Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Shippuuden.

It appeared that Pakkun had only wanted to meet with them at the gate because he wanted to get free biscuits. Once he had received them, he had conveniently disappeared in a puff of smoke, annoying Kiba to no end. Sai had simply shrugged it off and set off for the mission at hand.

It was already first light, with the sun peeking above the horizon the moment they reached the ravine where they had rescued the boy named Kazu. The water level was already subsiding, though the current was still strong, although it had already been over two and a half weeks since it flooded. Sai assumed that with the rain finally down to a drizzle in this area, it wouldn't take long before the current stabilizes.

Before they left the Leaf, Shikamaru had mentioned something about the possibility of other people having been swept in the river other than the boy. Sai was grim. It was highly unlikely. He had been sure to comb the perimeter with his ink summons. Aside from that boy, there had been no one else.

Hinata, whose face was crunched up in concentration, tiny spider-veins evidenced the use of her Byakugan, shook her head. "I don't sense anyone down there, dead or alive. Chances are, they could have escaped," she said hopefully.

Sai nodded silently, not really much aware when Kiba appeared on his other side followed shortly by Akamaru. "If they had escaped, I could've find tracks. But I don't mean to be a party-pooper or anything, but I don't think we should be wasting our time here when Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us."

Hinata deactivated her Byakugan, gave Kiba a reproachful look. The boy looked away sheepishly.

The ROOT member instinct inside Sai was telling him the same thing, and had he listened to it, they would have been halfway to the rendezvous point already. But in his heart of hearts, he saw Sakura risking her life to save a boy that meant absolutely nothing to her, and then trying to save a teddy bear that held even less value. And he could not take it without having to check if what Shikamaru said was true, because Sai knew that Shikamaru would not have informed him of it if he did not expect Sai to do something about it.

He got up to his feet and dusted his knees. He would have to trust Hinata's judgment that there were no people down there, living or dead. "We move."

They had wasted but a few minutes on the ravine and it did not take long before they caught up on schedule, having lesser water breaks along the way, and eating on the move.

They reached the village in the border just before the sun made its descent in the western boundaries of the Earth Country.

Sai's trained eyes scanned the outskirts of the village, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. If he had not been informed that people lived here, he would have thought otherwise. And in the diminishing light of the sun, the town looked completely deserted to the point of creepiness.

Windows of the small, rundown houses that lined the village boundaries were like gaping eyes that bore down staring at them as they made their way through the dingy alley.

The smell was just unbelievable, which he found quite unusual for a place that screamed inhabitation. Garbage mixed with something left in the oven for too long floated from nowhere and everywhere. Akamaru's hackles were rising as they pushed forward through the village in silence.

Of course, Hinata had her Byakugan activated the moment they penetrated the outskirts.

"The population is concentrated in the north-west sector of the village." She frowned in concentration. "There's an active market to the north. Two… no, three dozen people run business there." She blinked then continued. "I found the shelters. Six hundred meters at ten o'clock." She stopped walking, swallowed hard.

Sai looked over to her, stopped in his tracks as well. "What is it?"

Kiba frowned. "Did you sense something?"

Hinata nodded. "There's a large concentration of chakra in that direction. Are you sure Matsunaga is a civilian?"

Sai frowned. Team Ten did not have a sensory-type member with them, and Sai was sure that they mentioned nothing about Matsunaga's status. "All we know is that he's a caretaker of children in a rundown shelter."

Hinata's face turned grim. "I doubt that. We should be careful."

The warning was enough. Kiba had a food pill in his mouth, tucking it between his teeth and the insides of his cheek, ready to bite down when needed. Sai's fingers itched for his paintbrush.

Hinata continued with her surveillance as they went with their small pilgrimage down the alley. "We are about to enter the residential area, and they are all watching us from inside their houses. There are no evident threats among them."

Sai looked over at her in awe. He had heard of the usefulness of the Byakugan, but he hadn't really experienced working with a wielder of it before. Thinking of something nice to say – as Sakura suggested that saying something nice to people strengthens their bonds – he nodded at Hinata. "I'm glad you are on this team."

This caused Hinata to flush appreciatively, but she did not falter. "This could be our last chance to take Sasuke back." She looked back at him, those ivory-eyes determined.

"I know," Sai replied.

Kiba let out a small growl when one of the windows suddenly snapped shut when Akamaru tried to sniff at it. Kiba turned to Sai. "Almost everyone here stinks of fear. They don't seem to like us being here at all."

