This fic is composed of little scenarios from the real episodes of the Sasuke Retrieval era and my own story (but that's only from chapter 1-8) so don't be surprised to read a familiar a part in the story.

Chapter 2: Unnoticed Reunion

Yo, folks! Moriko Azami here. Let me introduce myself since I am the main character of this fanfic—No, I am not saying I'm the main character of the story, that role goes to Naruto, thus the name. Although I'd beg to differ because I, The Great Moriko Azami, is a young kunoichi, residing in Konohagakure. Young, smart, powerful beautiful, and drop dead gorgeous, so c'mon Naruto producers! Juuust kidding. I'm the total opposite of all that so don't expect me to go into details.

Moving on, I have a bloodline limit that lets me control the length of my hair and the nature. Blue streaks will appear on my boring black hair whenever I use it. What does my hair do you ask? It can grow it as long as I want as long as I have enough chakra and strength to carry it. Hairs are heavier than they look like 'ya know. In battle, it lengthens until it captures the enemy and then emits a pleasantly sweet gas which puts them in a, somehow, trance like state, it's like a genjutsu in a way, letting them unconsciously breathe the actually dangerous poison gas. 'Tis produce by yours truly my sweet strawberry-passion shampoo. OKAY, I'M JOKING.

Now about the nature I was blabbing about. I can control the "fragrance" and mood of the nature. Sometimes, yes just sometimes, the nature changes a little according to my mood. But it's not a dramatic change that causes something like the sudden death of all trees or something stupid like that.

They haven't covered more than ten miles yet even with their shunshin jutsu and the usual leap from tree to tree thing but Kiba had already sensed something as his nose twitched in sync with Akamaru's.

"Shikamaru." Neji looked at Kiba, sensing the change in his voice.

"What's wrong Kiba?" Shikamaru turned his head to his canine friend

"I can smell blood nearby. There are two of them. What should we do?" The group came to halt as Shikamaru faced them on another tree branch.

"If it smells like blood, that means a battle had taken over."

"Maybe we should check Shikamaru? They might be injured." Moriko said, as expected from a medic-nin.

"No, if we go there we might see other things. And we're not even sure if those are the enemies, allies, which I doubt, or a random unfortunate passerby." He said calmly before moving again.

"But the people there, they might--" Moriko stopped as she looked into Shikamaru's sleepy yet strict eyes. Bearing in mind that Shikamaru, the indolent genius, was the leader, she knew she had no right to stray away from his orders and their mission and especially because what he said was right.

"If we don't get Sasuke back in this coverage area then he might be out of the Fire territory already." Neji informed everyone with his usual calm tone.

"It means they're alert, we have to change the scouting position."

"Hey! The enemy's scent is all over the place!!" Kiba's eyes narrowed as his muscles tensed.

"Everyone, stop!" Shikamaru ordered raising his arms to his side. "Look up." Shikamaru pointed at one of many huge trees surrounding them. " An explosive seal," He said, "They've set up a trap." He continued. "A total of 5, its a barrier." Neji said looking around.

"Tsch, we have to go around it then." And so they did go around it even though it wasted a bit of their time.

"Hey, look at this guys." Moriko said bending down to the ground pointing at a string. "It looks cool." She thought simplemindedly and mentally slapped herself for that.

"It's a trap. Be careful everyone, if we step on one of these, we're dead."

"Oi! Naruto, you better watch where you're going." Kiba teased.

"I know! I know, tsch." Naruto clicked his tongue before he realized he was about to step on of the said traps.

"Naruto! Look out!" Moriko blurted out, pointing at the glinting wire at the ground.

"Wait, Naruto!" Chouji shouted as he began throwing more chips in his mouth, beads of sweat rolling down his flushed cheeks.

"Good thing I'm fast. Kage mane no jutsu…" Shikamaru sighed. Why am I always the one saving other people's butt? He thought closing his eyes and relazing his nerves. Being the leader is troublesome.

"Naruto! I told you to be careful!"

After dealing with all the commotion, Moriko walked around their area, leaving the group a few meters away from her, and checked to see if there were any signs of the enemy. Moriko was about to head back as the boys finally figured out a plan to ambush their enemies unbeknownst to them that their enemies had ambushed them already.

