I'm getting there, honest. Blame writer's block and a lack of Gaara in recent episodes…

Otulia: We only own Chiocho. The rest isn't ours. Got it?

Reunited

They had stopped for the night, exhausted. They would be able to reach Suna the following day, and they could only hope it would be soon enough.

"What do you think will happen if Orochimaru's already there?" Temari asked quietly, trying her best to hide her fear. "Even though he's our father, he won't go easy on us. We…we disobeyed him…"

No one answered, fear and weariness taking their toll.

"What's that?" Kankuro asked suddenly, staring out across the desert. A soft blue light was coming toward them at an unnatural speed. Everyone tensed, prepared should an attack come.

Gaara felt Shukaku stir angrily inside him, and relaxed. "It's fine," he told the others. "It's only one of Chiocho's butterflies." And sure enough, within minutes, the glowing insect had joined them, fluttering around their small camp in obvious relief.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about Orochimaru," Gaara said quietly. He was watching the butterfly intently, experiencing something very unusual, but not unpleasant. It was almost like telepathy; he knew that Chiocho had managed to stop the Sanin, at least for a little while. "We'll just say that his plan failed and he left us to fend for ourselves."

Yawning, he laid down, closing his eyes. "I'm going to sleep," he said wearily. He desperately needed rest, not having actually slept since their last mission. Every time he had drifted off, he'd been awoken with nightmares of the demon inside him.

The others watched, dumbfounded, as the butterfly landed on him and remained there as he fell asleep. Gaara had never slept on a mission.

As soon as they had been dismissed from the Kazekage's office, free from punishment, Gaara had gone to find Chiocho. Her butterfly had returned to her at dawn, and he was eager to make sure she was okay.

Chiocho found him first. Without any warning, she appeared from nowhere and nearly tackled him with a hug, burying her face in his chest. "I was so worried," she choked out, all her suppressed anxiety flowing out at once. "And when that bastard of a snake showed up last night, I thought for sure something terrible had happened!"

Gaara took her by the shoulders and gently pried her off of him. She looked exhausted, and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Where is he?" he asked. The problem of Orochimaru had to be taken care of immediately.

"Still outside the wall. I bound his spirit, but he's fighting me off, and I can't hold him much longer. I only managed this long because I knew if he got to Lord Kazekage, you'd be in trouble." She turned and led him through the streets.

When they reached Orochimaru, the Sanin was conscious, struggling to move against Chiocho's invisible bonds. Gaara looked down on him with contempt. "You'd better leave," he said evenly. "My father believes you betrayed us in Konoha, and he knows you killed Mushin. You've lost your place here."

Chiocho was trembling visibly with the difficulty of keeping Orochimaru bound. Gaara put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't let him go until we're inside the wall," he said quietly. She nodded, knowing full well that to do otherwise could get them killed.

He turned back to the dark-haired shinobi on the ground. "Suna will fight you; you know you can't take on all of us."

With that, they turned and left him there, feeling his furious glare on their backs.

As soon as they were safely back inside the village, Chiocho released the bonds and collapsed into Gaara's arms, sobbing. All of her pent up emotion from the past two weeks, coupled with her weariness, was too much for her to handle.

Gaara simply held her and told her of what had happened in the Hidden Leaf Village. "I've made a new friend," he started. "Her name is Rienne, and Orochimaru was after her…"

Ta-da! Three updates in one day! Two for She Brings Out The Best, and this chapter here! Wait…it's 12:37 in the morning…I guess technically, they're not all in the same day, but, hey, whatever! Now review, please!