Author's Note: Hello everybody! Time for the drama to start! So, here we go! Happy Reading!!

- Ryu

Of Birthday Cakes and Gravestones

The suddenly dead June fell to the floor as Ryu screamed with her high-pitched child's voice. She was suddenly grabbed from behind and her mother's brown eyes felt like they would swallow her whole with the urgency and fear in them.

"Ryu!!" her mother whispered desperately as she pulled her over to the stairs. Crashes of wood on metal was heard as unseen people broke into the house.

"I want you to run upstairs and hide-"

"B-b-but June!! And-"

"-And no matter what you hear, stay exactly where you are!"

"But Mom!! I-I- can't-!! I-!!"

"Ryu!!" Her mother nearly shook her, her eyes filled with urgency, desperate for her to just do as she was told. "NOW!!"

Ryu nearly tripped on the first step, looking back at her crouching mother near the stairs. Teardrops slipped down her face as she saw her looking angrily determined at the hallway to the door. She then disappeared with inhuman speed and Ryu went all the way up to the top of the stairs. The stairs opened up to her room. The window was open, and she stole over to it to look out.

There were people outside garbed in light armour. Silver swords and weapons gleamed in their hands. A headband with a single note flashed in the dimmed light. Someone looked up and Ryu quickly fell on the floor. She thought she heard a scuffle downstairs; grunts and cries of pain drifted up the stairs along with footsteps. The little girl fearfully looked around the room, trying to think of a place to hide.

A shadow appeared on the wall of the stairwell and Ryu threw herself under her bed. The girl curled up under the bed, small balls and toys greeting her eyes. She felt herself breathing fantastically hard and covered her mouth with a hand. Pale feet in black sandals stepped onto the floor. The person started to walk around, opening her closet and the sound of ruffled clothes reached her ears.

She watched the feet move around everywhere, trying to breathe as slowly and quietly as she could. The feet then stopped once more in front of the stairs, and descended down them. Ryu gently let her head hit the floor, breathing a sigh of relief in her head. Whoever they were, they hadn't found her.

A hand suddenly grabbed her ankle, and she was dragged, screaming in terror, from under the bed. Red eyes against white china skin suddenly met her gaze.

"There you are..."

Ryu wake with a start, her heart pounding and covered in a cold sweat. She then looked quickly around her apartment to see that it was still night. Her clock gleamed in the dark, announcing that it was around four am. She whiped her brow and looked to where Al was sleeping at the foot of her bed. Today was the day.

She had dropped Raikera off at Gaara's house the day before to find them moving out. They had only been staying in the village for the exams, but were leaving in about four to three weeks. Ryu swung her legs over the side of her bed and picked up her messenger bag. She checked and re-checked her messenger bag as she packed at four am the next morning. The house was softly dark as she prepared for the journey to the temple.

She packed an extra pair of flip-flops and kunai knives. She then looked down at the waiting orange tabby cat that had been with her ever since she had set foot in the apartment. She smiled at him, petting his head.

"Ready to go, Al?" she asked him. He purred happily in response.

She picked up her bag and her keys, and opened the door. Al trotted out and she locked the door behind herself. She took a breath of cold air. She walked down the stone stairs and started down the street.

She then turned the corner, headed for the northern road out of the village.

Kiba walked down Kutchki street with a bounce in his step. He was going to go see Ryu without there being a fight in the recent past or a nurse to ask if he could go in. Akumaru panted happily as he walked in the sunbathed street. He couldn't wait to see Al and Raikera away from the hospital. He noticed a boy further down the street, looking around a little confused at his surroundings. He had a bucket hat and round sunglasses on as he looked from a piece of paper to the shops around him. Kiba thought he smelled the distinct scent of a doberman coming from him. Akumaru stopped suddenly and then took off running to the boy before Kiba could say anything.

The puppy ran up to the kid, yipping and pawing at his knees. The boy seemed startled at first but then laughed. Kiba jogged over.

"Sorry, about that." he said. The boy laughed, pointed canines flashing in the sun.

"It's okay, I like dogs." He smiled toothily. "But do you think you can help me?"

Kiba nodded. "Sure."

The boy showed him the piece of paper. "I'm looking for this adress. I found the street, but I can't find the house." he said.

Kiba took the paper and read the scratchy handwriting. "141 Kutchki St., second apartment-hey!" he read aloud. He looked at the boy. "You know Ryu?"

The boy looked surprised. "Yeah! Do you?"

"Uh-huh!"