Springing out of the nearby trees were the members of the Sound 4. One of them, a rather large one, was carrying a barrel while everyone was else was carrying a distinct and evil mocking look.

Kiba, Chouji, and Naruto were easily assaulted but not Moriko. She sensed the commotion going on and decided to sneak up upon them. Moriko's gears started turning as she saw the plump Oto-nin place a barrel on the ground.

"Doro Doumu (mud dome)" The large nin calmly chanted as the ground start to shake a little.

I hope she doesn't do anything rash. Shikamaru thought looking down at the ground enveloping the five of them inside a cave of hardened soil.

Moriko watched the movements of her enemies intently, wiping her sweat from her face with the back of her hand. She watched and tried to think of a plan knowing that as long as Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Chouji and Kiba were trapped inside the dome, she was all alone in the battlefield.

Moriko, get that half-assed brain working! What would Shikamaru do in this situation? She broke into cold sweat, her heart thumping loudly against her chest. Don't panic, dammit! Think!

Hey, Moriko! A voice spoke out of the blue with evident childish features.

What the--? Moriko turned her gaze to the Sound 4. They didn't show any signs of hearing any voice so she assumed she was the only who could hear it. Her cat-eyes narrowed, her brow furrowing over it with a frown.

Who are you? Show yourself! She demanded in her thoughts hoping that the voice heard it. Heh, wish I could but it's too early for that.

What do you mean? The frown in her face faded as a look of confusion superseded her previous expression. Are you… in a way, inside me? Moriko asked with a tinged of anxiety in her voice.

Hm, yeah, I guess. But before asking me redundant questions like that, shouldn't you be busying yourself trying to save your comrades?

You're right. Moriko blinked looking at her enemies once again who were talking about something she obviously couldn't hear. But I… don't know what to do. She clenched her fist into a ball, and sat slowly on the ground causing the bushes to rustle a little.

"Hm?" Kidomaruu looked over at the bunch of bushes behind him. "What's wrong?" He turned to see his two-headed teammate. "I don't think everyone's inside that dome. I think we missed one more shinobi." Sakon raised an eyebrow at the spider-nin. "What?"

"Or maybe it's just me. I thought I felt a movement in my spider web over there." Kidomaru answered, nodding his head at the bush.

I can't think of anything to do! I wish Shikamaru was here… Moriko gritted her teeth before sighing inside. I can't attack. There's too many of them and they look pretty strong too. I can't sneak up on the barrel as well since they're surrounding it. My genjutsu might not work seeing as how they have power over sound. I'm sure there's a genjutsu user among them.

You're just being a coward. The voice said in lazy yet mocking voice.

I'm not! I'm just trying to be safe. If I could, I would've jumped out there already! I don't wanna endanger my team's safety by getting in the way of harm.

But you know, sneaking or attacking up on them is worth a shot.

It's not as easy it sounds. Moriko grabbed a handful of leaves from the bush she was hiding in out of exasperation, not noticing the complicatedly patterned web attached to it and to another bush.

Kidomaru turned his attention to the bush again, catching a glint of his silky web. He felt his fingers move as the bush made a small rustling motion. There was a thread attached to fingers and the other end attached to his web. Unfortunately for Moriko, each time she made a movement caused the bush to shake a little, including the spider-human made goassamer attached to it to quiver as well and send the vibes to Kidomaruu's fingers.

I told you—WHAT THE--?! Moriko shot a look down her waist to see that it was tied with milky colored threads intertwined with each other forming a thicker twine. She looked at both of her arms simultaneously as she felt the slap of the same twine flung around them. A split second after that, she quickly found herself being pulled out of the bush violently before knocking her back against someone's lean chest.

Well shit, they got me. And I was totally camouflaged too. Moriko cursed while struggling to get out of the vice-like grip that cut the blood circulation in her wrists. She twisted her body as the aggressor tugged her hands behind her back with brute force and then putting his other free arm around her neck to lessen her squirming.

"We seem to have missed you earlier when your companions were thrown inside Jiroubo's dome." The nin behind her spoke, his voice cold and filled with murderous intent.

