Back again! ...How I managed to finish this up today with a high fever and infected right thumb, I'll NEVER know.

Yeah. Okay, get this. The other day, I sliced my left middle finger on my mom's closet vent trying to turn it off. Then, the next day (this past Thursday if you care) I forgot about it and rubbed Germ-X all over my hands.

THEN, the icing on the cake? At my best friend's dad's 40th birthday party this past Friday, I was helping her boyfriend clean up afterward and I frigging sliced my right thumb all the way down the side on...You ready for this? ...Damn aluminum foil.

ALUMINUM FOIL! IS THERE NO NOBLER WAY TO RECIEVE AN INJURY? XD

So, yeah. It got infected. And I've had a fever of 103 all damn day long.

Eff. My. LIFEEEEE! DX

...HOWEVER. I've been watching Snake's (aka Lee's) videos all day, and I'm happy despite my fever. Or maybe that's the delirium kicking in... 0_0

For those who don't know, I'm referring to pyschadelicsnake. He does video game walkthroughs on YouTube (generally horror games), and they're frigging hilarious. He got the most viewed of the UK award on youtube today, too, so that made me happy ^^

But anyway, I'm digressing, sooooo...

Read.

Review.

ENJOOOOOY! :D

The more minutes that passed by, the more guilty Naruto felt as he explained to Will what had happened to his sister.

He felt even more guilty after seeing how ashen Will's face looked despite him hiding it in his carton of lo mein as best he could.

Renji was busy looking at his hands, much like Naruto was. Sasuke and Sakura were still awkwardly standing in the doorway, not exactly sure what to do.

"...Do, um...Does Ichigo and-"

"Yeah. They said they'd be here as soon as they could, but I couldn't wait that long," Naruto replied, not looking up.

The tense silence in the room was too heavy for him to bother lifting his head through it.

"Oh."

And on the silence stretched. Finally, as everyone's breathing became more and more annoying to him, Naruto finally stood up and slammed his hands down against the coffee table, making everyone jump.

"GOD DAMMIT, WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING? I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD TELL ME WHAT THE HELL I'M SUPPOSED TO DO, SEEING AS YOU'RE ALL AGENTS, AND SINCE LOON SEEMED TO ALWAYS KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO, BUT NOW I GUESS I HAD THE BEST IDEA!" he shouted, making everyone gape at him.

He stared at the two Agents so harshly that not even Sasuke could look in that direction. "...Are ya gonna help me find her, or are you just gonna sit there and twiddle your thumbs and hide in your damn noodles," he asked in a voice so low (and more than a little threatening) that it surprised himself.

Will stabbed his fork into his lo mein with finality and stood up as Renji continued to get his jaw off the floor. "I'm with ya all the way, but this won't be easy. The Agency's –"

"Yeah, that's great and all, but can we talk about it on the WAY to find Luna?" Naruto interrupted, making Will's brows shoot up. Then he smiled, but it was one of those smiles that people gave when they were troubled. "Sure. Might as well, no telling when the next flight out to the US is."

"Flight?" the three ninja asked in unison. Renji and Will jumped, having not really noticed them. Will nodded, cocking his head toward the front door. "Yeah, y'know, air planes. We haveta get the first flight out to the US. The United States of America. That's where the Agency is; in Washington, DC. Hey, shut that door behind you, will ya?"

Tara sighed heavily, eyeing herself warily in the mirror. Her superior thought she was in Pennsylvania, when in reality she was less than five miles away from their Headquarters.

She was at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – the White House. Her mission - her real mission - was to aid the Secret Service in identifying an "anomaly" recorded on tape on their grounds; they were concerned it might be a terrorist of some sort.

They might be right. It could be Orochimaru for all we know...

Tara smoothed down her already-perfectly-smooth hair before exiting the restroom, and she was walking down the hallway towards the White House's surveillance room when who should run into her but the President himself.

Her papers flew everywhere, and he crouched down to help her pick them up. Secret Service nearby watched them carefully, hands at the ready and positioned so that one was on a gun and the other was on an earpiece. ...Well, this sure beats the trouble of trying to find him myself.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am," he said, but she waved him off with an airy laugh. "Oh, it's alright, no harm no foul."

A few more words were said, and then he picked up the picture she had been mentally begging him to see. The picture of Luna and Will goofing off. The main component of her plan.

"...If you don't mind my asking, who are these two?" he asked, intrigued after noticing they looked nothing like Tara.

