Sakura grinned happily as she looked up, spying Tsunade and Shizune as they entered the office. "You're back!" A second later and her grin faded. Both returning kunoichi looked haggard. Worn out. Not just the dust from the road, but …. "What's wrong?" She couldn't help the small tremors that ran up and down her spine even though her voice remained steady, even.

Tsunade ignored her former student and went directly to her hidden cache of sake bottles. Sakura stared in shock as the Hokage poured herself a stiff drink, downed it, and then poured another. She slid her eyes to Shizune, who was watching wearily. But the usual protest didn't come. For once the Hokage's assistant just held out her own hand and made a gesture to be included.

Sakura drew in a hissing breath as Tsunade quietly poured Shizune a cup of sake as well. Sakura turned her head and looked outside. "It's ten in the morning." She protested inanely.

Shizune just shook her head, not even drinking her sake, merely smelling it for a long moment before taking a small sip.

"Not for us." Tsunade answered, her usually vibrant voice dimmed. "We've been traveling without rest."

Sakura's hand gave a small tremor, and she pressed it down hard on top of the Hokage's desk. "What is it?"

"Did Lee and Naruto return all right?" Shizune asked in a quiet voice as she looked out the window over the view of Konoha. The sun was shining brightly, and the village bustled on down below as if there were no worries in the world.

Giving a rough jerk of her head, Sakura nodded, swallowing the bitter feeling of foreshadowing. Why wouldn't they admit something was terribly wrong? Instead of asking, Sakura simply answered the question. "They turned a prisoner over to ANBU along with a coded scroll. But this prisoner isn't being held in any cell. So, is this person a real prisoner?"

Tsunade finally blinked and turned to look at her former student. Shizune's eyebrows rose. "Oh?" The blonde Hokage queried. "And I suppose ANBU just told you that?" Her voice was highly sarcastic.

Sakura gave them both a hard stare. "You left me in charge." She reminded them. "Of everything."

"That was a specially coded message. ANBU only." Tsunade snapped.

"And I didn't read it." Sakura stood, snapping back, her worry giving way to temper. "But I know duty rosters and daily rations for the prisons. I can also count cells. No one was added to the prison. Therefore …"

"The prisoner isn't being held in a cell." Shizune gave a wry chuckle that sounded gruff and hoarse. "Well done."

Tsunade growled, then gave an approving nod. "You have a sharp mind under that pink fluff." She teased, rolling her shoulders. "You're relieved of your duty, I'm back now. Go rest. You're going to need it, Sakura."

"Oh?" Sakura said, relinquishing the desk and the responsibilities of the Hokage's office happily. She returned to her regular side of the office and started to leave, but stopped …unable to open the door just yet.

Shizune sighed. "I'll make the notifications."

"No." Tsunade sighed deeply. "I will. That's my job." She said with resignation in her voice, and sorrow.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and her hand trembled on the door handle. Without looking at the duo behind her, still staring at the door, she asked the obvious question. "Who?"

o.O.o.O.o.O

Kiba coughed lightly to get her attention. But it didn't work. He frowned as Shiho mumbled something under her breath and flipped to another page in her book, her finger tracing down the old tome lightly.

In the corner, Kakashi looked up briefly from his book and eyed the young Inuzuka, then went back to reading.

Kiba coughed a bit louder. Same result, though this time, Shiho did push one side of her hair back behind her ear. Kiba grinned to see that her fingers were stained with ink and had left a small smudge on the long line of her neck.

The creamy skin of her neck, marred by the smudge of ink made his fingers curl slightly in the need to touch. He pushed the odd thought away, putting it down to the need to be near someone when grieving.

Grieving. Kiba's grin faded quickly. Hanabi and her whole genin team. Gone. Vanished from the earth. Kiba growled to himself at the memory of their arrival here at the former Akatsuki fortress, and the horrid news that awaited them. Shino had his mother had actually had to hold him back from racing off after the Hokage and the others as they hunted down the culprits.

"Do you need something?"

Torn from his thoughts, Kiba realized that Shiho had finally noticed his presence. He looked at her and his mind went blank. Why had he come to see her?

Shiho gave him a quizzical look. "I thought you and your mother were leaving today."

"Oh. Right." Kiba gave her a half-grin. "Came to say goodbye."

