a/n Hey friends! Welcome back, and sorry for the long wait between updates; for some reason, I really struggled with this chapter. Special thanks to Uchiha.s who help me refine this chapter, who caught my stupid spelling mistakes, and over all made this chapter beta'd and better:)

Ye gods, am I having a hard week. Just...gah. One of my reviewers thanked me for updating even though I was busy; the truth is, the more stressed out I get, the more I update. Fanfic writing is wonderfully stress relieving, and all you wonderful readers and reviewers are to thank:) Thanks guys:) Super, epic thanks to all you dedicated readers out there!

I really hope you enjoy this next chapter my dears, and that it was worth the wait! xoxoxo!

Published to "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" by Skrillex. Omg, I love Skrillex.

Chapter 23: Surprises

The maiden traveled with me,

Back to the place of my birth;

It was all as she had prophesied—

All was dead and burned.

~The First Book of Akash, Verse X

Naruto was jolted awake by the bright morning sunlight. "Oh no! I can't believe it!"

Sasuke was already awake, stirring the embers of last night's flames in an attempt to stoke a cooking fire. "Tch. What?"

"You let me sleep the whole night!"

Sasuke shrugged. "I summoned one of my hawks to watch over us—"

"But Sasuke!" Naruto whined. "I was going to say goodnight to Hinata at the start of my watch!"

Sasuke blinked at him. "Huh?"

"We've been married for over ten years—I always say goodnight to Hinata, even when I'm on missions! Gah! This is the first time I've flaked out!" And with that, Naruto was gone in a yellow flash.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. The novelty of the sensation—of having functional eyes to roll—made him smile, despite himself.

*.*.*

Back in Konoha, a groggy Hinata awoke in Naruto's arms.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata, I'm so sorry, the Teme didn't wake me..."

"W-what?"

"I forgot to say goodnight."

Hinata blushed. She blinked away sleep, kissing her husband on the cheek. "You remembered to say good morning...that's got to count for something."

Naruto brushed his fingers along her cheek. "You've been crying..."

"A little."

"I'm sorry..." Hinata shook her head, but Naruto continued, "No—I should have been there for you last night."

"It's okay." Hinata forced a smile. "Sakura-chan has been more than supportive; I'm fine. I'm glad you and Sasuke-kun are taking care of your mission." She propped herself up on her elbows before continuing, "I know this mission is important to you. I'm proud of you for doing it."

Naruto smiled faintly and kissed her. "Thank you."

"You should get back to your mission... I'll see you tonight?"

"For sure," he whispered. And then, he was gone.

*.*.*

Sasuke had finally managed to coax a fire, and was about to make breakfast when Naruto appeared again.

"Yo, bastard. You don't need to cook—I brought us food!"

"You did?" Sasuke asked hopefully.

"I picked up some of Ichiraku's ramen! Hope you're hungry!"

"I was..." Until you showed up with ramen...

"What?"

"I mean, thanks. Ramen will be...great." Sasuke sighed; well, at least ramen was better than dehydrated camping food.

Sasuke was halfway through his bowl of noodles when he ventured, "So. Why don't we hiraishin to the border today?" It seemed like Naruto was in better spirits, and Sasuke wouldn't have minded hurrying their mission.

Naruto chewed his noodles in thoughtful silence before replying, "I'd prefer to walk, actually. I want to clear my head a bit more before we arrive in Akash."

"Fine," Sasuke replied, keeping his voice neutral. "Do you have any more ideas in terms of strategy...?"

"Not really. I just want to walk some more."

Sasuke shrugged and began packing up his things. "That's fine. I just thought..."

Naruto gulped down the rest of his soup and sighed. "I need to be more...mentally prepared. You know?"

"Sure." Sasuke was content to swallow his own impatience in favor of what Naruto wanted. He bent down to secure his pack in preparation for the long journey, and removed his sunglasses from his front pocket.

"Yo, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"Don't put those on."

Sasuke paused, the sunglasses inches from his face, hovering there in the air. After a long, silent moment, Sasuke finally muttered, "Tch. Fine." He pocketed the offending shades and shouldered his pack. "Let's get going then."

Naruto grinned. "Sure."

Towards dawn, noises from the guest room roused Yuki from her slumber. Yuki was a light sleeper; while it was usually a positive thing for ninja to be on guard, for Yuki, this ingrained training was often times a hinderance to a good night's rest. She slipped on her uniform and crept down to the kitchen; she pilfered a few apples from the fruit bowl before striding out into the quiet streets.

