"Hey, Itachi-teme, un!"

Deidara dove directly into said teme's path, blocking him from entering the restroom. As per usual, Itachi didn't even look miffed.

After a few moments of dodging around in the bathroom doorway, Itachi finally relented.

"What is it, Deidara-san?" he monotoned, and Deidara rolled his eyes expressively.

"I'm just in a good mood, Itachi-teme! I met a boy who looks like you, but he wasn't a bastard at all, un!"

Itachi froze, which Deidara noted was a very odd reaction.

"Where."

Deidara narrowed his eyes. Itachi-teme wasn't interested in anyone. Or anything, if that time he'd utilized one of Sasori-danna's puppets to make suggestive overtures at Itachi was any indication.

"Places, un. Why are you so interested?"

Itachi-teme's eyes narrowed. "Because you are evidently going to block entry to the bathroom until you tell me. What was his name?"

"Oh, Haru or something, I don't remember. He had much nicer hair than you though, un."

"And where was this 'Haru'?" Itachi-teme asked coldly, invading Deidara's personal space and activating his Sharingan.

"In that shithole Wind Country, on the border." Deidara lied slightly, still grinning like a maniac. Maybe Itachi-teme would go off in the wrong direction and get swallowed up by quicksand. That would be good. "He told me that I was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, un!" Deidara stated smugly.

"Hn."

Itachi had laboriously checked every border town that seemed likely to hold interest for Sasuke, though there wasn't much that held interest for anyone out in the vast deserts of Wind Country. He would have asked Sasori, but… Itachi didn't quite have the capability to talk to the dead.

The only option left to him was looking for signs of Sasuke's passing himself, being that Deidara had obviously lied about where he'd met this 'Haru' and was unlikely to have a sudden change of heart.

But after checking every border town, his search had borne little fruit. The only information he had gleaned from his contacts in Suna was that there had been an elderly, unidentified diplomat there almost two months ago, with a young, dark haired male assistant. They had left a mere week or so before Deidara and Sasori had attacked and abducted the Kazekage, and no one knew where they went.

He chastised himself for thinking that it was a possibility in the first place. Sasuke would never traipse around the countryside with an elderly companion. He did not possess the patience necessary for that kind of activity, and would not find it a good use of time he could use for training.

Of course, Jiraiya had informed Itachi that his brother had run off from Konoha to learn from Orochimaru. He may have just traded one geriatric for another.

Unfortunately, Itachi didn't know.

The cold, logical part of him stated that Sasuke was dead, and likely had been for some time. Sasuke had always been fond of the overly dramatic, and caused a stir wherever he went. If he was still among the living, Itachi would have heard of it.

Of course, he somewhat had. Deidara wouldn't have mentioned meeting someone that looked like him to antagonize him (well, of course he would, but Deidara didn't even know he had a sibling, or any family for that matter).

For someone as self-absorbed as Deidara to notice a resemblance, it must have been striking.

Itachi's finger muscles twitched, wanting to pull into a fist, but he forced himself to remain calm. If Sasuke was still alive, he would eventually find Itachi.

But Itachi had no desire to wait for Fate to tip her hand. If Sasuke had been in Wind Country, it was likely he would have stopped in Suna, for shinobi supplies if nothing else. One could only go so long without clothes and chakra pills, after all.

Unfortunately, the Kazekage was miraculously alive again and in Suna, but Itachi had no reason to antagonize him. They'd already gotten what they wanted from Gaara, anyway.

Sasuke leaned back and rolled his shoulders. They were starting to cramp after being hunched over a desk, reading contracts and writing letters.

If this was what office life was like, the Kage could have it. His neck ached.

"Did you finish your letters?" Sifu approached amiably from the doorway, and Sasuke grunted in assent. He'd written a short missive to Sakura (the woman had probably flooded their house with useless letters about how ugly Yamanaka Ino's new haircut was, if he didn't occasionally respond she might actually attempt to locate him for an in-depth explanation and painful apology), and a letter to the woman he was in a reluctant and semi-abusive relationship with.

Not that a strong kunoichi wasn't attractive, but he'd rather prefer that his intended didn't actually enjoy bludgeoning him.

"I'll just take these and mail them, then." Sifu smiled disarmingly, which Sasuke knew meant something was about to go disastrously wrong.

"What's that package, Shishou?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, as Sifu tucked his letters on top of the mysterious and intricately wrapped box.

Iroh only smiled again, and Sasuke clenched his jaw in irritation.

"It is an important package, for a person of vast import, Haru-kun."

In other words, it was bad news. And Sasuke wasn't going to get to know what was in that box until it metaphorically jumped out and strangled him.

Sasuke huffed, and turned back to the desk. He needed to memorize the going rates of various imports and exports of Water Country, he didn't have the time to rifle through packages that were probably just potpourri for whatever gullible lady his Shishou was manipulating.

Disguising themselves as merchants was more difficult than he'd thought. He needed to be familiar with prices and trends all over the continent, and fluent in gossip. Merchants were an excellent disguise, if one could manage it.

