Ange Clair

Chapter 10

It's a Ghost! It's a Zombie! No it's…

At an unknown location a cloaked Yoshiko stood at the entrance of a cave in a large mountain. He walked into the darkness slowly but with confidence. Soon he reached a large door with torches and a couple of rugged looking guards. Upon seeing him they opened the doors and let him pass. Yoshiko continued walking through a dimly lit grand hall with massive tall support beams holding up the high ceiling.

He stopped when he reached the center of the room and a voice from the shadows spoke, "Why have you failed?" The voice was low and harsh.

Yoshiko stared into the darkness, "I underestimated the Kazekage of the sand," he admitted, "But I won't fail again, the Kazekage has gone missing, saw him taken away with my own eyes, probably to be finished off by someone else," he explained confidently.

"Hm? Interesting," the voice said slightly amused, "Very well, you can try again and have one more chance, but if you fail again…" the voice tailed off before a young woman was pushed out of the shadows and into the light for Yoshiko to see. She had mid-length wavy light brown hair and was also wearing a cloak, but her wrists and ankles were cuffed and chained. Yoshiko noted that she seemed to still be uninjured, but she looked distraught when he saw her tear and mascara streaked face.

"Yoshiko…" the girl pleaded.

"Yura…" Yoshiko whispered before glaring into the shadows.

~~~ The Desert ~~~

The girls were walking quietly through the seemly endless desert back to the village. They looked up to see a small cloud of dust on the horizon getting closer from the direction of the village. Still walking they watched as the dust cloud got closer and closer and in no time they could make out that it was a person running and leaving the trail of dust behind them. Seconds later Gai ran past with Kakashi on his back.

The girls stopped in their tracks staring into the distance with repulsion before Suki spoke, "Was that two guys!"

Raven nodded, "I think so…" she said looking just as worried.

Then Lee, carrying a bunch of packs, ran by a moment later, "Wait for me Gai-sensei!" he called out as he dashed past. The girls stood silently looking at each other.

"EXCUSE ME!" Naruto shouted running past followed by Sakura, Neji, and Tenten, all of them seemed to be struggling to keep up.

"What the?" Raven said just before Lee came back and grabbed her hands.

"I am Rock Lee the handsome devil of the Leaf Village," he declared, "Please be my girlfriend and I'll-"

"What the! No!" she snapped pulling her hands away. He looked upset but was quickly distracted when he saw Suki and he jumped over to her and quickly grabbed her hands.

"I am Rock Lee the handsome devil of the Leaf Village," he declared again, "Please be my girlfriend and I'll protect you with my life!"

"Ew, gross, no!" she denied pulling her hands away. Again he looked upset before noticing Sune and was about to jump over to her before Naruto called out to him telling him to hurry up or he'll be left behind.

"Right, of course!" Lee declared before running off.

"What the?" Raven said again watching them run off.

"Who were they!" Suki asked.

"Judging by their headbands, Leaf shinobi," Sune answered, "They were probably called to help with whatever happened back in the village," she said plainly before turning to continue walking towards the village.

~~~ Sunagakure ~~~

As the group walked through the village to the Kazekage building, Raven and Suki noticed that the villagers seemed to be cheerful. Sune was keeping her head down and did not seem to notice. Raven and Suki shared a questioningly look as they walked.

Once inside the building even the other ninja and staff seemed to be more cheerful. This time Sune noticed and grew angry as she thought they were happy that their Kazekage was dead. She mentally called everybody foul names not realizing the real reasons everybody was so happy. Soon Temari saw them in the hall way and immediately went to them.

"Hey you're back," Temari greeted, "You wouldn't believe everything that has happened while you were gone."

"Really?" Suki started, "What's up?"

"Come with me," Temari said turning and signaling for them to follow her.

The four kunoichi walked to the Kazekage's office and entered to see Kankuro standing behind the desk setting a large stack of files down on it. Sune could not believe her eyes, now with the Kazekage dead, his brother has taken his place? Sune did not think it was too bad but it still upset her.

"Oh sweet, you're back," Kankuro said looking up, "If that peace treaty went well then today will be an even better day," he grinned.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked voicing their confusion just before Gaara walked in, still in his funeral clothes. He stopped and looked around when he realized he was being stared at with shocked faces and Raven and Suki pointing at him as if he were a ghost.

He looked down and at his sleeves to inspect his clothes thinking he was covered in wet sand or something. "What?" he asked them when finding nothing that justify those weird looks he was being given.

"It's a ghost!" Suki said still pointing.

"What?" Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro shouted.

"No, wait," Raven said before throwing a random pen at him. It hit him and landed on the floor, "He's not transparent so that means…"

"Zombie!" Suki finished before she and Raven ran to hide behind the desk and shoving Kankuro out of the way. All the others could see of the two girls was their eyes peering up from behind the safety of the desk.

"I can assure you I am not a ghost or a zombie…" Gaara said scratching his head.

"Where on Earth did you two get an idea like that?" Temari demanded and still hiding the two pointed at Sune who looked like when was in a trance.

