I ran up the stairs to the Kazekage's office, taking them two at a time, with Temari hot on my heels. As I rounded the corner to the corridor with Gaara's big heavy wooden door, I saw a crowd of guards holding little Mickey on the ground, as Gaara himself leaned on the door frame, sand still churning around in a mini-storm. I was spotted by some of the mass of shinobi, and before I could quite work out what was happening, I was pinned against the wall by several strong hands, my air supply almost cut off by a muscled arm across my throat. In any other situation I might have been thinking all kinds of things (And by that you know what kinds of things I mean), being surrounded by so many fit and muscled men. As it was, my frightened eyes met Gaara's angry ones, and I could almost have cried. Except, of course, that crying really isn't my thing.

"G--- Gaara-" I stuttered with a strangled gasp as the amount of air reaching my lungs slowly dwindled. Temari burst through the ninja, and looked between me, Gaara, and the boy on the floor, before turning decisively back to her brother,

"Tell them to let Youko go. Let her go!" She cried to the ninja, but Gaara shook his head stubbornly,

"They are not to be trusted. That boy is an assassin."

I turned my pained gaze onto Mickey, who was lying without struggling, eyes wide open and puppy-dog-like as they watched me plaintively.

"I—Idi-ot." I hissed at him, "Why-- did you-- have-to do it?"

"Kazuhiko-sensei* told me to." He whispered innocently, and I groaned. Gaara motioned for the guards to loosen their hold on me just a little, freeing up my windpipe, and he strode threateningly towards me,

"Was this a plan from the beginning? Were you in on it?"

"Of course not! I don't plan things!"

Temari shook her head,

"Youko, that's not good enough. How can we trust you?"

I was silent, they had got me. There was absolutely no way for me to prove it. Although,

"Gaara. You said I could call you that, remember?" I looked searchingly at him, and saw the anger subside, if only a little, in his eyes, "Now didn't that seem like a perfect time to kill you, if I had wanted to?"

He turned his back on me, to look at Mickey,

"We would never have given him the sort of freedom we did if you had not already won our trust. This sort of thing would never have happened."

"Yeah, but why would Kazuhiko send two of us when I could have done the job on my own?" He spun around, eyes flashing, as the ninja tightened their grip on me, "Oh face it, I could have tried it. If I had wanted to. Which, for your information, I didn't, okay?" I scowled at the people holding me back, "This just proves to you that you really need me here. Because Kazuhiko will take advantage of any kind of situation. He's not some kind of evil genius for nothing, right? Oh, by the way," I looked at some of the ninja behind Temari, "There's another one of us lying unconcious in the main street. Better go get him before he wakes up. I would have said that he was more likely to have been the assassin. Not this idiot." A few ninja, with a nod from their Kage, ran back the way I had come. I glared at Mickey again, who just whimpered slightly, "What did I tell you, kid?"

"The only person I can trust is you, Youko." He said quietly, and I sighed,

"Exactly. So. What. Did. You. Do. That. For?"

"Kazuhiko-sensei said that this guy was being mean to you, and I had to go and save you."He whispered, looking between me and Gaara.

"Well that was stupid." I whispered under my breath, and I saw tears forming in his blue eyes, "Oh, man, Mickey, don't you start crying now!"

"Be quiet."Gaara ordered, a hand over his eyes, a frown on his forehead. Everyone looked at him, as his sand slowly drifted back into the open gourd in his room, "Now. Someone explain to me what has actually happened."

"This kid tried to assassinate you, apparently to save Youko." Temari stated, and her brother nodded, "Youko was actually in the process of fighting someone who she believed to be an assassin in the village. He told us that Mickey was going to try to kill you. Whether he was a diversion or actually trying to warn us, we don't know yet."

"Why don't we ask him?" I suggested, as three guards came in, dragging a barely conscious Liam between them. The other Merger glared at me,

"You didn't have to hit me so hard." I could see a dent in the metal that he had covered his face with. As a Merger, he could control metal, and usually covered himself in a skintight armour before battling. For a moment I felt a surge of pride at my own improved strength, than my mind returned to the situation. Gaara was gathering sand in the palm of his hand with a dangerous glint in his eyes, which all of the guards could see, and I could feel them shrinking away slightly.

"What business do you have here?" Gaara demanded, and Liam looked towards me as he replied,

"I came to save my partner."

