here's the next chapter! I'm so sorry for the shortness of my chapters! I'll try to make them longer, or at least update faster...hmm...

It was so weird, when i was writing the second half of this chapter, I was listening to Glee's "Last Christmas" which was accidentally on repeat. So while reading the second half, know that i was listening to a Christmas song, full on sleigh bells and stuff. I dont know whether it affected the chapter...i doubt it, but i just thought it was kind of funny how completely opposite the feel to the song and this chapter are.

Okay, enough of that...enjoy!

PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 6

Suigetsu wasn't ashamed to admit that he had enjoyed destroying the tiny village before him. It was a waste of space, really. At the most, there were thirty people occupying it. The huts were slowly smoldering into ash, and Suigetsu's nose wrinkled as the smell of roasting flesh – human flesh, from the bodies still in the structures – was projected into the air along with the smoke.

A few of the members had decided to try and destroy some of the entrances into Madara's base, and Madara had immediately caught them, and ordered the entire village burned to the ground. It was currently doing that, the village only a few miles away from Madara's base. But Suigetsu wasn't concerned with the threat of it spreading…the elements would soon take care of the fire.

The sky was beginning to swell with dark clouds, and the white-haired ninja looked up with a frown, his pointed teeth biting into his lip as he grumbled. There were dead bodies everywhere, and Suigetsu yanked a reasonably clean shirt off of one of the decapitated men – not even a ninja, and so Suigetsu had to give him some credit for standing up and fighting – and started wiping the blood off of his large blade. Once he was done, he strapped it back into the leather holder on his back.

"It's time to move out," Suigetsu called over his female companion, and he wasn't surprised at the silence that answered him. She would be getting up now, moving to stand beside him. She would say nothing; just stare ahead with those blank eyes. It was always like that with Aiko. If she did speak, it was only to Madara…and with such an adoring tone that whenever she used it, Suigetsu had to find an excuse to leave the room.

He hated her. He hated this thing that had replaced his friend with seemingly no effort. It had been two weeks since her capture, and every day had been torture. He would give anything – anything – to go back in time. Do something different, ignore the stupid animal summon and instead focus on finding and making sure she was safe.

Suigetsu couldn't say the name.

He couldn't speak the name, because if he did…he would snap.

Suigetsu waited to hear the sounds of her footsteps, and when they didn't come, he let out a gusty sigh of irritation. He turned, and saw her kneeling beside something on the bloodied street. Her hair was pristine and perfect as always, and seeing it made Suigetsu even angrier. Her hair would have been tangled and tousled because she wasn't exactly flawless at executing attacks, her hair would have been messy and beautiful because she didn't care about looks.

But Aiko's hair was flawless. She brushed it for at least ten minutes each morning, because Madara said he liked the way it caught the light after being brushed. And Aiko would do anything to please her master. Her hair was wavy, but it was too well put together, too perfect. And her hands…not a speck of blood on them, not a blot or scratch marring her pale green shirt and black pants. Nothing out of place…and yet she had killed just as many people as he had. More even, if he counted the infants. They were too small and weak for Suigetsu to take any pleasure in killing, and so he left that to her.

This perfection in the act of killing was something that belonged to Aiko alone, and Suigetsu hated it.

"Hey, did you hear me? I said, let's…" the young man growled, and his voice trailed off into nothing. Suigetsu's purple eyes stared at the girl before him, unable to speak, unable to look away.

Aiko's eyes were uncharacteristically focused on the face of one of the dead children, one of numerous bodies that littered the street.

It was a little boy, not more than eight years of age, with spiky black hair and vacant black eyes. The terrified tears he had shed when alive were still present on his ashen cheeks, and Suigetsu remembered that this was one of the children he had slashed open with his sword. The shoulder was partially severed from the body, and was still oozing blood.

