Every time Hitomi woke up, she wiggled her toes, and then her fingers, all before she even opened her eyes. This came about from a rather scarring lesson in the academy about different types of injuries (the coup de grâce lesson followed that one, actually). There were bruises, there was internal bleeding, there were burns, there was the usual assortment of scrapes and cuts, and then there were broken bones.

Broken bones were some of the most terrible injuries you could get. Not only did it usually make the limb in question rather useless, or at the very least impaired in some way, it could cause many other injuries. A broken arm, for example, could come clean out of the arm itself, creating an entirely new wound where it cut the flesh. And a broken rib could easily puncture many organs, both vital and not.

There was one injury, however, that Hitomi never forgot about. Every time she woke up, she wiggled her toes and fingers, because for a week after that lesson, she had nightmares about spinal injuries.

That was the worst injury that could happen, in her opinion. It could kill you. It could paralyze you. It could cause pain and break other bones and was usually irreparable. Hitomi was terrified of somehow hurting herself along the spine.

Eventually, her mother found out about this fear. She took Hitomi aside, and explained that spinal cord injuries were actually quite rare in the shinobi world, because only taijutsu could inflict it, and most shinobi fought facing each other, after all. Hitomi's fears would not be shooed away, however; she just absorbed all of this new information with large, solemn eyes.

In an effort to help calm her daughter, her mother told her that there was usually a very simple way to check to see whether or not she was paralyzed, if she had ever hurt her back. "Just wiggle your toes. If you can do that, and if you can feel it, then you're not paralyzed, Hitomi-chan. Many medic-nin will ask you this, as well. And why not wiggle your fingers? This way, you can be sure that you're completely fine."

Every morning since then, and even the sparse few times she had been knocked unconscious in a training exercise, Hitomi would awake, and wiggle her fingers and toes.

So when Hitomi awoke, she scrunched her eyes closed, and wiggled her toes with all her might. To her relief, she felt them move. Granted, her body's movements were sluggish and delayed, but she had feeling in her feet. Then, she wiggled her fingers as well, and was elated that they moved as well.

Then, she opened her eyes. The sky above her was dark, but there was a light near the corner of her eye; they had a fire. Was something on fire? No, either she had gone deaf or the world was silent. That was not the fire of chaos.

Suddenly, someone leaned over her and peered down at her face. Hitomi didn't register anything more than muddy brown eyes and a dull expression. "Wiggle your toes," the person commanded, and the voice made it clear that it was Sasori. She hadn't truly realized that he'd had brown eyes before; his scarlet hair usually drew her eye before anything else did.

She wiggled her toes, still staring up at him. She hurt, but it was a flat pain. This wasn't the acute pain of fresh wounds, or wounds that tended to bleed. So that, coupled with the darkness overhead, told her that time had elapsed while she was unconscious.

This knowledge was overshadowed by the panic that Sasori's words had wrought, once she realized their significance. If he was telling her to wiggle her toes…she must have suffered some back injury. Spinal injury. What else had the Bijuu done to her…?!

Sasori leaned back, nearly out of her range of vision. "Good. We had no idea what condition you were in until you awoke… Do you know if there's any way to see if a Hyuuga has sustained brain damage?"

"…What?" she whispered in a low voice, unsure of whether or not this was some sort of riddle. Then, a moment later, Hitomi said accusingly, "You talk of my family as if we are a separate species."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "If you don't like it, let me blame it on habit," he replied in an equally quiet voice. Then, glancing at something over his shoulder, he elaborated, "Your eyes have the Byakugan, so they don't have pupils. A common test to check whether or not your brain stem is functioning is to shine a light in someone's eyes and see if the pupil constricts. I was wondering if, for this lack of visible pupil, there was some other way…"

So it had been an honest question. Hitomi moved to shake her head, but Sasori gave a start and hastily put a hand on each side of her face, keeping her still. She didn't like that; it couldn't be a good sign. So he was checking her for paralysis and brain damage? What had happened to her?!

"Don't move. A day isn't sufficient time for your back to heal. I was just seeing if you're still unimpaired and alive."

-.-.-

Seishirou had watched as the Shichibi had almost killed both Ryo and Hitomi. He had watched as Ryo's arm was torn off. He had watched as Hitomi killed Ryo for the sake of putting him out of his misery. Then he had watched as the demon nearly killed his sister as well.