The boy looked from Akumaru to him, and then laughed. Akumaru perked up, recognizing the laughter from a few months ago. He smiled.

"You must be Kiba Inuzuka, and Akumaru." he said. He took off his sunglasses, revealing gleaming lemon yellow eyes. "I'm Inu."

Kiba stared at him for a little bit. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Inu. Ryu told me all about you." he said.

"She told us all about you too."

"Us? You mean Dr.Masuda's here too?"

Inu nodded. "Yup. We're here to visit her. Today's her birthday!" he said, excited.

Kiba stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Then he seemed to explode with noise.

"WHAT?! Her birthday?! She never told me her birthday was coming up!! I don't even have a present for her!! What am I gonna do?!" he nearly howled.

Inu tried to calm him down. "It's okay!! It's okay!! She didn't even know we were coming so you can pretend you brought us!!" he said. "The Doc's already got the cake and stuff. I'm pretty sure Ryu won't mind anyway since she didn't tell you."

Kiba bit his lip. "Oh, alright. I can always get her something later on too." he said. "Come on, I'll take you to her apartment. Man, she'll be really surprised to see you."

He led Inu to the pharmacy, pointing out the stone stairs that led to the apartment above it and then walked up to the porch. He knocked on the door, Inu nearly dancing where he stood with giggling excitement. Ryu would be so surprised to see him and the Doc!! They waited a moment, and then Kiba knocked again.

"Ryu? You there?" he called. He went to the window and looked in.

There was no one there, not even Al or Raikera were present. The apartment looked awfully clean too. Usually Ryu left some dishes after breakfast, but nothing was there. The cats' bowls weren't down on the floor either. Akumaru whined next to him, worried. Inu looked up at him.

"Where is she?" he asked with his kid voice.

"She's probably at training already." he said. He looked at Inu. "Where's Dr. Masuda right now?"

"Oh, he wanted to go see her teacher, Guy Might."

"Then the surprise has already happened. But she'll be happy to see you anyway."

Inu grinned. "Okay! Let's go see Ryu!!" He quickly skipped down the stairs, holding onto his hat.

Kiba followed him, thinking about what was under the bucket hat. If that hat fell off and reavealed the soft, black dog ears coming out of the kid's head, who knew what the villagers' reaction would be. He caught up to the kid, taking off his coat as he did so.

"Here, you might want to wear this," he said. He nodded at the hat. "The wind around here could blow that off in half a second."

Inu put a hand to his hat, putting his sunglasses back on.

"Oh, I didn't think of that. Thanks."

He took the coat, and put the hood on top of his hat. He took the hat off once the hood was up. Kiba thought he saw the slightest hint of fur on top of his head, but it blended in with the fur of the coat. The sleeves flapped as he walked, the bottom of the coat nearly reaching his knees. The boy looked at him above his dark sunglasses, his eyes glowing in the light shadows from the hood being bigger then his own head.

He could barely see out of it to begin with.

"How did you know about my ears?" Inu asked.

"Oh, Ryu showed me a picture of you."

"So, you know what the Doc looks like?"

"Uh... A guy with brown hair and old-fashioned glasses, right?"

"Yup! That's him!" Inu said, smiling broadly.

Kiba found he liked this kid. He actually thought him pretty brave considering what Ryu had told him about him. Here he was, half-demon and half-human, and he still smiled and laughed like a regular little kid.

"Hey, Inu. How old are you?" he asked

"Seven. But I'm gonna be eight this winter." Inu said, showing him his hands with the fingers pointed up.

They continued to chat and get to know one another as they walked to the training ground.

Ryu walked at a normal pace down the sunny dirt road. Al trotted next to her, glad to be outside and not stuck in the house while his mistress went out on an adventure. He wondered what Raikera could be doing with the boy that smelled like sand and blood right now. Ryu thought she saw a crossroads up ahead. Was someone standing there near the sign?

As she got closer, she found she was right. It was a boy. A boy with wildly styled black hair wearing a high necked blue shirt. A white and red fan was on the back of his blue shirt. She approached the sign with caution, not knowing who this guy might be.

She stood next to him, pretending he wasn't there and got her map out to check if she was going to the right way to the temple. Out of the corner of her eye, she looked at him. Well, he certainly was handsome with his dark, brooding look and black colored eyes. But she liked the other boys she knew more, really. He didn't have a headband on him so she wondered where he had come from.

Maybe there was a town around here not on the map. The boy looked at her.

"Do you mind if I see your map?" he asked her. She looked up at the husky voice.

