It seemed useless. For the past few weeks Sasuke and Gaara had been chasing rumours and speculation and they had seen so much about people, too much maybe. It had become all too easy for people to point the finger at others, to divert the blame elsewhere to save their own skins. They had ended up doing the usual knock on doors in the middle of the night, and old tried and tested ANBU mode of operation but most often, after tearing the doors of their hinges they had left families confused and terrified behind them as they had expected to be taken off or killed and didn't know how to feel when they'd been left alone after a brief but furious interrogation.

Gaara had been strangely amused at the look of shock of people's faces as he and Sasuke left their homes, their families still intact and hadn't made any comments beyond that against Sasuke's disinterest in arresting anyone even if there was a solid suggestion that they weren't happy with the way Fire Country operated anymore. Even after their brief heart to heart of sorts it seemed that Gaara was unable to figure out what Sasuke was thinking even now.

But he had never, in the years they had been together, hurt anyone he didn't have to. It was an odd sort of thing that Gaara had easily recognised because most people in ANBU, himself included, didn't have it. There was some sort of value in life that Sasuke still sought to preserve. It was bizarre and Gaara couldn't understand why, with the world in such a state, Sasuke could still find something to preserve. Gaara though that he would have probably found it laughable in anyone else but Sasuke but he found his partner strangely convincing and he had never seen Sasuke do anything unnecessarily. He never hurt anyone needlessly, preferring to knock them unconscious or target areas that wouldn't give then serious wounds. He had often seen Sasuke look, with some distaste, at the mutilated bodies their co-workers often left behind when they were on clean up duty.

They had moved from the old Fire Temple grounds through neighbourhoods in the industrial towns and run down villages asking if anyone had seen the dark haired man they had found in Konoha, or if anyone recognised the delicate necklace Sasuke had picked up. So far they had had little success with the necklace, no one had recognised it and although they had been told by a former jeweller that it was an old piece, and well made, he had to add, they would be hard pressed to trace its origin or who had made it as it wasn't really a unique design, with no engravings or anything to mark it out as special.

Still with the description of the resistance member and Gaara's own brand of persuasion with Sasuke's odd in put they had managed to get somewhere. Leaving a trail of bewildered and terrified citizens behind them they had, without knowing, managed to scare people out of helping the Resistance because somehow having two ANBU operatives storm into your home in the early hours of the morning, demanding answers and then leaving the family a bit battered but still intact was more unnerving than the expectation of death it seemed.

Not that either of them knew they had caused the sudden drop in support for the Resistance, those people were fully prepared for death but not an almost apologetic mix of menace and questions after they were shortly dragged out of bed, besides most people got out of their encounter with most of their fingers intact once they started talking. As they both knew that it was the most effective way to get reliable information and Gaara wasn't squeamish about these things at all even if Sasuke felt able to show more hesitance to his partner, maybe even his sort of friend, about these things after all they'd been through.

It was frustrating though, with no clear leads they were stuck just aimlessly wandering the place and as neither Sasuke nor Gaara were the type to slow down and enjoy the countryside so they just ended up feeling irritable. As it were they were stuck in a small town midway between the countryside Konoha resided in and the cluster of heavily built up industrial cities that sprawled across what was probably once a picturesque piece of the country. Now they had spread outwards to contain the overspill population and new factories that belched out smoke so they were almost running into each other.

From the small town Sasuke and Gaara could look out to see a thick cloud of smoke creating an almost permanent haze on the once side and then the fresh looking country on the other. It was an odd place, an outpost of sorts between the two radically different places that had developed over the years of Danzo's reign separating the farm hands from the industrial workers to a point where they seemed almost alien to each other.

They had stopped here as they had reasoned that most people still travelling would have to pass through a place like this so they should, theoretically, be able to get some solid information at last.

And it worked to a certain extent, they had found someone who happily admitted to seeing someone of the body's description after they had posed as some concerned friends. Sasuke couldn't help being slightly amused at Gaara's pretend friendly expression it seemed so wrong on his face but the man they were asking for assistance didn't seem to notice.

The people here were strangely helpful, maybe they were so used to seeing people come and go that any disappearances could simply be dismissed, put away in a dark corner of their mind they never examined. Whatever the reason it was useful and they found that the man had come from one of the industrial suburbs that were a day or two's travel away, and at last, to both Sasuke and Gaara's relief they seemed to have a starting point.