He had watched Sasori and Neji finally drive off the Shichibi. Sasori was unstable; something had happened to tip him one way or the other. He fought like one possessed, one with nothing left to lose. Then his father finally had to lead the Shichibi away, in order to keep it away from his children.

He stared sullenly into the fire, knees drawn up to his chest. Ryo was dead. Miki was dead. Hitomi was as good as dead. His father was probably dead, too, and his mother and sensei and the whole of Kirigakure. The Bijuu were killing everyone.

Neji and Sasori had had an argument, before they left. It was short and loud. Sasori was more than willing to give chase to the Shichibi. Neji accused him of just wanting revenge for Deidara. Sasori then accused Neji of just wanting to get his princess back. Then, Neji had just pointed to where Hitomi's broken little body lay, and said in a thick voice, "Please, Sasori."

Then, Seishirou figured out that Akatsuki members had hearts. They just didn't like to use them often. Maybe logic finally took back over. Either way, Seishirou had watched as his father ran off to keep the Shichibi from coming back, and Sasori just walked over to inspect Ryo's body. Hitomi had been about to deliver the final strike, and in a way, she did: when she was picked back up by the demon, the kunai had fallen from her hands, just high enough that it had enough force to land neatly over his heart. Seishirou wasn't sure if Ryo had actually died from it, or rather from his injuries, however.

Seishirou escaped the fight with a broken leg and a conglomerate of bruises and scrapes.

Ryo didn't escape.

Hitomi almost didn't, either. Her left shoulder was dislocated, she had a black eye, several puncture wounds from the Bijuu's teeth, and a broken back. The Bijuu, when it threw her into the stone wall that last time, and snapped her spine in two places.

She was unconscious for two full days. Seishirou didn't stop crying for that entire time. Then, just as the sun went down, he ran out of tears, and he figured that Hitomi had finally died.

He had gone off to bury Ryo's body while Sasori made a camp and took care of Hitomi. He hadn't known what the puppeteer had done while he was gone.

So he looked up sharply when he heard Hitomi's voice. Sasori was partially shielding her from his view, but he quickly rectified that by standing up, listening to the joints crack. His leg gave a painful twinge, but he ignored it. They'd given him a splint, and that was the best they could do for the time being, without a medic. He limped over. Hitomi's large eyes immediately went to him. "Hitomi…"

"Oh, are you done moping now?" Sasori asked politely as Seishirou sat down beside his sister. Seishirou didn't reply. "Since you're both here, there's a few things we need to talk about."

Hitomi's eyes went back to Sasori. Seishirou, after a brief moment, copied the movement. The redhead sighed heavily, and then turned more fully towards the two children.

"Yes, what happened two days ago was a tragedy. No doubt you're both feeling many different human emotions that you ought to get rid of but just quite can't. I'm here to tell you that you need to get rid of them right now." Seishirou's polite stare slipped into a hard glare. Sasori's lip curled slightly, but he continued regardless. "You're going to lose comrades. It's inevitable. That's why it's your job as shinobi to try your damn hardest to protect them and stop that from happening so frequently.

"But that's neither here nor there. Let's focus on the present, hmm? The past is usually only useful when there's a lesson to be learned," he said, "Human beings are not eternal or particularly long-lived creatures. Eventually, they will break, such as in Hitomi's case."

Seishirou looked at her as she sucked in a sharp breath. "Haven't you told--?"

"No." Sasori paused a moment, and then said bluntly, "Hitomi, your spine was broken in two places."

Seishirou growled, and hit Sasori as hard as he could on the shoulder. The redhead didn't flinch. "Don't just say it like that, you insensitive asshole!"

Sasori looked at him, eyes unreadable. "…You're quite like your mother."

Seishirou huffed, and crossed his arms. Hitomi closed her eyes, exhaling with a soft sigh. "That…does not matter now, Seishirou. The fact of the matter is that this was a great tragedy that cannot be easily fixed. Ryo… Ryo is dead, and now I am of even less use than before…" Her voice had dropped down into a whisper by the last sentence.

"You're not useless--you-you still have your Byakugan, and we--we can--" Seishirou burst out furiously, but Sasori cut him off with a hand on his shoulder.

