A.N.

To those of you that are reasinf this please not that there are two stories before this one. They are called Slowly Slipping Awayand Gravity both are found on my profile. The other two stories followed the manga as closely as I possibly could, but this part of the series is completely original and takes place 4 years after the war.

Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters do NOT belong to me. Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga/or anime are completely original.

Reviews are welcomed and encouraged! Thank you!

Once Again

The sound of crunching leaves could be heard in the quiet forest. The moonlight barely illuminated the area, the steady wind swaying the leaves.

"You're not going to get away!" a deep voice hissed.

Gritting her teeth the girl picked up the pace, running faster through the forest, avoiding obstacles as they came. Her lungs burned, and her legs begged for her to stop running. Out of nowhere she felt something sharp graze her cheek. Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she tripped on a rotting branch. Her face met the hard ground, fingers digging into the moist soil as she pushed herself up.

"I got you." the voice sang, landing above her shoving her down into the ground kunai at her throat. "Time to die."

With a sharp gasp, Sayuri opened her eyes. Nothing but a blank ceiling greeted her, the sunlight barely gracing the room. She shifted her eyes to the open window, panting as she tried to steady her breathing. Something soft brushed her hand, making her jump out of bed, scream lodged in her throat as she scooted up against the wall. The blue blankets slipped off revealing a worn out teddy bear.

Red and blue eyes widened as a wave of relief flooded her. Leaning her head back against the tan wall, she slid down to the ground, shoulders shaking as she did so. Tears rolled down from her cheeks to her neck as she held herself in the empty room.

XXX

Bright green eyes scrutinized the picture frame before them. Thin long fingers slid down the frame taking note of every bump and edge. "Hmm...I'll take this one!" a bubbly voice announced, as the owner of the green eyes turned to the side with a grin to the person on her left. "Don't you think it's cute, Sasuke?"

Beside her, the dark haired ninja glanced at the picture for all of a second. "Hn." he looked away as the rosette took out her wallet and paid the owner of the little shop. Black eyes roamed the town. It looked nothing like it did when he was younger, then again Konoha had been nearly obliterated by Pain, 4 years ago. However there were more buildings and sky scrapers around the town since the last time he visited the village a year ago. Sasuke frowned as he recalled the visit. He was not about to go there right now.

"Isn't it great!" Sakura spoke interrupting his thoughts. "Now we'll have a frame to put our picture in!" she said, linking his arm with hers as she led the way to where ever the girl wanted to drag him to. "It's so great that you're back. I've really missed you." she blushed, green eyes staring at his dark ones.

"Yeah." Sasuke said and looked away earning a small frown from the girl who quickly brushed it off.

"Come on! We haven't gone on an actual date since you first asked me out!" Sakura pulled his arm smiling up at the Uchiha. "You left two months after that too, so I'm going to take advantage of this time." She continued to lead him past all the shops, as they wandered further into the village.

XXX

"You look like shit…again." Hajime deadpanned as he looked down at his female teammate.

"Gee, thanks." Sayuri muttered, pushing past him, moving closer to Diachi. "I wonder how, Kira deals with you." She said referring to the pretty blonde waitress at their tea shop.

"Because she's a beautiful, caring, and a sweet woman, unlike you!" Hajime hissed but got no reaction from the brunette.

Diachi watched his female teammate carefully and frowned. Hajime was right, she did look terrible, but there was really nothing her could do to help unless she said something and asking her would lead them nowhere. He need to wait it out until she decided to speak. In the meantime he figured that he'd keep an eye on her.

"I'm hungry." Sayuri and Hajime turned to Diachi both with raised eyebrows. "Let's go get some Ichiraku's and just...hang out." the tall brunette suggested with a roll of his shoulders.

Hajime crossed his arms and kept his silvery, blue eyes on his friend. "Fine..." he agreed after a minute, catching how Diachi glanced at Sayuri every now and again. "We'll hang out, we've been training every day of the week so far, taking a day off shouldn't be bad."

The two men turned and began heading back to the village and away from the training grounds, pausing when they noticed that Sayuri was not following them. The turned back to find their teammate staring absentmindedly at the trees.

"Hey, brat!" Hajime called out. "Didn't you hears us? Let's go!"

Sayuri looked up and glared. "I heard you already!" she snapped and rushed over to their side.

