Okay, this chapter also sucks, but not as bad. About halfway through it gets less retarded, and there's a long scene with Hasu and Temari talking. The end of this chapter is important cause it has something happen. Anyways, please read and review. Like I've said many times before, I really appreciate reviews.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Hasu, nor do I want to own. My drawing sucks, and I'd be quickly murdered by angry fans ~.^


"This is it." Sai said, having led the entire group to a location he'd heard Orochimaru and Kabuto talking about. Naruto, Sakura, and Yamato went to return to Konoha while Sai stayed behind to help

"We'll split up and search the entire place. Jounins go alone, Chuunins team up. Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji." Asuma instructed, everyone nodding affirmation. Asuma turned to say something to Gaara, only to find he'd left already. Suppressing a sigh, Asuma nodded for everyone to go, and they all split up. Gaara, on the other hand, was already going through the hallways. His face was expressionless, but he was feeling uneasy on the inside as his sand carried him through the tunnel-like halls. After nearly ten minutes of searching, he was floating by yet another door when he heard a pained noise from inside.

He dropped from the sand cloud, grabbing the door and pushing it open. He walked into the room, the pained sounds louder and clearer. Gaara approached the table in the room carefully, his eyes widening a fraction as he saw it was Hasu on the table, her eyes shut tightly as she made a whimper-like sound of pain. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the wound on her leg, her pants cut under her knee from something cutting through it and hurting her. Spotting the key on Hasu's chest, he carefully lifted it with sand and slipped it into the metal sockets, opening each of the binds one at a time.

Hasu made no movement as Gaara undid the last binding, the one around her neck. He spotted the IV in her arm and narrowed his eyes as he saw the blue liquid. In one swift movement, he grabbed the IV and tore it from her arm, pressing his thumb on the hole it left behind in her skin. With his other arm, using sand to help, he lifted her from the table and lowered her to the ground, kneeling beside her. "Hasu." Gaara said calmly, though his voice was a bit more stressed then usual. She didn't respond, simply clenching her jaw tighter. Gaara placed a hand on her cheek lightly, frowning at the small amount of sweat on her.

He narrowed his eyes before summoning his sand, sending it back out the door to inform the others he found her and where.


"Hasu." I heard him say softly, but I was too exhausted to respond. I was so tired I couldn't even scream at the pain anymore, only able to make pathetic whimpering noises. He gently placed his hand on my cheek, and it felt very cold to me. Am I running a fever from the pain? It wouldn't surprise me... I thought tiredly. I was clenching my jaw against the pain, but now it was just because it helped distract me a bit. I heard the rustling of Gaara's sand, forcing myself to open my teary eyes, the tears not falling because I'd almost cried my eyes dry in the last few hours of this pain. Gaara almost looked relieved when I met his eyes tiredly.

"Hasu. This is why you should not get drunk." Gaara said simply, and I tried to smile, but my lip only twitched with the effort. Gaara glanced towards my calf, which I could feel had stopped bleeding by the fact that it felt like a scab was forming. I closed my eyes tightly against the pain, tiling my head so I leaned into the hand that was lightly on my cheek. I let out a small whimper of pain, biting down on my lip as I tried to tough it out. "Hasu, can you speak?" Gaara asked, but I just leaned into his hand further, praying it would somehow get rid of the pain. I heard foot steps rushing towards the room.

"Hasu!" I heard Temari's alarmed voice before her footsteps stopped at my side, opposite of where Gaara was. "What's wrong with her?" Temari asked Gaara worriedly.

"They injected her with this." Gaara said, though I couldn't see what they were talking about. I felt sweat tickling my brow, probably because of the pain I was in. I forced myself to open my eyes, my breathing quick and short. I heard more footsteps, more then before, enter the room.

"Are they here? I'm going to kill them..." Temari growled furiously.

"No sign of them. It looks like they knew we were coming and left." I heard Asuma said. Wait, Asuma? I ground my teeth together as the pain intensified sharply, something it would do randomly. I dug my nails into the dirt covered floor, a small cry of pain escaping my lips.

"Sorry Temari, but please move." I heard Sakura say, my face still pressed into Gaara's hand, which left Temari and now Sakura out of my eyesight. I heard Temari move out of the way, Sakura quickly sitting where she'd been.

