I am alive! Yay! Even better, I have a very long chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it. I have worked harder on this one chapter than I worked on at least one of my exams...uh...I mean...So, more than 3000 words, wow... Thanks goes to my wonderful Beta Wingedmercury who helped me edit this chapter even though she was super-busy this week and thank you all for your patience and for reading my story.

Itachi stopped and without any warning, dropped me. I landed hard but barely felt it; I was getting unfortunately used to pain. My ear still hurt. He surveyed the clearing before completing a series of hand seals and creating four more shadow clones. Two turned into replicas of me. I was horrified to see that I looked like a bedraggled, bleeding, shocked and windblown homeless person. Groaning I flopped back unto the grass. I was not going to make it out of this rescue alive. When I looked at him again, the clones were gone and Itachi was leaning against a tree looking attractively enigmatic.

"Itachi, what the hell are you doing?"

No answer.

"Okay, fine, don't tell me. I think I can guess anyway. You won't even have to answer, just nod or grunt or whatever."

Still no response.

I sighed. "Okay, I'll take it from the top, this is what I think is going on... You woke me up this morning when everything was already in place. You used the ruse of 'training' me to get me away from the tower and the others without arousing suspicion. After yesterday, they wouldn't want me doing anything more athletic than dusting and no one would question excluding Hidan...though I can't imagine why they chose him to train me anyway ..." he had turned to look at me and had the same you-are-an-idiot expression that he seemed to use a lot. 'Ok, right. Anyway, I assume that you assessed Ame's defences at some point and pinpointed the least guarded sections of wall or knew what time the guards changed or something...How am I going so far?" I asked

His head lowered a fraction of an inch which I took to mean that I was at least partially right. I continued. "You woke me up, got me out of the tower and bought me breakfast...thanks by the way, I would have been starving by now if you hadn't. I didn't eat anything last night and..." a flicker of impatience "yes, so we made our way to the relatively unguarded section of wall, then there was the explosion. I don't think you guys have remote detonation devices here so I can only assume you sharinganed someone into setting it off. After that, it was a quick jump over the wall and a short run to the forest. We ran along the river to prevent a scent trail and the shadow clones are to lay a false trail in case we were followed somehow. Hmm... I think that's about it. Oh! How could I forget? When the bomb went off, you pulled my fucking earring out of my fucking ear! Like I needed another scar!" I huffed angrily for a bit before calming down. "In all fairness, Pein could have killed me with it so I can't really hold that against you...sigh, did I miss anything?" For a long moment I wasn't sure that he would respond but he pushed himself slowly away from the tree and walked over to me. Reaching into the pouch at his side, he pulled a small familiar container and held it out to me.

"Thanks." I said taking it. I opened it and began applying the stinging cream to my lobe.

"It was a good assessment." He said returning the container to his pouch.

"Thank you, I was plotting to escape so some of this stuff had occurred to me. Why didn't you wait till it was raining though? Wouldn't that have given us more cover?"

He shook his head slightly. "Pein can see anything the rain touches."

'Oh...ok." How the hell could I have forgotten that? "Where are we going? And why are you helping me? Is it because of what I know?"

Instead of answering he glanced at the sky."We have to move now. Get up."

Oh no, not again. "Um... Can I walk this time? Please? I don't...well, I'm sure it isn't comfortable for you either."

"It is the fastest method." He said turning around and standing absolutely still.

I swallowed hard. Oh dear god, not again I thought but I did it anyway. Within minutes we were flying through the trees with my legs wrapped tightly around his waist and my arms around his shoulders. I hadn't ridden piggyback since I was nine and I wasn't enjoying the experience. Pressing my over-heated face into his back, I tried to ignore how warm he was and his oddly sweet scent. I must have made some sound because he tensed and his hands on my thighs twitched slightly. I was 100% sure that he was thinking of dropping me. We were at least 50 ft off the ground and I really didn't want that.

"Sorry." I muttered.