"Oh." Shiho nodded, though she couldn't for the life of her think why he'd sought her out for that.

"And to tell you that I'm sorry I laughed at your hair. Again. Not that I laughed again, but that I'm apologizing again." He gave her a hint of fang in his crooked smile.

Shiho eyed him dismissively. "I'm a cryptologist. I got what you meant."

"This time. For a code-breaker, you really do miss a lot." He said, starting to back up.

Kakashi, from his vantage point in the corner groaned for the dog-ninja. Would Kiba never say the right thing?

"Excuse me?" Shiho drew up to her full height, which still didn't pass Kiba's chin. "Are you calling me stupid?"

Kiba backed up, holding up his hands in surrender. "No! I mean …of fuck ..I just meant that as a code-breaker you read me wrong constantly. You read things into my words and stuff that I never meant. Seriously."

Shiho stopped and gave him a long, considering look. He appeared genuine and … ah damn. Had she been reading more into his words than was really there? In her usual straightforward manner, she asked him point blank. "So. I'm wrong about what you think of me? Let's see. Do you think I'm ugly? Stupid? Or unable to get a date?" She challenged him.

Kakashi actually put down his book to watch.

Kiba gave a wary glance at the copy-nin, but the man just gave him a little wave as if to go ahead and answer the girl.

"Well?" She demanded. "Was I wrong in these assumptions? Or do you find me beautiful, smart and irresistible?" Her tone made the words into self-mockery, as if she were well aware of her short comings.

"You're brilliant." Kiba gave her a placating grin.

"How would you know?" Shiho gave him an arch look.

Kiba lost himself in her eyes a moment, then shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had no business staring into her eyes in the first place. "You're brilliant. You are, and we both know it or you wouldn't be where you are. So shut up."

Surprisingly, she did shut her mouth and stare at him.

"And you're not my type, but that doesn't mean you're not pretty." Kiba told her bluntly. "You have gorgeous eyes …and that neck …"

With that, Shiho's hand went to her neck as her mouth dropped open in a bit of shock and wonder.

"And the reason you don't date more is you don't get out of your library. Or your sharp tongue. Or both. I don't know." Kiba laughed and ran his hand through his own mussy hair. "It's not because you can't tame your curls, trust me."

"Oh." Was all Shiho could manage in a small, strangled voice.

Kiba pressed onward, hoping he wasn't making things worse. "I have no hidden agenda here. I came to apologize because I know I hurt your feelings, and I didn't mean too. And …well, with …I mean … a ninja's life can end far too soon …and we never know when it might be the last time …You don't leave misunderstandings and wrong impressions …because …"

Shiho's tension faded immediately as her gaze softened. "I didn't realize. You knew those three genin, didn't you? I'm sorry."

Kakashi put his nose back in his book, giving the two the semblance of a little privacy.

The Inuzuka sighed and nodded. "Hanabi was like a little sister to me. She is …shit …was, my teammate's younger sister and …well, she was so damned sweet."

Kakashi nearly choked at hearing that description of little Hyuuga Hanabi. Not after some of the tales he'd heard from Yugao, and later Ibiki. Still, every time he'd met the girl she'd been perfectly sweet and innocent acting, polite. He supposed the same was true for Kiba. But for sure that 'sweet' wasn't the only thing that could be said of Hanabi.

Shiho didn't think about it at all as she reached out toward Kiba. "I'm sorry about that. It's …it's different in my library I suppose. The names on the messages come and go so quickly, and I know people mostly by their code names and such. Not as personal."

He looked down to see her hand, and his own was rising to meet hers when he stopped. What was he doing? He'd merely come by as a courtesy to say goodbye, to apologize, and to leave. He wasn't looking to date her or anything.

Kiba looked up to register the disgruntled frown on Shiho's face. Oh you dumb shit! Kiba berated himself silently. Shiho wasn't coming on to him! She was just being comforting! Nice. Friendly. That's all.

Shiho's hand dropped awkwardly and she looked away, not seeing Kiba's hand start to rise toward hers. "You'd better hurry, I'm sure you must be ready to head out."

Akamaru sighed and leaned heavily against Kiba for a moment.

