Someday You Will be Loved

A/N: Repost.

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“Someday You Will Be Loved: Chapter 1”

The four ANBU sat around a small table in a dingy, run-down hotel room, passing around take-out boxes as well as a few sheets of paper from a manila folder. The room had two beds and a ratty couch, but at least there was room enough for the four of them to sleep comfortably. Even if the bedding looked like someone had dumped trash there and forgot to wash it.

They were being given very little information on their target, but the little they got seemed to be all the folder contained. There were no more than five sheets of information in the folder, along with photos of what seemed to be Konoha ANBU members. None of them were recognizable to Sasuke, but their blonde teammate seemed to recognize them.

She snapped out of whatever daze the pictures had induced, and began passing them around. After shoving a heap of rice into her mouth, she finally began to tell them what they needed to know.

“The target’s name is Hayashi Ame, around age 23…”

Sasuke looked over at Neji, who had been quiet for most of the trip. The white eyes of the Hyuuga focused on something in his own mind, and he seemed oblivious to everything the only female of the group said.

Sasuke knew that Neji had information other than what they were being given, but he did not know what it was. Their captain was being tight-lipped, even letting his second-in-command give the briefing. Who was really captain on this mission? Sasami seemed to do everything.

“… We have very little information on her, and no pictures to give out. She frequently changes her appearance and she has more aliases than we do shinobi, so that makes tracking her hard. We do know that the last time any information came in she had brown hair and blue eyes. And she was seen frequently leaving the apartment of a man named Kasuchui Reno, who also has caused some trouble for us in the past.”

She showed them the one picture she had of the redhead accomplice.

“We’ve been trying to get her for years, but she became a priority a few months ago when she took out an entire team of our ANBU.”

Sasuke looked up from his noodles; one woman took out a whole ANBU team? That was impossible.

“I know what you’re thinking. But I promise you, she’s incredibly strong. And intelligent. She’s a nukenin of unknown origin, and she trades information for money. The team came in to kill a high-ranking yakuza member here and they were slaughtered. On a follow up mission we found out that he had hired her for the job.”

“So she’s very well connected.”

“Precisely, Captain.” Sasami took a bite of food, mulling over her next sentence in her mind. After a few minutes, she finally spoke again. “Her appearance, name, none of that is important. I’m here to take her out since I know what she looks like. What I need from you people is information. We need to know where to find her, where she lives, if she has friends here, everything about her life. I can’t approach her on the fly.”

“And if we find her while finding this information?”

“Then you leave her alone, Sai. I’ve been training months to beat this bitch. This is my job-“

“I’m pretty sure there are four of us here.”

“It doesn’t matter. You are support and Neji is the lead. I am the assassin for this mission.”

Sai looked uncomfortable. Sasuke glanced at Neji, who had returned to staring at the wall across the room. He slowly set his chopsticks down, and looked hard at the blonde woman.

“This is highly unconventional.”

“And? This is an extraordinary target.”

“Hn.”

“Anyway, like I said, I need to know about her day to day life. Last we knew she frequented this club down the street…” she shuffled through the sheets she had placed on the table, muttering. “Ah, Miyaki. I don’t know what she does there, but she was living above the club with some others and working there at night doing kami only knows what.”

They only nodded. Their questions weren’t being answered anyway.

“We think she might have been hired muscle, an informant, bodyguard, something. Who knows? All I know is that she supposedly is dangerous to the village, so she has to go.”

Sasami stood up and brushed her hands on her pants. She began cleaning up her food, picking up containers and plates to throw into the small trashcan provided in the room. Sasuke noticed that Neji watched her every move carefully, as if he didn’t trust her or he expected her to jump at him any second.

Something was definitely going on.

“I’m gonna head down there. I’ll act like a female needing a job; it always works in those types of places.” She pulled on her boots, strapped some kunai to the inside of her jacket, and fluffed her hair into an anti-gravity mess. “I’ll be back in a few hours. I suggest you rest. Most of tomorrow will be spent trying to get information.”

The three males just stared, almost dumbfounded, as their female teammate walked out the door and disappeared.

The room was quiet, and none of them knew what to think. This was unlike any mission they had ever been on. Neji slowly recovered his senses, and looked at the two shinobi seated near him.

“There’s a lot going on here that you two don’t know, but I hope you trust me enough to listen if I tell you to do something. Even is she disagrees.”

