Well I said I would wait till I had more reviews before putting this chapter up but I got tired of waiting. I guess my story isn't good enough for people to review... good thing I don't let things like that get me down T_T. Nope, not at all *cries in the corner*... Anyways, enjoy chapter 2 and I don't own anything but my characters.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Ch. 2

"Temari! Temari, I need help. Get out here." called Gaara calmly

"Don't do this" hissed the girl as she fought back more screams of pain.

There was no response at first but then a door opened. Gaara set the girl on the couch. A light flicked on and a blond woman stood in the doorway that connected the living room and kitchen. She wore baggy black sweatpants, and a lavender tank-top. She yawned.

"Gaara what's going-" she gasped. Her hand flew up to her mouth. "Holy shit! What the hell happened?" she asked as she noticed the injured girl on the sofa.

"I need your help. My friend is hurt and sick."

"Why'd you bring her here Gaara? She needs to get to a hospital"

"She refuses to go."

"Why?"

"I don't know" he growled "Are you going to help her or not?"

Temari hesitated for a moment. "Just give me a few moments." She ran down the hallway to get supplies.

Gaara took a deep breath. Why is my heart racing like this? He resisted the urge to place his hand over his chest.

"What the hell?"

The Kazekage turned around to see his older brother standing in the door way.

"Kankuro" he stated plainly.

"Gaara, what did you do? What's going on?"

"I didn't do this. I helped when she was attacked. She is injured and sick so I brought her here. She needed help."

Gaara looked down at Her. She was curled up on the sofa, still clutching her chest. She was trembling violently and covered in sweat. Now that they were in the light could see her much more clearly. She had long black cargo pants on and black shinobi sandals. She had on a tight fitting white T-shirt, which was stained with blood and dirt. She also had leather bracelets worn around her wrists, covering them. She still had her black hooded cloak on. The tips of her very pointed ears stuck out of her long red-brown hair. She was thin, unnaturally so, like she hadn't had a decent meal in a while. Her arms were covered in bruises and cuts that continued to bleed, probably from her recent attack. A small spot of blood continued to seep through the right side of her shirt. Her fabric mask was torn and now hung loosely around her neck. She had a split lip and a large gash on her forehead which continued to bleed down the side of her face.

"Why'd you bring her here?" questioned Kankuro.

"She's a friend of mine."

"She looks familiar. Who is she?"

Gaara hoped he would not recognize her from their earlier encounter. He didn't answer. Gaara wasn't sure how to answer. This reminded him of how stupid it was to have brought her into his house. He really knew nothing about her. That's why I brought her here, to find out more about her for the village's sake.

"Alright, I think I got everything I need" said Temari carrying in a large amount of medical supplies in her arms. Her arrival saved Gaara from having to answer Kankuro's question. He would just have to think of something to tell his siblings later.

Temari placed a thermometer into his hand. He looked at his older sister, confused.

"Go take her temperature"

Gaara observed the instrument. "Umm…" He had never used one before. He didn't know how to.

Temari sighed. "Stick it in her mouth, push the button and keep it there until it beeps. Hurry!"

The young Kazekage sighed in annoyance. He crouched down next to the couch and placed the thermometer into her mouth. Her teeth caught his attention as he did so. The canine's and 1st bicuspids were unusually sharp, like an animal's. For some odd reason the word "Vampire" popped into his head. Could she have attacked those men for food? The thermometer beeped. What am I saying? There are no such things as vampires. Gaara reached down and pulled the thermometer out of her mouth. He looked at the reading on the screen but it did not make any sense.

170 degrees

How's that possible?

"What does it say Gaara?" asked his sister as she kneeled down next to him and rummaged through her supplies.

"Damn things broken" he scowled.

Temari took the thermometer from him. "170? That's impossible. This things brand-new there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. You're doing it wrong." She placed the thermometer back in the girls mouth. It beeped and she pulled it out. "172? It went up?" The blond woman threw the device across the room. "Piece of crap" she sighed. She stood up, took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips. "You understand that if you don't take her to the hospital she might die? There's only so much I can do for her. I can only do basic things. I'm not a medic, nowhere close"

"That's fine. Just do what you can."

The blond yawned again. "Alright then get out of my way, both of you."

Kankuro steered his younger brother into the kitchen for a cup of tea, and sat at the table with him.

