Chapter 14, hope you enjoy :)

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"Are you two okay?" asked the Kazekage, who now stood in front of them facing the demon. The swirling sand that had whipped at his hair now died down.

Rayne rolled off Akio with a pained groan that she tried very hard to hide. "I'm fine, but Akio's hurt" she lied. She knew she was hurt as well and wouldn't be getting up by herself anytime soon. She was just too stubborn to admit she had lost.

Gaara spared a glance behind him to see the two gennin and was worried by the amount of blood he saw covering Rayne's arms. Akio also seemed to be in serious pain. He knew he needed to finish the fight quickly. "I'll take care of this, Kankuro. Do what you can to help the others."

Kankuro nodded and crouched down besides Akio. He lifted the injured boy off the ground and hurried him over to the other injured chunin. Hitoshi followed behind him, continuously glancing behind him as if to make sure Rayne was still there.

"I'll help you out in a minute. I just need a few second to catch my breath I swear" panted Rayne. A small smirk crossed the Kazekage's face. He still found her stubbornness to be rather amusing even in situations like this.

"You've done enough; I can take it from here." He popped the cork out of his gourd and it bounced to the ground behind him.

"Oh well if you insist. I know what you're doing though. You just want all the glory from this. The brave Kazekage saves his dear beloved village from a scary demon. It's fine, I totally get it." she said barely managing to smile. The Kazekage looked back at her with a smirk on his face and she couldn't help but grin, even though it hurt. Sand began to trickle out of his opened gourd. She felt it shift around her and she was suddenly lifted off the ground. The motion made her horribly nauseous but she held back the urge to throw up. The sand set her down softly next to Akio and Hitoshi, a good distance away from the fight.

"Rayne, are you okay? What happened to you?" asked Hitoshi. His face was just as pale as it had been when he had left, if not worse.

"Damn thing threw me through a window. We'll talk about what you missed later. Right now we have to help these guys." she said with disgust.

"Rayne, I told you I can't..." he began to protest.

"Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was just... stressed I guess. And maybe a little scared. But don't tell anyone that, especially Akio." she said looking over at the now unconscious boy. "I didn't mean what I said earlier."

"I know but I... I just can't. I'm too scared. W-with my last team..." he stared down at his hands which he now nervously wrung in his lap.

"I know what happened. Akio told me. That wasn't your fault. You did everything you could and I understand you're scared but you have to get over it. We need you Hitoshi. Akio, Kankuro and I are counting on you, and so are the chunin. I personally couldn't give a shit if they lived or died but you know, you have to do what's right or whatever. You've got to at least try and save them."

The boy didn't look up at her. He was shaking slightly and a few small tears dropped down in his lap. "Rayne, I-I'm s-sorry b-but I can't."

Rayne struggled into a sitting position, which made her feel lightheaded. Hitoshi's head snapped up. His eyes widened as he saw her sway unsteadily. He reached out and grabbed her arms to make sure she didn't fall over.

"Rayne! You're hurt. You need to lie down. Please!" he begged. She instead just pushed his hands off.

She pulled a kunai out from its container on her leg and held it in her hand. "I want you to try something. Look at my hand. Don't focus on anything else around you." She held out her other hand, palm up, in front of Hitoshi. "Can you do this?" Hitoshi nodded and whipped the tears from his eyes. "Alright then..." She took the Kunai and pressed it into the skin of her opened hand, just lightly slicing the skin.

"What are you doing?" asked the boy alarmed. His eyes were wide under his brown shaggy bangs.

"Heal it" she stated plainly.

"I can't!" he answered quickly. "I told you I can't do it."

"Just focus on my hand and nothing else. Look, it's barely even bleeding. It's just a scratch and it's not life threatening. I'm not going to die if you can't heal it so there is no pressure at all. I just want you to concentrate." She set the kunai down and grabbed his hand, placing it under her injured hand. Then she grabbed his other hand and held it over hers. "You can do it."

