SEVERAL HOURS LATER AT AN OASIS

"So do you think it worked?" A young woman's voice is heard. "Of course it worked, it's just a matter of time before they start to blame my foolish little brother for this." Another voice answers. "I still don't understand why you want her to be with him so bad… He never wanted her and she no longer wants him…" She is cut off by a whoosh of air that signals he left. "Always with the plans and no explinations...such a pain." She mumbles and leaves.

AT THE SAME TIME IN KONOHA

"LADY TSUNADE! WAKE UP! There is trouble in Suna with one of our Anbu teams." Shizune yells entering the Hokage's office. Lady Tsunade straightens herself in her chair and looks at Shizune with a horrible glare. "What happened?" She asks. "I do not have all the details but an unmarked message came in a few minutes ago on an unknown hawk saying that our team was injured." She replied. "So we don't know who sent the message or where it came from but you believe that something is actually going on?" Shizune just nods. "Well send a message to the Kazekage and ask if there is something going on with our team before we react." Tsunade says. "Yes milady, right away." Shizune replies as she leaves the room. "I wonder what Sakura is up to?" Tsunade thinks to herself out loud as she returns to her paperwork.

MEANWHILE IN SUNA

"The last I knew Sasuke had a summoning contracts with hawks and snakes. I also know that he has been studying up on how to use his eyes in new ways." Sakura says with a frown. Temari and Gaara have matching frowns and Baki and Kankuro have blank faces. "So are you willing to tell us what happened the last time you saw him to make you think this is his doing?" Baki asks trying to be tactful. Taking a deep breathe she nods.

"Lady Tsunade told me that he wished to speak with me before I left for my mission. That seemed odd to me as he has always appeared to not want to have anything to do with me. He hasn't been quite the same since Naruto killed Kabuto and he killed Orochimaru. Naruto being who convinced Sasuke to come home." Taking another breathe she continues.

"So I went to the district to find out what he wanted, when I got there he was sitting on the roof staring into space. I called his name and he looked at me strangely for a minute but jumps down to stand in front of me. He gave me a rather rude 'once over' then said that I had become a stronger woman than he ever thought I could be. I wasn't sure if I should be insulted or not so I just asked him what he wanted. He hesitated for a minute and then said that he wanted me to help him to restore his clan after he killed his brother. He told me that I was the best woman he had found that would be able to provide him with strong healthy children.

At first I didn't respond, I was shocked and insulted this time and I let him know it. Telling him that no matter what he thought of me I am not a broodmare and I didn't appreciate that he wanted me as one. He seemed upset by that but didn't say anything more. Really annoyed I left the district and went home. I haven't seen him since then, but I have this nagging feeling that he has not given up on that train of thought and may try to make me 'see sense'.

The looks from the people in the room told her they were as unhappy about his thoughts as she was. The only person's face that did not directly show the irritation or outright anger was Gaara. But she knew what she was looking for and his eyes said it all. Not being able to take the intense look there her eyes slipped to the floor.

"I also have to admit that while I feel that this situation screams Sasuke, there is something off… Something that I cannot quite put my finger on…" She said to the floor. "Can you remember when you decided that something was 'off' Harano-san?" Baki asked still trying to be tactful.

Sakura thought about it for a minute, then looking straight up at Baki as he had asked the question. "Yes now that I think about it, I first noticed it when Sasuke was trying to tell me that I was stronger than he thought I could get. It was odd, like he was reading from an invisible script…" She clears her throat. "I got the same feeling when the Anbu from Konoha said something about 'hawks with red eyes'. It rang a rather dim bell in the back of my mind, and I have the strangest feeling that I am missing something important…"