Hello my dear friends! I practically feel like I know you all by now :D
I have seen someone already familiar in my reviews alerts, like The Kazekage Of Suna, and also, welcome shika93 and my dear guest, SabakuNoFangirl, thanks you guys :)
Thank you for the new follows also! Don't be shy, come talk to me in the reviews, I don't bite. Heheheee~ I give my thanks to Torat123, Vendetta M and shika93!
This chapter was a very amusing one to write, as I finally introduce my main OC to our lovely Gaara. I hope it doesn't get too confusing, it will all click in the end, I promise.
Do you guys want me to keep posting these songs? Or am I boring you all, who are in fact reading this, which is rare, with my choice of music?
My playlist for this chapter is:
Theodor Bastard – Anubis
Aimo - Yoko Kanno (Also called Haha to Ko Ranka no Aimo)
Beats Antique – Tabla Toy
Theodor Bastard - Takaya Mija
Madder Sky - Kotaro Nakagawa & Hitomi Kuroishi & Mikiya Katakura
And here comes Chapter six:
In which Gaara goes on an adventure…
After the trainee, Eileen, had left their rooms the shinobi group slowly settled in. Toru claimed one of the half open spaces where a bed was and inspected his bowl of water for poisons. Deeming it safe, he washed his hands and face, finally feeling a bit better. The boat ride had taken a lot out of him and his stomach was still quite upset. He could see the main room through the thin sheet of white fabric. The light material looked ethereal in the blue light of the underground plants. He sat on his bed, after checking for hidden traps and shed his backpack and some of his weapons. He needed rest if they were going to do that test tomorrow. He had no idea what Kazekage-sama was doing trying to make a deal with these people. The Elders were going to skin him alive.
Shura chose her own secluded corner and decided to check on her wound. She dropped her stuff on the mattress. When she unwrapped the wound the skin was sore and inflamed, but the cut was healing. She still had some medicine from both Suna and the Wanderers. She carefully washed her hands, then her wound and applied the salve before wrapping it into clean bandages. Healing slowly or not, she wasn't fit for fighting now. She didn't know all the details about the test and she couldn't risk being unable to defend or attack if necessary.
Kan put his backpack onto one of the beds. After washing his hands and face quickly, he slicked back his bangs and walked into the big room. He joined their Kage on the circle of pillows and took out his weapons to clean them. Their leader was sitting completely still, and Kan would've thought the youth asleep unless he knew better. Gaara opened his eyes and stared at the small table in concentration. He looked miles away.
"If I may be bold, Kazekage-sama, what's on your mind?" The older shinobi asked quietly. He received a long stare.
"The test that the Priestess is asking you to do, it is a great honor, Gaara-san." Shura sat down by Kan. She grabbed one of his kunai and started cleaning it with precision while talking.
"The leaders of the clans are selected by vote of popularity. However, they all must pass a test before becoming official leaders. That test is what the Grand Priestess is offering you to complete. It is a test of body, mind and soul and if it is completed no Wanderer will challenge your intentions. They will consider you an ally."
"Do you know anything about the test? Besides what the woman told us?" Gaara inquired, but Shura shook her head.
"I will, however, follow you willingly, Gaara-san." She smiled at him, passing Kan the clean kunai to store. He gave her another piece to clean.
"I suppose I'll come along, too." The War veteran declared, staring at his kunai collection. He wanted this whole thing to be over and done with. He wanted to go back to Suna, to his peaceful vegetable garden and try out one of Kara's spices with his own food. Then again, if he did leave the team here, in favor of his cooking, they would get themselves buried underneath the city. These old ruins were very unstable. He had to be ready to act at any moment to prevent death by ravine.
"Kazekage-sama." A pitchy voice came from behind the redhead. Then, Toru entered his field of vision slowly. The shinobi was dressed for bed already, and he looked worse for wear. The trip by boat really did a number on him. "I will come along, too, if you'd let me." Gaara gave the trembling noble a nod. The team sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sound was the rhythmic cleaning of kunai.
There was a light tapping sound in the corridor outside their room. Like bare feet on the cold stone. Shura stopped cleaning the kunai and gripped it in her hand, ready to attack. Gaara formed a couple of seals, creating his third eye outside of their rooms. He couldn't see anything, so he undid the jutsu and nodded to his subordinates. Shura went back to cleaning her kunai in silence.
.Tap. Went the sound again. Kan and the Kazekage exchanged glances. Gaara should've been able to see whatever that thing approaching their rooms was.