Aiko was kneeling close to the body, her hands clenched on her bent knees as if restraining the urge to touch. There was a strange tenseness to her features, as if she was struggling to form the shapeless contours that made up her face into some sort of definable expression. Her eyes glittered in the rippling flames that flickered and spat embers just ten feet away, and her mouth was slightly open, her teeth glimmering in the bright firelight.

Suigetsu couldn't find the urge to snap at her, because her expression fascinated him. Why was she so concerned with this child? It was one of countless others, what was so special about this one?

Her hair spilled over her shoulder as she bent down, and with the fire burning around her. Suigetsu saw – for the briefest of moments – not a human kunoichi, but instead an angel of death, bending over her victim with her long hair blowing back like a deadly halo of gold. But then, it began to rain, and the visage was dispelled as the first drop of cold water collided with Suigetsu's skin.

"Rain, rain, go away…"

Aiko's voice was so soft that for a second, Suigetsu thought that the sound had been merely the rustle of leaves as the rain hit them. But she spoke again, and this time there was no doubt that it was indeed words that were being emitted, in that slow, lifeless tone of hers.

"…come again another day…"

Her fingers were reaching out to touch the child's cheek, and she seemed oblivious to the icy sheets that were currently pouring down over her head. For the first time, a frown was marring her brow, and Suigetsu spoke, more gently than he had intended.

"It's time to go."

"Rain, rain…go away…" she whispered to the little boy, and Suigetsu finally put a hand on her arm, pulling her to her feet. The girl didn't refuse, but a small whimper of discontent left her throat as she stared down at the child. He was broken and small in the dirt that was quickly being converted to mud, and Suigetsu glanced at the girl, and tugged her away.

"Let's go."

"Away?" she repeated plaintively, her voice turning up at the end to make it a question. Suigetsu stared down into her oval face, into her evenly distributed features that could be considered identical to those of a spunky, rather stubborn kunoichi who had been speaking to him just three weeks ago. To Suigetsu, the features of Aiko were nothing, nothing like the features of his lost friend. They were warped, smoothed out, and stripped of the brightness Suigetsu had treasured in her.

But in this face – in the face being slowly made wet by the rain, the face that was distinctively different from any face Suigetsu had encountered on the visage of Aiko – Suigetsu saw something. What this something was…he could not say. Hell, he wasn't even sure if there even was something, or if his brain was playing tricks on him in an attempt to connect her with this thing…with Aiko.

And so his response came slowly, given with the same amount of thought that one gives before instinctively ducking to avoid a flying object – none at all.

"Yes. We're going away," he said, and Aiko's eyes were the same cold blue-gray, but he swore that her face shifted slightly in contentment.

This time, when Suigetsu motioned for her to get up, Aiko followed him without another sound. The sound of the rain plinking on the cobblestone street was oddly soothing in a way, and Suigetsu focused on it as the two of them walked over dead bodies, neither of them hesitating or looking back.

Aiko's gaze was fixed on the road as they made their way back to the base, one of her hands in her pocket while the other tugged a raincoat out of her pack, swinging it over her shoulders automatically.

Suigetsu let the rain hit him, grateful to absorb such a pure source of moisture while he had the chance, and the two traveled the rest of the way in silence.

Naruto knew that he would have to tell someone about what Hikari was. But who?

This was way too big to keep under wraps, but at the same time…he didn't want to create any unnecessary stress, when Sasuke already provided enough panic for the two of them combined. But how long could Naruto keep it a secret before something came up where it was needed?

The blonde couldn't believe it, but seeing as it came from his father – he was still reeling from the newly acquired information that Minato Namikaze, the legendary Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage, was his father – he instinctively believed it. Why would the Fourth lie to him? There'd be no logical reason…and so therefore it must be the truth.

It freaked the hell out of him, but it was still Hikari…it was still his friend that it involved. And Naruto never, ever let his friends down. That was his ninja way, and nothing short of death would ever convince him to steer from that path.

"Hikari's something else entirely. I'm sure you've noticed how much she looks like me…and even yourself to an extent."

"Wait…so you're saying that she's my sister?"

"Not exactly."