"She's not going to be any more of a liability than what she was before, so calm down. I've been tinkering with the human body since I was a child; I know how to repair its damage," he said irritably. After a beat, Sasori continued, a bit more subdued, "Her broken bones are mending, and all internal bleeding has been stopped. Other than feeling sore, she should be fine."

"But…my spine…?" Hitomi prompted faintly.

"I replaced it. I've created artificial spines before, though never for a still living human… So I'm not sure about some of the details. Right now, its entirely dependent on your chakra, keeping it flexible and together, in addition to connecting your nerves back to it. If your chakra were to, say, run out, however, I have no idea what could happen. It could snap back to rod-straight, it could fall apart completely--though hopefully the rest of your body should keep it from shifting too much--or it could go completely limp. Any of those could render you incapacitated, which, in a fight situation, would be as good as death."

"…you replaced it?" If possible, her voice sounded weaker than before. Seishirou, too, was unable to comprehend what he'd just heard, really. Hitomi had a new spine? It fed off of her chakra, but…what was it made out of? Was it a puppet spine? What if her chakra should fail her, some day? And what about years from now? Her body wasn't done growing, so how could an artificial spine cope with that…?

"Oh yes. I actually have yours in my bag if you'd like to see it--"

Hitomi promptly fainted.

-.-.-

Hitomi was confined to laying down for the next week. After that, she could only sit up for a week, but after that, she could finally try standing.

She didn't want to do any such thing. At first, Seishirou was worried that she was in pain, but Sasori dismissed that. "She's just being irrationally shy."

"Why?"

"Her kimono is lying over there. Or what's left of it."

Seishirou was soon trying to find a replacement outfit for his sister so she could have something other than the thin blanket she currently lived under. He only came up with an extra shirt. It was a start, but a pathetic one. Hitomi stayed underneath her blanket, barely coming out to eat or speak with either of them.

"Hitomiiii-chaaaan, can't you just wrap the blanket around yourself…?" Seishirou tried coaxing her out of her cocoon. To no avail, unfortunately. So he just sat by her, dourly eating his soup. "We need to get going…"

"To where?" Sasori asked politely, playing shogi with one of his puppets. During this useless time, he had whittled several game pieces out of stone, and after thrashing Seishirou at a single game, now occupied himself by playing against one of his many puppets.

"Somewhere. Anywhere. Didn't you say you knew where we were going?" he asked shrewdly, glaring at Sasori. "Why are we staying here?"

"I was under the presumption that we were waiting for your father."

Hitomi rolled over so that she faced them both, propping herself up on one elbow. Sasori's brow furrowed, and he said, "You shouldn't be twisting your back like that just yet. I don't feel like replacing another one of your spines." She paled, and immediately lay back down without saying a word.

"Why has he not returned yet, then?" she asked, staring up at the stars.

"The Shichibi hasn't returned, either, so look at that instead. Glass half full instead of half empty," he replied, moving a piece on the board. Yet again, he won. "But I suppose you two are tired of eating wild game, so we could make a supply run…"

"Hitomi-chan can't be moved," Seishirou said immediately.

"Then leave her."

"No!" She said it with such a ferocity that it surprised even Sasori. Blushing, she amended, "Please…do not leave me alone…"

Neither of them left for supplies after that admission.

-.-.-

Sasori had waited a month. A month. Neji didn't come back for them. He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he had had it. Deidara was less than a week away, but Sasori had waited and babysat and even saved the little girl's life. And all of that waiting only reminded him of one, single thing.

He hated to be kept waiting.

So one night, while both Seishirou and the little girl were both asleep, Sasori stood up, put out the fire, and went on his merry way. Hitomi was well enough to be moved, if she was careful, and Seishirou could find food for them. He wasn't worried about the children. He was worried about Deidara.

It was easy to find the path, even in the dark. He didn't have remarkable night vision, but he was stubborn. Sasori picked his way through the rocks and stones, steadily heading northwest, ears open for any foreign sounds. He tried to keep as silent as possible, but even he couldn't manage that on the loose gravel. Iwa territory was Deidara's forte, not his.

By dawn, he came to the canyon again. The stench of blood was gone from the area, time slowly blowing it away. Sasori just took a running start over the narrowest part and leapt across it, landing carefully on his hands and feet on the other side. No Bijuu ran out to greet him, so he just kept going.