But even if you navigated the social currents correctly, and looked the part, you still had to have merchandise. And without Sifu's seemingly unlimited budget (and absolutely uncanny fashion sense, according to the female customers), that would be impossible.

Kami, at the end of this apprenticeship, Sasuke was going to be qualified to do anything and everything. Except maybe flower arranging. He'd leave that one to someone else.

Temari burst into her brother's office, knocking over a terrified office worker as she threw open the doors. Kankuro stilled immediately, like a cornered rat. Gaara looked up at her from his desk, momentarily distracted from their previous discussion.

"What did I tell you?" She crowed victoriously, waving something shiny under Kankuro's and Gaara's noses.

Kankuro, ever the chump, took her bait. "That if we didn't brush our teeth, you'd flatten us? Or is this about the magazines in the linen closet?"

Temari closed her eyes. Later. She would burn his dirty magazines later. Now was the time to gloat.

"My loving boyfriend sent me a gift!" She again shoved the Ogi-bira kanzashi under his purple-painted nose.

"It looks like my fan, don't you think? And it even has an enameled Calochortus Plummerae on it, see?" She pulled it back to a point where Kankuro could see it without crossing his eyes and staring down the bridge of his nose, and traced the flower reverently.

Kankuro and Gaara remained silent, and Temari huffed in extreme irritation.

"No wonder neither of you will ever have girlfriends, you have absolutely no taste. In any case, you were wrong, Kankuro, and my boyfriend is fantastic and devoted and definitely not trying to run away from me."

Gaara at least had the grace to put on one of those warm smiles he'd been laboriously practicing and nod. When he lightly kicked Kankuro under the desk (did they really think she wouldn't notice?) Kankuro dazedly followed suit.

"Hmph." With that, she turned on her heel and went back to her room. She really should thank Haru-kun for the thoughtful gift. He had even thought to include a note, explaining that he had ensured it would be combat-usable and able to be coated in poison if she wished.

Violent, and sweet. Just what she'd always wanted. Plus, he had wonderful taste in desert flora. She bit her bottom lip as she tried to think of the best present to send him in return. Her adorable boyfriend had carried a katana with him, hadn't he?

If she'd been concentrating, she would have noticed the dark-haired man in a purple mesh shirt before she ran directly into him, but she did manage to note his presence in time enough to whip her fan off her back and around to smack his torso into a wall.

"Out of my way, loser, I'm going shopping for my boyfriend!"

Itachi blinked stupidly, and mentally chastised himself for getting blindsided by a kunoichi on a shopping spree. He hadn't sensed any killing intent, and had somehow mistaken the absence for relative safety. He should have known better. Even in the markets, away from the Kazekage Tower, there were likely competent ninja.

'That was embarrassing. But wasn't that the Kazekage's sister?'

It wasn't surprising that a kunoichi of her rank and lineage would be courted, but all the rumors around town stated that she was about as approachable as Manda.

Itachi wasn't the type to be beholden to rumors, however. Whatever was going on with Sabaku no Temari was no business of his.

Itachi had spoken to the few contacts available in Suna, and checked for information in various drinking establishments. The markets were the last resort, and didn't appear to be promising. Itachi wove through the streets, and smoothly flirted with a tea shop owner who hadn't happened to see his so-called cousin.

Itachi supposed that it was actually an accurate request, the henge he was using was a cousin of theirs. Distinctly Uchiha, but definitely not himself.

Try as he might, since no one had seen Sasuke, Itachi was forced to admit (at least, temporary) defeat.

His search had thus far turned up absolutely nothing of note, and he was feeling distinctly disheartened. And somewhat hungry.

He had seen a promising looking dango stand in the market, hadn't he?

Itachi flowed through the crowd, and made his way back to the stand he'd noted before. After he placed his order, he leaned onto the table and rested his head in his hands momentarily.

Where would he check next, or should he just admit defeat? There were no further clues as to Sasuke's possible location or that this 'Haru' had even been real.

"Ugh, did you see Temari rampaging down the streets again?"

Itachi deliberately held his tongue, and waited patiently for the gaggle of kunoichi (though that may have been a generous term) to vacate his general area.

"Yeah, at least poor Haru-kun escaped. I bet he ran right out of Wind Country to get away from her."

Itachi stilled.

Had he really managed to find the information he'd been seeking by getting a snack? It boggled the mind.

"You mean that gorgeous, black-haired boy? He was so dreamy. How did that ogre manage to latch onto him, anyway?"

"Oh, you know Temari. She just snapped him right up, and hauled him all around like a trophy. Can't imagine he enjoyed it, though. She's so… manly." The kunoichi sniffed imperiously, and Itachi's fingers clenched slightly around his face.

When his dango arrived, he devoured it as quickly as he could without appearing rude or in actual haste, and tossed payment on the table.

At least now he had a lead.

Hi, I'm trying to be reliable again. I had work and tests and things for a while.

Incidentally, though I would never ever withhold chapters for reviews, they do help me to write faster, especially if you have any interesting comments that give me ideas of what to write. Otherwise it feels like I'm writing into the vast vacuum of space. Not that I won't probably update anyway, but inspiration is hard to come by in an office job.

So, thank you for reading, and please review :)