If Seishirou had thought Hitomi was impractical, he was completely unprepared for Tomozou.

No, that was probably a lie. Tomozou declared himself a chuunin, and had some basic shinobi knowledge to back that up. It was probably situational that he was being such a pain in the ass.

Seishirou groaned and hit his forehead with his palm. Great, I've gone soft. …I still hate the jackass and I'm only feeling sorry for him because of that cry fest yesterday, he reassured himself. He would not like Tomozou, no matter how hard he cried. No. He wouldn't. The kid was stuck-up and standoffish, not to mention how casual he was with violence and swearing. He wasn't a very good influence on Hitomi.

She, however, soaked up said influence. She alternated between holding hands with Seishirou and staring at Tomozou; those were her two great pastimes lately. Hitomi suddenly needed physical contact, but she refused to get near Tomozou, so that meant it was up to Seishirou to pacify his sister. He now had to deal with two impractical newbies, then.

"Wait--Help me with this--"

Tomozou was being unrealistic because he thought he ought to take his father's sword collection with him.

Hitomi wasn't helping matters. Or actually, she was. She had already packed the two smaller swords (the white one they had 'paid' him with and the katana) as Tomozou was trying to drag the large zanbato behind him.

"Can we just go, please? Sometime today would be nice," Seishirou said irritably. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot, just in case they didn't get the message. "You can't even lift that one."

"Dad showed me a trick, though," he replied, frowning. "If I drink a bunch of water and kind of concentrate, I should be able to…"

"…'Concentrate'," Seishirou repeated in a dead tone. That was it, that was it. He couldn't understand half of what this pink-haired jackass was saying, and now he knew he was just making stuff up. He stomped over to his sister, taking the katana and white-thing from her, throwing them at Tomozou. It was just like yesterday, except with their roles reversed. Karma was a bitch like that.

Except his aim was off, and he was used to throwing shuriken and kunai, not swords.

The two swords clattered to the ground at Tomozou's feet. He looked down at them, then back up at Seishirou, completely oblivious to the attempt on his life.

"You are not lugging that thing behind you the entire way. Just leave it. You can bring the white-thing and the katana, if you want to carry them around all day, but that's it," Seishirou said fiercely, narrowing his ringed eyes.

Tomozou again looked down at the blades at his feet. "But… The katana belonged to Sasuke-san. I hadn't planned on taking it; I want my dad's swords. I'm more familiar with them."

"Bullshit. You can't even lift that one!"

"This one, maybe--"

"Just take the white-thing you wanted so badly and the katana if you are going to. We need to get going." Normally, Seishirou wasn't this hostile, not even with Sasori, but something about Tomozou just grated on his already frayed nerves. He acted more helpless than Hitomi (and that was saying something), but the ginger-haired genin knew that he was probably more capable than either of them. That was probably the most infuriating part.

His words seemed to have done the trick, however. Tomozou dropped the zanbato, and stooped to pick up the two swords crossed at his feet. He held one in each hand, looking between the two. After a brief pause, he reached up and placed the white one in his mouth. Then, he grabbed the other sword and pushed it into the ground with both hands.

He left it standing upright like that, in the circle in the blade of his father's giant sword. It was a fitting memorial.

-.-.-

Tomozou was thinking. Usually, this did not bode well for anyone involved, but his two traveling companions were still oblivious to that fact. So they left him to his thoughts (something they would regret later).

They insist they're siblings…but there isn't any resemblance, he had noticed immediately. But he could tell that they were at least raised together; they did, really, at least act like siblings. They just didn't look it. Where Seishirou was tall and already starting to get a more muscular build, Hitomi was petite, with dark hair and those unnerving, white eyes of hers. Tomozou couldn't look at them for more than a few moments before shuddering and looking away. He kept thinking he was looking at a ghost. It was creepy, and her little girl status didn't make things any better. Hadn't Sasuke once told him a scary story concerning a little girl?

He still didn't think they were real brother and sister. Maybe half, at a stretch. More likely than not, one of them was adopted sometime before either of them could remember. He would guess that it was Seishirou, just because he was older, but he would have to wait to meet their parents before he knew for sure.

Around the campfire that night, he pulled out his hot sauce again. This time, Hitomi was awake, and she couldn't help but stare as he chugged it. Tomozou glared evenly at them both, refusing to elaborate unless they specifically asked. Neither of them did.

After his tongue and mouth were burning, he gulped down several swallows from his water bottle. Like his dad, he usually carried around several with him. It was never a good thing to get dehydrated, but the danger increased when most of your body was made of water. With a frown, Tomozou shook his now nearly empty bottle. A sparse few swallows splashed pathetically around. "…I need more water," he said, standing up.

"The sun's already set. Why now?"

"Because I'm thirsty?" he guessed sarcastically. Though, after a pause, he reluctantly asked, "Do either of you need some?" He may have been a rude brat, but at least he was a polite rude brat. Aside from trying to maim him, Seishirou and even Hitomi had been nice enough to him… It just wouldn't do to make enemies early on, he told himself. He wasn't lonely; he just wanted allies.

