With my new vision, I watched in awe as both men radiated in a beautiful fluorescent glow. I even felt new chakra pumping through my own veins, fueled by my anger. Was this what Kakashi saw when he looked at me through his Sharingan?

My heart beat noisily in my ears, and ignoring it, I realized I could clearly hear the three other pounding hearts in the room. They smelt of death, blood, and fear.

Deidara scowled down at me, his eyes a mix of confusion and hate. The criminal gawked at me as recognition flickered into his face.

"Uchiha . . ." the blonde murmured. Tobi looked over to his superior, silently awaiting an order behind his orange mask.

"Boss . . . this could get ugly. You don't have a good history with those eyes."

"Nonsense, baka!" Deidara hissed back, "This girl is not even a threat, yeah. Uchiha or not, Sharingan or not, she's nothing like Itachi, and therefore as easily disposable as that demon!"

"Stop calling him a demon!" I roared, "I'll never forgive you for what you did to Gaara! I'll kill you both for this!"

"Go ahead and try, girl!" he scoffed, throwing back his robes to reach into his pockets.

. Taking off into a sprint, I rushed at Deidara, pulling out a kunai in each hand.

I saw him open his palms, exposing four small chakra-laden birds in each hand, throwing them up in the air. Did he know I could see his every move in slow motion? It was effortless to predict his movements and realize that he would use the birds to prevent me from reaching him, a long-range fighter.

I easily darted around and out of the way of the birds as they dived at me one by one. He detonated each as they neared me, the explosions barely scorching my skin as I rushed past.

I was only a few yards away from the blonde when a figure jumped up from underground right before my feet. I leapt away just in time to miss several quick kunai swipes from Tobi. He followed my retreat, stepping forward as I stepped back, swiping at me so quickly I hardly had time to react. Finally a sharp pain in my leg screamed that I had been stabbed. I inhaled deeply to hold back a scream as Tobi deftly twisted the knife in deeper. We stood face to face, his black eye hole staring emotionlessly into mine.

There was a loud growl as a gray blur passed before my eyes, throwing itself onto the criminal. Toboe took a huge bite of Tobi's arm, latching onto him as the man shouted in pain. Blood seeped down to the ground and I could swear I heard the cracking of bones. Tobi shook his arm wildly, trying to throw the wolf off, but he held on tight.

Deidara cursed and shouted to Tobi to hurry up and get rid of the mutt. I grasped the kunai in my leg and gritting my teeth, I pulled it out with a hiss of pain. I didn't even bother to look at the wound – I knew I was alive, and with Tobi distracted, I could more easily get to Deidara. Tobi had called him "boss", therefore, Gaara's death was mostly the grinning blonde's fault.

But how could I get to him? I couldn't run now because of my leg, so quick attacks were out of the question.

I closed my eyes to concentrate, and saw a flash of crimson among swirls of black. A strange sensation hit me. My eyes. They were the key to everything, weren't they? I suddenly realized what power was held in them. I understood the secret of how to use these eyes, as if it was simply instinct. My eyes had the power to control, the power to kill the body through killing the mind. I knew how to use them!

I blocked out the noise of Tobi's shouts, blocked out the pain throbbing through my injured leg. Opening my eyes slowly, my steady gaze met Deidara's cold eyes, and I effortlessly captured his mind into a dream, which seemed to take its own course once it had begun.

xxx

The blonde missing-nin looked around wearily at the dreary landscape I had provided him. The sky was red and swirling with black clouds, and a tall dark forest loomed ahead of him.

He cursed under his breath. "I thought I had trained myself not to fall for these tricks." An image of myself appeared before him, staring angrily into his defiant eyes.

"You killed him," I heard myself say, "And I'm sure you've killed others. You deserve to die, and now I can carry out that punishment."

Sudden fear flickered into his face before he composed himself again.

"You don't even know what you're doing," he scoffed. "Compared to Uchiha Itachi, your Sharingan is a joke. A waste of art, yeah. I don't fear you, girl!" He yelled that last bit, yet I could see it in his face that he was panicked.

I felt the genjutsu begin to adjust itself, changing the storyline. A twig snapped in the forest behind me. I stood solemnly watching Deidara's face as he stepped back, reaching into his pockets only to realize there was no clay.

"You are defenseless here," I said, and caught his terrified gaze. Soft footsteps neared and a dozen dark forms emerged from the woods. I didn't have to look to know what they were, because the depths of my mind had formed them. Twelve black wolves, as large as horses, padded up to my side. Their fangs were bared and their fur was streaked in maroon under the red sky. The nearest one looked to me obediently, showing off a devilish toothy grin.

