Here you go, the (not-so) long awaited next chapter of Rayne. Please enjoy!

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Kankuro stretched as he walked towards the kitchen the next morning. Both Shikamaru and Temari were already sitting at the table sipping tea. Rayne was nowhere to be seen and he wondered where she had gone too after last night. He was surprised she hadn't come back to bed after she talked to Gaara. He couldn't help but feel she might have gotten herself into trouble or something. Knowing her she was probably out wandering the village last night and ended up passing out somewhere. He wouldn't put it past her to have gotten lost. Shikamaru waved as both him and Temari saw Kankuro enter the kitchen.

"When did you guys get here?" he asked. He looked over at the clock and was surprised to see that it was almost eleven. The last few days had been rough though so he almost wasn't surprised that he had slept this late.

"Just a little while ago" answered his sister. "I need to pack my stuff. We are leaving for the leaf village later today."

"How were the meetings yesterday?" Kankuro asked grabbing himself a seat at the table

"Boring" Shikamaru replied. "But unfortunately necessary. This is such a huge and tiresome event, I never will understand how I got dragged into doing all this work" the leaf shinobi responded, shaking his head.

"I can't believe it's time for this already…" Kankuro replied. This particular event was already bringing back plenty of memories from his own experience in it years ago.

"Now that was a year to remember," Temari sighed. The eldest sand sibling stood up from the table. "I better go pack; we are already behind schedule so we can't afford to get there late." She pushed her chair in and headed to her room, taking her tea with her.

"That reminds me, I need to talk to Gaara before I leave. Do you know where he is?" asked Shikamaru.

"I don't think he has come out yet. I doubt he's still asleep though. You can just head down to his room." Kankuro motioned with his hand as he stood up. His stomach had started growling rather loudly and it was about time he shut it up. He began rummaging through the cabinets as Shikamaru nodded and headed down the hall.

Shikamaru reached the Kazekage's door and hesitated a moment before knocking. No matter how much time he spent in this house or with Temari and her family, one on one encounters with the Kazekage still made him a little uneasy. "How troublesome" he mumbled before knocking lightly on the door. He reached for the handle and quietly slid the door open.

He was surprised that the curtains were still drawn and that the room was completely dark. Gaara was still asleep. Shikamaru didn't want to think about what would happen if he woke him up. He quickly backed away and almost closed the door when something caught his attention. There was no way he was seeing this.

The Kazekage was indeed still sound asleep, but there was something wrapped in his arms, or someone to be more specific; and he would have recognized that red hair anywhere. She had her back to him, with her face buried in his chest, but there was no doubt about it. It had to be her. Almost as if she had heard his thoughts, she suddenly turned over in her sleep. It's really her! What the hell is she doing here? What is she doing with the Kazekage?!

"Kankuro?"

The young man looked up to see his sister standing in the doorway. He swallowed hard, having been in the middle of stuffing his face with food.

"Have you seen Rayne today? I've searched the whole house and I can't find her. She borrowed a scroll of mine and I need it for my trip."

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "No I haven't seen her since last night. I think something might have happened between her and Gaara though. He probably was the last one to see her."

Temari stood there thinking for a moment, wondering if it was worth the risk of waking her brother up for this. It wasn't like him to sleep this late so something must have been up.

"Hey for all we know maybe they're both in his room" he smirked. "If you know what I mean."

Temari just rolled her eyes. The two of them together? No way in hell. "Well can you at least tell me where Shikamaru went?"

"You must have just missed him. I just sent him…" he stopped himself. "Oh no…"

"What?"

"I just sent him to Gaara's room. What if Rayne…"

Temari looked at him seriously for a second. "You don't really think Rayne's in there do you?"

"I don't know but I'm sure we will find out any second now" he smirked.

Temari took a few steps back and turned around, only to run into Shikamaru. "Oh, there you are…"

"Did you find Gaara?" called Kankuro.

