a/n hey everyone! Welcome to the very last installment of SoA before I kick some NaNoWriMo butt this coming November! I spent my whole Friday night making my outline (which is pretty complete, despite the fact that I haven't quite settled on an ending yet) and character sketches...

Well, I guess the truth is out, I am a total nerd. But nerds are the new cool, IMHO! *Nervous laughter ensues*

Anyway, special thanks to Uchiha.S, my beta and my inspiration, and to all my wonderful readers and reviewers; your feedback + love give me the strength to go on! *Dramatic sigh*

Last note + manga spoiler: Omg, omg, Uchiha Madara is so fucking hot! Omg, omg! I abdicate Itachi fangirl-dom and have totally joined the club for the undead and BAMF Madara-kun! *swoons*

BTW, speaking of the manga, I will try my best to stay canon, but I'll just have to see where this crazy manga goes! Will keep you posted on that as we go:)

Ok all you lovely people! Enojoy!

Chapter 14

Snake in the Grass

"I was left for dead on the battlefield,

After the first, so called, great war;

My lifeblood pooling in the earth,

My eyes broken and dark."

~The First Book of Akash, Verse I

After an uneventful day of traveling, Team Five was only about half a day's journey from Ame. Their withdrawn client seemed weary, so they set up camp early that day. It was Yuki's turn to take first watch, and as she looked up at the stars from her place on a smooth boulder, she wondered about many things. Was Saki being a general pain in the ass, as always? Was her mother having trouble sleeping, and thus binging on ice cream? Was Takeo crying a lot in her father's absence, or was he satisfied with being baby-sat by Hinata-sama? Was her father mucking up his first mission in over a decade? Sheesh, they would have a field day if they all knew I was worrying about them...Yuki thought sardonically.

Suddenly, her brooding was interrupted as something wet and slippery slithered down her back—

Yuki screamed and wiggled like a person possessed by a demon. The creature in her shirt seemed just as frightened, and its terrified wiggles only increased. But when Yuki heard the muffled, delighted chuckle coming from behind a bush, Yuki finally put two and two together.

"RYUU! DAMN IT, I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!" the Uchiha spat, her face red and her eyes livid.

"Says the girl who dropped a salamander into my open mouth last night," Ryuu retorted between giggles as he emerged from his hiding place.

"You were snoring!" Yuki accused, as she wiggled the garden snake out of the back of her shirt. The poor thing was scared shitless, and hurriedly slithered away once the kunoichi set him down in the grass.

"You could have killed me! If I had swallowed it, I would have died— don't they have some kind of poison on their skin or something?" Ryuu pouted.

"Well then, it's a good thing I dropped a tree frog into your mouth last night, and not a salamander, isn't it?"

Ryuu made a disgusted face. "Ok, whatever, now we're even. And it's my turn for watch."

Yuki raised an eyebrow: Ryuu's shift didn't start for another hour at least. "What, couldn't sleep?"

"Nah. I have a weird feeling about something," Ryuu muttered, running a hand through his messy blond hair.

Yuki taunted, "Scared of werewolves again?"

"Ok, I totally heard something howling..." Ryuu protested, placing his hands on his hips.

Yuki rolled her eyes. "That would have been an actual wolf..."

"Famous last words," Ryuu groused as he moved to take her spot. "Go get some sleep, non-believer. And if you get eaten by a werewolf, don't come crying to me."

"Later, loser." She punched him in the arm— hard— before leaving.

"Blarg! Jerk," Ryuu called back as he made himself comfortable on the stone and took his turn gazing up at the constellations.

"Sora-kun, let's go busk in the central square!" Kasumi all but squealed, her fear of werewolves dissipating now that they had reached Akash, and it looked like every other normal town in existence: the kind that typically did not have monsters, vampires, wolf people, or anything else out of the ordinary.

"Sure. That would be great," Sasuke forced himself to say.

They made their way to the square, and he strummed along to some terrible song about love, flowers, and rainbows. A few passersby flicked loose change into their open guitar case.

"Wow, Sora-kun, you were totally right about this place! We've already got a handful of change!" Kasumi gushed.

"That's great," Sasuke ground out, trying to sound enthusiastic. I've got to get out of the clutches of the dirty hippies, and into a place where I can gather actual intel. Kami help me. I have a feeling I'm only going to learn bad lyrics if I hang out with these characters any longer...

"Hey guys," Sasuke intoned as sweetly as he could, "Can you point me in the direction of the local bar? I'm feeling terribly overheated in the noon-day sun..."