Three days of constant traveling later, Sasori was in sight of the old Akatsuki lair. It would be ironic if the Bijuu really were housed there, but in a way, it would make sense. It was a massive place, and it was defensible. Not to mention that no one knew where it was, save the Akatsuki members.

He didn't see any live demons, but he did count several tracks, even if they were all leading away from the building. Except for one. Four paws, several tails dragging behind it, and dripping blood the entire way. It had to be the Shichibi. Sasori didn't find any human footprints.

The Suna-nin crept closer to the fortified building, thankful for the darkness. So chances were the Shichibi was here…and so was Deidara. Not to mention Hidan and Hinata as well. And if he was lucky, the seven-tailed badger might have already died from blood loss or something. Even if Sasori wasn't that lucky, he still stood a chance of keeping the element of surprise, and the Shichibi was still wounded. By the time he was pressed up against the outer wall, he was feeling more than confident.

He carefully edged around the building, looking for his old entrance in. Each of the members had their own way in, more from habit than anything else. As Sasori crept into the window, however, he paused.

That demon…it had said that Deidara was already--no, Sasori shook his head to clear the thought from his mind. Deidara wouldn't give up so easily, and somewhere in this building, he was alive, and no doubt busy snarling at the Shichibi.

The redheaded Akatsuki member snuck into the building, blinking in the sudden darkness. There weren't any lights on. Did the demons not know how to work light switches? Sasori peeked his head out into the hallway, a bit relieved that there were at least torches lining the walls. Even he couldn't see in complete darkness.

He crept silently down the corridor, crouching, on edge. His body was tense; at a moment's notice, he could whip out a weapon or a summoning scroll. He noticed the lingering smell of blood, but he easily blamed that on himself. The Akatsuki had been a more vicious group when they inhabited this place; Hidan was still practicing his rituals at all hours of the day; they had captured several Ame-nin to interrogate, torture, and eventually kill to tip the civil war in their favor. He honestly wouldn't doubt it if the entire building reeked of blood because of them.

Sasori reached the first holding cell, but it was empty. No matter. There were three others. But when he reached the second, the biggest, he was slightly disconcerted. If they were still here, he would have thought that they'd be held in there…

Then, Sasori found the Shichibi.

He nearly woke it, too. The demon was curled up in one of the rooms adjacent to the hallway, snoring softly. It was still injured and missing patches of fur, but it seemed a lot healthier than what Sasori would have guessed. …Of course, accelerated healing, he noted, a bit grumpy that he forgot about such a thing.

He quietly tiptoed past, and knew he'd find either bodies or shinobi in the next cell. After all, why else would the only Bijuu in the place be sleeping next to that particular holding cell?

Sasori rounded the corner, and found three human-sized lumps behind a wall of bars. Hidan was propped up against the far wall, head down on his chest. Deidara was in the nearest corner, in a similar position, except for that Hinata was using his lap as a pillow. All three of them were sound asleep.

Sasori knelt down besides them, his cloak rustling around his ankles. He set one arm on his knees, the other reaching between the bars to gently touch Deidara's shoulder. Just as his fingers made contact, the blonde's hand came up and grasped his wrist, and his eyes snapped open, glaring at him. Until he recognized him.

"Sasori…"

"No danna?" he whispered in reply, lips curving in a smirk. By then, Hinata had also snapped to attention, her white eyes reflecting the torchlight as she stared up at Sasori. Hidan's eyes, too, were open and reflecting the flickering flames, until he finally got up and sauntered over, silent as a cat. Soon, all three prisoners were kneeling around Sasori, expressions solemn.

"How did you find us?" Hinata whispered, frowning. "What of Kirigakure?"

"The Nibi wasn't exactly difficult to track." Sasori glanced down the hall, where he had passed the slumbering Shichibi. "I didn't stay around to ask about Kiri. I left as soon as I woke up."

Deidara reached through the bars, resting his hand lightly on Sasori's shoulder, uncomfortably close to his neck. The only thing between their skin was the collar of his uniform. Still serious, Deidara said, "The Shichibi had told us all that it was going to kill you, yeah…"

"It told me that you three had already died. The beast obviously lies," Sasori hissed in reply.

"I ain't dying anytime soon." Hidan sat down, giving his knees a rest. "You know…these idiotic animals already have a lot of their stupid fucking 'plan' planned out."

