As you all know, I don't own Naruto. T.T (I wish I did)

Anyway, enjoy this chappie!

Before I forget, R&R!

The Mysterious Two

The sandy wind brushed at her blood-red locks, the sun scorched at her open wounds and battered body and her breath came in irregular gasps. She lost her footing on the shifting sand and fell to the sandy desert. She momentarily let out a pained scream before she bit her bottom lip to silence herself.

Getting up on weak legs, she finally sensed the chakra behind her that had followed her for two sleepless days. She put what was left of her own chakra into her feet and ran as fast as her legs would let her. Her keen eyes saw a gate with a Sunagakure insignia on it, but were far when suddenly the person following her stood in front of her.

'Shit!' She mentally yelled in her head.

"You can't outrun me, girl." His voice was void of emotion, his face was half-covered by a straw hat and his cloak was black with red clouds.

"I wasn't planning on outrunning you, Uchiha." Her voice also void of emotion. She moved her body into an attacking stance and was ready to attack if it came down to it.

"You're weak." He said, removing his straw hat and staring at her with black as onyx eyes.

"I should thank you for that, Uchiha." She dully said to him, standing upright again. Too tired to fight anymore, too weak and bone weary to do anything but curl up into a tight ball. She briefly thought about running all the way to Konohagakure but dismissed the desperate thought.

"What do you want?" The teenaged girl asked, sitting down on the sand and glared at the man. He walked toward her and also sat.

"Pein."

"What does he want now?" She irritatbly asked, wincing as the dry sandy wind brushed at her wounds.

"You have the Ten-tailed Wolf inside of you. He wants it."

After a moment of silence, she spoke in a quiet yet empty tone. "It seems anybody who has heard about me containing the Ten-tailed Wolf wants it extracted from my body. They can if they want to, but they will have to kill me first." She stood on weak legs and glared down at the sitting Uchiha. "Take me to your leader. I will consider the possibility of extracting the demon from me that will probably end my life in the process." She closed her eyes, knowing she would be knocked unconscious by the Uchiha.

After a moment of silence and waiting, the girl grew impatient and opened her empty green eyes. She was angered when the Uchiha just sat there glaring at her. "Either you're just plain lazy to get up or you want something from me." She said, with a slight edge to her voice.

"You forgot." Was all he said as he moved to stand up, towering over her and glared.

She stared at his face and the way he stood, slightly hunched over. She noted the concealed tiredness in the dark abyss of his eyes, the barely noticeable dark circles under them and the slightly furrowing of his brows. She closed her eyes to sense and hear him. She heard his breathing, inhaling and exhaling, silently struggling to breathe normally. His heart pounding in a slow rhythm, then speeding up unexpectedly and suddenly pounding faintly as if he was dying where he stood. Sensed he was trying to hide his unbearable pain from her and his undeniable tiredness.

She silently sniffed the air around them and scrunched up her nose. They were both in dire need of a shower from the entire sweaty stench she smelled. But there was something about him that she smelled in the air. His blood. It wasn't the sweet calming metallic smell anymore that she admired him for; instead it smelled too sweet and to strong like that of a recently dead body. It frustrated her that she won't have anyone to go to anymore whenever she was angry and tired. He was slowly dying and she hated him for prolonging his death for a fight she knew was important to him.

With a heavy sigh at her mixed emotions, she said, "I didn't forget, Uchiha." She reached for a small pouch attached to her hip. Pulling out a small bottle full of red substance, she handed it to him and he took it.

"What's in it?" The Uchiha demanded, popping the cork and downing it in one swallow. That vile tasting liquid filled his body with a much needed boost of chakra and momentarily curing his illness. Instead of answering the Uchiha, the girl took out the same small bottle, but it was filled with a light blue liquid and also did the same, swallowing it in one gulp.

"My blood mixed with the venom from a poisonous snake." She finally answered after swallowing the bitter liquid, closing her eyes and savoring the feel of chakra flowing through her weakened body. Without warning, the girl felt a cold hand encircle around her slender throat and her body being lifted off a few inches from the ground.

