This is mostly a set-up chapter. For that I apologize. But the action really starts up next chapter, as I'm sure you can tell by the end of this. I'm not sure if this chapter is up to par to my usual stuff. I don't know why - I just felt off writing this. It may also be just because I haven't written it in so long. Let me know what you think truthfully. I would greatly appreciate it. Constructive criticism is better than undeserved praise.

Anyway, read on those fans I have been terrible to ^.^ Also, to those fans of mine in the U.S. - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

*~*~*~

He could still see it clearly, both in his waking and dreaming hours. The young boy only around ten, a murderous aura pulsating from him. Those luminous blue eyes that simply begged for death, dancing with a twisted light when he was able to relish in Shiro's. That devastating power was terrifying, and yet so tempting. What would it be like to control such a power? Daichi couldn't tell if he was more afraid or enthralled by the power that young boy possessed.

"And you're going to help me get control of young Ryu, aren't you?" He laughed, leaning against one of the cave walls. He was in the same chamber in which he had taken over the Shira Forest Bandits by killing Sentou. In the center of the room was Asuma Sarutobi. The man's eyes were empty, staring absolutely blankly straight ahead. It was proof that Daichi had Asuma under his complete control, numbing the person until he was a mere puppet.

Originally when he had taken over the Shira Forest Bandits, Daichi had simply been trying to find a new base of operation. After all, he was a wanted man in the Laf. At least with the bandits he was somewhat lying low while growing power. When Ryu Sarutobi came into the picture, however, it completely changed the situation. Now he had an opportunity to gain a power that would likely strike fear into other nations. As petrifying as the strange power was, the draw of controlling it was irresistible.

Approaching footsteps drew Daichi from his own mind. Senshi had jogged into the room, instantly looking over at him. His eyes were narrowed in confusion. The man had become Daichi's right hand man ever since he found out Senshi was from the Leaf's Mokushi clan. They were a clan known for their genjutsu such as Daichi's own clan, and in truth it greatly helped the Shigamo's jutsus. The Mokushi jutsus focused on emotions, and those who had the kekkei genkai were especially terrifying - the ability to "read" someone's heart. Senshi had a slight ability in it, though sadly it was weak or he could be even more beneficial. It made it so even those prominent in breaking genjutsu, such as a jounin, were less likely to sense it coming because Senshi would draw forth memories of their past through emotions that put them off to begin with. It wasn't always necessary, but it was useful.

However, he had no reason to be in the room at the moment since he'd been charged with watching over the prisoners. "Senshi, what are you doing here?" Daichi demanded, pushing off the wall. Had something occurred with the children?

Daichi's question seemed to perplex Senshi. "I was told you needed me, but you don't need to worry. I left Tsukune to watch over them."

Knowing that was, in fact, false, Daichi's anger flared. "Who told you this? And why did you believe them after I have told you previously not to take your eyes off them?"

The rage in Daichi's voice sent the color out of Senshi. Before he replied, however, realization flashed through his features. He cursed, only further confusing Daichi. "I wondered why you would have sent him. It was Sentou's brother, Haishin."

Like his underling, Daichi began spouting curses, then barked at Asuma, "Come! We are going to go make Haishin pay for his treachery."

*~*~*~

"Hurry!" Haishin snapped in a hushed voice, shepherding the three teens through the rocky hallways. "It won't be long before they come looking for us."

According to Haishin, the trio had been imprisoned in the very back of the cave. Apparently it was a good tactic in case they did escape, giving the bandits more time to react and find them. Haishin, however, was taking them down a path only someone who had been in the caves for years would know. They were hoping that meant Daichi wouldn't know of it.

Yuumai still didn't trust the man. The only reason she followed was partially because both Shikamaru and Chouji were following him. The other was Haishin promised that he had already released Shinji and he was now waiting in the forest. If he was telling the truth, she couldn't risk leaving her dog alone. Of course, she wanted to save her sister, but apparently the villagers were still being kept under siege in the village.

Chouji jogged to catch up with Haishin, huffing ever so slightly whereas there was no effects on the others. "What about... What about Asuma-sensei?"

Haishin sent Chouji a glare, angered by his lack of control with his voice. "Quiet, child. Trust me when I say you don't want caught," he chided. "Right now we cannot focus on him." Although a moment before, Haishin had sounded harsh, now he seemed sad, possibly even pitying their situation. "But don't worry, eventually something will be done there. Asuma is an important asset to Daichi, so he isn't in danger."

