Gaara,

Thank you for everything you've been doing in the effort to find Ino. I mean it. I'm so stressed out with this, and our efforts to find her have been thwarted enough that I actually sent her ex-boyfriend out to get her. They're still searching, though. It rained along the way and they lost the trail.

It seems only yesterday that the biggest worry I had was whether or not my girlfriend was angry with me. Now, it's like everything has come crashing down around my ears, and the worst thing is that it's all my fault.

I know, I know, 'he had us all fooled', and 'I couldn't have anticipated him taking her'. I've heard it all, from you, from Kakashi, from everyone. It doesn't change the facts, though, does it?

-Naruto

PS: -I'm- -I don't- -It's- ... I guess I haven't got anything cheerful to say either, huh?

Gaara stared down at the paper before him, lips pressed together as he finished reading Naruto's response. He sighed, wishing there was more he could do. He was worried too, of course, and though he wanted to be out there searching, he had bigger responsibilities than that.

And yet, he dreamed every night of her wan smile as she walked away from the Suna gates, never guessing what was in store for her.

He wondered if she was scared. If she was even alive, and if so, what that monster had been doing to her. All sorts of scenarios came to mind, none of which he really wanted to contemplate. It was so damn frustrating!

"Gaara?"

His sister's voice, faintly scared, jerked him out of his thoughts. He was startled to realize his sand had enveloped the room, casting them both into shadow. "I... Sorry," he muttered, forcing the sand back into its gourd formation. "What is it?"

Temari relaxed and approached. "We got a message from Kami and Kumo. They found Uchiha's hideout and he was badly injured. He didn't have Ino, and he fled alone, but they managed to learn that someone rescued her from him, though he wouldn't say who."

Gaara frowned at the news. On the one hand, it was a relief to hear Sasuke didn't have the kunoichi. On the other, they now had no leads. "Notify Naruto immediately," he demanded. "And get me Kankuro."

His sister gave him a quick smile, and departed. Gaara reached for a piece of paper to respond to his friend.

xXx

Kisame went out for food, leaving Ino alone in his hut with nothing to do but recover, and she was bored out of her skull.

She spent a while trying to fashion a shirt out of one of the spare blankets, with no success due to lack of thread or needles. So she rifled through Kisame's bag to discover two things- first of all that he had no spare change of clothes, which was gross. And secondly, he used a girly hairbrush, and kept it immaculately clean. She took the brush out of his bag and ran it through her hair, thanking every god she could name off the top of her head for her durable hair tie. After she'd braided her hair, she wasted ten minutes picking a few blonde strands out of the brush, only to picture Kisame's face upon finding she'd used it, and put them back. She tossed the pink thing back into his bag and returned to her bedroll.

A few minutes later, Kisame returned with a couple rabbits and immediately eyed his bag, then her. She blinked innocently at him, and he brought the skinned creatures over to the grill set on the fire.

Two minutes passed before she got impatient. Three until she said something. "Well?"

He didn't so much as pause, laying the last few strips of meat on the grill before finally looking at her. "Well, what?"

She glared at him. "I know you know I messed with your bag."

"You brushed your hair. I'm not an idiot," he replied, turning back to the rabbit meat.

"Wha- how do you-?!"

"It's braided. Damn, you're slow."

She blinked. Oh yeah. "And you're a jerk."

"I've learned to live with it," he replied blandly. He lapsed into silence for a few more minutes as he tended to the food, before abruptly speaking again. "Are you up to travel? We need to get you back to Konoha."

She poked around the worst of her injuries carefully before nodding. "Yeah. I can travel. You?"

Kisame snorted. "Always."

They ate their breakfast and were on the road by noon, heading to the closest village for supplies. Under henges, the pair bought fresh clothes and dried travel food, acting like any traveling couple. It helped that the village was a tourist spot.

They'd just passed the border of Rain Country when night fell, but traveled on a couple more hours before taking refuge in trees for the night. Ino slept a bit like the dead until her watch around two in the morning.

