How to sway the innocent

Chapter 1

I creep down below the thickets of the woods sinking deep down where I'm hidden. I keep my eyes sharp, looking at what I'm here for. A sword, a long bladed weapon with a poisonous tip. We were sent to steal it from a rouge ninja. I feel out to track my squad. Sy is very close, directly to my right behind a tree. Harano is up high crouched on a branch. Our sensei is out of sight. I can't feel him. He must have lost us when we chased after our target.

The sword is just within my reach, but I can feel an emotional imbalance coming closer. The rouge ninja. The reach out to grab it but right as I try to grasp it, it is no longer there. I look up to find Sy holding it.

"I had it." I mouth to him.

"So." he replies harshly. The imbalance comes closer.

"Run." I mouth. He looks at me in question and is suddenly grabbed by his collar and pulled up.

"Now, who do we have here?" the ninja growls. "You're not trying to take my sword are you?" he chuckles. He looks down spotting me. "Who do we have here?" I scoot back scrambling to my feet. Sy pulls his arm forward and pushes it back hitting the man in the gut with his elbow. The man let him free but manages to keep the sword. He holds his middle and glares at Sy as he runs away. He quickly makes a hand sign and Sy stops in his tracks. Harano jumps down and charges at him. He blocks her attack and knocks her to the ground. Sy is let free of the jutsu, but a kunai is quickly thrown in his direction striking through his arm and into a tree locking him in place. He cries out. He leans over Harano, they give each other dirty looks. He forces his foot down on onto her stomach.

"Look at the scum the Leaf village sends now. Have they really run out of ninja's to the point that they had to send genin like you?" He scoffs. Harano grabs the man's ankle trying to take some pressure off. I build an emotional barrier and spread it toward him, coating his aura in mine.

He feels it, and turns toward me. He pulls out a kunai and aims it straight at my heart.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I think of the first time I'd ever been stabbed by a kunai and I channel the pain into waves that I send toward him. He holds on to his leg feeling where I had once been stabbed. But then he shouts out in anger as he realizes it's my fault. He strikes down with his kunai, and Sy screams from his place three feet away. A pain radiates about my chest. A scream rips through me, high and loud. My hand moves to the kunai that is jabbed into my rib cage. My breathing becomes rigid and weak. Each bit of air becomes harder to take in. I see spots around my vision, red and impossible to see through.

"How many times am I going to have to see you three!" shouts Tsunade. "You all did it again!" she passes from one side of our line to the other addressing us. "And you were all hurt! Why can't you all work together! ...Er! And there was a mission that was sent specifically for all of you! But with your recent actions I don't think I can let you go!"

"What do you mean; a mission was sent for us?" Sy interrupts.

"A noble from Mist was escorted here to talk politics with me. His next destination is the village Hidden in the Sand. He asked for all of you."

"You have to let us do it." Harano tells her. "If we were asked for."

"No I do not. But I believe that the two of you," she eyes Harano and Sy. "will get the punishment you deserve from this..." she turns to me. "But you, Ms. Omoi. I do not want you on this. But I cannot send them without you."

"Why do you not want me to go?" I ask softly.

"Because you. You have an odd relationship with the Kaze-kage."

"The Kaze-kage?"

"Yes. Sabaku no Gaara and you seem to be quite fond of one another."

"Gaara."

"Yes. The newest and my I say one of the youngest Kaze-kage's. I may not know exactly what has happened between you two. But I do not want you to cause problems."

"Why would I cause problems?"

"Of course you wouldn't intentionally. But the Kaze-kage has been doing well. He hasn't caused any trouble and his village is changing for the better. If you were to say anything that would upset him. Well... he could slip."

"Mom! I'm home!" I call.

"Lace." she rudely addresses slipping into the room. She's been getting worse. She found out what Vague's been up to from another mother and then Vague moved out so I'm stuck with her left over hostility.

"Dammit Lace. Your hairs a disaster." she always makes comments like this now. I've changed a lot since Gaara left. My hair finally grew out, now it reaches my back. My body finally got use to my constant runs, leaving me capable and lean. And I made have grown a few inches! My parents think I'm crazy, but I know that I grew. I'm still fairly short though. Vague and my parents stopped growing when they were sixteen or eighteen which isn't that much different than normal. But I stopped at eleven!

"No it's not." I grumble.

"Yes it is, go brush it." she orders.

"Mom nobody cares about my hair." I tell her. Then I go upstairs to pack.

We meet our charge at the gate. My bag is tightly placed against my back and my excitement is heavy in my stomach.

"Hey, shorty." Sy laughs adopting the nickname my sister gave me. "Day dreaming are we?"

"What makes you think that?" I distantly ask making his point.

"She talking to herself again?" Harano snorts joining are party.

"No just daydreaming." Sy corrects.

"Lace can't you ever focus?" Harano scolds.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited to see Gaara again." I admit aloud. Harano snorts again.

"Do you really..." Sy begins to doubt but a call interrupts him.

"Lace!" Vague shouts running down to me. I only turn to look at her because I haven't heard her call me by my real name in years. "Lace, I was fighting with our mother and the most peculiar thing happened, I ran as fast as I could to tell you, but at first I didn't know where you were so I felt out you know? But we usually can't feel each other, but for some reason I could feel Sy's and Harano's, which is normal, but there was a gap in between like it repelled there's."

"Vague get to your point, what did you need to tell me?"

"Oh, when I was talking with mom I bumped into her nightstand and it feel down. And these came out of it." she hands me a thick amount of envelops with a ribbon around them.

"What are they?"

"Well, their addressed to you. And half of them have the Kaze-kage's seal. So I assume they're from Gaara."