I realize that it's been quite a while since I updated, but forgive me, I was a bit busy and had only limited time to write for my other stories. I'm horribly unorganized, but seriously, I'm trying to work on it! ;-;

Thanks to:
My beta-reader MidnightCherryBlossoms
CRdragonPyro
 XxRikela-chanxX
Child-1763
leogirl321

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters you recognize here except those that don't appear on Naru Wiki.

This story will not have any relation to Naruto's dream of achieving Sasuke Uchiha's return or deafeating Orochimaru. This happens a little bit after the Rescue Gaara arc. In other words, kind of AU. Thought you should know.

"Uzumaki-kun," Kohaku greeted him with her usual expression of indifference.

"Kohaku! You're okay!"

At the sound of the familiar deep voice, Kohaku's eyes shifted towards the silver-haired jounin standing nearby. "Kakashi-nii. Have you lost contact with Haruno-san?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nah. She's on the way here with some people we happened to meet," he said as he eyed the copious amounts of plates spread out before his subordinate, "Have you been here all this time?"

Feeling like he should remind them of his presence, Gaara subtly cleared his throat. Kohaku turned slightly, facing him. Thinking that she was about to make a cold remark on how he should disappear now that she was in contact with her teammates, the Suna leader was baffled when Kohaku bowed formally.

"Kazekage-sama, pardon my impertinence," her voice was toneless and detached, still the same as before. "Team Kakashi of Konohagakure has successfully contacted the Sunagakure convoys."

Black-rimmed eyes widened in surprise. "Y-you knew who I was?"

With a clearly condescending expression, Kohaku said, "A shinobi should be well-informed and aware of political situations."

At the reiteration of her earlier statement, Gaara was puzzled. "Then why didn't you-?"

A pointed look passed between the two teenagers as Kohaku's icy brown eyes pierced through his own seafoam ones. "She doesn't care at all!"

"So this is the kid you were looking for, eh? What? Hey! It's Gaara!"

The gathered group turned to look at the person who had spoken. A teenaged girl dressed in black shinobi gear that was draped with a cloak that the Land of Wind dwellers donned and had dirty-blonde hair tied into four shocks of pigtails stood there, her expression one of pleasant surprise mixed with relief.

Accompanying her was a boy who seemed to be ignorant of the current weather conditions as he was dressed in a black full-body suit, his tanned faced lined with violet face-paint and the pink-haired medic-nin who wore the insignia of Konohagakure.

"Thank God you're okay," Temari seemed like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she tiredly fell back into the chair next to her youngest brother.

The titian-haired kunoichi shifted uncomfortably as everyone else made themselves more comfortable around the previously empty table. Picking up the remaining plates of mochi, Kohaku stood up and wordlessly moved to an unoccupied table far in a deserted corner.

As the others watched her in muted silence, Kankuro scratched the back of his head. "Gee, she's quite the ray of sunshine, isn't she?"

"Newsflash: She hates people," Naruto said dryly, expression on his face matching the tone of his voice.

There was a scraping sound coming from Gaara's place as he pushed back his chair and stood up. "I'll go talk to her. Or try to."

A bewildered expression painted itself onto Naruto's face. Looking over to the corner where the covert Kohaku sat, he turned back to his team leader and medic-nin. "Since when did they become friends?" he sounded extremely incredulous.

Temari snorted, lifting a pale eyebrow as she smirked grimly. "No matter how to look at it, it's more of a one-sided thing."

Indeed, while the crimson-haired Kazekage stood in front of the table where the copper-haired kunoichi sat, Kohaku had not at the least acknowledged his presence.

"And how do you expect me to forgive your rudeness?" the redhead demanded quietly, crossing his arms across his chest, a habit that he'd developed from a long time ago to better suit his fighting style.

Vacant chocolate eyes looked up disinterestedly. "Perhaps you have conceived a misconception, Kazekage-sama. This is by no means a show of impertinence; I merely have not reported myself for duty yet, only having made contact with the Sunagakure convoys and ergo, I am not required to entertain your presence when I am not on active duty."

Her lengthy reply grated painfully against Gaara's nerves. Keeping his temper in check, Gaara's voice trembled impatiently as he said, "I'm your boss. Emphasis on the 'boss' part."

"That is but another misconception on your part, Kazekage-sama," a dry look passed from Gaara towards Kohaku - she definitely meant no respect despite the honorific, "The one who is going to receive the mission reward is Tsunade-hime, so that makes you her 'boss'; as Tsunade-hime is then going to impart the pay to me, she has indefinitely assigned Kakashi-nii as my leader, hence and therefore Kakashi-nii is my direct chief in Tsunade-hime's stead."

Yet, another lengthy explanation and reply from the girl who spoke far beyond her age.

"…In other words, I'm not your boss."