While Kisame slept, she wondered what she was going to tell everyone back home. Obviously, she could give a full report to Naruto, but what about everyone else? The likelihood of her being able to fend Sasuke off on her own was low, and it had to be believable. Perhaps she could say she escaped when let his guard down and fell asleep?

What would she say to Sakura? What could she say?

…

She honestly had no idea.

Morning dawned in beautiful shades of reds and golds, and she woke Kisame not long after. They ate breakfast in utter silence, then moved on.

Just past three in the afternoon, Kisame suddenly motioned for her to stop, and they both halted. Three figures suddenly rattled out of the trees around them, jerky and frankly terrifying. She could sense several more around them.

"We're surrounded," Kisame muttered in disgust.

She swallowed, stepping up beside him. "Puppeteers," she told him just as quietly, then raised her voice. "I'm a nin from Konoha, traveling home. Let us pass."

"Why should we?" a large, grotesque looking scarecrow demanded, teeth clacking with the words.

She resisted the urge to bite her lip. "Because unless you're nukenin - which I doubt, since there are quite a few of you - then we aren't your enemies. Quite the opposite, actually."

Several puppets laughed. It was very creepy. "What is your name, ninja of Konohagakure?" the scarecrow asked.

Ino swallowed, slanting a glance at Kisame, who was eying the puppets distrustfully. "Yamanaka Ino."

"Ahaaa. The missing child. Clever of you to escape the crazed Uchiha, though not single handed, I see. The Suna troupe master told us you may come through." She frowned at the puppet, but he went on. "We are under orders to detain and question your companion, but you are of course welcome to continue your journey."

Ino clenched her fists. "Kami didn't mention you lot were governed by a single leader," she baited.

He bit. "... We are not. You are acquainted with the troupe?"

She lifted her chin. "A few of them. Karasu, Kami, Saru, though he's a jerk."

Someone snorted in the trees directly above them, and a young boy dropped into sight. Two of the puppets collapsed, including the scarecrow. "He is, but he's honorable. He was my teacher, once." He smiled at her, dark grey eyes taking her in curiously. "You can vouch for this one, then?" He nodded toward the quiet nukenin.

She glanced at her companion and nodded. "He saved my life."

At some nonverbal cue, the puppets sank into the shadows of the forest, and the boy laughed. "I am Raiki. About half a day's travel east, Kami-san's search party will have reached the village of San Do. They will be there till morning. You can catch up to them there."

Relief swept over her. "Really?" He nodded. "Thank you!"

Raiki smiled at her. "Good luck." With that, he and his puppets also disappeared into the trees.

Kisame and Ino waited a beat to be sure they were gone before the former snorted. "For half a second, I actually thought we'd have to fight our way out of that."

She bit her lip. "Be glad we didn't. I'm not sure we'd have succeeded."

He had nothing to say to that.

They traveled through the night, eventually reaching their destination with no shortage of relief. Ino desperately wanted a shower, with soap, and hot water, and soft cotton robes...

However, Kisame insisted she wait outside town, just when her hopes were high. She did not want to, and told him so. The nukenin was unimpressed with her childish complaints, offering to tie her up instead, and so with much grumbling, she reluctantly complied. The blonde watched him disappear towards town from her place hidden in a tree, scowling.

This whole situation was bizarre. Beyond so, even, bordering on nightmarishly unbelievable. Who would have believed her ten years ago? Saying she'd be trapped in the wilderness, waiting for someone she'd once called 'enemy' to confirm the existence of her friends.

If she could really call Kami a friend. She barely knew anything about the boy, short of his disturbing similarities to Sai.

I wonder if he was even worried about me, she mused, then blinked and quickly shook off the thoughts. Get ahold of your libido, woman! What is wrong with you?! She'd always been a little boy crazy, but even this was pushing it. Sai made her want to contemplate androcide, and Kami wasn't a whole lot better. Though at least he doesn't paint naked portraits of strange women.

… No, he probably made puppets in their likeness.

"Okay, that's it, I'm done," she declared softly to herself, and created a henge. She really hated waiting.

xXx

Kisame simply sauntered into the town, chakra leashed tight and henge thorough. A part of him missed the good old days, when he and Itachi would walk into a village, knowing they had nothing to fear while they were together. No one could have slipped passed them, pressed a blade through their flesh, poisoned them, or anything of the like. They were invincible.