She looked at the picture as if she wasn't sure what he was talking about before nodding slowly. "...Oh. Them. That's Will, Will Sasaki. And that's his little sister, Luna. ...Actually, sir, now that I have your attention, I suppose I could give you a full story. ...Sir, do you know about The Agency?" she asked, lowering her voice and glancing around.

The President's features immediately sharpened, and he lowered his voice as well. "...How about you tell me who you are first, ma'am."

She nodded and stood, holding out a hand. "Agent Tara Surandon, sir. One of the representatives of the Agency and part of its Juvenile Covert Unit, at your service."

"Are you the one they called about the surveillance tape?"

"Yes."

They had a sort of stare-off for a moment before he finally made a clicking noise with his tongue and nodded. "My wife's out in Portland with my two daughters. Agent Surandon, consider yourself my lunch date for today."

Tara smiled at him. "It would be my pleasure, sir."

Plan B's finally in motion. ...It won't be long, Luna. I promise.

Luna slept for twelve hours, until she rolled off the bed and woke herself up. Groaning, she rubbed her sore neck and shoulders, wringing her still-slightly-red wrists gently; she was just glad they were free.

After a few moments, she paled after realizing what her hand was rubbing against. After all this time, she still had Naruto's headband tied around her arm. She could feel it under her jacket.

Luna had remembered what Alex had told her, about not causing a scene, and it seemed in some abstract way to confirm her suspicions; she'd always felt as if she were being watched in her own room.

It made total sense, now that she thought about it.

So she went to the bathroom, a place where she had often gone for peace and quiet. Usually she'd sit in the bathtub without any water, or on the sink's counter. Maybe even put the toilet lid down and sit on top of it.

Today, she went in there to peel off her jacket and shirt. She was right; there was his headband. It was weird she hadn't realized it was still there before now. In a weird way, it made her feel...kind of...sad. Well, more than kind of sad.

Pretty damn sad.

Now that she was thinking about it (while trying to pretend her eyes weren't tearing up), it had been pretty weird waking up by herself. Not that Naruto hardly ever woke up when she did, but at least she was able to be sure he was safe.

Now, there was no telling.

She supposed she'd have to see to it that he would be. After all, he'd be among the first they'd question her about, would they not?

Right on cue, there was a sharp set of raps on her door. Luna tensed. "Agent Sasaki, you're wanted in Room 302," the voice called out.

At least Alex wouldn't be escorting her everywhere now.

"Understood," she said simply. She heard the shuffling of their feet, a couple noises caused by their shoes, and then they faded into the normal daytime ambiance of The Agency.

She quickly wiped under her eyes before looking in the mirror and sighing. Apparently, her eye-wiping was futile since her mascara from last night had left trails down her face anyway.

She still didn't remember crying at all; she distinctly remembered willing herself not to cry in front of those Agents. That would have implied she had something to cry about, when she was about to try and convince a man on the other side of a polygraph that she had no attachments whatsoever.

She washed her face, but that thought didn't leave her mind. How long had it been since she'd managed to fool a polygraph test? A year? Maybe a few months. And that had been over arriving back at The Agency two hours late after completing an assignment.

That had been hard and nerve-racking enough, but this was over her relationships with Konoha and its people. And who the hell knew what else?

Luna slowly took off her necklace and untied Naruto's headband; the metal would be sure to set off the metal detectors they would have stationed in front of the entrance to Room 302.

The room reserved for severe cases against The Agency.

"...Naruto...I'm in deep shit," she muttered to the headband before hiding it and her necklace underneath the bathroom rug.

Will waited until they were at the airport and waiting for their plane to start boarding passengers to explain The Agency a little more.

Renji was just as confused as they were, Naruto found that one out real quick.

"What all has Luna told ya about it?"

"As little as possible."

"Do you at least know what they do?"

"Sort of."

Will sighed and shook his head. "You're not helping."

Naruto sweatdropped. "Well, neither are you! You're not supposed to be asking me questions, it's supposed to be the other way around!"

He sighed again. "...Lemme just start from the beginning. The Agency is the biggest spy organization in the world, and few know it exists. In fact, the only reason the President knows we exist is because he oversees both it and its funds. I don't think our Secretary of Defense even knows about it. Not that that means much to you, I'm sure. Anyway, if they really have my sister, and they're talking about more experiments being done, they're not gonna let her go without a fight."

