Here's the second half of the chapter, hope you like it.

25th April, 2032, San Francisco Police Department, 1251 3rd Street, San Francisco, Time- 22.41

Grumbling for what might have been the millionth time that night, Hidan pushed the obnoxious redhead who he'd spent the last two hours tracking down and abducting, into the dark alleyway where he'd been told to bring her.

"Didn't I say you had an hour?" Arisa said jokingly, as she came into his line of sight, sarcasm in her voice, though no annoyance evident in her expression.

"So I'm a little late. Sue me." He deadpanned, untying his captive.

"You didn't have to tie her up and gag her." She said, shaking her head in exasperation as she removed the gag from the redhead's mouth.

"Fuck off, Bitch! Untie me this fucking instant!" the woman in question shrieked, spitting at Arisa.

Her reflexes good enough to avoid being hit by flying spitballs, Arisa finished untying Tayuya, making sure Hidan blocked any escape route she could have attempted, grimacing at the choice of words used.

"Before you say any more, have a look at this." Arisa said, handing over a large file.

The redhead, caught off guard by the eerily chilly edge to her voice, gingerly took hold of the file, opening it, turning the pages to skim over the records and documents present inside, her expression quickly escalating from surprise, to shock, to anger, to outrage (evident in the amount of profane language she used) , and ultimately fear as she realized the true extent of how much potentially damaging information was stored in the file.

Quickly closing the file and hugging it to her, almost willing it to disappear, she shakily said, "Wh-what the fuck do you want, bitch?"

Her voice had lost it's confident edge.

Smirking, knowing she'd caught the redhead in a trap by then, Arisa spoke. "Remember me, Tayuya? I'm the one who knocked you out this morning. The one who you got suspended off the force. You can't have forgotten, ne?"

Her loud obnoxious tone dwindling to a scared echo of the question she'd asked before, she said, "What do you want?"

"Remember my teammate? The one with the 'fucking ridiculous pineapple hair'? Isn't that what you said about him?" Arisa pressed, anger at Danzo's behavior earlier that day resurfacing.

Her pupils narrowing into slits in her fear, Tayuya asked, "Why did you bring me here if you already have those files?"

"Shikamaru and I spent the last few hours combing through as many sources as we could to gather those records. Black market dealings, human trafficking records, the sort of stuff that could get you lifetime imprisonment. Surely we don't want that, do you? You know what happens to loud girls who talk too much in gaol?" She had the redhead cornered- scaring her further with her threats and icy disposition would only further her control over what was to come next.

"Wh-what do you want me to do?" she stammered.

"My friend, he's in there right now." Arisa started, nodding her head in the direction of the police station beyond the alley they stood in, "Accused of child kidnapping, child abuse. Maybe you know him? Considering you've been screwing him for the last few days? Does the name Sasori ring a bell?"

Too intimidated to speak, she nodded shakily in response.

"We both know he's not guilty of any of the things he's been accused of. But you are. Go in there and turn yourself in. And I'll make sure these files don't end up with those officers. For now." The intimidating, icy, commanding tone of her order was enough to send the redhead scrambling to her feet in a scared, nervous wreck, as she made a beeline out of the alleyway towards the police station, Hidan still in place to make sure she didn't make a run for it in the wrong direction.

Just as she was about to leave the alleyway, Arisa called out to her once again. "And Tayuya? Or maybe I should call you Tia?"

Hearing her name being called, she froze, flinching at the menacing edge to her voice as she turned to face the one who'd called her.

"Where are the rest of them? The children?" The playful lilt to her voice was all but gone as the memory of the kidnapped children brought to her face an expression of stony anger.

Sighing as she realized she was just as well signing her own death warrant by answering, yet too afraid to refuse her interrogator an answer, she took a shaky breath and replied, "They're in that fucking house- the one you bitches tore apart this morning- You fucking pricks just weren't looking in the fucking right places!"

