Chapter 4

To the Sand

"Just…be careful," I sighed, pulling my brother into a hug.

Noah rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be fine, ok?"

I pulled away, smiled a sad smile, and ruffled his hair.

I hope so…

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to find that it was Naruto.

"Don't worry," he grinned. "We'll take good care of him."

I smiled slightly, hugged him, and whispered, "You better…for my sanity…and everyone else's…"

Naruto pulled away and nodded seriously, understanding how I felt.

"We'll be back soon," Kakashi reassured me.

And with that, after a brief wave, they were gone.

…

Once I was let into the Nara's property, I slowly made my way over towards their house with Angel scampering far ahead.

After Kakashi and his team had left, I had gone home and before playing some videogames, changed into some more comfortable clothes; a long, red, slim-fit T-shirt with the words Blink 182 in big black splatter paint font, black mid-thigh shorts, black baseball knee highs, and a pair of black Converse. It wasn't long, however, before I realized that playing videogames reminded me of my brother more than ever. Frustrated, I left the condo and headed towards Shikamaru's residence, thinking that he'd have some idea of what I could do. I figured that if I were to be distracted, then I wouldn't be thinking about the mission my brother had just gone on.

The longer I had my mind off of Noah, the better.

I suddenly tripped over something and fell face first into the grass, earning myself a snicker from my dog and the person I had tripped over. Why I hadn't noticed them with Angel well ahead of me to warn me, I'll never know. I guess I was too busy buried in my own psychological distress.

Groaning, I looked up to see that Shikamaru was the one who was laughing and the person that I had tripped over. Since he also had nothing else to do, he too was dressed in more casual clothing: a white undershirt, a loose green and brown plaid over-shirt, a pair of baggy brown pants, and white sneakers.

"Why is it that I'm always tripping over you?" I complained, getting up into a sitting position.

Shikamaru laughed, "I guess you think that it's too troublesome to look where you're going. Why it's always me, I have no idea."

I rolled my eyes and heaved a sigh.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Obviously you came all the way up here because there's a problem."

"That's not always true!"

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Ok, fine. Maybe it is most of the time. But I came up here because Noah was just sent out with Kakashi's team to the Sand Village because they're being attacked by the Akatsuki and I wasn't allowed to go because that would be too many Jinchuuriki in once place…so I'm stuck here to worry my ass off unless I'm distracted."

"And that's where I come in," Shikamaru sighed. "And I suppose that doing nothing won't do any good."

I shook my head, making him sigh again. He got up, yawned and stretched, and looked around.

"You like animals right?" he finally asked.

"No, I'm a vegan and absolutely hate them," I said sarcastically.

Shikamaru laughed quietly and led me to the pastures where all of his family's animals roamed. There, he taught me every single name of every sheep, horse, cow, pig, chicken, and donkey and how to feed and take care of them. I was then able to snuggle and pet all of them, especially the donkeys, who seemed to take a great liking to me and were constantly nudging me to receive some of my attention.

We probably hung around the animals for a least a couple of hours. After, I was invited to stay for dinner and gladly accepted the offer. As I waited to be called in, I sat swaying slowly on the porch swing, watching the sunset. The sun, a dark orange, was starting to set behind the mountains, casting indigo shadows across them. The sky was a light peach dotted with little scoops of vanilla ice cream for clouds. A quartet crows cawed and soared back towards their nests in the nearby evergreen trees while a few stray deer grazed in the fields.

Starting to get bored, I pulled out my iPhone and realizing that my earphones weren't with me at the moment, decided to listen to a song aloud. Putting it on shuffle, I let it randomly pick a song and it ended up on Rainbow Veins by Owl City. Smiling, I turned up the volume and happily sang along with it.

High rise, veins of the avenue
Bright eyes and subtle variations of blue
Everywhere is balanced there like a rainbow above you
Street lights glisten on the boulevard
And cold nights make staying alert so hard
For heaven's sake, keep me awake so I won't be caught off guard
Clearly I am a passerby but I'll find a place to stay
Dear pacific day, won't you take me away?

