There are three responses following the chapter, the first of them fairly important.

Chapter Six: Collaboration

"Well, it seems that we have a little problem," Sakura mused aloud. "Four of us, only three beds."

"Yes, quite the problem," Ino agreed, shooting her a venomous sideways glance. "Evidently someone is going to have to share."

"There are only six different combinations," Sakura figured quickly, a slight smirk on her face. "I guess we'll just have to decide."

"I think I'd be willing to sacrifice for the team and share, if Sasuke-kun doesn't mind."

"Actually, I think I might be the better choice, because we've worked on the same team before. Who knows what you might do."

"Me? What about you?"

"Um," Hinata interrupted, hands clasped in her sleeves, looking away. "I could sleep on the floor..." She was immediately glared into silence by Ino and Sakura. Before they could continue arguing, however, Sasuke walked past all of them to stand beside the first bed and they immediately pursued.

With unusual speed Sasuke turned, hand clamping onto Sakura's shoulder. Their gazes locked and then Sakura fell forward, flopping onto the bed and laying still. Sasuke idly pushed her into a better sleeping position with one foot, then turned toward the opposite wall just slightly, his hair shadowing his eyes.

"Ino-san... come here."

"Who, me?" she asked, somewhat flustered and almost blushing.

"Who do you think I'm talking to?"

She lost little time in getting to Sasuke, and he turned toward her. In an instant they were face to face, almost touching, so close... and then Ino fell backward, only barely avoiding smacking her head on the floor because Sasuke grabbed the back of her shirt.

The next instant his eyes snapped to Hinata, both of them blazing red, his pupils expanded to dark, three-pointed shuriken. She gasped and shrank back slightly. For a moment neither spoke; Hinata found herself unharmed but unable to move. Slowly Sasuke's eyes faded to their normal black.

Turning away as if nothing at all unusual had happened, he dropped Ino onto the bed next to Sakura as if she weighed nothing. His work done, he slipped across the room to the furthest bed and began removing weapons from his cloak. Fidgeting again, Hinata made her way to the middle bed.

"Th-thank you, Sasuke-sama."

He froze for just a moment, looking away from her. Then he nodded curtly, "Good night."

Groggily Ino tried to make her eyes open. And failed pretty miserably. She must have slept like a rock, but at the moment she felt so incredibly sluggish. What exactly had happened last night? They had arrived, yes, and gotten a room... what after that? Abruptly the beds situation returned to her and she smiled just slightly.

Something unimportant that happened, and then she had been so near Sasuke. At that point everything dissolved into a whirl of color and fractured memory. Had...? Still feeling sleepy, she subconsciously stretched. Her hand brushed someone's skin...

At that moment Sakura screamed, leaping to the side awkwardly. The noise made Ino fly awake, her eyes shooting open. For a long moment the two of them just stared at each other, then both made a gagging noise and turned away.

When both had recovered, they took better stock of their surroundings. Both of the other beds were empty, and Sasuke was sitting in a chair beside the doorway; it was possible there was a smirk on his face but it couldn't be seen. Something vaguely seemed to come back to Ino, something about him, but it faded. It probably wasn't important, then.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!"

He didn't respond with more than the slightest of nods.

"Where's Hinata-chan?" Sakura wondered, noticing their comrade's absence for the first time.

"Bathing," Sasuke told her, flicking a finger in the direction of the bathroom. "As soon as she's done, we're leaving."

"But, aren't you going to get cleaned up too?" Ino tried.

"I did. Two hours ago."

"You mean we won't even be able to wash our hair?" Sakura demanded, shocked at the prospect.

"If you hadn't slept in, you could have. We have a schedule to keep." Before Sasuke could say any more, Hinata emerged from the bathroom. Her uniform was no longer dusty and her hair was damp. She drew back slightly with all eyes upon her, but Sasuke rose to his feet and slid toward the door before any words could be said.

"Arm yourselves," he told them over his shoulder as he locked the door. "We might run into trouble from this point on."