.Tap. The mysterious sound was getting closer and closer. Then it stopped. Silence ensued. Kan was still looking at their Kage carefully. They shared a nod of understanding and then moved soundlessly. The War veteran headed towards the arch that represented the doorway and flattened himself against the wall, kunai in hand. The Kage stood, arms crossed, sand slowly leaking from his gourd and onto the floor. Shura moved so she was in front of Toru, shielding the cowardly shinobi with her body. They could hear only crickets in the background. Then a soft murmur reached their ears. It was in a language none of them understood. Barely a whisper. The soft feminine voice kept repeating some kind of phrases quickly.
.Tap. Three more steps, slower than the ones earlier sounded and much closer to the doorway. A figure emerged from the dark. Everything happened so fast. Kan had a kunai at the young girl's throat while the Kage's sand was around her body, ready to squeeze the life out of her form if necessary. The Wanderer girl didn't even flinch. She looked calmly in front of her, eyes blank and kept muttering in the unknown language. They all stood still for one more second before Toru grabbed one of the kunai Shura was cleaning and threw it at the intruder.
The weapon sailed through the air, stopping centimeters from the girls face. The Kage's sand held it firmly, not letting it harm the now silent girl. Everything was still for a moment. Then the girl's head slouched forward in the cocoon of sand, her body going limp. Kan moved his kunai at the last second, leaving the Wanderer unharmed. The War veteran and the Kage exchanged glances, then Gaara slowly let his sand slip back into his gourd. If this was an assassination attempt he had seen better. This slip of a girl, with no weapon on her, even announced her presence quite loudly. Maybe it wasn't an assassination?
With the sand gone, the girl fell onto the floor, lying there without movement. Gaara moved closer and noted that she was breathing. The Wanderer was asleep with no care in the world. Kan crouched next to their unexpected guest and moved some hair from her face. He didn't recognize the girl.
"I don't think she's hostile." The War veteran muttered to the Kage. "Even while approaching us, she had no killing intent. She had a steady aura. No chakra leak either." The Kage nodded to him, signaling that he, too, had noticed it. Shura walked over to them, interested. Toru was still in his spot. He looked shaken and seemed to be feeling guilty. The kunoichi examined the Wanderer on the floor.
"I saw this girl at the welcoming ceremony. She is one of the trainees." Shura looked to Gaara then. "She was sitting with Chaizen later. I remember her because she was with them. She must be a clan member who has the Sense." The Kazekage nodded.
"It's late. Go to bed." He told his subordinates softly but firmly.
"What about her, Kazekage-sama?" Kan asked, still crouched next to the sleeping girl.
"It's not a problem." The Kage bent down, picking up the Wanderer. "I will stand guard, if she wakes, i will find out her reason for coming here."
This answer seemed to satisfy Shura and Kan. The War veteran offered one of the spare blankets to the Kage and soon the sleeping Wanderer was comfortably settled into one of the least secluded rooms. Shura packed all the kunai into Kan's backpack. She was used to him being obsessive over his weapons. He gratefully accepted the bag and they each headed to their beds, saying goodnight to their comrades.
Toru spent a few moment cautiously watching the sleeping Wanderer. The Priestess was a witch. Teaching these girls and boys their pagan and make-believe rituals. They probably sacrificed people. Who knew why she came here? They might be next on her list of people to enchant and use for rituals? He was wary of the girl. Then again, she was just a child. Besides, with the Kazekage-sama here, she couldn't do anything. The Jinchuriki would destroy her before she could even think of harming Toru. With that thought, the young shinobi headed to bed.
Gaara sat on the comfortable pillows in the bigger room. From his position he could clearly see the young Wanderer. She was just a girl, he assured himself. She meant no harm. She came to them while sleepwalking probably. He didn't want to believe that the Wanderers would do anything to jeopardize their current status with the shinobi. The cooperation would be beneficial to both parties, maybe even more to the Wanderers. Besides, if the trainee was from Chaizen's tribe, like Shura thought, he especially didn't want to harm her.
Movement from the girl's room caught the Kage's attention. She had moved to her side, kicking off her covers. He noticed, then, something crawling on the floor. It was a tiny spider, making its' way from the girl's side into the bigger room. The redhead followed the spider's movements. He didn't know this species, and he didn't want to risk getting anyone poisoned, unless necessary. The small creature crawled towards him, then across the pillows and out into the hallway. It seemed in a hurry. After a while, the insect left the Kage's mind, more pressing matters entering it. In the nighttime, unbothered, he could think about the things he needed to get done back in Suna. He imagined the doom called paperwork waiting for him. He hoped that Temari was home and helping Kankuro.