"Uh... Sure." she said, handing him the map.

He took it from her and gave it a once-over. "Where are you going?" she asked him.

"To the northern temple. You?"

"Same place."

"Well," the boy said, folding the map up. "Maybe we can travel together. If you don't mind that is."

He handed the map back to her, and Ryu felt Al bristle next to her, growling lowly. She wondered at that for a moment; she wasn't getting any bad vibes from this guy. She took the map back from him, and shook her head.

"No, I don't mind." she said. She put her hand out. "Ryu."

He took it, giving her a firm shake and a small smile.

"Sasuke."

Tsunade sighed at her desk, glaring at a piece of paperwork in her hand. She looked over five other stacks of it at a frowning Shizune. The young woman folded her arms.

"You can't keep putting it off," she said. "There's no use looking at me like that."

She groaned as she put the paper down. "I still can't believe I've got to choose some chunins among this mess of papers. Shikamaru's going to lose his mind soon if he doesn't get some help besides Temari." she said

A sudden banging on the door, and a jonin hurried in.

"Lasy Tsunade!! Please excuse the intrusion, but I've got important news from the ANBU Black Ops." she said, panting from her run up the stairs.

Tsunade sat up. "What is it then? Out with it!"

The jonin took a breath.

"Sasuke Uchiha has been sighted traveling with Ryu Akihara."

Kiba and Inu arrived at the training sight to see Dr.Masuda talking to Guy; Lee, TenTen, and Neji standing around their teacher. The scene seemed serious so they hurried over to see what was happening. Inu skidded to a stop next to the professor.

"Doc! Ryu wasn't at her house!!" he said, sounding worried.

Kiba looked the doctor over, finding him of average height and having dark green eyes to go with the floppy brown hair. He sighed.

"So, where is Ryu then, Mr. Might?" Dr. Masuda asked.

"She asked for a couple days off. She said she was going to the northern temple." he said.

"What?!" Inu said, sounding upset. He looked up at Dr. Masuda. "Doc!! She did it again!!"

He started to jump up and down, seeming very angry.

"She does this every year!! Just goes off on her own without telling anyone where she's going!! What about us?! What about her birthday?! Can't she just get on with her life and forget that blasted-"

"Inu!!" Dr. Masuda said, trying to calm the boy down. "Ryu has a right to her feelings. She can go visit her mother's grave whenever she wants."

Kiba was more alert. "Her mother's grave? I thought you said it was her birthday." he said to Inu.

Dr. Masuda looked up at him. "It is. Today is Ryu's birthday, but tomorrow is her mother's anniversary." he said.

The same reaction that Kiba had had seemed to happen all over again with her teammates. But Guy seemed more serious.

"So, she didn't know that you were coming?" he asked. Dr. Masuda shook his head.

"We always try emphasize on her birthday, so we wanted to surprise her by coming to see her. But it seems she wanted to focus on her mother." he said, sounding a little let down by the situation.

"But Doc!!" Inu said, sounding whiney. "This happens every year. She can't go alone to see her Mom. She's always so sad when she goes..."

Even with the hood on, you could see his ears go down in sadness. Akumaru whined, the worry from before coming back. Kiba, he said to his partner. Something's not right. This isn't like Ryu.

Kiba knelt down to pet him, trying to calm him down a little. She probably just wanted to be alone, he said to him. Everyone wants their privacy when it comes to a death. Akumaru whined once more. He couldn't help but worry about her.

"Well, we'll just have to throw her a party when she comes back." said Guy. He smiled. "It'll be the biggst surprise for her and it might make her feel a little better."

"Sounds good to me!" said TenTen. "This gives us more time to find presents."

"Guy!!"

Shizune's voice was heard shouting and they turned to see her running down the road. She stopped in front of him, and looked to Dr. Masuda and Inu.

"Are you Dr. Masuda?" she asked him. He nodded.

She looked around at all of them.

"We have a situation. Lady Tsunade wants to see all of you right now." she said.

Guy was immediately alarmed. "What is it?"

Shizune had already started to run back the way she came.

"I'll tell you along the way! Hurry!!"

The ninjas quickly followed her while Dr. Masuda and Inu tried to keep up the best they could. They seemed pretty speedy though for a college professor and a little kid. Kiba wondered how they could keep up with their ninja speed as Akumaru was traveling in his shirt. Shizune and Guy stayed close together as she told him what was going on. All it took was one sentence.

"Ryu was seen traveling with Sasuke Uchiha."

