Chapter XI: Immature Behavior

"Uzuki Yugao."

She turned her head sharply at the sound of her name. A tall man stood in front of her, light brown hair spilling on his face, almost covering his eyes. He was dressed in the typical uniform of an ANBU, except for the animal mask, but still the hint of his katana visible behind his back. "Sir," she answered, dropping her work and rising from her seat to her superior. It was a bit unusual to see him here, especially when there was so much work that needed to be done, she could only assume that something grave had settled on the village.

He motioned for her to seat, and sat himself in a chair across from her. Like all the usual ANBU offices, there wasn't much decoration, just a plain white wall with the map of Konoha pasted on to it, and a bulletin, listing future missions, missing-nin, and the regular matter. A small wooden desk was squeezed into the uninteresting room, which was amazingly littered with various documents and a large photograph of the man he remembered as Hayate. This caught his attention as none of the documents had anything to do with her current assignment.

"You seem to have an obsession with this Baki," he stated more than asked. Profiles of Sand shinobi covered her desk, along with circled documents that so much as mentioned his name. She didn't respond because in all honesty it was true. Every shred of information was important in carrying out her revenge.

"As I recall, Ibiki mentioned that you actually tortured one of his students."

Again she kept silent. Since that incident, Ibiki completely banned her from setting a foot in the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, and as much as she argued that they were just prisoners and shouldn't receive any sort of compensation, the decision was firm. It upset her a great deal, considering that those kids were directly related to Baki, and with proper prying she could eventually get the killer's face and possibly location.

"You are behaving unreasonably," the older man said, sighing a bit, and falling back in the uncomfortable chair. "You're not doing Hayate any good; you're only harming yourself."

"Sir, is there a reason why you have come?" If he wasn't her superior, she would have snapped at him. Quite frankly, she was tired of people telling her to forget about Baki, but she knew that she never would be satisfied unless he was rotting in a grave.

"Yes, I want you to take the next two weeks off."

"What?"

"You shall receive pay, but in all respect I want you to forget about this Baki during those two weeks."

"Sir, you can't possibly—"

"And from now on you are locked from receiving any information regarding Sungakure." Anger spoke out as she stood swiftly on her chair, dropping it onto the cement floor, but he stood his ground and glared at her with ferocity. "You have been unreasonable and so I am acting unreasonable. Do you understand Uzuki?"

"Yes, sir."

She normally wouldn't have complained about her unexpected time off. Before she would have spent blissful hours with Hayate, happily enjoying every second with him, but now that he was gone, she only saw a dark, lonely week. With her means of information blocked, finding Baki was going to be even more difficult, but she was still determined.

Out the door and through a corridor, Yugao ignored the few footsteps of her comrades as they made their way to official matters. It was three in the morning, as she tried desperately to grasp as much information concerning Baki. Her taichou made it clear that she wouldn't have any access to Sungakure information, so she took complete advantage of the night. But as much as she searched, she still couldn't find the man's face.

As she approached the foot of the staircase, an almost forgotten figure stepped off the last step, his mind completely buried in files. Seeing the figure, a new realization came to her. She leaped down the stairs, running past moving figures. "Genma!" She called out, causing him to look back.

"Yugao?" Genma answered as she approached them. He stepped back cautiously, the ever so present senbon in his mouth and a frown on his face. Although he was a comrade of Hayate, they weren't exactly on the friendliest terms. In fact the only time she talked to him was to ask about Hayate's whereabouts. She supposed that he found it strange that she would ever approach him. However, he recovered quickly and looked elsewhere, looking nonchalant.

"Genma," she began, not bothering with any useless conversation. "You were the proctor for the Final Exams. You saw all the matches, between the Sand genin and Uchiha just as it was interrupted. You saw the Sand genin retreating, carrying one of their own, but someone issued that order."

"Yugao, what is this about?"