Dawn came quickly for Gaara. He had tossed a few ideas on Suna improvement in his head and ended up getting caught up in those thoughts. The Konoha shinobi training system always seemed appealing to him. He wondered if the Council would be able to swallow his next big idea: implementing the new shinobi training system. He was probably already nominated for the most annoying Kazekage by the Council. Gaara smirked at the thought. He didn't want any child to experience what he did. He wanted to change Suna for the better. Most of the ideas that he had told the Council by now, were thought insane and almost impossible, but they had worked just fine. Suna was regaining its' former power and had potential to grow even further.
The cooperation with Konoha had been a delicate subject for many years. After Gaara became a Kage, however, he used their allied village as much as possible. Maybe it made him feel close to Naruto, cooperating with the Leaf shinobi. Maybe he just preferred their rather naive way of thinking. He wasn't too sure. Gaara was proud of his work, though. He had encouraged exchanges in the medicine field the most. The Councils, both in Suna and Konoha were against revealing war secrets and jutsus to the allied villages, so he had to make due. Working with the Hokage, Tsunade, they made an exchange in medical plants and even some poisons. Some of Suna's med-nin went to Konoha to learn from either Sakura or Ino, the pupils of Tsunade herself. Needless to say, when he had first presented this idea to the Council their faces were priceless. In the end he had succeeded. Next on his list was improving the combat abilities of his comrades through the new training system.
A ray of light appeared in the room, surprising Gaara. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a couple of holes in the ceiling near the walls. The sun rays came from those, hitting the walls in a certain angle so that they reflected and shined all across the room. He was impressed by the underground fortress. They really had thought of everything when building it, these Wanderers. He wondered if Suna could use some of these construction ways to improve.
There was movement from the Wanderer girl's room again. She rose in her bed, threw her covers off and headed into the big room. When she saw the stoic Kage she froze. For a moment they locked gazes. Surprised and curious eyes met the powerful, indifferent stare. The girl broke their connection, taking in her surroundings quickly. She then gave Gaara a smile and stepped forward only to fall flat on her face.
Gaara's non-existent eyebrows rose. He certainly wasn't expecting this. The Wanderer seemed sheepish as she picked herself up with as much grace as possible after the incident. She gave Gaara another smile and put her hands in a mudra-like position, similar to Namaste, formally greeting him.
"Why did you come here last night?" The Kage didn't beat around the bush. The girl seemed a tad confused, still standing at a certain distance from the seated shinobi.
"You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" Gaara murmured into his chin, his experience with the extent of Lim's conversational skills popping into his head. He motioned with his hand towards the circle of pillows and the Wanderer girl sat down happily. She kept looking at him in a way he wasn't used to. She looked at him with complete wonder and curiosity. Then she gave him one more surprise, she spoke in his language.
"I understands. You talks too fast." Her grammar was bad and her accent was heavy, the words barely understandable, but Gaara caught them fine.
"Why did you come here last night?" He repeated, this time slower.
"I sleeps. I no comes. I sleeps." She seemed confused by his words. He figured his initial thought of her sleepwalking was correct.
"You are in Chaizen's clan?" He asked next. The dark, curious eyes never left his person. She was making him a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't used to someone looking at him like that, without even a bit of fear.
"Yes." She answered. "You is shinobi?" The girl fired back her own question.
"Yes. I am Sabaku no Gaara." The Kage said, as if that explained everything.
"My name is Kisara. I am very pleased to meet you." The sentence seemed automatic and well practiced. She must've repeated it a dozen times. The girl's eyes finally left him. She stared into her lap shyly for a second. It seemed uncharacteristic for someone who stared openly at him for the last fifteen minutes to suddenly act proper and timid.
"Gaara has adventures?" He barely caught the words, she spoke quietly. She was asking him about his adventures? What adventures? Gaara's brain froze for a second. He didn't have adventures. Naruto had adventures. Not Gaara. Gaara had a village to take care of. He had shinobi to take care of. He didn't even go on missions anymore. Even those never were adventures for him.
"No tell me adventures?" Kisara was looking at him again. She seemed ready to cry. She had mistaken his silence for rejection.
