The Wind and Her Shadow

To Konoha!

Chapter 2: To Konoha!

    Temari stepped out the front door, the nighttime desert breeze blowing through her windswept bangs. The full moon above her shone brightly as her eyes darted from one side of the narrow streets to the other. Nervously scanning the front yard, she saw no sign of life, no sign of her father's murderers, only the houses around her casting dark shadows on the sand. However, she knew they were there, waiting silently for the siblings to appear. For now, at least, nobody was in sight. 

    Temari fingered her fan and the area of her kimono under which the hidden kunai pouch was located. She glanced down at the ground in front of her house and found small drops of blood on the ground, recently spilled, judging by their consistency and odor. Thoughts of anger and vengeance crossed her mind. No one could simply get away with killing her father. She then noticed a long piece of brown fabric that she had been standing on. Bending down, she picked up and placed it in her pack; she could show it to Gaara and Kankurou and look at it later.

"I think it's safe now," she whispered to her brothers. "Just stay close and quiet and be ready for anything."

    Cautiously, Kankurou, Gaara and Temari walked out into the night, into the sand that covered the dark village. Temari, leading the way, beckoned to the others to follow her. Soon, they arrived at the end of the village, at the great opening in the wall that surrounded Sunagakure. Standing watch at the foot of the wall were two guards, and Temari began to worry. If they saw them leaving, they would probably stop them and tell the other villagers, causing havoc and letting the Hyou know their location. She could not risk that happening.

    "Gaara," she murmured, just soft enough for him to hear. "This is an emergency. Could we use your sand to transport us above the guards?"

    She received a simple nod as an answer. Kankurou looked at the two of them, understanding what was happening, and hopped as the sand rushed under his feet. Silently, the three were transported above the village walls and out of Sunagakure. Gaara's sand dropped them lightly onto the desert after they had gotten far enough from the guards that they would not be able to see them. 

    Temari had gone to Konoha several times before, as she was the ambassador and often went to deliver messages. However, her brothers had not been there since the chuunin exams, and they would find that the people there had changed quite a bit. She bounded through the sand, checking behind her for any unwanted followers, but she only saw two other shadows, one with a gourd strapped upon his back and the other with scrolls, leaping through the desert after her.

    Hours later, after the sun had risen and had drenched them in scorching heat, the three arrived at the edges of the huge forest that stood halfway between Konoha and Suna. Temari smiled and sat down on the roots of a tree, in the cooling shade of the leaves above her. She took out her sandwich and glanced at her brothers, who had began to bicker again about who-knows-what, and she let out a sigh. I hope that things are going to go back to normal soon, she thought.

    The next day, in the afternoon, the siblings reached the great gates of Konohagakure. They were open, as usual, and Temari once again was surprised by the lack of security here. Back at home, guards stood watch all around the walls of the village, standing hidden on each ledge of its pyramid-like structure. But then again, this village had one of the largest, if not the largest, ninja population. If any evil tried to infiltrate it, the people there would probably not have much trouble fighting them off. 

    As Kankurou and Gaara walked through behind her, Temari remembered the piece of fabric that she had found two days ago, on the night of their departure. She rummaged through her bag and pulled it out, then lifted it to her face. Her eyes grew wide as she recognized it. It was her father's silk scarf, the one he wore all the time. Examining it even closer, she sniffed it. It smelled like rust and metal, the scent of blood. But it was when she turned it over that she found the paper that someone had knotted around it, a message saying: Be careful. We'll find you. We got your father, now you and your dear siblings are next. Underneath it was a crude drawing of a black animal: a panther, the symbol of the Hyou.