Now? Now he had to protect an immature kunoichi who didn't even truly understand just what was at stake here. She would throw away her life without a second's hesitation, and it worried him a bit.

The girl trusted far too easily.

Suppressing a sigh, he bought a pear and commented to the woman selling them that he'd seen nin 'at the last village'. She snorted and nodded, the picture of exasperated sympathy, and informed him that a small group of them were staying at a local inn too.

They laughed and parted ways, and Kisame went to the inn. He booked a room for one, timing his ascent to the second floor to coincide with a young nin that entered the building behind him.

The boy, blue hair and eyes, nearly took out his throat as soon as there were no witnesses. "Why are you asking about us?" he asked without inflection after Kisame deflected the strike.

The shark man eyed the youth five feet away from him, frowning. "You're not what I was expecting."

One brow arched. "Which was?"

"Eh… someone competent? She sure made you sound like a damned powerful shinobi," Kisame remarked, leaning back against the wall.

"She?" the boy asked softly, eyes narrowing.

Kisame smirked.

xXx

Ino walked into the village, nibbling her bottom lip. She waved and smiled at a couple vendors starting to pack up their stalls for the night. When one eyed her a bit too long, she walked into a shop nearby. It turned out to be an apothecary, so she took the time to browse the shelves.

"Can I help you with an illness?" a voice asked behind her and Ino turned to blink at the woman. She was dainty and pale, hair and skin, with vibrant purple eyes staring right at Ino.

Ino returned her curious smile. "No, I am just browsing, thank you."

The woman bowed. "Of course."

The bell over the door jangled, and she turned as Ino lifted her eyes. A medium height young man that was not at all unfamiliar to Ino walked in. "Keitoya!" he said loudly in greeting to the shop keeper. "Jashin bless ya."

Ino turned back to the shelf of herbs, heart pounding in her chest. I thought he was buried! she thought frantically, reaching up to pick up a vial of dried leaves (feverfew, great for headaches and fever).

"Blessings to you as well, Houshi-sama," the woman replied quietly. "Join me for tea and prayer?"

Ino put it back and picked up some henbane, quietly uncorking it while the two were distracted with each other.

"Don't got the fucking time, unfortunately. I'm lookin' for a medic that's said to be here in town. Konoha nin. She might have some information on… who's that?"

There was a pause and Ino palmed the open vial and reached for an innocent herb to cure coughs. She looked up as if only just realizing they were looking at her and blinked when she met Hidan's gaze. "How much for this?" she asked innocently and lifted the medicinal herb.

The shopkeeper smiled at her. "Twenty ryou."

They both watched Ino nod and scan the shelves for the feverfew before grabbing it. "I'd like to purchase the two."

The woman bowed. "Of course."

"And the one in your hand?" Hidan sneered as she drew even with him to follow Keitoya to the register.

Ino dropped a couple bills on the counter and smiled at him, glancing out the front window. A blond guy in an Akatsuki cloak was waiting on the street. "Oh, this one's for you," she replied sweetly, and threw it in his eyes.

Hidan cried out in pain and - weirdly - ecstasy as he doubled over, and Ino took the herbs and dashed for the front. The shopkeeper pounced her from behind just she completed the seals for her family jutsu.

The blond jerked, blinking down at her/Ino's body in the shop doorway, then took off through the streets for her/his companion. "KISAME!" s/he cried out, already feeling the Akatsuki fighting her control.

A familiar Suna puppeteer and her henged partner dashed out of an inn as s/he was surrounded. The control was nearly gone, and he was already reaching for his clay bags. "Apothecary," s/he choked out to the nin surrounding her, and he ruthlessly shoved her out of his head.

xXx

"Where you from, kid? Suna?"

A pale blue brow arched. "Obviously."

"Why're you in a little town like this?"

The boy wasn't quite frowning at him, per se, but it was a near thing. "Where is Ino-san?"