"Unless explicitly stated and approved by the Hokage-sama, that is Tsunade-hime."

This made Gaara take a mental note to send Tsunade a hawk-messenger with specific requests to relay instructions to Kohaku to remind the girl who her actual employer was. Damn that logic of hers that actually made sense to hell!

"This is not an order, but I believe we'll have to leave now if we're to make it back to Sunagakure by nightfall. We've wasted enough time as it is waiting for you to finish your food."

A cynical brow was lifted. "In case it evaded your notice - which in this case it clearly seems to have, Kazekage-sama - the only thing that is wasting our time right now is the conversation between you and I."

Gaara looked down for any evidence to refute the girl's statement, only to find empty plates stacked in a neat pile.

"Ooh. Burn."

"Input from you is unnecessary, Uzumaki-kun," Kohaku said with a cold look as she rose from her seat. She adjusted the forest-green cloak around her shoulders as she maneuvered her way seamlessly out of the cramped teashop.

Cerulean eyes flashed angrily as Naruto stalked out after her, all the while muttering, "Pompous little prick!" under his breath with a scowl, Sakura following after them.

Kakashi simply chuckled as he joined Gaara's side. The jounin held a high regard for the red-haired teen, but he had known Gaara before his days as a Kazekage. Informality would always be there. "Sorry about Kohaku," he apologized, "She's just not used to gathering in a big group of people, because of her-, I mean, she's not good at socializing. That's all."

Not even batting an eyelid at Kakashi's slight error, Gaara's eyes trailed after Kohaku. "I can see that," his voice was tight.

"What do you think of her? Not as good as Sai by a long shot, but capable and professional, don't you think?"

"As much as I appreciate your concern, Kakashi-san, I'll have to leave your question unanswered for another day. I have yet to gauge her abilities, especially for a shinobi of her rank."

A lack of follow up from Kakashi slightly puzzled the Kazekage, when the jounin merely blinked his eyes once before pulling out and flipping open his ever-present copy of Icha Icha Paradise, but he brushed it off. After all, Kakashi usually was one that didn't talk much.

xxxxx

Naruto felt a dry tickle in his throat, letting the itch escalate until it escaped his mouth in the form of a cough. He let out a heavy sigh as he continued to trudge through the sandy desert, which Kankuro had cheerfully dubbed as a wasteland.

Kohaku's presence still unnerved the blonde, despite him spending the previous day in her company. He had to laud her for her quick thinking and actions when the sandstorm had hit them, but having her as a sudden replacement for Sai, just when he'd gotten to accept the pale-skinned boy was something that he could not assimilate easily.

"So, this is the one that's the replacement for Sai?"

Naruto was visibly startled as Temari's voice broke through his hazy train of thoughts. "Obviously so," he snapped grumpily.

Temari raised a golden eyebrow. "Being bitchy now, are we?"

Naruto glowered, blue eyes glittering with irritation. The Sunagakure ambassador was not only known for her proficiency in wielding her iron fan, but as well as her sharp, seemingly hereditary, tongue. Every word she uttered to him seemed to be dry with sarcasm, something which Naruto did not appreciate.

"Whatever."

"I thought you liked people."

"You thought wrong."

"Aren't you always preaching on how everyone can be good, as long as they have loved ones to protect or some other sappy shit? The same whatever-it-is you basically evangelized to Gaara?"

Despite her crude way of putting it, Temari had a point. Her face held a smug smirk at the sight of the disgruntled look that appeared on the younger blonde's face.

"It would be nice if you stopped talking behind my back once in a while," Gaara suddenly put in, a detached expression on his face as he turned his head slightly to look at his sister and friend.

Naruto responded with a fake laugh. "When are we going to reach the village anyway?" Naruto decided to change the subject, "It seems like we've walked a really long distance already. And look! The sun's already starting to go down!"

Taking the anything but subtle hint with a roll of her eyes, Temari squinted to look ahead of them. "In a few, actually. I can vaguely make out the outline of the gates."

"We're home!"

Kankuro gleefully loped the last spurt of distance between them and sandy village, giving the guard on sentry duty a high-five. "Haven't seen you in a while!"

The palpably bewildered guard blinked in confusion. "K-Kankuro-sama!"

Gaara shot his brother a commanding glare. "Kankuro. Behave. We've only been gone a few days anyway."

Brushing off Gaara's reprimand lightly, the puppeteer easily stepped through the open gates to the village. "Y'know, with all this 'working together to create a better future' thing going on since the Akatsuki attack, I've gotten attached to everyone!"

Gaara let out the tiniest of sighs; Kankuro was definitely not as fearsome and ruthless when he was not in battle mode. "Yes, yes. Now leave your chummy BFF stories for another time. We have to get Team Kakashi settled, and to collect the mission reward for the bandit eradication."