Small town hearts of the New Year
Brought down by gravity, crystal clear
City fog and brave dialogue converge on the frontier
Make haste, I feel your heartbeat
With new taste for speed, out on the street
Find a road to a humble abode where both of our routes meet
The silver sound is all around and the colors fall like snow
The feeling of letting go, I guess we'll never know

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins
Cuz your heart has a lack of color and we should've known
That we'd grow up sooner than later cuz we wasted all our free time alone

Your nerves gather with the altitude
Exhale the stress so you don't come unglued
Somewhere there is a happy affair, a ghost of a good mood
Wide eyed, panic on the getaway
The high tide could take me so far away
VCR's and motorcars unite on the Seventh Day
A popular gauge will measure the rage of the new Post-Modern Age
Cuz somewhere along the line all the decades align

We were the crashing whitecaps
On the ocean
And what lovely seaside holiday, away
A palm tree in Christmas lights
My emotion
Struck a sparkling tone like a xylophone
As we spent the day alone

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins
Cuz your heart has a lack of color and we should've known
That we'd grow up sooner than later cuz we wasted all our free time alone…

As the song ended, I sighed with contentment and as another song started to play, I don't know why, but I seemed to think that someone was behind me. I turned and found Shikamaru leaning up against the doorframe, an amused look on his face. I jumped, for I totally didn't expect him to be standing there.

"Jesus, you scared me," I groaned. "What the hell are you doing?"

He snickered, "I came out to tell you that dinner was ready, but I didn't want to ruin your moment."

I blushed slightly, but quickly masked it over, stood, and stretched, "Good, cuz I'm starved."

~ L ~

"That was the stupidest mission I've ever done!" I exclaimed, collapsing on the family room's couch. "I swear to God, I'm never doing something like that again."

"What did you have to do?" Hinata called from the kitchen.

I walked over, yanked open the fridge, and peered inside, "I had to go babysit this chick's kids and they basically ate me alive."

"Why would Lady Hokage assign you something like that?"

"Hell if I knew," I said through a mouthful of apple. "With Noah gone and Madeline going off somewhere, I guess she figured that I couldn't do something exceptionally difficult without my teammate. The next time I see her, I swear, I'm gonna rip her head off."

Hinata gave me a sympathetic look and continued to hand wash the dishes in the sink. There was an awkward silence, and the only sounds came from the running water of the faucet and my obnoxious chewing of my apple. Suddenly, Hinata turned the water off, wiped off her hands with a dish towel, and grabbed my hand.

"C'mon," she smiled. "We're gonna go out. You need to relax and ease your nerves."

I rolled my eyes but nodded and went into my room to change into some casual clothes: a simple white tank-top with a loose blue jacket, a pair of denim shorts, and a pair of black Converse shoes.

Once I was done, I emerged from my room and found Hinata and Neji (whom I was surprised to see to have agreed to tag along) both dressed as casually and non-ninja as I was. Hinata had on a lilac blouse, a blue denim skirt, white strapped high heels, and a pearl necklace and bracelet while Neji was wearing a white undershirt, a black unzipped jacket, a pair of black baggy shorts, and a pair of black flip flops.

"So where we goin?" I asked as we left the Hyuuga neighborhood.

"Out to dinner," Neji shrugged. "Like The Teahouse or a BBQ restaurant or anywhere else. I invited Ten-Ten and Lee as well so wherever we all decide shall be sufficient enough."

Right on cue, the said ninja appeared before us: Ten-Ten in a pink buttoned shirt, denim skirt, and white sandals and Lee in a green shirt, black baggy shorts, and white sneakers. They waved and joined our trio in walking down the red lantern lit streets of Konoha. All the shops were alive with activity as people bustled in and out of them as well as restaurants and their homes. Every window glowed with a golden yellow and if one were to look inside, they'd either find a family gathered around the dinner table or a customer purchasing an item. The sun had already set and now the sky was a dark navy blue canvas with stars spread across its surface like spilled salt; the moon a bright silver and the slimmest of all crescents.

