A/N: I almost forgot about this story! D=
Gaara set out early the next morning. He wanted to avoid Ino, who he knew would be angry at his brush off last night, and he needed to think before he had to meet the strange women who had not-so-subtly threatened to harm Ino if he didn't.
Who was this women and where was she from? Gaara had no clue and this frustrated him to no end. He made his way down to Demon Lake. The lake didn't seem at all warmed by the early rays of light and it looked startlingly black against the light blue morning sky.
He sat down in the dark sand, letting the dark water lick his feet and ran sand through his fingers as he thought. And he sat that way throughout the passing of the day as he thought and mused.
The sky started to darken, signifying the coming of dusk and, in this case, the coming of the strange woman. He didn't move from his spot, just waited for the wind that had announced her arrival the night before. Gaara imagined the woman of dark robes floating on the wind, her hair fighting to be free from the bindings that held it in four sections and her eyes squinted as she peered down on the landscape that passed below her.
"Gaara of the Sand?" Came a deep accented, and unmistakably male, voice. Gaara finally turned to see a man that was dressed very similar to the woman he had met the night before. The man had sandy brown hair and bore facial paint that covered his face completely. Tied to his broad shoulders was a large pack nearly the same size as him.
"I don't know about of the Sand," Gaara answered, wondering why the woman hadn't come to meet him like was planned, "but, I am Gaara."
The man gave him a stern look, and Gaara wondered what he had said wrong.
"Did Temari tell you anything?" The man asked.
"Is Temari the woman who came here yesterday and told me to meet her here today?" Gaara asked.
"Yes, and it appears she didn't tell you anything," the man said, looking angry.
"She told me that if I was to meet her to talk about Ino's future safety," Gaara said, "Are you Kankurou?"
"I am," the man answered, looking shocked for a second before his face returned to the neutral, passive mask. It seemed that knowing his name had shocked the man so much that his control slipped long enough for Gaara to notice.
Gaara nodded and then stood, brushing off the sand from his pants. "Look," Gaara said, somewhat brazenly, "You better tell me what is going on and what Ino's safety has to do with it."
"Bold," Kankurou noted. "Ino being safe is up to you and your degree of compliance."
"My compliance?" Gaara asked. His brow furrowed in annoyance and anger. How dare this man demand his compliance, using Ino as a motivator.
"Be ready to leave at midnight," Kankurou said, "and don't try to escape. We will find you and we will find Ino. So be here just before midnight, or you will regret it."
---
"Who do you think she's going to send to retrieve Ino?" Sakura asked Tenten as they left Lady Tsunade's chambers.
"I don't know, but someone should be sent soon," Tenten said. She didn't understand why someone wasn't sent to retrieve Ino as soon as she turned out to be the girl from the prophecy.
"I hope she sends me," Sakura said, clasping her hands in front of her in a sign of excitement, "It would be fun."
"I don't see how it would be fun," Tenten said, regarding Sakura with a look that plainly said that she disagreed, "it's going to be hard on Ino."
"I guess it would be hard on her, but it'll be nice to get out. She'll fit in nicely here," Sakura said, determined not to let her excitement go.
Tenten was tempted to ask how she knew that Ino would fit in nicely here. Did she assume that just because Ino was the girl from the prophecy that she would get along here just fine with no problems? That she would be fine leaving her family and friends behind? Tenten had been seeing Ino a lot during her solace lately, and she knew from these visions granted to her that Ino would miss her family a lot, and her family would miss her.
Tenten wanted to ask Sakura what or who she saw during solace, but it was forbidden to talk about the things you saw with others without Lady Tsunade's express permission.
"I guess," Tenten said, sticking with the safest reply.
"It's nearly time for my solace," Sakura said, already pulling on the binding to her plait. "That meeting took most of my preparing time." Then she excused herself, half running down the hall.
"Tenten," A somber voice said, coming from behind her. Tenten turned to see Sasuke, his usually impassive face brimming with curiosity. "What's going on?"
"Oh, hello, Sasuke," Tenten said, trying to hide the nervous fidgeting of her hands. She wasn't afraid of Sasuke, but Sasuke had been excluded from the emergency meeting for a reason.
"You didn't answer my question," He pressed, watching her closely.
"I just had to tell Lady Tsunade something," She answered, trying not to give him any information to go on.
"Something that couldn't wait? Something that caused you to go to her chambers?" Sasuke asked.
"It's not any of your business, Sasuke. I needed to speak about something private with Lady Tsunade," Tenten said, her anger flaring at his needling, and hoping to instill some humility in him.
"I saw Shikamaru, Neji, and Naruto leaving Tsunade's chambers, too," Sasuke said.
"Lady Tsunade," Tenten corrected and then fled.
---
"Ino?"
Ino looked up and saw Gaara appearing out of the darkness, his red hair glowing fiery in the half moon.
"Gaara, where have you been?" She asked, fingering the wooden handle of the flower basket on her lap. She'd spent most of the day gathering flowers to set on the table and to weave flower necklaces.
"Demon Lake," Gaara answered. Ino narrowed eyes when she noticed that Gaara looked anxious. Gaara looking anxious? If she hadn't been seeing it right now, she wouldn't have believed that Gaara could look anxious.
"Why do you always go there? It's so creepy," Ino asked, pulling a flower necklace from the basket. "I made you a flower necklace."
Gaara took the delicate necklace in his hands and looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to. He opened and closed his mouth several times.
"Gaara, are you alright?" Ino asked, a strange feeling settling in her stomach. "You look like something's bothering you."
"Ino, you're my closest friend," Gaara said at last. Ino looked up at him curiously. "If anything happened to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
"Gaara, you're scaring me. What is the matter?" Ino asked. She stood up and looked up at his face. "Why have you been gone all day?"
"I'm leaving, Ino," Gaara said and Ino felt like someone had pulled the carpet out from underneath her feet. She wobbled a little, and Gaara reached out a hand to steady her.
"Leaving? Why?" She asked, unable to form actual coherent sentences.
"Don't worry, I'll come back for you," Gaara said. "You'll barely notice I'm gone."
"Gaara, don't leave," Ino said. Gaara closed in the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. He was so warm. Ino let her head rest on his shoulder as he patted her on the back. Then, he was gone.
And all he left Ino with was the absence of him and his heat.
"Gaara."
---
Hinata walked down the marble steps that lead away from the hall that held Lady Tsunade's chambers and the chambers of other clerics that wore white robes and into the main hallway.
She turned when she heard frantic footsteps rushing down the stairs, and saw Tenten with a flushed face and her plait floating behind her.
"Tenten?" Hinata asked, wondering why she was in such a hurry.
"Sorry, Hinata! I'm late!" She called over her shoulder as she ran around the corner. Seconds after she disappeared around the corner she saw Sasuke coming down the stairs. His face wasn't flushed and he didn't look flustered like Tenten did, but he was out of breath.
"Have you seen Tenten?" Sasuke asked. Hinata understood exactly why Tenten had been running down the stairs. Sasuke was surely probing her for answers, because he'd been the only white robed cleric who hadn't been called to Lady Tsunade's chambers.
"Yes," Hinata said. She pointed in the opposite direction of where she'd seen Tenten ran, "She went that way."
"Thank you," He said quickly and then took off in the direction that she had falsely pointed him in.