Kohaku held no expression other than one devoid of any emotion as she stepped through the gate, going up to the counter where another Suna shinobi was stationed. Without hesitating, her hand slipped into her bag and drew out the official passport and visa that everyone on Team Kakashi had been given.

The guard - a stocky man in his early thirties; most likely a jounin or a chuunin judging by the fawn-colored vest he donned - eyed her as his hand holding the stamp of approval reluctantly hovered over the documents. "Aren't you a bit too young for a mission of this rank?" he asked as he flipped through the documents in the file he had traded for the stamp. The big, glaring 'S' on the page made him doubtful.

Kohaku, not reacting hotly to the age jibe as was expected, remained apathetic, save for the icy look glazing over her eyes. "I suggest that you check the documents properly. I assure you, I am unequivocally part of the platoon sent for this mission."

Naruto, standing behind her as he waited for his turn, was now ready to find a sand pillar to abuse his forehead with. He wondered if Kohaku's grandiloquence was intentional or whether it was a habitual speech that she'd picked up in her younger years. He growled softly in frustration as many questions stemmed from his unintentional observation, knowing quite well that none of them could be answered, for Kohaku was hardly a loquacious person.

"But, well, y'know, visas and passports nowadays are easy to forge…" The dubious guard flipped through the file thoroughly, and sure enough, Kohaku's picture came up in between the pages, along with Kakashi's, Naruto's and as well as Sakura's. "Well!"

Kohaku narrowed her eyes as she directed an icy glare at the guard. "Well indeed."

"Welcome to Suna, I guess," the baffled Suna jounin gave an embarrassed cough as he stamped the visa and passport with the bright red stamp of approval.

Gathering the documents, Kohaku wordlessly walked away and stood by the archway welcoming visitors and shinobi returning home, waiting for the rest of her team. Naruto stepped up to the guard next. "Here ya go!" he slid over his own passport and visa.

"Gonna see you around for quite a while, eh, Naruto?" the guard was familiar with the hyperactive teen, who was quite well-known within the shinobi community for his outrageous antics and talent.

"You bet 'cha!"

"Not to be rude or anything, but what's with the new morbid kid? Wasn't the replacement supposed to be a guy?"

Naruto shrugged with a sour look. "Eh. Don't ask me. Sai's got some solo mission for some strange reason, and I don't really wanna bother with her."

A surprised brow lifted. "I'm pretty sure, if the rumors are right, that you're famous for being a big-hearted kid; accepting anyone and everyone."

Naruto's mind blanked as he could not think of anything to say. His eyebrows knitted together, settling his thoughts onto the guard's words. His cornwall eyes moved to the corner, eyeing the detached girl standing waiting for him and their teammates. For some reason, the titian-haired girl had a disturbing resemblance to Sai in terms of personality and actions.

Emotionless? Check.

Blunt to the point of rudeness? Double check.

Secretive? Did he even need confirmation for that?

Naruto's eyes narrowed into slits as the memory of the night before involuntarily resurfaced in his mind. His hand crept up to the place where the girl had had the blade of the kunai held against his throat. He could even remember the shock he felt when he had been attacked. The girl was just about the most paranoid person he'd ever crossed paths with.

The more he dwelt upon the matter, the more suspicion nagged at the blonde as he withdrew his passport and visa, walking towards the archway to wait for Kakashi and Sakura.

xxxxx

"...And your quarters will be here."

Temari paused to gesture to the line of sand-coloured apartments standing before them. "Our shinobi all live in this residential area - at least the ones without families of their own. A bachelor-bachelorette place, if you'd like."

After entering the village with no problems, Gaara and Kankuro had excused themselves to collect the reward money in the headquarters for the Suna shinobi. Temari had appointed herself with the task of settling their foreign visitors into the village.

Kakashi inspected the key that Temari had given him. "And all four of us are given a unit of our own?"

"With separate heterosexual bedrooms and two bathrooms," Temari confirmed with a brisk nod of her head.

"We don't have to pay rent too!" Naruto exclaimed exuberantly as he whipped out his own key, inserting it into the keyhole and unlocking the door.

Slipping off her flats, Kohaku walked into the apartment, standing in the middle of the living area. "I would ask of you to choose your rooms now, as I will take the last room available." she announced quietly, making no move to inspect the modestly furnished apartment.

Sakura quickly shook her head as she stepped inside after taking off her heeled sandals. "Oh no, Kohaku! You should also have a fair chance to choose your own room," she said smilingly.

Without missing a beat, Kohaku replied, "I appreciate your consideration, Haruno-san, but I do not wish to partake in something extraneous like the allocation of rooms."

"I'm going to assume that weird word is probably along the lines of useless," Naruto lifted a cynical eyebrow, "Being nice now, are we? Or is there a hidden motive?"

