The older ninja smirked behind his mask before dodging the attacks that had started. He didn't even have time to open his Sharingan when the Genjutsu hit. He knew how to dispell them but for some reason it wasn't working. "Move as I tell you Kakashi." He recognized the voice as Hoshiwara's and in the three weeks that he had been working undercover he knew from Gaara that she could see through all but the strongest of Genjutsu. Trusting her he moved as she told him.
He was surprised, she seemed to know his movements and distances almost as well as he did. But the only thing he could count on now was that when she told him to strike, he did so decisively, and found that bit by bit the illusion was dispelling. 'A group instigated illusion?' he wondered. He knew that his Sharingan wouldn't help him at this point in time, but he would not be getting into a fight in Suna again any time soon without it. "Chest level palm strike at 49 degrees left." He heard a crack with that strike and felt, as the illusion finally dispelled completely, that he had shattered the bones he had come in contact with.
Looking behind him he saw that he had not moved from his spot in front of her where she had guided him to to protect her. Around him the rest of the ninja in the room were not on the floor, knocked out or disabled. Quickly he pulled the kunai that held Hoshiwara to the wall out letting her move freely again. "Are you all right?"
Hoshiwara nodded, her eyes troubled. "Are the others really ok?"
"I'll take you to them now." Standing close to her, much closer than she was comfortable with he flickered through the handsigns that instigated his own transporation jutsu. The next moment the office doors broke down and the police of the area were treated to a sight of an office that was void of any conscious humans.
As Kakashi and Hoshiwara appeared, Hoshiwara looked around at where they were and could not identify where the group was hiding. "Where are we?" She asked the older ninja but her answer came from the now living Kazekage.
"You're in an underground bunker about a mile outside of Suna." Startled she whipped around and with flashing eyes slapped the man that had startled her before pulling him into a desperate hug.
"Don't you EVER do that to me again! Promise me!!" She held on to Gaara like he was a life preserver and it was to the surprise of all the leaf ninja when he finally brought up his arms and returned the embrace.
Everyone in the room could see that the stress had finally broken the dam that was holding the woman together, and actually seeing her closest friends alive had caused her to overflow with emotion now in the form of tears. Gaara picked her up carefully and moving over to a vacant chair he ignored the stinging welt that was starting to form on his cheek. This was the only person Shukakau would not protect him against. And while she was not as strong as most ninja, her emotions gave her an added strength that made things difficult to predict around her.
"Hoshiwara, we're sorry we couldn't tell you we were alive." Temari began, hoping to get the woman to listen and maybe even release her little brother a little from the death grip she had him in. "But when you told Gaara about the building we had to let everyone think that we had died in the blast. We've known about a splinter faction in the village that still hates him for the demon that is locked within him. Letting them think they've won was the only way to draw them out enough for them to make a mistake."
"And they made the biggest mistake of all in attacking you." This came from the Kazekage who was again growling now that the shock had worn off of her greeting and the woman was now starting to calm down in his arms.
"But, couldn't you have found a way to tell me?" Hoshiwara sniffled, and then looked around at the gathered group, turning several shades of pink in embarrassment for the position she was in. However as she shifted she felt Gaara subtly tighten his arm about her and accepted that the young leader wasn't about to let her go any time soon. The back of her mind told her that she didnt' care, as long as he held her like this she could be content.
"No, we couldn't. Even letting Kakashi out to keep an eye on you was a risk." Kankurou answered.
Looking up she smiled at the Jounin. "Thank you for saving me out there. Both times."
Kakashi nodded before looking at the group that was now completely assembled. "Our situation has changed. Thanks to the attack on Hoshiwara in her office by the other jounin that she had picked as her guard, and her subsequent disappearance, it now looks as if she's been kidnapped." He eyed Gaara carefully. "Suna will be in an uproar over it and with no leadership this is the perfect time for your so called splinter faction to move in and take control."
"Let them try. We'll be watching now and when they try to put anyone else in the Kazekage's seat, we'll be waiting." The younger ninja's eyes narrowed as the dark circles became more pronounced. It wasn't just Gaara behind that threat now.
After the meeting ended Hoshiwara held several private meetings to help fill in the gaps in information. But her meeting with Kakashi was the most trying of all. "Hoshiwara, why didn't you tell Gaara about what happened in your office?"
The look he recieved was one he didn't get all that often. One that questioned not only his mental stability, but his intelligence as well. "I will tell him and the others in my own time Kakashi. The last thing any of us need is him and Shukaku going into a blood frenzy. Not yet anyway."
The jounin had to admit that she had a point about the boy Kazekage's temperment. But it still didn't make him feel any more at ease about hiding that information. "In anyrate, the only thing that this group doesn't know are your personal thoughts on what happened through the last three weeks."
At this point Hoshiwara's jaw hit the floor. "Three weeks? You've been watching me for that long?"
Kakashi shrugged, "How else was I to know how you were doing and how to handle that situation that came up in the office?"
"Fine. You watched me for three weeks, and you kept me out of danger." She paused and then smiled, "Thank you. I more than likely would be dead by now if you hadn't been in the shadows and this village would more than likely be more than half destroyed as a result."
Kakashi was thrown for a loop at that moment as he tried to puzzle out her last comment before he went back and thought over the actions of the Kazekage and his siblings. So, she had seen the signs from the youngest of the trio. "You have more people to talk to, but I will speak with my team to ensure that all of the information matches up. Just remember, that you WILL need to tell Gaara what happened soon."