The morning light dappled the town in pale yellows and golds. Yuki wound her way through the empty streets silently, munching on an apple and lost in her own musings. In her groggy state, the trip to the cemetery took no time at all; it was as if her feet were floating of their own volition. She plucked a few marigolds growing wild by the roadside, then found herself by Ryuu's tombstone.

The new practice in Konoha was to cremate the dead, scattering their ashes in order to avoid grave robbers with forbidden reanimation techniques. Still, the village continued to make headstones for the deceased, as a place for the living to pay their respects. It was a strange practice, and Yuki wasn't sure if Ryuu would really be able to appreciate her presence with the lack of a proper grave; but this was what she had to work with.

"Morning, Ryuu-kun." She placed the flowers at the foot of an elaborate alter, hung with trinkets, covered in puddles of white candle-wax. She lit a stick of incense and sighed.

"I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit sooner..." Yuki knelt down on the cold, dewy ground in silence, watching the curling smoke.

After a while, Yuki ventured, "Things have been okay here, I guess. We have a new teammate—he's nothing like you. You remember Tadashi, don't you?"

Yuki paused, as if allowing Ryuu time to reply. "Oh, you'll like this—we had to catch Mr. Fluffy again, but when we found the target, he was fucking some other cat. Tadashi was horrified. I wish you could have been there to see it—you would have said something completely inappropriate and hilarious..."

Yuki chewed her lower lip before resuming her monologue. "I'm sorry, Ryuu-kun. I feel like, when you were alive, I didn't appreciate you at all—not like I should have. I hope you'll forgive me..." A cool morning breeze came and ruffled her hair, as if in reply; Yuki smiled ruefully.

Just then, Yuki sensed someone approaching. She crouched down behind the tombstone and peeked over the edge; Kakashi was sauntering past, heading towards the memorial stone. She grinned.

"What do you think, Ryuu-kun?" Yuki whispered conspiratorially. "Should I pull a little prank on sensei?" Yuki was no clairvoyant, but she was getting a distinct 'yes' feeling from the great beyond. She activated her sharingan with a smirk.

With cat-like grace, she stalked her prey, observing him from a safe distance. She watched him place a bouquet of white flowers down by the memorial stone. His lips were moving, but he was too far away for Yuki to make out the words. Slowly, slowly, she approached him from behind until she was in range. Ok, this is it! One, two, three—

She leapt from her hiding spot in order to tackle Kakashi. However, the infamous copy nin merely sidestepped the attack, and Yuki was left to hurtle towards the earth by herself, face first.

"Ooof." Yuki sat up, a petulant scowl on her face; she spat out a mouth full of grass and dirt.

"Good morning, troll. What are you doing here so early?" Kakashi called, blithely ignoring Yuki's botched attack.

Yuki stood stiffly. Luckily, she had landed on her good side. If she had landed on her injured shoulder, she would have had to cart herself off to the hospital—or worse, straight back home to her mother.

With all the dignity she could muster, she replied, "Hn."

"Visiting someone?"

Yuki sighed. "Just communing with Ryuu's spirit."

Kakashi grinned wryly. "I can see that, prankster..."

Yuki had the decency to color at that. When she regained control of herself, she ventured, "Kakashi-sensei? Do you always come here— like, every day?"

He shrugged. "The real question is, what did you come here to ask me?"

Yuki stifled the urge to pout, and instead schooled her face to remain smooth. "Um...well, I had a question. My mom said I could find you here."

Kakashi's eyes crinkled at the corners as he sat down on a bench; he motioned for Yuki to sit beside him. "And what might that question be?"

"Well...I wanted to know how you got your sharingan eye."

Kakashi took a deep breath. "I see..."

Yuki continued in a hushed tone, "I guess—because my mom said other ninja received eyes as a gift..."

"Like your father," Kakashi murmured, completing her thought.

Yuki nodded silently and looked down at her hands..

Kakashi sat back on the bench and scratched his head, collecting his thoughts. This was going to take a while.

Sasuke sneezed.

"Sasuke, you're not getting sick, are you?"

"Tch. No," Sasuke replied. It was still early morning, but he was starting to feel antsy. While they were traveling at a brisk pace and would probably reach Akash by nightfall, Sasuke couldn't quite shake a feeling that they were being watched. It was probably just a bad case of nerves. Still…

"Everything okay, Sasuke?"

"Hn. It's probably nothing..." Sasuke bit his thumb, drawing blood. With a burst of chakra, he brought his hand down to the ground, summoning his hawk in a great burst of smoke. "Tsubasa. Fly around the perimeter; see if there is anyone else around."

