I walk up to the Kazekage's building. 'I wonder what this is about. Were the Akatsuki sighted again? I remember when they killed our Kazekage. And then he came back to life. Weird.' Gaara's office is mostly the same color as it is on the outside: a boring beige. Although his desk was cluttered with paper of all assortments of color, and he was sitting in a chair that was a shockingly red shade. "so." He says conversationally. "… how are you?"

"Gaara." I say leaning on his desk. "What did you need me for?"

"Uh… Rupinasu…." He stalls nervously. "We've had a slight breach in security."

"Breach?" I echo.

"Yeah, umm… apparently, the Akatsuki has, uhm… discovered your existence, shall we say."

I sit back into the small wooden chair in front of his desk. "Huh. …I assume that this is bad."

Gaara's cheeks flushed. "Damn straight, this is bad! Rupi, those people are dangerous. You're going to have to stay inside your house for a while. Top Security."

'd'awww… how boring. Just sitting around my house all day.'

I sigh. "Alright, Kazekage." I stand up. "I respect your decision." I bow, and exit the building.

You see, I know all about the Akatsuki, so there was almost no need to take that conversation in that direction. I grew up being taught to fear them.

Back at my house, Kiyoshi and Aiko were arguing in the front yard. "You can't just leave!" Aiko was saying. "Look," replies Kiyoshi. "This is an important mission. I can't just hang around here! Nothing's going to happen, Aiko."

I ignore them, and open my front door. I'm really hungry, so I open the refrigerator and fix myself a sandwich. 'I wonder what they were arguing about this time,' I ask myself. 'Kiyoshi's probably ditching his guard duties again.'

Taking a bite of my sandwich, I realize just how many more guards there are around lately. ' Gaara must have already told them about the Akatsuki,' I think. 'I sure hope this goes well, but knowing the Akatsuki, I don't have much of a chance of not being captured. I sure hope Gaara has some other part of this plan that he hasn't told me…' I gulp. 'I have to do something. So many of the Jinjuriki have met their maker in the faces of Akatsuki members. Now they're after me! Well, crap.'

I push in my chair, and go into my bedroom. Walking over to the mirror, I notice that my hair is tangled, and start brushing.

A black T-shirt, baggy black pants, and fishnets that reach from my wrists up into my sleeve set off a nice contrast with the pale skin I've admired since I started noticing what I look like at all.

'should I tell Temari about this whole Akatsuki thing?' I think. 'no. She's my only friend in this village, and I don't need to worry her. Besides, it's not like I talk to her that much.'

I sit back on my bed, fingering the silver heart-shaped token around my neck that my mother gave me before she died. 'Man, I'm wolf-meat now. There's no way I could fight my way past them. I have to train more.'

I head down to the basement; that's where all the training equipment is. I'll have to go into the woods later, to practice my stealth. I throw a punch at a punching bag. 'this is pointless,' I think, punching over and over. The bag splits open, sand pouring onto the concrete floor. 'stealth is my best facet, not strength.'

Usually, there are only 3 or 4 guards, but today, I catch 6 or 7 patrolling the area. Tomorrow, there's bound to be even more. 'it'll be a snap to get past them. They are my guards, after all.'