A/N: Whoa! The big 20!

So I re-edited this one only a bit. Did some minor grammatical fixes, took out a thing or two. Blah blah blah, but nothing about this chapter changed much. Going through 21 & 22, major issues. I didn't realize how big of a mess mostly 22 was. Holy cow! Which is why I'm releasing this chapter before tomorrow.

Also, I'm thinking about putting updates on my profile for how the story is progressing and if their are any stops on a chapter or whatever because right now, my brain is on meltdown mode. This story has my brain constantly moving and being on a computer all day already for school is killing me. I'll put an update tonight so I don't have to make bullshit chapters talking about why nothing's happening.

Oh oh oh! Also, I'm thinking about giving my chapters titles. If you guys have any good ideas just PM them to me. Tell me what chapter and the title and if I like it, I'll totally use it. I'll give you guys all the credit for to of course.

Anyways, enjoy!

Gaara arrived in the Hidden Leaf Village hastily, Kankuro right on his heels, panting. The young Kazekage had received an urgent summons saying that something terrible had happened and the Hokage was requesting his presence immediately. His mind had instantly gone to the safety of Setsuko. She had been gone for almost a week now and they had received no word from either woman on how things were going or when they would be back. When he had said a few days, he did not mean a whole week! Kankuro cleared them with the gate guards, although it wasn't all that necessary because of the strong alliance the Leaf and Sand had now that Gaara was Kazekage, and the two entered the village. Kankuro was still slightly out of breath as he tried keeping up with his younger brother.

"Why'd we have to get here so fast?" Kankuro asked as he finally steadied his breathing.

The two noticed the setup of what looked like a festival, and the crowded streets. Although Gaara looked calm, Kankuro knew he wasn't. He was walking way to fast to be calm. "We've been summoned on an urgent matter. Urgent means quick."

Kankuro gave an exasperated groan, but quickly shut his mouth when Gaara glared at him.

Gaara could careless about his brother's moaning, he had business to attend too. Although, now that he was traveling the streets of Konoha, he wondered of they would run into Setsuko and his sister. His mind wandered to thoughts of Setsuko. Since they had been gone, he had thought of almost nothing else except her and honestly, he hated it. He didn't understand it and that's what frustrated him the most. During his work his mind would wander to her immersed face as she read her books, or the night she kidnapped him to go to the beach. In the very few times where he wasn't working his mind would flicker over to the way she played with her hair when she was bored or the sound of her innocent laughter. His mind was full of her and it bothered him.

She had been gone far too long for his liking. Given her delicate situation he was worried about her. It was true, they hadn't seen hide or hair of an assassin recently, but that didn't mean they weren't plotting; waiting for the right moment to strike. What if one of them had followed her to the Hidden Leaf and killed her? He would have no way of knowing until his sister had informed him. Maybe that was what this urgent summons was about. Maybe an assassin had finally succeeded in their goal to eliminate her.

His thoughts were so scrambled, he didn't realize he had made it to the Hokage's office until he flung open the door and heard it slam against the wall. Tsunade looked up from her work, Shizune as well, and looked at him with surprise and curiosity. "Gaara?" She could see the hidden look of worry on his face. "What are you doing here?"

Although he was indeed worried, he hid it very well. "I received an urgent message that you wanted to see me."

Tsunade's brow knitted together as she continued to look at him. She let her gaze break away and to look up at Shizune, who looked down at her with the same puzzled expression. She turned back to him. "I didn't send any messages to you and I haven't recently. I don't know what you received but it most certainly wasn't from me."

Kankuro felt the air around Gaara darken. He wasn't the type to enjoy mind games. A feeling of dread washed over the puppet master as he eyed his brother carefully. Oh god, whoever did this is probably gonna die, he thought as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"I see." Gaara went silent as his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm sorry for my rude intrusion. Forgive me." He gave Tsunade a respectful bow and swiftly turned on his heel to leave.

Kankuro followed him quickly, the boys leaving a confused Tsunade and Shizune behind. The air around Gaara was stale and heavy, he was pissed. No, Gaara was beyond that, he was murderous. Everyone that passed them saw the look, and although he had changed drastically, held the look of pure fear on their faces. He was most certainly not the same kid as he was three years ago, but he had no qualms about killing people. Unknown to Gaara, Kankuro had a sneaking suspicion of who might have caused the flare of anger to stir in their brother. He sighed roughly, Temari, you idiot. He knew his sister well; this was just like her.