25th April, 2032, UCSF Benioff Children Hospital, 1975 4th Street, San Francisco, Time- 22:57

"How am I supposed to believe that this – whatever it is – between us is ever going to amount to everything if I see you on the tabloids every other day with some new sleazy chick draped over your arms?!" Ino gestured dramatically between herself and her near identical masculine counterpart as she shouted angrily at him.

"As if you're one to talk- 'who said we were exclusive', well I thought 'dating you' meant that I did!" Deidara retorted hotly, sarcastically quoting the lines she'd used with Sakura several nights earlier, at the bar.

"You were dating me? On what planet?!" she scoffed.

They'd been at loggerheads the entire evening in the near empty waiting lounge at the hospital, either obnoxiously arguing about each others' issues with fidelity, exchanging insults in what was supposedly an attempt to define their relationship, or ardently making out in the heat of the moment. Currently, they'd somehow managed to roll all three into one.

Just before it looked like they might start strangling each other, they were interrupted by Ino's phone, which they both quickly jumped to answer, upon seeing the caller's name: Shikamaru, hopefully with news from the police station.

Answering, Ino spoke, rapidly accelerating impatiently with each question, "Hello? Shikamaru? Any news? You're on loudspeaker by the way, there's an imbecile here too. What's the situation, you know it's really late right? How could you and Arisa leave me here all alone with nothing but trash for company?!"

"God, Ino, do you have to talk so much?" Shikamaru drawlingly complained, going on to say, "Don't tell me you've blown up the hospital already…"

"Sooo funny," she said dryly, "Answer the question why don't you, quit being lazy!"

"Tayuya confessed to kidnapping the child- Sasori's been released. Assuming Deidara is still with you, he's to come get Sasori and leave. As for us, we've found a lot more than expected. We have work to do, just hurry up and let's get out of here." The vexed sigh was audible in his voice as he hung up, leaving the two bickering blondes to make the quick trip from the hospital to the police department.

25th April, 2032, Hyuga Mansion, San Francisco, Time- 23:16

"We were looking for the wrong person. Any information we needed on Tayuya was all under a pseudonym- Tia Fitz." Shikamaru drawled as he walked into the kitchen of the Hyuga mansion, the island counter of which Tenten was currently sitting on, mug of coffee in her hands, Kiba leaning against the surface next to her, Neji sitting in a chair next to them, Choji leaning against a doorway as they watched Shikamaru, Ino and Arisa walk inside.

"The kid's one of those declared missing from one of the Sahara group's orphanages five years ago. And yeah, they bailed Sasori out of it for now so there's that too. Were you all waiting up for us? Where's Sakura? Hinata?" Ino added as she took a seat next to Tenten.

"They're both exhausted, let them rest." Tenten said, quietly, while the rest of the team took in the latest information.

"So we weren't at a dead end at all- just had the wrong name?" Choji asked, having been relieved of accompanying the Uchiha head by another operative overnight.

"And Tayuya's in custody now? We can interrogate her if needed?" Kiba added.

Nodding to both, Arisa added, "According to her, we were in the right place last night. The children were there- which makes no sense, considering we searched the area top to bottom. Should we go back and look again?"

"We tried that. It didn't work. If we're going in again, we ought to have a better plan." Was Neji's reply.

"First we look through the files we found on Tayuya's records. There's black market dealings, human trafficking records, all sorts of stuff. Pretty sure we can trace that to whomever it is we're looking for." Shikamaru asserted, before yawning widely and added, "However- I for one am far too exhausted for any more of this tonight. We can do this in the morning."

Turning around, he walked lazily out of the room, hands shoved in his pockets as he left.

"Well…" Tenten said, breaking the exasperated silence which then filled the room, "He gets points for unhelpfulness- but he does have a point. You guys are overworked. Get some rest." Hopping off the countertop she placed her empty coffee mug in the sink, before leaving the room.

"They're right. We can continue this tomorrow- in the meanwhile I'll read through the files you found." Neji said, placing his cup on the counter as the rest got up to leave, with half hearted reluctance to leave him downstairs all alone.