The hawk cawed an affirmative and took off for the skies. Sasuke shrugged. "I'm probably just being paranoid..."

Naruto waved. "Can't be too careful."

But Tsubasa returned having not spotted anything out of the ordinary, and so the two pressed on. Their journey was perfectly uneventful. Evening fell as they reached the Akash boarder town, the cool breezes sighing through the trees.

Before they left the tree-line, they removed their headbands. The two ninja were dressed in plain black traveler's clothes, and Naruto hid his iconic blond hair under a dark hat. When their disguises were complete, they left their cover and headed for the town, where the crepuscular light colored the empty streets ochre and electric blue. The town seemed peaceful, but with an uncanny, eerie quality that Sasuke couldn't quite explain. He shivered, and not just from the cool evening breeze.

"If I recall correctly, the bar is over this way..."

"What, you need a drink?"

Sasuke resisted the urge to smack himself and dragged his companion into the dark, musty tavern. Regarding it with his newfound sight, Sasuke noticed that while the paint on the walls had worn thin, and the well-loved furniture had seen better days, the place was well-swept, and clean. It was neither too busy nor too empty. They sidled up to the bar; Sasuke was just about to order a drink when an ear-splitting shriek came from behind him.

Turning around abruptly, Sasuke found himself face-to-face with a woman he'd never seen before—but who nevertheless seemed uncannily familiar

"SORA-KUUUUUUN! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Sasuke did not need to use his sensing abilities to ascertain who it was. Oh Kami, I was hoping we wouldn't run into these kids... We should have made henges!

Sasuke blinked and looked at Kasumi, clad in the elaborate pink patchwork rags of a hobo, flanked on either side by Gorou and Haruki. Well, time for plan 'Stardust' I guess; not that I have a friggin' choice.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with confusion; Sasuke merely held up a hand to stall his friend and turned his attention to Kasumi. He saw that she was several years younger than he, probably no older than eighteen; her long golden hair was bound in myriad beaded braids, and she wore an obscene amount of gaudy jewelry. But before Sasuke could speak, Kasumi threw her arms around him, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

"THANK KAMI!" she raved. "Oh Sora-kun, we thought that the psycho-killer man had abducted you—" Kasumi broke down into incoherent weeping before she could finish the thought. Sasuke could feel her tears staining his black shirt.

"Sora-kun?" Naruto whispered, grinning. Sasuke glared at Naruto before clearing his throat and prying himself out of the patchouli-infused arms of his captor.

"Ah, miss? Do you know my brother, Sora?"

Kasumi sniffled. She looked up into Sasuke's face and began wailing again. "Oh no, you're not Sora at all, you're not blind... Oh…"

Gorou—or was it Haruki? He could never tell those two apart, and he doubted the ability of sight would help. In any event, one of Kasumi's beau's wrapped an arm around her. He turned to Sasuke and muttered, "You said you were Sora-kun's brother?"

Sasuke nodded. "My friend and I," he said, gesturing to Naruto, "have been scouring the countryside looking for him. He's blind, but he loves to travel, despite the danger. And even though I told him it wasn't safe—"

At this, Naruto broke in, attempting to play along with the story—much to Sasuke's chagrin. "You see, Sora-kun is…how shall I say it? He's a bit mentally unstable; we've come to bring him home."

Sasuke glowered at Naruto. Mentally unstable my ass. You're dead when this is all over. Masking his ire, Sasuke asked, "Have you seen Sora, then?"

As Kasumi continued to weep into her lover's shoulder, Gorou replied, "Sora-kun traveled with us for a short time. He became part of our band—"

Naruto chortled before crying out, "Oi, he joined your band?"

Naruto. You—are—so—dead. Sasuke, not trusting his voice to remain calm, said nothing.

"Yes, we're the Traveling Stardust Experience!" Kasumi replied brightly, perking up upon mention of her group. "Have you heard of us? We're super famous. Sora-kun joined us—he was a really great musician... But just as we were going to play our first gig, the psycho-killer came and used some kind of sorcery to make everyone pass out. When we came to, Sora-kun was gone and no one had any idea where he went." She ended her speech with a morose sniffle.

Sasuke thanked Kami that he had erased the memories of the two men he had interrogated about Yuki's whereabouts; otherwise, their cover would have been blown.

"Are you sure he didn't just run off?" Sasuke queried.

Kasumi, grief-stricken once more, shook her head. "He left behind his mini-guitar. He would have never left his instrument behind..." Kasumi wiped her eye with a grimy sleeve and continued in a hushed tone, "We think he's been kidnapped."