"Thanks." Kiba mumbled. "I'll …yeah, I'd better …go, I mean." Damn it! He'd fucked up, again! Growling he stepped into Shiho's personal space, making her beautiful blue eyes go wide with alarm.

"Kib …" The rest was lost as he hugged her within an inch of her life, her breath whooshing out in a gasp. "…a?"

Embarrassed, and not even really knowing why, the dog ninja jumped back and gave a jaunty wave as he hurried down the passage way. "I don't look down on you, promise. Later!"

Akamaru looked confused, barked softly at Shiho and then ran after his master.

Shiho stood there for two whole minutes, dumbstruck. Unsure.

"Blink." Kakashi finally said from his corner. "You need to blink now."

Shiho nodded absently as she finally blinked, breaking the spell. She moved back toward her new work area and picked up her book again, though she wasn't really seeing anything in front of her.

From his stool in the corner, Kakashi chuckled lightly. These two were almost as much fun as his book. Almost, but not quite. Kakashi looked back down to find his place again.

o.O.o.O.o.O

Ibiki was standing outside her office, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Waiting.

Tsunade eyed him coolly. "You don't have to do this." She told him. "I need to do it."

"So do I." Morino Ibiki told her bluntly. Both eyed each other carefully, neither backing down. This was going to be hard. Very, very hard. It was always difficult to give bad news, worse when you were lying. Causing needless pain to innocent people.

Still, Tsunade steeled herself, she had an entire village to look out for. It wasn't an excuse, but a fact. A cold, hard and unforgiving fact. And 'killing' off Hanabi was simply the best way to keep her newest asset under wraps and cooperative. She hoped it bought her time. Time to gather forces, learn information, and form a plan of attack in order to pull off a very delicate mission without igniting the next Great War.

"You don't have to stand alone." Ibiki told her, his eyes hard in his resolve. "Your shoulders aren't the only ones available."

Tsunade drew a deep breath and nodded reluctantly, gesturing for him to open the door. "They won't thank you for your part in this."

Ibiki nodded, but wasn't deterred as he and the Hokage of the Leaf Village headed out to deliver some bitter and extremely unwelcome news.

o.O.o.O.o.O

"It's been weeks!" Hanabi fumed.

"Days." Michi corrected as he fed the small fire that he meant to re-heat their stew with.

Rocks snorted. "Patience …."

"Sucks." Hanabi snapped at him with a hard glare.

"True." Rokuro gave her a jaunty grin. "But we have no choice."

Gaara watched the three from his seat next to the low wall, his back against the stone works of the small border fortress, his gourd right next to him. "Soon."

Michi nodded sagely. "The Kazekage is right." He shot Gaara a glance out of the corner of his sea-foam green eyes. Admiring him from a distance. Hanabi slapped his knee and he looked up at her, she rolled her own Hyuuga pale gaze in exasperation at his foolishness.

Michi just gave her a grin and a wink. It's not like he was going to flirt or anything, but he could still look!

Missing the exchange between his teammates, Rocks sat back and shrugged. "The message that the Kazekage sent should have his man out here already. My guess is he'll be here very soon."

"Hai." Gaara nodded. "But that isn't what has the firecracker all set to go off."

Hanabi stilled, her gaze chilly enough to freeze someone in their tracks. Someone, but not Gaara. He gave her a long stare, then nodded at her. "They will be notifying your families of your 'deaths' right about now, or very soon. That is what is on your mind." He said it like a statement rather than a question.

Rocks and Michi both stilled, their minds going to their own families and how they might take the news. Rokuro cleared his throat. "Heads of our families know, right?"

"Hiashi does. I believe your mother and Michi's father know as well. But that is all." The red-head looked solemn. "For this to work, it must appear to be real."

Rocks dropped his gaze. "My sister will kill me when she finds out I'm not dead."

Hanabi managed to crack a grin at that. "Defeats the purpose of not really dying."

"You know what I meant." Rokuro shot her a reproachful look.

"My sister too." Hanabi told him quietly, reaching out to brush his shoulders lightly with her fingers.

Michi sighed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if my father will tell my mother? The truth I mean."

Gaara nodded. "Two months from your funeral, some of the other family members are to be informed you're not really dead."

Hanabi snorted derisively. "We know the way it's SUPPOSED to go. But that doesn't mean that Michi's father won't be able to see his wife hurting so much and won't tell her sooner."