Sai and Sasuke nodded, knowing that Neji, in their opinion, was much more trustworthy than Sasami. Neither of the men had ever worked with her before, and they didn’t look forward to any missions that might require them to see her again.

“Neji, I want to know what the hell is going on.”

“Me as well. This is not following protocol.” Sai didn’t even bother to offer a fake smile; instead, he just stared at the Hyuuga.

“I can’t tell you everything because I don’t know everything.”

“There are inconsistencies. I’ve noticed them. For instance,” Sasuke grabbed the pile of loose papers off the table and flung them into Neji’s face, “the Hokage’s signature isn’t on any paper here, nor is it on the file. Does she even know we’re here?”

“She does, but—“

“But what,” Sasuke ground out.

“This mission didn’t originate in her office. She was only able to inform me of the special circumstances behind it right before we left.” He turned to the side, once again focusing on something off in the distance.

“I’m not sure I even understand what’s going on,” he muttered.

Sai stood up, pushing himself away from the tiny table. “Well, I guess we should get some sleep.”

Neji shook his head. “No. I’m still the Captain of this mission, and I think we could be of much more use if we went to gather some information.” He looked at his teammates critically. “Any objections?”

No one said anything.

“Well, let’s head out. There has to be something we can do.”

The three shinobi didn’t bother cleaning up their dinner, or using the door. Within a few seconds, each one had transported to the roof, and they were gone into the night world of Aisen.


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Meanwhile, across Aisen’s red-light district, Sakura was preparing herself for the night’s work and thinking about whom she had seen on the terminal’s security footage. She had recognized three of the ANBU instantly, even if she hadn’t seen one of them in eight years.

She wondered what change of fate had brought him back to his home village, but quickly pushed all thoughts of the former avenger out of her mind. Now was not the time to get complacent because a pretty face from her past had shown up. That pretty face was sent to kill her.

Now she knew Tsunade hadn’t ordered the team. She would never send Sai or Sasuke to do the job.

She couldn’t believe anyone, even Danzou, would be bold enough to send them after her. Not even Neji would kill her. So that meant that the female was really sent to kill her.

Her’s was a face Sakura recognized as well.

Her name was unknown, but she had been sent here a few months back to kill one of the local assholes that Sakura frequently worked with. Sakura had made sure to get them off the island, but later found out that none of the team made it back to Konoha. Apparently one of them did.

But that made her wonder what happened to the others.

Not long after that, the woman had returned with a new team and managed to kill Jin, the man that had been targeted the first time. This meant that Sakura’s last hope of getting any information about Danzou’s shadowed boss, and getting information into Konoha, was gone. Jin had been an old friend of Tsunade from her days as a wandering gambler. Jin had dealt information as well as cards.

So Sakura had no choice but to lay low and hope to find a new way to get her information in. Which if things went the way they were now, it wouldn’t matter. Leaving Aisen was quickly becoming inevitable. And leaving Aisen meant she would have to go through Wind to get to Niigata, another city full of criminals and those who have information on said criminals.

Information was what she needed.

She quickly finished her hair and tucked her sword into the holster on her back. A few kunai slid into a belt-like holster around her waist, and a small dagger went into another sheath under her pants, near her ankle. Senbon, shuriken, and hypodermic needles with various substances were shoved into a small bag on her left hip. Aisen wasn’t a place to hide your weapons, even when you were dressed in a suit like she was at present. Plus, her job was to look tough, especially tonight. If they knew where she was then they might know her hangouts.

The walk downstairs was quick and she entered the loud, smoky club through a hidden entrance. Since Jin’s death, his subordinate, Haji, had taken over. The place still held the name of its previous owner, but that was merely a technicality.

She carefully made her way through the pulsating music and writhing bodies over to the bar, and soon went behind it to yet another door. Haji was sitting in his office, arguing over something with one of the waitresses, but that didn’t concern her. She continued on to the small security room, waving to the bulky man sitting with his feet on the long table holding all the monitors.

“Ame. Yo.”

“Shin.” She reached behind him and grabbed one of the small transmitters so that she could get in touch with the other members of security if she needed to. “Where am I tonight?”

He looked at the paper hanging next to his head on the wall, scanning the blocks for her name.

“Looks like you’re in VIP. No surprise.”