Temari and Setsuko had gotten a late start to their day; both sleeping in. For once, Setsuko was the first one up. Although, she couldn't really sleep with the ridiculous dreams she was having. Sitting quietly on the couch reading and trying to occupy herself, her mind wandered to the dreams she had. As she tried to concentrate, her thighs rubbed together as a searing hot feeling swirled in her stomach. Unconsciously, she bit into her bottom lip as her free hand rubbed her thighs. Realizing her actions, she cursed herself and slammed her book shut. She wasn't able to read like this!

Ever since they had left the Hidden Sand, she was having more and more dreams about him. Some were cute, some were weird, some were confusing and some were just plain graphic; like the one she had just woken up from. To say she was agitated would have been a mild way to look at it. She was by no means ready to start shooting her mouth off, but she wasn't exactly in the best of moods either.

With an annoyed sighed, that was in more ways a growl than a sigh, she got up from her spot on the couch and walked to the kitchen. Maybe filling her stomach rather than her mind would calm her down some. She plopped into a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, and angrily took a bite of some warmed up dumplings. Resting her elbows on the island, she absentmindedly toyed with her hair. She had every hope that this trip would have helped her take her mind off her confusing thoughts; straighten her out a bit. That hadn't even come close to happening! In fact, it was quite possible that she was even more confused now, then when she had left. It wasn't long into her thoughts that she heard Temari lazily shuffle into the kitchen.

"Have you talked to Shikamaru yet?" she asked, watching Temari rummage through the fridge with closed eyes.

"Mmm," was all she grunted back.

Setsuko cocked a brow curiously. "So, when and where are we meeting him?"

Temari mumbled something inaudible before chugging the milk they had bought earlier.

"That sounds like a great plan! Do you actually want to say it this time?" Setsuko mocked with a small snigger being heard after.

"I said! He's supposed to meet us here around 1pm or so," she reiterated with an annoyed huff before putting the carton of milk back.

Setsuko almost choked on her dumpling. "Temari, you do realize it's already 11:40 right?"

Temari looked over at her lazily before turning her gaze to one of the clocks. She stared at it for a moment before her eyes shot open. "Oh my god! We don't have enough time to get ready before he gets here!" She scrambled out of the kitchen and to her room, with lightning speed.

Setsuko just laughed and slowly got up, walking back to her room to get ready as well.

It had been two hours when there was a knock at the door. Temari said she would get it which left Setsuko in her room wondering where the time had gone. She was barely even ready when she heard Temari talking to someone that sounded vaguely like Shikamaru, but she wasn't entirely sure. It had been sometime yesterday when they had asked him if they could hang out with him at the festival. He had originally said that he wasn't planning on going, but she and Temari were able to convince him otherwise. He had played it off as nothing, saying that his friend Choji had asked him to come along anyways. Setsuko could hear another voice that was unfamiliar to her; that must have belong to Choji, Shikamaru's friend.

"Setsuko!" Temari's voice called out to her.

"Yeah?!"

"Are you ready yet? We're getting ready to leave."

Setsuko looked at herself in the mirror. "No, just go on ahead. I'll meet you guys there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go on, I'll be there soon." Setsuko heard the door close found herself all alone. Looking back into the mirror, she saw her left eye glowing, feeling a bead of sweat roll down her neck. It didn't last long enough this time to cause her any serious pain, just mild discomfort.

Splashing her face with water, she took in a few deep, slow breaths before continuing to get ready. She didn't know what was going on, but it was happening too frequently for her to be able to hide during a festival. Her head dropped, looking at her hands, wondering if going was a good idea now. What was she saying? Of course it was a good idea! It was just what she needed to keep her mind off the more invasive thoughts that swirled in her head.

Temari, Shikamaru and Choji were half way towards the center of town when an imposing figure stopped them dead. Although the figure itself wasn't very tall, the feeling emanating from them was enough to make it feel that way. All three of them seemed a little nervous as sharp, sea foam green eyes drilled holes into them; a scowl tattooed on his face. He looked as if he was ready to ring his sister's neck as he sent his entire angry gaze towards her. Temari looked at her youngest brother with a sheepish grin, silently asking for forgiveness at her action. By the way he was staring through her, she only guessed he had talked with the Hokage and found her letter to be a hoax. She had figured he would leave right away, but she didn't expect him to get here in record time.

