AN: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, only my OC's…wait I don't have any OC's, they're all my co-authors *sigh*. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

AN: Guess what guys? MADARA! Well...technically and technically not. But I guess you'll have to read to see what I mean. MWHAHAHAHA...cough...hahaha...cough.

Masked Affections

A Naruto FanFiction

Chapter 13: Red Clouds

"I understand..." Dawn replies, feeling let down, even though she know she shouldn't. It is then that Gaara smiles a bit, a twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm not making you leave because someone attacked. That's not your fault. I'm asking you to leave to go train in the Leaf village with a well known and respected family." Gaara explains.

"What? Who?" She almost shouts, surprised.

"Kazekage, there's also one other thing I noticed when I was working and caring for Dawn." The man from earlier, beside her bed, stands beside Gaara now, patient.

"Yes?" Gaara inquires.

"I found a genjutsu that had been placed on her." He answered, but seemed to withold something more.

"Then why not remove it?" Gaara questioned, curious.

"Because it wasn't from the fight with the sound ninja." He replies.

"What is it from then?" Gaara ponders.

"It's from a very long time ago, might have been a few years or more even, it's hard to tell exactly since it's been there too long. It's also a restraining one. It makes her forget or not notice certain things." He strained the last bit.

"Ah, I see. Well go ahead and remove it, if that's okay with you Dawn." Gaara nods.

"That's fine..." Dawn replies, a bit confused, but mostly curious.

It is then when he realeases it that she remembers. She knows why she could see through the storm, and she knows why she's going to Konoha. "I can't believe I didn't think of it before... I'm sorry that I assumed the worst..." She trailed, guilty for mistrusting him.

"It's alright, I understand. I'm sure you'll trust me more in time. I'm glad you're back to your old self."

She is still surprised at what she remembers. Most of her time at the sound was masked in this genjutsu. She remembers the man who attacked as Kabuto, and remembers the name he mentioned, Orochimaru. She even remembers the reason why they probably wanted her back.

"Gaara..." She begins, nervous, but trying to make up for mistrusting him, she knows she has to tell him.

"Yes Dawn?" He asks calmly.

"First off, the man who attacked me was named Kabuto. He was sent here by Orochimaru, the technical Kage of the Sound. He wanted me in part for what happened in the storm but for other reasons." She began. "I'm not just gifted with the Bayukagan from the Hyuuga, but also with another lineage."

"Continue..."

"I'm also an Uchiha. My other eye is the Sharingan, though I haven't unlocked it yet." Dawn finishes.

"I see. That is most impressive. But right now we'll stick to just one training, since you've managed to unlock the Bayukagan first. Perhaps in time we will train you with Kakashi, since he is the closest we have to an Uchiha at the moment."

Dawn nods, "I will send you off to the Leaf tomorrow. I will have to stay here, but other than an escort, Neji Hyuuga will be training you and watching you after that." Gaara explains, and Dawn nods again, heading off to get ready.

At Konoha, A Day Later

"Hi I'm Dawn, and I'm guessing you are Neji Hyuuga, nice to meet you." Dawn extends her hand, but Neji just glares, silent and simply wanders off to the training ground.

Dawn looks a bit surprised, but then again the Hyuuga's were never much for crossing Clan boundries, and she was a big crossing of two big families. She'd just have to make sure that she was kind and patient, so as to not make another enemy like Javan; though if it came to it, she was sure she could send Valiant to Gaara with a message to maybe switch to another member of the Hyuugas that wasn't so arrogant about things like that.

A week or so passes, and even though she learns a bit, and is patient with Neji, he in turn, is not patient with her. He is demanding, strict and doesn't give any pointers or show her anything, he simply tells her what to do, and she must do it exactly as he says.

She composes the letter for Gaara, simply asking for a change to another teacher. In a few days she recieves conformation that Gaara understands and is giving her another Hyuuga to teach her, though there is no name included.

The next day she meets her teacher outside on the training grounds, "Hello I'm Dawn."

"I know we've met before, at the festival, even if only for a moment or so. We walked back to Suna with you." She replied.

"Of course, Hinata! How glad am I to see you again." Dawn sighs, relieved. Gaara had really managed it well this time.

Hinata smiles softly, "Let's get to training, shall we?"

Two weeks later...

