Suzume had kept a close eye on Haku and Kotone. She hadn't confided in Megumi yet, afraid he might laugh at her. But if Haku and Kotone were who she thought they were, they hadn't aged at all… or else they were ghosts. And why would ghosts be bound in chains and shuffled off to kami knows where? She tripped over a tree-root and got a lash from a guard. Katsuro was chained right in front of her, and the Torakiba yin-yang symbol on the back of his jacket was hypnotic as it waved as he moved.

"Hey, Katsuro?" she asked, once the guards had moved away. He looked over his shoulder, They were all weary beyond words.

"What?" he croaked. He had gotten a touch of the black crystals all of the guards wore around their necks and he was wary.

"Why's your family crest a yin-yang thing?" He blinked at her as if she were stupid.

"It stands for balance."

"Balance? Like… squirrels use their tails to balance?" that was the nosy Iwa girl. Suzume had found out her name was Kameyo.

"No, of course not," Katsuro gave her his "are you stupid?" look which she returned right back at him. "In my family, we're big on balance; the balance between good and evil, life and death, etc. Our old custom of twins fighting to the death stemmed from that."

"Kami, really?" Tsubasa looked horrified. Katsuro shrugged.

"Trouble spawns from twins in my family. My mother was framed by her twin and spent a few months as a missing ninja. No twins since then."

"I hope Azami and Ayame don't do anything like that," Suzume muttered. "That would be a real pain in the ass."

"Hey you brats, if you have time to talk you ain't marching fast enough!" a guard was on them in an instance, reaching for the black crystals around his neck.

"I dislike this environment," was all Yuuta said as they skulked around Suna. They wore henge that Hamono herself had guided them in creating. She deemed them adequate for their "low skill level". Haruki told her where to shove it and she hit him.

The moon was high and just starting to wane. They were extremely nervous, afraid someone who knew them would see right through their disguises. Koga especially, anxious that his uncle would sniff him out. Yuuta was just quietly being pissed at having to return to the "dreaded sandtrap".

"I think… the trail goes north, back from where we came from," Koga said at last while the others kept watch. They were congregated outside of the hospital in the guise of desert rats. Yuuta's insects were scouting for traces while Haruki stood absolutely still, sensing for any residual trace of Katsuro's strong fighting chakra. The last vestiges of high emotions were stale, that Haruki could sense. Katsuro had been dragged from his bed with extreme violence by both parties. He feel that the rage and fear had soaked into the surroundings, tainting everything the Torakiba boy touched.

"That fits with everything else I've seen." A desert lynx padded up to them. The kangaroo rats dove for cover. "Oh grow a spine, you people. Would a cat have a bunny-rabbit?" and, low and behold, a little brown bunny perched on the lynx's back. "And don't play dumb. I know who you are and I'm not going to turn you in."

Jun, still a dog, barked at the bunny. The lynx hissed then stretched, its form wavering. A second later it was a slim young girl, blonde with deep brown eyes but a strangely familiar set to her mouth….

"You wouldn't happen to be a Torakiba, would you?" Namiki asked, hopping forward then turning back into her old self. She was half-hopeful half-apprehensive. The Torakiba girl shook Namiki's hand, the bunny sitting on her shoulder.

"Izumi Torakiba, pleased to make your acquaintance. This is Haruki." She indicated the bunny. Haruki Hyuuga made a gagging sound and Koga snickered.

"You're here looking for the Raikage's son?" Miho asked. Izumi's eyes glowed eerily like a cat's in the moonlight.

"Of course. Familial pride, after all. As I was saying before, I saw bits of what could pass a sign up north of here in Fire country."

"Fire Country? They're passing right through our land!" Hanami cried. Hamono shushed her younger sister.

"What was the sign?" Hamono asked. The Torakiba girl didn't blink at all as she regarded the older Hyuuga.

"Strands of bright pink hair in a robin's nest."

Haruki's face went dead white, his brown eyes suddenly looking black against his fish-belly skin. "But other than that, there was nothing," Izumi went on to say, scratching Haruki-Bunny absently behind the ears. "Whoever's got them did an amazing job of covering their tracks. I could smell them, though, on the plants. They've got Katsuro, whoever has the pink hair, a boy that smells kind of like you-" she nodded to Namiki. "-a girl that smells like stones, another one that smells like plums, a boy like ice, another boy like grass, and a few others. Maybe ten or less people in all."

"That's a lot of people to hide and keep track of, especially if they're fighting back," Hamono observed.

"But I don't think they were fighting back that much," Izumi said frankly. "If they were, then I'd be able to smell the blood even if they did wipe it away. No, they're under control somehow."

"I can sense it," Haruki said grimly. "It's not chakra, persay, but something that suppresses it."

"Like… a seal?" Miho asked, hugging her jacket tighter about her person in the cold desert night.

"Yeah. But it seems to be a mix of different kinds. I recognize certain elements of from old scrolls back in the archives at the Main House. There used to be seals placed on members of the Hyuuga Branch family. They could be controlled by any member of the Main Branch. But the seal I guess is on Torakiba and the others feeds on chakra as well, and whoever holds the key to the seals can throw someone's own energy back at them."

"Sounds pleasant," Namiki commented, looking a bit ill. "So they went north like that?"

"It's where the scent leads," Koga shrugged. Jun whined at the tension in the air and pulled his head out of sight into his boy's jacket.

"Hey…" Haruki said slowly. "What happened to the other two on Torakiba's team? Asuka and… Kazuki, wasn't it?" Izumi snickered.

"I ditched them back at the village," she replied airily.

"So… they'll find you in a day or two."

"Pretty much."

"Shall we go?" Hamono stepped back into the shadows, followed by the seven other shinobi. They had friends and family to find and asses to kick.

Author's note: Urgh… Writer's block is trying to get me. DX NUUU! YOU CAN'T HAVE ME I!!!! –runs away from writer's block- I don't have much to say about this chapter. Not much TO say, really. Wait… I feel angst and darkness coming on…. THANK YOU FOXIE-SAMA. –faints-

And… 75+ pages right now.  I don't know where they all came from. My bunny's name is Roux, like Roux the gypsy from Chocolate, played my Johnny Depp. –faints-