“Talking”
‘Shukaku talking’
Thinking’
Singing

The Devil in the Pale MoonLight

Chapter 2: Arrival in Suna

Katsura raced around the busy bizarre looking from shop to shop, in all the excitement she had forgotten about the heat that surrounded her. She was looking for the perfect souvenir to bring home for her collection, ever since she became a chunin and traveled more she always bought something from where ever she went and this was her first time in Suna so she wanted the perfect gift to remember her travels.

Shikamaru was long gone, he was in fact a guy so he didn’t want anything to with women and their troublesome shopping habits as he puts it. Katsura was trying to find where he disappeared  to when a something on a small cart caught her eye. She looked over the necklace in awe. It was a simple silver crescent moon on a silver chain, something about it was so alluring, it was made for her.

“See anything you like?” the shopkeeper asked kindly

She smiled back at him “Yes how much for this necklace?” she pointed at the jewelry

“Well… for a nice girl like you. I can go as low as $500” (A/N: I don't know the yen conversion rate so i am working in dollars)

Katsura  frown at this she didn’t have that much to spend and there would be no telling when her next mission was so spending money she had no way of replenishing was not an option. “Sorry, I cannot afford that” she politely answered the man.

“I can’t offer anything else” He apologized to the leaf nin.

“ I understand, thank you anyway” With that Katsura let to find her partner that seemed to have wandered off.

She walked around town taking in all the sights, it was quite breath taking. It looked so different then Konaha. All the building were tanned and looked as if they were made of some type of clay. They were decorated tastefully with a few banners or flags of the various clans and such. The ground was covered in sand with a few cactus and other desert plants so that wasn’t as pleasing as the streets of the hidden leaf but she though the look suited the town well. She scanned the area once more to find Shikamaru, she was about to jump on one of the roofs to look for him when she saw somebody lying on the sand dune not too far from her self. If she knew Shikamaru, which she did, she should have looked there sooner. Walking over to her friend she smiled as he looked up at the sky. She laughed at this sight.

“Sorry but there aren't any clouds here, its the desert it doesn’t rain very much” She extended her hand for him to grab and waited. Reluctantly he grasp her hand and pulled him self off the ground letting some sand roll off the back of his uniform. “Come on we are due at the Kazekage tower soon”

Katsura started walking ahead to indicate for him to follow. She stopped abruptly and covered her mouth as she coughed a bit harder then normal. Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort her.

“I’m fine, probably just sand in my lungs or something” She smiled at him and started to walk in the direction of the tower. She was determined to finish this mission before anything happens.

XXXXX

Gaara emerged from his office in a rather irritable mood. He had yet another long lonely night of solitude. The demon inside him still has not allowed him a night of sleep, he lives in fear of the Shukaku because if he emerges he will destroy everything Gaara has worked hard to protect. It would also confirm to the villagers that he is the monster they all know him as.

Gaara slowly walked down stairs to see Kankuro sitting on the couch fettling with one of his many puppets. Temari on the other hand was no where to be seen.

“Hey Gaara…” Kankuro trailed off noticing the glare he was receiving form his younger brother. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat waiting for the younger of the two to move. Kankuro was no longer afraid of his younger counterpart but he knew better then to mess with Gaara when he was in a bad mood. That was almost as stupid as bothering Temari was she was pissed, only that was more fun.

Gaara finally moved passed his brother towards the kitchen before he had to start his long day at the Kazekage tower. He knew some ninjas from Konaha would be arriving later and he wanted to be prepared for his allies.  After Suna’s betrayal during the Chuunin exams two years ago he wanted to show the Fire country the Wind was grateful for their forgiveness shortly after.

Temari’s blonde head poked around the corner from the Kitchen. Kankuro’s eyes widened in surprise at his older sister’s obvious good mood this morning, which is unusual.

“Gaara, Kankuro” She smiled widely “I made Breakfast, do you want some?”  she asked hopefully

Kankuro shot up muttering something about his puppets and dashed off slamming the door to his workshop. Temari glared at the shut door then turned to Gaara who stood there looking as if he was contemplating something. Taking this temporary distraction she put on her best pleating smile, “Gaara, do you want breakfast?”

“No”  he simply said before he slammed the front door to go to the tower.