Sasori cocked his head to one side. "I thought it was just to capture us for Jinchuuriki."

"There's dissent among their ranks. They don't trust each other any more than the Akatsuki did," Hinata said quietly. "They were arguing about who got our bodies…though they've decided by now. Hidan is going to the Shichibi, supposedly."

"Anyone else decided?"

"The Ichibi," Deidara pointed at himself, and then jerked a thumb over to the Hyuuga kunoichi, "and the Nibi, yeah. We think that either the Hachibi or Kyuubi wants Kakuzu. And the Gobi had Zetsu…but they're both dead now, yeah…"

Sasori closed his eyes, giving Zetsu a moment of silence; he was slightly pained that another Akatsuki member had died, especially without their knowledge. They were down to four, and that was if Kakuzu was still alive. …Though it wouldn't stay that number, not for long, unless Sasori sprung his partner and the other two from this prison. "Okay, back up. I'm cutting down these bars--"

"No!" all three of them burst out in furious whispers, enough to make Sasori jump. He widened his eyes and blinked. Hinata continued, lowering her voice once more so that they didn't wake the sleeping Bijuu next door. "Sasori-san, you have to leave us here. You have to go warn Sasuke and his group. The Rokubi was dispatched to capture all of them just a few days ago. We can't let the demons get any more bodies!"

"Then why can't I spring you three now--?" Once again, he was cut off by loud whispering.

"Are you retarded or something?! That would wake the Shichibi, dumbass!" Hidan snarled. "There are so fucking many alarm jutsus on this cell, I'm pretty damn surprised you managed to get this far without tripping any."

Sasori instinctively let go of the bars he was gripping, making sure to make no more sudden movements. "…I'm not going to leave you," he said firmly, hell bent on rescuing them, regardless of what beast's wrath he incurred. The Shichibi was already wounded; four shinobi could easily take it down.

Deidara reached through the bars again, this time pushing Sasori roughly backwards. "Get out of here and go warn the Uchiha brat, yeah! We'll be fine; they don't want to seal any of themselves into bodies until they all have one."

Sasori shook his head fiercely. "I trekked across the country and overcame too many obstacles to just give up now."

"It's not giving up!" Hinata exclaimed. "It's stalling."

"Look, this is the best damn chance we've got at a breakout. The Shichibi is wounded, and we're all in fair enough health. We already know the Shichibi's weakness in combat--" Sasori had purposely worded it that way, to see whether or not they had met up with Neji. Judging on their pathetically hopeful expressions, he decided that they hadn't. So then, where are you, Hyuuga? Sasori asked himself.

"What weakness?!" Hidan asked, eyes glinting.

"…Foreign chakra mixing with their own creates an explosion that shorts out their chakra and causes some pretty heavy damage. In other words…"

"…the Juuken is their weakness," Hinata finished for him. The redhead nodded grimly. That put a whole new spin on things, and it highlighted the fact that Sasori was not going to leave the three of them there if he could help it. Hinata smiled, a bit evilly, but then reached through the bars and pushed at Sasori again. "If we know that, maybe we'll stage our own breakout. But not when you're in the building and can get hurt. Go--warn Sasuke. They can not get the last Uchiha."

Hadn't he just gotten done explaining that?! "I'm not going to--!"

"Go!" all three of them whispered angrily, pushing him through the bars. Sasori's face hardened and he stood his ground. Deidara leveled a glare with him, and hissed, "If they get Uchiha, they're probably going to seal right away. Right now, we have time. If they capture Uchiha, we don't, yeah."

"Then why not right now?" Sasori persisted.

"You try to spring us and every demon within twenty-five kilometers will flock here," Deidara growled, narrowing his visible eye. Sasori couldn't help but notice that his eye seemed more grey than blue right then. Maybe it was his anger--or frustration?--or maybe it was just the dim lighting. Blue was much more attractive, but the blonde gained a certain feral quality in return.

Unfortunately, Sasori didn't need to find this out the hard way.

Because all of a sudden, he sensed something behind him, and felt a blast of hot air on the back of his neck. He slowly turned around, taking in the trio's horrified expressions before he did so. The badger demon, eyes lidded from either sleep or pain, stared down its muzzle at him, snorting at him again.

