Gaara woke up in a sweat. He sat up in bed and began gasping for air. He clutched at the place right above his pounding heart and tried to calm himself down. It was rare for Gaara to have a nightmare. Considering the fact that when he slept, he slept as though he hadn't in days.

Tonight though, it was all very vivid. He remembered just how helpless he felt and a pair of red eyes.

He almost jumped when he felt a hand suddenly grip his shoulder.

"Gaara? Are you alright?" Hinata asked him. Figures she'd be a light sleeper, in comparison to the sleeping brunette above him who was still snoring happily without a care in the world.

"It's nothing…" he muttered and faced her, his eyes tracing every inch of her face.

The scariest part of his dream was him not being able to do anything when Hinata was shouting for him. He could still see her tear-stained face as a shadowed face pulled her away from him.

He reached out and grabbed Hinata's shoulders and pulling her to him, crashing her head to his chest. Hinata tried to struggle, a blush appearing on her face, but Gaara had suddenly buried his face in her hair and whispered, "Don't leave me…" so quietly that she managed to relax and stay like that for awhile.

At last, Gaara let go. And like a mother would do for her child, Hinata leaned in and gave Gaara a kiss on his forehead. "I will never leave you." She whispered before going back to her own bed. She gave one last smile at him before disappearing under the covers.

Gaara sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He laid back down and pulled the covers over his head and tried to will himself back to sleep, telling himself that it was just a nightmare and it was not going to come true.

He hoped it won't at least.

Meanwhile, in another part of the school, ten students stood in a circle. All of them still fully awake even at such an hour.

"Is it time yet?" one of them asked, "I would really want to get back at that brat, un." Deidara spoke in a hush, but everyone there heard him clearly. Sasori gave him a glare for speaking out of turn but decided to just focus on the matter at hand.

Their leader stared at all of them and gave a nod. He was clothed in full black, a cloak hanging from his shoulders. The most intriguing part about him though was the orange mask that covered his face, a hole was made for one eye to see.

If you look through it, you'd be surprised to see a dark red glaring back at you.

"Yes." He finally spoke, his gaze on a specific building. "I think it's time we hit Sabaku no Gaara where it hurts."

None of them really commented, but different thoughts were running through each and everyone's mind. Others were clearly impatient to get the battle going, others would rather have it that they do not pursue the topic any further, others simply didn't care.

A few years back you see, Sabaku no Gaara had dealt a rather large blow in their secret organization. One would say it was a fraternity. They had rules and regulations, and not just anyone could join.

Gaara did join their little club. He gained a rather high position in a short matter of time, and he began to become well-known in the world of gang-fights and such.

But on one fight where it truly mattered, he had bailed on them to join some stupid band. Their fraternity had won of course, but with a large price. A lot of their members had been heavily injured and some were even said to have died.

Their leader. Tobi, had connections in the media so the story wasn't covered, but it didn't need to be on television for everyone to know. Their organization started to drop. They started to lose battles and no one was willing to join what was left of what was once a strong group.

The only members left were the ones who had a strong sense of loyalty to the group. Tobi had grown sick of losing and hiding and decided that the best course of action for now was to inflict as much damage to the one who started the fall of Akatsuki in the first place.

Gaara never did meet with them again. And whenever he saw one of them in the hallway, he wouldn't even acknowledge them.

None of them acted out of respect for their leader, who waited for the right opportunity to come.

And come it did.

A rumor had reached his ears that the Sabaku no Gaara was seeing someone. Tobi had immediately known that the right opportunity has finally presented itself. What better of way getting back at someone but through that very special someone.

The Akatsuki left one by one when they saw the sun starting to rise.

Today, Gaara would finally have is fair share of pain.

Hinata walked down the halls with a frown. Gaara had been acting rather weird ever since he woke up. She supposed it was because of that nightmare he had last night, but it was getting rather out of hand.

He had refused to stray from her side ever since they left for class. He had threatened every kid next to her to trade places with him and had even skipped classes to sit in with hers. The teachers had all tried to get him to leave but to no avail. She idly wondered just what was it that he dreamt of that had him so protective of her that even Neji would have been proud.

The only reason as to why he wasn't there with her now was because Kiba and Naruto had dragged him off to who-knows-where. It was rather expected that only those two could get him to do what they wanted.

A sudden shiver ran through her spine and she froze on the spot. Something told her that it wasn't safe to go through the next hall, but with a shake of her head, she disregarded her own intuition and continued on her way.

As soon as she turned the corner, she spotted one lone figure leaning on the wall. Hinata stepped back instinctively.

The person stood up and headed for her general direction. Hinata's head screamed for her to run and learning from her earlier experience decided to follow it. But before she could flee, a hand had grabbed at her wrist and held unto her tightly.

She would have it screamed if it wasn't for the handkerchief that was suddenly pressed to her face. A rancid smell invaded her senses and she started to feel faint. She saw a glint of red and heard a deep voice saying.

