I know I said that I would try to get updates up sooner but I have been a little busy with getting ready for vacation and job hunting. Any Shikamaru fans might be happy with this next chapter. Well, enjoy.

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Rayne turned over on her side and nuzzled her face into a soft pillow. She squeezed her arms around another pillow and pulled her knees up, bringing the pillows closer to her chest. She took a calm deep breath. Her pillow smelled good, almost like... Gaara? She opened her eyes to find herself back in his room. She was laying in his bed again with his blankets pulled up to her face. He was no where to be seen. The dark curtains in the room kept most of the light out and she was comfortable, feeling more rested than she had in a while. She sat up and stretched before climbing out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and smoothed out her hair as she walked to the door.

As she left the room she noticed voices coming from the kitchen. It sounded like the Temari was back, and she had brought a friend, a friend who sounded frightenly familure. She slowed down and listened. It deffenitally sounded like him, but what would he be doing here? She leaned against the wall and inched towards the kitchen before peering around the corner to look in. Kankuro and Temari sat at the table laughing with a man who had his back to Rayne. She didn't need to see his face though. She knew who he was. She recognized his uniform, which was similar to that of a Konohas standard uniform. She could tell it was him by the spiky, jet black hair that he wore in a ponytail. It was Shikamaru. Her breath seemed to stop for a moment. He's here to take me back. They have found me and he's going to bring me back again. Her heart started to race. Shikamaru was the one responsible for recapturing her a few times. He wasn't a bad guy, no far from it. He had occasionally come to visit her in prison when he needed to avoid work. He had been the only one to ever come see her. He probably was one of the only ones allowed in to see her but still, he came even though he didn't have to. She was usually happy to see him but not this time.

She wanted to back away, to run, but was unable to move. Shit! He's got me with a shadow already? When? How? Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. He stood up and walked over to the counter, making her realize it was her own fear and not his shadow technique that was holding her in place. He had only gotten up to get something to drink. Maybe he doesn't know I'm here. She slowly backed away, edging silently down the hall. Her hand connected with a cold doorknob. She quickly opened the door and slid in closing the door behind her, shutting herself in the dark.

She walked backwards a few steps, her hands brushing against fabric. She had just closed herself in the closet. Rayne backed against the wall and sat down on the floor. Her skin had broken out in a cold sweat. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. What the fuck am I doing? I'm hiding in a closet! She smacked herself in the forehead. She was being pathetic, truly pathetic. She was a great shinobi and demon host, and here she was hiding like a small child. She needed to get away from Shikamaru but this wasn't how she should be doing it. If anything, this was one of the worse things she could have done seeing as she was now stuck. She sighed and let her head lean back and hit the wall. She really was ridiculous. She almost laughed to herself. Alright I need to calm down and think of a logical way to get out of this. I just need to-

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rayne's heart seemed to jump up into her throat. She crouched into a fighting stance, ready to attack as soon as the door opened. If she was going back it wouldn't be without an excellent fight. She had begun to summon some of Madarao's chakra when...

"Rayne? What are you doing in there?" came Gaara's deep voice.

Shit! "I-Its none of your concern. Mind your own business, I'm busy"

He sighed with annoyance. "Busy? What could you possible been doing in a closet?" She didn't answer him so he called her name again. "Rayne?" Still no answer. "Rayne? What on earth are you doing?" Suddenly the door flew open and before he could even react, her hand shot out and pulled him in with the door quickly pulling it closed behind him. His sand did nothing to stop her. "What are-"

A cold hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes had yet to adjust to the dark so he couldn't see but he could feel her leaning on him. "Will you shut up! Quit calling my name like that. He'll-" she stopped talking. She didn't want to say too much. He reached up and removed her hand from over his mouth. He could feel her shaking. She was scarred.

"What is going on here?" he whispered.

She took a shaky breath. "It's nothing that concerns you"

"Nothing that concerns me? You are hiding in a closet in my house, which you dragged me into. How does that not concern me?"

"I had to pull you in to stop you. You were being to loud and he was going to hear you"

"Who?" she shook her head. "Shikamaru? Do you know him?"

She sighed "Yeah, what's he doing here."

"He is dating my sister. What I'd like to know is how you know him and why you are so afraid of him"

"I am not afraid of him" she scoffed. Her trembling said she was though. "He is from my village as you know and I don't want anyone to know I am here."

