Before we made it to the roof, where most people seem to be gathered, there was a bright light. Night turned to day. I reacted instinctively, dodging behind a building and hoping that if it fell down I wouldn't be buried in rubble. I glanced around, realizing that the genin had followed suit. Aisa, Michiko and Kento had their eyes squeezed shut and arms thrown over their head. I peeked around the corner, eyes squinting against the glare as I tried to figure out where it was coming from. The earth began to shake. A deafening roar fell upon us. A bomb? How would I survive if a bomb this large had been deployed? My mind suddenly stirs, instantly thinking of ways to survive the unsurvivable.

My eyes widened. Sand... All that sand hovering above us... I didn't need to figure out how to survive. Gaara was saving us all. All that sand...all that power... How, though? There's no way he had that sort of strength. Where did he find the power to do something like this, to save...

To save his entire village?

My eyes widen more than possible with shock, before they become narrowed in irritation. He cares. Not that I'm complaining, seeing as his caring saved me. But because of this, there was no way he would have any strength left to continue fighting, to save himself, to survive.

Idiot.

As soon as the attack seemed to end I pulled the genin out from behind the house, hurrying up to the roof. Another explosion soon rocked the sky and I glanced up. The sand remained steady despite Gaara's defense seeming to implode, then slowly began to move away. I sighed in relief when we were out of it's shadow; at least we weren't  going to be buried alive. When I arrived, everyone looked terribly shocked. The boy in the strange black suit--who I remember as Gaara's brother--was shell-shocked.

"What happened?" I asked his brother, glancing up to the ball of sand that was slowly breaking apart, which I assumed held the Kazekage.

"He broke Gaara's ultimate defense," he replied slowly, staring in horror.

My eyebrows shot up. "Fuck," I breathed. "You're kidding."

He shook  his head. "It's the Akatsuki. Gaara saved us, which gave the bomber the chance to attack Gaara."

Idiot.

"He reacted without even thinking," his brother--Kankuro--continued. Idiot. "He saved us all." Idiot. "Even though it opened him up to an attack." Idiot. "He used the last of his strength to move the sand away from the village so we wouldn't be crushed." Idiot. "And he's been captured." Idiot, idiot, idiot.

I looked up. Gaara and the bird are but a speck on the horizon. "What are you going to--"

"I need to save Gaara!"

They're all idiots!

***

They had sent a messenger hawk to Konoha. A team would be arriving soon. But other than that tidbit of information, I was shut out. The genin were exhausted. I was irritated.

"Sleep," I ordered the genin.

A roll of complaints and whining unraveled almost immediately.

"Shut up," I snapped. "Right now you three are completely useless and look exhausted. If anything were to happen, you would only drag me down. So sleep." I bite out.

They closed their mouths and stared at me wide-eyed before conceding.

When I felt all their chakras placing their location back inside their room, I relaxed slightly and rubbed my forehead. The Akatsuki. I was more than familiar with that name.

The Rising Phoenix had stayed out of their way. And for a reason. One of their members literally just took the Kazekage, the most powerful sand ninja, out. He had snuffed out his weakness, taken advantage of it, and captured him.

It was a perfect play.

And unlike the Rising Phoenix, the Akatsuki was a tight knit group of powerful comrades, almost. That gave them their own edge.

Well, Konoha would assign a different team to work with a team from the sand village. My team and I were not involved in this in any way. We had delivered the artifact. Our mission was over.

It was time to go home.

I would let them rest for a few hours before the journey though. In the mean time, I would pack for the travel back. It was approximately a three day travel. Therefore we would need supplies.

I headed to the store. There were whispers all around, and the scared looks hadn't abandoned the faces of the villagers just yet. Recent events would be most likely marred in their minds for a long time.

From a broader perspective, everyone had almost just died. If not for Gaara, a massacre would have been successful.