Ten-Ten pointed to a random restaurant and since no one really cared where we ate, we all started to head over without any complaints. As we were walking over, a couple caught my eye and I turned around curiously as they passed by to get a better look.

It was Maddie and Shikamaru. They both were dressed just as informally as we were and looked like…they were thoroughly enjoying themselves; Shikamaru with his hands in his pockets, an amused smile on his face, and my friend cracking up as she told some story.

Knowing about her boyfriend back in our own world, it shocked me quite a bit that Madeline was walking with her old crush in an almost date-like atmosphere. Sure, with her personality, it doesn't surprise me to see her hanging out with a guy and that's just what they could be doing: hanging out.

I couldn't come to such conclusions just yet.

"Maddie! Shikamaru!" Lee waved at them frantically.

The two turned around and Maddie waved back.

"You two lovebirds wanna hang with us?"

They both blushed the lightest shade of red possible, but quickly masked it over and looked at each other questionably before shrugging and walking over. Right after they joined our group, Lee started a conversation with my friend, which led her to start to tell another humorous story.

"How many people do you intend on inviting?" I whispered to Neji as we reached our destination.

He shrugged, "Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I'm just noticing how rather large our group is manifesting itself into."

"Has your bad mood disappeared yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

"It did, but now I think it's resurfaced, thanks to you."

"Don't be ridiculous. We both know it's because you just can't stop being a bitch."

"Can you not be an asinine dick for even one minute?"

My skull was suddenly grabbed roughly and smashed against my opponents. We both cried out, him from surprise and me from excruciating pain splitting up the middle of my forehead. I looked up angrily and found Madeline standing in front of us, hands on her hips.

"Both of you shut the fuck up or it'll be worse next time," she threatened.

The two of us glared at each other as we were led to a large booth in which all of us could fit snuggly. Despite our bickering, Neji and I still somehow ended up next to each other, and that earned me a concerned look from Hinata and a threatening glare from Maddie. Somehow, the tension between us lessened considerably and everyone was able to order in peace.

"Why aren't you two ordering?" Ten-Ten asked Madeline and Shikamaru.

"Already ate," my teammate sipped her water.

Shikamaru yawned, "Same."

I raised an eyebrow. Did they eat separately at their own houses or…? The only reason why I cared so much about the issue was because I just didn't want her making any rash mistakes and regretting it later.

"Excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom," I looked over at Madeline. "Wanna come with?"

She nodded and followed me to the restroom. Once our business was over and done with, the two of us met up at the sinks to wash our hands.

"So," I tried to start a non-awkward conversation. "Where were you today? I thought we were going to get a mission assigned to us or something."

"Oh…yeah…" she smiled nervously. "I didn't really feel like going on a mission because I was too worried about my brother and I knew I wouldn't be able to focus had I gone on a mission."

I snatched a paper towel, "Oh ok. So what'd you do today then?"

"Just went over to Shikamaru's place and hung out. He showed me his animals and then we had dinner and then he was walking me home when we ran into you guys. I figured I might as well be distracted to keep my brother off of my mind."

"Makes sense."

There was an awkward silence as we finished wiping off our hands.

Madeline turned to me, "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," I said nonchalantly.

She cocked an eyebrow.

I sighed, "Ok…I'm just worried that, you know, you're gonna fall for him again when you have someone else to think about…"

My friend leaned up against the tiled wall and buried her face in her hands, "I know, I know. I know this is so bad. I thought all these feelings were gone…but I guess they've always just been kinda buried…and now I don't know which feelings to trust. If I let myself like him again, guilt for my guy back in our world will take over my life. But if I don't show the same feelings for him, then I'm afraid I'll hurt his feelings, you know? I mean, things now…are just different than they were back then."

"I know how you feel," I sighed. "I haven't gotten as far as you, but I'm getting there. We just need to be conscious of our actions, agreed?"

She nodded and with that, we returned to our table.

~ M ~

"Well, that was nice to meet up with those guys," I yawned as we left the restaurant. "A little awkward that we didn't eat, but whatever."