Lee looked up. "Sasuke? Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded. "The ANBU have been keeping any eye on Ryu for months, and they were tailing her when they met up at a crossroads. They couldn't tell if it was planned or not, but there are two ANBU following her right now. Hopefully Sasuke hasn't noticed them." she said this as they ran across rooftops.

Dr.Masuda had somehow been able to jump up next to Shizune.

"Who's this Sasuke guy? And why's it so important that he met up with Ryu?" he asked.

"Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha and Orichimaru just recently got his claws into him. He's most likely following orders from him to lead Ryu to him." said Guy.

"Orichimaru?!" They heard Inu say from the back. "Doc!! That's not good!! What if -?!"

"Inu!! Don't worry, we'll get to her before anything happens!!"

"Why aren't we leaving now?!" Kiba demanded as they ran. The school and hokage offices loomed in front of them. "We need to get to Ryu before Orochimaru does!!"

"We need more information before we go running off. Don't worry, the ANBU Black Ops. can handle anything that happens until back-up shows up."

"And who's gonna be back-up?"

"You guys of course!! Who else?!"

A light thud would of been heard in the forest if there had been anyone to hear it. A white colored mask with the marks of a sparrow hit the ground along with a black cloaked body. Another hit the ground from a tall sycamore. Kabuto stood near the top of the tree, looking down at the two bodies. He sighed as he picked up the mask near his foot.

"Everything would of gone just fine if you'd told me what I wanted to know," he said to himself. He looked up to the road.

If everything had gone right, Sasuke should be leading the Akihara girl right to where he was going to 'ambush' them. This was going to be so easy it was almost pathetic.

"Why the hell are we just standing here?!" Kiba nearly shouted as he stood in front of Lady Tsunade and her desk. "We need to go now!! We needed to be out of here five minutes ago!!"

Tsunade's mouth twitched angrily. "Watch your mouth, Kiba. I need information from Dr. Masuda before you go."

She looked at the doctor. "Dr. Masuda, you've been Ryu's guardian for how long?"

"Two years."

"And when did Shana Akihara die?"

"Two years ago."

The hokage looked at him levelly. "Now that, my good doctor, is a lie." she said.

Kiba looked at Dr. Masuda, wondering what was going on. Why would he lie about something like that? Inu looked up at him. He tugged on his shirt sleeve.

"Doc? Um... I think we should tell her." he said.

Guy looked at Tsunade. "Tell you what? What's going on?"

Dr. Masuda bit his lip then looked pleadingly at the hokage.

"Please, you mustn't hold it against her! It wasn't her fault!! Ryu needs to be here! She needs to be here, away from him!! Where she's safe!!" he said this all very quickly and desperately.

Tsunade waved her hand. "We know it wasn't her fault; nothing like that is ever anyone's fault. I just need to know what happened to see why Orochimaru wants her back so badly."

"Back?!" Kiba nearly shouted, alarmed at this news. "What do you mean, back?! What the hell is going on here?!"

Tsunade stood up. "Kiba Inuzuka, keep silent or else I will kick you off this mission faster then I can kick you out that window!!"

Kiba, shaking with supressed rage, gritted his teeth. They needed to stop talking and go after Ryu before anything happened!! Dr.Masuda took a breath, holding onto to Inu for what looked like support.

"You're right; Shana didn't die two years ago." he said this, his voice nearly toneless with depression. "She died three years ago. I found Ryu a year later near one of my dig sites, nearly starving to death and badly injured. I hardly recognized her when I saw her. Her legs looked like they had been whipped and her hands were covered in bandages. It took a long time for her to tell me what happened and I'm still not clear on the details."

He paused and Kiba held his breath. What had happened? Ryu had never said anything about any of this. She had always seemed so happy and carefree.

"It seems Orochimaru and some of his men came to their house, killed Shana and kidnapped Ryu. He wanted to try and get the Akihara jutsus out of her and train her while she was still young. But Ryu wouldn't have it. It seems all he did was torture her all that one year and then she escaped somehow.

"I've never pressed her to tell me all about it, but it must have been horrifying. She was only ten..."

The room was silent as they all took it in. Tsunade looked to Guy. She sat back down.

"Alright then... Guy, I am assigning your team to go after Ryu and get her back here as quickly as possible. Kiba, you'll be going with the rest of your team after they leave." she said.

