Many thanks for the feedback. It really means a lot! Slight language and a bit of violence up ahead, just in case anyone's a little queasy.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its character, setting, and plot belong to their respective owners. This was created out of pure entertainment.

Chapter II: Mocking Bright Stars

"Wait!"

Temari awoke roughly to the sound of some owls hooting. For a minute the blonde kunoichi forgot where she was, but after seeing the tall green trees of Konoha, everything drew back to her.

Sighing to herself, the contents of her dream were quickly forgotten. It was more of a memory to be exact, a rather scary one since her heart was beating rapidly and goose bumps crawled all over her skin. But now the dream was forgotten, so what was the use in trying to remember it?

I'm supposed to keep watch, not falling asleep, she scowled at herself. Imagine if someone had come by, when they had their defensives down?

But the grasshoppers chirped merrily in the grass, while an owl hooted off in the distance giving off no feelings of danger. Despite what had happened a few hours ago, things were looking tranquil, and maybe the return home would run smoothly. Looking up at the forest sky, she gazed at the bright twinkles of the starry sky. It seemed so odd at that moment that anything could shine that brightly, especially after their failure. Almost as though the very cosmos were laughing at them; they were Suna's best, after all. Every mission was supposed to be a success, right?

Glaring at the stars, Temari sat down next to the fire, feeding the dying embers with some twigs Kankurou had brought back.

That's when she heard it. It was more like something stepping on leaves.

Pulling out a kunai, she approached the sound carefully until she reached the almost invisible string that Kankurou had set as a trap. Basically a dull set of strings covered the area; thus whenever the enemy would approach, there would be a dull ring signaling them that someone was near.

But as she inspected the trap, everything was perfectly in place. No one was approaching them.

And there it was! That crushing sound; judging from how it moved, it was heading her direction.

Whatever it was, it was close to their camp. Without a second thought, she threw the kunai at the oncoming thing.

And gasped out loud.

It was just a white rabbit.

I got all scared over a fucking rabbit! She thought angrily to herself, putting her hand in her heart to keep it from beating so fast. This night was just making her paranoid that was it! Usually she would be able to tell the difference between animal footsteps and humans.

What was that?

Thump. Thump.

Instantly her sharp ears sprung up to the location of the source.

Don't tell me this is another rabbit!

But as she listened closely to the fall of the footsteps, it was definitely a human being. Maybe it was a person that was lost in the woods, after all no ninja would be so loud. Either way she couldn't take a chance with that. Pulling out another kunai from her pocket she braced herself for the incomer.

Thump. Thump.

The footsteps were getting closer.

Pressing her ear on the ground, she felt the dull vibrations of the ground moving. A quick calculation and she could tell that the person was about 100 feet away, and it wasn't just one person.

Can't take any chances of being seen, she thought to herself, dashing back to the campsite. Kankurou was still asleep and Gaara was still unconscious, maybe she could deal this without waking them up. Walking over to the dying embers, she threw some dirt on it, instantly killing the small fire. Now the entire place was surrounded in darkness.

Temari waited for a few seconds with the source of fire gone, the person would have no reason to approach them. Or so she thought.

Thump. Thump.

The person was still coming their way, obviously the person wasn't lost. She couldn't handle this by herself.

"Kankurou," she whispered to her brother. He simply continued sleeping. "Wake up you idiot!" she said kicking him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he winced in pain, immediately waking up to the dark forest. He could see his sister's silhouette form in a battle position. Survival skills kicked in immediatly.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. But listen."

Thump. Thump.

Sleep was long gone as he realized what it was that was coming their way. "How many?"

"Two I think," Temari said moving her eyes to the trap that Kankurou had set up as her evidence. He pulled out his own kunai trying to bite back the pain that came with having to bend his fingers to the cold metal.

"Get Gaara. We have to move fast," she whispered.

Crack!

"The footsteps are getting louder. Hurry and get Gaara we have to move quickly!" There was the sound of fast running.

In a dash Kankurou walked to the unconscious form of his brother. Just as he was about to put his arm around Gaara's unconscious form, he heard a kunai flying through the air. It was cancelled out by one of Temari's own kunai.

"Hurry up Kankurou!" Temari yelled out, fear evident in her voice. It was then that she realized the gravity of the situation. The enemy had all the advantage here, not only did they have the element of surprise, but they knew the land much better, so darkness wouldn't be that much of an issue.

They jumped back in the high trees not exactly knowing where they were going.

The enemy knew however, since just like that more kunai were being thrown at them.

Apparently the enemy was being quiet as they neared their campsite; all of a sudden there was the loud crashing of moving ninjas. Tree branches broke and the heavy thud of jumping on trees, echoed in the air. Followed by a swoosh of flying kunai.

Drawing her fan, Temari threw a quick wave of wind, causing the kunai to miss their target.

"You go on ahead!" Temari said falling behind from her brothers.

"But Temari?"

