Very few things fazed the great Uchiha Itachi. Not the loud banging and shouting outside of his office that morning, nor his brother and his friends storming in. Not even the deathly glare his little brother was currently throwing his way as he towered over him.

"Sasuke, what a pleasant surprise. Though I'm guessing this is not a social call."

"Where are they?"

He remained unfased and carried on with his paperwork, "I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific."

"Hinata and Suigetsu. Where are they?"

"I feel flattered you think me a psychic GPS but I'm afraid I have no idea where they are."

"But you admit to knowing them."

"Well of course. Hina's just darling and Sui is as batshit crazy as his brother Mangetsu - more so even. Not to discredit Hina's heritage, of course, but when it comes to her antics, well...they do implement the Hyuga subtlety rather than the Hozuki extravagance quite nicely, don't you think? Though from what I hear-"

"Stop rambling, Itachi. Where are they? And while you're at it, why don't you tell us how you're involved with them. You seem to be pretty buddy with Mangetsu in this picture we found." Sasuke showed them a picture of the photo he took on his phone, though his elder brother didn't seem suprised at all.

"You broke into their appartment?"

"They left the door open." He lied without hesitation.

"You broke into their appartment." He nodded, stating the fact he was now so sure of, "Look, Sasuke. My relationship with the Hozuki's is...complicated."

"Complicated? Until now it seemed to be nonexistent." Sasuke sneered, his face getting redder by the second.

"Our families know each other well, they have done for some time."

Sasuke blinked, truly surprised, "Since when?"

"A long time, lets just leave it at that." He said, leaving his desk and walking to his filing cabinet, hoping that that was the end of that.

It wasn't.

Sasuke followed him, "Then why haven't I heard Mum or Dad, or really anyone in our family talk about them."

"The same reason why no one talks about them." He told him nonchallantly, "Fear."

He sauntered back to his desk, looking through the files he just plucked out of his cabinet. He heard his brother laugh, not the carefree laugh from when they were young, this one was bitter and laced with spite.

"I spent a good year with one of them. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Itachi sighed, he knew this next move of his would open a can of worms, but if it was necessary then so be it. He dropped the documents on his desk and gestured for sasuke to take them.

The younger of the two wasted no time in doing so, naturally assuming it was information on his two friends' whereabouts.

Boy, was he wrong.

He froze, "These are pictures from that year I left."

"Wait, what?!" His friends, who were quite until now, found this too shocking of a revelation and so all rushed to his side.

"Dude, why are you half-naked in this one?" Naruto questioned.

"Karin." He said darkly.

"Ooohhhh, I get it."

When it came to Karin, no one pried.

"You've done your research, that's not a surprise Itachi. Out of curiosity how much did you pay him to send you these?"

"It wasn't that sort of arrangement."

"It's not just pictures, either," Sakura said as she looked over a particular section towards the end of the file, "there are food and accomodation receipts in this one." She suddenly froze, her face turning white.

"What is it?"

"Sakura?"

"You've got to be kidding me." she gulped, handing the paper to Sasuke.

Sasuke read through the document carefully. It was a database of money being transferred in and out of Suigetsu's account during their time away. The output seemed consistent with what he remembered from the journey - Suigetsu offered to pay a lot of the trip, claiming it would be harder for Sasuke to be traced that way. However what caught his eye were the input amounts. A lot of money was put into the account on a regular basis, transferred from two other separate accounts. Upon seeing the names, Sasuke's blood ran cold and understood why Sakura reacted the way she did.

"You and Hinata payed for my year away." he could scarcely believe it, "you both had this planned from the very beginning and then sent Suigetsu to make sure everything went to plan didn't you?! So tell me brother," he spat, "What was the aim of this little charade? To have me away from the family business so you can sink you claws deeper into it?!" He demanded.

"If that was the case why would have Hinata gotten involved?" He sighed, "No, no, no, it was Hinata's idea from the start."