"Goodbye, Deidara," I whispered. Twelve masses of black shot toward the man. He tried to run, only taking a few steps before the beasts attacked. That was when he began screaming and pleading. I turned away, trying to shut it out.

Just because he deserved to die didn't mean I had to enjoy it.

As my mind slipped back into my body, I heard Toboe barking, then a whimper, then a thud. No, I thought, Toboe must have been hit.

Xxx

Sudden pain. I was standing back in the cave, the dim light letting me distinguish the blurry orange mask inches from my face. I slowly looked down at the knife lodged in my stomach.

He snickered. "Hey boss, I –" Tobi looked back to see Deidara's body fall to the ground. "Noooo! Boss!" He turned to run over there, pulling out the deeply imbedded kunai as he left. Gasping in pain and clutching my bleeding stomach, I slid to my knees, finally falling down on my side.

A familiar nose poked its way under my elbow. Toboe lay down next to me, whining softly. I could smell the fresh cuts on his fur, mingling with the scent of my own blood.

I didn't know if I succeeded in killing Deidara. But did it really matter? The body of my husband lay just yards away from me, but I couldn't even muster up the strength to crawl to him.

Hot tears stung my eyes as I realized I couldn't even see his face one more time. He didn't deserve this . . .

"Deidara, noo! You were a good boss, why'd you have to die?"

Ah, so I had killed him. Well, Gaara, you died, and I'll die soon, but at least I took your murderer down with me.

The thumping of footsteps told me Tobi was racing towards me. Here it comes, I thought grimly. I just hoped he wouldn't kill Toboe as well.

BOOM. An explosion shook the cave as bright light flooded in. A small avalanche fell from one of the walls, deafeningly loud. Through my tear-blurred vision, I saw brilliant rays of sunlight that filled the room, and stepping up onto the pile of rocks, were ten figures of glistening blue chakra.

There was a moment of silence where I assumed Tobi was weighing the outcome if a battle was to ensue. He cautiously stepped into my line of sight.

"I'll get you some other time, remember that," he said before whirling into the ground.

More footsteps and distant shouts.

I was lifted up into someone's arms, and carried outside into the sun. "No, wait," I mumbled, trying to wiggle out of the grip.

"What is it?" a familiar man's voice answered, continuing to carry me away. No, I had to stay with Gaara!

"Stop, Gaara is in there!" My voice was hoarse as I tried not to sob. The man leapt into a swift run, and the wind rushed in my ears.

"Yes, we know, Seluni, we've brought him and your wolf along. We have to get away from the Akatsuki lair, in case they return." Whose voice was that? My thought process had slowed down due to the pain and my exhaustion.

After some time the man slowed to a stop and gently lowered me to the ground. More footfalls told me that the others had stopped as well.

"Alright, place him here. No, leave him on his back. Sakura, you know the regulation. The fatally wounded least likely to die is treated first."

"I know, Kakashi, I'll get started now," a female voice said. Kakashi, so that's who it was! The Konoha ninja had rescued us. Well, rescued me. I forced myself not to look at Gaara.

A shadow fell over me as Sakura, laced in bright chakra, knelt down next to me. I remembered her face, now scrunched in concentration as she placed her hands over my stomach. I felt a strange heat fill the area, and then numbness washed over me. My mind was peaceful as I experienced the strange sensation of having my internal organs healed through chakra.

After a few minutes the numbness began to fade away as Sakura finished up on my leg. So she saved me, I thought groggily, But that's only because they went to help Gaara. I was simply the least fatally wounded – WAIT!

I sat up suddenly, the blood rushing to my head. Ignoring Sakura's yelp of surprise, I spotted Gaara's body a few yards away. Sure enough, there was a very faint glow of slowly swirling chakra in him.

Impossible, I thought, could he be . . . alive?

Sakura tried to push me back down. "What are you doing?!" I shouted, "Heal Gaara! He needs help, I'm fine!" She nodded and rushed over to his side.

I crawled next to her, not taking my eyes off his face. I held my breath as Sakura's green healing chakra pumped into his body, aiding his dying heart and forcing life back into his body.

He woke up with a deep gasp.

"Yes!" Sakura shouted, continuing the healing process. I, on the other hand, burst into fresh tears and threw my arms around his neck.

"Oh, Gaara, Gaara, you're alive!"

"Thank you," I said softly to Sakura, running my hands through his hair, "Thank you so much,"

I leaned back to look at his face. His eyes flickered, then opened, squinting in the sunlight. They locked onto mine and confusion clouded his gaze.