Shikamaru sat back down at the table and pulled out his cigarettes. He lit one up and inhaled deeply. "No" he finally responded. "I knocked on the door but he didn't answer. He's either not there or still sleeping."

Temari couldn't help but notice that something was off with her boyfriend. She knew he tried to limit his smoking, knowing that it wasn't the best of habits to pick up. The only time he really did it was when something was bothering him and being the laid back guy he was, it took a lot to actually bother him. He looked alright but…

He stood up before she could say anything. "You know what. I'm going to go wait in Gaara's office." He put his cigarette out and started walking away from the table. "You finish packing, alright? Just have your brother meet me when he gets up."

"Yeah sure thing. Is everything okay?" she asked concerned.

"Of course." He said giving her a smirk. "I just remembered there were still some plans I had to go over really quick so I'm going to finish them up in the office."

"Alright, well I'll try to hurry then." She said before heading back to her room. Something was definitely wrong, and she didn't take kindly to bullshit. That boy knew better than to lie to her. She was going to get to the bottom of this sooner or later.

Shikamaru headed towards the office leaving Kankuro alone in the kitchen to shovel more food into his mouth.

Gaara woke up about 20 minutes later. His eyes immediately shot open. Someone else was in the room with him. He tried to sit up quickly but was surprise to find his arm pinned beneath something; it had completely fallen asleep.

Rayne.

He sighed and sank back down, taking a deep breath. He turned his head and looked out the window. It was already way too late in the day. He couldn't understand how he had slept this long. He hardly ever slept to begin with. He had to admit though, that had been one of the best nights of sleep he had ever had. Not to mention that lying here in bed was surprisingly comfortable, especially with someone else lying beside him. Sure it would have been better if his arm wasn't asleep; or if she didn't reek of alcohol. He scrunched his nose up in disgust. How did he end up taking care of someone like her? He rolled his eyes and sighed. For some reason he didn't mind it as much as he should have.

Careful not to wake her, he gently slid his arms out from around her. He climbed out of bed and picked a shirt up off the floor. Rayne sighed deeply and shifted on the bed, but remained sleeping. He slipped the shirt on over his head and headed over to the door. Before opening the door he turned around and got one more look at the girl sleeping in his bed. He shook his head and headed out into the hallway.

He immediately ran into Kankuro.

"You seriously just getting up?"

Gaara nodded his head. "Yeah, strange isn't it?"

"I feel you. Just woke up about a half hour ago myself. Hey, have you seen Rayne? Temari is looking for her. And Shikamaru is waiting in your office for you. Said he had something he wanted to talk to you about."

"She's still asleep" Gaara replied, quickly walking past his younger brother. If Shikamaru was here… it didn't matter, all he had to do was keep him away from Rayne. The young Kazekage walked down the hall and opened the door to his own office. He saw very familiar spikey hair sticking over the back of the chair.

"Good morning Kazekage sama. I hope I'm not keeping you from anything." He tried not to wince at how uncomfortable formal his voice sounded.

"I already told you, feel free to call me by my name." he replied, taking a seat across from the leaf shinobi.

He smiled a little and tried to relax a bit. "Of course, Gaara"

"So what's this about? The upcoming events I am assuming?" He started rearranging the papers on the desk. He didn't have a good feeling about this. What was so important that he had to meet him alone in his office?

Shikamaru was quite for a moment. He was thinking hard, trying to choose his words carefully. "Yes…" Another pause "and no…" This was very dangerous territory he was getting himself into.

Gaara looked up from his desk. He immediately knew from the look on Shikamaru's face that something wasn't right. "What is it?"

"It's about a certain fugitive from the leaf village…" Shikamaru watched Gaara's face closely; trying to get a read on him; trying to get a read on the situation.

Gaara felt a pit form in his stomach. It was a relatively new feeling to him. He was worried; and that was something that rarely happened to him. He did not like it at all.