The red-head blinked owlishly at them. "Why would they do that? It puts the whole plan in jeopardy. They will have been informed of this."

"Are you kidding?" Rock's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Our families will be going nuts, it will take someone with real balls to keep that kind of news to himself. Or herself. My mother will keep it quiet, though it'll tear her apart to do it. She's stronger than she looks."

"She is strong, raising you all like she has after your father died." Michi nodded at his teammate. "My Dad? He'll cave. Not right away. I give him a week, tops."

Hanabi sighed and dropped down to a big rock she'd been using as a seat. "My father? No one will know. He'll keep it to himself and never tell a soul. He's harder than rock. Everyone in my family will think I'm dead."

o.O.o.O.o.O

The acids in Hiashi's stomach felt like they were tearing a hole through the lining. Bile sat continuously on the back of his throat. Every time someone came to his door, every time a message was delivered. Every time someone ….

"May I enter?"

Hiashi grunted and nodded at his nephew. "At least you ask."

At his uncle's cross tone, Neji peered around the room and then bit back his smile as he saw Asubu sunning himself in the window. Right on top of Lord Hiashi's books. "Doesn't respect authority, does he?"

Hiashi shook his head and then looked over at Neji. "Did you need something?"

Neji shook his head and rocked back on his heels in a very uncharacteristic show of nerves. Long moments passed before he cleared his throat. Deliberately vague, he asked, "When?"

Irritated precisely because he had no answer to that question, Hiashi just glared at Neji until the younger man looked down a moment. But his eyes snapped immediately back up. "You shouldn't have told me. Why did you let me read the Hokage's letter?"

Sighing, Hiashi sat back in his chair. "You're my heir. If anything happened to me, you would need to know."

"Bullshit. The Hokage would still know." Neji shot back at the man. "You just didn't want to be the only one." He stopped, realizing suddenly that his hastily spoken words were true. You're not nearly as tough as you act, Neji thought to himself. Who would ever have guess that cold, hard Hiashi would need him like this?

Hiashi gave him a long, angry look that at one time would have sent Neji into a resentful snit. Now, he was finally coming to some sort of understanding with his uncle. "Leader of a Clan. Main branch. I never thought it would be so …."

The elder Hyuuga nodded as he accepted the non-spoken apology. "I'm not handing you a plum with this job. You become responsible not just for yourself, but your entire extended family. Down to the last cousin thirty-seven times removed."

Neji nodded slowly and with deep solemnity. Then he gave a crooked half-smile. "Speaking of which. There's a cousin of yours outside, waiting to see you."

"Oh?" Hiashi shot a look toward his clock and groaned. "I forgot about that."

Neji called for a servant to show the man inside. He then gave a wry chuckle. "I don't remember how many times this cousin is removed, but I think he's closer than thirty-seven."

o.O.o.O.o.O

Ibiki looked down at his outthrust hands, blinking in the bright sunshine.

Tsunade gave him a long, considering look. "The great torture master has shaky hands?"

"No." Ibiki held out his rock-steady hands for her to see. "But after that? In there? I think they should be trembling a bit." He took a deep breath of fresh air. "I thought she already knew?"

"She did. Rokuro's aunt and younger brothers didn't." Tsunade looked back at the small house that Rock's family shared with two other families. "It's still hard to hear bad news." She said, meaning that even though Rokuro's mother knew the truth, it didn't make hearing of his 'death' much easier.

Ibiki winced as he clearly heard the aunt's keening wail even from outside. He eyed the cramped living quarters and shook his head. "They're going to be hurting without his ninja paycheck." Ibiki muttered.

"No. They won't." Tsunade promised as she took off briskly down the street, toward Michi's family residence.

o.O.o.O.o.O

Shino watched as Temari nearly shredded the rope she was trying to mend. "I hope you don't mean to lower me down any crevices with that thing." He said dryly.

One frigid look from her and he stepped forward, taking the seat next to her. He didn't say another word.

Temari's fingers flew over the rope as she picked and prodded at it, doing nothing in particular. Finally she gave up and tossed the whole thing away from her. "Useless."

"Me or the rope?" Shino asked his wife quietly.

Teal eyes turn on him, a vicious almost feral look on her face. "I hate this." She groused, low and husky.