They checked out of the hotel easily and were soon in the streets. Things were fairly crowded, and Sakura realized that it was probably closer to noon than to six. These crowds were by large average people, though they certainly looked strange. All of them were wearing head coverings and primarily white clothing. There didn't seem to be many shinobi among them. Probably just a normal city then.

Weaving toward some unknown location, they quickly vanished within the throngs. Slowly the crowd around them began to thin as they moved to a portion of the town that seemed to be better kept up. A few people were on the streets, all of them dressed in much more stylish robes. Some even caught Sakura's eye. If they had to stay here for a while, she had have to consider some shopping.

Eventually they began walking along the side of one street, Sasuke's eyes flickering across the signs on each building. Just as he began to slow down, chakra fluttered around them. With a woosh of dry air, several shinobi came into being. All of them were cloaked entirely in shapeless desert mottled robes and wore brown masks. They were effectively in a circle around the other shinobi.

"What are you doing here?" the one facing Sasuke demanded. "It is in violation of the treaty of nations to send a military force into the Country of Wind."

"We are none of your concern," Sasuke returned. "This is business relating directly to Hidden Sand, and the laws of the Country of Wind are inapplicable."

"If you do not come with us peacefully, we will have to use force. It is yo-"

"Oh, lay off it." A new voice entered the conversation. All the Sand shinobi's masks whipped around to face the new arrival. Sasuke merely glanced in the direction calmly. "What are you trying to prove, anyway, Synan-kohai? Go do your job."

The person who had intruded upon the conversation was standing at the edge of the street, leaning calmly against the wall with one hand. She was dressed primarily in dark shades of clothing, an efficient yet stylish outfit. Her spiky blond hair was tied behind her. It was immediately obvious from her weaponry that she was a shinobi, but Sakura didn't think she recognized her from anywhere.

"Temari-san." Sasuke inclined his head slightly in respect. Sakura blinked; she hadn't recognized Temari without her fan. For a moment Temari smiled, but then she returned to glowering at the masked shinobi.

"You. Go. I called them here."

"As you wish," Synan responded stiffly. As one, the Hidden Sand Anbu raised one hand to just before their masks and vanished in a shower of sand. Temari glanced after him with a slightly disgusted look, then dismissed him mentally as she glanced back at the Leaf shinobi.

"Ignore him. He talks big, but he's mostly just a frustrated bastard."

"I take it you were my contact, then?" Sasuke asked, glancing down at Temari. She nodded.

"Yeah; we managed to make the right connections to get you here. I'm glad you came so quickly." Her gaze wandered toward the sky vaguely. "Things... aren't exactly as good as they could be."

"Then we have a lot to talk about."

"Right," Temari agreed, jerking open the restaurant door and gesturing them toward it. "Let's go inside before anything else."

The restaurant was a desolate place, filled with empty chairs and tables. Even the staff seemed to tiptoe about in the shadows, and could very well go unnoticed. Because everything was so empty, the one person in the room stood out all the more. He was facing away from them at a table, leaning back on two legs of his chair, head back as if sleeping. Leaning against the nearest chair was a massive black rectangle that Sakura's immediately recognized as Temari's fan.

Hearing them enter, the occupant of the chair glanced at them over one shoulder. He grunted and brought his chair back down on all four legs. The motion was so characteristic that Ino recognized him instantly.

"Shikamaru-kun! What are you doing here?"

"Not a lot," he answered dryly. "It's very depressing."

Old friends crowded around the table, and soon six chairs were pulled around it. Temari took her place beside Shikamaru again, and Sasuke claimed the opposite side of him wordlessly. There was a slight pause, as no one was completely sure what to say.

"What business do Jounin of the Hidden Sand have with Konoha?" Sasuke began the conversation starkly. He received three immediate responses.

"Don't be so serious, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura admonished. "Let us talk a while."

"None," Temari told him brightly.

"A bunch of people who just happen to be in a certain country just happen to have something to discuss with another bunch of people who just happen to be from another country." Shikamaru threw an arm over the back of his chair lazily. "Pure coincidence."

"I see." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem ready to say anything immediately, so Sakura took it as a chance to ask questions of her own.

"How long has it been?" she asked, shaking her head. Years...