Whether he believed Haishin or not, Chouji allowed the subject to drop. Instead, the lazy one chimed in. "So you say that Daichi doesn't know about this route, right?"

Yuumai considered him, then tensed. Shikamaru had proven to her recently that, he was intelligent under all that sloth-like behavior. If he was suddenly being quizzical, surely there was a reason. Could he be rethinking going along with Haishin?

Whatever it was Shikamaru was thinking, Haishin sighed. "I was hoping you'd just be good, naïve children still that kept running," he said. "Yes, kid, you're right. If we don't keep running, there's a good chance another one of the other bandits will find this path."

A tremor of fear ran down Yuumai's spine. Her feet began to move quicker as the realization they were still in danger set in. She didn't want to think too much on Haishin's earlier statement about them not wanting caught. Daichi didn't seem like the type that would be very forgiving of their escape attempt.

"We're getting close to the exit," Haishin informed the trio after a while of running in silence. "Once we're out, we need to - Down!"

The sudden development shocked Yuumai. Haishin dropped to the ground, Chouji and Shikamaru following. In her surprise, she had frozen, and if not for Shikamaru yanking her down by her wrist as he went down, she would have been impaled in the back by the kunai that soared over their heads.

Haishin grumbled colorful choice words as he scrambled back up, turning to face the way they had come. He was standing between the children and the new threat before they even raised fully back to their feet. Although it was only a tiny blessing, Daichi wasn't the one who had found them. Instead it was Senshi with a couple of the other bandits. However, she doubted it would be that way for long.

"Find Daichi," Senshi instructed one of the bandits with him. "Tell him we've found the escapees and the traitor."

"You're the traitor," Haishin snapped, sliding out a kunai. "You were the one who so easily accepted the man who killed the leader who took all of us in."

Senshi scoffed as the man he spoke to before sprinted off to fulfill his duty. "You only say that because he was your brother. If it had been anyone else, you would have agreed with mostly everyone else - the strongest is the one who should lead. Killing Sentou just showed his strength." Both Sentou and the remaining female bandit with him armed themselves with their own kunai. "It's about time you are disposed of, Haishin."

"You three need to run," Haishin said, glancing back at the teens. "I may be able to stall Senshi and the other at best, but I cannot defeat them. If you stay, you'll be caught, and all of this would be for nothing."

Yuumai eyed Haishin, confused as to why he wouldn't just let them be caught and run. What could they do that he couldn't? It took her a moment to understand. He was a bandit. If he went for help to defeat the bandits, they'd take him in rather than believe him and help the Forest Village.

Laughter echoed off the walls as Senshi heard this. "You believe you can protect them? You're more foolish than I thought, Haishin." The second-in-command lunged at Haishin, kunai drawn to strike.

"Run!" Haishin barked, blocking the slice for his neck.

Once more Yuumai's wrist was yanked, forcing her into action. This time Chouji had grabbed her, pulling her along, as Shikamaru had already started running. "We're just going to do as he says?" It was the logical thing to do, but considering how much the Leaf genin seemed to fight for what was right, part of her was astounded by how easily they ran.

"We can't do anything else," Shikamaru replied, running nearly at a sprint down the path. She and Chouji could barely keep up. "If we stayed, we'd be caught again. This is the only way to get anything done."

Having no argument, Yuumai simply continued running, hearing the battle rage on behind them. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew how that would end. Haishin had just given his life for them to escape.

To Yuumai's immense relief they found the exit before too long without any trouble. They burst out from the dim light of the cave into cloudy morning light. Yuumai paused, gasping for air, eyes darting around to look for any traps or, more importantly, Shinji. Her dog must have taken off to wait for her somewhere else that was safe, or taken the other exit, because she didn't see him. He'd eventually pick up on her scent and come find her, though.

The Leaf genin were still running, and Yuumai almost chased after them, sure they were going to go get help, but then a thought occurred to her that stopped her in her tracks. Neither Chouji nor Shikamaru had to worry. As Haishin said, Asuma was a valuable asset. He wouldn't pay for their escape. However, he had no such worries when it came to Aiko. Yuumai bit her lip, beginning to jog to catch up. She was simply being paranoid. There was no way that Daichi would go out of his way to punish her sister. After all, Yuumai was just a random girl to him.

