No.

Sasuke got up and, in the midst of gathering all his things, knew that it would already be too late. He was already too late. The stuff dropped from his hands with a clatter and Sasuke Uchiha fell to his knees.

First Suigetsu, and now Neji. Were they ever going to stop leaving him?

Suigetsu pressed his face into the pillow as the early sunlight crept in. He groaned in protest and pulled the blanket further up his face.

Itachi watched, amused, hypnotized by Suigetsu's sleeping form. He had always watched Suigetsu sleep, whether it be in the morning before the mist nin woke up or if Itachi couldn't fall asleep. And he was always bewitched by just how plain hot the guy looked.

Itachi had come back not too long ago, and even though there was no one in the Lair to exhibit any strange behavior in some indication of Suigetsu's presence, Itachi knew he was here. But he didn't know how he got here, or why. It made the back of his neck prickle.

"Do you like my surprise?"

Itachi whipped around. Hidan—of all people!—stood in his doorway, his entire bulk blocking it. Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"This is your idea of a surprise?"

Hidan shrugged. "Just tell me you like it,"

The older Uchiha had not the foggiest of ideas what the heck was going on, but it was clear Hidan was stringing him along. Itachi fixed him with his stare.

"Hidan…," he said warningly.

"What?" the Jashinist eyeballed Itachi. The two glared at each other, the beamlike gaze of each clashing in the cool dawn air. Hidan's was of a smug determination, because he knew what was up and he was going to pull Itachi out to confess it; it would take a lot of work, of course, Itachi was a much more formidable opponent than Sasori or Deidara, but since he and Suigetsu's relationship held true, he knew he was going to be the victor in the end. Itachi's was one of glowering suspicion, annoyance and a dash of contempt. He never really despised the Jashinist, despite his tendency to rattle on and all that swearing too, but at that very moment he felt like there was a loose but powerful grip around his heart, and that made him feel nervous and threatened. Which meant he kind of hated Hidan now.

"Hidan?"

Kisame came up to the Jashinist, who shuffled over immediately, jerking his head in the direction of Itachi's room. Itachi's face grew hot.

Dickhead.

Kisame peered in his head cocked at the scene. He grinned widely, showing his rows of tiny sharp teeth. Just like Suigetsu's.

"Well lookie here," Kisame boomed. He fingered the end of Samehada. "If it isn't Suigetsu Horuki,"

Itachi didn't have to give his partner a look that said if you say anything, I will fuck you up; Kisame knew better than that. All the blue-haired nin said next was, "Can I have a look at his sword?"

No, Itachi said in his head, but he didn't dare to say it out loud, because then he would just be walking into Hidan's nasty little game. He just shrugged.

"Play with your own sword," Hidan chortled at his double entendre. Kisame just rolled his eyes and Itachi couldn't help but sigh a little in exasperation. He was tiring of that Hidan, really.

Kisame hmph-ed and walked away, and Itachi could tell he was just a little bit miffed and disappointed that Itachi didn't just fork Zanbatou over. Hidan, however, stayed and just watched.

"Why are you up so early?" Itachi questioned, looking at Hidan. It was only four forty five, after all. He vaguely remembered that occasionally the Jashinist did have early morning calls due to his religion. Itachi figured it was probably another form of Jashin's call for masochism, getting his followers to wake up early just to stab themselves. Well in Hidan's case it was stabbing and shrieking and maniacal laughing. Itachi was sure that the other followers didn't do all of that, because not all of them had achieved Hidan's highly desirable level of invincibility. Itachi wondered briefly, crazily, if Hidan got any sexual gratification out of all that self-inflicted punishment. He was, after all, a masochist. But maybe not that kind of masochist. Whatever, Itachi thought. Why was he thinking about this anyway? Not like he really cared either way.