"I don't know about adventures." Gaara decided that was the best answer at this time. The girl now looked between confused and a bit mad. What was good was that she didn't loom sad anymore. Kankuro had warned him about crying girls. It always ended badly.
"How? Why?" The Wanderer began. "You has adventures! Out of desert, different countries, many adventures? No?" She tilted her head a bit, her hands moving unconsciously as she talked. "In shinobi village, too, many adventures!" Kisara nodded her head and then smiled at him expectantly.
"I don't know." The baffled Kage repeated, not sure how to deal with this enthusiastic Wanderer girl. He didn't hate her cheery and slightly hyperactive persona, but he wasn't sure that he would be able to handle her being near him for the rest of the morning.
"Then," The girl spoke again, this time looking at him with determination in her eyes. She leaned forward on her hands, face getting closer to the shinobi. "You takes test. Spirit Water test. That be adventure. Then you knows adventure what is. Then you tells me shinobi adventure." She smiled at him and then suddenly sat back and extended her hand to him. "Deals?"
"Deal." The Kage decided to humor the Wanderer, slightly intrigued by her personality. It would be beneficial to have more allies in the Wanderers anyways. A smaller and more delicate hand grabbed his in a surprisingly strong grip and shook it enthusiastically.
"Good morning, shinobi. The Gran Priestess sent-" a voice came from the arch. Eileen stood there, staring at the shinobi and her friend shaking hands. "Kisara!" She scolded after she got over her shock. Gaara couldn't follow the rest, because it was a fast exchange in the Wanderer language between the two girls. Their host from last night, Eileen, seemed mad because Kisara was here. Their conversation stopped then, leaving Eileen fuming and Kisara guiltily pouting. The older girl recovered, putting on a fake smile.
"Excuse me." She said to the Kage." The Grand Priestess has made a motion for the cooperation of the shinobi of Sunagakure and the Wanderers. It has been voted in by the majority, on the condition you pass the test." The trainee briefly looked to Gaara's still asleep subordinates. "You may join us in the Hall when you're ready to commence your test. The sooner the better."
"Hall is where food yesterday be." Kisara explained to the Kage. He wouldn't admit it, but he was glad that she had. Eileen then marched over to the other girl and pulled her to her feet.
"Excuse us." She said flatly to the shinobi and dragged her friend out of the room, without waiting for a response. Kisara waved with a smile at Gaara while leaving. The young Kazekage was left in the stone room, sitting alone on the circle of comfortable pillows, and for a moment he felt a small loss with the strange girl's cheery presence gone. He brushed the feeling aside and stood to wake his comrades.
~~~~Page Break~~~~
When the shinobi team entered the Hall, the Wanderers were already there, starting on their breakfast. This time, instead of sitting with the Grand Priestess, Gaara chose to sit with Chaizen and his clan. The redhead ended up between Kan and Lim, which in his opinion was much better than the tension-filled main circle of pillows. The Wanderer youth was, as usual, attempting to get his shinobi friend to try weird food, just to see the funny reactions. Gaara had evaded all of the attacks with surprising skills. Kan, on the other hand, wasn't that lucky. The War veteran had showed a lot of endurance, even Lim seemed surprised.
Shura had gone to another clan, also of desert dwellers. Gaara knew from her file that she had been injured in the desert once and then taken care of by a Wanderer clan. He figured she had found them and wanted to greet her old friends. He caught sight of her getting hugged by an elderly woman and then sitting down next to the old lady. Then, the Kage was once again distracted by Lim's morning shenanigans.
Toru ended up near Chaizen, finding the Wanderer leader familiar and less intimidating than the other clan members. The warrior kept piling up Toru's plate and refilling his goblet of Fruit Water. Needless to say, the young noble soon forgot all about danger and fear, and he relaxed under the mysterious drink's influence.
The meal took longer than Gaara expected. They kept waiting for the still asleep members to join them, then to eat. Someone had started playing music, various kinds of drums and flutes, and then the dancing began. In the end, the sun was high in the skies when the Grand Priestess finally stood, quieting the room. She said something in the Wanderer language, mentioning the shinobi. Gaara supposed that she had told them about him accepting the test and taking his comrades with him on the trip. She then turned to the redhead and gave him a small smile and a nod. He stood, Kan and Toru rising with him. Shura soon joined them.