“Huh, as if I could get an easy position.” He shrugged his shoulders before returning his attention to the last monitor; here there was no picture of a smoky club. Instead, bikini clad girls ran around a beach, jumping into waves and jiggling at the camera.

“Later, Shin.”

He just grunted, too engrossed in his own world of female flesh.

Sakura exited the back area and walked quickly up a set of curving stairs to the left of the bar, and took her position on the second floor balcony. This small area provided an outlet for those who needed privacy while also giving security a bird’s eye view of the entire downstairs area that was open to the public.

It was going to be a long night, she was sure of it.

As always, she was right on the money. Almost two hours had past, and at a quarter to midnight, nothing had happened except for a few drunken arguments. She only had three guests in her area. The two men looked to be dealing something, and the female looked like she was bored out of her mind.

Sakura could relate.

After almost twelve hours of anticipating ANBU, nothing had happened. She had been standing against this wall for two hours and no one had walked through the door that she recognized except for a few regulars.

How time flies when you’re bored.

Sakura glanced at the group in VIP, and the girl glanced back. They shared a look; one look easily transmitted their shared boredom.

It was time to find something better to do.

“Hey, Shin.”

The transmitter crackled in her ear, and she heard his deep baritone answer back. “Yup?”

“I gotta walk for a minute. I’m going crazy up here.”

She heard a chuckle, and a smooth tenor reported over the frequency.

“Gotcha Ame. I’ll take VIP for a bit if you need a break. I’m just standing behind the bar doin’ nothin’. Gonna be a easy night tonight.”

“Thanks, Reno. I’ll be outside if you need me. I think I need some air.”

She wandered downstairs and out the back door, going around to the side of the building where she could see people coming and going from the club’s front entrance. Apparently, her luck just kept coming.

She watched as women and men of various looks, and various fashion sense, walked in and out of Jin’s. No one caught her eye, but she did see the waitress from earlier leaving.

Then three men, all dark-haired, came her way, walking down the road. They had just exited the club on the other side of Jin’s, and now they were heading inside her workplace.

“Reno.”

“Yeah, babe?”

“I’ve got some personal company heading inside.”

“Is this a good thing? Replace me already, Ame?”

“You were enough for one year.” She looked to the side, contemplating whether she should tell him. He knew her real name, but he didn’t know everything.

“Ame?”

“Three men, dark hair. One has white eyes. You’ll notice him immediately. Keep an eye on them for me. I’ll try to corner one of them at some point.”

“Maybe you should just stay out of sight.”

“They aren’t friends, Reno. And they’re stubborn.”

The line went silent for a few minutes.

“Ame, can you make it into the security room?”

“You know I can. Why?”

“Then get in there.” Reno sounded worried, and that was never a good sign.

“What’s up?”

“Just get in there. Or get the hell away. They’re asking the bartender about you.”

“How can you tell?”

She heard his transmitter click on and then nothing but the beat of the music.

“Reno? Reno?” She turned to run inside, jumping over trash scattered in the back alley. “Reno! Report!” She slammed the door open, hearing the crack it made into the wood of the building. The short hall was covered in a second, and she was finally into the open space of the club’s first floor.

She looked up to VIP, and she could see that Reno was cornered by the three ANBU.

“Shit. Shin! Reno’s in trouble!”

Her call over the radio had five other bouncers running to the VIP, and Shin came bounding out from behind the bar. The music cut, and lights flooded the club as patrons fled the paths of the bouncers. Haji stood behind the bar, screaming about security and customers, but all she heard, all she noticed, was Neji’s voice over the radio and Reno’s gasping breaths.

“Hayashi Ame, I need to speak with you. Now!” He didn’t have time to get anything else out before Shin and the others converged on his location and the fight began.

She watched as Reno slumped to the ground, red all over the front of his chest. Reno!

There was no time to think of healing him. She turned and pushed her hands out in front of her, charging them with chakra and running at the closest wall. Hopefully Shin and the others could keep them busy while she got as far away as possible.

“Hayashi Ame! Damnit! I’m not here to kill you!”

She didn’t give a shit. Reno was on the floor, bloody, and they wanted her to stop and chat? The wall shattered, and so did the two walls behind it. She entered the small side alley and swiftly leapt up to a small balcony on the building in front of her, scaring a group of prostitutes that were on their smoke break. She ran to the end of wall and jumped up to the roof. Her transmitter was crackling now, but she didn’t stop. She continued to jump from building to building, heading south through Aisen.