Gaara hid his impatience as he sat waiting. He sat reclined in his chair with his arms behind his head. He was unable to do anything and that bothered him. He was completely useless. Kankuro was soon asleep, his head having fallen on the table. As soon as he did, Gaara was up. He paced around the kitchen sipping his hot tea. He walked past the sink and threw his cup into it. The hot beverage was making him warm and more agitated. He then went back to pacing, flinching as he heard the girl cry out.

This is going to be a long night.

Temari took a deep breath. She didn't even know where to begin. She was not a medic. Anything she knew how to do was from taking care of herself and Kankuro when they were younger. She had been the oldest. It was her job. She looked down at the girl on the couch and wondered who she was to have gotten Gaara to worry so much.

"Can you hear me?" she asked the girl. She simply nodded. "I'm going to help you so relax alright. Everything...everything is going to be alright" Temari didn't even believe herself. The girl cried out in pain. Her voice was becoming hoarse already. Temari waited a few moments for her to calm down again and the girl soon passed out.

The sand kunoichi started. She removed the girls cloak as gently as possible and cut the fabric mask around the girl's neck. She then proceeded to remove the few necklaces the girl was wearing. She didn't need them getting in the way. She quickly bandaged the girl's arms. She was pretty sure that the girl's wrist was broken but she decided to wait for later before doing anything about it. She wasn't going to be moving enough to damage it right now. Next was the knife wound in the young woman's side. She removed her shirt leaving the girl in just the wrappings all kunoichi wore around their chest. Her eyes widened. Right where her navel was there was a huge scar that spread out in a circle. The edges were jagged and it had to have been 6 inches across, taking up most of her abdomen. How could someone get a scar like that? More importantly how could you live after getting an injury that created a scar like that. She tried to put it out of her mind. She quickly cleaned the knife wound out and stitched it up. She then tightly bound her sides. She had multiple broken ribs. Temari couldn't help but wonder what exactly happened to her. She quickly moved on to the rest of her injuries; cleaning wounds stitching up cuts and scrapes. The girl whimpered in her sleep a few times.

The sand kunoichi yawned again. Coming home from a long day at work and healing some stranger her brother brought home was not what she had planned to do this night. She should be sleeping. She had a mission tomorrow, one which took her all the way to the Hidden Leaf Village. She quickly finished up everything she could.

Temari examined the girl once more before getting up. It was going to be a miracle if she lived. She couldn't understand why Gaara had brought her here. She had no healing abilities to help the girl with. What did he think she could really do? Plus this girl was sick. There was something not right about her. Her fever was way too high. Even if the thermometer was broken, she could feel the heat coming off this girl. She should have been dead already. Yet, here she was passed out on the sofa still breathing. Plus there was something about this girl that didn't seem right. Temari didn't recognize her as a shinobi but she definitely wasn't a normal citizen. She checked the clock.

4:46

So much for getting good night's sleep.

Gaara had flung himself into a kitchen chair, having grown tired of pacing. He drummed his finger on the table. A few minutes his sister came through the door. Gaara jumped up. He barely avoided knocking over the chair.

"Well?" he asked calmly, ignoring the wobbling chair.

"I did the best I could but like I said before I'm obviously not a medic. I think she needs to be taken to a real hospital but if you insist on keeping her here then whatever. All I can tell you is that if she makes it, she makes it. There is nothing more we can do."

"I understand"

She sat down at the table, between her two brothers. "So, what's her name?" She had to be special for Gaara to care so much.

Gaara stood up and walked over to the door way. He looked out into the living room. "Who" he asked

"Your friend" Who else could she be talking about?

Gaara was silent for a while. "I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you said she was a friend of yours."

"I lied"

Temari sat there confused. "What's going-"

"Why don't you just go to bed" he interrupted in a quiet growl.

She starred at him speechless for a few seconds then pusher herself out of her chair. "Whatever. Come on Kankuro, let's go to bed." She shook her brother's shoulder. "Come on."

He woke up and ran his hand over his face. He cursed as he checked the time. "Damn" He shoved himself out of his chair and walked down the long hallway that led to their bedrooms. "Night" he waved.

Gaara didn't even acknowledge him. Temari paused for a moment near the hallway. What's going on? Who is that girl Gaara? "Goodnight"

There was no response.

She flicked of the lights and walked down the dark hallway, leaving Gaara alone in the dark kitchen.

He waited till he heard both doors close then walked into the living room. He stood next to the couch. Her cloak was folded at the floor wither her belongs lying on top of it. Her shoes sat next to it. Her breathing was normal. Temari had placed a blanket over her and her arms lay at her sides of top of the blanket. The bright white bandages that were wrapped around her entire arms stood out against the dark fabric. Her two last fingers on her left hand were bandaged together.