Sasuke sighed. Damn it. It's not a mini guitar. It's a mandola. You people have no class. He cleared his throat and replied instead, "That's terrible."

Kasumi nodded. "I know! And he was going to join our love circle too..."

Naruto, who at this point had been served a drink, began choking on his beverage. He did manage to get out, between coughing spasms, "Love...circle?"

"Yes, we're polyamorous," Kasumi stated gravely.

Before Naruto could say anything further, Sasuke whapped him on the back—ostensibly to help clear his coughing fit.

Sasuke turned towards the musicians and replied through clenched teeth, "So. Do you have any idea of where we might be able to find my brother?"

Kasumi, ever the talkative one, replied brightly, "Oh yes! I was just talking to someone at the bar today—it seems the Hill People have caught the psycho killer. You should talk to them. They'll be able to help you, for sure."

At this, every head in the bar seemed to turn towards them. Sasuke felt extremely uncomfortable. He quietly replied, "I see. Well then we should go ask the Hill People if they've seen my brother..."

Kasumi reached into her oversized purse and withdrew a violin shaped case. "Here—this is Sora's mini-guitar. You should have it..."

Haruki, who until this point had remained silent, stepped forward. "Please tell Sora-kun to come back to us...he was a really great mini-guitar player."

It's a mandola! A man-do-la, damn it! You people are idiots! Masking his irritation, Sasuke replied, "We'll do our best."

"I just hope he's okay," Kasumi whispered.

Sasuke was noticing that he and Naruto were attracting too much attention from the other bar-goers. He quickly bade his old traveling companions goodbye before dragging Naruto out of the bar and into the cool evening air.

"Eh, Sasuke-kun?"

"If you so much as breathe a word about what you heard in there, I will kill you."

Naruto grinned. "I was just going to say you have...ah...interesting friends." Naruto's mirth faded quickly though, in light of the new information. "So. We've got some intel now; but where do you think the Hill People live?"

Sasuke gestured towards the looming foothills in the distance. "We'll start up there. If they're called the Hill People…they probably live in the hills."

The two began walking in silence, the light of the waning moon illuminating their footsteps.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

"Love circle?"

Sasuke hit him in the shoulder very, very hard. "Let's just concentrate on the mission!" Sasuke growled; he knew this information was going to be used against him when they got home, he just knew it.

"Oi, Yuki-san!"

Yuki came jogging up to the training field. "Sorry I'm a bit late, Cho-san—I had to have a word with Kakashi sensei..."

Cho uncrossed her arms and sighed. "It's okay, we've still got a little time before Konohamaru-sensei and Tadashi-no-idiot gets here. Here's the plan..."

As Cho whispered in her ear, Yuki only listened with half of her attention; she was still was still reeling a bit from Kakashi-sensei's story. I guess it isn't so terrible that dad has Ryuu's eyes. And I guess…I guess I'm less angry at otousan...

It was also nice to feel understood by Kakashi—after all, he had lost not one, but all of his teammates, and eventually his sensei as well. Yuki shuddered; if it hadn't been for the mysterious ninja who had rescued her, Yuki might have ended up like Kakashi—or worse. Yuki would have probably died herself without the woman's intervention.

When her thoughts turned to the events of that fateful day, the mysterious kunoichi stuck in Yuki's mind. Yuki couldn't help but think that she should be somewhere else; that Konoha was a prison and the mountains were freedom. Mountains? I've never been to any mountains... Suddenly, images of rolling mountains popped into her mind, and though she had never seen them before in her life, they seemed so real...

Yuki shook her head.

"And that's the plan, do you roger?"

"Sorry, I spaced-out," Yuki replied sheepishly. "Could you explain it again?"

"Usually you're not the one to zone-out at the beginning of a mission," Cho chided gently, before going over all the details again; Yuki smiled mischievously. "Yuki, do you have it all now?"

Yuki nodded. "Yep. You're a genius."

Cho blushed. "Here comes sensei and Tadashi. Act natural."

"Oi! Good morning, trolls," Konohamaru called. Tadashi stood behind him, silent. After the girls murmured their greeting, their sensei explained the rules of the spar. Rule number one: taijutsu only. Rule number two: keep it friendly.

"And last but not least, rule number three..." Konohamaru scratched his chin, his eyes clouded in thought. "Um...okay, there is no rule number three. I guess that makes two rules. Cho and Yuki, why don't you go ahead and spar first?"