"Are you sure you want to do that alone? It's late, and that's a hell of a lot of reading to do…" Choji said, concern evident in his voice.

"I'll stay up and help- let's do this upstairs in my room." Arisa said, moving to stand behind Neji, a hand on his shoulder as the other held the file.

Frowning as though he were about to protest but ultimately deciding against it, he poured himself a second round of coffee.

"There's five years' worth of human trafficking records in here- this is insane." Arisa scowled, nearly two hours into their perusal of Tayuya's records, as they found themselves only barely touching the surface of what they were looking for.

"Lots of these aren't even from her transactions, they're just transactions related to that house in general. Is Tia Fitz specifically her name? Or a name for whoever takes charge of- whatever operations these are." Neji speculated, noting with concern the exhausted look in her eyes, though realizing it likely mirrored the one in his own.

"If it's a general name for whoever heads that house, then how long has this even been going on for? How long till we find familiar names in these countless kids- do we even want to find them in the first place? These files were clearly not meant to be found- if the amount of hacking Shikamaru had to do to get them says anything about it…"

He knew, though she didn't show it, that she was partly scared to find the answer. Neji himself had an increasingly accurate suspicion of what these records would show with due time… but it wasn't something which would do Arisa, or anyone else on the team for that matter, any good.

"You know what? Let's take a break. I'll get some water- unless you want something stronger, that is…" he said, knowing neither of them could keep up without break much longer at this rate.

Objecting initially, she started to say, "You don't need to-" before suddenly cutting off, distracted by light, clumsy footsteps in the hallway beyond, and a small shadow lurking by the doorway.

Both of them instantly alert, they stood up and made their way into the hallway, torch in hand, Neji's other hand feeling along the side of the hallway walls to find a light switch.

"Who's there?" Arisa asked, her voice tense.

The sound of footsteps behind them had Neji quickly whirling to train his torchlight behind him, a small head of dark hair and bright blue eyes coming into vision, startling him enough to lash out in defense before his thoughts caught up with his instincts enough for him to recognize the figure hidden in the shadows to be Yuki.

"Yuki! What are you doing up so late!" Arisa said, coming to that realization a second later as she dropped her torch to pull the child over to her, her rapid breaths coming back to a normal pace.

"You startled us." Neji added, finding himself relieved that their so called intruder had been nothing more than Yuki.

"Yeah…late night work puts us on edge I guess you could say? What's wrong? Why are you awake?" Arisa asked, leaning over to talk to her.

"I…I couldn't sleep. Had a nightmare…" she said, her voice a shy, quiet murmur.

Looking at the frail, shy, shivering child, Neji nodded at Arisa, who pulled Yuki into her arms, picking her up as he said, "Come inside, you can sleep here."

Laying Yuki down on the soft comforter which covered the bed they sat at, Arisa cradled her head, running her hands soothingly through her hair and tracing gentle patterns on her back, humming a soft lullaby to her with a gentle smile and closed eyes.

26th April, 2032, Residence of Sasuke Uchiha, San Francisco, Time- 00:14

The old wooden door with a dusty window pane was the last place he'd ever expected his mother to take him when she said they were going on a trip in town. But the run down shop with a broken old sign over the top, and a rusted bell that gratingly rang when she opened the door and led him inside, was in a sense far better than any large store with flashy light where she could have taken him.

Sasuke spent the entirety of that trip curiously looking past dusty bookshelves, trying to peek under white sheets which covered several object throughout the room without getting caught, or looking with utmost attention at the various trinkets scattered over display cases and tables, while the wooden floorboards creaked beneath his feet.

His mother had spent the entirety of the trip talking in hushed tones to the shopkeeper, and another woman inside who had presumably been waiting for her to arrive- but he never paid attention to the old lady who owned the antiques store, not until he found something which caught his attention.

