A/N: Seems The Center has been subtly moving this whole time!! (gasps) See what happens when someone close to Karin is taken!! Kishimoto owns everything, not me. But I do have one hell of a time writing about it...)

CH. 26: Traitors Caught and Allies Revealed

Neji looked helped the old woman to a comfy chair and then inspected the room. He found three motion sensors and four listening devices. He sent pulses of energy into each and waited until they short circuited. He then looked straight at Konohamaru and talked to the youth.

"So the one that Kankuro attacked is the culprit? Do you have any idea if there are others on the team with kekkei genkais?" Konohamaru looked around and his young eyes seemed to age significantly.

"The smarmy one poisons people by touching them. He may seem overly friendly with Baba-san, and touch the other agents to 'get his point across'. He's perfected his technique under someone's tutelage that much is obvious. He can kill without ever being detected and he has several poisons at his disposal, from the fumes that were coming off him. Each poison has a color to someone with my abilities. Kekkei gekais have their own unique shape and color as well. Yours, for instance, is white and in the shape of an eye around your body. The red head with the braid has a red rose surrounding her, telling me hers is plant based." Konohamaru felt his 'sister' pulling on his arm. He looked at her and she was frantically shaking her head that he should stay quiet.

"We are not alone anymore…someone is here and listening to us…and they're not our friend." she whispered to the youth. Konohamaru hissed and made a seal in front of him. Suddenly, his eyes turned hauntingly pale, almost like he was blind.

"Moegi's right…Ray is outside the window, listening…I don't know how much he heard, but I've blocked him enough to make him think that we got interrupted. The poison master is being contained from what I can sense. Kankuro is on his way. Neji, you need to take care of Ray…NOW." the youth dropped everything and they all looked over at the door right as Kankuro walked in.

He saw their grim faces and Lacey signed what was going on to him. He nodded and started talking. "Karin's really sick…Michi-san…you think you could possibly take a look at her? She was throwing up a few minutes ago…I'm really worried." He heard the light sound of smug chuckling and stiffened. With the blinds shut and the curtain drawn, Ray couldn't see anything. Moegi stopped Neji from moving. She held her arms up to be picked up.

Neji arched one brow, but when Konohamaru nodded, he picked the little girl up. She leaned over and whispered to him. "I will get him in here…you can do the rest." Neji pulled away from the child, confused. She smiled and then squirmed to be put back down. She walked silently to the window and everyone was amazed the child didn't make a sound. Enzeru noticed the too old look in her eyes.

Moegi stood and put her fingertips together right in front of the window. She body started glowing and when she opened her eyes, it was just like what Konohamaru had looked like. She drew up with her hands just under her chest on either side of her body. Next thing anyone knew, she thrust her hands through the wall, as in they went through it without blowing the wall up, and pulled something in with them.

When she had a firm grip on it, she turned to Neji. "You need to go retrieve his physical form outside before he dies. I can hold him in this form, but I need his body if we're going to question him." Everyone looked shocked, horrified, or amazed. Mostly they were shocked. Konohamaru rolled his eyes and kicked Neji in the shin. When the brunette glared down at him the young boy snorted.

"You have two minutes to get his body up here so that Moegi can put his ghost back in or he dies, then we have no one except a traumatized poison expert to tell us jack shit. Get going pony tail." Konohamaru walked over to Moegi, who looked a little strained. The young boy put his hand on her cheek and she smiled, but there was obviously something wrong.

"What's wrong Moegi? You've never hand this kind of trouble with a specter…" the youth sounded much older than his body suggested. Everyone, except Neji, who'd taken off after the body, stared at the exchange. Moegi was shaking.

"His spirit is wholly evil…I've never felt anything like this before…I feel dirty just touching him. It's sickening to think of the things he's done. You know I get bits and pieces of their memories when I steal them like this. This one remembers a pretty girl, around Karin's age, that was taken by him and another. They…did things to her before taking her to the place with all the green tubes…" they looked up as Choji cursed, looking at the other operatives.

"They're the ones that took Lydia…That's what she's seeing. They took her to the center…can you see anything else?" the large man knelt before her, lending her his strength. Moegi closed her eyes and searched. She gasped and tried to release the spirit slumped in front of her.

"No…don't make me touch him anymore…get him away…he's sick and cruel and evil!" there were tears falling from her eyes now. The spirit started fading away and then Neji burst through the door, Ray's body on his shoulder. He threw it at Moegi, who violently thrust his spirit back into his body. They all heard Ray moan in pain then his eyes started to open. Lacey was the first to react to the little girl's declaration. Her eyes blazed as she held out her arms and vines started wrapping around him. He jerked when he felt his mouth being covered.

