In the Akatsuki cave…

The leader was having a hard time coping with the fact that all of him followers were dead and the only one alive was himself. He discussed it with himself.

Go to kill the chunnin I can easily do so…

What if I get killed myself? What would happen?

Shut up, if that were the case, I wouldn't be the leader of Akatsuki in the first place…

Well, if you put it that way than maybe your right

When the leader finished his thoughts he decided that he would leave right away to kill them.

In the sand…

After Hinata and Gaara kissed Hinata was more wary of his presence and did more than blush when he came near her. She literally hid her head it her jacket as to avoid eye contact and it was annoying Gaara. It was hot as they were taking a break from training so he decided to start a conversation.

'Hinata,' Gaara said in a rasp tone.

'Ah…Yes Gaara?' Hinata stuttered more so than before.

'Er…,' Gaara was wondering how to start the conversation. 'Are er you planning to go back?' he finished lamely.

'I think that I won't,' Hinata placed a hand on her forehead to wipe the sweat away.

Gaara widen his eyes as he was sure that she would've said yes. He muttered a 'why' which he thought she didn't hear but she did.

'Well, Neji and father would probably be scared of me with the seal and I never had any close friends in Konoha anyway.' Hinata said rather matter-of-factly.

Gaara bowed his head in thought then raised it to call a messenger.

'Tell the Hokage of the leaf that Hinata of the Hyuuga clan will be remaining in the sand,' he informed her.

The messenger bowed then went off without a single glance backward.

When it was the afternoon Temari was notified that she had to go to the Chuunin exams to judge the children again. Temari sighed it was tedious work but someone had to do it she always told her self.

At about the same time the leader of Akatsuki had arrived to murder them. He clenched his fists to give himself just a little more luck. He made himself invisible and strode around the estate killing all who noticed his presence.

Then Kiba noticed but being ht e trained ninja he was chose to keep it quiet. Kiba ran out.

'Hey Hinata where are you?' he looked around the garden hoping to catch a glimpse of the invisible figure.

The leader chose not to kill him as he thought that Kiba really was trying to look for his friend.

Kiba in took a sharp breath then bellowed out 'HINATA!' When he did so he was able to learn more of the body. He was around 25, had a strong healthy charka flow and was part of Akatsuki. When he started to sniff for he didn't find any other trace of person.

'This must be the last Akatsuki,' Kiba thought.

'Kiba I'm here now,' Hinata came running to him from the bushes with Gaara accompanying her.

'With three ninjas we might have a chance of beating him,' Kiba thought to himself so he swiveled around to face the figure.

'Show yourself!' Kiba pointedly said.

The faint outline of a person shimmered to give way to a blur of colour then the colour straightened itself to become a person.

'So you were there,' Kiba told him.

'Seems like your no ordinary ninja, are you part of a clan?' The leader asked him.

'The Inuzuka clan,' Kiba spitted.

The leader shivered with those words as he knew what had happened the last time he had fought one.

Should I continue fighting?

You wimp of course you should, besides this is just a chuunin afterall.

I guess soand make a plan this time

'Hmph,' the leader backed against a nearby tree.

'Are you going to come?' Kiba asked after a minute.

The leader regained his senses.

'Ah yes, I will he,' he flung over his robe, which was hindering him, and aimed a hit at Kiba.

All Kiba saw was a blur and then felt a searing pain.

Then another hit was aimed. This was a lethal one and broke Kiba's arm.

'Watch out!' Hinata cried out alarmed.

She had turned on her Byakagun and could follow his moves directly.

'He's invisible. He's only making random streaks of colour to confuse you' she continued.

Gaara pulled Hinata close to his body then used third eye and entered the fight. They were covered in a thick layer of sand mixed with charka.

'Guide me,' Gaara commanded.

Hinata pointed to where she saw the outline and Gaara was finding it hard to follow as her hand looked like a blur. Then an idea struck him.

He guided his sand over to Kiba and spelled out words for him.

'Are you okay?' the sand shaped

Kiba nodded realizing that the sand was Gaara's.

'Can you use your nose scent and Akamaru's together?' the sand distorted

His nose! Why didn't he notice before? He had always used it in battle but why couldn't he smell the scent anymore?

He sniffed the air again and realized that there was a foreign smell only it was different to the one he smelt before.

He adjusted his nose to track down the smells each time they changed which was about a minute or so.

'He's slowing down,' Hinata remarked in the dim light.

Gaara have noticed this as he was able to see where she was pointing to much better than before. He decided it was about time to act.

He called a handful of sand which he instructed to become bullets.

'Shoot,' Gaara breathed.

They became larger and larger and soon the battlefield became a wave of sand heaping in a concentrated area at once.

'It hit his leg,' Gaara felt his sand bulls-eye the leg.

'Aaaowww' the leader howled.

The leader's leg was already under huge stress as they had to work hard for him to build up the speed.

He grasped his leg and toppled over, hitting the ground with a thud.

Kiba ran over and elbowed the leader to make sure he was out cold.

'What should we do with him?' Kiba questioned when the trio had circled the body.

'I'll send him to a jail cell for interrogation then kill him,' Gaara said quite frankly. He called up a few ninjas to bring his body to the interrogation centre.

Hinata questioned whether it was too harsh or not but Gaara, being the person he was, disregarded it.

At night…

Temari announced that she was to leave to Konoha which surprised Hinata. Hinata looked at Temari with awe in her eyes. Temari then asked whether Kiba and Hinata would return to Konoha with her.

'Why?' Kiba asked

Temari smiled and thought of his childishness. She explained that now Akatsuki had been wiped out and they could return from this mission.

'Um, I can't,' Hinata interrupted.

Temari cocked her head to one side in confusion.

Hinata continued to explain that she didn't want to return now that she had the curse and her family wouldn't accept her.

Temari nodded softly as she understood perfectly. Temari forwarded for the door and called for Kiba to follow. He stood up to follow but his eye caught Hinata and soon memories were filling him up of their wild adventures together.

'I'll be seeing you,' Kiba whispered softly.

Hinata held back her tears as she knew that she might never see Kiba again.

'I'll be seeing you too,' she replied.

They both stood their watching each other for a while but Temari coughed and Kiba regained his senses.

'It was nice having you as a protector but all I did was protect you,' Gaara joked.

Kiba smiled and then followed Temari.

Temari gave a casual wave before she leapt into the darkness.