Hitoshi sat there and stared at her for a while. He tried to look over at Akio and the others but Rayne grabbed the top of his head and held it in place. The boy took one look at her tired face and knew he had to at least try for her. He took a few deep breaths before he finally moved his hand. He flexed his fingers and tried to steady his shaking hands. He then proceeded to stare at the bright red wound in her hand as the sound of Gaara's fight starting could be heard. He glanced up at the fight as the demon let out another ear piercing shriek. His team mate quickly called his name, bringing him back into focus. Blood continued to well up from the cut and slid down her wrist, catching in the leather bracelets she wore. After another few deep breaths he started to gather the chakra in his hand, like he had been taught. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra. At first nothing happened but then Rayne's sighed with relief. He opened his eyes and saw the glow of his mystic palm technique coming from his hand. He was so surprised that he almost lost his concentration. The green glow flickered and almost died before he regained his concentration. The slim cut slowly knit itself back together and then disappeared leaving only the line of fresh blood on her hand. He couldn't help but let out his own shaky sigh of relief.

"You just healed me." grinned Rayne. She whipped away the blood to show her flawless hand

"Yeah." he breathed out.

"Good, now do it again." she grimaced as she quickly cut another line into her palm, this one deeper than the first. She couldn't help but notice that her hands were shaking pretty badly now.

His eyes flicked up to hers in shock, but she looked determined. He looked down at the wound and concentrated. He felt the chakra come back much more easily than the first time. Within a few seconds the glowing green light was back. The young boy smiled as the skin was once again healed, leaving it completely unmarked. The kunoichi smiled at him then collapsed to the ground in front of him. Her kunai clattered to the ground.

"Rayne?! Rayne, what's wrong?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm okay," she said weakly. "I'm just tired and I think I've lost a little too much blood. You go try to help the others if you can. Just stay calm and start with the small stuff if you need to." He looked at her unsure. "Go" she said shooing him with her hand. "You did great, just keep it up." Hitoshi slowly got up, then after looking back at Rayne one more time, ran over to Kankuro and the injured chunin.

Once she saw Hitoshi over with Kankuro she let out a sigh of relief and turned her head to watch Gaara. The young Kazekage hadn't moved from where he was standing. He easily held off the demon with his sand, both blocking its attacks and forcing it back with his own simultaneously. She watched as he masterfully forced the demon to move. She realized with a grin that he was toying with it. A look of pure concentration was locked on his face but with her great vision she could make out the smallest traces of a smile on his lips.

Gaara sent a spike of sand shooting out at the demon, which it quickly dodged. It was barely noticeable but the demon was starting to slow down, getting a little sloppy in its movements. He continued chasing it around with his sand, only getting faster as the demon grew slower and slower. Suddenly the monster had stopped. A large amount of sand swam up its arm. It let out another of its shrieks and tried to pull away. Gaara's sand was stronger and it was unable to get away. Gaara stared at it with his cold eyes for a moment before he quickly clenched his fist. The sand contracted around the demon's arm, shattering it and spraying blood.

And that was when she stopped paying attention to the demon. She knew Gaara was going to win; there was no need to worry anymore. She now fixed her attention solely on the Kazekage. The determination and fierceness in his eyes made her heart beat a little faster. She found him brilliant to watch. He's gorgeous she thought to herself, which only made her giggle. She didn't know what was so funny or why she had even thought that but it took everything she had to not burst out laughing.

She slowly felt herself drifting to sleep even though she heard the monster scream in pain as Gaara's sand crushed its other arm. Its other had been released and was now a completely useless shredded mess. She wanted to stay awake to watch the red head finish off the fight but her eyelids were growing heavy. She closed her eyes for a moment but quickly opened them again as a vision of the monsters bloody arm flashed into her mind. It wasn't so much that the blood and carnage bothered her; it was that she wanted to see more. As sick as it was, she enjoyed a good fight. But even as much as she enjoyed it, it was getting harder to keep her eyes open and she almost didn't open them the next few times. Eventually it got too much and right after Gaara cut the head off the demon she let her eyes drift close and didn't bother to open them again.

It didn't last long though. She soon found herself shaken awake. A very concerned Kazekage's face loomed over hers. His eyes were wide and his hair was a little damp with sweat. It took her a second to remember where she was and what was happening.

"What's up?" she asked sleepily. "We won right?"

She saw the Kazekage wrinkle his nose a little bit. "You're drunk, aren't you?" he asked obviously able to smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Only a lot" she couldn't help but giggle. He gave her a disapproving look which instantly stopped the giggles. His black rimmed eyes just looked so sad. "I'm sorry" she frowned.

