The morning dawned orange and red, blending in with the fires still raging and smoke clouding the sky. The City was on lockdown with officers going door to door to inform the citizens to not leave their homes. The hunt was on.

Shisui took the bag from Itachi, shaking it slightly to hear the clinking of vials and test tubes together. He unzipped the bag and upended it's contents. The vials and tubes he expected but he hadn't expected the notebook. Before he could pick it up, Itachi had grabbed it and was flipping through the pages.

"Well?" Shisui asked.

"It's all here," Itachi affirmed, closing the book and placing the contents back into the bag. He handed it to a junior ranking Uchiha with instructions to place it in the Vault.

Shisui drummed his fingers against the desk, chewing on his bottom lip as he thought. "Any word on them?"

Itachi stood in front of the window, watching the clouds of smoke choke off the sun. "No. It would be safe to assume that they are gone. We should begin anew."

Sighing, Shisui lowered his head to his arms and groaned. "We almost had them. We were so fucking close! And they slipped away, again."

Pouring some bourbon into a crystal tumbler, Itachi walked to Shisui and placed the glass near his hand. "It is the usual pattern. They're smart but we're closing in. Mother is running out of places to hide. Her and her girls."

Taking a swig of the liquid, he sighed as it burned his throat. Leaning back in his chair, Shisui slowly spun around so he could gaze upon the devastation wrecked during the night. He sipped from the tumbler, musing.

He looked at Itachi who was standing to his left with his hands clasped behind his back, his suit impeccable and nary a hair out of place. How does he do it? Remain so unaffected?

"Orders?" The younger Uchiha asked.

"We wait. For now. Rebuild. Eventually we will rejoin the hunt. You're dismissed."

Itachi bowed and left the room. The fact that they needed to rebuild was not lost on him. The destruction had taken out quite a few of the Uchiha spies they had planted hoping to get information on the Organization.

He closed the heavy black walnut doors and made his way to his own spartan quarters. With nothing to do he began inspecting, dismantling and cleaning his weapons. Next time... they won't escape...

His eyes glowed red in the darkened room. This hunt ends now.

"...sir?! Sir?! Are you ok?!"

Kakuzu lifted his head, his brain foggy and his heart broken. Hands felt over him, checking to see if he was wounded. When no wounds were found, the hands hauled him to his feet.

"SIR! What are your orders?!" A cop shouted at him, his group milling around Kakuzu and unused to seeing their confident leader so rudderless.

Kakuzu opened his mouth to speak several times but the words would not come out. After a few tries he managed to ask, "did you recover her body?"

The policemen looked at each other, confusion reigning in the moment. The spokesperson ventured to ask, "who's body, sir?"

The question immediately put him on edge. "The woman. She jumped," he indicated to the ledge he had been sitting against. The cop looked at him again with confused eyes.

"There's no one there, sir."

In a fit of rage Kakuzu struck the man and he fell to his knees, clutching his jaw. "There's no one there!" He repeated.

Kakuzu walked over to the ledge and steeled himself. He leaned over and looked. There was no body. There was a drying pool of blood on the concrete below but no body. What the fuck?

A radio crackled. "...down... blood... unknown... female..."

The hardened investigator spun around and demanded to know who's radio was working. A terrified cop handed it over and after yelling into it a few times, Kakuzu finally got the location. He quickly left the rooftop and made his way to the street.

He soon reached a trio of policeman standing around a pile of stinking and rotting garbage. Pushing his way to the forefront, Kakuzu looked at the scene.

A small woman, approximately the same size and weight as Shinju, with dyed purple hair, lay sprawled on the trash pile. She had been posed lewdly as a final insult to the police.

"Tag and bag her," Kakuzu demanded. "Find Sasori! If he's still alive I'll need his expertise," he said while walking away from the scene.

A small smile tugged at his lips. So she had survived. She was out there. He would find her even if it took the last breath from his lungs and the last beat of his heart. He would find her.

Azure blue waves lapped at the fine white sand on the beach. Carrying two flutes of chilled champagne Kay made her way to the luxurious beach hut set up on the sand. She placed them on the small tables next to the cushioned lounge chairs and snapped her fingers. A muscular man began waving a fan at her, cooling her down.

She looked over at her partner who was clutching her phone and staring at the screen. Rolling her eyes she sighed. "You found him?"

Shinju smiled and nodded, watching Kakuzu work at his desk in the newly constructed Police Headquarters. He had leaned back in his chair and undid his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He rubbed the exposed skin of his throat and chest, before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and bending back to his work.

She closed down her programs and locked her phone. Taking a sip of her champagne, she motioned for the other man to begin fanning her.

"You do realize that we can't hunt him for the next little while, right? We need to lay low while Mother shakes off the Uchihas."

"I'm aware," Shinju responded contentedly, leaning back in her lounge chair. The unspoken second half of her statement hung in the air.

They both chose to ignore it and enjoy the little bit of relaxation they could get before Mother sent them out again. The Uchihas would need to be stopped but that was a problem for another day.