The Wanderers sitting in the middle of the wide room suddenly sprang into action. The space where they were eating was cleared of all pillows and tables, the Wanderers finding seats in the crowd. A couple of trainees approached, drawing a complicated design on the floor with chalk. Then they all joined hands and stood in a circle around the art.
The Priestess walked towards the formation in the middle, motioning for the Kage to join her. The shinobi walked towards the group, feeling all the eyes on them in the dead silence. Gaara saw Eileen and Kisara holding hands in the circle, the latter looked at him, but her face didn't betray anything. Eileen, on the other hand, looked a tad mad. He also recognized the tiny girl, Ari, and the two boys, Zed and Komachi, from the first meeting. The circle of trainees split letting the shinobi group get into the middle, then they joined hands once again.
"The time has come." The voice of the Priestess was calming and gentle. She walked around the group placing and lighting candles gracefully. "This circle will send you to the other side. You may have one of them guide you to the doorway, however from there on, you are on your own." She smiled slightly at the shinobi leader. "I will await your return. You must complete your task before sundown."
The circle of nine apprentices then started chanting in the Wanderer language. It was a song of sorts, but Shura couldn't catch the words. They were probably from the archaic, less-known, version of the language. The room was slowly filled by other sounds, too. The kunoichi was glad that the Wanderers were talking again. She didn't like the dull buzzing in her ears that came with the silence. The soft, soothing sound of a stream calmed her very much, her previous nervousness fading. An unfamiliar bird call sounded somewhere to her left.
Shura froze, suddenly back on full alert. She opened her eyes, not knowing when exactly she had closed them. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the brightness, and then all of her breath left her lungs. The scenery was nearly indescribable. All the colors around her were heightened somehow, like she was in some sort of a dream or poisoned by a mysterious toxin that only affected her sight. She took a deep breath, calming herself down, forcing her irregular heartbeat back to normal. She could feel the adrenaline fading, allowing her to inspect her surroundings more objectively. They were still breathtaking.
Shura was standing on a patch of grass, which looked impossibly clean and fresh. All around the group were trees and flowers and birds of all colors. The forest, in which clearing they stood, was magical. The trees were connected through a series of randomly growing vines with white flowers. The grass was peppered with red, blue and violet blossoms, their scent soothing in the air. When she looked up, she couldn't see the skies. There were just trees all around them. She wondered where all the light was coming from, but the thought left her mind soon. The wind blew softly, the calming effect immediate. There was a sound of the stream Shura had heard earlier, it must've been nearby. There were many bird calls all around the group. Shura wanted to close her eyes and stay here forever.
The kunoichi, however, realized that their hosts had stopped singing. She looked around the circle, only to see them with their eyes closed in deep meditation. She looked to her comrades and met Gaara's stare. He nodded to her, indicating that he had been aware before her. Kan and Toru looked out of it, their eyes closed and bodies completely still. They didn't even seem to be breathing. Suddenly, panic overtook Shura. She rushed to Kan, inspecting him for any kind of injuries.
"You were like that, too." Gaara's monotone calmed her nerves a bit. She looked to the stoic Kage. He was watching the forest carefully. "Leave them be. We will wait."
Shura trusted her leader, but she stayed near the still bodies of her fellow shinobi. Minutes passed, and the woman was getting antsy. She was worried about Kan. She had to admit, she had grown fond of Toru, too, even if he was an obnoxious noble most of the time. She didn't want to lose either of them. Then the War veteran took a big gulp of air and his eyes shot open. The shinobi didn't have much control over his oxygen deprived body and swayed. Shura swiftly caught him and carefully supported his weight. Kan was looking around in wonder, but with suspicion. The man was always searching for a threat. There was another gasp, and Gaara caught Toru before the shinobi fell to his knees. It took a moment for the group to adjust and collect themselves.
"This isn't the desert?" Toru pointed out.
"I believe that we are in the Spirit World." Shura clarified. "Physically, we should still be in the desert, but our spirits have separated from our bodies, allowing us to cross."
"We need a guide to the door." Kan said. Gaara looked at the circle of trainees. Shura nodded.
"I can't be of much help here. I've never visited the other side before."
The redhead didn't show any signs of hearing Shura's words. He walked to the trainees instead, looking at Kisara and Eileen. Those two he knew the best. He supposed he could trust one of them to guide him to this door the Priestess spoke of. He lightly tapped Kisara's shoulder, and the girl opened her eyes. She gave him a tiny smile and untangled herself from the circle.