-.-.-

Seishirou helped Hitomi up. After waiting two days and two nights for Sasori to return, they were forced to give him up. Hitomi clung to her brother tightly, the blanket wrapped around her torso like a bizarre dress. Her stuffed chicken was under her arm; rarely, too, had she let that out of her grasp since Sasori's departure. Holding the blanket against her chest tightly, she fixed her hair as best she could, making Seishirou stand still with a mirror for her. She then turned around and demanded politely (if such a thing was possible, she managed it) that he make sure the back of her head was fine.

Instead, Seishirou found himself staring at the scar that ran vertically down her back, right over her spine.

"Seishirou…" Hitomi said warningly. He honestly didn't know whether she thought he was looking at the scar, or maybe she was just annoyed that he wasn't fixing her hair. Seishirou combed his fingers through the short black locks a few times to please her; Hitomi's wrath was not something he wished on anyone (maybe not even the Bijuu).

"Hitomi-chan, are you…are you ready to go?" he asked timidly, mostly because after she deemed her hair adequate, she began stretching, starting with her arms over her head. Aside from hearing several of her new artificial joints (and some that weren't, he hoped) cracking, the blanket fell from her body, pooling around her feet. Seishirou teleported across their camp, his back to her and red-faced. He wasn't comfortable whenever Hitomi's lack of shame surfaced. Ryo--and his sensei, even!--always joked about how he would have to turn gay if he ever wanted to get laid, he was so embarrassed about female nudity.

Ryo…Seishirou hung his head. Wow, this day was just going from bad to worse. "Hitomi-chan… We need to get you an actual outfit."

"How do you propose we do that?" she asked coolly, coming up beside him. Seishirou hadn't heard her approach, but it wasn't like he jumped. Very high.

"I have a few extra shirts, for starters."

They spent their third day fashioning a new outfit for Hitomi. Hopefully one that wouldn't leave her half naked whenever she moved her arms. She borrowed all three of Seishirou's extra shirts, layering them, and then firmly tied half the blanket around her waist as a skirt. It was suitable, he supposed. Seishirou felt his eyes drawn to her neck, where Ryo's hitai-ate was still hanging. Hitomi watched him with a guarded expression, ready to go on the defensive should he remark on it.

He didn't.

"Let's go."

They headed back east. Because, after all, where else was there to go? West only held demons and dead people. Ryo, their father, their mother, Sasori, Deidara, all of them…except the Bijuu. The demons were immortal, after all, weren't they? It was slow progress, but it was progress nonetheless. Seishirou stopped frequently to consult his map; they didn't want to get too close to any villages right then. People already didn't like shinobi, and they could barely fend for themselves anymore, let alone take on angry villagers.

After two weeks on their own, Sasori suddenly came back.

Or rather, he just happened to pass by them. He stopped long enough to point south, and say in an overly loud voice, "Run."

Of course neither kid did any such thing. Both of them stuck to their Akatsuki body guard once more, Hitomi actually taking that literally. They couldn't detach her from Sasori's hand without breaking her fingers. Not that Sasori hadn't tried. It nearly came down to a fight--what a fight that would have been, a couple of kids against an Akatsuki member--but Hitomi settled it simply when she swapped Sasori's hand to her other, and wrapped her newfound free arm around his waist, wedging herself between his arm and side. With this new position, even Sasori couldn't have detached her without some effort on his part.

"Where have you been? We missed you, Sasori," she said contentedly.

"Let go--I have something I need to do!" He squirmed, visibly upset over this setback. Seishirou watched him, tense; he had demonstrated several times that he was no friend of theirs. What had called him back in their direction? Guilt? Or had something happened that forced him to head back east?

"It can wait," Hitomi said, just as calmly as her previous remark.

"No, it can't! I hate waiting. I hate making others wait, too. So--let--me--go--!" Sasori tried to pull her off of his waist, but Seishirou intervened, scared he'd hurt her. "What are you two doing, anyway?! I told you to run!" Sasori was close to panicking. That was more than unusual. It set the hair on the back of Seishirou's neck standing straight up, in fact. Sasori was jaded; he was a veteran of more wars than they could imagine. He had just fought with the Shichibi only a few weeks ago. Had something happened? Or…was something going to happen…?