"Again. Me or the rope?" Shino said almost placidly, trying to draw her out of her depressive mood.

Temari nudged him sharply with her elbow and sighed, then leaned into him. Shino slipped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight next to his body.

"Gaara finally found someone he didn't hate, someone he didn't ignore completely." She whispered into his shoulder as she held onto her husband as if life itself depended on it.

Shino opened his mouth …but Temari interrupted him. "If you ask if I meant you or that fucking rope one more time, I'll gut you." She raised her head and drew in a deep breath.

The Aburame knew when her threats weren't empty, and nodded. "Fine. You meant … Hanabi then?"

Temari heard the small tell-tale catch in her husband's voice and sat back, pulling slightly away from him to look into the depths of his sunglasses. She reached up to remove them, but he stopped her. "We're not at home." He reminded her gently.

The blonde curled her lip in derision, but nodded, leaving his glasses in place. They were indeed not at home, out here in a former Akatsuki fortress. "I hate this place."

Shino arched a single eyebrow. "This is not the cavern where they killed your brother. And he did recover."

"Not without loss." Temari snapped at him, remembering Granny Chiyo's sacrifice to bring Gaara back, to heal him from death itself. "But this is still THEIR place. The Akatsuki's stupid symbols are all over this fucking cavern. I hate it. And now it took Hanabi too."

Shino shook his head gently. "It wasn't this place, or even the Akatsuki. It was a pair of Cloud ninja. And Tsunade, Shizune and Ibiki tracked them down and destroyed them. Utterly destroyed them." He said, not without some sorrowful pleasure in the news. "They were given no mercy, nor did they deserve any. Killing off genin like that? They didn't have to do that, they could have just slipped away."

Temari nodded and blinked back some suspicious moisture in her teal eyes. "I wish that they'd let me go along with them, hunting down those jerks."

"We were needed here, in case it was a ploy to pull protection from the fortress itself. What if they have something important still stored here?" Shino sighed, also having felt the stress of being left behind when all he'd wanted was to tear someone apart. Two someones. "This will hurt Hinata."

Temari sighed and looked away, blinking harder. "And Gaara."

Shino nodded and pulled his wife back into his arms, holding her tightly as he rested his chin on top of her head. Temari hid her face in his shoulder, letting what few tears she would allow herself to shed to fall, hidden from view.

o.O.o.O.o.O

Tsunade's eyes were suspiciously moist as she kept her face turned from Ibiki. She actually snapped her teeth at him when he offered her a handkerchief.

"Are your hands still rock steady?" She asked, her nerves shot.

Ibiki balled his fists up and shrugged as he took a long, deep breath and blew it out slowly. "That was …"

"Hell."

"Yep."

Tsunade shook her head roughly and sighed. "He didn't look so strong." She said of Michi's father. Her glance toward the torture master showed that her words meant more than she was saying out loud. The man had been weeping openly along with his wife. Tsunade wasn't so sure he would be able to hold out for two months without telling her the truth.

"It's not every day you lose your only child." Ibiki said slowly, for anyone who might be listening. "It is very hard news we bring, I just hope they can hold on through the funeral services."

Tsunade nodded and rolled her aching and very tense shoulders. She too hoped the man could withhold the information from his wife at least through the funeral. If some stupid slip-up occurred and Cloud got wind of the deception, all of this would become meaningless.

"One more stop." Ibiki said, looking off in the direction to the Hyuuga compound. He was not looking forward to this. Not one little bit.

All the grief and strife taking on a genin team had caused him, all the pain and humiliation Hanabi had foisted off on him …he wished she, Michi and Rocks were still here sniping at each other and driving him crazy.

Pretend death? Sure, okay. But it felt real enough with everyone grieving around them. And it was a very bitter thing indeed to bring bad news.

Fake or not, it still felt awfully real.

o.O.o.O.o.O

Baki eyed the three genin and frowned sharply. He shook his head in mute disapproval. Hanabi stuck out her chin stubbornly and met him glare for glare. So did Michi. Rocks crossed his arms and glared right along with the rest of them.

Gaara bit back his amusement, letting nothing show on his face as he waited. Baki finally turned to him, raising his one visible eyebrow in question.

"They're ours." Gaara repeated himself.