This time, it was Kiba who Sai gave an appreciative look. What the Byakugan couldn't see, Kiba and Akamaru could sense – like the smell of nervousness, fear, and pretty much everything else the Hinata didn't cover. Sai wondered to himself on how effective this team could be if Shino were with them. The insect-controller was assigned a different mission that needed his specialty in the Grass country, where he was supposed to be taking care of some locusts that were terrorizing the villages there.

It took a mere seven minutes before they broke out into a small clearing lined with dilapidated windmills. In the middle of the clearing stood a large, green building with either tinted or broken glass windows.

"There are a total of thirty-seven orphans in there, and then there's Yue," Hinata informed them, then her face twisted into a confused frown. "This can't be right…"

"What's wrong?" Kiba asked,

But before Hinata could respond, she suddenly had a kunai in one hand. "He's coming!"

Sai's eyes widened at what she just said, and out of nowhere, in a flash of light and a whirl of white smoke, a man wrapped from head to foot in bandages wearing red and black robes dropped to the ground on all fours. The man, his robes flapping in his wake, dodged left then went straight for Sai, one exposed eye pinned at him with a vengeance. The man lashed out one hand, which Sai saw was equipped handily with a sharp claw made of some dark green metal.

Kiba and Hinata scattered as, in a flash, Sai had his left hand whipping to right shoulder and had pulled out his tanto just in time to block the unprovoked attack. Sparks flew at the contact of steel and steel.

The bastard did not look it – in fact he looked like he was going to crumble any second – but he was strong. Sai wondered about Hinata's doubts of Yue being a civilian.

Kiba, who had flown out of the way to the side was already growling menacingly with Akamaru and was almost ready to pounce.

Sai held out his free hand at them. "No, Kiba!" He narrowed his eyes at his attacker. "We do not attack our host for this mission." Shikamaru's description fit. This guy was none other than Yue Matsunaga.

That one eye did not leave Sai's face, even when he began to talk. "What are the likes of you doing here?" he demanded in a voice that sounded so disembodied that had Sai not seen the bandages covering the place where his mouth was supposed to be move, he would have thought someone else had talked in his place.

"We come from the Leaf, Yue Matsunaga," Sai said, not breaking the contact between his tanto and the man's claw. "Friends of Team Asuma." Still no reaction. He gritted his teeth, unsure of what else to say. "We're not here to fight! Lower your weapon!"

Sai was not used to conversations like these. Missions that included casual negotiation and compromise were never his cup of tea; it was always easier to slit someone's throat than talk.

Yue did not look at all convinced. His exposed eye lingered to Sai's uniform, then back to his face. "You're one of them," he hissed.

One of them? Sai had no idea what he was talking about.

Hinata, who was anxiously dancing from one foot to another a few feet away from them said, "We mean no harm, Mr. Matsunaga!"

Sai noticed that Hinata's Byakugan was still activated, and he did not know if what she saw was the thing making her uncomfortable.

This was, however, enough distraction for Sai. He did not get a chance to react when Matsunaga's other hand suddenly popped out of his long robes and caught him by the throat, mean fingers closing in.

Kiba, who was done waiting for Sai's instructions, pounced.

"No! We don't attack!" Sai roared heavily.

Kiba awkwardly fell back on all fours. "And wait for him to kill you?" he demanded.

Sai, whose left hand still held his tanto over his head, scraping violently with Matsunaga's claw, used his right hand to pry his attacker's grip from his neck.

There was a mad look in those eyes and he watched as the bandages covering his nose rattled silently as if inhaling deeply, as if trying to catch a scent.

And at that moment, the look in that once eye changed instantly. What used to be anger and rage was suddenly replaced with something else; something softer, sadder.

The grip on his throat slackened, the claw lowered and once again disappeared in the sleeves of his robes.

Sai hadn't the slightest of clues on what just happened. His right hand massaged his raw throat, coughing slightly. His left hand still gripped his weapon just in case the man suddenly decided to attack him on a whim.

Hinata hurried to Sai's side. "Are you all right?"

Kiba turned to the man angrily. "What is wrong with you, old man?"

Yue blinked his one eye, looked at Kiba, then Hinata, then finally at Sai. He pointed one bandaged finger at the former ROOT member. "Who… are you?"

Sai was slightly taken aback.

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the fairly sized boat Yamato had produced out of nothing, slowly bobbing up and down on the edge of the beach below the southern cape just a few ways away the Great Naruto Bridge.

"Show-off," she muttered.