He sighed trying to sort out what he was going to do. As he looked down a flash of silver caught his eye. He bent down and picked up a necklace of her pile of stuff. It was a dog tag. The number 742 was on one side along with the name Rayne. A leaf village symbol was on the other. A line was cut through the leaf. What does this mean? He starred at it for a while then tucked it into his pocket and looked out the window on the other side of the room.

"What am I going to do with you? You can't stay in the living room." He spoke quietly to himself. He stood still as he thought for a while. He then summoned up some sand and formed it around his guest. He lifted her up without shifting her at all. He carried her like this down the hallway, passing the bathroom, Temari's room and Kankuro's room. He came to the last door at the end of the hallway and unlocked it from the inside with sand. He stepped into his room.

His room was quite empty. A large bed was pushed into a corner. There were windows along the far wall. A lamp sat on a side table next to the bed. An open door to the left let to a dark bathroom and a closed door to the right of that was a closet. A desk and chair were next to the closet.

Gaara walked across the room. He pulled back the dark red comforter on the bed and then the black sheets. He set the girl down onto his bed and quickly covered her up.

"You can stay here for now but only until you wake up" he said, "but then…"

What am I doing? She can't even hear me. He sighed. You have a lot of explaining to do if you wake up.

The young man closed the heavy curtains over the windows so that the soon to be rising sun wouldn't change the lighting of the room. He pulled his desk chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. All he could do now was wait, hopping that she would recover and wake up soon.

As determined as he was, he was not able to fight off sleep. With nothing to do and the confortable climate of the room he soon became drowsy and after an hour the young red-head was fast asleep in his chair.

The sun had just risen when she woke up. She laid there unable to move.

"Honey? Are you awake?" echoed a male voice in her head.

"No" she replied

"Oh thank the heavens you are okay Rayne! You had me worried you little brat!" She felt a presence start to smother her.

"Am I really okay? I can't move."

"That's just me" replied the voice in her head "Trust me you don't want to be moving around. I know you, being such a stubborn, reckless child, would have tried to do something stupid."

"Whats the damage report?" asked Rayne

"Where to even begin?" said the voice. Rayne could sense their concern. "Quite a few cuts and bruises. Your right wrist is broken along with you last two fingers and some ribs. You got a rather large cut on your forehead and a nasty bump on your head. There was also a knife wound above your hip."

"Damn…" she chuckled.

"I'm glad you find this funny. Those guys really did a number on you. You could have died." he said remorsefully.

"It was bad timing is all. If it had been any other time…" She could feel the regret pouring out of the other being.

He was silent for a while. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" It was true that she could feel his emotions seeing as they shared her body but his mind was so different she often found it hard to read what he was thinking.

"It was my fault you were unable to defend yourself. It is my fault you get sick…"

"Stop blaming yourself. For the last time it's not your fault Madarou."

"But-"

Rayne cut him off. "It's that bastard We'll get our revenge though. I promise you. I already told you, he will pay for what he did to us!"

Madarou sensed the anger and hatred boiling up within her and decided to drop the subject. After a few minutes of silence, Rayne spoke again.

"Where are we?"

"Don't you remember sweetie?"

"No, not really. I remember being brought to a house, but I don't remember where."

"Well, the Kazekage was kind enough to lend us his room after he brought us to his house."

"What?"

"What?"

"Madarou! Release me now! We have to leave before we are found out. Especially by him! I can't be found by them and sent back. I won't go back there!"

Madarou could tell she was scared. "Relax honey. This is exactly why I restricted your movement earlier. That boy knows nothing. You have nothing to worry about for now. I have been hiding your chakra since we first arrived in this city. He has no idea you are even a ninja. Relax and go back to sleep. You need to get better so we can get out of here."

"But-"

"Sleep!" commanded Madarou. "Please, for me? You are no good to either of us in the condition you are in now," he said gently.

Rayne sighed heavily. "Fine," she agreed, finding sense in her partner's words. "But as soon as I'm better were getting the fuck out of this place."

Madarou's happiness washed over her. "Of course," he replied "Now sleep and I'll watch out for us."

Rayne took a deep breath to calm herself and in a few minutes she was back asleep.

~X~X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~ X~

Well? What did you think? Please, Please, Please, let me know what you think! Criticism is completely welcome. Well I need to go back to writing the other chapters instead of bugging you lovely readers. I will try to be more productive with my spring break and will have another chapter up in the next two days :)

Reiko