"What's wrong with her?" Temari asked urgently. Sakura was silent for some time before answering.

"Some kind of poison... It's suppressing her chakra, but there's something else... I can try to extract it..." Sakura said uncertainly.

"I'll help." I heard Ino's voice before hearing her sit beside Gaara, by the cut in my leg.

"Sorry, Hasu... This'll hurt a bit." Sakura said before I felt her touch the wound on my leg, roughly brushing the scab away. I squeezed my eyes a bit tighter, but that was it. I felt the pain start to slowly leave me, until finally it was completely gone. I let out a sigh of relief, my whole body relaxing. "Hasu, are you feeling better, then?" Sakura asked, but I was utterly exhausted. The pain was bad enough that it had been the only thing keeping me conscious, and left me completely exhausted.

"Why isn't she answering?" I heard Kankurou's voice somewhere behind me.

"She's probably tired from the pain and the chakra suppressors... Which I'm getting rid of now." Sakura said. "She isn't going to regain her strength immediately, because I can only get rid of what's causing the suppression. What's already effected her will have to leave her body on its own..." Sakura explained calmly.

"Troublesome woman..." I heard Shikamaru's voice, and immediately opened my eyes. I turned my head away from Gaara's hand, looking towards everyone. Temari and Sakura were at my side, Gaara and Ino at my other side. Shikamaru, Kankurou, Chouji, Asuma, and some guy who looked really pale were watching from a few feet away. Temari scowled at me.

"For once, I agree with lazy ass." She said, narrowing her eyes at me. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes momentarily at how tired I was, before blinking them open again.

"Asuma-sempai." I said, my voice barely above an exhausted whisper. He looked at me, a cigarette sitting lazily in the corner of his mouth.

"They were after it, weren't they?" He asked with a sigh, and I blinked a 'yes' to him, knowing he'd get the message.

"After what?" Chouji asked, and I glanced at Kankurou. He shook his head very slightly to let me know that they weren't informed. Thank god that after a year of living with him, we can practically speak without actually speaking. I thought as Asuma looked at me questioningly.

"No." I breathed out, closing my eyes tiredly as I let my body relax against the ground again.

"Don't want them to know yet, eh?" Asuma sighed. "Oh well... It can't be helped... Sakura, Ino, are you almost done?"

"Yeah... We're just about... there." Ino said triumphantly.

"Good... Let's head out..." Asuma said.

"Who gets to carry the dead-weight?" Shikamaru said jokingly.

"You, lazy ass." Temari growled, and Shikamaru sighed.

"Damn women..." He grumbled as he got closer, and I heard Gaara stand up and walk away. I opened my eyes a slit as Shikamaru lifted me up bridal style. "You're going to explain yourself when we get to Suna." He whispered to me.

"Are you really going to carry her like that the whole way?" Ino asked skeptically, and I felt Shikamaru shrug as I tiredly shut my eyes again.

"Might as well... This way she can sleep... Troublesome woman." I heard him say before I started drifting unconscious. I could have sworn I felt sand brush my cheek before I fell asleep.


"I'm killing them." I said simply, two days later. I had finally gotten rid of the suppressors after a day and a half of absolute exhaustion, and was currently floating in the sky on a sheet of thick glass. Temari was also on a sheet of glass that I was holding her up on. We'd separated from the group for a few hours so we could talk.

"Not if I get them first." Temari growled.

"All right. You get skankface- wait, I meant snake-face." I corrected myself innocently, and Temari smiled lightly. "I get Kabuto. Did I tell you what that bastard did to me yet!" I shouted, anger filling me again.

"No?" Temari shrugged, and I glared furiously at the ground, which was over a mile below us.

"He fucking kissed me. While I was tied to a table, he kissed me. Then said that he was right, and I wasn't worth anything!" I shouted, and Temari's eyes went wide.

"Are you kidding me! Did you kick his ass?" She demanded, and I looked at her.

"No. I was tied to a table, remember? But I did bite the shit out of his tongue. That's right. He fucking kissed me with tongue." I said, spitting over the edge of the glass as though to decontaminate my mouth.

"...All right. We're going to torture him, then we'll cut his tongue and make him swallow it... then he'll die from choking." Temari said, and I nodded my agreement. I looked up at the sky, frowning softly. "What is it?" Temari asked, and I sighed, looking back at her.