Kiba nodded, not arguing at all. If this was going to work they had to work fast. There was no more time left to argue even he wanted to open his mouth and go with Guy's team. Akumaru growled next to him to hurry up and get downstairs; he smelled Kurenai and the others waiting for him there. He turned on his heel and followed Guy's running team. They raced out the door past Kurenai's team. They followed after, close on their heels.

Shikamaru walked into Lady Tsunade's room, closing the door behind him.

"You called, Lady Fifth?" he asked.

"Shikamaru, I need you to quickly put together a team of genin and other chunin to help teams eight and nine on their mission." she said as she gathered more papers. Damnit, she was getting a headache already.

Shikamaru nodded. "Will do."

He walked out and looked to his right where Temari leaned against the wall. The quadruple-pig-tailed blonde looked levelly at him.

"Well?"

"...So that's why I'm going. What about you?" Ryu asked Sasuke.

"Same reason. My entire family has been dead a long time." he said. She looked sympathetically at him.

"How old were you?"

"Well, aren't you chivalrous."

The voice came from above and the they both stopped and looked up. Kabuto had his arms folded, leaning against the trunk of the tree he was standing in. He straightened up and walked to the middle of the branch.

"Here I was thinking you were just going to smack her over the head and drag her here to me." he said.

"What?" Ryu looked at Sasuke, and finally saw the curse mark on his neck.

She gasped and started to run in the other direction. "N-no! Stay away from me!! Both of you!!"

Kabuto jumped down right in front of her, ready to grab her.

"Sorry, you're not going anywhere, Ryu Akihara." he said with a smile.

She whirled around, Al growling at the both of them as he stood next to her, his fur on end. Sasuke was suddenly there, grabbing her arm with lightning speed. She yelped and immediately tried to pull away, using her wind to add to the force. He grabbed her ponytail and yanked, pulling her face towards his. Red Sharingan eyes bored into hers.

She was frozen. She tried to move, putting all her will into her movements. She couldn't even move her pinky! She whimpered a little as the red eyes continued to hold her. Kabuto came up behind her and hit her behind the head. She collapsed soundlessly and a miniature roar was heard.

Al was suddenly there and he jumped on Kabuto in an instant. With yowls and growls, he started to claw and bite everything he came in contact with. The silver haired boy howled, trying to get the enraged cat off of his face.

"Get-this-blasted-cat-off-me!!" he shouted between orange fur, pulling at his back and tail.

But the cat would not be gotten rid of so easily. He turned on Sasuke as soon as he tried to come close and jumped at him. His sharp claws swiped his cheek, leaving three long lines across is jaw. Sasuke growled, and grabbed the cat by the scruff of his neck. Al yowled in protest, turning to bite his wrist.

With a grunt, the boy tossed the animal into a tree. It hit the trunk with a heavy "Thunk!" and fell to the ground listlessly. The poor cat didn't get up. Kabuto, whiped his clawed open lip. The cat had scratched up his entire face, but smoke had already started to come off his regenerating wounds.

"Damn animal," he mumbled. He went over to Ryu and picked her up. "Come on. We've wasted enough time here."

They took off into the forest, Ryu thrown over Kabuto's shoulder like a sack of grain.

Temari burst into the apartment with such force the whole building shook like an elephant had rammed into it. She cringed as she realised the force she had just used. But this was important!

"Is Gaara here?!" she whispered savagely to Kankuro, who sat on the couch with Raikera.

Both tiger and boy looked at her strangely. "No. Why? And why are you whispering?" he said

She came closer so she could be heard more easily.

"Shikamaru just told me that Ryu was seen with Sasuke Uchiha on the road to the north." she said. Kankuro stood up.

"The brat that Orochimaru took?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yep. So you know he's bound to go after Ryu too."

Kankuro swore under his breath. He looked at her seriously.

"So, what are they doing about it?"

"They've sent three teams so far, one made up of two jonin and six genin and another made up of chunin and more genin." she said. Kankuro looked at her incredulously.

"Just two jonin?!"

"Everyone else is off on other missions!! Just don't tell Gaara or he might go on a rampage. We'll tell him when she's comes back."

Kankuro gave her a levelled look, almost like he would be very angry with her in a few minutes. "You mean if she comes back!!"

"Don't even think that Kankuro! You know how much she means to him!" she whispered more savagely then before. "Just act natural and pretend everything's okay."

In his own room, Gaara picked up his gourd. It didn't matter how low they whispered, he could still hear them in an empty house. He opened his window so they wouln't see him go out.

Orochimaru was going to have to go through him if he thought he was going to get his hands on Ryu.