'We're nearing his mansion…' whispered the larger of the two male shinobi in the Anbu squad three, glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the small rescue party he was leading through the undergrowth. 'Stay low.' he added seeing the little blond kid straining his neck to see the huge house in the distance. Naruto glared at him and crouched down again.

'He can't see me, I'm a master of disguise! Believe it!' he said in a low growl, his young raspy voice cutting through the silence around them and making all the shinobi feel insecure.

'Right,' started the man again, glancing back at the mansion and then back at his team. 'Tiger, you take Kakashi and Sasuke, Ox you take Gai and the girl, and I'll take the blond kid.' he said firmly, pointing at each person in turn and nodding when he finished, satisfied of his decision.

'Right you are chicken.' came the young woman's voice from behind her tiger mask, a grin in her slightly muffled voice as she watched his frustrated reaction.

'This is no time to be messing around, Tiger.' he whispered dangerously, the intense dislike audible in his deep voice. 'And it's a rooster, not a chicken.' The blond woman snickered discreetly as the leader looked back at the house, taking in every detail of it. 'Tiger you take your bunch round to the left of the mansion;' the woman nodded sombrely. 'Ox… take yours round the right… I think there's a window you can get into, if not there's sure to be a skylight in the roof on that side; and I'll go round to the front-'

'I think they've left, actually.' came the second man's voice as he strained his neck discreetly to inspect the house himself. The rest of the team did the same and after a moment both Kakashi and Gai nodded agreement. 'None of the windows are open, and if you look around the side a little you can see where someone has tried to cover up their footsteps.'

'Well seen, Ox.' admitted the leader nodding proudly at his understudy. 'Right, well we'll all go to where I told you to and see what we can find… try and pick up their scent and then we'll make camp-'

'WHAT???' snapped Sasuke furiously, glaring daggers at the man with the rooster mask. 'We can't set up camp yet! We're so close! They can't have left long ago otherwise they'd have taken more care to cover up their tracks! They must have left in a hurry to leave something that obvious!' he finished, panting slightly with anger as he glowered at each Anbu in succession.

'Don't look at me!' said the blond woman, lifting her hands up in defeat. 'I wanted to keep going!'

'Tiger, shut up!' snapped the Anbu leader. There was a pause while he worked out what to do next; the light was going to start fading imminently, but the boy had a point. Keep going through the night, or let the trail go cold? 'Fine.' he conceded after a long pause. 'If the track is obvious we'll follow it. If not, we'll settle down for the night.' Everyone seemed okay with that, so he sent them all on their way and sprang off with the small blond kid in tow.

'Where are all your other favourites?' asked Mika as she ran alongside the tall snake-like man, gazing up at him curiously through her deep brown eyes. He glanced back down at her with a small smile before answering.

'They'll find their own way.' he answered smoothly, staring straight in front of him as they leapt from tree to tree. 'I send them off in a different direction so as to hide our own trail.' Mika bit her bottom lip nervously: Sasuke hadn't listened to her… he was still coming to get her. 'Your mind is still on other things, my Darling?'

'No.' she answered firmly, trying to convince herself as much as him. 'I was simply wondering where you are taking me.' she said glancing up at him with heavy eyelids, trying to seem sensuous and feeling terribly stupid as she did so… but it seemed to work. Orochimaru came to a halt one branch before Mika who stopped in a crouching position, her long skirt falling between her bent knees, her eyes on him.

'Do you fear for your safety?' he asked with a sinisterly romantic smile. He took a step forwards and was on the same branch as the girl who got to her feet, never taking her eyes off his until she was standing straight when she let them drop down his chest before returning them to his.

'Should I?' she asked quietly, trying to ignore Kabuto tapping his foot on the branch below them.

'Never.' Orochimaru smiled sinfully down at her and placed his left hand in the small of her back, pulling her small frame towards him again in that ever familiar smooth movement which never failed to take her by surprise. As expected, her eyelids and breathing became heavy, her knees became weak and that feeling of lust and adoration came over her small body. Their faces were nearing again, lips slightly parted, breathing heavily as they always did when they knew what awaited them-

'Ahem.' came Kabuto's faint voice like a slap in the face with a wet fish. (I can actually imagine that! XD) The sannin closed his eyes, trying to control his disappointed rage before letting the girl go and letting her regain control over her own body. 'We should be getting on, or they might catch up to us.' Orochimaru glowered at him threateningly but said nothing, instead opting to just set off in the direction they had already been heading leaving Mika and Kabuto alone together. She scowled at him.

'That was the whole point.' she snapped poisonously, a look of utter contempt and mild disgust on her once pretty face. 'Retard.' she finished before leaping off after her sensei, leaving the young man bewildered and befuddled.