Shikamaru agreed and there was a period of awkward silence as we walked. I stole a glance at my watch and it read 10:00 pm. The nightlife activity of the village had calmed down considerably and only a few night owls and drunks remained roaming through the streets. It was much quieter now due to the majority of the villagers going to bed.

"So you had fun then?" he suddenly asked.

"I'd be crazy if I didn't!" I exclaimed.

An amused smile appeared on Shikamaru's face and I continued, "No, I had a good time. But…I've still kinda been thinking about Noah…I think I might go after him, just to make sure he's ok. I know he needs to start doing things on his own, but I'm his older sister and we're best friends and if something were to ever to happen to him…I wouldn't forgive myself…"

He groaned, "I assumed that regarding your feelings for your brother, you hadn't changed. I guess it was too troublesome after all for me to try to keep your mind off of him."

"What are you talking about?" I looked at him. "Yeah, my brother is always going to be on my mind, but that's just 'cause I'm overprotective of him. I had fun with you and that's the only thing that matters."

He stopped, looked at me curiously, and resumed walking again.

"I guess there's no stopping you," he sighed after a moment. "I'll organize something with Lady Hokage and you can probably set out the day after tomorrow. Just be careful, ok?"

We stopped and I suddenly found ourselves in front of my condo door. I turned to Shikamaru, smiled, and gave him a hug. It was quick, and I think my action surprised him a bit, for he didn't say anything and just watched me wave and retreat into my home.

~ N ~

They burst into the white tiled and sanitized ER of the Sand Village's Hospital. The four ninja, along with Temari, whom had joined them right after they left Konoha, had raced towards the Sand Village, only stopping once to sleep for five hours. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be an almost three day trip from the Leaf to Sand, Kakashi's team made it in only half that time.

Sakura chucked her bag to the side and ran over to a young man lying on a stretcher. He had short brown hair and because his shirt was removed, one could see how muscularly built he was. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he struggled to gasp for every short and shallow breath while beads of sweat rolled down his toned body.

"Kankurou!" Temari cried.

Noah took a double take and realized that it was his friend, but because of his lack of battle paint, aging, and forgetfulness, he had failed to recognize the sand ninja. He ran over to Kankurou's side and could only watch helplessly as Sakura worked on trying to get the poison that was apparently in his body.

At the same time, an old woman with her hair tied back in a bun and wearing a purple and white robe, charged at Kakashi. Naruto, on the other hand, was quick on his feet and created a couple of clones to fend her off. Once she had calmed down, she apologized and once Sakura had finished extracting the poison from Kankurou's body, plans were made of who would do what in regards to rescuing Gaara. It was agreed that Noah would stay behind and look after Kankurou (therefore keeping himself safe from any more Akatsuki members) while the rest of Kakashi's team and the old woman went after the members who had kidnapped the Kazekage.

After the Leaf ninja left, Noah, along with the help of some Sand ninja, brought carried Kankurou to his home and lay him down on his bed. His breathing was much more relaxed now and he immediately fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion. Seeing this made Noah realize how tired he was and he too soon succumbed to a short nap.

…

"Noah?" a voice distantly cried out. "Is that really you?"

Noah's eyes fluttered open and after remembering where he was, got out of the chair he had fallen asleep in and stretched like a cat. Once he was done rubbing his eyes, he glanced sleepily over at Kankurou and found him staring, which made him snicker.

It was like seeing Shikamaru for the first time all over again.

"Hey," he grinned. "What's up?"

"Um, I was just poisoned," Kankurou tried to make sense of the situation. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking after you, what does it look like?"

"No shit," he rolled his eyes. "I mean how did you end up back in this dimension?"

Noah told the whole story and explained what had happened so far.

"Well, obviously you guys were brought back here for a specific reason," Kankurou rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe because of the Legend of the Tailed Beasts?"

Maddie's brother shrugged, "All I know is that our transportation here was just as random and unexpected as last time…which would explain the legend, but we don't even know if it's true. Yeah, the evidence does point to that it's us, but we still can't be for sure."

