AN: SOOOO sorry for making you guys wait so long. I've had this chapter written up for at least a week, but I didn't like it, so I had to re-write it at least 3 different times. I think I'm finally happy with the way I want it to go. Now, ON TO THE CHAPTER!

Chapter 20:Rainy Days

It had all happened so fast, like a flash of blur. One minute Red was walking in a room, asking her patient how he was feeling, then her world went silent and black. It wasn't until she felt the chilly air, that blew on her bare arms, did she snap open her hazel eyes. She could barely see anything, other then an outlined figure, whom seemed to be talking to their self-or a tree-. The dizzy red head couldn't tell which it was.

"O-ouch" she mumbled as she tried to reach her hands to her head-her eyes widened, why couldn't she move her arms?! Her hazel eyes darted back and forth, taking in her surroundings-or at least what she could see of them.

"I've got the package, it was easier to get then planned." the outlined figure said, in a deep tone. "She put up no fight, what-so-ever."

'That voice…' Red thought to herself, still trying to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. 'It seems so familiar, almost like…I've heard it before.'

Once the male had stopped talking, a mumbling sound was heard, it sounded as though someone, or something, was replying to the figure's-which Red had determined was male-comment. The figure nodded, then turned to face Red.

"Oh…" he walked closer to Red, allowing her to see him in more detail. Indeed, the figure was a male, he had a darker white hair color, it seemed to look more like a grey color to Red, but she couldn't be sure if it was the shadowing around them, or if it was his real hair color. His eyes were too dark to tell, but she could see they were hidden behind glasses. "How long have you been awake?" He asked, his voice sending chills down Reds spin.

"…." She wasn't going to answer any questions he had for her. She might not be able to fight him, due to her being tied up, but she sure as hell wasn't going to give him what he wanted from her. Even if it was such a simple question.

He walked closer to her, then bent down, becoming eyelevel with Red, "Are you going to ignore me now?" He sighed, shaking his head, "What happened to the nice attitude you had in the village hospital?"

Her hazel eyes widened even more, now the shape of dollar coins, looking at him. HE was her patient! She was sure of it now! That was why she recognized the voice.

The male began to chuckle, "Is something wrong, Red-Chan?"

She still didn't answer him. Which only irritated the male, he wanted to get her to talk. He thought for a moment, then allowed a sly smirk to appear on his shadowed face, "You will speak sooner or later." he then began to stand, but quickly stopped and back handed her face, causing Red to whimper in pain, a small amount of blood trickling down the side of her mouth. He then stood, and walked away from her. "You don't have to speak now, but it is best that you do start speaking when talked to, around Orochimaru-sama." He stopped, and turned his head to face Red, "He's not as kind as I am. Just ask your little friend, Hissori, once we're there." with that, he sat down on a log, in front of a blazing fire, and stared into it, as though he was trying to see the future.

Reds stared at where the male was standing, her cheek still throbbing in pain. 'What use am I to Orochimaru?' She asked herself. She was only a medic who wasn't very good at fighting, so why take her? The only people who would even think of coming to rescue her would be; Awaii and Gaara--

"No!" she gasped, under her breath, her eyes filling with tears, wishing to spill out, and fall down her cheeks. She was going to be used to lure Gaara out so Orochimaru would be able to kill him. She mentally cursed at herself for being so easy to trick and capture. Her tears spilled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes, 'Please…Please Gaara-kun, stay in the village…Keep Makoto-san and yourself safe.'

The grey haired male turned his head to face the trembling Red, a smirk still on his face, "You're just a pawn in this, Red-Chan. Do you know what happens to pawns once their job is finished?"She didn't care what would happen to her, she just didn't want to be the end of Gaara. She finally looked at him, her eyes now red from the tears she had shed, "Pl-please…lea. Leave them…alone." she pleaded.