"You fought him, didn't you? You fought Baki," she responded, thirsty for any information; her eyes showed a sort of anxiousness. Genma merely stared at her, fully aware that this woman was seriously distressed and stricken with grief, which caused her to think improperly. That rage, that desire for revenge was slowly edging on her mind and slowly destroying her. "No, I didn't." This would be for her own good. Hayate would have never wanted this, and he was doing this for his favor, for his good memory. It was just better to let go and start anew. "Yugao… you really need to put this aside… move on with your life."

She glared at him. "You don't understand," she muttered bitterly. "Nobody understands!"

"Listen to me, you are becoming obsess—"

"Genma," Aoba called out, approaching him with an even larger stack of files. "The council wants a copy of the proposals for the meeting with Sand."

"Sand?" Yugao asked her eyes growing wide. No one had told her that sand shinobi had returned to Konoha.

"Yes," Aoba continued, seemingly oblivious to the reaction of the woman. "Baki-san arrived to Konoha two days ago. He's the liaison for Sungakure—"

"Baka!" Genma shouted out, wishing his thickheaded comrade would shut up, but the damage had been done. Yugao's face changed so drastically, it looked as though angry dogs had been unleashed. Her back straightened, while her eyes darkened, eyes of a predator getting ready to kill. "Yugao, don't!" Genma began but his shout was thrown on deaf ears as she dashed out of the Hokage's tower into the night sky. Her mind was set, and now that she had that final bit of information she would finally avenge Hayate.

She ran full speed in the cold night, her footsteps echoing softly in the still air. The moonlight threw her silhouette in the alley. Dawn was drawing, and soon enough the sky would be stained in red. How fitting. An excitement was crawling inside her, as she realized that her goal was so close within grasp. The Sand genin had resided in a hotel for the better part of the Chuunin Exam, and it was more than likely that Baki was there once again. Turning the corner, she sped up, adrenalin gushing to her head, heart beating rapidly. The hotel building came into view, large and elegant; the windows emitting soft beam of light in the darken streets. A wicked smiled curled on her concealed face.

The doors opened before her, and she gushed into the pretty room. A polished wooden desk was the first thing in sight, green shrubbery stood on either side, while a small seating area stood to the side with a comfortable armchair and hanging paintings. There was a woman behind the reception desk, looking as though she were about to fall asleep, but as she processed the masked ANBU in front of her she shrieked back in fear, as she saw the katana drawn out in front of her. "W-what's going on?"

"Where is Baki?" Yugao demanded, her tone scaring the woman even more.

"... I-I don't know," she stuttered. Pulling out a large book from within the desk, her hands trembled in fear as she turned page after page. "It's… he…"

"Hurry up!" she called out restlessly, katana gripped tightly in her hands.

"F-fourth floor, Number 9." The words had no sooner came out of her mouth when she flew to the staircase, running with all her might until at last she saw the golden gleam of Number 9. The katana was raised above her head and then brought down swiftly, destroying the wood and spraying it to the air. Two Sand Ambassadors stared in bewilderment, both of them in their mid-thirties, and wearing the traditional white robes of Suna. It looked as though they had been looking over some documents when she erupted in, but their faces transformed into shock follow by anger.

Wood exploded in the air, destroying the blissful morning silence and bringing in curious onlookers, however they fled immediately as they saw the enraged ANBU kicking the splinters of wood aside. The door was beyond shambles with chunks of wood, and the doorknob off to the side. Yugao could care about the distress she was causing on this innocent building, her only thoughts wander to a certain man. Her mask covered the look of pure hatred and loathing on her, and she gripped the katana handle more firmly than usual.

The room was rather elegant, opening up widely to a tall glass window that overlooked the busiest area of the village and a handsome, polished table set to the center. Lamplights were turned on showering the two occupants with light. They were both middle aged man dressed in traditional robes, with streaks of white hair and wide astounded eyes. It looked as though they had been discussing something important, as patched sheets covered the table they sat, each of those sheets bearing the official stamp of Sunagakure.

"Who are you?" one of them demanded, clearly outraged.