In a display case, delicately nestled in a dark velvet cloth, between the toy-like body and beady eyes of a stuffed owl, and an old carved hunting knife, sat a small, silver wristlet. Not shiny silver, yet not tarnished beyond recognition, something about it gave it an air of beauty, innocence but antiquity which instantly drew his attention. But what called out to him most was the charm fastened to it- not startlingly big, but not insignificantly small, a silvery, five petaled cherry blossom, intricately designed, with a small pink quartz set in the central convergence of five petals.

And seeing it, the first thing he thought of was the girl with rose coloured hair who he waited eagerly to see every day when his mother took him down to the lower floors of father's office building. It would be a little big for her, but the clasp could be adjusted to fit her thin, frail wrists. And she'd smile like she did every time he gave her anything- the smile he liked seeing more than anything else.

Rushing over to where his mother stood, he quickly started tugging at her sleeve, trying to gain her attention, which when he finally did, used to lead her to the display cabinet where he'd found the bracelet.

"What is it, Sasuke?" she asked, never once loosing her patience as he tugged her away from her conversation.

Pointing to the bracelet in the cabinet, he said, "I want that!"

Chuckling at his demand, she said, "You know as well as I do that I can't get you any knives now- who knows how you'll hurt yourself with it."

"Not the knife, that!" he said pointing more closely toward the bracelet.

"I never knew you were interested in jewelry, Sasuke." she said, laughing more, though she'd already known exactly why he wanted it.

His face tinting red in embarrassment, Sasuke looked down, frowning as he muttered, "It's not for me."

Taking a moment to smile tenderly down at her now pouting son, Mikoto said, "I'm sure she'll love it. It suits her perfectly."

Taking the packaged box from the old shopkeeper's hands, he took a step away from the counter and found himself falling through the wooden floorboards as the world around him morphed confusedly into an open beach, with familiar black sand beneath his sandal covered feet, the small girl with pink hair and green eyes who he thought about so often standing in front of him.

Mother told him this might be the last time he saw her. He'd thrown a tantrum at the time, adamantly shouting about how he didn't want to stop seeing her. But once his mother sat down with him and explained why, he'd reluctantly agreed to say goodbye.

"You'll come visit, won't you, Sasuke? With Naruto? So we can sit and build sandcastles made out of black sand together?" she asked, innocent apple-green eyes looking into his.

"I don't know," he replied, not liking the forlorn disheartened look on her face.

"...So then this is goodbye?" she asked, trying not to let tears well up in the corners of her eyes.

"I brought something for you. I hope you like it." he said, gingerly holding out the small box to her.

Hesitantly reaching out a hand to take it from him, she opened it slowly, trying to hide the surprised gasp of delight as she saw the bracelet inside, tears which she'd been trying not to shed leaving silvery trails down his face.

"It's really for me? It's beautiful..." she said, between sobs.

"So you can remember me when I'm not here." he said, wishing he could stop her from crying.

"I'll always remember." she said, smiling through her tears as she threw her arms around his neck in a final hug and promise.

Sasuke awoke with a jolt, sitting bolt upright as he realised he'd fallen asleep in his armchair waiting for his brother to arrive as previously promised.

Shaking his head as he brought his hands to rub his eyelids, before looking to check the time he realised it was past midnight, and Itachi likely wouldn't come.

Sighing, he leaned back again, letting his whirring thoughts catch up to his state of rest as he thought of the dream he'd just seen. A dream so like his many others. But a dream far more real than any of them had ever been.

A memory, possibly?

But that was ridiculous.

That being said, the charm bracelet was almost identical to the one he'd found in his office several days ago, which he'd traced to belong to the woman he knew as Sakura Haruno.

A coincidence? That was the only logical solution, afterall.

It must have been a coincidence. A figment of his subconscious. Nothing more...

26th April, 2032, Hyuga Mansion, San Francisco, Time- 00:19

Itachi didn't bother pulling his car into the open driveway of the Hyuga Mansion- choosing to take the longer walk from the main road, over the gravelly pathways that led to the rear entrance to the house.

He didn't bother ringing any doorbells either, instead choosing to send a short message to Neji announcing his arrival.