"What happened? Did someone escape?" he asked. He made sure to sound as sincere as possible; making sure not to give the other man any reason to suspect he knew otherwise.

"Yes, it was a few months ago actually. We- well I have suspicions that she is hiding out in the sand village. Unfortunately I am off the case and have no evidence to prove it so there is nothing being done about it."

Gaara's hands clenched around the arms of the chair so hard his knuckles turned white. Luckily his desk kept them hidden from the other shinobi's view. He hoped his face didn't betray how worried he was inside. "So you need my help finding this woman?"

Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward in his seat. He pressed his fingertips together and looked down at them. Gaara recognized that pose. He was thinking; working out a strategy. He didn't like where this was going. "Gaara, I know Rayne is here…"

Gaara's stomach felt like it dropped. "I-"

Before he could even say something Shikamaru cut him off. "Look, like I said I'm off the case. I don't have any desire to bring her back and I sure as hell don't want to get caught up in the middle of it. That is way too much work for me. You guys are friends of mine so I need to at least warn you about what you are getting into. I don't know what is going on between the two of you, but Gaara, there are some things you really need to know about that girl."

Gaara tried to relax a little. He wasn't after Rayne. "I know about the demon." There was no point in denying things. Shikamaru was smarter than that.

"So she did tell you?" he asked, looking a little shocked. He didn't expect Rayne to reveal such a big secret to anyone really. There was something very odd going on here.

"To some extent, yes. She can be rather… difficult to get information from sometimes."

Shikamaru chuckled. "You don't even know the half of it. She's very troublesome." The young man sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Gaara, I'll be honest with you. She isn't a bad person, I know that, but I don't know how much control she really has. That demon of hers isn't particularly nasty but it's a demon none the less, and it does get a little… stir crazy after a time and if she lets her control skip… There have been a few accidents."

"Accidents?" Gaara asked. He had to admit, this talk was making him feel a little more at ease. He felt like he was really getting somewhere, really had a chance to learn about her past. Even if it did feel a little like he was going behind her back to get it.

"People are dead, a lot of people." Shikamaru said. His tone suddenly got a lot darker.

Gaara nodded his head. He knew something must have happened. She had admitted it to him last night but he had decided not to press the issue farther.

"There was a village near by when she first woke up after the demon was placed into her. It was a massacre. Lots of innocent people were killed before her brother could finally stop her. I saw pictures from the report. It was like something out of a nightmare Gaara. That wasn't the only time either. One night she completely destroyed her prison cell, killing a few other inmates in the process. We lost two shinobi before her brother was there to stop it. Luckily he was still in the village. Same thing with the one night she escaped. She took out half a dozen shinobi and almost killed her best friend. She doesn't look like it but she is very much a danger. Rayne doesn't always have the best control of her emotions and when things get bad enough, it gets ugly fast. We can't just let a demon run wild. She needs to be watched."

There was something in the way Shikamaru said it that really grated on his nerves. Demon. It always came down to the demon. All the horrors he experienced in his own life were the work of a demon. He was hated and feared because of a demon. The same thing was happening to her. Rayne wasn't a danger. It was a demon that she never even wanted that was the problem yet she still had to deal with the consequences of it. "Well I can assure you that as a former demon myself; I will have no problem taking care of it if a problem arose. I wouldn't let a demon run wild in my city" he said, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was a little offended.

"Look Gaara, I didn't mean it like that. I like Rayne, I really do. I just don't want another repeat. She has enough on her conscious already. None of us want more blood on our hands because of this. I just want you to be aware of the situation. I want you and the rest of your family, especially your sister to be safe."

The Kazekage sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry. I know you don't mean anything by it. I can promise I will watch out for Rayne. I just don't want to see her end up in prison again for something that isn't necessarily her fault."

Shikamaru nodded. "As long as you understand the situation."

"I won't let anything happen to anyone. I will keep Temari, Kankuro, Rayne and the rest of my village safe. It's my job as Kazekage, as leader of the village."