Gaara's eyes flashed towards me, and I winced,

"Don't say it like that, Liam. They'll misunderstand." And there's one that I really don't want to misunderstand, although he probably already has, I thought, sending mind-daggers at Liam for being such a complete idiot. "Liam is just another Merger from the Center."

Liam looked down, hurt, and I rolled my eyes,

"It's not like that."He said quietly.

"Not to interrupt this reunion, but we're still in a situation." Temari reminded us, a never-more-welcome interruption, and I looked at Gaara, whose sand was swirling almost murderously.

"I don't like to repeat myself, but what are you really doing here?" Gaara asked quietly, and Liam met his eyes defiantly,

"I heard of Kazuhiko-sensei's plan with Mickey, and followed them here to warn Youko."

"Why aren't you more beaten up then? When both Youko and Mickey arrived, they were near starvation." Temari told him. He almost smiled, and looked at me,

"Youko's an idiot, then."

"Go away." I spat the words at him, and he snorted,

"She's the closest to a desert-demon of all of us, but she couldn't even work out how to look after herself out there. As for Mickey," He scowled at Mickey, who was lying there silently and watching it all unfold, "He was set down a two-hour walk from here yesterday morning, having been starved at the Center for a week to look more convincing."

"What do you mean 'look after myself'? It's the desert!"

"And you should have already learned about the ways in which demons survive. Your demon instincts should have kicked in. Why didn't you learn that?" He asked, and I raised my eyebrows,

"So it's my fault what Kazuhiko taught me and what he didn't?"

"There are other ways of knowing." He muttered, and looked at Gaara, eyes open and honest, for once, "Kazekage, I know it is hard to believe, but I mean no harm whatsoever."

Gaara turned away, motioning for the guards to let Liam go. The Merger slumped to the floor, then rolled on his back groaning,

"Sometimes I wonder if you really love me, Youko. You punched me so freakin' hard!"

I saw Gaara freeze, then nod to the guards, who were still holding Mickey down,

"Take him into confinement, we cannot be too careful."

I pulled away from the ones keeping me back, and ran to Mickey's side,

"You did a stupid thing, kid. But I'll be here to look after you again, yeah? When they let you go." Mickey looked worriedly between me and the guards who were dragging him to his feet, "They won't hurt you. 'Kay?"

He looked down,

"'Kay." He answered in a small voice, and I watched until the guards had pulled him out of sight. Then I looked back to Gaara, who had his fist halfway into the wall,

"You... Mergers, you're nothing but trouble." He said through gritted teeth, and before I could retort, Temari had hit him around the head. For a moment no-one could quite understand what she had done, her included. Then she stepped back, shivering a little,

"Gaara, sorry. I'm sorry."

He stared at her, thunder rippling through his face, then sent a death glare my way, before disappearing into his office and slamming the door behind him.

The ninja looked between me, Temari and Liam, before bowing to Temari and getting out of there sharpishly. The Kazekage's sister sank back onto the wall, barely containing her giggles,

"I can't believe I just did that!" She said half-wonderingly, "Now he's gonna sulk for a week. Jeez."

I wandered up to Liam, who smiled at me from the floor. Holding my hand out to him, he reached up to grab it, and that was when I kicked him in the side,

"They might be letting you stay here, but I won't. What are you up to, dear?" I said super-sweetly, and pulled him up by his hair,

"Youko! Youko! He was just trying to warn us! What's the deal with you two?"

"We're partners." Liam said simply, and I smacked him,

"You've already caused enough trouble saying that!"

"With who? Who would care about something li- oh!" Liam gasped, and looked between me and the firmly shut door.

"'Oh'?" Temari stared in the direction Liam was looking, then back to me, "You- you don't-? Youko?!"

I groaned, slapping Liam as if as an after-thought, and strode down the corridor,

"I'm going to my room! Liam, I'd better not see you for a couple of hours, or I will hurt you-"

"-More than you have already?" He complained, and I shot him a Look,

"Then, I expect you back here to tell me everything. Comprende?" I walked out of that corridor without a backward glance.

And what will that everything be? Sorry, somehow this chapter took me an unreasonably long amount of time to put together, but it's here now! Oh, and

* -sensei – means teacher, according to my manga-japanese ^^ You'll be needing that again. There's a reason why all the Mergers add the -sensei except Youko... Review, my lovely people, review!