"Ehehe, so you don't wish to live yourself?" He then stood, and walked back over towards her, this time pulling out a kunai from his pouch. "Then maybe I'll just kill you off now, and then go back and get Makoto, then this'll all be over." He placed the cold metal tip to her neck, pressing it hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to make her spill anymore blood. Red just looked at him, trembling in fear, but not for her life-no. She feared for the life of the one person she never wanted to see hurt. She closed her eyes again, 'Please…forgive me Gaara.'

The male sighed, then put his Kunai away, and stood, "Pathetic. Your not even worthy to be called a Shinobi." He then turned to walk away-"W-Wait" she spoke up, just enough for him to hear.

"Hmm?" he turned, and looked back at her, a curious look on his shadowed face.

Red took a deep breath, then opened her hazel eyes, looking at him, "He…is using you…as a p..pawn, also." She stated, trying to stop herself from trembling so much.

The male raised a silver eyebrow, now turning his body to face her, his arms crossed, " I know I am nothing but a pawn to Orochimaru-Sama, but I would gladly be his pawn." He then took a step towards her, again, "I have no problems being a pawn for him, for I know I will be greatly rewarded for it one day."Red shook her head, still looking up at him, "You will die, before Orochimaru rewards you." She explained, "You know it is true. Once…a pawns job is finished, then it…has no more use. He is...only using you to get…Makoto, then he…will dispose of you."

He glared at her, curling one of his hands into a fist, "Orochimaru-sama will not dispose of me so soon. I am more useful then you think" his fist then began to glow, as he stepped in front of Red again, this time grabbing her shoulder with his free hand, and jerking her up to become face to face with him. He held up his glowing fist, "You see this right here, Red-Chan, it is the reason Orochimaru-sama wont dispose of me." He then punched the girl in the gut with his glowing fist, grinning insanely at her as her eyes widened with pain, and coughed out a few specks of blood. He kept his fist in her gut, "I can kill you right here and now with this one fist." He pulled his fist back, and punched her again in the gut, this time harder then the last, causing her to spit more blood out, "Now do you understand how important I am?"

Red was unable to answer him, she was in too much pain to speak, let alone stand. The only thing holding her up was the mysterious figure who was causing her this pain. She shut her eyes tight, and bit her lip, trying to keep herself from screaming out in pain as he kept punching her. Each blow was harder then the last.

It wasn't until the 7th punch that he stopped, and realized she was unconscious. "Tch" he released her shoulder, allowing her limp body fall to the ground, then turned to walk away, only to stop when he felt something fall on his head. He tilted his head up, to look at the dark sky, just as it began to rain. He chuckled slightly, as he glanced back at the beaten female, "it seems as though the gods are giving you a little more time." and with that he walked back over to the log he was sitting on, and started into the fire, that was ding down, due to the water falling on top of it.

'One Week' Gaara thought to himself, as he started off into space, 'He said it would be one week, then I will have to hand Makoto over to him, or Suna will be destroyed by his own hands.' He then pinched the bridge of his nose, as a headache began to from. He didn't doubt that the snake obsessed male would attempt to take Suna down, just to get to the small 6 year old. He had done it once to Konoha, only to get to the lone Uchiha.

Sighing, he leaned forward placing his elbow on his desk, and his head in his hands. Gaara had one day left to come up with a plan, and the messenger hawk he received from his sister a couple days ago, surely didn't make things better for him.

' "Kazekage-Sama!" a masked man bowed as he appeared in the young males office.

Gaaras' head was facing down, like it had been many times before when he tried to come up with a plan. His deep sea green eyes glances up at the ANBU male, not bothering to lift his entire head, "Yes?" he asked, figuring the male wouldn't continue until he himself, let the ANBU male know he established that he knew he was in the room.

"There's a messenger hawk here for you. It just arrived. Its from Mist, sir."

'mist?' That was where he sent the others, in order to keep them safe. "I will take it now." he stated, as he lifted his head, now looking completely at the male.

"Hai!" and with that, the male stood, placed the unopened scroll onto the desk, then with a bow he quickly vanished out of the room with a poof of smoke.