Beside her Diachi placed his hands behind his head, leaning back slightly. "The village is getting so much bigger..." The tall brunette sighed, eyes wondering around as the got closer to the center.

Hajime nodded in agreement. "Yeah! It's great!" he declared, hand in his pockets.

In between the two taller men, Sayuri looked around her. It was true, the village was changing, more people were coming in, their trades had increased, more jobs had been created. Sayuri smiled, mismatched red and blue eyes turning to the bright blue sky. We aren't at war anymore. We're all safe.. She chanted in her head.

"Hey!" a gruff enthusiastic voice caught their attention as the trio reached Ichiraku. They turned simultaneously and watched a tall blonde break away from a hoard of girls to make his way to them.

"Wow..." Diachi whistled. "He's got quite a fan base." Sayuri giggled, and Diachi turned to her in surprise. It had been a while since he had heard her laugh.

"The idiot probably doesn't even know that those girls are fawning over him." she said after her laughter subsided.

"Sayuri, Diachi, Hajime!" The blonde exclaimed, happily waving a hand over his head as he ran to them. "How are you! I haven't seen you around much."

"Well that sort of thing happens, when you put Moriyo-sensei in charge of ANBU." Hajime said, scratching his silver head with a grimace.

"Oh right!" the blonde tapped his chin with a bandaged finger. "She's the new head...Kakashi-sensei didn't waste much time assigning as leader, huh."

"Actually," Diachi began. "The Hokage doesn't choose the head of ANBU. She beat all of us in the selection process." He finished, wincing at the memory of it. He liked having full use of both of his arms, thank you very much.

Naruto's brow furrowed. "You guys always had a weird way of doing things."

"Not really, it's just tradition, Naruto." Sayuri shrugged.

"You would know!" Hajime elbowed her, grinning down at Sayuri. "You're family is the one that came up with it." Sayuri pouted and looked away.

The blonde looked down at her, eyebrow raised as he gave her a once over. "Hey, Sayuri are you-"

"Naruto! Sayuri!" the two ninja stiffened and turned to see Sakura making her way towards them, Sasuke in tow.

"Ah!" Naruto faced the medic with a stiff smile. Beside him, Sayuri bit her lip as the other two approached.

Bright blue eyes seemed to cloud over as they focused on the rosette's arm linked to his best friends. Noticing the change in demeanor, Sayuri placed a reassuring hand on his back. He looked down and saw her give him a small smile. Taking a deep breath he grinned back at the two, pretending everything was fine.

"Oh, hey Diachi, Hajime!" Sakura greeted the two gentlemen and turned her attention back to the blonde and the female brunette. "Look who came back for a few days!" she announced happily while Sasuke stood beside her.

"Sasuke!" Naruto grinned at his friend who nodded to him in acknowledgment. "You've been gone for so long, bastard! When did you get here?"

"Two days ago." Sasuke replied, casting Sayuri a glance. She on the other hand looked at anything but him. "I had something to take care off, today is my off day."

Sayuri noticed Sakura's expectant green eyes on her and put on a smile as well. "It's nice to have you back, Sasuke."

His black orbs shifted to the woman before him, feeling a shiver go down his spine when she said his name. It had been a year since he had last seen her and she looked no better. He gave her a quick once over and noticed that her eyes were rimmed a light pink, she looked smaller than before, fingers nervously played with the hem of her top.

Maybe going out for ramen was not a good idea...Diachi grimaced, watching his female teammate squirm in place.

"Are you guys going to get ramen?" Naruto finally broke the silence, bright blue eyes shifting from his teammates to Sayuri's group.

"Uh...well..." Hajime laughed picking up on both Sayuri's distress and Diachi's regret. "It looks kinda full we should eat somewhere else." he quickly lied through his teeth.

"What?" Sakura turned her emerald green eyes to restaurant and frowned. "It's not full." Hajime tensed. "There's more than enough room for all of us." she chirped turning back to Sayuri and the boys. "Come on, we should all eat together, it'll be fun we haven't talked in a while!"

"Uh..." Diachi looked to the side, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Actually-"

"Lady Sayuri!" the six ninja turned to see an ANBU land in the middle. "Lady Sayuri, it's good that I found you, Lord Hokage needs for you in his office as soon as possible." Sayuri never felt more relieved in her life. The ANBU then turned to the Uchiha. "Lord Hokage also requests your presence, Sasuke Uchiha." And with that final sentence, Sayuri went right back to square one.

