Chapter IV:

A Newly Discovered Talent

"Why'd you stop, Sasuke?"

Gaara tried not to panic – tried being the key word since it appeared he was already doing a great job of doing what he was trying very hard not to do. He crammed his knuckles against his teeth to quiet down his breathing. Above him, he could feel Sasuke scanning the area like a hawk, looking for any sign of movement.

To his credit, Gaara was quite sneaky himself. If he recalled correctly, on their first meeting, he was able to get behind Sasuke and give him a scare - but that was when they were both kids. Neither of them had seen each other in a couple years, it may have been a lot harder to slip by him this time around.

A heavy pause. Then a scraping sound on the gravel as Sasuke pivoted away from the stream.

"I just had a feeling," mumbled Sasuke.

"It's getting late, let's make camp already!" said a female voice.

Gaara didn't allow himself to breathe a sigh of relief, so he did it mentally instead.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later," said Sasuke.

Gaara didn't allow himself to breathe a sigh of frustration, so he did that mentally as well.

"…Suit yourself," said the man who spoke first as they retreated.

Sasuke waited until his companions were gone (Gaara waited with him since he had no choice) before he hopped down to the rocky stream, landing in the area Gaara had occupied just moments before. He tossed a suspicious look in all directions. Maybe it just looked suspicious since Gaara knew he was acting paranoid himself. For all he knew, Sasuke probably never even noticed him hiding there just ten feet away.

It felt like forever before Sasuke started undressing – wait, hold on, WHAT? Gaara watched with vague horror as Sasuke slipped out of one sleeve and worked out of the other.

As it turned out, Sasuke didn't notice Gaara hiding in the stream and wasn't down here trying to kill him. This was good. On the other hand, Sasuke came here to take a bath, which made escape a lot more difficult. This was bad, not to mention a little awkward. Fate always did have a way of putting him in awkward situations.

Gaara reached into his pocket for his kunai. All Sasuke had to do was turn around and look carefully among the rocks since the undergrowth didn't exactly cover him from the waist down. If that did happen, Gaara would have to rely on his not-so-great close combat skills to get him out alive. He spied the long knife wedged in the rocks beside Sasuke's folded shirt.

Better safe than sorry. Gaara pulled the kunai from his pocket.

Plunk!

Oops.

It took just two seconds for Gaara to stuff the kunai back into his pocket, then hold his hands up in time to meet the blade held a hair's breathe from his throat.

Through the openings of his mask, Gaara beheld the eyes of the last remaining member of the Uchiha Clan. By all accounts, it was a frightful experience but Gaara had seen and remembered these eyes at their worst and was quite thankful to see that Sasuke appeared to have become more docile over the years.

This wasn't going to be an execution, rather, an interrogation. A little like he planned when he decided the better course of action was surrendering. His fighting skills were much too patchy after two months of being terminally ill.

Sasuke's glowing red eyes studied him coolly.

"A shinobi from Suna? Either you're very good at being sneaky or you're chakra's so weak even I have trouble sensing you," said Sasuke, putting more pressure on the blade, drawing blood.

"Uuuuh… probably both?" replied Gaara. Really, it was better to act like the imbecile his siblings sometimes accused him of being rather than the soft-spoken, arrogant Gaara everyone else knew. It was also probably a good thing that Sasuke cut him since he was counting on Sasuke remembering his sand armor.

Sasuke peered at him a little closer.

"You've got the same eyes as someone I know. If you didn't act like such an idiot, I'd think you were Gaara in disguise."

Gaara carefully fumbled, "Oh – what, you mean these? It's just make-up. Everyone wants to be like Kazekage-sama. Raccoon eyes are very fashionable nowadays. Haha…"

Gaara wanted to pat himself on the back for how out of character he was being at the moment.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What were you doing, spying on me like that?"

"Getting some water."

"Liar."

"No, look! I brought my canteens and everything."

He pointed at the rocks under him. His canteens sat not too far from their feet.

Sasuke didn't appear to be convinced. Gaara never had to lie much in his life, so he couldn't tell if he was good at it. Honesty was always the best policy…

"I was getting water when I heard you coming. I'm not really strong so hiding seemed a lot better than taking on you and your group," explained Gaara as casually as possible. "Kiiinda hoped you guys would all just leave, but who knew I'd get cornered by the Uchiha Sasuke while he was trying to take a bath?"

"You know me?"

"Everyone knows you. You're practically on every country's bingo book. The five kages have been trading them like baseball cards at the summits, you know."

This was not actually true, but Gaara needed a reason for knowing Sasuke's identity without ever seeing his picture. Uchiha Sasuke was never registered as a wanted felon in Suna. Guess he did make a good liar.

"So could you, uh, let me go? I won't tell anyone. And I kind of dropped something in the river."

"What?"

"A necklace. My brother's necklace. It fell out of my pocket."

Sasuke paused to consider this and Gaara took the time to study his naked throat.

There. He was wearing it. Uchiha Itachi's ruby necklace hung around Sasuke's neck. A priceless treasure to thieves, a sentimental treasure to family. Gaara had seen him wearing it in a photograph taken a couple years ago. It was used as a passport photo on a visit to Suna. Gaara had stamped the passport himself and remembered exchanging a meaningful look with its owner before parting ways.

Well, that was before Sasuke disappeared from Konoha again. No one had seen him since, but he was lucky he'd noticed Itachi's necklace.

Gaara wondered if he was pulling any heartstrings.

"I need to find it before it gets washed away. It's the only thing I've got left of him," he finished deliberately.

This was also not true. He had a drawer full of Kankuro's tacky hand-made jewelry, but apparently fighting (or conversing) for his survival had made him a compulsive liar.

Sasuke stared at him impassively for a few moments then let him go.

It worked.

"You tell anyone you saw me and you will die," he threatened before sheathing his blade.

"Uh, yeah! I promise – cross my heart!" said Gaara, relieved.

Remembering that he was supposed to be desperately scouring the river, Gaara immediately knelt in the water and started splashing around for the necklace. Finding it would probably guarantee his escape. If he could show Sasuke he wasn't lying about the necklace, Sasuke would probably decide not to follow him back to camp. It would have been bad if he saw Temari.

Too bad it was so dark. Gaara couldn't see a thing. Not only that, the water was so cold, even if his hands did brush over the necklace, he couldn't tell what the hell he was feeling anyway.

There was a splash not three feet away from him. Gaara looked up to find Sasuke kneeling in the water next to him.

"What are you doing?" asked Gaara.

Sasuke continued to turn over rocks.

"The sooner we find your necklace, the sooner you leave," he replied curtly.

"Oh."

They didn't talk much for another twenty minutes or so other than the occasional, "You find anything yet?" or maybe, "No, that's not it, that's a shoelace," once or twice something like, "Ow! I think a fish bit me!" But the most frequent thoughts running through both of their heads ran along the lines of: Why the fuck is this taking so long??

Defeated, Gaara stood up. He was soaking wet and had a runny nose. This was just a waste of time.

"Forget it. It's gone. Thanks for your help anyway," sighed Gaara. "I'll leave you alone, I guess."

Sasuke nodded and turned to face the stream. He waited for Gaara to disappear into the woods before he pulled out the silver chain in his pocket, twirling it lazily on his finger.

The heavy pendant caught the moonlight. Sasuke let the heavy pendant fall into his hand.

It was a round shape made of two half-circles, one red, one gold.

Hmmmm…

A/N: Wow, all in one scene. Happy New Year guys! Thanks for the reviews!