"Hoo… You're pretty cute huh?" Kidomaru smirked, running the sharp edge of the kunai on her cheek. Moriko winced as she felt the cold metal slice her skin and her blood slowly dripping down to her chin. "You're so cute that it disgusts me!" He yelled slightly in her face.

"Shut up, spider freak! At least I'M normal and YOU'RE not! No girl would ever fall for a guy with six arms." Tayuya smirked at this. She'd always thought that Kidomaru would live his life single forever, scaring away all the girls that would meet him. Not that he was gonna live for a very long time considering that he was living under Orochimaru's fangs. Kidomaru scowled at this.

"Let Shikamaru and the others go!" Stupid! Where the hell did that come from? Of course they're not gonna let them go! Moriko mentally slapped her forehead, cursing herself for her idiocracy.

"Sakon, let's kill her. NOW." Kidomaru's eye twitched as he stared at Sakon, the nin holding Moriko tightly in his grasp, then at Moriko with raging eyes. Crap. Am I gonna die now?

Scenes of her recurring, violent dream materialized in her mind as she tried to envision the young boy who had been trying to protect her throughout the whole dream. He was always there, protecting her, and saving her all the time at the end of her nightmare and yet he always seemed like a haze.

Moriko knew, somehow, that that boy and the scary man existed in real life. She didn't know how but each time she woke up, she felt one step closer to them both. She knew she had an unexplainable desire in her heart to meet the boy, she'd always wished for that day to come and she was determined to find him one day and find out herself if he only lived in her dreams, or rather, her nightmares.

"Say your prayers, brat. I intended to keep you alive for a while but insulting my MOST charming points are just goddamn annoying." Kidomaru said causing Moriko to wake from her short stupor.

Tayuya snorted, "Charming points? Whatever dickhead, that ain't true." Kidomaru rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Moriko. "End of the line." He said with a smirk.

So, please God. I really do wanna find that person so keep me alive! I have no intentions of meeting him up there 'cause that mean I'm seriously gonna die. I can't die. I have many dreams yet to be fulfilled! Moriko obviously took Kidomaru's advice to heart and thought it was a nice distraction from her fear of being killed.

Sakon raised his arm that was hung around Moriko's neck and waved a finger at Kidomaru. "Don't forget we're on a mission. There's no time to play." Sakon reminded him with a mocking smile. "Tsch, fine." Kidomaru replied with a disappointed tone while carrying the barrel on his back. He's one to talk. That stupid, green lipstick wearing, gay-ass. Him and his superiority complex.

"What do we do with her, Sakon?" Tayuya asked, nodding at Moriko.

"Dispose of her, of course." Sakon answered with a lopsided smirk. "But we'll waste time on doing that so I'm letting Jiroubo handle her." He said turning his head to the fat fellow.

Sakon? Huh, sounds familiar…Why do I suddenly feel like I want to see his face? Moriko felt a strange sensation of nostalgia wash over her as she remembered her dream unconsciously. She turned her head slightly in an attempt to steal a glance from the boy behind her but failed to do so as she was pushed down on Jirobo's feet.

"Let's go." Sakon said firmly as his two other companions nodded.

Scent Marking Technique! Moriko smiled to herself. Now, they'll be easy to track with Kiba and Akamaru's nose.

"Hello, appetizer." Moriko looked up to meet black chinky eyes. She scrambled on the other side of the dome behind him and banged on it like crazy. "Shikamaru?"

"Moriko? Thank God, you're alive." Shikamaru sighed in relief inside.

"I'll fend off this fat ass cannibal and you guys try to get out of there ASAP. The other left already with Sasuke." She instructed as she watched Jirobo slowly walking towards her. "Don't worry, it's not your body, it's your chakra." Moriko's eyes narrowed. "Hurry! He's after my chakra!"

"Don't turn your back on your enemy." Moriko turned around and everything was black.

Rewritten: April 23, 2008

So the ending was kinda lame because Moriko didn't even get to fight but I thought this chapter was long enough and it'll confuse both the readers and me if I add a fighting scene and whatnot.

Reviews are love, people so keep 'em coming because they encourage me a lot to keep this story going 8D