Not exactly was such an understatement.

Sasuke suddenly came to an abrupt halt, and Naruto stopped as well, tensing as the Uchiha's chakra spiked in suspicion. The air was cool and humid, and the clouds were all gathering together…forming a looming figure of rain that was slowly descending upon the entire forest. The sudden darkness sent a shadow over the two young men, and the shorter one flicked his dark eyes around in a flurry, while the taller, lankier one crouched down to wait for his companion's verdict.

"Something's following us," Sasuke said softly after a minute or so, and Naruto shifted from under his thick black cloak, silently pulling out a few kunai. The two shinobi crouched in the foliage of the trees, hidden from sight, each listening with every ounce of his strength.

Naruto felt the pounding of his heart, and crouched down even lower, shielded by the wall of leaves. The smell of rich and overturned earth filled his nostrils, along with the clean tang of rain as it began to fall down over them. Naruto didn't dare move to put his hood on, for fear of alerting the unseen figure of their presence, and instead blinked rapidly to dispel the water that was collecting on his eyelashes. The wind blew in their faces, rustling the leaves and sending shivers of cold throughout Naruto's skin.

The blonde stole a glance at his teammate, only to find the Uchiha frowning in confusion as a chakra signal became clearer. Sasuke cocked his head slightly, and it was then that Naruto picked up on the chakra as well. It tugged at Naruto's memory slightly, and he foolishly poked his head up above the cover of leaves, struggling to see the approaching ninja.

There was a flurry of movement, and suddenly, Naruto was being tackled by something small, furry, and disturbingly familiar. Sasuke blinked in shock as Naruto fell flat on his back, staring up at the small dog that was perched triumphantly on his chest.

"P-Pakkun?" Naruto stammered, reaching up to wipe the rainwater out of his eyes, in order to properly identify the creature before him.

The pug – dressed in his usual jacket and bearing a Konoha headband – was wet and smelly, and Naruto cringed at the cloying scent that was being exuded from the furry body. He sat up, lightly shoving the canine off of his legs and frowning at Sasuke, who had moved so he was beside the blonde.

"You're one of Kakashi's dogs," he murmured, and Pakkun sat on his haunches, eyeing Sasuke warily as he addressed Naruto gruffly.

"You two are a tough pair to find…it's taken a lot of chakra and bribes to pinpoint your general location. If this idiot," he nudged Naruto's foots with his paw. "hadn't popped up, I wouldn't have known where you two were hiding at all. Damn crosswinds…" The dog scowled as another gust of wind hit the three of them, and Sasuke crouched down lower in order to get some protection from the wall of leaves and branches.

Pakkun ducked down also, his eyes flickering in between the two of them. "I guess we can head back to Kakashi now…he rented a room in a nearby village…very small, very inconspicuous."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged nearly identical looks of bewilderment, and Naruto spoke loudly.

"Wait, why is Kakashi-sensei here? Did something happen?"

Pakkun fixed Naruto with a surprisingly piercing stare, and the blonde shrunk back at the familiar power behind that gaze.

There had been a moment in the Land of Waves, when Kakashi had been captured by Zabuza, trapped in a ball of water, and it was then that Kakashi had had that expression on his face. It was very brief, but it had been lodged in Naruto's memory for nearly three years. Why it struck his brain as important information, Naruto would never know.

It had been when Zabuza was advancing on the three genin and their charge. It was a fleeting look, hurriedly smothered by an expression of anger and shock.

For a moment, Kakashi's face had been filled with regret, pure and painful in its rawness.

That expression was reflected in Pakkun's face, and without another thought of hesitation, Naruto got to his feet, and nodded to the ninja summon. His hands were shaking slightly, and it wasn't from the cold.

"Okay. Let's go."

Sasuke seemed shocked by Naruto's tone of firm assertion, but after glancing at the pug once more, he nodded curtly in agreement. Naruto and Sasuke both disappeared into dark blurs as the dog took off running, and in seconds, they were lost from sight completely.