"Good" Shikamaru was surprised that things went as well as they did. He was expecting something more… explosive to come out of this. He had walked into Gaara's office moments ago wishing that he had told Temari that he had loved her one last time.

"Now that that is out of the way, shall we discuss what your main reason for coming here?" asked Gaara, who was equally surprised that thing had gone as well as they had did.

"Ah, yes of course Kazekage-sama, eh I mean Gaara."

The Kazekage sighed, feeling a little relief. "So about this upcoming event…"

About a half hour later Shikamaru left, asking Temari just to meet him at the gate. Another 20 minutes later Temari was heading out the door with Kankuro and Gaara behind her; both brothers having decided to walk with her to the gate. They had barely made it out the door when someone called to them. They all turned around as Rayne jumped down out of one of the upper windows of the house.

"Didn't think you were going to leave without saying goodbye to me did you?" she called, running up them.

"Wouldn't dream of it" smiled Temari.

"Just thought you could use your beauty sleep," said Kankuro. "Sure looks like you need it."

Rayne shot a glare over at the laughing boy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing at all" he laughed.

"That's what I thought," she grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Aww, Rayne. You know I'm just kidding."

She punched the older boy hard in the arm. "Of course I do," she laughed as Kankuro rubbed his sore arm.

"Damn, why the hell did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Oh, don't be a baby," The young kunoichi grinned and hurried over to Temari before Kankuro got any sort of idea to retaliate.

Temari just laughed along with them. "You guys seriously act like you are 8 years old sometimes." The group of them all continued walking towards the gate together. Any tension that had existed that morning was quickly forgotten.

When Rayne had woken up that morning Gaara had already left. She had also been very surprised by how late it already was. Her hangover was for the most part, already fading. She still none the less grumbled and turned her face into the pillow, blocking the light from her eyes. Her memories from the night before slowly sank in as she laid face down like that. She groaned into the pillow. Some parts were a bit unclear but she knew she acted like an idiot. Gaara was probably already gone because he couldn't face her, which was okay because she didn't even want to look at him right now. She had acted like a complete psychopath last night. And worst of all she looked weak, something she had prided herself on not doing… ever. Somehow that damn Kazekage always managed to make her look like a fool no matter how hard she tried. When she heard everyone moving about the house she slowly forced herself out of bed. She still was finding it hard to believe that she had actually spent the night sharing a bed with the Kazekage. She felt her face grow hot in embarrassment just thinking about it. She smacked herself in the head a few times as she walked towards the bathroom hoping to dislodge the thought from her brain.

She took a very quick shower to wash away the smell of booze and got dressed just as everyone was leaving the house. She looked out the window and decided then and there that it would definitely take way too much time to use the front door. She slid the window opened and jumped down to the ground next to them. Now that they were all walking to the front gates together she made sure to stay as far away from Gaara as possible. Every time she thought about the way last night went down her heart pounded faster and it only pissed her off. She couldn't even make eye contact with the guy now. "Stupid brat" she mumbled to herself.

They all continued walking to the gates, laughing and having a good time when out of nowhere a hawk suddenly swooped down out of the sky. They all looked up and Kankuro held out his arm for the Sand Village messenger hawk. It landed gracefully and stuck out its leg. Kankuro quickly untied the paper. As soon as the note was free the bird immediately took off, soaring back up into the sky.

Kankuro quietly read the note over a few times before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He swore under his breath.

"I have another meeting to go to guys. Sorry I can't finish this walk. See you soon though Temari." He walked away from the group pouting like a kid. If it was one thing he hated most about being leader of a team it was all the meetings he had to sit through recently.

As they got closer to the gate Rayne picked up on a familiar chakra. Shikamaru was close by. She figured as much anyways. Temari was leaving with him after all.