"Huh!?" Sakura exclaimed, grip tightening on Sasuke's arm. "Why him!? He just got here!"

"I am sorry but I was not told why they were needed, I was just told to fetch them." The ANBU bowed apologetically before taking his leave.

"Well then...I guess I should...go." Sayuri mumbled and waved the group goodbye, although with not much effort on her part.

Sasuke pulled away from Sakura, who looked up at him with pleading eyes. He sighed and nodded to the men in the group. "We'll talk tonight." At that Sakura brightened up considerably and nodded her head eagerly.

"Bye Sasuke! See you soon!" She called out as he followed his ex-teammate, the tall man not missing the tightening of Naruto's fists.

XXX

He read, and re-read the scroll in his hands. Kakashi Hatake sighed and asked Moriyo if Sayuri and Sasuke had arrived, but he was replied with an exasperated 'no.' The woman in the room had never seen the silver haired Hokage so anxious before and couldn't help but wonder if whatever was on the scroll that Sasuke Uchiha had given him two days ago, when he arrived, had anything to do with his jitters. He even asked her to send an ANBU out to get them like an errand boy.

There was a knock on the door that snapped both of them out of their thoughts. Moriyo quickly made her way to the door. She turned the nob and pulled the door open, hastily ushering the two ninja inside. Moving to stand beside Kakashi, she turned to the silver haired man waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Sasuke, is what you wrote down on these scrolls accurate?" at the annoyed look he got from the twenty one year old, Kakashi quickly continued. "I mean, that are you absolutely sure about these incidents."

Taking a deep breath so as to not pull the man out of his chair, Sasuke closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I had been staying at that village for a while now. And the reports of the missing women, and murders are true."

"Murders?" This was the first time since the long awkward walk to the Hokage tower, that Sayuri spoke to Sasuke. "People are being murdered?"

"Yes." he answered softly.

Moriyo's bright orange eyes focused on Sayuri. Her appearance had definitely not improved, she looked worse than before. I've been swamped with work with the ANBU, so I haven't had the chance to keep up with her but she definitely does not look well.

"I don't..." Sayuri turned to Kakashi with a questioning look. "Why am I here? This sounds like an issue that you should be discussing with Sasuke, so why am I here?"

"The reason why you're here, is because Sasuke believes Kenji is involved in this." Kakashi replied.

Well that was definitely news for Moriyo. The woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise, turning to Kakashi she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you think this is information you should have disclosed to me sooner!?" asked the ANBU Head.

"I'm sorry, but I need these two here, to confirm." Kakashi said before presenting

"Confirm?" Moriyo asked. "Confirm, what?"

Kakashi picked up some papers from his drawer, flipping them over for them to see. Showing them that the papers were, in fact, pictures. "Sasuke is this similar to the way that you found the murdered girls."

Sasuke stepped closer, eyes analyzing every detail. "Yes."

Kakashi turned to Sayuri. "Look at these and tell me if any of them look familiar to you."

Frowning Sayuri took the pictures from her teachers hands. She looked to Moriyo who shrugged and gestured for her to see the pictures. Hesitant, the auburn haired young woman turned her red and blue eyes to the pictures in her hands. She gulped, taking a sharp breath as she looked from one picture to the next. Her hands became clammy, she felt the room spinning.

"Sayuri?" Moriyo stepped closer to the young woman, placing a hand on her shoulder. The dark haired ANBU took the pictures from her hands and took a look for herself. She turned to Kakashi angry. "What the hell is this!?" she slammed the photos down on the desk. When the silver haired jounin didn't respond, Moriyo became more angry. "Kakashi..." she warned.

"Well?" He asked Sayuri, ignoring the seething ANBU.

"They...they look like Saito's...like when I found Saito's body." Sayuri responded. "You think Kenji is behind all this?"

"Well, he did admit to Moriyo that he had killed Saito before he disappeared." Kakashi picked the photos up, fixing them to make them even. "These photos are from another village, about a day from the one you were in, Sasuke. A team brought them to me, reporting the same scenarios. Women going missing, then finding their bodies, faceless."

Sayuri paled. If this really was Kenji, and he was the one kidnapping and killing these women...What the hell is he doing!?