"Eleven years," Shikamaru answered easily.

"Do you regret leaving Hidden Leaf?" Ino asked.

"Not really," Shikamaru yawned. "The people in Hidden Sand let me in as a Jounin with out any real work. Deal with the Kage, you know. Why, did you miss me?"

"Not a bit. We're better off without a lazy bum like you."

"Ah. You're a bigger annoyance than I remembered." Putting his hands behind his head, Shikamaru leaned back in his chair again. "How are things doing back home now? I can't really get much news here."

"I'm a Jounin and I lead the Western Anbu Division, at least most of the time," Ino informed him proudly.

Shikamaru just grunted. "I hear that's a real pain."

"I'm a Jounin special agent," Sakura said, shooting a glance at both Ino and Sasuke.

"I-I'm a Chuunin," Hinata offered weakly. There was a nervous silence following her words.

"You already know the military position of the city," Sasuke stated. "Otherwise, very little has changed. Naruto-san is Hokage now. All of our generation has dispersed throughout the world, but we haven't had any casualties yet."

"Yeah, times have changed." Shikamaru smiled slightly, gazing into the light in the ceiling above them. "Not like old times at all, is it? No more cells, no more exams. It's funny how everything that once seemed so constant eventually shifts. People don't change as much, it seems..."

"What about you?" Sakura asked. "What all have you done?"

"Well, like I said, I'm a Jounin now. They run things basically the same way here, missions and the like. I do mostly A Level missions."

"Only if he can't get out of them," Temari interrupted with a slight smirk. "If we let him he'd never do any actual work."

"Lies, slander, libel," Shikamaru protested without any real effort. "But other than that, I've been developing shadow jutsu more suited to the desert, and eating here whenever I can. It's a good place, but only shinobi really go here. Otherwise-" he inclined his head toward Temari.

"So, are the two of you...?" Ino tapped her fingers together.

"You'd better believe it," Temari answered.

"If we're all done being nostalgic," Sasuke spoke up, "perhaps we could focus on the original intent of this meeting?"

"That'll be a real hassle," Shikamaru sighed. "I have to go to the bathroom. Temari... don't kill anyone until I come back." She merely grinned in response. He dropped back to four chair legs and slouched from the room. Sasuke's gaze flickered to him, then to Temari, and then he stood.

"So do I." He vanished a moment later.

"So," Sakura said, the moment they were gone. "What's this all about?"

"I'm not going to start on anything until they get back," Temari said firmly. "There's no need to say this twice. You've already been attacked, right? How much?"

"Right," Ino confirmed. "They've tried three times."

"Four times," Sakura corrected. "Naruto stopped one group before they reached us."

"Whatever."

"By this point, you probably don't have to worry much more," Temari told them. "Give Shikamaru-kun the details when he gets back."

"Excuse me for asking," Ino said, voice not indicating she wanted to be excused in any way, "but what is it like being married to Shikamaru-kun? I mean, I was on his team for several years, and..." she ended her sentence with a shudder.

"It's nice," Temari answered with a smirk. "He isn't as lazy as he seems, and when the thought occurs to him he's a really sensitive guy. Brilliant fighter, too. One of, oh, four people in this country that can give me a decent workout. What about you? You aren't still chasing Sasuke, are you?"

There was an uncomfortable pause, in which Ino and Sakura glanced at each other. Hinata gulped and was about to force herself to answer the question when Temari went on, not worried in the slightest.

"Because it looks to me like he isn't interested in being caught."

"Hey now!" Ino flipped back a lock of hair in an annoyed fashion. "You liked him once too!"

"And I grew up and got over it," Temari told her pointedly. "He seems to have gotten a lot stronger. In all honesty, I doubt I could beat him. Still as cold as he was four years ago, too."

"Well of course," Sakura insisted.

"What about you, Hinata-san?" Temari asked, ignoring Sakura completely.

"Um, uh," Hinata panicked at being directly addressed. Temari really scared her. Not like Ino or Sakura, but because she was so aggressive. To her surprise, the other female shinobi gave her a rather encouraging smile. "I'm re-really not thinking about that right now."