"Let's just get you home." she felt his hands reach behind her neck and under her legs. She was soon lifted off the ground and into his arms. Her dark blood stained his white Kazekage robes.

"I'm sorry" she said trying to pull away from him. She tried to hide it but every movement made her wince. Her cuts just bleed more from the movement

"Just stop fidgeting or I will drop you." he said, tightening his grip on the squirming girl.

"What about the others?" she tried to pull away from him to see around her. The Kazekage held her tight though, restricting her movements.

"Everyone is fine. The medics got here and are working with Akio to heal everyone."

"Even those fuckers? They're okay?" Gaara nodded, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

"Damn" she sighed. "I hope you fuckers remember who saved your sorry asses! Don't you ever think of fucking with me again, you hear me?" she shouted. She was just able to make out the shocked look of the remaining conscious man as Gaara passed him. Satisfied she dropped her head back onto Gaara's shoulder and drifted back to sleep.

The Kazekage walked over to his brother and his students. Hitoshi's green glowing light was hovering over Akio's broken leg.

"Is she going to be okay Kazekage-sama?" asked Hitoshi. He stood up weakly, his legs shaking horribly. He wasn't use to using up this much chakra. Gaara just nodded.

"We need to take her home. Kankuro, we'll just take the rest of your team with us. We need to find out what exactly happened."

"You sure you want them all at our house Gaara?" replied the eldest of the brothers. His purple face paint was smeared slightly on his face. He had obviously been able to get some sleep between their mission and the incident they were currently dealing with.

"I think it will be alright just for the time being." Rayne stirred slightly in his arms but he didn't look down.

"But what about Akio? He's out cold and could use some more medical help"

"You will just have to carry him." smirked Gaara, walking past Kankuro with Rayne in his arms. "Your medic did a fine job. The boys can come over and we will take them back later."

Kankuro looked over at Gaara annoyed. "What?!" he called after him. "That's not fair. How come you get to carry Rayne? She weighs like nothing!" Kankuro looked down at his unconscious student then back to his brother who just kept walking. A swirl of sand formed around the red head, and then suddenly he and the girl were gone.

Kankuro looked down at his two male students. He swore to himself under his breath then crouched down and picked up Akio. He defiantly weighed more than Rayne. He groaned with annoyance. I fucking hate kids! he cursed to himself. The boy let out a tiny groan as Kankuro adjusted him but he but remained unconscious. "Let's get going then" he said. Hitoshi wearily got to his feet and followed his sensei back towards their house.

Rayne was woken again by the feel of cold tile. She cracked her eyes open, wincing at the bright lights. She squeezed her eyes shut again. The Kazekage removed his arms from around her, letting her lean against the toilet in the bathroom. They had somehow made it home and she now sat on the floor of Gaara's bathroom.

"Wh-whats going on?" she asked sleepily.

"Nothing," replied Gaara. "Just stay here for a while. I don't want you bleeding all over the house or getting sick while I go talk to the others. Temari's out with a friend so she won't be able to help you but I'll try to do what I can when I come back."

Rayne just nodded secretly relieved that Shikamaru and Temari were gone for the night. With the two of them out of the house she didn't have to worry about Shikamaru finding her any time soon. She opened her eyes when she heard the door click shut behind her, as Gaara left. Even though it hurt to move, Rayne managed to lie down, pressing her face into the cool tile on the floor and curled herself up. Her whole body hurt and her head pounded like crazy. Madarou remained hidden in the back of her mind trying to stay as far away from her body as possible. She wanted to sleep but knew that the bits of glass needed to come out of her skin before she did anything else.

As much as she wanted to remain lying on the floor she managed to pull herself back up into a sitting position, leaving a blood smear on the floor from where she was laying. She quickly examined herself. Luckily the leather undershirt she wore had protected most of her back from the glass, and her legs remained mostly unharmed. A few tiny pieces were buried and she quickly removed them. Her shoulders and arms however took most of the damage. She carefully stripped off everything but the leather undershirt and her shorts, throwing all of her gear to the side as well. Slowly she started to remove the bits of glass one by one.

A few minutes later the door opened again and Kankuro walked in.

"You're going to bleed to death if you keep this up" he smirked from behind her.