XXXXX

Katsura and Shikamaru enter the the tower, Shikamaru looked bored as per usual while Katsura’s eyes darted all around the tower looking at all the halls and decorations until her eyes fell upon a bored looking secretary. The Secretary sat at a large desk and she was doodling on a paper. Katsura though she should be doing work instead of goofing off but that was probably a sign the Kazekage was not in just yet. They walked up to her and waited until she reluctantly looked at them.

“We are the ninjas from Konaha here to see the Kazekage” Katsura said, she was expecting some reply but instead the secretary was looking at Shikamaru with a weird look in her eye.

“Yeah, Yeah” She waved off Katsura and turned once more to the lazy leaf nin. “So what’s your name?” She asked placing the end of her pencil on her bottom lip. Shikamaru cocked an eye brow at her, he wasn’t used to this attention “Why must girls resort to making them look like hookers before they ask a guy out, they are confusing and way too troublesome” Shikamaru thought before looking at Katsura who looked way too amused for this situation.

“god this is the worst flirting I have ever seen in my life” Katsura chuckled lightly before deciding to have a bit of fun with this bimbo who dared to act all slutty to her best friend.

“Well If he’s not here yet we will wait” She turned to Shikamaru who was trying to ignore the obvious advances at him. “Is the okay, Shika-kun?” He glared at her for using his much hated nick name but he let it slip this time when he saw the secretary backed off a bit.

She turned around to see some chairs where she and Shikamaru can wait. When they were seated and awkward silence befell the group. Katsura was bored and Shikamaru took this opportunity to sleep as he always did. “Why do I insist on doing missions with him again? all he does is sleep” Katsura looked at the secretary desk once more and noticed the secretary still glancing at Shikamaru every now and then. Katsura thought it was weird, she never really known anyone to like Shikamaru, sure she thought Ino had a thing for him but she thought she would end up with Choji because they were so opposite and would make a cute couple. Other then that no one really paid attention to him romantically. She looked at him once more, yes he had cute face and a great body because after all he was a ninja. But she couldn’t see him actually dating that thought creeped her out, he was like the older brother she never had and he was probably too lazy to get a girlfriend anyway. She coughed as quiet as she could but the secretary glared at her.

“Well maybe I could still have fun with her”Katsura thought evilly. The secretary started doodling once more but tapped her pencil when she stared at the paper in frustration. Katsura started tapping her foot and the sound echoed through the quiet halls. The secretary paused to glare hatefully at the annoying kunochi. She started to tap her pencil loudly to cover the sound of the offending foot. Knowing that she wanted Katsura to stop, said person tapped her foot louder as if it were a challenge. The tapping sounds echoed though the corridors of the Kazekage tower. The secretary cleared her throat and tapped her pencil even louder Katsura started to increased the sound of her foot steps but stopped when she heard a small creak indicating some one had opened the door.

“Must you continue that incessant tapping.” a cool monotone voice broke through affectingly stopping all noise in the area. The secretary hung her head and muttered an apology. She glared at Katsura who looked at her innocently, if she were a ninja instead of a secretary she would have heard the noise that indicated of a new arrival.

That voice caught Katsura’s attention first it sounded so calm and collected but also harsh, it was a familiar voice to say the least. She looked at the man who just entered the room. He had hair like flames, blood red and unkept. His skin was irregularly pale for someone who lives in the desert but it was smooth and looked soft. He had black circles around his eyes and a red “ai” tattooed on his fore head. She recognized who he was exactly. He was Gaara, that boy she met two years ago.

Flashback
“Where is it” Kakashi was searching the book shelf intensely looking for the next copy of his beloved book. He saw the spot where it should have been but noticed it was empty, sighing he turned from away from the self in the open  market to see a red and blue blur nearly crashing in to him but it missed and tripped over the trash cans. Slowly the energetic figure stood up and smiled widely while her face became red out of embarrassment.

“Where are you going in such a rush Katsura-chan?” Kakashi smiled at the young girls antics. Even though she was a ninja she was still a child and often acted like so.  

“Gomen Kakashi-Sempei, I was in a rush to make it home.” She apologized and bowed respectfully “I was on my way home to tell my parents that Hiro-sensei nominated my team for the chuunin selection exams this year.” She blurted out in excitement. She smiled at Kakashi waiting for a reply, he smiled back at her.  “Even though we didn’t compete last year i think we could actually pass, well I know Gemma and I could but I’m worried Jubei might not” Her excitement fell a bit.

“Why is that?” Kakashi asked.