"He would recognize you? And you think he would send you back?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt he would, but it's a long story that I don't wish to share."

Gaara simply nodded. There was obviously an important story behind that but it would have to wait. He didn't want to push her and have her try to leave again. Right now, gaining her trust was what was important. "Well I will make sure the others know not to say anything then." His eyes were now adjusting to the dark and he could see the slight look of shock on her face.

"You would do that?" He nodded yes. She let out a sigh of relief "Alright."

The two sat in silence for a few moments now.

"Uh Rayne, about yesterday..."

"I swear that kid started it. Just ask Kankuro" she quickly interupted in her defence.

"What are you talking about?" he asked looking confused and slightly annoyed.

"Uhh...Nothing. What were you saying?"

"I just wanted to say that you can stay in my room still, you don't have to stay on the floor." He had felt a little bad about yesterday. After he finished dinner last night he had gone to look for her only to find that she was asleep in the hallway with the knife she had used to cut her cast of still in her hand. He picked her up and she snuggled close to his chest, surprising him. Gaara had then taken her to his room and tucked her into his bed, where she had curled up like a child. He didn't sleep that night, he had sat at his desk all night working and watching her sleep. He still found her interesting to watch. Temari had gotten home early in the morning and he got up to go sit with her and Shikamaru leaving her to sleep.

"Thanks but I wouldn't want to take your room away from you."

"It wouldn't be a trouble. I don't sleep much anyways."

"Yeah I know, I saw you on the roof a lot at night, but still I will have to decline. I can just stay on the couch if its alright"

"If that's what you want."

"Yeah I will be fine. I've slept on a lot worse." she chuchkled softly. Gaara didn't even want to think about what she had meant.

"Alright then. Well I should get back to the others before the start to wonder where I have gone. I will come find you when Shikamaru leaves to let you know"

"I'll... just stay here then" The Kazekage nodded and left, closing the door behind her and leaving her in the dark.

Well that was oddly nice of him chimed Madarao.

Yeah. He's an odd guy.

Agreed. We need to be carefull of him. He's very unpredictable and I haven't the slightest clue what his motives for helping us are...

Yeah replied Rayne. She had a small feeling that she might be able to trust him though. She didn't share that with Madarao and brushed the thought away. She knew she couldn't trust him. If she had learned anything from life so far was that you couldn't trust anyone. Trust was a mistake she didn't plan to make again.

Gaara had kept his word and came back about a half hour later and told Rayne that Shikamaru had left, taking Temari with him. He didn't stay to talk and soon left for work leaving Rayne at home with Kankuro all day.

Rayne wandered out of the hallway and through the kitchen. She could see the top of Kankuro's spikey brown hair over the edge of the couch as he sat there flipping through channels on the television. She silently made her way into the living room and took a seat on the far end of the couch that took up much of the space in the room. Kankuro only looked up for a moment when she sat down before returning to his programs. Rayne pulled her legs up onto the couch and watched the changing channels, sitting in silence. Rayne had been told to rest for their mission tomorrow but she would not be able to sleep while he was here in the room with her, especially if they were the only two home. They were both starting to feel akward because of the silence. Kankuro now glanced at Rayne between a few channel changes, while she stared at the screen. The pupettere finally settled on some horror film. On screen a man was unrealistically cut in half by a psychopathic killer, spraying blood onto the screen as he screamed in pain. Rayne couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Kankuro looked at her again, this time with a slight smile on his face.

"Don't get any ideas" he smirked as he returned to watching the poorly filmed movie.

"No, that's not my style. I prefere to behead my victim before draining their blood and choping them up to store in my fridge." she said in a serious tone.

Kankuro gave her a worried glance before seeing the smile on her face. "Nice. I see you enjoy the canibalistic approach."

"Oh yes, much more practical. You should see how much it cuts down on my grocery bill." She replied

"I can only image." laughed Kankuro.

It didn't take long before the two of them were laughing together at the film and Rayne began to feel more at ease with Kankuro. After the movie ended she decided it would be safe to fall asleep. She would know if he was about to do something anyways, which was another gift from Madarao. Even though she slept she could, if she wanted to, remain conscious of her surroundings as she was sleeping: being able to hear smell and feel as though she were awake. It was a very useful ability to have, especially when on the run from shinobi comming to get you. Or if you were being forced against your will to stay at the Kazekage's house for the past few days. If only it worked the same as when she was unconscious. Rayne leaned her head on the arm rest and soon drifted off to sleep. She was aware when Kankuro got up and went to shower. She noticed when Temari came home, thankfully alone. She also heard when Gaara came home that night.