"It's just a scratch." she smirked as she pulled out another bit of glass, letting it drop to the floor. "Or two. How are the others?"

"Akio and Hitoshi are both asleep in the living room. A team of medics are coming to get Akio early in the morning but he will be fine. Hitoshi is exhausted. He fell asleep right at the table. He's fine though and will be good as new when he wakes up. I have to say I'm pretty proud of the two of you for getting him over his issue."

"Well I'm glad their okay."

"The shinobi you saved are even going to be okay"

"Yeah I don't give a damn about them" she replied rolling her eyes.

"Still, you guys did a good job tonight in saving those chunin and finding that demon. I wasn't supposed to say anything but for a while Gaara was a little worried that you might have been the demon that had been attacking the village. It's a big relief for him. I, of course, never had any fear it was you."

"I'm sure you didn't" laughed Rayne.

"You need a hand with that?" Kankuro asked as she continued to pick tiny bits of glass off her skin.

She continued working. "No, that's alright. I can finish up. Go to bed. You look tired."

"I look tired?" he laughed. "Have you looked at yourself?"

"I always look like this. There's no need to look in the mirror."

Kankuro laughed again. "Alright, if you say so. I guess I'll go to bed then. Goodnight Rayne."

"Mhm, night."

Kankuro exited the small bathroom leaving her alone once again. She carefully removed the leather undershirt she was wearing to get the tiny bits of debris out from it, leaving her in just the chest wrappings that all female shinobi wore. She heard the two sand brothers talking outside in the hallway. Then the door to the bedroom opened and the redhead walked in and opened the bathroom door. He stood with his arms across his chest looking down at her.

Rayne didn't turn around. "What happened to knocking before entering a bathroom?"

"How do you always manage to get yourself into these situations?"

"I'm just lucky."

"I bet". He crouched down on the ground beside her and inspected her bleeding shoulders. She flinched slightly as his cold hand touched her skin. "These are going to need stitches. You should go to the hospital and see a medic."

"I'm not going to the doctor. Why don't you just do it?"

"Because I'm not a medic and am not trained to do it. If you go to the hospital you won't even need to get stitches. They'll just heal it. I would mess it up."

"So what. Just do it. I trust you."

The Kazekage sighed and pulled out a medical kit that he kept under the sink. He shuffled through it until he found the needle and thread he was looking for. He quickly threaded it and looked over at her shoulders. He picked a spot and positioned the needle. "Do you trust me enough to tell me why you were in jail?" He stuck the needle in and began to start stitching.

She flinched. "How did you know?" she asked sourly.

"The scars on your wrist. They are from the shackles aren't they?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You never do."

"It's none of your business." she growled.

The two shinobi then continued to sit in an awkward silence, neither of them able to think of anything to say. The Kazekage continued to remove glass, clean out her cuts and stitch them up. He couldn't help but blush as his hand ran across her skin. Lucky for him she was facing the other direction. Which was also lucky for her so he couldn't see her blushing as well.

Gaara coughed awkwardly. "There's glass... under the bandages. You might want to get that out later." he said trying not to sound as uncomfortable as he felt.

She reached up and grabbed a towel off the counter above her. She held it in front of her with her teeth and fumbled with the end of the wrap. Seconds later the white fabric hung loosely around her waist. Gaara sat facing her bare back blushing much harder now. He reached out and gently brushed off tiny bits of glass that still lingered on her skin. The feel of his rough hands across her exposed skin caused her to shiver.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

Rayne could only nod her head in response. The tips of her pointed ears burned red with embarrassment. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself as he finished. When he was finally done she let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks... for helping me and everything..."

"Don't worry about it." he said standing back up. He carefully pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it to her. "Here" he said as he picked up her torn and bloodied clothing.

She tried not to let any emotion show in her face as she turned to accept the shirt from him. She cursed herself for letting something like a little bit of exposed skin bother her, but it bothered her none the less. Pull yourself together Rayne! You are not a 12 year old girl so stop acting like one! She cleared her throat and took the shirt from him. She carefully slipped the shirt over her head, cringing as the motion caused more pain to her injuries.

"I'll be right back" he said before walking out the door with her clothes in hand.

