Chapter 5

Ume was spending the night talking quietly with Gaara and watching the other goof around. They were all best friends or dating, so they knew each other well, but Gaara had no idea who his date was, and wasn't all that impressed by her. The midnight fireworks were supposed to start going off, the group of friends were sitting on a grassy knoll waiting and watching the sky. Ume stared at the stars, dimmed by the city's smog and light. At Orochimaru's hideout, you could see the stars perfectly since it was away from large cities and they didn't burn much light.

The first firework went off, and it earned a few oohs and ahhs from their small group. Lee and Sakura were sitting in the front, as friends Sakura was quick to point out. She was thankful Lee had given up his crush on Lee a year back. Around the middle of the show, a foreign presence made it into the back of the group. Sakura ignored it thinking it was other festivalgoers and went back to watching the fireworks. She was startled when Hinata screamed and Ino gasped.

Sakura turned around to find Ume with a kunai embedded in her left arm, and with two more caught harmlessly in her right. Sakura could barely blink before the brunette jumped up into the trees following the ninja. It had been an assassination attempt on Gaara.

Ume was jumping through the trees intent on killing the person who threw the kunai. When she felt the new presence she didn't like it, and she had barely gotten her left arm out in time to stop the kunai from hitting Gaara's neck. She could have possibly been blamed if he died.

Ume was glad she got a kimono that was easy to move around in. she just tucked the skirts up and jumped after the assassin, quickly catching up with him. He dropped to the ground, and she followed. Three exploding tags greeted her, but she knocked the kunai they were attatched to back towards the owner, who jumped away. She saw his forehead protector and recognized his as a Rain Village ninja. She tied a strong piece of string around two shuriken and threw them so he was pinned against a tree. She ran over and held a kunai to his throat. "Why are you here?" She hissed poisonously, and the ninja looked into her eyes. He kept his cool and said nothing. Ume slapped him and pushed the kunai in a little to make a small cut.

He still said nothing.

She got frustrated and pressed a pressure point on his neck, making him pass out. Two people landed behind me, and she quickly had a kunai ready. Just as she was about the throw it she recognized Gaara and the Lee guy. The rest of the group, who was slower, followed them. Gaara had watched the entire fight from above, and wasn't surprised when she hadn't broken a sweat. It was a piece of cake for anyone with tailed beasts within him or her. When he jumped down, she didn't seem surprised. She didn't even turn to look at him. She just picked up the unconscious man and looked at the others.

When Sakura managed to catch up, she was surprised to find Ume with the defeated man in her arms. "We have to tell the Hokage about this." She instructed, and took the man from the brunette.

"No. I get attacked about every week, so it's routine." Gaara said quietly. "I'll take him to the Sand Village to be examined. I'd also like permission to take Ume-kun also. I have a few questions for her." He looked over at her unsmiling face, and she nodded. She knew she could take almost anyone out if they tried anything. She headed towards the hospital intent on packing her things.

"You're what?" The Hokage asked, looking over at the Kazekage who now had his usual gourd on his back.

"Taking her and the man who attacked me to the Sand. I want to study her to try to figure things out."

"Can I expect constant reports?"

"I can't promise them. She'll be under the protection of the Sand and myself so you have nothing to fear about her safety. Also, our medical team has been focusing on studying the brain lately, so maybe they can find out what is wrong with her."

"Fine. You have 4 months, and if I don't get a note or anything in 4 months I'll send a team over to investigate."

"Of course," The Kazekage nodded his head towards the Hokage and stood. He opened the door, looked back, than closed it. The Hokage shivered. Gaara was one of the youngest men to be given the title of Kazekage, but he was also one of the most powerful. If he wanted to, he could possibly wipe out an entire village. The thought was frightening.

She suddenly wondered what the leader of the Sand Village was doing. If his intentions were supposedly honorable maybe they would find something. If his intentions weren't to honorable… well maybe he'll had finally found himself somebody to love. Tsunade almost laughed aloud at the idea, and then went back to work.

In the hallway, Kankurou and Temari were sitting with Ume in between them. When Gaara came out, they both stood, taking Ume with them. "We leave now." Gaara instructed, and the quartet headed out the door.

Ume was worrying whether or not she was doing the right thing. Her assignment was to keep and eye on the Leaf Village, no the Sand. When the group reached outside, they started hopping over the houses. Ume summoned a small snake, whispered her predicament to it, and then sent the creature to Orochimaru. She quickly caught up to Temari who was fiddling with the end of her fan. With out a word, they exited Konoha and went towards the Sand Village.

Five miles outside the city, the three ninja in front of Ume stopped so abruptly that the brunette barely stopped herself in time from ramming into Gaara's back. The Kazekage made a couple of hand seals, and sand started flowing out of his gourd.

If he carries around that much sand all the time I must be really underestimating his strength, Ume thought. The sand made itself into a large platform under Gaara onto which Temari and Kankurou jumped on. Something pushed on Ume's shoulders, and she was surprised to see some sand pushing her in the platform's direction.

The Sound ninja hopped on, and watched as the sand lifted them from the ground and began taking the quartet across the country. At first it was just forest after forest, but then it turned to large grassy plains, then desert in only 5 hours. "Home sweet home." Temari sighed and gazed across the sand. Only a few minuets later a giant city made of sun baked clay rose up from the dunes. The sand platform just glided over the top of the city and faces turned upwards to watch the Kazekage with his friends. They were surprised when a foreign face peeked down.

Ume jumped down from the platform, and her legs wobbled a bit from being unused during the flight. Kankurou helped to steady her and she gratefully obliged. The trio walked into the room from the balcony they landed on, but Ume hung back. She summoned the same snake as earlier.

"Well?" She asked.

"He wants you to stay here and observe the Kazekage. He will send somebody else to Konoha. Also, he wants you to try to…romance the Sand's Kage."

"What!" Ume hissed in a deadly whisper. Now he was forcing her into relationships. If he weren't such a father like figure to her, he would be dead by her very hands.

"Hey, it's the bosses orders. He also told me to give you this." The snake coughed up a small bottle. "A drop of this will make you forget everything about the Sound Village up until you reached the Leaf for and hour. If they do any brain tests or use a hypnotizing jutsu make sure you add some to a glass of water."

"At least something went right." Ume muttered and grabbed the vial. "Thanks." She let the snake poof away and tucked the vial into her clothing before heading indoors.