"Oh Sora-kun, we'll go with you!" the tambourine lady cooed. Either Gorou or Haruki (Sasuke really had trouble telling them apart) echoed, "Let's all go together!"

"That's all right, I'll get something cool to drink and then meet back up with you guys here. I wouldn't want to interrupt your music..." Sasuke used the term 'music' loosely here.

Unfortunately for him, Kasumi insisted that everyone go together, and Sasuke was all but dragged to the bar while she droned on and on about good karma points, and how that would protect them all from the theoretical werewolves. Someone brushed his ass again and Sasuke resisted the urge to disembowel the owner of said hand; it seemed that he had inadvertently picked up a bunch of 'admirers' when he started traveling with the 'Stardust Experience.' Sakura is going to burst a gut when she hears about how I was repeatedly molested by dirty hippies...

The four sat down at a greasy table. A barmaid came over and made a face at them. "Do you four have the money to pay for your repast today?" she asked rather impolitely.

Sasuke replied in the tone of a prince addressing a commoner, "Of course. We're famous musicians, after all. Haven't you ever heard of the 'Stardust Experience?'" He handed the waitress a solid gold coin.

Kasumi coughed politely before correcting him, "Er, the 'Traveling Stardust Experience' actually. Sora here is our newest member!" Kasumi, ecstatic that Sasuke had just included himself in their band, beamed up at the serving girl, who did not seem interested in anything other than the gold coin she had just received.

Sasuke mumbled, "Just bring us a pitcher of beer and something decent to eat." Kasumi coughed again, and Sasuke added, in an undertone, "Please."

The serving girl bit down on the coin. Satisfied that it wasn't a fake, she smiled sycophantically, bowed to the patrons, and spun around to fulfill Sasuke's command.

"Whoah, Sora-kun, I didn't know you were rich!" Kasumi jabbered.

Sasuke waved evasively before muttering, "It's just some of the money I made playing music."

"Come to think of it, we haven't heard you play any of your own songs..." Haruki droned.

Kasumi all but grabbed his instrument and thrust it into his hands. "Won't you play us a little something while we wait for our lunch! Please Sora-kuuuuun!"

Sasuke sighed. I hate my life... He thought for a minute about what to play; he didn't want to sound too good, but he also wanted to show his traveling companions what real music actually sounded like. In the end, as he tinkered with the proper tuning on the mandola, he settled on an old fiddle tune that he had learned in a village near the Ame border. It was a simple melody, but Sasuke played it double time just because he was in the mood, and the lilting, playful song became a welcome distraction from the sunshine and rainbows crap he had been playing along to for the past day and a half.

When he finished, there was a round of loud applause from all around the tavern. The serving girl came back with the pitcher of beer and looked at Sasuke in a whole new light. "Hey, you guys are really good. You know, my boss just told me our act canceled for tonight— you guys want to play?"

Sasuke was about to drone out a negatory, but the sound of his voice was drowned out by Kasumi, who began babbling something incoherent about fate and good karma and of course they would be delighted to play tonight, oh my goodness oh my goodness! Sasuke ground his teeth together.

Seems like I'm destined to be glued to these guys for a little while longer...Sasuke resisted the urge to hit himself again and gulped down his lukewarm beer. Kami help me...

Yuki yawned and threw an arm over her eyes to block out the morning sun. Stupid morning...stupid sun... Yuki had hardly gotten a wink of sleep last night. For some reason, she had felt wound up, and by the time she actually did manage to fall asleep, Ryuu had returned from guard duty and had kept her up with his abominable snoring. Maybe I'll find a tarantula and put in inside of Ryuu's pack today. It would serve him right!

She packed up her things quickly and was enjoying her morning tea while the rest of her teammates finished their own preparations. Despite being dead tired, she was not about to relinquish her title of ever-the-first-one-to-be-packed-and-ready-to-go.

"Oi, sensei, there's a giant spider in my pack!" Ryuu squealed; Yuki thought with certain amount of smugness that his squeal sounded very girly.

"Ryuu, you're a ninja. I'm sure you can handle a giant spider," Konohamaru replied evenly, not bothering to look up from the pack he was currently stuffing his tent into.

"Dude. I don't know sensei, that's one big ass spider," Cho muttered, inspecting the arachnid from a safe distance.

Yuki silently sipped her tea, her face a mask of perfect equanimity. "Cho. Language," Yuki murmured.

Ryuu spun around and pointed at Yuki accusingly. "YOU! YOU DID THIS!" he bellowed.

Yuki blinked. "Whatever are you talking about, Ryuu-chan?"