“Well he tends to get cocky and it goes to his head, he is always talking back to Hiro-sensei so I am afraid that he wont pass and I would like for my whole team to pass so we can still go on missions together.” She answered sadly. Katsura had only two friends and those were her team mates, Although she was kind not many kids would want to befriend her because of her condition.

“You know meeting new people could have it benefits” Kakashi said matter-of-factly. He wanted Katsura to be happy and have a normal life, well as normal of a life for a shinobi but with her sickness it was hard, she was in the hospital quite often though her visits started to become less frequent as she gets older.

“Your right Kakashi-sempei, During the Chuunin exams I will introduce myself to at least…”She placed her finger on her chin thoughtfully, she wanted to set  goal that was reachable but at the same time something that would force herself out of her shell. “at least 5 people.”

Kakashi’s visible eye curved into an arch indicating he was smiling under his mask. “Is your father a prompter for the exams this year?” he asked changing the subject before she changed her mind.

“Yes he is, he probably wont tell me what he is doing though. I can’t have an unfair advantage over the competition.” She answered. “I do have a question for you Kakashi-sempei”

“Oh and what is that”

“Why do you always carry around a book? I always see you with that orange book what is it about?” She pointed at the book he took out of his pouch (A/N i don’t know what they are called so bear with me)

Kakashi grabbed his chin thoughtfully figuring out the right word to explain it. He couldn’t exactly tell her what the book was, she was only twelve and her mom would kill him if she found out. “Its a romance book”

Katsura giggled, she didn’t know that he was a romantic at heart it seemed really out of place. you wouldn’t think a  guy who has killed hundreds of enemy ninja reads romance books but to each his own. “Its mainly to keep my mind sharp.” Kakashi said slightly in annoyance at the young genin

“Oh I get it!” Katsura exclaimed “When you read you train the mind to keep it sharp so when you go on mission you can think clearer” Katsura turned to the book shelf they were standing n front of and picked a book off the shelf after scanning the back cover she smiled and gave the money to the man at the cash register. “If you read to keep your mind sharp and you are a great ninja I will read to become a great ninja” She smiled and clutched her book to her chest. Kakashi smiled at her naivety.

“Well I must be off, I have things to do before I meet my team.” Kakashi waved then disappeared into a puff of smoke. Katsura coughed and waved her hand to clear the smoke away, she didn’t want it to get in her lungs then she would get sick before the exams and let her team down.

She started walking away clutching her book, she opened it to the front page and started reading while she walked back home, she didn’t want to risk crashing into anything again. As she walked she heard voices arguing in front of her. She glance up at the group a few yards in front of her and ducked behind the corner of the fence. She looked cautiously at the group trying to figure out what was going on. She saw Kakashi’s students, a pink haired girl and a blonde boy, she knew he was Naruto, the boy who was forced to be a container for the Kyuubi. Konohamaru, the Hokage’s grandson, was being help up by a boy who was wearing purple makeup on his face. A blonde girl with something attached to her back was standing there bored at what was going on. Naruto charged at the makeup boy but before he reached a rock flew through the air and hit make up boy in the wrist making him relinquish his grip on the young child.

“Sasuke-kun!” The pink hair girl screeched toward the tree. Katsura looked in that direction and saw a boy with midnight black hair sitting in the tree smirking at the two newcomers. Katsura then looked at the Makeup boy who was fuming at this point, she noticed that they had sand forehead protecters on indicating they were here for the chuunin exams.

“Another guys who pisses me off” Makeup boy seethed

“Get lost” the boy who was addressed as Sasuke said rather arrogantly. Katsura rolled her eyes at this, he acted just like Jubei smug and arrogant.

“Hey punk. Get down here” Makeup boy said “I hate show offs like you the most” Katsura smiled at him, he didn’t seem like such a bad guy if he hated people who show off just like she did. She noticed he took something off his back and was preparing himself yo attack when a cold monotone voice broke through.

“Kankuro stop it” Katsura looked around for the source of the voice but was slightly disappointed when she found it came from the other side of the tree. She liked this voice his was cold and angry but slightly hurt she felt the urge to find this person and hug him but she didn’t think that would be a good way to greet someone she didn’t know.

“You are a disgrace to our village” That same voice spoke once more sending a shiver down Katsura’s spine, something about his voice made her want to see him. The boy clad in makeup, or now Kankuro, was sputtering some excuses and apologizing but was abruptly cut off.

