Is this chapter short and half-assed? Yes. Am I happy about that? No. Am I going to do anything about it? No.

Although, really, I am sorry this chapter kind of sucks. But I needed to leave the cliff-hanger I had, and I just couldn't add anything else (okay, I could have added a genin fight scene, but I really don't want this to become too genin centralized).

**Enigma- a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation; a person or puzzling or contradictory character; a saying, question, picture, etc., with a hidden meaning (a riddle).

Disclaimer: BLAH, BLAH, BLAH... I DON'T OWN IT!

Chapter Ten

Enigmas

"What was that?" Gaara's eyes widened as an explosion rocked the forest. Hundreds of birds took to the sky, avoiding the billowing smoke and falling trees.

'Trouble. Which means your girlfriend is somewhere nearby.' Gaara blinked and then growled.

'I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now Shukaku. And also, I have no clue who the fuck you're going on about. Stop being so enigmatic.' He snapped, making his way swiftly and carefully into the forest.

'Okay, enough, kid. I know you're no THAT stupid. Get your head out of your ass and come to terms with your feelings. Just go save her, idiot.' The Shukaku growled and then disappeared to wherever he went. Gaara hissed under his breath and sped up.

'I hope Ayaka's okay...' He thought, then quickly shook his head. 'Of course she is. This is Ayaka we're talking about. She's practically invincible.'

...

Deidara pivoted his foot, grinding his heel into Ayaka's stomach with a grin.

"You thought you could spy on us and live to tell the tale, yeah? We've come for the one-tails, and your head." He smirked. Ayaka coughed and stabbed a kunai into Deidara's leg, rolled away, and got up slowly, clutching her side.

"I'll never let you touch Gaara." She snarled, straightening up and glaring at the Akatsuki members, whose figures were murky smudges in the dark. The redhead who had been silently observing rolled his eyes.

"As touching as that is, we don't plan on you being around to stop us." He replied impatiently. Ayaka gritted her teeth.

"Impatient as always, Sasori. But I think we all know that none of us will go down without a fight." She commented, her gaze flicking between the two men in front of her. Sasori gave an annoyed scoff and held his arms straight in front of him. With a slight click, hundreds of poisoned senbon flew from his sleeves, all but invisible.

"Oh, fuck!" Ayaka exclaimed, diving behind a tree and just barely dodging the flying needles. She pressed her back against the bark, panting.

"What's the matter, yeah? Are you really that useless without your little shadow jutsu? Too bad there are no shadows in the dark." Deidara sneered. Ayaka growled whipping her head to the left, where she thought his voice had come from, but no one was there.

'He's right... I can't use the Wind of A Thousand Shadows jutsu when it's pitch black like this...' She looked up, through the canopy of leaves, and at the over-cast sky. 'Even the tiniest sliver of moonlight could do at this point... These bastards planned this!'

"Isn't it ironic? Just a like bit of light, and you would have a chance. But, as you know, there can't be shadows without light. And this darkness... This darkness is all consuming." Sasori's voice reverberated through the forest, soft and almost lulling. Ayaka scowled and squinted into the darkness.

'Okay, no need to panic. Think, Ayaka. You have a big brain, time to put it to use. You have an enigma to fathom.' She closed her eyes. 'Not in front... not to either side... not behind... Above? No... Below? Maybe...' Her eyes flew open as one of the men materialized in front of her.

"You don't look nearly as scared as you should be, yeah." Deidara asked, curling one of his hands around her neck. Ayaka shuddered as the tongue of the mouth on the palm of his hand grazed her skin.

"Stop tongue raping me." She deadpanned, feeling the tongue rasp across her neck again. She saw the tiniest twinkle as Deidara grinned.

"It's not my fault, I guess they like your taste, yeah." He murmured, chuckling darkly. Ayaka made a face.

"There are no words to explain how disturbing that is." She stated. Deidara chuckled again and leapt back, his hands blurring as he made hand signs. Sasori appeared beside his partner, smirking at the unsuspecting girl.

Ayaka didn't even have time to react before the clay Deidara had smeared on her neck exploded.

...

Another explosion, from around the same place as the last.

'If Ayaka is there... She could be in trouble.' Gaara thought. He was only about two kilometres from the explosions now (having covered three kilometres of ground already).

'IF? Are you stupid? She's obviously there! Come on, runt. That girl is a danger magnet.' The Shukaku spoke up, emerging from his sulking. What a bother.

'If I shove a kunai through my ear, and into my brain, would you SHUT UP?' Gaara could almost see Shukaku roll his eyes and bit back a snarl.

'No. And you know my sand doesn't allow self-mutilation. Especially the suicidal kind.'

'I. Hate. You. So. Fucking. Much.'

'Good. Now go save the girl.'

...

Kaito woke up with a jolt, his silvery hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. Susumu, who had been keeping watch over the team, looked at him, his eyebrows raised.

"What's wrong with you?" He questioned, not looking very alarmed. Kaito ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Nothing. A nightmare. I'm fine." He muttered, a feeling of enigmatic dread pooling in his stomach. 'What the hell is going on in this forest?'

"If you say so..." Susumu said with a shrug.

"It's almost time for me to take a watch shift, I'll take over now." Kaito offered. Susumu nodded and was asleep in seconds. Kaito smiled slightly. His teammates were an agitation when they were awake, but asleep, they looked younger, more peaceful. 'They really aren't that bad... All things considered.

So yeah, sorry it's short and kind of suckish. I felt guilty for the last cliff-hanger... So I put in another...? No... Wait... Ah, whatever.

And before anyone mentions Deidara's slight OOCness, I made him creeperish on purpose (maybe he actually IS in character, I haven't watched Naruto in a while).

All OCs belong to their respective owners.

Also, two things:

1. If you're a fan of random shit comedy-type-stuff (especially Itachi REALLY OOC), check out my collab profile with Alexex, AlexexHazeljvUnite.

2. I'm working on a FMA and Criminal Minds cross-over, so keep an eye out for that (not making any promises that it will be out any time soon, though).