"I actually woke up a bit late," Hidan replied. "I was meant to do this ritual thingy, but I didn't sleep till late last night doing another ritual thingy. So you see…,"

He yawned and stretched. "Actually, I better get to it or Jashin will kill me," he winked at Itachi. "I'll leave you two alone,"

Deidara moved a little in Sasori's arms, but otherwise stayed asleep. Sasori's eyelids fluttered and his grip around Deidara tightened, but they both slept on beneath the cover of Sasori's blanket and in the warmth of each other's presence.

Neji was glad that it was still early yet, and the only people he had to talk to were Kotetsu and Izumo, who were given the dreaded graveyard-slash-early bird shift at the gates. Kotetsu yawned and let Izumo do all the official work.

"Good morning, Neji," he said. "Been out training it up again? Under a waterfall?"

Neji faltered a little, because he didn't know if Izumo was serious. Then again, Hiashi did that all the time. Maybe he could pull this off.

He nodded. "Yes,"

"Christ," Kotetsu said, resting his tired head in his arms. "Don't know how you can do that and stay so healthy,"

Neji glared at him, but not because of what he said, but because he really wanted to leave.

Izumo nodded. "Alright. Go home and get some sleep already,"

As Neji walked over, Izumo jotted the Hyuuga's name down in the logbook, along with the time and reason. Neji felt his heart soar in relief. He passed. It hadn't exactly been a difficult test, but this stuff was recorded, and he would have been damned if they asked him more about it, because he really didn't know exactly where that waterfall was. Not that it really mattered—he could have just used his Byakugan to pinpoint its exact location. But he really didn't want to do all that.

"Don't you think Neji acted a bit weird?" Izumo put the end of the pen between his teeth and twisted it around. Kotetsu yawned and shrugged.

"I don't know, I just want to sleep," he complained, for the one hundred and thirty sixth time ever since their shift began. Yes, Izumo had kept count. "Maybe he has a secret girlfriennnddd out there or something," he added, sounding like he was drunk. Izumo rolled his eyes.

"Your girlfriend will dump you if she sees you like this," he shot back. But in his mind, he didn't really doubt that Neji maybe had a secret affair. He smiled a little. It was time the Hyuuga got one, anyway. What happy lives we all live. He sighed and threw down his pen.

"Don't worry, Kotetsu," he said. "Our shift is almost over. Just…another…hour," he leaned back in his chair and yawned despite himself.

Sasuke walked towards Konoha, his shoulders thrown back and his chest puffed out. It was early yet. And he would fool those Konoha nin. Definitely. He leapt up to a tree and looked down. He recognized the two guys on guard at the gate, and there were a couple others scattered around the perimeter. None of them had seen or detected Sasuke just yet. He pulled his coat further up his face. It was colder here. He glanced behind him to make sure he wasn't being followed and then continued forward.

When Neji turned around, it was too late.

"Argh!"

He flew backwards into the trees, he hit one and his body was thrown forward again. He opened his eyes slowly.

Sasuke.

Neji's eyes widened. He looked around, but no one was here. What happened to all the guar—

"I took care of them," Sasuke said, his eyes piercing. Neji had seen those eyes before; it was before Sasuke killed. They were lifeless and merciless. Neji's hand clasped around a tuft of grass, and he wondered fretfully if Sasuke had killed all the guards. No. He couldn't have.

Neji stood up slowly. There had been a small knoll in the tree trunk, and it had dug into his back hard, and he was sure there was going to be a huge bruise. He glared at Sasuke.

"You left me," the Uchiha said simply, like what he had just done to Neji was well-deserved by the Hyuuga because he had left.

"So?" Neji huffed. "I explained to you, Sasuke. There's nothing you can do abou—,"

Neji stopped speaking because Sasuke had unsheathed his katana. The thin blade reflected a bit of the dawn sun as the black-haired guy swung it around slowly, obviously trying to taunt Neji by taking his time and allowing the implications of this action to sink in.

"Sasuke," Neji said. "What are you—?"

"I'm making sure you don't leave me again," Sasuke said. He gave the katana one last swing then charged.