Yes, your in the right place. as with most of my stories the first chapter also came with it's place holder story title. Now that i know there is some interest - not as much as I was hoping for but hey, I'm grateful for it all - I'm revealing the true title (along with a slightly different summary). Grasping at the Sky is something i've been working on for a while and focuses on some problems in the Naruto universe that were ignored or skimmed over rather quickly. The Romance is very slow burning and focuses on Friendship. It covers the war but only last a few chapters and then moves on.

I'll warn you now that some end game pairings are not going to be the same in my story. if that bothers you... you have been warned.

Anyway, Enjoy GatS chapter two!

Chapter Two:

Absent

A tired sigh escaped Kira's lips as she placed her mask on top of her ANBU clothes before closing her locker. Shura had not been happy, that was for sure. When he'd left the two girls right after the debriefing, his face had been contorted in irritation, making the scar on it seem more prominent before he'd covered it when his face veil once again. There wasn't much he could do though; Kira was too powerful to be benched for a single offence, and only the Kage could bench her.

"See you later Kira. Enjoy the couple of days off we have, will you? You look half dead!" Aya laughed slightly as she waved, pushing though the door out of the ANBU section. Kira frowned glancing in the mirror at her face.

Her skin was pale, but it had always been, even after spending most of her life here – in the land of sand where the sun shorn brightest – her body didn't seem to want to tan. Her black hair was a bit rumpled, her side braids falling out of their place in her ponytail. If she had to guess though, it was her eyes that her friend had commented on. Besides being cat-eyed with the color of sandstone, she had dark rings forming around them. Four days awake on a mission did that to you. She snorted slightly, a few more weeks and she might start to look like the Kazekage.

She shook her head and got to work, pulling her hair free and redoing her braids before brushing it all back into a tail again. She smoothed out her normal ninja clothes and pulled on the belt around her waist, making sure it was tight and her ninja headband was secure on it. Lastly, she wrapped her left forearm and right shin in ninja wrap. She nodded to herself in the mirror before she turned, grabbing her Tonfas on her way out the door.

With her twin weapons on her thigh and traveling pack on her back, she started the trek out of the tower, her feet taking her out and onto the sandy path. She should go home, get some sleep and have a decent meal that wasn't dried food, but she didn't want to. The woman who had grown to be her mother – Meela – was likely working and trudging in half dead would only give the older women more gray hair then she already had.

The training grounds then, she decided, turning down a street and heading for the covered area built into a sandstone cliff side. When she arrived there, only a few ninja were present, most of them genin getting ready to pass their exams. She passed a boy throwing shirikin madly at a dummy and sat down on a large stone bench for a moment, watching.

Two students were sparing, and at first they seemed well matched, punch for block, dodge for throw. But as time went on, the taller of the two boys got the upper hand, and finally, tripped up the other, pinning him to the ground with a foot. They stared at each other for a moment before the one on the ground grumbled and was helped up by the victor. Kira smiled slightly. It was good to see kids being kids.

"Man, were we ever that little?"

Kira rolled her eyes and looked to the side where Kankurō had appeared, grinning like a fox. She eyed him for a moment before returning her gaze to the front.

"Kankurō."

"Aw, come on Kira! A few years ago we were doing the same thing!"

"I remember." Kira muttered. Of coarse she remembered. She hadn't been close to either of the other sand children, but the puppet master and she had been friends. Kankurō was older then she was, and she remember days where he would help her spar and she would be face down in the dirt. Back then her taijustu sucked, and an uneasy friendship had formed from it. From there it had become a quickly and easy connection and she'd spent almost all of her free time around."What brings you here?"

"Well, you made kind of a scene back in the office you know. Wanted to make sure you were alright." He plopped down next to her. "So, are you?"

"Yes." She said as if by reflex. Kira shifted a bit, setting her pack down and putting her tonfas on her lap. "It was out of line... but I don't regret it."

"Eh, don't worry, Gaara didn't take offense. Hell, I wish he would listen to you. Temari and me started acting as his guards because he didn't want ANBU, but we can't always be there." He glanced off in a different direction, his eyes darting back to the tower as if he wished his brother could hear what he was saying. "So…" The puppet master eyed her weapon – both tonfa's were metal, both holding hidden blades activated by pressure switches. It was hard to master, and deadly to wield, using fast reflexive moves pared with hand-to-hand combat to cut down enemies. He was the one who had given them to her, as a present for graduating from the academy. "You want to spare?"

She thought about that for a moment and felt her body ache in response to it. She could do it; she wasn't in bad shape, but that didn't mean it couldn't protest after a two-week long mission with little sleep and a tough battle.

"…Not really." Kira admitted smiling sheepishly.

"You do look tired." He agreed, after looking her over. "Why are you here then?" From the tone in his voice she knew he was fishing, trying to find common ground again. When her answer was a simple shrug, the puppet master made an exasperated sound and her lips twitched.

It had been too long since the two of them had spoken more than a few words. Years now. She frowned, her chest tightening with guilt.

"I'm surprised you came to find me." She said quietly, her fingers dancing over her weapons. "We haven't really spoken…"

"Yeah well," Kankurō cut in easily, "we've both been pretty busy, and being an ANBU at your age must have been a lot of work," he reasoned, smirking before he gestured to her weapon. "I'm glad you're enjoying my present though."