"Temari…" His voice was low and grinding in their ears, like nails on a chalk board. He didn't need to raise his voice to let people know he was mad.

She chuckled nervously. "Gaara! What are you doing here so soon?"

"That was a dumb move Temari. You should have seen his look ten minutes ago," Kankuro butted in with arms proudly crossed across his chest, glad he wasn't the target.

She shot her brother a glare. "Shut up Kankuro!" She looked down at Gaara, noting that his fingers were impatiently tapping against his biceps.

He made no move to stop either of his siblings from bickering with each other; such a thing was normal. His scowl said everything he wanted to say, waiting for her reply as to why she had tricked him.

"Hey, what makes you think that Setsuko was the only one that needed a break? You've been confined just as much as she has, if at all possible, even more so. You both deserve to stretch your legs and enjoy yourselves, so I thought this was the best idea. I knew you wouldn't have agreed to come if I had just told you what was going on so, I improvised." She gave an off handed, but nervous, shrug.

Everyone watched and waited for his response. His scowl hadn't yet dropped, causing everyone to be on pins and needles about what would happen next. With an annoyed sigh, his body relaxed. "Fine. If you ever do that again though, I won't be so nice."

Everyone relaxed. "Hey, where is the Princess anyways?" Kankuro finally asked, now that everything was calm.

"She's back at the hotel getting ready. She wasn't quite done and told us she'd meet us at the festival." Shikamaru shrugged a reply.

Temari nodded. "Yep, so let's head over there already!" She ushered everyone in the direction of the festival before any of them could protest. When they all finally started walking on their own, she secretly nudged her little brother.

He glanced up at her, his anger having dwindled away.

She leaned in so no one else would hear her. "You're gonna like what Setsuko is wearing, trust me."

Silently he raised a curious brow, not quite understanding her meaning.

"Just, try not to let your jaw hit the ground when you see her, okay?" She sent him a radiant smile, one he was sure he'd never seen before, and watched as she grabbed Shikamaru's arm and dragged him ahead of the rest of them.

What had she meant?

Setsuko was finally finished getting ready and racing down the street. She wasn't sure where she would meet anyone, so she just ran in a guessed direction. Her black geta sandals slapped against the balls of her feet, drowned out by the noise of the crowds. She gracefully weaved through people as she tried to locate Temari and the others. Finally making it to the heart of the festival, she wasn't paying attention when she bumped into somebody. The two bodies collided and she was sent falling on her butt. Wincing in pain, she got up and dusted off the dirt.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going, I didn't mean to run into you," she quickly apologized, bowing repeatedly.

Setsuko watched as the woman she ran into was dusting off the dirt from her own body. She had long, silky platinum blonde hair resting over her slim shoulders as her bangs shielded her eyes from view. The pale cream of her skin was unblemished and looking as if it gave off an unnatural glow. Her yukata was long and black with what looked like a blue dragon spiraling the entire length of the outfit, the white obi sash contrasting the black. Slowly the woman looked up, "No, no, it's alright Princess."

"Are you sure?" Setsuko cut herself short, a strange, uneasy feeling welling inside her as she looked into the powder blue eyes that stared back at her.

"Yes, however you're lucky." The woman paused as her unseen hand held a blade that she tucked into a holster on her thigh. "Things could have turned out far worse for you, if I hadn't reacted in time."

Setsuko's eyes widened a little, having never noticed the blade she had been palming. "Thank goodness no one was hurt."

The woman nodded, "Yes indeed."

"Um, I'm sorry but I need to go. Again I'm sorry for running into you like that." She bowed in apology and quickly ran around her.

Her eyes flickered to the side as she watched, almost in slow motion, the woman she bumped into. The woman didn't make a move and seemed to have her bangs once again shield her eyes from view. However, the smirk on her lips didn't sit well with Setsuko as she passed her. She didn't bother looking back at her, afraid that if she did, the woman would take the opportunity to strike. Who was that woman though? Looking into her eyes, she felt a sense of familiarity; like she had seen her somewhere before. She didn't remember meeting her before. Most of all, how had she known that she was a Princess? There was definitely something wrong about that woman.