"No, we don't," Seishirou said loudly, cutting across Hitomi's faint, "Yes, please."

Astonished, she turned to her brother (fake brother, half brother, stepbrother, Tomozou thought). After staring at him for several long seconds, in which Seishirou stared doggedly ahead, she then turned back to the boy sitting across from them. "No, thank you," she amended.

Tomozou stood up, stretching. He knew he shouldn't have expected any different. After all, he was just a stranger in their midst, and not a particularly friendly one at that. It was only right that Hitomi take Seishirou's side. So he just picked up his water bottle and vanished into the night, back to the last river they passed. It wasn't a long trek; it only took about five minutes at a jog.

The river was wide, slow moving, and deep. Tomozou's favorite kind.

The moon sparkled on the glass-like water, and lit up the rest of the area surprisingly well. It was nearly full, anyway. Tomozou sat down on the bank, pulling off his sandals and sticking his feet in. The water was frigid, but he didn't mind. Water always calmed him. In that, he was remarkably like his father. Granted, he couldn't exactly commune with it like his father, but he was working on that.

His mother had always told him stories about the moon. Supposedly, it got brighter with each new generation, because all of the chakra that was ever spent was sent up to the moon. "That's what gives it its pure white glow, Tomo-kun," she had said. He'd trusted her. After all, she could see chakra, right?

Then why aren't the Bijuu white? he asked himself, standing up. He waded out until he was waist-deep in the water, and then sat down. Icy cold river rushed up over his head, taking his breath away. Already it was leeching the warmth from him. Tomozou sank to the bottom, crossing his legs and trying to peer through the mud that his movement had stirred up.

What is it about the water that…he thought, letting it calm around him. Soon, he could see through it, though it was pitch black save for a strip of light illuminated by the moon, near the surface. No doubt his father would know something about why the water didn't fully absorb the light, but his father wasn't here right now. His parents were both eaten--no, captured--by the Bijuu.

Tomozou stood up, gratefully taking in a lungful of night air as he resurfaced. Now he would be shivering and lucky not to die of pneumonia, but he knew something: he missed his parents, and he would go to the ends of the world to rescue them.

Still sopping wet and shivering by the time he made it back to the fire, Tomozou sat down and once again ignored their questioning stares. He just grabbed his bottle of hot sauce, and after taking a gulp, he said evenly, ignoring his chattering teeth, "Tell me about your parents."

-.-.-

Seishirou was taken aback by the suddenness of the question--no, demand. He didn't know what prompted it, but Tomozou's tone didn't leave any room for arguments. What could it hurt? he thought.

Hitomi was already digging around in her bag for the photographs.

"They are both wonderful people and shinobi," she said simply, pulling out the last family portrait they'd taken. Tomozou gingerly took the picture between gloved fingers, holding it up so the firelight caught it.

"So they're Kiri shinobi, then?"

Seishirou and Hitomi glanced at each other. While he would have been more than content to let Hitomi take care of most of the talking, some subjects were not to be broached. The fact that they had recently found out about their parents' Akatsuki ties was among that.

"…Yes," Seishirou lied. "Dad is a jounin, and mom was recently reinstated as a tokubetsu jounin."

"And what's that?" Tomozou asked politely, handing the picture back.

The genin felt his patience snap. "Are you stupid or something?! It's the rank between chuunin and jounin!" The other boy just looked at him mildly. He was a bit paler than usual, but that only made his eyes stand out more. Seishirou knew he could glare him down; he wasn't sure what these eyes of his did exactly, but they were sure good for glaring and intimidation.

"I told you; I wasn't raised in a village. You're lucky I know what a jounin is," Tomozou said defiantly. This was ruined a bit by the fact that he had to avert his eyes. Seishirou leaned back, triumphant.

"Then that's your fault for being ignorant."

"How so? Such ranks are trivial. I believe I've proven that." He grinned at him. "After all, you're what, a genin? And since I haven't had any ranking tests, I must be your lowest rank, but I still beat your ass."

"That was a fluke," he muttered.

"Mother and father," Hitomi said, rather loudly. This effectively broke up any arguments that might have started. Seishirou was both relieved and peeved by this diplomatic move. "They were both strong shinobi and very good parents. But… The Bijuu took them from us." That was a lie, technically. The Bijuu had only captured their mother, whereas their father…they still didn't know where he was. Hitomi drooped, setting her forehead on her knees, and Seishirou couldn't help but mirror the movement. They were as good as orphans now.

They couldn't just have another cry fest like before. There was no time. If they wanted to stand any chance of getting their parents back, Seishirou knew that they had to find Sasori. He could help them track down their father, and then together they could fight the Bijuu and rescue their mother and--and his dreams stopped there. They didn't have a village to return to. He didn't have a team to return to. Without his parents, or even Sasori, Seishirou didn't have anything to return to.

Hitomi suddenly leaned against him, startling him and jolting him out of his temporary depression. That's right; he still had her. Seishirou wrapped an arm around her shoulders, thinking, And that's all I need. Ninja only need one thing to protect, and I still have one thing left for me.