Gaara eyes darted down at the scroll, then quickly opened it and began reading. His stomach dropped as he kept reading, until he slammed the scroll on his desk, causing a few pictures he had to fall on the floor, and shatter on the sandy ground. His pale fist gripping so tight, his short nails began to dig into his palms drawing blood. The scroll didn't say much, but it was enough to cause him to wish he still had the power of demon.

'I'm sorry Gaara, I don't know how he did it, but Orochimaru found out where we are and took Red as a hostage. We're going to try and figure a way to get her back. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but this might work. Once again, I'm sorry about Red.

-Temari'

Right after receiving that letter, Gaara wanted nothing more then to kill Orochimaru with his own bare hands. But he had to keep his cool. His village needed to be protected, but….the young Kage couldn't help but feel the tugging pain in his chest at the thought of the red haired medic being in the hands of him. He knew Orochimaru wouldn't care if she was harmed, 'I will bring you back home safely, Red.'

With that, Gaara pushed himself from his chair, grabbed his gourd from the corner of his office, and sand-ported himself out of his office, out into the busy streets of Suna. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and began walking, only to stop and look up at the sky.

The sky wasn't its usual bright blue color, no. Today it was a grey color, with barely any sun.

Rain.

Gaara stared up at the sky until he began to feel the drops of salty water fall onto his pale face. He quickly moved to shield himself, then watched as the other villagers rushed to close up their stands, and save the few valuables that could be ruined in the rain. The Kages face hardened, the last time it had rained in Suna was the day Orochimaru had killed the last Kazekage-his father. This defiantly wasn't a good omen.

This only made him want to get to his destination sooner, but without an umbrella, he wasn't going anywhere. He pulled his hands from his pockets, and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the salty water pour onto the sandy grounds, creating muddy piles. He could sand-port himself to his destination, but he doubted he would want him to just barge in like that.

He shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about what he wanted, now was the time to come up with a plan to save everyone. Nodding to himself, he quickly sand-ported himself into a very empty living room.

Gaara looked around the room, he was sure he was in the right house. It was too quiet to be anyone else's house. He began to walk throughout the house, hearing nothing but the sound of the salty water splashing into the many puddles it had already created.

It had taken the young Kage about 5 minutes to find the sleeping form he had wanted to speak with. He needed to wake the male, so he cleared his throat, in attempt to wake the sleeping male.

Nothing.

Gaara blinked a few times, then sent some of his sand towards the male, slowly picking up the small blond haired infant from his chest, and to himself. Once he was sure his nephew was safe, he sent more sand towards the sleeping male, and wrapped it around his legs, quickly lifting him from the couch and into the air. "Whoa!" the males eye snapped open, landing on Gaara. He was about to complain, until he saw the serious look on the Kages face."I need your help." Gaara stated, in his normal monotone voice. Still holding Shikamaru in the air with his sand.

"I cant think….while all the bloods rushing to my brain"

A moment passed where nothing but rain was heard, then Gaara slowly lowered Shikamaru to the ground, still holding the sleeping baby in his arms.

Once Shikamaru was able to think straight, he looked at Gaara, but before he could speak, the Kage spoke, "We are out of time."

"What the hell?" The Suna guard looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the water, "This isn't something you see everyday." He then looked back down at his partner. "Think its some kinda sign?"His partner was now staring up at the sky. Then closed his eyes, "I think it feels good. Its defiantly different from the hot weather we deal with all the ti--"

BANG

-Okay, I think I'm gonna leave it there. I like that ending. It leaves A LOT unknown. I'm really sorry for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I know its been over a month since I last updated. Well, I hope this chapter helps make up for all the time. I really gotta stop putting this off, and finish this story. One day I'll just keep writing, then it'll be over. Of course, its getting closer to its end. So…yea, I think that's all. Ohh and Happy New Year to everyone! My New Year Resolution is to Complete this story!!! Lol Please leave me reviews!!!-