Konohamaru rolled his eyes and sent a thin tendril of wind chakra our towards the hairy spider, who was poking its huge head out of Ryuu's bag. The poor thing was blown away, but just as it was about to be smooshed by an incoming tree, Konohamaru altered the flow of the wind and instead gently deposited the creature on a leaf. The tarantula trembled for a moment, and then just as quickly scurried off to find a hiding spot away from the crazy ninja.

"Anyone want tea?" Yuki asked blithely, "It's chai."

After Konohamaru restrained Ryuu from committing acts of violence against his tea-welding teammate, the group set out again for the Ame border. Ryuu, still pissed as fuck, put the client between himself and his so-called teammate, Yuki. As the petulant boy went to shoot an angry look at the infuriating kunoichi, he noticed that the old man in between them seemed especially sorrowful about something. While Gomakashi had been a tight-lipped traveling companion thus far, Ryuu realized that the man hadn't even wished anyone a 'hello' or 'good morning' yet, which was out of character for the polite elderly man. Ryuu cleared his throat and ventured, "Oi, gramps, everything ok?"

Gomakashi was startled out of his thoughts and regarded Ryuu with a misty eye. "Ah...not much son. I was just thinking about my granddaughter..."

"Oh. Do you miss her?"

The old man smiled wistfully and nodded. "She...disappeared. On the border, somewhere around here. I was just thinking of her..."

Ryuu frowned and replied, "That's horrible!" Ryuu paused for a moment, searching for something appropriate to say; he finally whispered, "I'm so sorry..."

Gomakashi patted Ryuu on the shoulder. "No worries now, dear. I'm sure...she'll turn up soon."

Ryuu swallowed audibly, but was at a loss of what to say next. And so they walked on in silence for some time.

Just then, there was a rustling in the underbrush— Konohamaru jumped in front of their client; his students followed suit and fanned out around the old man in a defensive position.

"Who's there— show yourselves!" Konohamaru barked.

The old man sighed, and while their attention was drawn elsewhere, Gomakashi withdrew a kunai and stabbed Konohamaru square in the back.

"What the—" Konahamaru sputtered; he clutched at his chest and landed heavily on his knees.

"Sensei!" Cho bawled.

Ryuu looked back and forth between the old man and his collapsed sensei in mute horror.

Yuki, who seemingly was the only one who had her wits about her, quickly disarmed the old man, held his arms behind his back, and hissed, "One false move and I will kill you."

The old man looked at her apologetically. He called, softly, "I'm sorry, young one." Then he shouted, "Yajirushi, I've done as you've asked. Give me back my granddaughter, as you've promised."

Just then, an arrow flew out of the shadows and impaled the old man in the chest. Gomakashi's body stiffened with surprise, his eyes wide and watering. "You!" he coughed, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, "You bastards...Ushinawa, forgive me...I'm so sorry..." Gomakashi sank to the ground and shuddered as his blood pooled around him.

Yuki blinked. There were many things she could have said in that instant, but all that came out of her mouth was a startled, "Oh, fuck."

The 'Traveling Stardust Experience' was just setting up their instruments for that evening's 'concert'— Sasuke liked to refer to it as 'musical torture' in the confines of his own mind— when Sasuke finally, finally overheard something of value.

"Oi, did you hear?" a man in the back corner of the tavern whispered to his drinking companion.

"Yeah. One of the Hill people was here earlier, that beauty called Aya...said she was on her way to the Ame border," the other replied just as softly.

The other man whistled lowly; Sasuke tried to look engrossed in tuning his instrument, when in fact he was enhancing his ears with chakra and straining to catch every word the two men said. He thanked Kami for his acute ninja hearing: Sasuke had noticed that most people in the bar had a healthy distrust of the strangers, and were keeping their voices low.

"It's a real shame. Seems like that psychopath who tried to abduct more of the Hill folk got away. They're sending some of their elite guard out to catch the guy, including Aya-chan..." Here he sighed.

"I hope they catch that bastard." The other man took a swig of beer. "I wonder if he's hoping to escape into Ame?" he murmured.

"The psycho-killer? Hmm, Aya mentioned he was targeting someone. Someone famous I think, a young girl from Konoha. I can't remember her name, but I think she's one of the Uchiha brats."

His companion shuddered. "I've heard stories about that Sasuke fellow. I wouldn't like to meet him in battle. I wonder why the crazy guy would target her..."

Sasuke nearly dropped his instrument.

Oh. My. FUCK.

"Almost ready to go on, Sora-kun?" Kasumi called sweetly from the stage.