Then, at last, a week later they had a name, Asuma Sarutobi, and with that they suddenly realised why this man had been hunted down so persistently by ANBU before they got there, even if he was a just distant relation of one of the former Hokage's he would be a dangerous rallying point if word got out. It meant everything could change.

And it did. Things changed the exact moment Sasuke and Gaara knocked on the door of the house Asuma was reported to be staying in, when the door swung open and they were greeted by a woman, still young but certainly older than both of them, with a small bump where she was carrying a child. Asuma's child.

"Can I help you?" She asked pleasantly and strangely Sasuke felt his stomach clench with unease, it looked like she didn't know anything about what had happened.

"You know someone called Asuma Sarutobi?" Gaara asked bluntly and the woman's face closed up. "I'll take that as a yes." Gaara said, the woman seemed to automatically move her hands to shield her stomach. Sasuke looked at the gesture fixedly, his gaze fixed of the protective gesture.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked softly but the woman flinched slightly.

"I-" She stuttered.

"Can we just come in?" Sasuke asked, "you don't want us to have this conversation on your doorstep." The woman stepped back and indicated that they could come in with a wave of her hand, but it was shaking slightly and Sasuke didn't know if she was scared of them or what they would bring to her. Sasuke and Gaara followed her into the small but perfectly tidy house. There were odd plants everywhere, well tended to in pots and vases on different surfaces.

"What do you want from me?" She said turning to face them in a hard voice, her earlier fear seemed to have left her and both the ANBU agents felt a grudging respect for the women who was so ready to face them. So instead of the usual questions they had been asking about Asuma and the Resistance Sasuke heard something else coming out of his mouth.

"That man, Asuma Sarutobi, he's dead." The woman gave a horrified gasp and she went completely white. Sasuke stepped forward and took her arm, and eased her back to sit on the sprawling couch that was worn and sagging in places. They said nothing to comfort her, neither of them would know what to say even if they wanted to, but for the first time they really saw the impact of what their job left behind. It wasn't just the scared families as someone was dragged away with them but that they were always left behind, grieving for someone they didn't quite know what had happened to whether they were dead or imprisoned they were still lost to them. Neither of them had been forced to consider those left behind, like the child this woman was carrying that would never see or hear it's father.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked taking more deep breaths as she rubbed her hand over her stomach.

"I don't know," Sasuke said and she turned and looked, for the first time, straight at Sasuke's face, her mouth twisted into a strange bitter expression.

"You're so young." She said and Sasuke jerked back, he couldn't help it, there was something strange, almost comforting in her voice, something he wasn't used to anymore. She looked at Gaara as well and the younger man shifted slightly under her gaze. "Both of you, what have they done to you?"

"What makes you think we didn't ask for this?" Gaara asked, folding his arms and she smiled softly at him.

"That question, and your eyes." She said.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked again, as he could see that, if pushed, Gaara would demonstrate how much he could enjoy his job on the woman between them.

"Kurenai, I'm," She paused "I was going to be Asuma's wife one day." She said and Sasuke thought about the figure they had found partially frozen in the snow, blood strewn around him. The woman before him didn't need to know anything about that, and for the first time, Sasuke wondered why they were here. Why they had to relentlessly pursue any roots they could find of the members of the Resistance, to try and find more members they were connected to and destroy more families.

"There's no need to ask who you too are," Kurenai continued breezily, "I knew it was only a matter of time before ANBU came knocking on our-" She finally faltered slightly "my, door. Although I confess I always thought Asuma would be with me then." She sighed, "Still, won't you at least tell me your names?"

"Why?" Sasuke asked and Kurenai frowned at him.

"Don't I have a right to know whose tracked us down to be able to, well who found me, you asked my for my name after all."

"No," Sasuke said and for the first time in years he felt his age, still as a young and slightly awkward young man instead of the hardened killer he had been trained to be. "I'm mean, if you knew you'd eventually get found why did you even join or associate with the Resistance?" Gaara shot him a hard look, this was outside of the usual line of questioning. Reasons didn't matter to Danzo, only stopping the Resistance in its tracks did.

"Because this isn't right, and I always hoped that maybe some child of mine would be able to live in a world that isn't so messed up." She said softly running her hand over her stomach. Sasuke and Gaara stared at her as if she was some sort of foreign object. Kurenai smiled slightly to herself and then she reached out to take Sasuke's hand, he was too stunned to protest.

