Maiden- I have to admit, Em totally had me laughin at the 'Could Gaara be going gay for his bodygaurd' thing in the last ch! Poor Gaara, if only he knew... Well, read and review kiddies!

Hidden From You

Chapter 5- The Demon From My Haunting Past

Mel made it back to the Avalon compound just as the sun was rising on the horizon. She jumped to grab the top of her windowsill and used it as a gymnastic bar to swing into her room. She fell back against the bed and sighed with a smile; she was falling for him. It was so wrong, and it was so horrible, but she was falling for Gaara. She couldn't, she wasn't allowed to, but she was.

"Mel?" Luna's voice floated from the door. Melody sat up and shirked off her jacket and smiled at the girl. Luna frowned, and Mel met it with a frown of her own." We have to go to the Hokage Palace… We found a Bandit, Mel…" And suddenly, Melody's high came crashing down again. A young man with long raven hair and striking lavender eyes was suddenly at Luna's side. Melody guessed it was another member of Luna's clan.

"Please excuse the interuption, Luna-sama, but here's the clothes you requested."

"Thanks Tori." the heiress smiled, taking the bundle from the man's arms. Tori bowed to the girls and left swiftly. Luna then crossed the room and placed the cloth on Melody's lap. "I had my cousin make you something to wear. Just like all Avalon clothes, they're made of spider monkey silk so they're practically indestructable. I used my sharingan to guess your size, so they should fit."

"Wow..." Mel whispered as she inspected her new garb. A burgundy and dark grey tanktop dress with buckles going down the front, a new set of chest bindings and dark capris."These are amazing."

"It's nothing." Luna grinned. "Records on the Ditto clan are hard to come by, but my mother had an old tora on your clan from the night she found you." Luna tossed the sand kuniochi the burgundy lined scroll. A silver hummingbird in midflight was embossed on the front. "And i'm guessing that's your clan's crest?" Melody nodded and Luna pressed something into her hand. A red wristband with the Ditto crest sewn in black silk thread. "This goes with your outfit."

"It's beautiful!" Melody gushed, slipping it onto her left wrist.

"Im guessing you like it?" Luna laughed, sitting next to her on the bed.

"I love it!"

"Then how bout I leave you to change then we can head out."

"Um..If it's all the same to you, i'd rather just wear my own clothes."

"Why? I thought you were gonna give up this charade?"

"I want to...but not now."

"Any specific reason why?" Melody averted her gaze from that of the elder, staring out the window at the rising sun.

"There are a few reasons Luna... Some I can't say yet," Melody admitted.
"Gaara is a big reason, isn't he?" Melody's head whipped around in shock. Her eyes asking the obvious question. "The gaurds saw you sneak out last night. I had Tori follow you until he saw you were safe with Gaara."
Melody sighed and started fiddling with her wristband.
"It's wrong...forbidden even. But I can't help feel that i've fallen in love with him. But it's not ment to be. He's the Kazekage of an entire country and i'm just a girl without a clan trying to find her place in this world by posing as a guy."
"I understand why you're scared, but you'll need to fess up eventually. But right now, our main concern is the bandits we came across."
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Both girls arrived at the Hokage's office to see the Sand Siblings, Naruto, Hinata and Kiba already there.
"About time you two show up!" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms.
"This comming from the Leaf's number one hyperactive knucklehead?" Luna replied, a Sasuke like smirk pulling at her lips. Melody laughed softly as the two bickered back and forth, her navy eyes brightening upon seeing Akamaru. She crouched down and beckoned the dog to her. Akamaru, being the big softy he was, came to the girl with no hesitation, nuzzling her cheek.
"Aww, aren't you cute!" Mel gushed as she petted the animal affectionately.
"He's quite the lover boy." Kiba chuckled, comming to stand beside Melody. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, he's Akamaru and over there's my teammate Hinata Hyuga."
Kiba offered his hand to the young girl. Melody took it and gave it a soft shake.
"Masha Ditto," Mel said before turning to stare at Luna, who was leading them towards an interrogation room.

"He's in here." Tsunade explained. "I want you eight to get as much information out of him as possible. Figure out why they invaded the village and what motive they had for sneaking around the Avalon compound." The young ninja nodded in agreement as the blonde sanin left thier sight. Luna went to open the door, but Melody quickly stopped her.
"Luna, I wanna talk with him alone." the heiress was going to protest but saw the desperation in Mel's eyes. The man- a tall and broad man with silver eyes and a normal build -was staring at Mel through the door window. Mel knew those eyes, they were the eyes of the bandit clan who killed her family.

"If you're sure..." Luna replied, opening the door just wide enough for Mel to slip in. "We'll be right outside if you need us." Melody nodded and entered, closing the steele door behind her.

"Seems like we missed another one." the man chuckled with a gravely voice. He recognized Mel's eyes. "I'll make a mental note to get rid of you later. After we get what we came for." A cold shiver went up Melody's spine, but she kept her composure.

"I'll keep this brief." she started, making sure to keep her masuline voice. "What were you doing snooping around the Avalon compound?"

"None of yer buisness, little boy."

"Look, you're out numbered not to mention out matched. So if I were you, i'd start cooperating before you get hurt." she drew her chunin tanto and held it to the man's throat, pressing firmly but not enough to draw blood. Seconds past and the man refused to talk, his silver eyes boring deep into Melody's. She increased the pressure of her knife and crimson blood slowly started to drip onto the tipless tanto.

"Fine, i'll talk." the man rasped, realizing how close Mel had been to cutting his main artery. Melody released her hold on him and stepped back, watching the man breathe deeply and blood flow increase. "We're looking for a girl. Maybe your age or a little younger. She's the lone survivor of the Ditto clan."

"What do you want with her?"

"To kill her of course." the man laughed. "The Ditto clan is infamous for thier talents of combining wind jutsu with thier weapons. And we plan to harness that power for ourselves, but not without wiping out the entire blood line first." The man was able to pull one of his arms free from the chakra ropes binding his hands and disapeared into a cloud of smoke produced from a smoke bomb.

To say the least, Melody was shocked. Not only had this man admited to having a vendetta out for her, but she finally knew something about her clan. Weapon handling had always been her talent, but now it seemed just that more important to her.

"What the hell happened!" Luna shouted as she and the others burst through the door and into the chamber.

"He got away." Mel whispered, still in shock of what she'd just heard.

"Then we have to persue him." Konkuro stated. "He couldn't have gotten far."