"I highly doubt that." Neji said, "she would never deceive her friends."

"Not usually, no. But in this case desperate times called for desperate measures. She said since you were determined to leave, we should make sure you have somebody trustworthy with you so you don't...well, 'die in a ditch' were her exact words. I agreed, trusted her judgement and set up the financial aspects of the scheme."

"So what, you took the word of some thirteen-year-old girl?"

"I took the word of a Hozuki, there is a difference."

"None of this makes any sense." Said TenTen, "If Hinata knew where he was all along then why come along with us to find him. Why go through all that trouble?"

"And why almost get yourself killed?" Chouji's question caused the room to tense up at the memory of when she took the bullets meant for Naruto.

"That was not the intention. The situation escaped her control and she did what was necessary to keep you safe. She knew how to orientate her body in a way that would make sure the bullets would cause the least damage. Her actions, the way in which she made it look it was just lucky that she survived, were false. But her intentions were not, I assure you of that. As for why she went with you to find, I think that should be left for to answer the next time you see her."

"Look, I dont know if I believe all this, but that doesn't matter right now. Stop delaying and tell us where they are. You always were good at changing the topic."

Trust me baby brother, that wasn't my intention.

He sighed, "Look, I don't know where they are. Honestly. But I do know where they're headed."

"Where?!" They all said in unison.

"Last I heard, they were headed to the land of volcanoes."

"We'll that's great!" Said Lee, "The town is so small we'll find them in no time!"

"Actually..."

"What now?" Sasuke snapped, having had just about had enough of this.

"They're not in the town, Sasuke. They're in the jungle."

"Why would they be in the jungle?" Asked Ino.

"They need some molten lava for Suigetsu's shaman friend. They plan to trade it for information. Don't bother asking me what information, because I don't know. Only Suigetsu knows."

Sasuke had stared at him suspiciously, "And that's all you know?"

"I swear." He stated, looking his brother straight in the eye. After a while, Sasuke nodded, confident that his brother was telling the truth.

"Look, I know I haven't been the best brother-"

Sasuke snorted.

"But I am trying to make it up to you, even if you don't realise it. In the future, when you truly understand my sacrifices, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Sasuke froze, having a sudden flashback of Hinata's words the fight before her car-crash.

There'll be a time when you understand the true meaning of what I have told you here today, and at that moment you will not only hate yourself, but you will also come running to me, because I am one of the only people who can save your brother from his sacrifice.

He was just about to ask about it, but then quickly decided the matter was a whole other kettle-of-fish that was perhaps better discussed away from prying eyes.

"But for now," Itachi continued, adopting a more cheerful tone, "I guess we'll just have to continue with our friendly competition."

"I don't want to be in a competition with you Itachi." He sighed. He was just so tired of this never-ending fight. "In fact, I simply want nothing to do with you."

As Sasuke said the words "I simply want nothing to do with you." Itachi felt his heart rip in two. He should have gotten used to it by now, but a part of him knew he never would. As he watched his brother and his friends leave, it took every ounce of will power to keep his charade up.

When the door was slammed shut, he could finally breath again. A steady hand griped his shoulder from behind. The woman, who had been hiding in the closet until then waiting for the search party's arrival and departure, had no words of comfort that she hadn't already said before to the young heir. So instead she said nothing at all. She just let a comforting silence settle between them as she walked infront of him and embrace him.

"I'm doing this for him." He said more to himself than to her.

"You're doing this for him." The woman echoed. She held him like that until his heart stopped racing and his breath calmed. They stayed like that until Itachi broke the silence.

"Why did Sui want me to tell me all that anyway."

She sighed, "Only God knows what that boy's plan is. We'll know soon enough, that is if Sasuke and his friends survive it - they look exhausted."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "I need a drink."

The woman smiled, "Come on, I know just the place."

"You always do Suki," he said as he grabbed his coat, "You always do."