"What's going on?" the genin asked, holding him out at arm's length. He wasn't that much shorter than Sasori, and with Hitomi pulling him down, the height different was nearly eradicated. Seishirou used this to his advantage, but even so, Sasori was several ranks above him. If the redhead wanted, they'd both be dead by now. Panic only made this situation more dangerous.

Sasori took a deep breath, and grit his teeth together. "The Rokubi is in the area. It's trying to take down Uchiha Sasuke."

Now why did that name ring a bell?

"And if it manages to capture him, then they are going to proceed with the sealing. Because… We're too troublesome. Now will you let go of me?!"

"The sealing? Of…the humans?" Hitomi asked, nuzzling her face into Sasori's side. He rolled his eyes and continued trying to separate her from his waist. "…Of mother?"

Where have I heard the name Sasuke before? Seishirou wondered. He didn't even hear what Hitomi said.

"Yes! So let go--I have to go stop the Rokubi before that can happen!"

"We can help."

"Hardly. The only thing you two could be used for is bait," he replied harshly.

Hitomi didn't mind. Her cheek still pressed against the black fabric, her eyes closed, and her lips curving gently upward, she said, "I would be bait for such a noble cause. I would be bait for you. You may use us as bait all you'd like."

That jarred the genin boy out of his thoughts. He snapped back to attention, eyes wide. "Hi-Hitomi-chan! You can't just say something like that!!" It wasn't so much that she'd offered; he was more worried that Sasori was cruel enough to use it against her. Akatsuki members were ruthless, uncaring shinobi. Surely they wouldn't be averse to using small children as shields…

Hitomi opened one large, ashen eye. "I mean it. If it will save mother, then I will do it. The Bijuu must be stopped after…all they have done…" She trailed off, ending on a high note. Suddenly flushing, she let go of Sasori's hand and buried her face in his uniform, clutching the fabric around her. "Do we not wish to save lives, Seishirou? That is what is taught at the ninja academy. We are to save lives and carry out the mission. Well, my mission is to save our parents and stop any more deaths at any cost!"

Seishirou faltered, his hand trembling uncertainly in the air between them. She wasn't even a genin, and yet she had the shinobi mentality already. Worse: she was an idealistic ninja. Those were dangerous. Though still a genin, Seishirou had been on enough missions to get all useless, unrealistic optimism crushed out of him. Hitomi turned her head, slightly, just enough to glare out at her older brother from behind the black fabric.

Sasori's hand suddenly fell lightly on her head, patting her hair. Hitomi jumped slightly, and then looked up wonderingly at him. Sasori smiled, eyes lidded, and suddenly Seishirou felt the age gap vanish between them. He looked like a child, an angelic little one who had never bloodied his hands not even once.

It was terrifying.

"Do you really believe in that?" Sasori asked airily, still smiling.

Seishirou gaped as his sister nodded, probably offering herself up to death right then and there (he was reminded of a painting he's one seen, one of a young girl being sacrificed to some heathen beast). He knew Sasori was an Akatsuki member, and he knew that the Akatsuki was the group of the most bloodthirsty, ruthless, deceitful, cruel, sadistic, untrusting ninja their world had spawned over the last few generations. They were to be killed on sight and never were. They had bloodied their hands so much they stained the dawn of their new world with it.

The Akatsuki-nin were supposed to be feared, unable to be trusted, to be the things of nightmares. Seishirou had known this all along, but it felt as if all of this knowledge had just caught up with him now in one solid blow.

"Do you really believe in that," he had asked. What a horrible thing to ask a naïve, impressionable young girl who trusted just about every pretty face to come along. There ought to be a law against such things. It should be a mortal sin, but here it was. Sasori was still looking down his nose at Hitomi, eyes lidded, smiling faintly, expression cherubic. Hitomi stared up at him, eyes shining like starlight.

He felt his stomach churn uncomfortably. The more he thought about it, the more Seishirou honestly thought he'd throw up.

And just as he felt his throat burn, Sasori said calmly, "What a load of immature shit."

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Sasuke and his group reenter the scene! The Rokubi took the wrong group to take on, that's for sure. Sasori manages to come to the 'rescue', however, just in time. Meanwhile, a distraught Hitomi and an annoyed Seishirou meet up with a kid their own age. What's he doing there, and why doesn't he know who the Akatsuki are?