Kohaku swept a brief glance of scorn towards Naruto's direction. "I merely do not wish to involve myself into a gratuitous petty trifle with any of you concerning room situations."

The orange-clad blonde made a face. "And here I thought you actually liked Kakashi-sensei."

Giving him no response except another one of her cold glares, Kohaku ignored his assertion. Kakashi sighed wearily as he lifted a gloved hand, placing it on Kohaku's head and ruffling her head. "Whatever floats your boat, Kohaku."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto took off his sandals as well and followed after his mentor, along with Sakura, into the hallway that led to the rooms.

"Thank you for your time, Sabaku-san," Kohaku bowed her head curtly, "I suppose it would be rude if we engaged you any further."

Taken aback by Kohaku's direct formality, Temari took a subconscious step backwards. The blonde chuckled, feeling uncomfortable with Kohaku staring at her intently with eyes that didn't say anything. Now she knew why Naruto acted the way he did around the girl. Temari felt like doing the same, except without the part where she disliked her immensely, since she hardly knew her.

"Yeah, well, it's my job as Gaara's diplomatic assistant."

"Good day."

And she closed the door. Temari sighed, slightly affronted by Kohaku's actions despite the fact that she hadn't slammed the door in her face.

"Guess I'll go report to Gaara then. He should be back in his office by now if the elders have caught him..."

xxxxx

"You dug up her file?"

Temari found herself in Gaara's office, which previously housed the preceding Kazekages of their village. Her iron fan leaned against the wall beside her. "Don't you think that's a bit, I don't know, creepy?"

Gaara sat in his seat, dressed in the formal attire that the elders had miraculously managed to force him into when they had ambushed him in the headquarters as he went in to collect the reward money. "Nothing in the world of shinobi is 'creepy', Temari," Gaara said as he pushed the cone-shaped hat that had the kanji for 'wind' away as he rested his chin against his clasped hands.

"Tried to," Kankuro corrected Temari's earlier question, having taken off his favourite cat-eared hat. Spiky, unruly short brown hair stuck up in all directions. "Gaara asked for her file, but everything inside's pretty basic and useless; name, age, birthdate, height and weight..."

Temari rubbed her chin in thoughtfulness. "To be honest with you, I don't think there's anything about her that needs to have an investigation launched. She could probably be like Kakashi; secretive and aloof because it's in her DNA."

xxxxx

Listening to his closest subordinates and siblings talking, a thought nagged at the back of Gaara's mind. He narrowed his dark-circled eyes, trying to figure out the ebbing figment in his mind.

His frosty-green orbs travelled to the pile of files consisting of the information of the shinobi under his command that he'd yet to find time to archive properly. The top file had the basic information of the person; name, age, birthdate, height, weight, rank and number of missions...

"Wait a minute!"

Gaara's eyes widened. He swiftly - and discreetly - without the notice of the conversing Temari and Kankuro, pulled out Naruto's file to compare it with Kohaku's, to affirm the suspicion clouding his mind.

Naruto's had his rank - Chuunin, finally - and the number of missions he had gone on since his genin days. However, neither sort of information could be seen on Kohaku's file. Gaara narrowed his eyes once again, quietly setting down the files.

xxxxx

Temari noticed Gaara's unusual silence. Well, it wasn't that unusual, but Gaara usually had a word or two to put in whenever it was just the three of them chatting about nonsensical things. "What's up, Gaara?"

Gaara looked up, his expression one of nonchalance. "Get me a messenger hawk. I need to send a message to the Godaime Hokage."

"To tell her that the Team Kakashi platoon has arrived as scheduled?"

No verbal answer, save for a single, mute nod of the young Kazekage's head.

"But the weather's been a bit unpredictable lately. Even the best hawks'll have trouble navigating properly. The message'll probably take longer than usual to reach her," said Kankuro, as he thoughtfully looked outside the window behind his brother.

"Regardless of that, I still have to send one."

Temari nodded empathically as she picked up her fan. "I'll go get a bird then. You write the message now. Come on, Kankuro," she headed for the door.

"Right. See you at dinner, Gaara," Kankuro picked up his summoning scrolls and followed after their sister.

xxxxx

And Gaara was left alone. He frowned, his features slightly marred, as he pulled out a slip of paper and a pencil.

Poising the pencil over the paper, Gaara began to write, words formulating in his mind as he wrote them down. He knew it would be only a slight chance that Tsunade would answer him truthfully, because he knew of the inner workings of the village; the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes as they orchestrated things to go according to their every whim and fancy. But, in the probable case that he was being overcautious and had let his imagination run wild, it was a possible clerical error.

"But, I've got to trust my instincts."

As usual, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

Luv,

Pichuzilla