"That's probably for the best," Temari nodded. At that moment Shikamaru and Sasuke returned, sitting down without comment. "Ready to get started?"

"No need to delay the inevitable," Shikamaru grunted. "Go ahead."

"I'll fill you in as quickly as possible," Temari told them. "You've been attacked four times. That's fairly usual. It seems that all over the world Leaf shinobi," her gaze flickered to Sasuke, "have been being attacked. There are always multiple assassins, and they seem capable of reaching anyone, anywhere. They've attacked even academy students without pause. These assassins are very unusual-"

"Unusual in that they seem to come from different schools of fighting?" Sasuke asked. "We've seen shinobi from a variety of nations, samurai, thugs without training, and a few without a particular style."

"I hadn't heard about any samurai," Temari admitted, "but you have exactly the right idea. All this has led us to believe that whoever is behind this is working alone, not allied with any nation or Village. The group seems very widespread and capable of striking anywhere. Furthermore, they have resources not generally accessible by most shinobi." Idly Shikamaru pulled a pen from his pocket and began drawing on his napkin.

"But who are they?" Sakura asked. "What do they want?"

"That we don't know."

"It almost seems like someone outside of shinobi politics entirely," Sasuke pointed out. "They don't seem to have any ties at all."

"But that's what makes this all so difficult," Temari returned. "If that's the case, what draws these people together? There doesn't seem to be anything in common between them, except for their attacks."

"How much do we know about the attacks in general?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We've been collecting information, purely for our own purposes," Temari told him. "But we aren't very connected to the problem. Perhaps Konoha, being more centrally located, would be able to-"

"Here." Sasuke placed a scroll onto the table. "I thought you might want that. This is a compilation of the attacks that we know of."

"Glad to hear it." With a grin, Temari produced a similar scroll. After rolling both out, she began peering over both of them. Hinata noticed that Sasuke was in an unusually good mood, for him, anyway. She couldn't see his mouth, and he probably wasn't smiling, but from his eyes she knew he was enjoying this. That changed what she had thought earlier; some people he did enjoy being with.

"What about you?" Shikamaru glanced up at them. "What forces attacked you?"

"Well..." Ino began listing off on her fingers. "There were two average shinobi and two weak ones the first time. On the way here there was a shinobi... I don't know how strong they were. Sasuke?"

"Average," Sasuke answered flatly. "They also had an ordinary person as an accomplice."

"Anyway, then there was a really strong shinobi - Sasuke beat him! - and three samurai-like guys. After that, a pretty big group of thugs, but I didn't ever count them. I think that's abou- are you even listening to me?"

"Hm?" Shikamaru glanced up from his doodling on his napkin. "Oh, sure; I'm listening."

Ino frowned reprovingly at him, but Sakura had one hand to her chin in thought. "Who'd be capable of this sort of thing, though? And how can they attack such a broad range? It'd be ridiculous to assume that these are not coordinated, but that implies that there is someone to do the coordinating."

Not to be outdone, Ino provided a commentary of her own. "I think we can assume that we're dealing with some sort of crime lord with a great deal of money. Now, I don't know why he thinks he can take down one of the greatest military forces in the world, but evidently he's going to try. So far it seems they've only met with failure, or- Shikamaru-san! What makes your napkin so incredibly interesting?"

"Oh, just doodling," he answered, flipping his pen between his fingers idly. He dropped the napkin on the center of the table; on it was drawn a crude map. "I compiled all the attacks, and estimated their origins and strength, as well as the resources required to assemble them. From that, I tried to determine the point most able to launch that many attacks. It seems to be... well, in the northern hemisphere. Can't expect much; it was on a napkin, and my pen sucks."

"Try this." Temari shuffled through a few scrolls in her pack and produced one. When spread it was a full map of the planet.

"Gah; now I have to do all that again," Shikamaru groaned. As he did so, however, he was producing a pencil and a compass. Temari stood behind him to get a better view of the map.

Eyes narrowing, Sasuke leaned closer to the map, examining Shikamaru's work and the collective lists. "Are you considering that they might have several branches from which to formulate attacks?"