He was still tense and I was beginning to realise that maybe it had nothing to do with me. He jumped from the tree and unto the grass. I slid down and squinted. We were at the edge of a large clearing and we weren't alone. Approaching at the other side was a group of people who stopped suddenly. I was about to ask who they were when he suddenly pushed me roughly to the side and half a dozen shuriken embedded themselves in the tree behind me.

Sasuke sat and listened, ignoring the spark of excitement in his chest. He knew far too well that all expectation led to disappointment. He closed his eyes and relished the soothing lack of light. He interrupted when it became clear that the man was going off topic.

"That is enough. You can go." He said sitting up and tossing a small pouch of coins at the man.

"Thank you, thank you sir. My wife and children..."

"Just go." He said.

He was beginning to get another headache. He could feel it building up like electric pressure behind his face.

"What does it mean, Sasuke kun?" Karin asked

"Well it's obvious, slut. There was an explosion in Mikan, a serious explosion caused by an unknown blond man and a young dark haired woman. It sounds just like that guy from the Akatsuki...Deidara or something like that. He..."

"I get that and call me a slut again and I'll cut off what makes you a man, got it?" Karin responded

"My, aren't we pms-ing today." He said closing his legs unconsciously. The redhead hadn't eaten for the day and she looked ready to take his head off. It never failed to puzzle him that a woman can be starving and cranky and still choose not to eat. And it wasn't just the crazy ones like Karin either; even seemingly normal women weren't immune to that kind of insanity. "He doesn't have a partner anymore, so maybe she's the replacement? It could be a coincidence, what do you think, boss?" Suigetsu asked turning to Sasuke.

"We go to Mikan. This could be the lead I've been waiting for." He got up and left without a word.

Suigetsu turned to Juugo who was staring at their newly purchased map with a look of despair.

"Tough luck, I guess we won't be testing that idea of yours after all." He patted the big man on the arm and followed Sasuke.

Karin was starving but she was determined to lose another six pounds by the end of the month and nothing was going to stop her. Her stomach growled piteously as she turned to Juugo.

"Well, it probably wouldn't have worked anyway."

Without another word she took off after the man she was in love with and the man she wished would fall off a cliff into a volcano. Juugo stood still for a moment before picking up the package of multi-coloured pins and following after them.

They arrived in Mikan and immediately split up. Karin was told to check the site of the bombing, and since Deidara's bombs were infused with his chakra she would find residual chakra in the wreckage if he was indeed the bomber. Sasuke headed into the less reputable areas of town to see what he could learn from the locals. Juugo and Suigetsu were sent to replenish their supplies with instructions that if anything went wrong (Juugo going crazy and trying to kill someone, for example) that Suigetsu was to trap the man in the water prison and send a clone to find him. Suigetsu, for his part, wasn't sure how effective a water prison might be against the originator of the curse seal but decided to trust Sasuke's judgement.

After buying food and medicine and refilling their water bottles, the pair stopped for a much needed rest in a small, grubby tavern. It was almost empty at midday and the tall, one eyed barman slept (and snored) behind the bar. They took a table near the entrance to maintain watch and took the time to relax. Suigetsu was drifting off when the rustle of paper brought him back awake. Juugo was quietly unrolling the map. After using some tacks to pin the edges to the table, he began to scan it carefully. After a few moments he took a small red topped pin and placed it on the border between Fire and Grass. He repeated the process adding pins nearer to the borders of Fire and River and Fire and Rain. He paused and added one in land of Tea and one near the border of the land of Wind and River country. Siugetsu watched as he added even more pins before stopping.

"That's all I remember" He said, almost to himself. Then he looked at Suigetsu who sighed and got up. Standing next to him he adjusted a few of the pins, moving them closer to where he remembered Karin indicating and then adding a few of his own. After defeating Orochimaru in Sound and bringing together his team, they had travelled to Waterfall and then to Earth gathering intelligence on Earth and spreading the word of Orochimaru's defeat. Well...at least Suigetsu did. Sasuke never seemed to care one way or another but Suigetsu knew that he wanted word to get to his brother. He figured that Sasuke wanted his brother to know that he was ready now to settle the score between them.