Yuki schooled her features to remain smooth, but inside she was seething. Why should the rookie get the advantage of watching her and Cho spar, thereby learning all their moves? She resolved to hide her truly good hand-to-hand combinations until it was time to spar with the enemy.

Cho and Yuki stepped forward in the field, bowing respectfully to each other before they began. It was not a spar to write home about; both girls went easy on each other, and in a few moments Konohamaru stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

"Okay, that's enough, next I'd like Cho—"

Cho waved effusively and broke in, "Oi, sensei, I think I twisted my ankle. Let Yuki-san spar with Tadashi-san!" She hobbled over to the sidelines with a less-than-convincing affect of a peg-legged pirate.

"Cho, if you don't want to spar, no need to lie to me." Konohamaru tried to restrain his ire from leaking into his words as he continued, "Yuki, Tadashi, you're up next. And please remember rule number two..." He shot Yuki a meaningful glance, who returned it with a smile, feigning innocence. Heh, come on sensei; what's a little hazing between friends?

"Okay, now I feel like we're being watched..." Naruto spared a paranoid glance over his shoulder. Sasuke sighed and held out a gloved hand; a moment later his summon spiraled down lazily from the air to land on his leather gauntlet. She screeched something in Sasuke's ear before taking to the skies again.

"Well, what did the feather brain say?"

"There's no one following us." Sasuke shook his head. "Though you're welcome to go into Sage Mode if you think—"

Naruto brushed the thought aside with the wave of his hand. "Nah. I think it's just nerves...after all...if what that hippie chick said is correct, then my son's killer..." He let the words trail off.

They walked on in companionable silence for a while. Sasuke concentrated on finding what seemed to be a well-disguised garden that his summons had spotted from the air. It shouldn't be far now...we're just about to crest the third ridge—

Suddenly, a growl from the underbrush punctuated his thoughts. Instinctively, Sasuke and Naruto stood back-to-back and assumed defensive positions, weapons at the ready.

"Show yourself!" Naruto barked, his voice ringing with the accustomed authority of a Hokage.

"Put your weapons down, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun." From the shadows stepped out a pair of small black cats. They didn't remain miniature for long. Once they stepped out of the undergrowth, they rapidly grew to the size of jungle cats, until they stood eye-to-eye with Sasuke and Naruto.

"What? Amaya, Tama… I didn't summon you…"

Amaya, the elder cat summons, exhaled roughly. "No. No, you didn't."

"What the fuck!" Naruto's incredulous gaze traveled between the cats.

"What are you two...?" Sasuke tried to form a coherent sentence, but the surprise was rendering him speechless.

"Please don't ask who summoned me. I've been sent to tell you to turn back."

"Are you in league with Madara?" Naruto shouted, his eyes flashing.

"Naruto-kun," Amaya purred, "Madara has killed off about half of my clan. If he could, he would kill me, too."

"Does that mean," Naruto gasped, pointing to the panther, "that Madara is alive?"

If it was possible for a cat to roll her eyes, Sasuke believed that he had just witnessed it. "I cannot answer that question. But I will tell you that if you try to travel onwards, I will have to fight you."

Sasuke strode forward angrily and spat, "Now see here—you can't fight against me! We have a contract!"

"However," Amaya replied evenly, "The one who summoned me has a contract that is older than yours."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke countered. The only clan who ever held contracts with the cats were the Uchiha. "Do you mean to tell me there are other Uchiha—"

"Sasuke," Amaya spoke in a quiet, menacing tone, "I cannot answer that. Please leave. Now." Tama, Amaya's daughter and Yuki's summoning animal, looked worriedly between her mother and the humans.

Naruto leapt onto a nearby stump and pointed towards Amaya as he yelled, "Now see here. You will tell me if Madara is controlling you!"

"As I've said before, Madara—"

"We have no reason to believe you!" Naruto replied hotly.

Sasuke clenched his teeth. Was it true? Was Madara controlling the summons? If so, then Yuki was in terrible danger—to think his daughter had been surrounded by Madara's servants this whole time—or worse! He didn't know what to think, but one thing was certain—the summons could not be trusted.

Amaya sighed. "Then it looks like we have no other option but to fight."

Naruto nodded. "Seems like it."

Sasuke looked desperately between the blond and the pair of felines, but had no idea how to stop the impending brawl. If they wanted to get information on Ryuu's killer, then they would have to fight their way past the summons.

"Watch out for them, Naruto—the cats can use katon similar to the Uchiha fire style jutsu; as you've seen, they can change size at will."

Naruto nodded grimly. "Got it. Let's do this."

a/n cliff hanger no jutsu! :X

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