"More or less," Shikamaru nodded, carefully inscribing an arc. "A lot of that part is guesswork. I really doubt we'll get much closer than ten kilometers or so."

"Add Kankuro-kun's attack," Temari spoke over his shoulder. "Two Mist Chuunin, along the 79th parallel."

"Hm. Thanks." Shikamaru continued working. The other three at the table sat in somewhat stunned silence. Sakura could follow everything he did, but was never able to anticipate his next move. She did have a good enough sense of the data to know it seemed to be closing in on one specific point. Ino just tried to look as if she knew what she was doing and Hinata fidgeted in awe.

Abruptly Shikamaru dropped the pencil onto the map and fell back into his chair heavily. "Man..."

"So... a large city in Earth Country called Erafin." Sasuke's finger traced over the map. "I'm guessing our margin of error is relatively low: there is very little around that city."

"Not that one city of that size is easy to search," Temari pointed out. Sasuke nodded absentmindedly, eyes focused on the map.

"Well..." Sakura spoke up when no one else seemed ready to, "what are we going to do now? Make war on the city?"

"Inefficient," Temari dismissed the idea immediately. "They would get word of the attack long before it happened. Far better to make a specific strike."

"If they've really given up on killing us," Ino mused, "then perhaps we could slip inside, determine the problem and get rid of it."

"That's more or less what I was thinking," Shikamaru agreed. "It'll save me a lot of trouble."

"I don't suppose I could persuade you to come with us?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope. I'm not very motivated, and I've done my part. But... good luck, guys."

Sasuke merely nodded; the expression on his face was hidden and his eyes spoke of nothing. The rest of his impromptu team got to their feet as well, sensing the urgency that had descended upon them. All of them left swiftly, pausing at the door of the restaurant.

"Move full speed out of the city," Temari told them. "I'll make sure none of our Anbu bother you." She grinned. "I really enjoyed seeing some of you again."

"Yes. Perhaps if all goes well I should return," Sasuke answered, eyes shadowed. "Farewell."

With that he burst off the ground, hurtling into the sky. For a moment he was suspended in the air, and then he landed on a nearby rooftop and shot forward in a dead sprint. Ino and Sakura both leapt after him at the same time. Hinata waved timidly, and received a cheerful and a lazy wave back, then followed them.

It was only a matter of a minute before they were out of the city, running across the sand once again. By this time she had caught up to them, and the entire group was moving in a fairly tight bunch. Sakura sped up just slightly to be even with Sasuke.

"How are we getting to Earth Country?" she called as well as can be done while running.

"Run."

"But surely we'll stop at times. That's half-way across the entire globe!" Ino pulled up beside Sasuke as well.

"Whenever it is necessary," Sasuke answered darkly.

"But where will we stop?" Ino pressed. "Can we find a city with a decent hotel? I really need a shower."

"We will avoid civilization," Sasuke told her grimly. "There is no need to draw attention to ourselves."

"Aw, but-"

"No."

As they continued on in silence, Hinata winced slightly. So quickly... Sasuke was already completely alone again. While they had been talking to Shikamaru and Temari, he had at least been enjoying the company, but now he seemed so somber and dark. At one time she had thought that he just didn't like people, but she realized she needed to amend that statement: he simply didn't like certain types of people. She hated to see him so unhappy...

Sand behind them, sand before them, the shinobi continued to sprint toward their destination.

You are correct, Sakura and Ino are more shallow than their manga (or anime, I would imagine) counterparts. I didn't intend to do this, but part of the theme of the story is to contrast that which is static and that which is changing; this fundamentally moved the story to minimalize their characters. However, you are not the first to observe one of the results of this, and I similarly feel their lack of depth is one of this piece's greatest weaknesses. Rest assured that I develop them to a certain degree in any case, and I am seriously considering rewriting some later chapters to hopefully improve upon this.

No, Kesshin; those similarities may be interesting, but Nalome is quite distinct from Sasuke. If he was based on anyone, it would be Orochimaru, and an entirely different factor that has yet to fully come into play. But you weren't serious in the first place, so there is little need to tangent.

Heh. Thank you for the "limited feedback."