to marry? Something felt off about the whole ordeal. Maybe it was his grin or the maybe the fact that he had blue skin. She just figured that it was just some skin condition or maybe he liked wearing blue makeup. Bowing to the ground, Hinata greeted her "husband".

"M-master Hoshigaki, it's a-an honor to be in y-your home," Hinata stuttered with a tear in her eye. The man was truly frightening.

"The honor is all mine Mistress Hyuuga," the man stated, still standing.

Behind Hinata, Tenten observed the man. Besides being blue, he had this aura coming from him that screamed villian. Shikamaru seemed to think so too from what Tenten could decipher by the look on his face. There was also something familiar about him too.

"Excuse me," Tenten interjected towards Kisame."This may seem a little odd, but I swear that I've seen you before."

"Really now," Kisame said tiliting his head. "Where do you think you've seen me? I haven't seen you before until today."

Tenten didn't really know how to answer the question. "Umm...I'm not sure."

Kisame chuckled and both girls cringed. His laugh had this sinister tone that made them feel so uncomfortable. As he began to talk to Hinata, Tenten was caught by surprise when Shikamaru pulled her closer to him.

"I know who he is,"Shikamaru whispered into her ear so that Kisame could not hear. "I've seen him before."

"Who is he?" Tenten whispered back.

"Itachi's second-in command and loyal friend," Shikamaru explained silently. "I saw him around the castle when I was still there. He pretty much does what Itachi tells him and he likes to kill."

"Why would the Hyuuga's set up a marriage with one of Itachi's followers?"

"Beats me, something tells me that they don't know that they did. They probably set up the marriage with a devoted Konoha official so that if a war between cities or something like that happened, they would be protected."

"But with Kisame Hoshigaki?" Tenten asked in disbelief.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Kisame probably wasn't the real fiance. I think that he killed the real one by orders of Itachi and replaced himself as the man Hinata was to meet."

Tenten was in shock. Hinata was to be engaged not only to Itachi's follower, but a murderer too.

"We have to get her out of this," Tenten said silently. "She can't go through with this."

"I agree, but I think that we are going to have to kill Kisame if we want to make it out of here," Shikamaru explained.

"Why's that?" Tenten asked.

"Kisame poses just as much a threat to this world as Itachi. Plus if we take him down, we take down Itachi right-hand."

"I see."

"Then it's agreed," Shikamaru stated as quietly as he could. "As soon as Kisame stops talking to Hinata, we strike and hope we don't screw up."

Author's Note: Kakashi's back! Yes! Hoped you liked this chapter and all. I may update over Christmas if I can. My computer was broken and now its fixed. I just hope that it doesn't break down again for a while which would be real nice for a change. Anyway, push the review button and tell me what you think.