"He's not coming back, is he?" Seishirou asked as they were ditched in the village. Ryo shook his head. "…Jerk."

"I believe Sasori will come back," Hitomi declared loyally. Her brother spared her a withering, 'are you kidding me' look. "Logically, he will want backup, and unless he rejoins Kakuzu or his partner, we are the only choice he has left."

"No, I think he's more of the loner type."

"More of the 'leave me the hell alone or I'll kill you' type…" Seishirou muttered under his breath. "So…what choices do we have? Wait for him here, wait out the entire thing here, or pursue him?"

"I want to get clean," she said automatically. "Now."

Ryo shrugged. "Works for me. Won't hurt us to get some proper food, too…"

"Clean first."

"Do you think the civilian villages still do the whole shinobi getting free rooms deal?" the ginger-haired boy asked his teammate.

"There's no way that they could have heard about Kirigakure yet," Ryo said, "So of course." He reached back and untied the knot of his hitai-ate, pulling it off of his head. "Thus, this is going to be our meal ticket. And room ticket."

"And clean ticket." Hitomi simply would not let the matter drop; Seishirou couldn't blame her. He knew how his sister was; the last week or so would have been hell for her, but at least she hadn't complained constantly.

He ruffled her hair, grinning. "What a trooper. Of course we'll go get clean first." She was caught between smiling from relief and growling at him for further messing up her hair.

-.-.-

Hitomi sunk low in the water, sighing. This was…perfect. Short hair was always the best in hot springs; it meant she didn't have to put it up; she took out her barrettes, though. The onsen wasn't particularly crowded, and even if it was, the girl wouldn't have minded. She would have ripped people apart soon if she couldn't get the grime off of her skin.

Of course, hot springs weren't exactly the best for that, but she needed relaxation, too. Shinobi rule seventeen (or maybe twenty-seven?): keep your body relaxed, for enemies can sense tension. Hitomi smiled in contentment, leaning her head against the wall for support. This was the life.

"Is that little girl alone in here?"

Of course, she could have lived without the whispers from the other women. A few of the younger girls, however, politely kept quiet and shot nasty glares at the older women. Hitomi had to wonder if they were kunoichi (or if any of them were--after all, it was a primarily civilian village). She just ignored most of them, though.

"She's a bit young to be by herself…" one particularly nasty-looking woman whispered to her friend. Hitomi reopened an eye to warily watch her.

"Maybe her brother or father is here with her?" her ally whispered back, discreetly covering her mouth with her hand. The young Hyuuga heard her, anyway. "Or maybe her boyfriend; she's so cute…"

"Eww, really? The black hair is nice--but her eyes. They're freaky."

Okay, if they were going to insult her eyes, then measures had to be taken. Hitomi closed both eyes again, thinking. The water-walking technique was based on releasing chakra from your feet at a fairly constant rate to repel the water below; however, as she had figured out while learning it, if you used too much chakra, you created waves, or even shot yourself off of the surface of the water.

Hitomi used the steam and water covering her body to disguise her movements. Just as she was about to attempt this rather childish form of payback, though, a geyser of water erupted beneath both women, soaking them both and pulling their hair out of their buns. The women gaped, at a loss for what to do. Hitomi, too, was caught off guard; had she done that?!

"You stupid old women. You're obviously civilians." Across the onsen, a pretty blonde woman stood up, placing her hands on her hips. She stepped out of the water and grabbed her towel, throwing dirty looks over her shoulder every few moments. "Those 'freaky eyes' you're going on about happen to possess the Byakugan. You're lucky she didn't fry your insides."

The two gossiping women looked fearfully over at Hitomi, who blanched in reply. Fry their insides?! Was she referring to the Juuken, or was it a bluff? Then, the girl turned back to her blonde savior, logic taking back over. How does she know about the Byakugan? I have never seen her before in my life, Hitomi thought, watching the stranger warily. The blue-eyed blonde sashayed over, and then held out Hitomi's towel for her.