Rays eyes flew open to see the people he'd been instructed to spy on glaring at him. The brat who claimed to be the great granddaughter of the old woman was shaking and crying and refused to look at him. He then saw that the things wrapped around him were vines and followed them to their source. He squeaked when he saw Lacey, her eyes burning with rage, manipulating the vines that were squeezing him tighter and tighter.

It was the blonde Hatori girl that finally addressed him. "You…you took Lydia from Inez-obasan…you did…horrible things to her…and then you took her to my father to turn her into another experiment…didn't you?" she hissed, her eyes slowly changing colors. Ray felt panic welling up inside him. How could they have known he was in on that? Then her accusation hit him.

He tried to speak, but couldn't. He glared at Lacey, who looked over at Neji. Neji waved a hand and Lacey uncovered his mouth. When he could speak, he said something that made all of them gasp. "Who the hell is your father? I've never met him before, unless you're a brat of Madara-sama's…which you can't be because he never lets the females live. I know you're not Hetumi's kid because he told us to kill her before we even got back to the lab…that must mean that your father is Minotsu…he has nothing to do with this portion of The Center." the man smiled viciously and then laughed.

"He doesn't have the stomach to do what his brother and Madara-sama does…too many morals. He doesn't know half of what goes on there. That's gonna change though, because Madara-sama will take care of him." Sensing he'd said too much, and not even knowing why he'd said what he did, he clammed up, but it was too late…Karin's face said it all.

Karin dropped to her knees and wailed, making the others cringe. A bubble of light surrounded her as she curled up into the fetal position and cried her heart out. A pulse erupted from her body and then all was silent.

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Sakura crept silently through lightly glowing hallways. She had left everyone at the house with the instructions to guard the 'prisoner'. Gaara had demanded to come with her, but she had given him a sad look and then lightly kissed his lips.

When she did, his eyes widened and then rolled into the back of his head. Sakura had caught him and then given him to his sister. The blonde had been horrified. When asked what was going on, Sakura had smiled sadly and told them she was going after her cousin's dead body. Everyone had stiffened, then looked away.

She still saw the love and hurt in those jade eyes when she'd knocked her lover out. His eyes had begged her to let him help her, but she couldn't risk him…refused to let them touch him. A noise made her stop and listen. Footsteps were coming toward her…she disappeared into thin air, no trace of herself there, not even a chakra signature.

A form stopped right where she had been earlier. She was hidden in the ceiling by some pipes. The form under her looked around and then looked behind it. "Lotus…why did you stop? You should be heading back to the training room. Madara-sama will not be happy if you aren't there when he gets there." another form came up behind the first. This one was tall, obviously masculine, with bluish grey hair. Sakura could see the gleam of light off the glasses he wore.

'Kabuto…he is the one Ookami's container spoke of. The girl by him is like your Karin, but also like Sai. She is very dangerous, koneko. She feels nothing for no one…not even this Madara person.' Sakura felt Saiki moving within her, agitated. Sakura held on with everything in her as the demon wished for her to get out of there.

'Saiki…I have to get Lydia's body out of here. I own Obaa-san and Inez-obasan that much. Karin will be so heartbroken…' thoughts of Karin made Sakura immensely sad. The older girl was so lost right now that it broke her heart.

'The one called Lydia is in a capsule two halls down. She is not breathing, koneko…can you handle that? I do not want you to get caught because of grief. I can revive her, but not here. Even your Heaven's Gate has its time limitation. Get us to a safe place and I will restore her life. It was not her time and this tampers with fate.' Sakura nodded and watched as the figures started moving once more. She felt the female probing for her and hid her presence once more.

Sakura used the pipes in the ceiling to hide her while she traveled quickly and quietly, looking for Lydia's tube. When Saiki told her they were at the right tube, she stopped. There was a figure standing in front of the tube with a hand on the smooth glass outside.

"He killed you so that I could be born…why would he do something like that…" Sakura recognized 'Lotus' from before. The girl had long black hair and pupil-less grey eyes. She was a fully grown adult from what Sakura could see, so her theory of how she came to be had to be off. A noise caught both females' attention and Lotus' expression went blank once more. There was nothing there…she looked like a drone that had wandered off course.

"Lotus…what are you doing here? Why is it that you always come to this tube?" the dark haired man asked, even Sakura could sense the trap there. 'Lotus' looked back at him, then up at the tube.