Sure enough, as he approached the wooden door dressed in white paint and frosted glass windows, the darkness beyond it was replaced by soft yellow lights, the shadow of Neji's tall lanky figure opening the door.

"Where have you been?" he asked quietly, half exasperated and half relieved.

"I...got lost?" Itachi tried, knowing fully well Neji wouldn't buy that excuse.

The brunette raised a quizzical eyebrow, showing he didn't believe him for a second.

Sighing, Itachi said, "I was on Mount Diablo...At her grave."

His stern expression softening, Neji stepped away from the doorway leaving room for Itachi to come inside, saying, "It seems that group you manage is incapable of functioning in your absence... on this occasion, though, Arisa managed it."

Chuckling surprisedly at the news, Itachi walked inside and said, "Yeah...my phone battery died somewhere on the way."

"Something tells me you're not just here to chat, why not go home and rest as soon as you got back?" Neji asked, locking the door shut once again.

"...Is Yuki inside?" he asked almost hesitantly, half afraid to see the child who'd been made a clone of her.

"She's with Arisa upstairs- you want to see her?" Neji asked, well aware that Yuki's uncanny resemblance to Arisa was due to the kid's being a clone of her sister.

"Wouldn't they both be asleep?" he asked, knowing how exhausted their entire team had been as of late.

"Arisa's still up. We're going through some files- though Yuki's asleep." Neji said, turning to lead Itachi up a flight of carpeted stairs, to the open doorway of Arisa's dimly lit room.

Arisa sat, her legs dangling off the bed, long dark hair falling in a curtain around half of her face as she leaned forward, eyes closed, apparently nodding off, as she cradled Yuki's head in her lap, the child herself fast asleep, equally dark hair spread in a halo around her head. Itachi stopped in the doorway, as he smiled fondly down at the two, the sight both nostalgic in a sense, and bittersweet.

Hearing Neji's footsteps as he walked into the room, Arisa jolted out of her light doze, head snapping up as she looked up first at Neji, then at Itachi's shadowy figure in the doorway.

Recognising him, her eyes hardened to a glare of silent accusation which showed she was clearly angry at him over whatever had transpired in his absence.

His eyes still trained on the child in Arisa's lap, he felt most of the drive which had kept him going the entire night drain out of him, exhaustion taking its place. A tired smile on face, he spoke in a low undertone.

"Missed me?"

"Where have you been?!" she hissed, Neji's hand quickly jumping to her shoulder cautioning her not to wake the child in her arms.

"I'm here now, aren't I?" Itachi said, walking towards the two, still smiling fondly at Yuki's sleeping figure.

Scowling, she softened as she noted how exhausted he seemed, dark bags under his eyes clearly straining to stay awake.

"Still came to meet us afterall." Neji quipped, taking a seat in the chair he'd previously occupied, nodding to Itachi to do the same.

Itachi chose to sit on the warm carpeted floor, his head leaning against the side of the bed, Yuki's sleeping face still in his line of sight.

"You should stay the night, you're clearly too exhausted to drive." Arisa said, seeing how Itachi's eyes seemed to flutter closed the second his head hit a steady surface to lean on. Though she and Neji were likely in a similar state themselves.

"We should turn in too. No use rifling through these files any longer tonight." Neji said, putting away whatever documents still outside into the large file Shikamaru'd procured earlier.

Too tired to protest, Itachi found himself steadily slipping into a deeper sleep. Through his drowsy haze, he vaguely heard Arisa speaking to Neji.

"She just looks so much like my sister... you know I don't have many pictures, but I swear the ones I do have are near exact lookalikes."

"We have no way of finding out why." Neji countered, saying, "It's likely a coincidence."

"But what if it's not?"

Smirking as he heard them speak, Itachi's thoughts strayed back once again to the girl who's clone slept in the bed behind him. Yuki was the name they'd given the clone- another person he absolutely mustn't let down this time.

Still waiting for your opinions and feedback. If you want more Sasusaku stories, check out the new fanfic I'm working on, you'll find it in my profile!

Don't forget to Review.

~Raven