Kisame opened his mouth to ask who that was, but a cry outside stopped him. He and the Suna nin took off for the doors at the same time, crashing through them to watch Deidara get surrounded by other Suna nin. The bomber was jerking and shaky, teeth gritted as he fought an inner battle, oblivious to the one about to begin. He met Kisame's gaze and managed to gasp, "Apothecary!" before collapsing into a heap.

"What?" Kisame asked, blinking.

"Ino-san!" the Suna man said, and started running down the street, leaving Deidara to his team.

Kisame didn't waste time wondering, and followed. Besides, his gut already knew the dumb woman had probably gotten herself into trouble again.

xXx

Ino crashed back into her body violently. Someone was kneeling half on her back, tying her hands as another cursed colorfully some distance away. Ino pretended to still be out as the shopkeeper stood. "Houshi-sama, are you well?" Keitoya asked in concern. "Oh, your eyes!"

"No shit, my eyes!" he bitched angrily. "Fuck, I can't see jack shit… Just blurs."

"It's fine, I can cure it," the woman soothed gently. There was a beat of quiet, and the brushing of cloth. "What will we do with her?"

"Fuckin' sacrifice the bitch!" he snarled, footsteps coming closer to the blonde unsteadily. She knew suddenly that her henge had vanished. "Fuck, it's the medic."

He grabbed her bound hands and heaved her up, dragging the kunoichi's limp form a couple steps before stopping. "Where's Dei? Dei?!"

Ino couldn't help soft laughter at that, and he shook her hard and shoved her face against the window. Despite this, she grinned, craning her neck to look back into very red eyes. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. "The Cloud Nin's probably in the hands of Suna now," she said smugly.

He sneered. "Means they're comin' to hang with me! Keitoya, we don't gotta lot of time. Take her and head to Ame. Tell any border patrol that I sent you to put her in their custody."

The blonde was shoved to the side, stumbling before being caught by soft hands. "And you?" the shopkeeper asked softly.

"Jashin calls for blood."

"Of course, Houshi-sama." The woman helped Ino stand properly and looked into her eyes, smoothing platinum hair from her face. "Do not fret, young lady. You will not come to harm," she said with a kind smile. She kissed Ino on the lips, and the blonde felt her face turn to ice.

Ice and shadow.

xXx

"He probably has a partner," Kisame said to the Suna nin as he caught up to him. "Sasori's dead, so's Kakuzu. It's likely Hidan."

They skidded to a stop in front of a tiny shop with a green roof and red brick walls. A woman stood out in front with Ino in her arms, slightly behind Hidan. She was just as pale as the zealot, but didn't appear to possess the same priorities. She inclined her head to Hidan and turned toward the village entrance.

Hidan grinned, swinging his scythe off his back. "Suna nin come to worship? I accept your patronage!" he said cheerfully.

Kisame grinned and grabbed the boy's shoulder when he reached for the bandages on his left wrist. "Get Yamanaka. I'll take care of this fucktard."

The boy hesitated before nodding. "Thank you, Nin-san," he said, and darted past Hidan's attempted attack in pursuit.

When the albino would have gone after the Suna nin, Kisame scoffed. "What, Hidan? Getting sloppy again? You really think you should turn your back on me?" He began flashing through hand signs, loathe to bring out Samehada just yet.

Hidan looked back at him and narrowed his eyes, just as the water jutsu was completed, drawing liquid from the river just beyond the city walls. His eyes widened, and he was swallowed by a roaring dragon.

xXx

Kami darted through the gates, hearing the crash of combat behind him. Just ahead, the woman had stopped to wait for him, leaving Ino propped up against a tree. She smiled when he skidded to a stop before her. "Hello. I am Keitoya. Pleased to meet you, Suna nin-san."

His gaze flicked past her, to the unconscious blonde. "Is she in danger?"

"No, as it happens, Hidan-sama wished for her to remain alive for the time being," the woman replied calmly. "He said no such thing about you."

Kami felt a flare of chakra a fraction of a second before a wall of pure energy rose up around them, blocking them off from the rest of the world. He flipped back, barely avoiding the whirl of razor-sharp wire that jerked up out of the soil. If he hadn't dodged, he'd be neatly bisected right now.