Taking a long gulp from his water, the blue haired man contemplated the differences between his relationship with his brother and the one Sasuke had with Itachi. It never failed to amuse him. He was from Mist, long reputed to be the harshest place to be born and become a ninja. He remembered killing his best friend on the day he graduated and doing it with a smile on his face. Despite this, it was Sasuke's brother who had massacred their clan and then deserted; Sasuke, who was born into the peace-loving, butterflies and candy village of Konoha. Scratching his head, he took another long drink before sticking another few pins into the map.

Karin stopped to admire a bright blue dress in the window. It was a loose, flirty thing that the harsh girl would never dream of wearing but it was several long minutes before she got moving again. She was still hungry but she was holding out for dinner time, sure that Suigetsu would have bought something fatty but delicious. The site of the explosion wasn't hard to identify. In the better district there were approximately three decent sized hotels and one of them was missing the roof and the top floor. To avoid drawing attention to herself, she circled the block looking at stores and at last buying a small bun. Standing under the small awning of the stall she closed her eyes and opened up her senses. She could immediately feel the chakra of everyone around her. She unconsciously filtered out the civilians with their weak chakra systems and brought her attention to the building before her.

Within minutes she had her answer, the chakra residue corresponded with Deidara of the Akatsuki. She had sensed his presence a few times in the past and knew it well enough to say for certain. She sensed no other strong signatures in the building. Now to look for Sasuke, she thought, expanding her range. She froze and her heart sped up. She found Juugo and Suigetsu close to the outskirts of town and she located Sasuke in the opposite direction near the town's entrance. She also picked up the signature of four strong shinobi. One was at least jounin level, two others were chunin or thereabouts and one, here heart skipped a beat, was definitely a jinchuuriki. Well shit! She thought.

Finishing her bun, she headed out to find Sasuke and warn him. Every few minutes she would scan the area for the location of the enemy shinobi. She was very lucky, she thought, to have her ability. Had it been anyone else, they would have given away their location the instant they began searching for someone else's.

It is a little known fact that when a shinobi is hiding his chakra, it is impossible for him to actively search for the chakra signature of another. It's a little like playing battleship; you know where your pieces are but you don't even know if you have an opponent. In Karin's case, she had the ability to sense chakra without being sensed herself. It was one of the main reasons Sasuke had chosen her to be in his group. He would be able to hide his chakra effectively but not be blind to other ninja...at least other ninja who weren't shielding or couldn't shield completely.

Sasuke contemplated his options. He had been able to confirm the events the old man had told him in Himitsu. He had also been able to extract a bit more that hadn't made it into the gossip mainstream yet. The man, a local thug and bar owner, had claimed to have seen a man matching Deidara's description meeting with two other 'mean looking bastards' at his premises the night of the explosion. He hadn't dared to get closer but as the blond got drunker, his voice had raised enough for him to make out words like 'kill', 'Tobi' and 'girl' before the white haired of the two had said something that seemed to piss the blond off. Not too long after, they'd all gotten up and left. From the man's description or lack of description in one case, Sasuke was fairly certain that Deidara had met with two other members of the Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakuzu. He knew next to nothing about the two but hoped that Suigetsu would know more. Alone, in the street with his head throbbing, he allowed himself a small smile. He had spent months without any word of his brother or the Akatsuki, and now he had a potential lead to three of them.

He felt someone watching him and looked up in time to see Karin round the corner, an urgent look on her face. He wiped his own of any emotion, lest she think he was happy to see her and waited for her news.

"Sasuke kun, we have a problem."

Sakura stopped, waiting as Pakkun sniffed the air around a small stall. He was a ninken and was very well trained; if he stopped, it meant that he had found something.

"What is it Pakkun?" she asked hands on hips.

The mutt watched her carefully. "I smell Sasuke."

"What?" the pink haired girl asked dumbly

"I am picking up trace scents of Sasuke on someone else's scent. It's fresh too, less than a day old."

"Do you recognise the person?"

"No."

"Follow it." She created the necessary hand signs to create a clone and sent it to find Kakashi and the others.

Hatake Kakashi finished talking to the old woman and made his way back to boys. Naruto looked bored and eager to be away but Sam looked anxious.