“Shut up, I’ll kill you” Katsura swooned at this. She couldn’t help it, there was something about his murderous intent that had Katsura in a puddle in the middle of the street. She would make it a point that the first person she meets would be this boy. She looked once more at the group and saw the person behind that voice. He was a short kid who was very pale and had red hair that was wild, like fire, it matched his personality so well. He had dark circles outlining his eyes that made the sea foam green stand out even more. A crimson tattoo adorned his forehead reading the word ‘Love’. Katsura frowned when she saw this maybe he was already in love with some one and got the tattoo for her. The raven haired boy jumped down from the tree and ran up to the sand villagers.

“What’s your name?” He pointed to the flame headed boy

“Are you talking to me?” The blonde girl asked hopefully

“No, the one with the gourd” he replied

“Sabuku no Gaara, and I am interested in you” He said as he eyed the boy in front of him coldly.

“I’m Uchiha Sasuke”

Katsura froze upon hearing his name, he was that last Uchiha. Katsura felt her heart pain for this guy, she heard about what happened to the Uchiha clan years ago. If she had to go through that  she wouldn’t be sane.

“Don’t you want to know my name?” The blonde kyuubi kid shouted way too loudly

“Not Interested” Gaara answered before walking off the other two sand villages following behind in silence. Katsura suppressed a chuckle when he answered, she wanted to meet him but was afraid of what would happen. She looked back at Sasuke, Naruto and the pink haired girl who were talking about something. If the Uchiha kid could still make friends after what happened then there is nothing stopping her. She raced off on the other side of the fence so she arrived at the end before the sand villages did. She leaned against the fence and took out her book so if she lost her nerve she could always say she was reading. Out of the corner of her eye she could see them silently approaching. Once they passed her she got a new resolve and calmly spoke.

“I saw what you did to Naruto” Her eyes never left the book but a small smirk crossed her lips, she felt a new energy come out when she spoke this time.

“Who?” The makeup boy turned to ask her.

“The blonde loud mouth” She simply said finally looking up at three.

“You know him?” The blonde girl asked incredulously

“Only by name and acquaintance. Everyone knows directly or indirectly of Konaha’s number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja” Katsura explained using Kakashi’s nickname for him.

“Long title” The girl joked.

“Long title for a long winded boy” Katsura chuckled.

“So what do you care what we do to him” Kankuro asked a little to harshly for Katsura to like,

“I don’t really, although my senpei would be a bit mad if anything happened to him he is their teacher after all.” She closed her book and put it into her pouch then stood off the fence. “I just used it as an excuse to introduce myself, I’m Gekko Katsura.”

Kankuro looked her up and down which made Katsura uncomfortable no guy has ever bother to check her out before and now a person she barely knew was looking at her making it a point that she knew what he was doing. I mean she was only twelve and this boy was only a bit older then her.

“I’m Kankuro” He grabbed Katsura’s and placed a kiss on it gently. He looked up and smirked at her “Nice to met you Kat”

“Don’t call me that” She yelled peeved as she yanked her hand back, she hated childish nicknames.

“Baka” The girl smacked Kankuro upside the head before turning to Katsura “You’ll have to excuse my brother, I’m Temari” She smiled at Katsura.

Katsura looked at the youngest of the three. “And you are…” She trailed off waiting for him to fill in the rest . He blinked in astonishment, no one looked him directly in the eyes not since he was a child and here was a girl who was actually foolish enough to do so.

“Gaara” he simply answered not bothering to give his full name he knew that she heard him say it to the Uchiha. Katsura continued to look into his eyes while he glared dangerously at her. She knew she should look away, something told her to stop looking at this kid because now he had a hint of murderous intent behind those broken eyes but she could not bring herself to brake contact with this boy. Temari glanced between the two as nervousness plagued her face, Gaara could not kill anyone now it would ruin everything. So she was left with no choice but to break the silence and face Gaara’s wrath later.

“Well we must be off, our sensei is expecting us” She pushed Kankuro foreword hoping to leave before anything happened.

“See you around Kat” Kankuro shouted over his shoulder before walked off.

“Don’t call me that” She broke eye contact with Gaara to shout at his retreating back. She looked at Gaara once more before he turned to walk with his siblings. ‘Sabuku no Gaara, I like his name I will have to see him while he is in town’ Katsura thought evilly while she took out her book and started to walk home, her parents will just have to deal with her being late.