He paused to look at them all, just to see how confused they were. Sasuke and Sakura were sitting on the floor in front of Will, who was sitting in a chair between Renji and Naruto.

The only one who looked all that confused was Sakura, who was still having a hard time believing she was in another universe.

Sasuke might have been just as confused, but like hell would the Uchiha let it show if he was.

"The Agency's headquarters're located in Washington, DC. Not very far away from the White House itself, actually. Renji and I could probably sneak you three in, since we have our badges. We'd have to bring you through in handcuffs, the security would just assume you're the usual prisoners."

"Prisoners?"

"For lack of better term, yeah. Basically, we're assigned targets. We find those targets. We either kill them on the spot, or bring them to the Agency. Once inside, they never come out alive, that's for sure. Unless, of course, they become an Agent themselves. In that case,they stay with us until they die."

Naruto nodded, remembering Luna's letter. Which, of course, almost caused his mind to drift away from what Will was saying, and he had to force it away from thoughts about her.

"When we get in there, I think I know which room they would've taken her to for experimentation."

"How do you know she'll still be there when we get there?" Sakura asked, speaking for the first time in almost an hour. That had to be some sort of record for her.

Will's expression turned more and more somber throughout his next explanation.

"Maybe I should just explain the experimental process of The Agency. There're three main types of experimental subjects. There's one that's strictly for anatomical study, and these subjects could be human, abnormal, an alien of some kind, or just a plain animal – like a frog or something. These types are only experimented on after they're dead. They're just called Anatomy Subjects.

"The other type is for when the subject's incapacitated in some way. Unconscious, in a coma, or sometimes dead. These could be for biological warfare, where they inject them with new diseases or cures they've made and see what happens. They could be for chemical usage, like turning brown eyes blue or something. Anything, really. In the name of science, of course," he added with an eyeroll. "They're called Advancement Subjects, since they help to advance science.

"And then the last type. These are done while the subject's still alive, and the experiments are done while both unconscious and conscious in order to register different reactions to each one. These are reserved for humans or animals from other worlds with special abilities. Mainly abilities that could help create the ultimate fighter – the Super Soldier. One that can't be beaten because its enemies out in the Middle East or whoever we're in war with next won't have a damn idea as to what hit them. 'Cause their abilities would have been obtained from people or things from other worlds, all rolled into one strip of DNA. ...These types of experiments are overseen by the Allies. Y'know, England, Italy, all those countries. Whether you understood all I just said about this type or not, there's one important thing we can't avoid comprehending – not even me. This type of experimentation has never – I repeat, never – been successful. Every single subject has died during testing, due to reckless scientists, weak immune systems, inaccurate dosage of a certain chemical, or a combination of things. These subjects are simply called The X Subjects. Because once you go inside those sterilized white rooms, The Agency gets your papers out of your file and leaves them on their desks, just waiting for your confirmed time of death so that they can shred them. You cease to exist completely, and they either cremate you or bury you on the grounds."

A tense atmosphere had enveloped them while he was talking, and Naruto felt his pulse quicken as he noticed how upset talking about that last type had made him.

"...Will...What kind is Luna gonna be?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

He waited until a Japanese family of five walked past, and his voice was shaking when he finally spoke.

"...She...Well, Luna was an Advancement Subject a while back, and they blocked her memory of it. She can't think about it without getting bad headaches."

"But what kind is she now?" Naruto rephrased, not liking one bit that Will was stalling.

"...Now? ...She, um...She's gonna be an X Subject," he admitted quietly. That seemed to be the final blow for him, because once it was out in the open, he let his head fall so that it looked like he was studying his knees. Only it must've been hard to do with his eyes shut like that.

The other three let out noises of surprise, and Naruto swallowed hard, trying not to let it get to him.

If he started thinking about what that meant right now, he'd never be able to think clearly enough to get her out of that hellhole.

"Flight 179 to JFK Airport now boarding," the flight attendant behind the desk to their right announced over her intercom.

No one moved.

Finally, Naruto stood up, clapping a hand on Will's shoulder. "Guess we better get goin' and bust her out, then, huh?" he commented, grinning his fox-like grin at him as he finally lifted his head.

Will grinned back, exchanging a high-five with him. "Yeah. Let's get goin'."

Sasuke helped Sakura to her feet, making her blush a little, which made Naruto roll his eyes. "Jeez, you guys. Get a hold of yourselves, we're on a mission here."