The corners of her mouth turned down slightly at the memory. Soba had been very careful to guard herself in her teenage years, and she didn't intend to stop in her twenties. Even though mini-nin were taught from an early age that every shinobi's mission could potentially be his or her last, no amount of preparation could ready a child to lose both parents at once. To see them carried back home by their few remaining teammates, bloodied and cold. Dai and Soba were fourteen when their parents were killed in battle with the Akatsuki, both skilled jounin in their own right. A year and a half later, Momo-sensei, their teacher and friend, was also killed while on a mission. The twins mourned the only ways they knew how: Dai by reading, Soba by training. The one major difference between the two afterwards was that Dai recovered emotionally, making friends and continuing on in his life. Soba, on the other hand, vowed to herself that she would never get close to anyone again. The pain of burying people that she had loved so deeply was too much, and she thought that isolation was the only way she could prevent this. Her logic was that of a child, though; she had never considered the crippling loneliness of the life she had chosen.

"Soba-chan?" Naruto pushed open the tent flap, his face a foot from Soba's. She jumped a little, shocked to hear his voice, even as quiet as it was.

"Hmm?" Both became acutely aware of how close their faces were and looked away.

"You can sleep now. I'll take over." The scruffy blonde clambered out of the tent, holding the flap open for Soba.

"Are you sure? It's only been four hours." She asked, pausing at the entrance. Naruto smiled brightly.

"Of course! It's your turn!" A smile graced her face, unbidden.

The next day and a half passed in much the same way. All Naruto and Soba saw was guard rotations, and Yoru was nowhere to be found. No deliveries in, nobody leaving the compound. The two were incredibly frustrated with the lack of activity. Soba got in touch with Dai and Kiba at midday on the third day to see if they had had any luck in their reconnaissance. Dai was happy to report that they had cased the entire warehouse and that the two of them shouldn't have any trouble taking down their half. The way that Dai described it, the guards traveled in teams of two, and there were significant gaps in time during which they could isolate pairs, one by one. Due to the fact that they still needed evidence to incriminate Yoru and his goons, they couldn't damage any of the shipments in the warehouse.

As planned, the two teams regrouped as the third day came to a close. Dai, Kiba and Akamaru found Naruto and Soba sitting in a tree, snacking. Akamaru nosed his way in behind Soba when she descended, smelling the treats that she had brought for him. He wagged his long, fluffy tail and tried to look as charming as a dog could. Soba smiled, reaching back into her bag to pull out a cookie.

"Akamaru, you act like I never feed you!" Kiba looked a little offended, staring at his furry friend's back. The cookie safely in his mouth, the dog nuzzled Soba's leg and returned to Kiba's side to chew. "I see you remember whose roof you live under…" A resigned yowl was barely heard over the crunching. "Akamaru?!" Dai started chuckling as Kiba argued with his dog in the background.

"Hey, imouto!" A grin broke out on Soba's face when her brother pulled her into a hug. Dai always smelled like the forest: clean, earthy and familiar. She breathed in his comforting scent after not having seen him for several days. Naruto looked on, ignoring a jealous twinge in his chest. What he wasn't aware of was that he was less jealous of the fact that they each had such a close family member than of the fact that Soba was so relaxed around Dai.

"Has she been driving you crazy, Naruto?" The blonde looked surprised at the question, but recovered quickly, quirking up one eyebrow.

"I think I've managed to tame her!" Kiba, having somehow lost an argument with the fluffiest nin-dog, walked into the tail end of the conversation. He watched Soba round on Naruto, who was grinning from ear to ear.

She growled, "You tamed me?" Dai knew what was coming and he was both amused and terrified. "Like an animal?" Naruto's grin began to fade when he saw her nostrils flaring like that of an angry bull.

"I-uh-" Before he had a chance to explain himself, he was blindsided by a screeching green blur.

"I'LL SHOW YOU TAAAAAAAAAAAME!" Kiba, Dai and Akamaru heard blows landing and saw grass flying, but neither really made a move to help Naruto. Dai jerked forward as though he was going to pull his sister off, but Kiba stopped him with a hand, waving his head no.

"I don't think Naruto's fighting back," Dai commented, "And I'm not entirely sure Soba will leave enough of him intact for the rest of the mission."

"Yeah, but it's kinda funny, ne?" The older twin nodded his assent, his face betraying his amusement. Moments later, Soba extracted herself from the pile that was Naruto, dusting off her cloak. The Uzumaki was lying paralyzed on the grass of the forest, moaning in pain.

"Soba, did you wedgie him?" Dai.

"No."

"Soba."

"Yes." Kiba was doubled over laughing, supporting himself using Dai's shoulder.

Once everyone had calmed down, they began the process of creating a plan. Kiba and Dai's situation was simpler; all they required was some added manpower to help clean up the warehouse. They would be able to defeat all the guards and a pair of missing-nin, but they didn't have the manpower to bring all of them to a civilian prison. Naruto and Soba still needed to ascertain where Yoru was, which was a problem. They decided to do a few more days of reconnaissance before moving in. Kiba and Dai would head off to the capital of the Land of Fire to get a team of police to help drag off the bad guys, and to seize all the drugs in the warehouse. Meanwhile, Soba and Naruto would locate Yoru, capture him, and let the police take care of the transportation. Once the four had set a plan, they split up and disappeared into the night.

Not even twelve hours after they had formulated a secondary plan, Yoru reared his ugly head. He arrived at the house early in the morning, escorted by four guards, and holed himself up on the second floor. Dai and Kiba were on their way back to the warehouse with the police force, which meant that Naruto and Soba had to capture Yoru before he or any of his henchmen caught wind of major police movement. Making a move to infiltrate the home in broad daylight would be imprudent; the two would have to wait until nightfall. Neither of the two could have been described as patient, but they laid in wait, quietly, for the entire day.

Night finally fell.

"Naruto, you begin with the guards outside, and I'm going to go in the back second story window. I'll clear the inside because I've gotten a better view of the layout and then I'll meet you outside." Soba saw the shaggy hair move as he nodded.

"Be careful!" And Naruto was off. The kunoichi leapt off of her branch once a guard pair had walked by, cloak rippling behind her. Springing off an overhang, she landed soundlessly on a window ledge. The room she was planning to enter was not in use, giving her a distinct advantage. Soba went over her plan in her head and hoped that the gun-wielding guards wouldn't be a problem. Try as she might to ignore it, she was uneasy about firearms. Her fingers slid under the window and gently raised it; an earlier guard had forgotten to lock the mechanism. How amateurish, she thought. She slunk into what appeared to be a sitting room, letting her eyes get adjusted to the darkness. A large, plush couch and several smaller chairs were organized as though they were on a grid, surrounding a solid wood coffee table. As far as she could see, the walls were bare, save a large, ornate mirror hung opposite where Soba was standing. Diagonally to the right of her was a door, light spilling through it and onto the carpeted floor. Soba ducked behind the couch when she heard voices moving towards her. The shadow of two uniformed guards fell in the doorway, and Soba inhaled quietly. Pulling some wooden pellets from her back pocket, she tossed them at a window directly opposite her hiding place. The projectiles connected with the glass, making several less-than-subtle plink sounds. She knew there were four guards with Yoru at any time, and it would be much smarter to take them on in pairs, rather than all of them at once. She aimed to lure the first two into this room, dispatch them and then fight the other two. The pair that was chatting by the doorway stopped their conversation upon hearing the noise and moved to investigate. The kunoichi slunk to the other side of the couch, poised to strike. She watched the two large, heavily muscled guards split up to search the room and counted backwards from five. It was time for her to do what she did best.

Thanks for reading! Comments and constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated :)