A/N: Don't hate me guys! I'm so sorry for the late update. I've been so busy, and lazy. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Thirteen

Reunited

Darcy's POV

"So, um, why do we have to help rebuild the wall? This isn't even our village, and it's so much work," Kye complained for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Because helping these guys out whenever and however we can is part of our job, Kye," I said. "Quit whining, it's annoying."

We had put in a lot of work, a couple days' worth, and the wall was finally almost complete. I stepped back, wiping my brow, and taking a drink of water.

"I'll stop complaining when you start working," Kye retorted.

"I've been working, dummy," I said, annoyed. "I've done way more work than you."

"Um, ma'am?" A new voice asked from behind me. I turned to see a sand jonin standing there.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Baki wishes to see you in the kazekage building," he said.

"Right now?"

"Yes ma'am," the jonin nodded.

"Well, alright," I shrugged, but shot a look at Kye. "Keep working. Akito, keep an eye on her."

"Whatever you say, bossy pants," Akito said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, and followed the sand jonin to the kazekage building.

I knocked on the door once I got there, and Baki called for me to enter.

"You wanted to-" I started to ask, but then saw someone with spikey red hair standing on the balcony overlooking the village.

"Gaara?" I asked in disbelief and shock.

He turned and gave a small smile. "How have you been?"

I opened my mouth to say fine, and then closed it, reconsidering my words. "Life has been hell without you here," I admitted. "But we managed."

"I heard Orochimaru was here," he said, getting straight to business.

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "He captured Hinata, but we got her back. Well, Kye and Akito did, I wasn't on the mission. It's strange, though, they said Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen, not in the base. Also, it seems Sasuke just let them leave. I mean, they said they threw smoke bombs at him, but this is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about, since when do smoke bombs stop him?"

"That is concerning," he mused, thinking for a moment. "I'll have to talk to them personally about this. What have you been doing?"

I shrugged. "Busy work, I guess. The easy stuff; Baki didn't want me doing anything too dangerous. He said you'd kill him if I was dead when he came back."

"He was right."

"Although, I did fight Orochimaru," I said.

"And you lived to tell the tale?" I could tell he was half joking, but still half serious.

"Yeah, but probably only because he let me," I replied. "That and Kye and Akito showed up with a lame Pokemon quote."

"A lame what?" He asked.

"Never mind," I waved off his question. "You're back sooner than expected."

"The Chunin exams were finished, and I got back as quickly as possible," he said. "Temari and Kankuro are still on their way. I convinced them I'd get home faster if I went on by myself."

"I guess you did."

"Baki," Gaara said, suddenly turning towards the sand shinobi. "Go get Kye and Akito, will you?"

"Yes, sir," Baki said, and he hurried to fulfill the orders.

Gaara was about to speak, but I piped up before he could even open his mouth. "Gaara, maybe this is none of my business, but there's a villager here, his name's Eren. I was training him a bit; he kept calling me 'sensei'. It was kind of cute, actually," I smiled to myself. Then I shook my head, reminding myself why I was bringing this up. "I was wondering… could I see his files? I asked Baki about it, and he told me to ask you. He asked me to train him."

Gaara gave me a look, and then looked away after a moment. Finally, he looked back at me. "There's nothing for you to see in his file."

"Gaara, I really-" I started, but he stopped me.

"There's nothing for you to see in his file because I'm going to tell you what there is to know," he said. He sat down at his desk, and indicated I should sit across from him.

I did as he asked, and waited patiently.

"Eren… he's… he's a special case," Gaara started. "Darcy, you have to understand, until recently, I didn't know anything about him except that he was living alone, and that, even though he tried, he wasn't the best ninja. He's… Eren is my brother. Half-brother, that is."

"He's… your brother…" I said, not sure what else to say.

"Yes, he is," Gaara said. "As for you training him… well, if that's what he wants, I don't see a problem with that. But we need to get this situation with Orochimaru figured out."

I smiled, and said, "Thank you, Gaara."

As if on cue, Baki returned with Kye and Akito.

"Good, I have some questions for you two," Gaara said, not wasting any time. He drilled them on the mission they went on, and we started trying to figure out what Orochimaru was up to.

"I think he's trying to distract us," I said. "I'm not sure what his goal is, but clearly kidnapping Hinata was a distraction. I'm not even sure he's interested in the byakugon anymore. I'm not really sure what he's after, but, unless Neji's been kidnapped, I doubt…" I trailed off as a thought occurred to me. "Where is Neji? Have we seen him recently?" I looked at Kye.

She shook her head. "We've been rebuilding the wall, so I haven't seen him recently." Worry crossed her face. "Maybe I should check on him. Baki, where should he be?"

"Either in his room, or working on the wall," Baki said.

Kye nodded and was out the door in seconds.

"Why would he go after Neji, though?" Akito asked. "I mean, he had Hinata in his grasps, and she has the byakugon."

"But we were expecting him to take Hinata," I pointed out. "Which he did, I suppose, but while we were distracted by saving her, he could have easily nabbed Neji."

"That makes sense," Akito said, but then added, "what if he hasn't taken Neji, though? What else could his target be?" She looked at me expectantly.

I shrugged. "Honestly, I have no clue. But whatever it is, it's important enough the he felt like he needed a distraction to get away from us."

Gaara nodded, and said, "I agree. If Neji is still here, even if he isn't, actually, our first priority should be finding Orochimaru."

At that moment, Kye came running back into the room – with Neji in tow.

The room breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Now," Gaara said, jumping straight to business. "N, assuming Hinata is still accounted for, we need to figure out what exactly Orochimaru wants."

A/N: Once again, you guys, I'm so sorry for the late update! I probably would have had this done this weekend, but I spent Friday night getting sick (this started around one and went until maybe eight or nine Saturday morning). I felt awful, and my appetite still hasn't fully returned. I'll eat a little here or there, but I still feel kind of queasy. I also only got increments of sleep of about an hour or so, so I'm still not caught up on my sleep, and I spent Friday night/Saturday sleeping on the couch, and I'm still sore from that. It was awful, and now my dad has it because I couldn't make it out of my room in time when I first woke up and got sick and he had to clean it up.

I'm sorry, that was probably more than you needed. But I hoped you liked this, and please review!