"I takes you door?" She asked and the Kage nodded. The Wanderer motioned for the shinobi to follow and lead them straight into the forest. She didn't seem to be following a path or a compass, she just walked and took seemingly random turns. Gaara thought he noticed one of the trees move, but he brushed it off as his imagination. It didnt take long for them to reach some kind of an arch made from branches. If Kisara hadn't pointed it out, the shinobi wouldve walked right by it. It looked like a normal part of the trees and vines in the forest.
"You goes there, I waits here." Their guide told them. "Spirit Water in Blue Cave. Very near. You finds easy." Gaara gave the girl a thankful nod, leading his group towards the arch.
"Gaara no trust anything Spirit World!" Kisara yelled after them as they crossed the border.
Gaara felt a lurch in his stomach and then he, very ungracefully, flew forward. The shinobi managed to catch himself before falling flat on his face, unlike the kunoichi and the young noble beside him. Kan managed to stop his fall, too, and he helped Shura and Toru up. Gaara shielded his eyes from the wind that was suddenly blowing faster and stronger. They weren't in the calm forest anymore for sure.
The group was standing on some kind of a grassy patch of a cliff, the tree arch unnaturally lonely behind them, no sign of the magical forest. The wind was colder and salty, blowing from the sea. Gaara looked forward, only to see a giant landscape. Suddenly he felt tiny compared to the size of this other world. He could see well from their position. The mountains, the sea and rivers and the wide grassy plains and the forests. Gaara could pinpoint a pale, tall mountain in the background with stormy clouds circling it. Now he understood Chaizen's clan's name.
He looked up, only to see an ocean. He could see all the way into the deep. Shura shrieked beside him as a humongous whale passed above them, blowing air and water onto the earth. Gaara collected himself, squashing his surprise and curiosity, also some fear, even though he would never admit it, and looked for the Blue Cave that Kisara had talked about. He spotted some kind of an entrance near the bottom of the rocky hill that they were standing on. Soft blue light shined through the gap in the stones. Looking down, the Kage chose their best route and motioned for his subordinates to follow him towards the left. They needed to go down the hillside and into a small canyon, and from there on they would follow a river to their destination. It seemed easy enough in the Kage's mind.
"Gaara-san." Shura appeared on the redhead's right. "That girl that lead us here, she is the one from last night?" The kunoichi left the sentence hanging.
"Yes." Gaara could see Toru and Kan paying attention to the conversation, too. They found a small path, obviously not used very often, down the rocky side of the hill.
"Wouldn't it have been better to ask Eileen-san to guide us? She is our official guide here, no?" Shura pressed for details, finding it suspicious that the Kage would ask the strange Wanderer girl to guide them. She had been gone from their rooms by the time the kunoichi was up, and she didn't know anything about the trainee. Maybe the Kazekage trusted her because she was from Chaizen's tribe? She wasn't too sure. The wind was much stronger on the side of the hill. Shura tied her hair back and gripped her backpack.
The Kage looked back to the kunoichi and gave her a tiny smile that stopped her in her tracks. Her leader suddenly looked so much younger, much more boyish. "Adventure." He told her and continued walking. Kan and Toru caught up to her, bickering about something between themselves and asked her why she had stopped.
Shura didn't understand what the young Kage's words meant for a long time, but she did find out in the end. The shinobi that was in front of her that day had wanted to experience the rush a true adventure gave someone. He wanted to be able to tell someone his tale one day and be proud of it. He wanted to use the support and the push Naruto had given him to make his own path and be his own person. Not defined by what he was, but by who he is. That's what having an adventure meant for him.
And this is it for today from me!
And onto the reviews!
The Kazekage of Suna: Thank you very much! I love reviews, and I try to encourage everyone who writes back to me with a line or two to review again. I understand not having time and all that, during exams and lectures at college I have no time whatsoever, but I warn before going MIA most of the time. I look forward to hearing from you :D
shika93: Thank you for the encouragement and compliments! I hope that you are enjoying the story :D
SabakuNoFangirl: Hello there, I have no idea how the guest reviews work, I can see it on my e-mail, but it doesn't appear on fanfiction. Oh well, I shall answer anyways! And hopefully your wonderful input shall appear!
Thank you very much for the compliments, and the input! I adore Kan's paranoia, too, soon we shall see some more of his ideas on how to save the day. We have a tiny one in this chapter :D
I already have most of the next chapter written, hopefully I will check it and go over it soon, and update by the end of the week.