"…My mother had red hair and red eyes. She was really pretty," Tomozou said suddenly. Seishirou looked up at him. The younger of the two was looking down at his lap, scowling faintly. With a small, wry grin, the ginger-haired genin realized that he was trying to get them out of such miserable thoughts. "My dad said that she had all of that red because she was so bloodthirsty."

"That's creepy," Seishirou said, sticking his tongue out.

Tomozou looked up at him, scowl gone. "Not-uh! It was one of the nicest things dad said to her that I can remember. He was a genius in the art of murder, and so--"

"A what?" Hitomi gasped, either amazed or appalled. It was hard to tell.

"He liked killing people." He shrugged, putting his hands in the air helplessly. "Isn't that what ninja are supposed to do? He was just…really good at his job."

"Mother said she always disproved of that part of how shinobi operate," Hitomi said simply, leaning her head against her brother's shoulder. "She never liked that we live to take lives."

"Is that why she retired in the first place?" Tomozou asked. Hitomi nodded in response. He chuckled, lacing his fingers behind his head. "…Pretty poor excuse, if you ask me."

Seishirou reigned in his temper, and instead of saying the first few things that came to mind, he ground out, "Okay, so your dad was psychotic. If your mother was so bloodthirsty she had red hair and eyes, what did he look like?"

"White hair, purple eyes," he said listlessly, staring into the fire. His grin was now all but gone. He glanced at the photograph still in his possession. "…Are you part of a clan or something, then? Your parents look the same."

"Hyuuga."

Tomozou looked up sharply, the glint in his eyes returning. "That's a Konoha clan. You said they were Kiri shinobi, Sei. Which is it?"

Seishirou nearly fell over. Shit! I forgot how clever this jerk was, he reprimanded himself. Hastily scrambling for an answer, all he could come up with was the vague truth, "We moved after the Bijuu attack."

He grinned savagely. "The Bijuu attack wiped out Konohagakure. I've been there; it's nothing but a crater. How could you move after that--?"

"We weren't living in the village at the time!" Seishirou said hotly. He glared at Tomozou from across the fire, and for a little while, he just glared back. Then, he relented, and looked down at the photograph again.

"…How come you never got your teeth sharpened, huh?" he asked sullenly, handing the photo back to Hitomi. She gratefully accepted it.

Seishirou narrowed his eyes, frowning. "Why do you know about that but you're an idiot in everything else about the villages?"

"Because my dad was a Kiri-nin," Tomozou retorted with a roll of his eyes. Shaking his head, he continued, "He had sharpened teeth and…used water jutsus. I just thought that most Kiri-nin would have, you know, sharp teeth." To make his point, he bared his teeth at the both of them.

Hitomi experimentally stuck a finger in her mouth, running it along her teeth. Then, she looked towards Seishirou, and remarked, "Yes, Seishirou… I am slightly curious about this as well. None of your team had their teeth sharpened, nor did your sensei…"

Flushing with the double attack, he huffed and crossed his arms. "I never wanted sharpened teeth. Miki-chan said it was unbecoming of a kunoichi, and Ryo had to wait until he was a chuunin without parents to sign his permission slip. And sensei… I don't know; I never bothered to ask him. I guess he didn't want to."

"So there were rules for this?" Tomozou asked. He was suddenly all smiles, which only served to make Seishirou suspicious.

"…Yeah."

"…And the rules were…?"

"Had to be a chuunin without permission from your parents. Had to be a genin with permission. There were a few dental requirements, too, I think," he said warily.

Tomozou sat back, sighing heavily. "Hm," he grunted, biting his lip. Seishirou didn't reply; he was waiting for a better response than that, but Tomozou was not saying anything else, and Hitomi was too busy staring at him to jumpstart the conversation, so that meant it was up to Seishirou--again--to save the night from awkward silences.

"Why?"

"I've always wanted sharp teeth." Tomozou beamed at him. "Is there any way to do it without a doctor or whatever--"

"No. First off, they use actual files to sharpen them, and that's not something you want. Second, I am not going to sit around and watch." Though hearing him scream would be amusing, he added in his mind.

As Tomozou just grinned in reply, even Seishirou had to admit he had the perfect smile for sharp teeth.

-.-.-

Trauma is one kind of bonding that they shared. All three of them were orphaned, if temporarily, and completely friendless, save for each other. That wasn't the only thing that kept them stuck together; the crying and sharing of families helped cement their budding friendship.

Well, it was more of a tolerance than friendship, but that was just how kids were.

Hitomi, though she rarely interacted with Tomozou directly, was the one that kept them together when the boys fought. She was more clingy than ever, but she usually stayed with Seishirou. It got slightly awkward when she had to bathe--because of course she insisted on doing that whenever she had the chance. After a few too many returns with a crimson face, Tomozou and Seishirou silently agreed to stop telling her about nearby rivers, unless they absolutely had to. Tomozou never had to deal with Hitomi in that way, so it was a show of good faith on his part. Seishirou readily thanked him for it.

