I've just learned that dancinfanz did a rec for this fic on youtube. Thanks a bunch, I hope you continue to read this, and I dedicate this chapter to you!

Hey, guys, I was wondering if any of you would feel up to doing some fanart for this story? I'd do it myself, but I frankly suck at drawing, so I'm forced to content myself with writing. Pretty please? As repayment, I could write a short story for you…

Now, you're gonna hate me for this chapter, but I didn't want to go straight for the kill. I wanted to make the chase somewhat realistic, so this chapter turned out into a filler, mostly. But I do promise some ass-kicking soon! All good things come to those who wait.

888888888888

Sakura's face was set in stone, which contrasted sharply with the way her emotions bubbled dangerously in her, ready to erupt at any time in a bout of violence. She ground her teeth in anger.

It's been too long since he left, his trace has faded…That fucker!

"Sensei…"

"Don't worry, Tachibana-san, I'm not the one who's gonna get hurt," she snarled. "I'll have to set an example."

Toranosuke scratched the back of his head in uneasiness.

"Yeah…Ano…Be…careful?"

Shaking his head, Tohru just asked what she intended to do first.

"I may not have a trace left, but I have the poison. And I know exactly where I can get information…"

-:-

The scorching wind of the desert forced the guards to shield their faces for a moment. When the burst of wind stopped, they looked back up and wondered when a figure had appeared in the distance.

Then the figure grew steadily closer and they distinguished a black top hat and frail shoulders covered by a completely black lab coat.

"Hey, isn't that the little sensei?" asked one of the guards to his companion.

"I think so."

It was soon confirmed as the newcomer came to a halt in front of them, face grim, her whole body radiating tension.

"I am aware that this is not the best time to come to Suna, since the Kazekage must still be angry at me, but I need to see Elder Chiyo," she said without preamble. "To avoid causing a stir, I will wait for her here. Please relay to her that I will wait however long I have to."

And so she crossed her legs, drew her coat closer around her, and hung her head slightly to ward off the bright sun.

-:-

She waited for a whole day under the blazing sun, then the cold moon, never moving a muscle, before a single figure walked out of the hidden village. She didn't look up when the figure stopped in front of her, neither acknowledging nor ignoring her visitor.

"You have come from far away and have waited for a whole day to see me, child. What is so important that you would wait this patiently without any guarantee that I would allow you to see me?"

For a long time, only the wind broke the silence. Then Sakura answered in a slightly hoarse voice, "Someone dared to go against the one rule I hold dear at my place. He came and poisoned one of my patients when I was away. I want to find that man."

"And what makes you think I can help with that?" asked the wizened old woman.

"I managed to extract the poison. At the very least, you should be able to recognize it and tell me who could have created it."

"Ne, sensei," replied the old woman lightly, "if, as you think, the culprit is a ninja of my village, what makes you think I'll sell him out?"

Sakura's face became more ensconced in shadows, if at all possible.

"That man is a nuke-nin, for one. And if you're able to identify him, I am willing to let you have him once I'm done with him," replied Sakura ominously.

The Elder didn't speak for a long moment, and Sakura knew that she was pondering over her next course of action. As such, she gave her a last nudge.

"I am certain it is not Akasuna no Sasori, for if it had been him, my patient, as well as my people, would be dead by now, so that should limit the number of suspects."

Chiyo nodded firmly, standing up fully, and regarded her with determined eyes.

"Alright, Sakura-sensei. I'll find the name of your poisoner. Please wait here for my return, so that your appearance does not disturb the ninja of this village. If I were you, I'd change into something lighter, though. You should have picked a white lab coat to get here."

"Blood doesn't show against black clothes, but don't worry about me. I will wait however long I have to, Chiyo-baa-sama," agreed Sakura with just as much determination.

A brief smile crossed the Elder's face before she disappeared back inside Suna.

And so Sakura waited for another day.

-:-

"Shirameki Kazuo. That's the name of the man you're looking for."

"Thank you, Chiyo-baa-sama. I owe you one," said Sakura, finally getting up after two days of sitting on top of a rock.

"Just get him, and I'll consider us even."

"Got it."

And just as easily, Sakura disappeared in the wind, heat and sand.

Sorry, Gaara-kun…Even though I'm so close to you right now, I don't think it would have been right for me to see you in this condition…I don't want you to remember me as a murderous person. You deserve better from me.

-:-

Shirameki Kazuo…

It didn't take her long to find him in her Bingo book. And even less to remember everything there was to know about him, from his appearance to his techniques. And then the hunt really started.

She knew the general direction he had left in, thanks to Toranosuke and Tohru, but the trace had been stale when she had left, and so she resorted to screening the various villages and towns in that general direction in hopes of finding a word, a whisper about that man. And it was in the bar of a village that could barely call itself one that she found the lead she was looking for.

-:-

Rain was pouring down in spades when the door to the shabby establishment opened. The heads of the few customers turned to look at the newcomer, expecting to see one of the villagers who had been booted out of his house by his wife. Their bleary, bloodshot eyes bulged as they saw a small, frail girl with a too-big hat stroll in confidently. She marched to the bar, sat down on a stool primly, and put on her most innocent air.