"You can't kill me yet, you damn Uchiha." She hissed through her teeth, glaring at him. She grabbed his wrist and her chakra flared. No doubt the guards at the gate sensed it. She felt her hand grow cold from silently summoning an ice jutsu, Ice style: Freezing Body Current Jutsu.

"Stop it." He harshly whispered, his hand and half his arm going numb with cold.

"Face it, Uchiha, you need me. You're dying and killing me will only make your illness increase and fester. Now, stop playing around and let me go or your arm will be of no use to you anymore when we fight against the Kazekage that's coming quickly." She calmly said, removing her hand on his wrist.

He reluctantly removed his hand around her neck and motioned for her to follow him. They quickly and silently went off towards the Akatsuki base before the Kazekage could even see and follow them.

The Kazekage sat in his office, going through papers that needed to be filed and put into order. Without warning, he suddenly stood up from his chair and swiftly opened up a window and jumped out. But before he jumped out, the door to his office opened and his brother, Kankuro, entered.

"Hey, Gaara, have you seen Tema-? " Kankuro stopped when he realized his brother's chakra and his body was no longer in the room, but sensed he was quickly running in the direction of the west gate.

Kankuro ran and using the window that Gaara used, jumped out to follow him. It wasn't long until Kankuro too sensed the surging chakra that made Gaara spur into action coming outside from the west gate. But, just as quickly as they felt it, the surging chakra was gone.

Walking out of the gates that opened for him, Gaara's teal-green eyes searched the desert for that one familiar distinct chakra and the other unknown chakra. When he sensed or saw nothing, Gaara walked back inside the village before he faintly smelled something in the wind. Blood that was neither fresh nor dull, neither sweet nor strong. Turning around, Gaara followed the still fresh scent until he was a mile away from the village. He saw blood soling the desert sand in one spot. He stared at the spot for a long moment before he felt Kankuro stand beside him.

"Hmm, seems they left in hurry before you or I could spot them." Kankuro said, looking around.

"Who were they?" Gaara thought out loud, also looking around. He had a hunch that one of them was from the Akatsuki but couldn't pinpoint what that person's name was. The other one however perplexed him. That person wasn't from the Akatsuki and yet went with one who was from the organization. 'Probably recruiting for some members for the on-going war.' Gaara thought to himself.

"Probably some rogue ninjas. Although that doesn't seem right due to the fact that one had extremely immense chakra." Kankuro said, crouching down to look closely at the bloodied sand as if it would tell him who was the one that held the immense chakra.

"We should head back. No doubt Temari is looking for us." Kankuro said, rising from his crouch and waited for Gaara.

"Hn." Was all Gaara said, before turning to head back to the village. Kankuro followed and was relieved that his younger brother hadn't told him to send out ninjas to follow the mysterious two.

No doubt about it, that those mysterious two had a great deal of chakra. It still lingered and you could sense it in the air with all the small currents going around.

Kankuro shuddered at the thought that if they actually caught them, he and Gaara wouldn't probably stand a chance against those two. Then Kankuro smirked at silently giving them a nicknames.

The Mysterious Duo. The Dynamic Duo. The Tortuous Duo. The Terrifying Two. The Terrible Two-some.

Kankuro chuckled at the last nickname and actually tripped over his own two feet from laughing so hard that tears formed at the corners of his eyes.

They nearing the village gate and Gaara looked back at hearing his brother laughing manically and rolling in the sand. Gaara raised his brow at his still laughing brother before he turned to look at Temari who walked closer to them.

"What's wrong with him?" Temari asked, looking at Kankuro. Gaara shrugged his shoulders before heading to the Kazekage house. Temari stood there still staring at Kankuro laughing before she also left him to follow Gaara.

I finally finished this 2nd chapter! Yay!

I know Kankuro is probably OCC...my bad readers.

Until next time! See ya!