Yamato gave her a half-smile. "I'm good at what I do." He stood up and hitched the backpack on his shoulders, then swung it over to the stern of the boat. He let his eyes wander to the east where the first island of the water country was visible. Sakura watched him and took in his clothes. He was wearing what a normal tedai would wear, a low-ranking merchant, loose and quite dirty pants, a long tunic over a dark shirt, his hitai-ate shed away, replaced by a dirty floppy hat. He looked absolutely awful.

Sakura hopped on the boat, nearly stumbling because of the ankle weights Sai had given her hidden beneath baggy trousers. Her disguise wasn't at all that different from Yamato's except that she had a bandanna to hide her pink hair under a fisherman's cap. If Ino ever saw her in those, she was never going to live it down.

The trip to the nearest island was quick and there really wasn't much conversation to go on between Sakura and Yamato. Perhaps it was because they had never been to a more embarrassing mission than this one.

An hour before they had left the wood cottage in the border, Yamato had briefed her more on the mission. It had always been Yamato's good trait to play it safe at everything, and follow-ups were always something to expect. They were to meet the wife of Tsunade's friend named Shinobu Hizashiyama in the Town called Miwa by nine o'clock in the evening that day. The Pachinko place's name was Towa. The instructions were simple: Hand the money to the wife, stay until they finish counting the money, and leave.

Sakura just hated these missions when traveling and waiting took most of their time, and the actual mission could be finished in a matter of minutes. By the time they reached the first island, Yamato decided that there was enough time for them to squander before the rendezvous, and he let her wander by herself around town and told her to meet him in the eastern dock in two hours.

Of course, Sakura had no intention to "wander around". At least not with Sai's loving sixty-pounds-on-each-ankle gift strapped to her legs. That, and the Water Country weather – a bit chilly for her liking.

She immediately found herself a nice enough Dumpling Shop and planted herself to the bench right outside it, a cup of hot tea and a plate of sweet bean dumplings beside her. She barely thought of where Yamato had run off to, and she honestly didn't care. Lately, the ever-responsible Captain had taken to his adventurous side. It was probably because his responsibility on keeping Naruto's pet Kyuubi at bay was shaved off his shoulders, and he was having the time of his life chasing skirts, or so did the bandanna she had on her head proved.

She whiled away her first hour watching people go on with their daily lives in the Water Country. At once point she saw several Hidden Mist Shinobi walking around in their simple grey flak jackets and forehead protectors bearing the Mist insignia. Majority of them wore face masks, reminding her so much of Kakashi-sensei. She had been informed that Mist ninja, as different as their culture was with the Leaf, tend to sharpen their teeth into something that would resemble a shark's. She but once had an encounter with a rogue Mist nin by the name of Zabuza, and he had very sharp teeth. She shuddered at the thought of how and with what they sharpened it with.

She took another mouthful of dumplings and automatically tried to wash it down with tea when a flash of a very painfully familiar shade of red caught her attention.

She felt her shoulders tense as she turned around to confirm her fears and she nearly had a heart attack then and there.

There was no mistaking it; that long, red, spiky hair, those glasses, those ridiculously short shorts and black leggings.

Sakura was on her feet before she knew it, and her heartbeat throbbed against her ears.

Karin's eyes locked with hers, smirked, then darted into an alley.

Sakura could only run after her, her mind completely going blank.

Sai had never been impatient in his life.

Until now.

Kakashi-senpai was nowhere in sight, and Yue Matsunaga had taken a liking to watching him while he leaned against the rotting fence of the shelter. At first he thought that the man was just after something, and that was when he remembered to hand over the bank notes to him.

The man had simply looked at it blankly, and Sai watched as the bank notes disappeared within his robes, already forgotten. Yue Matsunaga was back at staring at Sai with a passion. He did not even give the faintest of explanations on why he attacked Sai in the first place. But even without it, he had immediately figured out why Hinata had been so anxious. Yue Matsunaga was, in no way, just a civilian.

For the first time in his life, he actually felt Naruto's pain at being assaulted by the same sex. It was starting to creep him out. Kiba and Akamaru were sitting on the ground not too far away from him, and Hinata had disappeared within the shelters, but not before giving Sai a significant look, as if she wanted to tell him something.

He debated on following Hinata inside the building, but was interrupted with someone leisurely walking into the clearing, a book on his already half hidden face, the silver-grey hair fanning out his head, and those dead-fish eyes slightly creasing as if he was smiling under his mask.

"My bad, my bad! Did I keep you waiting?" It was without a doubt, Kakashi-senpai.

