Sakura had been unconscious for about a day now; dead to the world. Kakashi had hidden her as best he could; using his broken apartment for shelter. Like the rest of the village, it had fared poorly.

Aggravated by this thought, he sat in the chair across form his bed where Sakura lay and rested his hands against his chin. This could not have been the work of the Akatsuki. Granted enough signs pointed towards them, but the members of their party were too few for an invasion of this size. But then who did that leave? Who else would want to destroy the village?

If Orochimaru and the Akatsuki had joined forces, there might have been enough to wage a war this size. But that was highly unlikely. If it really was the Akatsuki, why had there been no sign of Itachi or the others? Where had all these other ninja come from? If it had truly been the Akatsuki, wouldn't he have hit hard first then taken out Sasuke? If that truly was his goal, he would have struck hard, taken Sasuke out, and left, leaving the village barely standing.

Whoever it was was hell bent on finishing off this village. A hundred ninja had attacked, all flawlessly skilled; all tainted to kill. There had been many casualties thus far, many that would be hard to get over. Kakashi had seen several of his comrades fall; some he wish he hadn't. How many had died? He did not know. All of the villagers had been evacuated safely, "Dumb luck," as Kakashi put it. They were safe in the water tribe village. Now only the strong and able bodied and every ninja up to this level of combat remained.

They had managed to push the enemy back, but how long would that hold? They had been silent for now, but Kakashi feared the worst. What were they planning?

Infuriated, he slammed his fist on the arm of the chair; this offered no relief. What also troubled him was that he had heard no news of the children in three days. Ever since Sasuke told them to run, he had not seen or heard word of them. On top of that he also had no idea where Sasuke was. Granted he was no long Sasuke's sensei, but he still felt responsible for him; as he did for Sakura and Naruto.

"I wonder how the kids are doing." He thought out loud. Had they reached Gaara safely?

His mind became clouded and he stood up and began pacing. The village was silent tonight, for the first night in several. The only sounds to be heard were that of Sakura's breathing and the melodic tapping of Kakashi's feet on the flooring.

Kakashi stopped pacing suddenly; a new sound could be heard. It was a rasp scrapping sound, like something being dragged across the floor, and heavy breathing could be heard outside his door. Kakashi readied himself, placing himself between Sakura and the door. He hadn't lifted his head band yet to reveal his sharingan eye, but he was prepared to if the circumstances called for it. He spread his legs a little wider, positioning one hand one hand in front of him, palm facing the ground. With the other hand he braced the wrist. Did he have enough chakra for chidori? One shot at best and he had to make it count, no matter the cost. The door knob slowly turned, the door opening even slower.

Kakashi got ready, then nearly fell back as the person entered. "No, it can't," he said shocked. The person reached a bloody hand out then collapsed in the floor. Leaving Kakashi stunned and hopelessly confused.

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"Alright guys, we found Kyoko, now it's time to go." Kankuro said skeptically. Something about Kyoko didn't sit right with him.

"Okay," they all said in unison and began packing up.

"So, Kyo-kyo, what were you doing in the woods so early?" Ruuto asked while rolling up his bedding.

The girl gave him an innocent smile. "Hm, you know, just picking some wild flowers!" she exclaimed cheerfully and extended her hand to show a bouquet of bright red and purple flowers.

"Uhh, wild flowers?" Ruuto asked, now sweat dropping.

"Since when have you ever picked wild flowers? You hated flowers as a kid!" Rai exclaimed. "I should know, you always hated going to my mom's flower shop. I believe your exact words were 'Flowers are a waste of time. They last for a day then wilt so what's the point of going through so much trouble?' And as I remember, dad had to stop mom from strangling you." He said, watching her for any kind of reaction.

She simple smiled, "Hm, Can't a girl change?"

"Change? Yes. Over night? No." Rai said while cramming what few things he had into his back pack.

"Well sorry I'm not all lazy like you Rye." She exclaimed, getting annoyed.

"His name's Rai." Ruuto corrected her, eyeing her suspiciously; now he had his doubts.

"That's what I said," she retorted non-caringly.

"No, you said Rye."

"What ever let's go. I need to buy new clothes, something with more purple in it." She said while analyzing her outfit. "Where did I even get these drab clothes anyways? I mean you could ha-"

During her rant, Rai and Ruuto had both pulled out kunai and had them pointed at "Kyoko"; much to Kankuro's shock.

"Where is she?!" demanded Ruuto angrily.

"Where's who?" The girl asked confused.

"Kyoko, what have you doen with Kyoko?!" Rai said; anger eminent in his eyes, but retaining a cool demeanor.

"What are you guys talking about? I'm Kyoko! Now put those away before you hurt someone, namely me!" She said frustrated and tried to walk past the two boys.

In one swift move, Ruuto turned then kunai around in his hand and nailed the girl in the jaw. She stumbled back and then was completely thrown off to the side by Rai who delivered a hard kick to her gut. The girl skidded across the ground several feet. When she did come to a stop, she just laid there.

"Did we kill her?" Ruuto asked.

"I don't think so," Rai replied. The two both stood stunned by what had just occurred.