"Ne, nii-tan," she said with a small, embarrassed smile at the bartender, "I'm looking for my nii-chan. He's been gone for sooo long, and now kaa-chan's real sick, and the doc said she'll die soon, and I have to find him before that! Kaa-chan said she wants to see him before she dies, nii-tan! Please, have you seen him?" she asked tearfully, looking at the man with wide henged eyes.

The bartender looked at her, heart melting at the sight of the pitiful young girl, and Sakura smirked mentally.

Gotcha! Time for the final blow!

She took her hat in her dainty little hands and looked at the burly man behind the counter just above the rim of the large hat.

"Onii-chan, he…that hat's the only thing he left me to remember him by…Please, nii-tan…if you've seen him…" she begged tearfully, clutching at his heartstrings.

"Sure, honey, but I don't know if he's come here. What's he look like?" he asked, setting a glass of water down in front of her.

"Well…He's very strong! And he's big! Kinda like you! But his face looks more like the onii-san's back there," she said, pointing at a man across the room, making the bartender follow her gesture with his eyes. "Eto…He's got black eyes, like mine, see? And…and purple hair!"

And then she looked at him expectantly, cute as only a guileless child can be—or a ninja pretending to be one.

"Well…I've seen a guy like that, but…it was at least two weeks ago, I think. He was headed for Niji, if I remember correctly."

"Waah! Thank you so much, nii-tan!" exclaimed Sakura with pink cheeks and a wide smile that she didn't have to fake, for she truly felt elation. The only thing she did refrain from was smirking like a shark.

She jumped off of her stool, put her hat back on her head, and with a last wave, ran out of the bar, heading straight for Niji.

-:-

In Niji, she did the same routine, with the appropriate adaptations to make sure she could not be traced there, and learned that he was heading now for Hisakata. And from there she learned that he had been sighted in Asahi in the upper quarters of the city. It seemed that she was lessening the distance between them significantly. Of course, that may be due to the fact that she was running solely on soldiers pills and not sleepy or resting like any sane person would. She could tell it was taking its toll on her body, but time was of the essence and she had no intention of letting her prey go.

Asahi? He's closer than I thought…Maybe I have a chance to find him there before he leaves.

And so her sadistic smirk became more pronounced.

-:-

The lord of Asahi was a man who liked to be well thought of by his people and, more importantly, by the other lords. And he didn't trust the messengers he could send to ninja villages to remain inconspicuous enough that no one suspected him when a rival of his suddenly were to suddenly die. As such, he much preferred to have a nuke-nin arrested in his city once in a while and get him to do his dirty work for him discreetly. And if the man failed, his deeds could always be blamed on the fact that he was a nuke-nin for a reason.

"I take it your mission was successful?" he asked regally, motioning for his visitor to sit down as he went around his desk and sat on the lavish armchair behind it.

There was a harsh laugh, then Shirameki Kazuo dumped a scroll on the desk, sitting down lazily. He watched, bored, as the lord opened the scroll and scanned it quickly, at the end of which a satisfied grin rested on his face.

"What's in that anyway?" asked Kazuo. "I did as you asked and poisoned the ninja who was carrying it, so his death will look as though it was due to his injuries. No tracing it back to you. Though I wonder why you wanted this scroll."

The lord opened the top drawer of his desk and took out a bag full of clinking coins.

"This should be enough to satiate your curiosity," he answered firmly.

"Fair enough," replied Kazuo, getting to his feet. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, but it's not exactly safe for a man like me to stay in a place for too long. So I'm going to take the money and leave now, if you don't mind."

"Oh, but I do mind," murmured a sweet voice from somewhere to his left.

The men's heads snapped around instantly in frightened surprise, only to see a young woman lounging lazily on the windowsill.

"Who are you?" asked Kazuo, brows furrowing as he tried to see the face of the woman, to no avail. With her head hung the way it was, the wide brim of her hat hid her features.

And then she looked up, revealing a youthful face hid partially by a blindfold and framed by pale pink tresses.

"I'm the owner of the house in which you tried to assassinate the ninja you stole that scroll from. And frankly, I am pissed."

"Impossible. Sakura-sensei is a kid," snarled Kazuo, hand going straight to his thigh, presumably to get a kunai or two.

"Yeah, feel honoured that I aged for the sole purpose of kicking your ass," she replied, lightly stepping down from her windowsill. "By the way, my lord, I don't care about your dirty politics, but once I'm done with this man, I'll be visiting you to get that lovely money, so keep it warm for me."

And then Kazuo hurled a series of kunai at her, which she swiftly blocked by taking out of seemingly nowhere the biggest battleaxe both men had ever seen.

"Lovely baby, huh? I had it made months ago and delivered to my place, to be used in the case someone tried to go against my policy of no killing in my home. It's my baby's first outing. Boy, are you lucky."

And she swung the weapon down as though it weighed nothing more than a feather in a demonstration of insane strength.

88888888888

So tell me. How explicit do you want me to be about what Sakura is going to do with Kazuo? 'Cause I can write some pretty gruesome descriptions, but if that doesn't sit well with you, I can tone it down. No problem, I haven't started writing it yet.

-tan: suffix meaning the same as –chan, but more cute. Mostly used by little girls or one who want to sound cute (winkwink)

Niji: rainbow

Hisakata: sky, moon

Asahi: morning sun