"Come on, Hyuuga-chan. If you stay here too much longer, you'll probably be lynched by the ignorant natives," she said with that same creepy smile on her face as she turned back to the other women. "Not that they'd get far…"

Hitomi reluctantly took her towel. She hadn't necessarily wanted to get out now, but this stranger had a point. If she stayed there longer, it would only cause rancor to develop, and she didn't want to cause a scene. "…Thank you…"

She wrapped it around herself and obediently followed the woman out to retrieve their clothes. As they got dressed, the woman chattered happily away. "Yeah, in all honesty, I probably wouldn't have done that for any kunoichi. It was your eyes--the Byakugan. It came from Konoha, right? I'm a Konoha-nin. Now, before you ask, I'm still alive because I had been on a mission at the time of the Bijuu destruction; me and a couple of others, I think. Not many. What hidden village are you from? Not Konoha; you're much too young. Your parents were probably from there, though, unless there's some other Hyuuga living in other villages, but I doubt that. Are you a genin? Who are you here with?"

Hitomi couldn't help but remember how many times her mother had told her not to talk to strangers. "Uhh…" Then again, this woman already told her plenty about herself, and she had saved her from those nasty women. "I am not yet a genin, and I am here with my brother…" She didn't technically have to know about Ryo.

"And your village?" the woman prompted, pulling on her sandals.

"…Kirigakure."

"Ah. I guess I should have known; it's the only major village around anymore, right? So you're still a student? Well, what are you doing all the way out here? Is your brother a shinobi?"

"He is a genin."

"Tsk." The woman shook her head. "It's almost sad to see genin so far from their villages these days… I mean, back when I was a genin, I certainly didn't go on too many long missions! Especially not with academy students." She sniffed in disdain. "But…it's your mission, not mine, so I guess I have no room to comment. After all, drastic times call for drastic measures."

Hitomi set about to brushing her hair, keeping silent. They really weren't on a mission. In fact, she had never been on a real mission before in her life, so she had no idea what it entailed. Better to keep silent than to accidentally prove the woman wrong. She carefully combed out her black locks before meticulously replacing the silver barrettes, staring solemnly at herself in the mirror. It looked fine… Not a hair out of place. Perfect. Of course, her kimono was another story. She had straightened and smoothed it all she could, but without washing or ironing it, there really wasn't much hope for it. What a pity… She'd have to walk around the village all day with a dirty, rumpled kimono! That just wasn't right!

"You've been traveling for awhile, hmm?" the woman inquired, pointing at the offending piece of clothing. "…And in a kimono? I'm sorry, but what the hell would possess you to do that?" She gestured to her own ensemble. A long, purple skirt, but with slits up the sides to her waist to allow for movement. And it looked like she was wearing pants underneath, anyway. Complete with a matching purple top, of course.

Hitomi wrinkled her nose. "I dislike wearing pants."

"Oh! Well there are plenty of skirts and alternatives out there for young kunoichi-in-training, you know." She beamed at the younger girl. "You don't have to run around in full formal attire!"

"This is not…" She looked down at herself. It wasn't full formal…it was just what she had grown up in. She wore either a kimono or a training outfit; she liked her kimonos (Her training outfit, not so much). This was normal for her.

The woman's smile thinned a bit, and her eyes got a mischievous sparkle. "I knew it. You really are a Hyuuga." Hitomi hadn't ever denied that charge, had she? "And not half, either. Only a full-blooded Hyuuga would wear kimonos constantly, and I only know of two who got out of Konoha in time. Your mother is Hyuuga Hinata, isn't she?"

-.-.-

"Mine's bigger."

"Bullshit."

"Yeah-huh it is, asshole."

"Bullshit."

Both boys stopped dead when they spotted Hitomi. She appeared to be cornered by a blonde woman who had to be a kunoichi of some sort. The student was nothing short of cowering, her doe eyes larger than ever, hands trembling. Seishirou's brotherly instincts kicked in at that point.

He took a running start and a leap, and threw the woman into the farthest wall with a spinning kick. He heard Ryo groan, but he was more intent on the woman. She was definitely a kunoichi; she spun in midair and landed against the wall on her feet, arms out from her sides for balance. Her pale blue eyes locked with his, narrowing. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"What the hell?! I should be asking you that! What were you doing to my sister?!" Seishirou retorted, standing in front of Hitomi protectively.

"Seishirou…" she said quietly, tugging on his sleeve. He didn't turn, keeping ringed eyes on the kunoichi.