"I know that Kakashi. I've been alive nearly as long as you have, I believe that in my many life lessons I did learn something about common sense, tact, and a little wisdom." Once again she floored the older ninja with the admission that she knew how old she was and that she was nearly as old as he was. He did however know when he was beaten and made a tactical retreat before he stepped wrong again and ignited her temper.
Looking around the room that had been reserved for her in case she did need to vanish from the village she found that as she mentally compaired it to the other rooms in the small bunker, she had gotten the best. Not only was the room slightly bigger than the others, she was also not sharing it with anyone else. A vague smile of amusement spread across her face as she wondered just how much of that was due to the fact that she was the only non-ninja female of their group and how much of it was Gaara's protective nature coming through again.
Heading out to the main room she found Gaara and motioned him over to her. As he stood she took a moment to watch him carefully. The hints that everyone else had dropped about him and from her own observation told her that he liked her. But as she was on the inside looking out, she could not be sure of how much of it was friendship and how much of it was that he just might be interested in her as something more than a friend. She put all of that to the back of her head as he finished approaching her. She smiled slightly and noted that he relaxed a little. "I need to talk to you alone. About what happened just before Kakashi brought me here."
He could see it in her stance. This was not going to be pleasent for one or both of them. She was nervous about something and he could very easily guess that her nerves were caused by the unknown factor of how he would react, or how Shukaku would react to whatever it was she had to tell him. Making it a little easier on her he nodded quietly before gesturing that she should lead the way to wherever it was that they would be talking. As they entered her room he noted that at least two of the Konoha ninja were watching before the door closed.
Hoshiwara gestured for him to have a seat and as he sat down she promptly took a seat across from him looking at him in a way that left him vaguely disquieted, but not enough to say anything. He wasn't able to understand yet why he was so loath to hurt the woman, but he could tell that the demon within him knew the answer, but wasn't talking.
"I need your word that after I tell you what happened this afternoon in the office, you will not blow up and you will not go into blood frenzy." Her words stopped his thoughts dead in their tracks. Whatever she had to say to him was worse than he had origionally thought. Especially if she was calling for him to bind both his and Shukaku's tempers with a promise like this.
"I promise. Now what happened that you think I will berzerk when you tell me?" His voice was still hard, but there was an undertone that expressed concern.
Closing her eyes and sighing she opened them again and looking at the man across from her she spoke quietly. "They know that you are all alive. But before they found that out, two of them had me pinned to the wall and were very close to forcing themselves on me before Kakashi could intervene."
Gaara sucked in a sharp breath as he remembered his promise and had to close his eyes to keep Shukaku under control. He was irritated that they had been found out. But absolutely enraged that the ninja that were working against them would stoop so low as to rape someone to get their point across. His voice was tight as he spoke up. "I see why you made me promise to hold my temper down."
She was probably one of the few people on this world that could talk to him bluntly about his temper or Shukaku for that matter. It was because she respected the two of them as individuals and as a single entity. She did not look up to them in fear nor did she look down on them in disgust or contempt. This was something that had caught Shukaku off guard before and the trust that it had fostered between the three of them allowed for him to leave Gaara alone most of the time, knowing that he no longer needed to protect him so closely. Shukaku saw a potential mate in the woman. But knowing how his host thought, he knew that he could not force this issue. The young man had to see her for her own virtues or his pressings would only cause the Kage to push her away.
Looking up after getting himself under control he saw a sight that shocked him. Hoshiwara was sitting in front of him looking uncertain, and for the first time since they had met, scared. "Hoshiwara, what is the matter? Is there something else?" The first question was quietly spoken, the second was spoken more forcefully as the possibilities of what could have happened in the tower sprang to mind.
"N-no. You probably see me as a burdon now though. I have no use to this mission now that my part has played out. I can't fight, can't use my own abilities in any sort of time to help you or the others. It's time to set me aside and find a new tool, ne?" She bit her lip slightly as she looked up at the taller young man, uncertainty warring with a darker, more dangerous emotion in her eyes.
Never had anyone caught him flat footed so many times in such a short period of time. "A burdon? Useless? A tool?" Gaara seemed to be asking himself these questions when it slammed home that this woman knew exactly how he felt and her simple empathy wasn't the reason. She spoke as if this had happened to her before.
His hands shot out and pulled her close to him. "Never ever tell me that you are a burdon or useless. You may not be a ninja, but you have other abilities and skills that put your worth, as a person, and a fighter far above most of the other ninjas I've killed." He was speaking calmly, and quietly, and because of this his voice rumbled in his chest. It was a comforting feeling for Hoshiwara to be held like this.
Gone was the irritation and boundries that seemed to stay stacked up between the two. Hoshiwara started to relax against Gaara's chest as he sat back down positioning her in his lap so that she'd be comfortable. The rumble in his chest started quietly but swelled slightly so that she could not only feel it, but could hear it. It wasn't a purr by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't a growl either. Even as Gaara started to relax as well, the rumble seemed to be a cross of the two events and it certainly seemed to be helping the woman in his arms relax.
"I have seen people like you, I have been you in several occations. I know how you feel and know this." He paused a moment, causing Hoshiwara to look up at him with dark blue eyes. "I am not letting you go. You wanted me to promise that I wouldn't scare you like I did before, and I will. But only if you promise to stay with me."