"Hyuuga Hinata. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.

And everything turned black.

Gaara ran everywhere, cursing Naruto and Kiba under his breath as everywhere he turned, there was no sight of Hinata. Every time he looked somewhere she wasn't there, his hopes dropped little by little and a sinking feeling was in his stomach.

In his anxiousness, he didn't realize he had bumped into Sasuke.

"Gaara?" Sasuke asked as the red-head managed to focus his attention on him. "Are you looking for something?"

"Someone." Gaara corrected, "Have you seen Hinata? I can't find her anywhere." Sasuke raised a brow, "Weren't you sticking to her like glue just this morning?" Gaara ignored the insult and just scowled, "Naruto and Kiba dragged me off to show something so incredibly stupid."

"What was it?"

"It was stupid."

Sasuke nodded understandingly and just watched Gaara look around, clearly frustrated. "Gaara, relax. I'm sure she's just around."

Gaara gave him a grimace and shook his head. "I saw it." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Saw what?" Gaara looked away and said in a whisper, "Those red eyes." Sasuke grew quiet before letting out one word. "Akatsuki."

Sasuke and Gaara walked quickly to one of the more isolated part of the school with fierce determination. They spotted an old decaying building, and ran inside quickly. They tried to quietly and stealthily enter it, but the broken glass that lay around them were a bit of an obstacle.

Finally, they made it to one of the inner rooms of the building and were surprised to find that Deidara and Sasori were just lounging about. After a few seconds, Gaara snapped and he lunged towards Deidara who was the nearest one to him. Sasuke grabbed at him before he could do anything drastic.

"Where is she?" he shouted, struggling against Sasuke's grip, Gaara tried to reach for Deidara, his fingers curled in like claws. Deidara and Sasori looked up. The oldest of te four had this bored look on his face while the blond had smirked at them.

"Well, wouldn't you wanna know, un?" he said in a drawl. Gaara growled before finally being able to get away from Sasuke's hold, he slammed Deidara to the wall, his hand clutching unto the other one's neck.

"Tell me right now…" he growled, "Or do you want me to break your other arm as well?"

A flash of fear appeared in Deidara's eyes before flickering over to his sempai who was just watching the whole ordeal with an indifferent expression on his face.

Deidara looked back to Gaara and found himself staring at his furious eyes that seemed engulfed in flames. He resisted the urge to gulp.

"Well?" Gaara asked again, pushing Deidara harder against the wall, his hold on hi throat tightening.

"Leader-sama took her to the old warehouse by the pier." He said hoarsely. Gaara narrowed his eyes before letting go. Deidara slid down the wall, trying to catch his breath. Gaara grabbed Sasuke's arms and almost dragged him out. "Come on!" he yelled. He gave one final glance at Deidara and was surprised to find him smirking all the while trying to catch his breath.

Gaara dismissed it and ran out. Before they could reach the gate. He had bumped into Naruto and he tried his best not to pummel the blond for separating him from Hinata in the first place. He ran past him with Sasuke not too far behind.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, noticing the urgent look on the two's faces."What happened?" he ran and caught up with them, a frown on his usually smiling face. Sasuke didn't bother to look at him.

"Hinata got taken by the Akatsuki."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"What?"

Gaara and Sasuke didn't bother replying and continued their way to pier. They were aware what warehouse Deidara had been mentioning. Naruto ran alongside them, praying that Hinata would be alright.

They stopped once they were directly in front of it. A dark aura seemed to envelope the place but the three shook it off before entering the building.

They squinted and waited for their eyes to adjust, they were surprised when they saw HInata tied to a chair and unconscious.

"Hinata!" Gaara yelled and ran forward, ignoring Sasuke's calls. Before he knew it, something hit him on the side of his head and he flung to the other side of the building. He barely acknowledged the blood running down his face.

A cloaked, masked man entered his vision and he glared.

Madara Uchiha, otherwise known as Tobi, gave him a sadistic grin before bending down and grabbing a fistful of Gaara's hair and slamming his head down to the floor. He bent down and Gaara could feel his breath on his face. "Gaara…" he muttered and slammed him down again, earning a groan from the red-head, "It's so nice for you to drop by."

End Chapter

So… hope you guys didn't mind the wait…. Hehehehehehe… um… is Naruto's birthday done yet? Hahaha. I know… it's been like, what? Three months? No use saying sorry now. I seriously have to stop making promises I can't keep. It's like a drug… you know, procrastinating.

Well, how'd you like it so far? I know that the whole reason why Tobidara wants revenge on Gaara is so shallow and blah but, spare me, I suck at thinking of these kind of things. But I kind of did like the flow when Gaara had grabbed unto Deidara and the following. I never knew I had it in me to write action scenes (if you can call it that)… I have always been more shounen than shoujo.

So let the count down begin. 3 chapters left, right?

Review guys! Please... (puppy dog eyes and sparkles)