"Your sister?" The woman jumped down from the wall, landing on her feet again. She walked towards them, for all intents and purposes a thoroughly non-fighting stance. "You can't--I mean, you look nothing alike."

"So?" As if Seishirou had never noticed that before. But that was beside the point. "What were you doing to her?"

"Nothing! We were just having a friendly conversation, weren't we, Hyuuga-chan?" The woman looked to Hitomi appealingly. The little girl, in return, narrowed her eyes. Then Seishirou caught sight of the hitai-ate tied around her neck.

He froze, and was about to point to it, when he found that he couldn't move. "What the--"

"Very observant of you." A new voice suddenly joined the conversation. It belonged to a dark-haired man, strolling up behind the blonde woman languidly. His hands were holding up a seal, though, and Seishirou stepped forward in sync with this newcomer. "Ino, what have you been doing…? You know I hate damage control."

"Nothing!" the woman, Ino, snapped in a high voice. "But--Look!" She pointed at Hitomi. The man turned his head and Seishirou felt his head pulled in the same direction, mirroring him. "This is the daughter of Hinata!"

"I never said that," Hitomi replied in a low tone.

The man cocked his head to one side (Seishirou, once again, forced to mimic him) and studied her. "…So what?" he finally asked.

"What do you mean, 'so what'?! It means that Hinata's still alive, which means Neji probably is, too!"

"…And? If you recall, they're our enemies as of the last war."

Hitomi looked up as Ryo sidled up behind her. He nodded down towards a black line connecting Seishirou and this man--his shadow. She bit her lip, and then looked back up at her brother's teammate. He wasn't looking at her now.

"Ino, you don't think things through often, do you?" the man said with a sigh. "Look… The last time we saw her, we attacked her. She has the Byakugan. Now add one and one."

"…" Ino just glared at him in response.

He sighed again. "She sees us as enemies. And, knowing Hinata's--or even Neji's--personality, would they allow their children to get near enemies? No. If Hinata was here, which she obviously is not, we would be fighting her now. More likely than not, this girl just lied to you, and this is her genin team, and their sensei is around here somewhere waiting to see if we exhibit outright aggressive behavior. Or they might really be out here on their own; I don't care." He shrugged, shoving one hand into his pocket as he pulled out a carton of cigarettes with the other. "…Either way, this is way too troublesome to get into. Let's just leave now while we're ahead."

"But…"

"They're not Konoha-nin. They have no idea what's going on. Just leave unless you want to fight a bunch of genin." He lit a cigarette and let it hang from his lower lip.

Ino looked ready to say something else, but instead bit her lip and looked down on her sandals. A moment later, however, she brightened again. "Tell your mom I said hi, okay, Hyuuga-chan?"

"My name is Hitomi."

"Okay…" The broad grin melted into a soft smile. "Okay, Hitomi-chan. Tell your mother hi from us, as Konoha-nin, not enemies."

Seishirou stumbled forward as he was released from the binding jutsu. He was already reaching down for a kunai to retaliate with, but Ryo held his wrist as Ino and her companion turned and left. They vanished in a swirl of leaves just outside the door. "…They were assholes."

"Mother does not like you swearing," Hitomi admonished.

"She also doesn't like you giving your name out to strangers, if I recall," he retorted. She blushed but still tried valiantly to stare him down. Seishirou won.

"So, your parents betrayed Konohagakure in favor of the Akatsuki," Ryo said loudly, breaking up the staring contest. "That's an interesting tidbit. Maybe Sasori-sensei should know about this."

"I would be certain that he would already know such a detail."

"Sensei?" Seishirou's response was the less elegant of the two. He was looking at Ryo as if he'd grown another head or suddenly declared his undying love for him. "But--we already have a sensei!"

"Who is not here at the moment," Hitomi piped up. Her brother gave her a flat glare, telling her silently to stay out of it.

"It's polite to call someone that if the situation calls for it--"

"Yeah, if they actually are teachers!"

Ryo rolled his eyes, blowing a few locks of black hair out of them. "I think he's already taught us plenty. With a bit of persuasion, I think we could glean some more important information and skills; maybe he'd be flattered enough to actually take us on as some sort of temporary students, until this entire thing is over. Are you really going to give up the chance to learn under an Akatsuki member, Sei?"