Sai was on guard, standing straight at his superior's sudden arrival. "We got here an hour ago, senpai," he explained.

Kakashi did not look like he was ashamed at all that he was an hour late, given that this was such a crucial mission. He looked down at Sai, then at Kiba who had hurried to join them. Sai noticed that Yue Matsunaga had suddenly disappeared.

"I was promised a three-man cell?" Kakashi pointed out, a little puzzled.

That was when Hinata came hurrying out the door of the shelters. "Sai! Sai! You should come inside and see the – Oh! K-Kakashi-sensei!" She started blushing furiously.

"A three-man cell." Kakashi nodded satisfactorily. "I'm not going to lie to you. I've been had."

Sai frowned. "Been… had?"

Kakashi flipped his dirty book closed, slipped it inside his pouch, then sat on the ground, sighing and flexing his neck muscles. He looked tired. Sai was not surprised. Kakashi had been on stake out for over a month already, taking in little hints about where the Uchiha could be. And now he was saying he's… 'been had'.

"That girl from the Grass was one slippery fish. A few days ago, she was just there. I was careless. She must have concealed her own chakra from me."

"You mean she's gone?" Sai was worried. Could they be on to them so soon? "When did this happen?"

"Five days ago."

Sai frowned at his senpai. Though he had respected this man all his life, he was starting to doubt if he had tried his best at watching over their targets. "Why weren't we informed of this change of situation?"

Kakashi stared at him with his practical eye, not the least bit offended that his subordinate was questioning him. "Because, Sai, it wouldn't matter if you knew. Because this mission has already been a hoax from the very beginning, and that I think they were already aware I was here. In fact,I think they did it on purpose to be seen all around this village because I think they are after something that only the Leaf could provide."

Hinata asked, "What do they want?"

Kakashi looked away towards the direction of the Sound. "I have a feeling that they were after… someone who was very familiar to Sasuke… a healer, maybe?" he said. "He may have underestimated the Hokage, thinking that if he started leaving certain hints of his whereabouts, the Lady Tsunade would recklessly send Team Seven to look for him. But I don't think Sasuke is aware that Naruto is away and that Sakura is – where is Sakura again?"

Sai could only feel the muscles on his arms curl as his hands clenched into fists. "We sent you a message about Tsunade's plan of keeping Sakura occupied…"

And that was when Kakashi's face went rigid. "I didn't get a message. When did you send it?"

The timing was just too perfect. "Five days ago."

"Just when the sensory-type Karin conveniently disappeared."

And it hit Sai like a ton of bricks.

The message they sent to Kakashi to assure him that none of the original Team Seven would accompany the mission contained of Sakura's sending to the Water Country with Captain Yamato.

That message was five days old, on the exact same time one of Taka's members gave Kakashi the slip.

Sasuke was blind, and it made perfect sense for him to desire a healer.

Sai felt himself waver, and he would have fallen to his knees if it weren't for Hinata, who seemed to have realized he was breathing irregularly and supported him with an arm.

He looked at Kakasi. "They're after Sakura. I have to go." And he would have dashed away on the spot had Kakashi not grabbed his arm painfully.

"You are not going anywhere. You are staying here to complete the mission, and that is to search and capture Sasuke Uchiha." Kakashi did not slacken his grip until Sai finally relaxed. His senpai looked at him weirdly. "You've… changed."

It took him a few moments before he realized what Kakashi meant. If he were the same person as he was a month ago, he would have simply brushed away the little annoyance that one of the targets had made an escape, and probably would have categorized Sakura as a slight hitch on the mission.

If he were the same person, that is.

And if he wasn't in love with Sakura to begin with.

He cursed under his breath. "Understood, Senpai."

Kakashi gave him one more lingering look, then turned to Kiba and Hinata, who though did not voice their minds out about worrying over Sakura, looked very upset with the outcome of the mission, especially when it hasn't even begun yet. "Now, don't give me that look. You know as well as I that Sakura can handle herself. And she's with Yamato! I'd trust that guy with my very soul! He's dependable, and he's strong. No worries, yes?"

Little did Kakashi know that Yamato may be dependable, and he may be strong, but he also happened to be a guy. A guy who was presently a day away from the Leaf and having the time of his life getting a generous amount of attention from big-breasted girls who had lured him to a tavern after they were bribed by a certain red-haired girl.

Said red-haired girl was now running down the alley towards the docks, a pink-haired girl hot on her trail.

XD We love cliffies, don't we?