First off, I'd like to thank all the readers who responded after I reached out to everyone that I could! It was lovely interacting with those who replied. I enjoy sending little thank-you's to all you lovely people, but unfortunately some of you have disabled your PM feature and some of you were anonymous or not signed in, so I wasn't able to send a personal thank you message. But thank you so much! You are all my inspiration!

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. I wish it did. loljk I do not have the capacity nor the talent to appease the millions of Naruto fans around the world.

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

Warning: Hidan's potty mouth makes for a kid-unfriendly chapter. And later chapters.

Kohaku liked order. She liked things that were logical. That's why she liked books about history and politics — despite the fact that both subjects were riddled with war and corruption, there was a logic behind every decision made that made it to the books. However, there were two things that she did not understand:

1) Gaara

2) Herself

Gaara was difficult to understand. He was quiet, but for some reason spoke a lot more than she'd anticipated. He was the Kazekage of Sunagakure, but he still treated her and the rest of the Konohagakure shinobi the same way he treated everyone else in the village. Well, that was a half-truthful observation. She was reluctant to admit it, but for some reason, even she'd noticed the way that Gaara regarded her and spoke to her was different from everyone else.

Speaking of differences, Kohaku had noticed changes in herself, as well. She didn't remember when exactly it had started, but she knew it wasn't a sudden change. She was more self-aware around the redhead — she refused to label it as anything else. She found herself becoming less snappy and cold with Gaara, but instead, was more receptive to the companionship he had offered on a regular basis, ever since they met. It had been almost a year ago.

A year ago.

Danzo's harsh, unforgiving face suddenly flashed in her mind.

And the contemplative session ended abruptly.

Kohaku pulled the hard cover of the book she had been reading shut, and pushed the chair back. Standing up, she turned around and slid it back into its place on the bookshelf. A shift in the air made the girl narrow her eyes slightly, and she turned her head. "Do you require something from me, Sai-senpai?"

"I can see that you're showing emotion," Sai commented, his own face devoid of emotion. She was the only one that he didn't smile at - after all, she knew who he was. She was the only one who knew. "You lack discipline."

"If you're going to repeat the discussion we had over a week ago, I suggest you leave now," Kohaku said with evenly measured tones; no showing annoyance. He would pick up on that and use it as ammo.

"'You're'?" Sai echoed the girl's use of a contraction. "What happened to the human thesaurus of all words complex and archaic?

Too late, Kohaku realised. She had slipped even more. Another thing she had realised a little bit too late about changes in herself — she was less formal when she spoke now. Previously, she had placed a heavy emphasis in the way she spoke - the more formal her delivery of words, the more distance she created between herself and the other person. Her complex vocabulary had been a coincidental bonus from long hours spent at the library as a child. But now? Contractions and simple terms were slowly slipping into her vocabulary, and she just now figured that it had something to do with the self-discipline in her subconscious slowly crumbling into nothing.

Sai, she loathed to admit, was right.

"I am certain you did not trouble yourself to find me just to exchange snarky words," Kohaku said coldly, "Allow me to repeat myself: do you require something from me?"

Sai pulled a book from the bookshelf. "Do you still remember your mission?" he asked, absently flipping through the text, "I hope you do. Otherwise, you will just be another disappointment to the Root. And don't forget, you are the last one. If you slip up, it will be your life that Danzo-sama won't spare."

Kohaku knew it was a threat, but it wasn't a new one. Danzo hated inefficiency — failed missions meant lack of efficiency. That meant the agents that did not complete their missions were inefficient. That equaled to dead weight. Dead weight was weight that you got rid of. And that's exactly what they did in Root.

Kohaku had seen her fair share of Root executions. Because every member lived in the shadows, and essentially did not exist anyway, it was easy to kill a Root agent without raising any suspicion. Also, there was the fact that the elders turned a blind eye to everything Danzo did, and Tsunade was oblivious to the fact that this was a common occurrence in the clandestine legion of Root ANBU.

"Of course I remember," Kohaku's tone was edged with barbs, "It is the only mission I have here. Nothing else takes precedence to my mission. I am aware of that."

"Good."

xxxx

"Suna, again?"

"Is there a problem with that, Hidan?"

"Fuck yes, there's a problem," the Jashinist glared at his masked partner, "We're done with Suna. After what happened with Sasori and Deidara, I'm pretty sure we agreed that Suna was no longer a mission destination!"

They were presently arguing in a dark cave. It wasn't a pleasant place to be, what with the musty smell in the air, and the stalactites threatening to fall at any given moment. The ground was damp, and there were patches of what Hidan had decided was better to not identify, on the ground. However, the cave was dark, and hard to find, and it was exactly what they wanted to be - hard to find.

"Hidan," a deep, crackly voice came from a darkened corner, "I believe that we had no such agreement,"

An irritated expression displayed itself across the silver-haired man's face. "So we're just going to waltz back in there?"

"It's not like you can die, anyway," Kakuzu interjected impatiently, "I don't see why you have a problem with this."

"I have a problem with this because I think it's fucking pointless!"

"We already took the payment. And you know one of our member is interested in her."

"Fuck the payment! Also, fuck him! I get nothing from this! Why the fuck would I do anything if I'm not gaining anything from it?"

"Because I told you to do it," the crackly voice spoke again.