Despite her best attempts to cling to this hope, unwelcome images flickered into existence in her mind's eye. Her parents' dead bodies laying out in the Forest Village streets, their bodies leaking blood from multiple kunai wounds. Her brother's pale, unmoving body on the forest floor, his eyes staring blankly at nothing. Then Aiko, the only living one. She could all too easily visualize a kunai slicing her throat open.

She wasn't even conscious of the fact she had changed directions to go toward the village until she heard Chouji call out to her.

*~*~*~

"Why don't we get help from the Leaf?"

Raido stopped mid-sentenced. The group all sat around where fire had been as Raido discussed their battle strategy. It had been drawn to a stop, however, with Ino's sudden inquiry. Ryu, despite his unyielding need to rush to their team-mate and the villagers' aid, had to admit, the question was reasonable. What confused him, though, was that Raido refused to meet Ino's eyes.

"There's something I didn't tell you because I figured you had enough to deal with deciding on the Shinigami news," Raido admitted.

The two Leaf children looked at each other. It made sense to fear Ryu would become overly stressed, but it was obvious neither was entirely happy with Raido for keeping something from them considering this rescue. It was their friends - they needed to know everything they could. "What didn't you tell us, Raido?" Ryu asked, sliding his gaze from Ino to the man.

Before he answered, Raido examined the sky. Whatever it was he saw made him visibly relax. "Although we have plenty of time, I'm pretty sure you'd both be happier if we started moving. Especially once you hear the news." He rose to his feet, the other three Suna shinobi following. Ryu and Ino slowly did as well. Once he saw everyone ready, Raido took off toward the village. The others followed.

"Now tell us what it is you kept from us," Ino ordered.

Noticing the commanding tone in her voice, Raido chuckled. Nevertheless, he complied. "Kaine, tell them what you found while you were out scouting."

Kaine glared at the back of Raido's head. "Thanks for dumping this on me, Sensei." He sighed. "Anyway, when we found you, Raido-sensei sent me out to see if there were any other bandits looking for you. He didn't want Daichi to find us and set up a sneak attack. For a while, I didn't see anyone. When I was about to come back, though, I heard someone yelling something: 'Your friends will be executed at noon tomorrow if you do not meet us there.' He continued this over and over again. I followed him for a bit, but he was just wondering the forest rather than going back to their base. So I just took him out and came back."

"They plan on executing Shikamaru and Chouji at noon?!" Ryu exclaimed. Without thinking he searched for the sun's position, fear thrumming through him. They still had approximately an hour before noon. The fact did little to put Ryu at ease. He understood now why Raido had chosen to tell them this while they moved. Otherwise he was sure he'd have taken off anyway.

Rather than surprise, Ino appeared angry. "You had no right to keep this from us. These are our friends. We had every right to know!"

Her anger only seemed to grow when Raido sent an almost exasperated look at her over his shoulder. "Please calm down and understand, Ino. I understand the situation is bad, but you must also think of Ryu's mental state. He had the pressure of a big discovery on him, and I planned on going before noon anyway. Yes, you had the right to know, but I made the decision not to let you know for both of your sake at the time," he explained.

It wasn't like Raido was wrong. It also explained why they didn't get help from the Leaf - there would be no time. Ryu sighed. "Don't be too angry at him, Ino. He did it for me."

Ino appeared flabbergasted that Ryu defended Raido. After a few moments though, she visibly gave in. As angry as she wanted to be, and possibly deserved to be, in the end there was no reason to be. "Okay. I'm sorry. I just...."

"I know." There was a new gentleness in Raido's voice, replacing the reasonable, almost commanding tone one he'd used for most of the day. "Don't worry, Ino. We will save the villagers and the rest of your team."

"Thank you, Raido," Ino murmured.

Ryu playfully bumped Ino, shocking her. It did achieve his goal of getting her to look at him though. He smiled reassuringly. She smiled gratefully back.

*~*~*~

The village looked empty upon initial entry. Yuumai heaved for air as she stepped into her home, frantically glancing around either for someone she knew or one of the bandits. She had been running ever since the base, hearing Chouji's shouts behind her. They had only died out when Shikamaru had informed him of their close proximity to the enemy.