"I think I'm going to return to the Land of Water for a week or two..." I said with a frown.

"What? Why!" Temari demanded quickly, and I sighed again.

"The nightmares won't go away... It's been over a month, and I've slept maybe once a week the entire time. I think I'm starting to see things, honestly." I said, and Temari looked amused for a moment before she realized I was being serious.

"Seeing what things?" She asked seriously as I floated her sheet of glass closer to mine.

"I keep seeing my mother..." I began uncertainly. "My birth mother. She abandoned me so early I can hardly remember her, but I keep seeing her..." I said with a sigh, running my hand through my short, loose crimson hair.

"Are you sure?" Temari asked, and I nodded.

"It's starting to bother me.. And by bother, I mean scare. Seriously." I said to Temari, and she frowned. "I feel paranoid, too. I'm not sure what to think of it. Do you think it's just lack of sleep?" I asked Temari anxiously. She looked at me carefully before nodding.

"Yeah. Besides, your mother would have no idea what you looked like anymore." Temari said. "The only explanation is that you're just seeing things, probably from lack of sleep... We're going to pass Konoha soon. We'll just drop off Asuma's team and leave, though. No time to stop and hang around when we have the Kazekage with us."

"Speaking of, is it just me, or did he actually look relieved earlier?" I asked, and Temari let out a small laugh.

"He did. We all did. We were scared as hell when you went missing, Hasu. When Gaara found the name you spelled out in glass, we ran to Konoha so fast it only took us two days." Temari said, and I looked at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"Huh?" Temari blinked, confused as well now.

"I never made any glass, Temari... I was drunk to hell and knocked out within a second of me realizing I wasn't alone. I never had the chance to." I said, frowning in confusion. Temari frowned as well, pulling her eyebrows together.

"You don't think they left it there to lead us to them, do you...?" Temari frowned, and I did as well.

"I'm not sure... All they really did to me was suppress my chakra and shoot me up with that horrible drug when I bad mouthed Orochimaru... Which I did almost constantly, by the way." I said with a small smile, and Temari sighed.

"I don't know whether to slap you for intentionally provoking them, or to high-five you for not letting them get to you." Temari said in an exasperated tone. If only you knew how much they had gotten to me. I thought sadly though I kept a smile on my face.

"Solution!" I said, and Temari looked at me. "Face-five." I said with a nod, and Temari smiled slightly.

"You know, we were really all worried. Even Kankurou, though he wouldn't admit it." Temari said, and I smiled.

"Of course he was worried. We're going to be life-long drinking partners some day. We almost never drink with anyone else but each other." I said with a laugh.

"Almost never? Who else have you drank with?" Temari asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, Gaara." I said, enjoying the look of shock on Temari's face.

"Gaara! My little brother? The ever-stoic Kazekage, Gaara?" Temari gasped as she laughed loudly, and I joined in.

"Yup!" I said between laughs, and Temari grinned at me.

"What'd you do while you drank?" She asked, and I laughed.

"Played Go Fish." I said as I laughed. "The drinking game version, that is. Oh man, Temari. I'm so getting you and Kankurou to play the drinking game called 'Bullshit'." I said with a grin.

"Hah! Maybe for my birthday." Temari grinned, and I nodded my agreement.

"Definately for your birthday." I said, and Temari laughed a bit.

"Maybe we should head back soon... We've been gone for hours." Temari sighed, but I shook my head.

"Don't worry. Gaara's been keeping an eye on us." I said with a small smile, and Temari tilted her head at me.

"Wait, has he heard what we've been saying?" She asked, and I shook my head again.

"No, he's keeping enough distance to be out of hearing range but in eyesight... He's using the third eye jutsu." I explained, and she nodded.

"All right... What about you? Aren't you tired yet?" Temari asked worriedly, glancing at the glass.

"A little, but not much... Actually, I think they are getting near Konoha..." I said, frowning.

"How do you know?" Temari asked, and I grinned.

"I have my ways. Floaty clear shit isn't the limit to my powers." I said with a laugh, and Temari laughed as well.

"You're really weird sometimes." Temari laughed, and I poked my tongue out at her.