"Damnit Kankurou, I'm you big sister you have to listen to me, got it?" she said angrily. "I'll catch up! Now hurry!" she called out waving her fan again and throwing the kunai on the forest floor.

Kankurou didn't argue there was no time for it. "You know I won't leave you behind!"

"Sure, just get out of here!" she said grinning at him. He nodded and continued to dash holding tightly onto Gaara.

Exhausted from the long run, Kankurou finally stopped in a small closing of trees. Gently putting Gaara on the ground, he looked at his own hands. They were still in bad shape and he knew right then that his chakra strings wouldn't last too long if he had to battle.

But what about Temari?

He heard her call out Kamaitachi no Jutsu, follow by the falling of tree logs as the chakra-created-vortex cut everything in its path. But was it enough?

He sighed. After all who would have thought they'd be in this mess? Moving his head up at the small spot of sky, he noticed the starry sky.

"Who would have thought this would happen, eh Gaara?" Kankurou asked to his unconscious brother. "Me and Temari risking our neck to save you," he laughed somewhat to himself. Gaara was practically invincible after all.

Kankurou waited for a few minutes in the darkness. Not sure whether he should go looking for Temari. After all how effective would it be to search for someone in the dark, and not to mention he doubt whether he'd be able to come back to this spot. He could go on ahead? But that was thrown in the back of his mind. There was no way he was leaving without Temari.

And so he listened in the darkness for anyone approaching.

Thump!

Automatically he threw a kunai at the sound.

"Relax it's me."

"Who?"

"Temari, you idiot!" Temari said huffing from having run so far. As she approached the moonlight, he saw the outline of her four pigtails.

"How do I know it's you?" Kankurou asked narrowing his eyes at her.

"When you were six you purposely set Baki's turban on fire" she said sitting down on the floor. She looked over at Gaara's form, how he was still unconscious after all this she would never know.

"Alright so it is you then," Kankurou replied crossing his arms and sitting right next to her. She grinned at her that typical smile she gives to everyone.

"I think we lost them," she said huffing some more. "After I used my Kamaitachi no Jutsu they stopped their attack. I guess Konoha's shinobi aren't so tough after all," she grinned to her brother.

"Yeah but were lost!" he repeated looking around the forest.

"I think I have a map of the—AAGH!"

"Temari!" he yelled out. Turning his gaze to his sister, he watched in horror as he saw a silent needle stabbed deeply into her left arm.

"Fuck! I'm fine," she yelled out as she pulled the needle out from her arm, blood oozing. She threw her own kunai at the source, but only heard the knife hit a tree.

"Where are they?"

"They must have gotten ahead of us!"

"But how did they manage to get pass…" she paused looking in horror.

They must have gotten passed her when she had fallen asleep. Those shinobi that she just fought were probably nothing but fakes. She could have kicked herself then. How could she have fallen asleep when the lives of her and her brother have depended on her?

"Let's go," Kankurou said bending over to pick up Gaara. He so much as touched Gaara as he heard a heavy thud of people falling down into the forest floor. Both siblings looked over their shoulders to view five animal masked shinobi dressed in black and grey armor carrying a katana on their back. Through the moonlight, they could view spiral tattoos on their left arm.

It was Konoha's ANBU.

"Well if it isn't the Sand ninja?" the leader said stepping ahead of the group. He was wearing a white wolves' mask, but judging from his voice he was probably smirking at them. "You're not so tough now? Are you? As when you were during the Chunin exams. Back then you seemed so overconfident of yourselves; I guess our ninjas showed you. Because no matter what happened in the end, we still beat you. So why don't you come in quietly?"

"You should know Suna shinobi's are not easy to capture," Temari said to the leader, holding the wound in her arm. Pain surged up her brain at the cut flesh.

"We'll see then girl," the leader said, motioning his team to spread around them each of them drawing a weapon.

Drawing out their own weapons, the Suna shinobi gazed at the enemy that was before them. Without a doubt any ANBU from any village would be powerful enough, and to make matters worst there were five of them.

"I'll handle this," Temari said to Kankurou, opening her enormous fan to show the three violet moons.

Fūsajin no Jutsu!

Temari waved the gigantic fan to create gusts of dicing winds mixed in with sand. The leader stared incredibly at the Sand shinobi, they were wearing masks and there was no way she could disable them by 'throwing sand in their eyes.' All at once, the ANBU jumped up into the air each one of them throwing a weapon in her direction. The wind managed them to throw the flying kunai off course, but the justu did not damage one of the ANBU, instead her own body cried out in exhaustion and in pain.

Releasing Karasu from his bandages, Kankurou muttered a quick Kugutsu no Jutsu. And watched as thin blue chakra strings started to emerge from his fingertips. There was no doubt in his mind that the strings wouldn't be able to move so far, like they normally do.

"Kankurou you can't," Temari called outraged. His fingers were not healed yet, and by releasing chakra strings it would only take longer for them to heal.

"And leave you here to die? I'm not going to leave you behind!"

