A/N: Oh god I'm sick of all that talking. Time to move on.

I've been rewatching Naruto and I came upon episode 57, where the real reasons behind the attack on Konoha was brought to light to me. And I realized: I"M SO WRONG! So after a few editions, I reuploaded chapter 12, 15 and 16. They only got some minor changes, only the parts about the kazekage plot.

Oh yes, and I was a little OOC for Baki because I was basing my opinion of him from shipuuden, so it wasnt as accurate.

Yeah other than that, here's 17!

-

Hurting

"Leave us."

Orochimaru continued to stay as he was, smiling at the Kazekage's curtains that surrounded the person himself. The council members hurried out of the dark room, the auras of the two men inside strong and clashing, and disturbing them quite heavily. As soon as the last one, Baki, coincidentally, had closed the door, a scrawny young man with glasses came out from the shadows and placed a seal above the door handles.

"Ninpou: Fugen no Jutsu," Kabuto quietly muttered, fingers forming a one hand seal of the Sheep as Orochimaru and the Kazekage began their soft discussion for the planned attack on Konoha during the Chuunin Examinations.

"Now, I want details about your plan."

"Patience, Kazekage. I need to have your trust before I can proceed," Orochimaru said slowly, eyes narrowing with a smile that was almost as sincere as his heart. The Kazekage, although cloaked, smirked beneath the layers of cloth and drew the curtains.

"As. Do. I."

-

Keimyou gripped the message he had just received by a falcon from the East, from an informer he had paid in the last mission he went on. His knuckles turned white even as his maroon eyes stayed clam. His disposition was of a relaxed one, and if no one noticed his hands, they would never have guessed that he was shaking within.

"Keimyou? I'm back! Is dinner ready--"

"Seki. Come here," His voice was firm, not loud, but stern enough to grab Seki's attention. The only time she had ever heard him use that voice was when the clan elders were refusing Keimyou's plans to move to Sunagakure. Seki crept into Keimyou's bedroom, watching as her uncle stared blankly at the wall as he did a few nights ago. Taking note of his white knuckles, Seki slid beside Keimyou as slowly as possible.

"Uncle?"

"Seki, do you still trust what I said? That everything I do, I do it to protect you?"

"Of course, uncle," Seki replied gently. She had no idea where this conversation was headed, but braced herself for it anyway.

"Seki," Keimyou turned to face his niece, taking in every inch of her messy brown and orange hair, reaching her shoulders and her slightly thin built. Her bright red eyes that contrasted against her fair complexion, muddy pants and dirty shirt. Her optimistic smile that hid the hurt she remembered and still received.

I could take that away, Keimyou thought sadly. He cupped his hand around her face, using his thumb to trace her smooth eyebrows.

"Seki, we have to leave Sunagakure."

"Wha-What?" Seki stuttered, flabberghasted. Keimyou dropped his hand to her shoulder, his eyes staring back hers intently.

"There is a group of men after the poison in your brain. However, your poison has already spread to most part of your body so any method of removal would be fatal to you. Not only that, these men will do no good with that poison, and so we must prevent you from ending up in their clutches," as soon as Keimyou finished, he fished a large duffel bag from below his bed and zipped it open.

Seki stood up, shocked at this unexpected development as she watched Keimyou throw in several of his shinobi items and some clothes. He turned to see the brown hair genin still frozen in place. Maroon eyes turning soft, Keimyou held both her shoulders this time and knelt so as to be on the same eye level as her.

"Seki. You have to pack now. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Tomo-morrow?! Where? Why? Uncle, who are these men?!" Seki's head turned in all directions, as if the answer was somewhere inside Keimyou's room. Her mind, blank at first, now felt as if the floodgates of information had burst open and was filling her head with things she did not understand. As Seki tried to wring her hair, her fingers brushed her cheeks and Seki choked out a gasp as she examined her left hand.

She was crying.

"Seki. Seki, Seki!" Said kunoichi's attention diverted back to the man in front of her. His facial features contorted in worry as he thought about how to deal with his niece. He knew it was irrational to just expect her to drop everything and follow his instructions, but his informer had already reported that they were only a few days away from Sunagakure. It was best to get a head start.

"Seki, I'm sorry. I wish I can explain this to you now, but we have no time. We're going to Takigakure, it'll be safer there. I have someone who will hide us."

"But, uncle, why? I'm attending the Chuunin Examinations in about a week! I've been training so hard to do it right. Uncle, I can't just leave, especially without telling Temari and Kankurou and... and... Keimyou, LOOK AT ME!" Seki exclaimed loudly, catching back Keimyou's attention, who had tried to find a few more clothes to place inside the duffel bag.