I walked into a store and gathered a couple mandatory items. Packaged foods, bandages and the like. It was time to go back. I was already tired of the sand that got everywhere, of the heat and dry wind. We had an alliance with the Sand, yes, but that didn't mean I needed to stay with my team. A bunch of genin weren't going to be any help.

I glanced around, finally catching sight of the ANBU. I beckoned him over, and with a nod he appeared. "Yes?" he asked, voice muffled only slightly by the mask.

"How is Squirrel's progress coming along?" I questioned.

He stayed silent for a moment before it clicked. "Risu is still in pain. His leg will take a long time to be fully funtional. He couldn't travel long distances right now," he replied evenly.

I nodded slowly. "Gaara probably didn't get a chance to order a squad of Sand Shinobi to escort us... and they'll all--understandably--be concentrating on saving Gaara and the crisis at hand."

"I wouldn't recommend moving without a full squad of ANBU or shinobi guarding you," Saru advised. "I could only do so much. The chances of us all dying if we met up with multiple Claws again is too great."

I blew out, irritated. "Which means we're stuck here for a while."

He nodded.

"We will send a messenger hawk to Konoha. At least then we can travel back within a reasonable time span. With everyone scurrying everywhere due to the kidnapping, escorts won't be a priority."

"I will get right on that," the ANBU said before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

And with that, I resigned myself to the wait.

**

I pushed open the door without an invitation, expecting the three genin to be resting, as I had told them to do so.

Instead, the three genin were sitting criss cross applesauce in between the two twin sized beds, seemingly appearing to be in the midst of an engrossing discussion.

"Surprise," I said aloud, holding up the bag of sweets I had purchased for them... And myself.

As soon as their eyes caught sight of the sweets they jumped to their feet.

"Yummy!"

"Alright!"

"Yesssss!"

I raised my eyebrow. "Okay, calm down. These sweets are to commend all three of you for your hard work and effort. Half decent job out there in the real world you three. You managed not to drag me down, for the most part. So have at it," I said, tossing at them one of the two sweets bags I had purchased.

I sat down on one of the two beds. "Now, over view of the mission. The do's and don'ts. Brief summary. Someone, anyone." I waited for someone to speak up.

"When Aisa provoked the mask guy that was stupid. Cashile-sensei got hurt!" Michiko half-glared at Aisa.

I narrowed my gaze at Aisa. "That's right," I flicked him on the forehead. "That's why you listen to whatever I tell you nut heads."

He gulped and stared at his feet, feeling the guilt. I didn't offer any words of comfort, though. His guilt would only strengthen him further.

Before any of the other genin had a turn to reflect verbally on their mission, I spoke up. "Well alright then, you guys reflect amongst yourselves. I have things to get done."

They almost immediately started criticizing one another.

"Try not to tear each other' throats out," I commented once more before exiting the room.

I entered my own room next door and yawned, allowing my body to recognize the stress it had been dealing-- and all while in recovery. While I could operate on days without sleep, I always preferred to give my body adequate rest for optimum performance.

So I let my body slump behind closed doors and closed my eyes, wiping all the day's events from my mind to allow complete relaxation for the moment.

**
There are three swift raps on the door.

My eyes jolted open and immediately I slinked up to the door, blade ready to leap into my hand at a moments notice. Then I opened the door.

I'm prepared—constant vigilance, as a character from a book I read would say—for an enemy or attack, but a sand ninja is simply holding a piece of paper to deliver to me. I remained on guard, warily snatching the paper away and scanning it quickly.

I stared at the scrap of paper in my hand that the sand ninja had delivered to me. Apparently the Sand wanted to consult with me about the Akatsuki because the Leaf had more information pertaining to them than they do.

I sigh aloud. The Sand just couldn't  wait for that team they had sent for, could they? I supposed the Sand hadn't gotten the memo: I haven't been in the Leaf Village for the past few years, having only recently returned.

But that didn't mean I don't know anything about the Akatsuki.

I followed the ninja, and he brought me before a small gathering of people before disappearing. A sand ninja, who I recall being Gaara's sensei at one time, turns to me.