"S- Seluni?" Just hearing his low voice again was a miracle. I looked down into those beautiful aqua green eyes and that clear placid face.

"Gaara, you came to rescue me," I murmured.

"You look so different."

"I don't know what happened back there. But I- I thought you were dead."

He lifted one hand to stroke my cheek. "I finally found you. I was so afraid for you . . ." his hand reached around to my neck and he pulled me in, kissing me deeply.

"Whew, let's keep this G – rated, you two." Sakura snickered, still out of breath from the healing process.

Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. "Excellent work, Sakura, you saved the life of the Kazekage and his wife. Ano, Seluni, please stand up."

I squeezed Gaara's weak hand and stood to face our rescuers. There was Temari, silently crying, and Kankuro with his arm around her. Aside from them and Kakashi, I didn't know the other four ninja there, but the lot of them were now staring at me in awe.

"What is this . . ." said one boy with white eyes. A man in a green jumpsuit jumped in front of me, placing his face inches from mine. I slowly leaned away, freaked out from his close proximity.

"Um . . ." I began, when he shouted, "KAKASHI-MY-RIVAL!! This girl indeed has the Sharingan! What does this mean?!"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well, Gui, I thought it was kinda obvious."

"HA-HA-HA! I was just testing you!! This girl is obviously a member of the UCHIHA CLAN!" I winced at his loud voice.

"Okay," said the boy with white eyes, "Then why does she have markings like Kiba's?" I inadvertently touched my face. Where's a mirror when you need one?

Approaching footsteps indicated the arrival of two more people. Leaping down from the trees appeared a flash of orange and blue; Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto yelped when he saw us, running straight to Gaara, who was sitting up now. As he jabbed on about his amazing feats while saving him, Sasuke approached Kakashi.

"The area is clear," he said, "We ran a five mile perimeter, which gives us about twenty minutes of rest." He paused as he realized that no one was really paying attention; he wasn't used to that. Following everyone's eyes to me, he looked as if he hadn't realized I was there.

There was a stretched moment of silence where we stared at each other, and I watched his face change from shock, to confusion, to anger. His hands fisted and he took a step forward.

"Who are you? Why do you have the Sharingan?!" He closed in on me as he spoke, until I was backed up against a tree. I just stared into his furious red eyes. How could I explain what I didn't understand?

"Answer me!" he shouted, grabbing my arm. I winced and tried to struggle away.

"Sasuke . . ." began Naruto cautiously. The black haired boy whipped his head around to his companion.

"You stay the hell out of this," he spat, "If she's an Uchiha than she has explaining to do!" He turned back to me with his fiery glare. I looked pitifully over to the others, but it seemed like none of them were about to interfere.

Kakashi finally stepped towards us, putting his hands up gingerly. "Calm down, Sasuke. Seluni doesn't know anything about her past. I'm sure she's as surprised as you are that she has the Sharingan. Believe me, we would have told you immediately had any of us known."

Sasuke looked at the ground, and then released his arm. I breathed a sigh of relief. His fist suddenly collided with the tree next to my head.

"That's not good enough!" He shouted. "Tell me who you are!"

"Get away from her," Gaara appeared at my side. He glared evilly at Sasuke, but I could feel him leaning his weight onto me. He must still be weak. Sakura hasn't finished healing him then.

"Seluni will answer your questions when she sees fit." He was shaking slightly, so I took his hand to help support him. Feeling his skin on mine once more gave me the strength to support him. I looked to his face, seeing beads of sweat form on his brow. His chakra had strengthened only just enough to keep his alive. How far was he pushing his body to defend me?

Sasuke stared back defiantly at Gaara, his glowing red eyes testing Gaara's strength. With his Sharingan, he must have seen how weak the Kazekage was now. Sasuke looked angry enough to attack him.

Everyone held their breath as we watched the two best scowlers in the world facing off. I gripped Gaara's hand, hoping to give him some confidence. Who would crack first under the pressure?

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N – I know I'm a horrible person to keep giving out cliffhangers. Don't hate me!

Grapefruit.ninja – I can't tell you yet what her bloodline is, but it's not one that naturally appears in the manga. I hope that's a hint!

10Join-Fei – The only reason I can give you for Tobi rather than Sasori is that Tobi is such a cute character – more fun to write! I figured Sasori could have been killed before this all happens (too many loopholes in the story, I know!)

Thank you all so so much for your reviews! I absolutely love them! Feel free to ask questions/make suggestions!