"Why, uncle?" Seki asked again, softer this time and titled her head to the side. Keimyou placed his hand on her cheek, caressing it as she let her tears flow into his palm. Seki's choking sobs made Keimyou's heart wrench, as it brought back memories of when Seki was a mere child, and often sobbed like this when innocent rumours and gossip travelled around the clan about her abilities.

"Seki. You're being hunted by some bad shinobis. They won't spare your life to get that poison. I'll answer all your questions when we get to Takigakure, alright?" Seki hesitated for a few seconds, before she nodded, heaving in a deep breath in order to calm her nerves. When that didn't work, she forced air to enter her lungs to stop her sobbing, and dashed over to her room to collect her things.

Whatever is happening, I know Keimyou knows what he is doing, Seki thought, trying to comfort her own hammering feelings as she hurriedly stuffed the little clothing she wanted into her black sling bag. She could hear someone knocking on the door, but ignored it as Keimyou rushed to answer it instead.

Seki could hear Baki's voice bouncing of the walls of the house, but before she could be any more curious, she picked up her empty can of hair dye from the bedside table and saw the glass cat hiding behind it.

Learn to use your power to protect yourself.

Putting back down the can, Seki raised her trembling fingers to stroke the glass cat's sleek back and briefly remembered the day she learnt of her alternate persona. The cool transparent glass was icy against her flushed skin, and so delicate.

"Seki?"

Keimyou's voice cut through Seki's thoughts, startling her. She could only glance back down as the glass cat was pushed off the bedside table and fell to the hard, concrete ground. The size of the cat was so small, the shattering of the glass was barely audible.

But Seki heard the crash. Somewhere deep inside the left side of her chest.

-

"But Gaara, why are you asking me this?"

The two genins fell into silence as the glass cat was dropped into Seki's hand. The latter closed her fingers around it, feeling the cool, smooth texture as compared to the warm, grainy sand she felt everywhere. Gaara seemed to avoid the question intentionally, so Seki didn't press him for the answer. He had another question though.

"Why are you able to smile like that?"

Seki blinked, turning to face Gaara with a puzzled smile.

"What do you mean?"

"After, everything you've done. Experienced."

Seki's smile turned sad, and Gaara half wanted to take back his words, and restore the warm curve she loved to wear. Instead, though, he waited for her answer.

"I've... done a lot of things I regret, things I can't change. But I really want to change. The things I can change, the way I live, the way I see things, I'll change them. And... I won't take back my smile," as if to prove herself right, Seki grinned playfully at Gaara. He turned to face the desert, but continued to listen as her voice grew softer.

"I'll change. And become the shinobi I want to be."

Gaara took a sideways glance at the girl beside him, and studied her profile as she admired the view of the rolling sand under the sun.

"Seki."

Said kunoichi's head snapped back, causing her neck to crack slightly. She rubbed it, her attention still with Gaara since he hardly called her by her name.

"Protect yourself. Learn to use your power to protect yourself," Gaara muttered after a moment's hesitation. Seki blinked a couple of times, before a wide smile appeared like a rising sun at dawn.

"Mm!" Seki nodded, happily laughing after that, the sound of it carried off by the winds of Sunagakure.

-

Kankurou and Temari shifted uncomfortably at the same time as the tension in the silence grew. Both genins each took a separate glance up at their youngest sibling's bedroom.

There was nothing weird about his absence. But of the late, Gaara had the habit of at least coming down for breakfast before telling them to leave him alone. Kankurou would scoff, while Temari would have smiled weakly to appease him as the redhead glared daggers at his older brother before swiftly departing for his bedroom once more.

The fact that Gaara had skipped breakfast completely was unnerving. If it were any other shinobi most people would have deduced that the latter had overslept or just refused to leave his room. But Gaara wasn't any other shinobi.

I wonder if he died up there. Impossible, but you can starve to death, Kankurou thought humourlessly. He started to poke Karasu harder than necessary, wondering why he was so frustrated about the person he despised most in the world.

Did he leave? I wonder what's he thinking? Should I check? Temari frowned as thoughts raced in her brain while she stitched the hole in her fan. A chuckle burst out unexpectedly as she recalled the reason behind the hole.

Kankurou looked up at the sudden noise. "What?"

"Nothing," Temari assured, smiling anyway as Seki's face appeared in her mental screen, as well as those deft hands that, having trained for so long, managed to flick shurikens fast enough to pierce a hole in her fan.Maybe I should just make the whole thing out of steel, Temari thought casually, knowing she would be able to handle the weight. Her heart drooped slightly at that thought, remembering how she agreed to train with her young friend even though she knew Seki would not be taking part in the exams.

"Where is Gaara?" Kankurou, unable to bear his inner demons stabbing him with their mini tridents like the ones devils would carry.

The blond shrugged, put down her fan and started to retie one of the four ponytails on her head.