"The man you put in charge of me said she is pretty. He said I was pretty. I just wanted to see if we looked alike, since he is so fascinated with this girl and with me as well." Sakura was surprised that the girl had so much emotion a second ago and absolutely none this time. Sakura felt the outrage building inside the man, but he just smiled fondly at the girl.

"Kabuto has a loose tongue…we'll just have to fix that for him, ne, Lotus?" the black haired man had a sadistic look in his face. One that Sakura knew well…possessive lust. This old man had the hotts for this young lady. Sakura felt her gut churn. She saw Lotus stiffen again, as if the girl sensed her.

"If you say so. I was waiting for you to tell me what I am to do today. More training would be nice…and hurting that man would do much to alleviate this strange heat blossoming in me. I really do not like being around that man…he looks at me with something in his eyes that makes my skin crawl." Sakura could tell that the girl, Lotus, was intentionally creating problems within The Center's mainframe…the question was, why?

The man stiffened and looked towards a room on their left. "I guess he will have to be dealt with immediately. Lotus…why won't you call me by my name? I know you know what it is…just say it once for me. I would love to hear how Madara would sound on your lips…" there was a hopeful and wistful note to his voice. Sakura felt the girl's revulsion and wondered what was up with this girl.

"Familiarity breeds weakness. I have no time for such things…my purpose is to destroy your enemies, nothing more." with that, the girl walked away, leaving Madara to fume. Sakura heard him mumbling after the other girl was out of hearing range.

"Think that way all you like my dear…but after your purpose is fulfilled, you will give me an heir worthy of the Uchiha name. Just you wait and see…" with that, Madara turned and walked off into a room with the words 'High Voltage' on the outside. A scream made Sakura cringe, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She had to get Lydia and get out. She crawled down the pipe closest to Lydia's tube, all the while scanning for enemies.

'Are you ready for this Saiki? As soon as I bust the glass and grab her we have to teleport as fast and as far away as possible. Think you can handle that?' Sakura asked the neko inside her. She felt smugness in her head and smiled. She drew her fist back and the next thing was an alarm was sounding. The fluids were rushing out of the tube, but there was no one near it.

Lotus came and looked at the tube, no emotion on her face. She was glad someone had come for the girl though. There was a slim chance of saving her and Lotus hoped that someone could. Madara, however, was not pleased. Lotus kept her face blank but her soul was cheering the savior of the mystery girl.

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Gaara woke up with a head ache. He was in his mate's room, but he couldn't sense her anywhere near him. Memories flooded back as he remembered her giving him a sad look, then kissing him. After that, he couldn't really remember anything. He sat up and noticed that there was a guy on a futon not far from him. His siblings and the rest of the team that was supposed to retrieve Lydia were there, looking worried.

Suddenly, 'Wait for You' blared through the room, startling everyone. Gaara looked around and found it to be his own cell phone. He saw Sakura's name and instantly answered.

"Where are you mitsukai-chan?" he demanded, his voice rough and groggy. He shook his head to clear it.

"I'm on my way to the house…I…I have Lydia's body…" she sounded so sad that he wanted to hold her. Then what she said struck a nerve and he remembered arguing with her that she was not going to The Center alone. He growled and closed his eyes, trying not to lose his temper.

"You knocked me out to keep me from going with you…" he accused, his heart clenching. He heard her sigh on the other end of the phone.

"I have lost too many people I love already, panda-chan…I refuse to lose you too." she said in a quiet voice. His anger instantly cooled. He knew it would kill her if he got captured by her mortal enemies. He then felt like an ass for yelling at her for thinking about his safety. He just wished that she had taken SOMEONE with her.

"Mitsukai-chan…I'm sorry I got mad, but I don't like you being in danger anymore than you like me being in danger. Just come home so that I can hold you and pretend you did not just put your life in danger." He said this so quietly that Sakura barely heard him, meaning no one else heard him at all. He could act all soft and cuddly around her, but not in front of the other operatives.

"Hai, Panda-chan. I'll be there in a little bit. I'm going to need your help taking care of Lydia. Saiki says she can bring her back…but that it's going to take time and energy and we need a safe place to do it. I'm putting the house into lockdown when I get there. Warn everyone." She blew a kiss through the phone and he closed his eyes. He loved her so much that it hurt he couldn't hold her right now. He grunted in acceptance and hung up. He went in to warn everyone of what was about to happen.

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If Gaara seems OOC, it's because this is a couple of months after they started seeing each other and he's opened up alot to Sakura. He can treat her like that, but still feels awkward doing so in public. If there are any words that I didn't catch for the glossary, let me know...P