"I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn't weird at all, and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird." I said with a nod, and Temari looked at me in confusion.

"...Right... Well, we should head back quickly then." Temari said, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Wanting to see your Shikamaru, are ya?" I teased, and Temari blushed slightly.

"He's just a lazy bastard." Temari said, and I laughed.

"Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes." I teased, and Temari let out a small laugh. I sat down on the glass, Temari doing the same, and the glass started moving forward. "You know, love won't wait forever... You have to dive in headfirst, Temari, or you'll miss your chance." I said as I directed the glass towards the forest, slowly lowering us.

"The same for you, Hasu." Temari said, and I looked over at her with a frown. "I've seen how you look at my brother. I'm not blind, Hasu." Temari said seriously as we dropped through the tree branches towards the forest floor. We touched the ground, the glass fading. Temari looked at me pointedly. "It's sad not to love, Hasu. But it's much sadder to be unable to." She said before walking forward. I stared at her as she started to leave, my eyes wide. I lowered my gaze to the undergrowth covering the ground before letting out a small sigh and following the blonde jounin.


"Shikamaru." I said, interrupting the discussion that everyone was having. I jerked my head over my shoulder to signal him to follow me before turning around and walking into the woods. I heard Shikamaru following me, and waited until we were a good distance out earshot to speak to him. "You wanted an explanation, right?" I asked, and he nodded. "Well, here it is." I said, summoning glass at our feet and raising us up into the air.

"What the-?" Shikamaru blinked, frowning at me.

"Yeah... I have a Kekkei Genkai, I'm from Kirigakure, I left Kiri when they found out about my abilities and started getting assassination attempts on me by my own teammates. I have nearly no who my parents are because they abandoned me so early in life I can barely remember because of my Kekkei Genkai. I was raised by a woman who was murdered because they couldn't kill me when I was ten years old. I left Konoha with no intentions of ever staying in one place for a damn long time, but hey, love really hits you out of nowhere. Oh, and I'm in love with Gaara and he has no clue... I think I got it all." I finished with a small smile while Shikamaru just blinked at me a few times before sighing.

"Women are so troublesome... So Orochimaru took you for your Kekkei Genkai?" Shikamaru guessed, and I scowled.

"No... I don't think so. That's what I need to talk to you about. I can manipulate and create glass out of thin air. I was drunk when Orochimaru approached me, and within a second of me noticing him, I was knocked unconscious. Yet Gaara found a shard of glass with his name on it. What do you make of this?" I asked, my brows pulled together in frustration.

"Did he want to lead us to him?" Shikamaru asked with a frown, and I sighed.

"I'm not sure. If that was it, why leave before you all arrived? If that wasn't it, why would they just keep me weakened and do basically nothing else?" I asked, irritated.

"...To lure someone out." Shikamaru said, and I looked at him with a frown.

"But who? He didn't try anything with any of you..." I trailed off thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure... but it makes sense." Shikamaru sighed, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it does..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "All right... well, we're almost to Konoha... I guess you'll be leaving with your team as soon as we get back to them?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru said, and I nodded.

"Well, let's head back then..." I said tiredly, and we started walking back to the others, me limping slightly because of the injury on my leg.


I glared at my cards irritably, Gaara sitting calmly and expressionless across from me. It was well into the night, and we'd passed Konoha and were only two days from Suna. Kankurou and Temari were sleeping a few feet away, which Gaara and I were sitting there playing cards. Insomnia sucks. Slowly, I set a six of spades on top of the discard pile. Gaara silently placed a jack of spades over it. I scanned my cards thoughtfully before setting a jack of hearts over his jack.

He placed a three of hearts down, and I suppressed a sigh. "I'm starting to think-" I began to say when I froze, movement catching my eye from behind Gaara. I saw the flash of a kunai, my eyes widening with fear. Just before the kunai hit Gaara, it disappeared.

"Hasu." Gaara said, and I slowly looked at him. He raised a non-existing eyebrow at me, demanding an explanation.

"It's... nothing." I said quietly, narrowing my eyes. Gaara looked at me expressionlessly, but didn't say anything as we continued the game. I'm just imagining things... I have to be... But what if I'm not? I wondered, glancing past Gaara to where I swore I'd seen a kunai. Is someone going to try to hurt Gaara?