"Well, no, but--"

"What did sensei always tell us?" he persisted.

"'Learn from everywhere'," Seishirou replied dutifully. "But I think he was just rehashing shinobi rule six."

"That's beside the point. It won't hurt to stroke Sasori's ego a bit. He's obviously uptight enough to demand some respect from us, and we might as well oblige."

"If he ever comes back," he muttered darkly.

"Sasori will return for us!" Hitomi exclaimed, obviously still loyal to the redhead. Seishirou groaned; his sister could be won over by the stupidest things… "I agree, however. We should be nice to Sasori, and Ryo's idea is not bad."

Both boys turned to look at her incredulously. Hitomi had never, in her entire life, called anyone by any honorific. If Sasori could bring out that habit in her…Seishirou would admit that he'd be jealous. There were several times in the past where he would have given his leg to hear her call him 'nii-chan' or even just 'Sei'. (But no, it was always 'Seishirou'.) "Are you…serious?" Ryo asked dumbly, staring at her. Flushing a brilliant red, Hitomi hastily averted her eyes, indicating that she, personally, probably wouldn't call Sasori 'sensei' if it killed her, but she thought it was a good idea anyway. Just because he gave them a chance to bathe… Kids and their idols. Such silliness.

"Fine, we'll play it your way," Seishirou conceded, throwing his hands up in the air. "I'll call this ass whatever you guys want me to. If it can give me godly powers like the Akatsuki, good. If not, then what the hell ever. I'm past the point of caring." The other two beamed at him for his undignified retreat.

-.-.-

Hitomi was given Ryo's hitai-ate; it was the only one they had between the three of them. Hitomi obviously hadn't graduated yet, and Seishirou had left his at home. He had actually lost it in the fire, but he wouldn't admit that to either of them.

The little girl was given this responsibility because the boys were operating under the principle that she couldn't take care of herself otherwise. The headband was their ticket to practically anything, free of charge, in the village, and if they got separated, they were operating under the assumption that as shinobi, either Seishirou or Ryo could easily find her.

Hitomi took Ryo's headband like it was his soul. Seishirou grimaced at the display of outright adoration, wondering who really topped in her heart, Ryo or Sasori. That could be a fun game to play later if he got bored, he decided. She tried tying it around her neck, not wanting to mess up her hair, but couldn't quite get the knot behind her head tied properly. Ryo stepped in at that point to help and Seishirou was honestly surprised she didn't faint from the proximity.

The first day passed in boredom. They had no idea what to do, especially after they'd met the Konoha-nin (and couldn't find them again) and got some proper food into their systems. They played a few games of hide-and-seek in the town, until a few of the civilians yelled at them for running on the roofs. The kids went to bed at possibly the earliest time in their entire lives, and slept in the next day until almost noon. It was an unprecedented amount of sleep for all of them, and their bodies didn't know what to do with all of the extra rest, so the second day was spent sluggishly wondering what to do.

Ryo stopped suddenly. His head was turned, eyes glued on a shop front to their left. Seishirou stopped after realizing that Ryo had, but Hitomi would have kept walking had he not snagged her sleeve as she passed. Ryo took a step towards the shop front, just as Seishirou realized what he was looking at. He released his sister and followed his teammate.

Hitomi stood behind them, completely nonplussed as to why two young boys would want to look at pictures of women in bikinis.

The store front had several posters, calendars and magazines plastered up against the glass to attract attention, which it certainly did. Both boys were pressed up against the glass, never having actually seen a store such as this before. Sure, they had seen plenty of naughty pictures and ads for videos in a few stores they'd been too, but usually about this time Miki or their sensei would have dragged them off. Now that they had the chance to act upon this curiosity, simply put, they had no idea what to do.

So Ryo and Seishirou just stood there and stared, hands and foreheads leaning against the glass. Hitomi stood awkwardly behind them, until figuring out that they weren't going to move anytime soon. She seated herself neatly on the dirt below, smoothing out the wrinkles in her kimono, and watched the boys intently.

Not a moment later, she was hauled back upright by a tug on her upper arm. "What do you brats think you're doing?" She looked up, brightening instantly when she saw that her redheaded idol had returned for them.