"Where is Baki?" Yugao answered with a question in turn. She knew Baki wasn't among these two men, considering that Baki was in his late twenties. They took advantage of the indecisiveness of the woman, and with such velocity, a black kunai came zooming towards her, planting itself deeply in the wall opposite her. Shinobi instincts automatically overtook her. A handful of shuriken were sent flying towards the two men, making it terribly difficult to dodge all at once.

They reacted immediately, overturning the table and allowing the sharp edges of the shuriken to make contact with the wood. Yugao wasted no time, charging like an angry bull, her katana fell down on the overturned table, effectively cutting it in half, though the two men had dashed out, one to the left and the other to the right.

She leapt towards of them like a cat, her arm swinging down, destroying anything that came in her way. Glass, books, tables, all fell one by one on the floor by the heavy movement of people. One of them was rather slow and jagged, keeping a good distance behind her. Yugao frowned behind her mask. She didn't mean to waste her time and chakra fighting these two.

"Hurry, Rasul," he said to his comrade, while dodging the hilt of her blade that just smacked into a chair and broke off its legs. "Send a message to Suna. Tell Yuura-san we are in danger!" The man dashed from the room, leaving the assassin alone with his fellow comrade. The man ran to the other side of the room and within a few minutes there was the cry of a bird being realized outside.

His voice was muffled in her preoccupied mind, with agility she bounced off the corner of the wall and threw her blade quickly, stabbing the man squarely on the chest. His face froze, but then his body weakened until it backed against the wall, still carrying the blade in his torso. Then he began tumbling down, apparently dead. No sort of remorse filled her, after having adapted to this situation repeatedly. In ANBU it was more than essential to get rid of one's emotions and preconceived concepts, in order to rid the feeling of guilt that comes with each day.

But something strange happened then, as she tried to pull out her blade from the body, she found that it was clearly stuck. Tugging on it again, it was almost as though the sword had been planted on a rock, and like her thoughts had been answered, the man dissolved to an ugly blotch of clay. It was a clone, no doubt, and now she found herself without a weapon.

Thump. Thump.

She jerked her head to the sound, but too late, too late. The enemy stood behind her, so close that she could feel his robes brushing against her own. It would have seemed appropriate if he had pulled out a kunai and set it dangerously to her back, but he did no such thing. He tied her with a wire, a thin sharp wire, bidding her from so much as taking a breath. Ah, so that was it, they had planned to ambush her when the table was overturned. Obviously, the other Sand diplomat knew nothing of combat, and so it was left to his peer to do all the dirty work. They drew away her weapon, and sent her to the corner, but she wouldn't be defeated that easily. She wasn't an ANBU for nothing.

"You're an assassin, aren't you? Is Konoha this unreasonable to throw away all negotiations and bring war?"

The masked ANBU didn't answer, feeling the wire dig deeper and deeper through her clothes, then to her skin, drawing blood out like a knife. He seemed to have taken her silence as a yes, since he muttered something about Leafs not having proper judgment.

With a gasp of air, Yugao threw her head back onto the man's face. Stars raced through her mind, but she willed herself to stay focus, her goal was so close there was no way she'd lose so quickly.

The man yelled out in pain, thrashed in the air, blood seeping from his nose. He made the mistake of clutching his face, thus freeing her from the wires. She thronged around, pulling out a right hook and sending him flying across the room.

Bump. Bump.

He bounced two times on the floor until he landed roughly beside the overturned table and was completely out.

Yugao panted, rubbing her cut arms and feeling a nasty headache making its way to her skull. Pushing the injuries aside, she turned her attention on freeing her weapon. This was a cheap trick, and she felt completely humiliated by falling to it. It was obvious now that nobody would purposely stay alone with a killer, but apparently her excitement had caused her to make error. She huffed again, ignoring the dull ache in her head, and after much time, struggled the katana free like the sword Excalibur.

She found the other man locked in another room writing urgently, though he turned his head abruptly when he saw the door crashing down. Then, as though it were nothing but some cat walking in, he went back to his letter. An empty bird cage was to his right.