Kira glanced up at him for a moment before looking back down at her constant companions in battle. Back then she'd been working with a practice version of the weapons for months, honing her skills with them and taijustu. She'd been planning to save up to get a real ones. The puppet master had taken care of that, and she'd been so happy she'd practically tackled him to the ground in a hug.

It had also been the last time they had spoken like friends, or anything at all till now. Years. That word echoed in her head like a hissing ghost and she cursed herself for not doing something sooner. It had been almost two years since … since she had stopped being under close scrutiny. She should have tried to reach back out to him… but she hadn't.

"I'm sorry, I guess I didn't now how to approach you… with your brother being the Kazekage and all…" she fidgeted, tapping one of the metal bars with a fingernail.

"Yeah, I kind of figured. Don't take all the blame here though, I didn't do anything either. As I said, we've been busy." He rubbed his neck, sighing. "I guess your little out burst helped me remember why we were friends. I always liked that sense of honor you had." His hand reached out and patted her shoulder, only to have her tense and flinch away from him slightly.

She bit her lip when he drew his hand back, a perplexed look on his face. She shuffled her feet on the ground, her free hand moving to rub the opposite arm. "Sorry," she said quietly, her eyes drawn to the ground. She didn't mean to flitch away, she knew she could trust him but… well she'd never been good at people touching her, not for a while anyway.

"Relax Kira," Kankurō suggested, "no need to apologize. Though I think maybe you should think about heading home to get some rest soon." He shifting before he stood once more. "I've got to get back to work, don't be a stranger, alright?"

Kira eyed him carefully, still wondering why he had changed his mind and approached her. Maybe he was just missing a friend like she was, and that made her feel a bit better. After a moment she gave him a slow nod and the painted ninja grinned before turning, and, with a wave, started his trek back towards the tower.

Taking in a deep breath, her sore bones reminded her of what both Aya and Kankurō had said. It took a bit, but after a few minutes she found the will to stand again and picked up her bag. It was time to get back home, take a nice bath and then sleep for the rest of the day and night.

Maybe then she'd be able to make sense of what had occurred.

…

Kira Araya

NE524

Age: Sixteen

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Yellow

Rank: ANBU

Team: Fukurō

Code name: Koyote

Chakra Nature: Earth

Skills: Trained in stealth and twin Tonfa weapons

Mission data:

S Rank: 4

A Rank: 10

B: Rank: 16

C Rank: 7

D Rank: 0

Family:

Mother: Unknown

Father: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Other: In the care of Melee Araya

Gaara stared, a bit bewildered at the rap sheet he'd order in the pervious day. Being ANBU at such a young age, he'd been excepting a bit… more in her file then just basic information. Normally, ANBU were what they were because the shinobi had some skill or had achieved something to gain them such a rank. She had nothing, the only interesting skill was her proficiency with Tonfas, which was known to be a hard weapon to master. It didn't even state what jutsus she knew, or how she had been promotional to her current placement. The more he looked at it the more he was sure of one thing: there was no way Gaara would have put her on special ops for just that.

He eyed the date she was registered to the ANBU and found it had not been him, but his father who had appointed her. That made it even more confusing. What had his father been doing? He wasn't known for putting just anyone into higher ranks.

That only left one explanation:

There had to be more to this girl then just what her file said.

It was true that a lot of the information his father had recorded left key things out, and a lot of files were still unorganized and needed to be looked through. It was possible her achievements were just lost somewhere within the mess of disorganization and paranoia. The only way to know was to put in an order for it though, and even after two years a lot of his father's files were still a mess. It could take a while to find anything on her.

Rubbing his eyes he set the paper down and stood from his desk where all of his complete work laid neatly stacked to one side. He'd already sent his sibling back to their family's quarters for the day, as he had wanted to look over the information on his own.

He turned, facing the window as his eyes following the outline of the sand dunes in the distance beyond the village he was sworn to protect. Many factors were still unknown for what the future held. The enemy was fast moving up their plans, and while Gaara was now free of his Tailed Beast, there were still many out there, and he was the only one who had survived.

His eyes moved, glancing over the village as the sun began to sink below the clouds. His people were still moving about just as lively as ever, the night life of Suna nothing to scoff about, or at least that's what his brother said. He had little interest in joining such things. He was much more content to watch the people who passed by the tower.

The two children from the academy that he'd yet to ever see not in each other's company rushed by, darting around the gray-haired old woman who always passed by around this time with groceries for dinner. The old woman stumbled a bit, her cane failing to help her when it was needed, but was righted by the girl who was walking with her and was giving the two children a pointed look to their backs, and Gaara couldn't help but stare.

It seemed a bit too perfect that Gaara would see her now when he had just been looking over her file, but there she was.

Without her mask she looked younger, and after a day of rest, her posture didn't look so forced and stiff. She looked just like the picture on her file, if only a few years older now.

As he watched the two go about their walk, talking and smiling, he couldn't help but wonder who this girl was. She looked so normal, much like his sister in the way she acted away from her duties. Of course, looks were deceiving.

Letting out a tired sigh, Gaara turned away and went back to his desk. Picking up the rap sheet again, he shook his head. There was no reason to suspect foul play with the girl. Why would she speak up about his safety if she were against him?

He couldn't help but be cautious though, even if he knew that the village trusted him. Having constant bounties on his head left him a bit weary.

He would just have to see for himself what would happen.

One thing was for certain, once his siblings caught word of his movements, he'd have a lot more to deal with then he wanted to.