"Ryo and Seishirou are looking at those pictures," she said helpfully. By then, the boys had pried themselves away from the glass guiltily, and rather red-faced. Both of them wiped their noses on their sleeves to hide the blood.

"…I've almost forgotten how truly obnoxious genin are," Sasori deadpanned.

"Spending too much time in the company of S-ranked criminals?" Ryo offered, voice muffled by the wrist in front of his mouth.

"People are staring at your uniform," Seishirou added pleasantly. Sasori looked casually over his shoulder at one civilian who had been staring at him since his arrival. The poor man paled under his stare and hastily went on his way.

"And now they aren't." He let go of Hitomi (much to her disappointment). "What have you three idiots been doing?"

"Waiting for you to haul your ass back here to pick us up. So how did recon go?" Ryo asked. He pulled his arm away from his nose, after making sure the bleeding had stopped. Most of his wrist and quite a bit of his shirtfront had been stained already, however.

Sasori scowled. "None of your business, brat. You're lucky I even came back for you."

"Why did you, Sasori-sensei?" Ryo asked innocently. "Because we're too adorable to resist--?"

"Sensei? No way. You're not dragging me into any kind of relationship with you little monsters, let alone a teaching one."

"But you've already taught us so much!" Seishirou exclaimed in mock horror. "Why won't you continue teaching us, Sasori-sensei?"

"Quit calling me that."

"You're our only guardian right now, and you're in possession of so much knowledge that we just can't help but want to learn from you!" the black-haired genin said, pouting. Seishirou quickly copied the expression.

"You're wanting to spite me, that's what," Sasori retorted.

"No, it's just that we deeply admire you and you're the only connection to our parents! We need you, Sasori-sensei!" Seishirou crooned.

"I'm leaving. Now. Without you idiots." With that curt farewell, he turned on his heel and stomped away. Without waiting for the boys' reaction, Hitomi pattered after him, attaching herself to his sleeve. Sasori stopped and tried to shake her off. She wouldn't budge. "Let go of me!"

"Please?" she asked. And she used one of her main weapons: her doe eyes. Seishirou couldn't help but grimace. Whenever she deemed it necessary to use that stare, no one, no one, ever was able to resist it. Not himself, not their parents, not Ryo or Miki or even their previous sensei or her own teacher. Sasori stared at her for a long time, trying to glare her down.

"I'm leaving." He won. Hitomi looked absolutely appalled, and then even that quickly morphed into sorrow. She hung her head and sunk to the ground, drawing her knees up to her to rest her forehead on them. Sasori rolled his eyes. "Get up; you're making a scene."

"You will not take us to our parents, and you are abandoning us here with enemy shinobi and rude civilians, with no money or weapons or means to take care of ourselves," came the muffled reply. Seishirou and Ryo glanced at each other. Was this a ploy to get Sasori's protection, or was she actually that brokenhearted about him attempting to leave them? It was hard to tell. Hitomi hesitantly raised her head, looking up at her idol with her signature doe eyes again. "How can you, in good conscience, leave three nearly defenseless children when the Bijuu are on a manhunt? You said so yourself; we can hardly take care of ourselves."

Sasori was fighting a losing battle at this point, and he knew it, too. Looking away to avoid her main weapon, he crossed his arms and said flatly, "You're not going to manage to coerce me into babysitting you three. I'm not Deidara."

"No doubt he would not let his best friend's children alone in the world." Hitomi hid her face behind her knees again. She even faked (maybe?) a little sniffle. "He would not be so cruel and cold-hearted. I thought the reason you kept your human heart was so that you could retain some semblance of your humanity? But that obviously was a lie--"

"Oh, fine! For god's sake, just shut up and follow me!" Sasori burst out finally. He looked rather embarrassed, even if he wasn't flushed. Without allowing them time to celebrate their one victory as a team thus far, he strode away with a swirl of his cloak.

-.-.-

"Where are we going?"

"And are we there yet?"