Kankurou lied back down on his bed and put his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, thinking.

"Well, all I can tell you is to be careful," he finally said. "With what has happened with Gaara, you, your sister, and Lilian need to be wary of your surroundings. I mean, these guys are willing to kill you without a second thought, all for the sake of your demon and obtaining that power. I know you came all the way out here to help Gaara, but you're putting you and your sister at too much of a risk."

"What does Madeline have to do with any of this?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Are you stupid? You going on a mission that puts your life in danger and she not tagging along just to make sure you'll be ok?"

Realization dawned upon Noah's face, "Shit. She's gonna follow me here."

"She's probably on her way right now."

Maddie's brother sat down in the chair next to Kankurou's bed and buried his face in his hands.

"What am I gonna do?" he murmured. "She can't come here; she could die."

Kankurou sighed, "Jesus Christ, you're just like her. I swear, you guys should just be freaking Siamese twins, that way you two won't have to worry about losing each other."

Noah snickered but went back to thinking of an idea to keep his sister safe.

…

"You sure you're better enough to go out there?" Noah asked.

Kankurou shrugged, "As much as I'll ever be. I'm basically full of meds, but hey, it only took a day to make me feel better. Your sister should get here today, so what are you going to do?"

"I guess I'll go up to the one of the village's walls with the patrollers and flag her down when I spot her. I just need to convince her that I'm ok and she should go back, that there's nothing to worry about."

Kankurou snorted, "Maddie listening to what someone tells her to do? No, she'll most likely stick around because of you, obviously, but also because she cares about Gaara too. You know, she was one of the few people, other than Naruto, to not show any fear towards him and has attempted to make friends with him. I know it'll mean a lot to him when he hears that you two came all the way out here to help him."

Noah smiled and they left the house. They ran towards a point in the village where Kankurou had indicated earlier with Temari to meet up with them. The two stopped and not too much later, a group of people appeared in the distance and quickly met up with them. The cluster included Temari, a few Sand ninja, and a girl Noah's age with short brown hair that wore a purple T-shirt, olive green vest, and black shorts.

Noah's and the girl's eyes met and they stared at each other.

Suddenly, Noah's eyebrows rose in shock, "Matsuri?"

The girl did the same, "Eh? Noah, is that you?"

The two smiled and sized each other up; trying to remember what they had looked like the last time they saw each other. Then, Matsuri wrapped her arms around Noah and he gently embraced her back.

"I hate to ruin the moment, but we gotta get goin'," Kankurou smirked.

"Oh yeah!" Matsuri exclaimed. "So does that mean you're coming too, Noah?"

"Um…well…" Maddie's brother twiddled his thumbs. "I…don't know…"

He met Kankurou's face and the puppeteer shook his head. Temari gave him a sympathetic look, but did the same. Noah stood there, chewing his lip. He knew that going with them would make Madeline tear her hair out and risk her life just to make sure that he would be ok. On the other hand, if he were to stay and wait for his sister, that once she got there, she wouldn't let him do anything.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to go," he finally said.

Kankurou put a hand to his face in frustration while Temari sighed, but Matsuri didn't seem to notice and smiled wide.

"Fine, let's just get going."

~ M ~

"Well, here we are," Anko remarked. "You know, I'll never know how you managed to convince Tsunade to let you come all the way out here."

I do wonder how Shikamaru managed to pull that off…

I shrugged and we were let into the village. Not long, after asking around, we found out that Kakashi's team had already gone after Gaara's kidnappers. No one, however, would give me any specifics about Noah's whereabouts; whether he was at the village, with Kakashi, or with some other retrieval team, not a single word was said.

"What should we do?" an ANBU ninja asked me. "This is your mission, so you should be able to make the decision of where to go."

I thought about it before answering, "Let's go the way Kakashi's team took. With Angel, picking up their scent should be easy. I'm sure we'd be able to catch up with them quickly if we move fast."

The four ninja nodded and Angel put her nose to the ground. In a mere five seconds, we were jumping from tree branch to tree branch.