"Where is Baki?" she asked again, her voice sever.

He did not answer, completely absorbed in the letter, his hand shaking so that it made the handwriting almost illegible. He kept muttering something low under his breath, and writing just as fast, making it seem as though there was nothing out of the ordinary that was going on. Rather, if it weren't for his shaking hand, he would have appeared simply as a man writing a letter. She narrowed her eyes; maybe he hadn't heard her. A sharp kunai stabbed him on the hand, crushing his own flesh with the parchment, effectively stopping him from writing anything else. Yugao didn't like to be ignored.

"Where is he?" she declared, her eyes burning in rage.

Again he ignored her, and simply pulled out the kunai from his bloody hand, the message quickly becoming soaked in his blood and a small tear. In the complete calamity of the situation, he muttered something else and continued to write a few more lines. Desperation tore into her. How dare he ignore her! How dare he continue writing his stupid letter, laughing in her face when he perfectly knew the location of Baki!

Springing forward, she brought her katana to full height below him. Maybe if she cut off his arm he would listen to her. The blade was quick and deadly, just about to make contact with the man's flesh until a sharp metal stopped its tracks. Apparently the writer had taken out a few minutes out of his letter to save his arm. His face was drained of all color, eyes widening, and body shaking from fear. "Tell me! Tell me!" she cried out, pushing her blade further in, and pushing his bloody hand back.

"That's enough!" came a voice behind her. She recognized the sound as her superior that she had spoken to last night, where everything seemed so far away and she was still mourning over Hayate's death. There was a rush of footsteps, two of her fellow ANBU on either side of her, each of them holding a weapon in hand. They almost seemed like statues, none of them seeming to move, but all eyes just resting on Yugao and the Sand ambassador.

"Suna was determined to make a peaceful settlement, but I suppose this isn't the case."

"You don't understand…" began the ANBU taichou. "Konoha had…"

The man didn't wait for a respond; instead he took in a deep breath. His chest rising, his lungs filling with oxygen, and then he exhaled.

A string of air flew out from the man's mouth, throwing Yugao on the opposite wall, the three ANBU thrown backwards, tumbling and tumbling until a wall stopped them from moving any farther. It was as though a hurricane had been unleashed: the lamps shook and came trashing to the floor, curtains, blankets, clothes spun madly in the room before falling in heaps on the carpeted floor. Glass mirrors and windows all shattered to pieces, while sand encircled the air as well. She gasped, feeling the hard friction of the sand against her open wounds.

It seemed as though someone was trying to throw a shuriken, but it didn't so much as reach a foot before it landed dumbly on the floor.

The man took another glance at the three masked ANBU, tied the parchment tightly and dashed out of the room, all along clutching his injured hand. Outside, there grew a commotion as a savage sandstorm appeared out of nowhere and sent debris and junk along the street. It did seem odd, considering that was the same room where a wild falcon came flying out. The villagers gasped again as they saw a foreign man emerging from the building, blood dripping in his hand, heading to where the bird flew. And if that wasn't strange enough, an ANBU woman appeared from the room, looking just as savage as the sandstorm. Three ANBU emerged out of the room as well, the taichou looking not the least bit happy.

"Stop that letter at all cost! If Sand gets that letter, negotiations will cease, and Sand will have reason to declare war! After that letter!" he told the two subordinates.

"Yes sir," they saluted before dashing after the man.

He clutched his fist angrily. "I'm getting really tired of this immature behavior."

---

The mule's hooves pitter-pattered along the dirt road, crushing fallen twigs and old leaves. The animal moved slowly for its age, but still its passenger didn't attempt to make him scurry along. He just held the reins lightly in his hands. For a while there was nothing interesting on the road, except the dried dung of horses and the annoying cawing of crows, but beyond that, not one single person had come walking up the path. When the town was far from the eye, and the forest began to grow thicker, the passenger slid off the end of the wagon, and with a pop and a streak of smoke, the cranky old man had transformed into a black clad youth with a bit of his smirk on his face.

