Author's Note: Well, I just kind of went on a spontaneous hiatus there, didn't I? (Heh, 'spontaneous hiatus' that's kinda funny ;P ...) Anyway, yeah, I didn't even have the intention of taking this freaking long to update lol. To all the readers/reviewers who posted comments in spite of my absence, you have yourselves to thank for this update. I've been meaning to update for a while now (obviously) but I got a review today and said to myself 'Gosh darn it, you owe these wonderful, loyal people an update.' So here it is :) Hope y'all like it :) ...I hope you (and myself for that matter) can remember where I left off ha-ha.

HAPPY CANADA DAY TO MY FELLOW CANADIANS BY THE WAY :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything remotely associated with it... Seriously though, does anybody know if I have to do this every time? Or is just once when I start a new Fic good enough?

Friday.

The fact that Ino and Rei had actually had to haul me to my feet this morning from my sleeping spot on the floor, should have been the first indicator as to how this day was going to go. I had been so dead asleep and so stiff and sore the two of them had needed to carry me to the shower and throw me in, clothes and all in order to wake me up.

I was not a morning person. I was ESPECIALLY not a morning person when the previous night had been uncomfortably hot, unreasonably cramped and had consisted of no more than three hours of sleep.

I had been too tired to even shriek when the ice cold water had beat down on me. I had just sat in the tub waiting for the water to warm as someone else had thrown my backpack and two extra towels in after me. When the hot water started to run cold again I hoisted myself out of the shower, threw my mushy, sopping clothes back into the tub and dried myself off as best I could. I was going to be a mess in school today. At least it was Friday.

As I'd taken so long to wake up and so long in slithering out of the shower I barely had a chance to get breakfast. Not only had the other girls nearly polished off any breakfast-worthy food in the house, but the whole lot of us nearly missed the bus. I had to grab a slice of half-toasted bread out of the toaster and a swallow straight from the carton of orange juice before running to the bus stop in my socks.

Sleepovers on school nights, yeah, great idea.

I dragged myself off the bus in a daze and pulled through the hallway to my locker where Sakura and Ino said their goodbyes and told me they'd see me at lunch. They wished me the best of luck at making it through the morning.

I stood facing my locker and leaned my head on the cold surface to avoid having to hold my body up by myself. I concentrated hard on the only thing I could see; the miniscule scratches that had been etched into the painted metal over years. The shiny, recycled steel was revealed underneath the paint.

I pursed my lips. The scratches were aggravating my perfectionistic tendencies to the point where my annoyance outweighed my exhaustion and I eventually ran through the combination on my lock and threw the locker door open with a huff.

I narrowed my eyes as I stared into my locker, trying to deduce what class I had this morning and what textbooks I would need. I worked at the problem for a minute or two before deciding that it really wouldn't matter in what textbooks I would need or what classes I had because I wouldn't be paying attention in any of my classes anyway; I was far too exhausted.

I closed my locker and leaned my face once again against the cold metal in hopes to relieve the headache I had that was steadily growing worse; all of the noise at the end of the hall certainly wasn't helping. I turned to see what the commotion was and saw a group of people all clustered together, surrounding someone else.

"Not again," I grumbled angrily and stormed over, ready to throw my two bits in about what I thought about all this ruckus and what I was going to do about it if it didn't stop. I needed peace in my life and I was going to have it even if I had to start a war!

Needless to say I was more than surprised when I saw that the person everyone was surrounding was Kiba and not whom I had been expecting. Not that I had really been expecting anyone in particular, I told myself. I definitely hadn't been expecting to see a mop of rusty hair and a devilish expression. No, it would seem kind of obsessive and presumptuous of me going into a situation like that and expecting to see Gaara. I rolled my eyes at my own sarcasm.

As sure as I was breathing however, it was Kiba in the midst of the throng, and I'd never seen ANYBODY in such a state, let alone him. He looked as down and out as I'd ever seen anybody (including myself, and that was saying something.) I got the impression from his appearance that his family had all been massacred in the middle of the night, but then instantly banished that thought.

"Hey, what's wrong with Kiba?" I whispered, elbowing a short brunette next to me. She was some freshman I'd never been introduced to before, but information was information, I didn't really care where it came from.

"Someone said his dog went missing. He's really upset," she answered without meeting my gaze.

I felt an instantaneous jolt of panic and horror inside my chest and tendrils of worry spider-webbed out from the source. Akamaru was missing? Surely this was a mistake; the girl must have been misinformed. I knit my eyebrows and pushed through the crowd.