…

I sighed out of frustration and checked my watch; we had been traveling for about two hours now and we were still in the woods.

We had to go faster.

I concentrated on landing on each individual branch, yet at the same time, my mind was in a haze; all I thought about was going faster, and that's what I did. I went faster. I sprang ahead of the leading ninja and watched the ground, a brown and green blur, fly beneath my feet.

"Don't get too excited, kid!" Anko shouted.

I didn't listen; I just took off faster, leaped longer, and breathed harder. Angel kept up steadily by my side, not showing even the slightest sign of exhaustion. My quads burned, my diaphragm expanding without effort, endorphins rushing from my brain to the rest of my body. Though I was working hard, I didn't tire out. It felt like I was back at the high school, doing pace miles.

I felt alive and I liked it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the ninja catching up to me, and got irritated, the same way I got when someone was coming up on my shoulder during a race. I was just about to step it up again when something caught my feet and made me lose my footing. My stomach dropped and I then proceeded to plummet before a pair of arms caught me and the person carried me to the dirt ground.

Once my feet touched earth, I tried to break free from the person, but they kept an iron grip on me and all I could do was struggle uselessly. Anko jumped down from the tree line and walked towards me with the other two ninja behind her, one holding Angel firmly as she snapped and snarled.

"Dude, you gotta calm down," she put her hands on her hips.

I tried to shake the ANBU guy who was still restraining me in response, my chest rising and falling.

Anko put her hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye, "Listen. I know you want to get to your brother as fast as you can, but you have to relax. Remember, you're here only because your little boyfriend is smarter than all of us put together and was able to pull some strings. We were hired to protect you and make sure you don't pose a threat to others…and we can easily take you back if the situation gets too dangerous or you start to get out of control. Understand?"

My breathing slowed as I analyzed the situation and realized that she was right. Though I had the five tailed demon in me, I still only had the barest of grasps on my power and very little knowledge on how to access it. These guys were ANBU; they knew how shit went down.

I exhaled deeply, "Ok…fine…can we just go now?"

Anko stared at me for a long moment before nodding to the ninja, who then released me. Before I could do anything else, I found myself being given a noogie and started to let out a long string of curses. I managed to put my finger in my mouth, cover it with a nice film of saliva, and stick it in her ear, which made her gasp in disgust and let me loose.

"You little fucker," she grinned, holding her ear. "You gave me a wet willy!"

I stuck my tongue at her and ran away, laughing hysterically. I heard her shout and knew that she was chasing after me, along with the other ninja of course. Angel barked excitedly as she ran alongside me.

"You won't be able to get away from me that easily!" Anko shouted.

I flipped her off, gathered chakra to my feet, and ran even faster. I focused on the trees in front of me to make sure I was dodging them when I noticed that the tree line was thinning considerably. Not too much later, I burst through the last of the trunks and found myself in a wide grassy plain. The sky was crystal clear, not a cloud or bird in sight. The grass was an emerald green, soft, long and flowing, up to my ankles. There was not a living creature in sight…except for the group of people that was standing right in front of me. As my adrenaline died down, I was able to get a clearer look at them and realized it that it consisted of Kakashi's and Gai's teams, as well as an old woman and someone lying down on the ground…but there was one thing that really got me.

Noah wasn't with them.

"Maddie?" Ten-Ten ran over. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…it's a funny story…" I smiled nervously. "You see-"

"THERE YOU ARE YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Before I could respond, I was hit like a sledgehammer from the side and roughly tackled to the ground, where, despite the grass being incredibly soft, delivered me an unforgiving impact. I groaned, opened my eyes, and found Anko grinning down at me. I made an attempt to get up, but failed due to her having my appendages pinned.

"I told you, you can't run away from me!" she gave me the in-your-face look.

I rolled my eyes, but stopped and watched in horror as she started to gather a loogie in her throat and let it slowly approach my face as it left her lips. I squirmed desperately but she held me firmly in place.

"Can we please stop this ludicrous behavior?" Neji asked. "We have more important matters to attend to."