They wandered aimlessly, unsure of what to do next. All three of them knew that they wanted to find their parents, but they had no idea how to go about that. Neither Seishirou nor Hitomi had actually seen the Akatsuki base; they just knew it was in Iwa. Without a proper map--Ryo had been the one carrying it at the time of the attack--they could do little more than head in the general direction of 'west'.

Seishirou wasn't the only one who was hoping they'd come across a friendly adult who could help them on their way.

Of course, if it was Sasori, he knew he had a few choice things to say to him, especially concerning Hitomi. Short of their father, the redhead was their best bet at some sort of willing guide.

"…We have strayed too far south."

"No duh," Tomozou replied, staring at the expanse of sand before them. Seishirou shielded his eyes against the sun's glare, scanning the horizon. In front of them, there was nothing but sand. No mountains, buildings, anything, not even the glass from the Bijuu attack. "What direction do we head now, then?"

"North," Seishirou said, turning on his heel. "Let's go."

As the days passed, they got more used to each other, but with that came its own dangers. Tomozou would not tell them what was up with the hot sauce, no matter how they pestered him. Hitomi would still stop and fix her hair or clothes for ten straight minutes if something was amiss. Seishirou was getting fed up with the both of them.

When they got into rockier territory, the kids were both thankful and terrified. After all, this was where they had been ambushed. Ryo had died and they'd gotten separated from their father as a result. Tomozou was the only one who seemed completely at ease.

At least until sunset.

There was a high-pitched scream that made all of them start. Hitomi even had to stifle her own shriek. The cry faded off into a low, pathetic bleat, echoing off of the rocks around them. They were in a different part of Iwa land than they had been in before; the canyon was conspicuously missing and the mountains were steeper, higher. It only made the echoes worse.

"Wh-What was that?" Tomozou asked, looking around him with wide eyes.

"I don't know. It could have been an animal," Seishirou replied. His voice was firm, but on the inside, he was as terrified as the other two. That hadn't sounded like any animal he'd heard before.

"Th-The sound of the Bijuu is supposed to be a truly terrible sound," Hitomi commented. She had nearly jumped in her brother's arms when the scream first started, and now she was still clinging to his arm, practically hiding behind him.

"Hitomi-chan, we've heard a Bijuu… Several of them. They don't sound like that," he said reassuringly. She didn't seem to believe him, and instead kept looking around her fearfully.

In the twilight, they still continued northward. They could still spot the occasional rabbit or bird, thankfully, so the Bijuu weren't in the area. When it got too dark out to see, they stopped along a flat part of the path. Hitomi was sent out--with Seishirou, as she refused to go alone--to find firewood, while Tomozou was sent on a hunting mission.

"Can't we… Can't we go, uh, together?" He hadn't liked being chosen to be the one on his own. The pink-haired boy shuffled from foot to foot, looking around him like a frightened animal.

"Please do," Hitomi said before Seishirou could stop her. At least it meant they had the strongest of their team with them…

The three children found a few dried-out branches of a long-dead shrub, and spent the next few minutes trying to pry them apart and into little pieces for a fire. This was a good thing, as it allowed them to focus on the manual labor aspect, and try to forget about that scream.

"Hitomi-chan, carry these back to the site for us?" Seishirou asked. He needed to talk to Tomozou, alone, to try to figure out what that cry had been, if it wasn't a demon. He did not need his little sister there, listening to their ideas, to only get more and more frightened.

The little girl shook her head, clutching one of the sticks like a club. "No, I am staying with you," she stammered.

"We'll be right behind you, I promise." It was only a tiny lie, and it wouldn't hurt anyone. Plus, it wasn't as if their campsite was far away; it was less than a hundred meters from where they were prying the dead shrub away from the stone.

Hitomi sniffled, but she picked up a few of the pieces of wood, and walked robotically away. Seishirou grimaced; his conscience would make sure he'd pay for that later. Moreso because he was making a small girl with a hurt back carry firewood, rather than because he was making her fend for herself for five minutes.

"No, I don't know what that thing was," Tomozou said immediately, heading off the question before it was asked. He looked sidelong at Seishirou, narrowing his eyes. "I've never heard an animal or human make that sound before. I'm not saying I've met every human or heard every animal, but…" He trailed off, looking away.

"Look, between us, we probably have a decent grasp on the animal kingdom. Agreed?"

"…Yeah, I guess."

"And we both agreed that that was no animal, right?"

"I didn't say that," Tomozou said guiltily, shrugging. "It could have been. Animals make some pretty nasty noises when they're being killed. Like, have you ever heard a horse--?"

"No, I haven't, but that's beside the point!" Seishirou exclaimed with a roll of his ringed eyes. "I don't think it was a Bijuu… But just in case, should we move camp?"

"Why? If it was, they would just track us anywhere. They seem pretty all-powerful, and we haven't exactly been stealthy. I'm sure it would know we're here, at any rate."

Huffing, Seishirou asked, "Fine, then. What do you think it was, oh great and knowledgeable Tomozou-sama?"