"Hello. My name is Baki. Thank you for coming and agreeing to share information with us," he began respectfully. The tone in his voice was clearly devastated though. Someone else had been injured, critically.

I raised an eyebrow and ignored the obvious display of emotion. "There's your first mistake," I commented dryly, instead. "You assumed that me appearing before you constituted as me being willing to hand over information and be completely complacent and cooperative. I will share what I deem to. Now that we've cleared that slight misunderstanding up, please, continue."

His face may not have shown the anger he was feeling, but the desperate, furious look in his eyes gave him away. I smirked a little; he clearly knows that he can't vocalize his anger lest he irritate me. Ah, the power of having something other people wanted.

Another ninja didn't seem to get the memo. "Bitch!" he shouted. "Our Kazekage is in danger and you're going to hold back information that could save him?! The Leaf and the Sand have an alliance!"

I stared at him with a blank, cold look in my eyes. "I must have misunderstood. I didn't realize that an alliance meant sharing any and all knowledge with one another. May I take a look at the Sand's forbidden jutsus?"

That seemed to shut him up fast.

"I apologize for Tekuri's disrespect. Of course he didn't mean anything of it," Baki murmured, glaring at his subordinate who had spoken out.

Immediately the subordinate bowed his head apologetically. "Please forgive me," he said.

I nodded once. " Back to more trivial matters. There's not much I can say about the Akatsuki. While the leaf village has been directly confronted on more than one occasion by this organization, I wasn't associated with the leaf village directly during that time. What I do know is that they are after the tailed beasts. Which is most likely why they went through all the trouble of capturing the Kazekage."

"The tailed beasts..." Gaara's sensei murmured. "That makes sense. If they were--"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door, and a sand nin entering. "Excuse me sir, they're here. The team sent from Konoha."

I glanced at the door. Yes, I did feel the familiar presences. Of course it would be them. "Excuse me," Baki said. "But I must go and meet with the team sent from the Leaf. Would you like to join me with your comrades?"

I nodded, accepting his offer and joined him as he began to descend some stairs.

***
Treatment room 303. Their presence was inside this room. The room I had just learned Kankuro was being kept in.

We burst into the room and I welcomed the sight of Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura. Another team from konoha. Maybe we could finally get that escort.

Accompanying team Kakashi was an ancient woman and man who looked as old as time itself.

Behind Sakura lay a deathly pale, sweating version of the Kankuro I had seen just the other night when Gaara had been kidnapped.

I did call him an idiot for a reason.  And of course I was right.

"Cashile, good to see you safe," Kakashi said. I nodded at him. "Here to stop the Akatsuki?" I questioned.

"Pretty much. We're assisting in the rescue of the Kazekage," Kakashi replied.

"You should all just wait outside. Our first priority is healing Kankuro. This poison... I've never seen anything like it. It's spreading fast, but I can cure it. I'll need..." Sakura started to list ingredients.

Bali nodded. "Yes, I'll explain everything to you four now that you're all here. I'll tell you everything we know so far..."

His voice faded out as I stared down at Kankuro. Sweating. Pale. In tremendous amounts of pain.

I screamed out in pain for one vulnerable moment when I couldn't control the sounds I let out of my mouth. I then gritted my teeth and crushed my eye lids together, withstanding the excruciating pain that was spreading through my calf. The poison was traveling up my blood stream rapidly and I was dying.

"Dont worry, you won't die," a menacing voice comforted. Like hell those words were comforting. I glared at the man that stood in front of me, holding a syringe which contained a deadly poison. My body was limp but stayed upright from the chains that held my wrists and ankles.

"This isn't a punishment you know," the man continued. "All claws in training must go through this training in order to become poison resistant. Trust me, you're more useful to us with this training. Time for your second dose," he taunted.

Second dose? He then circled behind me and plunged the syringe right beneath my shoulder blade. A gurgle of pain escaped from my mouth and an uncontrollable whimper followed. "Give it a couple hours. This poison is slow, so you have plenty of time to get well acquainted with it before I administer the antidote. Then we'll move to the next poison."