It was way too easy getting past those Leaf shinobi, too easy that he played it safe and stayed hidden in his disguise for another three hours. So far it seemed that his performance went well, and they hadn't expected that the cranky old man was actually the teenager they were looking for.

Grabbing Karasu and a few other things he might need for the journey, Kankurou took the cart of the old man he had seen walking down the street. He stopped in front of a bakery - no doubt the one the medic had talked about - and gracefully gave him back his cart, all thanks to Karasu, of course. After snatching three loaves of bread, and putting the old man to sleep, he was off. His little getaway couldn't have worked without the stalling of the medic. He'd have to find her one day and thank her properly for everything she had done for him.

Kankurou squinted at the high sun, noting that it was probably about to be noon. Pulling the reins, he led the mule to the edge of the forest, and tied the reins to the trunk of a tree. Any passerby coming this way would see the wagon, and would take it back to town or keep it for themselves. Either way, Kankurou couldn't care less. No one would think to trace it back to him, considering that their search wasn't made public.

Karasu was taken out from the third sack, and carefully hung on his back. After snatching the paper bag that contained Temari's medicine and anything that could be useful for the trip, he set off. His thoughts wandered once again to Temari, to this whole mission when Baki told him this doomed high-ranking mission.

Like all the other Sand shinobi, he had supposed that this would be an easy mission. There was a terrible stereotype of Leafs, and like everyone else he had come to believe it. Funny, that stereotype was wrong in all levels. But he supposed that the major reason he thought the mission was easy was because Gaara was there. Gaara was invincible. He knew it, Temari knew, hell even Kazekage-sama knew it.

The scratch above everything else told him Gaara was not invincible, and he clearly remember standing on the stands, mouth wide open and eyes glued to the red head as he was being ricochet about the room. Temari lost shortly, and then he lost.

And now all this: being captured, imprisoned, interrogated, escaping, and now Temari barely surviving.

Kankurou sighed. He was never the type to dwell in the past, but this humiliating defeat hurt his pride, Temari's pride and probably all of the surviving Sand shinobi. But, he thought, maybe this is all for the better. His musing came to a stop, as he realized that the forest had become too quiet. Not even the annoying birds had been chirping.

He fiddled with the strap of Karasu for a moment, before moving softly. The trap he had set up was broken. Shit.

He ran then, breaking twigs, crunching leaves and footsteps echoing loudly. Please, don't let anything happen. Please.

It seemed so long when he finally came to the campsite. But when he approached, his mouth hung and terror quickly filled him. For Temari and Gaara were gone.

Gone without a trace.

"TEMARI! GAARA!" he yelled, his voice echoing back to him. As a shinobi it was stupid for him to be yelling out like this, for making so much noise when he was still in enemy territory. But at the moment he didn't he care. He just wanted to find his siblings.

His eyes scanned the forest floor, looking for footprints, but nothing. Kankurou took a breath. Don't panic, don't panic. That's the worst thing you could do. I'm sure they're fine.

Something red caught his attention. He turned to it in an instant. It was a large of blood, and that did absolutely nothing to calm his nerves.

Wild thoughts followed. What if Gaara killed Temari, and then left the area clean? He did have a sort of addiction to blood, and with Temari being vulnerable…. No! No! He told himself he was going to trust Gaara! He wouldn't let old prejudice cloud his judgment.

There were footprints as well, meaning there were other people here. Several kunai lay to the side, and he did his best to recreate the battle. There were two of them… no three… One was hiding above that tree. It looked like they retreated.

Kankurou sighed in relief. Temari and Gaara must have escaped and swiped away their footsteps to avoid detection. Now if only he could find them.

As if to answer his question, he saw something dull and brown, covered by grains of sand. He picked it up. It was the cork Gaara put in his gourd to keep the sand from spilling. The small grains of sand stirred softly as though a wind was blowing. Kankurou watched, eyes following each curve and swirl of the sand…

Ten miles before the border.

…it read, and without a second thought he was off.