"Probably some sort of animals that's native to only this region that neither of us have seen before. It probably got eaten or something. Disemboweled, eviscerated, gutted, mutilated--"

Seishirou felt faintly ill just listening to the list. He had to try hard not to picture any of it. Too much of it reminded him of Ryo. "Okay, okay, I get the picture… But… What if it was a Bijuu, then, doing the killing…?"

"Again, then there's nothing we can do. At least it's eaten, if it was, right?" With that cheerful ending note, Tomozou grabbed an armful of wood and marched off towards camp, dismissing Seishirou and the rest of the conversation.

…I hate that kid, Seishirou couldn't help but think as he watched him depart.

Then, the scream came again, this time much closer. Much closer. In the direction that Tomozou and Hitomi had left in.

-.-.-

Sometimes, shinobi reflexes got in the way of actually being a shinobi. This was fairly common in higher ranked ninja, but for Tomozou, it was a new experience. His mind was rebelling against his body, but his body won out; it just meant that he had no idea what he was doing.

Actually, it wasn't just his mind and body at war. There were also basic self-preservation instincts, but ninja usually had that destroyed at an early age, and he was no exception. His body actually went against those instincts, in the most potentially destructive way possible: he ran towards the scream that every other sane creature would be running away from.

His mind was screaming no, no, go back, think out a plan, you dolt! at the top of its lungs, and frankly, Tomozou would have preferred to listen to himself in this case. When he saw movement and the smell of blood first registered, he was intervening, no ifs, ands, or buts.

In fact, he had no idea what was going on until things stopped moving. He was aware that he had moved, and had gotten hit for his troubles. Tomozou had spotted Hitomi and something coming towards her, and now he was somehow between them. Funny how those lightning-fast reflexes worked sometimes, huh?

His face was now buried in fur. Teeth or claws or something equally sharp were digging into his shoulder. A large arm or paw or something equally large was resting on his other shoulder. His own arm had sometime grabbed that white sword, and judging from the hot liquid he could feel through his gloves, he figured that he had already stabbed the beast.

The animal growled deep in its throat, detaching itself from Tomozou. He staggered back as the teeth slid out of his shoulder and the weight vanished. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he was amazed to find two things.

Firstly, he was surprised to find that his assailant was a cat.

Secondly, he was amazed that it was such a large cat. He barely came up to its shoulder, and he was rather tall for his age. The feline backed away from him, blood dripping out of its chest, baring sharp teeth. It hissed at him, and then leapt onto the nearest rock. For a brief moment, Tomozou was worried it'd attack from above, but instead, the animal just retreated.

A shaggy beast was lying across the path; it had been shielded from his view by the cat. The animal was lying on its back, sides heaving, legs kicking feebly. It opened its mouth and bleated--a quieter version of the scream they'd heard before. Tomozou shook his head again, dropping the sword. So it had been an animal… Some sort of goat, by the look of it.

The poor beast was bloody and already torn open, on the verge of death. From the way it was kicking its hind legs, its back had probably been broken. One of its large horns was stuck in the rocks, keeping its head at an awkward, raised angle; it was lucky that its neck hadn't snapped as well. No, not lucky, he amended as an afterthought, it'd be out of its misery if its neck was broken.

Tomozou turned around, looking for Hitomi. She wasn't there.

"Hi--" He turned around again, looking around wildly. He was immensely relieved to find her padding over towards the fallen animal, apparently unharmed. "Damn… Hitomi-san, what just happened?"

"This poor goat was attacked by that mountain lion," she answered without turning around. She knelt by the animal's side, digging a kunai out of her backpack. After a few moments in vain, she turned around, and asked, "Tomozou… Do you have a kunai I could borrow?"

Tomozou was shocked to see blood on her face. "Are you hurt?" Oh boy, Seishirou would kill him if she did…

She looked down at her hands, also having a few splatters of blood. "…This is your blood," she said softly. The animal beside her bleated, as if in agreement.

Reminded of its injuries, Tomozou's body promptly spoke out against him. He clamped a hand over his shoulder, gritting his teeth to prevent any sort of sound escaping him. Tomozou was about to reply--laugh it off or something equally nonsensical--when he sensed something behind him. He turned, just in time to duck under a foot. Seishirou was connected to that foot, and landed just in front of Tomozou.

"Wh-What the hell?!" Tomozou demanded hotly.

"May I have the kunai now?" Hitomi asked plaintively, but she was quickly drown out as the boys got into yet another argument.

"What do you mean?! You ducked, didn't you?" Seishirou barely paused to glance back at Tomozou. Tomozou, on the other hand, would have none of that; if he was getting into an argument, he was going to make sure he wasn't ignored.

"You were aiming for my head! What if I hadn't ducked, huh?" In possible revenge, he threw a punch at Seishirou, expecting him to dodge or duck. Unfortunately (for Seishirou), he had glanced at Hitomi at the wrong moment. Tomozou's fist connected with his jaw, and he flew into the rock just above the injured goat and his sister.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"You were trying to kick me!"

"But I didn't!"