~'How can this be? I saw him die…'~ Sune thought, ~'This isn't possible, could I have been mistaken?'~ Sune came to what she thought had to be the only possible conclusion and glared intently at the Kazekage. "He's an imposter," Sune said as everyone looked at her, "The real Kazekage died."

Kankuro immediately jumped in to defend, "Whoa Sune, where did you get an idea like that? I mean, wait, how much do you already know?"

"Enough to know that he cannot be the Kazekage," she said sternly as she glared at Gaara, this time there really was something behind her glare, but it still did not effect him. He has put up with worse and without realizing it he glared back. Nobody was going to tell him he is not the rightful Kazekage. Sune shivered under the intensity of his glare.

Temari opened her mouth to speak, but Gaara stopped her before he stepped forward to face Sune. They stared at each other before he finally broke the silence, "Use your kekkei genkai on me," he ordered and stopped glaring, "To prove my innocents."

Sune was shocked, "How do you know about that?"

"Because I am the Kazekage," he stated.

"Fine," Sune reluctantly agreed, "Think of the first time we met."

He nodded and so Sune started by closing her eyes and focusing. Sune thought that if he was indeed the real Kazekage then he would think of their first mission briefing. Instead, she was shocked when he remembered the real first time she had met him, when she walked into him while she was not watching where she was going when she was looking for the hospital to see her parents. Sune opened her eyes and quickly turned away from him to hide her blush, ~'I still can't believe I kept doing that, he must think I'm such an idiot!'~

Sune crossed her arms as she turned back, "Yeah, it's him alright…" she confirmed.

Kankuro slapped his fist and hand together, "Unless it wasn't really him in the first place!" he suggested before everyone else in the room turned and glared at him. He quickly put his hands up defensively, "Kidding, kidding, gosh…"

Gaara sighed and turn to Raven and Suki who had come out from behind his desk, "Your report?"

Raven handed him the file, "It was a success." He nodded and placed the file on top of the stack of files already on his desk then selected a few and offered them to Sune.

"What are these?" she asked taking the files.

"The missing pieces," he told her, "Read them if you want to know what happened while you were gone, dismissed," he finished before going around his desk to sit down. Sune bowed slightly before leaving into the hallway with Raven and Suki following closely behind.

Raven and Suki noticed Sune struggling to keep from crying as the walked, "What's wrong?" Suki asked concerned.

"Nothing," Sune shook her head, "I'm just… happy," she finished before taking off for home with the files in hand.

~~~ Ichinarwa Residence ~~~

Sune walked quietly through her front door not sure if her parents would be home or not. As she made her way into the kitchen she saw them sitting at the table. Both her parents greeted her as she came in.

"What's that?" her mother asked eyeing the files.

"Just some files for me to read from Kazekage-sama," Sune answered like it was nothing.

"You just got back from your mission and he already has got you doing something else?" her father teased, "Well have fun Sweetheart."

"Oh I will," Sune said sarcastically as she grabbed a banana and ate it before going to her room.

Her cat, Bo, was snoozing on her bed and he looked at her with lazy eyes. She pet him and set the files down on her bed before making her way into her bathroom to take a much needed nice long bath after her return home. After she had finished, her mother called her for dinner. It was nice to sit down with her family while they all got the chance. She told her parents about her mission leaving out the reason she was targeted in the attack on the way back, but making sure Raven and Suki sounded awesome in the fight. She also left out that she was training with her telepathy and when she thought that the Kazekage died. After helping her mother clean up she went to her room to get to work on reading the files.

Sune read all the files one after another without stopping. Once she was done she stared at the pages for a few minutes, letting the information sink in. So much had happened in the short time she was gone, and she thought it was bad enough when she only knew half of it. She stood up and stretched before she gathered the files together and heading out to return them to Gaara-sama.

As Sune stepped out into the sandy streets of Sunagakure, she noticed that it was already dark and the lights in people's homes were already off and the windows were dark. She had not realized how late it was, but decided to go to the Kazekage building anyway.

Sune was soon standing in front of the Kazekage's office. The door was opened a bit so she stepped in to see he was not there. She stepped up to the desk and tried to find a place to put the files through the mess of papers and other files cluttering the once neat desk. Just setting them down in the middle she turned to leave.

Just as she was about to step through the door she bumped into somebody unexpectedly, "Oh sorry," she said automatically before looking up to see it was the Kazekage she walked into… again.

He did not say anything as he stepped aside to let her pass into the hallway. She looked at him nervously, "I finished reading the files and brought them back, they're on you desk," she explained and he nodded once in response. Sune was about to walk away, but quickly stopped and turned before he stepped into his office, "Um," she started to get his attention, "I'm glad you're okay." He looked at her and nodded once again before closing the door behind him as he entered his office. Sune quickly turned to leave also before she started blushing from embarrassment.

Once she got back to her room she quickly got ready for bed as she was suddenly feeling the fatigue from her journey catch up to her. She pet Bo when he even jumped onto the bed with her to snuggle. "Goodnight Bo," Sune said.

"Plurr-meow," Bo responded before yawning and putting his head down and closing his eyes. Sune also quickly fell into a deep peaceful slumber.