A/N: Thank you reviewers again for reviewing! I hope that last chapter was entertaining and enjoyable! Now after these habitual thanks, off to the chapter!
Hiko-chan: Lol…after re-reading the chapter I did find it odd that Gaara's acceptance was in a jail cell.
Luna Forest: Don't worry...they will kick a lot of ass later on
Ryushi: Hmm…I've never heard of a beta…but I'll check that out soon…also, when I load my document into it seems to either delete words and my grammars or smash them together. So please bear with me…also, thanks again for sticking with the story!
Tipg92: You will find out soon enough…although I'm not sure if it's in this chapter…
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Gaara and Sunome continued to clasp each other's hand as they walked up the stairs. Gaara remembered exactly where to go and turned left. As Sunome occupied herself by looking at the rooms to the side, Gaara couldn't help feeling odd. Looking down at his own fingers entwined with Sunome, he thought about letting her hold his hand. It was a simple movement, and yet he felt his heart beat slightly faster. Although his heart usually beat faster around victims before killing them, this time it was different. He felt something that he couldn't place and smirked, until he raised his head and looked at Sunome's face. It wasn't that beat up, but he felt guilty that he had actually hurt her. His rage had gotten the best of him and Sunome was in the middle of it. He then remembered the kiss, which had broken his rage, and couldn't help feeling amazed. As he thought about Sunome's lips over his, Sunome's voice broke his thoughts,
"Hey…" she said, tugging on Gaara's hand.
Leading him into a room, Gaara was the first to let his hand go, when he found his gourd. As he swung the gourd over his back, Sunome had gone into another room, which was connected to the one Gaara was in. Gaara made no move to follow her as she quickly popped her head out.
"Hey, look at what I found!" she yelled.
Coming out of the room, she held two puppets.
As she examined them, she said, "They kind of look funny…and they're so dirty! I wonder why they don't have any strings attached. Hmm…I wonder who the owner is too."
As Sunome continued to examine them, Gaara already knew who they belonged to when he first laid eyes on them.
"Karasu and Kuroari…" Gaara said.
Sunome looked to Gaara's direction. "Hmm…do you know who these puppets belong to? Are those their names?"
Gaara sighed at Sunome's seemingly endless questions. "Let's go."
"No," Sunome said, stomping her foot. "I want to know."
Gaara sighed again. Looking at her face, he answered, "The owner is Kankurou. And they aren't mere puppets, they're weapons. He uses his chakra strings to control them."
As Sunome made an O with her mouth, she gently laid them on the floor. When the puppets settled on the floor, Karasu's head turned slightly, staring at Sunome. Feeling nervous, she quickly ran to Gaara, who had already left the room.
Both were deep in thought, as they walked upstairs. Whereas Gaara was deciding if Kankurou was actually in on the plan, Sunome was deciding whether to tell Gaara about her meeting with Kankurou. She decided against it, and thought of other things. Licking her lips, she tasted her own blood, and thought about healing herself. After some time, she decided against that too. 'What if I need to use my chakra to help Gaara?' she thought. Nodding her head, she knew she had to save what was left of her chakra.
After many turns and hallways, Gaara and Sunome finally were outside. Shielding her eyes, she stopped.
"Wait, we didn't find Temari…we have to go back," she said, turning around.
"No. If Temari was here, her fan would've been where you found my gourd. Even the sand ninjas know how important it is to her. They wouldn't let her have it, but they would at least keep it close. That just proves how worthless those bastards are," Gaara said.
He continued to walk, and Sunome reluctantly followed. Although she preferred to go back and look for Temari, she knew Gaara knew these people better. Both walked in silence. After several minutes, Gaara stopped, and Sunome barely bumped into him, but luckily, stopped short.
"What?" she asked agitatedly.
"We're close," he said, before moving again.
Sunome listened. Distantly, she heard a male voice talking. Shrugging, she continued to follow Gaara. As they neared a building, Gaara knelt. Sunome could hear the voice on the other side of the building.
"Who's that?" Sunome asked.
Gaara ignored the question. Instead he concentrated, putting two fingers over his left eye and nearing the ground with his other hand. Sunome watched carefully, interested and curious as to what Gaara was doing.
"Daisan no Me (Third Eye)!" Gaara whispered.
Amazed, Sunome saw sand swirl into Gaara's right hand. Removing his hand, Sunome looked closer and found herself looking at an eyeball. Jumping back, she scrambled away, too shocked to scream. Gaara glanced at Sunome, who was breathing heavily, still staring at the object looking straight back at her. Remembering his objective, Gaara let the eye float. It hovered closer to the ground as it disappeared to the other side of the building.
Sunome gave a breath of relief. Returning to her position, she finger combed her hair as Gaara looked straight ahead.
"There are 76 ninjas." Gaara whispered, making Sunome jump.
"76?" Sunome asked.
Gaara nodded. "Most of them are missing nins."
Widening his eye, his fist clenched again.
"But 16 of them are sand nins."
Sunome instantly felt anger heat and then die around her as Gaara had clenched his fist. 'Did some of those ninjas do something to Gaara?' she asked herself. Thinking, another thought finally hit her. 'Were they the ones that harmed Gaara?'
Clenching her own fist, she was about to charge when a hand wrapped around her mouth.
"Mmf!" Sunome screamed.
"Don't move," a voice said.
Snapping his head towards Sunome, Gaara stood to face a shadow ninja and Sunome.
Gaara smirked, "Holding Sunome hostage isn't smart thing to do."
Getting into position, the shadow ninja waved his finger at him.
"Neither are you," he remarked.
Stopping he saw nins walkbehind the shadow ninja. Without continuing to look around, Gaara already knew that all 76 ninjas were surrounding Sunome, Gaara, and the shadow nin.
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A/N: Yay! Hoped you liked this chapter…I'm not sure how long the next one will take. As I have many projects and other stuff this week and the next. So! Remember to review as if there are a lot, a chapter will be coming shortly. If not, well, you get the point. Bye for now!