“Damnit! Get back here!”

That wasn’t her transmitter. They had made swift progress. She had always known Shin was all bark and no bite. She literally flew across a few more buildings before jumping down into a small alley and running to her left.

Still, she didn’t lose them.

I can’t hurt them! Damnit! Where the hell do I go?

She slid around a corner into another trash-filled alley. When she looked back, the three were still on her ass. But they didn’t have her advantage. This will lead to the boulevard. It has to. If I can get across, then I can jump. They don’t know anything about this area, and the cliffs can give me enough time to lose them and get hidden again.

She pushed her legs to move a little faster.

I have to get away from them! I have to get off this damn island!


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Neji, Sasuke, and Sai watched as a wall in the club exploded, and Sai looked at Neji with shock written on his usually emotionless face.

“Neji…”

“Damnit! Is he alive?” Sasuke bent down to feel the redhead’s neck, and nodded. His wound was shallow, anyway.

Neji frantically spoke into the transmitter as Sai prepared to take on the bouncers flooding into the area.

“Hayashi Ame! Damnit! I’m not here to kill you!” Sasuke and Sai both looked at him, but soon turned to take out the bouncers. Instead, they followed Neji as he jumped downstairs and ran out the hole the fleeing woman had made in the wall.

Any shinobi of merit would go up to the roof to travel, so they did the same.

They began to gain on her position.

“Damnit! Get back here!”

Neji carefully watched as she jumped down into an alley a few buildings in front of them, and he followed.

They watched as she turned to look at them, and Sai finally spoke.

“Neji, you weren’t very truthful.”

“I couldn’t be. I wasn’t even counting on finding her!”

“What the hell is going on? What are you two not telling me?”

Sai looked over at Sasuke, and used his head to gesture to the kunoichi they were following. It was night, but surely he could see her with the Sharingan.

“You don’t recognize her?”

“Recognize who?”

The kunoichi to a stop in front of a busy road, and they watched as she looked back at them before looking at the people on the main avenue. They slowed their pace, but as she was poised to jump over the road, Neji spoke.

“Sakura! Stop fucking running!”

She went still, and only her hair moved in the breeze coming off the ocean.

The three ANBU slowed down, and stopped about fifty feet from her. She slowly turned to face them, and her green eyes clashed with the fiery Sharingan.

“Sakura…”

She stared at Sasuke, but soon turned her head to glance at Sai, then Neji.

“How did you know where I was?”

“He wants you dead, Sakura.”

“I know that! But how did you know I was here!” Neji glanced up at the moon, then back at woman in front of him.

“I was sent by Tsunade-sama. To stop them.”

“Then you’re fools. She’ll kill you like she killed her last team.” Sasuke glanced at Neji uncertainly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sak—“

“You think I don’t know who she is? Don’t believe a word out of her lying mouth. And I can’t believe a word out of yours. If you know he wants me dead, then you could very well be the one sent to kill me.”

“Sakura, Tsunade-sama sent me—“

“She didn’t know where I was either! So stop lying!”

“I’m not!” he shouted. His frustration was boiling over. He glanced at his two teammates, wondering how much he should say in font of them, but he had no choice. If he couldn’t convince her to come back to Konoha, then all was lost. It was over. “You have to come back with us.”

“You think she won’t kill me first? Please.” Sakura glanced back at the road before turning to them once more. How much time do I have? She sighed. “I can’t trust anyone right now. You just killed the one man I could trust in this town. I have to leave now.”

“Sakura, just come with us. Everything can be explained—”

“I can’t. I’ll get word to Tsunade, and I’ll arrange something my own way. But I’m not leaving this island with you. If I do, I won’t make it home.”

“It’s starting, Sakura! We need whatever information you have! You can use it to buy the council over to your side!”

So he still doesn’t know everything. Go figure. He doesn’t even realize that he was sent only as a message, a symbol, to me. He’s just a pawn.

“I’ll get word to Tsunade. But you have to leave me alone. Give me five hours, and I’ll be off this island. Then you get the hell off. I would travel without the blonde bitch if I were you. Otherwise you won’t make it back.”

And with that, Sakura jumped over the busy street filled with drunken citizens. She was gone into the night.

Sasuke looked at Neji, hard. “You have some explaining to do.”

Neji sighed.

Sai just stared after his fleeing ex-teammate.