"Here," She said gently, pressing Sasuke's hand to her firm stomach, it felt oddly firm and then there was something. "Did you feel that?" She asked, "The baby's moving." Sasuke pulled away wordlessly and Kurenai beckoned Gaara to come towards her and to Sasuke's amazement the other man did just that and allowed her to place his hand over where the baby was still fidgeting.

It was strange how she let them do it, let their hands that had killed and punished so many people feel the life growing inside her.

"I think this little blob is worth protecting." Sasuke looked at her in disbelief and she gave them a shy smile, thinking that it was because of the name she called her baby that she was getting the strange look. "We never wanted them to guess the name of the sex, we wanted a surprise so Asuma and I used to call it a blob growing inside me and it sort of stuck. It's better than 'it' at least." Out of the corner of his eye Sasuke could see Gaara flex his hand slightly, almost thoughtfully.

"You're not scared of us," Sasuke said quietly.

"What more could you do to me now Asuma's gone?" Kurenai asked.

"So much." Sasuke said softly but neither he nor Gaara made a move towards her.

"Does it matter anymore?" Kurenai said hollowly, "Without Asuma do these things have to matter to me anymore?"

"Yes." Gaara said suddenly. "Because he died for whatever cause you have and most of all you should be running for your life to protect yourself and your child." Kurenai starred at Gaara and then bowed her head slightly, Sasuke didn't look at this partner, however much he might want to it was best not to react to whatever outburst Gaara had it sounded a little personal and Gaara never liked it when people began to pry.

"I was so looking forward to going through all this with Asuma," Kurenai said rubbing her hand across her stomach, "The birth, crawling, first words, first steps. I'm not sure how I could even do that alone when he was meant to be with me every step of the way." She smiled but this time it was without bitterness.

"Then why was he away from you now?" Sasuke asked. Kurenai sighed.

"One last mission." She said, "I joked about that, I said he could never have just one more mission and stop there, he really lived for, believed that he was doing the right thing, that eventually he'd have a new world for our baby to grow up in. I think I always believed in Asuma more than the Resistance itself, it's funny Asuma was meant to be back soon so they'll probably send someone out to look for him now it probably shows you how bad things are as despite their best efforts I get told by ANBU that Asuma's dead before his friends tell me."

"They might not know yet." Sasuke said suddenly and Kurenai made an odd noise that was part way between a scoff and a sob.

"They don't tell us anything unless they have to. I'll admit to helping the Resistance," She added defiantly, looking them both in the eye in turn, "I've gone on missions for then, I've leafleted, appealed for support I've even fought ones of you when I've had to, don't think I've been taking a back seat in it all. It's only recently I stopped."

"When you found out you were pregnant." Gaara said and Kurenai nodded.

"We hadn't told anyone else yet, maybe we should have it might have stopped them sending him off on some stupid mission." Sasuke thoughtfully fingered the necklace in his pocket.

"We found him in Konoha, " He said, "if it helps you, he was far out from here, we don't know where he came from, we were just to collect-" Sasuke paused, "collect him after he got away, but there were a few tracks for us to follow and it looked like he had travelled some way before ending up there."

"Dying there." Kurenai said and Sasuke nodded, "You don't have to shy away from the word, I've seen it. I've seen so much of it now and I am sort of proud of him. He died doing something he believed in, I should be more than proud of him." Sasuke drew the necklace out of his pocket and Gaara watched him thoughtfully.

"Here, is this yours?" Sasuke asked and Kurenai gently took it from him and ran the delicate chain through her fingers.

"No, it's not mine. Why do you think it is?" She asked and Sasuke felt slightly awkward, something Gaara didn't seem to acknowledge or maybe even care about the implications of finding someone else's necklace near someone who was practically married to another woman.

"Sasuke found it near Asuma's body." He said simply and if Sasuke hadn't seen and done half the things he'd experienced as a member of ANBU he might have actually flinched at Gaara's insensitivity. But then again it wasn't like they had ever learnt about these sorts of matters. Emotions were to be completely suppressed, nonexistent not encouraged for matters if delicate enquiry like this.

"I see." Kurenai said evenly. And they sat awkwardly together, neither Sasuke or Gaara knew what to say so they said nothing but the silence they were so used to together felt uncomfortable with Kurenai there. "Is there any chance it could have from anywhere else?"

"No one else had seen the body." Gaara said and for some reason Kurenai turned to Sasuke and suddenly under her watchful gaze he felt as if he was five years old with his mother looking disapprovingly down on him again.