"What did she say?" He asked running a hand through his cropped hair

"Same as the others. They came into the village, went to the hotel and that night the top floor blew out."

He saw the younger man's face fall before resuming its new, carefully neutral lines.

"Ok. I'm a fool aren't I? This was a waste a time."

Naruto heard him and clapped him hard on the back nearly knocking the taller man over "Eh! Don't give up hope. I'm sure she's fine. You just have to believe that. We'll find her and bring her back with us, bel...I mean, it'll happen for sure..." He finished awkwardly and Kakashi smiled.

They were about to go look for Sakura when one of her clones ran up to them. The clone was panting which meant that it had expended a lot of chakra in getting there and was very excited about something. Sam was the first to react.

'What's the matter? Did something happen to Sakura?' he asked urgently

'No. No, Sas...Sasuke kun. We found his trail in the village. Naruto,' she said turning to the blonde 'He's here.'

The blonde didn't even wait to find out what else the clone had to say, he took off making the kage bunshin seals as he did. Sam wanted to facepalm (as Erica had always called it). With a sigh he took after Kakashi who was already trying to catch up with village idiot.

Pein was furious. Amegakure had been breached. His organisation, in which he felt great pride and hope, had been betrayed. And his wall, the symbol of his village's defence, had a goddamn hole in it! He rubbed his forehead wearily. The worst, though, the absolute worst was that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He called himself a god at times but he had never felt more of a man. Itachi's dramatic defection had left his village open to threat from both outside and inside the village. He had eliminated everyone connected to the original leadership of the village, (including children and dogs) but there were still factions that were discontented and waiting for the chance to attack. The whole village was under curfew and the rain was falling. It would continue to fall until the men were able to repair what was a gaping hole in their defences. He clenched his fists. He wanted very badly to go after Itachi but the strain of the Rinnegan meant that his physical body was too sickly to travel. He could send his other bodies but they wouldn't be able to travel far enough to track down the traitor down, especially if he was headed to Konoha as Pein suspected. It was an untenable situation and it was pissing him off.

"Konan..."

"Nagato, I am not leaving you in this mess."

"I am fine. You can track them down in less time than it will take anyone else and I can trust you to deal with him when the time comes. Do this for me." He turned to look at her. They were in the hidden chamber at the top of the tower, so it was his withered body and blazing eyes that met hers.

"I am sorry," she said "but no, I will not." Her expression hardened. Nagato sighed. In front of everyone else, Konan was the model of servitude and obedience. In private, she was his only living friend and closest ally. If she did not wish to leave him, there was no way he could force her.

"Is there any reason for this sudden treason Konan?"

"Yes, the prediction. Surely you know who she is referring to."

"If she is telling the truth, then yes, I do."

Konan had been worried about the girl's prediction of her death. There was only one man she knew who had a penchant for masks and the jutsu the girl described had been created just for him. The fact that Nagato was going to die (she knew it had to be him and not Yahiko) meant that something had gone wrong with their arrangement with Tobi. She had never trusted him but had trusted Nagato's judgement. Now she wasn't sure. She had finally voiced her concern to him after sending Tobi on a mission to locate the Sanbi. Neither of them trusted the girl or Itachi and weren't sure if they believed her that her ability functioned exactly as they had claimed. However, they were used to betrayal and it would be shocking if Tobi didn't have his own hidden agenda.

"Summon Kisame, Kakuzu and Hidan. I will send them after Itachi and the girl."

"Kisame is the best tracker after Itachi and Kakuzu is reliable but is it wise to send Hidan? His infatuation with Erica seems to have grown stronger. It may interfere with the mission."

Nagato was thoughtful for a moment. "I doubt it. Whatever else Hidan is, he is obedient. His feelings will not stop him from satisfying his God and completing the mission. My main concern is actually Itachi. We need to get her back and I'm not sure that we can. Itachi may be unpredictable but that makes him a brilliant strategist. We have very little chance of catching him off guard so we will have to distract him sufficiently to retrieve the girl. If the three of them can't do that, either Itachi will get away or he will kill the girl to prevent her ability from returning to our hands."

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