Baki shook his head and growled in frustration. "Leaf ninja? Hiding in Suna? And they're supposed to be dead? Why? The big question is WHY?"

All three glares turned Gaara's way as all three genin held their breaths. They wanted to know the 'why' of it too.

"Later." The red-head said coolly, making all three genin frown in disappointment.

Baki read between the lines and nodded, putting that question away for 'later'. "Alright. Then HOW? How do we spring three unknown genin on Suna as if they were our own? No one will believe it."

"Naruto gave me an idea, something he said a few years ago." Gaara waved one hand in dismissal. "We had that council member die two months ago. Remember?"

"Okano Juzo?" Baki looked startled at the mention of the man. "What does he have to do with anything? I don't think he ever met Naruto."

"Naruto was complaining about Sai, the shinobi that replaced Uchiha Sasuke on their team a few years back. Said how the guy came out of nowhere. So I asked Tsunade about it." Gaara gave a tight-lipped smile. "She didn't want to share, but was trying hard to convince me to take these three, so she did in the end."

"Oh?" Baki whistled, as the three Leaf genin listened closely as well.

Gaara nodded. "Secret training, secret black-ops group, hidden even from the Hokage and the Council. Seems to me, Okano Juzo is just that kind of nut to go taking in orphans and raising them to be weapons. His personal weapons."

Baki cocked his head slightly in thought. "He was quite …." He struggled for the right word.

"Demented?" Michi guessed.

Rocks shook his head. "Crazy."

"Ambitious." Hanabi guessed blindly.

Baki gave the young kunoichi a look and a nod. "Ambitious is correct."

"So are crazy and demented." Gaara said dryly. "At least near the end."

Michi whistled under his breath, impressed with the idea. He nodded in approval. "Pass us off as this guy's own personal guard? Trained in secret? Cool."

"More like his prototypes for how ninja should be trained." Gaara looked at them each in turn, his pale-jade eyes quite serious. "You'll have to act accordingly."

Baki blew out a harsh breath. "Now that he's dead, this plot comes to light. Good. And it would come to no one's surprise if you, as Kazekage, turned over Okano's ninja over to me for evaluation and possible re-training. That's why you called me out here."

"Hai." Gaara gave Baki a long look. "You're the only one I would trust with this, with Kankuro and Temari out of the question."

The one-eyed shinobi nodded in dignified pleasure at being appreciated. He and Gaara had a long history together, not all of it pleasant. Being the vessel of the Sand Demon had made sure of that. But Gaara had turned out to be stronger than even Baki had given him credit for. And it was gratifying to see.

Baki turned his eyes on the three genin again, looking them over critically. "They'll need to be disguised. Small things to make it harder to recognize them if anyone they know runs across them."

They all nodded, having already thought of this.

"And one more thing." Baki said, his voice stern with authority. "Lose the headbands."

Hanabi, Michi and Rocks all stilled. Theoretically they knew that they would have to do this, but it didn't make the moment any easier.

"Now." Baki gave them a hard-eyed look. Michi reached up and touched his Leaf headband, a look of regret and loss in his sea-foam green eyes.

Rocks pulled his off, clenching it in his fist. This was what he'd always wanted to be. This piece of metal and fabric with a symbol etched in it meant the world to him.

Hanabi gulped and untied hers as well.

"We'll get you Suna headbands as soon as we get to the village." Gaara said quietly, seeing the pain of the moment.

"No. They'll have to earn them." Baki announced. "If I'm to treat them like they belonged to Okano, that's exactly what I would have done."

Michi's left eye twitched. "We've already passed the Academy. We are …were … nearly ready for the chuunin exams." He said with some defiance.

"Not anymore." Baki gave him a cold look and held out his hand for the headbands.

Hanabi's eyes hardened as she fairly tossed her headband to the man. She looked at Michi, who nodded. Rocks gave a quick flick of his eyes.

Gaara thought briefly about warning Baki about these particular genin. Especially Hanabi. But decided against it.

He wondered how his former sensei was going to fare with the firecracker.

o.O.o.O.o.O

Next up is the notification to the Hyuuga household. Some settling in for those new Suna ninja. After that there will be a short time skip, then a big time skip. Fair warning!

THANKS! And as always, reviews are most welcome!