"Oi, Kiba what's going on?" I demanded as the pack of people moved over to let me through. The pained expression on Kiba's face that was somewhere between fury and fear, was my only answer. Shino came up beside me and went to lay his hand on my shoulder to get my attention. Luckily I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and before he could make contact, I shifted away from his touch. "What's happened Shino?" I asked, thinking there would really be no other reason he would have to speak to me just then, than to elaborate on the information already given me.

Shino nodded his head away from the group and towards an unoccupied section of hallway. I followed his lead and when we were out of earshot of the others Shino said, "Akamaru went missing last night. Kiba said he let Akamaru out a little after midnight and when Kiba went to call him back in the house he was gone."

I was dumbstruck. I'd known Akamaru from day one; Kiba had run all over town showing his new prized pet off to all his friends and anyone else who would take the time to listen. The Great Pyrenees had been absolutely tiny as a puppy, but over the years had grown into something massive. He was good tempered and got along well with Hiro and me. Akamaru had always reminded me of Snoopy, a little white cartoon beagle, because of his colouring and humorous tendencies.

I thought about Akamaru a moment longer, trying to wrap my head around the situation; Shino waited patient and silent beside me. Akamaru wasn't the type of dog to run away. He and Kiba had been all but glued to each other from the moment Kiba's mother had paired them together. I didn't think Akamaru was poorly trained enough to chase after anything in the dead of night, but even if he had, surely he would have been home by morning. Unless...

"Kiba was out looking for Akamaru all night," Shino continued, "but couldn't find him. His mom made him come to school today."

"Well that was pointless," I muttered airily, my thoughts elsewhere. Obviously Kiba was too preoccupied with worry to be able to pay attention in any of his classes. I narrowed my eyes at Kiba across the hall and tried to figure out what exactly could have happened last night.

Suddenly an odd feeling broke through my thoughts. One of those, not-to-be-ignored, someone is watching you, kind of feelings. I turned to face down the hall and saw a figure standing in front of a window, completely cast in shadow from the light streaming in behind him. Still, I knew who it was. The group of people beside me seemed to feel it as well, or notice me staring for they all turned too. A half a dozen heads faced down the hall at Gaara and instantly the murmurs started.

"I bet it was him," a boy whispered.

"Yeah he did it," someone else added quietly.

"I heard something like this happened at his old school too. Pets started disappearing."

"He's up to his old tricks already."

"I told you he was dangerous."

"They should have never let him come here."

"First trying to burn down our school and now this?"

I just rolled my eyes and watched as Gaara, a malevolent look in his eye, stared back at us all for a moment longer and then went on his way. Out of respect for Kiba and his situation I didn't voice my opinion just then. I didn't voice, especially not loudly, how I believed everyone was acting immaturely, I didn't voice how I thought they were all being ridiculous, and I especially didn't voice how part of me felt that they might be right. What evidence did I have that Gaara hadn't been the one involved in Akamaru's supposed kidnapping. A gut feeling? No, not even that. My evidence was my own personal history, and something like that wasn't going to convince a jury. No, I kept my opinion to myself for more reasons than that, not the least of which was the great probability that it was going to make my invasive headache worse. The pace at which I had needed to handle the past two weeks had left me with a continuous headache which was steadily becoming unbearable. There had been one night roughly five years ago, that I had been required to live through at five-hundred times the natural speed of time, in order to survive. Since then, I was more than content to keep my life simple, stress free and at a nice, slow pace. Too many things were happening at once; I couldn't keep up and I didn't want to have to try.

I needed to put an end to this ASAP.

After making a nonverbal guess as to where Gaara might be off to, I turned to face down the opposite end of the hallway to make sure it didn't look like I was going to follow him, and was about to start off on my quest when a cold, strong hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed hard to stop me. It wasn't Shino this time.

"What do you think you're doing?" an angry voice asked me.

"What's it to you Sasuke?" I asked without turning around. I shrugged out from under his grasp.

"How many times to I have to tell you to stay away from him."

"FYI Sasuke, you don't get to tell me what to do... And I wasn't going after him." I growled, frustrated that Sasuke had seen through my would-be deception.

"I'm trying to look out for you," Sasuke said in a low voice, shifting so that he was standing in front of me, blocking my way.

"Wrong Sasuke. Do you think I'm an idiot? You've never looked out for anybody but yourself. I don't know why you want me to stay away from him, but it isn't for MY benefit. I don't know how or why, but me staying away from him would only further your own agenda."

"You're ridiculous."

"You're obsessed," I charged, realizing the irony of that sentence only after it was out of my mouth.

"You don't think he's dangerous!?"