Temari had woken her up when dinner was ready and they all sat at the table and ate silently. As soon as dinner was over everyone went to bed. Rayne returned to the couch and laid down. She didn't want to wake anyone so she dismissed the idea of turning on the television. After trying to fall asleep for 15 minutes with still no results she got up and started to pace past the window. After about 10 minutes she began to hear noise coming from what she had learned to be Gaara's study down the hall. She silently returned to the couch. The study had grown quiet again and she now curled up. The house was colder at night and she got cold really easily. She closed her eyes with a loud sigh and tried to fall asleep again.

Gaara stood up from his chair in the study and put away what he was working on. He walked over and looked out the window in the room, watching his village. After a few minutes he realized it was getting late and closed the window. He was just going to check on Rayne then he would try and get some sleep. She appeared to be asleep when he walked into the living room. She was curled up on the couch and looked very cold so he went back down the hall to the closet and grabbed a heavy blanket for her. He returned and gently laid it over her and then went to his room. Rayne didn't need her odd sleep ability to know that Gaara had been the one who did it, she had still been awake. She snuggled into the oversized down blanket that smelled like him and drifted to a dreamless sleep.

Gaara was the first one up that morning, seeing as he had to be at work early. He quickly got dressed and grabbed the rest of Rayne's equipment before leaving his room. He dropped her stuff off at the end of the couch and then left for work.

As soon as she could tell that Gaara had left the house Rayne sat up and practically dove over the edge of the couch where she grabbed her staff which was wrapped in its case again. She cuddled it close to her and gave a sigh of relief. She instantly felt better with it back in her possession. She looked around to see that it was still very early so she laid back down for an hour with her staff now resting in her arms. When she finally got up Kankuro was in the kitchen getting something to eat.

"Good Morning" she said sleepily.

He gave a simple grunt in reply. Clearly he was not a morning person. Normally she wasn't either but then again, she had been awake for an hour already. She sat up and pulled the rest of her stuff into her lap. She put all of her stuff on feeling even better with the familiarity of her gear back with her. She did a few quick stretches before joining Kankuro in the kitchen where he handed her some food. After a quick breakfast the two of them were off heading to meet the rest of thier team for their first mission.

Akio glarred as Rayne and Kankuro walked towards them. They were ten minutes late which he considered unexceptable. This would never had happened with his old sensei. He was supprised to see that the girl looked a lot better than she had two days ago. She had healed surprising fast. Hitoshi stood quietly next to him, looking up as they approached.

"You're late" scolded Akio.

"What's your point kid?" asked Rayne. Kankuro had explained the mission to her as they were walking over. Today there were going to be helping some workers fix up houses of an rundown part of the city. She thought she had gotten past the crappy missions when she was in Konoha but here she was again.

"Stop calling me kid you bitch" he mumbled.

"What did you call me?" she asked annoyed.

"Nothing" he glared.

"How's that wrist of yours?"

He continued to glare but she cracked her knuckles and he scowled then walked away. "Alright, listen up you two. Here's what we are going to do be doing..." Rayne, having already heard about this began to dig into the dirt with the toe of her shoe. She slipped her hands into her pockets and glanced around observing the city. She had never been to this part of the town and it was a little depressing looking. Most of the buildings were really run-down and the people here didn't look much better. Everything here so... boring. The sand, buildings and even the people all seemed to be the same color, and everything seemed to look so tired. This place could really use all the help it could get. That still didn't mean that she wanted to help.

Kankuro finished up his explanation just as an old man in a work helmet came walking over. "You must be the help they sent" he called.

"Yes we are" replied Kankuro. The man stopped in front of them and eyed each of the team members before giving a heavy sight. "I guess this will have to do"

"What is that suppose to mean?" Akio mumbled quietly to Hitoshi, hoping Rayne wouldn't hear their conversation. Unfortunatly for him, she had amazing hearing and could hear every word he just said.

"It means you look adequate" she whispered to him.

"Don't but in our conversation" He glared angrily at her before they all took off to follow Kankuro and the old man. "Annoying Bitch" he mumbled to himself.