Upon her final stop, Chouji and Shikamaru finally caught up to her. It was only her superior knowledge of the forest that kept her from them. Chouji was doubled over, gasping, while Shikamaru appeared bored. "You do realize we just escaped the enemy, right?" he mused, eyes lazily scanning the area. Even if he acted nonchalant, he was being diligent.
Yuumai glared. "Unlike you, I actually have someone in the enemy's hands who is still in danger," she snapped. His attitude was beginning to annoy her more than usual. "I have to get Aiko out of here at least! She's all I-" Yuumai stopped herself. Scoffing at herself for nearly speaking her feelings to them, she once more began to jog, this time in search for her sister.

Chouji and Shikamaru followed.

She heard them before she actually saw them. They were around a large tree in the town center. Since she'd come from a side entrance, so there was no direct line of sight from her to the others. Before she even had the chance to run around the tree, she was yanked behind it. "Hey!" she exclaimed.

Shikamaru glared at her. "They're up ahead obviously. Tell me this - what are you planning on doing? Just rushing in against maybe fifteen bandits?" he demanded. "That's just crazy."

"What's your plan then?" she questioned. "I have no guarantee my sister won't be hut. Do you want me to just leave her here? It will take too long to get help. Daichi could kill her by then."

"She has a point, Shikamaru," Chouji admitted. "So what do we do to save Aiko? I mean, she did give us food." Despite the situation, it took Yuumai quite a bit of willpower not to laugh at Chouji's reasoning.

He was cornered by Yuumai and Chouji, neither appearing ready to give up on their pursuit. "Fine. Just give me a second to think of a-"

"Hey, who's there?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes, already sensing what was about to happen. Yuumai grinned. Upon their discovery, she ran around the tree in the opposite direction the voice had come from. Chouji followed to help. Now that they'd been found out, their best option - besides running like any reasonable person probably would do, Shikamaru thought - was to run the other way around the tree. "How troublesome."

The first bandit she saw, Yuumai punched square in the nose. The woman shouted in surprise, stumbling back as blood gushed over her face. "Keep them busy while I grab Aiko!" she called to Chouji. For once she was thankful for all the running Ryu had made her do. Because of it she was able to force herself to continue running toward the group of villagers.

A bandit leapt out in front of her, bring a kick around toward her head. She managed to block it. He was fast but sloppier than Ryu. Fighting against the sting of pain, she stepped forward, ramming her elbow into the man's gut. He grunted, but the real pain came next when Yuumai drove her knee in his groin. As he doubled over moaning, Yuumai continued. She just needed to get past the bandits. That didn't mean she had to completely bring them down.

"Yuumai!" Chouji shouted. "Watch out."

She didn't have time to move. Something big slammed into her from the side, throwing her to the ground. The large object came with her, pinning her to the ground. Pain screamed to life in her forehead, momentarily sending black spots across her vision. When the spots cleared, she saw an enormous man above her. He had his hand drawn back, a kunai in his head.

"Nobody is to interfere with Lord Daichi's plans," he spat. "Anybody who tries shall die!" With his proclamation, the man brought the kunai down, aiming right for her neck.

"Get away from Yuumai!"

*~*~*~

Daichi had entered the village only moments after the chaos started. It hadn't taken them long to figure that the village girl had a sister in the village. At first they had simply planned on using her to somehow find the escapees, but his plans had gone in his favor instead. The escapees had come to the village for said sister. And it wasn't long before noon, which was when he planned on bringing them to the village in case Ryu had heard his threat.

"Haishin saved us the trouble of dragging the kids here it would seem," Senshi chuckled. He was a little bloody and bruised, but once Daichi arrived to the scene, it hadn't been hard to dispatch of the traitor.

"Just what I was thinking. Once we round up the children, we just have to wait and see if Ryu takes the bait." Daichi began to walk toward skirmish when it happened. The village girl was taken down by one of his bigger men, crushed under his greater weight. A kunai was in his hand, and he brought it down toward the girl's neck. Irritation shot through him, realizing one of his hostages was about to be killed. Then again, Ryu would be closer to his team-mates.

"Get away from Yuumai!"

With all the activity, nobody had noticed the two new faces who had slipped in. One dark haired boy and one blond girl. "Lightning style! Lightning snake jutsu!" the boy cried, sending zigzagging bolts of lightning into the large bandit.

Daichi laughed, unable to believe his luck. This was all perfect. It was no longer simply his hostages at the meeting point.

Ryu Sarutobi had arrived as well.

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*~*~*~
So.... How terrible was it?.....