She scooted over a little and leaned against the counter, crossing her legs in front of her. "Fuck" she sighed. She was embarrassed at herself and pissed off for drinking too much and annoyed with her injuries. She dropped her head back and it smacked into the counter. "Fuck!" She grabbed at the back of her head, now even more annoyed. She bent over and touched her head to the floor while she rubbed the back of her head.

"What are you doing?" asked Gaara reappearing in the doorway.

Rayne just groaned.

"Are you okay?" he asked, unsure of what exactly she was doing.

"Fine" came her muffled reply.

"Well if you are okay then I'll leave you be. I'm going to bed then." he said. He turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait" Rayne called after him impulsively. She didn't want him to leave her by herself right now.

"What?" he asked as he stopped and only half turned around for her.

She picked her head up and sat up. She looked at him for a few seconds not sure what to say. She wasn't seriously thinking of asking him to stay was she? Of course not, that was just ridiculous she tried reasoning. She wasn't pathetic and she didn't need his help. "Sorry, never mind" she said, quickly looking away from him.

"Are you sure?"

But she wanted him to stay. She couldn't explain it but she didn't want him to leave right now. She stared in front of her.

"Rayne?"

She just shook her head. She didn't dare open her mouth in case another stupid thing came flying out. Wait? What kind of stupid request was that? She decided that she needed to go to bed. Now. She was being irrational and she needed to sleep before she did something stupid. But she wanted him to stay here...

Gaara gave her a puzzled look then turned away again. Before he could even take a few steps away Rayne made another odd noise and he turned back, raising a non-existing eyebrow to the girl who was looking at him.

"What?" she growled.

"You're the one behaving strangely. Is there something going on?"

"No." she was silent for a minute. "Can you just stay here for a few more minutes?" she sighed. She was no longer in control of her mouth. It was going against everything her brain reasoned. Apparently it didn't care. It had betrayed her logic for some weaker part of herself.

Gaara looked confused for a moment and Rayne's felt her ears grow hot in embarrassment. To her surprise he walked back in and sat down next to her.

"Is everything alright?" he asked. He was sitting close but at the same time it felt like he was keeping his distance, leaving a few safe inches between them.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want someone to sit with for a little while."

"Do... do you need to talk or something?" he asked. She could tell he was feeling awkward as well. Talking wasn't his thing. It wasn't hers either.

"No, I just want to sit."

"Alright then..."

They sat side by side in an awkward silence for a long time. Gaara wished he could think of something, anything that he could say to break the silence. It was not like him to get this flustered over anything. But what could Rayne want? There had to be a reason for her calling him back in here. The silence continued. He wanted to turn his head and look over to see what she was doing but didn't want to risk her seeing him looking at her. What was this girl doing to him? He never would have behaved like this before.

He almost jumped as something landed on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head slightly and looked down to see that it was Rayne. He was alarmed for a moment until he realized that she was only sleeping. Asleep! He had been sitting there in silence, trying to think of something to say and she had fallen asleep on him.

He couldn't help but notice how small she looked wearing his shirt. The rise and fall of her chest was just noticeable under the baggy fabric. He quickly looked away again, afraid that she might not be asleep and would open her eyes and catch him looking at her. It took another few minutes of silence for him to finally be convinced that she was asleep. He didn't want to move now and disturb her, but what if she was mad when she woke up in the morning. She would blame him for not leaving after she fell asleep or something. She sighed contently in her sleep and that settled Gaara's mind for the moment. He would let her rest for a while. He couldn't be sure but it didn't seem like she got much sleep and after tonight she could use the rest. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. After a few minutes he too was asleep.

A few hours later Gaara was startled awake. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and who the girl who had moved her head to his lap was. He couldn't believe that he had fallen so deeply asleep on his own bathroom floor. He looked down at Rayne who still seemed to be fast asleep. His one arm was numb from where she had been sleeping against him but he didn't mind. He reached down with his free hand and it hovered a few inches above her scarred wrist. He was almost afraid to touch her. Right now she looked so small curled up on the bathroom floor in a shirt that was too big for her. She looked innocent and fragile. Her arms all covered in bandages and bruises. Someone like him with so much blood on his hands had no right to even touch her. He pulled his hand back. He let out a deep sigh and tried to fall back asleep.

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Alrighty then, hope you enjoyed and I hope to have the next chapter up before Christmas as a lovely gift for any one who enjoys reading my story. Please review

~Reiko