I didn't have an answer for that. I had seen firsthand just how dangerous he could be. The memory of what had happened just last week pushed its way into the forefront of my brain; the memory of when Gaara had pulled a switchblade on me in the park in the middle of the night. I had told Gaara and his siblings that I could take care of myself, but really, what would have happened if the Temari and Kankuro hadn't gotten there in time? Come to think of it, what had Gaara been up to, wandering around the neighbourhood so late that night? Was it a simple, innocent walk, or was he planning something more sinister? He had told me himself that he was prone to causing trouble, that the rumours from his old school were true. Was it possible? Was Gaara really the one behind Akamaru's disappearance?

"I'M supposed to think HE'S dangerous and yet YOU'RE the one always picking fights with him?" I charged, an undercurrent of uncertainty in my voice. "Maybe you ought to take your own advice Sasuke."

"I'm stronger than you are."

I set my mouth in a firm line. "That's why you needed a dozen other guys at your back before you went to face him?"

"Don't test me Lei," he said warningly.

"Don't tell me what to do Sasuke." I pierced him with the coldest look I could manage but still felt I was losing this battle. "Stay away from me," I ordered, eager to bring this argument to a hasty close.

Sasuke and I shared one more antagonistic glare at each other before I stormed off to get as far away from him as I could.

I sat brooding over my bowl of soup in my chair in the kitchen. An open package of saltines was at my left elbow, I reached in and tossed a handful of them into the gelatinous red liquid that was still too hot to eat. The surface of the crackers blistered while I watched.

I hadn't been able to locate Gaara after I'd gotten away from Sasuke; admittedly I hadn't put as much effort into finding him as I might have. The bell had wrung shortly after I'd started looking and the demonic redhead had failed to turn up to any of his classes that day. Go figure.

"He's impossible!" I growled into my soup. "They all are! They're all crazy!" There was something satisfying about yelling silently to inanimate objects, namely food. It was oddly, stress relieving.

"What are you so gloomy about?" Reiko asked from across the table.

"I'm not gloomy," I deadpanned as I watched the cracker in my tomato soup grow to twice its natural size, while an unasked question hung in the air between Rei and I. "Gah, I'm just frustrated okay?" I snapped when the silence became too much to handle. I did not want to have this conversation at all, least of all with my sister.

"What about?"

I slammed my spoon down on the table as an answer and stormed out of the kitchen. Hiro followed me ever loyally to my bedroom and sat on the floor by my feet when I dropped myself down onto the bed.

"It's everything Hiro!" I told him angrily, venting my frustrations. "I got partnered with that stupid noob for that huge socials project. I refuse to do it by myself you know! It's not like I couldn't, but it's the principle of the thing!" Hiro looked sympathetically up at me as I continued. "And then there's all the trouble he's causing and he hasn't even done anything! Like, as if my life wasn't complicated enough without having to take care of HIS problems too! I have to take care of everybody! Sakura, Ino, REI! And what? Now Gaara too!? And Akamaru has gone missing? I feel like it's too much of a coincidence Hiro! This guy shows up and then all of these weird things start happening? First the school fire and now this?" I stopped myself ranting after that last declaration. Gaara hadn't caused the school fire. He'd been with me the whole time; but then what were all these goings-on about?

On that thought I stood up from my bed and stormed back into the kitchen. Rei was slurping the last of her soup from the bowl. "Hey listen, don't let Hiro out on his own any more alright." I told her.

"What? Why?"

"You heard Akamaru went missing didn't you?" I asked, exasperated.

"Well yeah, but- you don't really think that's got anything to do with... whatever do you?"

"You don't think it does?"

"Akamaru probably just smelled a wild animal or something."

"And just decided not to go home?"

"Akamaru was probably waiting for Kiba when he got home. Or maybe he's just hurt."

"I don't want to take any chances Rei! Are you going to take the responsibility if anything happens to Hiro when you let him out?"

"You're being paranoid."

"I'm being safe!"

"Alright. If you say so!" Reiko threw up her hands defensively.

As if on cue Hiro ran for the back door and barked to be let out.

A dark and uncomfortable feeling passed over me as I turned to follow Hiro to the door. I probably was being paranoid. It probably was just a HUGE coincidence. Akamaru was safe at home and we would all arrive to school on Monday and hear all about how relieved Kiba was and how he had gotten all worked up over nothing.

I stared into the cold dark night, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Author's Note: So, I really am sorry I've been updating so late! I've been soo busy but I'm 99% sure that this is the last time I'm going to have to apologize for such a late chapter ha-ha. I finally finished moving, I'm all settled in, got into my work routine, school's over and I don't have many social engagements these days so everything should be nice and consistent from here on out... and that goes for my writing too. I know it's been a little choppy, but I really just wanted to get something up for you guys, so it should start to smooth itself out :)

Thanks guys! Leave me a comment, let me know what you think. Let me know if you've got any questions or suggestions for me! That'd be great :D