Chapter 2

"Damn…" the blond set down the letter in her hand and rubbed her temples.

Her husband looked up from the report in his hands, "what is it now?" he muttered, evidently irritated.

"It's from my brother."

"The Kazek –"

She shook her head, "Kankuro…" she interjected, "Gaara never writes."

He merely shrugged and turned back to the stack of ANBU mission reports sitting in before him, seemingly unaffected by his wife's outcry.

"Shikamaru!"

"WHAT?! I'm busy…your brother wrote, so what?"

Temari sighed, "I'm concerned about Gaara and the state Suna is in. From Kankuro's description, it seems as if everyone is leaving the village, even the shinobi….soon there will be no one left…"

"It was like a wasteland to begin with anyway…"Shikamaru muttered.

She raised an eyebrow, "What did you say?"

"Nothing…" he stammered, "Gaara is an ample leader."

Temari let out a soft sigh then stared down at the table, biting her lip. A terrible sadness clouded her teal eyes "Gaara…" she murmured.

Shikamaru scoffed, "he needs to get over himself and stop being a wussy emo."

"Don't speak about my brother like that!" Temari snapped.

He raised his hands in mock surrender, "I was kidding…Anyhow, your brother will need help, if all the shinobi are leaving" he muttered thoughtfully, "I will send a request to the Hokage, perhaps he could spare jounin and chuunin for the kazekage."

"Arigato!" she shouted happily as she reached over threw her arms around him.

"Anything at all for my favourite woman…"

She slapped him playfully across the face, "Eeh?! Favourite!? I'm your only!"

Shikamaru chuckled nervously, "Gomen. Gomen. I meant my only…"

"Now apologize!" she demanded like a child throwing a fit over candy.

Women are so troublesome…but this one is so adorable…he thought as he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her.

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"Hokage-sama…"

Uzumaki Naruto chewed on his lip thoughtfully as he flipped through the assignment books. Every able bodied jounin was on a sortie and had already waiting lists of urgent missions under their names, and the chuunin...no…it would be too dangerous to send them to Suna.

"I'm afraid I can't be of any immediate assistance."

"But Hokage-sama…the Kazekage, he…"

"Daijobu desu ka, Shikamaru…" Naruto said with a genuine smile, "Temari may return to Suna promptly, I will send several jounin her way once they've return from their respective missions."

Shikamaru bowed gratefully then disappeared from the room.

Naruto sighed and picked up a picture frame on his cluttered desk. Staring at the photograph of himself and Gaara – taken a little over a year ago at his inauguration as Hokage (and before the troubles had come) – he wondered how his old friend was now.

Hang in there, buddy...

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"Nii-chan!" Temari greeted her little brother with a hug.

The Kazekage was seemingly taken aback by her sudden appearance, "What a pleasant surprise. O-Nee-san…what are you doing here?" he stammered.

"What do you mean?! I came to visit my baby brother!"

Gaara forced a smile, "arigato, nee-san" he said then pausing for a moment before speaking again "how is Konoha? Is Naruto-kun enjoying his appointment as Hokage?"

"Everything is fine in Konaha" she replied, "but how are you?"

He nodded, "I'm fine."

Temari rumpled his red hair affectionately, "silly brother, you haven't slept or eaten in days, how can you possibly be fine?"

"I'll be alright, I promise.

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Rae snuck quietly out of her room, unable to sleep. The objective was so close; so easily obtainable but… she couldn't bring herself to do anything. It was this or death and she was scared to death at the thought of dying. The thought of having –

She shook her head and turned her thoughts to other matters; that thing for instance. Just what was it? And how could it wreak so much havoc? The Kazekage was without his source of almost unlimited power but he wasn't powerless. He was still a formidable ninja and far more than capable of protecting Suna but why was this thing still alive and roaming about?

Continuing down the street, she was disrupted from her train of thought by strange noises emanating from a nearby property. Rae reached for her kunai before proceeding toward the origin of the noise. Something was inside and it was definitely not human; pressing her ear to the main entrance she heard an ugly sound somewhere between a choke and a gargle. There was something else indicating a presence; she felt a sense of urgency pressing upon her – restless and searching.

She pushed open the door but did not move any further. Rae stood at the threshold, knowing that she needn't step inside to know what had taken place here. The light of the swollen moon caught in the freshly spilt blood, glistening crimson. Rae glanced around – it was still here…but where? A dark shape darted out of the corner of her eye and long before she realized she was flat on her back; the thing was gone once again.

"Shit!" she cursed as she clambered to her feet, shaken and bleeding. Rae pulled back her collar to relieve the wound it had inflicted upon her shoulder. She could still feel the searing pain in her shoulder as if had been slit open by a blade of fire, despite the fact that the thick marks oozing black blood were rapidly closing

Impossible…Rae thought, completely awestruck at what she was witnessing. Within in seconds the wound had disappeared leaving behind no scar, nor any sign of injury or a bruise even. At this shocking discovery, Rae's growing list of concerns had just lengthened itself.

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Rae returned home, still shaken but nevertheless careful to remain silent in fear of awaking Kesuke and Kai. Even when she had changed into her nightgown and lain down in bed; her fingers involuntarily crept back to the wound that had been inflicted upon early that night.

How? How could it have…?

Rae replayed the incident over and over again in her head. The pain was real, the crushing power of it was real – she hadn't been dreaming.

But where was the wound? Where was the scar?

Was it all genjutsu then?

She fell into restless slumber with these thoughts swimming about in her head. Tossing and turning, she thrashed at the unseen enemy in her sleep.

xllx

"O-ka-san! O-to-san!" the little girl shouted.

Her small frail voice echoed throughout the empty house. She slipped out of bed and ran to her parents' room. Too her horror – it was empty – there was nothing inside. It took a moment for her to finally realize that they had finally done it; they had left her. The girl dropped to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably until she noticed the single white envelope that lay on the ground at the center of the room.

She crawled over to it and eagerly tore it open.

Inside was a simple note scrawled in pencil and a necklace. "Sayonara" she said aloud the single word on the piece of paper. Turning it over and over in her hands, her eyes frantically searched the piece of paper, hoping for something more than "goodbye".

But there was nothing.

The girl clutched the worthless note and envelope in her arms – it was the last memory of her parents; the last memory of ever being loved…or at least being tricked into thinking so. She lay down on the cold wood floor, breaking into tears once again.

"Naze?! Naze?!" the girl screamed over and over again through her tears until her throat turned raw and her tears ran dry.

It was then she finally noticed the obsidian pendant and the necklace that she had let carelessly dropped on the ground. Fingering the cold black stone she was suddenly reminded that this was destiny.

As dutiful parents they had left that last little reminder of her undeniable fate.

This was the way it was meant to be.