Now the flames spread throughout my arm as well, deeply charring my insides. All I could do to stay alive now was to learn how to deal with the pain.

I was helpless. It was all I could do.

I could have easily counter acted the poison in Kankuro's bloodstream. Or at the very least held it off longer than him. But I guess no one knew about  that.

And now that Sakura was here, there was no need to divulge that information.

"Cashilleeee, did you get any of that?" Naruto asked. I blinked and looked at him.

"What?"

"What Baki said! About the honored siblings and the puppet guy..." Naruto easily filled me in. I watched him. He was still wary. Still hesitant. But ten time more open than he used to be. Guilt does that to you, I guess. I could sense a worried look from Kakashi when I admitted to not paying attention but ignored it completely.

"The old lady inside is one of the siblings," I guessed after he had finished explaining the situation to me. "And our opponent is her grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand," I said.

A nod of confirmation from Kakashi was all I received. "Well then I guess you guys better get going on your mission. You have a lot to get done in a short amount of time."

"We'll leave as soon as Sakura finishes healing Kankuro and Pakun gets back with a location, but Cashile, can I talk to you privately?" Kakashi asked, looking mildly uncomfortable, but as level headed as always.

We moved aside.

"The Akatsuki," Kakashi murmured thoughtfully, once we were out of audible range from the others. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

I studied Kakashi for a long moment before realizing what he was insinuating. "No," I immediately shook my head. Kakashi opened his mouth but I rambled on, not even pausing for breath so he wouldn't have a chance to interrupt me. "No way. My team is not ready for a clash with the fucking Akatsuki, especially considering that we just had a run in with the Claws, may I repeat, Claws, plural, of the Rising Phoenix, and—"

Kakashi raised his hand in a sharp motion to cut me off and I couldn't help but flinch away from him, remembering how he let me take the hit, how he let Naruto shove the rasengan into my body, how he became a little more like what I knew in The Rising Phoenix.

Kakashi, of course, caught the movement. I tried my best to blow it off, to act as though it was nothing. "So, then--"

"What was that?" Kakashi interrupted me, an oddly hurt look in his eyes.

"What was what?"

"That... that flinch. Did you think I was going to hit you?"

I opened my mouth, but no words make their way out. No explanation, no excuse, nothing that could get me out of this situation came forth. And so I slowly shut my mouth again and say nothing.

"I... Dammit, Cashile," Kakashi sighed, frustrated. He took a large step back, running a hand over his face. I stayed silent, head lowered and unsure of how to react. "Cashile, we may have been arguing, but I would never... Never--" he cut himself off once again, words failing him. Something seemed terribly broken about this moment and I couldn't find it in myself to say anything.

The silence drew out, long and painful and holding the weight of things left unsaid. Then, "My team," I spoke in a small voice, "Is not ready for this mission."

Kakashi stared at me but I refused to look him in the eye lest he glimpse something there that I wasn't prepared for him to see. "Okay," he finally gave in. "Okay."

"As long as a team  of skilled ninja can't safely escort my team back to Konoha, I'm afraid I can't be of use to you either," I replied.

"That's very responsible of you Cashile," Kakashi said, an almost proud look twinkling in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"I will see what I can do about the escort. It can most likely be arranged."

I nodded. "Good. If that's possible, I can help out. I guess we're going to hunt some Akatsuki down," I smirked.

This would be my first time battling the Akatsuki. A strong organization, very similar to the Rising Phoenix in some aspects and outrageously different in others. I could think of this as a practice run for the Rising Phoenix.

It would be exciting.

__________________________

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gaara119

Hey guys I'm slepu because I stayed up all night to study for exams and managed some time to write we could update you're welcome hahah. Anyways hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, please comment I almost died in the process of this chapter jk but fr I'm just a gal waiting for the coffe crash to hit so give me something to look forward to when I wake up plsssss. Okay goodnight :)

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