"If you had faster reflexes like me, then you could have ducked too!" Tomozou snapped snottily, crossing his arms. He immediately uncrossed them, however, since his shoulder didn't like the movement very much.

"Seishirou, may I borrow a kunai?" Hitomi asked, once again trying to accomplish her own goal in the midst of the argument.

Both of them ignored her. Seishirou, using the rock behind him as a springboard, launched himself at Tomozou. Tomozou backpedaled and ducked again, though Seishirou managed to grab the back collar of his shirt and used his forward momentum to nearly choke him. The two grappled for several moments, before Tomozou got the upper hand, and managed to kick Seishirou away from him.

Eventually, Hitomi gave up on trying to break them up. She just stood up calmly, after patting the goat on the neck, and walked over to retrieve Tomozou's dropped sword. She then walked back to the goat, and after a murmured apology, put the poor beast out of its misery.

The moon was high in the sky when both Seishirou and Tomozou collapsed, tired from trying to beat each other senseless. "Let's get back to camp," Seishirou said, almost by way of apology. Tomozou could only nod. Both boys looked over towards Hitomi, instantly alarmed when they saw she was covered in blood. "Hitomi-chan--"

She turned to him, her white eyes standing out against the blood on her face. She was still holding the white-thing, though it was more of a red-thing at that point. "Hm?"

"Y-You… Why are you looking bloodier than the beast?" Seishirou asked, grinning uncertainly.

"I… I am hungry. I only learned the basics of butchering animals, but there is plenty of meat here, and the backstrap has not received too much damage, not too many bone fragments--" Hitomi looked up abruptly when Tomozou started laughing. She seemed a little indignant.

"You are the weirdest little girl I have ever met." She turned crimson beneath the blood. He then turned to Seishirou, still chuckling. "And you are the weirdest older brother I've ever met, too. Can we go back to camp now? If you're going to eat that, it needs to be cooked, and I'd like to get to sleep sometime tonight."

"Yeah…" Seishirou agreed wearily. He was now officially past the point of worrying about Hitomi; the fact that she was calmly butchering a goat she had just killed while her two teammates (if they could be called that) were fighting said enough for a single night. He ran a hand through his long hair, sighing. "…We better smoke some of the meat, too. I doubt we'll be lucky enough to come across a dead goat every night from here on out, and I'm running low on ration bars. Not to mention the fact that I'm tired of hearing rabbits scream when I have to kill them…"

"Eww," Tomozou said, sticking out his tongue.

"What?! Rabbits scream, okay?" Seishirou was instantly bristling again, so Tomozou shook his head a bit more forcefully than what he would have usually.

"No, rabbits. They taste nasty," he said in a conciliatory tone.

"What does goat taste like?" Hitomi asked curiously.

"It's kind of tough, but it's better than rabbit. A lot of things are better than rabbit. …Then again, I haven't ever tried mountain goat."

"Tonight is a first for all of us, then," she said, almost happily, as she stood up with her arms full of raw meat. The mere sight had Tomozou laughing all over again.

-.-.-

Seishirou was shook awake sometime during the early morning. All he saw was grey sky and Tomozou putting a finger to his lips. "Shh," he said as soon as he was sure the ginger-haired genin was awake.

He sat up, rubbing at his eyes. He had gotten two hours of sleep, tops. Yet here was Tomozou, already bright eyed and bushy tailed… Seishirou yawned, stretching. Tomozou clamped a hand over Seishirou's mouth, glaring at him. "I said shh!" he hissed. Then, lowering his voice (if such a thing was possible), he added, "Wake Hitomi."

"…What's going on?" He finally caught on to the urgency in Tomozou's tone.

"All of the animals in the area are gone. It's too quiet out, even for predawn." Seishirou crawled over to his sister, shaking her awake. She blinked sleepily a few times, and then he noticed that she wiggled her fingers and toes. So she was still doing that? He shook his head; there were more important matters to attend to right then, like a possible Bijuu attack. This time, they wouldn't have any handy adults to save them, so their only chance was to get away.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Only a few minutes," Tomozou whispered, rummaging through their pile of belongings for his white-thing. He crouched down, and then slowly crept over to one of the rocks that made up a sort of wall around the path. He cautiously peeked over it, and then immediately ducked his head back down with a groan. "Nevermind, false alarm. Just some stupid kid."

"A kid? Who's stupid enough to be in Iwa these days?" Seishirou asked. He was answered when Tomozou gave him a very pointed look. "Well… Maybe we can rob him or something for food. I'm not impressed with goat, I must say." He crawled over to the rock as well, before peering over it. Sure enough, there was a figure coming down the path. It was probably male, but it was also probably young. He was taking a pretty leisurely pace, too, considering the area and time… "…I'm going back to sleep. Hitomi-chan, you go back to sleep, too. Our alarm clock here," he pointed at Tomozou, "Can wake us if anything else happens."

"Hey, something else happened," Tomozou replied dully, leaning on the top of the rock. "The kid is gone."