"These are also not the only reports. I've had other ninja report back with the same findings, it wasn't until recently that I asked for pictures to be taken to use as comparison. We've tracked these incidents in the outskirts of the Fire Nation near the borders of the Hidden Rain to Hidden Water Fall..." Kakashi pulled out a map and laid it out on his desk. There were 7 red 'X' marks on it. "They started by Hidden Rain and make a linear pattern." He traced a finger from one 'X' to the next. "All of these villages are within a day or two from each other. We think the next strike is here." He tapped at a circled 'X' on the map.

"This one is by Hidden Grass territory." Moriyo whispered, leaning forward to look at it. "You think that he'll strike there?"

"Yes." Kakashi nodded. "Even if it's not Kenji, we need to find out who's doing this and stop it." He laced his fingers together and looked at the two young ninja across from him. "Now, the reason why you're here, Moriyo is because I need Sayuri to head out there."

Moriyo frowned. "Sayuri? Why her?" She asked, feeling protective over the girl. "If Kenji is out there, doing all this do you really think it's wise to send Sayuri there. He was working with Obito when he had been under Madara's influence, don't you think that's putting her in unnecessary danger!?"

"I realize that, but Sayuri will be able to tell whether the attacker really is Kenji or not. For all we know this could be a copy cat." Kakashi replied, turning to the auburn haired teen. "Sayuri, you were with him for a couple of years, you know his chakra, correct?"

Sayuri gave him a short nod. "Like the back of my hand…unfortunately." she replied, mumbling the last part to herself.

"Good, then you will be able to better track him and detect him inside the small village. I know it's a lot to ask for, but I want whoever is doing this stopped."

"Yes, sir." Sayuri nodded.

"And you, Sasuke..." hearing his name the Uchiha turned to his former teacher. "I know this is a lot to ask, with you just having arrived two days ago and all, but I need you go with her to help." Sayuri bit her lip, eyes wide and on the ground. Beside her Sasuke stiffened. "It'll be an undercover mission. Alone, Sayuri would draw too much attention to herself, with you it'd be easier to come up with a story. Of course the two of you would have to change your appearances and names, but I think I can trust the two of you to do this quickly and quietly."

Sasuke cast a side glance at the 19 year old before answering. "Hn..."

"Well, Moriyo?" Kakashi started. "Do you agree?"

"Do I agree..." Moriyo muttered. "Now, he asks if I agree..." she grumbled crossing her arms under her chest. She watched Sayuri for a moment and sighed. "It's our best option, I suppose." she then turned to Sasuke who looked at her indifferent as usual. "Take good care of her."

"OK, then." Kakashi leaned back in his chair watching the two ninja, with careful eyes. "Sasuke Uchiha and Sayuri Marihasha..." While Sayuri automatically stood at attention, Sasuke shifted his weight to his right leg, leaning towards the girl. Somethings never change...Kakashi thought with a small smile. No matter how hard you try to go against it. "You two will be going on a mission to Hidden Grass, find out who's doing all these murders and stop them."

"Sir!" Sayuri replied, Sasuke nodded.

"Your mission starts tomorrow. You're dismissed." And with that the two turned around and walked out the door.

Once it clicked closed, Moriyo turned to Kakashi. "Do you really think it'll be OK to send them out together?"

Kakashi nodded. "You didn't see them when they were children. The two work well together."

"But, that's the thing, Kakashi..." Moriyo sighed, brushing s stray hair behind her ear. "They're not kids anymore."

"I know."

XXX

Standing outside the tower feeling the cool night air the two stood side by side.

"Right, well...then we should go home then." Sayuri said stiffly.

Sasuke looked to the side. "I need to meet up with Sakura."

"Oh." Sayuri began to pull at the sleeve of her sweater. "Well, have a good night, Sasuke and we'll leave at 7 sharp."

He nodded and he was soon left to stand alone by the tower. Watching as Sayuri quickly leapt from one building to the next, putting distance between them as fast as she possibly could.

A.N.

Please don't kill me! I know it's not what you all expected but everything has its answer and it will get better, I promise! If you're still willing to stick with me I hope you enjoy this chapter and future ones as well!

Oh as for ages, this takes place 4 years after the war, that means that the rookie 9 are all 21 since the war ended when they turned 17. Diachi, Hajime, Tenten and Lee are 22 and Sayuri is 19 as shes 2 years younger than the rookie 9 and 3 years younger than the other 4 ninja.

Please review and let me know how I did!

Thank you and until next time!