A/N: Hmm... these keep getting shorter and shorter. In any case, hope you all enjoy.
I don't own Naruto, because if I did, why would you be reading this here, right?
Airi paused outside the door, her hand hovering just inches from the handle. She was late, and she knew it.
But better late than never, right?
The gnawing feeling in her stomach seemed to suggest otherwise.
She turned the handle and entered nonetheless.
The chamber was silent as she entered, and she moved to the only open seat, followed by the eyes of the council.
"You're late."
Airi suppressed a wince. "I can offer no excuse for my tardiness, but I beg the council's forgiveness in this matter, and I hope that it will not affect my next assignment."
The council member who had addressed her previously raised an eyebrow, his lips setting into a thin line of disapproval. "You would do well to apologize to the Kazekage as well."
Airi's head snapped up, and for the first time, she noted the formal robes and headdress on the man seated at the center seat of the council table.
'My day just gets better and better…' she thought wryly.
"I apologize, Kazekage-sama. It was not my intention to waste your time in such a manner or disrespect your presence on the council."
Only silence met her. Airi could feel her stomach sinking lower.
The silence was finally broken as another of the council members stood. "Saito Airi, due to your extended absence from Sunagakure and your time spent in the service of the daimyo, the council has proposed that you participate in a demonstration of your abilities. From this, we will be able to assess the extent of your skill and assign you accordingly."
The gray-haired man who had first spoken to her interrupted the other council member.
"As you may have become aware, the shinobi world is on the verge of a large conflict. The assignment that we give you following this… exhibition, as you might call it, may be quite different than the missions you had come to know before you left Suna. Assessment of your skill in combat will be essential to determine where you will be placed."
Airi swallowed and found herself brave enough to speak. "When will this assessment take place?"
The standing council member answered. "Since we are pressed for time, we have scheduled the assessment for this afternoon, 1600 hours."
He smiled sardonically. "I trust this gives you enough time to prepare and be punctual, Saito-san?"
Airi bit back the sarcastic retort that was on the tip of her tongue. "Of course."
"Then this meeting is concluded. We will see you at the training grounds, 1600 hours."
Gaara watched as the rest of the Council filtered out of the room.
"Gaara?"
He looked over, broken from his reverie. Temari had her hands on her hips, and was looking at him skeptically.
"It's like you weren't even here during that entire meeting. What's wrong?"
He shook his head, removing the formal headdress. "I simply have other concerns. What is next on the agenda?"
"Planning for the Kage summit." Temari followed him as he exited the room. She paused for a moment, tapping the clipboard in front of her thoughtfully.
"That girl… she looked familiar. She isn't the one whose brother—"
"Yes." Gaara cut her off.
Temari raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Gaara cleared his throat. "Can we get back to the schedule?"
"Sure." Temari looked back down at it. "Following the planning session… well, then it's her evaluation. Don't you think that form of assessment is a little harsh?"
Gaara frowned. "She's a shinobi. The life of a shinobi is harsh. Besides, it's just a simple test."
Temari let out a short bark of laughter, stopping in the middle of the hallway to stare at her brother. "You really were somewhere else during that council, weren't you? Do you even know who she's fighting?"
This gave Gaara pause. "Fighting?"
Temari just shook her head. "They've set her up in a fight against Kankuro. I suppose it's a good way to evaluate her skills, as he's one of the best we've got, but it's going to knock her flat on her ass if she's not prepared."
Fighting Kankuro? The fact that he had managed to miss this detail concerned Gaara more than a little. Perhaps he had been putting too much focus on the coming war. If he were to start ignoring small things, it could lead to much worse consequences. And to set Airi up against Kankuro… he just hoped that Kankuro would know not to overdo it.
At least, this was what was cycling through his head. In reality, he said:
"She was a member of the daimyo's guard. If she can't take on Kankuro, I hesitate to consider the daimyo safe."
Temari smiled grimly. "I suppose we'll see, now won't we?"
The Chuunin exams. Only one group would be sent from Suna, and this year it was the children of the Kazekage.
Airi watched from the roof of her house, looking down on the procession, if you could assign that name to such a ragtag band, as it filtered out of the Kazekage's residence and down the dusty streets. She saw one glimpse of bright red hair, and then he was gone from view, and the sun seemed to shine brighter with the lack of his shadows.
A hand fell on her shoulder, and she jumped.
"You need to be less caught up in your own world, Airi, that's going to be the death of you someday." Her brother admonished, sitting down next to her on the rooftop. "What are you looking at?"
"Just looking at the city. It seems different today," she lied. To tell her brother that she had been up here watching the departure would have been signing her own death note.
Her brother smiled wryly, eyes distant. "It is different. Didn't you know? The children of the Kazekage leave for Konoha today. It seems a foolhardy move to me, the way relations have been since the last Great Shinobi War, especially considering how unstable…"
He stopped there, the words not needing to be said. "But I am not on the Council, now am I?"
Her brother stood, grinning, and held out a hand to help Airi up. "Come on, kid, spar with me for a little while before I have to go."
Airi agreed, smiling, but not without giving a last glance back to the road, and sending a wish skyward for the safety of the mission. Not for Konoha's safety, but for the human being within a monster.
But no one other than her would ever know it.
A/N: Okay, so random trivia for those of you who actually care. The memories in this were salvaged from my original version of this story, and I'm revamping the present parts. But twice now, the past incidents have accidentally coincided with what's going on in the present story. (For example, in this one, Airi being caught up in her own world in the past, as well as the mention of her brother, is parallel to Gaara's conversation with Temari.) Anyhow, I just thought that was odd and interesting; but then again, I find coincidences in odd places. What can I say? I'm a weirdo.
But, I'll end with the usual fare: please review, it makes my day to see that I have a review waiting for me. And I hope I created a little suspense in this chapter, what with her coming spar with Kankuro and the slight mention of the past behind what happened to her brother in there. :) Updates soon to come, I hope.
Also, if while you're waiting for the next chapter you're looking for something else to read and are a ShikaIno fan, check out my recent fic Stuck in the Clouds here: .net/s/6472309/1/Stuck_in_the_Clouds
Thanks for reading! ~ Senka Hitomi