Hidan glared at the fuzzy projection of his leader, whose features were half-obscured by the darkness. After Kakuzu had come back from running an errand, he'd said that he had accepted a mission and that they needed to talk with their leader. Pain had sent a message saying to meet in one of their many bases, and thus, the fuzzy projection that served as a vocal medium. It was odd that his trusty lapdog, Konan, was absent, but he figured that she was probably on a mission of her own.

Hidan was a man that did not do things that did not benefit him. Hell, everyone in the organisation had their own agendas, and he didn't see the point of doing anything that didn't appeal to him. To each his own, and Hidan felt that there were there other people who were perfectly capable of doing the mission. For crying out loud, it was just kidnapping some fucking brat!

"If I kill her, it's not my fault," Hidan threatened.

"Oh, it will be," Pain replied coldly, "If you don't follow the mission objectives, you will be sorry."

And with that, the connection was cut. The projection fizzled into the darkness, leaving the two partners alone. "We are not going to argue about this," Kakuzu said before Hidan could get a word in, "Look, here's a compromise: I just picked up a few new requests from the bounty office. Dead or alive. If you do this mission, I'll let you kill all of these people,"

Hidan considered this. "Fine," he picked up this scythe from where he'd left it on the ground, "I'll do it. But you had better not be fucking with me. Otherwise, you'll be the next sacrifice I make to Jashin."

Kakuzu snorted. "In your dreams."

xxxx

Brown eyes bore into green ones.

"Let's have tea."

After her conversation with Sai, Kohaku had left without saying another word to the senior Root ANBU. Upon exiting the library, she had been surprised to see the Kazekage, although considering recent events, she probably shouldn't have been. It seemed like he had been patiently waiting for her outside.

That was also new.

Kohaku stared at Gaara, unmoving. Then, she spoke. "How did you know I was here?"

"I know many things about you," the redhead replied with a small smile, "You just haven't realised it yet."

"I don't believe that is the case," There it was again. Another contraction. Was this really the extent of her self-discipline? It was so weak, that it could not hold up against people who put in the effort to talk to her?

"Well, you could prove me wrong by coming to tea with me," he said, "After all, I know you don't usually have tea with anybody."

He wasn't wrong. And the defiant part of her meant that she did want to prove him wrong. So without a word, she walked down the steps and stopped in front of him. Gaara had what looked like an expression of satisfaction on his face.

"Is the same place okay with you?"

xxxx

There were many things that Kankuro had seen in his life that had been nothing short of strange. Being a shinobi meant that it was a typical occurrence to deal with odd characters and legends from myths. That meant he had pretty much seen it all.

At least that was what he had thought anyway, up until this very moment in the most unexpected place — one of the many, generic Sunagakure traditional teashops.

"Stop staring, Kankuro," a sharp reprimand came from across him, "And wipe that dumb expression off your face."

Kankuro pulled his eyes away and refocused his attention on his sister. How was the blonde so calm!? "Are you kidding me? You're not the least bit fazed by that?"

He jerked his head in the direction across from where he sat. Temari took a sip of tea and popped a chestnut in her mouth. "Of course not. Gaara's a teenager. He's entitled to date people."

"Do you realise what you're saying sounds insane, Temari?" Kankuro looked at her disbelievingly, "Gaara. Our asexual little brother. On a date. With the Shishimiya kid."

Temari sighed. "Gaara clearly likes her. So that means he's not asexual. And by the way, you don't even know if it's a date. It could be that they agreed to have tea as friends. Or acquaintances. They could be discussing business, you know."

The latter half of her declaration was a lie, that much Temari knew. When she had seen her little brother enter with the Konoha kunoichi, she had to admit that she had been surprised. She knew that they had become - in ambiguous terms - friends, since Gaara's mood had been nothing short of fantastic in the past week. He had come into work with a noticeably brighter mood that had not gone unnoticed by either of his older siblings. But she had not expected them to actually be in each other's company in public like normal people. Neither of them were normal, and Kankuro was right to be in shock. Gaara, she could see him bugging the girl to spend time with him. But the girl saying yes? That, was something Temari had not expected.

She decided that she would talk to Gaara later. But for now, leaving them alone was for the best. She still could not bring herself to trust the enigmatic girl, but she knew Gaara was being careful. Or at least, she hoped he was.

"You should learn a thing or two from Gaara, you know," Temari commented dryly, "After all, you haven't been on a date in a year."

"Hey, I've-!"

"Fangirls and puppets don't count."

"Temari!"

The blonde snickered and popped another chestnut into her mouth. As she chewed, her gaze lingered from the interior of the shop to the quiet street outside. In the fast-fading daylight, a mesh of black contrasting brightly against the sandy ground like a patch of tar caught her attention. A crow. It drew its head back from where it had been pecking on the surface of the ground.

It turned and looked directly into Temari's eyes.

A chill ran down the kunoichi's spine, as the bird cawed multiple times before taking off into the sky. Temari shook it off - she had never believed in bad omens, and she was definitely not going to start believing in them. But for some reason, she had a nagging feeling that she immediately dismissed as paranoia. After all, there was no way the crow was a prelude of any sorts.

A prelude of bad things to come.

And the Akatsuki makes their move! Let me know how you liked this!

Luv,

Pichuzilla.