Prologue
The dreams started the night my friends all went missing.
Tsunade had me and a few others monitoring a strange chakra signal just outside of Konoha village. It was faint, but it didn't belong to a person, and when we called in Neji, he didn't recognize the chakra signature with his Byakugan. He insisted on getting a closer look, so I sent him out to do what reconnaissance he could.
I felt it when the chakra signature spiked. Hell, we all did. It was violently strong, like an explosion. I steadied myself on a nearby wall as the feeling washed over me, as did several other shinobis next to me. The wave settled, but we could tell whatever chakra signature we had been monitoring before had grown stronger.
I rushed out to find Neji at the chakra site, to make sure he was okay, but he wasn't there. I flagged down Naruto and Choji, who were exiting Ichiraku's, and the three of us searched everywhere.
He was gone.
Over the next 24 hours, there was panic in Tsunade's office. Most of the highly ranked shinobi and kunoichi were there, examining data and assessing damages. Kakashi, Gai, Sakura, Tenten, Lee, Naruto, Choji, and everyone else I knew was rushing around.
We knew Neji was gone, that was clear. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were supposed to return from a mission that morning and had yet to report, so it was supposed that they had mysteriously disappeared as well. Ino had been out at the time and had not shown up to her shift at the hospital for the first time in 4 years, so she was assumed gone too.
But worst of all, worse than any other name I heard flying around that office, was Temari.
Kami, she was supposed to give her monthly report from Suna that day. She had been on her way that morning.
She had yet to turn up.
She was gone too.
I had to take a seat when her name was added to the list of the missing. I dropped my head into my hands. This had gotten so very personal now, and I didn't know if I had the emotional strength to bear it. Damn troublesome woman. Damn woman I may never, ever see again. We had to consider the possibility that they were dead, not missing. That the chakra wave had killed them all. Killed Temari. I sucked in a shuddering breath.
Tenten paused from her frantic work to place a hand on my shoulder in comfort. Her gesture gave me strength, and the cup of coffee I downed after gave me energy, and I worked into the night trying to figure out what the hell happened. After I had been on my feet for 24 hours, Tsunade came up to me.
"Go home, sleep, come back in 4 hours." I thanked her, handing off papers to Shizune, and left just as Tsunade cracked open what I assumed was not her first bottle of sake.
Had I not been so utterly exhausted, I probably would have been up worrying all night. As it was, as soon as my head hit the pillow I passed out.