“Escaped?”
Gaara nodded seriously. “He was in a holding facility awaiting his execution. Somehow he managed to elude them.”
Taryn sighed. “He can turn to water.” She rubbed her temple. “Orochimaru experimented on him. He probably became liquid and hid in the mist that surrounds the village. “
“Perhaps,” Gaara mused, “in any case, he took two of the Swords of Mist as well.” 
“Only two?” 
“It was all he could get his hands on before they were on his trail.” He looked at her, “Kiri might suspect he’ll come here.” 
“To find Sasuke?” Taryn asked surprised, “is that why you’re keeping him in your office? You think he’ll turn on Suna?” 
Gaara narrowed his eyes at his sister. “In case you have forgotten, he has access to his chakra and thanks to you he is now aware of that.” He looked at the dead ninja. “He sensed it too. He’s not  the only foreign shinobi here, Taryn. I’m not taking any risks. He’s staying where he is for the time being.” He sighed. “We need to figure out how to proceed from here. We can’t accuse any of the Kages openly. It would create bad blood.” 
“I know,” Taryn sighed. She looked at Ichiru, who was still in Kuro’s arms. She needed to protect her son, no matter what.

Baki cleared his throat. “Kazekage-sama, if this assassin doesn’t report back, they’ll know something went wrong. They’ll keep trying until they succeed.”
Gaara nodded thoughtfully. He turned to Kuro. “Go to the bird watch. Write a message to Kakashi Hatake in Konoha to inform him about what happened.” He caught Taryn’s look. “He needs to know, Taryn.”
Taryn sighed.
“Take the body to Intel,” Gaara continued, “see if they can find out where he’s from and who sent him. I have to think of a way to solve this and prevent any future assaults.” He looked at Taryn. “I want an escort for you wherever you go.” When Taryn was about to protest, he lifted his hand to cut her off. “I mean it, Taryn. Don’t fight me on this. It doesn’t have to be a complete squad. It can be any of your students. Kankuro or Temari if you want, or anyone else you choose, but you’re not going out on your own until this is resolved. Are we clear?”
“Perfectly,” Taryn answered coolly.
Gaara ignored her tone and nodded. “Good.” He nodded at Baki and Kuro and headed for the door.
“What about Sasuke?” Taryn asked.
“I’ll send him back by nightfall,” her brother replied before walking out.
Baki followed him with the shinobi’s body.

Kuro walked up to Taryn and handed Ichiru to her. “Are you alright, sensei? Do you need me to stay?”
Taryn sighed and shook her head. “You heard Gaara. You have a message to send.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Taryn said, “go on.”
“Okay,” Kuro nodded, “take care sensei. ‘
“You too.”

***

“Let’s try this,” Sakura said and took a syringe from her tray. “We studied Kabuto’s reports carefully and we think this may help suppress your blood.” She looked at Juugo. “If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know what will.”
Juugo sighed and closed his eyes. He leaned back against the wall of his holding cell and nodded. “Thank you. You’ve already done so much.” He glanced up at the window when a bird stroke down and started to sing. A faint smile crossed his lips.

Sakura looked at it in wonder. She had noticed before how peaceful he became every time he saw a bird. “You… really like birds, don’t you?”
Juugo smiled at her. “I’ve always liked animals better than humans. Animals don’t judge you. They accept you for who you are. You can trust them.”

Sakura looked at him thoughtfully and wondered how someone so kindhearted had ever followed Sasuke. She shook off the thought. There was no use in pondering over such thing. “Give me your arm,” she said softly and injected the liquid into his vein. “It will take some time for your body to respond,” she said, “we’ll observe you for the next twenty four hours and after that we’ll take a blood sample again.”
“Alright,” Juugo said. He looked at Sakura hesitantly. “Sakura-san, have you heard anything from Sasuke?”
Sakura bit her lip. Sharing information with prisoners was not allowed, but where Sasuke was concerned, there wasn’t much to tell. “No,”  she said, “no news.”

***

When he found the house empty that morning, Sasuke walked outside, into the garden. Taryn was sitting at Itachi’s grave and after a slight hesitation he walked over and sat down next to her.

It was silent for a long time.
“It’s been a year tomorrow,” Taryn’s soft voice broke the quiet. She didn’t look at Sasuke, but kept her eyes on the gravestone.
Slowly Sasuke’s head turned towards her. Had it really been a year? His hands turned to fists. How was he suppose to respond to that? He stared at the ground. “Where’s Ichiru?” he asked.
It took a moment before she answered. “Temari picked him up for a walk.”
It was silent again.