"Alright Temari, well I wish you the best of luck and safe travels and all that good shit. I have to get going. I promised Akio that I would kick his ass today and I really have to keep my appointments you know." Rayne slowly backed away from the group, waving goodbye. Both Temari and Gaara gave her rather strange looks but it looked like Gaara was having similar problems as she was today and didn't make eye contact with her. He simply grunted in acknowledgment and continued walking.

"Alright then Rayne, I'll see you soon." She smirked and Rayne couldn't help but feel like the oldest sibling was hinting at something. She shot her a weird look but Temari just waved it off.

The two remaining sand siblings continued on. Rayne waited till they were out of sight before turning and walking back to the house. She didn't really have plans today and was pretty sure Akio wasn't even home right now (nor would he appreciate an ass-kicking) so she was content to just wander the village for a while. To be honest she had no desire to head back home and see Gaara.

In a short amount of time Rayne had once again managed to get herself lost. No matter how hard she tried, navigation was just not her thing. She had even been known to get lost back when she was living in the leaf and she had grown up there for god's sake. She sighed and looked around. Not a single fucking building looked familiar. She looked around clueless hoping to see something at least a little familiar.

"Rayne?"

Yes! I'm saved! Someone who knows me! She quickly turned around and her smile disappeared from her face faster than it appeared. Fucking Gaara.

The Kazekage walked over to her. "What are you doing around here? I thought you said you were going to see Akio."

"Little bitch chickened out on me or something. Didn't end up showing. Thought I would wander around a bit instead."

"And now you're lost again?" he asked. Rayne could make out the faintest trace of a grin on his face.

She couldn't stand that arrogant tone he just used with her. She scowled. "I am not lost" she insisted. "I am simply adventuring thank you very much."

"So I'm sure you don't need me to show you how to get home then?"

"Of course not. Although I do plan on returning home soon anyways so if you would prefer to have a body guard, watching your very important back then just say the word. As a shinobi of this village it would be my honor to serve you," she said back, laying the sarcasm on thick.

Gaara just rolled his eyes. "Let's go"

Rayne folded her arms and followed after him a few steps behind. Of course she had gotten lost and of course he had to be the one to find her. It always ended up this way. She leaned her head back and looked at the sky as she walked. She couldn't help but notice a few of the messenger hawks, like the one they saw earlier, circling about.

"Hey Gaara, where does Kankuro keep running off to lately?" she asked out of simple curiosity. There had been an increasing number of meetings her "sensei" had been called off to in this last month.

Gaara slowed his pace so he was now walking next to her. "I have actually been meaning to talk to you about this. You can't say anything to anyone else about this but given your circumstances I thought it best to tell you. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that in a few weeks' time the next chunin exams will be coming up."

That didn't exactly sound like good news to her. A big event where important people from all the major shinobi villages gathered? Yeah, it made her a little uneasy. "So what's the bad news?" she asked, almost afraid to know.

"This year it's hosted at the Leaf again and your team has been highly recommended."

"Aww shit," she swore.

"This is why Temari and Shikamaru are working so closely together right now. Kankuro has been heading off to meetings with other leaders of gennin squads. I personally would highly advise you not going, but since when have you listened to a thing I have said."

She couldn't help but notice the bitter tone he had. He was right though, both on how she shouldn't go and how she didn't like to listen. It wouldn't be fair to Akio and Hitoshi though. Both of them deserved to go and you couldn't enter without a three man team unless there were special circumstances.

"I thought I could at least give you a heads up. You'll have about a week to think about it before Kankuro announces it to the rest of your team."

"I understand, thank you," she said sounding as sincere as possible. But her mind was a bit far away now, thinking about what the hell she was going to do about these exams.

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Surprise! Chunin exam time! We'll just have to see how this turns out now wont we? Let me know what you guys think and I'll try to get the next chapters up a little sooner seeing as I have almost five whole chapters just sitting there, all finished, just waiting to be uploaded...
~Reiko