Frowning, he ripped away the bandages on his right arm, slapping the ink-darkened skin to flood the seals there with chakra. Three puppets materialized in whirls of sand kept together by sapphire chakra, the Reaper, the Witch and the Shinobi.

The wire whipped toward him again, directed by a solid weight on its end, and he brought the Shinobi forth to get in the way. A green-gloved hand managed to catch the weight and jerk it, knocking the surprised woman off balance. The Witch and the Reaper converged on her, a deadly poisoned scythe plunging into her chest while sharply barbed arms wrapped around her waist.

They pulled her in half in a gruesome spray of blood.

As soon as the barrier trapping him collapsed, Kami rushed to Ino's side, kneeling to check her pulse. She was alive, barely, breathing shallow and heartbeat sluggish.

Behind him, he heard a soft groan and blinked, turning his head to watch the torso half of the woman shove the now-inanimate Witch away. She grunted in pain and ripped the Reaper's scythe out of her chest, knocking him off of her in the process. "Y-you'll… regret… this pain…"

A curious sensation overcame the youth at that, and it took him a beat to realize it was fear. He was afraid. This woman was still alive, which should have been impossible. Even if she had managed to survive the poison, she was cut in half. Her legs and hips were pinned beneath the Reaper's still form, her arms dragging torso and head toward them.

Kami swallowed and released two more puppets. The Princess, the Knight. The Princess grabbed hold of the woman's legs and backed away as the Knight lifted the woman by her head. He twisted it, the sick sound of her neck snapping loud to the Puppeteer. The Reaper swung his scythe to cut her head from her body, and the Knight clung to the head, holding it aloft.

The woman grimaced, but her torso pushed itself up slightly, and dragged along still. Kami's hands shook. The Witch, trying to help the Princess dismember the lower half, stumbled and collapsed, so the youth drew a steadying breath. She rose again and they continued their work.

The woman laughed loudly, madly. "You can't stop me! You can't kill me!"

The Puppeteer lifted his right hand, directing the Shinobi forth toward the Knight. He pulled out a kunai and slammed it into the top of her skull, but still she laughed maddeningly. "They come, they come!"

Kami became aware of approaching chakra, and drew the Knight over to him. He crouched, scooping the unconscious Kunoichi up, and the other puppets turned to face several shadows as they appeared. He knew what needed to be done, but he was scared. He was going to die, and he was scared. Drawing a breath, he released three more puppets, feeling the drain of them on his reserves. With these, he could hold them at bay while the Knight brought Ino back to the village. He could save the kunoichi as his Troupe Master commanded.

"Heh!" a voice crowed victoriously. "Get 'im, boys!"

The Knight dodged the swoop of pale nin, and raced beyond them. He was ignored by the men, who were more intent on fighting off Kami's very deadly puppets. There was the clash of steel, the whisk of projectiles, the cries of jutsu.

Kami knew the moment the Knight had reached the village.

It wasn't a moment too soon.

xXx

Hidan and Kisame both stumbled as the world rocked around them, the source seeming to come from beyond the city gates. They both looked that way, watching smoke rise, a heartbeat before a wave of harsh wind knocked them both on their asses.

Hidan cheered. "Raiomi!" He laughed, pumping his fist, as something crumbled in Kisame's peripheral.

The Mizu nukenin turned his gaze toward a wooden man painted black, with Ino clutched in his arms. He was motionless, his strings cut, Kisame realized. So the blue boy was a Puppeteer?

"They killed 'im, they killed 'im," Hidan sang happily before Kisame. "Looks like your friend's food for the sharks!"

Kisame gritted his teeth and sent another wave of water after the albino, using the distraction to gather Ino. He needed to get her to safety, above all else. Let Hidan do what he wanted here- the kunoichi's return to her home was far more important. After all, Hidan was talkative as ever, so the shark nin knew Akatsuki wanted to pump her for information on quite a few subjects.

Including Uchihas Sasuke and Itachi.

xXx

There you go, another chapter! Also been written for a while. Enjoy! Review?