By now, both Seishirou and Hitomi were leaning out over the rock as well, searching for any clue as to the whereabouts of the stranger. It wasn't good to be losing unknown people in an unknown terrain, after all. They were just a bunch of kids--tired, injured kids at that. Any jounin could quickly dispatch them, so they had to be careful.

"A kid, you say…?" Hitomi asked, politely covering her mouth as she yawned. "As in, my age? Or yours?"

"Probably ours," Tomozou replied.

"I see." What she saw, neither boy knew. Then, she pushed herself away from the rock, tottered sleepily for a moment, and strolled down the path towards where the stranger had disappeared. Seishirou gave a start, immediately rushing after her.

"Hitomi--?!"

"Sasori, please come out now!" Her shout cut him off. She cupped her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice, and it echoed around them off of the stone for several moments before fading away.

Seishirou pounced upon her and started dragging her back towards their camp. "Hitomi-chan, what makes you think that that was Sasori?"

"Who else would look like 'a kid' and be in this area?" she asked, squirming in his grasp. When it was clear that he wasn't letting go, she just cupped her hands around her mouth again and resumed her yelling. "Sasori! I promise I will not be angry with you for leaving me! I forgive you, if you just come back to us now! Please, Sasori!"

"He's not here," Seishirou replied grumpily. "He left, Hitomi-chan. Now let's hurry and pack up our things before whoever it is catches up with us."

Hitomi ignored him, continuing her pleas with the rocks around her. The stranger still hadn't reappeared. "Sasori, please, please come back! We need your help! We are not mad, I promise, and we all forgive you!"

"Speak for yourself," Tomozou replied, just as they got within earshot of him once more.

"What makes you think I want to be forgiven?" Tomozou jumped violently as a figure suddenly landed lightly on the rock he had been leaning against. Seishirou didn't jump, but he had definitely been surprised. Hitomi seemed to be the only one unfazed by this appearance, and twisted in her brother's grasp to view the newcomer, fingers interlaced in front of her.

"I knew you would come back!" she said, beaming.

It was definitely Sasori who was standing on the rock before them. He looked exactly the same, of course, though maybe his eyes were a bit colder or more distant. It was hard to tell, as glassy as they were. The redhead crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking down his nose at the two. "What would give you such a stupid hope?"

"Because a ninja knows better than to give up any tool, no matter how crude it may be," she replied with a wide smile. She finally got out of Seishirou's grasp and pranced over to the rock Sasori was standing on, hugging his foot. It was the only part of him she could reach without climbing up onto the rock as well.

"Vain hope," Sasori hummed, rolling his eyes. "Let go of me. I only came back for you kids because I have need of you."

"We're not going to be used as bait!" Seishirou cut in, trying to pull Hitomi away from Sasori's foot. She would not be moved, however. She was surprisingly obstinate when it came to the puppeteer.

"Did I mention bait? No, I believe I didn't. I actually just require a cover. Oh, you got another one. Just perfect." Sasori seemed to notice Tomozou for the first time.

"'Another one'? I have a name!" he snapped, getting back a bit of his bravado. He had been caught off guard by Sasori's sudden arrival, but now he was back to normal.

"He is Tomozou. This is Sasori," Hitomi introduced them calmly, rubbing her cheek against Sasori's ankle. "He is our hero. He is very kind, even if he pretends not to be, and he is an Akatsuki member."

"Yeah, I'd recognize the stupid outfit anywhere," Tomozou muttered.

"I suppose you would know about stupid outfits, wouldn't you," Sasori replied dryly, though not without a small smirk. Tomozou responded by driving his sword through Sasori's foot, just barely missing Hitomi. The redhead looked down at it in disinterest. "…Where did you get that?" He seemed to be more interested in the white-thing than the fact that his foot was pinned to the rock, but Seishirou knew why.

"We paid him with it," Hitomi replied helpfully. Seishirou wished she'd stop answering so eagerly as he put his palm against his head. "His mother did not get to pay us back, so I suppose he is in our debt for it now."

Sasori reached down and pulled it out of his foot, much to Tomozou's annoyance. "I am not in debt, and what's with the Akatsuki-nin? Don't they bleed?"

"No, we don't," Sasori answered, inspecting the white-thing. "…This was the one that belonged to your mother, wasn't it?" Without waiting for a reply, he tossed it back to Tomozou, who caught it easily. "Don't let Deidara see it."

"Who the hell is Deidara?!"

"That is precisely who we're going to be finding. He's my partner in the Akatsuki." Sasori finally shook his leg loose from Hitomi's grasp, and jumped down. He started walking back southward, from where he had came. "…Well? Come on, then."

"Why? We just got in Iwa territory," Seishirou replied, glaring at the redhead as he passed him.

"The Bijuu aren't in Iwa anymore. They might be in Suna now, or a variety of other places. Our best bet is to infiltrate Sunagakure and try to get some information." Hitomi was already happily packing up her things to follow Sasori. She was practically glowing. Seishirou grimaced, turning instead to continue glaring daggers in Sasori's general direction.

"What if we don't want to go to Sunagakure?" he asked, though he knew he'd end up following him anyway.