Suddenly, catching all three of the travelers off guard, there was a loud 'poof' sound and Kyoko was hidden in a cloud of smoke. A high pitched girl's laugh slowly began to fill the air. Slowly emerging from the smoke walked a girl who appeared to be about eleven or twelve. She had long purple hair that was tied with a single band and her hair swung down past her tiny hips. She had a pinched nose and bright, luminous red lips. Her eyes were a penetrating green and she had finger nails long enough to be claws. She wore a short black top, revealing most of her torso and it had long sleeves with tares all the way along them. Bandages covered her legs and were hidden under a long pair of tight purple shorts that came to her knees and she had a pair of cropped black shorts over top of those. There were also bandages wrapped around her fingers and a scar on her upper back that inched its way around her middle.

"So what gave me away?" she asked in a voice that sounded to young for her.

"Aside from the fact that you're not Kyoko?" Rai asked with a angry glare. "That you had no idea where you got those clothes from. We were with Kyoko the day she put them on; they were her father's but that's a moot point right now. Who are you and what did you do with Kyoko?" Rai asked with a bored expression.

"My, my aren't we demanding? Good thing you're cute." She said with a wink, causing Rai to blush slightly; but he covered it up with a glare. "I am Suki, the water goddess!" She said raising both arms in the air.

"So you control water, eh?" Ruuto said with a challenging look in his eyes.

"No, what gave you that idea?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

Ruuto's jaw dropped and Rai just stood there with a confused look, much like his father's. "Hence the name?" Kankuro said with a 'duh' expression on his face.

"Oh, the dog speaks!" She exclaimed sarcastically. "No I don't control water, I just thought it was a cool name." she said with a grin.

Kankuro sweat dropped and rubbed his hand across his face. 'This kid's nuts,' he thought to himself. "So you're just a kid who can perform basic ninjutsu; why are you here?" he asked tiredly, he'd had enough of babysitting.

"Hm, why else? I'm here to kill you." She stated simply.

With that said, Ruuto doubled over with laughter. He rolled on the ground, clutching his sides as he laughed. Suki glared angrily at him.

She stamped her foot madly, "Stop laughing at me!" she screamed at him.

This only caused him to laugh more, "Don't go having a temper tantrum on us." Ruuto managed to gasp out between laughter.

"I am NOT having a temper tantrum!" she screamed, even more mad now. On a second thought, she stood up straighter and replaced her angry snarl with a seductive grin. "No matter, by the time you can even think of apologizing, it will be too late." She stated matter-of-factly; placing her hands on her tiny hips.

"What are you going to do? Poison us while we play tea party?" Kankuro asked, getting more and more ticked off by the second. "Come on kid, peck up your little circus act or water dance or whatever it is that you're doing and go home; you're giving me a head ache.

Suki glared at him and extended one hand towards him. Her eyes became and electric blue color. With a deadly force, lightning appeared seemingly out of nowhere and hit the ground, three feet from where Kankuro stood.

His gaze never wavered from her and he let out a long low whistle. "You, uh, missed." He said, pointing to the ground beside him.

She got even angrier at this and charged at him. She lifted a tiny fist and struck out at him. He blocked it easily. Exasperated, she tried to land another punch or a kick; all to no avail. After a while of this, she began getting tired and her tiejutsu became sluggish and sloppy. One more punch, she could land it! She did a half jump back and pulled her arm back, extending it with all the strength she could congregate. She felt her fist collide with flesh, and she almost smiled, until a hand clamped around her wrist and spun her around till her arm was pinned behind her. Immobilizing her and rendering her unable to use her ninjutsu; though that one attempt at scaring them used up to much of her chakra. So she would doubtfully be able to do it once more so soon.

"Let me go!" She yelled, trying to wrestle her way free.

Rai sighed and rolled his eyes, "Man, what a drag." He said and walked over to the small girl. He pinned her with a glare and she immediately stopped struggling. "Listen, there's no way you're going to get out of this so stop trying! Now we can end this now if you just tell us where Kyoko is."

The girl returned his stare, mesmerized by his eyes. "They took her away." She told him, fidgeting slightly in the uncomfortable position. "Boss said he was taking her to the base. He said she was the key." She explained further.

"Where is this base?" Rai asked evenly, never batting an eye.

"A few miles east of Tamaka."

"What do you mean 'key'?"

"I don't know, he never explained it."

Rai eyed her for a minute before asking his next question. "Who is 'boss'?"

Suki hesitated before answering, "His name…" she paused again."

"Come on tell us already!" Ruuto demanded angrily.

Ruuto's sudden outburst had earned him a glare form Kankuro.

"Shut up kid!" he said.

"His name," She started slowly, "His name is Kiyo. Kiyo Uchiha."

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END CHAPTER!!! MUahahaha okay so hope yall like it, I've already started working on the neck chapter. So it should be up soonish. Hope you guys are liking it so far! Oh and the pronunciation for that last name is 'Key-yo', I kinda made it up on the spot, it might already be a name but it was the first thing that sounded good at 12:30 at night :p so yeah well thank you for all the reviews again! Hope you enjoyed it!