"Don't know."

"You don't care?"

"And you do?"

"No," Kankurou retorted stiffly. Temari rolled her eyes, but he ignored her and put on his cat-eared head dress.

"Just thought you would."

"Well, I'm not."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Deafening silence took on new meaning as the two just stared at each other. Only when the door slammed open did they snap out of their reverie.

And speak of the devil.

"Where did she go?" Gaara demanded, venom dripping with every word he spoke aloud. Temari blinked at his sudden appearance while Kankurou narrowed his eyes, glaring at the sand that was slowly creeping into the house.

"Where did she go?" Temari shuddered inwardly as Gaara's voice dropped a notch and was now at a dangerous level of lashing out at one of them. Since shereally had no idea what Gaara was talking about, Temari felt it was safe to play dumb.

"Who?"

Before Gaara could unnecessarily strangle her with his sand, Baki appeared in a cloud of smoke beside him, wanting to place a hand on his shoulder to restrain the young genin, but was stopped by a streak of golden sand. Gaara's piercing ocean eyes turned towards his team mentor, silently asking for an explanation. Baki knew the tone of his glare and cleared his throat.

"Seki left with Keimyou yesterday."

"What?"

"What?"

"Why?" Gaara's voice, softer than his older team mates, but much more menacing, would have struck fear in the hearts of normal people, except the one of his mentor, who had heard it more often than needed.

"Keimyou is taking her to train in another country. He said it was too dangerous for her to be here."

"But why?! Who would be so dangerous that Sunagakure's guards and shinobis can't take out?" Temari exclaimed, shocked, but also confused by her young kunoichi friend's sudden departure. "She didn't even say anything to me. I trained with her the day before yesterday!"

"It was an impromptu decision. She wanted to leave a note for you all, but Keimyou insisted they leave immediately."

"Wait, you were there?" Kankurou asked, anger weaving through his words. Baki hesitated but nodded just as Gaara's sand smashed the coffee table in front of all of them. Temari yelped in surprise, Kankurou cursed under his breath, but Baki merely stared at his problematic genin as he watched Gaara hide his fuming under his sand armour. Said shinobi disappeared in a whirl of sand, and in the next few minutes, all Temari, Kankurou and Baki could hear was the non-stop crashing and breaking of several items inside Gaara's room.

When the atmosphere was quiet, it was only because Gaara had left to find other things to destroy.

Crush. Break. Shatter.

Even if no one could see beyond his stoic expression and cold gaze, there was no doubt Gaara was hurting inside.

But to what degree, even he did not know.

-

Orochimaru raised a skeptical eyebrow, still smiling insincerely.

"Next week?"

"Do not underestimate my prowess, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru chuckled coldly, otherwise showing no indication of his admiration for the Kazekage's influence in pushing the dates of the Chuunin Examinations forward. The latter sat back and observed his two visitors for a moment, before he nodded slightly towards Orochimaru's left hand. A ring on his little finger stood out in the darkness, the word空' barely visible under is overlapped fingers

"A family heirloom?"

"More like a treasure," Orochimaru drawled, tone almost hissing like a snake. He gave a sideways glance to Kabuto and changed the subject.

"Now, about those weapons you were saying. Are they going to listen to what you request?"

"Weapon," the Kazekage corrected. "I can guarantee only one of them. The other is not as reliable."

"I see. And which one is stronger?"

"The unreliable one has potential, but currently is a weakling that will only burden our plans."

"Well, there should be no problems, I presume. I would like to see you again. Kabuto will inform you of the date and venue."

"Of course."

"Alone," Orochimaru need not emphasize his words for them to take an effect. The low volume of his condition made the Kazekage's eyes narrow, although this went unnoticed by the former.

As if on cue, his two visitors stood up as gracefully as they could, Kabuto bowing slightly before they headed for the door. As his hand rested on the door knob, Orochimaru asked one final question,

"Kazekage, would your people miss you if you... left? "

The Kazekage looked up at the unexpected question, but saw nothing that aroused his suspicion. However, the tone that was hiding behind Orochimaru's nonchalent voice made the Kazekage raise an eyebrow. He smirked smugly, confidence shining through his eyes.

"Probably not."

"Excellent," Orochimaru grinned evilly and left the room without a backward glance.

-
A/N: In case you're wondering about the last paragraph, I sort of created that to make it seem like Orochimaru was already prepared to kill the Kazekage.

Well, I'm a little busy for the next few weeks so don't expect an update too soon. If there are any mistakes please let me know. I am currently rewatching the Naruto series to confirm my information, but I'm not perfect.

In advance: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ninpou: Fugen no Justu – Silence Jutsu
Takigakure - Land of Waterfall
空 – Void

Until the next update!

-JE