Anko looked up and gave him the fuck off look, and I took this opportunity to kick her off of me.

"She's the one who started it," I muttered, dusting myself off.

"Maddie, you shouldn't be here," Kakashi looked at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't let Noah come all the way out here," I looked away. "So I managed to get permission to come as long as I got escorted by these guys…but I see that my brother isn't with you…"

"He should be at the Sand village," Sakura gave me a questioning look. "That was the plan: he'd stay and look after Kankurou in order to keep himself safe."

"Well none of the goddamn villagers would tell me anything, so I have no fucking clue," I threw my hands in the air. "And since I couldn't seem to find him, I followed your guys' trail to see if he was with you."

Kakashi sighed and looked to the ground, where the person was lying in the grass. I followed his gaze and realized that it was Gaara. His eyes were closed and he was pale, too pale. A slight breeze whisked by and ruffled his shaggy red hair, and yet he still did not stir.

"Hey, what the hell happened to him?" I whispered.

No one made a moved or made a sound, except for Sakura, who gave me a sad look and slowly shook her head. My brow furrowed and I tried to make sense of the reality of the situation.

"But wait…" I tried to find the right words. "He can't…no…"

Kakashi placed a hand on my shoulder, and that was enough to silence me. Seeing the look on my face, Anko wrapped an arm around my shoulders, an attempt to comfort me without showing too much emotion.

I was just about to let my tear ducts explode when the old grandma kneeled down by the Kazekage's side and placed her wrinkly, liver spotted covered hands on his chest, in which a faint green light started to emit from them. I stared in wonder at her and looked at Angel for some help, but she only cocked her head curiously in response. I scanned everyone's faces for an answer, and they didn't look back; they only watched the old lady with solemn looks.

"Damn…" she muttered when the light started to fade. "I don't have enough chakra."

Naruto kneeled down opposite from her and held up his hands, "Use my chakra! I have enough!"

As he placed his hands on top of hers, I studied her and tried to figure out what she could possibly be trying to do. If Sakura couldn't do anything, then there was no way that-

And then, it dawned upon me. I suddenly fully understood the situation, ripped away from Anko, and joined Naruto's side. The old lady looked up, her chest heaving. I held up my hands and she understood and nodded.

I placed my hands next to Naruto's and gathered chakra to my hands. Suddenly, a white flame emitted from them and mixed in with the old lady's green and Naruto's blue, forming a ball of sea foam green energy on top of Gaara's heart.

At first, giving the energy was quite easy, but I could tell that the grandma was running out of chakra and Naruto and I had to keep giving more and more. I took a deep breath, starting to feel a little dizzy.

And then, I couldn't feel her anymore; her hands pulled away from ours as she swooned and fell over. Sakura ran over and cradled her limp body as I watched the light slowly fad away from our hands.

Gaara's eyes slowly opened and as he struggled to rise, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, and smiled, which earned him a bewildered look from the Kazekage. I pursed my lips to keep myself from crying and lightly draped my arms around his body. I could tell that he was shocked, and had no idea what to do or what was going on. When I pulled away, I could only smile as he gave me the most baffled look.

Suddenly, there was a great shout, like a crowd would make if the home team scored a goal. I looked around and found that practically the whole Sand village surrounded us.

"Gaara!" a voice cried. "Are you alright?"

I stared as I watched my brother run over and stand over the Kazekage, panting, beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Gaara looked at him like a confused child, but nodded. Grinning, Noah kneeled down next to me and hugged him. As he pulled away, he finally noticed me and beamed.

"Hey, Madeline," he continued to smile. "What are you-"

I slowly shook my head, "You little douche bag…do you realize how worried I was when I couldn't find you in the village?"

He sighed, "Yeah…I know…It probably scared the crap outta you, huh? But I had to go. I wanted to get to Gaara in-"

I embraced him gently to shut him up.

"I know…" I whispered. "Just…try not to scare me too often ok?"

My brother hugged me back, "Yeah…ok."