Sasori had tried to keep his patience. He really had. Even Deidara--or, heaven forbid, Tobi--wasn't as much of a strain on the nerves as those three children. Several times he had to physically stop himself from throttling one or all of them. Ryo was argumentative, Seishirou was snide, and Hitomi wouldn't let him out of her sight. He had to travel agonizingly slow and wait for them to catch up. Moreover, they insisted on stopping several times a day to eat and stop early to sleep. Deidara had never been that whiny!

He had, however, on his reconnaissance mission, picked up on the demons' trail again. While he knew they were very far behind, as they traversed the countryside, he couldn't help but hope that they would still make it in time. After all, he knew that the Bijuu barely tolerated each other. They wouldn't agree to seal one or two, or even three, of them. It would have to be an all-or-nothing thing with that group of beasts. They might have gotten one other body--Zetsu--but that would be it. There was no possible way that they could have all nine already.

They were out what had been Fire territory, at least. It was almost as if shinobi-kind was regressing. No longer was it villages who ruled; it was clans, or tiny, ninja-only towns. All of them seemed only out for themselves, too. There'd be no haven for them unless they could bully their way in on Sasori's reputation. The village he'd dumped them in was the last friendly civilian village for quite some time. They were on their own (which was totally fine with him).

They kept generally to the south. Mostly because he knew that territory the most. And they would hopefully stay out of the way of any enemies.

Then they came upon the desert.

Or, more precisely, what would have been the desert if it wasn't for the glass everywhere.

The three kids stood in awe, shielding their eyes from the glare. Sasori narrowed his; sand plus heat equaled glass. The only heat source that could have done this was the Nibi, but why would it have just wasted all that fire? Unless…the humans had escaped.

This would have been where Deidara escaped from them, then. Possibly the other two as well. So now the question is did they stay away? he asked himself, frowning faintly. If so, then he wouldn't have to follow the Bijuu tracks so desperately and could save that for later, when (and if) they were ready to plan an assault on wherever the demons were stationed; he would also potentially have an ally or two out in the world, somewhere. If not, then he would have to ignore this bid for freedom and continue on his way.

That was probably the wiser course of action, because he had no idea whether or not the escape attempt was successful. All Sasori could surmise was that they got away from the Bijuu, somehow, and the Nibi had resorted to attacking. Before or after that, Deidara sent out his clay bird as a decoy. That was when they had found Sasori for the second time… Had any of the ninja been there with them? He couldn't remember.

"What's that?" Seishirou's question snapped him out of his daze. The genin was pointing over to one of the glass-coated dunes. Part of it had been cracked away to reveal the sand underneath, with jagged edges around it. Something long and fluttering was caught on one of those edges.

Hitomi was the first one to reach it. She had already gently detached it from the cracked glass. "This was…is…mother's hair tie." She held up the indigo ribbon to Sasori. He nodded; of course he knew it. She had always worn it.

They continued on at a more northern angle from there. It was something Sasori wasn't entirely pleased with. If they stayed in Wind territory, then he was familiar with it, but they were angled towards Earth… He had only been there a sparse few times. They had an old Akatsuki base there, but it wasn't very far into the country, and he thought that the farthest in he'd ever gone was on the mission to kill Takamaru. Beyond that was an impassable mountain range. Were the Bijuu living there?

The terrain got steadily steeper and rockier as they trekked. High mountains came into view on the horizon. Sasori spotted the occasional bird or mountain goat, but aside from that, it was pretty lifeless. He doubted that they'd see many villages this far west.

Then, as the sun was nearly setting, he noticed something.

"…When was the last time any of you saw an animal?" he asked, stopping. He held out a hand to stop Hitomi (who always followed behind him). Ryo and Seishirou, up ahead, both halted as well, looking thoughtful.

"…I don't know. I saw a rabbit fifteen minutes or so ago." Ryo scratched his head, looking around. "Why?"

"This terrain…it's not that harsh. I know a lot of animals live here. Birds, goats, rodents, predators, a lot. But…there hasn't been any wildlife for ten minutes or so. An abrupt lack of them." Shinobi training was suddenly screaming at them all to get out of there, now.

Then the Bijuu materialized out of the stone just ahead of them, sharp teeth glistening in the failing light.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: A fight for their lives! After meeting up with an ally and having a lucky break with him, things turn bad. A tragedy occurs, and Hitomi must try to deal with that before the Bijuu turns on her!