"I heard that" she chuckled before walking past them to stand by Kankuro. She could here his sharp intake of breath and looked back to see him scowling at her. She laughed to herself and kept walking. Oh we are soo screwed if we ever go on a real mission. These guys are hopeless and I don't see how we could ever work together

They walked in silence now as they followed the old man to where they were to be working. They passed through the broken part of the city. A group of dirty children played in the street and waved as they passed. The old man and Akio were the only ones to wave back. They turned down the next street and walked down past a few houses. The group stopped at the end of the street in front of an old looking building. It really looked in need of repair.

Under the old man's instruction the team got to work. There were floors that needed to be redone and walls in need of new paint. The old man, whose name Rayne never bothered to learn, set Hitoshi and Kankuro to work on the kitchen where they began to work on the new flooring. Rayne was left with Akio for a few moments as the other two went into the other room with the old builder. Akio had tried to protest working with her but Kankuro had quickly told him to shut up and do as he was told leaving Akio to pout now. Rayne tapped her foot impatiently as she listened to the others across the hall. After a few minutes the builder came back with a few buckets of paint and two large brushes. He handed them each a brush and they got to work painting, each on oposite sides of the room.

After about twenty minutes Kankuro was already sweating. Like everyday in the Sunagakure, it was hot. Being in this old building didn't help with the heat. He wiped his hand across his brow and looked over at Hitoshi who was still hard at work. The kid was small and quite but he could at least focus and work hard. Kankuro stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be right back Hitoshi. I'm going to check on the others. Please keep working" Hitoshi looked up nodded and went back to working. As he entered the hall way he could already hear the two arguing. As far as he could tell they had been going at it since they first started working but he wasn't even sure what it was about.

"Watch what you're doing you dumb ass. I swear, if you flick paint at me one more time I will beat you senseless"

"Quite being such a girl and stop complaining"

Kankuro stopped right outside the doorway and listened.

"I wouldn't be complaining if this was an accident but you are clearly doing this on purpose. These are the only clothes I have right now so I don't want to have them covered in paint."

"I am not doing this on purpose. You are just being a girl and making a big deal out of- Hey what the hell!"

Kankuro heard Rayne chuckle. "Oops sorry. I didn't mean to get paint on you. It was on accident, I swear"

"That was not on accident! You flicked the paint right at me!"

"Your right it was on purpose... and so was this" There was a splash and Akio cursed loudly. Kankuro looked in to see Rayne standing with one hand on her hip and an empty paint can in her other. Akio stood in front of her with paint all down the front of his clothing.

"Oh calm down, like you said earlier, its only paint" Rayne laughed to herself again. Akio clenched his fists and glarred at her.

Without warning he sent a punch at her which she easily dodged. "Hey, what was that for?" she said mockingly

"Damn it! Shut the hell up!" he threw more and more punches and kicks at her but none of them landed.

Rayne swiftly dodged his attack. "Didn't you ever learn its not polite to hit a girl?" she teased dodging a kick aimed for her head. "You really should learn to have better manners... and maybe learn to fight better. You really aren't very good" She sidestepped some furniture and he growled with rage and continued to try and hit her. "Very sloppy fighting" Rayne continued to step backwards, easily dodging all of his attacks. Her back hit the wall and Akio smirked. His fist flew towards her head but she dropped to the ground and it stuck the wall behind her. Rayne swunge her leg out and knocked him to the floor.

Akio sat up quickly, grabbing his injured hand as blood dripped from his split knuckles. "Damn it! I won't let a girl like you beat me"

"Just give up kid. There is no way you are going to win, ever"

"Don't underestimate me!" Akio jumped to his feet and began to make hand signs. At the same time Hitoshi and the old man came into the room to see what was going on.

Akio took a deep breath sucking in as much air as he could "Akio, stop it!" yelled Kankuro as he entered the room. It was too late and Akio let out air creating a large gale of wind. Kankuro pulled the builder and Hitoshi out of the room and into the hallway. Rayne threw her arms in front of her face and smashed into the wall behind her. Brushes and paints flew towards her, one bucket crashing next to her head. The old support beams and walls groaned in protest to the strong wind. She spun to the side as a wooden coffee table smashed towards her and then ducked again as a chair flew at her head.

When the wind stopped, Akio stood panting as the dust cleared. Everything behind him had remained untouched but everything that was in front of him, including Rayne had been forced against the wall. Rayne lowered her arms. "Impressive" she smirked. She stood up wiping paint off her face.