"Then I suppose you don't want your parents back very badly, do you?" Sasori wasn't fazed by his minor rebellion. "It's up to you, I suppose. I can always use a puppet as a substitute."

"Four kids. You planning to masquerade as a ninja team? How is that going to get past any security guards?" Tomozou asked, taking a more practical approach. Seishirou was chagrined to find that he, too, was packing up in preparation for leaving.

"I am not a kid," Sasori sniffed, "And furthermore, I know Suna. I just need a cover in case things get ugly."

"So you are using us as bait," Seishirou muttered darkly, stomping off to retrieve his things before they left without him.

"If you want to be so cynical, then you can choose to look at it that way. Do you really think I could ever face your mother if I let you get killed?" There was something odd about the way Sasori said the word 'mother' that set Seishirou off kilter.

"You simply could not. It would be a very bad scene if she were to learn that you let Seishirou get killed," Hitomi said seriously, skipping to catch up to Sasori. Skipping. She tried to hold hands with him, too, but he irritably refused, and she settled on looping her arm with his in a way that he couldn't easily brush off. She was getting good at finding such poses.

"So what's after Suna, hmm? What's the plan when we get down there?" Even Tomozou seemed to be acting friendly, even if it was selfishly for information. Seishirou stood there a moment, watching as the other three walked away from him. He doubted he had ever felt more lonely.

"Sneak into the village, track down their leader, and bully him into giving us information. Then, head to wherever the Bijuu may be hiding, and rescue their captive humans before they're turned into Jinchuuriki." Sasori paused, and since he stopped, the other two did as well. He turned back to Seishirou. "Coming?" he asked unassumingly.

Seishirou grinned in spite of himself, and ran to catch up with them. "What if the Suna guy doesn't know anything about the Bijuu?" he asked, hoping that the Suna leader would know something. The faster they got this over with, the faster they would all return to their parents and be rid of the red-haired menace. Then, life could return to normal, right? Probably not. They were still all homeless, and they had lost too many already. He himself had lost his genin team in just a few weeks.

"We move on to the next village, and repeat until we find a suitable lead. Eventually, the Bijuu will be found…" Sasori started out forcefully, but his voice drifted off after the second sentence. He looked thoughtful. "It's somewhat ironic that it's taken the Bijuu for all of us to get together again."

"'All of us'?" both Seishirou and Tomozou asked in unison.

"The rest of the Akatsuki… Hinata-hime and Neji… Even Sasuke's been roped into this now," Sasori mused.

"You know Sasuke-san?!" Tomozou exclaimed, clearly shocked.

"Unfortunately, I do. He's still a brat, him and that team of his. I think I preferred Itachi." He frowned, glancing at the pink-haired boy. "What's your connection to Uchiha Sasuke?"

"He's kind of like a teacher, kind of like a grumpy older brother. Or uncle. He's my father and mother's teammate."

Sasori stared at Tomozou for a long while, until a look of dawning realization came over his face. "Your parents… Karin is your mother?!"

"Yes, she is," he replied defensively.

"And the white-haired one is your father? What was his name… Suigetsu?" he asked, continuing with his awed tone.

"Yes, he is." Now Tomozou was slightly more confused than defensive. This was compounded when Sasori reached over and gave him a solid knock on the head. "Hey!"

"It's a miracle you're able to move, much less walk around." Sasori chuckled at some unknown joke. "I wonder what he would say now…"

"He?" It seemed as if all three of the children had been unable to ask that obvious question.

"Hmm, an old friend of mine." The way he said 'friend' implied quite the opposite. "He's the one responsible for Sasuke, Karin and Suigetsu meeting, more likely than not. In fact, he's the one responsible for most…no, all of us meeting. If Deidara hadn't killed him and dragged him back through Konoha territory, he wouldn't have met Hinata-hime. I still would have met Deidara, but I doubt things would have worked out between us like they had. I doubt Kabuto would have been involved, and Suigetsu would still be some normal Kiri-nin, Karin would be normal as well, and Sasuke would have had his problems to work out with Itachi without the snake's power…" Sasori seemed to eagerly go off on that tangent, whereas the children could barely comprehend what he was talking about. The puppeteer continued talking to himself under his breath, counting off several things on his hands, chuckling occasionally.

"What is he talking about?" Tomozou whispered, turning around to see Seishirou better. Seishirou could only shrug. He sure as hell didn't understand the mind of an Akatsuki-nin.

"Remind me to swing by Otogakure when things cool down," Sasori announced suddenly, to no one in particular. Only Hitomi nodded in response to his random remark.

"Until then… On to Suna?" Tomozou prompted. Sasori nodded vaguely, mind obviously still elsewhere. "On to Suna," he repeated, frowning to himself.

"On to Suna," Hitomi echoed, leaning against Sasori's arm.

"On to the Bijuu," Seishirou replied primly, closing his grey eyes.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Meanwhile, Neji, Kakuzu, whatever you want to call it--it's another 'A -- Chapter'! I wonder what's been happening in their neck of the woods while these four have been plotting to sneak into Suna...