As the ANBU were left momentarily in the sky, Kankurou took the advantage of throwing of detaching one of Karasu's arms. The arm bent over backwards and a sea of sharp kunai came to greet the masked ninja. But they were prepared for this, throwing their own kunai the weapons clashed with one another and fell down on opposite ends. What they weren't prepared was that the marionette's other arm opened up behind them, gushing out more weapons than before.

A yelp of pain was heard as though that couldn't dodge it got hit. This was not all that was stored for them, as the remaining ANBU fell down back to the ground; they were taken by complete surprise and slipped as though they were walking on ice. The ground was covered in some slippery sand making it seem as though soap was spread.

Kamaitachi no Jutsu!

She called out while the enemy was covering from the surprise. A strong windstorm sliced through the remaining four ANBU members, roughly gathering them up into the chakra created tornado. Trapped within the vortex, sharp chakra blades begin to cut clothing and skin. It didn't last more than a few seconds, but the vortex subsided and the remaining four ANBU fell numbly on the floor. Karasu threw more blades at the numb bodies that dared to get up.

Breathing heavily, Temari put down her fan to hold out her left arm. The pain on her left arm had gotten even worse as she was holding her gigantic fan not only that a dull ache began to form in her temple.

"You alright?" Kankurou asked as he noticed Temari holding her head.

"Yeah, I think so," she said, closing her fan. "We have to get going. They'll be waking up soon."

He nodded and with a quick snap of his fingers Karasu was wrapped up back in his bandage.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Who would have thought that sound would bring a cold chill up their spin? Carefully Kankurou and Temari turned around to the empty forest floor.

"Shit!" Kankurou thought spinning his head around to the tall trees. "They were clones! We were playing into a trap!"

"Huh?" Temari blinked her teal eyes, holding her arm tighter. Things were becoming hazy and it was becoming harder and harder to think.

"That's right. We, Leaf shinobi, aren't that easy to fool," came the voice of the masked wolf's shinobi.

"Uh…" Temari gasped holding her arm even harder, blood trickling through her fingers. Her breathing was becoming more uneven and she was heavily sweating.

"You're not so confidence now, are you?" the leader said once again.

"Shut up!" Kankurou yelled back angrily, throwing a kunai in the direction where the voice came from. Another one came zooming back heading towards Temari.

"Temari! Move!" Kankurou yelled out. She couldn't even hear him, everything sounded so faint and distant. She held her arm even tighter, and felt her body being moved away.

"Don't just stand there!" Kankurou called angrily after using his chakra strings to move her out of harms way, but the anger was gone and replaced with fear as he saw her pale sickly face through the moonlight. She didn't respond, but stared at him for a few moments and then turned to view the unconscious form of Gaara.

The ANBU came out of the hidden trees and slowly approached the siblings.

Kankurou drew back approaching Gaara, Temari moving along with Kankurou's chakra strings just like a puppet. He pulled out another kunai as he was watched the ANBU took their time approaching. His fingers started to tickle in that feeling that signal he was almost out of chakra.

"If you withdraw we promise we won't kill you," the leader said realizing the young shinobi's situation.

Give up? That wasn't an option in his view. He looked around his surroundings. Large thick trees prevented him from getting away, even if he wanted. And if he did somehow manage to get pass them, the forest beyond was getting thicker and thicker making it difficult to see anything at all.

"C'mon Gaara! Wake up! We need you!" Kankurou said looking down at his closed black eyes. He could feel the chakra strings becoming thinner, making Temari slowly slouch down.

He gulped, they were getting closer. And just as things couldn't get worse, his last hope blew away.

The chakra strings gave out all together and Temari dropped down to the floor like a puppet.

"Temari!" he called out to her noticing how she kept holding her arm. Along with the mixture of her blood, there was something foreign on her tanned skin. It was poison. Shit! The blade that hit her was poisoned! This was all a trap! Everything! From the time we heard the footsteps! They were trying to lead us here!

"It's over!" the wolf's masked shinobi said.

No it can't be over! There's no way---

By the time that the ANBU surrounded them, it was too late. Temari and Gaara were unconscious, while Kankurou couldn't even use Karasu with his messed up fingers even if he wanted to. He dropped his kunai on the floor and stared at the Leaf ninjas remorse written all over his face, but what else could be done?

"Alright, just don't hurt my siblings. I... I... withdraw," he said spitting out the words as though they were venom. He looked at the grassy floor, wishing more than anything that maybe those ANBU would change their mind and kill him in the spot. His pride was suffering a major blow right now and he didn't like the feeling at all.

"That's a good boy," the leader said. And then in a flash, one of the ANBU dash towards him hitting him squarely on the back of the head. As things became hazy he peered up at the starry night sky.

The stars were shining bright tonight.

As if mocking them, 'So this is how it's going to end? And they called themselves Suna's best?'

A/N: Ooo, another cliffhanger! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, simply because of all the drama involved. Well I hope you enjoyed reading it as well. Until then.

--Mel