A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! It's all of those that inspire me to keep this going! Thank you all!

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters.

Persuading Shibuki

The delicious odor of fried fish tickled my nose while my eyes coveted the burning animal's flesh. A beast within me growled in protest and my mouth roared like a waterfall, and salivated like one too.

"Can I eat it yet?" I pleaded.

"No, they're not done," Gaara aggrivatedly told me again as he irritated our food. "If you seriously can't wait, then eat the riceballs I made you."

"If you insist!" I chimed happily as I tossed the white ball into my eager mouth.

Whoever knew Gaara was such a great cook?

'It's nice having two souls in one body. Double the satisfaction.'

Double the hunger, also.

"Here; it's done now," Gaara handed me the fish on a stick and I wasted no time in sinking my teeth into it.

Gaara and I have been traveling for the past day to the Waterfall village where we planned to persuade the kage there to join forces with us against Akatsuki.

Waterfall...I wonder if Jin's there. Tsunade said he left a long time ago.

'Who's Jin?'

Jin Nakagawa. He was in my team with Hinako. Self-taught ninja and a boy genius who graduated from the Academy in one day. He's totally full of himself and very bratty, but he's the closest thing to a little brother I've had. He also became leader of the one and only Ninja Mafia.

'Why would ninjas become a mafia? Is there a real difference.'

Not really, that's just their name. They're a bunch of rejected ninjas who've left their village, but are no where near as powerful as Akatsuki. I bet even you could beat them.

''Even'?'

No offense, but you suck.

'Offense taken.'

I scarfed down the remaining morsel of fish and packed up to start heading out again. Gaara was rather quite during the trip, but that didn't bother me. I have Sarafu to chat away the hours.

'Have you ever been to the Waterfall Village?'

Once. It was on the way to the Mt. Hokkaido in the Rock Village. Jin is originally from this village. He's an orphan and was poor when we first met, but a scammer at the same time. I found him in a town nearby and unwillingly agreed to take him with me until he found a home. He ended up staying until both Hinako and I left.

'I feel sorry for him.'

Why?

'Even though he was ahead of the game, he was always left behind by you two. He must've felt so lonely. You guys were his sole friends in the world and you didn't even pay him a second thought.'

I could feel Sarafu's guilt gnawing away at my insides. I should remember that I feel the exact same things as she does and restrain on causing us both pain.

"We're here," Gaara intruded our thoughts, causing me to look up from the ground we tred on.

Before me was a massive waterfall and the roar of the white foam was so loud I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before. The waterfall poured out into the river in which the Kazekage and I had been following up until this point. There was a grassy belt surrounding the river which soon metamorphed into a thin woods. I searched around but found no sign of civilization and definitely no sign of a hidden ninja village.

As you said, its a hidden village.

"Follow me," Gaara ordered as he walked towards the waterfall and to my surprise walked behind it.

I followed my kage and found that the waterfall was a covering for a cave, the entrance to the waterfall Village. The walk lasted only a few minutes. The rocky walls fell away to reveal a sparkling lake with a massive tree growing in the middle of its clear waters. Surrounding the lake were modest homes and buildings, some were even so humble as to be labeled huts. Despite the obvious poverty of the small town, it examplified peace and the enjoyment of small things. I immeadiately felt some partiality for this small village.

My redheaded guide led through the streets of the town. I'm not sure if it was our appearance or the fact that we were unfamiliar, but gaping faces and curious eyes littered our way. They didn't appear afraid, (It's not like the locked up their doors and barred their windows.) merely inquisiturient. We finally halted at the tallest building in the village. Like the other buildings, it was made of wood and in red paint the word 'Kage Office' was painted across a wooden plank above the entrance. Unlike the other buildings, however, it boasted a whole seven stories high and held a blue flage with the village symbol painted in red on it. It seems this was the only color paint the village had.

The Kazekage strode boldly into the building and into the lobby. We were met with a young man who appeared to be in his late twenties, but was rather thin and looked quite frail. He had this fidgety aura about him, but he didn't budge an inch. He sported a simple grey robe with a green belt and worn sasami sandals. His long brown hair was uneven and unkempt and rested lazily on his back as if it were sleeping. Contrasting his dull attire, his black eyes were crisp and sparkling with youth. He had a bright and open look about his posture, however and smiled warmly.

"You're not from this village, are you?" He inquired of us, hands on his hips. "It's been a while since we've had visitors to our humble village. We mostly get mission requests through mail. Are you here to hire ninja?"

"No, but you're not far off," Gaara replied coolly. "I request a meeting with the kage of this village, please."

"Your request has already been granted!" the man smiled happily. "I am Shibuki, the Takikage!"

"I am Misa," I spoke up, feeling left out and forgotten. "And this is the Kazekage, Gaara-sama!"

"The Kazekage?!" Shibuki shouted in astonishment.

"Yes," Gaara continued calmly. "I came here to speak of the advent of an ominous event."

"And what would that event be?" Shibuki inquired.

Before Gaara could speak, a bloody man stumbled into the room, looking as if he had been beaten with an ugly stick, literally. Shibuki gawked at him in horror, frozen in place.

"Sh-shibu...ki-sa..ma," the man struggled to get the words out. "The village has been...attacked. They cl-claim to be...f-from Suna!"

Shibuki turned to us in shock and we looked just as shocked.

"This can't be!" I immeadiatly came to our defense. "All of the Suna nins are in the Rain Village!"

We ran outside to see for ourselves, and sure enough, the village was in flames. Millions of ninjas with the Suna head band attacked the helpless villagers. However, I didn't recognize a single one of them.

"Who the hell are you guys and what do you want with this village?" I shouted at them.

One of the men stopped tourching the place to laugh at me. "Kazekage-sama," he addressed Gaara. "Your will is done."

Shibuki turned to Gaara in horror, completely misunderstanding the situation, to my distraughtness. Pissed at how the whole situation was going down hill, I unhook my chakrams from my belt and chunked them at the laughing man. Although I hadn't been quite accustomed to them yet, they hit their mark, and the man exploded in a little cloud of smoke, and his laughter changed from a deep male voice, to a high female voice and my weapons came spinning back into my hands.

I know that voice. Hinako.

I looked over to Gaara and the angry Shibuki. 'Well, if she meant t pit us against each other, she succeeed.'