"What the hell were you thinking!" called Kankuro as he stormed back into the room. "You could have blown the whole damn building down! You were-" His rant was interrupted by a loud groan from the ceiling. It was followed by a series of more groans and cracks. "Shit, get down!" he yelled.

Rayne looked up as the ceiling began to collapse. The building had been unable to stand the winds created and now was crumbling down on them. With a rumble it collapsed on the team below.

Outside of the house other groups of builders and volunteers stood around at the collapsed remains of the old house. Only the wall that had stood behind Akio remained standing, and barely. Wood shifted and fell as Rayne crawled out of the debris covered in dust and scratches. She had been lucky, having turned and quickly dove under the coffee table that had almost hit her a few moments before. She had made it just in time and just barely avoided being crushed. She stood up coughed than began to brush the dust and splinters off of her clothing.

"Damn" she mumbled to herself. She turned around as she heard the sound of more shifting wood. Akio emerged from under a small table that had been in the corner of the room. "Nice going smart one, look what you did."

"Me? This was your fault too!" he shouted in defense.

"You're the one who thought it was a bright idea to use a jutsu like that inside. You have no control kid"

"Stop calling me kid!" He ran to tackle her but she grabbed him and using his own momentum against him, flipped him to the ground. She twisted his arm behind him and pressed her knee into his back, keeping him on the ground. Rayne pushed his head into the ground with her other hand.

"When will you learn? You. Can't. Beat. Me." she whispered into his ear. The sound of falling debris made her look up. She felt Akio try to turn his head and she removed her hand. A large wooden puppet shapped like a salamander moved revealing Kankuro, Hitoshi and the builder unharmed.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked Hitoshi and the old man. Hitoshi nodded and stood up.

"Am I okay? Am I okay? Look what these brats did do this house! Do you have any idea how old this house was?" he shouted as he pointed at Rayne and Akio. "You are lucky I wasn't killed by your stupidity! You better believe I am going to file a complaint. By the time I am finished you and your team will be lucky to get a D mission." He stood up and stumbled out of the wreckage. He swatted away anyone who tried to help him and stormed away.

Rayne watched him leave then looked towards Kankuro. "You two are in so much trouble" he growled.

"Damn" said Rayne as she stood up, allowing Akio to get up as well. He rubbed his back where Rayne's bony knee had dug into it.

Rayne and Akio had spent the rest of the day cleaning up as much of the mess as they could. Hitoshi had tried to help them but Kankuro wouldn't allow it and sent him home. He sat by the entire time and watched as they worked. By the time the sun had gone down both Rayne and Akio were compleatly exhausted.

"Were done you two. Your free to go home." called Kankuro as he stood up.

Akio fell to the ground where he breathed heavily. "Finally" he panted. "I thought we were never going to be done."

"I will contact you when we have our next mission. Let's go Rayne." She walked ahead of Kankuro leaving Akio laying there.

Rayne walked quietly behind Kankuro as they walked through the dark city on the way home. She was too tired to complain and just wanted to go to bed.

"You really kicked that kid's ass today Rayne" he said, slowing down to walk next to her.

"What?"

"Yeah. In your fight with Akio. You clearly won."

Rayne smirked. "Thanks, but aren't you mad about that?"

"Oh I was pretty pissed, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun to watch you beat him. He gets too worked up about everything." he grinned. "You two are on compleatly different skill levels. I can't belive Gaara put you on team with them. Your talent is being wasted on missions like this."

"Yeah I know. I am not exactly thrilled about this myself. I thought I was done with all these shitty missions. No offense but I am not really fond of your brother right now."

"Yeah but he really is doing what he thinks is best." he replied in a more serious tone. "He keeps the village's best interests in mind. This place and its people mean a lot to him. I hope you understand that."

"Yeah" she sighed. "I guess" She lowered her head.

"Did you see the look on Akio's face when he finished that jutsu and saw the ceiling starting to fall?" he smiled.

"No, what about it?" she said looking up.

"I swear, he looked like he was about to shit himself. He was so scarred" he laughed

"He probably did" she smiled back.

The two of them continued their walk home in a lot better mood. Both of them laughing most of the way back.

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Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully this one was a little better than the last one. Or at least a little more exciting. I will be spending the next week on a beach so hopefully I can get some writing done while I'm there. Also I am very happy to see that the numbers of visitors I am getting is going up. Let's hope the numbers of reviews goes up as well *hint* *hint* :)
Reiko