Sasuke eyed Taryn’s tired face and he looked at the gravestone again. A frown creased his brow. “Why…?” he asked, but he was unable to finish his question and Taryn looked at him confused.
“Because she wanted to spend time with her nephew.”
“No,” Sasuke said and he paused, “… you and Itachi… why…” Why had she trusted him even when she didn’t know the truth? Why?
Taryn sighed. She had expected that question sooner or later, but the answer was very complicated.
When she didn’t answer, Sasuke stood up and turned away.
Taryn closed her eyes and swallowed. “Because… “
Sasuke stopped walking.
“Because we understood each other,” Taryn said. There was no way she could ever explain it any better.

Sasuke considered her words and then nodded. He didn’t look back when he walked inside.

***

“What did you find out?” Gaara asked while staring out of the window.
“We observed every delegation that’s residing in Suna at the moment. None of them appear to miss any comrade,” Kankuro reported.
Gaara nodded. He had expected as much. The smaller nations were using this opportunity to make a name for themselves. New alliances were being formed. Whoever had initiated the attack, could just as easily have hired one of the smaller nations.
“Gaara?”  Kankuro asked when his brother didn’t respond.
Gaara sighed. He walked to his desk and handed Kankuro a scroll. “This came today.”
Kankuro opened it confused. “The lord of Wind Country?”
Gaara folded his hands behind his back. “He wants us to accept missions again. The smaller shinobi nations are receiving the contracts that would normally go to us. Now that peace has been established, we should resume our jobs.”
“Ordered to you mean,” Kankuro replied.
Gaara gave a curt nod.
“We have peace treaty with the other nations,” Kankuro said, “we can’t just go around it.”
“ I know,”  Gaara said. He sighed. As if they didn’t have enough problems to deal with at the moment. “That’s why I’m going to call for another meeting.”

***

“What do you think it’s about?” Shikaku asked while putting down the letter.
“I’m not sure,”  Kakashi mused, “perhaps he found out who plotted the assault on Taryn and Sasuke.”
“He’d really confront them?”
“Taryn is his sister,” Kakashi answered, “he’s not going to take this lightly.”
“Who are you taking with you?”  Shikaku asked.
Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. “Sai and Naruto.”
“Are you sure about Naruto?”  Shikaku raised an eyebrow, “ I can understand why you would want to take Sai, but given Naruto’s history with Sasuke… won’t it only add fuel to the fire?”
“It’s exactly why I want to take him. And he can control himself.”  He sighed. “Besides, if I don’t let him come, he’ll only find a way to get himself in trouble.”
Shikaku shook his head. “You cut him too much slack, Kakashi, just like Tsunade-sama and
Sarutobi-sama did before you.”
Kakashi smiled and his thoughts drifted to Taryn and Gaara. “I suppose every Kage has a weak spot.”

***

“The boy has probably escaped,”  The Council of Cloud looked at the Raikage. “Raikage-sama, we should never have agreed to pardoning Sasuke Uchiha.”
“We should hear them out before forming judgment,”  the Raikage said, “there haven’t been any rumors about the Uchiha being at large.”
“But what if he is?”  one of his advisors asked.
The Raikage narrowed his eyes. “then it’s open season.”

***

“Are we going to the meeting?” 
Hanade Tokari, Fourth Tsuchikage, looked at his council with a serious expression. “We don’t have a choice. It will look suspicious if we don’t.”
“Do you think Suna suspects we had anything to do with the attack on Uchiha ad the Desertstorm?”
Hanade shook his head. “They know nothing. If they knew, they wouldn’t assemble a meeting. No. This is about something different.”
“Do you think they’re using the opportunity to move the Uchiha to a new location?”
“Perhaps,”  Hanade mused, “we’ll send out scouts to watch the border just in case. If they spot Uchiha, they are not to take any action, but they should follow him and report back.”
“Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. “
“Good,” Hanade smirked, “now, we have a meeting to attend.”

***

“ Ao, Chojiro,”  the Mizukage called, “ is everything ready for our departure?”
“Y-yes Mizukage-sama,” Chojiro nodded.
“Alright,” the woman said, “I want the council to stay on high alert. The search for Suigetsu Houzuki must continue. If word gets out that he slipped through our fingers, all we’ve been working for has been for nothing.” 
“Perhaps we were right and he fled to Suna,” Ao said in deep thought, “perhaps Suna is calling this meeting to inform us that Uchiha Sasuke has vanished as well.”

***

Day 29 of the tenth month
First year of the Great Peace
From the shinobi alliance
To the shinobi villages of Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure and Kumogakure and to the Council of Iron.

It has been decided by the shinobi alliance, that in order to maintain our position in the shinobi world, we will resume our duties as ninja from this day forward.
We will keep in mind the treaty of peace and maintain the current alliances that were established at the end of the Third Shinobi War.

We are all shinobi.

---

AN/ Yet another chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.  I wonder what Sasuke will do now that he can use his chakra again. How did Taryn pull that one off? Any ideas anyone? ^_^ 

If you like Crow's Feathers, please check out my new story Clash of the Brats.It's a colab with Amaterasu and includes more Taryn and her students :) The first chapter was just posted. I would really appreciate some feedback :)