"Just. A. Minute," he ground out. Sasuke had promised himself that he wasn't going to do what he was about to do, but at the moment, he didn't give a flying fuck. Yuki...those bastards better not touch a hair on her head.

Quickly, he unleashed a barrage of chakra-enhanced sound from his instrument as fast as he could— the merry scene in the bar slowed; suddenly, the inhabitants of the tavern stilled, until they all passed out where they were, falling fast asleep in awkward positions. As soon as the genjutsu was in place, his mandola lay forgotten on the floor. Sasuke stalked over to the men whom he had been eavesdropping on a moment before. He shook them awake quite violently.

"Where. Did. She. Go?" he managed between clenched teeth.

The men were clearly startled out of their wits— "W-who?"

"This woman, Aya— exactly where did she say she was going?"

One of them waved defensively and sputtered, "I don't know! She just said the Ame boarder—That's all!"

Sasuke hissed, "If you value your lives, you will tell me more." He really had no intention of killing the two before him, but they didn't need to know that right now.

"Ack! By the low rolling hills, on the eastern side I think! Still in the Fire Country— I swear, that's all I know! Why do you want to know? You— you aren't in league with the serial killer? Or are you?" The man gave Sasuke a petrified look.

Sasuke hummed a tune under his breath: in a moment, the men were asleep again and would not remember their little conversation when they awoke.

After they had passed out, Sasuke balled his fists in consternation. "Gods, I'm not a serial killer! I'm Yuki's father, damn it all!" Sasuke swore as he pumped chakra into his hiraishin tattoo. I'm not a fucking serial killer, he reiterated in his head. Come on Naruto, you'd better get here quick...

"Hmmm... Naruto-kun, you're home early..." Hinata murmured as Naruto kissed the nape of her neck.

"Well, I thought Sora-chan and Takeo-chan could take a little evening nap while we...hung out. You know, since Ryuu is off on a mission, and the Hoshiko and Saki went off to get pizza with their friends."

"What? They went to get pizza?"

"Hmmm. I gave them fistfuls of money and told them to not come back until...later..." Much, much later in fact.

"Naruto! We're supposed to be babysitting until Sakura finishes up the night shift! I was going to make a nutritionally-sound dinner!" Hinata glared at him sternly.

"Aw, come on, the girls are old enough to go out for pizza with their pals, right?" he answered slyly as he put a hand on her belly. "And besides..."

Hinata giggled, "Naruto-kun! Don't tell me you want to...?"

"Umm, maybe? This is the fertile part of your cycle, right?"

Hinata bit down on her index finger. She had had problems with her fertility in the past, and in fact had miscarried twice before finally conceiving Sora. Ever since Sora's birth, she hadn't had any problems with miscarriages, but she hadn't conceived either, and not for lack of trying. "Naruto-kun..."

Naruto laughed then, softly. "Hey, it's ok. You don't have to feel pressured or nervous. Let's just give it a try, ok?"

Hinata forced herself to smile but subconsciously bit her lower lip. "Um...ok..."

Just as they had started embracing, Naruto felt a familiar, nagging chakra on his arm. "Oh lord, now of all times!"

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked a bit breathlessly.

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration for a moment. "It's Sasuke." He sighed. Damn it.

Hinata looked up at her husband in alarm. "You should go, it's probably important."

"Yeah, but this is important too..." Naruto trailed off, his eyes hungrily tracing the lines of his wife's lips: but the signal in his arm was becoming more urgent.

Hinata rolled her eyes. "I'll still be here when you get back. Don't take too long, ok?"

Naruto sighed again, and with much regret he kissed his wife, this time more chastely than before. "Love you. I'll be back in a flash! And then we can begin where we left off." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

Hinata giggled. "Ok. Love you."

The chakra on his arm was becoming even more intense. Sheesh, Sasuke, chill the heck out. He spared Hinata a smile and then was gone in a tell-tale flash.

Hinata sighed and whispered aloud, "I hope everyone is ok..." She placed a hand over her belly, rubbing it absently and sighing. The house was quiet, and the descending darkness of twilight seemed to hang more heavily around her.

a/n thanks for reading all! I'll be back in about a month, hopefully with a successful NaNoWriMo novel in hand!

remember: you have a whole month to enter the "How Damn Long is This Fic, Wings?" contest! Simply enter your guess about how long the rough draft to SoA is via your review! Enter your guess in page-number or word-count form. The reviewer who is closest will win a one-shot, written by yours truly according to your every whim and fancy, and will be delivered in time for X-Mass/Hanukah/Kwanza, or as I like to call it, Crismakwanzikah.

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