"Now this would be the moment where I would say I told you so," a voice said smugly behind us.

Turning, I found Kankurou standing in front of us, arms crossed over his chest, fresh battle paint smeared onto his face. I stood up and gave him a dirty look.

"You…What the hell were you thinking, letting him go with you?" I pointed to Noah. "Are you high?"

Kankurou rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Well…"

I slapped him across the face, making Anko and Naruto start to crack up uncontrollably.

"I can't believe you let him go with you! You seriously have no common sense!"

The puppeteer opened his mouth to retaliate, but stopped short when I hugged him.

"But you do have enough common sense to protect him," I said. "And so I thank you…you have no idea how big of a relief it is for me to know that he was safe the whole time."

Kankurou lightly hugged me back, "Remember what I said last time you were here? I wouldn't let anything happen to you or your brother."

"I wouldn't go any farther than that," Temari walked over, giving her brother an amused look. "We don't want him to rape you."

He stuck his tongue out at her immaturely and I looked down at my feet as Angel pawed at my calf.

Hey, whore, are you done slutting it up with every guy here?

"Fuck off," I pulled away from Kankurou and glared down at her. "I'm just showing how grateful I am."

You could do it without practically having sex with them though.

Before I could beat the shit out of her, Temari grabbed my arm, "C'mon, let's head back to the village."

…

"So," I sidled up next to Kankurou, "who's the chick that strangely looks a little like me that's walking with my brother?"

He looked over at Noah, who was walking with Matsuri, who was giggling as he used his hands elaborately to dramatize a story he was telling.

"Oh, that's Matsuri," he said. "Her and your brother hung out a lot when you guys were last here."

"So that's her, huh?" I smiled at the thought of Noah having a girlfriend. "He never really talked about her…so what can you tell me?"

"Not much…she used to be one of Gaara's old students when he did this training thing after he started to gain acceptance in the village. I know she's nice, but other than that, I can't really tell you anything else."

I nodded and ran ahead of all the ninja to the front of the pack, where Naruto was assisting Gaara in walking.

"Hey, Maddie!" Naruto grinned. "What's up?"

"Nothin' much," I shrugged. "So, Gaara, what can you tell me about Matsuri?"

The Kazekage looked at me curiously, "…Why…?"

"I get it!" Naruto laughed. "She wants to know about her brother's girlfriend!"

I snickered to confirm the statement.

"Well…" Gaara started. "I once held this training program for younger ninja…and she was one of my students…she never gave up and kept practicing until she got her technique down right…she kind of reminds me of you."

"Except Maddie's way more of a bitch!" Naruto howled with laughter.

I glared at him, but continued, "So…she would be ok for him then?"

Gaara didn't say anything for a moment, but finally nodded, "They're both good people…and you're a good sister…"

I smiled, "Love…is such a strange thing, is it not?"

…

We stayed at the village overnight to rest up and make sure Gaara would be alright. All of our teams, Kakashi's, Gai's, and mine, were provided a three story apartment, one story for each team, to spend the night in. Despite me being as exhausted as I was, Temari and Ten-Ten ended up coming down to the room Anko and I were sharing, where we stayed up late talking and watching movies.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, we all got ready to leave for the Leaf village. We were going to take our time in getting back to the village, so it would take the whole three days. Plus, Kakashi was still worn out from his fight with Deidara; therefore we couldn't do too much traveling in one day, even though Gai insisted on carrying our sensei on his back the whole way.

"Make sure to visit soon, ok?" I told Temari. "And you guys too, Kankurou and Gaara."

"And if we can't, then you better come here," Kankurou ruffled my brother's hair. "I'm determined to beat this kid at videogames."

I snorted, "Good luck with that."

Naruto laughed and turned to Gaara, "Hey, take care of yourself ok?"

Gaara nodded and there was an awkward silence, like they should be shaking hands or something but they weren't. Suddenly, Naruto's hand was brought up involuntarily by a swirling current of sand and was placed into Gaara's, where they did shake hands.

I turned my back on them and looked out towards the horizon, "Alright guys, let's head home."