"Is that true?" She asked and for the first time in a long time Sasuke through of the letters scrawled in the snow.

But from Konoha? That scrap of a village, it had once boasted some sort of former glory but now all that was left of it was a few clustered houses and shops together amongst the wide expanses of farmland. Older structures had been left to ruin if they were made of stone or dismantled for firewood, the people in the country were nothing but practical there, they had no room for sentimentality so how could such a delicate looking necklace have come from there.

Still Kurenai's expression moved Sasuke to respond.

"No," He said at last, "Someone else might have seen it." Gaara gave him a sharp look.

Someone who had written a message for a dying man in the snow, someone who had been stupid enough to do that despite the threat of ANBU raid looming over them, someone who was probably cloyingly sentimental enough to have a necklace like this and hold onto it when everything else was being sold off to buy survival, it was probably one of those things that had meaning.

"Who?" Gaara asked sharply and Sasuke shrugged.

"There was something written in the snow." Gaara narrowed his eyes at that.

"And it conveniently slipped your mind before did it?" He asked icily shifting slightly to square up to Sasuke. Sasuke stood up to face him properly. They were about the same height when they were both standing but as he had been sitting down with Kurenai Sasuke had been given the impression of Gaara towering over him. Something he didn't like at all.

"No, if you must know I deliberately didn't tell you." Sasuke said clearly and the anger in Gaara's eyes blazed. He didn't ask why, they both knew the answer was because Sasuke didn't fully trust him and it went the other way too. Neither of them fully believed in the other, they trusted each other enough to look out for each other in a fight or against other ANBU teams but they would never fully put their faith in each other.

"Don't," Kurenai said softly but it was said sternly enough to make them stop and take notice of her. "You shouldn't fight amongst each other, not amongst friends, it's the biggest problem we have in the Resistance."

"We're not in the Resistance." Sasuke said firmly.

"And we're not friends." Gaara said after him and Kurenai gave them both a measuring look.

"I don't believe that." She said.

"Forming emotional connections with people will only become a liability in the long run," Sasuke said, and it sounded almost like he was quoting something. Kurenai was shocked.

"Is that what you're taught?" She asked, "as ANBU?" She looked sickened. "Dear God, no wonder we have you all wrong. People need people you know." Gaara snorted and looked away but Sasuke continued to watch the other man thoughtfully.

"People find it too easy to lie, cheat and betray other people," Gaara said firmly shooting Sasuke a sharp look, "why would we depend on something so unreliable as other people." He turned and left the room and Sasuke gave Kurenai and almost apologetic look when the front door slammed.

"Sorry," She said, "it looks like I may have gotten you in the middle of something." She carefully pulled herself off the sofa and Sasuke stepped forward to steady her but she batted him away. "Please, I'm fine, what is it with men and pregnant women every one of them seems to think that you lose the ability to act for yourself once you get past a certain weight." She gave Sasuke a slight smile. "Are you going to be okay, with your friend?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to correct her again but decided that if she didn't listen the first time it was unlikely that she would again.

"He'll come back." He said eventually.

"Really because he seemed pretty angry with you to me," Kurenai said and she disappeared into another room that Sasuke guessed was the kitchen from all the clattering she did in there.

"Really," Sasuke said. "Neither of us has anyone else to go to anyway." Kurenai walked back into the living room.

"I'm sorry," She said and then gave him a bright smile. "Now if he's coming back here do you want to help me make dinner so we can have something when he comes back, I don't have much but I have sure learnt how to stretch food over the past few years, I think I've got some stock somewhere so how about stew?"

"What?" Sasuke asked slightly alarmed by the sudden change of conversation.

"Dinner?" Kurenai said again, "don't you want to stay?"

Sasuke stared at her. All his life they had been told that the Resistance were weak, always to the point of crumbling and were just running around without a plan forcing Danzo to waste time and effort but in that moment Sasuke though that ANBU had it wrong. These people were formidable and seemed to have no sense of fear. Who else would invite one, no two, known ANBU agents to eat with them.

He accepted, it was a nice gesture and he felt slightly strange to receive such kindness from a woman after he'd told her that her partner was dead, but it was hard to shake old habits and, although he helped her out in the kitchen, it was more to check that she wasn't planning on poisoning them or anything than out of kindness. Luckily, Kurenai didn't notice the scrutiny he gave her ingredients, or maybe she was used to weird habits, either way she didn't comment on it.