Dawn's escort, Temari, couldn't be more happy to be in Konoha again, and by Suna, she wasn't gonna walk back alone, even after a full two weeks here. She had even asked Gaara for an escort back, and even though she began with the kidnapping and how boring it was, he immediatly agreed, though she couldn't help but notice it was a bit too quickly, and there was a mischevious look in his eyes.

When she arrived at the gates, Shikamaru stood waiting for her. She knew it wasn't a coincedence and couldn't help but thank her brother in her head for this one. She hadn't been able to find him this whole time, and she couldn't help but have missed him.

"Hi pineapple head, glad to see me?" She asked as he followed, walking her back.

"Actually yes." He admitted, still staring at the clouds.

Temari was a bit surprised, "I didn't think you would."

"Well I kinda hoped that Gaara would figure something out." Shikamaru shrugged.

"You two planned this didn't you?" Temari accused.

"No, not really. I just asked to be placed on a mission with you the next time he had a chance. He didn't even ask why, which kinda surprised me, but it was a relief to not have to explain to your brother our..uh..." He wasn't sure how to end it, after all, they had only kissed, not exactly agreed to a courtship.

"Relationship." She finished and entangled her hand in his.

Shikamaru was covered in a light blush. "Yah relationship." He agreed, and they walked for a while.

Back in Konoha, Dawn was finishing up her training, she had learned basic technics, and would mainly have to practice using the Bayukagan, just not overusing it. When she got to the gates Temari had already left, but the guards said it wasn't too long ago, and she promised to catch up to them.

They nodded, figuring if she really wanted to run, she already would have. Dawn took off, deciding to use Bayukagan after a little running to see if she could spot them.

"I guess we can just camp out for now and leave in the morning, we've already made good time." Shikamaru suggested, and Temari nodded. They set up camp quickly, making sure the tent was secure.

Temari, after finally getting settled, simply pulled Shikamaru close to her and pulled his arms around her. She wasn't about to be warm by fire if she didn't have to.

She knew Shikamaru was blushing, but frankly, didn't care, "Goodnight Temari."

"Goodnight pineapple head." She answered and gave him a quick peck before turning back over.

Morning came all to quick, and they packed up the tent and started heading out. It was then that they heard voices from a small forest on the edge of the desert.

Dawn, meanwhile, was starting to catch up, having traveled through the night. She could see Temari and Shikamaru in the distance, having only used Bayukagan at night to see which way they had gone, and to see if she had caught up.

Temari and Shikamaru moved up to some rocks and peered into the clearing and saw a very strange sight indeed.

Dawn walked up and made them aware of her, and they simply held a finger to their lips in a 'shhh' sign. Dawn nodded and looked also. She quickly muttered, "Byakugan." So as to better see what was going on.

A strange man with a half white, half black face, with strange plant like leaves around him talked to another man. The other was wearing a orange, lollipop like mask, and both had black cloaks with red clouds on them.

"Akatsuki." Temari whispered.

"Not any that I've heard of. They look...kinda weird..." Shikamaru added quietly.

"I wish we could hear what they're saying..." Dawn started, then sat up a bit, focused on the man in the orange mask.

"What is it?" Temari asked in hushed tones.

"That's strange..." Dawn started.

"What!" Shikamaru said a bit too loud, and of course both shushed him immediatly.

The plant looked their way a bit, and so did the lollipop man, though the plant said something and the other shrugged.

"The one in the mask...he has a..." Dawn began, but stopped, making sure to be quiet.

Because, though the plant had started walking away, the lollipop man stared at a moment, directly at Dawn, as if into her soul.

He turned and left, "Sharingan." She breathed out, not even realizing that she was holding her breath. There was one other thing she hadn't realized, and that was just who that man really was.

AN: Aren't you guys happy? It's Madara! Well...Tobi really, but don't worry. Don't forget this is AU still, and this was created right around when the Pein fight in Konoha had just finished in the anime. And I don't read the manga, so don't worry about that. I have watched it further, but this story isn't changing just because the anime did. It is AU after all.

AN: How does Dawn have both Bayukagan and Sharingan? Where was that genjutsu from and who did it? Why was Neji so arrogant? What were the Akatsuki doing? What were they talking about? Why does one have Sharingan? Did he see them there? Did he not care? And why is there a plant man and a guy wearing a lollipop? And most important, does it taste like oranges? What will happen next? Stay tuned for the next installment of Masked Affections!